Prayers please.....

My beautiful baby girl is so sick this week. She started coughing Sunday night, it got worse at the baby sitter's that day and kept getting worse. We kept her home Tuesday and Wednesday because her fever was still high. We were alternating Motrin and Tylenol, but couldn't get it down. We decided to go ahead to the pediatrician's office since we were inching closer to the weekend and it didn't seem to be getting better. She has pneumonia. It isn't bad, but still enough to scare us. She started her antibiotics today and got a few breathing treatments. Already her energy seems to be getting better. Just pray for us.

Also: need prayers for one of my nephews. He had his second surgery to correct his club foot. It hasn't been nearly as easy as his first surgery last year. Try telling a 2yo that he can't put any weight on his foot. yeah right! Have they ever met a 2yo? I think not. As soon as he got home last week and seemed to be feeling a little better, he came down with a really bad cold and possible walking pneumonia. So it has just been a rough week for him and his parents and twin brother. He is just very uncomfortable, especially at night. I talked to his Daddy last night and he told me that they got a wheelchair delivered for him today. Can't wait to see that and I'll have to post pics later.

So pray for my sweet baby girl and nephew. Here are a few pics over the past few weeks of them plus a few of Luke's twin, Logan. They were born 17 days after Cecelia and it has been such fun watching them grow together. She came out of the womb a little mommy. Can't you tell?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thankful Thursday

1. I am so very thankful that I have a healthy child. I read entirely too many sad blogs and have known quite a few people personally who have to watch their child battle horrible diseases and some have to bury their kids. These stories are what keeps me going when I am frustrated with my beautiful, stubborn little girl. On the days that I feel like I am going to pull my hair out, I have to step back, breathe deeply and give God the glory that I have the honor of being Cecelia's Mommy.

 

 

 

2. My pets. Those of you who have read my blog for a while, know that I had to euthanize my precious Little Bit at the age of 15, last year. It is amazing how much you can love your pets as a part of your family. Lady Bug has been a great companion since Little Bit died last year. She is laying beside me as I type this.

 

Me and Little Bit a few years ago

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WW - Funny edition

Not completely wordless, but I just have to tell the story behind the pics. I have been told so many times in the past seven months how much I look like my mom. I have never seen the resemblance, but that is common. But when we were going through pictures for her memorial service, I found these and it made me laugh. First picture is of me (a LONG time ago) sitting next to her after having one too many drinks. The second is of Mama at her retirement party after she had had one too many. Anyone else think the expressions on our face seems a little similar???

 

 

Three Months

It is so hard to believe that she has been gone for three months. It has been three months of emotional turmoil. I will think that I am doing really well and then something will happen and it all comes flooding back.

Friday, I went to ortho surgeon since I hadn't been since Mama went with me last time and flipped out after the nurse left about me smoking. I still laugh at this now. Her expression never changed when she was talking to me. As soon as she left, Mama snapped her neck around and said, "when in the hell did you smoke?" Cracked me up.

But when I got to work after that appt, one of my good friends at work was on the phone. I know her well enough that I didn't even have to wait to talk to know something was horribly wrong. And I was right. Her mom had a colonscopy that morning because she has been anemic for a few months and appeared to be passing blood in her stool. Of course, her worst fears were confirmed. I will not give her name out until if/when she gives me permission, but I will ask you to pray for her.

Literally that day was exactly 3 months after Mama died. I held it together while my co-worker was still there, but when she left I had to walk outside. It just brings all of the emotions back at full force.

Prayers needed for both me and my co-worker. Such a hard thing to go through and to have to watch a close friend go through the same thing I so recently experienced myself.

OK, Game ON

I went to my orthopedic surgeon on Friday for my annual visit regarding my hips. For those of you who don't know me IRL, I have avascular necrosis/osteonecrosis in both hips. I was really sick with my migraines about 5-7 years ago. I have had migraines since I was 15, but they got REALLY bad. I was out of work on short-term disability for 2 years and was in and out of the hospital 8 times in that 2 year span. During that time, my neuro had me on periodic short steroid dose-packs to break the cycles. I was finally able to get my migraines under control after a TON of trial and errors, but the damage to my hips were done.

I ended up fainting at home one October morning in 2006, when I was here alone. When I woke up my ankle was throbbing. At the time I thought it might have been a bad sprain, but three days of agony later, I found out it was broken. It took much longer to heal than it should have so I ended up having surgery three months after I broke it. During the recovery period, my left hip started killing me. The ortho I was seeing for my ankle at the time, blamed it on my altered gait since I was over-compensating for the ankle. It was plausible, so I waited.

I finally had to go to my PCP that summer because I was finally getting well enough to go back to work. She ordered PT and got some x-rays just to make sure that nothing more serious was wrong. She, personally, called me back the next morning to tell me that she had already cancelled the PT order and had contacted a surgeon at UNC-CH because the XRs pointed to Avascular necrosis. Basically, AVN causes the blood supply to bones in joints to stop flowing. Essentially, the bones in my hips are dying.

I was officially diagnosed w/ AVN at age 29 and the plan at the time was to treat conservatively until I couldn't stand it. At diagnosis, I was between Stage 2 and 3. Now I have progressed to Stage 4. It has really been painful for the past 6 months and has caused me for the first time to call in sick because I just couldn't walk. So at age 34, I am going to have my first hip replacement. The original plan was to get as close to 40 as possible, but it can't be put off any longer.

My only options were to:

(1) go ahead and get pregnant and have however many babies we want now

Or

(2) have the hip replacement this year and try to have another baby next year.

I'm choosing option 2 mainly because I would like to be able to easily play with my kids. I don't want to put either me or them in jeopardy because Mommy can't get up and run to save them if they run into the road. And I just want to be able to enjoy them and do everything they want me to do. I don't want to miss out on being a role-model to my baby girl. So this is for her. I want her to know that while I won't be able to play with her for a few months, but I will be able to play with her for the rest of her life.

Sorry, I know this is an extremely long post, but I felt I needed to explain how this happened. Now that I surgery is happening in four months (don't have the exact date yet), I have to lose weight and get into the best shape possible, so that the recover won't be any harder than it has to be. It will be hard simply because I can't exercise like I would want to. I'm going to try though. I don't have a choice.

Costume Discounters Review

I recently had the opportunity to try out a costume from Costume Discounters. We poured through their enormous selections and finally picked out the adorable Fairytale Witch costume for Celia. There were a ton of choices. They don't just have kids costumes. There are tons of adult costumes and of course the sexy costumes. We went with a more traditional witch costume, since that is what I was for a good number of years when I was a child myself.

Customer service was great and we received the costume within 4-5 days. Due to the never-ending sickness in this household currently, I was finally able to get some pics of Celia in her adorable costume today (a week and a half after getting it).

 

I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the product. I figured that it would be a little flimsy as most kids costumes are, but this wasn't the case at all. It is a little big, but that was our choice. I was prepared for a lot bigger, but it is great because she'll be able to get a much longer life out of the costume.

 

She LOVED it. When she saw me grab the bag, she immediately ran into the living room and started stripping. She was so excited. And I promise she was thrilled with it, but she did become a little annoyed at Mommy & Daddy when we insisted she stand still for a little too long to take some pics of her. You might be able to tell by the next pic (can you imagine what that expression is going to be at 12 when it looks like this at 2) LOL!!!

 

Don't forget to check Costume Recalls.

I can assure you that we were thrilled with the costume and wouldn't hesitate to buy from them. They have a ton of choices, are a really good quality and have very good prices.


I received a Fairytale Witch Toddler Costume costume for my daughter for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and not influenced by any monetary compensation

WW - Mommy's Monkey Girl

Notice a trend. The 1st pic is the first day she made the face that is now known as the monkey face. She came up with this name completely on her own. Who knows where it came from, but she cracks us up and does it constantly. Here are a few pictures we've taken lately:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day, My Love...

John - without you I honestly can't imagine how my life would have been. Luckily I don't have to. You are my best friend, my sounding board, my soul mate, my rock. You have kept me sane through the ups and downs in our almost 13 years of marriage (crazy, ain't it). Without you, I wouldn't be me:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't want to get all political

but here is a link to a blog post that I hope really makes you think before you cast your vote this fall:

http://warwidow-letterstotommy.blogspot.com/2010/05/dear-president-obama.html

Hard days

I am having more good days than bad, but here's an account of a hard day:



Friday was a really bad day. Don’t really know why. They don’t always make sense, but I just had a hard day. Lost my dern mind sitting at my desk that afternoon and had to walk out for a little while. That night we were just hanging out and John decided to look at our older, smaller digital camera. He hooked it up to our TV to show look at some of the videos w/ sound. He went through quite a few and then he got to one I took the day Celia started walking. Mama and Ma had brought Celia home and Mama was sitting on the ottoman trying to call Celia to her.

I literally lost it. I feel bad for both John and Cecelia because I know I scared them to death. I was almost screaming sobbing. Celia jumped up on the couch and threw herself on me, then got down ran away, got something and came back. She had gone to get a sock she had taken off because she knew where it was. John was frozen with that “what the hell have I done” look. She jumped back in my lap, started wiping my tears with the dirty sock and started singing the Barney song. “I Love You, You Love me, We’re a Happy Family”. Later John said it was one of those moments that had it not been completely inappropriate, he would have turned the camera on to tape it, but it would end up being a video that people would always say, “who in the world would actually tape that?”



My sweet baby girl warms my heart in so many more ways than I could have ever imagined. She is my world and keeps me completely sane. Love you Celia!!

WW - almost

We're just like most parents I know in that we believe that we fail miserably in teaching, loving and disciplining our beautiful, but VERY headstrong little girl. But pics like the following make me feel much better. This was taken in Sunday School at church on Sunday morning:

She makes both her daddy and me feel so much better. And it makes me feel so proud that we are taking every opportunity to teach Celia about our Savior. And we now know that it is working very well!!!

Thankful Thursday

It is really hard right now to me to realize how much I really do have to be thankful for. The past 12 months have truly been the hardest in my life, emotionally. But when I sit here, if I really think about it, I am truly amazed that I made it through it sane (thought some might argue that point). So when I think about what I am thankful for it is really simple.

I am thankful for:

1. A secure job. Of course, my true life's wish would be a stay-at-home mom, but right now it just isn't financially possible, but maybe one day. Right now I thank my lucky stars that I have job security. Is it my favorite job or my dream job? No. Is it what I saw myself doing when I grew up? No, but it is very flexible and the worse the economy gets, the more secure my job becomes. And we all know that in this current economic state, that means all the difference.

2. My Faith. I know that I used it last week and more than likely it will be on my list next week. Because, I know with a shadow of a doubt that I wouldn't be here and I definitely wouldn't be who I am today without Him. He got me through the darkest days. None of us here on Earth have no idea why we go through what we do, but I do know that He has a plan for all of us and we just have to trust it.

3. For the love of my family. Here on Earth and those waiting for me with Him. Love you all. You make me who I am and you make me want to be better.


A shorter list this week, but it's what I feel right now.

WW - A week in pictures

starts off looking like a "normal" sweet little girl loving the wii

 

And here's the real little girl (sorry for the blurry pics, but they show how into the games she can get

 

 

 

She is such a mixture between a beautiful princess and a tomboy who doesn't hesitate to whoop anyone's BUTT!!!

 

Outside riding her bike and "barbiecycle" LOL!!!

 

 

 

Of course, Mommy had to sneak a kiss (Love her with everything I have....Just for you baby)...

 

She is such a clown. If you ask her to give you a "monkey look", this is what she does. And she does it often just to crack us up.