Day 2...No Diet Coke

I know that there are a few of you out there that when they read this post will laugh with unbelief. (Yes, Jenna, I am talking about you.) I have made the decision to give up diet coke. I have made this decision more than once and failed more than once...and I am sure to fail again. But...here I go again. Let's just hope that the kids know how to run and hide.

Merry Christmas....

...I mean Happy Birthday.

Saturday was Sean's birthday. We celebrated it with the kids and had a great time. Sean cooked his favorite food (grilled burgers and no, I did not eat a burger) for all of us and then we had cake afterwards. When I attempted to wrap his brithday present, I realized that I had no birthday wrapping paper. So I debated for a minute and decided that it would be okay for me to use what I had on hand. I was just too lazy to run down the road to Target.

I don't know if you can see that close enough so let me get a better picture.

YES, YOU SEE IT CORRECTLY....It is Christmas paper. So I am not the perfect wife....who looks at the wrapping paper anyway. We all know that all we care about is what's inside.

P.S. Sean loved his gift. He left it in the living room with most of the wrapping paper still on. He wants everyone to see his Merry Christmas in September present.

Lacrosse Mom?

I know that is a little twist on the traditional soccer mom, but here we are. I have to admit that I had heard of lacrosse, but can't say that I ever imagined understanding it at all. This saturday was Skylers first lacrosse game. It is a combination of soccer, football and crazy all on one field. I don't know how to explain the panic you feel when you send a child out onto a field to 'play' when he has to wear all sorts of pads and a helmet before he goes out there. Once the chaos began, I mean the game began, I soon lost track of where Skyler was, but yelled my heart out when I found him. Unfortunately they lost the game, but there are more to come. Sitting on the sidelines, either sweating or freezing my butt off.....Sounds like fun to me. By the way, who made up this game anyway?

Donuts and Diet Coke

Donuts for the kids--you have to pump them up with sugar before school

Diet Coke for me--so I don't kill them.

A breakfast of champions.

I have WHAT?!?!?!?

In keeping with our family goal this year to rack up as many medical bills as we possibly can, we have another story to share. Tuesday night was a pretty non-eventful night. Sean and I were finally able to relax after having the kids all weekend, and it was nice to be able to just be able to spend some time together. We were just getting ready to go to sleep and were just talking and watching TV. I had been dealing with what I thought was a sore shoulder from either sleeping on it weird or just a knot in my back. I was having a hard time getting to sleep, so I decided to take some Tylenol PM. Take the edge off and help me get to sleep. I was able to get to sleep, but was rudely awoken at 3:30 with an irritating pain in my back. It was bad enough to wake me out of a drug induced sleep so it was hurting pretty good. As I was tossing and turning trying to find a comfortable position in which to go back to sleep, I was getting more and more ornery. Sean, my sweetheart, was suggesting all sorts of things to help. We started with our massage mat, thinking that it was just a muscle spasm....that was NOT a good idea. Next, we went for the heating pad....another BAD idea. I got up and started pacing in my bedroom. The pain was worse with every breath. I tried to lay down again to go back to sleep, but it kept getting worse and worse. FINALLY...Sean convinced me it was time to go down to the ER.

When we got there, we were taken to the back. (One of the nurses I work with at the clinic works over there as well. She was there last month when I came in with a kidney stone.) They took blood and did tests and decided that it was not a kidney stone. Then they sent me back to ultrasound to see if I had any gall stones. (This was after the morphine--have I ever told you how much I like morphine?) The doctor came back and told me that I did not have any gall stones. He diagnosed me with...here it comes...Pleurisy? All I could think about was..'This sounds like some medieval disease that people used to die from.' (Bring out your dead!) After my initial thought passed he explained that it was simply an inflammation of the sack around my lungs. Nothing more than a little inflammation. I asked him what we do for it. He told me to go home and take pain pills. Well, I like pain pills as much as the next person, but declined another prescription, telling him that I still had some from my kidney stone. Since then I have enjoyed the occasional pain pill, and lots of ibuprofen.

It has given me pause to think how fortunate we are that there are few, if any, diseases that are a sudden death sentence like they were years ago. How many of us would still be alive if we had been born prior to the discovery of penicillin? Even cancer and HIV are not the death sentences they were even 5 to 10 years ago. I have the privilege to work with people who are fighting for one more day, month or year of their lives. It is a humbling experience. As frustrating as it is to deal with our, seemingly major, but realistically minor, health issues we encounter, we have to be grateful for the good health we truly have. And to be thankful for the amazing advancements science makes each day. Allowing us to preserve life and be healed. This does not mean that there will not come a point where we will not be able to overcome illness or injury, it just means that we have the best chance possible.

Happy Birthday Jordan

Today is Jordan's 8th birthday, it is also the day he was baptized. It is great to be able to share such a special experience like this with the family and friends that were able to be there. Sean baptized him and he was confirmed by his Grandpa Davis.

When I first met Sean, Jordan had just turned 5, and it is amazing to see how much he has changed in the last three years. One of my first memories of Jordan was the first 'date' we went on with the kids. After Sean had tried to kill me with the Nicklecade, McDonalds, and video games in his 2 bedroom apartment, I was getting ready to go. Sean was walking me out to the car and I was saying goodbye to the boys. Jordan jumped off the couch and ran to the door. "I want a hug and kiss." Now you tell me who can resist that. I actually got kissed by Jordan before Sean!! As a sidenote, when I was talking to Sean later that night after he had put the boys to bed, he informed me that after I left and he was bathing the boys, Jordan had peed on Zachary. Just an example that he can be the sweetest of boys and then the biggest pain in the fanny, but we love him just the same.

Domestic Godess?

I am the first one to admit that I am no domestic godess. I do not make my own bread, the 'grandma sycamore' I buy at the store is much better than what I can do. I do not have fresh cookies in my kitchen at all times, in fact i can count the number of times I have made chocolate chip cookies for Sean on one hand. There are times that after a long day at work, the Wendy's drivethru is ALOT easier than making a meal when I get home. I do try to surprise my husband by making him treats every once in a while (only on the weekends!!). I can make my own pie crust----FROM SCRATCH, and I can make gravy without lumps as well.

I think that sometimes it is easy to compare our weaknesses to other peoples strengths and get down on ourselves. I don't know that there is enough money in the world to pay me to run a marathon, yet there are others that find such joy and freedom running. On the other hand, I can find solace in my sewing room, trying to figure out how to piece a quilt, or which fabrics to use, while someone else would be tortured to within an inch of their life sitting at a sewing machine. We all have diferent gifts and there are some days that I wish I had others, but then the next day I am grateful for the ones I have. With each talent and gift comes the responsibility. To share it and to develop it to the fullest. ---although my laundry may not always be done, nor the weeds in my garden pulled...I am a godess in my own right.