Whew!

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Work has been crazy because of the flood we had here. But all the carpets have been dried and cleaned and the walls painted and most of our furniture is back where it was to begin with. I only lost a couple of breastfeeding books a friend had returned to me the day before the flood... shouldn't leave things on the floor, I guess.

Last week was a busy one. It seems like Lent is the busiest time of the year for us. And I'm not even talking about the extra church services that happen during Lent - I can't make most of those because of the kids. No, life seems to hit high gear in the spring.

The Deac had a CT scan last week that *finally* showed resolution of the pneumonia! Ten months after he got sick, that part is well. Now we are still working on the nerve issue and my uterine issue and maybe... just maybe... this will be a better year than last.

I have been in a major scrapping rut lately. Not sure why, although the busyness probably contributes. I did manage this layout yesterday. I'm trying to ease back in slowly to get my creative juices flowing again.

Also last week, I took some photos of the Deac in his firefighting garb for an article that is going to be published about him in the magazine of his alma mater. Here are the ones that were my favorites:

I wish sometimes I'd been able to figure out exactly how to become a National Geographic photographer. Along with doctor, astronaut and FBI agent, that was one of my most-hoped-for career choices growing up. I wonder what the girls will end up doing. We are pretty sure Emmelia would make a good lawyer. She has the negotiating skills to do well. Maura? Well, for a while we've figured she'd grow up to be a proctologist. There's a reason for that, but I'll leave it to your imagination.

Only 8 more days in the walking boot. Not that I'm counting down or anything....

Valentine's Day

Whew - my mind is reeling from doing problems having to do with air ionization chambers and KERMA. I've never really liked Physics that much, I have to admit. I find it ironic that I'm in a profession based on Physics. Luckily for me, there's enough biology also involved to keep it interesting. Just not in the particular chapter we are covering in my review class this week.

Happy Valentine's Day! The girls made their own valentines this year, as opposed to me digiscrapping them. And that's fine, since I just haven't been in a particularly scrapping mood lately. Here's a photo of what they created:

They had a lot of fun and I was impressed with their creativity! Today they both had Valentine's parties in their daycare classes. If it's anything like last year, the sugar high at pick-up tonight will be amazing.

I took a cute picture of them last weekend playing dress-up:

The Deac came back from his clergy retreat last week feeling refreshed spiritually. He also came bearing many good books for us both! This is good since we generally have a little more time to read during Lent! It's hard to believe it's already Lent again - it begins this coming Monday. The past year seems to have gone past in a blur.

So far, the hormone treatment I started Friday has caused more cramping and pain than before. Sigh. But maybe in a month or two it will settle down and be better. We'll see. Prayers are appreciated.

Scrappin'

Looks like I forgot to post this layout I made for Doodleboogs at SOTB a few weeks ago:
I used her 12x12 Circle Templates #1 and City Love kit, along with elements from a lot of different kits I've collected. It was a fun layout to put together. Besides, with subjects that cute it's hard to go wrong.

I also figured out how to do the slideshows of my Brag Book layouts - I just had to break it up into 4 sections. I had these printed out as 4x6 prints and put into an album for my Mom for a Christmas present. The nice thing about it is that I was also able to print a copy for myself and a copy for my ex-sister-in-law to have since her daughter's year was also featured prominently. This was so fun to do - I may try to do it for this year, too (so, sorry, Mom if it won't be as big of a surprise next year - I'll try not to share the layouts until after Christmas at least). Except this year I'll be smart about it and scrap the layouts throughout the year rather than try to do 36 layouts in just a couple weeks.

Hit the "back" button in your browser after you watch each show so you can come back here and click on another link!

Here is the first slideshow
Here is the second slideshow
Here is the third slideshow
Here is the fourth slideshow

Let me know what you think! I love feedback.

Big week, pt. 2

Yesterday I wore my new makeup and got no less than 5 comments about how nice I looked and how blue my eyes are. That was really nice. I never in a million years would've chosen brown and red eye shadows for me, but the lady at Sephora put them on me and they look great. And they do really bring out the blue in my eyes. Go figure. So, it was a nice confidence builder. Remember that it's hard to get a decent photograph of yourself (plus I look really washed out from the flash) and ignore the fact that I really need a haircut and (according to a co-worker) an eyebrow wax.... and here's my new look:
I saw the Orthopedist about my tendons yesterday. He is really happy with how things are progressing, as am I. But he wants me to keep wearing the walking boot all the time (except when sleeping, showering and driving) for another whole month before I go back to shoes. I'm wondering how I'll walk when I get out of the boot - this foot has never had to walk heel-to-toe before. The Ortho said that if I need to, I can do physical therapy to re-learn how to walk.

Yesterday I also saw my Reproductive Endocrinologist to discuss the MRI results and hysterectomy. Turns out you need to have 4-6 weeks of time off work after a hysterectomy. It's a pretty major surgery. Since I just used up all my time off, we're talking at least six months before I'd be ready to do the surgery. So in the meantime he suggested I try one more option to treat the pain hormonally. There are studies that have shown the particular treatment he suggested is effective for endometriosis pain, but nothing about whether or not it will help with adenomyosis. If it works, it buys us some time to decide on another child or not. If it doesn't work, we'll just go ahead with the hysterectomy in a few months.

We've decided that our work building has been cursed. Plagues are descending upon it. We keep expecting frogs to fall out of the ceiling. Last weekend, a water pipe broke in a wall in one of our offices and wasn't discovered for at least 12 hours since it was the weekend. This caused a flood all over the floor in our office area. So all week long we've been trying to work in really horrid conditions - our offices are in disarray because we had to get everything up off the floor. Loud fans are running constantly to try to dry out the carpet and drywall. They also send wind through the offices, so paper flies everywhere if you don't hold it down. Today we found out the insulation in the outer wall of our offices is still wet, so they are going to have to cut out at least a foot of wall just in time for the next cold snap to hit the state. Really miserable. In addition, one employee in another part of the department got fed up with the stress and quit this week. A student assistant found out he might have cancer. We lost connection to the internet and our local area network for several hours accidentally while the IT guy was out of town. And yesterday, just to add insult to injury, the sewers began backing up (don't forget that all the doors are open and fans are blowing to dry things out). Ugh! What a week, really.

I keep forgetting to mention that I'm taking an on-line course from Colorado State University this semester. It is a review course for the Health Physics exam I'm taking in July. So far it's been a great class, but there is a TON of homework - the week BEFORE the first class session, we had over 300 pages of reading and 50+ physics problems to work. One of the fun things about it being an online course, though, is that I can download the lectures onto my video iPod and watch/listen to them at my convenience. I really like that. So today I'm going to try to distract myself from the loud fan noise by trying to figure out some physics equations! I have the craziest life lately.

A big week

This past week we were a Nielson family. We received a TV diary in the mail and kept track of all of our TV viewing. I was pleasantly surprised to find that we don't actually watch that much television (or maybe that was because we knew we'd have to keep track of what we watched if we turned it on? No, it wasn't that hard to keep track). I also realized that we use TiVo a LOT. It has really revolutionized our life in that we are no longer slaves to our favorites shows. We can live life and watch what we want, when we want. And fast-forward through commercials. Life has really changed since I was a kid!

Yesterday I went out to Sephora at lunch and got my birthday present. As part of my mini midlife crisis, I decided I needed good makeup. Many, many people recommended the Bare Essentuals makeup by Bare Minerals, so that's what I got. And... I really love it! It is fun, easy, light and looks really natural and good. I have gotten several comments today about how good I look - that's never happened with makeup before. So I'm pretty excited about that.

Today I see the orthopedist for a follow-up on my tendon surgery. I think my foot is doing really well. I am LOVING having a working foot! I think I have to wear the walking boot for another month, but this week I was finally allowed to begin driving again! It is so nice to be fairly autonomous again! Of course, it also means I have a lot of errands to run, like picking up dog food today.

After my ortho appointment, I will head up to the Advanced Reproductive Medicine clinic to see my doctor there. We will be talking about the adenomyosis and possible options. I think we've tried all the treatment options besides hysterectomy, so we'll see what else he has to offer. It is a big appointment as it could be the end of my reproductive days.

Tiring week

This week has been tiring. On Monday, I turned 36 years old. In general, I feel that birthdays are over-rated and this year was no different. Emmelia did make me a cute card while she was at daycare and that was sweet. Actually, 36 seems... not OLD, per se.... just middle aged. I find myself in the midst of a mini-midlife crisis. This age seems like it's suddenly too late to think of going back to medical school and pursuing my real dreams. I have a career. It's a good career and something I'm good at, but it's not the career I really wanted. I'm struggling to come to terms with that. And maybe in another 10 years I'll feel completely differently about the medical school thing - who knows?

On Tuesday I finally got the results from the MRI I had done back in December. The radiologist confirmed that there is adenomyosis in my uterine tissue. So, on the good side, we have a conclusive reason why I've been having such horrible abdominal pain over the past year and a half. On the other hand, the only treatment for adenomyosis is a hysterectomy. Add that in to the midlife crisis and you get a week that has me thinking too much about life. I always wanted to have a third child, but we hadn't decided yet if we were definitely going to have one or not. We were kind of waiting for the Deac to get healthy again and had planned to re-evaluate on Maura's 3rd birthday (April 2nd of this year). But, now God seems to be deciding for us. I am grateful for the two miracles we have, especially because seven years ago, we didn't think we could have any kids. But I guess I was also hoping for more than 6 years of total fertility in my life. As a friend put it, it's hard to move from "I'd like to have another one, but probably won't" to "I definitely can't have another one." Plus, losing a uterus seems like losing something quintessentially defining about being a woman. I know that's silly. By next week, when I talk to the doctor about scheduling this thing, I hope I'll be past most of these thought-humps.

Speaking of humps, we decided the kids need a little help getting over the hump of not wanting to go to sleep at night. Last week I bought a couple of glass jars and some marbles. The kids can earn marbles by doing things like make their beds, go to sleep without getting back up, practicing violin, etc. So far it seems to be going well. It's not the most positive method out there (most practitioners of positive discipline hate the very idea of external rewards/motivators), but I view it as a short-term solution anyway. That should help us get a little more sleep one of these days. Or, at least have evenings again.

Today is the feast of the Meeting of our Lord in the Temple. In Jewish tradition, mothers would bring their babies to the Temple after 40 days (for a boy) or 80 days (for a girl) following the birth. They would present their baby to God along with an offering and become "clean" ritually so that they were able to participate in worship with the community once again. The Orthodox church also has a tradition of the mother staying home with her baby for 40 days (we don't do the difference by gender thing) and then bringing the child to church. In the west, the prayer said by the priest became known as the "churching of women" - they are welcomed back into full church life at that point. I absolutely loved this tradition and practiced it with both girls. It was nice to have those first 40 days to bond, get breastfeeding established, and let their little immune systems get strong before we went into the world. And that time will never come again, so I'm glad I had the opportunity to do it. But today I need to get to thinking about how I'll cover this feast with the kids at Church School on Sunday!

In the meantime, here is a link to an EXCELLENT article on nutrition that was written this week. It is long, but well worth the read.

I'm working on setting up a Photobucket slideshow of the Brag Book layouts I made for my Mom so that I can share them. When I figure it out, I'll post it here.