A few recent pics of our babies!

They have such a rough life!

Maddie

Abby

I'm still alive!!!

I can't seem to keep up with this blogging thing! Life had been pretty crazy the past couple months. Back in March, Andy got a small paper cut on one of his fingers. A couple days later it was really infected. With his history of MRSA, we got him into his Infectious Disease Dr. right away. Thankfully the Dr. thought it wasnt serious enough to admit him into the hospital but he did put him on strong antibiotics to fight the infection. Over the next few days he started feeling dizzy, headaches, and light sensitivity. All theses were listed side effects of the meds so we weren't too worried about it. A few days later, these symptoms got more and more intense. I finally called his Dr. on a tuesday night and told him that these side effects weren't getting better and we getting worried about it. The Dr. said that what he was feeling weren't typical reactions to this medication and I needed to get him to the ER right away. He was concerned that the meds were causing his brain to swell. We spent the whole night at the hospital getting CT scans and blood work done. In the end, everything in his brain looked fine so we were told to follow up with his Dr. For the next several weeks, no one could figure out what was causing all these symptoms. It was finally determoned that he caught a virus that inflammed his inner ear and cause sever vertigo. The good news was that it should go away on its own in a couple of weeks. A couple weeks went by and he wasn't any better. In fact to me, he seemed worse. Our family Dr. recommended that he go to vestibular rehab. A couple weeks into that he finally started to feel some improvement but it was happening very slowly. We went to see a therapist that specializes in vestibular disorders. She determined that in addition to the vertigo, he also had something called vestibualr neuritis. Once we found this out, the therapy changed and over the past few weeks, he has really improved. Unfortunately he still can't go back to work because he has a lot of dificulty driving. We just went to the Dr. again today and it looks like more therapy for him! Hopefully by the end of July he will be recovered enough to be back to work.

Thankfully through all this, the Lord has really provided for us. We have been able to get disability pay which is a huge blessing! It's amazing how God takes care of us in ways we don't even realize. I've also gotten a job! I'm a nanny for two boys. The opportunity presented itself and while childcare is not my first choice of job, it pays AMAZINGLY well!!! It will probably only be for the summer, but there's a possibility it will go longer. The Lord definitely knows our needs and meets them in unexpected ways. I'm also hoping to get back in school this fall. I've had a lot of obsticals get in the way of college, but I'm just trusting the Lord that it's really what he wants me to do than He will make it possible. Thankfully this job provides a lot of time for studying so thats a definite perk of this job.

We've also had some pretty intense weather this spring! Never in my life have I EVER cared about catching the weather on the evening news or planned my day around whatever weather was coming. But over the last 6 months, I am obsesed with the weather! Missouri has seen more than it's fair share of sever weather from strong thunderstorms to tornados! It's been a stressful spring! Even Tuesday we had tornado watches for most of the day and it's possible we will see more next week! Sigh....I miss the northwest! Sever weather doesn't exist over there. I would gladly take continuous rain over this craziness!

Well I guess thats all for now. My wonderful hubby just brought me cup of coffee and now I think were gonna cuddle up and watch a movie together! He is such a wonderful husband! I'm so blessed to have him! No one else I know has a husband that brings them coffee in bed every morning. Couldn't ask for anyone better!

Good night everone! Hopefully you'll start hearing from me more often!!! :)

Winter woes!

Andy and I went to Iowa last weekend to visit friends. We left Saturday evening after Andy got off work and were planning on coming back Monday evening because that was all he had off from work. Well...Sunday night we began hearing of a massive winter storm that was moving through the Midwest. Major ice and snow was supposed to hit the St. Louis area and all the way up through Illinois along the highway we had to take to get home. And on top of that, a major blizzard was supposed to hit the area we were in in Iowa. Sigh..... So we made the decision to stay until we were sure it was safe to drive home.

The heavy snow started Tuesday afternoon and didn't stop!!!! We woke up Wednesday morning to two feet of snow!!! It was crazy! Growing up in the Northwest, I've never seen that much snow before! Of course we weren't going anywhere that day. Even church was canceled because no one could get out of their driveways! We decided that we needed to try to get home Thursday so Andy could get back to work. Thankfully they had the roads pretty clear by then so we made it home with no problems.

We had a great time with our friends but it was nice get home. Unfortunately I woke up Friday very sick. I've been in bed the last three days with strep throat. Ugh!!! I hate being sick. Especially when my husband has to work. He takes such good care of me when I'm sick! But he had to work so I've nursing myself back to health.

I've always like winter. I love sweaters, scarves, and boots and all the winter fashions, but at this point, I'm SO over all this snow. Just when you think it's all about to melt, it dumps another six inches! Now I'm not ready for the heat and humidity of summer, but I'm definitely ready for spring! Tshirts and flip flops! Oh yea! No more winter for me!! :)

New year, new goals

So I finally found the motivation to rewrite the post that I lost last week (well honestly its the lack of motivation to finish the housework!).

In the past I have made "new year's resolutions" and have maybe stuck with them a month (at the most) but this year Andy and I have set specific goals for ourselves that we are determined to reach by the end of 2011. Some are spiritual, others are financial, and some physical. You may ask why I think this year will be any different than the past years? For me, as I look back on 2010, there are many trials that Andy and I faced that don't usually come in the first year of a marriage. They challenged our faith, marriage, and health. Ultimately they brought us closer to God and each other. They have also given us a greater desire to grow and improve ourselves in all different areas. I'm thankful that now, I have a husband to set goals with and work together to achieve them.

I've also been more aware of the many blessings in my life. My husband is definitely one of the biggest. I still can't believe that the Lord brought him into my life. He is my best friend and the love of my life. We've been married for 16 months and been together for almost 4 years and I pray we get 50 more together!!!

2011 seems to be off to a good start. Andy is working a lot of overtime, and while the money is great, I wish we saw more of each other. However...every time I'm sitting on the couch wishing he was home with me, I remember when he didn't have a job at all. Snaps me right back to grateful! Thankfully he is off for the next 2 days! The only plans we have is to stay home, relax, and spend time together!

Spring semester starts next Tuesday. I'm excited to be getting back into the classroom (actually this semester is all studio)!!!! No more online classes for me!

I guess I need to go get the housework done. I've stalled long enough!!!

SO FRUSTRATED!!!!

I just spent the last half hour typing a nice long post, but it wouldn't post to my blog! The next thing i know, the whole thing is gone and for some reason none of it was saved!!! So now you all have to wait for me to find the motivation to start over again! This stinks!!!! :(

Life is good!

After a couple of stressful weeks, things have finally slowed down and we are enjoying the Christmas season! Andy recovered from his oral surgery and went back to work. I'm so thankful that it wasn't as serious as it could have been. He was in a lot of pain for a while but nothing like before. We had a pretty laid back Thanksgiving. We made an appearance at the big family Thanksgiving, but were only there a couple hours. We stopped at the video store and spent the rest of the day in bed watching movies and looking through the "Black Friday" ads. We went to Walmart at midnight and scored some awesome deals on Christmas presents. Then we went home for a while before heading to Target at 5! The crowds were insane but we had a good time and found some greats deals!

We got our Christmas tree up last weekend. It's only a 4 foot tree and it's sitting on a table out of tail-wagging reach! This was Maddie's first tree and she wasn't sure what to think of it. The next night we went out for a little while and came home to find every ornament on the bottom half of the tree pulled off and chewed into millions of tiny pieces. We were definitely not happy about that. Now whenever we both leave we have to move the tree into our bedroom and shut the door. Not ideal but the only way to ensure that our ornaments live to see another Christmas!

I hope everyone has a great Christmas! (in case I don't post again before then)

What a day!!!!

Yesterday was probably the craziest/scariest day of my life! It started out fine, but around 9:00 as I pulled out my lap top to work on my Sociology paper, that was due by 9:00 pm that night, it didn't want to turn on. It was charged and everything, but just wouldn't come on. I absolutely HAD to finish my paper so it was off to buy a new one. We've been planning on buying a new one anyways but we were waiting to find the right one at the right price. I found a great Toshiba! We absolutely love it! My old one was 5 years old and had traveled around the world with me, and dispite it's resent problems, it's been a good computer.

So I got home and began working on my paper. A couple hours later I get a call from Andy saying he needed to go to the hospital. He has had problems with his wisdom teeth for a long time now but he hasn't had any time off to get the surgery done. On Suday he noticed that two of them were infected. Now with his history of MRSA staph, any infection for him can be very serious. So he had been working and started feeling very weak and dizzy he could barley stand up. He called his manager and told him that he needed to get to the emergency room fast so he said he would come get him. Then Andy called me and the first thing he said was "don't panic." Of course I immediately panic!!! He said that his manager was taking him to the hospital. I knew for sure that it was the infection making him sick. I quickly stared getting some things together because I knew for sure he would be admitted. As I was packing, Andy called me back and said that his manger couldn't get there for half and hour and that he needed to call an ambulance. That really made me panic! I knew that I had to get there fast. He said he was feeling the same he felt the first time he had MRSA (when it almost killed him!) I was scared out of my mind!

I managed to make it to the hospital at the same time the ambualance did. The peramedic said he was alright but he was very weak and should have gone to the hospital the day before. Unfortunately the ER was packed and it took at least an hour to get back to see the doctor. The whole time we were sitting i kept thinking that the infection was working it's way into his system and slowly killing him. Finally they ran some tests and thankfully the doctor said that MRSA has never been seen in the mouth before. That was a HUGE relief! However his teeth were really infected and he was in a lot of pain. Some much that even a shot of morphin didn't take the pain away. The doctor gave us a referal to an oral surgeon and said that we should call in the morning to get the teeth pulled. I called this morning at 8:30 and the lady said he could get us in at 10:00. So we through on some clothes and flew out of the house. Once we got there, we filled out the paperwork and went back to the room. The hygenist took Andy for some x-rays but before she could start, the lady at the front desk came in and told us that the doctor wasn't in our insurance network and that we would either have to find another surgeon or pay out of pocket. Paying out of pocket wasn't even an option. That kind of procedure is not cheap! So we called our insurance company and got the number of an oral surgery center that was in our network. I called and said that my husband' wisdom teeth were infected and his cheeks were swollen and that he absolutely had to get in today (can you tell I've become a pushy demanding wife?!?!). Thankfully they had an opening this afternoon. We got there and he went right back for x-rays and then went back for surgery. As soon as they were done I went back to see him and he looked 10 times better than he did. Obviously he was still swollen and sore, but he already felt better. So now we're home and he's still plenty sore and swollen and bleeding pretty good, but at least it's not the infection hurting anymore.

Praise that Lord that It wasn't as serious as it could have been and that he's ok! Life can sure get crazy sometimes (and VERY SCARY!!!!)