Get comfortable, this is going to be a long one!

Well It has been way too long... 2 months! A lot has happened in the last two months. I had a birthday, Haley and I have both been sick (a few times), Thanksgiving, Haley's (Golden) 2nd Birthday, Snonomi 2010, my sister had her gall bladder removed, and most recently my best friend's grandfather (and close family friend) passed away. Did I miss anything?

Well for my birthday, just another day... I remember it was cold, windy and rain/sleeting when I went out for lunch with Erin. But that was about it. The Saturday before my birthday, I went with Brandon, Haley, my mom & sister to The Buffalo Tap for some juicy lucys! They were yummy, but made me sick :(

Haley ended up sick the day after my birthday throwing up in the morning. I stayed home with her that day, but she ended up being ok later on in the day and ended up back at daycare the day after. I stayed home sick the Tuesday after, which happened to be election day. I had the same thing as Haley, but I was having awful pains in my side, the same place as I had pains when I had a kidney stone. I was worried I had more stones so I begged the Dr's office to fit me in that day. They did tests and the most painful pelvic exam I've ever had. The doc just decided that it was a virus that is going around (the stomach bug Haley had the week before also). By the end of that week I had a sore throat, which lead to a hurting chest, then a horrible cough and a final diagnosis of bronchitis. I ended up going to the Urgent Care where I got prescriptions for all sorts of stuff that made me all better. Of course I missed quite a bit of work in the mean time though.

Thanksgiving I was still feeling pretty crappy cause it was only three days after being on all of the prescriptions. Haley threw up in the car a block away from our destination. That was great fun. Luckily it was just a little bit, so it wasn't too bad to clean up. Haley had a lot of fun playing with her cousin, Brooke.

One short week later, Haley turned TWO! My baby girl turned 2. It is still so hard to believe how fast life goes after having a kid. Anyway, Haley got a lot of nice things for her GOLDEN Birthday. It was Sesame Street Themed and soo cute. Haley loved it :) And again, she had a lot of fun playing with her cousin, Brooke. But we were also lucky enough to have lots of kids at this birthday! Her cousin's Charlotte, Brendan and Ethan, and little buddy Cole joined us too!

The next weekend was Snownomi 2010. Haley and I stayed at Mom & Dad's for the weekend to make cookies (plus Brandon was out of town for work that weekend). My Sister had her gall bladder removed earlier in the week, so she was also spending the weekend at the folk's house. Dad went to the cabin though. We planned on making cut out cookies Saturday, but there was sooo much snow, Mom and I went out to snow-blow the driveway. It took us a few hours, and a lot of energy. I never thought that was so much work!! I was definitely glad we didn't have to shovel it though!! By the time we were done there were another couple of inches of snow on the ground already. It was crazy. We didn't end up doing the sugar cookies that day cause we were so warn out after clearing the snow. I did however whip up a quick batch of peanut butter cookies with the chocolate kisses on top.

Over the next week my best friends Grandpa and a friend of the family past away. I've known him my whole life and have called him Grandpa as far back as I can remember. He had been battling cancer and pretty ill for quite some time. He was a great man. Always smiling, always happy. I have many fond memories of him at the cabin he and Grandma had in Siren. I spent many weekends there with Erin growing up. He's in a better place now. No more pain. He is greatly missed though.

The next weekend we had a Christmas celebration with my parents & sister and one my aunt & uncle's house. We didn't know when we'd be able to do gifts with my family, so we just fit it in before we went to Patti & Mike's. My cousin Joe, his wife Lindsay, and daughter Brooke spend Christmas with her family in Canada. This year the family decided to all get together so Haley and Brooke could see each other and open gifts together. That was a good time. The girls get a long so well :)

Then it was Christmas! Christmas Eve morning I had to work for a few hours. It was said that if the guys didn't have to plow, we didn't have to come in at all. Otherwise we did. I planned on just coming in. I new we'd have to. So I got up at 6am and the phone rang at 6:13. It was Andy asking me to come in. I called 3 people to move their cars. They did. Then I waited, and at 11:15 or so Andy said I could go home. I hopped in the truck and headed home. I figured I'd be home rather quickly. It took me an HOUR. First we came to a stop for the guy driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee pulling a travel trailer who was jack-knifed half in the ditch half in the road. Then once they let us pass that (the cops had me stopped so they could try to back it up... but they never got it to move), we came to another complete stop not even a mile down the road. There had been a semi truck in the ditch when I was on my way down to work at 7:30AM. It was still there at 11:45 when I got to that traffic jam. I finally got home to a nice clean house (thanks to Brandon!) and Dirk & Mona showed up! We had some lunch, hung out for a bit and put Haley down for her nap. Dirk and Mona left soon after and I ran to Target to get Haley some tights. I've never been in a store on Christmas Eve... I thought it was going to be a mad house, but I was pleasantly surprised to not have to wait in line to make my purchase! Got back home and got ready and headed over to my parent's house for Christmas Dinner! It was DELISH! I LOVE SWEDISH MEATBALLS! After dinner we were on our way to Brandon's Uncle Mike's to hang out for a couple of hours.

We got home at 10PM and put Haley to bed. That is when I started wrapping all of Haley's gifts and we watched A Christmas Story. In bed by 12:00 and Back up again at 9AM. Got ready and went over to Grandma Myrna's. Lucky for me I had an insult free Christmas! No one asked if I was pregnant or if I was gaining weight or anything of the sort. It was nice :) Dirk and Mona came over later that night and we finally had Haley open her presents from us and Santa.

Got up Sunday morning and went over to Josh and Deann's to have Christmas with them and Dirk and Mona. Haley is so funny... She is scared of Grandpa Dirk. She did get to the point where she would goof around with him, but she still wouldn't give him a hug before we left.

Once we got home yesterday and put Haley down for her nap, Brandon left to go and plow the snow that fell over night Thursday into Friday morning. Of course this is the night Haley pukes and has a messy poopy diaper. She only puked and pooped once, but it was a mess to clean up. Then she didn't want to go to bed. She was scared she was going to throw up again. I felt bad for her but it was already 45 minutes past her bed time. She finally went to bed and I had to continue cleaning. I got a little time to mess around with my iPod (which I got for Christmas, courtesy of my parent's!). I've had it for a little over a week, and I am still trying to get things figured out.

Wow, Okay... Longest blog... ever. I will say I wrote this over two weeks... I started it before Christmas and ended it well now... after Christmas.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas!

Its been a couple of weeks since my last post, but I guess I haven't had much to say! Today I am feeling somewhat crabby. The thought of health insurance makes me cringe. We have medical bills up the wazoo, which proves to me that my medical insurance SUCKS. We are up for renewal on December 1, 2010. The office discussion has begun. Any time anyone mentions it to me, or in front of me, I just get angry. We were given applications for 2 other companies to apply with since the current company we are with is raising our rates 21%! So it goes from $488.40/month to $595.10/month. Granted, we are lucky enough to have our boss fork out $300 for each employee/month for medical coverage... but that still leaves me with $295.10/month (or $147.55/pay period). Plus the money I have taken out of my check and deposited to my HSA account for our medical bills payment plans. Just all of it makes me crabby! We are broke because of it. We would really be sitting pretty if we didn't have any medical bills!! But we do and that's that.

OK I am done talking about that... it's really getting me ticked.

Oct. 2 My sister and I attended our first Twins game at Target Field together. We had a blast, and of course, they won! What made the win even more exciting was they finished with a walk off win! It was definitely a beautiful day for outdoor baseball.

Um, what else... The next day I decided to convert Haley's crib into a toddler bed. The first night she did great and didn't get out of bed until I got her up on Monday morning. Monday night was fine until Brandon got up at 4:45AM to get ready for work and she came out of her room. He put her back in bed, but she was up again at 5:45AM and came in my room and said "Hhhhiiiiiiiiiiiii!!" Little stinker! She was a little better the rest of the week, not getting up til 6:50AM (I usually get her up around 7) so this was much better! Today and yesterday have been great! She was still in bed when I went in to get her ready for day care! My baby girl is really growing into a big girl!

I did finally decide on a Halloween costume for Haley! Well I didn't so much decide on it as it was more decided for me. I brought Haley's dino costume from last year to her daycare to see if it fit Michele's daughter Bre. It did fit her so she offered to borrow me her son's skunk costume from a few years ago. It is so STINKING cute! Haha! Get it? Skunk, stinking. HA! I crack me up.

I am pretty excited for this weekend, I am going to Ashley's Dahlia Street Salon on Saturday to get my hair done. I am going dark again. Think Monica, Season 7. :) Not only am I excited to get my hair done, but I am also excited to see Ashley and little Cole! Its been about a month since I've seen Ashley and really I don't remember when I saw Cole last. Oh it was the last time I had my hair done in July! He's growing up fast too.

I guess I had more to talk about than I thought!

I didn't name today's post. I have nothing nice to say, so I won't say anything at all. No I am kidding, I am just not feeling creative today. And looking back at all the rest of my posts, I was not very creative with those either!

This weekend was fun! Friday night Brandon came home and ate with us, and we pretty much vegged out on the couch and watched TV. Just hung out as a family. It was nice. Saturday was a day full of cleaning, then fun! We were getting ready for a few friends to come over and have a bbq, bonfire and fire works. The town we live in was celebrating what they call Stage Coach Days this weekend, and they always do fireworks. So we've been having a bbq and bonfire the last few years. We had burgers, brats, pasta salad, beer bread, cup cakes, apple cider and beer! My mom was nice enough to take Haley for the night, as we weren't quite sure how she would react to the fireworks. They are really close to the house, and very loud. She is afraid of thunder, so we figured it was safe to say she'd probably dislike the fireworks very much.

Sunday we slept in a little. Brandon got up and took my sister's car to his work to figure out what was wrong with it, while Christy and I lounged around and watched TV. Gramma brought Haley home around noon, and at 1:00 it was nap time. I didn't end up getting a nap, cause as soon as I fell asleep, I had Brandon on the phone telling me to open the garage door to let him in. He figured out what the problem with her car was, but had to order the parts. He will fix it next weekend when Christy and I go to watch the Twins play the Blue Jays at Target Field. I am pretty excited to go to Target Field again. We were there earlier this year, but I ended up having food poisoning (not from food I ate there, cause I started feeling sick before I got there) so I didn't have much fun. This time around I plan on walking around a little more, and maybe get a souvenir!

I guess I am really not too exciting today. I sure wish I was at home, in bed sleeping. I have a headache, and really my whole body aches. I hope I am not getting sick!!

Just another Manic Monday

Whoaaaaaa whooooaaaa!
Really wasn't ready to begin a new week as I woke up this morning and slowly got ready for work. I didn't leave my house until 7:30... which is a big no no. No chance of being to work on time leaving that late!! I hadn't even dropped Haley off!

After finally getting to work at 20 after 8, I sat down and participated in our typical Monday morning meeting. Nothing exciting. Just sat and listened. Almost fell asleep a few times.

This weekend was nice though. Friday after work, I picked Haley up from daycare and drove down to my parent's house for taco pizza with my mom. I brought the Scentsy suitcase down to show her all of the samples of scents available, and the catalog. Mom invited her friend Gwen to take a look also. They each made generous orders, and Haley and I headed home to get to bed.

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to head out to the Saint Paul Farmer's Market with Ashley and Erin. It was pretty chilly, but we were bundled up a bit, so it was ok :) It was the first time I saw Erin since she's been home from living in Florida for 3 months. It was really good to see her and a lot of hang out together (all 3 of us, well 4... Haley added a little more excitement too ;) ) On our way back to my house, we stopped at Erbert and Gerbert's for a couple of sammiches, Ash had to go home, but Erin and I went downstairs and ate sammiches and hung out watching Friends. Brandon was sleeping until late that afternoon. Once he and Haley got up, Erin and I went to Bath and Body Works, and I brought her home. I went home and we really just hung out on the couch the rest of the night watching Psych.

Sunday didn't turned out as we hoped. Brandon ended up working, so the only thing that got done, was a little cleaning on the inside of the house, and some grocery shopping. We will see how this week goes. I have a hunch we will be doing everything last minute before the BBQ on Saturday.

Meehhh 9/15/10

Nothing really spectacular to talk about... Been pretty busy at work these last two and a half weeks. And at home.

Last weekend Brandon went on his annual boy's weekend at the Kasson Truck Show, and treated me to a 1/2 day at the spa! I went with Heather (since her husband was there too!) to LaGrande Salon and Spa. We each had a massage, facial and pedicures! It was the most fantastic day! After the spa we tried out Vannili's on the Lake for the first time. It was really good! Huge portions!! I had the chicken parmesan, which was fantastic. We had ordered a plate of fries to share cause we were starved, but then our meals also came with salad... So I was almost full by the time I got my dinner.

Afterward, I picked up Haley from Heather's (where we had hired a babysitter to watch the kiddos), and headed home to meet Lisa, a girl who I went to HS with and sells Scentsy products. She brought along her suit case of goodies taught me a little bit about the products. Which I quickly fell in love with, and I don't even have my order in yet!! It was fun to chat with her, and learn about Scentsy.

Sunday morning, Haley and I went to breakfast with Sally and Jackson. It was our first time meeting Jackson and he slept the whole time. He is such a cute little peanut!! He was 3 weeks old and still wasn't as big as Haley was when she was born! Really tiny and cute :)

FIVE Wonderful Years

Today Brandon and I celebrate 5 wonderful years of marriage :) Not only did I marry the love of my life, but I married my BEST FRIEND! He is always there for me, no matter what. Even if he isn't actually there in person, I can always count on him to listen to my problems and help me find a solution. We've grown a lot in the last five years, thankfully it has been together, and not apart!

Brandon works a lot, as most of you know. But over the years I've realized that he is doing it to better our family. I still have my days (and/or weeks) that it really bothers me. But for the most part, I understand. Someday, his hard work will pay off. We will be able to retire and (maybe) travel together. We wont know until the time comes, but for now, that is what I hope for! It is also much easier when he is away because I have Haley to keep me company.

Happy Anniversary Brandon!! I love you!!

The Test

Instead of getting up extra early Wednesday morning for Haley's VCUG test, we ended up spending the night at Grandma & Grandpa Keppers' house. My mom took the day off also to come with us since Brandon was unable to attend.

The test was no fun! First we went into a regular exam type room where they administered the nitrous oxide. That wasn't too bad. They put the catheter in and extracted all the urine she had in her bladder. They left the tube in and put her diaper back on. Then brought her down from the nitrous oxide by giving her pure oxygen. I was a little confused at this point because they weren't quite done yet. Anyway... next, we walked down the hall to the xray room where I had to lay Haley down on a table (she hates any exam table/hospital bed). There were 4 people (including myself and my mother) holding Haley down while a 5th snapped the xrays. First they had to fill her bladder with the dye, then they poured water on her nether region to make her urinate so it would show on the ultra sound if it was coming out or coming out and going up her ureters. It was in fact going back up her ureters. Which means she has Kidney Reflux. Luckily, it is the lowest (stage 1) grade. To treat it, the only thing they can do is prevent infections by putting her on a preventative antibiotic. Hopefully it will work and there will be no break-through infections. I am confident it will work :)

Our Weekend

Friday morning I went into Haley's room to find she had peed through her night time diaper. Which if you remember, was the first indicator to her last two UTIs. So, I conversed with Brandon and decided to bring her in to be tested. Which was a decision that did not come easy... With all of the pain it causes her... fighting off the nurses when they try to catheterize her. It is sooo traumatizing (as I've mentioned previously). For both Haley and I (and Brandon too, when he is there). Because the nurse I spoke to at the Urologist office told me that she could not have an infection when she has her test on the 25th, we figured we better not wait to see if she develops a fever. I got her in at 3:00pm that day.

We saw Andrea, the same Nurse Practitioner as last time. She was great. I told her all of Haley's symptoms, she examined Haley by pressing on her tummy and looking at her bottom. After doing so she decided not to go through the process of taking a urine sample. She said Haley was definitely constipated, and not to worry about baths so much right now. She said it could very well be hurting her to sit in the water because of the backed up poo' in her. That also could be causing the extra pee at night. So until we get the poo' out, we will sponge bathe. I haven't washed her hair since Thursday night now, so it is getting pretty greasy. I am going to try and wash it in the sink tonight if she will lay still on the counter for me. We will see!

On a different note... We ended up staying the night at my parent's house that night. We did a bunch of running around after the appointment and were pretty pooped by the time we got back to their house. I had picked up a Power Wheels Barbie Trailrider (4-Wheeler) for Haley at a garage sale earlier in the day, and when I was putting it in the bed of my truck (by myself, no thanks to the seller) I didn't quite clear the tailgate while lifting the toy up it twisted my wrist really hard and I felt something pop. From then on while driving down to Haley's appointment and the rest of the weekend it hurt. I must have sprained it or something. It still snap, crackles and pops if I don't have this wrist wrap on (which I happened to already have). It seems to help quite a bit!

Saturday we hung out at my parents house until about 4pm. They went to a wedding and wanted us to stay so we could feed and let out the dogs so they could hang out at the wedding for a while. Christy stopped by to hang out and get ready for the wedding she was going to later that afternoon. After Haley's nap we fed the dogs and left. Stopped at Kmart to find a battery and charger for the Power Wheels. No luck there so I called the Forest Lake Walmart to see if they had what I needed. The person I spoke to told me they had a combo package with both the battery and the charger. That made me excited! So we ran up there quick and found that it was not the right battery. Boo! Picked up some hot dogs for dinner and a few other things in the new grocery store part of Walmart, and went home without a battery or charger. I did find both items at Batteries Plus, but they wanted $39.99 for each item! No way I was going to spend $80 on a used toy that I am not sure will work even if I get these things! I've done some looking online, and it looks like I will have to order them.

Brandon hired two teenagers from work to come over and work on our yard. One pulled weeds and the other mowed the lawn twice (the grass was super long so Brandon wanted it done the first time at 4" and the second time at 3.5") and pulled the sweeper to pick up the grass clippings. They were there for about 4 hours, but it was so hot they decided to come back and finish either later this week or this coming weekend. Already it is looking good though! I am pretty excited to see the finished product. Our yard has definitely been neglected for the last couple of years with how much Brandon has been working.

Well today's almost done. One more day of work, then I have Wednesday off. But it won't be fun and games! Haley and I will be up extra early. We have to pick up Grandma on the way and be to Children's (United) in Saint Paul by 7:30AM. It is definately nice to split up the week by having Wednesday off, but I am NOT looking forward to it this time. I'd like to just skip this week until 5:00PM Friday, our 5 year Wedding Anniversary!

And the problem continues...

Ok so it's not exactly the same problem as before, but Haley is having problems again. This time she is constipated. Or so they say. I mean I believe it and everything... It's just strange cause until we started messing with her, she was still actually pooping. If you don't want to read about poop... stop reading here.

Monday she pooped while at daycare. But Michele (our daycare provider) told me it took her a good hour to actually get it out. She said when she finally got it out and Michele changed Haley's diaper, it smelled horrific, and was black as tar. Later I found out Haley had eaten lots of blueberries on Sunday.

Speaking of the weekend, this is when it all began (or shall I say we started noticing something was definitely wrong... we kinda already knew she might be constipated). Haley went to the cabin with my parents for the weekend so I could ride along with Brandon on a Wilton, ND run for work. We haven't seen a lot of each other lately, so it was nice to get to spend some time together, just the two of us. Although it would have been nice if it could have been the three of us, that just doesn't work in a semi-truck. Anywho... Saturday my mom went to give Haley a bath and she immediately told Gramma she had to poop. Gramma then took her out of the tub and held her on the toilet to see if she would go. Haley wasn't having it. Gramma went to try and put her back in the tub when she put her legs out so Gramma couldn't get her into the tub... kind of like a cat might do if you were trying to put them in a bath. Smart little bugger. So Gramma put a diaper on Haley and that was the end of it. She planned on giving her a bath the next morning, but they didn't get to it.

After Haley arrived home on Sunday evening, I fed her and tried the bath. Same thing. I put her in the bath and right away Haley says "Potty, potty, potty" and points at the big-girl potty chair. She didn't even sit down in the bath, so her feet were the only thing wet. I took her out and sat her on the potty. Nothing. She sat there a few minutes then got up and walked to the tub and said "bath" so I tried putting her back in. Like the night before, she stuck her legs out and made it difficult to get her into the tub. Finally I got her in and she just stood there. And of course cried. She wouldn't sit down and kept saying "potty" while pointing at it. I couldn't tell if something was wrong, or she was just simply being a two year old brat. I told her if she didn't sit down, I would just bath her while she stood there. And that, I did. I went to try and wash her but and she immediately clenched her legs together as hard as she could. I took her out of the tub, dried her off and put her on the changing pad. I tried to put a diaper on her, same thing. She clenched her legs together like I was doing something to hurt her. She does the same thing when the doctors try to cath her. And she cries. It is all great fun.

I called the Nurse Practitioner we saw at the Urologist office to talk to her and of course Monday she had the day off. I talked to a nurse and wasn't happy with what she told me so I called back on Tuesday talk to Andrea (the NP). She told me she was certain Haley was constipated. Since I had already tried prune juice (which the first time she loved, and Monday she wouldn't touch it) and that didn't work, I needed to try some glycerin suppositories. :( NO FUN! I waited for Brandon to come home last night to give her another stand up bath (she wouldn't sit in the water again), then we did the suppository. She didn't like it, and neither did we. 30 minutes later it was time for bed. She wasn't having that either. She cried for an hour before finally falling asleep. That was the worst. I wanted so badly to go in and rock her to sleep like I did when she was younger. But Brandon assured me she would fall asleep on her own. The night before we let her sleep in bed with us, which almost NEVER happens. She had cried and cried and cried some more, and we gave in.

Anyway... Hoping for some "poops" for Haley today! Also praying for a friend, Sally, who was induced for labor yesterday afternoon. Have not heard any news as of yet.

TGI... T

Glad that it is Thursday, but I wish it were Friday. I am definitely ready for the weekend. A weekend of nothing but hanging around the house. Maybe I can get some cleaning done!! No weddings, no parties, no helping Brandon at work. Nothing. Oh there is one thing.... Brooke asked if I wanted to go to a baby sale in Forest Lake, I said sure! But its not far from the house, so I won't worry too much.

My house is seriously a pigsty. If you know me, (which i am sure you do) you know this isn't completely unusual. Being the "sometimes single mother" that I am, I just don't have the energy (or ambition) to clean it/keep it clean during the week. Then the weekend comes and if we are busy with stuff, chances are I am either not home enough to get it clean or I am not home one whole day and need the next day to recover. Well now I am putting it in writing "I WILL CLEAN MY HOUSE THIS WEEKEND!" I do really enjoy when it is clean. I REALLY do. But it is hard when you get home from work, make dinner, eat, then get Haley down from the chair and she wants to hang out with Mommy... She doesn't like it when I try to do the dishes, she typically hangs on my leg crying and whining until I give up. By the time I put her to bed, I am wanting to go to bed myself. So this weekend, I WILL clean.

ON a different note.... It is only the beginning of August and I've already started thinking about what to dress Haley as for Halloween. Of course I could go with the Princess or Ballerina, but I am thinking something more cutesy. You know like a fuzzy animal. She won't want to do those when she is older, I am sure she will pick a princess every year til she is 10, so I figure I can wait til then for that. Any ideas? I wish I was crafty enough to make one myself, cause all of the really cute ones are $40- $50! And well that's just too much.

I've also started thinking about Haley's 2nd Birthday Party. It's not just her 2nd birthday... it is also her GOLDEN Birthday! What kind of a theme should I go with?? Big Bird? He's yellow, yellow is sometimes referred to as gold...? I really have no idea. But again, I am open to suggestions.

HOT HOT HOT

Dang! It is hot out there! They are talking heat index of 103° today. An excessive heat advisory is in effect. or is it affect? Anyway... we are under an excessive heat advisory. It's days like today that I worry about Brandon and my Dad. Them being outside all day long. Are they drinking enough water? Are they over doing it? Brandon gets mad at me when I ask these sorts of questions, says he's a "big boy that can take care of himself." This doesn't make me worry any less though.

He says that he will actually be home early tonight. Early to him is a normal time to me. Meaning around 5pm. I won't count on it though. It seems when he says something like this he actually means 3+ hours later. I am used to it I guess. Although some days it bothers me more than others.

Went to a the wedding of Brandon's Grandpa Joe and "New" Grandma Mary on Saturday this weekend. We got there at 9AM, as requested, for pictures. Haley was rather shy at first, clinging to my leg and wanting me to hold/carry her. After a while, I couldn't get her to stay near me. She was running around pressing her face up against the glass doors/windows, climbing on chairs across the room, just didn't want to be anywhere near me and Brandon. Finally when the ceremony began, we sat in the chapel for about 5 minutes before she started speaking loudly. So we brought her out into the lobby area, were we could still hear and see what was happening. So she ran around and did her own thing. Which was fine until someone came towards the end of the service and sat out in the lobby also. Then we wanted her to stay by us. She wasn't having it. Finally we took her out to the truck and she and I stayed out there. Brandon went back inside to finish his Usher duties. He did so hung out until he was able to congratulate his Grandpa Joe and Mary in the receiving line. He informed them our daughter was misbehaving and we would be leaving because of it, and he had to go into work. Neither of them seemed very happy, but what can you do.

We left and on the way home we stopped at Mc Donnalds. I had the first cheese burger I've had since last September. For those of you who don't know, I've not been eating ground beef because last September all of a sudden it started making me feel really sick. I didn't actually get sick, but felt as if I was going to be. It had happened 3 times in one week. After that, I kind of swore it off. Well I had a Big and Tasty, and OMG it was soooooo good! But an hour after eating it, I was sorry. I did get sick this time. :( Maybe I should ask my doctor about it? I dunno. May as well since we hit our insurance deductible this year!

I guess that's about it for today... it is 4:45 so I need to start closing up shop!

ANOTHER INFECTION

So my poor little girl has ANOTHER UTI! I noticed earlier this week that she had woken up every day with a VERY full (night time) diaper. So bad that when you walked in the room you could smell it. Wednesday morning she leaked through her diaper... she was wet from the waist down... socks and all. I called her pediatrician's office that morning when I got to work and they said that it wasn't a symptom of a UTI, so unless she had a fever or started acting sick, they wouldn't do a test (cath her for a sample). I said ok and hung up.

I picked Haley up from daycare, and Michele (day care) said that she seemed normal all day. We got home and I had to strip her bed get all of her bedding down to the washing machine. This was including her beloved "Bubby". When she saw me take him she had a fit and started sobbing. I took it all downstairs and threw it in the wash. When I got back upstairs she was still crying so I picked her up and calmed her down. She then said "Eat. Eaaat." I put her down and started to get things out to make dinner. She started patting her booster and saying "Eat. Eat" so picked her up and tried to put her in her booster chair, and again she started freaking out. She ended up not eating much of anything... just a strawberry.

We sat down on the couch after cleaning up the kitchen and I noticed she was warm. Her temp was 103. I called Brandon (who was working) who told me to just take her in to the ER. So, we packed up and off we went.

We got there and the triage nurse took her temp. from her arm pit and it was 99°. I said "that's not right..." So she took it again, and it was the same. I told her again it wasn't right and she said "well if they want to they will do an anal temp. when you get to a room." Whatever.

We got called back and a nurse practitioner came in and I explained what was going on and what had happened earlier this month. She said we could do a bunch of tests related to a fever but if you are certain that she's got a UTI, we will just go ahead and cath her to get a urine sample and see what it says. So that's what they did. AFTER they tortured her with an anal temp. She struggled and screamed and cried. Then they came back to do the cath and oh boy did she fight!! It was heart breaking! She was screaming so hard her face was purple, and she could barely breathe. After the nurse finally got the cath in (her second attempt... the first one came out cause Haley was fighting so hard), Haley cried for about 5 minutes... I held her and rocked her and she just wouldn't stop crying. It hurt her when I was holding her on my side (like I usually carry her).
Anyway, they gave us a prescription and sent us on our way.

We left the ER and went on to Walgreens and got the antibiotics. Went home and went to bed. Both of us were wiped!

Friday I heard from an ER nurse who said "If her fever hasn't gone down or if she is still acting sick Saturday afternoon/evening, to bring her in." So we waited. Saturday during the day, she didn't show much of a fever. We went down to Burnsville to hang out with "Auntie CC" and ended up having an impromptu sleepover! Her temp started going up at around 8:30 that night but I decided to just put her to bed and if it was still up in the morning, I'd bring her in then. It was normal, so I didn't end up having to.

(Wow, Longest post ever. I've been typing bits and pieces of this post for the last week and a half! )

On Wednesday of this week (8/4) we took Haley in to see a Pediatric Urologist nurse practitioner. She was really nice. She told us we did do the right thing by bringing her in to see her, because whats going on is not normal. We made an appointment for 8/25 for Haley to have a test (VCUG) to check to see if she has kidney reflux. They are going to give her a sedative (laughing gas), but this test is not going to be pleasant. For her, especially, but for me too. It is heartbreaking to watch her go through such a painful process. It will be similar to when they've cathed her in the past for a urine sample. But this time they will be inserting a dye into her bladder to see if the dye travels back up into her kidney's (as urine would if she has kidney reflux). Immediately after the test we have an appointment with the practitioner we saw on Wednesday this week to go over the results of the test and talk about options for treatment.

In the mean time, she will finish the antibiotics she is on (that she received last week in the ER) tomorrow, then go on a prophylactic (a preventitive antibiotic) for a month. We will see how it goes.

ALARM CLOCK

I am SOOOOOOOO sick of Brandon and his stupid alarm clock!! He has been home for two days and it has got me wishing he was gone again (or at least sleeping in a different room)! He has this (bad) habit of setting his alarm clock early and sleeping through it until I wake him enough to roll over and hit the snooze button. For example: Today his alarm clock was set for 5AM. He was still not out of bed when I left for work. He doesn't set just one alarm either. He has two alarms on his actual digital alarm clock. then there are like 3 or 4 on his phone. He doesn't always set them all, but he does set at least one on the alarm clock and one on the phone (usually 2 on the phone... I know because they use different tones). Alarm clock he has at its highest volume and the radio is selected for the alarm. Anyway... he is a VERY heavy sleeper and I am not. I have to nudge him and tell him to wake up and say his name over and over, louder than louder before he wakes enough to hit the snooze button. Sometimes he will hit the wrong snooze button (like if his phone is going off, he will hit the snooze on the alarm clock, or visa-versa), then I have to start the waking process all over again. It is SOO frusterating! Then he gets mad at me when I start raising my voice. Says "How would you like it if you woke up to me screaming at you every day?!" That is besides the point, cause I don't sleep hard enough for him to begin to raise his voice to wake me up. He could whisper my name, and I would wake up.

Ugh. Tuesday.

Hello all. It is Tuesday, and I am really wishing it were Friday. I am just exhausted, for no reason whatsoever. Well, I suppose, I've been staying up later than what I am used to. I recently started watching Veronica Mars (for the second time through... we own it on DVD) and have again become hooked. It is just one of those shows you can't stop watching! You just NEED to know what happens next! If you haven't had the pleasure of watching, and you enjoy mysteries, I highly recommend it. But I do have to warn you, it ends abruptly at the end of Season 3. It was sadly canceled by the CW. The first 2 seasons were on the WB, but then the CW took over and VM only lasted one more season. Anywho you can find it on line also at www.hulu.com .

Brandon FINALLY came home early (2:30AM) yesterday morning! He was on the road for a total of 10 days, although the 2 days before that he was not home at all (at least when Haley and I were awake). He came home from work a little early last night too, to spend some time with me and Haley. We had some pizza and watched our new favorite show "Chuck". Also another AWESOME show that is full of comedy, romance and mystery. Hopefully Chuck won't be canceled before its time.

Not too much else going on until this weekend. Saturday Haley and I will be going over to Ashley's to get my hair cut and hang out with her and Cole. Then that night we will be at the Equipment Transport company party! I have to say, I am quite excited for the pig roast, band and adult beverages! My mom was nice enough to say she'd take Haley over night so Brandon and I can enjoy ourselves without having to worry about getting home early. Also we don't have to pay a babysitter! Should be a good time :)

July?

Holy crap! It's July! I can hardly believe it. But it's just like every summer, it goes by so quickly!
Brandon's been working a lot again this summer. Don't get me wrong... it is a good thing! But it is hard also. Not only do I miss him, but Haley does. Randomly she will just say "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?" And I have to say "No honey, he's at work." Sometimes we will go and see him after I pick her up from daycare if we haven't seen him in a few days. But when he is out of town, we can't do that. She'll understand some day.

On a different note... Picked up Haley on Friday July 2nd at the normal 5:30 time from daycare. I had gotten an email earlier in the day stating that Haley wasn't herself that day. She didn't eat much for breakfast, lunch or snack, didn't play much, just stood around or even laid on the ground. Totally unlike my happy energetic Haley. I got a call at about 4:55 saying "I know this doesn't do you any good really because it is 5 minutes until you get off of work, but Haley has a slight fever." Made me nervous, but we went to the cabin as planned with my parents and sister (Brandon was out of town for work until Saturday night, got to the cabin Sunday around noon). Fever still hadn't gone away the next day and she still wasn't eating much of anything. So, I decided to take her in to Urgent Care. She had a high fever 103 over night, and I knew something was wrong. She alllllways eats! So we went and found out she had a really BAD bladder infection. They gave us some antibiotics at the hospital (up in the sticks, thats what they do because the pharmacies aren't open on the weekends!) and sent us on our way. That didn't seem to work. Her fever spiked that night 104.0. Then again the next night 104.9. The antibiotics were definitely not working. Well we decided that on Monday, and brought her into our clinic at home on Tuesday morning when they gave her a new antibiotic I ended up staying home part of the day on Tuesday (brandon actually was home for the other part), and all day Wednesday and Thursday. My mom was nice enough to take the day off and watch her on Friday. By friday she didn't have a fever anymore and was acting pretty normal. She went back to daycare yesterday and was SOOOO EXCITED! I have an ultra sound scheduled (as requested by the doc) for Thursday evening, so they can make sure there wasn't any damage, or there isn't something wrong with her 'plumbing' .

I will try and start doing this a little more often... sorry!

MAY!

Can't believe it is already the end of May!! Ridiculous! This month went by super fast! We've already been to the cabin twice this month and are going back again tomorrow for the long holiday weekend! Can't wait!

Haley is growing so fast lately! Not in size as much as personality! And looks, I suppose too. She just looks like a little toddler, not so much a baby anymore. Walking and running and nodding her head yes or asking "Peeaasse" (please). I 've been putting pigtails in her hair a lot lately also and it really makes her look so grown up!

Traffic has been TERRIBLE these last two weeks!! I can hardly stand it. If I had a ton of vacation, I would totally take it during this road construction BS they have going on 35W in the Blaine/Mounds View/Arden Hills/New Brighton Area! It is REDONK, how long it takes me to get home. I don't know what I would do if it took me an hour to get home all year round! I guess I would be finding a new job! Cause I can't handle it! My legs hurt sitting in the car so long... And yes I do mean the car... I've been driving the car this week cause their is something wrong with my truck. Brandon doesn't want me to drive it until he gets the chance to take a look at it. And his time is running low, because we are dragging the boat up to the cabin tomorrow! I have a half day at work, but then I hope to be leaving! But, as always, I am sure it won't work out as smoothly as I'd like it to. Still have to pack and everything too. Who knows.

Wow.

Ok so it has been a few weeks... I've been busy!

Chicago was a lot of fun! Left early Friday morning (about 7:30AM... not too early) then stopped at McDonald's somewhere past Hudson. Had some breakfast and didn't stop again until Wisconsin Dells. There is a Outlet Mall there, which happened to have a Coach Factory store inside! 3 out of the 4 of us bought new purses, the 4th decided to buy one from Kelly (one of the 4). After making our purchases, we hopped back in the Tahoe and were off to Chicago!

We got there and our room had ONE bed. For FOUR women. I said right away "Um, are we sure we don't want to get another room?" No one wanted to. Besides me. Of course. So Heather and I got the bed Friday night, and had to sleep on the floor... that frickin' sucked! The bed was awesome, then sleeping on the floor, just really sucked.

I lost my voice on Saturday night, and could barely talk on Sunday. All in all it was a good weekend, although I don't think I will be going back anytime soon.

Less than 2.5 Days til Chi-Town!

Really getting excited for this up and coming Mommy's weekend in Chicago! It will be nice to get away for a weekend, and REALLY nice to go SHOPPPPPPPING! :) I am however going to miss little Miss Haley Ann terribly! I've only been away from her no more than like 24 hours before. We are leaving early Friday morning and not coming home til Sunday. It will be hard, but she will be spending some much needed father-daughter time with her Daddy!

On a totally different note, we are now proud owners of a new (to us) boat! It is a 1989 Bayliner Maxum. It's not new or in perfect condition, but was a great deal, Brandon just couldn't pass it up.


OMG. This day is really dragging for me. I am guessing it will be like this tomorrow and Thursday too! :( I hope not though.

Tomorrow I plan to get my brow's waxed on lunch. Is there anyone else who loves to have this done??! I do. As long as the person doing it, knows what they are doing... and puts pressure on after ripping the hairs from my brow. When they don't it's really more like torture! I also really need to get my hairs cut, as I have some really bad split ends. But I won't have time for that before Chicago.

Tonight, will be a night full of laundry. I need to get packing for the weekend. Not really sure what to bring. And I really hate that... cause I will totally end up over packing. Bringing 10 different pairs of shoes and 10 different pairs of clothing. Ok, so I am exaggerating a little, but you get the idea.

Oh crap. That's another thing I have to do. When I got pregnant, I took all of my pre-preggo clothes out of my dresser and put them into our two large luggage. I have since removed a few things, but failed to get rid of the rest because I'd still like to be able to wear some of it again some day. Ahhhh... Some day... Yeah probably after a tummy tuck! I have lost NO inches after almost 3 weeks of cutting soda out completely. My weight has fluctuated quite a bit, and I am 2 lbs under what I started at (which was my lowest of the 3 lbs I fluctuate between). At one point I was 3 lbs under my starting weight then back up to 2 lbs above! So frustrating. Oh well that will all probably go down the tube after this weekend in Chicago. I plan on indulging on some yummy Chicago Style PIZZA! And Beer! YUMMO! We will see, maybe we will walk around enough to burn it all off! I hope..

Its Friday, and I don't want to work .

There are probably 10 different things I could be doing right now (work related), but here I am. I am really just having one of those "I don't wanna work" days. The filing isn't going to do it self, neither are the finance reports, petty cash, or weekend book.

The other problem I am having today: Diet Mountain Dew withdrawals. I want one sooooo bad! My other craving was a chocolate shake, which I talked myself out of also. Just going to drink water. I already had a Crystal Light infused water, and don't feel like having another one of those. Just water.

Can't wait for all of the driving I have to do tonight... not. I have to drive from work to day care (right by our house) then to Brandon's work to pick up his pay check, stop at the bank to deposit it, then down to my parents house to have dinner (Jimmy John's!! Mmmmm!) with my mom and sister, then we will go to Sam's and Costco to check out cake ideas. Then back home again, I am hoping by 9. Think I will make it? Me either.

Getting really excited for my Girl's weekend next weekend! At this time next week, I will either be in Chicago, or very close to it! We are going to be leaving between 7-7:30AM, and will be driving. It's been a long time since I've gone on a road trip! Last time would have been almost 5 years ago on our honey moon to Vegas.

Wow, five years! Brandon and I will have our 5 year wedding anniversary in just 4.5 months! I can't believe it. I mean I can, it just doesn't seem like it was that long ago already. I remember it like it was yesterday :)

Ugh. I suppose I should get back to work. Have a good weekend all!!

Thursday

I am soooo wishing it were Friday today. I am just exhausted. No apparent reason for it either.
I realize I haven't posted since the Easter Egg Hunt we went on... Didn't go quite as good as the practices at home. She got 3 eggs. There were SOOO many kids there! And boy was it cold! Afterwords, we hit up the Olive Garden for some yummy food and drinks!

Easter weekend was the next weekend. I had Good Friday off, and hung out with Haley all day. It was a good thing too... Haley was feeling a little under the weather. She has had a snotty nose (like a faucet) for a while now. Friday night Heather and I went to go see "The Last Song" which is based off of the Nicholas Sparks book. It was a good movie, but it was missing quite a bit from the book. I think I need to start seeing the movies before the books, so I like the movie more! I loved The Notebook, and oh geeze what was the other one called...? Oh, A Walk to Remember. For those I saw the movie first, then years later, read the books. In any case. While we went to the movies, the kids and hubbies hung out at Heather & Derek's house. That's when Brandon started not feeling so hot. He said it was his allergies. But the next day, he ended up with a 102.7 degree fever! Needless to say, he didn't end up going to my Aunt's house the next day for Easter. Sunday we got up and hid Haley's Easter Basket under the coffee table for her to find. She found it pretty easy. I tried to record it, but the stupid video camera was stuck on still (it has a still shot mode to take regular pictures) from the Easter Egg hunt. So when I thought I was recording, I wasn't. POOP! Anyway, we ate some cinnamon rolls for breakfast, played with Haley's new toys, and then put Haley down for an early nap. While she was napping, I made some Deviled eggs to bring along to Aunt Barb's house. Here are a few pictures from the Easter gathering at the Pillatzke's.

Lots of fun pictures :)

Tonight, Brandon is out of town. Only until tomorrow though, so that is good. Tomorrow night I will be picking Haley up from daycare and going down to my parents house to pick up my mom and do a little baby shower cake shopping, for Deann's shower.

Saturday morning Haley and I will be doing some more shopping with Miss Sally at Joann's and Michael's. Then we will grab a bite to eat and get Haley home in time for her nap. Brandon also wants to go look at a boat that a friend is selling and maybe buy it from him. Not sure where the $ is coming from that he plans to use to buy it though.

Sunday, I am hoping for a day of RELAXATION! Probably more like laundry and cleaning. Maybe even a nap!! We'll see.

TGIF People!

It's been a long week. Still sick, sorta. Work has been slooooooow... well not so much work has been slow, but the days have been dragging. At least I have next Friday off! Haley's Daycare is closed (Good Friday), so I figured I would take the day off and spend it with her :)

Tomorrow Haley is doing her very first Easter Egg Hunt! Heather invited us to their neighborhood hunt with Bryce and Blake. I even bought some eggs earlier this week and we "practiced" picking up the eggs and putting them into the basket. She does pretty good! We'll see how she does at the real thing. After the hunt, Heather, the boys, Haley and I are going to go out for lunch. Then it is home for a nap. Gramma is supposed to come by afterward also. Maybe I will be able to get some cleaning done, or go out and start working on cleaning up the yard. Both the inside and outside of the house are a mess, so both needs to be done. We'll see what the weather will turn out to be.

Still no computer at home, so I am stuck blogging here! But I did bring my flash card in to down load some pictures to the computer here...

Bad Case of The Monday's

Really wishing I was at home today. Still not feeling so hot. It's really rather annoying. It's been 12 days of this on and off crap. And now my stomach is on the fritz too. Blah.

I can't quite tell if Haley is getting sick too or what. She is still being whiny and clingy. But no other real symptoms. Just like me, not feeling too miserable I guess. But she is really starting to hate getting her diaper changed. I am still using the changing table, (which is really just a changing pad on top of her dresser) and when i go to lay her down on it, she just doesn't want to lay back! Then once she does, she is either crying or trying to flip herself over... or both. When I want her legs up, she wants them down (when I am trying to wipe her butt), when I want her legs down, she wants them up (when I am trying to strap her diaper on). It is really challenging. And frustrating.

On a brighter note, I went shopping on Saturday! Bought some new clothes and got to hang out with Erin! We were going to bring Haley with, but by the time we were ready and in the truck, she started showing signs that she was tired, so I gave Gramma Judy a call and asked if it was ok for Haley to spend the afternoon there. She agreed. So that was nice. Oh and I also got Haley's Easter Dress, and shoes! Super cute, can't wait to post some pictures. If I ever get my computer back...

We didn't end up going to Scooter's like originally planned. :( But we will get there one of these days. We also need to get out to Ashley's to get her her baby gift, and so I can meet that cute little man (Cole, born March 5th). Gotta get rid of this crud first though, don't wanna get baby Cole or his momma sick!

It's Friday! It's Friday! It's Friday!

Not that I have anything planned for tonight. Just glad it's Friday. Stayed home sick yesterday and got some extra sleep. Didn't however make this sore throat crap go away.

Tomorrow, Erin and I are going to go to Scooters! Haven't been there in what seems like forever! I honestly don't remember the last time. Anyway, Erin and I always have grilled cheese with ranch and pickles (the ranch is to dip both the sandwich and pickles in btw). Don't knock it til you try it, it is DELISH! Anyway, super excited for that and some adult beverages, and adult conversation :)

Gosh, Haley cracks me up these days. The last couple of nights, she's been obsessed with putting this pair of shoes on (and taking them off and putting them on and taking them off....). Well of course she can't put them on herself so she puts them in my lap and whines at me til I put them back on her. Anyway so last night after she had her bath I was putting her footie pj's on and she had the shoes and wanted them on. Well I knew she'd freak out if I put the pj's on her feet and couldn't get the shoes on over them. So instead I put her arms in the pj's, snapped the snap on the top by her neck, and let the footies hang behind her like a cape. So then I put the shoes on her feet and she was walking around like that for like an hour. It was funny. I took some pictures that I will put up when we get our dumb computer fixed.

I haven't had a computer at home for a couple of weeks now. I uploaded some pictures to facebook one day, and all of a sudden, a virus popped up outta nowhere! So we've had it disconnected from the internet ever since then. We have to get my brother-in-law Josh to fix it. So until then, I blog while I am here at work.

As I sit here and type, Erin is getting a new tattoo. I would really like to get a new one also, but I don't know what to get, or where for that matter. So I will wait till I know what I want and be sure it is something I want to live with for the rest of my life. In the mean time, I may get the one I already have touched up. Its faded over the last 8 years (oh good lord, it's been that long since I got it?!) and I'd like it to look new again. Maybe I will even add too it. We'll see.

Ugh, I am totally having a panic attack right now... Not really sure why... But it happens like that all the time. I guess it just means I should go home and have a glass of wine right? Right.

Wednesday

Yay! It is sunny out today :) and supposed to be in the 60's! But right now I sit here with a fleece zippy on. That is what I hate most about spring... in the morning it is in the 30's but then even by lunch, you have to start stripping your clothes off! Key to Spring, LAYERS. And extra shoes in your car ;)

Speaking of shoes, I am going to go and get some new ones for Haley on lunch today! I love buying shoes! Even when they are not for me, it turns out. The best part about buying Haley shoes is, they are pretty inexpensive. Right now she only has one pair of tennis shoes, and they have laces. I was thinking it would be much easier to have slip-ons so i don't have to worry about getting them on and tying them every day before and after daycare. Call me lazy, but I never untie/retie my own shoes. I slip them off when I get home, and slip them on when I leave.

Less than a month now til I will be on my way to Chicago!! I am super excited about it, and I am wishing it wasn't so far away. I hope that the weather will cooperate for us so we can walk around the city.

By the way, went on lunch to get Haley some shoes from Walmart... turns out they didn't have any in her size... WTF? I just want a cheap pair for her to wear to daycare that she can get dirty at the park and stuff. Oh well, I will have to find some someplace else.

Still trying to fight off whatever this is I've been fighting off. So far it has just been at night and in the morning for a couple of hours, but today the sore throat has stuck with me. I hate this anticipation... am I getting sick or am I not!? I still have hope it is only allergies :)

This weather is toying with my emotions!

Ok so maybe its not the weather, but I am feeling a little overwhelmed. Yesterday made me feel a little better though cause it was sunny... today, not so much helping. It also doesn't help that it is my "special time" of the month.

Does anyone else get overwhelmed by doing simple things like paying the bills? Ugh... gives me a panic attack. Mostly the medical bills are the problem area... having to call and deal with the people over the phone. I hate it.

Another thing I am currently (like right this moment) overwhelmed with is house work... laundry, cooking, cleaning. Wish we could afford a maid! Now that all of the snow has melted, I also have to start worrying about the yard work. With the way Brandon works, it usually means I am left to do all of it. It was a lot easier when it was just me, I could just go out and mow the lawn when it needed. Now with Haley, I can't exactly do that. So to add to my wish list, a yard maintenance person. Yeah, right! But a girl can dream, can't she?

Tuesday...

Not feeling so hot this morning. But I am still holding out hope that I am not getting sick. Its like an on and off thing... mornings and evenings are the worst, throughout the day, I feel better.

On a brighter note, I am much less itchy! The samples the derm. doc gave me seem to be working! Awesome!!

Guess there's not too much else to talk about. Maybe its just that it's still early and I'm not feeling the greatest.

Slightly Uneventful Weekend

Friday was the only time I was away from home. Right after work, I headed over to Maplewood, to Tamara's house to freshen up a bit, then we were on our way to Champp's to meet up with the old Juarez Mission Trip peeps. Wow, talk about a blast from the past. Some people have changed a ton, some not so much. Anyway, we ate, talked, enjoyed some adult beverages, and around 9:00, Tamara and I decided to head out. I dropped T off at home and headed home myself. I was home around 10, yeah, late night for me!

Thursday night Haley and I ran over to borrow a top to wear Friday for the "reunion" with my Mission Trip friends. I left there feeling like I was getting sick. My throat hurt bad. Woke up the Friday morning, same thing. But it went away pretty quickly. After I left work, it came back, and by the time I got to Tamara's house, my ears started to hurt. It continued through the night and all weekend. Still not feeling well, but I am at work.

Anyway... Saturday Brandon headed down to Altoona, IA for work, while Haley and I laid low at home. My mom came over in the afternoon. We watched a movie while Haley was napping, then pretty much stayed on the couch the rest of the afternoon, and into the evening. Mom left after dinner, and Haley and I played until it was time to go to bed. Brandon didn't get home til about 10. Sunday, was pretty much the same. Brandon worked, Haley and I stayed home. It was beautiful outside though. Wished I would have felt better, we could have gone for a walk. but instead, we opened the windows and sat inside. Both Haley and I took a long nap in the afternoon, which left me feeling a lot better. Then as it grew dark out, the sore throat came back again.

Pretty boring weekend. Other than Friday of course, which could have been better, had I felt a little better.

Stitches Removed

So, I had my stitches removed this morning (yuck such a gross feeling!) and after all of that waiting for the call that was supposed to come in "immediately when they got the results," they just happened to have them when I got there.

Luckily, the nurse was nice enough to leave the room talk to the doc and come back saying "I talked to the doctor and she said it was ok to tell you your results for your biopsy so she didn't have to charge you for an office visit." She went on to tell me that I have Spongiotic Dermatitis, which is basically eczema.

Now you might think, "So basically dry skin?" Well its not just dry skin... it is very uncomfortable and can be painful. I've done some research this morning, and it seems it could be from a number of different things.... so I am lost as to what mine could be from. Allergies (from food or hayfever), could be chronic and hereditary, could be stress... I don't even know how to figure out what it is from.

I am supposed to make an appointment in 2 weeks to see if the lotion and cream they gave me is working. So I suppose I just apply the lotion and cream as prescribed, and find out the answer to all of my questions when I see the doc.

Still Itchin'

So, no word back from the dermatologist. Still as itchy as ever. Getting my stitches out tomorrow though, so hopefully I will get some answers about the stuff I wrote about yesterday.

Not too much going on today. Pretty boring day at work. Although it hailed this morning for a minute or two. That was interesting! It was about pea sized hail, while the kids were standing at the bus stop outside my office. It was rather comical to watch them run for cover! Mean I know. I would have let them hang out in the office till the bus came, but they didn't even try to come in. Oh well. Anyway, the hail and thunder got me quite excited that Spring is indeed on its way!

Speaking of Spring... Next month a friend of mine, asked if I would like to go along on a Girl's weekend to Chicago with her and 2 other girls. Of course my first thought was, "oh... sounds expensive," but much to my surprise when I mentioned it to Brandon, he said "Yeah, I think you should go!" Awesome! So, the plans are in the works, I put my request for the day off in, and it was approved. I've never been there before, so when I went and looked at different hotels (just to do a little research of my own, just for fun) holy smokes, there is sooo much to choose from! Glad I'm not doing the official search! Anywho, we will be driving down on a Friday morning, and heading home on Sunday. Not long, just a little get away. I haven't ever been away from Haley for more than one night before though, so that will be tough :(

I've been toying with the idea of joining a gym. Although with how much Brandon works, that would mean I would pick up Haley from daycare get her fed, then bring her with me to the gym where I would drop her of at the gym's child care. That just wouldn't be fair to her. I know she misses me already the way it is, I can barely do the dishes after dinner without her having a temper tantrum! Gone are the days that I could let her hang out in her high chair for a bit while I did the dishes. Now she wants out immediately after she is done eating. So I take her out and try to set her down to play with toys, she starts freaking out! So I end up sitting down on the floor to play with her and all she wants to do is sit on me. Whether I am sitting and she sits on my lap, or laying she has to be on top of me. So, unless Brandon promised to be home at least every other night (haha yeah right) or I suddenly was able to be a stay at home mother, I don't think this is going to happen.

On that note, I've decided to try and eat a little healthier. I still have 10-12 lbs left to lose to get back to my pre-preggo weight. And another 5-10 after that to make me REALLY happy with my body. It's hard though. I've never had to worry about that until I got pregnant and ended up at a whopping 192 lbs! Once it gets warmer out, I am going to try and walk every day on my lunch and maybe again after work pushing Haley in her stroller. I did buy the 30 Day Shred with Julian Michaels, and failed miserably at it. I bought it in November, right before Thanksgiving. I did it once, and couldn't make it through the whole 20 minute work out video. I was also extremely sore for like a week afterward! But I ended up losing like 8 lbs between Thanksgiving and the 1st of the year! Not sure how that worked out, but it happened. Well then just a week or two ago, I thought I would give it a try again... only 10 minutes into the 20 minute work out, I started to have chest pains. I am 26 years old, and no longer considered overweight... I didn't really think it had anything to do with my heart. But it was worse than I've ever felt from a panic/anxiety attack. Needless to say, I quit the work out, and haven't done it since.

Wow, ok so I just got off of the phone with someone who lives here (where I work) who says to me "Hey there is a kid out in the middle of the lake who is jumping up and down, I don't think it is safe for him to be out there" My response: "Why don't you go out there and tell him to get off of the ice??" Resident: "Well he is all the way over on the other side... I just don't think it is safe that he is out there" Me: "Ok well I will track one of the guys down to have them go over there and yell at him." As a parent, if I saw something like this I would go out there and yell at him to get off the ice, not call someone else to do it! Yes, we are the property managers, but we are not baby sitters. This person that called was definitely not a old/crippled person that couldn't leave their house. I know who he was, and he was fully capable of yelling at this kid. Instead of doing so, he calls us, in the mean time, that kid could have broken through the ice (which was what he was worried about in the first place) while he was wasting time calling us to go over there and do it. This just doesn't make sense to me!

A new blog.

I just couldn't keep up with my "Daily Haley" blog. It really didn't seem like it would be so hard, taking one picture every day, and posting it. But it was. Being a new mom (not so new anymore), working full time, having to do the house work, and everything once Haley was mobile, got increasingly harder. Finally I got so far behind on posting the photos, I gave up. Now I decided to start a new blog. I feel like I have a lot to say, about nothing lately and my lack of creativity lead to the dumb blog name. I guess this will pretty much be about whats on my mind, and what Haley is up to.

So, I will start with how much Haley is walking and talking lately. She is really starting to mimic everything we say. Which means I will need to watch my potty mouth in front of her. She's already said a few things that we though sounded like foul language. Which of course made us laugh, cause well she didn't know what she said. But back to the walking, she is so cute when she walks. She is walking so much. Its a little more like waddling. Either way it is cute. She get soo excited about it too. The first few steps she is totally concentrating on what she is doing/ where she is going, then she gets this huge smile on her face and a few steps later, either she is at her destination, or plops down on her butt.

Some of you might know that I have been dealing with some nasty skin issues, and it is driving me insane. I won't get into the gruesome details, but I've been dealing with this since before Christmas, and it has recently gotten worse... and has spread to my face. Which makes me feel extra icky. I saw a dermatologist about 2 weeks ago, he said it was just dermatitis, gave me a strong steroid ointment and said to come back in 4-6 weeks. One week later I called and said it was getting worse, and spreading to my face. The doc said he wanted me to come in for a biopsy. Which I was immediately skeptical about, because I had only seen the dr once, couldn't they try some other cream or ointment before going to the extreme of making a permanent scar on my body?! Or what I was more worried about, the cost. Anyway... I made an appointment to be seen that day (Last Thursday) for 4:20 in WBL. I figured that would give me plenty of time to see the doc, and get to daycare by 5:30. Well I got there, checked in and sat and waited. A family that got there after I did was called in before me (there is only one doc at this clinic btw) which kind of struck me as weird, ticked me off for a minute, but then I was called back (10 minutes after my appointment time). The nurse went over my symptoms, and informed me the dr was running a little behind but she should be in soon. I waited 20 minutes. by this time it was 30 minutes past my appointment, still no doc. So I walked out of my exam room, and asked the first person I saw... "Um... how much longer is it going to be?" and went on about how I needed to leave soon so I could pick up my daughter from daycare. The nurse that I spoke to earlier came and told me it was still going to be a while, but (i don't really remember what they called her, but i think it is like the dermatologists nurse practitioner) this other lady could come in and see me if I was ok with that, I said sure. So said person (don't even remember her name) came in, and I told her what was going on, and she said ok, well lets do this biopsy and see what we come up with. I told her i didn't really want to do that yet, and she said well there isn't much more we can do if we don't know what it is. So I reluctantly agreed to go along with it. They took a tiny chunk of skin after numbing me up, then stitched me up and sent me on my way. The biopsy was supposed to take 2 weeks. Well I called the office yesterday because my face is really getting bad and I was hoping that maybe they could give me another idea for the itching (they gave me some sort of oil that was supposed to help with the itching, and told me to stop the steroid the 1st dr gave me). The triage nurse that called back informed me that she had called the lab that my biopsy was sent into, and they said the results would be ready tomorrow (which is today). She said she wouldn't be in tomorrow but she would leave a note on someones desk to make sure to call me. I asked if it was ok if I called in if i hadn't heard anything by the afternoon, she said that was fine. So I called around 1:30 the person I talked to really ticked me off. Listen here lady... I ITCH REALLY BAD, WHICH IS MAKING ME VERY IRRITABLE AND I AM NOT ABLE TO SLEEP BECAUSE OF IT. So anyway, she said to me "I don't know where this person you talked to yesterday got their information, but biopsies don't come back for 12-14 days" How rude. I was expect something more like "Hmmm... let me check into that, they don't usually come back that quickly." All she did was look at my chart and see that the results were not back yet. Nice. Anyway, she assured me that THEY would call ME "as soon as the results are in." So here it is 4:40pm, still no call. Still extremely uncomfortable.

Sorry, that story doesn't take to long to explain when talking, but it sure took quite a bit to type!

Not sure what I will do tonight... I should do the dishes and some laundry, but this weather has got me feeling quite lazy and sleepy. I am fairly certain Brandon will be working late as usual, but I don't really know cause I haven't talked to him all day.