When it rains it pours

Holy moly! That saying couldn't be more true right now. I have always thought of myself as a glass half full kinda girl. I try and see the best in any "bad" situation and let go and let God. Here lately I have come to the conclusion that my body is falling apart. I keep this blog to look back on because my memory is not the greatest and I love going back to see what Hudson was up to two years ago or more. I don't think of it as putting my whole life out there because I really only have a few true "followers" and I consider them friends as well. This has been a struggle for me to "put this info out there" and DO NOT want pitty or poor her. I know things happen for a reason and the good Lord has far bigger plans for me than I do for myself and I hate that I have really questioned that lately. First, Gram is BACK in the hospital, has been for a week and 3 days. She went in for abdominal pain and left shoulder pain. She was later diagnosed with pancreatitis and gallstones. OY. She was admitted and moved up to a room. The next day she was sent down for a CT scan and they found something leaking in her stomach. Long story short, her Dr. preformed emergency surgery to repair the stomach and took out her gallbladder as well. The surgery took a good 3 hours and she was wheeled back up to CCU where she was sedated and put on a ventilator to help her breathe. She was given a heavy dose of meds and had been out since they put her in the surgery room. She remained "out" the next few days. Her vitals were decent and she was still on the vent to help her breathe. She has been taken off the pain meds for about 3 days now and hasn't been able to "wake up" The nurse and Dr. both assured us it is pretty normal for someone her age and given that much pain medicine to be out for an extended amount of time. But 4 days...seems like a long time. Please, if you have any extra prayers, send them her way because now it's just a waiting game.

I experienced my first CT scan yesterday. Not fun, but not too bad. I was more nervous than anything. let's go back a few weeks... I scheduled an appointment with my primary dr because I had been having some issues with my stomach. being diagnosed with Graves' I really don't hesitate anymore to get things checked out. She ran blood work and ordered an ultrasound of my stomach and other organs. The results came back and she was concerned with a "spot" on my liver. Well, that's NEVER a good thing to hear. They wanted o get a better look, so that's when the CT was ordered and I made an appointment. The whole appointment took about an hour and 1/2. I should have results later today or tomorrow. Trust me, I have already given it over to the Lord and just pray everything is normal. Of course my mind has gone 1,000 different ways and I've thought the worst but I'm not letting that get in my head. I'm 29 and feel that I am in great health, I eat healthy, am very active and all of a sudden feel like my body is falling apart. One thing after another.


Other than all this gloomy news, we just got back from our family trip to Ruidoso! It was such a wonderful weekend spent with my two boys. Just what I needed.

                                                                Tubing at Winter Park

The weather was great and Hudson loved snow tubing and feeding the deer by our cabin! A trip to remember for sure.

Shout it from the roof top!

Hallelujah!! I can officially announce..........

That my husband is a PARAMEDIC!! This has been such a journey for him and he has studied his little booty off. Hard work and dedication really does pay off. This is NO ordinary test, there are questions on there designed to throw even the smartest EMT off and make then think, "HUH?" In a way that's a good thing because you want someone who has your life in their hands to know what they are doing but then again when it comes to taking a test that basically determines the future of your career, it's a whole new ball game. He went in to take the test yesterday February 7th, without telling anyone.....but myself. (And I had to pry it out of him) that way, if he did happen to fail, no one would know and he could take it again. Smart guy :-)
Poor guy was so nervous all day yesterday and had his nose in the books. After the test, he was even more of a nervous wreck. He came home talking about how many questions he thought he missed and how some asked information he had never even heard of before and he kept saying he thought he failed. There are only so many encouraging words you can tell someone waiting on results like this! I tried to be supportive and told him not to think like that. That he had put too much time and effort into studying for it not to pay off.

7:00 am results check. He logs in to the website from his phone and just stares...he asks me to read what it said because he couldn't believe it. "Congratulations on passing your National Registry test!" That's all that jumped out at me. Hallelujah, Hallelujah! I cannot express how proud I am of this man. Whatever he puts his mind to, he succeeds :))

 This was Cody's pinning ceremony on February 1st at City Hall. He completed his first year of              probation and is no longer considered a "rookie"

We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do - Ephesians 2:10



We leave for Ruidoso next Friday, just our little guy and us for a little fresh mountain air, snow tubing, shopping and feeding the deer. It couldn't have come at a better time. God is good, all the time!

Where has January gone?!

I feel like I always say this but WHERE HAS JANUARY GONE?! Seriously, the first month of 2013 has flown by. Our little Huddy monkey will be 4 in no time :( He is such a blessing and we thank God for him everyday. He keeps us on our toes and brings so much love and laughter into our home. Just yesterday we were visiting Gram and I as we were leaving, I told him to get in his seat so I could buckle him. "Mom, please don't sass me!" is what I got. I couldn't help but laugh. Gram was at the car door saying bye and heard him and she couldn't help but laugh either! The things out of this little guys mouth I tell ya. He is smart as a whip, knows the President of the United States, Vice President, Secretary, Speaker of the House and so on. (Things I am ashamed that I don't even know) He knows the books of the Bible and sounds so precious reciting them. He's just recently started to talk back and say "I don't like you" when we discipline him. Acting like a teenager already..... We gave him the option this year of having a birthday party or taking a fun family vacation with just the 3 of us. Right now it's a party but I'm sure that'll change soon. I can't believe he will be turning 4 this year.

This was at our friend's little girl's 1st birthday. He did not get off this thing the entire 2 1/2 hours we were there. So this will be a 4th birthday present for sure.

Everything in our house is going well! We joined the Y in January and not because it was a "resolution" because Cody is obsessed with racquetball and he and his buddy James go allllllllllllllllllll the time. So we got the family membership. I have always been a Gold's girl. I worked there for 2 years and have always had a membership because I loved the classes and knew a lot of people that went there. I got out of the whole "gym scene" because there just wasn't enough time and I refused to put Hud in the daycare there. When we started at the Y it was a whole new ballgame. I had been there once with a friend and just wasn't in to it. Cody gave me a quick tour and he was off to play. Ever since then, I've been doing classes at lunch and it's pretty great! I don't have to worry about someone watching Hud and I usually get in 45 min of cardio and my workout is done for the day.
Still having an issue with my right eye. I saw an eye specialist on Wednesday and he confirmed TED. He said it was mild and there was nothing he could do. WAH. But at least it's not affecting my vision. On a good note, my levels look great and my thyroid meds are doing their job!! Hooray. I made an appointment with a top of the line eye center in San Diego and see them in March! This is also going to be our California trip to see my dad. Hoping for some more information :))

Cody has his MFD pinning this Friday!!! He's been employed with the Midland Fire Department for a little over a year! I am so proud of him and love our MFD family!!


"Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile!" Mother Teresa
Love that

Thyroid Update:

That saying, "When it rains, it pours" has never been so true. A few days before NYE I woke up to some crazy swollen eyeballs. They water constantly at night and have been swollen most mornings but this was a different swollen than what I was used to. My right eye was slightly larger than the left eye and my vision was a little blurry. With Graves' there is something associated with the eyes called Thyroid Eye Disease and it's just as bad as it sounds. As soon as I was diagnosed with Graves', I bought a book that was recommended and read all about TED (thyroid eye disease) and was terrified and knew for some reason that I would be affected by this. Don't ask me how, I just was like, I'm going to be one of the few that this will happen to. So as the days went on my eye stayed larger than the left eye. My sweet sweet husband, bless his heart. I would come to him and complain that my eye made me look "CRAZY!" or when we would talk I would say "stop staring at my crazy eye!" He would just tell me that I was overreacting and that it "wasn't even noticeable until I pointed it out" "You look fine babe." he would reassure me almost daily. But I knew something was wrong and wanted to catch it before it got any worse. Of course, when I realllllly need to get in to see a Dr. there is always a waiting game. I called my optometrist first because he's just wonderful and really knows his stuff. I've been seeing him since I got my first pair of huge coke bottle glasses in the 6th grade :) Yea, picture that. I couldn't get in to see him for almost a week. Then I proceeded to call my endo. OUT OF THE COUNTRY for another week. Go figure. So here I am, walking around feeling like a cyclops...secluding my self from friends, family and public as much as possible. I have never in my life been one to feel sorry for myself, EVER. I believe in the hand that I'm dealt and deal with it because I know I'm NOT in control. But for almost two weeks I was in a funk and worried about my "looks" ( I know that sounds so vain) but really concerned about my health as well. Then I got hit by the STREP sickness. AWESOME, not. I was miserable and laid in bed all day Saturday. With the sinus pressure I had, it made my eyes or EYE feel even larger and more blurry. So at this point, I'm a bawling, sickly, crazy, feeling sorry for myself, hot mess. Thank goodness we know people who work in a clinic. Walked in Sunday and got a shot in the bum. I had my eye appointment yesterday and it went better than I expected. Got some fancy eye drops and I see my endo today. Hopefully I will get the answers that I need. I can report today that my eyes feel much clearer (not 100%) and my right eye has gone done some. And I'm done feeling sorry for myself :)

Oil Pulling...?

Has anyone ever heard of oil pulling? I first heard about it a few months ago because I saw a pin on Pinterest and it had me intrigued... so I opened the link and read a little about it but never "pinned" it. Last night scrolling through Pinterest, I saw that one of my friends had pinned it so I opened it once more. I used the power of Google, I love Google and did some more research. You can "oil pull" with various different oils but I just so happened to have extra virgin coconut oil, like a two year supply because I use it for everything. It truly is amazing!! It's a wonderful moisturizer, lotion, you can cook with it, swallow a teaspoon full and it helps with digestion, your immune system and leaves your skin very soft and glowing.

http://www.naturalnews.com/028266_oil_pulling_detoxification.html

I have to admit, the first 2 minutes or so of having the oil in my mouth was terrible! I hate the texture and the oil is solid and weird. I had to hold my nose ;-) but after that it's tolerable. Swish it around for a good 15 min, (I know that sounds like a long time and my jaw did kinda hurt before the 15 min was up) you can do it in 10 min intervals. Spit the oil OUT, don't swallow because the oil now contains all the toxins it "pulled" from your body. I have been wanting to do some sort of detox but the majority of them that I've found are very expensive, maybe a little dangerous and some leave you running to the bathroom every 10 minutes. NO thanks!!


Benefits of Oil Pulling:
* Brighter whiter teeth
* Pinker healthier gums
* Helps with sleep
* Clearer skin
* Helps with PMS/menstrual symptoms
* Headaches
* Helps with asthma
I'm a sucker for anything that calls for EVCO -extra virgin coconut oil so I had to try this.

It says it's best to do this in the morning on an empty stomach. So I started this morning and will try to keep it up and blog my results!

We did it!!!!!!!

Emily, Erin and I completed the Jingle Bell 5k and it was so much fun. I think I'm addicted. I think there were close to 300 people who participated. Not exactly sure of our time but I think it was close to 37 minutes when we crossed the finish line. Now, for someone's first 5k, two smokers and one who hadn't ran in almost two years, I was proud of us all. It was a chilly start but we had our long sleeves, leggings and cute elf shorts. We kept getting compliments on our outfits so that's always fun :)

I want to keep record of all the 5k's I do, so I kept my number and wrote what event it was on the back. I am so excited for the Color Run in April!!

It's like 20 degrees outside today! Nice little cool December day, FINALLY! I think we have a percentage of snow but doubt seeing that happen. I'm sure tomorrow it will be back in the 70's. We are debating on taking Huddy to Polar Express this weekend in Lubbock. That all depends on if there are tickets available. He seems pretty interested but for the price of tickets, I want him to be ALL about it!!! We took him to Ice at the Gaylord last year and that had to have been one of my all time favorite trips. He still talks about having lunch with Shrek to this day. :)

5K Jingle Bell Run

This Saturday the girls and I are participating in the Jingle Bell 5k run for Junior Achievement! This will be my very FIRST 5k. I know I know, I work for a non-profit who has 2 5k's every year! But being the coordinator, I kinda sorta don't have time to run or even walk the 5k because we're so busy planning and running everything. There have been numerous 5k's in the area that I've wanted to participate in but I'm chicken and never have wanted to go by myself. And my friends, let's just say, they really aren't the "running" 5k type. :) But they are working on it. And Laurel, there's just no hope for her. She will not run to save her life but we love her anyway! This 5k is just going to be a stepping stone...

                                                          We want a fun jingle bell outfit!

We are participating in the Color Run in Dallas next April!! We've all registered (finally EM) and there's no backing out!!! If you haven't heard of the Color Run, check it out here http://thecolorrun.com/dallas/
So fun right?!?!

We're not too serious about the Jingle Bell run, so we'll be running some and walking the majority I'm sure. Let's just say, there will be NO medals waiting on us this go around.

I can't believe it's already DECEMBER!!
We've tried the whole Elf on the Shelf to keep Hud in check this year but that was a big NO GO. He's terrified!!! We showed him the book and found a video on youtube and he is just so scared of a little (creepy) guy who comes to life and watches how he behaves and reports back to Santa. I can't say I blame him. Maybe next year...
I can't wait to see him on Christmas! This year he really understands and we are trying not to let him get all caught up in the presents and gifts. Christmas is SO much more than that and he knows it's all about Jesus and his birth day.

I've got to start working on Christmas cards!!!

Merry Christmas!