It's been awhile!

I can't believe I haven't blogged since April! I've logged on often and started to blog once or twice but then stopped. The blogging break was needed for me as I was starting to feel like all I blogged about was my health issues and frankly it was depressing....who wants to hear about hospitals all of the time? I think more than that I was so tired of dealing with hospitals and my health issues that I wanted them to go away and was tired of thinking about all of it. So I took a break, am healthy now, and have enjoyed the past few months enjoying life! The summer has been one filled with travel both for work, long weekends with the fam, and a dream trip to Sonoma and Napa with one of my dearest friends. I will have to dedicate a whole post to that trip as it was amazing and everything I hoped it would be. I'm thankful that I haven't been to a hospital in eight weeks, and back on Weight Watchers tracking 100% and working out daily. The boys are growing like crazy and start school in two weeks. Ky will be starting kindergarten and I'm a mess about it! He is getting so big and i'm not ready for him to grow up on me:) We went school supply shopping last night and they were so excited to put all of their items in their backpacks...yes I'm feeling old. This weekend we are enjoying being home and relaxing.  We got up early, which is just the way we roll. I headed off to an early Zumba class, which kicked my butt literally, met a girlfriend for coffee, and have been home since 10:00 just enjoying time with the fam. I'm enjoying a new Cooking Light cookbook my girlfriend Mich bought for me and am going to try a Southwest Rice and Veggie cake recipe tonight for dinner. So far I have four new recipes from this cookbook in my menu plan for this week and can't wait to try all of them. We are planning on going to church tonight which means we can "sleep in" tomorrow. The hubs was awesome and cleaned up the house while I was gone at Zumba so I just need to organize some things and do laundry. I'm on the hunt for some zucchini recipes. When my friend J stopped over for coffee this morning she brought me a huge basket full of potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, and zucchini. I'm stoked! She grows a HUGE garden and brought fresh veggies over for me to share with my mom. Unfortunately until recently I've never made anything with zucchini. So I am on the hunt so something new to try using it. :) If you have any good recipes please share! Well I'm going to go check on my men and brew a k-cup. Tomorrow I'll post all about my trip to CA and share pics. Have a wonderful Saturday! I sure am.

More spring cleaning...and snow?

This weekend has started off to be a wonderful one... Nen introduced me to Zumba couple of weeks ago and I'm hooked! So much so that we were out of the house at 7:15 this morning to go to our zumba toning class and got an awesome workout in!! It was awesome and i'm guessing we will be sore tomorrow! Just a guess:) After Zumba we ran back home got cleaned up had breakfast and took the boys to their swim lessons.. taking them every Sat morning has become one of the highlights of my week. Its been so much fun to watch them get better every week and make so much progress. Today they learned how to tread water and they both looked so darn cute! Afterwards Chad and I decided to continue tackling our spring cleaning list and spent a good part of the afternoon going through tote after tote in their playroom, tossing some, yard sale piles, keep but pack away, and play room ready :) But we finished and it looks awesome! The boys can actually go through all of their toys and not get so overwhelmed. It's always my goal to go through their playroom at least twice a year and I love deep cleaning.. I was hoping to get our upstairs finished today but I think we are still going to have some open items tomorrow... which is fine by me because we are having a wonderful time watching a movie as a family tonight and laughing. I'm all for lounging around in our pjs and watching movies together as a fam...it saves money and still makes for a great family night. I'm trying to multi task and am failing miserabley so until tomorrow have a blessed evening!

A Quiet Friday

This week has been a busy one...but it started off great! Last weekend I got the spring fever bug and went to town around my house cleaning like a crazy women...unfortunately that will carry over to this weekend because I didn't get everything done..but I still enjoy cleaning:) I'm a dork I know. Monday I was able to WFH and went and saw my sweet friend J and her precious new baby girl M. J and I met at work several years ago and became friends fast...she was my WW accountability partner, introduced me to raspberry zinger tea with honey when I was pregnant with Mason and was there for me after he died. Her friendship blessed me during a season of my life when I didn't realize just how much I needed someone to listen. Unfortunately with me working 1.5 hours away now we don't get to see each other as much as I would like and I was quite deliquent in stopping over to see her and her precious baby after she had her, BUT that aside it was great to see the precious baby girl that she had been so excited to have. It's so awesome to see how couples go from being newlyweds to having little families...and embracing parenthood and all that comes with it. I've enjoyed being a mom and watching my babies grow up but i'm also enjoying watching my friends start to have babies of their own and have something else in common. After Monday the week flew! Work has been constant and crazy and good. I feel blessed to be where I am at and even though I've had more tiring days then I'd like to admit I still smile at the end of the day and am thankful for the opportunity.  I closed up shop around 4:30 and headed back home and played a couple of rounds of around the world with Noah and Ky and had a blast! We put together a simple dinner and I made some eggs with peppers and salsa for me. I started a 10 day cleanse using advocare http://www.advocare.com/ on Monday and have really enjoyed it!! I'm already down 5 pounds in the first five days...am still feeling full after eating but have cut out all refined sugar, dairy, and wheat. One days 11-24 I will reintroduce 30% of the foods I eat back into my diet and take MNS and a few other vitamins. And i'm enjoying it...it's natural, healthy, and really helping me refocus on what I am putting into my body. And did I mention i'm on the countown for my Napa vacation in August and South Carolina vacation in October...I want to be back in my cute clothes and feel better about myself..I know with making smart choices and continuing my workouts I can do it. I'm pumped! Ok so back to my Friday evening...did I mention it's quiet? Nena is out at a friend's house spending the night...the boys are bathed and sleeping and Chad is having time with his friends.  And i'm listening to KLOVE and enjoying the quiet time to sit and think.  I have to put my grocery list together and cut coupons and then I think i'm going to find a good movie on Netflix and just enjoy some mommy time. This weekend will be busy but should be fun in the same breath. I'm WFH again on Monday so i'm looking forward to the reprieve.

The Safest Place to Be...

After a week of traveling all over the country I came home and was blessed two spend two of the best days with my little men!! I had surprises planned for each day...and we had a wonderful time uncovering each of them as the day went.  Watching life through the eyes of my boys can often be the most relaxing enjoyable part of my day. And last Mon and Tuesday were no exception. We laughed a lot, talked alot and loved alot! It was wonderful. I relished in the memories being made and the conversations we had. It was a special time just the three of us.  Chad had too work and was bummed he couldn't be with us but he was taking off last Thursday to go out of town and had to tie up lose ends at work. Wed I worked from home and Thursday ended up back in the ER....an hour from home.   Never a dull moment...I was driving to my office in city and breathing became hard quickly..I had been having shortness of breath since Monday but I chalked it up to traveling across the country and my body readjusting to the weather..no biggie right? Wrong...luckily there was a fantastic hospital 7 miles from where I pulled over and Chad stayed on the phone with me until I got to the ER. The doctors were amazing and after doing a chest ct they said I had the start of pneumonia...yikes! I had pneumonia 8 years ago and never thought for a minute I would get it again...especially so quick. So after staying in the hospital all day I left for home that evening...only to talk to my Dr. the next day who said after reviewing my test she thought my lungs showed emphysema changes...yikes again.. I know nothing about emphysema other than people who smoke often get it... (i don't)... The latter part of last week consisted of breathing treatments, meds, and steroids to help remove the inflammation from my lungs... This weekend was rough and i'm just worn down..but praise the Lord I saw my dr again today and she did more x-rays and confirmed I have plearacy and no emphysema...so I am so glad...tired..exhausted...but thankful. 

Chad was gone during all of this...he was actually heading to the airport while I was at the ER but I told him to go...I knew that I would be ok and I was...but exhaustion over took me this weekend. Nen(my sister who lives with us) was a blessing and helped out so much... I was sad because one of our sweet friends had a bridal shower this weekend and her batchlorette party but we couldn't go...BUT the bride to be ( a dear friend of my sisters) and two of the other girls came by to say hi yesterday. And while I frankly wasn't up for company and just wanted to sleep Beth said something to me that brought a huge wave of peace. She was talking about moving to Haiti in May... Her fiance is Haitian and they met when she went there with our church to work with the orphanages we support... Anyhow my sister was asking her if she felt safe living by herself until she got married and her response " The safest place I can be is in His Will and as long as I'm there I'm ok".... Words of wisdom my friends..humbling words...God knew I needed to hear them and boy did they bless me to the core.  So I have been relishing in those words since yesterday and praying fervently....praying for peace and understanding that only He can bring.. If you read my blog often I'm sure you've noticed a trend over the past six months...Health issues galore...one thing after the other and during my prayer time this weekend I specifically asked Him are you telling me to move elsewhere?  I don't know the answers but I do know this...I am thankful for Beth and for the Lord's words that covered my heart.. I'm thankful that I am "In His will".....and am praying for guidance....which I know He will provide as He always has. Now I must open my ears, BE STILL and Listen.... Blessings

From Seattle to South Carolina

This week has been crazy but amazing in the same breath. Last Friday my little man's fever spiked to 104.3 and I was a wreck! I was supposed to leave the next morning at 8am to fly to Seattle for business and I was a mess... on one line I had the nurse on call and the other was my travel agent trying to see if I could move my flight to Sunday. Did I mention is was 12am? I was in bed surround by tissues because I couldn't stop crying..I felt like a horrible mom..Noah's temp had returned to normal the day before and he seemed to be on the upswing so leaving seemed ok.  Don't get me wrong me being worried about leaving had nothing to do with the fact that Chad would be home with the boys and Nen (my sister who lives with us)... He's amazing! He knows their schedules better than I do at times and we are truly partners in parenting and everything else. I have no concerns that He can't handle being the boys on his own...it's more of me as a working mom struggling to balance work and not being there for my boys when they need.  I want to be the one to cuddle with my sick son...I want to make sure he is ok and lay on the couch all day and watch episodes of dinosour train..so when his fever spiked and he was in a ball on a sheet in his room...the thought of leaving him tore me apart. Bless Chad's heart he kept assuring me everything would be ok...and long story short it was.  We stayed up all night giving Noah tsp of water at a time and sponging him down to help the fever lower..and it did.  So within the next three hours I shoved clothes in my suitcase and went to the airport...puffy eyes and all. I'm sure I was a sight:) That morning Chad took both boys to see our pediatrician...as I had been in constant conversation with him daily about Noah and Ky's croup..and come to find out poor Ky had a double ear infection and they confirmed Noah did not have anything worse than a very bad case of the flu. Within a couple of hours his temp was back to normal and he was able to keep liquids and solids down.

     And off to Seattle I went.  And God is Good!!! It was a four hour flight and I slept for the first hour and a half and ENJOYED the rest of it... Yes, you are hearing me right..i enjoyed it and praised Him the whole way. This was the first time since I can remember that I enjoyed a flight and had no fear/anxiety. I landed grabbed my car found a starbucks worked a bit and then went to see my dear friend, Dee and her husband Sobes.  Dee was one of my best friends in highschool and we went to college together in Seattle.  It has been nine years since I've seen here and and to we had grown apart over the years.  I was a little nervous about how it would be connecting after all of that time.  And then I met her husband and saw her and we picked right back up where we left off.  It was the best weekend! She is expecting her first baby on July 4th and we talked about babies and my favorite baby things all weekend long. We caught up on life and truly enjoyed just hanging out. Monday I started with my business meetings right away and it was a packed but great day. Tuesday I went to a conference at the EMP and it was awesome! Very informative and I even got to test drive some EV cars....Wednesday am I headed back to the airport for a 6am flight home and landed in Chicago around one..made it home by 4 picked up the boys for 5:00 haircuts..loved on them and read them one of their books I brought back for them....tucked them in..did some laundry and repacked my luggage.  And the next morning woke up at 4am and headed back to the airport for another 8:00 flight. This time to South Carolina.

     I landed in SC around 11:00 headed to another Starbucks to get some work done (see a trend:)..) and then headed to our SC office for an afternoon of meetings.  I always stay at the same hotel and have my favorite resteraunts that I frequent and even request the same waiter every time. It was a great evening...I returned to my hotel early and cranked out work until the wee hours and started all over again yesterday. My day ended around 5:30 and then the real fun began... I have family that lives about an hour from our SC office and I try to see them every time I'm in town..this time being no exception... I arrived at my aunt and uncles surrounded by my cousin, her husband, and amazing kids, and my Grams. Their hospitality is always amazing and they had platters of appetizes and wine...followed by an amazing meal...and we Laughed so hard all night!!! I'm staying at my cousins and we are just hanging out today and having family dinner tonight. Tomorrow am I head back home and CAN'T wait...The boys are on spring break this week and I'm off on Monday and Tuesday to spend some amazing time with the boys and do something fun and exciting...although i haven't quite figured out just what special things we are going to do...but I am throwing a couple of ideas around. :) And I forget to mention the other great part...so normally I fly into Charlottle when I come to SC because of my "fear" of flying...flying into GSP entails of flying on a jet and based on my horrible experience last summer I have avoided flying into that airport like the plague.  Well this time I took a leap of faith and flew into GSP and it was hilarious because the jet I flew on had one seat on the left and two on the right and maybe 15 rows back...yep the smallest of the small...and again I enjoyed my flight. God is good. I kept reporting the verse over and over... I will not let harm come to your life ...and every day is a blessing. :) It helped.  So now I'm going to enjoy the warm weather..i'm in capris and sandles ( and realized this morning just how desperately I need a pedi) My feet are a sight haha... Oh well. Have a wonderful Sat!

Prayful Wednesday

I'm exhausted...i'm not even going to lie or try and add fluff to how I feel today. This week has been "interesting"... Good news I graduated from my boot yesterday and am not in a brace for the next three weeks...and I can drive!! PTL...because me and my independent self was having major patience issues waiting for that thing to get off..  But to add to the stress Ky has croup yet again and Noah came down with a fever at school yesterday and it spiked to 104.5 this morning at 1am. I'm beat..work is nuts and i'm leaving on Sat for a week, minus my 12 hour layover back at home on Wednesday with enough time to drop in from the airport repack my luggage, get haircuts for all of us and take of Thursday am at 6am.  Did I mention I hate to fly and have already been in prayer rebuking the devil? I have to fly out to Seattle which is a four hour flight and I usually top out at 1.5 hours on my "normal" flights..

So today i'm working from home, trying to get laundry down ( it never is:)..) attend to my sick boys, come up with my bi monthly grocery list, keeping in mind that Chad will be cooking meals all next week, and go through my to do list before Friday. Yikes! Did I mention I'm exhausted? Oh and to add to the list of health issues (which seems to be never ending) I had a CT done yesterday due to my constant ringing in my left ear and that came back ok..so now I have to wait for two weeks and will see an ENT and have audiology testing done.  My prayer for April is that I am healthy and don't have to visit the hospital once...We'll see how that goes:)

For all of your prayer warriors out there please in be prayer that God will put his healing hand on our family from all of this sickness/health issues, give me peace about flying, and calm my spirit as I finish out the rest of the week.  I would greatly appreciate it!Blessings!

And then there was ice... :)

So much for my signs of spring blog! Last week ice came pouring down literally...so on Monday instead of making it to the city I turned around and drove home...well to my mom's house actually. I decided to work at her house until lunch and then I was going to head home...It all happened so fast. My mom said "oh no there goes my garbage can in the street" my little sis and I picked straws and I won (we didn't really pick straws :)..) and I headed out the front door to go get the can and fell down the steps covered with ice and when I fell my right leg landed funny on the concrete with a snap I knew something was wrong.... My ears started to ring and I ended up rolling around in the ice in pain screaming..yep that's how it started. I wasn't even sure how I was going to make it to the car but somehow I did and once at the hospital found out I tore a tendon in my foot and sprained my ankle..the swelling was bad so they put it in a wrap and said to use the boot once the swelling went down and sent me on my way with crutches. Here's where it gets even better. The next morning at 4 am I get up with my crutches to go to the bathroom and my crutches went one way and I fell again on the same leg just the other side and screamed out in pain again. It woke my little men up who came piling in the bathroom to go to the bathroom and head back to bad while i'm laying there on the floor..lol I can laugh about it now but it must have been a sight. So back to the hospital we go and more x-rays later I now damaged soft tissue and damaged nerves on the right side of the same foot. So now i'm in a boot for at least three weeks and did I mention it's on my driving foot? Yeah so i'm not happy..I was just back into my workout regiment and getting two great workouts in everyday and now ugh. My favorite phrase from Chad last week was ..." I take you for worse and worse"... I know he was joking but that's how it feels at the moment.

Besides that things are going relatively well. The boys are loving their swimming lessons and I'm having a blast watching them. They had a wonderful few days at home with Chad while I went on a business trip to MN..boot at all.  My good friend ended up driving me and enjoying the time away and I had a packed schedule of meetings but it was a success. We found this awesome winery on the way back and I brought home eight bottles of wine to share... And here it is Tuesday and i'm already looking forward to the weekend. I'm hoping it comes fast! I'll have to post pics soon...I did find some awesome Lego headlamps for the boys at MOA and they are a hit..so much so that they came in our room with them on at 5:45 Sun morning. It made my day! Sorry for all of the rambling but I guess that's life at the moment.