Best/Worst of 2009

Don't know if I should get the bad out before the good or not...so maybe I'll just mix the two together in a monthly style...

 

Jan

- Paula began treatments for Ovarian/Lung/Abdomen cancer, she had a appt at Emory that gave us more hope that surgery could help. 

Feb

- Cardinals lost the Super Bowl to the Steelers

- Girls weekend with Peyton, Emily and the girls, at Aunt Kat's house

- Started trying to get PG with #2...still working on that

Mar

- It SNOWED, March 1st

- Paula had surgery to remove her ovaries - very successful and they saw almost no signs of cancer, it is ALL GONE!

- Peyton discovers Wubbzy (the cartoon)

- We bought a new grill

- I decided to start a garden

Apr

- Scrapbook Event in ATL.  Unfortunately, I think this will be the last one.  The new owner closed the store (within a year of purchase) - decided to only do online kits, and the events just seem to have disappeared, she is now having small get togethers at her house.  It is really sad.

- Actually planted my garden

- Thomas the Train was discovered by Peyton, and the rest is history

- Eric played softball at church with the men's team (they won the championship)

May

- I became a GARDENER!

- Our 8th Anniversary

- Peyton FINALLY started talking.  And it is the cutest thing!

June

- Taught 2nd graders in VBS

- Spent LOTS of time in Peyton's pool and working in my garden.   We love Summer!

July

- FINALLY made our bonus room into a playroom vs Storage room.

- Panama City Beach - the best vacation YET

August

- I started going a little coupon crazy.  That only lasted a few weeks though.

- I started teaching GAs at church on Wednesday nights.

Sept

- Eric went back to school

- I discovered the First Place biblical weight loss program, and I decided to start it at church - but it didn't start until Jan 2010 but that is ok.

- We played co-ed softball with church, and we both did pretty good...sad part is how out of shape we are!

- Peyton started preschool at Christ School on Monday's and Wednesday's

Oct

- Participated in the LOAD challenge - a Layout a Day

- Peyton turned 3

Nov

- Early Nov - want to say Nov 2nd, we had a nephew born, too bad we haven't met him due to the horrible relationship with Eric's brother and the rest of the family - this was really just kind of sad. 

- Peyton was dedicated at church Nov 22.  His 'life verse' that the preacher gave him was Romans 12:2

- Grandma Glad got inducted into the Atl Country Music Hall of Fame

- Eric and I spent ONE night away in Atlanta, went to the game the next day

Dec

- Wonderful Christmas

- I had surgery on the 17th

*I started this post on like 2 Jan, can't believe it took me ALL month to finally finish it.  But it feels good.

Bad News

No ovulation.  My levels were extremely low even with the clomid this month.  Go back to the doctor next Friday and will see where to go next.  My guess is he will up the clomid dosage.  I still have a really good feeling that is is all going to work out, just not in my timing.  I guess now I can still go to my checkup at Emory next month - Fun Fun! 

I was actually pretty upset about it, came home from work early on Friday and spent time with my family, which made it better.  I don't understand how/why I have such a strong desire for this if it isn't in God's will, so I'm trying really hard to trust him and his plan for our life, and hope that we get pregnant soon.

Reflection

In this post - last January I posted my weight.  And all year last year I struggled.  I gained, I lost, I gained more than I lost back, I lost, I gained more than I lost back....barf!  Literally makes me SICK.  My weight was 198.  I'm about 12 lbs more than that right now, and I have lost 8 lbs since Oct when I started trying to make some better changes in my life AGAIN.  Which means that through my yo-yo dieting last year, all I did was gain.  Time for the cycle to stop.  Time to get healthy FOR GOOD.  Time to make changes that stick with me and impact myself and my family!

I pray that this time is different.  I pray that I stay on track.  I'm praying that I'm leading this class to success.  I'm praying that I'm not in over my head.  and at the same time, I'm praying to get pregnant.  Well, even if I do get pregnant fast (and i'm not holding my breath) I have 6 more weeks to go before that happens.  And I'm going to do great in these 6 weeks!  That's right.  Not overdo it, but I want to see results.  I want to see some changes in my weigh in next week.  That's right.  I want to see some changes which means I need to stay focused. 

Surgery Update

Well - got bad and good news at the doctor last Wednesday.

Bad news - I have interstitial cystitis (IC), also known as Painful Bladder Syndrome. A lot of my pain is coming from that. the gist of it is my bladder herniates (bleeds) every time it is full. And where my uterus was, it was on top of my bladder more so than it should have been, so having the uterine suspension should help. but the bad news is all the foods I can't eat. I'm talking about just about everything - almost all fruits, nuts, tomatoes, yogurts, sour cream, the list is really long - oh and sodas, coffees, juices, etc. I've been doing research online, and I've downloaded a bladder diary (how fun is that???) so I can track my pain and when I hurt with which foods - and then avoid the ones that actually hurt me. It is hard to do right now though, b/c it still hurts often. But the meds should help. Now that I know it is my bladder and not my female parts I can pay closer attention. You know, I can now tell when lood is coming from bladder vs female parts (TMI, but the truth, I assumed it was regular spotting, never occurred to me that it was my bladder)

Good news.

I had a very large 'pelvic varicosity' on the left side of my uterus.  Which is like pelvic varicose veins.  Well, he burnt off many of the veins that were feeding it (or where it was growing)...so he is hoping that he disrupted it enough to kill it or hopefully stunt it's growth.  Then once i'm done having kids, i can have a hysterectomy and be done with it. 

Best News.

He doesn't have to send me to a specialist to help me get pg bc I have been having periods for about 6m - but all were annovulatory cycles (don't ovulate). So I'm taking a dose of progesterone to get a good cycle started, then I will take clomid (lowest dose) for 5 days CD3-7 I think. Only one cycle though, and I have done the research on twins, and it is a pretty low - like under 10%. Of course, 10% is pretty scary, but I'll be praying for ONE! But that scares me, I guess we have decided to take the chance...gulp! After one cycle he will do more U/S if I'm not pg to make sure I don't over stimulate my ovaries - considering I have PCOS, and clomid can do that. but all in all I'm very hopeful.

Happy 2010

Wow, last year, total blog posts of 130 - better than 77 posts in 2008, but still not all that great.  Hopefully this year I can maybe FINALLY get back on track with this blogging thing.  I have a ton on my plate right now and honestly I think I'm probably in over my head.  I used to be able to blog at work, and back then I kept up with posting very regularly.  Now I use Window's Live Writer - and I'm obsessed about having every post on my computer now - in case blogspot or whatever blog i've used decides to kick the bucket, also the email blogging doesn't tag posts - so that would be somewhat of an issue too.  However, I have decided that maybe I can start doing email posts to the blog - just so I can keep up a little better.

I have started about 5 posts this month and never finished - so I'm going to work on finishing my 'drafts' over the next few days and get that done, so I can start fresh in 2010.  :)