Help! I'm Being Drugged!

You may remember in one of my previous posts that I mentioned the herbs I am taking from my acu-p might be making me sleepy. Well, I asked him about it this week. He confirmed that that is a possible side effect. "We are trying to increase your Yin and that has to do with sleep, slowing down, resting, etc." he said. Um, Mr. Acu-p, I'm more of a Yang kind of girl. I like to be on the go, accomplish big goals and even bigger to-do lists. I'm not really into the Yin thing. If anything, I'd like to jack my Yang up even higher! Then laughs the acu-p.

I love my acu-p, he has a great since of humor and offered to decrease my dose if things don't improve. Luckily I am adjusting to my new sedated self. Some people may even find the new me enjoyable! :)

Isn't it Incredible?

Last Friday my friend Mandy and I took our kids to see Disney on Ice. When I first heard they were coming to town I dismissed the idea of going. After all, we are saving to take Savannah to Disneyland for her 5th birthday so why waste money on a disney show when we can save the money and take her to Disney! But then I heard the storyline included The Incredibles (One of Savannah's favorite movies. She was Violet Incredible for Halloween) and they were going to Disneyland in the story. Well that's two of Savannah's favorite things colliding in our own backyard! So we bought tickets and headed out to the show.

Savannah went nuts when she saw her favorite characters in person out on the ice. She couldn't take her eyes off them! That has to be one of the most fun things for a mom to see. I loved watching her.

As the story goes, The Incredibles family goes to Disneyland and then they recreate the park's most famous rides on ice. The Jungles Cruise, Pirates of the Carrie bean, The Haunted Mansion, It's a Small World, The Tea Cups, Buzz Light Year's Space Ranger Training. and Big Thunder Mountin Railroad were all recreated before our very eyes on ice no less! The Haunted Mansion was the most impressive which is also Savannah's favorite DL ride.

The Tea Cups were not one of the more impressive recreations on ice but it was one I got a decent picture of.



Ryan was of course trying to make me laugh. When is he not?



Wall-e eyes



Mandy wants an dress like Edna Moe. I want to BE Edna Moe, dawling.



The skaters were moving so fast that I never caught them facing me. Because of the dramatic lightling it was impossible to get decent pictures of all the cool sets. Sorry, you will just have to go see the show for yourself.



Savannah was on an Incredibles high when we got homwe. After her nap she superheroed up with her incredibles costume, her new Dash cup and Elastagirl straw. I bet you can guess what movie we watched that night.

The Incubator

Early last week I went for my initial evaluation with the acupuncturist (I am already tired of typing that long word so from now on he will be refereed to as the acu-p. Sound it out, it's kind of a fun word!). He asked about my basic medical history which always includes replies like, "Oh, really?" and "Never heard of that before." and my favorite, "I'm gonna have to look a few things up first." This guy has a great since of humor though so the process was not nearly as tedious as it normally is with a new doc.

Next he began the exam by mashing on certain points all over my body and then I was to reply if they were tender or not. He however did not need my reply. Before I could even answer he would say, "That's tender isn't it?" or he would move on from a spot that was not tender before I even had the chance to reply because he already knew from what he was feeling. Pretty cool.

Our next stop on the Eastern Express was a test via a machine/computer that checked out my electrical current from multiple pressure points each indicating the condition of various organs. He explained all of this in great detail but it was like he was speaking Greek. Actually I would have preferred him use Greek or Latin, I know those root words, prefixes, and suffixes. But with the Asian languages, I am lost. Now I know what my patients feel like when I use medical terminology with them. Let's all try English please.

The end result of my tests lead him to believe (due to a previous blood clot in my brain)that my brain was not communicating well with my body. So, what are my options? Get a new body or a new brain? Cause on various days I have thought about trading one or the other in. It's really a toss up. :)

Now that we know it's not a normal hormone problem like most people struggle with (is that a good thing or a bad thing? Is that suppose to make me feel better or warn me of things to come?) we can proceed with a prescribed treatment plan.

Savannah came to my first acu-p session. In her sweetest voice she wanted to know if she asked the Dr. real nice if he would let her help put the needles in me. I have to admit this was the first and only time I was frightened! Dear, I hope not otherwise we are changing acu-ps!

Savannah was mesmerized as she watched the needles enter my body. And as they say on Curious George, she was a good little monkey. And just like on the TV show and in the books, the monkey gets curious which can lead him to not be such a good little monkey. Here I am laid out on a table with needles sticking out of me and a heating lamp over my uterus (I felt like a chicken was going to hatch in there any minute) and my 4 year old (who is usually a good little monkey mind you) is trying to grab my needles, playing with the machine that sends and reads electrical currents in your body, and literally climbing the walls. And they told me to lay here and relax for 20 minutes? That would require childcare.

By the time I got dressed and stepped out of the room, everyone in the building looked at us with a mixture of pity and amusement while stifling a laugh. I was quickly aware that for the past hour they had been listening to my frustration.

I left the building with a promise to laugh about this tomorrow and a small bottle of herbs capsuled in tiny black beads to take daily. I loved that Savannah was able to see what we Americans call "alternative medicine" (although for the rest of the world our alternatives are 1st choice and western medicine is a last resort. And aren't we only the 49th healthiest nation in the world which actually means we are extremely unhealthy??? Hold on, it will take me a minute to step off my soap box.)However, I will be attending sessions alone from now on. And the herbs? I am convinced the are just part of a conspiracy involving Mandy and Mark to slow me down because I have been napping and going to bed early since I started taking them. I'm on to you two! How much did you have to bribe my acu-p to get him to sedate me?

And So It Begins

Warning: Not everyone may want to read this. There's shouldn't be anything offensive, it's just personal and frankly, you may just not want to know this much about me! :)

Mark and I decided a little over a year ago that we were ready for another child. But it did not happen the first month. Having the patience of a newborn baby myself combined with the history of getting pregnant on demand the first time around, I decided that clearly we were not intended to get pregnant and we should adopt. Yup, I decided that when we did not get pregnant the first month of trying. I have felt called to adopt for as long as I can remember so I think I was kind of relieved when we did not get pregnant. It was like I had received the green light from God to go ahead with adoption. But Mark was not getting the signal. Again and again I heard the message that God will put it on both of our hearts if it is to be. It is something that only God can make happen. Eventually I realized that God put that burden on my heart for many reasons but He was not leading us to adopt at this time.

But, most of our time spent "trying" to get pregnant has mostly been time I spent trying to talk Mark into adoption (maybe it's been a mind-over-body thing and that's why I have not gotten pregnant). We haven't really "tried" anything. I haven't taken my temperature or had my hormones tested. I did buy and ovulation kit 1 time and decided it was the equivalent of peeing on a ouija board (and I don't believe in ouija boards so you can imagine how useless that was).

To put this in prospective, when we tried for Savannah we implemented every fertility strategy from the get go. My goal was to be proactive and not "try" for a year before I do research. When I have a goal I go for it 110%. And we did get pregnant on demand. However, I think it had more to do with God setting the stage for future lessons than my effort.

I don't know where my determination went this time around. We haven't really tried the past few months because I was in the middle of marathon training. But a couple of days after it was over I said, "Weren't we going to try to get pregnant?" And off to the acupuncturist I went.

Why the acupuncturist you may ask? My sister struggled with infertility for years and was told she would never have children. After 2 months under the acupuncturists care she was with child. And now she is pregnant for the 3rd time in 3 years. What her acupuncturist failed to do was make a return appointment to have her flow of chi turned back down! She just can't stop those little surprises from coming these days. Just kidding, I'm sure after this 3rd she still has a couple of cute kiddos left in her. My mom sees an acupuncturist as well for general health. And so, coming from an all-natural-granola-munching family, my first thought was to turn to eastern medicine.

Maybe I am really ready for Peteet #2 now because I have to tell you, I am excited about this!

Up next...my first appointment.

Journey East With Me

The other night I heard a women (I will not mention her name since her story is not my story to tell) give her testimony at a MOPs event. She spoke about the struggle she has endured with comparing herself to other mothers (is there anyone out there who has not done this? Seriously, if they haven't they need to be giving seminars to the rest of us or something. I hate that this person thought they were all alone in this.) During her testimony, when she mentioned comparing not only did she make purposeful eye contact with me but she mentioned a few of my traits and said my name.

As Uncle Allen would say, "Uh wait a minute, hold the phone." Clearly I have misrepresented myself if I am perceived as one to be compared to. My ego was shot as I realized I might not be as humble as I so proudly thought I was (how do you like that for irony?).

The complete picture became clearer as I remembered a conversation Mandy and I had a month or two ago. As a very private person I vulnerably opened up and confessed to her that I sort of have some perfection issues. To my surprise, she was not surprised. Mandy replied ever so sarcastically, "ya think?" Apparently I had not hidden my secret as well as I thought.

Ouch.

All that to say, to progress with God, to progress with my friends, and to be an honest person, I must open up. Now this is tricky because I am sealed pretty tight! And I don't hold back for the purpose of misleading others to think I am better than I am. I just don't won't to bother them. Somewhere in my past I designated myself "cheerleader." And as an encourager, why would I moan, groan, and whine about anything personal? That's not uplifting and encouraging to others (or is it?)! I'd rather be a listening ear for you and keep my own mouth shut.

You may be wondering how this fits into my title of journeying east. Well, I am going to an acupuncturist to help me get pregnant. And, I plan to record my journey through eastern medicine right here on the blog. Never before I have been so open about a short coming of myself (meaning the fact that I have not gotten pregnant on demand as I did with Savannah). But, I know a few people who have toyed with the idea of acupuncture so maybe this will help someone else. Whether the acupuncture works or not, I know this journey will help me. And I know my Mom will be happy I am no longer just blogging about the weather "outside my window..." ;) (Simple Woman's Daybook people, defend me here!)

So, I come before you humbly with my story... but if I get any pity comments so help me I will shut this rig down! :)

Return to Adolescence

This week I tackled my monthly job of preparing the budget for the next month. Since I am not a fan of numbers in general this is never my favorite task. However I am a fan of money so I endure.

But this week I was burned out. We have been on the Dave Ramsey plan since last fall. We have everything paid off except for our house and Mark's car which we are trying to sell since he has a company car. No more car payments or student loans! Yippee! Right?

The goal of all this hard work was to have more of our income available for wealth building and fun stuff instead of paying off dept. Mark and I were even considering booking a trip to Hawaii (which is now 1/2 the price it normally is due to the economy). I was actually looking forward to preparing this month's budget because there should be so much extra money to play with...or so I thought.

As I looked at the numbers I had to add them twice. There were several things that came up that needed our surplus income. It was all eaten up. Add to that the fact that the orthodontist said I needed braces! Braces? Me? I barely survived that the first time around (Kathy, you are so much braver than me!). Now I have to pay for such embarrassment? How much did you say they cost? Wow!

I felt defeated. All my budgeting and hard work seemed to be getting me no where.

Mark and I discussed the budget I had prepared and he said, "looks good." That's it? Are you not more disappointed? He reminded me that the plan is working. All these things that came up we were able to pay cash for because we had the money available since we are no longer paying things off.

My reply, "Yeah but, I want to go to Hawaii not get braces!" which is the equivilent of a three year old stomping her foot and pouting. Yes, I had returned to adolescence. Not because of the braces but because the definition of maturity is knowing what you want and refraining from throwing your body on the floor in a tantrum until you get it!

I prayed about it (as I have several times) asking God to be in our finances. Wanting to be a good steward of our resources I prayed for wisdom, patience, and for God to make ends meet and provide the rest.

I kept the appointment with the orthodontist (we are doing the invisiline trays instead of the lovely metal wires) and I kissed my Hawaii trip good-bye for now. After all that I went to the mailbox and low and behold, there was a check! A refund from Savannah's eye surgery almost 2 years ago! I called to be sure it was not a mistake.

Did God rewarded my obedience (why am I not obedient more often?)? I believe so. Although it was a large check, it did not cover the cost of Hawaii. But is was capable of covering the one thing that needed to be done that we could not fit into the budget. This check is paying for a journey that I plan to document here on my blog in the near future.

Stay tuned...

Open Wide!

Megan reminded me that I never posted an update on Savannah's first dentist appointment.

Katy let us borrow 2 books that helped immensely. They were, The Bernstein Bears Go to the Dentist and Going to the Dentist by Mercer Meyer. Savannah devoured them! We read them over and over again all the while answering numerous questions about pain, equipment, and post-appointment treats.

The night before the big appointment we prayed that God would calm her fears and give her courage.

The next day she walked into the dentist office apprehensively and then waltzed out afterwards as if she had just left a glorious party. She had a blast!

That night as we prayed again we thanked God for answering our prayer for courage. Savannah's eyes lit up as she realized God had answered her very own sweet little prayer. She gasped and said, "Momma, God gave me the power to do that!" It was her own divine revelation.

Who knew that God could even make going to the dentist a beautiful thing???

Fun Photo Friday

Because I missed Retro Wednesday this week, I am stealing Cari's Fun Photo Friday.

This past Monday Mark and I celebrated out 7th wedding anniversary. This is a picture of us leaving a historic mansion in downtown Dallas. Just hours before we were married on that same staircase with a huge Tiffany glass window lit up behind us. It was hard to choose which wedding pic to post. It was an amazingly wonderful day!



And on Tuesday, my sister celebrated her birthday. It's not my place to say how old she turned this year ;) This is a picture of Dawn, Mom, and I on Christmas morning in my mom's old loft downtown. I am guessing it was 1999.



Happy birthday Sissy!

Need Help Please!!!

Savannah goes to the dentist for the first time next week and she is terrified! I have no idea why she is scared. She knows nothing of the potential use of drills, needles, and other scary metal instruments.
None the less, she is frightened and I need a way to subdue her fears. Do any of y'all know of a book or 2 geared towards dentistry and children? I wish there was a Curious George Goes to the Dentist!
Any help or ideas is greatly appreciated!

The Long and Winding Road

By 5:30 AM everyone in the house was up with the exception of Savannah. Peeps (A.K.A. Peepaw, Doug, my step-dad) turned on the weather while we greased up our feet with Vaseline and awaited our carefully pre-planned, pre-event breakfast. The high temperature was estimated to be 61 degrees with winds up to 45 miles per hour. Yikes!

Due to the weather predictions the day before, we had not planned for it to be that cold. We made outfit adjustments, packed our camelpacs and set off for our adventure with a little anxiety of the unknown and lots of excitement.

By the way, I could probably write a good size novella on the events of this past Sunday. But for the sake of every body's time and attention spans, I will edit my thoughts before typing and keep this thing moderately short.

Now, back to my story. The energy of a thousand people waiting at the start line is equivalent to a double shot espresso. The gun went off and everyone cheered as they took off. It took some time for the large crowd to pass over the start line. As we made our way over the line most of the people around us began to run. My adrenaline started pumping and I had to mentally control every muscle in my body and tell myself not to run. I felt like an overexcited puppy on a leash that was not allowed to run off and play with the other rambunctious puppies!

My mother quickly told me that we agreed to walk this thing not run and under no circumstances would she be running today. So, I harnessed my race day excitement and settled into "walking the marathon" mode. Although I was initially caught up in the moment of race day excitement, it did not dampen my spirits to be walking instead of running. But it did get me fired up to run one next time!

Everyone (Mandy, Mom, and myself) was doing well until we hit White Rock Lake just a few miles into the race. A couple of runners passed Mom and unintentionally kicked gravel into her shoe. When I looked back she was sitting down beside the course. I told Mandy to go on and I ran back to Mom.

She had taken off her shoe in attempt to get the gravel out. But if you take your shoe off mid-event, it's never the same. She ended up have lots of foot problems throughout the race.

Our next hurtle was around the corner. We turned north to walk several miles beside White Rock Lake heading straight into 45 mile an hour winds. The wind chill coming off the lake was 31 degrees. To say it was brutal is an understatement. We literally had to push off into the wind with so much force that it felt like we were on a stair stepper the whole time.

By the time we went through several miles of that, Mom was in severe pain from her foot and now exhausted from the wind. And if your feet are not feeling good, nothing is feeling good. Mom started to fall way behind Mandy and I. I would run back and check on her periodically (I was happy that I got to run a little of the marathon!) and then run back to Mandy. Eventually she fell so far back that we could not turn around and see her. That time when I ran back to her she announced that she was dropping out. This was at mile 12.

The next week she went to her chiropractor and he said if she had continued the race she would have had permanent nerve damage in her left foot. Luckily she was smart enough to know that her foot was seriously injured and that she should not attempt to finish.

Mandy and I however, did press on. But suddenly we noticed we were all alone. Most of the walkers turned off for the path of the 1/2 marathon. I reassured Mandy that that just means we are among the elite walkers and not a slacker who takes the 1/2 way path. I'm not sure she was convinced.

The marathon Mom did before had tons of walkers. This one unfortunately did not. Soon the couple behind us dropped out. That put Mandy and I at the end of the race, hours behind the runners. Rumor has it that there were 2 other walkers in front of us on the course but we never saw them. It began to get lonely.

Since this marathon allows walkers, the course is suppose to stay open 6 1/2 hours to allow enough time for them to complete the event. But on the 17th mile we saw the people at one of the water stations shutting down. This worried us a little. The cones marking the race were still out and we still saw signs directing us so once again we pressed on.

After a few more miles we noticed there were no more water stations open and the police escorts had now disappeared. The course looked vacant and worry began to set in. Our psyche was now thrown off and we started to get a little down.

About that time a lady who worked for the company putting on the race drove by to tell us that the course would close in an hour and she asked us if we wanted a ride back. Excuse me? So you want me to quit after 19 miles so that you can go home early? Or worse, do you think I can't finish this thing? Nothing infuriates me more than someone thinking that I can't do something. Especially if I know I can.

The lady must have seen red flames shooting from the top of my head as she said this because then her reply was, "I'm just relaying the message."

I replied in a decent tone for someone who just invested 19 miles, "Walkers are allowed in this marathon and the course should be open for another hour and we will be on it. We are not quitting."

Seriously, nothing worse than someone trying to get you to quit during a long endurance event. Most people are already trying to talk themselves out of quitting and then to have the event coordinators suggest it!

At this point we are feeling bummed and all alone. Although we were still able to follow the cones, there were no more mileage signs or signs with arrows and directions. This fact further depleted out moral. Try as I might, I could no longer get a laugh out of Mandy. I on the other hand was still furious that someone thought we might not finish (we were moving VERY fast, in the wind. We just weren't running.). I wanted to run the last 7 miles but Mandy's feet were on fire and every step was painful. She was regretting not going to Run On and getting a new pair of shoes. But, there was nothing we could do about it at this point.

(Almost done. I promise this is much less detail than I could give you!)

As if things could not get any worse, the cones stopped at an intersection. We had no idea which way to go. I guessed and it turn out I guessed wrong. We went a mile or two way off course. Who knows how far we really went off course because there were no mile markers on or off the course!

Now we were lost, unable to finish the course after so many hours, and on the verge of tears (mine being tears of fury and Mandy's from pain and exhaustion). I have never felt so alone and abandoned in all my life. How could they put on a race then leave us out here!? They pulled the water stations, cones, signs, policemen...everything. They never came back to check on us.

By this time, Peeps, Mom, and Savannah were on their way. They found us and without asking us if we wanted to finish the marathon (they knew better) they drove us back to the course. Peepaw got on his bike and rode us in. And thank goodness he did because by then we were over by Fair Park with NO police protection!!! That's the ghetto people.

One last corner and we could finally see the finish line. Mom and Savannah were there cheering along with some staff. Mandy and I ran those last few feet.
Savannah gave me a big hug and asked if I won. Let me tell you, anyone who get's out there and even tries is a winner.

What did I learn? I LOVE LOVE LOVE long endurance events. I could have pushed myself much further physically (but mentally I was shot!) and plan to do so in the future. However, I did tell Mark that I will not do more than one marathon a year because of the time it takes away from my family. Mandy and I do plan to run a 1/2 marathong in October and my Mom and my aunt AJ plan to walk it. We also learned that the Big D marathon is not well run but I had read several reviews that said that very thing online.

But above all I would do it again. I think I have found my athletic niche!

Annie Get Your Gun!

Saturday night Mandy and I stayed at my Mom's in preparation for our Sunday morning marathon in Dallas. Being an experienced competition athlete, my step dad (Peepaw) sent us off to bed around 10pm so that we would be well rested for the race. I was wired with excitement and could not force myself to drift off to sleep. Finally, sleep was conquered for me sometime around 11:45.

The next thing I heard was a loud crash sounding like glass breaking. I jolted awake and my mind began to process the sound. Was it a cat? No, I am not at home and Mom has no animals. My brain scanned the rational possibilities and could only come up with the idea that it was an intruder. At that moment there was another crash that sounded like glass breaking once again. I glanced at the clock and noticed it was 3:30 AM. No one in the house should be up, so who is it?

I ran into Mom and Doug's room and told them someone was breaking in. I grabbed the phone ready to call 911 and asked for the gun. This is the second time in my life I have had no problem using a gun on an intruder. And the funny thing is, I hate guns. Mark has taken me out to the farm many times to teach me how to shoot and reload. Each time I begrudgingly listen and learn. But a few years ago I was home alone and I heard a noise at my bedroom door and with no fear I grabbed the gun (I sleep with a shotgun if Mark is out of town!) and headed for the criminal. As I rounded the corner and pointed the gun, I almost shot our cat. Poor Java. She really does have 9 lives!

Back to Saturday night, Peepaw ran into the living room to fight off the prowler and I devised a plan. Mandy was still in her room so I was going to call her and tell her to climb out her window. Mom and Savannah were with me at the back of the house and I was about to open the window, bust out the screen and escape.

As I was about to initiate my plan of action Peepaw came back and said he forgot to close the window above the kitchen sink and the shades blew down and knocked several things into the kitchen sink. He searched the house several times but there was no perp.

Whew! That was a close one! No need to implement my Charlie's Angels routine. But do you think any of us went back to sleep? Oh, no. My adrenaline (which needed to be saved for the following day) was flowing like Niagra Falls.

At 5:20 AM I was still awake so I decided to go ahead and start preparing for our big day. My concern? If the wind was already blowing hard enough to break things inside the house, what was it going to do to us for 26.22 miles outside the house?

To be continued...

I Am A Robot!

Finally, here are pictures from the 2nd half of Savannah's birthday.

Donnis came over to entertain the children with Robot Kindermusik especially designed for Savannah to include all her favorite intergalactic robots. Donnis did an AMAZING job. This experience may have even topped Disney World in Savannah's opinion because it was catered just to her.

Donnis started out the party with everyone's favorite, percussion instruments!
I posted this picture because you can tell Savannah's eyes are already lit with excitement and anticipation. Meadow on the other hand must of hit an unappealing note on her triangle.




Savannah and Donnis singing hello to everyone.



Girls giggling with glee!



I am a robot! We sing this song all day long now! We also love the Wall-e Loves Eva song. Donnis picked some jammin' music.



I love watching Donnis' animated face. This is why Savannah has been drawn to her since birth! She really has a gift with music and children.



Robot sounds, R2D2 & C3PO. Suprisingly, she was not the only child who knew these characters.



Waving hand in the air, cause their "feelin' all right"!



Hunching down like WALL-E asleep.



Burton and Nannie watching all the maddness.



Sheer joy on Savannah's face as she runs under the parachute with robot balls on top. At one point in the party Savannah ran over to me, hugged me and said, "I AM HAVING SO MUCH FUN!" It was precious to see that much pure joy.



Lining up to march in for cake and ice cream to Star Wars music.



The day finished off with the much anticipated robot cake and ice cream.

The Big Day

It was the morn of Savannah's 4th birthday when I turned the corner and saw the view of the pic below. From all appearances the world had turned tospy turvy. My child was sitting on the counter, eating cereal out of the box while her grandfather, great grandmother, and Dad watched. Did I miss something?



After a round of hugs, kisses, happy birthday wishes, and full aknowledgement that rules were out the window for the day, lots of family came over for a birthday lunch and presents.



Savannah's geunine joy over the presents prompted a round of hugs. Although all were captured, only a few are posted here. None the less, they were all priceless.



I have no idea what she is doing here. Funny face though.




We have already read this book 100 times.



The serious videographer.



The audience




Savannah and Pa



Savannah and Uncle Allen



Savannah and Ella



Savannah, Ella, and Burton. Savannah has on Ella's shoes. Not sure when that happened.



Savannah wanted me to take a picture with her new "babies," WALL-E and Eve. She couldn't stop looking at them long enough to look up and smile. They have not parted yet!

So proud...

Tonight Savannah asked, "Mom, what's a 'drive-through'?"

So proud. So proud.

No Mickey D's in this household! (But she has been through a Starbucks drive-through a time or 2! Not for her, but for me of course.)