Friday night at Zukey Lake Tavern

Owen LOVES to dance. As soon as a catchy tune comes on the radio he can't control his feet tapping on the floor or some part of his body jamming to the song. Kris and I are always a little amazed at his ability to dance and we laugh at the fact that he didn't get his talent from either of us. Last night we went to Zukey Lake Tavern for a late dinner and to enjoy a band that is quite good....we heard them a few months ago and Owen loved them. We got a babysitter for Wyatt so we could enjoy some alone time with Owen. We had a great time! Here is me dancing with my boy. Here is Kris' attempt at dancing with Owen.....he was sitting in the chair dancing with him....I think it is a cute picture.

Finally here is Owen finishing up his burger so that he could dance the night away.

It's fun to be able to to things with Owen alone. Wyatt wouldn't have lasted.....but one day soon, he will be right their with us dancing the night away!

My boys on a lazy rainy day.....

not much else to do but cuddle on the couch with a nice warm blanket and watch some T.V.

It has been so cold, windy and rainy this week.....just BLAH!!! Our power went out yesterday for about 5 hours and Kris had to get out the generator.......it has just been miserable. Today it is another cold and crummy day! Hoping for sun and warmth to join us for good soon.

Wyatt's first Easter 2011

Wyatt man celebrating his first Easter. He had absolutely no clue what to do, but he was so fun to watch. He kept on looking around like "what is going on?!"

Here is another picture of him just standing and hanging out.....absolutely no interest in picking up any eggs at all.

Here he is Easter morning before church......what a nice Easter bunny!

I'm not sure why we don't have any pictures of Owen opening his basket but here is another of Wy man sorting through his basket.

Owen continues to be a STINKER!

Every night before the boys go to bed we take some time to pick up the house (mainly the toy mess). I need the house to be decluttered before bed otherwise I have a hard time relaxing for the night. So tonight I had everything picked up however when I went to take Wyatt upstairs for the night I noticed that Owen's crocs were still on the floor. So as I headed up the stairs with Wyatt I said, "Owen please put your crocs away." And his response was "okay momma, where do you want me to put them?" To which I replied, "Just get them off the floor. In the closet." When I came downstairs this is how I found his crocs.

They make lovely closet knobs, don't they?
He is so stinking cute and continues to be a handful!

I can't believe he will be 4 in just over a month and a half......he certainly acts much older, but I want him to stay my baby forever!

Dinner mishap.....

Tonight we had quite the dinner mishap. We initially were going to make turkey burgers on the George which is in line with our diet and a healthy alternative to cheeseburgers. Kris plugged in the George and it started buzzing....he said it is fried (pardon the pun!) So he went to the local hardware store and bought some propane so we could BBQ our turkey burgers on the grille. When he got home he headed out on the deck and put the propane in the grille and then came back in the house and told me to come outside with my camera. When I went outside I noticed at first that the cranes were in our backyard and was puzzled on why he wanted me to take pictures of them because I already have SO many pictures. But then I saw what he wanted me to take a picture of................ can you guess where this is????Yep you probably guessed correctly.....in our BBQ grille.

The eggs are just beautiful! Such a gorgeous color.

Of course Owen needed to get in on all of the action too!

So here we are starving with no source to cook our food. Kris wanted to move the nest.....I encouraged him to leave it alone for now. I think it will be fun to watch the momma come back to look after her babies.

As for dinner- we had to break our diet a bit. We had to make hot dogs on the stove! But they were good and it was worth it. If we are lucky enough maybe I will be able to snap some shots of the baby birds as they hatch .......I'm sure they will be so cute!

Easter 2011

He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!

Here is the best family picture we got last night while at my parents for Easter dinner. Owen was a wee bit tired to say the least. Wyatt man with his tidal waver hair.......so cute!

Wyatt was all over the place.....walking on the deck....crawling up and down the stairs.....he was into everything!

Owen had so much fun last night! And it was super special because the Easter bunny dropped some eggs off at my parents..... so he had a big fun Easter egg hunt. The looks on his face were priceless.

He was so stinking excited!

Will post more later after we have our easter celebration with Kris' family.

Easter......

Owen's basket....he was SO easy to shop for this year. Kris asked as I was putting his basket together if this was Easter or Christmas. I just couldn't stop shopping for him and the best part is that he is going to LOVE it all! Wyatt was a little more difficult....just because we have SO much stuff.....so he is getting some PUFFS and a bathing suit for our upcoming camping trips this summer. Next year it will be easier to shop for him.

We are excited for tomorrow. Our boys are getting older and more independent. Wyatt is huge and is super heavy to lug around.....it won't be long before they are both in school full-time. We need to cherish the opportunity that we have with them now, especially me since I am home with them all day. Kris is done with school in another two weeks or so and then look out because pretty soon we are gonna have lots of posts from our camping trips.....can't wait!! Super excited!!

Owen is a stinker!

We put Owen to bed tonight and shortly after we came downstairs Kris heard the TV in our bedroom turn on......we figured that we would just let him be as we knew he was tired. Kris just went upstairs and found Owen like this in our bed. Notice the remote control next to his right arm. He sure is our stinker.....but we love him to pieces!

another appointment

Went to see the nephrologist today for a follow up as they think there may be some kidney involvement going on. So I have to leave a urine sample first thing when I get there and then wait for it to be looked over. So I go to the room and the doctor said that there was a little blood in my urine and wanted to look it over more closely. I wasn't really surprised as the past several months it has been hit or miss that I have either blood and/or protein in my urine or both.

So she comes back about 5 minutes later and the attending (very nice perfect speaking Indian doctor) says to me, "how are you eating these days?" and I answer him since I am an honest person, "probably could be better." He inquires why I'm not eating well and I tell him all about our diet. He said that I have key tones in my urine and the only reason I would have key tones in my urine is if I have diabetes or if I am starving myself. I assured him that I was not starving myself and that the diet we are on is no carbohydrate diet. He said that wasn't good and that I needed at least 8tsps of sugar per day.......so tonight we had pizza for dinner.....and it was good....REALLY GOOD!!

He also said that I was an interesting case and that I have an interesting disease and that he and the other specialities involved in my care are lucky because by having me as a patient they will one day be able to help other people with my disease and properly treat them. I agreed as I mentioned that I was a guinea pig and he looked at me and said, "yes, but a good guinea pig." Not really sure how to take that, but whatever!

They still think that there is kidney swelling but again decided against a biopsy due to the fact that WE ALL KNOW that I have inflammation in my body.....it shows up on every test and is obvious most of the time when you look at me. So since we are already trying to treat the inflammation there would really be no different course of treatment for the inflammation of the kidneys. One of the downsides about having kidney involvement is that I can't have any NSAID's medications. Of course NSAID's are anti-inflammatory medicines like IB Profen, celebrex, etc. So now steroids are the only thing trying to fight against the inflammation......I continue to have good days and bad days.

My humira was supposed to be ready for pick-up today and I was looking forward to starting that as I had to hold off on the methotrexate again this week as my liver enzymes were still very high (yet trending down apparently). So my mom went to the pharmacy to pick it up for me and they told her that my insurance won't cover it and that it is about $5,500.00 out of pocket. Yes- that is over FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.......so I will see if my doctor can call it in another way....if not I guess I have to suffer or they need to find me something else....I know my health is worth a lot more money but I definitely don't feel like taking out a loan to pay for medication. I was really surprised too because we have EXCELLENT insurance. Only pay co-pays and nothing more. Didn't pay a penny out of pocket for Owen, Wyatt and even my last week long hospital stay which totaled almost $30,000.00 .

Did I forget to say that I am blessed? Truly blessed!

We are gearing up for a nice family weekend celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and savior. He died for our sins and soon will be risen!

Diet update

well so far so good on our diets! Kris and I have been at this diet for almost 3 weeks now. We have two weeks to go and then will transition to an Atkins or South Beach diet. Kris is down 21lbs!!!! I'm done about 10....not holding my breath though because I got my steroids upped again so I'm just a little fearful my efforts will be short lived. last night we went to Applebee's for dinner. It was the first time we "cheated" or rather "splurged" since our diet start almost 3 weeks ago........we ordered cheese sticks as an appetizer and kept to our diet for our main entrees. But then, our lovely waitress asked if we wanted to try one of their desserts for only $1.....(i'm always looking for a good deal, so who could turn down a dessert for $1??) So anyway it was the corner of a brownie and one scoop of ice cream....it was perfect. Just the right amount. I did feel a little bit guilty but it could have been worse!

Pre-Easter Fun!

well......it was another SUPER cold day for the Easter egg hunt in Julie's neighborhood. We actually saw snow today, several times, which is NOT fun! It also didn't help that it was SUPER windy! We kept Wyatt inside during the egg hunt since he already has a runny nose...didn't want/need to chance it turning into something worse. Here are Kris and I, all bundled up and I was still freezing! Me and my love! Love this kid beyond belief!

Owen meeting the Easter bunny, he was really nice to the bunny (who I think was actually a 12 year old girl. It was okay though because she didn't talk, she just kept giving everyone the thumbs up sign.) Owen collecting the eggs and putting them in his bucket.

Super happy boy!

We had great fun today. Aunt Julie made a spectacular brunch for all of us and it was super yummy. She also planned the food around our diet so that was really appreciated. We could actually eat without feeling too guilty!

Now we are home and just chilling out before Kris heads back to work for the week.

Lazy day....

Well we had big fun plans today to go down to Belleville to look at some new fifth wheels, but we had a change of plans when I woke up unbelievably sore. My hips are killing me.....I even emailed my doctor to see what I should take for the pain....not sure when/if she will get my message. So instead we are having a very LAZY day. Owen spent the good part of the morning into afternoon helping Kris build an engine stand while Wyatt and I napped. Owen came inside and wanted a show on....so I turned on the TV for him and moments later this is how we found him. He is still passed out now in the same position- I did cover him with a blanket though so hopefully he is a little more comfortable. Wyatt is a little sick boy, he has quite a cough and a runny nose. He woke up from his nap today looking like this (look at his nose and paci). He is still adorable.

We hope that we all feel better really soon and that it stops raining outside and that the sun will come to stay. We are all sick and tired of this blahness and just want a little sneak peak of summer. We can't wait for our camping trips this summer- we are going to have a blast! Our first trip (trial trip sans kids) is in about a month.....can't wait!

update...not so good mixed with some good!

I had another appointment this week and saw my rheumatologist yet again. I received a phone call on Tuesday from one of the nurses telling me to stop my methotrexate injections. She left a message so I assumed that my blood work came back abnormal from Monday. A short while later I received an email from my doctor telling me the same thing and the reason was because my liver enzymes had increased significantly. My hemoglobin was also low so that is being monitored as well. I had more blood work today and will return to the lab early next week to have more blood work to recheck my liver enzymes next Tuesday. I can't start the new injection which will be Humira until the liver enzymes decrease significantly or return to normal. I also learned at this visit that they are now thinking that my underlying condition is Inflammatory Bowel Disease because my colonoscopy from December was not normal. It is hard for them to distinguish because I was already on a high dose of steroids prior to my hospitalization so they think that the steroids were masking/interfering with the results.....but they do know that it was not a normal colonoscopy thus my following up with a gastrointologist. At this visit was also the first time that I learned that I must have an underlying condition because Methotrexate alone or Anakinra alone should have treated my urticarial vasculitis.....so definitely a combination of both meds should have most certainly treated me.....but not so much! Whatever this auto-immune condition I have is certainly a nasty one that is liking to hide from any obvious markers of giving me an OFFICIAL DIAGNOSIS. It will be a year in July that I have been dealing with this.....a YEAR is a short time in a lifespan but such a LONG time with two small kids, a demanding job and keeping up with the physical responsibilities of home-life. I am feeling pretty good though because until they figure out a medication regime for me they increased my steroids yet again. And finally the GOOD news is that after months of swelling in my fingers, I was finally able to put my wedding rings on today!!!!! It was a good feeling. I'm not getting too excited since I anticipate the swelling and pain to return again when I start to taper down on my steroids as it always seems to go. Prayers appreciated that when I start the Humira it WILL work and I can have a normal summer....that sounds a little selfish.....I just want to be back to normal so I can be a GOOD momma to my boys!! That is the hardest part....not having any energy and being in physical pain when I try to be active with them.

80 and sunny! and Wyatt is 11 months.....

Owen played outside all day today....it was the first gorgeous day of the year. Here is Wyatt man, 11 months old....where does the time go?

Wyatt and Kris

Wyatt and me

I chased after the boys today as they rode around the sub in owen's truck. Wyatt was so happy, though he kept turning around to make sure I was in sight. Once he saw me he would smile and would turn around again facing forward. Owen is a great listener and knows how to get out of the way of traffic and when to stop and look both ways. I'm hoping this will be a great way for me to get the exercise my body needs this summer. I must have ran about 1/4 mile today alone just trying to keep up with them.

I love this picture of the back of Owen and Wyatt. So serious, so cool and collected, so REAL to both of their personalities! Here is the best shot I could get of the two of them looking at me. Look at how cool Owen looks, he picked out his hat today at the store.....I hope he will be my shopping buddy one day!

Hope you enjoyed these pictures of my boys and our family......I will try to be better about posting more pics on here for you all to enjoy.

blessed, truly blessed!

I know that I am blessed, but sometimes it is the small things in life that really make me think how fortunate we truly are. Yesterday I had the opportunity to work a shift at a mom to mom sale at Kris' moms church. My mother-in-law has been trying to get me to sell some of Owen and Wyatt's clothes and old toys and baby gear at these sales for quite some time. I kept putting it off and putting it off, until we finally realized that we either needed to submit an entry to TLC's "Hoarding Buried Alive" TV show, or try to sell or donate the clutter that we had......SO I decided to give it a try. It didn't help that I really didn't have the time to label and organize the hundreds of articles of clothing, or sort through the mountain of baby gear and toys.......so the preparation for this sale basically consisted of me hiring our babysitter for a few hours to come and do it for me. Notice the title of my post is "blessed", I'm sure no other mom had the luxury of having a babysitter do all of the dirty work for her. Kris took several loads during the week and met with his dad so that all of the larger items were already in Canton. On Friday night Kris loaded everything up and headed to the church where he set everything out for the sale. He was such a trooper, although he complained more than once about how he would just prefer to donate everything to salvation army, and that likely this would not be worth the time or energy. However, I knew that I wanted to give it a try- so Saturday morning I headed down to Canton to work my shift from 11-2pm. I had the check-0ut shift so I basically took all of the clothing off of the hangers and took all of the safety pins out of the clothes and took the tags off of all of the items and gave the buyer a grand total of the purchase. It was a fun job to have and the time sure did pass by quickly. BUT.......... I couldn't help but to feel bad for some people.....I mean, really I had no idea what their exact situation was.....for all I know they could have been millionaires living in a mansion with maids and gardeners.....but I don't think this was the case. There were a lot of women there with children varying in age looking for spring/summer clothing for their family. It was really hard for me when I would get to a certain point in their order and they would say, "okay let's put this stuff aside for now, can you please total everything up so far and let me know where I'm at?" And this was at the time of the sale when everything was an additional 50%off so most of the clothing wasn't more then $.50 or $.75 cents each. Or when I would come up with a total number owed at the end of their order and they would say, "no that's not right, I came up with much less then that!", when I already did the math in my head and on a calculator and the amount that I quoted them was indeed correct. Or when I would be commenting on how cute the clothes were that they were purchasing when a third of the items had small stains or tears on them. Or when some of the toys were so old and worn and the mom would tell me that she was going to try to clean it up and/or fix it up and put it in her childs Easter basket. I know I have it good in my life. I attribute most of what I have to the way that I was raised. My parents did an excellent job of being tough but fair and not giving in too much, though i must say I pretty much got what i wanted because i was the baby. But a lot of it is that I am truly blessed....not to say that I am a better Christian than any of these other women who were at the sale, if anything I am probably not as good of a Christian as half of them, and yet I have SO much more! I pray everyday, mostly at night. I pray with the boys before i put them to bed and I'm always sure to pray with them thanking God for our many blessings, including our nice house, our nice cars, our nice camper, but more importantly for a healthy family and for continued safe travel. I want to instill in the boys at a young age how blessed we are and how hard Kris and I work for everything that we have. So again, I'll never know the exact situations of the people that I checked out at the sale, and it isn't any of my business......but I know now that every time I go into a store I'm going to be a little more thankful about the opportunity I have to be able to buy full priced clothing, or not worry about what my total comes to at the grocery store, or whether I am going to be able to pay all of the bills at the end of the month, because God has provided for us in a way that makes us blessed...truly blessed!

Well....not so lucky I guess!

Last night before bed I noticed that the backs of my upper arms were super itchy. When I went to itch them I knew immediately they were broken out because of the rough, hive like skin I felt. I looked in the mirror and sure enough I had bright red, hive looking welts on the back on my arms. About 5 minutes later my thigh started itching....and sure enough there were bright red looking hives on my upper thigh. I told Kris that it was really weird because I haven't had any rash outbreaks in MONTHS. And maybe it was a coincidence but I had just tapered down to the lowest dose of steroids I had been on in months just yesterday morning. Kris took a picture of my rash and I emailed it to my doctor. This morning when I woke up I was going to have Kris do my injection for me when Kris came to the realization that I had a nasty rash at each of my injection sites. Arms, both sides of my belly and my thighs.....he would not give me the injection until we heard back from the doctor to find out what was going on as I had been giving myself injections the last 12 days with no issues. My rheum was concerned and made an urgent appointment for me today at UofM dermatology clinic. They feel that it is a reaction to the injection and that since I have been on such a high dose of steroids for the last few weeks that the steroids were actually masking my reaction to the injection. So- we are now treating my rash, which burns and itches like crazy. I also was switched to a new and stronger steroid medication and had to stop taking the Anakinra injection immediately. My doctor will switch me to either an Embrel or Humira injection as soon as possible. I can still continue with the methotrexate injection. The dermatologist also took a biopsy of the rash to see if it is the urticarial vasculitis rearing its ugly head or if it is a reaction to the injection. Since the outbreak is so specific to the injection sites they are thinking that the biopsy results will just show the negative reaction.....time will tell. So again, a step in the wrong direction of being healed....I'm feeling run down, tired and defeated again! I so badly just want this all to be over with....like I wake up one morning and my body is healed! God can do that right??? I guess I need to get praying!

A day at the museum....

We took a trip today to Midland and visited a dinosaur exhibit. Owen had lots of fun doing all of the hands-on activities that they had. This was his favorite activity. Look at his concentration.....he was very into this!

Here are me and Wyatt hanging out by a dinosaur puzzle.

Owen at the stamping station....again super concentrated.....he wouldn't even look at me and smile. One of the many dinosaurs the museum had on display.

Wyatt hanging out....thankfully the museum wasn't busy so he did a lot of walking. More importantly Julie, my mom and aunt were there so they helped me chase him around all day.

We had a good time, it was long though and we were tired when we got home. After the museum the boys went to a butterfly garden and saw lots of beautiful butterflies.

The boys are sound asleep now and I hope that they sleep in a little bit in the morning- I know I could use a good nights sleep after a busy day.

Busy, busy, busy!

I feel like my life is so rushed and busy....I know that it will only become busier and more rushed as the boys get older and start sports, etc. I just want things to slow down for a little while so I can soak in each and every moment spent with Kris and the boys. I know that soon I will be looking back and saying to myself, where did the time go! And was I happy doing what I was doing? Which leads me to my work......I am supposed to be working part-time, from home (20 hours per week) but lately I took on more responsibilities and worked over 40 hours this past week. I am so thankful and blessed to have the opportunity that I have, yet still struggle to find a good work/life balance and truly separate my work and home life. It is also hard because Kris is gone so much throughout the week that I have to try to balance taking care of the boys, taking care of the house, taking care of myself, and WORK all within the hours of a single day. When Kris is home he basically becomes single dad to the boys as I go into hibernation mode. I have been praying about how I can separate my work and home life, ideas come to mind such as waking up super early and getting my stuff done.....or sacrificing alone time with Kris, and working really late at night. Again I'm so thankful for my job and the opportunity I have....not many people get to create their own job with their own conditions. Blessed...truly blessed! My mom keeps telling me that I need to concentrate on ME and that if I do that and get the rest that I need that maybe it will allow the necessary healing for my body. I agree with her but it is hard to get the rest I need without certain areas of my life being sacrificed. And yes I know, I am important too, but tell that to two boys who need to be clothed, fed, and bathed and tell that to all the laundry that needs to be done and to all the trash that needs to go out, and to all of the cleaning that the house needs.....oh and tell that to my work! We did hire a house-keeper again, primarily because I remain very swollen in my wrists, fingers and hands, and elbow, mainly on my left side but my right side is very sore too. I LOVE her!! She is great and now I don't stress too much about the house, knowing that she will be here to make it look great! We continue to be blessed beyond measure and are SO thankful for all that we have. God is good, all the time!