It's too early

I can't believe I am wide awake in the middle of the night. This is going to make the day VERY long. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back to sleep. I have a sinus infection (I think-nurses are so bad at diagnosing themselves) and I am so congested that I am having a hard time sleeping. I got up with the intention of sleeping in my recliner, but now I can't fall asleep. I figured I would take advantage of the quiet and my ability to freely type. Lately, if there isn't a cat in my lap, then Jeremy is there. Sometimes, both Lucky (the cat) and Jeremy occupy my lap at the same time. I try to take advantage of those times that Jeremy wants to snuggle. Being only 5'1", I don't have a very big lap, so I don't know how much longer Jeremy is going to fit into it. I also don't know how much longer he is going to want to snuggle.

When I last updated, I was getting ready to take Rachael to a friends house. That turned into quite the adventure. The sleepover was at the married sister of Rachael's friend. This married sister also happened to be the director of the Savior of the World play. Her sister, Rachael's friend, was converted because of her sister's involvement in the play. I thought that was cool. She lives in Lakeway, which is about 20 minutes north west of Austin. It is a beautiful community out by Lake Travis.

I really should have listened to the little voice inside my head before we left that said "get better directions". Initially, I only had an address, but the community was not on Google maps yet. We then got directions from a teenager who doesn't drive. There are a few non-driving teenagers who can give good directions. Rachael's friend Megan is one of those. This was not one of those. We are driving on Hwy 620, looking for the street into the subdivision on the left hand side of the road. They are all well marked. We go completely through Lakeway and beyond. When we reach Mansfield Dam, I tell Rachael to call and see if we are suppose to be this far. We aren't. She gives us more detailed directions from where we are. As we get back into Lakeway, Rachael says to look for the entrance of the subdivision on the left. Wait a minute-it was suppose to be on the left the first time, so shouldn't it be on the right now? We call back and she says the entrance will definitely be on the left. I had not paid any attention to the right hand side of the road on our way through Lakeway. I also discovered that she gave me the name of the subdivision and not the street name, even though she gave street names for every other turn we were suppose to make. The subdivision name was hard to see because there were cars blocking it at the stop light. We did finally get there and Rachael had a great time at her sleepover. They stayed up all night. She couldn't be pranked my Andy this time either. He was at a scout campout and he didn't know how to get to this house anyway. He has pranked almost every sleepover Rachael has been at since they started liking each other.

After I finally got Rachael where she needed to be, it was almost 8pm. Jeremy and I were going to meet Stan for dinner. We ate at Jason's and got done at 9pm. We let Jeremy get a game at Hollywood video. We used some of the disability back pay to get a Wii for the family, so we picked up a Wii game. We also got a Wii Fit for the family recently. That has been a blast. I really need to be better at doing it every day. The activities really do give you a lot of exercise and I can do a lot of them. The balance exercises have been great at improving my stability. That is one of the biggest reasons I wanted the Wii and the Wii Fit. Some of the balance exercises are exactly like the ones I did at physical therapy. They are way more fun that the home program exercises they gave me. I think I'll let the Wii Fit become my physical therapist for now.

I have been given an award. My sweet friend, Corine, gave me this award. Corine recently moved to Hawaii. Her blog is so much fun to read. She is a way better writer than I am. She really should write a book. She said she would if she got 403 people to comment on a specific entry. Go to her blog and check out that entry and leave her a comment. I would love to see her write that book that I know she has in her. You can find that entry here.


Speaking of books, I have spent way too much time reading lately. I have a hard time being a casual reader. When I start a book, I let it suck me in. I don't get anything done until the book is finished. That is why I will go months without reading a book even though I love to read. My current favorite author is Stephanie Meyer. I started off with her Twilight books. I had the first 3 from my SIL. I read them in about 2 weeks, but only because I took a few days off in between books. I bought the 4th one the day it came out. They were fabulous. I just finished her other book "The Host" on Saturday night. I was up until 1am finishing it. I was sobbing like a baby all through the last few chapters. It is amazing I could read through the tears. Then she played a mean trick on the readers. The book ends, then there are about 3 blank pages, THEN she puts the epilogue. I really thought it ended in that sad way. I could understand 1 blank page, but 3!!! I almost closed the book, but there were so many pages after the end. I though they might be a bio about the author, but I checked them out anyways and was glad I did.

So, if you are looking to get completely wrapped up in some good books and completely ignore your chores and your family (not really), then there are 5 Stephanie Meyer books I can recommend to you. The Twilight books are pretty well known, but I don't know how many people have heard of The Host. Check it out. You won't regret it.

Tagged again

I have been tagged so many times lately that I can't even keep up with it anymore. The past 3 tags have been repeats of tags I have done in the past 3 months, so I didn't do them. Sorry. One of the designers I CT for tagged me with this one. This one is completely different from anything I have done before so I thought it would be interesting to do this one. This tag is called Pregnancy Bumps.

Preggy Facts:

1. Who did you first inform about your pregnancy and how?
All 4 times I told my husband first. I was boring and just called him to tell him. The next person I called was probably my mom. I remember with my 2nd and 3rd pregnancy, I also called my best friend, Lisa. We tried for a year to get pregnant with our second child only to have my 2nd pregnancy end in miscarriage at 7 weeks, but I got pregnant again very fast.

2. Maximum weight?
I won't tell you my weight, but I gained 38# with the 1st, 13 # with the 3rd and 60# with 4th pregnancy

3. Cravings?
1-Coffee rolls from Dunkin Donuts
3-grapes
4-nothing specific

4. Aversions?
1-baked potatoes-I didn't eat them for 5 years after that pregnancy
3-anything sweet
4-it was something different every week it seemed

5. Morning Sickness?
yes, but mild and stopped by the 13th week

D Day Facts:
1. Number of Kids/Deliveries?
3 children, 4 pregnancies

2. NSD or CS?
All 3 were normal vaginal deliveries. All 3 were natural childbirth.

3. Girl or Boy?
girl, boy, boy

4. AOG (age of gestation) on Birth?
34 weeks after 1 week of bedrest in the hospital
36 weeks after 6 weeks of bedrest and in the hospital 4 times
37 weeks after 14 weeks of bedrest and in the hospital 9 times

5. How long in labor?
I am not counting all of the times I was in preterm labor. I am only counting the time I spent in labor that lead to my actual delivery.
1-3 hours
2-miscarriage at 7 weeks
3-4 hours
4-1 hour

I'll try to post an update later. I need to get ready to take Rachael to a friends house for a sleepover.

Savior of the World

The youth of our Stake just finished putting on the play, Savior of the World, last week. It was a pretty incredible experience. I was back stage quite a bit during rehearsal and then during the dress rehearsal and the first performance. I got to see the entire play in it's completion on Saturday with Stan and the boys. It was so good. I was in tears off and on throughout the entire play. The girl who played Mary was so talented. The music was beautiful.

Here is a layout I did with a few of the photos I took this past week. Some of them were taken by other people throughout the month during rehearsals. The youth started working on this in November, so a lot of time went into this production. I'm glad I was only our ward's coordinator and I wasn't in charge of the entire thing. It was a little overwhelming just to help. It is something I will never forget though.

Things are getting a little better with my health. My MS seems to have stabilized, at least for now. I never know when it will show it's ugly head. I am hoping I have been on the Avonex long enough that I won't have a flare for quite a while. There are people on Avonex that don't have flares for 2 years. I can only hope for that. I haven't gone more than a few months without a flare so far.

I went to the orthotics place last week. I had to get fitted for a new AFO for my left foot. I also tried out the Walk-aid while I was there. It worked this time. I couldn't get one though. When they called me in April to try it out, they told me that insurance companies were paying for them now. When I went last week to get fit, they told me that a few insurance companies were paying for them, but I would have to get pre-authorization, then I would have to pay for it myself and then get reimbursed by my insurance company. I was so upset with them. Each device is $5,000, and I need two, one for each leg. Who knows how long that is going to take. Hopefully one day that will be the treatment of choice for foot drop rather than the AFO I currently have to wear to keep my foot from dragging.

My diabetes is getting more under control. I have been really careful with my diet. I am still on insulin, but I am hoping I can try diet only when I see the endocrinologist in 2 weeks. My PCP wanted me to decrease my insulin from 4 units to 2 units and my body didn't like that sudden drop in the dose. I went down to 3 units for a while and then decreased it to 2 units after my blood sugars were normal for close to a week. I have been on 2 units for 2 days. My blood sugars have been elevated today, but I'll give them another day or two before I go back up to 3 units. I have been so tempted to see how I do without any insulin at all, but I should probably listen to doctor's orders.

The kids are all doing well. We started school back up again. They aren't really thrilled about that. Rachael is doing driver's ed. We are half way through the first section, then she can get her permit. We need to add her to the insurance first though. She is also registered for dance classes again. She is going to be a teaching assistant in a 5-6 year old basic combo class. She is really excited about this. Andrew has been talking about playing a sport this year, but he doesn't know which one. Stan is going to start doing some training on his bike. He wants to be able to ride from San Antonio to Corpus Christie next year for the MS bike ride. Andrew wants to start riding with him in the morning when he does. I think it will be really good for him and give him and Stan a chance for some time together. It will also give Andrew something besides video games to focus on. Jeremy is his same happy self, although he and Andrew have been fighting more than ever. I guess that is what brother's do.