So one post every 7 months isn't too bad is it??? It's been a little hectic around here, but then again when is it really not?!
We are enjoying the 5 or 6 weeks of Brian being home with us before he leaves goes to Ft Riley, KS to train up for Iraq. He is going to be in command of a 12 man team. Basically their mission as I understand it is they will be given a list of bad guys and they are told to go out, find them, and bring them back alive or otherwise....Please pray for Brian's safety and the men that will be deployed with him. The girls are dreading him leaving and I am too. He will do great as he always does. We are so proud of him.
I guess I should fill you in on the girls...
Lauren is still playing basketball and loving it! She is playing on 2 teams and it definitely keeps us hopping!
Brooke has just recently taken up soccer~she looks so stinkin' cute in her pink soccer shorts, pink cleats, pink shin guards, long pink socks...and she is LOVING it! She gets right in there and is doing great! Her coach is amazing, so patient and loving with all of the kiddos. She is a friend of mine from high school and we have been so happy with how everything is going!
Kara is totally 2! She is finally talking and is no longer using the phrase "yes-no" when we ask her a question and she means yes. We would ask if she wanted something and she would always respond with no, but then would get upset if we didn't give it to her. I started asking her if she meant "yes", and so she started replying back with "yes-no" if she did want it...It was cute, but we are so happy that her vocabulary has expanded and she is now just answering yes or no!
On a very sad note, my Dad passed away on January 17th. I miss him so much, but I am so grateful that he isn't hurting anymore. He hat battled cancer for quite some time. He fought it like a champ, hiding that he was in pain, and trying to reassure us that he was "just fine". I look forward to seeing him again one day. I love you Daddy.
I will try not to take another 7 months before I blog again. I hope this finds everyone doing great. Tomorrow is the first day of Spring and I am so happy for that!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Iraq Again...
So I thought I should update everyone. Brian is going to be heading back to Iraq. booooo! hissssss!!!!! He will get to come back to Edmond for about 4 months and will be assigned to the ROTC department at UCO until he heads back up the Yellow Brick Road to Ft Riley, KS. UCO has been very wonderful in allowing Brian to come back for the 4 month time slot. It will be so nice to have him here in Edmond with us. He will have to go for a 60 day train up for the MITT assignment that he will be doing in Iraq. Basically if I understand it correctly he will be in command of a 12 man team that will live with and train the Iraqi Military and Police. This will all take place after he graduates his course at Ft Leavenworth. He is going to graduate Command Staff and General College in December. It's been a very busy year for him up there. Not only has he been doing that school, but has been earning his Masters at the same time. It sounds like all he has been doing is reading and then more reading! That is when he isn't making the 5 1/2 hour drive home on the weekends to see the girls and me. He has been a champ at making that drive. I think the girls could call him at any point of the drive and ask him how much longer (which they do) and he could nail the time within 5 minutes...and to think that I used to complain about the 90 mile that we made constantly between Ft Sill and Edmond when we were stationed down there!
It's kind of crazy to think that Kara was 1 1/2, Brooke 4, and Lauren 9 when he left to go to Ft Leavenworth. The girls will be 4, 7, and 12 when we all live together again. I guess that is the reality of the military for ya though. But I do have to say that it has been a very rewarding experience and that we have truly enjoyed it. We have made some of the most amazing friends...they are more like family. This deployment will be so different than our other 2. I was living in Germany for Bosnia and was working without children...Lauren was the result of R&R! The first Iraq deployment had us living on Ft Sill. Lauren was 4 and Brooke was just a few months old when Brian left. It was a crazy experience for me with leading the Family Readiness Group. Our street was basically an entire street of single moms. I think there were maybe 2, possibly 3 men living on our street once the war kicked off. It was a crazy time period, but the friendships that were formed are still extremely strong even though we are all spread out at various duty assignments around the world now. This deployment will be different because the girls and I will not be surrounded by others that are going through the same thing. My neighbors and I traded off babysitting with one another almost daily and thought nothing about it. The kids were all in the same boat and that was very reassuring for them. Thankfully we have family close that is always ready to help out. That makes such an amazing difference. I don't know what I'd do without the babysitting help of my parents. After having my knee surgery and having physical therapy 3 times a week I couldn't have done it without them. This time will definitely be so much different, but I am trying to keep a very positive attitude up around the girls so that they can have less stress worry. We actually have had it easy compared to many of our friends. We know some that are on their 3rd or 4th tour over there....without a complaint. I am so proud of Brian and his call to serve. It truly takes a special person.
It's kind of crazy to think that Kara was 1 1/2, Brooke 4, and Lauren 9 when he left to go to Ft Leavenworth. The girls will be 4, 7, and 12 when we all live together again. I guess that is the reality of the military for ya though. But I do have to say that it has been a very rewarding experience and that we have truly enjoyed it. We have made some of the most amazing friends...they are more like family. This deployment will be so different than our other 2. I was living in Germany for Bosnia and was working without children...Lauren was the result of R&R! The first Iraq deployment had us living on Ft Sill. Lauren was 4 and Brooke was just a few months old when Brian left. It was a crazy experience for me with leading the Family Readiness Group. Our street was basically an entire street of single moms. I think there were maybe 2, possibly 3 men living on our street once the war kicked off. It was a crazy time period, but the friendships that were formed are still extremely strong even though we are all spread out at various duty assignments around the world now. This deployment will be different because the girls and I will not be surrounded by others that are going through the same thing. My neighbors and I traded off babysitting with one another almost daily and thought nothing about it. The kids were all in the same boat and that was very reassuring for them. Thankfully we have family close that is always ready to help out. That makes such an amazing difference. I don't know what I'd do without the babysitting help of my parents. After having my knee surgery and having physical therapy 3 times a week I couldn't have done it without them. This time will definitely be so much different, but I am trying to keep a very positive attitude up around the girls so that they can have less stress worry. We actually have had it easy compared to many of our friends. We know some that are on their 3rd or 4th tour over there....without a complaint. I am so proud of Brian and his call to serve. It truly takes a special person.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
What a Night
I think we should have permanent name bracelets for all of the local emergency rooms. Once again last night we had to stop by and check on the staff at Edmond Medical Center....
I was cooking chicken spaghetti and of course Brooke wanted to help. She loves to cook! So she had her barstool over to the side of the stove. Kara was just busy being 2 walking around saying "eat eat" knowing that dinner was almost done. As I was draining the pasta I heard the barstool scoot across the floor. This is an extremely annoying sound. If you have ever called our house there is a 99% chance that you have heard it. Anywho I thought it was Brooke moving it, but it wasn't. Kara had decided to check out the flashing red light on the cook top. It's a smooth surface, so the burner area flashes when it is hot but has been turned off. Most would view this as a danger sign and stay away....but not 2 year olds! Kara decided to touch it and see what it was. OUCH! Dinner was of course put on hold and I spent the next little while running cold water over her hand. At first I didn't think it was really that bad. Quite some time had passed and she was still just crying and shaking her hand so I decided to take her to the ER.
Brooke was having a sleepover at my parent's house so I helped her get her things together. We loaded up the van and headed to the er. My Mom was planning to meet me in the parking lot and take Brooke home with her. When I shut my door I heard a horrible scream and looked down. Brooke had grabbed just inside my door to brace herself as she was stepping down from her door. Another OUCH!!!!! I had to open my door for her to get her hand out. It was completely shut. Her hand looked horrible so I took the ice pack that Kara had and gave it to Brooke. Kara had been crying hysterically with her burn, but immediately stopped when Brooke started. I think Lauren just wanted to steer clear of all of us! No actually Lauren was extremely helpful and scooped Kara up as soon as she realized Brooke was hurt too. So we went in and I checked both girls in to be seen.
Kara has second degree burns on all of her fingers except her pinky. Brooke had an xray of her finger and it was just bruised. Huge, swollen and purple, yes, but thankfully just bruised. I would have felt horrible if Brooke ended up with a broken finger because we took Kara to the ER for burns! What an evening!
I was cooking chicken spaghetti and of course Brooke wanted to help. She loves to cook! So she had her barstool over to the side of the stove. Kara was just busy being 2 walking around saying "eat eat" knowing that dinner was almost done. As I was draining the pasta I heard the barstool scoot across the floor. This is an extremely annoying sound. If you have ever called our house there is a 99% chance that you have heard it. Anywho I thought it was Brooke moving it, but it wasn't. Kara had decided to check out the flashing red light on the cook top. It's a smooth surface, so the burner area flashes when it is hot but has been turned off. Most would view this as a danger sign and stay away....but not 2 year olds! Kara decided to touch it and see what it was. OUCH! Dinner was of course put on hold and I spent the next little while running cold water over her hand. At first I didn't think it was really that bad. Quite some time had passed and she was still just crying and shaking her hand so I decided to take her to the ER.
Brooke was having a sleepover at my parent's house so I helped her get her things together. We loaded up the van and headed to the er. My Mom was planning to meet me in the parking lot and take Brooke home with her. When I shut my door I heard a horrible scream and looked down. Brooke had grabbed just inside my door to brace herself as she was stepping down from her door. Another OUCH!!!!! I had to open my door for her to get her hand out. It was completely shut. Her hand looked horrible so I took the ice pack that Kara had and gave it to Brooke. Kara had been crying hysterically with her burn, but immediately stopped when Brooke started. I think Lauren just wanted to steer clear of all of us! No actually Lauren was extremely helpful and scooped Kara up as soon as she realized Brooke was hurt too. So we went in and I checked both girls in to be seen.
Kara has second degree burns on all of her fingers except her pinky. Brooke had an xray of her finger and it was just bruised. Huge, swollen and purple, yes, but thankfully just bruised. I would have felt horrible if Brooke ended up with a broken finger because we took Kara to the ER for burns! What an evening!
Monday, July 21, 2008
What a Month!
It has been FOREVER since I took time to write on here...So much has happened...
Most importantly the trip to Austin was very much worth it! Lauren is back to feeling good, eating good and sleeping good! The enzymes are working and she seems like she is back to 100%. Basketball has picked back up and her coaches have all mentioned that they are once again seeing the "old Lauren", which is great!
Kara turned 2!!! It's hard to believe. She is definitely into everything and is giving all of us a run for our money! She still isn't talking a whole lot, but we are working on it. Of course, being two her favorite word is "no!"...It doesn't matter what the question is. "Kara do you want some milk?" "NO!" and then she takes it and is off after a quick "TAY TWO". You can ask her how old she is and she will tell you 2...and is back to spelling her name if you start out with the "K" and just have to add the "R" in the middle...of course that only leaves her saying "A" two times, but hey, we consider that spelling around here!
Brooke had kind of a scary night this past month. When we were stationed at Sill she had a seizure. At the time we thought it was because she had fallen and bonked her head pretty good earlier in the day. Then when she was 3 1/2 she had another seizure. She woke up on a Wednesday this past month and said that she felt like she was going to have a seizure. I thought she said "fever" but then when I asked her what made her think that she described the day in detail that she had her last seizure. Well she didn't have it on Wednesday and I was relieved once everyone was in bed that she had not. Thursday morning she woke up and said that she still felt like she was going to have it. Thursday went great, she fell asleep on the couch that evening and then around 11:15 she had it. My Dad came over and stayed with Lauren and Kara while my Mom drove Brooke and I out to Mercy's ER. They did a ct scan and it came back clear meaning that there was no tumor. They scheduled us a follow up appointment for an EEG. The EEG was quite the experience. They needed Brooke to be sleep deprived....usually the kids beg to stay up late, this night Brooke was begging for me to please let her go to sleep! Brian was actually home for his 2 week break from his CGSC course at Ft Leavenworth and he was able to go in and stay with her during the EEG. I'll have to try and get the pictures off of his cell phone to post. They are hilarious! Brooke has what appears to be 100 different wires attached to her head. We are still waiting to get in for her appointment with the pediatric neurologist. Hopefully everything will turn out well. I am just thankful that she was able to tell me that she felt like she was going to have the seizure. The warning made it not as scary.
Brian's Command Staff General College (CGSC) class had a two week break and we thought we would spend it relaxing out at the lake on the boat with the girls...We weren't so lucky. I had to have surgery on my right knee instead. I was glad to be able to do it while he was here to help out....I had torn the cartilage and meniscus. The doctor squeezed my surgery in while Brian was home so that I would have some help while I was recovering. The day of surgery was a little crazy. Before they did my surgery they gave me an antibiotic that I was allergic to. I was laying there in the area that they take you to before surgery and started telling Brian that their sheets were sooo itchy! Then everything started to itch. Brian tried to convince me that they were just giving me saline and that it was in my head but it just continued to get worse and worse! I now understand how people that are cracked up on meth or whatever drug makes you itch can scratch holes in their skin and not care! It was horrible!!!! Brian decided to go grab my nurse after he looked at my face and it was covered with whelps and I looked like I had just had the tar beaten out of me! Everything was itching like crazy!!!! I had Brian scratching my back and I was scratching my head, ears, army, everything that I could reach and scratch!!! My ears have finally healed from where I scratched them too hard and actually cut my skin with my nails....It was not fun! They gave me something to stop the itching and the next thing Brian told me was that I was telling him that we needed to go buy some chips, salsa and nuts to take up to my Dad in the hospital....strange! My knee was worse than they originally thought and they had to shave off part of my knee bone. OUCH!!!! The humorous part was when they thought I could stay on crutches with 3 hooligans running circles around me at home. Thank Goodness for ICE! As long as I stop and prop it up with my ice pouch I don't seem to hurt too much. The pain killers worked, but they basically sent me to laa-laa land and that isn't a good thing when you are supposed to be in charge of a small circus. I just took them the first couple of days and then gave up on them. Not only did they send me to laa-laa land, but I was having a small allergic reaction to one of them and so I had to take Benadryl along with it to keep the itching at bay. That is for the birds! No Thank You! Hopefully that is it for surgeries for me. Not Fun.
While all of the surgery fiasco's were going on my Dad was in the hospital. His blood pressure medication wasn't working properly and it caused him to build up fluid around his lungs. They think they have fixed the problem...hopefully they have. I promise not to take him a bunch of salty snack (chips, nuts, etc.) when it is a blood pressure problem causing fluid to build up. He goes back to the cardiologist here in a couple of weeks to have a stress test. If he passes that he will then go and have his surgery to reconnect his intestines. That surgery cannot happen fast enough for him. I know he must be so ready for it!
Those of you that know my parent's and have been to their house know Donner. He has been having major problems with his hips and back legs going out on him for quite awhile. He had not seemed to be in much pain until the last few months. He passed away this past week. It was a very sad day for all of us. Donner was Blitzen's brother. Blitzen was the first rottweiler that Brian and I had when we were first married. Brian and I were so attached to Blitzen that we had him cremated when he died. Being military and not being in Edmond at the time we have just kept his ashes with us in each house that we have lived in...That may seem strange to some, but he was our baby before our babies...His mother wouldn't feed him so I would feed him every two hours around the clock for the first month or so of his life. We almost lost him a couple of times. I remember a long night at my parent's house when Brian was at Ft Lewis. We didn't think he was going to make it. I remember my Dad walking into John's old bedroom where I was sleeping after Blitzen made a loud yelping noise. I had been trying to get him to go to the bathroom all day. He was hungry and would eat, but wouldn't go potty. He yelped and then pottied and I knew he was going to make it. I don't know who was happier, my Dad or me. My parent's decided to cremate Donner and we are going to bury them together under the tree in my parent's backyard. It just seems fitting. We'll miss you Donner Boy, but we are all so happy you aren't hurting and are able to once again romp and play with your brother!
Many have asked about our next duty assignment...WE STILL DON'T KNOW! UGH!!!!! Typical Army style, hurry up, wait, and just don't make any plans! Brian graduates CGSC this December. It's almost August and we still don't know. We've put in our requests (one being Germany~I'm dying to go back), but we also know that there is a HUGE possibility that Brian will do another tour in Iraq....or possibly Afghanistan. If that ends up being the case we are just thankful that the girls will have the stability of being near family and the friends that they have made here in Edmond. We'll keep you posted. Field Artillery Branch is supposed to be going to Ft Leavenworth the first week of August and that is when the guys are guessing they will let them know. If Brian does end up going we feel that this time with him up at Leavenworth has helped prepare the girls for the separation. It would have been so hard to go from seeing him everyday with the ROTC hours to him being gone for a 12 month deployment tour. A good friend of ours, Tim Rodgers will leave here in the next week for Afghanistan. He joins many of our other friends that are currently in Iraq or Afghanistan to the deployed status. Please continue to pray for all of our military and their families that are apart. It isn't an easy task at all.
Most importantly the trip to Austin was very much worth it! Lauren is back to feeling good, eating good and sleeping good! The enzymes are working and she seems like she is back to 100%. Basketball has picked back up and her coaches have all mentioned that they are once again seeing the "old Lauren", which is great!
Kara turned 2!!! It's hard to believe. She is definitely into everything and is giving all of us a run for our money! She still isn't talking a whole lot, but we are working on it. Of course, being two her favorite word is "no!"...It doesn't matter what the question is. "Kara do you want some milk?" "NO!" and then she takes it and is off after a quick "TAY TWO". You can ask her how old she is and she will tell you 2...and is back to spelling her name if you start out with the "K" and just have to add the "R" in the middle...of course that only leaves her saying "A" two times, but hey, we consider that spelling around here!
Brooke had kind of a scary night this past month. When we were stationed at Sill she had a seizure. At the time we thought it was because she had fallen and bonked her head pretty good earlier in the day. Then when she was 3 1/2 she had another seizure. She woke up on a Wednesday this past month and said that she felt like she was going to have a seizure. I thought she said "fever" but then when I asked her what made her think that she described the day in detail that she had her last seizure. Well she didn't have it on Wednesday and I was relieved once everyone was in bed that she had not. Thursday morning she woke up and said that she still felt like she was going to have it. Thursday went great, she fell asleep on the couch that evening and then around 11:15 she had it. My Dad came over and stayed with Lauren and Kara while my Mom drove Brooke and I out to Mercy's ER. They did a ct scan and it came back clear meaning that there was no tumor. They scheduled us a follow up appointment for an EEG. The EEG was quite the experience. They needed Brooke to be sleep deprived....usually the kids beg to stay up late, this night Brooke was begging for me to please let her go to sleep! Brian was actually home for his 2 week break from his CGSC course at Ft Leavenworth and he was able to go in and stay with her during the EEG. I'll have to try and get the pictures off of his cell phone to post. They are hilarious! Brooke has what appears to be 100 different wires attached to her head. We are still waiting to get in for her appointment with the pediatric neurologist. Hopefully everything will turn out well. I am just thankful that she was able to tell me that she felt like she was going to have the seizure. The warning made it not as scary.
Brian's Command Staff General College (CGSC) class had a two week break and we thought we would spend it relaxing out at the lake on the boat with the girls...We weren't so lucky. I had to have surgery on my right knee instead. I was glad to be able to do it while he was here to help out....I had torn the cartilage and meniscus. The doctor squeezed my surgery in while Brian was home so that I would have some help while I was recovering. The day of surgery was a little crazy. Before they did my surgery they gave me an antibiotic that I was allergic to. I was laying there in the area that they take you to before surgery and started telling Brian that their sheets were sooo itchy! Then everything started to itch. Brian tried to convince me that they were just giving me saline and that it was in my head but it just continued to get worse and worse! I now understand how people that are cracked up on meth or whatever drug makes you itch can scratch holes in their skin and not care! It was horrible!!!! Brian decided to go grab my nurse after he looked at my face and it was covered with whelps and I looked like I had just had the tar beaten out of me! Everything was itching like crazy!!!! I had Brian scratching my back and I was scratching my head, ears, army, everything that I could reach and scratch!!! My ears have finally healed from where I scratched them too hard and actually cut my skin with my nails....It was not fun! They gave me something to stop the itching and the next thing Brian told me was that I was telling him that we needed to go buy some chips, salsa and nuts to take up to my Dad in the hospital....strange! My knee was worse than they originally thought and they had to shave off part of my knee bone. OUCH!!!! The humorous part was when they thought I could stay on crutches with 3 hooligans running circles around me at home. Thank Goodness for ICE! As long as I stop and prop it up with my ice pouch I don't seem to hurt too much. The pain killers worked, but they basically sent me to laa-laa land and that isn't a good thing when you are supposed to be in charge of a small circus. I just took them the first couple of days and then gave up on them. Not only did they send me to laa-laa land, but I was having a small allergic reaction to one of them and so I had to take Benadryl along with it to keep the itching at bay. That is for the birds! No Thank You! Hopefully that is it for surgeries for me. Not Fun.
While all of the surgery fiasco's were going on my Dad was in the hospital. His blood pressure medication wasn't working properly and it caused him to build up fluid around his lungs. They think they have fixed the problem...hopefully they have. I promise not to take him a bunch of salty snack (chips, nuts, etc.) when it is a blood pressure problem causing fluid to build up. He goes back to the cardiologist here in a couple of weeks to have a stress test. If he passes that he will then go and have his surgery to reconnect his intestines. That surgery cannot happen fast enough for him. I know he must be so ready for it!
Those of you that know my parent's and have been to their house know Donner. He has been having major problems with his hips and back legs going out on him for quite awhile. He had not seemed to be in much pain until the last few months. He passed away this past week. It was a very sad day for all of us. Donner was Blitzen's brother. Blitzen was the first rottweiler that Brian and I had when we were first married. Brian and I were so attached to Blitzen that we had him cremated when he died. Being military and not being in Edmond at the time we have just kept his ashes with us in each house that we have lived in...That may seem strange to some, but he was our baby before our babies...His mother wouldn't feed him so I would feed him every two hours around the clock for the first month or so of his life. We almost lost him a couple of times. I remember a long night at my parent's house when Brian was at Ft Lewis. We didn't think he was going to make it. I remember my Dad walking into John's old bedroom where I was sleeping after Blitzen made a loud yelping noise. I had been trying to get him to go to the bathroom all day. He was hungry and would eat, but wouldn't go potty. He yelped and then pottied and I knew he was going to make it. I don't know who was happier, my Dad or me. My parent's decided to cremate Donner and we are going to bury them together under the tree in my parent's backyard. It just seems fitting. We'll miss you Donner Boy, but we are all so happy you aren't hurting and are able to once again romp and play with your brother!
Many have asked about our next duty assignment...WE STILL DON'T KNOW! UGH!!!!! Typical Army style, hurry up, wait, and just don't make any plans! Brian graduates CGSC this December. It's almost August and we still don't know. We've put in our requests (one being Germany~I'm dying to go back), but we also know that there is a HUGE possibility that Brian will do another tour in Iraq....or possibly Afghanistan. If that ends up being the case we are just thankful that the girls will have the stability of being near family and the friends that they have made here in Edmond. We'll keep you posted. Field Artillery Branch is supposed to be going to Ft Leavenworth the first week of August and that is when the guys are guessing they will let them know. If Brian does end up going we feel that this time with him up at Leavenworth has helped prepare the girls for the separation. It would have been so hard to go from seeing him everyday with the ROTC hours to him being gone for a 12 month deployment tour. A good friend of ours, Tim Rodgers will leave here in the next week for Afghanistan. He joins many of our other friends that are currently in Iraq or Afghanistan to the deployed status. Please continue to pray for all of our military and their families that are apart. It isn't an easy task at all.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Austin
Our trip to Austin started at the OKC airport...Lauren was extremely nervous about flying~to the point that I was on the verge of questioning it myself. When we were waiting to board the tears started and she kept saying "this isn't a good idea, can we just drive, etc..." Our flight was a little delayed and it was extremely windy...Windy to the point that it was snapping tree limbs~not the best weather for the first flight that you will remember as a child! We flew to Dallas and had an crazy landing, but by that point Lauren's nerves had simmered down. After we landed she said "That was it?!", the lady next to me told her that was the worst landing she had ever experienced and she flies every week for work. Since we were delayed a little Lauren and I had to sprint in our flip flops (which we thought would be a good idea for going through security) to the next gate. We made it! We filled the last two seats on the plane and we were on our way to Austin.
Once in Austin, Mo's assistant Lisa picked us up at the airport and drove us to Mo's house. Mo was in South Carolina and wouldn't be in until midnight the next night. Lauren and I quickly heated up the best cheese pizza either of us had ever tasted from a store called Whole Foods. It tasted like they had picked the tomatoes and milked the cow for the cheese right before they threw the pizza together. It was so good! We had to hurry because Lauren had to start her fasting by 8:30.
Friday morning we went to Lauren's appointment where she had lots of tests run. The tests broke her body down to the cellular level. It was extremely interesting, nothing like she had completed before. The tests explained everything that was going on with Lauren's body from the inside out. Nina and Natalie the two women that we saw were so good with Lauren. After her appointment Lisa took us to lunch at a fun restaurant on Lake Austin called The Hula Hut . Lauren was on the lookout for Lance Armstrong and Kate Hudson since they had eaten there the week before~sadly enough they were not there! We sat on a deck over the water. Lauren quickly had a bird that would swoop down and wanted to share chips as we ate. Lauren had fajitas and I had a chicken and avocado wrap that was so yummy! When we finished our food Lisa decided to throw a few chips over for the turtles that were swimming beside the deck. They enjoyed the chips but then some large mouth bass decided to have some lunch too. They were the biggest fish I have ever seen in a lake! You could tell they seldom went hungry eating scraps from the restaurant! After lunch Lisa took us back to Mo's where Lauren and I enjoyed the afternoon basically relaxing and doing nothing. With Brian for the year at Fort Leavenworth having the opportunity to do nothing for an afternoon was heavenly! Lauren played tour guide in the backyard giving me tours of the deck and the amazing flower/plant garden trails in her backyard. I played phone tag with my good friend Candace who lives in Austin. We were hoping to see her, hopefully next time we are down we will be able to catch each other!
Saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast before Nina brought Lauren's results from her testing over. Nina came over at 9:00 and explained everything to us. She knows the human body inside and out like a mechanic knows a car. It turns out that Lauren has scoliosis. I always thought that scoliosis meant that your spine was curved. Actually it is the body's inability to absorb nutrients. The spine curving is just one of the side effects. The tests revealed that Lauren's biological age was 56! ....46 years older than she actually is~YIKES! The great news is that we now have Lauren taking different enzymes that will help her body break down the food she eats and absorb it. We are going to go back to Austin in a month to have Lauren retested where we should see great improvements. We cannot thank Brian's Aunt and Uncle enough for giving us this opportunity. We would have continued to believe that Lauren had fibromyalgia, which is just a list of symptoms but no cause for them. Yes, she has those symptoms, but we have now found the cause! It is nice to finally know 100% what is causing Lauren not to feel good.
Saturday afternoon Mo took us to the Oasis on Lake Travis. If you ever go to Austin you have to go! Sitting on the deck overlooking the lake is amazing! It looks like you are in Italy!!! It is so beautiful! It is called the "Sunset capital of Texas" and very rightfully so. We ate lunch and Mo surprised us by telling us that we needed to be back at the house by 2pm because she had a masseuse coming to give the three of us massages! Lauren and I were both so excited! We both love to get massages, but we had never had a masseuse bring the massage to us! She was incredible! Both Lauren and I fell asleep during our massages! I think we all felt like noodles after our turn. We ate dinner on the deck and then it was time for bed. Lauren is usually a night owl, but she was sawing logs within 5 minutes of laying her head down on the bed!
Sunday morning we ate breakfast and then headed to the airport. We had such a great time in Austin. I felt such a relief once I had seen the test results and could truly 100% believe what was going on inside of Lauren's body. She has been taking the enzymes for almost a week and seems to be feeling a better. The enzymes along with increasing her protein intake will hopefully continue to improve the way she feels. We are weaning her off of the other medications that the rheumatologist had prescribed for her. They were not taking care of the problem, just dulling Lauren's nerves to mask it. We are now fixing it! Our weekend in Austin would not have been possible without the generosity of Brian's Aunt and Uncle along with my parents offering to watch Brooke and Kara. That in itself is a BIG task! Kara will be turning 2 soon and is into everything! Brooke is still enjoying all that life offers. She is always the life of the party, busy making sure she doesn't miss a thing! Their bags were not on the curb when we pulled into the driveway which was a good sign! Hopefully next month you will be reading how improved Lauren's test results are!
Once in Austin, Mo's assistant Lisa picked us up at the airport and drove us to Mo's house. Mo was in South Carolina and wouldn't be in until midnight the next night. Lauren and I quickly heated up the best cheese pizza either of us had ever tasted from a store called Whole Foods. It tasted like they had picked the tomatoes and milked the cow for the cheese right before they threw the pizza together. It was so good! We had to hurry because Lauren had to start her fasting by 8:30.
Friday morning we went to Lauren's appointment where she had lots of tests run. The tests broke her body down to the cellular level. It was extremely interesting, nothing like she had completed before. The tests explained everything that was going on with Lauren's body from the inside out. Nina and Natalie the two women that we saw were so good with Lauren. After her appointment Lisa took us to lunch at a fun restaurant on Lake Austin called The Hula Hut . Lauren was on the lookout for Lance Armstrong and Kate Hudson since they had eaten there the week before~sadly enough they were not there! We sat on a deck over the water. Lauren quickly had a bird that would swoop down and wanted to share chips as we ate. Lauren had fajitas and I had a chicken and avocado wrap that was so yummy! When we finished our food Lisa decided to throw a few chips over for the turtles that were swimming beside the deck. They enjoyed the chips but then some large mouth bass decided to have some lunch too. They were the biggest fish I have ever seen in a lake! You could tell they seldom went hungry eating scraps from the restaurant! After lunch Lisa took us back to Mo's where Lauren and I enjoyed the afternoon basically relaxing and doing nothing. With Brian for the year at Fort Leavenworth having the opportunity to do nothing for an afternoon was heavenly! Lauren played tour guide in the backyard giving me tours of the deck and the amazing flower/plant garden trails in her backyard. I played phone tag with my good friend Candace who lives in Austin. We were hoping to see her, hopefully next time we are down we will be able to catch each other!
Saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast before Nina brought Lauren's results from her testing over. Nina came over at 9:00 and explained everything to us. She knows the human body inside and out like a mechanic knows a car. It turns out that Lauren has scoliosis. I always thought that scoliosis meant that your spine was curved. Actually it is the body's inability to absorb nutrients. The spine curving is just one of the side effects. The tests revealed that Lauren's biological age was 56! ....46 years older than she actually is~YIKES! The great news is that we now have Lauren taking different enzymes that will help her body break down the food she eats and absorb it. We are going to go back to Austin in a month to have Lauren retested where we should see great improvements. We cannot thank Brian's Aunt and Uncle enough for giving us this opportunity. We would have continued to believe that Lauren had fibromyalgia, which is just a list of symptoms but no cause for them. Yes, she has those symptoms, but we have now found the cause! It is nice to finally know 100% what is causing Lauren not to feel good.
Saturday afternoon Mo took us to the Oasis on Lake Travis. If you ever go to Austin you have to go! Sitting on the deck overlooking the lake is amazing! It looks like you are in Italy!!! It is so beautiful! It is called the "Sunset capital of Texas" and very rightfully so. We ate lunch and Mo surprised us by telling us that we needed to be back at the house by 2pm because she had a masseuse coming to give the three of us massages! Lauren and I were both so excited! We both love to get massages, but we had never had a masseuse bring the massage to us! She was incredible! Both Lauren and I fell asleep during our massages! I think we all felt like noodles after our turn. We ate dinner on the deck and then it was time for bed. Lauren is usually a night owl, but she was sawing logs within 5 minutes of laying her head down on the bed!
Sunday morning we ate breakfast and then headed to the airport. We had such a great time in Austin. I felt such a relief once I had seen the test results and could truly 100% believe what was going on inside of Lauren's body. She has been taking the enzymes for almost a week and seems to be feeling a better. The enzymes along with increasing her protein intake will hopefully continue to improve the way she feels. We are weaning her off of the other medications that the rheumatologist had prescribed for her. They were not taking care of the problem, just dulling Lauren's nerves to mask it. We are now fixing it! Our weekend in Austin would not have been possible without the generosity of Brian's Aunt and Uncle along with my parents offering to watch Brooke and Kara. That in itself is a BIG task! Kara will be turning 2 soon and is into everything! Brooke is still enjoying all that life offers. She is always the life of the party, busy making sure she doesn't miss a thing! Their bags were not on the curb when we pulled into the driveway which was a good sign! Hopefully next month you will be reading how improved Lauren's test results are!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Big Girl Time
With Brian away it is hard to squeeze in alone time for the three girls. They really thrive on having one on one time. Brian's Aunt Mo is flying Lauren and I down to Austin this afternoon for an appointment to see if there are some options to help with her fibromyalgia. We are so grateful for this opportunity. From the information I have received about her appointment they go into great depth when it comes to the human body breaking things down to the cellular level. Wish us luck!...not only at the appointment, but with the flight there. The nerves had set in last night as Lauren started questioning the safety of flying, etc. This will be her first flight that she remembers. The last flight she was when we flew back from Germany when she was a baby. I tried going through the speech of "flying is safer than driving, etc." but she was still worried. She obviously does not have the passion of flying like her Daddy does...of course Brooke was right there telling her that if she didn't want to go she would take her place! Lauren is very excited to have a few days with me by herself. We try to do one on one dates with the girls when Brian is home. Those have been far and few between with him away. It should be a fun weekend.
Brooke will have a fun weekend spending it with Kara at Oma and Opa's house. My Mom is planning to take her to a movie tomorrow afternoon while Kara naps at home. Brooke really thrives on her one on one time. She was asking me this morning when her turn would be to do something alone without her two sisters. I asked her what she would like to do thinking that she would say go to the Dollar Tree, take a bike ride to the park, maybe even go to the zoo...Brooke wants to fly to San Diego! You see they have a zoo in San Diego where you can go in the animal cages and swim with the dolphins. She also said that we could have our own apartment there that we could stay in before we came home...hopefully our one on one time when I get home will not be a huge disappointment for my little monkey!
Kara is mostly just along for the ride on most things, but she is definitely almost 2!!! She is wanting to use the big girl potty quite a bit of the time~I am definitely not complaining about this! The plan of attack for the potty training is to go full force next week. Hopefully by the end of next week we will only need diapers at night!
Well I have procrastinated long enough. I need to finish up a few things around the house along with packing our bags....and I almost forgot~wash the orange tattoos that Kara gave herself with a magic marker at some point while I typed on here...I knew it was too quiet!
Brooke will have a fun weekend spending it with Kara at Oma and Opa's house. My Mom is planning to take her to a movie tomorrow afternoon while Kara naps at home. Brooke really thrives on her one on one time. She was asking me this morning when her turn would be to do something alone without her two sisters. I asked her what she would like to do thinking that she would say go to the Dollar Tree, take a bike ride to the park, maybe even go to the zoo...Brooke wants to fly to San Diego! You see they have a zoo in San Diego where you can go in the animal cages and swim with the dolphins. She also said that we could have our own apartment there that we could stay in before we came home...hopefully our one on one time when I get home will not be a huge disappointment for my little monkey!
Kara is mostly just along for the ride on most things, but she is definitely almost 2!!! She is wanting to use the big girl potty quite a bit of the time~I am definitely not complaining about this! The plan of attack for the potty training is to go full force next week. Hopefully by the end of next week we will only need diapers at night!
Well I have procrastinated long enough. I need to finish up a few things around the house along with packing our bags....and I almost forgot~wash the orange tattoos that Kara gave herself with a magic marker at some point while I typed on here...I knew it was too quiet!
First Posting...
I just read a blog from one of my good military friends, Sara Graham. Her family has been stationed at Fort Riley. They are in the process of pcs'ing (moving for you civilians ;) ) to the Citadel. She has been using her blog to keep their family and friends updated. What a great idea! With Brian stationed at Fort Leavenworth for the year, and the girls and I holding down the fort here in Edmond it seems like time flies and I don't stay in touch with everyone like I usually try to. I also thought it would be a fun way for me to jot down the funny things the girls do that I forget to tell Brian and their grandparents about. We'll see how it goes!
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