Simply Mel(Formerly Mama Monoblogs)

Guess That Drawing Answer And A Neuro Update

So this gorgeous watercolor by the master herself is....

A cupcake with a cherry on top! (Don't ask me why Katelyn puts cherries on her cupcakes..)

Congratulations to Kristi and Karina for guessing correctly. Bryan, you were thisclose to the correct answer.

Thank you to everyone who guessed and played along.

Don't forget- I usually do "Kid-Terview Friday" on Friday's so if you're interested in submitting an interview please e-mail me. Click on the "Kid-Terview Friday" tag in my sidebar for info on what it's all about.

Now that we got that business out of the way...

I'M NOW PART OF THE DRIVING WORLD AGAIN!! I went to my neurologist appointment today and he gave me the "green light" (pun intended) to start driving again. We were there for an hour and fifteen minutes and he saw me for the last ten.He asked me a bunch of  questions, told me my med levels were on the lower side but seemed to be controlling my seizures fine and that I'm anemic. (Which I already  knew). So I drove home from the doctor's office.

I FEEL SO FREE!!  I can resume all the previous activities that I was doing  6 months ago.

Thank the Lord. Thanks for all your well wishes, prayers and to the friends who took the time to visit me while I was homebound. I appreciated that more than you will ever know.

What NOT To Say When Someone Is Venting..

This post was originally going to be  a "Pet Peeve Of The Day" post but since I had more to share with it, it's a sort of  baring-(part)of-my- soul-which-includes-a pet peeve post. I have a ton of cute pictures and other stuff to post about  later but this post is going to be me, venting. I usually like to keep my blog on the "positive" side for the most part and not try to  go too negative or whiny. But, my life is faaaar from perfect, I'm far from being the happiest, most content, most put together, self-disciplined, non struggling and emotionally contained person. And sometimes, I like to share part of that person with you.

Have you ever felt like God is not answering OR currently saying "no" to the prayer requests you most want answered? I have three, what I would consider major, prayer requests right now. Things I pray for most days and things I long for with all my heart. Things that are always on my mind and that I feel affect my life the most right now.God, is, currently, not answering  any of them and I've been praying for most of them  year or more. Or should I say, God is not answering them the way I want.Now, before anyone thinks " My goodness, she has so much to be thankful for and God blesses her every day. How can she feel like God is not answering her prayers right now". Don't worry, I've beat you to it. Most days I feel guilty for being upset with God for not answering those prayers. They are requests that if God were never to answer them, I'd still be a super blessed woman. I know this. Yet, I still get angry at God and have even thrown some tantrums in His presence because He is not doing/giving me what I want. I know many people might look at the requests and think they were prayed for with a selfish,silly and even ungrateful heart. Yet, I don't see it that way. I feel the disappointment and frustration every day that those requests go unanswered and those feelings are very real to me.

This brings me to my pet peeve.

I cannot STAND IT when you're venting or even ,let's admit, complaining to someone about struggles you are having or about an issue that is currently plaguing you and their reply is something like this-

" Well, at least you're not dying of cancer like so and so, and your house wasn't hit by a tornado like so and so, and you have your health and all your limbs, unlike so and so. At least you aren't going through all of that. You should be thankful instead of complaining about what you're complaining about."

Now hear me out on this one. I am over exaggerating a bit on the reply. I don't really know anybody with any of these issues and I would never poke fun at these issues if there was someone in my life who was going through any of these things. I'm just pointing out the type of reply I've gotten, way too many times in my opinion, when I have gone out on a limb and vented to people in my life. I also know that I do have sooo much to be grateful for and I would never presume to put my issues in the same category as severe health issues, loss of children, husband, job, home, infertility, etc etc. But just because I have not had to go through any of these things doesn't mean I never have struggles that are meaningful to me. There is always going to be someone out there who's struggles are worse than mine. I have people in my life now who's struggles are worse than mine. I understand that. But, sometimes I still need to vent. And although my issues may seem small and trivial next to someone else's they don't always seem small and trivial to me. So, what I guess I'm saying is- my pet peeve is when I do a little venting and someone flippantly tries to put my attitude "in perspective" by showcasing how my issues could be so much worse.

Thanks.

All I was looking for was a nodding head, listening ear and maybe a " Hey that stinks. Sorry to hear that. I'll pray for you." When I get that response, usually, I move on, pray about it and the Lord convicts me and corrects me if my attitude needs adjusting.

Here is example:  When I had been trying to get pregnant for the first time with Katelyn and I had been trying for over a year I finally put myself on the line and shared my feelings about that issue in a ladies Bible study I was leading. I had never really opened up about it and tried to keep a "happy face"  about the time it was taking I even started crying while talking about it. My closest "friend" at the time was in this Bible study. She looked angry while I was talking. I was wondering what was up. She said to me, haughtily, afterwards- how could I complain about not getting pregnant when there was so and so in our group who was in her forties and was still looking for a husband? At least I had a husband. I was dumbfounded. And I didn't know what to think. The guilt came and then the anger came. And we had it out. As you can guess, we didn't remain friends for much longer after that.And not only because of that one comment. There were many other incidents. But I digress....

Another example: I have, on occasion, been known to complain these past 6 months about my non driving status. I've been told-

-At least it's not for a year

-At least it's not for the rest of my life

-Luckily for me, my seizures are controlled with meds unlike so many other people.

-At least my seizures are at night and not during the day like so and so's.

Again, I am super thankful and aware of all this. I really am. I have a friend who has never been able to drive and has seizures all the time. During the day. I cannot even imagine what that must be like. And she also seems to have the most amazing attitude about it. I truly admire her.

But, sometimes, I still vent about having to be completely dependent on other people to get me from point A to point B. About how I've felt closed in. Especially since I had been driving and coming and going as I pleased. I was pretty active in the driving world.

So, my point is, if someone is venting to you about a personal struggle and you consider them a close friend, and even if you think their complaint is completely trivial, nod your head, pat their arm, listen and say " Hey, that really stinks.I'm sorry to hear that. I'll pray for you."

It will do them a world of good. And if you're my friend and you have something on your heart you need to share, I promise I'll lend a listening ear and show you some love.  Because sometimes, we all need a listening ear and to have our complaints validated.

Even when they're stupid.

Updates and A Prayer Request

 

I've mentioned prayer requests on my blog a few times, most of them for people I'm only acquainted with through blogs. This time I would like to ask a prayer request for my in real life friend Kim and her husband Gregg. Gregg went into the hospital on the 10th of this month to have spinal surgery. Gregg has some severe back problems and has been living in pain for awhile now. What was supposed to be a 5  hour surgery turned into a 7 1/2 hour surgery. There were many complications and Gregg started bleeding. He bled 2 L of blood and had to have a blood transfusion. They ended up having to "make do" with screws and moving nerves around. Gregg is still in the hospital and in terrible pain. He still needs this surgery to be finished. Needless to say Kim is very upset, exhausted and worried. They have three small children at home. Please keep them in your prayers. I haven't heard back from Kim on what has progressed since around Thursday but I'll post some more news once I hear back from her.

Now for a couple of updates..

- My neurology appointment was moved up to this Friday, the 19th. I don't know if my neurologist will allow me to start driving this Friday or if he will, indeed, make me wait until the 27th. It would be sooo awesome if I could drive home from this appointment! My original appointment was supposed to be the 23rd but his secretary called me last week and said we had to change it. At first she wanted to change it to July 22!! I  told her that was fine as long as Dr. Ross didn't mind me driving before the appointment. So then she wanted to move it to the first week of July and said " That's only, like, a week and half later. Do you have some commitments or something that you need to drive for?" I replied " No, I just REALLY WANT TO START DRIVING AGAIN!!". So, she moved it to this Friday. If I have to wait until the 27th there's nothing  I can do about it but pray he allows me to start this Friday.

-I'm excited at the possibility that Katelyn may be able to start a Pre-K program this fall! My mother in law has a friend at church(Roberta) who teaches  at a small, private school called "The Faulkner School" close to where my in laws live. It's a very old school(one hundred years old or something like that. I could be exaggerating a bit, but you get the idea) and is run by a foundation that was set up for it many years ago. They have one preschool, one pre-k and one kindergarten class. Since the foundation covers the cost of the school and teachers, only a monthly donation of whatever you can afford is required for your child to go there. It has a huge waiting list and they don't want people registering their children there just for monetary reasons. Anyway, Roberta had heard that I wanted to send Katelyn somewhere but really couldn't afford a regular preschool so she spoke with her boss about us. We know Roberta well and she knows us well so she was very kind in trying to get an "in" for us. Her boss said there is a waiting list for the Fall but spots usually open up by the end of the summer so Katelyn would be the first one to be considered if a spot opened. Even though Katelyn is on the younger end for Pre-K she would be allowed to do two years of Pre-K or two years of Kindergarten there.(I can't believe we were actually discussing KINDERGARTEN plans for Katelyn already!! AH!!) Anyway, her hours would be TWTH 11:00-2:30. Roberta told me what their day is like and it sounds wonderful. It's very structured with a little bit of free play. Katelyn gets plenty of free play so I am all about the structure. I am praying that there will be a spot for her. I know my mother in law is excited about the possibility too. She has even mentioned that I could drop Katelyn off and they would pick her up. I think this would be a WONDERFUL experience for Katelyn. She would have somewhere to expend her mental, physical and vocal energy!! lol Knowing her, she would cry on the days she didn't get to go to school! I'm praying that everything will work out for her to be able to go to this school.

So, there's my update post! Please keep these things in your prayers if you can.

In Which I Shamelessly Post More Old Pictures and Blog About How Much I'm Enjoying Texas

I'm not going to lie. I'm really enjoying my stay here in Texas. Like....really. In fact, it's starting to kinda feel like home! I'm enjoying the gorgeous weather ( not a snow flake in sight!), the abundance of family, the wonderful places to eat, how convenient and close everything is, old friends and I could go on and on. I've  really really enjoyed hearing people call Katelyn "Darlin'" and her polite response that her name is not "Darlin' " but Katelyn. I laugh every time.

I get a huge kick out of how attached Madelyn has become to  my brother, Bryan, and how she calls him "Bob". I'm loving being able to take the girls outside to play in the yard- every day. The walks we've taken, hanging with my sister  and talking about her pregnancy, catching up on my favorite t.v shows on-line in the evenings, listening to my dad's preaching ,seeing my mom just go crazy over my girls, visiting with my grandparents and singing with my sibs. I was so happy to be here when  my "baby" brother came home yesterday to tell us he'd gotten his first "real" job in his chosen field after having graduated from college last December.  I'm loving it.

BUT...... I do, kinda, sorta, miss the big guy. Ok, maybe I miss him A LOT.  I got to talk to him on Skype last night and sitting there, chatting with my hubby and seeing his face on the computer screen made me realize all over again why I married him. And why I miss him. *Sigh...* The girls also got to see and talk to him and to Nana and Papa. He's working like a dog and has been sick with a nasty virus. I wish I could be there to help him feel better. He said it looks like I'll be here the full six weeks. Even once we get back he'll still be pretty swamped. I feel for him and pray for him every day. For now we have Skype and the telephone to stay in touch. I have to say I have gained a new respect  and appreciation for the men and women of our military who have to be away from their spouses for months and years at a time. God bless you!!!

But I don't miss Massachusetts. I'm not gonna lie.

I do miss being able to drive. It's been over a month, now, of not driving.I had my seizures on December 27th. On February 27th two months of being seizure free will have gone by. I will need to get through four more.

Hallelujah.

In the meantime I'm praying for God to work on my heart and teach me some new things about myself so when I do go back to Massachusetts I'll have a better attitude and possibly be more spiritually refreshed than when I left.

 

And now, for some pictures.

These were taken by Mike the Sunday before we left for our trip here. We'll call it-

Daddy's Princess Photo Shoot

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daddy is a pretty good photographer don't you think? Then again, I'm kind of biased. I think these little girls would look  cute in a blurry picture dressed in paper bags.

But that's just me.

I'm not gonna lie.

Here's To A Good 2009!!

 Happy New Year!

I'm back! My bloggy break is officially over. I have so much to catch up on. I'm going to be a little sad the next few days as my parents left to go back to Texas this morning. They arrived Dec 23rd and were here until 1:30 am this morning. They couldn't sleep so they decided to head out a few hours earlier than their usual of 3:30am. I won't go into depressing detail about how I'm feeling at the moment but suffice to say "utter sadness" is a good description. It was a great, eventful and busy visit. My house looks like Christmas exploded in it. It seems unreal that Christmas and all that it entailed and the new year are already past!(or is it passed??) We can't seem to convince Katelyn that Christmas is over because she still wants to watch Christmas movies, sing Christmas songs and read Christmas books. My girls were more than blessed in the toy department this Christmas. They were spoiled beyond belief!!

I will be blogging about my new year goals/resolutions and our Christmas and visit with my parents(along with pictures). Those are just some of the blog ideas I have coming up.

I do want to ask that you guys keep me in your prayers again. For those of you who aren't my friend on facebook or keep in touch with me some other way you probably don't know about my "episodes" last weekend. I had TWO seizures in one day!! Mike is pretty sure they were Grand Mal. I stopped taking my seizure meds in February of last year under my neurologists supervision. I hadn't had a seizure since October of 2001 and all my tests had come back normal. My doctor didn't want me on anti seizure medication unnecessarily. I agreed. I was looking forward to not being considered high risk  in any future pregnancies and trying to breastfeed future children since I was not going to be on the medication anymore. The idea was that we wouldn't know if I needed the medication anymore unless I went off it and we saw if I were to have another seizure. Well, I went almost a year. I had one at around 5:00am last Saturday morning, in my sleep. Mike got to witness that one again. Since he was convinced I was choking on my tongue(again) he sacrificed his fingers by sticking them in my mouth to pull my tongue back at which point I almost bit them off(again). I finally came out of it slowly and had no idea what was going on and why my parents and Mike were hovering over me. Mike was asking me all these questions that I was actually having a hard time answering. Then I came to a little more and was told what had happened. Since it was Saturday we called the on call doctor and my neurology office I go to. They decided to put me back on my meds then. Then, that afternoon I took a little nap and fell into a super deep sleep. Mike heard me making weird noises from upstairs and him and my mom ran up the stairs to see me convulsing again. I woke up all disoriented from that one too and they kept trying to tell me I had had another seizure. I kept saying  " I thought that was this morning!!" and then it finally hit me that I had had another one. Oh, and Mike thought he had lost several of his fingers. Again. So, we went to the emergency room after that(which is actually a huge blur to me at this point) and which point I was told "they could really do nothing for me." So, now, after speaking with my usual neurologist I am on my meds once a day and them I'm going to go on them twice a day. Then I make an appointment to see him again. He didn't seem real concerned but  was also a little confounded by the return of my seizures. All he said was " It looks like you still have epileptic tendencies". No kidding!! I mutilated my tongue from all the biting down. It's finally starting to feel better. I also did something to my rotator cuff in my left shoulder that I hope heals on its own. So, anyway, I'll keep you posted on my progress with this.

 

Sorry for this rambling and sometimes incoherent post but I wanted to get it all in!

Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

I pray God gives us all a blessed, healthy and safe 2009.