Spring is in the air

I love to decorate but I don't love spending much money on decorations.  Between pinterest and the dollar tree I have been having a great time making my house springy.

The egg trees and eggs are from the dollar tree and the candles I've had .  Total cost of centerpiece was $7.

These are old mason jars that I spray painted the lids white and the candle sticks are also from the good ol dollar tree.  I spray painted them white as well and filled with candy.  A few days later the jars were empty....

So I re-filled with the egg bubble gum that was too hard to chew and some paper grass.  Total cost was $5.

Legoland

We pulled the kids out of school early on Wednesday and took them to Legoland with some good friends of ours.  The kids have been once before but they were babies so they had no idea what they were in for.  They could barely contain themselves the night before as they were squealing with excitement and ready for a new adventure.  They finally got to sleep and woke up bright and early ready to get to school so they could leave early.  

 I was extremely thankful for Jazzy to get me around.

 Our friends are the photo-bombers in the boat behind Alexis and I

 Wyatt has been obsessively into legos lately. This was a dream come true to be surrounded by so many.

It was voted a 2 thumbs up kind of day.  

Until the car ride home when Wyatt got a very bad headache, saying that monsters were eating his brain.  He was in so much pain and then everything he had eaten that day (which was A LOT) all came out of him.  The rest of the drive home was one I would like to forget.  I'm not sure if he had too much fun without drinking enough water, hit his head too hard on the slide, or really had monsters in his brain but thankfully once it was out he was good to go.

things have changed

After you have a baby, especially when you are the first of your group to have a baby, things change.  You make new mommy friends that can understand your new life and your single friends might stop inviting you to go places.  It's assumed you don't want to go out, or maybe the other people would rather not have a screaming colicky baby around.  Either way, things change.  And that's ok, because it's a new season.

And then, after you become sick, the invites stop again.  Another assumption that you won't be up for a night out to dinner.  This might or might not be true, but the decision should always be yours.  It hurts when someone slips up and talks about a great night out or when the family all got together and you didn't even get a phone call.  It hurts bad to just stop being included all together.  This keeps happening to us.  The first several times were fine.  I totally get it.  They were trying to not inconvenience us or add too much to our plate.  But now it hurts.  It hurts to not be included, especially because this is the new us.  We are accepting our new lifestyle which has forced us to slow down a little bit.  We are enjoying the beautiful moments we have together but are missing other moments because of it.  I'm not sure if it is out of fear, or because we have become an inconvenience?  Are we causing tension because we can't roll like we used to so it's easier for others to ignore us instead of adapt?  I'm not sure but what I do know is that people look at us different now.

Things have changed.

I was talking to my husband about it and he said he has noticed it too.  He is such a social guy and for him to not get invited places because of me hurts.  He won't ever say it though.  He said, "Things have changed.  There's nothing we can do about it.  You can cry but that won't change anything."  So I quickly wiped away the tear that was running down my face and realized that together, we really do have a new life.

People will run.  They will run to you or they will run away from you.  I have had my family, friends, husbands co-workers, and neighbors at my side through all of this.  I have had the most delicious dinners dropped off at my house.  I have had so much help, love, prayers and support from my angels.  I know these people will always be there for us.  Grateful isn't even a strong enough word to express my appreciation for them.  I know that God will lift us and those around us.

I have spent the last couple of years living in a place of such high hope that the doctors would tell me of a great cure, or maybe one day I would wake up and feel better.  I would be back to my healthy days and able to do what I used to do.  I still think one day I will be walking up to the park and running around with the kids but as time goes by and things get worse, not better, the hope dwindles.  Don't get me wrong here.  There is still so much I CAN do and so much good health that I DO have but I really would like to be back to 100%.  Heck, I'll take 80%.  I don't want every thought to be, can I walk that far or should I bring my chair?  I really like my doctors, but I don't want to see them every few weeks...unless they made house calls.

Things have changed and it is time to accept it and move on.  Keep on living but in a different season.  I'm excited to see how God will use this for our family.

via

Everybody's Irish on St. Patricks day...

Except for me.

The kids woke up all excited to see what the Leprechaun did while they were sleeping.  Apparently everyone they know has a leprechaun that comes into their house, wrecks havoc and leaves.  Who ends up cleaning??  I just can't participate in this one.  BUT, thanks to Pinterest, they were not completely left out.  We did do a treasure hunt for a "pot of gold"

clues were left and the wild hunt began

skipping to clue number 3

I forgot how much fun treasure hunts are.  I had as much fun as the kids did.

Happy St. Patricks Day to all!!  

lately

Here is what has been keeping me busy lately...

spray painting mason jars to make...

 these creations inspired from Pinterest

t-ball games

I realize he looks bored but he actually really loves playing this year!! 

 bridal shower for my sister-in-law

 Our dryer broke which forced me to hire a little help and be extremely grateful for the hot weather we had that week.

A surprise birthday party for the tall gorgeous blonde in the middle.  Her entire family and friends were all there and she was totally surprised.  I couldn't talk to her for a week before because I was so afraid I would say something.  She thought I was ignoring her... I was.

(I'm not that short, my friends are very tall)

Enjoying sunrises

kindess in strangers

I shlepped Wyatt all around town running errands.  We made it to 2 stores today!!  Talk about an accomplishment.  The big goal was to go to the thrift shop.  I am in search of a dresser for Alexis' room and decided if I actually wanted to get one, I had to go out and look for it.  I found it in the first store!  We'll see if it's still there tomorrow when I bring Anthony back.  When we walked into the thrift store I felt like we had walked into a gold mine.  There were treasures EVERYWHERE!  You know how sometimes you walk into a thrift store and you mosey around a little until you walk out empty handed?  Not today.  I don't know if it's because of pinterest giving me this little creative edge and making me able to see past the blemishes and see into the possibilities or what, but there were so many great finds.  While I was piling my arms with picture frames {to later be painted} and Easter decorations, a women volunteer that looked slightly familiar came out from the back carrying a rather large dinosaur.  She stopped at Wyatt, taking one look at him and then back to the dinosaur.  She showed him the magic this toy had.  It talked, it walked, it wagged it's tail.  This was pretty amazing.  She asked him if he wanted it?  Of course he did but he had already picked out a set of rubber stamps.  {Possibly persuaded by me}  He handed me the stamps and willingly took the dinosaur.  The women said she was going to buy it for him so she yelled to the man working behind the counter and said this was on her.  We gathered our belongings and walked up to the register where the women was paying the cashier.  Wyatt was so grateful and very excited about his new dinosaur.  I was thanking the women and at the same time wondering why she looked so familiar to me.  Off she went and when I turned around she was gone.  Poof.  Just like that.  The man was talking to Wyatt about his dinosaur and said how Donna was such a nice lady.  Donna.... that rang a bell.  Now I remembered.  3 years ago while my friends and I were doing a garage sale fundraiser for the Breast Cancer 3-day event, Donna had showed up at our garage sale with a very large check and a box of donuts.  I went back to look for her so I could thank her again but she was gone.  Thank you Donna for your generosity.  You have such a kind heart and have made my sons day!

A boy and a dinasour

I push myself

From the title you are probably thinking I am going to write about how I push myself to do my best, do more, and go go go.  But that's not where I am going with it today.  I want to tell you a little about how I feel physically on a daily basis.

You know when you hold your breath for as long as you can and then breathe again but you sort of have to play catch up.  You become a little out of breath because you pushed yourself by holding your breath.  I get that when I talk too much.

You know when you have been out dancing until 3:00 a.m and your feet and legs are killing you?  All you want to do is take a warm shower and lay down to sleep for the next 12 hours?  You've pushed your body to the max.  I get that after standing for over 5 minutes at a time.  And then I start to feel nauseous because I've over done it.

You know when you skip breakfast and maybe even lunch and you get shakey?  You might feel like you are starving and just need to eat something?  That could happen in as little as 30 minutes after I eat.  My blood sugar has a mind of its own and I have no idea how to control it.
Some nights I'm afraid to fall asleep because when I close my eyes I see strobe lights and get a weird sensation throughout my body.  I've always woken up so really there's no need to be afraid.

My energy gets zapped out of me daily leaving me with the feeling of over doing it.  By the end of the day, when I am taking a hot shower or soaking in a warm tub I realize I have once again pushed myself.  Living my life with this chronic illness is exhausting but that's ok.  It's something that will stick around for a long time but it's also something I don't suffer constantly from.  I can't begin to tell you how lucky I am and how healthy I feel most of the time.  I have so many things that could be wrong but are not.  I wake up each morning feeling refreshed and ready to take on the next day and push myself through it.

Some days I feel great, and I live a real life.  This past Sunday, I felt GREAT!  We started our day with church and headed straight to the beach afterwards.  We met up with some wonderful friends and had such a great time.

 So. Cal in the winter = crowded beaches

We live.  We laugh.  And we love.