5 Weeks & 2 Days...

I sent my deposit check 2 weeks ago for my weight loss surgery (WLS). We fly out of Abilene to San Diego on the 4th of January, have surgery on the 5th and return on the 8th.

It's almost surreal and so exciting and yet seems really not possible. Hmmm... I am very excited and have been doing research about what to eat on my post op diet and what foods most people have problems with etc.

My friend Heidi had the same surgery on February 1st and we just realized we were similar sizes and the same height. Our weight was within 5 pounds of each other. She's now at goal (in August). I can't fathom that I could be at goal in 6-8 months. She's 141 and in a size 6-8 but of course she wants plastic surgery to deal with the skin. I just can't think about that. If I have to live a few years in spanx I will. Cause we will be SO broke for a while after this. But it will be so worth. I am praying my cholesterol improves and I have a HUGE shot at it resolving my diabetes. That happens for a huge majority.

Anyway - I just wanted to post an update.

Ah Boring...

My life seems SO boring as of late. All I do is work, sleep, work, sleep oh yeah and mommy the girls. Brian is gone 12 hours a day with Christmas lights and I am lonely.

Korie drove all the way from Las Cruces on Friday - her first long drive since going to college. She looks fantastic. :) I miss the butt. LOL. She's decided she's not so fond of biology thus she's changing her major from Biology (was going to be a chiropractor) to Social Work.

Salem is a mess. Seriously - what is it with turning 6 that puts a child to the task of trying their dear sweet mom's patience? She is SO mouthy. I think she spends more time in timeout or losing her precious marbles (she has yet to fill her jar).

Raina is a doll baby. Very clingy still but so sweet these days. Her tantrums are shorter and shorter lived.

So...nothing major life is good - not perfect but good. I am tired and need to do a million things but they'll have to wait until tomorrow.

No More Braces Ma!

Salem was re-evaluated today. She is still intoeing a lot - mainly on the left and especially when she's tired. The therapist thinks her hip strength is better and is not convinced that the intoeing is coming from the hip but higher up on the foot thus making the braces ineffective. So she wants to take the braces off for 3 months and stop PT and see how she does on her own. I already know she's far more clumsy without them. So I am not sure. But we're willing. I don't want her to have to wear them if they don't help. Skills wise, the therapist said Salem is age appropriate except in risk planning/assessment - like swinging and suddenly letting go rather than slowing down to get off. She lets go and falls off (has happened several times at home and at PT). But she thinks that is inattention rather than an actual skills problem.

So we'll see in February! We'll keep up with the horse back riding therapy and gymnastics to keep her active and I'll ask her PE teacher and horse back riding instructor to watch for any obvious problems now that she won't have braces. At horse back riding she wears boots rather than braces anyway and they give her huge support, but I want to know if there is a problem with the lack of them overall.

Keep her in prayers. Salem is VERY excited about not wearing them! :)

Can I Whine About My Day?

• It started early when Brian woke me up at 6:30 (my alarm goes off at 6:45) cause he couldn't get his new phone to sync and his ride was scheduled to be here at 7 to pick him up for his trip out of town.
• Then I only got 2 hours of work in today and I needed 3. That means I have 5 hours to make up in 2 days - 1 1/2 really as Sat we can only work til 12:30. And tomorrow I can't get much done cause Salem has her Jump Rope A Thon and a Pep Rally and mid morning I have a MOPS thing.
• Then I waited at the police department for 45 minutes with two VERY cranky kids while they searched for an accident report.
• Then after I immediately got in the car the insurance company called as they had already received a claim. It's our commercial policy. They had a fender bender last Sat. Pete was driving. It was his fault - this lady had a blinker on and was stopped so he thought that meant she was turning - she wasn't and went ahead and hit him.
  
• So this lady calls and we find out that Pete is not on our commercial policy! I know I told them because I specifically had to have Brian wait for him to drive until he was 21 in October 07. The lady gracious said they would cover the incident but we could expect a rise in premium due to the accident and adding Pete. Sigh.
• Then I get home and have 5 Christmas light bids to return - YEAH Money! Yuck trying to work around a 6 year old an a three year old without someone to run interference.
• Oh and we had to file a claim (the 1st ever) on our general liability cause in early October a day laborer we hired when one of our workers dad had a stroke and the other - a single dad - was out with sick kids - anyway - he hit a suburban with a mower and caused $800 worth of damage. So I had to send a check for the deductible today! He actually hit a vehicle with a mower. Sigh!
• Then the dishwasher repairman and drywall repairman got here at the same time and Raina walked in the room naked!I am tired
  

ACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK. Oh vent over! Sorry! I am just seriously stressing and trying to keep money IN my bank account and it keeps coming out.

The good news is I did spend $20 and get a new rug, 2 books and some playstuff for the girl's kitchen at Julia's preview to her garage sale tomorrow.

The Noonan Shirts Are Ready!!!

I am proud to announce the Noonan Syndrome T-Shirt is Officially Available. Take a look at the shirt that you all helped to design. http://www.fivehumans.com/noonansyndrome

I think it's beautiful!!! And eye-catching enough to spark conversation and is stylish and fashionable so anyone would be proud to wear it.

Aaron King | Third Human VP, Business Operations FiveHumans® write: "Now, this was definitely one of our more difficult designs which is why it took us such a long time. In going through all of the questionnaires, trying to figure out what the shirt should look like, no specific design or "phrase" or "statistic" seemed to embody what the shirt should be while still being stylish. So we looked at what we think is the most "powerful" thing about NS that we've ran into, which is the passion and the voices of the NS community. So we decided to take every one of the 5 words that were submitted to us in the questionnaires with an attractive design element and put a little bit of everyone who submitted a questionnaire into the shirt, so it is truly emblematic of all of you. Obviously, there were words that were repeated numerous times and the most positive, powerful ones we highlighted in a larger more bold text, with the largest of them all being, PROUD.

So, we hope you enjoy the design and realize that every single one of those words is what Noonan Syndrome means to someone, and it's something that we feel will get enough people to stop, look and ask, that the people within the community can spread awareness with their voices and their stories, with the shirt just being a tool for those affected to deliver their own message."

Please consider ordering a shirt. A portion of the proceeds will go the NS Support Group!

I almost lost my wallet today!

So I take my wallet with me to take Raina to LaRae's so I can get some work done. Raina was trying to put her little (doll) in Salem's car seat so I had to climb in and help her. I get out and get in the front and drive to LaRae's - less than 5 min away.

I left my wallet on the roof of my car. I normally always have my purse. I just was in a hurry.

So I leave LaRae's and go to the post office and then get in the car and go to get a drink and realize I don't have it and panic sets in and I remember putting it on the roof of my car. So I high tail it home and retrace my steps. I turn onto a MAJOR street just in time to see a lady get of her suburban to get the wallet. So she starts to take off and I start honking like mad and she sees me and stops. I get out of my car and actually hold up traffic! I told her my name and she looked in my wallet and kept looking at me so I think I scared her! I am SO glad I saw her pick it up. I was about to call and cancel my debit card and credit card.

Thank God. I hate that I do things like this lately! It's nuts.

More positive words...

I am sharing more positive words I saw on this blog. I encourage you all to remain hopeful and diligent and prayer.

Dare I say...This is the day for new things in America.

Some of us rejoice with the coming new and some of us fell asleep last night weeping for what that new may mean for this country. Either way, it is the reality. And I refuse for that reality to stifle my sense of possibility.

Now is the time for Christians to live the message of Christ. Maybe, more than ever before, we will be invited outside our comfort zones where living what we believe won't be easy. And dare I say, that may be the best thing that has happened to Christians in a very long time.

It's one thing to hold fast to traditional principles, but a completely different thing to act whole-heartedly upon them.

It's easy to say abortion is wrong, but hard to walk beside and support that woman who chooses life.

It's easy to think we should help the poor, but hard to write that check from our own bank accounts to do so.

It's easy to point out wrongs in other people, but hard to examine the many places we ourselves fall so short.

It's easy to point out problems, but hard to sacrifice our time to be part of the solution.

But, that's exactly what being a Christian is supposed to propel us to do. With grace and gentleness and humble spirits, we are to be more than a band of people labeled as conservatives. We are to actively be Christ's hands and feet in this world.

Jesus never called us to the comfortable life. He called us follow him through whatever life hands us.

Jesus never waited for the circumstances of the times to line up in his favor. He called us to follow him and be light in the darkness.

Jesus never bad mouthed the leaders of the day or demanded they change their policies. He called us to follow him and live out the truth through our right choices.

And in following Jesus, an air of excited expectancy will be breathed fresh in our souls.

In Obama's speech last night he said, "

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, We are not enemies, but friends...though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection."

Now is the time to be representatives of truth to all those around us. May we Christians be seen not as those who continue to strain against the unity of our country, but as followers of Jesus, those who help create it.

Now is the time... today is the day... to follow Jesus like never before.