baby fever

So if I haven't shared with you already, last month I was sick with baby fever. My co-worker and sister in law are both pregnant and glowing and I'll be damned if I don't go a week without someone asking me,  "so when are you going to have kids?"  You can only go so long before it starts to get under your skin and into your brain.  Baby fever takes years of social conditioning and typically manifests at its worst shortly after marriage.  The symptoms come and go in waves - for right now, my symptoms have subsided.

Here are some of the symptoms if baby fever:

1. You have pregnancy dreams - mine involve going into labor, doctors telling me I'm pregnant, knowing that I'm pregnant, holding my new born child, etc. They're fierce and very real.

2. You start to think about being an "old mom". You do the math to determine how old you will be when your child graduates high school and you don't like it. You compare yourself to friends who already have x number of children and then do the math to figure out how old they will be when their child(ren) will graduate hs.  This number is lower than yours.

3. You start reading mommy blogs and bookmarking articles for future.

4. You begin thinking about baby names and start a google document entitled babies so you can easily update the list when a good name strikes you.

5. You think about your grandparents and want them to meet their great-grandchild.

6. You consider the fact that conceiving could take years and if we don't start now...

Each of these symptoms can haunt your very being if you dwell on them.  But instead I am enjoying the dream, standing on the threshold of our future.  We are so blessed in many ways and I am grateful for the life we are building together.

So if you're reading this list thinking, "what are you waiting for?" The short answer is we're just not ready. What's that you say? We'll never be READY to have kids?  I agree with you there.

The fact remains that we are newlyweds; we are enjoying our new life together and soaking in every moment of being a family of two (or five if you count the cats). Babies will come when we are ready and only God knows when that will be. So for now, I am embracing my baby fever and loving my husband for being supportive of my disease.

Because I am content with "just us" and looking forward to our family years at the same time. :-)

Merry happy!

Hello friends!!

Just a quick note to say that I hope you all had a fabulous holiday.

I'll never get tired of this sight.

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~Burton Hillis

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Smith!

That's right, folks!  I'm hitched.

Married life is just bliss.  But it's back to reality and after the triumph of wedding festivities, I'm glad to be back into our routine and enjoying time with our family and friends.

I have a lot of blogging catching up to do.  But first, if you haven't seen them already, you have to take a look at the talents of Hagerty Photography.  Sarah and Nick shared our wedding day with us and did a truly amazing job capturing our day.  We had a blast with them!  They were so organized and did a great job directing the photo shoot.

We honeymooned in Chicago and really enjoyed ourselves!  The food was great and we were the ultimate tourists.  Here are a couple pictures:

San Diego!

“A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking. ”

― Earl Wilson

 
I can't believe that it is almost August!  All of my teacher friends are going back to school and the monsoon season has finally kicked in.
 
Josh and I spent a week in San Diego with my family!  We had a wonderful time relaxing and doing a little bit of nothing.  Here are some pictures from our trip...

Beach Cottages balcony

Crytsal Pier

Josh relaxing on the beach!

Greg and my dad napping! Mom reading...

This is how you don't get sun burned...

Dad, Mom & Greg

Beautiful sunset!

Auntie Aye, Josh, Dad, me

After some good shelling!  Found some sand dollars!

La Jolla

My love!

Bridal Shower

I had the best time at my bridal shower!  Melissa, MacKenzie and Lindsay did a great job planning it!  Aunties Adrienne and Renee and my mom all brought yummy food.  There were pretty decorations and monogrammed cupcakes!  We played fun games and we had a great turn out of my friends and family!  I have completed half of my thank you cards, so my apologies if you have not received yours yet.  Thank you to all my friends and family for making my shower so special!

Here are some pictures from the fun!

Skin Cancer

I have been meaning to update for a while, but for a while, I was not sure what to write.

At the beginning of May, I noticed a mole on my back that looked funny.  I knew that I had snagged it (ew) on some clothes, but when it healed, it was a different shape and color and, quite frankly, looked ugly.  I went to the dermatologist and he said it didn't look like much but he would biopsy it just in case.

I did not give the whole process a second thought until he called me to let me know that it was malignant melanoma.  Based on the size of the melanoma, he said it is typically recommended that my lymph nodes also be tested to ensure that the cancer had not spread.  I made an appointment with an oncology surgeon.

The surgeon walked me through what the procedure entailed.  He let me know that he would remove the remaining portion of the mole along with a margin of skin around it.  He would test the skin to make sure it was clean.  Then, he explained that they would also want to test the sentinel (closest) lymph nodes to make sure that it had not spread.  The only way to test the lymph nodes was to remove them and look at them under a microscope.  Since your body is full of lymph nodes, I am just fine without the ones they removed (my surgery was almost three weeks ago), but they had to figure out which ones the cancer would have spread to.

Lymph Nodes

So, before my surgery, a radiologist injected me with four quadrants of radioactive dye mixed with lidocaine right around the original melanoma site.  Just like a TB test, they created little bubbles of liquid right under my skin.  Once that was in there, my body said, "hey, that's not supposed to be there!" and my lymph nodes went to work absorbing the dye.  Next, they scanned my groin and armpits (where you have lymph nodes) and marked the spots where the dye had traveled and stopped.  I was like a human beach and they took a metal detector (not really, it 's a Geiger counter) and found exactly where the spots were.  The Geiger counter measured radioactivity.  It was amazing. They put it on my skin and it made noise when it got close to the lymph node.  Not to mention, the scans were all digital and I turned my head and was able to see what they were scanning!!  I had two sentinel lobes - one in my arm pit and one in groin.  They marked both with a Sharpie and I was off to surgery.

Surgery was fine.  Lots of fun surprises like numbing my arm before they gave me my IV (nice touch!) and throwing up from the anesthesia.  Wait, that part wasn't fun, but it was a surprise.  I ended up being a little more down and out than I thought and took it easy that weekend to recover.  Josh took really good care of me, bringing me ginger ale and crackers and helping me bandage up my back.

All of my tests came back negative and I am cancer free!!  Woohoo!  Since I had melanoma once, the surgeon just said that I have to keep an eye on spots, which I do anyway.  I look for any changes in color, shape or size and I go to the dermatologist once a year for a check up!

Moral of the story is: wear sunscreen and take care of your skin!  Not only will you help prevent skin cancer, but you'll stay looking young and fresh!  Tans are OUT!

oh my...

You know you're a grown up when...

You realize your pro-biotic yogurt is regulating things and you have a good book to take with you.

Housewarming Fun!

Josh and I settling in to the groove of cohabitation.  We've both raised our eyebrows at the other a handful of times.  You think you know someone... and then you live with them.  In all honesty though, I love our home and I love that I share it with Josh.

We had a really nice housewarming party two weeks ago with friends and family.  Throughout the evening I counted over 50 people who stopped by!  Granted that includes kids, but it was such a great turnout.  It meant a lot to us to share our new home with our friends and family.  I'm sorry that I didn't get more pictures through out the night.  If anyone has any, I would love to get them from you!

We setup up our own version of a photo booth and Jamie supplied the props.  We let people do their own thing, and boy did they!

We have the best friends and family you could ever ask for!