NEW FAVORITE PICTURES

Isla checking out an old favorite pulled out of the attic space.

Aidan in his new pj's. This one comes with a cape!

Seriously! I love him!

A sunny day!

Follow the leader...

This is my new favorite of Isla. Look at her beautiful chubby cheeks!

Isla hanging out with me at the computer while I do homework. Just one more reason I sometimes have problems focusing on homework.

Exhaling...
Lots of things to update.
Finally having a chance to breathe, I've caught up with homework and finished one of my classes completely. My dad-in-law came up for a visit last weekend and with him, I got a whole slew of new fabric! Plus I got a TON of thread on a new favorite website called Connecting Threads. All I have to do is finish out my other two classes and back to quilting I go!
My doctor's visit last Thursday confirmed that cancer isn't in my future. However, I've been diagnosed with severe endometriosis. More proof that Lady Luck loves me. Some of you may be thinking I've lost my mind. But it runs in the family and I've been expecting it since I was about 15. This I can handle!
Symptoms include:
chronic pelvic pain (nope)
horrible cramps (nope)
infertility (nope, although might explain the miscarriage and why it took longer to get pregnant this time)
mood swings (nope and Mark isn't home to comment)
fatigue (normally nope)
vomiting/nausea (never)
NICE!

On another note, a train of thought one morning last week that was entirely too long and complicated to remember, I discovered that my life fits very nicely into the song The 12 Days of Christmas.
12 loads of laundry
11 more math problems
10 minutes to shower
9 second to eat something
8 more days of class left!
7 trips to time out
6 times I said that
5 poopy diapers
4 minutes to get to school
3 dressed kids
2 pig tails
And I just want a cup of coffee!

Happy Easter!
We had a nice quiet day... Right.
We searched for eggs and then spent the rest of the morning arguing about why they couldn't eat them all. We went to church and then argued some more. We then went to eat Easter dinner with good friends and family. Excellent food, great company. We hit the garage door and immediately heard the candy questions start. I'm starting to hate this bunny... Still, it's funny to look back on now that the children have been threatened and are cleaning up all the toys left out all week long while on spring break and the candy has been put on top of the frig where they can't reach.
Here's a picture of all three mostly dressed after church. They only looked like this for about two hours. Isla is the only one that kept her pretty dress on.

Here's Isla in her Easter bonnet. I'm pretty sure she hates it but I love it! And it's one of those mean mom things I'm entitled to.

This is from the other night. Mark and I thought it was so funny because there was a song on telling how to say hello in different languages and Isla looked so relaxed with one hand behind her head and chewing on the other while learning Japanese.

I trust everyone else had an awesome Easter also! Can't wait to see some pictures!

Lady Luck Showers Me with Love Again!


Seriously the luckiest S.O.B. ever!


Here I sit a little sore and tired but intact and with NO threat of cancer what-so-ever!


I still have both ovaries and very tiny pain. The cyst turned out to be just a cyst but it was in there for awhile. It turns out it's called a chocolate cyst. Damn my sweet tooth!! So apparently it was bleeding in on itself and the inside turns the consistency of chocolate. It looks like it too. That's right, I got pictures! It's my innards so I thought I had the right to see what it looks like. I really wish I could have seen the thing but I was seriously passed out. Apparently, I'm very entertaining waking up. It made me think of the scene from Madagascar when the lion gets shoot with the tranquilizers. Funny. I walk like a SUPER old person and I'm pretty sure Mark is resisting the urge to make diaper sounds as he trails me to the bathroom every time. I'm very glad that he's back to his colorful self. He even asked if I felt like a cheap date as we got ready to leave the hospital. I had my underwear in my little bag because they sat in the wrong spot on my belly and was sporting some of the hospital's sexy stuff. Awesome! Other than that, I'm just really bloated because they pumped me full of air to have room in there and I'm a little swollen from the days activities. I'm sure tomorrow I'll look like a beaten housewife because I bruise so easily and I'm already showing hints of all sorts of pretty colors.


WARNING!!!
Turn away now if you don't want to see my chocolate ball of perks! I thought this was really cool but for those of you with weak stomachs, leave now.

So top to bottom and left to right...
1) top-center is my uterus, on the right is the normal ovary and on the left is the cyst (white) Check out the size difference.
2) doctor's instrument lifting the cyst up for a better view
3) another view of the cyst
4) way in the back, in darker pink/red is my liver!
5) cutting open the cyst, AWESOME!
6) scar tissue from another cyst. probably the one that burst in Bloomington.

Today's the Day
I'm off to the hospital in about an hour. The doctor's visit on Tuesday was nothing to write about. It was more of a hand holding meeting. Dr. told us where to be and when. She explained what was going to happen again. She went over all the possible death and dismemberment chances that come with surgery. Poor Mark. He's trying for a brave and steady disposition but it's pretty thin at times. I'm feeling pretty good about the whole thing being out in the open today. We should find out everything today. I'm going to blink and be in the recovery room and I'll either have one ovary or two. I wonder if I'll say anything goofy when I come out. Everyone I've seen go under say funny things when they come out. I'll blog again when I get home...
Wish me luck!

The Zoo Opened!
Our tiny little zoo opened Friday so we went on Saturday. It's still too cold for half the animals to be outside so it was a little boring but still fun to be outside and running around. We hit the park afterwards to make sure the kids were good and tired. It was nice. Plus we met up with some friends! Other than that, we colored eggs. I should have taken pictures of Mark and my dad blowing the yolks out of the dozen eggs for the kids. That was pretty funny. Alas, we only have seven eggs left. Aidan kept breaking them while decorating and blaming it on Cecelia. I think he thought he was going to be in trouble. It was funny to watch him try to convince us he didn't do it.
These are pictures taken with the video camera. Not too many to choose from. Again, lots of video. I'm waiting to catch Aidan doing something good and win America's funniest video contest!

Years working in daycare....

Decades worth of babysitting...

Three children of my own...

And I just tried to put a diaper on inside-out.

To borrow a phrase... Oh My Damn.
I think I need a nap today!

Parental Superpowers
As a parent, I've noticed an accumulation of 'super' powers. Most of these are useless in the world outside my house but last night I was appreciating one in particular. As a mom, I am now capable of hearing my children on the other side of the house and know exactly what they are touching. This may sound simple but if you knew how many toys (theirs and mine) there are in the house, it's impressive. At least to me. Last night Mark and I were hanging out in the den after putting the kids to bed. We could hear that they were still awake and that someone was up out of bed and playing. It was then that I realized I not only knew that it was Aidan but which plane he was playing with and where he was in his bedroom. Awesome. While completely useless in the job world, it meant that we didn't have to venture upstairs to see what was happening. I simply had to yell a menacing threat upstairs to send him scurrying back to bed.

Also, I finished the top to the lap quilt and discussed and chose the binding and backing fabric with Jenn this morning. I'll have to get going on it and quilt it. Maybe I'll get some pictures up soon. In the mean time... These were this morning with the light streaming in the windows while we were getting ready for school.


One of Isla's naps! Thanks Aunt Melani and Uncle Dennis for the super cute outfit! We're just about too big for it.