*yawn*

Today is one of those days...those days where getting my girls to eat a full and complete meal is next to impossible. You know how it is with a 3 and 2 year old... one day they eat like crazy and the next, well getting a bird to eat more would be easier. The past fews days my girls were eating all three meals and snacks too. Easy. No problem. This of course makes me so happy. Today however is another story. Neither of them ate half of their breakfast and now that it is time for lunch I can already see that I am going to be fighting this battle again. What makes me stress about the lunch time battle, is, it is too close to naptime. This can sometimes (and often does) interfer with them laying down and actually sleeping. Hoping I can get both girls to eat and nap this afternoon. I guess if I come back here and post, then you'll know my girls are asleep.

Time to make and serve lunch to my two cuties.

And please, cold weather, can you give us a break?

woot!

Hurray! I just looked over my past blogs and realized, that one long entry that I thought I had completely lost, was partially saved. I guess there is some automatic save thing going on. Sweeeet! So I went ahead and posted it. Too bad as I read it I realize some things in that entry haven't changed much nearly a year later. Yes, that means NataLee is still nursing.

Actually I should say...is finally starting to stop nursing. Today is day #3 in our struggle to get NataLee to forget nursing. NataLee is 25 months old now and she eats well and I have many other ways I can comfort her now. I pray this continues to go well and NataLee can get past comfort nursing. I'm drained in more ways than one, haha. I wonder who this will be harder on? Her? Or me?

Did I mention how proud I am of myself that I have nursed her this long? Before she was born I was aiming for a year. I had days where I never thought I would even make it year but look at me now! A happy and healthy two-year old who stills loves to nurse. I will be sad to lose my instant cry stopping capabilites and even more the special bonding time we share. There is something to be said for the way your baby looks into your eyes as you nurse her? The complete look of happiness, joy, comfort and love cannot compare to anything else. It is this reason I am 100% thankful and grateful for the nursing times NataLee and I have shared (even if they were 3am and sleep deprived. My only concern now is to wean her off without hardship to either of us. Fingers crossed, so far so good.

Fruits and Veggies

As mentioned in a previous entry I am not a morning person. Don't get me wrong, I don't care to sit and spend all day in bed either. For me it's all about 8 hours of sleep. If I go to bed early, mornings are cake. Unfortunately I went to bed a little later than I should have last night and so even 7 am was like, draggin... Too bad I don't do the coffee thing, because I am sure at this point that would have helped. Tonight I will make a more conscious effort to get my butt in bed and to sleep by 10. Can it be done? We'll see. The great news is sleeping has been an easier task than it once was. I guess it is because I am slowly but surely tackling my to-do list one by one. Yesterday I got that dreaded big grocery shopping done and I was surprised at how near budget I came. You just have to love coupons. Coupons are like a game to me and I am always trying to up the total dollar amount saved. Such a nerd I know.

I have a lot more to type but right now I must make sure my little girls bellies are full and then help them brush their little teeth. Have you ever known two little girls who could spend all day brushing their teeth if you let them? That's my girls, they could brush their teeth ALL morning if you let them. I hope this bodes well when we see the dentist soon.

Lazy Sunday...

Yes, that is exactly what today is and has been, a lazy Sunday. I think maybe I'll go make some of my homemade chili. My poor neighbor...he's probably wondering when I am going to cook him another meal. I was making him dinners nearly every night before we left to go to Virginia for Christmas. His wife is still in the hospital. I think I'll need to cook even more when my neighbor's wife gets home because I am sure they'd both appreciate a meal. I mean really, it's going to be enough for my neighbor to care for his wife, let alone having to worry about a meal. I'm glad I enjoy cooking. Ok, yeah that really is an understatement, I adore cooking, especially cooking for people who love to eat. Although I really don't think anyone can top me in that department, I LOVE TO EAT! :)

Off to sing nursery rhymes with my girls and make my award winning chili. (Yes I said award winning! I won 1st place in the chili cook off back in NC.) Too bad the hubby has 24 hour duty because I know he'd enjoy a nice bowl to go along with his football watching. Speaking of football, boohoo, the Patriots season is over. Hope next year they decide to actually show up. Maybe I'll even get back into football like I use to be, who knows????

Adios amigos!

Crohn's Dx

Crohn's disease. So yeah, as you may (or may not) have read in my earlier post...I have Crohn's. What is that you ask? Simply, a disease of the digestive tract. Plainly...mine doesn't always like to act right. Think stomach bug...x 1000000! Okay, so no, maybe it's not that bad, but it can be, has been and hopefully will never be again. I say that last part with real optimism and for good reason. I've had Crohn's for 15 years. Doesn't seem so long unless I put myself into the thoughts of any of my most recent flares. I was diagnosed at age 15, treated and remained in the care of some awesome doctors in Washington DC. I was well for a long time. As with any chronic disease though I had relapses. Again I was treated (surgically - on more than one occasion) and followed by those aforementioned great doctors.



Life changed though and I met the love of my life and we committed ourselves to one another in what I would call the wedding of my dreams. My love joined the United States Marine Corps, we married and we began our journey together. This meant moving to a new state and leaving my awesome doctors.



I have yet to find that same level of care. It didn't seem possible that any other doctors had both the bedside manner and level of expertise that my old doctors had. I got sick often but nonetheless kept positive. During this time, through the grace of God, I became pregnant twice and carried two little girls to term, delivering my precious angels, KayLee in 2006 and NataLee in 2007. My Crohn's got really mad at me during that first pregnancy and thankfully decided to give me a break during my second (I felt better during those 37 weeks than I had since before I was diagnosed).



As military life would have it, it was time to move again. As if my husbands recent return from Iraq (during which our 2nd baby was born...yes without him) wasn't enough. We embraced it though and off to Pensacola we went. And low and behold, again, no doctor(s) seemed good enough. I was even more disappointed here, than I was in North Carolina and I was in worse shape. Not a good time to dislike your Crohn's team. Regardless things were just too much and I underwent surgery again in August 2009. I still don't know know if it helped. I don't think I would have needed it if I were listened to and treated instead of tolerated.



Through my faith in God, love for my family and a desire to want more out of life, I decided to make a change. I found one good doctor (although not for my Crohn's, a hematologist who treated my anemia) and that lead to the finding of another. Hallelujah! This is a great source of joy to me. Why? Because I am finally being heard and I finally am starting to feel like myself. I think I have found a new doctor who seems to have both the bedside manner and expertise to get me well and help me stay that way. Yes, I do believe the word cure will grace my life one day soon.

Let go.

Release. Yes, this is one (of many) reasons behind my new found interest in blogging. I'm a stresser, no doubt about it, and I thought maybe I could purge some of that stress right here and get on with life. Seriously, it can't hurt. I tend to worry, obsess even, way too much and well that can't be good for someone with Crohn's Disease. So here's to yet another positive ambition in 2010!

Annnnnd because I can be completely random, I just thought I would mention, I absolutely love when my husband leaves new, put-together sippy cups out for me. No fumbling around in the morning trying to put cups together when those things irritate me as it is. And in case you don't know, yeah, I am not a morning person.

Time to help my little girls brush their teeth.

twenty-ten baby!

Yes, again, I am attempting to blog. Hey it's a new year and a new decade so maybe that'll give me even more motivation to follow through. Although, honestly, a few other things have sparked my interest in blogging again and I am sure they will come out as I continue to blog...and I will. ;-)