Catching up

So, I'm overdue for my blog posts. Back towards the end of July, I said that I hoped to have some exciting things to blog about. Some of the things I anticipated, but others I could never have predicted would happen. One reason why I haven't been keeping up with my blog as much as I would like to is because most days I have been in what I like to call the "bow zone". On these days, I wake up and start working on my bows and usually can't stop myself from spending my entire day doing this. Here are a couple pictures to give you an idea of what I mean.

This is just a fraction of the bows I have made over the past month.

One of the things that I was looking forward to blogging about was David and my trip to the beach. We went and stayed at the Beach and Yacht Club in Perdido Key, the weekend of August 6-7. I absolutely love the beach, but rarely have the chance to go, so I was super excited when David asked me if I wanted to make a trip there. It was beautiful weather and the ocean was clear. We had a fun, relaxing time. I was especially grateful that David took me since he HATES the beach.

The view from our balcony

Me and David at the Crab Trap

August 7, 2010

Once we left the beach, we traveled to Monroeville for Marissa Grace's 6th birthday party. Last summer, Jennifer asked Marissa what kind of party she wanted for her 5th birthday. She said she wanted a nature party. When I asked her what she meant by a nature party, she responded, "You know, plants...animals...things you find in nature (duh)"! Jennifer and I found some cute, garden themed party supplies that we thought fit Marissa's description. That night, I stayed up late into the night looking for garden party ideas. Being inspired, I begged Jennifer to allow me to plan Marissa's party, and she reluctantly agreed. I soon as I returned home, I got busy making decorations, invitations, and favors. I was so excited for August to arrive. Unfortunately, due to circumstances outside of my control, we did not have Marissa's nature party last year. Dad washaving health problems, and the family had just finished a very stressful move, so they celebrated Marissa's birthday in a more low-key, less stressful way. So...over a year later, and after much anticipation, we FINALLY had her nature party. It was so wonderful to be able to see all my hard work come to fruition. Everything went perfectly, and Marissa said it was the best party ever!

Everything decorated!

Me and the birthday girl

About 6 years ago, when I lived in Auburn, I began experiencing some abdominal and back pain. It became so severe, that it even landed me in the ER one night. The ER doctor wasn't able to figure out what was causing the pain and sent me home with something to take the edge off. I made an appointment with a specialist, and had a couple unpleasant tests, only to find nothing. Eventually the pain went away, and so I didn't worry about it any more. A couple of months ago, I started having the same pain again. One night it got bad enough that David's dad called me in a prescription for Toradol, which irritated an ulcer that I apparently had. The pain came and went, and I was usually able to handle it by taking Tylenol. The last week of August, the pain was becoming more steady, and getting progressively worse. On Saturday, August 28th, David and were supposed to be going to the lake with his mom and her boyfriend. Riley woke me up early that morning, and I decided to go ahead and get ready to go. I was drinking my coffee when the pain started to become unbearable. I was sitting at the computer in David's office and I crawled to the couch and laid down. At this point, I was feeling more pain every time I took a breath. I couldn't muster the strength to yell to David who was sleeping on the other end of the house, so after resting a moment, I slowly made my way to our bedroom, clinching my side. I told David, with tears streaming down my face, that I was hurting really badly. He felt pretty certain that I had a kidney stone, but he called his dad to get his opinion. His dad agreed and said that I was going to need something stronger than Toradol. It took David quite a while to find a pharmacy that was open and would let his dad call in a strong enough pain med. All the while, I was yelling out in pain and writhing around because I could not find a comfortable position. He left to go pick up the Lortab his dad had prescribed. By the time he got back, I was in so much pain I felt like I was going to vomit. He gave me a lortab and a phenegren for the nausea, and almost immediately a threw it up. He gave me a second dose and went to the hospital to get me some IV fluids. The pain meds kicked in and he hooked me up to the IV, and I rested for the rest of the day. Early the next morning, I passed me kidney stone without any problems. I am so thankful that I had David by my side to take such good care of me.

Me, hooked up to the IV on the couch

Kidney bean, my kidney stone, a cheerio

(the food is for size reference)

Hard to believe something so small could cause so much pain!

So, I think that about wraps up the month of August.

September is already off to a great start. This weekend we headed to Monroeville for a quick visit. David wanted to spend some time with his newly engaged friend, Johnathan, before he goes and gets married this December. I was able to have some fun with Marissa and also make a side trip to Jackson to see my special friend, Allison. Allison and I have been friends for many years and communicate often, but we rarely ever get to see each other and talk in person. It was such a blessing to be able to see her spend some quality time with her.

Marissa and me at our early morning breakfast date with Pawpaw at McDonald's

September 4, 2010

Today, there was a fallishness in the air. It was such a beautiful, cool day. It makes me excited that fall is on its way!