Thirteen on Thursday

Its been over a month since I've blogged & someone finally noticed (thanks Annalee)!  I'm feeling the love (sarcastic).  You can make it up to me by reading all 13 items & leaving a comment when you're done.  Thank you.

1.  I have been so over blogging lately.  Its sad-- I didn't blog about our fun trip to Utah before Christmas or our holidays here in Texas!  I need to go back & find pictures to post.  Especially for Christmas.  In case that never happens...

2.  We went to Utah from December 13th - 24th.  We had lots of fun celebrating the season with the Partridge & Gines families.  As always, we wish we could have seen more friends & families! 

3.  We came home Christmas Eve & had a great Christmas with the Oldroyds!  We were lucky enough to have Sam's youngest sister and her family (the Bakers) here with us so all 10 Oldroyd cousins could be together!  We had a lot of fun adventures including bowling, a trip to Moody Gardens Aquarium, a fairy ride in Galveston, lots of yummy food & playing together!

4.  We had a great New Years Eve.  Jennie Jo had the brilliant idea to put all of the kids at my house with 2 babysitters & have an adult-only game night at her house.  It was SO fun!  We haven't been able to play games like that in years.

5.  Last fall, I started watching our friend's kids a few times a month.  6 kids under 5 is a lot to handle but its been so fun.  Whitney & Bridget have become good friends & our kids love spending time together (mostly).  Today, Eli(4) told his mom that he had chosen Alexa to marry when he grows up.  Sounds good to me!

6.  I'm heading back to Utah in 3 weeks!  My baby brother & his wife are having their first baby in a matter of days & I can't wait to meet my new nephew!!  Also, I'm lucky enough to be able to leave the big kids with my mom & take a little jaunt over to Colorado to see Tiffany & her new little one.  I can't wait!  I need a baby fix!  Wish me luck flying by myself with all 3 kids-- yikes!!

7.  I have been enjoying Max so much over the past few months.  He is so HAPPY now that he's walking & can keep up with the big kids.  He says new & funny things all of the time & still loves to SING!  He's now 21 months & some "terrible twos" behavior is definitely starting to creep in but I seriously just love this kid.  He is funny.  I need to do an entire post on what he's doing right now so I don't forget!

8.  Poor Sam is getting busy at work again... this time of year is just so HARD!  His work days get longer & the kids & I miss him more & more.  I can just feel the foreboding dread that tax season brings!

9.  There have been 3 major purchases I have been wanting for my kitchen for a while now: a Bosch Universal Mixer, a grain mill (this one in particular), & a BlendTec or Vitamix.  I've been lucky enough to acquire the first 2 in the past month & I am one happy camper!  I've already been through 12 lbs of wheat berries making all sorts of yummy breads, pancakes, rolls, waffles, etc... My Bosch came with a blender & while its not as fab as a BlendTec, it will tide me over for now!  In fact, we had green smoothies for breakfast this morning & whole wheat bread is baking in the oven right now!

10.  After much stressing, I've finally decided on a preschool for Nathan & Alexa for next year.  Its so EXPENSIVE but definitely required down here since they have full day Kindergarten.  I'm putting them in a Tues/Thurs program from 9:30-2:30. I am not looking forward to the cost or to them growing up so fast but I can't wait to see all they'll learn!

11.  Speaking of them growing up... Nathan & Alexa started SUNBEAMS this month!  They tell me they miss Nursery but they really are doing so well with the big kids.  Max, on the other hand, is not doing so well alone in nursery :(

12.  This past Saturday, I had one of those "I'm so grateful I have a daughter" experiences.  Jennie Jo, Joan & I took Savannah & Alexa to see Beauty & the Beast in 3D.  The girls wore princess dresses & it was all so magical!  Alexa sad on my lap the last half & we thoroughly enjoyed the movie together.  I loved every single minute of it!
 

13.  This last one is hard & I've debated about even putting it out there but this is our family journal & the past several months have established that very few people read it so I'm going to go ahead with it.  Over the holidays I started gaining weight rapidly & swelling.  After seeing some doctors, I found out that I have Chronic Kidney Disease.  Surprisingly, we've found out that its in no way linked to the kidney problems I've had during my pregnancies.  It was probably caused by a virus that just attacked the filters in my kidneys.  I've undergone a lot of blood work, renal ultrasound, & other testing, & I have a kidney biopsy scheduled for Tuesday.  They'll be able to see the extent of the damage & look into treatment at that point.  I'm currently on a diuretic, Potassium, blood pressure medicine, cholesterol medicine, Vitamin D & I'm about to start IV Iron infusions for anemia.  I also have to be on a low sodium and low protein diet. Kidneys not working right causes major problems for sure.  None of the treatments discussed for after the biopsy sound like fun.  Its all pretty frustrating at this point & I've not yet reached a point of acceptance but I'm sure that'll come.  Its true what they say... your health is your wealth.  I'll know more of where I'm headed after the biopsy but for now, please pray for me!