One of my favorite things

My very best friend is my little shaggy dog
Chewing on my tennis shoes and running through the hall
He's kind of like my shadow, cause he's everywhere I go
He sleeps in my bed, but my mommy doesn't know

I hide him in my pocket cause he's very, very small
Germs, Germs, my invisible dog

He runs like the wind, and he knows some funny tricks
He doesn't like carrots and spinach makes him sick
He loves cotton candy and purple lemonade
Oreo cookies and yellow Gatorade

I hide him in my pocket cause he's very, very small
Germs, Germs, my invisible dog

We ride our ponies to castles far away
Chasing funny dinosaurs and dragons long the way
We often go exploring where the river winds and bends
Cowboy hats and wooden rafts like Huckleberry Finn

I hide him in my pocket cause he's very, very small
Germs, Germs, my invisible dog

I take him to church but nobody ever sees
The little shaggy spotted dog sitting on my knee
He's learning bible verses and he loves the happy songs
But he often falls asleep when the sermon is too long

I hide him in my pocket cause he's very, very small
Germs, Germs, my invisible dog
I hide him in my pocket cause he's very, very small
Germs, Germs, my invisible dog
Germs, Germs, my invisible dog
Germs, Germs, my invisible dog

Narcotics and Me!

Ok, when I was dying from the kidney stone, they gave me a narcotic to help deal with the pain. I have only been on this powerful of drugs a couple of times: once when I got my tonsils out, when I got my wisdom teeth out, and when I gave birth. I have discovered that this is not a good thing for me. Well, maybe it is and maybe it isn't. I am definitely not myself when I'm on drugs. When the drugs start to take effect, I'm everybodies friend. I love you and you and you and you....

"Honey, who are you talking to?"

"Oh, Babe. These ER people are great aren't they? We've been here for 6 hours and they haven't offered us a single cracker or anything and they are just the best. I love them."

"Ummm.... we're leaving. Are you going too be ok to get to the car if I bring it around?"

"Oh, sure. I can't feel a thing."

In the car...

"I love you and you and you and you..."

"Honey, that's a telephone pole."

"Don't you love telephone poles? They are so strong and big..."

"Oh, brother...."

"WAIT! Stop at Arby's. I have a craving. I'm totally allowed to have cravings. I'm pregnant and on drugs. I've been through a lot today and I need a milk shake. Isn't that drive up girl a sweetheart?"

"Oh, brother..."

When I got my tonsils out, I was waking up from the anethesia and I thanked every nurse and doctor in sight for what a wonderful job they were doing. After I gave birth, the combo of hormones and drugs made me love the doctor I had only met once, the nurses who were bringing me water and every person in the whole room. I love you and you and you and... "Callie?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Shut up..."

"Ok, I love yooouuuuuu....."

Sticks and Stones

I have been sick for almost a week. I couldn't figure out what it was. People kept telling me I needed to go to the emergency room. (over the weekend) I am very skeptical about going to the emergency room. So much so that I have never gone for myself accept once when I was very young. I have gone to Urgent Care, I have made sick appointments with my doctor, but I never go to the emergency room.

Here's the deal with the emergency room in my mind. Have you ever had a problem with your computer? Then you take it to that IT guy and he turns it on and there's nothing wrong with it and then, of course, you take it home and it crashes. That's what happens to me with my body. Finally, after much pain and four days of calling the doctor and being told to hydrate, I was on the floor and couldn't get up from the pain. I called Andy to come home and get me and take me to the ER. Even then, I had talked to my clinic and they said to bypass the ER and just go to Labor and Delivery. After being checked there and told that I was not in labor (and of course, relaxing enough that I wasn't puking my guts out anymore) I was sent to the regular ER to find out what the pain was all about. They doped me up and then took my urine sample, ultrasounded every organ in my body. All of a sudden, it made sense. I saw a marble in my bladder on the ultrasound. So did the ultrasound tech. Snap! She took a picture, sent me off to the waiting room where I sat with my wonderful, starving husband (we had been there for 6 hours without food) for the doctor to tell me that I had the mother of all kidney stones. I was so happy that there was a reason for the pain. I know nobody prays for kidney stones but I just needed to know what it was. I am now drugged up for the pain and trying to have this baby before the baby. I don't know when it's going to come out but hopefully soon. The problem with drugs is that you feel no pain but you still can't get anything done because you are DRUGGED! I really can't wait to just be back at work.

OK, to all my friends (Laura, Alisha, Heather, Shelly, and all the people that have helped me with stuff while I was sick), you are all the best. I can't believe how awesome everyone has been. THANK YOU! I could not have done all this without my wonderful friends and of course, the husband that never quits.

Being Sick... NOT!!!

When you have a toddler, you are not allowed to be sick. Seriously! You can take a sick day from work. You can hope that she will be calm that day, but unless you have great friends, like mine, and a great husband, like I do, you aren't going to get any kind of a break. Even then, your friends have lives too. Most likely, your husband has to work and you will inevitably get stuck with the kid. You are not allowed to sleep while that toddler is awake. They will make huge messes that you can't clean up because you can't function. You will get no rest, you will have to change diapers, feed them and continue to be a jungle gym for the duration of your illness. If you are pregnant, it is way worse. Not only do you feel like crap but you feel like CRAP! You can't hold the baby at all, you can't get stuff done and generally, your house and life will go to pot. I look around and see that without my friends and my husband, things would be a lot worse but things are not good. The kitchen is a mess. The floor is disgusting and I just want to get in bed and not get out until the new baby is born and I am recovered enough to NEST the way I want.

I need advice...

Has anyone gone into preterm labor? What were your symptoms and how did you feel? Let me know as I am sick today and wondering about this alot.

Legs... again

I am the luckiest girl in the world. I am married to this awesome guy. I woke up at 6:30 this morning and headed off to class. When I got back, he let me sleep for several hours. I was awakened by this pain in my leg. Now, I have felt leg cramps coming on before and have always been able to concentrate on relaxing my leg and making it go away. This time, I was asleep so I didn't feel it coming and I just woke up in more pain than I have been in a while. I cried out because I was really hurting. He came running and being the PE teacher, Lifeguard, general all around physical therapist kind of guy he is, he worked it out of my leg in no time flat. Now, it was achy for a while after and I could feel the lactic acid working its way through my muscles but I wasn't curled up on the bed wondering if my leg would fall off. He's amazing. I went back to sleep and I got some amazing rest. Why the leg cramps? Why the water weight? Why the RLS? What is with the legs? There is no action going on that far down.

Restless Leg Syndrome: A symptom of pregnancy?!

With both pregnancies, I have experienced this phenomenon. Now, let me be the first to say that I was a total skeptic when it came to the legitimacy of this condition. It was funny to watch all those drug commercials saying that this was debilitating and ask your doctor about this med. I thought they were all nuts. But, I have it now. In the last half of both pregnancies, I have gotten what I call RLS for pregnancy. It is when you have the uncontrollable urge to move your legs or flex your leg muscles. It's a total pain in the neck. It usually comes on at night around 11 or 12 and lasts several hours. If you see my legs all cramped up under me, they are flexed and I'm dealing with a bought of this strange syndrome right at that moment. If you see my leg bouncing out of control, it's the same thing. The problem is, you are still using energy to do this movement so you can come out of it with sore muscles and completely exhausted if it's a long bought.

Moral, don't judge what people are feeling until you walk a mile in their shoes, or bounce your leg for 3 hours without being able to stop...