Surprises

I've been wanting to write this post for a bit now, but haven't just in case my sister Reece decided to read my blog, for some odd reason...

Anyways, Reece's boyfriend proposed to her! And what a proprosal it was.

They had a planned trip to Italy, so he planned (with the help of my sister Dee) to proprose over there. He upgraded their room without her knowing, and made arrangments for a dinner. Their dinner was on a private terrace that overlooked the sea. He had someone watching so as soon as she said yes, they gave a signal and a boat in the water set off fireworks, which he had to get a special permit for. He also hired a photographer to take secret pictures leading up to the proposal, and then some photos after. And I'm sure you would rather see those than hear me ramble, so here you go :)

Did I mention that about a week before their trip he just showed up on my parents' doorstep to ask my dad for permission?

You would think after all that he would be done with the surprises, but nnnoooo! He decided to send my parents, me and M, my cousin and her boyfriend, and my sister's best friend to Vegas to surprise her at a dinner for celebration of their engagement! So that is how we spent Memorial Day weekend :) Here is M and me at the dinner (taken by my fancy phone, not a photographer)

I have some other pics of our time in Vegas, but I'll post those later cuz I know that with the above photos, they won't even get a second glance ;)

Spartan Sprint

This past weekend I ran a Spartan Sprint with a couple friends. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is 3+ miles (ours was a little over 5 miles) and has obstacles along the way. Look it up, its pretty awesome :)

It kicked my ass though! I had so much fun, but man, the constant uphill of the mountain terrain was HARD. There is going to be another one next year and I can't wait to sign up for it! Here we are before, just aobut to the finish line, and after the race.

About a mile or so in, one of the obstacles was monkey bars. I was about 4 bars away from the end and my hand slipped and I fell on my foot, but it went backwards. I knew I hurt it, becuase it hurt, and I felt it swell in my shoe. Despite my foot throbbing with every rock I stepped on, I finished the race. By that night, I couldn't walk on it. I went to the orthopedic urgent care on Monday and they said it wasn't broken but I sprained the top of my foot and did some tissue damage. Soooo, I'm in a really sleek, sexy boot for 2 weeks. Pumpkin loves it.

I am pretty proud of myself for doing it. I always have wanted to, and talk about it, but never actually do. And now I can't wait for the next one!

Have you ever done something like this? Or something that you have always talked about?

Drop

I am so excited to have good news to report!!! Miss L's blood draw got sent off to Mayo and her lead levels came back lowered!!!! Their scale is slightly different and they go from 0-4 instead of 0-5. Her level was only a 1 though! I couldn't believe it when the nurse told me. I actually asked her a couple times! S we are in the clear for right now. We are still making changes though in hopes that it won't go back up ever.

Thank you everyone who said a little prayer or thought a little thought for us during this time.

Catching A Break

Poor Miss L just cannot catch a break yet in her short life.

When we went in for her 1 yr check, the nurse told me all the shots and screens they wanted to do. Chicken pox, Hep, TB, and lead. I said no to chicken pox, yes to Hep, and gave the dr the choice between lead and TB because I wasnt going to do both. He chose lead.

In children, 5 is the toxic lead level. Miss L's first screen came back at 2. Her dr told us to come back in a couple months and check it again, hoping it either stayed the same or went down. We got the results this week, and it is now at a 5. I had to take her the lab yesterday to get a vial of blood drawn and it is now being processed at the Mayo Clinic. Hopefully we should have the results back tomorrow.

When is she going to catch a break?! Her little life has been so full of issues and problem after problem. It makes me so sad because when I look at her she is so happy and full of adventure and love.

I pray that her levels are down and we wont have to do treatment on her. I pray that she can finally catch a break and be done with all these things. She is too beautiful and perfect to deserve this.

Diapers

I have been on a blogging strike. Actually, not really, but I could have fooled you right?! To be honest, I haven't been blogging because I feel like I have nothing happy to talk about. I am still in a depressed mood and all my thoughts go back to BB3. I am trying though, still. So to enlighted myself, I am going to talk about something happy... diapers!!! That's happy right?!

When I was pregnant with Miss L I went back and forth about whether to cloth diaper her, or use disposables. Every place I read said that the first year alone would be in the $1000's to do disposables. I was so worried and stressed about, but in the end the convienence of disposables won. Just to see how much I would spend on diapers though, I kept track of all the diapers I bought. The date, how many, and the price. Here is it:

In the first year (not counting the 4/25/13 purchase), I spent a total of $193.43. Less than $200!!! You are probably wondering how I did that, since that is WAY far from the $1000+. Easy. I asked for diapers for birthdays and holidays. Sure, that may not be the most fun present to get, but look at how much money it has saved us. Money that we can use to buy or do something fun. Totally worth it if you ask me.

Disposable diapers don't have to be expensive. I spent less in the first year on them then I would have spent on just getting set up with cloth. Not too shabby if you ask me!