2014

Well 2014 is just about over and I have to say I am not to sorry to see this year end.
I wouldn't say it was a bad year... but it has been a rough year.
We are ending this year with a second cancer diagnosis, this time it is close to home and it has been hard to take.
I also had my OB/GYN appointment yesterday and walked out with a few answers and more questions then I walked in there with. The doctor no longer sees the cyst they saw in the ER, but the original diagnosis of the blood clot is correct. Right now we are still doing pain management while the doctor figures out how to treat the clot. This is not a deadly clot, which means it is not in a major artery, but it is still very painful. The type of clot is called an Ovarian Vein Thrombosis, and is pretty rare in general. It usually only happens with other conditions (i.e. sever appendicitis), none of which I have. So the doctors are stumped.

OK. I am done with all the downer stuff... now on to a recap of this year.

January: We got our first snow storm since we moved to Chattanooga. Finley loved going out and playing in it.
February: We got our 2nd snow storm and got snowed in for 3 days! This is the most snow Finely has ever seen and she loved it! She has been asking for more snow every week since it melted.
March: Once the weather got nice we spent a lot of time out at Coolidge Park. We also had my best friends wedding shower.
April: I turned 30 and Finley turned 4. Erica got married and Finley was a flower girl for the first time.
May: We planted our first garden and it did wonderfully. We will definitely be doing it again this coming spring.
June: We spent a lot of time at the pool. By the end of the summer we had Finley swimming without her life vest.
July: July was hard. We had a great 4th of July cookout, followed by Kylie's (Finely's best friend) leukemia diagnosis.
August: Matthew and I celebrated 8 years of marriage!! We also went on our first family vacation since Finely was 1.
September: We spent a lot of time outside and at the parks. We were trying to soak up as much quality time as possible before we left for Nepal.
October: We spent 2 weeks with great friends in Nepal. When we got home we had a great family day at a pumpkin patch. Followed by the coldest Halloween I think I have ever experienced
November: We had a group camp out in our backyard. It was so cold, all the mom's and kids ended up inside and left the dad's out in the cold. We spent Thanksgiving with Matt's mom's side of the family. Matt's dad and nephew came and spent 4 days with us after Thanksgiving. We went and got our Christmas tree and got to see the light at Rock City while they were here.
December: We stayed pretty busy with a lot of Christmas parties. I wasn't feeling well this month, so we kept our days pretty low key. I spent the Saturday before Christmas in the ER trying to figure out what was going on with my body. We spent Christmas with my family and Finley made out like a bandit. We finally ate at the Taco Mac in downtown Chattanooga for Matthew's birthday.

We are now ringing in the new year having a nice low-key evening with family watching Georgia Tech whoop up on some Mississippi Sate at the Orange Bowl!

Happy New Year! Here is to hoping 2015 is a great year!

Doctor visits and the ER

** Warning: this post turned out longer then I expected it to... and sorry if it doesn't make total sense, I am trying to type this while on painkillers :) **

If you follow me on instagram then you know that I spent most of yesterday in the ER. It was not how I a planning on spending my Saturday.

Truthfully I haven't been feeling well for a while. I have had no energy or motivation. If I had a busy day, where I had a lot of errands to run or a long playdate, I would just be wiped by the time I got home. I had strep a few weeks ago, and just felt like I haven't been 100% since then.

Then almost 2 weeks ago I started to really not feel well. I began to feel like I was getting another kidney infection. I began drinking a lot water and cranberry juice hoping that it would take care of itself. Over the next week I was still in some pain and discomfort. Matthew was headed to Boston for 3 days for work and I told him if I wasn't feeling better by the time he got home I would make an appointment with my doctor. When he arrived home this past Wednesday afternoon, I still wasn't any better.

I called first thing Thursday morning to make an appointment. The guy on the phone told me they were booked up for the day. I explained what was going on and he told me to hang on a minute. I heard him talking to the doctor and when he came back on the line he told me to come in as soon as possible. The doctor would see me as soon as I got there.

I was taken back right after I walked into her office. They took me back and ran the normal doctors appointment stuff (weight, blood pressure, pee in a cup... you know). The doctor came in pretty quickly. We talked about how I was feeling and she did a physical exam. She said I had an infection somewhere, but she wasn't sure what was causing it. It could be a UTI that had turned into a serious kidney infection, it could be a virus that attached to my kidneys or is could be a kidney stone. She had some other concerns because I had some tenderness near my appendix, but my symptoms didn't match those for appendicitis. She gave me an antibiotic and took some more blood to have more tests run. She told me if my symptoms didn't get better or got worse by the weekend to go right to the ER. They wouldn't be able to confirm a kidney stone or my appendix rupturing without doing a CT scan.

Friday morning I could tell me kidneys were feeling better, but I was still having some serious pain in my right side. I haven't been sleeping well so that night I took an Ambien before bed. Even with the sleep-aid, I still didn't sleep well. I wasn't able to get comfortable and every time I moved I hurt. I had tried to call a friends dad who is a doctor Friday night to see how long through the weekend I should wait before going to go to the ER. I missed his call that night, but he called first thing Saturday morning. He told me not to wait and go ahead in.

Shortly after we arrived at the ER and I spoke with the doctor, they started me on fluids and gave me something for the pain. She then sent me to have a CT scan to rule out appendicitis. Every doctor I talked to over the past few days said my symptoms were a-typical of appendicitis, but it couldn't be ruled out until they did a scan. After the scan was done, the ER doc came back pretty quickly and explained my appendix looked fine, they couldn't see it on the scan which is a good thing. She then told me it appeared I had a clot in a vein going to my right ovary and my symptoms seemed to line up more with that. She then sent me up to have an ultrasound done to confirm the clot.

It was about 20 minutes between when she told me what was going on and when they came to get me for the ultrasound. Matthew was trying to make jokes to lighten the mood and told me "don't move!" I was trying not to get too upset, but it was scary hearing her say that I could possibly have a blood clot.

The ultrasound took about an hour. I would say it was top 5 most painful things I have ever experienced. When there isn't a baby in there, they mash down on you, HARD. It felt like she was touching my spinal cord with the ultrasound wand. She kept telling me to relax and be still. It hurt so bad it took me to tears. I was already tender and in pain in that area and now she was just mashing away! I thought I was going to wake up with bruises on my stomach this morning!

It took the doctor about another hour to come down with the results of the ultrasound. While we sat there waiting, we had pretty much resounded that I was going to be admitted with the possibility of surgery. Matthew tried telling me how they would get rid of the clot. I told him what I needed from the house and that he needed to make sure the guest bed was cleaned off and ready for my parents to come up. After what seemed like an eternity, the doctor came back with a good news/bad news situation. It was NOT a blood clot and I was being discharged, but I did have a "critical cyst" and would need to see my OB as soon as possible. I told her I had a follow up with my regular doctor on Monday, she told me to still go to that appointment and she would more then likely refer me to an OB/gyn. The ER doctor prescribe me something for the pain and nausea until we figure out what the next step is. From what I have been told, I will most likely have to have the cyst removed. I'm not sure how soon that will happen, especially since we are just days away from Christmas and New Years. I am in a good bit of pain and am uncomfortable, so they may want to do it this week. I guess I will find out when I see my doctor tomorrow!

But for now I am taking it easy and hanging out watching a lot of Netflix and taking naps :)

blogging break/ life lately

Well... it looks like I needed a little bit of a break. It wasn't something I meant to do... it just sorta happened.

We always come home from Nepal just before we get dumped into the holiday season and it seems like the weeks just go by faster after that.

We have also had a rough go this fall as far as health goes. One of us has been sick on a semi-regular basis. Luckily we haven't all been sick at the same time. You know you've had it bad when the pharmacist starts to recognize you. Matthew came home form Nepal with a virus that he had a hard time shaking and made getting over the jet lag much harder. Just days after he felt better, Finley came down with a cold. Then it was my turn and I think I got the worst of it. I either had the flu or strep throat. I'm not sure which... but it was rough. It was one of those sicknesses that you are praying for God to heal you or take you home. You know it will pass in a few days, but it seems like you will never get better. I woke up at one point with 103 fever! This also means we go into quarantine mode during our sickness and then a few days following, if we are able to.

When we haven't been sick, we have been on the go.

Here are some pictures of just a few things we have been enjoying recently.

We have had several bonfires and roasted lost of marshmallows.
We went to the aquarium for the first time in months.
We have spent a lot of time in Coolidge Park.
Matt's dad and nephew came and spent a few days with us over Thanksgiving.
We got to go walk through the lights at Rock City.
We cut down our first real Christmas tree since Finley was born.
We have had a camp out in our backyard (on one of the coldest nights of the year. All the mom's and kids ended up inside in beds while that dad's stayed in the tents.)
We traveled to see Matt's mom's side of the family for Thanksgiving. Sorry... no pictures. I left my phone at home.
We went to a birthday party at a trampoline park. That was so much fun! Finley did not want it to be over.
We had a mom's afternoon and attended the online ThriveMom's conference. It was amazing to participate it.
We had a baby shower for a new friend today and it was so cute! We did a superhero's theme!

So you see.... it's not that I haven't had stuff going on... I've just been to lazy to post anything about it. Hopefully I can get better about! The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.

The Creative Closet II Fabulous Flannel

I would like to start this by saying I am not a fashion blogger. I also did not take these photos with the intention of doing a link up. But when I saw the topic, and since I had just worn my new plaid scarf, I figured why not!

I got this scarf while we were in Nepal. Scarf are very popular over there and you can get them for pretty cheap. This scarf was the most expensive one I bought while we were there, and it was $7. 

I went looking for a scarf of this particular style. I wanted a big blanket style plaid scarf. I have been seeing them on Pinterest and fell in love with them. I knew here in the states they would be a bit more then I wanted to pay, and I also knew I could probably find what I was looking for while overseas for pretty cheap.

Krystal and I spent a whole day going around to different shopping districts. Our last stop for the day was in Thamel, which is a huge tourist shopping area. It tends to be more expensive then the places the locals go to, but they also have more western styles.

The first scarf shop we went into, we told the guy what we were looking for and he said it didn't exist. I would not be able to find it in all of Thamel. He tried to sell me something I didn't want, so I said no and left. The very next shop we walked into had what I was looking for. 

I really didn't care about the colors, although I did cringe a little buying this one because it is red/black/white (UGA colors.... we are GT fans... the pride runs deep). I actually had another one picked out when the shop owner showed me this one. I told him is just needed one, and was going to get the smaller one because it was cheaper. He had started at $20 american. I told him no, that is what I would pay that in the states. I paid for the small one and tried to leave. He kept coming down on the price, until finally he agreed to $7. I think this is my best haggle to date :)

side note: My boots came in just before we left. This was my second time wearing them :) 

I finally got to wear it this past weekend to the pumpkin patch. It is a soft warm material, and it was blazing hot outside that day. I love it and can't wait until it starts to get and stay cold!

Currently

I was reading Treats and Travels this morning and saw she had done a Currently post. I've seen them before and have always found them interesting, so I figured why not do one myself!

CURRENTLY

Reading: Blogs, Proverbs31 Ministry emails, and a book called "Say Goodbye to whining, complaining and bad attitudes in you and your kids." So far so good... now just to implement it in our house.

Writing: My first Currently post of this type. I have done "currently's" on life updates, but not one like this. I am also working out the 2nd part of our Nepal trip.

Discovering: My camera, I have had it for almost 2 years and I take it everywhere but don't use it like I should. I am finally figuring out how I like to take pictures and how I like for them to look. Also, I am figuring out what I don't like and how to change it.

Watching: New Girl, when Matthew is home. And Gilmore Girls, when I am by myself.

Listening: My worship play list on you tube, specifically The Rend Collective "Build Your Kingdom Here."

Thinking: About how I would like to be back on my normal schedule. I am over feeling wiped at 7 pm and wide awake at 5 am! I'd really like my 11 pm - 8 am sleep schedule back now....

Needing: To go to the gym. I haven't been since the week before we left.... so basically I will be starting over because it has been a month since I've been.

Feeling: The funny disconnected/depressed feeling being jet lagged brings. It's funny... it is very similar to the feelings you have after a baby. Everyone around has continued in their normal routines, while you went off doing something else. And now that you are back you are trying to find your rhythm again with the normal routines around you. It's strange and I don't like it. This is my least favorite part of coming back from a trip like this.

Wanting: A diet coke........ so very badly......

Loving: Our time spent at the pumpkin patch as a family this past weekend. Matthew is never thrilled about doing those types of things, but once we get there he is always glad I made him do it. I look my camera and was able to get some really great pictures. You can see some of my favorites over on instagram. After I post the pictures to my personal facebook page, I got some messages from some friends that are legit photographers. They were very encouraging and gave me some great tips to keep getting better pictures.

Our first few days in Nepal

We have made it to see our friends and we are having a wonderful time.

Jet-lag has been a little hard, but hasn't seemed to be as bad as last year. We arrived in Nepal last Sunday night. We stayed up until almost 1 am talking with our friends. We could have kept going, but they have 4 kids that went to bed at 8 pm and don't care that you just went to bed 3 hours ago. We slept until about 6 Monday morning, this helped Monday to seem pretty easy and gave us a false comfort that the jet-lag wasn't going to be that bad. Monday night we went to bed at a normal time and woke up at about 3 am. Matthew was able to go back to sleep for a bit. By Tuesday afternoon I was ready to crash. After going out and seeing a bit of Nepal we came back to the house and Matthew and I slept for about 3 hours. I could have kept sleeping. At one point I woke up, walked halfway downstairs stopped and said "nope... not gonna happen..." and went back to bed for another hour. Wednesday and Thursday have been easier. We have been able to make it through most of the day before we feel tired, then we wake up at 4 am. Every day we feel a little bit more normal.

Krystal and I have been able to go out on the motorbike and have a girls day to do some shopping. Traffic is horrible here, and gives whole new meaning to "stand-still" and "road rage." it takes us forever to get anywhere, but it is kind of fun... once you get past the whole "we are all gonna die!!" moment when you take off. We also attracted a lot of attention driving through the city. Not bad or scary attention... just a lot of looks and a few hollers. It is a rare site to see 2 white girls "zipping" through Kathmandu on a motorcycle. We did have on helmets, but still.... you are so close to the people around you that they can see you are white.

Our first 2 days it rained, so we ended up hanging around their house. It was good because it slowed us down. We just hung out and talked and drank coffee and chiya. Krystal makes the best chiya!! She has taught me her ways, so now I can go home and have it whenever I want :)

Yesterday we spent the afternoon where our friends help out at. They have a beautiful property where they grow their own veggies and employ some of the locals to help. We are going home with some yummy jam and pesto!! 

Last night we were able to do a date night with our friends. We ate dinner at a place in Tahmel. I had apple mo:mo for desert (basically an apple fritter), but it was soooooo good!! It was great being able to sit and talk with them. We talked about serious things, and some not so serious things. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

Matt and Tanner are leaving for a trek today and will be gone over night. We are here until Tuesday, and I can't believe how fast this trip is going.I actually haven't taken my big camera out with me at all. If you would like to keep up with the trip you can click over to my instagram and follow. I will update more later!

Nepal (Part 7)

We arrived back in Kathmandu around lunch time. We left the airport and went to the hotel to drop our stuff off and get cleaned up. We are lunch at the pizza place, which is owned by 2 Americans, so it was legit pizza and just what I needed.

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping in Thamel or napping. That night for dinner we ate at the home of leader of the organization we were with. They made us mo:mo and finger chips (french fries). It was delicious.

Our group ended up on the top floor of the hotel in the honeymoon suites. This was out view from the roof top area.

The next day we got to do some sightseeing. The first place we went to was Swayambhunath (good luck trying to pronounce that...). It is also known as the monkey temple. There are hundreds of monkeys that live there and they are protected and sacred. We were told to be careful, the monkey will take your glasses right off your face. We were also told not to make eye contact or motion at the monkeys.

While we were taking some pictures, I noticed a guy stop and look at a monkey. He then waived at the monkey. As he did this, I remembered thinking "oh that's not good..." just then the monkey lunged at him and bit his arm. I yelled "dude got bit by a monkey!!!" and everyone in our group kept saying he hadn't. The guy finally got his sleeve up, and sure enough... dude got bit by a monkey. The monkeys carry diseases, so he was instructed to go to the medical tent. I am sure there were lots of shots for that guy... I felt bad for him, but he had been warned.

We rode by motorbikes to our next stop. Once you get past the "oh dear God, we are all gonna die!" part, it was actually kind of fun!! 

After the monkey temple we went to the palace. Nepal had a king until 2001 when the family was murdered. There is a book called "Love and Death in Kathmandu," it is suppose to be a really good read if you are interested.

We were not allowed to take pictures. They made me lock up my camera and there was a massive gate that everyone is funneled through so you can't get a good look of the palace from the street. It wasn't what you think of when you think of a royal family or palace. It was big and over the top in some areas, but simple and everyday-like in others. They have kept everything the same since the family passed away. 

Halfway through the palace I started to get hangry. The boys took us to the locals shopping area (less touristy) and ate lunch. It was so jam packed, but it was cool to see the every day shopping areas.

That night we ate at the Italian restaurant that we ate at our first night in Kathmandu. We had a great dinner as a group one last time before we started our trip home the next day.

Saying good-bye was hard, but I knew it wouldn't be my last time there and I couldn't wait until we were able to go back.

We flew (1st class!) the next day from Kathmandu to New Deli, India. We had a 9 hour layover in India. The layover was going fine, we ate dinner and I got a Pumpkin Spice Latte at the (real) Starbucks in the airport. About halfway through I started to feel awful. By the time we got on the plane for the 16 hour flight home, I had started to run a fever. The actual flight home was uneventful, I just slept most of the time with the chills. I ended up at the doctors the Monday after we got home because I felt so bad.

We arrived back in Atlanta mid-afternoon. We got the chance to hang out with Matthew's dad and step-mom before we started the drive home.

It was so good to be home. I remember all I wanted was a big glass of ice water, a hot hot shower, my bed and my baby. 

Jet-lag is horrible, it leaves you in the depression kind of funk for a few days. Then add being sick on top of that and it was a rough first week back home. I tried to get right back into the swing of things, which was a mistake. I know better for this year! When we get home, we will hunker down inside for the first few days before we make contact with anyone from the outside world :)

We are now just over 2 weeks away from leaving and I am counting down the days!!

Fall Bucket List

Decorate the house for fall.
Clean out the closest and get ride of at least 4 bags of stuff.
Carve or decorate a pumpkin.
Go for a hike when the leave start to change colors.
Make an apple pie.
Visit a pumpkin patch.
Go apple picking.
Make my own fall decorations.
Go trick-or-treating.
Have family pictures made.
Make as making pumpkin flavored treats as possible.
Go to the county fair.
Have a picnic at the park.
Make chili.
Make leaf art.
Do backyard camping.
Have a bonfire.
Roast marshmallows.
Go to the drive in movies.
Go on a bike ride.

Happy first day of FALL!!

Nepal (Part 6) - Namchee Bazzar and the Trek back down

We leave in just over 3 weeks for Nepal to visit our friends and I realized the other day that I have not finished telling you about our trip last year!!

Bad blogger.... shame shame.

Time just got away from me. Although it has been almost a year since the trip, it feels like we just got home.

If you would like to get caught up on the trip you can do so here...

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

I left off just after our arrival in Namchee. 

Namchee is a relatively small village built into the side of the mountains in a horseshoe shape. It looks bigger then it is. You could walk from one side to the other in less then 10 minutes. The "roads" were narrow, and we have stopped seeing cars and motorbikes a long time ago. The only way to get here is to arrive in Lukla (by plane) and then walk or ride a donkey, or take a helicopter. 

After we arrived, we all needed to eat and rest for a bit. So we hung out in the restaurant at the top of our guest house (hotel). As you can see there were a ton of clouds. We couldn't see anything and shortly after we arrived, we couldn't even see across to the other side of the village.

Once we were fed and rested some of us decided to go explore. We had one team member that was getting sick, so she decided to go to bed. We had another team member that was struggling after the hike. She had previously had 8 knee surgeries!!

We only spent one night in the village before we headed back to Lukla. The restaurant at the guest house has a really cool atmosphere. Everyone was a friend. We met an American couple that had quite their jobs to travel for a year around the world. We met an Israeli couple that had trekked from Jiri to Namchee. There were several South Americans and Australians.

I asked for a "ham burger" for dinner... this is what I got. That space makes a big difference. It was literally ham on a burger bun.

You can see just how exhausted we all were.

That night we asked the guy that ran to guest house when and where was the best time to see Everest. He said at 5 AM and at the Everest Lookout Point.

So we made plans to be up at 4:30 to start the small hike up there.

That night we laid down in our beds and I swear I slept closer the guy on the other side of the wall then I did to my husband. He sneezed at one point and I had to stop myself for saying "bless you!"

The next morning we got up and walked outside and we were greeted with this image.

This is not Everest, but it is part of the Himalayas. And that is not the sun... that is the Moon. This was the first really good look we got of the mountains. They were amazing! Pictures cannot even begin to do them justice. I couldn't believe my eyes, they looked like they had been photoshopped there.

We started the hike to the lookout point just after 4:30 AM. We were the first to arrive and had the point to ourselves for about 20 minutes. We got to see the sun rise on Mt. Everest.

As the sun was comming up. (This is not Everest)

The tiny point furthest away in the center is Everest.

The sun hits Everest first.

All the boys.

The whole group that went to the lookout point.

Calling the wife to tell her where he is!

The peeks from left to right: Taboche, Lobuche, Everest, Lhotse, and Ama Dablam.

It was so cold that Emma and I hiked back down to the guest house to eat breakfast and get ready for the trek back down. While the boys continued up to Syangboche. They had a better view of Everest from there, but it was another 1000 feet above where we were and Emma and I just didn't think we could do it.

After they arrived back at the guest house, we ate lunch and then started the trek back down.

The first bridge we came had a "traffic jam." We waited almost 30 minutes for the bridge to become clear so we could cross.

Same bridge, just from the bottom. We were on the top one. Have I mentioned I hate bridges and heights recently? Because I do...

The trek back down was easier in some ways, and harder in others. We decided to take the lower trail, which didn't have as much elevation but did have a ton of rocks. It ran along the river and  was beautiful. 

We came the point on the trail where it had started to go up for us on the way to Namchee and we found this sign...

Basically it says to go down, not up. We had gone up.

More donkey trains. We had to constantly stop to let them by. You learned very quickly to listen for their bells and people would start yelling "inside" down the trail as they came.

We again stopped in TukTuk for the night to rest and then continued on in the morning.

I had to physically crawl up the stairs to our room

We arrived back in Lukla just before dinner.

We ate dinner at a place called "YakDonalds," true story.

Pics or it didn't happen. It happened.

I had a Yak burger. It was aweful, don't try one. Ever.

As we were hiking up we noticed a lot of people coming down with sunburns. We figured they had gone up pretty high to get burned like that. They probably didn't... because we got roasted too. Once we were back in Lukla, Nikki and I went looking for aloe vera. Trying to explain what aloe is to a Nepali proved difficult, and we weren't able to find anything.

The next morning before our flight Abinash and I went to "Starbucks." I was so super excited to go, but turns out it wasn't a real Starbucks. I should have known... but it was still good.

I don't think you can possibly understand how scary this flight was. Take any never wracking flight experience and multiply it by 1000. That was this. 

Matthew and I ended up on seperate flights. I figured this was not a bad thing, incase one of the planes crashed at least one of us was going to make it home. Morbid I know...

And so... back to Kathmandu we went.The flights went well, obviously because we are both still here.

Next up, our last few days in Kathmandu and then home!!