Surgery

I am having surgery tomorrow.  A hysterectomy, and I'm also saying bye bye to my ovaries.  And I'm also having a procedure done so I can run without any issues!  I'm not excited.  AT ALL.  But I can't wait to feel better.  But I know it's going to suck for a while before I feel better.  I throw up from anesthesia, too.  I am staying overnight at the hospital.

It has been a hassle rescheduling all the things I had planned for the beginning of the summer- I can't drive for 2 weeks after the surgery.  My mom is coming to stay for 2 weeks to help us out.

Here is a funny tidbit...sorry if it's a little TMI....the hospital, when they called to go over my medical history, etc., told me to bring a pad to wear home the day after surgery.  Really?  How many thousands of dollars are they charging for this surgery and hospital stay?!  And they can't include a pad in the cost?!  I've had a baby there....I know they send you home with pads from that!! 

Good Lord, what is this world coming to?!

So please pray for me for an uneventful surgery and a speedy recovery.  Thank you.

8 Months Old!

Oh my goodness, I can't believe my baby girl is 8 months old today!



Oh, ya know, I'm 8 months old and I'm just hangin' out playing with my toys!  Cuz I'm cool like that!

I love this little girl so much!

Are You Going To Tell Her She's Adopted?

I get that question a lot.    And usually the next question after I answer "yes" is when are you going to tell her she's adopted?




I mean, she looks like me and my family.  So I really don't have to tell her at all.  Right?  WRONG!  We are open and honest people and never planned to try and pass her off as our biological child.  We are proud that she is our daughter.  We are proud that her birth parents trusted us enough to let us raise their child at a time in their lives when they couldn't give her the live they thought she deserved.

Well, folks, I have an answer to that second question now too.  I told Cambria that she is adopted yesterday, May 18th.  She babbled in response!  And pulled my hair- her favorite thing to do!  She will be 8 months old this week on the 23rd, so of course she didn't understand what I was saying.  I told her she's adopted again today, too.  I shed a few tears.  Not because she is adopted and not my biological child.  But I shed a few tears at the memory of her birth parents packing her up in her carseat at the hospital and handing her to Dave and me and the 4 of us crying in the hospital room.  It was such a moving experience.


These pictures were taken on Mother's Day this year, 2013, my first Mother's Day with a little daughter in the picture and my family complete!

So anyways, May 18, 2013 will be another memorable day along our adoption journey.

You Deleted Me??

I probably shouldn't post this on here, since it is a public blog.  But, what the heck, these are my feelings and they are real.  And if people don't want me posting this stuff about them, they should act with better character.

How many of you are on Facebook?  How many of you get annoyed when your supposed Facebook "friends" delete you?  (Or "unfriend" you?)  It doesn't happen too often (thankfully!), but when I get deleted by someone, I always think, "What the heck did I do to YOU??"   Plenty of people post stupid crap on Facebook and whine and bitch and moan about every little thing, and I don't delete them.   Grrrr....

OK, so one of Dave's family members recently deleted me on FB!  Hello, idiot, how do you think Christmas dinner is going to go from here on out?!  This is someone that I have had multiple issues with for many, many years.  Issues meaning this person and their family has done stuff to irritate me or piss me off or hurt me for years, and I say nothing.  And my husband, who likes to keep the peace, does not say anything either.  Grrrr....

So I got up the courage to confront the deleter, and they told me they deleted me because they were hurt and disappointed that my hubs and I did not wish them a happy birthday last month.  Or go to their party.  Which my husband did not tell me about until after the fact.  (He had to work.)  

That's it?  That's why you deleted someone?  MY HUSBAND (who is an amazing husband and father) NEVER EVEN WISHES ME A HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON FACEBOOK!

I was so furious I thought my head was going to explode.  For a million reasons.  But here are two of them:   The deleter did NOT wish me a happy birthday in December!!  And the deleter did not delete my husband, even though he committed the same crime!  SMH!!!  Can you say hypocrite, hypocrite, hypocrite?  (BTW, I can't stand hypocrites.)  I wrote her back and gave her an earful of all the shit she has done to me over the years.  Like 8 paragraphs worth of shit.  How old are they?  Are we back in junior high?!  Good Lord, a different member of my husband's family didn't acknowledge my son's birthday for over 2 weeks!  And I wouldn't delete them.  But anyways, I like to think I am mature and above that.  The deleter did apologize.  BUT they haven't sent me another friend request!  Lol

Another person who deleted me got mad at me because her boyfriend dumped her, and she wanted me to unfriend the boyfriend.  I have no issues with the boyfriend, I've known him since kindergarten, our parents our friends, and frankly, I don't want to be in the middle of that drama.  So- she deleted and blocked me from Facebook!  And made me feel like a horrible person in the process.

I've only deleted two people from FB.  One was someone who kept posting inappropriate things on my FB wall.  I kept having to delete them.  Finally I figured it was easier to just delete them.

Oy, Social Media!  Can't live with it, can't live without it.

Mother's Day 2013

Mother's Day was extra-special for me this year.  My first Mother's Day with my daughter, as a mother to my 4 wonderful kids (and 2 dogs!), with my complete family. 

My parents and grandma came over and we went to brunch.  It was a nice, relaxing day.
Perfect in every way.

In other news, I am now Facebook friends with Cambria's birth mother, birth father, both birth grandmas, birth aunts, and a few of her birth mom's friends.  I love open adoption!  So she can grow up having both of her birth parents in her life.  She will know they love her, and are interested in watching her grow up through the years.  I am happy to share her life with her birth family.

I will leave you with this picture of my fabulous 4, taken this morning!  I used to always match the boys, so I've had to become creative to match Cambria with the boys.  The boys will not wear pink clothes, so I found cute Under Armour clothes that they can all wear!  :)

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day.  And for those of you that are still waiting to become a mother, you are in my thoughts.  I hope that you have a precious bundle of joy in your arms soon.

Birth Mother's Day

Today is a very special day, especially in our family.  It's Birth Mother's Day.   And without a very special birth mother, we wouldn't have this sweet little baby girl that is smiling at you in the picture above in our family.  Cambria's birth mother J has a very special place in our hearts.   It takes a very selfless kind of person to be able to place their baby for adoption.  I know it was so painful for her to say goodbye to her baby girl (or instead of saying "goodbye", maybe "until we meet again"), and we have the utmost respect and adoration for her. 

I have made quite a few adoption friends along the way during our adoption journey....adoptive parents, birth parents, and adoptees.  Well, I actually knew quite a few adoptees before we began our adoption journey also.  I am thinking about all of the birth moms I know today, and wishing them the best.

I read on another blog that Birth Mother's Day is the day before Mother's Day....because they came first.  True, indeed.  J was Cami's mother before I was. 

I know some adoptees that are angry and upset that they were placed for adoption.  Some think that their birth mother's didn't want them.  All I can say is that from witnessing first-hand in that hospital room that Cambria's birthmom loved her and wanted to keep her very much.  (And so did her birth father.)  Neither of them wanted to place her for adoption.  They wanted to keep her and raise her.  However, they were mature enough to realize that they were not at a point in their lives to be able to give her the life they wanted her to have.  I hope my daughter understands that, and loves her birth parents for the sacrifice they made for her.  I know that Dave and I do.

Happy Birth Mother's Day to all of the birth mother's out there...I wish you a day of happiness and peace in your hearts for making this sacrifice for your child.

Don't Mess With Her!

4 people have shared this picture with me in the past 2 days, including Cambria's birth mother!  Everyone said this would be a cute picture idea!  I shared it on our amazing photographer's page too.

 

Geography Bee

2 blog posts in 2 days- Holy Cow!!

I took Joshua to my older sons' elementary school this morning for this kindergarten screening.  They do this to assess all of the incoming kindergarten students' strengths and weaknesses and to help them better balance out the classes.  He went right back with the teacher- no tears or anything!  That's my boy!  It helped that the teacher was the same one Jacob had for kindergarten a couple years ago, so Josh has seen her numerous times.

So while I am waiting in the school lobby during his testing/ screening, Zack's 5 th grade class comes walking towards me and goes into the library for their library period.  He looked at me at first with this what are you doing here? look, then he tried to act cool and pretend he didn't see me cuz he was with his 5th grade buddies (it's happening already, folks), then he actually waved and smiled at me!  :)

So then his class left the library and went back to their classroom.  Then Josh got done with his testing, and we were about the leave, and Zack and 2 other girls were walking in the hallway towards the lobby.  I was just about to ask him what he was doing out of class, and he hands me this piece of paper.

This is what it said:

Dear Parents,
Congratulations!  Your child has qualified to be in the school Geography Bee.  You are invited to attend the Geo. Bee held on May 9th.  Please arrive at.....

OMGosh!!  He got into the Geography Bee!  I called Dave and the first thing he said was, "Oh!  Another thing to study for!"

Obviously we're so busy with school and 3 sons playing baseball and end of the year projects.  Did I mention my crazy dog ate Zack's homework the other night?  For realz!  The dog ate his homework!  And it was a group project that he needed to type up that night for a presentation the next day at school.   Oh my, there were a lot of tears that night.  It was a long night that night to get that project finished.  And we couldn't just let him take a zero on it, since it was a group project and it wouldn't be fair to do that to the other kids in his group.

OK so kind of on that note....this is kinda funny.... We're at the kindergarten screening this morning, and I was actually on time for once, but this other mom and her son run into the school lobby, breathless.  They were obviously late.  She sees the teacher who was waiting to do the child's screening.   She says, "Sorry we're late!  Our goat went into labor!  And the vet came to our house, and he blocked my car in the driveway!"

Yes, her goat went into labor!   Cuz that is the type of town I live in!  The teacher replies, "Well, that's a new one!"  So I told them my story of the dog eating Zack's homework project!

Get Them Both!

My oldest son is making his first Communion and Confirmation at church this Saturday.  Last night, I was at the mall with my youngest son and Cambria, and I decided to try on a few dresses for the big day.  I was at the mall earlier yesterday getting my son his outfit for Saturday (he has had a growth spurt, and his nice church clothes are too small!)  I ran out of time and had to leave to go to physical therapy for my elbow tendonitis.  So I went back last night and took my 2 youngest kids with me.  I eyed this one dress earlier in the day.  I tried on about 6 dresses, and a cute outfit.  Joshua (my 5 year old) was so funny.  I tried on the first dress...."No, mom!  Don't get that one!"  Or the next one, or the next one.   What the?!   So then I tried on the one I had seen earlier in the day.  I loved it immediately.  Joshua saw it and exclaimed "Mommy!  Get this one!"   So then I tried on another dress, and he said to get that one too!   He said "Get them both, mommy!  The dresses are so pretty on you!"   (Seriously?!  This kid is SO going to be a ladies' man when he gets older!)   I told him I didn't know about getting them both, they were both kind of expensive.  He kept saying "Get them both!"  I told him I was going to blame him if daddy was mad that I got both!  HA!  (Dave didn't seem to care!)

In other news, Zack (my oldest son) did a kick-ass job at his baseball game tonight!  He got the game ball!  They played this really hard team that Zack says has been undefeated for like 2 years now!  (Not sure if he's exaggerating a wee bit or what.)  Zack had some good hits off of the pitcher who Zack says is the best pitcher in his league (again, not sure about the exaggeration factor), and he made a great play as the 3rd baseman.  Woo hoo! 

I registered him for middle school last night.  Unbelievable!  It seems like it was just yesterday that I was pleading with him to become potty trained, or he wouldn't be able to go to preschool and play with the kids there. 

Tomorrow morning I am taking my youngest son Joshua to his kindergarten screening!  So crazy to think that he starts kindergarten in August!  Dave took him to his T-ball game tonight while I was shuttling the other 3 kiddos around town.  Dave said he had a great hit past first base, and he could have scored a home run if they let him run the bases, but they make them stop at first base!  Ahhh, T-ball!  So funny to watch!  And then when the batter hits the ball, like 8 kids in the field tackle each other and fall on each other in an attempt to get the ball.  :)

Jacob's class is going on a field trip to Sedona tomorrow.  Supposed to be like 80 degrees there tomorrow.  It should be a beautiful day for a field trip!  His baseball team won last night, and he scored a run!  YAY Jake!  He is in this group music class with his friends called Let's play music, and it is a 3-year program.  For the 3rd year recital, the kids work with the teacher to compose their own music piece, and they play it at the end of the year recital.  The teacher emailed it to me, and we downloaded it last night.  We listened to it on the computer last night, and it is a really cute piece!  It is fun and upbeat.  I can't wait to hear him play it at the recital.  But now is the hard part, getting him to practice it daily.  He still hates to play with his left hand.  I can't blame him.  I was trying to work with him last night on it and practice with him.  So hard for me also to play my right and left hands at the same time.

Cambria is still the cutest little girl I've ever seen!  We had to swing by Dave's office today, and all of the ladies that work there were just oohing and aahing over here and saying how beautiful she is.  This one lady (who I don't think realizes that we adopted her) looked at Dave and me and said, "She is so beautiful!  You two did good!"  
We just smiled and said thank you.

She is quite beautiful.  However, Dave and I had nothing to do with it.

Oh!  One more thing!  Jacob, my 2nd grader, told me today that this girl in his class likes him!  I said how do you know?  And he said "because she told me!"  I asked him what he said and he said "Ewww!"
Nice, Jake!  Really smooth!  lol!  I said oh sweetie, that's cute that she likes you and he said it was gross!  HA!  It's starting already?!  So cray-cray!

I can't remember if I mentioned this on my blog or not, but back in October I had this horrific abdominal pain and I literally begged Dave to take me to the ER to be evaluated.  I was certain it was appendicitis.  Turns out, it was a really bad stomach bug, but the vomiting and diarrhea started after  I went to the ER so it was confusing.  Anyways, they also found on my ultrasound and CT scan an atypical thing on my ovary that looked like a hemorrhagic cyst, but it looked like an atypical one.  So we've been following it with ultrasounds every 3 months.  It should have gone away by now- my body should have resorbed it so to speak.  Well guess what?  Because my body likes to mess with me and NOT play by the rules, this atypical-looking-hemorrhagic cyst thingy is actually bigger now, and it looks like there is another one right next to it.  Plus  (but wait, there's more!) now there's this spot on my uterus.  Really??  Really??   Good Lord, how much can one person take?  As if strep throat, guttate psoriasis, shingles, 2 bad ankle sprains, mono, pneumonia, a bad sinus infection, and the stomach flu- all in a year's time- weren't enough?  Now this crap to worry about?  Dave and his business partner both looked at my ultrasounds,  and they both say they aren't screaming cancer. However, his partner did say maybe I should go get a CA-125 blood test done (google it- it's a marker for ovarian cancer.)  I told him I had the lab slip in my car, and I was planning on going after my ultrasound appt, which I did do.  So what the heck is going on?  One thing they suggested was an endometrioma (now 2 of them) on/ near my ovary and maybe a different kind of a cyst in my uterus.  So endometriosis, maybe?  I actually wouldn't be surprised with some of my symptoms.  And I swear I had endometriosis when I was trying to get pregnant with Zachary, and as soon as I got pregnant with him, all my symptoms vanished like POOF! and they haven't returned until the past year or so.  I've heard it said that pregnancy and childbirth kind of flushes out the endometriosis.
When I talked to my OB/GYN after the last ultrasound, she said we'd watch it for 3 more months, but if it was not improved by the next ultrasound, then we'd probably remove the ovary.   Oh joy.  But hey, it's not like I really need that ovary anymore.  Cross your fingers for this to turn out to be NOT cancer.

Well, that's it for now for updates.  It's late and I must go to sleep.