Vegas 2013

Meezy and I gave ourselves a much deserved mini-Spring Break this year.  We went to Vegas with his brother and wife from Wednesday night to Saturday night.  Dutch stayed with my parents, so we knew we had nothing to worry about and that he'd get some awesome bonding time with his Oma and Opa.  I was lucky enough to get daily pictures sent to me from my Mom, because she knew I'd be missing my kiddo like crazy.  Here are the ones she sent:

  very happy at breakfast time

enjoying some strawberries, pasta, and green beans

early morning bottle with his Opa

LOVING the outdoors 

tuckered out from all the fun

As far as the trip went, besides a minor snafu with our shuttle from the airport to the hotel, everything was awesome!  We love Vegas because the atmosphere is just so fun and you have no responsibilities or obligations.  You can pretty much live carefree for a few days.  Seth, Katie, and Meezy spent a lot of time playing craps.  The casinos have these machines where you can play without having to be at a table.  It's more relaxed and personal and there are no dealers.  Since the drinks were a-flowing, Seth and Meezy made sure it was a lively time.  Some of the funniest moments from the trip took place around that craps machine.  ("Trouble just rolled up." "Who's the shooter?  Who's the shooter?  Oh, I'm the shooter.").   Katie and I sat back and enjoyed the show.

We enjoyed some yummy meals while we were there.  We ate at Hash House A Go Go (known for their ridiculously large portion sizes), Grand Lux Cafe, I Heart Burgers, Lagasse's Stadium, and Tao Asian Bistro (Crunchy Spicy Yellowtail roll was delicious).  

Tao dinner date

On our last day there, we stopped by the Fashion Show Mall to kill some time.  As you might've guessed, there was a fashion show going on!  It was pretty cool because the stage and runway emerged from the ground.  

huge glass enclosure is normally underground

We were happy to show Seth and Katie why we like Vegas so much since Seth had never been and Katie had only gone once about 6 years ago.  It wasn't necessary, but they got us a very sweet thank you card and a stockpile of goodies, in addition to paying for a couple of our meals.  The nicest part was how thoughtful their thank you gift was - they had heard us talking a couple days prior about how Meezy only loved chocolate candy and I only loved hard candy like sweettarts and skittles.  What do you know - that's exactly what they got us.  I didn't even know they were paying attention!  It may not sound like much, but I value when someone takes the time to put some thought into their gift.  It meant a lot to us! 

Finally Some Good News

As mentioned in previous posts, I've been battling some health issues recently.  I haven't written out the full details on this blog, because I didn't want everyone worrying about me.  We weren't sure what was going on, so I figured I would wait until we had more information before I shared the full situation with the world.  First things first, I'm finally done with my weekly blood draws!  It took FIVE weeks, but my hcg went down to zero.  What a relief. 

Now, on to another issue I've been dealing with.  I've said a little about the cyst that was found under my right kidney during the MRI for my back.  The doctor wasn't too worried, thinking it was either filled with protein or blood, but protocol dictated that we investigate it further.  I went in for an ultrasound a couple of weeks ago.  The results from that weren't great.  The ultrasound told them that it wasn't a cyst, but instead a mass.  "Mass" is a nicer way to say tumor.  That's not what I wanted to hear.  Doing a biopsy would be invasive, because of its location, so my doctor ordered a CT scan first.  While I waited for my appointment for the scan, my mind wandered to a lot of different places.  Most of the time I told myself it was nothing, and I had nothing to worry about.  But, of course, there were those fleeting moments where I thought about it being something more, something cancerous.  You want to stay positive, but you also can't live in a utopia where bad stuff only happens to other people.  All I could do was wait.

I had the CT scan last Friday.  It was "with contrast," which means I had to get the contrast fluid administered through an IV.  I did some research on what contrast is, and what its potential side effects are, and I started to get nervous.  It took three tries before they were able to get the IV set up correctly.  Not a good start!  Luckily the scans took less than 30 minutes and before long, I was on my way home.  I didn't have a reaction to the contrast, so that was a blessing.  Just more waiting until I got the results.

Last night, I got an email from my doctor with the findings.  The CT showed that the kidney mass was just a benign, fatty tumor.  Benign is a glorious word to see!  Feel free to tease me about having a "fatty" tumor, though.  Lol.  I don't care!            

Sleepy Time

Dutch is pretty predictable when it comes to his sleeping position.  99% of the time, his preferred position is on his stomach, arms tucked underneath him, legs crossed behind him, butt up in the air.  It's friggin' adorable and looks like this:

sorry for the poor quality; it's a picture of a picture

For a couple nights recently, he didn't sleep well.  He woke up multiple times and had trouble going back to sleep.  Of course it was rough on us, but apparently it was rough on him the next day too!  For his naps the two days after the two bad nights, these were his positions:

Poor guy was apparently so exhausted, he couldn't even get himself into his normal position!  Lol.  Still adorable.

Guest Bathroom Remodel

I haven't been a fan of one of our guest bathrooms since we moved into our house over 4 years ago.  But, since it doesn't get much use, I have ignored it.  A few months ago, I noticed the wallpaper coming off in one area, so I took that as my cue to make a big change!  I made a plan to remove the wallpaper, paint the walls, remove the linoleum, install tile, and replace the light, faucet, toilet paper holder and towel holder.  Here are the before pictures:

 Look at that snazzy linoleum!

Brown, spotted wallpaper with a border of books (yeah, really)

Builder's special $5 light fixture

Wallpaper removal in progress

Taking down the wallpaper was a very frustrating process!  In some places, part of the sheetrock came off, so the wall was left uneven.  It took so many nights to get it all done.  By that time, I was SO over the remodel.  Since that part had already sucked up so much of my time, and it's not easy getting any work done with a baby, we decided to just hire someone to do most of the rest of the work.  We installed the faucet, towel rod, toilet paper holder, and new light, but that was it!  Here's the finished product:

Beautiful 16 x 16 travertine tile

New light fixture, textured wall, paint, faucet, toilet roll holder

New light fixture close up

No wallpaper!  No books around the border!

Health Updates

I feel like my body is just a walking disaster. I know a lot of people have health issues when they get older, but seriously, I'm not even 30 yet! After my surgery last month to remove the ectopic pregnancy, I've had to go back for weekly blood tests to make sure the hcg level returns to zero. I was hoping last week's blood draw would be the last, but of course that's not my luck.

1/11 - 4946 (right before the surgery)
1/18 - 474
1/25 - 73
1/31 - 34

So close to zero! I have to do another one this week and it would be awesome if there weren't any more after that.

As far as my sciatica, I got the results of my MRI and the scans showed a bulging disk. The L4 has a "tiny disc extrusion with minimal inferior extension resulting in right subarticular recess stenosis and encroachment of the descending L5 nerve root." That's a lot of medical mumbo jumbo, but it translates to being in pain hours out of each day, and not being able to stand or walk for very long. I'm seeing a back specialist today and we'll hopefully start a treatment plan.

During my MRI, they also uncovered a "hyperintense cystic lesion" under my right kidney, which may mean a blood or protein cyst. What the heck? Can I just deal with one thing at a time, please? Now I have to schedule an ultrasound to get that looked into to see if it's an area of concern.

Sigh.

Thank goodness for good insurance.

Cute Baby Stuff

I recently ordered a few things from Zulily for Dutch, and I wanted to share them here because they're pretty cute.  First, what kid doesn't need an adorable tie?  Okay, he technically doesn't need a tie, but what kid doesn't look adorable in a tie?  I hope we have a happy occasion in the coming year so that he gets the chance to wear this:

Snuggle Luv Gray Chevron Tie

I also got him some personalized plates, not really because he's ready to start using them, but because I thought they were pretty awesome, and he'll use them some day in the future!

Lima Bean Kids giraffe and mustache personalized plates

Family Photo Memory Game

This year, for our new years resolutions, Meezy and I decided to take a different approach.  We didn't want to set lofty goals for the entire year and then have our motivation fizzle out after a couple of months.  We figured it would make more sense to set monthly, achievable, goals.  We are picking a couple of different things to do each month.  For January, we decided to give up sodas and do more crafty, fun activities with/for Dutch.  So far, we're doing great with not drinking sodas, and we have completed one crafty task for Dutch.  (We bought the supplies for the next project, but haven't started it yet).

So, what did we create?  A family photo memory game!  The supplies used were a store-bought matching game (any kind will do, just make sure there are plenty of game pieces if you have a large extended family!), a glue stick, 4" x 6" photo paper, and digital photos. 

 Curious George will be our base

I measured the game pieces and found them to be 2" x 2".  I then manipulated photos of family members using the free software, GIMP.  I cropped each photo to just be the head of each person, then scaled them to the correct size.  (GIMP lets you do this in inches, instead of just pixels, like some other programs).  I then positioned them at the top of the printing area so that after printing one photo out, I could flip the photo paper around and print another one on the same piece.  I printed out two photos of each person (duh, it's a matching game). 

 Tons of family members!

After that, I cut out each photo and glued it to a game piece.  At this age, Dutch isn't ready to actually play a matching game, but he is ready to start associating names with faces.  Since a lot of his extended family members are out of town, I think this is a neat way to keep them fresh in his mind.  We'll show him a picture and tell him the person's name, and eventually it'll start to click for him.  When he gets a little older, he'll actually be able to play the matching game with these familiar faces!  I love this idea, and I think it turned out really well.