Goodbye 2010!

What a year you had been! I shall never forget 2010 as the year I realized that I am saved! As the year of transition! As the year that will mark the beginning of my new life! And what a strong finish! Emotionally, spiritually, financially strong! And to top it off, our marriage is beginning to blossom! Kyle is my heart and for the first time I clearly see him and how good he is! God bless my husband and I will praise God forever for lifting the veil of negativity from my eyes! 2011, I do not fear you! I look forward to every day you bring! So Happy New Year to all! May God be in your hearts every day!

'Tis the season!

I LOVE Christmas! I especially love it this year...my first year as a true believer again. It is all about Christ, our savior and I could not be happier. After long years of internal debates and exploration of other believes including no beliefs and my personal theories, I came to the point I am today in which I believe that nothing makes sense if God doesn't exist. So I took a hold of the Bible and read it from beginning to almost the end and it gave me a strong sense of reassurance. Especially the Gospel, the story of Christ. The wisdom of the Bible is unreal! I don't even understand how it was understood thousands of years ago. It's heavy! And it's beyond deep! I discover things daily that I wish I had known or paid attention to sooner. Proverbs - Wow! The book of Job - Wow! Matthew - Wow! And there is no end to this list. The Bible never made sense to me piece by piece, but as a whole it is an immense treasure. And here we are, it's Christmas 2010. I think it is the first time that I am in true Christmas spirit.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Another current favorite:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

And the most powerful of all quotes:

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:30)

AMEN!

 

 

 

 

Getting it done!

Thanksgiving weekend have been very busy. I feel like I have not stopped at all, but honestly it feels good. I had my hubby work pretty hard too, and what have we accomplished?

• Cleaned the whole house
• Washed curtains
• Bubblewrapped windows
• Hosted Thanksgiving
• Cleaned the whole house again
• Installed new bathroom faucets
• Installed a chandelier
• Got a Christmas Tree
• Decorated for Christmas
• Cleaned the yard
• Caught up on freelance work

So that's a big chunk of my list, although some of those are constant tasks. As far as cleaning, and catching up on freelance, I can start that all over again. But it's all good! So blessed to have work and so blessed to have a great family. Ms. Emma's been pretty busy too. She is growing like a weed and talking up a storm. It's starting to become "normal" that she speaks.  We no longer oooh and aaah over words she says, but moving onto having a conversation which is CRAZY if I think that only 20 months ago she was sooooo tiny! I mean, look at her!

This is what happens when I drop her off at school. No crying, snacking like a big girl, all fashionable...I need to hang onto every moment before they slip away. It's like this song from Darius Rucker:

It won’t be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah, this phase is gonna fly by
So, he's tryin’ to hold on

Or like this one from George Strait:

Life’s not the breaths you take
The breathing in and out
That gets you through the day
Ain’t what it’s all about
Ya just might miss the point
If ya don’t slow down the pace
Life’s not the breaths you take
But the moments that take your breath away

Anyways! I'm trying to keep those in mind. And if I think that I am busy now, I just have to remember that in only 5 more months my second child will arrive. Ha!

Life goes on!

Praise God, I have no cancer. So I am moving on. Lots of things on the horizon, but mostly work and Emma. I can't believe we have Second on the way. How will I survive? :) Sometimes I have to remind myself that soon I will be a parent of two. Nowadays, Emma can be a handful. I ventured out to the National Aquarium with her by myself last Saturday. It's all fine and dandy when she is being a good girl and holds my hand when I ask her to. But when she decides to go her way, it can be a challenge to keep her in line. If I am lucky, she just squirms, but she can throw a fit like wow! But she loves mommy. My mom asked to have her Monday, so I took her down to Rockville Sunday night. She cried for an hour and a half non-stop when I left. Poor baby! And grandma loves her so! She had a blast though, collecting leaves with grandpa and playing around. Soon she will love going there I bet.

Still can't wait for Christmas. I think she will love it and because of that it will be a blast. Maybe we'll go down to Longwood Gardens again. Last year she was still tiny, but this year, I am sure the lights will take her breath away! :)

Blood Test Results: IMPROVED!

Yay! So if pathology confirms that the nodule is benign, then there is no treatment necessary. We will repeat the blood test in 2 weeks. This is great news! Moving on! Thanksgiving and Christmas is next! And a whole bunch of other potential good news! I'll be in touch! In the meantime, check out princess squishing a bug. (It was already dead.)

Biopsy done!

And it did not hurt AT ALL! Preliminary results show that the large nodule (the only one they biopsied) is benign. Question is, what the blood test looks like and what do we do about the thyroid disease that I may have. The doctor called me today, but I missed his call, so I am anxiously waiting until 9am to call. He is such a nice doctor! Whatever I might have, I am in good hands. :) But now...REST TIME!

Tomorrow!

So the weekend is over and it was fun. Lots of cleaning, working and Emma time and it is natural that I am tired. She is getting heavy to be carried around but since we had about 30 guests at the house yesterday, she wanted to be nowhere else than in my lap. We hosted Courtney's Bridal Shower which was a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed seeing my dad and little sister. And although mom couldn't make it, her Hungarian Rum Cake did which I selfishly stashed in my bedroom until all guests were gone.

 OH MY GOD! It is truly heavenly! Mom is the best and I love her so much! I hope to see her next weekend.  She needs to give me this recipe so I can give it to my kids and they can give it to their kids. :) And with the close of a fun weekend, tomorrow is coming up real fast. I should not be so nervous about this biopsy, I am sure it won't hurt too bad and all will come out just fine. I am however quite nervous. I'll update soon with the results. At least until then I have rum cake for comfort! :)

Getting closer to the scary...

So next Tuesday is just around the corner and I am getting more and more nervous about it. Those enormous needles in my neck will certainly feel odd if not painful. Then again, I can't wait for possible treatment options on getting my old self back. If fixing my thyroid function can mean more energy then I'm all for it.

We are hosting Courtney's bridal shower on Sunday and we have a ton of freelance work so it looks like a busy weekend coming up. I wish to be back in sunny Cancun for a few hours each day. Emma is well. She still has a nasty cough from her pneumonia. I still can't believe that she had a fever of 104.5. That's crazy! My little angel! She is so smart and beautiful! Too bad we missed out on trick-or-treating; she sure would have loved it and would have made a cute little elephant. I still need to take a photo of her in her elephant suit.

On a lighter note: Christmas is coming! Can't wait to see the trees, lights, decorations, and take in the smell of pine in the family room while sitting by the wood-burning stove! :)

Wow!

Long time no write! Well I've been busy! I had my first OB appointment and the baby looks just fine! However, they discovered four nodules in my thyroid so I've been trying to get to the bottom of that. I am having biopsy done soon hopefully and then they'll decide what to do with them. One of the nodules is pretty big, so even if it's benign, they might decide to remove it. We'll see. On the other hand, I was busy resting and staying far from computers and telephones. My brother got married on October 22nd, in Cancun. Great wedding and fun times with family. Aren't they adorable?

It was so fun to see my brother happy, surrounded by family and friends. May they live long, happy and blessed! Kyle and I had a great time relaxing and enjoying the luxurious amenities of the resort. I just wish I could float down that lazy river a few more times! Hot sun, cool water, gentle breeze, birds and rest. It was simply great! Upon return, however, I found a very angry daughter. She was so mad at me when she saw me that she was kicking and pushing me away. How dare I leaving her?! My little sweetheart! She has her ways in showing how much she loves me. Now a day later, we are best buds again! :)

Work, work, work...

...all day long, crank it up, back it up, bring it on home. Got lots on my plate! But today I feel I can handle it. I'll try to get a whole bunch done tonight. I feel pretty upbeat at the moment, so I think I can crank out some serious work when I get home. Hopefully, all will go smooth, house will be in order and Emma will go to sleep with ease. I need to catch up and make way with freelance. Thank God, because we need it bad. We need every penny. Maybe once we'll get to live a little bit of life. :) Thanks to Craig Morgan for helping me with this post.

It is NOT over!

Well, another crappy weekend. I mean, great times with Emma, had hubby home and the weather was gorgeous, but felt so sick all weekend. I can't shake this nausea and have aches all over. On Saturday, Emma and I went to Christiana mall, just to hang out and do something different. I finally had her ears pierced. She cried for 10 seconds then was happy sucking on a lollipop. She is adorable with her "pyetti" earrings.

Emma loves her new school. I watched her as I walked out, sitting by the little kids' table, eating snacks out of a zip-lock bag. She is such a big girl. How I miss her all day long! May God keep her healthy, happy and beautiful all her life. A mother wants nothing more: just her children to be well!

Is it over?

The worst might be over as the last 2 days were almost nausea free! It's very exciting, but I need a few more days of this to be convinced. So I've been having a bit more energy, and spent last night cleaning the house. Even mopped all the floors, which I really should do daily with the dogs coming in and out of the house, dragging a bunch of dirt in. Emma is amazing. I am so glad to see that she loves her new school. She was very excited when I dropped her off this morning and waved me goodbye. She is growing up so fast! That reminds me, I need to post her FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL picture. Isn't she adorable?

My stomach and my stomach alone!

My last week, especially weekend, was nothing more than a worry about my stomach. Do anything and everything to keep it settled. It started a while ago, but reached its height when I puked all over my lap driving to work on Friday. Since then, I'm just trying to keep things down and comfortable. My nausea is so annoying. I can't wait for this to end. I battle for comfort and satisfaction, because my hunger is also at it's peek! And I am particular, which does not help our budget. Today, I had to run over to the only place I know of (La Madeline) that sells crepes, because that is what I wanted. So I stuffed myself with a good portion of Strawberry Romanoff Crepes, and now, two hours later, I am all regrets, because I am starving and wish I had eaten something more substantial.

I want more! More food! More crepes! And as soon as possible. Hunger. Nausea. Hunger. Nausea. Concerned about my stomach, and stomach alone! Ugh.

What A Emma!

My daughter is amazing! I don't want to brag, but there is nothing else I can do. She sleeps through the night, and this morning!...I wake her up and we are all smiles and giggles. One lesson to learn right there! Why can't we wake up like that, feeling as if the sun rises only for us every day?

Emma went with my mom and dad to Atlantic City yesterday. Day trip, a nice break for me and Kyle and a ton of fun for the grandparents. Apparently, my daughter is "perfect" and "such a good girl" and "so advanced" etc. Yes! And she is starting school on Friday. I enrolled her to the Lighthouse Christian Academy, where she will start in the 2-year-old group and will have a curriculum already! I am very excited about this, although Ms. Amber did a wonderful job with her so far.

You see how big she is? Sitting at the table in that restaurant with my dad like a little baroness. Come on, gloomy Monday! Be done already so I could hold my baby in my arms again!

Sooo tired!

Sooo tired! I just wanna sleep. And the more I sleep, the more I want to sleep! Ugh! And when I am not sleeping, I just want to puke or have a killer headache. I can't wait for this first trimester to be over. Other than these typical pregnancy symptoms, life is good. Have a ton of stuff to do and a major need to create some discipline in my life. I think without order, chaos is evident. I need to stop procrastinating, and usually that is never a problem, it's just that I am sooo tired and all I wanna do is sleep! So there it is: the circle closes and begins...

HOT DOGS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since I opened my eyes this morning, I cannot stop thinking about Hot Dogs. I think I will literally DIE if I don't get to bite into a juicy hot dog soon. If I close my eyes, there are thousands of hot dogs flying at me and I am like Homer Simpson in slow motion devouring each.

Now at this point, I am only 6 weeks pregnant! This is not going to be good, although if you'd ask my husband, Kyle, he'd probably say that this craving, although not quite healthy, is as economical as it can be. When I was pregnant with Emma, I wanted nothing but cream of spinach. Again, not expensive, but much better for your health. So....in about 13 minutes, I am flying to the nearest place to get hot dogs...because dying at this point is just not an option. Hmmm...what should I have on it?

Tiny arms around me

Despite the fact that Emma is going through her little devil-phase of independence, the nights and mornings are such blessings. We play games and we hug. She puts those tiny hands around me, patting my shoulders, saying: "Nice mommy! Nice mommy!" Then with a sudden change of heart she pushes me away and I say: "All done?" This makes her laugh out loud and she kindly pulls me back, giving me more love and pats on the back, saying: "Aww, mommy! Nice mommy!" Then repeat!

She's been fascinated by spiders. She spotted a daddy longleg on her window a few days ago, so now we sit in the window for hours and wait for the PIE (spider) to return. "Where's the PIE?" -she'd ask.  Cute!

Can't wait to get off work and fly home to see her! Can't wait for those tiny arms!

Hello!

I am going to attempt this. Because I should. Because writing is NOT my forte. Because my mom keeps telling me that I should write and record my memories. We shall see what comes of it and how diligent I will be. Hopefully diligent enough to give my loved ones the big picture. Especially that cute one in the picture and her sibling(s) to come. That's Emma, my first-born.