If you want to be happy, be. -Leo Tolstoy

Something had to light a fire under my ass. Unfortunately, it wasn't a good "something". I recently went for my yearly exam with my OBGYN. I asked for a full lab workup because I had Gestational Diabetes when I was pregnant. My chances of developing Type 2 Diabetes within the next 5 years greatly increases due to the GD. I've gained a lot of weight since having Brynlee and especially gained weight this year since Joey got so sick. I've been having a lot of dizzy spells, massive headaches, getting really hot and sweaty, feeling sick to my stomach, and lightheaded. These "spells" usually pass within 30 minutes or so, but the headache usually lingers for hours. I discovered that these spells happen whether I've had breakfast or skipped breakfast. They happen before lunch and after lunch, but never in the evening before or after dinner. Unfortunately, these are all signs of blood sugar issues. My OBGYN told me that a lot of women who had GD choose to just do the oral glucose test instead of the full 2 hour glucose test because let's be honest here--the glucose test sucks. It's disgusting. I decided to go ahead and take the full 2 hour test. I was really hoping that I would get "good news" and be in the clear for not developing Diabetes, but that's not the case. My numbers were in the "pre-diabetic" category--barely below being classified as Type 2 Diabetic. To be honest, it was very heartbreaking. The good news is that I can, most likely, reverse my numbers through diet and exercise. I've just got to get back to where I was at the beginning of the year and where I was before I got pregnant with Brynlee. I was on the right track! I still have my blood glucose kit so I've been carrying it in my purse so I can check my blood sugar when I have another "spell". I haven't had one in at least a month, but I have been having daily headaches. I had a headache for a little over 24 hours this weekend. It was miserable.

Nobody can be healthy for me. It's up to me to take care of myself. If I want to lose weight, I have to do it. If I want to look better, I have to make it happen. I don't want to be a fat Mom. I don't want my daughter to grow up with a fat Mom. I don't want my daughter to hear me say things like, "I look fat" or "I have nothing to wear because I'm so fat and ugly!" I don't want her to grow up like that. I want her to see me happy and healthy. I don't want to search for 2 weeks because I can't find anything to wear for family pictures. I don't want to tell the photographer to pose us in ways that "hide how heavy I am". I want to chase my kid(s) and not feel like I am dying. I want to take Brynlee to the park and be able to play with her. Not only that, but I want to be able to shop for clothes and not be annoyed that there's only 5 XL shirts, but there's tons in small, medium, and even large. I know that my body is different now. Pregnancy and child birth really change a woman's body, but that doesn't mean that I have to be gross! I can still be a hot Mom!

I follow Megan over at Miss Madison's Charmed Life and she is very inspiring! She is one hot Mama! I've been looking at her food ideas and it inspired me to hit the grocery store today and go back to the healthy breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that I used to eat. I recently used the Harris-Benedict Equation that she posted about and I realized that I have been trying to eat way too few calories. I track my calories on MyFitnessPal and was just using the generic recommendation it has to lose weight. Even when I was working out daily or multiple times a week and eating healthy, I was not losing much weight. So I am going to try the Harris-Benedict Equation and see if my body starts losing weight.

I love these breakfast muffins that I found on Pinterest. I have had them many times and I love them. They are so easy to make and you can add any toppings you'd like. I personally like turkey sausage crumbles or diced ham with (a little) cheese, tomatoes, and green onion. I forgot to add tomato to the batch I made tonight though. You just pour egg beaters + ingredients into a cupcake pan then bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, cool, and put them in plastic baggies in the fridge. They are easy to heat up. I like to eat them with salsa, too.

 

They don't look like they are all that good, but I really like them. So if you're looking for a different breakfast idea, you should give them a try. I know some people add mushrooms (yuck) and onions. I'm sure there's other things to add, too. They are low in calories as well.

 

I went ahead and was filling out my food log on MyFitnessPal for tomorrow so that I can see just how many calories everything I plan to eat adds up to. You sure can eat a lot of food when you eat healthy! Who knew?! :)

That is just some of what I will be eating tomorrow! That is just my lunch and snacks. I do like that my husband eats whatever I make. Even if it's an experiment (like the Lemon and Parmesan Spaghetti recipe from Pinterest) and he doesn't really care for it, he will still eat it because I cooked it. :) I am also going back to taking my vitamins every day. I don't know why, but I just stopped taking them one day. I don't even remember why. I am sure I just slacked like I have with my healthy eating and exercise. :(

I bought this convenient little weekly pill case so that I can keep it in my purse. I cannot take vitamins on an empty stomach so I take them to work with me, have breakfast, and then take the vitamins. Do you take vitamins?

 



I did pick a bad day to get back to running though. Tomorrow has a high of 46 degrees! I don't have a ton of cold weather running clothes so this should be interesting. I am not expecting to go out and run 3+ miles tomorrow though. I just need to get back to being active. This may be me tomorrow...lol



Okay, I doubt it will be snowing here tomorrow, lol. I will update you tomorrow night. :)

She's not a baby!

I got a call on Monday evening from Brynlee's new daycare. The director said they had a staff meeting and talked about Brynlee. My first thought was, "What? Already? I'm ALREADY getting calls about my child being discussed in a staff meeting??" LOL she IS her Father's child...

Anyway, the director asked if it was okay with me if they move Brynlee from the infant room to the "2 year old" room. They said she needs to be challenged. She's very independent, runs and walks with no problem, eats all table food/milk/uses her cup, and mastered sleeping on a mat. To be honest, I was worried about that part because she always sleeps in a crib or pack 'n play at home and at her old daycare. It took her less than 2 weeks to get used to it.

They said she is very smart and they think she will do just fine with the older kids. They sing songs, paint, do free play, blocks, reading, crafts, etc. Brynlee is 13.5 months and the next youngest is 18 months. The oldest is 2.5 so I was a nervous Mama for her first day in there.

Here's her first day report...


She had a good day :) Today was her 3rd day and her report has been great every day. The infant room provider told me that Brynlee was "bored with the babies". She's not a baby??? When did that happen??

If you use Facebook and wouldn't mind voting for Brynlee in the Gerber Photo Search contest, here is her link:
https://nestle.promotions.com/gerberps3/mobiledetail.do?type=search&pos=0&entry_id=109331

You can vote every day until September 24th. If you vote...thank you :)

She wanted to wear Mommy's glasses!


She's so crazy (but super cute)!


My little lovebug...



Joey got his staples out today. He goes back to work on Monday! The surgeon said his bladder problems are normal. He has a bunch of scar tissue and such. Hopefully my honey bear is back to normal soon!

Drive By!

I know it has been a month since I've updated and I always promise to go back to blogging all the time like I used to, but let's be honest here...I suppose I suck! Work keeps me busy as well as a crazy little 13 month old. We just started a new school year and there's a lot of changes so I have been extremely occupied with work. By the time I get home, I am so exhausted! I figure I'll do a drive-by and update you on Joey's health issues and a few pictures of Brynlee.

He had his 2nd surgery on August 23rd to revert the colostomy bag and put his colon back together. Finally! He had the colostomy bag for 14 weeks. His surgery was about 5 hours long. I was at the hospital from 12pm-almost 10pm. It was a long day. His surgery went well though. They ended up having to remove another 4-6 inches of his colon that was infected with the diverticulitis. They couldn't remove it last time because it was embedded so far in his pelvis that they could not get to it without slicing and dicing on his bladder. They did find a hole between his bladder and small intestine so they repaired that. They had to put in ureteral stents during surgery and he had them in for a couple of days. The surgery took extra long because the surgeon ended up having to sew him up by hand instead of using the normal staple machine that they use. He is healing nicely. He doesn't feel very well, but he seems to be getting better. He went to the doctor today and they said he is doing okay. He goes back next Thursday to get the staples removed and should be able to go back to work on September 17th. If all goes according to the plan, he will "only" miss 3 1/2 weeks of work. It's still a long time, but it could be worse.

What's been going on with Brynlee? Well, she is still crazy. She is 13 months old. She has 8 teeth now. She pretty much got 4 of them at the same time. Yikes! She is no longer on a bottle or formula and hasn't been on either for a few weeks now. It was surprisingly easy to transition to whole milk and easy to get her off the bottle. Here's some pictures for you!

She likes ravioli and is learning to use silverware (not fast enough lol). Oh and her Dad put that newborn bib on her!

She looks cute in overalls!

She stares at me when I take her picture(s).

She looks cute in pretty dresses, but hates big bows and pulls them off.

She likes to show off her new oufits.

And stand really close to the camera! ;)

She likes to make a million weird faces when I am just trying to get one cute one!

She loves eating cheerios in the car!

She likes to help Mommy with laundry (but is not very good at it). Annnnnd......

She LOOOOOOOOOOOVES beans!

1 More Day of Vacation :(

Joey saw the Urologist this morning. They scheduled him for a bladder scope, bladder and kidney dye test, and a CT scan. That's all scheduled to start at 8:30am and we have to be there by 6:30am. I hope it doesn't turn into what it was yesterday and us spending almost 7 hours at the hospital. My sister is keeping Brynlee tonight so that we don't have to get her up and ready that early tomorrow. Hopefully the results of everything will be good news.
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I got Brynlee's 1 year photo shoot pictures in the mail today. I love them. I know we would have more if it wouldn't have been SO FLAMING HOT outside, but that's Texas for ya! I already posted 3 of them when I got them as a sneak peak. So I won't post those again. Here are a few of my favorites:

Okay well, it took forever to just get those two pictures to upload. So I guess that's all you get! I uploaded the rest to Facebook though.

Brynlee has a horrible diaper rash so I've been taking her out to the backyard and letting her play with her water toy with no diaper on. She looks so cute in her shirt, hat, and shoes with her little naked butt, lol.

She's just so cute! <3

Another Joey Update

Joey and I had to be at the hospital by 7am today for his colonoscopy. We got up at 6am to get ready and then take Brynlee to Grandpa and Gramma's so they could keep her for us. We got to the hospital at 6:40am. We didn't go to the pre-op room until about 8:15am. According to my Facebook status update, he did not go back to surgery until a little after 11am. We set at the hospital for over 4 hours before he even went into the surgery room! We were irritated because they weren't even keeping us updated on when he may go back to see the GI doctor. The admitting nurse got us in the room and then an hour goes by with no word. So Joey called the nurse's desk and she said she'd find out where his name was on the list. Still no word. So he called again. It took another 30 minutes before Joey just got really testy so he stepped out of the room (nakie) and one of the Surgery nurses asked if she could help him. He was complaining (in a nice way...especially for him) and so she said she'd find out what she could do. It was after 10am before the Rounds RN finally came by. Joey pointed out that we've been there since 7am and we had to pick the baby up by 2pm because Joey's Dad and Step-Mom had to take his cousins to the airport. So they had to leave at 2pm and they were the ones keeping Brynlee for us. She said she'd try to put a rush on it. Then he finally went back at about 11:15am.

GI doctor said the top of his colon looks great. There's no signs of diverticulosis at all in that part. He said the lower part looks "okay" and "fine" and that he doesn't see why they won't be able to put his colon back together. He said that he wants Joey to see a Urologist before having surgery. He's been having issues (air bubbles and stuff) when he urinates. The GI doctor thinks that is because his colon was so infected that it fused together with his bladder. When they removed the bad part of his colon, there's now a hole in his bladder where they were connected. He said he thinks it's important for him to see the Urologist for a bladder scope. So he has an appointment tomorrow at 9am. Then he sees the surgeon on August 7th. Hopefully the doctor will be scheduling his surgery for sometime in August. I am not ready for him to have another hospital stay and then a couple weeks off work for recovery, but I am ready for him to stop being so grouchy!

I know that Joey is ready to get rid of that stupid colostomy bag and so am I. I know that it is really important for his healing that he has had it for so long, but that doesn't make it suck any less!

So here's to hoping that he will be having surgery #2 soon and put all of this crap behind us.
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Brynlee loves her bean bag from Noni and Grandpa D. She just leans against it and relaxes.

Last week of vacation

Today starts the last week of my vacation. I am not ready to go back to work. I am so jealous of the teachers because they got off May 26th and don't go back until August 2oth. I didn't get off until July 12th and I go back August 6th. I get 3 weeks and they get 12 weeks off! This is me!

I am going to enjoy this last week as much as I can. I want to keep the house cleaned, go swimming, and just enjoy my little cuddlebug. I am not ready to go back to waking up early. Well, I still wake up early now, but I give her some milk and she goes back to sleep. So I don't typically have to get out of bed until 9-9:30! It's great.

Brynlee got so many toys, books, and clothes at her birthday party. She loves all of it. She is especially happy to carry around the plastic fork from her picnic basket. She tries to eat everything. Kitty for lunch? Sure, why not! She stabs the cat's stomach with the fork and goes, "MmMmMm". It cracks me up.

There's not much to update on!

Wonderful Weekend

I am just now updating because Saturday was such a busy day! My family got here in the morning and we spent the day buying groceries for the party, having lunch, and then setting up for the party. After the party, we invited my mom and David, Kyle and Paige, and Ashley and Mark over to play board games and hang out. We drank rum (and Scotch for the guys) and played Bezzerwizzer and The Big Bang Theory Trivia. Both were really hard games, lol. I guess I suck at trivia! I've watched every episode of Big Bang Theory many, many times and I still didn't know some of the answers. We stayed up really late talking and hanging out with my brother and sister-in-law.

The birthday party was a hit. We had lots of friends and family show up. The kids (and a few adults) all enjoyed swimming, we had hot dogs, and then cupcakes. Brynlee's smash cake was SO cute (pictures to come). I didn't take pictures because I thought my brother and sister-in-law were taking pictures with their nice camera, but I think they didn't have the memory card or the battery or something. I can't really remember what happened. We do have pictures, but they are from various phones and ipads, lol. I will get those from everyone soon.

We had a lot of food left over because lots of people who said they were coming did not show up. We also had friends who came up with last minute excuses as to why they wouldn't be there. One of my biggest pet peeves is for people to make a committment and bail with no explanation. I make it a point to go to things for my friends and it seems that I never get the same treatment. We've had multiple occasions where we have invited people to do things (such as a big BBQ at our house where we spent over $100 on the food, drinks, etc) and only 1 of the couples showed up. We had a good time with them anyway, but it was supposed to be a total of 10 people. Every couple said they were coming and then bailed with no explanation. It makes me so ticked off. /endrant

The people that really care about Brynlee made it a point to be there and that is really all that matters. She had a great time. She did not dig ino her smash cake like we thought she would though. She just barely dipped her fingers in it. It was as if she thought the cake was too pretty to mess up!

I think her party was a success. I promise to get the pictures soon. Here's a picture of Brynlee and her Daddy from the party.

Her 1st birthday pictures should be coming in the mail this week. I can't wait to see and post them!

Happy Birthday Beautiful

Today is Brynlee's 1st birthday! (Like you didn't know that already, lol) I want to write her a little letter that she can read someday. I did write her a card from Mommy and Daddy. I sealed it and put it in her Keepsake Box. I look forward to her reading all of her birthday cards someday. =)
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Dear My Sweet Brynlee Marie,

The last 12 months have been wonderful with you in my life. You have really changed my life in so many ways. Now I really know what it's like to truly love someone more than anyone else in the world. You have taught me how to be selfless. You've taught me what it's like to put someone else's needs ahead of mine 24/7. You've taught me what it's like to have someone NEED me. I have greatly enjoyed watching you grow. You've always been so happy, so friendly, so sweet, and smart. I love watching you learn and try new things every day.

Right now, you have 3 teeth and you almost have your 4th. You are such a copy cat! When we say "Hello?", you put your hand to your ear and tilt your head. You say, "Ello?" You're always playing with my phone and the remote control. When I ask where your belly button is, you lift up your shirt and point at your belly button and say, "There!" You point at cups and say, "Dink?" When I put my finger to my lips and say, "SHH!", you put your finger to your lips (and up your nose) and say, "SSSSSSSSS!" It's so cute! When I squint, you squint. When I stick out my tongue, so do you! When I clean the table, you grab something and clean the table, too. You like to point Rita Pita Pants and say, "Key Key!" You're not scared of Roscoe or Roxie and they love licking your cheeks and then you just giggle!

You're a GREAT eater and your love your milk! It was easy to transition you from breast milk to formula to whole milk. You learned to drink from a straw by copying me ONE time! You've been full blown walking since 9 months and 1 week. You took your first steps the day before you turned 9 months. It did not take you long to learn how to crawl and then walk. Now you are RUNNING! You are hard to keep up with! You love to play in the water whether it's in the bath tub or swimming at Nona's or Grandpa's. You just splash, splash, splash.

I've enjoyed my 3 weeks vacation so much because I get to hang out with you every day. Sure, sometimes you get on my nerves when you're in a bad mood, but I'm sure I get on your nerves, too. All I can say is that I have so much joy with you in my life. You're the most important person in my life and I love you so much.

Happy 1st birthday beautiful!

Love,
Mommy
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We had a great family birthday for Brynlee. First, Brynlee and I spent the whole day together. We spent the morning cuddling in bed and just chatting (or blabbering). I made her breakfast and we played together. We (Joey, Brynlee, and me) went to Applebee's for dinner. Brynlee wore her HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! t-shirt. I was secretly hoping we would get a free dessert, but we didn't! Boo! We had dessert anyway, LOL. Here she is before dinner...

Tomorrow is her birthday party! I am so excited to see our friends and family.

Might as well beat a dead horse...

Not to....

But I still cannot believe that Brynlee will be 1 year old tomorrow. I never thought I would be one of those "Where has the time gone???" kind of Moms. Up until this point, I have greatly enjoyed each milestone, each step, every new thing that she has done. I still think that she gets cuter and cuter every day. I think she is so funny, so beautiful, and incredibly charming. I know she is very smart and so loving. I really never can understand the Moms who long for the newborn days. I DO NOT miss the newborn days. Sure, it was great cuddling with my little love bug. It was also cool that she slept for hours on end so I could, too. =P AND it was pretty nice when she wasn't so heavy! But I just love that she will hold my hand with her little, tiny hand and we can walk through the mall. Well, until she decides to start running. She seems to really like Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works.

Either way, tomorrow my big girl will be 1 year old. *Sigh* I got her a card so that Joey and I can write her a letter and put it in her keepsake box for her to look back on someday.

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You know what is incredibly annoying (and sometimes funny)? When someone posts a vague Facebook status complaining about something someone did that they hate and you think, "Wait, is she/he talking about ME??" Then you see a ton of other people comment and you realize that everyone thinks that status is about them. It becomes funny. OF COURSE it's not about me! I am not a shitty friend or person! I wipe the sweat from my brow, erase the incredibly hateful message I was typing, and go play a Facebook game. Then it gets annoying because the person who posted the status does that shit on purpose. YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING! It's funny because we are really all self-centered and attention seeking people. We secretly WANT people to comment and like our updates or photos or think our vague bitch fest status updates are about them. I know I've been guilty of making a post, waiting to see who all responds, and then taking my time with my response. I do try not to make blanket status updates where all of my friends comment thinking that it is them though.

It's always in the last place you look!

Quick update on Joey:
He saw the GI doctor yesterday afternoon. Joey told him about the issues he's been having with his bladder since he had his 1st surgery. The GI doctor thinks that when Joey's colon was inflamed and infected that he thinks his colon and bladder had fused together. Now that part of his colon has been removed, there's probably a hole inbetween them causing the air bubbles and issues with his bladder. So he goes back next Tuesday for a colonoscopy and he's going to have a Urologist come in and do a scope of his bladder, too. He's currently scheduled to see the surgeon again on August 7th. Then we'll see if they okay him for surgery or not. We're hoping he does get the okay. By the time he sees the surgeon, he will have had the colostomy bag for almost 12 weeks. :/ At his 6 week checkup, the surgeon wanted him to have it for another 6 weeks. Hopefully 12 weeks will be his max, but I am not looking forward to him being in the hospital again (will be our 4th hospital stay since the end of March) or being in pain again. By that time, I will be back to work as well.

Brynlee lost my keys on Monday. Since I haven't left the house, I didn't know they were gone until today. My sister came over so we could go run errands and we searched for almost 2 hours. I called a locksmith and had them unlock my car. Then I got out the carseat, transfered it to sister's car, and then we ran our errands. I got home and was really stressing about finding my keys. I had gone through her toy box many times, searched under everything, in everything, behind everything, and even went through the trash *gag*. Finally, I decided to try and retrace Brynlee's steps. Let me tell you, that is hard when she is (almost) 1! That girl led me on a wild goose chase.

I swear if her feet were dipped in chocolate (or even poop) then my house would be even more of a disaster. By the way, we do have a toddler sized ravioli handprint on the edge of our couch. I wonder where that came from?! So I found the keys. I remembered that Brynlee was trying to climb on the treadmill while I was sorting out a clothes donation for the kids at school. I remember raising my voice at her because she had my keys. I found the keys underneath the treadmill. I had searched near there many times, but didn't look between the cracks.

I hate the saying, "It's always in the last place you look". If I found it, why would I keep looking?

Sneak Peek 1 Year Photo Shoot!

My little Brynlee will be 1 year old on Friday! Her birthday party is on Saturday. We're having a pool party/BBQ at my Father-in-Law's house. He has a pool and his house is close to our's so we decided to have it there. One of the teachers at school who is an awesome baker is going to make Brynlee's cake and cupcakes for me. She is making a ladybug smash cake to match the pink and purple ladybug theme. Then we're just having cupcakes for everyone else. We're expecting about 50 people (that is including all of the kids and babies) to be there. Eek! I have never had a party like that before. I am ecstatic to have it at my FIL's house instead of my own! I can't wait to see both sides of our family.

We did her one year photo shoot on Sunday morning. It was SUPER hot outside. The high for the day was approximarely 103 degrees! We did her pictures at 9:30 in the morning and the temperature was about 88-90 degrees. It was really toasty out there. I was surprised that Brynlee held up so well through 3 outfits and then her smash cake pictures! The photographer, K. Rathbun Photography, was awesome. She traveled over an hour to get to us (she was recommended by some mutual friends). She brought her son to help make Brynlee laugh. He did such a great job. She has wonderful ideas and cute props. She wasn't sure what props to bring since she was going to be taking pictures at a location that she had never been before.

She posted a few sneak peak pictures on Facebook while she edits the pictures for the CD. I figured I should show them with you loyal followers. =) I think they turned out great and I am incredibly excited to see the entire CD!


Here she is in her hot air balloon and 1st outfit.



Here is Brynlee hugging her "Brynlee Doll".



The beginning of her smash cake pictures!


I am so in love with the pictures so far. I absolutely loved her hot air balloon idea with the basket. There's more pictures of her in and out of the basket as well as close up pictures so I cannot wait to see them all. I am in love with the picture of her hugging her Brynlee doll. The thing that amazes me is that it wasn't one of the planned shoot ideas. I had changed her outfit and she was just sitting on that rock while we waited for my husband and the photographer's son to bring more props from the car. I handed her the doll to keep her occupied and the photographer just started snapping pictures. My heart melted when I first saw that one. <3

We took a few pictures of her in her Texas Tech tutu, but she wasn't happy about more picture taking at that point so I am not sure if the photographer got any good pictures or not. By the time we moved on to the smash cake pictures, it was HOT HOT HOT! You can see that her cheeks are a bit rosy! I was very worried about her getting sunburned out there in that Texas heat. :/ I put a little sunscreen on her in the morning after her bath. She didn't get sunburned so maybe it helped!

At first, I don't think she really knew what to do with the cake! She kinda put her right hand in it, looked at me for half of a second, and then ate it. It was a cute cake, too and only $7.98 at Wal-Mart! Her little bloomers are adorable. I ordered the bloomers from Ashlyn Grace Design on Etsy. They are SO cute. I asked the photographer to take pictures of the bloomers. She took a lot of pictures and then said, "Okay, I think I took a lot of pictures of her butt." LOL So hopefully I'll have a picture or two to share of the back of the bloomers!

I will definitely use this photographer again and I will share more pictures when I receive the CD!

I'll log on tomorrow and update you guys on other areas of our lives.

Brynlee is almost 1!

I am such a sucky blogger (this statement is starting to sound really familiar). Here's some updates for you.

I was in Austin last week for a work conference. I learned a lot of valuable information, but the conference definitely has lots of room for improvement. I sure did fill out quite the evaluation, too! Hopefully they will actually adjust the conference based on the evaluations because I know a lot of other people felt the same way I did about the conference. Anyway, I was away from Brynlee for 4 days and 3 nights. I had a pretty rough time with it. She has spent the night with people (as in ONE night at a time) before, but I had never been that far away from her for that long. (Austin is a good 5.5 hours away.) She was with Joey, but still. He's not the same as MAMA!

As far as Joey: He found out on June 28th that he will have the colostomy bag for at least another 6 weeks. Argh. He's already had it for 6 weeks so I know he was very disappointed to find out that he would have it for so much longer. His surgeon's reason is that since Joey is finally feeling good (or okay) then the doc wants him to "feel good" for a bit longer before they do surgery #2 and he feels crappy again and has to recover. So I can understand his logic, but it sure does suck. We can't really do much. No swimming (for him), no baseball games, camping, Six Flags, water parks, or any of our other summer activities since he has to worry about how and where he will clean and change the colostomy bag. He also has to have another colonoscopy with his GI doctor before the surgeon will do surgery #2. So he sees his doctor at the end of the month and then sees the surgeon on August 7th.

As far as me, my working out sucks. My eating sucks. My mood sucks. I went to the dentist about my TMJD and now I have to get a mouth guard (for night). If that doesn't help then I'll have to get fitted for a day splint. So I hope the night mouth guard helps. I've also been going to a chiropractor. Hopefully that will help.

I've also been planning Brynlee's birthday party! I cannot believe she will be 1 year old in 3 weeks. *sniff sniff* She's such a big girl now! She has been walking for a couple of months, she's almost completely off formula, she waves and claps, she plays games, oh man the list goes on and on! I scheduled her 1 year pictures for July 15th and I cannot wait. I ordered her some super cute outfits and a SUPER cute diaper cover for her smash cake photos. I just hope she cooperates, lol. I usually have to take like 15 pictures in order to get a few cute ones of her, lol.

Here's some recent pictures for you :)

Here she is modeling her new outfit.



This is her newest facial expression, lol. It cracks me up!



Here she is in the "Air Force Princess" outfit Grandpa got her. He's retired Air Force.



4th of July outfit :)

Cutie Patootie! :)

Here she is today with her crazy pigtails.

I hope you had a good 4th of July! I only have 6 more days of work before summer vacation and I cannot wait.