I feel like a new woman!!

My procedure went great yesterday. I think the hardest part was not being able to eat or drink for so long. My appointment wasn't until 1:45pm. I literally felt like my mouth was full of cotton balls! Anyways.....it turned out that I didn't have a polyp, I had a Uterine Fibroid. Not only did I have it, but I basically gave birth to it this weekend. Fabulous huh? I had the worst night EVER Saturday, and then was really uncomfortable and crampy on Sunday. Seriously...I broke down on Saturday night. I thought I had to be dying. Nope....just going through labor. It seems so weird to even say that. When they went to do the procedure the fibroid was right inside of my "you know what". So they didn't have do dialate my cervix and enter my uterus.....even thought I really think they should have, just to make sure there wasn't anything else. But hey....at this point I think I am a little paranoid! The fibroid was the size of a plum. It's no freaking wonder I felt so damn weird. It was attached to my uterus right inside of my cervix. So my body has been trying to expel it for the last month. Thank God for the pain pills I was given!!
I am glad that I can FINALLY put this all behind me and move on!!! I feel GREAT today...that has got to be a good sign!! :)

On another GREAT note. Jacob has slept in his Big Boy bed the last three nights in a row!!! We are SO proud of him!!! Such a BIG BOY!!

The last week or so in review!

I thought it was about time I posted some pictures of the boys!!! I have been a bit lazy with picture taking and blogging lately. Both of the boys are doing good. Johnny seems to be going through some sort of phase. His new thing is "I'm 5, so I can do whatever I want". WHAT??? I thought that didn't happen until they were teenagers. I think I'm really in for it.

Jacob has been a bit of a handful. Here is a picture of his "painted" toenails. He accomplished this while I was in the shower one day. All I can say is at least it's not RED nail polish!!! That little stinker!
I took the boys to Sherando Park on Thursday. We have never been and they had a BLAST!!! It was a really nice park with a couple of playgrounds. They did enjoy the BIG one best....it was REALLY crowded though. We will definitely have to go on a picnic there when the weather starts to cool down!



This was the biggest slide at the Big playground. If you click on the pic it will get bigger. You have to check out Jacob's face. He was terrified. Poor thing, but he kept going down!!!


Jacob and I taking a MUCH needed nap on the couch on Saturday. It is a very RARE occasion for Jacob to fall asleep anywhere but his bed or car seat. It was very sweet that he fell asleep with his Mommy!!! :)

Jacob figured out how to climb out of his crib a little over a week ago. I must say this has been BAD. We tried getting him to sleep in his twin bed in Johnny's room, but he kept getting out. We put him in his crib, but he kept getting out. I was ready to literally FREAK OUT by the second day. John won't help during the week because he has to get up for work, so it has been taking me an hour or more to get Jacob to bed at night.....and forget about naps. By the time he actually settles down in his bed and falls asleep it's time for him to be waking up, and when I don't wake him up then you can double the amount of time it takes for him to settle down for the night. I think I have been a walking zombie.

Low and Behold though......last night he slept in his BIG BOY BED!!!!! He only got out once...to go pee!!!!! There's another thing he has been doing. Going pee and POO on the potty!!! John and I have been SO proud of him!!! We never asked him or pushed him to do it either. He just plain wants to!!! AWESOME!!! :) I really cannot believe how big he is getting. My babies seem all grown up :( How did that happen???

My MIL and I took them back to school shopping yesterday. We got some GREAT deals!!! Johnny's favorite by far is his new Incredible Hulk lunch box and Thermos!! He thinks they are the greatest things ever and CANNOT wait to eat lunch at school!!
Jacob LOVES his new Cars backpack!! I think the thing is bigger than him though!!! It's SO funny! Oh man...it is going to be so weird to have both of the boys in school. Time sure does fly.

ALWAYS trust your instincts.

I finally had enough and dragged myself to the ER in the middle of the night on Friday. I was in SO much pain, but had been told that it was "normal" so many times that I felt like an ass even going.....there comes a time when enough really is ENOUGH. After being checked in and taken back I was sent immediately off for an ultrasound. Guess what???....I should have trusted my instincts 6 months ago. I have a Uterine polyp. Go figure right. All of that bleeding and cramping had NOTHING to do with me having extremely PAINFUL menstrual cramps or with my birth control for the last 6 months. The Polyp has gotten big enough that my body is working feverishly to try and expel it. Meaning I get to experience continuous bleeding and contractions. Great huh?! Anyways, the lovely ER Doc gave me some to die for pain meds....Thank You Sir!!! So at least I am able to sleep now. I think I had literally forgotten what that felt like. AHHHHH.
I will be having a hysteroscopy next Tuesday. If my OBGYN is able to find the Polyp then she will snip it off and if not then I will have to have a D&C. I REALLY hope she finds it. She said that a uterine polyp is highly unusual in someone my age. I am her first one!! Now I just have to cross my fingers that it's not cancerous. I really want to believe her when she says there's a 99% chance that it's not, but it's hard when my whole OB office has looked at me like I'm full of crap for the last 6 months. If I had trusted my instincts and really pushed that there was something more going on it never would have gotten to this point. At least I have learned from all of this and now I will be knocking down all of my doctor's door with every little pain....JK!!!! :)
I just want to thank everyone for all of your calls, emails and cards. That's very sweet and I really appreciate it!!!

This is me.....sharing.

OK. This is pretty personal and I am sorry for all of the men who read this but, I've gotta get it out. I have now been on my period for 29 consecutive days......and I truly mean 29 whole days....WITHOUT one break in between. You don't even want to know the amount of money I have spent on tampons. I am on a new birth control. I decided to try this due to some other problems I was having. Now I'm not too sure which is worse. My OBGYN insists that this is normal....even though I had something happen to me this morning, which has NEVER happened before....which would be VERY disturbing to share....so I guess I will spare you......and still they insist that this is normal.

Anyways, I have been EXTREMELY irritable and moody....which I am very sad to say has affected the kids WAY too much. I feel horrible every time I get short with or yell at them and yet I can't seem to help it. My back hurts. I wasn't experiencing any cramping until a couple of days ago and now they are literally knocking me over. I have pretty much had a chronic headache for the last two weeks and I just plain don't feel good.

I just want to say that if my moodiness, irritability or just plain distance has caused you to feel upset with me I am VERY SORRY. PLEASE don't take it personally. Trust me.....I AM TRYING.

One of the Great things about Winchester!!!

You get to see Hot Air Balloons up close and personal!!! This one came right between ours and our neighbors house and it was low enough that we were able to talk to the people inside!! Pretty cool huh??!! Johnny said it was the "most awesome" thing EVER!!! :)

Sweepstakes

1. Fine Living It's Hot Inside Sweepstakes. You can enter once a day through August 4th!!

Prize includes:

~$10,000 cash

~New home furnishings

~Top of the line Kitchen appliances

~High Definition home theater system.

2. DIY Ultimate Workshop Sweepstakes. You can enter once a day through July 28th.

Prize Includes:

~$100,000 cash to create your ultimate work space.

What an awesome MAN sweepstakes!!! Hee Hee!!

3. Sub-Zero Dream Kitchen Sweepstakes. You can only enter once. Sweepstakes ends July 30th.

Prize Includes:

~$50,000 in various prizes.

Fun at the Drive-In!!!

Last night we took the boys to see Kung Fu Panda for their very first Drive-In movie experience!!! Our friends/neighbors went too! We all had a blast!! My expectations for Jacob were not that high to begin with. To be honest I thought he just might be horrible but, I actually thought he did great!!! We took the kids over to the playground after we first got there to play. I think it's great that they have that since you need something to fill up all of the time before the movie starts.....now they just need to put one in front of the back screen....that would be PERFECT!!

Johnny LOVED the drive-in!!! He was SO good. He really loves movies though, so I was pretty sure he would get a kick out of the whole outdoor movie thing!!! I know that we will DEFINITELY be spending quite a few evening there next summer!!!

Jacob didn't want to sit still for very long. It was a constant in the car, out of the car, sit on the bench, sit on Daddy's lap, throw rocks, back in the car, out of the car......you get my drift...but he is ONLY 2.....the whole reason why my expectations were pretty low to start with. Overall though I thought he did GREAT!! Besides the constant moving he was reasonably quiet and good. You can't ask for much more than that.

I sure do LOVE the summer time and spending LOTS of time doing FUN things with my family and friends!!!! :)

I'm kinda proud **Updated**

Of the deals I found this week!!! Now some of these items I never would have bought normally, but with the AMAZING coupons I had I just couldn't pass them up!!

Looking at this picture what do you think I spent???

All of the items either came from Walmart, CVS or Staples. Here is the exact list:

10 2 pocket folders

2 8ct packs of pencils

2 4ct packs of glue sticks

1 Pledge furniture polish w/free duster

1 Pledge multi surface floor cleaner

1 Honey Bunches of Oates Just Bunches (DELICIOUS!!!)

1 Colgate total advanced clean

1 36ct box of equate tampons (these are a great value)

1 18ct. box of kotex panty liners

1 Nature Made Multi Complete Vitamin

5 Johnson's Buddies Easy-Grip Sudzing Bars (the boys LOVE these...I had enough coupons for 8 free ones this week...WOW!!!)

1 16.9 fl oz. Bottle of Pert Plus

1 26ct size 5 package of Pampers Cruisers Diapers

Without coupons I would have spent a total of $42.27 + tax

and with coupons I spent...........$13.47 + tax!!!!!

See....coupons REALLY DO pay off!! I sure wish I could get back all of the money I have wasted on NOT using coupons over the last 6 years!! Oh well.....Live and Learn right??!!

***OK...For anyone interested I get most of the coupons for free stuff from http://www.moneysavingmom.com/. Her website is awesome!! She not only lists stores with their sales, but she also finds and matches up coupons...a lot of witch she has a link for and you can print. Most of the coupons that she mentions though are from the weekend paper. John and I stopped getting the Winchester Star and the Washington Post last year...so I have been buying them each weekend.

As for coupons printed from the Internet Martins will only take up to $5 of them and Target will NOT accept them at all. Walmart and CVS will take as many as you have.....at least I haven't had a problem yet.

I also go to http://www.freesamplesblog.com/ , http://instoresnow.walmart.com/In-Stores-Now-free-samples.aspx and http://shop4freebies.com/ for free samples. I typically send ALL of this stuff to my sister....most of the samples are girl stuff but, anything else I send to my brother. Hopefully it save them a little bit of money...especially since they live in extremely expensive cities!! You would be surprised how many free sample offers there are out there. I DO NOT EVER do any of them that ask you to take a survey or sign up with other sponsors. You WILL get more spam that you have EVER seen. The three sites I have listed are all good. You fill out your info and that's it.....your free sample will arrive in anywhere between 2-12 weeks. I get at least one free sample a week!!

A couple of things.....

John and I finally watched "We Are Marshall" last weekend. Despite the horrible reviews this movie received I thought it was absolutely FANTASTIC!! A wonderful movie about the Human Spirit and Triumph in the face of tragedy....with football thrown in!!! If you haven't seen it I would definitely rent it!! Plus......Matthew Fox if HIZZZZOT!!! (sorry all of you MM fans) LOVE that man :)

Here is a cute little pic of Jacob with is hair all slicked back. For all of you people out there who think we should cut his BEAUTIFUL curls!! NOT GONNA HAPPEN....but at least now you can look at this picture and pretend that this is what he looks like!!

I have been reading a bunch of budget blogs/websites and I keep seeing all of these posts by people who are constantly getting stuff for free. Mostly by REALLY paying attention to all of the sales and by making great use of coupons. In all honesty I have kinds been like yeah right...whatever. Well I had a bunch of coupons that went really well with some of the prices of stuff at Walmart. If you look at the picture above all of those items at full price would have totalled $4.79 + tax. I had a total of $5 dollars in coupons so I got an overage of $0.21. Pretty awesome huh!!! I guess it can be done!!

Also....I get a lot of people who tell me that they don't sign up for free samples or use coupons to get free stuff because they don't or won't use that item/brand. That is OK, but if you have the time why don't you go ahead and get it anyways. I send the majority of the free samples that I get to my sister and brother. If I didn't have them to send the stuff to then I would be taking all of the items to a local shelter. There is ALWAYS someone in need....so why not help.

Here are some delicious Orange cupcakes I made on Saturday using my new Pampered Chef Frosting Decorator Bottle's!!! I LOVE those little things!! I can't wait to use them again. I think they will be really great at Christmas time. The kids will be able to easily decorate cookies without making a HUGE mess, plus the frosting will look pretty!!

6 Years ago Today........

I married the Man of my Dreams, my Best Friend. I LOVE you honey!! Happy Anniversary! I am very lucky and proud to call you my Husband and the Father of our Children!

Happy Belated 4th of July!!

I hope everyone had a Wonderful and Safe 4Th of July!!!! We headed over to Jim Barnett park on Thursday evening. We picked up some Yummy KFC beforehand to bring with us. The kids had a blast!! We were able to spread out and just hang back and watch the boys run and play. One of Johnny's classmates came with her Grandparents and they all sat right next to us. It couldn't have worked out better!! Johnny and Shelby were so happy to see each other. It was hilarious to listen to their five year old conversations!!! Jacob had some sort of infatuation with an "older" girl. He was constantly running over to give her hugs and kisses.....he even started tackling her and then laying on top of her. John and I are WORRIED. I am beginning to think that he likes girls a little TOO much!

All in all it was a GREAT evening!! The fireworks display was awesome!!! I think this is one of the best traditions we have made since moving out here!! :)

Last night we headed over to a Friends house for an "indoor' BBQ. The rain did suck, but it sure didn't put a damper on our fun!! It actually worked out really good. All of the kids played in the basement for the majority of the time and all of us adults were able to relax a little and eat!!! I love babies...but I have to say, it is nice to have the kids at an age where you can take your eyes off of them for small amounts of time!!!!

After dinner we all headed back to our house where the guys put on an AMAZING fireworks show!! They do a great job every year but, they truly outdid themselves this year!!!!! They have gotten their timing and rhythm down pact!!! Thanks guys!! :)

Now I am off to clean :( I had a HORRIFIC migraine yesterday and was barely able to get off the couch....which put a hinder on ALL of the cleaning I had planned on doing. I totally blame it on the weather!!

Green Getaway Sweepstakes!!

Enter here http://www.redbookmag.com/sweepstakes/4621 to win a 5 night 6 day all inclusive vacation for two to the Green Hotel certified http://www.verandahresortandspa.com/ in Antigua. You can only enter once and you must enter by July 14th. Check out the Hotel link. The pictures look Beautiful!! I can totally picture John and I there!! Good Luck!! :)

Hmmm....A cow???

Poor Johnny woke up from a bad dream late last night. He really wanted to get into bed with John and I but I walked him back down to his room and tucked him back in. He started crying, so I asked if he would like to talk about the dream. No he said. He did ask if I would lay with him for awhile though. I waited until he fell back asleep to leave. To be honest I didn't really think anything of the whole thing. He had a bad dream....it happens.

Well, this morning when he came downstairs he asked if we could talk about his bad dream. Sure. He said that in his dream our house was in the woods and that one day I went into the woods and turned into a cow. While I was wondering in the woods a fox jumped out and ate all of my body except for my head. He said that Daddy (John) wanted to keep my (cow) head so they could remember me. He seemed pretty disturbed about the whole dream...even though it was hours later. I felt horrible that I didn't just let him snuggle into our bed. No wonder he was so upset last night. His Mom turned into a cow and then got eaten.

I have to wonder though....Did we let him watch something on TV that we shouldn't have or are his imaginative juices just crazy flowing???