Due Day

Some do and some don't know about the increasing pain that I have been in the last two years. I empathize with chronic pain sufferers, and am amazed at those who suffer silently. What ever this "creature" is that has taken over my body has driven me almost to the brink, and I'm sure the rest of my family as well, it will hopefully be "destroyed" tomorrow.

I have an unusual surplus of scar tissue and adhesions from my c-sections that have caused my uterus to adhere to my abdomen and body cavity. From what I have read this isn't unusual, it just depends on what it adheres to! Lucky me, it adhered to areas that impede my movement. I also have nerve entanglement on the edges of my c-section scar and my scar has adhered to my pelvis causing extreme pain. Combine the two and there are days that if I have had a lot of activity like walking the dog and pushing a grocery cart or stroller, I can't walk by that evening. I literally have to tip toe. Add to all of this the very painful cycles that I have always had, and I am not a healthy person plan and simple.

So for my family and myself I am having this surgery and hoping for the absolute best. There are complications, and bad things like nerve memory but I'm hoping that my nerves have the same memory that I have... a bad one. I'd just like to be a "normal" mom again, more active, and able to sleep through the night without pain waking me. I can hope. Good luck me.

The Coming Days...

Ahhh, I'm sitting here thinking about my last class tomorrow. So much has been accomplished in the last year, just have to finish my capstone (thesis) next year and I will be good to go in April!

Things are finally coming together at Henry Ford too. I am having a hysterectomy in November and will be under the watchful and knowledgeable care of Dr's. Eisenstein and Darien. It became glaringly important to me that my health was drastically affecting my family and needed to be taken care of permanently.

On a fun note, Louie has decided that he is a lap dog! It makes Taten and me laugh, and Tessa scream because it's her lap that he has decided to claim. The biggest dog adopted the smallest person in our house.

Keep you posted,
Heather

Fall 2010

Yes, it's been since St. Patty's since I have last posted! So much has happpened and we have been so busy that I have become a blog slacker big time!



Where to start...



The summer, did it really happen? I was stuck in my truck or a classroom in Elk Rapids all summer so I barely saw the season. It was a real bummer and I have made a promise to my girls that we will have an awesome summer next year.



We did move though, which was a fun ordeal. The house is much bigger than what we had before and we are now in Cheboygan so Travis does not have a terrible commute anymore. 5 minutes and he is home. The girls are adjusting well, Taten is finally starting to realize that she is not going to school with her Grayling friends. That was a little sad for her, but she loves ballet at the Opera House. Tess of course is having fun just hanging out for the ride.



Louie is the newest addition to the family, he's a Mastador (bullmastiff and black lab), and he will be a beast. For now he just looks like a small black lab, but his paws are the size of my hand! Apparently he is the replacement for our third child that I am constantly on the fence about. I think we will be staying at 2. Today anyway!



Enjoy the pumpkin pics. The girls had a blast with Grandma and me even though it was a little chilly that day. We love Michigan in the Fall:)

St. Patty

Hi All,

Well, that few days of warm weather was wonderful...all the snow in the yard melted quickly and the girls were out playing on their swingset while I did yard work.

Last weekend we were able to get down to Grandma and Papa's for a fun St. Patty's weekend. Taten and Tessa saw their first bagpipers and Irish dancers, and on Tuesday Papa watched the girls all day while Travis and I went down to Henry Ford to solve all my problems! I'm hoping Dr. Eisenstein can work miracles, it looks promising.

Enjoy the little Irish lassess.

Love,

Heather

Merry Christmas - A little late!

Well, I know that it is now February and I am way past posting anything from Christmas but we had a hard and fast start to the New Year so better late than never!

Christmas was great! We had a nice, relaxing, go nowhere break that was much needed. Travis, the girls, and I went to Christmas Eve mass and rodeo'd our children for an hour and a half! Thankfully the people around us were very understanding and got a good laugh. Christmas morning was lots of fun, and of course the girls got wayyyy to much. Hopefully I'll remember next time to limit myself, of course Travis will remind me. My parents joined us later in the day, and Travis's dad a few days later. It was so nice to just relax for a few days at our house.

For New Year's we made our annual trip to GR to ring in the New Year with Travis's cousin and his family. Taten loved playing with her cousins, and even Tessa let go of me for awhile:) A few days later we had Christmas with Travis's mom, and then beat the snowstorm home.

We also celebrated Taten's fourth birthday in January. Unfortunately I had class that weekend, but Travis's dad, whose birthday is the same day, joined them and everyone had a great time. That Saturday we celebrated with Huspen's because Jake and Taten are less than 24 hours apart. It was great to get together with our Up North family and chat.

A much needed break and great family time made for a nice end to the year, but of course we are back to the daily grind. Travis is working hard and late, and I have had class every other weekend. The winter weather has tired us out, and even Trav is ready for spring. Here's to hoping that groundhog was wrong and spring will come early this year!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Turkey Day! We went down to Lexington to spend Thanksgiving with my family and the girls had a blast. We also got a nice night out the night before Thanksgiving and got to see lots of old friends. It was great to see everyone! The best part is that Papa is finally home! Taten was sooo excited to see her Grandpa, and vice versa. The Thanksgiving meal was delicious, we were all stuffed, and all the girls got to play together. Crazy household! Mom and I got a long overdue day to ourselves on Friday for shopping by ourselves and a great uninterrupted lunch! Thanks to Travis and Dad. Then on Saturday a crazy dinner out at a great Italian restaurant with the whole family together.

The carriage picture is Travis and Taten in a "Cinderella" carriage at the Christmas walk in Grayling. She was in Heaven! Hope you all enjoy your holidays.

Love,

The Lake's

P.S. Travis got a 6 point buck while hunting with his Dad. Way to go Daddy!

Happy Halloween

First let me apologize for the blog looking the way it does. My computer was misbehaving tonight, sorry.

Well, it wasn't exactly a Happy Halloween. As some of you know, we were very, very sick in our house that week, and the week following. Tessa started the week with both ears being infected, moving on to a mild case of H1N1. Then I got a more severe case of H1N1 because I can't get the immunization, and poor Taten missed out on a friends fun birthday party on Halloween because of her sick family. Lucky for us Travis came home and took care of the girls, and stayed in bed for 2 days (even missing class).

Thankfully I was able to get Taten's Halloween costume finished, barely, but just in time. She had told me earlier in the month that she had wanted to be a witch, a "Fancy Nancy" witch. I loved it! Immediatly I got out the sewing machine, glue gun, and spray glitter. Travis took Taten out trick-or-treating and Tessa and stayed home in sick bay. Taten had a good time, but maybe next year we'll all be healthy.

Love to you all,

Heather

Pumpkins

Well we didn't have to dredge through a red dirt pumpkin patch this year, although it was a little colder! This year we went with friends of ours to a local market that had a huge pumpkin patch, corn maze, horse rides, and many other fun things for the girls. Lucky for me Travis was home for all of this, so the girls were able to have fun and I could relax. Unfortunately I was only able to get one picture of the girls together and neither of them was looking at the camera, go figure. Maybe I'll have better luck at Christmas. Halloween pictures are coming soon...there aren't that many, H1N1 and ear infections reared it's ugly head in our house. Speaking of ear infections, Tessa gets tubes on Monday. We are so excited!!! Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.

Love,

Heather and crew

Tessa's 1st pony ride, such a big girl!

Taten and her Daddy, she is so happy!

All by herself!!!!

I swear Tessa will climb in, or on anything.

Taten looks so old here.

Taten's 1st Day of School

Ok, well I didn't cry, but I think that's because I knew there are many more first days of school to come. Taten was so excited yesterday that she wore her backpack all afternoon. I was so excited to see how my morning would go with just Tess. I must say it was bliss!! Is that bad? Anyway, her teachers were very impressed that she already knew all of her letters and sounds, and I was impressed that she hadn't bossed everyone into a full on Broadway show with coordinating dance and music in the four hours she had been there! She was also excited to see that three of her friends from Mrs. Renee's were there, and her friend Edi. I don't think it was that hard of a transition for her, and she loves the idea of school. So yippee all around for everyone!

The Lake's

Summer "Vacation"

Well, the "summer" has almost come to an end, and the warm weather barely showed. We did get to have a few warm days when we went to visit Daddy down in Cleveland and then made our loop around to Grandma's house.

This is real Michigan summer!

The joy of a long drive by myself with the girls was lost on me. The trip without children is supposed to take 6 and 1/2 hours. It took the girls and I 9! When we did finally make it there Taten had a bladder infection, and Tessa had yet another ear infection. Needless to say day one was spent at the walk - in clinic after Taten threw up at the grocery store! However, after everyone was medicated and had a good nights sleep we all went to the zoo the next afternoon. Taten was a little disappointed that the elephants and rhino's weren't there. The exhibit was being rebuilt, but overall she had a great time. Tess of course did not want to be in her stroller, she's all about being active! The next day we went to the Feast of the Assumption in Little Italy. I loved it. We all had a great time, but I think Travis and I could have stayed and ate all day. The streets were blocked off and lined with tons of Italian food. Heaven. We didn't stay at Daddy's as long as planned though due to a serious lack of space, and Taten wanting to see Grandma, so on we went.

Finally in Lexington we had a big house and yard to play in, and a pool to swim in. Peace for Mommy:) We got to see our cousin Ellie, and minus a tornado scare and having to go into Grandma and Papa's basement, we had a great time. Anyone who knows my parents house would say "Yuck!" It's an old Michigan basement that I have never, in the 30 years they have lived there, been in! The things I will do for the babies. Thank God Grandma was home for lunch because I had Ellie and my two girls that day. Ellie was so good and just sat there, my two were like caged animals!

I did get a great surprise from Travis when he showed up for the weekend to watch the girls so Mom and I didn't have to get a sitter for the Kenny Chesney concert. If you ever get a chance to see him, you must go. It was Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Montgomery Gentry, Sugarland, and Kenny Chesney. Over 6 hours of entertainment. Ford Field was filled to compacity with every redneck hillbilly (myself included) in the two neighboring states! Yee-haw.

Summer quickly came to an end and I am back to school and Taten too, that is our next post. Stay tuned, I'm sure it will be sweet. She's very excited to go.

Love to all,

Heather

She's walking!

I'm posting this more for Daddy and Papa, but it's fun for everyone to see. Tessa is moving all over the place. It won't be long before she's completly on her own. The best part is that she laughs the whole time that she walks:) Love to all. ~H

A Year Already!

We can't believe it either! Tessa has celebrated her first birthday surpassing all of the major milestones at lightning speed. Trust me, I kept comparing her to her sister all the way. I stopped with personalities long ago, but everything else I kept checking the calenders. The only thing that she couldn't get down (literally) was the food issue, and almost to the day of her birthday it all came together. Ahhhh. I no longer make three different meals:) So happy.

She has twelve, yes twelve teeth. Even her pediatrician was amazed. She has beaten the only other child he has encountered when he was a resident that had that many teeth, that fast. They started popping through on Jan. 19th and haven't stopped. Finishing up the molars now. She is up and mobile now too. Taten will yell from somewhere in the house, "Mom, Tess's is taking big steps!" We call them Big Steps in case you didn't pick that up. She isn't walking completely on her own, but it won't be long. It's funny because with Tess it was like, whatever just trying to keep up with my sister. I don't know what the big fuss is about. She'll smile when we clap and then keep on trucking, look at me like "Thanks Mom, see ya." I think there will be alot of that in my future with her.

Her birthday party was a blur, and if not for my Mother and Travis I would have lost my mind. I will never double book my weekends like that again. It turned out great though, and we had friends and family from near and far that could make it for a rare nice day. I prayed hard all day Friday and Saturday for that weather folks! Tessa dug into her cake and made me proud, very unlike her sister, she was cake from head to toe. I was washing it out of neck later that night and she still had some in her ears! Enjoy the pictures and love to you all. ~H

P.S. Love the towel Aunt Jenn:)