My Book List for 2011 - update!

My Goal is 30 for the year:

Here we go:

~ The Lady in the Tower (The Fall of Anne Boleyn) - Alison Weir


~ The House - Danielle Steel 


~ Lost Voices from the Titanic - Nick Barratt


~ A Child Called "It" - Dave Pelzer


~ Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston


~ A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 1 (The Bad Beginning) - Lemony Snicket


~ A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 2 (The Reptile Room) - Lemony Snicket


~ A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 3 (The Wide Window) - Lemony Snicket

~ I Was A Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids - Trisha Ashworth & Amy Nobile (currently reading)


~ The Purpose Driven Life - Rick Warren (currently reading)




** 10 down 20 more to go ** 

June Happenings....

Wow, Can it be June already??  Where does the time go?  Almost another 1/2 a year has gone by and so much has already happened and so much is yet to come :)  I am so excited about the future I can hardly contain myself!  June will prove to be yet again another busy month.  I have many things planned, some way more important than others, but all still worthy enough to make it into my day planner :)  Here's a run down of what is to come this month!

Right away at the beginning of the month, my boyfriend gets to celebrate his birthday ~:)  Happy Birthday Baby. I hate that you are in Germany right now and that we can't spend it together, but I take comfort in knowing that there will be many more that we will spend together!  I will also get to take part in one of my son's school activities....bring on the mess, we are going to work on our own paper mache pigs!  Dakota's last day of school is on the 9th.  Summer Vacation Begins, oh Joy!  The 11th then marks the 1/2 way mark till I move.  Whew!  It sure is flying by.

The third week of June is busy, busy, busy!  Dakota has all his regular appointments, PLUS we add two more to the list as we prepare for his surgery.  I too have a pretty important appointment that week.  For a while now I have had this spot on one of my breasts and I have decided that it's better to be safe than sorry, so I am going in to have it looked at.  If they decide to remove it, it will be the second spot I will have had removed on that same breast!  Pray that it's nothing, just like the last one!  On the 18th my boyfriend is flying in to spend a week with me ~ SUPER excited about that :)  Oh and it's my last week of work.  You know the move is getting close when you stop working!

Going into the end of the month, Dakota has his surgery on the 21st.  We hope this will be his last one, but one never knows with these kinds of things.  My grandma will be visiting us to help me out a little bit after Dakota's surgery.  My work (previous employer by that time -lol) is also having a fundraiser that week for Dakota.  At my request 10% of all the proceeds will go to Gillette Children's Hospital in Dakota's name.

We end the month with finals at school for me.  Wow, I am tired just reading all that is going on this month!

My word of the month......

Craziness

Missing my Mama

Words cannot explain how much I am going to miss my mom.  I know her and I haven't always gotten along and been the best of friends, but she's still always been my mother, my comfort, my support (in more ways than one), my friend, a part of me.  I feel saddened every time I think about having to send her back on a plane to MN and her not being right there next to me, but it's time.  

It's time for both of us to grow and live.  She will always be near me, because I am a part of her.  It's true what they say about turning into your mom.  You grow up as a teenager saying, "oh that'll NEVER happen to me"  and then one day you wake up and you're 28 and you are more like you mother than you realize.  The only difference now is that those little things that make me so much like her I am okay with!

We still have many differences that make each of us unique, but I am starting to enjoy finding those little things that make me just like her.  She is a wonderful woman who has helped me out in life no matter what has come up and I may not have always appreciated it as much as I should have, but I do appreciate all that she has done for me.  And most importantly I love her more than she knows.

I am not a very emotional person and actually writing this post is a little more tear jerking than I usually am, but if there was one thing I could go back in time and change, it would be simply to find a way to show her how much she has meant to me over the years.  Cause even if at the time I was saying I would never be like her, all that matters now is that I am so very proud to call her my mama.

I love you!

We're Moving

To most this is not new news, but for those of you who do not follow me on Facebook, this may come as a shock to you (or maybe not)!  If you had asked me seven years ago what I would be doing this summer, the last thing I would have probably said was moving, but alas that is what I will be doing.....and I couldn't be more EXCITED over it!

Don't get me wrong, Minnesota is a great state with many opportunities, but after living here for as long as I have and feeling like I am getting nowhere in life, I wanna go home!  With the help of my wonderful boyfriend, Sebastian, on July 10, 2011 we will be leaving for Fort Mill, South Carolina and moving in together.

I have known Sebastian for 14 years and we have stayed friends all through those years.  We have been there for each other through tough times, great times, trying times and boring times :)  and we plan on spending many more years experiencing life together.  For the first time in seven years, I remember what it feels like to be alive!

So, the move is planned for July 10th and hopefully we will be able to make it to SC by the 12th.  Mom will be flying down with Dakota a few days later and will be staying to help me get settled a bit (and of course to see old friends)!

I will continue with school at Winthrop University (if I get accepted, of course - lol), but for a while I just plan on staying home and learning to be the best "house-girlfriend" I can be, as well as re-learning my way around and getting comfortable with life there (settle into a routine, if you will).

Each day a little more gets packed and ready to go!  I am literally counting down the days ;)  Before I know it I will be there, so until then I am soaking up as much time as I can with my mom and just trying to get all my ducks in a row :)

Watch out South Carolina, cause here I come!!!!

Dakota Update

Dakota had a doctor's appointment about a week ago to check on the progress of his hip.  Dakota and I had worked together to try and get more exercises done at home & even though the progress wasn't great, it's still progress.  And apparently it's enough, cause Dakota is having surgery on June 21st @ 8 AM to have the three pins and the plate removed.  The surgery is a same day procedure so we should be out that same night, but he may have to spend one night, depending on how he recovers.

There are 3 stages to Perthes.  Stage 1 is diagnosis and the initial surgery (been there, done that).  Usually in stage 1 the blood supply to the bone has already stopped and a lot of the bone is already dead.  Stage 2 is where your body absorbs the dead bone & stage 3 is where new bone will reform.  The doctor said that we are not quite fully into stage 2, but very close.

After surgery Dakota will have to use his walker for about six weeks (he is NOT happy over that), which just about ruins summer for him (poor kid).  Luckily, we have a lot of changes that are occurring over the course of the next few months (see "We're Moving" post) so he should stay busy helping me out around the house.

Anyway, that's all the update I have at this time.  Dakota has to go in to see his regular doctor for a pre-op appointment to make sure he is healthy enough for surgery & then we are clear to go!  Please keep him in your thoughts & prayers!  Thanks :)

Update on Dakota

Yesterday Friday, March 4th Dakota had another doctor's appointment to have x-rays done and have his hip checked out.  I wish I could say I have good news, but alas....I don't.

So instead of progressively moving forward and strengthening his hip, we are moving in reverse.  It's getting stiffer and tighter as the days go by.  He is just as weak as he was when he had surgery almost 5 months ago.  He has been in physical therapy twice a week for the last two months and still, no improvement.

He was required to do his physical therapy exercises at home three times a week.  When Dakota was out of surgery and able to move around and the physical therapy started (however many months ago that was - I am loosing track) I didn't have to fight with him to do his exercises at home and I didn't have to continually say, "Dakota do your exercises." over and over and over and over.

Lately, about the last two months to be exact, he gives the physical therapist a hard time and down right gets nasty with me about having to do them.  Him and I have both ended up in tears over these silly (but not-so-silly) exercises.  I would threaten to take things away and then when he still wouldn't do them, I would follow through and take away whatever it was that I said I was going to take.  It didn't seem to matter the next time he was required to either do his physical therapy at home or with the therapist he would fight.  It has become a viscous cycle and still no progress has come out of my constant nagging.

The problem with this is that the leg muscles in his right leg (abductor muscles) are extremely tight and therefore it pulls the femur inward which moves the ball joint further out of the socket (see right picture).  If it continues to do this, the ball joint will be so far out of the socket again they will probably have to do surgery again.  That socket protection is the only thing keeping the ball joint from collapsing.  So you can see the importance of not letting it get this far.

The doctor has given Dakota two weeks to turn his attitude around.  The doctor said that it is not "your mommy's fault" that this happened to you and that you have to do your exercises.  "She loves you and is only trying to help" (maybe if Dakota hears it from someone else he'll believe it cause he sure doesn't believe me when I say it).  He is required to do his exercises EVER DAY for the next two week no matter what and if he gives me any trouble then I am to call the doctor.

**If** I have to call the doctor in two weeks the doctor will order the physical therapist to inject a muscle relaxer in his abductor muscle and then put him in this cast called an A-brace (see left picture) and stick him back in a wheel chair for three weeks.

**If** his attitude changes and he does the exercises here at home when I say to and doesn't give me any grief about it then we can continue the physical therapy sessions twice a week and also every other day at home until our follow up appointment in two months.
 

Dakota will also start going to a child psychologist starting this week due to the loads of emotional stress he has been through.  I hope it will help to release or at least figure out a way to cope with some of the anger of not being able to be a "normal" kid!  I know it has to be hard for him :(

I will continue to work with him for the next two weeks and we will see how it goes from there.  Hopefully I will NOT have to make a phone call to Dr. Sundberg and we won't have to go down the wheelchair road again, but if we do, I am sure God will give me and Dakota the strength to get through it together.

Summing up February...

February seems to have flown by for me....I don't really know why cause it's not like I have done anything super exciting this month, but I can't believe March is just around the corner.


I kicked off the month by celebrating my birthday with my family.  It was nice.  My parents met up and took me and Dakota out to dinner at Olive Garden (I love the salad) and then we went back to my mom's house for cake, ice cream and presents.  It was simple, but I enjoyed every moment of it.  It was nice to spend the day I turned 28 with my family.  


Dakota continued this whole month to go to physical therapy twice a week.  On Tuesdays we have water therapy and on Thursdays we have land therapy.  Oh how this is a struggle.  Water therapy is a bit more fun then land therapy.  Land therapy has brought many tears to Dakota's eyes.  I think he is going through some emotional stuff right now with being so limited to activities, he's getting restless.  Also, sick and tired of having to do his leg exercises which are SO important for his future strength.  I end up being the bad guy by nagging him to do his exercises.  I hate being the bad guy all the time.  Dakota seems to act like I am a huge pain in his ass because of it.  Things are changing with him.  Some I am sure is because of the Perthes and all he has gone through in the last six months, but some of it I think may just be him getting older and growing up.  He is slowly pulling away from me in a lot of ways.  I am glad, but it mainly makes me sad. 


I was lucky enough to have a friend of mine buy tickets for my birthday to go see Jeff Dunham live at the Target Center on February 13th.  It was an amazing show and I liked all of it up until about the last 15 minutes when Jeff brought out a new puppet.  I don't like the new puppet so much, but hey Peanut and Walter are the bomb :)  I am glad I got to see him live.  I bought Peanut shirts for me, my mom and Dakota.  They loved them!


I spent Valentine's Day with Dakota.  He is the love of my life so this year I decided that Valentine's Day didn't need to just be about a spouse or a bf/gf.....it could be about anyone you love and care about.  I took Dakota out to dinner and then to the bookstore where he got this dragon paint kit (it's very cool).  Then we went shopping to get him some new jeans because the kid has grown like a weed.  He was prepared for a flood, that's for sure.


I continue to go to school, but things are tough for me right now and one of the classes requires that you dig into your life and reflect on things and I am really just not in the right place to do that.  Things have been so crazy for me the last few years, I am just now trying to figure out how to deal with all that has happened in my life and find a way to let go and move on.  I am doing the best I can right now with school, I am not able to put 110% into it this term, but I am learning to not be so hard on myself and that as long as I do the best I can, I am ok.


My car has had nothing but trouble last month and now again this month.  I am driving a rental right now.  A Nissan Versa.  It's not a bad car, but I am used to being in a SUV.  I feel like Fred Flintstone preparing for the foot acceleration.....it's just really low to the ground is all.  My car should be fixed by the end of next week.  So hopefully I will welcome March with my own set of wheels again.  And hopefully this will be the last time my transmission needs fixing!

Oreo is now almost 11 months old and got neutered this month, so no babies for him!  He continues to be a wonderful addition to our family.  My mom says I treat him more like a child than a dog and I suppose I do, but I am okay with that.  He follows me around and cuddles with me and gives me lots of kisses.  I told my mom that I didn't need a man in my life because I have a wonderful child and my very dedicated puppy.  For now that is all I need!

Most recently I have experienced the joys (huge exaggeration) of having a concussion.  On Thursday night after I had picked Oreo up from having his surgery, I was getting ready for bed and thought since it was hard for Oreo to get up and down the stairs that I would carry him down to bed.  I slipped on the first step (I think I may have over stepped and caught the edge of the stair) and fell down all seven steps with with 20 pound dog in my arms.  Don't worry the dog is fine, I put him down and he started wagging his tail.  Big fun for him.  After not being able to move for a good couple minutes, my mother who had come running to help me, helped me up.  I didn't feel any initial pain until the middle of the night.  I got a slight headache during the night and woke up a few times because of it, but just thought that since I had hit my head really hard on the stairs I shouldn't be surprised to have a headache.  When I woke up the next day I still had the headache and continued to have it all day.  I took headache medicine, which didn't help at all, and then when the pain started to get worse I decided it was time to go in to the clinic.  The doctor took x-rays of my spine since I not only hit my head but slide down every step on my back.  Luckily there wasn't any slipped discs or fractures.  I do however have a concussion.  I was given a shot in my butt at the clinic to help with the pain in my neck and head and about an hour or so later almost all my pain was gone. I have continued to take OTC pain medicine and have tried to take it easy, but haven't gotten much rest.  I know I need to in order for my body to heal itself, but there is so much stuff to be done around the house, it's hard to just sleep in the middle of the day!

So summing up my month, I would have to say in one word......overwhelming!

A quick peek at next month:

~ Dakota has a doctor's appointment in the beginning of the month for more x-rays and more instructions.

~Dakota also turns nine years old in the beginning of the month (I can't believe my baby is almost 9 - how crazy is that)

~ And I finish up with classes for this term and also sign up for new classes for next term

Stay posted for Summing up March ;)