And now we wait . . . .

So, most of my tests have came back, and they are normal. So the neurologist sent me to the neurosurgeon. The neurosurgeon is pretty certain I don't have a tumor, but wants to follow me, so I will have a repeat MRI in August to see if there have been any changes, etc. I see the neurologist in June to get a spinal tap (another test to confirm/rule out MS) and then go over all my test results.
I feel pretty healthy, except for the fact that I am anxious beyond belief!

Health Issues

I have been having some health issues as of late. I had an MRI of my brain done on Tuesday, and they found 11 small lesions and one large lesion. All the lesions are not typical placement of MS and my neurological exam is perfect so they are hesitant to diagnose MS as it is not fitting. Other possiblities are strokes, cancer, many other things I can't remember, and the small chance it is all benign. Had 15 different blood tests today, and go back tomorrow for another MRI, EEG, and Echo. Hopefully we find out what it is soon, and things can start improving.
I am so very, very grateful for Sam and the fact that he works at the U of U Hospital and has pulled many strings in getting me into good doctors quickly. He is my rock and I love him with all my heart and soul.

Update . . .

I guess since it has been 6 months or so, I will update this blog.

Sam - Has been working lots of long hours. He leaves the house around 4:30 am, and didn't get home last night until after 10 pm. He even fell asleep mid sentence when he was talking to me last night. That was a first.

Josie - Enjoying preschool and dance. I took her to a speech therapist yesterday because her speech did not seem as clear as I thought it should for someone her age. Apparently she has a tounge thrust, short frenulum, and she is mildly tounge tied. Usually for tounge tie a physician can clip the frenulum, but since her frenulum is so short, there is nothing to clip. So the therapist recommened speech therapy to help stretch her frenulum and strengthen her tounge. Hopefully we will see some progress.

Will - Has learned the word "mine" and he uses it often. He likes to try to do everthing Josie does. He would prefer to eat vegetable for every meal with some fruit thrown in for good measure. I have a hard time getting him to eat breads and meats. I can't believe he will be 2 in about 4 months.

Me - Just cooking, cleaning, and living life. Nothing exciting here. I tried to change the layout on my blog before I did this post and managed to delete all the blogs that I like to read. So that should be fun trying to track down all the info that I lost.

Thanksgiving . . .

Sam was on call for Thanksgiving, so we went to Wyoming without him and spent Thanksgiving with my brother's family. The kids had fun playing with their cousins, and I appreciated the invite!

Halloween . . .

Josie wanted to be a kitty for Halloween, again. Out of her 5 Halloweens, she has been a kitty 3 times. Will was a dinosaur and he got the "roar" sound down pat. The night before Halloween I took the kids to the Davis County Rec Center Halloween Party (Sam was on call) and they had a lot of fun. Lots of little carnival games and prices. While I was there I ran into a friend from Seattle. We were in the same ward while Sam was in med school and her husband was in residency. Sam was able to join us for some trick or treating on Halloween night, we just went around the neighborhood with the Harmans and had a good time.

MY FRIEND RYAN

This post is about my friend Ryan Hess from High School. His family is going through a really tough time right now and my heart just breaks for his family. I just want to vouch that it's absolutely legit. He's a good man, very deserving. Please repost this on your blog if you want to. I know there are many of you out there that have lots more readers than I do.
***FEDERAL EMPLOYEES- PLEASE DONATE LEAVE TO RYAN HESS***
My name is Margie Hess, my husband Ryan was diagnosed on June 12, 2009 with a rare and aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Since this is an aggressive form of T-Cell Lymphoma, his doctor has put him on an aggressive chemo regimen that will result in him being unable to work for the next 4-6 months and possibly longer. At the time of diagnosis he was finishing up his 1st year as a Podiatry Resident at the V.A. in Tucson, AZ. Ryan is a devoted husband and father of two children, Hallie (5) and Max (2). By the end of this month (June 2009), Ryan will use up the last of his vacation and sick leave and will have to go on unpaid leave. Ryan is the sole provider for our family; I stay at home with both the kids. Without him working we have no income. I need to stay home to help care for him, so I cannot get a job right now, either. As difficult as it is for our family to have to ask for help, we have realized that we must do so at this time. We were told that any federal employee (ie: military, Border Patrol, DEA, FB I, Dept of Justice, EPA etc. EXCEPT Post Office employees) can donate vacation time to be used as sick leave for another Federal employee. We would be so thankful for any number of extra paid days we can accumulate. Thank you so much.
How can you help if you ARE a Federal Employee?
Go to your HR department and request to donate leave to Ryan Hess who works for the VA. (Your HR person will know the form that needs to be filled out- each Federal agency has their own form to donate leave)
Once filled out and signed, the HR person will then need to fax or e-mail the form to:
OLIVIA McCLURE – Benefits Specialist (TUCSON V.A.)Phone #: (520) 792-1450 x 6076Fax # : (520) 629-1849E-Mail : olivia.mcclure@va.gov
ALSO, for those who are federal employees, please print out this message and post it in break/lunch rooms to help get the word out as well as emailing it to co-workers!
How to help if you are NOT a Federal Employee:
PASS this along to ANYONE and EVERYONE that you know and then ask them to pass the message along. Post it on blogs, Facebook…whatever you can think of.
Thanks again everyone- this will help SO much!GO TEAM RYAN HESS!(E-mail teamryanhess@gmail.com to receive updates or to send a message!)

Happy Birthday Will!

My baby boy is now a one year old! His birthday was actually back in April, but I am a horrible blogger. He is such a great kid. So easy going and happy all of the time! We didn't do much for Will's birthday, just a small family party, Sam was able to come though, and that was the best part! Will loves to eat, always has. At his one year checkup he weight 26 lbs 13 oz and 31 inches tall. Looking back in Sam's baby book, Will is the exact same size as Sam was at one year. I am happy he is growing so healthy and strong, but sad he is no longer a baby. It's funny, it seems I am always anxious for time to pass, waiting for Sam's next day off, waiting for residency to be over, waiting for life to get easier?, etc. But when I really think about it, I don't want my babies getting any older!

Wow, I haven't updated my blog for over a month . . .

We have been busy and not busy all at the same time. Basically Sam was working night float (2.5 months of him working the night shift) and I was trying to maintain my sanity. Night float ended right before Thanksgiving, and we were able to go to WY. We ate good food and Josie had so much fun at her Grandma and Grandpa's house. She rode horses and played with the kitties. She would love to have a kitty of her own, and we are still trying to decide if we could make that work at our house. Will was sick so he wasn't his happy self, but was fairly pleasant.

Sam is now working a susposedly "easy" rotation but has not gotten home earlier than 7:30 once this week and he is on call this weekend. Yipee! Lucky for me night float trained my well and I have no expectations. Anyways here are some random Halloween pictures. . .

Target Photo Shoot

My mom and I took the kids to Target to get pictures taken (Josie's 3 year and Will's 6 month). They turned out pretty good in my opinion, especially for the amount of prints I got for only $60! Gotta love a bargain. It was a bit chaotic at times, someday I would love to afford for a photographer to come to MY house to photograph my kids. One can only dream . . .

Edited to add:

I just added a new song to my blog, "Let Them be Little," makes me bawl my eyes out every time I hear it. I don't want my kids to grow up, I want them to stay just how they are!

First Day of Preschool

Today was Josie's first day of preschool! She was so excited, but also a little nervous too. She had to have her special kitty ride in the car with her, but she was brave enough to go into school without him. It's hard to really get a 3 year old to talk and explain things in great detail, but from what I got out of her, everything seemed to go great! I really like her teacher and it should be a fun year!


And, here is a photo of the boy, I feel like if I post a photo of Josie I need to post one of Will to be "fair." So here he is being smiley and happy before we took sister to school.

Curly or Straight?

Josie is lucky enough to be blessed with naturally curly hair. We almost always just wear it curly because it looks so cute and is so easy to fix. But today we decided to make it straight. Josie loved it and called it her "Sleeping Beauty hair." I have a feeling that as she gets older I will spend many mornings making her curly hair straight! I think I still prefer curly, what do you think?


Baby Will is just getting cuter and fatter by the minute. At his 4 month check-up he weighed in at a chunky 22 lbs. Don't worry his head and height are big too. He is just big all around! We love this rolly, polly, & jolly guy!

Princess Will

Compliments of sister Josie

Swimming Lessons

Josie took swimming lessons a few weeks ago and she did really well. I forgot to post any photos. She didn't really learn how to swim but has gotton so much braver in the water!

Watch those fingers!

We had an injury this past weekend. We went to REI for Sam to pick out some shoes for his birthday which was last week (Happy 30th Sam!) Well as soon as we arrived at the store Josie informed us that she had to go potty. So I send Will with Sam and I take Josie to the potty. We finish in the bathroom and I hold the door open for Josie, she walks under my arm, so I let go of the door. But then, she spys the drinking fountain so she quickly grabs the hinge side of the door jam to make a quick turn to the drinking fountain. Then, the door shuts on her poor little fingers. She starts screaming and as fast as a I can I push the door open. I pick her up and am thinking her fingers are just going to be red from getting pinched, then I notice blood, lots of blood. So I run her back into the bathroom and run her fingers under the water. And then I see it, two finger tips attached only by skin. I start panicking and run out to the front desk and have them page Sam to come over. He casually strolls over with Will and the stroller to find me running towards him with blood dripping everywhere. He takes one look at her hand and we are off to the hospital. At the hospital they put her out and sew them back on. Things should turn out just fine, but for now she gets to wear her "big pink bandaid."

Fat and Happy

My little guy is truly fat and happy! He is such a pleasant baby, he smiles at anything and everything, and he is starting to laugh more which is so fun! He is a chunk and is weighing in around 19+ pounds at 3 months. We are so glad he joined our family!

Happy 4th of July!

We had so much fun last night with the Harmans. Sam got home at a decent hour and we went to a big fireworks show. The girls had so much fun running around, hiding from the fireworks, and playing with glow sticks. They truly are best buddies! It is so nice when they get along.

Will was so great last night too. I swear, he is the easiest baby to take places. He just hung out on the blanket most of the night until he got hungry. I fed him and put him in his stroller and he slept through the entire fireworks show, ride home, and the transfer from car seat to crib. He slept all night and woke up at his usual 6:30 am. I love this guy!

Today Sam is on call so it's just me and the kiddos for the actual 4th. Holidays and weekends are always the hardest times to have Sam working. Hopefully he won't be to busy and we can go up and eat dinner with him at the hospital. Josie always loves to see daddy at work.

We are gonna miss these guys!

My sister and her family are on there way to Texas today! It was so sad to say goodbye to them, we loved living close to them this year and having them around. I think my sister and I will both miss having each other to babysit at the last minute or go shopping with. Here are the top five things I am going to miss:

-babysitters!
-Pumpkin shaped pizzas from Papa John's at Halloween
-Fireworks at Eaglewood
-shopping at Market Square
-Knowing that my sister was right up the street and that she would be there for me, no matter what, if I needed anything

We love you guys!!!! Can't wait to see you again soon!

Bear Lake

We made a trip to Bear Lake a few weekends ago. My parents have a little beach house there. We had a good time with Nana & Papa, Brian & Brooke and kids, and Amy and kids. Sam wasn't able to make because he was on call. We missed him, but had a good time anyways.

Lake Alice

Gone Fishin'

Sam was lucky enough to have this past week off. We stayed in SLC for the first half of the week and accomplished tasks such as going to dentist, getting our truck serviced, etc. For the second half of the week we made a trip to Wyoming. Josie was able to enjoy a fun outing fishing.

Will and I stayed home, I think he enjoyed a day without a blonde haired little girl in his face. My sister took some really cute photos of him, but they are all on her camera. (Hey Amy, will you put those on Snapfish or email them to me?)

Can you see the light yet?!

Congratulations to my dear husband! He has offically completed his intern year of residency! He is no longer a 1st year resident and has moved on and up to his 2nd year. Only four years to go, and then a year of fellowship, and then . . . (will you ever get a job?)!

Princesses and Doctors

So my Josie girl is so in the princess mode! She loves to dress up and most days you can find her in a dress, heels, and a tiara. The other day I was looking at a princess book with her and she pointed to the prince and said "Look what a cute daddy!" What and I going to do with this girl?!

She also watched me make some Jello instant pudding and when she tasted it she said "Yum! Your a good maker mom."

Will had his well child check-up yesterday, he is generally a pretty easy going kid. Well, they gave him the oral rotavirus vaccine and he went bonkers! I have never seen him that mad, even the nurse said she had never seen a kids face get so red. He fell asleep after the other shots and woke up 3 hours later still mad. I finally got him to calm down and he went back asleep. He woke up 3o minutes later happy as can be. He seems to be a lot like his day, happy and easy going most of the time, but if something makes him mad, it makes him really mad!