What's new with us

Usually I spend my time during the winter pining away for summer and wishing and hoping for warmer days. Don't get me wrong, I am of course doing this, but we have also been insanely busy with fun things, and I may have even been a little distracted from my dislike of winter ... though not for long. I miss my bike and of course there's the swimming pool ... sigh.

Last month Austin participated in the fifth grade wax museum at his school. When he came home and told me about his assignment to select a subject, read a biography/autobiography, come up with a costume, make a poster, and memorize facts about this person's life, I figured we better stay away from the typical subjects (i.e., politicians, historical figures, founding fathers) or it was going to be like pulling teeth all the way through the project. So after a little brainstorming, Austin and I came up with Steve Young. Perfect. The biography was devoured, the costume was a big hit, and he already had a bunch of trivia about his life memorized. I love it when he actually wants to do his homework. Good job Austin!

Paula and I tackled SEP dinners for the PTA minus the brains of the operation (Melanie) while she was off on a well-deserved cruise in the Caribbean soaking up some sun. We enlisted some help (thanks Monica, Mindy, Angela, Becky, and my mom!) and survived, though the week was completely insane from beginning to end. I think it turned out pretty well considering we fed between 70 and 80 people two nights in a row. Woah.

With three kids playing basketball, we're just about over our limit of BUSY! I'm coaching Jackson's team, so that makes it even crazier. Jackson's team was in desperate need of a coach, so I called up our friend Aaron and agreed to be assistant coach if he'd agree to be coach which he did. My plan worked our perfectly until Aaron decided to turn his life upside down and go back to school. That left me as coach. Woah. Thanks to lots of help and a bunch of great kids, it's going well. Austin and London are enjoying basketball as well and working hard. We'll be done with our season in a few weeks ... three more games ... but who's counting?!!

And finally, after years of trouble, medications and alternative treatments tried and failed, and nearly a year of testing and restesting, Dave and I, along with my trusted doctor (and the second opinion of two other physicians and a specialist) have decided to go ahead with a hysterectomy, bladder repair, and two reconstructive surgeries that will hopefully, hopefully, hopefully solve all the problems I've been having. Some of these things have been going on for nearly 10 years and others for 4 or 5 years. I'm done. It's not ever going to get any better on its own, and there's never going to be a time in my life when this will be easy. It is scheduled for March 4th and afterwards, I am not able to do anything at all for two weeks - what in the world?!! And then there are several more weeks and possibly months after that before I'm back to being "me" again. I was hoping to wait until T.J. was in school, but at this point, time is of the essence. I'm young. I'm relatively healthy and active. It has to be now or risk it getting worse ... which it already has. It has been a tough decision, but we're grateful for the support of friends and family and we're very hopeful that it will work and that I'll feel much better in a few months.

I'm so grateful for all the kind words of support and encouragement we've already heard and the many offers for help taking care of my family. It's a scary thing to have a mom out of commission for any length of time, and my kids are definitely feeling apprehensive and nervous, and I can't blame them. So there you go, we're stressed, we're nervous, we're scared, but we're also peaceful and hopeful about our decision. Here we go.