5 for Five!!!

Time to get back on the ball with getting things done around this house. That is easier said than done with CJ not working right now but it is what it is!!

I'm linking up with Jessica & Jenn for 5 for Five this week!!

1. Cancel CJ's appointment at the pain clinic and make Hayden's well check appointment. And now get another blood patch scheduled asap. So we saw the pain clinic at Duke a few days before we left for vacation (they were able to squeeze us in) well no one had told us they had already made an appointment for July 12th. They were supposed to cancel it but guess what I got in the mail Friday, a whole packet of forms to fill out for his "new patient appointment" July 12th!! Hayden's birthday is rapidly approaching which means it is time for another well child checkup and I need to get that booked soon since his birthday falls right around the start of school. The doctor that does CJ's blood patches called yesterday (yes on a Sunday & this is why we love her!) to check on him. She is concerned the blood patch didn't hold or moved too much so she will be calling today to get us in for another patch ASAP. Hopefully this one won't end us up admitted in the hospital but if it works I really don't care if we do or not!

2. Find someone to help CJ mount our TVs. CJ's cousins bought us a TV for our living room when they were here in September (yes almost a year ago) and we still haven't opened it! We bought the wall mount a few months ago and now just need someone to help him put it up. We also bought a new TV for our bedroom for our anniversary this year and need to mount that one as well. I am tired of staring at the TV box & the box that the mounts came in!!

3. Start a school shopping list. Deqlan's school supply list is already on the school website and while he doesn't start school for another 7 weeks I don't want to buy everything at one time. We've already ordered his new bookbag which should be here early this week.

4. Figure out if I am going to take 4 online classes or only 2. My tuition is due Monday so I would prefer not to pay more than I am actually going to take. I am registered for 4 classes but think I will drop 2 since I am planning on working this year instead of just taking classes.

5. Come up with a cleaning schedule. If I am going back to work in September than I need to have a cleaning schedule in place! It will still only be part-time but it will be Monday-Friday from 9-12:30ish. I more than likely have a job working at Hayden's preschool :-)

I'm Back!

We've been back from vacation for a week now but this past week was a little hectic with an all day appointment at the hospital, swim meet, and lots of time with family and friends.

Our vacation away was wonderful. It didn't start off all that great. We had to take Deq to urgent care the morning we were leaving with swimmer's ear. His ear had been bothering him all day Friday but he waited until 10:30 Friday night to tell us. We got up to the mountains with no issues and hit the grocery store and produce stand. Sunday we spent the day at the water park and then ended up in the ER with CJ later that evening. His pain has been seriously out of control where NONE of his narcotic meds are touching the pain at all. After Sunday nights ER visit (where I had to tell the doctor what meds to give him) he took it easier & we were able to stay out of the ER for the rest of the week. We typically spent the days at the water park. Wednesday we did the tour of the new units that they are building and relaxed. We attempted to do the Kids Obstacle Course (Deqlan was dying to do it!) but there were storms in the area that prevented it. We ended up doing the bounce dome and playing a round of miniature golf. Thursday morning before we headed to the water park we took the boys back up the mountain to do the obstacle course and summer tubing. I ended up doing the Mega Zip Line with CJ which is HUGE for me! I do not do heights at all!!! Friday was our last day there. We of course spent the last day at the water park & started packing up to come home. We love our week up at Massanutten. It is absolutely beautiful. We had ducks outside our unit every day and even saw some deer in the yard too. We usually go every other year so it'll be 2 years before we are back and that makes me sad!

Monday morning we were at Duke all day for CJ's blood patch. We did not end up admitted in the hospital this time like in January but we are not seeing the improvements we saw after that one either. I have a feeling we will end up back at Duke sometime this week. His oncologist wrote him out of work for 4 weeks at the end of June (which we still have no explanation as to why specifically). He should hopefully be back at work July 29th.

I hope to start blogging more regularly again. Swim team ends in a week and a half so life won't be so crazy.

Where I've Been??

I haven't posted since before I went to Reno last month! Things have been insane since I have been home. We had the end of baseball season (well we still have one game because of crazy amounts of rain), the start of swim team season, & some seriously horrible days for CJ.

I'd love to give a full blown update on everything but I don't have the time for that. Just know that CJ has been in a ton of pain that has resulted in more ER visits, emergency CT scans, and emergent doctor appointments that resulted in more meds. We are currently waiting to schedule his next blood patch and then get a referral to the pain clinic.

This past weekend was the end of select season party for Deqlan's select team. He received a nomination for all-stars which is being coached by the select coach. Unfortunately, some things have happened this season and Deqlan did not get a spot on all-stars. We are very disappointed that the parks & rec director continues to allow this coach to dictate changes that have never happened before and that affected Deqlan's spot on the team. He received at least one vote (out of three, your own coach is not allowed to vote for you) and children that received no votes are on the team. In any event, it will make our summer less stressful and give us plenty of time for hitting lessons and working on his fielding. We will be looking at options for next year.

I'm off to run errands and get ready for vacation. We leave a week from Saturday :-)

Plum Paper Designs Family Planner

For the past three years I've been using the cult favorite, Erin Condren Life Planner. As much as I love the planner the layout is really not conducive to my life. First off, I HAVE to have lines to write on! I cannot stand when I don't write straight so that really drove me crazy. I also was never thrilled with the sectioning of morning, afternoon, & evening. All four of us (me, CJ, Deq & Hayd) have a ton of activities going on at any given time so it was time to find a planner that allowed a little more separation.

I've used planners from Target that have separate sections for each family member, but, again...NO LINES!! After having used a generic planner from Target for most of the year I started my search on Etsy for a new planner for the school year. I stumbled upon Plum Paper Designs and fell in LOVE with the Family Planner (they have a ton of other planner designs and products to choose from).

The gorgeous front cover!

2013 & 2014 Full year calendars for reference!

Each month has a bright & colorful tab!!

With the Family Planner you can have the title for each of the 7 sections printed for you. LOVE this option!!

My planner arrived in the mail Friday afternoon and I haven't had a chance to find the perfect pens to write in it with. That is my goal for today :-) I cannot wait to start using this and getting this family organized!! I will update next month with my likes/dislikes about it!



**I paid for this product with my own money and am receiving no compensation for reviewing it**

Admitting the truth

This is a hard one for me to write...

I leave for Reno in 9 days for a bowling tournament. We bowl 3 games for team event on Saturday evening and then 6 games for doubles and singles bright and early Sunday morning. Since my knee surgery in late December I have bowled a total of 5 games and those were not done at the same time (1 game, then 2 & 2 again). My goal was to be back 100% by the time I left for Reno. Unfortunately I am still not cleared from my surgeon to resume bowling again. I have gone against doctor's orders because I was told it would be a 12 week recovery and I am currently at 18 1/2 weeks and I do not go back again until July 3rd. We booked my flight and paid my entry fee based off of the 12 week deadline. I am no where close to be ready for this tournament. I am looking forward to a few days away but I know how disappointed I am going to be. My goal at this point is to make it through team event and doubles event. If I don't bowl singles I am okay with that. I don't hurt anyone but myself.

I have had a hard time admitting to myself lately that this surgery did more harm then good. I went into surgery knowing that there was only a 50% success rate, but it is still crushing to know that not only did it not help, it made it worse!

I am ready to be back at 100%!!

So behind!

I am so far behind on ready blogs it's not even funny...BUT!! Hopefully that will change next weekend :-) I'll be in the car for 7 hours between Saturday & Sunday and I plan on buying an iPad mini this week so I will have a chance to catch up while my dad drives :-) We will be heading right outside of Charlotte for Deqlan to bowl in a tournament both Saturday afternoon & Sunday morning. Then in a little more than a week and a half I'll be on my way to RENO!!! I cannot wait for a fun weekend of girl time :-)

Deqlan has his last regular season select double header today :( They have a weekend long tournament the weekend I'm gone (talk about bad timing). I am so sad to say good-bye to this team. The kids have progressed so much since tryouts in January. We knew going in it would be a rough season but they have fought hard each and every game. We know nothing about the team we play today so hopefully the kids go out and play hard and make good plays like we've seen them do before!

This week will be busy with bowling practice, baseball games, cleaning the house for our weekend away (CJ has to work so he's not coming), and packing for Charlotte. I'm also starting my Reno prep since I'll be at my parents house Wednesday night next week for our Thursday morning departure. I think the boys and I may stay with my parents Friday night since we'll need to leave fairly early Saturday morning.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

Where I've Been?

The weekend ended up being fairly low-key. Which was lovely considering this weekend is busy and then I'm out of town the following two weekends. Saturday morning the boys (including CJ who was off) & I got up and headed to the bowling center to get some practice in. I made it through 2 games (not enough) when I felt some serious pain in my knee so we packed up and headed home. I spent the rest of the day resting and icing my knee. Sunday we headed down the road 45 minutes for Deqlan's double header. The first game was just plain ugly, the kids just couldn't get it together in the field. By the end of the game though they were finally hitting the ball and managed to score some runs. Final was 10-4 (I am not convinced that the other team only scored 10). The second game was much better! They were hitting the ball and fielding the ball so well. They lost the game but it was a hard fought game. Final score 10-9.

This week has been rough. I've been fighting a sinus infection, this is like the fifth one since October, and have had absolutely no energy. I've been trying to stay on top of housework in preparation of being out of town next weekend and the weekend after. Deqlan's Rec ball team started games this week. Tuesday night's game was canceled due to soaking wet fields but we were able to play last night. I made a menu for this week and we only missed one night. Which for us is amazing! Tonight we are heading to a minor league baseball game that's only a few minutes from the house with some of the kids from our Rec team. We have become very close with our head coach and his family because both of the boys are on the select team and one of the kids from the other Rec team going with us. We have all become a family since Select started in January...Literally the kids all love each other (6 boys & 1 girl), us moms are the best of friends, and the two husbands feel totally outnumbered. Tomorrow is one of the boys birthday (and we have to miss his party because of a bowling tournament) so we cannot wait to celebrate with him tonight at the game. The baseball players get to wear their uniforms and got out on the field before the game and meet the players and then they'll get to run the bases afterwards. Tomorrow Deqlan has a bowling tournament in the afternoon. So we will spend the morning helping my mom get some things done around her house. Sunday we have our last regular season select games! I am so sad. They are playing in a tournament in two weeks but I will be in Reno. Select ball has been one of the best decisions we have made for Deqlan this year!

Next week will be a busy one prepping to head to Charlotte for Deqlan's bowling tournament. All while trying to get lots of practice in on the lanes for me. I have not been able to bowl nearly enough to be ready for Reno in two weeks. I'll also be trying to get ready for Reno next week since I have a short week the week we leave.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!