Medical

So its been a year and a half on my preventive migraine meds, and although they give me a ton of relief from the migraines in that they reduce the intensity of my migraines, I still get about as many as I did before. So, my doctor referred me to the neurologist, who I saw earlier this week. 

The neurologist said everything with my migraines sounded totally normal and didn't feel a need to order any scans. She said only 1% of the time do things actually show up on MRI's anyhow, so unless there's a concern, its a waste of my money. She basically said I could do it for peace of mind if I wanted to though. But i'll pass. 

She said sometimes migraines just cycle themselves out eventually. They are often hereditary, but just because I have them does not necessarily mean my kids will. I hope that's the case! 

So since the preventive i'm on isn't working well, the plan is to wean off of that over the next 2 weeks (or more if needed.) At the same time, I am also starting on a new medication, a beta blocker. Hopefully that will work better. 

I'm most excited to get off of the other med since it made my brain so foggy. Topamax is known for making people feel mentally slow.  Its nicknamed "dope-amax." Of course, not everyone has this side effect, but unfortunately I did. I forget things all the time, can't remember conversations, can't remember calendar events, have a hard time finding words when talking.... its extremely irritating. I feel like an idiot.

Unfortunately, when some people start beta blockers they can feel tired and run down for a few weeks.  Greeaaaat! But I guess that's nothing new since migraines all the time make me feel a little tired and run down too. 

Annnnd, I apparently displaced my tailbone. Last summer it started hurting, I just thought it must be bruised or something, and never sought medical attention for it. But it never got better, and so last month when I saw my PCP, she ordered an X-ray, and according to the findings on the X-ray, my tailbone is displaced. Not sure when or how this happened, I do not recall falling on my butt or injuring it somehow around that time, so who knows. Anyways, i've been putting off going back to my PCP for further treatment because well for one, its time for my annual (yuck), and 2, at that time she wants to do an internal exam of the tailbone also......... if you know what I mean.  So i've been putting it off.  And I'm worried about how they fix a displaced tailbone! I hope they'd give me an epidural or something! Put me under so I can't feel anything! 

And where the heck did our sunshine go?????????????????????

Graduate

Jadon graduated from kindergarten yesterday. They didn't have a graduation ceremony, so I made him a graduation cap (thank you Pinterest) and a diploma (thank you again Pinterest) just so I could take a picture of him. :)
To him it was pretty much just a normal day. To mommy it was like the end of the world. Apparently motherhood has turned me into an emotional mess and I'm required to cry about everything pertaining to my kids.  So yes, when we picked him up from school.... I cried.

I had Jadon give his teacher a potted plant with a little note taped to a pencil poking out of the dirt that said "Thanks for helping me grow this year" (another shout out to Pinterest.) It was the least we could do for all she did. She was the perfect teacher for Jadon for kindergarten, and she even made each of the kids a personalized scrapbook of the year. I'm not talking a 3 page scrapbook either. This is like a 20 page scrapbook. She put time into these.

It seems like the year just started, and now its already over. In the end, Jadon did very well, thrived even. It was a rough start though... moving from our house, the only house he knew, and that he loved. Where he was able to ride the school bus home from school and that he LOVED. Into a dark, dingy, stinky, tiny, bug infested rental that we all hated. And then 4 months later moving again. We had plenty of problems, and I thought we were all going to implode. But, with consistency, Jadon's counseling, and moving from the rental, we have emerged from the darkness. Thank goodness. And now Jadon only has one more session of counseling. 

He thrived in school regardless of his situation at home. 

So anyways, now we have a few months home. He told me the other day he was excited to be home with me all day. I'm planning to try to keep us busy this summer with fun activities since last summer was a total flop being consumed by house stuff. 

We love our house here, and we have so much space to roam and be free. So do I still miss our old house? Yes and no. I don't miss not having any storage space. I now have soooooo much storage space. And you know how I love to be organized.  I don't miss our tiny yard. I don't miss obnoxious neighbors. I don't miss the train. I don't miss the small master bathroom, or the extra 1/2 bath to clean. I don't miss the carpet or the ugly vinyl floor. I SERIOUSLY don't miss the laundry in the garage. I don't miss climbing the stairs with full laundry baskets.

I do miss the memories. I really miss seeing Jadon get off the school bus; it stopped right in front of the house. That was a very special time for him, and I'm so glad he was able to do it at least for a month and a half until we moved. I miss seeing the kids ride their bikes and playing in the yard... even though they do those things here, I still have fond memories from the old house. I miss that we didn't have any bugs bothering us. I miss that my plants (indoor and outdoor) seemed to grow without any effort from me. 

Have I driven by the house yet since we moved out? No. And i'm not sure when I will. I know.... I'm just too darn sentimental!!

Kids

My little guy is almost done with kindergarten. I'm pretty sure he just started yesterday and here he is already   finished!  He started the year as a little guy, and now he seems so grown up. Its amazing how much he has grown up this year... both physically and socially. In fact, he just had his yearly well-child checkup a couple weeks ago, and in the last 3 years he grew 11 inches! No wonder his pants are always short, and no wonder I have to buy them big just so they are long enough, but then the waist is too big. 

Every day this year, I have walked him up to his school because he wasn't comfortable with me dropping him off like all the other kids in the school. There are a few other kindergartners who also have mom or dad walk them in. I occasionally would ask if he wanted me to drop him off, but he would always say no. A couple weeks ago, he just decided out of the blue that he wanted to be dropped off from now on, and so now, that is what we do. It was bitter-sweet for me. I didn't mind taking him up, it gave me a chance to see some of the other kids he goes to school with and other grown ups. And it made it feel like he was still little I guess ;). But, I know that it was a big step for him, since he can be so timid about certain situations.

I know my time with him being a loveable little child is limited now, and soon he will be a cool boy.... too cool for his family.  In the last week when we've been walking places, a few times he's grabbed my hand to hold for a few seconds, and I treasure that.

Avery, my little fish as I have been calling her. She started swimming lessons a couple weeks ago. It was her first lessons in the pool in classes without me.  No longer in a "waterbabies" or "waterkids" class, but now in a youth swimming lesson, so I now sit on the sidelines watching. With the selling of the house and all the moving, we took quite a long break from swimming lessons.... like 9 months.  So I was afraid Avery would have forgotten everything she'd learned from her waterkids class. Um, no. She is even better in fact. And she LOVES having more freedom in the pool. She started in level 1, the lowest level in youth swimming, and they "test" the kids periodically throughout the session to see where they are at. She didn't even finish the 5 week session before she passed level 1, however she will finish out the session with the level 1 group. She is SO comfortable in the water, its crazy. 

Last weekend we went to a 1st birthday party/"birth"day party. Yes, a 2 in 1 kindof thing. Only it was not a typical birthday party. It was a heavenly birthday party. It was 1 year ago that my friend from high school lost her baby boy. He was overdue and was stillborn. His mommy wanted to have a first birthday party anyways. To add to this, they had another baby 3 weeks earlier, a baby girl. So it was a very special party for 2 reasons- to meet the new baby, and to remember the baby boy who was born sleeping into the arms of Jesus a year ago. My friend lives in Portland so I rarely see her and she wanted her friends and family in our area to be able to meet the new baby. The party was held at Sunnypatch, and it was really nice catching up with friends. The kids also had a blast because the other kids there were all around their ages.  We ended up staying until 10:30pm, and all the kids had tons of candy and Avery came home SUPER cranky. SUPER CRANKY. But at least they slept in the next morning!

Friday we went to Jadon's school carnival.  What fun!  In the weeks before the carnival, each class had a theme and everyone was encouraged to donate to their classes theme basket for the silent auction. There was a chocolate basket, a summer fun basket, a family/game night basket (Jadon's class), and I cant remember the rest.  We bid on Jadon's class basket $45 and won! So, for $45, we got I think 5 movies, only 1 of which we already have; 4 boxes of popcorn, several different games (including the one we bought for the basket), some flash cards, some glow necklaces, some popcorn bags for putting popcorn into. And a storage bin that it all came in :) I may have forgotten something else. 

The bookfair was also going on at the school, so each kid got a book, and we also bought a book for Jadon's teacher for her classroom. 

Jadon left a little bummed. He was expecting carnival rides. lol! He also left bummed because I think it hit home that he would not be returning to that school next year. While we were at the carnival he had met several teachers at the school, and they were all sooo nice, and said that maybe they would be able to get to know him next year, and he would have to tell them he would not be back next year. 

Our nice weather finally came back yesterday after nothing but cold and rain for weeks. And now we have to let our backyard dry out again before we can finish it. Oregon weather is never cooperative.