The Ghost Breakers...

Made me giggle so hard I almost wet myself...

Finding the silver lining...

So today has been an interesting day...

I have several different types of fibromyalgia flares. Some are straight pain flares... like the aches you would get from the flu and arthritis on massive steroids. The pain flares suck but, believe it or not they are the easier ones to deal with. Take some pain meds and limit my movement for a day or two and I can bounce back with minimal amounts of cursing under my breath when the children bounce off of me.

Then there are what I call SENSORY flares. These suck worse than just about anything on the planet. Anyone who has ever had a bad migraine headache (or even a major hangover) can get a very basic idea of what a sensory flare is like. With a migraine (or killer hangover) your senses of hearing and sight get mega sensitive. Every small sound or bit of light is amplified 10 times its original strength. A slamming door or an overhead light cause intense physical pain... Now take that concept, that ultra-sensitivity, and apply it to ALL your senses at the same time.

I feel like I have some small comprehension of what it must be like to be stuck in an Autistic mind and body because these particular flares often lead me to curl up in a dark quiet room with my eyes squeezed shut and my fingers in my ears hoping to stop the painful sensation overload. My toddler running his fingers across the back of my arm feels like someone has pulled the edge of a hot pan from the oven across my flesh... scalding, searing pain that makes my muscles twitch and jump to escape the touch. Changing a dirty diaper or taking out the trash smells like what I would imagine wading through waist deep raw sewage would.

The only major up side to this type of flare (and talk about searching for a silver lining!) would be the rare opportunity to lock myself alone in a pitch dark and quiet room while letting my highly sensitive taste buds go nuts over bits of dark chocolate melting on my tongue... If only all the overly sensitive stuff could be that good!

Soap Box of the Day...

Could someone please tell me why this is OK on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, but on Facebook it is pornographic material? I think someone has their priorities a little screwed up (and it's not Mr. Rogers).

happy sniffles...

OK. So I know that when I'm all hormonal and growing another human being I can cry over toilet paper commercials, but I'm fairly sure this awesome story would have made me bawl even if I wasn't on a baby hormone high.

Quick update...

saying goodbye at the end of R&R

My cousin Julie is officially a "MRS." now! Congrats to her and her Handsome new hubby Jeff! Yay for wedding bells!

My cousin Rachael, who's son Carrick I requested prayer for awhile back, has her beautiful and healthy boy home with her where he belongs now! Thanks so much for your prayers!

My husband was home for R&R in February and tomorrow marks the start of month 12 for this deployment. We are on the downhill slide now! YAY!

OH... and in November we will be adding an R&R souvenir to the family!

Yup... He is strutting around with his chest all puffed out... SO PROUD he "knocked me up" over R&R. Yay, for babies! (Last one for us though, four is a good round number.)

Feeling a little emotional tonight...

Rant of the day OR Obama to remove MD's rights...

Abort73 Graphics / Abort73 Shirts

THIS is officially the first major thing to thoroughly piss me off about the current administration.

Removing the RIGHT of health care workers to refuse to participate in the murder of an unborn child for religious or ethical reasons... That would be like forcing an Orthodox Jew to eat pork or forcing a radical Muslim into a bikini (only worse because to those of us who believe a child is a child even before birth... IT WOULD FORCE SOMEONE TO MURDER ANOTHER HUMAN BEING)!

It seems to be socially unacceptable to force a person to actively participate in activities they do not believe in... unless of course, that person believes that an unborn child is an individual (different DNA than it's mother) and (worse than that) might even be a Christian!

OH SHAME!

Why should it no longer be OK to tell someone that you will not personally help them kill their baby?! There will ALWAYS be "Dr.s" who will be happy to assist in that particular procedure - let's face it:

Abortion is big business in America.

Yet another reason to love boobs...

I have always liked Salma Hayek as an actress and, as an added bonus, I think she is incredibly beautiful. (If I was a guy or not straight and blissfully married, I would SO put her on my people to do list...)

After reading an article on ParentDish about a beautiful and wonderful gift she gave to a mother and her starving child during a UNICEF visit to Sierra Leone in September 2008, Salma Hayek has officially moved to the very top of my favorite celebrities list.

When Wedding Cakes Go WRONG...

And, in honor of my cousin Julie's upcoming wedding I would like to share some wedding cakes posted on Cake Wrecks. To remind her Mom that there ARE worse things out there than a western themed wedding, and to make everyone else gasp/smile and/or giggle while frantically calling their baker to make sure they have a "backup cake" ready in case the original is delivered in less than expected condition.

NICU Flashbacks & Requested Prayers...

Me holding Samantha in NICU 4 1/2 weeks after her birth.

Tonight my heart is broken for my cousin Rachael and her husband Corey. Rachael gave birth to the couple's first child on Wednesday night... two months early. Little Carrick is in NICU, breathing on his own, and from my cousin's brief email description, seems to be a fighter.

Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, they are going to need it.

I can't help but have flash backs to when Samantha was born two months early. I remember so vividly the feeling that, somehow, I had failed my child. I felt betrayed by my own body and angry that there was nothing I could do to make things better. I was terrified of loosing my daughter before I ever really had the chance to know her and I wanted to find a way to protect her from all of the pain that comes along with an extended NICU stay.

Mostly I just felt helpless and confused.

How and why could this happen to us? What could I have done differently to make her enter the world healthy and full term? How did my WHOLE WORLD suddenly shift to dramatically revolve around this tiny piece of me? How is it possible to love someone so small SO much more than I have ever loved anyone, including myself?

My heart is broken for my cousin, not because I think her son will not survive, quite the opposite. My heart is broken because I have been in her shoes, and I know how it feels to be a mother who must watch her child fight for every step, knowing there is nothing you can do except watch, wait, and pray that God will pull you through.