willandadri.com

we’re up to wrapping up lots of projects that have been on the books for way too long.  sometimes you just look at things and you think – well, we can do that next weekend – or, let’s put that on the back burner – or, we really just don’t have time for that right now.  well, the time to wrap up all of those things on barnhill is now.  i’d been working on the dining room since before will’s surgery, and it got pushed to the back burner for a long time.  however – proud to report – as of today – it is done!

we hope to be doing a lot more of these little piddly projects that we’ve been putting off.  as we prepare to file adoption papers in december we have come to the conclusion that our time to lounge about is just about over.  our focus has shifted.  will imed me this afternoon to tell me all of the chores he was going to work on when he got home.  the crazy thing is that we are both excited to be on this band wagon because we know that the more stuff we get out of the way, the easier it will be for us to feel 100% comfortable when we file papers.

i realize that this blog post has sort of spilled into a crossover of the topics that are generally on www.willandadrifindbabies.blogspot.com– there has to be a point when they become one.  i’ve started to wonder lately just when that will happen, and the more i write, the more i realize that our lives are all about our excitement for the baby that will soon be in our future, and the plans to get that baby into our home.  you know when you are truly ready to parent – when every thought you have is centered around the love of your child.

will and i are there.

new report just came out from us news & world reports that johns hopkins baltimore is the number 1 hospital in the country.  so glad we are going there in august for will’s follow up appointment.

US  News and World Report

the bump has been gone for weeks now, and will is headache and pain free.  we really never dreamed that all of his chiari symptoms would be diminished within 4 months of the surgery.  although will’s neurosurgeon said he’d only ever seen the lump happen to one other patient, he did tell us that the other patient’s lump went away in 60 days.  it was funny that i reminded will on day 60 that his lump was also gone.  maybe it just takes some people longer to heal.

we’ll see what dr. weingart has to say, and hopefully we’ll be closing the door on this chapter.

so, if you are following our other blog – you already know i am a sobbing cry baby lately.  however, i might just be able to blame it on venus.  don’t some people think that all of your hormones and stuff are tied into the phases of the moon and all of that stuff?  yes?  no?  well, whatever – that is what i am going with.

last night while we were enjoying our steak dinner, our wine, and our movie – i looked out the window and noticed how gorgeous the moon was in the sunset sky.  i begged will to go grab my camera and he kindly obliged.  i snapped some shots so that everyone could see.  then, as i threw open the window to view the moon a bit better i noticed something else hanging out in the sky just to the right of the moon.  i zoomed in and snapped some photos.  i was pretty happy with the detail my little camera caught of venus last night.

we’ve been waiting for rain for weeks now.  finally – last night – on the roof i heard a down pour.  by the time i ran to the office, grabbed my camera, and made it to the front door, all that was left was a measly drizzle.  drat!  still – it brought out the frogs, which we eternally love as our outdoor pets.  our plants enjoyed the mist of rain, but we still have only one baby infant tomato and nothing else exciting going on in our screened in porch garden.

now that i am less groggy i can remember something really great that happened this weekend!

yesterday husband and i went to the post office to mail caleb’s b-day giftie and picked up the painting i ordered off etsy several weeks ago from portugal.

i am living a dream of having a house full of original art work.  it’s something that my aunt pat (an amazing artist herself) always had, and i hope to one day have too. 

a few weeks ago, i went on etsy and just ordered a couple of pieces that i’d saved in my favorites pile.  they were not expensive, and mean a lot more to me than a couple trips out to eat.  super excited to have them gracing the walls of this place.  i smile and sing to them everytime i pass them.

here is the portrait from portugal:

yawn – stretch – must – have – more – coffee

will’s busily working on job #2 and the church website this afternoon.  however, i have been completely useless.  after church we went to saffron (indian in morrisville) and i got a bad case of the sleepies.  i feel asleep before we were on 540 back to wf.  i came home, did not even let the dogs out of their crates, and fell back asleep again.  i just woke up.  i figured if i did not drag my lazy butt out of bed i would never be able to sleep tonight.  so – here i sit blasting adam lambert (whataya want from me) and chugging what is left of this morning’s pot of coffee.  hopefully i can stay awake until regular bed time now.

yesterday we had fully intended to go to the beach and catch some sun, some waves, and some relaxation.  however, our plans were derailed by the weather forecast which was calling for 60% chance of rain off and on all day.  instead we stayed in town and met kathy and mark at the bowling alley where will mopped the floor with us.  it seems his time away from bowling did not hurt his abilities at all.  he input his name as “zipper” in honor of being a zipper head, and of course i had to then be “dee doo dah” – go figure.  however, even on his coattails, i could not do any damage to those pins.  after bowling we all headed back over to the house where we played wii games.  kathy was an expert at winter sports and took us all in figure skating.  after the final awards ceremony we watched “the hangover”.  it was great to have a full two hours of full on belly laughter.  fun indeed.

this morning we got up and will made the coffee while i prepared our breakfast.  the doggies decided they deserved something nice too, so we got them some of their zucchini treats that we picked up for them at the farmer’s market yesterday.  they declared them delicious, so i guess we will have to get some more next weekend.  now i will have to hit the internet for more adoption research.  darla kay (at church) reminded us today that God will lead us to the right agency.  i am sure she is right, and i feel like we are on the right path.  hopefully we will get there soon.

okay, so its probably not cool to toot your own horn, but i think this is pretty noteworthy.

as most of you know, will and i are yelpaholics.  for those of you who do not know what yelp is, you best get out there and go to: www.yelp.com and check it out.

i recently got an email from the marketing team at a new restaurant that i recently reviewed in wake forest that they’d like to use my photos and yelp review for their website.  they are offering me a free meal for compensation, so it looks like my “yelparazzi” tendencies might finally be paying off.

below are the screenshots from the website, and here is the link to the restaurant’s page:

http://www.girasoletrattoria.com/

july 4th is will’s busiest time of work every year, so i usually make my own plans to be out of town at smith mountain lake visiting with the folks and granny c.  this year was a little different.  lori phoned me about a week before the holiday and told me that she and chris would be heading down to lake gaston, nc to hang out with chris’ uncle.  since lake gaston is only about an hour from my house, i decided i’d switch up my holiday routine and head out to see her and chris this past saturday.  i then coaxed mom and dad into coming to visit and bringing granny, since dad was having a meeting in raleigh on tuesday.  everything worked out better than we could have planned, and i even got mom and granny over to the airport to see lori and chris yesterday before they flew back to chi town.

lori and i had a great time at the lake and really got to spend some time catching up, talking about our adoption research, and catching some sun burn.  mom thought she had a trick for us to take two aspirin before going in the sun (and when combined with sunblock this would prevent sun burn), however after taking the aspirin lori and i both ended up with the worst sun burns of the group.  go figure.  either way, we had fun chatting and relaxing on the dock.  later on saturday night we all piled into the boat and headed out for fireworks on the lake.  we had a great time bobbing up and down in the boat trying to keep our heads pointed in the direction of the fireworks display.  lori even recited a memorized speech from 4th grade, while others shared their singing skills.  fireworks on the lake were followed by the great sparkler extravaganza.  no 4th of july festivities can be complete without them.  after this, chris’ uncle tom set off some amazing fireworks of his own.  we all had a really great time relaxing on the deck after the show.

sunday morning i got up and had a late breakfast (when these people have a meal, they really have a meal.  for example, breakfast on sunday included juevos rancheros and bananas foster.) with lori, chris, and chris’ family before heading back to wfto meet up with mom, dad, and granny.  they arrived in time for a potty break and then we headed over to meet will in time to see fireworks.  we’d planned to go to the nc art museum grounds to see the show, but they’d blocked it off so we ended up in a parking lot across the street.  however, everything worked out just fine and we had our little pic nic right there on the grass.  everyone enjoyed the grapes, cherries, popcorn, peanuts, and fireworks.  after the show, we headed out to forage for a real dinner.  everyone was closed, so we ended up at the ihop.  will and dad feasted on all you can eat pancakes, and we had a good time with our waiter.  granny was thrilled she could eat off of the kids menu for $4.

monday was a shopping day.  since mom’s surgery, she’d been practicing walking longer distances and doing well getting in and out of the car, and really getting around much better than she ever was before the surgery.  we made all of her favorite stops and she and dad got new shoes at kohl’s and some new things for the house at home goods.  everyone enjoyed relaxing on the screened in porch and watching the sunset each evening.  granny said she felt like we kept the house too “cool”, so we constantly found her out there, or up in her room with the vent closed.  this morning granny decided she felt “useless” so she wanted to clean the windows.  i try to keep the house pretty clean, but never does it cross my mind to clean windows, so i since i did not want to deprive granny of a feeling of worth, i let her go ahead and clean all of the windows.  go granny go!

while their visit was too short, it was certainly great to see everyone in this whirl wind week!  we had a great time catching up, hanging out, and spending time with each other!

Yea yea yea I know I haven’t posted in a while.  Life has been a bit hectic lately which in a way is both good and bad.  It is very tiring but also refreshing that things are slowly but surely returning to “normal” (whatever that means).

So I was reminded that last Sunday was my 2 month anniversary of the date of my surgery.  It is surreal … in some ways it seems like very long ago and in some ways just like yesterday.  It is still difficult to believe someone can heal so much in a matter of a couple of months.

I am slowly but surely getting my energy back.  I was even able to do some yard work for an hour or so the other evening.  Work still both mentally and physically exhausts me but it is getting better.  When I first started back I practically collapsed into bed each day just resting, feeling like I had just come from an intense workout.  It is much better now.  I can come home and do a few chores before collapsing.

Now the weird part is that I am exhausted from all of this but have had serious issues with sleep.  For whatever reason I just cannot seem to fall asleep.  I am constantly restless tossing and turning all night trying to find that magic sweet spot that will calm me down and put me to sleep.  I used to simply take 2 benedryl and that would relax me enough to allow me to sleep fairly quickly.  No such luck anymore.  I have tried unisom, natural sleep aids, etc and so far the only relief has been from a combination of one unisom and four benedryl.

The great news is that I am hoping the leak has healed.  The lump has not made an appearance for about 4 days now and when it did the week before that it was very infrequent and much smaller than before.  We scheduled an appointment at John’s Hopkins on 8/3 when the lump was in full force.  Our hope is that when we see Dr. Weingart it will simply be a confirmation of our hopes and that everything will be okay.

So until next week it is YET and hardware migration time. Working 12 hour shifts for 24×7 coverage until July 12.  Won’t get on here much before then I reckon but hopefully I will be more diligent with keeping this updated once I do.