BEST.NIGHT.EVER

Meet my TWIN. He's my other half. I love this guy. We have too much fun together. We're what you call TROUBLE! (don't worry...we behaved) He flew out just to take me out for OUR birthday. (okay, that's only partly true) We went to the CHOP HOUSE. It was DELISH!

This is me standing on tippy toes and him crouching down 3 feet so that we could meet somewhere in the middle. That's what happens when you're
twins with a giant.

mmm...440z. of pure goodness. WHAT? I need the iron... Just kidding, I shared with Ben...just a little.
He even bought me dessert. He's generous like that! My favorite BENs in the WHOLE WORLD!!! Saying goodbye...
Thanks for the fabulous night Ben, I miss you already!

IN THE ARMS OF HIS LOVE

Today Steve gave me this gift.
He cried when he first saw it.
He knew I needed to have it.
He was right.
I cried too.

Caption: In the Arms of His Love

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Today is "Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberence Day"

I thought this gift perfect for this day.

Link: http://www.october15th.com/

FRIENDS

When I arrived in the PICU with Ben yesterday, THIS is what I saw...

A BIG blow-up thingy,
along with THIS and THAT! A big THANK YOU to all my PICU PEEPS! :)

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WAIT...there's more...

The day I came home from my "emergency D&C", this arrived in the mail...

(I LOVE you Kristen!)

and this arrived on my doorstep...

(thanks Lynne)
I feel blessed to have so many good people in my life. They say it takes a village to raise a child...well,

it takes a whole lot more to raise ME!:)

Thanks (from the bottom of my heart) to all those who love me, pray for me and keep my spirits lifted.

I LOVE you guys!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!

Join us, won't you?

For a Birthday Celebration.

We're 35!

So kick up your HEELS,

Dance a JIG,

Sing a SONG,

Pull your shorts up HIGH,

Eat some CAKE,
Make some FUNNY FACES,

and Send along some birthday wishes.

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How are YOU spending OUR birthday?

(Ben's Blog)

SUFFERING

"The cavity which suffering carves into our souls will one day be the receptacle of joy."

Neil A. Maxwell

TODAY

Did I say I was laughing about my latest drama? Today I'm not. In fact, I've been a bit weepy. Not sure why. Probably those darn hormones. Maybe it's because I'm in pain. Could be that this latest surgery is another reminder of what I've lost. Possibly my pain meds have worn off. All I know is that today I'm not feeling so well. Good thing I have that pint of Ben and Jerry's in my freezer. Thank you for being there Ben, you always know how to make things better Jerry. For that...my heart (and stomach) thanks you.

SERIOUSLY?

Hello my husband, goodbye my husband

(saw him for 15 min. since arriving home Tuesday night)

I really didn't just fall off the face of the earth. I promise you were not left hanging from this continued DRAMA in my life intentionally. You can check back over at Ben's blog for the "rest of the story" (as Paul Harvey would say). Why the delay? Well...I've been incapcitated for the last 48 hours or so. While up at Dartmouth I failed to mention that I too needed to be seen because I was hemorrhaging. They did blood work, gave me an exam and then sent me home because my blood work looked good and there was no sign of infection, etc. Both Ben and I got home from the hospital around 11pm and we both went right to bed. Around 1am I woke up covered in blood. I changed and went right back to bed because I was so tired. Again I woke up an hour later covered in blood again. This time I called my doc. and again she assured me that my blood work looked really good and that I should just keep an eye on things over the next couple of hours or so. Well, things continued to progress and the hemorrhaging seemed to be picking up. At 5am I called her back and she told me to go to the ER. I woke Steve and off we went. By 8am I was told that I needed an emergency D&C due to the continued bleeding. I wanted to be transferred up to Dartmouth but realized that I was too medically fragile to travel 1 1/2 hours away due to the hemorrhaging. They performed the D&C around 9am and kept me overnight because I had lost so much blood and my hematocrit went from 38 to 26 overnight. I had also developed a fever and needed oxygen for some time after the procedure. I arrived home today around noon. Apparently my life hasn't seen enough drama.:) So now I get to recover from yet another procedure for the next few days or so.

Hoo-rah!

OFF TO DARTMOUTH...

I'm off to Dartmouth because Ben's left arm is really swollen - worried about a possible clot. They want him up there now. It might require a hospitalization depending on what they find. I will update from Ben's blog, you can access it by clicking on his picture on the right hand sidebar. Please keep him in your prayers...I'll be in touch.

KALEB'S HEARING

Last week I took Kaleb back to Dartmouth for a hearing test. He was routinely getting these every 3 months or so. Remember that he had surgery back in December of 2007 to fix his hearing problem, but according to his hearing results 3 months after the surgery there was no improvement. We were sad, but happy that Kaleb could finally hear well with his new hearing aid. He's been doing well with it, wore it faithfully to school everyday. I know that it has helped him improve in his daily work. Well...at this latest hearing test we found out that Kaleb's hearing is now within normal limits. We were all shocked. Nobody expected this, not even his own mother. My jaw was on the floor. Their only theory is that his body must have taken longer to heal than normal. My theory? Maybe all that wrestling with his dad knocked things back into place. Whatever the reason we are thrilled! He will have to hold on to his hearing aid "just in case" for about a year. He'll continue to have hearing tests every 3 months and as long as things are stable, he'll be able to donate his hearing aid to their hearing bank. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

ANGELS ON THIS SIDE OF THE VEIL

...Remember the quote about angels from my previous post? Well today I'm going to elaborate a little more on that subject.

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"Not all angels are from the other side of the veil"

(Elder Holland)

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Let me tell you about two of these angels. Their names are Al and Ricky. They own "Al's Auto Shop" in town. They fix my car....a LOT! They never charge me. Okay they do charge me...in cinnamon rolls. They are committed to keeping my car up and running so that I always have transportation for Ben. They LOVE Ben. I LOVE them. Need I remind you of my brake troubles from this past weekend? Well today I brought my car to Al's. It was in the shop all morning. It came out with a new brake line, an oil change, studded snow tires for the upcoming winter (they take care of me like that), a new inspection sticker and rotated tires. I came out with a bill for

...cinnamon rolls.

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Guess what I'm making tonight?