Busy Busy Busy

With the Ava's first birthday and the wedding both rapidly approaching, I've been super busy trying to get things done. That said, I obviously have not been posting new blogs very often but I'm doing my best. It seems that I never have time to stop and take a breath these days so I can't even remember what I've done lately. I have been making notes in my phone's calendar when Ava does something significant so I can mark it on her 1st Year's calendar. So Tuesday, Ava added to her collection of tricks. She's been walking all over the place since she was 9 months old, but only with the help of the couch, tables, or anything else she can grab on. She's also been standing on her own for a while...

but Tuesday, she finally took a step on her own! She's slowly but surely finding her balance and I'm sure within no time she'll be running all over the place. I was really hoping she would walk before her first birthday but that's ok...we'll aim for the wedding now :). Even though she doesn't walk she still manages to get all over the place and into everything. She especially loves to crawl under Trevor's desk when he's playing and behind the vaccum cleaner into the one of the smallest possible places in the apartment. She does however have a new favorite place to play. She has a few baskets from gifts I received for her so I keep her toys in them. Lately, she has been emptying one of the baskets and sitting in it with her aquarium toy. This has happened everyday since last week. Trevor put her in her crib yesterday (8/24) with a different basket of toys and found her a few minutes later inside of that basket.

She cracks us up everyday. So Friday, we had an engagement party to go to about an hour away in Pennsylvania for one of Trevor's childhood friends.

My Mom took Ava for the night but we still left the party fairly early, around 10:30. Trevor and I both had our first drinks in a while because the doctor said I could stop taking that horrible medicine (Cymbalta) since it was clearly making every symptom worse. Saturday morning, Trevor left bright and early to go to New York with his Dad. He bought him tickets to the Phillies/Mets game at the new Mets Stadium so they got an early start and went golfing with Daddy Dan. I got up later and headed over to my Mom's to pick up Ava and ended up hanging out there with my Mom, Stepdad, and stepsister until it was time to go to my Aunt Theresa's house for a BBQ. The weather was terrible - it was ridiculously hot and humid and about to storm constantly. Eventually it did and we all headed inside. Ava, her great Uncle John, and cousin Cole listened to music and watched Cole dance.

Then it was time to go home so we said goodbye to everyone and off we went. Trevor got home around 1 am and it was time for bed. Sunday, I had plans to go to lunch with my friend Nicole. She wanted to take me out for my birthday and we were finally able to get out. We ate at a place called the Corner Bistro in a small town close by. Lunch was pretty good with great company. When I went home, I got Ava's stuff together and the two of us headed out to Babies R Us to get some things for her and then off to my Mom's to pick up some stuff we left the day before. Then, we headed to PF Changs to meet up with the two Katie's for dinner. Again, our meal was delicious and we had great company. I took food home to Trevor because he was home playing all day.

Monday, Trevor let me sleep all day because I was so exhausted. I didn't get myself out of bed until 3 pm :( and then we had to get ready, take Ava to my Aunt's house, and head to Trevor's sister Trinna's house to visit her. At 7, we had a happy hour to attend for Trevor's stepbrother's baseball team. We hung out there until 9 and then headed back to my Aunt's house to pick up Ava. I headed out to the diner with my Aunt and cousin but Trevor wanted to play and Ava's sleep schedule is all screwed up so Lindsey (my cousin) went home with Trevor until we got home. I had to get up early today to greet my sister-in-law and neice because my sister-in-law needed a sitter. I'm pretty sure Ava was not happy with a baby being in the house or she was just mad that I wouldn't let her play with poor little Bella. She's 3 months old and Ava just wants to grab her like she's a doll.

Eventually, we dropped Bella back off with her Mommy and we headed out to run some errands. Trevor won an Outback gift certificate at a golf outing recently so we used that for dinner tonight. We came home and relaxed for the rest of the night and we're heading to bed now. Goodnight!

Annoyed

Picking up where I left off...Sunday Trevor played tournaments all day so eventually I headed over to my Mom's with Ava to look at old pictures. I'm making a slide show of me and Trevor from birth until now for the wedding so I'm trying to gather pictures from our parents. I sat there for hours looking through pictures and all of my memories from school that my Mom held on to. My favorite was a journal I had to write in each day in second grade. My spelling and stories were hilarious...I was hysterically laughing by myself in the nursery my Mom has at her house (she lives in a 4 bedroom house with her boyfriend so she turned one of the empty rooms into a nursey for Ava, my nephew Cole, and neice Bella). It was fun taking a trip down memory lane. When I finally made it through the pictures and picked out the ones I wanted, Ava and I headed to Trevor's Mom's house to help her with her new laptop. We stayed for a bit and she gave me old pictures of Trevor to take home and look through and then we were on our way home. Ava has decided recently that she wants no parts of sleeping when she's at home. Her bedtime is 9 but she won't go to sleep now until 11:30 unless she's staying overnight at one of her grandparents houses. She sleeps 12 hours straight for them (like she used to for us) but at home she wakes up at the butt crack of dawn. But then I look at her little face and I think she can do no wrong :).

Monday, we met up with Trevor's sister Trinna for lunch at Chili's. Then we headed to Target to get some things for Ava and then we were off to Trevor's Dad's because his car was still there. Ava and Trevor stayed there and hung out for a bit while I went to PJ's - the bar I used to work at - to meet up with the 2 Katie's for dinner. I had a salad and it was delicious. I said my goodbyes and headed home. Yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment and then afterwards Trevor's Mom stopped by for a bit. We hung out at home all day. Today, Trevor had plans to go golfing in Brigantine with my uncle and cousin so he left the house early and Ava and I hung out all day. I got a lot of cleaning and laundry done and when he got home we got ready, dropped Ava off at Trevor's Dad's and headed to the Phillies game. We finally sat through a game and won. Cliff Lee was pitching and it was a great game...4 homeruns...fabulous.

So why am I annoyed? As we were coming home, there was a car next to us on the bridge that continuously put its brakes on and was almost coming into our lane. We were watching and I noticed it was a girl driving...shocking. As we drove passed her, I looked over and saw that she had her visor down, mirror open, and was holding the visor inspecting herself while driving...in the dark - not like she could see anything anyway. Why do people (mostly females) insist on checking themselves out while driving like it's no big deal? It irks me to no end when I see people driving like complete tools. And where are the cops when this stuff happens? They're busy pulling over the person doing 28 in a 25. PULL OVER THE IDIOTS THAT ARE SWERVING BECAUSE THEY AREN'T PAYING ATTENTION! I also love when some guy driving his Mercedes or better yet his beat down '80 sports car pulls right up onto my bumper when there's cars all around and nowhere for me to go...that's one of my favorites...and when they start flashing their lights like they own the road and I need to get out of the way. I don't drive like a grandmother but I don't drive 300 mph either. If I had a beater and didn't have a baby in the backseat I would really love to slam on my breaks for morons like that. Another person was driving all over on the way home and as we passed him I saw he was on his cell phone. Is it that hard to wait or put the thing on speaker phone and put it on your lap? I'm sure it was an emergency about what his friends were wearing to the club and how they had their hair spiked that night. Ugh...drives me up a wall...

I'm done ranting for now...but stayed tuned for lots more in the future!

Time Flies

So I've been incredibly busy lately and haven't had time to do an update but here I am finally. I've been working on the invitations for our upcoming wedding and had to get them completed and in the mail by the end of the week (which I did) but only after staying up until 4 am for a week straight. A couple of years ago, that would be normal for me but with an 11 month old running around, it's not the best idea. I can't believe how quickly time is passing...I feel like we were just getting engaged and now we're less than 2 months away from the big day (10/10). I'm really blown away at how fast time moves these days. When Trevor and I started dating, time started flying and now that we have Ava, each day seems to be over in a blink of an eye. It's pretty scary if you stop and think about life and what it has in store for us and how quickly it can be taken away. But that's something I probably shouldn't get into because it will most likely send me into a frenzy...one day I'll talk about it but today is not that day.

With this in mind, last Tuesday, August 11th, marked 2 years since Trevor and I got engaged...2 years! I'll never forget that day...it was my college graduation party. Trevor had it all planned out. We were living in Brigantine at the time and he left early on Friday to head to our hometowns. He said he had to meet up with his sister to help her out with some financial aid stuff but really he was heading to my Dad's work to ask him permission to marry me. Obviously, he said yes of course. We went out that night with some friends and later that night...totally joking and truly oblivious to what was going to happen the next day...I told Trevor that he better not be proposing the next day (oops sorry!) but again I was really totally joking. The only reason I even brought it up was because he knew that I always wanted to be proposed to in front of my family and friends and my graduation party was the perfect time and place. In reality though, I didn't think it was possible for him to have bought a ring since we're always together. The next day at the party, he seemed to be acting totally normal to me (he says he was a total nut all day) and at one point during the party my Dad asked for everyone's attention. He gave a little speech about how proud he was of me for graduating from Drexel and the typical Dad speech (my Dad absolutely does not like talking in front of large groups) and then he called me over to him for a hug. After that, he asked if anyone else had anything they wanted to say and Trevor came up to me out of nowhere (really he was standing to my right but I didn't see him) and said "Jody I think you're the most amazing person in the world and I want to spend the rest of my life with you" and then he got down on one knee and said "Will you marry me?" I was totally shocked but I clearly said yes. After all was said and done, I felt terrible about the night before :( but we laughed about it. It's been a long but great ride leading us up to our wedding day and I absolutely cannot wait for it to be here.

I spent the morning today with my Mom and Ava working on things for the wedding. There's not much left to do which is great but definitely still have some loose ends to tie up. I'm looking forward to everything being finished and relaxing until October 10th. After that, Ava and I headed to the shore to meet up with Trevor and family because they played in a golf outing today. There was so much food when I got there - it was crazy. I ate and we hung out for a bit but it was time to head home. Here I am now...falling asleep as I write. I planned for this blog to be ridiculously long and have the entire story of Trevor and I but I'm just too tired to make any sense so here's what you get...a long blog with lots of run on sentences and my jumbled thoughts on a Saturday night...enjoy...I'll write the next one when I've slept :)

Celebrations

There were a ton of birthday's in July and August brought yet more birthdays to celebrate. August 5th was my nephew Cole's 4th birthday and the 6th was Trevor's best friends sister's. Friday we went out to dinner at Aqua, a Malaysian and Thai restaurant. I try to avoid this restaurant as much as possible because I have a nut allergy and Thai food uses peanuts in a lot of their dishes but Trevor's friends love it there. Everyone was going out afterwards but I was feeling pretty terrible so we decided to just head home. My Mom had Ava for the night so I figured I would go right to bed when we got home but that of course did not happen. I spent the next couple hours working on the wedding invitations some more until I finally went to bed at 2 am.

The next morning, I had to get up early to pick up Ava because my Mom told me several hundred times that she had a lot to do on Saturday. Of course, Ava went to bed right on time at 9 pm for my Mom (lately, this rarely happens at home). When I got home, I had major cleaning to do. I may have mentioned it before but we live in a one bedroom apartment until January when we're buying a house. Living in a one bedroom with a baby is not an easy thing to do - there's stuff everywhere with hardly any room to put anything away. The apartment always looks super cluttered and it makes me insane.

Another unfortunate side of apartment living is workers having to come in and out at the complex's convenience. Our apartment was scheduled on Saturday to have all of the electrical switches and outlets replaced. I assumed it was 1 guy doing the job so I figured I would have time to clean up the last little bit in the bedroom before he made it in there. When the doorbell rang, I opened the door to find 4 guys standing on the other side and they came in and swarmed the friggin place...awesome. When all was said and done, Ava's changing table and our bed were in the middle of the floor and there was the plastic coating to wires all over. Anyone who has babies will know the they love to put anything they can get their hands on in their mouths. Ava has reached this stage and I constantly find her sitting on the floor chewing on something. So far the plastic wire coating hasn't made it into her mouth (that I've seen) but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

Anyway - Trevor and I have partial season tickets to the Phillies and we had a game Saturday night. I decided to stay home because I had a lot to do and also because I knew the game would run past Ava's bedtime and we didn't have a babysitter so I told Trevor to take someone else to the game with him. The plan was to get to work as soon as Ava passed out and all was going well until 20 minutes after I put her in her crib...she woke up. Needless to say I got absolutely nothing done except some laundry because Ava refused to go back to sleep until Trevor got home around 11:30 and even then she kept waking up...not fun especially since we had to get up early Sunday morning to go to church. Now, neither one of us are religious and do not attend church but this was a special occasion. Our niece was baptised today so we obviously needed to be there. The baptism was fairly quick and then afterwards, we went to my brother and sister-in-laws house for the Baptism/Birthday party. My niece Bella and nephew Cole are brother and sister so they just had a combined party to make it easy. The rain came but it went by pretty quickly and the sun came out but it was horribly humid. For most of the day, Ava hung out with my Mom because she would cry if anyone else, including me and Trevor, took her away. Trevor's stay at the party was short lived because he had to get home to play a tournament so he said his goodbyes and off he went. I hung around for a while and then a bad storm came rolling in when I was about to leave so I had to stay way longer than expected. The birthday party had ended by that time and only a few people remained - so it of course was time for the adult party to begin so they all played beer pong. Miss Ava was a super tired little baby because she didn't sleep well last night and didn't take a nap at all so we got ready and said our goodbyes and off we went. She passed right out when we got home but has just woken up as I'm typing this...sigh. This weekend went by fast with nothing too exciting to report but it was fun. I must go rock the child back to sleep now.

On the road again...

Saturday was a pretty relaxed day - I went to Bed Bath and Beyond with Ava and my Mom to finish my wedding registry and later on Trevor, Ava, and I went to Pizzeria Uno's for dinner. By the time my meal came, I was so stuffed from soup and the appetizer, I ate two bites of my meal and wrapped the rest up. Ava spent the dinner flirting with every possible person and making people smile and then we waited about 25 minutes for boxes and the check because our waiter was standing at the table across from ours talking to 2 girls the whole time. At first we didn't mind but after a while it got really annoying. When we got home, our crazy neighbor was on a horn rampage, hitting the button about every 15 seconds. Trevor started to reach his breaking point and said that if he hit it one more time he was calling the cops. He ended up giving him a few more times pretending that he didn't hear it but finally that was it. He called the police and talked to the dispatcher about what was going on (it was almost 11:30 pm at this point) and said he knew they were probably busy but was just wondering what our options were. They sent an officer out who came and talked to us and said after 10 pm it's considered and noise complaint and that he was going to come back another day and tell him to stop and if he didn't that we then would have the option to file a complaint. It must have worked because since then, I've heard his horn maybe once.

Moving on...

Traveling with the baby is not easy - there's so much to pack for her but she's always a trooper. She's 11 month's old and has been to 14 states and has spent a lot of time in Atlantic City. We spent most of June there and then two weeks in Vegas right after. Since then, we've been home but it was back to packing on Sunday for at least two days in AC. Trevor had to leave early Sunday morning to get to AC to play a Borgata tournament so I stayed home with Ava and packed. There's almost nothing I hate more than packing but I now have to pack for 3 people instead of just 1 which makes me want to jump out of the window. Also, trying to pack with Ava terrorizing everything obviously makes it a much more difficult task to accomplish. She wanted no parts of a nap and no parts of being stuck in her crib. I finally had to bribe her with Puffs in her high chair so I could get her to sit still long enough to get things done.

When I finally finished packing and loading the car, I had to meet Trevor's sister Trinna at their Mom's house because she was riding down with me. We were headed to Pleasantville, a town not too far from AC, where Trevor's mom and little sister Emilee were vacationing. I hung out there for a bit since Trevor was playing in the tournament. While we were eating dinner I got a call from him saying he was out and was going to come and hang out for a while before we headed to Harrah's for the night.

The next morning, we headed back to where Trevor's Mom was staying and sat by the pool for a couple hours. It was Ava's first real time in the pool and her raft and she LOVED it. She immediately started kicking her feet like she knew what she was doing (of course she did, she's a genius!). One of our son's, Dan, met us at the hotel for a bit and then Trevor's Mom wanted to take us out to dinner for our birthday's so we got ready and headed to Chickie's and Pete's with the two sisters, Mom, and Dan. Eventually, we headed back to Harrah's leaving Ava behind with her Mom-Mom for the night. Originally, we were supposed to go to mur.mur with Dan, AG, and some of my friends, but the girls decided not to book a room until 2 nights before and couldn't get a free one by then. So they decided to back out and stay home. Instead, the four of us ate a late dinner at the Borgata (the Metro) and went back to Harrah's and played slots. I played for a bit but after hitting the bonus round twice and getting the lowest possible number (20 credits - quarter machine) on the wheel both times, I got frustrated and quit. AG came a long and sat at that same machine and hit bonus round after bonus round for 250 credits, 100 credits, 90 credits and every other great thing he could hit. He turned $20 into about $140 and I wanted to smash the machine. I turned my attention away from him to watch all of the drunk trainwrecks walking through Harrah's with Dan (just to clarify - they were not walking through with Dan, we watched together :)) We spent a good part of the night laughing at everyone until finally we headed over to craps to watch AG for a few minutes and then to Three Card Poker. Then, to finalize the evening, we stopped by the roulette tables so AG and Trevor could lose the rest of their money before retiring for the night. I have to say, this was not the first time I met AG but for some reason, I never noticed how much he talked. After this visit, I realize he really doesn't ever stop talking, regardless of what's happening around him. All night long, someone would be in the midst of talking and AG would just start talking about something else as if the room was silent which certainly made for an entertaining evening. But AG, I still don't like you because you told Ava you hate her.

Tuesday...

We packed up our stuff and headed back to pick up Ava and hang out by the pool for a while. Finally it was time to head back home. We packed up, said goodbye and home we went. Trevor and Ava met up with Trevor's best friends Ton and Raj for dinner but I stayed home and slept because I didn't feel that great. After dinner, we hung around home until it was time to go to bed. The next day, we had some running around to do, so we grabbed lunch at Moe's and then off we went to get things done. I was supposed to have dinner with a friend but I had to cancel because again I wasn't feeling great. I spent most of the night working on invitations for Ava's first birthday party and our wedding. Trevor had an online tournament to play in at 9 so I had to get Ava in bed which is not easy. For some reason, she will not go to bed for me. I've tried and tried but usually cannot get her to go to sleep. I finally got her in bed at 11 pm and then headed off to Arby's to get some food for Trevor and then went back to work on the invites. Today, we had more running around to do and then dinner at 6:30 with Trevor's Dad and Stepmom. Ava again was entertaining everyone with her funny faces and laughter and was, like always, a great baby for the whole dinner. Life is good :)

A short story -

On our way out of the door today, the creepy neighbor was standing right outside of it talking to our other neighbor. Just a quick reminder - he cannot have a conversation without mentioning something about the weather, but always the opposite of what it's like outside. As we started to walk towards the car, he said "Watch out for the snow!" Today was in the 80's and sunny...I can't wait to move...

And the diagnosis is...

Tuesday, July 28th, was my 26th birthday. It seemed like a great day for a doctor's appointment (booo) but it was for a rheumatologist and they are not easy to get appointments with so I took what I could get. We woke up and said our goodbyes to Dan and Luke (Trevor was nice enough to accompany me) and we were off to the doctors. My appointment was set for 11 but I didn't get called back until 12...awesome. Then we sat in the room for another 30 minutes. The doctor apologized and said they were really behind...ya think? So there's a story behind why I had to go to a rheumatologist so here's the reason.

When I was 16 I had blood work done because I was always tired. I mean really ridiculously exhausted for a 16 year old. I would come home from school and take a 2 hour nap and then wake up for a few hours and then go back to bed for the night. The blood work showed I had hypothyroidism so I was put on medication to fix the issue. From then on, I never took my medicine the correct way but somehow my blood work always came back normal and I was still exhausted. A few years ago, I stopped taking the medicine altogether and magically my blood work was still normal. I guess miracles do happen because I had an autoimmune disorder that disappeared on its own. I'm still not convinced I ever had the issue in the first place but who knows. So for 10 years now I've gotten blood test after blood test with no answers as to what causes me to feel so tired (and a whole host of other symptoms too). I've learned to live with it because what choice do I have. So I recently changed doctors hoping she would come up with something. Christmas Eve of 2008 I got a phone call from the doctor's office letting me know my blood work was now showing Lyme Disease...great...Merry Christmas to you too lady. I was treated for that and repeated my blood work and everything looked good so she sent me to the rheumatologist.

Here we are on my birthday going through the standard exam. She felt every joint in my body and asked me a thousand questions about my medical history and my family's as well. Because she was a resident, she wanted to consult with the veteran doctor that was working with her. After a few minutes they both came in and let me know their thoughts. They told me they believe I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It's a relief that I was given diagnosis but it also kind of sucks because CFS is a diagnosis of exclusion because there is no test to determine if you have it or not. Anyway, they told me they want me to do two things: 1) do a sleep study because I wake up constantly throughout the night and 2) take Cymbalta to try to help the CFS. Well, Cymbalta is an anti-depressant so I'm not exactly sure how it's supposed to help my problem but I'm listening to the doctor and taking the medication. Cymbalta can cause liver problems if you drink too much so that is why I'm done drinking altogether while I'm on the medicine.

So far, I haven't had the best experience with the medicine. I feel pretty dizzy and just overall disoriented. Also, I've had a major headache since Tuesday night and it doesn't seem to be getting better and add in the nausea...yeah I don't feel too hot. The pharmacist said these symptoms "SHOULD" be fine so that's comforting (that's sarcasm in case anyone didn't pick up on it). I've been told the side effects should subside in about a week so I'm really hoping they do or I'll just go back to living everyday with no energy and deal with it. It would just be nice to have the energy of a 26 year old instead of a 90 year old. After all, I have a baby and a poker playing, traveling fiance to keep up with. :)

So back to the happy stuff. After the doctor, (which took 2 hours total) we went home and I, of course, napped but not before I got a text from Luke. He said Farrah sent him a text that said she was back home while he was sitting in the airport waiting for his flight :( no good. A little later, an old friend, Alicia, and her fiance came over. I haven't seen her since Ava was 1 week old (she'll be 11 months on August 3). It was good to see her and catch up and hopefully, we'll keep our friendship going this time. We were best friends since 7th grade and lived together a couple years ago but we went in separate directions. Dinner plans were set for 8 pm at Applebee's with Alicia and her fiance Joe, Trevor, me, Ava, and Katie P, and Katie K, my friends from PJ's. Dinner was fun and by the time we were done, we were all tired and ready for bed.

Wednesday, we had plans to head up to visit one of Trevor's college friends. I decided to stay home because I had just started taking the medicine and felt horrible. So Trevor and Ava went up without me and had a good time. Ava sat on the sand for the first time and Trevor said she seemed indifferent. Like always, she was super happy all day. She really is the best baby.

On Thursday, we had a lot of running around to do so Trevor's sister Trinna came over and played with Ava so we could get things done. We came home and hung around for a bit and then Ava and I went to Target. She decided that sitting in the seat of the cart was not going to cut it so she kept turning around and standing up. It made for a fun trip around the store. The only way I could get her to sit was to give her my cell phone which he would crack up over and then get bored and throw it on the ground. But she had me laughing so it was fine...she can obviously do no wrong :).

Today, we hung around all day and both Ava and I got 2 hour naps. Some pretty bad storms hit us that knocked down some trees and a lot of tree branches all over the area. We had a Beef and Beer to go to tonight for Trevor's step brother's baseball team and when we arrived, we realized there was no power in the fire hall. So no lights or AC...not fun. We were all sweating and sitting my candlelight but the DJ was nice enough to run his equipment off of his car battery so we at least had something to listen to. Trevor bought about $40 worth of Chinese Auction tickets, 50/50's and whatever else they had but won nothing. Poor Ava went in with straight hair and left with curls all over her head - but it looked adorable. Finally, it was over and we were on our way home, but not before making a quick stop at Taco Bell - my first visit there in over a year probably. Now, I'm exhausted and ready for bed where Trevor already retired to. Hopefully this medicine starts working soon instead of making it worse.