I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend full of relaxation and time spent with their family & friends :)

... now it's time to get back to the grind!

weekend

It's a hot and humid weekend, but I'm happy to be home with my kids.
We've had a lot of fun: playing outside, playing inside, painting, rough-housing, running, cuddling and just relaxing...

Things haven't all been roses however. My father-in-law is still fighting hard with his own heart issues. Josh is having a tough time dealing with this. It's hard to imagine. I don't think I could imagine being in his shoes. It's hard and it's not fair, and it's life and that doesn't make it any better.

But all we can do is be positive and 'keep on swimming' through this world with the hope that it will all work out and everything will be right and okay once again, whatever that means.



And I just found out that my new neighbor is an old friend from high school! What an amazingly strange and small world we live in!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.

Love to all,
moi

Looking up

It's a been a great few weeks.
My new job starts in August. August 23rd to be exact. And the speech pathologist who works with me in my current classroom had requested to be transferred to this new site... and she'll be starting in August too! We're going to start up the new intensive-needs group there. I AM SO EXCITED!

My health had seemed to be unchanging and for awhile I was slightly worried because I was getting some terrible chest pains and my shortness of breath had increased...

but on Friday I went to my cardiologist and my pulse rate, though fast, was stable!!!

The beta blockers are working!

So now we're playing the waiting game.

Now that my arrhythmia has decreased, will my heart function increase?

We'll know in July.

Can't wait.

Oh.... and in June, we're going to Disney World!!!!!!!!!

I GOT IT!!!

Remember the job fair I went to?
And the wonderful site I wanted to work at?

Well, I had my second interview for that specific position today and....

I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's 15 minutes from my house. Right now I'm commuting about 50 minutes each way.

I know about 40% of the staff already and my soon-to-be new boss seems really GREAT!!!

And so tomorrow I will 'break the news' to Hitler--er, I mean, my soon-to-be-former boss... and then I will proceed to do the HAPPY DANCE at my desk :)

August 23rd never sounded so good.

:) :) :) :) :)

This Mother's Day morning was spent at Sugarloaf Mountain with my two wonderful children and my wonderful husband.

It was chilly, but perfect.

Afterwards, we went home and turned into energizer bunnies trying to get ready for the evenings' dinner with the moms.

I think it turned out well.

We'll see, I guess LOL The day is not over!!! LOL

Mother's Day stress

Mother's Day is supposed to be a day of remembering and being thankful for moms. It should be relaxing.

But here I am, the evening before Mother's Day, feeling as if my chest is about to explode.

Why, you ask?

Because I want it to be perfect; but at the same time I don't want us to start the summer financially tight (being a teacher, the summers can be very tight).

Last Mother's Day was a treat. Josh and the kids took me to my favorite art museum in DC, and then we took our moms to Normandie Farms...which was beyond overpriced, but nice.

We can't top that. Not this year.

But when it was suggested that we do something low-key... like just visiting each mother and giving them their present... I knew it wouldn't fly. I knew it.

Even if it meant spending some special quality time with each mother and sharing a cake or something like that (hell, I would be fine with that).

I knew it wouldn't fly.

I was right.

Of course my mother-in-law was fine with it. Or so she said at least. My mother sounded disappointed, but didn't say anything.

Nope. My father called. Of course. And told me exactly what he thought about it.

"Just one day a year to THANK her for ALL SHE DOES and you plan WHAT???"

Thanks for understanding, Dad. Really, like I don't feel like shit as it is, thank you.

So now we are doing a barbecue at our house, and I need to play hostess and we need to buy pink napkins and pink plates and get flowers and clean the house and we need to figure out a menu and then a dessert... and should there be music in the background or not? We need to go to the grocery store and make everything perfect.

Because it's one day out of the year to PROVE YOUR WORTH, right? Every other day of saying "Thank you" and "I love you" and "You're awesome, you know that?" that all means shit obviously because Hallmark says so.

It has to be THIS ONE DAY and it has to be SOOOOO SPECIAL because if not, then you are an ungrateful shit.

Thanks, commercialism, you rock. Thank you so much for adding more stress to our daily life. I couldn't have survived without you.

So here I am just trying to breath and wondering if this is what a heart attack feels like because I keep blacking out, and wondering how can I make tomorrow BE SPECIAL. Because obviously going to their house and saying it and giving them a present and a hug and a kiss and telling him how special they are... well, it means nothing without the bling.

And of course I'm sure I'll hear about the present too. "What, no jewelry?"

Thankfully, it's only once a year.

For Evan

one of Julius' T-Ball teammates:

Flocks of Love


He is a sweet and courageous little boy.

The napping house

It's quiet today.

Josh and Julius are at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Julius and his T-Ball team will be part of the parade before the baseball game this afternoon. He's so excited!

I wish I could be there as well, but I haven't been able to deal with the heat... and it's HOT!!! It's too hot to breathe and well, heat and a heart condition don't really mix.

And I know my cardiologist is still grasping/holding to the idea that this cardiomyopathy is postpartum...but really, I'm pretty sure (after reading up on it) that I would be dead by now if that were the case.

I'm leaning towards "I caught a virus and it attacked my heart." So either I recover, or I don't. We'll know in six months.

So right now the house is quiet. Isabella is taking a nap, and I'm sitting beside her on the computer typing away... I could probably clean the house, but why bother?

It'll just get messy again. LOL

I can't wait for summer vacation. I think we're going to go to Disney World. Surprisingly, it's less expensive than Toronto, and I think the kids will have a lot more fun anyways.

Maybe next year we'll do Toronto. That way, both kids will be older and we could relax more and be a 'tourist' with ease :)