It's Been Awhile.....

For anyone still following my blog, are you lost??? :) I stopped blogging a couple of years ago once Blogspot stopped allowing me to add new photos. I thought, "What's the point if I can't continue adding photos?" Well, I decided to play around with it today, and to my surprise, it allowed me to add a new photo (it was a test run, so I deleted it once I saw that it took). So...here we are! I'm not sure how often I'll be able to post...our lives haven't calmed down one bit since I last posted. In fact, it's probably even a little bit busier. :) No babies for us, but maybe in the future, we'll look into adoption. It's just too risky for me at this point, with my age and double clotting disorders with the history of having actual clots already. We find it would be best if I were to remain alive and helpful if and when we bring a new child into our lives. Just sayin'. :)

Anyway, the kids are doing well. Growing like weeds. Kyle is just as tall as Jim, and AJ and I can wear the same clothes (for now). :) We've gained and lost another dog, Jim's foot has remained about the same, and we're both still working at our same jobs. We're still in the same house, though we would like to build a one-level home in the near future, if at all possible. Our current house has flooded several times, forcing us to re-demo the basement twice now. It is still under construction, and that was our final straw. It's leak-free now, but still too much for me to deal with, and we would like a stair-less home for Jim. This was never our "forever home," so we're just bumping up the date for when we will be building that. We hope, anyway. Lots of changes within our family, but we're still all here and we're still busy as ever. AJ is playing basketball and Jim and I are coaching. Still dances, too. I was taking dance classes, but they've closed. :( Kyle is still playing football and made varsity swimming his freshman year. :) Now that the holidays are over, I hope to get some work done on this house and plan to get it on the market in the spring.

I'll do my best to keep up with the blog. Best wishes to you all!

Here's a recent picture of us.

Recents...

Jacobs women workin' the sidelines! (Jim and I were "medical support" and AJ was the "Water Girl.")

At Vala's Pumpkin Patch...obviously the coolest family there!

We showed up separately (they were at their mother's that day) wearing matching t-shirts...unplanned! lol

After Game pic. Water Girl and Medical Support always ready to serve the players! :) Don't look at our hair...it was windy!

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Clearblue Easy Fertility Monitor

Yes, I started using it...finally! The first one I'd purchased died all of a sudden, and the second never made it to my house, despite showing that it had been "delivered," USPS can't prove WHERE it was delivered. Nice. They told me that I must have received it and wasn't aware. Yeah...I must have mixed it up with my bills or the socks I purchased for X-Mas for AJ. My bad. WHAT? Anyway, I finally forked over the money and bought another. :) So far, it's only shown moderate and high fertility, but no peak yet. I've only been using it for a couple of weeks, so I'm hoping it's just learning my body. We will see. I'm excited to have started using it, but getting anxious since our house isn't ready yet. We still have to work on insurance and figure out what will work best with my meds that I will need. I will (hopefully) start Neevo sometime early next year. I want to have it in for a few months prior to ttc, which is what perinatology suggested, as well. Here's hopin'!

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Getting Back On Track..

My deepest apologizes for not keeping this up-to-date. :( Our house has been CRAZY! With the kids back in school, AJ starting her dance classes again, and Kyle playing football, we've had hardly any time to breathe! Jim's foot has become much worse, and there wasn't much (in my eyes) being done, other than medications that weren't helping. So, I decided to start my own research. Literally. I printed probably over 100 pages of studies and such, grabbed highlighters and went to town. We sat at Buffalo Wild Wings for hours and just read them over, highlighting what we found interesting or potentially helpful. It was somewhat depressing, I suppose...neither of us had really dug that deep into his condition. I've always been so focused on my medical health, I've never had time to even think about his. Since he has many doctors on his case, many of whom he trusts, I never felt the need to intervene...until recently. I found a (very) few studies on Ketamine and the results of patients with RSD/CRPS afterwards. To me, it sounded pretty good....though not guaranteed. I also found a couple of studies on HBOT therapy. I quickly notified Jim of my findings, and he forwarded the information to his medical team. Since then, it's been an uphill battle trying to get the approval for the Ketamine drip to happen...not only does it HAVE to be through the VA (as Jim's injury is service-connected), but it must be approved as a treatment altogether. :( Since it's been taking some time to gain approval, and Jim is getting worse every day, I began researching other facilities who specialize in this treatment. I found a couple in the US that I was impressed with, one of which is in Florida. My plan (for now) is to (somehow by a miracle) get Jim to Florida for treatment IF we cannot gain the approval for it to happen here in Omaha. I hope it doesn't come to that, but when we discussed it (happened to be on my birthday, which is the one day of the year I absolutely DREAD), I saw tears in that man's eyes (for the third time in my life). To me, that was gut-wrenching. I PROMISED him that I would get him to Florida if all else fails. I will take out credit cards, do fundraisers, whatever it takes. We've been (trying) to work extra here and there to help with MY medical bills and the house......and we're (kinda) failing at that...so I will need to come up with a better plan. For now, we are trying to focus on his treatment being here. While we do love Florida and miss it very much, we would rather do this closer to home, as it is a very big deal. I recently talked with Jim about trying to journal or blog about his diagnosis and treatments. I find it (kind of) funny that my blog went from wedding planning, to house remodeling, to ttc, to medical issues that are keeping us from ttc. I am proud to say that he recently started his own blog, which is a HUGE step for him. If you could, please check it out and support him, even if you really aren't interested in his diagnosis. If you are interested enough in me and you're on my blog, you should be interested in Jim, as he IS my husband, best friend, rock. 

Jim's Blog

 Anyway, with all of this going on, I've been doing better until just the last couple of weeks...starting to get headaches daily again, however, I think it may be due to the insane Nebraska weather, i.e. 70 degrees today, 30 degrees tomorrow. Just sayin'. :) We have done SOME work on the house, though not nearly as much as I would have liked. We were stopped due to the bathtub leaking into the garage...I found the ceiling falling the the floor one day. Seriously. So...that was about a week's worth of labor. :) Meanwhile, I refinished all of the doorknobs in the house, which was a HUGE pain in the butt! The paint would NOT stick, so it took forever! Lesson learned. I've also started to sand and re-stain the window frame in Kyle's (future) room....Jim finished the closet and made a rack for his clothes, so I started staining those, as well. I'm beginning to think about doing the baseboards, and I HATE them throughout the house, and buying new is soooo expensive. Not sure yet. Next is pulling up the baseboards and carpet and putting up the wall, then painting. For my birthday, I asked for a Home Depot card to help us get some things done around here. :) ahahahaha These are some pictures of the things I just mentioned.I also recently changed our mailbox. As you can see, our old one was HIDEOUS, not to mention the condo of many, many ants that would crawl all over our mail. We clean, sprayed, and shook that mailbox, but they always came back. We found a used one for a few bucks, so I quickly bought some glitter paint and texturizing paint and went to town. :) Jim jokes that that mailbox is for the home of Edward, the sparkly vampire. :)

Bye bye, old mailbox!

Covered with some kitchen wrap. :)

Mod podge did NOT work with this, so I just sprayed a sealant instead.

Covered some of the numbers, but you get the idea. :) So sparkly!

For Kyle's closet!

Working on the ceiling. :(

Meanwhile, I had my own projects on the other side of the garage.

Kids helping Dad with the ceiling.

More trim. :)

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Happy Halloween!

AJ wanted to be a zombie cheerleader, so we made it work. :) I'd found this top and skirt on clearance last year, and since her other household didn't have her do it last year, I promised her we would make it happen this year. Bought a cheap makeup kit at the dollar store, wore a long-sleeve shirt underneath, wore "bloody" stockings and some jewelry pieces were added. I'd found the pom poms on ebay for a couple of bucks, otherwise I was going to make them. She decided to have fake blood last minute, so we dabbed that on, as well. lol As for the adults (Kyle decided that last year was his last trick-or-treating year, so he didn't get dressed up, but AJ begged me to dress up with her), for those of you who know me, I'm a HUGE Alien fan. I had the Ripley idea in my head all year. I found some cargo pants at Target in the little boy's section (laugh now, go ahead), suspenders on ebay, and my "My-41A Pulse Rifle" (ha) from Spirit Halloween with a coupon. I had to use a belt from Kyle around my waist to complete my look, and one from Jim for a strap on the gun. I was really wanting to get some Reeboks, but since it was just for a costume, I wore my white Under Armour shoes instead. I found Jim's "chest-bursting" shirt on ebay. It all worked out.

Ready to hit some front porches!

Garage of Terror...an annual event created by a couple of great friends!

"They mostly come at night....mostly...."

Kyle's 12th Birthday!

Well, it wasn't "ideal," but we ended up having a late (intimate) party. Since SOMEBODY wouldn't cooperate with our schedule, we weren't able to have a party that included everyone, so we just had close family and his friends after school. Kyle was so stoked to get his own tablet...now he doesn't have to hog the laptop anymore! (Although AJ still does at times)

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Would Somebody Tell Me What The Eff Is Going On?

So, I finally spoke with my perinatologist's nursing coordinator last week. I asked questions about the Heparin and labs, since the others nurses in the clinic couldn't answer my questions. Now, I know that Heparin is very unstable, unlike Lovenox. There is a risk of developing what is known as "HIT," or Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. For those of us that work in the medical field, when you hear "HIT," you think, "Oh, SHIT!" In other words, it ain't good. :) So, with that in mind, I was discussing my concerns with the nursing coordinator. She said that we would NOT be doing weekly OR bi-weekly labs; they would only be done with each dose change (i.e. every trimester). Um, what?! A.) That is NOT what I was told in the first place by YOUR staff. B.) That is just plain effing stupid. C.) That is effing SCARY! I mentioned this to a couple of staff that I have worked with in hematology, and THEY found it to be preposterous, as well! Trust me, I would MUCH RATHER be on Lovenox, but given the cost difference, I don't think we can afford it, at least not with this insurance that we currently have. However, I WAS thinking that, with the labs that I would be getting (or so I thought), the cost may be a wash in the long-run. Now, it's not looking that way. :( The only other thing I can think of doing is calling my hematologist (VOID help me), and see what his opinion is on the matter. Perhaps I would get labs done through him instead?! Here's a nice journal article I'd ran across on HIT, in case anyone is interested! Enjoy! 


Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia 
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Just Keep Drinking...

So, with my exciting history, I have a tendency to dehydrate very easily and very quickly. It's been a couple of years (knock on wood) since I've ended up hospitalized for fluids, and I don't miss it. I've learned to catch it and reverse it fast. However, that wouldn't be the best idea while being pregnant...heck...it's just a bad idea anyway! I am one of those people that hates water. It gives me a tummy-ache, and I easily go days/weeks without drinking water. On top of that, I'm NEVER thirsty, so I don't drink much of anything in the first place. Well, I fell pretty ill in the matter of about 8 hours the other day. I thought I felt it coming, but I realized I was dizzy and having a hard time concentrating. Whoops. I tried and tried to get fluids in, but I was too late. Luckily, I didn't end up needing the ER or hospital. I did see someone at my work, and they helped me get the right things before I got worse. Thankfully, I was feeling better that day. It's ironic, though...last week before all of this, I was at Walgreens and saw this cute water bottle on sale for $2.50. I bought it and measured (realistic for me) amounts and wrote the goal times on the bottle. I only did times for the days I work, since those are my most "fluid-depleted" days of the week. I was in a class and noticed that I'd surpassed my goal by hours, so I took a pic to prove it to Jim. lol 

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Our Honeymoon Seashells!

I've still got a few truckloads of wedding/honeymoon keepsakes that I need to go through, but we'd intended on keeping the seashells that we'd collected while on our honeymoon in Florida. Problem was, we didn't have any ideas! So, they they stayed in the beach bag. I came up with the idea of using that with a map of where we were in Florida. Jim suggested that we use our beach picture (on the windiest day of that week) and put the shells around it. I knew they wouldn't fit in a regular frame, so I used one of the leftover shadowboxes from when I made AJ's ballet shadowbox, since it came as a set of 3. We tried to "swirl" them around our photo, but that didn't work. So, I glued them with super glue around the picture and used leftover black cardstock from our wedding. I double-sided taped the picture on beforehand. One of the shells got stuck to my finger and broke, so we had to glue it back together. :( Anyway, here it is! (Another bad iPhone pic. Sorry!)

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Decisions, Decisions...

Neevo DHA

Retail:
$298.47 (We pay $74.62) for a 90-day supply

Mail-Order:
$277.17 (We pay $69.29) for a 90-day supply

Okay, so that's not TOO bad....but I would have to supplement with 3mg more of Folic Acid...at least that's what my perinatologist recommended.  I don't know how much that is, but I doubt it's very high.

Heparin

This is a bit more tricky, as I would have different doses for each trimester. He said 5,000 units for the first, 7,500 for the second, and 10,000 for the third. I would need two doses, one every twelve hours. They also said that I would need more lab draws at least bi-weekly, if not weekly with Heparin vs. Lovenox, though they couldn't give me an explanation as to why. Anyway, trying to price Heparin on the insurance website is a bitch, and when Jim called the company to infer about the prices and doses, they were quite confused. They told him it would be somewhere around $10 a month, but I don't buy that, since the first lady he'd talked to said Lovenox would be $16 a month, then someone else said that it was $16 per injection (just a little over). Uh huh. Heparin is a bit more dangerous and has more side effects, from what I've read....so I'm not sure on what to do. I want what's best for my well-being, as well as the baby's. If anyone has had experience with Heparin or both, please let me know your thoughts and experiences! I would love to hear about the differences.

Here's a chart I'd found regarding Neevo DHA, which kinda sums it up. I found it on the Neevo DHA Website

The mutation C677T makes it so that the body cannot fully process folic acid. L-methylfolate, which is the active form, is available through Neevo DHA, which decreases the chances of homocysteine levels increases. However, my perinatologist said that I would still require additional folic acid. Since discovering this little prenatal vitamin, I'd found that MANY women, some of whom have at least one of the mutations, are not covered with insurance for this and had to pay 100%, which is VERY expensive. I'm glad that it isn't TOO bad for me, however, the Lovenox would be a deal-breaker. I don't feel like planning my own funeral anytime soon....so I'm still pretty irritated with the insurance companies right now. Hopefully we will find a better suited one for us next year and we can start planning more. :S


EDIT:
Here's my original post with the Lovenox prices...just to give you an idea if you didn't already see it...

"So, I looked into the prices for Lovenox. This is the quote I received from the insurance company:

Mail-Order:
Brand-$3084.26
Generic-$2523.29

Retail:
Brand-$3073.33
Generic-$2462.50

These are for 3-month supplies. Out-of-pocket for us would be $600, no matter what. Gah!"
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Please Remove Your Shoes Sign

I'd seen something similar on..you guessed it...PINTEREST! I HATE stained carpet (though I should try to get used to it, what with two dogs, two cats, two kids, and a man, right?), but we do make a habit of removing our shoes. However, not everyone sees us in socks or barefoot when they come over, nor do they notice the pile of shoes nicely displayed on the rug RIGHT NEXT to the front door prior to the stairs coming into the house. SO, when I saw cute little signs, I decided that I had to have one. This was quite simple, however, I couldn't place it where I originally had intended, as the wall wasn't quite as wide as I thought. I was at Michael's (shocker) and found these frames in the clearance rack (it said $1, but somehow it rang up at .75....no complaints here!), some $1 ribbon, and I had bought some orange scrapbooking paper for the frame...HOWEVER, I was exhausted and messed up, so I was going to buy some more this week, but remembered that I had A TON of paw print paper left, which I'd used for Oscar's big shadowbox, AJ's Mom and Me book, and our "barf bag container" in my car. lol It matches our orange and green walls, so I figured, what the hell. Mod Podge and made a pic of AJ and me after her first pedi blue-ish. I copied lettering from a font online. I tried to trace it, but the paper was too dark, so I had to free-hand it, then went over it with a Sharpie pen. Mod Podge again. I took a furniture touch-up pen to the lighter wood color to make it match our decor. Drilled small holes into the top to thread in the ribbon. The "hangers" were a PITA to find. It's not at all what I'd envisioned, but it works. They're actually little letter "G's," but I'd flipped them. I had to take a permanent marker to them, as all of them were pretty torn up at Michael's. Whatever works. There ya have it!

Coloring kinda sucks...It was taken from my iPhone. Sorry!

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Doggie Cookies!

I get so annoyed with the prices of pet treats, ESPECIALLY dog treats. My dogs don't even chew the small treats, let alone taste them! Since Sam had known food allergies as a puppy, I've always been skeptical about home-making anything for him. Now that he's older and we've tested a few different foods treats that we KNEW he'd had reactions to before, I know what he can and can't tolerate. (Go figure, I pick the dog with health issues. Apple, Tree....?!) I'd found a bunch of recipes online, but so many of them called for either off-the-wall ingredients that I wasn't about to purchase (or knew I couldn't find), OR they called for garlic (dogs shouldn't have garlic) or corn, which is one of his triggers. So...after much searching, I'd found a handful of recipes I wanted to try. I was planning on doing a couple of them, but I didn't realize that we were out of a couple of things I thought we'd had, and we only go to the store every 2 weeks after payday (except for essentials that run out, i.e. milk). So, I planned on making these cookies I'd seen that sounded simple. I'd bought cute dog cookie cutters at Michael's a while back, but hadn't used them yet. I didn't use one of them with these, but I did use the bones, dogs, and paw prints. I chose to leave out the dog houses. The only thing we struggled to find was carob, which I'd been searching for for months. Last weekend, I thought, what if a "health food store" had it, since it's "vegan?" We went to Whole Foods and found carob chips in with the bulk items that you bag yourself. WOOHOO! However, it was somewhat pricey. The only issue I had with making these nummies was, I'd microwaved the chips after baking the cookies, as the recipe said to, BUT it turned really thick and oily...almost like molasses, but worse. It wouldn't stick to the cookies. I'd wasted a whole cup of those babies. :( Jim melted them on the stove over boiling water, and that worked MUCH better. The pups LOVED them. It was funny...as I was making them (they STINK, btw. If you're a nurse, you know what I'm talking about when I say that the fragrance of molasses made my stomach roll. haha), they were sitting patiently right behind me and under my feet, which they don't usually do when I'm baking or cooking, unless something was dropped on the floor. They gobbled these up! I just stuck them in a big ziplock bag....I'm not sure on the proper storage. I suppose they should go in the fridge or freezer at some point if not eaten soon. I don't see that happening with our mutts. :) P.S. It didn't make as many as I thought it might, BUT I may have made them a little thick. Not sure.

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Front Door Sign

So, this wasn't that complicated, but took some time, considering we had to go to Kinko's to get it printed out, as it was bigger than what our NEW printer could handle. :( Anyway, I'd seen many different "No Soliciting, Don't Bug Me About Jesus" signs online, but I couldn't find one that had EVERYTHING I wanted to be said on it. So, Rachel decided to make one. :) I got this wooden plaque on sale at Michael's. We bought picture frame hooks and some pretty ribbon selections that we can change out. I'd never used Mod Podge, and was planning on just making some at home, but with our rockin' coupons, I decided to buy some outdoor Mod Podge anyway. So, here ya go! The only bad thing that happened was some Mod Podge leaked to the bottom and DID NOT dry clear, but otherwise, it's just dandy. :)

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AJ Won 2nd Place!

I'm so proud of her! She stayed up SUPER LATE working hard on this. She even busted out her beloved glitter glues and used them almost completely, just for this! She was kind of sad that she didn't win, but the person that DID win was (we believe) written in an adult's handwriting. BUT...she goes to a big school with a large student body, so I'm impressed that the NEW GIRL got second place out of EVERYONE. Way to go, Girl!

(Yes, I blocked out her school name again. There isn't really black streaks all over her poster. :) )
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FINALLY Getting Some Work Done Downstairs!

In preparation of an addition to the family (human, NOT another four-legged, furry friend!), we need another bedroom. We would wait and work on it later, but since I'm very high-risk and having to be SUPER DUPER careful, not to mention the extreme possibility of me being on bedrest for much of my pregnancy, PLUS the high chance that I'll deliver early, we have been forced to start everything BEFORE conception. Kyle will be moving into the BRAND NEW bedroom that we are building in the basement, AJ will move it Kyle's BIGGER room with the BIGGER closet (which she's not looking forward to at all...not planning her new walls, decor, or anything, nope), and the nursery will be AJ's old room. We'd purchased some drywall and other things for the basement, but just haven't had time, what with work, school, his football and music, her dance classes, Jim's foot causing us more grief than ever, etc. We finally got to moving on it last week. Jim's been working hard down there. I keep offering help, but he denies the need. I think he just needs some "man time." Hence, why I've been working on all these crafts...for one, to get them out of the damn way, since they're taking up space in the basement, which is where we need more space, and for two, just to get shit organized and done before I'm indisposed of and unable to work on anything except ROM to prevent DVT's while on bedrest. :S (maybe, maybe not..but I'd rather just have shit done, just in case. Plus, I'm sure I'll fall even more behind once there's a baby in this house. Just sayin'.) :) Here, he's working on insulating the "gutted fireplace" that was there when we bought our house. Fun times!

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So...I Have This Obsession...

Or maybe I just want to get all of this crap out of boxes in the basement and on display?! Here's my wedding shadowbox I made. I wanted my bridal bouquet in there, but I knew it wouldn't fit. I also wanted my ring pillow, but again, too big. I did manage to get Jim's flower, my hairpiece, garter, hankies, and Jim's shooter of Captain that was part of his wedding gifts from me. I wanted an inside AND outside look at our handmade invitations, so I made that happen, as well as our coloring book, program, and STD magnets we handmade. The petals are some that were actually on the aisle runner, which AJ was diligent about picking up. :) I also threw in our vows that we carried that day. Of course, I wanted an actual printout of our ceremony, the song list printout, DVD, rehearsal dinner card (front and back), and our keepsake certificate, but that would be too much and too big of a box. I guess I'll have to figure out what to do with the rest of our stuff....one day. :)

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Bridal Bouquet is FINALLY on Display!

Since it wouldn't fit in a shadowbox, I was frustrated on how to display my gorgeous, handmade bridal bouquet. As I was walking through Michael's for something unrelated, I saw doll stands. Perfect!!! I did have to twist-tie one of the stems to make it stand up straight, but that was it! Simple and cheap!

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Lovenox Stings!!!!

So, I looked into the prices for Lovenox. This is the quote I received from the insurance company:

Mail-Order:
Brand-$3084.26
Generic-$2523.29

Retail:
Brand-$3073.33
Generic-$2462.50

These are for 3-month supplies. Out-of-pocket for us would be $600, no matter what. Gah!

Bake-Sale Blues

Jim and I have been working hard to help out the school with the bake sale. Since we both work a lot and our weekend is pretty packed, we had to bake our items this week. We were up until almost 1am one day, and I was up again until midnight the next night...and we both had to work during the day! (Remember, I get up at 5am and work until around 8pm...so don't judge!) Anyway, here's what we made!

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