Snow Day, Sick Day

This past week has been a fun, crazy, week..My 26th birthday was on Tuesday, and I was thoroughly spoiled by my husband and family, including sticky buns for breakfast, chimichangas for dinner, and pecan pie for my "cake". Gotta love having a husband and mom who are both great cooks! Adam got me a very cool lens (he spoils me...it's a Af-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4g, for those of you who know or care...) and just generally always does what he can to surprise and celebrate me...dinner with the whole family and games made it a great day. And it started to snow!!

Early Wednesday morning, while the snow was still pretty easy to navigateI've always wanted it to snow on my birthday, but generally it waits to Halloween. So I enjoyed my little birthday present from God--which turned into a massive snowstorm and 2 snowdays for everyone but CSU up here! we got at least 2 feet of snow...when Pax was tromping through the snow Tuesday afternoon, it came up to the bottom of his coat-and kept falling all night. So fun!! He LOVED the snow, loved catching snowflakes on his tounge and making snowballs to throw, and just generally had a blast! Yesterday afternoon, however, he came down with a nasty cough, so our plans to trick-or-treat downtown this morning with some other moms + kiddos were cancelled. Bummer. Mama's going a little stir crazy, but coughs and 20 degree weather just don't mix,...so we went to get coffee. Adam's first class got canceled, so he came with us for a nice, snowy morning treat. Now we're home, watching Veggie Tales...I know my kid feels junky when he doesn't even want to play with his trains. Poor buddy...he sounds like a very congested, barking seal. Ahh, the beginning of cold season! Hopefully he'll be up to a bit of trick-or -treating tommorow night!

I did it.

It's official...I bought a website and am working on it as we speak. Someday soon, y'all will be able to be at the unveiling of SunflowerEyes Photography...the website. This is seriously the rebirth of a dream I've had since 5th grade...and it's so so so cool to see how God has brought this dream back to life this past summer! But. You must wait. Because, well, this website thing takes time to make perfect. In the meantime, I have pictures to post. Little P turned 2 on the 2nd of October...he was so excited! I made him a train cake (at least HE knew it was a train!) he got train tracks, and trains, and a baseball and bat, and was basically in little boy heaven. This kid knows (and will tell you!) the names of ALL the Thomas and Friends characters...not that we let him watch it all the time, the kid just has his Daddy's memory for names. and faces. It's pretty amazing, actually; he knows them before I do most of the time! I have a post to do about this little one's visit with her family....and another about this brand-new sweetie...and another about my two favorite guys...

...and another about the most dramatic wedding I have ever been a part of. and I've been part of a lot! But life is busy, so for now...littleDude's birthday! Enjoy!

Woah...I get cake! and ice cream!uuuhhh...Daddy, I'm trying to eat here.

Marathon Man

My husband ran a marathon last weekend (September 20th, 2009). You don't get to say that very often...at least, I don't. This was his first one...possibly his last! So I thought it deserved a blog. He's wanted to do this for about 2 years...talked about it, thought about it, researched different marathons...finally, we were in a situation where he could do it. I.E., not working at a church where those few Sundays off just can't be used for a marathon! So, right after we moved up here, he signed up for the Boulder Marathon and began to train. He ran, and ran, and ran...finally, September came. We popped Pax out of bed, left while it was still dark outside, and drove to the Boulder reservoir for the 8 o'clock start. Adam was excited, ready, and off! With about 1500 other marathoners or relay marathoners. We waved as he ran by, and then Pax and I had a fun morning going potty in the port-o-potties (I thought most kids were scared to go in the port-o-potties?? I'm pretty sure Pax peed about 7 times that morning...JUST SO he could go in them!). Ok, so that's not ALL we did...Pax ended up in his diaper playing in the reservoir with a little girl and some dogs, getting muddy, exploring the "woods", playing in the car, eating, and watching and waiting in the HOT sun for Adam to finish. And he did it! We cheered him on the last 1/8th of a mile, and he finished in 4 hrs, 20 minutes..I'm so proud of him! I know I could not have done what he did. It was great watching him start, watching him finish, cheering for him, supporting him throughout it all-my husband is now part of an elite group of people who have run an entire marathon. He said it's the hardest thing he's ever done. Now we're just trying to figure out why people do more than one...or two...or run Ironmans (100 miles!!)...but...hip, hip, Hooray for Marathon Man!!

My God is so GREAT...

...so strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do! This has been running through my head for the past few hours...with the hand motions (ahh...the joys of teaching preschoolers! hand motions to EVERYTHING...right, Jinny??). I just have to tell you this awesome story, but it'll take some background, so hang on. It's good.
For those who don't know, my sister Erica died 7 years ago last June (no, that's not the good part. duh.). It was very sudden, about a month after I finished high school; she was 24 and super healthy. What we DIDN"T know was that she also had a genetic clotting factor called hyperhomosystemia. It causes your body to make more homosystine than it usually would; if your levels are too high, you get blood clots. Combined with the birth control pills she took for bad cramps, it caused a blood clot in her leg which broke off and went straight to her heart. She died very quickly..it was devastating. After the fact, we were all tested for the gene-I have it, my mom has it, my brother has it, my dad has it. Double whammy in the genetic pool. So. What does this mean? I take prenatals all the time, whether preggo or not, because they contain the right mix of B-6, B-12 and folic acid to keep my homosystine levels at a safe range naturally, no drugs needed. Too high=blood clots, too low=too much bleeding. When I became pregnant with Pax, I became adamant about trying to control my levels naturally as long as I could (pregnancy alone has a greater risk for clotting, and we weren't sure what my risks for miscarriage would be with this disorder). I have a good friend with the same blood issues; her doctor immediately put her on blood-thinners for her entire pregnancy (which involved a needle every day...yucky). My doc was great about it, let me take the pre-natals plus extra B-6, B-12, and folic acid, and tested my blood levels each month. They went up a bit, but stayed in the safe range and I was able to control my homosystine levels naturally throughout my whole pregnancy. So, this time, same thing, new doc...and I prayed. I prayed that not only would my levels stay low and to not have to do shots, but that God would somehow REMOVE this issue from my DNA. See, I know my God can do cool stuff like that. I started on the extra pills, and after my first blood test....my doctor thought I had LOW homosystine issues because of the numbers. I stopped taking the extra pills, just to see what happened (too low is bad, too). They stayed low. After my Doc visit today...THEY ARE STILL LOW!! My doctor actually called them "remarkably low", as in, "I don't know why they are so good...with this factor they should have at least gone up a little." But MY GOD!! He has the power to create worlds, calm storms, and change DNA! Now, I haven't gotten a new genetic screen yet...but I believe my all-powerful God is working to heal my body; I see the proof in the numbers, the doctor is surprised...and I know that my God cares enough for me as His child that He listens to my prayers and answers them. Even in things that seem too big (or to small?) to be possible. Won't you celebrate with me?? It shouldn't be like this. I shouldn't be able to stop all the vitamins and keep my numbers low...especially when pregnant. Last time it took extra supplements just to keep them in a healthy range. But My God is so Great!!! And my numbers are "remarkably low!!" (see? told ya it was worth the read!)