OUR 1st SOLDIER SHOW

Nathyn and I attended our first Soldier Show last night and we had a blast! It's a 90 minute concert [for FREE] full of singing and dancing and fun! Nathyn was being really shy at first, but eventually he got into and was clapping and semi-dancing. Terry has been working late, and will for another week and a half or so, so he wasn't able to come. But we had lots of sun anyways.

The U.S. Army Soldier Show is a highly integrated, high-energy ensemble production, offering a wide range of popular music and stage spectacle to Soldiers and Family on Army Garrisons world wide. It's a show for soldiers, by soldiers! Wanna read more about the 2010 US Army Soldier Show? Click here!

Hopefully this is a show we'll be able to catch every year!

DO I OR DON'T I...?

...have PCOS?

Like we all know my PCM (doctor) diagnosed me with PCOS a few weeks ago and referred me off to OB/GYN for further treatment. I saw the patient liaison at the health clinic and booked an appointment with a German doctor. I saw her Monday, 17 May.

The wait was WAY longer than I would have liked, little over an hour. Kegan does not wait well. I was finally called in and was seated at a desk in an office.. weird. And then began the questions...

[I'm in the italics]
When was the last time you were on birth control? June 2004.
Do you have any children? One boy, 4 years old in June.
Oh, so you do ovulate! How long were you OFF BC before falling pregnant? Uhm, June 04 until Nov 06. Sooo... 18 months?
Wow, that's a long time! How much do you weigh? About xxx pounds. [Sorry, not sharing LOL]
REALLY? Wow... really? That's a lot! Uh, yeah, I know.

There were more questions; who diagnosed you with PCOS? What made them think that you have PCOS? [I answered]. That doesn't sound like PCOS to me. I don't think you have PCOS. You need to get an ultrasound, go sit in the hallway and I'll call you again.

In the hall I was talking with Terry. "Great. Now I have to book an appointment for ultrasound, and Lord knows how long that's gonna take. Then I have to wait for results, come back for another appointment so we're pretty much starting all over again. This is SO frustrating. I don't like this doctor, we should just leave, LET'S GO." The doctor called for me again.

Ok, so I was jumping the gun a little bit. It would definitely be an understatement to say I'm becoming quite frustrated with the whole situation. Maybe we're not supposed to have more kids... Maybe there's a reason behind all of this? Maybe we should just give it a rest and forget about it.

We walked into a second room where the doctor was waiting. I was definitely surprised to see what? An ultrasound cart. "Please step behind the wall and get undressed and come to the table." Thank God I came prepared with a long shirt. I changed and came to the table. She checked me out quite thoroughly and said everything looked fine, then began the ultrasound. She was very descriptive! She let me watch the screen as she pointed out each my right ovary and fallopian tube, my uterus and a pocket of fluid that she said represented that my right ovary had previously ovulated. WTF? Then what are we doing wrong? Then she proceeded to my left ovary and showed me "the cyst". The stupid cyst that put me in surgery in September. It's back.

When I went in for surgery in September the cyst was not removed, but rather cut into and drained. Had he removed it I would have lost my whole fallopian tube and ovary. Because he knew Terry and I wanted more children, he decided not to lesson our chances. But had he just taken it, I wouldn't have to have surgery again. Ugh! At that time is a little larger than 7 centimeters. Right now it's about 4 centimeters. Crap. Another surgery, I just know it. This sucks!

Dr. Mueller (my German OB/GYN) says that it's possible for this cyst to go away on it's own with my next menstruation. However, that menstruation is going on 3 weeks late according to the schedule I've been on since September's surgery. Aunt Flow was MIA for 6 months prior to that. This could be a long wait. So, as it stands, this is the plan:

- Finish the next 3 weeks of Metformin, repeat lab work, then discontinue taking it.
- Wait for menstruation.
- When menstruation occurs, call Dr. Mueller's office and make an appointment.
- During this appointment she will repeat the ultrasound to see if the cyst has gone or if it still rears it's ugly head. Depending on the cyst situation, we will take one of two paths.

1. If the cyst had flushed itself away with my menstruation then we can start Clomid. [Don't know what Clomid is? Click here.] Obviously this is the ideal situation.

2. If the cyst is still there I will be scheduled for surgery. I'm really hoping at this point that this doctor is comfortable enough to perform a laproscopic surgery instead of slicing me wide open. My last doctor did, but was a little hesitant because I'm obviously on the hefty side.

So, now we wait. We wait for three weeks to pass. Then we wait again for Aunt Flow to visit. I've never WANTED a period so bad in my life! Hopefully it doesn't take forever. What if it does? What if I go 6 months again? We are on a big of a time schedule. I don't want to wait YEARS. I'm panicking.

Ok, that is all for now. Suppose there will be another update in a couple months. Nothing more I can say for now. :(

*sigh*

NATHYN'S 4 YEAR PICTURES

His birthday isn't until next month, but it's close enough. Plus, this was a special they were advertising in the PX where they were doing portraits for one day only. I absolutely adore how they turned out!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Sweatin' to the Oldies

with Daddy, Nathyn & Uncle Eric

RIDING 'ROUND IN GERMANY!

Went on a loooong drive today, 4 hours to be exact. My friend Bryant drove so I could take some pictures. It was fun, good company, and quite relaxing. Hooray for last minute road trips to no where!

Roads between the towns.

Driving through a town. All the small ones look the same. =)
"She thinks my tractors sexy..."

The steeples in the towns are my favorite.

Open fields and windmills. Breath taking!

Not sure what town this was, but it's definitely a bigger one.

Another shot of the same town.

I think the German houses are so pretty!

"Here is the church, here is the steeple..."

I have no idea where this little road went to. But it was cute!

Terry loves the yellow flowers. <3

This is the CUTEST cow EVER! It was talking to me.

You know you wish your gas prices looked like this! But, it's in EURO and it's per liter, not per gallon. So really, it's not cheaper. Tricked me when I first got here though.

Now that I have a car, I'm hoping we get lots of little driving trips in like this so I can get MORE and MORE pictures. We didn't stop to take any, I just took these from the passenger seat while my friend drove. We had lots of fun though. Hope you enjoyed them. :)

FIELD TRAINING PICTURES

Yay! Terry brought home pictures from when he was in the field. I forgot all about them until now. Enjoy!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Even the BUGS in Germany are beautiful!

COOKING WITH BUBBA - BREAD PUDDING

Nathyn asked me if we can bake a cake together the other day, but we don't have any cake mix. So I improvised and looked up a recipe for bread pudding!

Nathyn had lots of fun ripping apart 7 pieces of bread and putting them in the pan. I'm pretty sure he only sneaked a bite or two. We don't have white bread so we used our 100% Whole Wheat with added Fiber bread. Still just as delicious. Then he topped the bread with approximately 1/2 cup of raisins [2 toddler handfuls]. Another 1/2 cup went directly into his mouth. =)While he did that I measured out two cups of milk, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and cracked three large eggs into a cup. He added each cup to the large bowl and I mixed it up with my hand mixer.

Then we poured that mixture over the bread. Nathyn used a large spoon to push the bread down to make sure it was completely soaked.After we were sure all the bread was coated we baked it in the oven at 350* F for 45 minutes. After it cooled for just a few minutes we dished it up. It was SOOOO yummy! Definitely a comfort food and perfect for chilly weather. Only thing that would have made it any better? A dollop of Cool Whip.
You should try it too! It's so simple and yummy! What's your favorite simple and delicious treat? Nathyn and I are taking suggestions for our next project!


P.S. Today is Lily's 8th Birthday! =)
Here's her 4 years ago & her today. She's so old!

PIZZA!

How super fun was this? Terry and I made home-made pizza!

Ok, well, semi-homemade. We cheated and used this dough & pizza sauce...

Then we added cheese, pepperoni, fresh sliced mushrooms and jalapeno olives!

Needless to say we are incredibly impatient, and not to mention particularly hungry on this day, so we didn't let the dough "rise" as long as we were supposed to. Didn't matter to us! We were starvin'! 15 minutes in the oven and out came some über deliciousness!! YUM!I felt SO much better eating this than ordering delivery. It was fast, easy and very inexpensive. And my favorite part? It didn't come out super greasy! YAY! And it's something super fun for Nathyn to take a part in as well. Perhaps we'll have to schedule in a pizza family fun night every couple of weeks.

NIGHT TIME TALKS

Me: I really want to get highlights in my hair again, so I feel like it's worth doing. It's so boring right now.

Terry: Then go get your hair done, Babe.

Me: Honey, you can't give me the world, ya know.

Terry: Yeah, but I can try.


And then we went to sleep. I love this man. =)

NATHYN FREE...

...is the way to be!

Or so I thought. I got a sitter yesterday for about 4 hours. It's only the 3rd time since I've been here that I've been without him. 1st two were for a doctors appointment and then the day I took my driving test. My reason for getting a sitter today? Just cuz... =)

Terry will be home very soon [hey army, thanks for the horrible scheduling job, total dislike] so I wanted some time alone to CLEAN and get the house nice and fresh for him. I definitely didn't get as much done as I had planned, but the few hours alone was worth it! I watched a movie [The Lovely Bones = love!] and folded like 8 loads of laundry and cleaned our room. Then I cleaned Nathyn's room and got it looking decent!
I super cleaned the bathroom, too. For some reason that's my favorite to clean. I clean it when it doesn't even appear to be dirty. Hooray for disinfecting! haha
But that's pretty much all I accomplished. I COULD have done more, but I enjoyed my time. I definitely missed Nathyn and called for him to be brought home, even though the sitter said to take my time! I couldn't help it!

Nathyn and I are excited to have Daddy home again! He knows he's coming so there won't be any big surprise this time. It's actually quite beneficial for me though, because now he's been extra "tareful" to keep the house clean for Daddy. =) He's such a good boy!

Mister "Is it time to go to school yet" has been working in a phonics book the last few days. He really likes it, so hopefully he takes this attitude with him to school. I've been helping him when he asks, and he likes doing the activities with me. I'm thinking that maybe I'll pull a page or two out and sit and do them with him everyday. I know he'd love it!
I've also been thinking lately that I might want to get a job. Like, a REAL actual factual job. Right now I'm babysitting, and have kids a good 5 days a week so I'm making my own money. But I want to have a schedule. I want to wake up early, take Nathyn to school and go to work. There are quite a few entry level positions open here on post. I won't be applying yet as I'm going to wait until Nathyn and Bre [the little girl I have 4-5 days a week] start preschool and see about them both getting into full day care. Not for sure yet, just a thought.

In the next few days Terry will be finishing up his loan paperwork to get a car! HOORAY! Finally! Now that I have my license I'm going to be DRILLING him with the book until we're confident he'll pass with flying colors. I'm actually thinking about making some flash cards.. hmmm. So yeah, I'm definitely hoping everything with that goes according to plan!

That is all for now. Gonna go shower, switch laundry, take the dogs potty, feed the rabbits and clean the kitchen. It's all never-ending, right? =)