Ideal Day of Work

Today we only had 10 surgeries at my work. We normally have 35-40 plus all the labs that come in so we stay pretty busy. My coworkers and I decided that we needed to celebrate this extremely slow day so we all brought treats to share. The picture above says it all. It was a pretty good day. I am, however, ready for my sugar coma nap.

Speak Up Sonny!

I just wanted to tell you about my random hearing issues. Like 3 years ago I was cleaning out my ear with a Qtip and I think I went a little overboard in my right ear. I kind of love the feeling of scratching your ear with a Qtip and I must have gone a little too far or something because all the sudden it was plugged. I thought I'd be able to unplug it right away but no such luck. It stayed plugged for a day or so and then unplugged itself but for 3 years everytime I laid on my right side it would plug again. I kind of got a system down where I knew how to unplug it after I woke up so one night it plugged while I was laying on our couch so I did my usual to get it to unplug. It wasn't having it. It was plugged all night and I was going crazy. That was a Saturday. It was plugged all Sunday and I thought I was going to lose my mind. I knew I needed to stop trying to unplug it because I was just irritating it more but I couldn't stop bugging it. So I stopped touching it Sunday afternoon. It was plugged until Thursday night. Can you talk about torture? I'm pretty sure we all take our hearing for granted. At work I had to keep asking patients "I'm sorry what?" I got several dirty looks probably because I would turn my head to the right so I could hear with my left ear. Who knows what they thought I was doing. I'm sure I looked like an idiot. Thursday night I had just showered and was about to go to bed. I had had a towel around my hair so it had been over my ear also. When I shook my hair out I stuck my finger in my ear for just a second and kind of snapped it upward to get the water out and whatever and my ear unplugged. I held my breath thinking it was just going to replug itself and I wanted to enjoy the 10 seconds I had. When it didn't replug I yelled "DAVID!" He was sitting right outside our bathroom at the computer so there was no need to yell but I was so excited I couldn't stand it. When I heard my own voice I scared myself with how loud I was. All the sudden I was so thrown off. Sound was loud and kind of echoing. I felt like I had just gotten hearing for the first time. The sound of my toothbrush and the water in the sink was blowing my mind. I wondered if in 5 days I had just really become accustomed to only being able to hear out one ear or what but I think I've figured it out. My ear doesn't plug anymore when I lay on my right side. I have no idea what I did but I guess for 3 years my ear was always kind of plugged. When it unplugged that glorious Thursday night it like completely unplugged. It took a couple days for me to get used to hearing with 2 ears, seriously! haha It also made me wonder how many people I had been screaming at because I realized how freaking loud I am. Sorry if I screamed at you in the last 3 years without knowing it, I didn't know what I was doing :]

Reservation Rewards

So I'm having trouble sleeping next to my snoring husband so I thought I'd share a little story about Reservation Rewards. Never heard of them? Me either, until I realized they've been charging my credit card for almost 3 years. Ok ok here's the story...

I bought a skirt online back in March of 2008. I can't even remember what the name of the store I bought it from was. I was looking for a certain type of skirt and couldn't find one so this website was a recommendation from a lady I worked with. I vaguely VAGUELY remember something when I was checking out about Reservation Rewards. I was at work and didn't go through and read it all (my first mistake) but I didn't really care about RR, I just wanted my new white skirt I'd just bought. So I received my skirt and I started receiving emails from RR. They were just promotion looking things, I ignored and deleted all of them. (my second mistake) David and I check our credit card statement online every month to make sure there are no funny charges, no duplicate anything, nothing we didn't buy on there. Never noticed anything out of the ordinary but we normally look for any high charges, assuming that if someone did steal our credit card number or something they'd go for the whole enchilada. (our third mistake) Finally in Jan David asked me what I had bought online from someplace for 10$. I said nothing! I haven't bought anything online for a long time. We looked it up together and saw that it was a company called Reservation Rewards. I recognized the name from all those annoying emails I had received. We went to their website and found out what they're about. Its a company that you pay 10$ to MONTHLY and they give you great coupons and deals to places all over. You earn points or something with them and you can redeem your points for the coups. We quickly went back to our credit card statements and realized that they have been charging us 10$ every month since March 08. WHAT! How could I be so stupid. I never personally gave them my credit card info, never signed up intentionally, but apparently when I bought the skirt online I had simultaneously signed up for RR. We discovered this on a Friday night and stewed about it all weekend because we couldn't contact the company until Monday. David called them Monday and pretty much lit them on fire. They had very outdated info for us, we had never set up our account on their website until Friday, we had never redeemed any points, AND (the most important one) they had been charging an expired credit card since Dec 09. They automatically refunded 4 months of our money and then sent me an email with a form to send in to get more money back. As a side note, how many calls do they get like that for their policy to be an automatic 4 month refund? My goodness. So I printed out this form hoping for a spot to list all the ways they had wronged me but it gives you options you choose from on why you deserve your money back. One of their options, and obviously the one we picked was, I didn't know I signed up for Reservation Rewards. So I sent this form in and waited to hear back. I thought maybe they would just refund the amount they had charged since Dec 09 when the card had expired but I wondered how much of a hard time they would give us. David was full on ready to fight but then I got an email. It stated they would be refunding us for every month since March 08. I couldn't believe it. Obviously this company is sketch because somehow (and I'm sure it was my fault too) I got signed up for this without knowing it and they must get these requests a lot since on their refund form one of the four options is I didn't sign up for this but I am extremely impressed and grateful to be getting a full refund. I know this story makes me look like a total idiot but just like I said in my blog the other day, I'm learning constantly lately. Lots of good life lessons. I can say for sure, this will never happen to me again!

Oh, Valentines Day

David and I are not the biggest V-day celebrators. Its...ok but I don't know why I need to appreciate my love for him on just Feb 14th. If you go out its nothing but a crowded headache and I have enough holidays that I have to think of what to get David so I appreciate days off where I don't have to get another creative gift. For the last 5 years David has gotten me flowers and (my fav) chocolate covered strawberries. I told him this year to not worry about it. We're saving money and I know you love me so its ok. All day I kind of hoped I'd get some chocolate covered strawberries though :] When I got home from work David came waltzing in early with flowers, chocolate covered strawberries, and a very sweet card. Even though I told him not to get me anything and even though I think Valentines is over-rated I loved reading his love note to me and I LOVED eating those chocolate covered strawberries with him. You know what my favorite part of the day was though? Watching The Bachelor (david has been watching this with me the past couple of weeks and is very into it all the sudden) with my love while I tried on maternity clothes. It was so romantic! haha I love little moments like this though. Real life with my husband of almost 4 years who I love more then anything!

A Bunch of Random Thoughts

You know what I hate? Being an adult. Knowing that if your car breaks down or if something happens to the house that you own its your responsibility to fix it. My car broke down yesterday...again. It did this exact thing in Sept too and I thought we fixed it. Well now we don't know what to do with it.
I hate that everytime I run my dishwasher I feel like it gets louder. I know they don't last forever but is 3 years too much to ask for? If (when) it breaks, it will be on our shoulders to fix it/get a new one.
I hate not being in control. I like having a plan and I like knowing whats coming. Well I have none of that with this baby currently. We don't know what I'm going to do work wise and we don't have a plan already. It'll come and it'll work out, I know, but its not on my time schedule and I struggle with that.
I hate that I have this life plan for myself in my head but it doesn't go exactly like I want in real life. (how stupid do I sound when I say that. Stupid. I know.)

I guess you can tell what kind of mood I'm in currently. I think sometimes in life you just have to have a little bit of a breakdown in order to pick yourself back up and carry on with a better attitude. I love everything that is happening in our lives and the changes that are coming but I'm scared about it all being new territory and not knowing that I'm good at it yet. I have this thing. I like to be good at what I do. Thats why changing jobs was tough because I just wanted to know my job already and be good at it. I know it'll come. Its part of being an adult. You wouldn't be one unless you had to go through struggles and learn important life lessons on your own. I'm at a stage in my life where I am constantly learning. Almost every trial that comes our way is something new for me and looking back I actually do love knowing that I can make it through anything and learn and grow from it so I'm sure I'll feel that way in the future about where I'm at currently.

On another note, David and I picked our kids names out a long time ago. We were kind of joking at the time when we picked them out but we really like them so we've sort of planned on them. We already had our names picked out for the nugget . If it was a girl it would be Alexis. Then we found out it was a girl and David called an audible and decided he liked Chloe more then Alexis. What? I threw Chloe out there years ago but it didn't really stick with me. I had no idea it had stuck with David. We've always planned on Alexis and I like Chloe but I just feel like this little girl is an Alexis. So in true David and Liz fashion, we disagree on what to name our child. It'll come down to what we decide is right but in the mean time we're taking a poll. Which name do you like better? Alexis or Chloe?

You can lean on me

David's Aunt Wendy told me a story the other day and since she won't be blogging about it, I will. She was sitting in church when she felt prompted to bear her testimony and tell a funny story she had heard at work. She didn't know what this story had to do with the gospel at first so she was hesitant. Then she thought of a perfect way she could tie it into a good message so she got up and told this amazing story.

She was at work one day standing around with her coworkers. A male coworker of hers was leaning on a counter as he stood there. (the type on leaning when you are leaning sideways and you have on leg crossed over the other with your arm supporting you. Know what I mean?) One of Wendy's friends told her she had to ask him about his leaning story when they were done chatting with everyone. I guess he leans on anything and everything and had a funny story about it. So later on Wendy said "so tell me about your leaning story." He told her about a time when he was in California with his son. His son was really into golfing so they went to a pro golf shop. It was stoked full of bags, clubs, shirts, hats, and other accessories. His son picked some things to buy so while his son was checking out he finished looking around and leaned on a golf bag behind the check out counter waiting to go. While he was standing there he caught the clerk behind the counter looking at him with a horrified look on his face. His son turned around to see what the clerk was staring at and looked at his dad with a "WHAT are you doing??" type face. He didn't understand until he looked down and realized he was leaning on a little Asian lady. He was so embarrassed obviously. He had thought it was a black golf bag. (I'm not sure how..) The Asian lady hadn't moved when he put his arm across her head though. Wendy tied it together with the thought that she wanted to be like the little Asian lady. Always there to support you. You can always lean on me.

Hahaha I laughed so hard when I heard this story. These are the kind of testimonies I love. They have a story and you laugh but there is a good message behind it. We should be there for one another to lean on anytime they need. So friends feel free to lean on me. I'm there for you :]

David's Birfday

My baby is the big 27. He's old. He picked out his own gift this year a couple months ago. He wanted this really in depth version of photoshop. He could get a great discount being a student so he bought his own present and it was delivered before I even knew. Happy birthday babe. haha One night he asked what we were doing for his birthday since it was Superbowl Sunday. I said, "I don't know what do you want to do?" He replied with "Oh, I don't know. I was just wondering if you had something planned." I sure didn't, which I quickly told him. My exact words were "Its too late to plan a surprise party so....." Right then I decided it. I was going to plan a surprise party. He's never had one so I thought it would be perfect. With the help of Kateka (Kateka could probably say..."with the help of Liz") we planned a party. We set it up at the clubhouse at her development, I sent out a mass text, Kateka invited David over for a birthday dinner at their place, and we were ready. We planned it for Saturday the 5th just in case people had plans with their families or whatever for the Superbowl. Saturday the 5th rolled around and I was so excited. Then....we fought all day. About nothing. We were just off. I just couldn't wait for 6pm to come. We drove over to their place. Stu took David to the store while Kateka and I ran over to the clubhouse. Everyone was already there and waiting. Kateka called Stu and said, "why don't we just eat at the clubhouse and watch the basketball game over there." Stu of course agreed and David was none the wiser. Everyone hid in the TV room and waited for him to come. When he opened the door he was shocked to see his closest friends all standing around in the dark. We had a fun night of eating, talking, playing pool, and watching the game. I'm so glad everyone that came could make it. We have the best friends in the world. Here are a couple pics from the fun nightI didn't think to get pics of everyone that was there...stupid. I got the couples that were still there when I thought about it. Here are Kateka and Stu, Me and David, (he did something inapprop in the first shot, I thought it was kind of a funny shot) and Kellee and Jared.

P.S. I don't know why Kateka and Stuart are holding up those games. We didn't play them. haha

I love how similar Jared and Zinni's faces are in this shot. haha

We're missing: Shelli, Kelly, and Noah/Kellee and Matt/Abby (so glad they could all come though!) We had so much fun and David said his first birthday party in his adult life was perfect!

Ultrasound

We had our ultrasound today to check the spine. It looked great. They ended up checking everything while they were at it. Everything looks perfectly healthy. I am so relieved...and exhausted. I didn't even realize how exhausted I was from worrying all the time. I feel better and I'm kinda just waiting for it to really set in. They said that sometimes being an insulin dependent diabetic can elevate those proteins as well. I was like "Why didn't you tell me that before!" Since everything looked good I asked the Dr if being diabetic was most likely the reason the test came back a little high and he said yes. I wish I would have known that but oh well, I'm just glad its over and everything was good.

We also got some exciting news! Its a GIRL! We were surprised because we both kinda felt like it was a boy but nope, its a little girl and we're thrilled! The ultrasound tech said she looked "pretty". I'm not sure how she could tell that by looking at her skeleton but I'll take it! Hopefully she will be :]

I will scan in some of the ultrasound pictures later. I just wanted to post that everything looks great and thank everyone so much for your thoughts and prayers. I have received a lot of peace and comfort and I'm sure some of it is because of the prayers offered in our behalf so thank you.

Elevated Proteins

On Monday I received a call. My heart fell and I tried to hold back my tears while on the phone with this poor lady just doing her job. She told me I had an elevated level of protein in my blood from what they normally see. This protein comes from the babies liver and to have that protein leaking into my blood can mean spina bifida or an abdominal wall defect. She said it doesn't mean for sure the child has these things, more times then not with the level I had in my blood it just means I have a leaky placenta. However, I have to go in for an ultrasound. I was a mess but I was trying to think clearly so I could ask any questions I had. I asked if its not spina bifida what does a leaky placenta mean for the rest of my pregnancy? Would that cause complications down the road? She told me that it could but since I'm already getting checked frequently because of the diabetes they would keep an eye on that too. I know I'm emotional and I'm sure thats part of the reason I melted down the way I did but thats kind of a scary phone call. Since I was bawling as I told David, he just comforted me and held me as I explained it all. He researched spina bifida and leaky placentas. We found several personal blogs that had been written about the same things we're going through right now. Majority of the time it turned out to be leaky placentas or something but not spina bifida. He gave me a blessing, we both felt comfort and peace over the matter. Human nature however, we've gone through panicked moments and calm moments since then. Obviously we would love the child no matter what. Its because I love this child that I don't want it to have any health problems like that. I talked to the genetic counselor on Tuesday about what my levels were. Anything under a 2.5 is normal. My test result came back at 2.5. Its enough to flag it as a high reading but of all the high readings you could have its the best. I've felt better about it since then. Even with these things helping me feel better, its all I think about. Everytime someone asks about the baby I smile and tell them everything is great while I think "EXCEPT I'M SCARED TO DEATH RIGHT NOW". I haven't really wanted to talk about it with many people because it just brings up all those fears but today its really been on my mind and I thought I just need to get it out. I also have another reason for getting it out, I want to ask anyone reading this to please keep us in your prayers. Our ultrasound is Monday and I can't wait until its over so we can know the answers and I can breathe deeply again.

BFF's

Kateka and Stuart. They are the best friends David and I could ever ask for. They've been through the ups and downs of life with us like family and I love them for still wanting to be our friends. Kateka is really one of my best friends ever for so many reasons. I know the Lord knew what he was doing when he put her in my life. I called her first when I found out I was pregnant, I relied on her heavily when I went through a really tough time back in April, and now as I go through pregnancy and the scares that come with that I rely on her. She always knows what to say and how to make me feel better. She's the most open, loving, and caring person. Always worried about others and thinking of ways she can help them. I admire her a ton and can only hope to have those characteristics she has someday. Stuart always brings humor to any situation. Don't let the humor fool you though, he cares a lot and would do anything for you. I love that he teases me like a little sister and I love that I'm not shy and I give it right back. Together they are the dream team and I'm so glad they're in our lives. I don't know what I'd do without their friendship. Thank you so much Kateka for all you do for David and I, we love you guys! Sealed for eternity ;]