Gymnastics Girl

 She LOVES going to gymnastics.  She is learning so much and loves to show off, as you can tell by these pics! HA HA

First Fishing Trip

 We are all about free fun these days.  So we decided what better fun than fishing.  Zoee has never been and she's had a fishing pole for a while.  So we went to the small close to our home.  She had a ball.  She had a great cast and was very patient.  I was soo surprised she had so much patience.  HA  It was a great day..should of taken the sunscreen though.

Everyday Life

 We try to have fun with whatever we do..so here are a few random everyday moments of life.  Here we are waiting for a table at one of our favorite restaurants.  Zoee loves the fish tank here.

 Zoee has so much fun playing with her truck and horse trailer her Grammy & Papaw bought her for Christmas.

 Waiting for Daddy to get home from work, we act goofy sometimes..so I thought I'd capture some of those silly moments.

 HA HA..this is priceless!  Diva in her blonde wig.

 Sweet lovin's!

 Play date at the mall with her new friends

 Zoee even likes to use her Daddy as a model.  HA

Our fish tank.  My mom bought us some more fish for it and one of them had babies.  And she bought a male with all females in our tank..so this should be interesting.

Our 9th Wedding Anniversary

Because we are trying to save for our Minnesota trip to Mayo, we celebrated our 9th Anniversary with dinner out and some Orange Leaf yogurt. Have to cut spending as much as possible.  Zoee went along with us so it was a family affair.  A fun one at that!  I cannot believe Mike and I have been married for nine years. It's been ups and downs..more ups for sure.  This year (2013) has been our most trying though.  We have been leaning on one another with this neurological health scare and financial burden with him losing his overtime hours in January.  We will get through this we say to each other (like all the other things we've been through).  We lean on God the most and pray as a family.  We have started going to church again, which we just love.  Zoee has a blast in her Sunday school class.  She always tells us what she has learned and we get so much from our Pastor and what a blessing it has been these past couple of weeks back already.  Can't wait to see what the future holds for us..and we will stick together because we have built that solid unit as a family and with God! :)

Children's Festival

 We try and get out of the house on the weekends.  We took Zoee to the Children's Festival to support the Bynum school in Midland.  We had a lot of fun doing crafts, watching the kids do martial arts performances, Zoee got her face painted and was made an awesome princess hat balloon by a really great balloon artist.  They had tons of bouncers and photo booths and Zoee even made this funny video of her dancing.

Sickness and Awesome Birthday Gift

Zoee had a real bad runny nose and fever so we took her to the after hour clinic.  She sure didn't act like she was sick at times..but was miserable at others.  She is almost as long as the table and the doctor kept saying...WOW, she's tall.  She's 45 1/2 inches tall...Almost 4 foot at age 3.  That's crazy. She got some antibiotics and is getting better.

 I love her artwork.  She's so detailed.  What a sweet love bug.

We gave Zoee her birthday present early.  She was soo excited.  She now has a bed with a slide and a hidden house.

Valentine's Day

 Zoee racked up the "love" in presents from us.  She's been so great through this whole medical process I wanted to make her Valentine's extra special.  Mike bought her a gerber daisy and balloon and took it to the restaurant to meet her.  She had been at my parents house for almost a week so it was a long time to be away from us.  We met them at Genghis Grill (one of her favorite places to eat) for lunch to get her and it was a very good lunch.

Posing in her new jammies and house shoes she's been wanting FOREVER.  Can you tell she is trying to do a model pose??  HA HA  She cracks me up.

Zoee's Stay with Grammy & PaPaw

 Zoee stayed with Grammy and PaPaw while I was the doctor in Dallas.  She had such a great time spending time with them and her Ethan.  Her and Ethan love each other sooo much.  They play well together.

Practice Eating eggs with chopsticks!  (Only my family)  HA HA

Trip to Baylor

 Well, this is our second trip to Baylor to see the neurologist.  It was two days of testing..UGH!  Not exactly a vacation..but Mike and I made the best of it.  We ate at a few new restaurants we've never been and hit up our favorite bagel shop.  We also went to IKEA one evening (I LOVE IT THERE).  I got some good news and bad while there.  The first day I had to do a spinal MRI.  I was totally dreading this because I was told it was two hours long.  Yes, it was two hours long..but the technician was awesome.  First thing he said when I walked in was that I am in control.  That made me feel more comfortable.  He kept me informed the whole time of what was going on and the machine was a little bit larger than the ones I've been in.  They keep it 66 degrees in there because the bottom of the bed part that is actually taking the images gets really hot.  All in all, it was actually a pleasant experience for MRI..and it was really a state of art imaging center.  I was impressed!  The next day, I had to see a opthamologist that morning.  He dilated my eyes..so that's why my eyes look glazed over in this picture above.  All day long (because of my optic neuritis) it was hard to see because of the drops they used.  I was told by him that I still have the optic neuritis and that (bad news) the eyesight that I lost in the peripheral of my left eye is permanent.  That is a real bummer because I am only 33 and now partially blind in my left eye.  I have pretty much accepted it already..cause it's been over a year it's been this way.  So then I had to go and do an evoked potential test.  You look at this tv screen while being hooked up to all these electrodes. It takes about 30 mins..and it measures the time it takes for your nerves to respond to stimulation.  I also went back to my neurologist that afternoon to hear all the results of the 12 vials of blood she had taken two weeks prior, the MRI, and the evoked potential test.  The only thing she said was showing up was that my thyroid antibodies were a bit elevated.  She said that they could be causing the neurological issues.  She told me I needed to go and see a endocrinologist.  I said do you have someone to refer me to that I could see the next day.  She said she could try to get me in ..but no promises cause she didn't know her schedule.  Sure enough we got back up to our room (which was right upstairs) and Dr. Okai calls and says that she can get me into see Dr. Roe (the endo doc).  The next afternoon, I went to see Dr. Roe.  It was quite an interesting evaluation..(one I will not verbally speak about on here) HA  but we talked about my tests and she did an exam and we also talked about the PCOS, that I'd had for years.  She told me that my numbers were a bit elevated but that it basically wasn't anything to be scared of because she sees numbers in the 1000's.  The antibody number is suppose to be 35 and mine was 60.  Left me a little irked cause I am sick of doctors telling me that Oh, you have a problem..but it's not that bad as I've seen.  She also sent me to do more extensive thryroid blood work (10 more vials..UGHH!...can we say blown veins already) and for a thyroid ultrasound.  I am awaiting results..as usual.

This is picture of my arm after the MRI.  They had to inject dye into me so they could see my spine better.  I apparently am allergic to the tape they used to keep the IV in.  It looked horrific.

Weight Loss Difference

WOW!  After looking back from this time last year at pics is a little crazy.  What a difference a year makes! I have lost 65 lbs and counting...   And you can really tell it in my face and body.  I need to take a full body picture and post to show you just how different.  I am really proud of myself..and look better.  Too bad I don't feel better because of what is going on..but I'm sure it would be a lot worse if I was still that 65 lbs heavier.

Family Day

 We went out for some fresh air since I have been feeling so horrible for a lil' family day.  We went to the park and to feed the ducks and geese.

Making Us Proud

 Zoee is really learning so much in gymnastics.  We are so proud of her for having courage to go out there and try new things.  She is really really great at what she tries.  She learned how to do a hand stand this particular night.