Yes, I am writing a post about how much I love breakfast. I have only realized this again in the past couple months or so. Let me explain...

You see, I never used to be a "breakfast" person. I could simply grab a cup of coffee and be perfectly fine until lunch. I just didn't crave or need a whole meal, I suppose. That is until I began working at Academic Financial Solutions as a consolidation loan processor back in 2004. 

Breakfast became kind of like a social gathering. All of us girls in the processing department would go down to the cafeteria together and get a breakfast sandwich, or some eggs with cheese, whatever floated your boat - every morning! It just sort of happened one day, then became a habit for all of us. We would get our food and then grab our coffee and go back to work. It gave us a little break first thing in the morning and was overall, a fun start to the day. 

Then, I began working at GEICO and you can't really "come and go" as you please like I was able to with the office job I had at AFS. So, because sleep is my second best friend (besides coffee), I would rather sleep more and not eat breakfast than to wake up early and eat, then go. Sad, I know. 

However, recently on my days off, I have become more and more obsessed with making a big breakfast! Whether it is just for me and Jake, or for all of us on a Sunday morning - breakfast has somewhat made it back into at least a small part of my routine! We (well, I) have also dubbed Saturday night "breakfast for dinner" night. Hans loves the sweets - pancakes and/or french toast - so this is a perfect way to have a treat at the end of the week. Hans laughs that I created this day especially for my obsession with love of breakfast. I just told him it adds to the kid's routine and gives them something to look forward to & remember when they grow up. Now, back to my affection for all things breakfast. This morning for example, on my impromptu day off - Jacob had a fried egg and turkey sausage with some orange juice. Let's just say I was a bit more hungry...

I made (for myself only, mind you): two scrambled eggs, two strips of bacon, a piece of toast (with 0 calorie spray butter if that helps...maybe...), a bowl of grits, a cup of orange juice, and a cup of coffee. And I ate. It. All. On a side note: Isn't it sad that I am the only one in my house that likes grits? These boys! Oh well, more for me...

So, are you a "breakfast person"? What is your favorite breakfast food?

My poor, sick babies...

So sorry that I have been MIA ladies & gentlemen - but I have been called for duty for a much more tedious, time consuming task!

My boys are sick. :(

It all began on Tuesday afternoon. Jakey's nose started running, and that is not usually a good thing. Then later that evening, the coughing began. Uh, oh. Next came the lovely 101.5 fever on Wednesday morning - and then when I got Bradley up for school, he started to cough! Nooooooooooooo! Bradley was a just a touch warm and he said he wanted to go to school and he didn't seem too bad, so I let him go. Meanwhile, Jakey was a mess all. day. long.

He cuddled and wanted to be held all day. He took an almost three hour nap. His fever finally went down but his nose was pouring like a faucet. His cough was just miserable - all congested - my poor lil' guy! At this age there is really nothing you can give them other than Motrin or Tylenol to help with the fever, so he has to just deal the best he can with the cough and the nasal funkiness.

Bradley came home at 2:45pm after school and immediately said he wasn't feeling well and wanted to lie down. Now moms, you know when your (almost) 10-year-old says that he wants to lie down mid-day, something isn't right. He felt warm but when I took his temp it was normal. I gave him some lunch, then later some dinner, and he just stayed in bed all day watching TV. When he woke up this morning, his temp was 100.1, his cough had become more fluent, and he was congested. Then, Jake was getting warm again to boot. Off to the doctors we go!

Of course, after a call-out-of work for me, two co-payments for the doctor's office, a 102.2 temp on Jake, a strep swab for Brad (Oh my goodness, he freaked...), and an hour later of time for all of us... we find out "It's just a virus" and "It will run it's course". *sigh* Does anyone else realllllly hate it when the doctor's tell you this? I wish there was just some magical medicine for these so called "viruses" that I can just give to my babies and make them feel better. But nope. So far there is not...

So today, after all of that... Jake is on his second nap and Brad is still laying down in his room, watching a movie I rented for him at Redbox. Hopefully this yucky virus leaves the Reller home soon - without coming to Hans & myself first! - that way we can have our happy (healthy!) boys back... :)

Weigh In: Week Nine! (and other miscellaneous what-nots...)

Alright... to start things off, let's get right to the weigh in so that *everyone* knows how we are doing (everyone as in, all three people that read this, I think... haha).

I lost 1.6 more pounds this past week, putting my total weight loss at 13.8 pounds. Hans evened out and therefore he is still at losing an amazing 18.8 pounds!

I am so thrilled with my weight loss. I am 3.2 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight with Jacob, and 11.2 pounds from my "goal" weight. I am almost there! Victory is close... and I should be there by Summer - aka "bikini" season. :)

As far as the other happenings in the Reller household, they mainly include getting everything together for Bradley's surgery on April 5 (can we say endless sea of FMLA paperwork?!), finishing his Science fair project for this year ("Will Salt, Sugar, or Spices [aka Cinnamon] Affect Plant Growth?" - due 3/26), running to/from church, getting Jake a new "big boy" bed (thank goodness he loves it and therefore, transition was smooth as silk!) work, gym, eat, sleep, repeat. I feel like I barely have time to sit still, which is my "excuse" for the ridiculously late update here.

On a side note, my other project (thanks to this past week's MOPS meeting) is organizing my house. Mainly my kitchen at this point. So far I have purchased a utensil holder for the counter by my stove (somehow I think I may have been the only person on the planet who did not have one), and a holder that was put on the back of my pantry door to hold plastic bags, aluminum foil/saran wrap/wax paper and the like. I also found an amazing deal on a separate cabinet/pantry for my kitchen similar to this one, and the best part is I found it on Craigslist - for $10! The lady was moving and she wanted to get rid of it, so I happily took it off her hands! Now I have some place to put my fruits, bread, and other baking items other than on top of my counter and therefore, declutterizing! (Feel free to share the word with your friends, LOL).

Also, yesterday was my birthday, and therefore I now the ripe, old age of 26. Does it feel any different, you ask? Nope. In my mind I still feel like I am 20. Haha!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week - and maybe over the next couple days or so I will update periodically what is going on here and not everything. All at once. Once a week! :)

Til next time, I leave you with a picture of Jakers in his new bed, sleeping... Zzz Zzz Zzz Zzz...

 

I almost forgot! Weigh In: Week EIGHT!

As you can see by the previous entry, I was more than a little distracted yesterday! I am just going to get to the point. Hans won. The hubbs did it - by a LANDSLIDE!

He lost 4.6 more pounds (HOLY MOLY!!) and therefore, whooped my butt "wins" this week! May I just add that he has lost a total of 18.8 pounds? My hubby is lookin' gooooooood! :)

I lost nada. zero. zilch. I am the same as I was before. Down to the penny. But, I didn't gain either. Whoop, whoop! :)

I will definitely be a better "updater" next week. Right now, the laundry calls...

My Brad-Monkey and the Case of the Uncooperative Right Kidney!

...Well really, it isn't so much "the right kidney" as it is the valve that connects the ureter from the bladder to the kidney.

Let me explain.

My oldest, my awesome, smart, wicked cool Brad-Monkey began having some pain when urinating last November. I figured he may have a urinary tract infection (since I have had one of those stinkin' little devils before), so I took him to the pediatrician who confirmed it. No big deal, was sent home with antibiotics and we were good to go for about two weeks or so.

Then, the UTI came back! Poor baby.

Back to the doctor we went, and this time more antibiotics ensued, but before we left, he set us up with an ultrasound at Lakeland Regional Medical Center as a precaution to make sure all plumbing works correctly, and that there is nothing wrong causing the UTI's and that this is all a fluke. OK no problem! End of November, ultrasound was done. UTI was gone and had stayed gone, so I thought this was all just a "waste of time". My boy was fiiiiineeee. Fine-O-fine.

Ultrasound results came back to his pediatrician - he has a duplicate collection chamber in his right kidney. Say what? I asked the pediatrician what this meant, he said usually nothing at all, just a medical fluke, only meant that he has two collection chambers for fluid in his kidney instead of one. We will go ahead and use this little guy as our guide for the next set of "explanations":

So, his pediatrician wanted us to follow up with a pediatric urologist - to be on the safe & clear side. Okay! So, next appointment set... We are now at February 2nd, 2010, because that is the soonest that I could get with this particular doctor that he referred us to. We saw him after he himself arrived an hour late to the appointment and he agreed that Brad did have a duplicate chamber, but he wanted to make sure that when the urine collects in his bladder and he urinates, that the fluid does not shoot back into - or "reflux" - into the kidney, causing infection. He then ordered what is called a "VCU" test. This was done on February 19th at St. Joseph's Hospital - and lets just say Brad was not happy. At. All. Catheter + 9 year old boy = not a fun experience. The test involved placing a catheter in, filling his bladder with "blue dye" and then taking many x-rays to see what the fluid did & went. Took all of a half hour, then a stop to Dairy Queen for my big guy and we were on our way home. Results would not be known until our next appointment with the urologist, which was yesterday...

*sigh*

The whole time I told myself "Brad is fineeee", he wasn't. As it turns out, the fluid does come back into his kidney and collects, due to a non-functioning valve in the right kidney's ureter that connects to his bladder. This is what has been causing the multiple UTI's. What threw me (and Bradley) back was when the doctor said that "Not to worry, we'll just do surgery and it will be corrected". What? Surgery? I had no idea that this was at that level of seriousness. Speaking of levels... the type severity of the reflux is scored in levels, or grades, measuring from Grade I (not serious, barely any reflux at all) to Grade 5 (major, severe reflux, ER type situation). Brad's severity measured between a 3 and 4. So, this is why he has to have surgery.

Talk about a wake-up "stop the presses, what just happened here" call.

To top it all off, the doctor said the "S" word (surgery) in front of my Brad-Monkey. My first born. He immediately began freaking out, crying, thinking he was going to die (he wasn't). The doctor was great with him when he saw his anxiety and answered all his questions ("Am I going to feel anything? Are you going to cut me open? How much? Where? Will I have a scar?What tools are you going to use?" Yes, he asked what tools the doctor was going to use. He's too smart for his own good.) When he was done with the questions, he just wanted to know where/when/how long, and wanted to talk to other people who have had surgery to find out how it works and what happens because honestly, Hans & I have never been "put under" for any type of procedure.

When I got through talking to the doctor today, asking the questions I didn't want to ask in front of Brad & scare him, this site basically sums up all that I learned about the procedure he is going to have done. http://www.ucsfchildrenshospital.org/education/ureteral_reimplant_surgery/index.html

And so it begins... yesterday and today I researched the different hospitals that we could have the surgery done at, and we settled on having the procedure done at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, FL. The new facility just opened January 9, so everything is brand-spankin' new. Each room has a 42" LCD TV, games/Disney Channel/Nickelodeon, phone, sleep area for the parents, and filtered internet on the TV for Brad. Plus, a 2nd floor rooftop play area & ICEE machines (yep, only the best, haha), video games, and a breakfast cart that comes around each morning that they can take whatever they want from, and however much that they want - donuts, eggs, bacon, toast, etc...! Here are some photos I found online:

  

The surgery is scheduled for Monday, April 5, 2010, time still unknown - they will call me the Friday before to let us know what time to be there. He will be in the hospital at least until Wednesday, maybe Thursday. Afterward, he will be out of school until the following Wednesday or Thursday. I have already applied for FMLA at work, and Hans has four weeks vacation saved (wow!), so he is taking off two weeks. 

I will definitely be keeping everyone posted, and ask that all of you add us to your prayers. We can use them! This is going to be a rough few weeks.

Thanks!

The Reller Family