I'm here!

I have not forgotten my few and faithful readers. I simply haven't been on the computer as much recently. I haven't been extremely busy and have sat down to blog several times since New Years and it just hasn't happened. I have so much that I need to share- just to get it all out will feel GOOD.

Anna was sick and so we stayed close to home after New Years Eve. We went out to dinner at Texas Steakhouse which is one of our favorite places for steak. Its quieter than Texas Roadhouse and the service and food is just as good. We went home and Reed actually went to bed around 10. I stayed up to watch the ball drop. Anna was still coughing at 11:30 pm so I called her down to watch the ball drop. I got a kiss from my girl at midnight and aside from Reed not being there, it was perfect. She went to bed shortly after and finally stopped coughing and slept soundly until 10 the next morning.

Anna went back to school on the 5th and also had ballet that day. During ballet, she started complaining of headaches which she has done on occasion when she has a cold. She was in a ton of pain by the time we got home. I gave her some Benadryl and Motrin and sent her to bed. She slept soundly until around 6 am. Then she came into my room and woke me up. She was crying because her head hurt so bad. I gave her more medicine and sent her back to bed. About 30 minutes later, she told me she felt like she was going to be sick. I tried to get an appointment and could not so that meant we had to go sit in Urgent Care (don't get me started on our Military Treatment Facility- I'm about done with them!). When I got her up to get dressed, Anna did in fact, get sick in the hallway. Fun times! I love it that Reed is almost ALWAYS gone when this happens. At any rate, I clean her up and we head to Langley to go to the UC and wait...and wait...and wait. We're finally seen and the doctor tells me she is concerned about meningitis! I was not expecting that! So, we waited and waited some more until we finally got to see 2 pediatricians who also consulted with another doctor just in case! Turns out, she just has a virus and there's nothing besides cold meds and Motrin we can do for her. Huh, how about that!?! At any rate, Anna and I were exhausted. It threw me for the rest of the week and totally messed up my sleeping because I had to take a nap that day which meant that I couldn't sleep that night... repeat that process until Friday and that's how our week went!

Reed also had his MRI last week. I don't have the paper in front of me to tell you what exactly is going on but I can tell you that its not the worst case scenario but not the best case either. We'll deal with it. I'm hoping that it doesn't affect him at work because he is really happy at work!

I also had a doctor's appointment last week. It was one of the other things that completely threw me for a loop. I hate doctors appointments. I got totally worked up for it and didn't sleep at all. It was also in Portsmouth Naval Medical which is HUGE and I've never been there so I was also nervous about that. As it turns out, it was more of a class than a doctor's appointment and I had nothing to be nervous about. But, as it turns out, I will be having an elective surgery sometime in the next year. I know I'm being cryptic about what kind of surgery I'm having and I'm sure I'll share it in time but for now, I'm just not ready. All is well though!

Also last weekend, we (mom, dad, Anna and I) got to go to the USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77) commissioning. It was an honor! I had no idea what to expect other than complete boredom. Reed kept being secretive for security reasons although it had already been released that President Bush would also be there. We were so far away that we didn't see much but I have some amazing pictures thanks to my dad who walked down the pier to shoot some great pictures. With all the negative comments about Bush 43 circulating, it was refreshing to hear him speak about how much he loves his family and this country and how seriously he's taken the charge to protect our freedom. It was wonderful to hear Bush 41 speak too. He spoke about his time in the Navy, what it meant to him and the men who served beside him. It made me proud to be a small part of the military community. They both told so many stories about their love for Barbara. I'll share pictures later...