Scar Face

Skot has a lovely leftover scar on his chin. The sutures were removed 1 week ago.

Little Bitty Baby Bump

Okey dokey people. I know this isn't much to look at, but you can sort of see a little bump. There is a baby in there. We checked yesterday or rather the OB checked and the heart is still ticking away. Notice there is no makeup, no cute hair... I really am struggling with my desire to look nice right now. I'm just waiting for my 2nd trimester "honeymoon phase" to hit - you know, the part where you feel more normal again. :)

Dig In

Skot thinks he is really funny. Okay, I think he is funny, too. At least he can laugh at his suffering diet.

Caution! Graphic Yuck Face Pictures!

OK, so now it is time to give the promised story about Skot's unfortunate cycling accident. Road cycling, as much as Skot loves it, has it's down side. One week ago Thursday Skot was cycling with a few members from his cycling team in Wauconda (yes, that would be Illinois). It had rained briefly and the roads were slick. They were slowing down to turn left when a cyclist in front of Skot started to slide out. This created a domino-effect of falls in which Skot took a face-dive into the pavement. He landed on the lower left corner of his chin. The impact forced his jaw to the right and back which snapped just below an area of the jaw called the condyle. I included a simple little image to assist your imagination. Skot's injury is located more towards the subcondylar line on the image below.




In the emergency room, ice pack in hand. I laugh because Skot says that a lot of friends are saying that his injury looks under-whelming. So I put some fun pictures on here for the dramatic effect. Who knows, maybe they are still under-whelming. Whatever. Forgive the quality, these were all taken with his iPhone.
Skot and his lovely open wound. It was about 1 1/2 - 2 inches across and 1/2 inch deep.
This is the E.R. doctor (Dr. Peeters) giving Skot an injection of Lidocaine. Honestly, I cannot believe how large the gauge of needle he chose to use on my honey's face. I only give intra-oral (in-mouth) injections to my patients (obviously) and use a very small gauge needle - something like a 27 or 30 gauge needle. I can't even begin to guess what size this one was. It was huge.
Skot post-suturing. Notice the blood. This is after the clean-up. The doctor pulled the wound wide open to check for and remove road grit. Between that and the suturing he had the blood dribbling down both sides of his neck. I think he had about 7 exterior sutures and a few gut-sutures deeper in the tissue.
He was such an great sport about this whole process. I would have been crying FOR SURE. He was very calm. Normally I love watching (and participating in) anything medically related. This was a different story. When it is a loved one it becomes a little less "medical" and a bit more emotional.
Great pic of Skot with lovely cheek retractors. The oral surgeon placed brackets on his posterior (back) teeth and then "wired" them together with tight rubber bands. He had a couple brackets pop off over the weekend and his orthodontist friend, (Dr.) David Forbes, was a sweetheart and replaced them.

Hope this answered everyone's questions! Oh, and yes, he was banged-up elsewhere. Some road rash and bruises which look bigger and nasty, but those pale in comparison to the fact that he will be wired shut for 6 weeks.

Skot Schmot

I received a frowny face from Skot today. :( "Liz says she never sees anything about me on the blog. Why don't you ever write about me on the blog?" Waaaaaa..... I say, "Why don't YOU write about yourself on the blog? Maybe it would be nice to make a guest appearance from time to time." That means you do it yourself my darling boy. :)

I do have a post coming up soon that is all about Skot and his broken jaw and busted face.

A Little More...

Nausea, that is. Life is so unpredictable. I was slightly more nauseous today. :( I will take that nausea, though. I had a friend today tell me that she is also in the same current state of suffering as I am. My burden suddenly feels a little lighter. A fellow sufferer with matching sentiments. I have to give that one an "Amen Brother Ben!" Yes, you may stop talking to your computer screen now, I know you are calling me a big baby. That's okay, say what you like. My friend feels my pain. :)

The Magic of Medicine

Did I forget to mention??? My OB prescribed a lovely little pill that melts on my tongue and then MAGICALLY takes away almost all of my nausea. It is called Zofran (generic - ondansetron). I almost feel normal. I went on a walk yesterday with Skot and now I am about to go on another one. :)

Cooked Food

I had some spaghetti last night. It is the first real solid meal I have eaten since Friday. The Warrs brought over pizza on Friday, which I made myself eat (it tasted good). I paid for that one. I have some mild food allergies and there was for sure something in the pizza that my body did not like. :( Tummy ache.

My New Best Friend

I love butterflies. Of course I do. I'm a girl. A week and a half ago I was at a local farmer's market and found a stand with some cutie little girls selling butterfly chrysalis'. I was intrigued, bought my chrysalis and took it home to hang it up and wait for an emerging butterfly. Here are some pictures of my sweet-boy butterfly friend. (Yes, we identified the sex).

Fetal Position

Wow. What a strange title for a post you may say to yourself. Well, it certainly has a double meaning. I've spent a lot of the past month in the fetal position due primarily to the fact that my body is trying to support one right now... a fetus, that is. YEP! We are pregnant. Yes, I know - Finally! That's what everyone is saying. We (or I, whatever) are 10 weeks along. We went to the OB on Friday and heard the heartbeat. Thank goodness! I did NOT want all this suffering to be for nothing.

Before I list my complaints I would just like to go on the record as saying that I am extremely grateful for my current status. Yay! Baby coming in February!

Now for the complaints. I'm suffering from almost constant nausea. Oh, it's so yucky. Plus, three of my favorite things have been sacrificed in the process of forming this alien fetus. First, my enjoyment of food is pretty much gone. I severely dislike ALL cooking smells. This means I eat crackers, fruit, cereal, and yogurt. That's it. Second, I now detest the smell of my sweet husband. His scent, which was my favorite, now is just, well, yuck. Poor sweet boy. Third, I haven't run in - get this - FOUR WEEKS!!! I know - NO WAY! Yikes! I actually found myself winded after climbing my stairs today. What the heck? No likey. :(

Disney Sample

Skot in "Morocco" at Epcot.
On Cinderella's carousel at the Magic Kingdom.

Ok. These are just pics from Skot's phone. I still have to go online to purchase pictures that we had taken at Disney. Sorry this is sort of lame. :)

Fallen Princesses

Snow White
Jasmine
Belle

I love these pictures. I ran across them on a friend-of-a-friend's blog. They were concepted and shot by Dina Goldstein. Obviously she imagined these fairy tale princesses dealing with (sort of) real world issues. I really love Princess Jasmine! She looks so tough.

I am disliking blogger again today. I tried to center the names under the pictures and every time I publish the post and click view... it looks just the same. Why? Why? Why?

Coming Soon

We just got back from Disney. Pictures coming soon...

Guilt and Sickness

The guilt is finally overcoming me. I haven't posted since the 1st! Crazy! Skot and I were really busy at the beginning of the month with preparation for youth conference and working (of course). Youth conference was on the 12th and 13th. We were a host family, so we had about 10 teenage girls sleeping in our house that Friday night. Talk about sleep deprivation. The 13th (Saturday) was the finale to the conference when all the kids performed their pretty cool dance routines. Fun!

That weekend was fun, but ended with my allergies out of control. An upper respiratory infection ensued followed by a lower respiratory infection, lots of stuffiness, coughing, body aches, etc. Today, eight days later, my sinuses are finally starting to clear up. I HATE BEING SICK! Especially in the summer. Anyhoo, I'll have more to post next week... with pictures!

Enlarging the Library in My Brain

I have been making an effort to read more for the past.... year? Well, apparently I can't remember when I started so it could be for the past 6 months. I really want to read more classics. I had a 4-book break while reading the Twilight series earlier this year, but quickly returned to the classics. I just recently finished Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. How is it that I have not yet read these? That is crazy. I am now revisiting Pride and Prejudice for the third or fourth time. Next? Not sure yet. I heard The Shack was good, so I bought it. I don't know if I'll read it next. I really want to read some Charles Dickens and C.S Lewis. Depends on my mood. :)

Breaking the Fast

Ok, so I broke my month-long sugar fast. I decided that I would "go out with a bang," and that I did. I decided to make this extremely sinful cake whose recipe is found at the vanilla kitchen site at the end of this post. This is a chocolate cake iced with a chocolate and peanut butter ganache and filled and topped with Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cups. It is very heavy, very rich, worth having only (not at least) once in your lifetime. I'm sure I clogged at least one artery eating my portion, which I could not completely finish. :) I should mention that the Warr family joined us for dinner and dessert, Monica had nixed the sugar as well.

HERE IS WHAT EVERYONE WANTS TO KNOW: What are you going to do now Christi? Do you HATE sugar now? How do you feel? YOUR ANSWERS: I am going to eat sugar in moderation, use replacements like stevia and honey, and try to eliminate it from dishes that really don't need it. No I don't hate sugar, I just don't like the way too much of it makes me feel (physically and mentally). I feel EMPOWERED! Sorry for the girl-power cheesiness, but I really truly feel empowered and more in control and less obsessed over sweets. I don't need it like I thought. HALLELUJAH! I feel FREE!


http://vanillakitchen.blogspot.com/2008/08/chocolate-peanut-butter-cake-with-pb-c.html

Eeeeek! Vampires and Werewolves!

I am shrieking for joy! My sister just posted a link to the new movie trailer for NEW MOON (so I thought I should do the same), the second movie based on the Twilight series books. I am getting temporarily excited. Hello, I cannot maintain this level of excitement until it is released on November 20th. Excitement for one day works for now. :)

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/05/31/the-new-moon-trailer-is-live-tell-us-your-reactions-twilight-nation/

Inspiration

I checked my friend's blog today (lizlikes - see it in my links) and fell in love with another blog (hence the inspiration) that she had posted on her blog. Wow, I am just in love with blogs. Dunno why, I suppose I just love that people can share so much incredible information about themselves and this world and all you have to do is click a few buttons to gain access. So, the new site I just added to my links list is goop.com and is written by Gwyneth Paltrow. I'm very much in like with this blog. Instead of boring you with why, I will let you explore it and discover for yourself. Besides, I really needed to leave to go running about 10 minutes ago and can't spare time. :)

Just a quick note about sugar-free me; MY BODY FEELS GOOD! I feel cleaner inside. I still have a mental addiction to the blessed substance and I am not sure yet what to do with it. I am planning on breaking the sugar fast this Saturday. Yes, it has been a month now. I haven't yet decided how to go about this. The emotional part of me wants to binge to make up for lost time. The more sensible parts of my brain are saying "Take your time, Christi" and I am trying to plan so that I succumb to the sensibility and NOT the emotion. We shall see. I may tack on extra days since my girlfriends started after me. I really want to end my sugar fast with them.

Silence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

No post since Monday!?!? No pictures?!?! What the heck? Well, this has been a busy week. I'm trying to keep myself together. My in-laws are in town. Originally they were coming to visit, then they weren't, then they were arriving on Sunday, then the plans changed again and I found out Thursday night that they were to arrive on Saturday. Had to work Friday. Needed to clean. What to do? So, yes, life has been crazy this week. I am also trying to get into school for a Math class in July... there's more, but I don't want to bore you with details.

Sugar? Today is day 23. I am almost finished with this blasted sugar fast. Yes, I said BLASTED! It is a holiday weekend and the temptation is definitely presenting itself more than I like to admit. Oh, and I did unintentionally eat cereal this week that had sugar in it. It was a Kashi cereal. Oops. :( Oh well, there wasn't much in it, so I don't feel all that guilty. I have learned something new about myself this week. I crave sugary food not when I'm feeling down (then I don't eat at all), but when I am stressed! Hello? That's when I do my mindless eating. Interesting info. :)

Quickie Update

Still sugar free, still doing okay. Today is day 17. At this point I feel differently about sugar and my ability to control my consumption. I will add sugar back into my diet at the end of this crazy fast, but I feel (right now, anyway) that I won't be needing dessert on a daily basis and I feel like I will have better control over my cravings. Going without is DEFINITELY only as bad as you make it.

Ahhh!!! I Ate A Cupcake!

Ha! I feel no guilt. It was totally sugar-free! My sweet hubby and Jason Warr made a Mother's Day dinner for myself and Monica Warr (they are our Illinois pal-buddies). The boys made us cedar-plank grilled salmon and asparagus. Yum! Then they ended our dinner with a sugar-free treat. They bought and made a Sweet-N-Low cupcake mix and topped off our cakes with chocolate icing. Now, it really wasn't the same as a treat made with real sugar, but I was grateful for the thought and the welcome break from plain-tasting food. Love my boy!

Just an aside: I may venture to purchase a new cookbook for when I end this sugar-fast. It is called "babycakes." It is a cookbook written by a girl who runs the babycakes restaurant in NY. She uses organic alternative products for baking such as: agave nectar, rice milk, coconut oil, gluten free baking flour, etc. Sounds interesting to me, we'll see how eager I am at the end of the month. :)

Chocolate

I just heard something about chocolate. We all know that dark chocolate is good for you, right. Well, (and I've been wondering about this) apparently the chocolate should be at least 70% cocoa. Now you know. By the way, I will not be eating chocolate this month because of the fact. I'm sticking to my guns!

Just an aside here: I baked cookies last night with my hubby for a friend who has a birthday this week. Not easy keeping my hands out of the cookie dough.

Sugarbaby No Mo'

Ha! Today is Monday May 4th. This no sugar thing is totally do-able. I really am not suffering very much at all. The hardest part is controlling reflexes. I was at a friend's house for about an hour on Saturday and there was a bowl of M&M's sitting on a side table. I stood up to grab a handful and had a quick, twitchy convulsion of a moment when I realized how thoughtless some of my sugar consumption can be. I got a funny look. Friend says "Oh, go ahead, have some." I had to say no thanks. I was sad all of 2 seconds. This is so liberating!!!

I'm really getting excited because I now have 2 friends that have decided to join in with me!!! Thanks Jana and Monica! Yay! I love that other people want to join in. How fun is that?

Sugar, sugar.... Ahhh, honey, honey...

Jenny McCarthy is doing a 30-day fast from sugar and is blogging about it on Oprah's website. You can go to this link to read her first entry or, hey, I'll post it here so you can just read it now.

http://www.oprah.com/bi/jenny-mccarthy

May 01, 2009 5:10 AM (archive)

Let's Give It Up!!!!

Woo-hoo! I'm so excited to get started. I wanted to do this "give it up before summer" blog because I would always complain to my friends that I wish there were AA meetings for chocoholics. A couple of my friends said they needed help giving up caffeine, and other friends wanted to give up lying or gossiping. So I said, "Let's start a 30-day blog with Oprah.com to come together every day to bitch and moan about how well or horrible we are doing." There are no rules to this. It's simply choosing something you have been wanting to give up and making it happen this month. The good news is I'm not asking you to give it up forever...just 30 freaking days! I'm a sugar addict, so I'm going to clear out my hidden drawers of chocolate bars and throw away the nightly chocolate crispy cereal that I would have before bed. I'm also going to stop eating after 7 p.m. I'm a late-night eater and would like to put the kibosh on that! Call your friends; tell them to join you in this. It's a lot more fun having support and cheering each other on. Woo-hoo! Let's do it.

... In Christi's world on 5/1/09...
OH MY GOODNESS!!! I can't believe it! I am so dang excited about this! OK, let me calm myself (deep breath in).
So, I just had a conversation with my husband & it went something like this:
Me: "Sooo... honey?, if I decided to give up sugar for a whole month (he sighs) would you maybe do it with me?"
Hubby: "Ummm... huh, probably not. Sorry." (I can almost hear him smiling apologetically. What a stinker.)

I will tell you why I am excited. I am excited to do this with other people, even if they are completely invisible to me. I have a love-hate relationship with sugar, well, mostly chocolate and baked goods. I wish, wish, wish I could eat it in more moderation. I consider moderation just a few times per week, tops. I eat it EVERY DAY! It wouldn't be such an issue except that I daily think about when I am going to get my next "fix"! Yikes, I can't believe I'm saying this (sort of) out loud. I do not drink alcohol, coffee, tea, soft drinks or use tobacco products (not to mention illegal drugs or prescription drugs)... i.e. I have no addictions... OR DO I? Another facet of this sugar issue is my weight loss. I exercise multiple days during the week, and hard. I stay the same weight! Yuck. I'm pretty sure it is the sugar. Just extra, empty calories waiting (and I mean waiting anxiously) to permanently plaster themselves to my curvy body. Darn that sugar, it IS my achilles heel!
So, once again, I am excited to have some support (sans hubby)and not the kind where people stand on the sidelines and cheer you on, but the kind where others are participating together. I'm TOTALLY IN! Today, May 1st 2009 is my last day of sugar for 30 days! Thanks Oprah and Jenny! Halleluah-er!

I Probably Owe You Some Pictures, BUT...

Sorry, I have none for you at this time. Skot dropped our camera while snowboarding (or landed on it, or smashed it or something) and it no longer shows a picture on the LCD screen on the back. It is very difficult to take pictures when you cannot see your subject through the camera's eye. Anyhoo, my next post is about SUGAR! Check it out. OK, you probably already did seeing that it is posted above this post. Whatever.

Snowboarding

Boarding, boarding, boarding... Christi's kinda boring... Skot's fun... La la la la la la... lol. :) Okay, I will spare you from more of the weird singing. Not sure where that came from. So day two in Utah was snowmobiling (already posted that), day three and four were boarding days. My plan is to compile a lot of my falling down videos for a post. We'll see if I get around to it.
Me trying to snowboard. I'm definitely getting better! Woo Hoo!
Yeah, yeah expert boy. Did you really go down that? Hmmm...
David and Ali Cox ("Ali" from Allison C Photography - she's on my links list)
If you squint you can see Christian doing some boarding trick on that protrusion. Wow, I know so little about this. This is day four, by the way. Skot boarded with Christian and cousin Audrey.
Christian (Heidi's hubby)
Woah. It's really stinking bright. Where are your goggles Skooter? Oh, on top of your head?

Hang In There

I will be posting more from our Utah trip soon...

My fav pics from Daniel's Peak

Waldron lunacy

If I sound a bit upset, it is because I was. Skot was being Mr. Hot Rod, raced as fast as he could down a very long hill and instead of staying on the trail decided to jump another giant hill without knowing what was on the other side. Sorry about the wind noise. We were up pretty high... just under 11'000 feet.

Snowmobiling pics (did I spell that correctly?)

On Thursday the 12th (Happy Birthday sister April) we drove in a northeasterly direction to a place not too far from Park City called Daniel's Summit for a day of snowmobiling. I have never been in my life and had a blast, minus one incident that scared and shocked me (that will come in a future post).
I love driving up Provo Canyon. It is beautiful and I have a ton of fun memories from playing in the parks that line that canyon.
Getting ready.

Gear. Thanks Aunt Bobbie and Cousin Heidi for all the warm stuff.
Puffy marshmallow people. I didn't feel the cold even a tiny bit. OK, so it was 30 degrees outside, which isn't very cold, but when you're going 50 miles per hour on an open vehicle you get pretty cold.
I AM A MAN AND I LOVE CRAZY FAST MACHINES THAT ARE REALLY DANGEROUS!
The place.

Trip to UTAH!!!

I am hating Blogger again right now. :( What is the problem here? Is the issue that I am using a Mac? Grrrr... I was trying to type this above the first picture and I cannot get it to stop underlining all my type. ANNOYING!

OK, on a lighter note, Skot and I went to Utah on the 11th and spent several days playing in the snow and with friends and family. We flew in early on the 11th and spent the afternoon reminiscing. We stopped by my old crib at the "Riv" in Provo. I lived in apartment 47 in 1997!

Sweet friends

Our pal Schuyler... Skot and I work with the youth a lot at church and have watched all these cool kids grow up so much over the past 5 1/2 years we've been here in Illinois. This was his Eagle Court of Honor (a bit belated). He left a couple weeks later to serve a full-time mission in Chile. That's way cool. We are so happy for you Schuyler!

Finally... new hair pics.

Okay, so here is the new hair color. I promised a pic of the brown hair quite some time ago. Sorry it took so long. I know I should avoid making negative comments about myself and body, BUT my lips look weird in this picture. What's the deal? Yikes, I think I look older, too. Weird.

Cutie Girls

A couple of my cutie girls from church. What sweethearts. :)

Ranunculus

This is one of my favorite flowers, the ranunculus. I am not a big pink person, I prefer orange, yellow, and green. I also usually prefer tropicals, but the ranunculus, even though it is small, has so many petals in this tight little bud that it it has impressed me. I grew yellow ranunculus last year in a pot on my front porch. Unfortunately after it was finished blooming and died away during summer, the ground squirrels came hunting and dug up the tuber (or bulb, but I think tuber), so bye-bye yellow ranunculus. 

Notice the nasty snow in the background. I think I am now ready for spring.... no, summer. Spring here in the Chicago area is too much like winter to me. I am ready for summer!