WHEW!!!! It's been a while but I'm trying....

Well the puppies arrived 12/31/2008 - 1/1/2009!!!! They are just gorgeous and two of them have all ready found homes! We couldn't be more pleased with their new owners. Precious and Tony are both doing fine and Precious is now letting Tony get closer to the puppies. We have decided to keep the largest brindle male (meathead aka meaty, thanks Issy your nick name stuck)! He is beautiful but a handful and is definitely the more active male!

I spent new years in Mexico with my dad, stepmom, sisters and new brother!!! WOW what a trip! Dad got remarried and I picked up another sister, a brother-in-law, two niece's, two nephew's, a brother and a sister-in-law!!!! They're all amazing and I'm so stoked to have a big family! I've always wanted more and I'm not the oldest anymore!!! YAY ME! I now have a big sister and I couldn't be more stoked!

Well Eddie and I are still in love and going strong. I'm so blessed to have a man in my life that loves me so truly and so unconditionally and one that is strong enough to handle all that I have to fight. I just can't imagine my life without him, he is truly my strength!

As for the kids, they are all getting into sports and starting to play softball!!! A new sport for them but everyone is loving it and truly enjoying it. Joseph is a natural (as always), Jesse has tons of heart and is trying very hard to be perfect, Jordan is right in the middle and is having batting issues but is trying her best (I personally think she would prefer dance and/or soccer). Jesse wants to play tackle football this year and so does Joseph, so I think that's going to happen, and little Jordan wants to be a cheerleader, LOL go figure! We had a fun time not too long ago at Knott's Berry Farm and even Jordan was tall enough to ride some of the rides!!! She was bummed when she couldn't go on all the really big rides but soon the last baby will be able to hop on all those big roller coasters and freak me out even more! I'm always so worried that they're going to get hurt!

I on the other hand am continuing to fight the medical battle. I just got back from another doc's office and I still need to get my TWO MRI's now, one with IV contrast and the other without. They have added a pain med for me and upped a few of my other prescriptions, while I wait for my epidural injections. Once those happen (Feb 9th, Feb 23rd, and Mar 9th), I am to go back to my Rhuematologist and let him know if they helped. If they did we are considering steriod treatment to get this nasty beast under control. Mostly because Humira is not working as well as Enbrel and we don't want to double the Humira for fear of having the same reaction that Enbrel did with me (rash and risking anphalactic shock)!

So we continue to drive on and as my husband says SOLDIER ON HOOAH! Anyway, I keep soldiering on and so does our family! We hope all is well with you and yours and love you all!

WOW so we've established I'm a crappy Blogger!

Okay so updates......um I went on Enbrel and it worked great, until I developed a severe allergic reaction to it. So now I am on Humira which is not working as great but we're dealing with it. I have to go in for a contrast MRI on my SI joints and then they are considering Cortisone injections into the SI joints if this continues, but Eddie is amazing and working as my advocate so I am limited as to what I am allowed to focus on (which is a good thing). I have been spending a ton of time with my horses and just enjoying life with them.

The kids are doing fantastic in school and everyone is ready for the holidays (mom still has to finish some wrapping). Eddie is still working his butt off and being an amazing daddy and husband. I'm sorry this is so short, but I am trying to finish cleaning the house and wrapping gifts. I'll try to keep my posts short and maybe a lot more often!!!

Oh and Precious our amazing bulldog is expecting puppies the first week of January!!!!! The sire is of course my AMAZING bulldog Tony!!!! Here is their picture!!! Aren't they just awesome!

Results of the "Evil Doc" appointment and just some other stuff!

I’ve been on tons of meds (6 pills a day), ended up having to have a hysterectomy because my reproductive system was shutting down and poisoning me, all to no avail as the disease just kept getting worse. I actually was losing function in my hands/feet/movement in my neck/shoulders/hips/etc, but I got lucky when we moved out here and a small town doc in a one wing hospital decided that he wanted to try a new med on me. It’s a once a week injection into my gut (not as painful as you would think, trust me, I didn't even wince) and it actually depletes my immune system (here come the head colds, flu’s, and pneumonia) so I have to be careful who I’m around and stuff, but it seems to be working. I’m not taking any of my other meds (the doc would leave me on them I decided to go off of them to see if this really worked with no other variables) and so far so good!!!!! The back pain is severely less, I’m still having minor pains and periodic shooting pains in my hands, feet, elbows, and legs, but it’s been less than 24hrs so I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I'll keep everyone updated through the blog, but I'm really hopeful that this is going to work for me. I haven't been without back pain for as long as I can remember or hip pain for that matter and right now I'm feeling a slight ache in my hands and some pain in my heels and my neck(well no shit on the pain in my neck considering I'm at the computer with improper posture typing right now, that doesn't take a genius to figure out). I had an amazing nights sleep for the first time in years with no muscle relaxers so the world is looking up in that respect.

The kids are doing fantastic and their last day of school is June 5th so we're all looking forward to that. They're also looking forward to my horse coming out here so that they can go riding in the arena this summer (especially Jordan she has a pink helmet all picked out)! They’re really enjoying themselves and they love the beach out here. Isabel and EJ come out for their 42 days on the 3^rd of June (so right around the corner) and we can’t wait to see them. The plane tickets are a chunk of change but it’s all worth it! Eddie’s looking to retire to Huntsville AL in the next three years so that we can buy horse property and build me a house. He’s looking at being a government contractor doing security for the same program he’s in now and doing a lot of traveling so he knows that if I don’t have to work, am somewhere warm, am near the beach, and have my horses that it’s all good and I can deal with him being gone for a year and then coming home to work Huntsville for a year or two then leaving again.

So Life is looking up in our world!

Super Brief Update!

Okay so I'm totally stoked right now! Life is good. I just got approval from Tricare for my injections for my joints and they shipped this morning!!!! I should have the meds by Thursday!!! YAY!!!!!!!! Anyways I'm off to call the doc and see if I can switch to Friday 1st thing in the am.

Hope everyone is well!

I will post more later - right now I'm off to deal with the docs and eddie's schedule ;) since he needs to be there with me when I learn how to give myself these shots! YAY ME! Tricare worked this time!!!!!

Some Pictures of our Kids in our new home!!!!

Our Humble California Abode! We love it!

Pictures of our beach trip

Oh so much fun!!!! Here are some pictures of our beach trip.

I'm married to the most amazing man EVER!!!

Okay so um yeah, Happy Anniversary to me!!!! My most amazing husband has decided to let me have my horse out here!!!!! YAY!!!!! I miss riding my own horse so darn much, I'm just thrilled, I honestly couldn't be happier!!! Beautiful weather, the warm beach, my horse, my husband, my kids, all is well everyone is happy...................life is fantastic. Although I am in pain from this stupid disease I really don't care anymore, I truly just want to enjoy my life. I'm tan and having TONS OF FUN!!!!!! Anyways, went to the doc today and we're still waiting on the approval from TRICARE, I'm so happy about my horse coming home for the first time since I've left Nevada that I truly don't care. I can't wait to have my baby back, I miss her tons. Serenity is just the best thing in the world! Horse therapy.......can't beat it! Anyways, here is a picture of her and I when I was 20 riding her after Eddie and I first got married. Ugh, just a few more weeks and she'll be home!!!!!

I honestly owe it all to my AMAZING husband, he has been working so hard and I truly truly appreciate it! He's just the most amazing man in the world and is truly the best thing that has ever happened to me. He is so caring and understanding and truly just wants me to be happy so has, against his better financial judgment, allowed me to bring my baby out here. I just can't thank him enough. I truly just got the best anniversary gift EVER!