Falling Off the Face of the Earth...

No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I am just pregnant which is almost the same thing. I am finding out just how much different it is being pregnant in your 30's than in your 20's. I am so much more tired than I remember. I ended up having a nap today from about 5 to 6 PM so here I am at almost 10 PM feeling motivated to write a blog! Wow, what an accomplishment.
Last night I went to bed about 9 PM and was up at 7:30 AM this morning. Oh yeah, 10 1/2 hours of sleep. I can't get enough of it. I wake up feeling great and have very productive mornings but I am just wiped out in the evenings and the last thing I can do or want to do is stay awake to write blogs, read blogs, sift through email etc. So I am apologizing I guess for being so out of touch with everyone. I am just in my own little world out here.
I am so grateful to have a very helpful husband. He made dinner tonight and bathed Demeree and got her ready for bed while I napped. He also made breakfast for Deme and I this morning and he even got Demeree ready for her swim lesson while we raced out the door to make the 9 AM lesson. He has even hiked and ran my crazy puppy a few times this week so he's not so crazy around the house. God bless him!

Anyways not too much to say. The pregnancy is going well. I am 35 weeks and feeling good. Ryan is doing really well too. We have had nothing but good news since his initial tumor diagnosis in January. His biopsy revealed a slow-growing tumor. The genetic testing revealed he can do chemotherapy as a treatment option and his MRI in May revealed that his tumor is not currently growing at all. So right now we are not doing chemotherapy or any sort of treatment. Just hanging out and hoping that the tumor just keeps doing what it's doing...nothing. He is on an anti-seizure medication he takes at night and that seems to be preventing any further seizures. He has only ever had the one major seizure which is how the tumor was discovered and then a few minor seizures directly following his biopsy. Which is kind of to be expected since he had 4 needles poked directly into the area of the brain that caused the initial seizure.

I am just hoping that alcohol is a tumor shrinking agent! Ryan sure loves his beer and Canadian Whiskey! I think he got a little pissed off that he was diagnosed with a brain tumor at one of the healthiest times in his life. He had just trained for and finished his first half marathon a few months before his seizure and he had committed to not drink my whole pregnancy. He was 30 days into not having even one drop of alcohol when he had his seizure. He eats pretty healthy but like I said I sure hope alcohol shrinks tumors!

Demeree just gave her Dad the cutest Father's Day card she made at preschool. She filled in all these blanks for questions they asked like...1) My Dad's favorite thing to do is...she wrote...catch fish. 2)My Dad's favorite thing to say is...she wrote....I have to work. 3)My Dad's favorite thing to eat is...she wrote...I think this is so funny...beer!! I am sure the Sandy Utah preschool teachers loved it!
She was making Ryan another Father's Day card at home and she asked me if she should draw a picture of Ryan fishing or of Ryan drinking beer at Hoppers? She sure knows her Dad!
I am probably just as predictable these days. Should we draw a picture of me sleeping or swinging on my porch swing? Not a whole lot else going on.

Tuesday is a big day

Ryan has his biopsy scheduled for Tuesday February 17th. We have to be at the hospital at 5:30 AM. Ahhhhh!
It will be an early day that's for sure.
They will be shaving a small strip of his hair and then they will drill a nickle sized hole in his noggin and with a needle complete the biopsy. Then they fill the hole in skull with a compound that the skull I guess will eventually bond to and grow over or something like that. They told him he will be in the hospital a day or so. We are anticipating him coming home some time Wednesday evening.
Thanks to many sweet neighbors and friends we have dinners being brought over Tue. through Friday. Which is so nice because I do not enjoy cooking at all when I am pregnant and I don't think Ryan will be up for cooking for me those nights.

The biopsy results should be available a few days later hopefully by Friday at the latest.

I am sure Ryan is a little nervous. One day his life is normal and the next a brain tumor. It's a pretty shitty blow.
We have a lot of great support. So thanks to all of you for your prayers, phone calls, emails, dinners etc. It's hard to learn to accept so much help but I don't know how we could do it otherwise.

Lucky

How lucky am I to have these two in my life?

She's so precious and so beautiful!

This Frost family never has a dull moment, let me tell you. On Friday January 30th Ryan was skiing with two of his best friends from high school, Tony Passey and Dan Richardson, when he had a major seizure. A CT scan followed by and MRI revealed a brain tumor. Lucky!

We do feel lucky that he survived this seizure. His two friends pretty much saved his life. Thanks guys!

The three of them had been skiing pretty hard for about three hours and had just come out of a patch of trees and were traversing over a relatively easy run to get to the lift when he had his seizure. How lucky he wasn't skiing trees and how lucky he wasn't on the lift. His friends saw him fall forward and kicked off there skis and got to him pretty quick. He had fallen face forward in the snow and when they turned him over he was deep purple and biting down on his tongue so hard that there was quite of bit of blood and, sorry to paint a gross picture, snot everywhere not to mention he was still seizing. Scary that he could have suffocated in the snow. Tony immediately called 911 which patched him through to ski patrol and when asked what run they were on had to flag down another skier to find out what ski run they were on. In the mean time, Dan pried Ryan's mouth open a little with his ski pole to help stop him biting down on his tongue. By the time the ski patrol got to them about 5 to 7 minutes had passed and Ryan was just starting to stop seizing. About 40 minutes later and 4 rounds of questions he was pretty with it. He knew his address and what he had for breakfast and of course he was ready to ski down the mountain, which he wasn't allowed to do. The ski patrol took him down the mountain on their sled and checked out his vitals. He refused an ambulance ride to the hospital. Instead he had his friends drive him to the ER at the brand new state of the art Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City where I met them. It was a roller coaster of an evening to say the least and he ended up being at the hospital until the next evening. Right before we left the hospital we had a brief chat with a guy, we don't really know who he was some guy on the neurosurgeons team, who basically told us the type of brain tumor they are thinking he has is called a glioma basically he told us if you're going to have a brain tumor, it's not a bad one to have and it's in a good location. I even gave Ryan a high five for getting a "good" tumor. So we were sent home and told to schedule a neurosurgeon apt. the following week and we were under the impression it is no big deal. He's got a "good" tumor and we'll just have it taken out and be done with that. We found out yesterday from the first neurosurgeon we met with that this is not exactly the case. It's a little bit more complicated than that. We are pretty bummed but staying positive and waiting for our next 2nd appointment with a different neurosurgeon. Ryan has started his own blog to keep everyone updated it is http://snowmenhavebrains.blogspot.com/ . So I will leave you to read all the medical details on that sight.

On our way home from the hospital the Saturday evening after his seizure Ryan hadn't had dinner so I suggested we stop at his favorite spot, His "Cheers" if you will, Ryan's beloved Hoppers . We went in and had dinner and he got to visit with his good friends there and that really helped put him in a better mood. We talked about how lucky we were that he had survived the seizure and about how lucky we are in general. We have an amazing daughter and we've had the opportunity to have what we think is a healthy 10 year marriage. Of course no marriage is perfect and we've had our share of ups and downs but at the end of the day we feel lucky and privileged to be best friends through it all.

Driving home from Hoppers this song came on the radio and it couldn't be more perfect...
Click here to hear the song!

Now I know why I was so grouchy

I just looked at the title of my last blog I wrote forever ago and had to chuckle. A couple days after that I took a pregnancy test and found out that baby number 3 is on the way!
We are very excited and just hoping for a healthy, happy bundle of whatever we get. We don't care as long as it's healthy.
Deme is thrilled to be a big sister again and Ryan has been so cute and helpful. I don't get the lovely pregnant glow the first part of my pregnancy. I feel pretty nauseated and exhausted. Luckily I have medicine I can take that helps me not throw up. I still don't feel like eating much or doing much of anything though. I am almost 14 weeks and I have noticed some of my energy coming back and I haven't had to take the naseau medicine in a couple days so I am just about over it.
That's why I haven't blogged in a few months. I used every ounce of energy I had to make it through the holidays and I go to bed sometimes when Deme goes to bed which is 7:30 or 8. I usually just take a nap in her bed for awhile and then drag myself downstairs to wash my face and brush my teeth and then read a little and fall back asleep. Super productive. Now you can see why blogging just doesn't fit in my schedule!

A productive, yet grouchy weekend

I got some help this weekend with a project I've had in mind for a while. It was the ONE really great thing to come out of the weekend. I had a head cold all weekend, felt lousy, overwhelmed, frustrated and was in a grouchy mood of epic proportions ALL weekend. I can get people to back me up on that believe me.
Could it be the impending freezing weather?
Could it be the current financial situation of the world?
Could it be that we own a company in one of the hardest hit industries?
Could it be that holidays are kind of hard for me in general?
Could it be these two jokers think it's funny to tease and laugh at me when I'm in a foul mood?


I say "YES" to all of the above.

Isn't this material gorgeous? I picked it out from this new fabric store that just opened by us. I think it's called Designer's Resource. It was way too pricey. I added my name to their mailing list the first time I went in. A month or so later I received a coupon for 50% off one item. So I went back in and was able to get 2 1/2 yards of fabric that would cover all 8 of my chairs for $53!!! I was so excited at my patience and thriftiness.

This is the "before" shot of the chairs. I think they were made to be re-upholstered. I bought these pre-children and have had the hardest time keeping the white seats clean. I've had them steamed cleaned before. The cleaning of all 8 chairs was more than the material cost. Good riddance.
The "after" shot. Aren't they purdy?

We rearranged some rugs in the house and got this final look. The table IS centered on the rug I promise. I don't think this picture shows just how amazing the final project turned out. I'm so happy to have it done in time for Thanksgiving. Something to be thankful for, for sure.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy 5th Birthday to Deme!

This little beauty turned five yesterday and I cried. Only five short years ago this wanted, planned for and much anticipated little girl came into our lives. She made me a Mom. A title, a role that has brought me the most pride, joy and heartache I have ever experienced.

I am so proud of her and who she is at five years of age. She is a smart, fun, silly, joyful, brave child and I can't imagine our lives without her.

I want so much for her in her life. Most importantly I want her to never lose her childishness. I think I get little glimpses now and again of the true meaning of the saying, "Youth is wasted on the young." What a pleasure it would be to go back to a time in our lives when life was all about the next party, the next slice of cake.

Dear Deme, I love you and I am so glad to have had you in my life these past five years. I hope we have the privilege of many more happy years together!

Love,

Mom

Keepin' It Simple

Demeree turns five on Sunday. I can't believe it. Being that she's our only child and we love throwing little shindigs now and again, we've always thrown a big party for her and this year it is going to be very simple. I am kind of writing this so hopefully the friends we usually invite over for this event will realize that we are not being rude. We are just trying to keep it simple and have it be a family affair this year. Demeree decided she wanted to go to Disney on Ice for her birthday. They have a show on her actual birthday which is why I even mentioned it to her in the first place. I told her she could invite one friend to go with her. We will have cake and ice cream at our house afterwards and have the family over. The ones who can make it anyways. It's like the Gaza strip in our family sometimes so I guess we shall see who makes it and who decides to drop bombs while they are here. Kind of joking. Maybe I'll drop a few bombs this year myself. Joking again. Pretty easy though, the party anyways. I might have some soup and a couple appetizers...maybe, maybe not...but other than that, that's it. No magician, no Chuck E Cheese, no visit from Cinderella (which Deme has talked about having for months now) just a some good old fashioned birthday fun with some cake and ice cream. I do want to mention though that the Disney on Ice Tickets are Front Row. It wasn't that much more to splurge and get front row so we went for it. After all, you only turn five once. She should have a great 5th birthday.