We all March on.

 Things went well with the surgeon.  The prognosis is very good.  The cancer is small.  The surgeon expects the surgery will take about an hour.  Her surgery will be at the end of October.  So she'll still be able to come to visit in a week and a half.

Oddly enough, my dad is having surgery on the same day.  His is much more complex and will take a lot longer.   

I went back to the dentist for my cleaning and crown installation.  The cleaning was fine.  Surprisingly, there were no glaring issues.  The crown wasn't quite right.  It needed to be about a millimeter longer.  So it got sent back to the lab.  It was supposed to e ready on Thursday, but the lab was running behind, so I'm going back on Tuesday.

Bertram's first soccer lesson wasn't great.  He spent a lot of time complaining.  But the lessons have gotten progressively better.  I think he would be good on a running team.  I may need to try to find one.  I signed him up for some yoga/mindfulness classes.  He didn't like it at all.  But he has three more, because I already paid for them.   

Bron had a cough, starting last Saturday.  So she was out of school on Monday and Tuesday.  She still has a lingering cough, but no more fever, and she's not feeling poorly anymore.

Bron had her first ballet/tap class last week.  She really likes it.  She isn't meant to be a dancer, but that's ok.  She's not the best listener.  

Aaron was going to go on the cub scout campout with Bronwyn, and possibly Bertram.  But it's while my mom is here.  Apparently, he said I was going to go too.  When he told me, I asked if he was joking.  I do not camp.  I like being outside, but at the end of the day I want my bed, and indoor plumbing.  They might not be going.  I'm not sure if they'll go.  I won't be going.

I donated whole blood last Sunday.  Nothing too interesting about that.  It went fine, without issue.

On Monday, I'm going to Rosh Hashana services with my dad.  I'm thinking about Judaism again.  I'm not too interested in organized religion in general, but I want to have somewhere to hang my hat, so to speak.

I can't think of much else for now.  Here are pictures from the last week or so.

Playing chess, and acorns.

On a hike

Reading after school

Ready for her first dance class

I can't remember where we were going.  He was all dressed as a Pokémon trainer.

First week of soccer.

When she wasn't feeling well.

Bertram had to do another self portrait.  He had to bring this one home as well.  But he persevered, and did the assignment without much complaining.  His perfectionism came into play a bit, but not nearly as bad as the first portrait.

He drew this hedgehog.  It might be my favourite drawing of his.

Catching up again

I'm towards the end of a 10-day social media fast.  I really hate it.  I think's harder as a stay at home mom. Social media is sort of how I have friends.  It's been lonely, and isolating. It was suggested in the general conference for church to do a 10-day social media fast, and (re-)read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year.  I've mentioned it before, but I have pretty much no faith at the moment.  Well, no feeling of faith.  I try, and I just don't feel like I'm getting it, if that makes any sense.  So, I thought, I would try to follow the advice of the president of the church, and see if it might bring me closer to Christ.  In the recent past, the more I try the further away I feel.  But I thought I'd try again.  Try and try again.  No results so far, but I'm not any worse off because of it.  (Except the isolation).

Last Saturday Aaron help his cousin build a fence.  He was sore for a few days, and mentioned his arm was bothering him.  Tuesday Bronwyn and I went to Kaiser.  I did my quarterly blood draw, and Bron got her HiB, Pneumococcal, and tDap boosters.  Tuesday after work, Aaron mentioned his arm was really starting to bother him.  He went to Urgent Care in the evening.  They said it was tendinitis. Tuesday night, he took ibuprofen and benedryl and went to bed early.  I came back around midnight.  And he was awake in pain that got worse.  He was writhing and moaning.  He took a Norco, and it didn't touch the pain.  So around 3 am, I called my Mother in Law (who lives 2 houses away) to ask her to stay with the kids.  We went back to Kaiser, to the ER.  There are no wait, which was nice, we were out in under an hour.  He saw the NP, she confirmed that it was tendinitis.  He got a shot of to tordol and dilaudid.  It took a while, but those helped some, and he finally went to sleep.  He stayed home from work Wednesday.  His arm was still hurting.  We went back to Kaiser that afternoon.  Aaron saw another doctor who wrote him a prescription for Flexeril.  He took that, it worked, then slept for about 17 hours straight.  Friday he went back to work.  So it was a fun week.

Some Musings

I feel like I've lost my faith.  Well, I suppose that's  incorrect.  I think my faith lost me.  I had been having trouble with my testimony/church membership for a long time.  It was weird too, because the more I tried to do the right things (and "fake it til you make it") the further I felt. God stopped talking to me, so for a while, I stopped talking to God.  But not to long ago, I tried again, and I asked what should I do, what should I be doing?  The answer was do what brings you joy.  I haven't really found what brings me joy yet.  And my faith has become a somewhat contentious subject in our house.  I really wish I could make myself believe.  It would make things easier, and it would be nice to just believe.  But I've tried, and as of now, I can't.  Maybe that will change, I'm certainly open to it.  But at the moment this is all I've got (spiritually speaking): I'm pretty sure there it something out there.  I don't know how hands on this something is, but I think there is something greater than myself.

It's starting to get cold again.  Not like the rest of the country, where it actually gets cold.  Just cold for here, which is more than enough for me. We're had to turn on our heater, which is nice, but parts of our house are poorly insulated (particularly the master bedroom).  Even when the heat is on, it can still be chilly.

Bertram had his first haircut a few days ago.  I took him to Kinder Cuts, and he got to sit in a truck while having his hair cut.  He did really well, and the stylist did well too. I kept it long, but got it out of his face more.  People warned us that once we cut his hair the curls wouldn't come back.  But I think it's actually curlier than before.

I'll be having my second colonoscopy in 3 weeks.  (I supposed I should write about this on the crohns blog, but maybe later).  My sister is having her first colonoscopy on the same day. I'm not too nervous this time.  I'll be doing a different prep process, but I'll be drinking a lot less volume, which will be a welcomed change. And I'm not too worried about what they'll find, diagnostically, because it'll (more than likely) still be crohns.  I've not been having pain, or any serious flare ups, but it's been 4 years, so it's time.

It's been three weeks since I've really exercised (aside from walking).  I was going to get up and run this morning, but I didn't really sleep until after 3, and getting up at 5:30 was just not going to happen.  Maybe tomorrow, we'll see how it goes, but I do need to get moving again.  I just feel better when I do.