Countdown is on......

These last several weeks have been much of the same.....work, get home, take care of baby girl, spend weekends working on nursery and baby items.  The other day I decided it's time to stop researching and make decisions--I wanted to be done--so ordered a ton of stuff online and it will be delivered this week. After all of it arrives I think I'll be ready--down to having the clothes, diapers, room ready (as much as it can be since dresser will be in process of being refinished).

I have only a few weeks left and mama is looking forward to when it's time to deliver.  This pregnancy has been more physically demanding i.e. my tummy is bigger, I have a toddler to chase.
Good news is every Dr. appointment has been positive with growth and my vitals all on track. The few struggles I have are minimal in the grand scheme......heartburn (which over the counter med has worked) and the stabbing pain I get regularly when walking.  It is worse at work after I have been sitting for extended period and try and get up. Ouch.  My tummy has itched more too but I have been putting cream on it for a few weeks and that helps.  My Dr. recommended a belly band to help w/ the pain but I just haven't gotten one. I keep thinking, well, only a few weeks left.
After this Friday my Dr. wants me to start going weekly. That's fine w/ me.

My Big Boy

I got pretty excited the other day when I started going through all of the shower gifts from work.....it just sort of set in that he's coming. He's really coming!
I wonder if it's a thought I will have for awhile about the fact that I really am a mom. My daughter is two now and sometimes when I watch her I have to remind myself that she is mine, it is all real, I have a daughter. Sounds strange to type out because of course she's here and soon to have a brother. But, I can't sometimes help but need pinching. Not sure if other's feel this way who have gone through I.V.F or are mothers on their own, but at times it still feels surreal.

For several weeks I've been talking to baby girl about being a big sister and mama having a baby. A cartoon she watches had a few episodes where the mama tiger was going to have a new baby too. She Loves the episode because it shows a real life family going get a baby at the hospital.
Some supercute things she's done after talking about it and watching are:
--when we watch show w/ her on my lap she pats my tummy and says "baby in tummy".
--she sees the real baby on T.V. show and I ask her, "Should we bring one home like that to our house?" She says OH YEAH!
--the other day she was getting off my lap and said "my baby hurts"....aka her tummy.
--randomly she will say,  "Baby....cwyin. Waaaaaaaah".

I am not sure how much she really gets because it still is an abstract thought. Can't see the baby, what does it really  mean? I am just hopeful some of it is sinking in....especially the part about her being a big helper.  She likes to be involved in everything so I just hope it extends to her new brother.

There's been ups and downs w/ her lately......an UP is she's been going potty more and more on the potty chair (the one you just put on the toilet).  She knows when she's wet, poops, etc. and asks to be changed. So, the babysitters started just putting her on the potty and wouldn't you know, she sometimes goes peepee!!! She gets massive praise and we keep going by sometimes asking her if she needs to go, and sometimes she even says "potty" herself and runs toward bathroom. Sometime she goes and sometimes not but I'm not stressed about it. She's showing interest and we'll keep going at this speed.
A Downer is that her behavior last week or so took a nose dive. She hasn't been napping well and she's had a few major scrreaming meltdowns....usually the result of being tired. But everything you tell her to do, she says no, etc.. She even ripped off wallpaper on the walls. Dumped glasses of water just because. I am hoping it's just more of the phase.......last weekend was the hardest she's been in awhile. I think she whined from the minute she opened her eyes, wouldn't nap, cried about everything, said no to everything.......oh boy was she exhausting.
Seems to be a bit better this week so hopefully we keep it going. Think that's what's been hard is the unpredictability. Some weeks much better than others. This may all be normal but when you think back you realize--wow that was tough!

Other than having to deal w/ a few things happening w/ my rental in my other city (A/C broke and water pipe broke), I've really just focused on preparing for baby boy.  I talked to my sister today and I kept telling her that she can come whenever, but she still hadn't booked. So, we are preparing for her to come when my scheduled c-sec is (assuming I don't go into labor ahead of time).  If I do, then she just visits after the baby, but if I don't, she'll be here for it all. That would be nice since she wasn't there when baby girl was born. I've got the plans down for---if there is emergency how do I get to hospital and who takes care of baby girl. I'm thankful all is in place.
Now up to baby boy on his arrival.

Dew-Bup

Well, we've had another round of sickness in the house. My poor baby girl got some bug this past Wednesday night and we were up for 4 hours while she on/off threw up. She was just miserable. Of course no one likes to be sick but when you can't really explain how you feel or what's going on I'm sure it's even worse.  I told her that she 'threw up' and it's okay and mama would help her, etc..and she then started saying 'I dew-bup'. Yes honey, you sure did.  She seemed to get a little better the next day and seemed okay on Friday, but then Saturday after she got up in the morning and I was rocking her w/ the milk I noticed she wasn't drinking much......then once she stood up she was touching her throat, started crying, then all of a sudden....bllaaaaaaah all over living room floor. Right into the tub we went where she had round 2. Poor thing.  I get soooo worried about her when she is sick. My stress level rises instantly and it's just plain 'ole mama bear worry. I want to make it better but just have to tell her I know she doesn't feel good. She seemed better Sunday but hardly ate today.....so hard to figure out if she's not well, just isn't hungry, or what.

I do want to share a neat 'moment' we had.  On Sunday we were just playing in her room and building with blocks.  We started to make a tall tower and she wanted to make it go as high as she possibly could--even with standing up. So once we did and it was towering over us I took my finger and poked at it a little bit.......said oh, woah, oh.....and gigging a bit as it leaned back and forth.  She looked at me mischievously and stuck out her little finger started poking it just like I did. She looked at me and I looked at her and we both started giggling--together. It was just such a fun, pure moment.

Baby Boy--Physically for me it's getting harder and harder. Doesn't help that it's August in the south. I went to Dr. this past Friday and she was very pleased with everything. Blood pressure, weight, blood sugars, protein, all looked good. I told her about the 'stabbing' pain when walking and pointed to an area that is very tender on my stomach. She said both are very normal and suggested a belly band.  Baby boy already weights 4.5 lbs!! and I'm at 32 weeks. He's just gonna hang out and get fatter....cue more pain.  I am pretty darn tired after the weekend and Mondays are the hardest day for me.
I talked to my Dr. about planning for delivery, emergency, etc......well, we talked last time but I wanted to make sure again that she was leaning towards c-sec and she is.  She said she would stay open and we would make a decision based on the medical facts at the time and see where we land. I am not opposed to c-sec, however I just worry about recovery w/ already having my girl at home. Can't lift her, etc..and my wound opened up last time and I had to pack it from the inside out until it healed up. I would need more help for longer period but will just plan for whatever comes.  She said they don't do elective c-sec until 39 weeks (if I make it that long), but if my intuition is correct I think he will come earlier, just like my girl.  I would prefer to be awake at this one (they had to do general anesthesia last time), so I am hopeful for that. No other birthplan other than cooking this baby as long as I can and having a good delivery/healthy baby. Honestly had I had a birthplan other than 'go w/ the flow' last time I would have been devastated because it turned out to be pretty complicated. I need to draft up birth story.

Still working on the nursery. I had ordered a crib and matching dresser online (never ordered furniture online before) and the process was pretty easy/simple. However, the dresser staining didn't quite match the crib and it was just so 'red'.....was supposed to be just chestnut, which shows in the pics as a brown, but that's not what arrived at my door.  So, good news is free shipping so will return the dresser.  My neighbor has a dresser I am going to look at tomorrow that can maybe be painted...that would be super cute. It doesn't have to be all matchy/matchy. My only real desire is I would like the room to be done before baby boy.  Still no name. I play around w/ 2-3 that I like and spend the day calling him that in my head. Still not sure.

Hanging in there day by day.

My Baby is 2

Oh me oh my.....my baby is now 2.  I've been saying she's 'almost' two for a few months now because it seemed odd to say 22 months, 23 months, etc...and now she really is 2.  I ask her how old she is and she holds up a variety of fingers and says tooooo.

 

How cool is my blue ring pop mouth?

 

We had a really nice party at the house and just what I was hoping for w/ her 2nd birthday.

It started off super-stressful, however.  My baby isn't too fond of napping regularly, but I still put her to bed around 12pm and she fell asleep maybe around 12:45pm. Well, it was after 2pm and she was still sleeping (so was I) and my sister woke me up about 2:10pm. I hadn't showered or anything yet and the party was supposed to start at 2:30pm.
Well, I jump to shower and I hear that she has woken up. Screaming. My sister had gone in her room to try and change her diaper and she was just 'off'. She had been sick the two days prior w/ a viral cold, fever on/off, terrible stuffy nose, etc..and still wasn't feeling that much better. She kept saying mama, mama.....so quickly done w/ my shower I took over (in my towel and wet hair mind you) and it was close to 2:30 already.
She got on her birthday outfit but did NOT want me to put her down.  We walked towards my room and a few guests had arrived, including one of her babysitters. I handed her off because I just HAD to get ready. Babysitter took her to the front room and she just buried her head in babysitter's shoulder, crying, wouldn't get down.
I finally pull myself together (at least my hair was blow-dryed) and I put on a dress....came out and got my babygirl. She was still crying. I picked her up and she clung to me like a baby monkey.....she was holding on w/ all 4 limbs......head in my shoulder crying, not wanting to look at anyone. I rocked her back and forth, rubbing her back, and shhh-shhhhing her. 
Cue my stress level rising by the minute.  Now everyone was here and she was still crying, I wasn't totally ready, and I was hot, hot hot.  Thankfully my sister got the extra fan, I sat down on the floor w/ her and they had started putting presents in the middle of the room. Now THAT got her curiosity going.  Once she started paying attention to the presents, slowly but surely she came around.
WHEW!
WHEW!
She was really a lucky little girl because a lot of our friends and distant relatives had sent her presents via mail, plus the ones she had from the guests.  I had gotten her a cooking kitchen, play food, and pots and pans (she has one at both babysitters and loves it). I also got her a paja.ni.mals book and a fis.her p.ri.ce dollhouse.  She's shown a ton of interest in dollhouses since one of her babysitters has a massive one.  She isn't quite independently playing, but she really likes to have someone sit w/ her and 'cook' and 'play'.
Her spirits were great the rest of the party and guests stayed until around 4:30pm.  We had cake, drinks, etc. and it was just right.  Small and sweet.  I ordered a cake and they made the wrong flavor and spelled her name wrong on it (they fixed that) but who cares, right?  We still were able to sing Happy Birthday and she enjoyed it a ton.
My sister came for about 4 days and it was a bit better this time, but baby girl still needed time to warm up to her.  My sister did put in effort to slowly get her involved in things like playing potato head, etc. so that was great.  I can't say she was in the best of moods, though, as she was somewhat quiet....but she's been having a lot of kidney issues again. In fact today I just told her she probably needs to go back and see the specialist because she continues to get stones (in her one good kidney) and just takes pain medicine to deal w/ it.  And that in turn makes her sick, she feels worse....vicious cycle.

As for me, mama is close to 31 weeks. Woo-hoo. I am getting pretty excited, and expanding by the day. My bump is bigger now and you can for sure tell there's a baby in there. People are still surprised when I say that I have max about 8 weeks left, though....because I carry high and I am tall.
I am still feeling a lot of stretching and lower pain, but all is normal.  And great news, the iron has really helped my overall fatigue. I didn't want to declare it earlier because I wanted to see how it went, and I am like WHEW! I feel somewhat normal. That's not to say I don't get tired, but it's not the bone-crushing fatigue I was feeling before and feeling like it was fight just to get going in the morning and function all day.
I am still working on the nursery.....I've been surprised to find how hard it's been to find a non-dark, decent, but not expensive crib.  I was going to get one from someone selling, but they wanted too much so I just said forget it.  Also, I had someone come and give a bid just to paint the room and I almost choked. I am not paying 650 bucks to get a room painted, not sure what they were thinking....it's never cost that kind of money in all my past of painting....I was thinking couple hundred, maybe and I'd go ahead and pay it, even though I am in a rental. I just want a nice, sweet room that's READY before he comes.
So, still working on that now........

Overall we are doing okay.  I still need to put baby's birth story together before I have another one to tell!

2nd Birthday Coming!

We are getting ready for my baby girl to turn 2.  2!!  It hits me all of the changes when I go back and look at all the pictures from when she was wee-itty bitty.  Her face, hair, height, all growing in front of my eyes.

I haven't written in a few weeks because I truly was just exhausted. I would put her down at night and take myself to the sofa to watch tV, then lay there until I fell asleep, then get up and drag myself to bed. Every night.

Some positive changes, I think baby girl has turned a corner, so to speak, regarding her behavior. She is not hitting, biting, kicking as much and seems to be listening a little better. I have noticed that when it all started was when the second baby sitter started to sit more and brought her daughter w/ her. The daughter really likes baby girl, but it took her awhile to learn that baby girl needs space and doesn't like it when someone is in her face, or wants to pick her up all the time, etc.. School will start soon for my babysitters' kids, so that will take care of itself. Also, we started doing 'time out'.  There is a bench in the house that she calls a chair.  When she hits, or whatever, she gets a warning. She does it again she goes to the chair.  She even knows the rules already. She was hitting the babysitter's daughter. I said she had a warning. She did it again, looked at me, and said 'chair?". Ummmm....yes, chair time.  I am not strict w/ the 1 minute per age suggestion. I just have her sit until she calms down.  Then, I get down on eye to eye level and say "I put you in time out because you X. We don't X. do you understand?". The funniest thing is when I ask her if she understands.....she makes up words that I have no idea what she is saying, but it's almost as if she's trying to say yes, I understand. Hard for me not to smile because she says it sooo seriously.  Then I (or she) says 'hugs' and we call it a day.  I'm sure there are more 'proper' ways to do it, but I just do what works for us.  The two babysitters do it as well and it seems to be helping.

For her birthday.....we are going to have a small party just at the house. Have a little cake and call it a day. I just don't see the need to make this super big party when she doesn't have other little friends really, and would enjoy it here as much as anywhere else. Plus let's be honest, it's easier for me. i'm okay w/ that. My sister is flying into town, we will invite the babysitters, their kids, a few friends, and it should be some fun.

I've seen several blogs where people write letters to their children and I think that is neat to be able to look back on those....but my creative side is slow these days so I just want to document some of the things she is doing and how I've seen her change.
First is her hair. She has curly brown hair and it is finally growing in all over her head. Started as pretty bald, then mohawk-style, now it's filling in, and she even has this rogue curl in the back of her head that looks kind of rat-tail-ish. I haven't had the heart to cut it yet. She hasn't had a haircut, ever. Her hair grows out, not down.
Her personality.....she is still very independent. And now with words...."I do it"....."I color"..."I paintin'". She really loves crafty stuff where she can dig in w/ her fingers.....finger painting, painting, stamping, you name it. She also baked for the first time w/ the babysitter and loved that too. 
It's funny because sometimes I wonder, does she really need me?, but then I get reminded when she is having a major fit all she wants is her mama to calm her down. Like today, she was screaming in the back seat and I asked her if she wanted to hold my hand.....and she did.
She is definitely into pushing boundaries.....she likes to test, but she also is simply curious about how things work. She'll try to figure out a toy, but let me tell you if she can't very quickly, she'll let you know. She is also impatient. One thing that has changed from when she was younger is she freely gives 'hucks' and kisses on her own throughout the day.  She'll just be sitting next to me and say 'huck' and lean over and we hug. I do love that.
She still loves reading books.....she still goes over to pick one for her and one for me.....and bring over to read. One of her favorites these days is 'Tumper'......aka th.u.mper.
Her language has definitely increased where she strings words together now. My favorite is when I am heading to my room or somewhere and she runs after saying 'I coming....I coming'......The other one is 'okay'.  She says it in the right context and is almost like 'okaaaay'. It's too cute. I told her this morning mama needed to take a shower and she said oh, okay. Like no big deal.
She is still pretty tall......just today we were in the store and someone asked how old she was and I said almost 2. She said WOW, pretty tall. why yes, yes she is. In fact the shorts she had on today were these cute pink ones that fit just fine at the beginning of summer.
She can put her shoes on all by herself. She can take off some clothes, but putting on is a bit harder.

There have been many challenging days with her, testing my patience and energy level, but I recognize a lot of myself in her in that she's independent, strong-willed, loving (on her terms), curious, inpatient, and darn funny at times.  She doesn't belly laugh a ton, but when she does it is music to me.  Nothing better.
Love this kid.

And on to the next one....he's growing exactly as he should be and I'm getting close to 30 weeks. He's very active now and moves a lot throughout the day--and really a lot around the evening. The Dr. asked that I start taking a slow-release iron during 3rd trimester and yesterday not so great, but today I feel better.....and dare I say have less fatigue. The Dr. did check all my labs and my iron was fine, but maybe it can still be on the low end of fine and create issues. Not sure but I will keep taking it.  Also started an anti-heartburn.  T.U.ms just wasn't cutting it, and it feels way better now.  I am starting to get winded more easily and sitting/standing for long periods is getting harder. It puts so much pressure on my belly that my belly hardens up. I am definitely getting bigger in stomach this time because a shirt I wore throughout all last pregnancy is getting to the last button not being pulled. Oh boy! Still getting nursery together. It's been challenging to find exactly what I am envisioning furniture-wise, but we did get the bedding set and it is just too cute.
I had talked about moving due to allergies but we are just going to stay put for now. I wouldnt have the energy to move and It's time to just settle and get ready. Since nothing was put together before baby girl was born, since she was early, I really would like to have everything ready.
It's not too far away.....

Oy

That's about all the creative flow I have to think of a title.  I did not go to work today because I am utterly exhausted and don't feel well at all.

This holiday weekend had to have been the most challenging thus far....well, except early on sickness stuff, etc. but it just seemed pretty darn hard.  I am whipped.  Several reasons for this, for sure....
Being 6 months pregnant
Chasing an active, active toddler
Dealing w/ her antics
Most friends out of town this weekend so it was just us, not much downtime.  Been awhile since that way.

It takes a lot to keep her entertained. She's reverted back to not being too independent while playing and wants me to be with her and play constantly.  So, I did my best and am proud of what I was able to do. Went swimming several times in our babypool, read books, sang songs, built with blocks, colored w/markers, went out to lunch one day, she actually helped me empty the dishwasher, cleaned her room from top to bottom and vacuumed, she climbed all furniture everywhere, I am sure there were other things.........the only  'break' I had was when we rocked together and watched sh.r.ek several times when she started getting so whiny that nothing else worked. She ended up not napping saturday or sunday and that is where I struggled most. She is back in her room but it's not relaxing. I am constantly trying to figure out whether she's fallen asleep, or she just yells, sings, bounces, etc..no matter what I tried it didn't work.
On Sunday I did call one of her babysitters to come and get her for a few hours in the morning.
I just needed to vegetate for an hour or so. It did help some.

However, unfortunately I didn't sleep well at all last night, she woke up a few times, so by this morning I was absolutely exhausted. She woke up early and as I was getting out of bed I was just thinking I just can't do it all. Working full time, taking care of my one toddler, and the other baby not even here yet.  I just feel overwhelmed.  And when I feel like that I just don't function very well at all. I've mentioned several times the fatigue, but it seems more than that. No matter how much sleep I get it doesn't seem enough. I don't wake refreshed or energized, I wake up tired. All the time. There is no bucket of energy for me that I can find. I'm not even sure what to do about it. I will talk to the Dr. at my appointment this Friday, but it may just be that's how it is right now and there is nothing to do but power through it. As the baby gets bigger I am sure it will continue to be harder.
My temper was shorter this weekend also, so I got upset much quicker than I normally would and I am not happy about that. I know I will have harder days than others, but she's not used to be me yelling to stop her from doing something and she stopped in her tracks a few times. Not happy at all about that.

This may all be completely normal but I am here to say it is hard for me right now. The hardest part is really not even knowing what to do to make it better. Just getting more rest isn't helping. I've asked for help from friends here where I can. Given my last few visits w/ my sister, not really even considering that. She just hasn't been able to be there when I really need her. She's also dealing w/her own health issues w/ her kidney stuff. She's not taking care of herself and continues to be sick. I've noticed a shift in her over the last six months or so in that she's just more withdrawn, not happy at all, it's like pulling teeth when we talk because she has nothing much to say, etc.. Not sure I want to address w/ her given all I have going on. It just makes me sad that I have no family help or support at all. Well, just typing that out made me cry. Oy. I also think this holiday was quite lonely for me. I drove down the street and several cars parked in front of houses BBQ's galore. We didn't have anywhere to go and frankly, even if we were invited somewhere, not sure I would have had the energy.

One thing I did do was make all of my appointments and have been seeing Dr.'s....allergist, dentist, dermatologist, and new counselor. Just have new counselor left and will see her next week.
Trying to take care of what I can.

Anyone w/ suggestions, or even yah, been there and it is tough.....happy to hear.

I suppose this was coming

With all of the 'phases' and 'pre-terrible two' behavior we've been dealing w/ for the last few months, here's a snapshot into what I walked into today......

Day after the 4th, lots of whining this morning so I said forget it, let's get in the babypool at our house. Okay, no issues there, had fun, she enjoys just getting in/out/in/out, etc..

We went out to lunch today and got home in time to get ready for nap......we read a story and I put her in her room. It was pretty quiet in there so I was almost hopeful that she went down easily. I kept hearing some noise but thought it was just the cat.

Sure enough, as I settle down and get comfy,  I hear.....MAMA........MAMA.

I walk into her room and she had....POOP Smeared ev-ery-where. and I mean everywhere. you could smell it before I even got in her room.  I looked at her and it was on her face, her hair, fingers....on the crib rails--all four sides, the wall, chunks on the mattress sheet and on the floor.
I honestly just couldn't believe it. I whisked her out of the bed and put her in the tub asap.  Washed her everywhere.

Then, the task of cleaning her bed, etc.. Throughout all of this I didn't yell, I didn't say much because I was grossed out and irritated to say the least. I got out the ly.sol. and pi.ne.sol. and I started scrubbing everywhere--she had walked out of the room somewhere and soon was right behind me.

I said no, mama needs to clean this up.

Then I turned around to look and she had a washcloth in her hand--either she had gone to the bathroom to get one or there was one in her room already.

Either way, at least her heart was in the right place.

I love the toddler phase

I love the toddler phase
I love the toddler phase
I love the toddler phase

I am thinking if I keep repeating it over and over I will feel better about what's happening these days. And today was one of those days.....well, not even all day because I worked. But the minute her babysitter brought her back home, jeepers.

She was soooo whining and clingy, but didn't want anything when she came in the door. I usually sit down in the rocker and debrief w/ her babysitter. But, while I do this she usually says 'hand' 'hand' and pulls my hand because she wants me to follow her. I, of course, do not because I am trying to get the low-down of the day.  This ends up starting her in a tailspin because she can't get me to follow her.
Then, she says 'keeckle' 'keeckle' 'red'.  She wanted a red popsicle. These have been her new obsession. She will ask for one almost the moment she gets up. Since it is right before dinner I have to tell her no, it almost dinner time....cue another meltdown on the floor.
At this point I just had the babysitter go and I just held her and told her we needed to make dinner.
She had a 2 hour nap today so I have no idea what her problem was....maybe just overstimulated, maybe hungry, all the above...?

But here's where I snapped a little.  We actually had a decent dinner, she ate well, and I let her have her keeckle after dinner. Then we did bath. Well, after bath she decides that she should escape me, running around w/ nothing on while I'm calling her to come back. Once I got her in my grips I said we needed to put on jam-jams......she starts her wiggling around and crying again when I start putting lotion on her and when I picked her up to put more lotion on, she gets mad and slaps me. UM, what? Full on in the face slap. I looked her right in the eye and lowered my voice and said, no, we don't hit mama.  This little thing looks me right in the eye and brings her hand up to my face and 'sort of' slaps it again. I raised my voice then and said another time no, we don't hit mama.  Well that made her mad again because I hold down her arms and get face level when I tell her this.  Then when I let go she did it again!!!  That time I full on yelled---NO, we do NOT hit mama! She just kept crying more.....I was so mad at what she was doing and all I could think to do was yell back and say NO, we don't hit. Not one of my prouder moments because upon reflection, I knew she was upset, it's my job to stay cool. I should have just told her no, we don't hit and got up and walked away for a minute.  But man that's tough to do in the moment when she full on knew what she was doing, knew she shouldn't, but did it anyway.
I am not going to be perfect and do everything right. Obviously need the space to make mistakes and do better next time.

One thing I just thought of regarding her sleeping issues is I need to go back to putting her in bed no later than 7-ish pm.  I just tried it 3 days ago and it seems to be working better. She has 'let' me leave the room w/out epic meltdown and has taken a nap 3 days in a row.  So, maybe this is helping. These kinds of learnings are funny......because why didn't I just think of that sooner? What had been happening is one of her babysitters stays sometimes to do bath routine. Then we get to talking and her bed time had been slipping. 7:15-7:30, sometimes up to 8pm. I knew we were having rough times w/ sleeping but didn't put it together at all.  Not saying this is the answer but I have to say it's been better already.  I am going to stick w/ it and see how it goes.

I am looking forward to having some sort of energy again in the future. Fatigue has been tough. In addition to the general fatigue, I actually started an allergy medicine (after seeing allergist last week) this past weekend only to have it make me so exhausted I couldn't stand it and stopped taking it. Just what I didn't need. I am hopeful the next one is better. 

The holiday weekend is coming up and we have no plans and will stay in town. We'll find something to do but it sure is hot around here so unless it involves swimming, we will certainly be indoors.