Finding our Routine

Wow!  It's been a while since I've updated.  We've kind of gotten into a routine and blogging has not been on the schedule...  I guess I should work on that!

First, the big news:  Lorelei made dinner the other night, pretty much all by herself.  No whining or complaining, she just did it.  We've come up with a system that if you cook dinner or help cook dinner you don't have to wash the dishes.  David has been out of town the last few days so she chose to make dinner so she wouldn't have to wash dishes (which she hates doing).  It wasn't anything fancy, pepperoni pizza on a pre-made crust, but still... she did it willingly!  I'll take that!  When we started this almost a year ago, asking her to do that would have certainly ended up with her throwing a huge fit and crying and screaming for an hour about what a mean mom I am.  Thank goodness she has gotten past that and was able to make the pizza with a smile and a good attitude!  She also helped make the Greek salad last night!

And now, our other big news:

I think we finally got the right mix of our genes to create a new monster.  Trying to make a perfect baby in our late 30s has definitely been more difficult than it was in our late 20s.   Hopefully we won't hit too many speed bumps on our journey with this little one.  We are calling her Fannie Mae for now, but I'm pushing for the name Ansley.  Too bad I can't get David on board with that name.

Lorelei is so excited about becoming a big sister!  She was devasted after the first miscarriage I had back in 2015 so we waited until I was pretty much showing to tell her this time.  I think the miscarriage was harder on her than it was on me.  She even had to miss a day of school because she was so distressed.  Fingers crossed that everything turns out fine with this little bugger.  

I found out a few weeks ago that I have placenta previa, which means the placenta is attached at the bottom of my uterus, completely covering my cervix.  The MFM specialist who told us about this said there was a 50/50 chance it would move but the OB who sent me to the specialist said in his opinion there is only a 40% chance of it moving since it was diagnosed at 22 weeks and completely covering it instead of partially covering it.  I get to have another ultrasound at 28 weeks to check to see if the placenta has moved away from the cervix.  If it hasn't, that means I'll need to have a C-section at 36 or 37 weeks.  This is a definite speed bump since I was really hoping to TOLAC this time around since I had a C-section with Lorelei when she refused to come out (stubborn from the start).

We are enroute to Canada for our 2nd Fulltime Families Rally and the original plan was to slowly make our way south from Canada, arriving in Georgia around 35 weeks or so.  I've had regular OB appointments as we've been traveling, and I've picked out a practice and hospital in Georgia that I want to deliver with.  If I have to have a C-section, I am probably going to come up with a new plan and we might end up skipping Canada and heading back to Georgia a bit sooner.  I've been feeling fine but there is a very high chance I will end up bleeding at some point in the future if this doesn't go away.  That means I am supposed to know where the closest ERs & NICUs are at all times in our travels just in case little "Fannie Mae" decides to make an early appearance.  I also could be required to go on bedrest at anytime, so that could make traveling a bit difficult.  Fingers crossed everything falls into place! No stress, right?  =)

Here's our Plan A Route that we hope to cover in the next 12 weeks or so.  It would also include a flight from Boston to Nashville to see the eclipse on August 21:

If we find out at 28 weeks that I still have placenta previa, we will have to switch to Route Plan B.  We still hope to swing through Nashville for the eclipse as long as everything is still "normal" but we want to be in Georgia so we are closer to our families closer to the 30 weeks mark:

So that's what's going on since I last posted.  Everything is going well in our travels and we are having Lotts of great times on the road!

Waiting for the Braves vs Nationals game to start during a rain delay at Nationals Stadium

Still waiting...

3 hour rain delay was totally worth it since I "caught" a foul ball hit into the stands behind us!  We also got to move from our nose bleed cheap seats to the lower level since a majority of the people left due to the delay.

Waiting 9 hours for the fireworks to start is much more tolerable when you have a tree
to climb and friends to play with on the National Mall in Washington DC

We sat near the Washington Monument.
There were a few small rainstorms that kept us cool during the day but nothing worth running away from.

It took a while before the lawn filled up because of the storms but the crowd
finally arrived just in time for the show to start.

Lorelei enjoyed the show but thought it was a little short (just over 20 minutes long).  She concluded it must have been because of budget cuts so Trump could "build his stupid wall."  Smart girl!  ;-)

Happy Birthday America!

Finding Happier Days

Lorelei loves the disc swing hanging
from the pecan tree on the Lott Farm

I keep sitting down at the computer to work on the blog and find myself getting distracted with one thing or another.  It is important stuff, like paying bills and trying to make travel arrangements for the next leg of our journey but I also have all sorts of fun adventures that I want to share.  And I also feel like there is so much on my mind that I just want to write about but that isn't really the purpose of this blog.  But, this is my blog and I can do what I want, right?  I mean, if you are reading this, it is because you want to know what is going on in my (our) life right now.  I already wrote my "confess all" posts so I might as well follow up and keep going so you know my (our) life is getting better.

Lorelei & Izzi; Lake Hartwell

I have been feeling pretty relaxed lately so that is a nice change.  We are staying at David's parents' farm for a few weeks (in our RV) and plan on getting back on the road in the beginning of April.  Our first stop is going to be SE Georgia so we can check out Cumberland Island, Okefenokee Swamp, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and other various places in that area.  We are planning on slowly working our way north from there, eventually passing through Washington, DC and New York City.  There is another FTF Rally coming up later this year that we are hoping to make it to in Mattawa, Canada. The rally is in September, which seems so far off but if we stick to our ideal travel plan of staying in each spot for 3 weeks that only gives us 8 stops to make from SE Georgia up to Canada over the next 5 months.  Please let me know if you know of any can't miss spots in the comments below.

Lorelei seems to be noticeably happier lately which is a huge relief.  I think going to the Full Time Families Rally helped immensely, and I am sure my demeanor has changed as well.  She seems to be smiling more and doesn't argue quite as much as she used to and seems to be getting over her anger of missing her friends and school. I'm not expecting her to forget about any of her life in Colorado, but I was getting quite worried since she seemed so angry about how we disrupted her life to go on this adventure.  She still talks about how she misses her friends but now she does so with a sense of longing instead of fury.  We went on a 3 mile walk Sunday along the Hartwell Dam Trail and I think she almost enjoyed it.  She complained about a pain in her heel for a while but she pushed through and eventually forgot about it.
She seems to finally be settling into her school routine. I'm not as worried about her progress anymore since I feel fairly certain we will be on the road for at least 1 more school year.  I felt like she had fallen quite a bit behind in math but she is quickly catching up now that she doesn't hate doing her lessons as much as she did in the beginning.  We found an on-line program that we both like and she actually does her lessons without arguing and grumbling (most of the time).  Perhaps I'll write more about that another time if anyone is interested.
So that's life for now.  We are looking forward to getting back to traveling but it is nice spending time with David's parents and relaxing on the farm.  Don't forget to share your Eastern US travel suggestions in the comments below!

Another happy day on the farm

Disruptions in our RV Life: Part 2

Life continued on, mostly without me, but I still managed to have almost daily struggles with Lorelei. We would argue; she would get
angry, I would yell at her; she would cry, I would cry, she would carry on forever about how much she hated me and what a terrible mom I was... and eventually David would smooth things out.  I briefly mentioned in my previous post that I wanted to stay hidden in my room at my parents' house.  This is because we basically moved in with them after dropping our RV off for minor repairs at Open Roads Complete RV in Acworth, GA.

Let me give you a little back story about that whole debacle:

We had arranged to drop our RV off at Open Roads a few weeks prior to our arrival in Georgia and when we made our appointment they informed us they were running about 2 weeks behind for scheduling.  We told them that would be fine since we wanted to drop the RV off on Halloween, which was a little over 2 weeks away.  When we arrived in Marietta, my parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins helped us unload pretty much the entire RV and move everything into my parents' house.  We figured we would be there for a few weeks, maybe a month and a half at most while the RV was being repaired.  This worked perfectly because we wanted to be with my family for Thanksgiving and figured around that time we would get the RV back and head to Hartwell, GA to stay with David's parents on their farm for a while and then head back out on the road after Christmas.  

When we arrived on Halloween to drop the RV off, we were once again informed that they were running about 2 weeks behind.  We reminded them that we had made an appointment (over 2 weeks ago) to have the work done starting on that day so they could start right away on our rig, right?  Apparently, in the RV repair world, that isn't how things work.  They wanted us to bring it in so it could sit on their lot for 2 weeks before they even looked at it...???   &*$^*@%)&*  SERIOUSLY??  We felt a little powerless but we left our house there and headed back to our temporary home away from home to wait it out.

A few weeks passed and I finally had my appointment.  The psychiatrist determined I was depressed (you think?), anxious (possibly), and OCD (hmm, not too sure about that one, but whatever).  To make things all better, he gave me a prescription for Zoloft.  I was supposed to gradually increase the dose by 25-50 mg every two weeks or so.  As time passed, I still wasn't feeling much better.  I still didn't want to get out of bed.  I was going to bed early. I was always exhausted but I could barely sleep. And, I was still crying (or felt like I needed to) almost all the time.  

Thanksgiving came and things didn't seem to be getting much better.  Our RV was still in the shop and we were still at my parents' house. My parents were being super supportive through all of this.  They weren't giving us a hard time about being there but I was still feeling incredibly guilty for disrupting their routine.  A few more weeks passed (with little to no progress on the RV) and all of a sudden, it was Christmas.  

I always look forward to Christmas with my family.  All of my cousins and their families, aunts, & uncles, my brother, his wife and kids come over... We get together to celebrate and throw wrapping paper at each other.  Christmas just isn't the same for me unless I can be around all that chaos.  This year was different however.  As people began to arrive, I started feeling  overwhelmed.  I couldn't handle the chit chat and chaos of my family, who I normally love to be around.  I ended up retreating, once again, into the safety of my bedroom.

After a few more visits to the psychiatrist and a few more tweaks to the medication, I finally began to feel "normal."  I am currently taking Zoloft (to make me happy), Wellbutrin (to give me energy), Adderall (have I ever mentioned my ADHD?), and Trazadone (at night, to help me sleep).  I really don't like taking all these medications, but I guess for now, it is what my brain (and sanity) needs.  Hopefully I can eventually go back to being "normal" without so many drugs but with all the changes and uncertainty that has been going on in my life I suppose it is OK to have a little help.

We finally picked up our RV and headed out on the road again, but unfortunately, we are just on a short jaunt to Florida. We began our trip with our first RV rally, then spent a little time outside of Orlando with a trip to Legoland and we are currently in the FL panhandle so I can spend time with my Grandma Betty.  We are heading back to Marietta in a few days to celebrate Grandma Lucy's birthday on Saturday and... big surprise here, drop the RV back off at Open Roads for them to FINISH the repairs they were supposed to do over 3 months ago.  Oh well, that's why I'm taking medication: so I don't have to get upset about $h!t like this!