Maybe there's a new avenue for migraine sufferers?

When I woke Tuesday morning I was thinking of all the "things" I planned to get done while Olivia was at school~the few errands I'd run, the dinner I'd try and put together, and a few other odd & ends to take care of. I was making the bed and felt like my vision was very disrupted out of my right eye, and pretty soon noticed my peripheral vision out of that eye was gone. It totally freaked me out! It was sort like the feeling you have after you've looked into the sun, or into the bright snow on a sunny day. It was very disorienting to say the least. I have had this before, & remembered the last time this visual aura happened was about 15 minutes before I had a migraine. At this point I'm thinking "please God, no!" I was going to that dark place in my head when my Dad had called and I explained what had just happened to my vision. He then said, "you're going to have a migraine." Unfortunately my Dad has suffered from them most of his adult life, and I've been unlucky enough to inherit them. I didn't want to believe I was getting one, and sure enough, like clockwork, 15 minutes later the PAIN came. My entire forehead, temples, and down the sides of my nose were THROBBING! I downed some ibuprofen and hoped it would do the trick. Ha, it didn't really do a thing! It did take away some of the throbbing, but one side of my head was in constant pain. Nausea shortly followed the throbbing, my senses were off(ew, especially my sense of smell, reminded me of morning sickness,) in a nutshell, I started to feel debilitated! Those of you that have suffered from a migraine know what this is like. I just wanted to curl up in a ball. Every time I even opened up my mouth to yawn I thought I'd be sick. I continued to feel pretty green around the gills for most of the day.

Oddly enough, I had scheduled a pedicure for that day a couple weeks prior. I thought I'd give myself until 4 o'clock to see if I could make the appt. Shane told me I was nutz and that I should go and lay down. I thought, well the salon I was going to is SUPER relaxing, there's only one pedicure at a time, in a very serene environment, I'll go there and relax. So, off I went. I have to tell you that after the pedicure, I realized that my lingering migraine pain was diminishing. My girlfriend Jenny(who is also a nurse,) told me it was probably because of all the pressure points being touched in my feet. I thought, you're right, reflexology therapy! Jodi had spent over an hour on my feet, and I truly believe it helped. When I got home and told Shane, he kind of laughed, but then I explained pressure points etc... Believe what you will, I just think It helped and wanted to share my story. For those of you that suffer from migraines, give this a try if you are able to get out of the house. I think it was a blessing that my day ended with the pedicure. I wish I could say that I'm headache free, but I'm not. I feel like this one has had and "aftershock" effect, like after an earthquake.
Salon Info~
Incognito 838-1888
Jodi~she's amazing, and there is no other place in Spokane that will give you this kind of pedicure!

What this boy is made of~Snips and snails, And puppy dog tails!

I haven't blogged much about my sweet boy lately. My Nolan, he's such a spark plug. He is now 16 months old, ahh, could shed a tear over that one! I think back to the journey I went through to finally get to Nolan J. Patrick~the terrible morning sickness piggybacked with Zofran/prometrium, a baby aspirin each day, the shots in my tummy for 8 months, I could list a few more things, but I'll spare you the details, besides most of you know what those things are :") what a ride it was. I know a lot of other moms who have gone through an awful lot to get to their blessings. The truth is most of us would go through it over and over for them. I'm in love with him! He's the polar opposite of his big sister, and that has made it even more interesting to watch him evolve. We have our reserved, docile Livvy, and then there's our determined, constant ball of energy, Nolan. He's trying to say everything we're saying now, very cute, and fun because he's becoming a great little communicator. Seems like he's always trying to figure "things" out. To test them, he might pull it a part, climb on it, break it, eat it, jump on it/or off of it, or whatever else he thinks he needs to do to figure it out. My friend D always says he's "frisky" like a cat, and boy that's the truth! Or Olivia likes to call him a "cub bear." But then, there's his sweet, soft, tenderhearted side. Like when he just wants his B (his silky blanket,) for a bit of cuddle time, sits on my lap for a story, give hugs, or my favorite, kisses. Here are some new photos of NJP. You'll notice his new trend is to rub his food in his hair during mealtime, fun times! I absolutely love having a little boy, it's a whole new world!

ONCE

I watched a really great independent, oscar winning (for original song,) film tonight called Once. It's a love story that basically revolves around a musical dream of the (two main characters.) I'm a music junky so I was sucked in immediately. I've been a fan of Glen Hansard since my little brother Noel introduced me to him a little over a year ago. I have no idea why it took me so long to watch this movie, but then again I can barely catch up on the shows I DVR, let alone watch an entire movie. Anyhow, the movie gave me chills, and had a swooning effect on me! Below I've included one of my favorite Glen Hansard songs from the movie. I think he's brilliant, and so is Marketa Irglova.

One other thing I should mention about my love for this movie--My Dad is from Ireland and I was fortunate to go and live with our family(still have lots of Hennessy & Moran clans over there!) for a few months about 10 years ago. There were several areas in the movie that I have been to so it brought back lots of memories of my wonderful holiday spent there. I have a happy place in my heart for Ireland, and the Irish~

The shot in the arm that I needed!

As I'm sitting here finishing up some work on the computer Olivia approaches me and says "Are you pregnant Mama?" I quickly pull my shirt down over my belly(which is not in the best shape at the moment,) and say "NO!" Olivia-"O, you look pregnant." Shane hears her and says "Olivia, that's not nice!" I say to Shane, "actually, that's just the motivation I've needed to get back in to my workout routine!" Yes, I've fallen off the excersice wagon, but today, I officially start back up--Thanks for the encouragement Liv :")

More Christmas to come

We hope you all had a blessed Christmas. One thing that I really missed this year was our Christmas Eve service at church. We left thinking we had plenty of time to get to church, however it took us over an hour to get halfway there. Unfortunately, we never made it. So, we stopped by my parents and had my Dad's famous BBQ burgers.

Christmas Day was lovely, spent with my family at our house. We had lots of yummy treats, drinks, dinner, and the best part was just lounging around and being together. We have more Christmas fun to come. We were supposed to spend Christmas Eve with Shane's side of the family. However, my poor sister-in-law got really sick on Christmas Eve :( So, next week we'll have our extended Christmas with the Lofstedt/Walker/Sander Family.

This is the first year that Olivia was excited about Santa--well, I shouldn't say excited because she still doesn't really want to think about him. Nolan isn't a big fan quite yet, he bawled when we took him to get his picture with Santa. On Christmas eve Liv asked Shane and I "Is Santa coming right now?" I need to get to bed, I don't want to see him!" She loves the thought of him though. We left out cookies and milk and the next morning she was thrilled that he'd been to the house and had a treat. I love the magic of Christmas through a child. Olivia couldn't believe that Santa remembered some of the things she'd asked him for, and that he actually brought gifts to her house. Watching Liv this year brought back so many memories of those sleepless Christmas Eve nights when I was a child. I remember being so excited that I couldn't sleep a wink. My brothers and I would get up around 5AM and try to drag my poor sleep deprived parents out of their bed. Something that I'll be experiencing with my own children in the years to come. I hope you all experienced the joy of Christmas and celebrating Jesus in your home & hearts as well! Lots of pictures to come later!

A Christmas Celebration-Ballet Style

Last Thursday Olivia had her first ballet performance. It was so cute! There were quite a few dances, and songs celebrating Christ and that was pretty awesome too. We enjoyed the entire program from watching the advanced, and beginner ballerinas. I didn't realize how emotional I'd get over watching my baby girl dance. I felt a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. I can't believe how grown up she's getting, and that she actually got up on stage and performed. The Lord has continued to move mountains for her as she's finally growing out of being away, or separated from Shane and I. There is no way she would have gotten up on that stage last year, she would have been terrified. Here's a short video(because I took it with my camera,) and some pictures. Liv, we loved watching you dance, and are so happy that you've found something that you enjoy. Bravo sweetheart!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, Thy candles shine so brightly!

Our walk into the woods to find our "silver shamrock."
Yay, we found it, and it's a beautiful shade of greenish/silver, & has very soft needles so the kids won't get poked :)
It's HUGE, Shane had to cut like 3 more ft. off when we got home.
The boys staying warm by the fire in the cabin.

We were so excited to join our friends(who are more like our second family, sadly we missed the other half of our group,) on a Christmas tree adventure. We packed all the kids into our car, and Shane and Richie drove big red so they could hall the trees. The Wells have been going to the same tree farm for a few decades and this year they asked us to join them. It was so much fun, and a totally different experience from all the other years we've gone. The only thing that would have topped it off was if there would have been snow on the ground. I always love cutting our tree down when we're surrounded by white, white, white! Nonetheless, it was wonderful. Ted, the tree farm owner, heated up his little cabin for us so that we could go in and get warm and relax for a bit after we got our tree. So sweet! The cabin was amazing, completely restored. The kids sipped on cocoa(thanks auntie D,) and we visited for a bit until we headed home with our trees(which were like 15 feet long!) It was a very memorable day, and we learned & made new tree hunting/cutting traditions. Thanks you Wells Family for inviting us, great memories!