Geeking Out

So I feel like we all have those 1 or 2 things that we all geek or nerd out over. Sometimes we don't get to express it as much because the people we hang with don't really get it or they do get it to an extent but not the extent that you do. So today I'd like to dive into the two things I geek out over!

Yup. I'm one of those people. I am a star wars geek! I wasn't always a Star Wars geek though. It started for me in 2006 I wanna say. Yes, I was waaaaay late to the Star Wars game. In all fairness though, I wasn't around in the 1970's when it first started. It started to look fun to me when Lego came out with the Lego Star Wars video game. My brother got the demo of the game and it just looked so fun. We rented it on New Years Eve in 2006 going into 2007 and played the game the whole night into the new year. From that point I decided to watch the original trilogy. I got the DVD's from the library and then I was hooked. 

I love Han and Leia's relationship. Just the back and forth with each other, basically in denial about how much they really like each other. Leia is awesome just by herself as well. She's a strong female character who shows other girls and women that she can take care of herself when she needs to. She is a princess who recently turned into a general. Han Solo is awesome as well because he is funny. Especially with his sidekick Chewbacca.

Now ask me about my favorite charactes from Episodes 1-3 and I will immediately tell you Anakin. Anakin as a teenager though because good God is he gorgeous! Why oh why did he have to turn bad? Always after the bad boys. A lot of people will tell you that from these 3 movies their least favorite character is the infamous Jar Jar Binks. He doesn't bother me like he does the whole Star Wars community. 

So why do I love Star Wars so much? It's something completely different than most movies. You get to explore the galaxy. I wish I had a better answer as to why I love Star Wars so much. The plain and simple answer is.....I just do.

My 2nd nerd obsession is the wonderful Harry Potter universe. I didn't get involved with Mr Potter until the Prisoner of Azkaban movie. Two of my high school friends and I were having a sleepover. We were planning on going to the movies. They kept insisting we were going to see the new harry potter movie and i kept saying no were not. Well before we went to the movie I had to watch the first 2 movies to catch up on everything. I was hooked after the 1st movie. It was something new and different. So I only went to one of the book releases. I went to the Deathly Hallows book release because I don't think I had started reading the books until right after the Half Blood Prince book release. Being a Harry Potter nerd means you have read the books AND seen the movies. You can talk with other nerds about how the books were so much better than the movies because in books stuff isn't left out. Movies like to change stuff or leave stuff out which is extremely frustrating. We Harry Potter nerds would sit through a long ass movie if it meant that nothing was cut out from it. 

With Harry Potter, you wish and dream for that letter from Hogwarts. You wish magic was real to cast a spell on that enemy or that one true love or just to have a fun duel with a friend.

Severus Snape.....what can I say about him? He was a character you never would see yourself crying over his death, but you do because of everything that was revealed with him. I cry every single time with his death. Honestly, I cry with all of the deaths......Cedric Diggory, Sirius Black, Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, Fred Weasley, Tonks, Remus Lupin. Those are the death's I cry about. 

Harry Potter teaches us to be kind to everyone no matter what differences they have. That's a lesson I gained from it. 

You could look like young Neville and turn out to be a gorgeous man in the end. The Harry Potter community went nuts seeing Neville in the final films. He went from awkward little boy to OMG!

One day I hope to get down to Florida to visit both the Harry Potter world and the soon to be opening Star Wars world. It's on my bucket list. For now I have to rely on friends who go down there for pictures.

So in closing, why do I like both of these universes so much? Because they are worlds that take me away from everyday life. It gives me something fun to watch with my kids and just get away from the real world for awhile. If I'm having a bad week or a bad day, I can go to one of these films and it cheers me right up. So if you're a friend of mine and I've ever bored you with either of these obsessions, I'm sorry. but these are two things that really excite me in life and I want to share my joy with it with you all. If you ever tell me you want to sit and watch these films, i will be there with snacks.....and 4 kids. If you say "Hey let's read the harry potter books together" I will grab my kindle and get started!

Share your nerdiness and geekiness with the world. Don't hide it. Be yourself!

Emma's Myelo clinic

Yesterday morning Emma had her yearly Myelo clinic appointment. What is Myelo clinic you ask? Well I will tell ya! Myelo clinic is a special clinic for children with Spina Bifida. The child goes once a year to the clinic to see all their specialty dr's in one day. Yes it's exhausting but it's nice seeing them all in one day instead of a million appointments throughout the year. Depending on the child's progress and well being, some dr's will either say "See ya next year" or "we would like to see child back in 4-6 months at their own office". As of right now we only have the "see you next year with 2 of the Myelo clinic dr's, Neurology and Behavioral Development. We got to the hospital yesterday morning around 8:45ish since Emma had to go for another Urology test called a VCUG.

Our appointment with Myelo clinic was scheduled for 9:30 but we were late from the testing so we got there at 10. They understood because everyone was running behind due to testing before appointments. Here's a rundown of what each of the dr's expect from us until we see them again.

Behavioral and development- This dr we talked about how shes doing in all areas and how she's growing and if she's on track in all areas and what not. We also discussed about her tantrums lately. As of lately Emma will cry at the drop of a pin or she will scream and yell if shes not getting her way. As of right now we are taking blame for summer break. If this continues through the school year, we will make an appointment to see them again and discus further steps, like behavior therapy and if that won't work then we would take further action and try medication. I'm hoping it's just an age thing or with her being out of school.

Genetics- Next we saw the genetics dr just to touch base and see how things were and how she's doing and if any major changes happened in the household. well yeah, there were 2 deaths in the family and a new addition. So there have been some big family changes.

Gastro- Next we saw who I like to call the butt dr or poop dr. lol. We discussed how emma is doing with pooping and if shes had any constipation issues which she had a few weeks ago when she had the UTI. He asked if we were trying to sit emma on the potty at all to get her trying to poop. We havent done that yet. So what we're going to try is twice a day using a suppository and sitting her on the potty. if that works then if we're lucky we can get it to once a day and then have her on a pooping schedule. that would be nice to have done so she doesnt have a bunch of stinky diapers while at school.

Urology- next we saw Dr Ross who is a Dr who works with Dr Woo. Dr Woo is on maternity leave right now. Dr Ross went over Emma's test results from Urodynamics and VCUG. Both were fine and showed no concerns thank goodness. He wants us to try cathing Emma either 4 times a day or if possible every 3 hours. He says no big deal if you cant. Were just trying to see what works in keeping her the dryest. He was going to up her dosage of Oxybutynin but i told him it was making her hot and sweaty at times so he didn't wanna push that. He suggested that there could be a chance her sphincter wasn't closing all the way which is causing the leaks in between caths. Our options would be botox injections into her bladder or another surgery. Obviously I would try the botox 1st. but those 2 options are only if the increased cathing doesn't help her stay dry. so not a concern yet.

Neuro- Next we saw our fave dr, Dr Tomei. SInce Emma has had no shunt issues over the past year we didn't get to see her long. We will just continue our once a year appt with Myelo clinic unless we have a shunt issue.

Orthopedics- finally we finished the day seeing Dr Hardesty. We talked with her about how Emma is doing with her walker and starting to try out the fore arm crutches. We've been using the fore arm crutches very little. mostly in PT. We noticed last Monday that Emma was turning her right foot outward when using the fore arm crutches only. So until Emma is a little more older and has more control and strength we want to just stick with using the walker for right now since she doesn't turn her foot out with that. So that kinda stinks we can't progress with walking too much right now but who knows. Maybe she'll get some more strength starting all day school and doing a lot more walking. She had an x-ray done of her hips and pelvis and both look great. So we don't see Dr Hardesty for 6 months.

Today I have been on and off the phone with the secretary from Urology trying to get the Ultrasound scheduled for when Dr. Woo returns. Hopefully by then end of the day we get that taken care of. I'm so proud of all the progress Emma has been making in the past year. Her dr's are as well. It bums me out some about the fore arm crutch situation but I don't want her using them and hurting herself or her leg. That would cause a huge setback. 

I'm worried about the whole behavior situation as well. I don't want to have to resort to behavior therapy or medication. I've heard that sometimes medication will have side effects that will cause other problems and make them worse. I know there have been lots of changes at home and she's just trying to adjust to being on summer vacation. She misses being in school. She should be going back in the next month. The big kids start August 13th. I'm sure preschool starts a week or 2 later. Fingers crossed we can have good routines going by school start as well.

1 month old!

So as of July 8th, we have a 1 month old! I seriously feel like we just had her. She's only had a couple of bad nights since we had her. So here are her stats for the 1st month!

-10 lbs 9.6 oz
-23ish in
-size 1 diapers
-2-4 oz of formula
-size 0-3 months or 3 months clothes

This being only her 1st month, this list is rather short. I know as the months go on this list will get longer. I can't wait to see how she progresses over the months.