Cured!

I have some exciting news, everyone!

Many of you have been following our journey dealing with Jay's hydronephrosis (aka enlarged kidney problem) that he's had since pre-birth.

It was first noticed in utero, confirmed it via ultrasound soon after he was born, we visited the local urologist in town with some pediatric experience who ordered some (not so fun) testing at the children's hospital in Madison, and due to the nature of the blockage being abnormal (it was at the ureter tube end that's connected to Jay's bladder instead of the common blockage being up at the top near the kidney) we were referred to a pediatric urology specialist at the children's hospital up in Madison and were told that due to the blockage Jay would most likely need to have surgery around his 2nd birthday where they pull out the ureter tube at the bladder, snip it and then reattach it. After several visits in Madison, we learned the specialist was taking a position at the children's hospital in Milwaukee. Fortunately our insurance covered him at Milwaukee so we followed him there.

Eating some celebratory pizza
after his check-up!

You may remember me reporting last February, at Jay's last urology check-up 6 months ago , that there was a significant improvement with the dilation in his kidney and that it was possible that the blockage was opening up on its own.

Well this past Thursday we had Jay's regular 6 month check-up again - an ultrasound on his kidneys and bladder and then meeting with the specialist right after to go over it.

He said that as far as Jay's urology issues go - we can consider him cured!

He said the left kidney continues to look healthy with hardly any dilation and the ureter tube doesn't look engorged at all anymore! He said to consider it a temporary plumbing problem that has been resolved!

Guys, this is AMAZING news!

The specialist did tell us at the beginning that while there was the slim chance the blockage could open up on its own, it is rare and we shouldn't get our hopes up as we would most likely be facing the reality of Jay needing surgery to correct it.

Honestly, I had started to prepare myself for the reality of that, pushing it to the back of my mind until the time got closer. It helped that the specialist assured me that he had done the procedure himself (as he would be the one doing it) many many times and so far he has been successful with no complications - he had put me at ease.

But now, no surgery at all, no further testing either (which is GREAT because I have no idea how you get a 2 year old to cooperate when it comes to attaching a catheter to them, not to mention getting them to leave an IV alone or lay still for a 45-60min thorough ultrasound scan with using some kinda of sedative!). He wants us to come back in a year for a follow-up ultrasound just to confirm that everything still looks good but he said that unless anything comes back abnormal we'll most likely be meeting with the nurse practitioner so we can have a quick in and out visit.

I would like to thank ALL of you for your thoughts and prayers as we have been dealing with this these past 18 months or so - I know many, many people have been praying for Jay and specifically that the blockage would open up on its own so he wouldn't need to have the surgery  - it has been GREATLY appreciated!

For all of you out there who have been following us on this tough journey or if you stumbled across this post while trying to find answers to your own questions about hydronephrosis or other kidney/ureter problems your little one might have... let me just say that there is hope! While surgery may seem inevitable to correct it, I pray you have a great pediatric urology specialist like we did (Dr. John Kryger, based out of the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) who recommends waiting a few years to see if the problem corrects itself first. It is a rough journey, especially with some of the testing your little one has to go through (please feel free to click the "hydronephrosis" label at the bottom of this post to read back through some of what we've gone through these past 18 months in regards to this), but I hope that if anything, I have given you hope and comfort in knowing you're not alone when it comes to this.

No, my child's not tired, he just has shiners

I hate when people make assumptions about your child.

Ever since Jay was born and we'd go places in public if he fussed while in the check-out line there always seemed to be someone that would declare "Oh, he must be hungry!" Um, no... he ate before we came here - he probably just wants up, or something to play with, etc.

It got old.

Now that he's a bit older when we go out in places someone almost always comments "Someone looks sleepy - it must be naptime, isn't it?" No, actually he just woke up shortly before we left home.

The reason why people make this assumption?

You can kinda see them here - they look like darker
bags/circles under his eyes

He has what his pediatrician informed us at his last check-up is called "Allergic Shiners," which look like dark circles under the eyes.

This is pretty common in younger kids, especially around allergy season. And we're almost positive that Jay unfortunately inherited my family's horrible seasonal allergies as I notice he tends to show allergy symptoms during the same time we're all struggling with ours - some days being more miserable than others. While we could get testing done to be 100% sure, I just didn't see the point, as there's not much we can do for it right now anyway. There's really only Benadryl unless we want to get a prescription and I'd rather not be giving him Benadryl unless it's really bad.

So yeah. No, my child is not tired when we're out shopping - I try to make sure he's well rested and has a full tummy before we go out anywhere to avoid a tantrum from happening - he just has allergies, thank you very much.

Mean Abs June!

I've been having a terrible time getting my mid-section back to looking decent since having Jay. I start a workout, but either get bored and don't finish or just forget and get out of a routine.

Celia (who's also one of my blog button swap buddies!) came across this Mean Abs June workout calendar and it looks doable!

 

I think I'll give it a try, starting today, and see how I did when July comes around!

Wish me luck!

Houses, movies, Friday and apps

So it's been a few weeks since I've last updated - my apologies!

Anyways, we've been keeping busy with various doctor appointments and house-hunt related stuff.

So it's official - as long as nothing happens with the seller, we're closing on the house sometime during the first week of April! How exciting!

We got it in a light tan/mocha color

We also bought our living room furniture too, or well, at least put a deposit on it. Slumberland has their Mega Sale - 55% off stuff - going on through this week and they had some really nice 5 piece living room sets (a sofa, loveseat, 2 end tables and a coffee table) for under $1000 so naturally we jumped at the chance as it really is a good deal and we need furniture for our front room upstairs since the majority of our furniture is going in the rec room downstairs. We're planning on putting it on our credit card but have to wait til after we close so it doesn't screw up hubby's credit any, but that works out as they have to order it from the manufacturer warehouse and won't be in til around our closing date anyway.

We had the home inspection this past Monday and it went well - no major surprises, just a few smaller things that we can do ourselves or have my dad and uncle help out with. We're also shopping around for a fridge and washer/dryer too and I plan on painting Jay's room all Super Mario Bros-esque - I'll be sure to post pics!

I had my post-partum 6 week check-up at the OBGYN last week too and they said everything looks good so I'm good to go back to work - I find out tomorrow if I'm back on the schedule or not yet. I'm also down at least 20lbs from my max preggo weight! Woot! 10 more pounds to go and I'll be back to my pre-preggo weight! I've been trying to go walking once a week (either at the mall or out on the walking path, which I'm really going to miss once we move) and I'm thinking of starting the 30 Day Shred in May, as we're going to be busy with moving at the beginning of April plus the doctor said to ease into working out and don't start out with anything too crazy right away.

Other than that not too much of importance has been going on.

We watched the movie Easy A the other day as it was our Netflix movie. Gotta admit, it was a lot better than I was expecting! To be honest, the witty and quick dialogue as well as the humor in it reminded me of Mean Girls, which was another really good recent high school comedy. If you liked Mean Girls I definitely recommend checking out Easy A. The cast was pretty good too, with familiar faces such as Emma Stone (as this movie is her breakout vessel), Amanda Bynes, Stanley Tucci, Thomas Hayden Christensen (whom I will always think of as Ned from Fox's old school "Ned and Stacy" sitcom), Lisa Kudrow and Malcolm McDowell.

And if you haven't heard the song "Friday" by Rebecca Black go check it out (if you can handle it). It really is one of the worst songs ever! The entire song from start to finish is auto-tuned and unlike with "singers" such as Ke$ha, they don't even try to hide it! And the lyrics... omg they're hilariously bad! My favorite is the part that's all "we so excited!" as they were too lazy to include "are" and decided a fragmented sentence like that was fine! And then there's the random rap near the end too that has not much of anything to do with the song! It's too funny! Apparently there's a deathmetal parody version of the song too that's completely hilarious as well!

One one last note - hubby found a really neat app last week called AudioGalaxy. What it does is, via the internet, syncs your phone with your computer's music files so you can listen to any song on your computer on your phone no matter where you are, so long as you have the AudioGalaxy program running on your computer and your phone - you get to choose with music files you want it to "share" with your phone and it streams it through the network! So rather than upload/import your music files onto your phone and taking up space you can just use AudioGalaxy to listen to your music on your computer while you're out walking or driving or even at work! How neat is that?? I know it's in the Android Market, not sure about the iPhone one though as I don't pay attention to iPhone stuff.

30 Days of Me: Day 12 - Whatever tickles your fancy II

Another "Whatever Tickles Your Fancy" post in this meme... last Spring I posted what's "In my bag" and thought it would be fun to do an updated one since I've since cleaned out my purse and reorganized things since then.

Starting at the top  left and working across...

1. My Bag

It's black faux leather (I think) and hubby bought it for me from Target for my 25th birthday. I also have a little black and red ribbon attached to it that some students were passing out at Walmart days after the shooting on campus.

2. My Wallet

I got this at Gordman's a few months ago and I love it - it matches my bag and it's got a side for my cards and ID and checkbooks and then the other side zips and holds money among other things. I also store my portable 2g USB drive in here too.

3. Motorola Droid

I love my phone! I never saw the point or need in a smartphone until I got one and I just love it! It's basically a mini-computer as I can do pretty much anything I need to - check email, Facebook, Twitter, blog, read blogs, go on the internet, watch videos, listen to mp3s, etc.

4. Mace

I'm female, I sometimes run out to the store after dark or come home after dark if I've been out... could come in handy!

5. A pocket sized thing of Kleenex

I have allergies so these sometimes come in handy

6. A hairclip

Just in case I need to put my hair up for something, this is a temporary fix

7. Wipes

I got these from some restaurant and thought they might come in handy...

8. Tampons

I have no clue why I still have these in my bag - I haven't needed them for the last 4 months and I most likely won't need them for at least another 5-6 months if not longer... I keep forgetting to take them out! lol...

9. 5 React Gum

It's yummy and yeah... I always have a pack of gum on me

10. A reminder card for my next preggo appointment, some random business card, an NIU Huskie 2010 Football schedule, movie ticket to The Expendables

11. 2 pens, a mini-Maglite, and a Tide to Go stain remover pen

12. Pink and Black makeup pouch which houses items 13-17

13. Mary Kay small compact that holds 3 eye shadows, 1 blush, applicators and Garnetfrost lipstick

14. Mary Kay Satin Hands hand lotion

15. 3 Mary Kay Nourishine Lipglosses in Berry Sparkle, Sugar and Cream and Beach Bronze

16. Round Compact mirror with pouch

17. 2 bottles of Clear Eyes eyedrops - one is for contact lenses, the other is the Triple Action Relief

18. Pill container which I store my prenatal vitamins

I take them daily with dinner since they say to take with food and sometimes we go out to eat so I figured it'd be smart to keep some on me.


What's in your bag?

Urban Outfitters... did you REALLY think this was acceptable??

While going through my Google Reader today, I came upon this post by Tasha at Random Musings of an Overactive Imagination and like her and many others, I'm kind of outraged too!

Recently, the company Urban Outfitters, which is known for having stores in shopping malls across America, had to remove a t-shirt they were selling on their website.

The shirt in question is to the right ---->

Many feel that it promotes anorexia (a movement called Pro-Ana), as the message is "Eat Less" and is worn by a model on their site who looks pretty skinny. Their target demographic for their clothes are high schoolers too, as they rival other mall stores geared towards teens such as American Eagle and Abercrombie and Fitch.

I understand, America is becoming more obese and lazy - while viewing a local commercial for am upcoming local family summer event, my husband couldn't help but comment at how "big" some of the kids in the commercial were. But selling a t-shirt that says "Eat Less" and marketing it towards teenage girls - many of which already have insecurity and body issue problems to begin with - is just irresponsible and promoting a poor solution to an important issue. While it is important to be healthy and in shape "eating less" is not the answer - eating healthy and regular exercise is.

To be honest, I've never shopped at Urban Outfitters as I find their prices (as well as the prices of American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch, and other similar stores) to be too expensive, but I remember being in Jr. High and shopping at stores like that cuz it was trendy thing to do - if you wanted to fit in with the popular crowd, you had to wear the name brand labels. Last time I can recall wearing a size 0 was in 5th or 6th grade. For most of high school I was a size 6 and by the end of college I was at least an 8 to a 10. Now, before getting preggo, I was comfortable in size 12, as a 13 was too loose and an 11 was just slightly too tight. Aside from my size 12 Old Navy jeans, I'm in a 14 (which I blame on pregnancy). I've never been obese or "big" but I do have big thighs which is why I have to currently wear double digit pants, as the smaller sizes I can't pull over them. So far, the exercise I have tried in recent years, doesn't seem to help much in my thighs as all it does is tighten them and turn the fat into muscle. I've just come to accept that I have big thighs, which I've heard will come in handy when I pop out this kid in February. Sometimes you just can't help the way your body is. Yes, before I was pregnant I could use to lose a good 10-20lbs just to be healthier (I was in the lower 160s), but still... I wasn't skinny, but I wasn't obese either - I considered myself to be average.

This is why movies such as the Bridget Jones ones upset me - in the movie she weighs 130 or so and EVERYONE seems to think she's fat because of that, including herself - Hollywood's pretty skewed if they think 130lbs is a "fat girl" number. Watching that movie even depressed me, as at the time I first saw it in college I was at least 140lbs! Ladies, unless you're super super short, 130lbs is NOT fat! I know plenty of women, myself included, who would LOVE to be 130lbs.

My college roommate once came across a Livejournal group years ago (back when Livejournal was the main form of blogging) that she shared with me - it was a Pro-Ana group and it saddened us both so much to see images of super skinny celebs that these young girls (most seemed to be in Jr. High and high school) were aiming to look like. They practically idolized the skin and bone images of Mary Kate Olsen back when she struggled with her eating disorder. It was just sickening. A handful people, us included, started posting trying to explain to these girls that this wasn't healthy at all and having a news design and art background I even tried to explain how a lot of images you see in magazines and such are altered in programs like Photoshop to make the celebs look more skinny and glamorous. The girls would have none of our rational talk though as we spent a week on there trying to help them - instead they continued to hold each other accountable, using their skin and bone images of celebs as inspiration while they tried to reach 60lbs... and then 50lbs... It was so sad!

Having experienced that first hand, as well as having been a teenage girl who spent time trying to fit in, and having a current teenage sister and the fact that I'm going to be a mommy soon and hope to someday have a girl, a store selling and marketing stuff like this to girls is really upsetting to me!

What were the people who approve the items Urban Outfitters sells thinking when they approved this?! It doesn't appear that anyone sees the "humor" in it (if there was any) - it comes off as being either Pro-Ana or just mean spirited. What were they thinking??

Here's the article from the Cleveland Leader, which has been making rounds on the net:

New Urban Outfitters T-Shirt Promotes Pro-Anorexia Movement
     Urban Outfitters does admittedly have at least some pretty cool clothes, but if you're bigger than say a size 8 or are anything more than small-chested, good luck finding anything there to fit. I suppose that could be the message of their latest t-shirt, "Eat Less" and maybe you'll be able to buy/wear our clothes.
     Perhaps some of the American population could stand to take the shirt's advice, but for those impressionable teens who shop at Urban Outfitters, it's message is more pro-anorexia than anything, especially when worn by an emaciated model.
     Many are outraged by the t-shirt. If you too would like to give Urban Outfitters a piece of your mind, you can send your comments to service@urbanoutfitters.com

Source: http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/13944

Actress Sophia Bush, from the hit TV show One Tree Hill, has even taken a stand against this as well and wrote an open letter to Urban Outfitters on her blog. While I'm not too familar with the actress, having never watched her TV show, I do applaud her for taking a stand and expressing her outrage about this - it's nice to see SOMEONE in Hollywood/Showbiz take a stand against this kind of thing.

What do you think? Was Urban Outfitters out of line marketing and selling the shirt? What are your thoughts?

Snacks we love

Not too long ago I made a workout post, talking about my plan to shed some pounds and get in shape. While my eating habits are terrible, I decided it might be a good idea to start using a Calorie Counter, as my goal is to stay in the 1200 calories per day range. I'm finding out that some days I'm right on track, others I go slightly over, while some I come waaaaaay under! The one I've been using allows you to enter in the brand or generic name of the item to search for it, and it shows you the nutrition facts and most often an A+ through F grade as well so you know if you're eating something that's good or bad; often times, when it's bad, they'll let you know why that is. It's been pretty interesting!

I have also been trying to be more conscious about snacking as well. I have come across 2 really neat items that I LOVE!

First, is the new Jello Mousse Temptations. This nice little chocolately delight is sugar free and only 60 calories. I love it! It tastes great and satisfies my occasional chocolate cravings. There's 3 different flavors - Chocolate, Dark Chocolate and Caramel - and you get 6 cups in a package for around $2.50. Not a bad deal, if you ask me! You can find these near other Jello products in the yogurt section

Another neat little snack that I just recently tried are the Laughing Cow's Mini Babybel Light Cheese. These little cheese wedges come in a net of 6 and are only 50 calories! They taste pretty good too and the way they are packaged - the cheese is in a wax pouch with tabs you pull to open and then it's wrapped plastic - are great for on the go too! These can be found either near the cheese section or in a fridge with the more exotic cheeses.

Be sure to give these snacks a try the next time you're hankering for something good to eat.

A Work Out post

Just a little bit ago I was watching the rerun of "40 Most Slimmed Celebs" on VH1 and was a little motivated to finally go work out. As I mentioned previously, one of my goals for the year is to lose some weight and get in shape.

No, this isn't going to turn into a work out blog, although I might occasionally update how I'm doing, so don't worry!

Fortunately, I think my eating habits are fine, as I haven't really gained any weight between my doctors visits (I've been going roughly every 6 months for a check up for about the last year and a half now due to a minor surgery I had to have at the end of 2008). I try to maintain 1200-1500 calories a day - meaning I aim for 1200, but I gave myself that little bit of leeway with the 1500 since I've heard that 1500 is a healthy average to maintain. I do this by having something light when I get up - usually a low-fat breakfast bar on days I work, or an english muffin or sandwich on days I don't (depends on what time I get up). Then I usually eat light during the rest of the day until dinner (which I eat a decent sized meal). I'll snack on something light if I get hungry, usually crackers, as I heard a news report that it's good to snack when you get hungry so that you don't pig out when it's time for dinner and eat more than you should. At night if I get hungry I'll eat one of these yummy, 60 calorie Jell-O mousse temptations things I kept seeing on tv and HAD to try - they taste REALLY GOOD and are ONLY 60 CALORIES!

As far as a workout... well, that's been pretty much non-existent.

In high school I played soccer every spring and the first 2 weeks of practice were all conditioning with a little bit of skrimmage at the end. Our coach worked us hard those first 2 weeks and I was in pretty good shape!

When I got to college I didn't have the time join an intermural team as my schedule was pretty busy with classes, university band, working nights at the school newspaper and having a social life on the weekends, however I did walk all over campus to all those places. There were a few times later in college I got into a workout regime and stuck with it for about a month, but then over the summer I got out of the habit as I wasn't near campus as much.

I've tried the DDR workout a bit several times, which is fun, but I hate that the songs are like 1:30-2 minutes long and that you have to stop after everyone to pick the next song, in most cases - it's not constant. Not to mention, I got tired of working out to the same songs all the time (I have 3 different DDR games, but still...)

I also tried the Zumba DVDs, twice. I realized I can't work out to an exercise video. I don't like doing the same thing all the time, I like a little variation which you can't get with a DVD.

I'm hoping to win another $100 Amazon giftcard so I can get us a Wii and maybe later on that Jenny McCarthy work out game with the camera toy or the WiiFit, but that doesn't help me right now.

My mom was telling me about this great deal that one of the gyms in town has going on right now ($20 sign up fee per person, then $20 for the first name on the membership, $12 for the second, $7 for the third, etc...) and how great their equipment is... I was going to hop on their membership, but I guess you all have to live under the same address or be under 22, so that wasn't going to work. Hubby and I looked into it, as when I was in college, I really enjoyed spending 20-30 min on the treadmills but we can't afford one of those right now, however we just don't have the money for a gym membership right now.

My parents did give me their old exercise bike they were going to get rid of awhile back, so I've been using that but not as much as I probably should... I weighed myself the other day and it said I was 163, which is consistent with what I weighed when I went to the doctor in July. I'd like to lose 10lbs, if not closer to 20, as I hate the size jeans I'm in (13, 11 if they have stretch material in em - I miss wearing my size 9s!), my stomach doesn't look attractive in some of my 'hot' clothes,and when I gain weight part of it goes to my face and I HATE how it looks in pictures. I would LOVE to be right around 140 again, as I haven't been that weight since my early college days and I looked pretty good back then!

Okay, so here's my little workout regime I'm going to try to do 3-4 times a week:

• 20 reps (to start) of lunges with dumbells
• 20 reps per arm (to start) of dumbbell curls
• 20 reps (to start) of tricep extentions
• 10 min (to start) of riding the exercise bike
• 50 (to start) crunches
• 50 (to start) of "rowboats"
• 1 min (to start) of that exercise where you lay on your back and keep your legs straight while elevated 

I can't wait for all this snow to go away and the weather to warm up so I can go use our walking path around the corner - from our building to the stoplight and back is roughly a 2 mile walk!