It's LAKE Season!!

Yep, it’s that time of year when every minute I am not in the office, traveling or sleeping I will be on the water and you will get annoyed with all the lake posts! Ha! I warned you.

We got up early Saturday morning and were on the water about 9:30a. I’ve come to appreciate the stillness of the lake on a weekend morning or weekday afternoon. So much better! I took this picture with my Panorama app. It's so cool!

After we wakeboarded for a few hours, we decided to take a trip up to the dam. It’s weird that this is our 3rd year with the boat and have never took the trip up to the dam on the water. Saturday was the perfect day to do it! Calm most of the day and the sun was shining!

In fear of being burnt to a crisp, we decided to leave about 3p and head home. Saturday night was pretty uneventful. We played checkers on the porch and I barely hung on until 9p! Ha! Just an old married couple. My brother apprently called me at 10:30p and said he talked to me, but I was not making sense. Obvioulsy I was talking to him in my sleep! 

Sunday was brutal. We were so sore from wakeboarding! But we could not waste what we thought was going to be another gorgeous day on the lake. Our friend Gator went out with us on Sunday and I felt so bad that it rained, but what started out as a pretty day turned sour fast! We had no idea it was supposed to be so bad, but somehow we survived the rain, wind and even hail!

I hid under the windshield, but it didn't do much good because the wind was blowing the rain every direction! I think we deserve our boating badge after that day. Yes, I enjoyed a beer on Sunday:) It was my reward for a good two weeks. Since I still haven’t started my fertility meds yet I think it was ok.

Jeremy is working from home this week so I played hooky Monday and worked from home too! It was nice to relax and knock out some much needed work from the comfort of our couch. I might have also squeezed in a nap!

Ready for the Weekend

It's been a pretty low key week in the Cole house. I did catch up on reading last night while sitting on the porch and enjoying this awesome weather. I can't wait to get out on the water in the morning and hopefully wakeboard for a while! And then work on my pale legs the rest of the day:)

 We went to Sam's Wednesday night for fruit and veggies...and this is what happened.

Ha! I love Sam's and it shows in this picture. We ended up getting so many random things. Like a new beach towel. Did we really need a new towel for the boat? Are we really going to eat a honeydew, grapes, kiwis, oranges and blackberries this week?! And why did we buy a 5 lb bag a peanuts?

Oh well, we won't go hungry! Have a great weekend!

The Perfect Weekend

As we drove home from Mountainburg Sunday night, Jeremy and I were recapping the weekend and decided it was the absolute perfect weekend in our books; workout, lake, concert, family and good food…

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to run the NWA Race for the Cure. We started running the race a few years ago after my grandma passed away due to complications from breast cancer. And now we run in memory of her and in honor of Jeremy’s Aunt Francis who beat the horrible disease last summer. We love running the race and it’s just amazing to see how many people come out to support the cause and even wear some CRAZY outfits! Jeremy beat me again, but for not running a 5K in over a month I think I did pretty good by matching my time last year:)

After the race, we rewarded ourselves with some Chick-fil-a breakfast and then headed to the lake. It just made sense, since we were already going to be in Rogers, to take the boat out for its 2012 maiden voyage. I’ve been itching to get in the water with all the nice weather, but Saturday ended up being cloudy and barely got over 70 degrees!

Of course, that didn’t stop us! Jeremy was actually the first one in, but it didn’t take me long to follow. It wasn’t bad once you got up on the board out of the water, but the crashes were bad hitting that chilly water. Our friend Sean was working up at the shop on Saturday and ended up coming down to take a few runs. I wish I could upload the video, but its too big of a file. Needless to say, he is a badass!

We only stayed out a few hours before heading home to get ready for Hank Jr. at the AMP! We had been looking forward to this concert for a while and Hank did not disappoint. I was so happy Lindsey and her boy toy Michael, as well as Kelly, came over and went with us!

We ate dinner at Boars Nest and then got to the fairgrounds just as Jaime Johnson had started. I’m not a huge Jaime Johnson fan so that was fine with me if we missed him. It was so much better with the AMP being at the fairgrounds versus the mall. Parking was better, the atmosphere was better, it just made for a great concert. And just like always we ran into so many friends. This is my friend Josh.

We grew up together and are pretty much family. I love running into him at concerts because he is the best 2-stepper and I love to 2-step! It’s also a bonus to have him as a friend because he’s a State Trooper. Not that we do anything crazy to get into that much trouble:)

Sunday we got up and had breakfast with Lindsey and Michael before they headed back to Harrison. Lindsey and I have become such great friends over the past year, and I am always excited to hang out with her. After breakfast it was off to Mountainburg to help my grandpa. Papa had surgery 2 weeks ago on his leg and isn’t SUPPOSED to do any physical activity. Probably the most comparable thing between me and Papa is our restlessness. We constantly have to be doing something and love to work out. Papa usually makes the drive to Fort Smith 3 times a week to workout. And when I say workout, I don’t mean walk on a treadmill. He has done spin class for years now and loves it!

Anywho, like I said, he can’t do anything right now while his leg heals so we went down to replant his flower bed. It was a grueling 5+ hours, but Mom and Chase helped too so it wasn’t too bad. This picture just cracks me up. Papa had to supervise the entire process of the flower bed and watering the garden

Finished!

To cap off the weekend we had to stop at the Dairy Dream for chili dogs and Mountainburgers! I grew up on these things, and even though Jeremy didn’t, he also agrees they are delicious.

As for the withdrawals, I feel great! Back to my old self. Still have insomnia and only sleeping about 4 hours a night, but I thought I would give it another week and then maybe see what I can do about it. I think I’ll go back to working out tonight and then definitely some more lake time this weekend! Thanks for all the comments, texts, e-mails and calls checking on me over the weekend. It really meant a lot and I’m so happy to be back to normal. Relatively speaking:)

Withdrawals

Most people probably wouldn’t post about this, but I think it’s important to get out in the open. This is day 4 of full ‘sobriety’. To recap I quit the following on Monday:

• Caffeine (1-3 drinks/day)
• Alcohol (2-4 drinks/day, and more on the weekends of course)
• Tramadol (1 extended release/day for the past 2 years)
• Hydrocone (0-2/day, if needed, but lately has been very frequent)
• Detrol LA (1/day for the past 2 years)

I’m a cold turkey kind of gal so it all went to the back of the cabinet on Monday afternoon. Tuesday night brought on the shakes and horrible cravings for all of them. Wednesday I had the shakes and stared at my computer most of the day. I didn’t want to talk to anyone at work and in meetings I was very quiet; almost like social anxiety. Wednesday night restless legs and insomnia set in. Thursday I felt very depressed all day. Again, didn’t want to talk to anyone. Even when I got home I didn’t really feel like talking to Jeremy and ignored phone calls. Last night was again restless legs and insomnia. Even after 2 Tylenol PM’s. I’ve had a few mood swings, but I haven’t experience any headaches nor been nauseated, which surprised me. Probably because instead of having loss of appetite, which I did last time, the birth control pills have taken over and I’ve ate everything in sight! My pants are feeling the effects. I have no energy so I haven’t worked out all week which probably hasn’t helped either. Oh, and I pee all the time! Detrol is such an awesome drug:)


My pelvic pain the first couple of days was horrendous, but today it’s not too bad. Just as it’s always been, it’s worse in the mornings. I’ve also had a runny nose and have sneezed like crazy this week, but chalked it up to allergies. Well, I googled (such a horrible tool) Tramadol withdrawal symptoms and sneezing was one! Ha! Would have never imagined.

All that being said, while I am still feeling very introverted and, for some reason, VERY emotional today (I’ve cried 3 times today at work for NO REASON!), I’m optimistic this weekend will be the turning point. We have a lot going on this weekend so I won’t have the opportunity to sit at home and be depressed.

But it’s not all bad news today…we got our revised plan back from Little Rock and we go back on Mother’s Day for the ultrasound to check that the cysts are gone and start my IVF meds. Needless to say, my mom is ecstatic we are going on Mother’s Day. Have a great weekend!

Little Rock Update

Quick update while driving back from Little Rock...

We met with the IVF nurse coordinator today and planned out the next 4 weeks leading up to our transfer. The vaginal ultrasound today still showed some cysts left over from this past months follicles so he wants me to stay on birth control an extra week to make sure they are all gone. Additionally, Jer and I both had blood work and then I had a trial transfer. He inserted 2 different sized catheters to see how thick the lining of my uterus was. Everything went fine with it.  I'll get the full plan tomorrow and will update on here, but for the most part we feel great about everything and are ready to get started.

Sobriety starts today. Everyone that reads this knows this will be one of the hardest things for me. I enjoy my beer:) But its not just sobriety from alcohol, but also from pain management drugs. I'm thinking of the long term goals to keep me going. I can keep exercising until I feel I can't anymore. That will be my saving grace! Run my *ss off! Ha!

Thanks for all the thoughts and for checking on us. Keep praying!

Miranda and ER

I don’t think I was even done swallowing my lunch last Friday at work and I was already out the door! I busted my butt to get things done Friday morning because I could not wait to get on the road to Harrison to meet up with Lindsey and her sister Tracy and then head to Little Rock for Miranda Lambert! I really needed a girls weekend and these two did not disappoint in having a lot of fun in the big city. I was fortunate to have enough points that we got a free room at the Double Tree downtown, although we didn’t spend but a few hours in it. Miranda in concert is so much fun. This was my 3rd time seeing her and definitely the best yet. After the concert we went out in downtown and had a great time. Let’s just say I’m glad I wasn’t driving home the next day:)

On the way back to Harrison on Saturday we made a quick pit stop in Marshall. I make it a point to stop at least once a year to pay respects to one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met in my life. Warning: another tear jerker post.

Jeremy and I had been dating about 6 months and I remember the night like it was yesterday. Jeremy started getting phone calls at about 12:30am. We both figured they were drunk calls from his friends because it was a Friday night AND spring break, so he didn’t answer them at first. Then they kept on for the next hour. He finally answered when he saw it was from one of his AGR brothers that lived out of state. That’s when we found out Michael had been killed in a car crash. It instantly hit us like a ton of bricks. Michael was one of Jeremy’s AGR brothers and true southern gentleman. He was one year older than me and always treated me with respect when I would go over to the fraternity house, with or without Jeremy. It was such a tragedy, and Jeremy and I’s first real traumatic thing to go through together. I still have such vivid memories of his smiling, pale face:)

Once we got back to St. Joe I didn’t waste any time in heading back to Fayetteville. I was in serious need of a nap!

I didn’t want to cook so Jeremy went and picked up Sonic for dinner. I never eat Sonic, but I was craving some of the new Sweet Potato tots. Delicious if you haven’t tried them. About 3 hours after I ate I started getting this discomfort in my upper stomach. Kind of like indigestion. I drank some pepto and tried to lie down and go to bed since it was almost 10p. Next thing I know I woke up at 1am in excruciating pain. I couldn’t move. I tried to lay back down, but the only thing that felt halfway decent was sitting up. My stomach was swollen and sore to touch. Unlike anything else I’ve ever felt. After sitting there for 10 minutes I finally told Jeremy we needed to go to the ER.

I was crying from the pain by the time we arrived and they took me straight back. Within a few minutes the doctor came in and started questioning me about the pain. After telling him several times this was not Endo or like any pain I’ve had before, I got irate when he asked again if it was my Endo. He kept referring to my file and GI issues to try and write it off. It straight pissed me off. They finally gave me some pain medicine, but I didn’t feel any relief. After I got back from the x-ray I asked again for pain medicine. The nurse came in with my discharge papers. What?!?! She said everything looked fine on the scans and blood work and gave me a percocet for the pain. Really? The doctor didn’t even come back in to explain anything! She then read the explanation and it said my upper intestines were irritated and swollen, but nothing serious and couldn’t explain why they were.

The only thing that remotely crosses my mind on this is that I’ve, for the most part, cut out protein in my diet. I just feel better and don’t have as many GI issues when I don’t eat meat. But Thursday through Saturday last week I ate quite a bit of meat and this is the only thing I can think could have caused my stomach to react the way it did. Anyways, I took the percocet and we went home. The next day I still had some discomfort, but for the most part I was fine. I feel like the doctor just thought I was a druggy getting my fix for the week because it never felt like he believed me. Story of my life, pain with no explanation.

I scheduled a follow up appointment with my general doctor and my GI doctor in the coming weeks.

So now for exciting news! We go back to Little Rock on Tuesday for our IVF class! I’ve really felt down in the dumps this week with dwindling hope for some reason, but I’m thinking Tuesday will set things in motion and perk me up!

Cole Annual Camp Trip

The ONLY thing I have consistently blogged about year after year is our Cole Annual Spring Break Camp Trip! I think this is our 6th year to go camping and 4-wheeling over spring break and we love our little tradition so much. Each year is different, more fun and it seems to come at the perfect time when everyone needs a break from the big city:) This year we went back to Mill Creek and were so excited that Lindsey, John and Mandy came down from Harrison to join us. With all the appointments we decided not to go out Friday night, but instead got up early Saturday morning and headed out highway 16 to Combs. Like I’ve said before, the Razorback Riding club keeps up the trails and makes sure all are marked. It makes it really nice to go ride. There were so many people camping that we almost couldn’t find a place to camp and ride.
Once the Harrison crew made it down we didn’t waste any time to head out. Even though we’ve went to Mill Creek for years now, we have never done the full 27 mile loop, but it was my goal for this trip to do it. We passed so many gorgeous overlooks and waterfalls, and then came across this little fella. I guess two beers (or so) is the perfect combination for me NOT to be scared of snakes and instead grab the pistol and light it up! Ha! Looking at this picture though makes me cringe.

There is one nasty mud hole on the trail that is always an adventure and this year it didn’t disappoint. We rode for almost 7 hours! Then Lindsey, Jeremy and I stayed and camped for the night. We were pretty whooped, but didn’t realize it until the next day when the soreness set it! Needless to say Jeremy had to take the 4-wheelers to the carwash this time before we took them back to Papa:)