Pins and Needles?!

Have you been waiting on "pins and needles" to hear what in the world is going on with my jacked up body?! Well...I've had to deal with a lot of needles if it makes you feel any better. Here's a break down of how things have played out...

Friday-one little hive pops up on my foot...
Saturday-urgent care, steroid shot
Sunday-Back to urgent care-benedryl IV for several hours
Monday-Regular doctor visit-options 1-steroid pack, 2-hospital for steroid IV (picked 1...)
Tuesday-no needles, but didn't work either
Wednesday-Went to work, had to leave after calling my mom to come pick me up because I could not move. Back to regular doctor, who threw his hands up in disgust, well not really, but he sent me to the allergist. That appointment ended with another needle and 4 vials of blood later. Testing lots of things like lupus and arthritis.
Thursday-no work again
Friday-back to work, somewhat normal, pretty rough night with joint pain
Saturday-pushed through any thought of pain because we threw my parents a 30th Anniversary Party
Sunday-horrible pain in knee, waiting for blood results
Monday-pain moved to elbow, still waiting...
Tuesday-Nurse calls and the doctor needs to see me to go over my blood test, which sends me in a panic because why can't they just tell me over the phone, and I'm going to die, and I don't want to die, and I'm really nervous....(dramatic, I know)

The answer to why Nichole broke out in hives/rash with severe joint pain...........

not sure, but they are pretty confident that it's has to do with my thyroid, big surprise. My blood work showed that my body is making antibodies that are attacking my thyroid, therefore causing my thyroid not to work properly which in turn leads to the rash thing. The solution, even though my thyroid level is "within normal range" they are going to up my medication (goodbye those last few extra pounds-yes, not that I would be happy to use medication to lose weight, but if I have to have something good come out of this whole thing then this has got to be it!) to make my thyroid fight back against the antibodies that my body is making. Confused...me too kinda, but I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on what is happening. But, I did not get out of the office needle free. Another level, my SED rate (which looks at inflammation) was high which could mean a number of things so they took 2 more vials of blood today to run some more test that I should have the results of in 10 to 14 days.

That's all I got people. I'm very over this rash thing, which is still over a good part of my body, but not bothersome or painful. I'll try to do better about updating, but seriously my fingers and wrists hurt so badly that it's hard to type. My next post will be about my parents anniversary...yay! So, as always, please REMEMBER JACKSON!

Not the Way I Planned on Getting Back to Blogging...

If you can recall, about this same time last year I was going through a bit of a "mini-hell" when I broke out in horrible hives right before my scheduled cataract surgery. Don't remember, or want to revisit, click here. Well...they are back, the hives, with a vengeance this time around. They are not covering my whole body like last time but seem to be around all my joints causing swelling and a good bit of pain. I've been up all night pretty much popping pills to stop the itching, but it looks like I'm going to have to go in for a shot and some of the stronger stuff. Fun times. So, my welcome back to blogging starts off on a rough note, but is anyone surprised by that?! I'll update about what the doctor says...

Official...

I have officially decided to take a blog hiatus. I have been feeling a little overwhelmed the last couple of weeks and as silly as it sounds when I really wanted to blog, and couldn't, I felt horrible about it (for my 3-4 followers). I think I have a husband named Joseph and lives in the same house and I do, and I REALLY miss spending time with him, so I'm going to get focused on getting my school work done at school and spending time with my hubby when I get home. I'm just so lucky to have him in my life...and after watching The Biggest Loser, well that just confirmed to me that no matter how horrible I think I've got it, it could be worse. So...for now I really need to buckle down and get school stuff done at school, not bring any work home and spending time with my family and friends. And...we are going to be putting our house up for sale and we need to focus on that too. Neither one of us has been happy there...great location, horrible layout, so we said what the hell-one more move won't kill us. And no rushing this one...we are going to find the perfect house for us with everything we want in it. We looked at a house last night that we both really liked-the layout was perfect, but there were lots of things wrong with it that we didn't want to deal with, so for now, we get ours gone and continue our search for our perfect house.

So, that's my official blog resignation for now. I'll be back soon, but for now, I'm outta here. Well...that is until something really good happens or something like that...

Officially, until further notice, thanks for sharing in our journey and as always, please REMEMBER JACKSON!

I know, I know, I know...

I am the worst blogger in the world, yes that's me! This blog is going to be short and sweet, if I know what such a thing is! Life has been crazy for me which leaves zero time for blogging. I bring home so much work that by the time I'm ready to blog I'm so tired blogging doesn't happen. And it's the fall, all my new TV shows are coming back on, plus Panther football-which I DO NOT even want to talk about right now, so life has just been crazy. Here's a run down of all the things we've done the past 3 weeks I haven't blogged...

1-I've been teaching 2nd grade, which requires me to learn new material and grade test, and read stories they've written and do LOTS of lesson plans.
2-We took home 6th place in "The Amazing Race" Lake Wylie (SO much fun).
3-I have wrote a lot of lesson plans.
4-We went camping this weekend with the boat...lots of fun!
5-Charlotte Knights baseball game with fireworks
6-Wrote some lesson plans.
7-Pondered moving...thinking of putting our house on the market and looking for the perfect house for us.
8-Every free moment of weekends is spent on the lake.
9-Except for when we broke the boat...shallow water=broken prop=lots of $$ to repair!
10-Went to Newberry to see the in-laws and bid a irrigation job.
11-Wrote some more lesson plans.
12-Drove countless miles looking at houses.
13-LookED at a couple of houses that just weren't it.
14-I spent some time writing some lesson plans for school.
15-Getting ready to start cleaning out our house and may be putting it on the market to see what we get. If we don't find our perfect house and our house sells, well, we'll just go where we always go...Widrick Compound
16-Committed to my 10 year High School Reunion by buying tickets
17-Planned our 3rd Annual after Thanksgiving trip to the mountains to get our tree trip...and there might be shopping this year too!

That's all I've got! Now I have to go write some lesson plans...story of my life! Anyway, thanks for hanging with me even though I'm a horrible blogger. I would promise to do better, but right now things are crazy with maybe selling the house, finding a house, trying to have a baby-arrgghhh, work and being the social butterfly that I am. I do promise to update when something big happens, maybe...if I don't have lesson plans to write. So...that's all. Thanks for sharing in our journey and checking up on us. Until next time, as always, please REMEMBER JACKSON!

A New Record

I have just earned a new medal for the fastest ever catching of a cold since starting school. I made it Wednesday and Thursday...come Friday I was feeling the cold slowly but surely. By Sunday, I couldn't get outta bed. I actually ended up going to the doctor because a good friend of mine's child ended up with the Swine flu, and well, anyone who knows me knows that I like to catch everything there is to catch. Thankfully I do not have swine flu...but they say a MAJOR outbreak is going to be hitting our schools soon. I already know it has hit the middle school closest to us (but I'm not sure how badly), and now I'm just waiting for it to hit Oakdale. I doubt they'll have the vaccine in time......

In other news...I miss my Kindergarten babies!!!! I said I didn't think I'd go back...I lied! This 2nd Grade is tough business ya know?! There are just so many things to learn and do and I feel lost. I'm working on getting organized, but this stuff is tough. Add on to that my cold and I'm in pretty rough shape so it seems right now! But, I'll get it all figured out. I just hope sooner rather then later!

Let's see...what else is there?! Living the boat life is going good. We only got to go out on Saturday (and I was pretty drugged up). Sunday was a no go for sure. We are getting ready to enter "The Amazing Race Lake Wylie Style" which is a fundraiser for children with cancer. I'm super excited. Our team name is the absolute best...Three Girls and a Buoy (it's me, Michelle, LG, and Joseph). Isn't that great?! We are having a harder time deciding on a name for the boat. I think we've narrowed it down to two names, and what better way to decide then by letting my faithful blog readers vote?! Go check it out on the side.

That's about it for this time around. Believe it or not, I actually brought a bunch of work home-big surprise. I do have pre-test to grade...I never had to bring home test in kindergarten. Oh...and I'm going to ask that you lift Joseph and I up in prayer. We have decided to try one more time for a baby and have started back on medicine to help us get pregnant quicker. Now...since our experience last time, I will again be keeping all pregnancy news confidential until we know we are out of the clear of not only SMA, but heart defects, which was a major concern/issue with the last pregnancy. So, if you will please just continue to keep us in your prayers. And as always, please REMEMBER JACKSON!

While the Hubby is Away...

The wife (who's a teacher ya know?!) will spend lots of time labeling several things with her 21 student's names...GREAT FUN! Oh, and pay bills after that! Oh, and of course find some time to blog! It's been a pretty exciting night here all by myself, can't cha tell?!!

Anyway...things in the Hedgepeth House are going great. I started back to work this week (but I've really been in there pretty much every day since last week since I had to change grades and rooms). I think I've got everything set up (mostly) and now I've got to work on figuring out what the heck I'm suppose to teach. I can teach all the Kindergarten stuff with my eyes closed and my hands behind my back, but this 2nd grade stuff is all new. I'm super excited about the change though...I think it'll do me good and everyone I talk to says it's great, we shall see right?! And a quick shout out to a co-worker...Mrs. Julie Marshall was our teacher of the year and today she won the Rock Hill Schools Teacher of the Year...ROCK ON JULIE! Many of you aren't from around here, but Oakdale (my school) hasn't had the best publicity in local papers due to issues that we as teachers have nothing to do with, but today, finally maybe people will realize that no matter what, we are a team and we have the BEST teachers in Rock Hill!!! GO OAKDALE!!! Alright...enough school stuff right?!

Last weekend was our first full weekend on the boat. We had perfect Carolina Blue skies and 90+ degree weather and spent all day Saturday (11-6) on the boat and most of the day Sunday (1:30-6:30) on the boat. This weekend we only get to go out on Sunday because Joseph is helping his friend tomorrow (he's away tonight remember?) and I'm spending the day with my chicks doing stuff, most importantly going to see "The Time Traveler's Wife" which I'm super excited about! Sunday after working church nursery we are headed back out on the boat. We also just got all the new stereo stuff for it, so Joseph will be putting that in this week, then we will be 100% ready to go for good (well, until we find something else to fix-haha). I'm really excited for a fundraiser coming up the last weekend this month...it's like "The Amazing Race" Lake Wylie addition...I love the amazing race, I love to win too!

So...that's pretty much all for my life right now...school and boat. Oh...I did get that info about adoption, and well, I guess if you want to use the best you have to be willing to pay. They charge $750 for a 2 hour consultation, which is nothing really, just the good info that you want to know before you decide to start the whole adoption process. Joseph and I go back and forth a lot about what our next step is, right now we are enjoying each other and we'll see where God leads us. Right now we are just up in the air. We plan our starting to save for adoption and if we go that way great, and if not, we'll have extra cash for something!

Alright, for real that's all for now...well except a shout out to Aunt Connie who never misses anything and noticed my new hair cut...You rock Aunt Connie! And I'm giving a shout out to Jenny Jenny Jenny too...I haven't forgotten you, just been slammed! Ok Ok Ok...as always, thanks for checking in on us and praying for us and please please please always REMEMBER JACKSON!

Awesome Weekend

Joseph and I had such a great weekend...I'm so sad it's over, but look forward to many more awesome weekends on our boat! It's in the water and running great-yay! There was a minor mishap on Saturday...Joseph took it for a test drive and ended up broke down (in my parent's cove thankfully) and got a tow from my dad. Worked on it some more and it's good to go. Yesterday was so nasty out that I didn't think we'd get to put it in, but the rain thankfully stopped and in the water we went. Here's a pic of me and Joe on our "new" boat...

A BIG thank you to my Mom and Dad for 1-being here to buy the boat for us when we were out of town, 2-helping Joseph when the boat broke down yesterday (even though he got you out of bed), 3-following us around the lake yesterday in case we broke down again, and finally, 4-for letting us store the boat in their extra slip in the boat house. Now we have many great weekends ahead of us!

This weekend we also went to see Rascal Flatts and Darius Rucker. It was an awesome concert and we had a great time. We did some tailgating beforehand...we just had a great time with our friends. Hopefully we'll get to do it again soon, or at least the tailgating party in someones backyard. Here's me and Joe at the concert (notice anything?!)...

And finally for today (before I go to my fav place for lunch with the girls-yummy). We have kinda started the adoption process. Neither one of us is really "there" at the moment, but I'm more there then Joseph. It's going to take some time, so we decided to go ahead and get the info and see what we need to do. There is an awesome adoption attorney in SC that we are looking into. The word on the adoption street is he can get you a newborn baby in 6 months. That's very appealing to Joseph and I right now. Anyway, it's going to be a longish kinda project and we are just in the beginning stages but I'm really excited. We've also talked about getting an "older" child (between 1 and 2 years old) which could happen even faster (I think). I've also been looking into the money part of it, because let's face it, it's not cheap (I was even blown away by the average cost) and there are many places out there that we can apply to for grants and stuff like that.

So...that's our life lately in a nutshell. We are just having a great time being with our family and friends and enjoying each other. Please do keep us in your prayers and we begin looking into adoption and stuff like that. And as always, please REMEMBER JACKSON!