Horrible Blogger...

You know it is sad when can not even remember the last time you blogged or what you blogged about.  Well, I am there.  I really thought I would be able to make time to blog but I am telling you I have z-e-r-o time and it seems like every day I watch more and more of our day fly by!  So until I actually have time to fill you I will let you know we are all alive and well :) 

We Interrupt This Series to Bring You Up to Speed

I am still working on the "Story behind our House" posts but I thought I would also catch you all up to date on what has been going on with the Payne's. 

I have mentioned before that I was hospitalized in September.  Well during that lovely stay at DCH my doctors diagnosed me with either diverticulitis or with Crohn's Disease.  Well neither was good news but I was trying my best to eat healthier and follow my extremely strict diet :)  I was to have a colonoscopy in February 2011 and I knew everything would be fine until then.  Or so I thought...  Last Saturday morning about 2am I started hurting!  It feels like someone is bursting through some organ (which I now know is my colon) on my lower left side of my body, kind of behind my pelvis.  I woke the hubs up and he insisted we go to the dr.  We waited until 7:30 to get up and went straight to the er.  I had a CT done which normally can show whether or not I have an abscess and if so where it is at well go figure no abscess!  The er dr wanted to admit me again and start me on antibiotics and call my gastro.  Long story sort, gastro came in and said we would do antibiotics for 48 hrs and then colonoscopy on Monday morning!  Whoo - Freakin - Hoo!!! (Major sarcasm there!)

I was in tons of pain and honestly most of the pains meds they give do not even touch the pain!  I have become a pro at what meds I can tolerate and what works best and for some unknown reason the foreign dr that was covering for my general dr decided to switch my meds up on me!  She gave me a pain med that was "10 times more potent than morphine" and after trying two doses and me explaining I did not like the way it made me feel she decided to change it to actually morphine.  Hello Foreign Lady Dr. I have never seen before in my life, but you need to spend more than two seconds in a room with me and listen to the words I am saying before you just start throwing out the pain meds you think would be best for my condition!!!  (Side note: I do not have a problem with foreigners and my gastro is a foreign dr who I LOVE and ADORE!  But this dr might have been 25 and she was rude as all get out!)  Needless to say the morphine did not work either and the nurse had to call my general doctor to change the meds once again!  Demerol and Phenergan, O how I love thee!!! 

Then Sunday afternoon I was to start the prep for the colonoscopy on Monday!  Who, in their right mind created that drink?  You know the one I am talking about... Go Lytely!  Seriously peeps we are in the year 2011 and you mean to tell me there is no other way to fully rid my colon of all it's crap?!?!?!!!  No pun intended, hehe!  It was awful!  So my amazing, sweet, incredible hubs was sitting right along and feeding me jello after I took a sip of the infamous drink!  LOVE him!!!!  (Side note: This is about to get gruesome and way to much info so this is your warning!)  After about two or three cups the drink started to do its job and where do you think my sweet hubs went for this part of the night?!?!?  In the bathroom with me or sitting in the chair right outside coaching me on!  Your probably thinking no big deal but I was not going number "2" like normal it was like a bomb had been set off inside my colon and we were living through it!  I mean it had the same noise and the same outcome, I promise!  Never once did T say gross, yuck, you look like crap or anything!  I drank 1/4 of a gallon and I started puking!  At that point I asked for more phenergan knowing I would not be able to drink the rest but what good does it do to drink it if I am just going to throw it up?  Trust me I was pretty cleaned out!

Fast forwarding, I had the colonoscopy and whatever meds they gave me I can not remember ANYTHING from the time the nurse said "Your bp is dropping so I am going to give you some meds to bring it up." until about lunchtime on Tuesday!  They were amazing!!!  (I just realized I might sound like a junkie!)  Dr S, my gastro, supposedly came in and told us he removed about 47+ biopsies of my colon (to test for Crohn's) and I had NO diverticulitis!  Can I get a HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!  He said I could go back to a regular diet and eat whatever my little heart desires!  Whoop-whoop!  But, I will in extremely baby steps!  I am still too scared!  Dr S said the abscess from September was probably on the outside of the colon instead the inside (in other words-not his problem since he is a gastro!). 

His nurse called and said all the biopsies also came back NEGETIVE for Crohn's!!!  HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!!  I am still in pain (which has not really left since September) but I am trying to take it easy =) and let T wait on my every whim!  Hahahaha, not!  I went back to work and life full force Wednesday and have yet to stop!  Whew, hope I don't over do it!  But I am super duper excited about a dear friend's baby shower at our house tomorrow and then dinner with another friend Monday! 

Whirl Wind Weekend

This weekend was crazy!  We live in the South and it never snows here!  We actually that is a lie.  It has snowed every year TB has been here :)  However, either it does not snow long enough or hard enough to stick or it is too cold and it turns into ice!  The weather man said mid-week last week it would snow this weekend but no one believed him!  Well it snowed and iced here enough to close everything down on Monday, delay most things until noon Tuesday and close all schools down until Wednesday :)  T and I were a little excited at first because we thought it would be so much fun to get to stay home and play in the snow with the fam!  Well...  Then the mean Mommy I am decided if it really did snow I was going to have to put limits to TB being in the frigid weather seeing as she has been sick going on three weeks!  So T and TB were not happy campers that I wasn't going to let TB play ALL DAY in the snow!  Then when we woke up Monday there was snow...all 1/18th of an inch only along our fence line and trampoline!  Whew...  I didn't even have to argue with either of them!  :)  We cuddled by the fire and watched movies and then went to our neighbors house to watch the National Championship game...Boo!  It was a nice long weekend until I got to work this morning!  Then I immediately regretted praying for all the snow and ice to keep home on Monday because I am so far behind and without a scanner :( 

Anywho, I am working on a series of posts about the Payne's so keep an eye out for them!

Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas

Let's start with Halloween...  I had the bright idea (like two weeks before Halloween) to go to the Pumpkin Patch!  You see, T is a fire fighter and works 24 on and 24 off which means he is only off on Saturdays every other weekend.  TB goes to spend the weekend with her dad every other weekend also so when I said it was two weeks before when I decided for us to go it was really the Thursday night before the only Saturday we could go.  Not to mention we had already planned to have friends over to watch the football game at our house.  I wanted us to go to the Pumpkin Patch that is an hour and a half away but it was not realistic so we loaded up and headed to a local Pumpkin Patch that was very ghetto redneck fabulous :) 

TB petting the "deers".  She didn't see the big deal in this because she says she sees "deers" all the time at Mimi and Pops (T's parent's) house.

Petting and feeding the cows...Again no big deal to our country girl!

Family Photo of the Day
Please excuse how FAT I was...I would like to note I have lost 25 lbs since :))))

TB thinks this is the BEST picture ever!  She has it framed on her bed side table!!!  LOVE this gal!

Another Family Photo on the hayride to get our pumpkins! 

LOVE this face!  She was not happy that all the pumpkins had bumpies.  Told you, ghetto!

The Love's of my life!

 After the pumpkin patch we had friends over and had oh so much fun!  Then Sunday we carved the pumpkins we grabbed off an empty lot picked at the PP!  Please note we used some large knives but TB was never left alone with said knives or allowed to touch said knives :)

I am loving TB's "cheese smile" she has going on...It's a new thing

We were having so much fun!

The GUTS!!!

Putting the lid on...

My beautiful baby girl! 

 Then on Wednesday of the same week my work had a Halloween Festival for the kiddies in our town.  We dressed up and headed out with Nana!  We had so much fun!!!

Minnie Mouse and Mommy
(No, this is not the only outfit I wear!  Coincidental, I swear)

Minnie Mouse and Woody
Taelor Brooke and Thomas (her husband who left her at the alter, story coming soon!)

Halloween was on a Sunday this year and in our small town it cause such confusion!  So we went Trick-or-Treating with one of TB's friends from school, LG.  We are really good friends with LG's parents and Jenny's (LG's mom) parents have a river house and LG's grandfather brought his tractor down and made a hay ride for the kiddies. 

Getting ready!

TB and LG would not take a normal picture!!!  On the hay ride picking out seats 

Let's go...

 We had so much fun!  Jenny and I both know anytime we get our girls together we will be able to get lots of rest that night!  The girls absolutely wear each other out!!!  After trick-or-treating Nonnie (LG's grandmother) had dinner ready for us.  It was so yummy!  And we all know Nonnie's don't half anything so for dessert we had smore's by their outdoor fireplace!  I so wish I would have taken more pictures!!!  Their river house is beautiful and so nice!  Maybe we will get to go back one day soon :) 

That was it for our Halloween and we moved right in to Thanksgiving!  Horrible mommy here only took pictures at TB's school.  No where else even though we did three family gatherings...Oops!

At TB's school "Thankful Lunch" I swear I do not just wear this scarf :)

The cupcakes I made!!!  hahaha... Just kidding!  I walked in looked at all the food and thought some mom is trying to show my mashed potatoes up!  What the crap?!?!!!  For those who don't know what the above picture is they are cupcakes, really cute and wonderfully delicious cupcakes!  I am so one upping her next year, hehe!

TB eating her yummy food!

TB with some of her bestests... From L to R TB, LG, Ella and Amber
Just a little background on all the kiddies... T has know LG's family (one of his bf is LG's uncle) ever since he was a little boy!  It is so neat to see TB grow up with such a great family friend of his.  Then there is Ella.  Ella's aunt and myself have known each other since kindergarten and graduated together.  Of course I am friends with E's mom just closer to her aunt.  They are such a sweet family as well and E is the same way!  However, she was a little ticked I took her from her daddy's lap to snap a quick photo!  Then there is Amber.  Amber is Chad's (T's brother) bosses niece.  Confused?!?  Anytime we go to church with Mimi we know Amber will be there and that makes TB so happy!!!

Again...

 Then we started Christmas, like the very first weekend after Thanksgiving!  We went to Breakfast with Santa!  I do not have a picture of TB in Santa's lap mainly because they had a professional photographer who was charging an arm and a leg for an 8x10 and i wouldn't come off the money and they wouldn't come off their "photography rights"!!!  Stupid!  So enjoy a few others from Bfast with HoHo as TB calls it!

Showing off her picture frame she made. 

TB and Nana!!!  If TB is spoiled it's not from us promise!  It is from the one and only Nana!  This lady right here!!!  She used to be my mother but now she is TB's Nana and I am TB's mommy :)  I'll take that too :)

Look who we found, Samantha!

Of course I'm wearing the scarf again Family Photo!

I promise I took lots more pictures at Christmas but not too many more because my grandfather passed away Christmas Day so that put a slight damper on things. 

Until next time...

Meet the Payne's

The Payne's

Todd the husband and stepfather, Taelor Brooke the dramatic queen daughter and me...the spoiled mom :)



Me and my hunny!



Todd and I were married on May 8, 2010 at our family church in Alabama.  He is prince charming and I am Cinderella.  Ha, who am I kidding?!?!!!  He is a southern country boy and I am a southern city gal but together we are a perfect pair!  I don't know what I would do without this man.  LOVE him is a severe understatement!

TB the diva herself



This is Taelor Brooke!  If you know me in real life there are no other words needed!  If you only know me through a friend-of-a-friend's blog then let me introduce you.  She is my independent, powerful, loving, dramatic, fearless, sassy, temperamental, etc... daughter who we absolutely adore!  Without her our lives would not be complete.  She may be 3 going on 30 but we wouldn't have any other way!  She is so funny and so much fun!

More about me you ask?  Like I said before I am Cinderella  a Southern city gal who absolutely loves Alabama and even though I love to travel I could never imagine going home to anywhere but here.  I work full-time at a local credit union as an accounting clerk and I absolutely love my job.  I am a complete numbers nerd and I love a great balancing challenge!  However, this does not mean I am willing to balance others check books or bills :)  More importantly I am a full-time mom and wife to the best family ever!  It is extremely tiring working and playing house but it is even more rewarding!  I believe I am a better person when I am working :)

I used to blog pre-Payne but thought we needed a break.  I needed time to adjust to being married again (yes, I'll fill you in one day!) and having to share my time between two of my most favorite people!  It's been 7 months and we have gotten married, moved twice, bought a house, started a new job and so much more.  I am now getting into a daily, weekly, monthly routine and I think there is no better time.  Plus, I always find myself saying, "I so wish I still had the blog so I could go write a post about this!".  I hope you find my family just a fourth as amusing as I do myself!  So here we go...