Josh's Christmas pics

We took Josh to Portrait Innovations again this year for his Christmas pictures and he did fairly well, even with an outfit change. Of course being 2 years 9 months old he didn't exactly want to cooperate the whole time but we were able to get some good shots:

So the story of the football... we changed Josh into his Thomas the Train Christmas PJs thinking we could get some cute shots. In the room they had all kinds of props... candy canes, stuffed animals, a stuffed Santa, a basketball and this football. We tried to get him to hold a stuffed snowman - no go. We tried with the candy cane - no go. We tried with one of the fake presents from under the tree - none of the pics came out good. Of all the pics in his PJs this is the ONLY ONE where he was looking at the camera and smiling, go figure! It was also the best picture that was in the portrait orientation so we had to get it.

At least the football didn't say "Steelers" anywhere on it!!!

Oh, and on a side note, there was a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 kids ranging in age from 2-7) that were having their Christmas pictures taken right before us... ALL in Steelers jerseys. Scott and I laughed and laughed because it's SO typical of all the "yinzers" here in Pittsburgh. LMAO, is it time to move out of this city yet?

Thanksgiving 2009

I have to say that Thanksgiving is not one of my favorite holidays. I'm not a big fan of turkey but it is nice to have it once a year and to spend time with family. For the second year in a row we spent the holiday in St Clairsville with Scott's parents (one of the benefits of living close to them). I was only in charge of the sweet potato casserole (my fave) so it was a fairly relaxing day for me. The food was good and Josh and Kody behaved themselves for the most part.

Another reason for me not to like this time of year is that it is the anniversary of when my MS presented itself - it was a year ago on Black Friday that I woke up with numbness on my left side. Its hard for me to feel thankful with something like that in the forefront of my mind that makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry.

So I forced myself to think about what I am thankful for...

• I am thankful for Scott - I am blessed to have a husband who truly loves me, forgives my faults, takes care of me, Josh, Kody and the house. He picks up my slack around here when I simply dont have the energy to do anything and does it without complaint. He cooks, cleans better than I ever do and works very hard at his job to provide a good life for all of us. We have our ups and downs (as every couple does) but I can honestly say that I dont know what I would do without his love and support.

• I am thankful for Josh - I am blessed to have a healthy and happy little boy who makes me smile every day. I cant imagine my life without him and love watching him grow, learn and become a little man. He may drive me crazy at times but my favorite moments of every day involve holding, hugging and kissing him. My heart swells when I see him in the morning and when I see him after a day at the office. I'm glad he doesnt fight me too much yet when I just want to hold him in my arms.

• I am thankful for my family and friends - I am blessed to have such a great support system in my life. It's been a rough few months (to say the least) and the care and concern that everyone has expressed and keeps expressing for me means so much. I am learning who my true friends are and cherish you all.

• I am thankful for my job - I am blessed to work for one of the best companies and to have a job that I really enjoy. A year ago I was giving up this job because of our move and I am grateful that there was enough work to be done that they needed to hire me back. I feel like I work for a boss that has a good idea of my value and talents and love the autonomy of working remotely for him. I've seen what else is out there and it ain't pretty... my 5 months away from PSS taught me to appreciate the culture of the company and all that they do for their employees. I hope I dont ever have to leave again.

• Finally, I am thankful that I seem to have a milder form of MS. No one can tell me how the disease will progress or what to expect but my neurologist believes that with the help of the medication I can continue to live a somewhat normal life. The MS is slowing me down, that's for sure, but I hope all I will have to deal with are my current symptoms - fatigue, mild numbness in my left leg and slight occasional weakness in my right arm. I am thankful for my medication Rebif although I hate the injections and the side effects. If it does its job and slows down the progression of the disease, keeps me from relapsing and developing new symptoms then it's worth it. I look forward to trying the oral medication once it's approved by the FDA but if a shot 3 times a week is what I need to do to lead a normal life then it's what I will do.

Team Edward!!!

Ahhhhh, Edward Cullen how I love thee...

The second movie in the Twilight Saga, "New Moon", came out last Thursday night/Friday morning at 12:01am and as a true "TwiHard" I of course bought advance-sale tickets and went to see it (with my friends Jen and Julie). Actually we went for a double feature and went to see "Twilight" at 9pm since none of us had seen it in the movie theater previously. It was a loooooong night but well worth it! "New Moon" was SO GOOD, so much better than "Twilight", mainly because it stuck closer to the book.

It's rare that I actually get to go to the theater to see a movie so when I do watch a movie its usually at home and I'm able to watch the movie more than once. As long as a movie doesn't totally suck I'll watch it twice, to make sure I caught all of the story, etc. If I REALLY like a movie I'll watch it more than twice!

I've been waiting for "New Moon" to come out since I got hooked on the saga back in April and seeing it in the theater only allowed me to watch it once. Sooooo... Jen and I went and saw it again last night, this time at 9:10pm (a much more reasonable hour). Let me say that it was EVEN BETTER the second time! I knew what to expect and was able to sit back and take it all in and look for things I may have missed on Thursday night.

Now I'm no movie critic but here are my thoughts, good and bad, on "New Moon":

* * * SPOILER ALERT * * *

1. The cinematography was much better than in "Twilight" - the colors were much brighter. The other director (Catherine Hardwick) used some kind of filter that Chris Weitz did not and it made a huge difference.

2. The editing of the movie left much to be desired - there were very visible jumps during a scene where something was cut out and parts of scenes that were shown in the trailers were left out. The movie was only 2 hours 10 minutes long... I'm sure I'm not the only one that would've been okay if they left more in and made the movie a little bit longer. Hell, I sat through "Titanic" and that monstrosity was like 3 hours long!!!

3. The Cullens were creepier - skin was whiter and eyes were more "liquid gold". There were a couple scenes though where the makeup wasnt done so well and you could clearly see it on Edward's face.

4. The CGI for the wolves was outstanding! Not overdone and they matched how they were described in the book. Scary when they needed to be with more "human" type eyes to show emotion.

5. The Volturi were almost perfect - Aro and Marcus were dead on but I thought the actor who played Caius was too young for the role. Dakota Fanning did great as Jane - truly creepy.

6. Kudos to them for capturing Bella's heartache after Edward leaves her - I think it was well written, directed and acted.

7. I didn't like the scene at the movie theater between Jacob and Mike - it seemed to forced and contrived and didnt match anything in the book. I think they couldn've found a better way to lead into Jacob starting his transformation.

8. The scene in Volterra where Heidi is leading the unsuspecting humans to be slaughtered by the Volturi was incredibly disturbing for me. It haunted me when I read the book and in the movie there were children in the crowd of humans and that rocked me to my core. I think they could've left that out of the movie, just my opinion. When I saw the movie for the second time I closed my eyes and covered my ears until the scene was over. I'll do the same every time I watch the movie. The thought of anything bad happening to kids makes my stomach turn and makes me want to bawl my eyes out.

9. The ending was great! It definitely leaves you wanting for more and asking "is it June yet"? (That's when "Eclipse" comes out).

I'm still "Team Edward" and always will be. 'Nuff said!!!

Quick neuro update

I went to the neurologist for a check up today, first visit since my diagnosis 3 months ago. I had some bloodwork done 2 weeks ago and was anxious about the results. The good news is that my liver panel came back "good" so there are no concerns that the Rebif is causing my liver damage. This means that I can continue taking the medication. Since I'm not having any issues or new symptoms I don't have to go back for another 6 months :)

I did ask him the question I had in my previous blog, about whether or not moving back up North had anything to do with the MS presenting itself. His answer is what I expected - that the wheels were set into motion years ago (MS starts developing in a person's teen years) and that it was just coincidence that it presented itself after we had moved to Cleveland. So I guess I dont have to hate Cleveland for my MS, lol.

What If...

The "what ifs" and "what might have beens" of life always get me despite knowing better than to think like that. I just can't help but to wonder what life might be like right now if we had made different decisions...

The BIGGEST "what if" that's on my mind alot now is what if Scott didn't take the sales territory in Cleveland?
Where would we be right now?
Would the MS have presented itself if we didnt move back up North?
Would I still be with PSS?
How different would Josh be?
Would we be happy or sad about the path we're on?

I guess the main reason this is on my mind right now is rooted in the second question above - would the MS have presented itself if we didnt move back up North? This is a "Northern" disease and while the groundwork was laid while I was growing up in NY, I can't help but wonder if my move to Florida helped to keep the disease suppressed and the move to Cleveland (and the cold) allowed the disease to emerge? It's definitely a question I'm going to ask my neurologist at my appointment next week. Not sure if his answer will give me any closure on the issue but I need to ask.

And it's not like moving back down South will resolve the issue... on the contrary, heat is bad for people with MS as it increases the fatigue. That doesn't matter to me... my goal is still to have us move down to South Florida and be near Scott's family. I dont like the cold and snow and for as much time as I spend outside on a regular basis I dont see the heat being an issue for me.

Happy Halloween 2009!

Josh was finally old enough to go trick-or-treating this year and boy did he have fun! He chose his Scooby-Doo costume back in the beginning of September and it just so happened that we had Shaggy & Daphne costumes from a few years back so dressing up was a family affair this year. We were quite the hit of the neighborhood as we took Josh around to get his candy :) Josh had so much fun zig-zagging across the road to go from house to house to get his candy. We went to about 15 houses on our street and Josh was pooped (and excited to dig into his loot). Out of all the goodies he got the first thing he ate was a bag of Cheetos!

Nana & Papa came to visit and experience Halloween with Josh which allowed us to go out with our friends last night. The "Daphne" wig was a little much for me to wear for too long so I had gone out and bought a "sexy convict" costume to wear to the bar and was much more comfortable. We had intentions of going downtown but ended up at Bar Louie right down the street from our house with our friends Jen, Jerry, Julie & Shawn. Even though I was the designated driver for everyone (LOVE fitting everyone in the Pilot!) I still had a great time, lots of laughs and a few beers :)