10 on Tuesday

1. It's been so long since I have blogged. I thought a Tuesday would be perfect with the 10 on Tuesday. So much has happened.

2. My husband got a new job at Hyundai where he is a manager now. It's in Costa Mesa, so we were able to move back to Whittier.

3. Hallelujah!! We moved back to Whittier!!!!!!!!! We are so excited to be back in Whittier. Back with friends and family here. It's sad to leave the friends we had made while in Victorville, but we feel so much more at home here.

4. Life is different post MOPS. I didn't realize how much having all of those scheduled activities made keeping friendships tight. It's a little strange being back in Whittier and not hanging out as often with buddies. I'm in serious need of a girls night! Guess it will just take more planning. It almost makes me want to start up Moms Cafe at church. Almost.

5. We were able to get Skyler into a soccer team at Youth Kicks. There weren't any spots available for Courtney's age. She's having a lot of fun.

6. The girls want to do so many activities. We just need to pick. First Courtney wanted to do Gymnastics. (probably from watching the Olympics) We still need to look into that. And if she does it, you know Skyler will want to. Now the girls want to do Girl Scouts, so I'm looking into that too. They started choir at church. That's one night a week. We decided not to do Awana since that would be yet another night. Now church is offering some amazingly affordable music lessons. Skyler wants to learn piano and Courtney wants to do guitar. So currently we just have choir (both go) and one in soccer. So we'll see what we add/don't add.

7. We moved into a house with a pool. Oh boy. They want to swim every single day. Needless to say we need to stock up on sunscreen.

8. I finally went to the doctor in Victorville right before we found out we were moving. Did a blood test and FINALLY found more of what is going on with me. I have Chronic Epstein Barr. This is the cause of the chronic fatigue, constant feeling of being sick, feeling sensitive to the touch, almost constant low grade fever, tiredness, and feeling weighted down like I just HAVE to lay down. It's overwhelming some days and other days it's better. Basically most people have been exposed to this viral infection. What gets me is when I told people what I had they go on google and try to find out what it is and instantly dismiss it because almost everyone has it. True, most people have it, but don't have symptoms. So, please don't tell me it's not that bad. You haven't lived with this for over a year and a half. You haven't felt sick most days. You have an inactive version. I have an active one. Ug! It's like that status people put on their facebook where they give sympathy to all of those invisible horrible illnesses. Where people don't know you are sick or feel sick because you don't "look" sick. This one could easily be added. So, moving forward, eating healthy and exercise can help. lol I'm already doing that so I'll keep that up. One of my friends also has this and has been dealing with it since she was a teenager. Off and on. The thing about this is that once it is active you could still have the lingering effects months after. Just wish this one would end so I could get a break.

9. I hit 40 pounds lost (again)!!! I'm actually currently at 44 pounds lost. Started a new Biggest Loser challenge a few weeks ago. I went so gung ho that I didn't realize I wasn't eating enough to counteract all of the exercise. I talked with a trainer about it. He immediately told me I was doing too much. I'm like, but I want to kick it up a notch. So, anyway....we figured out a plan with approx what I should do when working out so hard. And of course right after I get going with it I have to stop exercising completely. (see #10)

10. We (Scott, me, Courtney, Skyler, Mother-in-law, & Father-in-law) were driving home from taking my sister-in-law to the airport when we got into an accident. We didn't see him coming either. We were driving about 40 mph when this guy hits us from behind. HARD! It felt purposeful. It felt like someone ramming into us. No brakes applied (by them) feeling. I can't even believe Scott got the car under control. I thought we were going to go up onto the lawns at least or roll over. Linda said that we were inches away from hitting cars on the side but somehow didn't. Scott and I don't even remember cars being over there. It all happened so fast. We pulled over assuming they would too. Then they pulled in front of us. Scott looked at them and their air bags were both deployed. (According to the witness it was a man driving and woman in passenger side.) Then they pulled in front of us like they were going to pull over too but suddenly punched it and took off. We followed them to try to get the license plate number. They cut through the gas station on the corner and we followed. I saw them turn left on the first street to try to get out of view. We were waiting forever to turn left there so we lost them. We turned left and pulled over. Then we saw some guys holding their bumper. They said that the guy was going so fast through the street and almost hit a tree. He went up on the curb and lost the bumper (with the license plate). Several other parts fell off the car too. Looked like engine parts. We called the police. There was a witness that followed us. She stayed to talk to the police as well. She had been following them since Downey. And this happened in Whittier. She was already on the phone with 911 when she pulled up behind us. Not sure when she called (if it was before the accident because he was weaving in and out of traffic or when she stopped). She was so nice and told them everything she witnessed. So we had the license plate, bumper and parts and then the neighbor who took the bumper off the street went driving around and found the car abandoned. There was a big thing of alcohol in the cup holder. Wonderful. A stupid drunk driver. Makes sense why they ran. So 2 officers from the CHP showed up and talked to everyone and documented the abandoned car as well. Everyone in our car except Skyler all had whiplash. I ended up having a neck sprain (I'm assuming this is from the whiplash) and a concussion. When they hit us I had slammed my head hard back into the headrest. We went to urgent care to check us all out. We were going to have to pay cash because it was accident related and the girls weren't complaining of any kind of pain so we didn't have them seen. It really was pointless since he really didn't do anything but tell us to have ibuprofen and rest/ice the area. The following day we sent notes in with the girls to their teachers as well as going in to talk to the school nurse just to be sure they all knew what happened. And that if they had any kind of pain we would pick them up and take them to the doctor. We ended up having to pick up Courtney because her neck started hurting. I went back to the doctor a week and a day later because I was having so many additional symptoms. The doctor told me I have a concussion and neck sprain. No idea what the neck sprain means. Probably just from the whiplash. So I was supposed to do "brain rest" 1 hour at a time for 4 times EVERY DAY for the next week. Boy was that hard to get in. She did tell me that since I was a mom that getting at least 1 hour in would be good. It really just means laying down not doing anything. So, I just napped each time. It really helped. I'm now a week later back to being able to go back to working out. (I had to wait a week and then see what I could do.) I did last night (only did the bike though which is not very hard on the head). So glad I tried. I didn't do any exercises like the elliptical or running which make your head bounce. Didn't think I could handle that yet. Still get head pressure if my head is down (looking down) too long. And light headedness occasionally. Still have neck pain but it's a lot better. My back is a lot better and so is my foot. I had slammed my foot down slamming my imaginary brake. So glad we are all doing better. Just thinking about how different things could have been. If we had been at a stop the force from the impact would have been so much worse. Our whole family could have been gone. So thankful to be alive and well.  Scott called and spoke with the CHP regarding the report to see if any additional information on finding the guy had been added to it. Sadly, he has not been found. They have tried a few times and are planning to go back again. What an idiot. He seriously would have been more believable if he just said the car was stolen. Now he's avoiding the police. Hope they get him.


Have a great week everyone!!!