My disease...GONE???

I have the most amazing news ever!!!

I recently went for a checkup with my CIDP doctor. I went through the usual exam with him and then I brought up the possibility of future children. I thought this would embark a on conversation that would lead to high risk pregnancy talk, yet again. Well to my shock and amazement the conversation took a turn I never in a million years would expect.

Dr. sat me down and said in looking at all my recent test results, he believes my disease has dissipated. As in hit the road running from my body! My test results looked to him as normal as any other healthy individual, certainly not a CIDP victim! I just about passed out! Seriously! After almost 10 years of treatment, 2 of those spent hanging out paralyzed from the neck down and hospital bound, I am about to make a radical change and come off ALL the medicine that I have always thought would be in my life for ever. This is one relationship I am so ready to sever as quickly as possible! So Dr. says he would like to wean me off my IGG infusions first. The next one is due around Thanksgiving. We are just going to not do it and see what happens, and yes I will be seen by my dr and monitored closely. If all goes well without the IGG infusion we are going to move on to my oral meds of Imuran and see if I can come off of it completely as well. HOLY CRAP!!! Totally medicine free!! I am still in such shock!


So if this exciting adventure pans out to be my new way of life, then many new doors are going to open for me. I will not be a "sick" person anymore. A title I am more than happen to vanquish from my life as well as alert my health insurance company to. I will once again after 10 years be able to sink my teeth into BEEF!! OH!! How I long for a big old beef patty burger! YUMMY!! 10 years with no beef is a killer. Being pregnant with no beef is a killer. I literally drank bottle after bottle of A-1 sauce trying to compensate for my lack of beef while pregnant with Baby DIVA. ( oh if you are wondering there is a slight chance eating beef could stimulate the autoimmune response of my disease. And I am sorry I don't like being paralyzed from the neck down so I just didn't want to take a chance!!) Pregnancy will be an ease. No high risk precautions needed! And a really big option that will now be available for me to think about...if I have another child and I am not on medicine, Breastfeeding my child will be possible! Wooohooo!!! So awesome!! I will be NORMAL!!!!!! The fears of Hubbs-to-be getting laid off and us losing health insurance will no longer plaque me, and I must tell you this is a terrible fear for us! No health insurance for a sicky person basically is a death sentence!!! No more treatments or rather days stuck inside with an IV attached to my arm and Baby DIVA wishing momma could hold her!


The list can go on and on. most of all I am just thrilled we are going to try and pull me off the meds. If all goes well this time next year CIDP will be part of my history rather than part of who I am!! Keep your fingers crossed for me PLEASE!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

I had just finished telling Love to Shop Mom how much Baby DIVA hates cheese during our Thursday playdate when the following occurred. Here is our wordless Wednesday, the video version!!

Baby DIVA meets the Grilled Cheese

Freshdeals Rock

I love shopping. But I do not love over spending. I enjoy treating my regular shopping trips like a game. The game being one in which I find the item I am on the hunt for at the best possible price. Therefore I get exactly what I want for rock bottom prices. I scour the Internet (most of my shopping is in fact done online) for the best deals and steals.

Recently, I was introduced to a fabulous website called Freshdeals. I took a little time to play around on Freshdeals and in no time I was hooked. This fabulous website offers not only an advanced search over a multitude of stores when I am searching a specific item; it also lists each item at each store out for me and displays the price in an easy to view manner. Therefore I am able to get a snapshot view of the item I want to purchase and at a quick glance can see which store has it listed at the absolute best price. I am so thrilled to pieces with this feature. I did a search for "cake cutter" and Freshdeals gave me 7 pages of results to look through. 7 whole pages of stores that were offering cake cutters! It was fabulous. I was able to glance at the price and a picture of the item before even having to traipse through each individual store that offered a cake cutter. Quickly I went from having tons of choices, to one choice then click and Voila!!!! I ordered my cake cutter. How awesome is that!

And that is not all this wonderful site has to offer. Oh No! It gets even better! I have been doing a ton of shopping lately in regards to wedding items and all that surrounds such a glorious event. Being a first time bride, sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed and have no idea how to even go about choosing a cake cutter or toasting flute, let alone a garter or grooms gift. Luckily for me, Freshdeals offers a wonderful question and answer forum. I am able to ask a question about any product and get real time answers from merchants as well as other individuals with first hand knowledge. This feature is a godsend for a Bride to be who is planning her wedding. And it doesn't just stop with weddings. I was able to use this site also to help me pick out and purchase some items for Baby DIVA's upcoming first birthday party!! Freshdeals has an incredible amount to offer and has really helped me get products and items I am in need of for the price I want to pay!

I have added Freshdeals to my repertoire of favorite places and fully intend on using it for all my future shopping needs. Check it out and see how it can work magic for you too!!

Family relationships

Its no secret or lie that I am not all that family oriented. Sure now that I have Baby DIVA and Hubbs-to-be I am all about "MY" little family. But as far as staying in contact with my aunts, uncles, cousins, and so forth I don't really participate. We are just not a close nit group, and I really don't feel bad about it. Years of back stabbing, manipulative behaviors and just plain meanness have led me to make the choices that I believe are the best decisions for me. I have my family, this is the family of my choosing, my dearest friends. I am a victim of the current society viewpoints, and I do not believe that blood is thicker than water. I do not think just because you are related you should be forced to enjoy one another company. I think you should surround yourself only with those who find intriguing and who you honestly enjoy being around. You should have relationships with people who make you happy and bring goodness to your life, not those who drag you down or cause pain in your life. My personal feelings, however do not stop me from wanting Baby DIVA to meet her "family". I am not going to pass my personal beliefs on to my child. Instead I will teach her to grow up and make her own decisions. I will keep her safe from any severe hardships and provide her with the intellect to make choices for the best in her own life. In relation to this topic I have been working really hard to engage Baby DIVA in relationships with relatives on my side of the family that I have no relationship with. It has been rewarding and annoying for me, but absolutely wonderful for my daughter. Some doors have been opened while others are slamming shut for these relationships, nonetheless I am doing what I can for the best for my child.

Over the last year, I have been in contact with my older brother via email. We have not had any real contact since I was about 11 years old. Parental divorces, parental fighting, our own child perceptions have placed a cloud over our relationship. Now as adults however, we are free to communicate at our own pace and talk about our histories with open minds, as we would like to be part of each others life. Throughout my pregnancy and Baby DIVA's first 10 months, we have had a relationship bloom via the web. It has been awesome, as young as the relationship is. My brother is a military man and is not here in the states too often. Last week brother made a quick trip home to the USA and just happened to have a stop here in Houston. Baby DIVA and myself were lucky enough to be on his To Do list. It really was awesome seeing him in person for the first time in many, many, many years. And me, the non family oriented Pink Haired Momma quite Freak found it heart warming. Especially seeing him with his niece, Baby DIVA.

I am amazed sometimes what new life can do. Baby DIVA has changed every aspect of my life, including my views on family relationships. I truly am moving more and more into a domesticated lifestyle that I never thought I would embrace.

Post Bridal Shower

My Mad Hatter Bridal Shower was a hoot! I had so much fun and it was an absolutely fabulous time seeing all my friends, old and new, in one place having fun with each other. All my time and effort that was spent in the weeks leading up to this great event were definitely rewarded by seeing the smiles, laughter, and fun on my friends faces! Totally enjoyable!

Now of course there was some drama that came with my Bridal Shower. I mean Pink Haired Momma can not have a shower without some DRAMA!! So what happened? We had one non drinking guest get in a car accident on the way to the "slumber party" location. Why and How you ask? Well our goofy cab driver paid us no attention when we told him the hotel name. He, I guess decided we were in some other hotel of his own choosing. Interesting. Upon pulling into the wrong hotel parking lot we shared the fact with him yet again that we were in a different hotel, and then it happened. Cabbie took us on a "cab" style ride. Darting in and out of traffic in Saturday evening Houston Galleria Traffic while 6 cars are following the cabbie. Not so cool. And our tail got smushed. Bummer. I felt terrible, but the unlucky driver took it pretty good. Memories. I will be toasting my friend and her Bridal Shower car bang up in Las Vegas in a mere month!

My camera battery went pffzzz right after I finished setting up for the shower. So I only have a few pics to share. Luckily my fabulous friend, Kanda, stepped right up and took tons of pictures for me. I should have the disc in a few days to share with you the FUN pictures.

I know you must be itching to see what the heck the decorations looked like. I babbled on the last few weeks about it so much. Everytime Baby DIVA took a nap I was working on Bridal Shower. Here is the final outcome:

Where is the party?

As you enter, you are greeted by candy jars beckoning you to "eat me"

close up of the "eat me" favors: all recycled from Baby DIVA food jars and egg crates

Mad Hatter suckers

I loved how this came out. All the Favors lined up in front of the fountain

Before everyone arrived, My Bridal Shower Patio

The Door


Kirk! Our Mad Hatter Judge!

In a few days I will be able to show you some up close pictures of the centerpieces and giant flowers. Not that the patio needed much in the way of Decorations, Hugo's Patio was fabulous just all by itself. As well as all the waiters and staff. They did a fantastic job and were wonderful! Big Thanks to everyone over at Hugo's for making my shower such a yummy and perfect success!!

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Oh my goodness it feels soooooo good to have these fabulous flubby fingers poking away at the lovely keyboard again instead of being knuckle deep in paint and glitter! I have so missed the blogging world the last 2 weeks as I spent every free moment preparing for my Mad Hatter Bridal shower, among a multitude of other fabulous happenings. I have so much catching up to do by reading all of your fabulous blogs not to mention this whole week is going to be just blogging posts to share some fabulous stuff from Pink Haired Momma's world with you. So much has happened. I can not even fit it all into one post because as I would hope and dream you, my fabulous readers would love to just sit at your computer and read all my dorky stories about my Pink Haired life all day long, I know however and I am not stupid and totally understand (as much as I wish I was more important) you do in fact have your own life (which I LOVE to read about), and so I will gladly break all my new happenings down into smaller reading excerpts for your entertaining pleasure!!!

Over the next few days I plan on entertaining you will stories of Baby DIVA versus the Grilled cheese, Baby DIVA meeting her Uncle for the first time, Pink Haired Momma being Disease free, Bridal shower hoopla and of course Wedding Updates, among many, many, many more stories and interesting tidbits!!

So please stay tuned!! And my fabulous friends, If I missed something totally awesome that you shared within the last 2 weeks on your blog, please! please! please! post it here in a comment so I can catch up right away!! Thanks!!!

Missing my bloggin!!!!!

To all my FABULOUS readers:

I am so sorry for my absence! I am thinking of all the cool things i should be sharing with you right now via Pink Haired Momma blogging. However I am super swamp-a-rooed with this bridal shower this weekend. I PROMISE that I will be back to writing up all my Pink Haired Momma goodies ASAP!!!!!

Thank you for stopping by! I cant wait to read all your blogs and see what you have all been up to!!!

Bridezilla! Wedding Updates! 40 Days to go!!!

Wedding planning is so stressful. I thought many months ago when I started this whole planning ordeal that I was gonna be one of those cool chicks with Pink Hair who didnt care and would make simple decisions and would not be a bridezilla woman planning the details of her wedding. Well FAILURE!!! Like mommahood, I have discovered this crap aint so easy. Seriously, it consumes almost as much time as Baby DIVA craves. So ummm when am I suppossed to take a shower and brush my teeth now? Now anytime Baby DIVA is sleeping or STOP the presses entertaining herself for a moment, I am wedding planning. You can imagine how awful I smell now! If I couldnt shower before with just Baby DIVA imagine what is like now! LOL! And Poor Hubbs-to-be gets phone calls at work now that are not the sweet, "Hi Honey how is your day?". Oh No! Now as soon as he answers the phone I am screaming in his ear "What color of this and what about that", no wonder he hardly answers the work phone anymore. It is very interesting that I have become a crazy Bridezilla Pink Haired Momma. I know everything will be great. We will have fun and BE MARRIED no matter what, but the OCD control freak part of me can not help but be all in everything and causing a stir!!
So we are a mere 40 days away from the festive event of our Wedding, the Vegas part. Again I must jokingly say that we are so cool we get 2 days of wedding festivities. Fabulous. 2 days of fun centered around us brings about double the stress and planning! I Love it! So to date, here are the pieces and parts of our wedding...

The Bride and Groom!! We used this pic for our M&M favors.

Our fabulous invitations, that have now been mailed, designed by Hubbs-to-be!

Ceremony location: Bridge Venetian Las Vegas for our Masquerade Halloween Ball

Our Pimped out Toasting glasses for hometown Reception!

Our fabulous and sparly Cake cutter set for Hometown Reception

Pimped drinks and sparly eats!

Hometown reception Favors: I tried to zoom in to show our faces on the M&M's. I dont want open the bag until we get closer. Sorry!

Bride and Groom goodies: The Bride Hat I will wear at the "Mad Hatter" shower. Guest will sign it as I am using it as a guest book for the shower. Then I will wear the autographed hat at the rehearsal!

We are doing an autogrpah frame for Vegas and Hometown Reception combined.

For those who attend our Vegas Ceremony; Each will receive one of these masks to wear during the ceremony and it is for them to keep to always remember our wedding.

Groom's mask

Bridesmaid mask

Groomsmen mask

Bride Mask

Some Bride Hair

My Bouquet! However there are some feather embellishments being added! Bridesmaids will have a wrislet with white tulips. The moms will have a wristlet of white orchids. Our groomsmen and the dads will have a single white tulip on their lapel. Hubbs-to-be will have a single RED tulip on his lapel.

My awesome and fabulous Wedding DRESS!!!!

Some funky fun for under my dress.

My fabulous wedding necklace!

And of course I have many many many happenings that we do not have pictures of. For instance ,we have a hummer limo escorting us from the airport to the Venetian in Las Vegas when we arrive. We are scheduled to see the Blue man Group while we are in town too! As well as frequent some Vegas Hot spots!!

The Hometown reception is brewing into a fabulous affair as well. As I mentioned here in a previous post, Zoltar is attending our reception along with his friends from Pac-man, Guitar Hero, and Wheel of fortune. All arcade style games if you are wondering. We will also be having a photo booth for our guests to load up inside of and snap some memory pics of themselves! We are also considering a giant obstacle course style bounce house and train ride, however weather concerns are making us hesitant. The DJ has been booked and has a great variety of music to keep our party hopping all day. The Tree planting ceremony and Ballon release are planned and just waiting for this Bride and Groom to get started! We have a few more entertainment aspects to finalize, so hopefully this week I can share these exciting goodies with you after I arrange them for sure.

So what kind of foods are gonna be at this shindig? Well, we have some incredible taste buds in this family. We like what we like and hate what we dont. So instead of getting someone to cater for us and us only like maybe one or two things, we instead are putting together our favorite things from all different places. We will have honey baked hams from the Honey Baked Ham store, Mac and cheese from Luby's, coleslaw from this fabulous BBQ restaraunt and so forth to make up our perfect hometown reception buffet! All of our favorite culinary items from various spots here in town to tickle the taste buds of our guests. Couple this with a open bar and a wonderful array of desserts and a Fabulous wedding cake and I betcha our guests will feel like the fell into heaven!

So I guess you can see why a little bridezilla type behavior may have slipped through the cracks of this Pink Haired Momma. I mean planning my own Bridal shower, Destination Wedding in Las Vegas and Hometown reception the following weekend might seem a tad bit easy, and it is, thanks to cell phones and wireless internet and the occassional Baby DIVA 2 hour snooze, however I can't get married with out at least a little bridezilla behavior, right????

Baby DIVA is getting married!!!!

Yep that is right! Pink Haired Momma has already arranged Baby DIVA's marriage! I am already plotting and planning and setting up the largest piggy bank on the planet, for the marriage of Baby DIVA and Baby K-Dude!

Who is Baby K-Dude? Well, K-TEACH my BFF is expecting a baby BOY!!!! Yippppppeeeeee! K-Teach gets her little sports fanatic baby and Baby DIVA gets a future baby DIVA husband! I am so excited! K-Teach is gonna be a super mom to her little baby DUDE.

Mommy Break

WOW!
10 weeks sure have flown by since i last posted this and introduced you to my little disease, CIDP, and My Battle with it. But here we are at another 10 week period gone by and yet another dose of medicine. I am taking a day off today from mommahood and the daily hustle and bustle to hook myself up to an IV and load up on some fabulous IGG. 500ml of fluid will flow through my veins today and deliver the goods to the needed cells and VOILA I am good to go and kickin' for another 10 weeks! Fabulous!!


Have a Great Saturday My friends!!

"There is no place like home"

These famous words were spoken by Judy Garland 70 years ago in the classic film The Wizard of Oz. 70 years later the Wizard of Oz is still a family favorite and is awe inspiring each time I watch it.

On October 3rd, 2009, Netflix if offering a FREE viewing of the Wizard of Oz to anyone who has a computer and Internet. I am so excited about this. I am sure a good portion of us have this classic film in our DVD collections, however there are still many people who do not. This film is fantastic for all ages and can make a great movie night for the whole family.

If you would like to learn more about this FREE Showing of the Wizard of Oz you can by clicking the link. Then sit back and enjoy the film on October 3rd with your family!

Wordless Wednesday

Baby DIVA playing Peek-a-boo in her tunnel!

Tuesday Tidbit

Okay I was sitting in a waiting room this last week reading a magazine and saw a little blurb that made the tidbit vibe inside me do a little shimmy!! I can not recall what magazine it was that supplied me with this wonderful little idea, but I thought it was pretty cool, so I am gonna share it!

We all buy potatoes right? They come in those really nifty little mesh baggies that end up in the trash. Well we also ALL have dirty dishes. So the magazine blurb said take that mesh baggie and scrunch it up. Then use it as a scrubber for those really tough stuck on gunks you get in your pans.

I just think that is fabulous. Repurpose. Reuse. Recycle. Love it!

Laughing at Life

Halloween is coming! Yippee! That also means my wedding. Lucky for Baby DIVA, this year she will be wearing the above lovely little dress for the event. Next year she may not be so lucky. She might just find herself out an about in a costume like this:

Or this...

Hahahaha! Yes I would do that to my kiddo, but only when she is really little and doesnt know any better! LOL If you are interested in learning more about these hysterical ideas have a little click HERE and head over to Martha Stewart for the How to's! If I see a baby lobster I will so be rolling on the floor!

Now this little goodie is quite appropriate, but I will admit I wore this exact costume not 5 years ago to a fabulous Halloween Party!

Formula cans, Egg crates & Baby food jars??

I have been squeezing in time between domesticated Pink Haired Momma duties, Granny watching, and diaper changing to bring out the crafty funky fun side of this Pink haired momma. It seems to be going well, in the few moments a day I get to play.

My Bridal shower is fast approaching. The Mad Hatter theme is well in place. I have arranged for a fabulous lunchy feast with wonderful adult beverages to be in arms reach from all my guests. Extra feast and no drinks for my BFF K-teach and her bun in the oven of course!! My mom has arranged for our token male visitor. nope not a stripper. It will be a lovely Mad Hatter who will judge the contest of best hat! Prizes to be awarded of course!

All of my decorations and favors are from recycled items that we have used. You're shocked and surprised right? Lets see, the centerpieces started out as formula cans. The favors started out as baby food jars and egg crates. Are you intrigued? Curious as to what the heck this Pink Haired Momma has cooking? Well I snapped a few pics of my "Project", still in pieces, still looking like the Cheshire cat vomited in the craft room, to tickle your fancy! Enjoy the tiny preview!! More to come as nap time allows!