Meniere's Syndrome...What The?

About 18 months ago I started to notice that whenever I was stressed out (like trying to figure out where we were going to end up for law school, sell a house in a really bad market, find an elementary school where there wasn't a medal detector and so forth and so forth) I would loose my hearing in my left ear...huh, what did you say? Sorry just had to throw that one in. I would get a high pitched ringing in my ear and the little hearing I did have would sound horrible. Imagine, if you will, standing in a tunnel, I am thinking Lincoln Tunnel in New York, just for an example, trying to have a conversation...ya, it was that bad. But again, imagine for a moment, that in my right ear, everything was fine...Needless to say talking and listening was excruciating. But then imagine, if you will, one more time, how horrendous being in a large room, with lots of background noise and trying to carry on a conversation that consisted more of me saying "I'm sorry can you repeat that, I can't HEAR you...literally." Most people gave up and I stopped talking...ya, I know every bodies wish.

I went to an ENT the first time it happened and all he told me was "Well, not really sure what to tell you...oh, by the way, your $1500 bill is in the mail." Thanks, great...nice knowing YA. I gave up.

Jump to a month ago. My hearing went out again (usually it would last anywhere from 2-5 days) but this time it lasted 3 weeks...yes, I said 3 WEEKS. I was panicked as I thought that I would loose my hearing forever. I finally decided I was going to demand an answer and not except "sorry...but your bill is in the mail" and a shrug. These people go to school for 8 freaking years I couldn't believe that I was the only one that this happened too. So one thing lead to another and after a CT scan (normal), an MRI (it's not a TUMOR), and a visit to an audiologist (left ear, I have the hearing of a 50 year old, right ear, I have the hearing of a 20 year old...see I really am supposed to be 30...okay 32) I finally have a diagnosis...Meniere's Syndrome.

Meneire's Syndrome... (go to Wikipedia if you want to find out more about it from a scientific view point) well basically it means that people's hearing comes and goes and it can depend on diet and stress. I do take medication for it...a low dosage of a diaretic (it keeps the ears liquid free and other such parts liquid free) and I am on a diet call CATS: I can only eat DOG, just kidding! It stands for: (and these are things to avoid) Caffeine...goodbye Coke, I really do love you, Alcohol...check, Tobacco...check, check, Salt...ya, I am not so sure I can leave you. I should have a diet that consists of 1500 mg of salt a day. I am pretty sure that a large fry from McDonald's has about 4500 mg of salt so I am in for a big change.

I am looking at the positive, this will help me get healthy and stay healthy. Well, I just wanted you all to know that after 18 months of wondering if I am a freak show, and you know who you are, I am! Here is to happy hearing!

Hmm... chilly? no... frosty? Not quite there. Bitter frosty? Wintry arcticness? Frozen iciness? How about Wintfroschillarcbitteezingness cold? I'm trying to find the right words that describes Omaha right now and they are all failing miserably. Weather.com says that Omaha is 2°F (-17° C) right now. But it also says that right now in Omaha, that it "Feels Like -21°F"!!!! That is -30° Celsius!! My-tongue-is-frozen-to-the-top-of-my-mouth cold! My-teeth's-teeth-are-chattering cold! I-have-marrowcicles-for-bone-marrow cold! Get the picture?

The Quintessential Potter Christmas Pic

Jim captured Noah when he was about 22 months old checking out this little Christmas tree we had set up in the kitchen. Noah, at the time, had no idea that Jim was taking pictures of him and was totally lost and transfixed by this little tree. Still to this day, many years later, I will look at this picture and think about the spirit of Christmas, from a child's perspective.

Noah and Elijah's Holiday Program

Elijah after the show...pulling his rock star look.

Singing his little heart out.

Smiling for the camera before the singing.

Noah singing his little heart out as well.

Noah before the show.

On Friday, the 12th, both Noah and Elijah performed their Holiday Program at their elementary school, Bancroft Elementary. It was really cute...each class sang two songs and then the next class would march out and sing their two songs. Noah and Elijah had a lot of fun learning their songs. In fact, Elijah has been singing his Christmas songs to me for the last two months so I sang along with his class. Noah on the other hand was TOP SECRET...he would not tell me what songs his class would be singing nor would he sing them for me. Great job, my budding Rock Stars!

Just My Boys

Who is mister grumpy pants?

I love this one of these two...they weren't fighting! Notice the eyes, they have the same eyes.

Our little man.

Since I had the camera out last night, I was loading the pictures from Spencer's show, I decided to take some more pictures of the boys. I am still trying to figure the camera-contraption out, since it is more complicated than raising children. Anyway here are a few.

Spencer the Sheep

We just got back from Spencer's Christmas Program...and yes, it was actually called a Christmas program as opposed to a 'Holiday' Program and the kids acted out the story of Jesus' birth. I know, shocking, but that is what you get when you send your child to a private, Catholic, pre-school...they can actually be religious without offending, I love it! Spencer played the part of the sheep and did a great job, watch out Hollywood here comes Spencer!

For The Record

First of all, I do know how to spell Elijah's name...see I just spelt it right, however I failed to spell it right on our Christmas Card as some of you may have noticed...okay like the 6...okay scratch that, the 3 people who read this may have noticed. So let me clear the air. I wasn't planning on sending out Christmas Cards this year but then I realized that some of you may not see us for a while and may want to gawk at how much weight I have gained or gawk at the fact that my boys are becoming little men. Whatever the reason, I decided to print them up at the last minute. So I hurried off to Costco, which is not like Utah...there isn't a Costco at every street corner, there is only 1 and it is about 10 miles away. I had exactly an hour to put my order in and get Spencer back home to make his carpool. So in my haste, I spelt Elijah's name wrong...The original card read "Elian" feel free to use that name in the naming of children in the future, just give me the credit. When I saw the finished product, I started to get choked up because I couldn't believe what had happened. The kind gentlemen, and I am pretty sure this would NOT have happened in Utah, told me he would reprint them even though it was my fault, at no extra charge. He printed them out again, in 10 minutes time, and when he handed them to me I couldn't believe that it had happened AGAIN...Elijan...who the heck is Elijan and why is he on my Christmas Card. I couldn't say anything about it as the man was so nice and it was clearly my fault again, so I put on my best 'Oscar worthy face' and said they looked great and walked out. So that is it, the worst mother EVER as I can't even spell my own child's name however Spencer did make it to pre-school on time...he just didn't have the right shoes on nor his backpack.

Santa At The Gardens

Elijah and Spencer in their antler hats...Noah was to cool for school to make some.
Noah looking at the fish instead of Santa...so if you don't get anything from Santa...well?
Elijah and Spencer after Santa

I took the boys to see Santa Claus at The Botanical Gardens yesterday and wanted to share some pictures. Notice Noah is not in the Santa pictures, he wanted to see the fish instead...big surprise!

Mom and Baby

When we were getting ready to head back East this summer, Jim purchased a nice camera for all those 'Kodak moments' After freaking out about the cost, he then told me that the camera was mine...right, does your husband ever do that...buy him something that he wants then justifies the cost by 'giving' it to you. Anyway, since this is my camera, I thought I better start using it and so here are a few pictures I took with a camera that Jim bought for himself but was a gift for me. This is of my sister and her baby.

Oh My Frigged Cold

Okay, I just have to complain for a moment...anybody who knows me well, knows that I hate cold weather...I really hate it...with a passion. And anybody who has lived in the great state of Nebraska will tell you that it is cold here...really cold...cold with a passion cold. But how does one dress to kill the chill? Well, maybe this will help guide you in the face of coldness. Elijah is wearing two shirts, a sweatshirt and a coat that re-defines 'puffy', a hat with two layers, and gloves. Noah is wearing three shirts, a hoody and a coat that re-defines 'puffy', his Jazz hat as well as his hoody hat and gloves. Now tell me again why global warming is a bad thing?

Cousins and a Cuncle

Lori, Ann, and Larissa
Cuncle Cody and Spencer

My cousin Larissa and her husband Cody were able to come from Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with us. It was so much fun as Lori and Dan had never met Cody and it had been some time since Lori had seen Larissa...I was able to see both in Omaha on their way to Chicago. But the kids had a blast with Larissa and Cody and luckily for us worn our parents, they had the energy to keep the kids entertained...but not without a scratch and a few bruises. But before we left we were trying to figure out exactly what Cody was to the kids and so we come up with 'Cuncle' not quite an uncle, not exactly a cousin.

Thanksgiving in St. Louis

Elijah, Brynn and Noah (proudly showing off his pokemon card)

I thought this picture of Chase was so cute...I couldn't resist

Spencer, Chase, Kohl, Brynn and Noah...again flashing his gansta sign

The entrance to the zoo...it was great because it was FREE! Noah and Drake

Well, 6 hours, 3 states, and 1 van later, we made it to St. Louis. We had a great time eating, eating, and even more eating...seriously I don't think I ever have or ever will eat that much smoked turkey in my life but it was so GOOD! Anyway I thought I would share with you some fun pictures from our trip. We had to cut it a day early due to the lovely winter weather of the mid-west but at least we got to spend a great 4 days with family. Thanks for the hospitality Lori and Dan, thanks for the great baby-sitting Larissa and Cody and thanks for the comfy bed Mom.

A Date with Spencer

Spencer and the Sea Turtle...hmm, that sounds like a great children's book title.

Umm, a future teenager behind the wheel...

Oh, Spencer, how we love thee.The other morning we woke up to a beautiful, warm, sun-shiny day in the great state of Nebraska so I thought we better take advantage. So after sending the kids off to school, I went back to bed...just kidding. No, after sending off Noah and Elijah to school, I packed up Spencer and we headed to the zoo. We had a great time and Spencer, the budding photographer, took many, many, many pictures...many, many, many of them were deleted by his evil, evil, evil mother because they were all of the same thing...fish! But here are a few of the pictures I took, we took, and he took.

"You Are A Lucky Man Elijah"

Why is it so embarrassing to have the birthday song sung to you?

Elijah's birthday cake...and Spencer trying to get his fingers into Elijah's birthday cake.

"Why yes, I would like to attend Harvard at the ripe age of 7...I thought you were going to challenge me....haha" You know that is what Elijah is thinking.

I just don't even know what to say about this?

Oh, I almost forgot, after Elijah opened his gifts, Noah said to Elijah, "You are a lucky man Elijah." I thought that was pretty funny.

Happy Birthday, Birthday Boy...

Elijah proudly showing his Pokemon cards.

Not sure what is going on here but funny none-the-less.

His art supplies that kept him occupied for many hours.

Opening his first gift.

You know you have made it when it takes you two hands to show 'how many are you?'

Holy Cow, it is official, Elijah is 7 years old. How is it that he is getting older when Jim and I are only getting younger? Elijah had a great day opening gifts that consisted of art supplies, a dictionary (yes, he did ask for one and I know...a 7 year old asking for a dictionary, we ARE in trouble) a board game, and of course Pokemon cards that were from Noah. Grandparent presents will be birthday part dos. After church and dinner we invited some friends over for cake and ice-cream. When I realized that there would be 17 of us in a home intended for 2 and a few cockroaches, I knew we would be in trouble, but we had a great time and thank goodness for the basement! Oh ya, the cake, it was chocolate chocolate-chunk cake with white sour cream frosting and then to go all fancy pants I drizzled melted chocolate over the frosting...it was cute, yummy and delicious.

Snack Time with Spencer

Today at Spencer's pre-school, Christ Child, the parents were invited to go to school with them at snack time and free play time. We had lots of fun eating vanilla pudding and drinking capri-suns and playing lots and lots and lots.

Elijah's Suprise Birthday Lunch

Oh my goodness...my little Elijah is turning 7, yes 7 on Sunday! So I thought I would surprise him with checking him out of school and taking him to lunch to celebrate. I didn't tell anybody, including Jim, because I wasn't sure if was all going to work out but it did and he was SO SURPRISED! When he came down to the office, I asked him why he thought I checked him out and he said "well, to take me home." And I quickly answered "well, I am taking you out to lunch for your birthday." And he quickly reasoned by giving me a big hug and telling me he loved me. So of course, we ended up at McDonald's. But here are a few pictures we took while eating at the Mac's.

Noah the Long Lost

Okay, I am feeling a little bit bad that I don't have any pictures of Noah to put up and then I remembered that whenever I get the camera out, he now pulls the I-am-too-cool-for-the-camera-mom disappearance act. However, I was able to capture a moment of Halloweeness with him and his cute teacher Miss. Bacome, whom he absolutely adores. But notice the eyes...what is it with boys and crazy eyes?

Spencer the Talented

Noah earned some points at school for his good behavior and was able to pick something out of the 'treasure box' so he brought home this little toy that looks like a pipe and at the end of it is two baskets and you blow the ball that comes with the toy into one of the baskets. Noah played with it for like 5 minutes but Spencer was quite taken with this toy so we took some pictures. We are sure that eventually this will become on Olympic sport in which Spencer will definitely bring home the gold and the millions he will make in 'blow toy thingy' endorsements.

I'm a Ladies Man...

The other night I was tucking Elijah into bed and I asked him "So Elijah, do you have any crushes on any of the girls in your class?" He thought about it for a minute and then answered me with a little swagger smile on his face..."Mom, I don't really like anybody, but all the girls think I am cute and I agree." Hmm, cute---check, humble---not so much. But from these pictures, I think he may be right.

Up Chuck UR Cheese?

Well, moving to Nebraska has been a plethora of firsts for us: first time moving out of the state of Utah, first time the temperature says 50 degrees but with the wind chill factor it is like 20 and the biggest one of all, the first time we visited Chuck E Cheese. Our cute neighbors, the Peterson's, invited us to attend the birthday party of their equally as cute daughters, Zoey and Gracie (who I am still trying to convince to come live with me but is a little bit hesitant) to the C.E.C. I for one have never taken my children there because well, there is something bothersome to me when I see an overgrown rat being the spokes person for pizza. I know, I am a mean, mean mom who will rot in the depths of pizza hell for not allowing my children this one restaurant of pure pleasure, but I know I won't be alone...my sister Lisa will be there with me. But regardless, the kids had fun, but still a rat...pizza...really?