On the Road Again and What Lies Ahead..

   If you haven't noticed lately, we are a traveling family! Eli has been to 11 different states now and is 5 months (5 months today, happy 5 month birthday little guy!) We aren't trying to do a contest or anything, we both love to travel and have family far away that we often go visit. I think a lot of people think just because you have a child, especially a baby, that all traveling and going out has to cease. That does not have to be the case. While its unfortunate that Eli will never have any memory of all the places he has been to thus far, we have pictures and Brenton and I have those memories. Thankfully, Eli is pretty laid back and traveling doesn't bother him at all, I think he actually enjoys it. Yeah.. I think he was born to be a military kid :)

   This last trip we took to Virginia. We spent time with family, went to Williamsburg, Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and the Outer Banks. This was Eli's first trip to the ocean.. well out of the womb that is. Back in September, I flew out to Virginia and went to the Outer Banks.. so technically I guess he has been there. We had a great time in Virginia! While we were there we took the time to celebrate our 2 year anniversary. It was a little early but we had family that was willing to watch Eli for us and figured we should take the chance while we had it. The plan was to go to the Outer Banks for 2 days.. well I lasted a day. We accomplished a lot in that one day we were down there though! We hung out at the beach for a few hours, went to a beach bar afterwards and had some drinks, went mini golfing, went out to eat at a really nice sea-food restaurant (the BEST seafood ever!) and then ordered dessert to-go and ate our dessert on the beach later that night. The next day we went to climb sand dunes and watch paragliders. It was amazing! I missed Eli soo much though! It was nice just being able to focus on Brenton and I and being able to relax, but this was the first time I had ever been away from him overnight. We had a great time together but I was so glad to get back to my sweet boy. I am really glad we did come back when we did because the night we got back there was a tornado that touched down just 20 minutes from my aunt's house.. if I would have been 2 hours away from Eli when this happened, I would have freaked!

  We finally arrived back home in Mississippi on Sunday night. It was a 15 hour drive, a looong 15 hour drive. It was nice to be back home and be reunited with our other 'babies'. The next morning Eli and I both had dr appts. I had an appt for a 2nd opinion regarding problems with my ovary and Eli had another appt to get a shot. We do vaccinate Eli, but have chosen to do so on a delayed schedule. It really works for us and Eli doesn't suffer any ill-effects from the shots at all since we have done it this way. It kind of sucks having to drive 45 minutes every few weeks and to go back and forth to get a shot but its worth it when they are spaced out enough it doesn't hurt him. He did very well with his shot, he cried for a few minutes but as soon as I picked him up he stopped and started smiling. He even decided to take off his bandaid later that evening and decide to chew on it.. I about died when I saw that.. so disgusting! As far as my appointment went, it went well. To make a long story short, the evening of Mother's Day I went to the ER for extreme LLQ pain. At first they scared us to death and told us they were sure I was having an ectopic pregnancy, after waiting for what seemed like forever we found out  thankfully that was not the case! They then told me they didn't know what exactly was wrong but sent me to a local OBGYN the next morning. I saw the OBGYN and he immediately recommended I have surgery to remove a large cyst. Apparently that was what was causing the pain. He proceeded to tell me he wanted to do 3 different surgeries and he may possibly have to take part of if not the whole ovary to remove it. Considering Brenton and I would love to have more children and our history of fertility issues I opted for a 2nd opinion, and I am so glad I did! The 2nd opinion was with my regular OBGYN. He did another scan and saw the cyst was still there and diagnosed it as probably being an endometrioma. Basically endometriosis on the ovary. He said I had an option of taking a more conservative approach if I wanted to. I could try 3 months of meds to see if it would go away. I get re-scanned in August and if its not gone by then, surgery it is. I am hoping that isn't the case since Brenton will be gone and we will be moving just a month later. But as we have learned in the past, things happen for a reason. You may not be able to explain or understand them now, but they are all a part of the plan God has for us!

 Eli ready for the beach!

 First time seeing the beach, eli is like whoa!!

 Celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary in the Outer Banks