Uncle Matt is Moving!!

At the end of August, my brother came out for a week.  This was not just a "fun" trip; he had plans to do a little job hunting - he's ready for a career location change so why not be an engineer in Arizona!?   Amazingly enough, things all happened unbelievably fast, and within one week, he had a new job and will be moving out here in the beginning of October!!! I'm BEYOND excited to have some of my immediate family out here :)

While this was more of a business trip, he of course got in some fun time with his nieces :)

He got to meet Ellie for the first time

Getting in some quality feeding time

Rough life

We did manage to have 1 night where we hit the town - and I have to say,
these are 2 good looking men!

A random picture - but this is the bridge Matt was the project manager for in Tennessee -
he will be now doing this in AZ!

Still Needing Prayers!

Well, it has now been 24 weeks... 168 days that I have not been able to smile MY smile. I was talking to someone from back home recently, and they said that they were so happy that I was all better.  I was so shocked by this statement ( bc I'm probably 50% better)... and they said that a picture I posted 3 weeks ago showed that I was back to normal.  SO apparently instagram effects can really help appearances?!?!  The picture was BETTER, but so not.... me.

Within the last month, I had to go "out, out" to a bar scene for a birthday party... and let me just tell you, wow, that was super hard.  Every time I've gone out in the past (before bells palsy) I've never thought anything of it- we go out, have fun, come home.  This time, it was like I was a completely different person/had a totally different view.  Girls openly came up to Marc with me standing right there -- they would look at me (glasses and all) and dismiss me and continue flirting with Marc as if to say "what is a guy like you doing with her"... now that could just be my own thinking/insecurities now that I have a partially paralyzed face... but it was so hard on my ego... it makes me never want to go out again.


Anyway, the last 3 weeks I've had a really, really hard time. (and it finally occured to me that I don't think people are praying for me like they were... and I so believe in the power of prayer, hence this post for help!)-- anyway  My face has had NO improvement for a month now - in fact, it has gotten worse.  I've developed a lot more sykinesis (different parts of my face move when I don't want them to) and I swear my smile is almost going backwards - it's more droopy.  I think this could be because Ellie sleeps no more than 2 hours at night... she is usually up at the end of each sleep cycle (every 45 min)... so I'm never sleeping and it's killing me.  The lack of sleep and lack of improvement have me feeling so sad, and that my recovery/healing is done... and that I will just have to learn to accept my new face... which makes me want to cry all over again

I have started physical therapy for my face  because I know it looks better in pictures, but that is because I'm trying SO hard to make it look right.. I don't look like that in person - Marc agrees.  This physical therapy won't help me regain any movement, but it is supposed to help some of the muscles that react when I don't want them to.  Anyway, because everyone seems to think I'm "healed" I decided the best way to show you what I actually look like is to do a video (I had to split it into 3 parts because it was too big to load)... and this is so hard for me to post because I'm so self conscious about how I look... but I need your prayers, so I'm doing it.  Doctors told me it would be a 3-6 month recovery.. I'm a week away from 6 months... and still have so much healing I need to happen... so that's why I'm enlisting the help of some of you prayer warriors!!  Here goes nothing--

#1

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Some pictures 

Here is the instagram picture I posted where everyone thought I was healed-- but
next to an old picture.. it shows just how off it still is  - and that was taken on  the best day I've had!!

Almost a month ago.. and today - no change :(

When I get really sad I pull one of the completely paralyzed photos out
to remind myself of how far I've come.. but so sad how much Both don't look like ME

SO PLEASE!! Don't write me off as healed-- I need your prayers.. for healing, for my smile, for strength, for sleep -- anything you want to send my way I would be grateful for... thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way... 

Wall Unit

As most of you know, we moved into a new house not quite 1 year ago.  One of the amazing benefits of being married to a closet/cabinet company owner is that I get to pick/design what I want!  Back when we moved in, we had pretty much everything completed... however, there was going to be one last wall unit that still needed to be designed/made.

Well, as time went on, it became increasingly important that we get this unit designed... because our current TV seems to play a constant loop of the Disney channel - and with only a month until football season began, we realized it was TIME to get this unit done.

 I happened to tell Marc that it would be cool for him to make a TV unit that could hold 3 tv's... so that way he could watch multiple football games at once instead of having to always head to a sports bar.  Of course he thought this was a great idea, so we took the idea and ran with it.   Because this unit was going to be going into our "formal" living room, I didn't want the 3 tv's to be visible - hence turning the nice room into a man cave.. so his company came up with a way to "hide" the side tv's.

With a week to spare before the season opener, the unit got installed and it is HUGE, beautiful, but huge. I'm already nervous because I just know that Marc will spill something on all the pretty furniture in that room.. but I guess it is kind of pointless to have a room that isn't really lived in... and this TV unit will sure make the room lived in!

Here are a few pictures of it & a video to show how it operates!  Once again, I'm a pretty lucky lady to have Marc and Mike (business partners) to make all of our awesome cabinetry - nice work Distinctive!! Btw. if you want to see the cabinetry of the rest of our house this was last years blog link http://thepoortingas.blogspot.com/2012/11/new-house-cabinetry-beforeafters.html

Daddy's idea of babysitting

He loves watching 3 different games at once - me, I can't even figure out
which tv to watch!

Play Factory

After 4 full months of temperatures never being lower than 100 degrees, I finally decided to brave an indoor play place with both kids, by myself.... the only thing I can say... is why didn't I do this earlier!?!?!  Maree had so much fun, and I had just about as much fun watching her!

The good and bad news to having a super independent child is that she won't let me help her with ANYTHING!  I was a bit nervous with her climbing pretty much everything backwards.. or without using any of the hand-gripping devices.  She likes to do everything her own way.  A few times I tried to go up with her only to have her tell me "NO!" and immediately leave wherever we were so that she could go off and explore something without mom... my little girl is getting so big!!

She had a great time climbing everything - so great that she wore herself out and she fell asleep before we could even get home - and that drive only takes 5 minutes!  Anyway, for 4$... I'd say the play factory will be a place we will visit for some more future fun (or a place to wear them out for me!)

You can see Maree coming down in this one

Yes, she insisted on climbing up the slide instead of sliding down

I was pretty impressed she could do this with socks on!!
(Notice she chooses to NOT use the ladder - no easy way out for her haha)

It actually wore them both out!