Friday, March 20, 2009

And we're outta here...

Alana and I are flying out to Nashville tomorrow for some much-needed time with Grammy. It's been a long day and tomorrow is sure to be even longer...I'm excited, though!


Justin on the flight deck, earlier this week...

Please pray for Justin and all of the people who are serving in our military...We are blessed. The truth is that most people (including myself at one point) live their lives completely unaware of what's truly going on in this world. Our freedom is not free, just remember that!

Peace, Love and Feeling Patriotic xo

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Swamp Norfolk & The Urology Results & more...

I'm alive...It's been a while since I've blogged. My dad was in town for a week, and this week just started and has proved to be busy! We have not seen the sun since probably Wednesday of last week...and to top it off, it has only stopped raining for maybe a few hours during that time.

Our "front yard"
This is what I have to walk across to get to the car!

Our backyard...
Not sure whether to go swimming or fishing.
All is well in the Portas house. I took Alana to the urologist yesterday. It was a fairly painless experience. I wasn't sure what to expect...but I was sure there would be nothing good about it :) The diagnosis was good and bad all at the same time. The good part is that her organs and her system are in perfectly good shape and everything works properly. They did an ultrasound and showed me that her kidneys are great, etc...The bad part is that I have a child full of poop. I know that's gross, and I hesitated to even write this on here...but I know there are a lot of people that have been praying for Alana and want to know what we found out yesterday. She has a great deal of "stool"...it is actually pretty ridiculous. She goes "#2" pretty much everyday, but apparently she is not going enough! The stool is pushing on her bladder, as a baby pushes on a pregnant woman's bladder in like the 8th month...I saw it on the ultrasound, how much pressure it is putting on her bladder. She also has something called "dysfunctional elimination syndrome". Basically, her brain doesn't tell her to relax enough to empty her bladder completely...so we are having to go potty on a timed schedule, every 2 hours...to "void" and then sit for a few more minutes to try and "double void". She has also been put on a high fiber diet and has to eliminate all fruits and fruit juices for the time being, as well as certain other foods that are acidic because they irritate the urinary tract. She is to drink water...and even has to take Miralax each morning...

So this is my life now. Poop and Pee. On a schedule.

Justin is now officially back in the Bake Shop. He is gonna be working LONG days again...I think for the most part he is excited about it. He will be busy, and therefore time will be going by faster. It's hard to stand for 12 hours, though...so pray for his back and his knees! :) Thank you to all of you who said you would write him...I apologize if I haven't gotten back with you with his info. I have been a bit overwhelmed with things at home, but haven't forgotten any of you!!!

Peace, Love and the sun'll come out...

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Day at Ocean View

We enjoyed some beautiful weather in Norfolk this past weekend! On Sunday afternoon, Angie invited Alana and I to go to the beach at the end of our street...Of course we accepted! It was SO nice out...I could've sat out there for hours. The water was literally painful to go into. I put my feet in just to rinse them off and thought I'd die! And there were actually people out there in it! Alana was content building her sandcastles, but Jalen decided he doesn't like the sand anymore. It was entertaining for Angie and I, if nothing more. Maybe next time he'll enjoy it a little more!

Alana getting some of that ice water!

Jalen thought it was funny when Alana poured the water out...

But the sun is in my eyes!!!

Our two favorite people in Norfolk...
Jalen was saying, "Mommy hold me" over and over haha.

More water!

Jalen refusing to look at my camera :)

Scooping up wet sand now.

Cheese!

Home from the beach, bathed, and ready to go pick up Papa from the airport!
Yippee!
Yesterday was amazing weather, too! It got up to like 86 here! And then today, it dropped 40 degrees...seriously. It was 45-50 degrees.

Here's to wishing for that warmer weather to come back!

Peace, Love and Springtime!

Friday, March 6, 2009

The Next Taylor Swift?


So Alana got her first guitar (a very PINK guitar) for Christmas from Grammy. She asked me today if she could play it...I recorded this with my camera, not my camcorder...She is singing, even though it's almost impossible to hear her. I asked her what the name of her song was and she said "The Love Song". Of course, it is...

Let's hope she takes after the men in the family and actually inherits some musical talent :) Regardless, I see music lessons in the near future!

Peace, Love and Prodigys.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Care Packages!


It's that time...I'm back to carefully selecting things to send to Justin in care packages. It's the least I can do for him, right? :) Today, Alana and I have been going from place to place trying to check things off his "list". I can't believe he's been gone almost 2 weeks, but at the same time it seems like FOREVER. My dad is coming to visit this coming week, and we are SOOO excited! It will be a nice change of pace, and we always love having Papa here. Alana is already lining up things for him to do...SpongeBob Operation, anyone? It's warming up, and we are contributing that to the fact he is bringing the sunshine with him. I can't wait, because I am looking forward to being able to spend time outside without freezing! Off to one more stop, where hopefully I can finish up this scavenger hunt :)

Peace, Love and dill pickle sunflower seeds.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Just Punch!

Hello all of you faithful blog readers :) Just wanted to inform you that I now (in addition to this one) have a new blog. If you want to check it out, click here.

It's pretty self-explanatory!

Peace, Love and Kicking Butt.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Does this Count?

This is how it looks when it snows in Norfolk :) Andrea is always posting these beautiful snow pictures...here are mine haha. I guess we can't compete with Germany! They've been saying it's gonna snow today for a few days now, but I didn't believe them...It never sticks even a little bit. But this is what I saw when I woke up this morning...



The wind was up to 60 mph here last night. Angie can attest, it was brutal. Hence the chairs on the ground. I laid them down after they hit the door a few times! I'm surprised they are still there at all...

Peace, Love and Wind Chills.