Holy Moly! I know I haven't been on here since August. Life just went and happened and well blogging didn't exactly run across my mind. To say I wasn't busy, overwhelmed at times, or just simply enjoying life is an understatement! I do think this is going to take a more personal level with some teacher stories as we have some rather exciting things taking place this year.
Here goes a recap of August-September. Several events are going to take completely different posts. And I am planning to regularly blog to keep track of this year so keep an eye out for some new ones. I seem to have lots of ideas.
August:
I began my dream job at Waverly-Shell Rock as a 1st grade teacher at Carey Elementary. Call me a home body but I love this town, the people in it, and the small town atmosphere it has to offer. The 7 minute drive compared to the 40 minute one to Sumner has been awesome. I truly miss Sumner and the great people I worked with! 22 innocent minds greet me each morning and bring something new to each day. I can honestly say I continue to love my job!
September:
Gavin and I traveled to Colorado again this year to another Davis wedding. If Gavin's company wasn't rooted in the Cedar Valley, I would beg on a daily basis to move to Fort Collins. It is beautiful, full of fit and active people, and the mountains just make my heart melt. I love that place! The wedding was amazing and we witnessed Greek traditions that were so much fun. Bill and Haley looked stunning and we wish we were closer to them all!
October:
Hawkeye Football may not have always been real great but we certainly had fun going to the games with some stellar friends. We traveled to Iowa City and Minnesota to watch the Hawks. The first game was one of the hottest days of my life and the Minnesota game was just about the opposite. To say I am a fair weather fan may be an understatement.
November:
The holidays crept up on use quickly and we prepped for Thanksgiving and the onslaught of Christmases that were just around the corner. I can't recall anything major that happened this month....that is until the very last stinking day...that I could go without.
The first week of December. Warning: this will probably turn into a novel!
The Saturday after Thanksgiving, I got a stomachache shortly before dinner. Gavin and I were planning on walking over to Nate and Ker's to watch a basketball game and lay low for the night. Shortly after dinner, I found myself curled into a ball on the couch with terrible pain. I had this pain earlier in the week and thought it would go away in a couple of hours like it did last time. Long story short, at 2am after pacing around our house, laying on every piece of furniture we have swearing it would feel better, I crawled to the bed and asked Gavin to take me to the Waverly E.R. After drinking three disgusting glasses of stuff (I never remember what its called) and two cat scans later, the radiologist and ER doctor knew something didn't look right and admitted me to the hospital for further observation.
On Sunday, I continued to have uncontrolled pain and don't remember that day at all other than swearing the morphine wasn't doing a thing. I called my principal to let her know I wouldn't be there Monday but I'd be back on Tuesday. Joke was on me! Monday morning's X-ray showed that my intestines were possibly twisted and I was going to be transferred to Iowa City as soon as possible.
Before I got to Iowa City, the surgeon had looked at my scans and saw some things he really didn't like and called for emergency surgery. This whole story will become another post in the near future as it is a novel in itself. In a nutshell, I ended up having major abdominal surgery Monday afternoon. Landed myself an awesome 8 inch incision down the middle of my stomach and learned some things about my body that we never knew about. Things weren't where they should have been and have been there my whole life. The doctors informed me that leaving them that way much longer could have been grim and I am lucky to be alive!
I had surgery on Monday and was release on Friday. The drive home was the worst ride I have ever been apart of and I seriously wondered why I was excited to go home.
I missed out on deer hunting. Total bummer...cry fest... Gavin went with my dad and I hung out with my mom for the day. We had Christmas at our house on Sunday, where I hid out upstairs to hide from any germs that may make me sneeze, cough, or puke. Those things made me want to claw my own eyes out they hurt so bad.
Later that week, my incision got infected and ended up having to be reopened. I'll fill you in on all of those details later as well. Having a 4 inch hole in the middle of your stomach takes some getting used to it. Packing it with gauze was a learning experience. And hearing the doctor say it was going to take 2 months to close was disturbing. My fear of a brutal scar also led to some serious sob fests. Mr. Wonderful attempted to reassure me I could rock the scar. I still doubt him.
Christmas rolled around in a fury! I began to feel better the week of Christmas and was feeling up to getting out of the house finally. I got cleared to walk that week as well and just being in the gym made me feel better. Christmas is my favorite time of the year and will not forever hold a special place in my heart.
The love of my life proposed after Christmas Eve service at my parents house. You just read that right. We are finally engaged!! After almost five years of dating and countless pep talks, Gavin got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I couldn't be more excited to spend the rest of my life with my best friend and am so excited to see where life takes us.
August 30, 2014 will officially begin our journey as Mr. and Mrs. Steege! (That is going to take some serious getting used to! But I think I can handle it ;-)
I will leave you with that for now and will be back soon for detailed surgery and engagement/wedding details!
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