Couponing: Anatomy of a Bargain

I've had a few people ask where I found my ridiculous deal on the Toy Story Operation game. Here's how it was done folks!

Big Lots had the game on sale for $5 last week. I also had a "$4 off any Operation game" coupon I had printed from Hasbro.com. Unfortunetly, Big Lots does not take coupons. But Wal-Mart does - and they price match! So I ran to the cash register at Wal-Mart with the game, a copy of the Big Lots ad and my coupon. A few scans and customer service maangers later (The cashier couldn't seem to believe that it was a legit transaction!) I got my game for a buck. And I'll have one happy 5 year old on Christmas morning!

I got this deal off of one of the many coupon websites I follow - so I can't take all the credit. I wish I remembered which one! Next time I see an awesome deal like this I'll pass it along instead of being all Gollum and hoarding the deals.

Hey! It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay:

• To get super excited over great coupon finds and do a happy dance in the aisle. (In case you were wondering, my happy dance looks like the dance she does at 2 min. 27 seconds. And my coupon deal was the Toy Story Operation game for $1 - regularly about $14!)

• To have already started Christmas shopping. And maybe listening to Christmas music...
• To give yourself a break. You will never be "caught up". There will always be dishes, laundry, etc. Breathe, relax, and do something you enjoy for once. (Now if only I could take my own advice...)
• To love and respect your husband. There seems to be a trend of male bashing these days - specifically on commercials. It bothers me.

On that note, Happy 8th Anniversary to my husband Jeff! I'd marry you all over again. :)

Baby Celebrity

The photographer at church snapped Gracie's picture while she was in the nursery and our Pastor used it in his blog today. I feel like she's a little baby celebrity! Read it here.

Hey, It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay:

To feed your family dinner from a box every once in a while.

To not care that Chaz Bono is on Dancing With the Stars.

To think that the Missoni line from Target looks like crocheted afghans from the 70's. Ugly.

To let your kids watch SpongeBob and eat PopTarts. They will survive.

To be a TV Junkie. There are worse things to be addicted to. (Why hello Glee, The New Girl, Millionaire Matchmaker, Judging Amy reruns and every other delicious morsel of television goodness taking up space on my DVR.)

What's okay with you?

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

What an amazing year. I can't wait to see how much you grow! Love you my sweet, squishy girl!

On This Day in 2010

I really love Facebook's new feature that shows you what your status was the year before. On this day in 2010, my status was, "heading to the specialist TODAY instead of tomorrow. Expecting nothing but good news! (Prayers appreciated!)"

The day before this we had gotten an MRI to look at why our baby's ventricles were enlarged. We were told that it was probably a developmental issue. The tubing in her brain hadn't gotten big enough and everything would fix itself. And so that is what we expected. Jeff would take off of work, we would hear our baby is perfectly normal then have a great dinner at Chick-fil-A.

But it didn't turn out that way.

Instead we were ushered into a conference room. The doctor sat us down and handed us some papers. He started saying things like "severe brain bleed" and "blockage from blot clot" and I just kept thinking, "You've got the wrong people. That's not us. You are suppose to say it's perfectly fine."

 The doctor told us there was nothing they could do until she was born, which needed to be as soon as possible. We went from having a perfectly normal baby around October 10th to having a baby with brain issues by c-section on September 18th. I was excited to get to meet Grace early. But mainly I was just scared. Jeff and I were both scared. And I remember sitting at Chick-fil-A and crying because this was all just too big for me.

There were two songs that brought me - and still bring me - a lot of comfort during those days. Whenever I hear these songs it takes me right back to that doctor's office, to being in my car running last minute errands before her arrival, to the restless night before her birth.

The first is "Your Hands" by JJ Heller.


The second is "No Matter What" by Kerrie Roberts


And of course this story has a happy ending. A very happy, squishy, giggly ending. More on that later...
What songs bring you comfort?

Hey, It's Okay Tuesday!

{I found this over at Airing My Dirty Laundry and loved the idea. Here goes!}

It's Okay...

To wonder why there are always random socks laying around my house.

To love watching The Millionaire Matchmaker. Guilty pleasure!!

To obsess over finding the perfect planner. Digital ones don't do it for me, I need pen to paper. Most of them don't have enough space to write in or too much junk I won't need.

To prefer Dunkin' Donuts coffee over Starbucks.

Hydro 101 - Causes and Cures and Treatments, OH MY!

In Gracie's case, we know why she developed hydrocephalus. She suffered a severe brain bleed in utero and a blood clot from the bleed prevented the CSF from draining properly. Unfortunately, we have no idea what caused the brain bleed.

 Some cases of hydrocephalus are caused by infection, some by trauma, but in many cases there is no known cause. Most cases (about 70%) are congenital, which means it is diagnosed before or shortly after birth.

There is no cure for hydrocephalus. There is no pill, exercise or magic wand to wave and make it all go away (trust me, I've prayed for one of those!) The only treatment for hydrocephalus is surgical - a shunt is surgically placed in the brain to help drain the fluid. There are three parts to a shunt - the catheter, the valve and the distal end. The catheter is a narrow tube enters the ventricle of the brain. The valve is usually placed outside of the skull (under the skin) and behind the ear. It's job is to control how much fluid is drawn from the brain. The distal end is a long tube that goes down the neck and into the area where the excess fluid will be absorbed.

Grace has an adjustable VP shunt. Since it's adjustable, her doctor can increase or decrease the flow with a magnet instead of having to do surgery. (It's a special, heavy duty magnet - fridge magnets won't affect it at all.) The "VP" refers to the part of the body where the excess fluid is drained. Gracie's distal end of her shunt leads into her abdomen, but in rare cases it can also be fed into the lungs or heart. Grace has a small scar on her belly where they had to adjust the placement of the tubing during her first surgery. If you feel above the scar, you can actually feel the tubing! You can also sometimes see the tubing in her neck if she turns just right, although that is getting harder now that she's getting chunkier.

The really bad thing about shunts is that they are not permanent. They can last 5 minutes or 50 years. In our case, Grace's first shunt lasted 7 months before it had to be replaced. Hopefully her new shunt lasts much, much longer.

Since there is no cure for hydrocephalus, Grace will need her shunt for the rest of her life. This treatment isn't just a one time thing - it's a constant, daily issue of watching for signs of malfunction. It's unexpected hospital stays. The possibility of major surgery looming over her sweet head regularly. Fear of her being hit in the head accidentally.

Grace had her shunt replaced in April and we are just now on the verge of getting the flow right. She's had 19 CT scans in her short life. The radiology department is on a first name basis with us and I have her neurosurgeon on speed dial.

I hate this for my daughter. I don't want this for the rest of her life. But these are the cards that we - and so many other families - have been dealt. I pray daily that they find a cure at some point in her lifetime.

Hydro 101 - What is Hydrocephalus?

It has been almost a year since we were thrown into this whirlwind of having a child with hydrocephalus. I've certainly learned a lot and have found that there is a lot of confusion and misconceptions about the condition. Many people really have no idea what hydrocephalus really is. Let the Mighty B break it down for you a bit. :)

Hydrocephalus is the medical term for the condition commonly referred to as "water on the brain". The 'water' is cerebrospinal fluid (or CSF) and is produced in our brain, travels down and back up our spine, then coats the brain to nourish, cleanse, and protect it. CSF is then absorbed into our blood system and discarded by our body. In most cases with hydrocephalus, there is a blockage preventing the CSF from going on it's merry way. The CSF then backs up, enlarges the cavities in the brain (known as ventricles) and causes loads of problems.

I recently explained it to Riley in terms I knew he'd understand. Our brains are like sinks with the faucets constantly flowing. Gracie's sink got clogged and the water couldn't drain down properly. Dr. Yount (her neurosurgeon) is like Mario. He put new pipes in her brain to help drain the water.

So what causes hydrocephalus? Is there a cure? How is it treated? How does it affect the rest of the body? Stay tuned to learn more!

Hey! It's Okay Tuesday!

{I found this over at Airing My Dirty Laundry and loved the idea. Here goes!}

It's okay:

To be super excited about a Tangled sequel. I really like that movie. Best. Day. EVER!

To want to curse at having to wake up early to get the boy off to school.

To wonder why my gray hairs want to stick out straight. The brown hairs are curly - CONFORM GRAY HAIRS! Be part of the group!

To do/hear/see something funny and think, "I need to post this on facebook!" It's like the "party line" my mom used to have back in the day, just much, much bigger.

To pray all the way to the elementary that you won't have to get out of the car because you didn't have time to change out of the XBOX boxer shorts you slept in. That has never happened to me. But someone I know. *ahem*

To support National Hydrocephalus Awareness month by wearing a light blue ribbon. There is so little research for this condition, so many unknowns, and so much ignorance in the public. If you'd like a ribbon, please email me at mightyb1020 (at) comcast (dot) net. Free of charge!

Give Her a Hand (Brace)!

Last week we picked up Grace's new hand braces. Since Grace likes keeps her hand in a fist with her thumb tucked in, it's making it hard for her to learn to use her left hand. Her occupational therapist recommended we get two braces. The one in the picture above is her Benik brace. It has extra support on her wrist to give her a little help when we are working with her on putting weight on her arms. Her other brace is called a "joe cool" brace and just wraps around her thumb and upper palm. It's less restrictive and allows her to use her fingers more. She's suppose to wear it at night to keep her from tucking her thumb in.

She absolutely hates putting them on, but once they are on she'll wear them for a while. My clever little monkey has figured out how to get both of them off, so she wears them for periods of time throughout the day.

Hopefully with this extra help she'll be using her left side just as well as she does her right!