grateful heart

Sickness seems to have befallen me as of late. It all started about a week and half ago on our way home from the West family reunion. Practically everyone got food poisoning or the flu of some type, and it didn't pass me by. The night before our 10 hour drive back to California, I spent my time throwing up in a hotel bathroom. Not the most pleasant experience, but we got through it.

Then, at the Sommer reunion, I came down with a cold. My nose was runny and I felt pretty tired-not too tired to enjoy lounging at the beach all day and playing games-but still tired. On Monday, my cold seemed to improve, but my nose felt inflamed and sensitive to the touch. Unfortunately, I recognized these symptoms. After getting a bad cold a few years ago, my nose felt the same way and I ended up getting a crazy staph infection. It was so gross looking. (I have pictures, but I'll spare you.) Turns out, I have the same infection and it kills. I kind of look like Rudolph or Bozo the Clown. Plus, my lymph nodes are swollen and painful with all the infection-fighting they're doing. To add to that, I keep worrying that the infection is going to hurt the baby and I wake up at 3 and 4 in the morning and have a hard time going back to sleep. Poor little baby, it didn't ask for any of this.

Here's where my grateful heart comes in: I was able to see an ENT (ear, nose and throat) doctor today which in itself was a welcome gift, but as I was waiting to cross the street to go to his office, I looked down beside me and saw a heart-shaped something on the sidewalk. At first glance I thought, "Oh, the aftermath of someone getting heart-attacked...fun." Then I looked closer and saw that it was a leaf that had broken in just the right places to look like a heart. I had to document that simple something. It made me happy, almost as happy as the doctor prescribing me oral and topical antibiotics that I HOPE clear the infection up without harming Baby Sommer.

Today, I am grateful for nature, modern medicine, insurance and hopefully, my health...in a few days. (Fingers-crossed!)

eight-nine-ten

It has been two years today-two years of wedded bliss that is-and I couldn't be happier to be married to Mr. Kent Merrill Sommer. He is such a good man: always constant, kind, deep, loving, forgiving, hilarious, intelligent, adventurous, insightful and of course, good-looking (blue eyes don't get much bluer, trust me). He rarely complains, does the dishes on a regular basis and joins me in watching Project Runway and So You Think You Can Dance. He's almost too good to be true.

The first year, I think we celebrated by doing something fancy, but I can't remember what. Maybe a nice dinner? This year, we're not doing anything too extravagant and my anniversary offering for Kent is under $5, BUT we did spend the morning together at a doctor's office listening to a little something that will make big changes in our lives (and no, it wasn't Kent's other lung collapsing-thank goodness!).

We aren't the best at making announcements, but we're happy to report that there's a Baby Sommer on the way, scheduled to arrive January 31, 2011. It's still unreal to us, but we're 15 weeks in and we heard a healthy heartbeat today so I think we better start believing. I've had some morning sickness, heartburn and other less than desirable pregnancy symptoms, but until my clothes don't fit and my waistline starts bulging more, it's hard to comprehend that we're actually having baby. Maybe a Kent, Jr.? Aww. We shall see.

We may not do the fancy dinner thing this year, but I WILL remember what we did on 8.9.10. Here's to things to come in 2011!