The Gillmings come to town Part 1

So a couple weeks ago the Gillmings came to visit. Here is a photo recap :)

 Jake holding the Washington Monument

 There are a trillion funny Ben pictures from this trip

 "Hey! Aunt Megan that's not funny!"

 Oh a tree!! Let's climb it!

 You can just see the white house in between Jake & the tree

 The WWII Memorial

 HAHA

 The Lincoln Monument

 "Oh Grandpa you are so funny!"

 #1 on Jake's must see: The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

 And my favorite picture of the trip. They are matching and standing exactly the same. This is a totally candid shot lol

The Prince of the Forest

Crookshanks: Possibly the best cat ever.

 Here is a poem someone else wrote about their cat named Crookshanks.
 Hear the bells ringing, ringing,
Tidings of death bringing, bringing
Some are common some are grand
Some the richest in the land,
But none as great as Crookshanks, Crookshanks
He had nothing and gave thanks, gave thanks,
Evil found him and his friends,
He was trapped in fierce blends,
Crookshanks, Crookshanks gone. 
http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/40942-crookshanks

Crookshanks passed away April 14, 2012. He had been wasting away from an unknown illness. He woke up screaming & crying from under the car. Dad, Shawn, & Mom helped send him painlessly on his away. Thank you guys for helping him.

 Let us remember the little prince as he was. Happy under a Christmas tree.

So what after you have pet him for a while your hand turned black with tar
So what that his incessant cry for "MILK" would wake you up at 2am
So what he caught a bird in mid flight and ate it
So what he would keep bringing back that dead squirrel to show off over and over
                                We all loved him anyways.
 I hope there is a cat heaven and that's it's close to human heaven. But if not you'll live on in our hearts. Thanks for naming him by the way Jared.

Photo updates

Hey dears here is a update of our life in D.C.

We went to the 100th cherry blossom festival last week. so gorgeous!!

The Jefferson Monument
The Washington Monument

This glen was the most beautiful peaceful place in the world. I wanted to live there. Everyone was laying down gazing up at the blossoms and having picnics.

So I laid down too.

Migraine status: better until yesterday.

I was doing overall a little better I thought until yesterday which was horrible all day. So I feel like I've had to take own the "Days without incident" sign and start over. I'll let you know.

and now my trip to Charlotte.

This picture cracks me up. It looks like she is salsa dancing.
Look who's walking :)

Ben Day!!

Happy Ben Day Everyone!
Today is Ben Day!!!

Why? Because I got texted 4 pictures of Ben today. 4!! Which is the best present ever. I am still smiling by how precious he is.

I'll include H's subtext because it makes it so much funnier.

"Hi!!!!"

"WHAT?!?! You sent out that embarrassing picture?"

"I forgive you"

Watching Jake at FunRun at school

=

Happy 22nd Birthday Britt

Here is a picture montage of the best sister ever on her lovely birthday.

1st picture gone :)

Britt is such a good sport. This may or may not be a reenactment of The Importance of Being Earnest that took place at my Bachelorette Party. Notice my mustache and Britt's lovely hat.
The newly engaged couple.
Not sure where Britt was but this is what she looks like invisible.
Gillmings love bubbles.

When a strobe light got delivered to the house instead of church...

Wow long hair for both of you. hehe
This is what cousins are for.
Like mother like daughter- Beautiful
This is also what cousins are for.
Snow dayMom playing with Britt's hair while we wait for a show at Discovery Place.

And look I didn't even put up a picture of Mae. See I still love you. :)

Happy Birthday

D.C. Update

Hey dears,

D.C. is a really fun city. We are slowly taming the giant hill we have to walk every day to reach the metro. We don't have to stare anxiously at the metro map because we know where we are going. Super Cool. We know. Also we take an elevator to our apartment on the 10th floor (that's the top one ;)

But even my new level of coolness...

"Welcome to Coolsville. Population:Us"

Britt name that movie.

... Things are not well.

Guess what's more fun than withdrawal from one medicine?

Withdrawal from all the medicines you've ever taken.

Yeah!

No not yeah at all.

So I went to my new neurologist. He seems like he has treated someone with migraines before (step up). He also seems really confident and has lost of plans. He has yet to get that baffled 'So what am I supposed to do with you now' face. I hate to wish him failure but i hate more to hope.

So whether I believe he is "The Doctor" or not, I'll still do what he says.

So he says that I am a migraine sufferer who became a chronic migraine sufferer (Transformative Migraines) who then became a rebound migraine sufferer.

All that to say I gets lots of migraine and now the medicine that has made me able to merely function are trying to destroy me. The almost daily over-the-counter pills I take make me able to stand upright and walk in the sun, most of the time at least, have been thwarting my body's ability to heal. Dr says they have blocked the preventive medications I have tried and that unless I never take another Tylenol or Excedrin, I will not get better.

This didn't seem so difficult last Wednesday. Haha I love when my body's inability to handle stress surprises even me.

So now I get withdrawal from Nortriptyline (Remember 'Nori" How her hearts was broken by an empty co-pilot chair.) & Tylenol & Excedrin at the same time. I don't cuss often but the phrase

"It has been a living hell" seems as close to mark as I can get.

The pain is bad. I'd say unbearable but apparently last night ended and its today so...

but it's all the other awful side effects that may be worse.

The anxiety & the anger. Directionless, Impractical, Unfounded. I never know when it's going to hit me. I'll be happy and giggly and then all the sudden I am shaking the anger that the fan in our bedroom is not plugged in. "Why isn't the fan plugged in!? It should always be plugged in!" I rant at my husband. It doesn't matter that its unplugged because he hung curtains to keep out my arch nemesis the "Sun". No all I could think about was that the fan was unplugged and apparently that meant the end of civilization as we know it. As we all can see now, that was ridiculous and terribly unfortunate that my poor husband was in the room when I discovered the great betrayal. So now we have Code word: Lollipop. This means "Run! Run as fast as you can! I'm mutating and if you stay it's your own fault."

So that's probably already more than you need to know. I love you all.

Oh the good thing is that I should be completely withdrawn from the meds in 8-10 days. I know that may seem like a long time to you but it's way shorter than the possible 7 months I'll have withdrawal symptoms from Nori. He's a dear.

I'll start Botox if I'm not cured in 2 months and I start a physical therapist on wednesday. Which if it's anything like my mother's I don't know if I want to go... the jazzie chair

Not that you need anything more depressing to read but this blog is so horrible and honest tears stream down my face.

Debilitating migraines, a near-daily mix of tension headaches and torture

Oh and picture of my niece

She looks so beautiful

Yes, I'm a model

Haha I'm so mean. I laid her in her book cupboard and she was not amused but Britt & I were.