Ross and Micaela

New Edition to the Blog!!

2010-01-19T21:36:00.000-08:00

NO!! We didn't fall off the face of the earth.....just off the social world for a while!! We have been slightly busy the past 11 months, busy making the most precious addition to the family! For those of you that do not know yet
Brooks Conner Rodgers
Born November 30, 2009
7 lbs. 5 oz.
19 1/2 inches long

Although I don't have much time I did want to throw a couple of quick pics out there for those of you who have not seem him yet....enjoy! The professional pictures were taken by the magnificant Studio Blue Photographer and his hott assistant!

Fun with Fondant!!

2009-03-14T13:33:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I had a free day and was trying to stay out of the house to let Ross catch up on his sleep, so I went to my mom's house and made a cake and then had fun decorating it! One of my favorite shows on the Food Network is "Ace of Cakes" and I have never made a cake with Fondant before so I thought I would give it a shot!! I heard fondant was hard to work with but I never would have guessed it was THIS hard!! This makes me appreciate the amount of effort put into wedding cakes..haha
Here are a couple of pics of my first two cakes I made with fondant.....well and Ross helped me with the second one, notice its the one that leans! :) Don't be too critical haha

What is Fibromyalgia?

2009-02-25T15:25:00.000-08:00

Man 1: Knock Knock

Man 2: Who's there?

Man 1: Fibro

Man 2: Fibro who?

Man 1: EXACTLY!!

For those of you who don't already know, I was finally diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in December 2008. The biggest problem I have had with this diagnosis is the lack of knowledge about this "Syndrome!" It was a long LONG LONG road of 3 and a half years before I finally, through God alone, found a Doctor here in Dallas that was known for his experience dealing with Fibromyalgia patients. To make a long story short...or shorter shall I say.....not many people, including Doctors know much about this "Syndrome" much less about its long term affects or how to treat it.

With all of this being said I would personally like to take a few moments to let you in on what I have found out since the diagnosis, through other Fibro patients, Internet Dr.'s, and books!!

Fibromyalgia is characterized by an extreme sensitization of the central nervous system (don't worry I will explain it in smaller words in just a second)! As a Fibromyalgia patient we have an imbalance of neurochemicals in the central nervous system. Our bodies have high levels, or over produce, the chemical "Substance P," which is what transmits pain signals to the rest of the body, therefore makes the body believe it is in more pain than it actually is. This also means that if we really do have pain that a "normal (or non-fibro)" person would experience, then the body can overstimulate the problem which is called "wind up." This just means that after a initial pain stimulus and response a second response will result and be much greater and last longer than the first one! A common misconception of Fibro is that it is an auto-immune disease, whereas it is very similar to things such as Lupus, Rheumatoid arthritis, and Lyme disease, it is not an auto-immune disease. However, Fibromyalgia is similar in many ways to the above listed diseases.
The easy way to explain it and what I usually tell people when they ask is it is characterized by "Chronic and widespread muscle pain and weakness"

Fibromyalgia has a HUGE variety of random and seemingly un-related symptoms
that include:
Fatigue
Sleep Disturbances
Headaches
IBS, Abdominal pain
Unable to regulate one's body temperature
Brain Fog
Sensory Overload
Pain
Morning Stiffness
Muscle Weakness
Parasthesia (numbness or tingling)
Flare-ups (sxs rapidly increase unexpectedly)
18 points on the body that have a heightened sensitivity

Although I could go on for another year or so about Fibro, I will give you a few examples of ways that it has affected me, then let you go for now. One example of one of the most annoying symptoms I experience is randomly my lymph nodes on either side on my neck just below my jaw will swell so big my neck is even with my jaw line. When it gets to that point I will be in so much pain that I can't even talk or turn my head from side to side, cough drops of course do not help because its not a "throat" problem. Ice cream gives me very brief relief, but lets be honest if I really ate ice cream every time my lymph nodes swell up I would be HUGE!! haha....

Another example would be if I'm sitting in our house and the thermostat is on 74 or something not too cold and I am not moving around a lot my body will get so cold that my limbs will start to turn blue/purple and go numb....at this point nothing works to get my body temp back to normal except a HOT bath (which is my favorite therapy right now)!!

Last example, if I decide to sit down for a bit "Indian Style" (shout out to all my "Indian Friends" for making such a GREAT sitting style that we named it after them...Dr. Ahmad) I will not be able to walk for several minutes after getting out of that position. Seriously, I can sit like that for 2 min (this is not a typical Micaela exaggeration....really 2 min) .....and be stuck on the floor trying to stretch my legs back out to walk for 15 minutes. I look like an 80 year old woman when I have to stand up at work after I have been sitting in a normal chair for more than 15 minutes!

Ok, well I probably bored you all enough with my problems. Thank you very much to all who took the time to read this, just knowing that I might have helped someone slightly understand something more about this "Syndrome" makes me try to sleep better at night.

I would appreciate you guys letting me know your opinion on this, if you would to hear more about Fibro or more specifically what we go through....or just funny stories of me looking like an idiot because of something that I have developed from Fibro...let me know!! I would be more than happy to tell you how I got Fibro or give you more examples!! Just give me your feedback! Thanks guys.....Love ya God Bless

Thanks!

2008-05-28T18:22:00.001-07:00

By the way, it is so good to hear from you Elizabeth and Arlene.....I have LOVED having a blog even if it is simply for reading comments and not updating! haha ...Just FYI the last link on our page is called Studio Blue and that is my brother Brandon's new photography business and if you have even just a minute, take a look. It will impress you, I promise! He has just recently started this practice and already has some very promising prospects! He is WAY talented and has a huge mind for creativity, he will do anything from weddings to family portraits! He took the picture of Ross and I at the end of our Blog! Who knew the Chemist from LCU would turn into a photographer.....haha we are just kidding we love you Brandon and wish you all the best!!

Memorial Weekend!

2008-05-28T17:58:00.000-07:00

Well as you know it was most recently the weekend of all weekends for family and grilling, so of course we did BOTH!!! Ross' dad, brother and his family came into town for a short visit! We did not get to see them long but it was a wonderful visit. We loved getting to know our niece and nephew Shayne and Anecia, and can't wait to spend some more time with them! Ross and I LOVE being an Aunt and Uncle, its great!!! Then on Monday we had my parents, grandmother, and brother and his family over, as well as some close friends, also including our other adorable nephew, Canon! Yeah for Family!! The Best part of the weekend was watching our family try to hola hoop on our Wii Fit....it was hysterical! For those of you that haven't lept into the "Wii World".....YOU SHOULD!! Wii fit is the best form of exercise ever! (ok maybe the most fun form of exercise ever!!) Ross and I have worked out more than we have in a long time since we bought it, and those of you laughing at us from getting a workout off a video game....give it a try and if you don't wake up sore the next morning, then you can laugh! Love all!

Blogging For Idiots!!

2008-05-15T13:10:00.000-07:00

Sorry I know the pictures below are still GYNORMOUS but I promise we are working on it. I am so glad that we got to hear from those of you that had posted comments on our blog......YAY...we are so excited to hear from all of you. We should have some time this weekend to update things a little bit and that will help tremendously! Love all!!

The Story of one Brave Girl and a Short Lived Gimp!

2008-05-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

It all started about a week and a half ago about 1:45 a.m., while Ross was at work, I sat up in my bed to realize that there was a lizard on my ceiling, formerly known as "Gimp"!! After staring at him long and hard I noticed something....his belly was starting to droop....."He was losing his sticky." I said to myself from that point on, Ross or not (since he was unable to answer his phone at the time) "I have to take matters into my own hands!" If I didn't I just knew he would lose his sticky over my bed and end up crawling on my face later! AAAAHHHHH...I wasn't about to let that happen!!

Side note - I know lizards are good for the environment and all...you know they eat bugs, circle of life, bla bla bla!!! While I agree with that completely I would prefer they completed the circle of life outside our tiny one bedroom apartment!!

Finally I braved up enough to get a clear piece of Tupperware from the kitchen and a thin piece of wood to cover it with and attempted to catch "Gimp!!" I placed a chair in the corner and lunged for the ceiling with my Tupperware and trapped the slightly shocked animal. After freaking out because I could feel his little sticky feet running around inside the Tupperware, I realized I did not think this through very well! My chair did not get me high enough to hold the Tupperware to the ceiling for more than a couple of seconds, therefore after trying to readjust I dropped the Tupperware and fell to the floor with the unwanted inhabitant!! Quickly rising to my feet, I grabbed the dogs and ran out of the room, leaving the cat in their just in case she decided to get off her rump and be worth something for once! Ross came home about 20 min. later for his lunch break and searched the apartment, he convinced me that he ran outside scared for his life! I ended up sitting on the bed the rest of the night watching for him, only sleeping for a short 30 min cat-nap! I wasn't about to go to sleep with a lizard running frantic in my room, much less a half-scared to death angry one!

About 4 days later Ross called me at work and told me he saw the lizard I described outside our apartment door under the stairwell, so we didn't really think twice about it... until yesterday!! We decided to rearrange a little in our room and I noticed Sophie chewing on something....as I pulled it out of her mouth I realized it was a hardened lizard tail! NASTY!!! Quickly my mind went back and remembered that Ross had described the lizard he saw even down to the tail so I could know it was the same one.......dun dun dun......(low scary music)

If you're not quick enough to put this together it means....the lizard Ross saw couldn't have been our "Gimp!" Well to my surprise, after Ross went to work again I noticed a slightly tatter lizard back in the same old corner of the ceiling, missing a tail!! Feeling slightly braver than the last time because I am now officially TICKED OFF because this lizard won't let me live in piece, I was quick to grab another Tupperware and begin "The Hunt!" This time I was smarter.....I grabbed some alcohol pads and quickly opened them and put them in the Tupperware...you know thinking maybe I could use it as a make-shift chloroform to knock him out so I wouldn't be as freaked! I lunged at him again, this time standing on a table for stability and better height! After catching him (with a thicker piece of Tupperware) I slowly slid him down the wall and slid a thick board behind him a was able to carry him outside! For those of you that were wondering, alcohol does not work the same as chloroform....it only turned his insides blue and purple from the alcohol inhalation. After I got him out and flung him as far across the parking lot as I could...I made sure he would never come back again......(the gross details will be left out in case there are any children surfing the internet)!

Well its sounds pretty stupid but I truly conquered a fear of mine, and Ross is proud to be married to such a brave girl!

A moment of silence for our dear beloved and not-so-missed "Gimp"

Finally!!!!!

2008-05-02T19:23:00.000-07:00

We are finally a part of the online world!! Yeah! We have been dying to create a blog for about a year now we just never had the time to sit down and actually do it. You will notice that it is quite bare and will take us a while to get it fully up and functioning, for that we apologize! The good news is that from now on everyone will be able to keep up with what is going on in our lives, since we are BOTH terrible about using phones to keep in touch! So please have patience and give us time to finish creating our masterpiece!