Thirty days hath September...

Thirty days hath September,
April, June and November;
February has twenty eight alone
All the rest have thirty-one
Except in Leap Year, that's the time
When February's Days are twenty-nine

Is it really September already? (Well, technically it is not September until tomorrow but you get the point.) It must be because I flipped my calendar over at work and plan to change the month on the calendar at home as soon as I walk in the door.

A lot of people are probably grumbling at how fast 2010 is whizzing by (summer's over, back to school and all that) but for me it just means some really exciting things are peeking around the corner.

Kris finally coming home

I doubt this will happen in September (we are thinking he might finally be done with the MEB process about October.) Yet, it is one month closer to the day when we will be living together again. Since July, Kris has been commuting to Chattanooga on the weekends from Fort Campbell. Bummer, huh? I do have two big dogs that like to hog the extra space in bed but I am ready for the other side of the bed to be warm again from human body heat.

FALL, FALL, FALL

Did I mention autumn is finally on the way? I love this time of year: the weather, the leaves changing color, the sweaters, boots and jeans!! I was ready for summer to be over after the first month of consistent 90 degree weather. Plus, my favorite strew of holidays begins soon: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, my birthday, my 2 year wedding anniversary and Kris' birthday. This year we will have to add a new holiday on our list, Peanut's birthday!

Does Peanut have a "Peanut?"

This joke is in poor taste but at my next doctor's appointment on September 10 we will be finding out Peanut's gender. I am honestly really excited to have the mystery solved but not for the typical "mommy-to-be" reasons. I want to know if Peanut is a boy or girl because of my OCD and love for to-do lists. Since I found out we were expecting, I have been compiling a mile long list of things that I need to buy. I want to start checking things off the list and getting things ready for Peanut's arrival. Most big ticket items you can't purchase until you know the gender. Kris and I also decided we would do a registry for baby showers after we found out the gender so gifts can be geared towards a particular sex.

I am sure there are several other things I am looking forward to as 2010 wraps up but one thing is for sure, there has been a lot of change for the Kanatzar's. We got married, we moved, I left college, we moved, I got/finished an internship, we moved, I got my first big-girl writing job, DH learned he was getting out of the Army, we were told we couldn't have kids and we got pregnant all within the span of 18 months.

I am looking forward to having my family back together (Kris at home and little Peanut out in the world) and starting another chapter in our lives.

Army: A body of men assembled to rectify the mistakes of diplomats

My little brother is on leave right now (extended vacation given after deployment) and my family had a barbecue to celebrate his homecoming. It was the first time we have all seen him since he returned home from Iraq in July.

He is still as big of a mess as he ever was but I guess he is growing up. I mean, let's hope so because he recently got married!



Two and half years older and about two heads shorter!


Three Stiles generations: Dad, Robert and Poppy.


Mom with Robert and his new wife, Amber.

"It's not four years, it's for life!"

When I first went through sorority recruitment at Missouri State university in Fall 2006, I was a little annoyed by how often every chapter said "It's not four years, it's for life!" What in the hell could they possibly mean? I was just looking for a way to get involved, meet new people and honestly, bulk up my resume. Little did I know that the impact that Delta Zeta would have on me was much more than all that.

This past weekend I met up with some Delta Zeta Alumnae to make bid day letters for the Pi Lambda colony at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (from this point forward mentioned as UTC!) I have been to several information sessions already regarding ways I could volunteer my time to help with the new Delta Zeta chapter but this is the first big project alumnae have done for the future collegians.

I couldn't be more excited to be living so close to a chapter and having the opportunity to volunteer my time in an advisory role.

Check out our masterpieces!

Bill Clinton will be delivering our baby. No, really!

Last week Kris and I got to meet the OBGYN that will be delivering Peanut, Dr. Stephen Kerley. (Yes, like 'I have curly hair'.) First thing Kris and I said after Dr. Kerley left the room was how much he reminded us of someone.

For those of you who know Kris really well, he LOVES to do impression of famous people. He instantly started his Bill Clinton impression ("I did not have sexual relations with that woman.") and we both burst out laughing. Dr. Kerley only faintly resembles Bill but the two talk very similarly it is almost eerie.

Luckily, I like my new OBGYN so much that I could care less if he talked like Stalin. He answered all my questions, no matter how silly they were and he spoke to Kris and I and not at us. Dr. Kerley has agreed to follow us to any hospital we would like though we have decided to deliver at his "home base" Erlanger Medical Center here in Chattanooga.

He even supplied me with new prenatal vitamins. For those lucky woman who have yet to experience the yuckiness of a prenatal vitamin let me tell you, they are HUGE horse pills that make your morning sickness 10 times worse! The ones I had from the Army OBGYN were un-coated and tasted terrible; I had to choke them down each morning. The new ones are tablets and taste like nothing, SCORE!

We even got to hear Peanut's little heartbeat during our visit, which I was very relieved to hear since it had been well over 6 weeks since I had been to a doctor.

What's next? At our upcoming appointment in September we will find out the gender of our little Peanut!

Well all the boxes are gone...

Help pick Peanut's name!

Kris and I are neck-deep in baby naming books. Most days we send each other texts with nothing more than lists of possible names. This is totally for fun but I thought it would be neat to share our ideas and see what our friends and family think.

So weigh in and vote!

I wish every hospital experience was like "Scrubs" or "Grey's"

A year ago my mom was hospitalized in the ICU in Arkansas. She had caught MRSA staph infection from the nursing home where she worked at the time. Because she lived alone, the infection was in the worst stages before she realized she was sick. (My sister and I were both driving down, from opposite directions, to take her to the hospital because she was incoherent and couldn't take herself. My sister gave the ambulance permission to knock the door in and collect her.)

My sister and I have been keeping an eye on my mom for the last few weeks because she once again had an "outbreak" that look liked the infection. My sister eventually took her to the ER to get some antibiotics and was prepared to admit her to the hospital because usually my mom has to get medicine through an IV or she will get sick at her stomach. The ER urged my sister to try the oral meds first since it was such an early stage; she has taken great care of my mom but the meds only prevented the outbreak from becoming worse at first.

My mom was hospitalized last night and even though the infection is not as bad as it was last time, it is still not looking so good.

So, what the hell is MRSA and why can it be fatal?

MRSA infection or mercer infection is a very serious concern. In the absence of proper care and treatment this infection can become really fatal. It can pose danger to various body parts too. Therefore it is very important to identify the symptoms of MRSA infection quite early.

MRSA infection is caused by the MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus ) bacteria. The symptoms of MRSA infection are very similar to the Staph infection symptoms. The most common symptoms are skin infection and pneumonia. The usual symptom of the infection is a tender warm, red skin that shows the appearance of red round bumps resembling pimples or bug bites. Sometime there can be swelling and blisters , or boils with pus can also appear on the skin. Usually these symptoms are ignored as they are mistaken for spider bites.

The infected person may also experience fever coupled with chills. He /she may also be nauseous. Also the patient may experience an acute pain in the muscles, bones as well as joints. These symptoms may start to appear after the exposure to the infection. However the time it can take to spot the symptoms may vary anywhere between 1 to 10 days. Some other symptoms that can also be spotted are vomiting, malaise, and lethargy. If the infection get serious, the patient may get severe headaches. Also he/she can feel fatigue.

The Positives

We caught it early enough that a major surgery to cut the infection out of her body is not needed. She is not in the ICU like last time (just a regular hospital room) and hopefully it won't be three weeks before she can be released.

The Negatives

As of right now, she can't take her Huntington's disease medicine because the doctors do not know if it is safe with the MRSA medicine. This basically means that she is completely out of it: incoherent, messing up people's names and fidgeting around a lot. We are hoping the trauma of another hospitalization won't make her Huntington's worse and that this is just because she is extremely tired and sick. A surgeon is coming in to see her today so they can drain/cut out the small boil. It won't be major like last time but any time you are cut open it is dangerous.

For now, they are just keeping her drugged up so she can rest and sleep. I now live closer, which is great but I hate that I am at work instead of at the hospital with her and my sister.