endo.

The last couple of weeks were a blur. Here are some photos of what's been going on with the Joneses.

The weather in Nashville has been great lately. Mid-70s. Miles and Otis were begging to go outside, so I let them out. They stay on the concrete at the side of the house and I watch them so they don't run off. All they do when they go out is try to eat grass and weeds, which usually results in their puking up grass in the house.

I got Otis and Miles to the vet for their annual shots, rabies and something else. My Instagram was overloaded with cat photos, so I made Miles and Otis their own account: miles_and_otis if you want to follow them. I captioned this photo: "Mom says we're going to the v-e-t. We don't know how to spell, but these boxes look fun!"

They handled it pretty well. Otis meowed the whole way time we were in the car but they took the shots like champs and it was all over in a few minutes. Otis (1.5 years old) weighed in at a whopping 10 lbs. (I think it's mostly muscle because he is not fat and he runs around the house a lot.) Miles was 14 lbs. He's pretty sedentary and loves to eat.

Last Friday, Nate had an endoscopy at Vanderbilt. This is a photo of Nate when he is drugged up on sedation meds. (They worked! He doesn't remember the procedure at all.) This is the stare he gave me when I came to see him in recovery. He said, "Who are you?" I said, "Honey, I'm your wife!" "I know, I'm just kidding." But he says now he doesn't remember that conversation. I asked him what year it is and he paused and then said, "2014." "No, honey, it's 2012." "Yeah, but our credit card expires in 2014."

Nate's been having regurgitation issues every time he eats, and the endoscopy showed his esophagus is abnormal. Instead of being a smooth, round tunnel it is more a half-circle shape and has esophageal furrowing. Nate's doctor said she suspects eosinophilic esophagitis, but the biopsy will confirm. We should hear back this week. She sent us home with photos of what she found and a prescription for high-dose Prilosec. Eosinophilic esophagitis is like a build-up of white blood cells, and could be caused by a food allergy. We might have to see a specialist to see where to go from here.

Last night, Otis fell asleep on me when I was laying on the couch. What a cutie. He is so snuggly.

glup.

We had a "Fall Festival" afternoon at work. Jeff bought 12 live goldfish* for his ping-pong toss. I helped Trudy run the "Pumpkin Shoot" booth. She had a bucket set up in her office with a board across it. Her son had drilled five holes in the board, and we had golf tees set in them. On the tees, we balanced orange ping pong balls Trudy had decorated to look like jack-o-lantern's. Players had to stand behind a masking tape line at her office door and use a water gun to shoot the "pumpkins" off the tees. There were lots of prizes (candy), popcorn, and I even won $1 at the "Let's Make a Deal!" booth. Fun times at LW High.

*After the festival, the goldfish went to good homes.

mr. j

I've been cutting Nate's hair since before we were married. (So, like two years.) We have tried out some cheapo razors and have always been understandably disappointed with how fast they wear out and how they pull Nate's hair more often than actually cut it, but I came across a great Amazon deal for a Wahl 20-piece hair clipper set. Typically $40.99, on sale for $19.89. And it's amazing! Really heavy and durable, and the guards are color-coded, so no more squinting to find the #2. We couldn't get Nate's hair and beard trimmed at a barber for $20.

So this week, he decided it was time for a trim. Er, maybe a shave rather. I didn't use a guard and took everything off the top. Only after first giving him a mohawk (a very crooked one!) and some gnarley sideburns. I like when it's cooler outside and we can cut his hair on the side porch because indoors gets pretty messy. He trimmed up his own beard. I tell him it's getting too long when he comes home from working late and kisses me goodnight and I nearly suffocate.

I know, I know. I'm a cat photographer lady. I just can't help it because my iPhone is so accessible and every evening I look over and oh my goodness, he is soooo cute right now! Honey, look at Otis! Look how cute he is. I have to take a picture! This photo is from last night. He was bathing himself on the couch and then looked up and stared at me like this for five minutes. I'm not even exaggerating. Miles can be cute too but he is all black so it's very hard to get a good picture of him. He kind of blends into everything.

Well, yesterday morning Nate called me at work and said his car wouldn't start. I went home and picked him up and he was late to work. Ah, the unreliability of a 20-year-old car. I'm ready to sell it and move on. But we found a local mechanic who does remote work, so he can come look at it for a small fee and if we want him to fix it, he waives that fee. So if it's a small problem, we'll fix it. If it's too expensive, we're only out the small fee.

This week we're sharing my car, so that meant Nate getting up super early with me to take me to work. (He didn't have to work until 10:30.) But he works until 6, and I get off at 3, so I'm taking the bus home. I like the bus, but at $1.70 for one way, it's not cost-effective compared to driving. But it's convenient when we need it, and I like the people.

I'm excited for September. I start a Bible study this month at church on Tuesdays (Tim Keller's Romans study) and we have our first Women's Immanuel Theology Group (ITG). Also this month, Nate gets an endoscopy! At Vanderbilt. He is not excited about it, but he regurgitates every time he eats so something is definitely wrong. They think possibly it's esophageal stricture, when the esophagus gets too narrow due to scar tissue buildup or something. If that's the case, they can stretch it out with a balloon thing. I told him not to worry. I'll be there, and at least it's not a colonoscopy. But wait, the thought of a tube with a camera on it getting shoved down your throat … uh, yeah. Sorry, honey, a colonoscopy might be better. He'll be fine though. After my EP study, we know now you have to be very vocal and demanding when you need pain meds. He'll do great.

#instacompetition

Nate and I walked around Belmont for a bit yesterday evening. We had an Instagram photo competition. We each posted two photos to Instagram, and the photo with the most "likes" was the winner. Here are some of the photos I took. The iPhone camera is amazing.

Nate taking a photo of a lion statue.

It had rained in the afternoon and the raindrops still sat on the plants.

Pretty purple.

My first entry into our InstaCompetition. This was the winner.

The lighting was great around 6 p.m. So much detail in this picture.

This was my second entry. Belmont has a beautiful campus.

Nate's in class all day and then works the closing shift tonight. Boo. I'm getting stuff done around the house (cleaning/laundry) and working on my family tree. It's cloudy with a chance of rain. Hurray for three-day weekends!