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Thursday, December 22

Good Tidings of Joy!

We have been gearing up for Christmas around our house! I can’t believe that it’s just in a few days!! This year has gone by WAY too quickly! I have all the gifts purchased and slowly but surely getting them all wrapped and put under the tree! Unfortunately, blogging has fallen a little behind.. AGAIN! But, a lot has been going on.. so I’m going to try to get you updated!

First… we had a little unexpected snowfall a few weeks ago! It didn’t stick to the streets, so much to the dismay of a certain, Lilly Kate Stickles, school was still on! It did cover the ground and buildings though, so it was beautiful to look at!

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This just got everyone all that much more excited for Christmas!

We FINALLY finished up school for the 2010 year!! The last week was super busy with Christmas Programs and Holiday Parties (separate posts!), but we made it through! Ethan was sweet and helped me make his treats for his class! We ended up making reindeer cupcakes and he did a GREAT job!!! He had actually made something similar in his cooking class a few days earlier, so he was quite the little expert and was telling me exactly how it was supposed to be done!

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Finished Product!

I am gradually recovering from my sinus surgery! It was a little spur of the moment, but was definitely something I needed to do before the end of the year. I’ve known for a few years that I needed sinus surgery, but it wasn’t necessary and we never seem to meet our deductibles, so I’ve just kept putting it off. Well, since I had Gray this year, we were able to meet our deductible AND our out of pocket expenses.. so I got into the ENT as quickly as I could! I met with him and had my CT scan, completely expecting him to tell me that it was really needed any more and that I should wait. Isn’t that the way it always goes when you’re finally ready to do something??! I couldn’t have been more wrong though! We met and went over my scans. He told me that based on my scans, my sinuses and facial bones stopped developing when I was around the age of 7! So, basically, all these years, I’ve had under-developed sinus cavities and that’s why I’ve had all the problems!! I was floored! I had no idea!! So, he had to go in and reconstruct bones around my eyes and nose, as well as, clean out and make new sinus passages that I didn’t have. They called me on the 8th and told me that they could either do it the next day, or on the 23rd! (We HAD to get it done before the end of the year, so we were trying to squeeze me in ASAP!) I told her that I would do it the next day. I wanted to be able to recover some before Christmas!! So, we hurriedly coordinated plans with everyone.. kiddos, Chris’ work, etc.. and got everything set in stone. Chris and I were at the surgery center bright and early the next day and were there most of the day! My surgery took about 3 hours. Dr. D is AMAZING!!! He fixed me right up!

Recovery has been a little harder than I had anticipated (and I’m usually pretty good at handling things like this!). The pain hasn’t been awful, it’s just the small things. Like, the constant drainage, the queasiness from the pain meds (which I took myself off of 2 days in to recovery b/c of!), and not really being able to do much with/for Gray b/c I’m scared he’ll hit my nose. My nose is very tender b/c it also had to be straightened out… apparently my septum was severely deviated. I had splints in for 10 days.. which was REAL fun! I had them removed on Monday. I cried like a baby!! OH MY GOODNESS.. it hurt like YOU KNOW WHAT!! WOW! That was the only thing that hurt in the entire process. Now, my nose is just a little sore and I have some swelling in my sinuses. Fortunately no bruising, and just a little swelling in my cheeks the first few days after surgery. All in all, it’s been pretty good. Just a long process!

I have to say a HUGE thank you to our family! There’s no way we could have done this without you! Everyone has chipped in with transporting kiddos to and from school, to coming over and sitting with them, and helping Chris manage everything! He truly got to see what daily life is like for me and the kiddos. He was more than ready to hand the reins back over once I got to feeling better! He was incredible though! He kept everything together and running smoothly, and was the best nurse in the world!

Backtracking a little… before the snow, the kiddos got to play in the leaves while Chris was raking them up.. Pictures are too cute not to share! :)

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I hope everyone is ready for Christmas!! I’m going to try to get caught up before I have to start all the Christmas posts! :)

2 comments:

Rachel said...

Those cupcakes are SO precious! Your kids are just the cutest things in the world. I sure hope your recovery goes a little smoother over the next few weeks, so maybe you'll get a chance to enjoy Christmas! Saying prayers for quick healing for you :) Merrrrry Christmas!

Kristen said...

You guys got more snow that we have up here in North Dakota this winter!

Have a Merry Christmas!