Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Okay, I'll start with a cute picture.  Instead of carving pumpkins (I haven't had good luck with knives lately) we decided to paint some.  Tyler picked the theme...Star Wars.  So for Family Home Evening on Monday we all sat down and painted--on the left is Eric's Yoda, mine is in the Darth Vader and Tyler's is the one on the right.  It is a storm trooper.  He did it totally by himself and was pretty proud as I think he should be.  Heck, I'd be scared if I saw something like that coming after me!
Now here's the gross pic of my hand.  Actually it doesn't look too bad in the picture because you can't see all the details.  Basically the incision is about 2" long but it goes (as you can see) across, down, across starting right in between my 2 middle fingers.  The purple is the marker they used to mark where they were going to cut.  Anyway, I'll just give a brief synopsis.  We got the hospital at 10 a.m. where my mom met up with us and took the kids to her house for the weekend.  They got me all prepped then I had to wait a couple of hours (my surgery time was not until noon but they told me to get there 2 hours early).  During that time, a bunch of nurses came and talked to me, Eric was with me of course, and finally the surgeon came in and it was time to get started.  They didn't put me to sleep but they gave me a mild sedative that just made me a little drowsy.  We went into the operating room (which was freezing) and they immediately put up a big blue sheet at my shoulder so I couldn't see what was going on.  They put a tourniquet around my upper arm and strapped my hand into something (remember I couldn't see what it was).  Then they gave me a local shot of anesthetic right into my palm--which hurt like the dickens by the way...   Then I was numb and they went to work.  I could hear them talking but actually had my ipod with me to help tune them out.  I still caught snippets of conversation but it wasn't too bad.  Then after only about 40 minutes they were done, maybe even less.  The prognosis is good--he said on both nerves there was actually still a small amount of the sheath around the nerve still attached so he didn't have to pull them together very much and he expects me to make a full recovery after about 3-4 months (the nerve has to grow back at the rate of 1 inch a month).  The worst part was the tourniquet--it hurt really bad, especially by the end.  It felt like my arm was on fire.  I even had to ask how much longer--but they were almost done by that point.  The nurse told me that most people have to be put to sleep because the tourniquet is so painful.  Luckily my surgery was quicker than most.  They glued the wound shut and put this thick plasticky coating on it to protect it.  I am generally supposed to keep it wrapped and not use it for a couple weeks, but I can move my finger a little bit and I don't have to wear a big splint because the nerves came together so easily.  So it was a success.  Thanks for everyone's support!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Jacob's New "Pet"


My boys keep asking me for a pet, dog, turtle, fish, whatever.  However, the last thing I need is something else to take care of (although Tyler insists he would care for whatever pet he got---right....).  But I am starting to feel a little guilty because for the past week Jacob had been "walking" his yo-yo to the bus stop every morning.  He holds onto the end of the string and lets the yo-yo drag a couple feet behind him.  He says to me the whole way, "Look mommy, I takin' yo-yo for walk!" or "C'mon yo-yo..."  At the same time it is completely pathetically sad, it makes me (and everyone who sees us) laugh....

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Blessings

I just had to express my gratitude for one thing in my life that brings me an hour or two of peace everyday--naps.  Ah, the joy when your child takes a nice, long nap (especially when your other child is in school).  God must have made it so that children take naps so mothers could survive.  Alas, the fatal flaw is that year or two between the end of nap-taking and the start of pre-school.  Jake still naps, luckily, but who knows for how much longer.  I will thank my lucky stars for each week I have that he still takes naps...

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Family Fun

Well, this will be kind of a longish post--Anyway, we've been doing a couple fun things and have a few pics.  This first pic is, of course, Tyler.  Eric has been taking him out back lately and pitching to him.  Tyler misses the ball a lot, but sometimes he gets a great hit.  He even hit the ball over the garage once!  I personally like to watch the line drives at Eric's head that make Eric duck.  Tee hee.  
We went miniature golfing today.  You may notice we have long sleeves on, this is the first day it has warranted long sleeves and we are stoked!  Hallelujah, autumn is here again!  We celebrated by buying Tyler a pair of jeans---I know, I know, we really know how to party.  Anyway, our golf trip was one of those things that sound really fun but then after trying to control the rugrats for 10 minutes we wonder to ourselves, "Why are we doing this again?"  I seem to ask myself that question often these days....   Well, here is at the first hole when we had patience to help the boys actually golf....
Then Jake developed his own method of play--just pick the dang thing up and put it where you want it.  Every hole after the first one he just picked up his ball, walked to where he wanted it and threw it.  He especially loved this kind of hole with the house and door--he's put the ball in, go get it where it came out, bring it back up and put it in the door again.  Then repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat until finally mom or dad drag him to the next hole, where he (you guessed it) did the same thing again and again.  That is, until he finally threw his ball into the pond (more aptly named scum cesspool).  I guess he was trying to share with the ducks.
Here is Tyler showing off his mad gold skills.  He is literally the fastest golfer I've ever seen, he hits the ball, runs up to it and hits it again without ever letting it stop.  If it doesn't go where he wants it to after 4-5 hits he picks it up and drops it where he wants it.  Whatever works for you...
At the golf place they also have an arcade.  One of the best things about young kids it they have no idea you didn't put any money in and they aren't actually playing the game...


Here we are enjoying the sunset one night.  It took me about 30 minutes to get them both to look at the camera at the same time.  
Eric is going through an identity crisis and is trying out some new looks.  What do you think?  Actually they came with a dental laser--these are the pretty awesome goggles the patient wears when they use the laser on them.  I told Eric he should wear them to work as a fashion statement.  He thinks they look so good he will buy a tanning bed to keep at home just so he has an excuse to use them.
Yesterday we went bowling with some friend here on post.  No pics of myself because I am hugely preggers and also the world's worst bowler (I'd blame it on pregnancy but it is a lifelong ailment) but Jacob was hilarious.  He absolutely would not let anyone help him, he'd pick up the ball by himself, carry it to the ramp, put it up by himself and push it down.  We had an 8 lb ball for him, but he even did that with Eric's 12 lb ball!  The child is freakishly strong, no joke.  He had a blast and it was so fun to watch.  I am just relieved there were no broken toes at the end of the game!  The ball in this pic is Eric's 12 pounder.  Doesn't he look cute in his bowling shoes?  Of course his clothes don't match...guess who dressed him?  I'll give you a clue, it starts and ends with D and has an A in between.

Okay, folks, sorry for taking so much of your time but wanted to post some happy stuff now that life seems to be easing up a little.  I do have to give a shout out to Eric--he didn't have to work yesterday and let me spend almost the whole morning in bed just relaxing.  Awww, how sweet.  I felt bad, but he said (about my ever-growing abdomen, "If that is half as uncomfortable as it looks, you deserve to rest."  Ugh, if men only knew!  Until next time...

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Updates updates updates...

I know everyone is wondering about the status of my upcoming surgery.  It is scheduled for Oct 24th.  That is past the 6 week mark the doctors told me to have it completed by, but they couldn't do it any sooner so it is what it is.  I am, of course, concerned but hopeful for the best.  The silver lining is that Eric had already taken that whole week off of work to go hunting in Utah.  So he will be able to be there for the surgery without having to rearrange schedules.  That takes a little pressure off.  

Incredibly, I have a little bit more sad news.  I found out the other day my best friend, Mindy, is moving to Utah in a couple weeks while her husband is in Iraq.  I certainly don't blame her, but am having a little bit of a pity party for myself.  She is such a great friend, the kind you can always count on, the kind you can just stop by to hang out with.  Plus, her daughter is Tyler's best friend and Tyler is devastated.  This is the second good friend we've lost since we've been here and the whole thing just solidifies my resolve to get out of the military.  I am not strong enough to do this for the next 20 years!

But I must say, life is good.  Despite the challenges lately, I look at my life and think how lucky I am.  Eric has been so great and my kids (despite the times they drive me nuts) are so fun and sweet.  The other day Tyler was sitting at the table and starts going, "mlah, mlah" in a weird voice.  I just watched him, then he turned to me and asked, "how does Chewbacca talk?"  I busted out laughing.  He is VERY into Star Wars.  Hence, Jacob is copying him and everything he picks up becomes a "trooper gun" or "light saber".  I can't wait for Maggie--maybe I can finally stop watching Star Wars and watch Cinderella!