Sunday, November 21, 2010

My greatest achievements!




I just had to post these on here for all to see!  Thanks Brandi for beautiful pictures of my children-again!!!
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Thursday, November 18, 2010

No news is.....LOTS of news!

I will preface this post with telling you that if you read Ethan's carepage-this post will be the same. I have technologically challenged friends and family out there-some who read one, some who read the other but I have LOTS of news to share and wanted to make sure I cover everyone!!

First off-Ethan had surgery on his right ear in early October-they removed his right ear tube which they felt was no longer doing any good, put a paper patch on and took a 'looksie' at his terribly deviated septum and adenoids. Adenoids look great, septum looks terrible-but nothing Dr. Bruegger will do anything about right now-
1) because it would me 1-2 hours of surgery time to chisel away bone and stretch cartilage and he doesn't feel comfortable spending that much time in the OR with the bald kid
2)because he is so young and his face is still growing, and doing that type of surgery on him could alter the way his face continues to grow. And since we think it's pretty cute as is, we are happy leaving it as is!
So, after much drama in the recovery room, afterward, a couple days later, and a script for some Flonase and antibiotic-we have our 6 week follow up on Monday, and might need to re-visit tubes, because, alas, it appears that having that hole closed up is causing him to retain some pressure and pain back there-much like the reason we did the tubes in the first place!! UGH!!!
Oh, I almost forgot-Ethan has officially remained hospital in-patient free for just over one year! AMAZING, I know!!! Hopefully I didn't jinx us just now!

Update on Hailey now. Soooo proud of our girl-she finished off her first volleyball season as Captain, Most Positive girl on the team, and helped carry them to 2nd place in the District! They played very hard, good games but lost such a close game to Antioch(their rival!) AND she tried out for Club Volleyball (competitive teams-not sponsored by a school-but by private volleyball clubs) and made a Regional Silver Team! YEAH!! Her practices start this week, and her tournaments will begin in January lasting thru April-I will send out a schedule! Hailey has also made the Renaissance list for Academic Excellence at school-all A's and one B!

Our boy, Parker, well, he is Parker, what can I say??? He has become quite the social bug of the neighborhood! He has lots of boys his age that live close, and he is wearing out the paths to their homes. He has gone to two of the TNO's at school (Teen Night Out) These are events at the school, chaperoned by teachers and parents on Friday nights each quarter where the kids go and hang out, dance, use the art rooms, the computers, the gym, and even had a Haunted House at the last one. I was the Mom who drove 'to' the event at the last one, and whew! I knew there must be some cute little girls out there he and his buddies have their eyes on from the smell of all the Axe cologne they had on! I had to roll the windows down just to handle it! He is playing the saxaphone and loving it! He has been practicing alot, and has almost mastered 'Jingle Bells' and 'Ode to Joy' which he plans to play for us all on Thanksgiving. I need to get my nephew Taylor to learn 'Jingle Bells' on his guitar, and we will have quite the music ensemble going! Parker has also made the Renaissance list for Academic Excellence! We are very proud of him!

Brian is continuing to work out with James-just reached his 10 week mark, and the progression photos James took of him are amazing! He has lost 20lbs total, is feeling incredible, and has to wear his belts on the last hole! I told him the other day he looks like a scarecrow with his shirt tucked in and his belt so snug to hold his pants up that they gather around his waist like a stuffed man! He is still working evenings/nights for the PD, and just finally got a complete crew of guys after some transfers and injury losses, and our city has certainly kept them busy!

I, too, just passed the 10 week mark with James, and same as Brian, I have lost 20lbs total! My body fat is only down 5%, but the inches have dropped off! My normal scrub pants are hanging off of me, and I had two people comment on my butt(or loss of) last week! That is the point folks!! My progression pics look like I got a butt lift and lost a chin and some back fat! I won't be done with James until January at least-if I stay on track and get down where I want to in 20 weeks.
In the meantime, I will have a little setback because my doctor has finally decided to remove the mass on my right ovary next week! I am having surgery on the 23rd, and will be off work for about 3 weeks-with no lifting of the bald kid for the first week and a half for sure.
Yes, I know Thanksgiving is Thursday, and yes,we are having it at my house, and YES, I am ok with that! I actually am looking forward to it being at my own home where I can go up and lay down in my own bed if I need to rest!
I unfortunately can't have it done laparoscopically because it is too big now, AND my doc does not feel comfortable draining it internally to remove it through a little bitty incision since we still really don't know what it is. So, I will have another little incision above my c-section incision and he will remove it through that and if he can salvage any of the ovary he will, but if there is any possibility that any mass tissue will be left if he leaves any of the ovary-it's coming out too!
We will have to wait for pathology to come back on it before we know what we are dealing with, but until then, refuse to worry and fret! We have enough other stuff to keep us busy!

I had my dear friend Brandi take the kids pics again this fall-and the turned out MARVELOUS as usual! To view them all go to the link below and you will have to enter the

event name:Rawley October 2010
passcode is: 20060670
http://seeyourphotos.net

I don't know how I will choose which to use for the Christmas card! They are all so good!

That's all for now-like I said, No news is LOTS of news around our house-but mostly good news too!

I wish I could list all the things I am truly thankful for, but this blog is simply not long enough. I approach another Thanksgiving with joy in my heart and love in my life for the amazing blessings God has brought our family. I am thankful for all of you, my friends and family and for the love and support you have always bestowed upon us in good times and bad!

May you all have a wonderful, joyous Thanksgiving!

*sorry I couldn't post any pics from Halloween, volleyball, etc., Blogger is giving me a hard time! I will figure it out and post some soon though! Probably while I'm laying in bed recovering over the next 3 weeks!