Surgery and more pictures.....

Its been a while! A lot has happened and at the same time not much has been happening! I had my tonsils the Wed after Thanksgiving. I had been getting a lot of sinus and ear infections recently and my tonsils have always been enlarged. I was recommended to see an ENT last spring. Dr Flaming was awesome! He told me that removing my tonsils would be the worst thing I'd ever been through but that it would help with all of the infections that I continued to get. He said they weren't the largest tonsils he'd ever seen but they were right up there with the biggest. I felt really comfortable with him as a doctor but in the spring I just wasn't ready to go through the surgery. Everything I read and heard confirmed what Dr Flaming said, worst experience ever. So I chickened out! Until this fall, when I got two ear infections and sinus infections one right after the other. I hate taking antibiotics. They make feel funny. So I ended up back in Dr Flaming's office. The first thing he said to me was, "I knew you'd be back!" I scheduled my surgery for the Wed after Thanksgiving so that I could still eat turkey dinner but hopefully be well enough eat Christmas dinner too.

I woke up from surgery and I felt like my throat was swollen close to shut and someone was poking a hot poker down it! Not a good feeling. They made me drink some ice water and made sure I could use the bathroom before they would let me go home. We went home and for the next 10 days I layed on the couch, I slept, I drank hot tea, I chewed ice chips, I drank ice water and I swallowed lots and lots and lots of liquid Vicodin. The Vicodin made me feel crazy! I couldn't put full sentences together, I was as high as a high school drop out! Thankfully my Mom took Ashlyn home with her for the weekend and all of the next week Jered took her and picked her up from school. It worked out pretty good except Ashlyn had a hard time knowing that Mommy was at home and she wasn't. Jered said drop-offs were pretty rough most mornings. I was supposed to go back to work at the two week mark which would've been last Thurs but I wasn't ready. I was still taking my meds at least twice a day. So Dr Flaming had me stay out till this last Monday, yesterday. All in all I was off about two and a half weeks.

I'm off the drugs, thank goodness! Today was my second day back to work and I'm TIRED! Laying around for 18 days straight took away all of my energy. I also lost about 15lbs from not eating. I've gained back about 4 or 5 of those lbs now that I'm eating almost normally again. Was this the worst experience of my life??? HELL YES!! This was the hardest, most painful, most awful thing I've ever went through! Hopefully though, its going to help with all of the infections I had been getting!

Is everyone ready for Christmas? I am! I managed to finish my Christmas shopping this last weekend. I'm going to make a little candy this weekend and hopefully some cookies. Have a Merry Christmas!!

 

on our way to Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma G's 

and we needed a quick family portrait

Daddy reading to me and cousin Grace

 waiting for Mommy to go into surgery, it was too early for 

me to go to school so I got to hang out for a little bit

 Mommy and Daddy let me put the star on the top of the tree

 it was a big job!

 Daddy helped me plug it in

 I was SO excited when it lit up!!

isn't it pretty????

 taking some Christmas card pictures

 holding my Rudolph from Grammy and Grandpa

A few pics from the last few weeks:

 my sparkly witch costume for Halloween! I had more fun passing out candy than trick-or-treating

 with my Grandma Mac

 Papa and Grandma Mac

 with cousin Grace

with my new cousin Emily

in my big girl bed! Daddy didn't have it all together yet. I have LOTS of stuffed animals in there too.

Pumpkin Patch

We visited Roloff Farms last weekend to pick out pumpkins and spend money! Three pumpkins cost us $31! Craziness! But Ashlyn had an awesome time! She ran all over the pumpkin patch, she saw the tiger, the serval, the horses. It was a lot of fun! Next year though, we'll probably go somewhere else. They wanted to charge for everything! Even the hay ride! Ashlyn  really liked the animals though. A really nice kid gave her some food to feed the goats. She picked out great pumpkins that had really good "handles" with Daddy. We took our picture by the tee-pee. It was worth the $31 :o)

the BIG chair

the goats

feeding the goats

looking at the sleeping bunnies

"helping"

how bout that one Daddy?

its a good one!

family picture

our pumpkins

Get your mammograms Ladies!!

Ashlyn is doing awesome at school and at home! She's your typical 2, almost 3 year old. Always pushing her limits, always trying to see how far she can go. She still loves to sing, ANY song! Usually she requires your participation. If you don't sing like she wants you to, she'll let you know you're not doing it right AND  tell you the right way to do it! 

She's a big girl now, just ask her! She's peeing and pooping on the potty. She still needs a diaper at nap and bed time. A lot of the time though, she wakes up dry. She's very proud of herself and she starts giggling when she sits on the potty and she 'hears' the pee. She also needs to see the poop. If we're in a store or restaurant, she likes to go in the handicap stall and sit sideways so that she can hold on to the hand rails. We went to sushi the other night and Jered took her potty. She didn't go but 5 minutes later she needed to 'go' again. I took her then and when we were in there she told me "Daddy didn't do it right Mommy." Come to find out, he didn't turn her sideways so that she could hang on to the hand rail. She is definitely a girl of habit. If you do something one way, then that is the only way you can do it.

She's talking and asking questions constantly. The other day on the way to work we had this conservation: "Mommy I can't fit inside that bucket." Huh?What bucket baby? She says, "that bucket in that truck, I can't fit inside it." Oh that truck driving right next to us? Nope, you couldn't fit inside that bucket, you're way too big. "Me and Isaiah got in the box at school Mommy and we BOTH fit!" That's cool baby, was it a big box? "Yeah! It was!" Short silence...."When we went to the nurse, she poked me! And it hurt a lot!!!" Yeah I know baby, but she was giving you medicine in your leg. "I got my flu shot, right Mommy?" Yes baby you got your flu shot and Mommy got hers too. Short silence...."Did we go to the pumpkin patch Mommy?" Yes honey we did. "The girl cried Mommy cause she got stung by a bee!" Yes she did baby, it hurts when you get stung by a bee. (A girl was crying at the big hay pyramid and we heard she got stung by a bee. There were a lot of bees at the patch and she remembered it a few days later). 

It was a whirlwind of a conversation, she remembers everything!! You tell her something once and she remembers it. She needs to have a conversation before everything and anything. If she has a doctors appointment we have to start talking about it the night before. When she had school pictures, we talked about it for a couple of days before hand. After things happen, she talks about it for days afterwards. Yesterday, Grandma and Papa Mac came from Canada to visit (we had already talked about them coming for a visit for a few days before hand). Then we all went to visit Papa and Grandma G. Then we went over to see Grandma K! It was a lot of Grandmas all in one day! 

She had a blast playing with her cousin Nolan at Grandma K's house! They ran and ran and ran around Gma K's house. One of them would slam into a wall or door and a few seconds later we'd hear a giggle! They showed off to each other, they tried to one up the other, it was awesome! We've camped with them on Father's day weekend since the kids were born and they always have a blast! They  play SO well together! Ashlyn plays with lots of other kids but when her and Nolan are together, its really something! 

Ashlyn is looking forward to seeing her cousins Grace and Gwen. She knows that she has a new baby cousin Gwen and that Grace is coming to visit soon. She's also excited for Halloween! She's going to be a witch and she checks up on her costume most days (its hanging in the bathroom to get the wrinkles out). We are all looking forward to spending some QT with Papa and Grandma Mac! Its great to have them here from Canada for a few weeks!

Pictures from the summer:

Here's some pics from the wedding we went to in Kauai over Labor Day, the Kacalek family get together at the end of July and our recent Aquarium trip with my nieces:

 Our friends Wendy and Arrin

 Hawaiian drummers

 Our place cards

 Jered giving the dragon $$=good luck

 Inside the wedding tent

 Jered and friends from WRG taking shots at the bar

 Getting dressed up like foolios to take pictures in the photo booth

 Waimea Canyon=the Grand Canyon of the Pacific

 At the top of the canyon, the cloud cover cleared and we could see the ocean!!

 a very WILD ride!!

"da-plane, da-plane!!!" the same falls from Fantasy Island

 at Tunnels Beach

 Ashlyn made a friend of Cheyenne at the Kacalek picnic

 Kari and Grace

 cousins

 playing on the hammock

 taking a bubble bath

 Daddy and Macy measuring their "wing-span"

Cousins together at the Aquarium

the jellyfish were awesome!

Kauai x 2

We had an awesome time in Kauai! We were there for six days this time and it was great! We swam, we snorkeled, we saw the sights, we got sunburned (Jered's back, my butt....ouch!), we ATE, and we went to our friends' wedding. Quite possibly the most beautiful wedding I've ever been to. Everything was amazing from the location to the food to the entertainment. I'll post a few pics when I get them off the camera (I'm so lazy when it comes to downloading them from the camera to the computer). We were also invited to the rehearsal dinner and we ate so much good Hawaiian food! The groom's uncle had recently caught some marlin and tuna so there was two different kinds of smoked marlin, tuna sashimi (raw sliced tuna) and tuna poke (raw cubed tuna with a vinaigrette type sauce with onions). His aunt had made fresh fried wontons too and that was just the pupu's (appetizers)! Then his parents had catered Hawaiian food: pulled pork, rice, mac salad, poi pudding (not my favorite) and his mom made homemade rice pudding with coconut milk. OMG!! We literally rolled back to the car when it was time to go home! That was just the rehearsal dinner! The food at the wedding was even more delicious if that's even possible. As soon as the wedding was over there were waiters with trays full of champagne and appetizers. Seriously the most extravagant wedding we've ever been invited to. The plated dinner was delicious as well. There was this soup that Jered and I are still dreaming about. It was cream of corn with Kona crab, YUMMY!!! I know I gained at least 5lbs and Jered feels the same so it looks like we're going to have to buckle down and get our butts in gear!

My mom drove up the night before we left for Kauai and then she took Ashlyn back to Monroe with her the next morning after we left. At WeeCare all the kids push the parents out the door and wave goodbye so we let her "push" us out the door hoping that she wouldn't cry. Worked like a charm! Mom had a DR appt that first day so Ashlyn got to stay with Kourtney, Ashley and Paisley. She was so excited, she's still talking about it! She got to go to the beach with Grammy and Grandpa, but she said the water was too cold so they didn't swim. She also got to go to the Wild Life Safari! She LOVED it! We hear everyday about how she saw the hippopotamus and he was eating melon and the bears were eating watermelon! Grandpa bought her a book and she shows us everyday all of the animals she saw. They didn't see any rhinoceros though, she says they must've been taking a nap!

The biggest development that happened while we were lazing on the beaches of Kauai......Ashlyn is PEEING ON THE POTTY!!!! We've been letting her go at her own pace for the last few months. I'd ask her if she wanted to sit on the potty and they ask her at school too. She usually said NO! But on our rare weekends at home and on my days off she would usually want to wear her panties, so I put a bunch of panties in her suitcase to go to Grammy and Grandpa's house. Mom said as soon as she saw the panties she wanted to wear them and that was that. She would go in on her own and pee when she had to. "I can do it myself Grammy!" That is one of her favorite things to say, "I can do it myself!" about pretty much everything! She's only pooped once on the potty, that's a work in progress. We're getting there though! Yesterday was her first day back at school in a week and I sent her with an extra pair of panties and leggings just in case she had an accident.....they were still in her cubby when we got there to pick her up!!! Yay!! We are so excited and so proud of her!

She is such a big girl these days! She is getting to be pretty bossy and opinionated and so independent! We are definitely having to improve our parenting skills and make sure she knows she is not the boss. She gets frustrated when things don't go her way or she doesn't get her way. Last night in the bath tub she started crying and when I asked her what was wrong she said she dropped her baby outside the tub (her baby needs a bath too). She told me, "pick it up Mommy! pick it up!" I told her instead of crying she should ask me to help her and to ask nicely. So then I got "Mommy will you please help me, I dropped my baby" So much sweeter that time! We are reminding her constantly to say her please and thank you's. She does a pretty good job most of the time but she is still shy with people she doesn't know. The other day the lady at Target gave her a sticker and I told her to say thank you. She whispered "thank you" with her back turned towards the lady! If she gets in trouble she's quiet for a little while and then she says "Mommy, I'm sad!" When her time outs are over she cries and says, "I need a hug!" Its kinda hard to resist but we're trying to raise a kid that people want to be around. Not one of those bratty kids no one wants around! Parenting is the hardest job ever!!! Its so much easier to give in, right?

The other day she told me "Mommy I like kids shows! Do you like kids shows?" I said "When did you watch kids shows?" We still don't let her watch tv at home that often so I was a little surprised and no I don't really like kids shows! She said, "at Cammy and Caitlin's house! Can we watch kids shows?" I told her no but she could go to her room and pick out a book and I would read to her. She said, "I'm going to get FIVE books!!" I said, "You can pick out two books." She went to her room and came back with three books and told me, "I only brought three Mommy, not five. That's ok, three is ok Mommy." So we read three books!

One of her favorite things to do is watch kids songs on Youtube. This is something we started a while ago and we don't let her do very often. She knows that she can watch them on our phones and on the computer at home. So last night while we were watching football you could hear Baa Baa Black Sheep and the Wheels on the Bus!

She sings constantly in the car. "Sing with me Mommy! Sing with me Daddy!" This morning she insisted we sing the "here today" song. We were singing Ashlyn's here today, Daddy's here, Mommy's here, even the trees and houses were here! Yesterday on our way home from work/school Miss Bossy pants said, "I don't want the radio! Turn the radio off Mommy!" I told her that Mommy and Daddy liked listening to the radio and we were going to leave it on. A few minutes later she said "I'm sad!" I asked her why she was sad and she said "because you won't turn off the radio and sing with me!" I told her again that the radio was staying on so after a few minutes she started singing again. Good grief! She is testing her limits and looking for her boundaries that is for sure.

We missed her terribly when we were in Hawaii but it was worth it because we had a blast. I drove down to Monroe early Wed to pick her up and as soon as I saw her I scooped her up and gave her the biggest squeeze and kiss! I couldn't let her go and she kept grabbing my face and giving me kisses, so sweet! It was a long time to be gone from her but Mom said she did great and only got a little whiny the night before I picked her up. We had talked to her on the phone and told her we would see her the next day. Mom said as soon as we hung up the phone she started crying, didn't want to go to bed, didn't want to sleep alone, etc. She was as excited to see us and we were to see her! Its good to be home but I miss Hawaii already :o)

 Showing off my pretty Hawaii dress. Mommy says its getting too tight on top but I say it still fits!

 The best ice cream on the entire island of Kauai!!

 Tunnels Beach

at the wedding

the beautiful Miss Paisley Marie

GO DUCKS!!!