There's No Place Like Home

I'm back home!  After 2 days in the hospital and 7 days recuperating at my mom's I'm finally home again today.  The main reason I stayed at my mother's was for peace and quiet so I could properly rest and heal.  My time around the kids was limited to just a couple of hours a day when Blain would bring them over for lunch or dinner.  I must have gotten somewhat spoiled by that because now that I've been home a couple of hours I'm ready for my quiet break.

But even though the kids are running around wild, there's no where else on earth I'd rather be right now.  There's no place like home!

Why I've checked out temporarily from Life

It's hard to tell from this picture but this is the incision where 4 discs were removed, C4 - C7, and replaced with cadaver bone, 8 screws and a plate.  This has turned out to be much more painful than I realized it would be.  Thankyou to all my family and friends who have helped, to the doctors, nurses and hospital staff.  And thankyou especially to the person who donated their body so I could use their bones in the reconstruction of my neck.

The Ending of 2010

Tomorrow morning I'm having surgery on my neck to clean out some bone spurs, take out some bad discs and "unpinch" some nerves.  In the process 3 of my vertebrae will be fused together.  I should only be in the hospital overnight then I plan to stay with my mother for 3 additional nights because it's hard to explain to a two year old that they can't jump on you, pull on you, ram into you, hang on you and wouldn't be picked up.

Even though it's fairly routine surgery, just the thought of "going under the knife" is enough to make me consider my mortality.  I know it's my nerves getting to me, but I love my family so, so much.  I sure hope to be around for many years to support and bug, I mean hug, them all!

Merry Christmas 2010

 

Carley's New Hairdo

I took Carley to an African American hairdresser today to get her hair done for Christmas. I was thinking something along the lines of braids or rows with beads. I ended up getting hair extensions put in because it would last a month and the other styles only a couple of weeks. I'm having surgery on my neck in early January to fuse 3 vertebrae together and I'm stressed about not being able to take care of the kids on my own for 6 weeks without someone else being around.

When the hairdresser said there would be no maintenance needed for her hair with the extensions for a month I jumped on it. I just didn't realize how much I liked her natural hair. Both Blain and I are having a hard time getting used to the look and feel of her new "hair". She's beautiful no matter what and the new hairdo is cute, but I do miss my baby's hair.

Lindsey's Family Day and the Christmas Village

Today is Lindsey's family day.  Five years ago in Nanning, China on December 19th we became new parents to a beautiful little girl we named Lindsey.  She is such a beautiful spirit, wonderful daughter and amazing big sister to Sammy and Carley.   She wanted Rudolph the red nosed reindeer more than anything else as a present for her family day, but she made sure that Sam and Carley got presents as well (the Abominable Snowman and Clarice respectively).

We celebrated last night with Oma and friends.  We went out to eat then walked down the block to see the Christmas Village in the town square.  It was magical with all the Christmas lights reflecting on new fallen snow and the cute little gingerbread houses. 

There was a Christmas "train" that drove around the block and thanks to Oma's over assertive ways, we got to ride in the car with Santa and Mrs. Claus.  Since we were pretty packed in, Lindsey even got to ride on Santa's lap.  Carley spent the entire ride repeating everything Santa said including lots of ho ho hos and Merry Christmases and waving to the crowds like a true ambassador of Christmas.

After the train ride, we walked to our friends condo a block away for home made hot chocolate and hot cider and gift exchange.  It was such a fun night full of Christmas cheer!

Christmas Show No. 2

Lindsey's daycare put on their Christmas show tonight.  Lindsey's class started out the concert with 3 songs - He'll Be Driving Eight Brown Reindeer, Where is Santa and the Twelve Days of Christmas.  The Twelve Days of Christmas was a special kids version, very cute.  Instead of a partridge in a pear tree they sang, "a Barbie on top of the tree" and "five Power Rangers" instead of five golden rings.  At the end all the kids got on the stage together and sang Frosty the Snowman and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.