That can happen?!

The past few days Howard has had a tooth ache that he has had time to time but he's noticed a little swelling and his pain level was an 8. Not cool.
Wednesday while we waited for his Mom he was tempted to go to the ER part of the hospital because of the amount of pain he was in. When he woke up Thursday morning he was in a lot of pain and his face felt funny. By 10am his face was going numb at times, he had horrible ear pain and some popping in his ear and his vision was going in and out on his right eye. He went to the dentist for the first time in 14 years and found out that all 4 wisdom teeth are completely grown out and completely messed up. His upper right side wisdom tooth was so swollen, and so messed up it was messing with the nerves in his face (seriously, that can happen?!). The oral surgeon needs to take all four of them out, but wants to start with the right top that is so infected and impacting his face and his lower left one that is broken into pieces. The dentist put Howard on a strong antibiotic and pain medicine.
So today, being wary of the nerve issues the oral surgeon took out the two teeth. Watching them numb him up for surgery made me feel horrible. He flinched so many times. Watching the oral surgeon try to get that top tooth out was one of the most gruesome things I have ever watched, hands down. I didn't realize it but apparently I got really pale and had my hands over my mouth, the dental assistant came over to me and touched me on the shoulder and asked me if I was okay. I was fine, honestly I was just so unbelievably worried about the pain that Howard was in/could be in/if he could feel it...it freaked me out but I could not stop looking (Car accident syndrome).
So, I turned my head and rubbed Howard's feet and ankles and prayed until I heard the surgeon say he couldn't get the tooth out. He said he was going to try one more thing (using a left tooth tool on a right tool for torque, I suppose) and if he couldn't get it out then he was going to have to cut it out and suture him back up. 30 seconds later I heard a pop and he had gotten the tooth, thank God. The other broken tooth on the bottom that wasn't infected took 5 minutes (maybe) to get out.

He was in pain during the entire surgery an afterward. As soon as possible I got him to take some pain medicine and he went out like a light switch. Now he has eaten lots of jello, pudding, sherbert, tea and mashed potatoes and says that his mouth doesn't hurt at all (this is only with Motrin). He says his ears are hurting him, but that's it.
Praying for a swift recovery now for him so he can have the other two taken out next month, then his perfect smile will be pain free, finally!

Waiting Game

On Wednesday, January 23, 2013 we kept our kiddos out of school and headed to College Station so we could be there while my Mother in Law had her surgery done.
Within the first 10 minutes of the road trip, my husband got pulled over for speeding. He was going less than 5 miles over the speed limit and luckily only got a warning. The rest of the road trip went wonderful. The kids played and looked around (they were all still sleepy).
We got to the hospital about the same time as Howard's parents did and were able to talk to Linda, go through the whole pre-op stuff with her and make sure she understood everything and didn't have any questions. We met with her surgeon, Dr. Ryan Walter and he was very optimistic and open, wanted to make sure we all understood what was going on, he was great. We prayed with her and over her with all of our family holding hands with her pastor leading us in prayer. She was smiling, looked awesome (her hair is always perfect) and was ready to get everything over with!
We said goodbye to her one by one and told her to have a nice nap and left her bedside at 11:40am on the dot. And then we began to wait. Howard Jr and Sr went outside for a bit after she was taken in. To see such strong men so worried about their wife and mother was heartbreaking. By 1pm the kids were starving so we headed a block away and got them lunch, some for my father in law and stopped to get Linda some flowers and a balloon. Shortly after we got back to the hospital Howard's brother Todd got there, he had to work all morning. It was approaching hour 3 when we got a phone call from the OR I ran to the information booth and took the call. She was doing great, surgery was a little more complicated than they had expected but she is doing great and they should be done in about an hour. Vague, but positive.
At 3:15 her surgeon came walking through the door. Told us that she did great through surgery. They were able to get everything they wanted to out (full hysterectomy) but during the surgery her bladder got in the way and got nicked. They called in the hospital urologist and he came in and assisted with the rest of the surgery, sewing her up and making sure that there was no leaks in her bladder and they fixed her back up. Her doctor was very angry at himself. In his whole career this has happened 5 times, this made the 6th. He kept apologizing and said that God decided to challenge him that day. He said that they were just weaning her off anesthesia when he left her bedside and it would still be a while before we saw her. He said he was going to go home and have the evening with his family and then come back up and see her. Howard breathed a half sigh of relief an said "I'm half better, now I need to see her."
At 5pm  we had checked many times and been told they were still dealing with pain management in recovery which we understood but just killed the 3 men in the room to hear that she was in pain. The surgical information desk closed so we were left wondering now, with no information or no one to ask. We kept checking with the ER to see if she had a room yet. Finally, at 6:20 she did.
We practically ran to her room to see her. We were there until almost 8. She was groggy, drifting on and off to sleep an very disoriented, pretty much what you would expect from a person who just had major surgery. The first question from me was, "Now tell me the truth, is my hair flat?" God, I love that woman. I answered her honestly (yes it was) and she groaned with annoyance. Her hands were freezing, but she felt warm. Her eyes opened the most when we told her what time of day it was. She was cramping quite a bit and it took me a while to explain to her what the big glowing green morphine button would do and that she needed to use it. She was concerned of getting to much pain medicine and not pressing it enough, like I said, took me a while but she gave in. I told her everything that happened in surgery, and she understood as best a person who just came off anesthesia can. She was not happy that she had a drain in her side still (that should come out in a day or 2) and that she had to wear a catheter for a week...actually she was pissed about that, in all honesty.
She was munching on ice chips, being snarky to her sons and husband, telling her grand kids to settle down and holding my hand, we were a happy bunch. She kept telling us to hurry up and move back, how much she loved us, and kept a hold of our hands the whole time. After praying over her we left her to get some rest and to drive back to Austin and cried half way back home. Some in relief, some in guilt for not being able to stay with her but mostly because we were so thankful for God's amazing grace, love and protection.

Today she has walked, eaten, talked, been clear headed, watched TV and spent time with extended family that drove in to see her.

It's going to be a long road of recovery for her, but the point is she will recover. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Negative!

After days of extensive testing at multiple doctors and hospitals around the Houston area Howard's grandmother, Ann has come back cancer free!
Every test they have done, they have not seen cancer anywhere. At this point they are speculating that it was a false positive and they are doing some further testing to be sure, but with everything they have done (and from what I was told was a lot) she is cancer free.

God is so good.

Eff you Cancer!

Right before Christmas my Mother in Law was diagnosed with uterine cancer.

Just hearing that word was totally devastating to her. Her Grandmother and Mother both died because of cancer. Through a few weeks and many doctors appointments and testing she found out that the cancer is affecting her uterus and ovaries and her doctor planned on performing a full hysterectomy to get the cancerous cells out of her body.
She has never had any surgery, and the risks of surgery and having cancer is just overwhelming to her. She is such a strong, amazing, God fearing woman and to see her so uncertain is shaking my husband and I to our core.
She was supposed to have surgery today, but Thursday she failed an EKG. She has since had another one and more testing an passed it. She is having a stress test as I type this to make sure her heart and body can withstand surgery.


Last Saturday we also found out that Howard's only living grandparent, Ann also has cancer. She has had cancer before (thyroid) and they removed the organ and cancer successfully with surgery. Now, her health is very poor. She has issues with mobility, talking, every day activities plus she has a heart condition. Surgery is not a likely source of treatment but I don't think Chemo or Radiation will be either. She has spent the past week in Houston getting a ton of testing done to see what the cancer is affecting exactly and what her options are. Ann is the only Grandparent that Howard has ever known. He grew up across the street from  her and he is just devastated as is my father in law.

His wife and his mother...I cannot imagine.

Linda (MIL) is tentavely planned to have surgery on Tuesday, January 22.
Hopefully we will get some answers about Ann (Grandmother) soon.
Please keep these amazing women in your thoughts and prayers, for they are loved and needed by so many.

So many things...

So many things have happened since my last blog post.
I quit writing because my life, although blessed in many ways was overdosed in negativity and I honestly didn't want my blog to become a "Debbie Downer" blog like it has in the past.

What has happened since my last blog post...
I gained back 11 pounds of my weight loss. This is what happens when you quit exercising. I kept going with my healthier habits, portion control, and did the 3 day military diet once more since my last post...but I still gained some of it back because of not exercising. I did every now and then, and having 3 kids and being a busy Mom still kept me on my feet but not routinely, at the gym like someone that is as overweight as I am needs to be.

Update on the kiddos...
Parker turned 3 at the end of September. He is still not potty trained (we're working on it constantly). He hated his sisters going to school and leaving him at the beginning of the school year but is now doing great with it now that it has become part of our routine. We are still having major separation anxiety issues whenever we leave him at church or gym child watch areas. He cries constantly and within the 'cry limit rule' we are always called. We have been consistent in going, keeping a schedule hoping that he would get used to it but it did not happen. I am very concerned, to say the least. I have seriously been thinking of doing a mother's day out program to see if that may help at all. I love my boy beyond words but his reactions to being away from me in different situations needs to improve. He has gotten better with others watching him, we've had a few instances where I left him with our neighbor or a family member and it went much better than expected. I'm hopeful!

Maddie has had a lot of milestones...she started Kindergarten and loves her class, classmates, Teacher and School more than ever before. Right before the school year she got glasses as well. That was not a surprise to me, because she was a preemie I was told at birth that she may have sight issues, plus she has that stacked up against her with Howard and my eyesight. What killed me is she really needed them. I felt terrible when I realized how bad her eyes were and how thick her lenses were. Poor punkin. She picked out her own frames, and they are precious and she loves them. She also has turned 6 at the beginning of this month. She's still such a drama queen but such a big girl, too. She also has 2 loose teeth (her bottom 2). One of which is so loose it freaks me out. I am not a fan of teeth or dentistry...ick. She is signed up to play spring t-ball at the YMCA as opposed to cheer leading and  tumbling which she wanted to do (she says she will do that in the summer).

Mackenzie is in Middle School and all that it implies. A ton of clubs, girl drama, liking boys and hours of homework. She is doing very well academically. She has done a semester of dance, that she loved and is planning on joining the dance team in the Spring. She is now doing basketball and is anxiously anticipating the tournaments that will be coming in March. She is playing Point Guard (just like her Mom!). She is in Choir and has had 2 concerts, an Elementary Holiday Tour and sang a solo and did wonderful. She is a member of Drama Club and STAND. She has had lots of friends issues, as do most middle school girls. She is a very mature girl and she has a hard time understanding the drama and why girls are acting a certain way. Being a Mom of a Middle School age girl in this society sucks guys, not going to lie. We constantly encourage her to stay true to herself, talk to us, talk to anyone and make new friends. She is also playing Volleyball at the YMCA this spring an taking voice lessons.

Other big news...My Dad is no longer living with us. Right before Christmas he moved into an Assisted Living Facility and he's been there for a month (tomorrow). He is doing very well and seems to be happy to be around adults, be put in more social situations where he can make some relationships with people his own age. The circumstances that surrounded him moving out were not pretty, but they all happened for a reason and I am thankful for the outcome.

Thank you to all of my new readers, most of which have showed up because of the 3 day diet posts. Stay tuned for so much more with the dieting front, because guess who's going back to the gym next week?

JCP Free Kids haircuts

At the end of July I heard that JCPenny's was going to be offering free kids haircuts for kids PreK age to 6th Grade for the month of August.

Free...sweet.

So, August 1st I called and set up appointments with my local JCP for a week before school started for Maddie and Parker, I specifically told them to schedule them back to back and not at the same time so I could give my attention to each of them. Mackenzie had already gotten a haircut by my friend Kathryn, plus she has an adult head of hair.

When we got to the salon, at 10:30am they weren't busy at all. We waited for less than 3 minutes before we were called back.
Parker was first. For the first time ever, Parker was not excited by getting his hair cut. JCP salon as nice as it was...was definitely NOT a kid friendly environment. It took me 5 minutes to get Parker in the chair without him saying he wanted to get down. The stylist saw how put off he was and asked if we usually go to 'those kid places' Nope, never, not since they butchered Mackenzie's hair, we've always gone to a boring old barber shop...wherever Howard or my Dad was getting their hair cut at the time. Anyway, when I was convincing him to get in the chair, he got a little fussy because he just didn't want to. During that time every time Parker would refuse the stylist would get this frightened look on her face and physically take a step away from us, which both annoyed me and amused me. Please, don't get me wrong my son was not crying or raising his voice at all, he was just refusing.

I got him in the chair and the stylist took a deep breath before walking up to Parker, like she was afraid of him. The haircut went smoothly, Parker moved his head, and stayed still accordingly. He giggled every time she touched him with an electric shaver and in turn made the stylist laugh loudly...every time. By the end of the haircut, Parker looked like less of a shaggy puppy and the stylist had warmed up to him enough to offer him a lollipop.

About half way into his haircut Maddie was called to a different stylist, across the salon. I asked if she could wait until after Parker was done and the response was a sarcastic smile and a sweet voice saying, "now or never". Oooookay then. So, I left Kenzie standing next to Parker and went and told the stylist for Maddie that we wanted a trim because she is growing her hair out, long layers and a bang trim.

Luckily, Parker's hair cut was done moments later, so I could focus on Maddie. Her haircut went great, it looks beautiful and is easier to manage.

So besides the stylist attitudes I have one other complaint concern.  Their bangs. Parker's are jagged, a one inch piece in the front is longer than the one inch piece to the right, and the piece to the left is in between them. There is no symmetry. Maddie's are perfect in front, but as they frame her face, they go wonky. I will rectify this after their bath tonight because I've been ignoring it for a week and it's driving me crazy.
I can't complain too much, it was free and all things considered...my kids really needed their ears lowered.

Did you take your kids to get free JCP haircuts? How did it go?

Review: 3 day Military Diet

I came across the 3 day military diet on the incredible Pinterest which is originally HERE. The diet said that if you follow it exactly you can lose up to 10 pounds after your 3rd day is complete.
I looked at the diet and all the comments and thought, "Wow, if this works, this would be awesome!" It's very easy to follow and very inexpensive to do as well, which is a major factor for me. 3 days out of my life for around 10 pounds, heck yeah I'll try it! So, I did. The rules state you must follow the diet EXACTLY, drink lots of water, you can use lemon/lime, salt and pepper for seasonings and you're supposed to do 3 days on the diet and then 4 days of regular, healthy eating.

Day 1- Monday- 7/30/12
I weighed in this morning after I woke up and used the bathroom, I will not share that number but I was glad that it had gone down since my previous weigh in. 
Breakfast: 1/2 a Grapefruit, 1 slice of toast, 2 tbsp of Peanut Butter and one cup of coffee or tea
With this, I did exactly as it called for. I did have crunchy peanut butter because I love it and one small drinking glass of iced tea with lemon.
Lunch: 1/2 cup of tuna, 1 slice of toast and one cup of coffee or tea
I realized that a 1/2 cup of tuna is one regular can. I seasoned it with lemon juice and salt and pepper. 
Dinner: 3 ounces of any meat, 1 cup of green beans, 1/2 a banana, 1 small apple and 1 cup of Vanilla Ice Cream
For this meal I had 3 ounces of grilled chicken breast that I seasoned with salt and pepper. I had 1 whole cup of cut, steamed green beans (and man, that was a LOT of green beans!) The only other thing I did here was wait about an hour after eating dinner to have my ice cream, which was delicious!
Besides the 2 glasses of iced tea I had, I also drank a half a gallon of water throughout the day, sometimes with lemon in it. 

Day 2- Tuesday- 7/31/12
Breakfast: 1 egg (boiled, fried, scrambled), 1 slice of toast and 1/2 a banana
I scrambled my egg seasoned it with salt and pepper.
Lunch: 1 hard boiled egg, 1 cup of cottage cheese OR 1 slice of cheddar cheese and 5 saltine crackers.
I forgot how much I LOVED hard boiled eggs. That was delicious, as was the slice of cheddar cheese. I am not a fan of cottage cheese, so I chose the slice of cheddar. Want to know how to make the PERFECT hard boiled egg? Click HERE. Lunch was truly delicious, I could eat this on a regular basis.
Dinner: 2 hotdogs (no bun!), 1 cup broccoli, 1/2 cup of carrots, 1/2 a banana, 1/2 cup Vanilla Ice Cream
Hotdogs are gross, y'all. I am planning on doing turkey or even soy ones next time because...bleh. I steamed my broccoli and ate my carrots raw. I also waited an hour after dinner to eat my ice cream.
Today, as I'm sure you noticed there is no drinks allowed besides water. I was outside in the heat of the day today and drank about a gallon of water and sometimes had lemon in it.


Day 3- Wednesday- 8/1/12
Breakfast: 1 slice of cheddar cheese, 5 saltine crackers, 1 small apple
I messed up this morning. I ate a slice of toast (that I'm supposed to have for lunch) instead of the saltines by mistake. Oops.
Lunch: 1 hard boiled egg, 1 slice of toast
Instead of the toast that I accident consumed this morning with breakfast, I ate the 5 saltines in its place. I found myself to be hungry within about an hour and a half after eating this. Today was a LONG day. 
Dinner: 1 cup of tuna, 1/2 a banana, 1 cup of Vanilla ice cream
I was starving by the time dinner came around. The one cup of tuna, I ate out of the tuna packages instead of the can seasoned with lemon and salt and pepper. I couldn't finish it. It was too much. I was not a fan of tuna by the end of dinner. Once again, I waited an hour before eating my ice cream.
I also drank about a gallon of water today, sometimes with lemon. Today was by far the hardest, especially after like 2pm. However, I could not help but notice how UN-bloated I was! There was a significant difference in my abdomen, face, hands, feet, legs. I was very curious how the weigh in was going to go in the morning.

Day 4- Thursday- 8/2/12
Today I woke up hungry but definitely could not deny the flattening of my stomach and the lack of any bloat in my body that I could see. That my friends, felt GREAT! I told myself if I lost more than 5 pounds in the past 3 days that I would keep at the program. I weighed in...I lost 7 pounds. 7 POUNDS IN 3 DAYS! YAY! No, it's not 10 pounds, but darn it I couldn't be upset with 7 pounds in such a small amount of time.

I have lost 53 Pounds since March 14th. I am pretty proud of that. Since I have been at a plateau for a few months I am going to keep at the Military Diet.
Try it, and please let me know how you did!!!!