Parker's Baptism

The weekend of Halloween was a busy one for us. We had Halloween, Parker's baptism, and then Brooklyn's birthday.

The day after Halloween our crazy sweet Parker was baptized. It was such a beautiful day and I was beyond proud of him and his family. I cannot believe that he is 8 now!

It was a raining morning.

I wanted to get all the kids together for a picture since they were all in their Sunday best, but right before the picture the church's fire alarm went off and it scared Allie. So we didn't have any pictures with her. :(

Mandy had everyone over after and had some yummy food, her decorations for Parker's big day were darling! Good job Parker!

Halloween 2014

Halloween was pretty low key for us. The day before Halloween we carved our pumpkins. Brooklyn did pretty well, she wasn't grossed out about the insides at all. She scooped to her little hearts content.

On Halloween we just hung around all day watching movies until it was time to get ready for trick or treating. Brooklyn was so excited and was a champ. We went to the same neighborhood we have been going to for years, and they never disappoint. It was a good night!

Someone borrowed my wheelchair for a little bit.

  We tried to get our annual group shot before we were off. Here is the best of the best, I sure do love all these weirdos!

And the end of the day with her loot!

I survived!

Well it's been 3 1/2 weeks since my surgery and I survived, thanks to Dr. Lunt! :) I went back to work on Monday and thankfully my boss is letting me work shorter days until I'm 100%.

My doctor had initially set aside 1 1/2 hours for my surgery, well it ended up taking 3 hours. He said the fibroid was connected to more than he had hoped and it was larger than they had thought. The sucker was 10 centimeters big. I am happy to say it's out! Dr. Lunt said I also lost a lot of blood during surgery and had the nurses monitor my blood levels after surgery to make sure they were going up. If they didn't I was going to have to have a transfusion, but by night time they had gone up and it was not needed.

I remember waking up in the recovery room and the nurse was asking me if I was okay. I told her I just wanted to turn to my side because my back hurt but as soon as I tried to move the pain hit and it was bad! I cried and told her "they said it would be the same as my C-Section and it's not!" The nurse was so sweet and just was very patient with me. Then from that moment on, I can only remember waking up every few hours and asking for more medicine.

In the early evening Ashley and Dave switched and Ashley stayed the night with me. I was feeling a little better and tried to eat. Everything tasted weird. I was so hungry but nothing tasted good, but by 8pm I had some salad.

They also wanted me up and walking that night since I was leaving the next morning. I was able to do one lap around the hall, with help of course. Ashley was the best at taking care of me until I went home the next day.

I was in pain for at least a week and couldn't sleep very well. I stayed in the living room because it was easier for me to get on and off of the couch. I watched a lot of TV and played Candy Crush. But the first few days I was going bonkers, I hated just sitting there and not being able to do anything.

I am so grateful for Dr. Lunt, he called me the day I went home to check on me and also a week later to let me know that the pathology reports all came back okay. He had taken a picture of the fibroid after surgery and sent it to Dave. It took me a couple weeks to look at the picture, it freaked me out! But I so happy that he was able to get in there, get it out and take care of me.

My family was of course amazing by helping with Brooklyn and around the house. They took her for me so she wasn't stuck in the house with her mom that for some reason coudln't get off the couch. She is so cute though, she still asks me everyday "is your tummy better mom?" It is,  every day I get a more and more better.

Cards that Allie and Brookie made me.

FaceTiming my favorite little girl!

Halloween Festivities

This year was a little different since I was still recovering from surgery, but thankfully for my amazing family members we had a great one this year. Leading up to Halloween I asked Brooklyn over and over what she wanted to be. I was thinking Merida from Brave because she loved the movie, but one day she finally said Sophia from Sophia the First. I was happy she picked something herself.

A week before Halloween Paola had taken Brooklyn for the day and said that her neighorhood was having a Halloween party that evening. She asked to take Brooklyn and said I should go. It was only a week after surgery but we had a wheelchair and I liked the idea of getting out of the house. I am grateful that they had Brooklyn all day and got her ready because it took me forever to get ready. 

We had a lot of fun but it was a little awkward to be the random girl in the wheelchair that nobody knew. :) Dave and I booked the party early but Brooklyn stayed with Paola and her cousins and had so much fun! It was her first time wearing her costume.

Taking a ride in the wheelchair

I love this picture! They both won cupcakes but Brookie wanted to trade Emma, you can see that Emma doesn't like that idea.

The day before Halloween they let the girls wear their costumes to dance. They were so cute, but it was so hard to get a picture of them together. These girls are the best of friends, but three completely different personalities. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Love them though!

Dang you Fibroid!

Well if you don't remember I found out I had a fibroid when I was pregnant with Brooklyn and that is the reason I had to have a C-section when I had her. Dr. Lunt had said that he thought about trying to take it out during my C-section but he didn't want to risk anything. Normally fibroid shrink after the baby is born.

Fast forward 3 years later, I go to the ER for heavy bleeding. Turns out that little sucker is back and growing again. Great! The ER doc scared the crap out of me, but he referred me to Dr. Lunt for further care. I got in to see Dr. Lunt a couple days later and he gave me some options, but I had to have a biopsy first. After talking to him and seeing my options, he did say that I could have an MRI to see if I qualified for a procedure where they go through my leg and stop the blood supply to the Fibroid in an artery in my leg. The other option, a hysterectomy. My immediate reaction is to get the MRI and even after talking to family and friends they thought the same thing as well. I had to wait a week for the biopsy results, then once those cam back clear, I made an appoint for the MRI. I get the MRI and wait another week for those results. Well I finally get the call from my doctor's nurse saying I am NOT a candidate for this procedure and this leaves a hysterectomy.

I was a mess. I did not want to have surgery. I also always thought about having another baby, but I always had the fibroid in the back of my head. But getting this surgery meant no more kids at all. And it's SURGERY, I'm a little scared. Thankfully my doctor called me that night and answered a lot of my questions.

So this Monday I go in for surgery and get a hysterectomy, 2 months after the initial ER visit. I am beyond nervous and scared. Thankfully the hospital stay is only one night, but the recovery time is 6 weeks! I can do this right? I have such amazing support, we just need to get through it.

Life has been a little hectic. Brooklyn as been sick and even though I don't like her being sick, it has kept my mind off my own issues. She was having really bad tummy aches and it was causing her to get up in the middle of the night, grabbing her belly and crying. We took her to the doctor and he thinks she is just really "backed up". Tells us to give her Miralax and also a probiotic. But a day after seeing the doctor she woke up in the middle of night again crying. This was the longest she had cried about it, so we take her to the ER. After a sad night at the ER, he thinks its still her stomach, he gives her medicine for the pain in her tummy and tells us to follow up with a specialist if she doesn't get better. Thankfully she got better, but then followed that with a really bad cold. But today we are good!!

Being such a big girl at the doctor.

While we waited for her results to come back while in the ER, a sweet nurse gave her some toys and offered to let us pull her around in the wagon. She loved it, but was so tired she fell asleep.

She is so funny. She is talking so much, but she also gives us the biggest attitude. I think 3 might be a little more of a struggle than the "Terrible 2's". Here is just a little update on her:

When you ask her a question and the answer is no, she replies "No, not". 

She is OBSESSED with Play-Doh. She always wants to play with it, and I always have to clean it up. :)

Allie is at our house 4 days a week since Ash watches her. If she isn't there Brooklyn is so sad and she will cry. "Me just want my best friend".

She is so curious about her new cousin in Kristin's belly. She puts a baby under her shirt all the time. 

She loves to do her own make-up and is quite the artist.

She likes to save her own money for the carousel. "Mommy, this is my horsey money".

I feel like I need to update every month because she is growing and changing so much. After my surgery we will focus on Halloween and her 3rd birthday! She is so excited for Halloween and even picked her costume herself.