~~Yippee~~

~~Surgery update~~

Here is the before and after photo of my surgery. Before I had this beautiful princess keeping me company :) After....well I have a nasty looking neck!

The pathologists were unable to determine if it was cancerous or not. The doctor said that he has felt many, many of these and he wasn't sure either. He didn't want to go ahead and take my whole thyroid...because if it is benign he wouldn't be able to put the other half back in. However, if it is cancer....we will have to go back in and get the other half. The pathologists will have to grow out the nodule to see for sure. Keep those thoughts and prayers coming!

Happy Birthday Kendalan!!

Tonight we celebrated her birthday with family and friends. She was thrilled to listen to us sing Happy Birthday to her, blow out the candles and open her presents. She received a Disney Princess tea set, a Barbie Doll and a microphone. Our friend Sophie saved the day without even knowing it!! Kendalan had requested chocolate cupcakes with Strawberry frosting and that is exactly what Sophie made!! All in all it was a pretty good birthday even though we had to delay the celebration just a little bit. Happy Birthday Kendalan....we LOVE you BUNCHES!!!


I also found some really good deals on Easter Dresses at Cracker Barrel too. Actually, Kendalan found a dress she really liked and she wanted me to get it for her birthday. She was real happy when I picked out another dress for her and one for Jordis too! She had to try on the one dress as soon as we returned home.

Our baby girl is growing up. Friday, April 24th was Kendalan's 4th birthday. Because we walked in the March of Dimes/Walk for Babies at the zoo Friday evening, we put off the celebration until today. Friday Daddy and I did take Kendalan out to eat lunch. She picked Cracker Barrel! The staff was very kind to her and brought her a chocolate sunday with Kendalan's favorite....whipped cream and a cherry on top!

Surgery update~get ready, set

My surgery is set for 9am on Monday....I have to be at the hospital at 7am! And NO food!

Good things come to those.......

who wait! Mark had started to get worried that Kendalan was showing no interest in potty training. After going through this three other times, I had decided not to get upset or excited about it. I had a feeling that she would do it when she was ready. Sure enough, one day ZoraLin decided to take her into the bathroom and help her. This happened twice one day and that was all it took! We did pullups for about a week just to make sure she was ready and now she is in panties all the time! She even went all night in panties and woke up dry! She wears size 2-3T panties which are just so cotton picking CUTE! I couldn't resist taking a photo of her sleeping in them. Our baby turns FOUR years old this Friday!!

Just a little nervous.....

Okay....maybe a lot! The more I think about it, the more worried I am becoming about having my neck sliced open, literally! There are a lot of "What if's?" running through my mind. I am anxious to have the surgery done as I am having a lot of pain. Swallowing I can feel the lump and when I turn my head to the left it is painful. The doctor says that the nodule is putting pressure on the nerves in my neck and periodically I will have my right arm go numb. I don't like being put under anesthesia...but I can't imagine the surgery without it!

I am hoping that I will start to feel better after the surgery and see a big difference in how I feel. Right now I get tired so easily, I don't feel I am being the best Mommy I can be. Dear Lord, help guide the surgeon's hand.

Easter then and now

This is Easter 2008....what a difference a year makes! Our girls are growing up!!



This is Easter 2009 and the now infamous photo that took us all day to take.

Happy Easter!!!

We had quite the fiasco trying to get photos taken Saturday. The girls were so excited that the place we get photos taken had chicks, ducklings and rabbits again this year for Easter photos. Saturday was the last day for this opportunity and we had a noon appointment. We arrived a few minutes early and found out that their camera had broken and they were trying to get a new one right away. (Why they don't have more than one camera was my question!) Anyway, they were running about one hour late. The girls were getting very hungry and bored waiting that long, but once we got started it looked like we were going to get some really good shots.

After the photos were taken. Jordis had a birthday party to go to. Daddy took her and ZoraLin who was SCARED to death of the big Easter Bunny at the Mall. RaeAnne, Kendalan and I went to see the Easter Bunny, then ate at the Chinese buffet and then we wandered back to the photo studio to see if they had our photos ready to view. We patiently waited for others to finish picking their photos and while we were waiting for them to upload our pictures they helped three other families who came in to pick up their photos. Then the girl came over to me and asked me if my other girls were in the mall somewhere?! Seems that they had LOST our photos and we had to return last night at 7:30pm to have them retaken! Out of the batch of retakes, only one photo was half way okay....and if it wasn't for the fact that they had told us it was free because of all the mix up...I don't think that we would have even picked one! I will pick it up Tuesday. However, I think that the photo of Rae, Kendalan and the Easter Bunny turned out pretty cute!



After the girls finally went to sleep last night, the Easter Bunny's helpers were quick to get the baskets out and packed full of goodies. The Easter Bunny was pretty tired last night and it was still raining cats and dogs outside, so the baskets were left on the kitchen table. ZoraLin was the first up at 7am and of course, she had to wake up everyone else to let them know that the Easter Bunny had left them each a basket! They were very excited and each couldn't wait to see what the bunny had brought especially for each one!




It has been a cold, rainy Easter for us. What a good time to stay inside and color Easter eggs!

Happy Easter from our house to your house!!

Follicular Neoplasm

So they tell me. It is 2 x 5 cm. in size and is on my right thyroid gland. I felt a lump in my neck sometime in October. I was battling sore throat #23 of the season and I was rubbing my throat as I swallowed trying to see where it hurt the worst. At first I thought I was wrong, I must be pushing too hard on my throat and just think I feel a lump. But the lump was still there a few weeks later. ZoraLin had an appointment with one of our ENT's in December. So after he told me that her hearing was fine I asked him to just take a feel of my throat and tell me what he thought. He says, "Oh, there is definitely a lump, you should go see one of the endocrinologists." Of course, you can't just call the endo doc's office and get an appointment. You first have to see your primary physician who will decide what they want to do. (In this case, lab work and then a thyroid ultrasound.) Then you can get a referral to the endo Dr. who wanted to do a fine needle biopsy.

Then the endo doctor has the results of the biopsy. Next stop...back to the ENT surgeon who felt the lump in December! Surgery is scheduled for April 27th. They expect me to be off work for 2 to 3 weeks. Benign? Won't know until it is all removed and pathology has a chance to dissect it. Not exactly the vacation I was thinking of this summer. In fact, looks like it will be the only time off this summer because I don't have much extended illness time-off or vacation time to use. The endocrinologist tells me that for being a pretty simple procedure, it can really knock you for a loop. Just what I always wanted to be......loopy!!

Hard decisions....revisited.

Sometimes things don't always work the way we think they will. Take for instance, Pugston going to live somewhere else. The day that Pugston was supposed to go meet his new family, ice happened. Then work happened, then somehow I softened a little and maybe Pugston realized his days were numbered. After a new gate was installed to keep him out of the bedroom, bathroom and laundry room, we also "fixed" the stairs so he can not get down them. Of course, it is an extra step we must take to get around things too, but for Pugston and the girls....it is a great LEAP!



I'd say that Pugston may have figured things out at the right time and Mother Nature helped give him the extra time. He knows which girls to give his kisses too!