Tonsils

My baby right before surgery

Tough girl

No operation can hold me down!!!

My baby girl or should I say BIG girl had her tonsils and adenoids removed yesterday.  We had been planning on doing this procedure for quite some time knowing that her tonsils are much larger than they should be. After finding out that one of her tubes (put in when she was 2),  had not fallen out on its own and needed to be surgically removed, we decided to go ahead with the tonsillectomy so we only have to put her under once. We have been preparing Rylee for the surgery for months now.  Reading her "Good Bye Tonsils" book, letting her look at her tonsils in the mirror, talking about the silly mask she will have to wear and how she will have to be asleep for the surgery. Every doctor we talked to said it is best to wait until they are 4 so they are old enough to reason with but I am not so sure EVERY 4 year old can be reasoned with! ;)  After arriving at the hospital at 6AM, we had some issues getting her to drink the silly juice to relax her.  As a matter of fact it was horrible.  We ended up having to hold her down forcing her to drink it which is not the scenario I wanted right before having an operation!  They literally had to pry her out of my arms to take her to the operation room. Not fun.  The surgery lasted about an hour and then we got to talk to the doctor before she woke up.  He removed an old tube and actually put new ones in as well.  He was glad we agreed to the new tubes as her ears were packed with fluid and needed a new set to be able to drain properly.  He said she most likely was having a very hard time hearing for a while.  :(  I feel bad.  I had no idea.  It might explain some of her behavior lately though! He also said she had about a half inch between her tonsils to get air through when she was sleeping.  I am SO glad we got them out. Hopefully she will sleep much better. She woke up pretty upset but was quick to calm down once we told her she could go home.  My little angel did so good.  I can't imagine how scary something like that is at 4 years old.  She is a tough cookie.  The hardest part about the recovery is getting her to take her pain meds (which taste horrible) and do her ear drops.  Other than that she is doing awesome.  No nausea from the meds or even much complaining of pain.  She is drinking plenty of fluids, and even ate some scrambled eggs!  I think she will be right back to where she was by Friday :)  Glad we got that over with!!!
PS Thank you John & Lisa for helping out with Parker so we could be there for our girl and give her extra one on one TLC :) :) :)

Christmas 2010

Well let me first start off by saying I feel like the worst parent ever considering I didn't video ANY of Christmas and didn't take near enough pics.  What was I thinking?  I guess I was NOT thinking or just too distracted by the craziness ;)  Poor Parker...we have tons of video of Rylee when she was a baby but very very little since Parker has been born.

Now with that off my chest lets talk about Christmas!  These kids got SO much stuff.  The "big" gift this year was a swing set for the back yard from Nonnie & Pop Pop aka John and Lisa.  The kids LOVE it and want to play on it all the time.  Parker will go to the door several times a day, grab his shoes "sheez" and point to the door and say "ouusyy" (outside).  I am so excited to have something for the kids and their friends to play with outside.  It is not one of the super high  play sets so I am not so paranoid about them falling.  We went to Adam's cousin's house Christmas Eve day to celebrate with the Brahm family.  That night we went to John & Lisa's to celebrate with them.  Christmas morning we were able to spend with just the 4 of us at home, then to my mom and Wade's for lunch (Prime Rib yum yum) then back home that evening and Nanny & Poppy aka Dad & Sherry came over.  WHEW.  It was a crazy 2 days but so fun and it is so wonderful to have so many people to share the holidays with.  The kids got a ton from Santa. Both kids got Pillow pets, Rylee got a Strawberry Short Cake house, clothes, jewelry box, American Girl doll, Barbies, movies... too much to name.  JP got clothes, lots of toys and tools which he loves!  We have been struggling with finding toys he will actually play with but the tools were a huge hit.  He carries around the hammer 24/7.  Thank you so much to everyone for the amazing gifts!!!!!  We are so grateful. Now we just need to fine a place to put everything :)

We are looking forward to New Years.  We are having our bff's over (Rentfro's & Knott's) to ring in the new year.  We always have such a good time and the kids do too!  We have been so blessed in 2010 and I can only hope that 2011 will bring just as much joy.  These kids are growing up too fast and I want to soak up every second with them.