Christmas Program at Mother's Day Out

Last Thursday (12/17) Maggie's Mother's Day Out had their annual Christmas program. Maggie got to be a lamb. I thought that was quite appropriate! For most of the songs she mumbled just a little bit, but towards the end she got more comfortable and started singing

You can see the shadows of the shepherds on the wall behind her.
Maggie was checking out the girl who played the angel in the nativity.
Sitting with her "herd" of lambs and other animals waiting to go on stage.
Singing "Jingle Bells."
Everyone singing "Joy to the World". So cute!
Daddy made it to her program. She was so happy to see him.
Grampa John was still in town helping me after my surgery, not sure who that other guy in the background is.

Enjoying the buffet of snacks. She kept hopping around from friend to friend to eat with them.

We've got name-writing!

Maggie has stunned me once again with writing her name. All of a sudden, she's writing it all over the place.

This was the VERY FIRST time she wrote her name, on a card for Uncle Brian. Out of the blue, no notice given, no practice tries, she just wrote it. So sweet!

She wrote her name on the back of her party favor on Saturday.
At Mother's Day Out she decided to write it completely backwards.

Recovering!

I am recovering from my knee surgery. Below I've outlined a brief timeline of the past week.
Last Tuesday: checked in at the surgery center at 9:15 as instructed.
9:30 taken back to change into a lovely paper gown, given an IV and a bed.
12:30 (that's right, 3 hours later) Tyler is finally brought back. The admitting nurse forgot to bring him back.
2:30 anesthesiologist comes back to get me ready for surgery. The last thing I remember after they put the meds in my IV is the nurse asking if I was tired yet, and my reply was "No, I don't feel tired."
6:00 (or thereabouts) some nurse is roughing me up trying to get me to put my clothes on. I remember nothing of the past hour in recovery. Surgery went well, the doctor told Tyler several items that he could not remember.
That evening, I vaguely remember eating dinner, but I slept through most of it. I do remember yelling out to Tyler to "make sure to put the teacups away." We don't have any teacups - I was dreaming, but still talking out loud. Gotta love those pain meds!
Wednesday: slept most of the day. Took a lot of pain medication because it felt like I was being stabbed over and over any time I tried to get out of bed.
Thursday: finally able to stay awake for any period of time.
Friday: Mom went home. first time out of the house - went to my first post-surgery physical therapy appointment. It went well. Had Maggie to myself all afternoon. Let's not talk about how much TV I let her watch.
Saturday: have no idea what we did. Hmmm.
Sunday: made Tyler take me to church, and then home fellowship. Tyler's dad flies in.
Monday: First day not on pain meds. Yay! Clarity! Physical therapy went well, leg is still sore.
Tuesday: We drove out to see the progress on the house. Lookin' good. Forgot my camera - dang!
Wednesday: follow-up with the doctor and stitches out. He showed me all kinds of pictures they took during surgery of the inside of my knee. It was fascinating! I should've asked for copies, I could have posted them on the blog! I have been cleared to fly home for Christmas.

Today is the Big Day!

Hey internetz, I'm leaving the house shortly for my knee surgery. I'll let you know how it all goes.

Knee Update

Hey everyone, my surgery got bumped from tomorrow to Tuesday (12/8). Monday the doctor said I needed to have more mobility in my knee before surgery, because going in for knee surgery with a stiff knee makes it more likely that I would end up not regaining full mobility afterwards! And while I was disappointed in having to delay my surgery, I really don't want to have any additional problems (I inflict enough of my own). So next Tuesday it is.

Today in physical therapy I was able to get my knee to bend far enough to meet the doctor's criteria. It always feels like it is not moving as far as I want it to, so it was quite a happy shock!

And I am continually humbled and thankful for how much help all of my friends and the church have been throughout all of this. I have more people who want to help than I have need right now, it is just amazing. The Lord always provides what I need, right when I need it.

Thanksgiving, Part 2

Here are some more pictures from our Thanksgiving feast with Seth, Dixie and Zayli, and Seth's mom and step-dad. Our spread. This year everything turned out perfectly. Wonderfully moist turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, CHEESY green bean casserole (it is a superior version of the traditional casserole), stuffing, rolls, sweet potato and apple casserole, autumn salad and cranberry jelly. Mmm-Mmm!
Seth's mom set us a beautiful table for dinner.
Maggie and Zayli had a great time that night. Lots of running around, playing, screeching at pitches only dogs can hear, the works. Here they were dancing to imaginary Christmas music.And, finally, the funny picture. Maggie has been asking for weeks and weeks about punkinpie (she runs both words together - too cute!). She barely ate dinner wanting to have pie right away... so when it was finally time to have pie, the girls went in the kitchen, and we heard "we tasted it" from where we sat in the living room. And sure enough, they had, as evidenced by the poke holes in my once lovely pie!!!

Whoop There It Is!!!

We went out to our new house today to see the progress. It was quite a shock to realize that new house I was seeing in the distance as we drove down our future street was ours!!! We had no idea it was getting put up already.

This picture shows the crane lifting the last set of trusses on the front of the house. right as we drove up.
Here's the front. It will have some more character when it is all finished, and won't look so boxy. Unless you look at it from the sides or the back, then it is still boxy. But it will be our happy little boxy home. With an awesome forest to the right of our lot.
Tyler let Maggie play in the crawlspace. She loved it.
Here I am at the curb. No way I was going to try and navigate the uneven ground leading up to the house or the debris inside.
The view from the upstairs windows. When the leaves were still on the trees, those hills in the distance were quite the sight.
Our neighbors around the corner said they get wild turkeys and deer in their back yard all the time (theirs is kitty-corner to ours). He even let Maggie keep a turkey feather she found in the yard. Was she was excited about that!!!

I am continually thankful for our new house - I won't believe it is mine until all our stuff has been moved in, papers are finalized.

Thanksgiving Morning

Thanksgiving morning we have some traditions. First, instead of sleeping in, or getting up at our regular time, we get up early for the Turkey Bowl - a football tournament our church puts together every year. It stayed in the upper 30's all morning, with a little bit of wind, so after about 30 minutes I hobbled off the sidelines with Maggie and we camped out in the car to stay warm.
Then, off to church for the Thanksgiving service. We sing some hymns, read Scripture, and then people get a chance to share things they are thankful for. Maggie was thankful for Mama letting her crawl on the floor for part of the service...
Tyler did sound that morning, but got control of the mic anyway and shared what he/we were thankful for. It was very sweet.
Pictures from our annual dinner with Seth & Dixie forthcoming, I've got to get them off Seth's camera first.

So pretty much this picture represents my life

Here is the couch where I have to sit about 13 hours a day. And the brace that is the bane of my existence which I have to wear 24 hours a day except for a shower. And the paperwork from physical therapy today which contains many instructions for self-torture.
I went to the doctor again yesterday to confirm the MRI findings: torn ACL and a nondisplaced tibial fracture (I have a hairline crack on the exterior knob of my tibia). ACL surgery will probably happen next Friday. Until then, physical therapy every day to get back as much mobility in my knee as possible so I have better outcome post-surgery.

As for the crutches, I'll still be on them for 4-6 more weeks because of the fracture. Now, that sounds like a lot, but initially the doctor wanted me to be on crutches for 4-6 weeks for the fracture to heal, and THEN go in for ACL surgery and be on crutches several more weeks after that. Anyone else see a problem with that? There is just no way I can possibly be an invalid for 10 weeks or more.

I have been so humbled by not being able to do anything, especially with everything else that has gone on this year, and by how many people from church have volunteered to help us out in our time of need. An especially big thank-you to Barb Hudson (I've got to get a picture of her with Maggie) for grocery-shopping, rides to church and physical therapy and watching Maggie. Amazing.

And I'd like to make a public apology to everyone who has had to endure me crying on the phone. Or in person. Or both.

Footers are in!

Last week, 11/15, we stopped by our lot to see how the building is coming. The footers have been poured, the blocks for the rest of the foundation and the framing has been delivered.

The front of our house will face South, so here is looking East. See those woods? They go on for quite a while! Maggie and Daddy can play in there to their hearts content. I'm sure I'll post pictures of the fort they build in the future! Oh, and here you can see some of the footers.
More footers, and the blocks delivered for the foundation. and more glorious woods!
This is a view from the front of the property. The gravel is right about where the driveway will be. There is a small section of woods that will jut out past the boundary of our backyard, but we'll still see our neighbors.

I Love Those Little Surprises

"Mommy! Look it! I made a two!!!" And sure enough, she did. No prompting from me. Maybe she learned it at Mother's Day Out, but I've never seen any papers come home with a 2 on them, but here it is. I'm glad I took a photo, because I think after I took this picture she colored over it.

And on the Injured list: Melissa Spaid. Again.

Pictures first, then read the story.

Picture 1
Picture 2
Thursday I walked with Maggie and Zayli to the park by our apartments. I thought, "Oh, what a beautifully sunny Southern fall day. Let's go play!" We played with the other children at the park, we picked up acorns and threw them in the stream, and then, it happened.

We were chasing each other. I caught up to Zayli and picked her up, football style, and was running around the playground area to catch up to Maggie to pick her up, too. Well, I caught up to Maggie, we ran into each other, stumbled, and I got off balance. I knew I would crush Zayli if we fell together, so I let her go. She went flying out the side and did a belly flop on the ground, and I fell. SPECTACULARLY. Like someone should've been videotaping me I'd win the $10,000 prize on America's Funniest Home Videos spectacular fall.

In the process, my left knee bent quite oddly and in bad directions and popped a whole bunch and when I landed, I knew it as bad. I tried to get up, and my leg buckled from under me. I was totally discombobulated and it took me a couple of minutes to find my phone (I was sitting on it!) to call Tyler.

I had to have someone interrupt the Director's meeting to get him, and he had to come down to the park with a coworker to get me in the car. He even had to drive his car through the grass to the playground to get me. (see picture 1)

After much agony and crying, I was in the car with everyone. I called Dixie to explain that I nearly crushed her child & scratched her glasses, blew out my knee and we had to go to the hospital. We brought the girls to Tyler's work (they munched on ice cream sandwiches and hot chocolate while they waited for Dixie to pick them up - "Grandma Annette" is sure gracious with the snacks and ensured that those girls will love her forever!).

I never thought I would be in the ER two times in one year for my own injuries!!! I have one or several torn ligaments and get to visit an orthorpedic surgeon next week. In the meantime, I have a knee stabilizer (see picture 2) I have to wear all the time, can't walk and have to be on crutches, again. I HATE CRUTCHES! Oh boy!!!

Video: Maggie documenting how to get ready for bed

The other nigt Maggie started counting out the things we do to get ready for bed on her fingers. It was so cute, and I asked her to do it for the camera - it was not as spontaneous as the first time, but still cute! Enjoy.

Annual Gatlinburg Trip

Last weekend we went to Gatlinburg with a bunch of friends - no children! Maggie stayed at Dixie's and had a wonderful time. Mommy and Daddy stayed in a 6 bedroom (all with attached bathrooms) "cabin" in the "woods".
So it was really more like a cedar mansion. The entire house was spectacular.
Our gaggle at dinner. The Brooks, Dunns, Haskins, Us, McCauleys, Talleys and Parks all made the trip this year.
This was not my steak, but a representation of the CRAZY amount and awesome quality of food that always makes its way to Gatlinburg. We go home with almost as much food as we brought. So much good food with good friends!
We played games, took a trip to the outlet mall, and had a wonderful time.

Apartment Living

Junk Mail

We went to Gatlinburg this weekend, but I just wanted to let you all know that I've been getting junk comments on my blog... how bizarre! That means two things: 1) my blog is read by enough people that spammers have found us. 2) I may have to tighten up security with the comments. We'll see how it goes. If I get a lot more spam, I'll have to switch commenting to only those with Google ID's.

Trick or Treat!

This year Maggie really understood Halloween. And by understand, I mean, she realizes that she is going to get to wear a silly costume and get tons of candy. She was a "ballerina fairy" complete with pink hair to match her outfit. I think the fading bruise on her forehead is a nice touch, don't you?

I picked up this costume on clearance at The Children's Place outlet in Gatlinburg 2 years ago for $1.99, and Zayli used it last year. Best $2 I ever spent, except for maybe the princess costume that I got for the same price and she wore last year - which is now in her dress-up clothes and she wears it all the time... Anyway.

We took her to two events this year. Thursday our apartment complex had a "Trunk or Treat" party, where everyone brings their car to the community center and the kids can go from car to car collecting candy instead of going apartment to apartment. Tyler took Maggie, she had a great time, and got a bunch of candy. Tyler forgot the camera, so no pictures from this.

Friday CBC had their annual Fall Festival. I've never seen so many people there!!! Maggie had a great time running around with her friends. Didn't collect as much candy as I thought she would, but she had fun nonetheless. Plus, we stayed until the very end, and then just got to go around to the remaining buckets of candy and picked out a couple of our favorites.

Me and Maggie on the apartment steps. I found some awesome rub-on eyeshadow at Wal-Mart that looked kind of like a peacock, and you can't really see if in the photo but I fanned the back of my hair out like a peacock. Any excuse for crazy make-up!
Maggie and Daddy. She was NOT interested in having her picture taken again, she wanted to go to the gym and see all the fun stuff and eat dinner.
Sitting with Ellie and the other Maggie S. from church.
Here's Miss Bonnie, her Cubbies teacher at AWANA. Maggie loves Miss Bonnie, and asks each week if she will get to see Miss Bonnie at Cubbies.
Jumping in the moon walk. This one snapped right as she landed, look at her fun ribbons!
Fishing for treats.
And everyone remember this one from the past two years? Still her favorite booth. I had to escort her away before all the water was splashed out of the pool!
Maggie and Zayli.
A short video of Maggie and Zayli dancing, they were so sweet. We let them eat quite a bit of candy, so they ran around the gym nearly the entire time.


We got home pretty late, and she still needed to have a bath before bedtime to get all that pink out of her hair, but she zonked right out once she went to bed. I guess she didn't have too much candy!

Maggie's First Goose Egg

I'm not talking turkey, I'm talking giant welt on the forehead. Friday night, about 10:30 as we were finishing the move to the apartment, I hear crying in Maggie's new room. Serious crying. I run in, and there she is with her hand on her head, hiding a huge pink and purple welt on her forehead. It was late and we hadn't put her bed together, so she was just going to sleep on her mattress on the floor, and we put it by the window. She had run into her room to slide on her bed to get Lambie, and whacked her noggin a good one on the sill. We put an ice pack on it and gave her some Tylenol, and she was ready at that point to go to bed, moving wasn't fun anymore. Thanks, Jen, for helping me not freak out.

The next morning it had swollen up about 1/2 inch tall, 3 inches top to bottom, and 2 - 2 1/2 inches from side to side, and it actually was an egg shape with the wide part up at the top and the narrow part going down to about the bridge of her nose. This is the next morning. She would not hold still for a good shot (she was distracted by the empty house - we finished cleaning early Saturday morning).And tonight with some real attractive green/brown bruising that goes all the way down between the sides of her nose and her eyes on both sides. You can still see some of the swelling.
Is she her mother's daughter or what! Look at her ham it up for the camera!!!

We're Moved.

Our house closed, on time, Friday. We moved out Friday night (not sure why we always get the short end of the stick when it comes to moving - we moved in on a Sunday). A BIG HUGE THANK-YOU to everyone who helped. I did not take pictures of the move itself, I thought it would be rude to not be working, because we have TOO MUCH STUFF!!! Did you read the previoius post where I said we filled up a 14-foot moving van the prior weekend already? We filled, packed, stuffed a 24-foot van Friday. Like jammed to the gills, not getting anything else in there, please will someone put some stuff in their trunk we've got too much junk! Ok, moving on. I will not bore you with all my freaking out.

So here are some pictures from the week prior to the move. Oh the boxes EVERYWHERE.
Living room with boxes taped up and ready to be filled with stereo equipment.
The rec room piled up with our stash of liquor boxes (for packing, not from our stash), various and sundry items packed and ready to be packed. Also known as: a ginormous mess in every room.

This is photo evidence of a tradition Tyler started when he moved out of his parents house. In every place we've ever lived, once it is empty and cleaned out, we lay on the bedroom floor and stare at the ceiling. We go over the memories we made while we were there. Like the Mountlake Terrace condo: we started our newlywed life there and where the bus line was right outside our building that we caught each morning to get to work in downtown Seattle. The Everett condo that was brand-new and so nice but Tyler decided to go to Belmont 4 months after we moved in and changed our lives forever (for the good!). The Bellevue apartment that had the great kitchen, that was our introduction to Nashville. The blue rental house, the first stand-alone house we ever lived in, so much fun with friends.

And now our "red house" as Maggie calls it. I have not been real emotional about selling this house just because we always said we'd sell in 5 years, and it had been 5 years. I knew we wouldn't live there forever. When Tyler made the call to sell, I made a list of pro's and con's of the house, and I was content with his decision and looking forward to moving on. But on our way out as we went room to room reminicing, I cried in the powder room off the master bedroom. It was where we found out we were pregnant with Maggie. One of the best days of my life. Her room we can recreate and God-willing we'll always have her; but the little bathroom we won't have again. I do still have the positive pregnancy test in my sock drawer, so I'll be alright.

It was a surreal feeling Saturday morning as we drove away, knowing we won't be driving on these roads on the way to our house anymore. And I am OK with that. I am looking forward to our new adventure.