2012: The Year of All Things Awesome

Wow. Um.... hello, 2012. When did you get here?? I'm fairly certain I missed the majority of the past few months, so this whole "new year" thing kind of snuck up on me. After breaking my arm, discovering the bone tumor, and then having surgery on Halloween.... well, let's just say that there were a lot of heavy medications involved. October and November are a bit of a blur for me, but I think I started coming around somewhere close to Thanksgiving. The bone somehow managed to re-break a couple of weeks after the surgery since it was too thin to stabilize with a metal plate and screws (thanks, giant tumor), so recovery and physical therapy didn't go quite as smoothly or quickly as originally anticipated. All of that being said, please forgive my severe lack of blogging for the entire last quarter of 2011. Here are some of the highlights (that I can remember):

• The bone has finally healed, I've been doing physical therapy like it's the most important thing ever in the world, and so far I'm making decent improvements. The oncologist was impressed with my range of motion this week, so I have another month to continue improving before he determines if I will need another surgery to enhance my range of motion. Since I was in the sling for so long, a couple of spots in my shoulder joint have frozen up. The goal is to get them going with PT, but we'll have to see where we are in about a month. So far, so good!
• Both of my kids are being referred to an ENT this month. Logan is probably (definitely) going to need tubes after numerous double ear infections, and Abby might need to have her tonsils and adenoids removed. Abby is constantly testing positive for strep, so they are concerned that she might be a strep carrier. We should know more after their appointments on Jan. 17. Stay tuned...
• Logan is only a little over a week away from his first birthday! He is crawling at lightning speed, pulling up and cruising on everything, occasionally standing alone for a few seconds, and eating everything that is placed in front of him. This will be the boy that eats us out of house and home. He waves and says "bye-bye," and will say "mama" and "dada." He loves music, and his favorite songs are "Old MacDonald" (he sings the e-i-e-i-o part and always assumes the animal is a sheep by saying "baa baa") and "Jesus Loves Me." The current favorite game is to point to everything, say "dat," and then wait for someone to give "dat" a name. He also enjoys babbling at the top of his lungs while waving his arm around in the air--kinda looks like he's working on a hellfire and brimstone sermon, if you ask me. :) He loves being in the bathtub and is constantly trying to sneak his way into the bathroom when no one is looking. Favorite books include "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and "Ten Friendly Fish." Did I mention he likes to eat?? He currently weighs in at a whopping 26 lbs! He is SO tall, and I'm pretty sure his first shoes will be a size 5 or 6.
• Abby is nearly 3 1/2 years old now, and she is ALL girl. Current loves include Fancy Nancy, Pinkalicious, coloring, playing dress up, Barbies/princesses, tea parties, and books. Lots and lots of books. She is getting a lot better at sounding out words, and she can usually read phrases like, "Hop on pop" and "I am Sam." (Can you tell we like Dr. Seuss? :)) She is dying to read and write, so we're doing a lot more of that than I would normally do with a 3-year-old. She loves to "share" with her brother.... which usually translates into, "Abby, why did you just take Logan's toy away from him?" "Because he's sharing with me!" Her logic is astounding sometimes. :) She's my big helper!
• Casey is now the Mailing Center Supervisor at Harding. He started this summer as the Postal Services Technician, and then he was promoted and given a raise in just 3 months! I am very proud of him, and he loves his new job. Hallelujah!
• I somehow managed to finish my grad school internship course this past semester, so there are only two classes left this spring! If I somehow manage to survive this semester, I should graduate with my M.Ed. in Early Childhood Special Education in May!!! Again--Hallelujah!

And now..... for the moment you've all been waiting for.... pictures! It'll be hard to narrow it down since there is so much time to cover, but I'll try to just pick out my favorites. I hope they are sufficient, and I'll try to post more on here soon!

Bella, Adalyn, and Abby dressed up for Halloween at school

The invalid, the pumpkin, the princess, and the dad at our church Fall Fest

My sweet babies :)

Grandma came to visit!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sweetest picture ever of my precious boys

Logan's early b-day party in Ohio--just pretend Casey's eyes are open. :)

"Look, Ma--two hands!"

I hope that made up for lost time. Blessings to all of you who made it through this post... and thanks for actually checking this blog. I promise we're still here! We have big plans for this year, and I just know that good things are on the way!!