Lunch convo with a 3 year old boy

We were eating lunch at Chik-fil-A, aka Chickenland, just Luke and I. He picks up one of the tasty fries in his small hand. He grasps it fully in his palm and says, "Its a gun!" He then proceeds, to 'shoot' it around the room. Seconds later he takes a huge bite, snapping the 'gun' in half. Do mothers of girls ever have episodes like these? I think not. God has quite a sense of humor. And for the record... it did look like a gun.

Things the doctor doesn't tell you before surgery...

Well... my doctor failed to mention that I would not be able to drive for a week after my bladder repair surgery. THAT would have been good information to have, considering life continues moving after you leave the hospital. Our friends have rallied to my side and have picked up or walked Jacob home from school, taken Luke for the morning on play dates and even delivered us meals at night. What would we do without them? God only know and He's not letting us find out. Thank you! Thanks to all of you who have taken time and energy away from your families and given it to ours. Bless you! Only 4 more days of driving restrictions and then look out, I am on the road again!

Drama. Drama. Drama. In Spades...

Yes, I am well aware that it has been a trillion years since my last posting, but my life has been chock full of drama. So much drama, it will take me 5 posting to catch you up. I have decided to dribble rather than dump my life for the last few months on you. You are so very welcome!

First post is regarding my eldest son, Jacob. See photo below- POST SURGERY!

Look a few millimeters over from his inner corner of his eye. The red lines are the sutures.

Last Saturday, we were shopping and we got tangled up in the store and one of the clothes hangers dangling over my arm, dangled itself into his right eye. Upon, unknown removal by me, by turning away from my son, it created a full-thickness tear of his upper eyelid. That created a centimeter long tear which looked like a triangular chunk of his eyelid was removed.

We proceeded with great alarm to the urgent care center, who upon taking my insurance information, refused to touch him and sent us to the ER next door. The ER, upon taking my insurance and admitting us, refused to touch him and transferred us to Children's Medical Center in Dallas. The injury was at 3pm, we got to Dallas at 6:30pm and he had surgery at 11:30pm. The poor thing not only never had ANY pain meds, he also didnt eat or drink for over 12 hours that day.

He did amazingly well. He was at times even charming the nursing staff into thinking that putting an IV in his arm was going to be "no big deal." Ha. Double Ha. By the time the surgery took place, he had exhausted every flexible, patient and pain-controlled nerve in his body. He was worn out. It took us 3 hours to wake him up post surgery to get him home, because they had to give him double the sedation meds to calm him down.

The pictures above "are not that bad" unless its your child needing sedation and you have to sign papers saying that you know its a possibility that your child may never wake up from the procedure. Thank you Lord for my husband, friend's prayers and my faith in God. I was a wreck and cried the entire surgery.

Jake is 100% in that eye. His vision was even 20/20 before they did the repair. The doctor said he was very, very, very lucky. No cornea damage and a few millimeters to the left and he would have needed tear duct repair, full admit to the hospital and a trip to the operating room. She says luck, I say God's Providence.

The time has come...

Here are the long awaited Halloween photos of Jacob and Luke. Oops! I mean Optimus Prime and Spiderman Jr. strutting their stuff. Yes, these are my actual children, even though you cannot see their cute and adorable faces.

Check out these cool Halloween bags my Dad sent them last year. They even talk when you push a button on the handle. Great for 3 year olds who are going through a shy phase. It says 'Trick or Treat' and 'Thank you.' Jacob's was a skeleton hand and Luke's was a witch claw, complete with creepy voices.

And here are the silly pumpkin faces they made with Grandpa and Grandma Sterzik's help on their last visit. I especially like the snot coming out of Jacob's pumpkin nose! It's great being the mom of 2 boys- grossness is encouraged!

Good News!

This is my cousin Alan. He and I are only a few months apart in age. We got married about the same time, and have children around the same age. He and his wife Melissa live in Arkansas and we don't get to see each other often. When we were kids, we were really close. I'd give him my corn on the cobb and he'd give me his black-eyed-peas (it was a great trade!) We even bonded over our love for The Dukes of Hazzard and beating up our younger cousin Ryan (don't ask!) Anyway, he found out last week that he has cancer. This past Monday he went to Little Rock and underwent his surgery. The surgery took approximately 3 1/2 hours. The surgeons did remove the tumor, the kidney, the entire spleen, and a lymph node close to the kidney. Afterwards, the doctors told Melissa that the surgery went extremely well. Recently, they got the test results back that the lymph node was completely free of cancer, which is fabulous news. As far as chemo and radiation, I haven't heard, but I would appreciate it if you would keep Alan, Melissa, Sydney and Carson, as well as his parents Rusty and Cookie and your prayers. Pray that their faith would not be shaken and that God will prove Himself faithful to them. He may get to go home this weekend if all goes well.