Rough day

So Kellen had a little bit of a rough day today. It was picture day at school, and for ONCE I actually got to be there when they took the pictures. I guess it kinda' went downhill behavior-wise after that. He didn't have an accident, but ended up biting someone and ignored his afternoon teacher. *Sigh* Apparently, he was pretending to be a puppy and bit his friend...what is that about?

We did get home and play a couple of games of Memory, so that was fun. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Outage

Oh boy...was last night a doozey! Kellen and I were unfortunate enough to be at the vet's office when electricity went out. Little did we know that it was the electricity for EVERYWHERE in the Brazos Valley. So, unbenownst to us, we drive home with Bailey from the vet's office, a trip that should take 7-12 minutes, depending on traffice, at 5:30 yesterday, but instead of ~ 10 minutes, it took us ~ 35-40 mintues to finally get home. When we did, we discovered that we had zero electricity....and we were with nothing (no surges, browouts, nothing) until after 10 PM last night.

Kellen was a good sport about it at first...we had peanut butter sandwiches in the table in his room - he was excited about having a picnic! When it got dark ~ 7:30, I put him to bed, but with the windows being open to try to get some air, the outside noises (people shooting off fireworks, loud vehicles, etc.) really bothered him, (he was crying, scared, etc.) so he and I snuggled in our recliner for a little while until I finally said enough of this and he and I both went to bed in Mommy's bed (which was a treat for him).

As he was going to sleep, Kellen kept saying, "Mommy, I think the electricity will be back on when I wake up, right?" He was so cute about it! And, it was kinda' difficult to explain electricity to a 3-yr old...I went with, 'You know how your toys need batteries? Well, the lights, TV, computer, refrigerator...all of those things need electricity to work. You know sometimes when the batteries don't work anymore that it makes the toy not work, well that's what going on right now. There is no electricity coming for anything in the house to work.' I think that kind of worked to help him understand, at least somewhat, what was going on...

When the electricity came on for good last night ~ 10 PM, it woke me up - so I went around the house closing all of the windows, turning off lights, etc. Man, it's amazing how dependent we are on the electricity!

Well...today I get to work and it felt like I was walking into a sauna. Apparently, there is a cool water outage - and the cool water helps the HVAC system cool. And it seems that it wasn't just my building that was impacted - it was most, or all, not quite sure about that, of West Campus. This morning the boss just told us if we couldn't take it to go home and come back after lunch...about half of the administrative office chose to do that, but I was really trying to get some stuff done and couldn't. After lunch, a little better, but not much, so at ~ 2:30 - we all left, with permission and blessings from the boss. Yay!

So, I had an afternoon to run errands! I went and looked at beds for Kellen, returned some things to a couple of stores, and then went movie crazy at Wal-Mart! Kellen got a new VeggieTales DVD and then I bought The Little Mermaid, which was released on DVD yesterday, Cinderella, and the new X-Men DVD (the one that Matt promised to take me to see in the movie theater, even though he went and watched it with someone else - can you tell that I never did get to see that in the movie theater?). I picked Kellen up early, we went for a sno-cone, and then back to the house. And he's getting to watch his new VeggieTales as a treat tonight.

Then he's getting in bed on time tonight, because the season premiere of LOST is on! Whoo hoo!!

Possible explanation

For still being so tired....despite being in my 2nd trimester.

The doctors watch my thyroid levels REALLY closely when I'm pregnant, and I just got back some numbers that MIGHT explain why I'm still SO TIRED! The TSH has an "normal" range; however, my body (and the doctors) like for me to be at the lower end of this range (~1.0). My levels are currently at 3.3 (high end of the normal range is 5.1) - I was a 0.2 the last time I went in. So, needless to say, the doctor upped my dosage of meds...During my pregnancy with Kellen, we ended up tripling the dosage, and this is the first increase of my meds with this pregnancy. He wants me to do a gradual increase - 2 different doses, 1 4X/wk; 1 3X/wk, for 4 weeks then go completely on the higher dose for another 2 weeks, then run more lab work. Keep your fingers crossed that this will help some with my energy level!

Not YET!

Well, we told Kellen on Saturday morning that he was going to be a big brother. It was actually rather anti-climactic.

Matt and I called him into the kitchen, I sat him on my lap and started off with, "You know how you've been wanting a baby sister or baby brother?"

Kellen: "Baby sister!"

Mommy: "Ok, I know, baby sister. Honey, Mommy and Daddy can't control that, ok? Well, Mommy and Daddy are going to have a baby and it's growing in Mommy's tummy, see?"

Daddy: "Kellen, this means that you're going to be a BIG BROTHER!"

Kellen: "Yay!" Slight pause..."I want to go and play with Woody and Buzz in my room."

He slides off of my lap and starts to walk away.

Daddy: "Wait Kellen. Do you understand what Mommy and Daddy are telling you? You're going to be a big brother, are you excited?"

Kellen: "Yes. Can I go and play now?"

****

This morning on the way to school, I asked him if he was excited about being a big brother. His response,

"I NOT a big brother YET! Not yet!"

Well alrighty then!

Tug at the heartstrings

Uhh....Kellen was so disobedient after I picked him up from school yesterday...For every 5 things I asked him to do/not do, he disobeyed 3-4...Before DH went to work, he went into his room and told me, "Go away please, Mommy" I was suspicious, since he's wanted to be around me all afternoon, so I asked him if he needed to go potty or poo poo. "No" was the reply (and I asked in a variety of ways). Ok, no big deal, so I left the room AFTER telling him that IF he needed to go poo poo or potty, remember to tell Mommy so we could go on the potty and not go poo poo in our pants. And I left it at that. (I'm trying really hard not to push this aspect too much, or to get upset/frustrated when accidents happen - SO difficult!!)

About 5 or 10 minutes later, while Matt was getting ready for work, I hear him say, "Well, you need to go tell your Mommy." So I go to find out what I'm now supposed to know...I asked him if he had poo poo'ed in his pants. "No." I asked him if he was lying to me (and in case you're wondering - he knows what lying is and that is isn't allowed or tolerated). "No." Well, I told him that I was going to check and we walked into the bathroom and, sure enough, Kellen had poo poo'ed in his underwear. After getting him on the potty and cleaning him up, I looked at him and told him that I was sad that he had lied to me and that he was not allowed to lie to Mommy or Daddy. (I'm ignoring the fact that we had JUST had a discussion about the potty, because I'm trying a new tactic of not focusing on accidents that occur). However, the lying is a no-no.

So, as a result, he went to bed early last night (~ 7 P.M. instead of his normal 8 P.M. bedtime). As I tucked him in, I put some of the smaller toys that I don't like him sleeping with on his bookshelf to "watch him sleep" - he likes for his toys to watch him sleep...just a thing that he does. Anyway, I told him that if I came into his room and any of those toys were in bed with him, that I was going to take them away from him and out of his room. "Ok, Mommy," was the reply. A little time passed and I hear a knock on the door and a voice calling out to me. I go into his room and he doesn't want the music on. Ok, no big deal - turn it off. A few minutes later, knock on the door and, "Mommy, I need to go potty." Ok, open the door and make a trip to the potty - take him and tuck him back into bed and loe and behold, there are two of the small toys that he's trying desperately to cover up. Uhhh...So I ask him what he has and he tells me. I thank him for telling me the truth and remind him what the consequence of bringing them to bed was...and proceed to walk out of the room with them. A few minutes later, "Mommy, I need a hug." I walk into his room and he's still in bed, with his bottom lip pushed out far enough for a plane to land on it...I go and sit on the side of his bed and give him a hug and a kiss and tell him how much I love him. "I love you too, Mommy." Then I tell him that I'm sad that he lied to me and that he has to go to bed early, but that I still love him. His response, "I am sad too...I'm sad that I disobeyed you and got Timone and Pumba off of the shelf."

Oh my gosh! That just made my heart melt! I sometimes get so frustrated with things, but this was (hopefully) verfication that he IS putting together action and consequence...What we're doing IS soaking in...He understands, but still makes poor choices, but then again, don't we all sometimes?

Hapes family update

Ok...I've been promising for a while to give a family update since I've been so bad at doing regular blogs...

Aside from the tumble down the stairs this morning on the way to school, and subsequent busted lip, bloody nose, and bumped noggin' on the concrete (final blow to the little guy), Kellen's doing great! I really feel like we're getting SO close to being fully potty trained (except for night time, when he still gets a pull-up). We're working on a reward system...and I really need to work up a sticker calendar or something so that he has a visual, but haven't taken the time to do that yet. So far, his rewards have been the rental of a movie after a week of no accidents. The first week this was implemented, we started on a Wednesday and he made it, but we haven't made any full weeks since then. I think we might need to rethink that particular reward system...doesn't seem to be working out well for him and if he has an accident at the beginning of the week, what's the incentive for the remainder of the week? Definitely needs some more thought...*grin* but we're getting there!

Matt has another two weeks (7 shifts, he reminded me as he went to work today) at the Med as a full-time employee. He's desperately missing being in the "field" and will be going back to EMT work. This change of schedule will actually help him finish up with his remaining paramedic rotations (OR and a few hours of ER, then he can begin his ambulance rotations), then on to the National Registry Exam. He's already signed up for it...and it's a November test date, so pray that all goes well as we are now really down to the last little bit of this. There are several companies hiring in the Houston area, so we're pretty optimistic about the prospects for a full time paramedic position.

Probably the biggest Hapes news, which some of you may already know, is that we're having another baby...with an expected arrival of March 19th. As of today (if we're calculating everything correctly), I'm 14 weeks along...so any day now I should be getting my energy boost...Right? So far so good in terms of how I'm feeling. Some mild morning sickness, but mostly nausea, which has been cured most days by a chocolate milkshake from Whataburger. Those are really easing my stomach...and have been a staple in my diet for the past 2-3 weeks. We haven't told Kellen that he's going to be a big brother, but I think that he knows...He's been turning lots of his stuffed animals, and even a football at school, into babies...wrapping them in blankets, holding them, putting them down for naps, you name it. Although it's obvious that I'm in the early stages of a pregnancy, we're thinking that we're going to try and hold off telling him for a little while still...Matt says we won't tell him until he asks why Mommy's belly is getting so big, but I'm not sure about waiting that long (well, it really might not actually be that long, I guess).

Hopefully I'll be getting some more energy soon, and will do my best to be more regular about blogging and updates on the fam...

Wow-what a funny boy

I know that I've been horrible about updating and keeping the blog current, so I promise a Hapes family update soon; however, here is a funny exhange that occured at our place last night.

Kellen: Mommy, my slkdndsknlsest hurts.

Mommy: What hurts?

Kellen: My slkdkjest.

Mommy: What?

Kellen: (motioning with both hands to his chest) My ...est.

Mommy: Your chest hurts?

Kellen: NO, my breast hurts.

Mommy: Kellen, you don't really have breasts.

Kellen: (with a puzzled and surprised look on his face) I don't?

Hmmm

I wonder what scares Kellen when he's going to bed? Last night he was up later than usual because he and I went to my book club meeting, and I could tell the effects of this less-than-normal sleep today...the aftermath wasn't all that great, although last night he got rave reviews on his behavior. Anyway, I put him to bed earlier than normal tonight and about 5 minutes later, I hear him screaming in his room. It's an "I'm terrified" scream, too. I rush into his room and hold him, but I didn't really get a straight answer from him as to what was scaring him....he blamed it on a Mickey Mouse stuffed toy sitting on his bookshelf, but that was after I asked him and he looked around the room...like he was searching for something to blame this on. Wierd.

The Wiggles

I forgot to post about The Wiggles gig and Kellen, Maw Maw and I attended on Thursday night. It was at the Toyota Center and luckily, Maw Maw drove (thank you!). It took Kellen just a bit to "warm up" to the live show(read: about 45 mintues or so, actually), but he was enjoying it during that time, he just wasn't singing or dancing (which he doesn't do much anyway when he watches them at home). Once he finally got into it, he did start doing the motions, dancing, and singing, etc. He was just too cute!

I'll have to post pictures when this site will allow me to do so...I can't seem to get it to work right now.

Still going...

Well, we're still in the "choices" phase, although I daresay it's getting a little better (should I even write that?). Kellen hasn't quite been acting himself for the past couple of days, but I really think it has a lot to do with his bowel problems (yes, we're still having those - poor guy). After a couple of tries tonight he finally had a BM. I'll leave out the details other than to say that since it hurts him so badly to go, it's no wonder he tries to hold it all in...So, we're back on the Milk of Magnesia, like the doctor had recommended at his 3 year check up. I get to play chemist again with the dosage, because I'm NOT giving him the dose that the doctor recommended - Whoa buddy! This weekend I gave him 1/3 of the dosage that was recommended and he went some, tonight I upped it a little bit, and I'm wondering if it was the medicine that kicked into gear so quickly for him. Who knows? So I'll keep it at this dose for a couple of days and we'll see how that goes.

Anyway...

I asked Kellen a question on the way home from school today, and his response to my question was, "What are you TALKING about, Mommy?" - And to drive his point home, he held up both hands in the classic "huh?" pattern. He's getting so grown up with his language and word inflections. He just cracked me up!

Choices

Well, Kellen got to live out the consequences of his choices tonight. He and I were having a night to ourselves, and he asked to watch Madagascar...I decided to allow him (which may have been my first problem) and he sat sweetly on the couch to watch it. Then he proceeded to go through two sippy cup fulls of apple juice/water. A little bit later we were eating our dinner on the couch (we were going pretty informal tonight) and I asked him if he needed to go potty. He tells me no, so I let it go (he hasn't been having too many accidents lately). About 10 minutes later, he gets off of the couch and heads down the hall...seconds later I hear him calling me. Well, he tried to make it, but ended up having an accident on the floor right NEXT to the potty...and it was a big accident. So, I had him undress and cleaned him (and the room) up. While I was finishing the room clean-up, he walked into his room and started pulling out drawers (which he knows he's not allowed to do, by the way). So, he got a talking to for that one. Since it was close to bedtime, I went ahead and got his night clothes and a pull-up out for him - when he realized what I was getting out, he started to throw a fit. I told him that we were just changing clothes because he had an accident, that he needed to stop throwing a fit, and that if he threw another one, he was going straight to bed (without finishing the movie, which at this point in time was still playing in the living room). Not even two seconds later he throws another fit...so what do I have to do? Put him to bed. Period. When he realizes that I'm serious, he REALLY starts throwing a fit, tears streaming down his face, the whole nine. Well buddy, mommy warned you!

After he got into bed, he reminded me that we hadn't brushed his teeth (yes, he's obsessive about brushing and flossing each night - and we just started brushing in the sink and practicing our spitting) so we went and took care of that. Then back in his room - I tucked him in and turned his music on. Then he decided that he didn't want that music, so I changed the CD, only to have him throw yet ANOTHER fit because he didn't want the music he had just told me he wanted. Who is this child? So, another choice for him to make. He listens to the music that he asked me for or no music at all (which, to him...is unthinkable at night and naptime - we didn't start out that way, but transitioned unintentionally to that when he moved to the toddler bed). He chooses the music, but is still crying as I turn it on again. Tucked in yet another time and that's it. Close the door to his room and that's all she wrote.

He MUST be tired, because I haven't heard a PEEP out of that room for the last 20 minutes. Lord, please let my child be the one who crawls out of that bed in the morning instead of this tantrum-throwing toot.

So serious

This morning, out of the blue, Kellen tells me, "Mommy I want to talk to you."

"Ok sweetie, what do you want to talk about?"

"I have a question."

"What?"

Then he would proceed to ask about watching something on TV or when he was going to go to The Wiggles, etc. But he was so serious about it! It was really funny!

Progress

Well, we're making progress on the home improvements...Over the weekend, Matt and Adam worked on building the deck, and despite the rain on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon, we now have a deck and functioning stairs. Still needed = railing, hand rail for steps, and the roof...But it looks great so far! The guys did such a great job.

Kellen's birthday party was on Sunday...we had it at a pool here in town with great slides, etc. However, the party itself was in the kiddie pool area, which had one frog slide. The depth of the pool was perfect...not too deep so that the kids couldn't touch, but deep enough that they weren't in water just up to their knees. It was great!

It was a Cars party, so Kellen's cake had a track and Lightning McQueen on it...he was so excited! And he did just a wonderful job of saying thank you to everyone as he opened his presents...Yay! In fact, when I would say who the present was from, many times he said thank you and then walked to the kid and tried to give the present back to the kid...it was adorable! I had to keep reminding him that his friends were giving him presents...he just needed to say thank you! It was offically from 3:30 - 5:30, but we ended up staying until almost 7:00...the weather turned bad and drove us (as well as virtually all the other pool-goer's) outta' there!

And today I was called for jury selection...It took virtually all morning! The 15-20 minute break before the lawyers were supposed to ask selection questions, etc., turned into an hour and a half break...Well, come to find out, they came to a resolution during this time, which I guess was the best thing. And, it was a CPS case...not the type that I would have really wanted to hear, but we'll never know if I would have gotten selected or not. Hmmm????

Growing up

My little baby isn't such a little baby anymore! He turned three this week...I can't believe it!

His birthday party is this Sunday, so we didn't do too much for his birthday...I made him his dinner request (pasta - he is his mother's child) and let him watch a movie - Dumbo...One of the times that he was asked how old he was, he replied with, "Three...I'm getting old" - he's such a hoot!

We had his three year check up Friday afternoon...we wasn't shy with anyone in the waiting room, or any of the nurses, but when the dr came in, he decided to act like he didn't want to talk! What a funny man...

When I told him that we were going to the dr, he said that he wanted the dr to take his yawn out because he didn't want to yawn anymore. Then he said that he wanted to talk to the dr about making his poo poo not hurt him anymore...So yes, we're still having trouble with this. Dr's suggestion: 1 oz of Milk of Magnesia once a day, every day for a week to, in his words, "clean him out" - then maybe his body will get used to going every day, which should help the problem some.

Otherwise, he's doing well. He's slacked off on the growth curve, and is now at the lower end of what is considered normal for the growth pattern. He's only gained ~4 lbs since his last visit/check up and only grown an inch in height. So he now weighs 30.8 lbs and is 36 inches tall. The dr didn't seem too concerned about this, especially after I informed him of the types and quantity of food that Kellen eats on a regular basis. The nutrition in there, and he thinks the growth will catch up once he turns 4 or 5.

Birthday party at the pool for him this weekend, so I'll try to post as soon as I can afterwards, with pictures and all.

Not tired?

Kellen didn't get all of his nap out today...he slept from Conroe to CS, but wouldn't really go back to sleep again...so, just a little bit ago I asked him if he was sleepy and he responded, "Yes, just a little bit. I want to keep it safe in my mouth." Utterly confused, I asked him to repeat what he had said. "My YAWN...I want to keep my YAWN in my mouth." Then he let it slip and yawned, looked at me and said, "Well, there goes my yawn...I guess I'm not sleepy anymore."

Wild weekend

So I took off a little early on Friday to *attempt* to get out of town in time to get to the Astros game before it started...No such luck, we finally left town ~ 5 PM and headed to Conroe. We were listening to KSBJ (for those of you that are unfamiliar with this station, it's the Christian radio station out of Houston, 93.3 here, 89.3 in Houston). Their anniversary concert is this coming weekend, so they're having a contest for free tickets for the 24th caller during the new Building 429 song. Sure enough, on the way to Conroe, I heard this song and told Matt, "I think that's the concert song," then called into the station. Loe and behold, it was, and I was the 24th caller! I freaked out on the air (it was pretty funny to listen to when they replayed it after the song was over). So, I won 4 tickets to the concert, and my name went into a drawing for 20 more tickets and a super-nice guitar - they were going to have that drawing after the top 10 at 10PM on Friday night. Well, I didn't win that, but still ended up with 4 tickets! I was in a state of disbelief for quite a while. The funny thing is, I had been telling Matt that we really needed to go ahead and get the tickets, and we had planned to go online and purchase them Friday night! WOW!

Anyway, we made it to Conroe, then down to Minute Maid Park to watch the Astros...I'll just say...the fireworks were GREAT! (The 'Stros kinda' stunk it up on Friday night...actually all weekend, but anyway). The have fireworks, weather permitting, on Fridays after the games. They were awesome! And we had great seats for the fireworks, too..Saturday, I had a pamper morning at the salon I like there in Conroe, then Matt and I took the day for ourselves...Went and watched Superman (Wonderful!!), ate, got some coffee, shopped a little, and just hung out in Houston for the night. Date night!! Whoo hoo! (We've got to have those a little more often!).

We stayed in Conroe later than we had planned yesterday, and left ~ 1:30ish...Kellen slept the entire way in the car, went potty when we got into the house, then laid back down to finish his nap. THREE hours later, he woke up! Yes folks, 3 hours later...for a grand total of a 4 hour nap! It was unbelievable! Matt & I had taken the opportunity to take naps as well, so it was slumber-city at our place!

Then I tackled the bathroom and painted for several hours last night. And I'm almost done with that project!

Underestimated

Why is it that when you're (or at least me) working on a project the time-to-completion is grossly underestimated? I really thought I could get through with all of the trim work tonight with at least a coat of the color...but nope! After putting Kellen to bed virtually on time, I slaved away...and got half of the room finished (not a whole coat of paint, mind you...just the trim - well, the skinny areas of the wall got their first coat). Arg. And since it's almost 11...there's no way I'm going to stay up any later and work on it. I'm pooped! And sore...

Tomorrow is a new day...reset goals...finished by the end of the weekend? *fingers crossed*

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July...

Today was quite the odd day...the weather was overcast, stormy, rainy, sunny...I mean, I know it's Texas, but come on! For the most part, it stormed and rained, so we nixed our plans to go to the George Bush museum and festivities tonight. Kellen and I also didn't drive to Rockdale to see Gramma and Grandpa at Uncle Eddie & Aunt Glenda's because of the weather, either. So...poor little Kellen went a little stir crazy...and the added bonus: try to keep him quiet so that Matt could sleep! YIKES!

Apparently, we managed just fine on the quietness factor, because Matt was amazed when I woke him up at 5:30 to get ready for work...If he hadn't been laying down, I think he would have fallen over! He thought that I was going to tell him it was noon or something like that...but nope, he managed to sleep all day long without any interruptions (other than Bailey going in and out of the room).

So...Kellen got to watch lots of videos today, and in the midst of this, I managed to get started on the master bathroom paint project...Two good coats of Kilz on one side of the room and three good coats of Kilz on the other - I got a little off-sync there with my painting, and just don't have the energy to finish off the second half with that third coat tonight. However, what we managed to do was get the bathroom in such disarray that we'll be forced to finish the project quickly. *hah* Matt took the back off of the toilet, we're painting over the shower, nothing is hanging on the walls, so the bathroom is, for the most part, virtually unusable until this project is finished. So, that means I'm working on this every night this week until it's done! Judging by the rate that I was getting things done today, I'll should be able to finish the third coat of Kilz on the second half and possibly (probably) the edging with the actual color. Thursday night should be rolling on color (please let it take just one coat!), and perhaps the faux finish. Then Matt gets to put the bathroom all back together!

Let's all hope for some migraine-free days for Becca so that we can get this done!

Anyway...Kellen got to watch videos today, but I noticed that he just likes having them on in the background...He would be playing in his room and I would mention turning off the show, and he would (politely) ask me to keep it on. He wanted to play, but appeared to want them as background noise? Every so often he would run out (with the appropriate toy for the movie) and watch a certain part, or something in the movie would spark him to play something else (watching Shrek required all bicycle gear so that he could go and fight the "dragon" in his room - hilarious!).

I just can't believe sometimes that it's possible for him to crack us up more and more every day!

Fun night..

On the way to school today, Kellen and I made a deal that if he had no accidents all day, that after eating supper and when DH left for work that he could watch Lion King (he was begging to watch this movie, so I just had to put some strings to it and make it work for us!). This is a pretty big deal for him, since he doesn't watch TV/movies during the week - but hey, tomorrow's a holiday! Anyway, I picked him up from school and he hadn't had any accidents, so he got to watch his show...He was just being so adorable!

I did some quick projects around the house (ok...not quick, but I only worked 15 minutes at a time with breaks - the master bathroom is now taped off and ready for the next stage of the painting process, laundry is moving, dishes washed, etc.) then watched the end of the show with him...then he wanted to watch Veggie Tales (I relented - sucker mommy tonight, it would seem). Then I had the new Toby Mack CD in and it came on when Veggie Tales was over, and he wanted me to pick him up and dance with him...So sweet!

He even ate an entire green apple by himself as a snack while watching the video, and asked for another one that he so politely shared with me. Either I found the magic way to peel/cut the apple or we're just having a fluke day, because he'll ask for them all of the time, but take a bite or two and be done. Eating fruit! And liking it! I'm so overjoyed!

Oh...and it's the end of the day and still no accidents!! (But he went LOTS during the video/play time - every 15 or so minutes, it seemed!) Anyway, it was just a oh-so-fun night with my little man!

Ouch

So Kellen and I drove to Conroe on Thursday night so that Judy and I could leave first thing in the morning for the next step in my TMJ saga...we've decided to get a steroid injection in my jaw. This may not sound like a big deal...and really didn't initially to me at first, until the doctor told me that I would have to go under general anastecia (don't quite know how to spell that word right now, but you get the idea). So, I obviously had to have a driver for this occasion, and Matt had to work last night. I didn't want to put it off any longer, so Judy drove me and Kellen stayed with George. THANK YOU BOTH!

I really didn't think it would be too big of a deal and certainly didn't think the after-effects would stay with me as long as they have. The gave Judy the post-op directions (yes, it was actually considered an operation by that office and surgery (same thing, I guess) by my insurance) and a prescription for two medications...a pain reliever and an antibiotic. Took the meds with lunch after we got back to Conroe, and that pain med is stout! I had a salon appointment right after lunch (one that I had made thinking I would be just fine by then) and went in fairly woosey. When I came back from that, I tried to read some fluff magazines, but ended up taking a ~3 hour nap.

When I woke up, we all went to eat at an Italian food place in town so that I could take another round of meds (on a soft food diet today, so pasta I could do...*grin*). Kellen got spaghetti and meatballs, and his eating attempts had virtually the entire restaurant entertained! He wouldn't let me cut up his pasta, so imagine an almost three year old spinning his pasta on his fork and eating/slurping it up. He was quite entertaining and quite the little ham!

Anyway, just before going to eat Matt and I discussed our plans, and decided that it was better for me to stay over in Conroe so that I could continue taking the pain meds...I certainly couldn't drive while taking those things! Apparently, he had an idea that I would be in this kind of shape, but didn't think that I would agree with him, so he didn't share that with me. He was right...I wouldn't have agreed with him and I most certainly am being impacted by this much worse than I thought...

We'll take tomorrow (well, I guess today) and the plan based on how I feel. You may be wondering what the heck I'm doing up this late...well, I had that nap today and am on the meds, but I think I may have pushed through the groggy part to a state where I'm actually having a hard time going to sleep tonight. Just my luck.

Hopefully, this procedure will give my and my jaw some additional relief. Please pray that this works for me!