A Visit From Andue!

My sister was out of town last week and I had the privilege of picking Andrew up from school on Thursday. Jacob was so excited he was going to come over and asked about him alllllllllllllllll day long. I kept telling him that AFTER his nap, Andrew would be here!

It was a pretty day, but we still had a bit of snow on the ground, so Andrew decided he wanted to take Jacob out to play in it. It all looks a bit like torture to me, but Jacob loved every second of it!

Andrew throwing the ball....


...to bounce off Jacob's head.

Andrew teaching Jacob how to make snow angels.


Andrew teaching Jacob how to eat snow. Look out for the yellow snow!!!


Wrestling in the snow...


Jacob LOVES Andue!

Yes, it definitely all looks like torture to me, but they sure did have a blast. Jacob even cried when we brought him in. Andrew felt bad for making him cry.

Mee-sick

Jacob loves mee-sick (music). He has learned how to turn the CD player on in the living room and his bedroom. He enjoys that, but nothing tops putting the mee-sick on from Daddy's iTunes! I think this is one of Jacob's favorite past-times with his Daddy. He could sit and listen for hours.

Last weekend, Chris and I were both getting ready for the day, so Jacob was on his own to entertain himself. Chris put on the iTunes on our desktop and blasted it loud enough to hear it in our bedroom across the hall. As we were getting ready, we discovered Jacob was being incredibly quiet and anyone who has had a toddler before knows that if it gets too quiet, you are in trouble! So, we went looking to see what he had gotten into. This is what we found......

Yup, he had put himself up in the chair and was happily relaxing, listening to Daddy's iTunes. When I came in the room he proudly pointed and said, "Mee-sick Mama!"

Update

Many of you have sweetly asked about how I have been doing since having my wisdom teeth removed, so I thought I would give you an update.

It has been two and a half weeks and my mouth seems to be healing well. I am able to eat better foods...more solid foods. I've been able to eat meat again (yay!) and pretty much everything I used to. I still go slowly, but that isn't a bad thing since I realize I am full sooner!

My lip and chin, however, remain numb, along with my lower teeth from the front all the way around the back right side. Chewing with numbness was at first a real challenge, but I am adjusting to it and have been able to chew some and actually bite things.

I went for a follow up appointment this past week on Thursday. The surgeon said my gums "looked good." I'm not sure if that means totally healed or just healing. I forgot to ask! He told me to keep doing my warm water rinses, so I'd guess there is still some healing to be done. We discussed the numbness and there are several potential reasons and outcomes: 1) The blood clot from the healing gum is pressing against the nerve, causing the temporary numbness. Once the wound is completely healed and the blood clot is gone, the numbness will subside. This is the shortest term numbness I could have. 2) During the surgery the nerve was bumped or bruised by the root of the tooth that was removed. The nerve is damaged and could take 2-6 months to heal. Most or all of the numbness will eventually subside as the nerve heals. Some small bits of numbness may remain. 3) During the surgery the nerve was completely damaged. The numbness would remain permanent and I would just adjust to how it felt and stop noticing it as much. There is no way for the surgeon to know what situation is present in my case so all we can do is watch and wait.............. Obviously my vote is that it is option 1 or 2 which would mean I will eventually regain most, if not all, of the feeling in my lip and chin. He asked to continue to follow me, so I have to go back again in a month.

I'll keep you posted...........

Vocabulary

Jacob's vocabulary has recently exploded and he is up to small sentences now! His current favorite is to add "too" on the end of every sentence he says. For example, yesterday, I went in to get him up from his nap. When I got in his room, he jumped up and said, "Elmo bed, too! Cookie Monster bed, too! B bed, too!" Or this morning, "Daddy, church too? Ella, church too? Nonna, church too? Mommy, church too?" Silly boy.....

Here are some of our current favorites:

• Cookie Monster--This one is odd since he can definitely say cookie. Sometimes he gets it dead on, Cookie Monster. More often, it is "Monkey Monter."
• Jacob- Geecub
• Brownies-Browns
• Truck-Chuck
• Green- Geen
• Grandmama Kay- Mama Kay
• Yes-Yeah
• Jesus- Gee-suz
• Hair Cut- Hacut
• Red-Rett
• Read- Reat
• Church-Turch
• Wide-Why

Another current favorite of ours is to ask Jacob who loves him. His most frequent first response is "Mama Kay" or "Aunt Jenn." We'll go through the list together, naming everyone off, but he has finally started to add God and Jesus to the list! I can't tell you how that makes Mommy's heart happy!

I wish I could include sound bites on here because typing it out just doesn't do it justice. He has become quite the chatterbox and will repeat everything you say! Time to be careful about what we say!!

It is so hard for me to believe that in just a few short days he will be 23 months old and is only one month away from his second birthday. How on earth did that happen?

Rocking is the Greatest Gift

We've had a rather bizarre nap day at our house today. We put Jacob down a little later than normal, but nothing totally out of the norm for a busy day. He seemed incredibly disinterested in napping, which is a first. For those of you who know my son, even a little bit, you know how much that boy LOVES to sleep and how he relishes nap time each and every day. So it was odd to Chris and I today when he seemed a little put out with us that we were putting him down to nap. I think he just wanted to spend more time with his Daddy....


So we got him down around1:30. He usually goes down sometime between 12:30 and 1:30, so again, it wasn't that odd. We got him settled in and went to workout. He kept on talking and chatting away, so around 2:15 we went back in to check on him. He had dirtied his diaper! No wonder he wasn't going to sleep! So, we changed him, he snuggled and rocked with Daddy for a little while, and we tucked him back in.

Chris then came to the living room to participate in nap time himself and I got on the computer to do a little catching up. He continued to talk. He sang his ABC's, counted, named everyone in the family (multiple times), and did a lot of speaking gibberish. He was definitely not at all interested in nap time, for some odd reason.

At 3:00 (a full hour and a half since we put him down), he was still going strong so I decided I should go back there and perhaps get a little firm with him about his nap time. When I went in the room I discovered he had pitched his blanket, his B, and his stuffed Elmo out of the bed onto the floor, which was a first. Again, no wonder he wasn't sleeping. The boy simply cannot sleep without his B.

So, I scooped everything up and put it back in the bed and pulled Jacob out to snuggle and rock for a little while. I thought I might be able to settle him down. We rocked about fifteen minutes and he fell asleep within about five.

As I sat and held him, I realized what a gift rocking my baby boy really is. There, in the quiet of the house, I could just hold him and study him; plant memories in my mind and soak it all in. I saw how dark his eyelashes are in contrast with his fair, delicate skin. I noticed the little vein that runs across the bridge of his nose is becoming more noticeable again. His little lips purse to make the sweetest red/pink bow on this face. His nose is perfect....I don't know whose nose it is....but it is perfect. I settled in to the rhythm of his breathing, in and out, in and out.......... His hair is just like the color of mine and Chris' and it is the softest hair ever; it is still baby hair. It hugs his head and scalp perfectly. He settled his whole body against mine with complete abandon and trust. Trust that I would protect him and trust that I would hold onto him. I could hear him sucking his thumb and then once he drifted off to sleep, I could feel the weight of his arm grow heavy as the thumb fell from his mouth and the sucking stopped. I could feel his little body start to twitch as he had his first moments of sleep, just like his Daddy twitches as he drifts off to sleep. I thought about him growing up and realized that it is the memories of moments like this that make mother's cry at their son's weddings. I remembered the little saying that says, "a daughter is a daughter for life, but a son is only a son until he takes a wife." I remembered a conversation I'd had with my mom over Christmas where she told me she could no longer picture my brother as he was when he was a little boy. She couldn't imagine what it was like to have him lay his sweet head on her shoulder or come running to her to kiss his boo boos. I don't want to forget how it feels to hold my sweet Jacob Boy in my arms and rock him to sleep. Perhaps by writing it down, I won't forget. I don't know how many more times I'll get to rock my baby boy to sleep so today, I thank God for the gift of rocking with him.

I think rocking is one of the greatest gifts God gives mothers. I know it is not a mistake that God gave us this wonderful, beautiful gift. I think He rather enjoys those sweet moments Himself.

Friends

I don't know what I would have done this week without the gift of many wonderful family members and friends. Everyone has done so much to feed my family, help me care for my home, and entertain my son. I am grateful beyond words for the help, love, and sacrifice each one of you made to make this week more bearable for me! You have given me a wonderful gift.

As an update, I continue to make progress each day. My mouth is still sore and yes, my lip, chin, and bottom teeth continue to remain numb. The numbness is becoming more of a nuisance now as I am trying to eat more "solid" food. I'm having a hard time chewing on the side that remains numb and cannot tell if I have spilled, drooled, or dripped on my face or lips. Chris has been good at helping me keep my face clean. I have also noticed the numbness on the lower half of my mouth has impacted my speech a little...I've got a bit of a lisp for now. I go for my follow up appointment with the surgeon on the 18th so I would guess if the numbness has not subsided by then, he'll be able to give me an accurate understanding of how long it might remain this way. Please pray for my patience with this. I am hungry and want to eat, but struggle to eat much and with not much more than mush in my system my emotions have been a bit in overdrive. I remind myself daily that things could be so much worse than just a numb chin, lip, mouth, etc. The nerve will heal. It all just takes time. I am extremely blessed to not have experienced much pain throughout this process.

Tomorrow I return to work. I am looking forward to getting out of the house and back to my routine. I think I will definitely miss my mid-afternoon nap, though! Tomorrow might be a bit of a long day since I have to teach class tomorrow night. Pray my lip holds up and I don't drool or spit on anyone unintentionally! :-)

I thought I would attach a picture from our Friday morning with Ella and Donna. They came to the house to entertain Jacob and share lunch with us. Jacob and Ella had a blast together!

Jacob Loves Granddaddy

Yesterday we had the pleasure of the company of Stanley during the UK Basketball Game (which was a blowout) and for dinner. To say Jacob was thrilled to see his Granddaddy is putting it lightly. Jacob put him to work quickly with the blocks and they had a big time building towers! Jacob kept saying, "wow, wow, wow!"

Jacob adores his Granddaddy.....

Feel Better Mommy

The day of my wisdom tooth extraction, Jacob got to snuggle in bed with Mommy to watch Boz on the laptop. He was doing his best to help mommy feel better.

Pardon the "chipmunk" cheeks! There was still quite a bit of gauze in there....

Snow!

We had another decent snow fall here in KY a week ago. I'm not sure how many inches we got, but it was enough for Chris to need to break out the shovel one more time this winter and to cancel our Sunday School class on Sunday morning. It was not, however, bad enough to keep Chris from venturing out to have my car fixed. Snow storms are a great time to take your car to S & S Tire! No one was there and now I have four gorgeous new tires and a perfect alignment. My car is running like a dream!

Here are some photos of the snowfall fun!

Blog Backlog

Forgive me. You are about to be inundated with by backlog of blogs. There are many photos that have been trapped inside my camera which I have now liberated to cyber space. Hence, the multiple blogs!

Enjoy!

Sleep, Sweet Sleep....

Post op day two. I was warned that most pain comes at the 48 hour mark post op for wisdom teeth extraction. So far so good. However, one of my pain meds has decided to start causing me to itch. Not like a rash. More like an annoying, dry skin, sort of itch. I called the doctor and they told me it is likely the narcotic causing it, so I might try to go without it tonight and see what happens. Honestly, I'd rather itch than be in pain, so if I have to tolerate a little itchy scratchy stuff, I'll deal. It isn't enough to drive me batty....yet.

Sleep. Sleep has eluded me for some reason the last week or so. Of course, I started losing a little sleep here and there prior to the procedure because I was so darn nervous about the silly thing. I thought for sure surgery day and day one I would spend knocked out in bed. Not true! Once I shook off the initial anesthesia on surgery day, I was wide awake till bed. Day one post op and I was up at 4:30AM. My mother in law was here all day so I thought for sure I'd get some good naps in. Nope. I think I dozed, but that is it.

Day two, post op. My "helpers" are slowing down because I am feeling better and able to do well on my own. I don't need to be "supervised" or waited on. Today, sleep decided to arrive. Not good when you are home alone with a two year old!! I slept like a ROCK last night and did not even hear my sister in law arrive in the house this morning to get Jacob up. Thank goodness she came over to get him this morning....I think I likely would have slept till 10 and never known he was in the house! Jacob is generally a great napper, so my sister in law stayed till we put him down for a nap today. I figured he would nap till about 4, Chris would be home sometime later in the evening...we would be fine. Of course, you know what they say about the best laid plans..... Jacob did NOT eat lunch today (literally, not one bite). He went down for his nap at 12:30 hysterical and with an empty belly. (Sorry dude. You get what mommy prepares. Won't that be yummy reheated for dinner tonight?!) Anyhow, we put him down for his nap, I take my pain meds and settle in on the couch for some rest. Just as I doze off around 1:45.....I hear....."MOMMY!" Are you kidding me? So....I left him in his bed like any fantastic mommy would (ha ha) for at least another 30-40 minutes with him just talking to himself. Despite leaving him in bed, he was still keeping me up with all his chattering, so I just got him up. UGH.

I hate to be the mom that parks your kid in front of the TV to keep him entertained, but Chris is working late tonight, and I am due another pain med. Looks like an early dinner for us (since I'm on mush diet I get hungry fast and Mr. Grumpy Pants didn't want lunch) and then we'll put on some Sesame Street and perhaps mommy can nod off for just one brief moment of bliss.

Why is it, while I had all the help in the world, I was WIDE awake and now that all the days of sleeplessness catches up to me and all I want to do is sleep, I can't?! Isn't that just how it goes?

I shouldn't complain. Praise God for my health, for a good baby boy who is sweetly entertaining himself "reading" the junk mail, and for a relatively easy recovery so far.

Tomorrow is a new day. Perhaps then I will get to enjoy some sleep. Sweet sleep.....

Post Op Day One

So far so good on post op day one. The swelling is more significant than yesterday, but I am keeping my ice packs on as much as I can. The pain is minimal, much better than yesterday, but all the meds they've got me on are making my tummy a bit upset. I hope I can get something a little more substantial into my system today or tomorrow so that it will help with the upset and nausea. Nausea seems better as long as I am in bed and not up and about.

For some reason I woke up at 4:30AM today. Not due to pain. I think just due to being hungry and I just felt like I was done sleeping.

Everyone has been wonderful to me so far. Chris was outstanding as my nurse yesterday and got me everything I needed. He even made me a chart of all my meds for today and what time I ought to take them so I don't have to take them all at once. Can you believe they have me on FOUR different meds?! Just for wisdom teeth. Who would have thought?! Oh well.

I am still experiencing some numbness in my lower right lip and chin. I was warned this might happen at my consultation last week. I was told because my roots were close to the nerve, there was potential for nerve damage or bruising. It really doesn't bother me much, although when I touch that side of my face, it feels really, really odd. Apparently this only happens in about 1 of every 3000 patients. Guess I was the lucky 1. The damage could potentially be permanent, but in the majority of cases the nerve heals within something like 2-6 months. I think I'll know more once I go to my follow up appointment in two weeks so he can tell me what kind of damage was done while he was actually doing the operation.

Thank you again to all of you who are praying for me. I can feel your prayers and it is so comforting! Please pray for a continued smooth recovery, minimal nausea or pain, and for me to recognize I need to continue to take it easy for the next several days. It is so hard for me not to switch into "mommy mode" and jump in to take care of Jacob. Mommy's don't really know how to be lazy all day long and it makes me feel so bad to see my husband picking up my slack and doing all the chores and such I typically do. I am thankful for a man who so sacrificially is caring for me and doing all these things without one word of complaint. I am grateful for my mother in law today and my sister in law tomorrow. Their help is priceless to me!

So far so good... I'll continue to keep you updated. Especially since I have been sent to bed with nothing but my laptop and TV to keep me company. :-)

Surgery Day

Well, I have survived surgery day so far. I was nervous this morning, but God planted a verse in my mind and allowed me to just keep repeating it until I woke up. The nurse, Sandy, was amazingly sweet and tender toward me after I told her how nervous and anxious I was. She made me feel very comfortable.

Surgery was at 9 and now at 4:30 I am still in bed with my most awesome nurse and husband, Chris, taking a little doze here and there. He has been so good...even writing down what time I can take more medicine and such. As of right now the pain is not bad. I can feel it kicking in some, but that is because all my other meds are wearing off (the IV and the Novocaine).

I am so blessed by the number of people who rallied around me to pray for my nerves and my recovery. I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to have people in my life like Chris, who is my rock and understands my messed up worries and fears, or Donna, who so sweetly prepared a giant meal for my family tonight, complete with mashed potatoes for me. I am thankful for my mother in law who sweetly kept Jacob entertained all day long and prepared mountains of food for both Chris and I. I am grateful for my sis-in-law who plans to keep me company on Thursday and to help with Jacob. I have wonderful, gospel focused, people in my life who have all so willingly given of themselves to help me. They are a tremendous example to me and I am so blessed.

Anyhow, so far so good. I'll keep you posted....

Love you all!