What a weekend!

Last Friday I had an appointment with my doctor to have a routine check-up done on my thyroid. I had an ultrasound done in October but didn’t see the doctor so I had to go in and see him before I could get my prescription renewed. As he looked at my thyroid, and compared what he was seeing to my ultrasound measurements from October, it looked like the one lump on my thyroid has almost doubled in size. He has been watching the 2 lumps on my thyroid for over 6 years and during that time, they have not grown at all. Now- all of a sudden the one lump doubled in size within a few months so my doctor decided he needed to do a biopsy and have it checked for cancer. No big deal, right? He says it will take about 30 seconds. He was right. He got it done quick! And then I passed out. I was out for a while and was breathing pretty shallow and I started convulsing. My doctor said- as soon as you started shaking, I looked over at your kids thinking that they would panic. But then I saw that they were all giggling so I figured they were going to be okay. When I woke up, I was so disoriented and I didn’t know where I was or why and as I started looking around, I realized I was in a hospital. My first thought was “I got in a car accident” and then I started panicking trying to remember who was with me and where I was going but then it all came back to me and I remembered where I was. Then, I passed out again. Thought I was okay, sat up, and passed out again, and again. 4 times total! Towards the end, Mackenzie started getting pretty nervous.  After that, I started puking my guts out. My doctor said “I really want to give you something for the nausea but I would have to stick you with a needle, and I really don’t want to do that right now!”  He gave me some sudafed to raise my heart rate, and the nurse brought me some orange juice. I was alone with the kids- Dallas was gone hunting, and I couldn’t even stand up straight let alone drive. Luckily my mother-in law was able to come rescue us. The second she walked into the door, Avery said “look at my new boots!! My mom bought them at the post office!”  obviously she was oblivious to what was going on! She is so funny. We shop on-line so much, she thinks the post office is a magical place where you can go to get anything and everything! Anyhow, My doctor said that I broke all of their records! He said “I have seen a lot of people pass out- but I have never seen anything like that.” I felt really sick the rest of the day and pretty sick the next day too. I will go back next Wed and have another ultrasound done and get the results from the biopsy. Hopefully they will just remove the whole thing and be done with it. Even if it’s not cancerous, which it’s probably not, something will need to be done eventually. It already bothers me quite a bit and if it keeps growing it will only get worse. Sometimes I just sit and massage my neck, trying to relieve the pressure, and sometimes when I swallow, it feels like I’m swallowing a tennis ball. I have been complaining to Dallas a lot the past few months. I thought my medication just needed to be adjusted but the reason it’s bothering me more is because it is growing. I guess I will wait to see what the doctor says on Wednesday!

When I grow smaller…

Avery has always fought growing up. From rolling over, to crawling, to walking, she has taken her time. She was perfectly content to be a baby and was in no hurry. She was walking by the time she was a year old which is normal. But, she still wanted to be held and carried around as much as possible. She still does. We go anywhere and she wants to be carried. She has been the total opposite of  Mackenzie and Gavin- as soon as they could walk, they wanted to walk. They wanted the independence. Avery is so funny because she talks all the time about “when I grow smaller”…. “when I grow smaller, I will be a baby.” “When I grow smaller, I can have a binki.” “When I grow smaller, I will sleep in a crib.” And don’t even think about telling her that she is wrong because she will argue and no matter what you say, she will not believe you.  She is going to be pretty disappointed when she finally realizes that her baby days are over. She makes us laugh every day and I just want to be sure to write some of these things down because with the other kids, I didn’t. They do and say these these things that are so funny and you think that you will never forget them but you do. I wish I had written more down with the other kids but I just didn’t think to do it. I guess I thought I had a better memory than I actually do!

Happy 9th Birthday Mackenzie!!

Mackenzie celebrated her 9th Birthday on the 15th of January and Dallas celebrated the big 30 on the 16th. My mom even surprised us by coming and spending the weekend with us! All Mackenzie wanted to do was go ice skating for her big day so she had Jaydee sleep-over and then we went ice skating. This is how the kids entertained themselves friday night… They made a big “spider web” in the living room. They wanted to sleep under it but I was mean and made them take it down. Avery kept getting all tangled up in it which was hilarious but I really didn’t want to get woken up in the middle of the night because a disoriented child had gotten tangled up and was screaming bloody murder. They sure had fun with it while it lasted though!

Avery had a blast with my mom here. Grandma played with her and read to her and Avery couldn’t get enough of it. I wish I had taken a picture when they were snuggled on the recliner and Avery was teaching Grandma how to play angry birds. So cute!

Avery was so excited to go ice skating.

That excitement only lasted about 30 seconds! She hated it! Good thing grandma was there so Avery could sit out with her and I didn’t have to go out because I love ice skating!

Mackenzie and Jaydee took right to it! They did great and they both loved it! Mackenzie could have stayed all day!

It took Gavin a while but he got the hang of it too and had a great time!

I pulled the girls around the rink going as fast as I could and they kept up pretty well. They only fell a few times!

Here’s one of those times! Luckily they didn’t pull me down with them! Grandma Sill came later and brought Shelby, Trey, and Tage with her. The boys didn’t really like the ice skating but Shelby loved it as long as Dallas was holding onto her. After ice-skating, we went to Nelson’s frozen custard for lunch and ice-cream, then we went to the store so Mackenzie could pick some things for her Birthday. She picked pet shops. I thought she would have grown out of them by now. She also got a new TV for her room.

The next day, which was her actual Birthday, we made some Birthday cakes for her and Dallas and they both blew out their candles.   Happy Birthday Mackenzie and Dallas! I love you both!!

I just had to add these pictures. Avery has this weird thing she does and my sister Sherin pointed out the fact that I have never taken a picture of it. She started doing it when she was just a tiny little thing. She quit for  awhile after I took her binki away because it goes hand in hand with the sucking. Then she started sucking her thumb and started doing it again.

She pulls fuzzies off of her blanket and puts them on her nose.

Then she rubs the cotton back and forth across her nose with her finger. A lot of times in the morning, she wakes up with cotton in her nose. Sometimes I will be sitting there and she will reach over and pull a fuzzie off of my shirt and stick it on her nose. It’s the funniest thing! I think she is absolutely adorable!

Merry Christmas!!

We had a Fabulous Christmas! I just hate that is flies by so quickly. Months of shopping, all the anticipation and excitement, and it’s all over in the blink of an eye. On Christmas Eve we always get new jammies. This year we got slippers too!

Gavin got Camo jammies with a dinosaur on the front and moose slippers. Me and the girls all got pink jammies with monkeys on them and the girls got monkey slippers. Dallas did not want any more jammies because he never wears them so he got a movie instead.

It looks like Santa found us!

We also woke up to one last surprise from our friend Mr. Elfman. He was gone- he went back to the North Pole with Santa but he got into the sugar bowl and left a “snow angel” on the kitchen table.

Yay!! Chapstick!!

Avery got chapstick-of course, her drinking baby, a new comforter for her bed, a plasma car, a v-tech computer, play dough, and a bunch of other little things.. Unfortunately, Santa couldn’t find a candy spider.. Luckily she forgot about it once she saw her chapstick!

She would have been happy with just the chapstick. She ended up with 31 total.

Here’s Gavin with most of his things. He had taken some into his room so they didn’t make it into the picture. He got an mp3 player, a gift card for music downloads, a banana chair (he is sitting in it so you can’t really see it), a pogo stick, a sled, the skylander wii game and lots of characters to add to the game from Grandma Sill, 2 webkinz, a nerf gun, a little guitar, and bunch of other little things. He was pretty happy except for when he opened the pogo stick. It was in a long white box and was heavy so he instantly thought it was a gun.. Out came a pogo stick and he didn’t even know what it was or what to do with it so he was a little disappointed. He got over it pretty quick though!

Mackenzie got a new comforter for her bed, a sock monkey, a Barnes and Noble nook, and a rock board scooter. It’s a pretty neat little thing. I didn’t get any good pictures of it so I will have to remember to take one later. Plus she got also got 2 webkinz, art stuff, and a bunch of other little things.

The kids all got towels from Grandma Anderson. Avery loved hers!

I even got spoiled this year! I got a Kindle Fire and some cooking stuff. I got the new pans from Dallas’s company Christmas party. They had an auction fundraiser and I got the pans there. I LOVE my kindle. I have already almost finished a book! 

For once, I was even able to surprise Dallas. He had bought himself a new backpack for hunting and I told him that was his Christmas. Every time I have bought Dallas something, he has snooped and found it. He didn’t snoop this year and he was pretty surprised when he opened up his new Vizio VTAB. He has been pretty happy with it. These little electronics sure are entertaining!

The day after Christmas, we took the kids sledding. It was pretty fun. The kids keep begging to go back!

They had several wipe-outs but I didn’t get any pictures of them. Gavin went flying into the air at one point- It was hilarious!

Avery loved it till Dallas took her down the big hill and she got covered in snow. She wanted to go home after that.

If you want a good workout, go sledding and pull a 3 year old up the slippery hill a couple times!

Time to go home!