Try Egg Nog!

After 55 responses from my Facebook poll entitled Eggnog: yay or nay

We decided to try it. It was part of our Advent to try something new (christmas-y)
Believe it or not...no one in this family has ever had it! Nathan and myself included!

We took the advice of some, and had the Southern Comfort Vanilla Spice Egg Nog
We also decided to 1/2 it with Milk too.

Here are the results...



It wasn't on my list of approved liquids, so I have to wait until Saturday, but everyone tried it...even Mason!


Then Scarlett drew make something for someone else. 
Since I can't move, she made cookies with her daddy.  EggNog Cookies!




The crowd was happy!


 

Even Mason. AAH! Look at those lashes!
I love these kids. 

 

Zeke, this morning. Haha.

Making Ornaments

One of our Advent activities was to make an ornament for the tree.

As I mentioned earlier, we have 5 advent calendars. This is because I did not like sharing 1 with my sister growing up, so each kid gets their own. 

Each Calendar has different things.
1)candy
2)scripture
3)Lego
4)activity
5)book/movie

I buy the lego advent for Lucas the kids every year. We rotate so each kid get to have each thing. It wouldn't be fair if one person only got candy, right?

Anyway, back to the ornaments. We do a different theme for our tree each year. This year I picked Reindeer, because we bought the kids the original Rudolph movie, and I think they are so cute!

As one of our Sunday stations, I had the kids paint the clothes pins...





Then on the cool setting, they hot glued the eyes and nose and bodies together.






Each kid will get one when they move out, and I will have a few for my tree too!
This makes 2 for their collection. We will make them until Mason turns 18 and then everyone will have 18 hand made ornaments, I hope to continue this tradition with my grandbabies. 
Bridget has already promised me 9, so we will have plenty of ornaments to think about in the future.

Update to Surgery

My surgery was 5 hours instead of 3.

They were going to do a c-section type of incision, but decided to do lapriscopy at the last minute. (for better recovery)

They found a 4 inch tumor behind the muscle wall, and removed it.

It is benign.

They had to make 9 incisions instead of 4 because my hernia was 6.7 inches. They repaired it with mesh.

They found a few things on my intestinal wall, but didn't remove intestine because it wasn't cancerous. They just scraped it clean and took it to the lab.

I can barely walk, and it hurts to move, but I am cancer free. I am hernia free. I am alive.

Whew!


A Scary Appointment

Or, it could be titled "A series of FORTUNATE events, part 3"
Or, "The gift that keeps on giving"
*sigh* here we go...

A few months ago, I was losing weight and kicking it to the curb.

I hit the 60 pound mark and found a weird lump by my vertical cesarean scar. (I have 2 horizontals, as well)

It hurt for a few days and then it would be fine. Still rock hard, but not painful.

It started to get worse, right after my 5k and I now had this huge bulge on my left side. Probably the size of a clementine orange.

I called my OB because, she is the only doctor I have had since I got married and she said to go to urgent care.  I waited until it hurt again and then went right into urgent care. They saw it, felt it, and told me to go to the gastrointestinal specialist immediately. They were sure it was an incision hernia.

I called the gastrointestinal specialist but needed a referral. Luckily, my OB is right next door, so she walked over to that office and said "here it is."

I had to wait 2 weeks for the appointment.

Well, my appointment was Monday.

They were confused that I had two c-sections in one year. It was kind of funny because they read it as December, then February. Not reversed. They showed me my file. It was 300+pages. He said reading my last surgery notes was horrifying and, he didn't even witness it!

So, I have a hernia, the issue is now about the size of a softball.  They did a few scans and wanted to see if it was cancerous.  There were a few irregularities, a few dark spots on the intestine wall.  There is a chance I could have cancer.

Insert-total melt down.

He promised me that this surgery wouldn't be as scary as my last one. *wink*

He was worried about what he saw, but didn't want to talk about the "big C" until he knew more. He said that I might have to be on a feeding tube, depending on the number of inches that they remove.

He was not taking any of this lightly and told me he wants to do the surgery right away. He is booked until Christmas Eve, but sent me to the scheduler and she was like "it is weird, an opening just came up next week first thing" I can't even believe how shocked I was.

So, here I am just about to go in. Scared, Nervous, and Praying, that it isn't more.
Hoping that this is nothing more than a patch job.

I am grateful that I had a c-section with Mason. It saved my life, and his, and perhaps, saved my life a second time.

Ever since that appointment, I have had a hard time walking. The mass is even bigger and it hurts to eat.  I believe that this is why they are so emergent in getting this taken care of.

Mason turned ONE!

Zeke, that rascal!

Wow, it has finally happened. I don't have any babies anymore! 

I just can't believe it!

He was not feeling it this morning before church. He usually naps before church, and during church, and after church. Did I mention that this kid loves to sleep?

Here he is, nonetheless.

After church, Juliet helped Nathan make the cake.

Mason loves Chinese food almost as much as Lucas. So we had Beef Noodle Bowls. With Spring Rolls.

 Then it was present time!



 Mason loved his new clothes!



Seriously, he loved them!

Then it was cake time:


 I don't usually like the messy cake pictures, but this is my last kid! I had to do it at least once!



And instead of 1 messy baby, I got 2!


We finished up with baths, and matching jammies.


I will do a proper birthday post later, I have lots on my mind for tomorrow.

Makin' Paper Snowflakes


Zeke made his first appearance.

Then in our advent calendars (there are 5 now)
Lucas opened "Make paper snowflakes" so, after dinner - we did!









while we were cutting and having a great time, one of us, who is three, just kept cutting...


So, instead of 7 snowflakes, there were only 6.



 and the five year old didn't follow directions either, so basically, we had five, and then Mason totally tore his, so then there were four.




But, we had fun and that is all that matters.
While watching Christmas movie #1 Mason decided he was ready to walk.





Which, for those keeping up...means he walked BEFORE everyone else! LOL
(because he is actually 9 months and 3 weeks adjusted)

Oh man, I am laughing so hard over here...and it hurts. Make it stop!