My Baby Is Gone

Saturday afternoon Bailey went home with Nana. Today Nana and PawPaw met up with Aunt Ericka, Bethany and Micah. They went to visit Austin's Aunt Leigh Ann and Uncle Bill in Texas who also have two young children; Madison and William. I know she will have lots of fun. She will be gone until Thursday.

The idea was that I could be at home and relax to fully recover from surgery. We have done anything but relax. We have been on the go every since she left. We haven't eaten one meal at home. We have shopped, watched movies, looked at houses and almost got a massage.

On our way home from lunch today we were talking about how nice it was to have some time for just us. We've felt like newly weds the last few days. Don't get me wrong we miss our baby girl and are ready to see her already but every couple needs time for themselves.

The whole conversation started when I said "I think we'll be alright when our kids leave home". I've never had that thought before. I've always teared up at the thought of my precious baby growing up. I still do, but I realize that Austin and I, at this point, have a relationship that goes beyond just mom and dad. So many couples get so involved in raising a family and work that they neglect the relationship as husband and wife.

We are so blessed to be able to spend so much time together as a family, but we need to be intentional about keeping our relationship strong. Bailey loves her family. She likes it best when we are all sitting on the couch together real close. It almost never fails that she says "We're all together". She has done this since she could put a few words together. I have always heard it said that the best thing parents can do for their children is love each other. I have seen this many time through Bailey and I believe that is true. Make time for each other. Your kids will appreciate it. After all, happy mom = happy family, right?

Family

I just love my family. I always know that, but guess I don't truly appreciate how much until hard times come. I am not only talking about my family but Austin's as well. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives. Not everyone can say that about their families. Not only are both sides individually great, but they can all come together and get along and seem to genuinely enjoy each other. I know a lot of people dread awkward events where both sides are together (wedding, childbirth, illnesses, birthdays), but our families just jump right in and work together.

Everyone has been so great through these last few days. I was really underestimating the seriousness of my surgery. Don't get me wrong, it was an outpatient deal, but it was still surgery. I had in my mind I was going to have surgery and go home that afternoon and just have maybe a little discomfort. I thought I really wouldn't need anyone here. Things did go really well and just as the doctor expected, but I wasn't able to just get back to my normal life that day. They actually told me before I left the hospital that I shouldn't lift anything heavier than a coffee cup for 2 weeks. That's when I realized I really did need help.

Thankfully our family didn't listen to me and came to be with us anyway. Everyone pitched in and I didn't have to lift a finger for a few days. Sheila and Roger stayed until Friday and Mom and Amber left Sunday afternoon. They all cooked, cleaned, and kept Bailey really busy. Amber even held my drain about six inches from my neck so I could take a bath. (Aren't sisters wonderful?)

I had my drain removed today and other than the awful headaches that are coming and going I feel pretty good. Thank you all for your prayers and thank you to my wonderful family for being there, as always. I love you.

Whew!! It's over!

My surgery is over. Everything went well. I had to be at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. (Ugh) They got me prepped and the surgery actually started around 8:30. It took about an hour and a half. We were home about 15 till 2:00. The cyst was about golf ball size. They did the frozen biopsy and the cyst was benign. They will send it off and get a more accurate biopsy. My doctor said that in 15 years she had only seen once that the results were different from the frozen biopsy so we are pretty confident that we are done. The surgery was at Baptist Desoto. Everyone was sooo nice. Probably the friendliest hospital I've been to. Amanda says she approves of us having a baby there. It was funny because it just came from no where. She and Amber said Austin made a couple of trips to the nursery while we were at the hospital. Sounds like I better recover soon. We have lots of help. Mom, Amber, Rebekah, Luke, Tim, Amanda, Taylor, Alex, Roger and Sheila all came. Tim was brave enough to keep all five kids at the house while we were gone. It was so much help. Mom and Amber are going to stay a few days to help out. Roger and Sheila dropped my prescriptions off and have been really helpful too. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

3 Little Monkeys

I couldn't decide which pictures to post so I just posted several. I thought there were too many cute ones to choose from. We made two different trips to the zoo a few weeks ago. One trip was Austin, Bailey, and I. The other trip Amanda, Alex, and Taylor came along. There are a few things I wanted to point out. In the first picture where Bailey is hold up her finger she was telling me "just one more picture mommy". I had been snapping pictures all day and she had had enough. The picture of Taylor and the polar bear freaked us all out. I had taken the picture of Alex and the bear so I told Taylor to stand in front of the bear next time it swam by so I could get a good picture of her. When the bear saw Taylor stand there it dove down and started clawing at the glass like it was trying to get her. Amanda screamed and made her move. Austin and I joined the zoo so hopefully we'll go several more times this year. It's soo hot now. We'll wait for cooler weather.

Busy, Busy

It has been a while since I have published a blog. We've been going quiet a bit. In the last few weeks we:



*went to Alex's birthday party at Des Arc

*went to the zoo twice

*Bailey and I went to Mineral and spent a few days

*went to Grapevine for about a week

*went to lake Ouchita for the day to visit Ericka & Nathan

*various doctor appointments

*Lauren's birthday party



I feel like I'm leaving something out. Maybe the lack of sleep last night is affecting my brain. The last few weeks have been crazy for Bailey. I don't know if it is because we have been going so much or what but we are all off. While we were at Grapevine Bailey had issues about every other night. I don't know what the deal was. She would wake up at around 2 or 3 and reach for me and cry until I would pick her up. She would lay down for about 10 minutes very quiet and still. Just long enough for me to relax and think that she was asleep then she would stand up and cry again. She finally ended up in the bed with me and Austin went in the other room. One night she laid in bed with me from 2 to 5:30. She was very quiet and still. She just kept starring at the ceiling. I don't know what the deal was. She just couldn't sleep. It has been better since we've been home, but we were up for a while last night.



We've also been dealing with this newly developed attitude. My precious two year old baby girl has been acting like a teenager. I am hoping that getting back into a more normal routine will help. She has been better the last few days. Pray for us!!



I went to the doctor for a yearly check up and she noticed that I had a lump on my thyroid. She sent me for a thyroid ultrasound. When the results of the thyroid ultrasound came back I was referred to an Ear Nose & Throat doctor. At my first appointment they did a fine needle biopsy and removed three syringes full of fluid from my cyst. The result of that biopsy came back benign but the doctor want me to come back in. We discussed my options. I could just keep an eye on it and see how much it grows (it is a little smaller than a golf ball right now) or we could go ahead and remove it. The doctor recommended to go ahead and remove it because she was pretty confident that it would just continue to grow. I am having surgery July 24. They are going to remove the cyst along with part of my thyroid. While I am still asleep they will do a frozen biopsy on the cyst. If the results are benign they will sew me up and send it off for a more detailed biopsy that will take a couple of weeks, if the results are malignant they will remove the whole thyroid while I am still sleeping. The surgery is an outpatient procedure unless the frozen biopsy results are malignant then it is just one night in the hospital. The doctor says the chances of cancer are very low. If the results of the frozen biopsy are negative, but the more detailed one comes back positive then they will have to go back in and remove the rest of the thyroid. The chances of that are slim to none. The doctor also reassures me that thyroid cancer is the best cancer to have. It is very easy to treat and for someone my age there is nearly a 100% cure rate. If I understood her correctly, the only treatment besides removing the thyroid if it is malignant is one treatment of radioactive iodine.

Anyway keep me in your prayers. At this point I am not really too nervous. I had a pretty major back surgery 5 years ago so this doesn't seem like such a big deal. I will try to post some zoo pictures soon. There are so many cute ones I am having a hard time narrowing it down.