Handsome Boys!

We got the boys' school pictures back today. Too much money later...............I walked away with pics of my lil' Houghams!

Party Time!

We're less than a week away from Austin's 4th birthday.  Geez, how the heck did that happen?!  Anyways, we decided to make things easier this year and have the party somewhere besides the house. We're having it at a place that has a giant bounce house room and they'll get game cards for the arcade, too. They even provide pizza, drinks, plates, cups, etc. Basically all I have to do is show up with some cupcakes and balloons. I know what you're thinking; it was HARD for me to give up this much control when it came to my kid's birthday party. Of course! But in the end, it was for the best for me to just swipe my credit card and make it all happen. Since going back to full-time at work last month, things have been busier; and with my surgery next week, I don't think I would have been able to focus and have time to get everything ready for a typical Hougham birthday party.

Surgery Time....

Remember earlier in the year, when I talked about my big ol' thyroid and the biopsy I had? Well, everything came back fine on that, but it has continuously given me problems. It was even the cause of my heart problems I had back then too. But that stinkin' thyroid has continued to stay 3 times its normal size, and the cyst is still there. The combination of the two of them are putting pressure on my throat, making it difficult to swallow at times. And I still have had a few episodes where my heart feels like it's about to beat out of my chest.

Over my past couple of visits with my endocrinologist, we've discussed having surgery to just take them both out.  This would hopefully accomplish a few things:

• Relieve the pressure on my throat. Sometimes it's worse than others, but I can definitely feel it.
• Hopefully regulate my thyroid hormone levels easier, without the 'episodes' where my body gets out of wack.  Maybe even be able to decrease my meds a little (since it wouldn't have to counteract the antibodies constantly attacking my thyroid anymore). The increased meds have even made me a little more anxious and restless, often making it difficult to sleep at night.
• Be able to remove the complex cyst and send the whole thing out for biopsy. While they were able to biopsy the liquid part before, there is still a portion that is a solid mass. My doc tells me that it's not uncommon for there to be some malignant cells in it. Needless to say, this part has me the most freaked out about 'what if', which would result in some radiation treatment if the results came back with that conclusion.

Anyways, long story short, after debating long and hard, I've decided to go ahead and have the surgery done. I met with the surgeon last week, and he performs about 150 of these a year, so I feel pretty confident that he knows what he's doing. While I'm not excited about having to be put under general anesthesia for a two hour surgery, having a breathing tube put down my throat, and having my neck cut open, we feel like it's the best decision. And then there's the fear of how I have reacted to anesthesia in the past with my c-sections.  Visions of non-stop vomiting for hours do not sound like a good idea after this kind of surgery, so that could definitely complicate things a little.  Yeah, I'm scared as hell about all of this. And the results that could come back. But I'd rather get it all out and know a final answer so that I can get any further treatment needed and just move on.  

The surgery is set for the morning of the 14th, and I'll most likely just stay one night in the hospital before I'm sent home into the capable hands of my hubby to take care of me.  My post-op appointment isn't until the 27th, so I'll be out of work for nearly two weeks. Luckily, Jordan was able to secure a little over a week off to be with me too, since I'm supposed to take it easy and not lift no more than 10 lbs. (so that means no munchkins!). My boss has been very understanding, and I have a great team at work who's going to pick up the slack while I'm gone.  

So, that's my update.  Say a little prayer for me if you get a chance. :)

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Heyyyyyyy! Happy Fall Y’all! I see it’s been a while since I last did a blog, so here we go. I know I should probably do a blog a day talking about what I'm thankful for each day this month, but it's going to be a crazy month (more to come on that), so I don't think I could really keep up.

First of all, I can’t believe it’s November already; the holidays will be here before I know it! Anyways, we took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch with the boys to pick out a few prize pumpkins.  As usual, Mommy’s photo session didn't go nearly as I had envisioned. Oh well.  With the two pumpkins we picked out, the boys, made Buzz and Woody pumpkins, easy enough. 

But that wasn't good enough for MeowMeow and LoLo, who brought two pumpkins over this past weekend for us to get our hands dirty in and actually do some carving. It was actually a lot of fun, the weather was beautiful outside for us to do it, and they turned out pretty good.

For Halloween, we let Austin decide what he wanted to be.....Buzz Lightyear (surprise, surprise!). Then we worked everybody else's costumes around his, with a Toy Story theme. Chase was a cute little cowboy as Woody, and Jordan and I were Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head.  I know, I haven't dressed up for Halloween since I was in college. (And even then, it was just a scandalous version of a maid, witch, etc.!). Anyways, we spent some time at the boys' Fall Festival at their daycare as a practice around for dress-up. 

  

I was actually surprised at how well our trick-or-treating around the neighborhood went. Chase pretty much refused to ride in the wagon at all, and walked nearly the entire time. His poor little legs must have been exhausted trying to keep up with us. But he would walk right up to the front door with his bubba and get his candy. They were so sweet together! Needless to say, we made out with buckets of candy. :)

Snaggle Tooth!

I have two boys, so I'm used to them running around crazy, wrestling, and being clumsy. But I was not ready for one of them to lose a tooth! Thursday morning I had just pulled into the parking lot downtown at work, when the daycare called.  My heart always races when I see that number pop up on my caller ID, because I know that something has happened.  Austin was apparently running around outside, tripped, and went flying face first into a bench. He busted his lip up and his front tooth was very loose. I hurried through a meeting and a conference call at work, before picking Austin up for an emergency trip to the tooth doctor.  Unfortunately, after a quick look at his tooth and an x-ray, there was no saving this one. I was told there was nothing they could do and that it would probably fall out in the next day or so as he ate or wiggled it around with tongue.  Great, just what I wanted to hear. :(

After the dentist, Austin and I grabbed a bite to eat at Chik-fil-a, where I cringed every time I watched him take a bite of a nugget and his tooth was just literally hanging there. I didn't want to traumatize him by yanking it out, so I just let it be.  For the rest of the day and night, he kept wiggling it around, but no such luck.  It finally came loose the next morning after being at daycare for an hour, I got the call (and a pic) that it finally came out. This kid will now be missing a tooth until his permanent one comes in when he's around six or seven!

I was just at Canton a few weeks ago and saw the cutest tooth fairy pillow. But being the rational shopper that I was, I figured that I had a few more years before we would need one.  Guess I was wrong! So tonight, I quickly threw together a pillow for him to safely tuck his tooth into tonight.  I even used the fabric from one of his baby blankets, so I guess that makes it even more special. So tonight the tooth fairy will be visiting him and leaving him some cash!

I sure am going to miss that big beautiful smile, because now he just looks plain silly! But a little bit older!

One last picture at Chik-fil-a before the tooth would come out....

After his tooth came out at daycare

So excited about his tooth fairy pillow that Mommy made!

About to tuck his tooth into the pocket in the back of the pillow!

Day 30: After

After I pick up the boys from school everyday, they usually get to enjoy a snack while I scrounge up something in the kitchen for us all to eat.  They're so cute, now that they love to sit on the couch with each other while watching Mickey or UmiZoomi. And they're starting to look so much alike these days!

Day 29: Hands

I'm struggling with a post for this one. So, I'll improvise with .......hands full.

Here is Chase all ready for bed, with his hands full.  He's got Gus (his constant companion), spare Gus (for when original Gus is in the wash), his blankie, and a paci in his mouth (we're phasing that habit out real soon!).  Anyways, that's as good as it gets, as we wind down this whole Blog-a-day challenge!