Happy Father's Day - Complete with a gift from the Inmates!

*sigh* I'm behind again. But I have many good reasons. NOT excuses - reasons. That deserves it's own blog entry.

But, this blog entry is about Father's Day! Yey! I must say, I married a guy that is the best dad I have ever seen. My kids sure are lucky.

The day was a bit more chaotic than I had planned due to the NEW DOG we got the day before. Matt has wanted one FOREVER, and he and Maddi, with her consistent love of animals, finally wore me down.



We got her from the pound, and she's adorable. A german short-haired pointer/ Border collie mix with adorable markings and....DA DA DAAAA! FULLY trained. She was part of a program here in Idaho, where for 8 weeks she is trained 4 hours a day by an inmate as part of their rehabilitation program. She is VERY well-behaved and loves kids. She already is protective of them and loves to play. Matt loves her and I have to admit, despite it being WAY beyond my comfort zone, my birthday flip-flops chewed to bits, and more than one instance of her eating a diaper that we'd thrown out, she is pretty cute. She is a master escape artist (bonus training from the inmates?...hmmmm) but Matt has figured out how to fully contain her in the yard. (Yes, she's an outdoor dog. Period.) And yes, I've wondered what the heck I've done on more than one occasion. So far, though, it's been worth it.

Okay, not so funny anymore...

So, it turns out that my increasingly swelling face was not "normal" swellage (not sure if that's a word, but I like it). Apparantly, I was one of the rare 5% that develops an infection, just because, and all the swelling was actually infection. Yes! Actual icky stuff, filling the inside of my face! There was nothing I could have done differently (I was keeping my socket nice and clean) it's just one of those things. A few hours after posting my last post, I was talking to my friend on the phone (who happens to be a nurse) and she asked how I was feeling. I said "not great", described my jaw to which she responded "That sounds like infection". So, I call my doctor and he says, sure enough, it's infection. He called in an antibiotic and had me come in the next day. He looked at it, responded that it was bad but that he'd seen worse (oh goody. Snaps to that poor sucker) and that if the antibiotics didn't "kick it", I'd have to have more surgery to, and I quote, "drain it". I was a little horrified by this visual, especially when I was informed that normally the surgery is done inside the mouth, through the tissue, but since the infection was so low (the side of my jaw and under my chin) he may need to make an incision on the SIDE OF MY NECK to drain it. Sick and wrong. However, my oral surgeon was super-nice...he was going to do the additional surgery at no charge.
I went home and informed Matt of all the gory details and to set him straight. When I first suspected something was up, I said to Matt "There is something in there!!! This is not normal!!" to which he replied "No, no...your tissue is just hardening from the swelling." (Bless him, he's no doctor) and he maintained this belief until I triumphantly informed him that there indeed WAS something in my face, immediately following this announcement by asking him if he would still love me when my face was drained and I had a saggy face with stretch marks as a result. He assured me he would. :)
Anywho, we laugh, but I was worried and did not want more surgery. Matt gave me a blessing and thankfully, it looks like the antibiotics did their job. About 5 days after taking antibiotics, I looked normal, and a week later I didn't need pain medicine anymore. It's not completely gone yet (dr. said it would take several weeks) but I'm on the mend. This is so not on of my five favorite things anymore. :)

My Cute Baby

My face hurts...a lot

Last friday, the 25th, I had my last two remaining wisdom teeth removed. Hi-Lar-I-OUS. Actually - there have been some pretty funny moments. All my interactions with people the first hour after I woke up were pretty funny. Keep in mind that for some reason, I thought I needed to speak loudly. Here's a sample of the "fun".

From my first awakening moments: I see some kid next to me, prostrate on his chair, mouth hanging open. In my fuzziness I hear the nurse say "Yey - look at her. She's already awake and he was finished before her". To which I respond in my drug-induced state "That's right! I'm freaking awesome! I was made for this!".

Matt helped me out of my chair, recieving instructions. I remember thinking how aware I was - how the drugs weren't affecting my speech and how that was a little disappointing.

As we're leaving, Matt notes the sleek BMW in the parking lot and wonders aloud if it's the Dr's. To which I respond: "I hope it's his car! He deserves it! That was awesome! This is like, one of my five favorite things!" Matt: What are your other four? Me: " Four puddings...I'm hungry" He chuckles and I say "I'm totally doing this on purpose, you know. I know what I'm saying. I'm just making it fun for you." (note: I was totally out of control)

Matt passes by a yard sale and stops, first asking if it's okay. I assure him enthusiastically that it's fine. I watch him from the window, and as he approaches I honk the horn loudly, motioning for him to buy the doormat on the grass. I thought it was brilliant. So - he did. A few days later, I saw it in the car and was like "I wanted that....right?" Matt nods and notes that I wanted it "really badly."

We get home, I demand my pudding and fall asleep, waking up to blood all over my comforter and gauze in my mouth. I"m drugged up on vicoden, foggy, sleepy and not in much pain. Alas, I wake up on Saturday to a swollen face which progressively gets worse to this:




And yes, I have gone out in public and yes, it was embarrassing. BUt kind of funny. If I could smile, I would laugh pretty hard. But, today is Tuesday and I'm tired of feeling like there's a swollen golfball in my jaw and I'm tired of feeling tired. This stinks.


(Yes - that is pudding on my face)

Thirty, Flirty (?) and Thriving...

And so - it is. Ever since my birthday LAST year, I have been counting down and yes, at times, DREADING my next one. The big 3-0. I never thought of myself as one who would be bothered by aging, but for some reason this one bothered me. Not because I view 30 as old, because I don't. In fact, I think of it as entering my "prime". :) After a year of musing over this, I have concluded it bothered me for a few reasons: 1) I'm realizing how fast my life is going. The last 10 years went by so fast! The fact that a decade is over and done with in a blink of an eye is a little sad. I look forward to the next, but am a little sad with the rapidity of it all.
2) Linked to #1 is the realization how quickly my kids are going to grow up. In 10 years, Sammi will be 18! WHAT!?! Sad. I just hold them a little longer and closer now.
3) What are the 30's linked to? What fun thing? College, get married, have a baby (or two...or three..or four), buy new home, start career....all this fun stuff was in the 20's. And so I say...er...30...what d'ya got? (Perhaps I'll just have to wait and see, eh?)

Anywho, now that it's here, over and done with, I am coping well. Matt helped make my day uber special. (thanks hon!). Here's the low-down of the day:
Woke up and went with the kids to breakfast at IHOP. Wore the awesome Birthday Crown that they made me (much to the pancake patrons pleasure)

Matt sent me off with some friends to get lunch and Pedicures! My first one ever! (Pedicure that is. I've had lunch before) Olivia was a pro - after Nikki and I figured out our massage chairs, we looked quite suave ourselves. LOVED IT!

Matt and Sammi made the flip flops for us. I would have LOVED to see his big ole' hands crafting with those tiny balloons. Priceless. Super cute too.

Yey! Presents! Matt got me a locket with pics of our kids and us in it and the new Alice in Wonderland and some other trinkets. My sweet friend brought over some delish Bath and Body works soap - it was a big surprise and so appreciated! My kids made me cards and posters to hang up.

For dinner, we went downtown to Solid (very tasty - thanks to Hannah for watching our chillins) and then came home and watched my new movie with the kiddos and had strawberry pie. (mmmmm) It was a wonderful ending to a wonderful day!

And so - I move forward. Here's to "30". Yipee!