Tanner

We had a great time in Calgary. After a quick visit to the Cleft Lip/Palate clinic, we went to see my sister and have dinner with her family and my Mom. Tanner will be getting a spacer in his mouth in September and then 6-9 months later he will have a bone graft from his hip and have that piece of bone placed in the gap in his mouth. The recovery in the hospital is 3-5 days and then he has to rest at home for1-2 weeks after he's out of the hospital. Full recovery is 6 weeks. So if we are at 9 months, June 2013 will be his surgery.

It sounds so robotic to read that back but we knew this was the next phase and I'm not too worried about it. I am a little worried, but not too much...at least right now. I don't really talk about his surgeries publicly because it's kind of a personal thing, but I know this will be a major surgery for him because he's much older now and I'm not sure about his pain tolerance to what I'm sure is going to be intense pain for the first few days. He is generally really good with being sick. He's not a mope-y, whiny child when he's sick, but this is a little different. His head surgery, by far, was the hardest surgery for me. Everything before and after that surgery has been easy. I realize that might sound a bit odd to say it was easy but, comparatively so, it was. This surgery will have the longest out of hospital recovery so that's going to be something new for us but it's just a small space of time in the eternal perspective. We have been so immensely blessed that Tanner has such a happy, positive disposition and I know that helps him in not only surgeries but in life. 

So that's what is happening with Tanner in the next year. 

Other than that, things are just great. Tanner has learned to ride his 2 wheeler, finally. He is rarely inside now. He always wants to go for a bike ride. The freedom that comes from knowing how to ride a bike is pretty powerful...lol.

We also got a dishwasher and it came this last week. I can't say I'm in love with it yet...I find I can taste the detergent on the glasses a little bit, but other than that its really convenient to throw the dishes in the dishwasher and turn it on before bed.

That I'm worth it.

This may sound like I'm tooting my own horn but I recently realized that I can be generous/nice to people just because I want to...even when they aren't as nice/generous to me. I guess that's what you call tuning the other cheek.



In recent weeks I have been able to push my physical endurance much farther than I thought I could. I am really proud of myself for being so good with my exercise and diet.

Maybe in a year?

To let stuff go much easier than I do right now.

I am here

It's been a while...as if no one noticed...haa haa. For Easter we headed up to Calgary.


This picture, really, is for my Mom. This is Tanner's cub car rally. He came in 4th and we were so proud of him!

This is also from a previous visit but I just adore this picture.

Yeah, we like to play with Lego. We're cool like that.

This is my food for my birthday lunch. I ate it all! Or did I?! Megan was taking me out for lunch and when we showed up, Melany and Amy were there to surprise me for a sister's lunch. It was really nice to spend time with my favorite sisters : )

Tanner 'played' Risk by himself.

We headed out to my sisters, Megan, place for Easter dinner and the hunt

In our family, the kids get gifts at almost EVERY get together...even if it's 'just because'

2 happy loving cousins.

I'm not really sure who this nice looking couple is.

Just being silly is something we like to do.

Oh yeah, for those of you who didn't know I was pregnant...this is my new baby. HAAA HAAA...this is my nephew (and NO I am not pregnant)

The hunt is a-foot. These are special egg hunting rabbit ears. You can hear where the Easter Bunny has left the treats.

Emerson had a pair too.

Such silly face making boys!

Me and my sister, Melany. I am SOOOOOO happy she is back home!!!

Here's a little story...true as it is...the adults (really, it's just my sisters and the spouses) in my family have a separate Easter Egg hunt. This is something we take very seriously (well, some of us more than others) and it gets physical....VERY physical. There's shoving, pinching, grabbing and one year there was blood shed. It's a competition on who can get the most. This year I won by default because Melany cheated. I NEVER win and I don't do this to win. Amy and Melany take this very seriously and Melany 99% of the time wins. I, in fact, am usually the loser. I didn't even care that I won this year and was even going to give my stuff to Amy so she could win, but that's breaking the rules. If you break the rules, you loose. Anyways, this is my loot bucket.

Matt and I celebrated our birthday's while we were there. It was super low key, which was really nice this year.

I really wanted an iPod docking station and I got one! I am so happy and I LOVE it!

Matt got tools and beef jerky. He was very happy.

This picture is just for laughs. At big dinners, we all label our plastic cups. I always write 'The Queen' on mine. So I wrote 'The King' on Matt's because....well, it was our birthdays and we were the King and Queen that day. So my sister's friend, Brittany, decided to be 'The Joker' and Melany had to, of course, get in on the joke so she was 'The town whore'. Slightly inappropriate but still funny enough.

We had a great birthday and Matt got his Costco cake he wants every year but I never buy. I had a surprise birthday party for him and so I bought the cake. My taste buds are still numb from all the cake and chips we ate. I even have run every day this week to burn some of the calories. It was so yummy, but so bad for me.

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In other randomness news:

-Melany is coming this weekend and we are going to IHOP. It's her favorite place to eat and now that Lethbridge has one, she's coming to try it out.

-We got a dishwasher. It came today and hopefully it will be installed next week.

-Matt's Mom bought us furniture (it's birthday, christmas, house warming, anniversary for the next 5 years). It should be here in May. I'll post pictures when they come.

-Work is....well, let's not talk about work shall we.

-We are hoping to have grass in the next month or 2. I am beyond excited. Although I truly don't mind Tanner and his friends playing outside on the dirt hill in our backyard, I want grass to lay on and have a patio set on.

-I can't believe that school is over in 8 weeks! Didn't they just start school????

-I am realizing a lot more that not everyone you think is dependable, is in fact dependable. It also is teaching me that not everyone has time to give. We all have things we can give and for some people, time is hard to give. Sometimes, for me, that's a really hard lesson.

-Tanner's printing has finally gotten really good. I don't have to remind him with every word he prints that he need to print nicely. This is a huge accomplishment for us! His teacher has been concerned about it all year...along with us. He just rushes and doesn't quite understand the importance of why he needs to print clearly. Now that he's gotten better, we think it will be a huge help for him.

I guess that's all for now. Until next month...haa haa....hopefully sooner.