Success

Well, I am home and the surgery was a success from what we hear. I apologize in advance if this post is scattered or incoherent. I am still flying pretty high. I am out of it from left over anesthesia and all the vicodin and other drugs being pumped through my system. They sent us home with some crazy looking pictures of the inside of my head. My left maxillary sinus was pretty much completely scarred over with no hole to drain anything. Which, pretty much explains why I had been feeling like CRAP for 3 months. They also cleared the right maxillary and then did the balloon procedure up between my eyes. Collin took a rad picture of me last night that I will look at and see if I can declare it "blogable" it's probably pretty scary. I am feeling pretty good (other than feeling like my eyes, brain and mouth are not completely on the same wavelength). I have some pain in my head and neck, but right now one of the most sore things is in my stomach. From being intubated, it feels like I did about 3 million crunches. Anyway, all in all I am well. It looks like everything worked as well as could be expected. They told me to stay off my feet for a week, and they will evaluate my progress at my post-op next week when they suck all the nasty leftovers out. Yummy, I know. Thanks again for all the thoughts and prayers...they definitely helped.

The Big Day

Well, the day has finally arrived. My surgery is tomorrow afternoon. I am feeling like crap and so are both of my kids. I am going to try and rush Kenna into the Doctor in the morning before I head in myself. Send good vibes my way, and hope the drugs don't all make me totally sick. I really hope this does the trick, it's been a LONG 3 months!

Merry Christmas! (Part 1)

Well, things are starting to calm down here. We had a crazy night last night, with lots of food, pictures and presents. The Whitmill family tradition has always been to open gifts on Christmas Eve, well, from the family at least. So, we did most of the presents last night. Marlee scored. Kenna...well, Kenna doesn't really know. Collin already had his gifts so he got a few DVD's. And me, well...I got Guitar Hero for Wii. I am not sure if I will keep it or not because Collin won't play with me. All year I have wanted a clear player so I could finally watch some rated 'R' movies I have been wanting to see, so I may return it and get that, we'll see.
We attempted to take some family pictures just here in front of our tree. They aren't great, but hey...all four of us are in them, and that's what counts!!! The girls went to bed fairly early and Collin and I made our "special dinner". For the 3 years that we have spent Christmas alone with neither of our families, we have made steak and potatoes and had cider. So, when the girls went to sleep we did that and watched Mamma Mia. It was fun.

This morning, we rushed down to see what SANTA brought, and sure enough he brought the girls some great gifts. Now, we are playing with all the new toys and cooking. We are going to have our big Christmas meal with some of our friends out here. I am sure I will take some more pictures there. So there will be a part 2 to this post! Merry Christmas everyone. I hope we all can remember the TRUE meaning of Christmas, celebrate and give thanks to Jesus Christ. I love you all! (I know there are a million pictures, but I couldn't narrow it down!)

Teaching Kenna the art of opening presents

Her daddy can always make her laughIn their traditional Christmas Jammie's (thanks Nana!)

Her pink laptop from Santa

Yup, it's still freezing here!

Snow Day

Elena, Olivia and Marlee

It has been SO cold here lately. Luckily, today we actually hit like 20 degrees so we got to go outside! YAY! Some of our best buddies out here are the little triplets that live in our building( and their mom). They and Marlee have missed each other so much lately. They had a good time outside this afternoon making snow angels, throwing snow at each other, and of course...screaming bloody murder when they started to realize how FREEZING they were. We love them so much.MarleeAnybody seen Karla? Little Lena Loony Pants (our nickname)Olivia...what goes up, must come down...The "angels" making angels

Yes, that is me, out in "public" (not to mention in a picture) with my hair in buns and not a stitch of make up on. Shocking. Try to contain yourselves.

Santa Clause Is Coming To Town

Here are a few cute little pictures that got left out when I did my Denver posting.I think this one just cracks me up because both Marlee and Brayden look completely uncomfortable. Almost like they are thinking "Mom, why are you making me sit on the creepy guys lap again?" They did have fun though.

This one was just Marlee being Marlee. A couple of days before we left she disappeared for a while...which usually isn't good. I finally went up to my mom room and found her in the bathroom like this. She looked at me like a puppy with her tail tucked between her legs and at the slightest hint of me cracking a smile (how could I not?) she smiled and pulled the lipstick out from behind her back and said "I so pretty mommy...you need some to?" So, of course then she made me "pretty" as well. We then of couarse had to take a picture. I love it because she totally had lipstick all over her little teeth, but she could not have been more pleased with herself. She walked around with a hand mirror for the next hour. Don't we look beautiful?

(Don't worry, this is not my moms everyday lipstick, it was a leftover from Halloween!)

Baby It's Cold Outside

Well, it officially feels like December in South Dakota. Weather.com says that is is -24 degrees with wind chill and up to 41 mile an hour winds here in Vermillion right now. It was so cold when we left for church this morning, my body actually hurt walking to the car! They even sent us all home after the first hour. Brrrrrrrrr...

Ok, just when I thought it couldn't get any colder... right now it is -15 degrees!!! And drum roll please........ -42 degrees with wind chill. I have NEVER felt anything this cold before, this is insane. I actually have to go out today too, all the way up to Yankton for another CT. Sucks.

Open For Business

While we were home we went to Aunt Jenn's house one day to make bows and let the girls play. When I got there, I was informed that Tori's Beauty Shop was open for business and that I was expected to be a client. So, up we went and the first thing she did was ask me for me credit card! She cracks me up! She was nice and gentle and I actually didn't mind her playing with my hair at all, in fact, it felt nice and relaxing! This is how I turned out...I know, gorgeous right?! The one in the back we still can't figure out how she did that by herself. All it was, was a piece of ribbon. She's a natural! Thanks again Tori!

Then the girls went outside to play in the snow. This is really the first year that Marlee has actually enjoyed it. She has always only lasted like 30 seconds in the snow in previous years. They had a great time and Marlee has been begging me to go out ever since. It is hard being back here though, because Kenna is really too small to enjoy it, but neither of them can be left alone. Since our back isn't fenced she can't play out there by herself. Maybe now that Collin is DONE WITH FINALS, we can finally let her go out a bit. We are looking forward to a fun filled Christmas break here in Vermillion with our friends.

Marlee throwing a snowball at ToriOh, and for those of you curious about the surgery, it is scheduled for Dec.29th up at the Yankton hospital.

Merry Christmas to Me!

Well, I finally saw the ENT today. Unfortunately, just as I had feared, I need surgery AGAIN! Merry Christmas to me! My sinuses look bad and on one side there is scar tissue from my first surgery that is blocking the only place for it to drain so it is full with no way out. One of the sinuses back in between the eyes is also looking pretty bad. They want to go in and basically inflate a small balloon in between my eyes to open it up. Yuck, sounds gross and scary to me, but he seems confident and I have heard really good things about him. I don't know my exact surgery date yet, but I know it will be in the next couple of weeks. He will be fitting me in over the holiday break so that Collin can watch the girls and take care of me. I am sad it has come to this, but also relieved that I might FINALLY feel some relief when this is all done! I have felt like total crap for 2 months plus, so hopefully this will be worth it and I will be feeling back to normal again in a month or so. I guess we'll see...

Home Sweet Home

After almost 2 weeks of Thanksgiving vacation, we are finally home. Yesterday was a long day (as always when making this drive with the kids). I am SO blessed that my children got the "road warrior" gene from Collin. I have never enjoyed road trips...well the driving part anyway. I get very bored, restless and car sick. Collin and I always have such interesting conversations and without fail some serious playful banter. I always bug him to death because I am bored. Anyway, the weather was great, the girls were AMAZING (I didn't even have to whip out the DVD player until hour 7...and that wasn't even because she asked) and the trip was a success. I am glad to be home. I can not say the same for Marlee, however, who has been telling me all day she doesn't want South Dakota, and just wants to go back to Nana's house. She was spoiled rotten while we were there and Nana even let her sleep with her. Now, Marlee is back to her own bed and after fighting with her to get ready and stay in her own room this was her prayer word for word:

"Heavenly father, thank you for today, please bless me to sleep in mommy's bed, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen".

Wow....we're gonna have to work on this one. She is so silly. We are not even close to being unpacked or settled, but we are home. I am a tired, but happy camper.

Mr. Lawyer Man

So last week Collin had to be a prosecuting attorney (in a moch trial) for his trial tech class. He had to get one witness and 3 jurors to sit in on the trial. I got to be one of the jurors. It was SO cool to finally see him in action and see that all of his hard work is paying off. He did SO well. I was totally turned on (sorry if that is TMI). He looked so handsome in his suit and talking like a real lawyer. It was awesome. We had to deliberate after the trial to see who won and, of coarse, I fought like crazy for my hubby! Funny thing is, we had NO idea we were being taped, AND there was a mic on the deliberation table. I was totally embarrassed that they had all heard what we were saying. But, the girl who was the other prosecuting lawyer said "she did a hell of a job" and the defense attorney came up to me afterwards and said "maybe you should go to law school, you are very persuasive". Anyway, it payed off and he did win! Way to go babe! I am so proud of you for working your butt off this last 2 1/2 years and can't believe you are only one semester away from graduation! You are wonderful, talented, and brilliant. I can't wait to see what the future holds for you.

Busy Busy

We had a very eventful week here in Colorado. We spent time with family the first few days, had Thanksgiving dinner here and then took the kids to see Bolt. It was super cute. Of coarse my mom, sisters and I hit Black Friday full force at 4 am. the next morning. I know what you're thinking, we're crazy. But, I did get almost all of my Christmas shopping done by noon AND a new vacuum! All for a great price. Plus, its tradition so it was fun. On Saturday I went to a birthday dinner with some of my old high school friends which was really fun. I haven't seen some of them for a long time. Collin left yesterday morning to go back to SD, and we decided (or maybe my mom decided for me) to stay here. We will be staying this week and MAYBE next week. We don't see Collin much during finals time so we figured we should take advantage of some time with family and friends. ONE of the amazing turkeys

Hunter playing with Kenna

Me and Emily

Just to keep things exciting, Jake hit his head on the corner of the fireplace and took a big chunk out. It was pretty bloody.