Hang on Folks...It's going to be a LONG one!

Ahhh...do you hear that? It's me breathing! I feel like I finally get to take a breath after going NON-STOP since Friday. To celebrate the fact that I got a chance to breath tonight...I treated myself to one solid hour ALONE (don't be jealous all you moms out there!) at Target tonight. I think I went in every single aisle. I got to use a ton of coupons because I had time to study them/find the best deals, etc. I only spent a little over $30 and the total was like $70 before the coupons!



I needed that after today. Today, my sweet, beautiful, love of my life, 4 year-old told me "I don't love you." Wow. I was going to pretend to be sad so she'd recant, but then (in about 2 seconds time) I thought about that and decided I didn't have to "fake" being sad...I was devestated. I cried a little...she doesn't love me. Of course I know she does. Of course I know that in ten years she'll be saying much worse things to me (unless she's like me - I was only ever perfectly nice and respectful to my parents). It still hurt. She didn't recant. After school I mentioned it to her. She continued to insist that she didn't love me. After a few minutes of telling her my heart hurt, Jesus' heart hurt yada yada she said "I was just kidding, mom." Yeah, right. Later Colin talked to her and she came downstairs crying really hard saying, "I DO love you, mom. All the time." Ahh...another milestone met...my daughter hates me. Oh...why did she say this, you ask? Because I brushed her hair. I deserve no love.



What else do I have for you...oh, Henry ran away at Meijer when I had the S-L-O-W-E-S-T cashier on the face of the earth. Picture this...me with a 35 pound 2 year-old on my left hip, kicking and screaming (because I wouldn't let him run away), pushing a huge-ass (sorry, but it is!) cart to the exit. This is a full-size cart with a HUGE bench behind it for the kids to sit on. I don't usually get one of those carts, but I did today. Back to the story...so Henry's screaming, I'm holding him tight, Abigail is saying "Leave my brother alone!" and I'm pushing H.A. cart outside into the windy as heck day. Now are you all jealous of me? Oh, and to top it off Abigail says "Mom, can I ride the horsey?" No. For a million reasons, #1 being that you don't love me.



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Let's change gears, okay?



I had my pre-op appointment today. All looks good and the surgery is set for 9:20 on Monday morning. Pain could be minimal or intense...we shall see. :)



We got the results of Henry's blood tests yesterday. Everything looked good except for one level. Hi prealbumen level is quite low. That is basically a protein level. Normal range is 20-40 and his is 13. They were worried about his zinc level, but with normal being 0.65-1.05 his level is at 0.89 so that's good. They are going to have us keep a diet record to see where we can add protein into his diet. The trouble is that he doesn't eat hardly any meat, no pasta (where it would be easy to add meat), doesn't like many beans (okay, maybe none, depending on the day), doesn't like peanut butter, etc. etc. So, for now we are going to try to introduce new foods to him (ugh) and also slip him some of daddy's protein powder whenever possible. The longterm effects of a low level are not good so obviously this is something we will be working on.



I was looking back on this blog and last year, on Oct. 25 we began this journey with Hanks and his development...wow, over a year already. He's doing great!



Okay...I think that's it...for now! :)