Tonsillectomy

Chad had his tonsillectomy yesterday and fortunately everything went really well. He didn't get into surgery until about 1:30 but the surgery itself only took 25 minutes. Besides taking out his tonsils, he also had a deviated septum so they had to do some work in his nose as well. He was barely awake when I came to the recovery room but he was joking around every time he spoke. I asked the nurse why his blood pressure was so high (148/86) and before she could reply Chad said, in a tone barely above a whisper, that it was because there were so many hot nurses working on him. :) At that point, I knew he wasn't feeling any pain. The nurse laughed and said it was expected because of the anesthetics. We waited 3 hours and he came home.

At home he kept coming in and out of sleep. At about 10:00 last night, he was wide awake again and wanted to watch a movie. I fell asleep only to be startled awake when he proclaimed that he didn't feel well all of a sudden and took off to the bathroom. I can't imagine that vomiting with scabs all over the back of your throat feels very good. I felt bad for him. Not only was he vomiting, but he was also having his 3rd bloody nose of the night.

Today was a long day. We got up around 6:00 a.m. and Chad got the hiccups. Every hiccup hurt his throat and I could tell... he was cringing. He tried holding his breath, I tried startling him, he drank water but he just couldn't get rid of them. FINALLY, at 7:30 p.m. they stopped! Over 13 hours of hiccuping! I have never heard anyone hiccup for so long.

He is doing well now - reading his Automobile magazine and soaking in every word. No hiccups. No vomiting. No bloody noses. Life is good. He is a great patient. I would have been whiny and bitter. He is in high spirits... well that was until he found out we got our tax bill! YIKES!

I was just about to publish this post... he got up to go to bed... and guess what... HE HAS HICCUPS AGAIN!!! I can't believe it. Sigh... poor guy.

Seizure

When we have a day off work, I am thrown off for the rest of the week. All day today, I thought it was Monday. Because Monday was Memorial Day and we didn’t work, I will be confused for the rest of the week. My sister already had to remind me that today was already Tuesday. Haha. We did have a pretty good Memorial Day and a pretty good weekend. Chad’s Dad and Uncles came down to go golfing at ISU while the ladies went shopping. I bought another Christmas present! WHOO HOOO! Besides the Christmas present, a polo for Chad and some cheap ‘crock’ shoes for myself (my ‘take the girls out shoes’), I didn’t find anything. As we were all hanging out Saturday night, Clayton kept Rhyme and Tempest entertained – or maybe they kept him entertained. The three of them played ball for hours. They were having a great time and I think they were all tired at the end of the night.

Grant and Julie came down late Saturday night. We stayed up and chit chatted. Around midnight Rhyme had her 2nd seizure. At least the second one that I have been around to witness. I pray she hasn't had more while we aren't around and I pray this is the end of it. They are scary and upsetting to watch. She freezes up, arches her back makes grunting noises, tenses up, and gets big eyes. I feel horrible and helpless. I am glad Chad was around to witness this one. He didn't see her first one. She was actually on Chad's lap while she was having it. What had been a great day/night didn't have such a uplifting ending. However, she is okay and doing just fine. Once she comes out of it, she is ready to play and ready for a treat... of course. Since then, we have talked to Dr. Tacket and he said it was mild and he doesn't want to put her on anti seizure medicine unless they get servere are more frequent. Let's hope that doesn't happen!

Sunday we had a great time bowling when it was cold, windy, and crappy out. Then we went mini golfing immediately after at SF Park when it was warm, calm, and beautiful out. We also checked out the SF Beach house. WOW! I am super impressed. It is REALLY nice there! I ALMOST felt like I was on a mini vacation. Too bad I was on "work" grounds. haha We also played some board games and took a nice walk around the neighborhood. It was a fun and relaxing day.

I posted some photos of my girls and my husband! Speaking of... he is having surgery tomorrow to get his tonsils out. Keep him in your thoughts! Hopefully all goes well!!! I will post tomorrow night with an update.

Aren't they sweet? Taking a 5 minute nap before we headed out to bowl...

We had 13 geese in our yard on Friday. I had to grab my camera. They were everywhere... eating our grass seed! UGH! haha

We ended the weekend by having dinner with Gio and Genny on Sunday - I mean MONDAY! Geez... I told you I am having problems! It is nice to sit around and enjoy a long weekend with family and friends. I hope you all had a great weekend as well!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Happy Anniversary Babe! It has been a wonderful 1st year! Thanks for making it so wonderful! I love you!!!

Yes, Chad and I have been married for a year already! It is hard to believe. We kicked our anniversary weekend off with a massage. It was very nice and relaxing. Well... at least for Chad. I was somewhat tense because I am so tickleish... and it DID tickle but not TOOOO bad. Sunday we left town and stayed all night in a fancy hotel where we played board games and watched movies. It was nice to get out of the house, relax, and just spend quality time together. Monday, we went back to Weaver Ridge (where we were married) and golfed. This was my first golfing experience. It rained for about the first hour we were playing. My shoes were soaked but my spirits were high. I was still having fun. We only golfed 9 holes and then headed back home. Only to go to bed and look forward to a short work week. :) I had intended to take my camera on the golf course and get some shots. It is beautiful out there. However, I forgot to charge my battery and it died right before we went out. Bummer! Check out the bouquet I received on Friday!!!

Tonight Chad worked on the yard... making it soft so we can put down some seed and hopefully get some grass. He used a machine and I called it the DINGO because that is what the label said. When Chad's Dad called I told him he was out in the yard playing with the DINGO. haha... he started laughing wondering what on Earth I was talking about.

I took this photo from the back corner of our lot. It actually looks like we have grass... but if you look between the blades... there is 10 times more dirt. Hopefully that will all change soon!

The last thing I had on my agenda tonight (besides updating my blog) was to start and finish invites for Nikki's baby shower. They went surprisingly quick and I think they turned out quite cute... I might be biased though!

Katlin's Soccer Spirit

Tonight Chad and I took off a little early to go watch Katlin (Chad's cousin) play soccer since she was playing in Bloomington. It was a great game... unfortunately they lost. I took my camera and captured some great moments... ahh... about 140 moments. haha. I am always looking for an excuse to 'play'. Katlin did a great job out there and she has quite a 'spunky' personality on the field. As she was waiting for her team to get moving so she could pass the ball in from out of bounds... she hollored "Run... or just stand there" in her most smart alec tone. That is when her mother (Lisa) buried her face in her hands laughing while saying "oh no". haha... we were all getting a kick out of her.

After we went to Katlins game we grabbed Panera and headed out to watch Chad play softball. We were followed by rain, lightning and some furocious thunder. Chad held out hope until the park was basically empty before he finally gave in and admitted that the game was "probably" canceled. LOL We came back to our house and gave Grandma Kemp, Lisa and Katlin a tour. We watched the hail and the crazy cloud formations. It was a great night... and I decided SOMEDAY it would be fun to have kids of our own so we could go to their games. In the mean time, I think I will just try to catch a few more of Katlin's. :)

Mothers Day

Sometimes it is really hard to think of a mothers day gift. This year was no different. As a matter of fact, I didn't even send out a card (apologies to my mother and mother-in-law)! However, we did make it a special mothers day for Grandma Kocher. Her barn and garage have needed cleaned out for quite some time now. Chad and I, along with many other family members got together this weekend to cleaned them out as our mothers day gift to Grandma. It was a lot of work but you won't believe the things we found. She is going to have an auction to get rid of most of it. LOTS of antiques. For example... Chad brought back a large glass Shell bottle that they used to deliver your oil in. He is going to ebay that along with several other items and give Grandma the money. He said there is already one other bottle out there like the one he has and it is going for $180. I will post some pictures when I get a chance to take a couple! :)

Chad spent tonight cleaning dirt out of the road. The rain and storms pestered us on Saturday night and most of Sunday while we were at Grandma's. We were hoping that they didn't hit Bloomington as bad but they did... and washed our black dirt right back out to the road. I bet our neighbors (and the mailman) love it when that happens. We make all kinds of artwork down the road with muddy tires. haha

I also finished a book this weekend titled "When God Whispers Your Name". It was a good book and a pretty quick read. I learned a coulple of things but I really like the stories he shared the most.

I have a lot going on the rest of this week. We are going to watch Katlin's soccer game tomorrow, Chad has a softball game, and we are hoping to squeeze dinner in there with Lisa and Katlin and whoever else is in Bloomington. I need to write and give a speech, work on baby shower invites for Nikki's shower, and work on some things for two clients that I have right now. Speaking of... I think I decided on a logo. I can draw it but haven't figured out how to do it on the computer yet. So... I tried in "paint". This is a bad example of what is going on in my head but you get the idea. I was using an acronym for After The Diamond. Let me know what you think! :)

GIMP'ed up cookies...

Guess what I made tonight... thats right. Cookies. They are pretty yummy but I have to say I have had more fun playing with the photo using GIMP than anything else. :) I was pretty excited with how it turned out.


We went to a get together tonight. I watched as Chad and a co-worker played Bago - beating their opponents time after time. I got pretty chilly as the sun went down but it was nice to hang out with a new group of people. Now it is late and I have been addicted to GIMP and working on my website. Chad has been asleep for a good hour already. I think I am going to go get some shut eye as well... I will bet you that I dream about photo editing tonight!

Biennial Conference For Women

State Farm sent me to The Biennial Conference For Women in Champaign for the past two days. I wasn't sure what to expect but I thought I would walk away full of energy and motivated to do more, spend less, and eat healthier. The conference did leave me energized and was awesome to say the least. There were so many great speakers and so many tips to make your life better. Not that anyones life was "bad" but we are all so busy and seem to need a balance with work, life, kids, friends, pets, ourselves, vacations, hobbies, meals, chores, etc. etc. I was glad to find out that I am not the only one who has a hard time saying "no" and that I am not the only one who feels like I need about 8 more hours in the day. I walked away with a lot of quotes from the speakers. Maybe, maybe - if I just read these periodically I will benefit from the point they make. For example, Kathleen Passanisi quoted that "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." In other words, say "no" sometimes. Another topic was about how women worry about nothing. One quote I wrote down from Eileen McDargh is that "Worry is interest paid on a debt we might not owe." Interesting point! I will slip in some more quotes in future blogs. All attendees at the conference received a tote. It is pretty darn cute...




The closing speaker on day one was Ann Quindlen. She is a Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist and novelist. She gave a great speech focused on women and how things have changed for us. Prior to hearing her speak, I looked at the variety of books she had written in the book store. One book was Good Dog. Stay. I was immediately drawn to this book because it was about her lab and how we could learn a thing or two from our pets. I bought it and read it last night. It is a short, bittersweet read. I really enjoyed it - although it did leave my cheeks soaked.

There were many stories that gave me chills but one imparticular that I wanted to share with you all. In short, a senior softball player hit a home run which was giving her team a win on Senior Night. She missed first base and quickly turned around to touch it. In doing so, her knee gave out and her ACL tore. Since she could no longer walk, let alone run around the bases, the umpires confirmed that her only option was to get a substitute and count it as a two-run single. Her team was not able to help her because they weren't on the field. Then her opponent stepped up and volunteered to take her around the bases, helping her to tag each one so that she could have her first home run on Senior night. The article link does a much better job with the story... but it really is touching. I am glad to see that there is still some sincerity in this crazy world... http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/columns/story?columnist=hays_graham&id=3372631

Computer Frenzy

I used to think Chad was crazy when he would come home and get on the computer and work until all hours of the night. I am afraid that has described me for the last few nights. Chad has put Dreamweaver and Fireworks on my computer. With these two programs and GIMP, I am really enjoying playing around with them. My website is almost finished. I hope to finish it this week but I definitely DO NOT promise that! haha I want to figure out how to put a blog on my website so I can blog about weddings, trends, tips, etc. If I can't figure it out I may create another blog specifically for my business. I would like to have it all in one spot though.

Chad spend the night working in the yard. He is excited to give us some plush green grass. I mean... really excited. His words... "Babe, I have high hopes for this yard!" :) He is saving us a lot of money by doing it himself. I am ALWAYS in favor of that! Lol!

My Dad has started therapy. His first session was yesterday. However, he has an infection again. So it is back to the doctor tomorrow and hopefully back to therapy on Thursday. OUCH! I couldn't take it. My mom has to clean it out... GROSS! I couldn't that either... good job Mom!

One more update... Kayla had her Senior Prom on Saturday! I can't wait to see pictures. My parents said she looked awesome! My mom did her hair... and to be honest that surprised me. I wouldn't have let my Mom touch my hair for prom (no offense) but Kayla said she was EXTREMELY please with the way it turned out. She texted me that night and said she had a blast. She did get pulled over after prom. What for you ask? For not using her turn signal. Oops. No ticket. I think he was just looking for drinking teenagers. Lucky for us... Kayla isn't a drinker!

Collision

Wow! I actually can say I got a lot done this weekend! To sum it up... I started a new web page for my business and worked on a logo. I ran a bunch of errands, had dinner with my husband and the Roethles, took Kiwi (Leann's dog) to watch Leann race, had a girls night, a baby shower, and cleaned the house. I didn't get much blogging done and I am keeping this one short and sweet so I can get to bed... but I will post more soon!

I always like to post a photo. This one is a couple of weeks old but we had the girls outside playing and they practically collided as they were racing to us... (note our beautiful green grass - haha)

Reminder... next weekend is Mothers Day so get your cards in the mail! We are going to be at Grandma Kochers helping her get stuff ready for an auction and/or ebay. Anyone else doing anything special?