5 and counting...Happy Anniversary to my partner in crime.

   Happy 5th Anniversary to the handsome, engineering-minded, father our of children and hunter of my heart.

   Normally, I would have picked out two cards, one serious and one with some witty phrase weeks ago. Unfortunately, the last time that we went into Hallmark to buy cards, Hunter decided to make a matching game with different sized envelopes. The only way I got out of the store without total chaos ensuing, was to buy him a repeat of the Mickey Mouse birthday card my mom had gotten him for his birthday complete with "Hot Dog" themed song bracelet. (If you have a toddler you probably know the words to this song by heart and understand my dilemma well.) Thank Heaven for Mimi who knows the way to our favorite two's heart! This morning, it's 35 degrees outside and I'm 8 months pregnant, so the likelihood of me trudging back into the Hallmark store today with my favorite 2 is slim to none. I think my hubby may appreciate this more anyway...at least that's what I hope ;)
    In this season of thankfulness and gratitude, I thought fitting to share the top five reasons that I am thankful for my husband.



5)  BBD=Big Buck Deer and appreciation for the outdoors

   I didn't grow up in a family of hunters. In fact the only thing that I remember my grandfather shooting or attempting to shoot were pole cats aka skunks or animals that would get into the garden. However, as a farmer's granddaughter, I did grow up with an appreciation for the outdoors. My hubs is an avid hunter, so much so, that he had his heart set on giving our first born that name.  I appreciate the excitement that the hunter of my heart has for hunting and fishing. I love the opportunity that it brings to spend family time together and the fact that he is able to share that with his son, cousin, uncle, and dad.
   The little man and I went on a hunting trip with James when Hunter was two months old. While as a father-son duo, they have many hunting years ahead, but this will always be a special memory and was the hunt of lifetime.

November 2012

Full mount of BBD

  Yes, to all you wives who may be reading this, that is a full mount of BBD. If you are fans of Melanie Shankle and have heard of her novel Antelope in the Living Room about marriage, we actually had our own version of BBD in the foyer. My husband loves me so much and respects my passion for interior design that he thoughtfully or willingly agreed, however you choose to look at it, to move BBD upstairs into his man cave. ;)

4)  Laughter

  You may have heard that laughter is one of the keys to a good marriage. Jamey always knows how to lighten a situation and make me laugh. He light heartedly antagonizes me every morning without fail and brings a smile to my face every day. Throughout Hunter's health journey, the good, the bad, and the ugly, he has kept me grounded and reminded me to grin and full out belly laugh as much as we can. Nothing makes my heart smile more than to see James and Hunter playing and laughing together. 

                               

Like father, like son...

3)  Appreciation

  Recently, we were talking about a situation and referred back to our views on marriage. Marriage is obviously a constant work in progress. Life continually evolves and people grow and change. However, there has never been a doubt in my mind as to how much my husband loves and appreciates me. He finds ways to remind me every day. Most recently, he told me that he was so glad that I was on his team. Inside story, but a compliment that shows his appreciation none the less.

2) Determined/ Impassioned

   One of the things that I have always loved about my husband is that when he finds something that he feels strongly about, he is determined and passionate in that endeavor. Whether it be from supporting me or in his own career and interests. When I shared my interest and passion in photography and design he researched and funded the best camera for my artistic whim. Even though he may not visualize things like I do design-wise, he always trusts my vision. In his own career, he made a decision to choose a different path 1 1/2 years ago and though it has been one of waiting and some frustration, he chose what was best for our family and will continue to pursue it until its fruition. 

1) Love and Respect

  In my bible study on Monday, one of the mentor moms talked about marriage. She related some comical examples from her own marriage and reminded us that we don't always have to understand why our other half does things the way that they do (even though most of us want to know why...its a woman thing). Her husband had taken three weeks to install an air conditioner filter-case in point-men are big picture oriented people and do things in their own time frame and women are task oriented and like things done when we like them done. She talked about the fact that wives who respect their husbands will in turn receive their love. I try my best not to nag about the little things/don't sweat the small stuff, and show James how much I appreciate and respect him. With my toddler in tow, some mornings it's simply making him a cup of coffee, but I try to show him that I respect and appreciate all that he does for our family. He does the same in return and continually tells me and others how much he loves and respects me. 

 We've only been married five years, but Jamey lovingly reminds me that I'm stuck with him for good. Love and respect seem so simple, but here's to hoping that holds us for the next fifty years. Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

 
 

Fall Back...October Flashback

     Daylight savings time was put into practice to maximize the use of daylight and conserve energy. My personal belief is that it was created with farmers and golfers in mind; luckily I have a personal appreciation for both.
    Let's be real people, the only age groups within society that actually benefit from the time change are probably teenagers and college students. They probably stayed up late partying, drove through Taco C, and crashed only to awake at noon on Sunday completely rested. My hubby decided to relive his college ambitions this year and he and his cousin stayed up until the time actually changed. They may have even gotten over-served in the process. Let's just say that waking up at 40 after a night like that isn't quite the same as it was when they were 21.
    I've decided that there is a certain age of maturity where people have a hard time sleeping late. Some of us achieve that level of maturity sooner than others. My step-dad used to antagonize me, because he said I was the only college student he'd ever met that didn't sleep late. I attribute that to being a farmer's granddaughter and just chalk it up to genes. On the other side of the spectrum, kids and animals don't get the time change memo. You can try to adjust their schedules the week prior and slowly put them to bed later, but inevitably, they still wake up at the crack of dawn. The reality is that daylight savings time, much like candy, is the bane of a parent's existence. You think it will play out a certain way and be a good idea at the time, but it never is. We did the fall back...maybe not as successfully and restfully as I had hoped, but we made it none the less.

 
   As we begin the month of November, I decided to do a quick flashback of October. The month of October seemed like it was full of activity.  We had lots of family time and satisfied our sweet tooth addictions one too many times. We waited almost the whole month of October to get a confirmed degree of correction for Hunter's last cast and a copy of the X-ray. People say that good things come to those who wait and we were pleased with the results.
   The last time that I talked with you all, we were awaiting cast #5 at the beginning of October. We cast on Thursday, October 2nd. I was a bit apprehensive going into casting, because Hunter had just barely gotten over an ear infection prior to our trip to Dallas. Even though I knew that his lungs had been clear the whole time that he had been sick, I was still very nervous about casting. When the patient gets below 20 degrees and more compression and traction is applied, it is likely that the lungs may have a hard time tolerating the casting procedure. We went into cast #5 at 23 degrees and were hoping to make it into the teens.
  Hunter has always had difficulty with casting surgeries scheduled later in the day. He was scheduled to go back at noon and it was after 1:00 p.m. by the time he went back. Luckily, we had plenty of time to play in the hallways in our wagon and visit with our friends Aimee and Baylor; a blessing that helped the time pass.

 

Sweet and Silly Poses


  Hunter has been working on learning his colors, so we let him choose the color of his cast. He chose black. The nurses asked if we chose it for Halloween, not really sure what the appeal was, but he picked what he wanted and liked having a choice. His cousins sport black and gold school colors and their school mascot is the pirates. I told Hunter that we could support them and the Aggies with our new black cast. We found some A&M duct tape to secure the moleskin ;) Unfortunately, our beloved Ags need a bit more help than team themed duct tape these days.

    Sweet Boy Post-Op

  We decided to stay an extra night and let Hunter adjust since it was a late casting day. I think we will make that a common practice for casting surgeries scheduled after about 11:00, because he seemed to adjust much better. It actually turned out to be a great decision for all of us, as a huge storm rolled through Dallas that afternoon bringing crazy amounts of rain and knocking out power throughout parts of the city. 

  When we were finally able to leave the hospital at almost 5:00 that afternoon, we headed straight for the hotel to crash for a bit. We walked into the room and saw what I thought was a baby hawk seeking shelter. After some eval, we decided that it was actually a baby owl. Hunter and the winged babe spent quite a while gazing at one another.

   The next day, we decided to venture south and make a cousin visit, which always puts Hunter in better spirits. We have the most loving niece and nephews (Jack, Anne, and Ty) that genuinely relate to little man. He, of course, thinks they hung the moon.

  The rest of the month was celebration filled as we had several family birthdays and were able to spend some quality time with numerous family members. Our sweet nephew, Preston, turned 1 on October 14th. Hunter and Preston decided to race my grandmother down the hallway. So glad I caught this priceless special memory on video.

     

 The last full weekend of October, we finally received the X-ray in the mail with the confirmed results. I had spoken to our orthopedic surgeon after the casting and he had given me a range of degrees. He said he felt that they had made good progress and asked that we watch Hunter for breathing issues, as sometimes these start to become evident when they impose more traction/compression. His doctor reiterated the goal of having three consecutive casts below 10 degrees before taking Hunter out of the Mehta cast system. He gave me a disclaimer that while he wants to press forward and believe that we will get to that point, he wasn't sure based on his age and growth how much more progress we will get. Hunter went from 23 degrees in the last cast to 18 degrees in the current cast. While we are apprehensive about his future progress, we are grateful for the progress that he has made thus far and for the continued care he has received.

  Many people who aren't aware of Hunter's condition have remarked that it looks as though he is wearing football pads. We usually smile and explain his condition. As Halloween approached, we decided, why not let him go ahead and wear a jersey this year.

                                                                Trunk or Treat Fun          

                                                                  Game Face Swag

  The month of October was somewhat bittersweet as we passed the one year mark since we first learned that Hunter was diagnosed with a tethered spinal cord and Progressive Infantile Scoliosis. While I feel like we are far from saying we are in the clear, we have learned so much from this experience and want to embrace every opportunity that we have to help others who may be gifted with the same experience.
  I've enjoyed catching up with you all. Please continue to keep our little man in your prayers and share his story.  Blessings to you all and continue to stay tuned!