This is the email I just sent to almost everyone I know....yay!

December 22, 2010

Hello Family and Friends (ABWA, MOPS, Church, Clients, Work, etc),

As most of you know I am scheduled to have back surgery on December 27th. A lot has gone on in the last few days and the good news is that I am going to postpone my surgery. I just decided this for sure today. Rather than explain to everyone individually, I thought an email would be the easiest way to let you all know. If I told you I would not be at the office, ABWA Meetings, MOPS Meetings, Church Council, or anything else until Mid-February, I should be there :)

The reason I was planning to have back surgery was to remove a fragment of disc that broke off and was pushing against my nerve causing this horrible shooting pain down my left leg. This issue happened back in August and I'm not even sure what I did to cause it. As soon as I started having this pain, I knew I would be having surgery again because it was the same feeling I had back in 2005 before my first surgery. The Mayo Clinic and every other doctor I talked to said surgery was the only way to fix this. The amazing part is that just recently, the pain shooting down my leg went away. I couldn't believe it and stopped taking some medications to see if it would come back and it hasn't. I haven't wanted to say anything to anyone because I kept thinking it would return prior to my surgery date, yet it hasn't.

I have been contemplating what to do and trying to figure out the best option at this point. Just a couple of days ago I called the surgeon to explain what is going on. He thought that if the leg pain is gone, I should not have surgery at this time. He told me to wait until the very last second before canceling just to be on the safe side. I still have lower back pain, which is a serious issue I have to deal with, but my doctor wasn't certain that the surgery would fix the back pain anyway. My surgeon doesn't really know what changed and the only logical thing I can think of is that the fragment of disc moved just enough to relieve the pressure off that nerve. I know so many people have been saying prayers for me and I can't thank you enough because this seems like a miracle that at crunch time the leg pain has disappeared. Even if it buys me a few months (or years), it will be easier to deal with as Jack gets older and is not so dependent on me to hold him all the time. If I were to have surgery I could not bend, lift, twist, etc. for six weeks which would have been so hard with such young children. I don't think I'm out of the woods completely because that fragment is there and at some point it may start bothering me again. For now I'll just do my best not to irritate things. I suppose the worst case scenario is that I cancel surgery, the pain comes back in a few weeks, and I have to reschedule the operation. However, I'm willing to take my chances at this point.

I know this is a long email with lots of detail, so I apologize for that. I am SO excited to be able to postpone surgery (indefinitely). I truly appreciate your warm thoughts, prayers, all the offers I've had for help with kids, to bring meals, etc. I hope they will still be on the table should I have to have surgery in the future :) I was dreading this surgery--not only the physical pain and recovery, but also the stress for Nick to have to do EVERYTHING for the kids for such a long period of time. This was the best Christmas gift!!

Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

When I turn my head for one minute...

Jack will open drawers and climb in! If he doesn't climb in this one, he pulls out all the cookie sheet pans and throws them on the ground.

Jack also loves to throw every book off the bookshelf onto the floor...what a mess!

I walked in and he looked up like, "I'm busted".
Silly baby...he can tear apart the playroom in a matter of minutes.

Jack's funny faces (he needs to learn some manners too!)

I'm sorry that my 13 month old doesn't know how to chew with his mouth closed yet!

See my food mama?

Laughing at Hunter over lunch :)

Hamming it up!

He's having apples, cheese, and crackers if you must know.

Jack seriously cracks me up! Isn't he so stinkin' cute!!??!!??

Acting silly--he will slam his head back on the highchair, just for fun.

We are going to have a super busy weekend...tonight our friends Matt & Jacquelyn are coming over. We're going to hang out, exchange gifts, and have a "pizza party" as I've been telling Hunter. Tomorrow Nick's mom and stepdad are coming and staying the night. Sunday Nick's dad and stepmom are coming. Things kind of got thrown into a mess with my surgery and all. There is some interesting stuff going on with that issue too...but I'm not ready to say anything yet. When I know more, I'll be telling everyone. Ahhh...the suspense.

Happy Friday!!

I should have done this a month ago! Jack's birthday party pictures

I totally forgot to put these pictures up of Jack's party from the photographer. I actually only got them from her less than two weeks ago though, so it sort of slipped my mind. Dayna, who does my hair (and cuts kid's hair too), does such a nice job with photography too. We tried to keep Jack's party smaller b/c we'd just had a big party for Hunter two months prior. It still ended up being about 25 people! We are blessed to have so much family around and it makes for fun gatherings, but it's a lot of work too :) Although, below is my friend Jacquelyn, and she did most of the work for his party, so it wasn't too bad for me this time.

Above is one of my favorite pictures from the party. I just love it and know Jacquelyn will be such a great mom someday!

Jack standing up in the sunroom banging on the windows and making lots of fingerprints on my door wall!

Gigi, Hunter, and me. Gigi is my grandmother...she is so sweet!

My aunt Rhonda, her first grandson (Tyler), Jack, and my mom.

Basically, in other words, sister-in-laws with their grandsons!

Connie and her nephew Tyler (Connie and I are first cousins) and Jack/Me. Connie watched Hunter since he was just a few months old once a week and still babysits quite frequently for us. She is great with kids and they love her!

These two are buddies!

Geoff, Mark, Nick, Jack, and Dori. Nick's parents are divorced, but I guess this the family picture, minus step-parents :)
Uncle Mark and HunterCouchman Family: Heather, Joey, Rhonda, Joe, Baby Tyler, and Connie.

We love to stop at Rhonda/Joe's house in the summer to let the kids get off the boat for a bit and play in the sand :) Plus Rhonda always has some goodies for Hunter--haha. She got some practice with having my kids around this summer before Tyler was born!

Mark and Brandie. They are getting married in July 2011...yay!

Grandpa and Jack. Jack has his outfit change and I loved this tee-shirt.

Sneaky 3-year old....at least he's reaching for fruit!
The birthday boy with his cake. This Winnie the Pooh cake was SO adorable. Jacquelyn made it and truly did an amazing job. I think she could do cake decorating as a part-time job b/c she's great at it!

Well, there are about 160 pictures from his party, but wanted to put a few on here...I have been doing this blogging thing for almost a year now. I am going to make a "blog book" each year to keep as a journal for the kids. There are websites that will put all your posts/pictures together in a book and I can't wait to get working on it soon!

Jack 13 month update

Our sweet baby turned one on November 9th, so I'm a little late on the 13th month post.

Here is what's going on:

• We have tons of nicknames for him. Jack, Jax, Baby Jack, Jackaroo (our nanny calls him this and now we do too), Jaxonian, Jackeronian, Jaxter. We sit at dinner and randomly make up new names for him with Hunter which is entertaining. Yeah, we are weird.
• Jack loves to climb the steps. He would fall and break his neck if someone weren't there with him, but I'm sure he'll get the hang of it soon. He's fast!
• He also loves to make a mad dash for Chopper's water bowl. He'll slam his hands down into the water...not cool b/c then we have to change clothes.
• He HATES having his diaper changed and getting dressed. He flips over, kicks, screams, cries, etc. It's the worst thing ever. I'm sure me zipping his skin the other day didn't help matters.
• Jack loves his big brother. He laughs at him, wants to follow him around, and know what he's up to. Hunter is not always so nice to him, but Jack is obviously forgiving (and forgetful). Hunter will hug and squeeze him where he's close to cutting off circulation. Jack will arch his back and scream like crazy.
• He is crawling super fast and walking along the edge of things, but not on his own yet. I bet he will do this when I'm in the hospital for my back surgery so I'll miss it and then not be able to chase him for a while, making it hard for everyone.
• Jack is sleeping really well. We put him down around 7:45-8:00pm. He wakes up anytime between about 6:30-7:30am. Last week he was sleeping till 7:15am or so for several days in a row and it was AWESOME. However, this morning it was 6:30am. Jack will wake up and hang out in his crib for quite a while. We'll usually let him be for at least 20 minutes. If he's poopy or bored, he might start whining after a while, but I'm SO HAPPY he's not one of those kids who wakes up and cries immediately. I'm blessed that both kids were good about hanging out in bed till we come get them.
• Hmmm...what else....he learned he can feed the dog, loves people food, and is just a joy to have around. I carry and hold him too much. I don't care what anyone says though b/c I won't be able to for 6 weeks very soon, so I'm going to while I can!
• Jack loves blueberries more than anything, but also likes pb&j, eggs, any bread, and strawberries. He also loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!

That's all I can think of for now! Here are some pictures from his 1st birthday party...

I just love his picture of his Gigi kissing him! (his great grandma). She loves Hunter and Jack so much and we are so lucky to have her around and close by!!

New discoveries

Jack has pretty much decided he doesn't care for baby food anymore. Hunter did the same thing right around age 1. So, we've been giving him all sorts of new things. He only has 4 teeth, so we have to be careful, but he LOVES eggs and most other "people" foods. Jack has also realized he can hand food to Chopper and he thinks this is hysterical. He will hold it over the edge of his high chair, let Chopper take it from his hand, and laugh like crazy. It's so darn cute!

I just realized I didn't do a "13 month" post, so I'll have to try to get to that this week! Jack also has discovered the stairs. He makes a mad dash for them every chance he gets. We have three staircases going upstairs, so it's a major pain. The two in the front are not so bad, but the ones off the family room area are easily in sight...He also loves the dog's water bowl. Hunter did the same thing and we used to put it in the bathroom b/c it was so annoying.

Happy Friday

I feel like I haven't put many pics of Jack up lately, so I am going to this weekend. I also got my Christmas cards and will be mailing them out soon--they turned out pretty well :)

I got the kids new hats and last Sunday on the way to church it slid over Jack's eyes. He wasn't even complaining, but I looked back and saw it...mean mommy had to take pictures before pulling it back up!
Just chillin' in the carseat unable to see!

I was making dinner the other night and we will let Jack play in the tupperware cupboard...they were wearing things as hats and having lots of fun.

My three boys!

Have a great weekend. I'm kind of freaking out about the amount of shopping I have left to do this year. We are celebrating with some of Nick's family the weekend before Christmas and this is my last weekend available for shopping...yikes!!

Hunter's tantrum caught on video

Before I had kids, I'd always heard of the "terrible two's". Now that I have kids, other moms tell me "three is worse than two". I would have to agree--strongly. Hunter has been challenging us a lot lately and testing my patience. I am counting the months till he turns four and gets out of this phase--hopefully. He has redeeming moments and can be so sweet and funny at times, but he is also talking back, saying mean things, doing mean things, etc a lot lately. Our nanny, his teachers, and his Sunday school teachers all say he is just fine and listens, so that is good, but he is not that way with us. I certainly never imagined in a million years we'd have a kid that we had a hard time controlling b/c I consider myself to be strict. Nick has good manners, and even though he was not brought up in a household as strict as mine, I think he agrees with my way of doing things. We both discipline him, but it doesn't seem to be effective. This video is an example of a recent tantrum...

Click HERE

I was having a hard time not laughing when he said he was crying b/c he wanted a green Starburst when it started out b/c he was only getting half of one.

Outakes--these did not make the christmas card!

Sunday we attempted to finally take pictures of the kids for our Christmas card. I had two outfits I wanted to try and it was not a good experience. I first had them sitting in front of the tree, but Jack would not look at the camera and just tried to grab the ornaments, so we pulled the chair in front of it. We also took them to see Santa and that went much better than expected. I thought Jack would cry, but he did great!!

Whenever I try to get them together, Hunter practically strangles Jack. Not cool.

Seriously, isn't this the saddest face you've ever seen? I think it's totally hilarious. I almost put it on the Christmas card, but changed my mind at the last minute.

So sad...

Jack has had enough at this point!

Poor kiddos! I took about 100 pictures and managed to come up with one that made it onto the card :)

Have a great day!!

Jennifer