Thanksgiving 2012

I'm a little late with this because I apparently hit my picture limit and have been working on how to fix that. IT pro I am not.

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. How can you not love a day where you're expected to eat too much and then be lazy? Throw in some good company and I call that a great day. I'm finally getting around to getting some pictures up. We go over to Mother-in-law's house for Thanksgiving lunch...and this year stayed so long that we had dinner too! And it was yummy the second time around.

Eating at the table like a big guy!
(with Mama & Grandma snapping away with cell phones)

Grandma's house = playtime (and who doesn't need to play after a turkey dinner?). Ok, Grant's two so everywhere equals playtime. But at Grandma's house, he gets to play with more than boring ol' Mama and Daddy. And he gets to ride his tricycle inside...which he no longer gets to do at home.


How dare I stop playtime for pictures.

 

When I ask him to smile, I never know what I'll get :)

Moving on to dessert. I forgot I had brought the camera so I didn't take pre-playtime pictures. Behold the dessert table:

Look at that sugary goodness!

A kiss for his turkey cookie

 

Loving some Ho-ho Cake (Thanks for the recipe Mel!)



And playtime is resumed.



Grant loves to play with Aunt Debbie!

Sugar high! (Bandaid because he bumped his
head and only a Spongebob bandaid made it better)

 We headed home thoroughly stuffed and desperately in need of stretchy pants. But there was one stop before we went home. There is a house not far from my in-law's that lights up their Christmas lights on Thanksgiving. To say they go "all out" in the understatement of the year. The decorate every inch of their yard and house for Christmas. Some would call it tacky...I call it impressive (Happyland Christmas Lights if you want to find them on facebook). They had posted that they only had 75% of their decorations up.



Nothing says Christmas like Santa in an outhouse...



...or a T-Rex with a candy cane.

These pictures don't even do it justice. And I can't wait to go back after he's done!

I hope your Thanksgiving was as great as ours! 

Conversations With My Toddler

We let Grant play soccer, football, and baseball in the living room. I know what you're thinking...because we get nasty looks or eye-rolls whenever we tell people that. None of the balls we use are hard and while things have been knocked over, nothing has been broken (yet).

So one of these nights while we were playing, Grant picked up one of the balls and without looking launched it straight at me.

He nailed me in the face. 

I didn't get mad, it was obviously unintentional. But I did want him to know that he needs to be more careful and that he shouldn't hit people.

Me: Grant! That hit Mama in the face! What do you say?

Grant: Thank you.

Ha! In his defense, that is the answer I'm typically expecting when I ask that question. It just totally caught me off guard. And Husband too, who I could hear laughing in the kitchen then said "Did he just say thank you?!"

Liver Update

Back around the beginning of October I made another trip to Chapel Hill for a liver check-up with my specialist so I thought I'd do an update since I haven't had time to do one yet.

So the big news is that I'm off the steroid. Hooray for that! And the lingering effects are gone. Which means that I am no longer sweating like I'm having a hot flash for no apparent reason. Also the swelling and bloating is also gone. My doctor told me that being off the steroid will help me with weight control...he's so subtle.

Other big news: my liver levels are normal. They haven't been normal in almost a year. It's great news because it means that my medication is working and it doesn't need to be messed with right now.

I guess I've been officially diagnosed with Autoimmune Hepatitis even though he hasn't "officially" said it. So far, it seems manageable. I'm not crazy about the "hepatitis" part of it so if I'm in a situation that calls for talking about it, I just call it a "liver condition". Hepatitis scares people into thinking that if I touch them or breathe on them that they'll get it too. Obviously, they won't...but some people are weird.

Another issue that's come up is that lot of people like to ask us when we're going to have another baby. "Is Grant going to be an only child?" "Are you ready for another one?" "When is Grant going to be a big brother?" I realize we have a child that is at an age where people generally announce a sibling. I really want people to stop asking. I realize that I'm no longer yellow and I don't LOOK sick...but my health is still an issue and will continue to be because this doesn't go away. If Grant has a sibling someday, and I really want him to, it will have to be carefully planned with my doctors (and I'm very unlikely to share about here). We would like to add to our family one of these days but that is our decision. Not one made because we have a two-year-old and it's what people typically do. My health is coming first. If Grant is the only child we have, then he will have a healthy mother who loves him and will hopefully be around a long time for him. I know it sounds like a lighthearted question when asked but it does not have an easy answer. And, frankly, it's no ones business but ours (unless we make it your business - and you know who you are because I/we already talk about it with you).

So that's pretty much that. I'm "getting better" but will never be cured. Well, who knows, maybe someday they'll have a cure for it but I think it's rather low on the list of diseases to cure. Now that the scary OMG-what-comes-next part is behind us for now, I'm adjusting to life on an immune suppressant which means I get sick often and it's harder to get rid of (although I did manage to escape catching strep throat from Grant recently). It's also a blood thinner so this fall is already a little rough because I'm very cold very often (and long term use can be linked with cancer...a "rare" side effect). I have to be on this medicine for two years before they'll consider reducing the dose but my doctor does have a plan to put this into remission, it just takes a while. My joints are adjusting to being off the steroid. As much as I hated most of the side effects of prednisone, it really made my joints feel good but now I generally always hurt somewhere. Overall, I'm just trying to get used to always feeling like something is "off" with my body. If my joints don't hurt then I have a headache, I'm lightheaded (I can't say I'm dizzy or I'll have to go to another doctor for that), I'm incredibly fatigued, or my stomach is messed up. All that aside, though, I'm better off than a lot of people. My medicine is helping to keep my liver in a time-out so we all just get along.

 PS...I was told once again by my doctor that I shouldn't drink or smoke (he did let go of the IV drug use thing). I tried to tell him that he really doesn't have to give me that lecture. I'm really not going to do it. I might be the only patient he has that's not even tempted by it. But he insisted that he's spent years arguing with people about how little is too much and that if I have a drink even three days before, it can mess up my blood work. So I nodded my head like a good patient but I have the feeling he thinks I was hiding a six-pack in the car. I'm perfectly ok with the idea that I'll never be able to have another drop of alcohol...but if he tells me I have to swear off ice cream, we're gonna fight.

My Little Trick-or-Treater

So Halloween was a big day. Grant had a party at school and they trick-or-treated around the other classrooms. Then he got to trick-or-treat around our neighborhood for the first time!


Ready to go with his little bag that
I've had for him since he was two months old.



He seemed content with staying home with our candy stash.



Why are we standing here with an empty bag?!

 Grant's Grandma came over to help us pass out candy so Husband and I could both go out trick-or-treating with Grant. Grandpa and Uncle Scotty tagged along to walk around the neighborhood with us.

 It was a bit difficult to coax Grant into walking to the first house. So Husband decided to carry him. But once there, he didn't want to walk up to their front door. I sort of figured that would happen. It's probably a little weird to have your parents tell you to knock on a stranger's door.


Telling Daddy he wants to go home.



Checking out the first house.

I think Husband knocked for Grant (I was behind them). And when the door opened, Husband told Grant to say trick-or-treat. I think he told him twice and I finally heard a tiny "Twik a teat". Husband told him to take a piece of candy but the boy who answered the door told him to take two. Grant said thank you (yay!) and when the door shut he pointed to another house with lights on "I need go dat way!" That was that. Every house got a trick-or-treat and a thank you. I was pretty excited about that.

We only went to five houses. Partly because Grant was chilly in his costume, but also because there was a disappointing amount of houses with lights on. I didn't realize how few of our neighbors participate in Halloween. And we only had two kids come to our house. That kind of made me sad.


Home with his loot.

When we got back, Grant got a surprise from Grandma & Grandap. A Halloween bucket loaded up with goodies!

A mix of candy & healthy stuff :)

He got to pick one treat to have before his bath. He picked a tootsie pop...this kid loves lollipops!

Even with the lack of trick-or-treaters at our door, we had a great Halloween. I know Grant did. And I'm so proud of him saying trick-or-treat and thank you to the people who gave him candy.