Merry Christmas!

It was very nice to have Christmas at home this year with just the five of us.  We pulled off a lovely Christmas dinner, complete with Deep Fried Turkey, and had a relaxing day enjoying our gifts and each other.  Thank you to our friends and family for all the nice things they sent.  But the greatest gift of all is your love and friendship.  We feel very blessed this Christmas day and always!  Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas tree

The girls set out cookies and egg nog for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer.

It's hard enough trying to get a picture of the kids all looking at the camera.

It's nearly impossible to get a good one of the five of us with the timer set.

So you get two versions.  Take your pick.

Tuesday was Daddy-Daughter Date Night.  They both looked really nice.

Coalition to Salute America's Heroes Road to Recovery Conference

Our family had the amazing opportunity to attend the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes Road to Recovery Conference in Orlando, Florida, last week.  What a great event!  It was so well organized and every detail was considered.  The entire focus of the conference was to give the wounded service member and his family the tools to move forward and have a meaningful life after an injury.  There were incredible guest speakers, classes about benefits and entitlements, a huge job fair and resume writing training, an adventure sports expo with adaptive equipment, entertainment for the whole family, and much, much more!  I cannot explain what a great experience we had.  We are so thankful to the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes and all those who donate to their organization to make this possible.  Over 150 service members and their families were invited to attend.  And anyone who left the conference without hope, excitement, and motivation, just wasn't paying attention.

Ryan grabbed a picture with Coaltion Staff J.R. Martinez (wounded soldier and actor on All My Children) and Roger Chapin (founder of the Coalition).

Jaida had a special affinity for this cheerful character at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Maya was so excited to see her first Disney character at breakfast.

Noah saw his first Disney character at breakfast too.

But he wasn't quite as excited as Maya.

Ryan and Noah take in the sights on It's a Small World.

No explanation needed for this one.

Maya posed for a picture with Mulan, Pocahontas, Chip & Dale, and everyone else she could drag me over to.  But Mickey and Minnie were her favorite!

She got Jaida and friend to bring her over to Buzz and Woody.

We got special tickets to go to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom and managed to snap a quick family picture in front of Cinderella's Castle.

Finally!

Before

During

After

Are you happy now, Angie???

If you save a cat's life, does it grant you a wish? Or nine lives? Anything?

*loud announcer voice*  ladies and gentlemen!  Prepare to be dazzled!  For Jaida the cat savior has logged onto blog spot and is about to write you a delightful and amusing post!

Why thank you Tom for that wonderful intro!  Hey everyone it's me!!!! And I have a very entertaining story for you today (Which is a True story!  There were many witnesses...)

SO, I'm walking down the street from my friends house with Taylor (our houses are right next to each other and the bus stop is just down the road)  when we pass by one house, we  noticed something furry and motionless laying in the front yard.  I thought it was dead and was planning to turn around when Taylor saw the faint movement of the animal's chest.  We couldn't tell what it was, it was laying on it's side with it's paws and head facing away from us, so we approach it to find that it is a gray tabby cat. It apparently heard me coming and turned around and that is when I saw what shocked me the most.  Are you ready to hear it?  Are you sure you can handle it?  Well if you're sure....it had three heads!!!  Ha ha, just kidding, but it did have to do with the poor creatures head.  On it was a pumpkin pie can.  Yah!  I assume that the poor, hungry creature was sniffing around a recycling box, and stuck it's head in the can, and couldn't get it back out.  Now this sounds hilarious, for you couldn't see the head at all, just a furry neck that leads to a can.  And yes it was, but it was also quite serious.  The can is very small and when I tried to gently pull the can off, it wouldn't budge.  There weren't any gaps, and I'm no doctor, but I had a feeling if this stayed on too long, this cat could lose oxygen and there goes one of its nine lives! I took an even closer look and saw that the can had a jagged ridge that was digging into the throat of the cat.  Thank goodness it hadn't cut through the skin, yet!  I lifted the can determined to help supply some oxygen to the animal and a small amount of water spilled from the can.  Uh-oh.  I told Taylor to get her dad (who is an anesthesiologist) and she ran back to the house.  I stroked the cat and talked to it trying to calm it down a bit (It's fur bristled up in every direction!) and suddenly it let out a high pitch frightened meow that almost made me wanna cry!  Almost.  Taylor's dad came moments later and was able to pry that can off the cat's head.  You will be pleased to know the cat was not harmed in any way that I could tell and hurried away home.  Now, not to ask too much out of you, but to prevent more accidents like Toby's (I decided to call the cat Toby! Isn't that like the best cat name ever?!  I'm gonna name my cat Toby if my mom ever gets one!) could you please put your cans in a plastic bag when you recycle them?  Or cover your recycle bin with a lid or something?  Because if you don't cats all over the place may rule the world and want revenge for making cats look like the tin man!  Ha ha.  Anyways that's all I got for now! Talk to you all when I can! 

 

*Tom* We hope you enjoyed this pleasurable post sent in by none other then THE Jaida!  Tune in next time to hear more about the wonderful works of Jaida the Awesomest!  Other wise known as Jaida the Cat Saint!  Or...

  JAIDA THE CAT SAVIOR

Surgery hiatus

Ryan met with his plastic surgeon today for a follow up of his November 5th surgery.  Dr. Thomas is thrilled that everything is looking so good.  Ryan still has a bit of healing to do before he's completely closed up again.  But he's almost there.  Dr. Thomas agrees that anything else that we'll want to do (more eyelids, a little upper lip revision, maybe some dermabrasion) can wait until after the holidays.  So we're looking forward to having a couple months break from the OR.  Surgery is exhausting!  It will be nice not to think about it again until the new year.  There's still so much to do and it will be there waiting for us.

Around the Services featuring Ryan

I got an email from our friend Rebecca letting us know that she saw Ryan on a segment from "Around the Services" on the Pentagon Channel in Okinawa.  (Thanks Rebecca!)  So I went to www.pentagonchannel.mil and found the episode from November 12th, downloaded it, and extracted his appearance out of the 22 minute piece.  Ryan was part of a two minute feature about care for our wounded warriors.  

The technology that they are using to create Ryan's new ears is truly remarkable.  And Dr. Villalobos might actually be the nicest man I've ever met!  Ryan plans to have the surgery to remove what's left of his ear cartilage and place the implants in his skull in January.  After that it will be about 6 months before they will uncover the implants, attach magnets, let that heal, and then attach Ryan's new ears.  It's amazing what they can do!

Nice day to swing

San Antonio has finally cooled off enough that we can wear long sleeves and pants.  It's been such a nice change, especially for Ryan who can't stand being out in the heat.  Now taking the kids to the park is a treat we can both enjoy.  Look at those faces!  Wouldn't you just hate to miss that?!?

Daddy even took a turn on the swing!  Yay!

Recovering at home

When I came in to see Ryan on Thursday, he was already planning on coming home. He had a little trouble with nausea that morning, but managed to keep his lunch down. And he didn't have any problems eating the cake the Marines brought him to celebrate the Marine Corps' 233rd birthday. LtGen Flynn (CG MCCDC) and his wife were in town for the cake cutting ceremony, and visited with Ryan and I beforehand. LtGen Flynn had visited the last time Ryan was in for surgery in September, so he's been getting to know us pretty well.

Ryan was discharged at 5:00 and was very happy to be going home. Even though he had his own room this time, he never sleeps well in the hospital. Nurses come in every 4 hours to check his vitals and volunteers and chaplains are always popping in to say hello. It's very nice of everyone to want to visit with him, but after surgery, Ryan needs sleep more than anything. And he's too nice to ask anyone to leave.

We went in for a follow up appointment with Ryan's surgeon on Friday. Dr. Thomas is very happy with how everything is healing and anticipates good results. It's hard to tell what looks good and what doesn't when he's covered in blood and stitches. And you can't see the grafts under his eye and above his lip at all because they are covered with pressure dressings. Those will come off on Monday, so for the weekend he looks like he has a yellow mustache above his lip. It's actually quite comical. So we tease Ryan to enjoy it, since it's the only mustache he'll ever have. He hasn't been in very much pain at all, so that's been very nice. He's been up watching college football today and I got him hooked on Sudoku. (Thanks Rebecca!) He's been playing with the kids and offered to watch Noah for an hour so I could take Maya to gymnastics. He even changed a dirty diaper! So, all in all, he's doing pretty good for having had surgery 3 days ago.

Another surgery day

So, I've been terrible about blogging the last few weeks. And I've been meaning to catch everyone up on Ryan's trip to Europe and my quick (and unexpected) jaunt to DC, but for now I'll just have to settle for telling you about today. It's late, and I'm tired, and I just got home from the hospital.

Ryan was originally scheduled to have surgery on Monday, but his surgeon's daughter deployed to Iraq that day and he took the day off to say goodbye. Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long and got in today. Ryan was second case and didn't have to be at the hospital until 8:00 a.m. They did all his prep work and rolled him back for surgery at 10:30. I didn't know exactly how long it was going to take, so around the 4 hour mark I was starting to get nervous. But that's just when Ryan's surgeon arrived to tell me everything went well. He was able to put a full thickness graft under Ryan's lower right eyelid and above his top lip. They took a little piece of cartilage from what's left of Ryan's left ear and put it between his nose and lip to give it structure. They removed a scar on the left side of Ryan's nose and one along his left jawline, and advanced his cheek and neck accordingly. They removed some bulky skin between the inside of his right eye and the bridge of his nose. And they dermabraded the right side of his face and a few areas on his chin and left cheek. I think that's everything. No wonder it took 4 hours!

I was able to see Ryan in recovery at about 3:30, but he was mostly sleepy and recovering from anesthesia. I had to leave at 4:30 to pick up the kids and get them settled at home with dinner. I went back to the hospital at 6:30 to find Ryan sitting up comfortably and asking for ice cream. I ran downstairs and got him two ice cream sandwiches and a Gatorade. We sat and talked while nurses came in and out and then he took a little nap. He decided he was ready for food when he woke up and sent me out for McDonald's at 9:00. When I came back he was feeling a little nauseous but, with a little medication to help counteract that, he was certain he was going to be eating his meal. Visiting hours end at 10:00, and at that point, I was definitely ready to go home. Ryan's nurse is taking excellent care of him, and his charge nurse tonight is my very favorite!

Even though Ryan said he felt like he got punched in the face with a scalpel, he was already asking if he could go home tomorrow. And as long as his pain can be managed with oral medication, he can. The dermabrasion is the most painful part because it is open and raw. So, we'll see how he's feeling tomorrow, but hopefully, we can take him home. Please keep us all in your prayers. Thanks so much!

Halloween Fun

Some of you may remember the pirate family from last year.

Well, we all dressed in theme again this year.  But this year we were super-heroes!

All our trick-or-treaters loved it, but they loved our little Incredible Hulk most of all.  Lots of people even asked to take his picture.  Luckily, Texas is one of the few places where you can go shirtless and shoeless on Halloween night without freezing to death!

I have a lot of updates that I want to post, but I thought I could stall a little longer with these pictures of our Halloween costumes.  Enjoy!

Pop Quiz:  Without looking up at the pictures, did you notice anything different about Jaida?  (Besides the fact that she's taller than me!)

What's up People?

Hey everyone! It's yours truly!

I am sure most of you know about how my mom is currently in D.C.!!!!!! 

I am really happy for her and hope she is having a good time.  She isn't the only one flying all over the place, my dad is in FRANCE!!  And I am here: What's up with that?!?!

They SO owe me!!! 

San Antonio Children's Museum

Everyone in our family had the day off on Monday for Columbus Day, except Jaida.  She was none too pleased and sincerely hoped I would let her skip school that day.  I didn't.  But Maya and I had some fun while Daddy and Noah slept late and had some "guy time".  

Maya and I went to the San Antonio Children's Museum with her best friend Trey and his mommy.  We had a blast enjoying all the exhibits and spending time together.  We got there just after it opened and it was nice and quiet, but it got much more crowded by lunchtime.  So we walked across the street to have burgers at the Buckhorn Saloon.  By the time we headed home, everyone was ready for a nap!

Trey and Maya play with magnetic bolts in Da Vinci's Workshop.

The Bubble Room and Water Table were definitely favorites.

Maya and Trey took turns driving the Holt Front End Loader and dumping loads of gravel.

Milking a cow is hard work!

Maya shows off her pipe creation.  

What's really going on

There hasn't been a whole lot happening on the homefront around here. Just living the dream, as usual. Ryan's hand is healing nicely and he continues to work on extension and flexion in therapy. He did have a bit of a skin reaction to the adhesive in the tape they used to dress his suture line, but we've found that his skin is much more sensitive than it used to be. And we're finding creative ways to bandage him without tape. He follows up with his hand surgeon again on Tuesday, and we expect he will tell us just to continue with hand therapy as planned. Ryan has also been working with his prosthodontist again since he's all healed up from his "face off" surgery. They made new molds of the sides of his head in preparation for making his prosthetic ears. It is a multistep process that involves making wax versions of his ears and taking pictures and measurements for placement. Then taking a CT scan of Ryan's skull and creating an acrylic model of Ryan's skull. Then making acrylic versions of his ears and finding the best location on his skull to drill and place the implants. They then make a marker for the surgeon so he knows where to drill during surgery. They place the implants and have to let them sit for up to six months before they attach the magnets and Ryan can use the silicon versions of his prosthetic ears. So......yeah, it's a process. We are planning to have the surgery to remove the remaining cartilage in Ryan's ears and place the implants in January. And we were hoping to combine that procedure with Ryan's plastic surgeon releasing his eyelids and revising his upper lip. But we met with Ryan's plastic surgeon on Friday and he doesn't think we should wait until January to do Ryan's lower right eyelid. And he wants to do Ryan's eyelids in two or three surgeries. So, now Ryan has eyelid surgery scheduled for November 3rd. It wasn't what we had planned, but preserving Ryan's vision is of the utmost importance.

Now, don't go worrying that Ryan is spending every moment dreading his upcoming procedures. Right now, he's too busy packing. Yes, he was invited to go France and Belgium on a 10 day tour of World War II battlefields with Operation Comfort. He is so excited! And while I have to admit that I wish I was going with him, I am thrilled that he is independent enough to go alone. This will be the first time he has traveled without me since he was deployed with the 26th MEU. The kids and I will miss him terribly, but he's in good hands and it's so good for him to have some time on his own again. Before his injury he was gone more than he was home, and now he never gets away. But more than anything, it's good for him to get a break from the hospital and all his appointments. If I can get him to take some good pictures, I'll be sure to post them when he returns.

While Ryan's gone, the kids will be sure to keep me busy with school, soccer, gymnastics, and the joy of parenting. But we also get the distinct pleasure of a visit from Ryan's youngest sister, Rebecca. She's been traveling Europe since May and is finishing that trip with a couple of hops across the U.S. Unfortunately, Ryan won't be here for her visit, but that just means we'll have to talk her into coming out again when he's home. And no one ever visits us to see us, the kids are really the main attraction. That's okay by me, I just can't wait to see her pictures and hear the stories of her travels.

Reason #973 Why I Have the Best Husband in the World

So, one day I was sitting around missing my friends. And I told my husband, "I miss my friends, I wish I could go see them." He said, "You should go." I said, "You're crazy. You're about to have hand surgery and I need to be here." He said, "I'll be fine. You go. You deserve it." So, just six days after he had hand surgery, I boarded a plane for North Carolina and went. I brought Noah, because he's the neediest, and Ryan stayed home with the girls. All my friends' husbands are deployed, so it was very much like it was when we were all surviving the last deployment together. No men, just women and babies. Lots of babies. Lots of talking. Lots of laughing. A little bit of crying. I'm so glad I went. And I'm so glad I have a husband who encourages me to do what I need to do and is willing to manage the house while I am gone.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

If you would like a copy of one of the slideshow pictures, email me!

Soccer, school, and writing too!

HEY FANS!!!!!

It's me!  I know this blog has been very boring without my regular posts.  I'm sorry it's been forever!  I'll catch you up on all the latest.  I am in 8th grade for those of you who don't know.  At the moment me and the other 8th graders rule the school!!!  Ha ha.  And our teachers are awesome!  So far there has  been no homework issues.  We actually rarely have to do homework at home because we have a free period where we do nothing but homework.  I really think we should knock off that period and just go home early but it's not up to me, sadly : (

As you can see by the pictures mom's loaded up I had my first soccer game today.  The team got lucky and won but we were going easy on them. : )  but because that game is the first one of the season it doesn't count.  So the "Clashers" better watch out cause my team is gonna whoop them!!!

And my crazy soccer friends think I have bad sportsmanship!  Well in the pictures I look kinda blurry because of my ah-mazing speed skills.  Ha ha just kidding...kind of.  In one of them it looks as if I am colliding heads with number 12.  Well he was one of the good players on the team and no we didn't collide that's just camera magic there.

I have also been writing during my spare time, a bit of a hobby now a days.  So if you want to get my autograph now before I'm famous feel free : D

Not much more to report, I will try to give you more details when I get a chance!  See ya!

JAIDA THE GREAT!

Sporty Spice and Sporty Spice Jr.

Ryan and I got a chance to snap a few pictures of our girls in action today.  Noah and I took Jaida to her first soccer game of the season this morning.  They played the league champions from last season and lost 2-6.  The score didn't actually count toward their record because they meet again at a later date.  It was good to get out there and see what was working and what wasn't and get an idea of what they need to work on in practice.

Meanwhile, Ryan took Maya to The Little Gym for her weekly gymnastics class.  This is the best part of Maya's week.  She loves to learn and play on all the equipment and the teachers are SO PATIENT!  Plus, her best friend Trey is in the class.  Sometimes it's hard for them to focus on anything but each other.  But the teachers manage to get their attention and move them from one activity to the next.  

Monday Fun Day Surgery

Today we had our first surgery experience in San Antonio somewhere other than BAMC.  I have to say they were pretty efficient compared to what we're used to.  Ryan's surgery was scheduled for 2:30 p.m. and they asked us to be there 2 hours prior.  They checked us in at about 1:oo, and took Ryan back to change into a hospital gown at about 1:30.  Twenty minutes later they let me go back with him and talk to the surgeon, anesthesiologist, and OR nurse.  I wasn't even back there 10 minutes and they were pushing "happy juice" in his IV and rolling him back for surgery.  The surgeon released the tendons in all four fingers of his left hand.  They were trying to maximize the flexion in his pinky and ring fingers and the extension in his index and middle fingers.  The most success was in the ring finger and index finger, with each meeting the goal we hoped for.  The pinky got about 90 degrees of flexion and the middle finger didn't quite get full extension.  He's got two incisions in his left hand and a splint holding his ring finger and pinky down.  The doctor wants him to try to move his index and middle fingers as much as he can.  They finished up surgery at 3:30, but I couldn't go see Ryan in recovery until 4:30.  His throat was hurting him more than anything else from the intubation.  They gave him some pain medication and he slept until 5:30.  Then we woke him up, got him dressed, and took him home.  Well, not before we stopped at Dairy Queen to get him a vanilla milkshake and a large hot fudge sundae.  (His throat was sore, so he needed the ice cream to feel better!)  He's resting comfortably on the couch right now, with his hand elevated, watching Monday Night Football.  Not too bad for a surgery day.  Hopefully he will continue to be relatively comfortable.  He follows up with his surgeon next week.  

Maya's Birthday Extravaganza

Our little Miss Maya will be three years old Tuesday, but we celebrated in style with a big birthday party on Saturday.  I don't know if I was overdoing it because we didn't do much for her birthday last year, or if I just like punishing myself.  It doesn't matter either way, because the party was a success and the birthday girl had a great time!  We had a big inflatable bounce house and slide in the backyard and a magician performed tricks, made balloon animals, and painted faces.  We ate pizza, ice cream, and cupcakes, and no one got hurt when we took a bat to the piñata.  The only downer was the mosquitos, but we survived.  A good time was had by all, and Maya appreciates all the nice gifts she received.  Thank you!

Maya makes a wish!

Daddy helps Maya with the piñata.

Maya shows off her face artwork.

Jaida and a friend have balloon tiaras.

The big girls didn't escape without a face painting.

Maya prefers to view the magic show from her sister's lap.

Noah hopes no one will notice that he's shoving a second cupcake into his mouth.

Noah found someone's ice cream on the kid's table and didn't want it to go to waste.

A lot of progress in a week

Ryan is feeling much better as each day goes by. He no longer requires the strong pain medication he was taking after surgery and was able to resume driving at the end of last week. That was a big improvement for me, because I've had to take him everywhere he needs to go for the last month. So now we both have a little more of our independence back. Ryan's face is healing nicely, as are his shoulders. He's not completely closed up yet, but he's almost there. He did have a little bit of graft loss, on the left side of his upper lip and small areas along his suture lines. But that happens and there's not much we can do about it. We're just praying that it heals in a way that won't require surgery to revise it. We can already see how the results of this surgery will make Ryan's face less tight and less painful, but for now we laugh because his face doesn't move much when he smiles or laughs. I imagine that's what it's like when someone gets a face lift, just kind of stiff. But once the swelling is completely gone, I think his face will move more.

He's been able to go out in public more in the last week, than in the last month. On September 11th, we attended a luncheon with Retired Army LtCol, Brian Birdwell and his wife Mel. Brian was working in the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001, when terrorists flew an airplane through his office window. He was walking down the hall when he was engulfed by a wall of flames, but his three officemates were killed instantly. It is a miracle that he survived and he shares that miracle with his ministry "Face the Fire" and book "Refined by Fire". It was great to meet Brian and Mel because we had already read their book and were encouraged by it. Later that night, Jaida and Ryan attended a free Tim Mc Graw concert on Fort Sam Houston. It was within walking distance of our house, so while I didn't get to go, I could hear everything. Jaida and Ryan got the VIP treatment, with great seats and free food from Chipotle! The concert was great and they had a lot of fun. At one point, one of the soldiers put Jaida up on his shoulders and Jaida swears Tim smiled and waved at her!

On Saturday, Ryan took Maya to gymnastics at The Little Gym and was impressed to see her tumbling and hanging on the bars. On Sunday, Jaida, Ryan, and I went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Yokonyu, and then to the Majestic Theatre for the Broadway musical, The Color Purple. So, it's been good to get out a little after being home so much lately.

Jaida started soccer this week and Maya is a few weeks into the semester for gymnastics, so I'll try to get some pictures of my girls in action posted soon. Maya's birthday party is tomorrow afternoon. She turns 3 on Tuesday. Noah's latest trick is hiding his sippy cup. I've found old cups of milk in the toy box, trash can, bath tub, and pantry. I haven't caught him drinking 3 day old milk...yet.

Jaida at the Tim McGraw concert.

Ryan loves Maya's face in this picture. I love her crooked pony tails.

Noah explores the back yard with a stick in hand.