Surgery details...and Christmas Fun

MJ had a cold two weeks prior to her surgery, but after many prayers and keeping her away from as many germs as possible (I think I cleaned twice a day around here; at least), she was given the green light for the 28th. We needed a 2009 date due to the out of pocket maximum thing...just made it, too!

So, in famous Miranda-style, she had her surgery Monday morning, slept for several hours, experienced severe nausea (gross!), and bounced back at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. We watched TV in the wee hours, per her request, before going to bed again at 6:00 a.m. - just in time for the morning shift to start arriving and checking vitals and asking questions and bla bla bla. By late morning I could tell she was doing fine, so I asked to go home today and not wait for Wed. or Thu. They didn't have a medical reason to keep her since she was doing so well, so they called and got the D/C orders ready. Here's where it gets interesting...unfortunately:(

I got MJ and I all packed up, gave MJ her meds and laid her down for a little nap...then the phone rings. Kyle was calling to tell me he and Corey were heading up to get us (the other two kiddo's were at a friend's house). As he talked (and while sitting at a red light), I hear him and Corey start to yell. Of course I got chills up my spine and knew they'd been hit. Yep, car crash. It had been snowing all morning and the guy behind them was coming down a hill and just couldn't stop. I was a little panicked, told him to call me after he and Corey were settled down and sat there for a while. Kyle called back about five minutes later and said he and and Corey were okay. The back of our mini-van has a cracked bumper and dents in the tail gate - not too bad, though. The other car could drive to the bank across the street, but had significant damage to the front of his car. He too was okay.

Needless to say, we had D/C orders in hand and anxious to find a Plan B. Fortunately, we have a friend who works at the hospital and when I called her office to ask for help, she was very kind, left work early and drove MJ and I home. Here's where it gets interesting...again :(

As we get about 10 minutes from home, MJ sits forward and hurls. Gross! Without warning, whining or wipes handy, out "it" came. I'm thinking the motion sickness got to her - she's done this before on the way home after surgery, but usually she makes a noise or tells us she's gonna be sick and we get "ready." Not today. My friend pulled over, I used dirty laundry from my bags to pick up as much of the "stuff" as I could, and wiped us off with snow that was on the side of the car. By this time, I just about laugh out loud.

When we got home, finally, Kyle was already starting to feel sore. When he came out to greet us, he could hardly contain his "excitement" when he realized he had to get the laundry "ready" to be washed (yep, it was so bad that we couldn't put in directly into the washing machine). Poor guy.

So, here I sit tonight, thankful we are all home and doing okay. I'm also waiting for 10:30 p.m. to come around so I can give MJ her meds and then put her back to bed - and me with her! I'm thinking that Kyle will need some TLC tomorrow - and some more Ibuprofren. Corey seems to be fine and I think he'll like the "attention" when telling his friends he was in an accident. He did tell me at bed-time, however, that he did feel very scared at first and that it "totally freaked" him out. This says A LOT. He doesn't easily "freak" about anything! He also learned first hand why mom and dad ALWAYS make him stay buckled - even at a stop light when he's dropped something and wants to unbuckle to get it. I doubt he'll question our reasoning any more. And one more thing about our little man. He went sledding with his friends and big brother and ended up going off a jump and landing on his face while MJ was in surgery yesterday. When Kyle got home Monday night he said it didn't look too bad, but Tuesday morning, his lip was swollen and his scratches were more pronounced. Add that "look" to his story about being in an accident and he'll have plenty to report when he goes back to school - and probably some added sympathy.

So, on a lighter side...here are some pre-Christmas photos and, of course, Christmas morning photos. Enjoy! When MJ feels better we'll put some photos up of her "new face". We get to "unwrap" her on Friday.

Cookies for Santa...and tracking Santa's GPS.

Trying to catch Santa.

It's a tradition around here to sleep as close to the tree as mom and dad will allow - in hopes to catch the big guy! No hard evidence yet, though there is a very suspicious "tweenager" living here who we think just doesn't want to spoil the fun for his parents...

Just before Christmas MJ had a visit from Santa at school. She's never seen him before and thought it was very exciting. The first little boy who sat on Santa's lap said "Santa, you're always happy." He replied: "Yes I am. Do you know anyone else who is always happy?" The little boy smiled, looked at our sweet MJ and said "Yea, Miranda!" How cute is that? And he's so right! This would be her performing in her Christmas performance. The teachers broke the headband she's wearing in all the right places so she could wear it over her "bump." How sweet of them. Doesn't she look pretty in her sparkle-y clothes? Her new dress shoes are white with glitter/sparkles on them and she calls them her "sprinkle shoes." Her shirt also had glitter in it - I'm sure you can guess what she calls it.

Look at 'em dance!

MJ and Ms. Chels. had dance performances. MJ was very entertaining - facial expressions were her specialty, believe me! And Chelsea is just amazing. She's learned to count beats, shake her hips, shimmy, and just loves to perform. Anyone who comes over now gets asked "can I show you my Christmas dance?"

And boy oh boy, this girl can dance!

And I close tonight's post with random Christmas morning photos.