Abrasions, Bell's Palsey, Speeding Ticket . . . O MY!

WARNING!! This is my venting post. I'm going to complain and whine.

I have had a rough couple of months. In November I got kidney stones. I jokingly gave my little sister Jordan a hug and told her that she would now get the "stones". She actually got kidney stones! I still feel kinda bad about that. Sorry Jordan. Since I have had thyroid cancer a couple times I had to get some test done. One of those lovely test involves me collecting my pee for 24 hours. Yes I had to pee into small cups then transfer that pee into a larger "pee bag" and, this is the best part, keep it chilled in my refrigerator. Don't worry I have sterilized my refrigerator. I also had to have several blood tests done. I will find out the results in a couple of weeks. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Along came the month of December(this might be TMI for some people, you don't have to read this, remember I'm venting). Right before Christmas I got a bladder infection. Of course it was on a Friday night when my doctor was not available. I get bladder infections A LOT. When I get a bladder infection it hits hard and fast. Since I couldn't get an RX, I started chugging cranberry juice and water. I was able to make it through Christmas and at my next doctors visit I tell him how frustrated I am. Guess what? He orders another pee test for me! O joy, I just love peeing in cups. My aim has improved drastically.

December 29Th. My eye starts to water a lot. I just figure that its time to change my contacts. So that's what I do. Then my eyelids start to twitch. I'm talking major twitching. It hurts to read and the twitching/watering has not stoped, so I go to the eye doctor. He informs me that I have an abrasion on my eye. He tells me that I cannot wear my contacts and that I need to get some prescription eye drops. The eye drops were super expensive and I hate wearing my glasses! My eyes are sensitive to the sun and if I can't wear my contacts that means I can't wear my sunglasses. This makes me grumpy.

New Years Eve. I'm at a party having a good time, when all of a sudden my lips start to feel funny. I wait it out until morning to see if anything changes. My tongue felt a little numb and I was having a hard time using a straw. At this point we are at the cabin. I tell my mom my symptoms and she tells me to make an appointment with my doc as soon as we get back. By the time we get back home I cant fully control the right side of my face. When my left eye closes my right eye stays open. I can only smile with half of my mouth and all the wrinkles on the right side of my forehead are gone. One of my new years resolutions was to get a lump on my face looked at ( I kept putting it off because I was worried that it would be cancer again) I already had an appointment made for Monday morning with the dermatologist. He takes one look at the lump and says that it is only a cyst and that I don't need to worry about it. That was such a relief! He proceeds to tell me that he wont treat the cyst until my other doctor can figure out what is wrong with the right side of my face. He did burn a wart of my pinkie finger and it kinda hurt. I then go straight to my regular doctor and he tells me that he is almost positive that I have Bell's Palsy. Bell's Palsy only affects your face and it usually only happens once. I didn't realize how common it was until I started asking around. To make sure that I have Bell's Palsy he made me go get an MRI of my brain. I should find out the results in the next couple of days. Once again keep your fingers crossed for me. (sorry no pictures of my messed up face)

Because my right eye will not close all the way I now have 2 dry spots on my cornea. This is not a good thing. If your eye drys up you can go blind. I have to put more drops in my eye every our and sleep with a mask on. Since I was having such a great new year, I decided to top it off by getting a speeding ticket on my way to the pharmacy to get my new eye drops. Ain't life grand? Now I have to appear in court and pay $190 fine!

I guess you could say that my 2009 is not off to a great start. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Sorry to be so negative. I have faith that all my test results will come back fine. I will keep you posted.

Mt Charleston

We actually got snow in Las Vegas this winter. It was so crazy to see kids on the side of the road building snowmen and sledding. We decided to take advantage of the snow and go snowboarding at Mt Charleston. Aunt Shelby took Carter for the day (thanks again). We talked my mom and our good friend Robbi into coming with us. Poor Kenny was the only guy, but I think he kinda liked it. We were one of the first groups to get there and it didn't seem to be that busy and the weather was great. We got all suited up (check out Robbi's florescent purple and green jacket! Love it!!) and jumped on the lift. The first two runs were great, nice snow, good friends, I could tell it was going to be a great day.

Then it seemed like all of Las Vegas decided to join us! Being the good sports that we are we decided to keep going, we had to get our moneys worth. 50 bucks! Since the entire mountain was covered with people we had to slow down. . . . A LOT. Even with all the people on the mountain I could always spot Robbi! It seemed like we all decided at the exact same time that we had had enough. I'm so out of shape that me legs were burning, two of us had to go pee and Kenny was hungry. We decide to call it a day and grab some lunch. As soon as we sit down I look at my watch and it's only 11:00. After a whole 2 hours of snowboarding we were DONE. I guess you could say we didn't get our moneys worth. At least we had fun! Right??

Me and my man! Mr. concussion always has to wear a helmet. Doctors orders!

Me, mom, and Robbi!

Christmas

I'm not going to apologize this time for not posting. I have my excuses but I will get to that latter.

We had a great Christmas! We spent Christmas Eve with the Prater side of the family. Kenny's parents made homemade pizza. Mmmmmm it was so good, I hope it becomes our new tradition. Carter was the star of the show once again. He got a rocking chair from his grandma and grandpa Prater. He looks so dang cute in it when he is watching TV or reading a book. He got so many presents that I can't even remember them all. Poor Kenny felt like a pack mule all weekend. He had to load and unload the car sooooo many times. Kenny wanted to have scones on Christmas morning so I stayed up late that night to make the dough.

Christmas morning we got up early and opened our family presents. Santa brought Carter a tunnel to crawl through. Carter chases our cat through it most of the time. Then we headed off to my parents house. We opened MORE presents. Carter got and adorable table and chair set from his Nana and Papa. We had some great scones for breakfast (it was my1st time making them and I think they turned out great). After breakfast we headed off to see the great-grandparents. We try to make the rounds and see everyone but it seems to get harder each year. We ended our day back at my parents for an awesome dinner. When all was said and done Carter had and entire car full of presents. He has no idea how many people love him.

We were planning on spending the rest of the holiday weekend at the cabin but the weather was so bad we had to stay home. It was actually kind of nice to have a break from our crazy schedule. I feel so blessed to have such a great family and I love them ALL.

Carter and his Uncle Matt trying out the new rocking chair!

Christmas morning. We had to wake Carter up and he was not happy about it. We figure this will probably be the last year WE do the waking up.

Carter in his new tunnel!

Carter playing the organ with his Great Grandma Prater.

Picture Update

I was messing around with my scanner and thought you guys would like to see some MORE Carter pictures!

Carter does not like Santa!

Carters 1 year pictures!

Thanksgiving

We had an awesome thanksgiving! We spent Thanksgiving day with Kenny's family. It was so nice to have everyone together. I was a bad wife, mother, daughter-in-law, niece, granddaughter. . . . . I forgot to take pictures! Sorry Prater Family.

Friday morning Carter and I hitched a ride to the cabin with Ross, Jordan, and Shelby. Kenny stayed home to work (we really missed him). It was so nice to get back to the cabin. I missed it so much. Check out some of our cabin pictures.

This was Carters first trip to the snow! He had so much fun eating the snow and watching the dogs run around in it.
He did not like sledding!
Still not crazy about it. . . . .
Uncle Ross tried to show us extreme sledding. (He made it about 5 feet before he got stuck)

Carters favorite part of the cabin is making people chase him up the stairs. I'm so glad that we live in a single story house!

Shelby made a snowman and named him Marty.

Then she kicked his head off!

Bonnie Springs

Sunday we took Carter to Bonnie Springs. He had a lot of fun! We took the train ride into town and spent most of the time in the petting zoo. He loved being able to run around and look at all the new things. Here are some pictures. . . . . .

Carter waiting for the train. He is so freakin cute!

On the train with Mama!Carter's dada let him pet a billy goat. Yuck!

The ducks were Carters favorite. He didn't want to leave!

Carter saying hello to the deer.

We just had to do it . . . .

Funny but kinda weird.

Bonnie Springs was so much fun!

Twilight

Friday night I went with my sisters to see Twilight. We had so much fun! We stood in line for almost an hour just to get in the theater. Everyone was looking at us because we had the coolest shirts in the place. I really liked the movie and I can't wait to see the next one. Check out our pictures. . . . .

Crazy Girls!

Yikes!!!!

Yes we are pointing at our BOOBS!

Edward had is hands full! HAHA!