Just a recap....

Well things around here have been anything less than crazy. So here is a little recap:

-Tim has been battling ear troubles. It all started back at the beginning of October. He had a sinus infection and went to the little clinic to get it taken care of before we headed off to the beach. Well the sinus infection went away but his ear ache never did and after a few weeks he lost hearing in his left ear and he was in great pain. I convinced him to go to the ENT but I guess I didn't convince him soon enough. The night before we were going to make the appointment his ear drum appeared to have ruptured. He got right into the ENT and has been on antibiotics ever since (This was the beginning of November). The week after his ENT appt. we got word from them that the lab results showed MRSA in his inner ear. So he got put on a even stronger antibiotic and is still taking that. He is feeling much better and has almost weekly appointments with the ENT. His hearing has yet to come back but we know it isn't anything permanent. He will regain his hearing it just may take a while. If you think about it say a prayer for fast healing and his hearing to come back quickly. It's been a month since he lost his hearing.

- I am trying to get together my Advent list and December is creeping up on me very very fast. I am trying to think of new ideas to throw into the mix and that's what's taking so long. I get so giddy over all things Christmas and Advent.... probably more so than the kids do and they get REALLY excited!

- I wrote about the struggles we had with Rascal's nut allergy at the beginning of the year..... we sat down with the principal at the beginning of the year and got a plan of action nailed down. We have not had any other problems arise and things just kind of laid low. Well last Thursday I got a call from the school nurse. Nobody like hearing the school's nurse on the other end of the line but when you have a child with a life threatening nut allergy it is even worse. My heart always begins to race and my world starts to spin for a moment and she always assures me right away that Rascal is okay. Good thing because I would not be able to focus on a thing she said otherwise. So back to the point, the school nurse called me last Thursday to tell me that the cafeteria manager had approached her to inform her about Friday's lunch. Since it was the last day of school before Thanksgiving break they served a thanksgiving "feast" which included sweet potato casserole with nuts on top. Typically the cafeteria is nut free lunches but this is the one exception. Since the lunches at school are nut free Rascal sits surrounded by all the kids who buy their lunch. The lunch boxes (which could contain nut and the popular PBJ sandwich) all sit together at the other end of the table. So since the bought lunches would contain nuts that day this meant there was no safe area for Rascal to sit and he would be surround by nuts.... not good!! The school nurse and I made arrangements for Rascal to stay in the classroom with a friend who had a safe lunch and eat there. He would not be allowed to step foot in the cafeteria that day and I made sure he was on tip top alertness for any sign of reaction. We made it through the day with zero problems and praise God, He protected my sweet boy from any major problems arising. I was so thankful for the cafeteria staff and the school nurse beginning ahead of the game and taking all precautions to make sure Rascal was safe.

-All my Christmas decorations are up and have been for a good two weeks. Tim got the outdoor decorations hung this past weekend they look fantastic. I will post pictures of the decorations later this week.

- Today marks the 29 days to Christmas mark and we have not bought the first Christmas present yet. We are usually done by now. I'm not too stressed about it, in a day where Amazon Prime exists... it's so nice to order a gift and have it on your doorstep in no longer than 2 days. Also my kids don't have big Christmas wish lists this year. We are still very much enjoying their gift from last year (Lucy). I think it will be a low key Christmas as far as gifts go and we will focus much more time and effort on the real meaning of Christmas. Baby A is at an age where she can understand it on a simple level and I want to make sure this Christmas season is not passed by without her being able to say what Christmas is all about.