Mondays with Macyn

Mondays with Macyn have officially started! I had to use up vacation time at work before the end of the year, so I decided to take off EVERY Monday in December, save money on daycare, and spend it with my little peanut. We had a great day together, and here is a run down of all the "fun" we had.

First, we woke up and she was adamant about watching Minnie Mouse in our bedroom in "Mommy and Daddy's bed." She then said she wanted, "umm....waffle, juice!" And there ya go - breakfast in bed with a 2 year old!

 

After breakfast in bed, I decided to make a grocery list Macyn had to make one too, only using different colored pens. We then make our way out the door to the post office, bank, and groceries where she got to ride in the cart with a car attached! Let me tell you, it is super nice to go shopping on a weekday in the mornings, especially with a 2 year old who can be good, or pretty dang naughty. Today she was somewhere in between :) She was adamant about opening up a bag of cheetos and sitting on the bench by the door, so I let her. Don't be surprised if she ends up on People of Fareway .com (kidding).

We then came home where she was big help putting groceries away (after convincing her she didn't have to stay in the car to eat her Cheetos)

She then decided to take all the muffin tins and make cupcakes in her kitchen. After I was offered about 10 cupcakes, I convinced her to watch a movie.

After that we watched Cinderella, that we borrowed from the library. It is still one of my favorite Disney movies of all time, and I was pretty surprised she sat through 1 hour 10 minutes of it! Its funny watching it with a 2 year old commentary. "Inderella crying? Her mommy go? Mommy coming soon? Its okay inderella." 

We then made lunch - Easiest Soup Ever, and Cheesy Chicken in the crockpot for supper. Shorty after lunch Macyn went down for a nap, and so did mommy. I could really get used to a mid afternoon nap everyday :)

In the afternoon we decided to tackle Scotcheroos and Monkey Bread. Macyn was a HUGE help during monkey bread. She put all the pieces of the dough into the cinnamon/sugar mixture, I would mix, and she would take them out into the pan. She had to stop what she was doing a few times and announce, "Big mess, Mommy!"  "All dirty!" (note, since these weren't exactly sanitary conditions - licking fingers, etc. only our family will be eating these!)

 

I then threw in a Veggie Tales Dance of the Cucumber DVD. There was a nice little moment on the last song called "My Day" sung by Junior Asparagus. I couldn't find a video, but you can listen to the song. While Junior Asparagus was singing in bed, Macyn kept sayind, "awwww, cute." And especially the way the past few weeks have gone, the lyrics were absolutely perfect. Who knew Veggie Tales would describe things so perfectly?

And so it’s good to know
How much you love me
It’s true, the bible says you do
You really love me
Your love was with me all throughout my day

In my bed so quietly
I rest in knowing: God loves me! 

Anyways, I had a ton of fun with Macyn on my day off. I think I could really get used to Mondays with Macyn! Until next time.....

Cheesy Chicken

Here is the super easy crock pot meal I made for supper tonight. Its seriously fool proof, and really good. Here is the recipe. I have made my modifications/additions in red, and crossed out the stuff you don't need if you make it my way. Enjoy

1-1/2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

2 10-3/4 oz. cans cream of chicken soup

10-3/4 oz. can Cheddar cheese soup

3 c. prepared rice, buttered noodles, or mashed potatoes

Hamburger Buns

Place chicken in a slow cooker; sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Pour soups over the top. Cover and cook on high setting for 4 to 6 hours, until chicken falls apart. Spoon over prepared rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes. I take the chicken out, shred it, and place it back in the cooker mixed with the soups. We then eat it like creamed chicken buns.

That's What Faith Can Do

He sees each tear that falls, and He hears me when I call.

For those of you who have read my previous post, you know how I found a lump on Macyn's neck. Today was the day. Antiobotics did nothing for Macyn's lump and its still the same size. What will the doctor tell me today? Did the Lord hear my prayers? Prayers for comfort, prayers for answers, prayers to have any diagnosis that wouldn't take my daughter away from me? I prayed. Hard. I cried myself to sleep with worry. You wouldn't imagine how I felt today when I got the news,   

"Your child does not have lymphoma."  

Seriously? How can she not after having every single symptom of it. Who does biopsies of a large, 2cm, hard, non-movable, lump in the neck without it being cancer? Praise the Lord for that. My sister, who works at a cancer clinic, was even surprised. It just doesn't have a good outcome most the time. To be honest, I came to the appointment looking for answers. When the biopsy was scheduled, I was fully prepared for the worst news, except it never came. Not only did prayers get answered, everything was in place, for the quickest diagnosis I have ever seen. I have too much faith to believe this was a coincidence. Someone was watching over us today - and was answering our prayers.

 During the follow up appointment of the lump, the doctor wanted a second opinion of a an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist. And guess what? 

He was at the hospital today doing surgeries. 

She interrupted him during a surgery and asked for a consultation. Guess what? He left mid surgery to look at my 2 year old kid. My kid. This was the first "red flag" I had when a specialist leaves a surgery. Very quickly a biopsy of the lump was ordered, but it would be somewhat invasive, and wasn't sure if Macyn would have be put under anesthesia to get a good sample. Guess what?  

The anesthetist was at the hospital today as well. 

They wanted the biopsy read immediately so we could decide what treatments to give. Treatments? Another red flag. Guess what?  

The Pathologist was at the hospital today.

These are rare occurrences for a small town hospital. The next thing I knew, they were calling all over to see if they had the right equipment to even do a biopsy of her lump. And guess what? 

All the right equipment was at the hospital, too.

Before I knew it, I walked from the clinic over to the hospital, where they decided to try and do the biopsy without putting her under anesthesia...can you imagine trying to stick a needle in a 2 year old's neck and making sure they sit still? They also checked her white count earlier, and she didn't even cry when they took her blood. So here we go - ready for this needle. The put one in first, that numbs the area. She didn't even flinch.

 Then they went in with another needle and took a biopsy, put it on a slide, and rushed it to the pathologist. They came back with the news - 

"Your child does not have lymphoma." What? A specialist consulted my child during a surgery, ordered an immediate biopsy to get read TODAY to figure out the next treatment step. I was so scared, when it was obviously such an urgent situation. I was so relieved to hear the news, that most of the day turned into a blur. 

After the good news, they did another biopsy - this time a larger one. They will be sending this to a larger hospital to get a closer look, along with her elevated white blood cells to try and figure out a diagnosis. I should have the results next week, and we will go from there. It sounds like treatments would be a fairly long course of antibiotics and/or removal.

We aren't completely out of the woods yet. They think she has a rare bacteria, but we will know more when the results get back. I held it together most of the day, until I cried all the way home, crying out thanks, to the Lord, for his awesome answer to prayer. I cried that I no longer have to cry at night, wondering if I am slowly watching my child die from cancer. I cried for all the emotions that I have been trying to hold in this week. I cried that even when the odds are against us, God had no odds - only a plan for our lives. The looks on the doctor's faces today looked grim and scared. I didn't know what to do except stay strong for Macyn. So as soon as I got out of the hospital, I cried. And I'm crying now. There is nothing that can express my gratitude, relief, and amazement that God would answer my prayers, even though I feel so unworthy.

So here is my shout out to God, Thank You. So much. Words cannot express my gratitude. Because of you, my faith is growing stronger. You rock, God. You are always there. You catch me when I fall. You hold us in the palm of your hand. You are in control.

Now prayers for healing, prayers to find out what is causing this lump. Prayers that treatment would be easy. Praying for more answers. And prayers of thanks. And thanks to everyone who has prayed for us. 

I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered

that's what faith can do..

The Past Week

I know I've been absent for a while, and I fully planned on updating this blog, but some things have happened this past week that I just can't get passed, and I can't pretend to be positive and upbeat, when honestly, that's not the case. I usually don't use this space to vent or spell out my problems, but there have just been some not-so-good things going on! But first, I will start out what we have been up to the past couple of weeks!

• The Good: We decorated for Christmas during the ice storm the past weekend. Honestly, it was one of the best weekends I have had in a while. We spent time as a family decorating and slow dancing together (yes, we did that) to Christmas music. Macyn LOVED it! Its not so bad being iced in when you can spend it with people you love!

• The Bad: We had to bring the car in to get aligned (under $100) on Tuesday and found out there was much more wrong with it than we thought. Needed 4 new parts and 2 new tires. Not so happy with a bill $500 plus. It wouldn't have been a huge deal, but we are still working out tweaks in our budget, and only had about 1/2 of that amount in our "car repair" budget.

• The Good: I had a 5 day weekend! Wednesday off, Thursday for Thanksgiving, Friday off, and Saturday/Sunday. Monday will also be the last Monday I will work in 2011. I will be taking all Mondays off the month of December and spending the extra day with Macyn.

• The Good: I spent Wednesday doing a whole bunch of errands and getting all the Christmas cards labeled and stuffed, ready to be sent out. They will be coming to a mailbox near you!

• The Good: Thursday we were thankful for a great Thanksgiving! We slept in, had brunch for lunch - egg bake, chocolate chip pancakes, cinnamon rolls and mimosas! After lunch we played outside and took naps. We then went to another Thanksgiving at night, and then it was off to Black Friday at Walmart! Macyn spent the night with her grandparents.

• The Bad: While we were eating lunch on Thanksgiving, I noticed something odd about Macyn. I discovered a very large lump on her neck. Its about .75" to 1" diameter and hard. I called the hospital to see if urgent care was open on Thanksgiving, and they weren't. I decided to wait until morning and get her into the clinic ASAP.

• The Bad: Since Walmart was having deals at 10:00, we went over about 9:45 and had to park in another business's parking lot! The store was absolutely crazy. And I felt crazy going there, but I figured others must have felt the same way. 

• The Good: I got some good deals once the craziness calmed down. We also sat in line for a laptop for my FIL that went on sale at midnight. I was shocked we actually got one! We picked up a few other things and finally left the store at 1:00 AM.

• The Good: On Friday morning I woke up before 8, even though I went to bed late after shopping, and got an appointment for Macyn regarding the lump on her neck.The doctor isn't sure what this lump is, and is hoping it is just an infection and prescribed an antibiotic. However, she was going to contact the Ear, Nose, & Throat specialist to let him know, and I have a follow up appointment on Friday to make sure the antibiotic has made the lump shrink.

• The Bad: It is strange she has this giant lump on her lymph node, without her being sick. She has the occasional runny nose, but no fever or anything to indicate something is wrong with her. If the lump doesn't shrink, we will have to go to a specialist. The part that worries me the most, is the doctor used terms such as, "not normal, unusual, huge, odd." Its only day 2 on the antibiotic, and it hasn't shrunk at all yet. And quite frankly, the more I look up information on this on the internet, the more and more scared I get that it could be something more serious.

• The Discouraging Part: As I work on our budget for the next couple of months, I have no idea how we will pay for anything. A large medical bill for ear tube surgery will be coming next month, the large bill for our car, and now this lump in Macyn's neck. Christmas is here, but I guess I will have to sacrifice gifts this year. I would normally have quite a bit saved up in an emergency fund, but we had to use that when DH didn't get paid for an entire month. So not much is built back up yet. Like I said, I don't like complaining about things, especially finances, because I feel extremely fortunate for both DH and I to have good jobs in this economy. I also feel fortunate, because there are people who live like this all the time.... and give up Christmas presents year after year.

• The Challenge: I have been praying about what I should be doing, and how I can get closer to God. I have gotten a feeling that if I get a bonus this year, I should give half to the church. So it makes me wonder, is God testing me to see if I fully trust him, even though I have mounds of bills to pay, and I don't see a way out of the red? He knows I need that money to stay afloat, but seriously, how do you tell God, "No, I need to pay these bills?" I can't be selfish. I need to trust to do what he tells me...and I know he will take care of me.

Sorry for all these emotions in this post. I wanted to update you with whats going on, and why I haven't been blogging lately. I have to be in the right mood do it, and these past few days, it has been a little more hard to be upbeat! I'm more worried about Macyn than I am anything....just praying this lump isn't anything serious.

On a side note: I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our families. I am thankful for being able to spend it with them. I do not take that for granted, at all!

2 Years, 1 Month

Well, we have survived the first month of being 2! Macyn's vocabulary continues to improve daily and you can even have some short conversations with her. Sometimes she gets really excited and jabbers on, and you can't tell what she is saying. She can fully undress herself (shirt, jeans, socks, shoes, even diapers) for whenever she wants to "Go in the tub" with "bubbles, water!" We have had a few floods when she took her sand bucket, filled it up with water, and dumped it on the OUTSIDE of the tub. (We let her play in the tub by herself now, with little supervision). But we will always go check on her when she goes, "ummmheeere!" (come here!).

Mealtime can be tricky as she will either eat like a horse, or eat like a bird. There is no telling what she will do. To her, the food will either be "hot" (even when its cooled off) or "yucky" or "all done!" (without taking a bite). 

A funny story happened the other day - every morning when she wakes up, she says, "Daddy go?" and I tell her, "work," and she says, "why?" and I tell her, "to make money." She then says, "oh." And carries on to what she is doing. Then the next morning she asks again "Where Daddy go?" and I told her again, "work." She then looks up at me and says, "oh, money?" Kid is too smart, I tell ya!

We had an interesting morning the other day. Here is what life with a 2 year old is all about. (this is only a 1/2 hour time frame from when she wakes up at 7:00 until we leave at 7:30) Anyways, Macyn wakes up and cried for "Daddy". I told her he was at work and then shes like, “NO DADDY!” and cried some more. Then she calmed down and I asked if she wanted to watch Minnie Mouse and she said, “no, Dora!” So I turn it to Dora (that lasted about 2 minutes.) Then she decided to be worried about the do and said, “Buddy out!” and I told her he was sleeping. Then she goes, “noooo Buddy out!” and she opened the door to the basement and sat there yelling, “Buddy out!” So while she was laying on the floor yelling for him, I decided I would go pack my lunch and I opened the freezer to get myself a burrito. Then she wanted a push up. I told her “no” and she threw a fit in front of the freezer. I went to go do something else and I came back and she had the freezer open!!! So I closed it and told her, “no!” then she threw a fit....again. While she was throwing her fit, I went to the bathroom and all of a sudden she walks in with a push up! She opened the freezer door and climbed and got one!! What a stinker! Then her hands were “sticky” but I refused to wash them. Then I told her to put on her coat and she said, “NOOO PINK ONE!” so we had to put her pink one on. Then she laid on the floor and cried, “No Holly’s house!” (the in home) and I told her we were going to daycare and she goes, “no daycare!” and I asked her where she wanted to go, and she said “Walmart.”

What a kid, what a kid..... she definitely keeps us on our toes!

5 Year Service Award

Our Marketing team on Halloween

We had our service awards at work, and the day before, the VP called me into her office and told me to be prepared to say a few words. I usually don't believe anything, until she told me she was serious. So I prepared something to say. She saw me print it out and she stated, "I didn't think you would actually have a speech." And I just responded, "hey, I do what I'm told." and someone else heard that and said, "now we know why you have been here 5 years!"  haha. So anyways, here is my "speech."

Yesterday VP called me into her office,
And to be quite honest, I thought what she was telling me was bogus.

She told me to be prepared to say a few words,
On this special day of my 5 year service award.

So I was trying to think of what to say,
And I thought I would take a trip down memory lane.

Back in the day with a four person marketing crew,
We developed a product named Super Chews.

It was a project that ended up not going anywhere,
But you never know, someday it may just reappear.

Gummy Earthworms was my first project I ever made,
And it turns out, it's still one of my faves.

Elfworks Candy Canes, my first Christmas project ever,
I'll always remember VP mocked it up on fit-to-page letter.

For this project I thought we had the gummy designs solved,
Until one came back as an anatomically correct baby doll.

I created Mr. Bones during my 1st Halloween season,
It wasn't as bad as gummy body parts - that made my stomach start queasin'.

Designing Lots a hearts with such pretty art,
I was disappointed it got taken off when it made it to Walmart.

Peek-a-Babies and Chicks, Ducks, & Bunnies for Easter,
Are products I designed that are big crowd pleasers.

Rat Traps, Coffin Creepers, & Lots of Frutti Chews,
Are some of the other products I have made, just to name a few.

These are a few of the projects that I have made,
There's always plenty to do - no need for a rainy day.

Designing candy and packages are all part of the development process,
But don't forget the mockups taking up space in our offices.

Don't forget catalogs and signs for the Sweets & Snacks Expo,
They take lots of work, but they always look good, that's for sure!

I am proud to be part of the Foreign Candy family,
After all, I started out single, got married, and had a baby.
And now, after 5 years, I feel like one of the older ladies.

So here I am, accepting my 5 year service award,
And I would like to thank you for the delicious smorgasbord.

So I want to thank you, TFCC, for being a great place to work
You will always be a wonderful, caring group of people, in my book.

 I also received a certificate and a small gift and handwritten note from the CEO. We also had filled cupcakes and frosted sugar cookies. Its hard to believe I have been there that long already. Time sure does fly!

Gingerbread House 2011

First gingerbread house...ever!

A few years ago, our marketing department at work decided to have a gingerbread house contest amongst each other. We all made one, and I remember stating after mine was finished, "I would never make another gingerbread house again." Its seriously so much work to make gingerbread, frosting, and decorate. I think it turned out pretty cute, but I vowed, never again... So since this was such a big success with our department, my company now does a gingerbread house contest for the local Winterfest celebration. They always need sample houses to display, and since I had a heck of a time with the first one, I have never volunteered... until now.

I know, I vowed to never make a house again....and I didn't. I made Pac Man instead. I'm not sure what made me think of this, or how my support systems is actually holding it up. Its a miracle, actually. 

2011 Gingerbread creation

So here is the easy way I made my gingerbread house (still super time consuming). The back part is a refrigerated roll of gingerbread I bought at the store. I sprayed a cookie sheet and rolled it into the pan and baked it about triple the time it stated on the package to make sure it was nice and firm. I then made triangles out of graham crackers and somehow propped it up enough for it to stand.

The pacman and ghosts were cookies from the clearance aisle for Halloween stuff at Walmart. The ghosts were actually ghost shapes, but I cut off the arms. The pacman was a pumpkin, which I rounded out. I added food coloring for the different frostings and propped them up again with graham cracker triangles. I used Foreign Candy for all the decorations - Rips licorice belts, Up Next Cubes, and EIFFEL bonbons.

I am happy the way it turned out - and the fact that it took me all of 3-4 hours (baking, assembly, decorating). Last time, it took me 2 weeks of non stop working on it! So next year, no houses for me. I will stick with this more "simple" route! 

Make sure you check out the ones or Marketing department made at either the outlet store or library - there are 5 different houses from 5 different people!