goodbye, 2011!

Wow. It does not seem like another year has passed by already. I can remember sitting here last year writing a blog along the same lines about 2010. Well, not HERE, because I lived in a different spot. Anyway, let's review our highlights from 2011.

January: The beginning was just like any other time. Christopher's parents came to visit towards the end. We took them to all the cool site seeing places around here and had another 'Christmas' with them. 

February: Oh, February. The very beginning, we had a crazy snow storm that knocked most everyone's power and water out for like 3 weeks. This is when I met Jess and Shaun! We hadn't lost electric or water yet, so I offered for anyone to come to our house for a hot meal and shower. They took us up on it, and thus began our friendship. Really glad I let strangers into my house in this instance lol. I also started seeing an ENT about the issues with my esophagus, but they didn't want to listen to what I had to say. We also had some sad news towards the end. Christopher's grandfather was in the ICU again, and this time didn't look so good. We took most of our tax return and flew home for emergency leave. We never got to say goodbye to Christopher's other grandfather or mine, so we wanted to be sure we were able to see him again. 

March: On March 1st, Grandpa Don passed away. We were able to attend his wake and funeral before flying back home. I prefer it a celebration of life. We had to say goodbye, but we know it's not forever. While we had been in Illinois, we had gotten a call from Balfour Beatty. They said they had a house for us. Awesome, since we'd been on the waiting list for over a year and our lease was up and we did NOT want to renew from all the issues we had at the apartment. Turns out, the lady I talked to DID NOT put us down for that house and we ended up having to fight with them over finding us one. We ended up have a whole day to move from the apartment to the house by ourselves and clean the apartment for inspection. Oy.

April: On April 1st, I miscarried baby Myrda. The irony is ridiculous. While everyone else was joking about (not really) being pregnant, I was beyond devastated. Anyway, this house wasn't in the best of conditions. We had to go all the way up the management chain to get all the issues taken care of. Our biggest one was that the carpet in our front room was full of animal urine. They claimed it was brand new, but we had no animals (at that point we didn't). Then they tried to say it was Conner and that he had had an accident in there. Once again, had to go up the management chain and eventually to our garrison commander to get the carpet replaced. While they were replacing it, we took Conner to the beach for his first time. Well, as close of a beach as you can get in the desert. We went to Elephant Butte, NM to their man made lake/beach. We celebrated Easter with the Brady's, Evanko's, Jess J. and her son Joel, and some of the single soldiers. We all pitched in to cook and did a little egg hunt for the kids.

May: We celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary. We also said 'see you later' to our Army parents, Susie and Bill. Oh how we miss them! Not too much else happened this month.

June: Christopher had his massive field time this month, so Conner and I flew home to visit. We spent our time split up between Oswego with Kari and Stephen, Leland with my mom, sister and Bob, and Rochelle with Krissa and Gene. We celebrated Makayla's 3rd birthday and got to spend a bunch of time with her. Conner and Makayla had a lot of fun together. Went to the Brookfield Zoo with my cousin, Ashley. Also went to a Crosstown Classic with Aunt Kari. And of course, of the 3 games in the first part of the series, the one I bought tickets for was the one we lost. Boo. I went to Six Flags with Ashley somewhere in this month lol. Also spent some time with one of my best friends, Patrick, and caught up with my Megyn <3. We tagged along with Megan and her kiddos to Swedish Days. Conner got to ride a bunch of rides with Brody and Caity. Met up with Jackie and Kenzi in Mendota. I landed myself in the ER with not being able to even drink water. All of my suspicions came to light in a matter of 5 minutes. The doctor on call said she thought I had GERD.

July: Megyn and I went and got our tattoos that we've had planned for years. So glad we did. Now we have constant reminders of why we are still here. Went to Nate and Lora's bonfire and Conner got to hang out with their kids. It was awesome catching up with them and watching fireworks with Conner. Then to my best friend Wes's insane 4th of July party. Yeaaa. Mom, me and Bob took Conner to Leland's 4th of July parade and then later that night they took him to the fireworks there. Then was Warped Tour 2011 with Megyn and Kacie! This is where I decided I am far too white and definitely can not go outside without sun screen. Ever. Flew back home the day after and Kim and Vicki picked me up from the airport. Chris was still in the field at this point. Got everything at home situated and settled back in to our routine.. very briefly. I had an appointment to tell my PCM what the ER doctor had said, and they set up a procedure to get an official diagnosis. When he got back from the field, we took the loooong drive home for 2 more weeks. While there this time we had a small family get together. We also went for Warped Tour (round 2 for me) in St. Louis. While we were there, we also went up the Arch. It was awesome! 

August: Took the long drive back to El Paso. This time we stopped at a hotel halfway through. This month, we also added a new fur baby to our family, Ranger! We got him from my friend Janae, who had rescued him from the Humane Society. 

September: I had my lovely procedure this month. It didn't take them long to give me my diagnosis. I had a follow up appointment a week later, and received some news that shattered me. Instead of just having GERD, they also found some lumps of tissue that were not ulcers that they needed to biopsy for possible cancer. This started the never ending wait for my referral to go through and be accepted by the doctor who would be performing the biopsy. All I had to do was wait a month to get an appointment set up. I was also advised that I should try a meatless diet, since meat seemed to be one of the biggest things that made the GERD flair up. We started a temporary vegetarian diet.

October: Conner turned 2! We had a small party at our house with some friends. I took to my crafty side and made all the decorations and food. And then came the bad news again. I called Texas Tech to see what was up with my referral and why I hadn't been called for an appointment. Seems they 'never received' my paperwork. I know that was some crap, because I got the confirmation that it had been received. Ugh. So since we had this issue, I had to wait another TWO MONTHS before I could be seen to just have a consultation! Tyler and I went to a Taking Back Sunday concert for our (early) birthday present. Conner got his first haircut after Chris had a mild meltdown in Costco from someone calling him a girl lol. Chris was gone again for field time during Halloween, so Conner and I met up with some people along the way. He was scared of his own Halloween costume, even though he picked it out, so we had to throw a last minute one together. 

November: My birthday came and went. I was supposed to go to the Rock Yourself To Sleep Tour with Tyler, but she had just found out she was pregnant and was sick and I ended up getting sick the day before, too. Bummer we had to miss it. This month was full of FRG events. We did the Children's Fall Festival and a few fundraisers at the company. Thanksgiving came around and I cooked an awesome dinner. We had some friends come over. Thanksgiving was the first time I had meat in 2 months. Since it went well, I was cleared to slowly start adding meat back into our diets. I also managed to give myself a mild concussion and had a nasty sinus infection that forced me to go to WBAMC to get some medical help. Yea, only me.

December: Oh this was a full month, too. Had another FRG fundraiser, the Polar Bear Plunge. We had our company Christmas party which was a big success. Some friends and I had a small gift exchange. This year, I went into full craft mode for Christmas. We had decided against shipping gifts since it cost so much last year to ship them, and opted for gift cards. I had my consultation and they explained exactly what they will be doing during the biopsy, and also gave me a little hope! My chances decreased from a 50% chances of the masses being cancerous, to 33% when another option (a hernia inside my stomach) was put on the table. He quickly set me up a pre-op appointment. My dad flew in and spent Christmas with us. At the pre-op appointment, they re-explained everything, and surprisingly set me up for my surgery on January 4. I don't really consider it a surgery, even though it is invasive. They will just be taking a little bit of the mass out, but I had to be sedated and they will go in via a tube in my throat. 

Anyway, here I sit writing this. Thinking of 2011, it wasn't too awful. My family faced some serious hardships, but it is all starting to look up. We have so much to look forward to in 2012. I have my promises (not resolutions, I always break those) in hand and I'm ready to prove to myself that 2012 will be my year. I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe New Years Eve.