Toto...we're not in Chicago anymore...

First off, I would appreciate it if everyone could re-read "A SPECIAL REQUEST" blog post that was written a few days ago. It's below....  Thanks!!

Ok...so we're home. I guess I'm just not as excited about it as everyone else is. It seems that everyone else is just so excited to get home after surgery. Now, while I was excited to sleep in my own bed, & excited for Cali to be home, I just didn't feel the whole "I-can't-wait-to-get-home" vibe that everyone else did. Could be that I'm not the biggest fan of where we live. Could be that having a "forced vacation" was actually kind of nice. Could be that being home means filling Brooklyn's 2 expanders & I'm SOOO not looking forward to them getting bigger & bigger & bigger...which means more stares. Could be that I'm just not up to being so anal about people being sick & getting her sick, which I hate. Could be that I just don't want to act like a germ-o-phobe, which is what we're forced to do. Could be that while we were gone life was kind of on hold, but now it has to resume. Could be that now that she has expanders in her head it's inevitable that she's going to have a 2nd surgery. Could be that there's just a slight twinge of regret still going on in my head. Could be ALL of these reasons all wrapped up into one. All I know is that there's something going on & I wasn't looking forward to being home.

This all was thrown into my face yesterday when we did finally step foot into our house, after being gone for 3 weeks to the day. I just got this overwhelming feeling of sadness....well maybe not sadness...but just a feeling of being VERY overwhelmed. I have SO much to do!!! Plus, the fact that I just don't want to hurt anyone's feelings by constantly asking if they're sick or have been around anyone that's sick. UGH!

Well I'll spare you anymore "diary sessions" & share a picture of Cali yesterday in the car:

She was so excited to get home she just couldn't stand it anymore!

We got up, ran to McDonalds for our coffee, oatmeal, & Cali's apples...only to get on the road & find out that they gave both Dustin & I a large coffee (when we'd ordered Medium's) but only put a "Medium" size amount of flavoring in it. Simply stated: they were terrible. Then they forgot my oatmeal. But thankfully they did give us 2 orders of Cali's apples instead of just 1 - so she was quite happy. She was eating apples in the picture above.

Dustin drove all day. We left Sheridan around 9am & got to Billings around 10:45am. Cali has been saying "Dawn" for the past 3 days so we just had to run by WalMart to see her Auntie Dawn. She was excited to see her in person finally!!! We got some carpet shampoo & fruit snacks & then went by Sears.

Back in November I wrote a few posts on our horrible picture experience at Sears. I'd written how much money it cost me, just to have bad pictures taken. So I'd cancelled the pictures & gotten my money back....remember??? Well imagine my surprise when I got a call from Sears in Billings saying that they had our pictures there & we needed to pick them up "because they've been here since the end of November & you really need to come get them". Hahaha....uhhhh ok then. Well just a few days ago I got another quite rude call...basically saying that these were our Christmas pictures & they've been there since the end of November & we need to come get them by Feb 4 or they'll be "Destroyed". LOL So after WalMart we went right on over to Sears & got our pictures....FREE pictures, mind you! :o)

Then we grabbed Wendy's, got gas, & headed for home. I'd said to Dustin right after we got to Billings that it was pretty weird being there....& I could only imagine how weird it'd be being back at home. And boy was it ever weird driving back into town. We had to rush back for Cali's 4pm appt at our doctor, so we didn't drive around or anything...just drove into town, got to our house, ran in, looked through the mail for about 10 mins, changed diapers, & then just 1/2 hr after getting home Cali & I went to the doctor. Whew!!! I didn't have a second to call the doctor to see if anyone there was sick, or if any patients had come in sick, so Dustin stayed home with Brooklyn.

We got there a little early so that we could go down the hall & say hi to "Gammy" (Dustin's mom) & then ran in my work for a few minutes to say hi. Everyone is anxious to see Brookie. Then we went to the doctor & came home (after running by the pharmacy to get Brooklyn's numbing cream that Dr. Bauer's office called in for her).

Cali was soooo excited to be home. She was running around playing with every toy she could get her hands on....& screaming!!! Oma (my mom), Uncle Mike, & Uncle Curt came over & Cali was so excited to see them. Brooklyn was also excited to be home. She was crawling around all over the place getting into whatever she could get into. Then Dustin's parents came over to say hi. And Auntie Marji came over with cousins Kobe & Taylor. So Cali had a ball playing with everyone.



Brooklyn's happy to be home!

 It was an exhausting night...just cause we were so tired. We got dinner, & then everyone left & I went to bed at 8pm!! Unfortunately though, Brooklyn had another bad night. Every night since her surgery has been horrible. Last night though seemed even worse. She's just so restless...like she can't get comfortable. She'll wake up crying & crying. She tosses & turns like crazy also. We try feeding her, try comforting her, try giving her her paci, & try holding her. After about 1/2 hour each time she seems to settle down & sleep for about an hour. And then it all starts again. I wrote to everyone in the Nevus support group that we're in asking if anyone else has had this problem with their kids after having expanders inserted in their heads. I'm hoping that things will settle down now that we're home & getting back into a normal routine. Prayers & finger crossing would be appreciated!!! :o)

Today we're all attempting to get over our colds. Brooklyn is still on antibiotics, but we're still trying our best to not give this to her. Dustin is going to put up his makeshift "gate" on the stairs so she won't fall down them. We weren't going to put it up (& just teach her early) but with these expanders in, I don't want to risk that!! We're also going to borrow Dustin's mom's carpet shampooer & clean the carpet in the living room real good. And THEN, if we have enough time (& energy) we're going to change Cali's crib into a toddler bed. Brooklyn is now the proud owner of her brand new crib (thanks to Oma & Opa) so maybe we can even get that up too! :o)   Projects projects....