Harriet Potter and the Yard Full of Leaves

This summer became the summer of Harry Potter. My mom introduced Maddie to him and well, she fell in love.

She talked about him and the other characters like they were a part of our family. She wanted to watch all of the movies, over and over again. She even pronounced his name with a British accent.

We talked to her about the difference between fiction and non-fiction, and she understood from the start that it wasn't real.

I was concerned that they might be too scary for her, but it didn't seem to bother her. Until she had her tonsils out.

Just a word of advice- NEVER let your 5 year old watch all of the Harry Potter movies, Spiderwick Chronicles, Jumanji, or Zathura while on pain medicine, specifically codeine.

The nightmares began.

So Justin and I were instrumental in ending Maddie and Harry's relationship.

She missed Harry. She talked about him often. But like all childhood crushes, she seemed to get over him rather quickly.

But I'm afraid she hasn't.

A few days ago, we were outside.

"Mommy- do you wanna see how to do the secret code to get into the club? You can't tell anyone."

"Okay."

Then she picked up her rake, and started hitting the bricks on the house while chanting, "Hufflepuff. Slytherin. Ravenclaw. Gryfinndor. Hufflepuff. Slytherin. Ravenclaw. Grifinndor."

Nothing happened.

So she did it again.

At this point, I realise that I'm impeding her progress into the club, so I go inside- fully aware that my daughter looks incredibly strange, beating my house with a rake while chanting the four houses of Hogwart's.

A while later, I found her walking in my yard, dragging her rake.

"Mommy, I have a secret. One that you can't tell anyone but Daddy. Because I think he should know. But no one else. I'll tell you if you promise not to tell."

I cross my fingers and promise.

"I'm a witch. But a good one. And instead of a broom, I carry a rake. It's so no one will guess my powers."

"Um. Wow." And then, a light bulb!

"Honey- just so absolutely NO ONE guesses your secret, why don't you use your rake the normal way? How about you rake the leaves?"

That lasted about 5 minutes.

Here's hoping she can come up with a spell to get rid of all the leaves. Soon.

A Freak Accident

I have this friend that I adore named Sujette. She is older than me by about 30 years, but that has never seemed to matter. She is that person so filled with life that you can't help but smile.

One of the best qualities about Sujette is how connected she and her husband seem when they are together. They hold hands, they disagree with a smile, and enjoy their time with each other. They are the couple that still go on dates even though they've been married over 25 years. I love them.

Not long ago, they decided to take a quick trip to Hawaii to use up their airline miles. On their last day, after they had checked out of the hotel and loaded up their rental car, they headed out. Sujette and Jim decided to take one last walk on the beach before catching their plane.

While walking in the shallow water, a wave knocked Jim down. A rip tide then carried him out into the ocean. He crashed against the ocean floor.

A bulging disk in his back damaged his spinal cord.

Sujette rushed into the water and dragged him to shore. Emergency help came and Jim was taken into surgery.

After his surgery, the doctors wanted him to go to a rehab center to help prepare him for the 10 hour flight home. While waiting to get admitted into the rehab, Jim contracted pneumonia and went to a different hospital's ICU.

Jim is doing better and will, hopefully, go to the rehab center sometime this week.

Jim is the man that decided to ride his bicycle to Florida from Nashville last year- just to see if he could. Jim is the type of grandfather that chases his twin granddaughters around and around. Jim has regained some movement in his arms and hands.

Please pray for both of them.

And when you're done, go hug the people you love.

You never know when a wave is going to knock you down and they are the ones to pull you out of the water.

The Scariest Moment

When Maddie was two, she started snoring. Loud. Lumberjack snores. She was louder when she slept than she was when she was awake- okay, that may be stretching it a little, but not by much.

By the time she was four, she could compete with anyone over the age of 60. In fact, last Thanksgiving, when everyone blamed my mother-in -law for keeping them awake with her snoring, I let her take the blame, even though I knew it was Maddie.

I was hesitant to let her sleep over with friends. I was accustomed to sleeping with a pillow over my head to drown out the noise, but I didn't want anyone else to have to do that.

It wasn't until this past summer that we noticed a problem. She started waking herself up from sleep because she was gagging. When we took her to the doctor, her first response was "Whoa- those tonsils are huge. They need to come out."

A month later, we found ourselves strangely calm as we waited in the surgery center. 45 minutes later, the doctor informed us that everything went well and we could see her as soon as she awakened.

When we walked into the recovery center, we were greeted with a hysterical child that could not be comforted. That was the first time I questioned our decision to have this done.

The second, third, fourth, and fifth time I questioned myself came every time she woke up screaming in the middle of the night and nothing I did seemed to help.

We fashioned a bed for her in our living room. We let her watch as much television as she wanted. We offered her every kind of ice cream available. We snuggled. We tried everything.

She was pitiful.

Five days later, Maddie seemed to be doing better. She still was not eating or talking much but didn't need pain medicine as often.

Justin's mother and stepfather came over that Saturday night to visit and entertain Maddie. Maddie was on her best behavior. She sat in her granny's lap and whispered secrets. She smiled at all of our attempts to make her laugh. She never complained.

Until.

"Mommy, there is some liquid in my throat that won't go away."

"Okay. Why don't you go spit in a tissue and we'll see what it is. Justin- will you go in there with her?"

"CHELSEA!!! THERE'S BLOOD!"

I walk in and witnessed something I hope I never have to see again.

My five year old projectile vomitting blood. Lots of blood.

Crap. What have we done?

After a quick call to her ENT, he agreed to meet us at the emergency room at the hospital that is 45 minutes away.

That was the scariest 30 minutes of my life. Scary because Justin made the 45 minute drive in 30 minutes and because I had no idea what they were going to do to my baby. I was sitting in the back seat with ice packs on both sides of Maddie's throat praying. It was only when Justin had to slow down suddenly because of a blue hair driving the speed limit on the interstate that Maddie croaked her first four words since this nightmare began, "Mommy- you're choking me." Good times.

They took her into emergency surgery where they had to repair two bleeding spots and pump her stomach. The surgeon said that based on the amount of blood in her stomach, she had probably been bleeding and swallowing the blood for 8 hours. Yes, people- I DID get the mom of the year award.

And after a night in the hospital, we were sent home to begin the recovery process. Again.

In those two weeks, I seriously questioned if we did the right thing by having that first surgery. During the recovery time, I said repeatedly that I wish we hadn't done it. It just couldn't be worth it. Snoring isn't that big of a deal.

But now, 4 months after it happened- I can look back and realise that what happened is not the norm. It was a freak thing.

And, now- Maddie doesn't snore at all.

We sleep like normal people. With our heads on top of our pillow instead of under them.

Life is great.

Hello- Anybody There?

Hi.

Remember me?

I'm the blogger who decided to take a week off from blogging. That one week turned into two weeks, which turned into a month. SIX months later. . .

I'M BACK.

I didn't realise it at the time, but I needed this break. I needed to concentrate on more important things. I needed to enjoy life for what it's worth and not look at every single situation and try to come up with a witty blog post. I needed to see my daughter come looking for me and not automatically go to the computer desk. I needed to be.

Don't get me wrong. I've had LOTS of stuff to write about. And, I've wanted to write about them.

Like the two hellacious weeks that involved Maddie having minor surgery, projectile vomitting blood, and lots of ice cream.

And how I spent Maddie's first day of Kindergarten.

And how Maddie has done in *gasp* PUBLIC school.

Softball, Florida, Summer, Halloween, losing a job, church plant, and everything in between.

I've missed this. And I've missed you guys.