Oh My! It's Almost Christmas!

Sooooo. It's been over a month since I posted last. I have been slacking. I apologize to all of our loyal blog followers that have lost any hope of me ever adding more pictures or giving a fresh update on our lives. I'm really not sure where the time has gone, but I'll try to remember...
Let's see. I think we left off in November, before the holiday season even began. Well, to kick things off, my friend Lindsey and I had been training since September for a half-marathon, which was on the 22nd. It was amazing! It took the whole week after for it to sink in that I had actually run 13.1 miles. I had such a great crowd there to support and cheer me on, which made it that much more fun. I'm pretty sure I was the only one there with a tailgate party in my honor -- our friend Donovan had a heated tent set up and a grill on the back of his truck which produced some amazing hamburgers. The Keigley's were also in town from SC, so they braved the cold (it only got up to 42 degrees!) with all of the kids to come and watch me run. I'm not sure if Tori and Jon came for me or the burgers (Just kidding!!!) and Ryan and Gabe were sure impressed that Mommy ran so far.
After that crazy morning, we had our annual leaf-raking party. I'll post a few pictures of it, but you have to actually see our yard and the massive quantities of leaves our trees produce before you can appreciate why we need to invite people over to help us rake and blow leaves all day. Luckily we have some steadfast friends who keep coming back year after year to join in the fun. Maybe it's the chili I promise everyone afterward that makes it not so bad...?
Next came Thanksgiving, which was great! We went up to Ryan's grandparent's house in Front Royal. There was plenty of hunting, plenty of food, lots of great family time (Ryan's parents and brothers were there, his aunts, uncle and cousins, George's cousins...) a smattering of shopping, some running (Aunt Theresa and I had to run off some of our pie) and I got in some practice speaking Spanish. A friend from Spain has been in NYC for a couple of months, so he came down for the weekend. All in all, we had a lot of fun and got in some relaxation to boot.
Time has flown by since then, and I was pretty shocked the other day to see that it was already December 10th. What happened? Now Christmas is less than two weeks away and we have every day until then booked up! My bro Mike got to hang out with us a couple of days this week. Tori and I are going to do some shopping tonight in Roanoke. I need to make some cookies today for a cookie exchange party tomorrow, we have to clear out our little room in the basement so that Jon can move in after Christmas, and Ryan and I are leaving Sunday to spend a couple of days in New York City with Jaime (our friend from Spain). I've never been there before, and I really can't wait to go, especially right before Christmas. Gabe is going to stay with George and Tori, and will end up being there for the whole week, because Ryan's check-up's at NIH are on Thursday and Friday of next week and we'll just head straight there after NY. It is going to be tough to be without Gabe for that long!
I am about to jump out of my skin waiting for Christmas to get here this year! I know it will here and over with way too fast, but my family will be arriving Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and I am so excited to see everyone and have all of them here at our house. It will be crowded and crazy, but I can't wait! OK, that is going to be all for now, and I'll put up some picture albums as well. Ideally, I'll get around to posting before Christmas, but just in case, I'll wish everyone a Merry Christmas right now! Until later...

Oh Deer...

And the house feels empty again! Ryan, our brother-in-law Mark, and our friend Josh went hunting up in Front Royal this past weekend. Mark and Josh both got deer, which means a full freezer for us because they can't take them back to Colorado with them. Their hunting trip ended Saturday morning and they came here to Rocky Mount. It was great to hang out with them in the midst of cutting up meat and making some great buffalo wings! Gabe really loved both Mark and Josh -- it was great to see them interact with him and he loves anyone who will sit and play trains with him...
Mike has some extra time off this week because of Veteran's Day, so he got here Friday night and gets to stay until Wednesday. We'll head to our neighborhood Applebee's tomorrow to get a free meal for him being in a Marine. We are very proud of him and his desire to serve our country. In the midst of all of this political craziness, may God still bless America!
Ryan is slowly but surely recovering. His neck gets sore pretty quickly if he overdoes it, and he is still getting headaches pretty often.
Gabe is learning so much these days! He just got home from the movie store with Ryan and Mike, and he got his little bag of popcorn. He showed it to me and said "I got popcorn lasternight!"
Here are some other cute things he does...
-Instead of asking what someone did, he asks what they 'dood.'
-Somehow he knows the word Saturday, so he'll put it in a sentence acting like he knows what it is.
-When we swing outside, he has me pull him as far back as I can, then he turns around to kiss me before I let him go. He calls it "kiss me and I go."
-When he sings his ABC's, he says "Now my know my ABC's."
I'll put up some more pictures...

Where does time go??

Ryan went back to work this week, even though he is really not feeling much better. He is still very tired all the time, but hopefully he is recovering some stamina. We had a great time with Erin and Henry in town, and it was sure nice that Mike and Abby could come up for a couple of days, too. The house seems empty now...

Finally!

Things might finally be looking up! Ryan is up in Northern VA right now. We got results back the other night saying that he had an infection in his incision. He got an MRIat NIH this morning to make sure that there was no infection under the surface of his skin, and that turned up clear. It also looks like the infection has taken care of itself. They sent him home with a week of antibiotics, just to be sure, but he is already starting to feel better. We are pretty sure that all of this pain and exhaustion was just his body fighting the infection. And hopefully it is almost over. I don't think Ryan remembers how it is to feel normal after months of one thing after the other, so I am excited for him to get some strength back and be able to enjoy life again. Thanks for your continued prayers and thanks be to God for a fast recovery from here on out.

At Last, A Post

I've been trying to figure out why it has been so difficult for me to update the blog. I am going back and forth between just not wanting to (because there is not happy news to report) and the fact that we have been strangely busy lately.
On the report side, Ryan is still feeling crummy. He still has the same pressure in his head and absolutely no energy. With the discovery of Zyrtec D, his allergies are now under control, but that doesn't help out with these other issues. We've stuck pretty close to home and enjoyed this Indian Summer as much as possible.
On being busy...we've had some visitors lately, so that has been nice. A few people from church and some friends from around town have stopped in to check on us this past week. Our friend Bryan from northern VA came down Friday night and just left yesterday afternoon. That lifted Ryan's spirits and Gabe always loves having more people around. There was football to watch and XBox to play, so that kept them busy while I helped cater a wedding and ran my first 8 mile stretch in preparation for a half-marathon. My brother Mike arrived this afternoon and will be here until Thursday morning. Then next week we have my sister and her youngest son coming for the week! It looks like the rest of the month will fly by pretty fast.
Ryan is supposed to go back to work sometime next week, but it is hard to know how that will be possible with the way he feels. The doctor has still just said to wait and see what happens. I guess they are at a loss for any reason he isn't feeling good, so that is kind of frustrating. Last week we noticed some fluid leaking from his scar and went to the doctor in town so they could do a culture on it and see what it is. We still haven't gotten the results of that, but maybe something will turn up that could give us a reason for this. Anyway, I do have some pictures from our trip to post, so I'll get on that tonight maybe. Thanks for keeping up with us and thinking of us and most importantly, continuing to pray for us.

Quick Update...

Just a quick request tonight that Ryan still needs prayer. He isn't feeling any better at this point. Our trip was nice, but he spent most of it on the couch, just feeling crummy. He talked to our nurse yesterday, and they said to call back next week since nothing had changed. There just isn't anything they can do. We are tired of it! We would love a miracle right about now.

On a happier note, Gabe slept in a big-boy bed for the first time last night. He was really "be-cited" about it and did fairly well staying in. It was so strange seeing him in a real bed with sheets and a quilt. No more crib and bumper and blankets. It did make snuggling with him a little easier...He loved that part! Bittersweet...

Home again!

It's 11:30 Friday night and I am about ready to fall asleep sitting up, but I figured I had better throw something on here. It feels like we were in the hospital or the car the entire day...maybe because we were! Anyway...long day, but the MRI looked great and they couldn't find anything wrong. The only possibility of something would be some swelling around the two places on his skull where they screwed in a vice to keep his head still during the surgery. Those spots have been sore for him and they said that sometimes they end up screwing right into the muscle that works your jaw so opening and closing your mouth can be an issue or maybe just exacerbate things. Anyway, they hope whatever it is will just take care of itself in the next couple of weeks. I hope this makes sense...I am not focusing well at this point. We're planning to head to NC tomorrow, so I need to get to bed so I can unpack and repack in the morning.
Glad to be home...