"Mom, is Loren going to have nose surgery too?"

Yesterday, Alyssa says to me "Mom, is Loren going to have nose surgery too?" "Her nose is a little pointy", I think the doctors can go in and sharpen her nose down". Too funny!

We are having our "Christmas" on Wednesday since Alyssa's surgery is on Thursday. We have been talking with her and so far she seems to not be fighting it too much. They are giving me special permission to take her back in the ER until she falls asleep. So we have had a talk about if she wanted me to do that and that if I did, she still has to get up on the table and breathe in the mask until she falls asleep. Just because I am there doesn't mean you can get out of it basically. So that went really well and I think that is how we are going to do it. The hardest part of these surgeries is me holding it together. The children que into a lot of how the parents are acting. If the parents are crying and blubbering, the children will react the same. So we really try to act like it is not a big deal and just distract her with crafts beforehand. The doctors have mentioned that sometimes they would like to sedate the parents as well. : ) So we'll see how well I do.

Alyssa's ears are healing well. She told me that things were too loud when she got home. So that is good news.

Emma will be having surgery on her ears - she has Keritan Pearls. Probably a genetic thing - we think that is what Mike might have had as a baby. But they have never proven this one way or another. So we are having all our kids checked out. Emma's surgery will probably be in February.

It has been hard for us to enjoy this season. We are feeling the stress of these surgeries and the recovery period. I hope we can breathe a little after Alyssa's surgery but three days after we get back, we have Emma and Olivia's surgeries. I hope that we can take the time to relax a little but it also just might be this year is crazy and next year won't be as much.

I think Emma has labored breathing due to the cold weather. It really does a number on her lungs. We are just continuing with the breathing treatments in hope that she is not losing weight. The formula and rice cereal seems to be helping. That is really good. Easter Seals will come out and evaluate her in January. I really hope she is walking by then. She has taken 4 steps but isn't really trying for more. She knows that she can crawl much easier.

We are very grateful to friends and family that have supported us throughout this journey. The best gift for us this Christmas is just to have all our children alive and well and with us. We couldn't be more grateful for the love that we have for them.

P.S. Olivia likes to get on the table and walk on it while I'm out of the room. The other picture shows her cute self just being cute. Enjoy!