The McGowan Twins, Thanksgiving, and more Baby Steps

My friend, Andrea, had her twins last Wednesday, November 27, and everyone's doing great!!!!

Drea has the babies like 2 hours after this picture was taken. She looked beautiful!!!


Sloan weighed 6.7 and Riley was 5.6





Proud Uncle Cullin, Drea's brother


Sweet Riley


Sloan and Cullin


We had a wonderful day at my sisters with my parents. My mom and sis worked their tail off and prepare a fabulous meal! Brian and I helped but not as much as they did! We brought the mashed potatoes, a pumpkin pie, and homemade whipped cream. We had a wonderful day. I'm so blessed to have the family I have.

Pop reading to Cameron


Painting nails. London introduced her to this. I think there will be a lot more nail painting going on from this day forward ;)


My loves..... Nixie is there in front of Brian, you just can't see her.


And my MIL is doing really well! Here's the most recent pic of her knee.




Here it was at its worst... Praise God for this improvement & Pray it continues to heal well.


She's had several visitors and we know she's loved the company. Thanks to all who have gone to see her. We cannot thank you enough.

Hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving.

Cheers,
Lindley

Before and after

Last year I took photos and printed them out but, of course, couldn't find them this year so I'm gonna store them on here fore future reference. Plus we moved so it wouldn't matter but I still wanna remember what I did for next year. I have pregnancy brain something fierce right now so I know it won't be as bad next year but I still want something to help me remember. And I don't put up a lot of decorations but do enough to forget them ;). Haha!










My nativity scene on the mantle there











The Tree goes where the leopard table goes and we moved it downstairs

















































All of our Santas









Brian's wreath his Bubber made him when he was a little boy. Pretty Special. I hung it out in the sunroom above the tea trolley.









Guest bedroom tree









Cameron's tree









Cameron's 'Little People' nativity scene her Mamy gave her.


















Cheers,
Lindley

Baby steps and baby Tess

Here's Amy's knee as of last night. The plastic surgeon said it looks good. She will have her second skin graft in the morning on that area that's open so here's hoping that goes well bc if things play out as planned, she should be able to go home December 4th!!!!! We don't wanna get too excited as anything could happen but we were so relieved to at least hear a DATE! Please continue to keep her in your prayers. We so appreciate it.






I had my 20 week sonogram today and Tess is a big girl! She weighs 1 lb and is in the 90th percentile on everything she measured for. ;). Hers fat and happy! Strong heartbeat of 146 too. I love her sweet little face and Ballard nose.








One other thing: Cam had ZERO accidents at school today. My baby is growing up!!!!










Cheers,
Lindley

Baby Steps Part III

Look who wheeled herself to the waiting area of her floor and made some hot tea! Baby steps but exciting steps ;)





Cheers,

Lindley
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Put some panties on it!!!

This big girl tee tee and poo poo'd on the potty 4 times today!!!!! One was while she was in the bath. She told me she needed to go and sure enough. All we did was put some panties on her and ask her constantly if she needed to go potty. Our reward is a Dora sticker. You would have thought it was a million dollars. Bless her. You probably can't see it but it's on her hand there. She would NOT stand still for me!


Epic day at Casa de Herring.


Cheers,
Lindley

Baby Slate Update

I talk with Mandie via text like 20 times a day and realized I hadn't updated everyone on her precious baby boy in a while. Seriously, is he not the cutest thing ever?!!?!?!




And proud mamma is beautiful!!!!!

He was 5 months old yesterday and is a tank! He weighs 15 lbs 1 oz. and is doing remarkably well. God is good!!!!


Cheers,
Lindley

Baby Steps Part II, Christmas Cheer, and Baby Tess

Well, looks like my MIL is having her second skin graft this Monday, meaning she will be there for thanksgiving but that's ok because we want her well and if that's what it takes then so be it! Fred is there through Tuesday then Beth will come Wednesday morning to be with her. She WILL get well and maybe run marathons one day. Who knows?!?!? ;).

This is a horrible pic but Casa de Herring is not afraid to bust out the holiday decor before thanksgiving. This is, by far, my most favorite time of year and I like to celebrate it longer than 25 days!








I had a doctors appt this morning, the sonographer measured all kinds of things on Tess, and I'm happy to report ..... She's perfect. In every way. I'm beyond thankful and singing His praises that's for sure. Also, my placenta grew quite a bit meaning it moved so no more Praevia!!! Things look great!!! I'm 20 weeks today, feeling good, still haven't really felt her but she's definitely growing and polishing up on her acrobatic skills in there, per the sono, and have gained 12 lbs so far. At 23 weeks I had gained 10 lbs with Cam but lost 6 in the first trimester which I did NOT do this time around so I feel I'm right in line with how things went with Cam.

Here's a few pics of little miss--

Her face in3D--so sweet





Her profile. Those are her knees curled up over there to the left of her face.






Cheers,

Lindley

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Amy Lately

Dr. Young, the plastic surgeon, came to change Amy's dressing last night and was pleased with how it looked but did inform her she'll need another skin graft on that one spot that's not closing. Boo!!!! :(. BUT, if that's what it takes, then so be it. We aren't sure when that will be but I'll keep ya posted. Keep praying for proper healing and positive progress.




Cheers,
Lindley

Baby steps...

Brian, Cam, Nixie, and I all loaded up and went to Dallas this weekend to be with Brian's mother. We actually surprised her and boy were we successful! ;)




Unfortunately, she's no better and has several kinds of bacteria growing in her body that are not allowing her knee to heal. The incision keeps opening of up and getting more and more infected. :(. BUT, the Docs think she's finally in a good place to get good and well. She has FOUR docs assigned to her case and we are confident this time is the charm!

She has a knee surgeon, a plastic surgeon, an Infectious Disease doc, and an Internist. She cannot walk, stand, sit in a chair, get up to go to the bathroom, nada. And won't for at least 3 weeks. She has a catheter and we are trying to make sure someone, besides hospital personnel, is with her at all times. Baby steps...

She gets her dressing changed every 2 days and the below pic was the first one taken after her 5th, FIFTH!!!!!!!, surgery since August 5th.

Thursday November 14th:



The below pic is from when we were there last Saturday, November 16. Plastic surgeon said it looked good and is healing well. Yay!! I actually see quite a bit of improvement in just those two days so let's hope this continues.




That is cotton around there to relieve pressure. A wound vac, like the one below, is placed on top of the wound once it's dressed, to suck infection/blood/puss out 24/7.



We were pretty much at the hospital almost all weekend. Well, B was. I was in and out as it's tough with a 2 year old, but overall she did extremely well up there and was a very good girl! Amy's room is HUGE! Three times the size of a normal hospital room, 2 sitting areas, 4 chairs, an oversized chair that folds out to a bed, a couch, and 2 TV's, one of which is like a 50" flat screen! It's a lovely room and Amy is very comfortable there.

I seriously cannot imagine what Amy is thinking, going through, feeling, etc. She's in really good spirits too which baffles me. She's not even on anti-depressants. Unreal! She's extremely humbled, so pleasant, and more than appreciative for visitors, the nurses, doctors, the little things, just everything in general. She knows she can't change things and will tell you: 'why get upset or mad when there's nothing I can do about it?' And she's so right. Her attitude is awesome and I'm so proud of her!!! We both cried while hugging before we left on Sunday. I just feel so sorry for her, but if this entire situation could have a silver lining, it's that we all BELIEVE. He's allowed Amy to be humble. He's allowed Amy to be pleasant. He's allowed Amy to be appreciative.
He's allowed Amy to LIVE. My daughter has a Mamy and for that I'm thankful. She could have no Mamy at all. Our God is an awesome God and I'm just so glad we all know Him. I don't mean to be all religious and what not on here but so many things I blog about on here are possible because of Him and I must thank Him every chance I get.

She gets her dressing changed tonight so expect progress pics tomorrow on here.

We stayed the weekend at Bridget and Jim's house in Frisco and couldn't have asked for better hospitality. Bridget had a hot casserole waiting for us when we arrived accompanied by an Elmo plate, bowl, and eating utensils for Cameron. So nice!!!!!! Eating like a big girl at their bar.



Cameron loves her some Bridget and Jimmy. We met Team Peltoma and Deb for dinner one night and Cam was sooo sleepy!!!! She almost fell asleep on Bridget's shoulder while waiting the hour for our table. That's what happens when you don't nap, child.




Thanks Team Hughes for hosting us! See y'all December 13-15.



And, as for a projected go-home date for Amy, the plastic surgeon said a week from today if all goes as planned with absolutely no hiccups or set backs. So, she could go home later than that but for now we're hoping for the best and getting her back to Friona sooner than later. But again--no need to rush. The smaller the baby steps the better......

Please continue to keep her in your prayers, they are working.

Have a good week all~

Cheers,
Lindley

Amy Update and Dr's appt

Amy is doing good! Her surgery went better than expected last night so that's awesome news! Docs are pleased and all looks good. Today, and at this very moment, anyway ;o). Keep they prayers coming.... They are working!!!!!

Also, I go back to the Dr next week and am anxious to hear Tess's heartbeat! I haven't felt felt any movement yet and am a tad nervous. I'll be 20 weeks next week!!!!


Have a good day, all!

Cheers,
Lindley

Prayers Please!!!!!!

As you all know, my MIL is at Baylor Frisco recovering from surgery where they removed her knee replacement and come to find out, she is having another surgery this afternoon. When the nurses changed her dressing yesterday evening she was bleeding, which is NOT good. The Plastic surgeon came this morning and is going to take her to surgery at 5:30 or so to put another drain in. She said it was really draining and wants to try to get it all out. My MIL already has two drains, but they aren't over the spot that is draining the most. The skin graft looks good, though. Beth, her sister, is with her in Dallas now and then B is going this weekend, leaving Thursday night.

PLEASE PRAY this bleeding is controlled with another Drain and not a bigger problem. She's been through the ringer, and back, with this knee and I just know she's ready for something GOOD to happen! Thanks so much in advance. I'll keep you all posted!


Cheers,
Lindley

It's official!!!

B got his building sign up over the weekend. It's official!!!! Dr. Phillips still comes in but on very rare occasions. He's finishing up a few cases and will officially be done November 22nd I believe. He's not renewing his malpractice insurance after that date so he'll officially be done seeing patients on that day. He stayed on about 6
months after Brian bought it, when he originally said a year. That's a good thing in my opinion ;).

I'm so proud of my husband and all that he's done with the practice thus far. I'm gonna brag a second here but he's been sending thank you notes to everyone he sees thanking them for choosing him. I hate to use the airline cliche but it's kindof then same in that everyone has a choice when it comes to choosing a dentist and his appreciation that they've chosen him is incredibly deep. We have several friends seeing Brian too and we couldn't be more proud and honored to call them our patients and take life-long care of them. It means so much. Thank you, thank you.





Have a great Tuesday all!

Cheers,
Lindley

Too much going on to try and come up with a cute title.....

Ok wow! Where do I even begin?!?!?

First off: Last Wednesday my MIL had her knee replacement taken out and it was quite the surgery. From what I understand and I could get a couple things wrong, so please forgive me, but the surgery itself took 5.5 hours. It took a pretty big toll on her but she's doing good. This is kindof confusing but she had such bad infection on her knee after all this time that they had to pull some muscle from her calf to create a foundation/tube thing for this spacer to be put in since they took the entire knee replacement out and then they had to do a skin graft from her hip to put on top of her knee to be able to close her up. Crazy huh???? A plastic and knee surgeon were both present during this operation but both said it went well. Here's a pic of her knee one day after surgery.



It had a wound vac, 2 drains, and dressing over where they got the skin graft. She doesn't know what the back of her calf looks like. Sorry for those with a weak stomach. I find all of this extremely fascinating!!!! She will
be in the hospital a week so B and I were racking our brain as to what we could do for her and that is when I thought of my fabulous friend, Bridget. We wanted to send her a big care package but there really aren't any 'companies' that do that so I asked Bridget if she could help us out. She's so creative, first off, but is ALWAYS willing to lend a helping hand. She's always been that way. And I love her for that. She went and made this fabulous care package for she and Fred and they are loving it! Everything but the kitchen sink is in here!! Bridget, I owe you BIG time!!! She and Fred have sent me numerous texts saying how this has come in super handy. Thank you for always being there no matter what, Bridge. My FB post had a lot to do with this kind gesture of yours ;). My girlfriends are my world and I hope I tell them that enough. Thank you, thank you!

Bridget sent me these pics of the finished product.


Fred's care package ;)









Speaking of girlfriends...

Kayla and Craig came to LBB to stay with us for the weekend and go to the game. She offered to bring my most favorite kolaches IN THE WORLD for the tailgate Saturday morning and once again: I meant everything I said in my FB post about girlfriends. I have the most amazing ones on.this.planet. Period. Case closed. Love them all dearly.

At Funky Door enjoying our post dinner drinks: coffee. Haha, we are getting old!!!!


Speaking of tailgate, a couple had a camel out in the parking lot Saturday afternoon. Why? No clue. But it had a TTU hat on, bells around its feet, and drank cold beer. I kid you not. I didn't get to my phone in time to snap a pic of this epic beer drinking event but it totally drank an entire beer in like 26 seconds! What the hell????




He was eating his owners' purse bc it's treats were in there. His name is Rango. So random!!!!








Anyway, did I mention I have the best mom on the planet too???? Well, I do. She picked Cam up from school on Friday and took her to Plainview for the weekend so we could have an adult only weekend and it was so nice! I stayed in bed until 830 this morning and it was fantastic! Thanks mommy! We ate dinner out both nights, tailgated yesterday morning for the game, enjoyed a glass of wine on the patio of McPherson Cellars after the game thoroughly enjoying this beautiful weather and just had an overall awesome time!!!! Until next time, Team Peltoma....always a good time with yall!

Before I go, I have a couple prayer requests:
1.). That MIL heals properly over these next two months so she can get her new knee that WILL work!
2.). That Brian's grandmother, Fred's mom (Granny), gets over her infection, starts responding to the medicine and Doctors, and gets discharged from the hospital. She's pretty sick and needs to get better ASAP.
3.) That my dear friend, Drea, holds on for 26 more days. She's pregnant with twin girls and her OB would really like to induce her on December 6th. She's done extremely well during her pregnancy but she's getting very uncomfortable and just wants it all to be over. I can only imagine. Bless her heart. She's a rock star, that's for sure, and I just pray those baby girls cook as long as possible. Hang in there sweetie... We are all rooting for you!!!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Cheers,
Lindley