The Calm AFTER the Storm

After 5 1/2 weeks since my last post, maybe it's time I should update! I guess with everything that's been going on, I haven't put much emphasis on blogging.  Something about living at the rental house makes the days go by quickly.  I feel like I'm not nearly as productive during the day.  That could have something to do with half of our belonging still being in boxes, piled up whereever we can put them and also no longer having a thyroid, therefore being EXHAUSTED all the time.  It's crazy/weird just how tired I am all the time, even after 8 hours of sleep a night.  I'm on medicine, however my surgeon put me on a baseline dosage and I haven't had bloodwork to see what dosage my body needs.  It takes several weeks for the thyroid hormones that your body produces to run out following surgery and I can DEFINITELY tell that I've 'run out' of my natural hormone and that my medicine should be increased. All that should change after my upcoming appointment with my new endocrinologist at the end of the month.  However, they'll also be getting me ready for my upcoming Radioactive Iodine treatment, which means I have to come off my meds completely for a few weeks.  I'm tired of feeling tired and just ready to feel GOOD and normal again.  I've been dealing with this for over a year now, since my thyroid starting acting up around January of last year and I'm just tired of feeling like a lazy person all the time. 

Anyways, the weeks following my 2nd surgery were chaos to say the least.  Jamie's grandmother passed away the morning of my surgery, so the funeral was that weekend and I wasn't able to make it.  I also found out that I had a few small spots of cancer on the left side of my thyroid as well.  One week following my surgery, I was emptying a casserole dish and it shattered, slicing open my hand at the fatty muscle part under my thumb, very close to the bone.  I'm pretty certain I should have gone to the ER for stitches but chose not to and held it together with butterfly bandaids.  However because of the location of the cut, I couldn't use my hand for a WEEK!  It was probably more painful than my incision in my neck.  Then that same weekend, BOTH of the boys caught a stomach bug and spent Saturday throwing up... which led to Jamie catching it as well.  It was nothing short of a miracle that I didn't catch it, considering I was consoling my sick babies and cleaning up puke all day.  God totally had my back on that one because I couldn't imagine vomiting with having had my neck cut open just 1 week prior.   For 3 weeks, YES 3 WEEKS, the kids had terrible diarrhea, multiple (as much as 5-6) times a day, following that bug.  It was pitiful and I know they lost weight.  Thankfully, after lots of yogurt, probiotics and bland diets they got over it.  For about 2 weeks following surgery, I experienced TERRIBLE reflux.  Anytime I would eat, I would have awful pressure in my belly and sometimes even throw up.  I could only eat very small meals and drink water and there were days where I was nauseated all day long. I lost about 5lbs in a week (which is big for me since I've had hypothyroidism over the past year and losing weight has been such a challenge).  Life was rough for a few weeks there.  Every day, Jamie and I would look at each other and say, "alright, whats next?!" because for a while there it seemed it was something every day.  Thankfully, life has settled down now (other than 3 out of the 4 of us being on antiobiotics for sinus infections {me} and double ear infection/sinus infections {jamie & collier}).  I guess I can just look at it with the 'what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger' perspective!

Following my post-op appointment for the second surgery, my surgeon referred me to a Oncology/Radiology doctor here in Florence to have my Radioactive Iodine (or I-131) treatment.  I met with him 2 weeks after surgery but didn't have a great feeling after the appointment.  I had a lot of questions that went unanswered and all the things that I had read about the treatment, weren't what I was being told by this doctor.  For instance, I've read that I'm supposed to follow a very strict low iodine diet for 2 weeks prior to the treatment, however he didn't know anything about that and said the Nuclear Medicine technician would give me those details.  When I spoke with the Nuclear Med. tech, he told me the doctor would give me those instructions and when I told him he hadn't, he said, "well then I guess I wouldn't worry about it if I were you."  They were trying to give me the radioactive pill 3 weeks after my surgery and everything felt very unorganized, rushed and the doctor/everyone involved seemed uninformed.  I even asked his nurse (who was my main contact) if she had ever been apart of administering this procedure to any of his patients and she said, "no, but I assume Dr. {so-and-so} has."  Needless to say, I called my surgeon at UAB and he referred me back to an Endocrinologist at UAB for the procedure.  I later found out that I can't even receive the treatment until 6 weeks post surgery and that the diet that I was told to 'not worry about' is crucial in making the treatment effective.  CRAZY.  So glad that I went with my gut instinct (uh hum... GOD telling me) that I shouldn't do it in Florence.  I do know that I'll have to be admitted into the hospital for a few days and I'll be in complete seclusion during that time (because I'll be radioactive) and once I'm released, I can't be near the kids for a few more days.  I am guessing that I'll get the treatment sometime in April.  I was trying to have it done in Florence simply because it would be much easier to arrange, as opposed to going back and forth to B'ham for bloodwork, etc however I've realized that knowledge and experience far outweighs convenience when it comes to your health!

Last weekend, mom and I took the boys to Disney Live!  We played hookey from church and set out that morning to eat lunch at Mellow Mushroom before the show began at 1pm.  It was our first time ever eating there and it was delicious!  While we were eating, Collier got out of his seat and was standing behind me playing.  I wasn't really paying attention to him because we were in a hurry to finish eating, pay the bill and get going but I noticed some of the tables around us laughing... I turned around to find him with his pant down at his ankles, playing with his belt.  My mom got to him first and yanked his pants up and I took the belt off of him thinking it was bothering him.  Well a temper tantrum ensued and he laid in the floor and began crying (screaming).  It was at this time that we were heading out the door, with the pizza box, purse, kids' backpack and to-go drinks in hand and he WOULD. NOT. get up off the floor.  Lately the "terrible twos" have been in full force.  Fun times! We made it to the VBCC just in time for the show to begin and the kids really had a great time.  Noah was so attentive the whole time and Collier really enjoyed it too and was clapping along to the music.  He would wave and say "Hi!" to 'Mouse' and 'Duck Duck' everytime they would come onstage.  It was a really cute show and we enjoyed ourselves.  It's kind of a given that with 2 small children (or 1 special needs and 1 two year old) things aren't going to go perfectly smooth and be necessarily 'easy' but overall, it was totally worth the trip and the effort because the kids really enjoyed themselves. 

Afterwards, we had a few errands to run and ended up at Bridgestreet to make a few purchases.  It was such a beautiful day so we bought cookies and sat on the edge of the fountain at Bridgestreet to eat them.  In typical 2 year old fashion, our outing was concluded with an awesome display of protest as I tried to help Collier by carrying his cup full on Hi-C as we walked back the car to head home.  I mean how DARE I try to help my child from spilling red punch all over his clothes.  You know the whole dramatic drill: throwing himself to the ground, screaming crying and laying there unconsolable all the while drawing the attention of every passerby.  Collier has almost perfected the infamous 2 year old tantrum at this point.  And I've perfected the 'scoop and run'... because these tantrums almost always seems to take place when I have no less than 5 items in my hands, including a purse and a backpack over my shoulder, so all I can do is scoop him up under one arm and head off as fast as I can to the car.  Despite the couple of breakdowns from Collier, I still enjoyed our outing and was happy that we were able to take the boys to the Disney Live! performance.  It was nice to get out of the house after feeling so cooped up the last 2 months. 

Our house is in progress however it seems slow at this point.  They started on it, then had to take a week and half break to finish another job but thankfully they are back on it and have been working on our house every day this past week.  They are finishing up with the foundation and have it blocked in and filled with gravel.  This next week they will be laying the plumbing, then sealing that with concrete, then on to the framing.  Jamie said once they start the framing, we'll begin to see more noticeable progress and it will seem to go a little faster.  I sure hope so because living in this rental has already gotten to me and we've only been here 6 weeks!  I'm baffled how it's already mid-March and that this year is just flying by so quickly.  In just a few short weeks Noah will be on Spring Break and it literally feels like Christmas was just a few weeks ago! 

{I'm standing at one end of the house, in the study/kids playroom looking

across to the other side of the house}

 



{this is a picture of the study/playroom, the foyer/where the front door will be and

 a portion of the dining room}

{this is the den and that back room in the corner is our master bedroom}

 

 

 {Here's the houseplan to help you see which rooms I'm talking about although we did make a few changes with this plan... mainly where the guest bedrooms are and the bathroom placement}



God is Still Good, Even When Life Throws Curve Balls

Life has been CRAZY!  Last week, Jamie, Collier and I (Noah was in school) went to UAB for my post-op appointment with my otolaryngologist, Dr. Peters. At that appointment, he didn't waste any time and told me that after the nodule had been sent off to the lab following my surgery, they found a 2 cm section of papillary carcinoma.  So it's official, I was diagnosed with cancer. While thyroid cancer is a 'good' kind of cancer: very treatable and non-life threatening, it's still a scary thing to be told you have cancer at 31 years old.  My surgeon already had scheduled my next surgery to have the left side of my thyroid removed, for the following week, Friday 2/1. Which also happened to be when we were supposed to move into our rental house. We came home that evening, bumped our moving plans up by a week and spent the next 3 days moving out of our home into the rental house.  I had just been told I had cancer, was going to have another surgery within 3 weeks from having my first one (and was still recovering from the first one), and now we were having to quickly move out of our house.  Stressed and overwhelmed doesn't even describe what we were feeling. Thankfully, we had so many friends show up to help because they knew what a bind we were in.  God always provides! Saturday afternoon, we had friends deep cleaning the new house, boxing our remaining items up, moving the boxes, and even helping with unboxing and putting things away.  The whole day I was reminded of the bible verse, Exodus 17:12, "When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset." I was so overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted and these friends were Aaron and Hur for me.  I was in awe of the love and support we received at a moment's notice. And it didn't stop there.

The entire week, my best friends arranged meals for us and sent us gifts, flowers, and cupcakes.  I was completely blown away! I'm so grateful for their love and thoughtfulness when life has been so crazy and very overwhelming.  I truly thank God for placing these ladies in my life.  We were able to get somewhat settled into the rental house, we closed on our 'old' house this past Monday, and have started the process of building all this past week.  I never thought I'd be so happy to see stakes in the ground and a bulldozer on our lot!  While we are very lucky to have been able to move into a 3 bedroom rental house, it's tight living quarters so I'm very eager to get our new home built as quickly as possible!  The living room has been overtaken with boxes & furniture stacked floor to ceiling... it's going to be a long 6 months! :)  I have to pray each morning for patience and a positive attitude and keep my eye on the prize... that this is temporary and in the end, we will have a brand new home!

Thursday afternoon, we checked Noah out of school and arranged for Jamie's mom to keep the boys until my mom got off work so that we could head on down to Birmingham for my upcoming surgery.  We decided it would be best for the boys and my parents to just stay at home this time, so it was just the two of us.  Jamie surprised me by booking a hotel room (instead of us just staying with my aunt in B'ham) and had dinner reservations at one of our favorite restaurants, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.  We had a nice, relaxing evening together, which was just what we both needed.  My surgery was scheduled for 8am the next morning, which meant I had to be at the hospital by 5:30am (and up at 3:45am).  Unfortuntately, Jamie's grandmother, who is 91 years old and hasn't been doing well for the past 6 weeks, passed away around 1am that morning.  We weren't expected her to make it through the weekend, but it was still upsetting for the family.  I'm not sure Mamaw had a mean bone in her body.  She was such a sweet lady and will be greatly missed! 

That morning went the same as it did 3 weeks prior and I was immediately taken to a pre-op room where I was prepped for surgery.  I told my nurse about all the trouble past nurses have had with getting my IV in and she said a little prayer before trying.  She gave me a shot of lidocaine to numb the area on my hand and she got the IV in on the very first try! It was by far the easiest, least painful IV I've ever had!  I despise IV's and they hurt SO bad, mainly because nurses always blow my veins and have to stick me over and over, so it was a pleasant surprise for it to be so easy.  She was great! And you can never go wrong with prayer and a little lidocaine!  After an hour of them getting me ready, Jamie was able to join me in my room, where we had to wait a little longer, since I was Dr. Peters 2nd surgery of the morning.  They also gave me a anti-nausea patch behind my ear, since I was so nauseated last time.   When it was my time, they wheeled me back into the OR and gave me some kind of gas, anesthesia in my IV and I was out.  Next thing I knew, I was waking up in Recovery and feeling much better than I did the first time.  I could actually speak and I wasn't nauseous.  Last time, I was so out of it, that I couldn't talk... it was weird, I was thinking things, like how I wanted my eye glasses, but couldn't get my brain to tell my voice/mouth to say anything.  This time, I was much clearer and able to talk with the nurse, however, my pain level was much higher, I guess because I wasn't so out of it, I was much more aware of the pain!  After an hour in recovery and 30- 45 minutes in my private post-op room, I was released to head home.

I've felt better overall, in the sense that I haven't felt as out of it, weak and groggy as last time, however, the pain in my throat/neck/incision has been worse.  And the pain meds aren't easing it up that much.  The first night, I had a hard time falling asleep because I was hurting so bad.  However, I'm hoping it'll be better in the days to come.  I'm just glad to have these surgeries behind me.  All that I have left to do to treat the cancer is a radioactive iodine radiation treatment.  I will probably get to do it here in Florence and will have to be hospitalized for a couple of days, then will be in seclusion until the radiation is out of my system.  There's lots of 'rules' like I have to remain at least 6ft away from the kids, 3ft away from adults, can't prepare anyone's food, can't touch anything that others will be touching, can't use the same restroom as others, have to wash my clothes seperately from others, etc.  The one that upset me the most was that I can't get pregnant for at least a year... and I'm not even ready for another baby, but being told by a doctor that I can't was upsetting to me (although I'm sure Jamie might of felt a tad bit of relief that it gives him another year before I approach that topic)!  It'll be a weeklong process and not easy since I can't be around anyone but in the grand scheme of things, it could always be much worse.  I'm just very thankful that I don't have to do any chemo or intense radiation. I guess I could say that while the timing of surgery and moving in the same week was very overwhelming, I've just had a peace about the whole cancer thing.  I know that God's taking care of me and there's no point in worrying or stressing too much over something I have little/no control over.  I'm blessed to be surrounded by family and friends that love me & my family and are doing whatever they can to help out while I go through this.  I also know that I'm able to deal with this much better because of the things that I've dealt with in the past few years.  When I compare this to my child having surgery on his skull and being injured during delivery or to my dad being diagnosed with multiple myeloma, thyroid cancer just seems really small, and almost insignificant in comparison.
    

Get Well Cards from Noah's sweet classmates... they colored the inside of each one. Precious! 

 

 Surgery #2... Get that thyroid out of me! 

(my nose and eyes are all red from a bad allergy attack!)

 



My Thyroidectomy

Last Thursday, Jamie and I headed south to Birmingham for my pre-op appointment.  My mom took off work to watch Collier and pick Noah up from school, then as soon as my dad got off work, the four of them joined us in Birmingham.  However, they didn't arrive until later that night, so Jamie and I took advantage of an evening sans kids and ran some errands following my pre-op appointment.  We bought the boys some new bedding at Pottery Barn Kids and returned a few things at the Galleria.  Afterwards, we enjoyed a yummy dinner at J. Alexander's and topped it off with coffee and Creme Brulee.  YUM.

I had a bit of excitement to get my mind off of my impending surgery.  Brooke Burke-Charvet (you know, the gorgeous host of Dancing With The Stars, yeah HER) went through THE SAME THING that I'm going through with her thyroid.  In fact, she just had her surgery at the beginning of December.  However, since she's a celebrity and gets special privileges and everything, she was able to do some new state-of-the-art tests that confirmed she had cancer before actually having the surgery.  So she went in to surgery KNOWING that her entire thyroid had to come out.  Since I (and most everyone else) don't have those resources, our game plan was that I would go into surgery and they would remove the right side of my thyroid and while I'm still on the operating table, freeze the nodule and test it immediately.  If it was cancer, the rest of my thyroid would come out, if not, they would close me up with the left side of my thyroid still intact.  Anywhoo, I tweeted her (yes, I realize this makes me look like a dork) and to my SURPRISE, she tweeted me back AND retweeted my message.  Needless to say, it made my night. 

 

In fact, I'm pretty sure we are now BFF's. I mean, how could we NOT be when we shared such beautiful energy?  My surgery was scheduled for 7am on Friday morning, which required me being at the hospital at 5am.  BLAH.  My goal was to get in the bed fairly early however, my kids weren't exactly on board with that.  My boys are GREAT sleepers and go to bed easily... as in, I lay them down and they go to sleep. No rocking or prolonging the process on their part. It's wonderful when we are home however, those times when we are out of town, it presents problems.  Collier has never slept in the bed with us and I'm not sure that he would... he just plays and talks.  They have also never slept in the same room together so we decided to put Collier in the pack-n-play in the computer room at my aunt's house.  He cried and cried (but honestly can you blame him? He did get the short end of the stick). I had to wait until he quit crying before laying Noah down, since Noah's room was right beside Collier's "room" and I knew Noah wouldn't go to sleep with Collier screaming.  Finally after Collier settled down, I had to lay with Noah and get him to sleep. I only have to lay with him when we are somewhere other than home.  Anyways, an hour later, I got to lay down in mine and Jamie's bedroom and attempt to fall asleep.  However sleep never really came for me that night... I pretty much laid there until my alarm went off at the glorious hour of 3am. 

I got to the hospital by 5 and was back in my room by 5:45 getting hooked up and ready to go for surgery.  Honestly, I wasn't the least bit nervous, which I was surprised by, considering how nervous I had been during both of my C-sections.  I feel certain it was all the prayers from back home that helped keep my nerves in check.  They had a hard time getting my IV in (apparently I have small veins because this is always the case) and after 1 failed attempt in my left hand, she got it in my right hand.  I HATE IV's... they sting SO  BAD.  After getting my IV in, Jamie and my parents were able to hang out with me for a little bit before they took me back to surgery.  They gave me something to help neutralize my stomach and a little medicine to calm me, then put the other medicine in my IV to put me to sleep.  I remember them wheeling me out of the room down the hall and I said, "wow that stuff starts working fast..." and I must've fallen asleep before we even got to the OR. 

Next thing I remember was waking up in Recovery and feeling nauseated.  I couldn't talk and my throat hurt REALLY bad.  I threw up a little bit from the nausea but they gave me some additional medicine to help with that.  Dr. Peters came by and told me that the nodule was benign so they only had to take half of my thyroid.  All I could do was nod and mouth 'thank you!' Praise the Lord!!!  Since I didn't have my eye glasses with me (I had to leave them with Jamie) and I couldn't talk, I just laid there and dozed in and out for what felt like 30 minutes, however Jamie said I was in recovery for 1 1/2 hr.  I had a terrible metallicky/plasticky taste in my mouth that kept making me feel sick but I was later told it was from the breathing tube that had to put down my throat.  Also my throat was KILLING me.  After recovery, they wheeled me back to another room where my parents and Jamie were able to join me.  She took out my IV and said if I felt like it, I could get dressed and be on my way.  I knew it was day surgery but I was kind of surprised how quickly they released me because I did NOT feel like getting up and getting dressed.  Jamie had to dress me because I was so shaky on my feet and couldn't bend over.  My parents went to my aunt's house to get the boys and Jamie and I drove straight home, in which I slept the entire way.  As soon as we got home, I popped a pain pill and got straight in the bed and slept pretty much the whole day.  My throat was so sore that it hurt to swallow, move or talk.  Finally later on that evening, I drank a milkshake.  The nurse told me to stick to soft foods so might as well take advantage of that! Jamocha Shake from Arby's, please! 

(WARNING: If blood/incisions makes you squeamish,

you might want to scroll past my next picture....)
 

 Here it is... my incision just an hour or so after surgery.

I was a bit surprised when I saw it because it's bigger than I expected it to be. 

No stitches on the outside, just glue to help with minimal scarring.



I've spent the past several days taking it easy and resting.  My parents had the kids through the weekend and Jamie's taken off work this whole week.  I'm gradually feeling better, however, being up, talking and moving around wears me out pretty easily.  I thought I was feeling/doing much better as of today, but my whole family and my grandmother came over this evening and I quickly realized that I still don't have my endurance back.  I got achy and tired pretty quickly.  My actual incision doesn't bother me too bad. It pulls when I move my neck or try to turn my head but its still pretty numb to the touch.  I have a lot of pressure on the inside of my throat and it feels like when you are holding back tears, how you get that big ball in your throat, that's what I feel constantly.  Talking for a long period of time starts to strain my voice/throat. The incision is pretty swollen and starting to bruise but is healing pretty well.  What hurts the most is I feel constant tension in my shoulders and neck from not being able to move my neck around.  I was told this is very normal and the biggest complaint with this type of surgery.


And here it is today.  Still looks pretty rough and my whole neck is swollen.

My sister told me it was a shame it wasn't Halloween because I could go as Frankenstein. 

She is the only person who can get away with saying that to me! :)

 

One benefit to having surgery is all of the food people bring you! It's so awesome and so incredibly thoughtful! My kids are eating better this week than they ever have.  It makes me realize just how blessed I am to have so many sweet friends in my life.  Even one of my best friends, who lives in 100's of miles away in Virginia wanted to help out so she ordered a pizza and had it delivered to us for lunch this afternoon. 

 

I'll admit, I'm a bit conscious of this new adornment on my neck.  I answered the door to the pizza guy and the Fedex guy and I feel like it's all they could look at.  My only options are to resort to wearing turtlenecks the rest of my life or embrace it.  I guess I'll choose the latter.  After all, it does tell a chapter of my story.  Thankfully the ending was a good one and I didn't have cancer.  Hopefully as more time passes, my scar will heal and fade and look more like my new buddy, Brooke's does.  





Reflections & Anticipation

As I reflect back on 2012, I think of it fondly with a smile on my face (and it seems impossible that is already gone by).  2012 was good to us!  Really, really good.  Jamie and I traveled together several times and even visited some new places.  Such as getting to go early in the year to New Orleans to the National Championship game with friends.  That was definitely the best trip that we've ever been on with friends.  We both fell in love with New Orleans, ate some incredible 'Nawlins cuisine, had a BLAST and witnessed an awesome football game as Alabama claimed their 14th Championship title. 

A few months later, my dad was told that he was in remission.  Excited and grateful were an understatement for the way my whole family felt!  It was like a 500 lb boulder had been removed from all of our shoulders.  Even though he has to receive chemo injections every other week and have checkups periodically, we were so glad to have this scare behind us!  Noah turned 5 in April and how it's even possible is beyond me. Jamie and I traveled south for Memorial weekend and enjoyed some fun in the sun, sans kiddos, at our favorite vacation spot within driving distance, The Hilton at Sandestin.  And Noah graduated from preschool AND began walking on his own, completely unassisted.  What a blessing! 

Our summer kept us busy with days at the pool, VBS at church, a visit to the Memphis zoo, and grilling out with family and friends.  In early August, Jamie and I enjoyed a weekend away to Atlanta for our 9th Anniversary and Jamie's 33rd birthday, where we cheered on the Braves and played at Six Flags.  The next week on our actual anniversary, my sister gave birth to her beautiful baby girl and I became the very proud aunt to sweet little Harper.  Just a few weeks later, my sweet boy began his first day of Kindergarten.  What a milestone!  While initially it was a hard adjustment for him, it turned out to be a huge blessing and he is doing amazing.  We love his teacher and his school and I couldn't ask for a better first half of the school year.

 At the beginning on September, I found myself on a plane headed to the Big Apple with some of my dear friends for the trip of a lifetime.  We went to a Broadway play, saw Central Park, toured the Empire State Building, did an NBC Studio Tour, experienced China Town, ate some DELICIOUS  food, viewed the Statue of Liberty and the Freedom Towers and even had a crazy night out in the Meatpacking District.  We saw and did as much as possible in our 4 days there.  We all fell in love with the city and I can't wait until I get the opportunity to go back (with Jamie by my side).  Shortly after our trip, I turned 31 and Collier started preschool at King's Kids.  He loves his school and his new buddies and has learned so much.  October brought us a trip to the pumpkin patch, our church fall festival and Collier's Mickey Mouse Birthday Bash... and of course, Trick-or-Treating on Halloween night. 

Of course, the holidays were right around the corner with Thanksgiving and then Christmas and all the festivities in between and here we are at the beginning of 2013!

Despite being 9 days away from having surgery, I'm excited about what this year has in store.  Back in Februrary, Jamie and I purchased a lot in Heritage Village, a neighborhood on Cypress Creek, and sold our house in October.  We are closing in 26 days (yes 2 weeks after my surgery!!) and moving into our rental house.  While trying to get the whole house packed up before I have surgery and then dealing with moving while I'm still recovering from the surgery isn't an ideal situation, I'm still very excited about this next chapter.  Construction on our house will begin soon and I must say, building our own home has always been a dream of mine.  Also, we already have a couple of fun trips planned for this upcoming year, including one for our 10 year anniversary and a family trip to the Happiest Place on Earth in the fall!  So here's to 2013, to the things that we already have planned for this upcoming year and to the things that we are unaware of that lie ahead in the next 12 months.