Check this out!

So unless you've just been under a rock, I can't imagine anyone not have hearing of "The Help." The book is fabulous and the movie, which I saw for the first time yesterday, is awesome! Check it out - and I do mean both movie AND BOOK!

http://thehelpmovie.com/us/

Looking Forward to 2012

2011 has been a wild ride for us. I think I have said that a bazillion times in the last month or so, but I'm saying it again. This blog is basically a recap of our 2011.
It began in January with me pregnant and extremely sick with HG. (For those of you not familiar with HG, I encourage you to google the HER foundation and read more about it). That lasted for two months where I pretty much spent the entire month of February confined to the 3rd floor of Rush Hospital, when finally on March 1, 2011 our baby girl, Miley Gayle Swancey made her apperance in to the world!

6lbs 11oz

We finished up March with Memphis turning 2, and then April rolled around with some of the wildest weather this area has seen in a really long time. 

Tornado roared through Enterprise

We made it through May with very little drama -- and then came June. This is when our lives seemed to completely unravel. The month began with me having a biopsy done and a cancer scare. I found out I had to have a hysterectomy ASAP for something that would potentially turn into cancer if not treated soon. Then, just 14 days before surgery, my husband lost his job, and we lost our health insurance. This summer wasn't a summer to us. We kept up happy faces for our kids, but we felt like we had the breath knocked out of us. We were terrified. We didn't know how the next bill would get paid, where the next diaper would come from or how we were going to put food on the table. We held on with all we had and thanks to the support of friends and family we somehow survived and made it through one day at a time. 

This photo was taken about an hour before Johnny found out he was jobless.

Desperate, I began searching high and low for a job. I accepted one doing something I never in a million years thought I would do, and to be completely honest didn't intend to keep doing once my husband found another steady job. Within a month of being there, I fell in love with it and now I couldn't imagine doing anything else. The job has truly saved our lives and many of my coworkers have become a second family to me. I have found much success with this job and thankfully my husband found a job within a month of me starting mine and finally we began to see the light again.

This photo was taken the day I accepted my new job and it gave me hope

I soon regained my health insurance, had my surgery and am feeling much better and happy to say no cancer was found! We saw Noah turn 4, celebrated Thanksgiving and gave our kids a great Christmas despite the fact half of us were sick. 

Miley's First Christmas

One thing is for sure, through it all I know it could've been way worse and I am so blessed to have a great support group of friends and family who have helped us along the way. I feel as though I've grown closer to God in all of this and have learned what it's like to really have your faith tested. We are moving forward and looking forward to what 2012 is going to bring. One way or another, we are determined no matter what the circumstances, to make 2012 our year.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

It's been an eventful year to say the least. We have had a lot of downs this year but the few ups we have had been meaningful and given us the strength to keep going. Thanks to all of our friends and family old and new for supporting us this year when we needed it the most. We believe we have made it to the light at the end of the tunnel and are very optimistic for 2012 to be the best year ever.

I hope all of you have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year! I'm sure I'll blog again before then, but just in case I didn't I thought I'd go ahead and say it. These are a few of my latest pics of my beautiful babies!

Life Lesson for the Day

If you haven't checked out Tyler Perry's "A Madea Christmas," you should. It's really good. It is a play, but it's really good. Tyler Perry to me, is a brilliant individual. I am a huge fan of him, and I love all of the Madea movies and plays. They are hysterical, but at the same time they always have a great message worked into them. One of these messages really impacted me late last night.

As I was watching this Christmas play, there came a scene where Madea and a few other women were sitting on a couch discussing jealousy and how they didn't understand why people just couldn't be encouraging to each other instead of tearing them down all the time. Madea made a comment that has stuck with me and I wanted to share with all of you because I think it it something that we should all take to heart. The comment was that God has given us all special talents and we are all here for a reason. Instead of tearing one another down or being jealous of the other's talent, go out and do your talent to the best of your ability and be proud and supportive of the person that may happen to do something better than you because maybe that is why they were placed on this earth.

It may sound silly, but I thought it was a true statement and real words of wisdom. Words we should all strive to live by.

That is my life lesson for the day!

Post-Op Report and All the Reasons I'm Thankful

I went in today for my post-op check up and got some great news and some not so great news. The not so great news is that apparently I have developed high blood pressure. They checked it 3 times and the last reading was 143/103 sooo that means I'll be taking bp meds now.

On to the great news, the doctor checked my incisions out and they all looked good. He took the glue off of them since they were itching like crazy and taped them together so I have to be really careful for the next few weeks, but I do get to return to work Monday as long as I am not doing any heavy lifting or standing for long periods of time and of course be cautious of the incisions. We talked about what he found and out of all the fibroids, cysts, endometriosis and adhesions he told me it was a blessing that there was no cancer found and that the surgery was definitely needed despite how young I am. 

This helps me transistion into all the reasons why I am so thankful this year. This has been an eventful year to put it mildly. It started off with me finishing an extremely difficult pregnancy to Miley being in NICU to me having biopsies done with the fear of having cancer to Johnny loosing his job. But you know what, it turned around for the best. I ended up taking on a job I thought I would hate but now couldn't imagine me doing anything else, Johnny landed an awesome job, Miley is healthy, my boys are healthy, and I am cancer free.

I am so grateful for all the things God has blessed me with. Words can't express how much I value my sweet l family and how thankful I am for the ones who supported us when Johnny lost his job. The ones who made sure we had food,who bought diapers, who were there when we just needed a shoulder to cry on, who kept us encouraged and told us not to loose faith. I am thankful God helped Johnny find a new job that has turned out to be so much better than his old one and that we actually get to spend time with him now because he has days off and still earns more than he did before. Thankful for my job, a job I took on thinking I would absolutely hate, that has turned out to be a blessing in itself. Thankful for my sweet co-workers who kept me motivated and encouraged me during a time when Johnny and I didn't know what the future held for us and still keep me encouraged today. Thankful for all the new friends I have made this year -some of you have become my second family. Thankful for Miss Smiley Miley - it was a rough ride getting her here but we made it and I couldn't ask for a sweeter more beautiful baby girl and for my boys who shower me with kisses and hugs at the end of a long day. Thankful for my health, for my home, and for all the luxuries in life God has blessed me with. I have learned this year to not take one single thing for granted because you can loose it in an instant.

It has been a long ride for us, but I am thankful we survived the roughest parts and I know that we will be just fine. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Miley's First Trip to See Santa = FAIL

Johnny decided that since I've been laid up in hospital beds and my own since Wednesday, he'd get me and Miley out of the house so we could work on "Santa's Gift List" for the kids. (I was wheeled around in a wheelchair for about 75% of the trip). In between stops, we decided to make a trip to Dillards, buy Miley a Christmas dress and we even purchased some candy cane earrings to complete the outfit. We did all of this with the intent of taking her to see Santa and getting her picture made. We ran into Santa on his way to the Cookie Store at which point he stopped and talked to Miley. She was all smiles and giggles as usual.We mentioned to Santa that we were on our way for her to get her picture made with him so he told us to go wait and he'd be there in just a second. When he arrived, we carried Miley over to him who was still all smiley as usual and she remained this way up until the point Johnny and I walked away towards the camera. At that point, she had a total meltdown thus ruining any chance of us getting a good picture of them. Oh well we can always try again. Maybe her 2 brothers can help her out on the next try. Below is a pic I snapped of her right before we made our way down to see him. At least we got a good bit of the gifts on their Christmas wishlist out of the way -- I mean "Santa" did. And as for post-surgery Mommy, she will be laying in the bed for the next few days because she did just a little too much today.

Surgery - Success!

Wednesday was D-Day for surgery. I was, as you can imagine, nervous, scared and happy to get it over with. I had set the alarm for 3:30 that morning only I forgot to actually set the alarm so we woke up at 4:30 and had to be at the hospital by 5:45.

Anyway, we got there before the bad weather hit, got checked in and in no time they had me in a room and even more amazing I was back in the surgery holding within 20 minutes of being taken to a room. The surgery started at 8:00 and was over sometime between 10:30-11:00.

The doctor said he found a lot of endometriosis, fibroids and adhesions but thankfully no signs of cancer. So after spending a night in the hospital I'm at home in my own bed.

I'm sore and I left the hospital with an upper respiratory infection, but he hooked me up with some good antibiotics and a breathing treatment so I won't be struggling fighting it combined with recovering from surgery. Other than that, I'm doing pretty good. It's hard to move around and it's really weird how it literally feels like there is something missing inside of me (I guess because there really is) but at the same time I can already feel a difference in how I feel overall despite the soreness.

Anyway, the doctor says as long as I stay off my feet as much as possible, rest, avoid housework, lifting, bending, cooking, shopping and driving that he will let me return to work within a week and half and that will be with the understanding that I am still supposed to restrict the amount of time on my feet, driving, etc.

Thanks to all of you who sent me texts, messaged me, prayed for me, called me, sent me a card, visited me in the hospital and have helped take care of me post-op.  It means a lot!!

Happy Thanksgiving :)