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Tru must have had a hard day at school today. She’s been sleeping like this, in the chair Papa and Nana gave her for Christmas, for an hour now!

I found this picture on my phone today. I had forgotten about it! This is Tru in her nitrous oxide mask. Her dentist called her “Rudolph.”

So sorry it’s been so long since we’ve written anything here! It’s been very busy this last month or two. We had a great Christmas. Papa and Nana Spiceland came to visit and celebrate Christmas and Tru’s birthday, then Papa, Missa, Ally, and Kerri came. We had a wonderful time with everybody. We were supposed to travel to Memphis to spend Christmas evening and the following days with Bama and Jessica, but all six of us were sick. We had an interesting but effective Christmas over Skype video conferencing.

Tru had to have two fillings last week and has to have three more in the coming weeks. Her dentist says that the location of the cavities tells him that better brushing could not have prevented these cavities. She’s just inherited Mike’s teeth and may have issues her whole life. I sure hope that Heidi inherited mine! I’ve never had a cavity in my life. Her experience was hilarious, though. We’d told her ahead of time that she’d have to smell some yummy-smelling air during the procedure. Somehow she’d gotten the idea that they were going to stick things in her nose to make that happen, so she was very relieved to find out that it only involved breathing from a small red nose covering. The dentist called her Rudolph the whole time! She got very relaxed and very happy on the nitrous. She kept saying funny things like “Mommy! I looooooooooooooove yoooooooouuuuuuuu!” and “I’m DIZZZZZZZYYYYYY!” After we went home, she bit her lip pretty badly, so it’s all swollen in the only snow pictures we managed to take this year.

We had half an inch of snow the day before her dentist appointment, and amazingly, some of it has stuck around. I believe today is day 6 with snow on the ground. Many lakes iced over, and the temperatures were in the teens and twenties many days. Tru had a blast playing in it. Check out the pictures section of our website for new pictures.

Tru got a new bedroom before Heidi was born, and it was just now clean enough today for me to take pictures of it! It only took me 19 months. I took about 20 pictures and made a collage of them.

Bedroom. Click to enlarge.

Bedroom Collage. Click to enlarge.

Mike and I are leaving in five minutes for the hospital for my laparoscopic cystectomy. Wish us luck and keep us in your prayers. It shouldn’t be a big deal. We’ll update everyone when we get back.

Update #1 5:00 PM: I’m home! I’m sore, but otherwise, I’m fine. I’m in pain when I’m not medicated, but I have lots of fun drugs to help me with that. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts!

Update #2 Nov. 18th: Got confirmation last week that the tumor was benign. Yay.

Das pumpkin.

Los pumkinas.

I have been having some abdominal pain for a few weeks. Since I just stopped using my hormonal birth control in favor of a nonhormonal type which does not prevent ovarian cysts and I have a history of ovarian cysts, I figured my cysts must be back. When the pain got worse than I’d experienced from cysts before, I called my gynecologist and made an appointment. Today at that appointment, she did an ultrasound on my ovaries and found what she is pretty sure is a dermoid cyst, or ovarian teratoma. An ovarian teratoma is a tumor made from various types of body tissues, which can include skin, organ tissue, hair, neural tissue, bone tissue, and teeth, that grows inside an ovary. Most ovarian teratomas are noncancerous (benign) and can be removed very easily with laparoscopic surgery. She told me there is a small chance that this is a normal ovarian cyst with solid tissue inside that will be absorbed naturally by my body, but she’s pretty sure it’s a teratoma and that it will need to be removed. There is a small chance (1-2%) that it is malignant, but it is usually very easy to remove all of a teratoma since these types of tumors tend to form inside nicely secluded, sealed membranes. I have a second ultrasound scheduled for a month from now. If the mass is still there, she will schedule me for surgery sometime in December.

Please pray first and foremost that God’s will be done in this situation. Secondly, pray that this is indeed a benign tumor that can be removed easily.

Tru and Heidi had adorable matching Halloween outfits on yesterday that they received from Papa and Nana. I had to get a few pictures, including these:

We got Tru’s school pictures back today, and they are so cute! If anybody wants any, let me know what sizes and how many. Note that the lightish discoloration that starts above her left eye (your left) and extends rightward into the background is not in the picture, it’s on my scanner.

Update: Remember to let me know if you want any pictures! I’ve only gotten one order so far.

Who out there shops at Publix grocery stores or CVS Pharmacy? Would you be willing to let me send you a Publix or CVS card that is linked to Tru’s uPromise account so that you can save money on things you buy and earn cash back for Tru at the same time? Bonus: Since you’ll get it from me, it won’t have your contact information linked to it, so you won’t get any extra junk mail!