September started off with a bang in our house. Joshua's birthday (also shared with his cousin Mason) comes at the end of a very busy birthday filled August in our family. We haven't combined the boys parties since they were tiny as they go to different schools and have different friends. Their birthday weekend is always filled with parties with family and friends and is enough to wear anybody out! This year, we had the added stress of Eric having surgery the day before the party. He had a cyst come up in his neck right above his collarbone back in March. It showed up on the heals of a nasty bought of strep and a raging sinus infection so I thought it might have been a swollen node from all the drainage. I told him to keep an eye on it and let me know if it didn't go away in a couple of weeks. He never mentioned it again and I forgot about it for the most part. He brought it to my attention again in June when we got away for our trip. It was still there and looked larger to me. That coupled with some very rapid weight loss raised a lot of red flags and I nagged him until he finally took himself to the doctor to get it looked at. As a side note, what is it with men and going to the doctor? Anyway, a round of blood work and CT to rule out Hodgkins ensued since there is a family history. All of that came back ok but we still didn't know what it was. We went to an ENT for a needle biopsy and they drained 16 cc of fluid out of it. The biopsy came back clean but the cyst filled with fluid less than 12 hours after it was drained. So, the first available surgery date they had just happened to be the Friday before Joshua's already scheduled party. The next available date was 6 weeks later...so we took it. We didn't really discuss the surgery with Joshua until a few days before and didn't go into any detail until the night before. I just happened to overhear Eric describing what they were going to do to him and realized that he didn't realize what was really going to happen. He thought it would be IV sedation like his wisdom teeth. I had to explain (12 hours before surgery) that it was actually general anesthesia! I have never seen my poor husband look so much like a deer in the headlights. He hadn't thought to ask the questions during his pre-op visits and I figured he knew what going to a surgery center meant. I guess I take my medical knowledge for granted in theses situations. Anyway, Eric's surgery went very well. The cyst turned out to be a branchial cleft cyst in an unusual location and Eric is healing nicely. He even went to the party and the t-ball game the next day. The worst part of all of it was the no lifting for 2 weeks post surgery. Lily did NOT understand that situation at all and made her displeasure well known.
By the time Eric was back to full strength, September was gone and we were off and running with October. I love October. We have a pumpkin farm across the street from our church so it's become a family tradition to visit the pumpkin patch, go through the corn maze, eat fresh made kettle corn and buy a pumpkin or two for carving later in the month. I also had the challenge of hunting down TWO costumes for Joshua this year. Joshua informed me in June that he wanted to be an astronaut for Halloween. I thought that sounded like a pretty go idea since he wants to be an astronaut. I started looking at costumes and realized we had a problem, most of them were heavy, thick AND expensive! We ended up compromising on the orange flight suit and it's a good thing we did since it was still 75 degrees out while we were trick or treating. Joshua's school does Reformation Day instead of Halloween and they could dress as a character from the Bible or a animal created by God. I was quickly informed that Joshua wanted to be an alligator. It is almost impossible to find an alligator costume for an older child. I could find them for infants just about anywhere. I finally found a good costume for a decent price online and it all turned out well. Miss Lily was Minnie Mouse and LOVED the whole trick or treating experience. After every house she would look at me and say "Mommy, I got candy!!!". Too cute! We also went to the Dallas Arboretum for the first time in the fall. We usually hit the bloom festival in the spring so we decided to see how it looked in the fall. They also had a really neat Cinderella pumpkin village this year and the kids loved it.
Joshua played t-ball for his third season. His team from the spring stayed together for the most part and moved up to the 6 and under league. It's still t-ball but they can get thrown out and they start to keep score. Joshua still loves the game and his coach is amazing. He has tons of patients with the boys and really teaches the to play for the love of the game which can be hard to find these days. Joshua will play again in the spring and is already looking forward to it. I don't know what I'll do when Lily gets old enough to join in on the fun. It's hard enough doing practice twice a week and a game every Saturday with just one.
Joshua is also about to have another first experience and I'm not sure I'm ready! His school is out for the entire week of Thanksgiving. Lily's is open and Eric and I obviously have to work most of the week. So, my parents are headed into town for the weekend and will take Joshua home with them. It's our year to be in Midland for Thanksgiving, so we'll join them Wednesday evening. I'm not sure who's more excited, Joshua or my Mom. She has a trip to the planetarium and the Confederate Air Force Museum planned as well as baking and all sorts of other activities. It's going to be so strange to just have Lily in the house for a couple nights before we join everyone else for the holiday. It'll be great for Joshua. He's been feeling very much the older brother plagued by a little sister lately. I think he's craving some alone time and special attention! I think it'll be the first step to many Midland visits for summer vacations and so on.
Sooooo funny to hear about Reformation Day. I want to CCA in elementary school and I tell you, I have gotten a lot of mileage out of explaining how I never dressed up for Halloween as a little kid but only for Reformation Day. When I was little, it was only Bible characters; the animal thing is new.
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