RIP Ralph

 About six years ago Abe noticed a lymph node near his jaw/ear was swollen, leading him to believe he was fighting off an infection. However, it never receded. He checked in with a couple doctors over the years and they told him not to worry about it. He finally decided it was time to get rid of the large node that had grown to the size of a bouncy super ball.

The doctor ran a CT scan before to see what they were dealing with. It came back totally clear, so next a biopsy was performed. I was relieved it came back benign, basically a calcium deposit. 

An outpatient procedure was scheduled, but a couple days prior Abe went in for the same type of pre-op procedures I had completed before my stone removal. The day of, Eli had online school school and I didn’t want to leave him home alone, so I dropped Abe off at the hospital at 10:00, although he thought the procedure was probably going to be around 1:00. On the drive in he mused that the growth should have a name before it goes bye bye. Hence the naming of Ralph.

Abe and Ralph were checked into a private room to spend the day. Weird, right? A hospital room for an outpatient procedure. The room even had a nice view of the river.

Around 1:30 the doctor popped in to tell Abe that the procedure would go down in about 2 hours. Once the bigs got home from school I headed over to GNU. I missed Abe, as they had finally taken him down around 4:30. I went to his room to wait. 

Y’ALL.  

I got the shaft on my hospital stay. 😤 The very first thing I noticed was the cute little blue hand towel on Abe’s bag. I had never seen it before. Then I spied with my little eye a bag, like a toiletry bag setting on the bedside table. A bag! The mysterious blue hand towel had come from this bag, plus a drinking cup, toothbrush, toothpaste, a little bar of soap in a plastic container, and set of chopsticks and a spoon! 

And there’s more. Abe even got a little pair of slides to wear down to the operating room. You know what I got? The stink eye. I got the stink eye when I asked for a spoon to eat my soup. 🤬 I had a two night mandatory stay and I got nothin; Abe had an outpatient surgery and he got a swag bag. You know what else?? Insurance refused to pay for my two night, three day required stay. Abe got a private room with a swag bag and he walked out the door paying nothing. We will see what we end up paying insurance, but up front they approved his room. I was robbed, y’all. 

Sorry about that rant; back to Ralph. Finally at 6:40 they wheeled Abe back to his room. 

He just had a local anesthetic, much like you get at the dentist. 

We waited another hour or so for the doctor to come in to check on him and give us follow up instructions. The doctor said it was a bit larger than he expected, and Abe’s mouth might take 2-6 months to totally recover. 😳 We were like, do you mean weeks? “Onyo,” he replied,  “Months.” The corner of his mouth was kind of motionless, like when you leave the dentist after numbing. 

Praise the Lord it bounced back as soon as the anesthesia wore off. 

*WARNING* - graphic content coming up 

The next picture is Ralph. He was about 2.5 centimeters in diameter. That’s gotta leave a big hole in the side of Abe’s jaw.  

We're almost a week out and it seems to be healing quite well so far and Abe feels no pain in the area. 

Even though Ralph has been hanging out with Abe for several years,  Abe doesn’t even miss his company. Let's hope Abe has more allegience to me than he did this little guy.

[January 18]

The 'Not Birthday Party' Birthday Party

 We are currently being asked to limit our group sizes because, Covid. That did not rain on Lijee's birthday at all. No big groups, no big party, no leaving the house...no problem! What kind of kid doesn't want a big party with lots of friends? If he wasn't a carbon copy of his daddy at the same ages I would swear he was switched at birth ten years ago. 

Eli chose two of his buddies who love gaming to come over to just, you guessed it, play video games. Yes, this is the third year in a row that video games has been his choice for a birthday party. The first year he had just cracked his foot and was supposed to stay off it so I thought it was a good idea. This year we have Covid so it's a good idea. Last year? Last year he just wanted a small gathering where he did not have to leave the house and he could play video games all day without me bugging him to do something else.

I had planned a Fort Nite Battle Royale outside to get a little bit of movement before the boys planted themselves in front of the screen.

The rainy day called for a change of plans.

I got all three boys loading, running and shooting in this pic.

Alex is nabbing a supply drop.

After the bullet barrage, the three of them put on their game faces by playing together, on separate screens.

We enjoyed pizza from Mr. Pizza. Even when ordering in person, pointing to the menu and using fingers and Korean words for numbers, they still messed up the order. They just don't comprehend that one would order just cheese on a pizza. They throw the kitchen sink on theirs--shrimp, potatoes, squid, kimchi, seaweed, octopus...the list goes on and on. Thank goodness they understood just pepperoni.

Even though we couldn't be more different when it comes to crowds and activities, Eli and I share some things in common. We both love animals and we both love to snuggle up together. So maybe he didn't get switched at birth. I love this little boy so much!

[January 23]

Respect The Double Digees

 The whole house is now in double digits. When discussing this, Eli informed me, “Now I will finally get some respect.”

 The day before Eli's birthday I brought treats to school.

Right now our school is doing hybrid learning, so the kids have one day a week where they stay home for online learning. Eli’s Birthday happened to be his day at home so we spent the whole day together in between zoom calls.

Birthday breakfast.

Birthday lunch.

Birthday dinner.

Birthday cake.

Birthday pressies. 

Birthday growth chart.

Birthday love.

So much birthday love for this ten year old boy.

[January 21]

Buh Bye 2020 - 8th Annual Hourly Envelopes

 This was probably one of the most highly anticipated New Years in a long time, not necessarily by my family but by the world in general. We had considered spending it with friends, but, Covid. Abe had to self-isolate while a co-worker he had been in contact with was awaiting test results so we avoided people. (The results came back negative, by the way, so we’re in the clear. Whew!) 

Without further ado, I give you: 

{The Annual Countdown}

{Noon: Obstacle Course}

We went to the school playground and did a lot of tasks that included the soccer ball, climbing, jumping, shooting baskets, crab walks, kicking, throwing, etc. I was so busy timing everyone and keeping track of Chuey and Waffles (who we are walking while the Ts are in quarantine) that I did not take any action shots. You can see how Zeke felt about my posed pic.

{1:00 Escape Room The Game} 

This one was a request by Zeke. Daisy and Eli weren't that excited about it. It was about a dentist who was murdering people while trying something new with x-rays.

{2:00 Psych!}

This was a bust. Originally I ordered a board game for Christmas but it got stuck in customs. It was supposed to make it here by New Years. It did not. So I found a new app called Psych! that looked fun. Our internet was slow and it wasn't getting downloaded on all our phones, so we played Heads Up. By the looks of it Eli was singing opera instead of guessing my clues.

{3:00 Scavenger Hunt}

I had asked our friends in 105 if my kids could come by and get some random items from them. It was going to be a race and lots of fun. But, Covid. There were a few new cases at the local elementary and apartments opposite the street from us plus Abe's work scare I mentioned earlier, so I nixed that idea at the last minute. Instead they had to take turns finding the objects in our house and I timed them.

These were the items they had to find: wooden chopsticks, a Q-tip, a bread tie, a toothpick, a US coin, a Korean coin, a paperclip, and a slice of bread. Daddy was the quickest.

{4:00 Buy items with your initials}

We gave the kids a few bucks and sent them out to purchase items that started with their initials. The boys ran to the GS25 (convenience store) and had their items purchased in about 2 minutes. Daisy and I got the dogs and she went to the office supply store first, to no avail.

Then she went to the GS25, and concluded at MegaCoffee. Zeke won for spending the least amount (about ₩4,000), he and Eli tied for the most original (a candy Egg), and Daisy won for the item I would most enjoy (a Drink--hot chocolate).

{5:00 Photo Scavenger Hunt}

One of the items on the list was a hairball. I shouldn't share this, but all three children were able find one. Between Frito (who has been gone for a few months now), Chuey and babysitting Waffles, there is no shortage of dog hair, even though I constantly sweep.

Daisy finished this game first.

Stuffed animals were also one of the items. These are Eli's Christmas gifts, Charmander and Squirtle.

{6:00 Insta Photo Hunt}

This happened to be a fortunate accident on timing. The kids were going out to get us some BHC (chicken nuggets) for dinner, so I said while they were waiting for the order we would start the game. I had a list of pictures for them to find that they were to screenshot and send to me as soon as they were finished with the last. Eli found this one of a dog. Aww.

Zeke found this one of a cat.

Daisy went to her own page to find the images instead of randomly searching. She used this for people hugging💞,

and this one of a tree that just happens to have Frito in it.💗

{7:00 Chicken Foot}

When we play Chicken Foot we have to yell, "Ba-gock!" like a chicken when you have one left, like in Uno. If you don't and get caught you have to draw.

I was the winner of Chicken Foot in more ways than one; you can see I enjoyed a New Years beverage.

{8:00 Chopstick Transfer}

We were timed to see how fast we could pick up every item. First we tried cookies, which were pretty easy.

Next we tried tomatoes. Not as easy.

Chuey always sits in someone's lap, most often mine, whenever we play games at the table.

After watching everyone struggle with the tomatoes, Eli used the chopsticks to lift the container lid and transfer the whole thing at once instead of individually. I once read that a businessman would chose cheaters to do tasks because they would think out of the box to get things done with the least amount of effort. Unfortunately for Eli, he dropped a few on the floor, which slowed him down. I won that game although Abe says I have the oddest looking grip he’s ever seen. 🤷🏻‍♀️

{9:00 Blind Test Test}

This ended up being a lot of fun. I had 10 food items. The kids had to close their eyes while I fed a bite to each of them like little birds.

They were all pretty accurate on this challenge. The item they like the least was broccoli, the one that felt most disgusting was a grape, and the favorite was a Twix.

It was here that Daddy said night-night.

We had so much fun with food, they talked me into giving a drink test. I surprised them by feeding them straight-up lemon juice, but they all got it.

When we were finished with both taste tests the kids talked me into playing Among Us. I got to be the Imposter once and got voted out before I could even be sus, let alone kill anybody.🥴

{10:00 Hot Cold Game}

This is an oldie that we have played for years. Every Easter I buy the M&M type chocolate Cadbury eggs and we search for the bag and eat a few, search for the bag and eat a few. I didn't find Cadbury eggs to buy, so we searched for chocolate coins. I forgot to get a picture of us searching for the coins, but while we were waiting for Eli to hide them one time, Daisy and Zeke started playing Chubby Bunny. Apparently you stick as many marshmallows in your mouth while you can still say, "Chubby Bunny." Daisy got 17 in her pie hole!

After Chubby Bunny we tried Psych! while waiting on our next envelope. 

{11:00 Left Right Center}

We only did a couple rounds of this game because playing Psych! with these buttholes was so much fun we wanted to play it some more. 

All of us buttholes laughed and laughed. 

{12:00 Group Hug}

We started the year off on the right foot just like my friend Ellen taught us. Then we had a group hug.

We were loud enough that Daddy woke up and joined us so I got a New Years' kiss.

{2021 Happy New Year!!}

[January 1]