Les Miserables

We have been playing out our own version of 

Les Miserables

since January 4th.

#2 has been put the ringer.

Jan. 3rd

she was sedated

and

four impacted wisdom teeth were removed...

she was very out of it for our ride home...

and stayed that way for the rest of the day.

BF2 came for the night and everyone camped out in my bed.

Swelling was minimal and the pain was not as bad as she expected. 

But...

come Sunday afternoon this happened......

and this ....

Every mom will recognize those "sick eyes".

Come Monday, after 24 hours of a temperature over 102,

 we headed to doctor.

It was all #2 could do just to get there, much less sit up.

Her throat was swollen, RAW and NASTY.

It was all around the stitches in the back of her mouth.

She went through a battery of tests.

She had a pipe cleaner stuck up her nose "all the way behind my eye",

aka a flu test.

She had a mono test, that came out negative and then was

diagnosed with strep without being given a strep test.

Her throat was so nasty, I will spare the details, but the doctor immediately diagnosed her with strep when she saw it. All this and she was just days from having her wisdom teeth removed and she was swollen, sore and still had four raw wounds with stitches.

The doctor recommended a "horse shot" of antibiotics immediately

along with a bottle of antibiotics for two weeks. 

Home we went

and this continued...

her 102 temp. did not go down, her throat got nastier

and she became more miserable.

I called the doctor on Wednesday, she was put on a steroid for her severe throat issue

and possible wisdom tooth surgery complications. 

Friday morning this started happening....

and it continued to get worse as the day went on...

and it spread...

and she cried

and she was miserable 

and she was READY for it to all be over.

We headed back to the doctor,

they wanted to see her immediately,

but saw a different doctor this time.

He was upset there wasn't a strep test done on Monday

and was obviously disturbed that such a high dose of antibiotics were given without 

a positive strep test. 

He was not happy a blood panel was not done and that a negative finger prick mono test was ignored.

He was very concerned about the scarlet red rash covering her entire body.

He told her to stop taking the antibiotics.

He sent us to 

"The Lab"

for an extensive blood panel...

four tubes.

Too much for someone who had had such a bad week.

I had to scrunch into the little desk beside Brooke.

She wasn't handling it too well, but we got it done.

So it is Sunday,

 our weekend went by and the rash got worse before it finally started to quiet down this afternoon.

The doctor is pretty sure it is a bad case of mono and not strep.

Mono mixed with antibiotics isn't a good thing.

It can result in horrible things like a scarlet red rash.

Brooke has missed going back to school after a month long break, 

her first week back in class and work. 

She is so ready for some normal.

She has recovered from the surgery, that was a piece of cake.

After we get the results from the doctor tomorrow, she should be able to head off to school for her

 last semester of college.

(Oh my!!)

If she does have mono, she will just have to take it slow and one day at a time. 

Thanks Brooke for letting me post these pictures!!!

WRAPPED UP

I am sitting watching one more bowl game.

Me at home on a Friday night is unusual. 

I do have some good company though....

#2 had her wisdom teeth removed yesterday and so today has been a very laid back lazy day. 

She is doing great. I have taken a lot of pictures and will share once the swelling comes and goes.

Tomorrow is supposed to be her "big" day, but so far her swelling isn't all that impressive.

We had a great Christmas,

but,

I CANNOT BELIEVE IT HAS COME AND GONE!

******************

The "new" thing to wear to school is "vintage" Christmas sweaters and sweatshirts.

 Funny, not too many years ago, Christmas sweaters were stylish and pretty, not tacky. The more bells and whistles (literally), the better. The two older girls, have had "Tacky Christmas" cocktails in their sororities since being in college and now the theme has made its way into the high schools. 

 #3 was in need of some Christmas attire her last days of school before her break. 

When my mom died, I kept a lot of her clothes and luckily, she had a lot of Christmas things. 

On the last day before exams, #3 and her friends decided to have a "Tacky Christmas Day".

Barrett wore her grandma's Christmas sweater to school.....

I don't think it is tacky, a little old fashioned, maybe, but either way, I loved seeing her in it!

There is a nursery just outside of our neighborhood.

It is one of my favorite places on earth.

It is where I get all of my flowers for my beds and pots in the spring.

The green house goes on forever and they always have the prettiest and best selection of annuals.

I especially love going there during the holidays.

It is almost one of the most Christmasy places I know.

All of the greenhouses are filled with rows and rows of poinsettias.

I am amazed every year at just how many varieties there are.

It has become such a popular destination for Christmas card pictures, they have set up several different areas with different themes.  

I wanted to get all three of my girls there at the same time this year, but our schedules just didn't work out that way.  In fact, these pictures weren't taken on the same day.  I took #1 and #3 on different days. #2 never made it there this year because of her work schedule. 

(By the way...this is the first year I didn't send out Christmas cards since being married!

I still feel so guilty about it.)

I just love this place.

I love making my cup of hot chocolate outside in the cold and then wander around inside looking at the rows and rows of flowers.  

Christmas Eve is our family time.

We had a quiet dinner at home.....

beef tenderloin on the grill.

 The girls gave Art a personalized carving board for Christmas and since we were grilling on Christmas Eve, they let him open it early.

He loved it!!

#3 kept warm while he cooked.

We always sit at the coffee table and watch a Christmas movie on Christmas Eve.

Charlie watches the food!

On Christmas Eve we open one present...... our Christmas PJ's.

Art was very excited that his jammies were shorts..... he gets so hot while he is sleeping.

Have I ever shared that my girls don't call me mom, momma, mother or anything else normal?

They call me Momason.... actually spelled "Mama-son".

I looked it up:

The term originally comes from Japanese, where it is a term for a woman who works as a supervisor at a bar, nightclub, or similar business....The term mama-san in Japanese is emphatically not a polite reference to a mother, and should never be used as such....The term is also used to refer to a woman who works in a supervisory role in certain establishments in Southeast Asia, typically those related to drinking places.

I don't know how it started, but it is something that just happened a long time ago.

It is so normal to us and we have forgotten about how strange it sounds out in public. 

At the grocery store during Chirstmas we had the bagger very confused...

he kept looking back and forth at all of us and finally asked...

"Are you Japanese?"

Anyways,

I got some really nice PJ's....

pink cheetah print!

No Christmas Eve would be complete without a picture of the three B's in their jammies.

This year they came from Eddie Bauer.

The girls love them and say they are so comfy. 

(thanks for being there dad!)

Lola didn't get PJ's, but she loved sleeping in her Christmas scrunchies.

We went to my dad's house for my family's Christmas late Christmas Day.

A few days later we headed to the beach for a few days of rest and to celebrate with Art's family.

The sunset from the bridge is alway spectacular! 

The after Christmas sales at the nearby outlets were pretty spectacular too!

Happy New Year!

THE COUNTDOWN IS ON

The countdown is on.

I cannot believe Christmas is just days away.

I am ready,

 but not ready for it to all be over with. 

We have been busy here at the Odom house and that means

we have been spending a lot of time in the kitchen.

Here are some of the things we have been doing:

We have been working on a "faux" gingerbread house.

I used to make my gingerbread house from scratch, but last year I found this at a craft show....

It is a reusable form that looks like gingerbread. 

It is not the same as the real thing, it is definitely missing the smell,  but boy what a time saver it is.

It takes the hard work away and leaves you with just all of the fun!!

We made several batches of royal icing..... the glue,

and as always we used my granny's sifter.

We used ginger cookies as the roof....

...crushed peppermints on the chimney...

and other candy as decorations.

We left some things for the older girls to do...

Brittany worked on it the other night...

Finally finished!

Barrett is a teacher's assistant for a second grade class and we spent an evening 

working on bags of  hot chocolate mix with marshmallows...

and spiced tea for the teacher.

We spent an afternoon at the mall and then went out to eat

to Mia Francesca's.

And because we can't go out to eat ALL of the time,

we have been doing a lot of cooking here at home.

BF1 and Lola did some bonding...

while the cooking and grilling was done.

We love our onion goggles because we all have super sensitive eyes!

We make a lot caramel corn during the holidays.

We give it out to neighbors and friends.

It is a tedious...

and long process.

You have to stir it every ten minutes for an hour. 

Barrett had a few friends over for a cookie exchange.

She made a shortbread cookie with cherries and dark chocolate...

drizzled with white chocolate!

We served a few things.

 I discovered a new cute way to serve meatballs.

I have several of these long skinny dishes and we just spooned a little sauce on the bottom and set the meatballs on top and added toothpicks.

  Our gingerbread house was the center piece of the cookie table.

Art wanted to go shopping with the girls tonight.....

I am guessing for me!

I was very tired and really didn't feel like it, but I tagged along with them. 

I had to stay away from them and so

I just wandered around and enjoyed people watching and bargain hunting. 

I bought a pair of stretchy pants! 

Ha!

A sure sign of all of the time I have spent in the kitchen!

I am already dreading January.

They called me when they were finished and told me where to meet them.

This is them waiting for me......

So,

 I can't leave Charlie out of this long post.

He had visions of sugarplums dancing in his head this afternoon.

And Bubbles???

He has been channeling his inner Rudolph!