Christmas :)

I know I haven't blogged here in a very long time. Life has been busy. . . wonderful, but busy!

I now have an official website for my Diagnosis Single Mom (www.diagnosissinglemom.com), so my blogging priorities have moved to that site. You'll still have to look here for more personal blog entries about me and Madison and hopefully I'll get better with keeping it more current.

I feel like I've been out of touch with so many for a while so I'm sure I have a few things to catch everyone up on.

Christmas was wonderful, but it started off a little rough. Two days before Christmas we were visiting a friend at Williamson Medical Center. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have a severe needle anxiety as well as general discomfort with watching any invasive medical procedures. By invasive I mean anything that punctures the human skin. In my head skin should always stay completely intact. While visiting my friend, the nurse came in to change her dressing on one of her drainage spots. I didn't watch, nor could I see it easily if I wanted to, so I thought I was fine. Minutes into this procedure, I began to get that all too familiar feeling. I knew that if I did not get out of that room I would faint. The only problem was, my friend was talking and I didn't want to jump up and excuse myself in the middle of her conversation, so I waited until she took a breath. I waited too long! I excused myself from the room, and Madison decided to stay in the room. I remember walking out of the door, but don't remember anything else. I woke up on the floor surrounded by nurses and hospital staff and Madison screaming, pacing, and crying hysterically. I fainted! I didn't just faint. I fell face first into a metal elevator door and then fell backwards onto the hard floor. Because of the force that I hit my head with (first on the elevator and then on the hard floor), the hospital would not allow me to move. They treated me as a head trauma victim (as I suppose I was), and took me to the ER for the next three hours for tests before they would release me. As emotionally and physically stressful as this event was, I walked away with very few injuries considering the impact. I had a good size bump on my forehead and I split my lip pretty well, and I had some bruises on my knee and leg. Aside from looking like Angelina Jolie for a few days, most people would never guess I experienced anything out of the ordinary that weekend. Aside from that event, the holiday was wonderful.

I had Madison for Christmas this year which is a treat in itself. We didn't travel anywhere. We spent Christmas Eve with our friends, Dave and Leah Clo and their families. I knew Dave and Leah when I lived in Miami and they moved up here about eight years ago. I'm so grateful to have them here. Christmas Day we had dinner with my friend Tracy and all of her family. They always treat Madison and me like part of their family and we truly consider ourselves surrogate members of their family.

Madison got a trampoline for Christmas that a friend of mine assembled on Christmas Eve while we stayed away from the house. Christmas morning she found a fully assembled, very large trampoline in our backyard and was amazed.

She also got a baby doll that I had made for her. It's an art form called doll reborning, where you make a baby doll look and feel so realistic it's almost scary. She said the doll and the trampoline were her favorite gifts. She really cherishes this doll and I'm so excited to see her really enjoy something as much as she does this baby doll. Here is a picture of the doll, which Madison has named Madeline Grace Hunter.



In doing the research for the doll, I became so fascinated with this art form, that I've decided I want to learn how to make them myself. The artist I used to make Madison's is kind enough to take me under her wing and teach me. I'm looking forward to getting started on my first one soon.

I will leave you with this picture of Madison, me, and Santa Claus. This Santa is a friend of mine who works in my office. I arranged "Pictures with Santa" in the office. I also took him to Madison's school to visit her class one day. It was a fun month and a great way to end the year. We're ready for a fresh start to create a new year of memories.