Home Sweet Hoyleton: No More Appendix, So Much Love

Beautiful Flowers from my friend Stephanie

So, most of you know that I recently had my appendix out. Well, here is how it all happened. On Labor Day, we decided to go out for dinner in Mt. Vernon. We hadn't taken the kids to a restaurant other than Kretzer's (our town restaurant) since the virus started. When we got home my stomach started hurting. I thought it was just indigestion. Then I thought, that's it. I tested the limits by going out to eat and now I have food poisoning. It continued to get worse so I called my friend Francee and asked her to bring her magical fix to everything over, Alka-Seltzer Gold. She swears by it. The problem is that the Alka-Seltzer didn't even touch it. The pain just got worse. I tried to go to bed and sleep it off. Eventually, Nate told me that it was time to get me checked out. Thankfully, Francee came to our rescue and slept on our couch so that we didn't have to wake up the kids. We headed to the ER. 


Now, I am not the calmest person when I have pain with an unknown source, so I tend to cry. I was a mess in the ER. I was in so much pain and scared that it was a complication from the gallbladder surgery that I had 3 years before. Well after getting scans and waiting for the results, they brought me back to a room. Poor Nate had to wait in the car for two hours due to COVID procedures. Thankfully, as soon as they got me into a room Nate was able to come in and I was given painkillers. The moment I got the painkillers, I apologized for all the crying to the nurses. They admitted me because they said that I either had appendicitis or a ruptured ovarian cyst. The radiologist and surgeon confirmed that it was appendicitis and I was to have surgery in the afternoon on Tuesday. They waited until the afternoon because I had to receive a COVID test. I had surgery. It went well and I came out of it feeling much better than when I had my gallbladder out. 



While I was having excellent care in the hospital, Hoyleton was doing an excellent job caring for our family. Francee stayed with the kids overnight on Monday and then took care of Zoe after school, taking her to dance and having her spend the night. Tina took Zach and Max all day on Tuesday and kept them until Nate was back from the hospital. Between my friends Haley, Tina, Marilyn, Deb, Francee and probably others that I don't even know about, the kids were taken care of so that I could rest on Wednesday and Thursday and Nate could get what he needed done for Sunday. That was a huge blessing because if I had to take care of the kids when I got home, there wouldn't have been enough resting for me to heal. The Guinzy family took my kids today during confirmation so I could rest. We also have dinners being made for us through Tuesday evening. This is huge because while I can load the top rack of the dishwasher with ease right now, cooking an entire meal would probably exhaust me to my core. There have also been cookies, Diet Cokes, flowers, cards, texts and phone calls given and sent to me from our community. I cannot begin to thank everyone enough for their time and generosity. We feel so loved. 


All of this just proves my point that Hoyleton is the nicest place ever and if you disagree, I may have to fight you. These people are my village, my family and I don't know how we were so blessed to become part of this little piece of sweetness in Southern Illinois.


That's all for now. God is Good.

Max is 11 Months!

Picture Taken By My Friend Haley
Picture taken by my friend Haley

Max is growing and moving fast. He has big, sweet smiles. He has a silly personality. We love him so much. We did get an update when it comes to his surgery. We saw our excellent neurosurgeon at the end of last month. She said that he looks great. He will do great in surgery. His surgery is scheduled for September 30th.

Max likes:
  • His Mama
  • His family
  • Eating
  • Turkey Lunch Meat
  • Strawberries
  • Cruising around the furniture
  • Trying to walk
  • Looking out the front storm door
  • Falling asleep on Mommy
  • Falling asleep in his Zipadee Zip
  • Music
  • Being outside
  • Yogurt Melts
  • Eating everything he can find on the floor
  • Getting up early
  • Taking his brother's food when he's not looking

Max doesn't like:
  • Getting his diaper changed
  • Falling over
  • His brother and sister taking things from him
  • Being hungry
  • Being ignored


Being silly with Daddy


Handsome man sleeping


Serious Cardinals Fan


With sissy


So handsome


What's that mama?


He stole his brother's lunch and he thinks it's hilarious.


I cannot handle his cuteness.


We could not love this little man more and I can't believe that he's almost one.

That's all for now. God is good!