Good Riddance 2011

Today is the last day of 2011, and I am thrilled that this year is coming to an end. This has been the absolute WORST year of my life!

We started off the year learning about food allergies in order to keep Rylie safe and to avoid another hospital visit like the one we had on Christmas Eve a year ago. It was all very overwhelming at first, but it quickly became a way of life that we are all used to living now. Then she got sick on her birthday and we actually had to postpone her third birthday party. I can't forget the cancer scare that sent me into hysterics and my little girl into a CT machine, either. Luckily she came through all of that with a clean bill of health! The month of January went from bad to really bad when I lost my sweet Cosmo. I still miss that big ole ball of fur every day.

February brought ear infections for Bryce, nightmares for Rylie and a hospital stay for my dad. I also found out that both of my cats had serious health problems. I felt like there was a dark cloud hanging over my house.

Bryce had his second surgery in March to put another set of tubes in his ears and have his adenoids taken out. A week or so later his ears were filled with fluid again, and he had thrush along with that. Oh, and we found out that he had a hernia, which meant yet another surgery.

My world came crashing down in April when my Dad passed away. I still haven't recovered from that, and I don't ever think I will. He was one of my best friends. I miss him terribly, and not a day goes by that I don't think about him. To say that life without him has been hard would be an understatement. It has been unbearable. I have managed to keep it together for the most part, because I have a family to take care of, but I still have a lot of guilt, sadness and pain that I am trying to work through.

May was fairly uneventful. My birthday came and went and somehow I managed to get through the one month anniversary of my Dad's passing. I started the Nutrisystem program and lost over 6 pounds in my first four weeks, and we took a little vacation to visit my aunt and her family at the end of the month.

June was rough. First it was Bryce's visit to the ER for his "first big boo boo". His teacher pulled on his arm the wrong way, which caused "nursemaids elbow". Unfortunately the ER doc could not reduce it, so he had to wear a cast over the weekend until he could get in with an orthopedic doc. Then it was Father's Day. I thought a lot about my dad that day, and of course I did a lot of crying. A few days later we went to a party for a friend where Bryce had an allergic reaction to a bug bite, which meant an evening in urgent care. We ended that month saying goodbye to Shadow, another one of our beloved pets.

It's crazy, right? That so much crap could happen to a person in such a short period of time. But wait, the year was only half over. July was a decent month, except for Bryce's bout with the most horrible pink eye I have ever seen! We wrapped the month up with a little mini-vacation to the beach, which was probably the highlight of our year.

Bryce had his third surgery in August for a hernia repair, to fix his circumcision that had re-attached where it wasn't supposed to, and to remove a skin tag. He did well, and hopefully he will be able to stay out of the OR for a long, long time.

We started September off having a great time celebrating Bryce's 2nd birthday. A couple days later we experienced yet another heartbreaking goodbye. We had to put my cat, Morgan, to sleep, which ended up being a very traumatic experience for all of us. We finished up with month with a MUCH NEEDED cruise vacation with our best friends.

October seemed to be a better month for all of us. We had a great time visiting the pumpkin patch and Trick-or-Treating. Rylie did have to go to urgent care for what we thought would be a foreign body removal, but the story actually turned out a little humorous, and we never did find that sticker.

November was a blur. I honestly don't remember much of the entire month. I had a super-fun giveaway event going on with Colleen over at Shibley Smiles, and that kept me up very late every single night. We did have some breaking news about Bryce going on the potty for the first time. My only remaining pet, my sweet dog Chloe, had to have surgery to remove a growth from her tail. As you can imagine, I was beyond nervous about that, but she came through it just fine. We also found out that the growth was not cancerous, so hopefully she will be sticking around for a while! Our Thanksgiving plans were changed at the last minute because of Rylie getting sick, but we ended up having a wonderful, quiet day at home.

December has come and gone without much blogging from me. I have pretty much been blogged out lately. We found out earlier in the month that my mom's sweet little dog had the same tumor in her spleen that my Cosmo had, but luckily they caught it before it ruptured. She had her spleen removed and is doing much better. Lani was really my dad's dog, so the thought of something happening to her was even more sad for us all. We spent the few days before and after Christmas with no upstairs A/C and no dryer. They have since been fixed, but geez, what a way to wrap up the year! We did have a great Christmas, which made me so thankful for the blessings I do have, and allowed me to remember all of the wonderful blessings I do have in my life.

I'm so sorry for this sad, depressing post. Try living it. This year has been hell for me, and like I said, I am so glad it is ending.

I am really looking forward to 2012, both for my personal life, and for this blog. As you all know, there are going to be some changes around here, and I hope they are for the better. I am not going to say that next year can't be worse, because I know it certainly can be, but I'm thinking positive and I know it is going to be a better year!

I hope everyone has a safe, and fun New Year's Eve! I'll be back in 2012!