A big blogging break...

A big break in blogging was started because of an eventful Thanksgiving week in 2010:

We had Chinese food on Tuesday night, and Rico had an upset stomach all night. Then Wednesday -- when he was supposed to be cleaning the house prepping for our big family dinner when we were hosting 20+ of my closest relatives -- he was busy tossing his cookies all morning, and we were thinking it was food poisoning or the flu.

Then he did tossed 'em again a bit in the afternoon. Then again when I got home from work. Then a TON at midnight. You're not supposed to go to the doctor for the flu, so we didn't. But then when my sister, the nurse came over she took one look at him and said he needed to go to the ER. So she took him. Thank goodness for sisters who are good in medical emergencies (because I am so, so not -- there's a reason I didn't go into nursing).

After several hours in ER (and a few funny stories of how you can bi-pass the triage area and go right to a bed) Rico ended up getting admitted that night with internal bleeding. I relieved my sister later in the afternoon, once the emergent situation was under control. Yes, I'm a wuss. I freely admit it. We all have our strengths.

Rico had a upper GI scope the next morning and it showed a tear where the esophagus and stomach join up (from tossing his cookies so hard and so frequently). Luckily it had stopped bleeding so they didn't have to do anything else. And we got a couple of really nifty souvenir photos of the scope (SCORE!).

So he was in the hospital, missing the big game in Detroit (high school state football finals) and eating hospital food that day. We were hoping that he'd be able to come home, but his first two blood draws after the procedure didn't show enough improvement. Then we were looking at the need for a transfusion. Ugh. Luckily his evening blood draw showed an improvement -- and he got to come home around 9:30 p.m. So we had our Thanksgiving dinner a couple of days late. :) How was your holiday?

The next week was spent keeping an eye on Rico and trying to get him to eat as may high-iron foods as possible, and getting him to rest and relax. That was work in and of itself. He's not a good relaxer. At. All.

So that was blogging absence #1. Then, a couple of weeks later my dad's oldest sister suffered a massive stroke while at bible study. Aunt D didn't recover, so December brought sadness and a funeral. My dad delivered a beautiful eulogy.

The Christmas holiday saw us all pulling together for our family's 50th annual Christmas Eve gathering and remembering Aunt D and all she did for us:
- my mom made deviled eggs for our party (Aunt D's normal dish-to-pass)
- Rico made Aunt D's queso dip recipe
- my brother and sister-in-law bought all the kids boxes of movie candy (and Aunt D tradition)
- my cousin J gave shoulder rubs (Aunt D's way of connecting with each of us)
- all the guys (and a few of the girls) gathered on our front porch to sing carols (again, Aunt D)
- we all spent time looking through boxes of photos that Aunt D had stored (which I am in the process of scanning so we can all have copies)

So that's it. The holidays.
Bring on 2011.