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December is such a crazy time of year for our family. It's hard to keep up with all the celebrations, birthdays, TDYs and deployments!

Last week we celebrated both Xander's 1st birthday and Cole's 3rd birthday with friends. Both kids had a blast and their friends did too. Unfortunately, Daddy missed the celebration as he was stuck in Guam with a broken airplane.

Although it was stressful and I know he wanted to be there, I almost had to laugh. It seems like no matter what the plan, there is always something that prevents him from being present during big events.

I mean it was just last year that he missed Xander's birth because he was TDY. Now this year he missed Xander's birthday, the birthday party for both boys, and since he left on another trip this morning, he will be missing Cole's birthday tomorrow...

In fact, I had to take a picture of Courtney and Xander at the birthday party, because although Nic missed both Xander's birth and his 1st birthday party, Courtney was here for both!!

Here's to good friends and being an Air Force wife!!

I am grateful, however, that Nic was here yesterday for Xander's surgery.

We've known this surgery was coming for the past year to correct a birth defect. In fact, we had to reschedule it once because Xander was sick with a fever and I didn't want him to be put under if he wasn't healthy to begin with. The rescheduled date of early December just so happened to coincide with the exact time frame we spent in the NICU last year.

Not that any surgery is an easy thing for a parent to see their child endure, but my feeling of uneasiness was increased tenfold from what I had imagined it would be simply because once we were at Sutter Memorial, sitting in a waiting room directly below the NICU and walking the same hallways we lived in for what seemed like ages last year, I couldn't help but feel a huge sense of dread. I was so scared that we were going to wind-up right back upstairs.

Thankfully, that didn't happen. The surgery went well and we were able to bring Xander home shortly after. I'm happy to say that although he's dealing with some pain and discomfort, he's doing as well as can be expected today and we can't wait for Daddy to get back home so we can celebrate another belated birthday and spend Christmas together (fingers crossed).

Hurry Home Daddy, WE LOVE YOU!