Halloween 2007: A Recap

Before I begin recapping our Best Halloween Ever, I must say a collective THANK YOU to everyone who has emailed, called or come by to check and make sure that I am still alive. I am happy to report that I am, indeed, still breathing - although I am officially deaf in my left ear, partially deaf in my right one and in quite a bit of pain.

I went to bed on Tuesday night knowing that something just wasn't quite right with my ears. I had been congested pretty badly since the weekend and my ears had been stopped up, but nothing to compare with what I was experiencing Tuesday night. I was in a lot of pain and felt like someone had stuffed my ears with cotton. I took a decongestant and went to sleep, only to wake up around 2:00 a.m in excruciating pain. It felt like someone had inserted a balloon in my left ear and was blowing it up and every time I coughed or took a deep breath that balloon felt like a knife sticking into the side of my head. I knew that something had to be done, so we called my parents to come and sit with Jack while Phillip and I headed out to Vandy's ER. After a short wait, a nice doctor looked in my ear only to exclaim, "OUCH! Oh, honey, you are miserable, aren't you?". At which point I began to cry because yes, I was miserable and hallelujah, someone was validating my pain and would shortly be giving me something to make it all better.

A little while later, I was sent home with a large dose of Augmentin and Ibuprofen in my system and a prescription that should knock this thing out in a few days. So far, the only thing I can really tell that it has done has make me extremely nauseated, but I must feel at least a little bit better because this is the first time I have been out of bed in three days. THREE DAYS! Praise the Lord for my Phillip and for my mom, who have taken over my duties and just let me sleep. Wednesday alone, I slept 20 hours. Geesh. I feel like a ninety year old woman! I am hoping that at least by tomorrow some of this pressure will have subsided and I will be able to hear again.

But to gracious Phillip and my indefatigable mom, I say THANK YOU. For being me, for taking care of me and for making sure that dear Jack is taken care of. To my precious sister-in-law Marsha and sweet, sweet friend Christy for bringing food - I am grateful. And to all my amazing friends who have called with words of encouragement, offers of childcare, errand-running and food-bringing, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. This is when a girl really sees just how blessed she is - and I am richly blessed.

So...on to Halloween. It was fabulous!! I had pretty high expectations, but they were exceeded in every way. On the afternoon of the 31st, Jack and I carved our pumpkin while Phillip took over camera duty. I love carving pumpkins and am convinced that there is no better smell than the insides of a pumpkin. Jack chose the face all by himself and we had a great time creating our sort-of-smiley, sort-of-scary friend!

After we finished our masterpiece, we proceeded to get dressed for Trick-or-Treating. We are blessed with a wonderful neighborhood, but unfortunately we have never had a lot of Trick-or-Treaters. So, we decided to to go to sweet little subdivision inside our neighborhood where there are lots of kids and sidewalks. We most definitely made the right decision! There were kids everywhere and Jack loved it. He loved being out after dark and he even got the honor of helping Miss Melanie from church light all of her luminaries! He was just so BIG - walking up to every door all by himself, ringing the doorbell and saying "Trick-or-Treat!" and "Thank You!" every time! (It was so funny, if no one came to the door on the first ring, he would keep pushing the doorbell and one of us would have to run up and tell him to stop and be patient - he was all about the doorbells this year!)

At one point, Jack approached a lady sitting outside on a bench. He walked right up to her and said, "Hi! I'm Jack. What's your name? Can I sit with you?" She was delighted and scooted right over to make a place for him. He crawled up and told her all about his dragon costume and that he had seen a Knight and that the Knight was trying to slay him. (I am not making this up. We actually had just seen a Knight, but we did not tell Jack this - He came up with the whole "slay the dragon" thing all by himself.)

We Trick-or-Treated for about an hour and a half before retiring to the car and heading out to Mimi and Poppa's house for more Trick-or-Treating and a late, late dinner. It was such a special night for all of us - a night that Jack is still talking about. A night that will go down in the memory books for certain!

(And as a side-note, the little stinker has already decided that next year we will, as a family, dress up as the cast of "The Wizard of Oz". Jack wants to be the Tin Man, I am to be Dorothy, Phillip will be the Cowardly Lion, Mimi will be the Wicked Witch of the West, Poppa will be the Scarecrow and as for Toto - well, since we have talked to Jack about getting a dog before too long, he has decided that the dog {whom he has already named Truman} will be Toto. Oh, and Uncle Marsha will be Glinda the Good Witch. If you didn't make the assigned costume list, not to worry, you can still be a Munchkin and come along with us. Sounds like Halloween 2008 is already stacking up to be a good one, too!)