Auld Lang Syne

New Year - New Opportunities! (Hopefully)

We had a wonderful, quiet little New Year's Eve. We stayed at home in Athens - just the four of us. We cooked dinner, watched movies, and watched some of the New Year countdown shows. Nothing too exciting, but still fun. I hadn't been feeling well all week so it was nice to have Will home & just relax.

Our Sparkling Grape Juice all ready for midnight!

Will counting down the New Year with Missy.

New Year's kiss
Does Missy not have the cutest little wink?!

Toasting the New Year with our wedding flutes.

The girls couldn't make it much past midnight.

New Year's Day:

So New Year's Eve was fun & all, but New Year's Day was not what I hoped this "fresh start" would be! That morning we woke up & cooked a big breakfast. We watched movies, ate hot dogs for lunch, went for a run, & just had fun being at home together on Will's day off. On Thursday, I had noticed that my eyes were feeling funny. It was strange - I couldn't shut my left eye very well & even in the sunlight, it didn't squint like my other one.


New Year's evening at about 9:30, I went to brush my teeth and noticed that my the left side of my mouth was not working right. I could only do a half smile & I just knew something was wrong. Of course, I FREAKED out! I called my mom in a panic, Will googled it online, & we finally decided that I better go to the emergency room just to get things checked out. I knew that if I waited until the next morning that I would never be able to sleep that night. But the emergency room?!? I started crying. I just knew they were going to draw blood or give me shots in the face or something.

We got to Athens Regional Medical Center, checked in, & before we even sat down in the waiting room, a nurse was there to take us on back. I got right back into a room & they hooked me up to all the monitors. The doctor finally came in, did some tests, & determined that I had Bell's Palsy. This is just basically a dysfunction in a nerve that controls the facial muscles on that one side. They don't really know what causes it, but they put me on some steroids, an antiviral medication, and gave me some eye cream (all for over $200!!!) My left eyelid is not working so I have to tape it shut at night. =( They told me it should all go away in 2 to 4 weeks or so...hopefully. And thankfully, there were no needles involved!

So here is what my face looks like...DON'T LAUGH! =(

You can see that my left eye sort of appears to be stuck open, but it actually looks pretty normal in this picture. Will says it looks like I'm winking all the time because when I blink, only one eyelid moves. And obviously my smile is crooked because the muscles in my face are so weak. You can't tell there is anything wrong unless I'm smiling or laughing, though.

Needless to say, I'm not off to a good start...