.7.

"Hey welcome to Chicago, Mike. Let us know if you need anything! This is my wife, Jay," Jon says to Mike in the lounge

"Thanks a lot, I'm really looking forward to being here. Good to meet you, Jay! Maybe you could recommend a place to live?" he says, shaking our hands

"Absolutely! The complex that Nik & Elina just moved out of is a nice place, we live in the Trump Tower & we love it, what are you looking for?"

"Probably a 2 or 3 bedroom, it doesn't matter a whole lot," Mike says

"Why don't you come check out our house & see what you think? It's a 3 bedroom," Jon suggests

"Is that cool?" Mike asks, looking at me

"Definitely! We're always happy to help," I tell him

Mike follows us to the house, and he is immediately taken by the gorgeous view that we have, and loved the location of the building.  Jon shows Mike around, he tells him about our move here and how much we love the security in and around it & they talk about other condos in the building while I get some drinks out for us,

"So Jay, Jon tells me that you decorated the house," Mike says

"Yes sir, I did," I say proudly

"She decorated some of the old condo too, but with this one we wanted a fresh start, and this is how it turned out, pretty amazing, I think," Jon says

"Shoot, want to give me decorating tips?" Mike asks, sarcastically

"Sure!"

"Really? I mean, if it's cool with Jon, I don't want to be stealing your wife,"

"Yeah, why not? It will give me something to do," I say

"Yeah, it's not a problem with me, it's something she loves to do so,"

So Jon gives Mike our realtor’s number and by the end of the day, he's moved into a condo on the 80th floor. Tomorrow was game day, so Tuesday will be shopping day to help Mike get situated.

Jon, Mike and I went out late Tuesday morning to start some shopping.  Mike made a list of stuff he wanted for the empty rooms, which was the spare bedroom and the dining room, plus a new media center & a new TV.

By one o'clock, Mike had all his furniture ordered and two days later he had a place in Chicago that he could call home.

March was here; I had a doctor’s appointment this morning that I nearly forgot about. Dr. Johnson asked me the normal questions, but she came to one that I didn't know the answer too...when I had my last cycle...ummm. Geez, between all the family we had in town, the holidays & saying bye to two of my best friends...I don't even remember having once since December.

"Well Mrs. Toews, looks like we should do a few tests," Dr. Johnson says with a smile

"Ok, should I call Jon?" I respond, kind of nervously

"If you would feel comfortable with him here, then yes," she says,

I call him & not 15 minutes later, he's sitting in a chair next to me.

"Well I have your test results," Dr. Johnson says

"What's wrong with me?" I ask

"Nothing that can't be fixed for about 8 more months," she says with a smile

"Wait.....what?" Jon & I both say

"You're 9 weeks pregnant, congratulations you two!"

"Oh my gosh!" I reply, almost speechless

"Really?" Jon asks

"Yes, really! You guys are having a baby!"

"Holy cow," I say, tearing up

"Baby! We're having a baby!!" Jon says, pulling me into a hug

"This is amazing!"

"Now, as you know, it's too soon to tell if it's a boy or girl, but from what I'm looking at, you're due date is October 8th!"

"Thank you so much!"

Dr. Johnson gives us our ultrasound pictures, informs us on some important information and advises me to start taking prenatal vitamins, and adds when my next appointment should be scheduled. As soon as we get home, we call our families & ask them both not to extend the news for a few more weeks, when the time is right.

We tell a few of the guys and their girls, asking them not to say anything either, until at least another month when I'm out of the first trimester.  Abby had spilled a secret of her own when she blurted out that our babies will be born around the same time.... um what? Yep, Abby & Patrick are expecting baby #2!

It hasn't sunk in that I'm actually pregnant! I wouldn't have imagined it would happen this soon. But I am so excited; Jon and I are both ready for baby Toews to join us.

Before we knew it, Laura will be arriving tomorrow for a week to catch some games and to see Carrie Underwood in concert...the perks of being a WAG is that we are all one big family, and Carrie is a good friend of mine, through Jon being friends with Mike. So we always get together whenever we can, and being that her tour was winding down in Chicago, she called me to see if I wanted some tickets.

Jon is at practice while I pick up Laura before the 2 of us head home. We catch up for a little bit, before I get a phone call from Dani, at my hair salon, asking if I was coming for my cut & color appointment.... oops! So Laura tags along with me, since I figured this will probably be the last time for a while that I get my hair done.

I get a phone call from Jon during my appointment saying that he accidentally spilled the beans while trying to pick up a surprise for me. Interesting.  He said he was at a "store" buying something that I can use for the baby, and myself when the lady at the store asked if they were for his wife, Jon responded yes & she said congratulations. Ahahaha he slipped before I did! So even though not many people knew, we still decided to not make an announcement until I was 12 weeks.

"Are you excited for dinner??" I ask Laura as I'm doing her hair for tonight

"Yes! I'm nervous!" she responds

"Don't be! Jimmy is seriously the nicest, funniest guy ever,"

Tonight the 4 of us are going to dinner, since Laura thought Jimmy was cute; I thought I'd give another attempt at match making for my best friend.

"I know, its first date jitters, if you can call them that,"

"You'll be fine! That's why Jon & I will be there,"

"Hey did Jon ever spill the beans on his surprise for you?"

"Oh my gosh, no! Jon!!!" I yell, as he walks into the bathroom

"Yes?" he asks

"I think I remember hearing of a surprise for a certain someone?"

"Oh yeah, but it's a surprise!"

"But you can’t tell me you have a surprise for me & not expect me to not bug you about it!" I say, smiling

"Yeah Jon, no offense but you should know better," Laura throws in

"How long are you going to bug me about this?" He asks me while smiling

"Probably every minute," I respond

"Ok, fiiiiiiiine. Come with me," he says grabbing my hand and leading me to our room

"I wanted to hold out on giving you this for as long as I could, but I shoulda known that when I called you earlier,"

Jon walks over to his side of the bed and pulls out 2 white boxes from underneath, right away I knew they were from Coach. He pushes them over to where I'm standing.

"Seriously!" I say, so surprised

"Yes!" Jon says as I start opening the boxes, with Laura standing in the doorway

"Oh my gosh!"

The four of us had a good dinner at Carmine's, Laura and Jimmy hit it off pretty well & she was already planning on trying to come out for playoff games.

The boys were heading to California for their 3 game swing & it was the night of the concert at the UC. Carrie got us backstage passes so we could hang out with her for a few minutes & meet Hunter Hayes too.  The concert was probably one of the best I’ve been to in a while! Carrie always puts on a good show & we were right there in the front, 3 rows back.

A few more weeks went by and the Hawks were closing out another season, 4th place with home ice advantage and ready to dominate in the playoffs. Abby and I had both been progressing well. Her due date is October 11, I was so thankful for her to be here to help and ask for advice on the whole pregnancy thing. 

.6.

Hey yall! So sorry for the delay! The end of summer got crazy & then with the stupid lockout, ive had writers block! But without further delay....heres another chapter!

Enjoy! 

~J

We spend the day in downtown Denver with my parents and the friend of ours that lives out here, Ger, is what we call her, whose husband is off at work.  She takes us to this amazing Italian restaurant, and then we do some shopping, even though that’s the last thing I should be doing K shh, don’t tell my husband.

Is it weird to say that Elina and I forgot what it’s like to go into a hockey game with all the other fans? Well, more me I guess. I don’t even remember when the last time was that I had a game ticket scanned…I mean obviously we have tickets for our seats at the UC, but we just keep them incase we get questioned, which we never do.

We got there just in time for warm ups. I had my dad take a picture of Elina & me, he was chuckling about something and said the picture came out good and handed me the camera.  We clicked to look at it only to see Landeskog making a funny face in the background, so we immediately turn to find him at center ice laughing.... oh it is on, Landy!

The game was good & the surrounding Avs fans were really nice. We lost in OT after battling back from a 3-1 deficit. But the guys played good, never gave up. Elina and I said by to my family as they dropped us off at the team hotel.

The boys beat the Stars & the Sabres and the rest of the road trip was relaxing.  Elina & I stayed with one of my friends & fellow hockey wife in Buffalo, so having time to catch up with her was a fun time.

Back home in Chicago and lucky me, I caught the flu. The first day was horrible, my body was hurting so bad that when Jon took me to urgent care, he had to carry me from our bed down to the car and into the building.

I spent the next 3 days in bed sleeping before I was back to 100%. On one of the off days, Jon & I decided to take a walk down the mile.  After a Starbucks run, Jon mentioned making a surprise stop in the Blackhawks Store, which the guys occasionally did. Everyone was shocked to see him walk in but happy that they were at the right place at the right time. Jon had been talking to people and taking pictures, while I talked to Kristin, who was Vik's date on our NYE night out & considering I introduced them, I approved of her :)

"You and Jonathan are so perfect together," she says

"Thank you!" I say

"Your welcome! I bet some people weren't very friendly at first?"

"For the most part, people were, it was the girls that were crazy mean,"

"Oh god, I can only imagine,"

"If I've learned anything, it's to not listen to what other people have to say..Jon and I are who know the truth of our lives and our marriage, and we know who were going home to at the end of the day.  You might want to remember that with Vik," I say with a smile

"I'll have to, although I'm not sure where things are going with him, I like him,"

"Well, y'all looked pretty cozy at ROOF on New Years...I can talk to him, if you want. Maybe we can double date?"

"Who are we double dating with?" Jon asks, walking up

"Kristin & Vik!" I say, happily

"I could see that, why don't you come with Jay to the game tomorrow night?"

"Sounds fun!"

"Ok, I'll give you a call! Bye girl!"

That little trip made for a fun day, a lot of people were so happy to see Jon interact with some fans on his free time. We spent some more time walking around the city, which I fall in love with more and more everyday.

Today was game day and I was back to my normal routine of making Jon's pre-game meal, spaghetti.  I invited Kristin over so we could all go to the game together, so I mentioned a post game dinner...and invited Vik. Hey, I gotta do what I can to help a friend out. By the end of the night, I think they were both thankful, because they picked up right where they left off on NYE and clicked in no time.

All-Star Weekend was approaching, and I was pretty excited, because it was my first one to attend.  Abby, Dayna, Danielle (Crawford's fiancé) and I were the girls joining our men in Columbus, while the other wives stayed back or went elsewhere with the rest of the guys.

To be at an event like this where all the guys joke around and put their rivalries aside was pretty cool.  We got there Thursday evening and hung out until the festivities began on Friday, so we all got together and went to dinner with some of the other guys that were in the same hotel as us.

Tonight was the All Star Draft, Jon was alternate captain with Jamie Benn for team Kesler, team Crosby had alternate captains Mike Green and Ryan Callahan. Kesler and the guys picked up Sharp right away before taking Seabs, while team Crosby took Corey.

All the players had stuff going on leading up to the skills competition, so after the girls and I got the passes and tickets needed, we decided to go out & explore the town. Some of the WAGs of the Kings joined us, as well as the new Mrs. Parise.  Team Kesler won the game the next night, and we were back in Chicago in no time.

February was in full effect and I had just gotten word that Laura, my best friend from back home is going to be coming out for St. Patricks day weekend, I was pretty excited to see her.  She had the biggest crush on Kane...until she found out who Jimmy Hayes was, and she won't get off my back to introduce her to him.  

On Valentines Day, the guys had the night off, so between Jon, Brent, Nik, Vik and Corey, they had reserved a riverboat for the night, which was serving an amazing 3 course meal for us.  Thank god Dayna, Kristin and I had gotten the outfits needed for a fancy dinner. Throughout dinner, we hung out and talked while enjoying the view of the skyline.

"Hey baby, you ok?" Jon asks as he comes up behind me along the railing of the boat

"Yeah, just wanted to get some fresh air," I respond, taking in his embrace

"How did y'all manage to pull this off anyways? Boats don't even start running until the end of April," I add

"Well...let's just say, the boys and I were able to pull some strings," he says with a smile

"Of course, you boys are always pulling some strings for something,"

"It's just how we work," he says, leaning down to kiss me, as fireworks start

"Awe, was this planned too?" I ask in between

"It might have been,"

Shortly after, the rest of the group to watch the fireworks.

"Happy Valentines Day baby, let's go home,"

Best. Valentines. Day. Ever.

The one thing that I totally forgot about was trade deadline day on February 28th. I know I never had to worry with Jon, but it was the whole thing of other teammates leaving, and obviously taking their families with them.

Talks were going on, but everyone kept quiet & it was still pretty early. The boys were at the UC for practice so the girls and I decided to meet up at the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Abby came by with Madelyn to pick me up then we met up with Elina, Dayna, Danielle and Kristin. We were all pretty relaxed, with not knowing what would happen. Moves were going on all over the league too.  12:15 on the dot, the boys were getting out of practice when Elina's phone rang.

"Nik got traded." she says, putting her phone down

"What!" we all say, shocked

"Stan told him after practice just now.  We have to be moved by Sunday,"

"Where?" I ask

"Washington,"

"No!!" Abby says

"I don't know what to think right now. Besides home, Chicago is all I know,"

"And in no time too," Kristin says

"He has to report to the Capitals practice center Monday morning, but won't play until Wednesday against the Bruins."

"I'm speechless right now," Dayna says

"The boys are coming over now. We knew that he had been in talks of a trade every year, I just never expected it to happen."

So our men showed up and we ended up having an unexpected farewell lunch for Nik & Elina. Nik has been on and off the phone with Troy Brouwer, who has been out there for almost 2 years, and said him and Carmen offered to help them find a house and get settled in.

After lunch, we stood outside talking, delaying our goodbyes as long as we could. I was really bummed since Elina and I had gotten to be such good friends. But that's the business of the NHL.

"Now you have an excuse to come out to Washington when the Hawks and Caps play," she tells me

"Exactly, and we will too! And we'll for sure see y'all for the wedding in Sweden!"

"Yes, definitely. Ah that is going to come so soon, it's going to be the best time having all you girls and guys out there with us,"

After pictures, hugs and tearful goodbyes, we part ways and let Nik & Elina get to packing up so they can begin the new chapter in their lives.

Jon & I decide to take a walk around Navy Pier, so we spend an hour or so walking around, took a ride on the Ferris wheel then opted for a relaxing night at home watching movies.

Sunday morning, we were welcomed with a new face in the locker room. Mike Green is the newest Blackhawk. 

.5.

It was a week before Christmas & we were finally adjusted and back to normal.  I loved that the building had 3 different sets of elevators, each of which only went to certain floors, and the elevator for the condos were watched by security guards 24/7, in addition to a huge elevator especially for moving furniture. I loved this place already. 

I guess some word got around that we moved into the Trump Tower…that I wasn’t too happy about, but what can you do? Plus they didn’t know what floor we lived on, and there’s no way that info is getting out. So good luck to youJ

Jon was already at practice when I left for the airport to pick up my parents. The drive to Midway seemed to take a lot longer then I thought it would have, probably because traffic sucks, like always…which is why I never drive around here.

After waiting for a delayed flight, I finally caught sight of them.  We gathered their luggage and were on our way home.  They had told me about their visit in Portland with my sister, and having my other sister and her family at the house for a while.

We stopped and had a chat with Carl, one of the security guards, such a nice guy, who absolutely adored Jon and I; he also informed me that Jon was back home, which I was happy about.

“Hello?” I say opening the door

“Hi baby! Hi guys!” Jon says, giving me a kiss then hugging my parents

“Hi! Nice house!” my mom says

“Thanks! We love it,” Jon replies

“It’s really nice,” my dad says

“Want the tour?” I ask

So we give them a tour of the house, my mom couldn’t get over the view that we had, but I don’t blame her, it’s one of the most gorgeous views ever. They got adjusted in one of the guest rooms, and then we thought we should figure out something for food since I was slacking on going to the store.

“What about Giordano’s?” Jon mentions

“Oh yeah! We didn’t have time to go there last time ya’ll were here, did we?” I ask

“Nope, I think we ran out of time,” Dad says

“Then we’ll go there! They have the best pizza,”

We got to Giordano’s and had to wait a little bit, there were a few girls there that recognized Jon and asked if they could get a picture with him, so I offered to take it.  One of the girls told me I was the luckiest girl ever (well DUH, look at my super hot hubby ;)), she even wanted a picture with me; I was kind of flattered, not going to lie.

Dinner was great; we sat for a good 3 hours or so. I’m pretty sure we ordered like 3 bottles of wine, most of it being consumed by my mom and I. I had Elina to thank for turning me into a wine drinker…her and Nik would always bring home some amazing wine from Sweden.

I was exhausted for some reason by the time we got home; I’d imagine from all the wine…tomorrow morning might kill me.  So we spent the rest of the evening in at home, Jon even put the Penguins game on TV, my dad gives him a glance before he says ‘I won’t stop her from being a Pens fan, I’m friends with a few of those guys, and I know who she’s coming home to at the end of the day’. Yep…I really am a lucky girl. 

So this is what it feels like to have a hangover…I almost forgot.  And I’m not one of those people who can sleep it off, nope; it forces my body awake at like 7am.  Everyone else was already awake, Jon was making coffee before he left for practice; today was their last game before the short Christmas break, against the Canadiens.

After spending the morning shopping on Michigan Ave, its game time! We headed over to the arena with Jon, so we could avoid 2 cars in post game traffic. And my parents hadn’t been to the UC yet, so I figured I’d see what I could do to show them around. 

I wanted them to get the most out of a game at the Madhouse, so we sat in our seats on the glass, next to the visitor’s penalty box, best seats in the house J

The boys went out with a win, Jon got a late goal and Corey played an amazing game; which would help the boys enjoy the short break a little more. 

It was Christmas morning, and I was so happy to be spending it with my husband and my parents.  My parents had sent us some new picture frames, and a gift card to IKEA…it was my new favorite store. I got them some books and random things, Jon got me an iPad, and I got him every season of Breaking Bad and Mad Men on DVD, he could spend an entire week watching the entire show.

My parents had left, and before we knew it, we were getting ready for some more visitors. My best friend, Stephanie and her boyfriend Ben were coming out for New Year’s, I told them they were more then welcome to stay with us and join in the festivities…which reminded me to call Elina to get the final plans.

After waiting at the airport, yet again, we were back home and I was giving Stephanie & Ben the tour.  Jon was on his way home from morning skate, the boys had a game tonight against the Wings, and had a short break until resuming games again on January 2^nd. 

The three of us joined Elina, Dayna & some other wags in the box for tonight’s game.  All the girls loved Stephanie and thought the best about Ben & they were so excited to have them join us for NYE.

2013 was here! It was kind of hard to believe too, how fast time had flown by. The boys had their first road trip of the New Year, Elina and I decided to join them in Denver, Dallas & Buffalo.  My parents made plans to visit our family friends out in Denver, so the 4 of them would be joining us at the game; and I had managed to get good seats on the glass, its always more fun sitting there then in the box.

Denver was just as cold as it was back home, but at least there was no wind. The boys went along with practice soon after we arrived, Elina and I had joined them, for some short time while we waited for my parents. 

We we’re walking through the hallways when we ran into Gabe Landeskog…could that kid be anymore good looking?

“I’m so sorry! I should really be paying attention,” he says with a smile

“No, it’s ok! We don’t really know where we’re going,” I say

“Oh?” he’s about to continue when we hear Vik coming behind us

“Hey Landy! Ladies, your men are looking for you,” Vik says

“Stals! How’s it going? You know these two beauties?” Gabe asks

“I sure do! This is Jamie Toews, and this is Elina, Hammer’s fiancé,”

“Mrs. Toews! Real nice to meet you! You too, Elina!”
“You too!” we both say

“Well, clearly you girls are spoken for, but I must say, I play a killer hockey game,” he says, with a charm

“Yeah, Yeah,” Vik says, laughing, “Nice try with that one,” we all laugh

“Oh come on Gabe, surely you have someone special,” I say

“No, I sure don’t. It’s hard to find a lady friend that’s not after my wallet,”

“Good reason! Well, we better be off to say bye to the boys,” Elina says

“It was good meeting you!” we say as Gabe gives us a hug

“Bye ladies! I’ll be lookin for ya tonight!”

“Oh, you wont have to look hard,”

Update!!!

Wooooow I've realized it's been literally forever since I've updated my stories. Stuff was crazy with work, school, graduating from college & job hunting. But I promise I have a lot more coming for both stories! I've been brainstorming and writing more while being on vacation. So be on the look out for chapters on BOTH stories in the next few days! Hope y'all are having a wonderful summer! ~J

.4.

And just like Jon had said, “we’ll be home before you know it,” the girls and I would be picking them up in a few hours.  Don’t get me wrong; those 10 days spent with the girls was amazing and much needed, but I want my husband back! I hate sharing him with the entire hockey world.

It was near 3am when Dayna and I left for the arena.  Between the boys coming home, and me getting rid of the brace and crutches on Monday, I was beyond excited for the coming days.

Jon and the guys were so excited to be home, I think they liked the fact of being back in their own beds with their loved ones, instead of going from hotel to hotel.  Brent & Dayna dropped us back off at the house and the guys packed up Dayna’s things to take home.

“Wake up!” Jon says, carefully jumping on the bed

“Nooooooo! Go away,” I say, covering my face

“But babe! Today’s the day!”
“Ok, fiiiiiiiine,”
“That’s what I like to hear! Your appointment is at 10. Rise & shine!!”

“How are you so awake in the morning??”

“Always have been. Get up, get up, get up!” he says, smiling

“You are so not allowed to wake our kids up,”

My appointment took 30 minutes, but it was done and I was back to normal…well almost. I’d be starting physical therapy tomorrow, in the building across from the Trump Tower.  It was taking me a while to get used to walking again; at first I was scared to put pressure on my leg, but Dr. Johnson urged me not to because everything was fine. 

Before we knew it, December was here.  My parents were going to come out and spend Christmas with us, and I was pretty excited to see them.

But things became a little more stressful, and a little scary, when Jon and I came home to a disaster of our house being broken into. I never understood what caused people to do things like this; it was stressful, and scary to be involved in something like this.

Jon got the police officers over to the house while I tried to look around without touching anything.  I think Jon and I were both glad that I couldn’t wear a lot of jewelry, so there wasn’t a lot of that to take.  More things were destroyed then stolen. 

I walked back out to the dining room where the cops were talking to Jon; they could all see how uneasy I was, but I guess that was expected.

“Do you guys by chance have someplace to stay? I wouldn’t recommend staying here, and I can see in your face that you don’t want to,” the officer says to me

“Yeah, I don’t want to…I don’t feel safe here anymore,”
“I’ll call Seabs and see if we can stay with them,”

We took what we needed for the night, because we would be able to come back tomorrow to get the rest of our things.  By the time we got to Brent’s house, I was so emotionally drained and stressed, I broke down in tears and Jon just held me tight and rocked me to sleep.

The next morning, Dayna made breakfast, and Jon brought up something that I knew would be brought up eventually. A new place to live.  This was not the stress I wanted right now.

“Babe, I know your not comfortable at that house now, and to be honest, the security there sucks, because if we had any security guards, there’s a bigger chance this wouldn’t have happened,”
“I know, and your right,”
“So lets start looking,”
“Ok, is there a way we can be quiet about this so it doesn’t happen again?”
“Yes, and I’m sure if we asked a realtor about a confidentiality agreement, that can be done.  And I kind of have an idea for a place for us.”
“Already? Where?”

“The Trump,”
“Of course! You love that building, but do you really want to be living that close to Kane?”
“I know, probably not, but I love that building more then him so,” Jon says, smiling

“Of course, well do you want to call before we go over there or do you know if anything is even available?”
“Yep! There’s probably a handful of condos for sale, I’ll call Kaner and get his realtor’s number and get in contact with him,”

Greg, Pat’s realtor was so nice and was very understanding of our situation and helped us get a condo within the next few days.  So we were in the process of relocating…to the 85^th floor of The Trump Tower, 3 down from Kane, who lives on...the 88th floor, of course. Lord help us with that moving job.

With 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, plus a den, as well as a living room, we had so much more space then we did at our old house, but it was so spacious and I loved it. Plus, the view is breathtaking!

Oh yeah, of the things those jerks stole: 2 TV’s, a blue ray player, and both our iPods. They broke our coffee table and the DVD shelf. Oh, and they also took 2 of Jon’s hockey sticks that were signed & he was PISSED.

But it turns out there was a positive side to all of this. The police caught the guys who broke into our house after they broke into another house a day later.  They sold the TVs and iPods, but Jon got the hockey sticks back.

.3.

Surgery day! I woke up around 7 when the nerves kicked in, to the point where I felt like I was going to be sick. I was hungry too, but of course I couldn’t eat anything. I put on Jon’s Fighting Sioux sweats; I stole them because they are the most comfortable sweats I’ve ever worn.  Time comes around and we head to Northwestern.

“Good morning guys! How are you?” Dr. Johnson asks

“Good, she’s been tossing and turning all night,” Jon says

“I’ve been up since 7 because I’m nervous,” I say

“Well you have nothing to worry about, you are in great hands, Dr. Green and I will take good care of you,”

A few hours later, I wake up in the recovery room pretty groggy and still tired. 

“Hey baby, how you feelin’?” Jon asks, walking towards me

“Ok…my leg hurts” I say ask he kisses my forehead

“Dr. Johnson said you may need a new IV by the time you wake up, I’ll call her in,”

“Hi Jamie, how are you feeling?” Dr. Johnson asks, walking in

“My leg hurts, but I’m good” I respond, sitting up

“Well, good news is your surgery went very well, and your healing time will be 8-10 weeks,”

“Ok, do I need a cast?”

“No, we will change your bandage once more before you leave, then put the brace back on your leg to keep it stabilized, & you’ll need to come in once a week to get the bandages changed,”
“Ok,”
“It’s one that will fit over your jeans too, but I would recommend that you wear sweats for as long as you can, they will be more comfortable,”
“Ok, I have a pair somewhere,”
“Ok, great. Now, Jon will need to help you, or somebody will. Do you have someone to help you when he goes out of town?”
“Yeah, some of the girls offered to help,”
“Perfect!”

So Dr. Johnson shows Jon and I how to put the brace on right, it even has a post type thing behind my knee to keep it from bending.  Once I’m discharged, we leave and head straight to Walgreens to fill the prescriptions for pain medicine.

Our kitchen counter is full of flowers and cards, it makes me so thankful for the family I have surrounding me.  Jon helps me get situated on the bed so I can lay there the majority of the time.

He throws in The OC in the DVD…yeah, I love this man, and he knows my favorites.  I end up falling asleep at some point, and Jon goes to get my medicine and some food.  I’m pretty thankful that I didn’t get sick after the surgery, or from any of the medicine, so I wasn’t limited to what I could eat.

Thanksgiving was around the corner, I was progressing with the healing, and the team’s 10-day road trip was a few days away; I wasn’t a happy camper knowing that I couldn’t go, at least to California, like planned. It was one of their longest road trips of the season. Plus it was breaking our “4 day rule” that we made shortly after we got engaged.  We had gotten the idea from Patrick and Abby, who has said that it’s helped them through so much.

Since the girls and I were staying back, I asked Dayna if she wouldn’t mind staying at the house to help me around while the boys were gone, she didn’t mind at all, so she and Brent came by with a trunk full of stuff, before we went and dropped off the boys at the UC.

“Baby, if you need anything, just call me,” Jon tells me

“Ok, D will help me with stuff, so I think I’ll be fine” I say, reassuring him

“Ok, we will be home before you know it,”

“Behave, and don’t get in any fights please!”

“I’ll try not to,”

“AHEM. Tazer! Step away from the wife & walk towards the bus,” Kane yells

“Oh shut up Kaner, you’re just jealous you don’t have a beautiful wife to kiss goodbye & see you off” Jon fires back

 “Yeah, yeah. Let’s get this show on the road,” He says, getting on the bus

“Guess that’s my que. I love you babe, I’ll call you when we land,”
“I love you too, talk to you soon,”

I’m actually crying. What the heck? I guess I just hate him being gone this long…what am I going to do with myself?

“You ready, girl?” Dayna asks, rubbing my back

“Yeah, lets go,” I respond, hobbling to the car

“It gets easier, I promise,”

“I know, I guess I’m just homesick, I hate when he’s gone,”
“How about some lunch?” she says with a smile

“Sounds fabulous,”

Abby and Madelyn end up joining us. It was a good group for lunch and I always love spending time with the girls, especially since we get caught up in our own lives. But the guys being gone for 10 days meant plenty of girl time.

Wednesday came and it was time for our viewing party to watch the boys play the Canucks. Tonight it was at Jon & I’s house, since Dayna was staying there anyways, it made it easier. 

The boys beat the Canucks by a score of 5-1 with Jon getting a goal and an assist, before the next few games got a little ugly.  They lost in Calgary before they got the worst of it in Edmonton with a 9-2 loss.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard Jon so angry when he called me after the game, but he kept with his promise that he made, and was sure to leave it in the arena; which I was thankful for, because in situations like that, it was sometimes difficult to make sure you said the right thing.

The next few games got better, after those two losses and losing to the Sharks, they beat the Ducks & Kings.