Fabulous Friday!

Lucas showing the cat how to play the Mobi

Poor Zach attack passed out in dad's chair, with the puke bowl handy

So we'll rewind momentarily to Thursday since I was too preoccupied to get a post in here yesterday. Woke up to Lucas telling me to hurry into Zach's room to look at his bed...'it's either puke or poop mom'. LOVELY!!! It was puke, and Zach was sick...wonderful! I'm not allowed to lift more than 5 pounds, and not supposed to be doing household chores...what a great day it's shaping up to be. Called in sick to swim lessons...called grandma and decided that Lucas could still do a playdate with her, but definitely not Zach! To make a long story short, he only puked one other time that day. He did spike a fever, but it was only 99.7, and with fever baby, that's nothing! My pic of the day from yesterday is of him, passed out in daddy's chair. He's so stinking cute...but oh so sad when he's sick. Watching him sleep yesterday was kinda fun, it took me back to the good ol' days when he'd sleep in my arms for hours. But it breaks my heart when my babies are sick. He's back to normal today, thankfully!

We finished another disc of the final season of 24 last night. What in the world am I going to do without Jack Bauer???? Only 2 discs to go...talk about sad!! I've really enjoyed that show, but I'm glad that we're watching it on Netflix, instead of in real time...it would drive me nuts to have to wait a week in between episodes. We generally watch 2 each time we watch it. It's amazing how much faster it is without all of the commercials!

I also managed to get another set of workshop pages done for my new catalog celebration that is already next Friday! I LOVE these pages, and cannot wait to share them with my girls!!!! I wish I was as passionate about my real job, but alas...

Today was beyond wonderful! I started off the day with another major postop milestone...decided to try and see if I could get a shirt on that has to go on over my head...and VOILA!!! I succeeded!! Was getting tired of wearing button up and zip up shirts! WOOHOOOO!! Now I can get a postop pic as soon as I have a real bra, and not just these stinking grandma bras that I get the pleasure of wearing for another week and 4 days!

We went to the Summerwind Chicks program this morning. I think it is going to be a great fit for Mr Lucas. They did a tour of the school, which included his two favorite rooms...the science room, which had their brick project on display and the gym, complete with a low basketball hoop, and a tall one! The brick project was way cool...the kids were challenged to build a green city using legos. They drew up blueprints on gridded paper, and then built their green buildings with legos. It was love at first sight when Lucas saw all of those legos!!!! And when he saw the low basketball hoop in the gym, he was hooked! I love my son!! Today was an eye opener for me though. Most, if not all, of my friends have their kids in preschool AND work with them at home on pre kinder learning. This is not evidently the norm in Idaho however. To kick off the events today, they had the kids do an assessment. They were to write their name, identify the letters of the alphabet, identify some pictures and then tell their parent if the names of the objects rhymed. Lucas had no problem, and got it all correct. Some kids couldn't write a single letter, had no idea how to spell their name, and didn't know most, if any letters of the alphabet. WOW! I'm not trying to sound stuck up or pretentious...but seriously...WOW! I was relieved that Lucas isn't the only smarty pants in the group though, I did hear a couple of others doing very well too. The only drawback to this program is that if there are more applicants than there are seats in the program, it goes to a lottery system. I have THE crappiest luck in the whole world! I'm secretly hoping that it doesn't go to the lottery system, because I'd really like for Lucas to be in the program. Fingers, and toes, and everything else, CROSSED!

I've got the papers cut, and 4 of the 6 pages glued down...time to get busy on this next workshop. Can't believe that February is here as of Tuesday...where does the time seriously go? My pic of the day for today is of Lucas playing on his Mobi, with our CAT! He is an animal lover like his dad and I, and it was comical when I walked past and saw him showing the cat how to play on the Mobi! Did I mention that I love that kid?!?! Anyways, until tomorrow...

The countdown begins!!!!

Zach's Ponseti brace--his expensive shoes!

Zach attack had another follow up with Dr Showalter this afternoon. Dr was very impressed with how good his feet look! I told Zach to ask Dr if he could stop wearing his shoes/brace to bed every night, and Lucas informed me that 'duh, he's going to say no, that he has to wear them until he's 4' because I've been preaching that for the last 6 months. It was quite cute nevertheless!! Dr said that he has to agree with Lucas! But we can stop on his 4th birthday!!!!!! Yeah baby!!!! That leaves 172 more nights until we're free of the shoes! Thus, my pic of the day...the damn shoes...the damn expensive shoes no less ($750 a set)!

That was the first really good bit of news for the day. The second bit was when we arrived home, and there were my CTMH packages on the doorstep...a DAY EARLY! It's like Christmas every time I open those! Even more so today, because I had more free product in there! I worked hard to earn it, so it felt even better! Spent the afternoon playing with my new stuff!

2 days completely percocet free! It has helped my sleep to not take it before bedtime, but I'm still sleeping like crap! I'm sure that once I'm no longer flat on my back ONLY all freaking night long that I'll sleep much better. Problem now is that everytime I try to move I wake up. I can roll up onto either side, but the pressure/tightness in the center of my chest becomes too painful after about 5 minutes and I have to roll back onto my back. And by 3 or 4 in the morning my back is killing me!! That, and I'm having this stupid recurring dream about some Wings workshop layouts for scrapbooking that won't stop. I was hopeful that once the percocet was gone that the strange, vivid, recurring dreams would go away for good...evidently that's not the case.

Oh, and one last funny story for the day. I told Lucas this morning to stop being so bossy because it's annoying. He looked at me funny and asked where he gets that from. I snickered to myself, and asked if he really needed to ask that question, because it was obviously his dad! Heh heh...he bought it, hook, line and sinker! I always tell them that Daddy wears the pants in this family, I'm just the one that tells Daddy which pair to wear!!!! That makes Daddy the bossy one, right?!?

Until tomorrow...

A day of firsts!

First day that I was able to undress, shower and redress...ALL BY MYSELF! It's so nice not feeling like a child or a total invalid again!! I did it just before Casey came home for lunch though, just in case I wasn't able to pull it off!

First time scrapbooking (and for 5 hours no less) since surgery! I was able to complete 2 of the 4 months of workshop pages that need to be ready for my party on the 4th. It wasn't really bad except that I'm used to sitting in my chair and turning and reaching for stuff off a nearby shelf, or up off the floor, and that really freaking hurt to try that! I had to get up out of my chair for either of the above...and more importantly, had to remind myself before just reaching like previously! And of course any pushing with my arms at all, and my pecs were screaming at me, so I just had to tone that down!

First time out of the house since surgery!!!!!! Exciting, even if it was only to go get the boys from daycare!

First time driving since surgery! Difficult...had to scoot the seat waaayyy up so I wasn't reaching as much for everything. Almost had to leave the rearview mirror at Casey's setting, but finally managed to lift myself up to get it without stretching too much...sheer pain I tell you what. Turning was not fun either...SMALL and steady hand over hand action I'm telling you. Putting the boys' seatbelts on was NOT fun by any stretch of the imagination...both the reaching and the pushing KILLED me! Lucas had to finish his own, and I seriously debated leaving the last buckle of Zach's undone. You seriously do not realize how much you use certain muscles until it hurts like hell, and then you'll never forget!!!

First time cooking dinner since surgery! It was only spaghetti and garlic bread. Cutting bread, stirring stuff, lifting the pot on/off the stove...all involve pecs, who knew!?! ; ) Guess maybe those pecs wouldn't be so mad at me if I hadn't shoved almost a pint of saline under each one of them!

Got my presentation formatted for the 4th. Have my make n take project planned. Now I just need to get one last order in. I'm exhausted and ready for bed after such a big day! I've got to stay strong for tomorrow...my first day with my bubbas, all by my lonesome! Thank goodness they're good kids (most of the time)!

Wish me luck, after a wild night of sleep last night, due in part to the percocet...I'm going to try another big first...first night without percocet!! Until tomorrow...

Lacking MOJO!

Now that I've got the pain under control, my biggest problem that I'm dealing with postoperatively is the complete lack of motivation to do anything, and the physical protest of my body to actually do anything. I sorted the kids laundry, Casey washed it, and I folded it yesterday...that was the true extent of my efforts yesterday...and sad as it may be, I was very proud of myself for accomplishing that much! I was in turn rewarded with much swelling and discomfort today, so much so that I look like a preggo. Thus, I took it extra easy and took an extra nap today since I sorted our laundry and folded it too. It is seriously driving me crazy to not be constantly on the go, accomplishing one million things per day!!!!! I haven't left my house since arriving home Wednesday night, haven't been able to drive, haven't felt up to going anywhere anyways. The boys are going to daycare tomorrow, Casey is going to drop them off in the morning, and drum roll please....I get to go pick them up! : ) Never would've thought I'd see the day when I was so freaking excited about driving to daycare and back!!! Living on the edge...that's my style!

I told Casey tonight at dinner (that he cooked), that I could get used to having a house husband!! To which he very quickly responded with "Don't!!" I'll take it as a back handed compliment...people always say you don't know what you've got until you lose it...the hubby is finding this out the hard way. People always think that stay at home mom's don't really have a job, and how easy it must be. I LOVE my job as mom and wife...but it sure feels good to know that your efforts are appreciated, even when it's not a straight forward compliment! My hubby and friend Misty used to joke about Pete and I being the bread winners while they stay at home and care for the kids...Casey could no more be a stay at home dad than walk on the moon! He cannot wait to go back to work tomorrow...it's amusing! : ) He should consider a career in nursing however!!!! He was been awesome, taking care of me! I seriously appreciate and love him more than he could ever imagine! Even though he has done a good job, and I joke about having a house husband, it would seriously drive me up the wall! It would kill me to not be able to do everything!!

I did also get some stuff done for my scrapbooking business. Another major deadline looms for me, February 4th is the new catalog celebration. Still have 4 months worth of stuff to finish up, and my presentation to prepare! I'm getting really excited though!

I figured out what my mental and physical mojo needs for a jumpstart...MY MUSIC!! Casey always teases me about how terrible it is, but the beat lifts me up and gives me mental energy! Since we left last Sunday for Utah, I haven't really listened to my music at all. So I decided to change that today, and cranked up some Black eyed peas, Lady Gaga and some of my fave zumba tunes! While it kills me to listen and not be able to dance around the room to it, or go for a run, it's amazing what it does for my head! I'm totally missing exercise...running and zumba... but know that I only have a couple more short weeks before I'm back in the saddle!

Anyways, catching up on what I missed from this week's Biggest Loser. Until tomorrow...

Holy cow batman!

This is pretty much how Thursday and Friday were spent at home, post op!

One last before pic, just minutes before surgery!

I had absolutely no idea that this was gonna hurt so bad! A brief recap of the last few days events. Tuesday morning, up and at em extra early because of course I couldn't sleep! I arrive at the surgeon's office all excited and perky. Meet with Dr Young, go over everything briefly again. Meet with the anesthesiologist, go over stuff with him, and then it's off to the OR. I remember him starting my IV, very painlessly...he was GOOD! And he was asking about my ablation surgery in May, the next thing I remember is telling the nurse postoperatively that I'm REALLY nauseated and her giving me some zofran. The next thing I remember is waking up in the hotel room several hours later. I hurt sooo stinking bad. And I'm super sensitive to narcotics, so I was really apprehensive about taking the percocet, but did anyways. We bought latex gloves, and filled these with ice to help with the inflammation and pain. The afternoon was no fun at all, but the evening was TERRIBLE! I was incredibly nauseated, and not wanting to take more pain meds, but was worried that the intense pain was making the nausea worse, and thus had started a vicious cycle. I hurt so bad that I was continually asking myself WHAT THE HELL HAVE I DONE, and wanting to rip the implants out. Doctor Young called to check on me at 9:30pm, but didn't have a lot of suggestions. I somehow managed to make it thru the night.

Wednesday morning brought my postop appointment with Dr Young at 10. He took the bandages off the sutures, and took the binder and bra off so that we could see the results. They look wonderful, but still oh, so painful. It was amazing though how much better it felt without that darn binder on! I told doctor that this was waaayyyy worse than either experience I had with natural childbirth, without epidural or drugs. I then found out that he has a sense of humor...he tells me that's because I hadn't had twins yet! Ha, ha funny guy! Anyways, armed with post op instructions and another rx for zofran we were on our way back to the hotel. We asked about late check out again, and were once again told that we could NOT check out any later than 1pm since the hotel was full. Casey went and filled my zofran rx, and I rested again. I was soooo miserable, and totally dreading the day at the airport. We stayed right up until 1 and then headed off to the airport. We dropped off the rental car, and then checked in at the Southwest counter, after a brief rest on a bench in between the two. I looked and felt like a little old lady, and I'm quite sure I was moving slower than a little old lady! I must've looked like hell because the lady at the Southwest counter immediately asked if I'd like a wheelchair. Best decision I'd made all day was to accept the wheelchair ride across the terminal...it also got me to the head of the line at security. The dingbat security guy made me take off my hat after walking thru the scanner, and show him my hat...the hat was to hide my seriously terrible case of bed head. WHATEVAH!! We made it to our gate, and got to sit for 4 hours!!!! I was beyond miserable between the pain and the nausea. I was even so desperate that I had Casey go buy a huge glass of ice and fill up a couple of gloves so I could ice the girls in the airport! I figured that I'd never see these people again, and even if I did, who cares, the girls were in serious need of ICE!! The one hour plane ride home was even more miserable due to nausea. But I survived. I was seriously hoping that the plane would explode in mid air so that I'd die instantly and not have to worry about the pain anymore. Still wondering what the hell I'd done to myself, and questioning the need to have traveled to Utah for the surgery to save money. Lynn picked us up at the airport, and I scared him to death because I looked so miserable. Came home, took some more meds, and literally crashed. It's amazing how wonderful it is to be home, in your own bed. I was able to catch up on ice, pain meds and zofran, so the night was a vast improvement over the day, and I was able to move on!

Thursday was an even better day. I got to take the binder off permanently! And I got to take a shower!!!! I slept off and on quite a bit, stayed caught up with my meds and I was finally not regretting having had the surgery. Went to bed early, and slept so much better!!

Today was the best day yet...I was able to progress to puttering around the house! I was sitting up and walking around the house quite a bit today, which totally wore me out, but it felt oh so good!! I got to watch a movie with my boys, who have both come down with a cold. The hubby got a pic of Lucas stretched out on my lap while we were watching Despicable Me, so it will be my pic of the day for today. I'm glad that I'm able to interact with my little men more today, and I'm sure it will keep getting better from here! I'm very fond of the results, and for the first time I can honestly say I'm glad I had the surgery. I'm sure in a few weeks, when all of my restrictions have been lifted that I will finally be able to say that it was all worth it...I'm not there quite yet though!

I am sooooo thankful that I have such a wonderful husband! He has been a wonderful nurse, and has done a great job being Mr Mom these past few days. Unfortunately, he still has a few more days to go though, and I'm afraid the kids are driving him nuts...but I know he can do it. Thanks babe, I love you more than you will ever know!! Until tomorrow...

Enjoying the peace

Ready for some Green Hornet in 3D!

This was a hilarious little bit the hubby found in the SkyMall magazine...potty training your cat... a very interesting concept indeed!

So even though the doc tried his best to screw up my universe when he made me make an extra trip here for my consult last week, we're enjoying the extra kid free time together here in Salt Lake! Since we bought the nontransferrable, nonrefundable tickets...aka the cheap ones...we decided to keep things the same and come down on Sunday as previously planned.

We enjoyed dinner at the Cheesecake Factory last night. And then we went to see the movie The Fighter with Marky Mark...I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, but I did like the movie. Christian Bale did a fabulous job portraying a crack head.

Today we did a little shopping, at Fashion Plaza right next to the Fashion Place mall, and of course at the mall. We also found a Super Target...and that makes me laugh just typing it...the garmin told us to turn right, to arrive at destination of Super Tar git...haven't heard the voice mispronounce anything yet, but it was hilarious!!! We also did some furniture shopping at RC Wiley. Casey still isn't sure that he's ready to let me get new couches for the family room...I am!!

Checked into our hotel room that will be my recovery quarters for the next 2 nights. And took a nap! Ahhh, the beauty of not having children to prevent me from enjoying a mid afternoon nap! Besides, I'm so excited and scared about what the morning has in store for me, that I doubt I'll sleep much tonight!

Off to dinner at Hopper's Bar n Grill. They had fabulous fish n chips, and decent watered down beer. I'm not much of a beer drinker, but it sort of sucks that you pay the same amount of money for a beer here that's got half the alcohol content of the beer we drink in Idaho. Oh well! We decided to kill the evening with another movie. We had to choose between Dilemma with Vince Vaughan that will either be a hit or a complete flop, and the Green Hornet in 3D. Casey chose the 3d movie at the last minute. I was waaaayyyyyy apprehensive that I'd even find it remotely entertaining, and I don't have my scrapbooking room to retreat to when I find that I'm bored to tears with the movie. I'm glad that I kept an open mind though, because I really liked it. It was quite funny in several spots, and I like Seth Rogen. I snapped a goofy photo of us in our 3d glasses at the theater, it shall serve as the photo of the day!

Less than 10 hours until surgery...sooooooo freaking nervous, soooooo excited at the same time! I'm sure that it will be at least Wednesday, maybe even Thursday before I'm able to post again. Until my next post!

Clean at last!

I'm such a terrible procrastinator! I don't know why, but I like to feel the flames burning my butt before I get stuff done...probably because I work well under pressure! Got the whole stinking house cleaned today, and it's a good thing, because with all of the limitations of recovery it is likely to be the last time until my new catalog party with the girls on the 4th of February. While not being allowed to do a lot of my chores is a plus, my OCD and type A tendencies will ignite and it will drive me crazy to not get some of it cleaned up before then!

My kids are so excited to go stay with Grandma and Grandpa for 4 nights that they can hardly stand themselves right now. But OH EM GEE...they are ultra clingy right now!! It's kind of cute that they're going to miss me, but did I mention CLINGY!! After this surgery I'm going to need one to remove two tumors from my legs/hips...one is called Lucas and the other Zachary. I had the hubby snap a picture of them literally attached to me (thus, my pic of the day)...jinkies! Grandma had a suggestion to help them understand how long mom and dad will be gone, so we went to Target today and let them pick out three small toys. Each morning they get to pick one new goody from their bag and when the new goodies are all out of the bag, then that means mom n dad will soon be home. Between that and the calendar, I wish Grandma lots of luck! Lucas has reviewed 'the plan' with us at least 5 times daily for at least the last week.

Our airport shuttle on this end, our house sitter (my sweet lil baby brother), and our baby sitter (Grandma) all seem to be in order. The house is clean, the boys stuff is packed...I'm wiped out, but I'm betting I'll hardly sleep a wink tonight because I'm so excited about everything (I'm such a kid at heart)!!!!! ; )

Until tomorrow!