February Activities

-I've been posting my favorite romance movies for this month as a counter to scary movies in October. This was a fun one, I picked them out months ago so now when I post one I keep saying "oh man that one is SO good!" haha.

-Pierce, and sometimes Charlie, has been loving when we have Family Zingo nights (and Charlie crashing

-Larry decided it was time to introducing the kids to The Never Ending Story 1 & 2 (one of his favorites growing up). Pierce couldn't hang long, but girls seemed to like it. (2/1)

-Gwen LOVES playing teacher, so I dedicated some time for her and she read me a book, made me do math problems, we did recess, and more math problems.

-In having Larry do laundry a lot of fun things got switched around (love him for helping so I'm NOT knocking him helping out). I decided doing some sort of laundry item on a Friday night so I don't get distracted with my phone while watching my movie. One Friday I decided I should get the kids socks re-organized (they were just a tad chaotic). The bonus is I got the extra small ones together and put in our donation pile because we had just too many. I also got their closets moved back to normal (and moved out clothes that were too small to storage bins) so now all their clothes are looking better than they were before! 

The chaotic socks and underwear

-Workshops were fun this month, but because of plans on the days we ended up just grabbing and going so we built them at home. It worked, but I like it much more when we build them at the store so that's the goal for next month. Also, Pierce feels left out, so I had him "build" some Legos with his play hammer, he seemed to enjoy that.

-Lucy's coupon this month was Family Game Night where she chose the game. She chose Mario Kart, but since you can only play 4 at a time, Larry and I took turns switching off (between playing and taking care of Pierce) and we all had a lot of fun, it was a good night.

-On President's Day Marie was down so she took the girls out for lunch and to the Bean Museum for a fun afternoon. I ended up going to lunch w/Cindy and Tanny. We met up at Dees (which I haven't had it in so long and it was so delicious). The girls had so much fun with their Grandma and I REALLY enjoyed driving for the first time since my surgery, it felt so good (rather than nervous about if I could twist or what other cars would do).

-We had our first Screen Free Day on the 22nd and it went really well. Unfortunately, Larry had to get up REALLY early for a work thing so he was exhausted already. I found not being able to rely on screens a little bit was a tiny bit tiring haha. We dropped Cara off at a birthday party earlier in the day and then we went to Costco for a few snacks. We came back for naps and games (Lucy wasn't feeling great so her and Larry had a mini nap), we then went out to Golden Corral for dinner, which was fun for most of us (Gwen ate too much sugar and got sick) and it was a good day.

-Silly kiddo pics (Lucy silly hair 2/1,Gwen splits 2/1, Pierce with shirt up while playing 2/13, Cara waitress 2/22)

Post Surgery Updates

So it's been just over 7 weeks since my surgery and it's been a fun time, let me tell you. Officially they say recovery takes 4-6 weeks, however, in the recovery group I follow, they mentioned it could be 6-8 weeks. I think I might be closer to the 8 week time, I'm definitely getting back to normal for most day to day things, but there are things that are still a little tricky for me. It's unfortunate it's taking a little longer to feel all the way better, but I have to take my time and not rush it with such a major surgery.

Luckily I've been making my little goals for each day/week. I made a list of things I can't do yet (that I could before) so I can pick a couple each week to focus on. Mostly making sure I get my steps in, drink my water, do my stretches to help me straighten up, etc. This really helps me focus on my progress rather than what I can't do yet. Each week  it feels like I'm getting closer to how things used to be/usually are. I can feel more and more of my old self coming through.

So nice that there aren't lumps under my shirt anymore!

I wore jeans, for the first time, on the 9th (for the Super Bowl) and it felt like such an exciting moment to get to. I made sure to wear ones that were stretchy (between the little bit of swelling and wearing the binder most of my jeans are still too tight). Now I've switched to wearing my workout pants with a shirt...I've become one of those women, haha

Yes, I dress like THOSE women now,
But I've never been more comfy haha

I was so happy when I could shower, mostly regularly, without the chair I was using. Every few days I feel like I can stand a lot more straighter (Lucy loves pointing out how I'm finally straight now. Or saying "mom used to be like this (she holds her hand up with her fingers bent forward) and now she's like this (she straightens her fingers)"). I'm getting a lot more steps in each day. I'm doing laundry again (with help from Larry - he does the heavy lifting for me), and I'm feeling productive again, which is HUGE for me!

I was told at my 2 week mark to make my next appointment for the month mark, when I called in to make that, it got pushed back to closer to 6 weeks. Then the day for the appointment came and we had a HUGE snow storm so it got moved back another week, so it ended up being last Wednesday. It was SO nice to go to that one, they reassured me on a lot of things I was a little nervous for. They said I could go back to doing normal things, but to listen to my body and if it feels like it's too much, then slow it down. I also have officially switched over to compression tops (rather than my binder) and that's been really nice! I feel like it's really helped with the swelling I have right above my lower incision

I was able to get out of the house and walk Costco back on the 15th and that felt amazing (I went from struggling walking from my bed to the bathroom, then from the office to our kitchen, and then just walking Ridley's to walking all of Costco with NO issues whatsoever!). I've been wanting to get up to walking stores again and so I was happy for that. This also meant I was able to go grocery shopping with the family on the 16th, that's the first time since before my surgery!

I was even feeling like I could let Larry sleep in on Saturday's again so on the 15th I got up, quietly, and went down to get the kids breakfast and about 15 minutes later Larry was awake and downstairs, haha. I told him I was trying to let him sleep in, but he said he had a weird dream that made him think too much so he couldn't go back to sleep.

I've been focusing on my eating a lot too. Since I'm not moving as much and I wanted to tamper down all my crazy snacking I was doing (apparently taking a few weeks off didn't really help my cravings) I've been tracking my eating and trying to stick to 1,200 calories a day. They said I could go back to working out again, but I have to keep my belly button shaper in and I'm not sure about those two things together (because moving causes more swelling and my belly button got irritated so I'm worried about too much swelling). So, until I get back into working out I'll probably stick with this "diet". It's been quite the transition (mostly on Family Movie Nights...I just want all the popcorn and candy). I have my next appointment on March 19th so we'll see how things are looking then. My goal is to get back into working out in April. I told Larry I'll probably start with doing workouts on Sundays and then work up to adding in my other two (I definitely have to get used to getting up early in the mornings again, it's been nice to "sleep in").

The first day (17th) that I felt GREAT
Driving again.

I'm really excited to see what these next couple weeks bring. I am so ready to feel like recovering isn't my first thought when thinking of doing something and it goes to the back of my brain. Like the day I feel "hey! I've been doing stuff like normal for a while now...totally forgot I had surgery!" will be SUCH a happy day for me.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day this day was a little different. For one, we didn't end up making our new recipe that we usually do (I kind of thought with the Super Bowl food we didn't need more in our fridge haha). Second, it was Friday movie night so we kind of had to rush doing "bingo for gifts" and did it while Larry was showering. I still had to finish dinner so we were on a bit of a time crunch. Lastly, instead of Bingo for gifts, we did Zingo for gifts, which made Pierce so excited haha.

For their gifts this year I got them each a craft (or something that'll go into the activity closet), a Tonies character, an outfit, and some candy. Pierce really wanted the candy, Cara immediately started putting the Tonies characters on the box to listen to their things, Gwen started playing with her craft, and Lucy just put on her cute little outfit. 

Larry surprised me with some Reese's hearts, which I felt bad because I didn't get him anything at all. But I think I'm feeling up for handling mornings on my own so I'll let him sleep in tomorrow morning as my gift to him (the first time he'll get to since my surgery). 

As a silly bonus, it was Larry's choice for movie night and he chose Stardust, so it kept with the romance feelings. Plus, Cara said it's now her new favorite movie haha.

So Happy Valentine's Day out there! It's a good day to feel loved.

Super Bowl 2025

Oh man, I swear each year I love the Super Bowl more and more. It's my second Thanksgiving where it's all about food, eating, and enjoying Football haha. I had decided this year I wanted to do a 6 foot sub and I was SO excited about that (I've always wanted to do a 6 foot sub for something!). Well after thinking about it, I thought instead of one large sub with the same stuff on it, why not get 6 1-foot subs from Subway and we can get 6 different sandwiches to try out? So that was the plan (we got a meatball one, a BLT one, a regular turkey one, a philly cheesesteak one, a spicy crunchy one, and a club one). You, of course, have to do chips and dip, and then I thought a salad would also be a good side. I wanted to do a dessert too, but it took too long for me to figure out what would be best, so I just decided to order some Crumbl cookies.

Wearing jeans for the first time.
Crooked still, but so happy!

This year, I also decided to order some fun decorations (mostly to cover the tables and counters I knew I wouldn't be able to clean properly, due to still recovering from my surgery). I also found some fun Football themed games for the kids to do (a commercial  bingo and a kind of pool questionnaire - like who would win the coin toss, what would the first commercial be, who would score first, that type of stuff) and then I had  to get some prizes for those games. 

Yesterday we did the cleaning, so I had Larry help the kids pick up while I cleaned the bathroom. The kids were even excited to help me clean the walls in the bathroom (they were looking pretty bad and I offered them $1 per wall, which was a nice incentive). They liked it so much that when we woke up this morning they were already up saying they had cleaned up even more so that the house looked good for Nana and Boomer (Cara was REALLY excited they were coming over haha).

With all the prep work and then getting the food out, the kids were really excited and kept asking when the game started. Once the game did start they all kind of checked out and played their own things. We enjoyed watching the game though. It was a REALLY good game! I kept saying I hope the Eagles win, but we all know the Chiefs will win. Guess I was wrong, huh?

Mom and Will left a little after half time (which we didn't really watch much of...I don't know much about that guys so it wasn't anything exciting for me). Then we cleaned the food up (which all turned out so delicious! Larry said he wished we had gotten two of the spicy crunchy ones because he really liked it). We have LOTS of leftovers, but I definitely don't mind that!

Larry took the kids to get washed up while I finished the game in our room (SUCH a great ending, even if you saw it almost the whole game through). We all celebrated the Eagles win after they were done and then we put them to bed. I've still got laundry to finish up (feels so good to be able to get that done again), but I'll get to that while I watch a movie (back to usual haha).

While I'm sad Football is over, it was a really fun season. Here's to hoping the Packers (or Cowboys, even) do much better next year and we get to see one of them get closer to the Super Bowl (if not actually make it all the way!).

I was telling Larry I loved hearing the kids get so excited for Football and he asked me what I'd do if they were into a different team than the ones we cheer for, when they get older. I told him it just gives me an excuse to watch more games so that's not a problem in my book haha.