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.

Hitting My 6 Weeks of Recovery Milestone

So I've officially hit 6 weeks from my surgery date, which is a big milestone because they say recovery takes 4-6 weeks. Although, on the recovery group I follow, they mentioned it could be 6-8 weeks. I think I might be closer to the 8 week time. 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. Mostly making sure I get my steps in, drink my water, do my stretches to help me straighten up, getting used to more time without my binder, etc. This really helps me focus on my progress rather than what I can't do yet. Each week I can do more and more and 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 Sunday (for the Super Bowl) and it felt like such an exciting moment to get to. I made sure to wear ones that were stretchy (with my little bit of swelling and binder most of my jeans are still too tight). Now that I'm at 6 weeks I do feel MUCH better. I'm not 100% yet, but I can finally shower, mostly regularly. I can stand a lot more straighter. I'm getting a lot more steps. 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!

Unfortunately, I was supposed to have my 6 week follow up today, but the snow made it so they called to see if I'd want to reschedule (since the roads were insane!), so I decided to and it'll be next Wednesday. Bummer, but it's fine, I don't have any big concerns so it'll be okay to wait.

I'm really excited to see what these next couple weeks bring. I think once I hit March I'll be ready to do most of my regular stuff. I told Larry I'll probably start with doing workouts on Sundays at that point 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"). I've also been concentrating on my calories each day because I'm not moving as much, but my belly wants to eat and eat, so I'm trying to make sure I don't overdo the eating until I can get back into working out regularly again.

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.