Recovery

Things are lookin' up! lol. Rob is doing much better which means we are all doing much better. Still in pain but no more nausea. He took his bandages off for the first time on Monday and cleaned it all up. I also took a picture of him during "Quiet Time" with Emery and Riggs. Considering it's Rob permanent spot these days, it's perfect for story time. Lots and lots of books to read. Emery loves it and so do I. To tell you the truth, it's nice having him around during the day. I've painted a small room, pulled out the fall decorations, organized a kitchen cabinet, cleaned out 2 closets, now on to our kitchen shelves. I am so productive when the kids are distracted. Crazy but true.

"Drugs are not always necessary. Belief in recovery always is." Norman Cousins

surgery

Oh my gracious, what a day. Not one I would like to repeat and I'm not even the one who had the surgery. lol. We arrived at the surgery center at 9am and FINALLY left at 4:30pm. Rob had a VERY hard time waking up. Poor guy would not even open his eyes until 3 hours after being in recovery and then we were still in there for another hour. Not to mention, he says all kinds of stuff while drugged up - like how beautiful I am, how much he loves me, how much our kids look like me, how we met at BYU, what he got me for my birthday (which is not until next week - yeah, no surprises here), and how he was grateful he didn't die. I had to hush him several times. According to the surgeon, everything went great. That was good news because everything after the surgery seemed to go down hill. The nurse told me, "Next time he has surgery, make sure you tell them he has severe post-op nausea and vomiting". Yeah, no kidding. Every time I enter a hospital, I am reminded time and time again why I am not a nurse. I'm happy to say we are now home and everything is somewhat better. I use the term "better" loosely. At least Rob is not so sick, just in pain now.

"I got the bill for my surgery. Now I know what those doctors were wearing masks for." James H. Boren

MUDDIVAS

Yesterday morning I enjoyed the opportunity of running in the USMC Mud Run. This year, I ran with an ALL girl team which was a lot of fun yet extremely challenging because this year we were running to win. I was asked to be on a team by these ladies who run marathons on a regular basis. Yes, regular basis. How crazy am I?! The course is 4.2 miles with over 30 obstacles involved. This year it took us 49 minutes to complete and let me tell you, these ladies are STRONG. I was amazed. We had a great time. A big THANK YOU to Rob for being our personal photographer. He got some great shots. Hopefully, I can run it with him next year! His leg should be nice, new and ready to go by then. And yes, we did win! We took first place (out of 215 teams) in the Open Female category and 61st place out of 1717 teams total. Congrats ladies!

"There is an itch in runners." Arnold Hano

Messy Little Man

Just a couple of pictures of my mornings with Riggs now that Emery is back in preschool. Riggs likes to stash his food and whatever else he comes across in his truck. If you look closely, you will find my watch, his breakfast (toast), a small car and some balls in his truck. His stash varies from day to day. (Funny thing is - he finished off his piece of toast this afternoon around 4pm and for some reason, I didn't care to stop him. lol) The other thing he likes to do is dump out the toy basket we keep in our bedroom. He has just recently started doing this. He's good about picking it up when you tell him to "clean up" although it's really a Catch-22. I'm not a fan of cleaning it up 10 times a day yet I don't want the toys all over the floor all day either. I'll just have to get over it.

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." Frederick Douglass

"Juneau"

So my dad thought it would be a good idea to voluntarily find us a dog and literally drop it off at our house. Where he got that idea is beyond me, especially since we have specified time and time again that WE DO NOT WANT A DOG. Don't get me wrong, dogs are GREAT. I like dogs but that does not mean I want one. Emery is in love with the idea of having a dog. She thinks it's the greatest thing. BUT, she and Riggs are scared to death of him. She likes to hold him, she likes to pet him but when it's time to "play", he's still a puppy so he jumps and nips like crazy (look closely at the picture of my mom holding Riggs). They both freak out and scream to the top of their lungs. Gracious. On the good side, we use the little guy to our advantage. Lots of threats have been made to return him if she does not listen and obey. LOL. Works every time.
About the new pup:
1. We named him "Juneau". Emery wanted to name him Riggs but the family voted against it.
2. He is an outside dog.
3. He seems to sleep well at night. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
4. We wanted to get rid of him as soon as we got him. Rob even tried to give him to a door-to-door salesman yesterday.
5. I asked Emery, "Do you know someone who likes puppies and might like to have one?" She replied, "Yeah me. I like puppies and I want one."
6. We finally somewhat "finished" our backyard. Our kids are going to have to learn to enjoy it all over again. lol.
7. We have no idea how old he is or what kind of "All American" he is.
Thanks dad for thinking of the children because we certainly know you were not thinking of us! LOL.


"Happiness is a warm puppy." Charles M. Schulz

Thirsty

NO MORE BOTTLE FOR RIGGS!! That's it, I'm done. He's too old. I gave him a sippy cup at 6 months. He didn't even let it touch his lips. I gave him a sippy cup at 9 months, he ignored it again. I gave him a sippy cup at 1 year, he gave it back to me. I gave him a sippy cup at 14 months and he kindly passed it to Emery. I gave him a sippy cup at 18 months and he politely said while shaking his little finger back and forth, "No, no." Now at 20 months, I've made the decision for him. I really thought all of these times he would just come around when he was ready for it. Well you know what, it's time. He just hasn't figured that out yet. This is one of the RARE photos we have of him drinking out of the sippy cup. Now, he just prefers to drink water from a regular cup although as of yesterday, I have ventured out and gave him juice and milk in a regular cup. He does really well. The first couple of days off the bottle the poor little guy would drink water from the bathtub faucet. Geesh, I was starting to feel bad but he was never dehydrated so it's okay. When they say, "All children are different", they really mean it.

"If we would listen to our kids, we'd discover that they are largely self-explanatory." Robert Braul

Humming Bird

Every so often a humming bird will find its way into our garage and more often than not, we have to help it find its way out. We've only had one die on us and we're trying hard not to let that happen again. This little guy was exhausted. He let Rob somehow scoop him onto the broom and carry him out. Once we were out of the garage, he continued to rest. He sat on the broom long enough for Rob to call me out there, we stared at him a bit, thought about getting the camera, thought about getting Emery (out of bed no less), retrieved the camera, snapped several pics, then looked at him some more. Rob even shook the broom to make him fly. Finally he took off, in the direction of the garage again which led to us yelling, "NOT THE GARAGE!" all while swinging the broom in the air like crazy. At the last minute, the bird changed directions and flew away. Now we can rest peacefully.


"Have you ever observed a humming-bird moving about in an aerial dance among the flowers - a living prismatic gem.... it is a creature of such fairy-like loveliness as to mock all description." W.H. Hudson, Green Mansions

"Smokin' Girl"

Emery and Riggs were playing with my shoes yesterday evening while I was getting ready for church. She put on these shoes and said, "Oh yeaaaah! Smokin' girl!" WHAT?? Okay, I'll admit I've said a few things around them that should not have been said but I have NEVER said that. Rob rolled his eyes, told me not to take the picture (because of Riggs) and all I could do was laugh.


"The only cure for vanity is laughter, and the only fault that is laughable is vanity." Henri Bergson