post surgery update

hello everyone!

I'm on the other side of surgery.

I went in last Wednesday morning for a partial hysterectomy.

My doctor came by to speak with me before he did my surgery.

He mentioned that I could possibly have endometriosis that had been causing a lot of my continual pain even after being treated for my Crohn's.

If that was the case, then he might have to take more out during surgery.

During surgery, they called Tim in the waiting room to let him know that they found severe endometriosis and they would be removing my right ovary and both Fallopian tubes along with my uterus.

I'm still kind of shocked that they found endometriosis, but I'm also thankful.

I'm very hopeful that my life will have dramatically less pain now.

The food in the hospital was surprisingly good!

I was able to go home the day after my surgery.

This cat was by my side from the moment I got home!

I love the flowers that Tim brought home for me after a trip to Walmart.

On Saturday, the Razorbacks defeated LSU!

We were so excited!!!

It's too difficult for me to sit up straight since the surgery, so I had to miss my girlie singing in main service with the regular choir at church on Sunday morning.

She had a big Indian project for school and made a diorama of a Cherokee Indian dwelling.

The kids have been making their own lunches while I've been recovering (yes, I still make their lunches!)

C Girl had to come and show me what she made!

I didn't get to go to the school Monday morning either. She was given her Celebration book. (We buy it for the library and they decorate the inside cover with a picture of her and a tribute to her from us!) 

It's a sweet way to commemorate her time at the school and give another book to the school.

I've been resting and watching a lot of Gilmore Girls!

We have had friends and Tim's co-workers bringing us meals and that has been a HUGE blessing!

Tim took the kids to basketball duty last night and took B Boy to a birthday party tonight.

I'm so, so thankful of everything that he does for us. We are so lucky to have him and love him SO much!!!

there is always something to be thankful for

I know I haven't shared a lot of personal details of my life lately. 

I feel like most of my posts are "here, this is what we've done lately." 

I feel like this last year has been one of the weirdest in my life. I had no idea that finding out that I have a chronic disease would make me feel the way I do. And now knowing that I have chronic iron deficiency anemia on top of that is just...I don't even know.

I don't want to sound like I am complaining or that I talk about it all of the time.

I've been so nervous about my upcoming surgery and I don't know why.

I have felt very isolated. That seems so strange since I'm around people pretty often.

I have wonderful, supportive friends and family, yet I still feel so inside my own head.

Maybe I have retreated there because I'm not sure how to cope?

Don't get me wrong, life is very good. 

I always enjoy life and make the most of it, but sometimes you just don't feel like yourself.

This week, C Girl had an eye appointment (everything is fine. She didn't pass the school test so we had to have an exam and her eyes are fine), I went to a baby shower for my friend, Samantha who is having twin girls next month (!!!!) and I came down with a yucky cold and then a gross cold sore.

The last two items did not help my joy factor this week!

I was intense with doing all the things you do to get rid of a cold. I think it worked because I was only terribly sick for 2-3 days. Usually, a cold lasts longer than that and sometimes turns into bronchitis.

There is always something to be thankful for.

I'm thankful to be feeling better.

I'm thankful that it is the weekend.

I'm thankful for my kiddos - they are happy, healthy and so creative!

I'm thankful for family and friends who offer all kinds of help to us during my surgery time.

I'm thankful for the Razorbacks winning against Ole Miss a little while ago!!! It was an incredible game!

I know our kids will remember watching these games and that is so fun to me.

If you think of me, will you pray that my surgery goes well this week?

I will update as soon as I can.

She was so proud of the outfit that she picked out!

He creates such cool things!

 I took this picture before all of the food was set out!

We don't just eat veggies!!!!

We are so excited to meet these twin girlies next month!

Happy March!

Happy March!

Well, I sure have missed being here lately. I only posted 4 times last month! That is one of the smallest number of posts in a month since back in 2009 when I started blogging and thought you should only post when something monumental happened, lol. 

These last 2 weeks have been terrible. I'm just now getting to where I feel human again. I still do not feel great, but I know I'm getting there. 

I'm not going to lie, though. This has been very hard on me. I always seem to have a very rough time during the late winter months. When you mix sickness with snow days on end, it's just tough. I have felt like a terrible wife and mother. I haven't felt well, so I haven't cooked, cleaned, or wanted to do anything fun with the kids. I know that I can't help that, but it doesn't stop me from feeling guilty. I can't remember a time when I was ever down for this long. I have had periods of health issues, but I always seem to still be able to function through most of it. This time, I have been just completely worthless. It's amazing that your ear can cause so much havoc.

I just feel like I have been home-bound for too long! I'm longing for sunshine and warmth in a way that I can't even explain!

 I think we all are dreaming of spring time!

 I'm so thankful that we can watch our church services on LiveStream when we have to miss.

 This was leftover snow from February that had not melted last week. So dreary!

Last Tuesday, I saved up my energy to be able to go to my hair appointment. A girl needs her hair done even when she feels bad! I think it was the first time I put on makeup in over a week at that point.

Last Wednesday, we got another winter storm. It started with this layer of sleet.

 And then, huge puffs of snow began falling.

 At one point, it looked like a blizzard outside!

Alas, this caused us to be out of school on Wednesday and Thursday last week.

 C Girl and I did some coloring though! I find it so relaxing!

We did get out of the house on Thursday afternoon to take me to a follow up appointment about my ear. The doctor said that in all, this infection will be a 3 week ordeal. I am at a little over 2 weeks now, so hopefully this week will be a huge improvement. I went to see him on Monday last week as well. At that appointment, he had to drain my ear. If you are not sure what that means, he had to basically cut a hole in my eardrum that had ruptured. It had healed and fluid was bulging behind it. It was extremely painful until he was able to drain it. It is still draining now, thankfully. I will be so ready when all of this is behind me!

 On Friday, I went to lunch with some friends at the Wooden Spoon in Gentry. We mainly go for the dessert. That my friends, is a yummy bread pudding swimming in a bath of butter sauce. Oh, it was so good! It was so nice to get out of the house and visit with friends, but it exhausted me. I spent the rest of the day/evening laying on the couch. I cannot believe how tired my body gets!

 Saturday morning, we headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It has been a long time since we have went out for breakfast. We love us some CB pancakes!

 B Boy had his first baseball practice that afternoon! He was actually supposed to have soccer practice as well, but it was cancelled. It was the 3rd soccer practice that has been cancelled due to the weather. We haven't had 1 practice yet! Hopefully, we will on Thursday evening. It is going to be a busy spring with both of these sports going on!

The baseball fields were still wet, so they had practice at a batting cage. Tim said that B Boy did pretty well!

The Razorbacks played LSU at Bud Walton Saturday afternoon. The Hogs are No. 18 in the country and are going to be in the NCAA tournament this year. I cannot wait! Sadly, we lost at the buzzer for this game. They have played so many games down to the wire this year. It's exciting, but very stressful!

This boy is COMPLETELY obsessed with the Harry Potter series. He just finished the 4th book this morning. He is constantly telling me about what he is reading and pretending to be Harry Potter. It's so fun! I remember reading these books and how much I loved them!

So, it's Monday. 

C Girl has the PARCC test this week. They only test until 10 am everyday, but I know that it's not fun to have to go to school and take a standardized test.

This girl of ours is something else.

I'm always so proud of her. She is super independent, smart, and tries new things, which is something I used to think would never happen.

On the flip side, she is super independent and wants everything to be done/go her way. 

It can be very tough dealing with that. I know she is on her way to becoming a "tween," and to be honest, I'm not real excited about that. 

I can already see things in her attitude that she is picking up from other girls. I know it is completely normal, but it means that things are different now.

I'm trying to learn how to teach/discipline her without doing it constantly. I don't want her to feel like that is all I do. I know that she needs lots of my love and support right now. 

That is so easy to say, but way harder to implement when you are dealing with attitude.

Pray for us!

I am trying to catch up on things around here, but I can only do so much before I am tired. I know it will all get done eventually, but I hate not being able to do everything that I normally do. I also hate sounding like such a complainer!

So, happy March! it is the month of spring! Flowers, sun, and warmth!

about grocery shopping

I had coffee with a really sweet friend this morning at Kennedy Coffee. I have lived here for 4.5 years and this was my first time there! I was able to have a drink made with almond milk! I was so happy to have that option! Her and I had such a great, long talk!

I had to do grocery shopping after our coffee date. My average shopping trip is about 1 hour and 40 minutes. It exhausts me, mostly because I spend a lot of time reading labels and locating the best and healthiest products while also trying to stick to our budget. Stores do not always make it easy to find exactly what you are looking for- I stood looking at the shelf for a certain item for 2 whole minutes today until I finally spotted it. AND I was only looking at a small section! Don't get me wrong, I love grocery shopping and I get a weird satisfaction making a meal plan and shopping for our food. I want to choose the best choices for us and it really does take time and effort!

I once again did not feel great tonight. I'm just so fatigued and so full feeling in my abdomen with pain as well.  It subsided a bit as the evening wore on and I was able to make a cake and do the dishes.

I'm so, so very ready for my GI appointment tomorrow where we will discuss treatment. I'll have that update tomorrow.

Christmas fun and news

From last week- mailing their letters to Santa.

A lot has transpired this week (more at the bottom of this post.)

Monday, I worked on some Christmas shopping and grocery shopping.

We also were notified that C Girl's 3rd grade teacher would be leaving for the rest of the year due to medical issues. We were all pretty shocked. She is actually meeting her new teacher today. Kids are so resilient. She seems very excited to meet this new lady.

Tuesday, I spent at home wrapping presents, cleaning house, watching a Christmas movie and various other things.

 Look what happened here this week!

 I spent all day Wednesday making treats for Tim's co-workers and all of the kids' teachers. It was exhausting but I love being able to show them some love!

 I realized that I have not posted any pictures of our Christmas decor.

 I love getting Christmas cards in the mail almost every day!!!

 This is how I started displaying them last year. I love walking by this everyday!

 I ate lunch with these two cuties before their class parties yesterday. They were so happy to see me KFC for lunch.

Their class parties were fun. C Girl only has one more year of elementary, so I'm starting to feel sad about that. I don't want them to grow up this fast!

 Daddy got to come by both of their parties!

 B Boy's class had set up a fun photo booth!

 I received a couple of other pieces of news yesterday- one fantastic, and the other, not so fantastic. The fantastic news is that one of my dear friends from church is going to be our new Women's ministry director! Our current one is retiring. We are going to miss her, but I'm so excited for the future too!

The not so fantastic news- I received the results from the biopsies of my colonoscopy and it agrees with the diagnosis of Crohn's disease. My heart sank when I read those words. I really had not believed that I would have this diagnosis. I'm still sort of in shock about it.

I have an upper GI test soon to determine how much is affected and to what degree. All I can do is pray. I'm so thankful for my wonderful friends who have given me words of faith and encouragement. Sometimes that's all you can give, but believe me, it definitely gave me a boost that I needed. I'm thankful that Tim is supportive and loving and just wants to take care of me no matter what it takes.

So, not the best news to get before Christmas, but it sure does explain so many things that have happened over the past 7 years. I'm just trusting in God that everything is going to work out.