Matching!

 I am sitting here basking in the silence of my home, waiting to inhale the scent of baking brownies and feeling pretty good about how potty-training is going!

Miss Thang is doing awesome! Only one minor accident that she caught, tons of stickers on her chart and more M&Ms to fuel her addiction:) I am hoping to wean off the chocolates soon. We are still waiting for the big #2, which she will receive a "big" prize for (a necklace from the dollar section!). She tried today but no such luck.

Pretty much all week she has pottied and played with Baby Anna. She is nuts about this little doll! Lately, she thinks it's pretty cute to wedge Baby's thumb in her mouth and then walk her around in the stroller, stopping everytime she gets to me and saying, "Aw, isn't she cute? She's sucking her tum!"

Mugga brought a special surprise for Eliana this weekend!! Matching dresses!! About a month ago, we were in Target and for whatever reason, were talking about clothes for Baby Anna. I told her that her jammies couldn't come off but maybe we could ask Mugga to make her a dress. Mugga went a step further and made one for Eliana, too! Aren't they a cute pair??

The boys are sad that they are over halfway done with VBS already. I'm sure all the volunteers and staff will be exhausted when the week is done! They have done such a great job! The boys come home with a fun new craft each day, new songs they learned and a new verse.

Today Samuel had a rough day. He feels emotions so deeply and doesn't always know how to put them into words. He was really missing his Daddy, who has been working the past 2 days, which caused a lot of tears. Plus I think all of our family leaving and doing VBS has made him more tired and a little more emotional. It was hard to watch him be so sad today:( I really hope he has a better day tomorrow ~ especially after he gets his Daddy hug!

And my mom is doing really well! She came out of surgery well, was sick for a while but they were able to correct it and get this, has already been up walking! I think that is just crazy that they made her walk only hours after getting a full knee replacement but I think it helps with the healing or something. Hopefully, she will get released from the hospital on Friday and will get to heal in her own home. Prayers for her and my stepdad would still be appreciated! And also for Ben's grandma, who is recovering from her own ankle surgery. My, we know a lot of injured people!

I tucked everyone in bed and came down to tidy up the kitchen. I heard Eliana yelling and talking about things like how much she likes her baby and where are her brothers. And then I heard something different and I paused in my cleaning to listen. And this is what I heard...

"Heidi? Heidi, are you there?! I need you, Heidi! I need to ask you!"

There are no shortages of smiles around here!!

Z-Man and One year!

Mr Zakkai, Z-man, Zakkaious, Zapatch and so on, has earned his first prize from his chart! He is halfway through and doing a great job! He was thrilled to earn a new game for his Leapfrog Explorer that he got for Christmas. Yea Zakkai!!

And we were reminiscing on Sunday because it was the one year anniversary of my foot surgery. Wow, that was quite a hectic time! I know my mom and Ben will never forget that time with Eliana being so very sick and needing her own trip to the ER and me down and out for far longer than any of us hoped for!

***Bypass the next picture and scroll down fast if you're squeamish!!!!

There was my poor swollen foot in all it's glory after dropping the darn rotory cutter on it. Let me tell you that I highly would NOT recommend doing that!

 

In the past couple of months, I have finally been able to Zumba mostly pain-free, which is nice! I only notice issues if I wear the wrong shoes for too long or am really active. It will ache sometimes or randomly burn along the scarline, which is weird. And I cannot stand having anyone step on my foot (which happens frequently with children around!) or put pressure on the scar. Other than those random things, I am so thankful to walk and I hope I never take it granted again!

 

They say that you're as healed as you'll ever be after one year and I am happy to have reached that point! It seemed SO far away last February. I think it will take a long time to forget the pain of foot surgery/injuries!

 

It's also almost one year since Eliana woke up with her eye issues. It's crazy to think about how much has changed in a year.

Can't wait to find out where we are and what's happened next year!

Recovery.

So, a lot of people have been asking about my recovery from this ordeal. If I haven't answered you, promise I wasn't ignoring you ~ I just didn't know.

I didn't get good answers before the surgery. You all know how last week went and I was pretty preoccupied with my crazy (but very nice!) dr and all the clearance appointments she made me go to and trying to prepare for this week.

Apparently recovering from foot surgery stinks. I had this insane idea that I'd be laid out for a few days, given that I was at least warned that the first few days would be miserable, and then hobbling around on a crutch or two with my boot, back to busyness by the end of this week.

What, am I freaking crazy????? No one warned me that surgery is like trauma to your body and that you'll feel like you got hit with a mack truck anytime you do anything drastic like, oh, take a shower or go to the drs! And that doesn't even count the healing of the surgical site itself.

I am taking some serious nappage over here. Yesterday at the drs, I was so wiped out, I was shaking and apparently pure white since the dr made her nurse run and grab me some water to sip on and forced me to lay down until color came back to my cheeks. Apparently she's had people pass out on her before:)

Okay, so for real, I'm laid out for awhile. No weight bearing til Tues when she'll give me the go ahead to just start to begin to slightly bear weight with my crutches. Um, taking care of 3 kids (one of whom doesn't walk), cooking, cleaning, driving, laundry, etc just does not happen too well when you have one leg and 2 crutches.

Samuel keeps saying, "I wish you didn't drop a rotary cutter on your foot, mommy." Me, too, Buddy. Me.too. If I could rewind time, I would.

In all honesty, we're kinda reeling over here, trying to figure out how to fly crippled for a little while. Ben and my mom seriously deserve medals for everything they are doing.

I'm asking for your prayers. Once again. This isn't the end of the world; people go through MUCH more than this. It's a minor glitch in our busy life! But a glitch, it is. Samuel is extra emotional about things, Zakkai is latched onto my mom like white on rice, Eliana is still recovering, just in time to get some molars, Ben and my mom are exhausted and I'm laying with my foot in the air feeling incredibly, overwhelmingly guilty and helpless. It's a lot right now.  I am wishing for the millionth time that we lived closer to family because I know that's what family is for: Loving and supporting each other through rough times and happy times.

I promise to try not to complain too much. But I'm also learning that it's okay to reach out when you need a little help or some extra prayers. And I hope that you'll reach out to me when you have those times, too, so I can shower you with my love and prayers. Actually, now would be a great time since I can't do much else;)

Day 3

in case I haven't lost you all as readers, thought I'd post a quick update:)

*It's been a rough weekend for all of us!

*Eliana finally turned the corner this afternoon. Praise the Lord! She has been beyond miserable for days now, constantly crying in this pathetic moaning way. She's had these heartbreaking "sick eyes" but after her second nap today, she perked up and ate better, played better and the best part? Even started smiling again!! Let's hope, for daddy's sake, she sleeps better tonight. He's getting a good taste of what getting up in the night is like;)

*I am hanging in there. This isn't fun, no bones about it, but I am so thankful the worst is over. No more anxiety over the surgery. No more "what ifs," about the surgery anyways. Just healing and moving on.

*Friday night and yesterday were miserable for me, quite honestly. Thankfully, after not being able to get ahold of my dr, we were able to talk to a dr friend of ours, whom we love (Thank you!), and she was able to give us advice on pain medicine. I can't take strong pain medications, due to strong sensitivities, so I was sent home on Motrin and told to "tough it out." Nice, huh? Motrin every 8 hours was NOT working so now I have a round the clock relationship with Motrin and tylenol. Thank you, Miss E, for helping us take the edge of my misery!!

*So here I lie, with my foot above my heart, only able to make short trips to the bathroom with my crutches. I am being waited on, hand and foot (no pun intended...haha), reading books, taking naps and receiving periodic visits from the boys. I attempted my first shower today and even though I paid for it dearly, it felt so wonderful to wash "hospital" off. Although, I wonder how long it will take to get the iodine off.....

Here's to good sleeping tonight for all of us!
*

Last Hoorahs.

Please forgive me for all the surgery posts! It's been consuming my mind a bit lately:)

Today I had yet another drs appt to ease my OCD dr's mind and everything is a GO for tomorrow morning at 9am.

I want to thank you a million times for all of the kind words of encouragment, the prayers and thoughts. I woke up sick to my stomach this morning, just so anxious and not able to eat but suddenly late morning, after a call from the hospital nurse, my anxiety just .....disappeared!

It was the weirdest feeling to be without it. I didn't even question it, I just enjoyed it:) And thanked God for His peace. And after things went well at my last check-up with a specialist, I felt even more free and just ready to do this thing.

Believe me, I know this isn't major surgery or anything and there are people going through so much worse out there. It's just my first surgery and my dr being "anal" (her words) with all of her anxieties didn't help me one bit this week!

So thank you for all your support! E is improving slowly and we are praying she will have a smooth day tomorrow.

If you want to know any updates, please feel free to call/text Ben or my mom. If you need the numbers, you can email me. Before 7am, that is;)

See you on the flip side!

Sometimes Life is Stinky.

So......today hasn't been the greatest day, unfortunately. Wish I could have a post with funny stories or cute pictures but instead, do you mind if I just lay it all out there for a sec? Thanks!

The "wrinkle" that I mentioned last night has turned into a wave and now my surgery will be cancelled for Friday. I am incredibly frustrated because I have been so anxious about this whole process and SO ready to get it done and move on! The podiatrist has referred me to see another specialist due to some condition she thinks I might be developing (which I disagree with) and she refuses to do surgery until it's checked out.

So I had an appointment set up for tomorrow morning (my 3rd drs appointment of the week) and the office called to "confirm" this afternoon and said the dr will not see me and didn't give a rip that everything is all set up for Friday. So I can't even get in to see him til the end of the month!

I am really frustrated with my podiatrist for not even discussing this when I saw her 3 weeks ago, when it could've been taken care of. So all this running around like a nutcase to (oh, let's count them....1,2,3.4,5 ) appointments in the past 3 weeks is all for naught.

I would really appreciate your prayers as I figure out what to do and for the timing of everything. And please pray that I do not have this condition she talked about!

And then Little Miss is sick:( She was totally fine this morning but just before today's dr appointment, she woke up from her nap crying and crying. She was up to over a 102 temp by 4pm and took 3 naps today between 11 and 5pm. She is clearly miserable and so she could use some prayers, too!

I know soon this will be nothing but an annoying memory and in the scheme of things, it's really not that big of a deal. It just stinks for now!

Trying to think about things that are true, things that are lovely, things that are pure and things that are right. Looking for the peace of God that surpasses all understanding!