Wet & Windy Halloween

Despite the fact it was wet and windy, Wm said he had the best Halloween ever!  He and a friend tore it up and were out from start to finish.  Then it was off to Mimi's for the good post-trick or treating special Wm candy!

Ninja

Blue Mouth

Very Blue Mouth

Wm's pumpkin

Steve works AGAIN this weekend.  But it is his last tournament until spring.  So I have been trying to keep the whining to a minimum.  I am BEAT after my first week back at work, so I plan to spend most of my weekend napping anyway.  Wm will be thrilled...that's more iPadin' for him!

Chocolate

The other day, while Steve was leaving to run to the grocery store, I asked him to pick me up some dark chocolate that I could eat a square of after dinner to satisfy my sweet tooth without eating a cake.  He just picked up a bar that was on sale without much thought.  But it was SO GOOD.  When we went to the store today, I made sure to get another one.  Wm also loves chocolate and peppermint, so I told him if he ate a good dinner I'd give him a couple squares.  After he ate it, he said this:

THAT WAS THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER TASTED.  I WISH THE WORLD WAS MADE OF IT SO I COULD EAT THE ENTIRE PLANET.

Wm has clearly inherited my sophisticated chocolate palate.

Wm's new love

Pumpkins!

We carved pumpkins this weekend on a cold and very windy day.  We were freezing, but the show must go on!  Wm is really excited to show off his ninja costume at his school Halloween party.  And go trick or treating!  

Master Carver

Daddy takes over...

I decided that our dining room was bland while I laid around on the couch staring at it for two weeks.  So I devised a plan to spice it up and Steve made it happen this weekend.  I love it!!!!

Fancy painted chairs

While I was mostly incapacitated and Steve was running around trying to do everything himself, I called a cleaning lady and got an estimate (very reasonable!!) thinking we'd just have her come in that once and TCB due to crazy circumstances.  She came Friday - and oh.my.god was it awesome.  She did an AMAZING job.  Steve was EXCITED not to have to clean at all.  So, she's hired.  She's going to come in once a month and do a super clean.  Then we just have to do maintenance cleaning.  YESSSSS.  This will be really good, too, since Steve is ramping up at work and taking over Soccer First - and working way more hours.  

I return to work tomorrow.  I am insanely thrilled to be going back.  I have gotten a bunch of emails and I am returning to a hot mess at work...but I don't care.  I miss my students and my BME peeps.  It was good to have enough time off work to realize how much I love what I do!  This weekend is sort of crazy with prep to get back into the swing of things, but I'm just happy to be out and about again!

Treats

Wm got treats from Boo at the Zoo and he has been working his way through them for desserts.  He said two funny things this evening after dinner...

Me: Do you want a pixie stick for dessert?
Wm: I tried one and a pixie stick is nothing but a straw filled with sugar.  Ew.  Why would I want that?
Me: Soooo...should I just throw them away?
Wm: Yes.
Me: OK - do you want a Twizzler?
Wm: Yeah!
Me: Ohhh, can I have one?
Wm: Sure, I have a million.
Me: Actually, you have 2 left.  So if I have one and you have one, they'll be gone.
Wm: You can still have one.  I am proud to share.

Cutest ever, right?

I am definitely on the mend!  I made my first solo trip today to check out the new local/organic store in The Ville.  I only went to pick up soap and was back in 15 minutes, but it seemed like an expedition! Feeling better every day!!  My awesome co-workers sent me a gift card for $100 of Cafe Courier!!  Best co-workers ever!  I think Steve may be happier than I am since he did 100% of the cooking last week and is now doing about 50% of the cooking (and he is used to doing 3% of the cooking). Suzanne is coming over for lunch tomorrow and I am super pumped to have some actual conversation (since Mimi left, I have only had Steve to talk to and talking to him doesn't really count as a "conversation" - Mel came over yesterday and I didn't let her leave for 3 hours).  Then, Thursday, I am going for My Big Outing: to get my hair cut! Wheeeee!

Zoooooo!

Steve works all weekend (he is BEAT!)  So, despite the fact that it was very cold and very rainy, Mimi took Wm to Boo at the Zoo!  He wore his new little winter half boots and declared them warm, comfy, and dry.  Success!  He also had, possibly, the best time imaginable.  He has talked of little else since returning home.  It was quite the adventure!!!  And, of course, I really appreciated a bit of time to rest up while Steve was at work (and not having to cook Wm's lunch!)  Now Mimi is off to Delaware and we will all have to find a way to carry on!  Guy is taking Wm to play disc golf tomorrow morning and Steve is only working a half day, so it would be OK.  But we'll still miss Mimi!!

Bag o' candy clutched in his frozen hand

Healing

Well, the surgery is over!  But lots of stuff sure did not go according to plan...

- I did not have a gremlin after all.  I had an endometrioma.  Basically, a super duuuuper huge blood-filled cyst (like softball size) that was from some pretty intense endometriosis.  It involved more "clean up" than expected, making my recovery rougher than expected.

- After coming home from the hospital, at about 7:30 that night, I realized I was unable to go potty on my own and had to go to the ER.  Steve and I were there until 3:30am.  After that, I was admitted to the hospital and stayed there that night and Saturday.  At least I had a good view from my room:

The Shoe!  It was all lit up at night!

- The day after I got home, I developed a UTI (probably from all the catheter business).

I am finally feeling better and on the mend!!  The general anesthesia really hit me hard, hard, hard.  I have been crazy nauseous for days and just worn down.  No fun!!!  My goal now is to find a way to make sure the endometriosis stays under control so that the cyst does not return someplace else!

I seriously could not have made it through the last few days with A LOT of help from a lot of different people.  But, there is no one who has done more for me than my mom.  Words cannot even express my gratitude.  Being at our front door in 5 minutes so Steve could take me to the ER; entertaining Wm, keeping him at her place overnight, keeping him feeling safe and calm; bringing me food; picking up things at the pharmacy; and, basically, being a lifesaver!!!!!  There have also been so many other amazing things, I can't even list them all.  Most surprising was a GORGEOUS bouquet of flowers delivered from Steve's boss!!  I have never even met him!  Stuff like this is no fun, but it always reminds me how amazing people are.  And I am so so so lucky to have such awesome people in my life!

Mimi took Wm to the park to see this awesome stone dude

Mimi also took Wm and got him an AMAZING Halloween costume!

Toes painted with sparkly polish in the care package Jess sent!

The flowers from Steve's boss!

Climbing

Daredevil in action...

Mud Monster

Wm likes to play on the playground with his groupies after school every day.  Today his game apparently involved leaping into a pit filled with mud.  You don't get the full effect from the picture...but he was COVERED in mud.  Boys will be boys...

Wm has the sniffles, which he is doing is damnedest to infect me with.  I am taking every supplement known to man to stay healthy for my surgery Friday! 

Daredevil

Every day when I pick up Wm from a school, a gaggle of 5-6 little girls follow him out.  Wm then jumps off high things, climbs tress, and does other odd things while they clap, oooh and ahhh, and call him "Daredevil."  Wm, of course, eats this up and swaggers around the playground showing off.  They are his groupies and have now started collecting things he touches.  The best part of this entire thing is that every single one of the girls is at least a head taller than Wm. And, of course, there is the fact that "Daredevil" is afraid of:

- water

- thunderstorms

- the dark

- being a on a different level of the house from Steve and I

- heights (unless he is jumping from them)

- the possibility of a house fire

- kidnappers

- and pretty much everything else in existence

My surgery has been scheduled!  I go in on Oct 11 to have the gremlin removed.  My doctor is confident she can do it laparoscopically, so I should only have a 2 week recovery time and no overnight in the hospital, which is good!! However, my doctor is being a real pill about taking out all my lady parts and insists on leaving my other healthy ovary and uterus where they are since they are in good shape.  I was briefly happy with the fact I thought I would only have periods half as often with one ovary, but then I googled it and discovered the one dumb ovary just takes over for 2 and I won't notice any physiological changes with having only one ovary. I told her I'm not using them and they are just a nuisance, but she claims I'll be sorry not to have the hormones and she won't pull out healthy organs.  What am I paying her for?!?