Look who lost a tooth!

And one more is expected to fall in a couple more days!

One Time...

Abel is turning into a story teller. He will walk up to us and say "One time, when I was at the doctor, I saw a big huge beetle." Then walk away and assume play as usual. As soon as I hear that phrase "One time..." I perk up my ears for a great story!

Learning Tricks

I don't love everything that Afton teaches Abel. This new trick gave me lots of giggles today.

Rainy Day

We don't get too many rainy days in Colorado. So when it rains we try to go out and enjoy it!

The kids got their thirst quenched while watching our patio turn into polka dots.

Patrick and Liz Update

photo courtesy of Abel

We are getting back to life as normal...hooray! Patrick is gearing up for another busy stretch at work. We have had 4-5 nice long weekends with him and will miss that attention. If you live in NY and see some bright colored Nike magazines in a free stand, grab one. Patrick is especially pleased with that creative piece of work. Patrick has been an awesome support during my surgery and recovery. He helps me laugh when I'm frustrated, plays with the kids so hard they melt into sleep and has learned the art og grilling veggies to perfection!

I am walking now!!! With a serious gimp but still, if I want to I can walk! It so nice to feel my much atrophied quad and calf muscles hard at work again. I happy to have more freedom of mobility to play with the kids, spend a bit longer on yummy food prep and having the comfort to start working on a couple projects this week (the sit down kind!).

Abel Update

Abel is an awesome 2 year old. He has just enough enthusiasm and curiosity mingled with the appropriate amount of fear. I love that he answers questions in full sentences, has a great high pitched fake laugh, takes solid 2 hour naps, and can entertain himself with anything toy with wheels for an entire day.

Abel knows when it's time to a cuddle and will find me and throw himself at me for a hug. He really believes in the magic of kissing owies better. Abe loves being praised for his accomplishments, In fact, he has been starting the potty process on his own with no need for reward...just a solid high five and a hug.

Afton Update

I am so lucky to have Afton as my daughter. She has been so helpful to me since my surgery. She has been looking for ways to help without being asked and has really grown up in the last month. She likes to clear and rinse the dishes, prides herself on cleaning up without being asked and loves to get snacks and lunch ready herself.

Afton is a very inventive girl. She devised this game with magnets and rocks last week and called it Rock Garden with Gates. Then shed and I played I Spy with it. She spent a good 30 minutes developing this game. She always invents new games to play with Abel and loves when Abel loves her games.

And oh my goodness is she silly. Her knock knock jokes are way out in left field. Her happiness lies in making others laugh. She is so thrilled to finally be strong enough to tickle me and looks for every sneaky chance to do just that.

2 week update

WOW, it's already been 2 weeks since  my surgery.  I've made a lot of progress in the last week that has made moving around and becoming more independent  easier:

1. I stopped wearing my ginormous brace.
2. My pain decreased enough to stop taking painkillers.
3. My fat swollen leg has diminished a tiny bit, enough for me to crutch around without getting dizzy.  So I can make something to eat or pick up a few toys or throw a load of clean clothes on the floor. (All of these things take me 10 times longer though!)
4. I can bend my knee enough to get into the car, so my father-in-law took me on an out-of-house adventure yesterday.
5. I can get up and down from the floor and grass!!!  This is my favorite!
6. I can sleep on my side a little bit each night!!!  Second favorite!!
7. And I got a handicap parking permit.  Awesome.

Grandpa's in town

Afton and Abel are having so much fun with Grandpa.

  It' s been nice and hot here, so the water hose got turned on Grandpa.

Abel stayed a safe distance from the sprinkler...and Grandpa!

This is how Afton felt about Grandpa...

Turning the hose on her!

horse ranch field trip

Daddy got to accompany Afton and Abel on the horse ranch field trip today. I was so bummed to miss out of their first horsey ride :(

Laughing out loud

Abel and Afton still say the funniest things.  These are my favorites right now:

Abel: I cannot believe it!

Abel: Mommy say "activitae" (or however the spanish diego word is spelled)!  LOUDER!

Afton:  Oh, fart!

Afton: I need to take my queen nap now.

One of the neat things about being bum ridden is getting .to watch my kids interact, make funny decision and see how their brain works so hard sometimes

lesson leanred

Yesterday was a bad day.  I went in for my post-op visit and got some stitches taken out, got a good look at my knee (good thing I didn't eat lunch because it wasn't pretty) and had to bend my knee.  My doctor assured me I could bend it further, I assured him I could not.  He bent it anyway and I cried.  It was like being in the transition phase of labor, except that the pain never ever ever went away for the rest of the day!  

The good part was I got a protective bandage for my incision area which meant a shower could finally happen.  Except that when I tried to take a shower and removed all my layers of protection, the pain and pressure made me almost pass out.  And I can't think of a safe way to get into the shower anyway.  

I did manage to wash my hair in the sink (so glad I learned this skill well as one of 5 girls in a family of 6 with 1 bathroom) though.  That made me happy.

And painkillers.  I appreciate the quiet floating feeling after too much pain.  

And now I'll stop whining.

pain and protection

Right now I've got protection of 36 inches long and 5 inches thick protecting the brand new knee. And I've got mad skills: getting up and out of bed and back into it on my own, up and off the couch and today I threw away some of my own trash. I rock!

And of course the protection of my three loves! Any pain I have is dampened by watching scenes like this...

Abel sings

Abel's performance side is really blossoming.  He loves to sing songs and be applauded for his talent.  I captured a few favorites for our out of town audience:

Surgery Countdown

Having major, invasive surgery really lights a fire.  Sleep, relaxing, reading and personal time...that's all I'm going to have in 4 days (okay, the relaxing part will be narcotic induced).  I am enjoying every hectic minute of my last pain free, walkable, dinner making , laundry infused, child holding, park attending days!