Have You Seen This T?

I want this t-shirt. I need this t-shirt. I have no idea where I saw this t-shirt, and it makes me sad. Have YOU seen this t-shirt? Do tell if you have...please?

Springtime

What else would you do when your front yard is COVERED with dandelions?

Ian

Sam

Oh, and of course you chase your brother around the yard blowing dandelions at him...


And what the birds do when you build a new playscape in "their" yard:

Happy Spring!

Awwww, MAN!

As Ian would say, AWWWW, MAN! It was one of those doctor's appointments. I got my last drain out (YEA!) but was told I couldn't drive until the 7th of May. The doctor even pulled out a calendar to see which date would work for her. Bummer. She said it was because I had a hernia repaired, not because of the rest of the surgery, and she literally doesn't want me to bust a gut (he he he). So, it was one of those Awwwww, man appointments. At least I got the drain out and am healing up. Not to get all of these steri-strips off - that's not a fun thought but has to be done soon - very soon. At least the nurse gave me the option of doing it at home in a shower (no baths for...a long while...sob) before she started pulling them all off. Makes my skin crawl to even think about it, so I'd like to do it in the comfort of my own home, thank you very much! So, back to the drawing board as far as resuming my daily routine. Oh, well, tomorrow's another day!

IT'S A NEW BRA!!!

I bought my first new bra today. Actually, it's a sports bra, so I'm not really sure if it counts, but it sets me free from that nasty velcro strapped, adjustable surgical bra, size 5. Yeah, it simply said Size 5 on it. I guess they do that so you aren't completely freaked out at what size you are after surgery.

Anyway, I'm officially an XL now. I haven't fit into a bra this small since high school. I'm so excited that I can wear this! It's a racer back bra, and I don't know that I've ever worn one of these (at least as far back as I can remember). It's so much more comfortable than the surgical bra - is very soft and snug. Best part is that it keeps my new little friends happy. I bought three - grey, black, and white. Yeah, not very adventurous as Tom said, but hey, baby steps man, baby steps. I'll go after that bright teal, yellow, and whatever other color after I want to take them out for a spin. For now I just need a place to tuck my new friends away - someplace that they feel happy.

Tomorrow hopefully I'll get my last drain out. It's so itchy now and while I'm still draining (yeah, kinda gross there - terribly sorry) it really needs to come out. So, I'll call tomorrow and hopefully will have good news to report. They've done a great job but it's time to go.

Otherwise, I'm cutting down on pain meds. Only taking Tylenol now - and one Percocet at night to help get settled for bed. Otherwise I mostly feel really sore (all over though) like I exercised way too much. The incisions are itchy at points and will continue to be, but the pain levels drop each day. I'm still extremely weak - you don't realize how many things you use those abdominals for. I'm going to be so much nicer to them now that I've had them all fixed up.

So, it's off to bed for me now - the Percocet is doing it's job so I can lie down. Tomorrow we're off to the park, and it should be another beautiful day here!

So much out of place

So on top of having my insides all in different places, my calendar in a different place, and my living space in a different place (well, confined to a single floor in my house), my bookmarks list is also all in a different place. This is not a big deal, but a slightly disconcerting thing. I imported all my bookmarks into Internet Explorer - my Firefox is misbehaving since my computer is misbehaving and it was driving me nuts. So, I had to switch browsers (haven't mentioned it here but I HATE IE) in order NOT to drive myself completely nutso. Again, not a big deal, but the bookmarks are all in a different order, and half of the blogs I read are called something else now. Weird, but true. I had them in a certain order in which I checked them - those I check most frequently at the top, and so on down the list. But now I can't even remember which ones I read most often (that might be the drugs though) and so today I didn't even open up a single blog - and today was the first day I felt up to it. So, crawling back onto my couch, I leave the reading of the blogs for another day.

I'm a little behind on pictures, but here's a post-op picture, a happy picture, a well medicated picture, before I realized that the person in the other half of the room was going to have an all night party in her bed picture. Big smiles from me - no pain there, and I'm sure I was asleep three seconds after the picture was taken. Until the irritating folks next to me started their big gathering at 8ish (I'm now demanding a private room - didn't even think to ask for one this time) I was all happy and dozing. Poor Tom even had to come all the way back to the hospital (well, it's like 8 minutes from our house) to rescue me from these people and demand more pain meds - any later pics you might see are me growling at the nasty night nurse.

So, enjoy the smiling Suzie - she's still here and healing up at a good pace. Even cut my pain meds in half today - Woo hoo! (Although they are good pills...) So enjoy the picture!

My Grand Adventure Day 5

The human body is an amazing thing. I'm five days out from major surgery and am sitting here at home, typing on a computer (it's a laptop and I'm heavily drugged and this most likely will be all I do today, but still!). The surgery went very well. The surgeon even repaired a hernia left from when I had my gall bladder out 6 years ago (that guy really was a butcher!) and did a bang up job on my top and bottom (not the actual bottom - that's still all here). I'm feeling a bit like I was hit by a truck, but thankfully Patti and Henry are here to do basically everything that I would normally be doing, including child wrangling, so we're in good shape. I'm not allowed to do much of anything, including standing up straight, but I was released yesterday to take a show, which I'll do tonight. I'm also still not allowed (nor in any shape to) drive, climb stairs, or lift more than about 5 lbs. So, I'm healing up and feeling very good about the whole thing. The first two days were quite painful, and each day since has gotten a little better.

Considering I went from a size 40FF to a large B / small C cup (not sure what size just yet) the boys are TINY! They are so cute and perky now - it's WILD! I've never been able to see the bottom of them without lifting them up, and now I can. It's such an odd sensation. And I could go on about these guys forever...

But for now I'll leave it at this so I can sleep some more. I have the before picture and will get some others up very soon so you guys can see where I started from. Then, in a few more weeks after the rest of the drains and bandages come off (two drains out yesterday - two more out probably next week) I'll get some after pics. The swelling will take up to a year to settle as will my new perky guys, but you can get the gist from clothed pictures!

My Grand Adventure - Day 1

So I'm off on my grand adventure. I'll get the "before" pics posted here in a few days - too short on time now. But, I'm so excited and not a bit nervous (must be that I don't quite know what I'm in for - HAH!). So, I'll see you back here in a few days hopefully! Wish me luck!

Three days and counting!

As I sit here with my bra straps digging into my sides, I wonder what it will be like after my reduction surgery on Thursday. I also sit here thinking of all the things that I need to do. HAH! That's a list too long to go into, but it has brought up a few curious things. I need to take "before" pictures - clothed and unclothed. that's something I never thought I'd do. I do now have a Will and an Advanced Medical Directive, so that part is done (and we've needed that for a while). We've paid for most of the surgery - still have to get the anesthesiologist covered, but that's the last of it. Let's see - have all my post-op meds, Tom's folks are on their way to help with the kids, and I'm almost ready to teach my class tomorrow night. Need to do a few more loads of laundry, but otherwise I think that's it!

So, now I can get excited about this thing! I will get rid of the FF part of me, as well as all the extra that the kiddos "contributed" to my belly. I can stop wearing bras designed for women MUCH larger than me, as well as pants designed for women much larger than me. I wear pants four or five sizes larger than I need because I can't squish all that extra belly into the size that fits my legs and waist. My pants hang down now, so I look like I don't know how to dress (well, I don't, but that's a different story!). In about two months from now I should be able to walk (upright hopefully by then!) into a regular store and purchase regular sized clothing. As for the bras, I've only purchased bras from a specialty store - even had to order them from Texas after we moved here. I should be able to walk into any department store and buy a bra that fits. No more special ordering or $55 bras (unless they are very cute!)

So, wish me luck in getting the laundry done and the pictures taken. hopefully the class tomorrow will go quickly, and then Wednesday can be spent being excited. Tom's going to be in Florida Tues - Wed, so he'll avoid that over-caffeinated Suzie (without caffeine!) until he gets back Wed PM. And then keep me in your thoughts that all goes well and that I recover quickly. I'll get the pictures all up together once I am on the path to recovery and standing upright.

I'll also get some Easter pictures up tomorrow - we had snow on Friday and it's been unseasonably cold this Easter. But, Aunt Sue and my Dad were here, so it was a blast.

Things I miss about Texas

I realized after we moved to the DC area that things here were very different. While Virginia has a TON to offer, there were certainly some things that I missed about Texas. I was in Texas a week or two ago and snapped a few pictures of some of those things.

Taco Cabana's quesadilla's fajitas, and chips and quesoSonic's drinks, and crushed iceDo-it-yourself car washes

Wide open spaces on well traveled roads

Hobby Lobby Craft Stores

Walmart Supercenters

Fields of Bluebonnets, bunches on the sides of the roads

HEB Grocery Stores

and last but not least, good buddies

Not the best painter...

I am certainly not a Monet or a Picasso. Nor am I Joe's Painting service. In fact, I'm on the blacklist - those folks who shouldn't be painting at all. I'll show you an example...or two...or three.

So this was a little oops. Not terrible, just a little bump off of the edge. I did tape here, but not really sure what happened. O.K. That we can fix. Let's take a look at the next one.


Now, this one is also a little oops. I was getting the wall painted and the roller slipped a bit. Again, not a big deal, easily corrected. Well, this wasn't the only ceiling oops - there's more...

This one is a bit more obvious as it's right on the corner opposite the door when you walk in the room. It pretty much announces itself to anyone coming in - "HEY - LOOK AT ME! I'M A PURPLE PAINT SPOT ON THE CEILING!" Sad part is - this spot is all of 24" from the spot in the previous picture. Maybe I can claim that was the last corner I did and call them tired mistakes. Let's see what's left:
Yeah. This has nothing to do with being tired. This is all about a bad tape job. I guess that my painting technique itself isn't the problem, but my tape job is. Well, looking at the picture it may be both. Geez. I not only leaked under the tape, but I also apparently went right over the top as well. I really dig the purple but now I need some white to cover up these spots. They are all waaaaay too obvious to ignore, and since it is purple on white, it speaks to me whenever I enter the room.

So, like I said above, I'm on the banned list...until the spirit moves me to paint another room. Heeeyyyyy...wouldn't the living room look nice in sand?

Wild Hair Day

Max's school had crazy hair day last week so we did what we could on short notice. Mom's hair products to the rescue! Here he is in all his spikey haired glory!

kinda sassy...just sorta...

Ever have one of those days where things are a little sideways, where you feel off center, but not really? Well, I'm having one of those days today. It was a fantastic day all the way around and now I'm kind of wondering if someone gave me caffeinated coffee (hit Starbuck's TWICE today - will explain). Can you imagine the damage that would do? It's been YEARS since I had a big huge swig of caffeine, so you can only imagine.

Anyway, took the little guys to see Diego in DC today. Loads of fun and got to see some old friends from Texas. The boys obliged me and held up their Baby Jaguar masks, but then promptly handed them back and went about the business of watching the show. We hit up McD's after and then took the Metro back home, where the boys promptly fell asleep. Then, we had to hang out at the mall for an hour or so, so we grabbed some snacks then headed up to the new ice rink. There was someone skating, so the little boys got to see what ice skating was all about. Funny thing - they said that it looked like skateboarding, but that you couldn't plop on the board on your belly. Not sure they got the whole cold ice part or the skates part, but they did see the nice lady leaving marks on the ground - and they weren't so pleased with that.

On the way home (Tom left work early as he's already worked a full week this week) my smart ass hubby was making fun of my wanting to take pictures of all the pretty lilies in the median. He was waving his hands thinking I was actually going to take a picture driving 45 mph two lanes away from the flowers. So, I took that picture, and these are the pretty lilies!

Then tonight after dinner Max asked me to come down and dance with the three of them. I bounced, spun, and wiggled until I had no dance left in me. Oh how dancing has changed since the 1980's...well, maybe not. Max was doing his best break dancing imitation, and a pretty fine job of it I might add! Then I headed off to Starbucks (second time today - we hit SB up this morning while we were killing time so we didn't get on the Metro in the middle of the rush) to plan the MOMS Club activities for the next two months. Met a very nice lady with a four year old and an infant who was there to help me get this thing planned out. Might have a playdate there - she seemed really nice and her kiddos are also both boys.

So, all in all a pretty decent day. Not sure where the sassy came from, but my off center kind of day was a good one!

Remember Dark Angel?

So I was sitting here checking my e-mail while watching TV and had a sudden minute of panic. Did I name my first born son after a TV character??? Oh, no. That's not good. I was watching Dark Angel on the Sci Fi Channel. Dark Angel was one of my favorite TV shows several years ago, and while it was only on for two seasons, I really enjoyed watching it and followed the story pretty closely. Unfortunately they canceled it before they finished the story and I was bummed. Jessica Alba played the lead character - Max, and thus you see my panic. Which came first - TV Max, or my Max? They both showed up around the same time, but could I have actually named my kid after a TV character?

I hopped online to see if the show came on BEFORE or AFTER my Max was born. A big WHEW here...it didn't start until October 2000, so Max was NOT named after Miss Jessica Alba! He he he...that would be a bit embarrassing. Talk about a major faux pas!

On a celebratory note, Sam is officially out of Pull Ups! Yea! Woo Hoo! Yee Haw! We are DONE DONE DONE with diapers! He actually has been out of them for a while, but still wanted to wear them at night and since we subscribe to the lazy parent potty training school of thought, we let him. But, this past weekend he went three nights without a diaper and no accidents. And, he's been Pull Up free since and still no accidents! Yea!

happy dance happy dance happy dance

This is for you Sam...

Mom MY Ride!

This is so scary true...and such a Zima ad. I'd pack Guinness if it were MY van, but you HAVE to see this and you'll know EXACTLY what the inside of my van looks like...minus the milk - that's just gross. (Thanks Susan!)

JCPenney Wins

I really REALLY dig these commercials. JCPenney just wins on this one. The message is true - Every Day Counts...



I'm still searching for the longer one where the little man hands the teacher the bug jar and it says "It's the thought that counts." If you see it online anywhere do let me know so I can grab it.

Oh how things have changed...

While out running errands yesterday I took Ian and Sam to Silver Diner for lunch. Silver Diner is just that - a diner - old style. It has a jukebox, serves up these big shakes, and has everything from burgers to meatloaf to food so gross that I won't even mention it. They also serve beer and I'm not sure how many of the old diners did that. But I digress. There are murals all over the walls inside, including one of an old style Car Hop. You know - the kind with the roller skates and short skirt. Ian saw that and yelled out "HEELY'S!" I nearly fell over laughing. She was wearing roller skates and he had no idea what they were, yet he knows what Heely's are. For those not in the know, they are these sneakers that have wheels on the bottom. Here are a few pics:

The come in various colors and are not only for boys, but also for girls and apparently grown ups. Although, I've honestly never seen one on anyone over about 13 years old. Not sure that this craze has caught on in the high school crowd. And it is a craze. Our elementary school sent home a note a few weeks ago saying that you must remove the wheels from the shoe or you would be sent home. Apparently they are either disruptive in school, or kids were getting run over. Just my guesses, nothing more. I've seen kids zipping around the mall, the grocery store, and anywhere else with a flat surface with these things on. You are basically self propelled, so kids really dig these shoes. Max has asked for them several times and I tell him "No." Then I mutter under my breath "Yeah, Over my dead body." Of course, now that I've said that out loud to someone other than Tom, I'm most likely going to eat those words very soon - I'm just sure of that. Maybe they will fade away or become uncool before Max really REALLY wants to get them. Oh geez - there's also Ian and Sam, who both obviously know what they are. Man am I in trouble...

Got Kids?

Every once in a while I see something that sucks me right back in to wanting kids. These aren't things like pictures of cute kids which do it pretty much all the time, but the kids' accessories. I mean things like Sippy Cups, blankets, toys, cool new car seats or strollers (yes, that too draws me in - gotta love technological advances that make things look so much cooler and work so much better today than back when...). So anyway I was reading this cool blog that I really enjoy and saw this cute little ad out of the corner of my eye:I just had to click on it! And what did I find: COW PRINT ONESIES! O.K. So my mom made the boys some terrifically cute tie dyed onesies when all three were little. They also got some darling animal print ones from her, as well as a cute stash from Gerber. But these take the cake. You have to admit - kids or not kids, these things are ADORABLE. They not only have cow print, but also Camo prints and Fruits and Veggie Bibs! Here are the pics, but if you have any kids or know of any kids, go check this site out. I can't WAIT until someone has a baby that I can get these for!!!! Hmmm...do you think my 4 year old could squeeze into that cute cow print onesie? Nah....then again...

Happy St. Patty's Day? HUH?

So St. Patrick's Day came and went and I didn't even notice. I am so falling down on my job as far as exposing these three little critters to all the coolness that are the holidays that I was exposed to when I was a kid.

So, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, this post is green. Yeah, that's it for this year - take it or leave it...two days late and all. I do have a "Welcome" sign hanging on the front door that is all shamrocks, and my signature on my e-mail was a St. Patrick's Day so I guess I didn't completely blow it. And Max did make a Shamrock hat at school that he wore home on Friday. But, no green cookies, no green clothes and no pinching (not a bad thing to leave out, but still.).

So, watch out next holiday, whatever you are! I think that Easter is up next, so I'm all OVER that one!

I'm going to leave you with a few Shamrock pictures...yes, they really all are "shamrocks..."

Goodbye Callie

I had to put my cat down today. Callie has been with me longer than Tom or the boys. He's survived all kinds of weird health stuff, moved from Florida to Texas to Virginia, escaped and was found, and made a few friends along the way. Those friends are missing him terribly and having a hard time with his exit. Max was asking all kinds of questions about what happened to Callie (he was napping when I took Callie to the vet - I didn't expect not to bring him home). I was trying to be truthful, but explain delicately without leading him to believe that I killed his cat, how uncomfortable Callie was and how much better off he is now. I told him that we'd make a Callie scrapbook tomorrow and he could include anything that he and his brothers wanted. They are all kind of sad, as we all are, but Callie was 13 years old and he lived a long happy life.

The past few days Callie was having some difficulty, and stopped eating over the past .two days. Because he was diabetic (this is the cat that got out the week that we moved and went missing for five days) and I had a bad feeling, I took him to the Cat ER this afternoon. They told me that his insides were filled with infected fluid (sorry to be gross here). There was a lot they could do, but none of it would make him more comfortable, and none of it had a positive outcome. So, I had to make the tough decision to put him down. While my heart is broken, I know that he has been very uncomfortable the past few days and this certainly would help him out. Also, we really have considered the past few weeks "Bonus Weeks" as we didn't think that we'd actually find him after he escaped when we moved - cats aren't often found when they wander off - especially inside cats who have no idea where they live, or are diabetic and are without their insulin. So, we were glad to have these past two months with him, and certainly the past 13 years.

Callie - we'll miss you...

They call them cartveyors

Walmart has them, so does Bed Bath and Beyond, IKEA, and many many places over in Europe. We ran across our very first cart escalator at Target in Springfield, Virginia. After determining that it was functioning, briefly deciding that it might be faster to use than the elevator, and grossly underestimating the "cool" factor, I decided to toss my cart on there and see where it went. The boys weer just about beside themselves after that. The cart full of stuff rode it's own little escalator down from the second to t e first floor of a Target attached to the Springfield Mall. There are signs posted warning you not to send your kiddos in the cart, or to hang stuff over the edge, but otherwise the cart really can be loaded down with stuff. The cart went slightly slower than us, so we made it down first to retrieve the cart before it was ejected and ran over some poor soul (not very likely, but an interesting thought). Then, the boys immediately wanted to go back upstairs, and down, and back up - you get the drift. They also came home and told Max and Daddy all about it, and of course we had to take them too. Now the cart escalator is the big draw when I need to drag the boys to Target. The conversation goes something like this:

"Come on guys, time to go to Target."
"NOIDON'TWANNAGOTOTARGET!"
"But we're going to the Target with the cool cart escalator."
Silence.
Pitter patter of little feet.
"Hurry up MOMMY! Let's go!"

So, the cart escalator not only move my good from floor to floor (and allows stores like T and W to move into locations otherwise space prohibited) but it also moves my children. Can't beat that...