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Friday Favorites: Colin and his nose

Oh, Colin.

I could just eat you up.

I love your little baby belly, thrust forward at all times. You stomp around the house like a herd of elephants, walking with such purpose and noise.

You like to make people laugh, especially your brother. Usually that means saying naughty words that you know you are not suppose to say. It is a toss up of "poopy butt, pee pee and shut up". You do not understand the context of "shut up!", but you know you are not suppose to say it...so you do. It sounds like a little valley girl with attitude when you say it though. More like "Shuuu UHhhh" than the distinct "Shut Up".

Your nose has been running  a lot lately. Probably some allergy going on outside. With that little nose just a runnin', it become the battle a speed. Who can reach it first. Mom, with her clean, white, soft kleenex or you, with the entire inside of your palm.

You usually win. It  usually goes something like this: Nose starts to run. One sniffle. Mom jumps up to get the kleenex and yells, " Colin. Let Mommy wipe it!" You immediately take the inside of your palm, and rub your nose and entire face as fast and as hard as your can. It effectively spreads the snot all over your entire face in a thin layer. Problem solved. No more runny nose.

Than, if Mom doesn't catch it, it dries. In a nice, scale-like pattern all over your face.

It is quite disgusting actually.

But I can't help but love that kid for it.

It is just so unashamedly, unabashedly BOY. ALL BOY.

Why stop playing to wipe your nose with a kleenex when you have a perfectly useful palm?

So, Colin and his cute, although somewhat runny, nose is my favorite.

I hope you have a spectacular LONG weekend. I am just happy to have Ryan for an extra day!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Victory!

 google

We are still engaging in the battle of post-op recovery over here, but there are some small victories that have been made. 

So, instead of concentrating on the 5+ weeks to go, let's celebrate some small but gaining victories!

~ Successfully putting on mascara and lipstick...in the same day.

~ Mastering the diaper change on the ottoman. High enough that I do not have to bend over (which is hard and painful), low enough that Colin can climb up on his own. Win. (I promise I will disinfect it before anyone comes over to my house!)

~ Colin can now climb OUT of his crib. He has done it twice now. First nap, than in the morning. He is SUPER proud of himself. The real test will come during this next nap time. He MUST nap.

~ I cooked dinner. Everyone was happy about that.

~ I went most of the day with out Norcco (a Vicodin-like pain reliever). The jury is still out if that is a win or a set back. Not feeling drowsy and slightly nauseous is a win, end of the day pain is a set back.

~ Since being confined to my room/bed, I have had LOTS of Internet browsing time. Jack's birthday party is planned and mostly bought...as well as a few super coupon/free shipping items for mom. ;)

~ Superman Jack defeated Bad Guy Colin. No tears were shed in the process. Both parties remained friends.

So, we will continue to plod through this battle, gaining victories as they come, as well as a few set backs here and there.

We will overcome!

Awkward and Awesome Thursday : Post- Op

Yesterday I had surgery (as mentioned here)

Today I am in bed.

This stuff is no joke.

Anesthesia makes you out to be liar. A big one.

Two hours after I had open abdominal surgery, I slid out of the bed, walked right down the hall to the bathroom, did my business unassisted and walked right back. Ryan told me he was impressed at how well I was walking and moving around. I told the nurse this was a piece of cake compared to having babies.

Than the anesthesia wore off.

And I was a liar. Cause now I walk like an old hunched lady.

Jack keeps asking me why I walk so funny.

Awesome. And awkward.

So here is my lovely post-op awesome and awkward for your Thursday.

Awkward:

~ The giant purple gowns that BLOW UP. Seriously. They hook up this tube to the bottom of the gowns and you inflate. It is suppose to warm you up, but I got hot and turned it off...plus it was bugging me how blown up my already over-sized gown was getting.

~ Iodine. ALL over your body. In places that were no where close to being cut open.

~ Pain medicine. It always makes me feel so loopy AND nauseous.

~ Having your adorable 22 month old mock you, by holding his little belly and hunching over and shuffling his feet while saying"Ouchie belly? Ouchie belly?"

~ The failure to have the ability to pick up things...like your pants on the floor...so you just forgo them.

~ Forgetting to ice your incision...till you notice it is the size of a large softball.

Awesome:

~ My husband. He is taking amazing care of me AND the boys.

~ My cute little red and white striped pillow from the hospital. It is the perfect size to press to my stomach when doing any movement and it really does help. Plus it is cute.

~ Colin calling out to me from the hallway, "Love you mommy, feel better mommy. Love you!"

~ Mashed potatoes. Plain bread. Chicken noodle soup. All awesome right now.

~ Leaving a hospital in a wheel chair and NOT looking 7 months pregnant or with an extra 30 lbs of baby weight to lose.

~ My husband started a blog. It is awesome. You should read it. ryanfedell.com. (It is way better than this one, I can guarantee you that!)

So thanks for all the well wishes and prayers coming my way. So far, we are handling it well and I am trying to rest up as much as possible. I was told I can't lift more than 10 lbs for 6 weeks...so this could get interesting...

* awkward and awesome Thursday originated with the Daybook,

I Do It!

Colin's vocabulary has been taking off lately.

It seems like every day he is saying new words, putting new sentences together.

It is such a fun stage.

He knows most of the superheros. He can sing parts of the 1967 Spider-man theme song and he has been in time out for potty talk already. (All of this is blamed highly on his older brother)

But his favorite line right now is " I do it!" 

Time to get into his high chair?  " I do it!"

Opening doors, putting on shoes and socks, wiping his face, buckling him into his car seat? " I do it! I do it! I do it!"

My personal favorite? When it is time to change his diaper. "I do it! I do it!"

Obviously, he can not change himself. So the next best bet to get out of that horrendous diaper change is call for the other parent. Ryan has been at work for hours, Colin yells " Daddy do it! Daddy do it!" It is the weekend and Ryan is changing him, he starts yelling, "Mommy do it! Mommy do it!" Tricky, that little one.

So while life is a ever moving roller-coaster with that little man, I would not change it for a minute.

No matter how many times I hear " I DO IT!"

And that is a lot.

* I did want to thank Andrea over at the Worley House for giving me the Liebster award. She was gracious enough to give it to me a week or so ago, but life and prepping for surgery and the after effects left me quiet busy. SO. Thanks, Andrea. Since I am so behind, I am just going to tag all those who blog and are under 200 follower. Consider yourself Liebster-ized!*

5 pounds

 We picked strawberries for the first time this weekend.

5 pounds worth to be exact.

They lasted 2 days in our house.

The lady at the farm told us that one bucket would be enough, that it was more than people thought.

She obviously did not know what strawberry eating little monsters I have.

We should have gotten two buckets.

One for more strawberries.

Two for less pulling/screaming/fighting over the bucket.

Next time, I am trusting my mom instincts.

Two buckets. 10 pounds.

Bring it.

Awkward and Awesome Thursday: Mostly Awkward

Guys.

So... I have spent the last two Wednesdays at the doctors.

Awkward, I know.

Does anyone else get really nervous about going to the doctor, like you are in trouble, even though you are a healthy human being who did nothing to be in trouble about? I do. It's weird.

So, yeah.

In two weeks I get to go back to the doctors. To have surgery.

Open Ventral Hernia Repair surgery to be exact.

Awkward.

Since I grow to the size of a bus while pregnant. ( I am not over-exaggerating), my stomach muscles have been pulled to smithereens from both pregnancies. After I had Colin I was not allowed to do more than walking for exercise for the first 6 months.  Any stretching, pulling or movement could easily tear at my stomach and cause hernias. Let me tell ya, that is not what a get- this-flabby-baby-weight-off me woman wants to hear. But I obeyed and waited a good 9 months before I did anything too dramatic. I started really slow...like super slow  postpartum videos slow. I was trying to prevent any type of surgery/hernia. So I sucked it up and slowly plodded my way along the road to exercise.

Well, a few months or so ago, I was pilating and yogaing my way right along and noticed that my stomach was swelling up, not slimming down. Awesome.

Than it started to hurt beyond sore muscles hurt.

And I was stretching backwards and happen to look down at my stomach...there was a nice little mound just sticking right out. Wonderful.

I know. This is super awkward and no one will read any farther. That is fine. I find it awkward, as well.

Here's the kicker. We want to have another little one. And I don't want two bulges on my stomach. It has to be repaired regardless.

And now I get to do outpatient surgery. It is really not a super huge deal.  There are only two main issues. The first and most dramatic. I can't pick up or carry Colin for 6 weeks. This is going to be tough. I will probably have to splint my stomach with a special binder to get him out of his crib...but pray it goes well. He loves his momma and will NOT be happy that I can just pick him up at whim.

The second one is not so bad. I can't exercise for 6 weeks beyond moderate walking. I may be able to get on an elliptical towards the last few weeks, but I will have to start slowly. So much for summer clothes season :/.

Not awkward enough for you?

Than here are a few more:

Awkward:
~ Wearing my broken sunglasses through the bank drive-through. The stem snapped off the left side but I can still balance them on my nose. Obviously
 my stem-less, crooked sunglasses side faced the male teller.

~ Being stuck in a small, confined waiting room with an older gentleman who wore so much cologne I had to hold my breathe. It gave me that instant walked-into-yankee-candle-smell-overload headache.

~ Colin has broken into our garage and sprayed himself in the face with my Oxy stain remover...twice.

~ Blue paper robes.

~  Ryan has laryngitis. It's like I am single parenting.


Awesome:
~ Morning coffee

~Reading books on my phone, especially when waiting hours in waiting rooms...

~ Strawberry picking plans

~ Sticky kisses and hugs

~ "You're the best mom ever, Mom."

And two little boys running down hallways, decked in masked and capes. They are my favorite awesome. Ever.


A and A is an original feature from The Daybook.