TTT: Season 3, Episode 17

I always feel silly titling my post with "TTT" when it's not Thursday. It's Sunday. And only for an hour more, at that. And this week, it feel like I just have lots of little tidbits. So let's go with Six Sunday Shorts for a change.

- Recovery from my surgery was way easier than expected. I had the gallbladder removed on a Thursday and wasn't even taking Motrin by the following Wednesday. If one of the kiddos accidentally bumps one of my "boo-boos," it still hurts a bit, but otherwise, nothing. And the scars look great! Not that anyone is going to be seeing my belly any time soon. ;)

- My etsy shop is out of control. I need an employee. For real. Can someone who knows how to sew and happens to have five or six free hours per week just fall out of the sky and land on my porch? Ok, I'll take three or four. Just anything, at this point! When I try to slow it down by not taking orders, I'm swamped with emails asking when the shop will be taking orders again. Let me just say, my shop IS a huge blessing for us. And I LOVE doing it. LOVE it. I've just reached another "time to restructure" point.

- My mom told me that she thinks I'm too hard on myself. Instead of thinking "No, not me," for the first time ever I thought "Ya think!?!" Hi, my name is Laura and I'm a Type A Perfectionist Over-Achiever and somehow in my mind, though it all has to be perfect, I find a way to believe that I'm failing at everything. Just keeping it crazy and irrational, people!

- We are coming up on the two year anniversary of moving in to our house. In some aspects, it still feels like we're not completely moved in. Or that it's not totally ours. I don't see how military families do it...moving every two or so years. Does any place ever feel like home!?! Back on track. Other aspects of our house are definitely feeling their two-years-worth of being lived in. Like the filthy baseboards that haven't be cleaned. In two years. Or the blinds that get dusted with the feather thingy but never really dusted. I feel a major spring cleaning coming on.

- Another part of our house that has really been struggling is the walls. When you have three little boys, they're destined for dirty, dingy, marked-up grossness. After my pricey surgery, doing a full coat of fresh paint like I've been wanting has gone on the back burner. But I did managed to find an old can of the existing wall paint and tackled all the marks I could find. Still not a good wall color, but hey, at least there are no more marks all over the place!

- Kolbe had a "fun run" fundraiser at his school this week and it was the cutest thing ever. While it wasn't set up to be an actual race, Kolbe treated it as if it was the Olympic finals. Oh, is he ever his mother's son. And his father's too! Gotta keep it intense, kiddo. I was proud of him for running so hard and not giving up when all of the other kiddies got tired and stopped running. He's a little speedster!

Cutest little pre-school class ever!

On your mark, get set...

Kolbe killin' it.

Post race cool down...guess who wishes he was in big brother's class??? 

Pa getting Rudy to run laps by dangling his race car as a carrot.

And Puggy up to his usual shenanigans.

I mean, look at the face. Can't you just hear the thoughts in that little head!?!

Time for movie night!

Pinkie bought the boys Wreck It, Ralph for helping out Mama after her surgery. So we had a fun family movie night! (no, Grant didn't last more than two minutes.)

Next weekend is our last soccer game! Kolbe had a stellar week, as usual.

Grant pretended to be a movie star and flirted with Pinkie.

And took flying lessons from Pa!

Cutest little soccer face ever!

Good game, good game, good game...

Kolbe managed to figure this one out. I was changing Grant's diaper and heard, "Hey Mom, look at this." WHAAAAAAAT!?!?!

A cute moment of these two playing peacefully. It seems like it's been rare lately!

TTT: Season 3, Episode 16

1. I hate to disappoint, but I really don't have much to write about other than my surgery! It went really, really well, thank God. We dropped the kids off at my parents just before bed time on Wednesday night, came home and slept, and then headed to the hospital early yesterday morning. I'm never one to get nervous about hospitals and medical stuff. I figured I had about the same chance of something go wrong during my surgery as I do of getting in a wreck every time I get in the car. And I certainly don't fret while driving, so why worry about the surgery!?! Mark, on the other hand, was a little more nervous. I guess since he knows what's actually going on internally and knows all of the complications that could occur, he's allowed to be a little less blasé about it. But everything went just as expected. Surgery started shortly around nine and we were headed home by eleven. The doctor informed Mark that my gallbladder was  chalk full of stones and that he was convince that Mark wasn't getting the full story from me on how much it had been bothering me. He ended up having to enlarge the hole in my belly button just to get it out, it was so full. Honestly, I think I must deal with pain differently. As is with my lupus, once I've gotten used to it, it's just the norm and I somehow work to ignore it or choose not to acknowledge it. It really wasn't bothering me that much...which is how I managed to put it off for two years!!! But I guess having the surgery done was for the best. It truly was a ticking time bomb. Anyhow, once we got home, I proceeded to sleep for over three hours while coming off of the anesthesia. And thankfully, I had my favorite guy to take care of me. Chicken noodle soup for lunch, tomato basil soup for dinner, yummy orange push pops, ginger ale for my nausea...he took care of the works. We hung out, watched movies, read magazines, and just relaxed as much as possible. Oh, and FaceTimed with the babies too! This morning I'm home alone, while Mark is at work for a bit. Definitely very sore and bruised but overall feeling great considering the four holes in my abdomen. Thank you all for your prayers! And if you don't mind, more for a speedy recovery would be greatly appreciated!

2. While a major surgery isn't exactly how I'd choose to have a "vacation," I have to admit that it has been nice to have a couple of days without the kiddos. Everything is so calm. Almost eerie! But Mark and I thoroughly enjoyed our evening together. And waking up this morning with no responsibilities other than to care for myself was strangely enjoyable. But on the other hand, having these few days alone just re-affirms how much I love my babies. I see their pictures and wish they were here so I could grab them and kiss them. I miss the tell tale signs of their presence. No sounds of grinding teeth coming from Kolbe, no screeches of joy/anger/excitement/frustration from Grant, no little piles of toys strewn across the house. No mounds of shoes left by the door. But more importantly, no kiddie laughter, no sweet smiles, no big hugs or morning kisses. Sure, having children means utter chaos a lot of the time, but oh, what one must miss by not having them. Though I suppose you don't even realize you'd miss it until you've had them and then miss them. Needless to say, I'm anxious to squeeze my boys and have my home back to normal as soon as possible. But many, many thanks to my parents for giving me the opportunity to recover in the comfort of my own home. It has been great!

3. Tidbits, Treasures, and Tantrums:

- Exactly one month from now we will be at the beach! I can't wait, can't wait, can't wait! Especially since this year I know the boys will be much more comfortable with the water. Many fun times ahead!

- Our little backyard garden is coming along! Just within the past week we're seeing lots of tomatoes. The cilantro and other herbs are looking great...we just need to peppers to start producing and then we'll have plenty of fresh salsa in our future.

Headed to surgery!

Shenanigans at Pinkie and Pa's house while they were supposed to be sleeping!

Sweaty head at the skate park

I love this little man!

TTT: Season 3, Episode 15

- Hi, friends. Hope you're all doing well! We've had a good week, for the most part. I guess the only "big event" was a trip to the Shriner's Hospital on yesterday for Kolbe. He goes for a check-up annually, and as always, everything went really well. It's so special for us to see Dr. Blackwell. He changed the world for Kolbe and we're forever grateful for the wonderful job he did. He and all the rest of the team (ENT, speech therapist, nurses, etc) were all very impressed with our little man. Dr. Blackwell did mention a possible revision in the future. This would be a few years down the road as he starts to lose baby teeth and we get a clearer picture of what's going on with his gums and adult teeth. He seems to think there might be a tiny passage or hole somewhere along the cleft/gum line. I guess only time will tell, but for now we're happy with the positive report! As always, Kolbe was very brave and cooperative. He's a trooper!

- While we're on the medical side of things, I'll fill you in on an item on my agenda. I'm going under the knife a week from today to have my gallbladder removed. Unless you've been reading my posts for two years, you probably don't know about a bad gallbladder "event" I had back when I was pregnant with Grant. Around twenty-four weeks I suddenly had a lot of severe pain in my abdomen and it felt very similar to the pain I experienced hours before Kolbe was born, which ended up being major liver problems from HELLP syndrome. With the gallbladder, I was panicked, so we raced to the emergency room only to find out that it was my gallbladder and not my liver. The doctor chose not to operate at the time because it would have been impossible to do it laproscopically with the baby in there.  So I was supposed to do it about eight weeks after Grant's birth. But I put it off and put it off and put it off. Fast forward to two years later. The general surgeon who we selected to do the surgery has become friends with Mark just through seeing each other frequently at various hospitals and he always brings it up to Mark. Finally, he told Mark that gallstones don't "just go away" as I pretended to believe and that if I was to get pregnant again, the chances of having a flair up would increase and, just like the first time, he would not be able to do the surgery. He also had to drop the "I'm not sure why you would leave something there that could endanger your health and endanger your baby if you were to ever get pregnant again." Ok, ok! I get it! And to answer the "why nots," no, I'm absolutely not afraid of surgery (I've had plenty), anesthesia (plenty of that, too), or hospitals (a night alone? Sign me up!). I'm a cheapskate, people! I didn't want to do it because I knew I had a large deductible to meet and only wanted to do it in the same calendar year as having a baby so it would all be under one deductible. Professional. Cheap. Skate. But whatever. I'm finally just going to go ahead and do it. Deep down, I know it's still an issue, know I'm still having problems with it, and just have figured out ways to keep it under control. But it really is a ticking time bomb so let's just get it over with. So here's how you can help....prayers: Thursday, April 18th, 8:30am. I'm sure I'll put up a facebook status or something to remind you. :) And you can pray for my parents, too. They're taking on the three ring circus for the duration of the event! Thanks in advance!

- Tidbits, Treasures, and Tantrums:
- Spring soccer has been a bust so far. With two weeks off for spring break and a week off for Easter, it has just felt very random. Not to mention that all but one of our practices have gotten rained out. Not that the practices are my favorite part anyway, but still...we paid a lot for both boys to play and it's really been kind of a flop. The games are still fun but it's just not the same excitement as the fall. I think we're ready to try baseball instead!
- I know I'm asking a lot by adding on to the surgery prayer request, but if you've got a little extra room on your prayer agenda, stencil in the name "Kolbe," if you don't mind. Poor fella has just been going through a bit of a rough patch. That whole "entitlement attitude" that affects many-a-child has reached our little guy and he's had an attitude like no other. Mark and I have had to crack our lion tamer whips lately which has created quite a few tantrums, no dessert, going to bed hungry, going to bed early, etc. Like all kids and all situations, it's just a phase, and we'll be back to sweet Kolbe in no time. (Lord willing!)

Kolbe getting all set up for his annual Shriner's photo shoot...I think it would be interesting to see how his mouth has changed through the years!

My brave guy.

This pretty much sums up Grant.
(Poor guy had a diaper rash so we were letting him run nakie until the boys went outside and he just had to go too)

We had fun celebrating Pinkie's "39th" birthday! The boys loved the cake  balls we had for dessert and Pa made a wonderful steak dinner for everyone.

Rudy at bat with Pinkie on the mound and Kolbe behind the plate.

showing Pa their favorite scooter video on YouTube....they are fascinated with videos of guys doing scooter tricks!

Post bath-time a few nights ago, I took a few of my products from my shop out back to photograph them in natural light. Of course I had no shortage of photo bombers who wanted their pictures take too. And really, my products are pretty cute, but they're even cuter. :)

Smiley.

This face is SO Kolbe!

Always picking on Sir Puggy.

My brown-eyed Rudy beauty.

TTT: Catching UP!

 I just logged in to blogger and was greeted with "last published on March 17, 2013." Really? That long ago? I mean, I knew I was behind but I didn't realize it had been almost three weeks. I'm hanging my head just a bit over here. I've carried on with my weekly post for three years. Through new babies, sicknesses, traveling and everything else. And none of that has been going on around here. I've loved writing this blog and chronicling our family's adventures. And I certainly have not had any intention on stopping. But maybe I just needed a break. Maybe I just got so busy with life that pausing to write about it took a back seat. Maybe life seemed so uneventful that I was uninspired and thus, the back seat was an easy place to put it. 

But I'm still here. We are still here.

And despite an apparent unacknowledged writer's block, life has been quite lively. I suppose three weeks is a little too long to reflect back upon. The little nuances have skipped my memory and left me scratching my head. So instead of breaking in to wordy details as is standard, I'll share some photos to help me jog my memory.

Easter happened. Such a favorite, favorite time of mine. A time to appreciate the infinite number of gifts God has given me. Like the most beautiful little family I could have ever imagined.

 And what's Easter without family, cousins and dying a few eggs!?!

And for Mark, a few much needed days off. Work has been uh, "less than desirable" lately and he's been burnt out so having a three day weekend was so nice not just for Mark, but for our family too. We were supposed to go to San Antonio but at the last minute plans were changed and Andy and Abby came here with John and Will. 

Plenty of goodies, of course.

Priceless photos...

And lots and lots of fun! (parents drinking margaritas somehow didn't make the shot.)

Oh, and this....went to....

THIS. Behaving like a person being attacked by a swarm of bees while getting a haircut produces such results. But to be honest, his little nearly-bald head has kinda grown on me. He lost all of his "baby-ness" with those locks and is now just an adorable little boy.

And of course, there's always the normal shenanigans.

And moments when I pause, see a little face, and lose my breath. 

And thank God for this beautiful life.

(To share a little on these pics with you, I was laying with Rudy telling bed time stories. The way he looked at me with such love melted my heart so much that I had to attempt to capture it without him knowing. So in the darkness, I turned the flash on my phone camera and snapped a quick pic. Despite the fact that there was dirt on the camera lense, making it horribly blurry, there's something so beautiful about that face to me. I know it's probably wishful thinking, but I hope that my Ru will always look at me this way. Of course, he insisted that I take another one so he "could smile" which produced the first shot above. Such a handsome, sweet little boy.