Lots of glitter and puzzles

So, I didn't take a lot of pictures during the Aunt/Nurse time over the past couple weeks. Maybe I had my mind on other things. Maybe I questioned my ability to even use a camera. Whatever the case may be, there was one event that warranted immediate camera use.

At some point, as I was sitting half awake/half asleep on the couch, Lisa and Ashlyn were coloring on the coffee table. I noticed Ashlyn look over at me and notice that I wasn't completely coherent. She then made her move. "Lisa, let's go do a project." Simple enough. I came out of my fog enough to realize that she was trying to get Lisa into my office where the glitter and glue reside.

Having no ability, or desire to do much more than exist in my foggy state, I told Lisa where she could find the "project" stuff.

It seemed that I was in and out of it for a while when I noticed that they were still in my office. I got concerned. And, I got the camera. Here's what I found...



Walking in...seemed harmless enough...



I said, "Ashlyn, let me see your hands" and here's what I got...

You can see a little on Lisa's hands - nothing in comparison to the little one, but she is probably still finding sparkles on herself!

Lisa's project...she does nice glitter work!

Concentrating on her use of glitter...

SO happy with sparkles!

Relocating the pile of glitter...Probably thinking something like - wow, Mommy NEVER lets me have this much! They had the glitter containers open to "pour" not "shake"...

Notice the top of the glue stick - also covered in glitter!

This one is from tonight. Colson, in his night time undies and a shirt, with all the puzzles he's completed in the past 2 nights after dinner...

Night night for now!

The help has left the building

As of this morning, our Aunt/Nurses are officially gone. GOD HELP US! Lisa left today, after a long stay of taking care of us, feeding us, playing with the kids, etc., etc., etc. We had no down time between Mimi and Lisa's visits. Lisa showed up a couple days before Mimi left. Steve keeps asking who is going to show up tomorrow. We're screwed.
I worked on laundry during "day one, post help"...with some help from Ashlyn, of course. She was actually amazingly helpful today - especially when I hit a wall around 1:30 ish and said, "Mommy has to go to the bed now." In my half-coherent existence at that point, I put on various episodes of "Caillou" - thank God for that bald, little child. She watched TV a bit, played with Barbie's (about 4 of them also came to bed with us) and then checked on Steve in his office upstairs. He said she was great there too. She'd keep really quiet while he was on a call. Then, when he'd hang up, she'd say, "I was really good, Daddy!"
The kids got an exciting "breakfast for dinner" theme tonight. Steve and Ashlyn picked Colson up for school while I worked on standing up long enough to make pancakes. Thankfully, the Crazies were very happy. They LOVE breakfast for dinner!
Jiggy showed up later on with grilled filet for Steve and me. YAY! We've been terribly spoiled with dinner being made for us every night. And, not just any dinner, gourmet dinners! So, it was very tasty to get some yummy stuff (and good protein) in us tonight.
In other exciting news, we went shopping for all of Colson's school supplies yesterday! He found it totally amusing, Ashlyn had a few meltdowns (didn't help that I confined her to the cart as she just started antibiotics for a sinus infection yesterday morning...trying to limit the germ intake and spread!) and Lisa and I were a bit teary! CAN'T believe my baby starts Kindergarten in 20 days. Incredible.

This is my brain on drugs...and, Nordy's

Two weeks out! I'm still quite sore, but feeling better everyday. I had my two week check-up with my doctor yesterday. She's so happy with my progress that she said, "I wish I could put it all back in you and do the surgery again, it went so well!" sick woman.

I'm still scootering around Costco and Super Target. Too big to walk! But, I did get to drive Colson to school, all by myself, this morning. The Director and Assistant Director at the kids' school were very excited for my ability to be behind the wheel. However, they requested that I call them once I returned home, so they didn't have to worry that I had any issues with the 3 minute drive to the house.

Lisa and I did make it to Nordy's the other day for a much needed cobb salad and some Anniversary Sale fun. Though it was all wonderful, the only purchases were shoes. Imagine that.

Ashlyn got her fall pair of "sparkle" shoes. She LOVES them - and why wouldn't she...they are DARLING!

I went in to look at a pair of grey boots I had seen online (Nordy's had the audacity to start Anniversary the Friday I was in the hospital...thank goodness for my weak internet connection). They were even more fantastic in person, though!

And, proving my daughter comes by her love of sparkle honestly, I noticed another fabulous pair. I had taken my pain meds at lunch. I was too foggy to say no!

Today we went out to get Ashlyn's hair cut. She got her adorable do trimmed - her hair grows so quickly! She also got the glitter hair spray and the glitter hearts/stars on her cheeks, like last time. So much girly girl!

We continue to be entirely spoiled by Aunt love. Lisa has not only been helping with the kids and the house, but has been making us some very yummy food. Angel hair with vodka sauce a few nights ago, lamb gyros and homemade fries last night. Tonight we're having pork chops with a balsamic vinegar sauce. I'm starving all the time - maybe getting done with some of the pain meds, maybe the fact that my body's compensating for so much being taken out, maybe I'm just into food!? Whatever the case may be, I'm happily eating well!

Lisa's in charge!

12 days post surgery and feeling good. Okay, feeling less sore...but that is good!

Our first live-in nurse/mommy/shake-maker, Mimi, went home yesterday. Though we were all incredibly sad to see her go, Rogue and Steve seem to be the most distraught. Rogue was spoiled rotten. Entirely rotten. Constant love, leg massages, extra food and sleeping (cuddling) in bed with Mimi. This is the life Rogue loves best! Steve enjoyed the extra help around the house and with the kids...but, his main joy came from nightly milkshakes. He's always reminding me how his regular milkshakes dropped off about 5 or so years ago. Shocked that my focus has shifted from providing him a milkshake every night to getting the kids to bed, prepping for school the next day, collapsing...

Lisa is now here and in total charge of the house. Well, Kane is, but he'll let Lisa handle the "person" in charge thing. I went with her this morning for school drop off - the kids are enjoying having someone other than Mommy or Daddy at school...as are their friends.

Tomorrow is "make believe" day at school. The kids get to come dressed as anything they like. We've got some good plans at the moment...and promise some cute pictures. I don't think they've done this before at school. It's like Halloween in July - minus the candy.

Lisa and I have big plans for the day. We're going to head to Nordy's - I'm SO craving a cobb salad. One of my favorites that I did not eat before I was cut off from regular food pre-surgery. It's also Anniversary Sale time. Super cool! This is a fun time of the year for Nanny, as she gets to buy Ashlyn a pair of sparkle shoes (only able to justify these for people with quickly changing shoe sizes when they're on sale!). Ashlyn is actually at school today - she had a low fever yesterday, so we kept her home to make sure it didn't materialize into anything. She got to go to school today instead. And, Nanny doesn't feel like making the trek to Nordy's. So, this trip will be significantly better for Nanny's budget than past Anniversary Sales. Ashlyn's first was 3 years ago. She, Nanny, Barbara and I went. Let's just say there were several cute little girl things and Nanny wanted to buy everything that Ashlyn smiled at...and, of course, she smiled whenever Nanny asked her if she wanted something - since she was 8 months and smiled whenever someone spoke to her! This year - just the shoes! Personally, I'm hoping to try on a pair of Franco Sarto boots I saw online. They look very cute and may just be an early birthday present to me from me! Okay, possibly Ashlyn comes by this shoe obsession honestly.

Until later, loyal readers (that's only plural because I'm counting Ellie, as this may be getting read to her)...have a great day!