Day 1 post op

I'm a very lucky gal. Having Eric stay home with me has been great.  He will bring me whatever I need, he's been tracking my drugs so I only have missed a dose once and that was because I was asleep.

Jacob wouldn't let me sleep.  He has so much energy, that I just can't handle it.  Even though I was drugged to the hilt this morning, I couldn't sleep with all his noise.  So I asked Eric to take him to the store.  Yesterday was payday, and we were out of a few things.  The funny thing was that my sister had asked Eric last night to write down a few grocery items for her to pick up.  Unfortunately, I couldn't wait for her kindness.  I needed sleep. 

This was how I spent most of the day.  

Princess is very happy that I've built up the pillows on the upstairs couch.   I slept there last night.  I have to sleep on my back, so I thought I'd be most comfortable on the couch.  I felt productive not waking Eric in the night and going to the bathroom all by myself.  Princess has found the spot next to me to be her spot.  She stayed there most of the night, and as it turned out, most of the day too. 

 So Eric took Jake to the store, and this was what I woke up to later.  Jacob brought me flowers!   

Apparently, while they were at Trader Joe's, Jacob went up and told Eric that I NEEDED Pink Roses.  Pink Roses.  Not only was he able to say them, but to identify them.  He knew I needed them.  I guess he was right, because seeing this sweetheart bring me flowers warmed my gorked up heart.  

Absolutely enchanting.  

So after a few hours, I decided to take off my clothes that I'd slept in since the night before.  I changed into fresh clothes and slathered up in Helichrysum and Lavender.  Yesterday I really needed my Frankincense to calm my nerves before the surgery.  Afterwards, I was so Queasy I only wanted Peppermint and AromaEase.  Today, I have fallen in love with Helichrysum.  

My sister and Ma gave me a sample of this oil when I visited earlier this week.  This stuff is magical.  It has some mild painkilling properties, but the real thing it's used for is the Circulatory system.  I've been slathering it up every couple hours, and it takes the edge off the nerve pain too.  I've heard of people using it to stop bloody noses, or in their First Aid kits.   It was Out Of Stock when I needed to get it, so I had to get a sample from Lisa and Mommy.   Thank Goodness they were willing to share.  This is an expensive oil.  Luckily, as I was falling in love with this herby awesomeness, it came back into stock today.  So I totally pushed through an order, wherein I ordered my own bottle of Helichrysum.  I probably shouldn't be allowed to shop when on all these drugs, but I figured it was ok, since I was cashing in points for freebies, so I only spent $10 on shipping.  Good deal for me! Woohoo!  

So this is me. Check it out, my belly button is nowhere near where my bosoms hang now.  They point up.  I put some Lavender on all my skin when I was changing.  My bra that they sent me home in, is really cute. I decided I like it.  The whole look is cute.  Guess I don't need quite as much support as I'm used to now, things are pretty tightly bound in there.  My nips are so padded they look pointy like something out of a 1960s movie. I feel like Ann Margaret in Bye Bye Birdie.  Except she could squish things together, and there's no squishing here.  No squishing at all. 

The side shot.  Sorry for the graphic-ness, but I know a couple of you want to see.  My belly sticks out a bit below my bosom, but not enough to look pregnant, I don't think.  I actually think it looks good.  I can't believe how normal my chest looks.  I hadn't realized how big things had looked or gotten, or how often my shirts had so much to cover.  Even my pajamas hang much better on me now.  They look really cute.  And already, though I am having plenty of pain at the stitch sites, my shoulders feel like a burden has been lifted.  The doctor called to check in on me.  They took off 5 1/2 pounds!  Can you believe that?!  My niece weighed that much.  I lost a whole niece in one day. 

For a splash of productivity, this evening, I went outside for a walk. Granted, it was just to the mailbox and back.  Still, I felt it. It was the furthest I've moved in two days, and it was pushing my limits.  How else will I find my limits if I don't push them?

I had Surgery

If Boob talk bothers you, don't read this.  

Aren't I stylish?  

I reported to the Surgery Center at 9:30 am after dropping Jacob off at Preschool. I was lucky to get the boys off to school.  We had explained to them what I was going to do.  They knew that Mommy was going to get her breasts fixed, so that they didn't hurt her back and shoulders as much.  They understood that we were going to have to be very careful about hugs and touching after Mommy's surgery.  We had some Surgery paperwork to fill out, then they brought me back to suit up.  I got a gown and hairnet, socks and compression stockings.  Then we got serious.  They put an IV in my arm. It took 3 times to find a good spot.  I was worried that I might be a hard stick since having Jacob.  Turns out I still am.  At first I'd asked that they let me keep my wrists and elbows functional, so that I could still crochet.  They did. I kept singing the Veggie Tales song, "Sport Utility Vehicle" while they dug in my arm.   The second nurse found a spot on top of my arm, just an inch below my elbow, so I could still work my yarn.  That was good, since then we sat there in that pre-op room for over an hour, just waiting.  That made me nervous. More nervous.  I had been ok at home, but this was getting real.   My nurse told me it was good to be nervous.  That's Normal.  She worries about people that come in all pumped up and happy to have plastic surgery, that's unusual.  OK, I'm normal.  Catastrophizing is normal.  OK Good.  

OK, this was my most graphic shot that I'm going to share with you.  My top view after she drew on me.  X marks the boob that was larger, she knew she was going to have to take a little more off that one. To me, it looked like Easter Eggs.  Easter Eggs that they were going to be removing the bottom off of.  The marks are where they were going to cut.  

I remember being rolled into the OR, and moving to a skinny table.  The lamp above me had a pretty teal rim, I remember commenting on that.  They put a warm blanket on me, and turned on the compression stockings.  That was a weird feeling, cool breeze from coming on, and warm blanket.  They buckled my legs down. They had me stretch my arms to pin me down, just like my c-sections and we joked this was not 50 shades of anything.  I looked at my hands, and  I remember the nurse unbuttoning the right shoulder of my gown... and that's all.

I remember being hot when I woke up.  Eric says I was silly, but he didn't videotape me, he only texted my sister, saying that I was awake,ok and saying "Izzawful Hotinhere".  It was.  They had those compression things on my legs, they were annoying.  Finally they took them off, but they wouldn't let me just sleep.  I was thirsty.  They gave me ice.  I was thirsty.  I finally talked them into water.  And as soon as I got water down, they were dressing me and shoving me out the door.  I was apparently, the last surgery of the day.  So I got dressed, thrown in a chair, and rolled to my car.  Moving that fast made me really queasy.  Eric had a spare plastic bag for me to yak in.  He assured me the process took hours for recovery and waking.  It didn't feel like that.  I felt like the whole world was zooming by way too fast.  I remember begging him, please drive like an old lady all the way home so I won't puke.

We made it home and I didn't puke.  When we got home, Mom W. was here with all the boys.  They didn't rush to me or run me down, like I thought they would.  Grandma kept them upstairs and brought them down one at a time for me to love.  That was nice.  They were gentle.

I started to feel really sleepy and queasy.  Mom and Aunt Teri stayed with me, while Eric went on the drug run.  They even made sure the boys got all bathed and cleaned up too.  There are many drugs.  And Eric has been very good about making sure I got them on regular timed schedule.  We didn't want to risk getting behind on pain.  He's a champ.  I've been feeling fine.

The boys curled up and spent some time with me.  

Me and my Sams.  

He was so gentle, just touching my arm, no risk of touching my chest.  

Christopher was my calmer.  He's been here done this.  He's a post surgery pro.  After getting his jammies on he just laid down with me.  He took good care not to touch any areas that were sensitive.  

OK, this is my After shot.  I sent this to my sister.  I haven't opened the bra to see what's going on underneath.  I have vague recollections of the doctor showing me where stitches were and what  not to get wet.  Again, very vague.  Boy, am I Thankful that Eric was and is here for me.  

Olympic Fest

Let the Games Begin!!!

On Friday, the 2016 Olympics in Rio began.   To celebrate this, the Julius family got together.  We started this trend accidentally back in 2008 when the Olympics were being held in Beijing.  We got together for a slumber party and to watch the Opening Ceremonies. The kids were small and it was only Chris and Emily.  So we ordered some Chinese, and watched the Opening Ceremonies.  Chris was small enough to sleep in a pack-n-play in their spare room.  Eric and Mike crashed before the Parade was over, while Kathleen and I watched the whole thing.  And a Tradition was born.

The morning of the Opening Ceremonies, I did my toes.  

Jamberry recently released some Olympic themed Jams, like this Rio Vibes, that also donated with each purchase to pay for Olympic women to get to Rio.  I was down with supporting that.  So I did.  

Then we had to figure out what Brazilian fare we were going to eat.  I decided that rather than try to duplicate some of the amazing Brazilian meat dishes, we should just go have lunch at Fogo de Chao.  

I love that place.  We have taken the boys a couple times.  But this time they were in school, so Chris and Sam had to miss out.   

We chose to go to Fogo with the kids that were available, minus the three oldest.   

So we have Sarah, Jacob, Kristin, and John.  

Here's our whole crew by the map of Brazil, or Brasil.  

We had a lot of time for photos, as the restaurant took over 50 minutes to seat us.  And that was With a reservation.  Eric had a meeting at 2, we'd booked for 12.  At 1 they sat us down.  We complained.  A lot.  

I didn't think to get any pictures of our piles of meat as we ate.  I guess we were just too hungry. 

In exchange for our trouble, they brought us free desserts.   

That was nice.  I love the Papaya Cream.  One waiter told us the papaya has some magic enzymes that help to break down the protein so we don't feel the bloat or discomfort.  I tried not getting the papaya once... I was miserable all the way home.  I eat it every time now.  This time Eric only got a chance for about 2 bites, before he had to go to his meeting.  Though Fogo took another 30 minutes to get our bill. It was the first time I seriously considered walking out on my bill at a nice restaurant.  Like Seriously Considered it.  Since we'd picked up Eric, he opted to call in to his meeting from the quiet of the car while we finished dessert and checked out.  They took So Long, that Eric was done with his meeting and picked us up out front by the time we got all checked out.  We should have left.  

How sad is that?!  It took us almost 3 hours, to eat at a buffet.  A good buffet, but still.  We won't be back at lunchtime, the service was Terrible.  

Meanwhile, when I got home, I prepared for our Party. 

For each of our Olympic Parties, we try to drink a Festive beverage from that country.   For example, when the Olympics were in Vancouver, we learned that they provide cranberries for Ocean Spray, so we drank Cranberry juice, as well as ginger ale, and Crown Royal, all Canadian beverages.  But Brazil took a bit more research.  They like fruit, and juice, and sugar, and all the permutations therein. We learned that their national drink is called the Caipirinha.  It is a lime beverage that uses an alcohol called Cachaca.  Cachaca is distilled from sugar cane, much like rum, but rum is sugar cane cooked into molasses first.  Cachaca is a fermented distilled straight sugar cane beverage.  And it will put hair on your chest!   

                             Sooo Mommy made Caipirinhas.  Very Limey, very refreshing.  

I found they needed a lot of ice.   The Cachaca was too strong straight up for me.  Eric thought they just needed a lot of stirring. 

One of the other things we made were Brazilian chocolate truffles known as Brigadieros.

These fabulous little carmelized chocolate balls are made with mostly cocoa powder and sweetened condensed milk.  It turns out Brazilians love sweetened condensed milk, they put it in all kinds of things.  

My Sam helped me roll up the Brigadieros. 

Since the colors of the Brazilian flag are blue, green, and yellow, I thought he'd have a great time rolling in sprinkles with me.  We chose to go with those sprinkle colors because all of them have no Red 40, which means they are just fine for my Sams!

The final product.  

It's not as fancy as pinterest, but they were really tasty.  

They were a big hit with the kids.  And the perfect sweet break for all the limey tartness we were having, and cheesy bread that we were enjoying for supper.  

The other drink I made was Brazilian Lemonade.  

I found a recipe online.  Turns out Brazilian Lemonade has no Lemons!  

It's Limes and Sugar.  Literally. They love them some Limes and Sugar! 

And sweetened condensed milk. 

It's pureed sliced limes with sugar water, and sweetened condensed milk.  It's so Refreshing!

When Eric tasted it, he said, "It tastes like liquid lime sherbet."  

It really did.  

We got right down to business with Olympic Opening Ceremonies as soon as it got started.   

6 kids, and all kinds of crazy!

My three patriotic sweetboys.  

The Opening Ceremonies started before I remembered to take pictures.  

So, as is usually the case with my sweetboys, if there's a screen, they won't look at me. 

I found these great Carnivale style flowers on sale, and picked one up for every child. 

The kids thought they made great swords.  Doesn't everything?

During a break of the Parade of Nations, we held our own Parade.  

Emily and I rock our festive Olympic nails!

Jamberry had some really cute Olympic themed nails. Even Chris put some on  his toes.  

Sarah didn't make it through the Parade of Nations. 

Kathleen was still awake, but she was having a hard time with a sweet little hotbox on her. 

Eric didn't make it through the Opening Ceremonies.  

His snoring was a only a bit disruptive though, not as bad as usual. 

Oh, and Jose Carioca is from Rio.  He's a Disney Character from Saludos Amigos.  

Though anyone from Rio is a Carioca. 

Kathleen and I wore this shirt the next day. 

We'll be supporting our Olympians and the Cariocas for the next two and a half weeks! 

I won't and I will

I won't miss hot summers, and the heat rash that comes with it.

I won't miss having to apply deodorant underneath them Every Single Day, and twice a day in summer.

I won't miss suffocating when I do downward facing dog in Yoga class.

I won't miss the pain associated with running, or any bouncing type exercise.

I won't miss being able to look down and not see my toes.   (I just slammed my toe into the kid's trampoline last night and thought I broke it, but turns out, I 'only' cut it and split the toenail.)  I miss seeing my feet when I walk.

I won't miss requiring a hot bath to soak my aching back and shoulders because there's so much top weight.  Well, maybe I might miss this one.

I won't miss being so embarrassed by my body that I hide behind things and people in photographs.

I'll miss nursing.  (I do already.  I miss having a little baby and an easy fix to stop their crying.)

I'll miss being able to pick up Jacob for weeks.

I'll miss being able to sleep on my tummy.

I'll miss having babies curl up on my bosom to nurse.  (These things provided comfort and nourishment for 3 kids for over 5 years total. That's a lot.)

I'll miss being able to just ignore tank tops as a possibility for wardrobe choices.  They've Never fit me before.  That'll be weird.  I might have to adjust my thinking about them.  Nahh.

I confess I am getting a little nervous.

The Blankee

Hello, my name is Cathy, I'm 41 years old and I have a blankee.

This blanket was given to me Valentine's Day 2012.  Chris picked out this picture of them that I took right outside our church from the fall prior.  But I put this blanket on my bed, and it stayed there.  When I was on bedrest for 5 months, I had this blanket with me all the time. When my big boys were at school, and I was unable to take care of them, they told me I had them with me on the blankee.   And I did.  And it gave me comfort.  Then Jacob joined our family, and he hated sleeping alone, and we coslept.  I didn't want to cover him with a heavy comforter, so we slept with this blanket.  Now I've become accustomed to sleeping with it every night, even with Jacob not in my bed anymore.  With my big boys gone, I've been snuggling with my sweetboys every night.

When I went to Utah, I took the blanket with me.  In fact, it was the first thing I unpacked when I arrived Wednesday afternoon.  I desperately needed to lay down before we went on the hunt for dinner, and I pulled it out to snuggle it and rest before taking on the evening's festivities.

I didn't get to talk to my boys yesterday either.  It was the first time since they were born that I haven't talked to them.  I cried when the clock struck midnight last night.  And I curled up with my sweetboy blanket, until I  fell asleep.

Today they called me, the phones finally worked.  I got to talk to them for about 10 minutes.  We were all on speaker phone together.  And my heart was full.

Now I'm going to go curl up with my blankee.  My boys come home tomorrow.

Proof of Life

Half my family is at Scout Camp.  

It's weird for Jacob and I to have the house to ourselves.
It's also especially strange for me not to talk to them everyday.

This was my Sweetboys yesterday when we left.  

I left before they did, as I wanted to go to a swim class at the Y.  

Jacob was jealous I wasn't taking pictures of him. 

We were cool.  Jake and I weren't freaking out about anything.  

But it took over 24 hours for this photo to come through.  

The boys made it, and they were at the camp, and most importantly, Happy!

But I miss them. It's weirdly quiet around here. I am so Thankful that I received some sort of proof they were ok.  

Tonight, we had a date with Aunt Lisa, checking out the new Books and Brews in Zionsville.

We sampled some of the brews.  They had great names like Whinnie the Brew and Dubbledore's Magic.  We checked out some of the books. There were so many things just like my bookshelf, down to the textbooks that I had in college.

Meanwhile, it was Kids night, where the kids meals were Free, and they had Games out for a game night!

 and Jacob checked out the Kids Grilled Cheese.  I loved this place. 

Quite good, one and all.  But I miss my boys.  

  

Happy 4th of July!

I love a Long Weekend with Family! 

We started the weekend off with a bang!   

I had someone from Canvas Paintings with Katie come over and teach us how to paint this pretty patriotic landscape.  We made an evening of it.  There was wine, drinkies, and good times. 

It was really neat to see how many of my friends interpreted the same instructions differently.

What was really amazing, was that every painting turned out Gorgeous! 

Pretty Patriotic! 

And the next day, my blue delphinium bloom. 

It's not quite red, white, and blue, but pale pink and blue is pretty close. 

Poor Princess Dog.  

She doesn't handle Fireworks very well, but a little Lavender and Peace & Calming 2 in the diffuser helps.

On the 4th, we went up to my brother in law Karl's house for a nice cookout lunch.  

He and Erica live in a sweet neighborhood that we learned was having its own noontime Parade.

When the kids realized there was a Parade happening they made a mad dash for it.  

They found themselves a perfect spot to hang out.  

Cole wanted to join the Big Boys, but just couldn't quite handle it.  

So he and Uncle Karl watched, as the kids made two laps around the neighborhood.

Here they go! 

The whole neighborhood parade returned a few minutes later. 

With my children bringing up the rear.  

Then it was time for Smores! 

Honestly, though, my kids are happier just eating raw marshmallows and crackers.  

If we put them together, they give them to me. 

We're never up on this side of town, so we popped by the Lego Store for a what the heck present. 

They each made a character to bring home as a special treat.  

This child was exhausted.  He didn't nap.  He crashed on the way home.  

That was ok, we didn't do anything fancy for fireworks.  The kids had played hard all weekend, so we didn't anything fancy after dark on the 4th.  We came home and watched 1776 and Independence Day covering all manner of our Patriotic movie bases.  <3  And it was a great weekend.