"Nana and Bompa" Goates come to visit!

Several days after my surgery, Ryan was going to heading back to work and I still wasn't able to lift anything or do very much to run the house. My mom flew into town to help out with the kids and I'm SO GRATEFUL she did! I was still feeling so tired, some pain (especially in the evenings), and couldn't help Logan with everything he needed. She was such a blessing to have around and the kids had a really great time with her.

She helped make some cupcakes so the kids could frost and eat one.

On thursday that week, our little preschoolers were having a field trip at Pigeon Roost fall festival. I was still not feeling up to standing for very long, especially in jeans, and especially in the freezing cold weather that morning, so Amanda took Grace with her. My mom and I stayed in with Logan and Ava. The big kids had so much fun even with the cold temps! 

The next day, friday, my dad came in town! My kids were so excited to get some major tickles and wrestling in with "Bompa". It was so, so nice to have both of my parents for a visit and they were both very helpful.

One of Logan's very favorite things is to learn new songs with actions, and Nana has so many in her repertoire. :) He was in heaven.

 On friday night, we ordered pizza and stayed in for a low-key evening. Ryan had worked a few night shifts that week/weekend so we didn't see much of him.

On saturday, my dad helped me take the kids to get their flu shots. Ryan slept off his night shift and the kids napped. Around 3:30 we went over to Ben and Amanda's to hang out and watch the start of the Utah football game. They ended up losing miserably so it's a good thing we had already planned to go out to dinner during  the game instead of watch the whole thing! Ryan and I were excited to show everyone City Barbeque. It's so yummy!! After that, Ben and my dad headed out to Buckeye stadium for the OSU game... to freeze their butts off. ;)

 On sunday, we all sat together at church which was really nice. Whenever my parents come to visit our two families, I always feel like we're just one, big, happy family! It's nice to be in the same ward as the Goates and live close together so we can easily spend lots of time together when family comes.
My parents spent the lunch hour and nap-time over at the Goates' house while ours napped at our house. Then we went there to hang out and have dinner together.

When Amanda plans a sunday/holiday dinner, she really does it justice! She thinks of everything, and it was super yummy, as always: chili, baked potato bar, wedge salad (Ryan's favorite part was the bacon crumbles!), apples and dip...

Sometimes we're fun... 

The kiddie table

For dessert, we would have made homemade "spud nuts", as is family tradition... but I don't think any of us had the energy. However Amanda had heard of a way to use Grand's roll dough from the pop-can and they turned out awesome! I think I ate 5... maybe more. :/

 The night after all the kids had gone to bed, a friend of ours hung out at the Goates' house so they could come over to our house for some adult hang-out time. We played Catch Phrase for awhile, laughed and laughed, and had a really good time. It's so much less crazy and stressful when the kids are all in bed! :)

Monday morning ended up being a pretty packed day and turned into a perfect, beautiful fall day. In the morning, Grace and Logan did some coloring crafts.

Nana was learning how to use her new iPhone.

Anyone who plays cars with Logan is GOLDEN. He was loving every second with Bompa at our house.

Ava and Owen came over to paint pumpkins with us.

Logan: "Don't laugh at me, Mom. I totally meant for that to happen..."

After pumpkins, my parents wanted to see all the kids in their halloween costumes (Halloween was only a few days away) and the kids were super excited to let us dress them up! They ran around for awhile playing "Jake and Izzy".

After naps, the weather was absolutely perfect and the fall colors were right at their peak. We decided to drive to Chestnut Ridge park, do the short walk through the trees, and play at the park for a little while.

 My Mom and Dad were schedule to fly out on tuesday evening, the 29th. :( After the kids had napped, we played in the Goates' backyard for awhile before they headed to the airport. We had a really great, final visit and playtime before I took the kids home to get them fed and ready for our ward Trunk or Treat. We all had a good cry saying goodbye and on the drive home. :( Grace literally sobbed for a few minutes. I asked her why she was feeling sad, and she said "Because I miss Nana so much!" It was heart-breaking. And Logan kept saying "Bompa? Bompa?" I told him that Bompa had to go back to his house and we had to say bye-bye. He looked down with a frowny, dejected look on his face, and said "Ohhhh..." It's always hard saying goodbye! I hope someday we won't have to live so far away from our families and the kids' grandparents.

We were so grateful that my parents could come help me while I finished recovering, and most of all for the visit! We had missed them since our trip in June and loved having so much time with them. I'm so grateful to have parents who are 100% reliable and willing to help out in any way, shape or form we need. They have always been there for me and treated us like good friends, as well as their family. It means so much to me. We love you!! Please come back very soon. :)

Under the Knife

Warning: Some of this post might be TMI... 

When I got to my 3rd trimester while pregnant with Grace, I had some major discomfort and skin irritation around my belly button area. It felt like it was being stretched so tightly that it was causing pain and even discoloration around that area. After I had her, that skin sort of... died and turned black. No joke. Apparently it's somewhat common, and the doctor prescribed an expensive bleaching cream to help develop new skin. 

Fast forward about 15 months, I noticed a tiny, pea-sized hernia developing about an inch above where my belly button was. I had it checked out by a nurse practitioner because we were hoping to get pregnant around that time and wanted to make sure it would be ok during another pregnancy. He said it was no big deal, and the pregnancy wouldn't hurt it, although I would need to see a surgeon at some point to have it repaired. 

I got pregnant with Logan and things were just fine as far as the hernia. The pregnancy took over that whole area by the end, so there were no concerns about anything getting stuck in the hernia and causing pain. I did have the same major discomfort around my belly button area when I got to my biggest point again. Anything that touched it or brushed up against that area was super uncomfortable and painful. I wouldn't let anyone touch it, but it's hard when that's the part that's sticking way out there! haha. After I had Logan, my stomach was just a mess (mommies can understand). Stretched out, no belly button left, and my muscles were still trying to come back together in the center of my stomach. But the area where my hernia was had gotten worse. There was about a 5 inch by 3 inch rectangular area that was so weak that the surgeon could easily feel with his fingers the entire area that was going to need to be repaired. That surgeon was back in Henderson and we decided that repairing the hernia then was going to be too hard with a breast-feeding baby. I decided to wait and have it done after Logan was weaned.

Fast forward again to last spring... I was being lazy and hadn't been in to a surgeon here in Ohio. But one day I noticed ANOTHER hernia that was poking out. This time it was right on top of where my belly button was/had been. I was also having some pain some days. I finally saw a surgeon here in Columbus who confirmed I had 2 hernias (one umbilical and one epigastric) said we definitely needed to repair them, which of course we knew. I schedule it for October 17th and the day finally came.

That morning Amanda was so wonderful and came over to my house about 5:45am, and then took my kids to her house until after lunch. Long morning for her! Everything went fine with the surgery, although they had to have a good sized piece of mesh put over that area because it was so weak. The surgeon also did sort of a tummy-tuck, I guess, which i wasn't aware would be part of the procedure. He gave me an "innie" belly button again by pulling everything together again, and took out some of the sunken, weak skin that was there before. Ok, TMI? haha. I'm happy with the result - and a little sad to think if or when I get pregnant again, it might all be for naught. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it...

When I got home with Ryan, I felt a little funny and sort of like a train had hit my abdomen, but I was also feeling really wired. They gave me a dose of Percocet before leaving the surgery center and instead of it making me really sleepy, I was really restless and awake. Ryan made me some comfort food for lunch and I relaxed with a good book for awhile. It was pretty awesome, aside from the pain of course. :)

 The next couple of days, I looked about 5 months pregnant because of the swelling, and I was just trying to manage my pain level. I hurt A LOT the second day and into the third day! Lots of times Ryan had to get me in and out of bed like I was a total invalid. I couldn't use my stomach muscles at all to even lay myself back or to roll out of bed or even stand up straight!... I had to just let him do a lot of those things for me. It was no fun. But the amount of relaxing I was able to do, and napping, knowing he had everything taken care of was SO wonderful. He was totally on top of things and had a really good attitude about it most of the time. I had lots of really amazing friends helping with meals and play-dates for the kids. I was completely taken care of and so was my family. Thank you to all those who were there for us!

The view from my bed as Ryan took the kids out on errands.  

 The view from my lounging position while Ryan played with the kids! I sure love him.

 Logan climbed onto the couch with me one afternoon and laid down with me. It was so sweet...

 And then he noticed me taking pictures so he had to make some faces, of course!

I am grateful that everything went smoothly, all of our needs were met (plus some!), and that Ryan was able to use his medical leave to be home with us. It was a really special several days for me... even though I was in pain. I honestly would re-live it all again if I could because of how wonderful it was to be together and be able to relax and recover myself. haha That sounds selfish, I know.

Ryan went back to work on post-surgery day 6, and my mom came into town to help out since I couldn't lift or do a whole lot. That post is next...

Pumpkin Time!

We love picking out our pumpkins every year! A nice man sells his pumpkins store in his front yard through sept and october, right down the street from the local high school. We like supporting our local neighbors, like Sam. :)

The only sad part was that we didn't get to carve them this year. :( We ran out of time by Halloween, because I was recovering from surgery during the 2 weeks before the holiday, which was too early to it, and then Ryan went back to work with CRAZY hours the entire week before (and of) the holiday. He was never home before the kids were in bed at night that week. I had no energy to deal with it by myself, let alone the fact that the strength in my core muscles was really lacking at that point, so I don't think I could have done the sawing part by myself anyway. Grace has been really bummed about it... even days after Halloween she still complains. I feel bad, but... whatcha gonna do? We will next year.