I SURVIVED {tonsil update}

It's nice to be back at a computer and catching up on reading and writing for the blogging world. I had my tonsils out Wednesday, April 10 and am just returning to work. Yep, I took a week and a half off work to re-cooperate. Definitely not how I wanted to spend my days off.

I first found out about my tonsils last month. I  was coughing constantly and it seemed like I was choking on everything--food, spit, air. At night when I went to bed I would cough so hard that I would dry heave but nothing ever came out, and water didn't help to ease my throat. Finally after choking on some popcorn I grabbed a flashlight and looked in my throat. There was a giant hole in my left tonsil. I told Casey what I saw and he said, "Everyone has holes in their tonsils." I told him, "Not like this."

So I had him take a look and it totally creeped him out. I called my family dr a few days later to talk to him about what was going on. He recommended I see an ENT (ear, nose, throat). I asked around for some recommendations and headed to the dr later that week. He took one look in my throat and asked me how I felt about getting my tonsils out. I was less than thrilled. Casey was jealous because he has always had issues with his tonsils. He kept giggling at me cuz I acted so bugged about having to get them out. I heard the recovery was miserable, especially the older you were.

I reluctantly scheduled my surgery and hoped for the best.
I went in Wednesday morning and got all prepped. I gave Casey a kiss and headed back to the operating room.

Sorry, these are gross. This is the back view of my tonsils. The coral-looking deposits is old food and bacteria that got stuck there. The big hole is on the bottom. The dr said it was filled with goo that reminded him of silly putty.

My surgery went well, dr said I didn't bleed at all which was a good sign when it came to recovery. I woke up and wasn't feeling terrible. I did want a drink but I was doing ok. They moved me into a different recovery area where Casey could come back and be with me. All around me I heard people getting ready to head home so I asked when I could go. They told me I had to be in observation for at least two hours to make sure I didn't bleed. I was bummed. I was starving and I just wanted to go home! They gave me a rootbeer popsicle and I sent Casey to get me real food. He made remarkable time and saved the day when he brought me potatoes and gravy and some ice cream. It tasted delicious! 

We headed home and got me settled in bed. I had a cool pack on my throat most of the time and kept a humidifier running by my bed. They put me on percoset but it made me really sick after taking it a few days in a row so I opted for extra strength Tylenol. That didn't really help.

I ate Italian ice, Creamies, a strawberry banana shake from Burger Bar, vanilla soft serve ice cream, Slurpees, potatoes and gravy, applesauce, oatmeal, cream of wheat, homemade baby food (chicken and sweet potatoes), soup from Zupas, fettuccine, pudding, and lots of water. Towards the end of the week I was craving more solid food so I had some fries and tator tots, a chicken soft taco, pizza, Krispy Creme doughnuts and a quesadilla.

In the end I liked the ice cream, Creamies, and potatoes and gravy the best.

We had so much help, it was truly amazing. We had meals and treats delivered, my sweet sister-in-law and niece came and babysat me to make sure I survived, we had family and friends take care of Hiccup so Casey could stay home and take care of me. I'm very grateful for everyone who stopped by and helped out. 

By day eight I was feeling absolutely miserable. I cried and thought about what a big idiot I was to do this. I couldn't do anything for longer than five minutes without getting exhausted or sick to my stomach. I missed being with Hiccup and eating whatever I wanted. 

I went to my follow up appointment that day and he said I was healing well. I told him how the pain meds made me feel and he told me since I was no longer a risk for bleeding I could take ibuprofen. Thank goodness! That helped out a lot :0) Dr. said it sounded like I had an infection with some of the symptoms I told him so he got me started on some meds. I opted for the liquid little kid kind so I didn't have to worry about taking a pill. 

I'm on day thirteen now and I'm feeling much better. My throat still hurts at night and in the morning and I'm still having a hard time eating some stuff but I know that the end is near. I can't wait to see if having my tonsils out makes a difference on how sick I get throughout the year. 

Advice for Visiting Friends or Family with a New Baby

In hind sight, I really should have posted this on my front door. I would have loved those first few weeks so much more if I had thought to speak up a little.

*Bring food; preferably something that requires no work. Fresh fruit or veggies, baked goods, anything to snack on, any meal ready to go into the oven (or fresh from the oven). New mamas don't have time to cook. Most of the time they don't even have time to eat. Bring them something to nourish themselves while they nourish their new babes.

*Take a picture of Mama with her little one. She will have taken a million pictures of her babe but she hasn't been in any. Take a few and send them to her. She will love you for it.

*Call ahead before you stop by. You don't want to interrupt feeding time, a much needed shower or heaven forbid, a nap! If you call and tell her you are stopping by in an hour, stop by in an hour. I was left hanging a few times and I had tried so hard to make sure I was cleaned up (as well as my house) only to have no one show up. This felt devastating since it took up the little energy I had to get this done. So follow through people!

*Don't judge. The house will probably be messy, the baby might not look as cute as the pictures, and the new mama may have spit up or leaking milk on her shirt. Just smile and think, "This'll be me one day". ;0)

*Don't forget the other people in the house. Daddy's and older siblings need a little attention too so try and make them feel special.

Things I wish I would have known {Labor & Delivery/Hospital Stay}

I read a ton of blogs about what to expect with labor and delivery. I read so many versions of "the stuff no one tells you" so I thought I knew what to expect going in to the hospital. Here are a few things I wish I would have known or taken more seriously:

*Your family (whoever is waiting at the hospital with you) gets all the nitty, gritty details about your body and your baby. Since they hear this information, they sometimes think it's appropriate to ask you about it later on. Beware.

*I starved myself in the hospital. I  thought I had to pay extra for the food so I only called to order one breakfast and one dinner. I was there three days. I wish someone would have told me that I was paying for it anyway in my final bill. Big idiot moment for me.

*Take everything the nurses bring you; diapers, ice packs, creams, sprays, wipes, all of it. Ask them to bring you extra. Pack it away and send it home with visitors.

*Don't let a nurse interrupt you while you're feeding your baby. I had the hardest time getting Hiccup to latch and as soon as I did a nurse came in wanting to check on him and me. I should have told her to come back later cuz after he stopped, he didn't want to start again and it just made me frustrated.

*Your mama's instinct will kick in. Immediately. Follow it. Don't let anyone talk you in or out of what you feel. You are the mom, that is your baby. You make the final decisions.

*Since I'm allergic to most pain meds, I brought my own for after delivery. The nurses will still try and give you their prepackaged pills but I had my own and my dr said it was ok. I took extra-strength Tylenol while I was there. They gave me Colace and Iron while I was there too. You can buy a bottle of each for around $3 a piece, so do that and bring it with you. It'll save you the $7 per pill they'll charge you later. For those of you with great insurance that'll pay for everything, live it up and soak it in and don't worry about my fretting over pills. ;0)

*If you've never swaddled a baby, have a nurse teach you. They're experts.

*I thought I wanted people/visitors there with me the entire time I was in the hospital. What I really needed was time to relax and catch up on my sleep. I'll know better for next time and just have people come visit at certain times.

*Seeing your baby's daddy transition immediately into a daddy is one of the best things in the world. Cherish that moment when they first meet each other.

*Take so many pictures. You can always delete the bad ones later. You don't want to miss a moment and everything seems to happen so quickly. You're exhausted by the time your babe arrives and you'll forget so much that you wanted to remember. Also, black and white pictures are your best friend when it comes to the terrible hospital lighting.

*Get up and walk around after delivery. Not immediately after but don't wait too long either. It will be hard and you will need help. You don't have time to worry about being embarrassed, the nurses are there to help you. The more I moved around (slowly but surely) the better I felt. I feel like this helped me to heal much quicker than I expected to and I wasn't experiencing too much pain by the time I went home.

*It will take your body awhile  to bounce back. You're swollen, you're tired, you're sore. Your body has essentially been to war and now you're recuperating. Some parts of your body you won't even recognize but they'll be back to normal before long. My belly band was my best friend for my post-baby-belly bulge. Thank goodness that the baby doesn't mind your changing body and neither does his daddy. :0)

Babies Get Away with Everything

I was laying next to Hiccup yesterday after work. He fell asleep on the way home so I snuggled with him on my bed for a bit. I laughed when I realized that he was snoring. He sleeps like his daddy.

It got me thinking that pretty much every single thing a baby does is still considered cute. I laughed when I heard Hiccup snoring along, but when my husband snores he gets a shove and a kick in the shins. I absolutely hate when he snores.

Hiccup got an Easter hat this year and it occurred to me only that people under the age of five and over the age of 75 could get away with that hat. Anyone else would look completely ridiculous.

Babies can have poopie bums, a buggy or spitty face, spit up everywhere and they are still cute. They are demanding and whiny and exhausting but we still love them and would do absolutely anything for them.

HF definitely knew what he was doing when he made babies so irresistibly cute. The pros surely outweigh the cons when it comes to the kiddos.

Hiccup's First Easter

Easter is my absolute favorite holiday. It has been since I was little. I loved finding eggs first thing out of bed in the morning. The Easter Bunny always left us a fun basket of goodies, we found most of the candy in our eggs, and we got a new outfit (usually for church). We never had a specific basket, it would be different every year. We had sand pails, plastic buckets, metal buckets, one year our goodies were inside of hats. I loved that the Bunny got so creative.

I found Hiccup's bucket last Easter on clearance. If he wants to use it every year he can or if he gets tired of it and wants a new one, I'll consult my Bunny expert for some ideas. Casey and I do Easter baskets for each other every year. I'm not a big fan of celebrating Valentine's Day as a couple, so we get each other Easter treats instead. Casey is the type that needs a new bucket every year, but the bucket he picked out for me on our first Easter was heavy duty and kind of pricey so I use it as an everyday decoration and empty it out when Easter rolls around.

Hiccup wasn't quite sure what to do with his bucket. He was more interested in the Easter decorations that were put back up when I un-baby-proofed for the sake of the holiday. Why do I buy my child toys when he is so clearly more interested in my random things?

The Bunny left him some puffs, some rice snack sticks that melt immediately and taste like ice cream cones, a soft baseball, a football, a springtime outfit, some new kicks, a new book, and some toys for the bath. After I shared a Cadbury Creme Egg with my baby for breakfast I had the epiphany that I should have put candy in his eggs that I could have eaten later.

Casey and I did Easter a little more low key this year and tried to just spoil the babe. We still made a pretty good haul tho.

 My treasures were hidden under grass tissue paper. I hate the plastic Easter grass. It is the biggest waste and makes a huge mess. Casey got me a new leather journal to continue writing in for our family since the one I started almost a year ago only has two blank pages left. He also got me some Orange Crush and my favorite Cadbury Creme Eggs. Easter honestly has the best candy.

I gave Casey (in his bucket) some sunflower seeds, a Monster energy drink, tiny Cadbury eggs hidden in the Batman and Star Wars "eggs"; more candy in the other eggs, body spray, one of our favorite movies I found on clearance and (in the bag) a plaid button down shirt. His bucket this year was tiny so his spoils took up a lot of room.

We went to visit my parents and had our big kid egg hunt in their back yard. We don't get too violent or rough quite yet but we do give each other a hard time while we search for eggs. My parents hide candy and coins in our eggs. We all have a love for collecting change to see how it adds up over time. With the way we were running around like crazy goons you would have thought there were hundreds of dollars to be found; nope just some good ol' silver coins. ;0)

Nanny made Ender's basket out of his rockin  hat and filled it with some baseball clothes and a tiny soccer ball. He also got some stacking buckets that looked just like some I had when I was little. Nanny and Coach gave us our own Easter bucket made from a Tupperware bowl that had some treats and things for our yard in it.

We ate brunch at my aunts, who burned her hand cooking the eggs. It was an eventful meal. She was still trying to get stuff done while soaking her hand in water. Kayd and Hiccup read an Easter book and gave me one of my favorite moments of the day.

We had an egg hunt and dinner at Casey's aunt's with the whole family. They assign each kid a color to look for so that everyone gets the same amount at the end of the hunt. Hiccup wasn't really in the mood to find the eggs or pick them up but he did like to drop them in his bucket. His orange eggs had little treats in them and  Grema & Grepa gave him a little tiger and gave us some treats. Hiccup bounced on the trampoline with his cousins and had everyone giggling. My other favorite Easter moment was when Hiccup was laughing so hard and Phoenyx kept saying "Endo's yaffing! Endo's yaffing!" It was so stinking cute. 

I hope everyone had a great Easter filled with their own favorite family memories :0)

Movie Monday {The Best of Baseball}

It's Opening Day for Major League Baseball. This is one of my favorite days of the year. I love baseball, I have as long as  I can remember.

Since it's rainy and gloomy out today, I don't know how much baseball will be played but here are a few movies to watch to get you geared up for the upcoming season. Go Braves!


THE SANDLOT starring Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, & Patrick Renna

"Remember kid, there's heroes and there's legends. Heroes get remembered but legends never die, follow your heart kid, and you'll never go wrong."
"I haven't had anything yet, so how can I have some more of nothing?"
"You're killing me Smalls!"
"This pop isn't workin', Benny! I'm bakin' like a toasted cheese-it! It's so hot here!"
"Oh yeah, the Great Bambino. Of course! I thought you said the Great Bambi."
"I don't know. Some lady gave it to him. She even signed her name on it.Some lady named... Ruth. Baby Ruth."

We saw this movie at the drive in when I was little. I love it. I can quote the entire thing, although I get many requests not to.



ROOKIE OF THE YEAR starring Thomas Ian Nicholas, Gary Busey, & Albert Hall

"Did he just say "funky buttloving?""
"Hey, your mom has a pretty good arm! I ain't seen the floater pitch since Scuffy McGee!"
"Way to go, Runamucker!"
"Is that play legal?"
"I just figured out why the Cubs lose every year. They've got more talent in the stands than they do in the field."

This is such a fun movie. It's kind of obnoxious but it's for kids so what do you do?



FIELD OF DREAMS starring Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, & Ray Liotta

"If you build it, he will come."
"What are you grinning at, you ghost?"
"No one's called me Moonlight Graham in fifty years."
"At least he is not a book-burner, you Nazi cow."
"Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll say. It's only $20 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh...people will come Ray. People will most definitely come." --Sorry, that one is a long one, but I love every single word of it.

This movie always makes me cry. It describes so much of how I feel about the game of baseball. I absolutely love it. So many times I picture Heaven to exist on a baseball field in the middle of Iowa.