I made it to DAY 10!

As you may remember, I had surgery on my right ear in November 2011 after having some hearing loss associated with my pregnancy with Austin...see those details here... and unfortunately it happened all over again to the other ear after having Madeline.  But like I told my doctor, I don't have a 3rd ear and I will likely not have a 3rd child so I hope that was the last time I have to go under the knife.  However if you live in Mississippi and need an ear specialist, I HIGHLY recommend Dr. House at St. Dominics.  He is very thorough, has great bedside manner, and best of all he's an Ole Miss Rebel.

Post surgery at home in bed.  Longest nap I have taken in years! It was fabulous!

So once again I was on a strict lifting restriction for 10 days post surgery...TEN DAYS people!  Please take note today of every time you go to lift something over 10lbs: Bags, purses, children, boxes to mail, strollers, etc.  It is so much harder than it sounds!  Layer on the fact that I HATE asking for help and feeling helpless (exactly why I didn't enjoy the restrictions of pregnancy) so the 10 days were a huge challenge for me but I can say I only cautiously cheated a handful of times and only if absolutely necessary. HUGE shout out to my amazing husband that has woken up early just to hand me the baby to nurse, changed countless diapers, loaded/unloaded my car everyday, deep cleaned our home, grocery shopped {actually he always does this!! Yeah I know...WOW}, and basically pulled the weight of 2 parents while I couldn't pull my share.  Also my sweet mother gives and gives and gives of herself yet she never tires or complains....and even constantly tells me there is nowhere she would rather be. Yup, she's a keeper!! She stayed with us for a few night post surgery to help with the kids, wrangled 2 kids at the pediatrician while I had to sit and observe, and helped anywhere we needed it.


Saturday morning, we gave Zach some much needed extra sleep since he has been getting up with the kids for me.  So Mom and I strolled (slowly) through downtown...stopped by the pumpkin patch for pics of the kids (semi-successful), had lunch at the coffee shop, and then shopped the Main St. stores.  Afternoons like this make me so thankful to live in a small town and live here with my parents. Life is so simple and so easy to enjoy the small things.

Madeline did awesome!  Love this age where you can position and pose them anyway you want...the 2 year old is a totally different story...

Here we are bribing Austin to sit next to Madeline with his babies.  I can pretty much bet money on how our visit with Santa will go this year.

He finally agreed, however he wanted to sit on the ground. He makes the rules these days.  Oh yeah and we may have promised him a cupcake in return :)

Here are some pics over the 10 days of the kids.....  Austin has become really loving and hands on with Madeline recently.  It is really cute.  When she cries he says "Oh Mommy I hear baby Sister, I'll go get her", "Lemme hold Maddy", ""I wanna help with Baby Sister".  It only took 6 months, but it looks like he is gonna let us keep her!

Lots of snuggles on the couch with the pups.  We found another tumor on Sydney...this time golf ball size on her heel.  So sad because we know the cancer is causing this and it's just a physical reminder that our sweet girl is sick even though she is full of life and SO MUCH LOVE!

Austin loved the slumber parties with Grammy.  Here the kids are watching "Muffins" {Muppets take Manhattan} in the playroom.

My first day off probation I scooped up Maddy, all by myself, and took her to a holiday sale at one of my favorite gift shops.  This is the treat she got for being such a happy girl while mommy shopped for an hour and 1/2.  Another reason I love a small town, seeing tons of people you know begging to hold her which really helped me out.