How Is It Already May??

 Oh hello there!  Long time no blog.  LOL.  Well, people -- I'm back.  Ish.  The last 8 weeks have been quite the ride.  As Ethan mentioned in the last post, I had surgery a couple of months ago and then followed that up with a week in the hospital thanks to post-op complications/infection.  And then the rest of the time since then, I've spent in recovery.  I'm finally starting to feel a little more back to normal, so I thought the perfect way to celebrate that would be to blog!  Hahaha.  

While I've been pretty out of commission the last several weeks, there are still a few things I can recap since Ethan guest blogged for me...

EASTER

The beauty of having kids old enough to drive is that you can send them on all kinds of errands for you so that you never have to leave the house.  Hahaha.  This came in rather handy as I spent much of the last 2 months reclining on the couch or my bed.  One of the errands that needed running last month was Easter bunny related, and Grace came through for me in the clutch.  She did the shopping and then the setting up on the counter the night before, and I have to admit -- I kind of loved outsourcing the whole shebang.  Hahahaha.  

She also snuck in an Easter basket for Maxwell.  Haha.

ETHAN COMES HOME!

The beauty of having blogged/recorded most aspects of our lives for the past decade+ is that Ethan knows to send me blog material without me even having to ask for it.  At least most of the time.  Hahahaha.  While I may have prompted him at the beginning of the year to send me a pic of him from his first day of school, I received his LAST day of school pic totally unsolicited a couple of weeks ago.  BYU always gets out for the year extra early, but you'll be hearing no complaints around these parts, because we're ALL happy to have Ethan back home with us for the next few weeks before he flies out to the MTC.  

Last day of school.

Ethan's bishop-and-wife.

Ethan's ward on the last Sunday of the school year.

L->R Noelle, Ethan, Emily, Anna, and Emma

Time to say goodbye to the dorms.

On his way home.

Ethan borrowed my "real" camera a couple of days ago and went to take pictures of the new temple being built about 30 minutes from where we live.

WISDOM TEETH REMOVAL

The highlight of this past week was most definitely when Ethan got his wisdom teeth taken out.  I don't think I've ever laughed so much in my life as I did witnessing Ethan spouting hilarious nonsense post-surgery.  He wanted to capture everything on film, and he certainly succeeded in capturing the essence of the experience.  Hahahaha.  My favorite thing is how many times he kept reassuring me that he was "fully aware" of everything he was saying and doing.  Other favorite moments include hearing him quote The Incredibles ("where is my super suit??), singing songs from In the Heights ("When the Sun Goes Down"); and making references to iCarly (he called his ice pack a "butter sock").  I also enjoyed hearing him laugh crazily and recording a birthday message for my sister, Amy.  Prior to his surgery, Alex and Isaac were super stoked about the thought of Ethan cussing in his post-surgery/anesthesia haze.  I don't know where they got the idea that THAT was going to be happening, but I'm pretty sure they were both disappointed when that wasn't the case.  I laughed out loud, though, when I heard Isaac's actual commentary on the whole experience -- when I asked him what he thought of how crazy Ethan was after getting back from the surgery, he said with a pained look on his face, "I didn't know it would be so cringe."  Hahahahahahahahahaha.  (You probably had to be there to appreciate how hilarious it was.)

That's the "butter sock" around his face, in case anyone was wondering.

MISCELLANY

While my time in the hospital was certainly a nuisance -- and stirred up a ton of extra anxiety for a few children here at home -- there were certainly some silver linings.  It was pretty nice having all my meals were taken care of for me, and it was also kind of nice not having to shuttle kids to the various doctor and dentist appointments I had set up to be taken care of during their Spring Break week, which coincided with the week I was in the hospital and which Scott had already taken time off for from work.  Unfortunately for poor Scott, that meant he was on single parent duty for the entire week -- and let's face it, the subsequent weeks as I have not been useful for pretty much anything.  After I got home from the hospital, I added another item to my "practically a professional" list as I was trained by a home health aide nurse on how to administer the antibiotics I still needed through my picc line for the next couple of weeks.  And as much as I was grateful for having that picc line -- because I was seriously a pincushion for a couple of days when no one could get an IV to stick -- I was even more grateful when I was finally able to get it taken out a couple of weeks ago.  

I had to take a picture of this whiteboard in my hotel room -- "Today's Goals: Shower!  What is important to you? Fever Free!"

I love this paper bouquet of flowers that Scott's mom sent me -- such a clever idea!

Finally getting that picc line in.

Isaac and Alex were the happiest to finally have me come home.  To say the week was traumatizing for the two of them would be accurate.  I'm pretty sure Alex thought I was going to die the whole time I was there.

And finally getting that picc line out!

So many people helped out by bringing us meals and looking out for us while I've been recovering.

I can't think of a whole lot else to recap, so I'm going to go ahead and close for now.  With only 3 1/2 weeks left of school for the year and two weeks left to get Ethan ready for his mission, I'll probably be too busy to blog until everything calms down.  With so much going on, though, I should hopefully have lots of good content for the next time I post.  Hahahaha.  ;)

It's always a treat to see how Isaac has fallen asleep for the night.  Hahaha.