Grinding to a Halt

It's been one week since my surgery, and life has definitely ground to a halt. Which has actually...been a good thing. I've had plenty of time to think, to clear out my mind, and to stand back and look at things in my life objectively. When I'm caught in the chaos of the everyday, I can't get a good hold on these types of thoughts. They are fleeting at best, and soon replaced by the repetition of my three year old's thoughts.

I want chocolate milk. Mommy can I have chocolate milk? Please. I like chocolate milk. Chocolate milk is good. What about white milk? Can I have white milk? Please. I really like chocolate milk. Can I get chocolate milk? I like chocolate milk...ad nauseum.

Heaven forbid I say no, this conversation will continue into the rest of the night - and unfortunately for my sanity, I say no a lot.

I'm finally off pain medications, which is great because now I don't sleep all the time. Which, believe me - is awesome - but your body was not really meant to stay in bed all day. I'm definitely going to have a lot of working out to do when I'm ready.

The good news is this surgery has had other benefits. My appetite and like for foods has done a complete 180. I now can barely tolerate greasy or high fat foods - not really because of my missing gallbladder, but the first bite just tastes awful and usually has me feeling sick. I soon push the plate away in favor of more healthy options. So far I've lost 2 lbs, which is pretty crazy considering my activity level is like...zero - unless you call eating an activity.

I have been trying to get in a little exercise now that I'm doing better. My biggest accomplishments have been going for a walk with the boys (Mark pushing the buggy of course), going to church, and taking the boys to the park. Most of those went well. Last night's adventure to the park was more like a nightmare than an adventure - but that's life with littles for ya.

We headed out to the park after dinner. (Mistake #1 and #2: Too close to bedtime, eek. Too many mosquitoes out).

Corbin was loving climbing the rock wall and sliding down the "big" slide. Which is just what he needs and a wonderful physical therapy activity for him - especially the climbing. But we started to notice that Hayden and I were getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. Apparently, we must share the same yummy blood that the buggies like so well. For some reason, they ignore Corbin completely - it's really not fair.

Corbin was not happy about this at all. And honestly, I felt so bad for him because we have all been cooped up in the house for a week. I couldn't even let the boys go in the backyard because I just wasn't up to it last week. In an effort to make him happy, I got the idea for us all to go for shaved ice!! (Mistake #3: We should have just gone home)

We pile in the car and head off to get our treats. We have two bars left on the gas tank, which is plenty to go the 5 minute drive. (Mistake #4: We should have gassed up before we left)

When we get to the shaved ice place we get in the drive-thru line - which doesn't look two bad only 3-4 cars ahead of us. (Mistake #5: We should have never gotten in this line).

The interesting thing about this drive-thru lane is once you're in it, you're committed. There is a fence on one side and the building on the other and no room for indecision. If a car pulls in behind you, you are for sure getting shaved ice. Corbin decides that he is still extremely unhappy about our park departure, and definitely thinks our sitting in the drive-thru lane sucks, so he begins crying at the top of his lungs.

Those of you who know my youngest, he is a quiet child...until he is unhappy...then he is the loudest freakin thing shy of 30 lbs you've every heard. And of course, we're in the Yaris (think itty bitty car) where the sound is reverberating like crazy. At this point...I want to die.

Now add in Hayden, who is upset that Corbin is crying and he begins to add his voice to the mix. He is very concerned both that Corbin is crying and that the other cars ahead of us are getting his snow cone. His solution, which he tells us very clearly, is to push the cars out of the way and get our snow cones. A grand plan indeed if we were in a snowplow, but alas, we are not.

Then we look over and our two bars of gas are now one bar of gas. And it's blinking at us...really annoyingly...almost ominously. Like...check it out sucka you're gonna run out of gas in the snow cone drive-thru...kind of ominously.

So there we are, blinking trash-talking gas light, screaming 2 year old, indignant 3 year old with intense worry over alleged snow cone theft, and the two of us just trying not to lose our minds. It was actually even claustrophobic in that lane, you are literally inches away from the building on one side and fence on the other. I mean, we are totally trapped with these two crazy monkeys.

20 minutes later...

We approach the drive-thru window. By this time, Mark doesn't even want a snow cone - he just wants to safely arrive at the next gas station before he pulls his hair out. I, of course, feel like I earned this stupid snow cone and darned if I wasn't going to eat it. We get the kids smoothies, because - well it should be obvious really - smoothies have lids, and you don't give kids things without lids in the backseat. That's just asking for it. Although, really giving them anything in the backseat is asking for it.

So we make it through the drive-thru of hell, and rush to the nearest gas station - literally a minute a way. We make it...sigh of relief...and start handing out smoothies. Happy critters...for all of 2 minutes.

Half way through the gas up, Hayden announces, I have to go potty! I have to go potty! Uh, ew, gas station potty...ok fine.

So we head to the door (on the outside of the building...never a good sign) and it's locked. Okay, maybe we need a key. So we trek into the store, but no there's no key, it's just occupied. Head back to the bathroom. And it is smelly...if it's this smelly on the outside, I cannot even imagine what it's like inside. I have no idea what the guy in there is doing...but it's taking a long time.

I look at Hayden and ask, "Can you hold it?" Because we are like 4 minutes from home. And sweetly he says yes. So then we head back to the car.

This is when I see a very concerned look on Mark's face. Oh no. What happened? Apparently, Corbin thought it would be fun to turn his smoothie upside down and watch it pour out...on himself...and the car seat. What the?

So smoothie gets taken away. Okay, that equals a very mad Corbin. Not only has he endured the torture of a 20 minute wait for a smoothie, but now it's been confiscated.

Insert tortured and really, really mad crying. I may have mentioned he's a loud crier before, but this was worse. He almost gagged himself he was crying so hard. Which would have really sucked, thank God the throw up noise was just a noise and not the reality - cause that would have really sucked.

Finally, 3 minutes into the drive, I try to return the smoothie, but by this point he's completely gone. He basically tells me in so many cries, to keep my darn smoothie you heartless wench, I'm wounded forever!"

Magically he recovers as soon as we remove him from the car seat in the driveway. Such is the life of a two year old. The world can collapse and then turn into puppies and rainbows in a matter of minutes.

Moral of the story - no bedtime smoothies!

Needless to say that little adventure wiped me out for the rest of the night and the next day. I actually got a migraine last night, my blood pressure was wacked, and I slept most of the day today.

Every time I try to ease back into my normal routine, I end up overdoing it and landing back in bed. I am realizing that although I no longer feel any major pain, I am not, in fact, recovered. And this recovery looks to be slow coming. So I'm going to keep at and not let myself get carried away being super mom - because I most certainly am not, at least not for the next few weeks.

In other news, I have become a night owl due to my strange sleeping habits. Well, become, is probably the wrong word - I really am a night owl, but just temporarily acting like a morning person until my children can make themselves breakfast and not pee on the floor in the morning while I sleep - which will be in like 10 years I'm assuming. ;)

Any kid disaster stories in your lives lately? We've all been there! And looking back they can be kind of funny - actually, they are hilarious, just not until the next day.

**This post is part of the Moms' 30-Minute Blog Challenge