New Year, New Beginnings

Happy New Year, sweet friends! I haven’t been here in so long that I have a million things to catch up on. Life has been overwhelmingly amazing, encouraging, and eventful. I am trying my best to enjoy all of it and focus on being more present with the ones I love. Sometimes it means taking breaks from social media and the blog to invest in bigger things.

I am fully cleared from my emergency surgery. You can catch back up with that {HERE}. I’ll be honest, it was tough. At times I believe it to be a little more exhausting and frustrating than my hysterectomy. About a week into my recovery, I remember crying and just wanting to give up because I felt like I had no more energy to go through back-to-back recoveries. In both recoveries, week four was always my turning point and the time when I regained my energy, sense of well being, and felt like I was more like myself. I have never been more thankful to feel well in my entire life. 12 long weeks of recovery is exhausting and mentally tough.

If you want to know what I’ve been up to, it’s way easier to keep up with me on Instagram. I can post there in 30 seconds and keep running like crazy. You can follow me {HERE}.

My most exciting news for the new year is ministry based. Two of my closest friends and I launched our own dance fitness program at our church this year. We started praying over our Zumba® fitness program months ago. I had always struggled with many of the songs released by Zumba® fitness and some of the choreo. I feel like God led me to teach at my church for a reason and when I inherited the class, I also had the responsibility of following God’s guidance and direction for the ministry there. I began asking Him to use me for His glory and to direct my path however He chose. In my heart I knew things had to change and I didn’t know how to do it. Over time my best friends and I started kicking around an idea over and over. We’d throw it out, sometimes joking and then it became serious. I think mostly they were joking, but my heart just said, “Yes.”

I asked some of my closest Christian friends to begin praying with me over the program. It was months of prayer. I didn’t exactly know which direction the program needed to go, but I felt like God needed something to change. I prayed for God to just use me.

Nikki, Brandy, and I attended a Refit class last year and absolutely loved it. I was so pumped up about it and inspired that my husband suggested I get licensed to teach classes. I saved up enough money to sign up, but when I went online to register I discovered that they had cancelled the next date closest to me. I thought that possibly God was telling me no.

Fortunately, if it had all worked out I couldn’t have attended anyways due to all of my surgeries. God watched over me and His timing is always perfect. He is so good to me!

Nikki, Brandy, and I loved the creators of Refit’s story. They are three best friends who were Christian Zumba® instructors that chose to break from Zumba® and form their own dance fitness company. The more we talked about it the more we thought, “Why not us?”

We love and support Refit enough that we made the choice to get licensed to teach it as well. I feel like it will be great training for us. We love the founders as well. All three of us are now signed up! I have also decided to keep my Zumba® fitness license. I don’t believe all of it is bad and I believe that it will always be a piece of my life. When the three of us decided to overhaul our program for the new year, we got even more drastic. We wanted to offer a free toning class for our ladies in an effort to help them reach their fitness and weight loss goals.

With three different parts of our classes, three of us, and wanting to find something to represent our faith….we started throwing out names for our class. Finally we decided on TriFit. Our main goal is to represent our Christian faith (Holy Trinity), our great friendship, and the different aspects of our program.

We taught our first TriFit class this past Monday night and were blessed with 44 beautiful friends in class. We have had overwhelming support from our current ladies and new friends. All through the first class, I felt this peace in my heart finally that we were doing exactly what God wanted for our church. There’s no judgement. Just laughter, joy, and unconditional acceptance for all. And the most amazing part is that I get to do this with all of my friends. God is so good to me!

If you get a chance, like us on Facebook {HERE}!

Seven

This weekend my little one turned 7! I am still trying to come to terms with him growing up so fast. I am struggling, y’all. Everyone tells you that time will fly and you politely nod your head to agree, but in all reality you have absolutely no clue. One moment I’m bringing him home from the hospital, the next I’m begging him just to sleep a little bit longer, and now I’m just begging him to slow down a little. I want to enjoy this age just a little longer. It’s passing too quickly.

And, oh how I love this age. I am not a fan of babies. I like rocking them, loving on them, and handing them back to their mama. C is my one and only for a good reason. He was worth the baby phase and I love him fiercely. He’s the one and only reason I would tolerate the baby phase ever. He’s that special. C at this age? So much more fun!

I surprised him with a kid’s version of a Fitbit since he has begged for one like mine. He had his on for 10 minutes and doubled my steps.

We hopped in the truck and made a doughnut run first thing for his birthday! We started the morning in pj’s, no makeup, and just glasses…

I got a fabulous new flavor! Peppermint Crunch might be my new fav for a bit.

We finally had his party and he was so excited. He wanted a football theme again this year. We eat, sleep, and breathe football this time of year.

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That afternoon my dad took him deer hunting and my husband assembled the deer stand we bought him for his birthday. He has been climbing our magnolia tree and shooting his bow from it. I have had some major hot flashes watching him climb this tree and try to balance everything. I can just see him falling backwards out of this tree and breaking something. So, I decided to do things my way. I bought a harness and a deer stand with a complete wrap around enclosure. I feel much better about this set up.

We snuggled up on the patio waiting for him to get home and surprise him.

And he was probably the happiest kid around when he noticed the one gift he’d been asking for was finally sitting in the yard! 

This precious boy means so much to me and I love celebrating him. He is so very loved and I am thankful God gave him to us.

Um, What Surgery???

I can’t even begin to process the chaos of the past several days. I’ve had a ton of questions from people and instead of answering everyone individually, I think this might be the easiest way to throw it out there. If you don’t handle medical discussions or female anatomy very well, this is not the post to read. You can check back in later. I’m totally cool with that.

I’m also on a fair amount of pain meds, so this may be highly entertaining. You can laugh along with me, cringe for me, and critique my grammar as necessary.

On Wednesday at lunch, my hunky husband decided I looked fabulous. So it all started with a kiss…

Later on…I stood up and the worst pain and pressure I’ve ever had hit me. I had blood and clear fluids (intestinal fluids) gush out. I told my husband we were in big trouble and to grab my phone. I called the on call nurse and she informed me that my doctor was in surgery all day. She instructed me to lie down, elevate my feet, and control the pain with meds from surgery. I tried to tell her this was extreme pain, but she explained that I couldn’t come in until the next day. I asked my husband to just hold me.

I tried to walk to the bathroom and my husband watched me stumble backwards into the wall. He describes it like I was shaking so bad that it looked like I was having a seizure. He ran to me and caught me. I had a blank stare and he yelled at me to get me to come to. About 15 seconds later, I did it again. When I came to a second time I just remember I couldn’t hear, my legs were having tremors from the extreme pain, and I didn’t understand why my husband was yelling at me. He called back and told the on call doctor what was going on about the same time I started vomiting from the pain. The on call doctor realized that I was the “fit Zumba girl” and she told him to get me to the hospital.

I don’t remember much after that. My husband says the emergency room was packed, but as soon as he brought me and told them what was going on I was taken immediately to a room. Every time I was moved, I vomited and tremored from the pain. They started morphine before they did an internal exam. The doctor had to suction quite a bit of blood out before they could examine me. I guess it didn’t really register how bad it was because she told us that my doctor would be over as soon as he was finished with his surgery and I would be going to the operating room.

The morphine worked well enough I took a picture and was able to explain to my dad how exactly this happened and listened to him ban my husband from touching me for the next ten years. And my friends and I cracked jokes for a bit via text. I’m so glad they were able to distract me from freaking out.

Before surgery, the morphine had worn completely off. I felt like I was being split in half. It was miserable. Fortunately they knocked me out for surgery. When I woke up and was taken to a room, my husband explained that my vaginal cuff had ruptured completely and that my intestines had come down. I had to stay one night in the hospital and have antibiotics through the night.

I went home the next morning and it has been a painful recovery. My mama and husband have been here every step of the way. This recovery feels ten times worse than the hysterectomy. My abdomen is so tender and bruised feeling. I am also right back at square one with my recovery plus some. I have all of my restrictions back on me for six weeks and poor hubby has even longer.

Mom has taken me out in the wheelchair and we’ve enjoyed shopping together. We’ve had the best time together. Just sitting and talking, eating, finding the best deals. We’ve enjoyed it all without letting me get frustrated by all of this mess.

She makes me a little motion sick in the wheelchair, but it’s better than sitting at home being bored!

Through all of this I was most worried about this sweetie. He was totally unprepared for this too. Now I’m back to doing all kinds of non-fun things again.

But we have spent a lot of time reading together and it’s been really precious. I love hearing him read and hearing the improvements he has made!

So…. I’m back to no Zumba, no cleaning, no driving, no loving on my husband, no football in the yard, and no dancing again for 6 weeks this time. Because we did nothing wrong. We did nothing abnormal. It was rare, happens to 1-4% of hysterectomy patients, and oh…this can happen again (even at 8-9 months out). Not even slightly kidding. I have PTSD and it’s crazy.

Halloween 2016

Halloween this year was a blast! Like, we had so much fun doing things that I kinda sorta forgot to take pictures during the actual events… #momfail  or #momwin ?  I’ll let you decide.

So instead I played around on Snapchat before the fun started. So let’s pretend these are the awesome pictures of us dressed up….

 

No, wait…. I do have one halfway silly picture of our outfits from Saturday night! We were at the cabin with my family. My husband was a referee, my little boy was a football player, and I was a cop. That’s all you get….

Before we dressed up, the cousins played together and decorated pumpkins. This was actually my favorite part of the entire weekend. My little boy had a butterfly land on him and I was able to catch this great picture.

He was so still that it sat on him for several minutes.

We tried really hard to get a good picture of all the cousins together, but the youngest just wanted to grab the butterfly. This picture really shows their personalities off though!

My nephew was so content decorating his pumpkin. He was my little buddy this weekend. We stuck the stickers on it about 80 times.

This was the calmest all three of these kids were all weekend.

He passed out in the chair with me rocking him and we took a long nap. And yay for Snapchat for the costumes since I forgot to take pictures…..

The biggest #momfail ever? On actual Halloween night, this was the only picture I got of him in his costume. We even had a huge group of friends go trick-or-treating. Did any of us think to get pictures of our cute kids going door to door? Nope. We were all laughing, talking, and walking. Out of eight adults….four of us are photo obsessed. I’m just going to blame it on living in the moment and enjoying my people. #bestexcuseever #momwin

Playoffs

My little one’s team is going to the Super Bowl for the second year in a row! We had our play off game this weekend and his team did great. We are still undefeated and having a great time playing football!

These early morning games are coming to an end and it’s a little sad. He’s played on this team for three years and next year will have to move up. Many of his teammates will be moving up with him, so I know he will still have a lot of the same buddies.

I’m still laughing over my husband helping out on the team this year. That has probably been the most entertaining part of the whole thing. He’s gone from screaming in the stands to studying plays on the field. He works with these kids like they’re a college football team and I giggle watching them. But off the field my husband can walk into school with our son and I see the other kids come barreling up to him. I think it’s pretty sweet.

C got to be part of the coin toss and finally got a chance to carry the ball this game. He picked up a first down by running up the middle and I was so excited for him!

We are going to the Super Bowl in a few weeks and I am hoping we can pull off a big win! These kids have had such a good time together and have worked really hard to get this far.

Workout Wednesday

Today we’re switching things up around here and I’m bringing you someone really special. She’s actually my weight loss twin. We’ve both lost 90 pounds! I told you some of my story yesterday, but one of my best friends is going to tell hers today. You see her beautiful face all over my Instagram and loving on my little boy. Now it’s time to hear her amazing work-in-progress and you can cheer her on as we both enter our next weight loss challenge together!

Meet “L”!

My journey started when I found out I had diabetes at 23 years old. I was in denial for about 6 months and then decided to start “sort of” doing better—like drinking less sodas and adding more water. Well “sort of” didn’t work. I still couldn’t keep my sugar under control and I felt horrible, then something just clicked! I decided I needed to be the healthiest version of myself that I could be. I started eating right but I was NOT about to work out because I was not about that life or sweating.

After losing my first 30 pounds, I hit a small plateau. I decided maybe I should add some light cardio AT HOME. I added some dance fitness from YouTube because I love to dance and used to be a dancer. This sure did kick start it again. I started losing more and adding more cardio because now I was just having fun! I wanted to add more and had done Zumba in the past with another teacher but never saw any results. I decided to give it another chance. I posted on Facebook that I was looking for a local Zumba class and everyone kept posting with this Wendy person. I was like well heck I’ll message this woman and see what she has to say. She gave me the times and prices and told me that she would be looking forward to myself and my mother coming to Zumba. Well the next Monday night I was there!

Completely unsure what to expect from this class but totally satisfied. I started out on the back row, sweating my guts out, and completely confused by the choreo but I was determined to get it right!! One class lead to two and two classes lead to 30!! I slowly started moving to the front as I started learning the choreo and was able to keep up better. Where can y’all find me now? Right on the front row, shaking and grooving with the rest of them!

Shortly before starting Zumba, I also decided to add weight training. Now before you say I don’t want to be all muscular, I said that same thing. I am very lucky to work with a group of women that have taught me so much not only about exercise but how the human body works. They taught me that adding weight training and toning to my workout will help my metabolism and will make me leaner and firmer. I thought killing myself on the elliptical or treadmill for an hour at a time was the only way to lose weight and to look better. NOT!

I started off in my living room (after my dance fitness) with 3 pound weights and I pinned beginner weight exercises (arm, legs, and abs) on Pinterest. I also added some body weight exercises like wall sits, planking, and squats. I started doing those twice a week. After I got my confidence up and strength I added more weight and decided to go to the gym. I started going to lift the free weights they had in there and I started researching more arm exercises that were a little harder. I started slow and worked up. When I could tell the weights were getting easier to push and lift, I added 5 more pounds. I was so intimidated by the machines that I didn’t even touch them. I was afraid I would kill myself or worse break one of the machines! One of my coworkers started going regularly with me and we started trying new exercises we had seen on Pinterest or on Instagram. It really was getting fun now! We decided instead of working our whole body three times a week that we would dedicate a day to each muscle group….for instances Mondays and Thursdays I do arms and back, on Tuesdays we do legs and butt, Wednesday we work on shoulders and abs, and Fridays are a free for all (whatever isn’t killing us from the week). I try to lay off of legs on Zumba days for obvious reasons (I ain’t tryin’ to die!!) We do all of this on our lunch breaks so we typically do 30 minutes of cardio, whether that be treadmill, elliptical, or bicycle, and then 30 minutes of weights.

I lost over 10% body fat just within months. I can tell a difference in how I feel and how my clothes feel. Over the past two years, I have lost over 90 pounds!!!!! I have very little sagging skin from lifting weights and cardio. I also have managed to keep my sugar under control and have gone from taking 4 pills a day to taking one sometimes none depending on how my sugar is. I’m not saying any of it is easy but I can promise you it is totally worth it. I have more energy now than I did when I was 15. It’s amazing what exercise can do for you.

If you would like to leave a comment on this post to show “L” support, encouragement, and love please do! Feel free to also leave her questions below if you’d like to know more about her weight loss journey as well! 

 

Transformation Tuesday

We haven’t really talked a lot about weight loss around here. I mean we kinda got off to the wrong foot. I started this pretty, little blog with intentions of talking about life and then everything just got flipped upside down. I’m more than ready to get back on track and talk about fun things.

My beautiful friends and I are kicking off a weight loss challenge next month and I’m leading a toning class before I teach Zumba® fitness. I want to start switching things up for myself and helping others reach their goals. I know the holidays are a difficult time to stay on track and I’m hoping we can help each other stay accountable.

I know many of you don’t know I was a weight loss blogger before I started this blog. Many of you don’t realize I’ve lost 90 pounds since my little boy turned two. I also have a lot of people who come to my Zumba® fitness classes thinking that I may have always been in shape. That is most definitely not the case!

I had to work hard to be where I am today. If you’re new and don’t know me, I’ll be happy to show you my before and now pictures. I’ve always struggled with my weight and when I got pregnant with my son, my weight spiraled out of control. I thought that I got a free pass to eat all I wanted because I was eating for two and that the pregnancy weight would just fall off when he was born. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

I was left with this beautiful boy, but I was a hot mess. I felt depressed, I had weight related health problems, and I chose to ignore all of it. I threw all of my energy into parenting my precious child.

I was living on the sidelines of our life together. I watched my husband and son play together and I photographed them. I hid behind a camera. I hid behind my son. I didn’t really have any friends because I stayed home with my family. Life was work and home.

On my son’s second birthday I was tired of feeling sick and tired. I made small changes and let them become a habit. At first, I did not tell anyone. I didn’t want to lose a little and fail. I finally had noticeable changes and it became exciting! I went from wearing a size 16/18 to wearing a size 6/8. After the first 60 pounds, I stalled out and my church started a Zumba® fitness program. Shy me stood in the back corner and tried the very first class. I became instantly addicted.

Over time I knew I wanted to teach classes, so I became licensed in Zumba® fitness and I actually started teaching at the very place I began taking classes. I absolutely love helping other ladies reach their fitness and weight loss goals.

But I mostly love being able to not hide behind my little boy. I love being a part of his life instead of sitting on the sidelines of his life taking all of the pictures. I love teaching him how to do things instead of watching my husband do everything. I love having lots of friends instead of just being secluded and insecure in life. I love trying on clothes instead of wearing maternity clothes while I wasn’t even pregnant…

Am I finished?

No way! I have fitness goals now that I am cleared from surgery. I did not gain any weight during my recovery and now that I’m feeling better I want to set new goals.

If you stopped by for fitness or weight loss help today, what do you want to see? And if you don’t mind, take just a quick second to share this post with your friends so we can help others in their own fitness and weight loss journey. It’s easier to lose weight with a friend! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for extra ideas for weight loss help and healthy tips along the way.

Was It Worth It?

I’ve started cleaning the house. I’m returning to my workouts now and life is generally back to normal. My biggest question left is: Was it worth it?

A hysterectomy is major surgery and not to be taken lightly. It’s not a first choice of treatment for endometriosis, fibroids, or migraines. And it might not even help endometriosis or migraines long term. You must find a surgeon who is qualified to even deal with endometriosis. Many times endometriosis can return if your surgeon does not get it all during your surgery. Do your research!

I discovered before and after surgery that some people are just plain insensitive or judgmental of my choices and my healthcare. The people closest to me were so supportive and offered me great advice leading up to my surgery. Random acquaintances were very quick to tell me surgical horror stories, migraine “cures”, and how I was way too young to have a hysterectomy because I really needed more children. I have never in my life had so many people concerned with my ability to have more children without them even realizing we made that permanent decision years ago… But they sure felt the need to insert their opinions.

It has been a very interesting few weeks. My recovery has actually been pretty good. I had a hysterectomy to remove my uterus, fallopian tubes, one ovary, and cervix on September 21st. The doctor also diagnosed me with Stage IV endometriosis during my surgery and discovered that it had spread. The endometriosis was removed during my DaVinci robotic surgery and I was left with five small abdominal incisions. When my labs returned, I also had one fibroid that was removed. I was a big mess of crazy.

The first week of recovery was my loopy week. I spent lots of time sleeping, being cared for by family and friends, and watching TV. I don’t remember a ton of details, but I do remember a lot of people loved on me that week. I know the gas pains from surgery were probably the worst, but moving helped a lot. I only took pain meds for four days and I was over that.

Week two was my sad week. I knew my body had been through major surgery and I knew to expect my emotions to be all over the place. I went back to work on day 5 and spent time with my work people. They brought me stuff and watched over me. It helped me feel more like myself. When I got worn out, I went home and rested. I cried a lot during the second week. It started sinking in that I was tired of hurting, I wanted to feel more like myself, I wanted to feel independent, and I really missed my friends. Luckily I have some fabulous friends who recognized that I was not handling things well, so they came over and started walking with me. It was exhausting, but it felt so much better to start moving in the right direction.

Week three was the frustrating week. It was one step forward and two steps back. I’d start feeling better and then it would slam me back into the dirt. By the end of week three, my son and I pulled off the 5K that I was determined to walk. I felt my energy returning and that is when I finally turned the corner.

Week four was the glorious week that I finally felt like I hadn’t had surgery. My abdominal pain was gone, my incisions looked great, and I started having energy that lasted pretty much throughout the day. I woke up in the middle of the night and caught myself asleep on my stomach. I started getting agitated because I wanted to workout and clean the house. I was ready to be cleared from surgery and tired of waiting.

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I’ve had one migraine since surgery and I was able to shut it down quickly. I feel fantastic!!! I feel like I’m happier and on the right track to becoming healthier. I don’t look and feel as worn down and tired. I never realized how much abdominal pain I was in until it was gone. I lived with constant pain and just dismissed it because the migraine pain was so much greater. I never imagined I would have Stage IV endometriosis or a fibroid. I never imagined these would cause the majority of my chronic migraines for the past two years. I’m just so excited to live pain free!

I wanted to share my journey to bring hope to others. I researched hysterectomies before my surgery, but a lot was very negative. There’s another site devoted to hysterectomy recovery, but I feel like it also was not for me either. There are some ladies who take months to recovery from a DaVinci robotic surgery while mine wasn’t nearly as bad. I don’t know their physical conditions prior to surgery, but my doctor told me I had a quicker recovery due to my physical fitness prior to surgery. This website had me pretty scared at times. I used it during my recovery and it had me terrified to lift a coffee cup.

After week two, I decided I was done with their advice and listened to my own body and my own nurses. If I felt worn out or sore, I rested. If I felt okay, I did my thing. I did not lift over 10 pounds and I did not jump around, squat, run, or shake my booty in Zumba® fitness. A heating pad on my sore stomach when needed was fabulous and that’s pretty much all I needed in the last two weeks of recovery.

Every woman is different and each surgery is going to be its own struggle. I lived with a lot of pain before surgery and I feel like a hysterectomy was almost a cake walk compared to the life I lived before it. I don’t regret doing it and I am so thrilled with the results so far. My doctor explained that my left ovary could fail in the coming weeks or months after surgery. Sometimes it just doesn’t handle the surgery and I will experience menopause symptoms. We are just going to remain hopeful. It takes a lot of triggers combining to bring on a migraine now. I know I’m not completely migraine free, but I can manage them without it wrecking my life. I still take a daily preventative migraine medicine and see my neurologist. The most fabulous part is I can wear white all year, go swimming any time I choose, and wear yoga pants every day without fear… because I will never deal with another period. And at 32 years old, that is quite fabulous!

 

Projects and Changes

Fall is finally in the air and our weekend was much cooler. I love when seasons change and we get to enjoy different weather. My husband is not as thrilled with the chill in the air, but I am ready for cute boots and leggings. Now that I am feeling much better from my surgery, I ready for changes. I started with my hair. I am absolutely tired of wearing it up, so I chopped it off. I am loving it much better now. The only thing is that it never looks as perfect as right after I walk right out of the salon. I just need someone to do my hair for me every day.

I’m fairly sure my husband likes the new look. We spent the evening snuggled up on our patio watching TV. I’m loving our outdoor area and it has quickly become our favorite place lately. We’ve put so much work into it and really transformed it.

My child and I played around with Snapchat during commercial breaks. He’s such a dramatic child and I’m afraid he’s gotten that from me. My husband looks at us like we’re insane sometimes. Honestly, we really have so much fun together and I love his personality.

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Saturday we picked up some more things for our outdoor project and this kid was really helpful. While we were waiting for my husband to pick out things, we decided to see how tall he was. When he compared it to my height, we discovered I’m only 15″ taller than he is. He’s not even 7 yet….

Here’s a quick sneak peak at our latest mini-project…. We built a small deck for our grill and installed a horizontal wall to hide the a/c unit. It’s not finished and this is just a portion of what we’re working on, but I already love this area so much! This area will eventually be built in phases over time and will stretch across the back of the house, but for now we are loving the progress.

We are ready to kick off another week! I’m excited about Zumba® classes, football, and getting my house clean!!!

Your Turn! 

• What did you do this weekend? 
• Any tips for getting salon pretty hair at home? What products are you using?
• What are you looking forward to with the cooler weather? 

Four Weeks

I finally made it to my four week post-op appointment and I was thrilled! Week four was by far my turning point in the recovery process. I definitely felt more like myself and over the past three days I definitely feel like I have not even had any type of surgery. My body feels more like normal. My energy levels are returning and I’m starting to really perk back up.

My appointment was very surprising. My husband and I were told that lab results revealed that I also had a fibroid along with my Stage IV endometriosis. There’s no wonder I had so much pain, hormonal disturbances, and migraine issues prior to my hysterectomy. I’m still a little stunned that I had been to three other gynecologists and no one discovered any of this. Looking back over the years I am fairly certain I’ve had some of these issues for many years. Only one treatment plan was ever offered to me, but it did not work for me. I had to suffer for years before one doctor finally helped me. I am just so thankful for this doctor.

My incisions have healed very well. The doctor told me I have had a great recovery because I was in great shape and was fit before surgery. It’s easier to bounce back, you heal quicker, and your incisions look better if you are at a healthier weight and physically fit prior to surgery according to my doctor.

I’ve had plenty of time to rest, talk with my friends, watch my little one play football, and enjoy life. It’s given me a much needed break and time to just slow down from such a busy life.

But I enjoy hectic and busy. I love being on the go. I like my independence and being able to clean my house. But this has shown me that it’s a good time to find balance. It’s okay to slow down, snuggle up to your husband on the patio and watch a little football. It’s okay to let the house just be chaotic for a few days. It’s okay to accept help from friends.

And it’s okay to celebrate the moments when you feel absolutely amazing and God has blessed you with a healthy body and the best friends and family a girl could ask for!

And it sure felt great to do this after being cleared from surgery yesterday! Bring on the Zumba® fitness….

We Did What???

I’m entering my fourth week of recovery and I sure didn’t do it lying down. Week three was one step forward and two steps back. But then towards the end I felt more and more like I was turning a corner. I listened to my body during week three and rested when I needed to and I am pretty sure that’s the smartest thing I could have done. Because let me tell you how we rolled into week four….

Friday night we decided to take C to his first haunted house with our friends. He has been begging us to take him. I have told him what to expect, I tried to prepare him, and I warned him multiple times. Still he begged.

It’s all fun and games until you see something alive….

My husband and I have not been to a haunted house since C was born. We love them!  Unfortunately C did not! He had to be carried in, while screaming for his mama, and was terrified. I laughed all the way through.

I’m pretty sure he thought he was just going on a hay ride through a field after the haunted house too. He wasn’t expecting creepy things to come out and hop on the trailer either. If my bestie hadn’t caught him first, I’m pretty sure he would have jumped off and ran through the field!

To be as scared as he was, he slept through the night in his own bed without any problems and woke up asking when the next one was. Apparently he likes being scared half to death.

Saturday was much more laid back. My husband continued working on our latest home improvement project. An outdoor TV has been high on his list since we moved into our new home last year. When I started showing him how I wanted to change our outdoor areas, he found a way to make it work. I am loving how our ideas are merging together and this area is coming along. I cannot wait to show you the final reveal!

I got so tickled this weekend. My sweet child has been so helpful and I cannot brag on him enough. He’s about to turn 7 in less than a month, but he has been so sweet to me. He has surprised me in some of the funniest ways. Since I haven’t been able to scrub the house like I normally do, it has been messier than I like. It drives me insane. I asked C for his help and I offered to pay him $7 since it was all of the cash I happened to have in my purse. He agreed immediately and we walked through the house together.

I cleaned counters and he scrubbed toilets, dusted, vacuumed, and helped with laundry. I was amazed that he did so much. My house was almost “Mama Clean” and it will get by until I am cleared from surgery this week! I got a ton of work done for just $7 though.

I also made a new dip I found on Pinterest. It was amazing!!! You can find it {HERE}. It’s appropriately named Hissy Fit Dip!

We took it to a football party and it was yummy!

One of my besties’ parents lives right across the street from us so the dip was hot right out of the oven. It worked out perfectly.

Early Sunday morning C and I got up for his first 5K. Two of my best friends did it with us.

I had signed up for this 5K months ago and I was hoping to PR it. But then I found out I had to have a hysterectomy and C offered to walk this one with me. He is the sweetest kid.

I am fairly sure he was overwhelmed by the amount of people at this race. This was a huge marathon, half, and 5K.

It was my worst time for a 5K ever, but I have never been more proud to do one. I got to be with my little boy for his first 5K, I got to witness him cross a race finish line for the first time ever, we both earned our first finisher medals, I did it one hundred percent migraine free, and I completed an actual 5K 3.5 weeks after a major surgery. I’m pretty sure it’s better than any race PR for me.

Ten More Days…

Recovery last week left me feeling a little like this…

Frustrated. Bored. Mad. Sore.

I thought I could start walking and be right back to feeling like myself until I reached day three. And I was sore, swollen, and miserable. I realized pretty quickly that this was not going to be as easy as I thought. I slowed things back down and rested. It took about two days to recover from that.

During my recovery my husband has been working on a really amazing project at the house. We started it before my surgery and I can’t wait to show y’all the before pictures once it is finished, but it is amazing. My husband was a landscaper before we started working together and he is so creative. He can take my ideas and make them so much more stunning.

Unfortunately where he excels in landscaping, he severely lacks in housekeeping. He has done an amazing job at taking care of me. This past weekend I felt strong enough to scrub the kitchen. I have not opened my microwave since I deep cleaned before surgery. I am not a microwave using person. I just prefer my crockpot. Since I know my son can’t reach the microwave, that leaves one other person in our house…

It took me 15 minutes to scrub it. It’s a good thing he’s cute.

So it feels amazing to have one room of the house “Mama Clean”. You ladies know what I mean. No one cleans like we do.

I’m celebrating all kinds of victories this week! On Sunday morning I had the energy to fix my hair and go to church for the first time since surgery. I really needed it too! I felt peace just wash over me as soon as I walked in. It was great to see so many smiling faces around me too.

Shopping has been my struggle. I cannot push a cart or lift so it has been interesting. I actually ran into friends in the store so it makes it more fun!

C and I tackled Walmart together for the first time. I finally was cleared to drive. It surprises me how many core muscles it takes to drive and how sore I was. He literally did everything for me and I was still exhausted. Thankfully we made it through and didn’t have to call my husband.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and my son wears pink for one of my best friends who beat breast cancer. He loves her so much and we joke that he loved her first. I am so proud that he walks onto the field supporting someone so dear to us and knows exactly why he does it. He just fills my heart with so much joy.

Our football games are always early. Thank goodness for coffee. C’s team is still undefeated and it has been so much fun to watch them play this year! We will start the playoffs in two weeks and it will get even more exciting.

I am fairly sure week three’s recovery is starting out much better and I am getting closer to that post-op check up! I am just so ready to be cleared from my surgery. I am ready to put this behind me and move forward.

I might possibly be playing ZUMBA music already and looking at new choreo. I may even be playing around with new ideas for the fitness program and waiting for October 20th to get here. I’m impatiently waiting to “Mama Clean” the entire house again. I’m trying so hard to be still another ten days. Just ten more days…