It's Back.

The fever.  Will it ever end?  I got to have two good friends come and spend the day with me today.  Mat needed to go do more bookkeeping today, so Heather came and spent the morning and into the afternoon, then Tricia came and spent the rest of the afternoon taking care of the baby.  Heather took the picture of Mat and I that's on the blog, she's very talented!  We are grateful to have that done because we haven't had a picture of just the two of us, since it was just the two of us!  She is a great friend and neighbor and we are grateful to have her and her family in our neighborhood.  I met Tricia (do I dare say?) working rides at Lagoon when we were 15.  (I always used to say, "I never worked fast food, but I did work at Lagoon" as if it was just as bad . . . it was.)  We became fast friends, and despite a gap of a few years when we lost each other, we are still great friends.  : )   It was really fun to sit and talk about everything under the sun today.  Thanks guys!

The baby has been a little cranky the last few days, so it wasn't easy for either one of them today.  I think she must be getting teeth.  She doesn't want to eat and just won't be content, no matter what.  That is very unusual for her, she's usually pretty easy-going.  It is getting a little easier to hold her, as long as she's calm.  I love to snuggle her as much as possible.  When she starts to wiggle too much, I give her back to whoever is here.  The pain I have now isn't so much from the incisions, or in my back because I can stand up a little straighter now.  The pain is from this hematoma.  It is about the size of a VHS tape, mostly above my belly incision, but some below too.  I'm supposed to massage it, which is not only painful when I'm doing it, but for several hours after as well.  I knew this wouldn't be a cake walk, but couldn't I get this and the fever out of the way before my next surgery (next Friday)?

The big kids spent the day playing with friends, playing in the snow, and now they are watching Harry Potter 3 - it's HP Marathon week at our house.  I think they are doing OK with all of this, for the most part.  Occasionally I see signs of stress and I know I need to be very careful about how I appear to them.  I've tried hard to be OK when they are around.  I want things to be as normal as possible for them.  I certainly have my moments, but I keep them to myself or with Mat. 

Mat has been amazing!  I know this is exhausting for him, but I'm grateful that he is willing to pull the house together and do what needs to be done.  You never imagine when you get married that you'll ever have to endure anything hard in your marriage.  Everything is bliss!  But the true tests come when something does go wrong, and you get to decide how you will work together to get through it.  Everyone has their "thing", their thing that is hard.  The trick is loving each other anyway, working together to get through it, recognizing the blessings that have come, and becoming a better person / family for it.  As my friend Glenda reminded me tonight, "I CAN DO HARD THINGS!"