Wonderful Wordless Wednesday - Hand In Hand

Life can be hard some time; in those moments, always remember:

(Source)

Linking up with the ladies at The Mommy Blog Hoppers

Back To Work

I've been home sick for two weeks. I have never been out sick for so long, and to be honest, going back to work was harder than I had thought.

First of all, I'm still not a hundred percent, still coughing, still a little weak. And I hate not being able to just jump in. It took me two days to wade through my emails, to facepalm properly about some mistakes that have sprung from my fever brain, to get used to not being able to take naps during the day anymore.

And after work, life hit full force again as well. PTA meeting until 10pm? Why not. Doctor's appointments, picking up prescriptions, preparing a snack for a kindergarten function? Done. The washing machine is doing overtime, business as usual.

To be honest, I'm not quite up to it yet, but I'll do my best to keep up. Thanks, Chocolate!!!

(Source)

Fun Sunday

I'm up in the game. Ok, not yet quite at 100%, but I'm off the couch, and that's a huge progress from a couple of days ago.

As a little reward to the girls, who have been really good, given that they were cooped up with two sick and totally out-of-it parents for about 2 weeks, not being able to go out and enjoy the fall weather, I decided to take them out to an indoor playground today. I would have preferred the forest, but we had rain all day yesterday and the forest paths were a couple of inches under water. So the indoor playground it was. We packed some snacks and water, and off we went for several hours of FUN!

Lily carting around Violet

Snack time!

Lily's finally braving the heights

About to leave after a fun-filled afternoon

Right now, Daddy is showering the girls, who are beyond exhausted and anxiously awaiting their bed. I'd call this a successful Sunday!

Week In Review - Ten Things Of Thankful (12)

It's another weekend, time to look back, reflect, and be thankful for the many, many good things that have happened last week. Christine from A Fly On Our (Chicken Coop) Wall was kind enough to start from me last week, so I go from there (with minor adjustments):

1. I am thankful for my wonderful good improving health and being cleared by my doctor to go back to work on Monday.

2. My husband is was feeling better, too, and can finally have had his surgery on Tuesday. I am thankful that everything went well and that he is healing and improving quickly.

3. I am thankful I could enjoy some play time (and crafting) with the kids.

<------ christine="" far="" help="" nbsp="" p="" s="" so="" with="">
4. Having wonderful girls who are dealing so well with having a pair of invalid parents at home.

5. Beautiful weather all week long.

6. Being done with the antibiotics (bring on the wine!!!!).

7. Having been able to get into town today and get those much, much needed hair cuts.

8. A great boxing match tonight (sorry, inappropriate...)

9. Being able to clear some issues I've been having on my plate for a while with less problems than I expected (thus, the procrastinating).

10. All the support from all you wonderful people out there during my weeks of illness and being the biggest whiner in the world.


Thank you so much for hosting, Lizzi!!

Our Hardest Choice

And before we know it, Friay again. I am again linking up with Janine and Kate for Finish The Sentence Friday. Today's prompt:

The hardest choice I ever made was...


... leaving the Army. We had just brought our Lily home from the hospital, Richard was still home on  leave (because his unit was on a concert tour), when he asked me if I would agree if he left the Army.

He told me how unhappy he was with the Army, that he felt there was no place for him and he was just pushed from one void position to the next without a real purpose. And that he did not want to leave Lily and me to be deployed. That he could not imagine leaving his little daughter and come back to a kid a year older, who probably didn't recognize him any more, or had no memories with her dad for a year.

I cried. I was scared what would happen; we had planned visiting my family in Germany during the winter leave that year, but if we were out there, who knows when this would happen? Would we get jobs, how would we manage the transition, and where would we go. But most of all, I cried for my husband's unhappiness.

I knew that I would probably give up a lot of time with our daughter, as I would most likely be the one who would get the primary job as my education was a lot better than his. I would not be the part-time working mom I wanted to, but I also would not be the sometimes-single mom waiting for her deployed husband to call and confirm that he was alive.

It was by far the hardest decision I've ever made. There were times when I regretted it, there were times when I would have given everything to be able to work only part-time. But then again we're luckier than most. We are able to raise our kids by ourselves, according to our values. We can live comfortable off my income, and once Richard starts working, who knows, maybe I'll be able to cut some hours. But for now, this is the best decision we could have made for our family.

Loving Autumn

I'm out today, spreading my fan hymns for autumn over at Flying On A Rainbow while Jenni is out, soaking up some sun before joining in the autum extravaganza.

Please come over, give some love to our vacationer and find out my Top Ten reasons why Autumn is simply the best season of all!

See you all again here tomorrow!

(Source)

Surgery Day

Richard had his surgery, and everything went well. So glad that this day is over, and that he has stomached everything so well. He is currently resting and healing, hoping for a quiet night ahead.

I am wiped out myself. Still dealing with the bronchitis, not having had the chance to take a nap (like I was able to do during the last couple of weeks).

We took the kids to kindergarten together in the morning. Afterward, we did some cleaning until I had to take Richard in to the surgery center. I went back and picked up the girls from kindergarten. We had a picnic lunch until I had to take Lily to her early intervention class; afterward, Violet and I ran some errands, until it was time to pick up Lily. I dropped them off with our neighbor and headed to the surgery center to be with Richard.

There, I found that the surgery schedule had been postponed and hubby was still in surgery. By the time he got out and I was led down to the recovery area, they again did not let me see him because another person was still in the transition area. After I re-fed the parking meter, I was finally able to see my love - or better I heard him before I saw him. There he was, sitting upright, joking with the medical stuff, his face slightly swollen (no, there won't be any pictures). Obviouly, he was doing so well that they would let him go home with me immediately, after a quick check-up with the doctor.

After coming home, I picked up the girls and made dinner after getting Richard comfortable. I showered the kids and got them to bed. Right now, I'm resting as well. Richard is having some after bleeding from the surgery and the anaestesia is wearing off.

Keep your fingers crossed for a good first night!