So I dropped Isaac off this morning for his first day of Kindergarten.

I managed to get through the thing without dissolving into a blubbering mess.

Here are some pictures from the morning…

(I cannot imagine what those white shoes are going to look like two weeks from now…)

Meeting up with Anna Grace (who started first grade today) in front of the school for a quick picture before class…

Walking downstairs to the Primary floor…

Everything has its’ place…

Starting the routine from Day 1…

Saying good morning to friends Christa and Jesse…Christa is in third grade and Jesse is in Isaac’s class…

Isaac was so excited and so happy to start school.  He gave me a big smile and wave as I left the room.  I can’t wait to pick him up and hear all about his day.

And yes, Noah started school today too.  He wasn’t as excited as Isaac, but was happy nonetheless.  He’s an old pro at the first day thing.

In Daddy’s car, ready to go…

Ya’ll have a great start to your week…

Since I’ve become quite convinced that part of my brain was removed when I had my hysterectomy, I shall update this blog with the help of some recent photographs.

There’s no need to strain the few remaining brain cells that I still possess by trying to form coherent sentences.

So here goes.

First off…

I am a bad blogging Mommy.  I missed posting a Happy Birthday message to my Noah on August 1st, his tenth birthday.

Here’s a picture that I snapped that day…

Happy Birthday, my sweet boy.  I love you and I am so blessed and thankful to be your Mommy.

Since Noah isn’t into parties, but is most definitely into the beach, we took him to the Gulf Coast for three nights to celebrate his birthday.

Day 1:  Sunset at Sand Key Park…

Day 2:  Honeymoon Island State Park…

Day 3:  Fort DeSoto State Park (my favorite)…

(note to self:  get Photoshop installed on the computer so you can do something with your scary self when a picture of you in direct sunlight sans makeup exposes it ALL.  yeesh.)

We took a break in the shade for a while…

Explored the Fort…

And rode bikes…

It was a perfect day at the beach.

So that’s a bit of what’s been up in the Teel house.  Still to come…photos from Isaac’s trip to Strasburg and if I can get my brain working at least marginally, an actual post.

Maybe.

I hope ya’ll are having a fabulous summer…

I missed posting on my 3 year “Blogiversary”, which was earlier this month…I think on July 3rd.  Happy Blogiversary to me.

So have you ever been on that carnival ride called the Himalaya?  You know…the one that spins you around really fast and has sirens and strobe lights and blasts obnoxious 80′s music while a scary carnie DJ yells into a microphone imploring you to scream as loud as you can so you will go faster?

Yeah…I used to ride that kind of thing all the time too.  I loved it.

From April 6th to mid-June, I felt like I was back on one.  Non-stop action and thrills…one thing to the next.

Then, about mid-June, that crazy ride shot me right out of the seat and on to solid and rock-steady ground.

ahhhhhh….

quiet.

still.

it’s not moving.  no more non-stop insanity.

I’m home.

It’s taken me a few weeks to kinda get my bearings again (just a wee bit dizzy from the madness) and I’m settling in to our new life in our new home.  I’m eight weeks post hysterectomy, and with the exception of a few setbacks, I’m healing nicely and getting back to normal…I’ve even started to run a bit again.

So here are a few random and rather disjointed musings about life in the Teel home right now…

• Our new home rocks.  Especially the back yard.  It is completely shaded and the boys are enjoying their swing set…even in the middle of 95 degree plus weather.  We’ve still got lots of work to do, but there’s no rush to get to it all.  The novelty of being seven minutes away from church has yet to wear off and I’m still rather giddy when I think about it.  I have NO idea how we did the 45 minute commute for all those years.
• Noah finished summer school last week and has five weeks off before school starts again.  His teacher is working on a new reading program with him.  That program will continue next year, when Noah gets a new teacher in the classroom.  Noah’s teacher for the past four years is moving to a front office position, but will still work with Noah every day in a reading group.  I’m a bit in mourning, but I completely trust that the school has hired well…Noah’s current teacher did all of the interviewing with the principal (22 candidates!) and chose the teacher to be hired.  Noah will still have his same paraprofessionals, who we love, love, love.  All of his VBA/ABA, Speech and OT will remain the same.  He will be in good hands.
• Isaac will start kindergarten at a private school this fall.  He will be in class with one of his good friends from church and he is getting really excited.  My baby is growing up.
• Doug has a special gift for ruining perfectly good songs for me.  Like how he turned Journey’s “Open Arms” into “Broken Arms”.  (Although it does work both ways and he can make horrible songs even worse, which actually makes me like them because now I have a way to mock them.)  So on our ride home from Atlanta post-hysterectomy, I was snockered on too many Advil and bloated up like I was 6 months pregnant, riding in the front seat of my parents’ van with a pillow on my belly.  Any sudden jarring or motion HURT and I was trying to just stay still and quiet.  Doug went on a tear with a few radio tunes and I cannot even tell you how hard I was laughing and how hard it was to laugh.  I can’t remember any of his revised lyrics, so I can’t let you in on it all, but it was just WRONG.  I was lucid the other day, however, when he transformed that perfectly wretched “God Blessed the Broken Road” song’s closing line to “God poked my open sore and made me think of you.”
• see?
• So far, the only casualty of our move is our camera’s battery charger.  This annoys me.  I know that I saw it at some point in this house, but I have no idea where it is now.  Our camera battery has been dead for three weeks now, and if I don’t find the charger thingy soon, I will be shopping for a new camera.
• Speaking of cameras, I’ve got some wicked adorable pictures of Isaac to share.  My Dad took him to Strasburg, PA last week for a three day train holiday.  Isaac had the time of his life riding trains and touring train museums and staying at a caboose motel.  He has not stopped talking about it since he got back.  When I get the files from my Dad, I’ll post some of the pictures.

Well…that’s about all I can think of for now.

I hope that you all are having a lazy and relaxing summer…

Finally.

The past two weeks have been absolutely non-stop NUTS.  We closed on our new home June 2nd.  A group of the most amazing and wonderful friends and family in the world helped us paint, tear all of the carpet out of the house and install laminate flooring.  Our POD was delivered on June 12 and that same crazy-awesome group of friends and family had that thing emptied in less than two hours.  It was a freak show of epic proportions.  We spent our first night in our new home on Monday.  It took 12 days to complete a project that I was convinced would take well over three weeks.  I’m still walking around the house in awe of it all.  To those of you who read this who were in on all of that craziness…we are unspeakably grateful and love the snot out of you.

Speaking of snot…

We have landed in the friendliest neighborhood that I have ever lived in.  People have come by to welcome us…one neighbor even brought us a cake the other night that said “Welcome Home” on it.  So when yet another neighbor crossed the street the other day to come introduce herself, I eagerly met her in front of our driveway, Isaac in tow.  After she introduced herself and asked about our family, I turned to Isaac.  He was standing there with the dirtiest face I’ve ever seen, smiling ear to ear.  Just as I said, “This is my son, Isaac”…he proceeded to ram his finger up his nose…find what he was looking for…and…yep…did the pick and lick.

just. great.

In other news…

I’m recovering well from my laparoscopic hysterectomy.  I’m amazed that four weeks after surgery, I’m able to unpack boxes and do just about everything I normally would do.   I even started working out at the YMCA this week using their recumbent bikes.   I hope to start running again in a few weeks.

Noah is doing amazingly well with the move.  He loves his new room and his new backyard, which is fenced and heavily treed…a dream come true for our family.  My Dad made a swing for Noah and hung it from one of the oaks back there and he has spent hours on it already.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now.  We’re still in move-in mode…lots of boxes to be unpacked and put away, so not much computer time for me.  I’ll update when I get back around to it.

I hope that ya’ll are doing well and are enjoying the start to your summer…

ahhhh….

It. is. GONE.

And I couldn’t be happier.

So my laparoscopic hysterectomy went off without a hitch on Wednesday.  Dr. Lyons was able to preserve both ovaries (something he told me before the surgery he wasn’t entirely sure about), so no clinical menopause for me.  (Thank God.)  He found all kinds of junk in there and took care of it all…uterus and appendix yanked out…lots of scar tissue, adhesions and endometriosis cleaned up.  Surgery took just over two hours.  I was SUPER snockered from the anesthesia, so I spent a bit more time in the hospital than I would have liked, but still out same day…released at 7:25 Wednesday night…a little over 10 hours after my surgery began.  Not too shabby.

I am completely amazed at the fact that I can already tell that the pain that I have been dealing with almost constantly for a few years now is completely and utterly GONE.  I was dealing with a lot of it while I was waiting for my happy drugs in the hospital Wednesday morning.  My surgery was delayed for about 45 minutes, and my uterus decided to throw one last hissy fit just for good measure.  Since I woke from anesthesia, that pain…the one that I’m all too well acquainted with…is absolutely gone.  Sure…I’ve got pain…but it’s of the surgical variety and I know that it is temporary.  Once that goes away, I’m going to have a whole new lease on life and I am so thankful.

The only complication that I’ve had started a few hours after surgery.  While I was walking around on the recovery floor, I started sneezing.  And sneezing.  And let me tell you how much fun THAT has been.  The sneezing and runny nose and shortness of breath that accompanied the snot nosed misery continued until last night, when it started to slow way down.  I have no doubt in my mind that I had some kind of allergic reaction to one of the drugs that they gave me during surgery.  I have a weirdo history of allergic reactions to weirdo things, so no big surprise there.   I am so thankful that all of that seems to be on the mend…hopefully it will stop completely in the near future.

Thank you for all the prayers and love sent via Doug’s Facebook account…he read them to me as I floated along in the super fun oblivion of narcotic induced stupor.

Well…that’s all from the recovery couch for now.

Ya’ll have a wonderful week…