Recovery Ramblings

What a week! I've been well-taken care of by my hubby and my kids, but I'm all set to be "well." Poor John has been trying to work from home on the computer, and with three kids, that's been tough. He's been constantly frustrated.

Liana has been Little Miss Mother Hen. There is no doubt in my mind that if we let her, she could take perfect care of me all by herself. She's just vertically-challenged right now. She even had to turn my flowers "just right" so the pretty side was toward me. Liana would make an awesome nurse. She's so no-nonsense, and trusts her gut, and pretty much, she's usually right. She's sure become my right-hand gal. Not just since I've been sick. If I tell her I need help with something, she's right there, and there's no doubt she's going to do a top-notch job.

Aleksa has been a little sweetie too. She's extra gentle, and her love of pretending that I'm her "la-la" has kicked in a few times and she's enjoyed playing with my hair, and pretending to put me to sleep, etc. All the while, she's super-gentle, and even afraid to mess up my hair (which, trust me, is NOT looking anywhere remotely glamorous these days). I still try to speak Russian to her while she is in her "mama-mode." Sadly, she doesn't understand a lot of it anymore, though she'll say a few words or phrases after I say them myself. She never has learned the English word for pacifier, so she still calls it a "soska" (nipple). Speaking of, I've been trying to grow out 'Leksa's bangs, so I've been giving her a Pebbles Flintstone pigtail on the top of her head. The Russian word for it is a "choopchik" which I think is ADORABLE, so I'm scared to death she'll learn the word "ponytail" or something, and quit calling it the right word.

The stress of having Mama down has gotten to each of the kids at one point or another this week. John has been freaked out about the kids getting rowdy around me and hurting my tummy. A few times, my instinctive jerk backwards or one of us saying "get back" has sent each one of the kids to tears. Adam didn't like the nurse playing with my IV in my hand, and almost started crying watching. (He doesn't like needles anyway though). They've been really good, though slightly clingy. At one point Adam needed to give me three hugs in less than two minutes, which while is nice and mushy, it HURT. This whole ordeal has really brought out his mushy side, and he sits holding my hand, kisses it, my cheek, etc. as often as possible. He has NOT liked seeing me down at ALL. I really feel like he's been reliving some past insecurities this week with me being down and out. He's talked about how happy he is that I'm his mama, and how he's glad he lives with us, etc. (Of course, I didn't eat that up at all...) I really think that this will be a giant nudge that he has needed toward feeling more securely bonded to us.

On Tuesday when I came home from the hospital, we showed the kids my incision so they could understand why they needed to be so gentle with me. I'm sure that has helped a lot, and we haven't had any serious mishaps. I'm curious to see my incision myself. I can't bring myself to really look yet. They said they stitched me up from the inside, and then just taped me together. Sounds nasty to me. I'm a complete baby when it comes to this kind of a thing, so it's unfortunate that I've got such a long incision. I'll be leaving that tape on 'til 2010. Ew.

I'm really glad that my old English profs don't read my blogs. I seldom end with any kind of a summary. I just get tired and quit writing. Sorry if that grates any of you literary types. I'll just call it a cliff-hanger. Maybe that will keep you all checking in! ;O)

(Here's a picture of the strawberry pie I kept for all of us at home... So nice to finally have little smiling faces looking back at me over the table full of strawberries! If they only KNEW what we went through to bring these guys home!!!) Strawberry Pie Kids