Three weeks post-hysterectomy and my scars are healing and starting to itch, but I still have wounds. Things look better on the outside than they feel on the inside, in all respects, really.

I’m learning my boundaries and how far I can go. Note to self: wandering around aimlessly in Wal-Mart for 2 1/2 hours looking for a “pet net” to get the stuffed animals off the ground and then doing the food shopping there at the same time because it’s convenient but not knowing where anything is will land me on the couch with my midsection on fire. Even three weeks later.

Three weeks later, sitting on the floor of the kids’ rooms, cleaning out their toys can only be done for an hour. Small doses.

And three weeks later, I’d like to send a memo to all babies everywhere that says the following:

Dear babies.

STOP BEING CUTE.

Thankyouverymuch.

Three weeks later, I have phantom bag. I’ll sit in the chair and get up slowly forgetting I’m not attached to my purse anymore.

Three weeks later and I desperately need to get my roots and eyebrows done because I look like redneck Tarzan with a unibrow.

Three weeks later and I’ve come off my pain meds (hurrah!) but I can’t sleep at night and I have restless entire body syndrome. Dr. Google (search: tramadol after hysterectomy) advises me that I probably needed to wean off Tramadol/Ultram because if you don’t, there are withdrawal-like effects like restless body syndrome and insomnia (go figure!) That’s information that could’ve been useful to me two days ago as I’m sitting here though watching Disney Junior and my body is crawling. Have any of you had this problem with Tramadol/Ultram? I have never heard of this medication until this surgery, actually. It doesn’t even work that well so having symptoms after no longer taking it really annoys me.

Overall, the pain of the surgery itself is getting much better (hurrah!) except for when I overdo it of course.

Three weeks later, you’re probably sick of hearing about this (and to be perfectly honest, I’m getting sick of writing about it) but it’s what’s going on in my life and what seems to come from my fingers when I sit down and type, so there you go.

For now, though, there is this.

Near-sighted Knight on Safari?

Yes, those are Mr. Potato Head glasses.

Do you do date night?

We’ve done it since pretty my the second my first son was born which is somewhere around 6 years ago.

Most recently and before surgery, date night Friday meant a swim at the gym as we trained for a triathlon together, followed by beer and trivia at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Coincidentally the gym and B-Dubs share the same parking lot. Bonus.

We swim in our separate lanes and stop sometimes to talk about triathlon or nothing in particular between laps. We shower (separately. It’s the gym don’t be pervy.) I take longer than him to get ready because I take my time (just because I can) and I meet him at the bar and he’s on his second beer. We have separate trivia boxes but we share answers. He eats wings and sometimes I have wings but usually I have a salad. He tells me I look cute. It’s informal. It’s easy. It’s fun. It’s predictable but I love that date night.

(Sigh).

No swimming right now.

But even without the swimming, date night has been especially helpful these past couple of weeks, especially now that we’re on a post-surgery “no ‘relations’” policy for at least six weeks (probably more, sorry honey.)

Also he’s been running around picking up all of my duties while working a more than full-time job and holding the whole system together. Over the past couple of weeks, he’s been taking care of me, the kids, the laundry, the cooking, breakfast, forms sent home from school, lunches, drop-offs, pickups, getting the hawaiian shirt for “hawaiian day,” teacher gifts, all of it. 

I’ve only seen him frazzled one time during all of this and it was the day he accidentally gave me a xanax instead of a pain pill. (Ha!)

But during the week as he runs around doing both our jobs, sometimes we’re two ships in the night with maybe a kiss goodnight. Maybe not.

At the two week post-surgery mark, I was up for date night but I was still wearing the “pocketbook” which totally wrecks my mojo as you know. But I put on my long black pajama pants that look like actual pants (they do!) and I strapped the bag to my leg and we went out anyways. We picked a dark booth in the back of a restaurant we hadn’t tried yet, we had some wine, some flatbread pizzas and breathed a sigh of relief and reflected on what the EFF just happened.

It’s amazing what just a few hours together ALONE will do for us as a couple. I’m pretty sure date night saved our marriage a million times over.

This week, there’s no swimming again and without drinkies (because of the pain pills) and no exercise, it was a bit of a challenge to get creative. We don’t like doing movies for date night because we can’t talk during the movie and we like to talk on date night. No heavy lifting or working out and not too much walking.

I thought, hmm. Park the car and make out? (When’s the last time you’ve done that by the way? I can’t even remember. We should, though, shouldn’t we?)

So after some careful consideration (not really), we went to the causeway, one of my favorite places in the world to run, to train, or in this case, just to sit.

We had Arby’s.

These guys appeared as soon as we sat down, waiting for a single crumb to drop. I felt bad eating in front of them.

You're not getting any!

It sure was beautiful.

We watched the dolphins.

Someone brought their infant twins who looked so cute and we were quiet for a while as we listened to the family play next to us. I knew what we were both thinking and I interrupted our silence and asked him, “Are you sad or ok now that we’re done?”

I realized then that during all of this, I had forgotten to ask what he feels. How insensitive am I?

And he said, “Both. Is that fair?”

“Yes. Of course it is,” I said. I listened to the babies squeal in delight as their daddy tickled them and a tear rolled down my cheek.

“It’s hard to look at those faces and not miss it,” he said.

We sat in silence while that moment passed and made room for the beauty and happiness of this night and I took a million pictures of the sunset, thankful for being in my favorite place in the world with my favorite person in the world.

Going.

Going.

Gone.

Isn’t it amazing how the sky changes so quickly?

We walked back to the car (it was only just past 8 p.m.) and so what were we going to do now? So we just drove.

We found ourselves driving south and crossing the bridge toward Clearwater Beach and wound up at a hole-in-the-wall ice cream shoppe where we got a couple of cones, walked back across the street and sat on the sand near the ocean.

We finished our cones.

We made out a little. (Hurrah!)

After seven years, he still gives me butterflies.

I am lucky.

I actually did marry my soul mate.

Each week, date night reminds me of this.

Each week, date night makes me fall in love again.

Each week, date night becomes a “reset” button for the week and whatever scraps we had with each other just sort of go away. And we start over. Fresh.

Each week, I’m thankful for date night because it makes me thankful for him. Oh the things his eyes have seen over the past couple of weeks, yet he still loves me and makes me feel beautiful. 

I started out calling this the “best date night ever” but the truth is, they all are.

Do you do date night? What’s your favorite kind of date night? How do you reconnect as a couple? 

My dad. My grandpa. My sister-in-law. My brother-in-law. My uncles. My cousins. My friends. Your friends. Your family.

To all who have served.

Thank you.

Thank you for your sacrifice.

Thank you for giving your time.

Thank you for giving your life.

Source

Today, as we spend time around the barbecue and the red white and blue, let’s not forget to remember our fallen.

Have a safe Memorial Day.

xo

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of éclos Skin Care for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I habitually use cleansers and lotions that are all natural and for sensitive skin because this one time back in college I used some regular main stream chemically drug store stuff and broke out in so many pimples they were nearly on top of each other. My face looked like one big pimple and there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn’t cover it up, I couldn’t stay inside, I had to go live my life like that and it was torture. Everyone in my life noticed. Gah.

I will never do that again. Natural for me, forevermore.

The “eclos” products are made of natural extracts, with Apple Stem Cells from a rare Swiss apple known to have anti-aging effects. There are also plant extracts, vitamins and antioxidants in it that are supposed to reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and tired skin.

At the ripe old age of 36, I have young-looking skin (yay me!) and very few wrinkles, but I do have lots of laugh lines and I am starting to get circles under my eyes so I wanted to give this a go.

Eclos sent me their whole system that includes:

• Facial Cleanser Skin Prep: (From eclos): “This gentle formula lifts away makeup and daily debris while PhytoPlex24™ botanicals balance the skin’s pH level.”
• Cellular Activator Face Serum: “Plant Stem Cell technology in this lightweight liquid awakens dormant skin cells, making them behave like young skin cells.” 
• Moisture Therapy Regenerative Cream: ”The latest in Plant Stem Cell technology helps protect skin’s ability to renew itself. The result? Sagging skin tightens. Wrinkles are postponed.”
• Restorative Eye Cream: “Potent plant extracts in PhytoPlex24™ quickly hydrate to further smooth and firm.”
• Instant Radiance Facial Scrub: “Gentle microdermabrasion refines skin’s surface texture. Plant Stem Cells invigorate skin stem cells to smooth fine lines and help delay signs of aging.”
• Skin Renewal Clay Mask: ”Kaolin Clay and plant-based PhytoPlex24™ help detoxify skin.”
• eclos Terry Cloth Head Band

First of all, I really love using a start-to-finish system of all the same brand. Most of the time I piece-meal my facial cleansing regimen with brands I know won’t make me break out, but I like different products for different reasons. This, though, was luxurious. I loved every product.

I loved the serums (first of all I just love the word “serum”) and really loved the facial scrub which actually warms up when you touch it. Each layer was light and airy, the moisturizer is not heavy at all and it’s easy to wear under makeup. My face actually feels clean when I use it.

The products smell so fresh and natural because they ARE. A little bit went a LONG way, too. I was given small bottles and they lasted for more than two weeks after daily use.

So does any of it work? Here’s my before and after:

I suppose it’s hard to tell, but I will tell you that I LOVED using these. I personally notice fewer lines below my eyes or at least less bagginess and overall my skin is just cleaner and fresh.

So — do you want to try it??

The best part of this is that I have an entire kit to give away to one of you! It comes with all the products that I received.

Just leave me a comment below telling me which product in this pack that you’d be most interested in trying!

The contest will close next Monday, June 4 at 11 p.m. ET and I’ll announce the winner shortly after. I will notify the winner via e-mail and the winner will have 48 hours to respond or I will have to choose a new winner. This giveaway is U.S. only (sorry!) Oh yeah and don’t forget to go visit the EclosBeauty Facebook page and see the other testimonials, I just did. Peoples eye wrinkles are disappearing. For realz. Tell them Christie O. from Average Moms Wear Capes sent you!

Sharing pins and pinables every Sunday.

Are we following each other on Pinterest? You can find me here.

I’ve been in the mood for very few things during my recovery but the things I have wanted, I have craved. 

Thankfully they’ve mostly been healthy!

In addition to my obsession with avocados, I’m also obsessed with fresh tomatoes and fresh mozzarella and spinach, the primary ingredients for my simple and favorite spinach caprese salad. It’s light, it’s filling and it’s honestly perfect for summer. The uncooked tomatoes are also great for cancer-prevention (alkaline food! Hurrah!) as is the spinach (which also helps with the natural flow of *ahem* things. Yay for fiber post-surgery!)

Here’s the recipe:

       Print This!    

Feel free to pin it if you like it!!!

This is my song today.

Press play and enjoy!

I don’t normally like it but for some reason, I DO TODAY!

Happy Friday!

Enjoy your weekend, friends. I know I will.

This is one of those times I wish I had a telephoto lens with me.

After walking the red carpet and seeing the premiere of Chimpanzee, and still then after the roundtable interviews with Dr. Jane Goodall and the McClain Sisters, the directors of Chimpanzee and those amazing events of the day (yes, we packed a LOT in there!), we went on the Wild Africa Trek at Animal Kingdom.

This was a tricky day to dress for — there was no going back to the room in between. What we wore for red carpet was what we wore on safari. I think we all did pretty good though (yay us!)

The Wild Africa Trek at Animal Kingdom (which, by the way has become one of my favorite parks) is an amazing, private, partially walking, behind-the-scenes version of the safari ride you get to go on as a regular park-goer. This one, however, is offered by reservation only and at an extra cost, but it is, in short, amazing. And you feel pretty special, like a VIP, when you’re on it.

First of all, you get to dress up like Lara Croft Tomb Raider.

A safari vest with a couple hooks attached for the super-special up close and personal look you get to have at some of the animals, so as to not fall into any of their habitats and get eaten. (Safety first!) And a canteen because it gets pretty hot out there, even in April.

We headed out on the tour.

Thick brush with a path carved through it. I love hiking so this was my favorite part of the journey.

We ventured through a bird habitat and our first stop was the hippos.

Across the pond right there is where the truck for the ride and all of the “regular” park-goers go, but we were standing on the rocks right over them.

He smiled at us.

He looked at us with his big eye. I think.

They fed him and he came real close, standing right under us. (I could see his pores.)

Then we continued our hike and came upon this:

Which was over this:

Yikes! I’d have been scerred for my life except for the fact that it’s Disney and I was confident in their ability to protect me. But still, once you’re halfway through, there’s nowhere to go — it was scary!

I tried to stop and take pictures while I was going over them but they turned out like this:

And this:

All blurry and such. I just couldn’t keep it together to stop long enough to be still and take pictures of them while swaying even though I was hooked onto a cable at the top. (What a wimp!)

There were photographers taking pictures of us along the way which was pretty cool. (You get a CD of the whole thing at the end, too!)

Also I’m pretty sure these guys were waiting for any mistakes.

I got better pictures when we got to solid ground.

We were on the rocks right above them. Tethered, of course, so as to not become lunch.

We hiked a little further and we got to the savannah, where we would get our own jeep. Hiking, again, over too soon for me!

But our personalized trek across the savannah was beautiful.

We drove along mostly the same route as the ride, only we get to make stops and take closer pictures.

Courtesy: WildAfricaTrek

We rounded a large vastness of savannah and then headed off toward the giraffes.

We got really close.

Whoa!

I had a moment with this one. I’m pretty sure he knew it too.

I want those eyelashes, dahhhhling! They're just GORGEOUS.

We pulled off to the side to watch the cheetahs for a while, which was really cool.

We actually saw him chase a bird and climb right up into a tree! It didn’t seem like he’d ever come down but he did, sort of floppy-like as if he thought, “What the heck did I just do?!”

The lion was majestic.

I’m pretty sure he was thinking, “Mmmmm. Lunch.”

Or maybe he just wanted to tell us how great we looked for being the end of a very long (fun) day. You’re looking pretty good there too, lion!

This was about the part where we got to have dinner high above the savannah. Our truck pulled up to a picnic table area which I oddly took NO pictures of. I think perhaps, all I could think of was food.

Which I did take pictures of.

Elegantly decorated in these beautiful tins specially made for transport.

mmmmmmm.

Curry chicken. Prosciutto. Melon. Smoked salmon. Shrimp. Hummus and pita.

Delicious.

All very much right up my alley.

A little disheveled, perhaps.

A seriously amazing experience that I’ll never forget.

The tour took just over 3 hours. You can check out the Wild Africa Trek prices here. The minimum age is nine, so little little ones can’t go on the trek. (They can, however, go on the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride at Animal Kingdom which is included in admission but doesn’t include any extras or hiking or whatnots and is still pretty cool.)

This trek, however, was just amazing.

If you want to add to your Disney vacation experience, this is a must.

* * *

DISCLOSURE: Disney and the DisneyGlobalEvent sponsors paid for my expenses on this trip. The opinions expressed however, are my own.

BAG.

dramatic pause.

OFF! Buwahahahaha.

I've changed "purses."

And it’s spectacular.

I saw my doctor yesterday during the bag off process. I don’t think I can tell you how much I love him (not in that way, let’s not be pervy). He’s a wonderful, polite yet honest and thoughtful doctor. He sits down, he gives you as much space as you need to talk and ask questions and when it’s his turn to talk, he’s soft spoken and he uses regular words people like me can understand. If he had bad news, he wouldn’t be afraid to deliver it thoughtfully.

But he didn’t.

He had good news. He thinks this is open and shut case and that after our 6 week appointment in a couple weeks, I’ll be able to see him every 6 months instead of 3. YES!

I have a soft spot in my heart for him and his staff which includes his nurse who I think I’ve talked to almost every day. I feel like we’re old friends.

So I’d love your opinion: I want to do something nice for them, do you have any ideas? Anything you’ve seen on Pinterest? Have you ever done something for your doctors and staff? I pretty much owe them my life because I feel like they saved it.

Anyway, he says I can start easing right back into life, nice and slowly (which of course means running around and getting stuff done all day today, right? Of course it does.)

A steak pretty soon and walking, and then fast walking and then maybe even running. But taking it one day at a time.

Permission to lace up granted.

ps. Dad is getting out today and recovering happily. Hurrah! Thanks for the kind thoughts and prayers on that one. Going to see him now!

Hi friends.

“Hi, Mom! Where have you been, I MISSED you!” says my 6 year old’s PE teacher excitedly as I drop him off this morning at car line for the first time in probably close to three weeks.

“I know, right?” is all I can manage with a smile on my face because I’m not about to come to a rolling stop saying, “Well, I had this tumor and then a hysterectomy and well, yada yada yada…here I am!”

Today I’m re-emerging into society. I can drive now (hurrah!) and later today I’m getting the bag off (double hurrah!) It’s the accessory no one wants to wear, that goes with nothing, that’s good for no seasons. *snicker*

This should all be very exciting and I thought it would be! In fact, I had initially written this post entirely about the bag and compared it coming off excitedly to the movie “Face Off” (because I compare everything in my life to a movie) only with a bag instead of a face (“Bag” - dramatic pause - “OFF!”)

Yet, after spending over two weeks within the safety net and confines of my home and hours upon hours of HGTV House Hunter marathons, I’m finding re-emergence incredibly and unexpectedly difficult. 

I’m like a cat in a sweater.

In fact, this week is turning out to be an emotional one. See, this is the stuff that no matter how hard you research what happens during the cansuh/hysterectomy recovery, no one tells you. They tell you it comes with an emotional price tag but they don’t tell you that there are unforeseen triggers and that while you’re sad about the surgery itself, there’s also a chance that you’ll be sad that the world has continued turning and bustling while you were at home dealing with it all.

In my mind, sadness over this fact ventures dangerously into the “poor me” zone and so I try quickly to dry it all up when I suppose that whatever raw emotion I’m feeling and for whatever reason, really is probably quite ok and normal. Because it, too, shall pass if I give myself time to grieve it. Right?

The thing is, it’s like how I felt with postpartum. I don’t actually know what I’m so upset about. I find myself crying over anything. And everything. And I don’t know why.

And I want to crawl back into bed.

I suppose there are a few things that bother me…

There’s the fact that it’s the last week of school for my 4 year old and I’ve had zero to no involvement in his class over the past couple of months and I have mom guilt. My mother-in-law is even taking him to his last spray park field trip today because it’s still pretty hard for me to get around and tomorrow is his very last day. And there’s only one more week of school for my 6 year old and I haven’t even made it in to have lunch with him. (Where did this year go?!)

There’s the fact that it’s hard for me to talk about this stuff as I re-emerge and see everyone again. Teachers, my neighbors. They all know. They all ask. And not because of this blog where I’ve been candidly writing, but because word about these things just gets around. (“Did you hear — she has The Cansuh!”) Of course, I want everyone to ask and feel comfortable asking. But it’s surprisingly not easy for me to physically talk about it. Out loud. For me to hear my voice saying the words. But I can’t close myself away forever.

It’s different when I write it for some reason. It’s much easier. (Perhaps I should answer with “check out my blog! www.averagemomswearcapes.com!”)

Just kidding.

But I don’t want to cry in front of anyone and that’s my biggest fear. It’s hard for me not to. I have missed everyone so much! But seeing people makes me want to flee and run straight back to my safe place and drown myself in HGTV House Hunter marathons.

There’s the fact that even though I’m slowly emerging, I’m not quite there yet physically and I so badly want to be. Do you have any idea how badly I want to put on my sneakers and just RUN? To feel the wind on my face and the breath in my lungs and the sweat on my body and the music in my head. Running and biking and all of that has become synonymous to me for living over the past couple of years. Doing it makes me feel alive. Nothing makes me feel so alive as the exhilaration I feel post-run or post-bike. I miss that. I want that. You never miss running so much as when you can’t do it. Because I don’t particularly love running itself. But that’s no secret.

And then of course there’s simply the fact that I really just want to erase all of this.

I remember how hard it was for my mom when she had to recover from her Lupus diagnosis and the three months she spent in the hospital when we almost lost her to the blood clots (a story for another day). Re-emergence was very difficult for her. We pretended we were “Bob” in “What About Bob?” (Another movie reference.)

“Baby steps to the door… baby steps to the mailbox… baby steps to the bus…”

I suppose that’s the same for me. The blog isn’t all puppies and kittens right now and I hope you can bear with me till I get through this. And I will. It’s just taking a little longer than I thought. Thanks for the love in the comments after the “baby clothes” incident, I really don’t know how I’d have gotten through any of this without this blog and you. 

Ps. Please say a little prayer for my dad today — at this very moment that I’m writing, he’s getting two stents put in for a couple of blockages they found and even though this is all very routine, it’s my dad. And I worry. I hope we have all reached our medical issue quota for the year.

I’ll see you tomorrow, where I’ll be free and pocketbook-less.

Baby steps.

Hurrah!

Hurrah.