It's been 4 weeks, but who's counting

4 weeks since the last blog post, give or take a day or two.

4 weeks since my hip surgery to the day.

4 weeks on crutches and not being able to bend at the waist more than 90 degrees. I never realized the multiple ways this would effect basically everything I do or couldn't do as a result, and my family as well, given my temporary gimp status. Sure gave me a renewed perspective on life and how to appreciate everything, even the littlest of things everyday.

It's been quite an adventure, to say the least. But thankfully, we had lots of help along the way. We've so lucky to have great family and friends who call to check on us, come help us, cook for us, offer to brave an epic snowstorm to get to us, and suffer through a nasty stomach bug contracted while at our house helping us. I am on the mend, and hopefully have thwarted a total hip replacement down the road and will be able to return to exercising without pain in just a few more months.

I'm back at work for the first day today. It feels good. And as I think back on the last 4 weeks, there are a few morsels that are worth a blog post. So here goes.

• Piper refers to my crutches as "crushes" and has repeatedly asked me over the last several weeks where I'm going to "park them" or, in some cases, has shared her ideas for where I can park them when not in use.
• One of Boone's first words will forever be, "cushes". I guess he heard it enough that he decided to give it a try himself.
• The first two weeks I was home, Piper would ask me daily to check my boo-boo and it's progress. Incedentially, she also started putting a bandaid on her same hip each day and informed me she'd let me know when "it felt mush better".
• In the early days following my surgery, when laying flat was easist, she many times joined me in bed to keep me company. She would haul her blanket ('multi'), her little Dora doll (that she calls Diego) and her favorite zebra stuffed animal (she calls "horsey-zebra") into bed and me, her and her favorite stuffed friends would all lay there and talk, laugh, snuggle and read books. It's one of my favorite parts of recovery.
• Things were a little tougher for Boone, as one of his favorite things is to be picked up and snuggled and walked all through the house. Since I could neither bend down to pick him up or walk around with him, he laid in wait for his time to come. And patient that sweet little fella was. Two days ago I walked him around the house for the first time and he laughed and clapped his hands. It was awesome.
• While Piper and Ger were outside over the weekend, she informed him that she's going to marry him, nearly brough a tear to his eye. This morning before school, she decided today was the day. There were no formalities to the ceremony, just a declaration of marriage to make it official. Now that's what I call efficient.
• My husband has been referring to me as, "Grandma Hip...I mean Hitch" for a about 3 1/2 weeks now, and every time he says it, it's still just as funny to him as the first time it came out of his mouth.
• And finally, it truly sometimes is just MUCH easier to pee in the shower! I mean it.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get us all caught back up on the ole blog soon. I've missed doing it and I think my camera is about to burst if I don't get some of the photos off the memory card soon!