I had surgery this morning to repair the umbilical hernia that showed up while I was pregnant with Avril. Norah made me a get-well bracelet with her beads...

Yes, I am still wearing my hospital tags. I'm not sure why, but I usually do wear these tags for at least a few days after any of my near-death experiences such as childbirth or surgery... It's probably for the same type of reason vets continue wearing their dog tags. They are a sort of "badge of honor" to me. But, don't worry. I usually take them off once they start making my wrist chafe.

The card says, "I hope you get better. I love you. I love you so much." We start spelling this fall. ;)

The figures on the card show Norah giving me cookie (which she did) and Avril standing in between us. I let Norah have one of the two cookies she brought to me and by the way she grabbed it, I think that was what she was hoping for all along. We ate our cookies together like the families in the Oreo commercials. She got chocolate crumbs all over my bed, but I will try to just ignore them. Some things are more important than clean sheets.

Avril kept walking into the room anytime to door was open. She'd hurry up to my bedside and pat my arm. I'd rub her head, but then she'd cry because she didn't understand why I wouldn't pick her up. That was very hard to handle emotionally.

I have been listening to different parts of the Bible on CD and worship songs on my I-pod.

I haven't eaten much since dinner last night, unless you count cookies. ;) I tried to eat one of the burgers Dwayne grilled for dinner. They are always delicious to me, but I guess my meds are still screwing with my system because I almost vomited after two bites. Too much information? :(

You can see the re-purposed Lego bucket in the background of the photo above. We Boulden's dubbed it the "puke bucket" when it was the only thing I could find to put next to Norah's bed when she was sick one very late night. Now, we clean it out after each "use" but it just remains empty (the Legos are stored elsewhere), and we keep this bucket in the bottom of the bathroom closet until any of us have need of it. So, if your family has one of these lying around, you may want to use it like we do. It's the perfect shape for vomiting into, too. It's wide at the top, gets narrower at the bottom and it's very deep... That advice comes free of charge. ;)

Norah also crawled into bed with me for an hour this afternoon and she read her library books to me. That's something I sometimes feel as if I am just suffering through, to be honest, just sitting there, listening to her read, when I could be doing dishes or laundry or making phone calls... but it was such a blessing to have her company today after hours of solitude.

Later, she begged me to read her another chapter from Hinds Feet in High Places. She is so "into" this story, it worries me a little because I don't know how the book ends yet. The main character, Much-Afraid, reminds me of who I used to be before God started changing me. I can't wait to see how the power of God changes and transforms her, too. Who knows?! God may end up giving her a "new name," too. ;)

"We meet again, old friend..." That's Percocet. When I hold this bottle after childbirths or surgeries, the song "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" by Celine Dion plays in my head... :)

No, really, I'm just kidding. But, I do have to be careful with this stuff. I use only as much of it as I need and only take it as long as I need to, because, after all, I fear God and I'm not foolish.

These are the incredibly soft socks my mother-in-law gave me for my post-op recovery. She's a great gift-giver. Dwayne's parents are here to help with the kids as I recover and so Dwayne can be free to go back to work. They will be here till next Friday. Thank God!

I may not blog again for a while, for obvious reasons. This post actually took hours to complete and required lots of ew's and ouches! I started after dinner and didn't finish till after 10pm. But, I also had very little else to do while I was awake tonight. :)