♫ All I Want for Christmas is My Two New Boobs ♫

**** DISCLAIMER:  I talk about BOOBS a bunch in this post  ****

(not that you need a warning with the title of this post being kinda a big hint)

TOMORROW I go under the knife for my last major surgery to reconstruct my breasts.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

NOT A MOMENT TOO SOON.....I am so excited (can you tell?)!

I now have THREE holes in my right breast mound (it really isn't a breast it is a lump).  If you are a reader of my blog you know all about the first hole that appeared last August.  I had surgery back in August to repair it and it formed AGAIN.  My surgeon tried many things to fix it (stitches, cauterizing, cleaning, giving it time, etc) and NOTHING worked.  It just keep forming skin granulations and leaking fluid.  I have had a leak since August...NOT fun.  I had to keep it bandaged.  There were many mornings when I woke up to a big stinky mess when the bandage would leak.  When I had the surgery in August my surgeon "de-flated" my breast mound.  She did not want me to get any fills to the expander until the hole healed.  I waited and waited and waited and waited for it to heal.  FINALLY, on November 18th I went in for what felt like my 100th check-up where I figured they would clean it out, it would bleed all over, then they would burn it, and tell me to come back in two weeks (that was the pattern for months).  But, my doctor came in looked at it and said I had two choices.

1.  I could have surgery in the next few weeks to open up the hole, clean it out, and then close it up and wait for it to heal.

OR

2.  She could give me a fill today and I could come back the next week.  If the hole wasn't in worse shape she would fill it some more and schedule my BIG surgery where she would REDUCE my left side and swap the expander out with my IMPLANT and she would fix the hole at the same time.  But, she said I would have to be ok with a smaller breast size than we had planned on originally.

Ummmmmm HELLO. I chose option TWO, duh!

But, nothing comes easy or simple with me.  Last week ANOTHER hole formed on the right side of my right breast.  Then a few days ago a big lump formed on the front of my breast mound and sure enough this morning it had burst and it is leaking some nasty, nasty puss.  It is the biggest and nastiest hole of them all.  I am LITERALLY falling apart.  But my rock star surgeon seems to think it is no big deal and will be able to make everything better tomorrow.  So tomorrow I am putting my trust in her to FIX me UP!!!

Tomorrow will be my 18th surgery.  I am a pro.  I am not scared at all.  I am not looking forward to the pain and recovery (she said it is a quick, easy recovery....sure it is doc) and I am NOT looking forward to the stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid drain.

BUT

I am so excited for my new figure!!! 

 Even before my right breast mastectomy back in October 2012 I have wanted a breast reduction.  It would help my back out so much, plus I would just look better.  They always were large (DD before kids) (H/I after kids) and ridiculous.  So my present for surviving all the CRAP this past 16 months is TWO NEW SMALL PERKY BOOBS.

So tomorrow morning I check in at 8:30 am to have the following things done:

1.  Reduce my left breast from an H/I cup size down to about a C.  This is my best guess on size.  I went a few days ago to try on bras (kinda hard when I have a big huge boob in the way) and I think that is the size.  It was so exciting to buy a nice, soft, small, no under wire bra that costs only $17 for post-surgery.  I have not bought a bra like that since I was 12.  NO MORE uncomfortable, expensive bras from speciality stores and ordered from Europe.

2.  Do a nipple graft.  She is going to make my left breast nipple smaller and re-locate it....OUCH

3.  She is going to somehow fix my three holes so I don't have leaky boobs anymore.  ♫ There's a hole in my booby dear Liza, dear Liza. There's a hole in my booby, dear Liza a hole.  Well, go fix it....... ♫

4.  Take the expander out and put my implant in (she said she is going to use a new kind (can't remember the name of it) that is soft and natural looking)

5.  Nip and tuck all the ugly, crazy things going on in the area under my armpit.

So say a little prayer and/or send me some good vibes that my surgeon will do an amazing job and I will be able to recover quickly and start my road to taking my body back.  

2014 is going to be a GREAT year!!!!!!

Merry Christmas to ME a little early :)

Baby Shower for My Kimmy

Last month, with the help of my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law we threw a baby shower for my sister-in-law Kim.  She was expecting her 4th boy.  Her youngest is 8 and she thought she was done having kids so she had NO baby stuff.  So of course she needed a shower.  We were so worried the week leading up to the shower because she was dilated to a 6 and her doctor had stripped her membranes.  She was also  having pretty big contractions.  I was so worried that all my hard work would be for naught.  But, she was a good girl and kept her baby boy in.  

We had a luncheon with yummy food, fabulous games (Get To Know You and Name that BABY Tune), super friends and family, and lots of great gifts for momma and baby boy.

 So, here is the guest of honor....Isn't she so beautiful??

She thought her belly was huge, I thought she was tiny for 9 months along. 

 I wish I had looked that good when I was pregnant!!!

 I absolutely love the elephants with the blue & gray theme

 YUM!!!

Here is Kim's buddy Arlee - she made that super cute banner....I am so in love with the banner.

 double chocolate cupcakes and toasted coconut cupcakes

 white chocolate raspberry cheesecakes

fancy toffee brownies and chocolate covered strawberries

 chocolate cheesecakes

Anne-Marie and the luncheon spread.  We had chicken salad croissant sandwiches, poppy seed pasta salad, berry almond salad, pretzel fruit salad, spicy pecan spinach salad, and delectable garlic mini-rolls

oh yummy

 pineapple grapefruit punch

 Kim & Sally - childhood best friends - both preggo

 presents!!!  She got her fancy diaper bag

 must eat for two - baby is hungry

 The shower givers and the shower receiver :)

My nephew Jordan and his "lady" friend and his weirdo mom :)

I think the shower turned out great even though we had a few "issues" (lost keys, car not starting, no cups, Kim's mom missing most of the shower....etc).....ooops....those are some long stories for another day :)

  I was so happy to work hard to put on a beautiful shower for my Kimmy.  I love her so much and I wanted her to feel loved and special.  She is an amazing lady and I love her bunches.  

Fall Fun

I LOVE autumn.......it is the most beautiful time of the year in the Pacific Northwest

The kids didn't have school on Friday so we headed to Bauman Farms with The Maganas and The Wrigleys.  Bauman Farms is near the Woodburn Outlet Stores (amazing outlet stores....I avoided them this trip - very dangerous to your wallet) in Oregon. 

Click here to visit their website

It was kinda far away (1.5 hours), but OH so worth it.  The only thing I suggest is you get there in the morning when they open so you have enough time to do everything.  You really need the whole day.  We ran out of time and didn't get to enjoy everything.

So I am going to dump a bunch of pics of our fun adventure here in this post.

 I need two more kids.....really I do

Carlie - "Ouch, I hurt my bum"

 waiting in line for the Swing Line

 There goes Carlie!!!

 My brave 5 year old :-)

 Pumpkin Hill Slide

 Bug Train

 it was super bumpy

 some of the cute decorations.....This place was ADORABLE

 look at Carlie's face - can you tell she thought the Bug Train was super bumpy?

 Pumpkin Hill

 Ginormous Jumping Pillow

 

 Adorbs

 Obstacle course with Uncle Ju-Wann

 Berk jumping out of the Obstacle Course

 Hay Ride with my kiddos....The lighting for this photo was strange....look at my big yellow fro on my head

 Trying to pick up the pumpkins

 too cute

 CORN MAZE

 "Mom, look at all the corn's hair!!!  It is growing hair!!!"

Apparently my child has never shucked corn

 Corn Maze bridge

 wow, I look mean

 would have been much cuter without the jacket tucked under my arm and the water bottle - oh well

 GORGEOUS

 some of my very favorite peeps....little baby Cruz hidden in the baby carrier.

 "Look mom, bunny ears."

 His expressions CRACK me UP!

 even better

 Gooooo Carlie

 Modeling with my girls

 CRAZY girls

 

 too cute

 holy big pumpkin

 sooooo pretty

 Farmer Berk

 I need to do this....so in love

 Group photo time...what's up with my camera being so out of focus???

 Ummmm...Kim we are not doing funny faces yet....

 funny faces pics are my FAVORITE

What a fun day.  My kids had an absolute blast.  We are going to have to go back.  Hopefully, we can go back when Corey can go with us. We only did about half of the activities.  

By the time I got home that night I was EXHAUSTED.  My body is so weak and out of shape.  My body, especially my legs and feet were so sore and worn out that I could NOT fall asleep.  It was so awful.  I ended up taking a bunch of ibuprofen and a few pain pills and finally feel asleep around 3 am.....only 5 hours to fall asleep.  I guess I need to start exercising again.  I guess laying around for over a year kinda messes your body up.  

But, all that pain was worth seeing the smiles on my children's faces....they are my heart and soul.