FINALLY

It finally happened y'all...

Not gonna lie- woke up and freaked out for a moment thinking I must have popped them or something but don't worry- all is well! Belly sleeping for the win. Haven't slept this well in months!

Gonna be a good day!

all good things...

Welp....last day of surgery leave. Day 7 post op. Back to work tomorrow...definitely ready (especially since hubster is out of town this week) and feel just so incredibly blessed. Incision lines are still tender but things are healing nicely and for the most part I'm really pleased. I think at this stage in the game it's this weird meeting of being happy that things are pretty much done and then just being patient and kind with your body and letting it heal. Then moving into the acceptance and adjusting to what your body looks and feels like. Not that it's certainly any worse or crazy different than it was before but definitely still an adjustment. I still have to wear Spanx 24.hours.a.day to act as a compression garment over the fat grafting sites (except for showering...clearly...because...what?) which is HOT (both sarcastically figuratively and literally for sure) - it's probably a good thing hubby is gone this week because I am CRANKING that AC.

Yesterday I got the awesome opportunity to attend the first preview service of "The Story" . Its a new worship community that is a part of our home church - St. Luke's Methodist. I can't even begin to describe to you guys what a blessing our church (especially our incredible amazing sunday school class family - the Three Strands Class) is. It was an incredible meeting (at one of my favorite restaurant/bars) and truly one of the most authentic, biblical, exciting worship experiences I've had. So shameless plug -if you're new to Houston or looking for an exciting, open, authentic church home - check it out. It's a new church plant (of sorts) and isn't meeting regularly yet but will be doing a few preview services and will start having regular meetings in the new year. And if you're needing or looking for a really amazing group of young marrieds/young families to be a part of - come this way. You can come to class with me (and Alex).  Because I don't want to brag - but my church family is the real.deal. ya'll. Family. Thanks for being, and acting, and loving and walking and friend-ing and just being the church. Love you guys.

Ok On to book reviews. 

First so you know where I'm coming from - I love to read. I will read almost anything you put in front of me (clearly - even Twilight). I haven't even turned on the TV at all in days because I'd much rather get lost in a book for hours (sometimes much to hubby's chagrin). I do read on an kindle/ipad a lot just because it's cheaper but I really love to have the book in my hands. I love everything from essays, research articles (sometimes), biographies, historical fiction (my personal fave genre), mysteries, love stories, inspirational books, bible studies, adventure. Not a huge sci-fi or romance kind of reader. Definitely don't read horrors. I'm definitely a stereotypical Jane Austen lover and my favorite book of all time is The Count of Monte Cristo. I have surprisingly never read Harry Potter (I know...gasp...I know I need to and I've watched all the movies). I loved the Hobbit but didn't enjoy or make it through Lord of the Rings. I love C S Lewis but actually didn't enjoy Mere Christianity (loved the content - didn't love how it was written...snooze/had a hard time staying engaged). But in all things - I am a reader. Always have been. 

I started/finished the Breathe series this week (actually in 3 days). This series was recommended to me by a wonderful RN that I work with. 

So without spoiling the story (more than what you would read online...) I have to say I really enjoyed this series. That being said - it is completely a young adult/teen angst/romantical kind of series and an easy read. I didn't totally love the way it was written - I felt there was a lot of repetition in her descriptions of the character's interactions but it was definitely an intriguing story and heartbreakingly true for many out there who suffer unimaginable emotional and physical scarring from emotional and/or physical abuse by those that are supposed to love and protect them the most. I think it touched on how difficult it is for people whose parents have taught them and exemplified negative coping behaviors to escape that destructive cycle - but also how it is possible and how you do not have to turn to those same destructive behaviors. At the end of the day though - its a sweet love story, lots of teen/coming of age angst'y interactions, definitely some moments where you sit back and go "wait - aren't these guys supposed to just be like 19" and a compelling story of a very hurt girl coming of age in less than ideal circumstances and a testament to the steadfastness and need for love and community and friends that walk with you through thick and thin. Sweet story. Good read for the plane or beach. I'd give it a 7-8/10. 

Now I'm starting the Legend series:

I read The Hunger Games (loved it) and Divergent (liked it - hated the ending) trilogies so this was on my recommended book list. I'm only a few chapters in so I'll let you know what I think when I'm done! 

What do you love to read? I'm always looking for new recommendations! 

Guilty Pleasures...a confession

Happy Friday Amigos! Checking in here from my couch throne. Day 3 post op. Let's cover the surgery stuff first.  Honestly I am feeling remarkably good - I am truly quite surprised. I have been on only ibuprofen since day 1 post op and now I really only need it like 1-2x/day (and that's mostly towards the end of the day to help with pain before I go to sleep so I can sleep through the night). I'm off the couch at night (slept there the 1st two nights because it's just more comfortable/easier to get up and out of than our high bed) and been pretty independent. I'm still a bit swollen and starting to bruise and I'm not going to lie - it's just a different outcome surgically than I thought. Not a bad outcome. Just different. No need to go into details but if you go through this process and feel that way afterwards - you're not alone.

Hubster is leaving for a big business trip tomorrow (for a week! This is the first time we will have been apart for more than 2-3 days since we practically started dating almost 7 years ago! crazy!) so he had to be in the office to prep so I got to hang out and do all the lazy things I never do  yesterday (and let's face it...today too).

This is where those that are close to me (*ahem* my sister *coughcough*) know that I struggle still being at home and not being super productive. Ya - I don't see a future as a stay at home housewife looking good for me. There's only so much I can be in the house or responsible for house things. I've got stuff to do people!

Although I feel good - I definitely still tire easily and yesterday was a great example. I have full range in my arms and I'm off pain meds so I called up the salon to see if I could get my hair cut - got an appt and drove my happy hiney to the galleria to get a trim (a whopping 10 minute drive). I got home almost 3 hours later after literally sitting in the salon chair and not shopping AT ALL (you're welcome hubs) and C.R.A.S.H.E.D. for the rest of the afternoon.  Then I got back up for dinner and was back in bed by 9:15. Watch out party animals.

So the plan for today is to chill, not obsessively read the two book series I'm in right now. I'm ashamedly unashamedly reading total young adult series. So here's my big guilty pleasure confession. Are you ready?

                                              I.read.Twilight. All of it. In like 3 days.

                                    

                                         Then I watched all the movies. And I loved it.

I swear I have a master's degree from a top rate university, I swear I have literary standards (which clearly I hold no attachment to) and I want to believe these series are not like twilight ...ok maybe kind of like twilight but I swear it's written better...yes I read twilight...yes I guilty pleasure loved it...yes I realize it is literary garbage...#don'tjudgeme. Whew...I feel so much better having that off my chest!

Right now I'm DONE with ALL of Game of Thrones (Thank you Lord - I don't know if I could get through another one of those books), I'm halfway through the Breathe series trilogy  and have the Legend trilogy downloaded (as recommended by some fab RN's I work with). Book reviews to come! Other than that the goal is to accomplish some house cleaning/laundry (ugh) and enjoy this beautiful day before hubster disappears for a week!

What are your literary guilty pleasures? Send 'em my way peeps! Anybody read these series? Come on...I'm not the only one out there who put Twilight on their Kindle so they didn't have to show the cover off to people. And no - I'm not reading 50 shades. Don't even.

Day 1...

So today is the first day of new boobs. 2 things I have learned today:
1. Compared to mastectomy - implant surgery is a cake.walk. I took vicodin last night but otherwise I'm on ibuprofen only and able to get up and around pretty independently (even getting spanx on and off!). #forthewin
2. When your surgeon says "Hannah don't freak out the first day - give everything time to settle and the swelling to go down" - she means it. Glad I was reminded of this fact. #kindahadafreakout

Ok - back to nap. See ya'll tomorrow!

Today is the day! Hooray hooray!

Implant exchange day!!! Woohoo! In preop at MDACC on the gorgeous fall day right in the middle of breast cancer awareness month! Perfect day to celebrate! See ya on the other side!

10...9....8...

Woah you guys. I left you way too long this time. Glad you've been behaving while I've been gone!

The last 2 1/2 weeks have been so so great and wonderfully busy (hence the long break AGAIN!) so let me get you as caught up as I can! First...the weekends!

We have had some pretty spectacular weekends the last few weeks but it has kept us on our toes not so briefly...

3 weeks ago we were on a lake in Michigan. That was lovely!

2 weeks ago we got to spend a very very amazing weekend with our precious 3Strands (sunday school class) family in New Braunsfels on our annual retreat. So much fun. So much food. So much friending. I just love that weekend and look forward to it every year! Friday night we drove to New Braunsfels with another precious couple we have loved getting to know over the last few years (we are definitely jokingly tell them we are going to get a duplex and live next door forever...I think that would be  blast. Alex grew up in a duplex and disagrees. I shall prevail We shall see...). Saturday a few of the brave floated the river in a Texas rainstorm while the saner less brave went to a lovely lunch at the gristmill in Gruene and had a great time hanging out and watching the rainstorm from a beautiful covered porch. I also got my first barely-faster-than-a-speed-walk-but-I'll-call-it-jogging "run" in post surgery. 2 very slow miles and I am FEELING being off for 9 weeks for.sure. But so happy to be back in my tennis! A few of us ladies also braved the holy grail of outlet malls in San Marcos on a Saturday afternoon where the glory that is the lululemon outlet lives. Unfortunately I was a little underwhelmed. GREAT selection if you are a 2 or 10/12 in lulu but not so great if you are not. Super fun either way though and I of course left with some J Crew swag in my bag!  Sunday we all packed up, had a great little devotional time and grabbed some delicious BBQ from hubby's favorite place (Cooper's BBQ) and headed back to H-Town! Great weekend!

Then, last weekend I got to go to Dallas for my annual college girls trip! A few of us from our pledge class (Go ZTA PC '04!) have gotten together every year since our graduation and as we all have gotten spread all over the state and our lives have gone in a million different directions - this weekend is especially sweet and and great time to slow down and laugh, eat (a lot! Seriously - the restaurants we tried were all AMAZING!) , pamper (I FOR REAL got the best mani pedi of my life...ever...no questions asked - if you are in Dallas go to the Hiatus spa and get the mani/pedi retreat. It will be the best decision you've made in a long time. I promise.)  and love on these sweet friends who I have had the privilege of walking the last 10 years with! Love love these amazing ladies! This year was especially sweet as we are saying an extended "see ya later" to one of our own who will be spending the next 2 years on an international mission assignment. What an amazing woman of God and she is so inspiring to  be around. I can't wait to see and hear how the Lord uses her in these next few years! Yet another great weekend!

In the midst of all this my oldest most precious friend had her first baby with her hubby. It was so surreal but what an incredibly beautiful moment to see these two become a perfect little family. Love them. Baylor beat Texas and kept their undefeated status (#3 this week! what?!?) and  I somehow kept up with my job and the hubster and fit in a few workouts. I am running 3-4 miles pretty comfortably although my speed is SUFFERING since I went on break - but I am so thankful to run. I'm still spinning very comfortably for at least an hour. I got back into yoga and my core strength is pretty laughable. The first time I tried to chataranga I LITERALLY hit the floor as soon as I bent my elbows. It's getting better but my Asana is a little more like Asa-no at this point. This week I also got back in the pool for the first time! I didn't want to get crazy or over do it so I did a slow 1000 meter freestyle continuous swim and felt great! I forget how amazing the water is until I'm back in it. Everyone should swim. Even if you look silly. I always look silly so maybe I'm getting immune to it.

2 weeks ago I also went to what I thought was my 8 week follow up appointment but turned into my implant exchange pre-op appointment. Ya'll things are real. Last surgery plastics was more there to follow up breast surgery and sort of gave me the game plan going into it. This time she sat me down and asked me "so...what do you want to look like." Let's be real ya'll - my face was like:

I've never had plastic surgery before so I don't know what I was really expecting but this was definitely more like what I have seen on E! which is preeettyy much where I'm getting my information about what plastic surgery is like at this point if it doesn't come from my doctor. Genius child over here. Watch out. So long story short We are 9 DAYS AWAY from my implant surgery. I am going to get round smooth silicone implants, a slight lift on the left side since that side's scar healed a little differently than the right and we will do fat grafting from my hips and thighs to my chest wall to smooth everything out. That's right ladies - when you do this - they will suck the fat out of your thighs and hips (my surgeon says "problem areas") and put it in your boobs to make everything more "natural".

My thoughts exactly dude!

If that isn't some sort of karmic reward for having crap genes then I don't know what is. I made a special request from my surgeon for a thigh gap but she said she would take as much as she needed and that my chest was her focus - not my thighs (code for "Hannah - this does not double as free for all liposuction - you're getting a little carried away with your E! TV experiences here - haven't you never had plastic surgery before??"...dammit - ok HB - take a breath).

This 2nd surgery is only day surgery and should only take an hour or two. Then I get to come home! My surgeon said I'll be sore the first 2-3 days but since everything's already been cut and healed during the first surgery/recovery that I should be ready to return to work by the following week! She also said everything is closed w/ surgical super glue so there's no dressings, dressing changes, or weird ointments that smell like some iodized grandma product to keep up with. I'll have to wear Spanx for the lower body to act as a compression garment for where they take fat grafts from for at least the first 4-6 weeks which I find hilarious since I can barely handle putting them on now.

Seriously - can anyone get those on with any kind of grace? But other than that I'm pretty much on the tail end of this guys. After this second surgery I should only have to go back in for any revisions only if I need them. So countdown to October 14 is on people! CAN-I-GET-AN-AMEN??? I'm pumped.

Whew - so that's about it I think... what a stream of consciousness dump site today guys! Thanks for bearing with me! Hope you have a fabulous week! I've been sitting here on my porch in the most perfect Texas weather I think we've ever had typing this post, listening to wind chimes and cherishing the sub-saharan temps with a light breeze and a blue Texas sky. It's pretty perfect. It truly makes me just sit back and think of how great and faithful is our God. I love Sundays. I'll leave you with this - one of my very favorite hymn verses. Keep it in your pocket this week!

I hope your weekend is going as perfectly! Happy Sunday!