Thank you

Thank all of you for your kind comments, concern and well wishes. I feel so loved! Thank you for letting me know you're thinking of me.

In spite of being a blogger and all, I'm a pretty private person, especially about the hard things in my life. That is perhaps why, this time, I made a concerted effort to let the people around me know what was going on. I knew we couldn't do this on our own, so I overrode my pride gene and actually let people help us. And I'm so glad we did! Nick's parents came up for two days to take care of Espen (and me!), and he just had a wonderful time with his grandparents. There's so much love in that little relationship, and I'm so glad that Nick and I were able to step out of the equation a bit and just let them do their thing together.

Other friends have brought us meals (thank you! thank you!) which has been such a relief. If all else fails, at least I know my family is going to eat a good meal tonight! Our good friend Caren spent Saturday afternoon with us, and it was great for all of us to take our minds off me and my guts for a bit. Caren is really great with Espen, and spent a lot of time playing cars and taking him for a walk at a time when I just couldn't do it myself.

And while I'm feeling grateful for all the kindnesses that have come my way in the past few days, Nick is of course at the very tippy-top of that list. He's had a lot going on at work lately, but there was never any doubt in his mind that he would take time off to take care of me. He was there for every appointment, and all through my day at the hospital. The hardest part of surgery by far for me was waking up in recovery and not having Nick by my side. Silly hospital rules! He's taken care of me in every way possible, and even now that he's back at work, he still makes sure that I have everything I need before he goes. I love that man.

Sharing his toys with mama.

Finally, I'm grateful for my little Espen. I don't think the past couple of days have been the easiest for him, but he has been such a trooper. He definitely knows something is up, but is very patient with his somewhat useless mama. When I'm not feeling good, he'll bring toys over to the couch so he can play beside me. He crawls up the stairs on his own so I don't have to carry him, and yesterday he obliged by taking an extra long nap. And when he's whiny and needy, he lets me park him in front of a cartoon. Sigh. I promise there will be much less of that really soon, little friend.

So, yes, I have a lot to be grateful for. Above all, a gallbladder full of stones that left my body without complication, and a body that is healing nicely. I just need to keep taking things slowly and we'll be back to normal before you know it.

So, enough about me, how are you doing?