Reasons To Love Monday

There is a busy week ahead and (of course) I woke up with (hopefully my last round of) Evil Gut Pain. I'm going to just hang out here in the nest and let the meds do their job and do my best to find lots and lots of Reasons To Love THIS Monday! 

1. This might just really be the last round of Gut Pain! Last Friday I met with the surgeon who will do the robotic hysterectomy. The girl who schedules his surgeries had left the office by the time I was there so I am anxiously awaiting a call from her to pick the lucky day. It was quite surreal sitting in his office waiting for the consultation. It reminded me of the beginning of my fertility journey... as a scared, nauseous 17 year old sneaking peaks of my chart while waiting for my first OB exam. The top of my chart had a big A+ at the top. When the doctor came in I asked if that meant I was a good patient and he laughed and said that was my blood type. Fast-forward over thirty years to last Friday... I sat in the doctor's office looking at my chart on his desk thinking that me and my uterus had a good run... it carried three boys who are the loves of my life and although it probably should have come out eight years ago, I can see why it needed to wait. Can you imagine me recovering from a hysterectomy with Darby? Living in a third floor walk up? This is the right time and although I'm not looking forward to the pain of surgery, I'm looking forward to bidding this Gut Pain farewell. He will also take my left ovary, based on the suspicion that it has suffered the most damage. He said he couldn't promise that there was "much juice" left in the right one but we'll leave it in there. I could write a whole blog entry on his take on Post Ablation Syndrome but he has seen it often and changed the type of ablations he performs because of cases like me. 

Anyways. Next...

2. This Friday is Cosette's first birthday! (and my 48th!) How has a year gone by so quickly? She is such a smart, sweet, precious little girl. We do this thing where I open my china hutch for her to see my collection of teapots and teacups. I tell her those are Nana's Treasures and let her pick out  one to hold. I have several little not-as-fragile little teapots that I got from Avon years ago. She picks out one or two of those to play with and it keeps her occupied for a long while. It's a great distraction and I love sharing my special things with her. Last night my mom was watching her while Tasha got a shower and Cosy realized that Mawmaw had her own Treasure Chest and she kept pointing to it, wanting to pick out a treasure. All of Mawmaw's treasures, unfortunately, are quite fragile so they came down to pick one of Nana's to play with. Cosy picked a tiny little teapot that looks like a flower pot and took the top off and offered Mawmaw a sip of tea, then sipped it herself. It's just so different having a little girl in the house and I treasure every moment with her.

3. This Saturday is Cosette's birthday party! There are many things to be done this week in preparation... I'm tired just thinking of it... but I am soooo looking forward to having friends and family down to the Whine Cellar to love on my sweet baby girl. I'm also looking forward to having Ollie here to play and can't wait for the babies to be reunited! They are both still working on the concept of "gentle" but we'll do our best to make sure nobody goes home with any battle wounds. 

4. New food obsession - Subway's carving board turkey sandwich. It's nice thick cut turkey that doesn't taste like deli turkey. I had one the other day on my ride home from the appointment that wasn't the actual appointment day and stopped at Subway to give the trip some sense of purpose other than driving for an hour and a half. I had wanted another ever since so I snuck out yesterday and got a foot long. I haven't finished it yet and it's time for breakfast so... REASON TO LOVE Monday! 

5. The weather is amazing right now. I wish it could stay this mild and pleasant year round. I know the humidity and heat is coming, most likely in days, not weeks so I'm not taking this time of year for granted. The flowers are blooming everywhere and our property is so green and lush! The rosebush right outside my door is loaded with buds and I'm hoping it will be in full bloom by this weekend. 

6. I finished two more chapters in my Duolingo Italian app this morning! I'm struggling with verb tenses but I'm still enjoying the process of learning something new. I've been watching lots of travel videos about Italy and find myself recognizing lots of words. I'm sure I'll never travel that far but it's empowering to know that I can still learn new things at this stage of life. 

This is growing long and I'm ready for breakfast so I'll leave you with just those six Reasons To Love Monday. I hope you'll share a few of your own reasons with me! Thanks to those who comment and like frequently, I appreciate your participation. Congrats to my long time blog friend Kelly in Texas who became a Nonna this week! Life is good, y'all! Love and hugs!