my view from the couch

while i was pregnant with connor i mysteriously hurt my knee (i have no idea how i did it). i had hoped it just had something to do with pregnancy and loose ligaments and that it would "fix itself" once i had the baby, but the first time i went running after connor was born i could tell it wasn't fixed. so after 6 weeks of physical therapy without progress (in fact it started feeling worse), i got an mri. and then it became clear why i was hurting so much: i tore my medial and lateral meniscus and needed surgery to fix it. we were desperate to have the surgery before the end of the year since we had met our deductible (thanks to emma's surgery and connor's birth) and it wouldn't cost us a dime (but it would cost us a lot of dimes in 2014). thanks to the collective fasting and prayers of our family, my original surgery date of january 6th was bumped up to december 31st! that first week (and a half probably) i spent a lot of time on the couch. in fact one morning i walked into the family room and logan one morning i came out and logan said to me, "mom, you need to lay down on the couch!" it's like he was saying, assume your usual position! it wasn't easy having 3 little kids and not being able to move around too easily, but thanks to kind friends and family and a wonderful husband who would work all day and then come home and take care of things here, we managed. 

i'm used to being up and going (and i like it), but since i couldn't be, i tried to enjoy the down time. and i have to say, it's good every once in a while to just slow. i loved being able to just soak in some of the beautiful, everyday moments that can easily go unnoticed in the rush of normal life. so here's the view from my couch: 

i love the way emma is looking at logan in this picture. can't you just see the adoration?!

everyone got a little stir crazy being stuck at home. we were all so glad when daddy came home

my little pirates 

and although my recovery hasn't been as fast as i hoped (i had unrealistic expectations), this past week it has been feeling pretty awesome! it's amazing the joy that comes from something as simple as being able to bend your knee (especially without pain). i even get to spread out my physical therapy appointments, which means i am making progress and can go every other week instead of every week! i'm so close to getting back to the gym and i can hardly wait!