Journal entry by Catherine Barkley —
It has been a very busy week full of blessings and a sad goodbye to the most amazing greatest Grammy and Grampy!
We celebrated Gryffin‘s birthday with a Two the Moon themed weekend! Gryffin absolutely loves pointing out the moon, and Camden’s dream is for him to be an astronaut so the theme created itself. Gryffin adored going to Cheekwood garden in Nashville, getting a new blue car, and chowing down on Oreo cookies from his cake. He didn’t care for the cake itself, but I did, and I was the one who did the hardest work on his first birth day so that seemed appropriate 😆
On Monday, his actual birthday, I hit the much awaited six week post surgery mark and was finally allowed to pick him up. It was immediately emotional and also exhausting… he has definitely put on weight since I last held him! The importance of me being able to hold him was lost on him, but he was begrudgingly appreciative of me getting back to my assigned jobs of helping him jump down steps, swing him around and pick him up when ever he desires. I am so thankful that he was immediately comfortable getting back into the swing of things (pun intended!) with me.
But with my recovery and healing, it was only right that our incredibly sacrificial Grammy and Grampy Head home to (hopefully) take a small, but much deserved break before travel again to meet their newest grandchild (and Gryffin‘s newest cousin!) in May. Saying goodbye is always hard, but we are just so incredibly grateful for everything they have done for us over the last six weeks! They cared for Gryffin morning noon and night, missed work opportunities, were apart from each other and away from home for over 6 weeks, cooked and kept our house clean, and so much more. It was truly a labor of love ❤️
Finally, I had my six week postop zoom appointment with my surgeon today and she confirmed that everything looks great and healing and recovery are going well! I will have another postop appointment in six more weeks. Full healing takes around six months, but this is a big mile stone and implies that everything else should go fairly smoothly. I am also cleared to finally sleep on my side again. That is just in the nick of time because I sleep better on my side, and I will need all the extra energy I can get to avoid Gryffin’s kicking feet and demands to be swung around. I am so grateful I have the privilege of being able to meet those demands now!! 😊