Hope for Haiti Now

You can buy the Hope for Haiti Now album.

I have hope.

First Presidency Appeals to Church Members to Help People in Haiti - LDS Newsroom

Recovery

From a birthday party.

You thought I was going to talk some more about my injection? Nope, that's old news. The birthday party, well, I guess that's old news now. Thank goodness.

Being the first birthday party I've ever hosted, and living in a new town/ward... I didn't quite know what I was doing. We may have had too many girls there. We may have not had enough structured activities planned... or too many. Either way, it is DONE.

Today I'm starting to feel relief. After the entire family slept in until 10AM (I am still dazed and confused about how we made it to church by 10:55am), I realized that I had a tension-induced headache threatening migraine status. It dissipated in time for dinner and a second round of cake/ice cream/presents.

To cut to the chase, I'm glad to celebrate the birth of my first born, but NOW...

I am ready to celebrate the birth of another little baby. I hope we can calmly, quietly, and uneventfully celebrate Christmas for the next couple weeks. And I hope all of you get a little bit of peace and quiet this holiday.

Survived

I survived the big needle. It actually ended up being two spinal-area injections (between L4 and L5, and between L5 and S1, for any who care). Having things poking/moving around back there feels scary and unnatural. Having once endured a month-long spinal leak and spinal headache, I'm a little nervous about these things.

I was trying my best to stay calm as I stared at a beautiful outlet and listened to the nurses/doc discuss ways to make the room more sterile. Finally I admitted that I was beginning to freak out, and a nurse came over and started talking to me about the girls. We had a nice little discussion about their upcoming birthday party. Nurses can save the day. :) Doctors aren't so bad, either...

I survived the procedure, but I really shouldn't have gone out to eat afterwards. Even if I did discover that Laughing Planet makes AMAZING burritos and the girls loved the "funny one-eyed place". For all you bike-minded people out there (and Portland has a plethora), they make their burritos to fit perfectly into a bike water holder.

Tsk at your own risk!

Confession:
I lashed out at a woman in Walmart who had the nerve to "tsk-tsk" my parenting skills. Not only was she making her disapproval obvious, but she was sharing her disapproval with fellow by-standers. Ugh.

My words of advice: if you see a mother of young children in need of assistance, just help her out or give her one of those "we've all been there" looks. Tsk-ing will only incur the wrath of a fiery young woman. Coming from a mother who views daily lessons on how to conduct an efficient and painfully public tantrum, you simply DO. NOT. WANT. TO. GO. THERE.

In the way of other news...

Tomorrow I'm getting an epidural steroid injection for my lower back. Since the pain has progressively returned in the past year, it's about time to do something. I have very high hopes that this injection will help me progress in physical therapy and strengthening my back. In the mean time, I've been prepping for the worst- a couple days of bed rest. I doubt recovery will be that bad, but the TV is always a great back-up babysitter. And I've stocked the refrigerator with prepared dinners for the rest of the week, so at least we won't starve.

This injection is actually an answer to prayers. One of my small miracles in life was being able to schedule it for the ONLY week day Janson has off in December. I'm not too worried about the injection, although I shake a bit at the thought of a big scary needle digging around my spine.

Saturday the girls are having a joint fairy birthday party. It's the first time I've hosted a birthday party, and I was excited for about the first two weeks of planning. Right about now I'm ready to just do it and get on with Christmas. Visions of fairy wands, wings, and all things glitter dance around my head, and swim before my eyes. I've learned a few good lessons for future parties, but I think Saturday will be a very fun, memorable experience for the girls.

Sum Me Up

Fitting for a literary junkie, here's me in words:

You can try it out at Wordle.com!

No live rodents please

Feel free to help Grace feed smarties and kool aid to her custom made hamster. What genetics can do these days! Grace's fave colors these days are obviously green and purple. Have fun!

Spooky Shakespeare

Remember the witch's chant from Macbeth? Double, double, toil and trouble? It sounds like both second graders and strangers on the street can't help to read this chant without getting into it!



Great Halloween entertainment!