Thursday, February 19, 2009

Just Because

Oh no! She caught me...

Mom, I can do it myself!

See?

Yawn...time for a nap.

and because Mom couldn't resist....the "look"


Tuesday, February 17, 2009

What a Birthday

This has been. I've spent most of it on the couch, curled under a blanket, heat patch on my back, desperately trying to find a position that does NOT cause excruciating pain to shoot through my back and legs, and playing Fallout3. A few trips upstairs to tend to George (who, unfortunately, has been playing or sleeping in his crib ALL day), and that's it.

It hurts to walk, it hurts to breathe, it hurts to sit, it hurts to stand up, it hurts to bend over. It hurts even more to walk up the stairs or pick up George. The Dr. at CareNow (that I spent 3 hours at on Valentine's Day, so romantic, huh?) said I don't have kidney stones. That's the good news.

Bad news? She thinks it's just a strained muscle.

I have had strained muscles before. It didn't hurt like this.

The painkiller, Tramadol, she gave me (along with the muscle relaxer) knocks me out for a good 5 hours. However, Sean went into work today so I am home alone with George. I would rather put up with the pain than be unconscious if he happened to get hurt or hungry. Driving is also a no-no. If I were to have one of those muscle spasms while I was driving (especially since now it's starting to creep down my right leg), I could possible get into a wreck. So here I sit, too tired to go back downstairs, trying to decide whether or not to get dressed (yes, at almost 6pm), again trying to find a sitting position that doesn't induce a spasm.

When I blow out my candles, I'mma wish for a new back.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Rock-A-Bye Baby


There is not much that tops rocking George to sleep. The books say that rocking your baby to sleep every night is a bad habit and they become accustomed to it. If you know me, you know I am not a big fan of the books.

No matter how hectic the day or how frustrating his temper tantrums were, when I hear the not so little snores coming from the creature in my arms I am at peace. His closed eyes and pursed lips are so kissable that I must restrain myself for fear of waking him up. Then I kiss his forehead anyway.

A soft grunt and he snuggles against me, still snoring.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Patience is a Virtue

I was all set to write an inflammatory post about my frustrating experience at the post office today, but I had to give George his bottle and rock him to sleep first. By the time I laid him down I remembered the conversation in prayer that I had with God last night.

After participating in all sorts of interweb activities that ended around 12:30, I went to bed frustrated and agitated about all sorts of things. Finances, expensive and time-consuming home improvement, worries about George being sick all weighed heavily on my mind while I coughed like crazy from the cold that has been bugging me all week. I realized that I had been lax in my prayers lately and had begun to rely on myself more than God.

Without going into the specifics of my worries (this blog isn't exactly a confessional booth), I began pouring my heart out in prayer. I whispered to God of the sins I had committed, of the opportunities for prayer I had passed up in the last few weeks, and then I thought one last time of all the bills and paperwork that needed tending. In that moment, I realized that none of it was important enough for me to stress out about.

"Lord," I said, "I don't have the strength to worry about these things. I am too weak to be burdened by this stress, and with You, I know I don't have to be burdened so. Here You go. Take my stress, take my worries, take it away from me, I give it to You. I will no longer worry about such trivial matters. I will wake up tomorrow morning refreshed by Your grace and I will deal with what needs to be dealt with but I will not worry over it."

My days have been centered around me (or George) lately, and it has gotten me nowhere. It dawned on me during that prayerful conversation that I needed to center my days around God. If I make Him the center, things will fall into place. All of a sudden my entire body relaxed and I was barely able to eke out an "Amen" and sign of the cross before drifting off to sleep.

I woke up this morning before Sean's alarm went off and was a little shocked to realize I wasn't coughing, and I had slept through the night. The next thing I noticed was that there was no coughing coming from George's room as there had been the last few mornings. So far today I have taken out the trash, run errands, paid bills, straightened out some bills that needed straightening, and I'm about to put a loaf of pear-raisin bread in the oven all on top of taking care of George. We still have a bit of our coughs lingering but neither of us are congested any more and I haven't been hacking up green and brown phlegm.

What a blessing the Lord has given me, a fresh chance to do things right. Some might argue that George and I were going to be getting better anyway since the sickness had run its course. If you want to believe that, go ahead. But I know that the peace I felt last night and throughout today (except for the short time this afternoon when I began to give in to the temptation of anger) comes from the Lord.

Besides, I made bread today, that has to be a miracle, right?

May the peace of the Lord be always with you.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

He can STAND!

My sweet little Georgie stood yesterday, all by himself. The look on his face was priceless, it was complete shock and surprise. I wish I had a camera on hand to capture the complete WTF? moment. I am certain that within a week George will be walking. And then I'll never catch up with him. At least he can't crawl out of his crib yet, whew. Poor thing is sick, too. He has this phlegmy cough that breaks my heart to hear.

In other news, the kitchen is half done, the track lighting is up and the walls are orange. Yes, orange. It looks much better than the barf-green that was there before. Now my kitchen walls look like a pumpkin.
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