Happy New Year!

Well, after much deliberation, I've decided not to go backwards and catch-up on the myriads of missed blogging opportunities I've had over the past couple of months. I know, I know, some wonderful things have happened - Thanksgiving and Christmas to mention the two biggest - but I suppose I never really have loved to blog about things that didn't make me think, or laugh ... and, if we're being honest with each other here, I haven't thought or laughed much recently - it's all just been kind of a blur. :)

For Christmas, I'll just say, that it was wonderful. There were so many unexpected pleasures of having our very own Christmas. Of course we missed our families, but there was a quiet sweetness to watching our kids open their presents on Christmas morning and sharing the 'secret behind the magic' with no one but my husband. And, it was pretty funny acting out the nativity scene on Christmas Eve with no one else to be the donkey but Brian. :)
So, with that much of a catch-up, we'll push forward and enjoy the brand-new year!

Do you think it's bad that I probably won't make it much past 10:30 tonight? I love, love, love holidays - I love any excuse to turn an ordinary day into something extraordinary. So, when I woke up this morning and felt a little overwhelmed at the thought of making today a holiday (complete with games and ringing in the new year with my kids at around 8:00pm), I wasn't quite sure how to handle it. This resulted in a small epiphany: Just because it's New Years Eve doesn't mean I HAVE to celebrate it! My husband is not home, my kids do not care...and likely would not even remember it even if I do put a lot of thought and energy into it...so, really, it would all be for me. And, if it's stressing me out, then WHY do it?! Such a liberating thought!

So, instead of spicing up the day with a lot of extra activities and fun food, I started it out by finishing up my laundry. It felt WONDERFUL to put clean, folded clothes into drawers and know that I had no more laundry to take care of for at least 4 or 5 days! That hasn't happened for a while. :) Then, I took the kids to the museum, ran a bunch of errands all over town, organized my thoughts and goals, tidyed up for a quick sweep with the vacuum, vomitted, realized that I was pushing it a little too far to try to vacuum after my 'busy' morning, took my kids to Chick-Fil-A for an AWESOME New Years Eve dinner, put the kids to bed, soaked in a nice hot tub (and wrapped up in one of our nice, extra soft and fluffy 'special occasion' towels), and am now relaxing with my computer on my lap and Shrek 2 playing in the background. Pretty sweet New Years Eve, right!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Missing me yet?

Whew! Well, I'm sure you've all been extremely sad and crushed as I've been so infrequent in my postings recently. I know you're going through withdrawals, because I know how much your happiness hinges on reading about my thoughts. Or, wait...maybe you don't really care. Either way, I do have a rather exciting excuse. Let me share with you a little bit about what my life has been like over the last couple of months:

*This porcelain fixture has gotten to know my face a little too well.

*I've been carrying a stash of these around in my purse, as well as in both bathrooms.

*I am generally NOT much of a nap-taker. If I lay in bed in the middle of the day, my mind starts screaming about all of the other things I should be doing with that precious, quiet time. However, for the past couple of months this beautiful piece of furniture no longer screams "TIME WASTER", but invitingly sings lullabies all day long until I finally succumb to it's gentle promptings and fall into a deep, dreamful sleep in the middle of the day. In fact, all of my free time is spent in it's warm embrace. (Which does not bode well for blogging.)

*I wake up from my dreams feeling like my life has changed in some drastic, yet nonsensical way.

*I can't eat sugar. Such a horrible side effect to have at this time of year. Logically, I know that the beautiful pies, and delicious chocolates, and plates and plates of goodies taste absolutely divine! Yet, my stomach seems to churn at the very though of ingesting...even smelling...the goods. Horrible, horrible.

*My work-out routine went from running 3-4 miles a day, to running for 2 minutes and walking for another 20, to nothing at all. Even walking down the hall gets me all out of breath, nauseous and light-headed.

*It takes me at least 30 minutes to shower. (Wash my hair, sit and rest for a minute, condition my hair, sit and rest for a minute, etc...)

*One of our barstools has a permanent place in my bathroom. This way, I can sit while doing my hair and makeup. (all 5 minutes of it)

*My house looks like a tornado went through it - and I don't even care! This is wonderful to me...the fact that I don't care about it. Generally, my personality would be stressed beyond belief if my house was in the state it's in right now...but, I consider myself accomplished if I can get out of bed and get McKenzie to school with her hair done. Cleaning is not on my list of to-dos at the moment.

*My garbage bin went for FOUR weeks without being taken out on garbage day! Thankfully, we don't really produce that much garbage, so it all fit in the trash bin nicely without stinking up my house...but the recycling bin was overflowing and spilling into the road on that fourth week!

*I had to actually alter my budget to fit in my disgustingly delicious cravings. I don't want sweets, but give me a burger or some fried chicken and I'm in heaven! Thankfully gas prices have dropped so much that I actually have a little extra money to play with!

*I spend a little more time looking at the world through a teary mist - provoked by all sorts of silly things: commercials, cute kid phrases, disobedience from my kids, a husband running late, fighting kids, a nice phone call, memories, Christmas, large messes that I have to clean, etc...etc...etc...

*One of my latest trips to Costco yielded only these two items. You have to understand that I very rarely go to Costco for just a few things - in fact, I think I could probably count the number of times I've spent fewer than $80 on one hand!

*Whenever I feel a sneeze coming on, I have to brace myself lest the tendons in my stomach feel like they're being ripped from one end to the other. I guess on the fourth pregnancy, my body doesn't have much 'tightness' left to it. *sigh*

So, while I haven't been blogging much lately, rest assured that I haven't forgotten you. There have just been...other things...that have been taking my time. :) But, I've made it though my first trimester now, and I'm starting to feel MUCH better - so, hopefully, we'll be back to our regular routine in no time!

WARNING: Side effects may include BBS

Do you ever look at something about yourself and think, "Hmmm...I wonder if that's normal..." Unfortunately, that happens quite frequently with me. When Brian and I were dating, he made fun of many of my 'anatomical wonders' (as he called them). The funny bones sticking out of my feet and wrists, my crooked middle finger, my ever-dilated pupils, my pinky that won't straighten, my curled toes. The funny, tickly feeling I get in the back of my throat when I get licked by a cat, or eat a lot of cheese, or get my bangs cut (and I'm STILL trying to figure out what those three things have in common). The fact that the common 'achy flu feeling' is concentrated in my buttock when I'm sick, or how I feel an uncomfortable 'prick' in my salavary glands under the back of my tongue when I'm about to vomit.

There are some other less bloggable anomolies which I will keep to myself - but I have recently found a new one...or, rather, my doctor has recently found a new one: I have a lazy butt. A lazy butt, I tell you! Allow me to explain:

Ever since I was about sixteen-years old, I've had a slight discomfort in my lower back that comes and goes, and has shown itself to be uncomfortably aggravated by pregnancies - actually rendering me immobile for times with each child. I figured it was just something I'd have to fight through with each pregnancy, so I was quite scared and frustrated when the pain started coming back in July, and got increasingly worse so that by October I tweaked it a little and - BAM - it put me flat on my back for two days. And WITHOUT the help of pregnancy. Poor Brian had to take those days off of work because I seriously could not move - he had to help me do everything (going to the bathroom included), and I realized that I had to do something about this.

So - to the chiropractor I went! He did a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, muttering "hmmm...." and "okay...." and "so....." to himself the whole time, and saying, "lay like this..." and "bend like that..." and "point your toes up here..." to me. At one point, he had me laying face down and had me lift my leg straight up a couple of inches off the table. "AHHHH!!!" he exclaimed. "That's it!"

"Did you find something" I muttered intelligently into the cushion I was face-planted into.
"Yes," he replied. "I want you to keep your leg lifted, and poke your hamstring with your finger." I did so - it was flexed and hard. "Now, take your finger and feel your lower back." I did so - it was flexed and hard. "That is not supposed to be so hard," he explained. "Now, poke your butt." I did so - oh my.

Do I even want to admit how perfectly it jiggled - just like a bowl of freshly scooped jello?

"THAT," he said, "is supposed to be hard."
"Oh...oh, dear," was the only worthwile thing I could think of to say as I felt my face begin to flush with a little embarrassment. After all, I'm not quite used to talking about my butt with some man I hardly know! :) He had me sit up and went on to explain that my pelvis is tilted at an odd angle, making it less convienient for my body to use my butt muscles and that, over the years, my body has compensated by using the muscles in my lower back for all those motions that a butt muscle would generally perform. This, of course, has put extra strain on my lower back that it coudln't handle.

Solution: Butt exercises! While the chiropractor has been working to straighten my pelivis out a little more, I have been in charge of building butt muscle. But, you see, there's a problem with that. I'm developing BBS (big butt syndrome). Oh, the muscle is coming, and the pain is decreasing drastically, but...*whisper* the jello is not leaving. No, The muscle is simply pushing the jello farther and farther away from the center of my body - and - well - I now have BBS.

I've decided that I have to be okay with this, however. After all, it does give me something else to add to my 'anatomical wonders' list. :) And, oh yeah, I can walk again.