Monday, December 29, 2008

It's Going Around....

Such a fitting title for so many reasons.

Guess what?! I wasn't being a hypochondriac! No really, I had Fifth's Disease. Never heard of it? Well neither had my mom so I've been getting lots of advice from her not to mention it to people cause "it sounds just awful". So supportive, don't you think? We got a notice home from BigSpeak's school about a day before vacation started. Happy Holidays! At that time, LittleSpeak had come down with it and I'd (self-)diagnosed that this is what her and I had, had already. Thank you Dr. Google. It's pretty miserable in general, but in adults you get some added fun; joint pain for up to a month! Not to be left out, BigSpeak showed up w/the rash on December 23. So both girls and I have been run down during most of this month. (That picture w/Santa, probably at the height of our contagiousness, don't say we never gave you anything Santa!) We ended up bowing out of our Christmas Eve dinner and staying home to put the girls to bed early and eat leftovers. The house of Speak knows how to party, let me tell you.

The family illness coupled w/the busyness of the season along w/trying to get my family/house ready for my surgery equals "not much posting," you may have noticed. On the other hand, I may need to join a self-help group for my Facebook addiction. I don't actually spend as much time as it might seem on it. I leave it open all day & periodically check it/update my status while I'm in the kitchen doing other things, like cooking breakfast, etc... My extended family thinks I sit waiting for people to update their status though, so I felt the need to clarify. I feel better now, thanks. ;-)

In spite of all of this, we did manage to get in quite a bit of traditional holiday fare; caroling w/BS's girl scout troop, seeing the Nutcracker ballet, holiday parties, driving around to check out over-the-top Christmas lights, etc... but it's been hectic to say the least.

I have so many good stories from this month, I'm hopeful that during my convalesce I'll be coherent enough to share them. Go read Mike and Mir, their stories today are typical of the type I have to share with you. LittleSpeak has been up to her usual tricks and is both trying and adorable at the same time. It's amazing to me how much I can love that little bundle of energy and be just enraged by her at the same time. She is definitely the daughter my mother wished on me as a teenager: "I hope you have a daughter exactly like you!" BigSpeak has had some of her own trying moments this month as we try to work out her homework vs. play/T.V. schedule. Being a big kid is not easy. That's not to say that this month hasn't been fun, cause it has. The girls have been so much fun; they were both really into Christmas this year & that's been a treat. Sometimes I just can't get enough of them you know.

I have my surgery (microdiscectomy) on 12/30. Happy New Year! I'm supposed to have a 6 week recovery; 2 weeks of which will pretty much be flat on my back (in bed). My doctor has told me I can't really screw it up during recovery, but I certainly can prolong the recovery time. I'm not sure if the end of six week is when I can start to act like a normal person again (i.e.--walk BS the 2 blocks to school again) or if I should be back up normal by then (able to walk for 30+ minutes if I wanted to). I'm under the impression it's more the first choice, but I'll have to check on that. Hopefully, I'll be posting much more very soon, since I'm going to find myself quite stationary w/only my laptop to play with. This is most likely my last post of the year, so

Happy New Year!!!

Talk to you Next year! (Hee, yes I'm like 9 or something.)

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

While I was sick....

We did manage this during one of the hours I was feeling slightly ok last week:

Sunday, December 14, 2008

It's come to this....one post a week

I've got a few free, coherent moments here while DaddySpeak is bathing the girls, so lets see what I can get done.

I've spent the majority of the first week of being 40 in bed (it's not starting out well). I came down w/a flu I guess. No fever and my stomach was fine, but I had chills and aches like I never knew was possible. I'd have them for 24 hours and then feel better for 24 and be back at it again. There was also a 36 hour period which included a particularly bad migraine, just to mix it up a little. My mom was suggesting the my Fibro was back in full swing, which could be the case, but I'm refusing to accept that, and sticking w/the flu story. This afternoon I'm feel so much better that I'm believing my version.

In the interim;
LittleSpeak's school has "drop-in" which isn't cheap, but when you need it, like I did this week, it is the most rock'n invention evah! All praise the daycare Gods now please.

One thing about being sick, you stop worrying about all the things you need to get done and just focus on making it to the next hour. I had a fun morning w/LittleSpeak when I laid on a mattress on her floor (she'd fallen out of bed the night before) while she played "mommy" w/her babydoll. She rocked her, and changed diapers, and told me to be quiet because the baby was sleeping. It was pretty relaxing & very fun to just "be" with her for a change.

I "forgot" to pick up BigSpeak from school one day this week. Actually, it was the day of the migraine & I'd called neighbors for her to walk to school with in the AM. They offered to walk her home after, but I told them I'd call cause I felt like I might be getting better. (HA!) So I set an alarm & crashed on the couch. When the alarm woke me I was worse, so I thought, "I'd better call to have M walk BS home." Next thing I knew the phone was ringing w/the room mom calling me. I was in the middle of a dream in which I was calling M to walk BS home, so I was super confused. M was there and the room mom was like "no problem", but by the time M got to my house I realized what was going on and was so embarressed! I'm pretty sure my "death warmed over" appreance and the fact that I couldn't look in the direction of the door "bright light! bright light!" made her realize I was, in fact, in need of medical attention.

Friday, December 05, 2008

FORTY, it's the new 30

Yup, today's the day. I'm officially in my mid-life. I think I'm advanced, since I've seemed to be in crisis for years now. ;-)

I'm not really freaked out by it, but it does seem weird. I don't feel 40. Mostly, I feel tired, but that's not due to my age so much. (It might have something to do with the fact that I'm up past 1 AM blogging. You think?)

I do remember being a teenager and thinking, OMG! Forty is OLD! Cause it was, you know. But these baby boomers, with their refusing to grow old gracefully are just redefining what's "appropriate" at what age and it's different now. I was 19 when my mom turned 40. Hah! I have a 5 & 2 YO. She was "finishing up" and I'm just getting started. In a lot of ways I relate much more with that 21YO my mom was than her 40YO self. In a lot of ways, I can't relate to her at all, but that's another post.

So, what am I doing on the first day of my midlife??? Yeah, I'm sitting at home waiting for the washer repair guy to show up. Yeah, I'm living it up! No slowing down for me.

Ok, we are going out on Saturday night (folks are keeping the girls overnight) . I'm sure there will be some pix to follow.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Get Down with the Sickness

Yeah, so this is how my life works; two steps backward, one step forward. But hey, it was only one step back overall, right?

The in laws left on Monday morning.
BigSpeak barfed her guts out Sunday about 1 AM.
Oh, and my washing machine has been broken since Friday before last (every time they come to visit we have an appliance casualty, but that's fodder for another post,) it'll be fixed until next Friday. Yes, that's two weeks without one.

So Sunday night (Monday morning) at 1 AM I was bathing a crying child, stripping a bed & remaking it, scrubbing sheets, night clothes, pillows, etc...in a sink, spot scrubing rugs and then cleaning the bathroom. My idea of a good time, don't you think?

That's the two steps back part.

On the bright side (I guess you could call it that), the second time she got sick she was in the bathroom & she did make it into the toilet. And, while the washer is broken, my MIL insisted on doing 10 loads of laundry at the laundermat before she left. Also, we have home warrentry coverage on the washer. Instead of costing $400-500 it's costing $55.

That would be that one step forward.