Scariest Day of My Life

That was yesterday - the scariest day of my life. Why, you might ask? Because I had to drive this:

That would be my mother's car. She is down visiting to help out with the girls while Jerry's away (and thank goodness, cause I think they are figuring out finally that Mommy can't possibly chase after them). I had to stay at work late yesterday because of some meetings, which meant she would need to pick up the girls. She already had one car seat in the back of that beast, and we, being apparently as ridiculous as we are, thought we could shove another car seat in the back of the Mustang.

It didn't work.

I probably didn't even need to tell you that, huh?

I am sure it was quite the sight to see my mother and I taking turns at trying to wrestle another Britax into the back of that car. After about 15 minutes of sweating and wrestling, we gave up and came to the conclusion that I would just drive her car to work and she could use the Expo. I have always been terrified of driving my mother's cars. She doesn't get new ones very often....as in the last car she had she drove for 20 years and is still in the garage at home (I think it was 20 years - correct me if I am wrong Mom!). She takes EXCELLENT care of her cars, so that she can drive the wheels off of them. And besides that - this friggin' car is a beast. I mean, you crank it up and everyone within a 5 mile radius knows it. And it has a lot of get up and go, obviously. I was scared to death I was going to have an accident or someone was going to ram into me. Before I left she said "why are you freaking out? It's just a car!" Um, okay :) I didn't want to make that phone call to say guess what? Just wrapped your car around a tree!!

It's been awhile since I called or texted my mother to let her know whenever I arrived at my destination, but I did that yesterday. "Made it to doc - didn't bend your car!" "Made it to work - didn't bend your car!" "On my way home now - hopefully won't bend your car!"

I have to admit - while I felt like I was riding about 2 inches off the road, it was quite fun to drive something other than the Mommy SUV for a change. But I am also quite glad to have my giant SUV back today so I can see everything going on around me!

A Favorite Hangout

The girls and I were on our own tonight while Daddy is hanging out for work in San Diego (rough life, huh?). I was chatting with a friend today and she said she was taking her and her sister's kiddos to Island Playground and asked if we wanted to go. I initially told her no since I can't really chase the girls around (and by girls, I mean Anna, cause she is all. over. the. place), but she offered to keep them wrangled. So I stopped by Starbucks, got us some java chip fraps as a thank you for keeping my kids in line, and the girls some milk, and off we went. Carrie's been many times, but this was really Anna's first time where she knew what to do and could play in all of the bounce houses. I think Anna spent the first 10 minutes just squealing at the top of her lungs checking everything out. She had a great time playing with all the other kids. It was so nice because it was practically empty. Most of the times we go it's either a Saturday, raining, cold, or some other variable that means every other child in HHI and Bluffton are there. Literally there were only our 7 munchkins and two other kids. It was great to just get out and hang out with a good friend I haven't seen in awhile and let the girls burn off some toddler energy. And the fact that I captured this little picture definitely topped off the trip:

Thanks Ms. Anna (not to be confused with my little Anna!) for helping wrangle my kids and getting me out of the house!!

Mommy Guilt

Um, did someone actually provide funding for a study like this??

Cause I'm pretty sure this is a little common sense...but then again, common sense ain't common.

Like a different kid

Last night Carrie spent the night with Whizzy & Pop Pop, so it was just me, Jerry & Anna. Anna is like a totally different child when Carrie isn't around. I guess maybe it's because she's not having to compete for attention with Carrie, who knows? She was so lovey-dovey, handing out hugs and kisses to us both, and just not acting like a 19 month old typically acts.

I obviously love both of my children very much, but it is nice to revert back to only having "one" kid for a night!

Well that's confusing

So I'm on my second physical therapy appointment. They are going well so far - a few exercises for me to do, but the best is this treatment called ionotophoresis (I think that's how you spell it, but then again I'm not an MD). It is basically where they hook you up to what looks like a car's jumper cables to more effectively deliver medicine to the affected area. This works well for me since, given my Crohn's, anti-inflammatories and I don't get along very well. It feels really weird since they can amp up the juice on it and you start to feel little tingles where it's connected. Here's a picture of it (no comments about my bird legs):

But here's the confusing part - everyone treating me seems to have differing opinions on what the hell is wrong with me. The orthopedist says yes, I definitely have stress fractures on the tops of my tibias. The physical therapist says nah, it's more your bursitis that's bothering you, so those crutches probably aren't as necessary as you think. Then there's the PT Assistant who jumped on me today because I was hobbling around the PT office without my crutches, telling me I shouldn't be putting weight on my knees unless I'm doing the prescribed exercises. Orthopedist says my running days are over; therapist says I'll definitely be able to run again, but it will just be about 6 months before I can even think about starting again.

So what's a girl to do? I'd of course love to believe I'll be able to run again, but somehow I don't think that's probably my best move. Maybe I can pick up cycling after this is all said and done and eventually do some of those long cycling events (Alston, you'll have to give me pointers!). Right now I think I'll just rest the ol' legs as I've been instructed and not make anything worse! Although this whole "rest" thing? WAY overrated.

Thank Goodness for Technology

Cause if not for it, I'd probably just have to stay at home for the next couple of months and burn through all of my sick/vacation time and then just not get paid! My boss has been generous enough to let me work from home part-time while my knees are healing. For the next 2-3 weeks I'm going to work at home M/W/F and be in the office T/Th. After that I'll re-evaluate and perhaps go to 2 days at home a week for the remainder of the three months it's supposed to take to heal. Keeping my legs propped up really does make a huge difference.

All this laying around starts to work on my head, though. I hate not feeling like I am contributing. Chasing after the girls is next to impossible, and Anna's not really feeling like listening to me when I ask her to stop running away from me these days :) Carrie is being incredibly cute; every day when I pick her up she asks me "Mommy are your legs still hurt?" and she'll sit beside me on the couch and rub my knees to make them feel better.

Oh yeah, and I start PT on Wednesday. I have a feeling that should be interesting!

On the flip side....

I did actually have a very encouraging visit to another kind of doctor on Monday morning - the allergist. I've had allergy problems all my life (gee....what sort of health problems have I NOT had would probably be a shorter list. Sorry, just a little pity party I'm having today). I actually had sinus surgery a number of years ago which really helped significantly cut down on the number of sinus infections I've had, which has been a blessing. But from what I remember I don't think I've ever visited an allergist for a true testing of just what triggers me and what we can do to fix it.

So off I went Monday morning, hobbling along (and managing to take both sets of keys with me, leaving Jerry stuck at home with the girls - another long story). By the time I left there an hour and a half later, I had already gotten the whole skin test thing done on my back where they roll those little needles along your back which have small doses of allergens in them. I now know exactly why they put it on your back - because if something does trigger you, you want to scratch profusely. Anyways, as it turns out I am allergic to dust (aren't we all), several different types of tree pollens and some other random weeds. Oddly enough, cat did not show a reaction and I've always thought I was allergic to cats (maybe there's just lots of dust in cat people's homes? who knows?) Based on the results I go back in two weeks to get a more in-depth skin test done, but the doc thinks I'm probably a good candidate for allergy shots.

However, he did give me a shot on Monday, and I swear to you - I have not sneezed once since then. And let me tell you, if you step outside here in the lowcountry, you can see the pollen swirling around in the air. Everything is coated in that nasty yellow stuff, and normally I'd be a giant sneezing mess. But nothing!!! Hopefully I'm on the right track to being able to not worry about carrying around a big ol' box of tissues with me everywhere I go.

I just hope if he does decide I should do allergy shots that it's something I can give myself. Unfortunately I'm pretty adept at giving myself shots, so I don't really want to waste time driving back and forth to Savannah if I can help it!