A Serious Pain in My ...

Back. Sunday at lunch, I bent down to wipe Camryn's face off. I started to stand up and WHAM! I had this serious pain in my back. Jason literally had to pick me up off the floor. I struggled through the rest of the day walking very carefully but by 1:30 am Monday morning I was up crying for the rest of the night because I was in such horrible pain. One trip to the doctor later, we found out I have torn a muscle in my back. (We also found out from the xray that I have a congenital abnormality - an extra vertebrae in my spine. It's not causing my pain so it's just another thing to add that is weird about me!!) So, I've started my Christmas break early, as the doctor advised me not to go back to school for the last three days this week and am on some serious meds - a painkiller, muscle relaxer, and steroid. I am slowly but surely getting better and had more range of motion today but am definitely still in pain. I told Jason labor was less pain than this. Seriously, I didn't even cry during labor.

The hardest part of all of this back stuff is that Camryn doesn't understand why I can't hold her. I couldn't pick her up right now if I tried. She knows Mommy's back hurts but just doesn't understand why I'm not able to do everything I used to do. Additionally, she got sent home from daycare yesterday with a virus, so Daddy is having to pull double duty caring for a sick baby and a sick wife.

I also passed by my Christmas tree today and was bummed to see the whole top half of the lights on the tree were out. We'll leave to start traveling in a few days, and Christmas is only a week away, so I think I'm just going to leave it. It's too much of a hassle to try and dodge all the ornaments and pull the strand halfway off the tree just to find the burnt out light. Plus, I took pictures of our tree a few days ago when all the lights were working, so it's not a big deal. Any pictures at Christmas will be taken from the floor, so it won't show up in the Christmas Day pics.

One last thing - I am going to brag on Camryn's sweetest little friend Alyssa. She said the cutest thing to her mommy the other day. Kelli was bathing her, and Alyssa pretended she was swimming in the bathtub. Kelli asked Alyssa if she was going to swim in the pool this summer and be a big girl and not be afraid. Alyssa said, "No, Mommy. I won't be afraid. The angel said, 'Do not be afraid!'" How sweet was that?