Ramblings

Here's a random smash of pictures.

I forgot how much work a newborn is.  And I don't even have a hard newborn.  Alex likes to eat every couple hours still and he spits up more than any of my other children did so he's getting new clothes a few times a day.  And he's almost past that sleep on your shoulder stage which I guess is good but it's a little sad knowing his cuddly days are shortening.  He almost always has to be swaddled and laid down to sleep and hope that works.  But he does sleep about 8 hours, give or take a couple.

Some days are so hectic I don't even have a chance to switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer.  As soon as I leave my kids' presence, they come find me to tell me this or that or to tell on someone else.  Sometimes a little alone time would be nice.

I am the new cubmaster for the ward.  I know nothing about cub scouts.  It's going to be really fun once I get the hang of things but I'm still in the very steep learning curve part.  Tomorrow is our first pack meeting and I get to make up weird applauses and tell funny jokes.  I hope it's fun.  I feel pretty lost so I hope I don't overwhelm the den leaders with questions.  And then there's not a lot of organization so I need to revamp a few things and I feel the weight of responsibility on my shoulders.  It's busy.

I have physical therapy appointments often.  Turns out I have 35-40% bone loss and arthritis in my jaw.  (It's dislocated on the right and for formally, anteriorly displaced and non reducing) I really hoped I was avoiding that by wearing the splint in my mouth.  Now I have all these vitamins to take to keep my joints lubricated.  And the PT said my muscles are working against themselves.  My tongue and throat are working against my neck muscles.  So tight he said they were like cement.  And my throat is tightening.  Nice.  One big cyclical process.  So he's going to try to retrain my brain.  And stretch open my jaw.  Tomorrow I go to "jaw school".

And my SI joint is doing so well that I'm not having to go to PT unless I feel it go off and I can't fix it.  I'm not strong enough to run cause last time I tried, I threw it off.  But it's feels so great not to have pain shooting down my legs and my foot go numb.  However, my back takes awhile to warm up and get going every morning.  That sounds like arthritis to me and with the bone loss in my jaw, it probably is.  I go in in a few weeks to find out what I can do so that I'm still functioning when I'm 60.  And to make sure that my joints have fallen apart from the relaxin from pregnancy and not something else.

I'm concerned about Jacob's teacher.  I feel like he's below where he should be (and he is according to my teacher family members) so I contemplate homeschooling almost every day.  There are such good things about homeschooling.  But there are some other things that schools offer that homeschooling doesn't.

Adam's commuter (our beloved minivan Roxanne) still has her check engine light on and she was supposed to be registered in November.  That's not a big deal, right?  The light always turns on around October, right in time for registration but we've always been able to get it off again before the end of November.  Guess we'll ramp up the prayers on that one and take Roxanne on some long trips to get her warmed up.  Then maybe it will go off.

It's snowing outside.  I would much rather be warm than cold.  And playing outside.  I feel like snow traps me inside.  I know it doesn't have to be like that and I do try to send the kids out as much as possible but it sure makes it harder.

But I can do hard things.  In fact, I like to do hard things.  And I'm happy.