Mom turns 37!

March 6th - I turned 37!

I loved the cards I got this year!

Bill was lucky and got out of work just in time to bake me a cake before we left for dinner. 

My ideal dinner - Margarita and Sushi! Not a normal combo

I am so loved and thankful for these dear people. 

Beginning of May

May Day! Ellie brought me flowers! So sweet. I love this little combo she came up with! 

we are loving the new swing in the backyard -- but of course the girls find a way to get higher. 

the girls bringing a "box car" they made with a roll of duck tape and little pieces of card board boxes. this was just for fun.

hair all curled for the spring concert! 

Wonderful Mother's Day presentation at School for 1st grade. 

me and ellie. for some reason I didn't get a lot of Claire pictures! 

Claire read her note to me in front of her class. So thankful for these two girls. 

Ellie's writing! 

Claire's cursive! 

This picture Bill snapped when the girls were downstairs watching Charlie play his wii. It is so amazing to see the "mirror". 

 E&C doing what they do best - coloring and creating side by side. They will spend hours side by side painting or crafting. 

On Mother's Day we went to Riverside State Park with our mountain bikes. It was our first adventure and we had to backtrack, but enjoyed the ride and definitely earned our dinner at Benniditos. 

Claire and Charlie waiting with me for Ellie and  Bill. 

love that this park is just above downtown! 

so fun to learn a new skill with these kids.Mountain Biking will be lots of fun for years to come! 

 

crossing the swing bridge! 

the roaring river! 

Charlie and Brendan on a fieldtrip. 

Claire's hairdo this morning - she did it on the way to school. 

once a goofer - always a goofer. 

more May adventures to come! 

Random happenings - herniated disc and more

the start of spring flowers means the girls are bringing me in beautiful bouquets daily. I love them -- my landscaping suffers. worth it! 

after fixing my most hated deck - I decided a sectional would be a great addition. It has been awesome! 

we are loving our improved deck space!

about 2 years ago I had a minor injury to my back. I of course - thought it WASN'T a DISC!! I told this to everyone. All the DRs I know said it was a disc and my PT, chiro and workout friends said it was a tight periformis. I was able to manage it with various therapies for about 2 years (Bill referred to this management as "my team"). The last weekend of ski season my pain was unbearable. I would spend much of the day with my leg hanging off a table as I was trying to aleviate the throbbing and muscle spasms. Monday after our last weekend at the mountain my right toe/foot/calf went numb. Bill threw his hands up and said you HAVE TO GO SEE A SPINE SPECIALIST AND GET AN MRI. So thankfully, I was able to get in to see a highly recommended doc on Thursday. This is when being in the inside in Medicine is such a blessing. Bill sent an email - that got forwarded and we were emailing back and forth with Dr. Powers. He saw me and I got an MRI that afternoon (again - WARP speed!). I got the results I didn't want to get, but suspected. Large herniation at L5-S1. I had foot drop in my right foot, but my doctor was willing to give me a few weeks and if my weakness didn't get worse then I could see if my body would reabsorb the herniation and my strength would return. So that is what I opted to do. It was very slow and painful those first weeks, but I was able to continue to bike and stairmaster - things I love so that was great. I thankfully didn't have debilitating pain like many the Dr sees with my MRI results. I am now writing this on May 16th - about 5 weeks out from my MRI and I feel awesome. I am seeing a strain/counterstrain PT which has been a huge help and trying my best to be patient and slow. 

this is the photos I would have bill take nightly to measure how my foot drop was doing. at this point my foot had almost come back (strength is still lacking), but my toes can't pick up like my other ones.