Worth His Weight in Gold

Pic taken by Becca Carter 5/10

I did something really dumb this weekend.  I was sitting on my bedroom floor talking on the phone to my sister.  Shouldn't cause a problem, right?  Wrong!  For some reason, when I went to stand up, I felt searing pain in the left side of my low back.  I couldn't lift my left leg and could barely walk.  (Am I really getting that old?)

It's a good thing I know a chiropractor.  We took a little trip down to the office after nap time.  Scott had to carry me into the office because it would've taken me a good 20 minutes to walk down the hall.  After an adjustment, fast stretch massage, TENS, and a hot pack, I felt a little better.  I was able to actually walk back to the car.  Scott took over most of the nightly responsibilities that evening as I hobbled around and tried to help.  Amazingly, as the night progressed, my pain started to abate and walking became easier.  By morning I was 100% back to myself.  

This weekend reaffirmed to me the importance of Scott's occupation.  I can't not walk.  I have a family to take care of.  I would've paid about anything to be fixed.  Luckily I only had to pay in kisses.  But, that husband of mine is certainly worth his weight in gold.  

We Have Mobility!

After a while of zero interest on Benson's part, he finally rolled over for the first time this morning!

2012

I added to my cache of gratitude as I went to the local grocery store BY MYSELF (something in and of itself to be grateful for) on New Year's Eve.  As I drove through our neighborhood I took particular notice of all of the small, old homes that have fallen into disrepair.  At the store I was able to buy what I needed.  On the way home I noticed two women walking home with their arms full of grocery bags.  It was an icy, cold day, so they probably weren't just trying to get some fresh air.  I have so much.  While at times I may feel like I'm in the throws of poverty, I most certainly am not.  I have a beautiful home to live in.  I have a car to drive.  We have good food to eat.  I have a lovely family that I adore.

We enjoyed a night at home on New Year's Eve.  We watched some of the Dick Clark New Year's show.  We had the in-laws over for snacks, games, and old family videos of Scott learning how to walk (he had adorable curly hair - can one of my children inherit that please?) and his siblings playing on the farm.  At one point that evening I was sitting on the floor of Benson's room changing his diaper and watching him kick and laugh.  I had the distinct thought, "There is nowhere I would rather be tonight".  And that's the truth.

This New Year has begun with a burst of energy and motivation.  Closets and drawers have been cleaned and organized.  I did all of our laundry in ONE day on Tuesday.  Our stack of "to do" papers have been taken care of.  Our budget has been set.  The Christmas decorations have been stored and the house looks bright and fresh.  I'm anxious to start some decorating projects.  I may even find the motivation to get some sort of exercise.  I have an inkling of a desire to start up again, which is more than I can say for the last 15 months.

This New Year has already brought joy to my life.  I feel joy as I look back at last year and all that happened.  We started a chiropractic business, we welcomed a new baby into our family, we enjoyed our time on the Serr farm, and we moved into a new home.  We had good health.  I feel joy as I have gratitude for my many blessings.  I'm sure there will be hard things I will have to do this year, as there are every year.  But, I can do hard things.  I have joy in carrying the RIGHT load.

6 Month Christmas

Benson turned 6 months old on Christmas Day.  It's a pretty fair deal he'll have, getting presents exactly every six months.  Here are the facts:

Weight: 19 lbs 7 oz.

Height: 28 inches

• So, he's still a pretty big kid.  Aside from the cheeks he's not so much chubby as he is just solid.
• He sits on his own, but still has no interest in any kind of self-mobility, including rolling over.  This is foreign to me.  My last 6 month old was crawling on her hands and knees all over the place.  I kind of like this immobility.  No hurry, Benson, no hurry.
• We've got the yelling under control.  How?  With a wonderful little contraption called a binky.  Or a paci, or whatever you like to call it.  I'd almost given up on the binky after trying to get him to take it for months, and was only giving it to him to go to sleep.  After two weeks of the yelling, I finally had the thought, "Try the binky, Allison".  Why it took me 2 weeks to figure that out, I'll never know.  I gave it to him, and after spitting it out several times with a look on his face like, "C'mon mom, I'm not ready to go to sleep", he finally took it.  And our home was silent for an hour.  Amazing.  My favorite gift of Christmas was the binky clip Santa left in his stocking.
• He's a social baby.  He loves it when anyone will talk to him, and he usually responds back with a little laugh.  
• He laughs and laughs and laughs at Madeline.  He thinks she's seriously hilarious.  
• His hair is totally out of control.  I don't know much about what to do with boy hair.  Ideas?
• He's eating fruits and vegetables, but doesn't love them like Madeline did.  That girl would eat ANYTHING.  And she would love every bite.  Not so with this little one.  He's a little bit picky.  His poor digestive system also appears to be more sensitive, so this whole eating thing has been a bit more complicated.
• He's gone back to taking pretty good naps during the day, and usually needs 3-4 of them.  Nighttime is a different story.  His crazy self has the need to wake me up 3-4 times a night lately.  Unless we're at Grandma and Grandpa Roper's house.  Then he makes it until 5am just fine.

Here are a few more pictures of our Christmas.  It was wonderful.

 Santa made a great choice in giving Madeline Baby All Gone.  She was too busy feeding her bananas to care about opening any of her other gifts.  

I made new pillow covers for my parents' red couch.  My sewing machine narrowly escaped a very painful death.  I threatened to throw it out the window many times over the course of this project.  It came unthreaded no fewer than 50 times. 

 Scott scored on a ROKU box for our tv.

 Benson's new exersaucer.  A great garage sale find last summer.

Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Serr was lovely as well.  Scott and I made a basket of goodies for many of our gift recipients.  We spent our evenings the week before Christmas making chocolate cut-out gingerbread man cookies, truffles, and homemade pasta.