Poor Robbe had his turn at a sick day today. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite as lucky as Chase with his day off. He didn't feel great. A fever and drippy nose kept him pretty uncomfortable most of the day. The only thing that helped? Some momma snuggles....which I was happy to supply. Oh, and a bit of tea, of course.
Let's all hope for a good night tonight so the little nugget feels more like himself tomorrow.
Robbe and I were working on the letter A all week so we decided a little apple science was in order. We cut up some apples, Chase wrote all the labels, the boys filled the cups with liquid, and they plopped the apples into the cups and waited. And waited.
The changes took longer than I expected but it did work pretty well. Vinegar caused the apples to darken the most and the lime juice (which was supposed to be lemon, by the way) kept the apple light for the longest.
I gave Robbe about 15 choices of things to do today and he chose go to the mall play place. The horror! Remember when “the mall” used to mean this? I do.
I will say he had a great time. We had a really lovely morning. Maybe it was the right choice. Maybe. I’m not ready to admit that quite yet.
This is officially my first blog post derived from one of my expressive writing sessions. This morning’s session was 15 minutes of this “I wish…” type of string of consciousness. Do you know how hard it was to tear that up after I decided it would be a great blog post? Trust me. It was hard. And it’s funny that my list is a very different now than it was first thing this morning.
Maybe there will be more of these types of posts. Maybe this will be the only extension of my twice/day ritual. I guess time will tell.
**Please note this is not a bigger-picture wish list encompassing things like "world peace" or "equal rights". I thought that might get a bit heavy.**
After yesterday’s weighty post, I’ll go short and sweet today. This was from our visit to the doctor’s office last week (luckily we’re all feeling good this week). I will title the photograph: “Feet” .
I know I dropped a hint awhile ago about a new strategy for my back pain...well, I'm finally ready to share what's been going on around here. Forgive me for the delay. **And this is a long one so feel free to skip if you have no interest. Ha!**
The short version of the story is that the best cousin ever (which will forever be her title now that I've got some back pain relief) heard this interview on WPR where Dr. David Hanscom, a neurosurgeon, was discussing the relationship between your brain and chronic pain. I'm not going to go into all the details here because, frankly, I'll sound like a fool and will not do justice to the actual science behind what's going on. I'll just throw this quote out there from his website:
By using a multi-pronged approach to calm and re-route your nervous system, you can minimize or eliminate your pain.
So what he claims happens with folks experiencing chronic pain (and not just back pain!) is that your brain is on high-alert when it comes to the pain your body is experiencing. Because of past trauma, your brain and the neural pathways have been trained to freak out any time the slightest discomfort is sensed. His theory, then, is that if you can train your brain to calm the f down (excuse my language), you can get relief from your pain. The same philosophy is proven to work with folks suffering from anxiety, depression, TMJ, etc.
I know this sounds crazy. It couldn't have been my brain all along, right?!? I haven't been spending a crazy amount of time + money trying to get relief when the solution was so incredibly simple, right? I know.
So how do you retrain your brain? Good question. And it's not one I'm going to answer. In fact, I'm still reading the book and learning about the program myself. The bottom line is that it's about creating awareness in your life, stopping your mind from focussing on the pain, and expressive writing (among other components). That's the big kicker for me.
Expressive writing is the reason I'm putting my all into this program. The book (and podcast) suggested that you spend 15-30 minutes twice a day writing anything that comes to your mind. It could be related to the pain, or your to-do list, or something that's stressing you out, or just nonsensical gibberish. Whatever's going on in your head. At the end of your writing session, you rip up the paper and throw it away. By doing this, you're creating a separation between your thoughts and your brain and then "filing them away"--again, I'm no expert here so take that for what it's worth.
So I did it. Day one: I wrote for 15 minutes one morning instead of jumping on my inversion table. I wrote (mostly about my pain and frustration with the whole process) and then I tore the paper up and threw it away. Again, I know this sounds crazy...but I went to take a shower afterward and the sharp pain in my back that usually accompanies me when I bend over to get conditioner wasn't there. It's been years since that has happened. No joke.
Now I'm about ten days in. I've been writing twice a day for [about] fifteen minutes and my back does feel better. I am still close enough to the pain that I can realize how many times a day I'm surprised to not be feeling the shock of pain when I twist or bend over or reach for one of the kids. I was able to go sledding the other day. I shoveled [minimally] to get into my driveway one morning. I made the boys' bunkbed (my least favorite task, by the way). I've been carrying the laundry basket. It's been unbelievably eye-opening and spirit-lifting for me.
I'm definitely not cured. Definitely not. But there is relief. And this expressive writing is only one piece of the puzzle. There's a lot more to Dr. Hanscom's method that I need to fully invest in: forgiveness, awareness, relieving anxiety, not focussing on the pain, not talking about the pain, etc. And I'm going to do it because what do I have to lose? This is the most progress I've made in years and I'm determined not to go backward.
Some helpful links:
The podcast episode
The book
The website
If you're interested in talking to me about this. I'm happy to share my experience further. But I'm not talking about my pain anymore. Because that's my new life.
Side note: I don't think I ever reported back after my MRI with the findings. The official report from the radiologist was that I had disc degeneration between the L4+L5 vertebrae and Spondylosis (which is just a fancy catch-all word for "back pain"). Basically, there's no glaring physical problem that is causing my pain. Something like 95% of back pain doesn't have a diagnosable cause (reassuring, right?). Maybe receiving this information put me in the right place to be open to a different treatment path. Maybe I needed to know nothing was seriously wrong to be able to climb out of the whole of pain. Here's hoping.
As a not-so-unexpected tie-in, you can listen to me talking about this new-found relief in our latest podcast. I offer some other interesting life updates as well (oh, and so does Mary Catherine).
We took some friends to see Ferdinand today to make good on a birthday present that we promised. All four little ones sitting in those big seats with their own little bags of popcorn, could it get any cuter? And the movie was great. It kept their attention (no small feat), so it was a success all around. Thanks for the fun excursion, ladies!
You know what finally gave me the motivation to get down to business with my educating at home? My almost six year old only being in school for .75 days this week (Tuesday, his only day, was a delayed start due to snow). I realized that I could probably get my act together to do something productive with the time we had. It also helped that, for the most part, we were locked in our house.
I managed to pull off math, biology, music appreciation, geography, and language arts all this morning. And the boys thought me “teaching” them was hysterical. [Side note: I may have been doing something wrong all these years if it’s truly that funny for me to be spreading knowledge. Eek!]
Although I consider the morning of [very loose] homeschooling to be a success (we even discussed the 13 original colonies for heaven’s sake), I’m more certain than ever that there’s no way I could do this full time. Moms that homeschool and teachers as a whole are incredible people. Thank you for taking this responsibility off my plate. My boys thank you, too.
Bad news: Chase is contagious (he’s got a sore in/on his nose that will spread). :(
Good news: he feels totally fine.
Usually sick days are a total drag because everyone is feeling terrible and you’re locked in. Because of the fresh snow and the decent temps today, we decided not to let a little sore keep us cooped up. We got all bundled up and hit the sledding hill. There were no people around and all the snow gear was quickly washed upon arriving home. We were only out for about an hour but man did it make the day brighter for so many reasons.
Best sick day ever.
I had a meeting at a neighbor’s house tonight and my walk there was something out of a movie. Words just can’t express the beauty and solitude and peacefulness and lure of these snow covered trees.
Not to be outdone, here’s a shot of my other little angel. We enjoyed a beautiful snowy walk to the library this morning (while the younger one opted for a cozy ride in the Burley). The walk back home was slightly less enjoyable as I pushed both boys + a haul of books in the Burley through the progressing winter storm. We made it, though!
The boys got to hang out with this adorable little nugget this weekend. Such a sweet boy. We couldn’t be happier to finally have the opportunity to meet him...and squeaking it in just before he turns one. Whew.
Special thanks to my aunt and uncle for a lovely escape from reality. We had a blast this weekend.
I’ve seen a lot of trains in my day. Between Chase’s train obsession over the years and our desire to find fun things to do, we’ve held our own in this department.
Today, though. Today I was wowed. A sweet friend of my aunt and uncle’s showed us around their train-lovers wonderland and it was beyond impressive to say the least. The model train set up, the restored caboose, the antique velocipede, the train depot...the fun goes on and on. I think the boys are still in shock about everything they saw.
A very special thank you to this lovely couple for taking their morning to show our crew around their beautiful property. It was greatly appreciated and tremendously enjoyed.
The temperature was warm (40s!!), we had nothing on the schedule, and we were happy to bust out of the house. A snowy playground adventure was just the ticket. And Robbe made his first snow angel (maybe ever?!?) to wrap up the outing. Not too bad.
Sorry to drop a hint and not elaborate but I’m trying something new today and I’m excited about it. More details to come. Don’t hate me.
Chase started piano lessons today after expressing interest in taking them for the last six months. I’m not sure he fully understands what he’s getting into (you actually need to practice, friend), but he’s super excited about it. And it is extra adorable.
Robbe and I had our first science class at the Lily Pad Lab today. I think Robbe said it all when he declared, "That's a lot more fun than I was expecting!" **And we were expecting it to be fun.** Can't wait to see what's in store for the next four weeks of frozen science-y entertainment.
Today we talked about love and kindness. Luckily, we stumbled upon these books over the weekend that helped guide the lesson. I highly recommend this series. They do a good job of introducing topics in an appropriate way to little ones while planting the seed for big picture values.
Proof that chapter books are Chase’s new favorite. This week we’ve read one from library, the Boxcar Children, and Chris and Chase finished The Phantom Tollbooth. It’s been a big week.
Robbe and I made these monsters today for “m” week. It was pretty awesome.
Oh, and he was his normal self today so all is well in our world. Thanks for the happy thoughts!
small city | BIG DAYS
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