I've been having a fair bit of pain in my right shoulder for about a month, probably longer. Greg and I keep telling the girls they are just growing too big for Mommy to keep picking up, and I've altered the way I do just about everything around here, from putting on my socks to driving to carrying groceries... it's gotten pretty inconvenient to say the least. At first, we assumed I had slept on it wrong. Then I suggested that I probably have that pain because I carry all my stress in my shoulders and neck. It was really a never-ending speculation festival.
Just this week, I finally recognized the pain. In college, twenty years ago(!!!?) and only a week apart, both my shoulders suffered separations and dislocations during soccer games. Ironically, both of those games were at a stadium in St. Louis. (Cue the eerie, creepy music.)
At the time, our athletic trainer told me I'd need to have surgery if I wanted to continue playing competitively. I was only 19 and thought I could give up soccer so I opted not to have the surgery(s). I hit the physical therapy pretty hard and ended up with no adverse effects, other than the unique party trick of being able to pop my shoulders in and out of socket at will. I even went back to playing soccer regularly about six years after my injuries (currently playing three nights a week), and never had any problem, until now....
So, even though this pain felt vaguely familiar, I was truly hoping that indeed I was just falling apart, another popular hypothesis with our crowd.
Today, I got a much more official speculation from the doctor. She referred me to the orthopedic surgeon who I will see tomorrow hopefully. Two words uttered today that I really hoped I'd never hear in relation to my own medical care were "rotator cuff".
I'm gonna need to get tougher.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Kids say the darndest things!
So, right back in to the routine, Amelia and I dropped Gwen off at school then had a fabulous time grocery shopping earlier this week. She is quite the little adorable goofball. Throughout the entire store, for almost a whole hour, every item that I put in the cart received a lot of clapping and one huge, "THANK YOU GOD!!!" Seriously.
Cheese sticks? "THANK YOU GOD!"
Organic milk? "THANK YOU GOD!"
Two cartons of brown eggs? "THANK YOU GOD!"
One poor dented, damaged, neglected box of No-Bake Oreo Cheesecake Mix on clearance? "OH THANK YOU GOD!" OK, even I said it for the cheesecake!
Cheese sticks? "THANK YOU GOD!"
Organic milk? "THANK YOU GOD!"
Two cartons of brown eggs? "THANK YOU GOD!"
One poor dented, damaged, neglected box of No-Bake Oreo Cheesecake Mix on clearance? "OH THANK YOU GOD!" OK, even I said it for the cheesecake!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Business as usual
Well, I'm back. I left home all by myself and lived to tell the tale. I missed the girls "show bad" as Amelia would say, but had a really fun time with my friend Amy, who has not changed a bit since we were kids. I only have a few pictures to share at this time since our computer is on the fritz, but I'll add more when I can.
Here we are in front of the Arch (Thanks for the pics Amy; sorry but I just HAD to use this shot! It shows us exactly like we were all weekend - laughing and joking and being silly and trying not to pee ourselves.). We did some of the obligatory things like seeing the Arch, but we did it in style atop a four-seater bike through the downtown traffic, swerving to miss the horse manure left by the fancy tourist buggies. 
Here we are in front of the Arch (Thanks for the pics Amy; sorry but I just HAD to use this shot! It shows us exactly like we were all weekend - laughing and joking and being silly and trying not to pee ourselves.). We did some of the obligatory things like seeing the Arch, but we did it in style atop a four-seater bike through the downtown traffic, swerving to miss the horse manure left by the fancy tourist buggies. To prevent your sheer boredom, I won't share the vast majority of the pictures I took on this trip. There are lots of things that my kids don't see very often, if ever.... bridges, traffic, trains, sky-scrapers, graffitti, billboards, farms, muddy rivers, fall colors, pollution... the list is endless. And while I had a great time catching up with Amy and meeting her family (they.... are..... AWESOME!), I had a really hard time being in the big city. (Hope I didn't complain too much, Amy!) It was quite the eye-opener for me to realize how truly Alaskan I am to the core.
I'm not sure I'll ever do another trip without the girls and Greg while the girls are still young, but being away gave me exactly the break I needed and the focus that I was lacking before I went. Next time I might just head out the road for an overnight hike/camp instead.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Mini Vacay for Mom
Well, I am actually doing it. I am going on a kid-free trip and while I was fairly excited about it, I find I am now kind of nervous. I have to be at the airport tomorrow at 6am and I'm already dreading the leaving. The 'being there' part will be great, but it's just being anywhere without the girlies and Greg that is going to be rough. I've never been away from Boo overnight. Aside from Gwen's first week of life, I've only been away from her twice overnight (once at her cousins' and once with Granny). Plus, both girls are coming down with what look to be pretty bad colds. Greg is never going to let me leave again.
I'll be gone for five days, to St. Louis to see an old friend whom I just reconnected with this spring on Facebook. Will wonders never cease? Look out, Dysoninskiwicz! Here I come!
I'll be gone for five days, to St. Louis to see an old friend whom I just reconnected with this spring on Facebook. Will wonders never cease? Look out, Dysoninskiwicz! Here I come!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Hunting and Training and Bears, Oh My!
So, we've had several crazy weeks/days.
On October 1, Greg left for a hunting trip with a new buddy from work, and even though I had the complete itinerary and all the specs for the boat, trailer, truck, passenger, captain, and location, plus the Plan B and Plan C info, I was still unusually uneasy about this trip.
My anxiety manifested itself in unbridled shopping each day Greg was gone. As we are on quite a tight budget, this was not good to say the least.
What IS good, however, is that Greg is back safe and sound. He and his friend had a fun trip, their weather was awesome (crisp and clear) and they got to explore an area that Greg had never had time to in the past (It's a secret, I can't tell you where they went!). There is no meat for the freezer, but he may give it one more try before we winterize the boat.
Yes, they went boat hunting. This entails taking as much as the boat can carry while being diligent to leave enough room for a slayed moose or two, as well as room enough for two large burly men to sleep. In addition, you have to be sure to carry enough fuel to get you back home since it's not like there's a station on every corner, or even a corner for said station to be on.
Anyway, it was a pretty luxe trip by our standards, but kind of roughing it by lower 48 criteria (no shower, running water, heat, walls, etc) but it was Greg's one big hunt for the year and he had a good time being out there. They saw lots of moose sign, but no moose. They saw thousands of goats, but weren't prepared to hike up in to the alpine on this trip. They saw several deer but no bucks. And they saw the biggest brown bear Greg has ever seen. Luckily they were in the boat at the time and the bear wasn't.
Speaking of bears.... while Greg was gone, we had one here at the house. He ripped up our trash pretty good and spread it all around the neighborhood (the bear did, not Greg). We also had a mouse in the house and the girls and I had to set out traps. Later that same day (yes, mouse and bear came around just minutes apart), I smashed Amelia's hand in the trunk of my car. She is fine (just a small bruise) but I was a little wobbly to say the least.
Speaking of Amelia (such original segues, huh?), she is potty training! Yes, she's only two and a half but she seems ready so we have the "big girl potty chair" out and are giving it a try. She is pretty hit or miss, but doing a great job so far. Some days she claims she is still a "widdle baby" and needs to wear diapers. But usually she is clamoring for the pull-ups.
Speaking of pull-ups (remember those exercises you used to do in gym class way back when? the trembling arms, the straining, the agony...) Well, I'm not doing them. But I am in training. Lo and behold, I am going to be 40 YEARS OLD in February, people!!! I am trying to lose 40 pounds so I can play in a soccer tournament in Kona, Hawaii over President's Day weekend, which is the same weekend as my birthday this year. I've been picked up by a team from Whitehorse (Yukon Territory, Canada). Since I really want to survive the heat and enjoy the challenge, I am up nearly every morning at 5:39am before Greg goes to work so I can hit the gym.
So far I have almost zero progress to report, but I feel I'm on the right track, if only I wasn't set on eating all the Halloween candy in Juneau before those pesky kids can get it.
Speaking of Halloween, you may wonder what in the world Amelia was wearing in that last picture. She and Gwen were saying good-bye to Daddy and Amelia insisted she wear her "Princess Jaguaria" outfit to do so. It was sent from Yakima by Greg's sister, Suzanne and Amelia loves it. Although I'm fairly certain the little cheetah/jaguar costume was meant to be separate from the adorable princess/ballerina dress, my girls combined the two and came up with "Princess Jaguaria". Behold:
Greg and the girls have a standing date every week at the swimming pool. They have a great time. Greg insists on "lessons" for the first half hour then free time for the second half. It seems like a good plan and the girls get a 'big' reward (it was homemade cocoa last night) when they get home. I may have to join them and do some water aerobics while they are doing lessons.
I can't figure a smooth way to transition in to this, but my mom got a chuckle out of it when I told her, so maybe you will too....
Gwen came home from school last week and told me about all the drills they have to learn in Kindergarten. I asked if she meant fire drills and she said, " Yeah, and drills for the big waves and earthquakes. But the drill we had today was the best one." (By the way, "big waves" = tsunamis.)
"Oh, what drill was it?", I offhandedly inquire.
With eyes gleaming as only five-year-old eyes can, she said, "It was the bear-on-the-playground drill, and it was so fun!"
On October 1, Greg left for a hunting trip with a new buddy from work, and even though I had the complete itinerary and all the specs for the boat, trailer, truck, passenger, captain, and location, plus the Plan B and Plan C info, I was still unusually uneasy about this trip.
My anxiety manifested itself in unbridled shopping each day Greg was gone. As we are on quite a tight budget, this was not good to say the least.
What IS good, however, is that Greg is back safe and sound. He and his friend had a fun trip, their weather was awesome (crisp and clear) and they got to explore an area that Greg had never had time to in the past (It's a secret, I can't tell you where they went!). There is no meat for the freezer, but he may give it one more try before we winterize the boat.
Yes, they went boat hunting. This entails taking as much as the boat can carry while being diligent to leave enough room for a slayed moose or two, as well as room enough for two large burly men to sleep. In addition, you have to be sure to carry enough fuel to get you back home since it's not like there's a station on every corner, or even a corner for said station to be on. Anyway, it was a pretty luxe trip by our standards, but kind of roughing it by lower 48 criteria (no shower, running water, heat, walls, etc) but it was Greg's one big hunt for the year and he had a good time being out there. They saw lots of moose sign, but no moose. They saw thousands of goats, but weren't prepared to hike up in to the alpine on this trip. They saw several deer but no bucks. And they saw the biggest brown bear Greg has ever seen. Luckily they were in the boat at the time and the bear wasn't.Speaking of bears.... while Greg was gone, we had one here at the house. He ripped up our trash pretty good and spread it all around the neighborhood (the bear did, not Greg). We also had a mouse in the house and the girls and I had to set out traps. Later that same day (yes, mouse and bear came around just minutes apart), I smashed Amelia's hand in the trunk of my car. She is fine (just a small bruise) but I was a little wobbly to say the least.
Speaking of Amelia (such original segues, huh?), she is potty training! Yes, she's only two and a half but she seems ready so we have the "big girl potty chair" out and are giving it a try. She is pretty hit or miss, but doing a great job so far. Some days she claims she is still a "widdle baby" and needs to wear diapers. But usually she is clamoring for the pull-ups.
Speaking of pull-ups (remember those exercises you used to do in gym class way back when? the trembling arms, the straining, the agony...) Well, I'm not doing them. But I am in training. Lo and behold, I am going to be 40 YEARS OLD in February, people!!! I am trying to lose 40 pounds so I can play in a soccer tournament in Kona, Hawaii over President's Day weekend, which is the same weekend as my birthday this year. I've been picked up by a team from Whitehorse (Yukon Territory, Canada). Since I really want to survive the heat and enjoy the challenge, I am up nearly every morning at 5:39am before Greg goes to work so I can hit the gym.
So far I have almost zero progress to report, but I feel I'm on the right track, if only I wasn't set on eating all the Halloween candy in Juneau before those pesky kids can get it.
Speaking of Halloween, you may wonder what in the world Amelia was wearing in that last picture. She and Gwen were saying good-bye to Daddy and Amelia insisted she wear her "Princess Jaguaria" outfit to do so. It was sent from Yakima by Greg's sister, Suzanne and Amelia loves it. Although I'm fairly certain the little cheetah/jaguar costume was meant to be separate from the adorable princess/ballerina dress, my girls combined the two and came up with "Princess Jaguaria". Behold:
Greg and the girls have a standing date every week at the swimming pool. They have a great time. Greg insists on "lessons" for the first half hour then free time for the second half. It seems like a good plan and the girls get a 'big' reward (it was homemade cocoa last night) when they get home. I may have to join them and do some water aerobics while they are doing lessons.I can't figure a smooth way to transition in to this, but my mom got a chuckle out of it when I told her, so maybe you will too....
Gwen came home from school last week and told me about all the drills they have to learn in Kindergarten. I asked if she meant fire drills and she said, " Yeah, and drills for the big waves and earthquakes. But the drill we had today was the best one." (By the way, "big waves" = tsunamis.)
"Oh, what drill was it?", I offhandedly inquire.
With eyes gleaming as only five-year-old eyes can, she said, "It was the bear-on-the-playground drill, and it was so fun!"
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