The Back Saga

A couple of my favorite Murray girls (hey Tiff and Michele!) asked what happened to my back after I posted my x-ray, so this post is more for them since a lot of you have already heard this story. So, here goes.....

We believe the original injury occurred one winters night while I was visiting my sisters house. She is known far and wide as having the most dangerous front steps in all of Springville, as I first found out. It was quite the fall. One of those cartoon falls where my whole body went up in the air and landed right on my BUTT!! Kami said the entire house shook when I fell. I'm not sure I should have admitted to that.....oh well. I knew that I broke my tailbone but didn't feel any other back pain until a few years later. When we were moving from New Jersey back to Utah my lower back just started hurting. Not from picking up any specific heavy box or anything, I just think the combination of moving things and herding kids and the stress and everything caused the disc to just bulge and break and put pressure on the nerve. It went on hurting for a few months before Andy finally made me go check it out at the doctors. After a bunch of doctors appointments I finally got an MRI that showed a huge herniated disc. I am no doctor and I even looked at it and knew something was wrong. I was referred to a great back specialist who told me that the disc was dead. Gone to heaven. No life left in it. Meaning, no liquid left in the disc. The only thing to fix it would be surgery. I don't know about you, but I've always heard the one surgery to avoid is back surgery, so I was a bit apprehensive about all of it. I knew the pain wouldn't get any better (even after I started physical therapy) and someday I would need the surgery, so I figured I'd get it over with while I was young and healthy.
So, a year after the pain started I went in to remove the disc (which the doctor said was so bad it was in pieces!), put in a spacer to fill in where the disc was, put a couple of screws and rods in to hold it in place and I was finished! I was back taking care of the kids full time 2 weeks later and only went to physical therapy a few times before she said I was all good!! There is still some pain, mostly from stress and the fact the kids keep me running all day, but if I lay down and get some rest it's managable. On my last appointment with the doctor the only question I had to ask was "Can I go water skiing this summer?". The doctor said yes. THAT, my friends, is a happy ending!!!

If wishes were fishes we'd all have a fry!

I wish that my children would simply state, "Mom, I'm hungry", rather than rip books, chew their faces off, shoot laser beams out of their eyes and scream so loud the international space station calls to tell me what a horrible mother I am.

Comparison

This is a comparison test of a tiny baby versus my giant baby Samantha! This is my cousins baby Katherine. She was a little premature and if I remember correctly was just over 4 pounds. Cute little mite!!
Now, to compare, this is Samantha at just a few days old. She, on the other hand, was 9 pounds 5 ounces. Yeah, I know, large baby!!

Alex was a large baby as well weighing in at 8 pounds 10 ounces....I think. I kind of forget sometimes. I don't have a picture of him in his car seat to compare, but I always chuckle at this picture of his first bath. That is one pissed baby!!

Some seriously silly kids

Alex with a plum slice smile. Unprompted, by the way, which is further proof of just how nuts this kid is! You can't help but love him!

Samantha doing her pirate impersonation. If you could hear her say "Arr Matey" with that look on her face, it would be even better!

All the cute you can handle!

If you've never checked out www.cuteoverload.com you are missing out!! Whenever I've had a bad day it is the first thing Andy tells me to go look at. You can't help but get in a better mood after you've checked out all of the wicked adorable animals. My favorite, and something that has made it's way on to my want list, are the Scottish Fold kittens. If we ever decide to get a cat or a dog, I think this kitten will win out over all the rest. Now check out that site and tell me that kitten on the first page isn't the cutest thing ever born???

Tag

My friend Ashly tagged me to tell 10 things about myself that people may not know. Honestly, I don't know that I could even come up with 1!! Sorry to disappoint Ash! It's a good thing you know just about everything about me already! Maybe if ya'll want the scoop you could ask Andy to write my list of 10. He may be able to come up with something scary to embarrass me.

NYC Flashback Friday

Remember when we went to the ESPN Zone with the guys from work for Torts' farewell party? We sat around eating appetizers, drinking and laughing for a few hours after work and just thoroughly enjoyed each others company.

Speaking of Torts, remember when I yelled at him for swearing on the phone and he thought it was hilarious! And when you first told him we were dating and my name was Kristi Loveridge and he said he thought it was a great porn name. Then there was the time at Todd's wedding when out of nowhere this little Italian guy from the Bronx ran up and hugged me; which was a little awkward considering his face came right smack dab into my breasts! That was the last time we saw John Tortorella.

Rest in peace JT. We love ya!

2 Assinine Arguements with a 3 1/2 year old

Samantha : "Is this tomorrow?"

Me: "No, this is today, Friday. Tomorrow is Saturday."

Samantha: "No, this is tomorrow, MOM."

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As we were driving to a restaurant for lunch we passed by a car dealership.

Samantha: "Momma, I want to eat at that restaurant." (She says as she is pointing to the car dealership)

Me: "No honey, that is a place where you buy cars. We'll be at the restaurant soon."

Samantha: "No, you don't buy cars there, we eat there."

Me: "Whatever."

Titanium

Ladies and Gentleman, my back.
4 screws, 2 rods and a spacer : $15,000
2 nights in hospital : $16,000
Spine surgical team of 9 : $30,000
Having insurance pay 95% : Priceless

Wanting to shout it at the top of my lungs!

As part of my "lose a few pounds" scheme I purchased a few of the frozen entrees from various companies; Lean Cuisine, South Beach, Weight Watchers, etc. I wanted to sample each brand before I bought massive quantities of any one type. Well, in my first try I found a winner!! It was the Lean Cuisine Panini Chicken Club and it was AWESOME! Maybe my expectations were just super low, but I found myself thoroughly enjoying it! It had tomatoes, chicken, bacon and cheese on a sourdough bread that came out of the microwave crispy and delicious. It only had 9g of fat and 350 calories and was high in protein and fiber. I've never had good feelings towards these frozen "health" foods, but this one may have changed my mind.

Thumbing my nose at the snow

Yesterday as I was terribly depressed because of the yucky weather and my difficult children, I decided to lift my mood by putting the new duvet cover I made on my bed. It fit better than I thought it would and looks great, I think. Samantha stood outside my room when I was finished and just said "Oh momma, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty!". It was cute. Every time I went into my room after putting it on, I smiled. THAT is the sign of a good looking room!

While I was posting on quiona......

While I was writing that last post, my very adorable and very monster-like son and his sister were in the kitchen having a snack of strawberry yogurt. Unbeknownst to me Alex was dipping his spoon in the yogurt and flinging it across the kitchen. Not the spoon, oh no, he realized that would be too much noise. But the yogurt, yes, that flings nice and quiet!!! It was the perfect plan until of course his sister snitched on him. It was a bit of a mess that I was lucky enough to clean up while Alex had his nose in the corner and Samantha sat there very disapproving thinking to herself "I would never do such a thing! No, my stint of rubbing vaseline all over my brother and dolls was not NEAR this bad!".
Only 4 more weeks until I get a 5 day break in New York. I'm going to make a construction paper chain to count the days. THIS is my Christmas!

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa)

Last night Andy found a recipe in Jamie Oliver's cook book for a spicy couscous. I LOVE couscous but we also wanted to try a new grain we've been hearing a lot about lately called quinoa. It's been around forever and it was a staple in the diet of the Inca because it provides more protein than any other grain. It's also very versatile. So Andy substituted the couscous for quinoa and it was delicious!! Samantha chowed down on it as well but did think it was a bit spicy for her. Alex had one bite and shoved it aside. Oh well, gotta give him points for trying! Needless to say, we're going to find a bunch more recipes for this new grain of ours and if you are interested in this recipe we did (I thought you might be Maile since you posted about quinoa as well) then let me know and I'll email it to you.

Blah blah blah

Pretty crappy weekend. Ornery kids who didn't nap. Ornery mom for no reason that anyone can figure out. And snow. Lots of cold snow. Snowed all day today. Looks more like December than the end of March. Of course, we are in Utah so I guess the unexpected is to be expected. On the bright side....it's 6pm and the kids are in bed!!! So I have a full evening of cleaning the kitchen, exercising and watching TV ahead of me! Rock on.

Some recipe help please!

I have decided it would be prudent for me to shed a few pounds for no other reason that I think it would make me feel good. So I am inquiring to all of you if you have any healthy recipes that you enjoy that you could pass along to me. I am going through my cookbooks and finding healthy recipes that sound good that I might actually eat but am finding I'll need A LOT more if I'm going to stick with this for a while. Mostly I'm shooting for leaner meats, no butter but instead use olive oil, more veggies and fruit (easier this time of year than winter) and smaller portions. Anyone who knows me well knows that I don't do self-control very well, so this is going to be tricky! Andy is on board with most of it too, so that will help. Of course, he'll be steering clear of the veggies. Wish me luck!!

NYC flashback Friday.

I decided yesterday that every Friday I'm going to post a little story or just a remembrance from our time in New York. It might not being too interesting to most of you, but it's more for me to remember some of the cool stuff we did or the funny stories. Sometimes I forget the things that happened while we were there and I really don't want to forget, so I'm going to get them all written down here. Andy, help me out here if you remember stuff too!

I think I'm going to start all of my entries like I'm talking to myself and Andy......Remember when??

Remember when we went to The Today Show to see Annie Lennox perform for their Summer Concert Series....and it rained......a lot!!?? Then we had to make our way downtown to work and we were soaking wet and I cleaned up in "The Executive" bathroom.
And since I'm thinking of Rockefeller Center already, remember when we went to see the lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas tree and it was like -45 degrees and they had lame act after lame act perform and all we wanted to see was the damn Christmas lights, so we gave up and went to Virgil's instead? It was so warm and toasty inside and we ate BBQ and biscuits until we had to roll ourselves home!!
Good times!!!

A few pictures for your entertainment.

After the Easter Bunny visited.
Play-date with sweet cousin Nicole.

Grampy and Samantha being oh so silly.
Alex coloring his egg his favorite color - orange.
Samantha being a princess.
Annual coloring of the eggs.

My hat goes off to this family!

I don't know how many of you have seen the TLC show "Jon and Kate Plus 8", but I am in awe!! This family has a set of twin girls who I think are around 6 or 7 and then sextuplets who are 3. That's right, 8 kids!! Kate is a stay-at-home mom and she is my hero!! I love how REAL she is about all of it. She gets frustrated, and she shows it. She and Jon fight, and they don't hide it. Their life is totally crazy, but they love it and they do it with humor. It is so refreshing to hear parents say what is on their minds and what they really feel about being a parent. It's a tough job! I feel like kind of a wuss complaining about my 2 kids when these people have 8 young ones!! I'm going to try harder not to complain. If you get a chance, check out this show and this hilarious family.

First for the Season!

Last night Andy and I slept with the window to our room open!! We love to do this in the spring and fall when it's nice outside and last night was the first night we noticed how lovely it was. The low for the night was only supposed to be in the 40's so we cranked that puppy open. Hopefully we'll be able to do it for the next few months before it gets too hot.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all! We had a great egg hunt at my mom's house and I forgot to bring my camera. Par for the course, I know. But my sisters had their cameras so I'll mooch pictures from them and post them later. As for now, my friend Gerd sent this to me for Easter and it made me laugh. It's in German but I will translate with my wicked German skillz....
"My butt hurts"
"What?"