It's all in your head

I have suffered from migraines since I was 15. If you've never had one, consider yourself a very lucky person. Migraines are horribly debilitating. My doctor, at the time, did an adjustment on my back and neck to see if I had a pinched nerve (no, and also OMG my back was out of whack). He also sent me for a CT scan of my sinuses, which showed a cyst in the left cavity, just below my eye. My left eye is where I feel the most intense pain from my migraines. For a few years, I took beta blockers to help deal with the issue, but after awhile, they became ineffective. I distinctly remember attempting to take a college final when I had a migraine. It was not pleasant. You don't "live" with migraines. You try to survive them.

(On a side note, I had one of these yesterday and it freaked me the hell out and I thought I was dying)

Meg has been complaining for several months about headaches. I took her to the eye doctor after a routine school check showed her right eye to be "off". She is nearsighted, like her Mama, and we got her the cutest glasses.

The glasses, however, did not help with the headaches. So, today at her well-child checkup, I spoke to our doctor (the SAME doctor I had when I was 15!) about the headaches. They don't appear to be migraines (thank goodness) but they may be stress related. Considering I live with a child who worries about whether it might rain five days from now, stress related makes sense. Then I got to see him do the same back adjustment to her that he did to me many years ago (22 if you're keeping track of my old age). It was so bizarre. It brought back that first time that that he made my back go snap-crackle-pop. I was also insanely jealous because he can no longer adjust my neck because of the herniated discs and the arthritis (boohiss).

I hope that she never has to experience the awful pain of a migraine. I would give anything to protect her from that.

A Monday Tuesday

My day started off much like hers, with a massive migraine that was a holdover from yesterday. And the stupid thunderstorms that we are supposed to be getting, which would relieve said migraine, are going all around us. HELLO! I need a thunderstorm. Please. Thank you.

But anyway, we had a really lovely weekend here. Doug met his father at our other house Saturday morning and they took the old tenants' junk to the dump. Hooray for that chapter being over. Our new tenants move in this coming weekend. Saturday afternoon friends from our old neighborhood came up to visit. We hung out in the yard, getting eaten alive by black flies, even with our fire pit going. It was nice to visit, catch up and have the kids play nicely together. It's always a bonus when that happens.

Sunday was our family cookout. My parents, my in-laws, and my brother-in-law and his family came to spend some time out in the yard with us. We joked that is was awfully nice of us to have twin babies so that the grammies each had one to push on the swings! Thank goodness our families get along so well. It certainly would make things awkward if they didn't.

Yesterday we went to the town "parade". It is a bit of a joke, as it is very small and literally lasts only a couple of minutes. But, we saw friends and it was nice to feel like we belong here in this little town. Part of the reason we moved here is that Doug has worked here in town for almost 10 years and is established here. It's nice to be on our own and making our own friends and we can start to establish ourselves in the community. It feels good doing that for ourselves and our kids. After the parade we worked hard in the yard, mulching and planting dahlia bulbs.

In all it was a great weekend and I was sad to have it end. Doug isn't on vacation again until early July so that's a long time for me to be doing most of this on my own. I will have our babysitter starting to work 2 days a week in a couple of weeks, and that will alleviate some of my stress (I hope!).

Here are some of our weekend photos:

(The playset!)

(Drew at the parade)

(Meg at the parade)

(Seriously hot and tired babies, at the parade)

Deep Thoughts (but not by Jack Handy)

Thanks for all your nice notes about my darn migraine. Woke up with it today. BUT, I kicked its ass with some coffee and Advil. Hooray for small things!

Today was one of those days that I alternatively love, but hate. It was a day when I was gone most of the morning, sans kids. I volunteered in Meg's classroom and I really enjoy doing that. I didn't get to volunteer when she was in kindergarten because I was pregnant with the twins and didn't want to end up on bed rest and not be able to follow through with my commitment. Plus, once they were born I knew I wouldn't be able to be gone for any period of time. So, this year I worked out a deal with my mother-in-law so that I can volunteer every other Tuesday, just for a couple of hours. It's nice to see how Meg interacts with her friends and teacher, and how so completely different she is at home than at school. Almost like I've got my own little Sybil on my hands. Weird.

Because today was the Red Sox home opener, Doug took a later lunch so he could watch the ring ceremony (yes, I am spoiled rotten, as he comes home for lunch almost daily) so I ran to get Drew from school. By the time I got back and got everyone their lunch, it was almost 1pm. Half the day gone and I wasn't here for any of it. It's a nice feeling, getting out without the kids, but some small part of me feels guilty. The girls are so crazed with joy when I get home, even though they napped for an hour of my time out, so how could they have missed me that much? My afternoon consisted of keeping tabs on the Sox trouncing of the Tigers, playing with kids, visiting with my dad (who lovingly comes once or twice a week to get Meg from the bus, then plays with the older kids for awhile~thank you Dad!), and voila, it's almost 8pm. So while today didn't drag on like my other days usually do, it's just given me an odd feeling. I know I don't enjoy the long, drawn out days, but I'm not sure why I don't really enjoy the quick days either. Does it make sense to anyone? Because I just don't get it.