Keeping Up With the Joneses

I got the epidural shot yesterday and am feeling so much better today. It really feels amazing that for two weeks and up to 48 hours ago I needed help just getting to the bathroom and today I took a quick walk around Costco. It still hurts to sit or stand for long periods of time, and by the time I got through Coscto I was hurting pretty bad, but I haven't needed any painkillers last night or today and am feeling like I'm starting to get back to normal. Marshall and the boys are just as relieved as me--Mason started jumping up and down shouting horray when he found out I could walk again.

Ever since the doctor at the hospital said that I'd be on bedrest my entire pregnancy and that there was nothing do be done for my back until I wasn't pregnant anymore, I've been pretty upset. The pain is horrible and I know the drugs I have to take to survive it aren't good for the baby and so I've just felt at a loss for how I was going to get through the next 5 months. Bedrest really isn't practical for a mom of two who has a psychotherapy practice of high-risk patients. But we've been praying anyway that my back would get better even though it seemed hopeless. Until today. . . Yesterday I felt like I still had a UTI so I scheduled an appointment with my OB. I didn't want to since it is so painful to get around and I hated to make Marshall take more time off work to take me, but I did it anyway. When I saw Dr. Judd today and recounted the last few weeks he was FURIOUS that they didn't have me see an orthopedic surgeon or neurosurgeon in the hos...

My baby is 4 YEARS OLD! It is amazing how fast the years have gone by. When my parents were here last week we planned on having a party for him, but with me being hurt the plans kind of got pushed aside until the day before they left. With me stuck in bed, my mom went and bought presents, balloons, decorations, and a fireman cake, and brought the party to Mason. It was wonderful and in my opinion two kids at a birthday party is just right! Originally I had planned to go to the Tennille's (their babysitter) on my lunch break today (I wanted to take the day off but felt I couldn't because I've missed so much--and that was before all this!) and have a little party for him there before his big party tonight, but I ended up not going to work and not being able to drive so instead Tennille told me she is having a little party with Mason and Myles and her boys. Tonight we are having a party with the cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents at Jumping Jacks. Everyone has been s...

I realized talking to my brother last night that all I've been doing lately is whining and feeling sorry for myself. So today I'm going to try really hard not to whine or complain and to just be grateful for what I have. And because I'm spending the day in bed recovering from going to work yesterday (that doesn't count as whining, does it?) I'm going to blog about it. You see this picture of the incredibly handsome man above? The one holding the cute baby? Well, he is the best man in the UNIVERSE!! Just when I thought I loved him more than I could ever imagine, his Prince Charming- ness reveals itself like never before. This last week he has been an absolute SAINT and I can't imagine a better husband. As an example, I was so intent on going to work on Monday even though he thought I was crazy for trying, so on Sunday night after he fed the kids dinner and put them to bed, he helped me take a bath (it sounds easy but I couldn't move much so he had to help ...

Just a quick update for the family and friends that keep asking how I'm doing (thanks for caring by the way). It was a rough weekend, mostly spent in bed. All weekend I was praying that I'd be able to go to work today. One of the hard things about being a therapist for people with mental illness is that it can be really hard on them when their therapist is unavailable. This last month I've missed three weeks of work (one for Myles in the hospital, one for the cruise, and one last week) and I felt like my clients really needed me back. However Saturday and Sunday I really couldn't move until later in the afternoon when all my drugs had kicked in, and even then only a few steps and with a lot of help. So we decided last night that I would wake up at 4 AM and take all the drugs so that maybe by the time I woke up they would be working enough for me to get out of bed. When I woke up at 6:30 AM I was thrilled to see I could get out of bed with the help of the walker. Mars...

It has been another difficult week for the Jones family. On Monday I started getting a sore back. Normally when this happens I just take a few ibuprofen and am fine, but being pregnant I couldn't take anti-inflamatories, so I just took it easy and hoped to sleep it off. But Tuesday morning I woke up in a ton of pain and couldn't even make it out of my bedroom. It became obvious I wasn't going to make it to work and after deciding I couldn't just stay like this it took me about an hour to crawl to the stairs, stand up, and half-walk/half be dragged by Marshall to the car so he could take me to the doctor. My OB/GYN wouldn't see me because it "wasn't pregnancy related" and my regular doctor couldn't get me in until the afternoon and so we went to urgent care. The doctor was hesitant to prescribe anything because I'm pregnant, but gave me some painkillers and a mild muscle relaxer. The rest of the day was difficult and I stayed on the couch only h...

Tonight Mason and I went on a date to the play Go Dog, Go! at BYU. It is for kids 2 and up and I was a little worried about how Mason would behave at his first play but he was SO GREAT! He thought it was hilarious and laughed the whole time. When they asked for 4 volunteers to come up on stage he raised both hands and was picked. I only had my iphone and so it isn't a very good picture, but he was so cute and not shy at all. But after the show he was afraid to go shake "paws" with the dogs because he was so shy. What a kid!

A few weird things lately that are leaving me feeling paranoid: * before we left for the cruise we got a letter that our automatic mortgage payments were being cancelled. I couldn't imagine why, so I called the company and they said it was because we filed for bankruptcy . WHAT!?!? I said we hadn't and the person said "is it possible your husband did it without you knowing?" NO!!!!! Anyway, I had to get on a different payment plan for people with bad credit (up until then our credit has been almost perfect). So I called my aunt the lawyer and asked her what was up. She checked state records and found that there is someone with my exact same first, middle, and last name who filed for bankruptcy in Ogden and they obviously confused me with her. Different social security number, but because I couldn't prove to the mortgage company that it wasn't me, they wouldn't take it off my record. So I need to work on that. Certainly because we have different social ...

I t has been quite a week for the Jones family. Marshall and I took off on a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas while Mason and Myles went with their Grandma and Grandpa Delta to Vegas for 3 days. We all had a great time. I don't have any pictures of the boys in Vegas, but by all reports they had a fun time and Mason can't stop talking about sleeping in a hotel and seeing sharks. Marshall and I came back very relaxed and well-rested after a stressful previous week. On Sunday we flew from Salt Lake to Fort Lauderdale and rented a car. After staying overnight, we drove to the pier in Miami and were among the first group to board the ship. It was a nice warm day and we had a great time exploring the Majesty of the Seas and setting sail out of Miami. At dinner that night, Marshall was wearing his BYU had when we first sat down and the couple we were randomly assigned to dine with said "are you kidding?" Turns out she went to BYU, they lived in West Jordon for 15 years before m...