In lieu of a coherent blog post, which I promise you is forthcoming one of these days (ahem, weeks) here’s a few random bullets of Mother’s Day.
- It started early as Simon woke me up at 5:25, clutching the Mother’s Day present he brought home from school on Friday anxiously as he stage whispered in a near shout, “Mom! Are you still sleeping yet?” Um, not anymore I’m not!
- Barely a couple of minutes later, Lucas was awake as well. We’re early risers, but for the entire family to be awake and downstairs before 6 am on a Sunday is not only mostly unprecedented but bodes for a very long day. (On days when I’m not working, usually Tristan and I are up a good hour or more before everyone else, giving me precious time to have a coffee or three and peruse the morning paper before the rest of them tumble out of bed in all their needy and noisy glory.)
- The coffee was still percolating as I opened the Mother’s Day gifts the boys brought home from school on Friday. Simon had asked several times over the weekend if I could please open my Mother’s Day gifts NOW, please please please, and each time I gently put him off and said I wanted to save the surprise for Sunday morning. Imagine the guilt I felt when I opened the beautifully-decorated brown-paper-bag he’d been clutching to find a small planter of annuals — inside a sealed ziploc baggie. Poor things were traumatized yellow by the weekend without air, but they perked up a bit with some water. We’ll see if they survive to be transplanted into the garden.
- Tristan’s gift was instructions for a foot massage and a little bottle of lotion he’d decorated himself, and a cookbook of his classmates’ favourite recipes. Tristan’s pizza recipe:
1/2 cup of pineapple
5 pieces of pepperoni
a bag of cheese
some sauce
one piece of wheat breadPut sauce on bread, add cheese, place pepperoni and pineapple and bake for 8 minutes at 20 degrees.
(How cute is that?)
- The day was already feeling a little long when I stepped out of the shower and in the midst of towel-drying my hair felt an unbearable wrenching pull in my back, just off my shoulder blade. It was so painful I could barely draw a deep breath. I’m not sure if this is what people mean when they say, “I put my back out,” but holy god in heaven does it ever hurt. Even 24 hours later, I’m holding myself stiffly to avoid the wrenching spasm that shoots across the upper right quadrant of my back if I move the wrong way. (The wrong way being just about any extension of my arms, turning of my head to the side, or looking down in the slightest bit.)
- It’s still painful enough that I’d debated a bit about the merits of coming to work versus staying home, but with a houseful of kids and nanny, I thought work might be the more peaceful option. After just about a half an hour of typing and mouse-clicking, though, I’m beginning to think it was a bad choice.
- Any insight into whether this merits medical attention or a wait-it-out approach is appreciated, as is your anecdotal experience with back pain. This is a new one for me.
- The good news is that Beloved was a darling throughout the day, and the pull in my back forced me to pretty much take it easy the whole of Mother’s Day, something I might not have done otherwise. I didn’t change a single diaper all day, and read the last half of a photography book that was due back at the library this week. Of course, I also emptied the dishwasher, picked up some clutter and did a few loads of laundry — because I think I’m now physically and mentally incapable of actually doing nothing for a day.
- After Lucas’s nap, Beloved took the whole family on a trip to Henry’s camera shop where he let me pick out my Mother’s Day gift. I waffled for a bit between a set of reflectors, a Gorillapod, and a neutral density filter, but finally settled on a circular polarizing filter. A polarizing filter is cool to have because it balances the brightness of the sky against a landscape while bringing out details and colour saturation, and cuts down on reflectivity of water and glass. A fun new toy to play with!
- To finish off the day, we had Granny and Papa Lou over for takeout fajitas from Lone Star, and they brought cheesecake from Costco for dessert. Five-star seal of approval on that meal!
Aside from the wrenched muscles and the fact that it was grey and just about subzero all day, it was a lovely Mother’s Day. You?
Sorry to hear about your pain!
My Mother’s Day started off by my accidently dropping my hairbrush in the toilet bowl. Fortunately it went uphill from there. 🙂
We took your advice from year’s past and went to the KOA for their night of free camping, in a “kabin”, thank goodness. The thunder and lightning and rain Saturday night was awesome – I don’t know that we would have noticed in we were at home and so the noticing was good. I woke up cold on Mother’s Day – and stayed that way until we got into the car – but we found puddles to splash through, a lightning-struck tree to gawk at, and even the determination to play in the park in the wind. After that, I was delighted to be a mom in a house with central heating with a snuggly daughter who let me have the pink glass at supper since it was Mother’s Day.
Going to Henry’s for mother’s day – lucky girl, my wife would be sooooooo jealous!
Oh no Barbara!! How funny, at least three times during the weekend I mentioned to Beloved and my mom how it would have been free-camping weekend and boy aren’t we glad we didn’t do it this year!! Ah well, sounds like you made the best of it and seeing a lightning-struck tree is kind of cool!
Andrea, better than your toothbrush, I guess!
Ian, there you go — you’re all ready with an idea for next year!!
My two cents (words) about the pain – massage therapy! I did “something” to my neck in early March and tried to tough it out with ibuprofen and hot showers but it only got worse. Three sessions of massage therapy and I’d like to say I’m as limber as a gymnast but I am able to shoulder-check which I consider to be a huge improvement.
We had a great day – went to the Experimental Farm even though it was wicked cold, but tradition is tradition…
Would you be willing to try a chiropractor? I know a good one right down town – gentle and careful – and he would tell you if he couldn’t help or if you need a different kind of doctor. You’d likely still have sore muscles after (then you have a massage!), but the stabbing pains would be gone.
Ice and ibuprofen, for the sore muscles. Lie on the floor on your back with your knees up, no pillow. Heat adds to the inflammation, but cold reduces it. Feel better soon!
For years we opened mother’s day presents the day they came home from school. This year, SG was intent on hiding it until Sunday morning, and luckily it wasn’t perishable 🙂
It’s been my experience that pain is your body shouting out at you to freakin’ do something already!!! Ignoring it is probably not a good idea. Otherwise it sounds like a terrific Mother’s Day!
My adult children came for dinner along with my out of town guest. The best present ever was my children did not argue once and I actually caught them having a civil conversation. Miracles never cease.
My husband had to work yesterday, as well as every other day in the past week. He is working today and the first day he might get off is Saturday. So Mother’s Day was a bit of a bust for me.
As for the back pain, I used to put my back out regularly when I was younger. I think it was the position I adopted when I was studying. Anyway, I found that gentle stretches and time were the best solutions, as well as the occasional anti-inflammatory. But I feel for you, it sucks!
Ouch, Dani. I did that once. I was trying to stand up from the couch while holding Jade (she was maybe 18 months?) and promptly fell back to the couch again. I stayed in bed until the next day (it was Sunday evening, so everything was closed – no painkillers in the house!) and then Michael went and got me some Robaxacet. Thank GOD!
Hope you’re feeling better soon.
Thanks all — I saw my GP yesterday and she gave me some heavy-duty NSAIDs (anti-inflamatory pain killers) and a muscle relaxant to take overnight. The NSAIDs are incredible — I couldn’t believe the difference they made right away. I’m so used to foregoing medication (been ttc, pg or lactating most of this decade!) that I forgot how good drugs could be!!
Colleen, you made me laugh with your comment. You mean I have to wait until they’re in their 30s (!!) for a civil conversation? Yikes!
(haha, captcha = “the quelled” as in sibling rivalries finally quelled?)
Sounds like a wonderfully perfect day!! Love the gifts.