This Just In

I've figured out the source of my backaches.

Aunt Flo.

No really! Go ahead, laugh yourself silly. I'll wait. There, there, feel better?

Four weeks ago it seemed like coincidence that I hurt my back just before Aunt Flo's visit. I mean, I do not really get cramps, I usually get muscle spasms in my back. I am one of those lucky people who have a uterus that is not quite in the anatomically correct position. In other words, it is tilted towards the back instead of the front and it kinda hangs to the right. I kid you not! This is one of the reasons the docs gave me for my difficulties with labor. I always have back spasms when Aunt Flo is here. When I was in labor both time I had nothing but back labor. Nothing in the front! It was excruciating! This is what it feels like, I kid you not. Except today I am a little better.

I finally got my rear end to the chiro and it is helping tremendously. The problem lies in the fact that the chiro basically wants me to come in every other day until I am standing properly upright. He also wants me to ice and heat and then put biofreeze on it four times a day. Yes, I know, I looked at him like he had three heads, too. I mean, he wants me to SIT DOWN? And not do any housework for a week? Not lift laundry baskets or load and unload the dishwasher? And I have to sit and put my feet up for fifteen minutes an hour? What planet is this guy living on?

I love my chiropractor. He knows what is best for me. The truth is, I had not been to the chiro in a year because of my schedule with the boys and I really wish I would get myself there more often. If I went once a week, I could keep my back healthy. The reality of it is that I just do not leave any time for me. As Mommy Brain put it, I am a card-carrying member of the Too-Stupid-To-Say-No Club, or the TSTSN for short. I cannot say "NO!" to people when they ask me for help. So I helped my sister last week when she had no one to watch her daughter for two days (which I really, honestly do not mind doing, since we hadn't seen her in a few weeks!) , I watch my friends' boys (both with autism) when she had her four hour IEP meeting, I watch Bugaboo's school chum (A) during breaks (like this two-weeker) because his mommy is a single mommy who teaches full time and has NO ONE at all for support and back-up, except for her elderly mother, who cannot watch the kid for ten minutes. I also watch the neighbor's kids (3) before and after school. And if that isn't enough, I occasionally watch other friends children here and there for meetings, appointments and the like. The short version of this tome is that I usually have six to eight kids running around this house at all times. Even on days when I am "off" I really do not ever have a break. But I keep thinking, "I can handle this! I can do this! I was raised with six other children, plus foster children and neighbors' kids! This is nothing!" And then I remember my mother's state of mind and realize that she was on her manic mood swing most of this time.

This morning Darling even had the audacity to SLEEP IN. He heard Bugaboo early this morning and completely ignored it. I got in the shower early (no, I really got in the shower ON TIME, but it is earlier than I have been!) and got out and I could still hear Bugaboo. Then I noticed the alarm was reset and Darling had the pillows and blankets over his head. He has been working twelve-hour days, and I feel badly for him, but I get NO BREAKS EVER! He has the luxury of having vacation days that he can take when he needs or wants or taking a sick day (like last Monday!) when he feels like it. Me? Sleeping in for me is him getting up, getting them juice and then sitting in front of the tv or computer until Bugaboo is pounding on the door and I come down and give him the hairy eyeball. At eight am. A day off? I have never actually had one. My sisters and I are desperately trying to plan one. If I do not get it soon I may sell my children to the gypsies and blow the money on crystal meth (just kidding).

What was the point of this before my little tangent? Oh yeah. I do not take care of myself. I pledged that this was going to be my year, my time to finally get myself together. I am not hitting those goals I set so far. Methinks I need to organize this a little better!