I Thought Back Pain Was the Worst...

Almost 4 weeks ago now, I made a small, incidental move to wipe up a small mess - after all, I have a one year old, and I clean up after him a lot!  Well, Sunday morning, Oct 28th - I felt like my back broke.  With the slightest bend, it just went and I wasn't able to move.  I could barely walk to my bed, couldn't lift Jake and wasn't worth much of anything for about 1 week.  I had 2 visits to local ERs to try and minimize the pain but it only helped for a few hours.  I finally got in to a wonderful spine Doc who gave me a spinal nerve block injection - wasn't too bad, but only helped for 1 day.  The back pain was gone...but the last 3 weeks have brought left leg nerve pain that was worse than the back pain.  I repeated the spine injection this past week and this time it only lasted 3 days.  I'm back to feeling the leg pain the majority of my day.  Laying down is the worst position - but taking the pain meds makes it so that I only want to be in that position.  I start physical therapy next week to see if that will help.  Unfortunately, if it doesn't, it may be either living with the pain or considering surgery.  I DON"T want surgery!  I've had 2 in my life and I hate every second of it!  I'm a big wimp - I hate the anesthesia aftermath, and I hate recovering.  But this time it would even be worse because we have Jake now.  He doesn't understand that it is hard for mom to bend, walk, play and lift him up.  Hopefully, with enough patience and time I'll be able to start feeling myself again real soon!

Jake'isms

Jake is now 16 months old and is doing and saying so many cute things.  I need to remember to jot them down so I don't forget how fun this age is!

• His cousin Zoey has taught him how to march, so he will often walk around the house saying "hup two three four" - of course it is not that clear...but it is totally obvious he is doing the "hup two three four, march two three four"...  He also walks with his feet wide apart when he does this.  When he says it, it sounds like "up oo ee or".
• He goes up and down the stairs - I can't watch him go down, because it scares me to death - but he's got it and does a fantastic job!
• He loves to do anything with Daddy.
• He loves to play with cars.  We got him a car floor mat (I remember having one as a kid) and he drives his little cars around it and you can hear him say "vroom vroom".
• He still loves Barney!  He would watch it all the time if we let him.    He especially loves this episode with an Elephant.  He tells us when he wants to watch it by saying "Ella, Ella".
• When asked "what does a duck say", he responds, "kak kak kak".
• He loves to be outside - we went for a walk yesterday and he walked the whole way - about 15 minutes, but a long way for his little legs.  He loves it!
• He eats everything and has been much more independent in wanting to feed himself.  I've had to just let go and let him get all messy, because he doesn't care!
• He loves to draw/color.  He always wants to be holding a pen or crayon if I'm at the desk.  He is always reaching for me to be able to sit on my lap and draw - makes getting things done a little more difficult, but he loves it so much it is worth it!
• He is obsessed with his blue blankie - The other day I thought I'd hurry and wash it before his nap...well it wasn't quite dry for naptime and so I thought he would go down without it - Oh no, he pitched a royal fit - cried and cried until I got him his blankie and then he fell right to sleep.  Now I know why my mom told me to get two of his favorite blanket!
• He gives the cutest kisses - if you can snatch one before he swats you.  Ya, been working on fixing the hitting thing  :-/
• Steve loves to watch "Finding Bigfoot"...he has taught Jake how to do the Big Foot 'Call'...so when it is on I hear them both howling away in the other room!
• Cute things he is saying:
• Dank-Do (Thank you)
• Dye (Bye) - he gets really excited and waves and blows kisses with this one
• Dada or Daddy
• Mama
• Doggies
• Ola (Lola)
• Acey (Macey)
• Ought Oh - when he drops anything (or sometimes when he throws things)