Hiatus

is over. Back to the real world.

So when we left, Abby lost her tooth. She was very excited, and insisted that yes, the Tooth Fairy can find us at a hotel. We made it to the north side of Atlanta that day, and she left a note for the tooth fairy. She asked her to bring a Pet Shop pet instead of money.

That was one talented Tooth Fairy.

We made it to Parrish, FL the next day. It is a terribly long drive. The kids were surprisingly good the whole way. I don't think we would attempt it without the moblie dvd player, tho.

The first full day, we went to the beach. Picking up shells and/or walking on the uneven sand and jarring my back made my back quite unhappy. It almost went out, but instead just got really painful.

The next day, we went up to Tampa to see Macdill AFB, Tampa, and the VA where Sean's dad works. I had decided since we would be in the car alot, I would take one of my naproxen to ease my back pain.

Now, usually, I take those with a Tylenol 3 and lay down on the floor until I am able to move again. I'm not usually up and about. So we are walking around the Macdill BX (i.e. military wal-mart) and the naproxen REALLY kicks in. I feel great. No pain anywhere.

However, my legs feel really heavy, like I can barely lift them. Then I start to have a bit of trouble walking. Apparently, it was relaxing my muscles so well, it was going to relax my leg muscles right out from under me. It was find of funny, if seeing a 31 year old shuffle around hanging onto someone's arm to stay upright is funny. I got to the car and sat down and thank goodness I made it because once I stopped fighting it, my legs were dead weights and virtually numb.

Gotta love Naproxen.

The next day was Christmas eve and we stayed around the house except for a small shopping trip Sean and I took to make a last minute return.

Christmas was fun, but seemed too quick. Nathan opened a present and had to play with it. Abby opened hers, but got a lot of Pet Shop stuff, so she opted to leave them in the packages so she wouldn't lose any of the little pieces. I kept asking her if she wanted them open, and she didn't. Sean and I got lots of nice things, as did Oma, Opa, and Aunt Heather. We played some games while we waited for dinner. It was fun.

The next day, Sean's Uncle Norm and family came to see us. Nobody has really seen Nathan much, and even this time, Nathan decided to conk out and ended up napping through most of their visit.

And then it was time to reload the car and start the trek back. Like I said, it all seemed too quick. I did enjoy the 80 degree weather and the palm trees.

When we got home, we got to spend a week and New Year's with Papa and Nana. That was fun. We had the traditional pizza rolls, chips and salsa, and other snacky foods. Abby stayed up with us playing Scrabble (she makes small words, and sometimes needs help finding a spot to put them, but she can play it) until midnight, and when she realized how late it was she was afraid the sun would come up before she'd gotten any sleep and went right to bed. It was funny.

We finally got Nathan's new glasses. I admit, they are bringing back some rough memories for me, and I feel so bad for him. And even crazier is I seem to be reticent about taking him out now because I want to keep him from the stares and comments I got when I was his age. Not that there's much to be done about it for now, other than grow some tough skin.

And just today, my back finally popped pretty good and the pain seems much better. Happy New Year!