things that make my heart stop

a few years ago a friend gave us a (plastic) tire swing they no longer used. we've been waiting for the right time to put it up...& last weekend was it. & it scares the daylights out of me.

sidenote: i have no clue why amelia insisted on wearing pajamas most of the day.

wes put it up & then was outside playing with the girls, each taking a turn while the other kindly sat on the side of the flowerbed. the sharing part was freaky enough but then seeing them fly through the air on it...i really thought my heart was going to jump out watching them. 

worries included: would either one of them let go of the tire & fly onto the ground? would amelia slip through? would the tire run into the tree? would the large tree branch give out, breaking & falling on them?

to answer all these questions, in order: no, they both have stealthy death grips on the tire. amelia did slip through but only to attempt to make the swing go faster, she was not hurt at all (yet?!). the tire w/ a child on it has not run into the tree; i think it is possible, but not likely. wes says the tree branch will hold, that trees are made to sway, that it's only moving about an inch--i want to get his engineer seal of approval on this one.

we've set up rules for the swing but it still freaks me out...even more than the climbing wall on our swingset. but not more than amelia climbing up to the monkey bars by  herself (she *will* jump all by herself, trying to reach the first bar--missing, but safely falling into her fast-moving-daddy's arms).

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my mom & dad went to a very large grocery store in cincinnati last week (i totally forget what it's called now. help me out, parents) & brought me some gluten free food, including rice paper. the kind that makes spring rolls & such. so after spending 95 minutes in the kitchen prepping for this, everyone came inside to help me put it all together.

& apparently we didn't have the correct ingredients to make fresh spring rolls, so we baked them.

& this is why i'm writing about this under 'things that make my heart stop'...b/c i haven't had a crispy spring roll in 9 months. delicious. i love spring rolls. so yea, i think my heart might have stopped a wee bit after the first bite (or was that b/c i burnt my tongue at the same time?). anyway, we filled them with cabbage, onion, garlic, leftover grilled chicken from dinner last saturday & some other spices. then we made some creamy peanut sauce to go with the spring rolls & pad thai (ahem, home made--that only took 20 minutes compared to the 95 for the rolls--what went wrong?!). anyway, it was really super good & both girls rolled a few of their own (but only amelia would dare eat them).

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adeline is to be picked up by a certain school transportation car tomorrow. as in, i'm *not* picking her up from school anymore & yea, that makes me sad enough that my heart just might stop tomorrow. & adeline is terrified, of course...i guess that driver will have to sit through the car crying & not me, though! (one positive)

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amelia is getting her two year molars in. we had suspected they were moving around this past summer & the doctor confirmed that last week. i had nearly forgotten how grumpy amelia can be when cutting a tooth. plus, we decided to also take amelia's bottle away last friday night...it was spur of the moment, a let's just do it conversation...so it was not such a relaxing weekend as it could have been if amelia was toting around that empty bottle but, maybe better in the end?

anyway, so i was holding amelia after bathtime, walking her to her bedroom & the little ball of grumpiness totally dug her teeth right into my shoulder & bit me. again, my heart might have stopped & i nearly dropped her out of surprise. i know teething hurts but yowzer, so does being bitten by a 2 year old! after she had her pj's on, i was rocking her & once again--she bit me. in the same place! not sure if my heart stopped before or after tears stung my eyes. so i have a slight bruise in the shape of a child's mouth. 

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not sure if my heart stopped from this but...wes signed me up for a massage on saturday. very nice, eh? so i went--of course!--& as the masseuse was talking with me about the amount of pressure to use & i told her about my health shittiness (aka problems) & about the muscle pain/fibromyalgia. she then said i had two options: very light pressure around the neck & shoulder. OR she could work out the knots using harder pressure. she said the latter would probably make me feel like i was hit by a truck the next day or two but that i will feel a bit better later on in the week.

stupid me. i chose option two, let's work out those knots!

i don't think i could lift my arms until today. my shoulders, neck, & upper back hurt when brushing my teeth, laying down, sometimes walking, sitting on the couch, sitting anywhere, sleeping. this is something my doctor wants me to do, have massage therapy at least once a week, hopefully twice a month at the least. what?! i guess i feel a bit better today but maybe that's just b/c my muscles have reattached themselves to the rest of my body after the 35 minutes she spent working them. but really, the masseuse was very helpful (she herself  has chronic fatigue & something like fibromyalgia going on with her muscles). i have never not enjoyed a massage but this comes close to the not enjoying part.

the bummer part of it all is that 65 preciously rare dollars to us right now are gone & the knots are back with a vengeance.