8/9/08 Skating afternoon

I've been free of migraines for two glorious months....maybe even nine glorious weeks. But it's back today, with a vengeance. Yesterday I felt very, very strange, irrationally tired and feeling like the top half of my head was extremely heavy. Then there was the relentless cold, feeling unable to bring my body temperature up to a normal level. And sleeping badly, restless, with lots of strange dreams.

It all came together today with a brutal headache this morning, at least a 7 out of 10. I'd forgotten how it saps my energy and will to live, depresses me and puts such weight on my ability to function. Every step of the day takes ten times the effort and motivation. It makes the last 9 weeks seem idyllic and perfect and problem-free.

I know from experience that skipping normal things for headaches, though sometimes unavoidable, never helps. So I gathered myself and fulfilled my fun goal for this weekend: take the boys ice-skating!

I hadn't seek Gabriel skate since his week of ice-skating camp, and Julian hasn't skated in months. So it was a bit of a new thing for me to see both boys.

But what fun! It took Julian one time around the rink to remember, and after that, it all came back. Including being able to get up from a fall himself, which is a huge back-saver for me. Gabriel is well past being a rickety first-timer, and showed me his new skills of dips and glides and stops.

Gabriel demonstrates dips:


Gabriel skating fast:


The boys skating together:


I had such a great time with them. This is what I really love about being a mom, doing things with them together, watching them interact, talking excitedly about it together later. I feel like such a "boy-mom" when I'm doing something fun alone with them, and remind myself that Katrina will only enhance the mix...someday.

Gabriel had his second piano lesson this morning, with a second teacher. Already?? Well, we needed a teacher closer by, and this was the first teacher who'd been recommended to us. It went really well, and Gabriel seemed to enjoy it, though he later said he liked the first teacher better. Still, 9am Saturdays are now committed.

I watched some of the Olympics tonight with a clean pajama'd and calm Katrina all cuddled up on my lap -- her part of the cuddle moreso from gravity than nature -- but still, she was cheerful and interactive and very sweet. After she went to bed, Julian took her place, and me and my guys watched the men's gymnastics together. This is fun, I like telling them about the different countries and what little I know about the various sports. BMX biking airs the 16th, that one we're not going to miss!

8/9/08