A friend of mine from high school posted this as her Facebook status:

“You can’t live tomorrow today. You can’t spend tomorrow’s money, celebrate tomorrow’s achievements, or resolve tomorrow’s riddles. You only have today. Live in it. Don’t heavy today with yesterday’s regrets or bog it down with tomorrow’s troubles. Fill this day with Jesus, and give the day a chance.”

And then one of her friends replied,

“how can i fill the day with jesus? he probably doesn’t even have an x-box.”

And when I told my husband about it, he sent me the link to this:

This is a great video about multiple sclerosis and shows some ways to help people understand what it’s like living with the symptoms of MS. As I watched I kept saying, “yes, that’s just what it’s like!”

I have to admit I’m looking forward to going back to work and the Land of Normal, but we’re having a lot of fun these days just hanging out at home with the family. In particular, we’re watching a lot of Tigger & Pooh. It’s Luke’s favorite show and he asks for it all the time. And thanks to Grandpa he knows that with on-demand cable we can watch it anytime we want. Normally I would be irritated by the constant requests but Tigger & Pooh is the one kids’ show that doesn’t annoy me. Tigger is my favorite. You’ve gotta pay attention, but he says some downright funny things.  And the theme song is kind of catchy. If you were a fly on the wall at our house and you had a nickel for every time you caught us humming or singing the song, well, you would have a lot of nickels.

Mike and I do an okay job of singing the theme song, but I think Luke does the best job of all. Take a peek:

Tigger and Pooh from Mindy Richmond on Vimeo.

We’re home now. All settled in. What can I say about Natalie Joy? She sleeps a lot, as newborns do. She sleeps heavy during the day and light at night. Just like in the womb, where she was very active in the evening when her momma was trying to sleep. During the day she’ll sleep long stretches in the crib but not so much overnight. Those are the times I keep her snuggled close to me and we sleep together on the couch.

She’s doing very well with bottle feeding. Every 3 – 4 hours, it’s a schedule I can certainly keep up with. She is always happy to take that next bottle, and she finishes it each time. We’re not surprised that she’s such a good eater. She comes from a long line of good eaters.

There’s a whole different dynamic here at the house. Most of the time it’s just me, Mike, and Natalie. Luke has been with Grandpa for much of the time. It helps to have him cared for while we are in these early days with Natalie, but I miss him. I don’t feel like I’m adjusting all that well to the new dynamic, but I know with time I’ll start to find the new normal.

The injections for the MS are going much better than expected. I haven’t experienced hardly any side effects, and with the auto injector they gave me the actual injections are pretty pain-free. I think what’s hardest for me at the moment is the slow realization that these injections are indefinite and are a permanent part of my life now. Three days a week, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I need to take the medicine whether I feel like it or not. After today’s injection I certainly did not feel like taking any more injections ever but thank goodness I have two days to muster up the courage for the next one. I think I’m going to have to make sure I have a few people close to me holding me accountable to sticking with it, at least until I get used to it. I’m told I’ll get used to it eventually.

I’m trying to simply enjoy this time with my new little girl but I have this anger looming in the background. I’m angry that I have to be dealing with this damn MS at a time when I should be on Cloud Nine. I am having a hard time focusing on the Joy in front of me. Perhaps if I just let the anger out – in a healthy way of course – it will quit the persistent tapping on my shoulder. I’m not sure what letting it out would look like so for now I’ll use my fall-back distraction – TV (lovin’ the DVR). Although it does help to focus on the positive. This precious, adorable, sweet video for example:

Luke and Natalie from Mindy Richmond on Vimeo.

We love Rocky movies at our house. Luke has especially taken a major liking.  So we thought it was plenty appropriate to dress him up as Rocky for Halloween. He’s a dead ringer, don’t you think?

And here’s the little Rocky Balboa in action:

Rocky Balboa, Halloween 2009 from Mindy Richmond on Vimeo.

This baby is laughing hysterically – and when I say hysterically I mean borderline demonic – and yet I will dare to say that if this doesn’t get at least a chuckle out of you, then you have no soul.

Ask Luke which Willy Wonka movie he likes better, the old or the new, and he’ll say the new – cuz the dancing is so much better!

Misheard Lyrics – Pearl Jam – Yellow Ledbetter:

This kid totally loves to dance, and he apparently digs the Black Crowes. If you listen carefully you can hear him singing along.

There is no remedy for his cuteness.