One More Time: "Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You..."

Three parties and three birthday cakes later, our Baby Brigid has had her share of birthday wishes. We had the third installment of Birthday Month on Saturday when Grandma and Granddad Downs came over and Brigid's Godparents, Michelle and Fr. John, came over for a St. Patrick's Day dinner of corned beef and cabbage. Yum. It was great. Brigid didn't enjoy it as much as her guests, however, but that's OK. There's plenty of time for this Irish lass to enjoy the foods associated with her heritage but are not native to Ireland -- at least no one I know from Ireland or who has visited Ireland found corned beef to be a national dish. She did get another birthday cake and had another round of singing; I did get a combination of birthday and St. Patrick's Day balloons and we played music by the Glenngarry Bhoys, thanks to Auntie Shell for lending us the CD. Grandma and Granddad have given us a jogger for Brigid. Said jogger has been shipped by has yet to arrive. They also gave her a few board books and a fish toy that has soft fingerpuppets and a plastic fish that "eats" the fish fingerpuppets. Her Godfather John gave her a stuffed giraffe, which she has lugged around by the neck ever since, and the beginnings of a college fund. It was a grand night to be sure, but by about 9:30 I began to feel the tell-tale ache in my lower back that forewarned the pain I'm feeling now. My back went out again. Sometimes it lasts only a few days; last time I had an episode was a year ago at Christmas time and that lasted about 8 weeks. Problem was, I was pregnant then and it made getting around that much harder. I have no such excuse now and I'm waddling like I was last year. It's all I can think about. There's nothing like a bad back to ruin your day ... bad backs and sore feet.


What makes having a bad back difficult is how hard it makes picking up and carrying the baby around. You have to do it, but it's so painful at times, and I worry my leg will give out and she'll drop to the floor when I do. I just hope she lands on me to break her fall. Jack has been suffering along with his own back and leg problems. Had his first physical therapy session today. Hope it works for him.

Another thing that's hard about having a baby and a bad back is how hard it is to get down on the floor with her to play. This morning, I was on the floor and I was playing the John Lithgow CD "Singing in the Bathtub," and she's started dancing to the music.
She recognizes it because Jack and the girls play it for her over and over. But I was having a hard time dancing with her because of my back. But I did my best and she seemed to enjoy her dancing regardless. She and her daddy have a schedule they keep during the weekdays that includes play time, Sesame Street, lunch, Between the Lions, nap, second lunch and by then I'm pretty much home from work. If we do end up putting her in day care at some point I hope he's able to have an easy withdrawal from his schedule. She'll then get used to an entirely different schedule, one that is separate and independent from ours. That's a bitter and hard pill to swallow.