I used to hear a baby crying while in the shower too, I think that's normal.

Have you tried press-ups? Lay on your stomach on the floor (bed is too soft) and prop yourself up on your elbows. If that helps/feels okay, you can press up on your hands to raise your torso more, kind of like push-ups. But the idea is to keep your pelvis down so it flexes your lower back "backwards".

I went into labor on Leap Day. 😆 Youngest is 8 today on March 1st!

Hello! I had my back surgery a couple weeks ago and on the mend! Feels soooo good to have that sciatica GONE. But I need a new desk chair that will properly support me. I'm short, 5'3", not heavy, and sit in the chair no more than 3 hours at a time. My husband and kids will use this chair too, but we're fitting it to me. Any recommendations? I see Branch chairs advertised online and look nice, but wanted to ask here too.

3 of my 4 kids were conceived during the post-partum-breastfeeding-trying-to-read-symptoms stage. If you're not ready to get pregnant, remove the worry and use whatever bc your comfortable with.

OMG, my son said this to me the other day and it took me way too long to understand it 😩 😅

Microdisc surgery scheduled for Thursday! 😁 In the mean time, I'm not allowed to have ibuprofen. 😫

One way to deal with this is to create Category Groups based on where the money "lives". I would make a Category Group called "Savings" that had your 10 savings categories within it. One of those is "life insurance". The money will live there most of the year, and you will assign money from your savings paycheck's to this Category Group only*. When you need to pay the bill, transfer that money from savings to checking IRL. In YNAB, you'll redistribute (zero out, it will cause that category to turn yellow*) that transfer amount from your savings "life insurance" category into another category that is under one of your checking account categories (perhaps one named "paid with savings" or "pay life insurance". I hope that helps! *Another advantage to doing this is you can match the Available amount in the YNAB Category Group with your actual savings account, and they should be the same. *Yellow categories in YNAB act as a warning. It means "look at me, something may be wrong". It can happen if you don't assign enough to meet your Target, or if you overspend that category using a credit card. If it makes sense for what you're doing that month, it's okay to leave categories yellow.

Consider https://www.nobsweightloss.com/ There's a free intro course and a free podcast, Losing 100 with Corinne. No restrictions. No points. No BS. 😆

Finished The Kite Runner just in time to count for 2023. Now reading the recently released Feel-Good Productivity. Also waiting for whatever fiction book pops up from my library holds next. Hoping to read 24 books in 2024!! Got to 25 in '23, but I had a lot of downtime lately. 🙃

I used to wear contacts. I think anyone that has contacts must have a track record of OUTSTANDING hygiene before contracts are considered. My current teen would not qualify. They're a privilege, not a right. 😆

The Accounting Game by Darrell Mullis and Judith Orloff I'm learning bookkeeping. 😁

Thanksgiving weekend at my mom's house! My family, my brother's family, and my 3 other non-married siblings were there. My mom had somewhere to be Saturday evening. 5pm came around and my brother and I realized that Grandma wasn't home to cook us all dinner! 😆 So the adults had to remeber to "adult" in their childhood home.

I'm so glad you've had such success! Which vertebrae did you have fused? Do you feel like it affects your ability to move or bend or whatever? My doc said fusion was a last resort and "LIFE CHANGING", and it kinda scared me.

You know, I wonder if this is happening with me. Every nurse and doctor I've met, in a world where they see tons of different cases, seems a touch alarmed and very earnest after talking with me and reviewing my files. But the "let's try this and see" is the mantra. I'm so lucky to have my in laws come and help with the kids, but this can't go on for months.

Small update: I've mostly been marking time these past two weeks. New appointments are just scheduled so far out... Finally got into see the referring doctor for the epidural yesterday at the pain management center, and the procedure is scheduled for next Wednesday! The Gabapentin hasn't been helping, so the doc upped the dosage and the frequency. 😳 But I am off the hydrocodone, except I take it if I'm leaving the house and have to move a lot - which is just to doc appointments. I'm currently managing the pain with a Tylenol/Advil cycle, heating pad, and just staying in the two mildly pain-free positions I've found. Hopefully the Gabapentin will kick in and I can reduce all that too. Or the epidural will just be amazing and fix everything. 🤞

Love my Stratos! https://www.amazon.com/Shark-AZ3002-Self-Cleaning-Neutralizer-Technology/dp/B0B2VTZ432/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?crid=351CMS7QR5PDW&keywords=shark+vacuum+cleaner+stratos&qid=1702509895&sprefix=shark+vacuum+cleaner+str%2Caps%2C188&sr=8-2

Another alternative, if you're okay with plastic, is Duplos. We've gotten a TON of millage out of our Duplos.

Congratulations!!💕

Had the MRI follow up this morning. Doc says my L4/5 disc is in really bad shape. He's recommended strick bed rest, possibly with epidurals to help with pain management. I'll be starting the Gabapentin today in conjunction with the hydrocodone. The next step is to wait and see if any improvement is made on bed rest - he made a follow up appt for 2 months out. Otherwise he recommends meeting with a spinal surgeon to explore options, either digging out/trimming the disc down, or fusion of the vertebrae as a last resort. I guess the goal here is for me to move as little as possible to have the discs and nerves calm down. The pain management is just to allow for true rest. I understand this, but have a hard time with more pain management and not knowing if I'm further irritating my back, 'cause you know, it won't hurt to move. I guess I just have to force myself to NOT MOVE. Any insights or recommendations?? Thank you all for your help - I'm trying hard not to get overwhelmed!! My in laws are here taking care of the kids and the house. DH has been able to take off work this whole week to help me, but thats not a long term possibility. Lots of changes ahead...

Got the MRI done today. Results and follow up early Thursday. I've decided to wait on the Gabapentin until we know more about the source of the problem. Thank you all for your feedback and help!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you. So the doc prescribed hydrocodone 7.5-325 up to 4 a day and Gabapentin 300mg x2 a day. I'm a little concerned since the hydrocodone makes me pretty sleepy to begin with. Do you, or anyone, know more about these? And I should have the MRI tomorrow, bht my insurance is old fashioned and is taking forever.

Hello! We had quite the Thanksgiving around here... You see, my left hip got out of wack back in January while I recovered from jaw surgery. I had to sleep sitting up for a week and it seems we didn't have a suitable chair... So I went to physical therapy to get everything back into shape. Fixed my apparent leg length differences caused by my hip and possible bulging disc which was causing sciatica symptoms. We made great progress and I stopped going when I was mostly healed but... The sciatica is always kind of there and I have problems if I sit for too long. NOW on Tuesday, getting ready to head to the in laws for the holidays, my hip started acting up - so I did some stretches I learned in PT ans SNAP! Something popped, huge pain, couldn't move. Went to the ER that night. Nothing broken or out of place (but that's what they said before and then my physical therapist popped my hip into place so it must have not been in place?). Received pain meds, steroids, muscle relaxers. --- Okay, here's the main point --- Tomorrow I have an appt with the orthopedic surgeon, I'm hoping to get an MRI go get more information. I'm can't walk or sit or even really lay down. The only painless position I can find is with my torso on the bed and my hips and legs hanging over the side. I have NO individual mobility and crawl around the house with DH's help to get to the bathroom - which is a whole other Ordeal. I just don't know what to do next. The pain isn't subsiding, and I'm hardly sleeping. I'd just like to know, do any of you have any experience or advice for me? Thank you!! Signed, Getting desperate

It's okay to stop!! A baby step down might be to still track what's cleared and what hasn't, especially if you write a lot of checks. I don't reconcile by hand, but I'm in my online banking accounts at least once a week. No, I don't find any errors, but we've had our card numbers stolen quite a few times, so I like to check in with everything. I also use YNAB for budgeting and they have a reconciliation feature, so I let the computer calculate it for me. Love seeing that checkmark!