A look at the year leading up to his second birthday:

The solution?  Combine daddy’s hobbies and activities into the awesomest man bag ever seen.  Here’s the rundown:

The bag.  It turns out, in Colorado, the Fishpond flyfishing bag for dad is akin to mommy sporting a new Coach tote.  Who knew? (thanks Danielle!)  Here’s the one I chose while building Prince Charming the ultimate Daddy Diaper Bag:   The Fishpond Waterdance Guide Pack.  This pack will hold all of daddy’s Taking Care of Baby essentials without making him look like he lost a bet.  It’ll also transition nicely for a day on the river.  Multi-purpose!  Another thing dudes love!

Now for the goods.  What to put in the bag to make it an entertaining gift, and still useful.  Here are my picks:

(A big thanks to my sounding board** for helping me come up with some of these items.  You guys are, as always, amazing!)

• Earplugs
• A quality nose plug.  For those stinky situations that can’t be avoided
• A portable changing pad, diapers, and wipes.  To accompany the aforementioned items, of course.
• A change of clothes
• Snacks for dad
• A Silencer  (commonly known as a pacifier.)
• An instruction manual
• Rattle and teething toys, for whoever needs them more

So, what do you think?  Did I forget anything?  Is Prince Charming set for Day-Out-With-Daddy success?

**Sara, Bree, Janelle -you guys are amazing!  Thank you!

We’ve got tons of photos to pull off of the camera, but thanks to a photo session compliments of Colorado’s (and soon to be Idaho’s) favorite photographer, here is a preview:

A few of my favorites so far:

“Well… I guess this means I’m not getting a boat…”

“Wow, you go from zero to bitch in NO time these days!” (oddly enough, this was said more in awe than in frustration. I still wasn’t thrilled.)

“I sure hope this baby looks like you, but gets my brain.”

“Lets call it ‘Pinto Pequeño‘.  Yeah, that is good.”

Time With Friends and Family
Decaf Caramel Macchiatos (on ice)
Being Auntie to THE COOLEST Boys.  Ever.
Sodas From Sonic
Christmas Decorations, Music, Treats…
Blue Skies
Naps
Oreo Blizzards
Being A Little Ridiculous
Laughter
A good Book By The Fire
Jammie Days
All This Snow (see above, and above)
Cute Little Onesies  and Blankies
My Camera

Things That I Don’t:

There Is Never Enough Time With Friends & Family
Headaches
Back Pain
Icy Roads
Being Tired. All The Time.
Grumpy, Grinchy, Or Greedy People
18 Bathroom Breaks A Night
ASPCA Commercials, And The Need For Them
Being Cold
Runny Noses

Team Jones got knocked up!  Amazingly, during my first trimester, my back pain decreased significantly.  Was it from Regenexx or the pregnancy hormones?  We may never know, but it was great to feel a bit better for the first time in four years!  Unfortunately, the pain in my back was replaced by that whole perpetual hangover feeling.  Not so fun.

Luckily, my first trimester passed, and the sickness eventually went away.  Only to be followed a few short days later by a nasty bout of H1N1.  I couldn’t even tell you if my back hurt during this time.  Everything hurt.  For about five weeks, I alternated between completely delirious and convinced that death was imminent.  And I was totally okay with it.  I was miserable!  Two solid weeks of the flu gave way to sinus, ear, and eye infections followed by bronchitis.  Not the most fun I’ve ever had.

Luckily, this too passed.  Because of the flu, I hadn’t put weight on as quickly as most pregnant women did.  In fact, I lost a bit of weight for a while.  At this point, I was still beyond thrilled that my back was feeling so much better than I’d anticipated.  Unfortunately, as soon as my abdomen started its rapid expansion, the back pain came back with a vengeance.  I have an amazing chiropractor that I’ve been working with to help ease the pain, and recently got an SI brace to help with some extra pain I’ve been having around my SI joint.  This is an area that Dr. Schultz expressed concern about throughout my Regenexx experience.  He mentioned that a good portion of my pain may have been coming from there and not just my disc that was being treated.  I can never do things the easy way!

Anyways, the Regenexx updates are going to be giving way to baby updates for a while, as it is just too hard to tell what is working and what is hurting.  I really don’t want to say the procedure did or did not do its job with an extra variable interfering.

This week, we had a HUGE snow storm that allowed us to have a few extra days at home this week.  I took a break to watch the dogs enjoy the winter wonderland that our back yard has become.  Just thought I’d share a few of the shots:

“Take me out to play NOW! I don’t care that it is ten pm and FREEZING outside!”

King of The Hill

Pissed.  Just Pissed.  Kenai is not a fan of the cold!

Play?

15 minutes after Kenai ran in to lay by the fire, Coop STILL didn’t want to come in.  This was the face I got when I told him he didn’t have a choice.

Prince Charming: “Not with those shoes.  You look like at any moment you could click your heels together three times and get the hell outta here.”

Me: “good, thanks”

To date, I’ve seen an impressive improvement in my pain levels. (see previous posts for the beginning of my bad back saga, if you’ve missed out..)  I’ve cut my pain medication usage by over half, and have a much greater tolerance for activities that six months ago would have put me in bed for days at a time.  Although it was expensive and took me away from home for six weeks, I still feel that this procedure was worth it.  I also think that I’d have started seeing benefits sooner if I’d have been able to continue with IMS treatments.   Unfortunately, the treatments were very costly, and I was unable to find anyone within an hour of where I live to continue with the treatments once I returned home.

I have not gotten a follow-up MRI.  I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this, but I am not a fan of the MRI.  Not even a little.  I have to be medicated to be stuffed into that tube, and its just not something I’m interested in doing right now.  I’m judging the success of this procedure purely on the way I feel right now, since that is really all that matters to me.

Changes I’ve Noticed:

• Decreased pain
• Increased tolerance for riding in the car
• Increased tolerance for exercise
• Better sleep
• More positive outlook
• Still paying off a big huge bill

Changes I’m Still Hoping To See:

• No pain.  At all.  For at least one whole day.  (seriously, I can’t wait for that day!)
• Even more improvement in my tolerance for car rides, exercise, and sitting still for long periods of time.
• That huge bill I mentioned?  It’d be nice to have that gone.  All gone.

All in all, Regenexx has not been the magic fix that I’d hoped for, but it has helped me quite a bit.  Chronic pain is frustrating, and is often underestimated by people.  It is miserable.  If you know someone that is struggling with chronic pain, encourage them to get help.  No one should live in pain if they don’t have to.