Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Ghosts of Christmas Past, Part 5

Okay this picture is pretty darn good lookin, if I say so myself. This year I wasn't stressed out moving, and so I decided to stress myself out with the sewing spirit of Christmas. Yes this year's Christmas card torture of choice was the matching homemade clothes.

And, indeed I made all of our matching vests, bow ties for the boys, and a tie for my husband. This was definitely the good old days when I used my sewing machine for more that to hold up my dirty laundry. When I think back on it, it seems like I was a different person.

The beginning of this year I came down with Guillaume Barre Syndrome.

This is a disease that attacks the nervous system by causing the milan sheaths (insulation) around all your nerve endings to dissolve away. This causes extreme pain, loss of muscle strength, and paralysis. (I was so weak, I couldn't even open a bag of chips with out scissors, now that is suffering) I was lucky because I was never hospitalized. It is a cousin to MS but you can recover from it. I was sick from January to August. Kind of hard to say to a 18moth old and 4 year old, just talk amongst yourselves while mom is sick on the couch for eight months. This was the first time I learned the joys of receiving instead of giving. Thank goodness for visits from family and help from friends. The worst part for me was that my hands and feet felt as though they were being slammed in a car door 24/7. Perhaps I needed this experience to better empathize with Jared and what he is going through.

By the fall I was feeling much better and able to help in Trent's kindergarten class every Friday. He loved that, and Jared loved going with me and thinking he was a big kid. And obviously the only lasting side effect of the disease was my delusion that it would be a good idea to tackle this sewing project.

In this picture, my kids are at the perfect age when they were willing to smile. I love this picture. Trent has that squeezable kindergarten face, and Jared has the impish toddler look down pat.

6 comments:

Smart Helm said...

Did u really post this at 12:05AM?!?! Girl, get some sleep.. I think it might help.
I like that picture too... were ur glasses lost, or did u make the jump to contacts?
I'm impressed with ur sewing abilities... maybe we should have a "small group" in RS involved in sewing? ha ha. ya right... maybe when things settle down. Don't bait ur breath :-)

Kristina P. said...

I've never heard is this disease! How scary.

Love the matching outfits.

in time out said...

sad disease...sorry you suffered it. thanks for sharing these pictures. amazing, and fun...

Eliza said...

Again I just have to say, What a beautiful family!

Anonymous said...

Now your getting to when I met you guys. I remember those swell vests! Oh and I still make those hooded towels too. I don't remember if I responded to you earlier and said yeah it was me in the Church News. Good to be in touch!

Nutty Hamster Chick said...

Melanie, I told/asked Funny Farmer to write a post about scheduled posts. That is the secret. Sometimes I can't sleep until I make a post though and have been known to be up at 2:00 am pecking away.

Kristina, yes it is scary, I had never heard of it before I had. Dang I missed out on a change to worry about something.

In time out, wow surprised you know of it. I was very blessed to have such a ligth case.

Eliza, yea we used to be young and cute, now were just old.

Shauna, I knew that was you in the church news. I thought to myself that is my Shauna. Glad you are still checking in. And glad you make the hooded towels.