March 16, 2016

Poor Garrett : ( He had to get two cavities filled this morning and he couldn't handle the feeling of his mouth being numb, so he cried himself to sleep in the sun spot of the playroom. Thankfully, when he woke up the feeling was back to normal, but he was a wreck!

January 24, 2016

Ugh! The joys of home-ownership : ( I had just laid down to go to bed when Charlie frantically called up to me that the garage was flooding! The hot water heater had cracked and instead of going into the garage only, it went into the playroom and filled about a third of the room in a matter of minutes. Since we're basically water damage pros at this point, we knew just what to do. Fans to the rescue! We used our steam cleaner and shop vac for over three hours pulling water our of the carpet and dumping the water that was draining out of the water heater. The carpet was pulled up for almost a week so we could make sure it was totally dried before we laid it back down. Home Depot installed a new water heater the next morning and we were back up and running, but it was a total pain!

March 1, 2015

Cowtown Half Marathon

This should have been my race. 

Two days before the big day DFW was slammed with a snow/ice storm bad enough that Cowtown decided to cancel the 5K/10K/Full Marathon/Ultra Marathon, but let the Half Marathon go on with a delayed start time. This is what the roads looked like about 12 hours before the race... ice, slush and awful. Amazingly, they pulled it off and cleared the course!

About 8:10 my corral started. Mile was was a little sketchy with icy patches and trying to get around other runners, so it was a bit slower than I wanted, but everything was working out ok and I hit my stride at mile 2. From them until mile 8.5 I was doing awesome. Even with the slow first mile, I was averaging 8:53 for those first 9 miles. I had run through the stockyards and saw Charlie and the boys cheering for me, which gave me a boost of energy and excitement for the second half of the race.

I knew that mile 9 was a huge hill. As I was running toward it, the girl next to me throws her hands in the air and yells "Are you kidding me? What are we supposed to do!?" and my first thought was "um, it's a hill... keep running!" ... THEN I SEE THE TRAIN. The train crossing arms are just coming down and there are train cars as far as the eye could see. There was nothing to do but stop and wait for it to pass. This was AWFUL for so many reasons. 1) It wrecks your time 2) It messes with your rhythm 3) It was freezing (literally) and within 30 seconds my muscles started to tighten 4) It basically turned into a second starting line for as crowded and antsy everyone was to begin again. I'm sure there are others, but that's enough for now : /

So it finally gets out of the way and the huge hill is straight ahead. It was pretty challenging to get back into a groove once my stride had been broken, and I was COLD. Charlie and the boys were at the top of the hill and waiting to cheer me on so they powered me through, but around mile 11 things started going wrong. 

I was too cold and started losing my ability to focus my eyes, work my fingers, move my mouth to chew my stingers and lick my lips. I walked for a little and almost fell backwards while trying to move forward. I don't know how, but I made it to the finish line. I remember seeing on my watch 2:00:14 (I paused for the train)... but I was significantly slower after starting back up and feeling the cold. Those last four miles were way slower than they would have been if I hadn't stopped moving. 

I basically fell into another runner and then a medic. He took me to the medic tent and they took my temperature - 96 degrees, hypothermic. They covered me in hot water bottles, gave me warm water to drink, took my soaked socks and shoes off, wrapped me in warming blankets and gave me Hot Hands to hold and it still took about 30 minutes to get my temp up to 98 degrees. It was insane.

All that to be said, I still PR'd for this race. 2:02:57 was my official chip time, but I'm exceptionally disappointed and pretty angry about the outcome. I was on pace for a sub 1:57 and that's about what I had expected based on my training. It stinks that the stupid train that was completely out of my control, mixed with the freezing temperatures and physical side effects of stopping for so long, wrecked my chances of making my goal. I'm trying to get over it, but I know that another half is in my future sooner than later. I need vindication!!

March 1, 2014

Sick little Dilly just wanted to lay on the floor. I left him alone for a minute and came back to see that Owen, Eli and Garrett had propped him up on pillows, gave him a water cup and brought him his blankies. Such good big brothers!

August 26, 2013

Poor sick little Dilly. He's had a fever since Sunday and just wants to be held, pretty much all the time. Well, ok, everything else can wait : )

March 26, 2013

"I want gigin nunets!"

May 13, 2012

A few images of our 'drying chambers.' The hallways are reading 95 degrees behind the plastic with the dehumidifiers and fans running, but I guess it's working because the moisture levels are finally starting to come down. A normal wall reads between 20-30 on the moisture scale, full saturation is 300; our walls and ceilings were originally at a 300 but many/most are below 100 now. Our restoration guy is hopeful that by tomorrow night he can start to remove many of the machines. Once they are all gone we can check out of the hotel, get the insurance estimate nailed down and start to make a game plan for rebuilding. As of now, I think we're going to wait until after our summer help has left before demo begins. That way the baby will be a little older and life will hopefully have settled down slightly. Although the hotel is a great setup for us, it will still be nice to know what we're working with and start to get back to real life. Praying that the baby will stay put for a little while longer, but trusting in God's timing for it all!

 

 

 

 

 

October 9, 2011

Poor Garrett. He's had a stomach bug for the last four days and the little guy is pretty miserable. All he wants is milk, but every time he drinks it, he ends up throwing up. He'll settle for snuggling though (and so will I!)

September 9, 2011

Can you tell that no one feels good around here?! It's been a whole morning of PBS and Pedialyte around here and hopefully a whole afternoon of really good naps. We could all use one!

August 25, 2011

We went to Sandy Lake amusement park for Charlie's birthday with the kids. It is only $2 per person over four to get in, so we figured that $4 was worth the risk that the kids might not be able to ride anything. There were only a handful of rides at the park, and even fewer that were for little kids, so we picked one that the boys could ride in a fish and go around in a circle to start off the day. BAD. CHOICE. Within half a rotation, Owen was screaming as if he was being burned alive and Eli had fallen down into the cavity of the fish with only his head on the seat. Talk about unsafe. We tried the boats after that with just as much luck. Owen almost jumped out of the boat into the little canal that it was floating in and Eli wouldn't even sit still for the ride to start. The train was a safe bet, and the merry-go-round ended up being ok too, but only towards the end of the ride. Before we left the park we did have one small success - Eli rode the boat ride all by himself! If I wouldn't have given the rundown of the day, the pictures would almost make it look like everyone actually had fun ; )

September 16, 2010

I wish I could say that Eli is just a natural rock climber... but this is a result of his Pulmicort-induced-rage that has been happening almost every day since he started the medicine. His little body gets so wired and he doesn't know what to do with himself, so when he gets mad about something, he literally climbs the walls, refrigerator, the door knobs... anything that can support his 24 pound frame. I'm not sure what's worse, dealing with a sick child for a couple weeks or dealing with these outbursts from the steroids for the entire winter. Owen, thankfully, has been dealing with the meds pretty well so far, but we might have to reconsider Eli's treatment plan if this keeps up.

September 6, 2010

The first breathing treatment of the season : ( Owen was at the doctor this week to check out his wheezing and horrific cough and it turns out that he has bronchitis, which probably started out as croup on Friday night. He's on two nebulizer meds, one oral steroid, an antibiotic, saline drops and Motrin this week. He's getting pretty good at handling his nebulizer on his own (such a big boy!) but still prefers to cuddle up on someone's lap while he gets his meds. Hopefully this is short lived - I'm not sure how long I'll stay sane with Charlie traveling and trying to take care of one sick kid while trying to protect Eli from getting worse and Garrett from getting sick at all.

June 2, 2010

This was a rough day. Eli, for some crazy reason, has been really particular about the color cup, plate, bowl or utensil that he gets. It doesn't even stop there. As long as I remember (and they are getting something at the same time) I'll try to give him first choice at the offering - which is identical except for the color! - but on this particular day he just wanted the color that Owen had. Here's how it all went down:

Owen had the blue cup. Eli refused the green cup. Eli is hysterical over wanting the blue cup. Owen is now hysterical because Eli is chasing him around crying and grabbing at him. I finally got Owen to switch and take the green cup and offered Eli the coveted blue cup, only for him to start crying harder pointing at the green cup that Owen now had. I couldn't win!

I'm not sure what the issue is, but it can usually be diverted as long as Eli chooses first, but when he decides that he wants to switch mid-dinner when they've both eaten different amounts off their plates, that's where I draw the line. Sometimes, just getting through the day is enough.

May 17, 2010

If I were to name these pictures, I would call them "Finally Content." Owen started with a bad cold on Friday and Eli got it on Monday, so they have been quite the duo all day. Whining, crying, not eating, coughing... and to make matters worse, Charlie is in Dallas interviewing for a job so I'm handling them alone. Exhausting! They didn't want to play with their trains alone, but once I built them a track they finally played happily for almost an hour. I'll take what I can get!

March 18, 2010

I'm so far past the point of caring that Capri Suns are only 10% juice. If it keeps them hydrated, they get a thumbs up in my book.

(Owen top, Eli bottom)

March 17, 2010

Eli can't get enough sleep this week. He woke up from his nap after an hour and a half so I moved him to our bed so he wouldn't wake up Owen and he slept for another hour and a half. Poor guy, but I think he's on the mend.

March 16, 2010

I'm going to save you the graphic image of the day but tell a quick story of how I earned my Mommy Badge of Courage today. Warning, it's about puke, so if you're weak stomached, don't keep reading.

Eli has been sick since Saturday night. It started as a weak little cough and turned into a fever, a runny nose, tons of sleeping, no eating, hardly any drinking, lots of clinging and lots or coughing. He's been a different child since Sunday morning, and not in a good way. We've been doing breathing treatments, Tylenol and the humidifier round the clock, but Broncialitis (different from Bronchitis) is a virus and it just has to run its course. Unfortunately. Owen, through all this, has been totally fine and healthy.

They had been in their room for a nap since 1:00. I heard them still talking to each other over an hour later, but then they quieted down and slept until 4:00. Here's the short version of the story: Owen had puked all over his bed, bumper pad, and self... and then fell asleep in it. He was covered! In his ears, his head, his socks - everywhere. I got Eli set up in front of the TV and went back to give Owen a bath and clean up/wash/disinfect his bed. I got the bath taken care of, put him in new PJs, and set him on the couch to start on the crib. The second he sat on the couch, he threw up again, all over himself and all over the cushion. Eli took one look at him and threw up too. So now there's two messes on the couch, the couch itself and still the crib to take care of. Babies first. Check, got them changed (again) and settled back down. Pre-rinsed the clothes, checked for residual stains before washing and got the laundry started. Feeling pretty good about my progress, I picked up Owen and he proceeded to throw up all over me and himself, again. Pajamas #4 for the hour.

My neighbor, bless her heart, knew that Eli had been sick, so she brought dinner that night for us. At least that's one thing I didn't have to think about! We got the boys settled for bed and finished cleaning up for the day.

Skip to the next morning. Owen woke up and had thrown up all over his crib again. Thankfully, that was the last of the puking and sheet changing for now, but it's been a rough couple days! Owen's on the nebulizer now for broncialitis too, but Eli's whole personality seems to be mostly back to normal. Since he wasn't eating, he's down to 21.5 pounds - the 3rd percentile. We need to fatten that little boy up!

So that was my week in a nutshell. Mommy Badge of Courage successfully earned!

March 15, 2010

This winter/cold season has not been kind to Eli. He's on his third round of nebulizer treatments since Christmas for broncialitis. Usually he sounds wheezy and has a runny nose, but this time he is super clingy, won't eat anything, takes 3-4 naps a day, is coughing, has a runny nose and a fever. He's miserable! Any time I put him down, even just for a minute, he starts crying, which turns into a coughing fit. He's been this way since Sunday, so hopefully we'll see a turnaround soon because I'm not sure how much longer I'll have the energy to carry around my new accessory.