Walking, running, & wheezing....oh my!

Walking

Lucy is walking all around the place. She really likes to pivot around & around. Maybe she will be the basketball player, & Landon will swing the bat like Daddy.

Running

Saturday is the Papa John's 10 miler. It's the final leg in the Triple Crown of racing here in Louisville ( 5k,10k, & 10 miler). They all take place before the Mini and full marathon. Apparently, it is also one of the top five 10-mile races and a top five largest 10-mile race also.

I had planned on running 9 miles on Saturday, but came up about 1/2 a mile short. Calves cramping. Hips & pelvis hurting. =( But I did run the hills through the park, and hopefully that will help me on Saturday! We live about a mile from the park, so it's easy to run to it, head up and around it, & then down Southern Parkway & back.

The race ends in Papa John's stadium with Panera bagels, Heine Brother's coffee, fruit and energy bars, and Papa John’s pizza!Yes, I'm really running for the pizza!

Wheezing

We haven't had much sleep over the weekend. Landon has been up coughing, burning up with a fever, and just acting plain miserable.Luke took him to a walk-in at Walgreens yesterday, and we found out he has an ear infection. They recommended that we go on to the doctor today. Verdict: pneumonia. We did a breathing treatment in the office and he responded well to it after listening to his lungs again. He also was given steroids ( AHHHHH!!!!! that makes him SO mean and angry and mad), but he spit them out. The next try was a shot, but Mommy didn't tell Landon why he was laying on his tummy. He did not like the shot, and he grabbed around to yank it out of his hip. We brought a breathing treatment machine home, and will follow up at the doctor in a month to see if any of this is related to asthma and allergies. Here is my big boy at the doctor.

Prayers for Lucy Lu not to get any worse than she is. We're still at runny nose and cough with her, but I'm hoping it's nothing. Cousin Elyssa is currently at the doctor getting her breathing on too :/

OH MY. . . .

5 more weeks until the Mini-marathon!



Parents of Preemie day

Today is the first Parents of Preemie Day! Go and read the blog post HERE about dealing with the silent disabilities that come with some preemie babies. It is written by Nick Hall, 1/2 of the couple behind Graham's Foundation , and are behind starting the Parents of Preemies Day. There is so much about his post that I love. He talks about the disabilities that you can't 'see' with a preemie.There are also so many 'side effects' on the parents of preemies that some people just don't understand.

There is obviously no way to understand it if you haven't been there. But  there are people who chose just to not try to understand all  and it is hurtful to any momma or daddy. There is ( or was with me) so much guilt with the premature birth. In our case, it was directly because of my body, and I felt so bad for anything that my poor sweet 2 pound baby was having to endure and would later in life encounter. It didn't matter how many people--even those who had experienced it -- told me it wasn't my fault, it is hard to get over and realize. I know I had a lot of shock with our situation because of the seizure and the multiple doctors that had to see me over and over. Every time one of those doctors came in, or every 30 minutes when a nurse had to draw my blood to make sure my liver and kidney were going to turn the right direction ( Monday, Tuesday, AND Wednesday), it was all like a flashback of feeling dizzy and lightheaded and panic would set it. Every time I would see my sweet little baby for the first few weeks, I'd get hot and dizzy and have to sit down. I know some of that was due to my blood pressure being so high still, I was on BP medsj for about a month afterwards.  Every time I saw her and would start to panic things would flash into my mind, bad things. Things as little as learning disabilities to as big as getting the phone call that something had gone wrong and she had not made it through the night. We were very fortunate that we were mainly a feed and grow baby! We had the 'normal' apnea, 2 holes in her heart, and she took a good long time to get up to 3 pounds once she got to her lowest at 2 pounds 3 ounces. I simply can't imagine those I know who dealt with more. And if you've read this before, you know how awful that made me feel to feel sorry for myself and our situation. All of this together made me crazy. I couldn't go in public places without Luke. And even when Luke was with me, my breathing was short, the room would still spin, my heart would beat crazy, and I couldn't handle it. I couldn't talk about Lucy. I kept throwing up. Finally enough people said JUST GO TO YOUR DOCTOR! I CAN'T IMAGINE HOW YOU ARE DEALING WITH THIS! So, I finally did go on anxiety medication. Life has been good in that way for a while now, and I took myself off my medicine a few months ago ( against some others' opinions). The only bad experience I had had was 2 weeks ago when I had the stomach virus. I was sick, dizzy, hurting, and all I could think of was laying in the hospital bed hearing what the doctors were saying to me. My head was pounding. My back was aching. The last time I was sick and dizzy and in pain, I almost died. I most definitely had some panic and anxiety and thought that somehow they missed something and my liver or kidney was failing and I was going to die.Go ahead and laugh, I know it's silly now, but it's reality. And it's all part of my 'side effects' from having a premature baby.

There were also people who called us selfish. Yes, for real. They thought we were selfish because we weren't coming out in public. We told everyone what our discharge doctor recommended. Actually--she said stay out of public for a year. She said Lucy didn't need to go shopping or to church, she was too little to even know what was going on anyways. She also said if Lucy gets RSV in the next few months, she will be straight on a ventilator. WHAT?! Lucy never had the need of a ventilator since birth, why would we risk a virus that could kill her at its worst? We settled with having people away until April--just 2 months. If I could tell any person ( who hasn't had a preemie) one thing, it would be that just because the preemie is out of the hospital, does not mean the baby is the same as a term baby. This poor innocent baby who spent only 29(or whatever applies to the preemie) weeks in that womb -- it takes 37 weeks to be ready to come out, by the way-- did NOT develop the same on the outside! As wonderful as technology and doctors and nurses are, God made the mommy's womb exactly what a baby needs to develop. So, please don't compare what your doctor said about your term baby to what the NICU doctor has said to the preemie baby.

So there is much more that goes along with a NICU experience than just tubes and wires. I posted a few weeks ago that Lucy is still delayed with her speech, but her motor skills are all up (and beyond!!!) her age. She is still having some tremors when she wakes up, so we have a neurologist appointment scheduled. Our issues are simple compared to others, but to us (or me) they are big. Any hurt for your child hurts, every mommy and daddy knows that. She is now 17 pounds and 8 ounces and 28 inches long! Her big head brain is still growing and is in the 50%. We don't get she's so little! as often anymore, but every little does she say ______ or can she blow kisses stings just a little. I need to work on enjoying all her little stages right now, and not focusing on what she can't do. She is basically running around! All of her therapist have said when they start walking, they start talking and that she won't be able to say the words until she understands them. Any day now she will blow us away again and point to me and say MAMA! I will be beyond excited the day that she knows I am MAMA. I have a funny story about my flight to Vegas and Baby Shannon I will have to write about later.

Right now, I've got 1 with a fever, 1 with a cough, and 2 ( Luke and me) who need to get ready to go see The Hunger Games!

If you know the parent of a preemie, tell them today that you are recognizing the courage and commitment it takes to stay strong and resilient when premature birth turns a family's world upside down.

Happy Parents of Preemies Day!

Back home

Luke and I made it back from Vegas Monday night. He had a good time at his meetings, got to room with his boss from Smyrna, & hang out with his friends from that district as well. By the time I arrived he was sick, had a fever, had a headache, and just wanted to sleep all 3 days. While it was a lovely 81 degrees in Louisville, it ended up in the 40's in Nevada by the third day I was there . 

 I was VERY discouraged & upset & sad & mad that I didn't get to lay out by the wave pool in their sandy 'beach', float around in the lazy river, and swim in the pools. When  I arrived on Friday, we did spend about 3 hours by the pool. Mandalay Bay had a St. Patrick's Day festival all weekend, and there were live bands on the pool stage. Hey , I can handle 65 degrees and wind as long as I have a lay-out chair and the sun! So we laid out and read and slept until we were shivering. We went out to eat for dinner all 3 nights & watched a lot of basketball. Saturday was spent in the room mostly--Luke sleeping & me finishing Hunger Games. I did also get my 6 miles in on a treadmill =)  I was worried how bad my first longer run would be after having the stomach virus. Yes, after I had it once, I got it AGAIN on Wednesday. At least  I didn't gain weight on vacation! I hadn't had much of an appetite until after we got back in town. My run was good! I watched the second half of the UK game and the first half of the UL game while running.

We saw a few of the 'must see' things,

we ate a some yummy places,

and I threw $3 in a slot machine as we were heading out at 5:30 AM to go to the airport. I have no clue how they matched up, but I got $22 out of it!

We didn't really sit at any tables and gamble, mainly because Luke was sick, I forgot how to play, and we just don't have money to throw away on entertainment right now. But I did put some money on 3 basketball games. Didn't put too much on them, $10, $10, & $20, but won all 3. I had Marquette to win, UK to beat the point spread, and Louisville just to win. It paid out enough for dinner one night ;)

We had a long day of flying back to Kentucky, and were completely exhausted! We only slept about 3 hours the night before we left. I tried to sleep on the 3 hour plane ride and during our 3 hour layover, but didn't have too much luck. I think I have caught back up finally!

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Since the trip to Las Vegas was mainly because of Luke's business trip, I will just say that I am BEYOND happy today. Luke's job has a good bonus that comes along with it based on sales plan and several numbers, twice a year. We were not anticipating anything at all because of when he got promoted and the store he moved to. BUT I will say that I am so very happy today! We have a lot of worries that we can erase now! I am so happy that with this job, our student loans can be paid off SO SOON. I mean, we could pay them off like SO SOON, and not use the entire 35 years I always thought. I'm so thankful that in the next few years ( depending on how the store does) that we could quite possibly have no car payments & no student loans. That's like $800 more a month. That's like $9,000 more a year. That's like a Disney vacation, a mommy/daddy vacation, new clothes, Derby tickets, all the therapies Lucy needs, and more savings each year!

You can make fun of Luke's face in all of these pictures. He most likely had a fever & was trying to look half way excited to be awake =)

Lucy & life & losing our lunch

15 months old!

Yes, sweet Lucy is 15 months old today, March 13th. She goes for her well visit tomorrow. We still miss our Dr. in Nashville A LOT! It's hard to replace someone who has been there with you from day 1 of your first child,through the scary ( he came in right after my seizure & checked on us both daily) through surgery(Landon's tumor), and through the joyous times of both kids. He knew us, and he seemed to truly care about us and our family.But we are making do ;) Everything seems to be moving along with Lucy. We will be asking about some tremors she still has, and seeing if she recommends a neurologist. We discussed it one time when she was also staring off, and the thought was that if it was seizures that she'd outgrow them. The OT suggessted we just ask again.   Even though she is 15 months old, she will be 13 months ( adjusted) on the 22nd. We will keep up the adjusted/corrected age thing until she hits all of her milestones or until she turns 2.Those first 10 1/2 weeks that she was out of my belly don't count ( I have to remind myself of this all the time). That was time for her to continue to develop and grow and get fat. We were just blessed to be able to experience it first hand ;) Have YOU ever seen a baby with 1 nipple, and see it develop outside of a womb? ;) 

I think she actually REALIZED that she was waving today, and why she was doing it. She waved at 2 ladies as we were leaving the Y tonight, and just kept waving, and kept staring at her hand. She was in awe of herself. Hopefully soon we will have more of these moments! We also need to her to be able to express ANYTHING to us. There still isn't any pointing to her cup or paci or toy when she wants it. We have more jibber jabber, but it's just jibber jabber.We KNOW when she wants to eat, but I'm not sure anyone else would know that eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee and throwing a fit means she wants food NOW. And this is just about 24/7. MISS PIGGY. We sometimes have a mama, and have dada A LOT, but they are still not to call one of us or even to point towards us as a recognition. She is mimicking some sounds, and there are some sounds we have never heard from her. She clicks her tongue all day if you do, but if I look at her for hours and say MAMA, she just moves her lips open and closed :/ She doesn't kiss, or even lick when you ask for a kiss. If you ask her to give you her baby or ball or paci, she doesn't understand. She most definitely doesn't understand 'No'--which is really frustrating =) Landon fully understood that by crawling age, I believe. I think she recognizes the voice change when we use a stern voice, and she smiles and continues =) I'm also not sure she even knows her name is Lucy at this point.

But she is AMAZING. And she looks like a hillbilly with her crazy croocked teeth up top! She has 4 up top, wth massive gaps and facing crazy ways. And she has the two center bottom teeth, and a molar that popped through this week. I need to start her braces fund now!

Elyssa & Landon did pass the stomach bug onto me. Thankfully I got my 8 miles run on Saturday ( so proud of doing it all by myself and finishing after dark!), then I showered and spend the next 36 hours in bed. I didn't get to go help Sunday night like I had planned, nor did we get everything done that we had planned. I've eaten about 2 real meals since then, and I still feel pretty gross. Landon still doesn't seem all the way back either. I just still feel like I need to lay still. Unfortunaltey, I got to bed after 2 am this morning, and had to get up around 6 to take Luke to the aiport. Then I had to go get my review at work, and attempted to work out since the kids were already in Y world. I was NOT able to run at all ( after taking yesterday off too), but got about 35 minutes of good cardio and some weights in. We came home & ate a little bit . FINALLY I was able to lay down for about an hour before one of the kids was up, and it was time to head back up to the Y for me to teach for 2 hours. Now I feel gross again from eating, but am so glad Tuesday is over! I'm hoping this sickness won't get me too far off track from my training for the half marathon. I've got 6.5 weeks left!

2 more full days, and then I am off to join Luke in Vegas! I am so ready to lay out Friday! It seems it will be hotter here Satuday & Sunday though. We're praying Lucy doesn't catch this bug, and neither does my sister. She watched Landon the 1st time we left him, and she caught it while we were gone. We had all just had it. I'm hoping Luke doesn't get it on his trip either! And I'm really hoping I don't get it again.......because Landon got sick again over the weekend with me! I've been up far too long, and have a little boy laying next to me who cried and cried and cried at bed time. hysterically. I finally gave in when he came in our room to use the bathroom. He is finally asleep and is about to be transferred to his bed so I can get some sleep. Good night!

C is for COOKIE!

Free cookie monster painting. Free cookie cake. Free Sesame Street Live tickets! ! !

Starting out.( He was outlined)

Finishing him up!

My niece, Elyssa, and me after her painting!

Thanks Q103.1 for the free things!

Elyssa and I added up our free things for today, and we came up with a total of over $80! YAY!

Weekend

http://www.fashioncappuccino.com/2011/07/have-a-playful-weekend.html

Weekends usually mean nothing around here. Luke usually has Friday & Sunday off, so we don't have the typical 'weekend'. This has made it hard for me to be able to do my long runs on Saturdays, and also has made it hard to do it outside. He does have this weekend off though! I feel like we have so much to do before he leaves for Vegas on Tuesday morning. #1-- we MUST get a gate up at the top of the stairs. They are the stairs that go down to the basement, and are metal or iron or something tiny & skinny ( the rails). They are also uneven; we couldn't easily connect a gate to them, and no way would we screw anything into them. Luke has an idea. We will see. #2-- Laundry. We got behind this week with Landon getting sick and throwing up all night Tuesday and part of the day Wednesday. He still isn't eating much. Hopefully he will be back to full strength tomorrow, although he is wanting us to hold him a lot. So sweet. #3--clean up all the random little (and big) things that are just sitting around the house. Gross. #4 -- shopping! There are a few random things that  Luke needs before he heads out of town. And of course, I need to find a dress to wear to match the shoes my sister got me for my birthday back in September.

Tomorrow morning I am taking my niece to paint at Uptown Art. She has been asking to go since I went again last week. So while she was home sick ( with the stomach virus a week ago), I was searching on my phone for a Zebra picture to show her. I somehow came across a page to enter a contest to win a free cookie monster painting. And if you got picked to paint Saturday morning, you are also eligible to win backstage passes to Sesame Street Live. I totally forgot about it, but Luke got a voicemail last night saying to show up at 10AM with a child for the session! I'm really hoping she doesn't get mad that it's Sesame Street, but I really can't take my 3 year old. I know how crazy he gets just at Home Depot workshop, and would hate to have to leave early, or not finish, or make a huge mess, or make a huge scene, and not win the backstage passes!

This is my painting from last week. I'll be taking it with me to Orlando when we go next for my newest cousin to have in her nursery! Hopefully it matches OK.

Anything else over the weekend?I also have about 8 miles to run Saturday or Sunday. The Mini-marathon is only 7 weeks away from tomorrow!

Of course it is March. This means basketball, basketball, basketball!  Louisville is playing in the Big East championship against Cincinnati. GO CARDS!

Sunday evening we're volunteering for my Dad's basketball team. He is the assistant coach for the women's team at Spalding University, and they host a Bracketology event at the YUM! Center on Sunday night. Luke is staying home with all the kids though.

Busy, busy weekend, and I am starting to feel anxious about leaving Lucy for the first time. I'm trying to get a lot done before Luke leaves on Tuesday morning so I don't have to do it by myself once he is gone. Here's to hoping to get everything accomplished this weekend!

I should also mention that besides the painting at UptownArt, I also won a Baby Signs DVD from the Preemie giveaway at It's a Preemie Thing. I also won a dress (I'll still have to enter the auction) from Smocked by Stellybelly.

Two last things-->I know I've posted this song before, but Landon loves to sing along to it when it comes on the radio. We were in the living room the other night, and I had to pause the TV so everyone could hear him singing it while playing on the floor. Can't get enough of it.

                                            

Here is a video of Lucy being silly.She has also started walking, like .....a lot of steps! This is why we MUST get that gate up ! I will have to get a video I have of her on youtube so I can upload it here.

She will be 13 months corrected age on the 22nd. On the 13th, she will be 15 months old. She basically isn't in need of Occupational Therapy anymore (!!!), but is still testing delayed in speech. She has completely mastered the test for 6-9 months, but is 'delayed' in the 9-12 month tests ( she did 2). So we will test again in April (her 6 months are up in May, and I believe she would be re-tested then anyways), and see if she is still behind in the same area. If she hasn't caught up, we talked about getting a Developmental Therapist to help out some. Lucy isn't recognizing things or really being able to tell us things. She squeals a lot. She does hold her hands up when she wants you to pick her up. She doesn't point to her cup or paci or mommy or daddy when she wants that. If you ask her where something is ( cup, paci, mommy , daddy, landon, blakie, or mostly anything) she just smiles at you =) She is starting to FINALLY get 'nose' and 'hair'! So, if you are around me, please don't think I'm crazy for how I am talking to my sweet little baby. We are going to work on labeling everything while we talk about it, pointing as we say it, and pointing Lucy's fingers as we say them too. Maybe I haven't been doing it as much as I think I have? There is always still that guilt in the back of my mind that knows she wouldn't have had this delay had she not been early. And she would not have been early had my body not gone crazy ! Kids are mean. I just would hate to think of anyone making fun of her as she gets older because of things she has no control over. We'll continue to help her the best we can! I think she is slowly getting everything, and she will continue to amaze us as she grows!

It was 70 degrees on Friday.

It was 40's Sunday & raining in the evening.

It started snowing around 10 PM.

Monday morning:

This is out our back windows.

What we've been up to.

We FINALLY have wireless internet in this house! Yay. Doing everything on my phone was getting so annoying, and taking SO long. I love that I can lay in my bed with my laptop and finish something in 10 minutes, where I was waiting and waiting and waiting on my phone forever. I need to go take my phone to get looked at, but we also don't have good reception at the house. You'd think we would have awesome reception up here on top of the hill.

Friday = tornadoes! The news channels had been talking for a few days about how bad the weather was going to be. Thankfully we have a basement. When it came time for sirens to go off, we had blankets to wrap the kids up in, flashlights, candles, and a few sentimental things down there ready. I took Lucy's NICU box I have of all her things, Landon's scrapbook from maternity-christmas, and Landon's piggy bank ;) Of course, we stayed upstairs watching out all of the windows (some were on the deck). We've got a GREAT view of almost every direction.We can see UPS, the airport, the interstate, and downtown off the back side of the house. It actually didn't even barely rain during the warning at our house, it just split and skipped around us.  During the whole morning, Luke was calling & emailing back and forth to employees, assitant managers, district managers, and anyone else who needed to know or ask anything about his store and the safety of his employees. He had to make sure they had supplies ready to go in the aisles. He had to make sure the employees knew what to do when the sirens come on ( even if the cusomters are trying to come in during a tornado warning and seem not to care & get angry). The tornadoes that hit in southern Indiana are closest to his store and the Clarksville, Indiana store.

Today he spent the day making sure his store and the Clarksville store had enough employees from other stores coming to work with them, getting all of their donations together, taking supplies to Henryville and Pekin, and trying to take care of his assistant manager whose house was hit. If you don't live with a store manager of a top 5 retail business in the USA & top 10 in the world,then you probably don't understand what they 'at home' life is like.

Every minute of being at home, this thing goes off at least 1 time. Every time there is a big sale in the district, the DM emails every store manager, and then there are a lot of replies. Any time the store managers in the district want to talk smack about UofL and UofK, the thing rings and rings and rings and rings and rings. Any time ANYONE in the district or region needs to tell the manager something ( questions about hours or hiring , who is coming to walk the stores, service complaints, why a ceratin overhead is at a certain #, which store is going to beat who and make that big sale today, who just sold a $50,000 kitchen,who can transfer a certian sku to another store.....) the blackberry goes off! So, you can imagine how cramped Luke's fingers must be after these past 2 days!

Speaking of HOMe DEPOT, make sure you go the 1st Saturday of every month to the kid's workshop! It is normally  between 9 AM & 12 PM. TOTALLY FREE! Your kid gets a HD apron to wear every month, and then gets a pin to put on the apron after they complete their project. Some stores also have coloring pages and certificates. Luke actually NEVER told me about this until this past summer. He would  just completely forget until they day of. But, Landon now has about 8 pins on his apron and has made a race car ( today), a Valentine's box, a snowman napkin holder, a picture frame, a shed/bank, a helicopter, and pencil box, & maybe a bird feeder (?). His apron is in the garage, but each pin has a picture of what they built for that month. Next Month will be a window bird feeder. Each kid gets their own kit, gets to wear safety goggles, and use a hammer! There is also sometimes glue, and there is paint most of the time too! We love it--and not just because it is 'daddy's work'. PS-->There's also usually popcorn popping on Saturdays on an endcap nearby.

Landon also had his last basketball game of the season today. Oh my goodness. 3 year old boys are MOODY! Out of 8 kids, only 2 have not cried almost every game. Ok, so mine only cried 2 times, but he does like to run behind the goal to try to climb up it. The main 2 that didn't cry are girls. Those little boys want their mommies on the floor with them, and refuse to go on the floor half of the game. But they can all shoot good. My poor little boy FINALLY just hit the front of the rim last week. We are allowed to lift them up at 3 year old level, but we got tired of that half-way through ;) He does love to run up and down the floor, and every time we pass the High School where they play at, he reminds us that is where his 'baksetball' game is and how he loves it.

We also went to see The Lorax tonight. LOVED IT! Krispie Kreme sounded good on the way home =) 

And during all of this, my Grandpa has been in the hospital with gallstone & pancreas issues. He has had 1 procedure done, and they are awaiting another.

My dad has also been in the hospital from an erupted artery on or in his spleen which has caused a blood clot in his spleen. His blood pressure has also been very high, and he has been in a lot of pain.

 My niece ( who lives in our basement) had the stomach virus through the night Thursday and into Friday morning. She is finally feeling better, might have overdone herself today riding her bike3 miles while I ran, and she  passed on a doughnut after the movie!

There is still no answer as to what has caused the spleen issue with my dad, and as of ysterday 1/3-1/2 of his spleen is dead. The doctors are not planning on removing it as of now. They are continuing to do tests--several blood disorders and cancers have come back negative so far. Keep both of them in your prayers!

I think that wraps up what we've been up to the past week. Oh, and I've also been thinking about.....

Luke heads out the 13th for Store Managers meeting, and I will be joining him on the morning of the 16th! This will be my first time away from both children. This will also be my first time away from Lucy since we brought her home. Luke went to NC the week she came home, and went to Atlanta back in September-ish. I wish we could fly someone out with us to take care of them, I just can't imagine something happening to them and being so far away. I'm not sure that I have slept-in in over 3 years, as in waking up when I want and not to get up with a child. I just want to sleep. And I just want to lay out. I've been checking the 10 day forcast, and it seems like it will be low 70's! I went to Vegas one time before, and there was like a record high in the 90's =) It was this same weekend in 2007. Luke got me a new swimsuit(!!!!!), so I'm ready to go!

Luke must have fallen alseep talking to Landon before bed because I hear snoring coming from the room. I think I'll just shut my door a little to block it out, and wake them up in the morning!