Uneventful

It's been a pretty uneventful week here. I gave notice at Charlie's daycare that he will be ending there in two weeks. They were sad but the owner understands all of my issues and concerns. He starts at Western Learning Center on 4/15. I am anxious for him to adjust...it's never a fun two weeks or so getting used to a new place. At least that's how long it took him to get used to this school after being home with me for 1 1/2 years! We'll see how it goes. The weather is getting warmer but it's been really rainy. I cannot wait for the warmth! Running has been going okay this week. I ran 11 miles on Saturday and it was really great. I was a bit sore today but did a quick two miles on the treadmill to loosen me up. My new shoes that I ordered came in last night too so that should help. This will be my 4th and final pair of shoes for this marathon training. Lately, my feet are very sore and tired so I knew it was time to get new ones. I have been using New Balance 858's and I LOVE them! Expensive but so worth it....no blisters thus far! Last night I was supposed to work but got a wonderful call from the charge nurse saying that our census is low and asking if I wanted off...um yes please! I should save my time for my next maternity leave but it's hard to pass up a free Saturday night! Below are pictures from the last few days. The top two are Charlie and Henry trying out the "Three Bears" beds at the please touch museum. They had a great time there on Friday and we ran into alot of people we knew! He also got a book in the gift shop about firefighters with Elmo as the host...he loves it! The bottom two pics are from dinner last night. We went to Pietro's and had yummy pizza and pasta. Charlie ate more pasta than I've ever seen him eat and had his sunglasses on the whole time! We were planning on going to the zoo today but, alas, it was raining! So we spent several hours playing and singing and taking turns running on the treadmill (Alex and I, not Charlie). Hope everyone had a good week and a relaxing weekend!

Transplant

Just a request for some thoughts and prayers. Tricia is the wife of Nate who is the author of Confessions of a CF Husband. I've been following their story for a little while and check in daily to see how things are. I even sent him some Hawaiian keiki cloths at Nate's request and he helped me out by posting a PSA about my budding business on his blog. I've had ten orders from people because of that. Thanks Nate! So anyway, Tricia is currently in the OR receiving a set of lungs from someone selfless enough to be an organ donor. I am an organ donor, always have been, and encourage everyone to consider this for themselves. She will undergo a tremendous surgery that will eventually give her a set of lungs that are CF free! Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers tonight while you drift off to sleep. Pray that Nate and Tricia and Gwyneth all go home together in the next two months! There is a link to his blog on the left under "Blogs I know".

Deep Thoughts by Sara Cohen

So I went running today, 7 miles, not bad but not fabulous. It was pretty warm and humid out and there were tons of allergy bugs in the air and my lungs are still feeling slightly pneumoniafied (my own word just made up!). But it was a good run and I am looking forward to crossing the finish line at mile 26.2 in less than five weeks! Yikes!

So normally when I run, I literally think about nothing. I may think about the people around me, the scenery, the marathon, but nothing too deep...although I do feel that running is my therapy. No psychiatrist needed, just let me run! Today though, I had some seriously deep thoughts and thought I'd share them, in case anyone ever went through anything like this, in case some stranger stumbles on this blog and is helped by this bit of info, but mostly so I can thank my parents who I know read this.

So while running, I was thinking about the marathon and how amazing it is that a person can run that distance and not die of complete exhaustion, and I remembered when I was a teenager, I used to run 5-10 miles a day on 1 slice of low fat wheat bread, a cup of frozen peas, 1/2 container of fat free yogurt and some jelly beans. I would run and run and keep going on pure adrenaline alone. I was anorexic and had some serious issues with my health when I was a teen. I realized while running today, that the only reason I am alive to try this marathon craziness and the only reason I can run these distances, and go home and eat a big meal and be excited about it, and rather than lose weight in training, I have gained muscle weight, is because my parents saved my life when I was younger.

They questioned me, and bugged me, and put their noses where I thought they didn't belong and eventually hospitalized me. Twice! I was a tough one. I was certain that they were trying to ruin my life, I thought they were punishing me, and I really just wanted to be left alone. They spent more than enough of their money, finding the right doctor for me, and then later going to court when he was logging more time than he actually spent with me. Their hairs turned more gray and they were up late stressing about me for a long time, all the while raising my younger sister, working full time jobs, and keeping the house together. If they hadn't done all of this, and continued to love me unconditionally despite my stubborn and difficult ways, I would not be running, I wouldn't have Charlie and I wouldn't have Alex. I've always been grateful in my mind for all that they have done my whole life but for some reason, today, it really hit me how lucky I was and still am to have them as my mom and dad.

Anorexia wasn't and isn't about being skinny, it's about so many things I couldn't really cover it all in this post. I do believe it is a disease and I don't feel like you can ever be cured of it. There certainly isn't a pill to take to make it go away, and even hospitalization is tricky and isn't a fix. At the worst of my days, I was 40 pounds lighter than I am now. I have a heavy bone structure but 40 pounds wasn't lost in my bone structure, I was skin and bones...I didn't have a period for almost two years, and my heart wasn't functioning properly from dehydration and electrolyte imbalances. I was really sick and even when the weight was replaced, I was not right in my relationship with food...almost ten years of obsessing about food, or lack there of, takes a toll, and this is where I credit my parents again. They really stuck by me. They supported me in going to college, helped me through rough patches, continued to pay for a doctor whom I found and loved and really connected with. I then met my husband who learned of my weirdness on day 2 of our meeting (I had to know if he was going to run off by my insistence on fat free everything!) and continued to love me and tell me how beautiful I was. He, to this day checks on me (even if I don't need it), to make sure I ate, and lets me know how nice I look...and I incidentally weigh more than him and probably always will. That would have been enough to send me over the edge back in my bad days!

Everyone was worried about me getting pregnant and getting big and how that would make me feel. Amazingly enough, I was so thrilled to be growing that little baby inside of me, I have never had a better relationship with food than when I got pregnant and since then. Alex was a huge help through it all but I mostly just loved being pregnant. I would never have had any of this if it weren't for my mom and dad. I really did not want to be helped or saved or anything back then. I wanted everyone to leave me alone and forget about me. Luckily they didn't do that and I am now a woman about to turn 30 (yikes!!!!), working as a nurse in a job that I LOVE, married to an amazingly supportive man, with the most amazing little boy that I grew inside of me. I love it all. And I love my parents for everything they did for me. I am going to run this marathon in their honor. I wouldn't be doing it if it weren't for them! Thank you guys for everything....thank you for being the best parents ever. I hope I can do half the job you have done with my own kids!

Rockababy and the walking Pneumonia

It's been a while since I last posted...we've been busy as usual, and I have been sick. Charlie recovered from his nasty sinus infection rather quickly and returned to his normal self by Tuesday. I started feeling sick the week prior and was sure i had a sinus infection as well while in Florida, so I took the last few days of that week off from running, thinking I just needed rest. I tried running on Tuesday 3/26 and got a half mile and thought I was going to die. I could not breathe, I could not catch my breath, and it was a terrifying feeling. The doctor couldn't see me till April 6th so on Wednesday morning I showed up at the office and didn't leave till they saw me...walking Pneumonia was the diagnosis. I got antibiotics and started feeling better by Friday, although still not 100%. I am terrified that I have now lost all of my training for the marathon. I will try running today for the first time. And I will start out with only a few miles...but it's been 10 days and I am still not feeling 100%, and I still cough when I take a deep breath. We will see! He starts a new daycare in two weeks if I can get the paperwork filled out finally! I am anxious because I know he will take some time to adjust but I am looking forward to a bit more stability with the new daycare as it has been around forever, and has a ton of awesome accreditation from the government. They even have little tiny toilets for the kids to use and little sinks. Speaking of toilets, Charlie pooped on the potty this morning. He's been just a minute or so too late in telling me recently so it's either already in his diaper or mostly there. This morning we took our time upstairs and I watched him for "the signs". He looked at me and said poop, so we ran like heck to the potty (all of 20 feet or so) and ten minutes later we had something to be very proud of! He has had a lot to say lately and at night has been requesting to be rocked (usually he likes to go straight to the crib). He says "Rockababy pease" and we comply because how can you say no to that! Enjoy the pictures to follow:Baby Bode being adorable as usual!


Charlie and "Gampa" playing ball on their deck...

Reading Elmo books...




Charlie in the car on the way to Gampa and Tutu's house with baby right next to him. I asked him what the baby's name is and he said Pat....well alright!
Charlie at our friend's house Saturday night, playing with Quinn's toys.







Edited: I ran the three miles and it was great, no coughing! I feel much better about the whole thing and am much more energized already. It's amazing how much of this training is mental!

Happy Birthday!

This is a big Happy Birthday wish to my baby sister....Hope it's a great one baby!

Planes, Lizards, ER trips...traveling with a toddler

Charlie and I ventured to Florida this weekend. It was great Grandpa Jack's 90th birthday party and we were flying down along with Janice's whole family to celebrate. Alex came down Sat-Sun so I traveled with the little man by myself from Friday to Monday. He was extremely well behaved and slept the whole flight in both directions. We managed to have one beach day, although in hindsight, I shouldn't have brought him out (I'll get to that later). The weather was warm but pretty rainy. Jack's birthday celebration was very nice and he was pleased to have his whole family with him. Charlie and Ethan had fun playing together, and thought the lizards on the playground were very cool, but were both plagued by recurrent fevers. Charlie had his for a while and we made the trip because his pediatrician assured me that it was probably "the viral thing" that everyone had and to call if he was still symptomatic after 7 days. He was, and on Sunday morning, he was still very feverish and not acting himself at all. The Peds told me to take him to an urgent care center but it was Easter morning, so we went to Del Ray Medical Center's ER and they were wonderful. They took us right in and he proceeded to sleep through an entire exam which concerned them and myself alot. They drew blood (twice) and determined that his WBC's were very elevated and his platelets were low (both signs of infection) so they gave him a dose of IV antibiotics to get things started and then sent us home on oral antibiotics. He improved greatly after the IV dose so I was really glad they did that. They said this was a sinus and double ear infection gone terribly bad....poor baby. Here I was bringing him to the beach, on a plane, keeping him up late, asking him to be good. But we are home and he is napping in his own crib. What a trooper! Here are pics from the trip. Enjoy!

The whole family (Charlie is crying and is about 12 hours away from his ER visit)

Playing at the beach with Ethan

Navigating the playground

Looking so handsome but feeling so crappy!



Cousins who love each other

Getting ready to fly home at 5am! Again, what a trooper!

Warning: Adorable pictures ahead!

Baby Bode (or Baby Koa as Charlie calls him...Koa is Christy and Mike's dog...!)

Now, that's cute!

Charlie and his "Gampa"