Family Alive

Well, today was a bit comical.  I suppose I could have expected it after the events of the weekend.  Brian spent Saturday at Samford directing the Science Olympiad State Finals (which were a huge success – probably the smoothest it’s ever run).  Analise went to see a Miss PattyCake show with her grandparents in the morning, while Josiah and I relaxed and got caught up around the house.  In the afternoon, I took both of them to a friend’s 3rd birthday party and to Sonic for a quick dinner.  While they were both in the tub, I noticed Analise was breaking out with little pink spots all over her chest!  I had a panic moment when she started coughing, thinking she might be having an anaphylactic reaction, but she had just been licking bubbles off her fingers.  I got both kids out of the tub and gave her some Benadryl before calling the nurse.  The spots faded, and the nurse said not to worry and to keep giving her Benadryl as long as she wasn’t sick otherwise. 

Sunday morning, though, she threw up just after she got up.  I took Josiah to the early church service, while Brian took care of Analise.  She was perfectly fine all day.  No fever, no more throwing up, and just a couple tiny spots.  I had some "me" time on Sunday afternoon, on a little spring birthday shopping trip at JC Penny’s big sale.  After dinner, Analise started breaking out again, this time as Brian was watching her.  He was pretty alarmed to see how fast it happened.  We gave her Benadryl again, and by this morning, she was only a tiny bit spotty. 

We had been planning on visiting my friend, Kathy, and her kids Megan and Chase, today to do the thread Easter egg craft, and I’d been looking forward to it.  She said as long as Analise seemed healthy, she didn’t mind us coming.  Josiah was grumpy before his morning nap, but after he woke up, we headed out for a fun playdate. 

The craft was fun, though the girls didn’t want to get sticky from the glue-y thread, so mostly I crafted.  Josiah got a little grumpy, so while we were eating lunch, I started to give him some fruit puffs… but he threw up all over.  Poor guy just wanted to lay on my chest the rest of the time, so I chatted with Kathy while the girls played a bit longer. 

Funny playtime story… Analise has been wearing big-girl underwear for about a week now, with no accidents.  While she was upstairs playing, Megan came downstairs with a pair of her pink (4T) underwear, saying, "Analise wants to wear my pink underwear."  We tried to convince Analise that her Dora underwear was more exciting and appropriate because it was HERS, but she’d have nothing to do with it, and of course, Megan was campaiging that Analise wear her pink underwear, too.  So in the end, Analise ended up wearing Megan’s pink underwear.  After a little while, Megan and her brother came down telling us that Analise’s pink underwear was wet.  Of course, we thought she’d had an accident, though she’d just go to the bathroom when the first underwear exchange took place.  When Kathy went up to check on Analise, she found that Analise was indeed on the potty, and she hadn’t had an "accident" exactly, but she’d missed the potty a little and the pink underwear had gotten wet.  Thankfully, the original Dora underwear was dry, so she got to put it back on, grudgingly. 

Finally, we decided that poor Josiah deserved to rest at home, and we packed ourselved up to go.  As I went to start the car, I found that it was dead.  I’d left the lights on.  Goodness, this was becoming quite an adventure.  Thankfully, Kathy’s husband works from home, and he found the jumper cables and got me on my way in less than 5 minutes. 

Halfway home, Analise started to tell me she had to go potty, and I begged her to hold it until we got home.  Josiah was getting grumpy again, and Analise started complaining that she had an "itch".  When I glanced back at her, I saw patches of spots sprouting up on her arm and shoulder.  ARG. 

We made it home, not without a lot of fussing by both kids, and I managed to get Analise on the potty in time.  When I got Josiah, though, he was unhappy and not ready to be put down.  He wailed while I raced around trying to get Analise off the potty and get some more Benadryl into her.  He was warm, and when I got his diaper changed, I found he had a fever of 101.  Poor little guy.

My wonderful mother-in-law rescued me to hold him while I put Analise down for a nap and headed back to the doctor for myself.  My sinus infection is not cleared up, and I’ve still got an ear infection. 

The day has ended quite nicely, though, with dinner at Toones – steak on the grill.  Analise and I made a chocolate birthday cake this morning, and she sprinkled Easter sprinkles all over it for me, and insisted on the only candles we had… a "2", "3" and a "4".  It was the most enjoyable birthday cake I’ve ever made myself:) 

Hopefully, I’ve got a full night’s sleep in front of me (most night’s for the past week have been!).  Maybe we’ll wake up spot-free, and everyone will be healthy. That would be wonderful.  I’ll let you know…

Here are some photos from the past couple weeks. Enjoy! 

Analise rocking Hawaiian-style with her true princess Dora doll.

Analise in rain gear today to go outside for "just a couple minutes" (her words) to play on the swingset.

A team photo at the famous Dreamland Barbeque in Tuscaloosa celebrating some good race results.

Click on the picture above to see an annotated version with the names of everyone in the picture.

Kristine and I at the beginning of "Margarita Night" for our last home church meeting.

Me posing in front of a bicycle seat advertisment.

Lastly, a catepillar hotel we found on an evening walk through the woods.

Besides the fact that I’m still dragging from my sinus infection, it’s a Darn Good Day.  Let me chronicle it for you…

• A full night’s sleep, waking up on our own time, with just 2 of us in the bed.  That’s wonderfully restful! (That’s 3 full night’s sleep in a row, though probably no one but me is counting!)
• After that great sleep, I felt good enough to start my day by 6:15 or so before the kids got up, with a leisurely shower and even time to blow-dry my hair.
• A few quiet minutes for my quiet time.  Man, it’s been a long time since I was able to read my bible and have a few quiet minutes to pray BEFORE the day really got going!
• Time to make myself a cafe-caliber coffee drink a lovely skillet breakfast for Brian before the kids got up .  
• Analise woke up dry at 7:15 and ate her whole breakfast.  Josiah woke up at 7:30am, happy and hungry.  
• Got the kiddos all dressed and ready to go, Brian off to school in plenty of time.  Josiah and I took Analise to school before heading off to the doctor.  He’s been a little feverish and tired with this cold, and it turns out he’s got an ear infection that’s almost gone.  No antibiotics… he’s a trooper.
• The doctor’s visit was quick enough so that I could make a quick stop at Michael’s for some Easter craft supplies.  Man, I could spend a lot of time and a lot of money in there…
• By the time we were done at Michael’s, though, Josiah and I were WIPED OUT and I was feeling pretty bad from being sick.  He crashed for a nap, but I headed to Analise’s class to help her teacher out for an hour and a half.  
• Her class of 7 two-year old’s was VERY well-behaved.  Analise was very good, and there were NO tears by anyone in the time I was there.  Quite different from home…  But her teacher said she’s very very well behaved, and very smart.  I knew the smart part, but I’m so glad to hear that she’s well-behaved when she’s with others.  Makes me feel better about my parenting to know that the drama and moments we have at home are not extending to other places.  I guess she’s just testing her boundaries with us, and we’re learning to make them more concrete.  Funny moment… we were on the playground with another class.  There was a big orange plastic boat-thing, that rocked and had seats in it.  We had played on that.  But a little boy kept telling me about something orange.  I couldn’t make it out, and a couple kids kept pulling me over there, and finally I heard the boy say, "orange slide".  I realized the kids were trying to tell/show me that the boat flipped over to be a slide!  How many two-year olds does it take to commuicate something like that?!?  Obviously, 5-6… too bad Analise wouldn’t translate for me!
• We also had the a/c repairman here to check our system since it’s been on for days not really seeming to cool the house.  Thank goodness the system’s under warranty, and it was a quick fix for no charge.  
• My dad got great news about a job!  

So all in all, it’s been a Darn Good Day.  I’m ready to be done being sick, though.  I’ve got a sinus infection and a mild ear infection, and I came home from the doctor drugged up – a shot and 4 prescriptions!  Hopefully, this will keep me from getting the nasty cough that always plagues me after something like this.  It’s been a long week of being sick, but I’m so glad I’ve had good sleep at night!

Oh – Josiah note… he’s started waving a little, and yesterday I found him putting his blocks in a box!  He’s a genius! 🙂

It seems like the past few days have been full of small victories.  Analise has decided she’s ready to be done with diapers – FINALLY – and she’s telling me she has to go potty.  She’s even dry in the morning.  I’m very proud of her, and we haven’t had an accident since late last week.  Yeah!  And even better, my little ones are sleeping well.  WOOHOO!  Saturday night, Josiah went to sleep at 6:30, only waking once, and we had to wake him to go to the bike race Sunday morning.  Sunday night, he woke once, at midnight.  The last two nights, he has slept completely through the night, from 7pm to 7am or later.  Yeah!  I’m feeling much more rested.  Except.  That I came down with the sinus junk that poor Analise and Josiah had last week. 

Yesterday was a comedy of errors trying to find a walk-in clinic to see a doctor.  It finally convinced me I needed to find myself a regular doctor, whether or not they’d see me soon for whatever is ailing me now.  Thankfully, I’ve got an appointment today.  Have I mentioned before it’s really hard to be a sick Mommy? 

But I did get caught up on a little bit of computer stuff yesterday, so here are some Josiah pictures from the weekend. 

Josiah’s first taste of Wisconsin cheese.  Really… he was much more impressed than the photo shows. 
(It’s notable that later in the day, he also experienced the ultimate "fake" cheese in a Cheeto. 
No, I don’t regularly give my baby Cheetos… he stole one from Analise when we were out at Roly Poly for sandwiches.)

I’m not sure how he got in there…

A couple from the weekend watching Brian race.

And after the race…(this is how I felt, too)

It sure was nice to have my hubby around last week.  *sigh*  I miss him.  2 sets of hands are always better than 1 when it comes to 2 kiddos…  Anyway, we’re doing fine.  I’m feeling draggy and congested from whatever Analise and Josiah were passing around last week.  Josiah’s a little grumpy and still congested.  Wish we could shake this junk! 

Brian’s got a busy week preparing for the state finals of the Science Olympiad being held at Samford this weekend, of which he’s the director.  I feel like we’re transitioning into summer and it’s not even March… it’s like 85 degrees outside! 

Analise is creating things with PlayDoh, and I’d better get to making dinner.  Parmesean Crusted Tilapia with Roasted Garlic Sauce.  Yum!

I’ve uploaded a quick recap from today’s road race … I finished 3rd in the 1-2-3 race behind two very strong riders. I’ll post more details tomorrow, but I wanted to upload a couple pictures tonight.

Here I am in the 9-man breakaway early in the race.

And here is my faithful, beautiful support crew! It was hot!!!

We had a great time with Robb while he was here with us, followed by an excellent pasta dinner where we planned out our race strategy for today (Saturday), and then celebrated Spring Break at church. Here are the pics!

Robb and Josiah after yummy Southern Chinese.

Brent planning out strategy on a napkin.

Fusion, Spring Break Style

It was a tough race today, but I had awesome fans. Check out my two littlest fans!

I’ve included my heart rate data below. It’s a little tough to make out, but HR, altitude, and speed are all shown on this graph. The altitude peaks outline the 23 laps of the course. Interestingly, my altimeter isn’t particularly accurate as some laps I appear to have gone somewhat higher than other laps — even though it was the same course each time! If you are looking for trends, then note that my heart rate starts out particularly high but then gradually drops before peaking again when I broke away with about 6 laps to go and then soloed in for the last 4 laps. Below the graph, I have listed all the summary information for the graph.

Duration 0:56:05   
Sampling Rate 5 s 
      
Energy Expenditure 709 kcal 
Number of Heart Beats 9604 beats 
Minimum Heart Rate 102 bpm 
Average Heart Rate 171 bpm 
Maximum Heart Rate 188 bpm 
Standard Deviation 9.0 bpm 
      
Minimum Speed 12.1 mph 
Average Speed  23.0 mph 
Maximum Speed   34.8 mph 
Distance  21.5 miles 
Odometer 700 miles 
      
Minimum Altitude  95 ft 
Average Altitude  140 ft 
Maximum Altitude  175 ft 
Ascent 1450 ft       

How is this for a crazy intersection??? This was in Tuscaloosa on our way to the crit.

I’m sure you’ve always wanted to know… how in the world are Peeps made?  The answer can be seen here…

How Marshmallow Peeps are Born

Crazy how this week has flown by!  Spring Break has worn me out!  It’s so lovely to have Brian around, and though we’re getting a few things done, my normal things are sliding a bit.  I have been cooking, hence all the "What’s Cookin’" posts.  I’m really trying to cut back on the number of times we eat out, and it’s really helpful to be planning meals ahead for the week, so I make sure I have all I’m going to need during my one (or less!) trip to the store each week.  Hey… it almost sounds like I’m getting a little more organized!  Horray!

I just looked back on this post of Easter ideas that I shared last spring.  Maybe I’ll inspire someone to try them, or at the very least, I’m going to make an attempt to do them, since I’ve got 3 whole just over 2 weeks until Easter.  (Right?  Or is it 3?  I honestly can’t keep track of the days.  But however many it is until Easter, it’s ONE LESS until my birthday!)  **Note to organized self…Add the ingredients for Resurrection Cookies to my shopping list. 

We had an overnight guest last night, a friend of ours from California who is moving out to Connecticut to start a non-profit organization.  It was so fun to catch up with Robb and to hear his vision for their organization.  We love having friends come visit.  Who’s next???

Tonight starts another busy weekend.  We’re invited to a pasta dinner with Brian’s cycling team, and then we’re going to church for a young adult gathering.  I wonder how my kiddos will handle a busy evening!  Tomorrow, Brian’s racing in Tuscaloosa at 11am for a criterium, and on Sunday he’s racing a 70 mile road race.  Whew.  I’m tired just typing it all.  We’ll check back later…