Thursday in Austin

Well it looks like we will be heading home on Saturday. That is the good news. The not so great but we will deal with it and be thankful is that we have to be here one week a month indefinetly for treatment. We will have to be here the first week of September we will drive down Labor day and then have appts, Tues, Wed and Thurs with treatments. This new doctor is very aggressive which I like. Bradens pills, supplemenst etc are up to 40 some odd a day now starting tomorrow so we will see how that goes. He had a new medicine starting this morning but he had an allergic reaction so they changed it. Glad we were here for the allergic reaction. Tomorrow is Britt's last day of camp and the camp tournament so she is excited. I am excited to be going home Saturday and trying not to be overwhlemed about the prospect of once a month for who knows how long.

Pics

Changing tunes to share some pics needed a break tonight from thinking of medical issues. Britt is so enjoying her basketball camp this week. So glad she is getting the opportunity. Today she got autograph of Bruce Bowen Spurs #12. So here are some pics from camp and a snap shot of Brae.

Attitude adjusted

Okay yesterdays post I was frustrated and down. Today I am back to being so overwhelming thankful that all we have to deal with is what we have to deal with. I lost touch with that for a short while but I amback where I need my perspective to be and we will keep going. Brae already has the new doc and staff in love with him. The doc said that he just was so funny and had an unmatchable personality. So true and I am so grateful for it and for the fact that we are able to keep searching for treatments and ways to help.

Frustrated

Had several appointments for Brae. Very frustrated right now. They are not doing the procedure to clean up scar tissue because of an infection that has to be cleared up first. The rheumotologist and me butted heads big time. The nuero was great as always but still very frustrated with things the new Nutritionilst was very nice really think I will like him, the autism specific doc so far I am disappointed but maybe that will change. I will see all the docs several more times this week except the rheumo doc which was definitely a mutual decision on her and my part.

Brae is handling things well. I am a little frustrated but trying not to be. I will give more details later too but just wanted to touch base.

Monday

Testing part is all done, we will start getting results tomorrow. They decided to do a PETscan which scared me but he said it was simply because it was time to do it not because of a specific reason. We have 4 appointments tomorrow. We should know then about procedure, and how long we will need to be here. Hopefully will know more.

This weekend we spent at Sea Wolrd fun and sun. Still can't get my laptop or Britt's going so no pictures yet.

Britt started her basketball camp today and she got Best Camper of the Day! There were about 150 kids and only about 15 girls. She is the tallest in the 10 and under group. I have some pics but of course can't load them as of yet.

Made it

We made it to Austin I am having trouble setting up my wireless on my laptop so having to borrow my aunts computer.

The drive to Austin was good. Britt was so happy to get to stop and spend the money she has been saving at the American Girl store in Dallas. Austin traffic was terrible as usual but we made it to my aunt's Friday evening. They are out of town all weekend so we have the house to ourselves. We spent the day at Sea World we are all tired got a lot of sun but had fun it was just me and the kids.

Doctors appointments start heavy on Tuesday so we will enjoy this very hot but fun weekend before that. Britt will start her basketball camp on Monday. Tomorrow we are hitting Sea World again since the passes we got from the hospital were for 2 days we are going to use them.

I ran this morning, whew humidity and hills about did me in but it is good to run a different course.

Now I want one

My friend Kim had a neat underwater digital camera today. I told Matt now I want one..lol. It was neat. The kids loved it. Here are a few pics she took.

One of those weeks.

I can almost picture the rain cloud right over my head like in the cartoons. Or at least that is what this week is feeling like. Just a sampling of some of the things of the week so far:
* I lay out something for dinner out of the freezer that is in the garage and apparently do not close the door good. Hubby finds it the next morning totally defrosted. So get to cook lots and lots of meat..ugh.
* Central air starts having problems. Because that is so needed when it is 103.
* My attorney friend I do some freelance work for left town for a weeks vacation. Leaving me in charge of his elderly mother whom the kids and I go and visit often anyway. She develops some acute infection in her jaw and is taken into the hospital where I have been having to spend lots of time and make all decisions since I have temporary power of attorney.

And really those are just a few of the rain drops that have hit me in the head this week. Then at 2am this morning our security alarm starts going off jarring me immediately awake of course. After hubby checks everything and calls the company turns out there is some kind of back up battery in the attic that needs changed(a battery type that you can only by through them or maybe radio shack). We didn't even know there was a battery up there. So instant jarring awake headache. Now insomnia.

Okay so that is my whining post. But I am thankful because first off hubby caught the food before it was ruined, the air was fixed for a very minimal price by a friend's husband, my friends mother is doing well and he has told me how much he appreciates it and I know he really needed a break. Also thankful that it was just a battery that made the alarm go off. We are all safe and I need to just hold the umbrella steady and let this cloud go on past. I am in a metaphor mood...LOL. I have not packed a thing for Austin yet and we leave tomorrow morning early early.

5 miles and lyrics

5 miles this morning. I didn't run it all but now I have the distance so I will work on my pace and time. I plan 5 miles till September then 6, then 7 in October, and get to 8 end of October first of November. The race on November 16 is 7.5. I think I will stay at 8 miles I can't see myself ever wanting to run more than that. Of course 3 months ago I would have said I didn't want to run a mile. So now I will continue to work up on my 5 miles.

Hubby had put a bunch more songs on my mp3 player. I had been trying to think of ones. I had tried some of the running pages but a lot of those are too hard rock stuff, or lyrics that I don't like. So we started finding more 80's 90's stuff to put on their that I like. Well I remembered doing the 6th grade talent show with some friends to the song by Olivia Newton John "Let's Get Physical"...we were all in our workout clothes doing jumping jacks, etc. Okay now I listen to that song and it is so not jumping jacks they are talking about...what was my mom thinking letting me listen to that much less sing it in front of people. Eeek. No way would I allow that. Of course back then I don't think it even registered to me what it was about. I must be getting old because I was thinking about my favorite song from high school by Tiffany and I was like eek that is so not appropriate...so definitely signs of getting old!..LOL

Getting ready for Austin trip

A pretty laid back weekend here which is always nice. Especially since the next few weeks will be a whirlwind. We leave the end of this week for Austin for several appointments with Braden. Some are with our already established doctors some are with new ones. The neuro will look at the scar tissue issue and make a final determination on that. We will be visiting several other docs and some of them I am really looking forward to the input. Hubby won't be traveling with us it just couldn't work luckily I have a good support system down there with my aunt and uncle being close. Britt will be attending San Antonio Spurs basketball camp during the week which will be great for her as she will not have to endure all the sitting and waiting of doctor appointments.

Of course getting ready for the trip is always a little stressful. We do plan to have some fun when we are there. We will get there Friday and have testing for the neuro, then we get passes for Sea World from the hospital which is always such a treat for the kids. We will use our passes over the weekend and be ready for doctors appointments, etc to start on Monday. If all goes well we should be heading home in about a week after arriving.

The kids have lots of change to turn in at the bank today they have been saving that will give them some spending money and take away the asking Mom for things and save my budget that I will have us on. I am a little concerned on how much we will have to eat out with Braden's dietary restrictions but I am sure we will handle it, and he is handling the diet changes as he does with everything - a wonderful attitude and lots of laughter...I have said it before and I am sure I will say it again I am so blessed by his easy going attitude during anything he goes through.

Better start this busy week I have already warned the kids it is errand running day. Britt immediately started a list and Brae immediately grabbed his throat and said it was going to kill him....oh those two so night and day.

School Room

I put everything on the shelves in the homeschool room last night. This is our first year to have our own room. Thanks to hubby who completely gave up his office space and is now in a corner in the master bedroom. We love the school room. I think it is going to help so much as well. We made it work not having one but I think we will be able to do so much more having our own space. Here are some pics of it. Now I just have to get all the books gone through and lesson plans made.

All done shopping!

I now have all the supplies for school for this coming year. All curriculum has been purchased, art supplies, fun add ons all done. Great feeling on that. Not so great feeling is that it is all piled on a table in the school room where it needs put on the shelves and needs lesson plans made. At least the purchasing part is done.

I always get so excited about starting school. Finding new ways for the kids to like school. Of course my son is a little bit of a challenge...did I say little challenge I think that is quite an understatement where he is concerned..lol. However, even he thought some of the stuff I brought in from the big sale yesterday at Mardel's looked fun. Or as he put it "it might not kill me"...but might and will kill him are different and a big improvement from him..LOL.

Running

I feel like I am finally back after my muscle pull. That was not fun. Stretching and warming up are now much more important to me than they were. I did my 3 miles this morning. Now I am going to work on my pace and endurance on the 3 miles for the next week or so then start adding. My goal is to run 1/4 marathon in November which is a little over 7 miles. I think this is a reasonable goal that is attainable for me. I have found not to set those huge long term goals shorter works better for me.

It amuses me that people say I have inspired them. I so don't look at myself that way. However it does make me smile and maybe put a little more run in my step the next day when I am thinking about it.

Some have asked how I got started well here it is. January 2 I decided I was going to lose weight I said it was to be healthier but at that time I didn't yet have the proper mindset I was still too hung up on the scale. I watched what I ate, but I didn't really exercise regularly I would more play at it here and there. In May I had lost about 25 pounds but I really wasn't feeling better. Starting mid May I was talking to a friend who is an inspiration to me and she had started running. I was like okay I might enjoy that. My first day out I huffed and puffed out 1 mile of walking. However after I felt pretty good. I continued knowing I had to keep pushing myself. I worked up gradually first working up to walking a mile easily, then 2 then adding running in and then walking until I could run 3 miles. I never understood the term runners high because hey this is exercise and believe me I am a couch potato. But there is such a thing as a runners high and passing that finish line on the 5K was a just wonderful feeling of accomplishment. It was not an easy path believe me I wanted to quit so many times, I had weird issues like my toenails would bleed, muscle aches things I had to push through but the end result is so worth it. Now I feel awful during the day if for some reason I did not get to get out that morning.

My next race is August 16 it is a 5K my goal is to finish it at a better pace than I did my first one on July 3. After that I will be running in September another 5K and continue to work up to the quarter marathon in November.

Running is fun never thought I would say that but it is. Also my health has improved soooo much my blood pressure is the lowest it has been in years. I am weaning off some blood pressure heart medication successfully.

There is a lot of fun events as well. I am getting my kids involved in the kids run in Tulsa, OK in November it is with the marathon events. Cool Running is a site where you can look up events for your state. Here is a begin to run article.

13 years

13 years ago today (despite the fact that the time stamp on the pic says different..LOL...just one of those little wedding day glitches).....

Britt loved hearing me tell about our wedding day last night, and all the little tricks my brother played on us that day. I loved telling about it.
Happy Anniversary Honey and yes I would do it again in a heartbeat!

He was just a little too excited

Last night Britt had started sorting her books, getting rid of younger readers, making a stack of ones she didn't like, ones that she thought her brother would, etc.
Told her we would take them to the book shoppe or put the large sets on ebay.

This morning I told Brae that he could go through and clean out his books too. I should have known by his "really?" that I had said the wrong thing. I walk by his room and he is literally pulling every book he owns into a laundry basket. I said "What are you doing?"..his reply "Getting rid of my books". I said not all of them, no you have to keep some books. His response "Aw man I shoulda known it was too good to be true".

Weekend Wrap Up

Not too much to report for this weekend except it went by entirely to fast.

Friday night hubby and I went out for an early anniversary celebration. Our actual anniversary is Tuesday but we will be having fun at the waterpark with our home school group then. A middle of the week anniversary is hard anyway. So we had a nice evening out. We went to the new super Center WalMart they had opened their gas station that day and had a special of $3.59 a gallon on gas. People were lined up for 2 miles. We didn't wait in the line but it was quite a site. The kids spent the night at mom and dad's and we weren't suppose to pick them up until about 1 on Saturday so we had a very relaxing lazy Saturday morning. After picking the kids up and eating a late lunch it was home to cheer on our nascar favorites.

Sunday was church and ready for the week. Did get in the pool with the kids for awhile. My leg is still not healed. What a muscle pull that turned into. I did get out and jog/walk 1 mile this morning. I guess I have to get it strengthened back up.

Britt is blowing through her sets of American Girl books. I have started yet another way to try to motivate Brae to read. I have now wrapped a present up and on the present their are 10 names of books with a place for initials. After he has read those 10 books and they are initialed then he gets to open the present. We shall see if this helps to get him motivated. As he puts it "I just don't get this pressing me to learn stuff"...that boy.

It was bound to happen

Yesterday I had a doctors appointment with my heart/blood pressure doctor. One of the topics was my running. Thankfully he was fully behind me running. We talked about stretching, training, etcetera.

He said that I was doing great and that usually the first 3 months is when you got the injuries. He said that I was over half way through with that so I was probably going to do fine from here on out.

Well he should have just tripped me going out the door because that statement had the same effect.

Last night before bed decided to take the kids for a walk. I had stretched out with the kids using and showing them the new stretches the doctor had taught me. About half way through Brae says "lets race" so him and I took off. I felt the muscle pull immediately. By the time I limped home I already had a knot in the upper inner thigh muscle. Matt had to literally help me to the bed last night. I slept with ice on it. I can move this morning but it is very slow going. So the run is off for this morning and I may just called Dr. S and tell him he jinxed me with his comment..lol.

Blessing

I haven't said much about it but the last probably 4 weeks have been even more stressful than the usual medical issues, etcetera. There was a chance that we were going to have to move to PA if hubby was to keep his same job. Otherwise he would have to turn down the offer and we would have 6 months to find something else. We had both been feeling okay about it then read an email yesterday and both got a little freaked out. We have been praying, friends, and family has been praying. Today hubby got the call, his job is not affected and to keep up the good work! So thankful. I think hubby just looked so much more relaxed after the call. Unfortunately one of our good friends who lives in Texas is affected it seems so that is not good. Right now we are concentrating on having that particular burden lifted. I sooooo didn't want to move back to PA. We may still eventually move from where we are but not quite so far away and not right now.

Another Wednesday...Another Cake

Time for swimming again, this time we are swimming and celebrating Zoey's birthday. I asked her what kind of cake she wanted and her reply was a Purple Monkey Head. Okay...first I contemplated how to cut a monkey head out of a 9 x 13 but got it figured out. Color didn't show up good in the picture but it is PURPLE! I even used a white cake mix and died the batter purple for her. She will see it this afternoon.

Cooler haircut....

Another Brae story

Been getting all the homeschool stuff ready to go. The room is coming together nicely. Lots of talk has been going on about the new books, etcetera. Sitting in the living room Britt says: "Mom I can't wait to start school I wish we could start tomorrow"

Brae who had been ignoring the conversation turns around with a disgusted look on his face and says "Sometimes I don't even know how you are my sister".

Yep those two are night and day and it is safe to say Brae is not ready to start school..LOL.

Fourth Fun

Fourth of July was fun and relaxed. We didn't have as many people over as we have in the past and it was so nice. Didn't feel like i was having to entertain. The kids had so much fun. I had to show a pic of Brae's crocs because he was so proud of himself and the fact that he found a way to do 4th of July by wearing one red and one blue croc.

 

Addicted

Okay after finishing the 5K I am so addicted...I have signed up for 3 more 5k's and a quarter marathon in November.

Found the neatest thing for the kids to do. You get a chart and it has 1/4 mile squares you start August 1 and keep track then on November 16 you go and you finish your marathon by doing 1.3 miles...you get a tshirt and a medal. I think the kids will love it and it will be so good for them.

November 16th will be my longest it will be the quarter marathon which is a little over 6 miles so double what I did last night. I have till November and I will do 3 more 5k's between now and then. I am so excited.

1st one completed

I can now officially say I did my first 5K.

Last night I completed it. I almost made myself sick worrying about it, but it turned out pretty good. Talk about a blessing it was so hot when we got there it was being held at 7:00 pm. I even had a cool rag wrapped around my neck but as the pistol fired the rain started. Now in some ways the rain made it harder but mostly it kept it cool. It rained over half the race. The biggest problem....HILLS....I have not ran with hills before but it wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. I kept thinking okay I keep going up surely eventually the hills start going down, but I don't think they ever did. I think it would have been much worse if I hadn't had the rain to cool off a little. Of course the rain added other problems because a lot of the roads through the mountain were dirt so it got wet and slick mud. I was soaked through by the end

I kept saying I just wanted to finish even last I just wanted to finish. I did have a little trouble pacing myself but I think that comes with being my first race.
The results:
Out of 91 female runners I placed 44.
Out of 10 in my age bracket I placed 5.
About 38 minutes. I came in 8 minutes and 43 seconds behind the winner.
So I was pretty much in the middle and now I am pumped to do it again. I am entering on in Tulsa in August. I can even still say I am ready to do it again the morning after but I won't lie I am sore.

There were two times during the race I almost wanted to quit, I wouldn't but I have to say I was like why did I do this, but crossing that finish line was the most awesome feeling. I totally get the expression runners high I think it is great. So now the goal is to keep training for the August run, there is one in Fort Chafee in September, then I may up it to a 10K by November we shall see.

Here are a few pics...me before the race..

This and that

Insomnia has struck again. I find myself getting up earlier and earlier. Sometimes I get things done, other times I just tend to piddle the time away but I do enjoy the quiet time.

Tonight is my first 5K run, I have done the distance before but not officially in a race setting. The goal is to finish. The race is at 7pm in a town with a higher elevation than I am used to so that has me a little worried added in with the fact that I usually run at 5am and it is 70 degrees then to 7pm when it is 90 degrees. So the goal is to finish. They are having fireworks after the race so that should be fun.

Got all my hair cut off yesterday. So much cooler. My hair is so thick so even pulling it into ponytails gives me a headache so this will be easier. I got it straightened again too. I had thought about letting the straightner grow off and going back to my natural curly hair but I just couldn't do it. I am addicted to having the straight hair now.


Kids and I have a few errands to run today. Having my parents, Father in law, and some friends over for the 4th so looking forward to that.

The hairstyles had changed...

I got to meet a best friend from high school for lunch today. It had been well over 10 years since we had anything more than just a passing Hi to each other. Probably longer than that. It was so wonderful to catch up. If our hair would have been ratted out 6 inches it would have been just like old times.

I for one am thankful the hair styles have changed but it was nice catching up and seeing wow how everyones lives turned out so different than we had planned over pizza at the Quick Pick during many lunches. She is in touch and knew about a lot more people than I did so I feel informed now..lol. We have said we are going to make it at least a monthly thing and maybe twice a month. I can't wait I feel like we just stepped back 15 years and I could trust her with anything I wanted to talk to her about. I realized how much I had missed her and how much we have missed of each others lives, troubles, joys, etc. Still lots to catch up on to get us back up to date.