I'm done with running

I can't do it anymore. I can't even walk. My knees hurt so frickin' bad. I thought a 2 day break would help. Nope, I'm on day 3. I can't carry my kids on the stairs. I have to walk down sideways. Bending down....forget about it. It hurts to even sit. The pain is keeping me up at night. This is even with regular icing and ibuprofen 800 BID. Mark's talking with one of his ORS colleagues to see if there is anything I can do to deal with this "runner's knee" and continue running, but most likely I'm done. I feel like such a quitter............and old.

BIG news!

MY BROTHER IS ENGAGED! He and his GF are rock climbing in Utah for several weeks. He found the most picturesque spot and had a ring and everything. He emailed me a pic of all the crazy things crack climbing does to your hands.......then a picture of her hand with her engagement ring. I'm so cheesed for them and just very thankful he has finally someone who makes him happy.......overjoyed! We can't wait to welcome her into our family!

my babies are sick :-(

Ugh................ Both babies are really sick. I was up most of the night with Harper(congestion). So when we took Pierce in this am, she had an appt too. Both babies were running fever when we got there.

Pierce--his ears still have fluid but are getting better. He probably ended up with a double ear infection. At first, our ped was inclined to wait it out and watch him since he was already on day 5 of antibiotics. But considering his fever spiked again yesterday and he had swollen tonsils with white spots on one, she decided to do a rapid strep test--positive. She switched his antibiotic to something stronger, more allergy medicine, and a cough suppressant.

Harper--one ear infection and on the way to a double ear infection. She probably has strep too, but we didn't test her. The antibiotics they are on are the same and will work for both ear infections and strep. She was also prescribed a decongestant.

Please keep them both in your thoughts and prayers!

P deserves a break

Seriously, poor kid, needs a break. He woke up from his nap not long ago. Harper's still sleeping so we're keeping quite in my bedroom. Bad mom alert....I'm plugging away on the comp trying to catch up from not having internet and he's laying next to me watching cartoons. He mentioned when he woke up his head hurt. I didn't think much of it. Fast fwd ~1 hr and I'm going to wake Harper up. I looked at him and he's sick. He was burning up with a fever of 101.8, red/flushed face, and crying. Gosh I feel like such a jerk for not feeling him when he said his head hurt. I should've checked him much sooner. I called our ped and we are going in tomorrow am during open clinic. He's on day 5 of a 7 day antibiotic for an ear infection and shouldn't be running fever again.

update on shin splints

My shins are actually feeling much improved. They were mostly sore last week/early part of this week. The bruise still looks pretty nasty, but it's healing too. I would think that if it were actually shin splints, they would still be hurting. They actually feel better when I run on them--it loosens them up.

My chief complaint now is my knees. The almost give out on me when I get up to stand and hurt so bad walking up/down the stairs. I feel old.

I talked to my brother, who is an avid runner, and he doesn't think it is shin splints either. He did say he has heard of them bruising but since my shins are getting better and the bruise is only on one side, the bruise is probably not related to running. He thinks my knee pain is patellofemoral pain syndrome or "runner's knee". He said my sxs are pretty much spot on. Anti-inflammatory meds, running on trails instead of pavement, stretching, strengthening, and good running shoes (M he suggested the same thing--getting fitted at a running store for shoes especially for my stride) will help.

My run this am felt much better than Wednesday. I was up and running before Mark even left for work (since we didn't know if P was going to school today or not). I bumped my increments up to 2 minutes walking, 3 minutes running for a half hour (except for the last 5 minutes, walk 1 minute and run 4 minutes). I'm officially running more than walking each session now! Despite all my complaints, I'm really loving how great running is making me feel overall. I'm definitely hooked!

update on Pierce

Pierce is doing MUCH better! We had another setback yesterday after his nap. He wanted to be carried at Target. This came after playing on it all morning and asking to go back to school. We decided to play it by ear this am. When he first woke up, he wanted to stay home. But by the time he got dressed, I showered/dressed, and woke Harper up, he was excited to go--proving he could "walk like a big boy". We think it's just sore b/c he has such a big/nasty scrape and it probably hurts to walk on it (skin bending and stretching), but thankfully it's not broken. Mr. D. said he ran all over the place at school. Thank you all so much for the healing prayers you sent up for my baby boy!

P's hurt

I dunno the extent of his injury........... His teacher called me about an hour ago. He fell running with a friend on the playground and skinned his knee. Figures, the first day I send him to school this spring in shorts. He wasn't calming down (very out of the ordinary) so I went to get him. Mr. D said he had not moved from the chair he was sitting in since he fell (~30 minutes) when I got there. He won't walk on it. I carried him to the car. I tried coaxing him to a swing chair on campus but he asked me to carry him instead. When we got home, I asked if he'd like to go on a walk around the neighborhood. He asked if I could put him in a stroller. He hasn't moved from the couch since we got home (~1 hour after the incident). I got him to take a few steps by bribing him, but he's limping and won't bear much weight on it. He won't even let me bend it. He's bending it on his own to sit on the sofa though but since he won't put any weight on it, I'm very concerned. Harper's tormenting him with his toys across the room, and he's still not taking the bait. We're watching him right now to see if he needs to go in for x-rays. Please pray for my P!

shin splints?

Monday am I woke up with a terrible bruise running down half my right shin. It's deep, dark and purple. I'm always bruising myself and have tons of bruises at various stages of healing on my legs. I usually don't know what I did to make them appear either--I'm a clutz. Anyhow, as you all know, I started running last week. My shins killed me but are far less sore now. My knees are aching today though.......... Today marks 1 whole week of running and this am, my run hurt the worst. I'm determined to stick with it and work through it! Anyhow, my mom thinks the bruising is from running. Mark says no way. I googled and shin splints, when severe, can cause bruising. I took a pic just now to see what you all thought (mind you, this is taken 2 days into healing and looks loads better than it did on Monday). Please shield your eyes from my pastiness and don't scroll down if you're especially squeamish. Oh and don't mind my sock line--I just got back from running!















I left Harper's sweet tootsie in the pic for size perspective.

relieved

All is WELL! Praise God! My sweet P is PERFECT! Our ped is NOT concerned in the least. She said to keep an eye on him but as long as it is still infrequent, only trace amounts, he's not in any pain, and we don't notice any tears, he does NOT need to be seen. I'm going to start keeping track of its frequency and will discuss it again at his well baby next month. Thank you all for your reassurance, and most of all, your prayers!

worried

For those with weak tummies, you may not want to read........

Pierce.gif periodically has blood in his poop. I've always kind of chalked it up to him being a forceful pooper (the kid will set on the potty for 1/2 hr) and causing anal fissures. Despite being a very picky eater, he's still a relatively healthy eater (lots of fiber) and very regular, so I'm not quite sure that's it. Plus, it's only bloody on the initial wipe and not follow-up wipes. And you can see blood in his stool. It happened again this weekend and Mark said we need to call our ped ("no 4 year old should be pooping blood"). I'm terrified......... You may recall, he had blood in his poop intermittently as a newborn too and we were referred to a ped GI specialist. He was diagnosed with a normal immunological reaction and thankfully grew out of it by 6 months. I'm not quite sure what they're going to do now, but I'm calling first thing tomorrow morning to talk with a nurse. If you could please keep my number one lil' man in your thoughts and prayers, I'd be most appreciative!

Easter

We had a very blessed Easter celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with our little family and our extended family. Click for a slideshow of pics.