Race for the Cure results

I haven't had time to download the pics yet because we've been so busy with David and Sherah in town but a quick summary of the Race:
We raised $789.00 through our donations and team signups but in the end it really was more than that because we had two additional team members sign up on race day (therefore they weren't on the site) and there were some cash donations turned in race day as well. So, even though I don't have the exact numbers, I'm sure we got over our $1000.00 goal!
Thanks to everyone who helped!
This was the first race ever for some of the moms in my SAHM's group and they are now fired up for more running in the future.
Ross & I hosted a dinner the night before the race for our team members to come over, load up on spaghetti and re-vamp our t-shirts into tanks. So glad we did that too because it was hot as anything race day.
I was able to run the entire thing without stopping (very slowly) and my time was 33:48. Ross completed it in just over 20 minutes and had he been a woman, he would have gotten a medal. They give a medal to the first 50 men and the first 50 women. They were still giving out women's medals when he crossed. David was kind enough to walk it with Sherah so his time was a little longer than he usually would have done.
This was Lily's 3rd race and obviously, Eric's 1st. Brandi hung out with them in the kid area while we ran.

Race for the Cure Miami - this Saturday

Ok readers,
Last time.... please help us reach our fundraising goal. We've met our goal for participants but are still a long way away from our fundraising goal. We'd love it if you can donate anything, just a couple of bucks would help. Thanks

http://race.komenmiaftl.org/site/TR/Race/General/1663100046?pg=team&fr_id=1000&team_id=3000

picture updates

Gameday!
Allison's birhday party

First attempts at a smile

Do we ever dress this child?

Lily helped Ross wash my car then he came to me and told me I owed her $2.00

Don't forget to donate to our team for the Race for the cure! Check my link over there --->

Our baby is 2 months old already

Eric turned 2 months old yesterday!
He is the sweetest thing ever and we absolutely adore him but he has been much harder to handle than Lily was. Or, maybe it is just that when Lily was this age we didn't have an attention demanding kid to take care of also. Either way, these last two months have flown by. Eric is just now starting to have a sleeping pattern emerge (yay!) but we are a very long way away from a full nights sleep. We get up at least 2 times to feed, but several times this week it has only been twice. The feedings are easy though because he eats and goes right back to sleep. Lucky-duck Ross doesn't even have to get up to help anymore.
The hard part is getting him to sleep in the first place. Ross and I have been so programmed to thinking that our child care times end at 8 when Lily goes to bed that it is difficult for us to adjust to the fact that we don't get to clock out that early any more. Eric likes to start wailing at around 8:30 or 9 and usually doesn't get to bed until about 10. This has been really difficult for me because this is the time that I usually do my office work. So, now, I have to somehow find the time to do that. As you can imagine, I have a pile of work to be done that is not getting done. And, unfortunately it is starting to show in my bank account!
Eric is starting to smile and respond to us and that is the best part of parenting. He has such fantastic expressions and I've gotten a couple of good pictures on my cell (to be downloaded soon) He is even holding his head up! and has become a real fatty.
Lily, she is smart as a whip and her favorite thing to do right now is rhyme. She is memorizing nursery rhymes and likes to come up with rhyming words. I've gotten a few on video (again, to be downloaded soon)
ok, now back to work....

Race for the Cure time again

Ok people... it is that time of year again!

The Race for the Cure is Saturday October 17, 2009

Last year I set a goal of having 10 team members and raise a grand. Last year I didn't get 10 people to attend the race with me (sadly, only two!) but somehow managed to raise well over a thousand dollars.

I like to be an over-achiever and try every year to do better than the year before but since we are in the middle of an "economic downturn" or whatever it is the politicians like to call it, I didn't raise my goal. I'm going to again shoot for raising a thousand dollars but work really really hard at actually getting 10 people to participate with me.

So far, there are 7 people signed up on my facebook page saying they are going to participate, but only 3 of those folks have actually registered for the race. We've raised $105 thus far.

Hopefully, I can meet my goals this year.

If you wanna help with a donation or join my team, or just check out our progress CLICK HERE

Routines

I remember at some point soon after having Lily, we decided that having a schedule and a routine was the way to go with a baby. We went from being night owls to early risers and got so used to our daily routine that I don't need to look at a clock to tell you when it is lunchtime and there was never a fight about bedtime.
I still believe in the routine but right now it is making me crazy. Mainly because Eric doesn't have a schedule yet. Lily is like clockwork but I can't predict anything with Eric. Many times Eric is wailing or won't let me put him down at the time that Lily needs something. In turn, she has a meltdown because she is so conditioned for a certain time. Two screaming kids needing attention. Ugh.
I really need work to balance things. I don't know how single moms do it or people with more than two babies! I've got Ross who is a huge help AND Brandi too and still struggle.
The sleeping situation has improved. Eric does sleep for longer intervals but I still haven't gotten more than a 3 hour stretch of sleep time.
I have gotten really savvy with my iphone though. I can get all sorts of things done while walking around with Eric on my shoulder trying to rock him back to sleep (including writing this blog)
I've somehow managed to make time to run on a semi-regular basis and have been trying real hard to get ready for the Race for the Cure. I've put a team together again. Oct 19 if you wanna join me. I'll get the link up as soon as I get to a real computer but I'm sure you could find it by searching the Miami affiliate for Team Betty.

6 weeks

(Sorry, it is the only picture I've got on this computer. It is of the new shirt that Aunt Marie sent to Eric. I don't think he likes MTSU)

The only reason I have time to post right now is because I traded my exercise time for computer time. Ross and I have decided to trade off. He went running then I was supposed to go running but just needed to catch up on computer stuff instead.

Stats:

Eric is 6 weeks now and we took him to the doctor because he was crying non-stop and only sleeping in 20 minute intervals. He has reflux and they have put him on meds that take a week to kick in, so, we are going insane around here.

We've done ok so far because Marje was still here but she left two days ago and it feels like a week.

Lily is driving me up the wall too because she is so used to getting constant attention and has gotten very jealous of Eric.

Other than that, both kids are awesome and putting on weight. Lily gained 3 lbs since her birthday and now weighs 35lbs. Eric weighs 11lbs and me, I've lost quite a bit (yay!) I weigh 134 only four pounds off from my pre-pregnancy weight. I can get into most of my clothes but they just don't look good around the middle. Not bad for 6 weeks. Guess all this walking the floors carrying a baby non-stop and not sleeping is great for weightloss.

Almost one month old

I started this post awhile back but never got around to posting it. I have a difficult time updating this blog because I have such limited computer time. I have an iphone that I do just about everything on simply because I can play with it while I'm feeding Eric. And, since he eats every three hours around the clock... I can do quite a bit on that phone!
But, there are things I can't do on it and blogging here is one of them. The others involve work, and since I'm paid for that and not paid for this... blogging doesn't always make the cut.
Anyhoo... these are from when Eric was almost a month old.

This is MY dinner but Lily has gotten very very attention starved and Eric doesn't let me put him down.

The SAHM group I'm in had a field trip to Krispy Kreme where they let the kids go into the back and dip their own doughnuts into chocolate and put their own sprinkles on them. Lily still won't talk to any of the other kids but she does participate.

Eric Owen Mitchell

Ok, so the official stats:
Eric Owen Mitchell born July 22, 2009 at 5:38PM
weighs 7lb 9oz
length 20"

Ross & I's self portrait as they are getting me ready for surgery. I'm so much happier here because they have given me the IV and I am no longer thirsty.
They let Lily come in too. They only allow one person at a time to come in but Lily wasn't considered a whole person so she got to come in with Marje.

I had my tubes tied too so we had a few more minutes to get to know little Eric in the OR. He only opened one eye for us but didn't scream nearly as much as Lily did.

Last few photos while still a family of only 3

This is one of Lily's new outfits for her birthday. She is modeling here.

And she got a card from our cousin Becky that turned into a crown so here she is modeling it.

One last belly shot the night before Eric was born.

This was the day that we had Eric. Lily actually got in trouble because we caught her standing on a chair in the living room putting in a DVD. I figured it was a cartoon or something but she started crying saying she wanted to watch "pi-o-tees"

Marje and I couldn't understand what she was talking about but when she layed down on the floor with the stretch band I got it. Sure enough, the video she had put in was Pilates!

This was taken during the day before going to the hospital

I told Lily to dance (even though there is no music) and I guess I caught her in a mood to perform....

Pics with my new camera & first haircut

Daddy sent me a new camera to take pictures of Eric because my old camera (the one he bought me when Lily was born) was not doing so well. The battery door was broken and it took a minute or so of fiddling just to make it snap one picture. Not very effective when trying to take photos of children!
So, the day it arrived my feet were very swollen and Marje offered to give me a foot massage. I was like a queen sitting on the couch getting my feet rubbed while I played with my new camera.
Awhile back Lily and I layed on the bed and took self portraits so now every time I tell her that I want to take pictures of her she wants to go lay on my bed and take self-portraits

Every time Marje sits down to her computer to check her email or anything, Lily pulls her chair up next to her so she can look at pictures. I think she thinks that is all we do on computers is look at pictures and play on www.pbskids.org

We decided that it was time for Lily to get her first haircut. Being that we are cheapskates and I cut Ross's hair and only get mine cut twice a year at Supercuts, Lily gets the at-home-ghetto-cut too. She liked all the attention and I barely cut anything except for evening up the ends a little. It looks good though, nice and healthy.

We cancelled Lily's birthday party on Saturday because she had been not feeling well since Monday. She hadn't eaten much all week and even though she wasn't vomiting anymore, she started having diarrhea so we were afraid that she may be dehydrated. We took her to the ER Saturday morning and they have her some anti-nausea meds and she perked up immediately and ate a banana. Saturday she was up and down all day alternating between being lethargic and being herself.

At one point when she was feeling good we had cake and did the candles and everything.

She helped me decorate the cake and requested that her cake have her name on it in Green. And, because we were planning for pizza for the party anyway, so we had pizza for dinner.

Lily, EKG & Ultrasound

This picture is of Lily on the Fourth. We spent the day at the beach then Brandi put her in this outfit to wait for the fireworks. I made this outfit for her when she was one! She wore it again last year and although technically fit on her, it was a little too small to get away with one more year.
From our roof we can see fireworks from 5 different displays. So, even though I disagreed, Ross decided that he was going to take Lily up there to watch the show. Of course, I wasn't going to get up there but even though I didn't think she should, I was going to allow Lily to do it. Lucky for me, she chickened out. She never has liked fireworks. We have tried to talk her out of being scared and she acts like she is excited about them and wants to see them but when it came down to it, she was frightened. The shows started at 9 and this is about an hour after her bed time so we just hugged and layed in her bed and joked about how the fireworks sound like popcorn popping. Maybe next year.
Last week when we took Lily for her 3-year check up the doctor said that he thought he may have heard a murmur in her heart and recommended that we see a specialist. So, this is Lily getting an EKG.

The nurse was sweet to tell her that the stickers were "magic stickers" with strings attached and they were gonna watch the wiggly lines on the TV. As you can see from the pictures, she kinda liked the experience.
The doctor said that the EKG looked fine but he could hear the murmur too so he did an ultrasound to see more.

This picture makes it look like she was sad, but she wasn't. The doctor wasn't as entertaining as the nurse, but she didn't mind this experience. She has been with me twice for my ultrasounds so she had seen it before. She told the doctor that she didn't have a baby in there! As it turns out, she does have a murmur. I forgot the technical name but basically she has a leaky valve. There is nothing to be done about it and it won't effect her at all at this point in her life. They told us to come back in a year to keep an eye on it. There is a good chance she could outgrow it. One of my best friends is a nurse practitioner for a Cardiologist so I talked to her about it and she reinforced what the doctor told me, that we didn't need to be worried.

So, we came home and played in a box.

Who knows how I missed the fact that she had a bottle of baby powder in there with her.

17 days to go

Today I weigh 161 pounds, have a 43" waist and ankles & feet so fat that they look like giant marshmallows.

I'm tired non-stop but Ross is awesome about letting me sleep in. Lily is getting irritated about having to pick everything up for me and I'm sure is tired of hearing me say that I have trouble bending over.

I have been craving nothing but junk food but have managed to make it this entire pregnancy without ordering pizza once! Not sure how I managed that so far because when I was pregnant with Lily, I ordered pizza twice a week.

That is all I have for now. Hopefully I'll either break down and get a new camera soon or download the pics on my phone.
Cheers-

23 days to go!

This picture was taken on the 21st.
I am still conflicted about wether or not I'm completely comfortable with my belly out. I am more UNcomfortable in my maternity swim suit that DOES cover my belly, so even if I offend someone, the bikini wins. I see many many mom-to-bes on the beach in bikinis these days, so I really shouldn't care, but for some reason I feel a little like the old guy in the thong. I feel like I'm a spectacle.
Yesterday I took Lily to the doctor for her 3 year check-up. Early, I know, but it is one less thing on my my to-do list now. This is the first time she has been big enough to wear the paper gown and we both got a big kick out of it. I usually try to prepare her for things so we had talked about what to expect before we went. We talked about how she may have to get a shot and all that just so she would be ready. I didn't know they would put her in the gown so when they had us put that one we both ended up with the giggles. The happiness continued because she didn't need any shots!

She is in the 75th percentile for everything. This has come down, she has always been in higher percentiles. I guess that explains why she is still wearing the same clothes that she was wearing a year ago. Spurts are funny. Her size has not changed, she has only gotten taller.

This last picture was taken tonight. If you can't tell what is going on here, that is my belly that Lily is laying on and she is sitting on the couch between my legs.

She has taken to wanting to lean against my belly all the time lately. She feels it and wants to help me put on lotion. I think she totally understands what is happening, although we'll never really know what is going on in that little head of hers. The other day when she was in the bathtub we talked about how baby Eric is going to be too small to take a bath in the big bath with her but once he gets bigger he will. Then she said "the doctor is going to cut you open and take him out and then you can't pick me up for awhile". Wow, what a memory! I remember telling her this once but am surprised at how well she actually understood it.

Funny things from Lily

Lily is a little mini-me. This little girl is enforcing the golden rule on me by treating me as I treat her. She says things that are almost exact repeats of what I tell her.
For lunch today we both had sandwiches but she had goldfish and I had triscuits. She put 3 goldfish on the table and slid them over to me and said "mommy, you have to have at least 3 before you get up"

I yelled at Zelda for getting under-foot and almost tripping me while I was cooking and Lily says "Mommy, there is no need to yell, be nice to doggies"

There are lots of bathroom things that she says to me that seem so normal for me to say to a 2 year old but are funny when a 2 year old says them to an adult. She regularly asks me if I wiped or if I put my panties back on. The other day she stuck her head in the bathroom while I was on the pot and said "call me when you are ready. Just let me know, ok" I assume she was intending to come help me wipe because that is what I say to her when she is pooping.

Then there are other random things that she says that I have no idea where they come from:
"hey mommy, lets sing together, ok, on 4.... 1, 2, 3, 4"
"do you know that chickens come from eggs!" as she is holding an egg at her bum squatting over it

Then there are funny things that she notices and points out. This quality has the potential to be pretty embarrassing if she weren't so shy and actually talked in public.
Brandi is staying with us and Lily came to me after showering with her to tell me "you have BIG boobies and Aunt Brandi's boobies are smaller"
or looking at Ross after he hadn't shaved all weekend and said "daddy you have a dirt mustasche"
One of my favorites is how she thinks anything in a can is a beer. "Mommy, are you going to have another beer?" She said this one in public at the park and the other moms immediately looked up to see whether or not the pregnant lady was really drinking a beer.

Tired tired tired

Lately I've been having good and bad days with this pregnancy. Some days I have had tons of energy and feel great and other days (like today) I can't seem to get the energy to keep my eyes open. My circulation problems have gotten pretty bad and I just can't wait 'till this baby is born. It is hard to get comfortable in just about any position. When I sit in a chair straight up, it is difficult to breathe and after about half an hour I end up with pains in the front of my hips.
When I sit in a chair in a recline position I can breathe well but my legs fall asleep. If I lay down flat I can't breathe, my neck falls asleep and the heartburn is horrible. If I lay down on my side my arms fall asleep and depending on how the baby is positioned, my belly can hurt. And of course, walking and standing makes my bad veins in my leg throb. So, I spend my day doing a rotation of positions.
I've been wearing a compression stocking every day and have gotten used to how silly I look but it definitely makes the summer heat terrible. It is hard to put on and hard to take off, but it really helps the pain.
So basically, no matter what I do.... I'm gonna be complaining.
I've gained 5 pounds in the last week and can see and feel a distinct increase in belly size. I've gained 30 pounds total so far and my belly is 42" around.
Lily has been so sweet. Today when I was laying down she asked if I would do something for her and I asked her to give me a minute because I wasn't feeling good and she came over and gave me a hug and kiss.
She has taken to talking about "MY baby" when she says something about him. I just think it is so cute that she talks about her baby brother.
But she is most excited about Granny coming to sleep in her bunk bed with her.
The picture above is tonight (39 days to go) and the photo below is of me when I was pregnant with Lily 33 days prior to her birth. Just for comparison sake.

Trip to the ER, mixed up Script and a new dress

The above picture is NOT my leg. I've spared y'all that but decided to gross you out with Brandi's leg instead. Yesterday I had to take her to the ER because she picked at a bug bite so much that she turned it into an absess (I don't think I spelled that right but that is the way the word sounds). This is several hours after leaving the ER so the swelling had gone down quite a bit. She couldn't move her knee and was having pains all the way up to her hip. The docs told her that she was lucky because the infection could have gone into her joints or worse.

The scary thing is what happened AFTER that though. We filled her prescription at Publix and later that night Brandi noticed that her antibiotic looked just like her ibuprofen. She thought that she had grabbed the wrong bottle but once we looked closely we realized the pharmacy had made a mistake and instead of giving her two anti-boitics and an ibuprofen they gave her 2 ibuprofen and one anti-biotic. The bottle was labeled properly but the wrong drug was inside! I've always heard that you should check your prescriptions but I never had before, I will start now!

We went back to Publix to straighten it out but the pharmacy had closed and had a big sign that they would not be open the next day, Memorial Day. We kinda freaked a little because we couldn't go elsewhere because we no longer had the script. Thankfully the super-cool pharmacist at Walgreens called the ER and verified and gave Brandi enough of the antibiotic to get her through until Publix pharmacy is open again. Scary.

Ok, here is a belly shot for ya. I've gained a few more pounds, now I weight 156 and my belly is 41" around. This baby is kicking like crazy and I am now rolling out of bed 4 or 5 times a night to pee. The way he is positioned, he kicks my bladder and makes me feel like I'm going to pee my pants.

Ross and Lily playing in the yard today...

If you like her dress, you'll be happy to know I made it for her. She picked out the fabric herself. And of course, I made 2 so the other one is up on eBay for sale if you know anyone in the market for a spaceship dress (click here).

Whirl-wind car wheeling & dealing day

Bye Bye old Civic... You've been good to me!
Ok, so after coming home with the new car, I went to the tag agency to get a temp tag so I could try and start to sell the car over the weekend. And with tomorrow being the one day I have to work at Monstertixx, and Monday being a holiday, figured I needed to get it done today. I had already cleaned and photographed the car earlier in the week so I decided that I would go ahead and put an ad up on craigslist just to see what happens.
Blue book on a '95 Civic DX coupe WITH AC and WITHOUT being wrecked is $1900. I decided just for shits & giggles would ask $1000.
I posted the ad, and 10 minutes later the phone rang. Guy wants to come see it now. I scrambled to dig out the title just in case he was interested. About 20 minutes later he shows up and takes it for a test drive. While he is around the block with the car, 2 more calls. He and I talk for awhile, 2 more calls!
Ross and I had assumed that we would be lucky to get $400 for it but within an hour of posting an ad on Craigslist I had Six crisp $100 bills and a Fifty in my pocket and no more Honda in the driveway.
In a weird sort of way, I'm kinda sad. As much as I hated that car, I really loved it too.
The guy who bought it, bought it for a friend. Guess what he drives? A teal green '95 Civic! Only difference was that his was a hatchback.
This is the first car I've ever sold. I'm glad that I've finally gotten one to last long enough to be able to do that rather than send it to the junkyard. $650 sure feels better than the $75 I could get for scrap!

Yippee!!!!! "New" car for me & Lily!!!

Finally! We found a car in our price range (sorta) and today we got a car! Wooo hoooo!!! It is pretty old, but you can't really expect too much when your budget it only 2 grand. It is a '97 Sentra. Kinda funny because before the Civic, I drove a Sentra and before that Sentra, I drove a Civic.

As you can see, it has 4 doors, yay! The following is a list of things it has that the Civic does not:

• AC


• power steering


• a Radio


• power locks


• power windows


• 4 doors


• tilt steering wheel


• cup holders

The light color car and light color interior makes a huge difference too. It is not nearly as hot after sitting in the sun for awhile. It isn't as sporty as my taste would prefer, but we were in no position to be considering how a car looks. It runs, has what I need and we could afford it. Good enough for me :)

A blog post for Dickson

This post isn't ONLY for Dickson, it is just thatt my friend Dickson keeps bothering me on facebook telling me that I need to get a blog post up. Well, I don't have as much time in front of a computer these days, so here goes....

Over the weekend we got Lily a bunk bed and she loves it. She actually plays in her room much more now (yay!) but keeps getting out of bed at night. Well, she could be falling out, we aren't quite sure. She doesn't wake up and doesn't cry but I have to pick her up off the floor and put her back in the bed several times a night. I think she is sleep-crawling because she isn't always next to the bed. Last night I found her halfway UNDER the bed once, once across the room perpendicular to the bed and once next to the bed.

I have video and pictures of the bunk bed but they are on the other computer and it doesn't seem to want to turn on today. It has been "loading" since I started typing on this one.

This video was yesterday. That is elastic that Lily has tied all over her. 1,000 yards of elastic! It WAS on a bolt but now I can only find pieces of that bolt around the house. Oh boy, is this going to be fun to try and untangle this? Any volunteers?

#2

We went to the doctor yesterday and they weighed & measured me. They didn't tell me my measurements but said I was "measuring beautifully"and I now officially outweigh Ross. I weigh 154. I just measured my waist and it is 40" around. I am feeling good other than the usual, killer heartburn and bad veins. I finally broke down and bought a pair of compression tights because my doctor told me it "might" help the pain. I bought thigh highs so I can only wear one leg (crazy hot here and the thought of wearing tights makes me want to die). I look like I have a prosthetic leg. I've considered cutting the foot part off so it won't be so hot but because they cost me $50, I don't want to risk it. It is pretty funny looking and I feel like an old lady but it does help me stand without my legs throbbing. Don't get me wrong, they still hurt... a lot, just a little less. I got alot of slack about posting pictures of my yucky veins before, so I'll spare ya'll the trauma and just tell you that they have gotten about 3x worse.

oh, by the way... the other computer just now decided it was ready to turn on. See why I don't get much computer time? Usually Ross is using this one (it is his work computer).

Baby prep:

Now that we've gotten Lily out of the crib, we just need to get the room neutralized. I wish I would have put some thought into it before I made everything in Lily's room out of girly fabrics. I'm trying to decide what colors I'd like to switch to. I'm considering going with straight primaries so they are neither 'girl' or 'boy'.

We kept everything from Lily so we really don't need to get much. I've been bidding on a moby wrap on eBay for weeks now but I just can't seem to win any auctions for $15 (including shipping), I've still got time though. I've gotten really cheap these days! I went through all of Lily's baby clothes and pulled out all the neutral stuff and have it ready for #2. The rest I sold on eBay, dyed green or gave them away to moms in my group.

The main thing I need now is a car. It has gotten more than burdensome to deal with this stupid car I've got now (I'm just thankful that I really don't have many places that I absolutely HAVE to go, and we live in a neighborhood where everything is close) It is so hot now that by the time I climb my giant body into the back seat to strap Lily in her seat, I'm drenched in sweat before even starting the engine. And, as you know, there isn't any AC that will cool me off once it is on. Sometimes Lily yells from the back seat "go faster Mommy!" I'm not sure if she is wanting more air or if she is just wanting the thrill. Lucky for me, I can fool her into thinking we are going fast by just pushing the gas slightly. When you have a hole in your muffler it sounds like you are racing! Also, we are also getting more into the rainy season, so if it rains I'm stuck at home because I have no way to de-fog the windows. I'm dying to get something.......... anything else. Unfortunately, Ross has been out of town all week and I can't necessarily go around test driving cars when Lily's with me. There is one at the end of the road that I like, I've been tempted to just go down there and buy it. I think Ross would kill me though. :)