Halloween

Alex didn't get to wear his "real" costume, a monkey, because he was sick. But he did get to wear his Tigger outfit to daycare ... although getting a decent picture was impossible ... he's moving so fast these days! I even took my camera to daycare, but that didn't work either. Oh well!

The Beach!

The weekend before the Martin County Half Marathon, we took a trip to Jensen Beach so we could see the route and see where Santiago could cheer/park. It was Alex's first time to the beach, it was very windy, so we didn't stay long, but we got a few good pics and he enjoyed.

The first pic he's wearing the sandals Santiago's mom bought in Mexico, but he prefers to be without shoes.

Swingin' with Grandpa

(Yes, I know, I'm waaaay behind on posting ... here's an attempt to catch up.)

A few months ago, I was dropping Alex off at my parents house (They watch him for me when I go running in the early mornings) ... my dad informed me he ordered a swing for Alex, ONLINE!! My dad? I was suprised to say the least, and very proud that his love of Alex got him online. :)

Here's some pictures from October 5th, the first time he got to swing ... he sure does love his grandpa!

Martin County Half Marathon

The water booth that my parents (mom-red American shirt, dad white shirt) volunteered at ... Jill (in pink pants) with the harem and sultan (her hubby). Jill was one of my leaders back when I first started running. She was there for me at the finish line for the Palm Beach Half Marathon in 2006. My parents had a great time helping out.

Video is of my mom and the water stop girls cheering on the runners ... these water stops are the best, not only do they give you hydration, but they really cheer you up and motivate you to keep going! The the Martin County Half Marathon, the water station people were dressed up for Halloween (a lil early) and voted on by the runners ... Lincoln Park Academy's Cross Country Team's water stop won! Go Greyhounds! :)


Alex cheering on runners!


One of my friends, April, running through a busy intersection.


Video is of Rick, Bucky and myself after finishing the last bridge (there were 2 in this race) ... My dad and Alex caught up to us to cheer us on ... the three of us stayed together for a good while, great race company! :)


Parking lot of the race, way more people than I thought would be there! I think there were over 250 people who finished the race! WOW! That a good bit for a local race, put on by Sailfish Striders.

Jenny & Cheryl almost to the end of the race ... Jenny's hubby Randy giving them encouragement!


Trecei, Bonnie & Rhonda just finishing their 1st half marathon!! Way to go girls!!

Jenny smiling after her finish ... and this made me giggle, that's Cheryl in the background sticking her tongue out, as if to say "finally!" ... Way to go!


Jenny & Bonnie after finishing the race, and coming back to cheer everyone on!

April & her hubby Geoff (newlyweds!) after the race, they're still smiling!


Me smiling at April's mom as we were nearing the finish ... Santiago, Alex, my mom, Jenny's hubby Randy and Bonnie are in the background.

One of my favorite pics from the race ... my mom and Alex after we finished.


Me just after I finished .. don't I wish that was my time? Laugh, add an hour to it!

Bucky and I showing off our cool medals!


L to R - Tina & daughter, Jenny, Rick, Me, Bucky & Rhonda after the race ... we're missing Bonnie, Cheryl, Trecei from this picture!! Wish we had a full group one, we'll aim for that at the Palm Beach Half Marathon in December.


Ok ... now that all the pictures and videos are up there, I'll do a re-cap of our race since it's been hectic around here and I haven't made the time ...

We had special permission to start an hour early because we wanted to make sure we finished before they closed the finish line. Bucky, one of my best friends, met us there and did the race with us. Our Galloway training group is ... Rhonda, Cheryl, Tina, Trecei, Bonnie and Rick ... plus Jenny & I.

It was very dark when we started ... we had lots of honking of horns (cheering) as we started off, which was nice. Santiago & Alex caught up with us around the 1 mile mark, so they were there throughout the race ... driving around, honking his horn and cheering as we ran by. That really meant a lot to me.

There were two bridges in this race, which we did not train for, but really, we did just fine. We all enjoyed running down the first bridge, I think we ran for a straight 3.5 minutes ... it was a nice and comfy run downhill.

We ran mostly on sidewalks throughout the race, sometimes on the road. It was hard to see in certain areas, because they weren't all lit very well (I need to invest in a better head lamp) ... I tripped in a dark area around mile 4-5 and hit the ground with a nice hard "thud" ... if you look closely at my shirt at the end, you can see the grass stains. Not fun. Although Jenny said I would laugh about it later. :)

By the time we got our of the the Sewell's Point neighborhood around mile 8, Rick, Bucky and I were running together, everyone else was doing great and ahead of us. Around mile 10.5 or so, I told Rick to go ahead, I was hurting pretty bad, my feet were killing me, my thighs were cramping up ... Bucky stayed with me and we walked the rest of the way. I was still sick, coughing with an ear ache, and my fall didn't help me (yes, I'm trying to justify my slow time).

With all of that said, as Bucky and I neared the finish line, we had lots of people cheering us on ... Santiago & Alex, my parents, April's parents (and dog, Molly), April's hubby Geoff, Jenny & her hubby Randy .. I'm sure others were there (Bonnie?), but I'm having a brain fart right now.

With everything I had left, we ran the last tiny bit through the finish line ... we finished around 5 minutes slower than we did the Palm Beach Half Marathon in 2006. So although I'm not thrilled with my time, I'm very happy I finished!!

Shortly after I finished, I saw Rick ... carrying around a bunch of balloons! :) How sweet! I think his daughter brought them for him. We met our group's families, kids and cheerleaders! It was so great they were able to be there to cheer them on! I know it means the world to me to have my family there for me. We've trained together for so long, it was so heartwarming to see them all with smiles on their faces and knowing they just finished 13.1 miles!! :) I'm so very proud of them all!

We all took a few pictures ... had some hugs and I put on a big smile ... and disappeared pretty quick to find a banana and a place to sit down ... I was in a haze ... I wasn't feeling myself at all. Usually after a race, I'm exhausted, but on a total high, in very good spirits and talking about the race. This wasn't the case this time. I was hurting so badly, my body ached. I cried. I was shaky and just out of it. I think Jenny made me drink the endurox. I made it to the van, sat down and was just, ouch, hurting ... we all hung out for a bit ...

April crossed the finish line shortly after ... we hugged and we just cried and cried. I met April at a Gastric Bypass support group right after she had her surgery 2 years ago. She's worked hard to get where she is today and I am so proud of her and how far she's come ... as I told her in her ear, who would have ever thought we'd be runners??? :)

Sunday afternoon was rough ... but I survived ... and looking back on it all ... I'm very happy and already looking for another race ... Jenny and I are talking about doing the Disney Princess Half Marathon!

Half Marathon

I did it!!!

I'm not quite sure how, but I did.

I'm exhausted and hurting. Lots.

I finished around 3:50 ... long time to be outside running/walking.

Will write more later! :)

Whining.

Ok, so in less than 7 hours, I need to be dressed and leaving my house to pickup Jenny and head to Jensen Beach Park to start our "training" half marathon with our Galloway training group. This is will be different though cause this is a real race ... the Martin County Halloween Half Marathon. :) I picked up our packets today at Fleet Feet (they're a big sponsor) and they made the coolest looking shirt, I'll have to get a picture of it.

Normally I would be very excited, and I kinda am .. but I'm sick. I'm still coughing junk up, my eye still itches and is gooey and today my ears started hurting. Can't someone take me out back and shoot me? Geeze. I'm so totally over being sick. And Jenny said today that she wasn't feeling well, I hope she's feeling better tomorrow.

On the other hand ... I'm very excited about our group doing this half. They have worked so very hard for it. Putting in the weekly runs and doing the Saturday training together. They're really a great group of people.

And Bucky is coming to do the race with us, and I don't get to see him very much anymore. I think this is only the second time since Alex was born actually. It'll be nice ot catch up with him in person. So I'm excited, just wish I wasn't feeling this crappy.

Ok, I'm headed to bed ... come cheer us on if you're local and are up that early ... we should finish at the Jensen Beach Park around 9:15-9:30 ish .... we're going over two bridges and my group hasn't done any hill work, so it'll be interesting! :)

Emergency Contact for your FL Driver's License

I got this on one of my mommy e-groups and thought I'd share. I already did it for hubby & I.

You can now go online and enter two (2) emergency contacts on your Florida Driver's License (electronically) which can only be retrieved by a police officer. Each emergency contact has 3 contact numbers, home, cell and work.

This came about as a result of one woman's teenage daughter being killed in a car accident and taking over 5 hours to locate the mother to inform her. This way, if you are in an accident, the police can run your driver's license and have your emergency info ASAP.

This is through the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle website: https://www6. hsmv.state. fl.us/dlcheck/findcustomer

It's legit ... it's a good safety net, just in case. Feel free to copy/share with family and friends in Florida.

Pink Eye?

I think I have pink eye. :( I don't think I had it even as a kid, and now that I have a kid, I'm getting sick all the time it seems. I'm so over it.

I was suppose to go running this morning, I even had one sock on ... but Jenny called, she was exhausted from the Green Conference she worked yesterday, so she was cancelling. Even though I'm sick, I was still going to go ... afterall, we have a half marathon on Sunday! Eeeks. But I'm not running alone, it's way too dark out there and I don't feel safe.

So I called my parents to let them know I wasn't running this morning, so I wasn't dropping Alex off. Well, my dad must have been having Alex withdrawls, he came over and played with him and they just left, my dad is taking him to daycare. How sweet :)

Last Saturday was our "Magic Mile" with the Galloway group .. I did a 14:28 ... if "real" runners are reading this, they just snickered. But for me, that is just great! I am so happy, I pushed myself hard.

I was just about to brag that I thought that was the fastest time I've done, then I looked back in my myspace blog and found this:

> Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 2:19 AM -
> I am on TOP of the world!!!! Current mood: accomplished

> I am sooooo freeking amazed! The last time I did that magic mile was like 4 weeks ago, and
> trust me, I pushed myself to do it in 16:00 minutes.

> I've been doing most of my "homework" each week, although I wasn't feeling good on
> Thursday, so I didn't get my run/walk in ... and get this, I did the magic mile in 13:36
> minutes!!!! I am sooo happy with my progress! Just totally excited!

Of course, this was pre-Alex and I was also going to a personal trainer twice a week. I'm still happy with my time, but I have to keep pushing myself. :)

Dad should be back any minute, so I'm going to head to work early and pray the girls don't tell me to go home ... pink eye is very contagious ... not good.

Race for the Taste 10k

Yes, I did the Race for the Taste 10k! Want to be impressed? I did 17.2 miles in 2 days. Yes, I'm proud!

Let me back track ... Saturday Jenny and I did 11 miles with our Galloway training group, then she went to work and hubby and I went to April & Geoff's Celebration lunch. We had a great time, but had to leave early (before cake! Pout.), because Jenny and I needed to leave here by 3 and I wasn't even packed yet.

Santiago went to pick Alex up from my parents (he stayed the night with them) so that I could see him before I left. Alex was still running a fever, so I hated to leave him, but knew he would be fine with daddy.

Jenny and I headed for Orlando ... we were both exhausted, but really enjoyed the drive, chit chatting and catching up. With our busy lives, although we see each other 2-3 times a week to run, we don't get one on one time very much. We ate dinner at Carrabba's and headed for the hotel (love that place) ... once there, we both crashed in bed ... and decided that we would, at the very least, go to the race and walk it, if we got picked up (the have a 15 min pace limit), oh well ... at least we tried. That's what our game plan was when we went to bed at 7:30 pm.

We got up early and headed to the race ... once we got there, the loud, fast music woke us up, if the bright lights didn't. We quickly got in our groove ... we were excited about the race! As we were waiting for the start, we decided we would do our best ... my goal was not to be picked up. My training pace is around a 17 min mile ... 2 mins slower per mile than what the race requires, so I was pretty concerned about being picked up. Plus I'd already been picked up at one of Disney's races (not good!!).

Anyways ... we took off ... I could see Jenny until about mile 3, then I lost her. I ended up doing the 6.2 miles in 1:37:02, which is a 15:39 pace. WOW. I was very sore, but very proud. I cried. I was so overwhelmed. Jenny finished in 1:30:31, a 14:36 pace. She was there for me at the finish line, like she always is (what a great friend!). I'm tearing up just trying to type this. I'm not someone that has ever wanted to do a full marathon (26.2 miles) ... I'm happy with the half (13.1 miles) ... so I really never gave it much thought that I'd do more than 13.1 miles. And yes, it was over 2 days, but darnit, I did 17.2 miles, that's a lot for me. :)

Needless to say, we had a great time ... visited Downtown Disney afterwards and ate at Wolfgang Puck Express. I go there every time we're in the area for their mac & cheese. They've remodeled, which was nice .. but they changed the mac & cheese, it was still good, but not "OMG good" like it was before. (Picture is of Jenny showing off her medal while we were waiting on our lunch)

When I got home ... Alex had a fever of 103. :( It got up to 103.4, his cheeks were red and he was hot ... Santiago said he was cranky all night, didn't sleep well and had a fever since I left. I took him to Dr. Punger on Monday. Ya know, I'm not her typical patient, but I try! I'm not nursing (I did try), I don't make my own baby food, I don't co-sleep (we tried), I don't use cloth diapers, I don't EC ... I'm sure the list goes on. But I trust and like her, and she's tolerant of my, umm, not following her way to the "T". :) I do feed Alex organic baby food, and have tried to make better decisions for him ... and she and her intern help me along the way ... grin, I bought carrots for Alex to teethe on, and regular cheerios instead of the gerber puffs. And he eats Yo Baby Yogurt ... even though it's breaking out bank account! I tell ya, Alex eats way better than we do. But that's a whole 'nother post!

I'm thinking that the high fevers is just his way of teething. There is nothing else wrong with him. He's much happier today (Tuesday) .. and he has another tooth on the bottom ... so that's 4 on top and 3 on bottom now! :) And his fever is gone. But I had to make sure there was nothing else wrong, just in case.

(I took these pictures on Monday when we were home together ... it is so hard to get pictures of Alex these days, they turn out blurry cause he's always moving. Well, that and I can't find my "real" camera, so these were taken with my camera phone.)

Oh ... did I say that I brought my medal to Dr. P's office, daycare, work and my mom's school? :) Everyone gets to see it, even strangers! Yes ... I'm happy. :)

11 MILES!!!!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Wow.

I'm a giddy.

I did it. I really did it. I did 11 miles ... Go ME! I'm a little achy, but nothing major. I just emailed our group, here's the numbers from our run:

Total Distance: 11.00 miles
Total Time: 3:11:28
Overall Pace: 17:24 (Previous weeks: 17:16, 17:06, 17:06, 16:58)

Calories Burned: 2,156 (with my weight of 270)

The overall pace is a bit off though ... we don't stop our watches for water/bathroom breaks, so really we were going faster than that during our runs. I'm frustrated with my Garmin. Of course it's not the newest, I bought it in 2006 when Jenny & I started running. But since Jeff Galloway changed our running ratio to 30:30 (seconds) instead of a 1:1 (minute) ... there are only 99 "laps" you can program. Argh. So on the 9 mile run, we didn't get an accurate pace and such because the Garmin stopped after it got to 99 laps. So for this run we set it to 'alert' us every 30 seconds ... which doesn't keep track of your running/walking pace ... which annoys me terribly. I like to know that info! So I'm annoyed with my Garmin. Maybe the newer ones don't have this limit. Who knows.

Anyways ... I'm thrilled ... I'm drinking some gatorade right now and I just had a bagel (I'm sure my gastric bypass readers are cringing at the bagel part!) ... I'm gonna go chill for an hour then time to get ready for April & Geoff's celebration, then off to Orlando with Jenny.

Oh, and I checked on Alex ... he did fine last night, slept till 4:30 am or so ... he was outside playing with my mom when I called. My dad was giving me a play by play of what Alex was doing, it was cute, I could hear the smile on my dad's face as he was telling me. Alex is so lucky to have them so close by.

One last thing ... Go ME!!!!!! :)

It's early!

It's way early in the morning .. and I've already taken a shower, gotten dressed and eaten breakfast. I think I'm crazy.

And I miss Alex. The computer is in his room and it's odd being in here and him not crawling around. :(

I'm outta here .... YAY! :)

Friday Evening

I should be in bed by now ... but I'm excited, nervous, anxious ... all rolled into one. Tomorrow is our 11 mile run. I'm planning on waking up at 3:00am, leaving by 4:00am, to be at Fleet Feet by 5:00am to start our run. I'm guessing it'll take us around 3 hours. 3 hours. Can you picture it? I can. I'm looking forward to it. :)

Jenny watched Alex for a bit today, she said he wasn't his usual self, he had a slight fever. He is staying the night at my parents house ... he's not feeling well though, I think he's teething. He had a fever, 102.1, this afternoon but he's been really happy and playing, so I'm hoping it's nothing serious. My mom called, Alex is already asleep, yay! Santiago is working late tonight, so he won't be home till around midnight.

When I get home from the run, Santiago & I are going to April & Geoff's celebration lunch, they got married a few months ago and are now having a 'reception'. They're also doing the Galloway training, so they're doing 11 miles tomorrow too!

Then Saturday afternoon Jenny and I are leaving for Orlando, we're doing Disney's Race for the Taste 10k on Sunday. A 10k is 6.2 miles ... laugh ... yeah, it's going to be an interesting weekend.

I better get to bed ...

Pictures!

Yes, I know I've been missing ... sorry! I'm sure you're all dying to hear about my 9 mile run :) I'll try to do better about posting.

Here's some long awaited pictures ... you can click on any picture to see it larger. They're a bit out of order.

9/5/08 - Alex fresh out of bed on our new couch.

9/18/08 - Look, you can see my bottom teeth ... eating prunes and happy!

9/24/08 - Daddy and Alex walking towards the swings.

9/24/08 - Our first trip to the playground, Alex had a great time swinging. It's hard to do a 'self' family picture!

9/24/08 - Alex giving daddy kisses at the park.

9/2/08 - My lame attempt at being creative while taking pictures of Alex. He was playing with his toys and could care less that I was taking pictures. See his full lil belly? He just ate dinner. Such perfect little toes. :)

8/24/08 - Grandpa & Alex in the rocker our family friend, Mikey & his sister gave us, it's their family heirloom. We love it.

8/29/08 - Alex showing he's a big boy and can hold on to the side by himself - or so he thought! He loves being in the water and splashing about.

9/3/08 - Jenny bought this backpack at our local Goodwill, what a find! Alex was comfy in it, she can't wait to take him on a hike! He loves the outdoors too, so she can teach him all about it.

8/30/08 - Such a happy lil boy, look at my first tooth!

9/17/08 - Yes, he's normal, he cries. And throws fits now, too. But he's usually smiling like in most of the pictures!

Will try to update soon ... 11 miles on Saturday! Go ME! Then 6.2 on Sunday. Yes, I'm crazy.

9 miles

Oh my.

Yes, I did 9 miles this morning. I've been up since 4am ... and I'm still on the go ... rush rush rush.

Watch your odometer next time you're in the car, it's far! I'm still a bit sick, so I had a hard time (breathing), and my body feels a little sore, just your typical "I did 9 miles" sore, nothing special. I did have to take a little break to catch my breath but otherwise, I did it. YAY!!!

I'm off to the La Leche meeting with Alex ... rush rush rush. Will try to write more later. :)

A step in the right direction

Alex and I went walking this morning with Jenny. The last time I was out doing any kind of exercise was 2 weeks ago. The week Alex was sick I went running with our group and did our usual 3 miles. Today we took Alex with us because I knew we were walking, not running. I'm still not feeling great. Still coughing and my voice sounds yucky. But we did 2.81 miles, so I'm not complaining! :) I don't feel the usual high right now, but that's ok.

I missed meeting Jeff Galloway on Saturday, that really bummed me out. Jenny said they had a great run and missed me. I miss my running, and my group. :( Wahhh. Yes, I'm whining.

Daycare called me yesterday, Alex wasn't feeling well. His ears are red, he had a low fever and he had the runs. :( Poor lil guy. Our Dr called in a new antibiotic for him. I'm hoping it knocks whatever he has out. He was a cranky lil boy last night too ... I think he has more teeth coming in, which I'm sure doesn't feel great.

Alex showed us he has learned something new ... he can go from laying down in his crib to standing up. We're in trouble now! Before, you had to sit him down and he figured out how to stand, now he's standing from any position. So in the middle of the night, he decided he wanted to stand ... and cry and scream. I slept through it, but Santiago said Alex was not happy and would only calm down with a bottle ... not a good habit, but I was sleeping, so who am I to say? Alex woke up at 4:45 this morning kinda cranky but then played for a bit ... he's at daycare now with little sleep. I hope his day goes better, he was happy when I dropped him off.

I'm jumping in the shower and heading to work .... yippeeeeeeeeee! (Faked enthusiasm) I need another day home. I just don't feel right.

Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament

I'm late in posting this ... but considering the cooties in my house over the last two weeks, I'm sure you guys understand.

The daycare Alex goes to, Sign with Me Child Development, is having a fund raiser.

Next Saturday, Sept 20th from 7 - 11 pm is a Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament. The grand prize is an all inclusive trip to Las Vegas to play in a poker tournament. Free Beer & Wine, Soda and appetizers. It will be held at the daycare, which is off Midway Road in Fort Pierce. Donation is $50.00 per person.

Santiago and I went in March with my brother, Robby. We had a fun time!!! We are not experienced poker tournament players, so we went more to support our daycare than to win. They taught the newbies how to play, which I greatly apprecaited. They gave away gift certificates (dinner, movies, etc.) in between rounds. There was a 50/50, I think the winner won over $500!

For the "real" poker players ... your donation covers a certain amount of chips. There is ONE chance during the night to buy a set amount of chips (I'm sure there is a name for this, but I don't remember what it's called).

If you're interested, please email me at Munch75@aol.com. Thanks!

Me - ugh.

It's my turn. I'm sick. I hate being sick. Alex was sick all last week and is still sounding croupy. His fever broke on Saturday and he's back to sleeping through the night and playing/eating like the happy lil boy he is.

On Sunday I started having a sore throat. I cleaned everything down with Clorox wipes. You know, the door handles, light switches, remotes, cell phone, etc etc. I went to work on Monday, but left early, had a fever. I worked a full day Tuesday. After all, I only worked 1 full day last week, so I felt like I needed to be there.

By Wednesday morning, my throat was really killing me, I had a fever, sneezing, coughing, my ears hurt, just not feeling good. I went to see Dr. P, got some meds, and went home to rest.

This morning it hit me ... I'm very blessed. Yes, I'm sick. But, really, I'm blessed. Yesterday and today my dad took Alex to daycare for me. Santiago is taking care of Alex and me. My mom is picking Alex up from daycare today. Mom, dad, Robby, Jenny have all called to check on me, it's sweet. It feels good.

We're trying our best not to re-infect Alex. Poor kid is still coughing and sneezing, I don't want him getting it again. I need to break the cycle of cooties at my house.

When I got home from the drs yesterday, I took my meds, then I read the warnings on the bottle ... "May cause drowsiness" oops. I put on the radio (country) and sped around the house. Washed my hands a zillion times. Loaded & started the dishwasher. Threw the couch blankets in the wash. Boiled Alex's nipples (wouldn't have to do that if I nursed! argh) Wiped down everything with clorox wipes. Threw out my toothbrush. Emptied garbage. Finally I collapased on the couch and quickly fell asleep.

Who knows if I've killed the cooties. I know I'm trying. I'm praying Santiago nor Alex get them.

Jenny called me yesterday, she said I need to not worry about our 8.5 mile run on Saturday, she'll take care of our group. And she's right. But I was stressed over it. Jeff Galloway is going to be there, and I really wanted to meet him again. He's a nice guy with tons of knowledge and he's running with you, you get a chance to talk to him one-on-one. I really want to be there, but in my condition, there's just no way. The last time I ran was last Tuesday, we did 3 miles.

It's time for some more meds ... which means another nap. Maybe it'll be uninterrupted. I highly doubt it. Work has called a few times already ...

High Fever

Ugh. Alex had a decent day ... fevers stayed low, he was in a good mood, played almost all day ... didn't want his bottle, but drank pedalyte and ate food just fine.

He didn't sleep well, but he finally took a decent nap this evening on me ... but woke up with a 104.1 fever. Maybe it's higher because he slept on me (my body heat?), I don't know!

I think this is the highest it's ever been. I remember when I took him to the ER when he was 4 months old, it was 103.8.

He just had a short bottle of pedalyte and daddy is feeding him dinner right now ... he's eating it ... that's a good sign. I hope the fever comes down quick ...

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to them! We've done the cool shower, cool cloth, cool drinks, little to no clothes .... the a/c is down to 73 and now back to alternating the tylenol and motrin. Poor little guy.

Cooties, Cooties

go away!

Yes, that means Alex is sick. :( Monday afternoon he started coughing and had a fever. Santiago stayed home with him yesterday. I thought things were going good, until he called around 3:45 telling me his fever was up to 103.3. I freeked. I emailed Alex's (and my) doctor, Dr. Punger, and she said we could come in. I left work and met Santiago at the doctors office. When I got there, Alex was just in a diaper, buring up and just not happy. Danielle was also there with her daughter, Natalie, we got to chit chat a bit, that was a nice bonus.

Alex got a shot of antibiotics and some drops in his ear for an ear infection. By the time we were leaving, my parents were in the waiting room concerned about Alex. We all headed home ... Alex fell asleep on the way home and slept some when we got home, but only if he was being held.

It was not a good night. His fever kept spiking ... it got up to 103.6. We were alternating tylenol and motrin every 4 hours. Sometimes being a first time mommy is for the birds. I hate not knowing what to do. I get online, look for ideas ... try them ... and I want them to work immediately, and I know that's not how it works. But it was just killing me to see and hear Alex so unhappy. He's generally a happy baby, and all he would do was whine and cry, even while being held. I sent so many emails to my dr, I'm sure she thinks I'm nuts. :)

We finally got him calmed down enough and decided to put him in bed with us. I asked Santiago if he was comfy, he said his comfort wasn't important, Alex's was (can you say "awwww"). Last night wasn't fun, but his fever broke around 3-4am ... we were thrilled!!!

Santago went to work, I'm home with Alex ... at 7am he had a slight fever, 100.4. He only drank half of his morning bottle, so I'll be watching him. He's much happier right now than he has been, so I'll take it. He's trying so hard to crawl like a big boy on all fours ... and he's banging stuff around, so that's all good.


Update 11 am - Temp is 98.8 ... quietly saying "yay!" ... he's cranky though, so we'll see ... hopefully the fever stays away. He's still coughing and crying when he coughs. On the bonus side ... I'm rocking him to sleep, which I enjoy ... and playing on the floor with him.

"Da Da" and 7 miles!

I'm a little late on posting this ... Thursday Alex said "Da Da" for the first time ... We are both so excited to hear him starting to "talk"! He still has the two teeth, the bottom one is coming in very sideways ... guess it'll straighten out as he grows. He's still not thrilled with textured foods. He just started eating organic yogurt, he loves it.

On to running ... I did 7 miles today ... I can't believe it! I'm feeling great, not sore, not tired (yet) ... here's the stats from today's run:

Total Distance: 7.05 miles
Total Time: 2:00:36
Overall Pace: 17:06 (Previous weeks: 17:16, 17:06)

Run Time: 1:00:36
Run Distance: 4.01 miles
Average Pace while running: 15:07 (Previous weeks: 15:19, 15:21)

Rest time: 1:00:00
Rest Distance: 0.04 miles

Calories Burned: 715 (with my weight of 270)

Again ... thrilled with how consistant we are being! Running with a group sure does make the time go by faster! I love it.

The FEMA rep just called ... so gotta get the place straightened up for his visit. Then we're headed to my parents tonight for dinner, I'm making lasagna, Robby & Rita are bringing garlic bread and mom is making salad ... a nice family dinner. I miss spending time with my family ... it'll be nice to catch up and if we're lucky, play some cards!

On top of that, I think my parents are keeping Alex overnight! It'll be the 3rd time since he was born ... we're excited to sleep in and they're excited to spend time with him! A win-win situation! :) A friend of mine, Ms. Carol, use to keep her grandkids overnight every Saturday night so she could spend time with them ... I always thought that was a great idea. She use to talk about cooking with them, going to the park, reading books ... just spending time together. I've always had a special place in my heart for my grandparents, but that's a whole nother post!