4/3

It's been a month since I mentioned my little 20/20 plan, so in the spirit of accountability, here's an update. Although I haven't kept up with the pace that I initially set for myself (a pound a week), I'm still happy with my progress. Four weeks have passed and I've lost 3 pounds, so I'm not too far off my mark. It's not a lot but it's progress. Everybody say it with me....Yay progress!

I've also managed to change my eating habits substantially. Whereas before I would eat fast food approx 10 times a week, now I only do it maybe once a week. I've been going to the gym every single day (except on weekends) and I've only missed 2 or 3 days the whole month. I feel like I have more energy and my clothes is feeling kind of loose. So much so, that I need to find new gym pants. The ones I wore today felt like they were going to fall off and that totally killed my concentration on the treadmill today. Run run run...must keep pants on...run run run....must not let pants fall...run run run...aw crap the iPod battery died...run run run...pull pants up....run run run.

You know, the more I work at this, the more I wonder why I didn't do this sooner. As long as I can remember, it seems like I've always had an excuse. I'll make an effort to lose the weight for my 15's, before the school year is over, over the summer, before grad night, before prom, after graduation, in college, after Thanksgiving, after I get a job, after Christmas, before I get married, after the honeymoon, after my birthday, in January, before I have a baby, after the baby, before the next baby, after the next baby. You know what? It was time. Time to stop making excuses. I figured, if I don't do this now, I will never do it.

Go Me.

Or not.

The movies on Tuesday were a total bust. We got there too late. All 500 seats had been filled and we, along with about 20 people in front of us (as well as those behind us), didn't get in. Manders and I were completely bummed because the kids had been so excited about going and we hated to let them down. Disappointing children is the worst thing ever.

Fortunately, since Cman had never been to the movies, he didn't know what he was missing. Unfortunately, Brandon did.

Instead, Manders and I headed to Barnes & Noble where the boys promptly forgot about the missed movie (which we will be taking them to see another day).

Let's go to the movies

I was the lucky winner of four passes to a special advanced screening of Monsters vs Aliens tonight, so Manders and I will be headed over there after work with our oldest boys. I won the passes on Momsmiami.com (these are the same peeps that featured my boys in the newspaper a couple of times too, so I'm totally loving them at this point).

I'm super excited because this will be Christian's first time going to a movie theater. I've never taken him because I imagined that he would not sit through a whole movie. I had visions of him jumping all over the seats and dumping popcorn on the floor and racing up and down the theater seats (actually, I'm the one that did that once) while I cower in shame and embarrassment. OK, fine that probably won't happen, but I do hope he doesn't start talking loudly and proclaiming that he wants to go home. The good thing is, if he does want to leave, at least it didn't cost me anything.

7 months

My littlest man turned 7 months on Friday. He sits by himself now (since 6 months 1 wk). He babbles alot and says da da da da. He transfers objects from hand to hand to mouth and plays with his feet. He rolls from tummy to back, but not the other way around. I just haven't found anything to give him the incentive to do so. He's very lazy because if he wants the remote, I put it out of reach so that he'll turn over and it's as if he says, oh never mind, I don't want it then. No teeth yet, but he does drool alot. He loves it when CMan entertains him, but if he laughs too much, he gets the hiccups. He likes his playcenter, his swing and his jumperoo, but only for 5 minutes and then he wants to be nowhere but in someones arms (oh boy).

As of Tue, his 2nd blood culture hadn't grown any bacterias, so it appears that the antibiotic has done the trick (cross fingers). Unfortunately, he's got a cold now. He's got a phlegmy cough and clear boogers, so I'm waiting for the doc to call back to see what to do now. I hope she doesn't say to bring him in again or I'm going to request a personalized parking spot. I'm also going to make an appointment for him to see the G.I. specialist because he still doesn't like the baby food (although we did get him to drink 4 oz of formula last night!). He won't even open his mouth for one spoonful, although, I think it has to do with the fact that he's got a cold right now (and CMan has the croup cough again...joy).

On Saturday, I took him (and CMan) to have his 6 months pictures taken (a little late) and I can't wait to see how they came out. I think they're going to be adorable...then again, I'm biased.

We were supposed to go to JJ's first Mommy and me swim class on Sunday, but since he's got a cold now, I don't' see that happening. Hopefully, he'll be better by then. Thanks for the good vibes folks!

Elusive Infection

The ER is not a fun place to be, yet that is where I spent 9 hours on Friday and 3 hours on Saturday. The culprit? Jordan's high fevers.

Let's start at the beginning. For a couple of weeks now JJ had been having fevers that came and went. On Wed last week the fever was 103.8 so on Thursday we took him to the pediatrician. His ears were fine, his throat was fine, his urine was fine. No malady could be found. He had blood work done and it showed that his white blood cell counts were really high, so on Friday, the doctor called us back in to her office and sent him to Baptist ER. At the ER my poor baby had a battery of tests that I don't wish for any parent to have to watch their baby go through. He had a catheterization done (to check for urinary tract infection), he had mucus aspirated through a tube that was stuck up his nose (to check for Flu or RSV), he had an IV placed on his hand (that took 10 minutes...10 minutes of crying and screaming...horrible), and he had a chest Xray (to check for pneumonia). They were determined to locate the infection, but they did not. They gave him IV antibiotics and sent him home with a promise to return the next day for more antibiotics.

On Saturday we returned and they told us that the blood culture had grown something so he had Bacteremia (bacteria in the blood). Unfortunately we still don't know where it originated and/or how it got there. Another blood culture was drawn (amazingly enough, he didn't cry this time) and he was given a shot of antibiotic and sent home with a prescription for an antibiotic to take by mouth for 7 days.

I just called the hospital and the first culture was not big enough, so that's why they drew another one on Saturday. Unfortunately, Saturday's blood draw was very measly (just a couple of drops), so I don't know if that will help at all either. I hope he doesn't have to get poked again, but it's certainly looking that way.

I'm really worried about this because if they don't know what's growing in the blood culture, how will they be able to give the correct antibiotic? I hope the one he's taking now works and kills the elusive infection he seems to have somewhere in his body. If it's not working, then will this allow the infection to spread to other parts of his body? since it's in his blood?

I'm also wondering if this is somehow related to all his gastric problems (spitting up, reflux). Although the Prevacid was discontinued at his 6 month visit, we went back to giving it to him because he was miserable with out it. He doesn't eat but 3 or 4 spoons of baby food in a sitting, he won't take cereal, or formula and he is very gassy and crabby. I'm thinking a visit to the Pediatric GI is in our future as well.

Please send good thoughts our way.

Overheard at my house

The other night, Ren gets home from work. I'm in the living room playing Guitar Hero. The dishes aren't done and the laundry basket is sitting by the stairs.

"Hey Claudia, I bought a new video game for you, it's called Fold The Laundry Hero"

Apparently I married a comedian.

Now, would that game be played with the remote or the nunchuck?

A few treasures from CMan:

"You're not the boss of me" (he's only 3 and he's starting with this already!)

"Mommy, you're beautiful" (awwww)

"I want to hear Jealous Pelos"

"Mom, can I put my foot in the toilet?"

"We live in the State of Florida, on Planet Earth"

"Umbrella starts with the letter U"

What's your address Christian? He replies in a song voice..."155**...Southwest..*** Terrace!" (inspired by this story).