The Curse of Mile 22!

Another year, another marathon. Yesterday was Paul's 4th marathon. The first year he didn't really train and ran it in 4 hours 25 min. The years following he did train shaving over an hour off of his time. The last two years he has cramped up at mile 22. This year he trained his hardest thinking he just wasn't conditioned enough. Leading up to yesterday he ran 8 times over 20 miles...including a 26 mile run. His goal was to qualify for Boston. For his age he needed to finish in 3 hours 10 min. Unfortunately, at mile 22 he cramped again! He was able to finish but not in time to qualify. It was very disappointing for him and his fans! :) He is toying with the idea of running the Minneapolis Marathon this summer and trying to qualify there. I guess we will see.

Today we are just going to relax. We are finally going to go to the nursery and buy flowers and do a little outside work. Alex has a cold I think. He has had a snotty nose since Wed. His molars are coming in which doesn't help the situation. The last few nights have been miserable. After 3 hours of screaming on Friday night, I finally took him for a drive to help him fall asleep. I've never resorted to this, but I was at the end of my rope. I hope tonight goes smoother. It's the pits when you don't feel well!

Nielsen Ratings

What a surprise! About a month ago I got a call from the Nielsen Rating Company. They wanted to know if I would participate by keeping a diary of what we watched for a week. In exchange for the diary, they would give me $30. I thought that sounded great. I've never known of anyone to actually participate in these ratings. Two days ago I received my journals and a crisp $20 and $10 bill. This has got to be the best job I've ever had! :)

Poor little Alex has bad case of eczema. It is all over his back, some on his arms, legs, tushy and cheeks. I ended up taking him to the doctor on Monday because it just kept spreading. I have a year supply of Rx hydrocortisone and also had to buy a different soap and lotion. Hopefully he will get some relief soon.

Song of the South

We are back! And from what I understand, I picked a perfect time to leave!
My mom, Alex, and I took off on April 19th to head down South to visit my family. Our first stop was the great state of Texas. However, things didn't start off all that smoothly.

Alex got a big boy car seat and I had asked Paul to install it in my Mom's car before he left for St. Cloud. Our plan was to leave at 10 am. As my mom and I were packing, I bumped the car seat and noticed it wasn't anchored in tight enough. After two hours of trying to tighten it and many angry word directed at Paul...I believe the voicemail I left went something like "If I were at the race today I would have thrown a rock at your feet so you would have tripped!"...I remembered that the EMT place did car seat checks. So, at 1pm we took off.

I was worried about how Alex would do riding. He was a good traveler as long as there was someone in the back seat with him. Unfortunatley, I get very car sick in the back, so I had to do all of the driving.

We had planned to spend a week at my aunt and uncles in TX and a week with my aunt and uncle in AR. We ended up not being able to go to AR because my cousin came down with a staph infection. I was strongly advised to not take a chance on getting sick. I was very bummed because seeing everyone was the point of my trip.

In TX, we were on the go everyday. Of course, I had a list of places we had to eat...BBQ, Mexican food, Mama's Pizza, and Church's Chicken or Popeye's. We did a lot of shopping. I even got to watch some severe weather. I got a chance to visit with a couple of my cousins and an aunt and uncle from another part of TX.

Alex hit many milestones while we were gone. He has two new teeth and is working on a molar, he weaned himself from a bottle, he can clap and pull himself up to a standing position and he drinks whole milk. I'm so glad to be done with formula

I'm glad to be home, but I really miss the South. When you hear there is 7 inches of snow as your standing out in shorts in 80 degree weather, who would be excited about returning :).

Am I part Basset Hound?

Alex has figured out that he isn't allowed to put his hand in the dogs' water bowl. He now crawls up to the bowl and takes a slurp out of it....mind you he didn't put his hand in it so everything should be ok, right?! The other day Gus got up close to his face and Alex stuck his tongue out and licked Gus's nose. I'm pretty sure Basset Hound is not in Alex's pedigree.

Sad Day

We learned this morning that my grandmother passed away in the night. My mom and dad took off to Arkansas this morning. I wasn't very close to my grandmother, but it is still sad. My dad said he couldn't see any since in me going because it would be very hectic, and I still have to have my labs done 3 times this week. My mom and I had already had a trip planned to visit family the middle of April once my testing was complete. Unfortunately, we were just a little too late with the planning, so my grandmother won't get to meet Alex :(. We are glad that she died peacefully.

Operation "VOLE"

What a nice morning! I can't believe by tomorrow morning we are supposed to have a foot of snow. I decided to let the sunshine spill into Alex's room. Shortly after doing so, I heard the dogs carrying on . I peered out the window and saw our neighbor shoveling a patch of snow in the yard next to us. There is no one living in that house currently. I thought it was a little strange that he would be doing that and then all of the sudden I saw creatures running and him raising his shovel and whacking them!!! I was horrified. Paul happened to be outside and it turns out he was on a mission to destroy voles. They ripped up much of his lawn so he was on a mission. I guess he told Paul that he had killed 40 in the last few days. While they were scurrying away from him, one go in to our yard. I guess Gracie and Maggie chased it, but Gus had a different plan. The voles are quite a pain, but I'm pretty sure I couldn't whack anything with a shovel. Happy hunting Jake! :)

Bubbles and Bubbles and Bubbles

We have been trying to get Alex to switch from his bottle to a cup. He absolutely hates sippy cups but doesn't mind drinking out of a cup like an adult. Mostly he just likes to feel the liquid run in and then out of his mouth. This method proved to be a huge mess with not much actually being swallowed. Alex's buddy, Katelynn, never used a sippy cup but went straight to a straw. I thought I'd give that a whirl. We tried playing nice by starting with the straw and then giving him his bottle. Of course, that didn't work, so I decided we'd cut him off cold turkey...except for his night bottle.

Let's just say that last two days have been trying. He loves to blow into the straw creating bubbles...lots of bubbles. In fact he has found that if he blows out and babbles at the same time, it makes really neat sounds. It reminds me of talking into a cardboard paper towel roll. He also finds closing his eyes, puffing out his cheeks and blowing full force is great.

Yesterday, I was on the verge of just giving in and letting him have his bottle. I decided I try one more time and to my suprise it worked. He still enjoys blowing bubbles but when he is thirsty he will drink properly.

Speaking of drinking....Alex thinks the dogs' water bowl is great. He started out splashing with his hand. After many "No's" and hand squeezes, he decided that he would crawl up and not put his hand in...but he would take a little sip! I was shocked as I marveled at how well he was responding to "No" until I heard, SLURP! I think we are in trouble. :)