Finished...

Well, with little/no training, I was dumb enough to try out the OKC marathon this morning. I feel great after (much different than the first time around), and only came in about 15 minutes slower than my first.

Like I've told everybody, I signed up in December, it would have been a wasted $60 to not at least get the t-shirt :)

Number: 363
Time: 4:41:06
Overall: 1280
Division Place: 144/171

Various Pics

Lots of stuff in this photo package... Here are some highlights:
- 89er Day Parade with Chebon
- Emily planting flowers with Papa Vinny at her school
- Leslie at her baby shower (after just getting home from the hospital!)

Enjoy!

Sierra On-Line

Ahh the memories..

Continued...

So, Emily was away with Grandma Glenda and Papa David last night. Leslie and I stayed in the hospital. I remember the seven years working at the hospital walking into patient rooms while they were sleeping thinking, "how in the world can they sleep through all this noise?" Noises like pumps, tubes, etc.. And after sleeping in a room with Leslie on a pump... Well, I still ask the same question, as I don't think I got more than about fifteen minutes of sleep.

It's that noise that happens just as you drift off, about every ten seconds or so, as the IV pump pushes some more fluid through the hose.. It's an odd little noise, but enough to jerk you awake EVERY, SINGLE, TIME. I wasn't about to complain, Leslie was the one right next to it, having to get up every three minutes to go to the bathroom, and in tons of pain at the same time.

I certainly enjoyed the 4:30AM blood draw wake up call.. Seriously, 4:30AM? Seriously? Oh, what about Leslie caring you ask, since this really isn't about me? Yeah, I'm sure she didn't like it either :)

So, after no sleep, I got out of there around 5:45 this morning to come back home and run (big mistake... very tired, very not wanting to run = bad time running), then drove to get Emily. We stopped by to say hi to mommy on our way back home, then got ready for the parade with Chebon (which was a huge success! Congrats to Chebon and team!)

Emily didn't like the idea AT ALL of getting in the back of the truck to sit through the parade, so she began by walking with me. Before the parade started she got to pet a llama, as well as see some horses and play chase with some other kids. When we got started, she even started handing out candy to kids. Then, she passed Papa Vinny, didn't notice it was him, so I pointed him out to her. I guess the shock of seeing him out of his "element" was enough for her, because she was done with giving out candy after that. A few more minutes later, she even wanted in the back of the truck, so that's where she went. Papa Vinny spent the rest of the time running down a ways, taking pictures/movies, while Emily waved. At one point Kate came up to me and said, "OH MY GOSH, did you see that cute little man waving at Emily, and she was waving back??? It was sooooo cute!!!" I replied, "Yes, that's my father..." It was a very funny moment :)

All this going on while Leslie was being released from the hospital. Her parents came back to get her and take her home, so by the time we were done with the parade, she was home. We went to Ted's to eat, then we had to rush home because Leslie had to make it to her shower (what, coming home from the hospital and resting you say??? You think??? Not my wife...). She left while Emily slept for about an hour, before I woke her up to go to a birthday party (what, my daughter after spending the night with grandparents and getting little sleep [she had to kick Papa David out of the room because he was snoring. Apparently, it went something like, "Papa, quit snoring! You have to leave!" Then, every time Grandma Glenda started breathing even slightly heavy, "Ma, don't snore!" Almost as fun as falling asleep to that pump noise in the hospital. Apparently fun sleeping times by lots of people last night...], coming home to walking a long parade, going to eat, and then sleeping a good nap? You think??? Not my daughter...). We got to the birthday party (pump it up), played a little, went in for the party part (she didn't eat cake... strange things were afoot I guess...) Then came home. Now rest, right? Nope.

Back in the car to go to Walgreens to get Leslie's prescriptions filled (had to stop for an icee first for Emily), then to get the red car, then home to have dinner.

THEN, FINALLY, we all snuggled in bed to watch Barbie Island Princess. Rest, right? Nada.

It was only about every three minutes that the phone rang (not unlike the pump in the night/snoring/Emily commenting on snoring) with everybody making sure we were still alive.

Finally, 8:00PM. Emily with a book, and to bed. Leslie in bed. Me, writing here.

I honestly believe I overdo the "I'm the luckiest person in the world" feeling on a regular basis, but times like these remind me how much I take for granted every single day of my life. It's amazing to me how when one thing happens to somebody I love, how much my life can so quickly spin out of whack. I know it's unavoidable to slip back into the lull of normality, but every time something like this happens, I'm reminded of a few words my grandfather told me a year or so back when we were up in Minnesota. He was explaining to me the feeling he had during the war about how much he missed home, and how hard it got being away for so long. And then, however many decades later that he was sitting there in his dining room, looking around the room that he had sat in probably thousands of times since he returned from the war is if it were the first time ever looking at the walls, chairs, and table, saying to me, "I have a roof over my head. I have a chair, to sit in. I have clean clothes to wear. I have a family that loves me." These words were not spoken as I speak them when I talk about my "lucky life." These were words that only a person with experiences as his could say and be understood as I understood them.

As long as I'm in sappy mode here, I'll also share that times like these remind me of the last few words spoken in Saving Private Ryan. Have I truly earned this life I live? Have I earned such a loving wife, daughter, family, friends, career? I guess if I take a moment and really think about that question, the answer isn't an easy one.

Anyway, I guess this will be my mid-year Thanksgiving blog :) As thankful as I am for the chair I'm sitting in writing this, and the computer to do it with, as well as all the other toys in my life which I love so much (and only you, reading this, who know me, can truly appreciate that statement), none of it matters without my family, my friends. Thank you to all, who without a second hesitation offered help through this ordeal, willing to drop everything for us. It means more to me than you know, so thank you.

It's good to be home.

...Oh, and if anybody knows why Emily's poop was so bright green tonight, let me know. Wow, was that stuff potent tonight, I think I can still smell it... Maybe Ted's... hmmmm...

What a day...

At about 8:30 this morning Leslie called me and told me she was having bad cramping pains. She called the women's center at NRH, and they told her to drink a TON of water for an hour, and if the pain continued, to come in.

Well, they did, so we did. Even in her pain, I rushed over at about 9:30 to get her, and she was still standing in her room teaching... Ugh that woman is stubborn :)

Anyway, we headed to the hospital, and found the nurse that we remembered so well with Emily (before Emily was born, we frequented the hospital because of Leslie's high blood pressure, being on bed rest, etc.), so she got us hooked up in the triage unit and began close observation. Sure enough, Leslie was having contractions, and they were getting worse. Not only that, they found blood in her urine, and her blood pressure was way up. I'm sure you can imagine my calmness throughout all of this...

So, they started and IV on her and started pumping fluids through her. She had an ultrasound, and then Dr. Anderson came in and told us she had kidney stones. The problem with that is, kidney stones could lead to more contractions, which could lead to labor...

So, fun day today. Things are calm now, much less pain. I'm holding up the fort at home, Emily's with Grandma Glenda and Papa David, and Leslie's stuck in the hospital for a little bit longer.

Bump in the night...

For two nights now Emily has shown up at our bedside in the middle of the night... She tells us that she hears the wind. We'll see how tonight goes, it doesn't seem to be as windy as the past two nights, so maybe she'll stay in bed :)

It certainly feels like the end of the school year is coming... That light at the end of the tunnel is faint, but it's there... 5 weeks and 1 day!

I hope everybody makes it out to the 89er day parade on Saturday. I'll be walking in it (Emily and Leslie too!) with my best friend Chebon, and hope to see you out there!

Not that it's really even worth noting, but my OCD kicked in the other day when I realized that the volume control on my sound upstairs wasn't working. I messed around with a ton of buttons on the machine and finally I got sound back.. But now all I can think about is whether or not all the settings are the same now as they were before I started messing with the buttons.. Yes, it's been keeping me up at night, I'm that bad (with the OCD)... I know it comes in handy at times (cleaning, dishes, sometimes even laundry) but there sure are times when it's a pain in the neck (getting the volume on the monitor for Emily just right, even after fifteen tries or so, making sure the doors are locked, making sure the door to our room is open juuuuuuust so, as well as the doors to the bathroom, making sure my pillow is exactly placed... oh, I could just go on forever.)

Oh and for those of you reading this on facebook, be sure to click on the "view original post" of these notes... You get to see my blog page with a lot more pics/videos/stuff.

Purpose?

I remember why I started blogging in the first place... While it's nice to have the audience (of 2) that take the time to read about our lives, the most important reason I wanted to start blogging about our family was more for a digital scrap book, detailing some of the details of our lives, but especially Emily's (and now Benjamin's!)...

I remembered this today because I was looking back at some older posts. While I've only been doing this a relatively short time (4th of July of last year, or around there I think), I can't believe what stuff gets forgotten so quickly. Those little details of Emily's routine that are no longer a part of her life are as quickly forgotten as they are changed in her own life. Emily and I spent some time looking at old videos of her, and it was as if she had grown a lifetime in only a few years... I couldn't believe it.

So, while I wish I could be more consistent with these posts, it makes it that much more important to me to get them in when I can, because I know just a short time from now I'll be looking back on even this post thinking, "wow, I can't believe I forgot feeling like that!"

We bought Ben's car seat today from Babies R Us. I have trusted my iPhone every time I have gone somewhere by using the map function, and up until today, it's worked flawlessly. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a street the map was telling me to turn on, so we ended up going in circles for about ten minutes near Penn Square Mall trying to find that freakin exit to get over to the store..

Anyway, we got the car seat, brought it back home. I then sat down and watched "An Inconvenient Truth" (loved it), knocked some doors with Chebon, ate dinner, had some desert, and just now put Emily to bed. Her favorite thing to do before bed now is to jump up and down on her bed while spelling her name as she points at it on the wall by saying "P...E...T...E...R" Even though she's looking at "E....M....I....L...Y." Man does she get a kick out of that.. never gets old for her :)

Leslie's about done being pregnant, or so she tells me (I think I already posted that, but it gets more evident each day). The good news is she's not on bed rest like she was last time. We were amazed at the doctor to remember that at this time in the pregnancy last time around, Leslie had already been in bed for 3 weeks! Blood pressure is great, no swelling, things are going very well! We're only 6 short weeks away from Benjamin being here!

Only one scare recently, when Leslie fell in the bathtub... Other than smarting her leg pretty bad, all was well.

As long as I'm on a roll here, I'll just throw in Emily's hard time with riding her bike now... it seems to wobble a little too much now, so she's not so inclined to visit the yellow park anymore. I'm almost thinking to put her back on her old small bike until she gets comfortable with it.

And no, she hasn't pooped in the potty yet. We're going to get hard core here at the end of school, when we take TV away from her completely until she does (Oh no!!! You mean, she'll have to play on her own, inside and out? Draw, be creative? Not veg out on the TV???? What is the world coming to?) Hopefully that will do the trick..

Misc.

Well, since I haven't uploaded photos/videos in a while, here's a batch that has several things in it.

First, Easter morning with Emily looking in her Easter basket and all the goodies. Next is the Philharmonic concert that we went to last weekend. She loved the concert, especially sitting so close so she could see all the action (you can see it in the videos).

Finally, the bear parade was this morning, with lots of games and fun for Emily. Unfortunately, Emily was being "3" (according to Leslie), and I stated that apparently so was I, because Emily wasn't warming up to the idea of playing at the various stations, and I had zero patience for her. So, after my mild meltdown, I took her back and she had a little more fun (still didn't do anything, but at least wasn't throwing fits.. and for that matter, neither was I :)

So, here's the batch of photos/videos from those events. Enjoy!

Just to brighten your day

Leslie and I have been working on our entrance for Dancing with the Stars... What do you think?

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Hopping along

I've got some pictures I'll be posting at some point, Emily's been doing very well at school, and we got accepted for next year at McKinley!

We're busy getting ready for CRTs at school, it's testing season!

More news later...