So Farr, So Good

3?? How can that be??

2012-01-16T21:04:00.000-08:00

Happy, Happy 3rd birthday to our sweet little man. I can hardly believe that it has already been 3 years since this tiny little boy came into the world and changed our lives forever. Now we are constantly laughing, chasing, answering why, feeding, singing, reading, playing every kind of sport possible, and loving our precious boy. He amuses us on a daily basis with his sense of humor and all of the interesting things that he comes up with. We had a great birthday party for him this weekend with lots of friends and some family in attendance and plenty of love for the birthday boy. Today was his actual birthday and I took cupcakes for him to enjoy with his friends. He said he had a good day at school and his friends sang "Happy Birthday" to him. We had dinner and headed out for some birthday ice cream at Amy's. I love this little boy more than I ever could have imagined!!

Happy 2012

2012-01-02T15:31:00.001-08:00

As we start 2012, I am hopeful and confident that we will have another good year. Darrell and I were both lucky enough to get new jobs, despite the not so great economy. It's so funny to know that a quick meeting at a Christmas party last year that I almost didn't go to has lead to a new job with new friends, adventures, and alot of promise for growth in my career. I am so excited to see what this year will bring with my new job.

Darrell's job has been good and has given him the experience that he has been looking for to do what he really wants to do, which is not be just the computer guy, but actually get to work in the legislative process. We are looking forward to seeing what the next year has in store for him as well.

We have had our ups and downs with my Dad as he continues his battle with cancer. We are now getting close to a year and a half since he was first diagnosed with his unoperable brain tumor and we he's still around. We have had a few bumps in the road, but overall, we have been very, very lucky that he has responded resonably well to his treatment. We are hoping for continued good results and another year of having him with us.

We have really enjoyed getting together with our friends this year during our monthly play dates, birthdays, and last minute get togethers. It has been really nice to be able to hang out with adults while the kids are playing and happy. We have been sad to say goodbye to some of our old friends and we have welcomed some new friends and have a few more new friends to welcome in the New Year as we await the arrival of new babies.

Speaking of babies...it is hard to believe that our sweet boy will be 3 in just two short weeks. It seems like just yesterday that I was anxiously awaiting the holidays becuase that meant only a few short weeks until we would get to meet our baby boy. Each year since, I find myself being more excited about the holidays merely because I can't wait to see his joy and happiness from all of the small things that each day of the holiday brings. I love this little boy more than anything I could have ever imagened and we can hardly remember what life was like before him. We are looking forward to celebrating the big 3 with him and our friends!

I'd like to say that I have some resolutions for 2012, but due to such a busy life and not wanting to set goals that I can't keep, I think I'll just try and do small things to make life easier. I want to drink more water, eat a little better, move more, and keep enjoying every day life with the folks around us that we love the most. I want let the positive things that happened last year spill over into this year and just take it a day at a time.

Happy New Years to Everyone!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-29T17:19:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas at home. I told Darrell that when I was a kid, we were always at our house on Christmas morning and I want to make sure that Reagan is always at our house on Christmas morning as well. How else would Santa know how to find Reagan?? We brought Reagan downstairs and he was so excited to see all of the goods that Santa had left. Back around Thanksgiving, we had gotten some random toy magazine in the mail and Reagan has been fixated on three things from that catalog: a golf set, a hockey set, and a Snoopy Snowcone Maker. He has mentioned these items at least once, every day for the past month. Luckily, Santa was able to bring them all, along with some other stuff. He was very happy with all of his new presents. We opened more presents and then Grandma came over and we opened more. We had a great Christmas lunch and then went over to my Dad's and took him food and presents. Reagan had a very long day and did not have a nap until late in the afternoon.

It was really nice to have all last week off of work. We had 2 days off and with the 4 days I took off and weekends, I had a total of 10 days off. So very nice considering I have only had 2 days off work since I started back in March!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-29T17:04:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve was spent in San Antonio with our friends the Wimmer's. It was a chilly and rainy day, so we were glad to be in the warmth of their home. We got down there right before 11 AM and our day was filled with food, laughter, and the kids playing. The kids even got a little bit of a nap! We decorated a gingerbread house, made Christmas ornaments, and exchanged gifts before we left. It was a great way to spend Christmas Eve!

We got home about 7:30 and hung out for a while and then got Regan ready for bed. We put him in bed around 8:30 and he didn't go to sleep until closer to 9:30. He kept saying that he was scared that Santa was going to "get" him. I assured him that he wouldn't even know Santa was there and he was just going to come in, drop off presents, and would be on his way because he was very busy delivering toys. He finally went to sleep and Santa was able to bring the toys.

He woke up again around 11 and again at midnight. By this time, we were exhausted and I told Darrell just to bring him to sleep with us. Once he was with us, he was fine and we didn't wake up until around 7:30 on Christmas morning.

Here are some of our Christmas Eve photos.

Christmas at the Capitol 2011

2011-12-17T19:45:00.000-08:00

Some Winter Pics

2011-12-17T19:29:00.000-08:00

The picture of Reagan and the little girl is from the night of the Open House at his school. That is is sweet little friend, Bella, that he loves so much.

We went to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live. That was the first thing like that we have taken Reagan to see. He didn't even know what to think. He was pretty spell bound for a long time and then he decided he wanted to go on stage with them and we had to explain that he couldn't.

The day after Thanksgiving, Dad was feeling well enough to go golfing for the first time in very long time. So, Darrell, Dad, and Reagan loaded up and headed out to Lockhart for a little golf. This was Reagan's first time on a real golf course. He had been on the putting green before, but this was his first official golf outing. Dad and Darrell said he did really well, once they explained to him about waiting his turn and staying out of the way. They made it through about 6 holes and both Dad and Reagan were tired, so they headed back in to town.

Reagan also bowled for the first time this morning. My youngest niece, Morgan, had her birthday party at a bowling ally and Reagan and I bowled. We had the bumpers out and the first couple of times, we used the ramp to roll the ball down and then Reagan decided he didn't need the ramp and wanted to roll it down there himself. He really enjoyed it. Again, another experience for him to learn about waiting his turn and staying out of the way.

And the last photo...Reagan and I enjoying some hot chocolate that Darrell made for us. :)

The Holidays Have Arrived!

2011-12-17T19:15:00.000-08:00

Somehow Thanksgiving has passed us by and here we are just a week from Christmas! Christmas seems to get more fun each year with Reagan. He is really enjoying everything about the season, singing Christmas songs, reading Christmas stories, and doing all sorts of fun Christmas things. This past week, we went to the Lieutenant Governors Staff Christmas party at the Capitol. We look forward to this each year and Reagan LOVES to go to "Daddy's Capitol." This year, there was a Santa Clause that showed up for the kids. As soon as Reagan saw him, he said, "Where are the presents?" We had a great time and enjoyed visiting with the folks that Darrell has worked with over the years.

Darrell has the next two weeks off and I have this next week off as well, so we are looking forward to enjoying our time off together and getting to do some fun Christmas activities with Reagan. I got a Gingerbread House Kit at the white elephant gift exchange for my office Christmas party on Friday and I'm looking forward to building it with Reagan and Darrell this next week.

I'm really hoping to get alot of cleaning done this next week. I've been feeling very cluttered here lately and am hoping to purge alot of items and be able to start the new year off feeling a little less cluttered. We will see how that goes!

We are looking forward to 2012. 2011 has actually been a pretty good year for us. We both started new jobs with the possibilities of great opportunities. We have been fairly healthy. My Dad has done pretty well with his cancer treatment despite a few bumps in the road. We have gotten to spend lots of time with some great friends. Here's hoping that 2012 can be another great year!

Pumpkin Patch 2011

2011-10-30T15:38:00.000-07:00

Getting Reagan to be still enough for a photo has become increasingly difficult. We were going to wait to go to the Pumpkin Patch until this weekend, but Darrell found out Monday that he was going to have to go to the Valley for work on Thursday and he wasn't sure when he was going to be back in town, so we made a quick trip on Tuesday evening. Reagan was tired and not in a great mood, so we were just able to get a few really good shots.

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-09T19:57:00.001-07:00

Big Boy Bed

2011-09-09T19:45:00.001-07:00

First Haircut!

2011-09-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

How could I have forgotten this important milestone?!? Reagan's hair has taken it's sweet time coming in, but he was starting to get crazy old man hair on the side where it would get really fuzzy. It's not growing much on the top. We decided to take him to get it cut with hopes that it would start to come in quicker and more even. On July 9th, we took him over to Snip Its, which is a kids haircut place over in South Park Meadows. Reagan was awesome during the whole process and sat very, very still like a big boy. Reagan saw a big bottle of baby powder sitting on the counter next to a jar of lollipops. He asked if he could have some and the hair dresser went to hand him a lollipop. He said, "No, I want powder." He of course took the lollipop as well, but we laughed that he requested the powder. For not having much hair, the actually cute quite a bit off! When we left to come back home, Reagan kept repeating in the car,"I got my first haircut. I got my first haircut." Darrell asked him,"How do you feel, Reagan?" Regan replied, "Nice and clean!" So funny!

Here are some pics of his sweet little haircut and I'm glad to report that it is growing in nicely and it won't be long before we get a 2nd haircut!!

Summer Pictures

2011-09-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

July 4th Weekend Trip to Austin Zoo and 2nd Trip to the Express game.

Pool Party Pics from June

First Round Rock Express game in June.

It's Been a While....

2011-09-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

Wow! Can't even believe that it has been almost three months since my last post!! It has been a very busy and HOT past three months. Things are still going well with our jobs and since the Legislative Session was over back in July, we have finally settled into our new routine.

Reagan is growing growing like crazy, still so skinny, but finally made it on the weight chart at his 2 1/2 year check up that was back in mid-July. He may weigh close to 28 pounds now, if that. He's so smart and we are so amazed at the things that come out of his mouth each day. He has an unbelievable memory for being as young as he is and often talks about things that happened several months ago. He even talks about our trip to Boston that we went on last October! He loves school and is so excited to go every day. He is doing very well with his potty training and within the past few weeks he really seems to be getting the hang of it. He will go on the potty at least 3 or 4 times at school and tells us he has to go most of the time when we are at home. We just need to get him used to going #2 on the potty. He has just a few times, but will generally tell us right after he has gone in his Pull Up. I know it won't be long before he gets it!

About a month ago, we finally put Reagan in a big boy bed. We decided that since we didn't have toddler beds as kids that we would put Reagan straight in a twin bed. We were a little worried about the transition and we have had NO problems with it. In fact, he is so excited to go lay in his big boy bed every night and goes right to sleep. He has slept through the night every night and has not gotten up out of his bed one time since we have put him in it.

We have had a pretty fun summer that has included lots of trips to the pool, a kiddy pool party at our house with our play group, a couple of trips to the zoo, and several trips to Round Rock Express baseball games. We went to the Austin Zoo out towards Dripping Springs about a month ago and last weekend, we went to the Bastrop Zoo. Regan really enjoyed both. He LOVES baseball games. He loves to eat hot dogs, Cracker Jacks, and Dippin' Dots Icecream.

Half Marathon training started a couple of weeks ago and I'm kind of unsure as to what I'm going to do this year. I really want to train and run, but I'm worried about how my knees will hold up after last year and I'm also still working on figure out when to run. At my old job, I had a running buddy that would go with me down to Town Lake Trail and run a 3 mile loop with me two or three times a week and then I could get my long run in on Saturday. I don't have a running buddy at my new job and honestly have done nothing work out wise since I ran Capitol 10K in March. I have started getting up two days a week to meet a friend to work out before we go to work. We have time to get in about half an hour on the treadmill and about 15 minutes worth of ab work. I was pretty sore after the first day since I haven't done anything in so long. I'm really looking forward to the cooler weather and getting up on Saturday mornings to go run again. We will see how my knee is and decide what to do from there. I'd also love to get back on my bike at some point!

My Dad is doing pretty well, all things considering and we just celebrated a year since his initial cancer diagnosis on September 5th. He has held up very well with his chemo and the results of his MRI from last week showed that the tumor is stable again. He will continue with his chemo treatments every couple of weeks. The oncologist said that he really does not have a time frame as to when he will be able to stop the treatments and has indicated that he may have to always be on them. He is still remaining positive and has had very few problems with the chemo, which I was so worried about.

Next post will have some new pictures!

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T17:54:00.000-07:00

Reagan and I made blueberry muffins for Darrell while he was at the grocery store this morning. We enjoyed our breakfast and then headed over to Dad's house. We found out a couple of weeks ago that the tumor has almost doubled in size within the past couple of months. He started chemo through the IV this past Tuesday. He is doing ok with it so far, just very tired and hasn't felt like eating too much the past couple of days. We had stopped over at Central Market and picked up some lunch to take over so that we we could enjoy lunch with him. He was able to eat and when I went over again this afternoon, he was looking for more food, so that is a good sign.

We were really surprised to hear the news about the tumor as he has felt better than he has in a long time these past couple of months. The plan right now is to do the chemo every couple of weeks and then get an MRI in a couple of months to see how it is reacting. The oncologist sounded very positive that the chemo treatment he will be taking will help slow the growth down.

Dad is surprisingly positive about the news as well and just keeps saying that they told him back in September that he had 2 months if he did nothing and here we are almost 9 months down the road and he's still around. He said he went into this a gambling man and if he's up now, why does he want to stop? I'm really glad that he's in this mindset right now.

Other things have been pretty good. We have been so busy with our new jobs. The Senate is in Special Session right now, but should hopefully be winding down soon. We are lucky that Darrell is not working the long hours that he was the month of May. There were lots of days that the only time that Reagan would get to see them was the half hour that they would spend getting ready for school in the morning.

Darrell had to work Memorial Day Weekend, so my friend Amanda and I loaded up Reagan and her little girl, Ella, who is 3, and took them down to the beach. Amanda's Grandparents live in Ingleside, which is really close to Port Aransas, so we stayed with them and had a couple of trips to the beach. Reagan helped Amanda's cousin catch a fish and got to go on his first boat ride as well. We had a great weekend and the kids did pretty well for the most part. I was really glad to get to spend that time with such a great friend and her family.

The next weekend, Darrell was off work, so Saturday night, the three of us went to the Round Rock Express Baseball game. Reagan loves baseball and hot dogs so much and he had a great time running around the stadium and eating. We will definitely have to get back out there sometime soon!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-09T17:58:00.000-07:00

We had a great day yesterday! Reagan and I took my mom out for breakfast and hung out with her for a little while. After we got home, Reagan, Darrell, and I went to Zilker Park for the afternoon. We rode the train and then took a walk down to feed the ducks. There were no ducks out, so we fed the birds, fish, and turtles. Darrell managed to find a fish hook and some fishing line and tied it to the end of a stick and he and Reagan did a little fishing. Reagan really wanted to catch a fish, but no luck! After that, we ran back across the park and headed to go get some lunch. There's a new Greek place that we had heard about over on Lamar called Opa! It turned out to be more of a coffee shop/bar. We did have a gyro and some hummus that was pretty good. While Reagan was taking a nap, I headed out for a pedicure with my pals Colleen and Elisa.

We also ended up having to go get a new washing machine yesterday. The set that we had was a mismatched set that were old when we bought them about 6 years ago. We definitley got our $135 out of that set! Hooray for the new washer being delivered tomorrow.

Here are some pics of Mother's Day!

Pirate Party

2011-05-02T18:26:00.000-07:00

We went to a birthday party on Saturday morning for Reagan's friend Victor, who is turning 2, and Victor's half brother, Daniel, who just turned. Victor is the son of my friend Allison that I went to high school with. Victor also goes to the same day care as Reagan. The party was pirate themed and started off with a treasure hunt around the park. It was so cute. There were about 8 kids or so and I think the oldest one may have been 6 or 7. I didn't know how well Reagan would do with it, but when the older kids started to run towards the treasures, Reagan would get really excited and run behind them. Here's an awesome picture of him in his pirate attire with his treasures. These are the cupcakes that Allison and her sister made for the party. I wish I was that creative!

Reagan's Love For Golf Through the Years

2011-05-01T10:38:00.001-07:00

The first time he held his little club was in August 2009. Since then, the golf club has been something that Regan has played with almost daily. He used to pull it around with him while he crawled and for about the past year now, he asks to go outside and play golf almost every day. This past fall, we had gotten him the smallest set of real clubs that we could find, which was for ages 3-5. We got him the driver, 7 iron, and putter. They were a little heavy for him, but when we got them out this spring, he seems to be doing pretty good with them. He's using his driver below. We think that it's so funny that he comes home each day and spends about 20 minutes hitting the golf balls. Sometimes when he misses, I can hear him quietly say, "Oh, Man!" or "I missed it!"

Darrell doesn't play alot of golf at all, but we do watch alot of golf on TV and Reagan loves to watch golf with us. He will yell, "Get in the hole!" The other day when I took Reagan to school, his teacher asked me if he had ever played golf because he made a make-shift club and ball out of either a toy frying pan and a block or a toy rake and a block. We got him a little plastic bat and ball and he's finally starting to figure out how to swing it like a bat as opposed to the golf club.

No doubt about it, the boy LOVES his golf!

Twinkle Twinkle

2011-05-01T08:03:00.000-07:00

Some Recent Pics

2011-04-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

Been a While....

2011-04-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

Wow! I've totally been slacking in the blogging department! We are still here and despite a few bumps here and there, we are doing really well.

Darrell and I both started our new jobs and we are really enjoying them. I have sold my first few accounts at the new job and have a few more in the works. I work with a great group of folks and am having a good time with the girls that I work with. Darrell is doing a great job in his new role as a staff member for a Senator and the Senator is very pleased with Darrell's work. We went to a barbecue at the Senator's house a couple of weeks ago and the Senator said that he is so happy to have Darrell as part of his team.

I took my first out of town business trip the week before last to attend our semi-annual brokers conference at our home office in Dallas. I got to meet all of the other brokers from across all of our offices as well as the owner and CEO of our company. They were very nice and welcomed me to the company saying that they had heard great things about me and have high expectations for me. Pretty exciting!

We have been so busy these past couple of months. We have had birthday parties almost every weekend and managed to squeeze in a trip to Arlington to see the Rangers play the Red Sox twice on opening weekend. We stayed with our friends Tammy and John in Denton and they came with us to the Saturday evening game. Reagan really loves going to the baseball games and REALLY loves my friend Tammy, who he calls TeePee.

Dad is doing pretty well right now. He had a rough time with the chemo the last round. We think that he may not have been taking the right meds. He fell several times and other than some scrapes on his arms, he was ok, but it got to the point that he was afraid to take a shower because he kept falling. We ended up taking him to the oncologist and getting him admitted to the hospital for a couple of days and sure enough, he needed a heavy dose of the steroids to get him back where he needed to be. He hates the steroids so much, but without them, he starts to have temporary memory loss and has a hard time remembering much of anything. A side effect of the long term use of the steroids includes atrophy of the muscles, which was what was causing him to fall. His leg muscles were very week. He got some physical therapy for them and they showed him lots of exercises to do to keep the strength up, so he has really been working on that. Last week, he was even able to go out and walk around the block again, which he has not done for quite a while. He had another round of chemo pills this week and handled them much better than last time. Darrell and I have been going over every Sunday and making sure that he has all of his medicines in order for the week and I think that has really helped.

Reagan is just doing amazing. Saying more and more each day and pretty much talking in sentences. He still really enjoys going to school and has been having a great time going to his friends birthday parties and play dates with our friends and their kids. He is playing much better with other kids and has been working alot on his sharing. Reagan had his school Easter Egg Hunt on Thursday and had his Easter Party yesterday. We are looking forward to our Easter Egg Hunt here at the house tomorrow!

This is the first weekend in a long time that we have not had hardly anything to do, so we are definitley going to enjoy that!

Here's to New Beginnings!

2011-02-27T19:15:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday, I put in my two weeks notice at work. After two meetings with another company, I was offered a position. It's going to be a step up for me, but I am excited about the opportunity. For the past 6 1/2 years, I have been working with Philadelphia Insurance Companies as an Account Executive. I came to the company with less than a years worth of experience at an agency and very limited knowledge of insurance in general. I have worked hard, learned so much, and have come into contact with some pretty amazing people. I am so thankful that this company took a chance on me with such little knowledge and knowing how far I have come, I am confident in my abilities to do well in my next position. I am going to be an insurance broker and will now be responsible for making contact with the agents and bringing business in. I am really excited about this and can't wait to see what this new start will bring!

Last weekend I completed my 8th Half Marathon at the Austin Livestrong Marathon/Half Marathon. I went in with no expectations as I was just getting over the flu and had not eaten much in about a week. I was so nervous about having enough energy to actually getting through the race. A couple of months ago, I had a friend from high school that had told me that she would register if I'd hang out with her. Since I've been hurt for the past few months, I knew that I'd just be running to finish this one and wasn't at all going to be concerned with my time, not that I ever really do anyway! We ended up having a pretty great race and finished in 3:13. Not my best time, but not my worst either! I also reminded myself that I could pull this off since I had done a half marathon 11 weeks after I had Reagan. That race was definitely the hardest for me to get through and my longest race ever!

I didn't run all week this week so that I could let my legs and knees recover. Yesterday morning, Darrell, Reagan, and I headed out to Bastrop for Run for the Bluebonnets 5K. He and I both ran this one last year with my friend Amanda's husband, Max. It was his first 5K ever. This year, I ran it with Amanda. It was her first 5K to RUN ever! I stayed with her the whole time and we ran 2 minute and walked a minute almost the entire way. Amanda did GREAT and I am SO proud of her. Amanda had the lap band surgery back at the beginning of September and has been working very hard to live a more healthy and active lifestyle. Alot of people will say that having surgery is an "easy" way out, but having seen Amanda go through the journey that she has, I'm here to tell you, it's not at as easy as people think. Yes, this has provided her a tool in which to help her, but she is still responsible for her food choices and how active she is. The weight is still slowly coming off, but I am so confident that she will get to where she wants to be. Seeing her hard work and motivation is very inspiring to me!

2011-02-05T16:16:00.000-08:00

Snow Day 2011

2011-02-05T16:07:00.001-08:00

For the second year in a row, Austin has gotten snow! The weather forecast kept saying we were going to get some snow, but we pretty much shrugged it off and didn't think it would really happen. We woke up Friday morning to a pretty dusting of snow. Reagan was really excited and kept yelling, "Snowman! Snowman!" I could hardly get him dressed fast enough to go outside! We finally made it out a little before 7 am and he ran and played in it until his hands started getting too cold from touching the snow.

I was able to log in and work half day from home and Darrell ended up being off of work the whole day. It warmed up to around 40 yesterday, but even this morning, there was still quite a bit of snow and ice out in the shady areas. I went down to the trail and ran 5 miles (ran 2, walked 3, knee was not cooperating!) and the snow and ice was beautiful! I usually take my phone with me when I run and I hadn't this morning, but so wished for it when I saw how pretty it was.

I did my 7th half marathon last weekend. Given that I've only run about 4 or 5 times in the past couple of months since my knees have been bothering me, I did better than I had expected. It only took me 11 minutes more this year to do the same course last year. It was a pretty fun race and I was super excited to talk one of my college roommates, Elisa, into hanging with me during the race. I called her Tuesday before the race and asked if she would do it with me. She did her first half marathon last year at the Austin Half Marathon and she had not run more than 5 miles since then. We ended up beating her time from last year by 13 minutes. I was proud of us!

Reagan went in the potty!

2011-01-22T06:53:00.000-08:00

Every since Reagan was big enough to walk, he's had a frog potty upstairs and a little puppy potty downstairs. He has never gone on the, but he will often say he has to potty and go and sit on them. Part of his bathtime routine is going into his room and getting his frog potty from under his crib and pulling it into the bathroom and sitting on it for a minute before he gets into the bath.

Right after the new year, Reagan moved into his new class room, which is the two year old room. His old teachers told me that the teachers in the 2 year old room will work with them on potty training. One of the first days of his new class, I asked the teacher what we needed to do. She said that she follows the lead of what the parents are doing and she usually doesn't start working with them until they have been in the class for a while. He will be in this class for 6 months before he is moved up again, so she suggested that we wait until March or so to start really working on it unless he showed more interest in it earlier. I let her know that we talk about potty ALOT, but we would wait for a while.

Last weekend, we got some Pull-Ups and we got a little potty seat that sits on the regular toilet. He's been sitting on it some this past week, but we haven't put any Pull-Ups on him. This morning, I decided to try it out. I put the Pull-Up on him and he was very excited because they had Buzz and Woody on them and he LOVES Toy Story. I told him to make sure not to go potty in his Buzz and Woody pants and to make sure to tell Mom and Dad if he needs to go. He told us several time that he needed to go and we put him on the potty and nothing and then the 3rd or 4th time we put him on the potty, he pooped! We were excited and you could tell he was very proud of himself. I'm sure we have a long process ahead of us, but we are thrilled that he has already gone!

TWO!

2011-01-16T18:54:00.001-08:00

Today is Reagan's birthday! Totally can't believe that it's been two years since we first layed eyes on our tiny little man! We had a great birthday party for him yesterday at Locomotion (a bounce house place) and we had a great time. I haven't uploaded my pictures yet, but here's one that I took from my Mom's Facebook page. More pictures to come!

Pics from Christmas

2011-01-09T18:19:00.000-08:00

Starting out the New Year

2011-01-09T17:16:00.000-08:00

Christmas was so much fun this year. Reagan knew what was going on and we talked about Santa and reindeer and sang Christmas songs like Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. He liked to point out all sorts of things like Christmas trees, lights, stockings, snowmen, stars, presents, and a lot of other things. I know it seems like I say this every time I write on here lately, but I am always surprised at the new things that come out of his mouth each day.

Christmas morning was alot of fun and seeing Reagan's face light up when he saw the fun things that Santa had left him was priceless. He was super awesome at opening his presents this year as well! Two of Reagan's favorite things that he got for Christmas were his Little Tikes Workbench and his Fisher Price Little People sets (He got the farm and the town center.) He spent the entire afternoon either laying in the floor playing with his Little People or sitting in his chair at his workbench "working." We had Dad over for Christmas Dinner and enjoyed the day at our house.

I was lucky enough to have plenty of vacation days left that I had to use or lose before the new year, so I ended up taking from Christmas Eve until January 3rd off. It was nice to have 10 days in a row off of work!

The Monday after Christmas we attended a 2nd birthday party for one of Reagan's friends from his class. Reagan had a great time seeing a couple of his friends from school away from school and he had fun playing with other kids as well.

Tuesday morning, Reagan and I got up and headed up towards Dallas to see some family. We stayed with my Great Aunt and Uncle, Winnie and Herbert Lee. Since I have not had my grandparents since high school, they have been like another set of grandparents to me over the years. We haven't been up to see them since Reagan was 4 months old, so it was really good to see them. Since they are 82 and 84 years old, I know that we have to make the most of the time that we have left with them. My Aunt Winnie is still sharp as a tack and can tell you stories from her childhood, which I love to hear, but my Uncle Herbert Lee doesn't know a whole lot any more, which is so sad to see. Reagan was so sweet to them and just curled up with both of them like he had never been away from them! We also got to spend some time with my cousin, Madison, who is a senior in high school this year. She raises cattle for Future Farmers of America for her high school, so we got to take a trip over to the ag barn and let Reagan see the animals. He had a great time petting the cows, pigs, goats, and sheep and sitting up on the tractor.

Reagan did very well in the car on the trip, even though he stayed awake the entire 4 hour trip up there. He slept about an hour of the trip on the way home on Thursday, but he was still really good. On the way home, we stopped of in Troy, TX to say hello to my friend Colleen's parents. Regan had a great time hanging with The Quindlen's and playing with their sweet dogs.

Friday was New Years Eve and we just spent a quiet evening at home. On Sunday, I headed out for a run with my running group. It had been about 3 weeks. My last run was a 10 miler and my knees started bothering me at mile 8. I was about half a mile away from being done and I decided to walk the rest of the way in. I came home and iced my knees and did alot of stretching and using my foam roller to try and work the pain out. I decided to take some time off because the 3M Half Marathon is on January 30 and I wanted to give my knees some rest. When I went out to run on Sunday, I got about half a mile and decided that I wasn't going to be able to go the full 10 miles that my group was going that day. I headed back to the car and started to feel a little worried about the upcoming races. Monday, I called my doctor and made an appointment for Tuesday.

Since I have several friends that run marathons, I sort of knew that I likely was having an IT band issue. http://www.itbs.info/ The doctor did confirm that and let me know that I just need to rest, stretch, ice, and keep the inflammation down. I asked her if I would still be able to run and she told me that since I had already taken off 3 weeks that I could start slowly, try to run on even surfaces, and just be careful until the race. Wednesday, I did two miles on the treadmill and stopped a couple of times to stretch my knees out.

With the advice of several of my friends, I've decided that it will be best that I stay on the trail until the race as opposed to pounding the pavement and stressing the knees more. With just a couple of weeks to go, I know it will likely not be my fastest half marathon, but I will get through it!

As for my Dad, he is feeling pretty good most days, but having a hard time understanding why he still needs to take two more rounds of chemo and his steroids even though they told him the cancer is gone. The doctor explained it to us when we were in the office last time and I understand, but he just doesn't seem to get it. He hates being on the steroids, but when he tries to lower the dosage, he starts to have headaches again and starts to forget things, so he will have to take another steroid. The doctor had told him that the object is to take the lowest amount of steroid to keep the symptoms from returning and he had told us that some people will always have to be on a low dosage of the steroids. The steroids are pretty rough because they make him gain weight and he does occasionally go into the "Roid Rages," although he has done a much better job at controlling those since he first started taking them. He goes back to the oncologist on January 18th and will have one more round of the chemo pills. I'm sure the doctor will let us know what the "maintenance plan" will be. I'm thinking that he will likely have to go in for scans and blood work occasionally. I do hope that he can understand that the doctor knows what he is doing and has his best interests in mind.

A week from today is Regan's 2nd birthday! Can't believe it has been that long already!

Christmas Preview

2011-01-05T19:06:00.000-08:00

Oh....there are so many things to say right now! Christmas was wonderful and Reagan and I took a trip up by Dallas after Christmas to see some family. Until I can sit down and write about the festivities, here are two of my favorite photos of the season!

On the way the Lieutenant Governors Staff Christmas party, Darrell had to stop by the Senate Floor to turn off the vote board that they had been testing in preparation for the Legislative Session that is about to start. Reagan LOVED running the halls of the empty Capitol building and hearing the echos of his squeals!

The next picture is of Reagan and I on Christmas Day wearing some of his Christmas presents. Cookie Monster house shoes, fuzzy blue hat with ears (clothes with ears still rule, even though he is almost 2!), and his Toy Story shirt that he just loves.

Best Christmas Present EVER!!!

2010-12-23T17:44:00.000-08:00

On December 15th, Dad had an MRI to check and see how the tumor had reacted to the chemo and radiation treatments that he had finished about a month ago. He was supposed to have an appointment with the oncologist on December 17th to go over the MRI's and discuss the next step, but the appointment was cancelled because the oncologist was out of town. The appointment was rescheduled for this Wednesday, December 22. I met Dad over at the oncologist at 8:30 that morning. He had gotten over there early to get his lab work done and check in. For the first time since Dad has been seeing the oncologist, we got into the appointment right on time. The doctor asked Dad how he had been feeling and told us that he had good news. The cancer is GONE!! The tumor is still there and will always be there, but the cancer inside the tumor was dead. We could hardly believe the news!

Just to make sure they completely take care of it, Dad will undergo a 5 day chemo treatment starting this next Monday. He has done so well with the pill so far and we are hoping that he continues to handle it well. He will take a pill for 5 days, be off the pill for 28 days, see the oncologist at that point, and will take another 5 days worth of the chemo and they will address the situation at that time. I'm assuming that he will undergo another MRI in a couple of months, but the oncologist said that we will talk about that when the time comes.

He is also going to slowly taper off of the steroids again. The doctor said that the goal is to be off of the steroids all together, but some people will always have to be on a low dosage to keep the symptoms at bay (the swelling of the brain and headaches). Dad was happy to hear that as the steroids have made him eat like crazy and he weighs in a 204 pounds, which is the most he has ever weighed! He typically weighs around 170 or so. The doctor said he should get the weight off as he gets off the steroids. Since he had issues the last time when they tried to lower the dosage of the steroids every two weeks, they are going to now lower it a month at a time to make sure his body handles it well.

So, Dad got up from his chair in the doctor's office a new man. His shoulders were back, his chin was up, and he WON! We had dinner at his house last night and he told us that the news has not fully sunk in yet. It's such a relief to know that he does not have to worry about this. I'm sure that he will continue to go through preventative scans and treatments, but for now, he is doing great!

This is definitely the very best news that we could have hoped for this Christmas and we are so very blessed to have received this news! We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with a cancer free Dad!

Some New Pics of Reagan

2010-11-26T14:11:00.000-08:00

We are still here!

2010-11-26T13:23:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that I haven't posted anything in over a month! This pas month has been pretty crazy. Three days after my last post (October 27th) was Dad's 65th birthday. The week after that, we had a little bit of a scare that resulted in a trip to the ER and a night in the hospital for Dad. The doctor had slowly been tapering him off of the steroids for the swelling and being off of them and having enough time for the chemo and radiation to really start soaking him into his system resulted in the brain swelling again. I had tried calling him several times on Monday afternoon and couldn't get a hold of him. Finally, Darrell asked if it would make me feel better if we went and did a drive by at the house to check out the situation. When we went over about 7:30 and all the lights were out, but we could see that the TV was on, we stopped and I went in. Dad was really confused and couldn't really tell us much of anything. We kept asking him questions and nothing was really making any sense. Darrell thought that maybe he had taken a sleeping pill because it seemed like Dad just couldn't wake up. I kept asking Dad if he wanted us to stay there, if he wanted to come stay with us, or if he needed us to take him to the hospital. He said he just wanted to take his chemo pill and once he got some sleep that he would feel better in the morning. I made him promise to call me if he kept feeling bad or if he needed anything. About 5:30 in the morning November 2, he called and said that he had to do something about it. I went over and picked him up and called the oncologist on the way. She called me right back and after I told her what was going on, she told me to take him to the emergency room. We got to the ER and the only things that Dad was able to tell the people in triage was his name, social, and birthday. He was not able to tell him the day, month, year, or who the president was. I knew that I had to step back and let him speak for himself so that the hospital staff could see what sort of mental state he was in, but after they couldn't get any information out of him, I told them what was going on and let him know that his oncologist had given me instructions to take him to the ER. After alot of frustration on Dad's part, they decided to keep him over night to give him some high powered steroids through an IV and to make sure they got the swelling down.

They did do an MRI when he was in the hospital and they said that although they were not able to tell if the tumor was getting smaller because of the swelling, it did appear to be dying a little on the inside. That week was supposed to be the last week of Dad's treatment, but the doctors made the decision to not treat him for the remainder of the week, so everything got pushed back about 3 days. In the end, everything was fine, the doctors have just told him that he will have to stay on steroids until further notice. His last day of treatment was 11/17. Now, we are back to waiting. His next MRI will be on 12/15 and he will see the oncologist to discuss the results on 12/17.

In the midst of all of this, I ran my 6th half marathon. I don't know how I've managed to keep my running up with everything going on, but at the same time, I don't know what I would do if I wasn't keeping my running up. I ran the San Antonio Rock N' Roll Half Marathon on 11/14. It was a great flat course with lots of folks cheering the whole way and it was great to run in a new place. I ran with my friend and co-worker, Cindy, who is about to turn 50. This was her 2nd half marathon. I talked her into doing the 3M Half Marathon with me last year as well. We had a good race given that neither of us had felt great the week before. I had gotten another sinus infection earlier in the week and had to start taking antibiotics again. We finished in 2:48:05. This was my 3rd fastest half marathon that I have done.

I felt fine the next week and then this Monday, I started feeling bad again. I was not able to get in to see my Ear Nose and Throat Specialist because of the short week, so I went to the minor emergency clinic and got more antibiotics. (I had only been off of them a week from the last time.) I also got a steroid shot, which made me feel much better.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and I was very thankful to be feeling better, run the 5 mile Turkey Trot, and have my Dad and friend Sydney over for Thanksgiving. Darrell and Reagan and I have spent the last day and a half doing absolutely nothing, which has just been fantastic.

Half Way!

2010-10-24T19:11:00.000-07:00

Friday marked the half way point for Dad's treatment. He said that he has been feeling really "lazy" these past few days. This is the point where the doctors had said he would start to feel the effects of the treatments and they were right on. He seems to be feeling well over all and has not had any of the sick side effects that so many people talk about. He has been walking alot and will get out and walk around the block at least once or twice during the day. Today, he said that he did about 20 minutes on his treadmill. Thanks so much to friends and family who have sent their thoughts and prayers our way!! We hope that the second half of the treatment goes as smoothly as the first.

Yesterday, we took our 2nd annual trip the pumpkin patch at Bethany Lutheran Church, which is not far from the house. It was much more difficult this year to get Reagan to stay still long enough to get many good pictures. Last year, he was crawling and pulling up and this year he was running!

This morning, I got up and ran 11 miles. It was pretty humid out and I didn't really feel like doing it, but I made it through and actually ran faster this week than I did last week. The San Antonio Rock N' Roll Half Marathon is only 3 weeks away! Can hardly wait!

First Side Effect of Treatment

2010-10-19T18:34:00.001-07:00

Dad noticed today that his hair is starting to fall out, but only on the side of his head that they have been focusing the radiation treatment on. He showed me today when he pulled out a small hand full. Three more days and treatment is halfway over.

Two Weeks Down

2010-10-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

Dad has two weeks of the radiation/chemotherapy down and 4 more weeks to go. So far, he seems to be feeling very well and the oncologist said that he could not ask for Dad to feel/look any better at this point. Dad is still eating well, getting out and walking around his neighborhood, and has even played golf a couple of times. We are hoping that things continue this smoothly for the next 4 weeks of treatment.

Through all that has been going on, I've still been trying to train for my half marathon in San Antonio that is less than a month away (November 14)

I've been running 3 miles 2 or 3 times during the week and have been keeping up my mileage on the weekends. Last week I ran 8 miles and today I was supposed to run 9, but I missed the turn on my route and ended up doing about 10.5. I feel really good about my training and know that I will make it through this half marathon without any problems.

Dad Update/ Boston Trip

2010-10-04T18:09:00.001-07:00

Dad's radiation was supposed to start last Thursday, September 30. Late Wednesday, the oncologist office called and said that they had just gotten the MRI's and that they needed to do the mapping and planning for the radiation on Thursday and Friday, so they were going to have to postpone the first treatment until Monday. (Today, October 4)

Back in July, one of my friends from college was having a BBQ Benefit Fundraiser for her Dad who was going through treatment for cancer. Her Dad and her family were having to travel from San Marcos down to Houston so that her Dad could undergo treatment at MD Anderson. It was amazing to see the turnout that she had from all of our friends from college. We had folks in from Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston. Last Friday, I got a treatment from her saying that her Dad was 100% cancer free and that his cancer was in remission. It really gives me hope for the journey that we are about to go on!

While at this fundraiser, I ran into my friend, Alex, and her husband, Adam. I had never met Adam before, but Alex had told me that he was a big Boston Red Sox fan. Adam came up to me and the first thing that he asked me was, "Are you the one that is married to the Red Sox fan?" When I told him I was, he asked if we wanted to go to Boston with them in October. He said he had 4 tickets to the Red Sox/Yankees game at Fenway Park for the next to the last game of the regular season. I came home and talked to Darrell about it and when we saw that kids under 3 didn't need a ticket for the game or for the airline, we knew that we couldn't pass this chance up. Little did we know how much we would need this little break right now!!

So, we flew out early Friday morning. Reagan was great on the flight from Austin to Atlanta and on the flight from Atlanta to Boston, he slept the entire way. There's so much greatness on this trip, but I will just provide a quick snapshot of our activities.

Friday: First Subway ride for Reagan and I. We went to North End and ate amazing Italian Food at Pagliuca's . Another friend of mine from college now lives in the Boston area and had recommended this place to us and the concierge at our hotel had recommended it as well, so we figured it had to be good. It was just incredible.

Saturday: We went to Revere Beach. This is the Nation's oldest public beach. It was a little chilly out and obviously past beach season for New England, so there weren't too many people out. We wandered up the beach and ate pizza at this tiny little hole in the wall place called The Pizza Kitchen. It was a no frills place, but the pizza was great and the folks that worked there were friendly.

We had a shuttle that drove us back and fort from our hotel to the first station on the subway line. Dave drove us Friday and he said that he and his nephew were going to the game that we were, so he offered to come pick us up at the hotel on Saturday and head in on the subway to go to Fenway Park.

We got back from the beach at 1:45, grabbed sweatshirts, and Dave picked us up at 2 as promised. We drove about 3 stops up on the subway line, parked, took the Blue Line to the Green Line and took the Green Line into the Fenway area.

The game was great, even though the Yankees did win. Everyone that we met was so nice and welcoming and we even had a Yankees fan that offered to take a photo of all 3 of us! Reagan one and a half hot dogs and half a bag of Cracker Jacks. I was a little worried he was going to be sick, but he was fine!

We headed back in, got off 2 train stops before the last stop that we get off on to wait for the hotel shuttle. There was a little Italian Bakery/Sandwich shop right across the street from the train station. We stopped in there, grabbed some Italian subs a slice of strawberry cheesecake, and a key lime tart and headed back to the hotel for the evening. The sandwiches were ok. The deserts were fantastic.

Sunday: This was our tourist day. We took the train into Boston Commons and purchased tickets for the trolley. We were going to walk the Freedom Trail, which is only about 2.5 miles, but it was pretty chilly outside and Reagan was showing no interest in being in the stroller, so we decided on a Trolley Tour. The one that we got also included a ticket for a cruise of Boston Harbor. So, we took the trolley over to the Harbor, hopped on the boat and went on a 45 minute cruise of the Harbor. It was pretty chilly and windy out on the water, but it was really a pretty tour and a neat view of the city.

After that, we hopped back on the trolley and finished up the tour. Reagan fell asleep as soon as we got back on the trolley, so we took the tour all the way back to the Harbor. It was about an hour and a half ride. We got off there and decided it was time to grab a late lunch, so we headed over to Quincy Market. I got a fried clam strip sandwich and a cup of clam chowder and Darrell had a roast beef sandwich. Pretty good stuff. We wondered around the shops at Quincy Market and headed back towards the Harbor/Aquarium Train Station. We had talked about going to the Aquarium before we went up to Boston, but had several people tell us the lines were very, very long. It was about 4:30 when we got over there and it closed at 6. We walked right up and got our tickets and walked in and got to see everything. There weren't many people in there at all and Reagan LOVED looking at the fish.

After a very long day of site seeing, we headed back to the train station and went back to the hotel.

Our flight left this morning at 6:15. Reagan was a little antsy, but still good , on the first flight to Atlanta. On the flight into Austin, he went to sleep while we were still sitting on the tarmac and slept until the plane started to unload.

Our flight landed about 12:30 and Dad's first radiation treatment was at 1 today. Mom came and picked us up fro the airport, Darrell and I took Reagan and her to her place, and Darrell and I headed over to the Oncologist. We got there about 1:15, so he was already in treatment when we got there. He got out about 1:40 and seemed to be fine.

Dad was going to take his first chemotherapy pill this evening, so I will call him tomorrow evening and see how he's feeling.

We are so very thankful that we got to take this trip to Boston and definitely needed this short break before things really get started with Dad and his treatment. We had a wonderful time and we are definitely looking forward to going back sometime!

Answers

2010-09-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

So we have the answers. Dad has what is called a glioblastoma multiforme. This is one of the most common and most malignant brain tumors. They don't have stages of brain cancer, but they do have grades. The scale is 1-4 with 4 being the worst. Dad's is a 4.

We got to the radiation oncologist at 2:45 and we talked to the nurse for a long time. She told us that they usually wait until 3 weeks after the biopsy to start any sort of treatment on the patient.

When the doctor came in and spoke with us, she told us that we needed to start treatment this week. They had to do a CAT scan to do the mapping and planning for the radiation therapy and they had to make a mask of Dad's head so that when he is getting the treatment they can get the laser to focus on the correct spots on his head. Then they scheduled us for the first radiation treatment on Thursday. We will have radiation therapy 5 days a week for 6 weeks.

When we went to the oncologist right after we were done with that and he said that in addition to the radiation therapy, Dad will also undergo chemotherapy, but it will be in the form of a pill. He will take the pill 7 days a week. He said that for the most part, the effects of the radiation won't start to show until around week 4 and then he will get really tired. He said that generally the chemo pills will make the patients very nauseous, but he prescribed a couple of medications to help prevent that.

The median life expectancy for this type of tumor with treatment is 11 months to a year and a half. We will get through one day at a time and enjoy each day that we have with Dad.

Again, we appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers!

The next step...

2010-09-22T18:43:00.000-07:00

Monday, Dad has an appointment with the neurosurgeon to remove his stitches and that afternoon, we have an appointment with the oncologist, where we they will hopefully tell us what the plan of action will be for the treatment plan.

Dad says he is feeling ok, he is just very, very anxious about everything and is having a hard time resting because of his nerves.

He did call me yesterday morning and asked me to come get his car keys. Tuesday at 12:30 in the morning, he decided that he was going to go up to the grocery store to get some food. He got up there fine, said he loaded up on junk food, which he normally doesn't eat, and left the store.
He said that he was so focused on trying not to have one of his spells where he gets light headed that for some reason, he turned the wrong way when he was leaving the grocery store. He said it was really foggy and since he doesn't drive much at night, he was really confused. He said he kind of drove around for a while until he figured out where he was, stopped and put some air in his tire, and figured out which way he needed to go to get back home. He made it back home safe and sound, but it scared him enough that he said he doesn't want to take the chance again.

I am glad that he is able to recognize that he doesn't need to be driving and was really glad that he called and let me know what had happened. How lucky he was to make it back home and not hurt himself, someone else, or have gotten lost.

Today, Darrell went and got Dad at lunch time and took him to the store to pick some things up, so I think he was glad to have gotten out of the house for a while. We have been going to seem him everyday and spend some time with him. Reagan and Dad are really enjoying spending time with each other. I will pick Reagan up from school in the afternoon and he yells for his Papa all the way home.

I appreciate everyone that has sent their thoughts and prayers for us. This is just the beginning of a long journey.

Biopsy Completed

2010-09-19T18:27:00.000-07:00

Wow was this an ordeal! The neurosurgeon called me around 7 on Thursday evening and told me to take him to the emergency room on Thursday and they would get him checked in the surgery would be sometime Friday. We got over to the ER at 3 pm on Thursday and ended up getting in to a room about 7. Once I got Dad settled in, I headed home.

I got up Friday morning about 7 got showered and dressed and my phone rang at 7:50 and it was the nurse saying that the surgery would be at 8:30, so I headed over to the hospital. I got there about 8:10 and we waited. And waited. About 10:45, the nurse came in. Dad was out walking the halls and she told me that he wasn't on the surgery schedule until 2:45, so she wasn't sure why they had told us 8:30. By this time, Dad got really upset. He was already very anxious to have the procedure done and finding out that we had already been waiting for 2 hours past the time they had told us and that we would have to wait 4 more hours until the actual surgery, he really lost it. I stepped out of the room and the nurse came back in and calmed him down some. He told me to go take a break for a while and get some lunch or take a nap since we were just going to be waiting longer.

I headed over to my Mom's who only lives a couple of blocks from the hospital and managed to get about a 30 minute nap. I was about to get up and go get some lunch when Dad called and said that they had let him take a shower and he was calmed down and I could come back. I picked up some lunch and headed back to the hospital. 2:45 came and went and we waited. And waited some more. Finally, around 4:30, the nurse paged the surgeon to find out what the deal was. He was in the middle of a surgery that went longer than expected and was relaying info from his operating room nurse to our nurse. He did say that once he was finished up with that patient, he would come to the hospital we were at and do Dad's surgery.

In the mean time, Dad had not eaten in almost 24 hours. He was very hungry, anxious, and hadn't smoked a cigarette either. Luckily, the nurse had given him a nicotine patch and was allowing him to eat ice chips. Not much, but enough to get him through.

Finally, at 6:20, they came up to get him to take him to surgery. The surgeon had told us that the procedure would only take an hour. He didn't bother to tell us that they were taking out 6 different samples and each sample they took would require about 30 minutes a piece to be analyzed under the microscope, so it was about 10:20 when the surgeon came out and spoke with us and let us know that he was out of surgery. Since it was so late, they did not keep him in the recovery room and put him straight in ICU so that he could be watched closely through the night. The nurse to patient ratio in ICU is 1:2 and on a regular floor, it is 1:6 and they really wanted to make sure that everything was ok after the surgery. Darrell and I went in and saw him briefly in ICU, but he was still pretty loopy from the anesthesia and he was really tired, so we left the hospital about 10:45.

Darrell had picked Reagan up around 5:30 and took him to Mom's and I had told Mom that if she had not heard from us by about 8 to take him to our house and get him bathed and in bed, so he was fast asleep by the time we got home. I got very little sleep on Friday night, but I got up and met some friends to run on Saturday. With only 2 months until the San Antonio Half Marathon, I really have to get my running in gear. I needed to run about 5 or 6 yesterday, but I haven't run since the week before my surgery and being as tired as I was yesterday, I only managed about 3, but that still felt so good just to be out doing something.

Darrell had to work for a few hours yesterday, so he took Reagan to Mom's on his way to work and I actually met them over there because I went to Mom's to shower and change before heading to the hospital. I got over there yesterday at about 10:30 and stayed with him until around 3:30. He was doing well and was in a pretty good mood. He was still in ICU and was just waiting for them to get him back in a regular room. He said he hadn't really slept much at all the night before because they checked his vitals every hour.

About 3:30, I left and went and got Reagan and headed home. We ended up staying home for the rest of the evening. One of Dad's friends got their shortly after I left and stayed with him until he got put into a room, which was around 7 yesterday.

I actually got 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night, thanks to a friend giving me a sleep aid yesterday. I was so very thankful for that and it could not have come at a better time. I went to bed about 10:30 last night and didn't wake up until 8:30 this morning. It was awesome.

I got over to the hospital about 10:30 this morning and we didn't get Dad out of there until just after 6 today.

Next step is the oncologist. I will call tomorrow and set up the appointment for that later this week. By then, they should have the results of the biopsy and we can discuss a treatment plan.

Dr. Appointment Cancelled

2010-09-13T19:08:00.001-07:00

I went into work today and accomplished alot. Got a call from the doctor's office today around noon and said that they were going to have to cancel Dad's appointment this afternoon. One of the doctors patients had been in a cycling accident and they had to do emergency surgery on him. They said that Dad's biopsy will be no later than Friday.

I'm not sure what role the lady played that I talked to, but she was so helpful and so informative. I was really frustrated because we have yet to see this neurosurgeon yet and ? I only talked to him maybe about 5 minutes and that was when he briefly told me what was going on last Monday afternoon. I had several general questions that I had and this lady took the time to talk to me and go through all of my questions, which makes me feel better.

I went and picked up Dad after work today and he came over and hung out at our house for a while and ate a little dinner with us. He said that he has had two episodes where he got really light headed today. I'm hoping tomorrow is better for him.

My Dad

2010-09-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

Wow what a week it has been since the last time I posted.

Sunday morning, I woke up, took a shower came down and sat on the couch for a while. I went to go clean my nose out and noticed that I had a missed call on my phone. I had a voicemail from my Dad who had called at 5:30 am. He said that he was not feeling well and was going to take himself to the emergency room. By the time I got the message, it was about 9am. Darrell and I took Reagan over to Mom's and headed over to the hospital.

I had gotten a hold of Dad on his cell phone and he said they had moved him from the ER into a room. He said that several times the prior week, he had spells where he got really dizzy and felt like he was going to faint. Both of the other times that it had happened, he had other factors that he blamed it on. The first time, he was playing golf and it happened when he was on the 16th hole. He said it was really hot and he wasn't sure if he had drank enough water. So, he rode the cart for the last 2 holes and went on home. The next time it happened, he said when he took his glasses off, he noticed they were kind of bent and he thought maybe since they were out of alignment, it was messing with his vision.

Several years ago, he was diagnosed with peripheral artery disease and has had probably about 5 or 6 surgeries on his legs where they have gone in and put stents in his legs to keep the blood flowing. They finally ended up doing a bypass on one of the main arteries in his leg. He has been on blood thinners every since this has happened and the last time he had a surgery was when Reagan was 2 weeks old.

The doctors in the ER and Dad's heart doctor thought that he may be having these dizzy spells due to the fact that arteries in his neck were getting clogged and causing less blood flow to his brain. So, they put him in a room in the heart wing of the hospital for observation. Darrell and I got over there about 9:30 and that was the worst day that I had after the surgery. I could barely keep my eyes open, was in a little pain, and was just exhausted. So, we sat over with Dad until around 1:30 that afternoon and he finally sent us home and said that they wouldn't know anything until they ran some tests and they didn't know when that would be.

Darrell took me to Mom's so I could sleep and he picked up Reagan. I slept for almost 4 hours. When I finally woke up, I was feeling quite a bit better. Mom brought me home and came in and hung out for a while. She hadn't been gone long and Dad called and said that they had done and MRI and found some sort of mass on his brain and he wanted us to come back over so we could hear what the doctor had to say.

We took Reagan back over to Mom's and got back to the hospital about 6:30 Sunday evening. We waited and waited and waited and finally an oncologist came in and just asked Dad some questions. She didn't really have much information, but had told Dad that the neurosurgeon would come and talk to him and they would do a biopsy and then decide what sort of treatment route to take from there. We kept waiting and Dad finally sent us home about 9:30 pm.

We got up the next morning, took Reagan back to Mom's, and headed back to the hospital. WE got over around 9 and sat there and waited for the doctor to show up. An internal medicine doctor finally came to the room and talked to us for a while and again, he told us that they wouldn't really know what the mass was until they did the biopsy. He also told us that since Dad was on blood thinners, he would have to wait at least 5-7 days for the biopsy so that he could get the blood thinners out of his system. By this time, Dad really wanted to get out of there. He was worried about getting his affairs in order before they started cutting around on his brain. He talked to the doctor about his affairs and the doctor understood his concerns and said that once we spoke with the neurosurgeon, he would be fine with discharging him from the hospital.

We waited around until about 1 and then called the internal medicine doctor back and he had the neurosurgeon call us so that he could get us out of the hospital. I spoke with the neurosurgeon and he told me that Dad has a malignant brain tumor right at the base of the brain. I asked how he could tell because the oncologist and the internal medicine doctor said they wouldn't be able to tell until they did the biopsy. He said that cancerous tumors show up a different color on MRI's than non-cancerous tumors do and that his is pretty bad. He told me twice that if he chooses to not have any treatment that the most he would make it is 2 months.

So, armed with that news, we were let out of the hospital about 2 pm on Monday. Dad asked me if I knew of a lawyer that could help him put together a will quickly, so I had made a call to my friend Rachel who gave me a recommendation for a lawyer. I called her on Monday and within 10 minutes, she called me back. I let her know what was going on and she said that she'd help us out, so we scheduled an appointment with her for Tuesday afternoon.

I had already scheduled out of the office on Tuesday for my surgery, so that worked out well. Reagan had been coughing for about a week and over the weekend, it had gotten worse. He had two nights that he was up most of the night because of his coughing. The Thursday before my surgery, I had gotten a letter from Reagan's daycare that there had been a confirmed case of pertussis (whooping cough) in the daycare. Darrell and I agreed that with the way things were going for us, we needed to go ahead and take him in to the doctor to have him checked. I called early Tuesday morning and managed to get him an appointment at 8:50am, so we took him on in. They did swab him for the whooping cough, but since they have to send it to the state health lab, the results will take 5-7 days to come back. The doctor said that his throat was really red and he had alot of drainage, but his lungs sounded clear. She also told us that since he had possibly been exposed to whooping cough, we could not take him back to daycare for 5 days. Glad again that I had scheduled out Tuesday for my surgery and Wednesday too in the event that I needed it because I needed it!

Tuesday afternoon, Mom kept Reagan while I took Dad to see the lawyer and we went over the paperwork that he needed to get completed to have all of his affairs in order and we set up an appointment to go get all of the paperwork signed and notarized on Friday.

The doctor had told Dad that he should not drive because with the tumor, there is a risk that he may have a seizure at any time. Dad said that he felt fine and as long as he felt fine he was going to drive. He is so stubborn and no one can tell him to do anything, so I knew there was no need arguing with him about it. Tuesday morning, he drove up to get his prescriptions and felt fine, so around lunch, he went to go pick something up and when he was leaving the drive through, he had one of his dizzy spells. He was stopped when he had it and waited a few minutes for it to pass and then went on home. He did tell me when I picked him up that afternoon that he was done driving, He said it was one thing to do something to himself, but he didn't want to take the chance and hurt someone else, so I was glad he came to that realization.

Wednesday morning, Reagan and I got up and took Dad to the grocery store and the bank and we spent most of the morning over at his house. Once I saw that he and Reagan were both exhausted and neither of them were going to take a nap as long as the other was around to play with, I headed home. We didn't even get a block from Dad's and Reagan was asleep.

Darrell had taken off Thursday and Friday, so I went in to work on Thursday. It was good to have something else to focus on for a day instead of just sitting and worrying about everything that's going on. Darrell and Reagan went over to Dad's around lunch and took him out to eat and spent most of the afternoon over there, so that made Dad really happy.

Friday, I had my post-op appointment with my Ear Nose Throat Specialist. He said my nose was looking good, but I was still stopped up and my throat was red, which told him that I had come into contact with something else, probably what Reagan had. So, he put me on different antibiotics and sent me on my way. I have to go back to see him in 3-4 weeks. After that, Dad and I went to meet the lawyer and my friends who graciously came and signed the paperwork as witnesses. After we did that Dad felt much more relieved about the whole situation.

Darrell, Reagan, and I have been spending lots of time with Dad for the past week and doing whatever we need to help him through this. Dad called me at 8 this morning and told me not to worry about anything today and to try and get some rest. He wanted to talk to Darrell, so Darrell went over there and talked to him for a while and then Dad had some friends that came by this afternoon to hang out with him.

After Dad told me to take the day off, Reagan and I headed down to Zilker Park and played for about an hour and then rode the train. We needed some time together and to be outside playing. It was good for both of us. The rest of the day has been spent lounging around, watching football, doing laundry, and cleaning house.

Tomorrow, we have an appointment with the neurosurgeon in his office, which they told us that we had to do before we are able to have the surgery for insurance purposes. The appointment is not until 3:30, so I'm going to go ahead and go into work until around 1:30 or 2. The schedule at the doctors office told me that he already has 8 surgeries scheduled for this next week, so they are going to have to slip Dad in somehow. She said the surgeon may send us straight to the hospital on Monday or it may be as late as Friday that we go in. I really hope it is sooner than later. I know how hard it has been on me to wait, and I can only imagine how hard it is for Dad. Darrell talked to Dad for a long time the other day and really put him at ease with the situation, so I am hoping that he can keep this positive attitude.

We need lots of good thoughts and prayers sent our way. This is going to be a rough journey, but I know we can get through this!

Made It

2010-09-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

Everything went well yesterday. The got me back in pre-op around 11:45. Had a hard time finding a vein for my IV since I was dehydrated from not drinking since 11 pm the night before. They finally got it in. Went back into surgery around 2pm. The surgery took about 20 minutes and I was in recovery about 45 minutes. I was feeling like I was going to throw up, so I told the nurse I felt fine and wanted to go home because I didn't want to stay at the hospital any longer. The nurse and Darrell got me into the car and as soon as the nurse turned her back, I barfed alot. Good thing I got out of there when I did! The car ride home was pretty long. Friday afternoon rush hour and holiday weekend make for some pretty crappy traffic. I told Darrell that I wanted to go to my Mom's, so he took me over there when we got out of the hospital. I had tried to keep my eyes closed on the ride home because the stop and go of the traffic was making me really dizzy. Once we got to Mom's, Darrell helped me out of the car since I could barely walk. I threw up alot before I walked upstairs to Mom's place and even more once I got inside and sat down. I was glad that Darrell had thought to grab a few barf bags for our ride home. Darrell got me in to Mom's and got me cleaned up from the barf and he took off to go get Reagan from daycare and pick up my meds. I decided that it would be best for me to stay at Mom's place for the evening so I could get some good sleep and not worry about Reagan hitting me in the face. I layed down and slept for about an hour and felt a little better once I woke up. Mom made me a little bit of plain pasta and some avocado and then I was feeling much better after having something in my stomach.

Darrell went and picked up all my meds, picked up Reagan and stopped at the house to get me some clothes and came back over to Mom's just as I was finishing up my food. I got to hug my sweet little boy and that made me happy. They hung out for a while and headed back home. I had to clean my nose out twice with this little bottle that you fill with warm saline solution. That was pretty gross seeing the stuff that came out of there! Around 10:30, I took a Vikadin and headed to bed. I slept until almost 9 this morning, which felt really good. I got up, cleaned my nose out again (it wasn't too bad at all this morning.) and took a shower. I decided that I was ready to come home, so Mom brought me home. I'm not feeling too bad right now. My face is starting to get a little swollen, but the doctor said that will be pretty normal. I'm just a little sore and still very tired. I'm getting ready to take a nap so I can be ready to watch the Texas football game in about an hour.

Hoping that everything else goes as smoothly as it has so far!!

Tomorrow is the day

2010-09-02T19:44:00.001-07:00

Totally did not get to run like I wanted this week. In fact, didn't run at all. I was so busy getting things tied up at work that I wasn't able to squeeze a run in. Oh well, I'll make it. I should hopefully be able to go for a short run next weekend. Fingers crossed!

I have surgery tomorrow around 1 in the afternoon. Here's hoping that everything goes well!!

Weekend

2010-08-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

It was a kind of a strange weekend. Darrell had to work late on Friday and didn't get home until midnight. Reagan and I were getting ready for bed about 9 and I went to let the beagles in and only Charley came in. I called for Cali and realized she wasn't in the backyard. Reagan and I got in the car and made a couple of loops around the neighborhood and called for her, but we didn't see her anywhere. I had sent Darrell an email letting him know that she was gone and he told me to leave her blanket out front like we did when Charley was missing. Darrell and I talked a little when he got home and we went to sleep around 12:30.

I got up at 6:20 to go for a run. When I went to get in the car, I heard Cali bark, so I called for her and called for her, but didn't see her. I went ahead and headed down to the trail to run. I did realize that I had forgotten something at home and turned around to go back. When I came back in the house, Darrell and Reagan had already come downstairs. I told him that I had heard Cali and he said that he had gone out to bring in her blanket and she was in the neighbors yard across the street. He called her and she came right over. Crazy beagle! We still can't figure out how she got out this time.

I ran just under 5 miles yesterday morning. I went ahead and decided to join Austin Fit again this year for my training. They are training for the 3M and the Austin Half Marathons, so I will need to increase my mileage more than what they do each week, but that's ok. I know that I can go out and meet my group and have people to run with at least part of my run. Since the San Antonio Half Marathon is in mid-November, I will still go meet the group to run with to keep up my miles for the other two races that are in January and February. This weeks Austin Fit route was 2 miles. I ran with them the first part and then went further down the trail. The weather was amazing. It was nice and cool out, which is unusual for this time of the year. We generally don't get cooler mornings until late September or even October. It did make for a beautiful run and the trail was packed with all of the training groups that started this week.

I think something we ate Friday night must have bothered Reagan because he had stomach issues all day yesterday and part of the day today. Poor guy! He hasn't run any fever or anything and he seems to be feeling a little better now. Hoping he makes it through the day at school tomorrow!

2010-08-26T18:43:00.001-07:00

So in my last blog, I said that my surgery was only 5 more days away, which meant it would have been today. Guess I'm just looking forward top breathing too much! The surgery is actually a week from tomorrow, September 3rd. I'm nervous about the recovery, but know I will feel better in the long run! I'm very anxious about it and it seems like the week is crawling by.

I managed to get 45 minutes in on the elliptical on Monday and I headed down to Town Lake for a 3 mile run at lunch today. You know fall is on the way when it's just under 90 degrees at 2 in the afternoon! It was not too bad out there at all today and it took me 40 minutes to do my 3 miles today and last time I ran 3 at the trail, it took me 45 minutes. The cooler weather makes me a little bit faster.

Reagan started his new class on Monday. He really likes his new teachers and is with a few of the kids that he's been with since he started the daycare, so it wasn't too big of a transition for him. He's really starting to say alot more words these days. His favorite word this week as been "bus." We see lots of school buses on the way to school and on the way home and every time he sees one, he gets very excited and yells, "Bus! Bus!" He also did one of the cutest things he's done yet on Monday. We were in the car leaving the day care and were right in front of the daycare and he blew a kiss and said, "Bye-Bye scoo!" He was saying by to his school! He doesn't often link words together, so I thought that was pretty great! The other thing that he does that always makes us laugh is to combine Darrell and I into one person. He yells for us together "MamaDadda!"

We are hoping that he's out of his biting phase. He hasn't bitten in a while and he hasn't been bitten either. He does have more teeth coming in and I know they are bothering him. He's been chewing on his shirt and will chew on my shirt too when I'm holding him. Sometimes he'll go to chew on my shirt and bite me, so we've been telling him "No bite." alot. He does know how to say that as well.

Really looking forward to the weekend!!

Saturday Morning Run

2010-08-22T17:39:00.001-07:00

In the excitement of the pool party yesterday, I forgot to mention that I got up and headed down to the trail at 8 am and went for an hour and ten minute run. Not really sure how far I ran, but I'm thinking it was between 4 and 5 miles. I saw a few people I knew and would run with them for a while and then turn back and head the other direction. I may say this every time I go to the trail, but I really do love it and we are so lucky to have such a great place in Austin, TX. It's so great to see so many people down there running, walking, and riding their bikes. I felt really good about my run yesterday morning and didn't really feel too tired after it either. Need to make sure I am getting as much runs in as I can since my surgery is in only 5 days!

Pool Party!

2010-08-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

We had a pool party for the kids today. The kids had a blast and I think they will all sleep well tonight.

Road Block

2010-08-18T19:06:00.000-07:00

I had my appointment today with my Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist to go over the results of the CT Scan that I had last Monday. The sinus under my right eyes is about 3/4's filled up with fluid and doesn't appear to be training, which is the root of the continuous sinus infections. As I told the nurse that called last week to schedule the appointment, I wasn't taking any more antibiotics since I had been on 4 rounds of them and they weren't clearing up the problem. Now that they have told me I have chronic sinusitis and the results of my CT scan came back showing the results that they did, they have determined that I am going to have to have the surgery to go in and clear everything out and widen my sinus passage ways in hopes that it will to help my sinuses drain better. The surgery is scheduled for September 3. I'm not looking forward to the surgery or the recovery (which I've heard is the roughest part), but I am looking forward to getting better and not having to worry about this any more. The doctor said that the first 5-10 days are the worse and that the full recovery will take 6-12 weeks.

My concern was how long it will take before I can run again. The doctor said that I cannot do anything for the first five days and for the next at least five days, I can only do low impact activities (cycling, elliptical, walking)

Hopefully, this is a minor set back that I will be able to overcome!! I am definitely going to proceed with caution. I am going to remain optimistic!!

In Reagan news, I went to pick him up from daycare today and they told me that he will be moving up to the next class on Monday. Apparently, they have an overflow of kids around his age and not many at all in the next couple of ages, so they are spreading the kids his age among the other classes. I am not very worried about the transition for this one because the teacher that he will have is Miss Chelsea and that's who I leave him with in the morning, so he's comfortable with her.

Cheese!

2010-08-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

Our sweet little boy has learned how to say, "Cheeeeese!" when we pick up the camera. I was washing dishes tonight and he was sitting on the stool playing with his dishes.

We hear him say new words every day! His favorite words are momma, dadda, more, and Gabba. ( He LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba!)

Elliptical

2010-08-17T16:04:00.000-07:00

I was never a huge fan of the treadmill because I'm super clumsy and always felt like I was going to fall off. For a long time in college, I was obsessed with the elliptical at the Student Rec Center at SWT. I would get on it for an hour at a time and just loved it until I discovered how much I liked running outside and then I just hated the days that it would rain or be too hot and I'd have to go back to the elliptical. I have since become coordinated enough to stay on the treadmill and actually enjoy it and I've even been able to get to about a 10 minute pace on the treadmill.

We have two gyms at our office. One of them has an elliptical and treadmill and the other has a treadmill and a stair stepper. I've yet to try the stair master, but have been contemplating getting on it. Maybe one day to switch it up...

Today, my friend that I work with and I talked into doing the 3M with me last year, Cindy, ran on the treadmill, so I got on the elliptical. It's been a long time, so it was good to get back on. After running outside and the treadmill, I never felt like the elliptical gave me as good of a workout as the other two. Today, I had it at a level 5, so there was more resistance than I usually do and I was on for 35 minutes. According to the machine, I burned 280 calories and walked 3800 steps.

I forgot how much my appetite increases when I'm working out on a consistent basis. I'm trying to make good decisions with the foods I eat like I normally do when I get back into training mode. It's back to limiting my baked good intake to 1 item per week and having one day when I can eat whatever I want, within reason!

Back to Work

2010-08-16T18:42:00.001-07:00

I often dread what I'm going to come back to at work after being sick or having time off. Today wasn't great, but wasn't the worst either. I left the office on Thursday with 5 emails in my in-box and was greeted today by 76 after being out just one day. I plowed through them fairly quickly, but it didn't help that I was getting two emails in to every one that I deleted! Oh, well...being busy definitely makes the days fly by!

So today, I got back on the treadmill at work. I did 3.1 miles in 35 minutes an felt really great. I ran most of the time at a 10 minute pace, which is quite a bit faster than what I normally go, but I'm trying to push myself. It does make me feel pretty good that I'm able to comfortably run 3 miles after I haven't worked out more than 4 times within the past 2 months. I found this little blurb on www.shapeup.org

"Will missing an activity session periodically or reducing training temporarily affect endurance or strength?"

Answer: " No. Studies show that if intensity of training remains the same, fitness can be maintained even when the frequency of the activity is reduced for up to 15 weeks. Similar findings were found when strength training was studied. When strength training was reduced from 3 or 2 days per week to 1 day, strength was maintained for 12 weeks."

Swimmig Sunday!

2010-08-15T16:48:00.000-07:00

After lounging around most of the day yesterday, we had pretty busy day today. Reagan slept until 7:45 this morning, which was awesome. We finally got out of bed around 9 am and decided to go to Upper Crust Bakery for breakfast. I love this place and miss the bike rides that I used to take with my cycling buddies up there. We used to meet early Sunday mornings and take a 15 mile bike ride up there, eat alot of delicious baked goods, and ride 15 miles back home. I may try getting a group together to do it again when cooler weather rolls around.

After our breakfast, we headed back South and went over to Sprouts to go get some produce. If you guys haven't been over there, I highly recommend it. We read the weekly ads and every now and then we will go over there and get our produce. Today we got a ton of stuff for only $15!

We got home and Reagan and I dropped Darrell off and we headed to Borders to get some new books. One of Reagan's favorite book to read is "Where's Spot?" It has little flaps that you can lift up to see if Spot is hiding in various places. I will ask if Spot is under a place and Reagan will say, "Nooooo!" We usually read this book at least twice before bed time on most nights. So, we went to go find some more Spot books so we can switch it up some.

Darrell was at the grocery store when we got back, so Reagan and I sat and read all of his new books and by that time, Darrell was back home. Once the groceries were unloaded, we decided to load up and head to the pool. We went over to Dick Nichols Pool, which is where I used to swim alot when I was training for the Danskin Triathlon a few years ago. There weren't very many people over there at all today and I was surprised since it was over 100 degrees today! Last weekend, I had gotten Reagan a little swim suit with a flotation device built in since he really wanted to let go last weekend. It worked pretty well. It's a little big on him since he's so skinny, but it served its purpose. He kicked and splashed ans squealed and had a great time in the water again. He even treaded water in his little suit and we showed him how to blow bubbles. I think Reagan is going to be a better swimmer than me in no time!

The other thing I did today was to REGISTER for the San Antonio Half Marathon. November 14th, I will cross that finish line!

2010-08-14T15:45:00.000-07:00

Beach Day!

2010-08-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we ended up loading up and heading to the beach for the day. We left here about 8 am and decided that we were going to go to the Texas State Aquarium first. We went down there and Reagan was a big fan of all the "ish" (fish). He kept going up to the windows of the aquarium and kissing them and telling them "hi." I knew that my battery on my camera was low, so I had grabbed the other one off of the charger before we left, but for some reason, I put that one in, got 4 pictures and it died too. Bummer...I went over to the gift shop and did grab a disposable camera to grab a few pictures. We wondered around there for about an hour or so and checked out all the fish, birds, turtles, frogs, crocodiles, and everything else and then headed to get some lunch. There was a Walmart in the parking lot of where we had lunch, so we ran in and I got a cheap digital camera.

After that, we headed towards the ferry to take it across to Port Aransas. As soon as we were done with lunch and our Walmart trip, Reagan was passed out, which was good because he had only slept about 15 minutes on the trip down. There ended up being an hour long wait for the ferry, which was perfect because Regan got an hour and 15 minute lap before we hit the beach.

This was his third trip to the beach, the first two being Isle of Palms and Folley Beach in South Carolina when we took our trip back in March. The water was way too cold to get into when we were there, so we just played in the sand. Yesterday, he got to have he full beach experience complete with sand, seaweed, and salt water. He really enjoyed it. He splashed and played, dug in the wet sand, picked up shells, and chased seagulls. We spent a little over an hour at the beach, which was plenty of sun for all of us.

On our way out, instead of going back across on the ferry, we went through Mustang Island and across the Intercoastal Waterway in Padre Island and through Corpus. Darrell's brother's family live in Calallen, on the north side of Corpus, so we stopped and saw them for a while. Reagan had a good time playing with his cousin,Curtis, his Aunt Lisa, Uncle Ray, and their little Yorkie, Broozer.

It was around 8 pm when we left their house, so after we ate dinner and got back on the road, it was close to 9. Luckily, Reagan slept the entire way home. We made it home about 12:30 this morning. It was a long day, but it was well worth the trip. We had a great time!!

No Workout Today

2010-08-12T19:13:00.000-07:00

I didn't work out today! Reagan woke up around 4:30 screaming. I went and got him and finally got him calmed down and back to sleep around 5:15 or so. The alarm went off way too early at 6:20 and I woke up with a bad headache.

It was pretty quiet at work today which was a welcome change, especially since I am taking tomorrow off as a vacation day. This is the first vacation day that I've taken since the South Carolina trip in March and it is much needed. I did get everthing I needed to take care of done today since I worked through lunch. I look forward to days off, but dread knowing what my desk is going to look like when I get back to the office.

We are kicking around ideas of what to do tomorrow. We may go to Sea World in San Antonio or possibly drive down to Corpus for the day and go to the Texas State Aquarium and spend some time on the beach. We will decide when we wake up tomorrow!!

Steamy 3 Miles

2010-08-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

My ears have been killing me today. There's alot of pressure in them and it just feels like they need to pop, but they won't. So, needless to say, I didn't get on the treadmill at lunch today.

I got a call from the nurse at my Ear, Nose, Throat Dr's office today and said they had received the result of my CT scans that I had on Monday and I do still have acute sinusitis. She said they were going to call in a prescription, but I told her that if it was for antibiotics not to bother because I'm not going to take them anymore. After being on 4 rounds of them in 2 month, the last thing I want to do is to take some more. I'm just worried that eventually I'm going to get sick with something other than a sinus infection and then the antibiotics won't work because I've built up an immunity with them. I also have enough stomach issues without being on the antibiotics and I'm not a fan of how they make my stomach even worse. So, the nurse said that she would talk to the Dr and call me back. I got a call back about an hour later and she said made an appointment for me for next Wednesday morning and the doctor is going to go over my CT Scans and discuss treatment options. Can't wait to see how that goes! I'm going to be optimistic. Just ready to feel 100% better!

I picked Reagan up from school today and they told me that he bit someone. He's been bit 4 times now and I was dreading the day that they told me that he had done it to someone else. I know that it's something most kids go through. The director told me that he does not like to have anyone in his space and this is something that we have seen a couple of times here lately. I asked her how we deal with that and she said that it's pretty typical because they are used to having everything revolve around them and they don't yet have the concept of others. She said that sometimes thy don't grow out of it until around 2 or after.

When Darrell got home, I just kept talking about how I needed to run or walk or something. He finally told me to stop talking about it and go. So, I threw my clothes on and headed down to Town Lake for the first time in several months. I was thankful that it had rained because the temperature dropped below 90. The only hard part was the ridiculous humidity! The rain did make for a beautiful lake with steam rising off of the water. That coupled with the beautiful sunset made it so worth it! I just did 3 miles and it took me about 41 minutes. I ran the first half and only walked twice for 2 minutes at a time. The second half, I went back to my trust 2 minutes running, 1 minute walking that I loved so much last year with my Austin Fit training group. It was very hot and humid, but I made it through. As it gets cooler and as I get stronger, it will get easier!

Starting at Square 1!

2010-08-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

I did 2.75 miles in 32 minutes on the treadmill today.

Not only am I thankful for having a job, I'm thankful that I have a job that promotes health and wellness, so we get an extra 15 minutes if we work out during our lunch hour. Our office complex also has two small workout rooms, each one with a very nice treadmill and several weight machines.

I did 45 minutes on the treadmill a couple of weeks ago and did speed intervals to the point where I thought I was going to barf. After that, I decided that I need to remember that I haven't really worked out more than 4 times in the past two months and I should probably start out a little slower. Today, I felt just ok...was having a wierd issue with my ears (due to the sinus issues). It feels like my ears are all stopped up and need to pop, so that was kind of lame dealing with that while I was working out. All in all, I was glad I did it and it's day one of the the fall marathon training season. Only around 96 more days to get to that finish line!!

I think that my friend/co-worker Cindy may do the San Antonio Half with me as well. I talked her into running 3M with me last year. I love that she is nearing 50 and has no fears of doing these types of things. She's pretty awesome and way more dedicated to working out than I find myself being. We were day dreaming today about when the weather turns cooler and we are able to head down to Town Lake to get our 3 miles in at lunch. Running outside is so much better than the treadmill, but the August heat is just unbearable. It will be at least a month or so before we can head out. In the meantime, we will be kicking it in the gym. I will run on the treadmill while Cindy stairsteps and when she is on he treadmill, I will be on the elliptical. I am hoping to get up early one day this weekend and attempt a 3 mile benchmark run out at Town Lake.

Swimming!!

2010-08-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning, I called Mom and offered to bring her breakfast tacos in exchange for swimming at the pool at her apartement. She gladly took me up on that offer! This was Reagan's first time in a big swimming pool. I should have known how much he would have liked it given his excitement of bath time and playing in his little pool out back, but I could not have guessed how much he would LOVE it! He was not the least bit hesitant in the water and really wanted to be let go of more than anything. I didn't have any floaties or anything for him, so I had to hold on to him, but Mom and I did toss him back and forth and he would squeal and laugh everytime we did. I would count to 3 and dunk him in the water and he would laugh so much and yell, "Gin, Gin!!) (AGAIN!) We had such a great time in the pool! Yesterday afternoon, I went to Toysrus and got him a little swim suit with a built in life jacket, so I can hardly wait to use that next time we go and let him kick and splash on his own.

Today, he got sent home very late in the day with fever, so I'm really hoping that he isn't going to have an ear problem from the water yesterday.

I finally had my CT Scan today of my sinuses. I've now had 4 sinus infections in 4 months and just can't seem to get rid of this gunk in my nose. The technician said my ear, nose, and throat specialist should have the results tomorrow, so I'm really hoping that they figure out what is going on and get it fixed quickly.

I haven't really run in about 2 months since I haven't been able to breathe very well. I am so wanting to run the San Antonio Rock N'Roll Half Marathon, but I'm not sure I can pull this off since it is in early November. I think that if I start training now that I may be able to pull it off. I know I'm in better shape now than when I ran the Zooma Half Marathon 11 weeks after I had Reagan. I'm pretty sure that I can do this now! Sooo....here's to the beginning of traning. November 14th is 13.7 weeks away. If I can run 45 minutes 2-3 times during the week and increase my mileage by one mile each week, I will be ready to go! Here's to better breathing, eating, and getting back to my routine! I am SO hoping that this will make me feel better! In order to have some accountability, I will be posting my workouts here so I can make sure to track my progress. Here we go!!

Golf Clubs, teeth, and tongue

2010-07-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

As you can see, Reagan still pulls his golf clubs around with him. I love how he sticks out his tongue when he is playing or concentrating very hard. AND...look at all those teeth!! I think he has about 8 now. They sure are taking their sweet time coming in!

Kitchen remodel is all done!

2010-07-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

Darrell is taking another week of vacation this week and he spent yesterday and today working on painting the kitchen cabinets, which brings us to the end of the kitchen remodel. I'm very happy with the way it turned out!

Welcome Gunnar!

2010-07-15T19:01:00.000-07:00

About 7 weeks ago, I went with my friend, Sydney, to put her dear sweet 12 year old Jack Russell terrier, Otto, to sleep. I have experienced losing an animal, but had never experienced having to put one to sleep. When she called and told me that she was going to have to put him to sleep, I knew it wasn't something that I ould ever want to experience on my own, so I went with her. My heart ached for the loss of her sweet little friend. I asked what I could do for her that day and she told me to come over and take all of Otto's toys and bed out of the house because it would be too hard for her to see them when she came in from work. She said that she wanted to wait at least a year before she got another dog.

So, here we are 7 weeks later and here are pictures of her new friend Gunnar. He's a 4 month old Jack Russell and he too is a very sweet little dog. Syd brought Gunnar over last Sunday morning to play with the beagles and Reagan. She wants to make sure that Gunnar is good with kids because one of her favorite things to do was to go to the park and Otto always loved kids that would come over and play with him. Gunnar was very good with Reagan and enjoyed his time running around the back yard with the beagles.

We miss Otto, but we are very happy to welcome Gunnar!

2010-07-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

We got Reagan this little table today. He sat at it and colored for a while and sat down and played with his toys. I think that he's gotten used to sitting at a table when they eat and do other activities at school. He's clearly very pleased with his table!

4th of July Weekend

2010-07-04T19:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Darrell, Reagan, and I went down to San Antonio to visit Amanda, Max, and Ella. We went and ate at this great little place called The Cove. We had heard about this place on Guy Fieri's Diners Drive in and Drives on the Food Network. Our friend Jon and Tammy have eaten there and they love it, so I suggested it for lunch. It was pretty great. I had the fish tacos, which is what they are known for and they were the bet fish tacos that I've had! It was a really neat place and a place that seems to be alot more Austin than San Antonio since it prides itself on serving sustainable, organic, and local foods. The place was also very family friendly with a really neat playground area for the kids. It was pretty muddy, so we didn't venture out there this time, but perhaps next time we go, we can check it out.

After lunch, we headed down to Market Square in downtown San Antonio and wandered around at the market. It was pretty crowded, but we got to do the things we wanted most, which all included more food! We had Churros, aguas frescas, fruit cups, and the amazingly awesome frozen coconut Popsicles that I love so much!

Reagan and Ella were pretty tired as neither of them had taken naps yet, so we headed back to the house for nap time. Ella took a nice 2 hour nap and Reagan may have slept about 45 minutes or so. Amanda and I went over to our friend Alex's so that I could pick up mine and Darrell's tickets to the Red Sox/Yankees game that we are going to in October. It was a nice surprise when we got over there that another of our college friend and her family were at Alex's house. It was so good to see Christie and to meet her family! Her youngest son is about to turn a year old and has been through several open hear surgeries. He was born with 3 different heart defects. I can't even imagine what she has gone through watching her son endure all of these operations, but she is such a strong and amazing person to have done it and to see her little boy doing so well is just amazing to me. He still has one more surgery to go through, so we are all keeping our fingers crossed that all will go well. Her oldest son, who is about 3, is a little star as well. His photo is on alot of the Pamper Cruisers boxes, so if you see a really cute, curly headed Hispanic baby, that's my friend Christie's son, Alejandro!

By the time Amanda and I got back to the house, dinner was made. Max had grilled burgers, roasted corn, and gotten some other delicious sides from Central Market, so we had a really great dinner.

It's always so good to spend time with the Wimmer's, but my favorite part about this time was the fact that Reagan and Ella really played together this time. It was so cool to see the two of them interact with each other and follow each other around.

Today, Darrell, Reagan, and I headed down to the Outlet Malls in San Marcos. Reagan is getting close to being in 18 month clothes. Only 2 more weeks until he is 18 months! His shorts are still barely fitting him, but most of his shirts are starting to get a little short on him. So, we went and hit some sales at the Outlet Malls and got some pretty great deals. After that, we headed down to New Braunfels and had lunch at one of my favorite places Clear Springs Cafe. I love fish and Darrell won't eat any type of seafood, so any time I have the chance to eat fish, I jump at it! Clear Springs has great catfish and their onion rings are just incredible. I haven't been there since I was pregnant with Reagan, so I definitely enjoyed our lunch today.

We came home and lounged around for a while and then went and ran some more errands. We went over to South Park Meadows thinking that they may have something going on for the 4th, but no such luck. It was not busy at all over there today. We had Jason's Deli for dinner and then went and played on the playground and took Reagan over to the water spouts next to the playground. He had a BLAST with that! He ran and squealed and loved the water shooting up.

New Boots

2010-07-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of Reagan wearing my new boots!

2010-06-30T18:30:00.001-07:00

We had such a fun weekend last weekend, even though I am dealing with another sinus infection. (This is my 3rd in a month!) My cousin, Jake, plays baseball for Grayson County College up in Sherman, TX. He is playing baseball in a summer league and had a tournament down here this weekend. Friday, his game was in San Marcos at Texas State. There were two games on Saturday at St. Edwards here in Austin and he had 2 more games in San Marcos on Sunday. He and his mom and his sister, Madison, came and stayed with us for the weekend. Madison is going to be a senior in high school and is totally uninterested in watching her older brother play baseball, so she hung out with Darrell, Reagan, and I for the weekend. Saturday, she went me over to Cavender's and helped me pick out a new pair of boots. I've been wanting some new boots for a couple of years now, but couldn't decide what I wanted. The boots I have are plain Justin Ropers that I love so very much because they are nice and broken in because they have been through a little of everything. There is a whole in the sole about the size of the dime and because of that and the fact that I've had my eye on something a little fancier, I finally decided to actually go look at some boots. Madison is quite the boot expert since she wears them most of the time when she goes and feeds her cows and shows her cows at the stock shows. I ended up getting some Tony Llama's that are absolutely beautiful. I can hardly wait to wear them! I'll be posting pictures soon!

Jake wanted to go out to Cabella's to check it out, so we went out there Saturday afternoon. Darrell and Dad had a 6:30 tee time for golf at Lions Municipal on Sunday morning and Jake and his mom headed down to San Marcos about 7:30. Madison, Reagan, and I slept in until 8:15, which was really nice. After we fed Reagan breakfast, we headed down to Zilker Park for a ride on the train and ran in to one of my friend from high school, Allison, who had her little boy and her step son at the park. They ended up riding the train with us. After we rode the train, we took Reagan over to the swings and we ran in to Dash, a little boy that was in his old class at day care. He's still in the other class because he's about a month younger than Reagan, but he should be moving up soon. It was really cute to see their little faces light up when the recognized each other. They swang for a while and we headed home.

Reagan slept all the way home and we came back to the house and ate some lunch and we kind of lied around most of the afternoon. Reagan started running a fever again late in the afternoon and it got up o almost 103. I called the doctor on Monday to let them know what was going on since he's still on antibiotics from the last ear infection and they said we needed to bring him back in to have him re-checked. The doctor said that one of the ear is all better and the other one just had a little fluid around it, but is almost better. The problem this time was the throat. The doctor said he had little white blisters on his throat that was the result of a virus and of course the antibiotics won't work on that. So, Reagan got to spend the day with Grandma on Monday since she doesn't keep little Ellie on Mondays. Mom said he was really good and took a long nap, but he didn't eat much, which the doctor had told us hat he probably wouldn't because of his sore throat.

He didn't run a fever all day Monday, so we took him back to daycare yesterday. I got a call from the daycare about 3:45 yesterday telling me that Reagan had gotten bit by another kid in his class. Apparently, when the storms came in yesterday afternoon, all of the kids were gathered around the window watching it rain and Reagan was in the front and another kid was mad because they couldn't see and that kid bit Reagan. Miss Jina said that he really didn't even cry or anything, but when I picked him up, you could still see the teeth marks that went all the way around his little elbow. I'm sure it won't be the last time that he gets bit and I sure hope that I don't get a call telling me that he has bit someone else!

Reagan seems to be feeling alot better and has even gotten his appetite back. He finished his antibiotics from ear infection #2, so here's hoping that it stays a way for a while!

The doctor told me Friday that I need to make an appointment with the Ear Nose and Throat specialist because of my sinus issues. I've had these types of issues before, but it hasn't been since I was about 15 years old. I had sinus infection after sinus infection and within a week of getting off one round of antibiotics, I would get another one. After a CAT scan, they discovered that I have a deviated septum, which results in my sinuses not draining right and I had developed a polyp in one of my sinuses and it was half filled up with gunk. At that time, they put me on some really high powered antibiotics, decongestants, a steroid nose spray, and a saline solution nose spray. That finally fixed it, but the ENT had said at that time that was the last resort and if the combination that they were trying did not work, then I was going to have to have the sinus surgery where they go in and drain my sinuses. So, I'm sort of thinking that we may be close to that again and it's just a matter of getting the right combination of medication. I'm just so ready for all of this to get taken care of! I haven't run in almost a month and it's really starting to drive me nuts! I think if I may try to get started running again next week.

Kitchen Remodel

2010-06-23T18:49:00.001-07:00

The picture of Reagan at the top was what our counter tops and back splash looked like until yesterday. I also threw a picture of our beautiful travertine tile floors that we were lucky enough to already have when we bought the house. Yesterday, Darrell layed all the tile. Today, he did the grout and installed the new sink and faucet. We got the paint to paint the cabinets, but he said that may have to wait until another week of vacation because he has reached his quota of work for the week. I'm so proud of the hard work that he's done and I think it looks SO much better than it did. I'm pretty lucky to be married to such a handy man!

Ear Infection Round 2

2010-06-22T18:54:00.000-07:00

So, a week ago last Thursday, we took Reagan to Dr. Day for his post ear infection check-up. She said that the ears looked great. The next Tuesday, I dropped Reagan off at school, went to get a breakfast taco and a cup of coffee, and pulled into the parking garage at work. I was just about to get out of the car when my phone rang. It was the daycare saying that Reagan had a 102 fever. Darrell had no gone to work yet, so he went and got him and I called the doctor to make an appointment. When I told them what was going on, they had me bring him right in to re-check the ears. We got over there and his temperature was almost 102.7 and they said that the ears looked fine. Dr. Day was leaving the next day to go out of town for a week and said that she was going to leave notes with her back-up for a plan of action in case things were to turn worse.

So, Wednesday, I stayed home with him in the morning and Darrell stayed home with him in the afternoon. He was still running fever most of the day, so Darrell stayed home with him again on Thursday. He didn't run any fever all day on Thursday, so it was back to daycare on Friday. They said he was 'sensitive' at daycare, which probably means he was a little irritable, but he made it through the day.

Saturday we really went and got the granite tile and back splash so that Darrell can re-do the kitchen since he is on vacation this week. On Father's Day, we had a good day. My Dad came over and he, Darrell, Reagan, and I went to eat lunch at Threadgill's. Reagan was in a pretty good mood and ate well. We came back home and watch the U.S. Open Golf tournament for a while. Reagan was still in a good mood, playing with Grandpa and just hanging out, even though it was way past his nap time and he hadn't taken one yet. Dad left around 1:30 and Darrell started laying out some of the tile so that he could mark where he was going to have to cut. Reagan got SUPER upset and just started screaming. We figured that he was just tired, so Darrell came and sat down with him to try and get him calmed down. He slept about 15 minutes and woke up and just screamed. I thought that maybe if I got him in the car he would go to sleep, so he and I got in the car and headed over to my Mom's. We got over there and he ate a little and played some and then I put the mat from the play yard down in the floor and he layed down and went to sleep for about 10 minutes. Then he woke up screaming again. After being over there a couple of hours (and giving Darrell the time he needed to mark the tiles) we headed back home. When I got him out of the car, he was really warm. I took his temperature and it was 101.5. Darrell took him upstairs and gave him a cool bath and gave him some Motrin to help get the fever down. About 5 pm, he finally went to sleep and then slept off and on until around 9. He would wake up and just cry and his fever got up to about 103.7. I called the urgent care number for our doctor and told them what was going on and they had a nurse call me back. She basically told me to keep doing what we were doing and they had someone call me to make an appointment for the next day.

So, at 8:20 Monday morning, we were back at the doctor's office. We had to see another doctor since Dr. Day is still out of town. Dr. Broberg was very nice and told us that Reagan had an ear infection in both ears again. He said now that we have had two so close together, we are really going to start watching how the infections respond to the antibiotics, how far apart they are, and how easy it is to heal them. As a child that had bad problems with my ears which eventually resulted in having tubes put in, that puts Reagan at a higher risk of having issues with his ears as well. After the first couple of rounds of antibiotics yesterday, the fever was all gone and we sent him back to daycare today. They said he was in a really good mood today and he also took a 2 1/2 nap. He usually takes about a two hour nap, but since they knew he had been sick, they just let him sleep. They also said that this was the first time that he went to sleep all by himself, they didn't even have to pat him or anything! I'm so proud of him.

As I mentioned earlier, Darrell is working on the kitchen this week. He's laid all the granite tile on the counters and put up the back splash. After dinner, we went over to Home Depot and got a new sink and faucet and picked out paint for the cabinets. Tomorrow, Darrell will install the new sink and faucet and put the grout on the back splash and tile. It is looking really amazing so far and I'm so proud of the job that he's done! I am so very lucky to be married to such a handy man! I will be posting pictures of the kitchen soon!!

In the meantime, here is a picture of Reagan sleeping on the mat on Sunday.

Playing with cows, water fun, and a new class room

2010-06-07T18:29:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a looooong day for Reagan. Darrell, Reagan and I headed down to Kyle because Darrell was helping a friend of his lay tile on his patio. All Reagan wanted to do was be outside with his Dad and he had a really hard time staying inside with the girls when he could see Dad just outside the window. We got down there about 10:30 and by 2, he had still not taken a nap and had just had enough. Even though they were only about three quarters of the way done, Rick knew Reagan was done and sent us home.

I had gotten a call Friday from my little cousin, Madison, who lives up by Dallas and shows cows in livestock shows for Future Farmers of America. She was at a show in Seguin and asked how close she was to us. When I told her it was only about 45 minutes away, we made plans to get together Saturday evening when she and her mom were on their way back up to Dallas. So, Madison called around 5 and said that they were in Austin, so we met them over at the Serrano's in Southpark Meadows for dinner. After dinner, Reagan got to go check out the cows. She had two heifers and a calf that is only a few months old. Reagan climbed right into the trailer with Madison to check things out. He petted the cows and gave them hugs and kisses, pulled their ears, and even got licked by one. Little did I know that we were going to have our own petting zoo in the parking lot of South Park Meadows!!

Sunday, Darrell, Reagan, and I had brunch over at Katz's Deli and then headed back home and lounged around for a while. I had gotten a text message Saturday evening from my friend,

Kathryn, asking if anyone was up for dinner and playing at her house on Sunday afternoon. So, Darrell made a salad and we headed over. Our friend, Dawn, and her family were there as well as another family and their 2 kids that are friends of Dawn's and Kathryn's. 4 little boys that are all pretty close to the same age are pretty amusing to watch!

So last Tuesday, Reagan had a note in his cubby when I picked him up from daycare that said he would be moving up to the next class room starting today. There were 6 kids in his class who all moved up to the next class. Each day last week, they would go spend 30-45 minutes in with the other class room to help them transition. So this morning, he started his new class. He is now in the 18 -24 month class even though he will only be 17 months next week. His new teachers said he had a really good day today and his daily report said that he was happy and he played well with others, so we were very happy about that! We are very pleased with the progress that he has made since starting daycare. He has started to say a few words. He says Momma, Yum-yum (when he's eating.), bye-bye, and he knows the sign language for "more." He tells us "more" when he want food now. He has started dancing alot and does so whenever he hears music. We also really like to see him interact with other kids. He's really doing well and just growing way faster than we had anticipated!

Backyard Fun

2010-05-31T15:07:00.000-07:00

Jumpy Gym Playdate

2010-05-31T15:01:00.000-07:00

More Sickness, Friends, and a 3 Day Weekend

2010-05-31T14:12:00.001-07:00

So the teething fever from Tuesday turned worse and we went back to the after hours clinic on Wednesday. Regan had an ear infection in both ears, so we were prescribed another round of antibiotics. Darrell stayed at home with him Thursday and he didn't run fever all day, so it was back to daycare on Friday.

When we pulled into the daycare Friday, Reagan was smiling and waving and in a really good mood. When we walked into his classroom, he jumped right down, went and got a toy and turned around and waived at me. I was thrilled with this new accomplishment!

I got off an hour early Friday since it was the day before a holiday weekend, so I got to go pick Reagan up at 3:30. We headed over to Mom's so that Reagan could hang out with his buddy Ellie. She was clearly very excited to see Reagan! They hadn't seen each other in a month and it was very sweet the way they smiled when they saw each other.

Saturday morning, Reagan had a play date with the sons of two girls that I went to college with. I met Kathryn and her son, Lee, and Dawn and her son, Mason. Mason will be 2 in September and Lee will be 2 in December. We went to the Jumpy Gym that is around the corner from our house. None of us had been there before, so we weren't really sure what to expect. It ended up being really great! We got there at 9:30, which was really good because there were not many people there and everyone that was there had kids that were 3 and under. There were two older kids there, but they were maybe 7 or 8 and were playing with their younger siblings. The boys had a blast! We slid down the huge inflatable slides and Reagan just loved it! They had lots of toys there for the kids to play with, so they just ran around and jumped and played. We were there about an hour and a half and by the time I got Reagan home and fed him a little lunch, he passed out for a good two hours.

My friend, Tammy, came in from San Antonio and we met for lunch so that she could show me her Hawaii pictures. She got married last June and she and her husband just took their honeymoon trip to Hawaii. The pictures were just amazing! We came back over to the house after lunch and spent the afternoon playing with Reagan. He just loves Tammy!

Another one of my friends that I've known since 8th grade, Emily, who lives in Las Vegas now, was in town this weekend visiting her family, so I got to hang out with her on Saturday evening as well. We went and picked up pizza from East Side Pies and came over to the house to hang out. It's been about 3 years since I've seen her, so I was glad that we got to have a nice long visit.

Saturday evening, my nose started getting really stuffed up and I was having a hard time breathing. Sunday when I woke up, I was not feeling well at all. Mom and I took Reagan to go Zilker Park for a train ride. it's a 25 minute ride through the park and he was asleep before we got back to the train depot! We were going to hang out and play for a while, but he was done, so we headed back home. He slept all the way home and didn't wake up when I brought him in and ended up taking a two hour nap. I was feeling pretty bad and didn't leave the couch for the rest of the day. Finally about 7, I had cold chills and decided I was just going to go to bed. I was lying in bed just shaking and took my temp and it was almost 102. I decided to head over to the minor emergency clinic and by the time I got there, I had a temp of 103.5. The doctor said I have a sinus infection, but did a flu test just to make sure I didn't have the flu because my fever is really high for just a sinus infection. My flu test did come back negative, so I got a prescription for antibiotics and was on my way.

I am feeling a little better today and haven't been running fever, so I'm very happy about that. Darrell, Reagan, and I ran some errands and came back to the house and set Reagan's pool up. He had a great time!

Teething Fever

2010-05-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

So, the first round of sickness came and went, well...sort of! The nose has not stopped running, but since it has turned back to a clear color, we are no longer worried about it.

Yesterday, when I picked Reagan up, the daycare said that they were just about to call me because he was running 100.3 fever. I picked him up and he didn't feel warm at all. I brought him home and he seemed to be feeling fine. I kept taking his temperature and he never had any.

I went ahead and took him in this morning since they didn't technically send him home yesterday and he never seemed to be running fever at home. They called me today at 12:15 and said that he was running 100.8 fever.

Darrell went and picked him up and brought him home. He said he's been pretty cranky all afternoon and finally took a 2 hour nap.

He's got about 3 or 4 teeth coming in right now, so we are pretty sure that's what is causing the fever. He's been chewing on his hand and drooling everywhere since the weekend. His teeth are definitely taking their sweet time coming in. He now has 4 on the top and has two on the bottom with a tiny point of a third. We felt a few that are coming in further back, so I'm sure that can't be too pleasant for him!

So tomorrow, it's my turn to stay home with him and I'm looking forward to snuggling with my sweet man!

Day Care Cooties

2010-05-13T17:48:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it not quite two weeks before we had our first round with the daycare cooties. His nose has been running since the second day of daycare, but we had been keeping an eye to make sure the snot was clear and not green and that there was no fever. All was fine until I got a call from the daycare yesterday at about 3:45 telling me that Reagan had a fever of 101.I got off work and went and picked him up. When I got there, the teacher had him lying on his mat in the back of the room. He had a real glazed look on his face and you could tell he just didn't feel well. I got him home and he didn't want to go play or do anything except hang on to his Momma, which is always fine with me!

I had called the doctor to make an appointment for this morning, but once we got home and felt how warm he was, I decided to check out the Austin Regional Clinic after hours clinic, which is just a couple of miles from our house. I called at 6:15 to make an appointment and they told me to come in at 6:50. We got over and didn't wait very long. We saw an awesome physicians assistant that Reagan just love. She checked his ears and everything and said that his throat was irritated, but it was from all the drainage. His ears are clear and his chest is clear, but he did have 100 degree temp when we got there. She gave us a prescription for antibiotics, but told us not to give them to him unless he gets worse. She told us to give him tylenol to keep his fever down, keep his nose irrigated, and give him lots of fluids.

Darrell stayed home with him today. When I pick Reagan up from daycare, they always give me a daily report that tells me when he had his diaper changed, what he ate and when, how long his nap was, and what kind of mood he was in. Darrell, very sweetly, drew the whole little page on a piece of paper so I could see what Reagan had done today. He also noted that he was happy, tired, played will with others, and needed extra attention. He was barely able to keep his eyes open when we were eating dinner and he felt really warm again, so Darrell took him upstairs for an early bath and he has been asleep since 7:45. Poor little guy is just not feeling well! It looks like one of of is going to be staying home with him again tomorrow!

I know that getting sick is just part of being in daycare and as my friend, Amanda, reminds me, it is better for them to get sick when they are this age than when they are in kindergarten. I know that these little spells are helping him to get build his immunity.

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

The first week of daycare ended on a successful note. Both Thursday and Friday, the teachers told me that Reagan had good days and was crying less. Friday, there was a note on the back of his daily report that said that Reagan didn't cry hardly at all and spent most of the day playing with the other kids. When I picked him up on Friday, Miss Gail was holding him, but she said that was the first time she had held him all day because every time they would pick him up, he just wanted down to go play again. I got a very pretty Mother's Day Card with Reagan's little hand print in it and several other works of art that he had done this week, one of which was a beautiful watercolor painting of a tug boat. I'm so glad that he is getting to do so many fun things.

He has been in the BEST mood all weekend. He's only taken one nap both days, each of which were around the same time that he naps while at school. It looks like he is getting the hang of his new schedule! He and I have both had stuffed up noses all weekend, but we are hoping that it is only allergies.

I ran the Chuy's Hot To Trot 5K on Saturday morning and didn't have very high expectations because I just wasn't feeling well. I ended up running it in 31:22! Last weekend at the Bun Run was the fastest 5K I had run yet and I did that in 34:24. So, to do it in 3:02 less than I did last weekend and not feeling well, I was ecstatic! I am SO close to running a 30 minute 5K, which was a goal that I had set while training for the half marathon. I have one more 5K scheduled for next weekend and then I have not registered for any other races for the summer.

Other stats about the Chuy's race:

--This is my third year in a row to do it and they have all been on the same course.

--It is usually very hot and humid when I do this race and therefore usually the last race I do for the summer because I don't do well running in the heat.

--This year, it was in the 60's and the humidity was very low because we got a week cold front that came in Friday evening. It was also a little windy.

--My past times for the race:

2008: 38:15 ( I couldn't figure out why I had NO energy. Two weeks later was when we found out I was pregnant!)

2009: 42:58 (Not quite 4 months after Reagan was born. I still had quite a bit of the baby weight and hadn't been running enough.)

2010: 31:22 (Not feeling great, but with the right temperature, I ended up having a great run!)

--This run goes right in front of my friend Rachel and Matt's house. This year, they made me a sign that was posted on their mail box. Pretty sure that helped me keep running fast!

Anyways, I'm totally THRILLED about this and am hoping that I can keep this up and continue to improve.

Yesterday evening, Reagan and I had gone to visit my Mom and take her her gifts, which was a very cute red table and red chairs for her patio. When we got home, Darrell told me that I could have part of my gifts then. He took me outside and he had planted a lemon tree. My friend Colleen had gotten us one when we first moved into our house, but sadly, it didn't make it through this very cold winter. I was sad about the loss of our lemon tree and Darrell remembered and got me a new one. He also got two other nice plants that he planted out in the front of the house. He told me I would have to wait until later to get the rest of my gift.

We were getting ready to go to bed last night, Darrell said that he and Reagan needed to do something and they went into Reagan's room and closed the door and were in there about 10 minutes. When they came in, Darrell was carrying Reagan and Reagan had a gift bag in his hand with a big smile. He handed it to me and watched intently as I opened the contents. There was a card that both Darrell and Reagan had written in with a beautiful silver heart necklace from James Avery that is called the Mother's Love pendant. I absolutely love it! As I was oohing and aaahing at the sweet card and necklace, Reagan did a face plant into the tissue paper and bags and started to gleefully throw it into the air. It was perfect!

We had a rough night last night. I was all stopped up and couldn't sleep and Reagan woke up at 3m crying as well. His nose was all stopped up as well. Once we suctioned all the snot out of his nose, we finally got him calm enough and we all got to sleep around 4. We managed to sleep until around 7:30. Darrell got up and did his usually early Sunday morning grocery store run and I made Reagan breakfast. Once Darrell got home, I went and picked up Mom for a Mother's Day breakfast at Trudy's. I had been to the one down on the UT Campus, but I had never been to the new one that's not far at all from the house. They had a great breakfast! The rest of the day has been spent lounging around the house with the boys and the dogs since it was raining off and on.

As I celebrate my second Mother's Day, I am so thankful and blessed to be the mother of such an amazing baby boy. I cherish every single day that we spend together and I love watching him learn new things each day. I know that each year, the meaning of being a Mother will become more and more amazing to me. I am truly blessed to have my Mother, who has taught me so many things and has helped me to become the mother that I am today as well. I know that she had a wonderful mother as well, whom I was so lucky to have gotten to spend so much time with as a child and learn from her so many things as well. I also have several very special Aunts that I love dearly and whom have mothered me and my mother both at some time or another. Any way you look at it, Mothers are very special people and we really wouldn't be where we are without them!

First Day of Daycare!

2010-05-03T17:39:00.001-07:00

Here are photos of the first day that I left Reagan with my mom when I went back to work on March 9, 2009 and here is the photo of Reagan and I on his first day of daycare.

It went much smoother than I thought it would. Darrell and I both went to go drop him off since it was his first day. When we got there, there were two other little boys an two little girls. One little boy helped him get a toy down from a shelf and Reagan gave him a kiss. Darrell and I hung out in the room with him for about 15 minutes. He was pretty interested in the other kids and was exploring all of the fun toys that they had. He fussed just for a minute when Darrell and I left, but by the time we got to the front door, he had already stopped. The sweet lady at the daycare told me to feel free to call and check on him during the day. So, I called around noon to see how he was doing. She said that he had been a little fussy, but had eaten ok and was about to take a nap. She told me to make sure and call back after nap time, because she was sure things would be better than. Darrell called around 2 and they said that he was eating a snack and he had taken an hour and a half nap. The nap thing was what we were most worried about since he has pretty much always been held when he takes naps. They said he layed down on his cot and went to sleep fairly quickly.

When I picked him up this afternoon, he was ready to go home. He fell asleep on the way home and woke up when we got in. For the past few weeks, we have been going out to play in the backyard for about 30 minutes to an hour before Darrell gets home t make dinner. Tonight, Reagan sat in the yard for a long time just playing with sticks and rocks around him. Usually, he is running all over the place. He is absolutely exhausted right now and is curled up on Darrell being very mellow and babbling. I've got a feeling that it is going to be an early bedtime tonight!!

We are so excited about Reagan starting daycare and can hardly wait to see all of the new things that he learns each day!

Outside Fun

2010-04-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

Today was the perfect day to be outside! It wasn't too warm and the humidity was pretty low. Darrell, Reagan, and I hung out in the back yard for a while this morning until Reagan got pretty tired and then it was nap time.

After Reagan woke up, we went out and got Reagan some outside toys. He already had the Little Tikes swing that hangs from a tree. Today, we got him a Little Tikes climber/slide and a Step 2 water table. He LOVED them, especially the water table. Of course, he also loved the tunnel that the box to the playscape made!

2010-04-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

15 month check up

2010-04-24T19:28:00.001-07:00

Last Monday was Reagan's 15 month check up. He weighed in at 20.4 pounds and is 31" tall. He is in the 5th percentile for his weight and is in the 75th percentile for his height! Since Dr. Day, his pediatrician, was also my pediatrician from the time I was in 4th grade until the time I was in high school, she reminds me that she remembers what I looked like as a child and it's not too different from how Reagan looks now.

Reagan eats pretty much everything that we have put in front of him so far and he eats ALOT. Some of his favorite things right now are: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, avocado, banana, strawberries, black berries, lemons (he will just keep chewing on them until we take them away, and pretty much any sort of meat. He also LOVES ketchup. He eats everything without it, but he really eats it once it has a little bit of ketchup on it.

He is doing pretty well feeding himself these days. Last weekend, we got him a little metal spoon and fork set because he's been very interested in using ours. He really enjoys using them.

Darrell and I both took off work yesterday. My Mom was attending her 45th college reunion, so we had no baby sitter. We are also starting our search for a daycare for Reagan. Now that he is really walking well and into everything, we think now will be a good time to get him into a day care and get him socializing with other kids. We visited 4 on Friday and there was only one that we marked off the list completely. There was one that really stood out. It is not as convenient as the others, but for the money, we think that it will probably be the best of the other 3.

In other news, I went to the doctor for my yearly check-up on Good Friday and I weigh 2 pounds less than when I first got pregnant. I am so thrilled with that. Running consistently and eating the right things (and limiting my baked goods) has paid off. I am wearing a size 6 right now, but am right on the edge of being back in a 4, which I NEVER thought I'd see again!

I ran the Capitol 10K a couple of weeks ago. This is my 4th year in a row to run that race and it is definitely one of my very favorite races. I ran my best time for the Cap 10K yet at 1:13:09. Today, I ran the Texas Round Up 10K, which is a very hilly course, and I finished in 1:16:36. Last year, on that same course, it took me 1:31:29 and I walked ALOT. I didn't walk near as much this year and felt so much better this year! I've got a couple of more 5K's scheduled for the next couple of weeks. I really want to keep a good running base over the summer because I'd like to do the San Antonio Rock N'Roll Half Marathon that is on November 14, 2010. That would require that I keep my good base that I've got right now (running 3 miles 2-3 times per week and 5-6 miles on the weekend) and then starting in August, I will start to increase my mileage each week to work up to the half marathon. Hopefully, this summer will not be as hot as last summer and it will be easier!

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T19:47:00.001-07:00

2010-04-05T18:52:00.000-07:00

Re-tiled bathroom! The bottom picture is the bridge that I ran over. 2.5 miles of the 6.2 miles were on the bridge.

Finally! A New Post!

2010-04-05T18:31:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post, but we have been SO busy! We attended my friend Colleen's wedding which was absolutely beautiful and very cold and then just a couple of days later, Reagan, Mom, and I took a looong road trip out to Charleston, South Carolina for a mini-family reunion. We lost my mom's brother, Jim, to cancer just a couple of days before the New Year. He had told my Aunt that he did not want a funeral or any sort of memorial service, so we went out to South Carolina and his three kids and their families as well as one of my Grandfather's brothers' (my mom's uncle) met us in South Carolina and we went out and ate some great Barbq in his honor. It was a perfect tribute to him and so good to see my cousins and my Aunt.

Mom, Reagan, and I stayed with my Aunt Betsy (Uncle Jim's wife) in their beautiful home in Mt. Pleasant, SC. Reagan was quite the trooper on the trip out and did much better than I expected. I am so very thankful for the portable DVD player that Darrell got for us right before our trip. Baby Einstein DVD's really made the trip quite enjoyable! While we were in South Carolina, Reagan made his first two trips to the beach and loved the sand more than I could have even imagined that he would! He squealed, crawled, threw it, covered himself in it, got some in his mouth, ears, eyes, nose, and diaper. He was not a happy man when I picked him up to take him away when our beach time was over.

While we were there, I ran the Cooper River Bridge 10K, which is the 3rd largest 10K in the US. There were over 38,000 participants! The run was beautiful and I really enjoyed running in a new place. I ran my fastest 10K ever! I ran the entire 6.2 miles and finished in 1:11:21. Prior to this 10K, my fastest 10K was Capitol 10K in March 2007. That time was 1:16:46. I was thrilled to have done it as fast as I did!

Reagan overall did a good job being off of his schedule and in a new place. He has found a new pitch to scream in that is unbelievably high. We think that he gets frustrated because he can't tell us what he wants, so we get the scream instead. We are hoping that he starts communicating better sometime soon!

While we were away, Darrell re-tiled my bathroom. It looks amazing and I'm so proud of his tiling skills! This past Friday, our friend Patti and I painted the bathroom and went shopping for new shower curtains, towels, etc. I am so pleased with how nice it turned out!

We enjoyed our 3 day weekend and spent Saturday running a bunch of errands and relaxed on Sunday. Reagan got to hunt Easter Eggs for the first time this year. He enjoyed picking them up and putting them in his bucket and then pouring them out again!

Pics to come soon!!

Walking!!

2010-03-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

Here's the tiny man walking in the backyard.

Toddle Time!

2010-03-08T19:06:00.000-08:00

Reagan is officially a toddler!! We spent alot of time in the backyard this weekend and he decided to get up and walk. He had been taking a few steps here and there, but he was taking lots of steps on Saturday! He is very pleased with his new accomplishment. (Look for a video to be posted soon!)

I had a stomach virus on Thursday and Friday, so we had quite a bit of downtime this weekend while I got to feeling better. Thankfully, Darrell and Reagan have not gotten sick. I'm sure that can be partially contributed to Darrell following me around the house with a can of Lysol. Nice...

We've got a very busy March planned. My friend, Colleen, is getting married on the 20th, I have a 5K on the 21st, on the 23rd, Reagan, my Mom, and I are driving to Charleston, South Carolina to see my Aunt Betsy, and my cousins. I'm going to run The Cooper River Bridge 10K on the 27th when we are in South Carolina. I'm super excited about running in a new location and seeing some different scenery. I'm pretty nervous about such a long drive with Reagan, but I've been doing alot of research on traveling with a toddler. I have some tricks up my sleeve, so we will see how those work out for us!

We are also getting ready to start our first round of home improvements. We have been in our house almost 3 years, so it is time. We are going to start with some work in the kitchen, my bathroom (the spare bathroom), a new garage door, and a few other minor repairs. We went to Home Depot last night and at least started to look at things and get ideas. We may start sometime in April with the bigger projects. I'm excited and a little apprehensive about the tasks ahead.

Snow Day in Austin!!!

2010-02-23T18:46:00.000-08:00

My office closed at noon today. I was able to go pick Reagan up early and I took him out before we left Mom's to check out the snow. So crazy that Sunday it was a beautiful 77 degrees outside and two days later, we had snow. Gotta love that Texas weather!

Gosh those moods change fast!

2010-02-17T18:38:00.000-08:00

Reagan can go from screaming to perfectly fine and vice versa at the drop of a hat here latley. He's having a pretty rough time at night and is waking up screaming quite often. He has several teeth that are all coming in at the same time and his gums are so swollen. I feel so bad for the little guy! He has his 5th tooth that is just starting to show. I bet he wil have at least 4 or 5 more in the next month or so.

All Better and Half Marathon # 5!!

2010-02-15T19:12:00.000-08:00

Friday, we had a day full of errands to run, so Darrell and I both took the day off. Reagan had his follow up doctor's appointment. Other than the runny nose that returned last Thursday, she said he is doing fine. He has gained almost a pound in the last two weeks and is now at 19 pounds, 14 ounces.

After the doctor, we headed up to Georgetown to the Social Security office. I thought that we had mis-placed Reagan's SS card or possibly shredded it in the craziness of him being a newborn. Now it's time to file taxes and we need his SS number in order to do that. We had some stuff to do up north, so decided that maybe the SS office in Georgetown would move quicker than the one in Austin. We waited for two hours. Pretty rough trying to keep Reagan calm for that long. We finally got up there and they told us that there had never been one issued in his name, so that made me feel much better that at least it didn't just get thrown away and have the possibility of someone else getting the #. We filled out the paperwork and headed on our way.

We needed to take the CRV back to the Honda dealer because there was a loose piece of trim around the windshield. The dealership is in Round Rock, so we made a quick stop by IKEA and the Outlet Malls before we stopped at the dealership. We have had a changing table downstairs since we have had Reagan and we kept all of his clothes in bins underneath it. His clothes are now too big to fit in the bins and he is too long for the changing table. So, we got a three drawer dresser from IKEA and put his changing pad on top of it. The clothes are all put away and he has alot more room on the dresser.

Saturday, the girls came and got me and we headed down to pick up our packets for the Austin Marathon/Half-Marathon. We wandered around down there and looked at all the fun stuff and then headed back home to drink water and rest our feet for the remainder of the day.

Sunday was race day. I didn't sleep well and woke up at 3. I kept running the course in my head. Since I've been running, I have been on all but about a mile of the course throughout my journeys, so I knew pretty much every bit of the course. I kept hearing Reagan waking up no and them and about 4:15, he was full on screaming, so I went and got him and brought him in our room. He drank lots of water and curled up with Darrell and went right back to sleep. My alarm went off at 4:45 and my friend, Sydney, came to pick me up at 5:20. She has been training for the marathon with Rogue Running, so we parked over at the Rogue store and stretched for a while and then walked a little over half a mile to the start line. I couldn't find my group anywhere.

All season, I've been doing interval training an been running 2 minutes and walking a minute. I started my watch with the intervals when I crossed the start line and started running. The alarm beeped at me when the first two minutes was up and I just kept on running. I told myself I wasn't going to stop until I got all the way up Congress. I got up there and said I wasn't going to stop until I got past Lightsey. I passed Lightsey and still hadn't stopped. I got just past that and had to go to the bathroom. All of the lines at the portapotties were super long. I knew from when I did this race two years ago that those lines meant at least 15 minutes. I kept on running. I got to Oltorf and 1st Street and ran into the Texaco. There were about 6 people in line there. I ran back out and headed down the road. There is a coffee shop on 1st Street called Fair Bean or something like that, so I ran in there was only one other person in line, so I got right in and headed back down the road. I said I wasn't going to stop until I got to Barton Springs. I got there and kept on going and said I was going to try and make it until Austin High. I got to Austin High and kept on moving. At this point, I was at mile 8 and getting pretty tired. I headed up a short steep climb from Ceasar Chavez up to Lake Austin Boulevard and then was kept thinking that I was about to get to the hardest part of the race, not only because it was the last 5 miles, but the last 3 are the toughest because of the hills. At this point, I heard someone calling my name and there was Greg, my coach from Austin Fit!! I asked him where the rest of the group was and he said that he and I were the only two doing this race. I was so glad to see him and he said he was really glad to see me too because he was starting to think about his aches and pains. He had been doing the 2-1 intervals the whole way, so I finished up doing the 2-1's as well. I was so glad to have him to make me keep going and to get me through those hills! I would have had a really hard time doing that on my own. My actual chip time was 2:42:33. This was my best half marathon time yet!! My previous best time on a half was the first one 3M Half Marathon that I did in 2008. That time was 2:44:15 and didn't have hills. I did stop my watch during one when I went to the bathroom and my watch time was about 2:39. I am so excited about my time and am really proud that I was able to run for 8 miles without stopping. I never do that!! I found Darrell and Reagan after I finished the race and they brought me a dozen yellow roses and a huge muffin from Central Market. Such a great Valentine's Day!

Today, I am more sore than I was after the 3M, but it's mostly my thighs that are sore and I know those are from the hills. I'm glad I took the day off. I met my friends Sydney and Karla and their Rogue Marathon girls for breakfast and massages this morning. I loved hearing about their races. All of them had very inspiring stories and I'm so proud of them. I also had two friends from college that finished their first half marathons yesterday. So very proud of them!

Sick

2010-01-30T09:07:00.000-08:00

Our little guy had his first trip to the doctor that was for something other than his well checks. Starting on Monday, Reagan's nose was just pouring. It did that for a couple of days and then came a bad cough. Thursday, we took he started getting a little wheezy, so we took him to the doctor. The doctor said that it wasn't horrible, but it is something that can quickly get worse. We got a nebulizer and gave him breathing treatments every 4 hours Thursday and Friday. Today, we will start giving them to hm every 8 hours. We are keeping a close eye on him because the doctor said if he doesn't get better pretty quickly that we will need to take him to the afterhours clinic. In addition to him being miserable because he can't breathe well, he's got 4-5 teeth about to come in all at one time, so that's also producing alot of extra mucous/spit/snot and everything else. Needless to say, he has been pretty cranky.

Yesterday, my Mom was feeling pretty bad, so I took off half the day and went and got Reagan so she could get some sleep. She went over to the minor emergency clinic this morning and she has a really bad cold.

I'm hoping that everyone will get better over the weekend!

This week...

2010-01-24T17:46:00.000-08:00

Has been a little crazy! Tuesday we took Reagan in for his 12 month check up. His stats are:

Height 30 1/2"

Weight 19 pounds

Head Circumference 46.8 centimeters

He got three shots: chickenpox, Hepatitis A, and Measles/Mumps. He wasn't happy, but quickly for got about it. We have been pretty lucky that he's never really had a reaction or run fevers from any of his immunizations.

The doctor talked to us about weening him off of the bottle. Today is the 4th day that he's had no bottle at all. He is now drinking whole milk instead of formula. The transition has gone smoother than I expected it too.

Reagan has been a little moody for he past couple of days, but the doctor told us on Tuesday that his gums were really swollen and it looked like he was about to get several teeth in at one time.

Wednesday, I woke up with a little bit of a sore throat and my head felt a little stuffy, like I was about to get sick. I went ahead and ran my 3 miles at lunch that day and felt better. Thursday when I woke up, I felt worse. I went to work that day, but didn't run at lunch. We went to bed that evening and at 1:30 in the morning, Reagan woke up screaming. I don't even remember the last time that he did that. I could clearly tell from his cry that something was bothering him. I went and got him from his crib and every time we touched his belly, he would scream even more. We gave him some gas medicine and after a while, he calmed down. We kept him in the bed with us and he would cry every time he turned over. He did that until about 3:30 and then finally went back to sleep. Shortly after I had brought him to bed with us at 1:30, I was feeling really nauseous and ended up getting sick. I was having alot of drainage and I think it was just upsetting my stomach. I woke up Friday and still felt pretty bad and was just exhausted from the long night. I showered for work and knew I wasn't going to make it through the day at work feeling the way I did. I went back in the bedroom and Darrell told me if I planned on running my half marathon on Sunday that I needed to stay home and rest. I went climbed back in bed and ended up spending most of the day sleeping. Friday also happened to by my 31st b-day. Darrell ended up staying home too so that he could take are of Reagan while I got some rest.

Later in the afternoon, we finally all woke up and we went over to Target and I got some allergy medication hoping that would help me out. We came back and lied around for a while and went out to dinner at Kerbey Lane. I wasn't really feeling like eating, but hadn't eaten much all day, so I knew I needed to eat and a big omelet from Kerbey was the only thing that sound slightly good.

Saturday morning, I was supposed to meet the girls to go pick up our packets for the race. I got up early and still felt pretty bad. My friend Sydney had told me the day before that she was having allergy problems and went over to a minor emergency clinic right by our house and they gave her a steroid allergy shot. I decided that I was going to go over there and check it out. The clinic was great and I was in and out of there in an hour. The doctor told me I had a sinus infection that had been there for a while and I was also suffering from allergies. She gave me a steroid shot and called in a prescription for antibiotics.

Today was race day. This was my 2nd 3M (the first was in 2008) and this was my 4th Half Marathon. I had to wake up at 5 this morning because the race start was at 6:45 and it was up north. I felt soooo much better when I woke up this morning. We got to the starting line and waited around for almost an hour. The race start was postponed because the barricades on the streets kept blowing over because of the strong winds. Austin Police Department would not give the ok to start the race because it was not safe. We waited around in the cold winds for almost an hour and finally we were given the go ahead to get started.

We warmed up pretty quickly and luckily, the wind was at our back for most of the race since we were running south. It ended up being an absolutely beautiful day to run. I felt a little queasy at the beginning of the race. The wind was so cold that it was making my lungs burn. Once we got the wind behind us, I felt much better. My friend, Cindy, and I hung together the whole time and we finished in 2:53 minutes. I was very pleased with my time. I finished my first 3M in 2:44 minutes, so this one was not too much longer at all, especially considering the wind. This one also took me SO much less time than the Zooma Half Marathon did that I ran back in April, just 11 weeks after having Reagan. That one took me 3:24 minutes. I was definitely pleased to see that my training had paid off for this one. The best part of crossing the finish line was that Reagan and Darrell were there to see me. When I saw Reagan, I started calling his name and he was looking around trying to see where I was. I went over and hugged him and he smiled the biggest smile! I just love that little guy more than I ever thought imaginable! Darrell had brought him down in his tricycle and he said they rode all around and Reagan crawled all around in the park and they hung out for a good two hours before I came in. Check out the pictures Darrell took of him below.

After the race, I got home, showered, ate a peanut butter jelly sandwich in bed, and took a 2 1/2 hour nap. We had a great finish to the day with an awesome dinner at Salt Lick and boy did I need that! I ate a ton of food and am now ready for bed!

Birthday Festivities

2010-01-18T18:46:00.000-08:00

Reagan's birthday weekend was a big hit. We got down to San Antonio on Saturday around 11:15. It ended up being a pretty nice day. It was sunny, a little windy, and not too cold....a very nice break from the rainy week that we had last week!

We met at our friend's Max and Amanda's house. When we got there, their little girl, Ella, who is 20 months old, was napping. We hung out with Max and Amanda until Ella woke up. We fed the kids lunch and headed down to the zoo. My friend Tammy met us down there for the zoo fun. I wasn't really sure how long to expect the kids to hang out at the zoo, but we were there 2 1/2 hour, which was quite a bit longer than I thought we would be there. Reagan LOVED the zoo. We started out with him in the stroller, but took him out pretty early on and we all took turns carrying him. He was really entertained with the birds and his favorite things was the fish in the hippo tank. He got really excited and squealed and flapped his arms. It was around 4:30 and we decided to go ahead and head out because Reagan was having a hard time staying awake and we wanted to take a ride on the train that goes though the park that the zoo is in. Reagan was just lounging on the train ride, enjoying just sitting down and snuggling with his Dad.

After we got off the train, we went over to the Barn Door and had some dinner. Reagan fell asleep in the car and was still sleeping when we put him in his high chair. He took a short little snooze and then woke up ready to eat. We gave him some food, but by this time, he and Ella were both pretty tired. We kept taking turns walking around with the kids so they didn't have a meltdown in the restaurant. We finally finished dinner and headed back to Max and Amanda's for cake. It was around 7:30 when we got back to their house and Ella was passed out, so Amanda went ahead and put her to bed. We put Reagan in her high chair and gave him his birthday cupcake. I didn't think he would really eat much of it, but he ended up eating almost half of it. Once again, he flapped his arms and squealed with excitement. We let him chew on it and play with it for a while and then got him cleaned up. Max was playing with him and Reagan barfed some of the cupcake up on himself and Max. After getting that cleaned up, we headed back to Austin.

We got in around 10 or so and bathed Reagan and went straight to bed. We were really surprised with as little sleep as he got that he was in such a great mood all day. He was just the happiest little guy!

Sunday morning, we got up and let Reagan open his presents, which we had not done the day before since we were gone all day. His big present from us was a Little Tikes 3 in 1 Smart Trike. It's super awesome because it's got a handle for us to push him in it now, but as he grows, we can take the handle off and it will be a regular trike. We pushed him around the house in it and then later Sunday afternoon, we took him for a spin around the block. He looks very pleased with himself and moves the handlebars around.

Our One Year Old

2010-01-18T18:18:00.000-08:00

First Birthday Eve

2010-01-15T19:04:00.000-08:00

Here we are, a whole year later. Right now, it's 9 pm. At this time last year, it was only 3 hours and 42 minutes until we would meet the tiny little man that would change our lives forever and boy has it changed! Everything we do revolves around our sweet boy. It has been amazing to see him grow from a tiny little 6 pounds 12 ounce blob of baby to an almost 20 pound ball of energy that we are constantly chasing and trying to make sure that he is not into something that he isn't supposed to be into. He is just amazing and we love him more every day!

We are really looking forward to celebrating his special day tomorrow. We are heading down to San Antonio to the zoo, if the weather is nice.

We love you, Reagan!

More pictures

2010-01-10T20:00:00.000-08:00

Some pictures....

2010-01-10T19:44:00.001-08:00

This picture is a month or so old, but this is a picture of Reagan and his friend, Ellie. This is the little girl that my Mom keeps during the day along with Reagan. She is a very sweet little girl.

This picture with the EXTRA big smile is what I get to come home to see when I get off of work every day. It is usually accompanied by an awesome snort, which is what he does when he gets really excited.

Here's Mom and Ellie on the day of the National Championship. We love those Longhorns!

And there is our Big Guy playing at Grandma's house!

Finally...an Update!

2010-01-10T19:01:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I have written an update, but so much has been going on in the Farr household. After over a month and 3 different rental cars, the almost $8,000 of repairs have finally been completed on our CR-V. We got the car back Friday and I'm so happy to have it back. The car definitely looks fantastic and looks like a brand new car again. I will be keeping an eye on a few interior things just to make sure everything is right.

New Years Eve was a little sad for us because late the evening before, we received a call that my Uncle Jim, my Mom's only brother, passed away. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in September and had completed his radiation treatment as well as his chemotherapy. Things were going exactly as planned and he had been doing as well as expected with his treatment. The day before New Years Eve, my Mom received a text message from my Aunt that my uncle was in the hospital and had pneumonia, that it was a slight bump in the road to recovery, but everything should be ok. Mom was getting updates form her throughout the day and the doctors kept telling my aunt that everything was going to be alright. My Mom called me around 11pm the day before New Years Eve and said that we had lost him. What he had was rapid pneumonia and it caused his heart to stop. Earlier in the day, they had done x-rays on his lungs and they said that the spot where the cancer was in his lung was almost completely gone. We are so very sad that he had made through the hardest part of the treatment and it seemed like the cancer was on it's way out and it was the pneumonia that took him. We will all miss him dearly and are so thankful that he did not have to suffer. My Uncle was one of the very smartest people that I have ever met in my entire life and I am so thankful that I got to spend the time that I did with him. They were just here in August and we had a wonderful time eating good Texas food and hanging out in Gruene. We love you and will miss you, Uncle Jim!

It is so hard for us to believe, but Reagan will be 1 year old next Saturday. This year has flown past! Our little man is getting so very close to walking. We bought him his first pair of walking shoes last weekend and he has been standing more and more on his own. Darrell and I have been working with him and we will stand him up in front of us and he will take a few wobbly little steps over to us. It shouldn't be long before he takes off running! He now has 5 teeth-3 on top and 2 on bottom-and a 4th on the top is about to come out. We are still feeding him his baby food, but he is always very interested in what we are eating and is always willing to try our food. We haven't really found much that he is not a fan of. We are really looking forward to his birthday celebration next Saturday. As long as it's not raining, we are going to go meet some friends down in San Antonio and go to the zoo. We have gotten him a few birthday surprises and are very excited about celebrating his 1st birthday.

Through all of the crazy happenings around here, I have managed to keep up my running and on January 24th, I will be running my 4th half marathon (13.1 miles) at the 3M Half Marathon here in Austin. This was the very first half marathon that I ever did, so I am excited to see how I will do on this course again this year. Yesterday I ran 12 miles, which has been my longest run of the season. It took me 2:39 and we walked the first mile and a half or so because we didn't want to stretch because it was so cold outside. I just checked my time from the first time I did 3M and it was 2:44, so I am right on track for the time that I need to finish the race in. I am also so very pleased to announce that I am back to the weight that I was prior to being pregnant with Reagan and I am back to wearing a size 6. It has been a long journey and didn't come off nearly as fast as I thought it would, but I have done it. Training for this half marathon has really gotten me back in shape and helped me to achieve my goal. I have had to watch what I eat and make sure that I eat the right foods to help give me the nutrition that I need to my training. With eating right most of the time and the amount of running that I do (4 times a week---3 short runs of 3 miles each and long runs on the weekend) he weight has just melted off. A HUGE thank you to my friend and co-worker Cindy who is my running buddy at lunch on the weekdays and who has been doing my long runs with me on the weekends since I have not been making it to train with my Austin Fit Training group. I am looking forward to meeting up with my Austin Fit group on race day to run with them. I am also very proud of my friend Cindy who is about 47 years old and will be running her first half marathon with me at the 3M. She has been an inspiration to me with her dedication to being fit since I met her 5 1/2 years ago. She used to be a gym rat and had never really run outside before She's been running off and on with me for the past couple of years and she had knee surgery a little over a year ago. She has come such a long way with her running and I'm so excited that I will be running next to her when she finishes her first half marathon. A huge thanks to her for making me accountable to her for working out and watching what I eat!

Christmas 2009

2009-12-25T16:03:00.000-08:00

We have had a great Christmas and it has been so much fun to share it with Reagan this year! We opened all of our presents here at home this morning and Reagan payed more attention to his toys then I thought he would! I figured that he was going to go straight for the boxes and paper, but he actually played with his toys. We let him play for quite a while and then fed him breakfast and he took about an hour nap. Once he woke up, we went over to my Mom's for Christmas Dinner. We opened up our presents there and ate an delicious dinner of hen, dressing, green beans, whipped sweet potatoes, and five cup salad. We ate so much and lounged around for a while and then Mom, Reagan, and I headed over to see my oldest niece, Isabel, and her family. Here are some photos from our day.

Reagan Meets Santa

2009-12-19T13:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening, Darrell and I took Reagan out to the mall for his first visit with Santa. We waited in line for almost an hour and Reagan was so good. He was just hanging out in his stroller and never got upset or anything. We were somewhat concerned because there was a little boy who was either a year and a half or two years and he threw a kicking screaming fit when he sat on Santa's lap. When it was finally Reagan's turn, I took him over to Santa and let him look at him for a minute before I sat him on his lap. They took several photos, most of which had Reagan looking like a deer in headlights. This was the photo that we decided to get. It looks like they are having a staring contest!

Christmas at the Capitol

2009-12-19T13:20:00.000-08:00

Wednesday evening, Reagan, Darrell and I went to the Lieutenant Governor's Staff Holiday Part at the Capitol.

11 Months Old

2009-12-16T19:36:00.001-08:00

Here we are...just one month away from one year since we first layed eyes on our sweet little man. We sure do love him!!

2009-12-06T19:31:00.001-08:00

We have been so busy the past couple of weeks! Thanksgiving was fun. Darrell's brother, sister-in-law an niece and nephew came to our house for Thanksgiving again this year. I got up and ran Turkey Trot that morning. This is the third year in a row that I have done Turkey Trot. The first year, it was SO cold. I think it was about 28 degrees that year. Last year, it was a different course from the first year I did it because the UT Football game was in town and the route usually goes through the middle of campus and right by the stadium. The course last year was very hilly and I was about a 7 1/2 months pregnant and my sciatica was killing me. I ran the first mile and did good to walk the remaining 4 miles. Last year was in the 70's and very humid. This year, the weather was just amazing. It was in the 50's, sunny, and beautiful. We were back to the original course this year, that was the same one as the first year that I did it. I was very happy to see that my time this year was only one minute and 30 seconds more than the first year I did it. Knowing that I can run at almost the same pace that I did before I got pregnant less than a year after I have had the baby makes me very happy! My time this year for the 5 miles was just over one hour 30 minutes.

I had prepared my part of Thanksgiving dinner the day before. I made two pumpkin pies and a pecan pie and prepared all of the dry ingredients for the dressing. Darrell, our sister-in-law, Lisa, and my Mom finished up the rest of dinner while I was running. I got in from the race, showered, and the feasting began. The food was delicious and Reagan even got a plate with some Thanksgiving goodies as well. After dinner, Reagan and I headed upstairs for a nap. There was too much going on for him to nap and he had missed his normal morning nap, so we slept for a good two hours. Then, it was awake again for round two of the food and watching the UT/ATM football game. Glad the Horns pulled that one out!

Friday, we skipped out on the crazy shopping frenzy. Reagan and I and I enjoyed a nice quiet morning at home because Darrell, his brother, and nephew went and played golf. Lisa, Emily, my mom, and Reagan headed over to a lunch at Hula Hut. Yum!

Saturday, was my little bro's wedding day. They had a very nice ceremony and it was good to see some of my bro's high school buddies and our old family friends. Reagan looked just adorable in tan corduroys, a white button up shirt, and a navy sweater vest. He did really well during the ceremony and didn't make much noise at all.

Sunday, we put up our Christmas tree. We has a skinny little 6 foot prelit tree that we got last year and was a step up from our 4 foot that sat on a table. We ended up putting this one on a table and behind a bench to keep it out of Reagan's reach. He will stand at the bench and look up at it, but can't quite reach it. I have caught him once standing at the bench and swinging his golf club at the tree. Luckily, the tree is just high enough that he can't reach it, even with the club.

I had off Monday and Tuesday as well, so Reagan and I got some good quality time together those two days. I really enjoyed my time off and seeing our family.

Reagan continues to be very inquisitive and into everything. Thanksgiving day, our routine was a little off. We usually put him in his high chair and then feed the beagles. For some reason, we put him on the ground and then fed the beagles. He managed to sneak a couple of pieces of dog food into his mouth. He didn't swallow it, but he did chew on it for a minute before we reclaimed the dog food. He LOVES to hang out near the dishwasher when I am loading it and unloading it. On Friday after Thanksgiving, I was unloading the dishwasher and putting some silverware away. When I turned around, Reagan was crawling on the dishwasher door and had dropped my car keys in the bottom drawer. I took them out and then he cruised over and dropped the keys in the dog water bowl.

His top two teeth are just starting to peak through. He has been a little bit fussier than normal and has been barfing lots, but it still has not been as bad as some of the teething horror stories that I have heard.

We are now gearing up for Christmas and are ready to enjoy the holidays. On a sad note, we did get in a car accident today in our new car. We were sitting still and got rear ended so hard that we were pushed into the car in front of us that was a good two yards ahead. We are ok. Darrell and I are pretty sore. I was sitting in the back seat with Reagan, who was sleeping at the time we were hit. He was startled by the impact, but went right back to sleep. Darrell has already contacted the other driver's insurance company and the adjustor should be contacting us tomorrow. The car was drivable, but there is quite a bit of damage in the front. The back is a little bit messed up, but not nearly as bad as the front. I am very sad my new car got hit, but very thankful that we are not badly hurt.

Bath Time!

2009-11-24T19:30:00.000-08:00

Since we brought him home, we have always bathed Reagan in the kitchen sink. We had gotten a really cute little baby bathtub before we had him and we never even used it. As he got a little bigger, we would stand him up in the kitchen sink and give him "showers" with the sprayer. He has always enjoyed bath time. When we were on vacation and stayed out at Lost Pines at the end of October, we put him in the bathtub in the hotel. He just sat there and hung out with no real reaction. The other day, I had picked up a few bath toys and decided that we would put him in the tub this week. Tonight was the big night. We could not have imagined the reaction that we got tonight. He was SO excited and crawled back and forth from one end of the tub to the other and splashed and laughed. We let him play for a good 15 minutes of so in the tub. I think Reagan's bathtimes are about to get much more fun!

10 Months Old!

2009-11-16T18:51:00.000-08:00