Today's adventure

Yesterday morning I had some chest pains and a rapid pulse. It was coming and going, so I called my doctor. They've done an EKG on me in the doctor's office before, so I was hoping they could do that for me again. Well, when I called, they said I needed to go straight to the ER. I didn't want to do that, mostly because of the expense. By the time I got off the phone with the doctor, the pains had stopped. I still felt like my heart was pounding in my chest, even when I was relaxing. I've had this happen before. The most recent time I can remember was probably about 2002, so it's been a while.

This morning it was still going on, so Dan took me to MedExpress in Cranberry. I have to say that they got us in and out in under an hour - and there were a lot of people in the waiting room. But after an exam and an EKG, they sent me to the ER for more testing anyway. So really it ended up costing us more. Oh well.

The doctor at MedExpress thought it might be a malfunctioning thyroid. So while we were driving to the hospital I was thinking all about what it would be like if I had a bad thyroid.

The ER did another EKG on me and some "chest pain" lab tests. My thyroid is normal. The chest x-ray and blood test showed no blood clots.

The best the doctor could tell me was that it may have been anxiety related. I don't feel like I'm having anxiety even though I do have a lot going on right now.

So they sent me home with a Holter Monitor that I have to wear for 24 hours. Tomorrow I have to drop the monitor off at the hospital and they'll analyze the data.

I'm glad this happened on the weekend when Dan's around. I'm hoping to get a good night of sleep, get through church, and come home and relax.

Bounce fun

This morning I took the boys to Bounce U in Warrendale. They have a bunch of inflatables to jump around in and big blow up slides to go down. It seemed like a great place to let the boys burn off some energy. Isaiah was very hesitant at first but gradually got into it. Sam dove right in and had a blast falling down and bouncing all around.

Later, while we were eating lunch, I asked Isaiah what was his favorite part about Bounce U. He said, "The popcicle part." I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. He said, "You know, where you went up the ladder, through the tunnel..." Then I realized he was talking about the obstacle course. He must have thought I called it the popcicle course.

Another funny thing - the owner commented on Sam's hair. He said, "He has the best hair for these things. When he's in there bouncing, his hair is sticking straight up!" Yes, yes. We all know the poor kid's hair sticks up in the winter. =)

Panera morning

I had a little extra time this morning because of two cancelled piano lessons. I needed to send some emails to my band kids' parents about our upcoming band festival. So I decided to take advantage of the wifi at Panera while Isaiah is at preschool and my mom is watching Sam.

As I munched on my cream cheese pastry and sipped my hazlenut coffee, I was able to put coherent thoughts together into several emails- something that is pretty difficult to do at home! Did you ever get a take-home letter or email from a teacher that was filled with typos or grammatical errors and wonder who is this do-do teaching my kid? Well, I don't want to be that teacher!

I also enjoyed the conversations I overheard from two tables over. Apparently a pastor or mentor is meeting with some people this morning. He's on his second person now, just since I've gotten here. Panera seems like a pretty fun place to use as an office - good food, comfy seats, internet - what else do you need? Maybe a little privacy from nosy people like me... =)

Well anyway, I was able to have a productive, relaxing time this morning.

I'm not a fun person...

and I'm ok with that. At 30 years old, I've accepted who I am.

Today I was teaching yet another two-hour Seussical rehearsal. It wasn't a particularly fun rehearsal. My goal is not to run fun rehearsals. My goal is to kick their butts and run a singing boot camp in order to produce the best musical ever at Eden.

Maybe I'll be able to teach the kids that anything worth doing is worth doing well. Also, I know they'll have fun when they perform the musical because they'll be proud that they worked so hard.

Seussical will be great because we are all going to work hard. I am giving 100%, and I expect the kids to do the same.

Think bikinis!!!

Today at the gym I had two interesting and memorable experiences.

First, as I walked from the cardio room to the weight room, I passed a bunch of women in the aerobics class who were running up and down the stairs. I'm assuming they had been at it for a while because they all looked exhausted. The instructor yelled out in her best drill sargeant voice, "Come on ladies! Think BIKINIS!!!" I just laughed to myself, partly because this actually seemed to motivate them, and partly because I am SO not that hard-core! My time at the gym is more of a mental break from the boys with some physical benefits on the side. And I don't have to worry about fitting into a bikini... because I don't (usually) wear one. =)

Second, as I worked out, my nose kept running and I kept coughing up all this phlegm. I know that sounds gross, but I literally worked out the cold that had been bugging me for a couple of days. It was a really weird but good feeling.

Getting kids (toddler and older) to sleep

Depending on the night, Isaiah can find a million reasons to get up out of bed after we've done our bedtime routine. Some nights when we're feeling nice, we give in and get him what he wants (a drink, a different stuffed animal, whatever...). As soon as he realizes he can get away with staying up, he will find even more reasons not to sleep. This method frustrates everyone.

I am a big fan of the show Supernanny. I don't know if you've ever seen it, but this British woman named Jojo comes into disfunctional, undisciplined families and gives them concrete ways to bring order to the family. Apparently one major issue with many families is getting kids to bed. Jojo's method works like magic, and the nights we are firm and use it, Isaiah never gets out of bed more than once.

Here's what you do. The first time the kid gets out of bed say only, "Time to sleep, honey," take him by the hand and lead him back to bed. The second time he gets up, say very firmly, "It's time to sleep," and lead him back to bed. The most important thing is not to engage in conversation. Every time after that that the child gets out of bed, say nothing, and lead him back to bed.

We skip the first two steps and just put Isaiah back in bed without saying anything. He quickly gets the picture that the day is over, and we're serious about his going to bed. He has never gotten up out of bed after we take him to bed with no conversation.

Raised by wolves... apparently

I took this picture a few weeks ago when I put Sam down on the couch to change his diaper. His hair stuck straight up! Guess we need some humidification in our house... =)

Yesterday morning before church Sam and Isaiah were both riding on this little kiddie quad (really just a glorified scooter). Very cute right?

Well, just over twenty-four hours later, at Samuel's 15 month check-up, they were behaving like they had been raised by wolves. During the appointment Isaiah was jumping up and down, blowing raspberries, squealing and running around like a wild child. Apparently he wanted the doctor's attention. I kept telling him to sit down and look at a book and that this was Sam's appointment. And he completely ignored me. Argh.

Then Samuel was squirming, kicking, and screeching while the doctor tried to check his ears, heart, teeth, etc. I kept asking her to repeat her questions because I couldn't hear her. And she was only two feet away from me.

Another day in the life...

Update

Where has this week gone?!

I spent most of Monday working out the schedule for Seussical. Eden's musical will be at the end of April, and I've agreed to help teach the chorus music for it. Starting next week, I'll have three two-hours rehearsals after school each week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays). So it will be pretty time-consuming.

Tuesday I had the normal craziness of preschool, band, and piano lessons.

Wednesday we test drove a used minivan that we're probably going to buy. It's a 1999 Dodge Caravan - almost in this century! It has a brand new transmission and sliding doors on both sides (this is a big plus for me). It was about 58 degrees, so the boys and I went to Richland Park for a little while before nap time. They were running around in their t-shirts, and Isaiah kept saying he was too hot! It was great.

Wednesday night into Thursday we didn't have any electricity because of a wind storm. So we spent most of the day Thursday at my mom's house. The power came back on, and the house was warm enough for us to go home by Thursday night. Yea!

Today we went to the gym in the morning, and then I taught band in the afternoon. Now we're gearing down for a relaxing night at home.

Crab walk

On the way home from school on Thursday, Isaiah was telling me that they learned how to crab walk in gym class. Then he said that he wasn't that good at it and that the other kids were all crab walking faster than he was. Poor kid.

So later that day we practiced crab walking at home. He can go backward pretty quickly, but he has trouble going forward. I told him how the big kids at camp play crab soccer. He thought that sounded fun.

So these are the important things you do when you have a preschooler. =)

Where does Daddy live?

Isaiah: Mommy, where do we live?
Me: Where do you think we live?
Isaiah: In Pennsylvania, in the United States of the American flag. And where does Daddy live?
Me: In the same place we do.
Isaiah: No. This is just where he coopelates.
Me: You mean cooperates?
Isaiah: Yeah. His real house is in Butler.

Dan does spend a lot of time in Butler. Now I just have to convince my kid that he still lives here!

Confidence booster

Tonight Dan was busy buying and hooking up our new dryer (we vacuumed, checked, replaced, etc everything we could think of on the old one, and finally gave up). So I decided to take the boys to Pittsburgh Mills Mall.

I looked at Steelers superbowl gear and didn't find any good deals yet. I noticed when they won three years ago that the prices went down about 50% within two weeks following the big game. And is it just me or is the logo on the new shirts kind of lame? Maybe I just have to get used to it.

Then I browsed through H&M (my favorite clothing store!). We squeezed into the handicapped fitting room, double stroller and all. Isaiah kept saying, "Aw! You look cute in that!" I think I'll take him with me every time I go clothes shopping. He was also very interested to know if the articles of clothing had pockets. Apparently this is a very important feature to him.

Because the boys were so well-behaved, they got to play at the kiddie play area and go to the hobby store where they get to play with the Thomas train table.

It was a nice, refreshing night and a pleasant end to a crazy week.

P.S. Sam (who turned 15 months yesterday!) seems to be doing better already. Thanks for the prayers!

P.P.S. Check out my 300th post below.

This is my 300th post

Blogging does me good. It's like therapy to me some days (and cheaper than real therapy!!). It's an open forum type of genre so I know I can't always say everything on my mind, but I can usually say enough so you all get the gist of what's going on in my innermost, private thoughts. =) Thanks for reading.

Is this week over yet?

I'd be lying if I said this week was going well. It all started to go downhill on Sunday night when I got the minivan seriously stuck in the snow as I pulled into the driveway after our trip to Kentucky.

On Tuesday our dryer broke. It tumbles just fine, but there's no heat. This majorly freaks my groove because I have a steady stream of laundry moving through the washer and dryer on a daily basis. When the laundry gets backed up and people start running out of essentials I start to get all twitchy. This is not good.

The second thing that happened on Tuesday was that Sam was acting really clingy and coughing to the point he was choking. We gave him an albuterol treatment three times that day to try to clear him up. It really wasn't helping.

The third thing that happened on Tuesday was that Dan got the Prizm stuck in the snow. He and Vern tried to get it out. Then we called AAA, and they wouldn't come back here because our road is too icy. Argh. Eventually Dave from the Lighthouse came and pulled it out.

Since Tuesday we've done some dryer research (gotta love google/youtube!) and we realized that we had a bad heating element. Today Dan was able to buy a new one and replace it in under a half hour. We were both really impressed with how easy it was. So we started the dryer and it worked for about two minutes. Then the new heating element stopped working. Vern looked at it tonight and everything seems fine. The thermostat is working and one other thing that commonly malfunctions is fine. So now we have to make a choice. Do we get the dryer repair guy in here to try to fix it, or do we buy a new dryer. Which one is more cost effective?

Sam had a very rough night last night. He kept waking up coughing and crying. I ended up sleeping on the recliner in his room so I would be able to hear him breathing. We had a few scares where it sounded like he was trying to catch his breath.

So I ended up taking Sam to the doctor this morning, and he has bronchiolitis, which is caused by the common virus RSV. The younger a child is, the more dangerous this virus is. This virus is one of the main reasons preemies need to stay home for a few weeks when they go home from the hospital. The doctor checked Sam's oxygenation levels and they are at 100%, which is great. We are supposed to watch him for signs of fatigue or total loss of appetite, because then he may not be oxygenating fully. Then we would have to take him to the doctor and then possibly the hospital to get oxygen. He also has a double ear infection. Add to all that the fact that he's been cutting his two-year-old molars for several weeks now, and you have a pretty miserable child who is barely eating anything. If you know Sam, this is very unusual.

As if all that wasn't enough, Isaiah has been having some potty problems. Apparently he has what may be an anal tear/fissure. This is snowballing into a major issue. It hurts when he goes potty, so he doesn't want to go. When he finally goes, it hurts more, and etc etc. I already had him at the doctor for this a week or two ago, and they said basically to alter his diet, which I've been doing. But the poor guy is just miserable.

The good news is that this weekend's weather forecast has improved. Originally they were predicting rain. Rain over ice makes our road literally impassable even for the bravest of winter drivers. So I was wondering if we'd have to stay with my mom or in-laws this weekend so we could get to church. But now it's just supposed to warm up and not rain!

This has gotten exceedingly long, but at least I feel better having gotten it all out. =)

Our weekend

Dan and I had a really great trip down to Kentucky to meet my new neice Karis and visit Abbie, Katherine and Matt. They invited us to stay with them, but we pampered ourselves and stayed in a bed and breakfast near the seminary.

The drive down started out a little dicey. The roads on Friday morning were pretty snow covered, even the highways. Once we got to West Virginia, things mostly cleared up. We ate a leisurely lunch at Cracker Barrel, and after getting stuck in some Cincinnati and Lexington traffic, finally arrived around 6:00. We ate dinner and went to a game night with some of Matt and Katherine's friends. Our table was playing a game called "Loaded Questions" which I would highly recommend for a group of people regardless of how well they know each other. We heard some really interesting stories from people including most embarassing moments, hopes and dreams, things they're most proud of, etc.

In the morning we ate a wonderful, big breakfast and hung around for the rest of the day. The last time we were all together was in July 2008, so we got to see Abbie talking and walking for the first time! She's getting so big. And Karis is a little sleeping, eating bundle.

On Sunday morning we headed home in much more favorable weather. Dan and I were wearing our jerseys, and the closer we got to Pittsburgh, the harder I waved my towel. Well, it's hard to wave a towel in the car. There just isn't enough room. I sort of wagged and flapped it.

We had to pick Sam up from Vern and Lorrie's house, and when I pulled in our driveway, I got the minivan stuck in the snow!!! Ugh. So Vern and Dan tried to push it out. We called Rick from church, and he and Bethany came over (my heros!!!). Between the four of them pushing, we got it out. Phew! So that was an interesting end to our nice, relaxing, kid-free weekend.

Oh goodness... That just about killed me

My head is throbbing. My heart is still racing. I'm not sure how long it will take for me to recover from that game. I know tomorrow everyone will be sporting the Steeler superbowl shirts. I need one that says "I survived Superbowl XLIII." Go Ben. Go Santonio. GO STEELERS.