Cycling to smaller thighs

Okay, so my problem area = my thighs.  Pretty much always has been since I started putting on weight after we got married.  While I think I'm thankful that my thighs are my problem area versus the tummy area that most women struggle with (only because it's easy to camouflage thighs), they're still my nemeses.

Enter a cycle class at the gym.  I've done it three times now, and mercy is it hard!  One full hour... no breaks... approximately 700-800 calories burned... sweat pouring off every inch of me... and mental fortitude the likes of which I haven't had to summon since each of my three births.  And I'm not even kidding.

Last week's class was called ATI.  As in "anaerobic threshold intervals."  I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but I have a clear understanding now.  There's probably a lot more technical and scientific way to say it, but basically the instructor took us to our near-passing-out-can't-believe-my-thighs-are-still-attached-to-my-body-HOLYCOW-I-think-they-are-literally-on-fire point over and over with just a little bit of recovery in between.

So the hope is this:

1) That my inner butt cheeks will cease being sore at some point.
2) That doing this class two times a week won't cause me to hate the mere thought of it.
3) That no one I know well will ever come to the class and witness my labor-like facial expressions.
4) That my thighs will start to slim down quickly and I won't feel like such a hoss in a pair of shorts.

On a side note, the husband and I switched things up on our date night on Friday.  In lieu of our normal quiet, intimate dinner at a nice restaurant, we went to a pub-type restaurant and then to the Boat & RV Show!  The small-town girl in me really likes these types of shows, and we had a lot of fun!  We joke all the time that one of these days we are going to buy a tricked-out RV when all three of our kids are in college and just drive it around to see them.  Don't you know they would be quasi-mortified?!  Hahaha.

Matchy-Matchies

I'm sure there will come a day when they don't want to dress alike, but Emerson thinks it's the coolest thing ever!  So I'm gonna run with it as often as possible until I get push-back.  Which may be tomorrow, given the current attitude of my 4 1/2-yr-old.  

Heard around here lately

Jax calls his pointer finger his 'poinky' finger.

He was using the tape measure to try and see how tall I was.  He said, "Mommy, you're like 60 and a half!" Who gave my 3-yr-old permission to use 'like' in a sentence?

Emerson is quite the encourager and often says, "Way to go, Mommy!  That's the spirit!"  I KNOW she didn't hear this from me.

This week we were driving one of our babysitters home when Jax saw a U.S. flag in front of a house.  He yelled, "Look over there!  It's the flag of LOTS OF STAIRS OF COMERICA!

When Emerson gets out of the bath, she likes to jump in our bed and grab a book from my bedside table.  One night she asked Daddy to read it to her.  It just happened to be Babywise.  That was quite a few months ago.  Well last week she jumps in bed alone, grabs Babywise, and proceeds to say: "The parents decide when the baby naps, NOT the BABY." Hahaha!  Way to go, my little scheduled baby!

This week at lunchtime, Emerson included this in her prayer: "And God, thank you for the people of the North.  Thank you for the Vikings."

Cousin Pics

Pictures of the kids playing with their new cousins on Father's Day and at a play date a few weeks prior!

Pics from Nashville

I'm realizing I didn't get to get any full-family shots with daddies included... I think I was planning on doing that but the whole ER situation messed with my camera mojo.

So here is the car ride to Nashville.  Nine hours in the car.  We divided it up and drove to Memphis the first night.  

Hot Sauce drinking and talking on the phone.  

Jax and Emerson enjoying some movie time.  Thank you, Cristin, for loaning your DVD player!

Hot Sauce realizing she does NOT like being in the car that long.

Momma giving up and trying to think of ANYTHING to get her to stop screaming.  She didn't want to watch a movie with J or E, books/toys weren't doing it, so I did what any self-respecting mother would do.  I gave her a marker.  Washable dry erase marker, mind you.  All of her limbs were green by the time we got to Memphis, but SHE WAS QUIET.  

Here are the cousins having a blast together!  My favorite match-up was Addie and Hayden.  Hayden thought she was it, and Addie was quite willing to lead her around.  Such a sweetie.  

Weekend in the ER

Whew.  What a crazy past 5 days it has been.  The five of us left Tuesday night to drive to Mt. Juliet, TN, to see my siblings and families.  We got there Wednesday mid-day, and on Thursday, Hayden woke up from her nap with a 102-degree fever and a yucky cough.  My sister-in-law Liz made an appointment for us at a walk-in clinic in town, and by the time we got there, she had spiked to 104.  The nurse practitioners there diagnosed her with a virus, and I treated her fever for the rest of the day.

The next morning, she woke up sounding like a seal and was wheezing.  I took her back to urgent care, and the NP did a breathing treatment on her.  Rather than respond to it, she actually became lethargic and looked like she felt worse.  The NP suggested I take her straight to an ER, and she recommended Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in downtown Nashville, about 25 minutes away.

I didn't stop back by my brother's house to get my things... I just put her in the car and drove.  I called Jason and told him to stay with Jax and Emerson and I would let him know if I needed him.  When I exited to downtown Nashville, the directions the walk-in clinic gave me weren't matching up with where I was.  I knew I was close, but I was having a hard time finding it.  Suddenly in the backseat, Hayden started wheezing more quickly, and she was starting to panic.  I was driving half-watching the road, half-watching her.  Her little arms and legs began to flail, and I knew it wasn't good.

I've always wondered how I would react if I were faced with a crisis situation with one of my kids, and I'm frustrated to say I kind of melted for a moment.  I think I verbally cried out for God to help me, and my mind was racing with possible scenarios... What if she quit breathing?  Would an ambulance get to me quickly enough?  Would I slam on the brakes and get her out of the car, hoping someone would stop and help me?  All of these thoughts were going through my mind at lightning speed as I pulled up to a stop light and started to press 9-1-1 on my phone. 

I looked to my left and saw a woman in scrubs with her car window halfway down.  I frantically called out to her and told her I was looking for the children's ER and that my baby was having trouble breathing.  And let me tell you right now that the Good Lord takes care of his children.  The words from her mouth were almost unbelievable:  "I'm a pediatric nurse at Vanderbilt... follow me and I'll get you there."  

She and I sped through what seemed like 8-10 blocks of downtown.  As soon as we were close, she motioned for me to pull alongside her, and she pointed to the building.  I quickly thanked her and ran every single stop sign until we pulled up to the ER entry.  I don't really remember who I left my car with (obviously it was valet), and I rushed into the entrance.  The security lady was as slow as molasses while searching through my diaper bag, and when we finally got to the triage station, two nurses saw Hayden's labored breathing and got her back right away.

For the next 5 hours, we sat in a room in the ER where she got a few more treatments and started responding well.  Here's what she looked like after we came in, after her initial breathing treatment:

Within a couple of hours, she was back to her normal energy level, but she still sounded like a seal and was wheezing quite a bit.  The ER physicians diagnosed her with croup.  

Holding still like a big girl.  

Mustering a little smile while checking out the interesting machines, cords, and wires in the room.

This next picture was the beginning of her reaction to the steroids.  The doctors warned me of the possibility of moodiness, and boy HOWDY were they right.  Here she is during one of her 'highs,' doing circles around the room, holding a straw in one hand and a tortilla in the other.

They decided they wanted to go ahead and admit her, but the 300-bed children's hospital was at capacity that day, so we sat and sat and sat in this room.  Finally after 5 hours, we were transferred to a room in the children's hospital.  

The sweet nurses brought that balloon in for her.  Someone had left in in their room when they were released, and they knew Hayden would like it.  Like it she did!  "Buh-ooh" she would say as she pointed repeatedly to it.

Jason came to the hospital that night to drop off clothes for me and say goodnight to his girl.  The rest of the night was pretty horrible.  The steroids were making her crazy, and she would flail and flop herself around in the bed, finally wearing herself out only to wake up again after 10 minutes or so.  Added to that were the nurse visits every two hours and the RT's breathing treatments, and neither she nor I got much sleep that night.  One minute she wanted to be held and rocked, the next minuted she hated my guts and would push me away and slap at me.  God gave ma an extra dose of patience that night.. and I think the fact that she is my third made me a little less freaked out.  I knew she wouldn't remember any of it in the morning.  :)    

The next day (Saturday) was more of a waiting game as the resident and attending physician just wanted to watch her to see how she improved.  They knew we were going to be making the 9-hour drive back home just as soon as she was released, so they were very cautious.  I took her on rides around the floor in a little red wagon, we found a couple of empty family rooms with rocking chairs to play on, and she found a few minutes of enjoyment out of Bubble Guppies on YouTube.  

They released us at 1 p.m. (Praise GOD!), and after quickly packing up and saying good-bye to our family, we headed home.  We got as far as Forrest City, AR, last night.  Hayden screamed and/or fussed for that entire leg of the trip minus a 25-minute nap.  Yea for us!!!  

Today we got up and finished the drive home, and she was a much happier camper.  We are all glad to be home safe and sound, but I'm really bummed that I had to spend so much time away from my family while on vacation.  I'll post pictures of all of the cousins in a future post.