New bike!

Finally got to take my new bike out for a ride!! Keith had the day off and the boys had school (well, half a day of school). He said he was going to take it easy on me and I said I was going to be super slow and pathetic, but he didn't care. It has been over a year since I've been on the bike and never on a road bike. The other times have been on the local trails with the kids and the mountain bike. Since all of my bike clothes fit "the smaller me" he gave me his new team kit to wear. See how nicely it matched my bike!!! The weather was kind of chilly requiring us to wear leg warmers and long sleeves, but not too cold. I also found out I dislike Iowa winds even more after having to ride into a headwind towards the end of our ride...not cool!!

We ended up going for a 14.8 ride and took us 1 hour and 18 minutes (or something like that). I averaged 11.4 miles. He took me on the local roads to get a feel for the bike and riding again. Poor Keith didn't drop me on any of the hills either. He did push me (yes physically pushed me) along one section, but that was part of a flat trail and he just wanted more of a workout and I enjoyed the sitting in part.

I was concerned about crashing and the cars on the road aspect and being super slow, but really they all were just fine. I didn't crash, all the cars passed up with room (for the most part) and I was only really slow on a couple hills.

There was one hill about a mile from home that I just sucked on. I ended up slowing down to 5mph while climbing it and had to go into my tiny ring (not granny gear though). When I hit the top I started laughing at myself at how pathetic that was. It wasn't a big hill by any means, a bit steeper than the others, but I just didn't have the mindset when I hit it and fell apart.

But we made it home all in one piece. I'm not feeling too shabby either. Legs feel fine, back and arms are good to go. Did need a nice back cracking, but a nice back cracking always feels good no matter what! Keith is going riding tomorrow and I have to work part of the day. Friday we should be going back out! Saturday Kaden has his cub scout thing, so Salem, Keith and I will be going out on the road. I know Salem is going to suggest the Rosedale route just because I am going, but I think we'll pass on that hill for a while! Even my granny gear won't help me up that one yet!

Overall I think I did pretty good!

Trampoline time is back again!

Keith decided it was time to get the trampoline out from storage and set it up much to Kaden's happiness!! It didn't take too long to get set up and the boys were jumping on it and doing tricks! They had a blast and played until dark. We still roll it to the back of our garage and lock it up every night. That does make it a big hassle, but less of a liability and less of a wind issue. Here are a couple pics of the boys doing their tricks.

La la la, I'm not listening!

Why do I have a headache and less hair?? Oh yeah it was Cub Scout night! And a pack night to be more specific! Pack nights I still have lots to do and lots to deal with. Tonight I had to deal with a certain den leader multiple times asking pointless questions (I've answered them many times in person, email and newsletters) and telling me stupid crap that doesn't pertain to me. We've nicknamed her Voldemort, not sure why, the Cubmaster came up with that. She's not really all that evil in evil sense as in mean and nasty. But she is annoying as heck and drives everyone to drink, or atleast go insane! I won't bore you with her stories, but oh my I could go on and on!!! The best part is last week at the PTO meeting at Salem's school, we invited the 3rd grade parents (that includes her). She told me she was going to attend so I was telling the PTO president to warn her and it was overheard by a couple other parents who immediately groaned and wanted to know if we could change the meeting, turn the lights off or something to avoid her! No kidding!! Thankfully she didn't show up...that time. She really is the person you want to avoid at all costs! Phone calls last 10 minutes with her when really they could be over in 30 second with any other person. It's like she has to think of other things to talk about just to keep tourturing you. Oh it's horrible!!!! At first when I felt so negative about her I thought I was being mean, but I'm quite certain I'm not anymore. Not when EVERYONE (yes everyone) I talk to feels the same way about her!

Hum...now to think about happy thought, like the momma squirrel who was stopping traffic so her baby squirrel could cross the road. So cute!!

Weekend recap

Had a pretty fun weekend! Saturday brought us um doing what...oh yeah Pinewood Derby!!! Kaden made it to districts this year and it would be a good time! Got there early (held at local mall) and snagged a bench to sit on, which turned to be a good move as we were there for almost 3 hours! Kaden's car didn't do too shabby. They raced 4 times each in different lanes, I don't think he came in 1st any of the races, but close! The way we thought the computer was running the cars it puts Kaden in the top half out of 61 racers. We'll have to wait to get the results when they put them online in a few days.

After the race Keith and I went to the local bike store to check out bikes for me. Had a fun time trying out bikes and deciding which one was best for me. It was either a cross bike or a road and mountain bike. I ended up with a pretty awesome road bike! I'll keep checking out mtb bikes to get one. My new bike is a Giant Avail 3 in white/gold/silver. No pink available, which would have been nice. The other bike I was considering was a Felt something in purple. I did get a helmet with pink. Can't wait to get out and ride it!!! Keith has Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off so he's going to take me out for some easy riding. We do have to take it back to the bike store as the shifting is not quite right.

Sunday was possible bike race day. It looked like rain, so Keith was holding off deciding until getting up this morning. I got a wake up call at 8am for a bike race departure at 8:45am. I remembered to grab the rain coats and umbrellas this time...even though the chance of rain was slight and set for this afternoon. We arrive in Iowa City for the race and it starts to pour...insert my frowny face...but it stopped shortly after and the sun stayed out till we left at 5pm. You can read all about Keith's race on his blog. Not a great race for him though (insert his frowny face). After his race we left to go to the mall to get some lunch then came back to watch the other HBA riders in their races. Ran into some teammates after their races and we gathered at a local pub to sit outside have a drink and watch the Pro's race. Great racing! Good times sitting with the other bike guys and chatting. Bonus Karl bought us all drinks and Vern bought us some grub. I'll have to make some goodies for them!

Back home we unpacked and was going to play outside for a bit, but realized we had storms coming. Keith has promised the kids a trip to The Freeze (ice cream shop) so we headed there first for some yummy ice cream!! Sat outside and ate them for a few until Kaden got cold so we got in the car and low and behold it started to pour then! It stopped raining long enough Keith could wash his bike and the boys play outside. Then the big storms came rolling in! So far they are not too bad, thought they'd be much worse. A tornado was on the ground north of us, but we just got strong winds, rain and some thunder. Not sure what else we'll get tonight, wait and see.

So yeah, a fun weekend for all!! Salem seems to be over his sickness, enough to go back to school atleast. Let's hope he stays that way!!!

Weird weather!

I'm glad we don't live more north of here, the weather is nasty!! I'm laying on the couch looking out the front window watching the DARK clouds roll by. The sky looks like an ice cream sandwich. The lower part is dark dark dark, then a strip of sun kissed clouds then the top layer is dark again. A really weird looking sky. If there is one thing about Iowa, the weather is always interesting! We get some really cool cloud formations, the light makes everything look neon ish. It's kind of hard to understand the neon lights until you actually see it and it's a vision I have not been able to capture correctly on camera. The green grass looks neon green, the white headlights and signs look like LED lights. Really cool looking, although kind of scary the first few time we saw it. We can do without the high winds all the time though! I don't mind the storms now and then, but knowing we're coming into tornado season does make me a little uneasy...you think we'd be used to it by now. The watching the weather when it starts looking bad...or when we get "that feeling"...or falling asleep only to wake up to the tornado sirens. We've been very lucky and missed all the bad stuff...hope this year stays that way too!

Doing better!

Salem hasn't ran a fever all day!!! He still looks quite run down though, but what do you expect when he hasn't done much all week. We got him out yesterday for a few before he was tired and called it quits. Today he was out riding his bike, washing it and playing football. Got a couple hours in throughout the evening! I think he might be on the road to recovery...knock on wood!!! We'll keep you posted!

Tomorrow is Kaden's Pinewood Derby District races! He is SO excited! Hope he does well, although we won't find out what place he gets for a few days when they post it on the website. They only announce 1st-3rd and we know he won't get that. But it's a fun time and so glad both our boys get to experience it, pretty cool deal!

Sick kid :(

So Salem is sick :( He started running a high fever early Monday morning. It has gone up and down since then. We took him in to the doc yesterday because he was complaining of an earache and I didn't want to mess with a possible one of those. His ears are perfectly clear! Thought maybe sinus since he was complaining of a headache and the bridge of his nose hurt (although fever not normal with that) but it seems his sinus's are clear as well. No sore throat, no this no that...just an ongoing fever. So the results are a viral infection which must just run it course of 10-14 days! UGH!! He's been out of school since Monday and most likely wont go back at all this week. I'm picking up school work for him today...which he is thrilled about...NOT! With how his temp goes up and down there is no reason for him to sit around and play video games and watch tv all day, he can do schoolwork.

A friend of ours had the same thing and she said it went on and off for 4 weeks for her kid! Ugh, I can't imagine and I sure hope it doesn't last that long here! At our school (and most I'm sure) you have to be fever free for 24 hours, so since he's running a temp now, he can't go back tomorrow. I can be pretty lenient, but when he's got a 103 now, he ain't making it tomorrow. Although I can go check him in a couple hours and he'll be down to 99. And Tylenol will help, but not always.

The doc did give him some tylenol with codeine to help him sleep better, but he woke up at 2am screaming his stomachache hurt. Calmed him down, gave him some crackers and he fell back asleep shortly afterwards. Wish mom and dad would have fallen back asleep so quickly. Salem has woken up the past 3 nights at 2 or 3 am and it's killing our sleep! Was hoping he'd make it thought one night...we can wish! We'll see what tonight brings!

Wow, what a past few days! (delivery details)

So the big news is I have delivered the twins!! Not saying that's good or bad news, I'm still up in arms about how to classify that one. Lots of good and bad things have happened since Tuesday morning when my water broke. Good news is I am home, was released Thursday afternoon. Bad news is Baby B is not, he's in the hospital still due to not eating and has a feeding tube now to help him gain strength so he can take a bottle. Good news is Baby A is doing great, she was released from the hospital on Thursday as well. But she is still there with her brother and parents, obviously. Bad news is I had to have a couple surgeries because I bled so much after delivery. Good news is delivery went so smooth, quick and easy! Bad news is..ah forget the good vs bad. Good news is I'm home and recovering with my family :)

Baby A is Ariela and weighed 6lbs .4oz She is 19 1/4 inches long.
Baby B is Marcus and weighed 5lbs 4oz and is 18 1/4 inches long.

They both received 8 & 9's on their apgar scores right after birth. Ariela came out screaming...and screaming...and screaming, lol. Marcus worked his lungs, but then went back to sleep and was chilling, lol. I don't think he was ready to enter the world yet, but she sure was. She's been the inpatient one for quiet a while now, so it doesn't surprise me she escaped early. Poor Marcus got the rough deal as I'm sure if they both lasted until the 30th, he'd be doing much much better.

Little on delivery day...Woke up at 5:30 to some water leaking, but fell back sleep, lol. Woke up at 6:30 to a big gush! Didn't fall back asleep this time! Called Keith who was downstairs to come up. Called the parents and my mom. It took us a while to get going as I didn't have a bag packed, plus had to get the boys up and decided what to do with them. Kaden still had a tiny fever so he couldn't go to school, no other choice but to bring him with us. Salem was able to get ready for school and he would end up leaving only about 10 minutes after us. So we got all ready and out we go. Keith is freaking a bit and I start to do the same as contractions were coming closer and she had definitely dropped so I knew I was getting pretty close!

Get to the hospital around 8:30, little sooner and I'm checked in to a room and do all that stuff. I'm 5cm already! They order the epidural and doc comes to see me. My regular doc is not on call, but the one that is is really awesome. He's very caring and concerning, which was very helpful in my case that day!

I end up getting some pitocin but that kicked in quick and I was ready to deliver at 11:30! Couple contractions and Ariels was born at 11:52am! Marcus was born at 12:01pm! That was nice and easy, no probs. Probs came when I didn't stop bleeding and I ended up in the recovery room until 2:30pm. They gave me a few shots of stuff to try and stop it, plus some pills and who knows what else. They finally decided I was okay to go back to my room. Keith and Kaden figured I was okay, so they left to go home to be with Salem and they'd come back up around 6pm to see me.

That's when all hell broke loose! I started bleeding a bunch again so off to the OR I went! I got a chance to call Keith and tell him kind of what was going on. No one was home to watch the kids, so he was stuck at home. Not like he would have been able to be in the OR with me, but atleast he would have been closer.

They had taken my epidural out back in the room, so now I was all unnumbed so they had to put me under for this first surgery. I had a C of a D&C to clean me all out, so to speak. They then packed me full of gauze. I remember waking up and asking if I was supposed to fall asleep, lol. I guess that didn't help at all as I bled right through that and so they rushed me off to interventional radiology to have a uterine artery embolazition. It's where they go through your femoral artery in your groin then into your uterine artery and stuff your tubes full of gel packs to slow the bleeding. They will disappear in 2-3 weeks. My nurses that had been with me since I was first admitted came with me for it, which was really nice! Except noone knew where this room was so we got lost on the way over, lol. We were flying through the basement tunnels to the hospital and couldn't find the room. Finally found it, which made us all chuckle. I was awake for this procedure, but don't remember much pain, guess they kept giving me stuff in my iv. I just remember how dry my mouth was! The one radiology nurse was nice and gave me some water every so often even though I wasn't supposed to have any. My OB was there and he kept telling the radiology doc to put more gel packs in me! Took 2 hours! But that procedure did the trick!!! I got done with everything and finally got back to my room at 8pm when the nurses finally called Keith to have him come up.

Our friend Jenni from Marshalltown (2 hours away) had talked to Keith and found out what was going on and she drove over to stay with the boys so he could come visit me! So Keith came up :) We were both very happy to see each other again! He was just as scared I was...and I know we had lots of others scared and concerned as well! My mom called the pastor at our new church and he came up to visit us. It was very touching that we had so many people praying and thinking of us and offering their support all over the states!!

So anyway...Tuesday night I did not get much sleep. I was on drugs but none of it was helping with the pain! My poor nurse felt SO bad for me as she was doing all she could. Finally my OB allowed me to have a Morphine drip at 3am! Took an hour or so to kick in, but once it did I was loving it! Every 10 minutes I could give me a shot of that stuff, yummy!! I'd push the button, then fall asleep and wake up on my own in 10 and push it again. I was SO sad when in the morning she was told to take it away from me. I even told her it's not fair, lol. And she agreed since I was finally getting some rest! She left it in a little longer and when the new nurse came in she kept it in until the morphine ran out. So sweet of them!!

So that was the main stuff. Wednesday brought Keith up around 9am and he left just after noon because I was so tired to let me sleep. He came up later thay day with both boys. I don't remember much of the rest. I was on pain pills (nice ones) and sleeping alot.

I was finally released Thursday afternoon and home by 3pm! To which I have laid my butt on the couch or bed and done nothing! Keith has been a HUGE help in taking care of the house, dinner, shopping, the boys and of course not letting me move without him helping me. Pain killers are still my friend, more so from the 2nd surgery being painful.

So that's that. Sorry it ended up being so long...didn't realize then when I started writing.

Poor Kaden!

He was looking so good yesterday! When Kaden came home from school today he had some rosey looking cheeks. I figured it was due to walking home in the semi chilly weather. But as the evening progresses he starts looking a bit not right. Keith takes his temp when he gets home and finds it's just over 101. Uh oh, break out the tylenol! Took his temp again at 6pm and it's up to 103 and he's hot, then cold. Poor kid is sick :( So now he's missing cub scouts and laying on the couch with a washcloth on his head relaxing. Keith and Salem went to the grocery store to pick up a couple things and then dropped Salem off at his boy scout meeting. Then Keith had to head over to the bike store, which I warned him I had no problems calling them to tell them he had to behave. Naw, he's good. They would get a kick out of it though!

So we'll see what tonight brings for Kaden. He's fine otherwise and no sure where he picked the bug up from, but hope it goes away quickly without affecting the rest of us!

Happy Easter!!

What a glorious day! Okay so the whole family didn't think so at 5:45 when we woke up this morning. I have to agree, that's early. But we all got up and got ready for church. Keith didn't believe me when I said it would be packed! It was a very nice service, pastor even did the "Snoopy dance" during the sermon, lol. It was a long service for the kids, Ash Wednesday services were only 40 minutes long, today was 1.45 by the time we were dismissed. They were ready to get home and find their baskets! Kaden had found his in the morning and was insistent that we rehid it, so we did. Took him a while to find it. The bunny had originally placed it in one of the kitchen cupboards, but we hid it under the coats on the coat rack. Salem's was hidden in the bathroom closet behind Keith's clothes. Keith's was hung in the living room on the curtain rod behind the curtain...took him forever to find...even though there was big lump! Angela's was hidden behind Keith's bike and bike clothes.

The boys got some nice goodies in their baskets. Each got the Easter bunny webkinz, a kinz clip, some WK cards, chapstick, cheetoes, littlest pet shop figures, deodorant, first aid kit, bubbles, chocolate bunny and some other candy. Keith got candy, dunkin donut coffee, webkinz, kinz clip and WK cards. Angela got candy, webkinz bunny outfit, kinz clip and Wk cards. Good stashes for all!

We had an egg hunt in our yard too. Salem started off saying it was super easy to find the eggs, but then couldn't find the last few. Only so many spots to hid eggs in our open yard. I think they ended up with 30 eggs or so. Inside the eggs they had mini fruit rolls ups, sixlets, and each boy received a name necklace for all their webkinz. Kaden was disappointed there wasn't more candy, but he got a good stash in his basket!

Kids headed outside to play and I laid down and ended up falling asleep. Keith took the kids down to the local school to play and ride their bikes. Not sure how long they were gone, but I think I slept a couple hours. It was such a nice day out, almost 60, a little windy. Kids didn't mind though, they loved it!

Dinner was delicious! Keith got it ready. Yummy ham, potatoes and corn. We forgot to make some rolls, but they probably wouldn't have been eaten as we stuffed ourselves on the other stuff. After dinner we watched the bike race on tv and chilled for the rest of the evening. Early to bed tonight as we've got work and school and doctor appt.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!!!

Not much to report

Yup been kinda boring here...which is okay!

We did have a busy weekend, Salem had his Honor band concert on Saturday. He did a great job!! They chose 10 kids from his school to play at Coe College in this special event. It was an all day thing where the kids meet with a couple different directors and one was even a composer of a song they played at the concert that evening. They had been practcing at home for a few months and had after school rehersals too.

I took Kaden to an egg hunt in the morning while Salem was gone. It was nice, but chilly. Kaden got a bunch of eggs and a couple has money in them. He even got a gold dollar coin!

Keith went riding for 3 hours that day with some buddies. Nice to get out and enjoy the day!

Oh after the concert we went down to a bike park and took the boys mountain bike riding. The trails were finally dry enough to ride them. They all had a blast! Ended up getting in just over an hour of riding before it got too dark.

So far this week, like I said not much to report. Kaden had a dentist appt Tuesday morning. He had to get a cavity filled. He was not a happy camper! But they got it all done in one shot, so he doesnt have to go back until October so that is good! He was in pain for a while that day, we stopped home and I gave him some tylenol and chilled for about 20 minute before taking him to school. He seems to be doing just fine today!

Last night was the first Night at the Oval races here in town. Keith was a bit off all night, but oh well, it was fun to watch. It was quite chilly...down right bitter might be a better term for it. Good turn out though. Plus the new uniforms were in so Keith and Salem got to pick theirs up. Salem did not race last night as we figured they'd lump everyone together and he'd be off the back before the got to the first corner. He had fun playing with Kaden in the stands anyway. Next time Keith is on call and so we won't be going. It'll be May before we get to hit an Oval again. Heck by that time, I might have a bike and Salem and I can stick together on the track. Naw he'll be kicking my butt!

Tonight we're going to watch donkey basketball at the high school. Loved it last year, should be a blast again!!!

That's all for now...gotta go "yell" at the kids to stop playing and pick up their playroom!

My doc appt

Thursday is my normal NST at the hospital. I go in get hooked up to the monitors and I'm out in an hour. This time...not so much. Having been up all night being sick I called to see if they even wanted me to come in and they did, just switched my time to the afternoon so I could rest up some more and try to eat something. Okay that's fine. 1pm I head in. I leave Salem home as Keith was on his way home for lunch shortly anyway. And if I was kept longer for some reason, Salem could walk up to get Kaden from school. So they get me settled in and after a short time they notice Baby A isn't cooperating too much. Her heartbeat is kind of wacky and they want to watch it some more. Okay after a hour I'm still there they decide to do an ultrasound on her to check it out. Nothing too serious, but they didn't want me to leave wthout knowing everything was still looking good. Both babies passed the ultrasound with flying colors, nothing noted to make Baby A's heartbeats go crazy, besides her being a pain. So 3 hours later I'm free to go home!! I couldn't wait to stretch my legs! So sore from being in 1 spot the whole time. My next appt is Monday, we'll see how that goes.

April Fool's Day

Let's see, what do I need to update you all on??? I'm still on bedrest...kind of. I'm not allowed to do much, the more I'm laying down the better. So I spend my days laying on the couch (gonna need new cushions soon) and my evening here too. I really hate laying down so much and being lazy, but if we want to hold off delivery until April 30th it's the best place to be. It's tough when I see the house needing so much help and knowing Keith is getting worn out from having to do so much extra. He tells me it's not prob and it's for a good cause, but I know it's hard on him.

Salem and Kaden didn't have a very good April Fool's day. We had doctor AND dentist appointments! Doctors went well, Salem had 2 vaccines (more on those later) and Kaden had none. They both checked out fine. Salem is only 2 inches taller than Kaden!! They are 18lbs apart in weight. Kaden is one tall boy registering in the 90%, although he's been that way for a while. I sure hope Salem starts growing upwards!

Dentists appointments were after school. Kaden had been dreading the dentist since I told him about a week ago. He hates getting his teeth worked on, but yet fights me to brush his teeth...hum. Salem ends up with no cavities, nada! How that happened I have NO clue! I expected a bunch of cavities, but nope he's fine until October for the next cleaning. YEAH!! Kaden...poor Kaden has 2 tiny cavities that need to be fixed. Much better than I expected though. So he has an appointment next Tuesday to get one of those worked on. He's not a happy camper, but at least they are small and don't require a lot of work.


So for the most part both visits went well! Now for the yucky parts. After breakfast I started not feeling too hot, just a queasy stomach but figured the chex cereal and donut I ate wasn't sitting too well. After the doctors I came home and slept on and off all afternoon, normal stuff. But when I was sitting in the dentist waiting for the kiddos I started feeling really sick, like if I yacked I'd feel better. Got home from the dentist at 4:45 and by 4:50 I had my head in the toilet, yuck! And no I didn't feel better after that! I was running a temp of 102.9 and couldn't keep anything down. Of course by not being able to keep even water down meant I was dehydrating myself and that's not good being pregnant and it brought on a bunch of contractions. I finally stopped yacking around 10pm and was keeping water down. I spent most of the night up and didn't sleep well. By morning my fever was gone and I was doing a bit better. Wasn't able to eat much yesterday, nor do much being so weak. Gosh it hit hard and fast!

Salem also started to feel sick after the dentist appt. Not right after like me he was outside playing with Kaden and Keith, but when they came in I guess he started complaining. He had a headache (kid never has those) and a stomach ache and was running a high fever like me 102.7! We all ended up going to bed early that night! In the night I realized Salem might be having a reaction to his vaccines he got, so I checked the sheet the doc gave me and sure enough those are the symptoms of the moderate reactions. Headache 1 in 300, fever over 102 1 in 100 and stomach ache 3 in 100, poor kid had the bad odds! He was talking in his sleep half the night which constantly woke me up and Keith too. Salem stayed home Thursday so he could rest up a bit and feel better. He still wasn't himself last night, but better overall and went to school today.

Keith had a rough between taking care of me and Salem and he didn't get much sleep at all :( Not good times!! Kaden is perfectly fine and bouncing off the walls.