Thursday, January 29, 2015

Diet, exercise and sober parenting

Now that I'm back on the healthy side of life, no more coughing and runny nose, I am back on my fitness and dieting track.

And I have kept off the three pounds lost while I had the flu.

And I think I've changed my mind about those pounds, because I had spent the two week prior to the flu dieting and exercising. So, I think those pounds can be considered my body's way of saying "Finally!! Some exercise!"

My clothes are fitting better and my 'large' pants are fitting just a little too lose for wear right now. Yay!

Meanwhile I'm sticking to the no drinking during the week rule. In fact, there is no wine in my house right now.

None.

At all.

Do you know what kind of miracle that is?

I'm finding it's also 100% necessary. If it were there, I would find a way to justify it.

And that justification would be my kids.

Holy crap, how to people parent and not drink?

I've realized that if I can make it to the kid's bed time, I stop wanting a drink about 15-20 minutes after everyone's in bed for the night.

I don't know what that says about me, or my kids, or our evening routine.

Anyway. I do find it interesting, that the mornings I sleep until 5:30 and get up without exercising, I'm almost always late out the door. The mornings I get up at 5 and exercise until 5:30, I'm out the door on time.

Here's to hoping February is a little easier.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

The Flu Diet

Nothing like being crazy, nasty, sick to lose some weight!

I'm down three pounds after the last two weeks of not feeling well, which is kinda neat and kinda scary.

However, I'm wearing pre-Ali pants today that haven't fit in years so, screw it, I'll take the weight loss where I can get it!

I haven't managed to get new sneakers yet and need to do that before I start running again, but right now my lungs aren't quite up to it anyway. I still have a rather impressive cough and am not making it through the night without having to get up for more meds half way through.

Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to get myself out to the store and get some good shoes. My plan then will be to start back up with the 5 am workouts. I haven't actually set my alarm in two weeks and have been sleeping down the hall from my husband so we don't keep each other up with coughing. So I've been rolling out of bed at 6 or 6:20 most mornings and just getting the girls ready and out the door as I can.

Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to get up and do some light yoga and stretching. My body definitely needs it. We'll see how well I sleep though because right now, my body definitely needs that more.

Happy flu season everyone!

Monday, January 19, 2015

It's always the quiet one...

Last week was miserable. Ali and I got the flu to start the week. My husband got it to finish the week and, had to cancel his spot in the marathon on Saturday morning that he has been training for since October.

:(

I felt so badly for him. He had worked so hard and two days before the race he gets the flu from me and the girls.

He has found another one coming up in March that he is going to retrain for. He has a goal of running the Boston Marathon in 2016 and needs the course to be just right to get the best chance for a qualifying time.

So while Ali, my husband and I were dealing with fevers, and shakes, and coughing and sneezing and the whole works, Elle had a runny nose and wasn't very hungry. She got a cough part way through the week, and every other day or so had an afternoon fever but never higher than 99.5 or 99.7. On the whole, was happy, playful and generally ok.

Or so we thought.

After the rest of us recovered I realized she was still not eating very well, not drinking much at all and these afternoon fevers were becoming more regular. The cough had gotten a little better, but was still there and her nose was runny but clear. I use saline spray regularly on both girls once their noses start running.

So Saturday afternoon when Elle woke from her nap with a 100.1 degree fever and hadn't eaten or drunk much that day so I took her in to the Children's walk in clinic. I decided this crazy odd set of symptoms needed to be checked.

The whole thing was over two hours long but the short version is she has Bronchiolitis and a low oxygen count. While at the clinic they kept testing and retesting her oxygen levels and her numbers were low enough that they were talking about sending us to the hospital!

I couldn't believe it!

They kept staring at her chest and listening to her breath and staring at her more, like they expected her to start turning blue any minute. It was completely scary!

After xrays and tests and a breathing treatment they were able to get an oxygen count that was a bare minimum for sending us home instead of to the hospital. We had to continue the breathing treatments all weekend and then take her in to our regular pediatrician on Monday (today) for a follow up oxygen count.

These nurses scared the pants off me, they literally stared at her and then asked me in the most incredulous tone 'how long has she been breathing like this'?? Like, how could I possibly have missed it!?! I don't know?? She looked normal to me, stuffy, but not like she was struggling to get air. I felt like such a terrible mom.

Well, this morning I loaded both girls up because, good grief, I clearly missed the boat with Elle, I wanted Ali checked out completely too.

Thankfully I have the best pediatrician around, in my humble opinion. He is so calm. Nothing ruffles him. I told him what happened on Saturday and he checked Ali out, she was fine. Nothing wrong, perfectly healthy, with a slight cough left over from her round of the flu.

He checked Elle and agreed that she had a mild case of bronchiolitis and that while her oxygen level was a little low (had come up a whole point from what it was on Saturday), she wasn't struggling, or in distress and she would be just fine. He made it all sound so much lighter, less scary.

So, she's home until Wednesday and we'll continue the breathing treatments but mostly it just needs time to heal and she should be fine.

Blech! It was so crazy to realize that while the rest of us had been so overtly sick, she was very quietly sicker than the rest of us.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

One step forward, two steps back

I feel like every time I get a little momentum, something knocks me back down.

We are all sick again. We're on day three and I'm fairly sure we're all going to be home tomorrow too.

Elle had a low fever on Sunday and her nose has been a faucet. Ali woke up from her nap on Sunday with a blazing fever, looking like a zombie and I started to not feel good that evening also. Ali and I had rough nights Sunday and were miserable on Monday. My mom came over to help take care of all us sicko's.

Ali felt better after her nap yesterday and slept well last night. I was still pretty terrible and had another bad night. Elle is pretty much the same. Low temp, runny nose and a bad cough. Poor girl, the cough and all the drainage is making her throat sore and she isn't eating well.

Ali's fever came back around lunch, but a little Tylenol and a nap and she's feeling better. I had a nap too but am still just so worn out.

I had done so well the last two weeks. Minimal alcohol and only on weekends. Eating well, exercising and was down almost a pound. And then I get sick again.

Germy kids.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Bad start to the year

I'm not sure what it is. But I have not had a good week.

I have not been on time once.

I have left the house in the morning annoyed and yelling at the girls.

I have walked in the house in the evening annoyed and yelling at the girls.

I am snippy at work.

I'm snippy at everyone.

But.

I've been exercising all week.

Eating really well.

Sleeping fabulously

NOT DRINKING!

Reading a few chapters of the Proverbs section of the bible most nights, which I am enjoying and finding extreme calmness in.

And praying a lot.

Which is weird. For me anyway.

But really, a lot. Each time I find myself yelling at the girls. I walk away and say a small prayer. This morning I prayed all the way to school. And then all the way to work.

I feel like I should be having a really good week. My muscles are sore from the new exercise program. I'm rested. I started taking my immune boosting supplement that I had to stop while pregnant and finally feel like I'm 100% back from that nasty cold we all had over Christmas.

But.

I can feel the edges of panic creeping in on me right now.

Panic at what? I have no idea.

Right now I just keep telling myself to make it to this weekend. We have nothing planned this weekend.

Quiet.

Home.

No visitors.

No visiting.

I need to spend some time catching up with myself and my girls. I need to get some organization back.

My mornings have felt like a scramble, even though they shouldn't have been.

I need to have a better plan.

I need to have a few days where I don't have to be anywhere.

I need to figure out how to calm down.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Resolutions

Keeping it simple and meaningful this year.

My New Year's Resolutions are:

Spend more time with friends and family. Every time we see a friend we realize it's been 6 or 8 months, or longer, since we had seen them last. This resolution is one my husband and I decided on together. This year we will be proactive in setting up plans with friends and being more actively social.

Find an organization that Ali and I can volunteer for together. I'm not sure what this is going to be. It may be a local animal shelter, or our community group, North Fulton Community Charities, which is pretty close to us and a fantastic organization. It might be something with our church, but I do want it to be something that Ali has the ability to help with. I want her to start being involved in helping others, and I want me to be involved more in our community.

Get back into a solid exercise routine and make fitness a larger priority.

Add prayer into my daily life. Right now it isn't and I think incorporating that into a daily routine will help me calm and focus myself when I so frequently feel like I'm spinning wildly, just on the edge of out of control.

Enjoy every minute of my girls.

Happy 2015! I hope it is a wonderful year for everyone.