High Five - With Lefty!

This video says it all.

So proud of this guy! 

P.S. - We're not supposed to say "lefty" we're supposed to say "left hand" so ignore the title.
Also, please ignore my early morning scariness of no make up and glasses and crazy hair. 

"Daisy"

Guess who said "Daisy" for the first time tonight???

THIS GUY!

We were getting ready to go to bed and he was sitting on Dad's lap and watching Daisy and wanting to get down to play with her and he said it!  Plain as day!

And then I coaxed him into saying it THREE more times! 

He says it more clearly than his sister!

Praise God for this beautiful miracle who we worry about every day but does everything in his own time!

YAY!

So What Wednesday

So what if I spent $200 at the grocery store and bought Panera for supper?  Grocery shopping wears me out.

So what if I never wash my bras?  Like ever.  I wear them until they're gross then I buy new ones.  I bra shop mostly at Target and Kohl's now so they aren't terribly expensive.  I feel like once they are washed they never really go back to their proper shape and fit.  I know there are special detergents and what not you can buy to help with washing bras but really...ain't nobody got time for that!

So what if my kids screamed bloody murder when I took them out to play in the sprinkler when it was over 90 degrees out?  It was a little cold but really...it's nothing to bawl about.

So what if I've taken to saying, "Do you want me to give you something to cry about?" to Ainsley.  She is in a very whiny, clingy phase and is really only happy if being held and carried around.  Like you can't even sit down and hold her.  She must be held and you must walk around with her.  Not cool.  So obvi, I don't give in to this sort of behavior constantly so she cries.  A lot.  And I've started telling her I'll give her something to cry about.  She doesn't get it.

So what if I bargain with myself while I run?  For example...If you run an entire 2 miles you can stop and walk the rest of your route.  Or, if you run 3 miles you can have another cookie when you get home...yes, ANOTHER cookie.

So what if I invested in some retail therapy at Target today?  I'm pretty sure there isn't much a nice, quiet trip to Target (and my Target RedCard) can't fix.  I may or may not have wandered around there for over an hour today and tried on 22 articles of clothing.  Yes, twenty-two.  I only bought four.

This high-low strapless dress did not make the cut but I keep thinking about it.  

I tend to steer clear of strapless but it's so cute!  (Ignore my bra straps...on my dirty bra). 

Our Trip to IU

Sunday we traveled to Indianapolis to see a Pediatric Stroke Specialist - Dr. Golomb - for an appointment on Monday morning.

The Trip - It was stressful.  I'm not gonna lie.  We left by 10am Sunday - actually 9:58am and the goal was 10am - I was feeling pretty awesome about that.  We drove to Kansas City for our flight because it was HALF the price of flying from Des Moines.  We chose to fly instead of drive the 8 hour (before stops) trip.  Possibly the worst idea ever.  So, we drove 3 hours to Kansas City and were an hour late getting to the airport.  Hello, panic attack.  We got in the wrong line.  KC does it a little different and you get in line for security at your airlines gate basically.  We got in the Delta line but turns out it was the Delta Security Line, not the Delta Check Your Bags and Print Your Boarding Passes Line.  We got out of line, checked the bag, printed boarding passes and got back in the Delta Security Line.  We got through security, which is a feat in-and-of itself with a 19 month old who has a diaper bag, a car seat, and a stroller, in addition to our carry-ons and my purse.  We arrived at our gate and boarded within 10 minutes.  Not much time to spare - definitely not how I like things.  My motto is "If you're not early, you're late."  Ben thought the take-offs were hilarious and had a couple outbursts on the first flight - I think just pain from his ears.  We really couldn't have asked for more from him.  Then we had a layover in Minneapolis/St. Paul.  That was nice to have a little down time and let Ben scoot around for awhile.  We gave him diphenhydramine (Benadryl) shortly before we boarded our second flight and he slept the whole way.  Thank you, Jesus...and Benadryl.  We arrived in Indianapolis around 10pm and got our rental car and drove to our hotel (about 30 minutes away).  It was a LONG day.

We took selfies while we were waiting for our flight out of 

Minneapolis/St. Paul and I even got some great kisses.

Indian War Call

We realized once we got to the hotel that we forgot the cell phone charger in the car at K.C. airport.  I have officially become my mother and woke up at 6am worrying about this and unable to go back to sleep.  I got up and went to Meijer (or is it Meijer's?) in my pajamas...which had Peanut Butter Ritz Bits mush all over them from Ben the night before.  And I didn't brush my teeth.  Luckily there weren't too many people there and the ones who were didn't seem to care.  P.S. -  I much prefer this place over Wal-Mart.  It's like a mix of Wal-Mart and Target and T.J. Maxx.  We need these in Iowa.

Our appointment wasn't until 10am so we had plenty of time to hit up Cracker Barrel for breakfast and drive through town, including a Now-We-Can-Say-We've-Been-Here trip by Butler University.

The Appointment - It went well!  Dr. Golomb was very pleased with Ben's development, especially in spite of his Infantile Spasms diagnosis.  I can't convey how serious Infantile Spasms can be.  If untreated they WILL cause mental retardation.  While Ben is developmentally delayed, my mommy instincts tell me he'll achieve whatever he wants in life, though it will undoubtedly be harder for him than most other people.  She again reassured us that he will walk, citing the statistic that kids who sit up independently by 17 months of age will be able to walk.  It's so easy to forget how devastating this stroke COULD have been.  He could never walk, or communicate.  He might not have sat up on his own until now...or even later.  We are so thankful it's not worse.

So, back to the appointment.  We don't really know anything new yet.  They took 8 vials of blood to test for all kinds of stuff I don't even know about.  A little background: Ben had a right sided, middle cerebral stroke. When they did his MRI they also found a blockage in his left carotid artery.  Because of the two abnormalities, Dr. Golomb is guessing he has some sort of genetic-type mutation that caused the blockages.  She isn't immediately worried about any future events.  She described Ben's stroke as a "perfect storm" of events.  He has/had several risk factors.  1. He's a boy and for every 100 girls that have perinatal strokes, around 170 boys have them.  2. He's a twin, also increases his risk.  3. He's a first born, also increases risk.  4. Around the time of birth, mothers and babies clot faster.  This is true for everyone and is a survival mechanism so we don't all bleed out and die during child birth.  We'll see what comes back from his blood tests to find out what other risks factors he has.

She wants to see him again in two months so we are scheduled for an appointment July 22nd - our 7 year wedding anniversary.

Back Home - It was an equally long trip back home with a brief layover in Detroit and my stomach not feeling well for the entire drive back to Iowa.

    Showing off his bandages from his blood draws - he did great and had an awesome phlebotomist.

Thank you all for your prayers and sweet comments and well-wishes.  We truly appreciate each and every one of them!

 

Swings & Chairs

We went to the park and Ben and Ainsley got to swing for the first time.  They LOVED it!

 

 

 

There are some pretty good baby giggles in the videos <3

 

We came home and sat on the deck for a little bit.  I got these baby sized chairs at Wal-Mart and they loved them.

Sucking It Up

I ran yesterday.  I am trying to do my longest run of the week on Mondays because I have that day off every week.  Most people do their long runs on the weekend but I work every other weekend so that isn't consistent for me.  I need consistent.  So I do Mondays!  Anyway, I tried a new route for this run.  I drove it first and got 5.2 miles on my car odometer.  It was 6.96 in reality.  Yikes.

So this was me afterwards:

I suffer from an affliction I call "Tomato Face."  My face gets BRIGHT red when I run.  Especially if it is hot.  And if the sun is out...forget about it.  It lasts for an hour or more afterwards too.  I'm pretty sure people who see it are concerned I'm having a stroke or something.

Here's the run:

So...basically...it sucked.  The only full mile I ran was mile 2.  I walked some part of every other mile.  It was really disappointing because last week I ran 4+ miles without stopping (except for one street crossing).   I have this hang up where I think if I walk it doesn't count.

One of the lessons I learned from this run was not to run at noon.  Because the sun is hot and it beats down on my face.  And I don't like it.  Or wear a hat.

I also tried some new inserts I got for my shoes.  I got the ones at Wal-Mart where you stand on the machine and it analyzes your feet.  I wore them to work a few days and LOVED them.  I was so excited to wear them for this run.  And they gave me blisters.  On the bottoms of my feet.  I had to stop and take them out.  Then carry them.


So like I said, this run sucked.  But I'm going to keep at it and hopefully my next run is better.

I ran SIX miles...sort of...