Remembering to cherish the moment...

Have you ever had a week that reminds you what is important?  That was my week.  Some really special people had some really crappy weeks.

One of the moms I know got some of the worst news you can imagine.  Her husband has been diagnosed with cancer and given 2-5 years.  They have a daughter that is just a year and a half.

One of our family members received news that he has Multiple Sclerosis.  Because of this diagnosis and because of what he does for a living, he is unclear what will happen with his career. 

The 3 year old brother of a friend's stepson is battling a very aggressive brain cancer and it is truly a battle day to day. 

Many of my pregnant friends are struggling with really tough illnesses/colds, gestational diabetes, and other health issues.

Several (very fit and active) acquaintances have been injured and not only had their fitness goals interrupted, but had life put on hold as well. 

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Sure some are clearly worse than others, but each time I heard about another situation, I grabbed my family closer and took moments to stop and appreciate everything around me. 

So I want you to stop, pull your family close and tell them how much they mean to you, take time to enjoy the moment you are in instead of bustling through your to-do list tomorrow, and say a prayer for those who are struggling right now.  They could really use the support. 

Thank you.

Favorite Moments Friday

It has been awhile since I have done a "Favorite Moments Friday".  I am not going to try and make up for lost time, but rather take this time to share with you the things that

Allergies?

I suffer from a whole lot of different allergies.  No strange allergies really, just the typical hay fever, pollen, dust, etc.  I am also allergic to cats.  I don't think my husband is allergic to anything.  Obviously I had hoped that Superman would take after his father and not be an allergic to anything.  Yeah, I don't think we are going to be that lucky.

We were at our playgroup date today and the host had a cat.  I have learned that as long as I don't pet the cat and wash my hands when I leave, I can avoid a lot of the symptoms so I didn't have a problem at all today.  Superman on the other hand seemed to have a reaction.

First his nose was running a little bit more than it has been and then he began to cough.  I assumed it was due to the runny nose and it may have still been because of that, but as we left the house he began to cough even more.  Five minutes into our drive he was really coughing...a bad barking type cough.  I started to really worry that he was sick and I had just exposed several kids to this unknown illness.  I figured I would watch his symptoms and make some phone calls tonight to the other moms if he got worse. 

Instead?  He got better.  Almost completely better.  He still had a little bit of a cough this evening, but it was just a small light cough, not the hacking barking cough from earlier in the afternoon.  Also he has been in bed now for almost 30 minutes and hasn't coughed once. 

So I am assuming it was an allergy attack.  Is that the conclusion you would come to?  Maybe I am jumping the gun that it was the cat that he was allergic to...he didn't really get worse till we left, but that sometimes happens to me if I don't spend a really long time at the home.    I am 99% sure it wasn't anything in the new car because we had already driven in it for about 2 hours without a reaction.

So now the question is, what do we do with this information?  Is there allergy medication for toddlers?  If there is, is there a downside (or side effects) to medicating him?  We are going to stay with my sister in a couple weeks and I always struggle with my allergies when I visit.  What will we do with Superman if he starts with the barking cough again?  Anyone have any experience with this?  Help!

Baby #2: Week 26

April 2, 2011 
(Happy 15 Months to Superman! Happy 3rd Birthday to my puppy, Clyde!)

How far along: 26 weeks

Baby's size: Eggplant (Month 6 - week 25-28) or English Hothouse Cucumber for week 26 (about 14 inches long)

Symptoms:  My big ole' belly is starting to really get in the way. My back is feeling better, but I have to wear the brace almost all the time.  Not sure what else to say...

Total Weight Gain: 
Okay, long story- I had an ob appointment with the nurse practitioner instead of my ob on Monday so I used a different scale to get weighed.  According to that scale I gained 8 pounds this month!!!!!  I was so thrown by that number that I came home and weighed myself (and because the normal scale at the ob office is about 2 pounds less than my home scale so I figured it would tell me if the NP scale was accurate or just way off). Well I weighed 5 pounds more than the last time (still not great).  That would mean that if I weighed in at my ob's office I would have only been up 3 pounds.  So I decided to split the difference between my home scale and what I speculated my normal ob scale would have said.  Confused?  Yeah, I'm not surprised.

Weight gain this past month= +4 
Total weight gain= +8 pounds  

Maternity clothes:  Yes

Best moment this week: Passing my blood glucose test!

Movement:  Lots and lots of movements!

Food cravings: None really.  I haven't been as hungry lately.  I seem to be filling up a lot faster and so not many things are sounding great.   


Gender:  BOY!!!

Labor signs: none

What I miss:Being able to tie my shoes properly.

What I'm looking forward to: We are going to buy a new car!! We have been researching for months and have finally narrowed it down to two different versions of the Odyssey (XL-E with RES or Touring).  We are going to go and test drive them on Sunday and then go from there.  The Touring is a lot easier to get than the XL-E, but we aren't sure we really need all the features that the Touring add.  Car buying really has changed quite a bit since we bought my Prius in '07.  I will have to write a post about this "new" experience.

Weekly Wisdom (aka what I learned this week):  A lot more people have children close together than I had previously thought.  It seems like where ever Superman and I go now a days people are telling me about their kids less than 2 years a part.  Nice to know that I am not the only nutty

Milestones: Passing blood glucose test.

Emotions:  My anxiety is A LOT better this week.  

Exercise:
Boot Camp: Friday (1 hour 15 minutes each)
Pregnancy Water Aerobics: Tuesday (1 hour each)
Stretching: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday (about 5 minutes each)

Total exercise time:  2 hours 30 minutes (better than last week, but still not great)

Till next week!