My 8 month old!!

Claire is 8 months old today! Wow! I can honestly say that I am soaking up every hug, kiss, cuddle, snuggle and milestone with her. I am enjoying her to the fullest.

Her newest accomplishments:

• She has pretty much mastered the sitting up business. However, she does still tump over. She will lie there on her back, her head held up in a crunch position and just kind of look at me with this expression that says, "don't just leave me here! Roll me back!"


• She has also perfected the transition from sitting to the crawling position. Like fast. Once she starts doing that and we a trying to get pictures, might as well give up. She will not longer just 'sit' for fun. She has places to go and things to SEE!


• She is still working on getting the hand-hand-foot-foot rhythm down for crawling. She can do it right for like 3 movements, then she kind of forgets and goes back to the flatten-out-back-up-to crawl-position-flatten-out. It is amazing how quickly she can get across the room like that!


• Thought she mastered sleeping through the night a month ago, she all of a sudden forgot and now wakes up at 3 or 4 am, just wailing her lungs out. Inevitably, one of us will make her a bottle and she'll sleep another 4 or 5 hours.


• Curious as a cat. She wants to inspect anything and everything on the floor. Most of the time, she finds random tags, paper, hangers, etc. I could put out 5 toys that she loves, but if there is a sales tag from a sweater on the floor, she'll pass over all the toys to check out the trash on the floor!


• She is learning how to do straight-body when it is time for me to put her in her car seat. Oh yeah, and this is accompanied by a loud, very loud crying fit.


• She loves playing peek-a-boo!


• She loves the Galactic Blast VBS CD. If she is crying, turning that on works like a charm every time.


• She smiles when I turn on Wordworld. Wordworld to her is what Baby Einstein was to Cooper, Natalie and Luke.

Our Alternative Thanksgiving Meal

A few years back, we decided to 'mix' my parents and have everyone eat one meal together for Thanksgiving. Before then, John was cooking 2 turkey lunch/dinners each year for Thanksgiving. There is something so warm and cozy having everyone together, in the same house, eating a meal together. John did not disappoint with the meal itself. He made sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes mixed together. That was all sorts of goodness! We also had broccoli, green bean casserole (that Mother made), stuffing, gravy, artisan bread made from scratch and pecan pie that Louise made for desert. I could not ask for a better Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day ER Visit

It is well known in our household that I am the healthy one. I have low blood pressure, an impressive blood profile: perfect cholesterol, super amount of HDLs, perfect glucose, and so on. Yet, on Thanksgiving Day I am getting whisked away to the MCA Emergency Room to be treated for severe abdominal pain. Did I mention that it was severe? Like on a scale of 1 to 10, I was at 9.9, if death was the 10.

John was driving home from Kansas with the boys and I was at my mom's house. After delivering 26 turkey dinners to some less fortunate families that morning, we were going to have our own Thanksgiving around noon: spaghetti. My recurring pain hit me ~9:30 a.m. and kept on intensifying. I have been having these abdominal pains for a 2 weeks now, but never this severe or this long of a duration. John called around 11:30 and I was in tears, it hurt so bad. I wanted to wait for him to get home and then let him take me to the ER. However, it just kept getting worse and I could not keep from crying, it hurt so bad. Finally, John talked me into letting Mother take me to the ER. John called Dr. Urso, who lives in our neighborhood and works at the MCA ER. Turns out that he was not working, but he called ahead to let them know I was coming in.

Within 5 minutes of exiting the car, I was in a room, with an IV in my arm. They gave me some morphine, but it did not even touch the pain. After 30 minutes, they gave me something else that was 6 times stronger than morphine. (Did not know such a thing existed!) That took the edge off about 20 minutes later. Once I was out of extreme pain, they sent me down for a CT scan. Turns out I was having esophageal contractions, because I had not pooped in over a week. It was 'backed up' all the way through my large intestines and to my small intestines. Nice. The only explanation was all the hydrocodone I had been taking for my pathetic knee had caused the back up. Now I am eating lots of prunes, mixing Miralax and taking the prescription Lactalose to get things mobilized. Good grief.

And I am the healthy one!!

Me and my MOM!!!

How I Have Been Shown Love This Week

I had to come to a hard reality this week and it was not fun. I had to give up something I really, truly loved doing: running. I am one of those weird people who love to run. When I go outside and it is that perfect temperature (between 70 and 85 degrees), I think ,"I cannot wait to run!". Or when I am particularly stressed about something, I know that if I could go run 5 or 6 miles, I would feel a lot better and maybe even work through it. Also, my running time is my best time to pray. Having a whole hour to pray would not happen any other way, but while I am running, I can pray about many, many things.

All the above to say that even though I was throwing myself a pity party and crying for 2 days, I had so many friend show me love. Show me that they care about me. A friend sent me a text telling me how much she cared for me, another friend keeping Claire so I could have the day to myself, and so many others that expressed their concern for my well-being. I felt that I was surrounded by friends that love me. And that is such a good feeling.

Here is what I posted on Facebook:

April Nohinek has come to the sad realization that I will have to follow some medical advice that completely saddens me. To be told that I cannot and should not run for the sake of preserving what pathetic parts of my knee that I have left is devastating.

I received over 30 comments with such sweet words of empathy, sympathy and encouragement, they almost made me cry (again). I am so blessed to have so many friends that would take a moment or two out of their day to express their kindness to me.

24 mile RUN!

I ran 24 miles in 3 hours and 29 minutes. Not bad. Not bad at all.

My route:
From home, out to Pleasant Ridge, up Green Oaks, Through Woodland Blvd, to Park Springs, to Pioneer Parkway, down to Spanish Trail, to Arkansas Lane, to Bowen, down Bowen to Bardin, to Matlock, south to green Oaks, to Craves Park, back to Matlock, south to Sublett, all the way across Sublett to Kelly Elliot, north on Kelly Elliot to Pleasant Ridge, west on Pleasant Ridge to Poly Webb, Bowman Springs, lake Mead then sprint from Falcon Lake to home.

I was quite proud of myself. Until my knee started screaming. Almost as soon as I got in the house, it went from a functional knee to not. I could not stretch it or straighten it. I iced it--no good. I realized something was wrong with it, but had no idea how serious it was.

Happy birthday JOHN!

What did John want for his birthday? A motorcycle. For the longest time, Vanda had said that he could get a motorcycle as soon as they buried her body. That took the pressure off of me, because what Vanda says, goes. Well, ~2 years ago she suddenly decided that she did not care if he got a motorcycle. WHAT?!?! Now I have to be the bad guy and say 'ABSOLUTELY NOT'!

Needless to say, he wore me down and I relented. My only stipulation? He had to get more life insurance. Fast forward to yesterday. John asks me if I know what would make him so happy to get for his birthday?
Me: A motorcycle?
John: HA! How did you know?!?

You know 10 years of marriage, I feel like we are sometimes on the same wave-length. I, however, had to put a kibosh on it by asking:

Me: Have you got your life insurance yet?
Pause. Long pause.
John: I do not have a quote yet. I haven't priced them.
Me: You have been pricing motorcycles for the last 2 months. You could get a few quotes.
John: Pffft.

And he pseudo stomps to another part of the house.

(Fast forward 2 hours)

John: Andrea is coming over tomorrow to have me sign all the papers for the life insurance.
Me: Great!

*Goes to show that when John puts his mind to something, he can get stuff done licketedy split!*

My Ditto Dashers

Cooper ran his very first 5K today. Let me just say I am one proud momma!! He ran it in 28:52. His 1st 5k!! I ran the 5K (fast) and then started back on the course, following it in reverse, to try to find Cooper. I did not have to go to far. He was only about a quarter of a mile from the 3 mile marker. He ran hard at the end to finish strong. I was so full of pride on his behalf. He actually finished 3rd in his age group, but they only gave out medals to first and second place.

Oh, by the way, I was the first female finisher at 22:42.

Holiday Magic 2010

Since I am an active in Junior League, I have to work 8 hours at Holiday Magic. I chose to get all 8 hours today, in one fail swoop. I arrived at the Arlington Convention Center at 8:40, ready for a whole day of fun. (little sarcasm here)

I started off taking tickets. With someone that has one of the most annoying voices I have ever heard. I quickly found myself another position, so I would not pull all my hair out in the first 1/2 hour of being there. For the next few hours, I gave out shopping bags to the women entering the market to shop. People are funny in that they think that if they take a bag, they are obligated to fill it. Nope, just trying to make their shopping experience a little more pleasant.

My next position was to hold the Master map of the Ladies' Style Show and direct women to their table, if they needed assistance finding it. (I honestly do not know how any person found their table on their own because the way the tables were numbered was random and haphazard.) After most of the women were at their tables and eating, Jennifer (Carroll) and I stood in the back and observed everything that was funny. One of the funniest things:

JC: "I think that was one of the best ideas ever."

Me: "Wedding rings? That's random, but yes, whoever started that had a good idea."

(laughter here)

JC: "No, having firemen as the Celebrity Waiters."

Me: Oh, yea, that's a good idea too..."

(LOTS of laughter here!)

OK, maybe you had to be there, but I thought it was hilarious! From that 'job', I went with Jennifer to 'count money'. I did not really count money, I just went to the Celebrity Waiter lunch area and pretended to be working. Really, I was waiting for them to clear out so I could have some queso from Fuzzy Taco's. (Fuzzy's provided the food for the men.) Oh yea, and there was tea in there as well, so I drank as much as I could without having to go to the bathroom.

After that 'job', Jennifer had to leave, so I went out to my car. Since no one knew where I was assigned, including me, I went over to the Progressive Claims office and retrieved our hard drive/tower. It was so nice to have a break, out of the convention center. I came back, ready for 3 more hours of fun, fun, fun. I assigned myself to Ticket Sales, since that was where Mary was. It was a little crowded in the ticket booth, since I was the 6th person in there. After a while the others started leaving until there was only 3 of us. I LOVED this 'job' because I got to sit down. AND chat with Mary. At 3:30, the person in charge of ticket sales told me I could go home. WHAT?!? Are you serious? And I would still get credit for 8 hours?!? She became my new best friend for the next 5 minutes. I practically ran out of there!

This was, by far, the funnest Holiday Magic that I have worked!

Grandparent's Day at Ditto + Book Fair

I had Natalie and Cooper, separately, call Gram and Grandad to invite them to Grandparent's Day at their school. It was so sweet of Mother to ask them each if they wanted for her to bring them lunch. That was a big YES from both! She got McDonald's for Natalie and Whataburger for Cooper.

I came up so I could take pictures (shocker, I know!). I love taking pictures for other people, then giving the pictures to them, especially when they are not expecting it. Grandparent's Day is one of those days that everyone would want a picture!

Mother and Calvin sat with Cooper first, then headed down to the book fair, so they could buy him a book. I am quite sure it was a Star Wars chapter book. Natalie had lunch shortly after that and she was SO excited about getting to eat McDonald's at school. (I have never brought them McDonald's or Whataburger.) After she quietly ate her lunch, she wanted to rush down to the book fair. Unfortunately, the ONE book that she really, really, really wanted was sold out. This lead to sadness and tears. She ended up getting a pink diary that she acted ~somewhat excited about, but I felt really bad for not getting her the book earlier when it was in stock. I called John to ask him if he would stop at Barnes and Noble to get it for her. He did and she was so, so, so happy when he gave it to her. She was so excited that she read 3 chapters before bedtime.

What a great time for the kids, to have their grandparents come to their school, bring them lunch, sit at their lunch table with them and then go to a book fair. I hope this is something that they remember and treasure in their heart as they grow up. These are not experiences that I had growing up, so I am so happy that they are.

Family Pics

I love pictures. That is the understatement of the year. I especially love our 'family' pictures, where we are all dressed nice, in a nice place with a beautiful background. We usually have one done once a year, but we have not had a 'nice' picture since Claire was born.

I started trying to schedule a family shoot with Brandy in September. I was in no rush, I just wanted to have them in time to make our Christmas cards. Well, September flew by and October was almost over when we finally found a date that worked for her schedule and our crazy sports schedule. We initially were going to meet at the Gaylord hotel, but at the last minute, decided to meet at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens, which was much, much better for all of us.

The kids were acting a little hyper and silly, but for the most part were able to smile when it was needed. Natalie had a not-so-good fake smile that showed up periodically, but for the most part we had pretty good cooperation from all of them, especially Claire. She really knows how to bust out a big smile for the camera.

The end result? WOW. I mean, WOW!! Brandy posted the pictures the very next day and they were phenomenal. Then, she made a video with one of my most favorite songs of all time,"Blessed", by Mariah Carey. If I was a cryer, I would have cried my eyes out. Instead, it made me realize how blessed I truly am. Blessed beyond measure. My children are healthy and intelligent and I have a husband who loves me dearly. I could not ask for more. God is so good to me.

Status Updates

April:

... has officially run out of energy.

... ran 10 miles. I must have run faster than usual because I was wearing Luke's Spiderman sunglasses.

...does not mind one bit when Claire falls asleep on my chest.

...was a bit startled when I walked into the guest room, in the dark, and heard deep breathing. Either one of my children is asleep in there or Darth Vader came to visit.

...loves it when Natalie reads to Luke.

...is heading up to the school to read to a great bunch of 1st graders.

...is wondering how long Natalie's Defcon level 4 fit is going to last.

...is going to have lunch with my favorite 8 year old.

...ran 14 miles, in the rain. Two words: pruned feet.

...is loved.

...loves hearing "yes, ma'am".

...was asked by Luke if I wanted to see him smile in Spanish.

... is surrounded by some really awesome friends.

... is looking forward to a strawberry margarita and some queso at Gloria's.

...is so proud of Cooper and Natalie running a whole mile without stopping. Cooper ran it in 9:09 and Natalie in 9:19. I am one proud momma!!!

...is headed to the gym to burn of some major stress. Get ready Stairmonster!!

...loves her nook!

...loves watching Luke play soccer. 4 goals in 2 quarters! That is our little athlete in action!

...ran 21 miles today. I feel like I need to apologize to my feet.

...is blessed beyond measure.

...is wondering how Cooper could think that a striped shirt and camo pants match?

Claire~ 7 months old now!

My sweet Claire. I would love to call her that all the time. She is quite a happy and content baby. Except when she is hungry. Oh. My. Goodness. She can be all happy and smiles, then suddenly she decides that it is time to eat and she seems to go ballistic. She is screams with such an intensity that you hope feeding her will calm her down (it does). She will start flailing her legs and then, as soon as she gets the bottle in her mouth, her legs will completely stop, she gives a little sigh a relief and everything is perfect in her world again. Then, after she finishes her bottle, she is all smiles and grins, giggling, and joyful. A full belly for this girl makes for a happy baby!

She is now sitting up all on her own. She does occasionally incur a gravity storm and tumps over, but she is usually unfazed by it. She just kind of lies there with her head held up like a crunch, looks around to determine which way to roll, then rolls herself over to her stomach. From here, she is ready to go. She can now get up on her hands and knees, but does not know what to do from there. She will rock a little bit, then flatten out so she can start the scooting. It is amazing how far she can move around the room when you are not looking.

I have started giving her the little snacky-snacks. They are little fruit flavored bite size pieces that are about the size of Cheerios. The good thing about them is that they melt in her mouth. After about 2 seconds in her slobbery mouth, they shrink to about 1/4 of the size and turn to mush. This is a good thing since she does not have any teeth to chew them with. The older kids love to feed them to her. She cannot pick them up just yet, so they have to put the snacky-snack right into her mouth. She is overjoyed by this, as are they. She just sits in her Bumbo, on the table and they all take turns putting them in her mouth. So, so cute.

She is finally cutting teeth. I just noticed one tooth peeking out right before the 30th, and now there is another one cutting through. She actually is slobbering less than before, even though the actual teeth are now there. She is having a harder time making it through the night without fussing, but I guess that is to be expected.

I LOVE MY SWEET CLAIRE!