Like Old Times.

Today we biked.

We biked from our house to the river levee, then uptown to Magazine and through Audubon Park where we stopped for Cassidy to play on the playground and have a snack. From there we went back towards the riverbend where we stopped for lunch at the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen, our favorite pizza joint. Then it was back to the river levee to head home.

We were gone about 4 hours total and did a total of 15.5 miles!

Cassidy did great and enjoyed waving to everyone we passed on our bikes, and blowing kisses to a lucky few! On the way home she was getting a bit restless, so we played games finding things while we biked... like red cars, or blue trucks, or birds, etc.

It was just like our old times of weekends spent biking, only better because Cassidy was with us! This reassured me once again that life doesn't have to come to a grinding halt because we have a child. In fact, our lives are pretty close to the same as before we had Cassidy. It takes a little more effort, planning, and a lot more flexibility (only 4 hours on the bikes so we could be home for nap time), but it's totally worth it! Maybe we're just lucky and it's still possible because we only have 1 child who pretty much just rolls with whatever it is we are doing. Maybe she just rolls with it because we've been taking her with us to experience new things all along. Either way, it makes me happy.

It makes me happy that we haven't lost our identities to our roles as parents;

we've just added to them!

Rainy Sunday Entertainment

Cassidy ended up making a trip to the doctor this week after all. 10.5 weeks between visits is the new record.

Diagnosis: Sinus infection. The great news is that her lungs and ears were clear. We got a prescription for 5 days of azithromycin which we started Wednesday.

Here's a look at our "sick" girl the rainy Sunday before we went to the doctor.

(When we started bike riding with Cassidy, I would count 1-2-3-GO! before I'd start riding which would distract her from her initial hesitance at being in the bike seat, which she now loves. Whenever we count now, Cassidy seems to think that "go!" is the number that follows 3. In fact, when she tries to count by herself, no matter what she's counting, she usually only makes it to 2 before joyously yelling "GO!")

You're probably sitting there saying, why on earth would you take this child to the doctor and say she's sick? Her cough continued to get worse until she was coughing every 10-20 seconds for over an hour in the middle of Sunday night (she never woke up, but I laid there listening to her cough and gag, and then had to get up to check if she was still breathing when she was finally quiet) and the first hour or two she was awake on Monday and Tuesday was spent gagging and coughing a disgustingly juicy cough.

(She's been saying "boppy" or "bobby" or something that sounds like that a lot lately. Sometimes she's asking us for whatever it is, other times just saying the word. I can't figure out what it is she's saying or what she wants, but on Sunday she spent at least 10 minutes running through the house shouting it. I'm hoping "Bobby" isn't the name of that little boy that kissed her at the park.)

So Tuesday Jeff had a marathon afternoon of doctor's appointments with Cassidy since she had an eye doctor appointment also. (She was screened for eye problems at daycare and it was recommended that we see an opthamologist). She's got an astigmatism in her left eye, which isn't horrible as long as she doesn't start favoring her other eye. We have another appointment in 3 months, and in the mean time, we are supposed to cover her right eye with a patch for 30 minutes a day. Haven't tried yet, but I have pretty low expectations for how that's going to go. I'm thinking we'll have to spend 30 minutes finger painting, eating chocolate, or doing something of the sort that Cassidy loves.

I also went to the doctor today.

Diagnosis: Sinus Infection.

Prescription: 5 days of Azithromycin

Hmm ... That's the last time I steal a drink from Cassidy's sippy cup when I'm thirsty while driving in the car. Though I suppose it could also have been the many times she sneezed in my face, stuck her fingers in my mouth to look at my teeth and tongue, or wiped her snotty nose all over my arm.

"Booo-burries": Cassidy Goes to Pollock

Earlier this month, we decided to take a short weekend trip to Pollock to visit my boss's parents, Arthur and Lovejoy.

You may recall that their home in Pollock is our hurricane sanctuary. However, we've never visited during stress-free, hurricane-free times. We knew it would be fun to hang out with Lovejoy and Arthur without the tension of possible home destruction hanging over us and we wanted them to get to know Cassidy now that she's developing into her own little person. So we drove up on Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday afternoon.

The word of the weekend was Blueberries. There were still blueberries on the bushes up there, and we spent quite a bit of time picking them (one of us spent her time eating them right off the bush, with no more than 2 blueberries ever making it into her collection cup at any one time!). Lovejoy's homecooked meals were delicious, but Cassidy's continuous mealtime request was "Mo Boo0-burries." In fact, every time we went outside, she marched in the direction of those blueberry bushes to pick and eat more.

Sleeping friday night was a bit of a challenge, with me sleeping on the couch for part of the night, Cassidy sleeping in bed with Jeff from 1:30 until 4:30, when Cassidy decided it was morning. After reading several books, Cassidy and I hit the road for a stroller ride at 5:45, where she fell back asleep, and then I dozed on the porch after we got back.

Saturday night went much better, with a full night of sleep from 8pm until 6am!

We had two short outings to a park next to Arthur and Lovejoy's church, where Cassidy caused a Sunday morning commotion in her first church attendance. After going up to the alter to participate in the children's part of the service, Cassidy thought it was great fun to be in front of everyone rather than in the back row where we were sitting. She wanted no part in that anymore (until that point, she had been pretty well behaved). So Jeff took her into the "crying room" to entertain her. As the end of the service neared, we heard the pitter-patter of little feet making a dash up the center isle, calculator in hand, without Jeff. She had made a quick get away before Jeff could stand up while he thought they were having fun coloring. She stopped about half way to the alter, turned around and grinned at everyone. After a minute she, saw Jeff in the doorway, and marched back down the isle to him while I stood hesitantly in the pew, wondering if I should try to chase her down or just let her be. Everyone seemed rather entertained by it, and hopefully Arthur and Lovejoy weren't too embarrassed by our mischievous little girl.

Here's a short video at the park. I've been trying to catch Cassidy's little strut for a while now. This isn't as good as it gets ... sometimes she really gets that little bottom swinging back and forth, but it's pretty close.

Arthur and Lovejoy, Thank you for a wonderful weekend! We hope you enjoyed our visit as much as we did!

The Perfect Holiday Weekend--- July 4th

Our fourth of July weekend was fabulous. It was packed full of fun activities, beautiful (but hot) weather, a first kiss for Cassidy, and a happy little girl all weekend!

The last time I was at walmart, I picked up some finger paints for her, which she had a blast with!

We biked to La Freniere Park for their 4th celebration during the afternoon, but called it quits for an early bedtime and missed the fireworks. While we were at the park eating pork nachos, a coconut snowball, and an italian sausage sandwich, Cassidy made some new friends with some kids hanging out near our blanket. The girl was probably 6 or 7 and the boy a little older than Cassidy, maybe 3? They had a blast running around, waving their flags, pretending to be airplanes, and just laughing and giggling together. When they were leaving, the girl came running up to Cassidy, gave her a hug, and told her she'd be back for the fireworks later and maybe they could play some more. The little boy followed her lead with a big hug for Cassidy. He started to walk away, then turned around ran up to Cassidy with another hug, and planted a HUGE KISS right on her lips! Cassidy just stood their stunned as he ran away smiling.... hmmm, we hadn't anticipated this starting this early.

(that's the little tyrant in the background!)

We also spent one afternoon at Mike Miley playground where Cassidy met a little girl named Grace who was a few months younger. Grace was there with her grandmother who told us a wonderful story of Grace's adoption being finalized on her new parent's 7th wedding anniversary. Grace followed Cassidy around, taking in everything she did and trying to do the same.

We spent one morning at City Park where we went for a walk and then played on their playground there. Cassidy had fun watching the ducks and geese. We stopped for Indian food on the way home (our weekends are never complete without Indian food buffet for a lunch or dinner).

This was such a special weekend.

I really couldn't ask for better "quality" time than this.

We all had such a fun time and my description here really doesn't begin to express the happiness, joy, and pride I felt in our little family this weekend.

A Good Run ... without Illness, that is.

Well, it was a good run. A record in fact. Our last trip to the doctor was May 1 with a diagnosis of bronchitis and bacterial infection. That was what, 10 weeks ago? Yep, the old record was 7 weeks. We haven't been to the doctor yet, but Cassidy started with a low grade fever on Monday (though I suspect it may have started while we were out of town last weekend--- another post to come soon--- because she was out of sorts on saturday, and running green snot by sunday night.) No fever since then, but she's still got gobs of green and brown snot, that familiar cough started this morning, and she's definitely not her usual happy self.

We were back to the immunologist on May 25th for her bloodwork following her extra pneumonia vaccine and her antibody levels looked good. Maybe she's holding her own against this one??????

In the mean time, I seem to have jinxed myself with that last post about vitamins being the anti-illness cure-all --- or I just screwed myself by forgetting to take the vitamins out of town with me. Either way, I've been running a fever starting Monday night (only 99.1), Tuesday night (up to 101), and up to 102.8 tonight. I went to bed at 7:30 monday and slept until 6:30. I went into work tuesday with the intention of doing a few things that HAD to be done that day, and then leaving early, but I felt progressively better as the day went on so I stayed almost the whole day. Then around 5:00 I felt like I hit a wall. I checked my temperature again and back to bed I went at 8:00. Again today, I felt pretty good most of the day at work, but around 4:00, my temp went back up. So I'm throwing in the towel and staying home tomorrow to rest. All day.

Keep your fingers crossed for us that Cassidy gets over this one on her own, without the help of antibiotics or steroids.

Diet,Supplements, and the Evil that is Splenda

Lately the books I've been reading revolve around nutrition, diets, and various ways of eating healthy. I guess this interest started a while ago with The South Beach Diet. I enjoy reading the case studies in these books; I find them inspirational and they encourage me to take better care of my body. I love to read about the science behind what different research shows to be the "proper" way of eating. For me, that means a reduced carbohydrate diet. I've definitely noticed a huge difference in the way I feel and look, right down to the clarity of my skin when I'm following a reduced carb diet. I definitely notice an "addiction" to high carbohydrate foods like pasta and rice. I definitely struggle with not overeating these foods when I do eat them.

I don't necessarily eat "low carb". I mostly try to eat low glycemic and "good carbs" including a lot of fiber. I don't worry too much about my fat intake, but try to include "good fats" at every meal or snack. I try to minimize the use of processed foods and prepare things to eat without all the added preservatives and unnecessary ingredients that come with pre-packaged items. When I do eat bread, I try to stick to double fiber, whole wheat, or occassionally rye. When I eat pasta, it's whole wheat. When I eat rice, it's brown basmati.

An impulse buy at Barnes and Noble, Living Low Carb by Jonny Bowden, renewed my interest in my reduced carb diet which I had followed religiously before I got pregnant. After pregnancy, I had a hard time getting motivated to clean up my diet after all the "free eating" I enjoyed while pregnant. Ironically, carbs were the only thing I consistently wanted to eat while pregnant. (I hadn't eaten a bagel in 4 years ... but I must have gone through 20 or 30 bags of them while I was growing Cassidy). This book did a great job of explaining what happens to food when you eat and how the body processes various forms of nutrients. It also had a brief summary of a huge number of diets, books, and exercise plans with a rating of each. From this resource, I found several other books I was interested in reading.

Most recently I finished reading The Rosedale Diet by Ron Rosedale and Carol Colman. Low Carb Living and the Rosedale Diet had interesting chapters on supplements and what various vitamins are good for. Based on this information, I chose a variety of vitamins that I thought would help me based on my body and how I feel. Since then, I have been taking vitamins regularly.

In the morning:

• 1 multi vitamin



• 1 fish oil: 1200mg



• 1 calcium + vitamin D: 600mg Ca, 400IU Vit. D



• 1 vitamin B complex



• 1 magnesium: 130mg

In the evening:

• 1 fish oil: 1200mg



• 1 calcium + vitamin D: 600mg Ca, 400IU Vit. D



• 1 B6



• 2 magnesium 260mg

For a while, I thought that my new vitamin routine was making me sick because I was throwing up after breakfast several times each week and feeling gassy and nauseated a lot of the time. Of course, my first thought was, "oh crap, I'm pregnant." But after I reassured myself with several tests that that wasn't the case, I started to look into why I might be feeling sick.

The culprit: my birth control pills - Femcon Fe. Around October or November, I started on a new brand of birth control pills when Cassidy finished with breast feeding. The pills my doc gave me were chewable (which I really didn't need, but I think she just had a couple months of samples to give me and once I started on them, I just stuck with them). Well, I figured out that those pills have sucralose (the generic form of Splenda). I'm terribly sensitive or allergic to Splenda. When I eat it, within minutes I have major gas, bloating, cramping, etc. Apparently taking the pills every night with that tiny amount of sucralose in them was having a HUGE effect on my body over time, but not enough at one dose to allow me to associate the pill with the source of my discomfort - or maybe I just didn't notice because I took them before bed every night. With my unknown daily intake of sucralose, any slip up I had with eating anything else with sucralose put me in misery for days. After two packages of instant oatmeal (yep, sucralose), I was doubled over with cramping on and off for about 2 weeks. Now that I'm vigilant about the presence of sucralose, I see that it is EVERYWHERE! Oatmeal, various medicines with flavoring, syrup, many reduced calorie/low sugar foods, virtually every reduced calorie drink out there, even in my listerine - which I still use but rinse well after I gargle.

I've now switched to a generic pill containing the same hormones but without the sucralose. Within the first month of the new pill, I was taking my vitamins in the morning without a problem and feeling better overall.

Now I am thrilled with my vitamins! There have been several times over the past few months when I thought I was about to get sick... you know that feeling the day before you come down with a cold... scratchy throat, tired, achy? Well, each time, I've expected to get hit with a knock me down, dragged out cold or flu ... and each time, I've felt that way for about 1 day and then I get better! Yeah Vitamins!!!!

I'm waiting for three more books that I've ordered: The Schwarzbein Principle, The Fat Resistance Diet, and The Women's Health Perfect Body Diet. They were also mentioned in my Living Low Carb book as being good references for nutrition, health, and the science behind it, even if the diet isn't a match for you.

Running

Ran 2 miles last night.

The first 1.5 I finished in 15min 27 seconds. The next 0.5 mile I took my time... around 7 or 8 minutes with a really slow jog in there to recover from the sprint at the end of the 1.5 miles.

600mg ibuprofen, ice for the knees, and feeling great!