Quick Learner

Carleigh's learned early that accessories can make the outfit!

Look who's letting go!

He's definitely not starting to walk but Parker is getting braver with standing!  You have to watch him because he has started letting go of whatever he is holding on to!

He already has the instinct to sit when he falls and let's just say it's good that there's lots of padding in diapers.  I think it's fair to say that Parker is ready to get moving!

Last race for a while

I'm trying to stay positive.  Last weekend some friends and Dusty and I ran in the Fiesta Mission 10K.  Even though I had a twinge of hip pain (this intially came on about a month ago) I thought my recent cortisone shot in my hip would get me through it and I was excited about racing in such amazing weather.  Alamo Heights definitely is a challenging area to run but the hills only make you stronger.  Unless your me.  And then they make you hurt more.

Dusty and I both had PRs for a 10K.  He finished in 42:22 and I finished in 49:15!

8

23

104

Jessica Tondre

284

00:49:15

7:56 min/m

Pre Race

Post Race

Our friend Megan placed 2nd in her age division!

Jen, Megan and me post race

The PRs were great news but post race, when the endorphins wore off, my hip twinge had turned into a serious hip PAIN.  I normally push through pain, and have that crazy runner's "no pain, no gain" mentality.  Doctors always tell me that's what ultimately ends me up in their office.  So I went back to the orthopedic doctor Tuesday after a rough weekend with hip buckling and the inability to bear weight on that side.

To my dismay, no shot could be given and the doctor suspects a hip labral tear.  This is a tear in the cartilage that surrounds your hip socket.  It is very serious and can mean the end of high impact activities forever.  My doctor scheduled an MRI and Arthrogram to be sure what the issue is for 3 weeks from now and in the mean time I am not supposed to run.

I haven't taken off 3 weeks off running since my knee surgery in January 2005 and before that it's been since the summer before college when I began long distance running.  It is seriously a part of me and I have been feeling very disparaged.  I spent about a day or two feeling sorry for myself and then realized that I don't even have the results of the tests yet and that I can look at the situation two ways.  I can be bummed out about having to rest or excited about the opportunity to have a healed body.  It's been over a year since I've ran pain-free (foot issues, ankle tendonitis, achilles heal pain, knee pain, and IT Band tightness).  Almost all of these are related to overuse.  

I am choosing to stay positive.  I am exploring lower impact activities and incorporating yoga into my routine 2 x a week.  Let's hope the rest helps and the doctor's prognosis is wrong.  Until I do the testing and go to my follow up ortho appointment, I will have to race vicariously through friends and be a great cheerleader!!!  Luckily, I have lots of experience with that.

6 Months Old!

Friday marked Parker's 6 month birthday! A half a year has gone by already?  That's insane!

At Parker's office visit this morning, he weighed 16 lbs. 15 oz (30%) and was 26 and 3/4 inches (60%) tall with a whopping 45.5 cm head circumference (+90%)!  I think his big head makes him look chunkier than he really is.

Parker has been sitting up unassisted for over 2 months, but in the last month, he's really gotten to where you can leave him on the ground sitting and he can play independently without falling over.  Now his new thing is to lurch his body forward with his hands outstretched to try to get things that escape him even though his upper body strength isn't good enough to keep him up.  It's funny to hear him grunt and finally roll over to get him out of that predicament.  He'll hold a crawl stance but once he reaches forward, he collapses.  He's definitely happier on his feet standing with assistance or jumping up and down vs. being on his belly.  

He still isn't sleeping through the night (in terms of giving us a full night's sleep).  He usually only awakes once around 3 am to eat unless his teeth (or lack thereof) are bothering him, in which case he wakes twice.  He has had his two top center teeth close to breaking since Easter Sunday (we took him to the doctor thinking it was an ear infection, when they told us it was his teeth).  I keep checking and they have not surfaced but are visible just below his gum line.  Leave it to men to not be able to handle the least bit of pain (thanks for that thought, Kira!).  Something tells me, Parker isn't going to be the best teether.

Big news for this month is: we switched his formula to milk-based formula!!! (Similac Sensitive)  The reason we did it was because post ear infections/mid-teething he was eating poorly (maybe taking in 11-12 oz at most during the day with very little solids) and often only drinking Pedialyte.  I wanted to do a sort of "taste test" to see if it was really about his teeth (and I feared another EI) or about the milk's taste.  We are happy to report that, while he isn't eating like a champ, he has begun to drink more and seems to like the taste better.  Aside from worse eczema and more spit up, he hasn't showed signs of toleration issues.  And his solid intake has increased to 2-3 stage 1 jars per day!

Parker's currently wearing size 3 diapers, size 3-6/6 month clothing and size 12 month hats.  Guess he has a big brain in that noggin!

Speaking of his head, at church a few weeks ago, the Pastor said a funny phrase about bald men (though that's not all I took out of the sermon).  He said that God only made so many perfect heads.  The rest he put hair on.  I had to laugh, because that is so Parker!  Ok, there's some blonde peach fuzz on his head, but let's not kid ourselves.

Funny how a few years can make you forget.  I just looked back at blog posts about Carleigh at this age and she was eating 12 oz. a day over a 24 hour period and waking 4 times a night to consume so very little!!!   We are so blessed that Parker doesn't have the dietary issues that Carleigh did (and that Carleigh overcame them) and is a relatively decent sleeper and eater.  Most important though, Parker is happy!!!

Happy 1/2 birthday buddy!

Bye bye bath seat!

Last weekend we packed up the bath seat forever.  Parker no longer needs it and loves splashing around independently at bath time!

Bathing them together has become easier and more enjoyable because there is a lot more space for them to play.

Yay for bathtime!

Parker's Mohawk

There may not be much hair but Parker can still rock a mohawk!

How to get things done with two small children

How do you give two dirty dogs baths with two little kids in the house?  Include them, of course!

It turned out to be a super fun chore for them both!

Easter morning egg hunt

We weren't at a shortage for eggs, candy or an eager hunter!  Another egg hunt commenced at our house Easter morning.

All this Easter goodies/Easter bunny talk over the weekend made me realize that I've gotta get this girl in Sunday School!

Easter Race Fun

As promised, here was what went on post egg-hunt.

The girl loves to run!  Future track star, perhaps?

Easter Party Part 2

Save for Parker, all the kids were anxious to get the egg hunt underway!

There were 9 kids and over 200 eggs!  

Carleigh was focused and intense.  Anyone who knows me, knows this is my "concentrating" face, too!

The other kids were eager and excited, too!

How could the day get any more fun?  Well, it did!  

  

Videos to come in future posts later this week.

Easter Party Part 1

Food + family + friends = FUN!

On Easter Eve, good friends and lots of family got together at Mimi and Papaw's house for an egg hunt/dinner party!

The family loved hanging out with Carleigh.

 

And everyone wanted to get their hands on Parker!

And lots of our friends made for a very special time!