Still healing

The cast is off- Thank goodness.  It will still take quite a bit of time to completely heal.  I lost about 30% of my range of motion in my arm and have exercises that I must complete each day.  They are completely hardcore exercises (in jest) and hurt so much (in earnest- or if you must "for reals").  I have to straighten my arm with my palm facing down and then rotate my palm to face upwards.  The other one is for me to bend my arm and attempt to touch my shoulder.  Neither can be completed successfully.  In 3 weeks, if that  is still the case, I will begin physical therapy appointments.

this cast thing (a woe is me entry)

On Tuesday July 18th, I set out on a group run in Hyde Park area and came back with a broken elbow. I tried to convince myself that it wasn't broken by running the rest of the route and attempting to drive the manual transmission back home.  When I couldn't hold the keys in my left hand, I knew something was wrong.  I got a ride home that night, figured out who could watch the girls, and headed off to the ER for 4 hours of fun.
Christ Hospital was great and got me all patched up and sent on my way.  I got a splint, a sling, some pain meds, cd x-ray images, and was told to call an orthopedic to make an appointment that week.  I don't spend a lot of time in ERs but I think they did a great job.
I went to the orthopedic and had a fainting spell during the x-rays.  Apparently extreme pain does that to me.  But in order to rule out more serious neurological conditions- tests were ordered and more appointment scheduled.  So a 9:30 am appointment turned into me being home at 5:15.  It was really a horrible day, worse than the day of the actual break.  Oh yeah, this is also the day when the Jeep decided not to start.  David's mom watched the girls the entire day and my neighbor was my taxi-service.
The cast is on for one month.  The pain is mostly gone unless I try to do too much.  I cannot drive, or swim, or pick up O.  It has been rough.  The girls are getting stir-crazy, David is picking up slack and running himself ragged (busy time at work too), and I feel bad about adding burdens to his load and creating a lame summer for the girls.
The cast is green, I used to like green.  It's like wearing a winter parka and is incredibly itchy.  I can run but it is slower and I get feverishly hot and need or quit or pass out.  It is going to mess up my Fall training- can't coach with it on as it slows me down and stops me.

My running

I started running the January after Olivia was born.  I was still heavy but I could hide it well, running a marathon was more of a bucket-list item than a fitness goal.  I didn't enter the running world slowly, I signed up for the Detroit Marathon (October 16th, 2011) and then had a date and a financial commitment forcing me into it.  I didn't like running.  But I did like how I felt emotionally after each run.  I felt focused yet mellow, perhaps I was too tired to feel anything else.
I didn't publish my early running career.  I didn't think it was that big of a deal.  I wasn't all that fast.  I told family and posted a few pictures- made one or 2 status updates about it.  My mind set was, "If everyone put aside 7 hours a week they too could complete a marathon."  I was proud when I crossed that finish line in Detroit, 5 and a half hours later.  But it was 5.5 hours later.  I did not like that time.  I was in pain AND I had been slow.  I wanted an either/or situation.  I wanted to be sore because I was blistering fast OR slow because I paced myself and raced smart.
I continued running.  I still sort of hated it.  I joined a training group and loved it.  I liked running with people.  I liked people.  I liked

the coaches that came to find me when I made a wrong turn, I liked someone helping me find my pace, I liked chatting and getting to talk to new people that would eventually be my "running family."
Fast-forward to today.  I am one of those coaches that gets to find people but I also help those people accomplish something they never thought possible.  I absolutely love it.  I ran several races that I am proud of this year.  Still not blistering fast.  I have become a smarter and more strategic runner.  I know to slow myself down and try to keep a nice even pace.  I am proud of my running now because I have improved leaps and bounds.  I even changed my face book picture to a running image.  This is me at the Flying Pig 2013.  I'm wearing my "COACH" shirt and high five-ing Rod- one of the coaches the found me in the early days of my running.  And I am smiling.  This race was a perfect one for me.It was taken by my running friend Vicky.  
 

David

David keeps climbing the corporate ladder.  They like him over at Nielsen and he has been promoted and also given a couple pay increases along the way.  They also do employee incentive programs for excellent performance.  We have a really cool waffle maker, a bike rack for our car, spa gift certificates, and took a trip to Disney last March with these employee perks.  I can understand why they like him.  He is smart and hard working.  He is articulate and polite with the clients.  He meets demands and deadlines.  This morning he left for work at 6:15 am.  And sometimes when I wake up he is in the upstair office on an international conference call.  He really is amazing.  However being amazing does not always line up with the Metro bus schedule and he bought a car a few months back.  (Way to bury the lede, right?)  I would not get to excited or jealous though- it is a mint green 1997 grand marquis.  A bit of an old man car.  It was well taken car of and rides smooth-perfect for longer commutes that David makes at least once a week now.  Maybe this is a link to a picture of David's car on Facebook?
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=578616652168207&set=a.578616588834880.140365.100000596330205&type=1&theater   

Olivia

Olivia is 2.5 now.  She has a bit of sass but is cute enough to pull it off.  I often see it come out when I'm performing motherly tasks like diaper changing, nail clipping, or hair brushing.
Olivia:  "Ow, hurts"
Me: "No, it doesn't hurt"
O: "Yeah, hurts" (With just the slight hint of a valley girl accent)
Her thing lately has been pretending to be a cat- specifically a baby cat... not a kitten... a baby cat.  She is stringing together several word sentences, climbing, walking, running, playing.
Her hair is straight during the winter months because it is so dry.  I had been avoiding substantial hair cuts for the first two years of her life because I was afraid of losing her curls.  When I thought they were gone, I cut it.    Today was a balmy 90 degrees and her hair curled right back up.  She is pretty adorable.
I still call her my baby, even at 2 and a half.  I probably always will.  She tries to correct me- "no, girl" to which I say, "you're a baby until you can go potty in the toilet."  She is not interested in that business yet.  But has been tempted on occasion to at least sit on the potty- if Swedish Fish are involved.  
That is O at the beach a year ago in March.  I'm sort of playing a roulette game with images I'm using today.  The thumbnails I am given, are less of a thumbnail and more of an ant sized image.  I click on one, wait forever for it to load, and if it correlates to what I am saying at all- I'll add it.  She is still as cute and as chubby as she is in this picture- she is also longer, louder, and faster.

Caitlin's

Caitlin has mere days left on the school calendar.  Still LOVING our school.  In the montessori program students stay with the same teacher for 3 year- Caitlin will be changing her teacher as she starts first grade this upcoming school year.  We have been so lucky to have and super impressed with her teachers and sure are going to miss them.  I'm a little anxious about the transition and wrote a letter to the principal requesting a classroom environment that would aid Caitlin's learning style.  She learns best with structure, order, cleanliness, and a clear set of expectations.  I'm still working on providing these at home; her kindergarten teachers are masters at creating this environment.  We will not know the new teachers until the results of the 3rd grade OAA test comes back.
(This year enacts legislation that requires all 3rd graders to test proficient on state standardized testing.  Not testing proficient means they are still in third grade.  At our school, 12 students were on this bubble- they did not pass or were unable to take the mid-year test- and needed to test again in May.  In late June, theses results will be returned.  Until we know what third graders are staying in which classes (zero or all 12) we do not know what slots are available.  At montessori schools grades 1-3 are in a mixed classroom.)
So in August, I will know if my letter worked.  I believe it will work.  If not, I can always request a change if the environment is not suited for her.  I just want her to continue to love school and learning and have great classroom experiences.
Here's what we looked like in December.  Still not figured out how to rotate it.  I'm having all sorts of technical difficulties today.

Audrey's update

Audrey is done this week and has made remarkable progress in school.  We originally decided to do 2 years of preschool with Audrey to help with speech therapy costs.  Our insurance covered 20 visits/year and then the out of pocket costs for one visit was only about $50 less than a month of pre-school costs.      When she was evaluated, she passed the threshold help and did not qualify for school speech services.  I was happy that she was not too far behind but a little bummed we did not qualify for services.  I talked to her teacher and the speech pathologist at the school and put Audrey on the radar.  Her teacher has been great about tracking Audrey's progress and helping out here.  I believe she is making progress by watching and talking to her peers as well.  I just blogged for the first time since November... Do you really think I'm going to figure out how to fix the picture too?  I tried and failed, sorry.