TNT Tri - 1st meeting

Okay... just got back from my initial meeting w/ TNT for the Tri... uh, we start training next Tuesday at 7am.. in a SWIM SUIT!!! Way to make me show up for the 'first day of school' in a swim suit!! Can't we uh, run or something? I know how to run... I'm not so sure I'm going to look like an athlete 1. in a bathing suit, 2. in a pool. ha ha Do I wear my goggles and swim cap?? ha ha I'll let you guys know how it goes.

We are going to try out a trailer/stroller from Schwinn tomorrow... I HOPE the kids like it and I HOPE we can keep it... I've got to go for a 1 hour long ride next Wed.... maybe I'll be doing that when Tom comes home. Hope Tom's ready to do some serious baby duty!!! ha ha He'll be alone w/ them for two hours next Sat while I'm out on a group ride. Hope I can hang...

Did I mention that our coach has done TWO Iron Mans and an Ultra Marathon.. oh and he's 23 years old.

I also got information about my honored patient her name is Savannah Lynn Figgy – she is 8 years old and was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) on June 6th, 2005. She is currently in the maintenance phase of chemotherapy. She receives chemo and gets blood tests once a month, every three months she has a lumbar puncture and she takes medication daily, weekly and every weekend. Savannah’s treatment is scheduled to end on August 16, 2007… just ten days before our big race. This will be a big day for Savannah and we will be excited to celebrate this great milestone by completing our race. As I write this letter Savannah is getting reacclimated in school after a round of treatment. I am thinking about taking on something new and different and it is a bit scary… reminding myself of what Savannah is going through will help to inspire and motivate me to stretch and challenge myself.

The mission of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. 75% of the total expenses of the Society’s audited annual report are spent on this mission. The Society provides support to families who are battling the disease through patient educations programs, information resource centers, peer and family support programs and patient financial aid and supports research to improve the treatment, drugs and survival rates of all blood cancers.

My first fund raising deadline is June 1st so please send your donations in as soon as possible – you may mail me a check made out to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (put my name on the memo line) or donate online by going to my fund raising site: http://www.active.com/donate/tntwi/tntwiLMount


Plugging my nose and jumping in!

She's clapping

so cute... look what I caught Lily doing on her own. They are growing up SO fast!!

Team in Training and Accenture Chicago Triathlon

I'm Back ... and I'm here to let you know... I can REALLY shake it down. (some song - love my quoting skills?)

So I'm back in the saddle and running regularly. I've always wanted to do a Tri... I love TNT and definitely need the support of a team and coach to get ready for this thing.... so here we go. I'm plugging my nose and jumping in. TNT and Tri here I come!

We will be completing the International distance of the Accenture Chicago Tri on August 26th, 2007. I will be starting fund raising immediately and have a required fund raising goal of $2600. I won't cap at that... I'll raise as much as I can. As soon as I get my fund raising site set up I will link to it here. I will also do updates on my training for all that are interested in my progress. I'm sure the swimming entries will be quite comical - who knows, maybe I'll surprise myself. HA!

If you've never heard of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society or their Team in Training program please check it out. I started my involvement with them way back in 1998 and I must say by extension that is how I met my husband. My best friend (met her through TNT) is married to Tom's brother Andy. Anyway - along w/ my husband I have met some of my very best friends through this organization. It's a great way to meet like minded people... both in regard to giving back by supporting LLS, but in regard to leading an active lifestyle.

I'm so excited about this opportunity for my mental wellness and to be giving back to such a great cause. I'm also excited to do my own 'trial' of the Shaklee endurance products... I'll let you know how it goes. If it helps fuel this mom of twins to complete a triathlon w/o killing herself then I would say it's GOOD STUFF!

Stay tuned for updates. I hit my first meeting tomorrow night at this cool new store in Middleton: Endurance House.

Make new friends and keep the old...

"Make new friends and keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold" - some girl scout song.

My friend Steph hosted a get together of my highschool friends at her house this past weekend. I'm so sad to not have been able to attend. You can see some sweet 'before' photos of us in HS along w/ a nice 'after' shot from the weekend on her blog HERE.

Her post got me thinking back on all of the great people that have both come in and out of my life and those that have stuck around for the long haul. We're all spread out all over the place, but thanks to email and blogs we are able to keep in touch pretty regularly.

These people have helped form and shape me into who I am today and many have seen me through some pretty ugly (and I'm not just talking the "ugly phase" of junior high) times. I'm so thankful to those that stuck by me through dark/ugly times and recognized that 1. it was a phase and that 2. I really NEEDED them more then than I did when I was my 'normal' self. (you know who you are and what I'm referring to! THANKS)

I can see pockets of time and groups of people from each of those times in my life... some overlap... like the girls above... some dating back as far as elementary school, then to junior high, then high school, college and now today ... via email mostly, but hey we do what we can.

Then there are my college pals that I still talk w/ frequently and get together w/ as often as I can... then my "seattle" friends... some of which aren't currently in Seattle. Also called my 'running' friends. I still "run" with them every time I'm out there reliving different runs and using them - still - to pull me through tough runs.

And today in my new home I make new 'mom' friends (I REALLY promise I don't intentionally label my friends... I'm only referring to pockets of my life as things happen... now a lot of you have joined the 'mom' friends too).

I make new friends, but I do my damnedest to keep the old... I hold so much value in each and every one of your friendships and I go to each and every one of you for support, laughs, tears, hugs and inspiration ... so forth and so on.

Thank you for being you... for being great... and for being my friends! I love you all!

(Shannon, can I start crying now!? ha ha)

I found myself day dreaming about a big party where I could get all these great women together in one spot... maybe my big 4-0!? ha ha

58 degrees!

It was 58 degrees today so we returned to the zoo to see what we missed yesterday! It was great fun.. kids got their Vit D for the day, mom and grandma got some 'sanity' fresh air and much needed coffee! The kiddos decide to wake up around 4am (Lily) long enough to wake me up then again at 5:10am (Jason). Jason was up for about 30 mins before I finally caved and nursed him. Then back to bed until Lily woke up again at 6:30am.

I'm so relieved that the sun is out and temperatures are pleasurable. Here are some photos of our day. First Jason working on escaping our barricade and then a couple of our trek then our time at the zoo. There are a few more photos in our album.

dog door and sharing...

thanks to Grandma Jason figured out how to go out the dog door.. He discovered it himself, but Grandma encouraged his exit. And SHARING.. we're still learning that concept. (Katie/Michael, sorry about your Xmas card - I guess J and L wanted to play w/ the girls.)

Happy 10 months!

Okay.. so getting 10 month photos was TOUGH. And we didn't really get a good one, but I think the following captures the 'essence' of 10 month olds... and trying to get them to sit still for a photo. and a couple more pics of my hair.. shows the color. :)









and the hair... :) Not sure how I feel about the color yet. :) It seems like it's "not me" to have my hair colored like this. :)





Karen, have fun w/ your hair. You better post pics for us to see. I really like your hair short! :)

Shorter...

I promised Julie pictures of my hair after my next cut. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I was thinking about going shorter for the summer instead of growing it out in the hot humid summer months. I still wasn't sure what to do today so I talked w/ the hair lady and this is what we came up w/.... I'm not sure if you can tell by the photo, but I also got it colored.. red and blonde 'highlights'... I wanted to do something fun for summer.







I'm happy w/ the way it turned out, but damn is it scary while you are doing it! :)

Happy April!

Here's the view out my windows.....

Um... it's snowing.

Is it April or is someone lying to me!? Just wanted to let you know that it is April 11th and it's SNOWING outside... the high was around 44 yesterday... hmmm At least (hopefully) it won't stick around too long. I think the temps will be back up tomorrow and the snow will be melted and we can all move on w/ our lives and forget this ever happened. Hopefully the sun will stay and the temps will continue to rise on into the summer months w/ no more backslides into February weather!

Jason is trying more and more to stand on his own and is a walking champ w/ his walker. Some older boys (13months) were over yesterday showing off their walking skills... wait did I already mention this??? anyway Jaosn was watching them like a hawk. He'll walk pushing anything.. his table on the hardwood (how he gets it there??) the baby yard... whatever he can get his mits on.. the second shelf is now his favorite. He doesn't even mess w/ the first shelf ... it's SO last year!

Lily is still pretty content just crawling around and standing up at things... she's not real interested in walking at this point. We'll see how things change over time.

Babies call gotta go!

teeth, walking and jealousy!

So I took the video below (the last post) last night and today Jason is pulling up on the walker and walking by himself!! AH!

Here is a pic of Lily's teeth (can you see them???) It's been really challenging to get a shot of them so this is as good as I could get..



And while I was taking her photo Jason got jealous so I took his:

walker ... walker... walker

And they are enjoying their walker here and there... so ladies.. give me your experiences... how soon till they are taking steps on their own? ha



I'm considering carrying my video camera around w/ me for a while to document a 'day in the life' ha ha

some videos

here are some cute videos.. :) I've got no words right now.. sorry. Just beat. ha
Some playing...

and the EVER EVENTFUL diaper change... Jason is going a mile a minute these days!

Midwest Spring

Why can't I remember spring from last year? My turn to have a little hissy fit over the weather....

So i ran on Monday... wore light pants and a light shirt and felt overdressed.. this afternoon I wore heavy pants, a "warm" shirt, a jacket, a hat and gloves and FROZE MY ASS OFF! It's freakin' 26 degrees out!

I am thinking back to easters of my youth wearing dresses albeit w/ tights, but NO hats, NO gloves, NO freakin' ear muffs and down jackets.

It IS April, right? According to all of my sources it is April and NOT December.

Here I am left reassessing my definition of quality of life.. is it - as I have always felt - being able to afford to live in an urban area where I can walk to the store and a coffee shop or is it JUST being able to walk to WHEREVER (my mailbox or to the car) w/o freezing my butt off!!!!

Okay.. I'm done - for now - at least Tom enjoys his job (not something most can say) and we are blessed to live in an area we like (despite the weather). I'm going to sign off now and go have a piping hot cup of tea then a nice warm shower (provided the babies sleep long enough to do all that).

Getting back in the swing..

so far Jason is staying healthy and Lily is working through her croup/cold. Her nose is runny now and she had a semi-rough night last night between the croup and the major thunder / lighting storm we had last night.

Here are some fun pics I got today...

the future executive...


or maybe Lily is the Executive and here she is giving dictation to her assistant! ha


And a video for good measure:

Our first trip to Urgent Care

Last night/this a.m. around 3;30am Lily woke up crying and was making this weird barking/coughing noise. I didn't think much of it at 3:30am and wasn't sure if it was her or Jason b/c it was dark in the room.. and well, it was 3:30am. I thought it might have been Jason snoring. Anyway... fast forward to the end of our car ride today. Lily was sick of being in her seat and started crying and started the barking/coughing thing again. I leaned over the top of her seat to check on her and it looked like she was having trouble breathing and she was wheezing a bit. After she calmed down she flashed me a big smile and seemed fine.... until she got up from her next nap. She started crying and when I got there she was doing the barking/wheezing thing again. We called the on call doc at her pediatrician's office and she said she was pretty sure she had croup from what she could hear over the phone and what I was telling her and that we should take Lily to Urgent Care and that she might need some Steroids.

We headed over...at first I was just taking Lily then we thought it might be a good idea to take Jason too... so they could check him out if need be. Turns out the doc was right and Lily has croup. It's most likely Viral, but could be bacterial and is caused by the parainfluenza virus. There is inflammation of the wind pipe and upper air way which causes the barking.. you just have to wait it out, but can do steam rooms (bathroom w/ shower on), cold wet outdoor air or steroids to help ease the inflammation. They wanted to give her an injection there that is stronger and lasts 48 hours, but we opted for the oral steroid since her case - right now - seems somewhat mild. Of course tonight as we were getting ready for bed she started wheezing a lot.

Anyway... we are fine... she should be over it in the next 3 to 7 days. :)

It's good to be home...

We are HOME! It's in the 40s and that pretty much sucks, but it's good to be back. We had a great trip to Papa and Grandma's and had a nice relaxing day w/ Todd, Julie, Cooper and Anna yesterday. Jason and Lily did a great job on the trip, but they were ready to be done in the car. :) They are up to new tricks already. Jason is pulling up on the gate on his tippy tippy toes and acting like he wants to climb it... oy vey! I think he will be walking before I know it.

I'm working on uploading a bunch of photos... more to come.