Sticking to the Program

Yesterday was Day 3 of working out since I started my one year commitment. It went great!

The whole thing started off bad on Monday when I barely made it to 1.5 miles with really bad pain in my right knee. This was the 3rd time it had happened to me and forced me to stop running way before I should have. I couldn't run at all the rest of the trail.

Going into yesterday I was very hesitant about running. My schedule is to run Monday and Thursday and lift (P90X) on Tuesday and Friday. I've been having a lot of headaches lately and have had no appetite at all. So, yesterday when I got home, I had a pretty bad headache and waited to run until after dinner and the headache had subsided. By then it was dark so I ran on the treadmill in our basement. I usually hate running on a treadmill. It seems like you run 3 times as far as you really do and the mental aspect is hard because of the boredom. I've found that if I stick a movie in, I can zone out into the movie and just go!

I made it 3.1 miles with no pain in my knee! My time was horrible (35 minutes) but I got it done. Usually I could care less about running exactly 3.1 miles, but there's a 5K in 2 weeks that I'd like to be able to run in. My running form is always bad on a treadmill so I felt it a lot more in my calves and Achilles tendon than normal, but my knee was good. I wore different shoes to run inside too. Whether it was the shoes, the bad form, the treadmill, or that my knee is healed, I had no pain in it. Awesome! Hopefully it continues to do fine so I don't have to see a doctor about it.

The day was topped off by Jace being so adorable you could scream! He was laughing more than I've ever heard him laugh last night. At silly things too. He seemed giddy! He would giggle and giggle at everything and then belly laugh like I've never heard him do before! It was awesome! A great night!

Tonight I'm looking forward to working my shoulders, biceps and triceps! Or the glamour muscles as Tony Horton from P90X calls them, lol!



Thankful Thursday: Teeth, Hurting & Being Out Done

It's Thankful Thursday ya'all!!! It's been quite some time since I've done a Thankful Thursday post. You have my sincerest apologies! We've been pretty busy lately, but what else is new right? I know I always say that. Sometimes the daily routine does get exhausting and my blogging slacks. Wake up, treatments, work, treatments, play with boys, eat, exercise, relax for 30-60 min, put boys to bed, go to bed. Weekdays are pretty jam packed! Who'd have guessed that twins would be so much work, lol! Not me obviously! Haha! Life is still fantastic though! No matter how busy it may seem, we are always surrounded by so many blessings! It's so nice to step back and observe a few once a week! So here they are, our Thankful Thursday lists:

Monica's List:

to be continued....

Jeremy's List:

I'm thankful for hurting! Sore muscles from working out, hurting that is. I started my One Year Challenge this week. I ran Monday (and discovered I may have developed some knee issues) and lifted Tuesday via P90X DVD. Man, oh man did I forget how tough those are! I am really out of shape. I coughed a ton! I felt completely spent halfway through the DVD. Somehow I mustered the will power to finish it out, and I'm glad I did! It feels good to be able to "feel" my muscles again. There's nothing like waking up, trying to get out of bed and going, "Whoo buddy I'm sore!" Let's you know you're alive and accomplished something! I'm really looking forward to being in the best shape of my life at the end of this year long commitment!!!

I'm thankful for two little teeth! Our boys are growing up so fast! Jeriah now has two little teeth! It's so cute when kids get their first two teeth and are running around with two little teeth at the bottom of their smile! It's a little sad, as we're used to seeing gummy smiles up until now. It's getting harder to accept that they're growing up. I like the sleep on your chest, cuddly, baby phase. Jeriah is quickly growing out of that. It's a little easier since Jace still enjoys his cuddle time!

I'm thankful for a motivating wife! When Monday rolled around I was not feeling it. Usually I make up my mind to start working out or running and mentally I'm determined and strong. Not this time. Mentally I was not there. Not ready to run. Partially because I knew it was going to be hard, and partially because I knew I was going to cough like crazy! It was hard and I coughed like crazy! Monica was ahead of me the whole time and she was pushing the boys in the jogging stroller! How lame am I? Haha! She even sprinted up the hill at the end pushing them! She's a very determined individual and it's super motivating! I love her and am so thankful for her!

So, what are you thankful for today?!??!?!?



Jeriah Week: "Momma" & Teeth

Jeriah has had a "mom"umental week! He's said "momma" a few times before but usually while continuing to say "mum-mum-mum-mum" over and over. A couple times he just said "momma" but it sounded like more of a fluke. He's still less than 6 months old so maybe it is still a fluke, BUT it sounds pretty convincing to me!

Yesterday I had the boys by myself while Monica was at work. It's a lot of work but twice as much fun as it is work! While I was burping Jeriah after he ate, he was in a talkative mood so I jumped on the opportunity to try and get him to say momma and it worked! As you will see in the video he repeats it 4 times after I tell him to! and it's a pretty clear "momma" a couple of those times!

I also noticed he was a little grumpy yesterday. He was kinda fussy and whining which isn't like him at all. He had only taken one 30 minute nap from 8:00am until 4:00pm which I thought was the problem. When Monica got home today with the boys, she put Jeriah in my lap and said "Feel his gums."

He has TWO TEETH!!!!!!

They're both sticking out and you can feel them and see them clear as day! It was literally overnight! We thought it would be awhile for either of them. They kind of had bumps but not very big ones. Guess we were wrong, our little booger has teeth now!

I tried to get some good pics of his two little teefies. He doesn't like to hold still nor have fingers in his mouth trying to pull his lip down and hold his mouth open, lol! See for yourself!

P.S. Just because this is a post about Jeriah doesn't mean I can't put some adorable pics of Jace in here too! He's too cute not to!

 

 

 





5 Months Old: Update & Pics

The boys turned 5 months old on September 12th! I'm slightly behind in posting this update. :) They are doing fantastic! Not sure what all I've posted update wise on them and I'm too lazy at the moment to go back and read my earlier posts. So if I've already told you some of this stuff, well..... enjoy it a second time!

The boys have been spending a lot of time in their walkers and jumpers, which they love! It's so incredible watching them grow and progress! It's funny watching them jump. We'll sit and laugh at them and watch in amazement. Jeriah gets excited and jumps really hard and high. He kicks the ground when he comes back down and really gets that thing bouncing! Jace will jump forever at a nice steady pace, just bouncing away. They both will stay in the jumper for sooo long! Sometimes in the evening when we're getting their bath water ready, preparing their rice bottle or getting their food ready (they eat now), they'll be getting fussy but will keep jumping away even while fussing/crying. It's so funny!

They both are doing great at eating! Jeriah got the hang of it quicker and seems to enjoy eating more. Jace seems just as content to nurse. He'll definitely be the harder one to wean off nursing. He loves his momma and really enjoys his cuddle time and nursing. Jeriah seems to want to cuddle less and less. He's a mover! He never holds still. He's always wiggling, trying to climb up my chest, sit up, roll over, jump, grab his feet, etc. He's gonna be our handful!

We've started sleep training recently. It started off pretty rough! More so on Monica as she's the one that mainly gets up with them at night. It's really paying off though! They fall asleep on their on faster every night and more awake each night. They are sleeping 7 hours again before eating and usually fall back asleep after they eat. It's been wonderful! Jace had been harder as he's the cuddly one that loves being with his momma. We think it has been more a separation issue than anything with him. He still wakes up once or twice but falls back asleep quickly on his own. They're both in so much better moods too! They've always been really good babies, but they have been even happier since they've been sleeping more.

Overall they're doing fantastic!! They're pretty much out of their 3 month clothes now :( We're gonna have to take inventory of what 6 and 9 month stuff we have and start preparing for winter!

Enough chit chat, here's way too many pics for you to enjoy!

Jeriah - "Whatcha wanna do today?"
Jace - "How bout a nap?"

LOVE these puppy dog eyes!

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My One Year Challenge

I recently posted about my commitment to fitness. My goal is to do 2 days of running and 2 days of lifting a week for a one year period. I've been slacking in the exercise department and that has always had negative consequences. It's been quite some time since my last hospital admission and I want to keep it that way!

I've been compliant with my treatments now for over 2 years. I rarely miss a set of treatments. Currently I do my vest twice a day for 30 min (as soon as I figure out how to program it, I'll be changeing it to 45 min), hypertonic saline twice a day, albuterol twice a day, pulmozyme once a day, and rotate months of Tobi twice a day (nebulized) and Cayston 3 times a day. 

In addition to exercise I've been practicing taking better quality treatments. Ronnie from rsbr.com had a post some time back that stuck with me. It's something as an RT I knew, and practiced but had gotten slack on and enjoyed the reminder. He talked about taking quality treatments. 

It's easy to strap on the vest, put the neb in my mouth and zone out in the computer doing whatever waiting for my treatments to finish. However, when I do that, I notice that my breathing is more shallow and I tend to lean over or slouch. 

Shallow breathing is somethin I noticed a long time ago. I could make some educated guesses as to why, but when the vest goes on, if I don't consciously make an effort to take deep breaths I will breath shallow. If I'm shallow breathing, the medicine isn't getting down deep in my lungs where it needs to be. Also, the secretions in the bases of the lungs aren't going to be shaken loose so I can cough them out. That's the stuff that needs to be coughed up too!

So how does one take a quality treatment? Sitting up straight, taking breaks to cough, making sure not to breath shallow and take occasional deep breaths with a slight breath hold. I also like to take 10 minutes or so after my treatments to stand and cough until I feel like I've gotten every little bit of mucus out of my lungs that I can. It takes some concentration and determination but it's 100% doable! If I can do all these things without gagging a bunch and throwing up its a successful treatment set! :)

So what do I hope to accomplish over the next year? 

1. To see a rise in my PFT's ( more specifically my FEV1) hopefully back into the 70's.

2. To see an increase in my weight, hopefully into the 160's. 

3. To run a half marathon

4. To complete the Tough Mudder with a good time

5. To be the best version of myself I can be for my wife and boys! (A phrase coined by the man himself, Ronnie Sharpe)