Cub Scouts, Therapy and More!

*Note:  I wrote this post last night, but something went wrong and I couldn't post it until this morning.*

Sorry I've been MIA all week.  Well, for two weeks, really.  Just when I think I'm going to get caught up, I get more behind.  So, I'll just start and see where it takes me.

I'll have to save the Murphy/ADD update for another day.  Too much to write tonight.

Murphy joined the Cub Scouts.  Tom thought it would be a good way for him to learn team lessons (since he's not interested in sports) and we were thinking that maybe it would somehow help him with his school issues.  Can't hurt to try, right?

This past Monday was his first Den (?) meeting.  I have not learned all the right lingo yet.  I know he's a Tiger Cub and they are part of a Den, which is part of a Pack.  And I also know that Tom is now his Den Leader.  hehe  I know, cute, huh?  I also know that we had no business making another time commitment.  But the only thing Murphy does is gymnastics one afternoon a week.  And Tom thought it would be good for him (Murphy) to experience this.  And no, Tom was not a cub scout when he was a kid.

The girl scouts sell cookies (yum) and the boy scouts sell popcorn.  So, if you want some popcorn, you know who to call!!!

Cooper started preschool.  He goes three mornings a week.  The first week went great.  He walked into his classroom and said "bye" to me and went on about his business.  The second week he cried like no tomorrow and refused to enter the classroom.  The teacher takes him and he reaches over her shoulder for me calling "Mommy!  Mommy!" while crying hysterically.  It's quite torturous.  But, the teacher tells me that he only cries for a few seconds and goes on about his day.  He's happy when I pick him up and she always says he does great.  So, I think that's going well.  Hopefully each day he will cry less and less and then all will be well.

Last Thursday was a killer day (aka Therapy Thursday).  I had to run all over town, rushing to appointments.  Harlie has feeding, speech and physical therapies.  In between those appointments, Tom and I met at the pediatrician's office to discuss Murphy, and I had to pick up Cooper from preschool.  I also had to pick Murphy up early from school to take him with Harlie and I to physical therapy.  That way, while Harlie was getting therapy, I could help Murphy with his homework.  At some point during the day (I think it was during PT), someone HIT MY CAR!!  And did NOT leave a note.  Thank you very much, kind stranger.  UGH!  So, now I will have the wonderful inconvenience of having to get it fixed.  Great.  Luckily, I got to end that day with wine with a friend.  Ahhhh, there's nothing more healing than some good wine and laughs with a friend!

On Saturday the 9th, I ran my longest distance yet - 18.74 miles.  Wowza!!!  I ran for over three hours straight.  It was the hilliest run EVER with an elevation gain of 765 ft.   Prior to that run, my greatest elevation gain was 462 ft. during a 10-miler.  It was crazy hilly.  I burned over 1,800 calories (that should explain why I'm hungry most of the time).  And my heart rate averaged 85%.  Not too bad!  I am very proud of those numbers!  The only negatives (other than the hills, of course) was that I got a blister (and it hurt while running) and my IT band started hurting at mile 13.  That sucked.  It hurt like hell that last mile.  But, I took another ice bath, and I've been stretching it a lot.  So, hopefully it will be fine enough for me to finish this thing in one piece.  And then I went and got new shoes (the blister reminded me it was time).  I ran 5 miles on Tuesday night and 9 miles early Wednesday morning, and no IT band or blister issues.  So, that's a good sign.  This Saturday is a recovery week and we are just running 12 miles.  And I don't think they are going to be very hilly (running downhill doesn't help the IT band issues).  So, hopefully I can make it through those with no problems.  Then, on the 23rd, another big run - 20 miles.

On Sunday, Tom took Murphy to Carter Mountain to pick apples.  Last year, the family went.  But, this year, we just couldn't make it work.  There was no way I was going to push the double stroller up or down the mountain the day after my 18-mile run.  No way.  And there wasn't really another weekend that it could work anyway.  So, Tom took Murphy to breakfast and then they went and picked a ton of apples.  I did as little as possible while they were away.  But, I had Harlie and Cooper, so I didn't exactly rest.

On Tuesday of this week, Harlie had her 4-year old well check appointment.  That went fine.  Except she had to get five shots.  Oh, she was not happy about that.  But she remains in the 5th percentile for both height and weight, so that's good.  And she would be taller if it weren't for her vertebral issues.  At any rate, tiny as she is, she's doing great.

Today was Therapy Thursday again.  Oh, this day of the week wipes me OUT!  I know it may be hard to understand, but sitting there for therapies is exhausting!  I find myself willing her to do whatever it is they want her to do and that is very draining.  But, she's doing really well, I think.

Allison (her feeding therapist) gave her a soft piece of popcorn wrapped in mesh today.  Harlie didn't want any part of it.  But after some time she finally let her put it between her back teeth and she bit down on it some.  And she can now eat applesauce without me pureeing it.  The only problem is that she must get tired eating it like that, because toward the end of the feeding she gags on it.  Anyway, it's progress, so that's good.

And she did great in speech therapy today.  She said "Mama Duck" and some other two-word combinations.  Some of the words were only understandable because we knew what she was trying to say.  But, mama duck, I think anyone could have understood.  So, that's exciting.  Honestly, she tries to verbalize a lot.  Which is SO promising!

I had to cancel her physical therapy for today, though, to make room for her ENT follow up appointment.  I just tried to find where I blogged about her last ENT appointment, and it looks like I never did.  I thought for sure that I had talked about how the doc had to use a stainless steel catheter-type looking thing to suck all the ear gunk out of her canal.  But I must not have.  Anyway, yeah, Harlie was NOT a fan of that procedure.  Today her local ENT said that her ear tube is definitely out of her canal.  We are just going to wait and see what happens with her ears before we do anything else.  We are hoping she doesn't get any infections so we won't have to put another tube in.  Unfortunately, she didn't test very well afterwards (hearing-wise) so they are thinking there is some fluid behind her ear drum.  So, she's now on a nasal spray for the next 4-6 weeks to help that fluid drain.  That fluid is an infection risk and it doesn't help her hearing, either.  So, we'll go back in the next 4-6 weeks and see how things look.

I don't know if today wiped her out, or if she's coming down with something, but she was not acting like herself this afternoon.  I hope she was just tired.  Tomorrow morning she has gymnastics and she LOVES it.  I would hate for her to miss it.  Oh, I'll have to talk about that soon, too.  Her coach says she is doing great.  He said she is SO independent and not afraid of anything!  

Well, that's all I have time for tonight.  I really hope I can get back to updating you more regularly soon.  It is really hard to cover this much ground in one post!

Thanks for hanging in there!

~Christy