Meet Me In St Louie Louie---Meet Me at Urgent Care!

You ever have one of THOSE days?  The one where nothing goes right?

Here was the basic idea of what our schedule looked like for the day:

4:45-6:30ish am--Kendra wakes up and starts getting ready. Mom and Kendra go to breakfast and then walk to Union Station for Kendra's shuttle. Mom walks back.

7:00--James and I wake up and get quickly get ready for breakfast.

7:30-- Eat breakfast

8:00--Start walking down to the 10 mile mark for Kendra

8:35--See Kendra run by if she's running the pace she set her goal at.

9:00-- Back to the hotel and chill

10:00-- Walk 2 miles to the Arch to watch Kendra cross the finish line

11:00-11:15--Watch Kendra cross the finish line at her goal time of a sub 4

12:00-- Back to the hotel

Rest of the day...have lunch and even possibly supper before James and I needed to leave.

Sounds pretty awesome, right?

So, this is how our day really went.

Mom and Kendra got up, ate and got to the shuttle.

Around 6:40 mom comes in my room and wakes me up by saying, "Rachel! Rachel, wake up. I hurt myself. I need you to come in here and help me!"

I hopped up and rushed in to see what happened. As it turns out, she fell in a pothole on Market Street walking back from Union Station. Not only did she slightly twist her ankle, scraped up her knee and rip a hole in her capris, but she also came down on her elbow and cut it open badly. She told me she knew she needed stitches, but she wasn't going until after the race. She had some band aids, and a wrap she got at the front desk and she needed me to help.

To give you a better image. All of this is happening as mom is sitting on the toilet in the tiny bathroom and I am on my knees on the floor still half out of it. My anxiety started to set in as she was panicking about the race. In my mind I'm trying to figure out if I can let her keep bleeding. I need to figure out how to get her to a hospital if she needs it, but also be there to support Kendra.

"You ready to see it?", she asked. No. No, I was not. She had me open the alcohol wipes and each little dab would be followed with a yelp and, "Stop!" I am not kidding you. The woman had a CRATER in her arm. A literal crater. She decided we should go in the room to wrap it...I think. That's where it gets hazy.

I stood up and stopped in the bathroom doorway. My eyes started to cloud over and my ears started ringing. I remember saying, "I feel dizzy" and the next thing I remember was hearing, "Rachel! Rachel Lynn!" and I realize I'm on the floor next to the closet outside the bathroom. I asked what happened, and mom told me I blacked out and fell in slow motion. I hit my head, but thankfully I didn't cut it open too!

Once my ears stopped ringing I was able to drink some water and help mom get her arm wrapped up, all while randomly bursting into laughter because I passed out and I've never done that before.

Thankfully, James slept through all of this in the other room until I went in to get him up.

Breakfast was uneventful...other than mom needing a doctor, but of course putting her kids first.

We left the hotel around 8 and walked to the spot we needed to see Kendra, which was around a 20 minute walk. Jacob called and told me Daniel was throwing up again. Then we waited for Kendra. And waited. Remember she said she'd run by around 8:35? Well...she didn't. We were getting a bit concerned when 15 minutes passed by. Mom told me not to tell Kendra about our morning.

Mom did have fun holding up my sign. It got a lot of laughs and compliments. Pretty proud I came up with it on my own.







Eventually we saw her coming. For once I remembered my camera. As soon as she saw us she started shaking her head. She walks over as I'm happily snapping away and burst into tears. The race wasn't going well for her. Just an off day. Her legs were like lead and she was DONE. She kept going back and forth on quitting. I kept telling her to keep going and that she'd be mad at herself later if she didn't finish. We also made sure to remind her that even if she didn't come close to her time, she could still beat the giraffe. Haha!



Her socks were also bothering her, so mom gave her's up.



Oh, and as she was crying? I was like, "Should we tell her?" So we filled her in on our crap-tastic morning and all laughed and about cried together. (James just ate animal crackers and didn't care. Typical guy.)

She really wanted to punch me.

 

Eventually she decided to continue on and if she needed to quit she would.  We walked back to the hotel and decided since she was behind her race time we'd attempt an urgent care. Called to see if they were busy and then headed to find it. It was right by the lot we always park in for Cardinals games, so we ended up parking there and heading in.

Not busy, but took forever. James was over it.



We finally get into a room at 11. Mom is leaking blood from under the bandages. James is losing his crap because he tried to get into the trash can and we yelled no. I bribed him with fruit snacks to stop crying. He wanted them in his snack cup. I put them in his snack cup. Then they got crumbs from his previous snack stuck on them. He flipped his lid and started melting down. Mom was feeling awful and nauseated. She couldn't handle the crying so we went to the van. She was already upset about how long it was taking, but then upset she was going to miss Kendra finish the race.

Around 11:30, James and I walked from the lot down to the Arch. I figured she'd cross around 12:15 and it was about 11:55. James was content riding, but once we stopped he got MAD. I knew he was tired and thankfully he eventually passed out.

 

I think it was closer to 12:30, but I finally saw her! Emotions hit me because I knew how hard she had worked and how much of a struggle she was having. I waved and cheered like crazy for her!





I was so proud to watch her finish. Did she get her goal? Not even close. In fact, it was her worst race time, but she did it. Who else can say they've ran 26.2 miles 4 times? Not me! This girl is dedicated.



We met up and I filled her in on mom who was still getting stitched up at urgent care. We started our walk back. It felt like to took forever to walk back, but I was amazed at how Kendra just trucked along. We had to take a couple of breaks along the way.



Mom was just getting finished as we got back to the van. I went with her across the street to the pharmacy to get her prescription and around 1 we finally were headed back to the hotel!

Kendra got cleaned up, while we rested a bit and tried to decide where to eat. I was hoping to be on the road by around 4.

We finally decided on TGIFriday's because it would hopefully be easy. HAHA! So, after circling the block we finally got parked in a garage. Went in and saw it was half empty. Yay! But you know how our luck was going. We were told we'd have a 15 minute wait! Apparently during slower times only half the place is open. We had our orders ready when the waitress came for drinks once we had finally been seated. FORTY minutes later our food shows up. James had been crying for nuggets for 20 minutes at that point.

I think we got back to the hotel around 4:45. Went up to get our stuff to load up. Got loaded. Said goodbye and they headed back in. That's when I realize my sunglasses are upstairs still. On the 11th floor. Texted mom and told her. She said Kendra was bringing them back down. 2 minutes later while I m waiting I realize my water is still up there too. Thankfully Kendra had both!

A lot of random crap happened in a 24 hour span, but even through it all we managed to find some humor.

In case you're wondering? We're not doing this again next year. At least no in St. Louis!

St Louis Highs and Lows- Part 1

Well, for whatever reason, this past week has been somewhat of a nightmare!

It all started last Wednesday.

Jacob and my father-in-law have been dying to take Daniel to his first Cardinals game since before he was born. This was finally the year it was going to happen. Tickets were purchased weeks in advance and Daniel had a countdown going to the big game.

Wednesday rolled around and rain was in the forecast. Hopefully nothing but maybe a rain delay. Oh no. Right as the guys got into St. Louis, they called the game and postponed it until Thursday! I felt so bad. They walked to the stadium anyway and when to the gift shop where Pa bought Daniel a bat and ball. Then they went to Steak and Shake before coming home. Unfortunately, neither Kent nor Jacob could go on Thursday which was when the game was rescheduled, so Mommy and Mimi came to the rescue. Neither one of us imagined we'd be taking Daniel to his first game. Both of us felt so bad for Kent and Jacob, but we were also excited and wanted to make the whole day special for Daniel.

We ended up with beautiful weather. A bit cold at times, but mostly it was wonderful. The sun was shining. Mimi bought Daniel some gifts, and we got him a hot dog and popcorn. He did amazingly well. He made it a full 2 hours before you could see he was getting antsy, but he  never complained! Too bad the Cubs beat us though!







The next day Daniel went to preschool, while I was at home madly packing so we could leave by 1:00 to once again go back to St. Louis! This time for Kendra's marathon. We had planned a whole weekend. Daniel was counting down to that as well and was excited about spending 3 nights instead of 2 at the hotel.

I picked him up from school and when we got home he went in and sat on the couch. He said he was hungry so I made lunch, which he hardly touched. He then went right back to the couch and sat there in silence. No TV. I was getting nervous, but he told me he felt fine.

Kendra texted to say they were running late and wouldn't be there until 3, so I decided instead of leaving at 1, we'd leave at 1:30. Only by the grace of God did it happen that way! At 1:25, Daniel bolted off the couch and threw up on the floor while running to the bathroom. He made it to the toilet, but stood...and lets just say there was a very large splash zone. I cannot imagine being 30 minutes down the road and having that happen in the van!

Needless to say, St Louis was out of the question and I spent the rest of the day half being okay and half feeling sorry for myself. As it turned out, Mom and Kendra were losing their minds in traffic half the time anyway!

I wanted to be there so badly to cheer Kendra on, on Sunday. Especially because she wasn't going to run it, but  I convinced her to. Jacob had a music event all day Saturday, but he was kind enough to take over sick kid duty when he got home at 3, which allowed James and I to go to St. Louis for the night.

The trip down went great. We arrived at the hotel and made our way up to our room on the 11th floor. Our favorite place to stay. James was excited about EVERYTHING. I think he was soaking it all in and enjoyed getting everyone to himself. He thought looking out the windows was the best. He especially loved the "AHHH-CH!" (Arch)



We headed out for supper at The Best Steakhouse. It was not at all what I had envisioned. In our minds we were going to a steakhouse. A place where you sit down and order. We walked in to a line out the door. Okay. We can handle this. Then we hear this guy yelling, "NEXT!" "NEXT!" What the? So we figure out that you're supposed to know your order in line and shout it out! Have you ever watched Seinfeld, because I felt like we were about to have a Soup Nazi moment. It was hot. I had no idea what we were doing. Finally we get mom to yell our orders, because we're 5 and can't do such things. Seriously, this was not good for anxiety. My heart was racing. Anyway...after a very long wait we finally had food. Not gonna lie. It was DELISH and totally worth the wait!






By this time it time to head back to the hotel and start getting ready for bed. James had a great time running between our adjoining rooms. We had 2 rooms because mom had reserved 2 for Saturday night so that Kendra could actually get a good night of sleep, Last year James kept waking us all up! We all chatted until around 9 and then James and I went in our room. I let him snuggle in bed with me until he fell asleep and then moved him to his pack n play, in hopes of a peaceful night of sleep before our fun day ahead...





To Be Continued...

Little Kiddos and Next Steps

This year has already been flying by.

I realized the other day that Daniel only has about 2 months of preschool left. Then, just like that it'll be over. Wasn't he just that nervous 3 year old starting school?!

Then this fall he'll start kindergarten. I remember when I was pregnant, counting ahead and thinking that 2017 seemed so far away, and yet here we are. I'm pretty sure my heart isn't ready for this yet. I mean, in reality I'm excited because quite honestly, the kid will do amazing and he needs it. Not to mention, most days I feel like I'm going crazy because he wants constant entertainment. On the other hand, I know I'm going to bawl my eyes out on his first day. Hopefully I can hold it together until after I drop him off. He's my little buddy and has grown up and matured so much since starting preschool.

James has been hit with the Terrible Twos. I tricked myself into thinking it wasn't going to happen with him. He was a more easy going baby...minus the horrible sleeper part. It turns out that even if they're slightly easier as a baby, they will still turn into little psychopaths. Unfortunately, I know all too well how long this phase will last. 2 years. Hopefully that's all anyway. He's strong willed and always wants his way. He's also loveable and sweet. I tell him he's cute and rotten.

 

It will be interesting only having James and home during the day this fall. Strange. I'm looking forward to more quality time though. He'll miss his Bubby, but he'll also love the freedom I'm sure.

I've been enjoying getting more involved at church. We've been talking about taking our "Next Steps" in following God's direction in our lives. We were challenged to pray and seek God's will for our next 5 steps in between the new year and Easter. I love seeing how God works. I know 4 of my steps. One and two were easy. Join the church and get involved in the Children's ministry. I became a member the 2nd Sunday in January, and it was really cool too because it was a combined service that day instead of our normal 2 service days. It was nice getting to take the step with everyone there. I started working downstairs at church as an assistant in the 4&5 year old class. I work down there every other week, and this past week Pastor Carlos asked me if I'd be comfortable leading that class the weeks I'm down there, so this past Sunday I did just that! Step 3 is a more personal and private step that only a few people know about. Step 4 has been by far the biggest "Whoa" moment for me.

I have not wanted to move out of Taylorville. Don't get me wrong...I hated it when I moved here. You have to remember I was from a much bigger city in Iowa, so Taylorville was depressing to me. I had known early on that Jacob wanted to live in his school district once we had kids so they could go to school there. I agreed, but only because I was just happy that even though I wasn't a fan of it, at least I got to live in Taylorville, which  is a metropolis compared to the tiny towns he teaches in.

Long story short, I planned to get my way. We were going to stay in Taylorville. Our kids would be fine going to school here. My stubbornness had taken over. I WOULD win this battle of the wills.

Except God was like, "Um, hey you. You're not in charge. I am." Alright, maybe not those exact words, but I started feeling a nudge. Then God gave me an extra push during that week's sermon. And now, I'm trusting the God will provide what we need. Right now there's not really anything available to buy and I'm nervous about trying to sell. I know that because I'm following His direction, that he's going to provide what we need at the right time. I'm not saying I'm not going to get frustrated, but I feel like if this is what God wants us to do, He will show us how to make it happen.

I don't know what step 5 is yet, but I'm sure God will let me know!

More Randomness About Me

It's time for the next edition of Random Stuff About Me.

1. The first movie I can remember seeing in the theater is The Jetsons.

2. Speaking of movies, the weirdest things I ever sneaked in were: a GIANT pixie stick which I tucked in my sock and in ran up the inside of my jeans. And also, rolls from Texas Roadhouse.

3. One time when my sister Erica and I were driving around, I ran over a laundry basket with my car, and it got stuck underneath.

4. I've locked my keys in the car probably 7 or 8 times. Locked myself out of the house twice. And locked my keys in the garage once. I have a problem.

5. After probably 15 -20 years of stomach problems,  I finally got diagnosed with diverticulosis. Amazingly it hasn't turned into diverticulitis, and hopefully won't. After I cut out nuts and popcorn I haven't had an "attack" since I was diagnosed in September.

6. I still have 3 wisdom teeth. They need to be removed, but unless they hurt, ain't nobody got the time or money for that.

7. Laughter is my coping mechanism. I laugh way too many things off, but it's how I get by.

8. I tend to start projects and never finish them because I get bored or frustrated.

9. I have no idea what I want to be when I "grow up".

10. I do feel a very strong calling from God to go on another mission trip. Right now I am just waiting to see when and where that might be. Maybe soon, maybe in several years. Just waiting on His timing.

11. I am an introvert with random days of feeling semi-extroverted.

12. I used to be really embarrassed when I did stupid things in front of other people. As I've gotten older I've learned to laugh it off more and embrace my awkwardness.

13. Movies I've watched over and over again include: Bridesmaids, You've Got Mail, While You Were Sleeping, Christmas Vacation, Sweet Home Alabama, The Notebook and Remember the Titans.

14. I had FOUR imaginary friends when I was little.

15. If I could spend a day with any celebrity it would be Ellen.

16. I have never smoked and never will.

17. We did have cable until I was a teenager and then I also did have it when I lived on my own. My weird obsession was watching the same infomercials over and over again. I really wanted a Ginsu knife, a food dehydrator and a magic bullet. LOL!

18. I am obsessed with car seat safety. It used to bother me when people made comments like, "Well, I survived." or would make comments about me doing extended rear facing, but it's my thing. I read the facts. I get the seats checked. And yes, my kids will more than likely be in a booster seat until they are 10-12 years old.

19. On a related note...everyone makes mistakes. Mine? I forgot to buckle Daniel in his bucket seat once. Made it 2 blocks before I remember and flipped out. With James, it was this past year. I had him half buckled, got distracted and forgot to finish. Once again, made it a few blocks before realizing. Eek!

20. 2 summers ago we were in Indiana. I always pray for safely when we're driving anywhere. We were on the interstate a few miles from our exit when we heard a big thud. We weren't sure what it was but the van was driving fine. We actually forgot about it when we got to the hotel. Next morning our tire was totally flat. The only reason I feel like we avoided a blow out was being God was protecting us.

A Brand New Year

There's just something about the start of a brand new year. Does is erase the bad things that happened last year? No. Can it take away your happy memories? Absolutely not! It's just a fresh new canvas, where anything can happen. Some things that will be within our control, and other won't be. A new year of activities, road trips, birthday celebrations and adventure.

I never have really liked the term, "New Year's Resolutions".  I guess because I remember always having to come up with ones at school when I was a kid and I never knew what to put, so I'd copy someone else, or make something up that I knew I wouldn't do.

I bought this new shirt from Kohl's that says, "Take Chances", and I decided to kind of make that my theme this year. I don't know exactly what that will entail yet. I'm not really a risk taker. I don't like to fail. I'm not going to jump from an airplane or anything like that. I feel like I'm going to let God take the lead on this one. I want Him to show me what he wants from me this year. And while technically listening to God's direction isn't really taking a chance, it does take a leap of faith.

I'm also getting ready to embark on a weight loss challenge. This time I doing a Biggest Loser type contest because I feel like I'll do better when I'm competing for something. (Taking a chance, ya know?) I seem to start over every year. I am what one would call a yo-yo dieter. I do well. I exercise. I take the weight off and then I start eating more and more and more, until I'm right back up to my starting weight...or like this time...have surpassed it.

Weight is a struggle for me and has been for many years now. My only saving grace is my height. It helps balance it out a little, but, after some research I've realized that I actually probably have a binge eating disorder. Like, I truly will eat embarrassing amounts of junk food. So many calories, each day. It's a true addiction to food. I joke about it, but truthfully it is a HUGE struggle. I have an awful sweet tooth, and I've always been picky. I don't like many fruits and veggies. This time around will  be even harder because 2 of my go to diet foods are on my can't eat list now due to diverticulosis. Nuts and popcorn. Let's just take a moment to mourn that loss. So this year, I will work to gain control over my addiction to food.

Another thing I am looking forward to is joining my church. This next Sunday I will become an official member. Through this year I look forward to new opportunities to serve at church.

I'd also like to get even more organized. We have a small space that just keeps filling up. I've already got a new donation pile started. Out with the old!

Lastly for things I'd like to accomplish is to read more. I think last year I read maybe 3 books. How sad it that!? I'm already over halfway through my first book, and hope to continue all year.

I've already got a couple of fun trips planned this year and I know there will be many more.

Then at the end of summer we'll hit a huge milestone. Daniel will start kindergarten. I got teary eyed thinking about it yesterday. I remember after he was born, I figured out he would start in 2017, which seemed so far off from 2011. Yet, here we are. I'm happy and sad. But, I've got 8  more months to embrace having a preschool aged child.

So here's to a new year and new opportunities!