So how do I really feel?

My boy should be turning 13 on Saturday. He had the coolest birthday - March 3, 1999. 3/3/99.

But, he is not.

His last birthday celebration was 9.

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Born a fighter in 1999:

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Sensitive little guy cried at "Happy Birthday" in 2000.

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Was a little happier for his 2001 2nd birthday.

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Birthday #3 @ Burger King was a lot of fun.

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Spiderman came in 2003

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2004 brought his 1st motorcycle. Little guy had already fought AML once.

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He was a little embarrassed to be wearing the birthday hat in kindergarten.

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Turned 7 at the roller rink with the cousins

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Was discharged after his 1st transplant the day before turning 8.

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#9 in 2008

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2009

& this is really how I feel....

Confessions of a slacker.....

I love to read. Always have. I get it naturally as both my parents were avid readers. I was the nerd-child who usually ask for books for gifts. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Kindle.

But, I am a slacker these days. Must be all the running (looking for any excuse here.....).

I have a stack of borrowed books on my night stand, more upstairs on a shelf & literally hundreds patiently waiting on the kindle. So, what am I doing? Trolling around on the internet, reading blogs and news articles. Haven't read a real chapter in weeks. Feeling guilty about this. Not sure what is stopping me. Maybe it is my attention span. Maybe it is my general fatigue. Maybe I am just lazy. Who knows???

With all that said, I still love books.

I stumbled upon a site called Goodreads the other day. It reminded me a bit of Netflix where you can rate books you've read in a variety of categories and then they give you a list of books they think you will like based on your history. I spent at least an hour rating books and looking around. Now, I have pages of additional books that this website is sure that I will love. No pressure, just another 200 books to add to my pile. I may have to take a leave of absence from my job!

Ok - off to read some Dr. Seuss to Sami.....

Until next time,
Lori

Ice Princess!

Today was Samantha's first ever ice skating competition. She has been taking group lessons for a couple of years & has participated in the end of the year shows, but this was the first time she performed solo in front of a crowd.

We were supposed to be on the ice at 7:30 am. Very early for a Saturday! She was pumped & ready to go. She bounded out of bed as soon as the alarm went off. We put a few quick curls in her hair (& a little glitter too!) and off we went.




Taken just after her 30 minutes of warm up. Didn't make a lot of sense to me to warm up, then sit in the cold for a 45 minutes before her turn, but that is how they do it!





Here she is waiting for the music to start. Her neon green dress really sparkled out there. I thought that she would be nervous. If she was, it certainly didn't show. She was all smiles for the judges.




I think this was her favorite part of her routine - I think she likes to shake her hips a little too much!








She was deep in concentration here!





"Ta Da!"







Sami really, really, really loves Emily! They were so so cold but too cool to put their jackets back on or get under a blanket.






On the podium getting her medal.... She is so very proud of herself. Mama was pretty proud too.

Finally! Some warmth! Her smile is still that big. She had a blast and can't wait to do it again. Next time, I need to remember to bring a blanket for myself! It was COLD in there.

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Mileage update:

218.15 + 26.8 (big week!) = 244.95 (Thanks to SparkPeople to keeping track of this for me!)

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Until next time,

Lori

My Lego girl + mileage update

Samantha is loving Legos right now. It seems like we have always had some, but not too many. She did get a fairly large box for Christmas & has played with them WAY MORE than she has her American Girl doll. So, for Valentines Day + straight A's on her report card, she was going to get to pick out some of the new Lego Friends. They are very cute and marketed towards girls - very smart of those Lego folks!

So, last Saturday after ice skating, we hit the Lego Store & after much deliberation, she picked out the Tree House. There were so many choices, she We had some other shopping to do, including a new pantry kit from the Container Store. Finally, we get home & got everything opened. I knew I was in trouble when I realized that the panty kit came with one sheet of instructions and the Legos had a 43 page booklet. We spent over an hour getting it put together and she was very proud of her efforts! Of course, she took it apart the next morning.

I foresee myself spending a fortune on these kits!


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Mileage update:
I foresee myself spending a fortune in the near future on these kits.
181.04 + 20 + 17.1 =218.15


Until next time,
Lori

It has been a looooong week

but, I have learned a couple things

- My treadmill automatically shuts off after 90 minutes &

- those with an enlarged prostate should not take mildol.(Seriously, on the label.)

All are healthy-ish....

I almost hate to utter these words for fear of jinxing us yet again, but I *think* we have crossed a healthy hurdle. There has been no vomit in my house in 11 days!

I am back on the treadmill, clearly not the same as the great outdoors, but I was nervous enough about my precarious position that I didn't want to be too far from home, my car, a bathroom to risk being on the bike path. Feeling lucky, I've packed my bag for what looks like will be a beautiful lunchtime run on the bikepath tomorrow. The timing is great! I have 8 weeks left to train for the Athens Half Marathon!

So, in my either fever or illness-induced insanity, I got the brillant idea that the Columbus Full Marathon in October sounded like a good idea. I've been looking at training plans, talking to folks who are equally insane as they have encouraged me to go for it. The hook? Mile 17-18 takes a detour through the Ohio State University football stadium. The Horseshoe! How cool is that??? We'll see..... I plan to take this under serious consideration and NOT with a glass of wine in my hand & my feet up in the recliner while waiting for the cheesy goodness to come out of the oven.... Gotta love Super Bowl Sunday!

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Mileage update:
124.91 + 20.12 + 11.02 + 24.99 = 181.04/1000 (or according to my Garmin 18%!)

Until next time,
Lori