My Method to the Madness

 Charles Devan Clark 10 weeks old 11 lbs 21 1/2 inches I love him.

The worst part of having a newborn. This thing makes me shudder. Poor Devan.

My stomach has been hurting for about a month now. My doctor thought it was an infection, so after bactrim and amoxicillin, it still hurt. So, we're back to square one. More blood tests and more waiting. It could be some cysts or my gall bladder or liver. We're praying for fast results and a plan of treatment that doesn't involve the words "we'll wait and see".

November 16, 2011 7 lb. 15oz. 21 inches long  January 16, 2012 10 lb. 2 oz. 22.5 inches long I know this picture makes him look like he's sitting by himself, but he's really propped up in the chair, but he has gotten so much bigger in just 2 short months. He has also started sleeping through the night and has figured out an eating schedule which makes his mother very happy! Yesterday he really started talking and smiling too! Click here for a video I posted of his adorable smile! He is just such a sweet baby, I adore him and love being his mom. I'm going to go cuddle with him now.

Yesterday was rough. I was just exhausted. No explanation, I was so tired. I could barely get out of bed and I was dizzy and tired all day even after a nap! I was so bummed with myself and feeling bad that I hadn't done anything productive all day. I decided that I needed to go work out, even if my knees were busted, so I went swimming with my friend, Julia. I packed up and went to the gym and left poor Jason with all three kids. I went swimming for about an hour and then hit the hot tub and sauna. I came back feeling much better and then I walked into the bedroom. My incredible husband had cleaned our train wreck of a bedroom including under the bed! To show you how long it's been since we cleaned out under the bed we found one of Bailey's shoes from when she was 6 months old, 7 pacifiers and about 37 books! I was blown away that while I was doing something just for me, Jason was doing something that he knew I didn't want to do. It really needed to happen. I'm so...

The last post weaves a tail of success and triumph when I ran 30 minutes straight and felt like a new person and there was joy. Then... the next day happened. My knees are sooo sore. Not just muscle sore, like bone, joint, muscle, tendons, blood cells sore.  I took a day off and tried to run the next day and shooting pain went up both of my legs as soon as I moved from walking to running. So I went swimming instead and tried to build up some muscle and stretch out my knees, but even after taking it easy the next 2 days, my knees still hurt! I feel old. So, I talked to my trainer, Bethany Janell, and she told me to take a week off running and do biking and swimming instead. That I shall do. Hopefully that will help my knees get back to running strength and I can continue my training! In other news, Devan is going to be 2 months old tomorrow. I don't understand how that happened. It really, truly seems like yesterday he was born and now he is such a vital part of our family. He has...

Ow. Just ow. Tonight we went to the gym and we got back on those ridiculous treadmills. This time though, there was something different. We had music. I brought my Ipod and listened to my "Happy Day" playlist and was pleasantly surprised at how much listening to music I enjoyed helped the time go. I also did some drumming and headbanging along to my favorite tunes which made Jason laugh at me (and my awesomeness) but it also brought a level of fun to working out that I had NEVER experienced before. So, I did reach a major milestone for me. A goal I had for myself. I ran 30 minutes straight, no rests, no walks, just running. It was exhilerating when I discovered that I had finished. After running, I changed into my swimsuit and hit the pool to swim laps with Julia who had already been swimming laps while I was running. By the time I got down there I was so exhausted, so we took it easy and still did laps, just slow ones. We did that for 40 minutes, then hit the hot tub foll...

I have been having some stomach pain in a very localized area for about 2 weeks. The pain is getting more intense and more frequent so tomorrow I am going to the doctor at 3:00 to see what's going on. Prayers are appreciated.

Well, training day 3 wasn't supposed to be a training day. It was technically our day off for re-cooping, but I had had a really hard day with the kiddos, so when Jase got home I strapped on my running shoes and sprinted for the door. It was exhilarating! I took all the frustration from the day, all the stress and pent up craziness and RAN! I felt so good and my mind raced with all the things that have worried me lately or things that have just made me sad and I ran them out. I flew around the neighborhood and then when all the frustrations were out, I slowed down and then puttered to a stop. Oh it felt great. My lungs were burning, the air was cold, but I was hot and it felt good. I walked back to the house for a total run of 2.5 miles in around 30 minutes.  Then, then next day was Saturday. Saturday is our "big run" day. We had to run LaFortune Park which is 3 miles. We went to the park and Jason took the kids to the playground and I took off. I was feeling good, not t...

Well, after the horrors of training day 1, I decided I'd do some cross training and swim laps for training day 2. My friend, Julia, is my swim partner and we hit the gym looking stylish in our swimsuits from 1999. We rinsed off and got in the pool and then it hit me. I've never swam laps (swam laps? Swum laps? Swimmed laps?). I can swim, I've never drowned, but I've never really had to swim for speed and efficiency. So we decide to do some different strokes to see which gave us the best work out. We did the froggie kick, the T and the apple picking. The froggie is by far the hardest to do for long amounts of time. We did 30 minutes of various laps and I was tired at the end but felt really good. Then we decided to hit the hot tub before heading home. Climbing out of the pool was the hard part, all of a sudden I was heavier and my sore legs hurt and my arms started to ache. I was shocked at how hard swimming laps was and how it really works your whole body, even my neck ...

Yesterday's work out was no bueno. Jason and I decided we would go to the gym, so we dropped off the kids at the Clarks and headed to the gym with a mixture of dread and excitement. I looked killer in my new work out duds, but I knew that a cute pink top and pretty blue shoes weren't going to make this any easier. We got on the treadmill and instantly the memories came flooding back. I despise treadmills, their sound, their tiny screens with numbers ticking away, the smell of defeat, it wasn't pretty. I picked a 5k program and started running. It started slow and I was doing fine. It sped up a smidge and I kept up without much of a problem. Then... bam! It just took off jumping from level 3.0 to level 6.0 without warning and all of a sudden I felt like I was in the treadmill rodeo just trying to hang on for 8 seconds! My feet flew faster than I knew they could and I huffed and puffed trying to keep from tripping and slamming into the mirror behind me at 60 miles per hour. I...

Well... This non-runner, lover of butter is running a half marathon. The entire Clark family is running the Oklahoma City half marathon on April 29th. That's 13.1 miles. I don't even like driving 13.1 miles! This could get ugly. Speaking of ugly, I went shopping for running clothes. I know when you look at me you think, "That's one athletic looking athlete" but in all reality, I need assistance from good shoes and athletic apparel to be successful. So after some advice from my in-laws, I headed to Target to see what I could find. Well, if you ever feel confident and a little too good about yourself... Go shopping for athletic apparel. Most of the things that were my size looked like they would fit my 4 year old. Everything is tight and stretchy... Everything. Another odd thing is that a tiny piece of neon elastic is crazy expensive! I'm hoping the shirt I bought for way too much has gold thread in the hem or perhaps the zipper is platinum. I don't get it....