I Never Update Anymore

The title says it all. By the time we get the boys to bed, the last thing I want to do is sit on the computer and rehash the day/week/month, etc.

I can't believe I didn't even write about Will's 1st birthday. We had family over and it was a lot of fun. Owen had a great time opening his presents. We all headed down to Rosemount's Haunted Trail that night. The kids were so cute dressed in the Halloween costumes.

For Will's cake, I made my first attempt at using fondant. It's wasn't terrible, but man you need to work fairly quickly because it dries out fast. I tried a new cake recipe, but wasn't a big fan. I think it was because of the 3-D pan. I will have to try it in a traditional cake pan next time.

We took a Bielke family vacation to Disneyworld in November. By Bielke, I mean Scott's parents and sister's family came too. We had a really good time. A couple of the kids were sick just before the trip, but with some meds, they got better and were able to enjoy vacation too.

We just had a HUGE blizzard over the weekend. Rosemount got about 18 inches. Thank goodness Scott decided it would be a good thing to buy a snowblower last year. It has really come in handy. Especially this year! He blew us and 3 neighbors out on Sunday morning. That doesn't count him blowing us and helping another neighbor home Saturday night. It was a group effort to get everyone out after this storm! I have no idea where the next batch of snow will end up. The snow piles are already so high. I can't believe how much snow we have and it's not even the middle of December. The snow is going to be around for a long time yet.

Blown Away

It was snowing this morning as I pulled the car out of the garage. By the time I had dropped off the boys and arrived at work, the flakes were probably quarter size. The wind seems to have died down a little bit, but man was it fierce! I did check to make sure we still had our trees in our yard. I didn't have time to (nor did I want to spend anymore time outside than I needed to) to check to see if we'd lost any shingles or siding. I thought it was interesting that they said these winds are comparable to a Category 3 hurricane. I could help but chuckle and think, I grew up with these winds a lot and put in some snow with that! I think I'd rather just have the hurricane than the blizzard.

We are making preparations for someone's 1st birthday party on Saturday! I can't believe we are celebrating Will's 1st birthday already. My baby is not a baby anymore. He is starting to take more of an interest in walking. He took the dining room chair for a spin around the table the last two nights. Oh and last night as I was sitting on the couch with him, he was standing up and not holding onto anything. Just standing! He's going to walking in a few months.

Owen is going to have love/hate relationship with Will being able to walk. Usually Owen wants me and Will to chase him around the kitchen. Well this last time I decided I would hold Will in a position where is "looked" like he was running to chase Owen (as I held him bent over - ouch). Anyway, Owen's normal "chase me" screams turned into "my brother is really chasing me" screams! It was hilarious. He was loving it! Will was giggling too. We had to do a repeat performance for Scott so he could see it too.

Thursday is the last night of swim class for Owen in the Mini-Dolphin's 1 class. The following week he gets to start MD2. I hope he does well and gets to do more swimming. He is getting to be a good floater. Just praying for a great teacher with the next class!! You don't find out until the first night of class. Otherwise people would be switching all over the place, I would imagine. We all have our favorites!

Scott tweaked his back over the weekend. Thankfully he's been able to function about 85% normally. He has one more chiro appt. Friday morning to help loosen up his lower back. He's been good about doing his back exercises again too.

I went to Let's Dish on Monday and really liked how everything works there. That is my kind of cooking. Everything is out and tells you how to put your recipe together. Which containers to put it in and everything. Now we just need to try one of the meals because our freezer is full!

So after this weekend we are really looking forward to focusing on our vacation coming up soon. We are heading to Disney World with Scott's entire family. This will be the first time with kids for us. We are really looking forward to seeing Disney from Owen's eyes. Will won't remember any of it most likely, so we'll be taking lots of pictures!

Round Two

Will now has a double ear infection. I took him to Urgent Care last night after Scott noticed he felt a little warm (and he was crabbier than usual again). Sure enough, another temp. So a second round of antibiotics. Let's hope this does the trick. It sure would be nice if he was feeling better before I have to leave for Milwaukee.

We found out that Owen gets to move up a level at swim for the Fall II session. We're very proud of our fishy!

Happy Birthday, Mr. Daniels!

A Big Boy

Oh my, goodness. Will climbed up the stairs by himself tonight!

So Far Behind

Ugh. I feel like I am quite a bit behind on updating the blog. Instead of updating, I've been going to bed at the earliest time possible these days. Both boys have been getting up in the middle of the night. Will mostly because he's still got this cold that doesn't seem to go away. Owen because he needs help going potty.

A Happy Belated 40th Anniversary to Scott's parents on October 3rd. We met up with them and Tami's family for brunch in Eden Prairie on Sunday. All the kids were really good which was a huge blessing as it was in the middle of nap time!

Owen has started Sunday School. Two weeks down and he says he's having fun. This time he sat in the chair and didn't give us the look like, "Why are you leaving me here?" We've also started swim class again. That's going well too. He isn't the one getting in trouble this time around! What a relief.

Will is pulling himself up on furniture. He also says, "bye-bye", "momma", "dada", and "up". He said "up" for the first time yesterday to Scott. Will also got his first ear infection. He is just about done with his medication, but is still congested so isn't sleeping that well at night. I'm still looking for that night where both boys sleep thru the night. Am I dreaming?

Scott had a follow-up ultrasound on his leg to check on the progress of his blood-clot. Great news, they couldn't find anything! Hopefully that means at his next dr. appointment he will be able to quite the blood-thinners. That is what we are praying for.

I'm still working on a cold, but surviving, none-the-less. I am flying to Milwaukee on Sunday for a conference I'm attending for work. I'll be there thru Tuesday. It will be nice to see Brita, Matt and the girls while I'm out there! I just hope the boys are good for Scott while I'm gone!

The B-I-B-L-E

Yesterday Owen received his first Bible at church! They had a little session before church where we could go thru a few activities (make a Squiggles worm who is present in Owen's new picture Bible) and we painted Owen's hands to mark on paper how big he is and how much he will grow. We got to sing a few songs and then broke into groups: parents and kids. It was a little weird having Owen over in the kid group without us. He's growing up! Guess I better get used to it since we start Sunday School on the 26th.

Another reason yesterday was so special....Mom and Dad Anderson celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary! AND Ryan and Melanie also celebrated their 12th anniversary.

OH, and Happy belated Grandparent's day to Grandma and Grandpa Bielke and Anderson!!

The Monster Ball

I've been to the Monster Ball. No, not an early Halloween party, I'm talking about Lady Gaga's recent visit to St. Paul. Though you may have thought it was an early Halloween party with everyone dressed up in their favorite Gaga attire. I was definitely in the minority with my boring street clothes on.

I was fortunate enough to get tickets to her 2nd show. I am so glad I went. It's the best concert I've ever seen. But, I don't think it's really something I can compare to other live concert venues I've been too. This was something totally out of that rhelm.

If you're not familiar with Lady Gaga, I'm wondering what rock you live under. But seriously, she is know for her outrageous fashion and most recently her visit to the Yankee's game (middle-finger and then moved to Jerry Sinfeld's suite). Ah, now you know who I'm talking about.

One of my best friends (Becky) went with me to the concert. She wasn't too familiar with her music unless it was on the radio. I think she said it best after she posted on facebook, "is still processing Monster's Ball. Awesome. Amazing. Art."

She sang (no lip-syncing) every song. She played her piano which was burning some huge flames probably 10 feet tall at times! There were at least 5 complete changes to the stage. She made her music work as almost a music theater piece like The Wizard of Oz. She and her dancers try to get to The Monster Ball and come across some obsticles on their way....one being a twister!

I thought it was awesome that she used a lot of the costumes that she's worn for her videos in her concert. They pretty much have to be one-of-a-kind, really.

We could have done without the opening act, Semi Precious Weapons. Becky and I renamed them Weapons of Mass Destruction. They weren't that great. But they had been friends with Gaga since 2006. She's just giving her friends some exposure. Can't blame her, she could probably get just about anyone to open for her.

Gaga shares a message of equality and understanding. Yes, she draws a majority of homosexuals, but she's bi-sexual. Virgin Mobile donates $20,000 to a charity of her choice for each concert she puts on. She donates it to a charity for young homeless gays/lesbians. These are kids who have been kicked out of their parent's homes because of their sexuality. Oh and I forgot to mention that she matches that donation as well! Another nice touch was her telling us "thanks for buying a ticket to my show." You don't hear that much!!

So, I'll leave you with a few words of advice from the Mother Monster, herself.
"Be Brave," and "Leave here loving yourself more."

Tiger Tracks

This past Saturday, Scott and I ran our first race together. It was a lot of fun running it together. We ran a 5k (3.1 miles) at the MN Zoo. We had a goal set to run it in 35 minutes. I thought Scott was crazy when he said that. Well, we beat our goal and ran it at 33.49 minutes! We were surprised when we saw the clock at the finish line, it said 34.20. We were chipped, so we had to wait for the official results. YEAH!

Grandma Dianne watched the boys while we raced. Owen wanted to go over to the Dolphin fountain to throw in some coins. He had been talking about doing that all week. We were glad that he was tired after the race and wanted to go home (we did too). Plus we were really stinky!

Ashton came over Sunday morning and we canned some of Ma's salsa. YUMMY! We made some hot batches this year. I wouldn't even try Ashton's hottest batch. His taste buds are a little more seasoned than mine!

Will is officially crawling now. He really figured out how to take more than four "steps" on Friday and had plenty of time to master it over the weekend. He's a little man on the go now. Watch out!

Brown Milk Power

Tonight at the dinner table Owen said he needed brown-milk power. If he had his way, he'd drink chocolate milk all day long and nothing else.

In the past 2-3 weeks Will has done the following: learned to drink out of a straw, roll-over (yes, a little late, but he mastered it both ways once he decided to do it), push himself into a sitting position from laying down, got his first tooth, learned to clap, and waved. AND he is almost crawling. I think he'll be crawling before next Monday. He's so close! He just wants to go, go, go now. He doesn't like me to feed him baby food anymore. He gets really mad at me and swats the spoon. So I have to feed him our "big people" food. He loves it! He loves zucchini bread too. Can't blame him for that, it is yummy!

Owen is just growing up so fast. His imagination is growing and he loves to tell everyone about Super Mario Bros. for the Wii and the Toy Story 3 game. The kid amazes me with the stuff that he knows. I guess I just didn't expect a 3 year old to know so much!

The other weekend we were out at the Lake in Hutch and Owen went tubing for the first time! G&G Bielke have a tube that you can sit in without being exposed to water (it doesn't have a hole in the middle of it). There is room for two people, so Scott and Owen went out first. It was a little lop-sided, but they were both having a great time. Then I went out with Owen. He kept asking me if he could jump into the lake while we were cruising along! He is a fishy that kid! Scott hopped back in with Owen one more time and they tipped it forward and both fell out. This didn't faze Owen one bit. He loved it because he got to swim. Thank goodness for life jackets. I could breathe easy (ok...easier) when they fell in. I was so glad he didn't get scared.

Scott's been going to the doctor quite regularly to have his blood density test taken. Then they adjust his medication depending on the numbers. So far the past few weeks, everything has came back good, so he has been able to keep the dosage the same. We are hoping he'll be off everything in about a month. Then he has another ultrasound to see if the blood clot has disolved.

We're still running and training for the Tiger Tracks 5k on the 28th. One week from Saturday. Scott is running it with me. I'm glad he wanted to do it too. Tonight I ran a 5k in about 36 minutes. I seem to be able to pick up my pace by the last mile. I need to practice picking up speed earlier. I'd like to get down to 10 minute miles. Maybe I'll do a short run this week, but run it fast and see how that goes. I still can't believe I'm out running. I think we're going to have to shop for a treadmill this fall so we can run thru the winter. I must be addicted.

The Race

I'm finally getting to write about my first race. It was a little weird being at the start waiting for the race to start. It just didn't seem like a place I should be. I'm looking around at all these people you can tell are natural runners. I just kept telling myself that I just want to finish, even if I come in last.

The first mile went by really quickly. I think we were under 10 minutes. We (the other girls from Mom's on the Run) thought she was joking! About 1.5 miles into it, there was a house playing the "Rocky" theme song. That was fun and got us pumped. Some people were such good cheerers! My best cheerleader ran the entire way with me, Lisa. This 4-mile run was a piece of cake for her. But she was very supportive and had some great words of encouragement on the way.

The second to third mile was the toughest. For some reason it felt like it was never going to end. So, I decided to walk for a little bit. We probably walked for a minute or two. Once we started running, that third mile came up quickly. Wish I would have just pushed through it. The last mile was good because I knew I was in the home stretch.

I pulled into the finish line around 44 minutes. I was surprised by my time. I thought I'd be doing more like 12 mintues miles. But, it was an overall great race for my first ever.

The weather cooperated. It rained the night before, so the humidity was low. The sun was hiding behind the clouds until the last .5 miles.

Now onto my next race, Tiger Tracks at the MN Zoo on August 28th. Come and cheer us on!

The Practice Run

Next Saturday is my first race. It's 4-miles. What was I thinking? Seriously? A 4-mile race. Something I never thought I'd do. Something I always wished I would do, but I didn't think I would. I've never liked running. Maybe it's the fear of failing that always put the cobosh on the idea. I'm not sure. Well, somehow I put that fear behind me this Spring and have been running since the end of April. I was not totally convinced that I'd be able to run the whole 5k (3.1 miles) at the end of August as we are training to do. So needless to say, signing up to do a 4-mile run is not something I thought I'd do a whole month prior!

I decided that I better see how a 4-miler is going to be like, so that Saturday, the 24th, doesn't become a, "what was I thinking" moment. So off I ran this morning to complete an almost 4-mile run.

Mind you, I've been doing interval training, so I am allowed to walk between runs. I think this last week we ran for 4 minutes, walked for 30 seconds and then repeated the process 7 times. So I haven't even attempted running without walking this entire summer. OK...

I decided I would run from our corner to Harmony Village (almost 2 miles) without stopping if entirely possible. (I don't think I've ever run for 2 miles without stopping.) The first mile was a little difficult, but once I hit my stide, it wasn't so bad. I made it to Harmony Village and sort of psyched myself into walking. I walked for a minute. My body was telling me just keep running. So off I ran again. This time I say I'll just run until I have to stop. I made it back to our corner without stopping! Holy crap. I couldn't believe it. I was even able to pick up the pace at the end. From corner to corner it took me 40 minutes, 30 seconds.

I think I did a little over 3.5 miles. Now maybe next Saturday won't be such a shock to the system. Plus, now I know I can do it! Whoo Hoo!!!

Tomorrow I'll probably be posting about how sore I am....

Too Cute

Pumpin' Some Iron

The Handsome Bielke Boys

Bielke Update

We seem to be on the mend here (knock on wood). Scott's blood clot is getting better and he told me this morning that his leg feels like it's at 90%. We'll take it. He was into the dr. this morning to have his blood "density" tested. He was at 3.2. They want his blood to be between 2-3 so this week he gets a slightly smaller dosage. Next week he has an appointment with a hematologist. They are going to try to find out what causes the clotting.

This past weekend was the Anderson Christmas in July, which now I think is just called the Anderson Reunion. We surprised Grandpa with a few songs and a big cake to celebrate his upcoming 90th birthday. Grandpa surprised us as well by playing his violin and the harmonica. He even sang a song about Issac and his goats. I've never seen Grandpa so charasmatic before. He was having a great time and I think we all enjoyed watching him perform.

We pitched our new tent for the first time. This was our first camping experience with the boys. They both did really well. With the rain in the forecast for Saturday night, we thought it best to sleep in Ryan and Melanie's camper. We didn't want Owen to get scared since we could hear thunder from a distance. Both boys ended up sleeping with me for most the night. Scott got his own bed.

I've signed up to run my first race. It's the Rosemount's Run for Gold 4-mile race. I don't plan to run the whole 4-miles, but I am hoping I don't have to walk much. This will give me a head's up to the 5k (only 3.1 miles) in August. I still think to myself, "Who is this girl?" I have to say now that I'm actually enjoying running (just not my knee so much). I was already thinking that I would sign-up again next year.

Can We Catch A Break?

It's been a little crazy around the Bielke household since Friday.

Last Friday afternoon, Scott found out he has a blood clot in his leg. Needless to say, this was not the news we were hoping to hear. Scott had been battling a cramp in his leg since Monday night and decided to go in on Friday. Thankfully the doctor sent him in for an ultrasound just to be sure. So now he's on warafin (generic for coumadin) and a kick-starter called lovenox because warafin takes a while to get worked up in the system. As of today his blood was at a 1.4. They want him to get to 2. Normal is 1. This is basically the density of your blood. The lovenox is a self-injected shot that he has to do twice a day until his levels reach a 2. Then he won't have to do the shots anymore, but just take the warafin. Sounds like he'll be on that for 6 months. He'll be setting up an appointment with a hematologist soon, so maybe we'll find out why this blood clot appeared.

Monday night, in the wee hours of the morning, my knee slipped out of joint. I felt it happen, but thought it wasn't terrible. Well, by the time I was up and walking on it at work, my knee was swelling and painful. I was fortunate enough to get into my chiropractor that morning and she fixed the joint. Now I'm taped up and it is definitely better. The icing last night helped too.

Will ended up with hives yesterday. Not sure what from. Will hasn't been sleeping good either. He was constipated over the weekend. Fortunately he filled his diaper yesterday at Randi's. We were both so happy he had a big poop! I wonder what kids would think if they knew how much adults talk about their kids bodily functions.

I do plan to end this on a good note...Owen is only wearing pull-ups at night now. As of Friday last week, he's been wearing underwear and doing great! Two nights he's even woken us up to potty and he's been dry the next morning. Looks like we're headed to Chuck E. Cheese.

Sweet!

I can get in thru work now.....ha! (Thanks to a fellow co-worker who let me know of the update - you know who you are!)

I ran into a classmate of mine from WWG this morning - Haley! It was great to see her. Just wish it could have been longer. We're hoping to meet in the morning sometime at Starbucks to catch up before heading to work. Sounds like a good plan to me!

I'm working on my monthly update at work, so I've had some down-time this week. But things should pick up this afternoon after I run a 5-hour job. Fun, huh? Bet you wish you had my job.

It's Been A Long Time

It's been a while since I've been on here. I can no longer access the site from work and I used to write a lot during lunch. I haven't had the time at home either. Since I'm still nursing Will, I put him to bed and then Owen says he wants me to lay with him. So putting both boys to bed gets to be a very busy night.

We've since completed another level of swim class for Owen a couple of weeks ago. We decided to take a break from summer session just because we think Owen needs to develop some better listening skills. Or should I say obeying skills. He listens to what the teacher says, but will do his own thing. Like jump in the water off the side when it's not his turn, splashing and throwing toys in the water. His teacher, Ms. Hannah, was great. She knew how to handle the kid. Owen loved her. Ms. Hannah new how much he loves the water and took his enthusiasim in stride. She's fabulous. We wish we could get one-on-one teaching with her!

We are working on potty training with Owen. He has been doing great at Randi's. Completely dry all day Monday and today. Even after nap. Of course I think she rations his liquid intake more than we do at home. Actually he was dry at home and his overnight diaper wasn't very wet this morning. No accidents today either. He's even really good about going when we're out and about. He'll ask if there's a toilet and that he needs to go!! Awesome. We are SO CLOSE!

Owen had his first dentist appointment today. He did great! He loved that the chair moved. He didn't really like the light shining down. They gave him some sun glasses and that sort of helped. He was ready to be done, but overall he was a trooper.

On to Will....he is now 7 1/2 months old. He has been sitting up on his own for a month now. He has yet to roll over, but doesn't really care too. He'll be about 3/4's of the way there and then stop. That arm is in the way and he just is content on being still. I'm OK with him not rolling all over the house! It'll come soon enough.

Still no teeth. He's working on both bottom teeth. I sure hope they come in at the same time. They look close. He seems to have 2 bad nights and then has a break for a few days. Then we have another couple of bad nights.

I just had to check on Will quick (he's sleeping) and I noticed that he has his nuk in. I didn't give it to him. Either he found it or Owen gave it to him. Funny. Big brother is quite the helper these days. They roll the ball back and forth to each other now (with a little help on Will's end) and Will giggles with all his might. It's so cute! Owen will also hug him and tell him, "Love you Will."

It Was A First

Today I went to the chiropractor for the first time....and it was a very good experience. I've been having knee issues since being pregnant with Will. They did came back when I started running with the Mom On The Run group. They were swollen after running and crackeling every time I crouched down. A friend of mine from work has similar issues and has a "sports" chiropractor, so I went to see her. Well, she's fabulous. She adjusted my hips, knees and ankles. My feet actually are straight now instead of pointing outwards. I went to pick up some groceries after my appointment and I could feel my legs felt a little "jelly" like. But that quickly went away. I'll be interested to see how long this adjustment lasts.

She asked me which sport I played when I was younger. She thought it was soccer. When I told her I was a cheerleader she said, "There it comes out." Guess I've been "off" for a few years!!

This past week Owen ended up with the flu. He had a fever and threw up in the middle of the night. Scott stayed home with him on Wednesday. Last night Scott had a fever, chills and achy feet and legs. Fortunately that was all and he was feeling fine this morning! Now if Will and I can avoid it and stay healthy!