I found out today that I have been listed on a list of the top 100 pediatric health blogs. Wow! That’s very exciting! Thanks, Kelly! I’m #78.

Since I have been having a harder time thinking of topics related to breastfeeding, I was wondering if you have any specific topics you want me to write about. My posts tend to be broad and shallow, so I can go into more depth in an area if there are any requests. Let me know.

I’m still waiting on the results of my pulmonary function test. My appointment for that test was on November 5. When I asked the tech about how long I should expect to wait for the results, she said that I could probably expect them within a week. Well, it’s now been a week and two days, and I’m still waiting. In the meantime, my cough is getting better. I was able to sleep in my bed last night for the first time since October 23rd. It was nice to be back in my room. As much as I don’t like feeling sick and coughing, I really don’t like sleeping in a bed that’s not mine for over 3 weeks.

I was hoping that this would be fairly easily resolved. I thought maybe I’d be lucky. I’d do the PFT test, and they would get a clear result. I’m actually still praying for that. I do think it’s more likely from what I’ve read and heard that the result will be inconclusive meaning that more tests are needed. I find that to be pretty frustrating. For one, I want to know what’s going on with my body and fix it. The other reason is that I haven’t given up hope for being able to run the half marathon in Fargo in May. It’s a pretty slim chance, and the door is closing on my chances the longer I have to wait. I still have that as my ultimate goal, though. If I end up not being able to do the half, I do know a few people who have decided to run the 5k, so that is my backup plan.

I told Jason today that life is kind of funny. When I was running, I was hoping that something would hurt or stop me from being able to run. Now that I’ve had to take a break, and it looks like this is going to be a harder goal to achieve than I originally though, I really want to do it!

I’m planning to call my doctor on Monday to see if she’s heard anything. I hate to be a bother, but I’m wondering if maybe some paperwork got misplaced somewhere or something. It just seems like 7 work days is a long time to wait for results of a fairly simple test. For all of you who pray, I would appreciate any prayers in this area.

For a while after my last post about running, I was getting that question pretty frequently. Lately, not as many people have been asking. I was glad, because I have taken a running hiatus unfortunately. My last run was with Jason when we stayed at the in-laws’ house on October 25th.

Since then, I’ve been sick. Ugh. It started out as a terrible sore throat. I couldn’t swallow. I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t want to eat. It hurt so bad. Then, my sore throat turned to a cough. For those of you who know me, you know that this isn’t a rare thing for me. I have a tendency to get sick pretty frequently, and nearly every cold or illness I get turns into a cough. For years, at least the past 20 years, I’ve attributed the fact that I get sick so often to a poor immune system. Lately, though, I’ve been wondering if it’s something else. Allergies? Asthma? Something else all together? I don’t know.

I had an appointment with my doctor last Monday. At that appointment, I talked with her about this cough. She agreed that it wasn’t normal, and it was something we should try to figure out. Last Wednesday, I went to the hospital and had a pulmonary function test done. If you are like me, and you don’t know what a PFT is, I’ll tell you. Basically, I sat in a little glass box. First, I had to breathe into a mouthpiece. Then, the technician pumped some sort of gas into the little box. I did some more breathing. Then, she opened the door, and I did a few more breathing exercises. Each time, she got a chart and some numbers on her computer. I’m still waiting for the results of the test, but from what she said at the appointment, I’m guessing the results will be inconclusive. If that’s the case, I’m going to end up going back to the hospital for another test that is specifically to diagnose asthma.

So, to bring this back to the original topic of running, I don’t know what’s going to happen there. I was up to 2.5ish miles before I got sick. Most 10K and half marathon plans start around 3 miles. I would still really like to be able to run in the 2009 half marathon, but at this point, I’m not going to push it. I am hoping that figuring out what is causing this cough will also help my running. I had gotten to running about 2.5 miles, but my stamina was pretty spotty. Some days, I could make it. Some days I felt like I was going to die after 15 minutes. I wasn’t ever physically tired enough that I felt like I needed to stop running, but I sometimes felt like I couldn’t get enough air. I’d really like to be able to say that I ran a half marathon, and I’d like to do it with Jason, but at this point I just want to figure out what is causing my cough.

Well, since I let the secret out last week, I figured that I should continue to update anyone who is interested on how my running is going.  Jason ran a 10K race on Saturday, and I took the boys to find him on the course and wave to him, and then we met him at the finish line.  He did so well!  I was so proud of him.  :-)  (Because my husband rocks!)  In addition to feeling proud, though, I also felt motivated.  If he is already running 10K races in under an hour, I need to get myself in gear and get working on my training.

Between my post last week and his great time in the race, I had the extra motivation I needed last night to complete my 3rd workout of the week.  Generally, I run Monday, Wednesday, and Friday or Saturday depending on our weekend schedule.  Monday’s run went pretty well.  I ran about 1.5 miles, and then I took a short walking break before I finished the last mile.  Wednesday was TERRIBLE!  I’m not sure what happened.  I felt tired almost as soon as I started running, and I only made it to about 1.75 miles before I ended up walking the rest.  Ugh, it was disappointing and frustrating.  Then, on Saturday, we went to my sister-in-law and brother-in-law’s house for my niece’s fourth birthday.  We got home late, and I had a greasy piece of yummy pizza for supper followed up by some birthday cake and ice cream.  I was pretty sure that Saturday’s run was going to mirror the one I’d had on Wednesday, but I decided to give it a try (as spurred on by the 2 previously mentioned motivators!).  I ran the first mile and a half at my usual pace of 4.2 miles per hour.  Then, since I was feeling good, I decided to run the next half mile at 4.5.  I went back down to 4.2 for .75 miles, and then I did the last .25 miles at 4.5.  I was really happy about that run.  I felt good while I was doing it.  I ran the entire distance.  I increased my speed a little, and I made my goal!

After that run, I decided that I needed to get serious about making a plan.  Jason had used the Hal Higdon 10K running plan for his race yesterday.  He felt like it prepared him well, and he was quite satisfied with it.  I decided to (again) follow his lead, and starting a week from tomorrow, I’m going to start that plan, too.  I’m a little nervous about it, but I’m hoping that things will progress gradually from here on out.

Since my other post, I’ve had a few people visit with me about running.

“Doesn’t it make your feet hurt?”  Surprisingly, no.  In the beginning, I had hoped it would so I would have an excuse to quit.

“I’ve tried running, but I just don’t enjoy it.”  I started running in June.  I definitely did not enjoy it in the beginning.  I’m not quite sure I would say that I enjoy it now either, but I can say that it does feel good.  It makes me feel strong and, I know it’s good for me.

I’m not saying that everyone should run or that I’m for sure going to be able to run the half marathon in May, but I do think that there’s something to be said for making a goal and sticking with it even if it is *very* much outside your comfort zone.  That’s essentially my goal.  I think the 13.1 miles are secondary.

I’ve written a little about my husband, Jason, and how he’s very dedicated to his running. In fact, I am jealous. I’m not really jealous of the time he spends running (although catch me on a crabby day and that might be true, too), but I’m more jealous of the fact that he really sticks to things. He says he’s going to achieve a goal, and he does. There’s really no question about if. We just wait to see when it will happen. In May of this year, he ran the 5K at the Fargo Marathon. He decided next year that he’d like to run the half marathon. Yikes! So, in a step along the way, he is registered to run the 10K at our University’s homecoming celebration this weekend. Yay, Jason!

This leads me to a little bit of an admission. I have actually been running also for a while. We have a treadmill, and I started doing the Couch to 5K plan in June. I didn’t tell anyone though. I didn’t want to have any pressure put on me if I didn’t like it or if I decided to stop. Then, I realized something. I realized that if I really wanted to keep up with running I needed a goal. I also needed to tell people so they could put pressure on me and keep me accountable! So, I’m going to do it. I’m making a goal (gulp) and telling people about it. My goal is to run the half marathon in Fargo in May of 2009 with Jason. (My heart is beating faster as I’m typing this…not a good sign for my physical fitness.) I’m currently running 2.5 miles at a time with a goal of running 3 times a week.

Since I have a Nike+iPod Sport Kit, I can track my progress pretty closely. AND, since you now know that this is my goal, I guess I’m going to be telling you about how my running is going every week.

I think over the course of the next several months, I will probably be changing my blog topics up a little. When I was breastfeeding K frequently or when A was born and I was feeding both boys frequently, I felt like I had a lot more to say about nursing specifically. Now that they’re getting older, it’s just something that’s an every day part of our lives. It just is. I don’t think or worry about it too much. We’ve gotten over most of the hurdles and pitfalls. A is sleeping better, and K has kept up his 2 a day nursing routine for the past few weeks.

Some of the topics that I have become more interested in lately are healthy eating, green living, cooking, exercise, and expanding my reading repertoire. Maybe I’ll finish a book (without reading the ending ahead of time) and do a review of it. Who knows?

A while ago, I wrote about our new compost bin that Jason and his dad had made. I was a little skeptical that we would be able to fill it all up. Who throws that much food? Well, it’s pretty much full. We have some of our lawn clippings in there and some food with it, too. Jason goes out once in a while, and he moves it around and turns it. I guess he waters it, too.

When we first started the project, I thought it was just something fun to do. I also thought it would be nice to eventually have the compost for our garden. I didn’t realize until today when I was reading on 5 Minutes for Going Green (a fabulous blog, by the way), that composting has another benefit. Food that is thrown away is the largest component of landfill waste. When food is thrown away, it does not become compost. The conditions in the landfill are anaerobic (oxygen-free), and instead of becoming fabulous fertilizer, it breaks down to become methane gas. Methane gas is a greenhouse gas, and it is three times more potent than carbon dioxide. In an era where global warming has become an everyday conversation, it seems like composting is one small thing that the average person can do with little extra effort and expense.

The other day I received an e-mail telling me that my blog was listed along with 99 others as one of the top 100 women’s health blogs. I haven’t had a chance to look through the entire list yet, but I know that I’m always looking for new blogs to read. The list is divided into several sections: Nutrition and Special Diets, Exercise, Infertility, Pregnancy, Childbirth and Breastfeeding, Weightloss, Health Challenges, Fit and Healthy Over 40, Physical Wellbeing, and Mental Wellbeing. Thanks for choosing me to be on this list!

For some time now, I’ve been looking for a fabulous recipe for hummus. I’ve found a few that are fine. I found one that was decent. I also found one that was not good at all. I just haven’t found one that is great, though.

I really like the hummus from the store. It’s so expensive though for such a little container. I should be able to make my own for a fraction of the price, right? Well, I can make my own, but it’s missing…something. Mine seems to have a bland taste and not be rich and deep like the flavor of the store bought hummus.

My recipes are all pretty similar. They all contain chickpeas/garbanzo beans, olive oil, lemon juice, tahini, garlic, and salt. I just vary the proportions of each ingredient, but I just can’t get it right! Heather! Do you have any gourmet magic? Anyone else? Even sitting here, I’m getting a craving now for some really good hummus. Too bad the stuff I made on Sunday is just okay.

It’s always nice for us when the 4th of July falls near the beginning or end of the week. We don’t have any family in town, so if it is near a weekend, either we or they can make a 3 day weekend out of it and take a trip. This weekend, Jason’s mom and dad came to visit us.

They drove up yesterday, and brought A a sandbox as a gift for his first birthday. It is very nice. They even bought sand that feels like beach sand! WOW! I want to go play in there once the kids are in bed. K seems to have made more use of it than A has so far. A sat in it yesterday for a while and then started eating the sand. Once he got tired of that, he was tired of the sandbox. K, however, was happy to play in there all afternoon and again this morning for almost the entire morning.

Part of the reason that they stayed overnight is that we are still trying to do a few odds and ends jobs around our house, and sometimes those jobs are easier with a second set of hands. This morning, Jason and his dad worked on installing a fan in our main bathroom. This afternoon, they worked on building a compost bin. Jason found the plans for the bin on Lowe’s website, and I have to say it is much bigger, nicer, and sturdier than I anticipated. We will have to do some serious composting though with this thing.

Jason and his dad were only able to finish about half of the compost bin project. It said that it was a five hour project on the plans, but I think if I were helping, I could easily help them turn it into a ten or twenty hour project. Just think of the family togetherness that could result from that help! So, now the bin is in our garage with the rest of the lumber waiting to be finished. In fact, those things are right next to and on the cement pavers that we will be using in our next big project of re-landscaping the front of the house. That project may have to wait for our next long weekend…Labor Day!

Happy 4th of July!