10K

The 10K! In Mankato! Our first! Good news is...we survived! I was a nervous wreck starting Friday night. I don't really know why, but I was. Scott and Lisa Nelsen - our awesome friends - ran with us and it was their first 10Ks as well. For the record, Lisa was nervous about the run too.

Saturday morning we left the hotel about 6:30 AM and headed to downtown Mankato to get on a bus that would take us to the starting line, which was on MSU's campus. Here are all four of us in the hotel, getting ready to leave:

My super-smart hubby had the idea that we should have these shirts made that match our #keepfightingblake bracelets. In addition to wearing the shirts, Scott raised money for the Ronald McDonald House in Iowa City that is very near and dear to our hearts. Last I knew, he had raised over $500. Wow!!!

Jenna and Brody LOVE Scott and Lisa! A sleepy pic with Scott.

And Lisa too!

It was kind of weird because it was dark out when they dropped us off. It was a very "balmy" 36 degrees at the start of the race. It actually turned out to be the perfect temperature. The picture above was taken right before our run. Sorry for the bluriness, but it was with my phone.

THE RACE:

Aaron - he said he didn't feel like he ran very well. He even had the nerve to tell me after the race that he thought he was running so slow that he feared that he would look over his shoulder during the run and I would be right on his heels. LOL. Real nice, huh?! Aaron finished in under an hour, which was his goal.

Me - My lungs felt great the entire race! I never felt out of breath. I had been having some issues with pain in my left knee. The Sunday before I ran about 6.8 miles and I was in major pain that night and the next day. I took the entire week off in hopes to not injure it more.

Around mile 2, I could feel the pain start to creep. At about 4.5 miles my knee buckled and I literally almost fell. I kept going though. It sounds weird, but all I could picture was little Blaker's face that day he was poked four times. I thought to myself, this is just your knee. Look what Blake goes through every single day. Suck it up and keep running. And I did! I crossed the finish line in 1:07, beating my goal by about 8 minutes. I could barely walk the rest of the weekend, but it was worth it. :)

Scott and Lisa: They both ROCKED IT!! Lisa beat her goal and Scott did his as well. I am so very proud of both of them and it was extra special that we all did it together.

Aaron said he doesn't want to run any farther than a 10K, but plans to run some 5Ks in the future. I said I might want to try something farther. Maybe. We will see what happens, but it was definitely a great accomplishment!!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the Burdorfs! We had our trick-or-treating last nite, so we snapped a few photos before, during and after trick-or-treating. What can I say? I like my camera just a little. :) Without further ado, I give you a witch, batman and thing one and thing two.

The sassy witch. She insisted on striped socks and a green face.

Batman. Brody as a super hero was just too perfect. It's so him.

The twins (Blake on left; Bowen on right) as thing one and thing two. That's from Dr. Seuss for those of you that don't know. They were adorable, even if they only made it for the first long street and chose to sleep after that. :)

The Burdorf Bunch!!

Birthday Weekend in 'Kato

A couple of weeks ago we headed to Mankato to help our nephew Maddox celebrate his 2nd birthday. It felt like we were just up there for his first! I just can't believe he's already two! Anyway, it was a great time to get to catch up with family and it was also the weekend of our big 10K (but more about that later).

We got up to 'Kato on Friday around supper time and after unpacking all of our junk at the hotel, we were able to hang out at Justin and Mandy's for a couple of hours. We had to hook Blake up to dialysis early, so he was done in time for us to UN-hook him before the run.

Saturday the weather was perfect and we watched football, played games, caught up with each other and relaxed! Here are some pictures of the weekend:

Aunt Jess and Jenna

Aunt Mandy and Bowen

The three Hunecke siblings - Jess, me and Justin

The thing about Justin and Mandy is they are awesome hosts!! They always keep us doing SOMETHING. Justin made these cool bean bag things (I don't know what they are called) and all of us took a turn to play a few games.

Mandy and Mitchell

Maddox the birthday boy taking a whack at the pinata. That's a pretty impressive swing for a newly turned two-year old!!

Brody waiting for his turn at the pinata. He's just cute. :)

All in all, a great weekend! But then again, it always is when we all get to be together! Thanks Justin, Mandy and Maddox for having us!

Pumpkin Painting

I have been promising the kids for about, um, two weeks now that we would paint our pumpkins. I'm not so much into the carving. It's a lot of work with the kids at this age. Anyway, since the weather was cooperative, I laid out some old newspapers and let the kids go to work.

What we started with:

Brody got to work on painting the little pumpkins

Jenna wanted the biggest pumpkin

Go Brody Go...

Brody was all about mixing and matching his colors

And then Jenna wanted to try to make stripes, so out came the painter's tape

Brody tried to use the star stencils, so cute :)

And the final product... With some that the mom did! I think I always love craft time as much (or more!) than the kiddos!

Hickory Grove Park

We LOOOVVVEEEE Fall! Honestly, some of this weather we've been having is so awesome! I wish we could bottle it and save it until January. I know the winters get long, so I've been trying to get the kids outside to soak up the weather as much as we can. We headed over to Hickory Grove Park one beautiful afternoon. What a wonderful few hours, the only bad part was that daddy had parent-teacher conferences and couldn't go with us.

My pretty girl posing.

We walked on the trails...

Brody and Jenna posing on a rock, pretending to get a long ;)

In addition to a lake, they have a playground area. Jenna has been working really hard on getting across the monkey bars.

The twins were such troopers. I think they loved the fresh air! Blake on the left; Bowen on the right

I must have given about 45,792 underdogs to Brody! The kid just can't get enough of the swings.

Thank goodness Jenna can pump herself on the swings.

Tough week of Dr. appts.

Last week sucked. No need to try to sugar coat it, it was tough.

Tuesday: We had the twins' 6-month check-ups in Ames. I took the twins (and Brody) by myself and everything would have been just fine, except Dr. Nau decided Blake wasn't breathing the best (we are all suffering from colds) and so we had to do a nebulizer treatment while we were there.

Then, of course, was the shots. Three each, plus an oral, plus Blake had to have a TB test done for Iowa City. They did something different this time and brought in two nurses and did shots at the exact same time. Without even asking me! I'll be honest, it made me mad! It's a lot easier to comfort them one at a time, but I had both babies crying and then the nurses just walked out and left me. That was when I had already been there for an hour and a half, so it could have just been that I was pretty tired and crabby at that point.

The good news! The boys are doing great. Bowen: 17.5 lbs. and 26.5 inches long; Blake 16.5 lbs and 26 inches long. Dr. Nau is so happy (as is Iowa City) how close the boys are staying in size.

Thursday: I took the twins with me (and picked-up our friend Sara) to Iowa City. What a long day that was. I left the house and 7:30 and got home at 6:30PM. I went down expecting Blake would be just fine, like he always is. He wasn't. :(

He did labs, like always. He had to do a quick x-ray because they wanted to check and see if his PD Cath is still in place. Then we headed down to dialysis. They got his labs back and the nurse turned to me and said, "Um...his labs are bad."

Long story short his numbers for everything are all out of whack. They are either way too high or way too low. Dr. Jetton went through the entire list with me and told me what the targets were. She assured me we are doing a wonderful job in caring for Blake, but they think he's just growing and they needed to make adjustments to his dialysis script, along with his other prescriptions.

Blake's iron level was SO LOW. It was 23 and they would like it to be 70. We had to head upstairs for an hour of iron IV. It was the worst thing I have been apart of since the boys have been born. 4 times they had to poke him! 4!!! The look on my poor baby's face... The screaming.... The tears....

I stayed strong through the first two pokes and then I lost it on the third one. God bless the nice lady who was in there trying to distract him and wiped my tears for me. I felt so bad for Blake and the nurses. Once they got the iv finally in Blake napped in my arms and he got some much deserved cuddle time. :)

The bad news is that instead of going back in a month, we go back in 2 weeks. BOO!! Another set of labs and (lucky us) another iron IV. Praying for better numbers!

The way I see it...

10K Crazy

It’s official. With the birth of these babies, my brain cells went right out the window. I’m telling you this because the next statement I’m about to make will be shocking. Are you ready? Here goes: I, Jamie, am running a 10K this weekend. That’s 6.2 miles. See what I’m saying? I’ve officially gone crazy!!

I’m not sure if you remember my column way back where I mentioned that I have this fear of failure? Well, let me refresh your memory. I was thinking about doing an 8K in Newton last spring, but I was a big chicken and didn’t sign-up for it because I didn’t think I’d be able to do it. While I’m refreshing your memory, let me also remind you that the farthest I have ever run in my life was a 5K (3.1 miles).

So what did I do? I got this cockamamie idea in my head this summer that I should go and sign-up for something that is an even farther distance than the previous race that I was scared to run. Are you all confused on how my brain works? Me too.

Last year, I was in Mankato for my nephew’s birthday and the first year of the Mankato Marathon took place (along with a half-marathon, 10K and 5K). We were close enough to the race that we walked a couple blocks and cheered on the runners. I remember my pregnant self thinking, ‘I want to do this next year.’

That was before, well, EVERYTHING. Before we found out we were having twins. Before we found out of the seriousness of the entire situation with our then Baby A. Before Blake got transported to Iowa City. Before he started dialysis. Before he spent 70 days there. Before we would, as a family, adjust to this new life.

When I think about all that and everything we’ve gone through and continue to go through, does running 6.2 miles seem that hard? Honestly, as much as I have this love-hate relationship with running, it just doesn’t. I think about our little fighter and everything he’s been through and me running a race that might push me a little (or a lot) just doesn’t seem like any big thing.

For the 10K, there was a cap of 750 runners. If I finish 750 does it really matter? Ok, for the record I will try really hard to not to the very last person, but somebody has to, right?!

I think it’s going to be a fun weekend. Aaron is running it “with” me. By “with” I mean he’ll be way ahead of me. We also have a few friends of ours that are running it too. Mind over matter. This is just a small obstacle compared to everything else we’ve been through, but that’s just the way I see it.

The twins are 6 months

My babies are six months old! Where has the time gone? The twins are getting so big, so fast! They get funner by the day. :)

Some things about them:

Size 2 diapers

Love, Love, Love their exersaucers

They both love to "chat" with you. It's hilarious. Makes me smile.

When laying next to each other on the floor their favorite thing to grab on each other is ears. I let them pull for awhile, and then move them apart.

Here are a couple photos I took that I'm in love with. They are going to be canvases on my wall.

Blake

Likes to roll over, not so much into getting on his knees and crawling yet, drooling like crazy, but no teeth to speak of, loves snuggling, eating more all the time.

Bowen

Loves to roll, he is up on his knees and rocks, rocks, rocks and belly flops, if he needs to get across the room, he will. he has two teeth, isn't a big fan of carrots, likes to drool a lot.

Big Day for the Kindergartener

Last Wednesday, Jenna came home from school so excited to tell me she got an award. I was like, for what? Apparently, they had an elementary-wide coloring contest for World Rabies Day (or something like that...). They picked a winner from the entire kindergarten and the winner was: JENNA! Too funny! She had to go out in from of the entire elementary to get a certificate. I asked her if that made her nervous (I knew it would) and she said no, "But I almost pooped my pants!" My Jenna. Good golly she is so my daughter!! hahaha!

Also on that day, because we are friends with the P.E. teacher, we found out that Jenna was the hula-hoop champion of her class! That's quite the day in the life of a kindergartener, wouldn't you say? :) :)

How simple life seems when you're five. A coloring and hula-hoop contest. I love it!

Apple Pickin'

One of the things on our imaginary "Fall List" is apple pickin'. We go every Fall and this year we went to the Berry Patch in Nevada to get some apples. Our good friend, Mary, went along with us as well. I love Mary. We're a lot alike in the fact we like to do "experiences" like apple picking and strawberry picking. We both like to make things homemade (she made an awesome batch of drunken apples with what she picked - yum!). Anyway, we always have a good time!

Mary, Jenna and Brody trekking to the apple trees. It was literally a crisp, Fall morning on the Saturday we went. It was great!

I just liked this picture a whole bunch.

Brody and Jenna didn't help pick a lot of apples, but they sure enjoyed taste-testing. Brody apparently couldn't be bothered to take time to quit eating for this photo. :)

All three of us at the end of the morning. Do you get that the apples are an "11" so I remember the year?! LOL.

*Sorry for the bad lighting on all the pictures. The sun/shade was a mess!!

Veggies

BOWEN

BLAKE

The twins have been eating cereal and veggies the last month or so. They are getting pretty good at it. What we've learned so far is that Bowen hates squash and Blake is not a big fan of peas. With Blake's dietary restrictions he can't have carrots, squash or sweet potatoes because of their high potassium levels. For stage one veggies that leaves green beans and peas. Because of his lack of variety, I make him tolerate the peas. :)