New River Gorg-eous 1/2 Marathon

Grandma Nativa, Acalias and I traveled to Beckley to stay with our friends the North's the night before the race. Derek stayed behind to prepare for his surgery rotation and watch Skofeild. We stopped by a few scenic look-outs so my energizer bunny could get his wiggles out.

Scenic look-out an hour outside of Clarksburg.

New River Gorge

We had a great time catching up with our old friends and Acalias enjoyed interacting with another child close to you age. It's crazy to think about last October, our babies were so small then. Children grow so fast.

These two were so fun to watch together.

The race didn't start until 11am, we met up with the Bishop family at the Ace resort where the race began.

Pre-race pictures.

It was cold that morning but I was happy that the sun was out.

Starting line.

I set a goal to run it under 3 hours, I figured that the elevation wouldn't have steep inclines like the trail run I participated in, in California. I started off in the middle of the pack. I love fall and I love spring. The colors were so beautiful to look at as I ran. There weren't too many big boulders to jump over so I was happy about that, I'm a wuss when it come to leaping from boulder to boulder.

Beautiful right?

This is what I love about trail running!

At about 1hr 35 min into the race the sun had warmed me up so I removed my long sleeve shirt. I was feeling confident that I could possibly run the race in 2:30. I fueled up and found an upbeat song on my i-pod. As soon as I was getting into my rhythm there was a slight decline, my foot snagged a root or rock and I went flying through the air. This time it wasn't graceful (a woman told me I fell gracefully at my last race) my face thumped the ground so hard that I felt like my brain shifted. I remember groaning as I rolled onto my back. I just laid there for a few seconds, shocked at what just happened. The runners ahead of  me and behind me crowded around me. I was embarrassed. Warm fluid ran from my nose, I thought it was blood but it was mucous and it flowed like the sink faucet. I had scraped my arm, chin and lip. The runners helped me up and handed me all my gear that strewn about the area. I just stood there reassuring them that I was ok and to keep running, I didn't want to hold them back. I re pinned my bib and took the Tylenol that I had in my hydration belt pack, my head was pounding. I continued to run at a slow pace, the fall had forced me to be overly cautious. The thing about trail running is falling tends to happen to everyone. The moment you look up to enjoy the scenery you inevitably fall. I love the fall leaves but the leaves hide what lies beneath them, rocks, roots and even slight declines.

I approached a fork on the trail and I had the option to run the 8 mile route but I continued with the half-marathon. I hate to train for a 1/2 only to participate in a smaller race. I headed toward the half-marathon route trail. The leaves were plentiful, and the trail was nice and wide. I ran the next stretch of about 5 miles alone, I thought that I may have taken the wrong turn. I didn't see a single runner for what seemed like forever.

I was excited to see a living, breathing being after miles and miles alone.

Yup, my chin is still oozing with blood but at a least I have a smile on my face.

I decided since there wasn't a single runner near me that I'd relax, enjoy the trail and snap more pictures.

I also switched my i-pod from music to a podcast, Jillian Micheal's show (I just discovered them and I really, really enjoy running to them, it's like running with a friend and I didn't feel so alone)

Running towards the finish line, finished at 2:43 (19 minutes faster than my first trail run, even with the fall!!)

After the race.

This may be an annual race for me, first I need a pair of trail running shoes.

I ran into the guys that helped me out when I fell. One had to call the ambulance he had rolled his ankle. I have a love hate relationship with trail running. I love the challange and the beauty that surround the trails but lets be honest I do not like falling.

I usually don't stay long for the award ceremony but they fed us a delicious free burrito.

 I was surprised to hear my name over the intercom, I placed 3rd in my age group 20-29. Sweet! 

My #1 fan!

 I look forward to the upcoming trail races in the spring!
Please don't forget to vote this week:)

My Weight Loss Story -part 1

Cue Jennifer Hudson's smooth silky voice... and pretend it's mine.

15 months ago I was pregnant with my first child. I was so excited to have our son, but a bit nervous about all the weight I had gained.

I gained 40 pounds, to make matters worse, I was already overweight before I got pregnant.

Here I am weighing a whopping 219 pounds!

After giving birth to our little boy Acalias, I avoided the scale while I enjoyed my bundle of joy and recovered. At six weeks postpartum,the doctor gave me the green light to start a workout routine.Weight Watchers was the only weight loss program that worked for me in the past so I registered once again. 

6 weeks postpartum

197.8 lbs

I started training for a 1/2 marathon and dropped 25 lbs training for it! 

Three months later.

172 lbs

Eleven months later.

155 lbs

14 months later

150 lbs

Today

147lbs (Goal 145lbs)

How has losing weight affected me?

Yeah, this pictures is the classic Haitian or Dominican pose, 

it's cheesy but I had to get creative beyond the white wall.

Mentally & physically feeling ENERGETIC,CONFIDENT & COMFORTABLE

Fitting into these Hot skinny jeans!

What motivates me?

Who do I hope to inspire?

All of you!

Please take the time to vote for me.

Voting period is from October 20-25, 2011

You can also post this link on your too!

https://apps.facebook.com/storyofyou/facebook/video/35/

Thank you for all your support.

100% Weaned

The day has finally come, Acalias has finally accepted whole milk. Grandma Nativa knew before arriving to West Virginia that she was expected to help me wean Acalias. She is a decisive 80-year-old woman and she took the assignment seriously, every time I wanted to give in she reminded me of her responsibility to help. I can't decide which was more difficult, the beginning or end of breast feeding. Both were very painful, physically speaking, but I'm proud that I didn't give in and give up. I have high expectations that my child's health will live up to all the statistics of  a breastfed child:)

So long to the crying child pulling my shirt off in public...hello to the tantrum and biting phase. Acalias is bouncing off the walls with energy, he's into everything. Although, I feel so depleted of energy by the end of the day, I'm really enjoying this age. He's trying to communicate with words more, I love walking in on him talking to Skofeild. He mimics our voice intonations to a T. I'll have to catch him yapping away on the phone with the camcorder, he paces around just like his dad.

We've been enjoying Grandma Nativa's company. She thinks everything Acalias does is so adorable, he couldn't possibly do anything wrong in her eyes.  Derek and I have been going on dates every weekend, we haven't really been out alone and it's so nice to go out alone. We miss him when were out, but it's nice to have grandma as our live-in nanny for several more weeks.

I've been trying to learn all of Grandma's rice variations and sell the recipie to the highest bidder in my family:)

 Acalias refueses to eat anything else!

Derek is completing his fourth rotation this week and will be starting Surgery rotation. He's been practicing his suturing, he's heard horror stories of how students get yelled at all day in the surgery rotation. He's doing well, he is impressive in his ability to recall information he's learned years ago. I know that he will become an amazing doctor, Acalias and I are so proud of him.

This week I'm tapering down my miles, I will be running my last official long-run race of the year. It's a half-marathon (13.1 Miles) Trail race at the New River Gorge. I don't know what to expect so my goal is to run it under my last race The Cinderella 1/2 Marathon Trail Run in California, at least under 3:00 hours. I've made a few running friends that I met from the local library Mother Goose Time . I'm currently deciding on which marathon to run (I'm considering this one, this one or this one. I hope to run 2 marathons next year with a hand full of 1/2 marathons and participate in my first triathlon in June (I need to learn how to swim first). I will run the Boston Marathon one day so I need to step it up and improve my race times. I'm currently running 9-9:30 min/mile, which is 6-7mph this winter I will train at 8:30-8:50 min/mile on the treadmill, I need to be at a 7 min/mile to run the Boston.

Here are few pictures from the last few races I ran, the Labor Day 5k Fun run (23:00-placed 1st in age/female category).

Valley Falls 10 Miler, it was a beautiful run but unfortunately I had to tap out. I started the race 20 minutes late (due to our dysfunctional GPS)and once they began removing the flags from the trail I was paranoid of getting lost forever in the woods. I sulked all day but I will redeem my self this Saturday:)

The falls. A perfect place for a family portrait.

It's a beautiful park, It was really cold and dreary that day.

We're excited to discover more of our new area.

Bienvenido a nuestra casita

REWIND

to August 1st, when I originally typed this but never got around to posting it.

It's taken me longer than usual to get settled in our new home. Several days after Derek began his rotations, he was in a car accident. A woman pulling out of the McDonald's parking slammed into his car, t-boning the vehicle. The woman agreed that she was at fault, to make a long story short she was deceitful and did not have the insurance that she said that had. It's been an added stress that we didn't need, but I'm grateful Derek was not injured. Since then we purchased a new car and sold our Saturn, I guess taking all the calls for my dad's used cars in the classified ads as a child paid off. I listed it on craigs list, we received a lot of calls and we sold it in two weeks! We were happy to see it the car out of our hair but it did have a lot of sentimental value. It was the car Derek purchased right after his mission, it drove us to our first date, to the temple and away from our wedding reception. It also gave us two good years here in West Virginia, we planned to drive it until it died but the accident gave us no other option but to sell.

Derek has been rotating with Dr. Wolftor at a family practice, he has really enjoyed it. Each day brings new challenges but it's exciting for him. He enjoys procedures because he's doing more than taking the medical history of the patient. He's done well with diagnosing illnesses, he admitted to feeling mentally drained when he returns home. It's a lot of work having to remember all the things you've learned in the past two years of medical school and learn more on top of it. We can't believe that it's already been eight weeks, he's completed family medicine rotation and he will be moving on to family medicine 2 with Dr. Ahmed.
We also received Derek's COMLEX scores back. He didn't fail like he thought he did. He did very well and we're so pleased with his scores.

 We're finally settled. I do have plans to re purpose a few more things but that will be a gradual process throughout the year. I'm a frame and fabric hoarder (for those of you who don't already know) . I typically find my frames and fabric at yardsales or swaps. I had frames stashed away in our storage closet, since moving here I've re purposed them for the family room and Acalias' room.

Our new home is definitely an upgrade from THIS!

Welcome to our living room, I love that I no longer have 5 doors to work my decorations around. Notice my collage, yup I had all those frames tucked away in storage. I plan to add to it gradually as Acalias grows. I wanted more color in our living room so I painted them sage green and blue to go along with the pillows covers I made before we moved.

The amenities include central air and heat, I didn't think that existed in West Virginia but we're in heaven in our climate controlled home:) We also have a laundry room that I forgot to snap a picture of, I stuffed my treadmill in there too so it's a bit snug but it works out great.

The kitchen

The backdoor leads to a forest, literally. We have deers hanging around back all the time. We store our bikes out there with our grill. The door closest to the living room is a half bathroom, the door next to it is the laundry room/ sauna running room.

The 1/2 bathroom located on the main level and full bath upstairs.

The hallway leading towards our rooms.

Skoey says "Hi"

I'm opting to not share my bedroom. It's not very presentable, since moving here I've been working on one sewing project after another. It's spacious, we have our desk and bookshelf in it as well. I love all the storage space we have here. It's also very nice not to have the baby in our room anymore.

Acalias' room/ guest room (hint hint mi familia)...it's currently occupied by Grandma Nativa who came out as soon as she could to help out with Acalias. She will be here for a month so maybe my blogging will be more consistent with her around to keep Acalias entertained. It's so nice to have her here, I love having visitors, especially family.

Yup, had these frames stashed away too...

and these frames too. 

I wanted to do something special with Acalias' blessing suit, it's so tiny. Seeing it brings back a flood of happy memories and feelings we felt when we first brought him home, we love him so much.

So that's our new home!

 We are 1hr 45 min from Pittsburgh, PA, 4.5 hours from Washington D.C, about 4 hours from Columbus, OH, 5 hours from Kentucky and 5 hours from Richmond, VA

Home Sweet Home

Acalias was finally discharged from United Center Hospital on Saturday, September 17, 2011. We had spent the entire week in the hospital. We are so thankful for all of your prayers, Acalias is recovering and is doing well. Here's what led up to our week long stay at the hospital. It was a very long week, hence a very long post.

Derek had spent most of the early morning hours trying to calm Acalias. I just figured he was fussy and teething so I went to Stake Conference while Derek stayed home with him. When I return Derek said he cried all morning and that he had given him albuterol treatments. Acalias had RSV when he was younger so we had some leftover treatments. It seemed like to was such a chore for him to breathe so we thought a hot bath would open up his airways. His conditioned worsened so we took him to MedCare, the urgent care near by. The wait time at the urgent care is always shorter so we figured we'd be in and out in an hour.

As we waited in the waiting room, Acalias cried incessantly so Derek paced around while holding him. His name was finally called and the medical assistant checked his oxygen level, it was only at 80% when it should be 100%. He had intercostal retractions and rapid breathing. The Doctor rushed in and told us he didn't have the equipment to help us so he suggested we go to the ER. In my mind I was frantic, I wanted to run out of the room and take Acalias to the ER. The doctor kept talking and I could see that Derek was just as frantic as I was. He sent a referral to the ER and we were on our way.

On our way to the hospital, Acalias continued to struggle to breath. He was turning pale and falling asleep. I cried, feeling helpless and wanting to be at the ER right at that moment. We checked in the ER and the woman didn't bother to look at our son, in order to triage, she just told us to sit and wait. Derek stood and watched the woman continue to work, after a few minutes he told her that Acalias needed oxygen and to see someone now! A doctor came out to look at him and got him in as soon as she saw just how urgent our situation was. By then Acalias was limp, pale and wheezing. In the room 5 ER employees awaited him, while one put him on oxygen, the other held an albuterol treatment. Three nurses held him down trying to find a vein to insert an IV. After pricking him in both arms, they called in someone else who found a vein in his foot. I felt so anxious watching them prick him like a pin cushion. I had the same thing happen to me when I was in labor but I figured it was my dark skin and their lack of experience with dark skinned people. I guess Acalias and I have "difficult veins". They also taped monitors on his chest and a O2 monitor on his other foot. His oxygen level steadily rose up to 85% and after an hour we can see that he was starting to feel better. He was a bit annoyed with all the wires on his body, but seemed to be feeling a lot better.

It was a struggle to keep the oxygen on him and distract him from pulling off the wires attached to his chest.

The ER doctor came in and told us that we needed to admit him so that they could continue to monitor his oxygen levels and await the results to diagnose him. Shortly after he left another doctor came in and asked us if he had a fever and talked about shipping us to another hospital that was better equipped for babies. She was very aggressive with her questions, I almost felt like we were being interrogated at a police station. I could feel my heart rate increase as I pondered Acalias having something else so traumatic occur that he would need to be in a children's hospital an hour away. The doctor left and the ER doctor returned, both doctors were obviously not communicating with each other and that was evident as they both continued to swap places with different suggestions. Derek verbalized what I was thinking, the ER doctor assured him that the ER doctors were on the same page. We were then taken up to our room.

Our room had a sign near the room number that informed anyone entering that they must put on special gear. We were in isolation because they hadn't yet diagnosed Acalias and used extra special precaution when entering. The nurse strapped a hugs tag that limited us to the fourth floor, we weren't allowed to leave the room with him so the tag seemed useless in my mind.

The next few days were a sleepless blur. Doctors, nurses, residents, student nurses, IV teams shuffled in and out with the same mundane questions. Each time Acalias would finally dose off, someone else came in to do blood work, check vitals and so forth. The monitors blared with every tug and pull. I was thrilled to see that his oxygen levels improved each day. The Doctor said that we would be released as soon as his oxygen stabilized above 95%.

I missed my energetic little boy, it was so difficult to see him like this. I cried a lot. Prayed for strength and hoped that they would find out what was causing all his symptoms.

Three days later, we were still in isolation. The Acalias I know began to reemerge, he was squirmy and wanted to go out beyond our small room.

Thank goodness we at least had a big window with a breathtaking view.

Finally we were told that he was infected with para influenza which caused Bronchiolitis and a urinary tract infection. We were baffled by the UTI diagonsis, they later discovered high levels of sugar in his urin. The doctors started asking Derek about his diabetes and when he was diagosed. Derek was diagnosed at 18 months but his dad informed us that he was hospitalized with simar problems that Acalias had at 15 months. After dropping so many diagnostic bombs on us, they suggested we call home for support regarding the management of a toddler with diabetes. They lifted the precaution sign on our door and said we were free to walk around the fourth floor.

Yeah for wagons! they made this little boys next few days more managable.

His fever began to spike, although we were contnually being told we would be released the following day, something always came up. They continued to monitor his fever and monitor his sugars. Derek is currently rotating at United, so we were fortunate that he didn't fall too behind in his work.

We were in the hospital so long that Acalias began to identify the nurses because they all wear blue. He'd try to hide from them to avoid what he knew was coming. One night I'm pretty sure he kicked a nurse square in the face as she struggled to force an oxygen tube in his nose. I don't know why she thought he would keep it in his nose, after all he had already had his IV changed once because he yanked it out.

On saturday September 17th, they ran a few more tests, gave us a glucometer to monitor Acalias' blood sugars and sent us home. Halelujah!

We're recovering well, Acalias still gets up a couple of times a night but hopefully we will get back into our normal routine soon. His blood sugars have been reading normal and we have a follow up appointment later on this week.

We are so fortunate to have a loving family that kept us grounded during this difficult time although we are so far apart. The members in our new ward showed their support as well. Several of the males stopped by to give priesthood blessings, the relief society by brought us yummy homemade food (the hospital food got old quick) and spent time visiting with us.

We are so happy to be home again, thank you again for all of your prayers.