AFAA Certification

Today I spend 9 hours at the gym. I finally got my Primary Group Exercise Certification test done. Technically, in order to teach, you need to be certified. I am certified in Turbokick, but not through a more general certification. AFAA stands for Aerobics and Fitness Association of America. It is quite thorough. A lot more so than I thought. First of all, you have to study and do a mean study guide that is like 37 pages or something and memorize proper muscle names and places. Then you go to the certification and you have to do both a written test (100 questions, multiple choice and matching) and also a practical (showing that you know how to work all the different muscle groups and stretch them out and basically that you know how to teach and cue correctly). To be honest, I didn't read all the chapters, I more just went through and found the answers and didn't study too hard until last night and then I only studied for an hour or two. Then you do a practical which is you do a warm-up, a cardio section, a cool-down section, go through every muscle group in the body and show at least 2 strengthening exercises per muscle and 1 stretching exercise. On top of this, you also have to teach an individual presentation in front of everyone showing 1 move and 2 harder modifications.
I was really worried about it because the lady that originally does it is an older "really anal" lady. She is all professionalism and having everything correct down to the last hair on your head. Which I think everything does need to be proper, but group exercise is all about fun too! Anyways I have been way stressed, then when I got to the gym, come to find out she is not the one who was doing it that day!! YAY! She was supposed to go out of town but ended up not but someone else was already flown in. The girl who did my certification was way cute and fun and it helped to ease the tension. She was more in the style of helping everyone out and making sure everyone passed. (I didn't get that impression from the original lady). I hope this is making sense.
Anyways, it is finally over. This has been hanging over my head for quite some time and it feels nice to finally have it over. And not just over, but I feel good about it. I am positive I passed. It really wasn't that bad. In 4 to 6 weeks I should be recieving my results and certificate showing I passed. So not only can I kick your butt in Turbo, I can now kick it in any class!! Watch out world! Here I come! :)

Bed Head

After Owen woke from his nap, I found his wispy little hairs going in every direction.I love him.

2 More Aprons

Ok so I am like obsessed now with sewing. I love it. Seriously, it is so fun. I just wish I had more money so I could go buy fabric. I love fabric by Heather Bailey, Moda, and Buggy Barn. Anyways, so my friend is getting married and is having a shower on Thursday so I decided to make her an apron. Also, my niece Cambry turned 3 and so I made one for her too. I used Heather Bailey fabric and it turned out so so so cute! I LOVE them! So without furtho ado...here they are....The top one is for my friend, I also put some chocolate chips and kitchen shears in the pocket. The bottom is the one for my niece. I used the same fabric but used different accent pieces. Fun, fun fun!

Susie Homemaker!

I have been hankering for a while to make aprons but I never got around to it or had fabric or a pattern for that matter. We went up to Lee's on Saturday and his mom had some patterns and had fabric too. So I brought them home and on Sunday I made this really cute reversible apron! It really is so cute, especially on. The pictures don't do it justice. It took me all day and I know I did some things wrong (I won't point them out). But I did it the way I felt was right. The directions were actually pretty unclear so that was the most frustrating part. Maybe I am just new to sewing but it would say "turn out and press" ok, so press down on which side? The right side or wrong side of fabric? After I finished I understood what they were trying to say, however the directions didn't make it obvious so some things were done my way! And I actually think I like it better anyways. So I pretty much finished the reversible apron on Sunday. Took me quite some time. Probably like 4 or 5 hours total. On Monday I just had to do some quick finishing touches. Then after I put Owen down for his nap, I was browsing online and found another cute apron pattern. It is supposed to be made with old jeans, but I had old khaki's instead and decided to try it out. It doesn't require much fabric so I had some old scraps from Sarah's quilt so I decided to make it using that fabric. Once again, I didn't do it exactly like she said. The directions were very clear and obvious. The bottom of the skirt is supposed to be pleated and I tried, but I didn't cut long enough fabric so the ruffle at the bottom is smaller than the website. But it is still cute. Once again, I won't point out all my little flaws, but if I do say so myself, these two aprons are so cute! The second apron (half apron) was really quick and easy and I think I will use the other leg to make another for my friend who is getting married. It took me like 2 hours to make total, but now that I have done it, I think it would be even quicker. Well enough, here are the pics...I am thinking I may add some yellow rick-rack on the pockets and up by the neck on the purple reversible apron. I don't know, maybe I will just get a yellow button to add some detail. Pretty cute anyways though! Anyone wants to make one I am totally down, we could have an apron makin party!

Fall and Halloween!

It's been a while so here are some pics....first of all, Owen and I have really been enjoying the nice fall weather and going on lots of walks! Owen loves it outside!We also went to the Barnyard Boo at Thanksgiving point and Owen rode a horse and played around. He is standing up so much and wanted to stand up on the hay, but every time he touched it, he would get a gross look on his face. I don't think he liked the feel of it!The night before Halloween we decided to carve pumpkins and let Owen touch the slime. He didn't really get too messy, but it was still fun. We carved the cutest pumpkins ever!Finally time for Halloween! Funnest ever! We dressed Owen up as the cutest little tiger ever! He was so cute and so happy! We took him trick-or-treating with his cousins Keaton and Cambry. He got quite a bit of candy (I mean Lee got a lot of candy) Then we went over to my friends house and she was having a halloween party. I must say that my costume got quite a bit of attention. I looked HOT! I was an 80's aerobic instructor. I had turquoise leggins and legwarmers and side ponytail...the whole she-bang. The best part was the leapard underwear! Lee was his usual...a wierd gothic freak. Next year, he is not allowed to be that though. He has been that every Halloween since I have known him. Anyways, Halloween was a good time!

Allergist

Ok so time for an update. Yesterday was a pretty hard day for me. I took Owen to the allergist to see for sure if he is allergic to peanuts. Well the Doctor was saying that if he is allergic to peanuts, then usually there is also another food allergy so he wanted to test out a few different things on him. So they wrote 1 through 5 on his back and on each number they wiped the chemical from the food and did a small prick. After 5 minutes they check to see if he had hives and how his skin reacted. Well Owen does have an allergy to peanuts, but that's not all. He also has an allergy to eggs! EGGS! Everything has eggs in them. He told me that he had about a 20 percent chance of growing out of the egg allergy but he needed avoidance. He kinda went through some things with me and told me that Owen needs to stay away from ALL peanuts, nuts, eggs, and seafood. He also told me that we can't have other people cook for him due to the possibility of cross contamination. No restaurants either. Also they gave me a prescription for EPI pens. I have to carry one at all times in case Owen does come in contact with anything. They had a practice pen and had me practice a few times (there was no needle or medicine in it). I must admit that it is a bit overwhelming to hear all this. I just kept thinking what if someone tries to give him candy or something and it has peanuts or eggs and he dies. I also kept thinking, Halloween is going to be so hard for him and for birthdays he won't be able to eat cake or cookies. And then I was thinking of all the foods that have peanuts or eggs in them. It seems like almost everything does. So I cried for a bit, then I had to start thinking positive. There are so many other things that could be wrong with him and I am so Thankful that it is only an allergy. True, his life may be a bit different but if you don't really know the difference it wouldn't be so bad. Plus as long as I did all the cooking and cooked without eggs and peanuts I could probably make him cakes and stuff with an egg substitute. I just love my little boy so much and it already terrifies me to think of him going to school and eating something bad. I just want to follow him around the rest of his life and monitor every thing that goes in his mouth! Really, it just boils down to the fact that he is still happy and healthy and will still have a perfectly normal life and I am so thankful that of everything that could happen, this is it (hopefully). Also the doctor gave me a website that I can go on and he was also telling me of support groups. And right now, I do feel overwhelmed and do need all the support I can get.

Peanut Allergy

Last night was so crazy! Yesterday I made peanut butter cookies. I like to make cookies on sunday. Well right before we put Owen to bed we were down in the kitchen eating cookies and Owen was crawling around us as usual. We then went upstairs bathed him and his eyes started to get red (which they usually do when he is tired) and he was rubbing them...again, what he does when he is tired so we made him a bottle to put him to bed. He didn't really eat his bottle because he was itching his eyes like crazy but I assumed he was just really tired and didn't want to eat because he didn't nap. Well he went down and fell asleep and we went downstairs. About an hour later, Owen woke up screaming. We went upstairs and made him another bottle (thinking he hadn't eaten the first so he must be hungry) and we went in and got him. Well, he had thrown up everywhere and was sneezing and he just wasn't breathing right. My first thought was that he had maybe eaten some cookie and was having an allergy to the peanut butter. So we decided to take him to the hospital. On our way he started to calm down a bit so I thought we should just stop at the store to see if maybe there was medicine for an upset tummy because maybe he just was a little upset. Owen is in the phase of EVERYTHING goes in his mouth! Literally! So maybe he didn't get cookie and maybe he had grabbed something else and put it in his mouth and upsetting him. So I ran in the store to see what I could find and when I had come out he had thrown up again and doing the weird breathing. I told Lee that we should just go to the hospital because I would rather them send us home with an upset tummy then go home and have something bad happen. So we continue to the hospital. Owen then started to throw up again and was choking on it so as we were pulling into the hospital I was yanking Owen out to slap his back and take off his clothes. Lee dropped us off and I went running in the ER with Owen in nothing but a diaper and a blanket wrapped around him. And when we got in I could see that Owen was puffy and had hives everwhere! All over his neck, back, tummy, face, legs and even down his diaper! I was freaking out! The nurse took us back immediately and you could just tell he was in pain! My heart was breaking for my baby! He was crying and sneezing and scratching everywhere. But poor, cute Owen still was a smiling baby. All the nurses came in. We probably had like at least 10 nurses in there saying how cute he was that with his puffy red eyes and body he was still smiling at them. Anyways, it pretty much took all 10 nurses to hold him down so they could try to find a vein in his arm for an IV. That made him angry! After about 50 pokes and an EPI shot they got his IV in and gave him benadryl and some steroid to help with inflammation. I just sat there and held him and he started to look and feel better and drifted off to sleep. They then monitored him for another hour and a half then sent us home with benadryl and prescriptions for more steroid and benadryl. My poor baby! I was so sad! We really don't know what exactly he ate, but my personal feeling is that he ate some cookie and is allergic to peanuts. I am so thankful that he is okay and we decided to just go to the hospital. In a few weeks we will have to take him to an allergist to see if that is what it is or if he maybe ate something else. And if he is allergic to peanuts then he might be to all nuts. I love Owen with all my heart and it just kills me to see him have any pain or problems. I am so thankful I have him. I think I need that little boy more than he needs me. I love him so so so much! These are some pictures after he got his medicine and started to feel better. Everyone please pray for him! You can see his puffy eyes :(Sad Lee holding Owen after he fell asleep. We were so worried.This is where the IV was in his arm. They covered it with an ace bandage so he would rip at it.

I am hoping that maybe if it is a peanut allergy that he will grow out of it. Maybe he is just so young and couldn't handle it yet. Who knows. I feel a little overwhelmed too thinking of all the things we will have to do to make sure that he never eats peanuts or anything with peanuts or peanut oil in it. I am just so thankful that Owen is ok today!