A Whole New Experience.....

Well this was a big birthday for me and despite being covered with poison ivy and actually turning 30 it was a pretty good day!
To start my day Chuck and Hannah came to visit me at work, which meant I got some extra cuddle time with my little girl and I got to see Chuck again before he left on his trip! Then I got a package from my mom with a fun shirt to wear!

Sorry, I have kind of been on a blogging hiatis, but we, meaning Chuck and I (but thank goodness not Hannah) have been plagued with poison ivy!! Thankfully Chuck's only lasted a couple of days but mine started showing up a day after his and is still going in full force!

Lets start from the beginning. On Sunday July 11th, Hannah went down for a good nap so Chuck and I took the opportunity to tackle yard work. When we bought our house it was very early spring and let me tell you we had no idea what we were getting into when it came to our new yard! Anyways, we knew poison ivy was around somewhere because Chuck had a mild case of it a few weeks back, but I had been in the same stuff and was fine so we figured I was good to go to start clearing out the ground cover around the front of our house that looked like it hadn't been groomed in YEARS! After about a couple hours of yard work in 90 degree heat we decided to call it quits and head in for showers. My arms immediately started itching so I hopped in the shower right away! After the shower everything seemed to be fine, so we headed to the pool.

The next day Chuck woke up and was itching, but I was still pretty much itch and rash free. We tried the normal stuff on him, cortaid, oatmeal baths, benedryl, nothing seemed to really help. The next day I was itching also, yes 2 full days after we had been working in the yard, I started to get poison ivy. It was horrible, I called the doctor as soon as they opened to see what I should do. They called in a steroid cream and said to take benedryl. Well, this worked great for Chuck, I on the other hand have continued to get worse and worse. See, the way you get poison ivy is from the oil of the plant, not just the plant so if it is on your shoes, or yard tools or shirt or hat you can continue to get it so I have washed everything in our house that we might have touched, thinking that maybe I was being exposed to it again, but since Chuck and Hannah didn't have it anymore that probably wasn't the problem! Apparently I just have really sensitive skin and I am REALLY allergic to poison ivy! Monday morning the doctor called in a steroid for me to start taking and I am thinking today it is maybe starting to work!! Nothing stops the itch, so many people have given me suggestions on things to try and I have tried every single one of them with no success!
I have learned a few things from this...
1. Poison Ivy is an evil plant!
2. Itching is absolutely miserable!
3. Poison Ivy is not contagious (Thank Goodness)
4. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.

Anyways, cross your fingers for me that things are starting to get better! I am hoping that later today I will find time to post a long overdue video of Hannah at Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Dave's wedding last month!

So, Chuck is out of town for work and it was raining when we got home tonight. I figured it was a great opportunity to teach Hannah how to bake brownies...

I think she had a good time!

Turns out my little girl is a pretty good baker....

As promised here are the pictures from the Freedom Run on Saturday morning. This event was very family friendly and we had a blast.
There were cows...which Hannah immediately fell in love with...

Cookies which Hannah never turns down (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!)...


And a bit of sweating done by Mommy and Daddy.....



Then we had the kid run....look how far it is!! They lined all the kids up(some with parents) by age group. Their goal was to reach the cow (pictured above). At the end each child received a medal (see Hannah's picture above), blue star beads and a chinese yoyo! It was awesome!!!

So I started writing this post last weekend, but things have been busy so I will just have to show you the rest of the pictures some other time...
We had an absolutely wonderful 4th of July. We got up early on Saturday morning and headed over to the Freedom Run in Carmel, it was a great 4.5 mile run that we have never participated in before and really enjoyed. The great thing about the run is that it not only allowed strollers but immediately following this run they had a rookie race with no age requirements which meant Hannah got to participate in her first race!! (I haven't uploaded the pictures for this yet but I will shortly)

We spent the afternoon at the pool with the Lee's, then headed home for a nap and showers and then off to this cute little guys 1st Birthday Party! Declan turned 1 on July 2nd and he is a cutey!!


The rest of the weekend was spent pretty much the same way, pool time, grill outs and friends, and then it ended with fireworks...I can't believe how it just flew by!!