March 14, 2007
Nothing
I have been ridiculously sick since the weekend. The only way it is possible for me to not go through a box of tissues every five minutes is if I take cold medicine. I don’t do well on cold medicine at all. Even if I take the child’s dose, cold medicine equals coma for me.
Apparently Benadryl also kills creative juices because I have absolutely nothing to say, unless of course you’d like to hear about how many tissues I’ve been through in the past few days or the fact that I could really use someone to flip the covers on and off me at 5-minute intervals throughout the night because the chills/hot flashes are coming at about that frequency.
Yes, it has been a fun week. I am almost completely convinced that Lil C’s allergic reaction gave me such stress that it sent me spiraling into a sinus infection/flu/allergy nightmare. (She is now 100% fine by the way, and thank you for all your reassuring comments and concern.)
I’ve noticed a lot of bloggers opening up the floor and asking readers what they’d like to know. So since I am lacking any and all material this week and since karate class is looking like it won’t be happening this week, I invite you to pose a question to Black Belt Mama. I can’t guarantee I’ll answer them all, and I really can’t guarantee that I’ll even remember writing this post because, well, Benadryl. But if there’s something you’re dying to know, ask away in the comments section or email me at bbm at blackbeltmama dot com. I’ll answer the questions in an upcoming post.
And please, ask me something because I really don’t want to have to, in a Benadryl induced semi-conscious state, create questions to answer because you were all too lazy to help me out. In the interest of me not having to create my own pathetic questions, I’ll provide links to your blog if you ask one. So ask away. . .
And that about does it for today. Where’s my Benadryl?
March 9, 2007
Scary Day
Lil C had what appears to be a severe allergic reaction to an antibiotic she was on for an ear infection. She started with a couple hive-like bumps on her legs. Today, the few small hives erupted into a full fledged all out attack on her joints. Lil C’s knees swelled to about four times their normal size. Her wrists, fingers, ankles, and toes were swollen too. She had hives everywhere from the top of her little head to the tops of her little feet.
I talked to my Mom this morning and told her I was concerned. I didn’t want to be an alarmist though so I thought I would give her a bath and see how she was. It was when I started undressing her that I saw how much worse it had gotten in only an hour. I immediately called the doctor, and then drove her frantically as fast as I could to the appointment.
As the doctor asked me questions about whether or not rheumatoid arthritis or Lupus runs in our family, it was all I could do not to cry. It was terrifying to watch her swell up so severely, so suddenly. My Mom works for an allergist so I know how serious allergic reactions can be.
The doctor put her on oral steroids and round the clock benadryl and we’re supposed to watch her closely over the next 48 hours. Hopefully, an allergic reaction is all that is was and it will all go away. Tonight, she seems much better already.
I couldn’t help but think about the little girl Julia, whose battle with cancer I’ve been following over the past several months. My fear and panic today is probably only a fraction of what her mother feels every single day, and has been feeling every day since her daughter first got sick. I pray for that little girl every single night, but I’m going to make sure I remember her family in my prayers as well.
It was an absolutely terrifying day. I hope that this ordeal is over and that we won’t have any more incidents like this ever again.
Update: As of Sunday night, Lil C is doing much better. Her joint swelling is pretty much gone. We’re still dealing with an occasional hive popping up here and there, some itchy eyes, and some minor bruising under the skin where the swelling was the most severe. But it appears that we are out of the woods for now and that is a HUGE relief.
March 8, 2007
BBM Challenge is BACK!
I started the BBM Challenge and then didn’t post about it often enough at all. It seems to have been dying a slow death. Well, the BBM Challenge was never gone; but now it’s back in full force. My family and I have been sparring over the past few months when we get the chance to do so (I know, so lame, because we need to make it a priority). When I say "family," I mean FAMILY, as in all of us.
Lil C’s favorite thing these days is to demand that things be put "ON" and she demanded the same of my sparring gear. I’ve been trying to teach her how to punch and do knife hands. The knife hands are coming along nicely, and she can even throw a decent little snap kick (mostly when getting her diaper changed). By far though, her best karate skill is the kiai, which is awesome! She also does a fairly nice growl, which will come in handy as well.
And when she’s not growling, kicking, or kiaiing. . . sparring gear helps to create a fabulous game of Peek-a-Boo.
Here she is asking where her next opponent is, as she had already taken Dada down to the ground. And speaking of taking Dada down, the last time that Mr. BBM and I sparred, I felt like I made some real improvement.
If you’re a martial artist and you want to improve your sparring skills, you need to read Living the Martial Way. There are some excellent tips in that book for how to improve your sparring skills. I also think that karate camp was a huge help to me. Despite the agony of the kicking drills session, I was able to take a lot of good information away from that session. Without going into too much detail, the most important thing I learned in that session is to get out of the way. It sounds simple but when you’re sparring in a controlled environment, it’s easy to be concentrating on your next move so much that you let your body get in the way of a kick or two.
The last time I sparred, I felt like I had improved greatly as far as quickness and retaliating against a kick goes. I think Mr. BBM would probably agree with that assessment because it wasn’t long into our session before he was telling me that his head hurt and he didn’t feel good (i.e. excuses for why my wife is kicking my butt).
Instead of just making improvements in sparring my goal, I have added abdominal exercises to the routine daily (and have stuck with it for the past 2-3 weeks now), an exercise that Mr. BBM tells me will improve total body toning (sort of like a squat that explodes up into raising the weights over your head and back down again), push-ups (which truthfully aren’t happening as often as they should because I hate, hate, hate them), and other light weight-lifting.
So, with about three months to go until the BBM family hits the beach, we are in full BBM Challenge mode here and I invite you to do the same. Pick up your challenge where you left off, or feel free to join for the first time. If you’d like to create a fitness or other type of goal and be added to the Challenge blogroll, just shoot me an email or leave a comment and I’ll send you the button and code. . . the more the merrier.
March 6, 2007
You might be old if. . .
Mr. BBM and I went out with my sister and some of her friends on Saturday night. We had a blast. I haven’t been out in a very LONG time, so it was nice to have dinner without the girls for a change. We also went to Dave & Buster’s and then hit a cool bar that had a great band playing. Mr. BBM, my sister and I all "got our groove on." It was a nice night out.
Mr. BBM and I right before we went out. . .
I did realize, however, that my crowd of people was certainly a bit older looking than the rest of the crowd. Here are some of the ways you can tell you might be a little older than the rest of the crowd:
1. You get to and from the bar in a mini-van. The people in the back seat may have been intrigued by the Elmo video playing on a constant loop.
2. You don’t get carded.
3. The drunken guy who says, "How you DOIN”?" as he stumbles up the stairs behind you looks to you like he’s about 14.
4. The song "You down with OPP" draws you out to the dance floor. I still don’t know what that song means, but it makes you want to dance. (Just so you know, I’d like to remain completely naive as to what that song means so please don’t tell me.)
The rest of our crowd, NOT drawn out to the dance floor by OPP. One of the crowd was researching on the internet via cell phone. That is how you know you’re a dork (or K-Jo which is the new nickname for the one in our crowd who was a "Kill Joy".)
5. You know every single word to the old school rap music mix played while the band breaks, including the songs, "The Choice is Yours" ("You can get with this, or you can get with that. . . this is where it’s at. . .") "Humpty Dance," and "Doin’ the Butt."
6. You also know all the appropriate dance moves to go with said songs, and you don’t care one bit how stupid you look while doing them.
Me and . . . um, err. . . blacked out eyes have been added to protect the innocent (i.e. person whose work-mates sometimes read this blog. . . Hi Girls!)
7. You start chanting for Salt ‘N Pepa’s "Push it" because Duh, that’s obviously a song that should go with that set!
8. When a guy on the dance floor tells you he likes your shirt, you totally believe that he really likes your shirt and that it isn’t a ploy to get your number.
9. The last call jello shot totally does you in. You realize this too late, as your sister pulls out from her wallet the yellowing piece of paper that you gave her when she went off to college that says, "Beer before Liquor-Never Sicker; Liquor before Beer-In the Clear; Liquor before Wine-Feeling Fine; Wine before Liquor-Can’t get much sicker; Wine Before Beer-Have no Fear."
10. Instead of singing along with the radio on the way home, you promptly fall asleep as does everyone else in the van (minus the designated driver of course), as soon as you realize that the designated driver is not going to stop at McDonald’s despite the urgent plea’s to do so.
This night out marked the first time that Lil C spent the night at the grandparents house, AND she did AWESOME! When we picked the girls up on Sunday, my Mom said, "You should do this more often. . ." to which I responded, "Yeah, how about next weekend? Same time? Same place?"
We old people definitely need to go out more often to show the young ones how it’s done!
March 3, 2007
2nd Kyu
Testing was this morning; promotions are later in the week. I passed my test for 2nd kyu-two black stripes on my brown belt.
There were about 22 people testing today, mostly white belts going for second stripes or yellow belts. We have such a large group right now. When I started there was a decent sized group too, but my groups’ numbers have dropped tremendously. Some people moved; some people quit. After green and brown belts people seem to start dropping like flies.
There is a lot to remember as you move up in the ranks. Thankfully, I remembered it all today, which was a nice change from last time.
Today was the first time that I didn’t really get nervous at testing. I think that the blindfolded self defense was a big confidence builder for me and it gave me a boost I needed.
The one white belt who was an attacker the other night was testing for his yellow belt today. I asked him if his finger was o.k. from when I cracked it pretty good. He said his finger was fine; it was his knees that were hurting him. I had no recollection of hurting anyone’s knees so I asked him what I did. He told me that when he grabbed the front of my gi with both hands, I peeled him off and took him down unexpectedly. I told him I didn’t even realize I had done that, and told him I was sorry. He said it was no big deal. I have to admit I am feeling pretty good about the fact that I took a big guy down without even realizing it. It’s funny how your body just does things without you even realizing it. Muscle memory is so cool.
So testing is finished and I’ll have a new black stripe to add to my collection. There’s only one more test before black belt. I’ve got a lot of work to do.
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