deBri

Hot Cross Buns

2012-01-13T15:41:00.001-05:00

Knowing what went into this, I can't help but be proud, but am by no means under the illusion that she's a mini Yo-Yo (or, actually, my current-day fave cellist is Jonathan Cohen)....yet;)

She missed yesterday's mini-recital due to illness. Sad face.

Christmas Shtuff

2011-12-18T17:53:00.003-05:00

Santa, not so much a hit with the little one. We were only there because of N's special request who then refused to sit on his lap.

Ready to take Nadia to her first symphony concert. She did well! It helped that there were crafts beforehand and they played mostly recognizable Christmas music. Good string section - too bad there aren't enough of them - which also means I will never get a call to sub despite being on the list. Sad face.

Training is going well. Training for what you might ask? Another post for another day.....

Cellowoes

2011-12-09T20:21:00.001-05:00

You would be surprised how hard it is to find a playable cello for an almost 4 year old. Well, maybe you wouldn't be. For a kid who comes from a long line of tiny hands (seriously, I once had a viola teacher- he was Russian old-school which I guess kind of speaks for itself- who told me to switch back to the violin) her current 1/16 was nearly impossible to play because of the strings being too high. Though she is now able to play notes clearly, I know (and her teacher has confirmed) that it shouldn't have taken as many tiger mother sessions as last week involved to get her to this point. Fortunately I have a lead on possibly a better option up in Maryland..... and also fortunately is that she was so excited by the beauty of her G today (4 on D) that she insisted on playing it over and over again as we both giggled (and I almost cried) joyfully. Ok, and besides the immense amount of time, frustration and tears, put into this miracle, was also an amazing tip from a friend back home. Phew. She's not scarred. Yet. Though she is now asking to switch to the violin - but that's because she thinks it would be easier. Surprise! It's not! Just more awkward, harder on the body, and louder to what has always been a sensitive ear.

10k Turkey Trot

2011-11-24T19:27:00.001-05:00

For the runners out there that read my blog and thought I had stopped running. I haven't. I've updated a couple of new PRs, including today's 10k. (The 5k PR wasn't from a race, just a whim one day to see how fast I could do it on my own.) I haven't done a whole lot of speed work since the spring and, though I've kept my long run at 10 miles, I've been doing more cross-training/upper body toning work than running, so I guess it was a bit of a miracle that I was able to shave almost a minute off of my 10k time from two years ago. (I didn't run the turkey trot last year, because at 6 weeks post-partum, I still had too much pain to run that distance.) With that difference in time, I was able to crack the top 10 of my age group and placed 9th out of 137. Not bad considering I wasn't feeling particularly fast or light this morning, in fact I felt a bit winded. Oh, and it was a bit windy at times. Happy thanksgiving!

Things I Have Learned From Watching Too Many Episodes of the First 48

2011-11-12T21:37:00.001-05:00

1. Getting away with a crime in a poor neighborhood when drugs are involved is way easier than shows like CSI would have one believe.

2. If one does not get away with a crime under these circumstances, it is often because of sheer stupidity.

3. This idea that anyone can be a target of random murder is also highly exaggerated by tv shows. Not that it's impossible that someone you've never met nor seen could jump out of the bushes and attack you, it's just extremely unlikely.

4. A lot of crimes are solved because of crimestoppers' tips and not detective brilliance. So that means luck.

5. Often I feel that first degree murder is too harsh a sentence, especially for young Black males (since 90 percent of the time they are the demographic charged.) I guess that's why I would make a horrible cop, lawyer, juror, or judge. I am just too willing to believe/have too much empathy for their stories.

6. Whatever happened to the right to an attorney?!!! Hardly anyone invokes this right. I guess that's also why I would be a horrible investigator- the outright lies they tell the suspects to get confessions make me pretty bilious.

Okay, those are my observations... for now.... I still have about 90 episodes on Netflix to go, ha ha.

Soon to come, as soon as I feel like writing it, "To Pre or Not to Pre: What's the Deal With Pre-School?!!!!"

From the Land of Football Flags and Bumper Stickers

2011-11-04T12:36:00.001-04:00

Here are a couple of gems:

1. Bumper sticker that read: Pageant Mom. License plate: Tennessee. Gee, quelle surprise.

2. Bumper sticker with a confederate flag that read: Heritage, not Hate. Hmm, isn't that like saying Swastika: Economics, not Eradication? Just sayin'.

Boo!

2011-10-31T19:56:00.001-04:00

And no, despite the 'suggestions' of a few too many neighbors, this one, at a mere 12 months, neither collected nor ate any candy. In case you're wondering, she's a frog. (Apparently she looked more like a lizard or a dinosaur to most people.)

One

2011-10-10T20:39:00.000-04:00

Happy 1st birthday to our now four-toothed (she got 3 in one weekend!), can walk a few steps but prefers not to, getting more fun by the day, is always asking for 'mum-mum,' (and no, sadly, she's not referring to me- but I've got to say, I don't know how someone so hungry can afford to be so picky), sweet little Josee. Over the past few days I've been reminding myself to enjoy every minute of this time because late infancy to early toddlerhood can be such a great stage. Pics to follow.....

Public Transit Montage

2011-09-15T22:57:00.002-04:00

Did I mention I hate driving? (And by driving I mean at least 15 miles each way to, say, oh, I don't know, music lessons - teaching or taking, take your pick.)

Oh, Canada....maybe some day again.....

Oh, three and a half... you are not my favorite age so far.....

But you are pretty cute......

Speaking of which, someone may have just gotten her first tooth.... and it isn't the pictured one.

This Post Has Been Brought to You By the Letter "H"

2011-09-10T11:58:00.004-04:00

Josee is 11 months today. I'm pretty sure she said 'hugs, hugs, hugs' on two separate occasions today while hugging both me and a stuffed animal. So her vocabulary is thus far limited to the letter 'h' - hi, here, and hug. Weird.

Still no teeth and still no solo walking though she is leaping around furniture and shimmying along walls like some sort of art thief. I'm only guessing that that is what art thieves do, how would I know. Anyway, she can stand on her own but prefers not to so who knows when she will realize that she has both the strength and the balance to take her maiden steps.

She definitely prefers to be in the arms of her mama around other people though she is finally almost equally happy with dad. She did eventually take to my mom when we were up in Canada, but only if I wasn't around. Both kids were very happy there, as was I. But that's another story for another day.

Oh, and she loves music and can dance on command which is obviously freaking hilarious.

Ever Wonder What a 1/16 Size Cello Looks Like?

2011-09-09T17:48:00.002-04:00

Let the madness begin.....

Everything is Right With the World When There's a Baby Wearing Glasses

2011-08-06T21:46:00.001-04:00

9 Months (A Couple of Days Ago)

2011-07-12T21:56:00.008-04:00

Pulling herself to standing? Oh, you betcha.

Josee, aka, the brute.

Ok, sorry, that sounds mean. But compared to her sister who was/still is (in some ways), scared of everything, we have no words.

My dad has commented (and I tend to agree) that the kids look nothing like us and nothing like each other. (I strongly believe that people who think Nadia looks like me are being confused by our similar haircuts.) J and I must come from gigantic gene pools.

The one thing they do have in common is that they are fantastic eaters. At least so far.

Snugs' stats: 17 lbs, 8 oz. 28 inches. Tall and skinny. I've noticed, and my mom has commented, how her baby fat is disappearing and she is looking leaner. Nadia lost percentile between 6 and 12 months, as has Josee. Could be genetic. Could be a sharp drop in my milk supply after they start solids. Either way, they are/were both healthy and I suspect will continue to be so.

Still no teeth. Sigh.

8 Months

2011-06-10T15:29:00.002-04:00

Happy 8 months, Josee! I know, I missed 7 - I suck.

This kid is now getting into everything and she's not even doing a proper crawl. She uses two elbows and one leg (seriously, the other leg remains straight and stiff and does nothing to propel her) to drag herself from room to room. Here you see her grabbing the wooden stick that sits in the patio door track as added security. It is her new favorite thing and a highly gross thing for a baby to be sucking on so I try my best to keep her away from it. Nadia, fortunately, is always happy to tell on her, screaming, "SNUGS IS GETTING INTO MISCHIEF!!!" (I think Nadia has forgotten completely her real name.)

Since we didn't have the type of flooring/house in Sicily where we could just put Nadia down and let her go, it's hard to say if she would have been this destructive, I mean, curious, at this age. I do know that she was more afraid of things/cautious as a baby so I'm guessing though we might have saved ourselves from a few mishaps, restricting her movement, she likely would not have been such a handful as a crawler. Fortunately for us, Josee does not seem to be leaping over gross motor skill milestones as early as Nadia and probably won't walk at 9 months like she did. Phew. I can't even imagine how my days are going to be once Snugs is walking. I mean, seriously. We're going to have to become those hyper-baby-proofing type people to ensure she doesn't, you know, pull out knives, and such.

They do have one thing in common so far and that is that they are great eaters. Josee isn't crazy about peas, but she'll eat them, and everything else we've tried so far, she is quite happy to consume. Adding in a lunchtime meal seems to be helping her have a longer afternoon nap (she is down to two naps a day, the morning one being anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour and the afternoon, on a good day, 2 hours), which is of course a good thing! She is super easy to put down at night and sleeps until about 7 with just one wakeup at around 3:30. Not too shabby, especially considering the first six months of bull-ish.

Still no teeth, but I expect them very soon......

May Stuff

2011-05-31T08:01:00.002-04:00

Only May, and it is already in the 90s. Phew. Gonna be a long summer.

As of May 25, Snugs can 'crawl.' Well, not really crawl proper, but sort of drag/shimmy(sp?) forward like a little sea creature. Already she is getting things her big sister would rather she didn't.

J's car was totalled after being rear-ended so we've been rushing around getting him a new (used) car and all that is associated with a new/used car. So annoying. Let's hope that our current vehicle count/make/model lasts a good long while.

I realized the other day that the house will never be as clean, the yard will never be as tended/weed-free and our lives in general will never be as orderly or organized as I would like until Josee is about Nadia's age. That's just the reality of having a baby. A baby who fusses when she sees you leave the room. A baby who is bored with most of her toys. A baby who is mobile, but not mobile enough to follow us around the house. Yup, I'm exhausted.

Nailed It

2011-04-16T13:13:00.003-04:00

Check out my new HM time (left margin)- down from 1:54:55 two years ago. Beat my old PR, obviously, and even beat my ambitious goal of running it in under 1:50. Felt great and unlike last time I'm neither sick nor crippled. At least not yet - we'll see how I feel tomorrow. Besides being in better shape this time around I also took in a bit of Gu and water halfway through which I think helped me avoid the 7 mile wall I used to hit. Pictures courtesy of J's phone.

6 Months of Snug Life

2011-04-10T12:21:00.002-04:00

The poor child has crazy mullet hair already.

She seems to want to be on the move - is very wiggly on her tummy and can move in a circular motion moving her arms. Now if she could only lift her trunk!

As you can see, she is still super smiley.

First food today - took to it well. Let's hope this continues!

Josee is still a sleep-pinball - totally unpredictable, and it doesn't help that she has been sick for the past week. Last night, however, was glorious. She went down relatively quickly at 8 pm, I went in at 2:30 to change/nurse her, and then she slept until 7 and probably would have slept longer had the Moop not noisily come out of her room.

I Can See Why People Heart NY

2011-03-29T08:49:00.005-04:00

Yeah, try getting those down the stairs to the subway - fortunately we had an entourage to help. One might argue at the least the infant should have been in a carrier/sling type thing but I have a gaping hole in my back that would make such a thing impossible. (Had minor surgery last week.)

New York surprised me, it really did. I expected it to feel and be a certain way, and it was totally different. When I went to most European cities they were exactly as I knew they would be. Paris, especially, felt like it had always been in my heart, like it was mine. Though conversely I did feel very inferior there - like, if I lived there for the 25 years it still wouldn't be good enough and could still not call myself a 'Parisienne.' NY, on the other hand, was not at all like it is depicted and I surprisingly did not feel inferior. Maybe because there are so many types of people there, I don't know. And I expected it to feel oppressive and small like Toronto (grrr... I hate TO) but there is a surprising amount of both physical and mental space in that city. It truly is magical. And the people? Very friendly. I KNOW, WEIRD! Oh, and I felt safer there than I do here in Virginia. Figure THAT one out.

We made a last minute decision to go to last week to see a friend play at Carnegie Hall. Why would we choose to drive 360 miles each way with two little kids, you might ask? Well, since we live on the eastern seaboard, relatively near all these great places, and never go to them, always having a reason not to take the time or spend the money, having a friend play at CH was just the once-in-a-lifetime push we needed to make the trip. Sure driving 8-9 hours with two little kids was not the best time I've ever had, nor was it super good times to breastfeed all over Manhattan, but it was overall a very fun trip. Nadia, especially, surprised us by being an awesome traveller. Who knew! And Snugs, after spending nearly 3 days in the carseat, rewarded us by not sleeping either night in the hotel. Hey, we deserved it.

The highlight: (Besides, obviously, seeing a concert at CH and sightseeing with my peeps from back home.) Running 6.5 miles in central park. Seriously, I could do that every day.

Lowlight: Delaware.

Forever

2011-03-22T08:28:00.003-04:00

I've been meaning to mention my favorite running song for weeks now, but obviously am only now getting to it. Since finding it on iTunes, I have spent many miles listening to this and only this: 'Forever' by Chris Brown. Why is it so good, you might ask? Well, it's only the song played during possibly the best moment in television, Jim and Pam's wedding on 'The Office' and it makes me tear up every time I think about it.

I heard a really metronomical rendition of Haydn's C major concerto on the radio the other day played by Hannah Chang which reminded me how much I love that piece. So I ran 11 miles on Saturday listening to Steven Isserlis' version. Some people need music with a beat that matches their pace, however I need music that carries my mind away from the fact that my legs hurt, or I'm bored, or it's windy. It was the best run over 8 miles I've ever had, despite the windy conditions.... so was it training or Haydn? Maybe a bit of both?

So more Haydn is on the menu! I do like Isserlis a lot, but I also like Bylsma's faster recording, and now that I've heard how fantastic Chang can play it, well, maybe I'll create a playlist with all three renditions to listen to during the race. You think that's a joke? Nope, I really am that much of a nerd.

5 Months

2011-03-10T16:37:00.004-05:00

Since mastering rolling over on her right, Snugs has now moved on to learning to roll to her left. She's almost there. As you can see, she has no problem being on her tummy these days and can even put those arms forward to bring toys toward her, which, of course, end up in her mouth.

Snugs has been doing this cute thing where when she sees one of us she starts moving her hips up and down - especially funny when she's in the jumperoo because it makes her sway back and forth.

Night sleep has been an issue but it's getting better (counterintuitively, an earlier bedtime seems to be contributing to the improvement - kids are weird) though the trade-off seems to be shorter, more difficult, naps. It's a trade-off I'll take since Mama needs her sleep!

While it was obvious at Nadia's bday party that she does not like to be the center of attention, Josee, on the other hand, seems to have no problem with it. She loves attention from anyone and is quick to reward such gifts with smiles and gurgles. Sooo cute!

In other 5 month news, I am in week 4 of an intermediate half marathon training plan. Last time I ran my first half after a beginner program but figured since my mileage and overall fitness level are higher now I could step up my training program. My speed isn't quite what it was pre-Snugs, but it's getting closer. Last week was a light week at the end of which I was supposed to race a 5k. I raced it by myself and came in at 23:28, a time with which I was pretty happy. The bad part is that I do 3-4 out of my 5 runs per week with the double stroller which means I can rarely do the intervals exactly how they're supposed to be done. Especially if there's any wind of significance. Grrrr, I hate wind. I'm sure you're all (all 2 of you?!) asking why I don't drop the chillins off at the Y and do the runs on my own. Well. There are two answers to that. 1. I'm still exclusively bfeeding Snugs and I hate pumping so I have to save the pumped milk for when I go teach - she's pretty good at chilling for an hour or so in the swing in childwatch- she is soooo not her sister- but I have to time it perfectly in between naps and when I think she'll be hungry - needless to say it doesn't always work and 2. After a couple of visits, one or both of the kids, or both of them then me, gets sick and we can't go for 1-2 weeks anyway. I try to save my visits for things I find harder to do on my own, like strength training. For some reason I need people to watch me lift weights, like in a class, otherwise I cheat and rush through it to get it over with. I'm a slacker that way.

So there you have it. Rolling and running. That's pretty much what Snugs and I are up to these days. Nadia is mostly up to playing memory, Hi-Ho Cherrio, memorizing books, drawing mal-proportioned (but very cute) people, playing with the tool kit she got for her birthday, and asking me what letter every word in the dictionary starts with. No wonder I went to bed at 9:30 last night!

Happy Holidays From the Griswolds

2011-03-06T08:59:00.002-05:00

So I really hate the idea of family picture Christmas cards - at least of us, I actually like it when people send me theirs. This is such a terrible ragamuffin bunch I may just have to make a holiday card out of it.

Happy Birthday!

2011-02-28T14:10:00.002-05:00

My sweet girl is 3 today!

First Post-Partum Race

2011-02-12T14:46:00.001-05:00

Today was my first post-partum race and I finished the 14k in 1:13:54, faster than last year! Mind you, last year I was 6 wks pregnant, nauseous, and it was cold, windy, and snowy, so, you know, not that amazing. My goal, because I'm still quite slow, was to be below a 9 minute mile so I easily beat that, averaging 8:31 min/mile! Because I underestimated my speed I started in the 2nd corral, with J up in the 1st, but barely finished after him- in fact, my chip time ended up being 25 seconds faster than his. Yup, it has been a good day.

Ok, and now on to weight issues. Ironically, my hips and waist are quite close to being back to normal- my thighs, and arms, however, well, they remain shrouded in fluff.... that seems to be where my remaining baby weight is hiding. With all of the running, squats, and weight training I'm doing I know there is muscle under there... somewhere.... I guess it just might take 10 months or so to show through. Oh well. I'm happy with my fitness level and losing a bit of inch here and there a little bit at a time. That seems to be what my body does.

4 Months

2011-02-10T16:09:00.002-05:00

This may be why we're getting less sleep these days.....

A couple of hours later she rolled from her back to her tummy.... twice.

Letter To The Chillins

2011-02-10T15:16:00.008-05:00

Dear girls,

as there are two momentous occasions this month (N turning 3, Jé turning 4 months), I figured the only way to get anything written was to do the whole kill two birds with one stone thing. So there you have it.

Let's start with the Moop. You know who you are. It was a big year: Potty training, moving, and becoming a sibling. You have done well with all of them. I'm sure deep down you find it a bit unnerving losing some of the attention you once had, but you never take it out or direct it towards your sister. Whenever you see her, you tickle her face and say, "oh hi yiddo (little) one!" The other morning I came out to find you standing beside the swing (after a rough night, I had put her in there to get an extra hour of sleep between 6:30 and 7:30) talking and giggling with her. It was very cute.

Your memory continues to amaze us - one day you sat down while I was nursing Snugs, opened the Mother Goose anniversary edition, and started rattling off rhymes, one after the other. In fact you have most of your books memorized already, hence me hoping you will get more for your birthday. You love letters and numbers and astounded us over Christmas when you matched stickers with a word and a picture to the corresponding word on the page in the book. Ok, so it's not like you were reading, per se, but hey, it's a start. And a good one at that.

Occasionally we butt heads over things like cleaning up your room, or putting on your winter gear in a timely fashion before Snugs freaks out before we go running, but for the most part I think you're a pretty good kid. Especially when you're with other kids. At the Y you delight in watching other kids, always reporting back to me who got in trouble, etc. The other day you got in the car and said, "a yiddo girl was funny. I made her yaf." I think you meant she made you laugh. Whatever. You showed me what she did and giggled and then you made me laugh.

After you turned 18 months we decided to try giving you cow's milk when previously you had been drinking goat's. We quickly figured out that it didn't agree with you, making you quite irritable. Cheese and yogurt, however, you loved, so we continued to give you those regularly. Well, recently we figured out that some sort of dairy, still not sure if it's cheese or yogurt, wasn't agreeing with you, so now you have none. But fortunately you seem to love soy cheese and can handle lactaid. I know, it sounds strange. Maybe we'll be able to convince your doctor to order up some allergy tests.

Oh, and doctors! Going to midwife appointments with me seems to have sparked quite the interest in the medical field, so much so that the doctor kit we got you for Christmas has hardly gone a day without being used. Traditionally you scream your head off at doctor's appointments but you were a champ at your recent dentist's visit so let's hope your 3 year check-up goes as swimmingly.

You have pretty much given up naps (not that you were ever that great at them), but you are getting better at playing by yourself so life with you is getting to be a lot more fun. Because we spent so much time devoting every available hour sitting and playing with you, I kinda feel guilty that having another kid is taking me from that (though I will admit I neither had the energy nor talent for it that your dad has), that you will feel neglected, but then I think about how I doubt very much anyone did that with me or most other kids to that degree and think you will be just fine. You definitely like one on one interaction but learning to do a bit of imaginative and independent play probably won't hurt you.

You think it's funny to have your picture taken and then close your eyes. On purpose. You also think it's funny to replace lyrics in songs, which is no surprise because I do it all the time. And it is funny.

Another funny thing is that you recently named your first 'friend.' That lion you got at Christmas? Yeah, apparently his name is now "P90X." It makes sense, I guess, because you constantly ask us when we're going to do our 'exercises.' (For anyone that doesn't know, p90x is a series of workout videos.) You're actually better at pull-ups than I am. Believe that. (For the record, your dad has been much more committed to this endeavour.... I prefer classes at the Y for my toning and hey, you love that too!)

Ok, now Snugs. Well, you are still as sweet as can be. You did have a period of about 3 days where you went through a period of what I call "purple whining." I still don't really know what that was all about. Anyway, you need to sleep and eat about every 2 hours and if you're really tired (especially in the morning), you don't want to eat and in fact get VERY mad if I try to make you. That's why I don't even bother trying to nurse you when we get to the Y or when we leave, especially because you are so content to just sit and watch your new surroundings. Seriously. There have been times when you have just SAT in a swing and chilled. For an hour and a half.

Back when your sister was a baby we used to see kids just sitting in strollers, with the strollers not moving and think "really? Babies do that?" Well, we now have that baby. (To a certain extent.) And that baby is you. And it is awesome.

The day before you turned 4 months I put you on your tummy (from my experience with two kids, tummy time is not well-liked and I don't think it's necessary in the grand scheme of development... I think kids will like to hang out on their tummies when they can get there themselves) and voila! You rolled back to your back. The next day, you started rolling from back to tummy. You have done it a few times since but I still wouldn't say you're doing it consistently. Regardless, though, it marks the beginning of a new chapter - a chapter that involves not leaving you on unguarded beds and such anymore.

You have been sleeping with just your legs swaddled as part of our weaning from the swaddle process and for the past couple of weeks have been SLEEPING LIKE CRAP! Ok, I know it could be worse, but it was SO MUCH BETTER a few weeks prior. But then last night you slept from 8 to 5 (and yes, at 4:30 I went in to see if you were still breathing) and then from 5:20 to 7:45 in a sleepsack (swaddle be gone!) so let's hope you're in a new groove and maybe it was the swaddle keeping you up.

Your sister likes to play with you when you're in your little play disk, a disk that rotates and can easily pinch your fingers. I constantly tell her not to turn it when you're in there but the other day I walked away and heard you scream like you were in pain, but then you stopped. When I came back you were twirling the bead ball with one hand while the other one was stuck. It's like you said, "HELP! I'm hurt! Oh, no one came immediately...oh... oh well... I guess I'm ok... hey! pretty balls! I wonder what this does?!" It really amazes me, your lack of commitment to complaining. It's the same lack of commitment that makes you give up your car seat protests in the car and makes driving so much less stressful for me. And I thank you.

Love,

Self-Indulgent Whining

2011-02-06T20:29:00.007-05:00

I don't have much to say but I feel like I need to write something. Maybe because Snugs is about to turn 4 months and I don't want to just write month to month updates with nothing in between.

So the main bullet point of the past month? I'm really floundering with this stay-at-home mom thing. I think more than before. Sure I now have one student (beginner violin - the most challenging combination I find) and it's nice to get away but the rest of the week? I really struggle. I know I have a wonderful and helpful husband (though since Snugs has come along there have been many curveballs thrown his way - curveballs that mean he's not home as much as he was) and have two healthy beautiful children for whom I am/should be thankful but it just doesn't feel like enough. And I find it difficult. Having friends would probably help - I miss my old ones. My friend K, whom I met in Sicily, might be moving here in just over a year, that would be nice. And we may fly home this summer to see the peeps. That too would be nice.

I know I'm doing the best thing for my kids by staying home so I try to keep in mind it won't always be like this. Some day I will have some semblance of a life again, right?

3 Months: What's in a Name?

2011-01-10T10:50:00.003-05:00

Ok so let's just get it out there that I hardly post anymore and that it's not for lack of ideas. Unfortunately these ideas come to me while I'm running and when I get home I get busy with the day and the kids and then all of a sudden it is evening. And I'm tired. And the ideas are gone. So bear with me. I will do my best.

Josee (for some reason my character map is being stupid and I can't manage the accent aigu) is still the sweetest baby you'll ever meet. She loves to make eye contact and coo and gurgle. She has figured out the Pavlovian bouncy seat ie. she can pull on the parrot to make the lights come back on after they have timed out. Smart little girl. She can use her arms to pull herself up if you hold her hands and is very good at holding her head up level when she does so. She has slept a couple of nights from 9 pm to 6:20 am but normally she sleeps from 8:30-3:30 and then again from 4-7.... ISH. When people ask "does she sleep through the night?" I never know what to say - my idea of sleeping through the night would be a blissful slumber from 8 pm to 8 am, but I just read that for the first year "sleeping through the night" is considered to be sleeping 6 hours or more at a time. So yes, in that sense, she 'sleeps through the night.' She also naps quite reliably, which is nice. Last week she was a bit off in the nap department but I think it may have been a growth spurt thing or maybe she's just back to sleeping a lot the past couple of days because she is fighting the cold N and I have. Let's hope it's not that.

Now let's talk about how she got her name. For years before there was even the slightest prospect of having kids I always thought I would name a daughter 'Eva.' But then my cousin named his daughter 'Ava' and though we may never meet her (she lives in Western Canada), I didn't want to be accused of copying. We also considered the names 'Natascha' and 'Catherine' but in both cases I knew girls with those names that I didn't like and just couldn't get past it. This being our second and final child, we wanted to go with names that were at least somewhat familial. Hence, Josee, (pronounced Jozay) the female, French-Canadian, name that comes from her dad's side. Since she has had the misfortune of getting both a birth certificate and passport that read "Jose'e" I kinda wish we would have foregone the accent even if it meant that technically her name would be pronounced "Jozee." We may try to remedy this in the future especially because I fully expect people to call her Jozee/Josie and am ok with that - I like that name too. Ok, so her middle name. I wanted to pay tribute to my mother, who is awesome, and whose middle name is Emily. Unfortunately, again, I have known too many Emilys I didn't like so I went online to see if I could find an acceptable variant. I found that "Ema" (though prounced Eema, we pronounce her name Emma) was a Spanish, Portuguese, and Czech variant of Emily. Sweet. I had always preferred the one-m spelling anyway! So there you have it - our little Snugs.

Since I hardly ever post I'll jot a quick note about other aspects of our lives - still running around 25 miles a week with the long run being up to 10 miles. We have also started p90x and I went back to the masochist's class on Satruday (Snugs did very well at the childwatch, thankfully.) Despite all of this I have not lost any weight though I have lost a bit in the inch department which I supposed is more important. Frustrating yes, but I have no choice but to try to be patient. While I'm nursing I just can't do any crazy dieting and my body seems to like to be fat. I keep reminding myself that it has only been 3 months and considering this I look pretty ok. At least my tummy is flat.

Nadia as my first-born, drives me a little nuts most days, but she really amazes me others. Today, for instance, she ploughed through the Mother Goose book, showing me how she has many or even most of them memorized. She may have a hard time sitting still but man, that girl has a memory!

Winter Blast

2010-12-28T10:34:00.002-05:00

Because of this, completing the last 20 miles of my 2010 quest is going to be a bit tricky. I ran during the storm but since then things have iced over, making it impossible to go with the stroller for sure and even dicey to go by myself. And forget about driving to the Y. I tried a few steps yesterday and there just wasn't enough safe ground to stay on but hopefully today's higher temperatures will make some of it melt and I hope to get out there later today when J gets home. Also tricky is the fact that J's mom passed away on Christmas eve so this week is full of family arriving and memorial-type activities. Merry Christmas to us indeed.

Happy Holidays

2010-12-23T11:24:00.002-05:00

We are very fortunate to be celebrating our first Christmas in our new house and with our new baby but this season will be a bit tainted by the fact that the girls lost a paternal great-grandfather they will never meet last month and their paternal grandmother won't be out of the hospital for Christmas, and sadly, maybe not ever.

I guess it's good they're too young to understand.

Nadia was very excited to see Santa this year but made it very clear only "Dozay" would be sitting on his lap and that she would be standing next to them. As soon as she saw that there were little chairs to be had, well, she was sold on that idea. But as you can see even with the chair there was some trepidation. I don't blame her. I was afraid of bearded men as a kid....well, still am actually.

I Hate Dogs

2010-12-17T12:04:00.003-05:00

Did I mention I hate dogs? "Big dogs, little dogs, black and white dogs." Why? Because they have chased me my whole life, equally as a child and as an adult. And then we lived in the countryside in a country (Italy) that doesn't condone birth control for adults, let alone animals. So there were strays. Strays that howled through the night, stealing my sleep, and then followed me during the day, stealing my outdoor running opportunities. And forget about walking at night. That is when the packs of hungry dogs roamed freely. To make matters worse I would see my Italian neighbours adopt puppies and kittens and when they started to grow away from being puppies and kittens, or their children would tire of them, they would no longer have these animals. I can only assume they let them back in to the wild. Nice, huh?

Why this rant now? Well, I have come across 4 different dogs in my 2 mile-radius neighbourhood in the past two weeks that have been unattended. The first two were roaming aimlessly (one even chased me for a bit, of course), the third chased me as his owner stood there and watched and then had the balls to say, "you're ok." (No, I am no ok, your dog is CHASING ME.) And then the fourth, today, someone had caught and asked me if I knew to whom he belonged. Um, Satan perhaps?

Sure, there are some dogs that belong to friends that I can tolerate, mostly because the friends have enough respect to not let them get all up in my business. Though dogs do seem to have an uncanny ability to sense those who do not like them and then try to get all up in their business.

And don't say to me, "don't worry, he doesn't bite." Yes he does. Given the right set of variables, all. dogs. bite. That is their instinct. Would I put my infant on someone's lap (especially someone who does not have children and does not seem to like them) and say, "don't worry, she doesn't barf." No. Because she does barf. That is what babies do. Just as dogs bite, babies barf. That. Is. What. They. Do.

So people. Secure your canines. Because I am about to program animal control into my cell phone. A cell phone I bring on my runs with my two small children. Runs that shouldn't be wrought with the fear of being chased by your "best friends." We're not in Sicily anymore.

Vaccinazis

2010-12-14T06:39:00.002-05:00

So I got a recorded message call yesterday from a "shall remain nameless" military installation saying it had come to their attention that my child might not have been vaccinated. Immediately I thought, "how do they know Nadia hasn't had her chicken pox shot yet?!!" (She's up to date on all of her other shots but I'm hoping she'll get the c. pox the old-fashioned way, but with everyone being vaccinated these days it's unlikely so she'll probably end up getting the shot eventually as immunity, one way or the other, is required to go to school.) The message then said, if in fact the child is immunized, press blah blah, or if you have questions call blah blah, and I'm all like, no thanks, and hung up. As I scratched my head wondering how big brother had managed to keep track of this minor indiscretion I suddenly realized that I have another kid. A kid that just turned 2 months old. Whoa. Calm down nancies! The clock just struck 2 months, like, 4 days ago. Seriously?!!! And yes, she's scheduled to have said shots tomorrow (which, ironically, was the first available appt. they could give me.) Which is now today. After the worst night of sleep in a month. 6-8 hour block you say? HA!

2 Months

2010-12-10T11:34:00.001-05:00

Here's our huge little Snugs. At 6 weeks she was approximately in the 75th percentile for both height and weight and is easily in 3 month clothes, especially pants. She is a very sweet and easy baby and I can't believe how lucky we are. Whenever she is faced with a situation she is not crazy about like being in the carseat in the stroller or car she squawks out a couple of protests and then promptly 'goes to sleep.' I put that last phrase in quotation marks because as soon as the car or stroller stops she yells out and/or wakes up if it's a permanent stop. I call it the fake sleep and yes, I'll take it. She has real sleeps throughout the day though it is getting harder to get her to take them so fortunately she likes contraptions such as the bouncy chair and swing. This love also allows me a lot more baby-free moments than I had with Nadia which enables me to, you know, take. care. of. Nadia. and get stuff done around the house, like shower. I guess you get what you need, even if you can't always figure out why you needed it.

Night sleeping is getting better - she sleeps 6-8 hours, feeds for 1/2 hour and then is back down for 2-3 hours, depending on what time Mooper bounds into our room. Yes, Snugs is still sleeping in our room, though fortunately since the end of the first month, not in our bed, but in her bassinet. As was the case with N, after a few necessary weeks of co-sleeping, finally neither she nor I was sleeping so it was clear it was time for her to have her own bed. I probably won't move her out of our room until she's 3 months old. For many reasons I see the first 3 months as the 4th trimester and am waiting until she's that old for a few things. Like going to the Y and leaving her with childwatch. I'm just weird like that.

After surviving the first few weeks I realized that that time with Nadia is a blur. There are many things I couldn't do and don't remember due to a combination of having a c-section and then being on percocet. Ah, the haze of druggy days! Anyway, I'm glad to have a clearer memory this time around of just how hard it is to take care of a newborn! It will definitely prevent me from doing it again. Snip snip J;)

In fitness news, I am running like a crazy person, trying to get to 1000 miles by the end of the year. I'm averaging 5 junky miles a day, most of which are with the double stroller, and my long run is up to 7 miles. As a result my legs are very stiff (goodbye pregnancy loosening hormones!) and I feel close to injury. Yeah, I'm stupid stubborn like that. Come January I plan to start running smarter and go back to the Y to do masochist, I mean, strength training classes. I try to do weights on my own but rarely have the time or energy to do what I need to keep my arms from looking like sausages. Seriously, my arms looked better 9 months pregnant than they do now. Or maybe they just seemed that way in proportion. I do know that my body likes to be doughy during lactation but I'm hoping that lots of work will lay the foundation for a toned body once I finish breastfeeding in, oh, say 10 months or so. I haven't lost any weight in the last month but have lost an inch in my hips. I'm hoping that I will start to lose those last pounds after 3 months pp; that's when it started last time. I'm telling you, there's something about 3 months. I've read a lot of theories indicating just that - like studies saying breastfeeding women lose more weight than non between 3 and 6 months postpartum.

The more I read the more it seems that a. no one really knows all I would like to know about pregnancy and breastfeeding and the effect they have on the body and b. everyone's body is different. I gained way less weight this time but am still fighting the same battle 2 months post-partum. The only advantage (besides being in better shape overall and being able to push out a posterior baby- another story for another time) is that I'm starting the countdown to skinny at 125 lbs instead of 130. (Well, and probably less inches to lose as well.) What is it about multiples of 5 that create weight plateaus? (In normal life it's often hard to break 120.) I started the pregnancy at 119 lbs but dropped to 117 during the second month so that's what I'm considering my goal. I was once 110 lbs back in 2004 (thank you boy-stress) but people were starting to worry about me. Said boy thought I was in the bathroom all the time throwing up, instead of due to a small bladder. Anyway, after boy was no longer in the picture I went up to 113-115 and would LOVE to get back there someday but would be very satisfied with 117 and fitting back into all of my pre-Snugs clothes. (I've gotten rid of a lot of pre-Nadia clothes because they were worn out- it was hard to find clothes I liked/that fit in Italy so I wore my Canadian clothes to their last shreds!)

Some women report that breastfeeding melts off the pounds immediately and others, often fit ladies, report it isn't until they stop that they can shed those last 5-10 lbs. I'm obviously in the latter category but despite knowing that I find it hard to trust. I'm just impatient that way.

So that's the skinny, or rather, fatty. (Me, that is. Snugs is very obviously festively plump!)

Learning to Play By Herself

2010-12-08T15:05:00.002-05:00

Necessity is the mother of invention. Not only am I busy with the baby and such, but I suck at playing. Fortunately she has a father. He is the fun one.

M is for Moop

2010-11-15T19:07:00.002-05:00

Tough sleep deprived days/nights which are made worse by N's recent sleep regression. 5 am just ain't cool, especially since the infant generally sleeps until 6. There have also been some uncharacteristic behavior problems which I can't say I always respond to in the most patient of ways. (Uh, did I mention the sleep deprivation?) I keep reminding myself it won't always be like this but sometimes it feels like the torture will never end.

In good news, I ran a mile today (day 36 of recovery - was going to wait until a fortnight but hey, four days short ain't bad for an OCDer like me.) and it felt pretty good. Just some hip flexor tightness and a bit of internal twinging on the right side of my pelvis. (LONG stories about how my right side reacts to pregnancy/childbirth would explain that.) I felt horrible from week 3-4 and just felt ok last week but all of a sudden the past couple of days I feel like immense healing has happened. I'm still going to take it a bit easy until I hit the official 6 weeks, but man am I grateful things seem to be finally improving. Now if only I could get rid of these headaches and this cold....

1 Month

2010-11-10T09:39:00.000-05:00

A Relatively Short Wait

2010-11-02T17:35:00.003-04:00

Though I tried running a week or so ago and was able to sort of shuffle/jog, my midwife scared me with the idea that returning to high impact exercise too early could jeopardize pelvic health later in life ie. incontinence in one's 50s. I imagine this will be the first generation of documented running in pregnancy/the postpartum period which means there is no way to either prove or disprove her theory until, say, 20 years from now. So I decided that if I'm going to pee myself when I'm 51, I don't want it to be because I went back to running too early when I was 31. I'm going to try to make it until 6 weeks pp which means I may not be able to do the Thanksgiving Day 10k. Ah well. I have the rest of my life to run - at least until I start peeing myself.

Besides, I should probably give the childbirth experience the respect it deserves. (Borderline 3rd degree tears, anyone? Thank you posterior baby. Oh sorry, TMI? Well let's just say there isn't much room for modesty in this game.)

More to come on pp weight/inch-loss, etc..... (As a statuts update, I will tell you I have 8 lbs out of 22 lbs total gained and 2-3 inches on all the trouble spots left to lose - that's a lot or not very much, depending on who you are- for me, it's a lot less than I had to lose last time at this point. Not having my abdomen swollen from being sliced open helps a lot, I imagine.)

Mooperrific

2010-10-28T13:53:00.001-04:00

J commented recently that the reason the Moop can be hilarious and annoying at the same time is because she is usually acting like a drunk person. Think about it.

Mama's So Proud

2010-10-22T18:33:00.002-04:00

My first born, the art thief.

My second, living the "Snug" life.

So I've been walking 2 miles a day with the double stroller for the past few days and it feels better and better. Today I tried to jog a few steps and it didn't feel as wrong as when I tried yesterday so hopefully I'm getting closer to running. I'm able to do push-ups now and seated weight-lifting so at least I'm getting a bit of an upper body workout while I wait out this recovery period. I keep telling myself it's a very short period of time in the grand scheme of my life so I should just relax and do it right. I would really like to run the Thanksgiving 10k (Snugs will be 6.5 weeks by then), even if it's really slowly.

1 Week

2010-10-17T15:38:00.002-04:00

We ventured out for a 1.5 walk - my first post-partum exercise - with the double jogger. Man, that thing is more like a bus than a stroller. It felt pretty good but was definitely enough for this point in my recovery. I'm going to try to get out for a walk every day from now on.

3 Days OId

2010-10-13T19:58:00.002-04:00

Josée Ema

2010-10-11T19:48:00.003-04:00

Just a quick announcement about the birth of our second daughter. She arrived on 10-10-10 at 3:20 in the morning. I went into labor the morning of my due date, October 8th, so, yeah, it was long. I am pleased to say I had a successful vbac despite her being, and staying, posterior, and attritube that mostly to the fact that I labored at home for 31 hours with J and a team of midwives' support before transferring to the hospital. The original plan was to have her at home but I did the best I could under the circumstances and am pleased with the outcome. Though it wasn't a section this time, the birth was not without trauma (um, did I mention posterior?) so it may be a while before I'm back to running. It's all good, though, I am so happy she's here and am excited to get to know her.

I promise more pictures to come. After 43 hours of intensity we're both a little tired and it's hard to find photo ops with her eyes open! Even though, strangely, and frustratingly, she does spend a lot of time not-asleep. Guess we both need some time to figure out what, besides nursing, makes her happy.

Hurdles

2010-10-05T08:35:00.003-04:00

So here I am, trying to get this baby out (mentally, that is - so far no real labor, just stronger and more painful BH) and the three of us come down with a cold. Fine. We're starting to get better and then N cracks her head open last night and gets 5 stitches at the ER. They will be in until Friday. Good. Times. And here I've already hit 800 miles, vacuumed, cleaned the bathrooms, and baked a cake. (All yesterday, before the aforementioned trip.) I know I'm not officially due until Friday but the amount of mental blocks that keep getting thrown my way is getting a bit ridiculous.

And in running news, besides hitting 800 miles a little early, I have decided that this past Saturday was my last long (6.2 miles) run of the pregnancy. I have noticed the past two Saturdays that I spend the rest of the day suffering - baby goes crazy, I get lots of pressure on my hips and in my pelvis, and lots of fake-o contractions. The last one was the worst because there was shooting pubic bone pain during the actual run. No thanks. So I will be running only 3-4 miles a day until delivery.

Yesterday

2010-09-28T11:24:00.002-04:00

Happy birthday to J, yesterday.

Obviously not doing a very good job of staying offline. I am still feeling like I'll be pregnant forever and am worried about baby's position (fortunately that should be determined today), but I am also feeling a bit more positive overall. Maybe it's the cooler weather.

Nadiaisms

2010-09-22T10:44:00.002-04:00

I am morally opposed to putting (my) children on leashes so when I was given this one I nearly gagged but J had a good idea and removed the leash part and it quickly became Nadia's doggy backpack. A fine friend indeed.

(After pulling out her measuring tape the width of my hips) "29 pounds! You're such a big girl!"

(After pushing her index finger into my belly) "I pressed you off so you can stop singing."

(When asked why I should stop singing) "Because it's so noisy!"

I'm considering going offline until I have this baby - am way too much of a stress monkey and reading about people having babies before me - pretty much everyone does - or questions about if I've had mine or not - are probably not conducive to stress-free living. This means potentially no blogging (reading or posting) and no facebook - obviously I will have to keep checking things like bank accounts, what with being CFO of this family and all. I also might stop weighing myself because though I'm pretty satisfied with my gain this time around, I don't need the daily stress of wondering if it will continue to go higher, especially if I go past 40 weeks. By now you should all know how directly linked my vanity and mood are - ridiculous, yes, but a fact nonetheless. Then again, maybe I won't be able to resist the strong pull of social networking and maybe avoiding it won't change my mood at all. I mean, telling me to relax is like telling birds to stop chirping. Really.

Baby's Room Post-Improvements

2010-09-19T14:32:00.002-04:00

Picture N made for the baby months ago.

New lights and yes, they work. This is particularly impressive since there was no light fixture in there to begin with so J had to wire it himself. That's my man.

New closet doors. Big deal, you say? Well, consider the fact the opening used to be 47 inches and is now 48. And yes, this room is cluttered right now but eventually things like the bassinet and swing will not be in there and once she's sleeping in the crib (most likely not until some time in the new year), we obviously will stop treating it like a dumping ground. It's a very small room so one of the reason we had to put up bi-fold doors (it would have been so much easier to put in sliding doors, hence negating the need for a 48 inch opening), but we (I) really wanted to be able to put the dresser in the closet to free up space and, well, in order to be able to open the drawers, the closet doors have to be able to open out. Fascinating stuff, I know.

Ugly rocking chair J has had for a billion years that is super comfortable. Once the baby grows past the rocking stage I don't know what we'll do with it - it is a style DISASTER! But I will be sad to see it go.

37 Weeks: Confessions of Anxiety

2010-09-17T15:16:00.006-04:00

So I have made it to what health professionals call "full-term" though I don't think anyone in my family has had a baby earlier than 39 weeks unless something went wrong. My mom was born 12 days late (she was my grandmother's 3rd and final child) and my younger brother was 11 days late. (My youngest brother was induced on his due date so he would have been late as well -impossible to know just how much.) Latey late late late. So of course I too expect to be pregnant longer than 40 weeks. This isn't so much what bothers me. (Though the recent growth spurt I've experienced - up to 22 lbs- makes me a bit concerned I will overshoot my weight goal - though I am happy that the spurt means that I'm not measuring as small for dates - still small, just not as small.) You see, I feel like my body is so good at getting and staying pregnant that it doesn't know how to stop being so. I know, it sounds silly, but I have absolutely no confidence in my body to go into labor on its own. I have less fear than one would expect surrounding the actual labor and delivery - it's just the beginning I can't imagine. How, when, where? (On the flip side, after all her waiting, my mom's labors were super quick - 11-days-late bro was out in like, 2 hours or something, hence the induction of the next baby.) And then worrying about this makes me worry that my mind will put a mental block on going into labor on its own and I'll have to be induced - a process I have even less confidence in, especially considering what happened last time. I am all too aware that the mind has a powerful effect on the body and I'm about the worst person in the world at relinquishing control.

I also have this notion that at least one thing has to be difficult for any given person. I had no trouble getting pregnant either time and despite hating the condition, have had very uncomplicated and "easy" pregnancies, found breastfeeding to be cake, and have one of the most beautiful and easiest kids to raise (with the exception of having her overseas with 0.0% help and the whole first year of little to no napping) so I feel like late and difficult labors (ie. the important stuff in-between) are my penance. Adding weight to the idea that my body will never go into labor is that, at 37 weeks, running is getting easier. I read several blogs of more serious runners than I that talk about struggling during those last few weeks - slower pace, pain in various places, etc.... Um, so my treadmill runs are actually faster and my outdoor runs (I haven't timed them in months - too depressing) feel a whole lot springier - the few pains I get are usually caused by sudden gas, tmi? no more round ligament pain. And I'm not feeling like I have to pee as soon as I leave the house like I did in the first trimester. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE WITH ALL THAT BABY IN THERE?

In my quotidian life I am feeling pressure on my hips and in my pelvis that I didn't feel last time leading me to believe baby has dropped earlier than N did and sometimes I feel like I can even see it in the mirror. (The bit of breathlessness I felt in the early 30 weeks is gone too.) But then I feel like my mind is playing tricks on me and I will be the only woman in the world who is designed to gestate indefinitely, whose body actually performs better the more pregnant it gets.

Fortunately no one has checked my cervix and likely no one will before I am in labor. Do I really need to hear I am 0-0-0? Nope, I do not.

And in the interest of getting everything off my chest - I often wonder if I am considered truly multiparous? Does the fact that I had a c-section the first time mean I don't get the credit other people supposedly get (ie. faster and sooner labors) in subsequent pregnancies? I was having contractions on my own (8-15 minutes apart) before the induction last time and I did eventually dilate to a 6 or a 7 - but I feel that because that number was falsely achieved and I didn't pushed past it (thanks to a maternal fever and fetal intolerance), it is like I am having a baby for the first time - at least as far as my body is concerned. I know these are impossible questions to answer but this is how my brain works. (or doesn't.)

The Blue Angels are doing an Air Show this weekend, like, above our house, and it seriously sounds like a war out there so maybe sheer terror will shock this baby out. If only it worked like that... in the meantime we will be installing track lighting and closet doors in her room. J is seriously excited about the closet doors since it involves some destruction of property - ie. the opening is exactly 1 inch smaller than the doors - and according to some exasperated Home Depot employees, this is a common problem. Wth?

35 Weeks

2010-09-02T10:44:00.004-04:00

(How do you like my "Whoville" pants, as J calls them. I actually have two pair of these Old Navy special - highly recommended for comfort and Dr. Seuss style.)

Tomorrow I will be 35 weeks pregnant. Total weight gain: 18.5 lbs. I am posting today because we may or may not have power tomorrow/this weekend in the wake of Hurricane Earl. This will be my inaugural hurricane so needless to say I'm a bit nervous.

Running is going well, better than it was, say, 6 weeks ago when both my legs and lungs felt heavy. The only major concern these days is that after a run my left IT band is feeling tight. I'm hoping it holds until I give birth after which point I will have a forced break, probably long enough for it (and me!) to recover. I'm still hoping to run 1000 miles this calendar year and have decided that I want to try to get in 800 before the baby comes. This means I need to continue to run 23 miles a week and can't give birth until October 9, the day after my due date. I have also decided that October 9th will be my last 10k even if I am still pregnant the following Saturday though I will continue to run past 40 weeks, just no more than 4 miles at a time. Running 6 miles at 40W + 1 Day is enough for this cat. I mean, really. (I also used this last phrase in a recent survey the Department of Defense sent out to military spouses asking their opinions on the possible repealing of the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" law. But that is for another post, another time..... maybe.)

My belly is looking "ready to pop" according to a dumb teenage lifeguard at the pool yesterday but surprisingly I have very little "bigness" discomfort. The pain I get in my back is because of baby hitting a nerve and is acute rather than chronic. I hope this doesn't mean she will want to be face up as that could mean a rather long and arduous labor.

This afternoon we will be bringing in boxes from the garage to a. go through and find baby stuff and b. make room in the garage for all of the garbage bins, lawn furniture, and various other outdoor items that could blow around in high winds. This includes my brand new car which I don't fancy being crushed by a tree so hopefully we will be able to jigsaw it in. I also don't fancy our house being crushed by trees so, y'know, wish us luck or something, especially since we live less than 10 miles from the, uh, Atlantic Ocean.

Nadia Version 2.5

2010-08-28T19:59:00.009-04:00

Dear Nadia,

Yesterday you turned 2.5 years, or 30 months, old. And no, we didn't give you this crown to celebrate - it, along with the cute bag, is a take-home treat from a birthday party you attended recently. I love that the two parties we went to in August both sent home cool toys instead of candy. Very health-conscious.

Oh Mooper, where do I begin? First off, let me apologize for not writing a letter when you turned 2. I really have no excuse. Sure we were in the middle of life craziness ie. your dad finding out he could stay in the navy, trying to buy a house, and surviving the first trimester of pregnancy, but I I'm sure there were a few minutes here and there I could have taken to sit down and write some...thing. So like I said, no excuse. I can't promise I won't lapse in the future, especially now that there will be two of you for whom to capture memories.

(Your first horsey ride at a recent bday party. A bit apprehensive at first, but you seemed to dig it.)

You have become a bit of a daredevil at playgrounds and such. Here you are at the end of a slide ride that involved you stopping yourself several times in the tube and giggling, calling out for "dada." For someone who used to be so cautious, I am amazed (and freaked) at how eagerly you clammer for ladders, rock walls, and spiral apparati you can climb to the top of. What I'm not surprised by, however, is your ability to accomplish such feats. You've always been an athlete and are continuing to hone your skills, what with running around our backyard and sitting room, saying you're running "faster yike mama and dada." Notice I wrote "yike" instead of "like." Ok, so you have some pronunciation problems like the letters "l" and "r" especially, you end words that end with "k" with a "t" instead, and you just generally have interesting ways of articulating words, but your ability to have conversations all...day....long, as well as your ability to understand and relate concepts kinda makes up for it. And you are always improving. Though you still refer to yourself as "yaya", you now are no longer a "mop", but a "moop." Just like we taught you;)

Your favorite questions these days are "why?" "why cause?" and "what's he doing? - when pointing to a picture of something, say, a boy in a book, for instance - my response, um, just standing there, being a boy " (Not so creative, your mother.) I'm glad you're curious, but dang girl, sometimes it can be exhausting!

You love making not only your animals and dolls talk (after 2.5 years of us doing it for you), but also pieces of food. A strawberry was recently told it was nap time by her strawberry mother, for instance. I've noticed the conversations always start with the child saying, "mama?" and the mama snapping back, "WHAT?" Um, wow, do I really sound like that? Things like this make me realize just how much you are observing and taking in. Oh, and other things like you relating back stories (sometimes with the details a little skewed, sometimes combining two events) your father and I have told each other over dinner. Adult stories. About people. About work. Things a two year old probably shouldn't be talking about - like a recent court case. Good thing we don't watch TV while you're awake, who knows what would be swirling around in that brain of yours!

You also love to tell me that you're "Dora", I'm "Boots," and your father is "Diego." (Favorite show perhaps?) For some reason, though, whenever we play Bert and Ernie you always refuse to be Bert. Funny cause I didn't like him either as a kid. Ernie was always WAY cooler.

You are a really good kid, definitely a little Canadian. I mean, you say sorry to the wall if you happen to bump into it. How's that for polite? I don't worry much about how you'll be as a sister. You have already made a picture for your baby sister (that we framed) and talk often about how you're going to "help with the baby." Oh, and apparently now you're having "just one girl, like mama." Before you were having 2 boys and 2 girls, quadruplets that were constantly having to have their heartbeats monitored by a doctor. (Attending midwife visits has had quite an impact apparently.)

You have shot up in height over the past few months and not so much in weight and as a result are really starting to look like a little girl. You are still breathtakingly beautiful and I can only hope that we get this lucky a second time, especially since for someone with possibly the most boring, non-kid-entertaining-mother-there-has-ever-been, you seem quite happy. Keep being your fine, entertaining self.

Love,

Mama.

(Oh, and p.s. - you are now night potty-trained as well- accidents here and there occasionally, but I'm very happy with how well you have done with the whole process.)

P.P.S. - Favorite expressions: - "You're wopen!" (you're welcome)

-"You want to pay in 'Ya's room?" -This is more an order than a request and is most often asked of your father after dinner. It seems it has become his sworn duty to play with you between dinner and bedtime and you will not have it any other way. So his choices are your room or the backyard. Sometimes, if it's not too hot, he'll take you to the "part." (park)

-"There, now you're all pitty." (This after doing me the beauty favor of brushing a piece of hair into my eyes.)

The Return of Pigtails

2010-08-10T19:25:00.003-04:00

We cut her hair 6 months ago because she was fighting having anything done with her double-crowned mop.

The other day she asked for a pigtail.

Today she got two.

I told her to smile then make funny faces.

Exactly what she did.

31 Weeks

2010-08-06T19:37:00.002-04:00

31 Weeks. 16 lb. weight gain. The babe is becoming more active and is hurting me in the same ways Nadia used to. Midwife commented I must have some sort of sensitivity in there, maybe around the pubic bone. Am still running 20 miles a week, often more, and still have good days/bad days. When I described the pain I get in my right side, like a sharp pain the size and shape of a quarter, the midwives asserted this is round ligament pain and said they had felt the exact same thing in some of their pregnancies. Weird how round ligament pain is described on most sites as being pain that radiates. This does not radiate. It stays in the exact same spot.

Sundays have become my day off from running and we have been going on 10 mile bike rides. I LOVE my new bike. So sleek, so fast. By far the nicest I've ever had. It's a road/mountain hybrid that I may actually do a duathlon with some day. My run the next day does suffer a bit from stiffer than usual legs, but it's worth it to have such an enjoyable xtraining day. Nadia likes it too:)

Nadia was doing really well with the night potty training - to the point where she had started going straight to the bathroom in the morning before coming in to wake me up, but has recently regressed. To be fair, she has had a bit of a cold this week, and I've read illness can disrupt the process. Also her brain is clearly busy evolving as she spent last week stuttering on question words only ie. what, where, (I've read this can be caused by the brain developing all of a sudden faster than what the mouth can keep up with) and then on the weekend asked "why" for the first time. Since then, it has been nothing BUT why this, why that. (I know, you're so jealous of my life right now.) So, obviously she has a lot going on and may not have room in that head of hers to remember to get up and go to the bathroom. Ah well. At least we have a functioning washing machine; wet sheets aren't the end of the world. Though I will say that despite the fact that it is a really nice machine that the previous owners clearly spent a lot of money on, and the fact that front-endedness seems to be a desired quality in a washer, at 7 months pregnant, bending down and loading said front-endedness ain't so hot, yo. I'm sure there is a very good and functional reason why they're in such demand, but for now it's a bit of a pain in my, well, everything.

Sweetheart

2010-07-19T14:20:00.003-04:00

After a stressful time of moving and family visits, the mooper is back to being her sweet self. There were quite a few kids her age at our housewarming party this past weekend and I was struck by how mature she seems in comparison. I was extremely proud of her ability to share her toys and run around with the other kids so joyously.

I had a couple of bad runs last week that made me think I had reached the end of pregnant running, but then ran 10k on Saturday and felt pretty good. I guess that's the argument to keep going. Eventually there will be a better day:)

27 Weeks

2010-07-10T17:22:00.002-04:00

Weight gain: 13 lbs. New maternity running skirt: Worth every penny.

Pregnancy and Rage

2010-07-04T09:42:00.004-04:00

(My new 2010 Honda Fit - I shall call her, Lara. Isn't she beautiful? What, you think naming a car is ridiculous? People name pets, don't they? Well, aren't cars more useful?)

Hmmm.... probably not the healthiest combination, ya think?

Question: How do you get houseguests to leave? My daughter is acting like a psycho, we can't use our backyard, our garage is stinky, and we have to put up with undermining and insulting commentary. And here I was hoping to enjoy living in our new house this summer......

In better news my sweet Jetta sadly became a liability last week so we had to buy a new car. (It's a good thing she had so many other problems that triggered the engine light, cause, um, it turns out the brakes were about to fail. Phew. Dodged that bullet. Would rather not suffer death by vehicle, thank you very much.) The death of the Jetta isn't the good news, obviously, but rather the fact that we have a brand new car we won't have to worry about (hopefully!) on the heels of so many other things to worry about like, maintaining a house and, uh, having another child come into our lives. Y'know. The small stuff.

New Playthings

2010-06-28T15:54:00.003-04:00

Water table.

New room - formerly blue now purple.

New helmet to wear on the child seat Daddy gave to Mama for her birthday along with a swanky new bike. Duathlon anyone? (Next year, of course.)

The heat wave is set to end by Wednesday and it's not a moment too soon. I absolute hate air conditioning and try to avoid it at all costs (cost being one of the reasons - being allergic, or so I've diagnosed myself - being another), but when the temp goes over 95 and the heat index breaks 100, well, at nearly 6 months pregnant, enough is enough. Today I managed to hold out until 3:30 pm (this being a couple of hours after a sweaty and miserable nap) before turning it on so at least I'm still able to exercise some sort of restraint.

Happy Birthday to Me (Yesterday)

2010-06-23T15:06:00.004-04:00

24+4 weeks. Clearly my belly has grown quite a bit in recent weeks.

Still Alive

2010-06-20T10:30:00.003-04:00

Just busy unpacking and fighting fleas. Oh yeah, did I mention the previous owners and their dogs left us with fleas in the carpets? Lovely. And here we have no pets.

Still running at 24 weeks though 10k is starting to feel like a half marathon. The lower abdominal pain I had last time is just starting though the support band seems to keep it tolerable. I've gained 10 lbs, a weight gain that has slowed in the past week probably because we've been, well, moving, in like, 90 degree heat, so I'm probably sweating out every bit of water I might otherwise retain. I've hardly sat down in the past 10 days and by bedtime my feets are aching, yo. Fortunately I have a kind husband who rubs them so the pain doesn't keep my from sleeping. Speaking of which, happy father's day to J.... I've been so busy I didn't even get him a card. I'm horrible. But to be fair we decided that for mother's and father's day this year we were giving each other a house. A pretty nice gift I'd say.

First Meal

2010-06-05T08:20:00.002-04:00

Stay tuned for before/after paint/furniture pics......

Should I Eat More Breakfast?

2010-06-02T09:44:00.003-04:00

Ok, for the past couple of days during my runs I have been feeling a nagging hungry nauseous feeling, maybe you know the one. I'm wondering if I need to start eating a slightly bigger breakfast to avoid this. My usual meal consists of yogurt, flaxseed, orange juice, coffee, and a prune, the total calories being somewhere between 220 and 350 calories, depending on the type/amount of yogurt I have. Any given run is only between 3 and 6.2 miles which is hardly a huge tax on anyone's reserves, so, what gives? If I do add more to my breakfast I'm worried that it will only make me feel worse; I hate running feeling food sloshing around in my stomach. What to do what to do. Any thoughts?

N quote of the day: (yesterday) "Yes, that fo' yiddle moops," in reference to the pill box beside my bed after I told her it was definitely NOT for little moops.

21 Weeks and Race Details

2010-05-29T12:56:00.004-04:00

Here we are, pre-10k, with Nadia leering at my Garmin. More like wondering if she should touch it. She often puts on the Dora watch she got for her birthday and runs down the hall saying "running watch!"

Here I am, post-10k, caked in sweat. It was a great run and we had perfect weather. I got cramps early on that stayed with me, probably from sprinting past the pack at the beginning. (As soon as I stop running they disappear so I know they're not serious.) We made the mistake of starting at the back with the walkers, a mistake especially difficult for J to weave through with the stroller. A stroller, btw, that has decided to stop collapsing so we (and be we I mean J) had to jam it, wheel-less, into the backseat of my Jetta on the passenger side of the carseat. I guess this is why people buy SUVs. Anyhoo.... J pushed ahead of me quickly and for once I didn't mind and waved him off at about 2 miles. I was flirting with 9 minute miles most of the way which surprised me since I figured I'd be closer to the 10 min. range. At about 5 miles I got a strange burst of energy and decided that neither going slower nor faster would change the slight cramping I had so I chose faster, a choice that was made easier by the fact that my legs no longer felt like two jackhammers pounding the pavement, but rather more like my pre-pregnant springy gazelle legs. (Or, at least that's what they used to feel like.) I spent the last 1.3 miles, yes, this course was a good tenth of a mile longer than 10k, zipping past people, often sub 8 min./mile and can honestly say no one passed me during that last leg. (I usually have nothing left in the tank by the end but in this race I actually raced the second half faster than the first- uh, I guess that's called smart running or something.) At the actual 10k mark my Garmin said 55:30, but it read 56:11 by the time I crossed the finish line. Well within my sub-60 goal I'm happy to report and even an average of just under a 9 minute mile!

As a funny aside, people were clammering to sprint past J at the end so as to not be beat by a stroller. Unfortunately I don't think I look pregnant enough just yet for people to have realized they were being smoked by a pregnant woman. Haha. And by people I mean the people that take nearly an hour to run a 10k so, yeah, I'm not trying to say I'm that great.

Oh, and then we ate a giant steak dinner tonight complete with chocolate cake and here I was going to take tomorrow off from running. (My first day off in weeks-both IT bands are starting to suggest I may need one.) Maybe instead I'll go swimming when we take N to the spray park.... and by swimming I mean flail wildly about in an attempt not to drown.

20 Weeks

2010-05-22T11:10:00.003-04:00

I hit the halfway mark yesterday. Yay me. But I'll be even happier when I see 23 weeks. For some reason getting to the first week when there would be a higher than zero percent chance of a baby surviving outside the womb is always a relief.

Well, I overshot the weight goal a bit. I've gained 6.5-7 lbs, depending on the day, slightly higher than my 5 lb. hope. But I'm ok with it. I feel great, am exercising like crazy, and can still fit in some non-maternity jeans - something I could not say at this point in the last pregnancy.

We are running a 10k race next weekend and by we, I mean all three of us. J will be pushing the stroller and I will be struggling to keep up though when we run our weekly 10k we usually stay pretty close to each other. My non-pregnant time is sub-50 but my goal for this race is to do it sub-60! Yup, I'm a bit of a lumbering whale these days:)

I feel baby every day and have since I felt the first certain thud at 17 weeks. (The same time I first started feeling Nadia, btw.) But this kid seems a lot less interested in being a gymnast so I don't feel her nearly as often or as violently as I did with Nadia at this point. Maybe I will actually get to sit still and snuggle with my infant this time. Wouldn't that be nice?! It could also be because her head is already lodged down pretty low (N was feet down, head at belly button at 20w.) and seems to have no desire to move- hopefully she stays there;) The ultrasound tech even threatened an internal exam if baby didn't move out of the way enough for her to be able to see my cervix. Fortunately she budged slightly and that was good enough for a picture.

N is slowly coming to terms with the baby being a girl. When asked she has maintained for weeks that she wants a boy. Ah well. You can't always get what you want.

Girl.

2010-05-18T16:01:00.001-04:00

Blowing Bubbles on the Balcony

2010-05-16T16:22:00.001-04:00

18 Weeks: Photo Montage and Exercise Schedule

2010-05-07T15:53:00.001-04:00

I finally gave up the ghost of the lululemon running shorts and am now exercising in these ugly Old Navy shorts that are too big in the hips- for now;) They were just getting too snug in the lower abdominal area, a snugness I simply can't abide by during pregnancy. And actually since I switched a couple of days ago my runs have been cramp-free, except, that is, for the cramping created by having to pee as soon as I leave the house. Nothing I can do about that.

So exercising is going well and here is my schedule (it varies slightly week to week based on availability, weather, illness, etc... and I'm going to have to tweak it next week when Nadia starts swimming lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but you get the picture.)

Monday and Wednesday- 1 mile run with stroller to the Y.

- 2 miles intervals on the treadmill - though my 'fast' interval these days is the speed at which I used to run entire runs. Poo.

- free weights, squats, planks, and a bit of skipping rope.

Tuesday and Thursday - 4 mile run with stroller

Friday- Cardio Circuit at the Y: a step class coupled with a bit of weights and abs. I LOATHE step but I need to do something to give my legs a rest from running. I would consider spinning except for the lack of upper body benefits.

Saturday- 6.2 mile run withOUT the stroller. That's J's day to push!

Sunday - Day off unless I'm feeling bloompy in which case I may do a 2 mile jog.

This may all change a bit once we move further from the nearest Y and with the summer coming, but I will definitely be doing SOMEthing 6 days a week. (Though my runs surprisingly didn't suffer this past week when the temps got into the 80s and 90s.)

That being said, remember how I said I had only gained 2.5 lbs last week? Well that's now up to 5.5.... yeah....wow. What the eff, yo? Ok so maybe there was a bit too much chocolate involved and I do tend to swell in the heat, even not pregnant, but honestly there are weeks when I have eaten worse/more and haven't gained an ounce. The problem with pregnancy is that the body really wants to gain weight so one has to be even more careful. So. Starting tomorrow. Heh heh. But in all seriousness I think I will share my weight goals for this pregnancy in order to keep me accountable.... to something....

I didn't want to gain more than 5 lbs by 20 weeks so I've got a bit of work to do.

26 weeks:-11 lbs.

30 weeks:- 16 lbs.

35 weeks: -20 lbs.

40 weeks: -21-25 lbs.

Call me OC, call me crazy, but I remember how it felt to gain 33 lbs, how long it took to feel normal again (of course having a C section didn't help), and I'm hoping that gaining less and, more importantly, staying in better shape, will help me achieve this a bit faster. Sure I lost the weight fast, but it's more about dimensions in my case. And yes, I believe this to be perfectly healthy, especially since the current weight gain guidelines used by doctors/midwives are in the process of being revised/lowered.

But even though I've had a bad week, I'm not letting it get me down because I'm able to do so much more/feel so much better at this point in my pregnancy than the last..... and that's what really matters, right?

Me On a Ship

2010-05-01T10:34:00.000-04:00

Trying

2010-04-27T19:12:00.002-04:00

I've been trying to find the energy/time to write a post about Nadia or the pregnancy, but somehow sitting back and letting the discomforts of the day melt away seems more appealing. And with our credit card info being stolen yesterday, stress levels are a bit high this week.

In the meantime, I had my 16 week checkup yesterday. Fetal heartrate: 148. Weight gain (mine, that is): 2.5 lbs. 3 weeks until the ultrasound!

When asked her favorite color today, Nadia shouted, "Green Packers!"

New PJs

2010-04-19T18:21:00.003-04:00

Can you guess who J's favorite football team is?

She, who was the staunchest "daddy's girl," is now whining for "mommy" morning, noon, and night. Strange. As much as I appreciate being invited to play in her room with them rather than being kicked out, the switch has become a bit exhausting. Is it because I'm preggers? Who knows.

Pictures of Spring

2010-04-05T11:05:00.003-04:00

This child will spend hours in this swing.

When I first saw this wall I didn't figure she would be able to climb it until she was about 5. She now climbs it completely unassisted. She has bigger 'guns' than I!

Up on the biggest slide, of course.

Easter Sunday, waiting for the ferry to take us to Portsmouth for brunch.

Moo had to come.

View of Portsmouth from Norfolk.

View of Norfolk from Portsmouth.

"Cows eat grass, everybody knows that.... except Moo!"

13 Weeks, 2 Days.

Shamrock Smiles

2010-03-21T10:48:00.002-04:00

We had a beautiful race weekend out at Virginia Beach. J ran his best half ever and I ran an 8k much faster than I expected, in 41:59. I felt great save for the top-of-the-rib pain I now get at the beginning of runs that can last anywhere up to 2 miles. I have no idea what it is or if it is pregnancy related, but I do know it is extremely annoying. The only way to alleviate it is to hunch slightly and compress my ribs. Not the best running posture. I'm guessing it's referred pain from somewhere else and probably should mention it to my doctor except doctors are always very quick to say "well, stop running then." Not an option.

There were 6900+ finishers in my race and even though I curse crowds and big races before the race starts, it wasn't too bad after I got through the starting crowd. I finished 33rd out of six hundred plus females in my age group, which is in the top 5th percentile. Not too shabby for a tired pregnant lady!

I countered all of this fitness with eating an obscene amount of food this weekend and have, not surprisingly, gained my first pregnancy 0.5 pound. And so it begins.....

P.S.- We finally got our mortgage approval and had the house inspection so the process is moving forward!

Race Plans

2010-03-18T09:23:00.002-04:00

I figure a nice way to get in some miles this week is to attempt a couple of races. Tomorrow, a military 5k (which I plan to do with the stroller, so, not exactly in-it-to-win-it), and, if there's still space, the Shamrock 8k on Saturday. (Joe is doing the half on Sunday.) I think both races are very doable- that is, if I can get a freaking good night's sleep. We have all been plagued by a seal-barking cough this week and have spent hours, when we should have been sleeping, awake. This morning, for example, Nadia woke up hacking at 3, a sound that didn't exactly lull me back to sleep after my 3 a.m. pee, so at 4:30 we took pity on her (even though she was happily blabbering to her animals between coughs) and brought her to bed with us. Fast forward two hours later and she and I were finally able to get a bit more sleep. Poor J was already off to work by this time.

Oh, and between the Y classes and the running, my strength training has really suffered. I need to get on the stick yo before the pregnancy hormones really kick in and start fluffing up my limbs.

In non-atheletic news, I signed the paperwork officially making me an employee of a university yesterday; we'll see if I get any students. And tomorrow is our house inspection, now if we could just get our loan processor to EMAIL US OUR PRE-APPROVAL LETTER THAT IS DUE TOMORROW!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, must go running now.

Life

2010-03-15T16:24:00.000-04:00

This and That

2010-03-10T14:41:00.003-05:00

As I'm sure you can imagine, we've had a lot going on, hence my lack of posts. So here's an update to our status.

1. J has a job. Hooray. For approximately the next 3 years, at which point he will be at the magic military number, and that is/was our biggest concern.

2. We still haven't found a place to live, but we're in the process of playing offer-tennis on a cute house we found on the weekend.

3. I am still pregnant (nearly 10 weeks)and feeling less nauseous, though I. Am. So. Tired. and Nadia hasn't napped in like, 2 weeks, so we have very long, crabby, days. She's also getting her two year molars so I guess all things considered, she's doing pretty well. Oh, and I have the face of a 13 year old this time around, ie. I am getting zits. I am so hot right now. In good preg. news, I haven't gained any weight yet and I hope not to for the rest of the first trimester which should save me about 5 lbs. from last time.

On Monday they will go in search for life and I hope to be very relieved.

4. Training: My weekly mileage has been reduced because I am taking the second level of the course at the Y I did in the fall. It's three times a week and though I usually get in a mile here or there during class, we mostly do other, though just as effective, kinds of workouts. When I do get time to run, I am significantly slower (mostly on stroller runs), but my 10k weekend run is still respectable. In a few weeks the class will end and I hope to be back on my 20 mile/week program. As for the 1000 miles in 2010, well, I am thinking I may not reach that because of the pregnancy, but I will leave the ticker up and do as many as I can. Since my LMP was January 1, 95% of the miles run this year will be run pregnant, so regardless of the final number, I'll just be happy I stayed in better shape this time.

5, Work: Like, my work, I know, can you believe it? I've been playing pro bono with the university orchestra in order to keep up my mad skills, and the conductor recommended me to the director of a division of the university that offers lessons to community members. She's really keen to hire me and though, even if she does find me students, I may only teach enough to say, pay the cable bill, having "adjunct faculty" status at a university can't hurt the resume.

So, things are finally coming up B. And J. And N. And.....?

A Birthday in Pictures

2010-03-01T16:43:00.002-05:00

A birthday song from Auntie S.

Present Time!

Debating her next move. She did manage to successfully blow them out. (She had been practicing the day before.)

Goofing with Mama.

Smiling with one of her favorite gifts, "Uncle Bill" bear (seriously, that's what she named him) and the purse he came in. Tres chic.

Gold Tastes So Sweet When You're Two

2010-02-27T21:29:00.005-05:00

Happy birthday my sweet Nadia. Pictures and letter to come. (Oh, and yay Canada! Vancouver is going to be NUTS tonight!)

Y'all Might As Well Know

2010-02-25T08:23:00.002-05:00

In a fit of despair yesterday at the prospect of J not having a job and us not having medical insurance in 6 months, without planning to, I sorta announced my pregnancy. Oops. We weren't going to tell many people (and certainly didn't as early as last time) for two reasons a. We obviously have A LOT going on and haven't been able to get excited about it just yet and b. I feel totally different than last time. Sure, I'm extremely tired (though this could easily be attributed to the hypothyroidism I was recently diagnosed with-did I mention that?- I just started the meds), and I've had a couple of weeks of nausea and food aversion (ginger pills helped immensely this time and now it seems to be passing), but I don't feel "pregnant" like I did immediately with Nadia. I have yet to see a doctor, though I've done numerous pee tests both at home and at the office and I assume they would have called me and not put me in the OB system if their tests had been negative. Their OBs' time is soooo very very precious, after all. I'm 8 weeks tomorrow and will have a "find the hearbeat u/s" on the 15th which will either confirm or deny my suspicions. I won't even go into how enraged I was after the "newly pregnant" class I was forced to endure and all of the policies they have that I don't agree with. Suffice it to say we're exploring our options, because, oh, we might actually have some this time around. Even if it means paying out of pocket.

Patience

2010-02-24T11:52:00.002-05:00

Life is anything but boring these days..... Nadia turns 2 this weekend, we're moving some time, to somewhere, neither of which is known just yet. I promise I will post about all of this soon.

Brunette Ponette

2010-02-10T18:06:00.004-05:00

Nadia had her first trip to the salon last weekend for two reasons a. I suck at cutting her bangs and they always look it. and b. I'm tired of fighting the ponytail battle. I'm too tired to fight over silly things. She has been cursed with about the worst hair: double crown and super fine, straight, strands, so the only thing to do when it's long is to put it up, which is cute, but she resists every time. Maybe long hair will be revisited when she's older

So gone is the lion-maned-crazy-cat-lady-look and here is my little 'Madeline'. And I think she's pretty darn cute.

Intentions

2010-02-10T08:08:00.003-05:00

I had the best of intentions for this day. I was going to run 3.5 miles with the stroller. I was going to go to the farmer's market for some much-needed fruits and vegetables. I was going to upload some pictures. Instead, I woke up to the sound of J's alarm going off for 30 minutes at 5 and was later prodded (at around 6:30) out of bed by the sound of an unhappy child. Very unusual, since she usually plays happily after waking and never cries anymore. I then served said child her breakfast and she promptly threw it up. I guess her off-and-on low-grade fever and general crankiness of the past couple of days is now solved. So. She is now eating saltines (soda crackers for you Canadians) and watching tv and I imagine those are probably going to be the day's highlights. I try to limit tv to one episode of sesame street per day but on sick days I'm not creative or energetic enough to avoid the tube babysitter. Sorry.

Just as well since it's a blustery, miserable, day outside with high wind warnings. Not so fun when one is pushing a stroller.

Winter Wonderland

2010-01-30T10:34:00.003-05:00

Our beautiful, freezing, building that we're considering leaving for the suburbs. I love living in the city and we're only considering heading for the hills for one reason: spanish immersion. There is only one school in the whole hampton roads area that offers any language immersion and it is in a small school district in Virginia Beach. Even it is a lottery right now to get in, but hopefully by the time Nadia went to school there there would be more staff and resources for the program. We figure if we're going to take advantage of this buyer's market, we might as well position ourselves for Nadia's school years so we don't have to worry about moving for a while. The things we do for this child. We can always come back to the city when she's older, it will always be here. I just want to give her the same opportunities I had and I think most of school is a giant waste of time, so why not become fluent in a new language in order to offset that waste?

Oh, and the neighborhood has tons of walking trails, wooded areas, large sidewalks and roads on which a person could do long runs without having to loop a 2 block radius 17 times like I currently do. So that's a plus. And it's within walking distance to a farmer's market, something that is only within driving-through-the-ghetto-distance here. And jet noise. Lots and lots of F-18 sightings. God bless America, indeed.

Adventures in Potty Land

2010-01-26T12:52:00.005-05:00

Warning: Toddler bodily functions discussed below. So. Here we are. Possibly the most stressful event for parents and children of pre-school age. Potty training. I knew from the beginning that I really wanted N trained around 2, if not before. Why? I was trained at 20 months (as were most kids back then, no?) and, though there is nothing wrong with kids training later, I knew I couldn't be the mother of a 4 year old that was still in diapers. Ok, 20 months to 4 years is a big leap, I know, but we've all heard the stories. We've all met the kids. At about 16 months Nadia started showing interest in what was to be done on toilets, even going so far as to be put on them occasionally. Nothing happened but I was glad she was at least curious. When we got back to VA (18 months), we got her a potty and she had a couple of successes, though it was clear they were by accident. So we dropped it and she lost interest. Dang. I thought maybe I had missed the window (yes, I believe there are windows for achieving peaceful transitions from baby to toddler) and had visions of future battles with a 3-4 year old will. My sister-in-law sent me the how-to-train-your-kid to potty train in one day book and I bought the doll in the hopes that this method would work. At the time N was about 20 months. I know some people have had success with the laissez-faire attitude but I also know many people that haven't, and furthermore, I am no laissez-faire kind of person. So I read the book and, at the time, felt that Nadia would not understand the concept of a 'potty party' and that it was geared toward older children. Dang again. I had already given her Emma, the doll. How was I going to get her to train this early without a book to guide me? Fortunately I had a couple of friends who told me of their 2 year old successes. I knew that I was going to have to dedicate a weekend/week to do this, that we would have to commit to not going anywhere until it was done. Weekends sped by, things came up, but finally I committed to the 16th of January. I had no real plan other than showing her a weird Elmo potty video and reading her an Ernie book on the subject and letting her run around the house pantless, in her new underwear. I was prepared for accidents and our mostly-hardwood house made it a perfect stage for such events. One of my friends had carpet when she did it and she told me she just put plastic down everywhere for a couple of days. I had been talking about underwear with her for a few weeks and I knew she was excited about being like mama so that morning we had no trouble getting her to put a pair on. She spent the rest of the day peeing on the floor until I got the idea, knowing she was now old enough to understand incentive, of promising a sticker (our potty came with stickers and certificates) if she got the pee in the potty. At that point she started talking about how she didn't want the pee to go on the floor and, finally, about an hour before bedtime, she successfully announced "pee pee!" and made it to the potty in time. It's a good thing too because by this point J and I were exhausted and weren't sure this was going to work. Somehow she/we came up with the idea of having a pizza party once her certificate of 70 stickers was filled, figuring at a rate of one pee per day, we would have months before it happened.

Well, one pee turned into several pees, which turned into over 10 a day and that pizza party was on Friday, just a week after we started! (See top picture of the few bites she took out of the homemade pizza. The next calendar is only for poop, at the end of which she gets a new book.) She hasn't had an accident in a week and rarely is her nap diaper even wet. (She wears diapers for nap and nighttime - she still wakes up an hour earlier than I in the morning and I'm not ready to give that up.) Poop, on the other hand, took a bit longer, to the point where I was almost willing to have her go down the road of so many other toddlers that ask for diapers when they need to go number 2. But I stuck with it and helped her get through the first few awkward and slightly painful days, (potty training often causes temporary constipation) and she is now comfortable with that as well. So yeah, now at just under 23 months, she's potty trained. And it's wonderful. I have to plan my day/outings a little differently, and it is tiring running her to the bathroom at stores, but she is getting better at holding it and I think overall our life is easier. I. Am. So. Relieved. (For the record, I'm not taking full credit for this. I know N is an exceptionally easy-going kid and adapts quickly to new situations.) Though I was a little annoyed at the Y today when I discovered that they won't help the kids go to the bathroom. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised since this Y doesn't change diapers (I know others do), but come. on. Ok, yes, she can pull her pants down (though I'm usually impatient so I do it for her), but wiping? Especially if she goes poop? I think I was quite old when my mom stopped helping me with that. So they came and got me in the middle of my class. What's going to happen this Saturday during my massage? And no, we're not doing the pullups thing. I don't see any difference between them and diapers and I was told by my friends who trained their kids at 2 that they can easily derail the whole process.

Coming soon: To Buy or Not to Buy? (A house, that is.)

A Wild Week of Words

2010-01-18T14:52:00.003-05:00

New words this week:

Potty, diaper (diapoh), floor (ie. I don't want to pee on it- can you tell we're potty training?), ready, already, underneath, find it, 'Chelle (Rachelle, her doll), self (ie. I can do bad all by myself), actual letter names instead of words they begin, bafroom, eight, and nine. (She counts to four correctly and then sometimes jumps to 8 and then 9.) I'm sure there are more but I just wanted to jot down a few before I forgot.

Also improving is her ability to form Polish-esque sentences, ie. they have no articles.

Weird Virginia

2010-01-15T13:29:00.002-05:00

Here are three things I find weird about Virginian drivers/cars:

1. No one signals. This is not so much weird as it is highly annoying and dangerous.

2. There are a lot of personalized license plates... like, A LOT. Some are really dumb, like displaying love for a football team, and then others are quite cryptic. Which probably causes a lot of accidents.

3. More and more people are memorializing loved ones on their rear windows. Weird.

Ok, I guess I should go get the Moop up from her "nap," a.k.a. my lunch break. I forgot to move the wipes so I'm sure there will be a mountain of them on her pillow. Sigh.

Pictures and Plans

2010-01-04T17:36:00.002-05:00

So happy new year everyone. Our eve was quiet to begin with and then sobered by the news that a Canadian solder friend of mine was killed in an IED attack in Afghanistan the day before.

Our Christmas was busy and a bit stressful. Both J and N were sick with chest/head colds and N got an obscene amount of presents despite desperate pleas to the in-laws to restrain themselves in the purchasing department. This in sharp contrast to our 3, quiet and somewhat solitary, Christmases in Sicily which were actually quite nice.

N loves bubble baths. And running away. From everything and everyone. Including things she wants to do. She especially loves running away during the transition from pjs to clothes or vice versa so, ie., naked, and in stores and sidewalks/streets. Not so safe these last two. "Run, 'way!" she shrieks and is off.......

22 months and playing with her new "tea thup."

In the plan department, my 'plan' (note: not resolution), is to run 1000 miles this year, which, at my current rate, is quite doable. This, of course, only being possible should I remain pregnant and major injury-free. Not to equate the two conditions. I would obviously be able to run more pregnant than injured, but as to how much, that would depend on a lot of things. And no, I'm not yet pregnant, and no, we're not absolutely sure this is a possibility. I'm just sayin'.

We're also looking for another place to live but again, I'm just sayin'.

A Letter and a Memory

2009-12-31T11:18:00.002-05:00

Dear suicide bombers and the like,

You. Suck.

G.M. should have lived to see 2010, may he rest in peace. Happy new year indeed.

Merry Christmas to Me

2009-12-24T12:49:00.002-05:00

I guess the bandaids kind of lessen the effect of the bloody scrapes I suffered on my knees and elbows after doing a body-slide in the 7-11 parking lot I was running through yesterday. I felt like a total idiot and lay there thinking, "great, now I've gone and shattered both kneecaps," that's how badly it hurt. But the fact that I managed to limp home and can walk normally save for a right knee that doesn't want to bend, makes me believe that it wasn't that serious. Probably my pride and the hope to feel less guilty eating Christmas pleasures are the things that took the biggest hit. I am also very fortunate that I didn't hit my head and/or get run over by a car since, well, you know, I was in a PARKING LOT. Man do I feel dumb. I hope this is only a minor setback in what has been, for the past few weeks, an excellent running schedule.

So merry Christmas/happy holidays to everyone. We here at Casa El Mold-o (we're seriously thinking of moving- the Nor'Easter leaks are sprouting patches of mold which, as I'm sure you are aware, are oh-so- healthy) are especially excited to share N's first Christmas that she might actually sort of understand/enjoy. That is, if she lets me be in the room while she's opening presents: Moopers has become an uber-Daddy's girl and whenever he's home, I am essentially dead to her. At once both liberating and heart-breaking.

Sailor Lady

2009-12-17T13:52:00.001-05:00

Sailor Lady dance.

Is it just me or did she, like, grow up overnight? Maybe it's the lack of pigtails.

Picture Day

2009-12-15T14:10:00.002-05:00

Before the kids' Christmas party, all dressed up, and yes, I know there's something in my teeth.

Not digging the petting zoo. At all. Or Santa. Which she can now say. Inevitably followed by a vehement, "nope!"

About the only thing that didn't make her cry or, with quivering lips, say "home." That and pizza.

Call Child Services

2009-12-07T17:40:00.002-05:00

N started saying the word "sit" today (she really did mean "sit"), in the grocery store, repeatedly. Except she added an "h." I don't think I need to spell it out for you.

10k: The Deets

2009-12-02T09:01:00.006-05:00

http://gallery.triduo.com/p/finish_10k_under_50_min_striders_turkey_trot_2009/1780-4450-8900-nkb_25_2_19_14 Not great, but I've looked worse.

Let's start with what I wore. Lululemon Kozytech tights, a gap 'sports' bra and a super lightweight Running Room t-shirt. Result: best cold-weather running outfit. Ever. Why? The tights are less pear-ish and sit lower than other high-rise mom-jeans styles of running tights and so for me that means no tummy ache. Despite racing with my fellow weight and exercise-obsessed friend, I didn't feel too self-conscious. It helps that she and I are of completely different body types and in a different age group currently, so we compete more alongside each other than against one another. It's nice. Ok, so the bra. I had completely forgotten about this bra that can barely be described as a sports bra. It's very small and offers little to no support, perfect for my smaller-than-pre-pregnancy size A34. I needed the torso-engulfing bras while I was nursing, but now they are simply too much. I have since ordered more from gap and hope that sizes and comfort-levels haven't changed since I bought the first one. And the price can't be beat. I haven't tried the Lululemon Flow bra that looks comparable, but 2 for 30$ makes a whole lot more sense to me these days than 1 for 42$. So, all in all, a very comfortable outift even with my purchased-a-million-years-ago-Lululemon cycling over-shirt tied around my wasit. The sun had started beating down on us at the start line and I had made the last minute decision to remove it. So last minute I didn't have time to re-pin my number to my t-shirt as you can see in the above link, a link that was nearly impossible to find, consequently.

The race: J and I started together at the 50:00 sign. I had an ambitious goal of running it in under 50 and a conservative one of under 52. Being so inexperienced with racing I had no idea how it was going to go. Once the gun went off it seemed to take forever to weave through the people that had so obviously started too close to the start line. I stuck with my one and only race strategy, that of covering as much distance as possible on good legs, and started fast, losing sight of J, hoping he would either hang back or smoke me early and go off my radar. I HATE running near someone I know because I'm so competitive I feel the need to race him even if my body does not feel/is not capable of the same need. Not to be. I think somewhere around 2 miles is where he caught me and from then on it was a constant back and forth. Side note: The first 4 miles wove through neighborhoods and I felt like there were way too many turns... very slowing. I could tell he was using me as his human Garmin (I was wearing the electronic variety), but wasn't sure why since I said beforehand I was going to stay around 8 minute miles (even though I was considerably faster for most of the race- started around 7, ended with a 7:45 average) - a pace he said would be too slow for him. Apparently not. At about 4 miles, the beginning of Mt. Trahsmore park, I consciously decided to slow down for a mile, in order to save something in the tank for the last 1.2, which, btw, ended up being 1.29, very off-putting for pacing. Well, J slowed down too. Dang. At the 5 mile marker that was actually at 5.2 miles I became confused as to where we were to go next, thinking we had to repeat the same loop, and lost a lot of speed and gained a lot of depression. It's amazing what a mental game this running thing really is. I soldiered on, feeling like this race was never going to end, but once I realized we didn't have to repeat the loop and instead had to go in the other direction, I gained a bit of momentum. Unfortunately this is also when we hit the bit of mud path and J, I kid you not, cut me off on the muddy turn. W.T.F I was so mad I nearly pushed him down, playground-style. Turns out his 'cheating';) paid off and he ended up beating me by 7 seconds clock time. He claims he didn't see me beside him, but I know the truth. I bring out what little competitive streak his calm nature hides, and he wanted to beat me. I vowed afterwards we would never race together, after all, it would save us babysitter money, but one could argue my chip time of 48:46 - ie. faster than I imagined possible- was thanks to my race with him. Who knows, maybe one day we will do our first marathon together and run together more as support than racing enemies. One can only hope:)

Anyway, I'm very happy with the outcome (13th in my age group of 169) and it made the turkey indulgence later that day feel oh-so-less guilty.

21 Months

2009-11-30T08:41:00.007-05:00

Dear Nadia,

You are now but a mere 3 months from your second birthday. I thought it would be a good time to jot a quick note since I haven't been very good at chronicling your second year. It's not like nothing has changed.

Soooo, the first thing I'd like to mention is your ever-increasingly particular routines. The morning, for example. Baby and Moo get out of bed and must watch and comment as you put on your clothes. The dynamic duo must then sit on the windowsill as you wash your hands in the bathroom. After running down the hall to breakfast, they must be propped up on the table as you climb into your chair yourself, buckle yourself in, put your bib on, and proceed to eat your oatmeal with both your water and your milk cup, even though you rarely drink the milk. We are planning to put our little Christmas tree on the very table on which your friends sit and watch you eat and I'm pretty sure that's going to go over like a, well, a lead balloon. If you see them, you want me to put on your indoor shoes so you can then kick them off throughout the course of the meal. And there you have it. Breakfast with Nadia. Should any of these steps be skipped, well, watch. out. world.

You seem very concerned with injuries and constantly bring up the fact that you used to have owies on your knees (like, 6 months ago) but now they're 'all done.' If I cut my finger, you make sure for days afterward that it too is 'all done.' You are also concerned with where things came from, always asking if your pjs came from "Rama?" or if your milk cup was bought by "mama and dada?" You know, all of the important details.

I don't know if I have mentioned it before, but you are an elephant. Not an elephant like the one that lives upstairs that you make sure to imitate when she's clomping around and we can hear her through the ceiling, but the kind that has an endless memory. You. Remember. Everything. Like, even things I consider too long ago for someone so young to recall. But you recall. And every time I am shocked.

I know they say kids are only capable of 'parallel play' before the age of 3, but sometimes it really does seem like you're playing 'with' older kids. Whether it be putting on a princess dress (our friend's 3 year old is pretty into this and even though I didn't really want you to be, you had a blast with it on Thanksgiving), or running up and down the hall with K's 6 year old, you love being around other kids. Even if it means sitting in a rocking chair reading a book while they play around you. Even when they play on "mine!" apparati at "mine!" park. You are actually better at sharing your actual toys at home, than sharing 'your' swing at the neighborhood park that was recently closed because of the 'November Nor'easter.' Hopefully it will reopen soon because you finally found the courage (probably from seeing others do it) and overcame your cautiousness a couple of months ago to go down slides by yourself and could do it all day.

Days with you are so so fun and I marvel at how much you're growing up. I love sitting next to you on the couch reading books read: me sitting reading Madame Bovary and you reading one of your books. Seriously, most often you would rather sit in silence looking at your books with the occasional "dat?" point and me naming the picture while I read 'mama book' than to actually have me read a book to you. So you can see how it's hard for me to get anything done. Not, as in the past, because you won't let me (I can now cook, practice, do laundry, and clean with little to no protest), but because who wouldn't want to sit and read a novel beside her awesome daughter? I mean, really.

As for talents, you can count to two and identify 18 out of 26 letters by words they start. You also recently got "air" for the first time on a jump. Once you've had a little more practice I think we may look into the next level of swimming lessons. Whenever you see something swimming related you ask, "mo' day?" Ie. more another day? Yes, baby girl, we will swim another day. I promise.

Love,
Mama

Winners

2009-11-27T17:42:00.002-05:00

My fellow Sigonellan friends and I all got trophies at last week's 5k. I look just as hot post-race as I do during, don't you think? (Now THAT's sarcasm.)

10k PR

2009-11-26T12:01:00.003-05:00

48:47 Garmin time on a long (6.29 miles), incorrectly marked, (like, I had hit 5 miles LOOOONG before the marker) and kind of annoying course. Details to follow after Thanksgiving. Oh, and J and I are never racing together again. (His time was probably about 30 seconds better than mine but no, that's not why I've put the brakes on future coupled races.)

5k PR

2009-11-20T14:07:00.002-05:00

I had a great time running the military 5k turkey trot this morning with J, my friend K from Sicily and her super fast husband. J narrowly beat me (by less than 10 seconds), and I came in 4th female overall and 3rd place female ages 30-37 in a time of 22:30, by far my personal best. I started out way too fast, like 6:30 minute miles, but felt like I was going to hurl, so slowed down for a final average of just below 7:30 minute miles. Still, very fast for me. I wanted to sprint at the end to beat J but just didn't feel like seeing this morning's yogurt on the road. Maybe one day I'll be sub-20. My leg felt great, but maybe it's because I took advil at breakfast this morning, knowing I would have a good 3 hours to get over the harshness of ibuprofen on the stomach. My leg is stiffening as we speak.

I know for sure I won't be able to maintain today's pace for 10k next week, but I hope my legs feel just as good.

Oh, and K got first in her age group (20-29) and her husband got 2nd in his (30-37), like I said, super fast.

In other news, my Jetta needs a new transmission. A job that will cost more than the car is worth. Guess that's what we get for violating J's two car-buying rules: 1. Never buy used. 2. Never buy an automatic. So we've decided to run it until it stops since I only drive about 10 miles a week and if things go well in the spring re: J's job, ie. he still has one, we'll be in a more secure financial state to replace it.

Hopefully I'll have some tomato-faced pics to post of me receiving my trophy in days to come!

This is Why We Rent

2009-11-14T17:20:00.002-05:00

The beginning of the Nor-easter's effects. This got worse over the course of 3 days to the point where our entire north wall (about 9 windows) were leaking in streams through cracking window frames, as was a light fixture and a couple of outlets. Electricity and water. Oh so safe. Anyway, for the amount we pay in rent, this shouldn't have happened. Clearly when they gutted the old building and remodeled, many, many, corners were cut. But thankfully no flooding. A lot of people weren't so lucky.

Our only casualties beyond the obvious wall issues were a book and a lamp. And we had power the whole time. Yay us.

Culture of Fitness

2009-11-05T12:17:00.004-05:00

It's pretty common knowledge that I was worried about N's speech for a while. Though she has been excellent at comprehension and overall communication, actual articulation of words that sound like complete words, seemed to be a bit lacking. Well, I don't worry anymore. Why? Because for most of the summer she was saying "uhhhh," ie. the vowel sound in the way I said "ruuuun!" when she was running, everytime she would see running shoes or someone running. One day, shortly after our return to VA, I got her out of bed, and as we were walking down the hall toward the kitchen, she broke into a run, and shouted, clear as a bell, "running!" So there you have it. She may have a lot of weird designations for things, but I know one day, all of a sudden, she'll just say them correctly. And that will be that.

Here we are in a sequence of soccer moves. Not only does N like to be active, she also likes her "friends" to be active. How many mornings have I gone into her room to find her making her doll, Violette, (I named her that because she's, well, purple.), do sit-ups, or to find poor Violette being made to run laps around the crib. I am so happy that N is imitating lives that include core and cardiovascular fitness instead of say, smoking and fighting. (Though she does hit- just me, thankfully, not other kids - from time to time, not sure where she has seen that since she doesn't watch any TV except for an 1/2 hour of Sesame Street and she certainly has not seen violence in our house.)

What also makes me happy is that N loves to eat green peppers, lentil & butternut squash soup, turkey chili, and cooked carrots, to name but a few healthy food items she will always pick over sweets. In fact, I have given her small tastes of chocolate recently, and she has virtually recoiled in horror.

What else can I update you on the Moop? Well, she loves the alphabet. Not so much being read to, that involves too much sitting still, but she is constantly asking me to write the first letter of names of people she knows and can already identify A is for apple, M is for mama, D for dada, N for Nadia, Y for the Y, G for GG (my dad), B for Batman, R for Rambo (my brothers, as you recall), O for Oh No! and E for Emma, (Her other doll.) And yesterday she counted to two. So things, they are a moving along! (We won't go into the increased defiance and crying of late, I'm trying to stay positive;)

In other news, I'm proud to announce I just completed the 6 week course at the Y and was FINALLY able to break the 120 lb. plateau, something I haven't seen since before I got pregnant with N. I'm now 117.5 lbs, and down 2 percent body fat (lower than pre-preg days!), 2 inches in the waist and 1 inch in the hips. I feel fantastic. My leg is also getting better so I'm able to run more and am doing a couple of races this month. A 5k military race in which I hope to beat my un-raced PR of 24:16 and maybe even place in my age group, depending on who shows up, and a thanksgiving day 10k, in which I hope to break my un-raced PR of 53:29 (though I'm pretty sure I ran the first 10k of the half marathon this summer faster than that) and have no hope of placing in anything. Regardless of chip times though, it should be a fun month since my workout/runner friend K is visiting from Sicily. In the new year I'm hoping to take the second level of the class I just completed and move on to bigger races like a valentine's day 10 miler and a St. Patty's half. We'll see. I'm just glad I have things to motivate me during and after the porky holiday season;)

B needs to get to NYC to see what all the fuss is aboot

2009-10-31T12:07:00.003-04:00

"Empire State of Mind" is my newest fave running song. It is sick, as my younger, and much hipper, brother would say. I think that means it is bad-a**.

The Pink Jester at the Park

2009-10-25T16:00:00.002-04:00

Rainy Day Boring Days, Can You Tell?

2009-10-16T16:42:00.003-04:00

The Southern Version of Flint, Michigan

2009-10-11T16:47:00.002-04:00

We just got back from a Sunday drive to Elizabeth City, North Carolina, which, in fact, is not a city at all. J warned me there wasn't much there (besides beautiful countryside- which is, obviously, something), and oh, he was right. Confederate flags everywhere! But I saw my first cotton field and it. was. breathtaking.

Tales From the Potty, I

2009-10-07T14:22:00.004-04:00

Warning: the following story is not for the weak-stomached. STOP READING NOW if you're eating, or hungover, or both.

We've started dabbling in potty training lately. I know most people try to do it one day, as per the many books purporting to do just that, and even though I have one of those books, I just don't feel like the situation is dire just yet. So we got the doll (though she had gone once beforehand), and since then she has done something about once a day. Most of those somethings have involved sitting on the potty for 45 minutes, giving the doll water and watching her pee, and then finally going pee herself. Okay, so I know this doesn't mean she knows what the feeling of having to go is. I also know this is the goal. I'm sure we'll get there someday. (Preferably before 3, ideally around 2.) I mean, how many kids go off to college still in diapers? I'd venture to say not many, maybe even none.

So yesterday as I'm scurrying around trying to get out the door to go for a run she announces that she wants the baby to go pee. Ok, fine. I'm trying to be patient and zen about the whole thing. So we sit there, and sit, and sit, and I can see she's trying to do something but is obviously peed out. Then suddenly, she bolts up, strains for all of 8 milliseconds and as I lunged for her in what seemed to be slow motion, exclaiming, "siiitttt dooowwwnnnn!", releases, well, you can imagine. It was quite a mess. Fortunately most of it went in the potty, but not quite all of it. As I frantically tried to clean it up, I had to all the while try to be cheery and nice so as not to scare her of the whole situation. Breathing through my mouth. Yup. Good times.

Also good times is the number one heard phrase in our house these days, "yadia dooo!!!" (Translation: Nadia do it. That includes everything from putting in her own pigtails to washing the dishes.)

On an unrelated note, I've been going to Y-Change, a 6 week program full of seminars, cardio, and strength workouts. It's free to new members and as I joined the Y at the end of August, I figured I may as well take advantage of it. (And, as a new bonus, Nadia actually likes going to their free childcare.... she even tells me what she's going to do there when I bring it up, "baby and num num," ie. she plays with dolls and gets a snack. What could be better?) The class is really great and is totally kicking my bum. Not as much as those boot camps I've been hearing about I'm sure, but enough to get me out of my usual routine, ie. rut. I'm not trying to lose weight, per se, but a couple of percentages of body fat wouldn't be undesirable, especially after all of the weights I have lifted over the past 6 months.... it would be nice to see the results a little, um, clearer. I'm especially finding it useful to keep a food journal because though I'm not a terrible eater, it keeps me a bit more accountable for the excess wine, cheese, and/or chocolate, I am likely to consume in mass quantities after N goes to bed. Anyway, this lengthy report of my lifestyle improvements is to rockily segue into what I saw on Biggest Loser last night. They were learning how to eat out and still eat right and I'm all like, who goes out to eat so they can only eat steamed vegetables? Certainly not I. When I go out, I'm going out for a purpose, like, I want yummy food that is probably bad for me. Like, um, Thai or Indian curry? Yes please. So the trainers, Gillian and the other guy, also order their bitsy two teaspoons of food, and I couldn't help but imagine that they were both thinking "man I can't wait until filming wraps wo we can go out and get a freaking margarita and some real food, I'm starving!!!!" They were, after all, at a Mexican restaurant, and of course no one was allowed alcohol. But hey, I guess desperate times call for desperate measures.

What I really took exception to though, was all the food that was being sent back and one of the contestants saying that one shouldn't feel bad for doing that, that the staff wants you to do it, that all they care about it you enjoying your meal. Um, no. Having worked as a waitress and as kitchen staff, I know there is nothing more annoying. All most servers care about is getting their money and going home. All the kitchen staff cares about? Getting the meals out and NOT HAVING TO DO THEM AGAIN. Ok, sure, if there are only two people in the restaurant, maybe the cooks wouldn't mine mind broiling the shrimp after they have already sauteed them, but when it's busy....? Are you kidding me? Granted, I'm a WASP and a Canadian, so it is simply not in my DNA to put people out. I guess it's easier for everyone else. Well, good on y'all I suppose. I just hope you never have to work in a restaurant.

Birthdays

2009-09-28T16:52:00.002-04:00

Happy birthday to J (yesterday), and happy 19 month birthday to the Moop (today.)