I am currently recovering from a foot injury and 3.5 weeks off of running. I ran 3 miles today and my foot felt better but 3 miles felt like 6 miles! My swimming is really improving. My endurance is very slowly getting there but my form and ability to correct my techniques is growing. My past two swims has left me feeling more confident about a triathlon this spring. The wind and cold have taken an toll on my biking but I hope to get out Friday for 25-30 and follow that up Sunday with a 40 mile charity event.
My current biggest challenge is trying to keep motivated and not "hibernate" on these cold mornings. I bailed on my friend Rebecca Monday so I HAD to meet her this morning and it felt great. The plan is to get up Thursday and try a 4 mile run. We'll see....
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Do Kids Grow Horns During the Holidays? :-)
So I have successfully made it home with my family from a 10.5 hour trip to Florida to visit my husband's family for the week of Thanksgiving. Mike and I feel that all in all the kids behaved pretty well and did pretty good in the car for such a long trip.
Now the stress begin...we come home late Friday and start decorating for Christmas on Saturday. Dylan has a huge fascination with gifts and even unwrapping them or telling his sister to unwrap gifts that are not even his. He is continuously asking where all of his presents are b/c he can read some words and especially his name. I want to say "hidden my son b/c otherwise you would open them!" but I just tell him we have some for him somewhere.
Once we start decorating the tree even more craziness begins. Mike and I try to be patient and hope this is a time the kids will remember as fun. The tree is creatively decorated by the kids with ornaments they like all grouped on one limb and nothing is decorated above a toddler's reach of course! We finish up the tree together as Mike and I do reach up to decorate the bare part of the tree and add some breakable ornaments and keepsakes from our first year of marriage. Then the it all starts with each little hand craftily going to the tree to take off their favorite ornament and move it, touch it, play with it anything other than what the parents feel is good. If you have a toddler you know just what I am talking about! The wonderful Christmas music has to compete with constant thumps as ornaments hit the hardwood floor and you grimace as you wonder if it was a breakable one "this time".
We put the tree up Sunday and each day there has been some kind of fight about putting ornaments back on, not playing with breakable things, you name it! I guess it is like a candy shop or shop with all items that say not to touch...but you just have to...
Today is Tuesday and it has topped all days for making me feel that the Holiday season has turned my children into little devils. It starts when I pick them up from school. Dylan refuses to listen to me or his teacher, somehow his friends seem to know what is best and this continues all the way to the car. It is a little hard to yell at preschool in front of other parents so I give my "mean look" but it does not work......Allison starts on the way home with a fight over not getting to talk on the cell phone b/c Dylan has dropped it between the seats and she "really, really" wanted to talk to HER Daddy. The fight continues in the house as someone is pushing and someone is crying. I decide it is not worth cooking...even though I did a full week of meal planning and shopping (yeah for me!) so I proceed to order pizza on line. My husband has conveniently gone outside to hang even more Christmas stuff? I will give him credit for asking the kids ONCE if they wanted to come with him. While I am ordering pizza Allison has decided to color the walls, white moulding around our windows and refrigerator HOT PINK. This is truly the point where you lose it as a Mom. My husband comes in and I conveniently decide to go upstairs to order Christmas cards. I hear lots of yelling even then but try to block it out and design the card of the "perfect" family. :-) At least when our friends get the cards they don't get a recording of what we said to get the kids to sit still and smile so one photo of 30 might be "the one". Nope, they just smiling faces.. :-)
It is now 8:40 and I put the kids down at 8pm. I think I have yelled or made no toy threats at least 10 times. Once it is quiet I will relax, go to bed and wake up anxious to see my little angels in the morning and know that somehow they grow horns during the day or at least the busy days leading up to the holidays!
Now the stress begin...we come home late Friday and start decorating for Christmas on Saturday. Dylan has a huge fascination with gifts and even unwrapping them or telling his sister to unwrap gifts that are not even his. He is continuously asking where all of his presents are b/c he can read some words and especially his name. I want to say "hidden my son b/c otherwise you would open them!" but I just tell him we have some for him somewhere.
Once we start decorating the tree even more craziness begins. Mike and I try to be patient and hope this is a time the kids will remember as fun. The tree is creatively decorated by the kids with ornaments they like all grouped on one limb and nothing is decorated above a toddler's reach of course! We finish up the tree together as Mike and I do reach up to decorate the bare part of the tree and add some breakable ornaments and keepsakes from our first year of marriage. Then the it all starts with each little hand craftily going to the tree to take off their favorite ornament and move it, touch it, play with it anything other than what the parents feel is good. If you have a toddler you know just what I am talking about! The wonderful Christmas music has to compete with constant thumps as ornaments hit the hardwood floor and you grimace as you wonder if it was a breakable one "this time".
We put the tree up Sunday and each day there has been some kind of fight about putting ornaments back on, not playing with breakable things, you name it! I guess it is like a candy shop or shop with all items that say not to touch...but you just have to...
Today is Tuesday and it has topped all days for making me feel that the Holiday season has turned my children into little devils. It starts when I pick them up from school. Dylan refuses to listen to me or his teacher, somehow his friends seem to know what is best and this continues all the way to the car. It is a little hard to yell at preschool in front of other parents so I give my "mean look" but it does not work......Allison starts on the way home with a fight over not getting to talk on the cell phone b/c Dylan has dropped it between the seats and she "really, really" wanted to talk to HER Daddy. The fight continues in the house as someone is pushing and someone is crying. I decide it is not worth cooking...even though I did a full week of meal planning and shopping (yeah for me!) so I proceed to order pizza on line. My husband has conveniently gone outside to hang even more Christmas stuff? I will give him credit for asking the kids ONCE if they wanted to come with him. While I am ordering pizza Allison has decided to color the walls, white moulding around our windows and refrigerator HOT PINK. This is truly the point where you lose it as a Mom. My husband comes in and I conveniently decide to go upstairs to order Christmas cards. I hear lots of yelling even then but try to block it out and design the card of the "perfect" family. :-) At least when our friends get the cards they don't get a recording of what we said to get the kids to sit still and smile so one photo of 30 might be "the one". Nope, they just smiling faces.. :-)
It is now 8:40 and I put the kids down at 8pm. I think I have yelled or made no toy threats at least 10 times. Once it is quiet I will relax, go to bed and wake up anxious to see my little angels in the morning and know that somehow they grow horns during the day or at least the busy days leading up to the holidays!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Weekend back to Blacksburg, Va
So I had my first visit back to Blacksburg, Va....home of the HOKIES!! These pics are obviously not from this weekend but do represent a lot of what I think of when I think of the "home" I left...good friends, good bike rides and good mountains!! Luckily I brought my GREAT husband with me to NC and my kids too!
It was weekend trip with me and the kids since Mike was at a wedding of an old friend. Wow, what a world wind weekend but soooo much fun! I was able to see lots of old friends and even get in a 25 mile bike ride (with some climbs...yeah!) and a 30 min swim. I don't think my best friends Ali and Christie quite believed me when I told them I was starting from scratch until they actually saw me attempt to swim laps.
The kids did great for 5 hours there and back. We stayed with my wonderful friend Susan on Saturday and she has 3 kids. What a blast that was for the kids! Makes me wish she and I had done more together with our kids while I lived there!
I truly miss Blacksburg and hope to move back there or to the mountains one day. I am okay with living here but I think my heart is to live in the mountains. I find peace and serenity in the beauty of the mountains and even though it hurts like HE** I love to climb those mountains on my bike! Greenville is a two year commitment and that is how Mike and I have agreed to view it. In August of 2010 we'll reevaluate our situation and maybe make a move.. Who know with Obama in office we may have to move sooner.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
My Wonderful Children
So I have two wonderful children. Dylan is five and Allison is almost three. They are a joy but quite a handful at times! Dylan is my sweet, smart and very inquisitive one. He loves to snuggle and likes praise...he has recently told me he has girlfriends at preschool! He is not the first one to the top of the new playground at the park...Allison on the other had is a different story!
How do I describe Allison? She loves attention and can be very loving, sweet and wants to snuggle. She however can also be moody, needy and unlike Dylan...does not really care what you think of her! And she is the first one to the top of the new playground and slides down with NO FEAR!!
They have adjusted to our recent move better than us. They are in a Christian based daycare/preschool for the first time. Dylan has learned bible verses and knows more verses than I do. He takes prayer, Jesus, God and not listening to the Devil very seriously. Allison likes her meal prayers but also like to rule the Two's room and maintain her high maintenance relationship with Layne....the friend she loves but also scratches and pulls her hair out. :-(
Our biggest struggle right now is getting Allison to poop in her potty. She is GREAT at the other stuff but seems to like to mess up as many panties as possibe with poops. I guess one day she will get tired of this????
Learning to swim after 20 years..
So I always have work out/fitness goals. I have completed two half marathons and two century bike rides (Most appropriately call Mountains of Misery). I have now decided to branch out and learn to swim so I can complete a sprint triathlon. I am not stopping there though because my ultimate goal is to do a 1/2 iron man. Why? Why not? I am 33 and feel like I am just as fit or even more motivated to be fit than ever. I have done many, many bike rides over 50 miles and successfully completed two half marathons. If I can learn to swim I can do this..I know I can!
So this swimming thing has been a humbling experience. I swam one lap...yes 50m and felt like I was going to die....I guess that is what over 20 years out of the pool does for you. I have now gotten the "stroke" and "kick" down and have started working on endurance....I can almost do 75 m...and I have how many for the 1/2 Iron man???? I think one mile...yes I have my work cut out for me! :-)
Patience, Patience Not something I have much of.
So this swimming thing has been a humbling experience. I swam one lap...yes 50m and felt like I was going to die....I guess that is what over 20 years out of the pool does for you. I have now gotten the "stroke" and "kick" down and have started working on endurance....I can almost do 75 m...and I have how many for the 1/2 Iron man???? I think one mile...yes I have my work cut out for me! :-)
Patience, Patience Not something I have much of.
Starting this blog thing...
Okay, so I have heard so much about blogging and never thought I had the time for it. However with a wonderful husband, two small children, an "addiction" to cycling, running and now swimming, a sports fan, and just moving to GVegas I am sure I have something to "blog" about.
I am a very expressive person so this should be right up my alley. I have been under a great deal of stress with moving to a new place, getting my children in childcare and trying to adjust to a new territory for my sales job. So...the reality is that writing should be therapeutic for me. :-)
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