Naples!

One more day of vacation down...2 more to go. Although, sadly, Mike heads home tomorrow. Work calls. :(

I am vacation tired. You know the kind of tired where you've been busy all day long with exhausting activities such as sitting on the beach, making sandcastles, playing hide and seek, and eating out at fancy restaurants.

The best part of vacation....those flat, kid-free runs. Florida topography sure beats the hell out those Georgia hills.

Some shots of our days so far....

Enjoying the beach.


Me and Alice


My dad, somehow, got roped into taking these two jokers to the bathroom (Ella and my nephew, Nick (4)).



Giant jawbreakers courtesy of Uncle Jamie

Grandma and my niece, Mackenzie

My brother, Dave and sis-in-law, Holly (and a sleeping, Nick)

My sister, Meg and bro-in-law, Jamie

First time at the beach

In Naples, FL with my family (all 14 of us--including 6 kids!) for a
belated holiday weekend.

E is the happiest I have ever seen her, surrounded by cousins and the
beach.

Alice is alice. Supergood and smiling at everyone.

4 months old

Yep. My little, tiny, 3 week early baby is 4 months old now. It, honestly, has flown by.

That little, tiny baby is no longer tiny or little. She's a bigun :) A 90% for weight bigun'.

Alice had her 4 month appointment yesterday. She's fine and healthy...always a relief to hear.

24 inches long (50% percentile) 15 lbs 5oz (75-90%!).

Alice weighs more than Ella did when she was 6 months old. We got a lot of "healthy eater, huh?" and "check out those cheeks" at her appointment. And just like Alicia, we had to dig into the 6-9 and 6-12 month old clothes bins today to replenish her dresser.

Here is Miss Spiderman-goggles-and-swimmy-diaper (can you tell in addition to changing out Alice's clothes I am also packing for our trip to Naples, Fl on Friday?) doing her best to wake Alice who is sleeping, out of frame, to her right. She eventually did.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow.

We are having a small one here with just me, the girls, Mike and my mom. We'll catch up with the rest of my family down in Naples on Friday...can't wait (although I CAN wait to get on the damn plane. Ugh. How I ever hate to fly. Seriously, the high point of Alice's appointment was the ped telling me it is, in fact, okay to take a valium while breastfeeding. Thanks, doc. I am sure that you get asked that question a lot, right? right??)

99 cent motivation

All I can say is...THANK YOU, ITUNES.

Whenever I need to find some motivation to run, adding some new life to the playlist helps get my butt out the door (or down the stairs to the treadmill).

My new running buddies...
Sex on Fire -- Kings of Leon
Single Ladies -- Beyonce
Move Your Feet -- Junior Senior
Nasty Girl -- Inaya Day
Midnight Rider -- Allman Bros.
Love Don't Live Here Anymore --Lady Antebellum (yes, country...sue me. I live in Georgia.)

Beyonce was especially helpful this morning during the run on my first postpartum plateau busting (let's hope) brick...30 min. bike/20 min. run.

Plateau

After having a baby, your body takes its (damn) time getting back to where it was before you got pregnant.

Duh.

You're tired, fat, just sprouted the DD's that you never wanted, your feet grew so now the only item of clothing that should fit you no longer does.

Thankfully there's that wonderful, inexplainable, heartbreakingly awesome love for your new little one that makes all the crap that comes along with pregnancy and childbirth so worth the hassle, however, there are a few other perks.

Every workout is better than the last. You're faster, lighter, quicker....EVERY DAY. And you could totally smoke your pregnant self. Daily, marked improvement....I love that.

You can lose 5 lbs, IN A DAY, with no liquid diets, shenanigans, etc. Easy. It falls off (for the first couple weeks at least.)

As great as these perks are....they don't go on forever.

Sadly.

They plateau. That is where you can find me now.

On the plateau.

All that water weight comes off.

Your workouts are no longer amazing and wonderful solely due to the fact that you aren't 9 months pregnant anymore. They become work again. Fun work....but work (some days).

You no longer run :30 seconds faster per mile, every time you run.

The improvements are harder and harder to come by.

It is like I was a superhero there for a a while (leaps and bounds!) and now I am back to my normal self.

Kate (not Peter) Parker.

Looking forward to starting Gulf Coast training. I need to get knocked off this plateau, probably right on my butt, but still better than standing still...

BTW -- Happy, happy, happy birthday to my mom today. I love you. Hope you had a great day, Mimi.

Dear Santa

The other night, while dancing in her new gymnastics leotard (first class was a hit!), and waiting for Daddy to get home from work, Ella and I worked on her Christmas list. I wrote down, verbatim, what she told me she wanted.

Some interesting stuff on here..


Sitting here on a really cold (for Georgia) afternoon and looking ahead to next year's races. I am torn between what races I really want to do (and do well in) and what races I reasonably can train for and train well for.

Gulf Coast is my favorite race. Hands down.
I love this race.
I want to do this race.
BUT, do I have the time and desire to train for this race all winter long, while nursing Alice and all that entails? Not sure, but I will give it a try...

I have a feeling my '09 season might be more suited to sprints and Olympics. The time commitment is a lot less and I really enjoy the short stuff, anyway.

There are years and years ahead of me to put the time in for another IM. There will never be another year that Ella is 3 and Alice is not yet a year (can't forget how adorable 40 is either, right, Mike?). I have to take the long view and remember this when I get that inevitable itch.

A dogs

Two of 'em. Alice & Annabelle.

Loving it.

Happy birthday to me.

Yeah, my birthday was over a month ago, but I got to use my gift from Mike today for the first time. And, I have to say, it was awesome.

Why so awesome, you ask?

1. Germs. All the germs on my treadmill are cooties indigenous to me (and Mike). No wondering which side of the towel was touching the treadmill and DO NOT TOUCH FACE WITH MSRA/STAPH/STREP/STOMACH FLU/ETC. ETC. INFECTED TOWEL freakouts while running 9.5 mph intervals.

2. The new Sole treadmill has speakers. So cool. I just plugged the iphone in and sung along, out loud, during my run. Alice didn't seem to mind. Can't do that at the gym or risk looking like an even bigger weirdo.

3. Speaking of Alice, this is the best part of the new treadmill. She can just sit in her favorite aquarium chair, watch the bubbles and be watched by her mommy. No gym germs (I sound a bit germ crazy in this post...am really not, but seem to trend that way during the cold months with an infant. :), she cries --I can soothe her, she loses her paci, I can put it back in. I love that. Makes the run much more enjoyable that I am not worrying about her at the gym kids klub.

4. No waiting for a free treadmill! Enough said.

Dropped E off at school this morning, came home, fed Alice, knocked out my new favorite interval workout on my new treadmill (2mile WU - 2x2min/3min/4min @ 8.5-9.0). Got about 5.75 miles in all in the comfort of my own home. Love it.

Now just gotta reacquaint myself with my alarm clock and knock some of these run out before the little ones are up.

Thanks again, Mike!

Pieces of Alice

"Pold Frickely"

That is Ella gibberish for being cold. She does it as she shivers. Wraps her arms around herself and yells "POLD FRICKELY".

No idea where this came from...but it cracks us up every time.

It is a pold frickely night out tonight, for sure.

Good sleeping weather.

Heading up now and hoping for a good long stretch of sleep out of Alice. She usually makes her moaning, groaning, er, er, er, I am getting hungry, mommy sounds around 2:30ish or 3am.

Had a nice longish run today in the neighborhood. About 50 minutes of hills. Felt really good...best post partum run yet. FINALLY feel a semblance of fitness returning. Although, not sure I am up for the planned/hoped for ATL half on Thanksgiving. Haven't had (or I guess made) the time for the long runs of 9-11 miles that I need to make that race not really, really painful. I am sure I could tough it out, but I think I'd much rather do a 5k that day and be home early and not trashed.

I have yet to figure out a set routine for getting daily workouts in. Our newly installed (as of today) treadmill should make that easier. Biking and running IN THE HOUSE leaves no excuse....just gotta find a way (and desire) to get my butt back in the pool.

Storing nuts for winter, Alice?

Running to the pile o'leaves

A happy, 3 year old blur.

We laughed.

We (well, really, just me) cried.

We went pee pee on the potty! (11 times today)

OMG. This is a HUGE day for Ella. She (finally, finally, finally) decided to try going on the potty. At almost 3 and a half, so she's decidedly behind the curve for this.

And I am so stinking happy she's doing it now.

We've tried everything. Potties that sing when you go, Elmo potties, Princess potties, pull ups, underpants, special Dora underpants, underpants under the diaper, m&m bribes, the promise of a bike, "Potty Power" DVD, multiple potty training books, telling her she was "too little" to go (reverse psychology), telling her we ran out of diapers, going with her friends into the potty, honestly, everything...

I actually had talked to her teachers at school last Monday to see if they had any advice.
They said just ignore it.
It will come.
Some kids are closer to 4 when they decide to go.
It is something you can't (as much as you want to) make them do.
A control thing.
(They really helped. I was at the end of my rope, feeling like a failure and was really at a loss for what to try.)

I wasn't ready to just give up completely. I had read online an idea that I was willing to give a go. A last ditch effort, so to speak.

So I bought a bunch of really cool toys, toys I know she'd like (moon sand, wall-e toy, care bear dvd, a bead game.) Put them in a basket in the bathroom and told her she could look at them, but couldn't play with them until she went on the potty.

She ignored them for a day or so.
We went away for the weekend.
But, this morning, I don't know why or what happened to click in her head. She told me she had to go pee pee. I said, "remember you have all those cool toys in there that you can have if you go on the potty."

"Okay, I go pee pee on the potty, Mommy"

Just like that. So easy. No crying. No screaming. No fuss. No way this is my kid. :)

11 times later. She's in love. Potty love. I can't keep her off the thing. I am so proud of my big girl.

Her hard earned toy...

ATL bound

Heading home. The Gaffney,SC peach butt is a landmark you don't want
to miss.

10 Years...

I am in Winston-Salem, NC as I type this. My 10 year Homecoming is this weekend. Wake Forest University. Go Deacs!

"Why are you blogging at 11:34pm while at Homecoming, you nerd? " you ask.

Good question.

Last night was ladies night out. Tonight? Guys are painting the town red, er, black and old gold, I mean.

Homecoming etiquette from years past (shots, dancing, shenanigans, and general craziness) definitely changes when you add the little ones into the mix. Who wants to be hungover at 7 am Sunday morning when the loud, fuzzy haired three year old with the Deacon tattoo on her face demands a 'nana (banana) and some wemonade (lemonade). (Not that I really have a choice this year. While nursing, I am "one and done" on the drinking front anyway.)

Most of my old soccer teammates and their families are here. So much fun to see everyone...10 kids all told, ages 3.5 months to 3 years. Crazy.

Some pics from the weekend...

Twice as hard

My workouts are important to me. Very important. Maybe, too important?

Naw. That's just crazy talk. :)

With the (wonderful) addition of Alice, I am finding it harder and harder to find the time to workout.

I can't do it in the early AM (before Mike leaves for work) since Alice is kind of unpredictable when she feeds then. Running on empty, so to speak, is far preferable (and less painful) to um, full. I refuse to wake her at 5am so I can run. That would make me a full fledged jerk-mom.

I hate night workouts. Leaving something to the end of the day generally means it doesn't get done. Unless that something means watching "The Hills" or eating peanut butter and brown sugar (my grossest most favorite after dinner snack.)

Ella decided she hates the gym now. Alice is fine with it. She sleeps or chills. E? Fights me the whole time. She used to love it. Please, please let's get back there ASAP. Mommy needs her gym time.

Today? I biked on the trainer in the basement while Alice watched me from her bouncy chair and E enjoyed "quiet time" while watching Cinderella II (yes, there is a sequel - I thought Cinderella I pretty much covered it, but I guess I was wrong.)

What is working for working out is just getting in what I can get in when I can get it in.

I can't afford to be picky. I really don't love running hills with the double jogger, but I will. And do.

I just hope I can get enough long runs in to be ready for the Atlanta Half in a few short weeks....looking 50/50 now.

I am a Georgia voter.

See? I have the sticker to prove it.

The girls and I did our civic duty this morning. An hour total...not
bad at all.

Anxious to see what happens tonight!

Call off the dogs...

...the search is over.

Alice finally found her thumb! She's been working on getting it in
her mouth forever. Good work, little one.

Now let's talk about that really loud sucking noise now...

Halloween, Congrats and Good Luck

Lots to cover today.

Been so busy with Halloween....I've been way off my blogging habit this week. We co-hosted a Halloween party with our next door neighbors, The Roberts, that kept us pretty busy this week. Party was great. Ended up having about 50 people. Kids had a blast. Weather was great, nice and cool. All in all..a Halloween success. (I am choosing to ignore Ella's sugar induced hysteria/melt down at 9pm last night). I am ready for the fun to be done though.

Halloween '08 OUT.

Some party/trick or treating pics.

I had to promise a candy corn in exchange for this pose. The witch drives a tough bargain.


The witch likes to steal candy, too. Bad witch.


My sister and her nieces. "Aunt Med" to Ella. Meg to everyone else.


Our ragin' party in full swing.


Me and my dad, Frank(enstein).


The older girls were "petting" Alice, the kitty cat.


My mom, sister and me -- need all 3 of us to handle one crazy 3 year old trick or treating.


Mike and Ella.

Now on to congrats. Kindzia and Joe raced IM Florida today. Awesome day guys....hope you're both eating something way fattening and putting your feet up right about now. So impressed!

Last but not least -- good luck to Kevin, Mike's brother, who is racing the NYC Marathon tomorrow. He ran about a 3:15 last year....and he's sandbagging this year telling us not to expect a PR. That guy is TOUGH though....never know. Good luck, Kevin!