Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Pumpkin picking at publix

Apparently, this is not the right one for E.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Saturday, September 27, 2008

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y

NIGHT!

I am alone. At night. Something I am not fond of. Deep down, I am a scardey cat.

Meow.

Mike's at the UGA game. I am trying to entertain myself until he gets home....I can't sleep until that happens. Bear with me.

He left me with a nose biter. (So, I am not really alone..alone.)


Who doesn't even have the decency to even pretend to stay awake to keep me company.


Good weekend so far for us. I got in a 6 mile run today (longest post partum run so far! Woo hoo!) It felt great...the weather is so cool and I finally feel like I am getting fitter. FInally. Although that could be the cool weather trickery at work. Running in 75 degrees as opposed to 98 SHOULD feel easier. Duh.

E did not throw herself on the ground and cry at her first soccer game this afternoon. (Progress!) Although whenever the ball came near her she did appear to be in some sort of trance...or underwater. Very slow moving kid out there on the field. No where else. Just the soccer field.

As my Saturday night entertainment, I've been crafting. And am having an inordinately large amount of fun bedazzling pumpkins, pasting, and cutting. (We're co-hosting a neighborhood Halloween party with our next door neighbors and we got together today to work on the invitations). I can't believe how much fun I had doing this. Seriously, I need to get out more. :)

Ella has been obsessed with this orange glitter all week.



Tuesday, September 23, 2008

2 Months

Miss Alice is two months old today. Hard to believe she wasn't here before that. Honestly, it seems like she's always been with us, smiling her crooked, little smile, cooing, sleeping next to me in bed (once she wakes up for her 3am feeding, I just keep her next to me out of laziness -- don't want to get up for the next one at 6 or 7am).

She had her 2 month appointment this morning. The one I've been dreading since she was born. Why? She gets her first shots at 2 months.

Regardless of what science says, I am very nervous about vaccinations. I am not going to NOT vaccinate, but I cringe and wish I could know for sure that my child is going to fine and safe (and no one seems to be offering any guarantees). Alice seems fine tonight, but we both cried this morning getting those shots. I just hate to see her hurting. It kills me. The nurse must have thought I was nutso.

She's doing great...11lbs 12oz. Making a monster comeback from her low of 5 11 a week after birth. I am so proud of my growing babe. :)

As for how I feel 2 months post partum? Pretty damn good.

I am working out 5-6 days a week. (I just started seriously contemplating training for the Atlanta Thanksgiving Half Marathon--done it twice before but not expecting any PRs this time though) My fitness is (finally) coming back. The weight seems to be coming off at a safe clip -- still about 6 lbs. from my pre-baby weight. Shirts all fit fine now, but pants are touch and go. Some are good...some...not so much, unless I want to look like a tight-pant-hoochie-mama. (I don't.)

Alice at 2 months

Monday, September 22, 2008

I think...

...we made it out of this strep infested germ hole with no additional casualties.

Phew.

I am fine. Mike's rocking it at work today. Alice is chilling. And Ella is finally better (despite her aspirations to be a Christian Scientist every time we attempted to get her to take her amoxicillin. We eventually had to resort to threats of taking her to the doctor for a shot if she wouldn't take it and then just ended up holding her down and using an eye dropper. Ugh.)

Busy weekend here between waiting in gas lines (are we living in 1973?? wow.), visiting with Mike's sister and Nate, seeing my college roommate, Beth and her husband, Bill, and of course, washing my hands raw to avoid strep.





Beth and Bill

Friday, September 19, 2008

Strep Poker

The Parkers are playing....and we're losing.

E's supposed stomach bug turned out to be strep throat. Sweet....

Apparently, the negative test at the doc's can turn positive after 48 hours. Who knew?

Patient zero seems fine now...not sick at all. However, she's anxious to infect her Aunt Amy and Uncle Nate who are in town from Massachusetts.

"Welcome to Atlanta. Thanks for coming! Care for a fever, vomiting and sore throat? Come on in!"

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

How many times..

...can one poor, little girl get a stomach virus?

Yes, E is sick and throwing up...again.

I think this is, no exaggeration, the 4th or 5th one this year.

So, you can imagine you hear a lot of this at our house today.

NO!! DON'T TOUCH ALICE.

DON'T TOUCH HER PACI!

PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THE BABY!!!

Poor Ella. She must think she's a walking germ.

Um, that would be correct. Sorry, E.

My hands are raw. I have washed them a billion times today and so far Alice is not sick. Fingers crossed that things stay this way. 8 weeks old with a stomach virus would be scary.

"Cookies make me feel better, Mommy"

Oh, let's hope so. They're baking now, so I will let you know if my m&m cookies can cure a stomach virus. They're good...but I don't think they're THAT good.

Update -- Cookies do NOT cure a stomach virus. (Damn.) Ella is still feverish and sleeping her face off. The throwing up has tapered off thankfully (the Blockbuster parking lot and herself were apparently the only intended targets today.)

Monday, September 15, 2008

Yay! Yay! Yay!

A huge congratulations to my sister (above with Alice), Megan and her
husband, Jamie.

It looks like Alice and Ella are going to have a new cousin in the
spring! Yep, Meg's knocked up. :)

I am so happy for them. Being a mother is the most amazing,
exhausting, crazy thing I've ever experienced and I am so excited for
my sister (and Jamie) to fall in love with their little one.

Congrats, guys.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Seems like...

...we cram a lot in just 48 hours.

Saturdays and Sundays involve no rest of the weary in this house. And believe me...Mike and I are pretty weary.

No wonder I am sitting here on our comfy green couch barely keeping my eyes open.

A photo summary of our weekend.

Ella's soccer pictures/fall carnival at Newtown park.


We had to promise her that she could play all the games at the carnival in order to get her to sit for pictures with her team. (You can see from her expression that she's not having any of this.)

And these were just pictures....not a game. Ugh. I have a feeling that the actual playing of the soccer might not happen with E. First game is next week...

Ella and her fellow "Strikers"


Why is that curly haired girl on the right crying?


Much happier after the pictures are taken.


Making good on our promise.


Alice doesn't seem to mind the picture taking...or the 100% humidity (or Mom's sweat all over her.)


Sunday involved pony rides and birthday parties.


Phew.

Belated congrats to our friends, Amanda and Andrew Riepe, who just bought a house.

Where?

Horseshoe Bend--our neighborhood! Woo hoo. I went to college with both of these jokers (and lived with Amanda in college and after) and they just got transferred to ATL and now they're going to live in the sweetest neighborhood in all of the land (or at least east of 400 in Roswell, GA) :)

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Full on Ironman Training

That's what my lower half THINKS is going on. My legs and um, seat, must think that we are IM training again.

My legs are dead. Stairs are a challenge. They ache while I am sitting here blogging. No joke. (FYI -- I ran 48 minutes today. Not 3 hours.)

And my um, seat, has a little present for me. A saddlesore. Yes, you heard me right. (Rode 3x40 minutes this week.)

Legs this tired and saddlesores?

AWESOME.

After 9 plus months of none of that, I missed it.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Color War

A line has been drawn in the Parker household. Or more like a part.

On one side are the brown hairs...and the other side...the yellow hairs (as Ella calls it.)

The addition of Alice really clarified the differences.

Brown hairs?

They like to chill out. Sleep. Eat. Watch the Red Sox. Or the ceiling fan. They don't make a huge fuss about much. They're pretty low maintenance. Every house needs a brown hair...or two.



The Yellow Hairs? As cool as they are...they are a little more tightly wound...so to speak. More vocal about their likes and dislikes ("dats how I yike it" is one of the shorter yellow hair's favorite sayings -- usually in reference to someone telling her that her shoes are on the wrong feet.) Some might even call them stubborn. Or strong willed. Not me. I like to call them...ah..determined. Yes, that's more like it:) Yellow hairs like to jump off the couch. Speak jibberish. Throw fits. And maybe think they are "fighting crime" by waking up their (brown haired) husbands when they hear a noise downstairs at 3AM.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Alice smiles...

...well, almost. Too cute.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Vices

Addictions, vices, crutches....whatever you want to call them. I've got my share.

On a scale of say "one" to um, heroin....mine are pretty tame and for sure, dorky.

1. Diet Sunkist -- I am addicted. Working on scaling this back. I broke the addiction during pregnancy, but now that I am tired and no longer pregnant....I am so far off the wagon, I can't even see the wagon any more. The wagon is but a distant memory. See....


2. Gum -- I chew gum. A lot. A pack a day habit here. Trident usually. 3 pieces a pop. Love me some xylitol, apparently.


3. Facebook -- I am SO addicted to this one. My good friend (enabler) Amanda (who I am SO excited to say is moving here from Indy and by here, I mean our neighborhood....hopefully .2 miles away. We're so psyched to have the Riepes SO close.) stayed with us a few days last week and introduced me to this time sucking phenomena. I could spend days on there....literally days. Ugh. It just sucks me in. I love it.

I managed to tear myself away from Facebook today to get my longest post partum run in (4.2 miles -- 39 min.) and have Mike kick my a$$ all over Ella's playroom coaching me through some of his crazy crossfit moves (pushups/situps/squats/burpees x3).

That stuff is no joke. The 15 minutes of crossfit was harder than the run. And I wanted to vomit at the end of the run.

Dinner at Pure with the Hetheringtons...always fun to see those guys. And eat at Pure.

Go deacs!

Got our flag up...ready to cheer on wake today.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Getting schooled

First day of school today. Well, PRE school, but to E, it is all the same.

We were a little nervous. The crying fit at orientation did little to ease our minds.

BUT, today was awesome.

No tears and she loved it. The cupcakes and playground play seemed to help. :) They even told me she was a "sweet" girl when I picked her up. Awww....E, so proud of you!

Our little, no, BIG, girl on her way into school.


Alice and I spent some quality time while E was at school. Okay, maybe not. Maybe the trainer and I spent some QT while Alice slept on the floor.

My view from the trainer.


I managed to eke out a a 40 minute ride in while she lounged on the floor and I watched "Dan in Real Life" on OnDemand. Not too bad. I am so excited to have my workout done before 7:30pm. A rare feat post-Alice.

I am 6 weeks post partum today. 8 lbs from pre baby weight. Had my OB pp check up today and bailed on it. Hearing the words --- "Dr. Houston (my doc) is an hour behind on patients" while sitting in the waiting room elicited an almost Pavlovian response in me. My butt was out of there almost immediately. Who has time to sit there just to have them say "you're fine"?

Apparently, not me.