Rare

I am home. Alone. On a Saturday night.

Well, not really alone alone. But, both girls are asleep at 7:41 pm. And Mike is at the hockey game. Until 12.

What to do? What to do?

The house to myself for a few hours is so rare I can't remember the last time it happened.

I know a little internet shopping (hello athleta sales items.), a little chocolate chip cookie eating and a little facebook perusing is going to go on...other than that? I am open. Which is SO rare. Love it.

Most likely I am going to fall asleep in the couch by 9. Life in the fast lane. Watch out people, I am on fire.

A 1 am and 6am wakeup call from Ms. Alice along with 9 miles make for a (lame) early night for me. (No, she is not yet sleeping through the night. Bang. Bang. Bang. Yes, that is the sound of Mike and I banging our heads against the wall.)

Alice and my dad today. Alice is scared of the glasses and beard. Cries every time he comes near. Poor Pop pop. This shot is the only one we got without tears.

A (rare) on camera smile from E.

1st ice cream of the year.

It went so fast.

Checking the date this morning, I realized that my baby, my infant, my teeny-tiny (heh) Alice is 7 months old.

Wow.

Feels like...we went into the hospital the other night. And zoom. Here we are today.

So what is Alice up to at 7 months old?

Well, right now, she's napping in her swing in the playroom. Ella is watching "Dora" and mommy is procrastinating making dinner by blogging.

Alice is sitting up pretty well on her own now. I think all of her sicknesses have physically delayed her a bit, but no worries, I am sure she'll catch up. (She has another double ear infection and strep -- all of which we learned on Friday -- my poor kid.)

Alice loves her exersaucer, sitting at the dinner table like a big kid, loves eating "real" food, but definitely prefers what mommy has to offer instead, her "house" as we call it (an infant playgym) --she can lie in there for an hour and check things out, hitting the toys that hang from the "roof. She has recently started "kissing", which just about breaks my heart. It really is just face sucking, but so freaking adorable.

But mostly, Alice loves her sister, her constant entertainer. Ella's sole purpose around Alice is to make her belly laugh. I am forever telling Ella "not so close", "not so hard!", "give her some space!". E loves her sister equally but sometimes a bit too hard.

We are still not getting a full night's sleep, but think we are improving on that front as Alice gets healthier and healthier. Last night was the best in a while with just one wake up at 2:15am (with a feeding). Both girls are going down for the night pretty easily at 7:30 --- which is AWESOME. It is nice to have a few hours kid free at night with Mike.

Some shots of the big baby at 7 months.





After a long, tough, booger, fever and cough-filled week, we are all feeling the effects of our respective antibiotics. Everyone is FINALLY getting better. Back to normal! Michelle and I even met up this AM to swim. I was definitely feeling my week off and some lost fitness, but so happy she was there or I would most like (a) have not even gone or (b) gone. felt like crap. and quit.

A mulligan.

As, in I am "taking one" this week for my workouts.

I rode the trainer today. My first workout since last Saturday. Yes, LAST Saturday.

See? I need a mulligan for the week.

Better yet? Can we take one for the entire winter, please?

We all have been way, way too sick this winter. So, I will take one redo please.

Strep kicked our asses this week. Despite an entire basket full of medicine to make us better....we're still not.

We're better than we were, but still not yet "good".

Pizza is coming right now though. Should help. A little.

Silver Linings

We have been STRUGGLING the past few days.

I have strep throat.
Mike has it.
Alice has another virus.
Ella still has her cold, but ALL of her energy. (hard to handle when you're a sick mommy)

There are a few silver linings in the dark cloud of 3 sets of pajamas needed at night due to chills and sweats, the whole feeling like there are knives stabbing me in the throat thing, 103 degree fevers from me and Alice, 3 hours of inconsolable crying from my poor 6 month old at 8pm, 11pm and 2am last night, and 3 nights of little to no sleep that has hung over the Parker house like a wet blanket full of germs.

Silver linings are....

Strep is treatable! Antibiotics are awesome. We should start to feel like human beings in 24-48 hours.

Alice is not wheezing, like she was after her last virus. Since we had continued her on her nebulizer treatments from her last bout, she seems less affected (breathing wise) by this new one. Nice!

Weight loss...a small, petty silver lining, but one, nonetheless. (Me, not Alice. She was 18 lbs. 8 oz. on Sunday...whoa!) 3 lbs. since Saturday despite my dinner of 5 Oreos last night. (Nothing else sounded palatable.) Guess that having no appetite thing really works wonders. Take that Weight Watchers.

Mike is contagious. So, he's home from work tomorrow. Nice to have some company when you feel like crapola.

Mimi's house! E is at my mom's house today, leaving Mike, Alice and I to wallow in our sickness. And have a well person to handle the 3 year old whirling dervish is nothing short of life saving. Thanks, Mom.

Alice and I at the doc today. She really liked that baby in the mirror. Kept trying to grab her.

103/100.2/100.3

Like those numbers?

I don't.

They are respectively Alice's, Ella's and my temperatures today...according the the purple Elmo thermometer, and Alice's butt. :)

We've all got fevers. Ugh.

And runny noses, and body aches, and the start of an ear infection (Alice) and a cough that makes your chest ache (Mike).

We just can't seem to catch a break this winter.

I was just trying to convince Mike to take a vacation in Florida. (It didn't work.)

Glad we both got our long runs in under the wire yesterday before the bubonic plague infested our house. 9 (8:03 pace -- I am trying to slow it down a bit!) miles each, that actually felt pretty good, considering I was the host for all these stinking germs.

Dinner time

11 hours

The longest night of sleep I have gotten in as long as I can remember. 11 sweet, sweet hours.

Not terribly hard to log that many hours in bed when you're asleep by 9:15. Not just in bed....asleep.

Yes, Mike and I were OUT before prime time TV was over. (We're crazy nuts, people. Watch out!)

Not to fool you though....Alice is certainly not sleeping that long.

We got to say our hellos at 1:30 and then again at 5.

The reasons behind our winter hibernation?

For me it was the first day of hard two a days, coupled with a 5am wake up call. (Michelle and I did an AM swim and PM mile repeats at the track during a tornado watch --we're so hardcore...or dumb:)

Mike's always in a for an early bedtime. Especially last night since he took the early shift this morning and ran before work. (He's in training for the ING Half Marathon in March, as well.)

It feels strange to be this well rested.
Strangely Awesome.

Some shots of the girls (and my mom and sister) on a walk at Mimi's house on Tuesday. My mom's house is one of E's favorite places to visit. Her dirt road has a ton of horses to see, a creek to throw rocks, and a grandma to spoil her. What else could a 3 year old ask for?

I can't braid my hair.

Well, I can, but it hurts.

The arms.

Sore. Very sore.

Why?

Swimming.

Apparently if you work your muscles hard. They get sore.

And your hairstyle suffers.

Someone get me Ken Paves number, please. Jess can spare him on my hard swim days.

On second thought, poor girl needs her friends around her now. E's gotta learn sometime, right?

Michelle and I met again (yay, us) for our very own Master's session (or so we pretended) at 5:15 at LA Fitness again. My longest (and hardest) post Alice swim yet.

Some shots of our weekend below. The warm weather was awesome and we picnic-ed and park-ed it yesterday with the family.

Chattahoochee Challenge 10K

Ran the Chattahoochee Challenge 10K this morning.

The good news?
I PR'd (not terribly hard seeing as this is my second ever stand alone 10K). I try to avoid this distance and stick with 5k's. They hurt just as much, just for not as long.

And for the first time in a while, I did not actually throw up while racing. Just dry heaved. A lot. (Can ANYONE tell me why this happens and what I can do to stop it?) But, big bonus for not leaving the race with a shirt full of puke.

The bad?
I lost.
To Kindzia. (His race report is here.)
My road racing nemesis.
He out kicked me...those damn dry heaves and a strong finish don't seem to go hand in hand.

If only the race was 5 miles long, I would have totally kicked his a$$. See above.

We ran together the whole time and he kept me in check with his fancy-schmancy Garmin. It was nice not to throw down a 6:15 adrenaline fueled first mile and actually run fairly even splits. He counted the ladies ahead of me...told me where I was overall. (I think I might have been top 10, but results aren't posted yet.) His nice wife took our pictures. (Thanks, Angela!) He kept my stuff in his warm car (I parked a mile away.). Let me sweat all over his phone when mine died. Wow...I sound like such a mooch, huh?

44:14. Very happy with that. I felt strong and comfortable until the last 1.2 and that was a struggle, but it is supposed to be, right?

Kindzia dropped a 44:04.

I smell a rematch.

Official results are online now. They're calling my 44:14 a 44:18. I beg to differ, Mr. Chattahoochee Challenge Race Official. :)

3rd in my age group and 11th overall. Very happy but much room for improvement!

Best part? A sweet brunch at Michelle and Eddie's post race. Thanks, guys...that was awesome.

Race shirt is totally acceptable race day attire. That and a big one socked baby on your hip.

Brrr.

I've tried every alternative, any way to avoid it, but, it seems, that there is just no getting around me getting up at the ungodly hour of 5 am to get my workouts in.

I really don't mind this once I am in the routine of it.

It is actually kind of nice to knock them out so early....kind of like they never happened.

It is the getting into the routine of it that is the hard part. Especially now since Alice still likes to party (aka eat, yell, be pacified) with mom and dad a few times a night. And Ella likes to join in from time to time (like last night when she couldn't find her "favorite blankie" in her bed...that was in her bed at 3:30am).

Michelle (our favorite photographer/smartass Eddie's, wife, and Iron(wo)man herself), and I decided to meet for an early morning swim at LA Fitness since we both needed to meet someone there or there is no way in hell we'd either show up. Could we have picked a colder morning for swimming?

The 10 minutes it takes to drive to LA was not enough time to warm me up. Brrr.

Although this sight as soon as I was home definitely did the trick. A "brown hair" convention at the breakfast table.

About time.

It is about time for a few things for the Parker family this week.

When you're getting closer to 4 than 3 and your curls have yet to meet a pair of scissors AND you're starting to look more like this...


or this...


See?


The time has come for this.


The time has come for me this week, too.

Time to race.
I am excited and anxious to see how this goes. Doing my second ever (non-Olympic triathlon) 10k. Not a huge fan of this distance. You don't really go any slower than a 5K and it is twice as long. OW. Planning on racing the Chattahoochee Challenge 10K on Saturday. Did this same race in 2007 in 45:07 (I think) and am just hoping for better....we'll see...I've been doing a lot of speed work and interval stuff and hope it is paying off.

Time to get my lazy a$$ out of bed.
Time to reintroduce myself to the alarm clock. Here come the early AM workouts. Ugh. Ugh. and Ugh. At least I have a smiling Michelle to meet on Wednesday for a 5:45am swim. If I don't do this I am just not getting all my workouts in and the first thing to go? The swims. Of course.

Tick. Tock.