The "Official" 2007 season for me

I've taken a few wonderful days off from writing, or doing anything related to anything I would write about- namely, moving. Actually, we've had some great family hikes in the woods, marathon walks while shopping (I'm REALLY sick of shopping) and an absolutely wonderful holiday season. Between Christmas, my birthday yesterday, Superman's birthday next Tuesday (we celebrated party #1 while out-of-town relatives were in the area), we've had much opening of presents, eating of cake and general excitement. It's a lot for a three and a half and almost two year old. So tempers are running a little short around here, especially if you're under 4 feet tall, although mom and dad have been a little tired at times, too.

Anyway, the 2007 season. Here's the big excitement. I've got the GYGO make-up-your-own triathlon on January 1st and 2nd. I'm the swim leg of a sprint triathlon in June, probably going to be the swim leg of another sprint towards the end of July, although that one needs a run leg for our team. But it all leads up to approximately August 12, 2007. That's when our family will grow by one member because I'm pregnant. It's a little early to make it known to the world in general, but all appropriate relatives have already been told, since I went to the doctor on Tuesday for my first ultrasound and we saw one little jelly bean in there with a healthy little heartbeat. I'm right now 7 weeks and 5 days along. My first 2 pregnancies were so easy and uneventful I was very lucky. This little one has been considerably less easy on me as I've been dealing with (morning) all-day sickness for the past few weeks. Fortunately I've got a stomach like a steal trap so there hasn't been much physical sickness, just constant, never-ending, uncontrollable nausea. And the tiredness. Have you heard me mention before that sometimes I'm tired? I didn't even know what tired was. NOW, I'm tired. I could sleep at any given moment, unfortunately that opportunity has not presented itself. Overall, however, I'm still very lucky, things are going well and we're going to blessed with another (and final) family member.
Off to visit with friends, I'm so lucky that our company was closed this week so I've been home with the boys. Things will only get more exciting from here. It's not likely that I'll be back to write before New Year's so I wish everyone a happy New Years and a wonderful 2007.

Reset

After my post yesterday- and thanks for the reminder that it's just life- I was feeling awful sitting here at work. So, I left a little early and headed home. I got home about 2:30pm and the house was.....empty! Paul had taken the boys to the park to play with their new remote control trucks and so it was just me (and the dogs and cats). I quickly cemented my butt to the couch, well, actually my entire left side because I was laying down. Grabbed the nice fuzzy blanket off the back of the couch, the dogs hopped up to lay on me and I NAPPED! It was one of the nicest naps I think I have ever taken. It got rid of my headache, improved my other nagging blahs and was just generally wonderful. By the time they came home at 3pm I was back to normal and ready to play. That was the second time, since we moved into our house over 3 years ago that I have ever been in the house by myself. It's the longest, too. It was just so nice to have some time to sit in the house without all the hustle, bustle and noise of everyone there. Now, with my improved mood, it's time to set some overall goals for 2007. Not resolutions, because they never work, just general goals.
- I'm going to worry about only myself. As long as I know that I've got nothing to be ashamed of in my work ethic, I'm going to do my best to ignore those around me that don't have a similar approach to work. Life's just not fair but dwelling on it won't help anything.
- Practicing the "attitude of gratitude". I've tried this before and I just can't stick with it. When I start to get aggravated about something at work or home, I've got to try to think about the positives. My job can be interesting, it is working towards the good of people and it allows us the luxury of having a parent at home with our boys during these important early years. Also, my husband does an excellent job at home and he's a great father. Sometimes I just get too wrapped in small details, and in feeling sorry for myself, to remember that. I'm so incredibly lucky.
- Without being selfish I do have to make myself a priority. Before I get so aggravated about things that I carry around a big angry pit in my stomach for days, I'm going to stop and figure out what I need. Getting to the gym and staying in shape are #1 priority personally. I'm going to try to eat better, take good care of myself and allow myself some time for me even if it does mean asking for some help. By leaving the house for an hour, I'm not putting other things ahead of the kids, I'm balancing my life and I've been mostly out of balance since becoming a mom.

I think those are the 3 biggies. Other than that we'll just take things as they come. A whole 10 days off to be at home is going to just be heaven! I can usually keep up on reading while at home, but I might not do much posting. So, Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays) and a Happy New Year to all. The year 2006 had a lot of excitement, 2007 promises to be even better.

Rant to no one that will read it

I try not to talk about work too much here, because if ever someone at work found my blog it could be a major CLM (or Career Limiting Move). Mostly because I wouldn't have much good to say. Here's my end-of-the-year blowout of things that have built up over the year and need to be said, but actually uttering them to another person, especially my boss or a similar person in power above me- which is practically everyone, would be another CLM.
- Being here for 3 hours does not constitute a full day of work.
- If you're that sick, stay home, typhoid Mary. If however, you're not that sick, get your lazy butt into work like the rest of us.
- If you are that sick, but you've chosen to come in anyway, don't pretend you've got laryngitis for 4 days so we all feel sorry for you. We don't. And now we'll be annoyed if we catch your crud.
- E-mails sent out to large groups of people are often sent because they will affect said large group. The fact that no one alerted you specifically to the e-mail does not mean that the rules don't apply to you and it also doesn't mean that there's a conspiracy to keep you from vital information. It means that you should pay more attention before you delete e-mails.
- Yes, I leave at 3pm. No, I'm not leaving early. I wonder what you were doing at 4:50am when my car pulled into the parking garage. Sleeping? Yeah, leave me alone, I've done my time.
- I'm so glad I spent all the time preparing a presentation and then proofing a publication- on very little notice, so I could get NO credit for either of those efforts.

I feel better getting that off my chest. There's more, I know, but I am at work so I'll stop. Overall, though, I've got a decent job that affords us to have Paul be a stay-at-home dad with the boys. There are days that I resent that but most days I'm happy for it because I know it's the best place they could be. With the only person I'd like to have them with, other than me. If I ever do win the lottery, though, I don't even think I'll empty my desk. I'd just grab Frank, my fish, and hit the door. Think I'll get back to cleaning my desk.

Friends

I received this in an e-mail and while I absolutely abhor forwarded e-mails generally, the sentiment is nice and I thought I'd share:

This should probably be taped to your bathroom mirror where one could read it every day. You may not realize it, but it's 100% true.
1. There are at least two people in this world that you would die for.
2. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.
3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.
4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don't like you.
5. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.
6. You mean the world to someone.
7. You are special and unique.
8. Someone that you don't even know exists loves you.
9. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.
10. When you think the world has turned its back on you take another look.
11. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.
And always remember....when life hands you Lemons, grab some Tequila and Salt and call me over!
Good friends are like stars........ You don't always see them, But you know they are always there.

Okay, I'm not actually a fan of tequila and we might not personally be friends, but maybe pass this along to those who mean a lot to you. The grammar's also poor, but that's not the point.

A second mortgage in the future

To stay in the same vein as last night's post, here's more information about my children's eating habits. This afternoon at 3pm the boys shared 3 apples worth of slices. Then at 5pm dinner came along and here's what they ate. Each one had an individual package of Annie's Organic Macaroni and Cheese, about 1/3 of a can of corn, a large portion of instant mashed potatoes (they're obviously carb loading for something- oh yeah, the life of a pre-schooler) and a leg off of their gingerbread men. Superman then polished off a large serving of applesauce. He finished and asked for a yogurt, but we decided to cut off the eating for the night. He didn't protest enough to show that he really needed that yogurt. One evening last week they each had 1 apple, 1 pear and THREE blueberry waffles followed by yogurt. I can't really complain about the things they request for food, their favorites are fruit, yogurt and cheese- but sometimes the quantities just amaze me. I wonder how we'll ever feed 2 teenage boys and any possible future children as well. Maybe that will be the answer to my own diet- there just won't be enough food to feed all of us, so I might lose some weight. They're probably just in concurrent growth spurts, there are plenty of days that dinner consists of picking at approximately 6 bites of food before leaving the table. They probably regulate their intake better than most adults as this age- when they're not hungry, they don't eat. No issues about it.

It's starting to turn a little colder, guess it had to happen in December since it is the northeast. We've had so many recent days of temps in the 50s we were getting pretty spoiled. Highs for the rest of the week will be in the 30s and 40s. At least my exercise has already moved indoors, the outdoor air at those temperatures feels like it instantly freezes my lungs. The only real trouble I've had with my asthma over the past few years has been out in the cold. Not sure about tomorrow morning's workout, I think I'll go for the treadmill hill workout. If I give it a good hour or so that will be a decent effort. Work starts to clear out tomorrow, by Friday afternoon I should be just about the only person there, okay not really since there are a few thousand of us at work. But the coworkers in my immediate are will all be gone, nice and quiet.

The most disgusting dunk

When I was in grad school, my roommate and I used to work towards the "perfect bite". On those days when we were particularly overwhelmed by school stuff, we'd hit the cupboards and look for the ingredients to a cure for life- the perfect bite. It generally came down to: a pretzel with peanut butter, chocolate and some caramel would make it better, if available. (Sound familiar to those that have tried a Take 5?) Anyway, tonight I think that Superman, while wearing his Superman costume at the dinner table, perfected the most disgusting dunk/bite ever. He had a blueberry waffle with some pineapple- okay, that's fine, but here comes what he dunked it in- hold your stomachs- tomato soup with cheese! Yuck. He eventually decided that he'd like to just have some tomato soup and then switch to the blueberry waffle for dessert, which was fine. But for those few messy dunked bites I really had to not watch him because I wanted to gag if I thought too hard about that combination.

Kickboxing class this morning was great, except that the heating/cooling system in the aerobics room at the gym is broken so it's constantly pouring heat into the room. I generally work up enough of a sweat during kickboxing anyway, so I didn't really need the added help of the heating system blowing on my spot. Being the week before Christmas, attendance at the gym, and work in general, was lower so I probably could have moved to another spot in class that wasn't so close to the heating vent. But we're such creatures of habit that I have to be in that spot for class otherwise, I don't know, I'll try a kick and knock myself on my butt. Not that I haven't almost done that while in my regular spot, but it's my comfort zone.

The last week at work before Christmas break is always a quiet one. Sounds like I'll be the only one of 11 of us still at work for Thursday and Friday. I've got a couple experiments, a paper to proof and some notebook documentation to do, other than that I should have some time to catch up on some blogs. I'm also going to get ready for the GYGO New Years Day triathlon. Mine will actually be completed on January 2nd, since that's when the pool opens again. I'm going longer on the swim, shorter on the bike and the shortest on the run- since that's my idea of a good triathlon. I think I'll go with about 1200 yards swimming, 10 miles biking and 2 miles running. At some point I'll post a season and goals for 2007, I'm working on some stuff.

Burb 'em like Tupperware

Ever get in the pool, put your goggles on, start swimming and then feel the slow dripping of a leaky goggle as the water ever so slowly builds up and sloshes around in your eye? I hate that feeling. Especially when I've said "okay, let's time this 200 yards", so I won't even let myself stop and fix it at once. I have to try to put a hand up in the middle of the flip turn to burp the goggle and seal it again. But the water that's already in there still sloshes around. Until I get to the end of the 200 and realize that I don't have my contacts in so I can't read the clock again to see the time. Idiot. It was just one of those mornings. When the alarm went off I should have rolled over and gone back to sleep. I'm still battling this lingering cold and so breathing at the pool had a new level of complication to it. Sometimes the 3-stroke bilateral just didn't get enough air in make it all 3 subsequent strokes. And before just about every flip turn I poked my head up to breathe so I could make it through the flip turn before poking my head up to breathe again. Should have just stuck with open turns but that's my own little bit of stubbornness.

Yesterday began the craziness that is the kids' Christmas gifts inundation. The first box came in the mail and then Uncle George came over for dinner with gift cards. The boys know credit cards (how sad is that considering they're 3 1/2 and not even 2), so they're happy they get to go to Target to spend their own credit cards. The first present had books, music and a puzzle. All big hits at our house. Every year I think we should cut back on what we buy or what they get. Every year they get too much. I know my parents said the same thing and I think I grew up with an appropriate appreciation for what I have, but you never know. We're so lucky to have our family, our friends and our health- everything else is just icing on the cake.

I worked hard for that lunch

We had a holiday fun run/walk today at work, sponsored by the fitness center. A friend and I decided we'd opt for the 2 mile walk since we had stuff to do after lunch and the site of me after a 3-mile run is not something anyone should have to see. Also, there are so many people that run that the line for the showers is ridiculously long and then there's no way I can get it all done in my hour for lunch. I didn't even change out of my jeans, shirt and sweater because I figured a leisurely 2 mile walk wouldn't be enough to get sweaty. I did put on my good sneakers, though, just because that's what they're for. Well, we started out and then decided that we'd do the 3 miles after all, so we had to push the pace a bit. We finished in under 45 minutes, a total of 3.2 miles. We were cruising pretty good for walking and I was SWEATING. Not just a little damp, no, I had sweat dripping off the back of my hair down my neck and the front of my shirt was pretty wet. Thankfully, they handed out t-shirts at the end of the walk and I always have a spare (clean) sports bra in my gym bag so when I got back to the office I changed into the Fun Run/Walk t-shirt and now I don't stink. Turned out to be a better workout than I had anticipated which is good because I missed this morning so now I don't have guilt for the day.

The boys and I are off to have a quick visit with grandma and grandpa after work this afternoon since he came home from the hospital yesterday. It was quite a shock seeing him there, after all, my dad's not a sick old person, right? I hope he takes good care of his health from now on, if not for me, I want him at my boys' graduations, weddings and everything else in between. I have to remember when I get older to take good care of myself because it causes children stress when parents won't do what they're supposed to in order to stay healthy.

The slothful weekend

This weekend I had a cold, the kids must have been sick because they napped both days and we didn't really do much of anything productive. But it was what needed to be done, I think.

My Dad's still in the hospital, he was hoping to come home today but the bloodwork wasn't what the doctors had hoped for. I went down to visit this afternoon and we sat around and talked and then played some board games. It was something we never would have done otherwise, so I guess there was a bright side to his hospitalization. Beside the obvious benefit of insuring his health as much as we can. Thanks to everyone that said a prayer for us.

I did get back to the workouts this morning, though, and it felt good. I hit the treadmill for 1.5 miles and 10:00 pace. I've decided I'm going to stick with that pace for a while and try to increase my distance so it becomes more comfortable. I'd be happy with that pace when I'm able to take on a 5- or someday, 10k. After the treadmill we had a circuit class. That one's always pretty high intensity. One minute at each of the stations, stuff like jumping jacks, rowing machine, pushups, planks, balance reaches, stationary cycle, abs, etc. It's a full 40 minute class and always a great workout. Felt good to get back on track. Tomorrow, back on the treadmill and then to Butts & Guts!

I had the curious experience today of my first anonymous comment that seemed like it was an insult. From a post back in September, where I mentioned losing some of Superman's cloth diapers. If anonymous is reading- I lost them because they were packed away in a bin or bag with other clothes and I can't remember which of the 17 bins/bags of toddler clothes in the attic it is. I'm happy that you never lost a diaper, rubber pant or diaper pin, apparently you're a better parent than I. Thanks for sharing.

And then, another day off

I planned to get up and swim yesterday but I woke up with a nasty cold- I think it's the post-flight home cold that I almost always get after traveling. Then Superman was up over night so I just slept in a little before going to work.

This week seemed to last forever at work. I only got in 3 good workout days which was a little disappointing but I am just exhausted. Having 2 colds within a week and a half has taken a lot out of me so I'm not going to let myself feel too guilty.

My dad was admitted to the hospital last night for abnormal heart function. The top of the heart isn't beating in sync with the bottom half. So he'll be in the hospital until they're relatively sure that he hasn't developed a blood clot- something that seems to run in his family. It's a sobering thing, to be faced with the reality that my parents are getting older and I can't just take for granted that they'll be here for the kids' high school graduations, college graduations, wedding days, etc. But I'm sure hoping that they will be. Keep your fingers crossed for my dad, or say a little prayer if you could. Thanks.

I need swim gear help!

I'm trying to decide what my Christmas and birthday presents will be. Since I'm declaring 2007 the year of the swim, I'm focusing on swim gear.

Do I want the plastic paddles or the neoprene gloves? Which type of plastic paddle if that's the way to go? (I've read the descriptions at tyr.com but I'm not sure what will help me the most)
Do I want short fins or long ones?
What else if out there that I might want?

The only thing I don't need is the SwimP3. While I get bored half to death with running, I could swim all day- no problem, ever.

If you have any of this cool swim gear, or if it's on your wish list, please let me know what you think.

Feels good to get back to it

Yesterday I did get up for Gutts & Butts class, after missing class last week for travel, those squats were killer!! I got in some time on the elliptical trainer before class as well. This morning was kick-my-ass boot camp, which, as usual, kicked my ass. I'm just feeling a little run down lately so I hung out on the recumbent cycle after bootcamp instead of the walking hill workout I'd done the last couple times.

I think I'm going to stick with my current schedule until the new year, then I'm going to work on some more swimming. I think that 2007 will be the year of the swim. I'm planning to buy myself some paddles and maybe fins for Christmas, and I know my mom's planning to get me the grab bag Speedo- so it's likely to be quite a pattern! But any suit will work fine for me.

Yesterday morning was the first snow around here. It didn't accumulate, but the kids were so excited to see the snow fall. When I called home around 8am, Paul was already bundling them up to go outside and play. They both had their strollers outside and they were "catching" the snowflakes. It's going to be so much fun playing out in the snow this winter. When I got home from work tonight we went out to play. The boys bundled up in winter coats and hats and we played in the yard until after dark. We had the flashlights out and we spent a good 45 minutes racing around the house with the dogs. Always good to get out some of that "boy energy" that gets pent up all day. I always have a good time when we all play outside, even when it's cold or raining (as long as it's a warm rainy day). I'm hoping for a repeat of last night because it was actually a good sleeping night. Superman made it through the night and Hot Wheels only got up once, quickly going back to sleep about 3am. I'm still on catch-up, though, so I could definitely use a few more nights like that to feel rested again.


Spin class tomorrow morning with yoga stretch after. That always feels good.

Nothing to report

My weekend off turned into a Monday morning off from the gym as well after last night's adventures with Hot Wheels. I'm wondering whether he was afraid that when I said I had to go to work today that I would be gone for a few days again, despite my reassurance that I would be back for dinner. Just before bedtime last night he became very upset and started crying for seemingly no reason. I was finally able to calm him down and get him to sleep, although when I checked on him half an hour later he was still doing the hitched breathing that remains long after the crying has subsided. About an hour after I checked on him he started sobbing again and wanted me to "have a sleepover" so I laid in his bed thinking I could still get back to my bed before 11pm. Not so much. He was inconsolable for hours, and I even gave him some Motrin and some Mylicon to try to alleviate the aches he claimed. I wouldn't have given him the Motrin except that it was soon after I came in and he said his head hurt, so I thought it would head off a fever if it was coming. The Mylicon is pretty inocuous- any parent of an infant loves the gas-relieving Mylicon drops. He had some gas and that was my second guess. He finally fell into fitful sleep some time after 1am but he was up again about 3:30am. When my watch alarm went off at 4:30am, I tried to get out of the bed, but he awoke again and started sobbing, so I shut off the alarm and went back to my cramped position that resembled something similar to a person sleeping, but not quite. I decided that the gym could wait one more day. When he woke up a little before 7am he was still very upset. We checked his temp and it was 99.9 F, unusual for him to be running any fever and he tends to run low, like me, with a norm in the low 97's, so that might have contributed to his discomfort. About 15 minutes after another dose on Motrin he seemed fine. I headed off to work, a bit late, but I got there. Not that it was great to be back- even with the pain of traveling, I did enjoy the time away. I was told there might be another training class opportunity in either February or April- one within driving distance and the other just a short flight, so that would be do-able. I'm always excited after coming back from a training or a meeting where I've got a renewed sense of purpose for my job. Funny how it barely takes until lunch time for that enthusiasm to be beaten out of me once again.

There's nothing quite like coming home at the end of a day, though. I was a little late- since I went in late, so it was almost dark when I got home. We'll probably throw on a movie in a few minutes and hang out in the family room for a while. That's always fun. If it's nice tomorrow we'll get out for a walk when I get home, but it's dark a little after 4:30pm, so it's not as much fun until spring. But Hot Wheels and Superman have way-y-y-y-y too much energy for staying indoors all day, as they should being preschool boys. So, tomorrow's it's back to the gym and back to after-work walks. Good for everyone.

p.s. Aren't they so handsome?

Home, sweet home

Last night, after being awake for over 30 hours (the second 24 hour+ stint without sleep in less than a week) I hit the sheets in my own bed for the first time since Monday morning. The week has its good and bad points. The training, which is the reason I traveled out to lovely Fullerton, CA- was very well done so the overall trip was a huge success. Well, I guess the true success will be measured on Monday when I see whether I have retained any of the information in the 3-day info dump, I mean class. I also had a great dinner on Monday night with some friends. That's the end of highlights, the rest was sort of crappy. I was up over 24 hours to start the trip- then Monday night I ate something that didn't agree with my stomach so I slept on the bathroom floor and intermittently napped over night. The weather there was actually colder than here in CT, so no outdoor pool. The fitness center's indoor pool was about 20 feet long, so I didn't get any swim workouts in. I got 3 workouts in, despite an awful cold that hit Tuesday morning. I took a spin class that may have been the most difficult one that I have ever taken. The instructor was great- right up until the point when she picked a drill that required that we point our toes down- something never done in real life. It triggered an awful charlie horse in my calf muscle. Then coming home I was hoping to get out on an earlier flight, but there were no options before the 11pm red eye, so I sat in the airport for 5 hours waiting to leave. Then I couldn't sleep on the plane, so that was why I ended up with the second 24 hour+ no-sleep period. It was also probably the worst nutritional week of my entire life. I was a little emotional about being away from the kids for 5 days (although they were fine with it), it wasn't nice weather to be outside, any all my meals were on the company card. So, if I wanted some dessert I figured I'd treat myself- three dinners in a row. I had planned to eat in a nice Italian restaurant in the hotel, but it was closed. So I ate all my meals from the hotel cafe, which was just alright. Breakfast was good, though, I ordered in my room Wed and Thurs morning. A yummy vegetable omelet with spinach, mushroom and cheese.

Here I sit now, still pretty exhausted after getting some sleep last night, but not enough to make up for the past week. I'm hoping to nap this afternoon when I put Superman down to rest. I've still got this head cold so I'm taking the weekend off from workouts, I'll get back to it on Monday morning. Bright and early.

The best part of the week, though, was coming home. As soon as I opened the door and came in the house I got a chorus of "Mommy's home!" and I was tackled with giant hugs. It's great to be home.