Happy Birthday kiddos!

Well, today was Jason and Lily's birthday and I won the lame mom of the year award. We didn't really do too much. We did go over to the coffee shop and have a Happy Bday cookie... and we took them out to dinner w/ mom and dad last night. It's not like they really get it at this point. We are having some friends over next Saturday to celebrate since Tom has to work this weekend.

Tom's back pain seems to be managed for now, but he still has a lot of stiffness and weakness. He made it through his meetings today, but spent some time laying down in between.

Daddy's home:


Cute kids like to have their pictures taken then look at them. Jason tries to run straight to the camera before I have a chance to shoot the photo then gets pissed when I won't show him b/c I'm still trying to get a picture.




First corn on the cob:



They ate it like old pros... though they did occasionally try to eat it w/ a fork.

Garage sale purchase. they were so pleased w/ themselves to have "Jason's own chair" and "Lily's own chair." When do they start speaking in the third person?


And after the nice sunny photos were taken... after a nice long run and a LONG (much needed nap - them not me... still waiting for my nap)... the rain returned and we found ourselves inside. The kids requested Shrek! So Shrek it was. I mean ... it can't be that bad to have them watch TV when it's the only time I can get them to cuddle w/ me for more than 10 seconds... that's quality Momma time!! And Momma loves to cuddle the babies! If it takes some Shrek... so be it. This time they watched most of it.


Ok... must go to bed. Tomorrow is the first race of the season.. I decided to just go do the race.. I had decided against it when Tom hurt his back, but he's working to morrow so I'm racing damn it! ha :) Okay... I'm thinking I might not "race" it... meaning I might leave the computer in the transition area and just go out there and have fun. We'll see if I can actually do that! :)

Coming home tomorrow (hopefully)

The hospital continues to be rather vague about things, but we think Tom will be coming home tomorrow.

He has a severely herniated disk and they have given him the option to either take oral meds and do PT, have steroid injections in his spine and do PT and then as a last resort (if the first two do not work) surgery AND more PT.

He's thinking he'll go w/ the oral meds and some PT (I'm hoping HOPING HOPING he will do some chiropractic work in conjunction w/ his PT) and see how that goes before having a needle inserted in his spine... I assure you this is no fun. I don't know if that is a one time deal and then see what happens or if it's a series of shots... ??? He's also experiencing some numbness in his foot now... doc says that may never go away. GREAT!

We are undecided about our trip out to Seattle.. which is supposed to take place in about three weeks. It will depend largely on how Tom is feeling and the PT schedule he is given. The Orthopedist apparently couldn't give him any information as to how long or how intense the PT would be. Considering that his herniation is pretty severe I would imagine that he's in for some pretty intense PT. I can't imagine traveling w/ two 25 lb kids and all the crap that goes along w/ that in his condition, but like I said we'll see.

Yesterday I was feeling pretty good, like this wasn't too hard to handle or anything. I was running back and forth between home, dental appts, the hospital and thankfully Mom was able to sit w/ the kids while I did this running around. Today... it hit.. hard. For some reason I started to feel overwhelmed and stressed over the whole thing. :( I didn't even make it over to the hospital to see Tom b/c when I was going to go a severe thunderstorm started and there were tornado warnings and Tom rathered I stay home than go out in that weather. :( I feel for Tom and the pain he's in, I'm stressed that the docs can't give us very much information (and certainly aren't doing it in a timely fashion!) and I just don't like having things in limbo. I want to know what we should expect from the next 6 months of PT. The doc couldn't have said, "Well, your herniation is pretty severe and in the past I've seen people do PT for X amount of months"? Like are we talking a month of INTENSE PT, 3 months? 6 months? A year? I mean come on! You got nothing to say to us about this! I'm sure he sees a lot of back injuries.

Anyway... after hitting the wall today the kids spent a fair amount of time first watching Shrek then The Incredibles. They probably only watched about 20 minutes total b/c they can't sit still to save their lives, but when I first turned it on it was like baby crack! I've never ever seen them this still before... for that long.


They chose to sit next to one another all by themselves.. this is not staged. How cute!

And here is Lily talking to Daddy on the phone. She insisted on holding the phone herself and even held it properly! (a first)

My beautiful little girl. Look at that sweet little mouth! Doesn't she look so peaceful talking to her daddy... she was not anywhere close to that peaceful when she was insisting on holding the phone herself!

Each day brings a new twist..

I was awoken by Tom's painful moaning. He was in such excruciating pain he could barely stand up. Off to the ER we went. After three hours in the ER, a CT Scan ruling out kidney problems and two injections of pain medications barely relieving pain we decided that Tom should be admitted. We were told in the ER that Tom most likely had a herniated disk and the PA said she felt a hernia, but the CT scan didn't show one... ??

It took 6 hours after being admitted to the hospital to see the doc come back from looking at the CT scan and stating the same thing - regarding the herniated disk - as the ER staff. The doc then said they are going to do an MRI.... that was about 5.5 hours ago now... and still no MRI.

Hopefully Tom will get out of there w/o needing surgery. We'll see. The pain was BAD... the only thing that allowed him even a bit of relief was MORPHINE>>> eek. He's on a high dose of Vicodin now... :(




On a lighter note... our dirt (I mean Jason's dirt) showed up today. A dump truck (the highlight of Jman's day) dropped it off in our front yard today and the kids were just chomping at the bit to get out there.... they saw Papa use a shovel in it and the immediately ran out and got their shovels so they could help. They did put a few shovelfuls in Papa's wheelbarrow and they did a surprisingly good job!



Jason letting me know that this dirt is HIS dirt: "Jason's dirt!"


Okay buddy... if you say so. It will take Papa a while to get this dirt moved to the side yard.... guess I'll have to help. ha :) Looks like that might be the extent of my work outs tomorrow. Didn't get to ride today... Mom got here at 3:30am and I thought she deserved a break tonight... and frankly, I'm EXHAUSTED! We'll see how this effects my "(wo)man up" philosophy!

(Wo)Man Up!!!

Okay... so I have sent out "oh shit I don't want to train and do this race" emails to both my 'training partners' Gena and Andy. Gena has been injured... well had injury after injury... and ridiculously busy w/ work and life, Andy has been injured and having a hard time getting the workouts in around work and family life. Gena's response to my 'I'm this { } close to bailing' email, was "I'll think about it and might agree with you". Andy's was "It's going to blow b/c my training hasn't been what I wanted to be, but I'M DOING THE RACE."

Most days I don't know who I am exactly... aside from "MMMMMOOOOMMMMMYYYY!!!!"... but I do know who I'm not. I'm NOT a quitter. I came this far. I can do this race. I won't be thinking of a time. I think I got too wrapped up in that and when I couldn't perform to the level I thought I should be able to I got frustrated. I worked myself so hard that I would be tired and cranky and irritable. So I would be away from the fam damily a lot and when I was around the family I would be WORKED over. So now I'm doing the work outs and planning on enjoying the race as much as I can.

What kind of example would I be setting for the TNT group I'm training w/ right now if I bailed on my long race? "If it gets hard just bail!" What kind of message is that? What of the fact that I included this race in my fundraising letter for TNT? What message would I send to my donors if I bailed? There have been a few people that have gone the extra mile in their donations and I need to honor that!

So I trudge on and get through and plan to do the race and enjoy it. I swam a 2300 today and didn't want to slit my wrists so that's a good sign. I also did a run this evening and didn't feel that it was too over the top. Only two more weeks of insane work out scheduling, one race, and then I taper, then I race, then I take some time off while we are visiting the fam in Seattle, then I train for a MUCH SHORTER race... which will be like maintanence/vacation! :)

Thanks for the pep talks from various persons telling me basically that I should "just do it" :) (WO)MAN UP!

Contributing to my thoughts of bailing were the torrential downpours we experienced here causing me to miss a 2 hour run b/c 1. it was raining bucketloads and 2. our basement flooded (frustration level rising... pocketbook draining to fix the problem).... We got the water out w/ minimal damage and are talking to our AWESOME contractor (that I've mentioned before), Scott, who I emailed late on Sunday and he was at our house mid afternoon on Monday to discuss what we needed to do. Scott, I know you don't read my blog, but THANK YOU for all you do!

The kids were dying to go outside after being indoors for a few days...


So we were going to take them on a 'puddle hunt' ... and made the mistake of taking them out the back way where THE BEST puddle resided... our neighbors back yard.


Flood what flood... this is AWESOME!


If you can believe it the photos above were taken on Sunday afternoon, Tom and I went out to dinner on Sunday night and when we came back the neighbors yard was flooded almost to the back of their house (twice as bad as it is in these photos), and had flooded over into our yard, oh, and our basement. AWESOME. Thanks neighbors!

Oh, and here is a cute photo of Lily absolutely loving her some salad... just baby greens please!

Recipe: Red Rosemary Soup

I got the following recipe from THIS newsletter and I can't believe it, but the kids asked for more and more and more of it...

Recipe: Red Rosemary Soup

This lovely soup is not only yummy, but the velvety red color and combined veggies and legumes make it satisfyingly hearty.

Add some whole grain sprouted bread and a salad for a complete summer (or anytime) meal.

Bon Appétit!


Ingredients

* 3 medium carrots
* 2 beets
* 2 Tablespoons vegetable broth or water
* 1 large onion, diced
* 2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary, or 2 teaspoons dried
* 1 Tablespoon fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried
* 1 cup dried red lentils
* 2 bay leaves
* 6 cups vegetable broth
* 2-3 Tablespoons light miso

Directions

Gently wash carrots and beets, and chop coarsely. Heat 2 Tablespoons broth in a soup pot, and sauté onion until soft. Add carrots and beets. Saute a few minutes more. Finely chop rosemary and oregano, if using fresh herbs. Wash and drain lentils. Add herbs, bay leaves, lentils, and stock to onion mix, and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer 40 minutes. Remove bay leaves. Puree soup with stick blender, or in a food processor or blender. Dissolve miso in ½ cup water and add to soup. Gently reheat before serving. Do not bring to full boil.

Adapted from a recipe in Feeding the Whole Family

BPA free cheat sheet

I know a few of my blog frequenters are pregnant and thinking about what bottles are safe... so here's a cheat sheet for you: http://safemama.com/2007/11/22/bpa-free-bottle-and-sippy-cup-cheat-sheet/

Fun weekend!

First mom redid our dining room light... and we bought new globes. I've hated that thing since we moved in and have been wanting to change it. Two and a half years later mom rolls in and gets it done in a day.. Thanks mom!

Here's the before:

and the after:


This weekend Lily stayed here w/ Gma and Gpa at their condo while Tom and I took Jason with us down to Highland Park to visit Mike and Kelly. We were going to leave both kids with mom and dad and take a little vaca, but they watched both kids quite a bit the weekend before b/c Tom was gone and I had a lot of training to do. Plus we thought it would be nice for mom and dad to spend some alone time with one kid... and us too! :) Everyone had a blast! Mom and dad really enjoyed spending some one on one time with Lily and it was great to do the same with Jason. John Michael (Kelly and Mike's 4 year old son) and Jason hit it off immediately! JM followed Jason around copying everything he did and Jason learned a lot of new tricks. They played so well together that Kelly and I both commented that it was like we had a babysitter! Mike and Kelly had their annual Ribfest on Saturday and invited a bunch of their friends over... it was strange being on that side of the coin (the adult side vs the kid side). This is wear it is people. It was fantastic to sit on the deck, drinking adult beverages and having adult conversations all while the kids played and played and played!!! Jason got to stay up late both nights. He slept pretty well both nights and stayed in the pack n play until it was time to get up... at which point he climbed into bed w/ us for some cuddling. It was a great time!

Here are some photos of our fun!
Lily all dressed up and ready to go to Grandma's:


JM and Jason playing at the park:












Back at Kelly's:




Thanks Kelly for a fabulous time!

I think I'm back...

I joined the Wednesday Night Bike Ride Group tonight for a midweek ride. It was hilly, but it was GREAT! I think I'm back... I took an extra day off yesterday (of running anyway.. still swam) and I think it's what my legs needed b/c I really loved the massively hilly ride tonight. Of course there was no major headwind today and it was only 25 miles instead of 50. :) The photo above is from out on the course.. there is some beautiful farm country around here. (Jennie, not to bad for being taken during a climb and while riding one handed... :D)

I just hope I can maintain this momentum at least until JULY 7TH! :)

And fundraising for LLS has begun... so go HERE and make your contribution!!!! And while you click that button think of me hauling my butt up those hills and think of Caela and all she has been through. We are still fighting the good fight - be a part of the team!

The weekend is OVER... well for me.

The three hour ride is over... the race is over... tomorrow I sleep! :)



I was hoping for a 1:50 finish, but wasn't sure I could maintain that pace for 13.1 miles so I was just kinda going out and doing what I could w/o totally blowing up at the end of the race. My chip time was 1:45:51... that's an 8:05 min/mile. That's just crazy. I felt it for sure. I'm tired now, but feeling pretty good. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. :)

I think Mom is a bit burned out after this weekend.. it was a long one! :)


After the kids DIDN'T take a nap again today we went to the park.. they walked all the way there, climbed and ran and played some 'soccer' while running all over the place! Lily was red faced and requesting cold water when we got home.

Here they are holding hands and giving kisses!




I realized today that one of the big differences between doing races before having kids and doing them after having kids is that the race isn't the only event in your day! You don't get to go home have a big meal and go back to bed! You don't get to laze around the rest of the day watching TV. You have to chase kids, cook them food, buy more food, do laundry, change diapers, entertain, bathe, brush teeth and put them to bed. ;) You aren't glad the race is over early so you have the rest of the day to recoup you are glad the race is over early b/c it doens't eat into your family time! :) Ah, how things change.

More fun and a lot of photos...

I'm tired and lacking in words so I will write a bit, but post lots of photos. :)

It's finally starting to warm up here... though it was a balmy 50 degrees this a.m. when I left for my ride)... so we have been having some fun outside.

We hit the zoo on Friday....

Jason's favorite highlight was the water fountain and the park:


He charged right up this huge rope ladder:


Lily wasn't so sure:


We were quickly told that the park was actually closed so we had to leave. Jason wasn't too excited about that idea:


Next Lily wanted to climb on the big turtle:


And Jason, of course, had to have his turn:


We tried to take the touristy pictures, but Jason is still in his "no pictures" phase:


After going to pick up my packet for tomorrow's race and hitting Joanne's fabrics for some craft stuff we decided to hang at the house in the yard all afternoon b/c the kids have been drug all over the place lately.. on my schedule. :( oops. When we were at Joannes' Gma bought the kids some bubbles and they were so excited that they decided to skip the nap thing today. They chatted through their entire nap time ... mostly about bubbles.




After that whole thing ran it's course - READ: Jason and Lily used up all the soap ... mostly dripping it all over Mommy and Gma - we moved onto the kid's craft project. I frequently read - and am in awe of - Denise's blog Mom in Madison. She recently posted an adorable artsy project that she did with her boys and I just loved it. She is always exposing her kids to such wonderful things. I aspire to do half of what she does. :) We tried our hand (no pun intended) at her hand print canvases today. My kids obviously can't color in lines so I did the oil pastel part myself and had them paint the canvases w/ watercolors. I was able to stay relatively relaxed about the whole thing... even when they moved on to painting 'other' things - to include Papa.

My little Picasso's:




The closest shot of J's finished-ish:


L's finished-ish:


I'll post photos of them finished (I need to seal them) and hung proudly w/ Uncle Everett's (my Great Uncle) paintings.

And here are some photos of them painting some other things... they really loved it.






I'll be running a half marathon tomorrow ... then dropping dead! ha j/k. Maybe I'll actually nap when the kids nap though. We'll probably hang in the yard again. If it's nice maybe instead of "hanging" I'll just LAY in the yard w/ the dog! (Mom and dad's dog... we did not get another dog.)

PS... those wondering about my fruit. I had to buy more bananas and pears on Thursday (went to Sam's on Saturday) and we will need to hit it again tomorrow.. ONE week. That's how long ... NOT EVEN how long that fruit lasted... w/ three of us. One adult and 2 kids. :) Like any of you care! ha

Thank God for Gma/Gpa and new toys

Gma and Gpa are working hard on their first week here in Madison! They helped Tom w/ the kids this weekend while I was out exercising a half day both days, then dad mowed the lawn yesterday and today while gma and I played w/ the kids. Last night Gma did an impromptu overnight so I could go swim early this a.m. w/ the TNT team, then stayed ALL day so I could run during nap time (which was not used for napping... kids chatted through naps today - guess I did jinx the longer naps thing w/ my last post.) and then we went to the park this afternoon. Tomorrow night they are putting the kiddos to bed so I can go on an evening bike ride, Thursday I'll take the rug rats to the gym in the a.m. to swim and run during their nap, Friday I ride, Saturday I do a 3+ hour ride then run the 1/2 marathon all while gma and gpa hang w/ J and L.. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I couldn't do it with out you.

Jason and Lily are still loving their kitchen and new kitchen items... tools and food.




Dancing w/ Gma in special outfits:


Getting reacquainted w/ the race track from Gma's place in Texas:


Pooping on our potty:


the highlight of Jason's day today was the Bobcat in the neighbors yard: (you can see it in the background)