Some pictures

I'm out of steam today to say too much. All I will say is that I found out today that Tom is NOT coming home tomorrow night he is coming home Saturday afternoon. How did I not know this?? I SWEAR he said the 28th. GRR! Oh well. Next time I will be sure he emails me his itinerary!

It's gotten a bit chilly (which I'm ready for) so we wore our sweaters today and Lily was so cute in this striped sweater... (from Karen? Suzanne?)


We went down to the park and both kids did the slide over and over... here they are getting all set feet first. Look how proud Jason is.




Later in the day we tried on some winter garb... the kids weren't lovin' it.. hopefully that will change when the snow starts falling.


Lily was trying to get in my pocket, but couldn't b/c of her mittens:




Check out this sweet snow suit.. it's French.


Not a fan of the hood:


And then Lily had to try on Jason's suit:

I "spend" all day w/ them...

Yesterday after I put the kids down I felt like I had barely seen them all day. This isn't the first time I've felt this way..

How can I stay at home with my kids and spend every waking moment w/ them and doing for them and feel like I barely saw them? I try really hard to do with them and not just for them, but some days the 'for them' is more than the 'with them'. Yesterday the took a good morning nap then we ran some errands - returning some clothe diapers I decided not to use, then going to buy some cups with straws for their now daily smoothies ('for them') then we got home, lunch, play while I clean (waiting for that full diaper), then down for naps. They took a great afternoon nap while I washed diapers, vacuumed and mopped floors. (for those who know me you know that the extra cleaning is also a 'for them'). They got up, had a snack, cleaned up, diapered then played a bit. They started getting fussy so we went to the park.. where I played with them, but I am more like a referee than a play mate... chasing down and watching as they climb and slide. I know every mom feels this way... a bit of a disconnect some days b/c of the 'stuff' of life, but I think it's harder w/ twins. I rarely get a day - a whole day.. ha ha.. shoot.. I barely get a 5 min span - where I can spend the day sitting down with a child, giving it all the eye contact and attention it needs and doing the things it wants to do. I get a moment here and a moment there. Mostly with Lily. Poor little thing. Jason is so demanding and in 'mama' mode and she is so amicable that I feel like she gets lost in Jason's wake. I keep telling Tom that I want to do a couple solo adventures with the kids (both of us), but when it comes down to it we don't get to spend much time as a family either so the solo excursions haven't happened yet.

Today Lily came over and handed me a book then sat in my lap so we could look at it. It melts my heart every time she does it .... but as usual moments later Jason came over and grabbed her book, sat on my other leg and pushed and shoved and grabbed until Lily wasn't interested anymore and moved on. I'm so sorry baby girl! I try to distract him with something else and go back to our book, but it never lasts.. he always comes back.

Lily... I promise you THIS WEEKEND we WILL do something just you and me! I love you honey. Jason loves you too... he just doesn't want to miss out on anything.

Things are going farely well with tom gone, but I am lonely. Before I had kids it never occured to me how isolating it could be. I remember Karen had her PEPS group and I had this vision that every day mom's spent their days getting together watching their kids play and chatting away. The reality is that you have a play group that you frequent.. maybe two.. each week. Other days either your kids or your various friend's kids are off their game on their nap schedules or someone has and appointment or a cold... and there you are by yourself stuck in the house alone w/ your cranky children and cranky self.

MAMA!!!!

Oh my.. we have hit MAMA stage HARD w/ Jason. He wants his MAMA all the time now... for everything!!! and only MAMA will do.. EEK! It's cute and annoying at the same time. I know all the moms out there understand! :)

Lily has taken to doing the slide by herself. yet another twin moment at the park yesterday. Both kids on the play equipment. Lily getting close to the top of the spiral slide I usually go down w/ her and Jason on the bridge that he's not great at w/ big areas he can fall off... so I'm w/ Jason and telling Lily to wait for mommy. Well my little dare devil of a daughter gets down on her tummy and takes on the spiral slide all by herself! I think she learned the tummy move at the day care at the gym. I've come back to get them to see them going down on their tummies w/ instruction from the keepers... er, day care ladies. Then she was up there again and I was watching from the bottom and I'm not sure if she got too close to the edge while trying to go down on her tummy, if she slipped, tried to go down face first on purpose or tried to walk down the slide, but whatever happened it didnt work out well. She did a face plant on the spiral and got stuck. She was fine, but when I put her back up there to 'get back on the horse' she came down the stairs. So we did one ride together and then came home no worse for the wear. Jason in the meantime climbs up to the top of the slide then goes back down the stairs. Guess he saw Lily's fea paux and decided he didn't need the trauma! Today we went to a different park and Lily did the same thing (the going down herself not the face plant) on one of those torpedo like slides. She just loves to do things by herself. She then climbed up the slide all by herself too!!! And I thought I would be worried about Jason. Her next move was to try 'feet first' off a three foot drop... thankfully I was standing right there...

Here's a little video of the kids at dinner tonight...

Words...

Jason has started some new things... First: He is associating Mama w/ me. For example, we are in the stage where when Tom goes to check on Jason b/c he is upset he falls down in his crib and cries out for Mama. :) Poor boy is a TOTAL mama's boy! :) Second: he said GRANDMA - not Gaga - while playing w/ his phone today and Third: he is stringing two words together now.. all starting with Mama.. like "Mama, cup" - it's very cute.

Lily is saying more and more words now too.. like UP.. (yes mom, she is FINALLY saying "up" when she wants on the couch instead of "mamamamamama") She says nose, dog, raisin and Oh (as in the cereal)... and randomly she will throw other words in there not to be uttered again. She is not the type to say something just because you asked her to. She says and does things when SHE wants to. Not like Jason who loves to SHOW OFF his new skills! He will repeat almost anything.

Just quick updates here and there... we are a busy busy bunch... not that we have a lot planned... just that we (and by we I'm assuming you know I mean Jason and Lily) always have to be on the go!

They grow up fast.. and bananas are great styling products!

Here are some cute pics of the big kids. :)




And Lily did some product testing on bananas.. they have GREAT hold.. way better than gel.. and if you mash them enough they dry without leaving a white film on your hair.

Devil's Challenge Triathlon.. season closer for me.

So I did three triathlons this season and I'm pretty happy with my results in each one.. okay I'm SHOCKED by the results. Julie told me that you have increased endurance or something after having a baby... she must be right! :)

I did the Devil's Challenge Triathlon on Saturday and it was COLD and HILLY!!!!

Betsy picked me up at around 5:30am and we headed up to Baraboo, WI (about an hour north of here). Packet pick up opened at 6:45 and transition closed at 8am. It was a balmy 32ish degrees. DAMN I was NOT counting on that when I registered for this race!

We were freezing before we even got our stuff wracked. As I'm laying my things out I look down and realize that - like a dumbass - I wore my running shoes down (trying to minimize my gear factor) and now I had to take them off and walk around barefoot b/c I didn't bring my flip flops. My start still wasn't for almost an hour. CRRAAP! So there I was wearing sweats and no shoes walking around on frozen ground. My feet were cold and red... I wasn't the only one! We walked over to the start and I put my feet in the water.. uh, it felt tepid on my frozen dogs. So I stood in the water until it was time to put my wet suit on.

This is the FIRST time I got dressed in the head to toe neoprene without breaking a sweat. So here we are all dressed up and ready to go. We went back to the water to put our feet in while we waited for our waves to start. I had only been in the water once since Chicago - three weeks ago. I knew I could do this.. only a quarter mile. I wanted to just take it slow and steady and swim the whole way. I planned to do the whole race this way... really just enjoy the season closer and not kill myself over it. (okay for those of you that know me or have ridden w/ me lately you know that is actually rather difficult for me to do) The swim started and my other friend Gena and I just walked into the water - while others ran - and started off nice and easy. Much to my surprise and delight I was actually passing people - ON THE SWIM! Wow. I think I even passed some people from the wave in front of me. This is when I went into "game on" mode...okay... not so easy I guess. ha ha

T1 took a while b/c I had to dry off to get my arm warmers on and tried to dry my hair a bit since it was so damn cold. Off I went on my bike... I was hitting it hard and on the first hill I was out of the saddle and pushing it as hard as I could (again for those bikers out there you know that this is a good way to hit the wall early even on a short ride) ... I didn't really check the elevation charts on this ride before the race and, uh, it was a hilly one. We're talking 36mph downhills and 8 mph up hills. After the second long hill of climbing out of the saddle (thinking I was a rock star or something) I decided it was time to ride smart... I did have to run after this so I needed to save SOMETHING! The ride was taxing, but it was short and I had a lot of fun. I didn't give it everything I had, but I pushed myself. I spent time encouraging others that were struggling and/or walking their bikes up the long steep hills. I passed a lot of the novice wave people that started in the 2nd and 3rd waves - hard race to pick as your first. I even 'raced' a couple of kids that were spectating (on foot) up the last hill... uh, one beat me!

I finished strong on the bike and T2 went really fast (thanks to my Yanks - thanks Karen P) and off I went. Well, my feet were so frozen that I couldn't even feel them...my face was even frozen so much that it was hard to talk to people. At about mile one I started to get feeling back in my feet and it felt like I had lumps in my shoes. The run was an out and back in the camp ground... I think the campers thought we were all psycho! I had a good time on the run too, but the last 1/2 mile seemed much longer than 1/2 mile.

Running on frozen stumps must work well for me because I broke an 8 min mile for the 5k... that has NEVER happened before. :)

So now let's hope I can maintain some fitness over the winter - improve my swimming - and do even better next year. I'm hooked/in now - Tom keeps bringing nicer and nicer gear home for me to ride.... he says it's b/c he's excited that I'm showing an interest in the sport ... I think he's just trying to make sure my mind stays far, far away from ever wanting more babies. Though according to Julie if I want to get fast I should just have another baby! ha ha

WHy do I do this to myself?

So I had to go and blab about how much I love my life and how great/super fantastic my kids are... ugh. They put me through the ringer today. It was all I could do to not put them out in the yard in the rain and shut the door and pretend that I don't have kids.

Why do they do this to us!? ha ha

Tooth brushing, post-dinner hair and the aftermath

some quick photos for your enjoyment.

Jason and Lily have started brushing their teeth.. okay we brush them, but you know. The get VERY excited at bed time and start signing (a sign they made up) to brush their teeth. They are more excited about the tooth brushing than they are about the nursing.

Here are pics of them brushing their teeth after breakfast:




This is a picture of Lily after she rubbed her greasy hand in her hair at dinner time:


And the aftermath. I took this photo at the end of the day shortly before bed time. Jason and Lily helped me fold laundry - as you can see they are very good helpers. You can also see Jason loosing it in the background. It's exhausting making a house look this good!

I love my life!

Today I was driving home from a La Leche League for Multiples meeting and it hit me.. I just love my life today as it is right this moment. WOW! It's been a long time - WELL before kids - that I have felt this way.

This a.m. I packed up lunch, water, toys, diapers, a change of clothes for me and my two kids and we headed to the gym. This is the third time we have gone to the gym all together, but today we were adding an event AFTER the gym. I wasn't sure how the kiddos would do ... especially with the fact that we are starting the transition to one nap a day. At first I just dropped it all together and went for it, but now we are doing the 'some days we take two naps and some days we take one' approach. Anyway... the went into the Kid Kastle at the gym just fine and played great. I got through my whole class without interruption and even wondered if I should skip LLL and do a run on the treadmill, but decided to go change and get the kiddos... baby steps. We stopped at the juice bar on the way out b/c I forgot to get food for me in the bag before we left. oops. The kids ate most of my smoothy anyway. We sat there for a bit and had some then hit the car. They ate their cheerios in the car - mostly quietly - and were excited for the next adventure.

I think we have officially graduated from the LLL meetings. My kids were the oldest and by far the most vocal and active. Lily screamed at one point b/c she wanted to hold the smoothie (Blackberry - very messy) all by herself. This started a wave of screams from all the other babies. I feel like all I did the whole time was say, "Jason" followed by the "that's not a toy, stop doing that" look. He's like a bouncy ball all over the place. Needless to say I rarely really get to talk to the adults.

We took our leave pretty early b/c the kids were obviously very tired and ready for their nap. Jason was so tired that he crashed in the car w/o his usual bought of screaming before closing his eyes. Lily quietly played w/ her bear w/ a few quiet whimpers, but hung in there pretty well considering I forgot her pacifier. Oops.

It was at this moment in the car w/ Jason nodding off and Lily playing w/ her bear that I felt the wave of perfection in my life. Jason and Lily are by far the most active kids I know and it gets them in trouble sometimes. They are a handful, but you know what... I LOVE IT! Okay, not EVERY second of the day... but for the most part I'm glad they are opinionated, I'm glad that the explore every inch of a place... even (or especially) those places they really shouldn't go. They are little reincarnations of their mom and dad (aren't the grandparents happy to hear that? Is revenge really as sweet as they say it is?). They challenge me as a parent on a continual basis, but they also love as ferociously as they do everything else and I get more than my fair share of hugs times two.

Life is good. For the twin moms reading this... the first.. uh, year... is hard! HARD... H-A-R-D and I didn't really get the moms that were all blissful about their twins. You know the ones.. they say things like, "I LOVE having twins.".. while I'm thinking.. whatever you are smoking you MUST share... well, I'm there.. I'm loving it.. I couldn't imagine just one. Sure it would make getting into the gym w/ my bags and what not a lot easier, but I would only get half the hugs, half the kisses, half the laughs and half the comedy.

Oh, I put Lily on the potty last night just to see if she would poop.. but she didn't. It was funny though: (no I'm not trying to potty train... just wanted to see if she would do it AND what she would do if she did.)

another video...

Here's another cute video of dinner time...

We're hanging in there...

We are surviving life w/o Gma here every day. :) It's rough, but we're making it. ha ha We get out of the house a lot... Phoebe is happy that the daily walk has been reinstated in the daily routine! We've also hit the gym twice this week and Jason and Lily really seem to enjoy the day care there. I feel like I picked the right gym, Pinnacle, because the day care staff are so attentive to Jason and Lily. Yesterday I went to hit the pool and 5 mins after I got in the lady came to tell me Jason had pooped his pants (they can't change diapers) and she offered to bring him into the locker room so I could change him there and not have to dryhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif off and dress to go change him at the day care center. I was SO thankful to be able to continue my workout almost uninterrupted! I'm pretty sure that that wouldn't have happened at the other gym I was considering. We've also hit a new play group - we all loved it.

Two new things the kids have just started doing:

Lily has started tugging at her pants/diaper whenever she poops. Today she was doing this and I was in the kitchen finishing up some cooking (God, I spend a lot of my time there these days) ... I apparently wasn't quick enough ... she walked in to the family room and came back w/ the wipes to make her point more clear. ha ha Is this the first step of potty training?? First the awareness that there is something in your pants that maybe shouldn't be there... ha ha Steph.. when did you start potty training Sarah? How is that going?

Jason has started saying baby. This is quite possibly the cutest thing I have EVER heard in my life! Lucky for you I got him to say it for the camera... I'm sure it's much cuter in person.. or if it's YOUR OWN kid! ha ha



I had the strangest feeling come over me yesterday. All of a sudden I felt like it was all coming together.. like I was getting it... like this mothering thing was a part of me... like it was natural... like it was what I was supposed to be doing. I can't really explain it. All of a sudden it clicked. I'm a mom, I'm actually not that bad at it, I'm happy, I don't dread a new day going to sleep thinking, "great, I get to get up and do this all over again" (sense the sarcasm), I don't live the days from one melt down to the next hoping that I won't loose it. I'm not sure if it's them entering a new more manageable stage, me maturing into my role as mother or us growing together or what, but I like it. Not sure if I have a new found confidence or what's going on, but I'm going to go ahead and roll w/ it b/c I'm sure their will be moments (lots of them) of doubt as a parent in my future...

And in regards to my triathlon training.. I have to say I feel a bit lost as to what to do w/ myself now. I'm doing a sprint in Sept, but feel like "a sprint" ha.. I can just pull that off. ha ha As I said I did swim last night.. for the first time w/o a wet suit in MONTHS. I'm happy to report that I didn't sink to the bottom immediately and actually felt like a 'swimmer'.. a SLOW swimmer, but a swimmer. I didn't feel like all the other swimmers were looking at me like.. why is SHE in the lap swim? I even shared a lane w/ someone and wasn't even nervous that I would run into him. :)

My winter plan is to do some classes - yoga/pilates, spinning and dynamic strength along w/ swimming at the gym. I'm going to TRY to run outside as long as I can into the winter. I might poach off the TNT marathon group starting in Sept just to give me motivation to get out there and stay out there. ;) I'm also going to take advantage of the physical and 5 training sessions that come w/ membership at my gym. I'm interested to see what my VO2 max is! :)

I'll post my "race schedule" for next year to keep me accountable. I'm kicking it off w/ a half marathon in May! It will still be cold here for those of you that are unfamiliar w/ our fabulous winter.. er, spring!

Jason comedy, a visit from FEMA and bye-bye GaGa and Papa

So Mr. Man is pretty darn funny... Ms. Lily is funny too, but this post is dedicated to Hurricane Jason!

Here are a few funny things he's done over the last couple of days.

Yesterday Papa and I took the kiddos to the pool at the condo while Gaga got the last of their stuff together. Babies have their little swimmers and suits on and off we go. I put Jason down when we got there and watched him like a hawk while I took my shoes and shorts off. I see him stop (not normal) and then he's peeing. I think.. "okay, at least he didn't do it in the pool." Then I think, "oh wait, he has a diaper on why is that happening." I go over to investigate and see that when pulling on his little swimmer I left Mr. Peepers peepin' out the top. (I guess this is a funny thing mommy did not a funny thing Jason did.) At any rate... it was funny and I'm thankful that he waited until he was outside to pee... not in the house, in the car or at Gaga's. I can't move onto the next funny story w/o telling about how Papa threw himself on the grenade and most likely swore off taking the kids swimming. We wrapping things up. Jason is doing his favorite activity at the pool... exploring the pool deck. Lily is checking the garbage can. I turn around after grabbing Lily - Papa is watching Jason - to see my dad throwing himself down on the pool deck at pool edge almost landing on Jason to prevent him from walking right into the pool. I'm just glad dad just skinned his toe and didn't have a heart attack as he watched Jason's short life flash before his eyes. We can all laugh now. :) Apparently Jason moves to fast for Papa.

Okay.. moving on.

Today (my first day w/o help this summer) bedtime came and it was time for baths. I had run the bath, closed all doors except the bathroom and the kid's bedroom so I could manage two naked babies running around. I grabbed the baby gate from the kitchen for the top of the stairs and sent the babies up. (they now crawl up on their own). They still had on their diapers and shorts. I was placing the baby gate at the top of the stairs and I look up to see Jason standing in the tub - very proud of himself - in his diaper and shorts. I went over to get him out to check/remove his poopy diaper and saw a library book floating in the tub... guess I'll be buying that one. Nice! After his bath I put him down on the hardwood and he promptly attempted to take off in a full sprint. His feet went out from under him and his head hit the floor. UGH! Bath time didn't go over well.

We (and by "we" I mean Gaga) got a new house and it lasted about 5 mins through Hurricane Jason - see picture below - FEMA has been in w/ it's packing tape and we're back to square one for now.



Jason and Lily both like to sit in their seats for a big round of applause.



And here's a rare picture of them sitting together.


Gaga and Papa came over for a brief good bye this a.m. (They are safe and sound in Blytheville, TN enjoying some dinner at Perkins...MMMM yum. :( )

It's the little (yummy) things...

So mom and dad (aka Gma and Gpa) rolled out this morning. They left their little white pick up parked out in front and every time I pass the window and see it my heart takes a little leap thinking... "oh good, Grandma is here." then I remember she's on her way back to Texas and I'm on my own... two screaming kids, disastrous mess of a house and all.

We get a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box every Saturday. LAST Saturday we got a bunch of leeks... THIS Saturday we got a bunch more. CRAP! What on earth am I going to do w/ this many leeks. I like leeks, but I don't know what to do w/ them. I found a risotto recipe to try, but it requires cooked lentils - I don't have those and I'm not about to truck the clan to the non-Trader Joe's grocery store (this involves driving the car) just for lentils... so I hopped on allrecipes.com and found this little gem of a Potato Leek recipe.. I have everything and managed somehow to make it while the kids were still awake. I am now enjoying a nice yummy bowl and all seems well. (I, of course, adapted the recipe to use no animal products.)

That's all for now.. I must clean this place up, prep for the next meal and figure out what I'm going to do for the rest of the day. :)

Swim, Bike, Run

Here are my race photos. :) Yes me in half neoprene.. and running. :) ha ha





They actually got a pretty nice shot here w/ the city in the background. I need to work on not swinging my shoulders so much!

I signed up to do another sprint on Sept 15th. Closing up the season I guess. I don't really know what to do with myself now. Don't know what to eat, when and how hard to train. I just joined a gym because grandma and grandpa are leaving TOMORROW! EEK! I'll be taking a spinning class and doing some swimming to start. I'm interested to do my 5 "free" training sessions w/ a trainer... which includes a VO2 max test. :)

So yep. Summer has officially ended in the Mount household. Life is about to come to a screeching hault here! Or is it going to spin out of control? Hard to say! I won't be heading out for any 3 hour rides or having a nice quiet by myself hair cut any time soon. :) Thankfully Lynda will be here in early November and mom and dad will be back for Thanksgiving!

The kids have successfully dropped their morning nap. They are now taking ONE - yes ONE - nap a day. I think I've adjusted relatively well too! ha ha We'll see how my adjustment goes to having Grandma leave. They are napping around 1.5 to 2 hours in the afternoon and sleeping well at night. We had a Busy busy day today. We have been getting out of the house in the a.m w/ the hopes of wearing the kids out for a nap in the afternoon - HMMM park, not by myself... zoo, not by myself... mall, not by myself... front yard, not by myself... not sure WHAT we'll do tomorrow... I guess we'll be hitting the gym everyday so the kids can get a work out... I'll be in the Eucalyptus steam room, Hot tube or Sauna w/ a beverage if you need to find me. ha Anyway... just putting it all out of my head for now (meaning the next 15 hours or so). Back to my original train of thought.. we had a busy day today cramming stuff in before Gma and Gpa head back to Texas. I got up early and went for a bike ride w/ my team mate Joe (were going to do a 56 mile ride, but bailed and did only about 25 miles... HEY, we aren't training for anything anymore!), then Jason, Lily, Grandma and I went to get a coffee to go, picked up our CSA box then hit the park. Papa came to meet us, then we went home for lunch and naps. After naps we hit the pool at Gma and Gpas then dinner out for one last hoorah. The babies got to bed a bit late, but hopefully that means Jason and Lily will sleep well tonight.

They are growing up so fast. They did great at the restaurant. Both of them are so social saying hi to everyone - not all patrons of the restaurant appreciated their 'socialness'! :) WHATEVER! They weren't rude, just asked to be moved. ha ha I think I need a tarp and portable shop vac (the wet dry kind) for our dinner outings in the future, and it needs to be rather quiet. Anyone know of such a thing?

Race Recap

Oh how different the experience is when you are looking back on it approximately 24 hours (this time yesterday I was swimming in lake michigan with about 4000 of my closest friends.. okay there were probably only about 300 at a time... all of which were passing me!) after the fact than it is when you are at mile 5 of the run. I distinctly remember thinking "I am NEVER EVER doing anything LONGER than this... EVER!!" Now I'm thinking.. well... Maybe I could do the 70.3 (half ironman) MAYBE! I was also thinking ... I want to stop... I want to sit down... I want this to be OVER! TODAY I am thinking about other races of the same distance that I might be able to do next year. Oh how just 24 hours can change things!

I was surprised that I wasn't more nervous. When I would start to get nervous I would just check myself and think, "hey, you aren't trying to win this thing! Just have fun." and that would usually do it. I did feel like I was well trained and KNEW in my heart that barring any strange events - like, say, drowning or a bike crash - I was going to finish for sure. I did have a number in my mind - which I can now reveal - I wanted to finish close to 3 hours total. I am VERY pleased with my time. I only wish that I had felt better on the run, but from what I could tell most people were hurting on the run. It was HOT!

So here's the drill.

3:30am wake up, coffee, oatmeal.
4:00am Meet the team (TNT) in the lobby with all gear in tow and walk to the transition area.
4:15-5:30am set up transition area.

okay... now you wait until 9:05am for your wave (for me and 1/3 of the 30-34 year old females) I would say this was tough. You're all jazzed getting your stuff ready... then you get to spend the next 4 hours w/ your nerves and to realize that you are actually kind of tired from sleeping little and getting up at 3:30am.

I went back to the room to relax and snooze a bit. At around 6:30am Tom and I headed out. We got a coffee and went over to the swim start to check everything out and to cheer on the rest of the TNTrs from Wisconsin. The nerves started to get to me a bit here, but I checked myself and just relaxed and watched the Sprint Tri people go by on their run and watched the wave after wave of International Distance triathelets start their swims. I worked on visualizing myself swimming (not dog paddle either), biking and running.

Around 8:30am it was time to slip into my full body neoprene. (Did I mention it was hot) I got in line around 8:50am and stood w/ my group waiting for my turn to jump in the water. I was surprisingly calm. I couldn't believe that May, June, July and most of August were over and here I was standing in line to jump in the water in the triathlon. Like I said I felt ready. I didn't once question my training. I did question how LLOONNGG it would take me to swim a mile - it had been a week since I got in the water, but I felt confident that I could finish it! Then BAM here we were... first in line ... it was are turn to plunge ourselves into Lake Michigan. DAMN that water was cold.

The gun went off.. the speedy gonzales swimmers TOOK OFF while those of us in the back of the pack waited for their flailing kicking feet to get out of our way so we could swim. :)



The swim was LONG! We did an out and back, passed the start and finished about 1/2 mile down from there. It felt like it took forever to get from the start and out and back passed the start again. I didn't mind swimming in a group of people. I didn't mind when they touched me or kicked me - except when some chick kicked me so hard it knocked my goggles off. my only battle wound:



And people doing the back stroke in the middle of the pack REALLY pissed me off. Someone hitting you in the head while doing freestyle isn't so bad. Someone repeatedly smacking you in the head while they are swinging their arm up and around is a totally different story. There was a woman doing the back stroke pretty early on and I was trying - TRYING - to get in a groove... THWACK comes her arm... THWACK THWACH. It took me a while to figure out what the hell was going on. And the saddest part. I couldn't pass her. I tried. I passed her a bit once, but she caught me.. while doing the back stroke. That's how slow I was. I'm not sure if she flipped over or if she and I moved apart, but it went away for a bit. Then close to passing the start and moving on to the last leg. THWACK! I had had it. I popped my head up and said, "HEY!" Whoever it was apologized (it was a different lady this time) and flipped over. Okay, I TOTALLY get being a weak swimmer, being tired and needing a break, but there is a time and place. If you're tired - try the breast stroke (of course then you risk kicking someone) or the every popular side stroke (as my friend Gena pointed out - actually quite effective). It's just too crowded for the back stroke. Try that when the field opens up a bit and your not going to pummel your neighbor. Moving on. So the finish is getting close - THANK GOD! - and so far I haven't been taken over by too many men. (They were starting behind me and they are bit more rough - read if you get in their way they WILL run you over and they WILL not apologize) As I was rounding the last buoy getting ready to go sharp left to get drug out of the water this big dude totally body checked me out of his way so he could get in front. SERIOUSLY! I was GLAD to be done w/ the swim and proud of myself for making it AND for doing freestyle the whole way even though I was slow!

Now the fun can begin. I get to ride my bike... oh wait first I have to take my wetsuit down around my waist and run about a quarter mile to my bike in my bare feet on the concrete! :) Okay, it really wasn't too bad when I was actually doing it.. maybe I was just SO happy to be out of the water. I do remember thinking I would do the whole rest of the race bare foot if I could just get out of that lake. ha ha

The bike was AWESOME! It was only the 4th time I had ridden my tri bike. (Yes, Karen P. I was ONE OF THOSE! ha ha It went really well and I felt very confident on the bike. I got out of the aero position to hydrate and do the turns... :D ) I loved loved the bike, but I forgot my second water bottle that I was supposed to put in my back pocket - eh hem Tom, there needs to be a second cage - and I was a little worried about my hydration/nutrition. I felt pretty good until the end where I could feel my lack of hydration. I don't do a very good job of saving anything when I ride the bike b/c I like to go fast - as fast as I can. I tried to listen to my legs and save some for the run, but passing people is so fun! :) It was pretty flat w/ some rollers. I ended up averaging 20.9 mph... that's what I had in my mind when I was thinking about how fast I wanted to go, but looking at my computer I was trying to average closer to 22mph... oh well. I probably wasn't looking at the computer as much on the rollers. It was fun passing the cars at 25 mph. At the end of the bike I was ready to move on to the run... well, at least I was ready to be done w/ the ride. I was spent and hungry (not good). OOPS.

I wracked my bike, took off my shoes and helmet. Put on one running shoe, took a swig of gatorade, put on my other shoe then noticed I hadn't tied my other one.. eek. I grabbed a Lara bar took a bike and took off (after tying my other shoe). About gagged on the Lara bar. Swallowed what I could and threw the rest away. I felt okay on the run getting started... through the shoot... then ugh! I felt like I was going to barf. Not sure if it was the Lara bar or my lack of hydration. There was a water stop right outside of transition. I had some Gatorade and water. Gatorade makes me feel sick when it's that hot. Bummer. I walked some in the run.. maybe twice and through the water stops. UGH! I wonder what my time would have been had I not done that??? I don't think I could have felt worse at the end??? ha As I drank a lot of water before the race and had to PEE REALLY bad ... so bad it kinda hurt. I'm not usually one to stop when I'm racing, but there was a porta-potty at mile 3, no line and it was empty so I peed. Wonder what my time would have been if I hadn't peed? I probably wouldn't have made it! ha At the last turn around of the run (approx 2.5 miles to go) another woman and I started pacing and keeping each other going... until my shoe came untied w/ 1/2 mile to go. DAMN IT!!! Are you kidding? I thought about not tying it but was worried I would trip. Bathroom, shoe tying, walking... ugh! So shoe tied off I went. For those of you that have done TNT before you know that you get a lot of "GO TEAM!" cheers from both side liners and participants. During the beginning of the race I would respond w/a a yell on the bike and at the beginning of the run I was doing devil horns w/ the yell, that then became just devil horns and during the end of the run it became an inaudible grunt! Did I mention that that run kicked my ass!!!??? I was very surprised. I'm not sure why? I should have known. I knew it would be hard, but I didn't expect it to be end of a marathon hard.

THANKFULLY my mental state was decent through the whole race. If it hadn't been I think I might have laid down in the grass and called it during the run. My only negative thought was that IRONMAN completers are CRAZIES! and that I would never do a longer distance than this... and possibly not this distance.

So things I learned:
1. EAT MORE - both pre race and during
2. If I learned how to swim I might actually have something w/ this tri thing. I placed in the 3000's on the swim. UGH!
3. Tri is HARD, but challenging yourself is good!
4. I'm not keen on the waiting to race thing!
5. I am strong
6. I am brave
7. I CAN do things I set my mind to
8. Preparation is everything

Thanks to everyone that donated and supported me through my training. Thanks to my wonderful husband and pit crew for allowing me to spend so much time training, for supporting me and cheering me on... and for my fantastic equipment. Side note on that.. i was putting my race number on my bike and he stopped me b/c I was about to cover the name of the bike. I said, "wouldn't want to piss off my sponsor!" Thanks for "sponsoring" me! ha ha

I'm already trying to figure out my 'schedule' for next year.... better find a group to train w/!

Quick stats and photos to tide you over...

(my wave start)

..tired.. no time to post. Suffice it to say that DAMN THAT WAS HARD! I would compare the 10k to the final 6 miles of the marathon! I finished within my goal range w/ a time of 2:56:20. You can check out my complete stats HERE. My swim was slow - REAL slow - as I expected, the bike was within my goal and though the run kicked my ass it was a decent split too.. under 1 hour. :) My transition times were despicable, but not SO bad for my 2nd ever race and the WORLD's LARGEST tri - and therefore transition area. I was prepared for the run to be hard, but - for some reason - I wasn't prepared for it to be marathon hard.

My sweet ride care of Tom: The Schwinn Prologue. Their (Schwinn's) first tri bike! :) I rode one of FOUR out right now. They will be out in 2008. (I was going to add a link to the Schwinn site, but this bike is so new that it's not on the site yet!)



Marked and ready to go:



Wetsuit, check. Ready to go get in line.



Game face... Let's DO THIS!


Race finish (the time shown started at 6am when the first wave started... my wave started at 9:05am.)



A picture speaks a thousand words!!!! That was HARD!!!


My 'pit crew'



Post race with my coach Chris and fellow MadCity TNTr Joe.


I'll post a longer more interesting description of the race for those that are interested. :) ha ha For now enjoy the photos.

Land Ho! Ichi-duck and the big race

Here are some cute pics of the kids quick before I get to business!

Tally HO!


Ichi-duck (and a new hair cut)


The weather out here in the midwest has been pretty crappy - along w/ well, the rest of the nation. There has been talk of not allowing swimming in lake michigan due to sewage dumping... blah blah blah... so we just proceed as usual and wait to see what race officials say on Sunday a.m. Hopefully we'll be able to swim.

I got my stitches out today and the doc gave me the go ahead to swim.. w/ antibacterial ointment and a bandaid. I've been instructed to clean it when I'm done and go about my business. It's still kinda open and narly looking, but she said it looks "good".. wonder if she would say that if it was her finger. :)



I'm nervous and excited. Trying to keep it all in perspective - I'm not trying to win. I do have a number (random as it is) that I would like to come close to as a "respectable time", but all in all I know the goal is to have a good time - you know how it is. :)

Okay. I better go get all my gear together. We're heading out of here at 7am tomorrow. We've decided to leave Jason and Lily in Madison with mom and dad - this brings my stress level down quite a bit... okay I'm off to prepare. Check in on Monday for the update!

frankenfinger and the knife.

so here's my finger and the knife that got me here!

New kicks, mommy who?, bread knife and Coconut sorbet

I ordered some new kicks for Jason and Lily from Preschoolians. I was waiting until they were both spending a lot of time outside walking. I couldn't be happier. They fit great and they are SO DAMN CUTE I can hardly stand it!







Mom and dad are leaving on September 2nd and winter is not too far away. The tri is going to be over, the babies are nursing less and winter is coming... could equal one out of shape unhappy mommy so I am on a quest for a new gym.. ANYWAY. Yesterday mom and I went by a huge metropolis of a gym called the Princeton Club to check it out. We rolled in w/ the kids in two umbrella strollers so the lady took us to the kids area first and said we could leave them there during the tour if we wanted to. I said, "Well, okay we can TRY!" Thinking there would be a lot of screaming and crying. WRONG! I opened the gate to that place and they took off (in separate directions) and didn't even look back. Mom?? Mom who? I so don't need my mommy anymore.. I'm going to go check this place out. We even stood there and watched them play (separately) for a while before we went in to get them. There were more tears over leaving than there were for being left... It was bitter sweet. It's good to know they are capable of that, but a bit sad for me that they don't "NEED" mommy anymore.

This morning got off to a bad bad start. I have been making my own bread.. which is great.. we were at the end of the loaf this a.m. and I was cutting the butt of the loaf off to squeeze another slice out of it. Well, after $30, 1.5 hours at urgent care and 5 stitches I'm thinking I should have just eaten the crust. I cut my finger pretty bad. Spent some time on the kitchen floor (b/c I felt like I was going to barf and was having cold sweats) while Jason and Lily screamed at the gate and Tom doctored my finger. Mom and dad came over and mom watch the kids while Tom went to work and dad took me to urgent care. Good times. The verdict is that my finger hurts like shit.. at least where it's not numb. Oh, and it's my index finger on my left hand so typing this is taking me a while. :) I go back in 5 to 7 days to have my stitches out. I can't swim until they are out - for risk of infection. I'm not willing to risk it by swimming in the sketchy lake I swim in. So hopefully I'll get at least one swim in before the race. I'm running a 10k tomorrow and I suspect that when my heart really starts pumping this thing is going to throb... and it probably won't feel great shifting on my 2.5 hour ride on Sunday. At least it's on the left and I don't shift as much on that side. :)

And on a side note. I have to share my new favorite dessert... Coconut Sorbet. I've found some ice cream maker recipes online, but have yet to try them. Right now I am enjoying the Coconut Sorbet from... yes you guessed it... Trader Joe's! If you ahe a Trader Joe's close by Go NOW and get some. It's SO good! and vegan! yea!

More videos...

they say more than I could ever type!

Boots boots boots: (sorry for the bad angle)


We play blocks. Thought it was funny how Lily would put them on the table and Jason would put them back in the box.. Lily walks away and he screams and eventually returns those blocks to the box as well.

Fashion show

We were trying on some things (coats, socks and boots) to see if they were going to fit for winter... here are the pics...Lily didn't want to take stuff off...

Classic Lily in her red coat being cute!


Take down: (modeling our socks)


and then...


Sweet boots. They are actually Jason's, but he wasn't so excited about them. They are huge on Lily, but she managed to clomp around in them.

I needed my girls today...

crappy crappy work out week this week. Tonight I just walked.. I just didn't have it in me to run tonight... no real reason.. just couldn't get in my grove. Blah! I'm having a very unmotivated week... I feel like the wind has been taken out of my sail this week. Hopefully this will get it ouf of my system and I'll be all set for race day in two and a half weeks..

I'm not real sure what's going on with me. Maybe my hormones are returning to their normal wacked out selves and that's why my mood sucks so bad.

The kids are still working on their top FOUR teeth. Lily's two middle teeth are through and the two side ones are working their way through. Jason has one upper middle and the others are coming. They both are being very clingy lately (and pretty whiny) and are giving out lots of hugs and kisses (and cries).

Mom and dad are heading home to Texas on Sept 2nd... EEK! I think I'm in for a rude awakening when mom isn't coming over every day anymore. I'm quickly searching out new play groups for this winter.

Here are some cute videos from today. One of Jason doing some of his signs and another of Lily doing her new move in her high chair. Enjoy.

Friends, photos and monkey slippers

My friend Kelly and her son John Michael came to visit us for a quick over night this week. I think I need a 3 year old!!! JM wore my kids out. They were on their best behavior (READ: mesmerized by JM) and slept through the night for the first time in WEEKS!!! It was great to see Kelly - even though the trip was short.

Here's a pic of Jason and JM.. Jason followed him around most of the time he was here.



We love to play in the toy bin.


Our neighbors put up a new fence and Jason and Lily thought that was pretty cool...



Lily has been really clingy lately.. and wants me to hold her all the time!



Lily saw dad's sun glasses and HAD to wear them.. then Jason - of course - had to wear some too!





Today Dad (aka Papa) and Tom took the babies out and about while mom and I cleaned out the basement (before we have another big flood like last year). How does stuff pile up like this?? It's insane!



During the big clean out I came across these monkey slippers that Suzanne gave us. Lily just loves them. You could tell by the way she was cruising around the house that she really felt like hot stuff in them!