hair, more dirt and power tools...

here are some more pictures from today. I decided to use the clippers on Jason's hair. I had to chase him around the yard, but I got it done and it looks pretty good if I do say so myself. Makes him look much older and even more like daddy. He got to play w/ daddy's drill while Lily enjoyed playing in the mud.

I'm trying.

I went over to my friend Rebecca's some time ago and we headed outside to plant some seeds. When we first went outside I started getting really uptight about the mud Jason got in immediately and the fact that the kids (my kids) were making an enormous mess trying to put dirt in pots then dump it out all over the place. Rebecca reminded me that it really wasn't / isn't a big deal if they make a mess. So I relaxed adn let them just play. They had a blast and got super messy. I'm not trying very hard to apply this principal to our overall day time routine. It's surprisingly hard for me to do.

I went and got seeds, seed starter and little containers for myself the other day w/ the intention of having the same kind of fun at our house, but it has taken me well over a week to get my mind around it. Today I decided to go for it. I won't lie.. first I tried just taking the kids outside and secret squirrel doing my planting myself. I then decided that that was dumb and going against what I was trying to do ... so I gave each kid a spoon, a planter and opened the bag for us to share. I got my planting or sowing or whatever you call it done and the kids had a blast. When we put them down for their nap Jason said, "play dirt. play shovel." He was loving it. Here is the aftermath.



Some more photos

Piggies by daddy:


Hangin' w/ mommy (Mommy's shiner is a la Jason):


Night night play w/ our animals:


Training is a major mental block for me right now. I was supposed to do a 3 hour ride this a.m., but it got canceled b/c it's cold and was supposed to rain.. puts me on the trainer tonight for movie night.. BLAH! My head/heart is SO NOT in this right now.

Diapers and willful children

So I'm am full bore clothe diapering, but I was put to the test on day one. On Jason's first day in his new diaper we all hit the gym. After my two hour work out I thought I better check the diapers before we got in the car to head home. Jason had been sitting on Jill's lap when I came in - she says she can smell poop a mile away - well not today. I almost stuck my finger in this poop of the century. eek! Into the bathroom we went. I was getting 'prepped' for the change and I looked down and saw some poop on the floor. I thought, "excellent he's put his hands in it." I checked his hands and nothing. that's when I knew I was in for it. I got him up on the changing table and ever so gently removed his pants. Thankfully the diaper had contained 99% of it all, but it had gotten on his pants a bit... and OH MY GOD... it was the biggest poop ever. I tried to get it into the toilet, but to no avail. I got to take the whole mess w/ me. Might need to cut down on the green smoothies! ha They both proceeded to poop their brains out that day. I guess they just feel that much more comfy in their new diapers. I'm persevering and it's okay. On earth day I asked Tom what he did to celebrate and told him that I played in poo all day. NICE!

Our new washer and dryer showed up, BUT they forgot to order the brackets for stacking so we couldn't stack them and the space we have for them upstairs isn't quite deep enough to hold them. Thankfully our contractor was here when they were delivered and he thinks he might be able to figure something out. On top of this our electrical box couldn't handle adding another line so earlier that day an electrician came by and replace the new line for the dryer w/ the old one... so my old dryer is no longer hooked up. So they put the new dryer upstairs and plugged it in. They took my old dryer. The new washer is sitting upstairs, but is not hooked up. So now I wash my clothes in the basement and dry them upstairs... not quite what I had in mind, but we're getting there.

Jason is so willful I'm about to throw myself in front of a bus. He MUST do everything himself... in his way and on his time. EEK! I'm dying over here. He is also into E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!!!

Lily is talking up a storm and is still talking about cows pooping from our trip to the farm. I am so amazed at their memory these days. Jason is still talking about feeding the lamb at the farm.. I'm GLAD he's not talking about the dog bite at the farm... good memories good memories.

Okay.. must go. Have lots to get done in short amounts of nap time. B/c GOD FORBID I try to clean the kitchen or fold laundry on JASON'S time! ha

Mountain Girl Silver

Not a great photo, but it's the best I can do right now. I took it myself. :)

I just received my Mother's Day present in the mail. Yes, I ordered my own gift, yes, I opened it before Mother's Day and YES I am wearing it right now!

Karen got her Charlie disk for her necklace when I was in Portland and I just loved it ... I had to have my own. Oh my gosh this is my favorite gift I've ever purchased for myself! I love it. It's simple, it's beautiful and it represents my children!

If you are looking for something special for yourself for Mother's Day I highly recommend this sweet little necklace!

Mountain Girl Silver is run by a bunch of moms based in Oregon. I got my jewelry quickly and it is of great quality.

Back on the bandwagon

For those of you that don't know (and some probably don't care) I fell off the cloth diapering bandwagon and have been using disposables since January. I bought another TWO boxes (112 diaper each for a total of $60) the other day and felt sick. I decided to add it all up. Realistically I'm at least a year out till I have two potty trained kiddos.

I figured about 12 diapers a day total on a normal day. So my 112 diapers would last about 9 days.. NINE days!!! NINE!!! WHAT THE! 360 diapers a month. THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY! 4320 in the next year. FOUR THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY! That's a lot of diapers hitting the landfill... A LOT! And we aren't changing diapers as much as we used to. That would be approximately $1157 over the course of a year. I felt sick when I figured all of this out.

My SIL Karen has been raving about the Bum Genius 3.0 one size fits all All-in-One diapers. I tried one on Lily when I was visiting and they much trimmer and easier to use than the ones I was using.

I bought one diaper from the local baby shop.. all they had was pink so Lily got a new diaper. I put it on her overnight to give it the BIG test. It went GREAT! It didn't leak at all. When I took Lily's diaper off in the morning she cried for her pinkie diapie. I washed it so I could try it on Jason and use it during the day and when I tried it on Jason Lily SCREAMED for her Pinkie Diapie... so I guess she's on board. She was also very upset when I put pants over it.

Long story short. I just spent $290 to buy the diapers... which I figure is a lot cheaper than the $1100 we would have spent on the disposable diapers and I can sell the clothe when we are done. Right now I'm excited to get back on the bandwagon, but we'll see how I feel after the first poopy diaper. Maybe I should start feeding them bananas, rice and bread so that their poops are a little more, um, firm.

Hinchley's Dairy Farm

Oh the irony of me going to a dairy farm, but the play group was going and we weren't about to miss a chance to see animals and play outside!!!

It was a BLAST... well aside from a dog bite to Jason's face it was a blast. The kids were following a rather docile rat terrier around and they cornered it and it lashed out and landed on Mr. Man's face. It wasn't a bad bite.. just a warning from the dog. I think it scared Jason more than anything. I held him for a while and he was fine. He didn't appear to be afraid of the dog afterward. The dog came over as if to say "I'm sorry" and Jason just looked at it. He didn't squeal in terror so I'm taking this as a good sign. The ironic thing is that it was a rat terrier. The same kind of dog that Phoebe bit and that the owner told us had bitten a child before. Anywho!

We saw milking cows (and got to milk one), baby cows, chickens (got to feed them), a lamb (got to feed her), ducks and chickens and roosters (got to chase them around the yard), goats, geese, 4 week old bunny rabbits (got to hold and pet them), and Jason's favorite... well it's a toss up between the cow's drinking fountains and the tractors.

They really enjoyed just walking around and exploring. Tina (the farm lady) was great with the kids and very patient w/ their antics.

For you locals we went to Hinchley's Dairy Farm... they do stuff through out the year and will have a Upick. They are on 73 just before Cambridge. It took us a very easy 20 mins. to get there. I hope to go back later this year.

Here are some photos.

Looking for the kitty:


Before the dog bit him:


chasing chickens w/ their buddy Riley:


Feeding the chickens:




Feeding the lamb: (this lamb followed us all around the farm after this.. so cute)

Smoothie Master

Okay... made another great smoothie today that I thought I would share. This was post 3 hour work out and I was REALLY hungry so I'll have to try it again when I'm not famished. I think I would have eaten a cardboard box if that was my only option.

Sweet Mango
Generous handful spinach (you love my measuring technique)
about 1.5 c water
2 T Hemp powder
1 T ground flax seeds
approx 1 tsp coconut oil
2 bananas
about a cup of frozen mango
a dash of salt
3 (or was it 2) figs
1 date

Blend.

Drink.

ENJOY!

Had a great work out this a.m. 2.5 hour ride (on a spinner) then a 30 min recovery swim. I had Brenden Brazier's energy 'pudding' pre-ride and used his Lemon Lime sports drink. I could have used the entire recipe instead of chinsing out and just using half... about 30 mins left in the ride I needed some more fuel. I love making my own stuff, knowing what's going in my body and the results have been AMAZING! My body is definitely learning to use fat as fuel (the endurance athlete's goal) and I am noticing that my heart rate is staying lower while I work harder... this is a great journey that I am on. I feel like I am getting to the place - both physically and in fitness - that I have always wanted to be, but never quite knew how to get there or just couldn't / didn't... even w/ the marathon training. I feel like I'm finally paying attention to some of the details and am working towards bigger gains than just being able to run further.

Race day will be the true test...

I'm still here!

Hi, to think that I never thought I wouldn't be able to post as much when the kids were older... I thought life would be more organized, they would nap (which they do, but gosh I have to eat, do laundry, unload the dishwasher and clean while they are doing that.. for a whopping 1.5 hours), and play while I was able to catch up on my blogging... uh, what did I know! ha :)

Anyway...

I'm so happy to have found a glass pitcher to keep my almond milk in. I know this seems like a simple and silly thing, but it makes me OH SO HAPPY! I've been using a plastic container and every time I would pour my home made milk in it I would cringe thinking of the irony of making my own to avoid the additives and the god knows what else in the lining of the cartons only to poor it in this rather old plastic container. Tonight I made a huge batch of almond milk (I'm making hazelnut next time and the kids have been getting some hemp milk too!). It's best fresh and foamy... especially in my coffee, but I wanted to have a jump start on tomorrow.

Here is a pic of my beauty... reminds me of old milk jugs... too bad I couldn't find one of those... oh well.



The weather has been a bit crappy lately... though it's NOTHING compared to what it WAS so I'm not complaining. Today it snowed in the morning during my long run... but it was a nice flurry, good for running. No sticking. It made for a nice picturesque run, but this afternoon when we were headed back from our walk to purchase the beautiful milk jug Lily and Jason wanted to stay outside and play and it was just a bit too cold and soggy. :( They just love to be outside.

A quick story from yesterday then I must go to bed.

I am proud of myself for schlepping the kids to Menards to run some errands. We are trying to pick out paint and I needed some picture hangers and I would usually reserve an activity like that (looking at paint chips requires a certain level of concentration that I usually can't muster w/ both kids). I would usually reserve this activity for the weekend either w/ all of us or w/ me kid free, but it needed to be done and I'm done living my life on the weekend so I put Lily in the back carrier and Jason in the cart and we got our paint samples, the picture hangers and looked for one other thing. We were going strong so we then headed over to Target to pick up a few other things we needed. The kids did great! :)

With our chores completed and our snacks eaten we got in the car and headed home. When I pulled in the driveway the kids both started to freak out and say "no Lily's house, no Jason's house" Then Jason said, "more driving"... never did I think I would hear this out of either of their mouths. I think they enjoy the driving around and pointing things out.. 'things' being mostly various types of trucks. So I asked Lily if she wanted to drive some more. She said yes so off we went. I didn't want to just drive around and waste the gas (ha) so we went to the coffee drive-thru and got Tom a coffee and took it to him at work. The kids both thought this was an EXCELLENT idea.

And little did they know that daddy's office was like a playground. They got to check out all the sample kiddie bikes, joggers and trailers and lots of people came to say hi to them...:) A good day had by all.

Of course Lily fell asleep for a whopping 5 mins in the car which caused her to take over an hour to fall asleep, but that's okay she eventually went to sleep and all was good.

Here are a few photos. One of Lily wearing J's jammie top as a shirt and J's new shoes ... while sporting some very cute piggies. She has been showing an affinity for both Jason's shoes and pants. I wish I had gotten a photo of her outfit today... which she picked out.

My little Tom boy:


And not to be outdone Jason had to have a piggie too.. notice the sprout coming out of the top of his head:


That's it for now.... tomorrow I will be spinning indoors for 2.5 hours so send me some mental entertainment if you have a moment. :)

green smoothie tweak

I tweaked my green smoothie based on a recipe in Brendan Brazier's book THRIVE (GREAT BOOK!!!)

Green Power Smoothie
1.5 cups water
1.5 handfuls spinach
2 bananas
4 dates
1/2 T coconut oil
2 T Hemp powder
1 large T flax seeds (if you don't have a high speed blender use ground)
1 T cocao nibs
1 T cocao powder
juice of one small lemon

YUM!

I used this as a 'recovery' drink today, but would be good for prework out as well.. for the 2 hours plus work outs. It provides both carbs and fat for the fat burning zone work out. :)

Slow blogging time of year.

It must be a slow blogging time of year b/c I'm not the only one that is slacking a bit... like how I shared the blame there!? :)

Training is really picking up so I'm busy busy busy.. I now have 2 hour bike rides during the week and will be ramping up to 3 hour bike rides on the weekend by the end of this month. I can't believe that the race is only 3 months away! CRAP! I've also changed to swimming three times a week instead of two and I"ve gotta tell ya I am feeling the fact that I took a month off.

The weather is nice enough to ride outside now (though as is typical in the midwest some days are WAY better than others). I'm going on a 30 mile ride on Thursday after 'work hours' with some friends that are training for the Tahoe century ride. We're doing an old familiar loop that I rode quite a bit last summer so it will be a great way to start off the outdoor season! Hopefully it will be warm enough for arm warmers to do the trick.

Jason and Lily continue to amaze me w/ their skills! We have been going outside a lot and their favorite thing is to play on the left over icebergs and many puddles. Oh well you are only young once right!?

I am adding some more photos to the photo album.. to include two of the new bathroom. I'll add some more of both the bathroom and office once we paint and get the office settled. Don't hold your breath.. it'll be a while.

Photos from March

Must go clean, but wanted to let you know that I finally got photos loaded from March... check out My Photos on the right...

FYI... we're back in Madison

Just a quick post to let you know that we are back in Madison now. We made it home safe... it was a long drive, but the kids really did great. I'm tired, my house is a total wreck (things stashed all over and dust dust dust), but I'm so so happy to be home.

I will post pics of the bathroom soon.. it is amazing!

It's cold here ... 40s, but nothing compared to what it was. We went to the park today so I'm happy. Tomorrow I go back to being a gym rat, the kids are sleeping fairly well and life is good.

Must go clean a bit and go to bed... will work on photos soon too!

snow again, Tom's on his way home and training

Tom is on his way home right now. He'll be returning to Madison to almost a foot of snow... GEEZ! Happy first day of spring! I feel bad for him having to come home from a long trip and have to shovel copious amounts of snow. It is forecasted that it will snow again later in the week... joy. Spring, eh? Based on last year's photos it will be snowing early in the month and we'll be wearing short sleeves by the end of the month.

Today I was scheduled to run 40 mins so we headed out ... Jason and Lily in the bike trailer with dad and me running... on our normal route. I finished the short (4.3mile) route in 33 mins while I normally finish it in 38 mins so I kept going. I ended up running 5.5 miles in 41 mins.. thats 7.5 mins/mile. WHAT THE!!!!?? How the hell did I do that? That's just crazy! I've NEVER EVER run more than a mile that fast. I can't believe it. According to my watch my heart rate maxed at around 189... though I never saw it more than 164 when I was tracking it during my run... and it was only above 160 for 14 mins of the run. Anyway. I felt that I was pushing myself, but not 7.5 min/mile pushing myself. WOW! I'm pretty surprised that I was running that fast.

Tomorrow is a 2 hour bike ride then a 1 hour run on Sunday. Andy, if you even read this thing, don't worry I'll keep my heart rate down around 155 for the long stuff. :)

One more week in Texas then I'm back in the gym. BOO HOO!

Sleep update

Just wanted to give a quick sleep update... in hopes that I don't jinx myself. We have had a MUCH easier time.. who is WE? I guess I have had a much easier time of getting them down. Tom is still in Asia.. though he is probably enroute to Madison as I type this. Good luck on your trip Tom... it's a long one folks.

Jason and Lily have both gone down rather easily and have been sleeping through the night for the last two nights. Thank you Super Nanny! They are napping a bit later in the day and are going to bed around 7pm now instead of 6pm. This will be great when we get home... we've been eating dinner together - which I love - and they will be able to hang w/ daddy for a while w/out him having to haul ass to get home. Tonight Papa took them for a bike ride while I fixed dinner... it was SO nice!

They are growing by leaps and bounds... both physically and mentally. Their vocabulary is amazing and they are remembering things now... Like chucking their (his) Crocks out of the bike trailer for them to never be seen again. Lily was putting on her "Croc shoes" and Jason wanted to put his on and Grandma said, "your croc shoes are gone" and Jason said, "throw away". It's amazing to me that they are remembering things and understanding them. You expect these things to be gradual, but they seem to happen over night.

That's all I got right now. I've (and by "I" I mean dad) finally finished the taxes for the Green Girls, LLc and I'm much relieved... Now I just need to make sure I stay on top of it more this year... and YOU PEOPLE need to go to www.greengirlsguide.com and BUY SOME FREAKIN' BAGS!!!! RIGHT NOW! ha :) We got new designs.. both for adult and for KIDS... they are great! We were selling like hot cakes on Amazon, but recently found out that that is a no no so we are back to just selling on the site and are rethinking some things regarding store front vs blog...so tell all your friends about our amazingly cool and ENVIRONMENTALLY friendly bags! Shameless plug over.

Training is still going well... had to juggle some things this week and I've only been in the water once ... not a good place for me to slack... but it's proving more difficult to get in the water... I currently have no access to a pool and apparently Texans think it's still too cold to swim outside or something. I've been riding outside and I've got to say it feels amazing ... I went to a spin class last night and about wanted to slit my wrists b/c I was SO BORED! How did I do this all winter? I'll be back in the gym when I get back so I'll be a bit depressed until the end of April. Well I can run outside, but riding is just ... well... not that same indoors.

Still eating vegan and mostly raw and feeling amazing! I do eat quite a bit, but who cares... I burned 800 calories today! Loving my green smoothies and my big salads. I swear the more greens you eat the more you crave. I love to have my enormous salad in the evening.

Enough about me..... gotta go check up on my blogs.

Pictures pictures pictures

I'm still trying to load pics... and my time is running out. I need to get back b/c the kids are going to be up soon.

On the sleep thing... took over 30 mins to get J down last night.. then he woke at 11:30pm again and we played super nanny for an hour again. I thought I was going to die I was tired. He woke AGAIN at 5:45 am and came to my bed. I figured I had at most 30 mins till Lily woke up so I put him in bed w/ me. I rolled over w/ my back to him b/c he was kicking me and I fell asleep (I mentioned that I was tired right) I woke up and didn't feel him laying against me and thought, "oh shit, WHERE is he." I sat up and looked over he was laying ON my pillow.. his whole body. I was on the very edge of it and his head was up against mine. We slept until 8am. THANK YOU SLEEPING GODS!!!! I needed that.

CRAP... now I can't get the stupid photobucket thing to work... first the videos now the images. CRAP. What does everyone else use? I'm about done w/ Photobucket.

Must go home.. will have to try again another time. This is crap!

Stupid Starbucks.

I usually go to a coffee shop (not Starbucks) down the street, but it's closed on Sundays so dad and I rolled over to Starbucks so I could upload photos. We got our drinks and sat down only to discover that you have to PAY for wi fi. Who the hell does that? What year is it? I can't remember the last time I went to a coffee shop where you had to PAY to use the internet. I was so peeved. No more starbucks for me! I'm so irritated!

So I apologize AGAIN for no photos. (Sorry Tom) I will try again tomorrow night.

This morning we did our run again.. w/ dad pulling the kids in a trailer on his bike. Ran 7 miles in an hour... unheard of for me in my previous running life... especially after a 60 mile bike ride the day before. I felt great. :)

Then this afternoon we went to the Houston zoo... oh my how I love my small town zoo. It was CRAZY busy in there. Letting the kids loose was a bit nerve wracking. They would run into a crowd of people and disappear for a moment. We had mom, dad, myself, aunt Susan, cousin Amanda, and my second cousins Colby (5), Kolton (4), and Kristen (9). We had a lot of fun, but damn I'm beat tonight. :) Jason and Lily had a great time looking at all the animals and petting the goats... Jason attempted to eat some "raisins" (goat poop), but mom caught him before he picked any up. Jason's favorite part was the snake and the helicopter that kept taking off from the neighboring hospital. He also loved being 'free range'.. I tried to allow him to direct his own day as much as I could b/c I feel like I've been spending a lot of time telling him "no" and "don't touch". I think he really enjoyed it.

Lily loved the play ground and playing in the leaves at the end of the day. I think she's just happy to be running around outside and doesn't care much what she's doing as long as she is getting some fresh air.

Jason is so tired that he fell asleep twice today. Once in the bike trailer and once in the car on the way home from the zoo. They didn't get their nap today b/c of the zoo schedule. He was less than happy about being woken up when we stopped for dinner.

For those of you that might be curious about how the "super nanny" approach is going to bed time. I told the kids that after we read books I was going to rock them, put them in bed, and then leave so they could go to bed. Lily screamed for a bit, but didn't get out of her crib (unless she is currently sleeping on the floor). Jason and I spent 7 mins going back and forth.. MUCH less than the 20 mins we did it last night.... we'll see what happens tomorrow night.

So proud of myself.

Okay, I'm not proud of myself for getting to the coffee shop today to load any much promised pictures. I WILL get it done... eventually. Sorry.

I rode 60 miles today. I only needed to do a 2 hour ride, but I found this tri group.. and they were doing a social ride today. Either 40 miles (which is what I needed) or a 60 mile. We got to the 20 mile mark and I felt pretty good so I decided to keep going. I thought I was going to regret it, but it was FANTASTIC. I stayed strong and don't feel like I'm going to die tonight. I was a little worried b/c the day before yesterday I didn't eat enough (and I've heard it's not the day before the work out that matters so much as the day before that). So I ate a lot of dense foods yesterday and had a great big green smoothie this morning and was great. I ate three Lara Bars on the ride and it worked great. I was out of ripe bananas or I'm sure I would have had some of those too. It felt great to be outside on my bike. We rode out on country/farm roads much like the Wisconsin roads. I had 3.5 hours of almost alone time. It was the best. I got a half day w/ the kids and I totally needed the break. I felt like a much better mom after that.

Last night was another bad bedtime routine night. I've created bad habits. The kids have gotten used to me staying in the room while they fall asleep and it's been lasting longer and longer and longer. I've been so tired that I usually fall asleep during the whole thing. Me on the floor and them in their beds. I used to just let them figure it out and cry some, but now they can get out of their beds so that doesn't work. I lost it last night so I sent my mom up... after I fell asleep and woke up to them STILL awake. Mom ended up separating them last night. Tonight I was sitting in Jason's room while mom was in w/ Lily. Jason was just about asleep I stopped rubbing his back and he looked like he was sleeping so I tried to walk out and he flipped telling me to "sit down". I sat there for a while and he wouldn't go to sleep b/c he had to keep checking to see if I was still there. I decided that this was ridiculous. I am the adult and I shouldn't have to sit in their room for over an hour for them to go to sleep. (it had been almost an hour since we started the books etc). I decided if I was going to be spending so much time w/ their bed time thing I was going to do it right and stop taking the easy way. (which was pissing me off) I told Jason I was going to leave the room and it was time to go to bed. I walked out and he freaked. Jumped out of his bed and followed me. I picked him up put him in his bed and told him it was time for bed. I walked out. The next time he came out I just super nannied him. I picked him up w/o a word or hug and put him back in the bed and walked out. He pulled out all the stops, "mommy hug", "mommy sit", "Mommy rock a bye", "mommy rub back". I just kept doing it over and over again. I most proud of myself for not getting mad at him. (like I usually do) It wasn't a big deal to me this time for some reason. Could be the ride could be the feealing that I was being an active parent and doing the right thing. (FYI: Granny had left Lily's room already and she was asleep through this whole thing)

I'm sure we have a few more nights of this and I"m guessing we'll need to do this again when we get home. Now the question is do we transition them to toddler beds when we get home... since we are / have already done the work. :)

While I was riding the kids went on a bike ride w/ Gpa and met Gma at the park for a picnic. They saw a bunch of turtles and some ducks and had a great time! They also go to go for a bike ride w/ Gpa yesterday while I ran and we will probably do that again tomorrow... though I'm not sure they can hang for a whole hour.

Lily continues to amaze me w/ how much she has changed in the last couple of weeks. Her language has exploded. If you ask her what her name is she will say, "Sissy Mount" So cute how she calls herself Sissy. She will respond to Lily, but always calls herself Sissy. I still struggle w/ carving out moments for just Lily during the day.

Pictures to come soon.

Virtual Hug

I just wanted to hop on here quickly to document the Virtual Hug. On the drive down Jason constantly wanted me to hug him... while I was driving. So I started the Virtual Hug. I would cross my hands and make a 'hug' sound. The first time he requested a virtual hug it took me a while to figure out what he was saying, but now he and Lily both ask for virtual hugs while we are driving.

Okay, must go. Lily is at the bottom of the stairs saying, "mommy kiss" so I better go. They were up again last night for an hour... when oh when does that end?

Language and escaping....

Oh my god the kid's language has EXPLODED! Jason is talking like he's five years old.. he'll repeat anything and everything, but also uses things in context. I was carrying him today and I tripped and he said, "careful mommy." How do kids do this.. just amazing! Lily is also talking in sentences now too... her quick transformation from non-talker to talker is amazing! They are both requesting songs in the car and underdogs at the play ground. Jason is looking even more like a boy now complete w/ scrapes and bruises from climbing, running and falling. :)

We got them some sunglasses (to go w/ their crocks.. ha) the other day and they both actually like to wear them. Lily likes to wear them on her head like mommy when she doesn't need them. I have pics on my camera, but rushed out the door w/o it when I left to come to the coffee shop.

Also on the language front Papa is working hard to teach them SHIT. Not on purpose (I assume), but by accidentally saying it... A LOT! Even when he's speaking directly to them. At least now I can blame all bad language that comes out of their mouth on their grandfather instead of myself!

So Jason now knows how to get out of the pack n play. PLEASE if you have advice as to what to do about this let me know. I'm in TROUBLE. He did it in the hotel one night, but I thought he was only able to do it b/c he could reach the bed spread on the bed, but today when we put him down for his nap we heard a thud (I thought it was a water cup or book) then heard 'Mama hug" and it sounded a bit closer / clearer than it would from behind a door in a crib. I went running up there and he was standing in the doorway of the office (which is NOT baby proofed). At least he stayed in the office right? I tried sitting in the room w/ them, but they just stared screwing around and talking to me so I left the room and not a minute later I heard, "mama hug" again, but his time w/o the thud so now he can get out w/o injury so I'm sure he will continue to do it. I left Gma in the room w/ them hoping they would settle down w/ her in there. UGH! Having this happen in my own home would be one thing, but is this the time to transition them to toddler beds? UGH!!!! And where would I do this? None of the rooms are really baby proofed to that degree.... ideas? HELP!

We are here!!

(Note the comparison of this picture to the one in my header from one year ago.)

We made it safely to Texas and are enjoying the weather .... though today it was only 52 degrees.

Here we are at our first dinner stop. We got them backpacks. Lily was thrilled ... Jason, not so much.


Our trip down was as good as could be expected. We did the drive in two days. After the first night we decided that we didn't care if the kids had to go to bed in the car for a bit we weren't going to stop to only drive another 3 hours the next day. The first night we both ended up sleeping w/ a baby and Lily was up and ready to rock and roll at 5:45am. JOY! Karen.. the good news is that they did eventually nap in the car.

Here is a post jammies ready for the last leg of the trip.


We were at the park at 8am the first morning we were here. They were READY to run. Jason has taken to saying "no pictures" (which he is doing here) and Lily runs EVERYWHERE!






We are having a good time and they slept for 11 hours last night... finally starting to catch up after readjusting to the condo, Lily's travels and our trip down. I would love a repeat performance tonight, but I never count on consecutive nights. :) I've learned my lesson! We are now sitting in the room w/ them allowing Jason to start to fall asleep to avoid his now LONG LOUD screaming fits when we put them down. I'm not sure what's up with that, but Tom started just going in and sitting in the room until Jason settled down and just about fell asleep. I think it's somewhat confusing and distracting for Lily so far, but hopefully it will work for both of them.

I'm having a REALLY hard time getting in the groove to train for my race. I was in a really great space before I took the trip to Portland, but now I am all screwed up and totally unmotivated and kind of wondering what the hell I was thinking signing up for this thing. It's not just about me anymore. Now their are kids and others (to watch the kids) involved in me needing to go out and ride my bike for 2.5 hours. CRAP CRAP CRAP. Well I'll see it through and be done w/ the long stuff. I'll stick to half marathons and sprint tris after this!

I have limited internet access as we can't figure out how to get my parent's wifi to work (I think they forgot the password) and the room w/ the computer in it is the room the kids sleep in.... so if I'm slow at getting back to you that's why.. that or I'm out riding my FREAKIN' bike, swimming or running... or a combo.

Oh and before signing off I have to let Tom know (b/c he will be SO excited) that the kids got their first pair of crocs today!