Wes is THREE!!!

Wes is THREE!

Birthday balloons!

He had an amazing birthday by starting with a tour of our local firehouse with friends/parents and then we had a BBQ at our house with everyone. The reason we decided on a firehouse tour is because a few months ago we were at our local ice cream place. Wes saw firefighters in the line and asked to talk to them (he talks to anyone- and I mean anyone)...in the conversation they asked if he wanted to come see the fire truck in a nearby parking lot. I have never seen a kid shove an ice cream cone down his mouth faster. After our private tour with the firefighters, every time we saw a fire truck Wes would yell out "my firefighter friends!" Hence the firehouse tour.

We also had a family dinner a week before where CP made steak and corn (one of Wes' favorite things to eat) and he got to open up his presents two days early because I was a bad mother and had to be in CA for work on his real birthday. He's three so he won't remember that I wasn't there on his real birthday but I still felt bad.

Birthday firehouse tour

Height- 40" (unofficial)

Weight- 39 pounds (unofficial- with clothes on)

Diapers- NO MORE DIAPERS OR PULLUPS! I guess the last time I wrote an update like this on Wes he was two (I'm a horrible blogger these days). A few months ago we took the plunge and even though Wes wasn't interested in potty training, we powered through. He got pee very quickly and mastered poop only two or three weeks later. Since he has been waking up dry for both nap and nighttime, we pulled the pullups as well. We didn't even have to do any nighttime training! YAY!

Milestones- Oh man I feel like he has so many in the past year. He has been able to pedal tricycles and his motorcycle for a while and his hand/eye coordination seems to be pretty good. He is also a fast runner. While camping this year he went on his first rollercoaster at a local carnival in WI and also went on his first water slide (in an inner tube with CP).

First rollercoaster

He is definitely not as adventurous as Izzy and needs us to do something with him at least a few times before he is willing to do it on his own. A few months ago we moved him to a big boy bed with the guard rail however I'm not sure he needs it because he has slept in a bed with no rails before at my parent's place in MI and hasn't fallen out.

Proud of his big boy bed

Wes went to his first movie in a theater- Toy Story 4!

Language- I didn't think that it was possible but Wes talks more than Izzy. He is still learning the art of not interrupting and will often yell "No! I'm talking" if Izzy tries to talk over him. He loves to sing different songs like Frozen (his favorite line? "Frozen fractals all around"), random Raffi songs (like Bananaphone), Sing a Song of Sixpence, etc.

Wes' face when he heard he was getting early birthday presents

Favorite Toy- In the past year his favorite toy has not changed- it is still trains. He will still come home and play with his Thomas trains almost every night. We were not planning on getting him any toys for his birthday this year but he has literally been talking about the Thomas super station for 6 months now- ever since a friend of ours started to give us her son's old Thomas the Trains magazines (which of course has super station ads in them)- so because we couldn't think of anything else, super station it is.

Strawberry picking

Favorite Book- Wes really likes to read the Thomas the Train magazines at night. He is also obsessed with only one story called "Cookies" in the Frog & Toad book.

Sleep- Wes gets to sleep by 8-8:30 every night and has slept in to 8:30am on the weekends (we get him up around 6:40am during the week). When putting him to bed we brush teeth, put pajamas on, read books, sing him two songs, put blankets on him, and turn on his turtle light before hopefully leaving the room. In the past month or so he has started to stall- "I have to go potty. I need some water. I need to give Daddy a hug." etc. He has also become afraid of monsters and bad dreams so we remind him that the cats keep the monsters away and his dream catcher above his bed takes away his bad dreams. I hope this phase ends soon.

Playing on the new climbing dome

Clothes- In 4t clothes and size 11 shoes.

Eating- Wes is a good eater and he has even started to like fish if he can squeeze some lemon on it. We recently went out to a sushi place and he housed some soft shell crab (that I didn't really like) and instead of getting a kids meal he opted for the ramen. It was awesome! Of course he is a regular kid and LOVES mac n cheese as well. If he could eat fruit all the time, he would.

Soft shell crab

Teeth- He now has all of them and it will be about two more years before they start falling out.

Illness- Over the past year? Ha. Nothing major. This year we didn't have an ER visit (woo hoo!) and his lungs seem to be able to handle winter colds better. However, camping this year he got bitten by mosquitos- A LOT- some of them blistered and one of his legs was hard and swollen for a few days so I think he has skeeter syndrome. :-( (We used plenty of bug spray) Not much we can do but to try to keep the bugs away as much as possible.

2019 goals- check-in

Let's check in on my 2019 goals!

1. Eat at least one vegetarian dinner every week. 

Not doing well with this. I have less control as CP is the person to make all of our meals and we certainly eat less red meat than we did a few years ago, but we are not doing vegetarian meals as I had envisioned.

2. Lose 25 pounds this year. 

Ha ha. Dammit. Losing weight is not happening. I've got 6 months to make this happen.

3. Work out for at least 30 minutes at least three times a week. 

This has gone pretty well so far this year. Having to train for the races has kept me at least 

running three times a week but since the half marathon in early June. Starting to travel for 

work has screwed up my consistency but hopefully I can get back into it soon.

4. Continue monthly dates with CP.

We probably have gotten out once a month without the kids. 

5. Get our credit card balance to $0 this year.

Getting my vacation payout from my old job was amazing and it allowed us to pay off our 

credit card debt this month. Woo hoo!

6. Get a new job. 

Done! I love my new job!

7. Continue to be politically active whether it is writing postcards to voters, contacting my

elected officials about things that are important to me, or participating in marches.

8. Run in at least three races this year including the Soldier Field 10 miler.

Done! This spring I did a 10k, Soldier Field 10 miler, and a half marathon.

9. Run one race with Izzy this year.

Still need to find a race to do with Izzy.

Six more months to finish the rest of these!

North Shore Half Marathon

Right after finishing my first half marathon back in 2011, I told CP that I was so happy that I was never going to have to do another half. Well, a friend of mine signed up for a half earlier this year and I decided to also sign up because what's 3.1 more miles the weekend after running a 10 mile race? (LOL) I chalk it up to FOMO which is a silly reason to sign up for a long race, but I did it anyway.

The last time I ran a half I trained with a local Fleet Feet store in CT; this time I ran by myself because I didn't have a set time or day on the weekend that I would run. Last time I also had plantar fasciitis basically the entire time I trained; this time I was relatively pain-free in my heels. Of course it is also a move across the country, two kids, and 8 years later so things have changed slightly. Ha ha.

Stupidly, I stayed up too late the night before watching the Netflix move "Always Be My Maybe" with Ali Wong and Randall Park (which is awesome by the way- even CP liked it). Going to bed after 11pm the night before a half marathon where you have to be there at 6am isn't the best of ideas. But up I was to drive to the half. This time I decided that I would chug my Spark water bottle 45 minutes before the race started so that I would have two chances to go to the bathroom before the race started. I met up with my two friends who were in a faster corral and we hung out for a bit before they left for their corral. I peed one last time and got in my corral.

I started the race and felt pretty good. I didn't have to pee and it was cool enough that I felt good. I ended up peeing twice during the race and stopped at every water station to make sure that I had enough hydration. The first part of the course was through neighborhoods which was fine, but a lot of residents were coming and going throughout the race and at times would try to get through traffic which was annoying. I got really annoyed around mile 6 because the mile marker was clearly in the wrong place (far after we actually had hit mile 6) and it messed with my head. Around this time I heard from a nearby runner that "Heartbreak Hill" was coming up- a steep decline, turn the corner and then head right back up for a steep incline- so I took advantage of of the decline and let my legs go knowing that I was going to walk up that incline!

I felt pretty good until I hit mile 10. The third week of running 10 miles and only a week after running the Soldier Field 10 miler, my legs were begging to be done with the race. This part was mentally tough too- a very long out and back where you could see mile marker 11 but knew that you were still early in mile 9 so that you had a long way to go to just get back to the same place on the road. Plus, no shade. 

My friend who finished earlier, his wife, and his kids were there at the finish line and that gave me a boost to run a little faster towards the finish line. I will say that I definitely do NOT need to do another half marathon. I was bummed that I didn't get a PR but I am 8 years older so I probably shouldn't have expected one. :-)

Nike+ Splits

Mile 1- 10:21

Mile 2- 10:48

Mile 3- 11:00

Mile 4- 11:52

Mile 5- 11:07

Mile 6- 11:15

Mile 7- 11:07

Mile 8- 11:45

Mile 9- 11:54

Mile 10- 12:38

Mile 11- 11:36

Mile 12- 12:32

Mile 13- 12:25

Official Race Times

5k- 33:54   10:55 pace

10K- 1:14:11  11:57 pace

15K- 1:48:00    11:36 pace

Final time- 2:34:13

Pace- 11:46/mile

The rest of the day I was pretty tired but the worst was getting up the next morning to get on an early morning flight to Las Vegas for work- middle seat for three hours. I definitely hobbled around in meetings all day, finally feeling better after a long night of sleep that night.

Soldier Field 10 Miler

Oh boy am I behind in my blogging! Let's dig into what I have been doing the past month+ with a few posts.

First up- the Soldier Field 10 miler! I have always wanted to do this race because it ends on the 50 yard line of Soldier Field. You all know that I am an Eagles fan, but getting to finish on the 50 yard line of an NFL stadium is super cool so I went for it. For Mother's Day this year I asked CP for one thing- the okay to sign up for this race and the half marathon the following weekend and the weekend time I would need to train for the races. Thankfully, he agreed.

I was really good to keeping to a good 3 day a week running schedule. After finishing the 10k in the snow, I set out to add mileage every week by following a half marathon training plan...so the weekend before this race, I ran 10 miles since the two 10 milers would be the longest runs before the half.

Friday night I took the train to my parent's house downtown and slept over at their place (they were in MI) so that I wouldn't have to get up hours earlier to get downtown. I brought a bagel, Spark, and all of my stuff. Saturday morning I woke up bright and early, ate my toasted bagel with butter, and dressed for the day. It had been scheduled to POUR RAIN all week so it was nice to see that the forecast had changed to sunny- but it was also going to be HOT.

I took a Lyft to Soldier Field and arrived about 50 minutes before the race was to begin. About 30 minutes before the race I chugged my water bottle filled with Spark for some caffeine and used the bathroom. I knew that I had to get into the corral at least 15 minutes before the race started. I stretched a bit and then watched as the Color Guard came out, a charity spokesperson talked for a few minutes, and then the elite and earlier corrals went off. The whole time I am thinking that I should run back to the bathroom to pee, but decided not to (I should have known better).

Needless to say, when my corral finally started the race, I really had to pee. My first chance to use a port-a-potty was not until about 2.5 miles in so I had an uncomfortable start to the race and then had to sit waiting at the port-a-potty for a bit. 

The race had us start out going south along the lake and turn around halfway to head back to the stadium. The first 7 or so miles weren't so bad. It wasn't too hot out and I was feeling pretty good. Around mile 8 I was just SO HOT with the sun beating down on me and my legs felt like lead. I definitely started walking more than usual and it shows in my pace.

Nike+ Splits

Mile 1- 10:12

Mile 2- 11:03

Mile 3- 10:48

Mile 4- 11:28

Mile 5- 11:35

Mile 6- 12:01

Mile 7- 11:30

Mile 8- 12:37

Mile 9- 12:45

Mile 10- 11:56 

(The Nike+ App automatically pauses when you stop moving so it didn't register my bathroom stop and thought that I finished faster than I did. Without the bathroom stop I would have finished in 1:58:18)

Official times

5k- 37:20 (damn bathroom stop!)   12:01 pace

10k- 1:14:09  11:56 pace

15K- 1:53:59    12:14 pace

Finish time- 2:01:42

Average pace- 12:11

My goal going in was to finish in less than 2 hours so I *almost* made it. My body certainly wasn't used to the hotter weather as we have had a nice, cool spring so far so all of my training runs were in cooler weather. I believe that this is my first 10 miler so currently, this is my PR. 

Day in the Life- Spring 2019

Spring DITL 

April 30, 2019

CP is 42 years old

NSC is 40 years old

Izzy is 5.5 years old

Wes is 2.75 years old

Obviously it has taken me two weeks to post this because I had a lot going on, but I realized part way through this day that I wanted to document one of my last days going into the city for work (that's why the beginning of the post is devoid of pictures). So here it is!

April 29- CP passes out before 9pm on the couch, I head upstairs around 9:15, read one chapter of Lindy West's book Shrill and turn off the light at 9:30. 

12:45- Get up to pee. Back to bed.

5:15- Alarm goes off. CP heads to the bathroom, I continue to sleep.

5:50- CP is done in the bathroom so I head in. I am plucking my eyebrows (they used to look good pre-kids- sigh) when I hear Izzy's door open and she runs downstairs. Not sure why she is up so early but at least CP can deal with her downstairs. I weigh myself- 199- WOO HOO!- and then jump in the shower.

6:25- I'm putting on face cream as I hear CP open up Wes' door to wake him up. Izzy bounds up the stairs and brags that CP made her an omelette for breakfast. She is wearing a new long sleeve shirt that I bought her yesterday at Old Navy that says "strong" a few times. Wes wants to wear the new pants I bought him yesterday that have sharks all over them. We decided to take the plunge and potty train him this past weekend and after two days of poop accidents, we needed some more pants! After seeing Wes wear his surfer shirt with a hood, Izzy changes her outfit and puts on her new hooded shirt as well. 

6:35- The entire family is downstairs. I eat two over easy eggs on a corn tortilla with a little corn and black bean salsa (1 pt). Wes eats Cheerios and milk while I pack up my lunch. Izzy is making a card for a new kid in her class. CP gives everyone kisses and then leaves. 

6:45- I have Wes sit on the small potty to try to go pee and he says that he can't. Izzy realizes she has to pee so she runs into the bathroom. I grab jackets for the kids and we head out the door. I'm happy that it is not raining because I got soaked while dropping the kids off yesterday morning and then walking to/from the train.

6:55- We arrive at school after listening to a few minutes of the Frozen soundtrack in the car. Wes starts to cry that I pushed the button to close the minivan door, I have him push the lock button on my keys and he perks up again. Izzy puts the weekly check into a mail slot and Wes insists on opening all of the doors. Izzy puts the card that she made into a new girls' cubby who is starting next week and we hang up her jacket. We head over to Wes' class to hang up his jacket and then say hi to the teachers. I talk to his teacher about how well Wes did yesterday with keeping his underwear dry and that we just need to get him using the potty for poop (maybe today- ed. note: HA HA HA no). I tell Wes that we should go potty and Izzy comes with. He pees successfully, everyone washes their hands, and we head back into the classroom. I ask the kids to give me hugs and Izzy pushes me over with her exuberance. Finally, they push me out the door and run back into their classroom to play.

I jump in the car to drive back home. Park the car, grab my backpack and start walking to the train. I'm still happy that it is barely drizzling- hopefully it stays this way for at least 45 more minutes. I catch the train and watch the Amazon Prime show Catastrophe on my ride in. I'm on Season 3 and I'm really enjoying the show! For my walk to work I put on the Nerdette Recaps Game of Thrones with Peter Sagal podcast about Season 8 Episode 3's show.

8am- I'm in the office and I check my email before grabbing some coffee with sugar free French vanilla creamer (1 pt). I start working on an employee's performance review.

9:30- One of my favorite coworkers who I am really going to miss stops by. We talk about my new job, running (he is training for the Chicago marathon again), and softball. I'm sad because he won't be in the office tomorrow for my going away party.

10am- Decide to do a DITL because I want to memorialize one of my last days working in the city. I start writing down the morning while I eat a banana and a Dannon Light n Fit Greek Yogurt Strawberry & Banana (2 pts). I continue to work on performance reviews for my employees and a flyer for an upcoming event for my boss.

My (mostly) caffeine and snack drawer

11:45- I bring my employee into my office for his mid year review. I also finish up the save the date flyer for my boss and send it over to him.

12:40- Heat up my lunch. Kale and butternut squash soup (0 pts) and a small portion of pineapple curry with shrimp (8 pts?) leftover from takeout this weekend. Sorry for the curry smell in the hallway fellow coworkers! I read through the Washington Post Daily 202 newsletter while eating lunch.

What a gross day outside

1:15- Update some spreadsheets on projects that I am handing off to my boss. I'm down to 9 unread emails! After a bit I tackle all of my files to see what I need to give to my boss and what I can recycle or toss. Almost 11 years of files. It's crazy what I am finding in them! 

3pm- I snack on an apple. I talk to a few coworkers and read some personal emails. I walk a letter down to the mailroom to get some steps in. I have been sitting way too much today. I continue to go through files. So much paper to be recycled. The cleaning woman comes by and is shocked to see all of my pictures down and so much stuff missing from my office. I let her know that I am leaving and she gives me a hug and says she will miss me. I continue looking through files and promptly snag two nails. I go to the bathroom and head out the door to pouring rain at 4:30pm.

On the way to the train I continue to listen to the Nerdette podcast. It's raining and I am struggling to carry my heavy backpack with personal items from the office that I am bringing home and a bag with an umbrella.

5:35- I'm home. I feed the cats and head upstairs to change clothes. I start preparing dinner- greek chicken bowls with homemade tzaiki sauce, a small salad and homemade hummus. (Pita bread- 7 pts, white rice- 3 pts, salad dressing- 1 pt, hummus- 2 pts)

Hungry cats

Dinner

CP and kids come in with three bags of clothes- two poop accidents and one pee accident for Wes.

6pm- The kids sing during dinner. We talk about the fire drill that they had at school today and Wes starts to freak out that we have an alarm in our house. Wes runs to CP and sits in his lap because he gets scared with the conversation. I hope Wes gets over this because in a few years I can't imagine how he is going to do with active shooter drills. Izzy regales us with a story about the ice cream sandwich she got to eat for a classmates birthday today. 

Wes at dinner

Izzy eating dinner

After a few more minutes of dinner, Wes toots- is it time to sit on the potty? Wes somewhat willingless sits on the small potty and sings his abcs. He wants to get off potty so CP plays the Poco Loco video (from Coco) to keep him on.

Afterwards, I help Izzy with homework while CP takes wes up for a bath. 

Izzy runs upstairs for her bath as I head down to the basement to scrub poop out of Wes' underwear, throw the laundry into the washer and scoop some cat poop. 

So sick of poop already

My back hurts as I walk up the stairs. I'm confused with whatever CP is playing upstairs for the kids while they are in the bath- a song about a donkey? Man, my stomach hurts- the greek bowls weren't a good choice. I gather pants, socks & underwear together for Wes at daycare tomorrow and help him brush his teeth.

Izzy puts on pajamas and pullup. I hug Wes and he starts to read with CP. Izzy picks out her Earth book and wants to read about volcanoes. 

Posing in her skeleton pajamas

Halfway through I show her pictures of us in Hawaii. We read her book until 8, I give her a hug, then leave the room.

Wes decides that needs me again so pick him out of crib and sing him two songs. I put his blankets on him and head downstairs to get my running shoes on. While I think about it, I write the check for cleaners who are coming tomorrow and put the key outside so that they can get in. CP is busy cooking habanero peppers to make a sauce for the Cuatro de Mayo party we are having on Saturday.

I try to pick up the house as I walk through rooms so that the cleaners can do their job tomorrow. Move laundry from washer to dryer. I finally stop procrastinating and get on treadmill to watch Catastrophe. The speed on the treadmill is off so I have no idea how far I ran, but I ran for 45 minutes.

9pm- Take laundry out of dryer. Open computer box from my new company and set up the computer while stretching and talking to CP. Marshmallow is cuddling with CP on the couch while Cocoa is interested in my shoelace. I already have 57 emails (what? I haven't even started yet!)- thankfully mostly invitations from my new boss for meetings next week. I see a “virtual happy hour” meeting for Friday afternoon. How is that going to work- does everyone grab a beer and get on the video chat? 

Email HR at the new company to let them know I had no problems logging in and put away computer. Tidy up downstairs a bit. I grab a fun size pack of M&Ms and eat it (3 pts) while I chug some water. CP and I have a conversation about how will we work pickup and dropoff next week with the kids now that I am going to work from home.

10:05- Head upstairs to shower.

10:50- I finally put my phone down and have trouble falling asleep.

11:49- CP is snoring and wakes me up. I make him get on his side and then I get up to pee. Back to sleep.

5:15- alarm goes off again and it’s a new day.

WW points- 28 pts

Steps- 14,571

Working from home

Weird. This WAS a draft and somehow it got published. Oh well, here is the final post.

Saturday morning while CP and Wes ran some errands, Izzy and I put together my new work desk.

Amazon special

As you can see, there isn't a lot of room for my desk so it was hard to find something that would work in the space while also allowing for some room for files, a pull out keyboard, etc. So far, so good.

My DIY treadmill desk!

After my first week of work when I STRUGGLED to get steps in- on Thursday I went for a 4.5 mile run after work and after finishing I still had not hit 10,000 steps- I decided that I needed to do something about it. I searched for DIY treadmill desks and found a super simple tutorial that was less than $20. I'm looking forward to using it during conference calls and trainings. I've heard that it's not great for the motor on a regular treadmill to use it for hours on end every day so I'll probably just keep it to an hour or two, but still, those extra steps will help so that my ass doesn't get too big while I work from home!

So far so good with my new job. I really like my boss and although it seems like there are some personality issues with another manager and one of my coworkers, that manager is leaving next month so hopefully things will settle down afterwards. Everyone seems really nice and I'm excited about the projects that I am starting to work on.