Tuesday, January 31, 2012

I got quoted!!

I didn't make the book, but I did make the blog!

(You can see my hook in my 9 week belly pic.)

Monday, January 30, 2012

Benchmark

Last night I ran to my parents' and back with Z in the stroller to check their mail and pick some stuff up.  I ran with the Garmin (my old friend, how I've missed you!) and discovered that their house is .85 miles from mine.  Door to door.  It took me 9:19 minutes to get there.  So there's my benchmark: may it NEVER take that long again.

It took me 9:09 minutes to get home.  But I had to really push the last 4 blocks or so to make that happen!

(What is that - 10:20ish a mile?  With a stroller, that's not too bad!  I was really feeling it, though.)

Other miscellanea:
#2 on the super-secret 12in2012 goal accomplished.
#4 for books read for 12in2012.  The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson was a great read!
Dear Zoë, please start sleeping through the night again.  Mama needs her sleep, even if you don't.
Had a very big cooking day yesterday: corncakes (these taste like cornbread and freeze well and work great for the baby), pudding, quinoa, maple salmon, and Preston did garlicky cream corn, garlic mashed potatoes, mushrooms, and steak.  We've got a ton of leftovers in the fridge!  And only 2 meals left to cook this work week: spaghetti squash (which is easy and also popular with the Z), and frozen pizza on Thursday!  Annnnd I managed to stock 5 yogurts, 3 lunches, and 1 breakfast for the Z's week in daycare, which will make evenings easier as well.
Also: lmao.

Friday, January 27, 2012

My Kid is a Genius

We went for a walk after dinner, and the Z looked up at the crescent moon, pointed at it, and said, "Moon!". We were floored! Then she said, "Up high." Holy shit, this Kid is a freaking genius.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Quote of the Day

“We can’t instill a love of running in our children, but by going out every day and running, we can show them why we love it so much.” --Joan Benoit Samuelson

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The Plan for this Week

(Maybe if I type it, it'll come true.)

Monday: Run (Check.)
Tuesday: Tae Bo Cardio Circuit 1 (Check.)
Wednesday: Run
Thursday: 30 Day Shred
Friday: Run (Maybe run to the gym, lift, run home?  In the early afternoon?)
Saturday: Maybe the Piney Woods Trail Run?  Or maybe off.
Sunday: Probably off.

2 down, several to go.

Monday, January 23, 2012

12 in 2012: Books 2 and 3 = DONE

On Friday I finished Dragon's Fire by Anne McCaffrey.  I've read almost all of her Pern novels, and I love the series, but this one had gotten past me somehow.  Even better, I found it on my library's Overdrive offerings, so I was able to check it out for 2 weeks for free.  I was a little stressed about having to get through it in 2 weeks, but I got through most of it in breaks and on lunches (ok, and one afternoon because my Mom was in town and offered to take the baby until dinnertime), and I was so absorbed in it by Thursday evening that I knew I was going to "waste" time on Friday reading.  And I did.  And it was glorious!

Then when I was cataloging at work the other day, I ran across a YA novel that caught my attention.  I actually love to read YA novels.  They are great "beach" reads for me - usually 2-4 hours and done, nothing too mentally taxing, just good (good old day) stories.  So Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally became #3.  It was.... meh... but what a great way to waste a Friday!

Other updates:

Aunt Dollie moved into a skilled nursing facility on Saturday.  6 days after we thought she was dying.  The doctor even told her before she left the hospital that he was shocked that she lived.  Seriously.  The woman must be part cat.  Or Energizer Bunny.  Or something.

I'm over the worst of my sickness.  I've been feeling better since Saturday. 

I ran this morning.  It was a really great run.  About 55 degrees, and I just went out the door, ran for 2.75 miles, and back home.  I pushed from the halfway point on, and I really pushed the last few minutes.  I've come to the conclusion that I'm not pushing enough.  I will work to remedy that.

P and Z and I got family pictures taken on Saturday.  I'm so happy that we finally did it, and I'll probably regret not doing it earlier forever.  But at least we finally did it.  I think they came out really well, and am already plotting doing it again with Gaga and Papi, perhaps for Gaga's birthday, which nicely coincides with Z's 18 month birthday.

I have not managed to avoid eating out this month.  I think I've broken down 3 times so far, once when we were out and there was nothing at home and we were all starving, we got PF Chang's take-out, and I got something I knew was relatively healthy/low calorie, once when Aunt Dollie had her heart attack - hospital food, not healthy at all, but what was I going to do?, and once last weekend after we went to see Aunt Dollie, we went to Panda Garden, which has the BEST fried rice EVAR (and is the only Chinese place other than PF Chang's that I know of that doesn't use MSG) and it was sooooooo good and I don't feel guilty at all. :-)

Weight this morning: 133.8.  5 pounds down so far this month!  (And it got as low as 132.0 when I was sick and before I ate Panda Garden nomminess.)

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Annnnnd Obstacles Abound

First off, the good: Saturday we spectated the US Olympic Marathon Trials, and it was THE AWESOME.  I have plans to write a spectator report.  (But I also have plans to write up a Christmas recap, so.... we'll see.)  But it was THE AWESOME.

Then Sunday we set the alarm early to get up and get me to the EP5K.  I went upstairs to wake the Z, and the child was FLAMING HOT.  Serious fever.  So I didn't run.  I probably could have gone by myself, but I had planned on getting dropped off and not worrying about parking.  So I was already running late at that point.  And I definitely wasn't taking Z out of the house in the cold with a fever.  And I really didn't much want to leave her, either.  And so Mama had her first DNS casuality to the baby.  Something tells me it won't be the last.  But I was really disappointed and kind of down about it all morning.

I took the baby up to pat her down for her nap around 11.  While I was patting her, I kept imagining that I heard Preston's voice, odd, because neither of us ever really talks on the phone, and there was no one else in the house.  Also odd because there was a ton of white noise in the house: clothes washing and drying, pressure cooker, dishwasher, hood vent.  When I finally got Z to sleep, I went downstairs to the news that Aunt Dollie had had a heart attack. 

We actually jumped into action rather slowly.  At first P misunderstood and thought that it had happened the night before.  And she was awake, so it wasn't quite as alarming.  Pretty soon, though, the caregiver called back and told him that he needed to get to the hospital asap.  I knew we couldn't take the Z, so I sent him along, finished the cooking, and then took her to her grandparents' house so I could go to the hospital.

It was dark times.  P called me while I was driving.  Aunt Dollie is a DNR and they were wanting to intubate.  I got to his dad's and basically threw the baby at them and ran back to the car.  I was at least 45 minutes from the hospital, and all I could think of was that he needed my support.

When I got there... well... I just didn't see how she was going to make it.  You know what a normal heartbeat looks like?  Hers was unrecognizably in A-fib.  It looked more like a TDF elevation profile than a heartbeat.  And her breathing.  She was struggling so much to breathe.  Every breath expanded her chest and her neck... it looked like she was using every muscle she had just to get air.  And her heartrate was hovering around 120.  She's 90 years old.  A heart that old just can't sustain a workload like that for very long.

I won't go into the minutia of the rest of that day.

The shocking thing was the next day: I went to see her and she looked *better*.  Quite a bit better.  Not struggling to breathe.  Much.  Heartbeat looked more like a heartbeat.  Which is always comforting.  She even ate a few bites of food.

She wasn't and isn't out of the woods yet.  Her heart is still in an irregular rhythm.  That puts her at risk for blood clots and other nasty issues.  But yesterday she sat up.  And today they are talking about moving her into a real room.  Some day soon I'm going to write a post about how amazingly strong this woman is.  90 years old.  Has survived cancer, a broken-hip fall, 2 major abdominal surgeries at 87 and 88, and now a major heart attack.  She's a true tough Texas woman.  No doubt.

Then in the midst of all this, I came up sick yesterday.  I'm not running, and I obviously can't expose Aunt Dollie to my evil germs, so I'm back out of things for a bit.  What a wild ride we're on.  Seriously.

Friday, January 13, 2012

12 in 2012: Book 1 Down!

Completed Infinity Blade: Awakening by Brandon Sanderson this week.  On my Christmas Kindle, which I love, love, love!!

The novel was good.  I like Sanderson's writing.  I discovered him when he took over Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.  I read his stuff to make sure I "approved" of them selecting him to complete the series that I loved so much (like I had a say, ha!), and I like him well enough that I've now read everything he's written except the two newest, which I just bought for my Kindle, so soon EVERYTHING he's written.

This was just a fun, short little novel based on a game.  Interesting enough that I'm curious about the game now.  And that I wish he could have carried the story further (but I'm guessing that's what the game does).  Fun read.  Beach-type read, for me, but I wanted to start off with fun stuff.  If only 12+ books a year is your goal, it either needs to be really fun, really interesting, or really useful stuff!

Moving on now to an Anne McCaffrey Pern novel that I somehow haven't read before.  Checked it out (on my Kindle) from the library, boo yah!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Runners Run

That's a line from Monique Rubin's Why I Run essay over at Another Mother Runner.

And it spoke to me.

Monday morning I ran because I was in a full panic over the 5K that I have coming up on Sunday.  You know, because I haven't run since THANKSGIVING.

This morning I ran because I'm a runner.  And runners run.  Damnit. 

No excuses that it was chilly.  That there was a warm kitty on me that made me get up late.   That I didn't have enough time.  I got out there and did what I had time for.  And was glad: there was the most interesting thing going on this morning.  A front was blowing in.  I'd hear what sounded like rain, far off, like it was coming towards me quickly.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky.  The sound would rush towards me, and as it got closer, I'd realize it was leaves, then the trees around me would begin bending violently in the wind, leaves rattling, and a huge gust of cold wind would hit me.  The gust would be followed by a few seconds of a steady blow, then some little stirring multi-directional gusts, then nothing until I heard the distant rain sound in the trees.  And it repeated over and over this morning.  It was cold, but really kind of lovely.

The 5K on Sunday will make this my first 3 run week in a long time.  :-)  And that makes me feel like a runner.  And that is a very good thing.

Monday, January 9, 2012

2012 Race Plans

Gotta get going for 12 in 2012!

Feeling pretty good about:
1/14 - EP5K
3/3 - Woodlands 5K Fun Run.  Because why not?
3/17 - Warrior Dash.  Because they have medals.  And beer.
3/31 - Bellaire Trolley Run 5K
11/22 - Turkey Trot 8 miler

Potentials:

1/28 - Piney Woods 5K Trail Run
2/18 - Buffalo Wallow Cross Country 6K
3/10 - Bayou City Classic 10K
3/24 - Eikenburg Law Week 8K
4/18 - LP Run - 33 1/3 minutes
6 - Dad's Day 5K?

7/4 - something

Lol, this is 12, but I'd guarantee that I don't make all 12 of these.  And that *isn't* my goal.  I'm just musing at this point.  Except about the EP5K and the Woodlands Fun Run, because I'm already signed up for those!

Friday, January 6, 2012

16 Months

I'm interrupting the mommy-focus of this blog because my shrimpie is turning 16 months old today.  16 months.  (Wait, is she 16 months?  Or is she only 15 months?  Why when I'm counting it on my fingers is it only 15 months?  Did I really somewhere add a month??  HOLY CRAP, if she is only 15 months, she is UBER-advanced.)

Restarting: I'm interrupting the mommy-focus of this blog because my shrimpie is aging up a month today.  Not sure what month, but she definitely got older.  Today.

I think she is 15 months old.

We counted her words last weekend, and she had 114.  Words.  At 15 months.  At 12 months she had 15.  At 13 months she had maybe 20.  At 14 months she had 40ish.  And then she had some kind of mental breakthrough.  This morning I said, "Here's your medicine!"  And she said, "Med-i-cin".  And she knew what it meant because she got excited (because it is yummy, and mommy doesn't allow sugar except in medicine).  And the other night she pointed at the dinosaurs on her sleeper (not gender-stereotyping this squishy!) and said, "di-nu-suh".  For reals.  Also, the words that she has known for a while are suddenly becoming MUCH clearer.  Like milk.  The other day she went down for a nap, and milk was pronounced "muh!"  and when she woke up, it was pronounced "mi-L-K".  Slowly, with an emphasis on the "lk".  And "mo-mee" turned into a very clear "monkey" overnight last week.  It is crazy!  Crazy, I tell you.

Her favorite book, well, there are several, but this is a nice segue, is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See" by Eric Carle.  For those of you who don't know, it basically repeats that phrase with "I see a ___ ___ looking at me."  Over and over.  Last week, she was repeating "See" and "At me" at appropriate points in the formula.  This week sounds like this: "Bru bea, Bru bea......SEE!  Iiiiiiii.... seeeeeee....a...... AT ME!"  All that she is missing is "what do you" and the name of the thing being seen + "looking".  It is INSANE.  She asks for that one to be read over and over by signing "again" and saying "Agi, agi!".  Another book that she's loving is "Baby Beluga" by Raffi.  Let me tell you the back story on this one.  I listened to Raffi when I was a kid, and loved him.  When I had the baby, I knew I wanted her to have those songs, and I've been singing a lot of them to her.  The other day we wandered into the used book store, a and what do I find but that Raffi has made a book to go with the song.  I was *so* excited.  It is also pretty neat because it has a lot of sea creatures that she hasn't seen before for her to learn the names of .  Anyways, she calles it "GA" now (as in beluGA), and she asks for it "agi, agi" and again and again and again...

Oh, and speaking of songs, she totally E-I-E-I-Ooooooooos for "Old MacDonald" now, so cute!  And sings a good number of letters in the Alphabet Song.  And finishes off with a rousing "TOWN" at the end of every "Wheels on the Bus" chorus.  My baby loves her some music!

In other non-verbal developmental news, she's moved pretty solidly from two naps a day to 1, around 11 (but can be pushed back sometimes to 12)ish.  Usually around 90 minutes long.  Momma like.

She's developing quite a personality, too.  While I like the development, I'm not sure I always like the asserting of the personality.  Because it usually involves telling me no.  A lot.  And yelling at me when I don't comply with whatever she wants.  Which I don't do, because I'm the Momma, ghuy'cha'!

She had her second Christmas this last month, and boy, did she ever enjoy opening presents!  We'd make a little tear and she'd grab on and just pull and pull.  She helped everyone open their presents!  She also had her second New Year's, and once again, thank goodness, slept through the fireworks.

We went through a little period of fussy associated with a cold that eventually became a sinus infection, but even when little girl doesn't feel well, she's super-sweet. 

We've settled into a nice evening routine.  Home from daycare, make dinner (cookie! = cooking), eat dinner, read books while Daddy gets the shower ready, shower, a little play while getting the sleeper on, boobie, and bed.  The boobie still puts her to sleep more than half the time, but sometimes Daddy has to pat her down, still.

We've also got a lovely little morning routine.  Wake at 5:30, Daddy changes the diaper and gets her dressed while I get ready to nurse, breastfeeding (while Mommy watches Star Trek), then she sits in my lap and we share my oatmeal (O meeh!), then we move to the bedroom where she plays while I dress, then I brush my teeth (buh ti ti!) and hers, then put on my shoes (shoe!) and hers, then we grab her lunch and put on her jacket (ja kee) and head to daycare (school).

Love my little talking squishy.  15 months old and the time is flying!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

The New Eating Plan

Mostly me focused, only a bit baby focused. :-)

Work days (M-R)
6: Oatmeal (150 cal, 5 g protein, 4 g fiber - this is my nod to the baby, this'll have more protein and fiber when I'm done breastfeeding because I'll switch to Kashi Go-Lean Vanilla oatmeal 150 cal, 9 g protein, 7 g fiber)
7: Coffee on the way to work (180 cal, 8 g protein, 1 g fiber)
9: Stonyfield Oikos (90 cal, 10 g protein, 0 g fiber)
11: Pringles (110 cal, 1 g protein, 1 g fiber) + Sargento string cheese (50 cal, 6 g protein, 0 g fiber)
2: Amy's cheese burrito (310 cal, 7 g protein, 11 g fiber) + banana (approx. 100 cal, 1 g protein, 3 g fiber) + Viactiv calcium chew (20 cal.)
5:30ish: Dinner
7ish: Dessert (right now most likely 3 milky way darks = 80 cal. or Mocha Cinnamon Pudding that I tried for the first time last week - higher cal (funny, website says 194, magazine said 176), but it feels like I get to eat it for a loooooong time, which is a really good thing and may be worth the extra calories.)
= 1200 calories (42 g protein, 16 g fiber) plus dinner

So far, so good:
Jan 1: 1222 intake calories, as tracked in MyFitnessPal
Jan 2: 1829 intake calories
Jan 3: I'm on track so far!  Oatmeal, coffee, oikos, pringles.  Saving the string cheese for after lunch!

I don't actually have a hard-and-fast goal calorie number.  I want to know how many I ate, I want to be more aware of my eating, and I'd like my net to be around 1700.  But that can kind of average around, too.  Goals this month are NO EATING OUT.  AT ALL (except one time when I'm taking my staff to lunch, pre-planned, and I'm the boss so I can't get out of it!).  And no cooking anything that I know will be massively incompatible with my goals.  I actually think a month of really nit-picking like this will do me a world of good.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

12 in 2012

My previous post still stands, but at the last moment, I've decided in some concrete (maybe a little gimmicky) goals for 2012. It is simple: 2010 was the year of incubation, 2011 was the year of breastfeeding, so in 2012 I'd like to refocus on myself, at least a bit!

My non-mommy identity is in my love of books, my love of running/triathlon, and in my self confidence. Therefore I will:
Lose 12 pounds in 2012.
Read at least 12 books (other than to my child) in 2012.
Race 12 times in 2012.
And I have one other secret 12 goal.

That should be easy enough to remember! Let the games begin.

Resolutions

Reading back on my goals for 2011 really helps me put things in perspective.  Facing 2011 I was looking at totally uncharted territory.  Zoë slept through the night for the very first time on New Year's Eve, and on New Year's Day, I had no idea if that was a fluke or not!

Given that I had no idea what life (and my Kid) would have in store for me, this what what I made my goal: "I would like to return to my pre-pregnancy weight range (125-130 lbs), start working out regularly again, start back to work and maintain a healthy work-life separation."

I chose to let my real goals in smaller monthly increments since I thought I'd have a better idea of what life was like on a monthly basis.  But, I've fallen down on most of my monthly goals this year.  I think partially because I was setting super-high targets so that I'd have the motivation to struggle to achieve them, even if I knew when I was setting them that there was no way that they'd happen.  I think another part of it is that I continue to set goals like I'm not ruled by a tiny toddler terrorist.  (But let's face it, I am.)  And I think the final, and perhaps most important, component is that I've been struggling with my motivation.

So what have I accomplished this year?  Well, I didn't hit my goal range.  But I did lose weight.  Weight on January 1, 2011 was 148.8.  Weight this morning was 138.8 (cringe).  I'm not working out as much as I want, but when I look back over the year, I did actually log a good number of sessions (190 as of Dec 19), punctuated by several big gaps reflecting sickness and baby issues.  I started back to work, and for my glowing success, I have found what I think is a healthy balance - what I've discovered is that I don't take my work home with me, either physically or mentally with the Z at home, and that is a *wonderful* thing!  I also nourished a tiny human from my body for the ENTIRE YEAR.  And I did 5 races this year - that's not nearly as many as in the past, but it is an accomplishment since races are much more logistically difficult than they used to be!

Goals for 2012 are still nebulous.  And I'm still pretty sure that I'm pie-in-the-sky regarding what is realistic for me with the Shrimpie around.  BUT, I do have goals. 
  • I want back in that goal weight range (125-130).  
  • We're down to breastfeeding only morning and night at this point, and I want to make the mental shift from eating for breastfeeding to eating for myself, for weight loss (until I'm in that range), for workout-fuel.  (Difficult because I don't think I'm ready to want to lose my milk or quit breastfeeding, but I do feel like I need to re-focus my eating and relationship with food.  We've breastfed for 15 months, now, and let's face it, the Z doesn't *need* me for nutrition any longer.) 
  • I want to do "more" races.  I think having a looming race helps with my motivation.  I've been experiencing post-race doldrums, so I need to keep races on the calendar.  It is ok if I stick with short races again this year, I think that helps with the Kid around, but I would like to get back up to 10Ks, and I'd also like to be ready for the 8 mile Turkey Trot next Thanksgiving in Dallas.  
  • I want my working out to be more regular/more satisfying.  This past year I struggled with being really regular - I worked out regularly in fits and starts.  I allowed myself to get derailed by sickness, lack of sleeping through the night, etc.  I might still get derailed by these things, but I need to recover faster - i.e. don't throw in the towel on the whole week because Z didn't sleep through Sunday night!  I also want to be more satisfied with what I do - I often found myself just hopping on the stationary bike as a default.  And while it was better than nothing, I don't feel good about it because it isn't hard enough.  I need to really work, I need to really make the time count if I'm going to put it in.  Stationary biking just won't cut it unless I'm sick or in need of recovery time.
Let's put this a different way: my goal in 2012 is to feel good about myself and to make smart decisions.  I feel better about myself when my weight is under control, I'm making good food decisions, and I'm working out.  So that is what I want to do, but really those are means to the end goal, which is feeling good.