Month 8: Biz is standin....(yeah yeah yeah!)

I give up, you little shit.  You're growing up too damn fast!!  This month has been like a whirlwind....you had so many firsts and you are just on fire!!  Please slow down.  Please??

Size - About 19 pounds....you are almost out of 9 month clothes and into 12 months in pants....you are so tall, girly q!!  Maybe volleyball in your future?  Hmmm.  More power to ya, hun.  Mommy loves the game but has no coordination.  If you take after your mom maybe you have pole vaulting in your future!  On second thought.....never mind!

Likes: All the food.  REAL food, not baby food, thank you.  Playing with your bro.  Swinging in your swing outside.  Playing all on your own with the floor piano and making music!  Pretty much everything amazes you lately.  You have totally stopped being a baby and are taking the world by storm more and more every day.  I simultaneously love it and it breaks my heart.  Funny how time flies, isn't it??

Dislikes: Sleeping at night.  Cutting teeth.  Having your nose wiped.  Not being able to walk yet.  Bud, I'm all with ya on the last 3 but sleep at night is delicious.  Ca we please talk about that???

Sleep: Oh kiddo.  We hit this regression hard.  You've been up every 45 minutes to hour at night for the last few weeks.  Although, to your credit, you are cutting 4 teeth right now, which is sucky and I wouldn't wish on anyone.  I'm feelin ya, Biz Biz.  But....2am is such a nice hour for sleeping.  I promise.  And I promise that Mommy isn't the only one that can fix it, K?  (AKA I will give you $20 for every night you wake Daddy up.  Promise. .....but lets keep that between us girls, k? )  Crap.

Eating:  Everything.  You tolerate purees, but you really love crackers, pasta, bananas, tofu, and baby pancakes.  You also adore carrots and yogurt, but you would prefer to feed yourself thankyouverymuch.  And you are still a champ at bfing, but if you bite me one more tim, you little shit, I swear Ill....well there's an empty threat :-P.

Milestones/Firsts:
Standing.  Just happened a few days ago!
Crawling...you are better at going backwards, but forward works sometimes too!

Real food.  See above.
Mother's Day.  What a perfect day with both my awesome kiddos.  You totally completed it!!

Best Moment: Watching you start to explore the world around you.  You want to see everything, taste everything, touch everything.  And you love your kitties.  You and Meb are already best buds.  It's awesome to see you experience everything the first time kiddo...I love it!!!

Looking Forward to:  Summertime fun time.  We are going to the zoo this weekend, and you are already signed up for swimming lessons.  We have so much fun planned between races, camping, Stoeybrook, Alex Bay and so many other things.  I can't wait!!!

I promise.

Not to blog more.
Not to post "x" a week.
Not to stop freaking neglecting the six of you that read here.

I do.  I have ideas, I have thoughts.  I know you all want to know how my 30 mile run went 3 weeks ago (It hurt.  But I needed it.  And thank god I did it, or I would be crapping my pants about Saturday!).  I know you want recipes (I have them.  Some kick ass summer salads, an easy coffee cake and a delicious diabetic cranberry bread).  I KNOW you want to know about the kiddos (Biz's 8 month update WILL be posted this week, I promise!!).  And whats up about those races, Miss "I love to train?? (Yep.  Mind the Ducks 12 hour is this weekend.  And yes, I did sign up to run a marathon in the middle of the fucking desert in June).

My beautiful "distractions" :-)

Caught up?  Nah, I know it.  One would think that a taper would afford me the time to actually chat on a forum I sorely miss and love communicating on.  But Ill tell ya.  Life with a full time job and two kiddos and half a work crew and family drama llamas and training 50 miles per week well....I have to sleep sometime.  maybe for 2 hours :-P.  But the BLOG.  I know it.  Please bear with me, I promise I'm not gone for good!!!

I don't have a recipe post in me right now - the pics are on my camera and the recipe is scrolled on notebook paper....I wont forget it.  I also dont have a thought provoking race post in me and THANK goodness Biz doesn't "turn" 8 months for 3 more days!

So, how bout them ducks??  You got it.  I am officially "tapering" although after Greg tore up my plan, I really have been winging it with about 40-45 mpw over 4 runs.  I maxed out at 30 miles 3 weeks ago, which I wisely took the day off and ran on the course.  Almost 6 hours later, we got it in and shockingly I felt decent after wards.  Hungry and sore, but not falling over dead.  Yay me!

so, the race is 5 days away.  And back in 2014, I had a bit more time to navel gaze.....yeah, screw that.  Ive got a few runs, a massage tomorrow, and I'm basically packing a cooler and some extra shoes and hair ties.  This isn't a vacation, its a frickin race.  I plan to have some back ups, but in my car.  I dont need to pack a tent or clothes for a week just to haul that crap back to my car!  I also don't have planned crew - I would love to have some ooo-rahs support, and I will love you if you come out.  But I completely understand if you don't think watching me run around in circles for 12 hours is top on your to do list.  (I respect you, lol).  I havent checked the weather.  Why would I? Everyone else is!!

I did do a few smart things.  I broke in 3 pairs of shoes perfectly, in case of water spills (MOM) or in case of life.  I ordered a travel pack for my breast pump (12 hours IS a long time).  I scheduled a massage.  And NOT a dentist visit so I can, ya know, carb load and not lose 5 pounds race week.

Last time, I managed just shy of 54 miles on race day.  I think I was better prepared physically (who trains for this shit with a 2 year old and 8 month old??), but I think I'm better prepared mentally this time around.  12 hours without being responsible for anyone but me?  Doing what I love best?  With people as crazy as me?  Sure, Ill run around a pond for that.  Or 60 times (I hope).

Cheers.

Lucky number 7!!

Yay, Biz is a big seven months old!  Sitting, eating, walking, talking, dating....ok, well maybe not the last few.  But she does bounce it out like a champ, babbles about god knows what wit her bro (oiy, we are in trouble!!) and hits on the boy baby down the street like there's no tomorrow.  Biz, those eyes!  Yikes.  Mommy needs to have a chat with you, girlfriend....

So whats up in the world of Biz a biz?  Here goes!....

Size - Went in for a flu shot yesterday kiddo and just under 18 pounds.  You are a solid girl!  You still are super tall for your age and a perfectly healthy little girl.  You go, kiddo.  Don't let anyone bust on ya for those strong Pellegrino/Glaser leggos - they come in super handy for kicking boys....errr...running and playing. Yeah. thats what I  meant!

Likes: Your jumper.  Takin a bath.  Peaches.  Yogurt  Snuggling with Mom and Dad.  And scootching and sitting up with your toys!  You love being outside and swinging in the tree swing or just going for a walk or run in the jogger.  You are such a super happy kiddo, Dad and I are so blessed!!

Dislikes: Still would rather have real food over the baby puree.  We gave you some real food to gnaw on for baby weaning....you loved tofu and carrots but aren't quite into gumming enough before swallowing so....out that went.  You also HATE being left out of anything Rob is doing or being left alone.  You tolerate nap time, but only if Rob is gonna nap too!!  Still aren't a fan of the crib at night, but hey.  We like co-sleeping too, kiddo.  We don't sleep, but we love you, so it's pretty much worth it!

Mom, I got work to do!!

Sleep: See above.  You are really getting a ton better at nap time, once you settle down, you can nap for a good hour or two.  Nighttime is still a bit rough....prob about 2-3 wake ups a night.  At least once a night you like to talk politics.  Biz, stop it.  There is no good choice for 2016.  Mommy keeps trying to figure these crazy candidates out, but if you really have advice, you better move it.  The primary is in three days!!

Eating: Doin better with botttles - you go girl!!  You also like multi grain cereal, peaches, yogurt, and cantaloupe.  Not so sure about sweet potatoes this month, but you still adore carrots and peas. Hey, its cool.  You loved tofu and also mangoes - my little hoover!!

Milestones/Firsts:
Sitting up like a champ.  You rock out at this now - oh the things to see!!
First scootch.  We will be crawling soon....big bro is teaching you - what a good guy he is!!
First Easter - You loved your basket!  Not sure about that whole dress thing though....but the cantaloupe for brunch was good :-P
First consonant vowel string - You babble like a pro now, kiddo.

Best Moment: When we put up Robs old tree swing and plopped you in it - you LOVED it!  And when Rob pushes you in the jumper, the coos and laughter are so amazing, sweetie.  I just love seeing you so happy and seeing my kiddos play together.  Love.  This is what I always wanted.

Looking Forward to: Mother's Day with my full brood, watching you crawl and explore the world around you, and getting outside with you...to the park, the zoo, the beach....its going to be a wonderful spring, kiddo!!!

Slacky McSlackerson

Yep, there ya go.  3 weeks since a post?  Yikes!  All I can say is...I've been insanely busy...snuggling babies.  Dancing with toddlers.  Running when I can - including Johnny's ROTG first race of the season, yay! (41:xx - no PR but not bad for LSD running for MTD.  Race report has been in progress for 3 weeks.  I'm not optimistic), spending time with friends and family, sleeping,  HAH - and basic adulting.  Whew.  It gets tiring.

With that said, I apologize.  No more laying out all of the excuses.  If I have a blog, I should blog, dammit.  So, what's new?  I would say happy spring but we all know how that's going - we had Easter Brunch with Greg's fam yesterday and Greg and I decided to be highly appropriate.....

Yep, that's a Christmas outfit.  What?  We had more snow now than we did at Christmas!  (Plus it fits now, lol).

In terms of training, that's well.... a train wreck.  I revised my friggin plan again, but due to Achilles issues and life, am having a hell of a time getting all of the runs in (TWSS).  So, because he is a shit and he loves me, Greg freed me from the constraints of my OCD type A training mentality and...ripped up my plan.  5 weeks till go time, and I now have a 24 miler, a 30 miler, and an 18 miler on my calendar and  then whatever the hell else I feel like.  It's liberating and terrifying.  I got in 44 miles last week without a plan and everyone survived, so that's good.  I also found a massage therapist that I might run away with and never come back can work through my mess of leg muscles, so I' cautiously optimistic that May 14th might not be a total failure.  If it is, I might just give in 2 hours into the race and go nap for 10 hours at the Holiday Inn.  Hey wait...that's a plan.....

Family is good.  Biz is going through a sleep regression and likes to talk about politics at 3am  I love her dearly but I told her debating the presidency is a waste of time since it's obvious who we need to vote for...

Rob is doing well. He went on a play date with the same little girl that he had dinner with last month and told us all about how he wanted to snuggle with her.  I thought it might be a problem with her Dad till they sent us a video of the two feeding each other chicken and slow dancing to "This is Love" from Cinderella.  I never thought my next big purchase would be a Mother of the Groom dress but I suppose life is unpredictable...LOL.

And thats about it.  Work is work.  (Ya know, aside from all the soap watching I do at home all day.  AHEM.) I've been on the back burner with new recipes due to winter blahs and no sleep ever, so I'll work on turning that around!  Greg and I are debating a clean eating month (Ok, he is.  I like my M&Ms too much, thank you).  But since I am an awesome passable wife, Ill cook clean and post some of the ones that turn out well!!  

Until next week...(I promise!)

College tomorrow? - Biz, 6 months old!

Biz.  Stop.  For real.  Where did my little infant go?  My goodness!!  Today is epic - you are now closer to toddler than baby!!  Yikes!!  And since your mommy forgot your 5 month post (yep, you are the forgotten child, so sorry, I'll pay for therapy :-( ) we have a heck of a lot to catch up on!  So what's up with my not so little biz a lator?  Here goes!

Size -We go back to the docs next week, but according to my scale, you weigh in at just over 17 pounds.  That's almost triple your birth weight - my big girl!  You are SO tall...clocking in at the 90th percentile and already in 9 month pants because the 6 month ones are too short!!  You just graduated to size 3 deeps (don't worry, I bought more - we were down to 1500 lol) and you have the most awesome little roly polies.  No creases, just super sturdy leggos!!  

Likes: Your brother.  Little one, you adore your big bro.  You get the biggest grin
on your face whenever he is around, and the feeling is entirely mutual.  Love this. You love the bath!  Now that you and bro take a bath together (I know, this is only for a little bit!!) you have so much fun splashing and kicking and eating all the bath toys.  You also love your 'hoverround' as we call your play bouncer.  You are getting into the Johnny jumper, too!  Anything to stay in motion.  Anything.
Dislikes: Not being able to walk. This mushy crap we call "food" that we feed you when you really just want a frickin slice of pizza.  I know, Biz, I know.  But...as Rob says..."You hafta WAIT!".  Your pizza and cake will come girly q.  I promise.

Sleep: Well, this sorta isn't fair.  Right now you're cutting a tooh, so talking about your sleep habits is just cruel.  Right now, you are up every hour.  But NORMALLY, you do 2-3 naps per day and sleep pretty well 8pm-6am, maybe one or two wake ups, with a dream feed around 11.  Not too bad.  And yep, we co-

sleep.  You sleep better, we sleep better, and my stress over "all babies need to sleep in their crib all of the times" game I played with your brother was super fun but....no.  We are working well.  And that's all that matters!

Eating: You eat ALL OF THE things.  Except bottles.  Yep.  You hate anything that is not boob authentic (probably our fault, as you have had so few bottles!!).  You love sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, apples, pears.  You are not a fan of baby cereal or peas but we keep trying!  You are also still a superstar at BF'ing...but we gotta work on those bottles, kiddo.  mommy does like to go out

every once in awhile :-P

Milestones/Firsts:
First solids!  Carrots.  You think they are pretty tasty.
First Highchair feed!  You are a pro.  You grab that spoon and noms like its your job.  You also like to smear it on your face, but hey, at least you eat with gusto!  You actually hate to be fed - you want to do everything yourself!  Wonder where you get it from....
First creep - not long till we crawl!
First sit up.  You would prefer to run but....I guess this will have to do :-D
First nanny time - You love your new bff, and the feeling is mutual!! (Unless it's eats time.  Then, Mommy.  Just. Mommy.)

Best Moment: Aside from the adorableness that is you ad bro, I love our Biz n mommy chats.  You are getting such a voice, little love.  You love singing and talking to mommy...and I love hanging out with you!! My little mini me.

Looking Forward to: Crawling, new teeth (any day!), and Easter! Also with the warmer weather, itll be time fir some mommy and biz biz runs, yay :-)

Getting Warmer....

Well hello hello.  I started this post last week then....snowmageddon happened.  We are pretty well versed in the white stuff here in western NY but we got something like a foot 2 hours...during rush hour.  Yikes.  add in another foot and a half over the day, and we were totally buried.  Perfect weather for....

Baby snuggling.  Treadmill running.  and soup.  and while I am a bit late to the party a week later, it's a balmy 25 out here right now so...soup it is.  I found some kale on super sale at Tops last week, and while I love the stuff as "chips" (google it, its a pretty awesome way to eat your greens), I seriously had a 3 pound bag of the stuff.  What to do?  Pretend we are going out for a night on the town and make homemade Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana (with ingredients from my pantry, natch.).  Super Easy,  Check it out.


Glaser Zuppa Toscana (serves 4)

4 cups kale, rinsed and rough chopped, stems removed
4 Italian sausage links - roughly half pound (I used turkey)
4 cups diced potatoes (I kept skins on)
1 med onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups chicken broth
2 cup water
1 cup sour cream OR sour cream veggie dip (my "pantry clean out")
1 tbsp each garlic salt and black pepper

Brown sausage with garlic and onion until cooked through (I used water to simmer, but olive oil would work too).  Let cool and cut sausage into bite sized chunks.  Load up the crockpot with onion, garlic, sausage, potatoes, chicken broth, water, salt and pepper.  Cook on low for 6 hours.  Add in kale and sour cream/dip and cook for 30 minutes.

I wasn't sure how it would turn out with the dip (I used marzetti veggie dip I had leftover) but it was freakin delish.  Served alongside some crusty bread for a meal that was toddler and adult approved.

 Mmmmm....up close goodness.

Biz also approved.  (Ok, of course we didn't really feed it to her.  Man, she was pissed.  Sorry kid, it's all about applesauce, carrots n rice.)

For what it's worth....we did go out on Saturday to the real OG (thanks so much for watching our littles, Liz :-)) and had a great Valentine's Day dinner.  Greg and I have so much to celebrate this year, and it was awesome to just sit for an hour and enjoy each other.  We are so lucky.

And on that running front...I re drew the MTD plan AGAIN.  I know, I know.  I realized that it probably is the dumbest thing I could do to try to do a 100k race 8 months PP with a two year old...so I re drafted my expectations.  I'm still gonna give it hell on race day but my training plan is a bit more reasonable now.  Going for 40-50 mpw, and a long run each week of at least 16 - which might be broken up into 2-3 segments.  I have 4 long runs on the calendar of 22-32 miles that will be done all at once and those are marked in our fam calendar as "Moms day off"(don't worry...I reciprocate lol).  I seem to find this less stressful and am actually looking forward to running now without worrying about "the plan".  For a ridiculously type A racer like me this isn't easy...I have my doubts about how prepped I will be, but it's a worthwhile experiment.  after all, Meb hasn;t called me to be his running partner yet (Or Desi....OMG girl crush) so I suppose it's still....just a hobby.  Repeat times a hundred.

Passing the Buck (or Bronco)

a big thanks.  To putting up with my commiserations last post.  Who was that?  I don't know.  But it generated some sweet emails and comments and...I feel loved.  and less defined by things that I don't "have" right now. That wasn't my intent, but you guys are just the best for it.  After I wrote that post, I went for my version of a therapist session....two hours of me and the roads.  and I realized a few  things.

  No one can make me feel inferior without my consent.  Smart lady, that Eleanor Roosevelt.  She's right. I let someone else get to me and to define what "success" is.  We all have our version of success, and what it means in our lives.  I'm usually pretty spot on if I'm there out of my own accord, and really don't need someone that has a tiny glimpse of my life to judge it.  And then I thought about that.  A glimpse.  That's all we get 99% of the time.  Facebook.  Twitter.  Coffee dates.  They showcase about one dinky little percent of our lives that we mean to show the world.  Usually it's not very accurate.  and it's almost always completely polarized - all roses or all thorns.  I don't know her world, why should I let it define mine?

Back in high school (was that really 18 years ago???) someone told me once that wise people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about people.  Granted, he was actually talking about me in a not so nice way so do what you will with that, but in his own way, he was right (we got over that fight and are still buddies, no worries).  So I thought about ideas.  If I was so bothered by this woman, what did I think was missing in my life?  I had a friend that worked at Lululemon...it was a damn cult, but they had each of their employees work up 1/5/10 year plans for their lives.  So I started to dream.  What did I want to do in a year?  In 5?  And not just career or money wise...where did I see myself in my relationships?  In my hobbies?  With my friends and family?  Hmmm.  So I sketched it out a bit (I need a recorder when I run).  I'm still thinking about it, but it seems that lousy coffee date might have given me a little kick to get a few things done for myself.  (No, I still can't pick a candidate.  and law school is NOT in my future).
So...TDLR; it was a good run.  and of course, I came back to a yelling toddler and a hungry baby...dinner to make and a shower (yes, I showered) to grab.  And I promptly forgot about this post.
Until last night.Well, Sunday I mean :-)
Our team, the Panthers, were in the Superbowl.  I say that loosely, because it was a ridiculously horrible game in which I'm quite sure a high school football team could have taken either team.  Peyton Manning...well, I can throw a ball better than that.  And Cam Newton, our quarterback....well, lets just say that his evil twin Stan (a long time joke) was probably on the field.  I don't guess to know what was happening in his life at that point, but I saw a football player who loved life and the game all season just show up and hate his passion.  And not even when he was down by two scores...but the whole game.  He wasn't having fun.  He didn't enjoy being there.  And it wrecked the whole night for him and his team (granted, everyone looked scared out there.  But Cam was the leader).  Somehow, something got under his skin and he decided for better or worse to stop being Cam.  And it was his undoing.
People are now calling judgement, labelling him cocky and a sore loser. and he definitely did NOT handle himself well, there's no doubt about that.  But for better or worse,he let someone else define him for sixty minutes of one of the most important days of his life.  and the results were terrible.
So I'm done with that.Next post, back to blogging me. I've enjoyed our dear diary moment and won't hide my crumbs, I promise, but I will share the cookies (spoiler alert) and talk about my training, kiddos, and "how to play" inspiration.  And maybe a goal or two in there that I picked up from this experience.  I leave you with...

Baby love.  Cause we all need it :-).  Hugs.