Half Marathon Pics!

This pic sums up the race day weather we ended up having, gorgeous!

Yeah I was working quite hard here....must have been the area of the course where I was told it was "smooth sailing" from here. ha.

Sealing the deal. Crossing the finish line!

Surftown Half Marathon

Well the half marathon was this past Sunday and it went really well! The start was early at 7:30 am so we got into RI the day before and got our race packets. The race packet pickup was at Olympia sports where I scored some really snazzy Puma sneakers that were on clearance for $33. Sweet!!

Ok Race day- the weather was perfect, it looked like it was really chilly because of the wind but Traci and I quickly realized we had 1 extra layer on that we didn't need. Since we had 15 minutes to kill before the start, we went back to my friend Sylvia's beach house (they hosted us for the weekend) to drop off our jackets & we get one last pee in! The race started on time and there was a quick little hill that was super narrow at one point and very uneven pavement right around mile 3-4. Like scary pavement where you NEED to watch where you step so you don't roll an ankle. That was a *dislike* for sure.

Overall the beginning of the course was pretty much flat up until 6-7 miles. The elevation map could have been wrong or I just don't know how to read a dam map but the freaking course was quite challenging right around 8 miles. Thankfully we have run lots of hills over our training and we got up those hills just fine and recovered quick off them. Kinda frustrating when a guy on a bike working for the race told us it was pretty much smooth sailing right around 9 miles when stopped for a pee break for Traci. Yeah he pretty much had NO IDEA what he was talking about.

My other suggestion would be to have more water/gatorade stops after the 7 mile mark. Early in the course it was very often and I feel like after mile mark 7 we could have used an extra one or two than what was offered. Other than that I would definitely run the race again and I hope they offer it again next year!

Now for my results -

1:59:29 official time (but this includes a 1.5- 2 minute pee break)
9:07 mile split

We finished exactly 50th percentile for the whole field of runners & in our age group (30-34).

Not bad for a race with allot of head wind! I wasn't expecting it to be windy. DUH. It is beach side. I have no idea why I didn't factor that in. But, I did expect the wind to be on our backs at some point but that really never happened....would have been nice for my time if it did!

In comparison to the last half marathon I ran I would say I was better conditioned for this one and more confident. My time reflected the same as last half marathon I ran when you consider taking out our time for our pee break. I wish that this year was faster but the head wind was definitely a factor and that narrow portion of the course that was super crowded.

My recovery seemed a little rough this go around. I was really tight on Sunday and Monday. Yesterday was so-so and today I feel great. I think Sunday the long car ride home from RI(about 2 hrs) and literally walking in my house for 20 minutes and getting back into the car off to Adam's brothers house with the boys/Adam's parents was not the best idea in hind sight. Too much sitting in the car too soon post race that's for sure. I didn't rest my legs at all until 9pm at night and at that hour it was too late. If only Sunday post race could have been more relaxed for me.... this just wasn't going to happen with 2 kids. Ahh...the good old days where I could race and come home and just relax. Those days are gone!

So now for race goals...I don't know really. I just want to race as frequently as possible (smaller stuff - 5k's, 5 miles or 10K's) until it gets way too cold up here and I become a treadmill runner for the cold winter months. I have a 5K I am eyeing this weekend and then a 5 miler around the corner, we'll see...

10 miles... check, Drink my butt off ...check!

So I guess all my worrying about last weeks lack luster training due to the weather was for nothing! Saturday morning was perfect running weather and Traci and I rocked our 10 miler! We could have ran forever it seemed, we ran 9:24 mile splits!

Saturday night we had a house party in honor of my birthday it was a blast, so much fun to be child free and drinking it up! I really felt like I deserved the night after that 10 miler and we were partying it up until 2 am. Haven't done that in very very long time! Only problemo was on Sunday morning when I woke up at 6:30am. My body would not let me sleep in it was the worst. I can't stand that so much, I desperately needed the sleep but it just never happened.

We went to the Polish Fair on Sunday, it was a tiny little fair but we went for the food. If I could eat Polish food at least 1 time a week I would be a happy girl! YUM!

This week is a taper week on my training, so I am feeling good and the weather is totally cooperating. It will get colder for the weekend but I am ok with that, I am anticipating some great race day weather, a slight chill in the AM and a breeze from the beach. I just got a race description and the coarse is primarily flat with one short steep hill so you just have to climb that as fast as possible. Sounds like I can deal with that a-ok because I am used to hills over here. This is the first time they are having this 1/2 marathon so I am sure there will be some things that are good and some that are bad but overall I think it will be a great race!

Training Update

As I mentioned in one of my previous post I am training for the SurfTown Half Marathon which is coming up right around the corner on the 18th of this month. Training has been going really well, up until this week grr...The rain coupled with the sun rising later each day has totally put a kink in my training. Having said that I missed my 5 miler yesterday and today it looks like I am missing my 3m or cross training that is on my schedule. Today is Adam's mom's birthday (Happy Birthday Debbie!! ) and tommorow is my 31st birthday. We will be having his parents over for dinner tonight and I feel like getting in a treadmill run today is even going to be hard. I have done very little treadmill running because lets face it, it sucks! I only run on a treadmill when I am desperate. Today might be that type of day but it will only be if I am lucky to get out of work here early enough...

So heres to keeping my hopes up for no rain tommorow and a safe 5 miler run in the dark before work! I have a 10 miler planned for Saturday morning which marks my longest run since my last half marathon last summmer. Last weekend I ran 9 miles with Traci and we ran it in 1.5 hours (pace was 10:00 min miles) I know I could and have run harder than that but the goal of the day was to get through it. I had a crummy nights sleep and it was humid, didn't help that I had 2 glasses of wine the night before. (you know the old story...I should have stopped at one!) In the end we felt good but those first 2.5 miles were quite miserable. Running is funny like that at times. It's almost like I need a 3 mile warm up sometimes to get into my groove.

Next week is a taper week which I know is very important to training effectively but having had these 3 past days makes me feel like I need to go all out next week. I know that is not a good plan so I just need to get focused for tommorow's 5 miler and my 10 miler on Saturday morning. After Saturday's run it's a party night for me, whooohooo!! Our friend's are coming over to our house for drinks and a casual night of pizzas and hanging out on the deck in honor of my birthday. I never had a birthday celebration for my 30th last year being preggers and all so this year I said what the hell, who cares if I am turning 31! I don't feel any older (for now...ask me in the morning on Sunday after I can't recover like I used to!). The night will be a nice break for us too without the boys. Adam's parents are taking these cuties for an overnight!



Here we are at the Goshen Fair this past weekend. Eli seemed to really enjoy the fair this year again, he loved the animals even more than last year obviously and the rides were so much fun for him! He even went down the giant slide with Daddy. Here they are enjoying the ride!

Eli's 2nd Birthday Party Rain Out & Indoor camping

Well it happened. The rain hit on Saturday and all our efforts of moving Eli's party start time up and crossing our fingers for overcast weather were gone. We made the best of it with an indoor party and to be honest it was total chaos, people everywhere, toys everywhere and kids lucky they didn't get stepped on pretty much!

My only saving grace was our established "playroom" we have now! Yay! Most of the toys stayed in there, the room got TRASHED but the kids had a blast so that was good. There were 14 kids including Eli and 3 babies, and like 30+ adults!

Eli had a good time, he was a bit overwhelmed at the start though. I noticed him under the small tent we had our on deck right off the slider sitting there eating his cheetos enjoying some quite time! lol

Here are some pictures from the party.
This picture below does not do any justice to just how bad that playroom looked after the party, I took this before things got out of hand but I was very happy we have a playroom to contain most of the mess!

And here is the birthday boy totally loosing steam right before presents. Poor kid! He was yawning but made it through them all, the party wrapped up right after that. Eli got a bath (thanks Meme'!) and went down for a few hours to sleep.

Once Eli woke up he ate dinner late obviously and then we watched Alvin & the Chipmunks. It was our first real sit down on the couch and watch a movie together type of thing and he did great! Something about those chipmunks! He went to bed late and I was on pins & needles about Hurricane Irene (well tropical storm after all) that was starting to hit us while Adam had no worries off doing his Fantasy Football draft pics in the evening at his friends house! This kid. Seriously?!?

Sunday we woke up to a windy morning and LOTS OF RAIN & we thought we were in the clear and wouldn't you know 11:30am we lost power. That sucked and what sucks even more is indoor camping. I like camping and all but that is when I am away vacationing on a lake or something, inside your house not so much fun!

Adam's parents were out of power before us too so there was no where really to go...parts of our city are so much worse off with terrible flooding and lots of damage so I really can't complain we are at least dry up on our hill. Adam's parents got power back late in the day on Sunday but we decided to tough it out for the night and as of yesterday we moved into their house because we were told it could be up to 7 DAYS! Our house and the few houses around us are low on the totem pole for priority, they are trying to restore power to mass quantities of people first. We'll see what happens. Crossing my fingers our power will be back soon and our freezer in the basement is cold enough to keep our food from going bad. That would just suck.

Hope you are all safe and sound from the storm :)

Very Special Day

Happy Birthday to our little Eli! You are 2 today and we can't beleive how fast time has flown past us! You make all those around you laugh and amazed all at once with your ways :) We love you so much and hope you enjoy your party this weekend with all your pals and family around you!

To think 2 years ago you were this little nugget who had just arrived into this great big world *tear*
God it is so hard to watch your kids grow up! Geez...now I see how it was for my mom! I just want to freeze time, I snuggled Eli so much last night and this morning, more so than usual of course! I just can't get over how fast time goes by....

This is one of my fave's from over this year...Eli was a year & half here just before daycare one random morning, I just love his little boy face here :)



Next post will be fun filled with Eli's party details! Have a great weekend everyone :) I have a long run I need to squeeze into these next few days that are full of planning and prepping for Eli's party but it will get done! Let's hope this Hurricane Irene stays off the coast of CT and Saturday's weather for Eli's party remains nice out!

Work with Boden!

My office has been operating on an extremely limited staff for the past week and half due to business travel/personal travel, and I have been left in the office solo for 3 days. So I figured since I despise pumping why not bring Bo with me to work? He is a very easy baby to bring places, very happy and just acclimates well so that's what I did!

Last week I took him in and didn't bring anywhere for him to nap just to see if he would do well in the stroller napping. He did ok but not a long nap like usual, otherwise he was completely content with baby chair and just laying on the floor on a blanket with some soft toys. This week I brought him in 2 days back to back (yesterday and today) so I thought to be a bit more prepared and I brought in the Kidco PeaPod that we bought for vacation, (BTW - this is a must if you have 2 kids this close in age to avoid buying a second pack and play for travel sleeping).

So here is what Bo did yesterday and today at my work from about 9:45-11:15. He also slept the whole car ride into work but that's only 35 mins or so.

Then he did a little bit of this.....

Then a quick conference call, his receptionist transferred the call incorrectly so he had to mess with the lines. He had a talk with her and let her know she was on notice. lol

So all in all Bo did fabulous and I loved every minute of having him with me for the full day plus it saved us some cash with daycare. Every penny counts!

It was also nice to not having to lug my pumping bag into work and all the clean up/bottling of breast milk. I am totally frustrated lately with pumping, I am not producing enough to get him 3 bottles for daycare for over 2 weeks now. So I am doing the best I can and they give formula when they run out of my b.milk that I bottle for them.

The goal was to get Bo to 6 months nursing like I did with Eli but this go around it seems to be tougher. With Eli I had a freezer stash to lean on, with Bo he just gets what I pump the day before. Of course I have mommy guilt all over again.WHY!! Bo is going to be 5 months old next week so I am closing in on my goal but I am just not 100% confident I will make it to 6 months.

I have decided when my time pumping at work is not even producing 2 full bottles for him for daycare I am going to call it quits. Hopefully that will be a few more weeks and hopefully my body will allow me to keep producing for the morning and 2 evening nurses with him. I know I need to get over it. I think one good night of drinking is in order for me to get over this mommy guilt! ha....

Could it be a weekend with no plans?!

So..... we have come up on a weekend where we have no "real" plans. I have to be honest it feels nice to have the open weekend feeling! Eli has a swim lesson but other than that nothing else planned. We were thinking of taking a ride to Uncle Tommy's new house (Adam's brother)and I might take advantage of the crummy weather we are supposed to have on Sunday and tackle organizing the boys closet that I never finished. I suppose now is the time, we have received 2 bags of baby clothes from someone at our daycare (which was so nice of them), and I need to go through them and wash what will be wearable for the boys this fall.

Last weekend we were in Boston, we visited my sister and her family with my mom, it was a really fun time. We went to 2 of the Boston Harbor Islands via ferry ride from Quincy, MA. I never knew Boston had islands in the harbor! You learn something new everyday! Then on Sunday because it rained we went bowling with the kids and it was SO MUCH FUN! I totally forget how much fun bowling is and Eli (although didn't quite understand how to take turns) really loved it!

Here are some fun pictures from our trip to my sisters....

Eli learning how to duck pin bowl from Daddy...he kinda didn't get the whole "rolling the ball" action!
Gma and little Boden!
The kiddies (minus cousin Ben in this pic) waiting for the ferry at the ticket area
Cousins in front of the crazy wall that glows during cosmic bowling.
Love this pic of my sister and Bo!

On the running front - I have been kicking ass and taking names! LOL. No but really, lately my running mileage per week and mile splits have been where I want them to be and it feels great. I didn't want to talk to soon about committing myself to a 1/2 marathon until I proved it to myself with my training. I am happy to report I just paid my fee to enter the Surftown 1/2 marathon in Misquamicut, RI this September. I will be running it with my friend Traci, it is right along the beach, and it should be a relatively flat race which will be nice and a welcomed change.

Running where I live is a constant hill , so when I race somewhere flat I feel like a new woman! I guess kicking my ass in gear over these past 5 weeks have really paid off. I am also getting to the gym 2 times a week for some weights which is nice. Making myself get up in the morning is not easy but I do it and feel great following it. Let's be honest my running was so spotty before because I kept trying to get a run in after work or go to the gym in the evening once the boys were down for the night. It just wasn't working out. I hope to really hold onto this schedule I have going on right now into the winter months and replace my outdoor runs with the gym.

So now that I am gearing up for this 1/2 in September I have my eyes on another 1/2 in October. We'll see. One step at a time!

um..."Hi" and did you know I turned 4 months?!

Bo had his 4 month appt. today and we got the green light for rice cereal & pureed fruits/veggies! Our pediatrician Dr. O’Conner said he looks great, he is exactly like Eli on the growth chart too. Bo is 95% percentile for height and 10-20% percentile for weight. My record keeping book I have for Eli & Bo is like identical! Speaking of identical growth curves these boys look JUST alike if you ask me at this stage of development and age. Here is a picture of Eli and the one below it is of Bo from earlier this week. It's like the same face!

Bo now weighs 13 pounds and is 26.5 inches long. He gained 2 lbs from his 2 month appt. and grew another 2.5 inches in length. I knew he was getting quite long but I didn't realize that long! He is at the line of out growing the infant carrier which sucks! I have an infant carrier my sister used with her kids and the new one's go for much longer lengths but I didn't want to buy a new design just because of that. Eli out grew the carrier when he was 5 months and we pushed it a few weeks past that before putting him in a convertible car seat, but Bo is clearly not making it that long. What is funny is that since Bo & Eli are skinny you really don't think by just looking at them in the carrier that they have out grown it just yet....well until you look at the end and you see their toes creeping over!
One thing is for sure -we know these boys don’t get their height from their momma!

So on the Eli front - this kid seriously CRACKS us up. Every day it's a new thing that comes out of his mouth. Well now it's "Um...Hi" or "HI" when he wants your attention or needs to interject into you conversation. Really where the hell does he get this stuff from! lol

Here is Eli having a meltdown with these crazy air traffic controller ear muffs Adam has in the basement. This picture cracked me up, like 1 second before I took it Eli was all smiles and looking so funny and then it turned into this. Ahh...gotta love those terrible two's!

Ok this is much better, Eli in the tubby the other night - he is 23 months here only 1 month away from his Thomas the Train 2nd Birthday party!

Sometimes things don't go as expected...

In my last post I talked about our weekend plans that we had coming up and about 1/2 of that came true. I did get my long run in and I did go out for my friends 30th, (aside from having to pump & dump which interrupted mommy's drinking fun half way through the night) it was a blast!

Eli's swim lesson was a miss. I am kinda annoyed we didn't make it but it looked very icky out. There was a dark cloud and thunderstorms not far from our home on the doppler when Adam checked the weather so we thought it would be canceled. Well the class wasn't cancelled after all so now I feel bad we missed it.

Sunday was supposed to be a beach day and it was also very overcast and icky out. We took a chance and got the minivan all packed as we just got on the road, the rain starts! It was light but it still didn't look good. My friend Sylvia called and told us it was really bad at Misquamicut Beach where we were headed and probably not worth the trip. We were determined to make the best of it, and we decided to go to Middletown which isn't far from where we live. We ate at Orourke's Dinner & went to Kid City. Kid City was AWESOME and Orourke's dinner was really good. Orourke's Dinner has been featured on "Dinners, Dive's & Drive In's" (if you watch Food Network). Kid City is a children's museum and it so much fun! It also had a really cool lower level where you run around in your socks (it is only for 3yr olds and under).

Eli loved all the areas you could crawl into and look out from!

Even little Bo had a good time. There was a mirrored area that was just for babies his age, he loved seeing his own reflection! Eli seemed to really love the whole museum, I can't wait to go back and it was really affordable at $8 a person. It was a perfect way to spend a rainy day. When we got home Eli was ready for a nap and then the sun came out so we went over to Meme' & Poppi's after his nap for a swim.
Eli working the fish hatchery area of the museum Adam and Boden enjoying some quality time at the museum together


The other unexpected thing that happened is that I found the perfect pull out couch for Eli & Bo's playroom that used to be exclusively the guest bedroom. I got it at Bob's on Friday night with my new favorite shopping partner (Adam's Dad! hahah), it was in the clearance area & and a neutral color. It works really well with the room. I even got the temperpedic mattress in it not the one with the coils, all for $400! Yippie!! Might I add - I LOVE my minivan. Basically....I came, I saw, and I conquered. I just love being able to buy things and have space and be on my way!

I have been dreaming about making that 1st floor room a real playroom for a while now, the toys are finally under control in our house! The playroom is really coming along.... I have some finishing touches to do to it but I love how organized things are & we still have a perfect place for my family to sleep when they visit!

Oh yeah and when the room looks like a hot mess I can just CLOSE THE DOOR so I don't have to look at it for the moment!

On the running front....

Well since I have returned to work I have tried to stay on top of my fitness and I think I have done a pretty good job so far. You know considering my poison ivy drama.... After my last post I went and tried over the counter cortisone cream that seemed to help Adam's poison ivy, and that back fired on me big time. I got burns all over my legs!! This just proves once you have a baby your body is all out of whack because I am typically not sensitive to anything like topical creams.

It took some time to heal and I am like 90% better where now my skin is just discolored and that will take time to fade, but hey the poison ivy is gone! I have to look at the bright side of all this!

I have been working out before work and there are many days I just don't want to but I am happy I am pushing myself to keep up. Working FT and wanting to be with your kids after work is such a challenge to fit in any exercise. I have decided I have to do it before work which poses some challenges with nursing a baby but I am working as best I can with it. My only other option is going to the gym at 8:30pm after the kids are in bed and lets be honest, I am just not into it at that hour.

The morning workouts are cutting it for now and my weekend workouts of course. The only thing crummy about my morning workouts is that they have to be quick. I have to be in and out of the gym in an hour if I have a gym day. If I go running straight from my house I am limited to a 4 mile run - anything after that I am pushing it with when Adam needs to leave the house for work. I just can't get up any earlier than 5am like I am now, so it is what it is.

Luckily I have a friend who is getting married soon and is totally focused on the good old "wedding diet" so we go power walking together 2 mornings a week. I also have another friend that I run with as much as possible who wants to do another 1/2 marathon together like we did last year. So we are now focused on training for that in September.

The major challenge we have had this week is the heat wave! As I type this (I am working from home today) my living room is 90 degrees. I am not kidding you. We don't have central air in our home, only in our bedrooms do we have AC units. We have such an open floor plan on our 1st floor that we would need a GINORMOUS AC that could only fit in our dining room window to adequately cool the 1st floor. Our living room has a bay window that is much older and you can't put a unit in those windows with the way they crank open.

Currently, I have 2 fans on me and Bo which seems to be ok for now and I can't work with Eli at home so he is nice & cool at daycare thankfully! When I woke up this morning to go out running it was already 85 degrees and climbing and 100% humidity, way too thick and gross out there for me! I couldn't bare the idea of running outdoors today so I am going to the gym to hit up the treadmill in the AC.

Over the weekend we have Eli's swim lesson on Saturday as usual,a long run planned for Saturday morning for me, and in the evening a night on the town for my friends 30th birthday! On Sunday, we are going to the beach with my girlfriends from college and their kiddies, so all in all we should have a fun filled busy weekend!

Hope you all are staying cool if you are experiencing this nasty heat wave where ever you live!

Rain Boots, Wife Beaters, and Fishing poles.

Eli in front of our hydrangea bush at our house last week. I love this picture that Meme' took of him

Overall the transition from the crib to the bed turned out great this past week. Eli has not gotten out of the bed yet during the night so he understands when it is "night night" time that he has to stay in the bed and go to sleep. Quite honestly, I am shocked he hasn't come into our room even once in the night yet! And he has been super cute in the evening after we read him books and put him to bed he moves over and tells me "C'mon Momma....go sleepies" and he pats his pillow for me to get into bed with him. It takes ALL my strength not to crawl into his bed he is so dam cute. I just really don't want to start a bad habit like that. If it is the weekend and we are cuddlying in the morning that is one thing but bedtime has to be a working system!
But....and there is always a but....

Nap time has not been so easy. Now granted Eli has not been a great napper anyways but this past Saturday's nap time went like this -

Adam read him a story put him in bed and went downstairs to do some work in the basement. I hadn't quite realized what was going on at first but I heard a bunch of nonsense upstairs so I start walking upstairs and there goes Eli in a rush to close his bedroom door on me! I open the door and find him in his rain boots(which he loves and is obsessed with)on backwards, his fisherman hat, a diaper, a white wife beater and holding onto his play fishing pole. Totally redneck & hysterical looking! I ask Eli if that is what he should be doing right now and he doesn't say anything but smile and then I tell him it is time for a nap and he needs to stay in bed and I get "Noooooooooo Momma Play". Throughout all this I notice the room is a WRECK. All the toys are everywhere and I realized at that moment that I will no longer have a cute little boys room organized!

I got Eli back in bed without him crying too much and then another 10 minutes goes by and I hear something fall, I go back upstairs and it was one of the 20 books that he had up on his bed with him that fell off. He was lying on his back pointing at the book in his hand naming things in the picture and pretending to read to himself, I didn't say anything and figured this was the best I was going to get out of him for "naptime" that day.

So overall the transition has been quite funny in some ways but it has worked out a-ok! Eli even pointed to the crib and told me it was "That Bo Bo's now" so he doesn't want anything to do with the crib which is nice.

Soon Bo will be moving out of the bassinet in our bedroom & into the crib. The room will not longer be Eli's alone but I don't think Eli will mind, he truly shows nothing but love and affection to Bo and it melts our heart!

The first week back & the big boy bed!

Eli loving his big boy bed!

Well the first week back to work came and went. I survived. Thankfully.

Each day will get better once I get my routine down in the AM. Right now it is a bit tricky with nursing a baby and all, I am trying to keep up my commitment to getting Bo breast fed until he is 6 months old as I did with Eli but I have to admit the 2nd time is harder. The actual nursing thing isn't hard, it's the pumping nonsense I can deal with without! The cleaning of all the bottles/pumping gear and interruption to my work day 3 times a day is just out of control. I am just really trying to focus on one week at a time. Nursing a baby has it's benefits (obviously the health benefits) but when the baby is with you it is so much easier - no bottles to clean or pumping gear! I love that part of it.

Tonight was Eli's first night in a "big boy" bed! He has been up in his room for over a 1/2 hr and I haven't heard much going on in there. I am crossing my fingers he is fine but I don't dare open up that door to actually check on him until another 1/2 hr goes by. This is when I so wish our monitor had an LCD screen or we owned a nanny cam! haha

Eli was so excited when he came out from bath time with Adam and I had his bed all set up and made it was adorable. He was so happy to see his pillow pet on the bed and his teddy, he instantly got up and on the bed. We have been working on getting him excited for it for about a week or so and I guess it worked! He actually pointed to the crib and said "that's Bo Bo's". I will report back on how he makes it through his first night!
Here is a pic of Adam reading Eli's favorite book when Adam does night time with Eli - "Just Me and My Dad"



On another note, I have poison ivy which I have had for over a week with no signs of significant relief or improving. I went to the doctors a few nights a go for it but they recommended I stay away from steroid creams because I am nursing. They told me to try to tough it out with just calamine lotion for as long as I could. Well I have reached that level as of yesterday. Another cramp to this is that I have been unable to workout because both of my inner thighs are COVERED with it. I have felt so lazy lately, I have to walk around my house in my damn underwear to be comfortable it is so bad! This first week back at work I have had to wear dresses everyday because I can't put on capri's or pants, the pain of having anything touching it makes me cringe.

I am pretty sure Mr. Adam over here gave me this lovely poison ivy. He got it while transplanting a tree on our property and if the oils were anywhere on his clothing or anything he touched that is how I got it. I have never had it before in my life and the way I am reacting to it now seems like it would be consistent with how sensitve my skin has been post baby. I have read up on this a bit and since your hormones are all out of whack it isn't unheard of to have skin reactions easily. I am going to the pharmacy to fill the steroid cream perscription they wrote me as my last line of defense. I feel like I have no other option. I have toughed it out on the calamine lotion route and I am not improving it seems. I have no idea if this will mess with my milk supply and other side effects to the baby so I am reading up on that now. I really hope I don't have to pump and dump!

Our weekend is pretty laid back over here, we hope to get in some pool time at Adam's parents and go to the Farmington River on Sunday for a bit since the weekend is going to be really nice it seems. We also have a get together for Adam's grandmother's birthday so we are staying local basically. I really like not having to drive anywhere and just relaxing nearby :)

My flower window box!

So here it is....my pride & joy of the gardening world! I am still in awe that this window box has lasted over a month now and is still thriving. I have always wanted a window flowing box on the way into our house through the mudroom and this year I finally got around to doing it.


This is the view from our breakfast nook onto the deck, this picture was taken 2 weeks ago, now the flowers are doing so well they are really in full bloom! I am so happy I stepped out of my comfort zone (or shall I say "lazy zone") and did a few flower pots this year that I planted myself. I usually just buy a few flower pots because it is easier and then they die on me. I noticed this go around when you do the planting yourself you take more pride in it & you want to maintain it nicely because you put the time in to do it yourself. I also noticed we spend so much more time outside eating dinners enjoying the deck & yard more!

My last couple days of maternity leave...

My little nugget. I still can't beleive it has been 3 months since this picture was taken.

Well it has happened, my maternity leave is almost up and I can't even express how sad I feel about it. I enjoyed every moment at home with Boden and the extra time I had with Eli. I just hate having to go back to reality. This July 4th weekend is the first time I ever dreaded this holiday. On Tuesday I will have to get my big girl pants on and figure out how I am going to get out of the house in the morning with 2 kiddies in tow and dropped off to daycare by 8am. This is a complete shift in my schedule because I used to go into work much later but now I can't. I need to be in the door ready to nurse Bo at a decent hour after work. So all things are shifting, my morning routine will be completely new, in fact I am doing a dry run tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow morning will be very different in many ways. My mornings as I have known it consisted of me getting up and taking care of Bo and Eli but with extra hands around. Adam's dad has been so helpful and coming over in the morning to bring Eli to daycare. This enabled me not to have to juggle nursing Bo and getting him all packed up in the car for a 5 min ride to daycare.

John - Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I can't say it enough :) Also, Eli loved the routine of seeing his Poppi every morning, he got so excited to see him walk in the door every morning, it was so cute! Poppi often helped Eli eat breakfast, brushed his teeth, and put on his shoes many mornings too which was fabulous!

So tomorrow will be a shock to my system mainly to see how the hell I am going to get myself showered and presentable for "work standards". Not to mention the circus act of getting Eli fed, dressed, teeth brushed, diaper changed, etc...and then Bo changed, nursed, and changed again then everyone and everything that is needed packed up in the van to go. My game plan is to get myself physically ready while I have Adam home, he has to leave early by 7:00-7:15am so I need to get myself in that shower by 6:00 the latest and get myself ready first, that is how I am going to try this out. I am crossing my fingers Bo continues to sleep as well as he has for the past week and a half (not getting up at all all night long- he nurses at 11:30pm and then sleeps up until 6:30am!) and things will all work itself out.

So after tomorrow's dry run and a good cry I am going to try to enjoy this holiday weekend as much as possible. We are celebrating Adam's brother's birthday on Sunday poolside at Adam's parents house which will be nice and picnicing on Monday the 4th. I am going to need allot of tissues this weekend and some wine to get over my sadness :(

Here is my little guy from yesterday he is getting so strong. He rolls to his sides now! Just when I was perfecting Bo's mohawk he had to start balding! hahahah...I hope it comes back soon, he was looking so cool with his mohawk! Now I am off to finish up some things I was hoping to get done by the end of this weekend. I have been painting our mudroom which has been a huge task, I also need to make progress on the baby books (yes I said books...I am slacking on Eli's too...), and I hope to get some meals put in the freezer again. It's a long list for sure but some of this will get completed by the end of this weekend!

What we have been up to....

Well when I look back on the past week and a half I noticed we were quite busy!
We had a 30th party for our friend, my cousins baby shower in Long Island,NY and this past Sunday was Father's Day! On top of all that I have been trying to stock pile the freezer with meals for when I return to work, plant some flowers in pots for a splash of color around here, keep up with working out, organizing the boys closets, painting our mudroom etc...Oh yeah and did I mention Adam is SUPER busy so lots of nights I am doing the whole circus ring at our house solo? LOL....

Here is a picture from Father's day of Adam, his Dad , and Eli together, Bo was in the car ready to go home and a bit cranky so he didn't make the cut for the picture!


Eli & Bo are very lucky to have both Adam and Poppi to look up to, both these men are wonderful father's :)

I hope Adam enjoyed his Father's Day this year. I think he did :) he got an extra hour of sleeping in, I made him a special breakfast that we ate on the back deck enjoying the flowers & weather (what a nice start to the day!) and we spent time poolside at his parent's house. Adam's mom made an awesome surf & turf dinner and we enjoyed each other's company. At some point when Adam was holding Bo at his parent's house he found Bo giving him the middle finger! HA!! this picture is a classic.

Here is our little Eli being such a good big brother. He trys to help me out if Bo is getting cranky. He will put the music on for him and dances or places (more like shoves) the pacifier in Bo's mouth to keep him happy! I often find Eli putting the blanket on Bo or trying to console him when I am in a pinch. It is the sweetest thing :)

Below is Eli enjoying my Aunt Lydia's ducks from her garden. He loved them so much she let him keep a little one, he held it the whole time home in the car ride! So cute....

My flower pots! I don't have much of a green thumb so this is very exciting to me that they have taken off and are alive still. I also did a flower window box for the front of our house. I haven't gotten a good pic of it yet it is rainy and gloomy here. I will post it next time.

Other than all that going on I am keeping up on the running front and actually making it to the gym a few times a week. Now that I am getting in the swing of things of course in a few weeks my life will be turned upside down! I will just have to manage it one step at a time....

Take that Doc !

Next time you tell me to get to work you better think twice Doc....I'm working on 1 arm push-ups now!

hahahah....

Bo's 2 month appointment

Eli showing his brotherly love! He is so good around Bo we are very impressed so far with how things all worked out with them being so close in age.

So....I got so tied up writing my last post about vacation that I forgot to mention Bo's 2 month appt. at the pediatrician when we got back!

Bo is growing very nicely, tall and skinny like his brother! 90th percentile for height and 25th percentile for weight (which remained consistent from the 1 month visit). Bo weighs 10 pounds 15 ounces as of a week ago, that means he has almost packed on 4 pounds since birth! He is also growing very long, at his 1 month visit he had grown 2 inches in length and this past visit another 1 3/4 inches! If he keeps up growing so tall he will be out of his infant carrier much sooner than Eli was and that is not cool with me right now! I am trying to keep him in that as long as possible, Eli grew out of it right around 5 - 5 1/2 month mark due to being so tall, not the weight. It looks like Bo could be even sooner than that.

The only comment the doctors gave me was that Bo needs better neck strength. I have to be more diligent with tummy time. Since we left the docs last week I have been very good about it, even though Bo screams and hates it! This is just how Eli was, he couldn't stand tummy time! I just think it is more obvious with Bo because he sleeps allot more than Eli ever slept so I need to make sure when he is alert and awake I take advantage of that time and get him on his tummy more.

Overall, Eli's growth curve was exactly the same as Bo's is currently for so long, it should be interesting to see how Bo grows over time. I often wonder if he and Eli will look exactly the same over time, Bo has so many pictures and moments where he looks just like Eli did at that age. The only difference is that Bo's complexion is naturally darker (daycare called him the "resort baby" when they met him... hahaha!) and he had allot more hair than Eli did when born. Bo is loosing his hair now as many babies do at this age, I keep finding it all rubbed off in his bassinet and baby chair. I am getting sad about it, I loved his natural mohawk!

Here are some pics of just Boden. We realized that we never got pics from bath time with Bo for the first 2 months of his life (I know how terrible are we! We must have had at least 50 pics of Eli in the tub by now...I feel so bad). I made a concerned effort to get the pictures of bath time this week, I also have to get on top of his baby book. I haven't had a chance to get to it yet, I just need more time. Don't we all? I am committing the next rainy day to "Baby Boden's Baby Book Day".

Uncle Tommy and Bo

Bath time!

Looking all cozy :)

I am also realizing how fast my maternity leave has slipped through my hands. I keep getting sad thinking in less than a month I will be going back to work. It is just so hard to leave this little guy, he lets me snuggle with him and he has just been a dream baby! I know it is bittersweet this time around as well because this is more than likely my last maternity leave I will ever have. I say more than likely because you truly never know what will happen in the future but 2 kids is just about all Adam and I can really afford to put through daycare and survive! hahahha....

I cherish every moment I have with Bo at home and being able to bond with him during this time had been wonderful. I was concerned at first with keeping Eli in daycare but I am happy Adam and I decided to do that. Eli loves his daycare and I enjoy having the same bonding time I have with Bo that I had with Eli. Plus, it would be really hard to continue breast feeding if I had to entertain Eli during the day and take care of Bo at the same time since they are so close in age. I know it can be done but I enjoy the time I have with Bo one on one :)

Don't you just want to kiss this face?! I know I am biased but I can't help but love this little guy!

East Coast Tour 2011

Well hello there everyone!

We are back from our family vacation to the Outer Banks North Carolina! I have decided to name our family vacation to the "East Coast Tour of 2011". Overall it was a great trip, perfect weather and we had lots of fun, there was the good, the bad and the ugly as all road trips usually come with. Here is a quick run down:

1. Eli threw up in the car and we were not even out of CT yet. He tried to tell us his stomach hurt but I thought he meant the belt was too tight in his car seat so I adjusted it. We felt so terrible for him.
2. We arrived to our hotel at our 1/2 point for our trip in Annapolis, MD. We planned a stop there to visit with Adam's friend Jeff and his wife Sherri who live close by. Eli spiked a fever shortly after arriving at our hotel but thankfully he responded very well to Motrin and we still were able to go out for dinner.

3. We arrived pretty late to our house in OBX (Outer Banks) on Saturday since Friday was so shaken up by Eli getting sick in the car and when we arrived to the hotel. We made the decision to sleep in and leave as rested as possible for Eli's sake. We also decided to take in the city for a bit before getting on the road to OBX and it was great. Annapolis is just beautiful! I am so happy we took in the city I would go back in a heartbeat.




4. Sunday we enjoyed OBX!! It was PERFECT weather, the beach was gorgeous and having coffee in the morning on the deck watching the sun come up over the ocean was just what we needed. We also saw dolphins jumping! This happened lots of mornings, it was so cool to see. By Sunday evening we decided Eli's fever we were managing with Motrin was really starting to worry us so we called the Pediatrician back at home and they recommended we take him in to get looked at. We had to visit the OBX hospital because it was Sunday evening and the walk in clinics were closed. Luckily we were in & out, the hospital was great and they put Eli on a different antibiotic for his ear infection and pink eye he got prior to leaving CT. He started to respond much better to this antibiotic and in another day his fever left him and we were vacationing with a peace of mind.
You can tell below Eli's eyes look like he is sick but he was a trooper and trucked along and still had fun until his new antibiotic kicked in.




Here is Eli with his cousin Cole on the boat, these two crack me up!




5. Some other quick highlights to the week while in OBX - we took Eli & Bo to the Aquarium, Eli really liked the animals and the exhibits! He is really into fish and sharks so the large tanks where just perfect for him. Adam took Eli crabbing with his family, I watched and took pictures but it was fun! Eli had his first official ice cream cone which fell on the ground and caused a crying festival...don't they all? LOL....We went on a Pontoon boat for a few hours it was fun to be out on the water on a boat. We left Bo back at the house with family and I am glad we did that, Eli needed a little hand holding while on the boat but he really liked it! We got out for a few drinks with his cousin Matt & his wife Val which was nice. And pretty much everything else we did was beach, pool and be entertained by all the cousins playing together. I have to admit going on vacation with small kids is allot of work but it was worth it in every way, I could watch all the cousins playing together all day long. They were just too cute together!

Aunt Eva & Cousin Abbey showing Eli how to kick in the pool, Aunt Eva was so good with Eli in the pool, he was so relaxed around her!

6. Baby Bo is just a dream baby to travel with and he was just cool as a cucumber! He would nap where ever you put him and played on his gym mat. Other than being fed & changed you would never know he was there sometimes. Everyone commented how lucky we were to have such an easy baby, we are very thankful for that! Love you Bo!
Here's the little cutie on the beach-



7. We left the house on Sat. the 27th by 10am and made our way to Chesapeake, VA for just before 12 noon to visit Adam's Uncle Bill. Chesapeake is just outside Virgina Beach, it was so nice to see his Uncle and his wife Janet and visit their new home they moved into last Fall. While visiting them for the day Adam took a nap to gear up for the ride back home, and I went to "Homearama" in Virginia Beach. Homearama is an event where beautiful new homes are on display and you walk through them, they are just so perfectly appointed and grand, boy it is fun to dream! It is also a contest to vote on best features such as design, landscaping and things of that nature. After going to "Homearama" we got back on the road by 7:30pm.

8. We stopped around 1 am and slept in a hotel off exit 1 on the NJ turnpike. It was nice & clean. In the morning we only had a 3 1/2 hour drive left. On our way through NYC crossing over the GW Bridge I mentioned how I would love to see my Grandparents with the kids since we were right near their home. Adam offered to stop over their house for a quick visit and I was thrilled :). I don't get to see my grandparents that often and they hadn't even met Bo yet! I called them up and of course they were home, we were at their house within 20 minutes after we got over the GW Bridge, there was no traffic which was perfect! They were so happy to see us all it was worth the slight detour for sure!



9. We got home by 6pm on Sunday evening and we are back to normal life. Our house looked so clean walking into it but within minutes of unpacking the minivan it was trashed!

We are still unpacking, I truly hate unpacking. It takes me forever. Not to mention the laundry that comes along with it! UGH.

Memorial Day was quite on our end, we were unwinding from vacation and we had to get groceries to fill up our fridge. No picnics or parades this year for us but that's ok we had a full week of family fun :)