It changes

I'm midway through my half-marathon training plan and things are going really well. I am loving this run-walk method for my weekend long runs, I'm having successful speedwork runs because I've taken a step back and not jumping into speeds that are too fast for me to do properly, I'm enjoying my biking days. I had planned on having one day of separate strength training but as I was driving to the grocery store on Monday (with my workout clothes underneath my regular clothes), I decided that I needed to rethink my schedule. So, rather than strength train on Monday I did some chores that needed to be done. On Tuesday LightRunner and I stayed home, I did my speedwork in the morning with him playing next to me, had a quick lunch, then did a total body workout and then an additional legs workout. Then I put him down for a nap. It was awesome. Unfortunately my afternoon was eaten up by computer network troubleshooting, but in the future it will be even more awesome. It was tough doing the legs workout after intervals, and it's tough being on the bike right now, but I think this will be better for me. I'm not pushing myself on the bike, just recovering. If I had done the legs on Monday and then intervals on Tuesday I'm not sure how well I would have done.

So for now it's: 

Monday: rest (grocery shop, catch up on laundry, blog, read)

Tuesday: speedwork, strength, legs

Wednesday: bike

Thursday: easy run, please with the stroller & not on the treadmill

Friday: bike, strength, arms

Saturday: long run

Sunday: rest

I prefer my long run on Saturdays so I have Sunday to rest, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way.

In addition to being better for my legs, hopefully this will be better for my sanity. As well as my running & biking are going, I feel like I've lost my grip on everything else. I have 3 book reviews I need to write (for myself, no deadline), I'm falling behind on laundry, I have completely lost control of my house, particularly upstairs. I have been very lenient with my kids & their rooms, but I have reached my limit. I'm at the point with the girls that I feel like I need to box everything up & throw it all out. Our new playroom is a distaster. I'm supposed to have a preschool play date on Friday & I don't know how I'm going to (haven't even planned it yet anyway!).

I have never been one of those really anal moms who needs everything dusted and sanitized. But clutter? Stepping on toys? Not being able to sweep up dead flies because of too many toys on the floor? I am losing my mind.

Here's the thing though, it's not the 2 year old.

Mostly it's the girls, but the boys participate as well. It's not just toys either. They leave dirty clothes on the floor, dishes and crumbs on the table, they leave everything. 

Today it changes. 

They are old enough to clean up. They are old enough to pitch in & not say "but I didn't do it". They are old enough to face real consequences if they don't. I will cook & do dishes & laundry & clean toilets. But I am not taking time away from my day to clean up after them anymore. For the most part this has been an awesome year-- the year of me -- and I'm not letting this continue to stress me and ruin it. When I think about how I want to spend today, and tomorrow, it's running, biking, reading, writing, tickling my boy, laughing with my kids, and enjoying each day. It's not cleaning up their messes & yelling at them when they don't. I want to spend my rest days RESTING & reading & blogging.

So. Today. It changes.

Catch up

I know.

It's been a while.

Everything has been on repeat... laundry, dishes, etc. I straighten up the house all day long and it's never done. Skywalker's room is fine because he's in school all day and he has to clean it up himself. The girls room is always a mess... The Princess is capable of cleaning up but most of the messes are made by Chewie. The large majority of messes are made by her. Vader's solution is to tell Skywalker and the Princess that they have to clean up her messes, but as the oldest child I just don't think that's fair. So I wind up doing a large part of it. She's napping less and less and in her room... making messes. The other day she put aveeno lotion in her hair and I had to give her a bath when Skywalker came home from school.

We're potty training now... and it sucks. This is the first time I've done it during the school year when we have to leave the house and it's setting us back because I put pullups over her underwear to try to help protect her clothes. She's fine when she's naked. She's getting better about staying dry when she's wearing underwear. But she just does not poop in the potty. When she does it's a fluke. She'll sit and try, but for the most part she's either pooping in her nighttime diaper or in her underwear. In some ways I wish I hadn't waited until I could stay home for an entire week or 2, but I didn't. We did stay home the first couple of days because I was sick. I was just so tired of wrestling with her to change her diaper.

I had Skywalker's Parent/Teacher conference yesterday and he finally has a teacher who understands his strengths and is positive and encouraging. He's doing so well, finally reaching his potential. He's doing his work well, but also finishing it, something he couldn't do last year. She said he takes his time, but she's okay with that because he's doing quality work. He's her strongest reader, she has a range of kids who read 22-108 words per minute and he's the 108. We already knew he was good at math, but he's also good at writing, which shocked me because he doesn't like it. But he says he doesn't like to handwrite because his hand gets hurt, he'd rather type. Apples. Trees. I have an online blog because I don't like to write in journals.... She's going to try to incorporate the computer more since he's so good with it.

The Princess is doing well in preschool and if I could send her to kindergarten now I would. She's driving me a bit crazy. I call her Sibyl... she'll be fine one minute, cleaning the floor for me, and then screaming the next because she doesn't want to pick up a lego. She's been hitting me A LOT. She's been in time out every day for a week now. I'm not quite sure what's going on... she talks like a baby a lot too so it could just be that she thinks she needs to act like Chewie to get attention.

Naptime is all screwy and I haven't been able to run a lot. This week has been the exception because Vader was home yesterday and he'll be home Friday so I'll have 3 outside runs. Last Sunday I ran 7.2 miles. It took me forever, but it was less time that it took me to run 6 the week before. I would like to run a half marathon someday, but I don't see it happening soon.

Haze is still on the leash and taking pain medication for her leg. It's a giant pain in the neck. I don't know how much longer we have to do it.

I have dishes that need to be done and messes that need to be cleaned up and books that need to be reviewed. And a throbbing headache. But I'm getting cuddles from Chewie so it's all good.

Pleasant surprises

We had the best playdate. 

There were 3 moms instead of 6. 3 additional kids instead of 9. Bonus. Yay for last minute cancellations and no-shows! That sounds so horrible, but I was really worried about having all of those kids (I forgot to set a limit). We wound up playing inside and it was just fine. The kitchen set was a hit and the little girls gravitated towards that. SkyWalker and trainboy ran around like maniacs and played down in the office by themselves. I will get a picture up here later of what resulted from them playing by themselves. But really, how many people can say that they let a 3 and a 2 year old boy play by themselves and there's no marker on the wall, no damage, nothing bad. There's a big mess, but there's always a big mess. I really am lucky with that kid of mine. 

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The Princess wound up taking a nap because she was crying too much. Then she had lunch, a snack, and is sleeping again. Hopefully she will not be a crabby beyotch tonight. It's probably good that we are going out and it will be a late night since she's napping so late. 

One of the moms said how much better SkyWalker is doing. Less shy. More social. She doesn't see him that often so it was a big difference for her. Considering at the first playdate he hid in the bathroom. He's come SO far. And so have I. I have more than one friendship basket and plenty of eggs and yes I'm going to beat that analogy into the ground. 

I found out disturbing news about the OB who delivered both of my kids and would probably deliver my next ones as well. I still have to confirm it but I have a feeling I'll be looking for a new OB soon. I think I'd rather have ONE instead of a whole practice, but I don't know if that's even an option anymore. I think they're all hooking up because of all the malpractice suits. 

SkyWalker just looked at the picture and said "What that from?" and then answered himself "Oh, that from my big mess!" Good times. 

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