This is 40

I meant to do so many posts over the last month but nothing has quite been how I planned it. I'm going to try to prevent writing a novel here, so to be very brief:

In early June, within two days Chewie broke both of her arms-- her left wrist and then her upper right arm (proximal humerus). She has a cast on the wrist and a sling on the right arm. We hoped to get rid of them both last week but they haven't healed yet. No summer camp for her, no swimming, no playing, no running and jumping and enjoying summer. She is now able to feed herself some things but still cannot dress herself or brush her teeth. I bought her an iPad mini and she uses it all the time. She will have major withdrawal once her arms are working again and she has to follow the same electronics rules. It is impacting everything-- LightRunner's behavior, our routines, everything. Right after she broke both arms, the Princess came down with both strep throat and a mystery high-fever virus, and then Chewie caught the same bug. Anything I hoped to accomplish before school was out was thrown out the window. No special LightRunner and me time.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, also in June, Vader threw me a "surprise" early 40th birthday party. I knew it was coming but not where or when (until that week). It was a great night filled with wonderful friends and the perfect beginning to what will no doubt be my best decade yet.

Surrounded by friends! Ignore the red eye. 

On my actual birthday, Britt came over with pizza and peanut butter brownies that she spent all day making, despite her son's severe peanut and milk allergies. That's love.

I celebrated by running 8 miles (8/2=4 and also it was on my plan) the day before my birthday and running 4 awesome miles of speedwork yesterday. Truly awesome. I paid for a babysitter to watch LightRunner and Chewie so I could do my speedwork at the track and it was worth every penny.

June pretty much sucked and was not at all what I planned and I'll admit I had a couple of days when I was not at my best. But we adapt. We do what we can do and we move on. In my 20s and early 30s I would have wallowed and lamented and cursed my fate. But what's the point? You do what you can do. And let the rest go. And *that* is 40.

August stats & back to school

As I suspected my August stats weren't quite as high as July. There were no more stroller runs and it was hard to motivate myself to use the treadmill when the sun was shining and the kids had things to do. I knew it was our last month of summer fun so I let running take a bit of a back seat. We had some traveling to do and at the end of the month we went to Great Escape for the first time. We actually stayed for 3 days. I did my long (10 mile) run before we went and then spent the weekend walking the park. It was the perfect end to our summer--quite literally since we got back the day Chewie had her bus safety day at school. The next day the big kids went back and the day after that Chewie started kindergarten. This is our first full week of school and I'm anticipating being able to get some stroller runs done as well as some Jessica Smith videos now that I only have one child at home. One child who naps. I hope the weather holds out as long as it can so I can keep up with the stroller runs.

It is quiet without the kids and I miss them, especially Chewie since I am used to her being around, but they all seem to be happy with school this year. Chewie is doing great and got on the bus with a huge smile on her face. It makes it somewhat easier to let her go. I am glad I have LightRunner to keep me company and entertain me. He repeats EVERYTHING I say and has such a great sense of humor. I think he will fill the void okay.

Next weekend is SkyWalker's 10th birthday party so I'll be doing my long (12 miles) run on Friday, which is less than a week after doing my last long run (Sunday, 11 miles). I have reached the point when I am looking forward to tapering and kind of wondering if I want to do this again. It's hard to fit in with soccer schedules and school requirements and life. It's much easier to squeeze in a 6 mile run than a 12.

Stats:

August:

Mileage: 56.7
Runs: 11
Races: 1
Crosstraining: Swimming, biking, vacuuming

The All in One Post

This summer has been a whirlwind of activity and not much blogging. I have around 3 or 4 in my head but they never make it here. 

Running:

Running has been so so nice. My last treadmill run was on July 3. Every single run since then has been outside. Either someone has been home to watch the kids or I've only had LightRunner so we do a stroller run. Once a week I take them all to the high school track and they have a picnic snack while I do speedwork. I paid a kid to watch them and make sure they don't choke but I'm not sure I even really need to. I have done no official cross training, no routines, but I have done a lot of swimming and biking in the driveway and those stroller runs are not easy. I think they definitely count as strength training too! The only downside is that I don't run with my friends anymore and I definitely miss that… but getting up at 4:30 when I can just do a stroller run later is just too hard… 

Camp:

Camp has been so so nice. The kids love it. They see their friends, they've gone on great field trips, they have time away from me and each other. Sometimes the rest of the day can be a bit grouchy but not often. Usually they play with each other pretty well since they haven't been bugging each other all day long. I thought I would be so productive while they were at camp… but it hasn't turned out that way. I did go through the papers on the floor of my office, but for the most part I have been running, reading and enjoying the silence during nap time. I don't regret one single thing. I've seen friends, played one-on-one with LightRunner, and gotten a taste of what next school year will bring. 

Kids: 

LightRunner is now 2 and while he is embracing it wholeheartedly, he is still my happy funny little guy. He wants to be independent but he can't be and that frustrates him. Luckily he is more willing to let his older siblings help him than me. SkyWalker buckles him the car, puts on his shoes, gets him out of the crib when he's home, and today he got him dressed. When I let them watch TV LightRunner sits on SkyWalker's lap and snuggles up. Joy. SkyWalker has been so helpful and I will be sad when he goes back to school. He's gotten so old and mature, but he has recently discovered his love of trains and cars again and has no problem getting down and playing with LightRunner. He is a natural big brother. The Princess is still a bit crazy and we butt heads quite a bit but when she's good, she's really good. She takes care of Chewie and LightRunner. LightRunner loves her and is constantly calling for her and looking for her. Chewie is doing great at camp and I have no worries about her going to kindergarten. She's going to get on that bus with a huge smile on her face ready to conquer the world. 

I'm not quite sure how August will go. The idea of the treadmill makes me cry… but so does the idea of getting up in the wee hours of the morning. But I want to do lots of fun things with them before summer is over so I'm going to have to figure something out. 

June: lasts, kids, & stats

June is always such a crazy busy month. Field trips, field day, flag day, last parties, early dismissals, birthdays. This one was no exception. Chewie turned 5 in the beginning of the month and we celebrated by getting her ears pierced and having lunch at Dave & Busters and swimming in our new pool and Mommy not running. Oh well. The girls will be having a joint birthday pool party next week to continue the fun. We also went to another 30th birthday party just to make me feel even older. 

Chewie graduated from preschool and had her last gymnastics class (I don't do it once they're in school). I'm not planning on putting LightRunner in gymnastics, partly to save some money next year, but also because if I'm going to put him in anything it will be basketball. He truly loves it and I think he could do really well. I don't think there are any programs for 2 year olds though. Chewie also had her last speech session and that was actually a bit sadder than her preschool graduation. She doesn't need any services over the summer and when she is in kindergarten she will have what SkyWalker did--speech correction once a week. The speech teacher there thinks she probably won't need it for long but after a summer of nothing and with kindergarten so demanding these days, I wanted to make sure someone was keeping an eye on her at school. She is doing SO much better and I would hate for her to lose her progress because they have kindergarteners doing advanced calculus now. 

LightRunner will be two in 18 days and is less and less baby-like and more big-boy like every day. It is bittersweet. I eagerly look forward to not changing diapers (10 years is a long time) but he is my last. He plays with cars all the time and says "weeerrrr" and we could probably get rid of all the baby toys we have. He repeats nearly everything we say and calls me "Mama" and sometimes makes me want to have another one. But I don't want to jump the shark. I'd rather end on a high note. He is definitely embracing two and likes to make things difficult sometimes but knows when to use his dimples. I had to stop giving him big boy cups--not because he couldn't drink out of them but because he is a thrower. He intentionally throws his cups of milk across the room and I couldn't stand it anymore. So we're back to sippy cups until he can control himself. 

SkyWalker is at basketball camp and will soon be taller than me. He survived 4th grade and pulled it together at the end. His grades in each subject in his last report card went up (except social studies which stayed at 98). He got above 90 in everything and really worked much harder than in the middle of the year. I hope this means 5th grade won't be so tumultuous. 

The Princess had an awesome report card and once again got S+ in Art. She's a hard worker in everything and likes to teach Chewie things. She's slightly less batshit crazy, although yesterday she told me sometimes she gets angry for no reason and then she just has to stretch it out. Oookay. I need to get her running longer distances. 

They are all going to camp for the next 4 weeks. It was hard for me to fill out the paperwork and actually do it this year, but I am telling myself that it's not babysitting, it's an opportunity for them to all have fun without each other and without me and to do new things. It'll be good for Chewie to make friends with kids going to kindergarten. It'll be good for me to have some time to get boring stuff done (filling/trashing all the paperwork on my office floor!) and to do some stroller runs and have some one on one time with LightRunner. I can't send them everyday because I am odd, but I'm planning on sending them 3 times a week. I wish I could be one of those moms that just says "See ya" and ships her kids off here and there, but I'm not. Even if they drive me crazy, I'll take that crazy over anything else in the world. 

I've probably gone over my break time and I still have 3 book reviews to write. 

Stats:

Miles: 43.8

Runs: 9

Races: 0

Cross training days: 6 (not including swimming!)

Not my best mileage month, but not my worst. Last June was 28.4 miles!! I've got my half-marathon training plan on the fridge so I should start seeing that mileage go back up. 

Those kids I have

I was going to write about yesterday's kickass intervals, but I haven't done a kid-post in a while.

Last month LightRunner turned 18 months old. I can't quite believe so much time has passed. I think it's a bit more bittersweet knowing he is my last and I won't experience those early infant days again (and I do love those early infant days.) But 18 months is also my magic time… I can see his little brain ticking. I can see him absorbing EVERYTHING. It's so unreal how you can just see the difference when their little wheels start turning. He stops and thinks before he does things, he does things to deliberately make me laugh, he remembers things from day to day. He's starting to say a lot more words and repeat a lot of sounds. He helps me unload the dishwasher and hands me each individual item saying "he-ah" (here) after each one and "thank you" after I thank him. He loves his Haze, but he also loves playing with his siblings. The Princess can make him giggle just by looking at him and sticking her hand out to pretend to tickle him. The other day he jumped on SkyWalker and wrestled him. I love this time when he is learning so much and everything is a wonderful new experience for him (and mess for me). Next year it will be just him and me and I am already planning on resurrecting my Preschool Playdates program and really cherishing our last year before preschool starts.

Chewie is doing really well with her speech--twice a week--and enjoying her new preschool. She talks to other kids in gymnastics and at preschool and has come a long way. She and the Princess are always playing make believe and when the Princess is not here Chewie just plays by herself. I frequently hear her talking in the living room living out whatever fantasy she is making up. She is ready for kindergarten and going on the bus with big sister. I'm not sure I'm ready for her to go, but we have 7 months to get ready.

The Princess is as crazy as ever. I've talked to a lot of moms with 6 year old girls and it's almost universal. The happy one minute biting your head off the next syndrome. She has done better with her tantrums, but she is still very quick to anger. Over the most ridiculous things. She's doing very well in school and I have no problems there. She does her homework right away, works hard on everything she does, and is well behaved when she is there. She doesn't seem to involve herself in any of the girl drama. I suppose it's better that she saves her crazy for me, but I look forward to this phase ending.

SkyWalker is not crazy but he is lazy. He is SO smart but he just dislikes doing hard work. And anything that he thinks is going to take more than 5 minutes is hard work. His handwriting is horrible, still, and he will often put the minimum amount of effort into anything (except Minecraft). His first report card was so good--nothing below a 90--but the one he will bring home today will not be as good. His grades have fallen in both math and science, mostly because of the ridiculous common core that's supposed to make things so much better. If he had a worksheet of simple multiplication or division to do the old fashioned way he would get it done no problems. But he can't do it the old fashioned way. He has to use their strategies. Look up number discs. It is the most ridiculous thing in the world. Vader and I don't agree on much but we are in unison when it comes to this common core crap. Anyway, SkyWalker gets annoyed that he has to do this extra work when he already knows what the damn answer is and he tends to skip directions and get points off. In the last couple of weeks he has improved a lot with math and is putting more effort into following directions and labeling. I threatened to take Minecraft away and that seemed to have an effect. This is the first year that he cannot rely on his raw intelligence and he has to actually work. I think his grades going down might actually be beneficial for him (and his low grades are 85s, we're not talking failing). He's playing basketball and seems to enjoy it a lot more than soccer. He's not very good because he's just not an aggressive kid. He told me the other day that there are two boys at his table at school and one was kind of mean to the other and said that he was going to work on a project with SkyWalker and that the other kid had to work alone. SkyWalker said no, they would all work together. So, I'm okay with him not being aggressive enough for sports.

Welcome to funky town

I have not run since the Freihofer's race. I planned on taking the week off to catch up on all the things I have been neglecting the last couple of months. Instead, I had birthday parties (one we hosted for Chewie and a couple for the Princess to attend), multiple school visits, field day, doctor visits, dentist, etc. I shlepped poor Light Runner around so much. I planned on just taking last week off but I had also planned on getting stuff done! So, here I am this week trying to scramble to get it all done. I've managed to clean a couple of toilets, repeatedly straighten up the kitchen, finally have clean underwear to wear, straighten up the deck, clean off my craft table, and there's so much more I still want to do. I feel slightly better that I'm getting some of this stuff done, but I am in a serious non-running, non-exercising funk. It's my own choice,  but I know that with a 16 week half marathon training plan coming up, I need to get my affairs in order.

Part of those affairs was seeing a stone specialist about these damn kidney stones. Long story short, I have NO plan for these stones other than to "wait and see." No blasting. No magic pills. I can drink citrus to try to prevent them and to try to help with the blood in my urine when I run, but other than that there's nothing that I can do. On the one hand I am glad I don't need parathyroid surgery. On the other hand I don't want to be in the middle of running the half in October and start passing kidney stones!

Another loose end that has been finally wrapped up--Chewie and her speech. I received a letter a couple of weeks ago that she qualifies for twice a week services, no meeting necessary. Ooookay. We had our review meeting yesterday and she will not only get twice a week services in the fall, she'll also get it in the summer. Easy peasy.

School is winding down and I can't wait for it to be over. We've come up with a list of fun things we want to do and I plan on actually doing them this summer. Instead of waiting for friends to invite us to things we're going to make our own fun. We're also going to be doing a lot of running. In addition to my 16 week training plan on the fridge, there's also an 8 week plan for the kids! It's a 5K plan, but the biggest ones will be running a 1 mile race in August. The Princess wants to run a 5K next spring, so I figure we'll train this summer. If SkyWalker can last a mile without complaining he can do a 5K sometime too. I'm looking into getting a jogging stroller for LightRunner, but I'm not quite sure what I'll do with Chewie. She can run, but I'm not sure she can run that much. I don't want to get a double jogging stroller though because I hope to run a lot when she is in preschool three days a week next year and I just have LightRunner. I'm thinking of seeing how I can do with the stroller I have now that lets her stand in the back. We aren't going to be running fast or far, so I might be able to get away with that and just get a real jogging stroller for the fall.

I can hear LightRunner crying in his crib so my brief naptime break is over. But one more thing--if you actually visit this blog instead of just read it in a reader, you'll see a brand new image over to the right. I am now a #RunChat Runbassador!  Those of you on twitter who also run should definitely check out the #RunChat tag, it's super helpful. On Sunday nights there's sponsored chats, but the rest of the time it's just runners exchanging info. I think they're still accepting Runbassadors, so click on the image in my sidebar and fill out the form.

Reigniting Chewie's spark

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago we had Chewie evaluated (again) for speech problems. The speech pathologist told us she wouldn't qualify based on scores but she would write the report as negative as she could because she felt she would benefit from the help. The second evaluation was done by the psychologist who told me that she would absolutely qualify because she couldn't understand what she was saying. She scored well on the intelligence and self help and all the psycho tests and it was just in expressive language that she needed help.

We had our hearing last Wednesday and I was a bit surprised that I had to truly argue that she needed the services. Everyone in the room agreed she would benefit. But they weren't sure if the county would foot the bill because on paper her scores weren't bad enough. Because that it what our educational system has come to in NYS. Children are not whole pictures. They are numbers. Just numbers. She did qualify for once a week, even though everyone said that twice a week would be the best for her. One of the areas that she scored high in was in social skills and playing with friends. Luckily I had volunteered at preschool after I answered those questions at the evaluation so I was able to amend them at the hearing. I was basing my answers on what I saw with her friends at home and places where I am with her to translate. Turns out when I am not with her she is a different kid.

When she first started preschool she was so ready to go, happy to go, there was no clinginess, no transition problems. After some time I would ask her who she played with and she would say nobody because no one would play with her and I just figured she was not serious. I always saw her running around with kids on the playground at pick up time so I assumed she played with them inside too. There were a few times when she said she didn't want to go to preschool but I discounted that too. Lately I've been noticing a bit more clinginess at drop off. A bit more reluctance to go.

Let me interrupt myself to say that she LOVES her teachers (as do I) and is happy there. There are no mean kids, no bullies like in previous years.

When I volunteered I saw that she didn't really play with other kids inside. Her teachers confirmed it and I just figured that she was used to entertaining herself because I'm always taking care of LightRunner.

I was wrong.

The psychologist observed her at preschool to try to build a better case for twice a week therapy. She told her teachers that she was completely different than how she had been in her office during the evaluation. Her teachers said that she will often try to get the girls to play with her when they are playing princesses or Mommy/baby or pretend play but they don't understand her so they don't play with her and she gives up and goes to play alone or with blocks near the boys since they don't talk either. She comes into preschool all fired up and by the end she is subdued (until she gets to the playground where it is a more equal arena). She follows the teachers around because they can at least understand half of what she says. It is a significant barrier to her relationship with the other kids.

This just slays me.

She is so spunky and full of life and not even close to being shy and to think of her getting rejected--even if it's not in a mean way, it is still rejection--and her spark getting dimmer and dimmer... well it's not easy to think of that. I am glad that she is starting the once a week therapy but I will be pushing for twice a week. We'll do what we have to do. I'm glad that she has older siblings to play with and that it hasn't broken her spirit yet. I'm also going to try to line up as many playdates for her as I can so that she has positive interactions with non-siblings as well.

My mommy guilt is in overdrive right now. It was rainy and hailing and gloomy today but we still went out. She got her hair cut, we went to a local children's museum and then to Cracker Barrel for lunch. We made corn muffins for snack. We're going to have a movie night tonight. I hope she doesn't ask for a pony because I really don't have the time to take care of one of those. (See, that right there is what we call a defense mechanism. Make a joke. Find something to laugh about. Because otherwise it gets too painful to bear.)

Running update: check. Kids update: check.

It's been all running for a while around this here blog. Which is appropriate since that's what's on my mind now. I promise to talk about other things though. Sometimes. But first two running related things:

A couple of weeks ago I was running on the treadmill, as I often do during the week, and things were going along fine. I was listening to the Another Mother Runner podcast and had just taken my iPhone off the treadmill dashboard to switch to another cast when all of a sudden the treadmill stopped, started up again REALLY FAST, and threw up a big plastic silver ball. I had been pressing the stop button but it took a while to stop. I should have pulled the emergency cord, but didn't think of it. Which is funny because I had a MILLION thoughts at the same exact time. Seriously:

• I can't drop this iPhone.
• I'm going to die on this treadmill and I didn't shave my legs. 
• At least Lightrunner is safe in his crib when he starves to death.
• Will SkyWalker and the Princess get off the bus if I'm not out there?
• Chewie is the LAST person I want responsible for my body. 
• She's going to go upstairs, poke Haze in the eye, Haze will nip at her and everyone will blame Haze and I won't be able to defend her. 
• If we have to fix this treadmill there goes my damn TV money.
• Where the hell did that ball come from?

Once the treadmill stopped, I turned, looked at Chewie holding the silver ball and said, "Er, ah, eee, uh" and then she said "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you're okay." Hmmm. I asked if she threw the ball at me and she claims that she did not. It's possible it just rolled over and got sucked up. Possible. But she's not quick to apologize for things. The frame holding the belt was off, but I was able to stick it back on enough to finish my run. Vader glued it back together and we haven't had any problems. 

Second, last weekend I did my long run, 4.5 miles, yes, that's long to me right now. That's not unusual. What is, is that I did it with other people! The Princess has joined Girl Scouts and the troop leader is a runner and lives nearby. There's a whole group of them that go out weekend mornings. It was the best 4.5 miles I've had in a while. I like to run alone sometimes, but other people keep you motivated and keep you from listening to your weak inner voice telling you to stop. It was close to my house with nice, fun, ladies and I'm hoping to keep running with them as my long run gets longer (particularly once I start training for the half in October.) 

And that's the running.

******************

The kid updates I haven't done in a while:

SkyWalker gets older and bigger. He's one of the tallest kids in his class now. Who could predict that?? He is constantly bouncing a ball and wants to get a big hoop for outside. I was going to wait until the beginning of the summer to get it in lieu of a birthday gift, but I might get one sooner. If he wants to do physical activity, I've got to support it before he changes his mind! He has decided to be a Syracuse basketball fan and took the bus to his friend's house the other day so he could watch a game. They had soda there and he asked for juice instead knowing that we wouldn't want him to have soda. How many 8 year olds would do that? Not many. I told him I was so proud of him that he could make good choices without me there, even if he did moan and complain that he was the only one who couldn't have it (as it turns out it was special occasion and not a regular occurrence.). He's doing good in school and we have fewer homework battles than we did at the beginning of the year. He is SUPER obsessed with Greek Mythology right now and is currently typing up everything he has learned. 

The Princess is loving school. She just joined the Sneaker Tying Club for kids who can tie their own shoes. She has wonderful handwriting and is a hard worker and really coming into her own. She LOVES the Girl Scouts and I get to see a side of her I don't normally see when we go to meetings. She seems to really thrive in a group of girls... she gets so silly and happy. It's nice to see. I still think that she wants a true best friend, like big brother and little sister have, but she has no problem making friends and it's nice to see her in a group. 

Chewie has once again gone through the speech evaluation process but this time she qualifies.  Most people don't understand her and I am constantly translating, even for her father. She doesn't really let it stop her from talking, but it's better to get it cleared up now and not have to wait until kindergarten. She loves to dress herself and wear mismatching socks. Two different socks, not just socks that don't match her outfit. I have given up fighting. Her hair is a mess constantly. I go back and forth on whether or not I want to get it cut short. She might look really cute... but her crazy hair kind of goes with her spunky personality. And she is without a doubt spunky.

Lightrunner is eating green beans and avocado and peaches and pears and seems to like his greens more than his fruits (yay!). He's gaining weight and happy. He has his two bottom teeth now and I'm sure he'll have more soon. He can be up for hours and still smile. He truly lights up a room and everyone who sees him has no choice but to smile and talk to him. He brings happiness everywhere we go. I am so very lucky I get to go out on a high note... my last kid is just pure joy.

I have ignored the mess in the house for far too long. Dishes need to be done, laundry, cleaning. What else is new? I run, I exercise, I read, I care for children, and then frantically "catch up" on my "rest" day. I gotta start getting up earlier... I repeat, what else is new?

Grooves

If it weren't for the lack of pooping, Lightrunner would be the easiest baby I have ever had. He caught on to the Eat, Play, Sleep routine really quickly. He sleeps in his crib (or cosleeper at night). When he has good days I can predict when he will need to sleep pretty easily and I usually have to wake him up to feed him. Yes, I wake him up (during the day).

When he doesn't poop, which is often, the whole thing can get out of whack. 2 hour naps become 45 minutes. He cries. He's gassy and cranky. I gave him brown sugar water a couple of times and it worked but it seems to have stopped. Today is day 4 of no poop, after 2 days of brown sugar water. BUT he is happily sleeping in his crib. I will have to go wake him up in 10 minutes or so. He doesn't seem to be quite as bothered as he used to be. The only change is that I'm cutting down on my dairy. I seem to be able to have milk in my tea and cereal in the morning. But a big glass of milk--or two--before bedtime will result in a night of gassiness. I bought American cheese from Organic Valley and it's SO GOOD and I've had that at lunch time and a few times the following nap was less than stellar... I'm still trying to figure out what our limits are... can I have ice cream before bed? Yogurt seemed okay.  Is it just whole milk? It's possible that all those times he was crying and I thought it was not pooping it was actually just dairy-related gas. He's not constipated--breastfed babies are rarely constipated and the signs are more about what's coming out than how often it comes out. So for now I need to forget about big glasses of milk, double up on my Vitamin D, and hope he gets over this soon!

Other than this little hiccup, everything is going swimmingly. The big kids have adjusted to school (well, I shouldn't say swimmingly, homework with SkyWalker is still a battle. He does his math work without hesitation, but he has to write a paragraph a week and it's THE WORST THING EVER.). The Princess is doing well in kindergarten and it feels like she's been in school forever. Chewie is doing GREAT in preschool. It's just what she needed. She's happy to go and listens well and enjoys it. She loves gymnastics and is often one of the best listeners in the class. When we go out she stays in the stroller with Lightrunner and is helpful and listens. It's insane. But once the big kids are home, she once again becomes the little kid and the screaming/crying starts. If she's going to misbehave at any point during the day it is most likely when they are home. Which gets really annoying. Our mornings together are quite nice though... I can run on the treadmill and shower and she entertains herself with Reading Rainbow on the iPad or her toys. She behaves. Doesn't whine or cry for me. It makes things a lot easier to get done.

We're all fitting into our grooves.

The final result: The Superhero Party!

The Superhero Party is done.

I made the masks, and the capes, and the last part was the city buildings for the Superhero Training Ground Obstacle Course. I gathered all the shoe boxes we save for no reason, Vader and I taped some together, he spray painted them black and I added windows with some oversized thick graph paper I had. 

The kids started the party decorating the capes and then headed to the yard.

The Obstacle Course was relatively simple, but I think it was fun. I had two separate courses, one for the under 4s and one for the over 4s. The littlest kids jumped on the mini trampoline, climbed up the toddler climber, slid down, jumped over tiny buildings and then went in the Tent of Balls to retrieve a special "token" (a laminated Wonder Woman or Superhero logo): 

The older kids started out on the trampoline, jumped over the set of 3 bigger boxes, swung over a box with the rings on our playset, climbed up the climbing wall, slid down the slide, jumped over more boxes: 

Then they had to get around Lex Luthor throwing kryptonite (cut up chunks of a green pool noodle):

Vader's face has been blurred to protect his identity.
Which is a shame because it was the funniest face ever.

After evading Lex Luthor they too went into the Tent of Balls to get the token. When they found one, they brought it to me and were awarded with the Superhero Mask. Then they could do it all over again.

We had cupcakes made by the bestest friend ever: 

They brought home their capes, masks, and either a Wonder Woman or Superman plastic ring (the one bit of plastic junk I couldn't resist). All in all it was pretty damn awesome. 

Now I will rest (until next weekend when we put the raised bed garden together).

Oh yeah, I was in costume for a little while. Catwoman (Target pleather pants from a decade ago, newly purchased Bee Band to cover the unzipped part, and a really snug mask from the internets. It was 80 degrees. I didn't wear this long.)

Superhero Party Part B

(Yes, I know the first part was 1, so this should be 2 and not B. Sadly the person I always make that joke for probably doesn't read this blog anymore!)

The Capes. Capes, capes, capes. Oy. First I let a salesman talk me into buying felt instead of the polyester knit fabric I wanted (because they didn't have enough of the red). So then I had to take it back to a different store and got red knit and blue knit and figured I'd do half and half. I got 7 yards of each.

I cut the fabric into manageable sizes, specifically 24"x 28", a task made immensely easier when I bought a new 24"x 36" mat for my rotary cutter.

This is the best purchase I've made recently, aside from my Ice Tea Maker. 

Then I worked on shaping the fabric into capes and not rectangles. Of course I checked the interwebs first and this website: http://shannonmakesstuff.blogspot.com/2011/07/super-hero-capes-and-eye-masks-for-your.html It was a tremendous help. I did the blue ones first--14 of them--and totally screwed them up. Well, not totally, but I made the neck "holes" way too big so it wound up being more like a shawl than a cape. Ugh. I made the red ones without messing up and attempted to fix the blue ones. I quickly realized that the only way to fix the blue ones was to cut off the necks and start all over--losing 5 inches of length. Eek. BUT I had leftover fabric since I bought 7 yards of it. So I cut up the rest of the red fabric. It wasn't enough for all the kids, but miraculously worked out to be the number of big kids I have (4 & up). I decided that instead of half and half I would have all the big kids in red and the younger, smaller siblings could have the blue capes. Losing 5 inches wouldn't be quite so noticeable on them and 2-3 year olds probably wouldn't care anyway...

The smaller cape

The bigger cape

After finally getting it right, I ironed on my Velcro (that's right, ironed, no sewing involved!). That wasn't difficult, just time consuming. And then, the highlight of the capes, I ironed on the t-shirt transfer images I printed up of names and the Justice League picture I used for the invitations (I did not ask for copyright permission, sorry). My part of the capes is FINALLY done. I will now watch 23 kids put stickers and write all over them and try not to cry inside since that was the point of this whole thing!

The next thing I have to do is prepare city buildings as part of our Superhero Training Ground Obstacle Course and then it's just setting up everything the day of the party (and praying for no rain!!)

Superhero Party Part 1

Although the Princess has always been a girly girl and is in a major Princess mode right now, she's also always been into Wonder Woman and superheroes and Chewie is following in her footsteps. Their birthdays are just two weeks apart and this is the first year Chewie would have a "friend" party, or really a party at all, and I was stressing a bit as to how I was going to pull off two birthday parties two weeks apart, especially when I am pregnant. I didn't say anything to the Princess but she randomly suggested that they have a JOINT birthday party. Which was AWESOME. I was not going to suggest that because I believe each child should be able to have the spotlight alone... but if she was offering I wasn't going to refuse. Particularly since the majority of Chewie's friends are younger siblings of The Princess's preschool friends. It just made sense. The Princess will be 5 and Chewie will be 3 and we typically do at home playdate parties. They usually work out pretty well, but for some reason (insanity) I've decided to step it up a notch this year.

They are having a Superhero party, complete with capes, masks, and a Superhero Training Grounds Obstacle Course in the backyard. I started working on Part 1 today: the masks. I was going to buy masks to give out, but that would've been a bit too expensive to do it right. I'm making the capes so I might as well make the masks too!

First I downloaded a template from Krafty Kid and increased the size because it printed up teeny tiny. Then I glued it to cardboard to make my own template. I used a razor blade-exacto knife thing to cut out the eyes.

Superhero Mask template.

From there I traced the outline onto some black felt with a white pencil I've had in my sewing box for a decade and probably only used once before:

I don't know why this is washed out, but you can see the outline really well.

I used fabric scissors to cut out the felt and a combination of the scissors and my um, rotary knife thingy (is that what it's called?) to cut out the eyes. It was much easier than I thought it would be. In a stroke of genius I used my ice picker I just found yesterday to poke the holes for the string. I already had both the felt and the stretchy string from previous crafts, but I'll need to get more black felt to finish the rest of the masks.

They're not "perfect" but I made 10 of them in a couple of hours so I'm okay with that. 

Secret identity is safe from internet perverts!

It looks so big on her little face... but um, it looks big on my little (pregnant fat) face too. I need to make 14 more and then it's on to the capes and the obstacle course. Did I mention the party is in 2-3 weeks? Yeah.

Waasup?

There was a time with each of my kids when I realized how utterly in love I was with them and that it was time to have the next one. With SkyWalker and the Princess it was around 18 months old. Not that I don't love them all the time, but there was something about that age with the both of them, that it's just *more*. It was a good signal to me that it was time to start trying for the next, particularly with SkyWalker, because I didn't want that love to start to be smothering. I had been waiting for it to happen with Chewie at the same time and waiting and waiting. And it really didn't. We started trying for the next anyway but I wondered if I had just been split in so many ways already if I wouldn't have that same all encompassing love for Chewie that I did with the other two (this sounds so wrong, like I don't love her or the others all the time. I do, obviously I do, but this is just on a different level.). But the last couple of months it's been there and I realized it had nothing to do with age at all, but with communication. The other two started talking a lot sooner (even SkyWalker) than Chewie. It's taken her a while but she's finally caught up. Sure, you won't understand her and she'll need speech class too, but I understand her and that's what counts. We talk to each other now, and more importantly, she's funny! She's intentionally funny and her personality is just shining now in ways that it couldn't before because she was too busy being angry and screaming. Every single thing she does cracks me up. Everything she says. The way she says "Good job Mommy!" when I flip on a light switch. I am completely and totally in love with her and spend a large part of my day just drinking in her essence. I am glad that it finally happened, and it's good timing since I'm halfway to Quattro's arrival.

The Princess gets older and older. Ready for kindergarten. I was ready for her to go months ago, but I can see it's going to be much harder on me than I thought. She's become so helpful. I could not have survived the early weeks of pregnancy without her. Honestly and truly. Not only did she help take care of Chewie--making her breakfast and lunch and wiping her butt on the potty and brushing her teeth and just caring for her--she helped ME. She cuddled with me and told me that I wouldn't be throwing up forever and that it would be better soon. She supported me, emotionally, in ways that 4 years old usually just don't. She was amazing. Now that I'm feeling better when she's mad at having to clean up or do something she's fond of saying "When this baby comes you're doing everything by yourself!" But, for the most part she's still pretty good. She has tantrums here and there, but nothing like before. She has embraced the big sister role and can't wait for this new baby. Chewie has totally latched on to her and I think it will be hard when she's in school all day. But Chewie will be in preschool twice a week and hopefully she will be distracted by being a big sister herself.

SkyWalker is getting old and moody. He waffles between yelling about having to do "everything" when I ask him to do his laundry and then volunteering to cut the broccoli for dinner (that he won't eat) because he's "ready to help you Mommy." He plays with his sisters but not as much as he used to... demanding his alone time and needing silence to do his homework. He's doing well in school but it's clear he'd rather be home. Can't say I blame him. I like being home too. He's so mature about some things and then still very obviously a little kid about others. When I was wondering out loud how we were going to do 4 showers at bedtime in a few years, I realized that he and the Princess probably wouldn't be going to bed at 8 anymore (sigh) so we'd have the younger two go first and get to bed and then the older two. He replied yeah, the Princess should be able to stay up a little later, like to 8:10. Which was so funny, particularly since I can hear him turning pages until well past 10 pm.

Poor little Haze is still limping and confined to the leash. We've had her crated a lot as well, but it doesn't look like her leg is healing on its own. I am torn. I don't want her to have surgery. I cannot deal with it if something goes wrong. I cannot lose her now. But I don't want her to be limping forever. BUT, she doesn't seem to be in any pain. A large part of me wants to just let her go and run and enjoy her life and if her torn ACL starts to cause her real pain then we can go ahead with the surgery. Isaac's death completely took us by surprise. I hate thinking that we're depriving Haze of a quality life because we're worried about her leg. What if we only have a couple of years left with her? This is the cloud in the sky now. The last time Vader and I discussed it he vehemently disagreed about just letting her run. Aren't there tons of dogs that get by with just 3 legs?

I've run a bit here and there, some good some bad. I wore a one-piece bathing suit under my running clothes when I went out on Sunday and it really helped support my growing belly, which helped the back pain. I plan on trying it on the treadmill today. I fantasize about running a half after this baby is born... but first I need to get back to being able to run a 5K. The entire world is training for either a half or a full marathon right now and I am slowly eeking my way through 2 miles. But in 5 1/2 years I will be able to run whenever I want to between the hours of 7 and 2:45 because all of my children will be in school. Maybe I'll even run a marathon.

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.

Blathering

School started a few weeks ago and we have yet to fall into a good routine. The girls were sick last week and that screwed things up. Chewie has been taking later naps, leaving me with very little time. She finally fell asleep at 2 (after taking her diaper off. Again. I don't even care if she wets the bed, I just need her to sleep.), I got the Princess up there shortly after and that leaves me with a grand total of 40 minutes. Yesterday we had gymnastics so she was tired enough to fall asleep at 12:30ish and slept a good 2 hours. I was able to run my intervals and shower, and they woke up just as I got SkyWalker off the bus. I'm not sure what's better--to have more time to myself or to have them sleeping when he gets home. I think it's the former. And I think we're going to have to get up a wee bit earlier in the morning so naptime is earlier.

The Princess is ready for kindergarten. She's ready to go and I'm ready to send her. I'm going to have to request a teacher who is very patient with little girls who don't know how to stop talking. Because she can NOT STOP TALKING. My head is going to explode.

Chewie is talking much more and repeats everything and likes to tell me to be quiet and shhh and "top it." She's very rude. She's peeing on the potty again but not doing anything else. She likes to take her diaper off. And her clothes. Big surprise. I don't know why my children always like being naked. I would like to go cold turkey and potty train her, but I don't want to have to stay home. And I can't stay home because of preschool. I need a school break, but I don't want to do that over Thanksgiving or Christmas, so that leaves February. But that seems so far away and I am so very tired of wrestling her to get a diaper on her.

SkyWalker is doing well in school. He has a nice positive teacher so I think things will be good this year. He is getting tired of living in a house with so many girls and gives me guilt trips on a daily basis. He is definitely growing up. He used to be so grateful for anything and this birthday he complained about the books I got him, the legos I got him, everything. I intended on saying "I'm sorry your birthday has been so disappointing." but instead I said "I'm soSOBrry, your SOB birthday SOB has been so disappointing SOB!" (No, I cannot blame this on pregnancy hormones. I am still not pregnant.) He left the room. Vader followed him and I wasn't sure at the time whether or not he told him to be more grateful or not to worry because Mommy does that crap to him all the time too... but he did eventually thank me for everything and seemed to be genuinely happy with it all.

I've done very little. Dishes/laundry/sweep. That's pretty much it. And run. I stopped writing articles because the payback was so little compared to the stress of trying to write multiple articles a week. I generally just read the books I have to review for VOYA now.

Vader and I went to see Primus last night. I didn't recognize many of the songs, but it was a good show nonetheless.

Haze hurt her leg, the same way Isaac did years ago. Vader took her to the vet yesterday who confirmed that she should have surgery. He also said, however, that we could medicate her and keep her on the leash and make her comfortable. At first we both thought there's no point in that if she did completely tear her ACL. But then I came on here and looked up Isaac's SECOND injury and all we did was medicate him and keep him on the leash for months and then he was fine. It was when I was pregnant with Chewie and we really didn't want a second surgery. I would like Haze to be healed... but I don't really want to do another surgery. Besides the fact that it's another $3000 that won't go towards redoing our attic (if we ever redo our attic), I just don't want her to have to go through that. If she has to be in the crate for 2 months and won't be able to lay right next to me...  When Isaac hurt his first leg he couldn't even get up the deck stairs. I had to put a ramp out so he could get up. When Vader touched it, he didn't howl in pain, but he definitely yelped a bit. Haze has shown none of that. She'll still run if we let her (we've had her on the leash for over a week), she doesn't yelp or cry or seem in pain. She's just limping and walking funny. I'm kind of leaning towards giving her the medication, keeping her on the leash, and waiting it out. If she gets the surgery she has to be crated for months and then confined to a leash for more months. So we might as well wait and see.

Half an excuse

Today we packed up the kids early and left the house at 8 am (early for us) so we could all go to Chewie's third hearing test and ENT consultation. The good news is that her right ear is totally clear now, there's no more fluid and she passed the hearing test in that ear. The bad news is that she failed it in her left ear. There wasn't any fluid or signs of infection. But there was a lot of negative pressure. The ENT was fairly confident that the negative pressure was the cause of the failed test and that her hearing is not actually affected. He said that all it takes is one good ear to develop normal speech patterns, so we're not at a critical point right now. He thinks that it could very well be seasonal. He recommends that we just wait and see. So, we'll be going back in August for yet another hearing test. Hopefully that will be enough time for the pressure in her to equalize, or whatever it is that pressure does.

I'm glad that he doesn't want to rush into tubes or any other surgical solution, but it would be nice to just have this over with. Until then I suppose she has half an excuse for not listening to me.

Ch-ch-ch-Changes

Wednesday has apparently become my blogging day. I don't know why. It's not easier than any other day.

Last Friday I did a very quick short run because the girls were refusing to nap and making a lot of noise. When I came upstairs from the office (where the treadmill is) the Princess called down to me that she had something to tell me. Now, she ALWAYS has something to tell me that usually have no importance whatsoever. But that day she needed to tell me that Chewie had put her leg OVER the crib. Ugh. I had seen her lifting up on the rail and wondered when she was going to attempt to climb out. I watched her on the video monitor and sure enough she was trying her best to get out. UGH UGH. Have I mentioned she STILL has a soft spot? At almost 2 years old? The last thing I need now is a head injury. I left her up there, but I couldn't get in the shower knowing she might climb out and fall.

On Saturday we went to the store and got a big girl bed for the Princess. It's just a white bed, simple wood, but she picked out TinkerBell sheets so she loves it. We took apart the crib and put it in the attic (first time in 4 years we haven't had it up!) and moved the Princess's toddler bed to Chewie's spot.

Sigh.

Whooosh. What's that sound? Time flying by.

Both girls love their new beds. The Princess has actually taken a nap because she just wanted to lay in her bed and then she fell asleep. Once Chewie falls asleep she stays in it all night long. It's the falling asleep part that's not so good. It takes a good 10-30 minutes of telling her to get back in her bed (it's somewhat funny seeing her on the video monitor clearly out of her bed, then walking up the stairs, hearing little feet running, and finding her laying in her bed. I forget that she knows what's going on because she doesn't really talk.) She took a good nap on Monday, but nothing yesterday. Today seems to be a bust too. I can leave her up there awake and do other things during naptime, but I just can't go downstairs and run and have BOTH girls awake and roaming freely in their room. It's fine with the Princess, but not Chewie.

This sucks.

I'm going to have to rearrange my entire life now. I have to decide if I'm running after bedtime or before they wake up in the morning. And I've been doing just oh-so-well with the getting up thing. /sarcasm

I have a million things to do, but Chewie has her ENT visit tomorrow to see if she's going to need tubes in her ears. So I'm not quite focused enough to write reviews and articles and complete sentences.

You get all this in just one post

Running:

My week off turned into two. It was somewhat unintentional. I had been looking forward to my long Sunday run but it was wicked cold so I chickened out. Why yes, I did feel like a major lame-o since my friends were running a marathon relay that day and had no choice about the wicked cold. But, I made cookies with Nana and the Princess instead. The next day should have been a treadmill day but we were out and about and was distracted by the results of Chewie's hearing test (see below) and playing Words with Friends with both SkyWalker and Nana that it wasn't until bedtime that I realized that the ENTIRE day had flashed by without a run. I pretty much knew the rest of the week was shot. We had a ginormous amount of fun with our friends resulting in naps being thrown off schedule and thus runs not being, um, run. But it was all worth it.

I got back on the treadmill on Friday with an easy run and then hit the road yesterday for my long run. I've been slowly building up my distance and planned on running 5.5 miles. But then I thought that I would plot out the 6.2 miles and if I wound up running 5.5 and walking the rest that would be fine, but at least I'd know how far I'd have to go to get the 6.2 (10K). I ran nonstop for 5.2 miles putting me at the bottom of the Hill. I stopped for roughly 30 seconds (stopped the watch and didn't move) and gathered myself. Then I started the trek up the hill. I was pretty wiped after already running 5.2 and in case I haven't mentioned it, this hill is, well, a HILL. I went up the first section which turned out to be .10 of a mile. I stopped for 10 seconds. I repeated that two more times until I was at the top of the hill. And then I just ran all the way home. I needed to go past my house just a smidge so I could get the full 6.2. I did it all about 3 minutes faster than the last time I attempted it. The last time I walked and I didn't go near the hill. So I'd say I did much better considering the slowness up the hill!

I'm glad I ended February on a high note, since I did about half the miles that I did in January--only 26.8 miles. Well, it is the shortest month.

******
Chewie:

At Chewie's 18 month checkup we started the early intervention process for speech. She wound up not qualifying because she communicated just enough, but she is delayed. She needs to improve by the time she's 2 or we'll have to do the whole thing again. Part of it was a hearing test. Her first was in January and she failed. She had a cold and they said the results were consistent with people who have colds so we didn't worry and just rescheduled another one for 4 weeks later. She had no runny nose so I sent her off with Vader and didn't give it a second thought. She failed again. Although she had no outward symptoms she had congestion or fluid in her ears. So she's on a steroid nose spray (the same one SkyWalker was one for his allergies) and hopefully that will help the fluid drain through her nose. We have an appointment with an ENT for the end of March and if it hasn't drained by then she'll most likely need to get tubes in her ears. And then we'll have to do another hearing test. Hopefully she'll pass that one and start talking soon. Not that I really want her to talk because the Princess DOES NOT STOP, but I'd like her to have the ability to talk.

*******
Blathering:

My alarm went off at 5:30 this morning and I did the daily debate of "I should get up but I'm not in the mood to physically move my body." At 6:20 I heard SkyWalker tell his father that I forgot to make his lunch! Argh. I jumped out of bed and he was right. Vader was making his lunch but I stayed up. It was lovely. I was going to run but my neck is in serious hurting mode, most likely from that damn hill yesterday. But I'm hoping that being up early today will help me fall asleep early tonight and get me back into that routine. If I could run before the kids even get up... oy.... and then have naptime to do THINGS! Oh the joy.
*******
Poetry:

Today's trek down memory lane is my most successful poem. Published 5 times according to a resume I found in the box.

The Hands

Why do I remember them?
Only the hands,
Once capable and quick,
Now slow and unsteady.
The hands.
I don't remember
the eyes or the voice.
But I remember
Those old, dying hands.
God, how they look like
mine.

A little crap... followed by a little pee

I had kind of a sucky day.

Lots of money snafus, whiny cranky baby, whiny cranky constipated school-boy, my sinuses-allergies combined to kick me when I was down. I got the van stuck in the snow while backing it up the driveway after getting SkyWalker off the bus. It stayed there until Vader dug it out at bedtime. I spilled hot tea on myself. I didn't run. It was just a crapilicious morning.

But then, my little monkey, the one who can't sit still did something amazing. She's been sitting long enough for me to read her books (multiple books!) and that in itself is noteworthy. But today, at bath time, she sat on the potty long enough to actually PEE in it! She's been sitting on the potty... for a second here or there before she tries to jump off. Today she sat and I said "Are you going to pee?" and by golly she nodded her little head and she peed!! Real PEE! In the potty!

Sometimes all it takes is a little pee to brighten your day.

I'm aware

that more than a month has passed by since I have last visited this blog.

1. Skywalker just had his tonsils/adenoids out this past Friday. Right now he is outside shoveling snow. I told him the doctor said no strenuous activity, but he did his schoolwork for the day and he's been doing nothing but watching TV, so I relented. He and the Princess are out in the snow and I am hoping the activity will help him poop. He did okay with the surgery, not so great coming out of it, and is doing okay right now. He's actually bouncier and smiling more than he has the past couple of days. But I still anticipate a long week ahead.

2. The Princess is doing wonderful in preschool and everywhere else. She's not so shy anymore and talks to people. We saw our friends last week and she immediately played with her buddy instead of waiting until right before we had to leave. She seems to be sane now which is good timing since...

3. Chewie is incapable of sitting down. She is ALWAYS on the move. Pushing stools and chairs so she can climb on higher tables and reach things she shouldn't. But she's happy *most* of the time.

4. I'm still running. Three times a week. I have some winter gear now so I can run in the cold on Sundays. I want to keep that up as long as I can. I just got a Garmin Forerunner watch for Christmas.

5. I'm blogging a lot over at my book blog. I spend a lot of time reading and blogging. If I could only get paid for it we'd be all set. If you haven't checked it out, you should: http://goddesslibrarian.blogspot.com

And that is all I can update since I need to find pants for the two little snow shovelers and remind them that nap time for Chewie is a drumming-free time (SkyWalker inherited Pop's unwanted drums this weekend.)