Time Keeper

Where does it go? When you're young you have no concept, it's about the slow months between Decembers and how to pass them or the idea that June, July and August must not have as many days because summer vacations (everyone remember those?) seem to fly to fast. When you're pregnant time creeps by taunting you that it knows when you will be blessed with a new being and you don't. When your child is born, time seems to stand still for just a brief moment, the day is in slow motion. And then to play a huge trick on you, time pushes the fast forward button and the next years fly by without so much as a hint of where they've gone.

You turn around and "poof" you baby is a small person talking like an adult, you're 10 years older in a completely different place than you had ever envisioned for yourself, your parents are no longer the energetic cheerleaders on the sidelines but rather the older couple in the over sized car that you mumble under your breath about on the highway and your body is no longer as limber, tight or perky as it once was. Your eyes have feet, you have battle scars from wars your proud of and your knees pop every time you stand up. How do we get it back, how do we cherish it, how do we save it, how do we not take time for granted? Beats me...all this from a trip to the grocery store that took 7 hours round trip (we go once a month to the commissary with my parents). And thinking the entire time that I should be at home cleaning, playing with the boys, spending time awake with Tim, working out, or blogging (for goodness sakes).

Training wise, Tim watched the kids yesterday after he got off work and I was able to get my second swim workout in for the first time! Woohoo, I've double my swims this week. The hurt achilles seems to have caused a calcium deposit (or something) on my heal...it's painful and swollen. I've only run 3 times since the duathlon 2 weeks ago. Luckily I'm still able to bike without any pain. I've got a brick coming up in a few hours...hopefully I can get a better run in than I did on Wednesday. It was so bad that I just stopped. Better to stop than to run badly or maybe that's just me being lazy. Tim and I had to make an agreement last night to stop enabling each other's laziness and start encouraging each other's training.

Working from Home

After Ryan was born I went back to work full-time. It gave me an outlet and some adult time so my brain didn't turn to mush. Ryan stayed with my dad 5 days a week for a small price (much cheaper than daycare). He didn't enter school until he turned 1 and then it was only 3 days a week for the socialization. The one thing I hated was not being able to be with him during those first years, seeing every little milestone and even creating a tighter bond. When we found out I was pregnant again, I pleaded my case to work part-time after Brayden was born. Luckily, I have a husband that is supportive, an understanding boss and a company that was flexible.

I've been working 25 hours a week since Brayden was 6 weeks old. Two days in the office with Ryan at school and Brayden with grandpa, and one day working from home with Brayden while Ryan is at grandpa's. Mainly we did this so that Ryan would still get grandpa time and there was the rationalization that Brayden being the infant and non-mobile would be easier for me to manage while trying to get some billable time in at home. It was a good idea at the time, until I realized that Brayden is much more attached to me than Ryan was and doesn't let me move more than 2 feet from him at any given time. For the past several months, he's been moving around the house and away from me, but this just lends itself to me not being able to sit at my computer for more than 60 seconds at a time.

My billable time mostly occurs after Tim leaves for work (around 5am) until Brayden wakes up around 7:30 or 8; during morning nap between 10 and 11:30 or 12 and then again during afternoon nap between 2 and 4. Does anyone need a calculator? That's only about 6.5 hours of work on Wednesdays. Fortunately for me I can utilize the catch-all time code of "Administrative" to make up the other 1.5 hour....cleaning bottles and changing diapers qualifies...right?

Handy Man

Ryan decided to help me put laundry away and was in our closet holding hangers for me. I turned around for a second and then heard a crash. He had somehow torn the metal bar out of the wall that holds the wooden bar for the hangers (hope that make sense to everyone). So I turned around a to find Ryan standing there trying to hold the bar up while all the clothes were sliding off and looking so upset and worried. When he saw me looking at him he said "mommy I'm sorry I broke it, I'll get my tools and fix it." He walked off, dropping all the clothes on the floor and went and found his tool kit. He then proceeded to take out his little plastic screw driver and tried to screw the support bar back into the wall and then hammered the wooden rod to try and get it to set inside the support correctly. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. "I fixed it just like Handy Manny Mommy."

On the training end, I had a good 85 minute ride today. Steady state, legs felt good. I'm hoping to get into the pool more than once a week starting this week, and my achilles is feeling better so hopefully I can get some good runs in this week. Tim and I are doing a marathon relay the second week of February; my only concern is that I'll slow him down tremendously...although I guess an average pace between the two of us is probably still a good pace.

Crib for Life

Ryan has been out of his crib now for over a year. We moved him into his "big boy bed" at 15 months old for two reasons: 1) we were being woken every morning by him standing up holding on to the crib and shaking it like he was in prison trying to break free and 2) we were going to use his room as the nursery for Brayden and wanted Ryan to have time adjusting to his new room so as not to think Brayden took "his room" and "his crib".

People at work continuously asked me how late he was staying up, if we was getting out of bed to play, had he fallen out, was he sleep walking now...etc. My response was always "no, he stays in bed and goes to sleep." It was almost like he didn't know he could get out of bed. Let's fast forward to about a month or two ago (a year after the upgrade to said bed), heaven help me. I don't know if it was the fact that we put a lamp in his room that he can reach and turn on and off by himself or if it's the age he is now, not wanting to go to sleep when it's bed time. It never fails that we go thru bedtime bath, reading and singing and he's in bed by 7 but like clockwork you can count on those little feet hitting the floor and running around in his room. Playing with the tool bench, stuffed animals, reading books, swinging on the bar in his closet (yes he is secretly a monkey) and tonight, wait for it....he decided to put his tool bench next to his dresser to see if he could climb on top. Oh my goodness, did we ever have a "it's not safe" talk.

Short of using duct tape or rope to tie him in, how in the world do I get the kid to stay in his bed? My parents just laugh when I tell them, "you did the same thing every night for 3 years
Angela" It's not like I mind him playing or reading...but when climbing on things becomes his poison, we're in trouble. He's a tall boy, and able to reach and climb on just about anything and everything. I am glad that Brayden is still in the crib...although he's already figured out the bed shaking. He's only done it a few times, but I'm sure that will increase now that he's anxious to walk around. Do they make a toddler crib?

TreadMill Horror

Tim and I bought a treadmill as a Christmas gift to each other this year. I guess it was actually more for my benefit since I stay at home part time with the kids and needed a way to still be able to run. I've always heard people say that running on a treadmill is easier than running outside because you've got a machine regulating your pace for you and you don't really have the option of slowing down unless you push the button. Well then what's wrong with me?

Let me preface my complaint by explaining that I am not a runner, I consider myself a jogger. Before I started triathlon I would run a 10 min/mile maybe a little slower. After triathlon, my times got down to about 8.45/mile. I consider this good for me. My past few runs outside have been around a 8.50 pace, which is a jump from the 9.20's I was doing about a month ago. So why on the treadmill am I having trouble running a 9.15 pace comfortably? I'm at a loss for explanation. Maybe it's the gray walls I'm looking at in the garage or the fact that I'm watching "The Matrix" on DVD for the 6th time. Who knows.

Milestones are in our future. We've started the potty training with our 2.5 year old by sitting him on the "little toilet" and he does pretty well with going pee and poop...but he won't tell you when he's got to go, it's a guessing game. Better yet, like training a puppy. Take him when he wakes up, every hour after that, after meals, before nap, after nap, every hour after that, then before bed time. Maybe we should just buy a piddle pad.

I thought Ryan hit milestones so quickly his first 1.5 years...now there's Brayden. It's fun watching the second one's eyes gleam when he sees his brother doing something and he wants in on the action. So consequently he's doing everything even faster than Ryan did. Crawling at 6 months, pulling up at 7.5 months, cruising at 8 months and 9 months in only 2 weeks away. He's trying to stand without holding on already. Lord help us! His little legs are so wobbly, we're going to have to put a helmet on his head to avoid head trauma. Fortunately the only sounds he makes are "ba" and "ga"...Ryan was talking back to us by now...mommy, daddy, juice. I guess they're all as different as our parents try to tell us when we enter into this world of parenthood.

Cold Weather

I absolutely LOVE snow and absolutely HATE cold weather at the same time. Tim convinced me to do a short course duathlon this past Saturday(3.1 mile run/14 mile bike/1.5 mile run)...race start temperature a whopping 14 degrees. Now I realize this is warmer than some are experiencing right now, but I'm a whimp! I refused to warm up and sat in the car listening to "Thriller" on an 80's station. I watched everyone with all their cool winter race gear...shoe socks for their bike shoes, neck warmers, and even these little bags that you break open and they give off heat for 7 hours at a stretch. I was jealous. All I had was a pair of leggings with my mizuno gym pants over them, two long sleeve shirts and two pair of running gloves. Yikes, running gloves are not intended to insulate your hands.

Needless to say I don't usually race in cold weather, more power to those of you who do and who can do it well. What I found out is that the water in my body froze, my thighs were frozen solid. I couldn't feel my feet until mile 3 of the first run...by then it was too late and I was on the bike. This was my first ride with aero bars as well. My bike is 4-5 years old and is a "just get by bike". It serves the purpose I suppose. Needless to say it was a very sub par performance for me. My lesson from this race, even though it's cold, warm up! By not warming up I now have a achy Achilles...haven't been able to run since Saturday.

On a better note, there's now about 6 inches of snow outside. Ryan woke up this morning and said "Mommy, do you see the white rain?" After explaining it was snow, he didn't miss a beat and asked if we could go make a snowman. Where on earth did he put that together? I mean it seems simple to us adults that you make a snowman out of snow and that they aren't real. But to a 2.5 year old that believes he has to say goodnight to a plastic dinosaur and train because they "need to rest now", it's odd that he knew we had to make the snowman out of the snow. It was fun...snow angel's, making tracks and rolling down the hill...well until it got in his face it was fun. Brayden was so bundled up that he couldn't move and just looked like "what's the big deal people, can somebody get me out of this crap."

Background and Intro to me

As I've been using blogs to be my social network over the past few months. Mainly I've read blogs from women that have recently found themselves as mothers or mothers-to-be and are also endurance athletes (triathlon specifically). Since I share in this whirl wind of a life, I wanted to add my two cents.

I was previously a softball/volleyball player who only ran to keep in decent shape. I found myself being drug into triathlon in 2004-2005 by a co-worker and since I had nothing better to do, decided to give it a try. After a full season of racing in 2005, being content with training and getting married to a wonderful man, we found a nice little surprise was on the way. So 2006 was spent trying to maintain some sort of physical shape and mental stability. Our first son was born in late July 2006. So began recovery. My way, to complete my first 1/2 IM 9 months after son number 1. As I had only done sprints and 1 Oly distance in 2005, I didn't know what I was getting in to. I completed the 1/2 after a severe breakdown on the run. I took the 2007 season easy, enjoying being a mom and wife.

Tim and I decided that we wanted another child and we wanted the kids to be about 2 years apart. So when our first son turned 1, we started trying to get pregnant. 10 months later, son number 2 arrived in May 2008. I felt like I was able to maintain a better fitness with the second pregnancy although it was more likely due to being aware of myself and being comfortable being pregnant. I actually raced a couple of races in August and September of 2008.

Now, 8 months after son number 2, I'm trying to balance working part-time, staying at home with two energetic boys part-time, being a good wife and training for my next 1/2 IM in May.