Only Babies Can Get Away with That.

Me and my pal Roggs took our beasts to dinner on Monday night.  She had just gotten back from vacation and I had just eaten most of the food in the world, so we went to Ziggy's Healthy Grill.  It's a health conscious place (most everything is cooked healthy oils or no oils if possible...the fries are sweet potatoes and the salads are DIVINE)...but they don't really offer up nutrition information (which I find bizarre - and probably means the stuff isn't as healthy as they like to promote). 

Nonetheless, we took the beasts to dinner...but there was no one else at the restaurant...which was good because screaming babies didn't bother anyone but us, but bad because there was no one else to drown out my screaming baby.  Ha.  (Roggs' baby didn't scream so much as squeal...she is just a loud one!)

When the waittress came over to take our order she lurked for a minute too long before addressing our table.  It was just a little wierd.  But hey, we were in Montrose.  Weird lurking people are pretty par for the course 'round those parts.  But when she did finally decide to talk to us, she apparently told us about the specials...but I could barely hear her because the giant booger in her nose was talking louder than her.

I'm telling you, it was the biggest booger I have ever seen in my life.  Ever.  On anyone.  It was so big that I wasn't sure if it was a booger or if it was a nose ring.  It was THAT big.  Huge.

I didn't hear a single word that she said about the specials.

I asked Roggs if she knew what the specials were and she said, "No, I couldn't hear over the booger."

Yeah.  I'm telling you.  Biggest.  Booger.  Ever.  Only babies can get away with boogers like that.  The good news is that, unlike my adorable booger filled child, this chick is capable of picking her own.  When she came back, it was gone.  Apparently booger shaped nose rings aren't as fashionable as I had once thought.

I ordered the salad.

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In exercise related news, my race in 3 weeks away - ahhh!!  I have been picking up the running mileage - I am now at a respectable 4 miles and a pitiful 5 miles, but I'm getting there!  I'm gonna shoot for running 6 again this weekend at a normal pace (I went way slow last weekend just to make sure I got it done). 

I am feeling good, but my legs are pretty wasted.  I ran 6.5 on Saturday, took Sunday off (because my BFF was in town and we went Owling - ha), did 5 and weights on Monday, biked 20 and ran 1 on Tuesday, 5 and weights on Wednesday, and now, after 2 hours of sleep, I am trying to get motivated to bike at lunch today...but truthfully, I'm not sure if my legs will hold out. 

I will probably take it easy the week of my race - not because I really need to taper before a sprint tri, but because I've increased my volume so much in the last few weeks that my body will probably just need a break.  

For now, I'm hoping to swim in about 12 minutes (500 meters), bike in about 40 minutes (13.5 miles = 20-21mph), and run in about 32-33 minutes (3.65 miles = 9 min/miles). 

The swim will be a crapshoot.  You have to actually train on something to have a vague idea of how it will go...and I have been in the water once since before Anna was born (we are going on about 5 months now).  And that was at my last race.  Ha.  Oh well!  We are going to swim this weekend (swimming is the sport that is REALLY hard to do with a baby, FYI - it just takes too much time!) and then I will have a better grasp of what I can do on race day I think.

I'm relatively confident in my biking ability - I've been KILLING it on the trainer.  I haven't been biking outside, so I don't actually know how fast I've been going, but I've been feeling good and sweating a lot. That's got to be a good sign, eh?  Or I could just be really out of shape.  We will find out!  (It's definitely hard to find time to bike outside, but finding time on the trainer is pretty easy)

On the run, it will just be about willpower.  I know I CAN do it....it will just be a matter of MAKING myself do it.  I'm gonna wear The Green Silence (my racing flats), so that should motivate me to run faster.  You can't wear racing flats and dillydally.  It's just wrong.

I am so excited!  I love racing!  I wish I was gonna look better in my spandex, but alas, this is the squishy body that I was given.  Avert your eyes!

Owling About Town.

For those of you who don't stay home all day and watch tv, I've got news for you.  Owling is the new planking.  And for those of you who are saying, "what the hell is planking?". Well, I've got news for you too.  You are behind on the times my friend. Behind the times.

Planking is all the rage.  Mostly for teenagers.  Or adults hopped up on caffiene.  It's also apparently dangerous.  Whic is ridiculous because according to Wikipedia, it's alternate name is also called the Lying Down Game.  Lying down is probably the safest of all activities in the world.  But you know, if you lay down on your roof, you're an idiot.  Nonetheless. 

This picture has inspired me to take pictures of Anna planking.  I bet planking is a SIDS risk.  Tragic. 

Somebody give that baby a planking!

BUT.  Planking is out and Owling is in.  Thank goodness I have friends like LD and Tater who fill me in on these things now because my daytime TV watching is lacking and I miss it.  I know I said that Brooke Sheilds at The Addams Family was irritating, but I miss.  You don't know what you've got till it's gone.  They took paradise and put in a parking lot.

Since my pal Amac was here from Dallas (yayy for friends visiting!), we owled about town.  We went on a run with our friends on Saturday morning and finished it off with breakfast at Yale Street Grill (home of the crispy hash browns...yum!).  (Sidenote:  I ran 6.5 miles!!  HOORAY!)

Tater, owling it up on the newspaper stand.

After running and post-run calorie consumption, we took naps and went shopping on Westheimer (home of the clothes that are too trendy for me) and then took the Anna to dinner at our neighborhood bar and grill.  Tommy took Anna home early so Amac and I could party like it was 1999, so we ordered a 2 liter bottle of wine (because they apparently sell those there) and consumed it.  Then called Tater who joined us for some beers and some late night owling. 

Late Night Owling.  Burns more calories than Taco Cabana.



Then, because we are old and I just had a baby, we left at like 11PM because, let's be honest, I cannot party like it's 1999 anymore.  I tried though, I really did.  We came home, watched Ferris Bueller (SEE?  We were really trying for the 1999 thing...)    Then on Sunday, we met Janelle and Thomas for breakfast at Coco Crepes (home of the delicious bananas foster crepe) where Anna worked on her Jackie O impressions.

Anna and Aunt Amac.

Oh, and BTW, this morning on the radio, Rod Ryan was talking about how owling is the new planking.  We are so trendy.


Quick Updates...Only Because It's Been Forever Since I Last Blogged.

I'm really glad I bought semi-stylish maternity clothes.  I had no idea that I would STILL be wearing them.  My entire outfit today is maternity.  Stretchy pants rock, but I kind of miss belts.

Apparently, I can't remember to put on deodorant anymore.  This is the third day since I've been back at work that  I've forgotten to put it on.  Thank goodness for my gym bag.

What to do when people make TERRIBLE spelling mistakes on Facebook?  Not just a typo, but like, the wrong word all together?  Should you help them?  I hate seeing my friends get dummer*. "Conscience" and "conscious" are not the same word.  FYI.  Nor are "affect" and "effect".  And don't get me started on "irregardless". 

Since my belly button is so freakishly deep now (it was freakishly deep before...now it's even worse...if you can possibly fathom that), it is collecting all sorts of artifacts.  I wouldn't be surprised to find a dinosaur fossil in there.

It's Anna's 3 month birthday!  Happy birthday Miss Anna!  I'd buy you cupcakes (because any excuse for cupcakes is a good one), but I can't wear stretchy pants forever and I can't afford a new wardrobe, so Project Weight Loss is underway.  And in case you didn't follow, Project Weight Loss does not include the consumption of cupcakes.

Dear lord mom.  That outfit...[shudder]...

We started giving the beast bottles pretty early on (which was awesome, btw)...and we couldn't figure out why sometimes she would choke and sputter and drool and splatter milk everywhere.  Then one day, I was like, "Hey Tommy, some of these nipples have numbers on them".  And Tommy was all,  "Hey, let's google it".  And we determined that we had been feeding her with nipples fit for a 3 year old.  No wonder the kid couldn't keep it all down.

Lucky for me, newborns are not quite as fragile as they appear to be.  There are just too many damn instructions to read - no one could keep up.  No pregnant woman knows what to read and no new mom actually has that kind of time...soooo, my house is kind of one giant booby trap.

The best thing about being back at work is morning talk radio.  Oh, how I missed morning talk radio. 

Had my first hangover on Saturday morning.  Learned my lesson!  Hangovers and babies do not mix.  Nor do long runs in the heat of the day or massages.  All of which I did with a hangover.  Not optimal.  Game night was fun...Things in a Park that start with J??
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Workouts are going GREAT!  My running group started up for the season and I quickly realized A. how much I missed working out with people and B. that running while talking is hard.  I will attempt to run 6 miles on Saturday with them (and my BFF who is coming in town to play!)...we will see how that goes.  It is a 50% increase over my longest run lately.  I think we can safely say that that is higher the recommended 10% increase. (not to be redundant for you math geniuses out there) Ooops.  Bridgeland Sprint Tri is in 3 weeks...and since I forgot to sign up for the Athena division (CRAP!), I will attempt to be more competitive so I don't embarrass myself.  Probably should have thought that through a little more.  Probably should go to the pool.  At least once.  Probably.

*Yes, I no that's not how you speel it.

International Travel

Did you know that infants need passports?  Yeah.  They do.  Which is ridiculous, by the way.  Because we took passport pictures of her and we travel in 7 months...which means that she will look nothing like she does now.  Totally NOT a waste of my time.

Nonetheless, you have to have a passport for an infant and we are going to Mexico for a wedding in December, so the beast will have a passport.  Unfortunately, taking a picture of an infant who cannot hold her own head up is like pulling teeth (and hysterical...unlike pulling teeth).

We are highly amused by these.

And then we got to hang out at the passport office for 2.5 hours with an infant.  What an awesome system.  Luckily, I think she left some crap  (yeah, like actual crap) on the floor there.  Payback is a bia!

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In other news, I started back to work this week.  In very un-momlike fashion, I enjoyed almost every single minute of my first day.  That said, I spent a good portion of my day looking at pictures of her on my phone (don't tell my boss how much they paid me to do that), but I loved being back at the office, talking to people, solving problems, using the non-babytalk side of my brain, and having a reason to brush my teeth. 

I loved staying home with her (WAY more than I thought I could/would) but I was definitely ready to get back in the work force.  I took 11.5 weeks off - which was right about what I needed.  I started getting really antsy at about 10 weeks and then I had another week to get my ducks in a row...it was perfect.  3 days in, I am tired but overall, work is work.  Some parts of it are good, some parts of it are bad...but as an engineer, I CRAVE routine and schedules and spreadsheets.  And there are only so many spreadsheets you need for an infant (and I didn't actually have any).  I considered making a spreadsheet of her sleep and awake cycles, but since she doesn't sleep during the day AT ALL, the spreadsheet would have been quite short.

I've given myself the week off from working out.  But since my office has a great gym, I was able to get an abs class and some weights in yesterday and toda, I woke up early and got 25 minutes on my bike trainer and there is a quick class at lunch again that I will take.  So the week won't be a total wash.  Next week I will start to try to get workouts in before work  - it will be an interesting balancing act, but since Tommy and I are the masters at schedule juggling, I'm sure we will figure it out.  AND next week Tommy and I will start alternating middle of the night feedings...right now, Tommy has been doing it because I was pumping in the middle of the night, but that has stopped now that I am back at work.  Hopefully the beast will start sleeping through the night soon and life can get some sort of routine!

AND (so many changes!) my track workouts with my group start next week.  I cannot wait.  It's been a LOOOONG time since I've done speed work...and while I am terrified, I know it will be worth it in the long run.  Hooray!