Livin' la vida Lopez

Promises

2010-01-31T16:42:00.003-05:00

Grandma Swain has been asking for Christmas pictures ... I still haven't worked on them although I did download the camera, it's one step in the right direction. Then I talked to Mollie last night and promised to work on my blog and adding pictures to facebook of Alex, since he's growing and changing so much and I haven't lately ... BUT ... my parents needed help at their house, so I offered to take Alex over there to take his nap, so while he napped, I could help. Sooo ... I didn't get computer time while he napped today.

I'll try again later ... need to look through the pics and upload them. I will ... soon.

Alex knows most of his ABC's by sight, he has issues with S and Z. He loves "M" for Mommy and "P" for Papa.

Signs he knows: Colors-red, white, black, brown, blue, green, yellow, red, orange. Mommy, daddy, home, work, school, please, sorry, thank you, eat, finished, milk, more, indian, pumpkin, Happy Thanksgiving, spider, dog, cat ... I think there are a few more, but my mind is blank. I'm quizzing him as I'm typing this ... I asked him to sign Merry Christmas, he put his hands on his belly and said "Ho Ho HO!". :)

He just came into the office with his pjs on and a pair of black dress shoes with no socks. He grabbed my cell phone, I took it back and he said (while shaking his head) "No Alex phone, Mommy phone" ... that's right buddy, that's Mommy's phone. :)

Ok ... gotta get his laundry going, kitchen cleaned, and I'm sure lots of other stuff. Daddy is at the Pro Bowl in Miami with 3 of his buddies, so it's Alex and I all day. :)

Afternoon Delight

2009-11-21T21:56:00.001-05:00

I had a drs appointment on Tuesday, so I left work early and got home before it was dark. I usually get home after 6:30, and with the time change, it's pitch black outside, which is NOT good for outside time with Alex. All of the bugs are out.

Here's pictures of our 20 minutes outside before the mosquitos started biting ... daddy was inside making dinner, so I took all of these ... including the ones with me in them. :) We had a blast. Enjoy!

His own camp chair!

He loves the playset we found on Craigslist.

What a great find!

It's over 12 years old and in great shape!

Except for the yellow piece he's standing on ...

The previous owner made it,

but Santiago needed to sand and paint it

... so he added a few extras ...

Awwww

Rolling around in the grass ... FUN!
This one is begging for an explaination ...
Uncle Robby is into Karate,
while his wife was in Puerto Rico visting her mom,
he came over to dinner ... and taught Alex how to
KICK
"Hands up and kick!"
and this is what it looks like ...
Alex is even saying "Eeeyah!"
He loves his Uncle Robby!

I'm lying in the grass,

Alex is standing on my chest,

giggling away!

Tickle tickle tickle

Our "patio"?

There is always time to stop and smell the flowers.

RUNNING!

We really had a great time ...

wish we had more of these times together ...

I'll have to work harder at making it happen more often.

Still Alive!

2009-11-21T10:09:00.004-05:00

Just got home from an 8 mile run. What a feeling! Jenny did 17 miles, wow. She's training for a full marathon in February. I've done 4 half marathons since I started running and two more to do this "running season".

Today is our 11 year Anniversary. It sure doesn't feel like that long. The last two years have especially flown by with Alex around!

I've disappeared on here cause I'm on Facebook ... I've heard from other bloggers that this is the reason they haven't posted much also. I'm not on FB very much, but I try to keep up here and there. I've got new pics posted there that I need to get posted here as well. I need to post before and after pics of our house ... always something going on.

Alex & I have a playdate tomorrow with two of his daycare buddies. It's nice to hang out with other moms and chit chat and share ideas. I'm loving it.

My dad was in the hospital again last week ... heart issues. Not fun, but he's doing ok.

Alex was home sick two days this past week ... I think just a cold/cough with a fever. I always freak out when he has a fever. It scares me. Just read an article in on of my mags that said not to freak out ... I read it a week too late. Luckily his doctor is available by email and knows I'm a first time freak out kinda mom. I'm so thankful I can email her and pick her brain a bit.

Since we're not getting any younger ... and we want more kids ... we're aiming to start trying after my half marathon in February, we'll see how that goes. I'd like Alex to have a brother and/or sister to grow up with. My cousin in Missouri just had healthy twin boys ... maybe we'll be that lucky too. :)

Ok ... reality is calling ...

Dad/Robby Update

2009-08-22T05:13:00.003-04:00

Dad got out of ICU yesterday afternoon, he's in CV step-down now. The plan is for him to be there for 2-3 days, then onto a local rehab hospital for 7-10 days. He got the IV out of his neck yesterday too! That was bothering him. He's walking around the floor with his physical therapy people. He seems to be in good spirits. I printed pics of all of the grandkids and hung them in his room so he could focus on their smiling faces. They sure do make him smile!

Robby went to the hospital on Wednesday night, but we didn't find out till Thursday because he's stubborn and told his wife not to tell us. He didn't want to worry us since we were all so focused on dad. He has cellulitis (sp?) ... an infection in his skin? He's on IV antibiotics and resting at the hospital until atleast Sunday (tomorrow). His leg is very hot to the touch, so they're watching it carefully.

I'm headed out for a 7 mile run with our training group. I'm exhausted. It's been a rough week emotionally with dad in the hospital, and now Robby. Santiago has done a great job with the house and Alex and that sure does help. I haven't been home most nights till after Alex is in bed and I hate that. Ok ... time to go!

Dad surgery update

2009-08-18T17:07:00.003-04:00

Dad's doctor just came in and told us the surgery went great. Although it lasted around 7 hours, and was supposed to be 5-6, so we were worried. The Dr's coat said "Chief of Neurosurgery" - wish I saw that earlier, it might have eased my mind a bit. Dr says they put in rods and screws and he should be walking and feeling better pretty quickly.

Dad is still in recovery, and will be there for another hour. Then he's suppose to be going to CVICU. Last time we were there was when Robby had his heart attack in November 2007. I don't want to go back there, but its for very different reasons. Dr says he'll be there for 3-4 days then to a regular room for a few days. Then, to our surprise, he's going to a rehab hospital. We'll have to get more info on that as the days go on.

Thanks so much for all of the prayers and thoughts sent our way, I really appreciate it. Mom and I spent the day together in the waiting room, talking, reading and stressing. Aunt Kathleen stopped by and chatted with us a bit, that was a nice break. I think tomorrow is back to the real world for me, I think mom might take off another day. I'll update as I can.

Oh, and I've been working on the pictures from Puerto Rico, hopefully I can get them finished soon and posted ...

Dad Surgery

2009-08-17T22:01:00.004-04:00

My dad is having major back surgery tomorrow ... and I'm really worried. It's a 5 hour surgery at Lawnwood, that's a long time to be under. He has a long history of heart issues. So much is racing through my head. :( Hard to put it into words. Maybe the tears running down my cheeks say something?

I'm running in the morning with Jenny & Alex, taking Alex to daycare, then spending the day at the hospital with my mom waiting for dad to come out of his operation. Alex has been sick/teething?? He seems ok, happy, active and such, but I'm worried about sending him to daycare. Things in my family aren't right and that's adding lots more stress. My heart aches, my head is throbbing, my stomach is not right ... my brain is going a million miles a minute. Can I just fast forward through tomorrow? Please? I wish things were different in my life right now. I'm overwhelmed.

Running!

2009-08-15T04:59:00.003-04:00

It's that time again ... training season. :) I'm so excited. Jenny and I are volunteering again for the Galloway Training program as Pace Group Leaders for the Palm Beach Half Marathon. We have a pretty big group right now, I think 13 people. Today we're doing 6 miles ... and for most of them, it's the most they've ever done. I really enjoy watching them progress and do things they didn't think they could. I've been up since 4:20am, I need to leave shortly to pick Jenny up and get to Fleet Feet by 5:45 to start running at 6:00 .... it sure is early.

We have a busy day ahead of us ... when I get back from my run, we're going to Alex's open house at his daycare so we can meet his new teachers. He's moving up to the toddler class. It'll be interesting. No more cribs to sleep in, no more tables to hold them ... it's on to mats on the floor for nap time and a small table with chairs. I think they potty train them in this class too. Alex has started telling us when he goes in his diaper, so it's time I guess. I thought you didn't potty train till 3? Shrug. We're learning as we go.

Gotta run .. yes, I know I need to post pics of Puerto Rico .... hopefully this weekend I'll find some time. My brother-in-law, Aldo, is on his way here from Texas to stay with us for a bit, so lots to do before he gets here. Joy joy.

Haircut & Puerto Rico

2009-07-14T00:39:00.004-04:00

The first 3 pics are before his haircut ... My mom was nice enough to let me borrow her camera, and she took some pics too ... Alex's hair was so cute and curly. But he gets hot easily, and since we're headed to Puerto Rico (in less than an hour) ... he got his first haircut on Saturday. I'll spare you the details of the lady that doesn't know how to cut hair. Ugh. He got his second haircut today, it looks much better. But I don't have any pics of it yet, sorry, been a lil crazy trying to pack .. I haven't slept ... and probably won't until ... hmmm ... not sure, unless I'm lucky and Alex sleeps on the plane!

My grandparent's 50th anniversary is on Saturday, there's going to be a big celebration! We're excited to get away .. I've been working non-stop ... I'm ready for a break. We'll be back on the 28th ... if I can find a computer with internet, I'll post.

Running rocks!

2009-07-02T07:06:00.004-04:00

I'm on such a high ... I'll enjoy it while it's here, cause once I get to work, it'll be gone. Jenny and I went running this morning, and I'm feeling soooo good. I just figured out our paces, we started at a 16:37 pace, and today we did a 15:02 pace. That's great!

At work, Christina and I are keeping track of our weight ... this week I lost 2.5 pounds. Off to a good start I think. With vacation just around the corner, I don't know that it'll stay off, but I'm on the right track.

I don't have a day off until next Saturday, the 11th ... so it's pretty crazy around here. Lots to do, buy and pack before we leave on the 14th for Puerto Rico. I'm excited about the trip, but overwhelmed with work and life.

Here's some pics of Alex from June 4th. He woke up in such a happy/goofy mood, I had to grab the camera! I was trying on his outfit for Kat's (niece) graduation party that night, he looks so grown! Yes, I know, I trimmed his hair too short, don't worry, it's already grown out. He still hasn't had his hair "cut", just the front trimmed by me twice. Guess I need to do that soon ... everyone keeps asking if he is a girl. Even when he's wearing blue. Hubby gets mad. I think he looks cute. :)

Oh what a feeling!!

2009-06-29T06:45:00.002-04:00

Jenny and I went running this morning! Man, do I feel just so hot and sweaty! :) What a great feeling! We did 1.93 miles in 30:55 with an average pace while running of 13:45. I think the plan is to run MWF and walk with Alex T & Th this week. We're trying to do 2 miles when we run and I think it's 3 miles when we walk. We're trying to get ready for our training group. We don't wanna be huffin and puffin for the easy runs, ya know?

We had a good weekend. Alex and I went to the La Leche Meeting on Saturday, it was nice to catch up with everyone. They helped me figure out how to wear Alex in my ring sling. I'm bringing it with us on our trip to Puerto Rico, hopefully it'll help at the airport.

Alex is having a melt down because I won't let him have my Garmin (running watch) ... write more soon.

Alex Picture

2009-06-26T07:02:00.003-04:00

Here's a pic of Alex (17 mths old) on May 12th, just before we moved.

I'll get some more up soon, stop the hate mail! :)

Stolen ....

2009-06-26T06:47:00.004-04:00

I'm a fanatic about locking my doors ... sometimes too much so. Not this time. Wednesday night I got home from work, locked the van and came inside. At some point Alex grabbed my keys from my purse, I got them back and moved my purse to where he really couldn't reach (he's growing so fast, he's able to touch so much more!). Apparently he hit the "unlock" button while he had my keys ...

Jenny, Alex and I went for a walk in the morning, got ready for work/school ... got in the van and noticed the area between the front seats was all messed up. I called Santiago, no, he wasn't in the van ... then it hit me. Someone got into my van and stole my camera. UGH. I was early, having a great day ... called the police ... went to the neighbors (some of whom I hadn't met) ... doesn't look like anyone else was hit. They didn't get much, but it's just so frustrating. Items stolen: digital camera & case, car charger for my phone, $5 gift card to Target, mini flash light and Santiago's pocket knife. Well, that's all I can remember anyways. I'm thinking I'll notice more stuff as I look for it, ya know? Luckily I had just cleaned out the van a few weeks ago, so there really wasn't much to take. I'm really mad about my camera though. It was a Christmas gift from Santiago a few years ago and we're going on vacation soon, so we'll have to get a new one, that's not in the budget!

They had to be pretty bold though. It looks like they got in from the passenger side door, because the bionoculars weren't taken that were in the drivers door, and they couldn't have reached the glove box from the drivers door either. The inside light switch wasn't touched, so when they opened the door, all the inside lights came on. I really felt safe here. I'm just so upset.

When I got home last night, I went around to more neighbors ... was nice meeting them. All said the same thing though, "It's a safe area, nothing has ever happened to me" ... yeah, well, guess what. It did to me. Santiago loves me ... before I got home, he moved stuff around in the garage so the van can fit in there now. Makes me feel better. A little bit.

Alex slept all night, YAY! Jenny and I went running this morning, did 1.6 miles with an average pace while running of 14:15. Off to a good start! My mouse isn't working right now, so it's a pain to post pictures right now, but I will try again tonight or this weekend.

Back on track!

2009-06-24T06:41:00.003-04:00

Yeah, I've been missing for way too long ... time seems to be flying by these days ... this post is about my running, I'll post about Alex and the house soon ...

Jenny and I did 1.98 miles with an average while running of 14:38 this morning ... OMG. I feel so totally fantastic! I'm so happy to be running again. We haven't run together since ... April? Jenny sprained her ankle at work and wasn't allowed to run for what seems like forever. We were group leaders for a newbies only running group at Fleet Feet that ended in May at the 'Run for the Pineapple 5k' ... The results show I finished in 50:42, but they didn't have a starting time, so I think it was closer to 49! Yeah, I know, a minute really doesn't matter to most, but it does to me. :) The group we "trained" ran ahead of me, I am so very proud of them! Way to go ladies!

Jenny and I will be pace group leaders (PGL) again (3rd year) for the upcoming Galloway training group at Fleet Feet in Stuart. We're aiming for the Martin County Half Marathon in October and the Palm Beach Half Marathon in December. Bucky is training to do the full in Palm Beach. I think Jenny/Bucky are talking about doing the full marathon in Tampa at Gasparilla in February ... if so, I'll do the 15k on Saturday and cheer her/them on for the full on Sunday. Then in July we're going up to visit April to do the Peachtree Road Race. That's the long range plan anyways!

Although my weight has stayed at a steady high, ugh ... I'm glad it hasn't crept up higher in the last month of non-activity. My eating hasn't been great and stress has been pretty high. I'm hoping today is a day to get back on track and start feeling great again. I've really missed running. I never thought I'd say that, but I do.

Wonder if I can talk Jenny into running tomorrow? I'm gonna try. :) Alex just woke up .. have a great day!

Closing!

2009-04-30T21:25:00.001-04:00

We finally closed on our house today but my computer crashed two days ago. Bucky is updating this for me but I will update with pictures as soon as possible.

No closing yet

2009-04-08T21:39:00.003-04:00

Our closing was scheduled for today. It didn't happen. Long story short, people before us were purchasing the house, their mortgage company did paperwork but didn't close it, then they went out of business. Now my mortgage people have tried to hunt them down, they won't return calls ... so my mortgage people were forced to go to FHA to get the case closed. BLAH. Glad my mortgage people are explaining this all to me and I like them, it helps a little!

I'm just so frustrated. Had to call FPL *again* to reschedule the power being put in our name. Had to cancel the A/C repair people. Tell the painters they can't start working this weekend. Tell my brother he can't start on the alarm system this weekend. I had my heart set on April 8th.

Santiago has to go to IRS tomorrow in person to request papers that they keep rejecting for the closing. He'll be mad when he finally leaves there I'm sure. Especially since it's tax time. Such a brave guy.

We're hoping the closing will be sometime next week.

My parents are leaving tomorrow for Texas to visit my brother and family. Wish I was going. blah.

Yeah, I'm cranky and probably shouldn't post when I'm in this mood .... I'm ready to start working on the house ... we're going to rent ours out ... so we are going to have to move faster than planned. Just so much going on. Alex is on spring break next week ... and with my parents out of town, hubby and I are each taking off two days from work, Jenny is thankfully watching him on Monday (her day off) ... just so much going on! And so much more to do and do and do ... yes, the end result will be worth it, that's the only thing keeping me somewhat sane.

Blah ... Babbling isn't helping ... time for bed.

The park ... in pictures!

2009-03-30T21:58:00.007-04:00

Two weekends ago, at the spur of the moment, we took Alex to the park down the street from our new house ... yes, he's in his pjs, but he had a blast! The ground is a soft mat all the way around, with mulch along the edges. He played on the smaller of the two playsets, so he'll enjoy it for years to come!

Quick house update - The closing is set for April 8th, which is next Wednesday ... we're really so excited! We are slowly getting plans in order ... have boxes, but haven't packed a thing yet! Eeeks. I'm in trouble already! And just in case you care ... I'm not the decorator type! This is stressful. Picking out verticals? Colors for all rooms? Too much stress.

Random Picture Challenge

2009-03-21T15:34:00.003-04:00

http://4littlemen.blogspot.com/2009/03/random-picture-challenge_21.html

3rd folder, 1st picture with the color BROWN.

Another one taken with my camera phone ... January 16, 2009 ... Alex in a good mood heading to daycare. The boo boo on his nose is, sadly, from my nail. :( Bad mommy.

St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-19T21:45:00.007-04:00

2008 - St. Patrick's Day

3 months old

2009 St. Patrick's Day

15 months old

I have a video, but it's not posting ... will try again in the morning.

A few more pictures ... these are from March 8 (1st time in 'training pants' - no, I'm not trying to potty train him, just letting him air out a bit) and March 11 (just lookin cute) ... again taken with my camera phone ... I need to find our real camera.

We got it!

2009-03-19T08:17:00.003-04:00

The accepted our offer of $97,500!!!!!! YAY!!!! Although we knew we'd take it at 100, that lil bit of savings will help with the appliances we need to buy- fridge, stove, washer and dryer.

Now it's time to get all of our paperwork in order ... last 2 years tax returns, last 3 paystubs, last 3 months bank statements, first born's lock of hair ... you get the picture.

Santiago is working another double today, and I have a homeowners association meeting after work, so it'll be a lil crazy around here. My parents are getting Alex from daycare and doing dinner/bath, so that'll be a huge help.

We're meeting with the mortgage guy tomorrow afternoon at my office, so I have to have everything in order and ready ... whew ... lots to do.

We're hoping to close around April 8th ... not sure everyone can move that fast though. Alex's daycare is closed the following week, so we are already taking off work ... maybe we can work on the house a little with Alex in tow ... not sure how well of a plan that is! I've already contacted a home inspector, he'll be at the house on Monday. The mortgage guy is taking care of the appraisal. My uncle is a surveyor, guess I need to find out if I need that done.

Lots on my mind ... and I'm late for work .... we're so very excited. A real house! Yes!!!!!

Almost there ....

2009-03-18T08:12:00.003-04:00

The house we put an offer on is in the St. James area ... near the park on Manville & Selvitz in North Port St. Lucie. It is on the market for 109,000 ... we offered 95,00 ... yesterday they countered back with 100,000 ... we countered back with 97,500 ... we're waiting on an answer now. The selling realtor is really on the ball, and actually calls back when he says he will, and he said it would be today, so I'm excited! Even if they come back at 100, we're buying it. :)

After work yesterday, I met my brother, Robby, and his wife, Rita, at the house to show them and see what they thought. Robby is in corrections now, but use to work for a security alarm firm, so I wanted to see how much he thought it would cost to get an alarm system installed. Not that I don't think it's a safe area, but since it's a split plan, Alex's room is waaaaaay across the house from ours. I just want some peace of mind, ya know? Plus he's real handy, so I wanted his thoughts on some projects.

These pictures are from my camera phone, so the quality isn't the best, but gives you an idea ...

Kitchen is on the small side, we'll need to buy a stove and fridge.

Living Room. To the left is the dining area.

Master bath. I'm not totally in love with it, but it'll work just fine. I think in the near future, we'll take out the tub and put in a large shower. And Rita (SIL) suggested turning the shower area into a linen closet. I hadn't even noticed there wasn't one in there! I told hubby when I got home, and he hadn't noticed either. Great idea!

Today is my day off, but I'm going into the office for a few hours, or the day. We'll see. I've been working on taxes for the last several weeks and I'm behind on my regular work. Maybe I can make a lil dent in it today since everyone thinks I'm off and won't bother me! :)

Dream home?

2009-03-17T07:41:00.007-04:00

I'm sure there is such a thing as a dream home ... but finding it is exhausting! Any spare time we've had, we've spent driving around or scouring the internet, looking for available houses.

We're looking for a 3/2/2, CBS home ... hopefully in South Fort Pierce, but realized, we'll probably have to live in ... gulp ... Port St. Lucie. I say that, because I was born and raised in Fort Pierce ... not quite sure how I'll adjust to living there ... although I'm sure I will. Will I lie and put "Fort Pierce" as a return address? laugh ... probably not.

This past weekend we spent a LOT of time driving around ... writing down houses that were in quiet areas and then coming home and trying to see how much they are on the market for. Most of them are "Short Sales" ... and our Realtor knows most take a long time from bidding to buying. Not that we're in a rush, but I don't want to tie up money on House A and find the "dream house".

Speaking of dream house ... Three weeks ago Hubby and I fell in love with the one on Manville that got 16 offers. We're still comparing the houses we see to it. "But at Manville, there was a nice window in the dining room" ... "the master shower was really nice at Manville" ... "the alarm system was already installed at Manville" ... you get the picture.

Then we found another house on Manville for sale ... literally across from the first house ... "back on the market" it said. It's a 4/3/2, CBS, built in 2005, 2100 sq ft ... yes, it's huge. As my mom said probably 5 times last night "it's a lot of house". Which to me means, there's a lot of house to clean, air condition/heat, decorate, lose Alex in, etc. All of the window treatments are gone, which can get expensive to replace. There are 3 sets of double widows ... those are the ones that scare me, price wise. Plus, I'm not too much of a decorator, as anyone who has seen my house can attest to.

This picture is from the Property Appraisers website, when it was a brand new house in November 2005.

This is the picture the Realtor has in the listing ... the only picture. Most listings have 6-8 pictures of the inside of the house, not this one. Neither did the first house on Manville now that I think about it.

This is my quick attempt to show how the house is set up ... The front two bedrooms share a bathroom, that's neat. The A/C unit looks good and shows it's the "most efficient", the water heater looks good, the kitchen is kinda small, but will work just fine for our family. The master bath is the only "eh" factor ... I'm not totally in love with it, but it'll work just fine , and I can see where a little remodel will produce a nice large shower ... it has a roman tub and a small shower stall right now.

It's on the market for $109,000. We put in an offer for $95,000. The selling agent said we would hear from him today ... let's hope he calls with good news.

So there ya have it ... we're still looking ... we've probably looked inside of 18 or so houses in the last month. It's hard to remember what you liked and disliked about each one. If this falls through, we'll keep looking ... of course.

Under Contract

2009-02-24T21:13:00.004-05:00

Sigh. The house had 16 bids in 4 days. :( Ours wasn't accepted. We put in a bid, the asking price, Saturday morning, along with all of the papers they asked for. The stupid MLS listing shows "Pending" as of today, hello, we put in our bid on Saturday?! ARGH. Wish they would have told us they had other offers, but they didn't, they said they didn't have any.

I'm so ... I don't know the word ... sad. I was already picturing living there ... meeting the neighbors, going to the park. :( I'd thought of decorating Alex's room, a real room, where it was all his. Instead of what it is now ... his room and our office. And it's all of maybe 10x10? And really, I don't think it's that big.

I'm just so disappointed. We have everything in order. Our credit, the down payment ... sigh. I was telling Santiago tonight how I didn't think we got it, but even as I said it, I didn't believe it. In my heart, I felt it was ours. And it's not.

I looked on MLS tonight ... and there's nothing new in the area we want and the money we are comfy spending. So we'll go check out the rest of the ones I printed on Thursday night that we didn't look at because we fell in love with that one.

Blah. And I don't know why, but I'm crying. Blah.

House Hunting

2009-02-20T22:35:00.006-05:00

My head is pounding. We've decided to buy a house. I'm overwhelmed by it all.

To give you a lil background ... I bought the condo we live in in 1996 when I was 21, single and working 3 jobs ... it's a 2/2, 900 sq ft ... was great for a single girl, and fine when we got married 10 years ago ... but now it's just too small for our growing family and since it's a condo, we have no place to expand.

I contacted the bank ... we're approved for the range we're interested in. I didn't even ask what we were approved for. Our credit is good, we don't have any credit cards ... we owe on our van and couch, that's it.

There is a foreclosure across from my parents, a 3/2, 1700 sq ft, CBS house ... which needs a LOT of work. But my heart is set on it. I want to live across from my parents, so Alex can grow up with them very closeby. But hub finally saw the inside of it for himself today, after weeks of planning to buy it ... and said no way. It just needs too much work. :(

I was worried we wouldn't be the high bidder at the auction, so yesterday I started looking at the houses available in this area ... oh my. There are lots. Yesterday we looked inside of 2. That was neat. One was wow, the other was yuck. But the wow one is priced at 104. I'd really like to stay around 80.

So last night, I hunted and hunted and hunted online ... printed out 14 ... hub and I sat and looked over the info and picked 9 we wanted to see the inside of. My friend Gail is a realtor, she showed us two (they were occupied) ... one was wow, the other was yuck. This time the wow one was 99 and a 4/2/2. That's a little closer, right? :)

We planned on looking at 5 on Saturday morning, but on the way home from looking at those two today, we decided to take a quick peek at one that we were really interested in that just went on the market 4 days ago ... and oh my goodness!!! It's near a park, in a good area, there's a sidewalk to my parents house (maybe 3 miles one way?) ... It's a 3/2/2, split plan, 1847 sq ft, tile, roman tub in the master, screened porch, fenced back yard, built in 1995, new roof in 2005 ... for 79?!?! OH MY GOODNESS. Can this really be ours?

We're puttin in an offer *full listing price* tomorrow morning ... I have a headache trying to wrap my head around it all ... and all of the details!! We're so excited. Bad picture, but it's the only one I can find ...

Oh ... my head is pounding ... and my heart is too ... I'm excited and nervous. A real house. For us. :) I don't like that Alex's room will be across the house. I've enjoyed hearing him breathing while I'm on the computer. It's 2 of our condos! Our 3 cats won't know what to do with all the space!! Ok ... I'm gonna try to sleep. And yes, I know I'm behind on emails again ... I'll try to get to them this weekend!

Random Picture Challenge

2009-02-14T11:51:00.004-05:00

The blog 4 Little Men and Girly Twins posted a Random Picture Challenge ... you pick the 3rd picture in either your January 2007 folder or the 13th folder.

Here's the 3rd picture in our 13th folder ...

July 27, 2008 at 9:15am, it must have been time for Alex's morning nap and he wouldn't go down? Who knows. Anytime daddy couldn't get him to sleep, this worked, it doesn't anymore. Alex is 7 months old in this picture ... and the reclincer they're in now lives at Jenny's house.

Thursday Pictures

2009-02-13T21:53:00.004-05:00

I've been sucked into Facebook ... which isn't good ... although I have enjoyed connecting with some of my highschool buddies .... but now the little time I do have on the computer, it's spent there instead of here. Bad Christy. :(

Here's some pics to make up for it. I took these with my camera yesterday morning as I was dropping Alex off at daycare. And yes, it's time for his 1st haircut ... soon.

He's walking ... and climbing

2009-01-28T08:00:00.005-05:00

Palm Beach Half Marathon

2008-12-20T22:05:00.000-05:00

Santiago and I dropped Alex off at my parents house (thanks mom and dad!) and headed down to West Palm Beach to pickup my race packet, along with Jenny and Christina's. I was quite annoyed that the exhibit hall closed early and they'd run out of the correct sized shirts, especially considering we all signed up months ago, and when you sign up, you have to give your shirt size. This didn't affect me pesonally since all they had left were Small and 2XL. But that isn't the sizes Christina and Jenny wear. Ugh.

I was really looking forward to walking around the exhibit hall ... that's where you see all the cool new running stuff, get samples of stuff and pickup information about upcoming races. I love seeing what other races are out there and we can do. Oh well.

We met Bucky and two of my training group ladies, Bonnie & Treici for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Way yummy food!! It was a great dinner ... getting to chit chat and hang out before our big race.

Hubby and I stayed at a fancy hotel, Hawthorn Suites, and I woke up early, 3:45am. Bucky met us at our hotel at 4:45 and we headed to the starting line ... the race started at 6, but you've gotta get there early to meet your buddies, stretch and get pumped up!

At the starting line area ... ready to run!!! L to R, Rhonda, Trecei, Me, Bonnie and Jenny ... Christina and Bucky were there too, just not in this picture!

It was so exciting to see everyone so excited! :) I know I was finally feeling good and ready for the race, even though the weeks leading up to it had been hectic. I was ready. As we got lined up, we lost our training group ladies, Rhonda, Trecei and Bonnie, I think they were further up, they planned on staying together, so we weren't worried, plus they're a lot faster than me! :) Jenny, Christina, Bucky and I stayed together for the first mile ... Christina, who had not trained at all, started falling back, (I later found out she fell that morning) ... so Bucky, being the cool guy he is, stayed with her for the entire race ... they walked it.

The race started with a cool breeze and a little fog, it was perfect! Here's Rhonda, Trecei and Bonnie stickin together! On the left is probably around mile 4 and on the right was around mile 7 ... they're always smiling!

I love the picture on the left ... there was one part of the race where you turned around, between miles 6 & 7 ... this is our group around the 7 mile mark and Jenny & I around the 6 mile mark, passing each other ... this really pumped me up. I was so excited to see them doing so well and still smiling. We high-fived each other!

Jenny and I at the 10 mile mark ... Still together and smiling!

During the turn around point, we saw a younger "big" guy and we said we had to catch up to him .. around the 9 mile mark we did. And we told him we were trying hard to catch him, it made him laugh ... we played leap frog a few times, him passing us, us passing him ... and we started chatting with him as we did this ... his name is Simon, he had an accent although I don't know from where ... there was a thin girl in front of him, running backwards, cheering him on and encouraging him. I'm guessing this was his trainer or a good friend. He was struggling. But he was pushing through! I think it was around the 12.5-13 mark that we finally took off ahead of him. When we finished, we went back to the finish line to cheer him on ... it made me cry. It was his first half marathon and you could tell it took everything he had to finish. That's him in the picture below on the far left side.

The time on the clock is from when they started the race, but with so many people, it took a while for us to cross the starting line. We wear a "chip" on our shoes which is our real time ... our chip time was 3:38:53, our pace was 16:42. This is the best I have ever done ... so it's my new "PR" Personal Record!!! I've completed 3 half marathons so far.

Jenny & I stayed together the whole time ... it really meant a lot to me. She pushed me when I wanted to walk, encouraged me when I ran ... it was great! I also pushed myself pretty hard, at one point, I think I ran for 3.5 minutes ... which is a lot for me, considering we do a 30 second run with our training. It felt great to be with her the whole race! We caught up on each other's lives and talked about everything and anything. We are a great team. Towards the end I was hurting and tired, but I listened to Jenny and pushed through it ... it was out of this world having her next to me at the finish line ... and yes, I cried.

Jenny said it was the best she felt after a half ... that's great, considering this was the 5th half marathon she's completed!! WOW!

Us with our hubbies ... they're the best! They're both really supportive of our running. Santiago was all over the course ... snapping pictures, cheering and encouraging us along the way. It was great seeing him every few miles.

We hung around waiting for Bucky and Christina ... we were worried about them, but they made it!! YAY!! It was Christina's first (and I think last) and Bucky's 3rd ... he's usually by my side, but he didn't want to leave Christina alone. Kudos to them both!

Jenny, Christina, Bucky and I after we all finished ... look, we're still smiling!!! :)

I saw this sign as we were leaving and it really hit home ... 7 years ago, I tipped the scales at 374, yes, three hundred seventy-four pounds. I could barely get around, much less go walking or running. In 7 years, I've kept off 100 of the pounds that I lost, and although I'm sure my gastric bypass surgeon wouldn't be jumping up and down with my long term results, I am happy with where I am. If anyone would have told me years ago that one day I'd complete ONE half marathon, I woulda laughed ... and here I am today ... with the help of my family and friends ... happy and looking forward to many more races.

Here's our Galloway training groups' finishing time & pace ... what a great race!!!

Bonnie 3:04:40, 14:06

Teresa (Trecei) 3:06:13, 14:13

Rhonda 3:06:15, 14:13

Me 3:38:53, 16:42

Jenny 3:38:53, 16:42

Bucky 4:59:50, 22:53

Christina 4:59:56, 22:53

For some perspective ... the 1st male finished the half in 1:14:18, pace 5:41 and the 1st female finished the half in 1:25:56, pace 6:34. The 1st full male (26.2 miles!) finished in 2:28:03, pace 5:39 (yes, he finished the full before we finished the half!!) .. and the 1st female finished the full in 2:55:35, pace 6:42 - and she is 50 years old! Isn't that just amazing!

After we finished the race ... Santiago & I stood watching people finish while we waited on Christina & Bucky ... we cheered on lots of strangers, most of them finishing the full marathon, screaming extremely loud for the half finishers.

During this time a running friend, Kathy, came up to me ... I trained with her in 2006 for the Palm Beach Half ... I immediately started crying ... she lost her husband, Mike, suddenly just before Thanksgiving, he was an avid runner and a great guy. Everytime he saw me out running, he telling me how good I was doing and encouraging me to keep going. I must have hugged her 10 times. It was great to see her, but I can only imagine how hard it was for her to be there. Mike was registered to do the full, so Kathy had one of her fast running friends wear his chip ... Kathy said it was the fastest Mike had ever done a full ... we laughed ... she was able to get his finishers medal and the special 5 year finishers medal (for those that have done the Palm Beach since it started 5 years ago) ... I hugged her some more. It was great to see her, but it hurt my heart. I'm not quite sure why his death has affected me like it has, but it's hit home with me. He was a healthy, active man ... I never thought I'd be going to his funeral. It hurts.

The 2008 Palm Beach Half Marathon was the best ... the weather was perfect, not too cold, not too hot, just perfect ... my company was great, my time was awesome ... the entire day was a great day ... I was on cloud nine ... telling everyone that would listen about my race.

My life has changed so much in the last two years ... and I am so very thankful. :)

Rushing about ...

2008-12-06T14:04:00.004-05:00

Yes, I know, I'm way behind on my posting and will try to catch up soon ...

This morning I got through some of my 250+ emails that I've had saved in my inbox (read and saved to respond to later - bad idea). I just haven't had much computer time (at home) lately. When I snuck my last few posts in, I was at my parents house for Thanksgiving, Alex was taking a nap and my brother and his family weren't there yet, so I jumped on, posted some pics and that was all I had time for. :( It was nice to finally catch up on some old emails though. I miss staying in touch.

I'm rushing about packing, hubby and I are leaving shortly for West Palm Beach, I'm doing a half marathon tomorrow. We're dropping Alex off at my parents house until we get back tomorrow afternoon. Aren't I lucky to have such great parents!?

Fleet Feet is a big sponsor of the race, so when we're training, it's one of the ones they talk about a lot, especially because it's local and not a "huge" race, so the newbies won't be totally overwhelmed! I'm glad we found this race, it's totally flat and it's a pretty run. Here's some pics from the last two years from the same race ...

Here's Jenny & her hubby Randy after the 2006 Race.

Jenny, Me, Gina and Bucky before the 2006 Race. We sure are happy for a 5am picture!!

Jenny & I after the 2007 Race ... 2 weeks before I had Alex, no wonder I'm so ummm, rounded.

Randy & Jenny right after the 2007 Race ...

I'll post pics of this race hopefully tomorrow ... Jenny and Bucky will be doing it again with me (Bucky & I's 2nd time, Jenny's 3rd). April had an injury and won't be able to do the race, but will be there cheering her hubby, Geoff, on. Lee & Christina are co-workers that are doing it for the first time. And of Jenny & I's Galloway Training Group, Bonnie, Rhonda, and Treici will be there. Tina, Rick, and Cheryl had injuries and won't be able to make it. We'll miss them for sure!

I haven't been training this week ... or much in the last few weeks. It seems the cold/coughs want to stay in our house. I'm so over it. This week Alex was teething and had a fevers up to 104.6, it was very scary for me. :( He's feeling much better now, which I am very thankful for. I woke up yesterday with a sore throat and stuffy nose, sigh ... just my luck.

Jenny and I are thinking about doing the Disney Princess Half Marathon ... we keep talking about it. It's so darned expensive though. We'll see if we do that one or another. If we do that one, I'm really going to have to buckle down, lose some weight and increase my speed. They have a pace limit of 16 ... and for long distances, I'm at a solid 17. We'll see.

Ok, I need to run ... hope everyone has a nice weekend!!

Halloween

2008-11-27T16:51:00.004-05:00

Alex didn't get to wear his "real" costume, a monkey, because he was sick. But he did get to wear his Tigger outfit to daycare ... although getting a decent picture was impossible ... he's moving so fast these days! I even took my camera to daycare, but that didn't work either. Oh well!

The Beach!

2008-11-27T16:36:00.004-05:00

The weekend before the Martin County Half Marathon, we took a trip to Jensen Beach so we could see the route and see where Santiago could cheer/park. It was Alex's first time to the beach, it was very windy, so we didn't stay long, but we got a few good pics and he enjoyed.

The first pic he's wearing the sandals Santiago's mom bought in Mexico, but he prefers to be without shoes.

Swingin' with Grandpa

2008-11-27T16:08:00.007-05:00

(Yes, I know, I'm waaaay behind on posting ... here's an attempt to catch up.)

A few months ago, I was dropping Alex off at my parents house (They watch him for me when I go running in the early mornings) ... my dad informed me he ordered a swing for Alex, ONLINE!! My dad? I was suprised to say the least, and very proud that his love of Alex got him online. :)

Here's some pictures from October 5th, the first time he got to swing ... he sure does love his grandpa!

Martin County Half Marathon

2008-11-01T11:03:00.007-04:00

The water booth that my parents (mom-red American shirt, dad white shirt) volunteered at ... Jill (in pink pants) with the harem and sultan (her hubby). Jill was one of my leaders back when I first started running. She was there for me at the finish line for the Palm Beach Half Marathon in 2006. My parents had a great time helping out.

Video is of my mom and the water stop girls cheering on the runners ... these water stops are the best, not only do they give you hydration, but they really cheer you up and motivate you to keep going! The the Martin County Half Marathon, the water station people were dressed up for Halloween (a lil early) and voted on by the runners ... Lincoln Park Academy's Cross Country Team's water stop won! Go Greyhounds! :)

Alex cheering on runners!

One of my friends, April, running through a busy intersection.

Video is of Rick, Bucky and myself after finishing the last bridge (there were 2 in this race) ... My dad and Alex caught up to us to cheer us on ... the three of us stayed together for a good while, great race company! :)

Parking lot of the race, way more people than I thought would be there! I think there were over 250 people who finished the race! WOW! That a good bit for a local race, put on by Sailfish Striders.

Jenny & Cheryl almost to the end of the race ... Jenny's hubby Randy giving them encouragement!

Trecei, Bonnie & Rhonda just finishing their 1st half marathon!! Way to go girls!!

Jenny smiling after her finish ... and this made me giggle, that's Cheryl in the background sticking her tongue out, as if to say "finally!" ... Way to go!

Jenny & Bonnie after finishing the race, and coming back to cheer everyone on!

April & her hubby Geoff (newlyweds!) after the race, they're still smiling!

Me smiling at April's mom as we were nearing the finish ... Santiago, Alex, my mom, Jenny's hubby Randy and Bonnie are in the background.

One of my favorite pics from the race ... my mom and Alex after we finished.

Me just after I finished .. don't I wish that was my time? Laugh, add an hour to it!

Bucky and I showing off our cool medals!

L to R - Tina & daughter, Jenny, Rick, Me, Bucky & Rhonda after the race ... we're missing Bonnie, Cheryl, Trecei from this picture!! Wish we had a full group one, we'll aim for that at the Palm Beach Half Marathon in December.

Ok ... now that all the pictures and videos are up there, I'll do a re-cap of our race since it's been hectic around here and I haven't made the time ...

We had special permission to start an hour early because we wanted to make sure we finished before they closed the finish line. Bucky, one of my best friends, met us there and did the race with us. Our Galloway training group is ... Rhonda, Cheryl, Tina, Trecei, Bonnie and Rick ... plus Jenny & I.

It was very dark when we started ... we had lots of honking of horns (cheering) as we started off, which was nice. Santiago & Alex caught up with us around the 1 mile mark, so they were there throughout the race ... driving around, honking his horn and cheering as we ran by. That really meant a lot to me.

There were two bridges in this race, which we did not train for, but really, we did just fine. We all enjoyed running down the first bridge, I think we ran for a straight 3.5 minutes ... it was a nice and comfy run downhill.

We ran mostly on sidewalks throughout the race, sometimes on the road. It was hard to see in certain areas, because they weren't all lit very well (I need to invest in a better head lamp) ... I tripped in a dark area around mile 4-5 and hit the ground with a nice hard "thud" ... if you look closely at my shirt at the end, you can see the grass stains. Not fun. Although Jenny said I would laugh about it later. :)

By the time we got our of the the Sewell's Point neighborhood around mile 8, Rick, Bucky and I were running together, everyone else was doing great and ahead of us. Around mile 10.5 or so, I told Rick to go ahead, I was hurting pretty bad, my feet were killing me, my thighs were cramping up ... Bucky stayed with me and we walked the rest of the way. I was still sick, coughing with an ear ache, and my fall didn't help me (yes, I'm trying to justify my slow time).

With all of that said, as Bucky and I neared the finish line, we had lots of people cheering us on ... Santiago & Alex, my parents, April's parents (and dog, Molly), April's hubby Geoff, Jenny & her hubby Randy .. I'm sure others were there (Bonnie?), but I'm having a brain fart right now.

With everything I had left, we ran the last tiny bit through the finish line ... we finished around 5 minutes slower than we did the Palm Beach Half Marathon in 2006. So although I'm not thrilled with my time, I'm very happy I finished!!

Shortly after I finished, I saw Rick ... carrying around a bunch of balloons! :) How sweet! I think his daughter brought them for him. We met our group's families, kids and cheerleaders! It was so great they were able to be there to cheer them on! I know it means the world to me to have my family there for me. We've trained together for so long, it was so heartwarming to see them all with smiles on their faces and knowing they just finished 13.1 miles!! :) I'm so very proud of them all!

We all took a few pictures ... had some hugs and I put on a big smile ... and disappeared pretty quick to find a banana and a place to sit down ... I was in a haze ... I wasn't feeling myself at all. Usually after a race, I'm exhausted, but on a total high, in very good spirits and talking about the race. This wasn't the case this time. I was hurting so badly, my body ached. I cried. I was shaky and just out of it. I think Jenny made me drink the endurox. I made it to the van, sat down and was just, ouch, hurting ... we all hung out for a bit ...

April crossed the finish line shortly after ... we hugged and we just cried and cried. I met April at a Gastric Bypass support group right after she had her surgery 2 years ago. She's worked hard to get where she is today and I am so proud of her and how far she's come ... as I told her in her ear, who would have ever thought we'd be runners??? :)

Sunday afternoon was rough ... but I survived ... and looking back on it all ... I'm very happy and already looking for another race ... Jenny and I are talking about doing the Disney Princess Half Marathon!

Half Marathon

2008-10-26T17:11:00.002-04:00

I did it!!!

I'm not quite sure how, but I did.

I'm exhausted and hurting. Lots.

I finished around 3:50 ... long time to be outside running/walking.

Will write more later! :)

Whining.

2008-10-25T20:55:00.004-04:00

Ok, so in less than 7 hours, I need to be dressed and leaving my house to pickup Jenny and head to Jensen Beach Park to start our "training" half marathon with our Galloway training group. This is will be different though cause this is a real race ... the Martin County Halloween Half Marathon. :) I picked up our packets today at Fleet Feet (they're a big sponsor) and they made the coolest looking shirt, I'll have to get a picture of it.

Normally I would be very excited, and I kinda am .. but I'm sick. I'm still coughing junk up, my eye still itches and is gooey and today my ears started hurting. Can't someone take me out back and shoot me? Geeze. I'm so totally over being sick. And Jenny said today that she wasn't feeling well, I hope she's feeling better tomorrow.

On the other hand ... I'm very excited about our group doing this half. They have worked so very hard for it. Putting in the weekly runs and doing the Saturday training together. They're really a great group of people.

And Bucky is coming to do the race with us, and I don't get to see him very much anymore. I think this is only the second time since Alex was born actually. It'll be nice ot catch up with him in person. So I'm excited, just wish I wasn't feeling this crappy.

Ok, I'm headed to bed ... come cheer us on if you're local and are up that early ... we should finish at the Jensen Beach Park around 9:15-9:30 ish .... we're going over two bridges and my group hasn't done any hill work, so it'll be interesting! :)

Emergency Contact for your FL Driver's License

2008-10-25T07:49:00.002-04:00

I got this on one of my mommy e-groups and thought I'd share. I already did it for hubby & I.

You can now go online and enter two (2) emergency contacts on your Florida Driver's License (electronically) which can only be retrieved by a police officer. Each emergency contact has 3 contact numbers, home, cell and work.

This came about as a result of one woman's teenage daughter being killed in a car accident and taking over 5 hours to locate the mother to inform her. This way, if you are in an accident, the police can run your driver's license and have your emergency info ASAP.

This is through the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle website: https://www6. hsmv.state. fl.us/dlcheck/findcustomer

It's legit ... it's a good safety net, just in case. Feel free to copy/share with family and friends in Florida.

Pink Eye?

2008-10-24T07:14:00.004-04:00

I think I have pink eye. :( I don't think I had it even as a kid, and now that I have a kid, I'm getting sick all the time it seems. I'm so over it.

I was suppose to go running this morning, I even had one sock on ... but Jenny called, she was exhausted from the Green Conference she worked yesterday, so she was cancelling. Even though I'm sick, I was still going to go ... afterall, we have a half marathon on Sunday! Eeeks. But I'm not running alone, it's way too dark out there and I don't feel safe.

So I called my parents to let them know I wasn't running this morning, so I wasn't dropping Alex off. Well, my dad must have been having Alex withdrawls, he came over and played with him and they just left, my dad is taking him to daycare. How sweet :)

Last Saturday was our "Magic Mile" with the Galloway group .. I did a 14:28 ... if "real" runners are reading this, they just snickered. But for me, that is just great! I am so happy, I pushed myself hard.

I was just about to brag that I thought that was the fastest time I've done, then I looked back in my myspace blog and found this:

> Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 2:19 AM -
> I am on TOP of the world!!!! Current mood: accomplished

> I am sooooo freeking amazed! The last time I did that magic mile was like 4 weeks ago, and
> trust me, I pushed myself to do it in 16:00 minutes.

> I've been doing most of my "homework" each week, although I wasn't feeling good on
> Thursday, so I didn't get my run/walk in ... and get this, I did the magic mile in 13:36
> minutes!!!! I am sooo happy with my progress! Just totally excited!

Of course, this was pre-Alex and I was also going to a personal trainer twice a week. I'm still happy with my time, but I have to keep pushing myself. :)

Dad should be back any minute, so I'm going to head to work early and pray the girls don't tell me to go home ... pink eye is very contagious ... not good.

Race for the Taste 10k

2008-10-15T07:48:00.005-04:00

Yes, I did the Race for the Taste 10k! Want to be impressed? I did 17.2 miles in 2 days. Yes, I'm proud!

Let me back track ... Saturday Jenny and I did 11 miles with our Galloway training group, then she went to work and hubby and I went to April & Geoff's Celebration lunch. We had a great time, but had to leave early (before cake! Pout.), because Jenny and I needed to leave here by 3 and I wasn't even packed yet.

Santiago went to pick Alex up from my parents (he stayed the night with them) so that I could see him before I left. Alex was still running a fever, so I hated to leave him, but knew he would be fine with daddy.

Jenny and I headed for Orlando ... we were both exhausted, but really enjoyed the drive, chit chatting and catching up. With our busy lives, although we see each other 2-3 times a week to run, we don't get one on one time very much. We ate dinner at Carrabba's and headed for the hotel (love that place) ... once there, we both crashed in bed ... and decided that we would, at the very least, go to the race and walk it, if we got picked up (the have a 15 min pace limit), oh well ... at least we tried. That's what our game plan was when we went to bed at 7:30 pm.

We got up early and headed to the race ... once we got there, the loud, fast music woke us up, if the bright lights didn't. We quickly got in our groove ... we were excited about the race! As we were waiting for the start, we decided we would do our best ... my goal was not to be picked up. My training pace is around a 17 min mile ... 2 mins slower per mile than what the race requires, so I was pretty concerned about being picked up. Plus I'd already been picked up at one of Disney's races (not good!!).

Anyways ... we took off ... I could see Jenny until about mile 3, then I lost her. I ended up doing the 6.2 miles in 1:37:02, which is a 15:39 pace. WOW. I was very sore, but very proud. I cried. I was so overwhelmed. Jenny finished in 1:30:31, a 14:36 pace. She was there for me at the finish line, like she always is (what a great friend!). I'm tearing up just trying to type this. I'm not someone that has ever wanted to do a full marathon (26.2 miles) ... I'm happy with the half (13.1 miles) ... so I really never gave it much thought that I'd do more than 13.1 miles. And yes, it was over 2 days, but darnit, I did 17.2 miles, that's a lot for me. :)

Needless to say, we had a great time ... visited Downtown Disney afterwards and ate at Wolfgang Puck Express. I go there every time we're in the area for their mac & cheese. They've remodeled, which was nice .. but they changed the mac & cheese, it was still good, but not "OMG good" like it was before. (Picture is of Jenny showing off her medal while we were waiting on our lunch)

When I got home ... Alex had a fever of 103. :( It got up to 103.4, his cheeks were red and he was hot ... Santiago said he was cranky all night, didn't sleep well and had a fever since I left. I took him to Dr. Punger on Monday. Ya know, I'm not her typical patient, but I try! I'm not nursing (I did try), I don't make my own baby food, I don't co-sleep (we tried), I don't use cloth diapers, I don't EC ... I'm sure the list goes on. But I trust and like her, and she's tolerant of my, umm, not following her way to the "T". :) I do feed Alex organic baby food, and have tried to make better decisions for him ... and she and her intern help me along the way ... grin, I bought carrots for Alex to teethe on, and regular cheerios instead of the gerber puffs. And he eats Yo Baby Yogurt ... even though it's breaking out bank account! I tell ya, Alex eats way better than we do. But that's a whole 'nother post!

I'm thinking that the high fevers is just his way of teething. There is nothing else wrong with him. He's much happier today (Tuesday) .. and he has another tooth on the bottom ... so that's 4 on top and 3 on bottom now! :) And his fever is gone. But I had to make sure there was nothing else wrong, just in case.

(I took these pictures on Monday when we were home together ... it is so hard to get pictures of Alex these days, they turn out blurry cause he's always moving. Well, that and I can't find my "real" camera, so these were taken with my camera phone.)

Oh ... did I say that I brought my medal to Dr. P's office, daycare, work and my mom's school? :) Everyone gets to see it, even strangers! Yes ... I'm happy. :)

11 MILES!!!!

2008-10-11T09:40:00.003-04:00

Oh. My. Goodness.

Wow.

I'm a giddy.

I did it. I really did it. I did 11 miles ... Go ME! I'm a little achy, but nothing major. I just emailed our group, here's the numbers from our run:

Total Distance: 11.00 miles
Total Time: 3:11:28
Overall Pace: 17:24 (Previous weeks: 17:16, 17:06, 17:06, 16:58)

Calories Burned: 2,156 (with my weight of 270)

The overall pace is a bit off though ... we don't stop our watches for water/bathroom breaks, so really we were going faster than that during our runs. I'm frustrated with my Garmin. Of course it's not the newest, I bought it in 2006 when Jenny & I started running. But since Jeff Galloway changed our running ratio to 30:30 (seconds) instead of a 1:1 (minute) ... there are only 99 "laps" you can program. Argh. So on the 9 mile run, we didn't get an accurate pace and such because the Garmin stopped after it got to 99 laps. So for this run we set it to 'alert' us every 30 seconds ... which doesn't keep track of your running/walking pace ... which annoys me terribly. I like to know that info! So I'm annoyed with my Garmin. Maybe the newer ones don't have this limit. Who knows.

Anyways ... I'm thrilled ... I'm drinking some gatorade right now and I just had a bagel (I'm sure my gastric bypass readers are cringing at the bagel part!) ... I'm gonna go chill for an hour then time to get ready for April & Geoff's celebration, then off to Orlando with Jenny.

Oh, and I checked on Alex ... he did fine last night, slept till 4:30 am or so ... he was outside playing with my mom when I called. My dad was giving me a play by play of what Alex was doing, it was cute, I could hear the smile on my dad's face as he was telling me. Alex is so lucky to have them so close by.

One last thing ... Go ME!!!!!! :)

It's early!

2008-10-11T04:00:00.002-04:00

It's way early in the morning .. and I've already taken a shower, gotten dressed and eaten breakfast. I think I'm crazy.

And I miss Alex. The computer is in his room and it's odd being in here and him not crawling around. :(

I'm outta here .... YAY! :)

Friday Evening

2008-10-10T20:54:00.004-04:00

I should be in bed by now ... but I'm excited, nervous, anxious ... all rolled into one. Tomorrow is our 11 mile run. I'm planning on waking up at 3:00am, leaving by 4:00am, to be at Fleet Feet by 5:00am to start our run. I'm guessing it'll take us around 3 hours. 3 hours. Can you picture it? I can. I'm looking forward to it. :)

Jenny watched Alex for a bit today, she said he wasn't his usual self, he had a slight fever. He is staying the night at my parents house ... he's not feeling well though, I think he's teething. He had a fever, 102.1, this afternoon but he's been really happy and playing, so I'm hoping it's nothing serious. My mom called, Alex is already asleep, yay! Santiago is working late tonight, so he won't be home till around midnight.

When I get home from the run, Santiago & I are going to April & Geoff's celebration lunch, they got married a few months ago and are now having a 'reception'. They're also doing the Galloway training, so they're doing 11 miles tomorrow too!

Then Saturday afternoon Jenny and I are leaving for Orlando, we're doing Disney's Race for the Taste 10k on Sunday. A 10k is 6.2 miles ... laugh ... yeah, it's going to be an interesting weekend.

I better get to bed ...

Pictures!

2008-10-09T17:52:00.005-04:00

Yes, I know I've been missing ... sorry! I'm sure you're all dying to hear about my 9 mile run :) I'll try to do better about posting.

Here's some long awaited pictures ... you can click on any picture to see it larger. They're a bit out of order.

9/5/08 - Alex fresh out of bed on our new couch.

9/18/08 - Look, you can see my bottom teeth ... eating prunes and happy!

9/24/08 - Daddy and Alex walking towards the swings.

9/24/08 - Our first trip to the playground, Alex had a great time swinging. It's hard to do a 'self' family picture!

9/24/08 - Alex giving daddy kisses at the park.

9/2/08 - My lame attempt at being creative while taking pictures of Alex. He was playing with his toys and could care less that I was taking pictures. See his full lil belly? He just ate dinner. Such perfect little toes. :)

8/24/08 - Grandpa & Alex in the rocker our family friend, Mikey & his sister gave us, it's their family heirloom. We love it.

8/29/08 - Alex showing he's a big boy and can hold on to the side by himself - or so he thought! He loves being in the water and splashing about.

9/3/08 - Jenny bought this backpack at our local Goodwill, what a find! Alex was comfy in it, she can't wait to take him on a hike! He loves the outdoors too, so she can teach him all about it.

8/30/08 - Such a happy lil boy, look at my first tooth!

9/17/08 - Yes, he's normal, he cries. And throws fits now, too. But he's usually smiling like in most of the pictures!

Will try to update soon ... 11 miles on Saturday! Go ME! Then 6.2 on Sunday. Yes, I'm crazy.

9 miles

2008-09-27T10:10:00.004-04:00

Oh my.

Yes, I did 9 miles this morning. I've been up since 4am ... and I'm still on the go ... rush rush rush.

Watch your odometer next time you're in the car, it's far! I'm still a bit sick, so I had a hard time (breathing), and my body feels a little sore, just your typical "I did 9 miles" sore, nothing special. I did have to take a little break to catch my breath but otherwise, I did it. YAY!!!

I'm off to the La Leche meeting with Alex ... rush rush rush. Will try to write more later. :)

A step in the right direction

2008-09-16T08:10:00.002-04:00

Alex and I went walking this morning with Jenny. The last time I was out doing any kind of exercise was 2 weeks ago. The week Alex was sick I went running with our group and did our usual 3 miles. Today we took Alex with us because I knew we were walking, not running. I'm still not feeling great. Still coughing and my voice sounds yucky. But we did 2.81 miles, so I'm not complaining! :) I don't feel the usual high right now, but that's ok.

I missed meeting Jeff Galloway on Saturday, that really bummed me out. Jenny said they had a great run and missed me. I miss my running, and my group. :( Wahhh. Yes, I'm whining.

Daycare called me yesterday, Alex wasn't feeling well. His ears are red, he had a low fever and he had the runs. :( Poor lil guy. Our Dr called in a new antibiotic for him. I'm hoping it knocks whatever he has out. He was a cranky lil boy last night too ... I think he has more teeth coming in, which I'm sure doesn't feel great.

Alex showed us he has learned something new ... he can go from laying down in his crib to standing up. We're in trouble now! Before, you had to sit him down and he figured out how to stand, now he's standing from any position. So in the middle of the night, he decided he wanted to stand ... and cry and scream. I slept through it, but Santiago said Alex was not happy and would only calm down with a bottle ... not a good habit, but I was sleeping, so who am I to say? Alex woke up at 4:45 this morning kinda cranky but then played for a bit ... he's at daycare now with little sleep. I hope his day goes better, he was happy when I dropped him off.

I'm jumping in the shower and heading to work .... yippeeeeeeeeee! (Faked enthusiasm) I need another day home. I just don't feel right.

Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament

2008-09-11T18:27:00.003-04:00

I'm late in posting this ... but considering the cooties in my house over the last two weeks, I'm sure you guys understand.

The daycare Alex goes to, Sign with Me Child Development, is having a fund raiser.

Next Saturday, Sept 20th from 7 - 11 pm is a Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament. The grand prize is an all inclusive trip to Las Vegas to play in a poker tournament. Free Beer & Wine, Soda and appetizers. It will be held at the daycare, which is off Midway Road in Fort Pierce. Donation is $50.00 per person.

Santiago and I went in March with my brother, Robby. We had a fun time!!! We are not experienced poker tournament players, so we went more to support our daycare than to win. They taught the newbies how to play, which I greatly apprecaited. They gave away gift certificates (dinner, movies, etc.) in between rounds. There was a 50/50, I think the winner won over $500!

For the "real" poker players ... your donation covers a certain amount of chips. There is ONE chance during the night to buy a set amount of chips (I'm sure there is a name for this, but I don't remember what it's called).

If you're interested, please email me at Munch75@aol.com. Thanks!

Me - ugh.

2008-09-11T12:00:00.004-04:00

It's my turn. I'm sick. I hate being sick. Alex was sick all last week and is still sounding croupy. His fever broke on Saturday and he's back to sleeping through the night and playing/eating like the happy lil boy he is.

On Sunday I started having a sore throat. I cleaned everything down with Clorox wipes. You know, the door handles, light switches, remotes, cell phone, etc etc. I went to work on Monday, but left early, had a fever. I worked a full day Tuesday. After all, I only worked 1 full day last week, so I felt like I needed to be there.

By Wednesday morning, my throat was really killing me, I had a fever, sneezing, coughing, my ears hurt, just not feeling good. I went to see Dr. P, got some meds, and went home to rest.

This morning it hit me ... I'm very blessed. Yes, I'm sick. But, really, I'm blessed. Yesterday and today my dad took Alex to daycare for me. Santiago is taking care of Alex and me. My mom is picking Alex up from daycare today. Mom, dad, Robby, Jenny have all called to check on me, it's sweet. It feels good.

We're trying our best not to re-infect Alex. Poor kid is still coughing and sneezing, I don't want him getting it again. I need to break the cycle of cooties at my house.

When I got home from the drs yesterday, I took my meds, then I read the warnings on the bottle ... "May cause drowsiness" oops. I put on the radio (country) and sped around the house. Washed my hands a zillion times. Loaded & started the dishwasher. Threw the couch blankets in the wash. Boiled Alex's nipples (wouldn't have to do that if I nursed! argh) Wiped down everything with clorox wipes. Threw out my toothbrush. Emptied garbage. Finally I collapased on the couch and quickly fell asleep.

Who knows if I've killed the cooties. I know I'm trying. I'm praying Santiago nor Alex get them.

Jenny called me yesterday, she said I need to not worry about our 8.5 mile run on Saturday, she'll take care of our group. And she's right. But I was stressed over it. Jeff Galloway is going to be there, and I really wanted to meet him again. He's a nice guy with tons of knowledge and he's running with you, you get a chance to talk to him one-on-one. I really want to be there, but in my condition, there's just no way. The last time I ran was last Tuesday, we did 3 miles.

It's time for some more meds ... which means another nap. Maybe it'll be uninterrupted. I highly doubt it. Work has called a few times already ...

High Fever

2008-09-03T19:11:00.003-04:00

Ugh. Alex had a decent day ... fevers stayed low, he was in a good mood, played almost all day ... didn't want his bottle, but drank pedalyte and ate food just fine.

He didn't sleep well, but he finally took a decent nap this evening on me ... but woke up with a 104.1 fever. Maybe it's higher because he slept on me (my body heat?), I don't know!

I think this is the highest it's ever been. I remember when I took him to the ER when he was 4 months old, it was 103.8.

He just had a short bottle of pedalyte and daddy is feeding him dinner right now ... he's eating it ... that's a good sign. I hope the fever comes down quick ...

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to them! We've done the cool shower, cool cloth, cool drinks, little to no clothes .... the a/c is down to 73 and now back to alternating the tylenol and motrin. Poor little guy.

Cooties, Cooties

2008-09-03T11:09:00.000-04:00

go away!

Yes, that means Alex is sick. :( Monday afternoon he started coughing and had a fever. Santiago stayed home with him yesterday. I thought things were going good, until he called around 3:45 telling me his fever was up to 103.3. I freeked. I emailed Alex's (and my) doctor, Dr. Punger, and she said we could come in. I left work and met Santiago at the doctors office. When I got there, Alex was just in a diaper, buring up and just not happy. Danielle was also there with her daughter, Natalie, we got to chit chat a bit, that was a nice bonus.

Alex got a shot of antibiotics and some drops in his ear for an ear infection. By the time we were leaving, my parents were in the waiting room concerned about Alex. We all headed home ... Alex fell asleep on the way home and slept some when we got home, but only if he was being held.

It was not a good night. His fever kept spiking ... it got up to 103.6. We were alternating tylenol and motrin every 4 hours. Sometimes being a first time mommy is for the birds. I hate not knowing what to do. I get online, look for ideas ... try them ... and I want them to work immediately, and I know that's not how it works. But it was just killing me to see and hear Alex so unhappy. He's generally a happy baby, and all he would do was whine and cry, even while being held. I sent so many emails to my dr, I'm sure she thinks I'm nuts. :)

We finally got him calmed down enough and decided to put him in bed with us. I asked Santiago if he was comfy, he said his comfort wasn't important, Alex's was (can you say "awwww"). Last night wasn't fun, but his fever broke around 3-4am ... we were thrilled!!!

Santago went to work, I'm home with Alex ... at 7am he had a slight fever, 100.4. He only drank half of his morning bottle, so I'll be watching him. He's much happier right now than he has been, so I'll take it. He's trying so hard to crawl like a big boy on all fours ... and he's banging stuff around, so that's all good.

Update 11 am - Temp is 98.8 ... quietly saying "yay!" ... he's cranky though, so we'll see ... hopefully the fever stays away. He's still coughing and crying when he coughs. On the bonus side ... I'm rocking him to sleep, which I enjoy ... and playing on the floor with him.

"Da Da" and 7 miles!

2008-08-30T11:04:00.002-04:00

I'm a little late on posting this ... Thursday Alex said "Da Da" for the first time ... We are both so excited to hear him starting to "talk"! He still has the two teeth, the bottom one is coming in very sideways ... guess it'll straighten out as he grows. He's still not thrilled with textured foods. He just started eating organic yogurt, he loves it.

On to running ... I did 7 miles today ... I can't believe it! I'm feeling great, not sore, not tired (yet) ... here's the stats from today's run:

Total Distance: 7.05 miles
Total Time: 2:00:36
Overall Pace: 17:06 (Previous weeks: 17:16, 17:06)

Run Time: 1:00:36
Run Distance: 4.01 miles
Average Pace while running: 15:07 (Previous weeks: 15:19, 15:21)

Rest time: 1:00:00
Rest Distance: 0.04 miles

Calories Burned: 715 (with my weight of 270)

Again ... thrilled with how consistant we are being! Running with a group sure does make the time go by faster! I love it.

The FEMA rep just called ... so gotta get the place straightened up for his visit. Then we're headed to my parents tonight for dinner, I'm making lasagna, Robby & Rita are bringing garlic bread and mom is making salad ... a nice family dinner. I miss spending time with my family ... it'll be nice to catch up and if we're lucky, play some cards!

On top of that, I think my parents are keeping Alex overnight! It'll be the 3rd time since he was born ... we're excited to sleep in and they're excited to spend time with him! A win-win situation! :) A friend of mine, Ms. Carol, use to keep her grandkids overnight every Saturday night so she could spend time with them ... I always thought that was a great idea. She use to talk about cooking with them, going to the park, reading books ... just spending time together. I've always had a special place in my heart for my grandparents, but that's a whole nother post!

New tooth times two!

2008-08-25T06:39:00.006-04:00

Saturday after my run, I noticed Alex's first tooth had finally broken through the skin ... his bottom middle one. Hubby and I both tried to take pics, and this is the best we could do. I know, I know, you can't really see it, but I promise, it's there and it's poking out!

Saturday was a filled day ... Alex and I went to La Leche League, then we all went to Babies R Us (their a/c was broken, ugh, hot.) and Walmart ... finally we got home and I crashed early, I was exhausted from my run.

Sunday daddy went to work, Alex and I stayed home. My parents came over and mom and I went through the boxes and bags of Alex's clothes. Some I'm sending to my brother in Texas for their upcoming baby girl, Myka Renea, who is expected in December. Some I'm sending to Boomerang Consignment, some I'm saving for our "future" baby (hopefully coming in the next year or two), some going to my sister-in-law in Texas who is due in November ... so yes, there was lots of clothes and lots of piles all over my bed. My best friend, Jenny, came over and helped too ... I was glad to finally get through them, it took us a good 2-3 hours! Way longer than I thought.

When Santiago got home from work, we ordered pizza, Mom and Dad stayed and hung out ... after they left I got to looking in Alex's mouth, stuck my finger in and I felt it ... a second tooth! The tooth next to this top middle tooth has broken through ... no wonder he's been so danged cranky!! Poor little guy was working on two teeth! He's been grabbing at his ear since Saturday, I'm thinking he may have an ear infection, he's never had one before. Santiago agreed to take him to the Dr when he gets off work ... his first time. I'm sure they'll do just fine.

6 miles!

2008-08-23T09:56:00.004-04:00

WOW, I did it! :) We had a good run this morning, although it was pretty hot and humid. Since I'm a pace group leader, I email my group the results of our run today ... this is part of my email:

Total Distance: 6.08 miles
Total Time: 1:45:02
Overall Pace: 17:16 (last week was 17:06, so right on target!)

Run Time: 53:00
Run Distance: 3.46 miles
Average Pace while running: 15:19 (last week 15:21 - talk about being consistant!)

Rest time: 52:02
Rest Distance: 2.62 miles

Calories Burned: 653 (with my weight of 270)

I'm happy with how consistant we are being with our pace. I think that is so very important. I'm happy I did 6 miles, without pain. Especially since I didn't run this week, I was a bit scared.

I added a new spot on my sidebar where I listed all of the races I have done ... that really made me feel good doing that. It shows me how far I've come and that although I don't look like a runner, I am. And it feels great. I love the line of "Runner Girl" stuff ... stickers, mouse pads, magnets ... I love it. I love running. I'm so happy that I've made it part of my life. I've met some awesome people along the way too. :)

Ok, Alex is taking a nap, I need to take a quick shower and head to the LLL meeting then ... who knows! :) Hubby is off today, so we'll spend it together ... probably at Wally World, we need groceries.

Storm aftermath

2008-08-22T20:28:00.003-04:00

Tropical Storm Fay hit this area on Tuesday as you can see from my earlier posts.

When I was getting ready to head to the office on Wednesday, I made our bed. Santiago puts his "decorative" pillow on the floor while he sleeps .. I picked it up and it was soaked! But we didn't know of any leaks, we didn't see any water coming in at all. We soaked up the water with towels, he pulled up the carpet and pad and put fans on it. I went to work, he stayed home with Alex half a day then brought him to my parents house for a few hours. That night we slept with the fans on and our bed pulled out and left it that way the next day (Thursday). We both went to work on Thursday and took Alex to daycare, a regular day.

I walk in the door Thursday night and I smell something is off, way off. By this time, Santiago has put our room back together, everything is dry. Santiago has a cold, so he really didn't smell anything too bad. I did. I went to Alex's room and knew the smell was in there ... got on my hands and knees and felt around the carpet and smelled it ... all over his room I did that. I get to our computer desk and it's stronger ... but I can't find where it's coming from. Santiago gets down on the floor ... and finds it.

Under our chairmat is a huge wet spot ... which is now mildewed and stinking BAD. It's around 9 pm by now and Alex is usually asleep, but there was no way I was putting him in this stinky room. Santiago cut out the affected carpet and pad area. I went to my parents house to pickup Alex's playpen, came home Alex was already asleep in our bed ... transferred him to the playpen in our room and we went to sleep.

We woke up to a stinky house. Our place is a small 2/2 condo, maybe 900 sq feet, so it's not like we have lots of place to move stuff around. We both called in to work, my parents took Alex to daycare then helped us move everything out of his room and rip up the carpet.

Apparently it got wet from a hole in the frame of the window, we can't see anything else. The corner of the carpet was still wet, the baseboards are damp, but drying out. It just killed me to have to rip it all out. The carpet was pretty new, berber carpet with blue and green in it ... we installed it and painted it blue before I got pregnant, it worked out great for Alex's room.

We worked all day, got the room emptied, carpet/pad gone, swept, lowered Alex's crib (necessary since he's standing up in it now) .... put everything back and "cleaned" the floor. Ugh. Not the best day.

We're going to keep Alex in our room for the next few days to see how his room airs out. It's still somewhat stinky in here, but not nearly as bad as it was. I don't want him in here if there's still issues though.

The storm just screwed with our week ... My office was closed Tuesday, Santiago didn't work Tuesday or Wednesday ... plus I have a 6 mile run tomorrow and I wasn't able to get any of my two runs in this week, so I'm probably going to struggle. Whine.

On the bright side, Alex is happy at the moment. :)

Ok .. gotta get to bed .... wish me luck on my run ... hoping I make it to the La Leche League meeting tomorrow!

Alex is getting busy!

2008-08-19T19:15:00.005-04:00

This video is from Sunday of Alex 'crawling'. This is the closest he is coming to crawling at the moment. He'd much rather be in his walker running through the house. It's so funny, he runs then lifts his feet up and rolls the rest of the way.

Today I put Alex in his crib to play, which is rare, because we're usually in the living room or our bedroom playing. But I needed to get online for a few minutes and daddy was sleeping. So I put him in his crib, sitting up, with some toys ... a few minutes later I heard the crib moving, I turned around, and to my utter surprise, Alex was standing up just smiling at me! I was like, OMG. My first thought was, ok, time to lower his mattress since it's still on the highest position. I put him back down in a sitting position and watched him ... pretty easily he pulled on the bumper, then on the rail and pulled himself up. I was amazed. I grabbed the camera and he did it a few more times ... and yes, I woke daddy up to watch too!

Ok, enough posts for today ... glad I got them up though. We have a lot of family that isn't local that is enjoying the pictures and hopefully now videos of Alex.

Rain Pics

2008-08-19T18:24:00.006-04:00

I wasn't as productive as I thought I'd be today ... sigh.

Here's some pics of how Tropical Storm Fay affected our neighborhood.

The community pool, right outside of our front door ... it hasn't overflowed during this storm, which is surprising.

Parking lot outside of our building ... everyone else moved their vehicles to higher ground.

Our pond ... it's usually way lower than the fence.

Our roads drain to the pond ... which is why they're flooded. Santiago's car is safe!

Santiago & Alex during the storm ... Alex was happy to be out of the house for a few minutes.

Rain Rain Rain

2008-08-19T10:17:00.004-04:00

Tropical Storm Fay is in the process of drenching our area with lots and lots of rain. I won't complain. :) We're all home together, which with Santiago's schedule, isn't the most common occurance in our home.

Area schools closed, which means Alex's daycare closed. I'm very grateful that our office closed as well. The county is still open, which means Santiago was expected in to work, but he used a vacation day to stay home. I feel more comfy having him home with us, plus all over the news they are saying to stay inside, don't drive. I understand some people feel like this is just a thunderstorm, but you never know what could happen, and I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I just made blueberry muffins, don't cheer me yet, they're Jiffy, but hubby is still thrilled, and now the house smells yummy. I've been working on cleaning off our computer desk, it's a mess. I'm backing up our hard drive, I try to do it once a month. We have so many pictures, I would hate to lose them. I also need to update the pics on my thumb drive we keep in our safetly deposit box. And I'm going to try to upload a video of Alex today ... see, lots to do on my "day off" and I'm sure there's much more to do, there always is!

Daddy is feeding Alex his bottle ... so let me working on my projects!

Little sleep

2008-08-05T07:55:00.002-04:00

I'm guessing Alex is teething ... the last 3 nights he hasn't slept well and has had a fever. Sunday it was 102.3, last night it was 101.6 ... but tylenol took care of it and it stopped. He's been so cranky and whiny. He's not usually like that, he's a really good baby, doesn't fuss much at all. So this is a real change for us. I hate seeing him in pain.

I think Santiago and I got maybe 4 hours of sleep last night, and that's not solid, it's 30 mins here, 45 mins there ... ugh. Finally, after searching online last night for ideas to try, he liked the paci with frozen water in it. That seemed to help his pain and let him sleep. He wanted nothing to do with the teething ring, cold or frozen washcloth though.

I remember my eyes last shutting at 4:17am, knowing my alarm was going off at 5:00am because today is Tuesday ... running day. I hit the alarm a few times and finally got up, racing around to leave the house. I brought Alex to my parents (they're keeping him all week since daycare is closed), he was still in his jammies, but suprisingly happy and alert.

I met Jenny and Christina at our usual spot ... Jenny said we needed to do atleast 3 miles, the route we were taking was 2.66 miles. So I said ok ... we'll just run to Macedo instead of Manville. Well. I messed up. We ended up doing 3.99 miles. Christina wasn't dressed for that distance, and Jenny nor I really had the extra time, but what can you do? You're already out there, you can't magically stop and leave. It showed we burned 449 calories. Yeah. I was dripping so much sweat, ick ... glad I bought the covers for the van seats.

My mom is taking Alex to a playgroup for infants at the Tot Room in the PSL Community Center today. I'm sure he'll love it. I took him there for an "Itty-Bitty Signers" playgroup last month and I think he liked it. They have mats on the floor and soft foam pieces for him to stand up on. Sometimes I really wish I was a SAHM, so I could take him to these activites. I'm glad my mom is able (and wanting) to. Time to get ready for work ...

Magic Mile

2008-08-03T11:57:00.011-04:00

Yesterday was our group running day ... part of getting everyone into the correct pace group is doing a "Magic Mile" or "MM". We go our with our usual group and then do a one mile run as fast as you can. It's a timed event, everyone starts at the same time and runs one mile. There are people at the 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 mile marks to call out your time so you can gauge how you are doing.

I started off doing great ... as most runners do ... especially because everyone else around you is speeding by, well, that's my life anyways! I know I'm a slow runner, this is nothing new to me. You'd think by now, I would accept it and move on. And I'm trying to. But it's not working this time as well as it did last time I was training. When I was training in 06, I was running 3 times a week and going to my trainer twice a week ... yes, this makes a difference. It does! When I was training in 07, I was a few months pregnant, so noone really expected me to be fast, and I wasn't. But now, here I am ... post-baby, still carrying my pregnancy weight .. and trying to run.

My Magic Mile time was 14:54. I was the last person to finish. The LAST.

I'm down, feeling disappointed in myself ... and I remember I did a spreadsheet in 2006 charting my runs ... I wonder if I can find it? I start looking through my computer, there's lots of files ... and I find it ... "walksNruns" ... I want to know, but I'm scared to be disappointed in myself more than I already am.

Ya know what it says?!?! :)

My very first 5k (3.1 miles) ever, on January 7, 2006 in Disney ... I finished in 60:00. ONE HOUR! That's 19:35 per mile. I scan down, how good did I get on my chart ... my fastest time I have listed (Sadly, I only kept track for a few months) is the Disney 5k Women Go Red event in May 2006, where I did 15:36 per mile.

I need to shut up and feel good at my starting point. And I will.

Since I'm going down memory lane about my running ... here's some of my race pictures I was able to find ...

Our first 5k .. Disney, Jan 2006. It was COLD. L-R: Me, Mom, Jenny, Belle

May 2006 - Disney 5k Women's Go Red. Me, Mom and Jenny

Memorial Day, May 2006 - Run for the Pineapple 5k. Me, Mom, Logan and Robby. Logan won an award for his age division!

December 2006 - Palm Beach Half Marathon. Before the race, Jenny, me, Gina, and Bucky. Me finishing my first ever half marathon, 13.1 miles!!! What a great feeling!

January 2007 - Disney Half Marathon. Robby & I at mile 4. Jenny & mom at mile 8 . Jenny & I after the race, aren't we cute, we match.

December 2007 - Palm Beach Half Marathon. I promised Jenny I would be there, no matter what, and I was, although I didn't do the race. Bucky and I cheered Jenny on along with her hubby Randy. Alex was born exactly 2 weeks later. :)

Wow ... that made me feel really good ... looking at all of those happy pictures. I've had lots of fun doing the local 5k races. Even if I am almost always in the last 10 to finish. My best friend, Jenny, has done almost all of them with me, I think she was sick for the Pineapple one, otherwise, we're together at the start. Bucky did Palm Beach with me and will again this year. My brother ran the Disney Half Marathon with me, but doesn't have the time to train for another one right now. My mom has come to cheer us on a few times ... she loves it and she gets so many thanks from random runners after the event, it makes her day. I'm sure she helped make theirs too.

Having family and friends supporting and encouraging me really means the world! Thanks!

Alex Update & Pictures

2008-07-27T13:47:00.007-04:00

Here's an email I just sent out to many friends and family, but I'm sure I missed someone along the way ...

Hey All!

We haven't been very good about sharing pictures, sorry. We spend just about every spare moment loving on Alex and watching him explore his world, it's amazing. He's napping now, so I'm trying to catch up on emails.

Alex is growing so fast! His last doctors visit at 7 months old, he is 19 pounds and 28" long. He's doing great! He loves one of his new toys, a walker, he's just recently figured out how to move forward in it. He loves chasing the cats, although they are much faster than he is! He's also loving his jumper, my sister, Gina, sent us ... it's hanging from our bedroom door frame, so he jumps all around. Daycare says he has the most fun in their jumper too. His favorite thing to do in the jumper is to lick the strap, haha.

He's eating good, he doesn't have any teeth yet though. We haven't found anything he doesn't like, so far he's eaten: rice & oatmeal cereal, bananas, mangos (frozen, he LOVED them!), sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, peas, squash, peaches, pears, applesauce ... so far so good! :) We're just moving into "Stage 2" of the organic baby food. He eats better than we do, that's for sure!

Alex took swimming lessons with Santiago, they had a blast! Alex loves the water, loves splashing and kicking and even going under the water. Since he's been swimming, when you put him on his tummy, he arches his back, puts his arms out and kicks, kicks, kicks ... I think he thinks he's in the water! It's cute. Santiago has spent a lot of time in the pool with him while the weather is good and Alex is a natural in the water.

I'm attaching a variety of pictures, some from Father's Day ... we made shirts for Santiago, my dad and Robby (my brother) ... it was not easy getting his hands open, as you can see! They loved them.

These were taken on July 4th. We all went to PictureMe Studios in Walmart, Logan (Robby's son) came with us. Logan is now 13 years old and Alex just loved spending time with him. The photographer did a great job, there's even a pic of Alex in a cloth diaper. :)

This is the most recent one, taken on July 27, 2008 of Alex in his new bathtub that Gunnar gave us. He is still too small to sit upright in it, but he'll be able to soon!

Training Started!

2008-07-26T08:59:00.005-04:00

I'm so totally pumped right now! Last Saturday was the Kick Off of the Galloway Training program at Fleet Feet in Stuart. It was an information session with a demo run afterwards. This morning was our first "real" run, and it was just fantastic! :)

I'm sure it's hard for most people to picture someone my size running ... but as I said last week at the info session, I was built for endurance, not speed. I stole that quote from Jenny during our first year of running. Running gives me such a natural high that lasts throughout the day.

A little history on my running ... Jenny and I did a 5k at Disney in January 2006 with my mom and family friend, Belle. We were all running to raise awareness and money for the Jerry Ayre Scholarship Fund, who is the son of one of Belle's friends (now my friend too!).

Anyways ... while we were waiting around for the 5k to start, we were watching the Half Marathoners finish. Jenny and I were cheering them on and we were very moved, I was even crying. It was just totally amazing to watch these people, not all of them thin people, some older, some kids ... some couples holding hands as they finished. It was just amazing for us to witness it. We decided then and there that would be us the next year. And we set out to accomplish that goal.

We started going to local 5k events, where we met lots of great people and learned about Fleet Feet in Stuart. During the summer of 06, we signed up for the Galloway Training so we could do the Disney Half Marathon. It was not easy! I started out at 267 and I really had a hard time with it, but we did it! During my run training, I was also going to Harsh Reality Fitness twice a week for strength training, which really kept me focused.

December rolled around and so did the Palm Beach Half Marathon, which we registered to run. It was a very hot day, but Jenny, Bucky and I completed our first half marathon!! Jenny stayed with her running group and Bucky and I stayed together. It was hard work, but we did it! My hubby, my parents and my brother were along the course cheering us on, that really meant a lot to me. I was on a high for weeks afterwards, telling everyone I could that *I* did a half marathon. I mean, really, how many people can say that? I was, and still am, so very proud of myself. During that training, I lost 30 pounds, which was a great "side effect" of the training. I'm aiming for similar results with this training!

Alex is napping, I've gotta get a shower then we are going to the La Leche League meeting in Fort Pierce. I'm hoping this weekend I can learn how this blogging works and get some pictures posted. I've had a blog on myspace for a good while, but I haven't been able to keep up with it and my family doesn't like having to join myspace in order to see pics of Alex and see what's going on. So since a lot of my friends are doing this, I figured I'd give it a try. :)