Rebecca DeWire

Christmas card

2011-11-15T17:20:00.000-08:00

Apparently I am feeling ambitious this year since for the first time ever I created a Christmas card. And since I am so frugal, I am posting it to my blog so that I can get $10 off my next purchase on Shutterfly.

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

One and Done: Scott's first and last ultra

2011-10-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

I am really proud of Scott for seeking out a new challenge, going after it, and finishing it (all while our household is experiencing long term sleep deprivation). He thought it would a fun experiment to try his hand at ultra running and his ultimate goal was to complete a 50 mile event. Since a 50K is just a few more miles than a marathon, so he assumed that if he wanted a real challenge he needed to run 50miles. His plan was to run a 50K as a training/test run in the beginning of Oct and then a 50 miler at the end of Nov.

His "test run" at ultra running was this weekend at Blues Cruise 50K and based on how it went, he decided that it will be his first and last ultra. He considered it a failure because it wasn't fun and he used the word horrific to describe the experience. His summary of the course was a 20% grade slip-and-slide with a waist deep river crossing. It poured the night before so everything was muddy and soggy and all of the trails were quite technical. Scott's time was 5:05 and he finished 39th out of 237. He ran almost the entire time, with the exception of the steepest hills, and never imagined that it would take so long or that he could run so slow (considering he is a sub-3 hr marathoner).

He said it just wasn't the athletic nirvana that he was hoping for so he decided not to bother with the 50 miles in Nov. Plus, another issue with ultra running is that the deadly peanut butter was everywhere at the aid stations. I asked him what is next for him athletically and he said that he will continue run commuting to work and just enjoy doing 10Ks and 10 milers when the mood strikes him since he has fun at those distances. And once the girls are older, he might start training for triathlon again.

Here are some really great race pics

I was expecting this, but not so early

2011-09-23T09:59:00.000-07:00

Elena has said 2 things in the past week that I expected to hear at some point, but definitely not at 3 yrs of age.

1. Elena hates cleaning up and I really don't blame her. Cleaning is not fun and I despised cleaning as a child; my parents often called my bedroom a pig sty. The other day I asked Elena to clean up some blocks in her playroom and she told me no. I then told her "That you have to clean up, we are a team and we need to work on this together." Her response was "If you make me clean that up, I won't love you anymore!"

2. Elena is obsessed with painting. She can easily sit down and paint 25 pictures at a time. And the only reason she stops at 25 is because I tell her ran out of paper. She has this new glitter paint which she loves so I told her that she should ask Santa for more sparkle paint. Her response was "Santa is not real, he is pretend." So I ask her where she heard that, and she told me "I just made that up, I was joking".

Here is Elena during a marathon painting session

Being lazy

2011-09-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

Right now, Elena is a preschool and Adelaide is napping. I feel lucky that Adelaide's nap schedule is lining up with Elena being at school so I get some time to myself. Last week was her first week of school and it went great; especially considering she didn't want to go after her experience at summer camp. The first day of preschool was orientation where we went together and I think that made all the difference. And on her first day by herself, there were no tears and she told me she had fun and that the teachers are nice.

Elena and I before her first day of school
Last week when Elena was at school and Adelaide was napping, I used that time to clean the house since my parents were coming to visit. Today, I am feeling lazy and using this time to blog. I am also currently taking part in my daily addiction of Coke. And look who likes to steal my Coke and sneak sips.
Speaking of Elena, she has said a few things lately that have left me speechless. I had a neighborhood playgroup at my house (and one of the moms I was meeting for the first time) and Elena announced to everyone that she pooped in the backyard (and of course this is while we are hanging out in the backyard). I had no response to that except to say "I have no idea what she is talking about". And then the secret that she told me later about that incident is hilarious, but I am too embarrassed to write it. She also left me speechless last week at the grocery store. The lady in line behind us was on the very short side, and apparently Elena thinks that all short people are kids because she said "That little girl is doing really good, she is able to stand up all on her own!" Luckily I had just paid so I could get out of there as fast as I could.

And here are just some cute pics
Check out the tiniest piano player

And here is mophead (my Dad's nickname of Adelaide)

Athletic identity crisis and 9 months

2011-09-01T10:17:00.001-07:00

I am so bad about blogging now, but I love being able to look back at old posts and see what has happening in our lives. So here is a little update on everyone.

Scott
Over the summer, Scott was going through an athletic identify crisis and felt kind of lost without some big challenge. He just wanted to have an event on the horizon that makes you wonder "Can I really do that?". He kept saying that he wants to recapture the feelings of doing his first IM. So what he has come up with is ultra running. He has signed up for a 50K in Oct and a 50 miler in Nov. His training has been going well and has been doing 2 long runs a week (I think his longest so far is 21 miles) and usually does them in the morning while running to work.

Adelaide
A few days ago, Adelaide turned 9 months and I swear that I just brought that little baby home from the hospital. These past 9 months may have been the fastest of my life. As each day passes, I see a her becoming a bit more like a toddler. She is such a happy and easy going baby and if it wasn't for the fact that I haven't slept through the night in over 9 months, I would totally want a 3rd. With both kids taking their time to sleep through the night, I just don't think I could survive the sleep deprivation again. We have been putting some of the baby stuff in the attic and I told Scott that we should just give it away since I hate keeping stuff (even in the attic) that we aren't using. What is the point of keeping it? He thinks that we should save it for at least a few years before giving it away.

Adelaide had her 9 month appt and she is back to her typical percentiles and is 70% for height and 50% for weight. She had a serious growth spurt these last 3 months since at her previous visit she was 40% height and 35% weight. This big growth spurt might explain why she hemoglobin value showed she was anemic. The pediatrician said anemia in infants is almost always a dietary deficiency of iron so we started some iron drops.

Obsessed with eating grass

Just being happy
Looking at a butterfly

Elena
Her recent issue is that she doesn't want to go to preschool which starts in a couple weeks. Thankfully, the first day is orientation with a parent, but after that I am a bit nervous and am prepared for lots of tears. She is also going through a phase where she doesn't like boys and refuses to talk to them, even if they are younger than her. I explained that Daddy is a boy and you like him, and she decided to make an exception for him but no one else. She also is obsessed with acting like a puppy and will ask to be a puppy anywhere. For example, walking into the library the other day she started walking on all fours. I can only imagine what everyone was thinking. I did tell her puppies aren't allowed in the library so this made her change back into Elena. She is also into singing and is constantly making up songs. I think that the majority of what she says is in the form of a song.

Here is a picture of her on vocals and the beginnings of our family band.

Myself
The most depressing thing about my blog is looking back 2.5 yrs ago and I was writing about my stupid hip. It is getting better with stretching and lately I have been feeling hopeful, but this is just an unbelievable injury. If I can ever get to the point where I am normal, my new goal in life is to keep myself healthy and be able to swim/bike/run until I am elderly. And here is my inspiration, an 81 year old who ran 4917 miles in 2009 when he was 80. If I did the math right, that is 95 miles a week!

Getting easier

2011-08-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

Right now, both kids are napping which is a very rare occurrence and has probably only happened once before. It is so nice to enjoy a quiet house, if even only for a few minutes. Sometimes our house is so loud between screaming kids and barking dogs, Scott and I can barely hear each other to have a conversation. Things seem easier since I am finally starting to feel well rested on a regular basis and things are improving sleep wise. Adelaide still wakes up a couple times a night, but now she goes back to bed after she wakes up at 4am which is huge. And Elena is now waking up between the hours of 6 and 7am which is nice. The best part of feeling well rested is that I don't feel the need to go to bed so early and I get to enjoy some relaxing time in the evening to read. I am currently reading a memoir written by a Navy SEAL. For some reason I am now obsessed with all things related to SEAL training and missions and am just in awe of these men.

My plan that I wrote in my last post, about getting my right leg stronger on the bike, just made things worse so I had to abandon it. I think my right IT band and right psoas are still super tight so biking seemed to just reinforce my problems. So now I just walk and stretch and repeat every day. That really seems to help and it is just unbelievable all of this residual tightness that is taking forever to fix. I tried to go on a blog reading hiatus (but it didn't last long), because at times it is a bit depressing to read about everyone's amazing season while I still feel "off" even while walking. I have been this way for so long that everyone else training and racing doesn't usually bother me, but every once in a while I get super frustrated. But oh well, such is life.

Adelaide is now crawling and pulling herself up and getting into everything. It is so much fun to see her exploring the world.

Snoopy is a funny dog and is willing to be pet by anyone. He will purposely lay down in front of Adelaide so she can grab his fur. It looks like she is hurting him, but he never seems to mind.

Leg dominance and cycling

2011-08-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

After my last ART visit, I told Dr. Kropf that I still feel slightly off when biking and running and I just doesn't feel 100% right yet. He basically said that since I am now perfectly aligned, I have to figure out how to get to the next level or I might not progress to where I want to be. I told him that I often wonder if I biked myself into this injury since that is when the pain first occurred. And I also told him that I have never been able to figure out why my achilles would flare up on the bike when racing flat courses. He told me that was probably a leg dominance issue. So that got me thinking that perhaps this entire injury mess is because my left leg was out of control dominant? I know that I am constantly throwing around random theories, but I am desperate to 1) figure out why this happened, 2) how I can get to the next level and be the athlete I want to be, and 3) prevent this from ever happening again.

I broke out the computrainer and hooked it up and did a little spinscan (which is basically pedal stroke analysis) and without a doubt my right leg just can't keep up with my left and keep a nice 50% split. I am obviously kicking myself that I wasn't diligent about using the spinscan every time I rode on the CT so I could have prevented this issue years before it got out of control. I did a little reading to see if leg dominance is a legitimate reason for an injury like mine and the article really hit home and described a lot of what I have experienced. Also, besides my spinscan telling me about my leg dominance, my right glute and quad actually seems much smaller to me.

So I have a plan which is basically to ride the CT everyday and really focus on getting that right leg stronger. If I biked my left leg into being super strong, I don't see why I can't do the same to my right. I am committed to this plan for 30 days and then evaluate how I feel and if it seems to really be helping. If this is the issue, I am just not sure how long it will take for my right leg to catch up to my left if this is really the problem?

In other news, Elena had a total meltdown when I left her at the YMCA childcare today while I swam. She has been going to childcare at gyms since she was 6 wks old and has always been Ms. Independent, but that camp really changed everything. The lady in childcare had to peel Elena off of me while she was screaming and then basically block to the door to prevent her from running after me. I only swam 20 minutes since I was a bit worried about how she was doing and when I got back she seemed fine. Hopefully it goes better later this week.

When will this get easier?

2011-07-29T15:26:00.000-07:00

Life has been pretty crazy lately with 2 kids. I think a big part of it is their schedules which allows me no time to myself. Elena wakes up early (like 5am or 6am) and doesn't nap, while Adelaide goes to be at 9pm. Once Adelaide goes to bed, I try to go to sleep immediately to get as much sleep as I can. And keeping up with Elena all day is very fast paced. I keep telling myself that it will get easier, not sure when, but it has got to at some point. I also think that 3 yrs is a very challenging age and maybe Elena will mellow out at some point.

I did get a little break this week since Elena went to camp at the YMCA. It was from 9-12 Monday thru Friday and the first day was great and she even made a friend. On Tuesday she came home and told me that she was crying under the table because she missed the mommy. Wednesday was fine since they went swimming, but Thursday didn't go well. When I went to drop her off she was screaming "Mama don't go" and crying hysterically. I left her (but I did get teary walking to the car since it was so sad) and just kept telling myself that she will be fine soon and have fun. I felt sick to my stomach for about an hour and couldn't wait to pick her up at noon. When I got there, the teacher said that she wasn't herself all day and was very sad. I asked Elena about it and she said she missed mommy and didn't understand why I left her. She then told me that all day she was thinking about a picture that is hanging in our house where the mommy is holding the baby Elena. It was all quite sad and maybe being home with me all the time (with the exception of childcare at the YMCA) and then going to camp 5 days was just too much? I thought it was odd that she was fine the first day and then as the week wore on it got worse.

Catching up

2011-07-13T05:14:00.000-07:00

I feel like I haven't posted in forever; mostly because my free time is pretty limited/nonexistent and also because I have numerous topics floating around my headand it has been hard to settle on one. So here is a list of things going on.

Swimming: I have been swimming about twice a week, which I know isn't a lot, but anything that closely resembles consistency is a major accomplishment. I am slowly becoming fitter in the pool, but I think my major gains have come from technique. The clock says I am faster, along with my very unscientific assessment of beating Scott in a 50 by 4 solid seconds. I have NEVER beaten Scott in the pool before and he was definitely surprised.

The hip: It has been 4 months since I started ART and things still seem to be progressing, even if it is very slowly. I ran 5 miles on Sunday and while I still felt slightly off, I felt totally fine the next day which is a good sign. This injury is just beyond frustrating and all I can say is that if I am every back to 100% and racing, I will probably live in fear for a very long time that this might happen again.

Sleep: There are glimmers of hope that I will some day get a decent night's sleep. Two nights last week, Adelaide slept from 9pm to 3am and it was amazing to wake up and feel rested. Unfortunately, she didn't keep this up and is once again waking up every 2 hrs. And Elena is doing better this week and is sleeping until 6am. I am sure to most of you this sounds early, but compared to 4:45am or 5am, this is late!

Energy: Even though I am working out just a few hours a week, my body isn't always thrilled with burning calories and I end up being insanely hungry. I think my body is concerned about some impending famine because it insists on keeping about 10 lbs of body fat in reserve. It is definitely annoying to not be back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but I am sure that once I stop breastfeeding it will come right off (or that is what I keep telling myself).

New furniture: Has anyone else had their living room furniture destroyed by potty training? Since our furniture was about 5 years old and with our 4 dogs it doesn't last long, it was time to buy something new. This time around we decided on leather in hopes that it will last beyond Adelaide being potty trained.

Check out Adelaide sitting all by herself! And she also had her first haircut; we needed to trim her bangs since they were in her eyes.

Mission accomplished

2011-06-29T05:38:00.000-07:00

Since Adelaide was born, Scott has been training when he can find the time (mostly run commuting) and entering races when the mood strikes. After he had so much fun at the 10 miler a few weeks back, he decided to look for a half marathon. He found the 1/2 sauer 1/2 kraut race in Philly which is a German themed full and half marathon. Once Scott saw that the age group prizes were German weather barometers, he knew that he must win one for his mom.

And look what he brought home- 1st place male 30-39.
I wasn't able to attend since I was driving home from CT with the girls. Scott was in FL all week for work, so we decided to head to Lisbon to spend the week with my family. I was lazy and didn't run, but my right leg still feels tight so running doesn't always feel good. But I did get back to the pool yesterday and am now really into swimming. It is shocking to type that sentence, but at this point it is the only sport that I can do and feel normal. I am super obsessed with technique and am focusing on following the advice of Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen. After reading this article, I think I am starting to understand the whole 'catch' business a little better. The words 'lift the elbow' really made sense in terms of what I am supposed to be doing.

Swimming makes me happy

2011-06-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

I have started swimming again and it feels great. Since my body was so twisted and misaligned for 2 yrs (plus I couldn't even raise my right arm all the way) swimming wasn't really an option. But now that I am on my way to being back to normal, swimming feels great. And one interesting thing I noted since my crunchy achilles has been fixed, I can actually feel my left calf work as I push off the wall.

Even though I was away from the pool for so long, in some ways it was like I never left. I saw the exact same folks that I used to see every time I went and amazingly, my body remembered how to stay afloat. And I am still slow :) I am so out of shape that at first I couldn't do more than 50m at a time, but now I can do some 100s. To reward myself for swimming, I bought 4 new suits. And one lucky thing that came my way was a free pair of paddles (never used those before) because someone at Scott's work accidentally purchases a 2nd pair online. I feel committed to becoming a better swimming and I will say that even doing my short swim workouts reminds me how much I love triathlon and that my ultimate goal is to get back to racing tris again. There is just something about that sport...I just keep coming back to it despite taking really long breaks.

Here are a few of the suits I bought.

My running is also making progress. Last month, I started not being able to run for more than 10 minutes before I had to walk just to keep my heart rate below MAF, but last night I ran for 40 min and only had to walk up hills.

Also, this is random but has anyone had kids that dropped to a lesser height/weight percentile? Elena was always right around 75th% for both height and weight for all her visits, so I was surprised when Adelaide (at her 6 month appt today) dropped to 40th% height (used to be 80%) and 35th% weight (used to be 50%). The doctor didn't say a word about it so it must not be a big deal. It did make me start wondering if she really has been super hungry the last 3 months and that is why she has pretty much been nursing every 2-3 hrs around the clock. I started her on more solid foods this last week and she is sleeping a little bit better at night.

Crunchy achilles

2011-06-09T09:44:00.000-07:00

During the initial chiropractic assessment, Dr. Kropf felt my ankles and asked what is going on here because the left side is all leathery. I said it is an old injury that doesn't bother me anymore. Well, now that the rest of my body is returning to a more normal alignment I am very much aware that my left ankle just doesn't have the proper range of motion. So he worked on that left achilles today and even said that it was crunchy. After my visit, it was amazing since I can now engage my left calf. I don't think I realized that my left calf wasn't working anymore; it was the strangest sensation to feel like I was once again using that muscle. I also discussed with him the possibility that my left achilles tendonosis was a contributor to my left hip pain since I had a flare up in Nov 2008 and then 3 months later my hip started hurting. He said that it is quite possible since the entire body is connected my fascia and my pattern of injury makes sense.

If my achilles really is a cause of this injury, I will feel so much better about moving forward with training and knowing that this hip injury wasn't totally random. I guess the smart thing would have been treating my achilles with ART years ago, but I didn't know about such treatment. My major flare ups always occurred after racing a flat bike course: White Lake 2005, White Lake 2006, IMFL 2006, and Beach2Battleship 2008. The reason I think this is occurs is because of how my left ankle is dorsiflexed and my right ankle is plantarflexed while biking(something I noticed only about a year ago). This is definitely something I will have to figure out and fix before I start biking again.

My left achilles was a theory of mine for a while and back in Dec 2009, during Physical Therapy, I asked the therapist to look at my ankles and while she noticed differences in my feet, she didn't think it was a big deal and doubted that it caused my injury. And massage therapists have even worked on it along with my own attempts at foam rolling it and massaging it. So ART really is amazing. So we will see if my new achilles really is the final puzzle piece to getting me on my way back to racing.

There is nothing fun about 4:30 in the morning

2011-06-05T14:41:00.001-07:00

I am exhausted. These kids are totally kicking my butt in the sleep dept. Adelaide is waking up at night (some nights every 2 hrs) and then likes to wake up at 4:30am and play until 6am. The real problem with this schedule is that Elena has been waking up at 5:30am every morning so this makes for a long day of keeping her entertained. I keep telling myself at some point (maybe a year fro now?) I will be able to sleep again and feel rested. I am wondering that perhaps these kids are training me to think that it is totally normal to be awake at 4:30 in the morning and I could use this time in the future for training? Not likely, but that is the only positive spin I have come up with for this lack of sleep.

We did have a great day of racing this morning. Scott ran a hilly 10 miler in King of Prussia and had a super race. Elena also did the kids fun run and they did a nice job of having the kids color their own bibs and then led them in some silly stretching. I didn't realize until the start line of the kid's run that every kid, regardless of age, was running 400 meters. That seemed like a long ways for a 3 yr old, but Elena ran it all and loved it. She was a real trooper and surprisingly ran the same pace the entire way.

Here are the runners after their races

Hilarious

2011-06-01T18:01:00.000-07:00

Not sure how I haven't come across this until last night, but Scott showed it to me on YouTube and I just couldn't stop laughing and just had to share.

I chopped my hair off

2011-05-22T14:48:00.000-07:00

I went in for some highlights and a cut on Saturday and decided that something drastic needed to be done to my hair. So I told my stylist to chop it. I was expecting a shoulder length style, but it turned out to be more like chin length. I think it looks pretty good, but is taking some getting used to.

Elena also said something really funny today. She told Scott, "I have been running around the kitchen and now my heart rate is real fast". Scott said "Apparently, you have been hanging out with your mother". I had no idea that she even knew the word 'heart rate' and could use it properly in a sentence. I think she picked up this phrase since we did a family run on Saturday and Scott pushed the jogger and was asking me about my heart rate a lot to make sure we weren't going too fast. It is just crazy how they listen to everything we say. She also told me the other day about it being messy and that we really need to clean this crap up. Thank goodness that so far, 'crap' is the worst word in her vocabulary.

And Adelaide was super cute the other day after playing with DoodleBear in the Jumperoo and then just fell asleep. Elena would never have done this so perhaps there is hope that someday Adelaide won't be a sleep fighter.

Back from the Bahamas

2011-05-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

Back in January when we were snowbound and home with a newborn, Scott and I decided to go on a real vacation. Most of our past trips were made with the purpose of racing and/or visiting family, so we both decided that a vacation with the only purpose of being fun was in order. To me, a real vacation involves absolutely no cooking or cleaning and it must have a beach. We wanted to bring the kids so we looked for a place with short, direct flights at a kid friendly resort. What we came up with is the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas. We had a great time and are so glad we went.

The resort was absolutely massive and at first was a bit overwhelming, but once we (or Scott with his Eagle Scout map skills) figured out the lay of the land, it was great. Tons of stuff to keep us entertained and even indoor options to give us pale folks a break from the sun.

Here are a few highlights from our trip:

The beach! It was Adelaide's first trip. At first she wasn't so sure of the sand, but after a while she really turned into a beach baby.

Elena was very entertained by making sand castles, rolling in the sand, seashell hunting, and swimming. Scott is the kind of person that can't sit still, so he was happy to have a playmate.

Here is where Adelaide spent most of the trip, in her stroller. She was so content just to hang out because there was always something interesting to look at.

The aquariums at Atlantis are just incredible. We had lots of fun touring them.

On the boat out to Blue Lagoon on Salt Cay. Check out my new sunglasses. They are my attempt at being fashionable. I definitely still feel like I am in "I just had a baby mode" and had to go out and buy new (bigger) summer clothes for this trip.

Elena and I at our Dolphin Encounter on Blue Lagoon. At first she was a little nervous, but then she really warmed up to Princess (our dolphin who was 44 yrs old).

Adelaide checking out some conch in a touchtank. She was a hit at the resort and just about everyone we passed had to comment on her, especially that crazy hair. One woman actually asked us if we dyed the ends brown.

Atlantis has a huge waterpark, but we didn't do much besides the toddler friednly lazy river.

Cost per minute

2011-05-06T08:42:00.000-07:00

So it has been a few years since I raced triathlon, but I am just blown away at how much a sprint race can cost. I am one of those people that NEEDS to have a race on the calendar so I have been looking at things in the fall. I came across a sprint triathlon (1/4 Mile Swim, 12.5 Mile Bike, 2 Mile Run) that seemed perfect and close to my house, but the price was some serious sticker shock. This race costs $120 plus $10 for the USAT one day license fee. It seems crazy that if Scott and I both did this race it would cost us $260!!! Is it just me, or is this an expensive race? I am admittedly cheap about some things, but this is more money than I am willing to pay for a small sprint.

This reminds me of how Scott used to enjoy the longer events because he felt like they were a better value in terms of $/minutes racing. I don't recall what Scott's price point is in terms of extracting value, but I am sure he has come up with some algorithm for cost per minute.

Must be patient

2011-05-05T14:12:00.001-07:00

Another ART visit today and things are still progressing in the land of the hip injury. I still have tightness in the right hip flexors that I am aware of when I run and walk, but beyond that I feel great. When my chiro checked my range of motion today for my hip flexors, he estimated my right side at about 50 degrees and my left at about 70 degrees. He did say I am pretty flexible since 50 degrees is considered normal, but not necessarily normal for me. So we are continuing to attack that right psoas and rectus femoris and also the left glute med (where the pain originally started). He mentioned that it could take up to a year for me to feel fully recovered (so far I have been doing ART for 8 wks) and I will require maintenance visits during that time to make sure that my psoas doesn't revert back to dysfunctional. It was good to hear a time line for this type of injury so that I can mentally prepare and not get discouraged.

So in addition to learning a big test of patience with this injury, my experiment with MAF running is teaching me some serious patience. I ran on the treadmill at the YMCA on Tuesday and it was a bit discouraging to run paces that I don't think I have ever run in my life. I sometimes ask myself if I should be running or walking at these paces?! I keep reminding myself that Mark Allen called this the "Patience Phase" for a reason and that I bet a lot of people would quit this, since running so slow isn't much fun. But I am going to keep at it. There is no rush. My new focus is just to stay healthy and have fun.

Feeling good

2011-05-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

I have lost track of how many ART visits I have had, but I would say it is around 8 or 9 and things are improving with each visits. My chiropractor has encouraged me to get out there and really start running again. It has been hard to find the time, but my new goal is to run 4 times per week. Running on Saturday and Sunday is easy, but during the week is more difficult. The morning and evenings are hard with the kids and Scott's work schedule, and since I refuse to run with the baby jogger, the easiest thing will be for me to run on the treadmill at the YMCA 2 times/wk.

We made it out running yesterday as a family since Scott pushed the jogger which is a good plan since it slows him down a bit. He is a really good sport and lets us go at a snail's pace for my MAF running.

Proof I ran! I made Scott take a picture of me. I still have 10lbs to lose to return to pre-baby weight, but I honestly don't care. Breastfeeding is still making me super hungry and I have noticed that if I don't eat enough during the day, I can't fall asleep at night.
Also, you may notice that we are total dorks wearing the same race shirt. It was an accident and it is hard enough to get out the house with the kids, neither of us cared enough to go change. I can't even express how awesome it is for Scott and I to be out running together again. It has been years, mostly because of my stupid injury.

I also met with my personal trainer yesterday and she just couldn't believe what a transformation ART has been for me. She saw me prior to my ART sessions so she saw how screwed up I was and couldn't perform basic movements. But yesterday, things were great and we were swinging kettlebells, flipping tires, and doing all sorts of other fun stuff. There is a beginner kettlebells class every Saturday morning that I will start attending. I feel like this type of functional strength training is exactly what my body needs; teaching my body to once again work as a unit of many planes of motion. The kettlebells definitely have a learning curve to using them properly and I feel so uncoordinated right now, but in time I think the investment in learning will really pay off. I woke up a little sore this morning, but feel amazing. Here is a picture of a kettlebell in case you don't know what they are.

Permission to run

2011-04-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago my doctor, who has really worked miracles, said that I should try running and so I did right away after that appt. A few things still felt tight, but for once my upper body and lower body weren't going in different directions. And I even tried biking and was actually able to straighten my right leg since it previously had been in a chronically flexed position (stupid psoas). So I have run 4 times and biked twice and in general things are slowly getting better. But naturally I am scared to get my hopes up that all this injury nonsense is behind me. For now, I am just doing my MAF running which means I run super slow and after 15 minutes have to walk because that is the only way I can keep my HR below 148 after a mile of running. So I am very much out of shape aerobically speaking, but after 2 yrs I guess that would be expected. To be honest, I am so grateful to feel better, that I am happy running at my snail pace. I also think this is what I need to do; be patient and build my aerobic base properly (something that I have never done before).

I have also been giving a lot of thought how I ended up this way and how to prevent it in the future. One of my new rules is no running with the baby jogger, ever. I did an abnormal amount of running with the baby jogger and used to always push it with just my right arm and let my left arm swing free. I would do hill repeats, intervals, long runs, and even a 5 mile race. Other things I am going to avoid is carrying kids on my hips and only breathing to one side while swimming (I used to only breath to the left). My new mantra will be symmetry, but this is hard with lugging kids around. I am curious, how much do others run with the baby jogger and do you push it with one hand or two?

Offspring

2011-04-16T11:59:00.001-07:00

A recent pic of me and my girls. We have been on our own this week since Scott was in London for work. Ruth, who is Scott's cousin, hung out with us for a few days and since she is a great photographer we played photo shoot.

We had fun recreating a picture of Elena taken at 3 months.
Here is Adelaide. She is officially sporting a mohawk since she has rubbed off all the hair on the sides and back of her head.

Life with 2

2011-04-08T10:43:00.001-07:00

"Look, Mom! I colored Adelaide and she looks so pretty." I just had to laugh at this and document Elena's artwork.

Elena has nothing but love for her sister, but I imagine things might change once Adelaide is on the move and starts to take her toys.

Adelaide is getting so big. She recently started rolling over and even started rice cereal a couple days ago. I was going to wait to start cereal until closer to 6 months since Elena screamed and acted like we were poisoning her the first time we tried cereal and really didn't want it until 6 months. But Adelaide's sleeping is just getting worse and worse each day. The other night she was up every 90min-2hrs and won't go back to sleep unless I nurse her. Scott and I thought that maybe she is hungry so we tried rice cereal and she loved it; I couldn't believe how much she ate. Unfortunately, it didn't help her to sleep better. Our new idea is to consider giving her some formula before bed? It just doesn't make sense to me that she was doing well with sleep around 3 months and now she wakes up all the time and it has been this way for a couple weeks. Maybe as she is getting bigger, my body isn't able to keep up her needs? If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Or maybe Scott and I are just destined to produce children who don't like to sleep.

******
Update: My mom read my post and called to discuss ideas on why Adelaide is waking up so much. And one of her ideas I didn't even consider, which is teething. Elena would wake up every couple hours when she was teething and would need comforting to go back to sleep. This is my new theory on what is going on. I guess time will tell on this theory.

Fine tuning

2011-03-29T09:45:00.001-07:00

I have been to 5 ART sessions and lately we have used words such as: break through, no more rotation, increased range of motion, and fine tuning. So yes, it seems to be working and I would even venture to say that walking almost feels normal again. ART is pretty amazing considering that I have stretched, rolled, poked, and prodded myself 6 ways from Sunday for the last 2 yrs. But as magical as ART can be, I think a big part of it is the chiropractor that I see. Besides the personal trainer I saw (who knew that I had major muscular issues that I needed to work out before I could start a strengthening program), the chiro was the first one who really looked beyond my left hip and tried to figure out what was really going on. Most previous help I have sought for this injury (i.e. physical therapy), left me in worse pain than when I walked in the door.

Here is a poster at my chiro's office which sums up my injury quite well.

I asked my chiro if he had ever seen anyone like me before where they are crooked for years and he said there has been a few. He said one guy was like that for 10 yrs.

Writing this post about my progress makes me nervous because I imagine there is always the chance for things to deteriorate. I am definitely scared about getting too excited, but I am starting to think that there may be hope for me.

Scott's win for an amazing payday

2011-03-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

For the 2nd year in a row, Scott won the local 5K put on by our YMCA. The award for top male and female is a 12 month family membership and the cash value of this prize is just unreal ($1,020)!!! The funny part is that he had to beat his training partner (who is one of our neighbors) and made the pass with only 50yds left and won by 3 seconds. He said that all of his years running highschool track really paid off at to give him that good kick. He did say he kind of felt like a jerk for making that pass at the end since they both really wanted that prize. Go, Scott!

First attempt at cooking with quinoa

2011-03-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, when I decided to eat a bit healthier, I bought SuperFoods for Dummies (pocket edition) on my Kindle. Even though it was pretty short, it was really helpful in listing some of the common superfoods that others blog about, but I am admittedly clueless about. One of the foods, which I don't even know how to pronounce, was Quinoa. I bought a box at Wegmans and was a bit skeptical on how I could cook with this.
I was 99.9% certain that if I served this plain with dinner, Scott wouldn't like it. So what I came up with is making and freezing quinoa pancakes. This would solve 2 dilemmas: 1) what to do with this stuff and 2) I can stop buying frozen pancakes/waffles for my breakfast. My favorite breakfast is frozen Nutrigrain waffles because they are so fast to prepare. I just throw them in the microwave and then just eat them plain. I go through those boxes so fast and they are a pain to buy at the store since the boxes take up space in the cart (since I shop with Elena sitting in the top part of the cart and Adelaide in her carseat in the bottom part, I really have no space for groceries).

Here is my mix (quinoa that I blended, milk, whole wheat flour, baking powder, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon)

I must say that the pancakes were a success. I like them, but I am not sure if Elena will eat them. I will try them out on her tomorrow morning. And if anyone has suggestions on how else to eat this grain, let me know. I tried it plain after I cooked it and it was OK. I definitely liked it better in the pancakes.

Our big project this weekend was setting up a playset that was given to us. It is 10yrs old and needed some TLC so we used a power washer on it and as soon as it warms up, we are going to stain it.

The anti-sleep gene appears to be dominant

2011-03-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

I have heard from numerous parents that the second kid is the opposite of the first. This was exciting news to me since Elena is no sleep champ. Elena at first fooled us all by sleeping through the night from 2-4 months, but then she gave that up and didn't sleep through the night again until she was 1.5 yrs. And then she has always had the ability to keep herself awake by all sorts of crazy techniques. To top it all off, she gave up naps for good before she even turned 3!

And now sweet Adelaide has followed in her sister's footsteps. I thought things were heading in the right direction since when she turned 3 months: she was going to bed around 8pm, waking up at 3am and 6am to eat, and then waking up for good around 7:30am. That schedule left me feeling pretty well rested so I was happy. But this past week, she has been waking up a lot at night and last night was the worst (woke up at 11:30, 12:30, 3am, and 6am). Surprisingly, I am not that tired since I think my body is used to not sleeping well. I have also resigned myself to the fact that it will probably be a year until I can sleep for 8hrs straight again. Oh well, such is what it takes to be a parent. But I will admit that I am secretly jealous of parents who have kids that love to sleep.

Despite Adelaide's campaign to party all night, I definitely have mixed emotions about her getting bigger and I often remind myself to enjoy every second since this is probably my last baby. I have never considered myself to be some baby-crazed person, but in just 11 days, she will be 4 months old. Seriously, how did that happen, I feel like she was just born?!

Here are some recent pics:
Adelaide, 3 months old

Elena is a great big sister. She even does diapers and sings songs to Adelaide in the back of the car when she cries . Elena informed me the other day that she would like 4 baby sisters, because when Adelaide grows up, we won't have a baby anymore.

Yesterday was my second session of ART and I am starting to believe that my right psoas could be the ticket to getting me out of injury hell. We will see. I am definitely avoiding getting too excited about it. I feel like I often make some improvements with anything new that I try and then have my body return to the same old dysfunction.

Faulty, but hopeful

2011-03-12T07:34:00.000-08:00

Here is what they found this morning during my eval at the chiro:

Left faulty leg extension
Left faulty firing of glute, hamstring, erector (he said they were firing in the wrong order)
Left tight glute med
Right tight/weak psoas
Right tight IT band
Right tight low back

So he did some ART on my right psoas, right IT band, right low back, and my left glute med. He said that I should return every 3-5 days for more ART and then after 3-4 sessions he will re-evaluate me. He also gave me a daily psoas stretch to do at home, along with an exercise for my right glute med. No training for now since that will just make things worse. I feel like the list of what is wrong is pretty long, but in a way it gives me hope since there is a lot to fix. And for someone who feels really screwed up, this is promising.

I liked the chiro a lot and he said that about 50% of his patient population are athletes. As he was working on my right IT band, he was joking and saying that he basically does IT band work all day long. He did mention that he may even be in Kona or at Lake Placid (not as an athlete), but doing ART.

Makeovers

2011-03-09T05:50:00.001-08:00

Hair: My hair is too long and I can't stand it a second longer. I need about 4 inches of it chopped off and I need it to be blonde. Every time I let it grow past my shoulders, I find that it is annoying. I am hoping for my hair transformation to take place on Friday.

Food: Scott and I recently discovered that we are consuming excessive amounts of sodium. Previously, I have never given much thought to how much salt I consume, especially when I was training since the concern is often about needing to eat more salt. But this weekend we learned that the burritos we like to eat at Qdoba have about 125% of the RDA of sodium for the entire day. No wonder I was waking up in the night and my rings felt super tight, to the point that I had to actually take them off for fear they would become stuck! This made me start looking at the amount of sodium in other foods. Even breakfast cereals have sodium, and then everyone knows that deli meat is loaded with sodium. And some of the meals I make for dinners like chili and enchiladas are sodium bombs with all of the canned beans and canned tomatoes. So one of our food makeover goals is to decrease the excessive sodium. My plan for this is grilling chicken breasts at the beginning of the week and cutting them up into strips for lunch meat. And for chili and other bean based dishes, I guess I have to buy dry beans and figure out how to prepare those. I went nuts yesterday at Wegmans buying every vegetable possible and new grains, like quinoa, to add to our dinners. I also made some granola yesterday that tastes amazing (oats, honey, pumpkin and sunflower seeds). And I also got around to looking up chia seeds which is one of the recommendations that I got from a blog reader. I added those to my smoothie that I made this morning. So major nutritional improvements are going on, but some of our recent dinners have been so bad (like 25 chicken wings and a brownie*) that there really isn't anywhere to go but up. *I will say that we eat fairly well Mon-Fri when I plan meals, but then on the weekend I am so sick of cooking and we are busy with projects that dinner is an afterthought.

Hip: Even though I said I wouldn't get my hopes up about my chiro appt on Saturday, I occasionally let my mind wander and fantasize being able to really train and race again. It will be interesting to have someone evaluate me and maybe even get a real diagnosis. One thing I want him to check is if I have a tight psoas on the right side. The picture below demonstrates what can happen when you have long term psoas shortening. This is basically what I feel like, all rotated and twisted. No one has ever evaluated my right side as being the underlying problem so I will be interested to hear what this doctor has to say.

Organization

2011-03-06T08:13:00.000-08:00

It is a rainy day and for some reason we are making major strides with organization

1. Gladware: Not sure if anyone else has this problem, but on a daily basis whoever is cleaning up dinner starts swearing over the frustrating task of finding a lid that actually matches a bottom. Elena and I took the time to go through all of them and find the matches. And then Scott used permanent marker to label the lids and bottoms with a code.

2. Adelaides's baby book: Since Scott is a second child, he made it very clear that Adelaide needs to have a proper baby book and adequate pictures of her existence. It has been bothering me that her milestones are written on a sticky note that has almost been lost on numerous occasions. So far I have made it through January so some progress has been made.

3. Photo organization- Up until now, whenever we download photos we sorted them into folders. We decided that we need a better way to keep our photos organized so we bought a new laptop yesterday with Windows 7 which has a photo gallery program that is searchable. It took about 7 hrs to copy all 14,250 photos from the old desktop to our new laptop. At first I thought that it would be impossible to organize all of our photos with the new software, but since the program already organizes them by date and has facial recognition it is pretty easy. We started taking digital photos in 1997 so it is pretty crazy to scroll through photos that document the past 14 yrs of our life.

And just for fun, this is what happens in my house when you turn your back for just a few seconds.

I almost quit blogging

2011-03-03T11:36:00.000-08:00

It has been a month since I blogged and I really considered quitting. Perhaps I need a new blog group to join? Rather than a bunch of super fast triathletes, I could join blogs of the permanently injured. I think I will try to keep it up since the best part of keeping a blog is looking back at what was happening in my life in previous years. And if I am ever able to train again, blogging is super motivating and helps to keep me excited about training and racing.

I am making slow improvements, though, which I need to be positive about. I completed the FMS with my trainer and 2 of the issues we identified have now been fixed. My limited shoulder flexibility was related to tightness in my left hip and the limited movement of my right hamstring was related to my IT band. So this is progress, it is just too slow for my liking. I have tried running a few times and this past weekend I felt okay for 9 minutes and then everything started tightening up in my right leg and then I became crooked. My insurance recently changed and I am now able to see a sports chiro who I have been wanting to see for some time. He is one of those A.R.T gurus so maybe he can work on my right IT band and left hip. I am definitely not getting my hopes up, though. My timeline for recovery is constantly moving. Originally it was to be recovered by the end of pregnancy, and then it was 6 wks postpartum, and then it was moved back to the 2 yr injury anniversary. Since I passed the 2yr anniversary last month, my new goal is to be back to normal before 2012. Seriously, though, who is injured for over 2 yrs? I better not hit 3 yrs, that would be horrible.

Besides my stupid hip, everything else is great. With Adelaide, I am honestly enjoying every second since I know the baby stages go by so fast. She is super smiley and laughing all the time. Elena finally seems to be adjusting to no nap. It was definitely tough there for a while and not the best timing to give up naps with the arrival of Adelaide, but I think we have gotten through the worst of it. Plus, the weather is nicer now and we have been able to enjoy the sunshine which is good for all of us. Things are busy with 2, but I think the adjustment from 1 to 2 kids is so much easier than going from 0 to 1. Some days I am so busy and tired that even if my hip was better, I am not sure how much training I would be able to fit in.

First meeting with my personal trainer

2011-02-06T11:33:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in previous posts, I am finally without daily hip pain but just can't get back to feeling totally normal so that I can run or bike consistently. I have tried all sorts of professional help over the last 2 yrs and this time around I decided that someone who assesses my functional movement might be a good avenue to explore. So last weekend I met for a complimentary session with a personal trainer. When I walked into her studio I immediately liked what I saw which included a pilates reformer, kettle bells, TRX, and some other equipment that I had never heard of such as Indian clubs. She explained the Functional Movement Screen along with the equipment she uses for training. She first assessed my standing posture and said that my right shoulder is higher than the left and also my right hip sticks out to the side. She had me try some simple exercises with the Indian Clubs that involve raising your arms over your heard and it was immediately apparent that my body is not right since I could not do it with my right shoulder. For whatever reason, the mobility in my shoulder joints are really different. We also tried some kettlebell swings and my right hip/leg is super tight (i.e. I couldn't even straighten it) while my left hip is all over the place. We also did some stretches on the pilates reformer and there were drastic differences in muscle flexibility with my left adductor being tight and also my right hamstring being super tight. So it was nice to learn that my feelings of being "not right" are validated. I have occasionally wondered if all of this is in my head and I am relieved to know that perhaps I am fixable. We will see, though. I am trying hard not to get my hopes up too much. The trainer said she will try her best to figure out what is going on. So I am meeting with her again next week and I am really looking forward to that.

We are now the owners of a double BOB (courtesy of Craigslist) and were able to get outside and enjoy the warm (40 degrees!), sunny day.

care bear birthday cake

2011-01-27T19:10:00.001-08:00

After making an Elmo cake for Elena's birthday last year, I said that I wasn't going to make a homemade cake again since it was too much work. But I just couldn't help myself when I saw a really cute Care Bear cake online. I did cut some corners by using a box cake mix since I knew that the decorating would take a lot of time. I am definitely happy with how it came out since I don't have much cake decorating experience. The picture is a little dark, but I wanted to document my efforts right away just in case something happened to it before Saturday morning.

Reading about Training

2011-01-25T09:58:00.000-08:00

I love reading about training, probably more than I enjoy doing the actual training. I don't know how many times I would read The Triathlete Training Bible and come up with these elaborate plans that I would only do a week of. (I just had an "I am getting old moment" because I was reading that book 10 yrs ago...whoa, time really flies.) Scott would tell me that I was better off spending less time planning and more time doing the training. He was probably right. I LOVE racing, though, so had no problems showing up to the start line a bit under-prepared.

When you are injured for a long time, it gives you a lot of time to consider your comeback and plan what you are going to do. What I have come up is the philosophy of Maffetone/Mark Allen. Essentially, I will create a massive aerobic base and train at a heart rate of less than 148 (180 minus my age) and then before my A race I will add speed work. This really appeals to me because it is low-stress (and I think my body really needs that) and it is so simple. Just strap on your HR monitor and go run. No worrying about pace or distance; just spend time at the appropriate HR. And my favorite part of this program is the monthly MAF test. I go to the track and run 3 miles with a HR at 148 and record my pace. It will be fun to track my progress because I previously never had a way of measuring progress except by racing.

And here is a pciture of the girls. Elena turns 3 tomorrow. She is an awesome big sister and I feel lucky that she has adjusted so well to our new routine with Adelaide.

Patience (or lack thereof)

2011-01-18T14:44:00.000-08:00

I better make this blog quick, because lately I haven't had a lot of time to myself. Elena has pretty much given up her naps and Adelaide loves to be held, so there hasn't been much time to comment on blogs. I have been reading most of them, but it is so hard to type one handed.

The 2 major things going on that I need patience for (and I have none) are losing weight and my hip.

1) Losing weight
Scott told me that I really need to stop worrying about this, but my biggest complaint is that I don't have many clothes that fit me well (or at all) at my current size. I have one pair of jeans that fit OK and most of my shirts don't fit right and are too tight. I guess that I can either buy new clothes or continue to be annoyed with what is in my closet. Adelaide just turned 7 weeks old, so I shouldn't be too concerned with losing 18-20 lbs, but I just wish I was back to my normal size now. I really have no patience for this sort of thing.

2)Hip
So I am 99.9% certain that my new theory of a crazy tight right IT band/TFL is the root cause of my evil hip problems. I have been stretching it a lot for the past 19 days (and foam rolling), and while I have made progress it is still tight. I keep telling myself that if it was extremely tight for 2 yrs, then it is going to take some time to return to normal. And I do have a theory about what caused this- Training for B2B and IMCDA + carrying a baby on my left hip all the time + no stretching routine= a nice and stretched out left IT band and a much tighter right one that I continued to train on. I am able to walk and run and feel biomechanically normal, but the muscles attached to my right IT band (TFL and glute med) feel like they are ripping apart. Perhaps this is a good thing for my recovery, but I am then super sore and worried that I am making it worse.

And here are some recent pics

1 glorious mile

2011-01-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

I think that I have FINALLY figured out my hip issue and it only took 1yr and 11 months (I am definitely nervous writing about this since I am afraid I will jinx myself). Even though I wasn't in constant pain while pregnant, I always felt biomechanically off when walking (or really just doing anything) and would occasionally get flare-ups in my left hip. I won't get into a long explanation of my hip, but to make a long story short I think the primary evil that caused all my issues for the last 2 yrs is limited lateral mobility in my right hip (the opposite side of my pain). This theory could be wrong, especially considering all of my other theories haven't really panned out.

The good news is that I have started running on the treadmill and feel great. I am starting off really slow and am only running a mile at a time on the treadmill, but have done this 2 days in a row and have had no issues. I tried biking on the Computrainer, but didn't feel quite right so I decided to just focus on running this year (plus, there is the issue of just not having a lot of time to train). So for now, I am going to run a mile a day and after a week of that I will increase to 1.5 miles/day. I definitely have some plans for this year and am going to focus on running in 2011 and then in 2012 focus on triathlon. I have 2 major athletic goals for myself that I hope to accomplish in the next 3yrs. They are to run a sub 1:30 half marathon and to go sub 5hrs in a half ironman. I think that both of these goals will be pretty hard for me, but are definitely attainable if I do the work.

For now though, I need to focus on getting myself back to 100%. I have signed up for a BOSU class at the YMCA since I think it will be fun to challenge my balance. I have also found a personal trainer who does Functional Movement Screening and am considering trying out a complimentary session with her. If anyone has experience with the Functional Movement Screen, I would like to hear your comments on it.

Adelaide is 6wks old today and I am still surviving life with 2 kids. Some days can be pretty chaotic especially since Elena has stopped napping and Adelaide has some days where she has to be held all the time. On these days, my major accomplishment is taking a shower and brushing my teeth.

Comparison photo, restocked, anniversary

2010-12-22T06:50:00.000-08:00

I think Adelaide and Elena look similar with their hair, but they definitely aren't clones.

Here is Elena at 3 weeks

and here is Adelaide.

They also are different in other ways that have surprised me such as Adelaide wants nothing to do with a pacifier. I have heard of babies that reject paccies and just spit them out, but it was hard for me to believe that the way Elena loved that thing from day 1. Also, Elena could care less who took care of her, while Adelaide is really into me. With Elena, I honestly wondered what was the point of staying home since she didn't care who was holding or feeding her. With Adelaide, I seem to be her preferred source of comfort. This makes me a little nervous that it might be hard to leave her at the YMCA childcare once I am able to workout again.

I also wanted to thank everyone for their great suggestions on ideas for healthy foods. I will say a bit part of my issue was that there was hardly any food at my house that was appealing. For about a week I was eating food that I dislike (i.e. oatmeal) and so hungry all day. But over the weekend, Scott and I did some mega grocery shopping and I filled my house with lots of good food. Here is a breakfast that I used to eat that I started eating again since it has a ridiculous about of protein and fiber (about 30 grams of each).

Mix together 3/4 cup Fiber one + 1 cup plain greek yogurt + 2tbsp ground flax

And a great snack that I found is Wasa crackers with creamcheese

And these granola crisps are amazing. I think it is a cereal, but I was just eating them like crackers.
I am also a big fan of Silk Nog since I am crazy about eggnog.

On Christmas Eve we get to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary. This always sneaks up on me, especially since having kids, since so much focus is on Christmas. I feel like so much has happened in the past 8 years and it certainly has been awesome to share it with my best friend.

Here we are on Christmas day 8 years ago under the arch which we used the day before at our ceremony. The funny part is that I never liked this picture very much, but considering how I look now after having a baby 3 weeks ago, I think I look pretty good.

Requests for nutritional powerhouses

2010-12-17T09:16:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been thinking about trying to get the maximum nutritional benefit from all the foods I eat. For some reason, I have been ridiculously hungry lately which is just plain annoying. I imagine the hunger is from breastfeeding, but I just don't remember feeling this hungry after Elena was born (but I did struggle with breastfeeding with her and supplemented with more formula than this time around). I am trying to avoid cutting back on calories yet, so at this point I just need lots of food to feel full. I hate feeling hungry and hopefully once I start exercising this will help keep my extreme hunger in check a bit more.

Things I eat regularly which I consider nutritious (but need to restock at the grocery store this weekend) are plain greek yogurt, avocados, frozen wild blueberries, and any fruit that is in season. I try eating plain oatmeal for breakfast with wild blueberries, but am starving an hour later. I should also mention that suggestions with nuts won't work since both Scott and Elena are allergic so we have a nut-free household.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

So far so good

2010-12-11T11:27:00.000-08:00

Adelaide is 12 days old today and so far it hasn't been too bad with 2 kids. The key to things being easier than expected is that Elena has been sleeping really well. She has been going to bed around 7:30 and waking up between 7:30-8am which is just unheard of for her. She has also been napping some days for 2 hours. I actually think that being home more than usual helps her get on a good sleep schedule.

Adelaide has also a champion sleeper and for the past 2 nights has slept from 10pm-3am and then 4am-8am. It has been nice to sleep so much, but I am a little worried that I should get her up more often at night since in the last week she only gained an ounce. It is good that she gained weight, but the pediatrician thought she should gain more. After that appt I have been super diligent about feeding her every 2 hours during the day and also pumping after to improve my supply in case that is part of the issue. We go back for another weight check in a week so hopefully she will have gained more weight and will be back to her birth weight.

Scott goes back to work on Monday and that is when the real fun will begin for me. Since I consider Scott to be Super Dad/Husband, I am really going to miss his help. But he only has a week and a half of work before his Christmas break.

While we were in the hospital, a professional photographer took newborn pictures and they came out so great that we purchased them. Below are a couple of my favorites.

Here is Adelaide at 11 days old. She has crazy hair just like Elena did.And here is a picture from today's visit with Santa. Elena is so into Christmas and told Santa today that she would like a bear.

Baby Adelaide

2010-12-02T17:50:00.000-08:00

Adelaide was born on Monday at 12:53 pm and weighed 8lb 13 oz. I was a bit surprised that she weighed so much, even more than Elena. The c-section was an entirely different experience this time around, mostly because I had a spinal instead of an epidural. I honestly didn't feel a single thing, not even much pressure. With Elena, I was literally in agonizing pain and was so confused why everyone else who had a c-section said they didn't feel a thing. It was a bit of a relief to know that I wasn't just a major wimp the first time around.

We left the hospital on Wednesday morning since I felt great and Adelaide was doing fine, so it was nice to leave a day early. I was going a little crazy stuck in the hospital room and was relieved to be able to head home. My parents stayed with Elena while we were in the hospital and are helping us out through Saturday. It is definitely nice to have extra help since I know I should rest and heal as much as possible.

I think a part of me forgot what an amazing experience it is to fall in love with your newborn. While I was pregnant, all I could think about was how much work newborns are. But now that Adelaide is here, I can't stop kissing and hugging her. I definitely feel really lucky!

Elena checking out her baby sister when she was just a couple hours old.

Hugging her sister for the first time. She is taking her role of big sister very seriously and has been assigned the official role of "Mama's best helper".

Adelaide and I hanging out at home

Last belly pic

2010-11-22T05:45:00.000-08:00

I have been pretty bad about taking pictures through out this pregnancy, but I did manage to take a few yesterday. The big day is exactly one week away, so this will be my last picture. I am assuming that this baby will just wait to make her appearance on the scheduled c-section day, since Elena was also in no hurry to make an appearance.
One thing that is a bit nicer about this pregnancy is that my weight is significantly less. Right now I weigh 184 which means I have gained about 40 lbs. I weighed a bit more when I became pregnant this time (maybe 4 lbs) and I assume had a higher level of body fat; the main reason being I was injured and not training for the previous 9 months. With Elena, my ending weight was 198 which was a 58 lb weight gain.

I have been asked what was different between the 2 pregnancies to explain the weight gain and the only thing I have come up with is that I am chasing a toddler around now. I don't think I ate that much differently, so I don't think it was nutrition. And oddly enough, I exercised much more with Elena, but had a sedentary desk job. I have heard other women say that in general they gain less weight with the 2nd pregnancy.

Officially full term

2010-11-15T10:16:00.001-08:00

I am 37 weeks today which means I am officially full term, hooray! It is definitely exciting to make it this far in pregnancy and it is hard to believe that in 2 weeks I will be a mom to 2 kids. I am definitely ready for the pregnancy to be over because lately I just feel so big. I am constantly bumping into things and my clothes barely fit.

Elena and I did return for a second swimming lesson and it was as if I brought a different child with me. She was an angel and loved it. She didn't protest once to anything the teacher asked. My theory is that the first lesson was a disaster because that kid was so tired she just couldn't function. Once she got caught up on her sleeping, she was back to her normal self.

25 days left

2010-11-03T08:44:00.000-07:00

I have been a really bad blogger to let an entire month go by since my last post. Here is my list of things that have been going on:

1. There are only 25 days left until my c-section. I am not sure if it is just that this pregnancy has gone by super fast or time just seems to go by faster the older I get. I am definitely excited about meeting our new little one in just a few weeks. Here is a recent pic of me.
2. That picture above was taken at Scott's grandmothers house while we spent a night in Hughesville, PA. We took a trip there to attend my father-in-law's induction into his high school's hall of fame. Elena even attended and sat at the head table. For being 2yrs old and it way past her bed time, she was somewhat behaved.
3. I conquered the sewing machine and made cushions and slip covers for the glider that I found on the side of the road. This was a major accomplishment for me and I am really happy with how it came out. I also discovered that I really enjoyed sewing.
4. Elena and I survived 2.5 weeks of disrupted naps and loud noise while they put new siding on our house. All I can say is that I am glad they completed the job before the arrival of the baby.
Before (old asbestos siding, original roof, green garage door)
After (new roof with skylights, new insulated siding, white garage door that Scott painted)

5. Elena took her first swimming lesson today at the YMCA (she is a Perch) and it didn't go as I hoped. The majority of the class consisted of Elena screaming "NOOOOO!" and "I am nervous". The weird thing is that Elena really enjoys the water and loves playing in it. Perhaps she just isn't into the structured class and/or she didn't like the instructor. I attend the class with her so I am not sure why she was scared. She is not a timid child so it was weird to see a different side of her personality. I don't want to make swimming into a negative experience for her, so I don't make her do things she doesn't want to. I am not sure how the instructor felt about this and I also decided that I didn't like her since she made a comment to me that I thought was rude. She said that the only word Elena says is "No" and that she must be an only child and that she might have trouble adjusting to the new baby. We will go back, but hopefully it gets better. My major concern is that Elena will decide she hates swimming after these lessons. Does anyone have any advice on this?

Pregnancy countdown (for what I predict is the last time)

2010-09-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

I feel like I haven't posted in forever, mostly because I don't have anything too riveting to say, especially compared to all the posts about those who are getting ready for Kona. One exciting thing that has happened recently is that I have an official date for my c-section, Nov 29th, which is 8 wks and 4 days away. I am definitely a bit nervous about the entire epidural/c-section repeat (mostly because I fainted during the epidural and then I felt so much pressure during the c-section I couldn't wait for it to be over), but it is nice to not go over 39 weeks. My biggest complaint right now is that I am tired, and this is mostly because Elena has been waking up early and doesn't always go back to sleep. Taking naps during the day really helps, though, and I feel lucky that I am able to be lazy and do that. I am definitely trying to enjoy the end of pregnancy because I keep telling myself that this is probably the last time I will be pregnant. Perhaps I tell myself this as a way to cope, but it does remind me to enjoy all the kicks and baby movements which I consider the best part of being pregnant.

It is kind of nice to think that in a couple months, I can possibly put my childbearing years behind me. For years, I was always thinking about whether or not we should even have kids and put serious thought into it. I even purchased a book which was a collection of essays called "To breed or not to breed". When I finished reading that book, Scott would ask if I found the answer I was looking for and my response was that it always left me more confused. My rational mind always came to the conclusion that giving up all that sleep, freedom, money, etc, seems like a bad idea. No matter how many times I went over this side of the argument in my mind, I felt like I would be missing out on a huge part of life if I decided to not have kids or postpone it and then not be able to. So I usually just say that biology made me do it.

And then after you have 1 kid, every wants to know if you are going to have a second. So for a while I felt like I agonized over the decision of if/when to have a 2nd. Thinking back on when we decided to have a second, it was during a 2 week time period when Elena was sleeping well and I felt well rested. Scott says that he wouldn't rule out a3rd if that is what we both wanted, but lately I am trying to convince myself that 2 is the perfect number.

Deciding on 2 kids has a huge impact on how I see myself as a future athlete (contingent on my hip) since I feel like there is no rush this time around to get back into it. After Elena was born, I was in such a hurry to take triathlon seriously and get fast because I felt that if I have a second kid, that doesn't give you a lot of time before you take a year or more off again. But now I feel like my timeline for my goals is endless and that part is definitely exciting.

seattle and 3rd trimester

2010-09-19T11:03:00.000-07:00

We recently arrived back from our week long trip to Seattle. Scott and I were definitely nervous about how the east coast-to-west coast flight would go so we were prepared. We hit the Dollar Tree before our trip and bought lots of silly toys for entertainment. We also downloaded some movies on Scott's phone and bought fun snacks. This was also going to be Elena's first flight in her own seat and I was honestly looking forward to it. For one, we would have the entire row to ourselves and having her restrained in her own seat would eliminate the wrestling match that normally occurs when she sat in our laps. We thought it might be helpful to have more than just the lap belt to restrain her, so at first we considered bringing her carseat on board... but then we envisioned her kicking the seat in front of her non-stop. Scott was nice enough to do a little research on this and found an FAA approved restraint called CARES. We used it and were happy that we had it. The trip to his parents house was 14.5 hrs door-to-door so it was a pretty long day.

Elena had a blast and some of the highlights for her were holding her very first snake that Scott caught, chasing chickens and picking them up all by herself, fishing, and visiting the Olympic Game Farm.

I have also entered the 3rd trimester and can't believe that tomorrow I will be 29 weeks which is only 10 wks until my c-section (assuming I don't go into labor on my own before then). Once I started feeling OK, this pregnancy has really flown by.

Progress and comparison photo

2010-08-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to taking a preggo picture in the exact same clothes at the exact same week.

24 wks with Elena

24 wks with Baby #2
I feel pretty energetic and am able to still keep up with Elena which is no easy task. She pretty much refuses to sit in the jogging stroller now for walks, so we do a mile together around the neighborhood (where she can be independent and lead the way) and yesterday she ran pretty much the entire time. The only instance where she walked was when I made her; we were going up a steep hill and it was too hard for me to run up it. That girl has some crazy endurance.

Progress
I have also finished a couple projects which is always nice since then I feel like I actually accomplished something. Here is Elena's finished playroom .

And here is the nursery for baby #2. Being inherently lazy and cheap, I used the same paint that I used for Elena's room since I had a lot left over. Blue is very unconventional for a girls room, but I like that. We will put white letters for the name above the crib. Too bad we don't even have one name on our list right now.

Here is the dresser that our neighbors considered garbage. I think it came out great after painting it white and putting on new hardware.
And here is the glider that was also on the side of the road. Scott painted it white for me and now I am in the process of making cushions. I finished the ottoman, but now I actually have to get out my sewing machine to make the cushions.
Elena has also made progress with her big girl bed transition. She falls asleep really well for her naps and at night and doesn't protest one bit. We don't even have to lock the door anymore. I think she understands the routine and has adjusted well to it. The only remaining issue is waking up at 5am. I am kind of at a loss of what to do with a 2 yr old at that hour.

My hip is also cooperating enough so that I can go to the gym and use the elliptical and lift weights. I have even been getting on the Computrainer every so often. Perhaps there is hope that I will be able to race again after pregnancy. I have been giving that topic a lot of thought lately, but that will be another blog post.

Big girl bed transition

2010-08-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

A week and a half ago we decided to be brave and switch Elena from her crib to a big girl bed. If it wasn't for baby #2 coming in about 16 weeks, there is no way we would do this right now. Elena goes through phases with sleeping well, and for about 2-3 wks she was doing awesome and life seemed so easy. She would go to bed at 8pm and then wake up around 7:30am. There was even one morning when she slept until 8:30am. I think Elena has slept that late about twice in her life. And she was also napping very well and would usually nap from about 1-3pm. I was feeling so well rested and was super productive during her nap times. I felt really lucky.

We consulted lots of other parents about the switch and what sort of things worked for them. We heard from a couple people that switching the locks around to confine the child in their room is often the only thing that works or put a baby gate on the room. Since Elena can climb over most baby gates, we figured that switching the lock around is our only hope considering the disaster of a time we had when we tried to convert Elena's crib into a toddler bed about 4 months ago. We used the Super Nanny back to bed technique and that failed miserably since would just hop out of her bed open the door over and over and over again. We put her back into bed at least 100 times and I am not exaggerating. We did the technique for over 2 hours and she was getting out of bed about every minute despite being exhausted. Scott finally said this is ridiculous, and laid down next to her until fell asleep around 11pm. So we learned our lesson that night and put her crib back together the next day.

I can't say that I like the idea of switching the locks around, but it has worked for us and I unlock it right after she falls asleep. The first few days were rough since she refused to nap.

After Elena's first failed nap attempt, she wasn't too happy about the idea of a big girl bed so we told her the dogs can get in and that made her happy again!

On the 4th day of no nap, she finally gave in and fell asleep while shopping at BJs (which is just like Costco in case you haven't heard of that store). Falling asleep while shopping was a first and lots of other customers commented on it. I was worried that they would think I drugged her so that I could shop in peace.

She was pretty good about going to bed the first 2 nights and I stayed with her until she fell asleep. But that didn't work the following nights since she was on to the fact that I left. It was hard to hear her protesting at the door and screaming "Mommy, I want you to sleep in my bed." But she only cried for about 30 minutes and then gave up and went into her bed, put her head on the pillow, pulled up the covers and went to sleep. Having her fall asleep on her own that night was a victorious feeling.

Since she messed up her nap schedule for so many days, I think she is pretty overtired. And an overtired Elena means she wakes up really early. It is cute that she can just climb into our bed and cuddle up with us and tell us things like "Mommy, I love you. Daddy, I love you, too. Daddy, do you have to go to work today?" She usually comes in at 4:45am or 5ish, which wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that she won't go back to sleep. One night she even came in at 2am, but luckily she fell right back asleep.

Thrifty or trash collector?

2010-07-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

For certain things in life, Scott and I are both super cheap. But for other things, we have no problem dishing out the cash. In a way, it is almost easier for me to buy the big purchases that cost thousands of dollars when compared to lots of little hundred dollar items. We are both really good at saving and I often feel that it is because we try to avoid a lot of smaller purchases. If you can avoid some of those silly small purchases, then you can reward yourself with some really fun expensive toys. Because of my thriftiness in certain areas of my life, some things definitely suffer though, like my wardrobe.

Lately my issue has been figuring out how to get around spending a lot of money on a nursery. We are planning on getting Elena into a big girl bed soon so we can use the crib. But that still left us with needing a dresser to use as a changing table and then I wanted a glider. I didn't buy a glider when Elena was a baby and really regretted it.

My solution has been to collect my neighbors garbage. Now I guess I could try to say I am being 'green' by freecycling, but the real reason is because I am cheap.

Exhibit A: I found this ugly dresser (just ignore the lumber sitting on top of it) out by the trash right across the street. We are going to paint it white and put on some new hardware.

Exhibit B: Elena and I found this glider and ottoman out by the trash on our neighborhood walk. This is a project that has me worried, though. The springs in the seat were broken and I don't if and how I could repair them. I was thinking of putting a piece of wood in place of the springs, but not sure if that would be comfortable enough. And then there is the issue of needing to make cushions out of foam and sew covers on them. My sewing skills are a disaster despite owning a sewing machine.
Exhibit C: These are twin bed-frames that came from our attic. I guess the previous homeowners decided to just leave them behind? We painted one set white to match Elena's room. Now we just need a mattress for her and she will be all set.

We have also been taking Elena fishing and she loves the worms. I often think she can be a bit tomboyish, but the other day there were glimmers of her girliness in there. She got a package of clothes from my mom and was so excited she had to try them all on immediately. As she put on each outfit, she would do a lap around the house screaming "I so pretty with my new clothes!!!!"
And Elena has decided on the name "Coonga" for her baby sister. Here she is pointing to where Coonga lives.

It's a Girl!!!!

2010-07-21T10:44:00.000-07:00

We found out on Monday that we are having a girl. When we told Elena, she was so excited that she jumped up and down and gave me a big hug. It was adorable and a memory that I will never forget. Everything looked great with the baby so that was nice to learn. And now that we know it is a girl, we need to get serious on picking a name. It took us forever to choose a name for Elena, so we better start thinking about it soon.

Here is a pic of me at 20 weeks. Only 19 more to go!

I have gained about 18 lbs and my weight is exactly where it was when I was 20 wks pregnant with Elena. Perhaps that is indicative that I will again weigh close to 200 lbs by the end of the pregnancy? I guess we will wait and see. I am not too stressed about it because I know I am eating healthy and am somewhat active. Plus, I lost it all last time so I don't see why I wouldn't lose it again.

I decided a couple days ago to make Elena's playroom more fun and to create a rainforest. Here is one corner that I have worked on. I will post pics when it is completely finished.

Boy or Girl? Cancer or No Cancer?

2010-07-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

So the countdown is on until we find out if we are having a girl or a boy. We have our 20 wk anatomy ultrasound on July 19th so only 10 days. I am so excited and can't wait. I feel like once we know if it is a boy or girl I will actually put some thought into names and how to decorate the nursery. We love to ask Elena if she is going to have a brother or sister and 99% of the time she says brother. That would be pretty funny if she is right. I really don't have a feeling one way or another, but if I was to make a guess I would say girl. But most likely I am wrong since I was convinced Elena would be a boy. So clearly I have no idea and Scott and I really have no preference. Elena has already started a list of names for us: if it is a girl she suggested Rae and if it is a boy she told us Big Monkey.

That same week is when Scott will have his thyroid scans to see if his cancer has returned. One good thing is that he won't have to stop his Synthroid and again experience what it is like to live without thyroid hormone. This time he gets a couple injections of Thyrogen and has some scans on consecutive days. If they detect any thyroid cancer, he will have to take the radioactive iodine again and we will have to repeat the isolation procedure so that Elena and my pregnant self can avoid any radiation that he is emitting. Hopefully the scans will be clear since we want to take Elena to Seattle to visit her grandparents and we really haven't been able to make any plans until we know what is going on with Scott and any potential treatment.

Recently, Scott and I saw Roger Ebert (the film critic) on TV and learned that he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and then later had his lower jaw removed and no longer can use his voice. I was a bit shocked to see that those types of complications can occur with thyroid cancer so that was a bit scary to see just months before Scott's scans. In reading about his surgeries online, I did come across a really great quote from Ebert (and I am not really a quote person) that I will share:

“I believe that if, at the end of it all according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances…we must try. I didn’t always know this and I am happy that I lived long enough to find it out.”

And about the way he looks now after his surgeries took his lower jaw and voice: ”This is the way I look and my life is happy and productive…nobody looks perfect…we have to find peace with the way we look and get on with life.”

I love antibiotics

2010-07-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

There was about 2 weeks when our house felt like an infirmary. After returning from Maine, Elena was sick for a week with a cough/cold and then had a bad fever and vomiting for about 24 hrs. Then the following week I started coughing and then had the worst sinus pressure ever in my head with horrible ear pain. Normally when I have a cold, I just turn to the Nyquil to knock me out so I can sleep. But being pregnant, this wasn't an option. For about 3 nights straight, I hardly slept because my ears were causing me so much pain. I took Tylenol and that helped some, but I got to the point where I needed to go to a doctor. So I went to an urgent care because I wanted to be seen ASAP and got some amoxacillan. After taking that first dose, my ears started to feel better within 5 hours and I was finally able to sleep that night. I have been on the antibiotics 6 days and I feel amazingly better. It is nice to have energy again and feel motivated to do something.

And now for some random updates:
Everyone's comments on preschool were really helpful, thanks! I think that I am just going to wait to send Elena when she is 3. We are having a lot of fun together right now and I really enjoy the activities that we get to do together during the week. She seems happy and I am happy, so I guess there isn't any reason to start preschool right now.

One of our dogs, Snoopy (who is everyone's favorite) is going to have surgery on the 9th to remove a potentially cancerous lump in his leg. Poor guy, we are hoping it is nothing, but are prepared for the worst.

Elena has been taking a gymnastics class at the YMCA. It is mostly free play on toddler sized gymnastics equipment, so there isn't too much structure too the class. Elena loves is and she usually cries when we have to leave because she is having so much fun. I have also noticed that Elena isn't really into circle time at the beginning and end of the class. Even though Elena is normally well mannered and listens, she wants nothing to do with sitting still in a circle. She is only 2.5 yrs, so perhaps in due time she will learn to sit still.

As I was standing in line at Walmart today, I fell for the last minute purchase in the check out aisle and bought one of those "as seen on TV" items...the PedEgg. Usually those televised items are junk, so I reluctantly spent $9 on the Ped Egg (but my feet need major help so it was a calculated risk my cheap self decided to take). But after using it this afternoon, I decided that it was definitely worth the money. I first used the metal cheese grater looking thing and then the emery board.. My feet are amazingly smooth now and it hardly took any time (and now I want some cash for endorsing this item for free!).

It is nice to find a product that made my feet smooth enough so that it felt like I had a professional pedicure. I have gone for 2 pedicures in my life, but after watching a documentary about pedicure infections, I will never get a salon pedicure again. This is what could happen, if they don't properly clean their equipment.

When do kids normally start preschool?

2010-06-22T17:20:00.000-07:00

A friend asked me recently if Elena was going to start preschool this Fall, and I told her that I don't know yet. Elena would be in a 2 yr old preschool program since her birthday isn't until January. This made me realize that she won't be starting kindergarten until she is 5 and then turn 6 in January. This would make her one of the older kids in her class, which is the exact opposite of my experience since I had an October birthday. I was always the youngest kid in my class and started college at 17. When I started working as a nurse at UNC, I was often be asked by patients if I was old enough to be a nurse since I was only 21.

So back to my point about preschool, I looked at what my area offers and it is either daycare or a church run preschool program. We are not religious and don't attend church, so I am not sure what the church run program would be like. And at 2 yrs old, beyond socialization I am not sure else goes on at preschool? Elena does have the opportunity to play with other kids and spend time with other childcare providers at the YMCA, so I feel as if she does get socialization with her peers. And we also try to attend playgroups at a MOMs club I recently joined. So at this point, I am leaning towards waiting another year and send her to preschool for 2 yrs prior to starting Kindergarten. I would be curious what others think about this.

Eating healthy

2010-06-17T09:46:00.000-07:00

The nausea is finally gone and I feel human now at 15 weeks pregnant. The best part is that I have been able to go grocery shopping at Wegman's again. For some reason, when I first became really nauseous I went shopping there and then couldn't go back without wanting to throw up. I am sick of eating crap and not enough fruits and veggies so I went totally nuts in the produce dept earlier this week. I also planned out a bunch of meals and even tried some new ones that I found at allrecipes.com. My favorite part about this website is that you can select a recipe and have the ingredients added to your shopping list (that you can later edit and print). I have also started to buy organic since all those articles about pesticides absorbed into the fruits and veggies has me really freaked out.

Normally I am pretty chill and try not to freak out about things I hear on the news, but Elena is super active and it has me worried about the link between pesticides and ADHD. Elena is the kind of child that when she gets tired she goes into overdrive and will do everything she can to prevent falling asleep (which includes pulling out her eyelashes and slapping herself on the face?!) We went to a wedding a couple weeks ago and since it was at 5pm she was so tired and was acting like a maniac just running around non-stop. The entire experience was really stressful since there were lots of dangers like an open swimming pool with no fence, a large river, and candles on the grass with open flames. We did find one productive activity for Elena's crazy energy, and that was dancing. She was having a blast on the dance floor. We did take some pics since this was Elena's first wedding.

This is how Elena smiles

Finding a dress to wear at 12 wks was a challenge since maternity clothes are too big. So I stuffed myself into a dress that I have previously worn to about 4 weddings.
We also spent a week in Biddeford, Maine since Scott attended a conference for work. Elena and I hung out at the beach and my parents came up for a few days. It was fun, but tiring since Elena doesn't sleep well away from home and Scott didn't get home till midnight each night.

Learning to throw rocks
Elena was obsessed with the beach. Her favorite activity was chasing seagulls.
And in other random news, I have been thinking about becoming a personal trainer. I have been reading up on it and will start studying for the certification exam (but probably won't take that for quite some time). In the mean time, though, I will learn a lot that will help get me back into decent shape after the baby is born.

Belly and baby pic

2010-05-25T10:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a pic of me from last week, 11 weeks pregnant.

And here is an ultrasound pic from yesterday, 12 weeks. It is so amazing to see this little person in there jumping, flipping, kicking, and not being able to feel it at all.
I am still nauseous and am patiently waiting for it to magically disappear. My yoga teacher told me last week that she was nauseous for 5 months with her second pregnancy. Great, that was exactly what I wanted to hear. Despite feeling pretty lousy, the most annoying thing about being nauseous is not being able to make the best food choices. Sometimes the only food that will make me feel better is grease. For a while there I was obsessed with chicken tenders and honey mustard sauce. I have totally indulged in whatever I am craving since even if it makes me feel better for 5 minutes, it is so worth it. I have definitely gained some weight and have gained about 6-7 pounds. Last pregnancy at this time I had gained about 11-12 pounds, but my starting weight was less. Last time around I knew that no matter how much weight I gain, as soon as I start training again it will disappear and it did 5 months later. This time around I am a little worried that my hip won't cooperate and it won't be as easy to lose weight.

I have been purposely avoiding posting about my hip because I hate talking about it, but in general it has been doing a bit better. About 4 weeks again I went to the gym and had one-sided low back pain while I was on the elliptical and that was so depressing considering all of my rest. I continued trying various stretches and range of motion exercises and did find that hip circles seemed to help some so I diligently did hip circles every day. I went back to the gym a week later and the elliptical didn't bother my back anymore. So hopefully I have 'unstuck' something and it will continue to work OK.

Nausea...you have overstayed your welcome

2010-05-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

When I was pregnant with Elena, I remember the nausea disappearing right at 11 wks. I am now 11wks and 2 days and the nausea is still hanging around. Hopefully it will be gone for good any day now. Last night was especially bad since I was so nauseous I couldn't even sleep. I definitely don't want to come across as complaining, because not having nausea 24/7 is a major improvement from before so I am grateful to have hours here and there where I feel OK. One thing that has improved is the fatigue. I no longer nap during the day and actually have felt energized enough to start doing stuff around the house again. For example, I finished the trim work in our upstairs hallway.

Here is a pic of our completed hallway transformation. I still need to hang a few pictures, but I am pleased with how it came out. I don't have a before pic, but imagine outdated lighting and dingy striped wallpaper on the bottom with wallpaper on top that was painted over with a cream color.
This morning Elena went for her very first hair cut. Her hair is so snarly all the time, even if we condition it, so we decided that some of it had to go. She did great and sat still in the chair despite looking terrified.

Broad St 10 miler and Diaper Dash

2010-05-04T08:03:00.001-07:00

On Sunday, Elena, Scott, and I ventured down to Philly for the Broad St 10 miler and Elena's very first diaper dash. Since it is a point to point course, we needed to get there early for Scott to take the subway to the start so we had to wake Elena up at 5:30. She is an early bird and is often awake between 6-6:30am, so it wasn't even that early for her. She was cute since when I brought her downstairs and she saw Scott eating breakfast, she pumped her fist in the air and said "Race Day!". She was really excited.

Scott took the subway to the start at about 6:45am so Elena and I had about 2.5 hrs to spend in the Naval Yard until we would start to see any finishers. Luckily, there is tons of stuff to keep the kids entertained. For example, lots of big ships to see and low flying airplanes since we were close to the airport.
A petting zoo
Big fuzzy creatures and I can only imagine how hot the guy or girl inside of this was.
And of course, the Diaper Dash. Elena was really excited about this event which was good because I didn't want her doing it unless she really wanted to.

Elena's Race Report
Waiting in line to start.
I made the mistake of wanting to take a video of her running towards me. So just as her heat was to start, I gave her some instructions to stand right here until they tell you Ready, Set, Go and then run to Mommy. So I left her standing there and sprinted down the side of the field as fast as I could. I got down to the end only to turn around and see little Elena wandering around the middle of the field. Poor girl was probably really confused as to why Mommy ran away from her, especially since she is never out of my sight in public. So I yell down the field and say get back in line, but they are already announcing Ready, Set, Go so one of the race coordinators brings her to the side. So I go back and have her run with the 4 year olds, since the 2-3 yr old race was finished. This time I learned my lesson and stayed with her until the start. Also, if you watch the video, I want to mention that I am NOT the parent that is yelling "Keep Running!!!"

After she finished, she got her very own medal.

Scott's Race
It was insanely hot for this time of year so Scott quickly figured out at mile 3, when he started to melt, that it was no day for a PR (his old time on this course was 61:50) and that he would just take it easy and have fun. His time was 67 minutes and after finishing Scott thought that there must be something seriously wrong with him. He had the chest pain again while racing so he decided to finally, after 6 yrs of this, to get a cardiology work-up to make sure that the chest pain isn't cardiac in origin. On the ride home Scott and I had all sorts of discussion that perhaps having his thyroid removed and then taking synthetic hormone could be an issue about returning to his former athletic self. Scott was ready to just give up on training, but once he started looking at other athletes results, he figured out that the heat accounted for a lot of slow times.

Gardening

2010-04-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

Elena and I are working on a small garden this year and this morning we planted strawberries, zucchini, and cucumbers. I let her water the plants, since she thinks using the hose is amazing, and she made a huge mud puddle that she just had to get in. So she took off her shoes and socks and jumped in and sunk up to her knees and stomped around in it like a maniac. She loved it and didn't want to get out. Her other favorite thing to do when gardening is to find worms. I feel bad for them because she often pulls them apart and then declares that she made a Mama and Baby worm.
This weekend is the Broad St 10 miler which is Scott's A race. He is hoping to break 60min which will be a 3 min PR (I think?) from last year. They also have a diaper dash which I am sure that Elena will want to get involved in.

Revolutionary Run, heart beat, anaphylaxis

2010-04-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a long time because I have been sleeping during Elena's nap time. The 1st trimester is exhausting and being able to sleep for 1-2 hrs during the day really helps me keep up with Elena for the rest of the day.

Here are a few updates:

Revolutionary Run
Last Saturday, Scott raced a hilly 5 mile course and I walked 3 miles. They even gave the walkers bib numbers so it was mildly exciting to pin a number to my shirt. I did the walk with Ruth, Scott's cousin, and this was the first time she had ever done an organized walk so this was a big goal for her. It was fun to do it together and luckily Elena cooperated and didn't scream "OUT, WALK MYSELF" the entire time. I have discovered the beauty of the bribe and Elena will do just about anything for a lollipop, so she was quite well behaved.

Scott had a great time (only about 50sec off his goal time) and finished 4th in his age group with a stacked field of some talented runners. He didn't have his best race due to some of his mysterious chest pain and also some nutrition errors (i.e. forgot to eat breakfast and only drank coffee and nothing else all morning).

Baby
Here is a pic from this morning's ultrasound. Everything looks good and it was so exciting to see the heartbeat. Things are a bit easier this pregnancy since I am home and can nap, plus I am only mildly nauseous about 70% of the time. This is a massive improvement from when I was pregnant with Elena and had horrible nausea 24/7.

Peanut allergy
Poor Scott had an anaphylactic reaction yesterday at work since there was some cross contamination of peanut butter into his lunch. The deli had a special of PB&Jelly sandwich and we assume that they used the same peanut butter contaminated knife to cut his food. His face swelled so badly that he couldn't even see, but luckily he didn't have any respiratory issues so Benadryl fixed him. I am just blown away that this is Scott's 5th anaphylactic reaction in about 6 years (2 required trips to the ER) and he is an adult who is well aware of his allergy. I just hope that Elena grows out of her nut allergy, because Scott has me worried enough about his. I can't imagine what it will be like once Elena gets older.

Teeny, tiny baby hiding in Mommy

2010-04-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

I had a very pleasant surprise last week and had a positive pregnancy test. I didn't expect it to work so much faster than when we tried for Elena, but I figured I was due a little luck considering my year long hip injury. Scott and I went for an OB visit on Friday to meet with the Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor and they even did an ultrasound. Since I was only 5 wks and 4 days on the day of the ultrasound, there really wasn't much to see but it was still exciting.

While we were in CT, we told my family and then we told Scott's parents via Skype. Elena actually broke the news to them. We put her up to this and she took her job very seriously. The first thing she said when the video started was "Teeny, tiny baby hiding in Mommy!". She said it about 3 times and then Scott's parents figured out what was going on. It was so cute.

I am 6 weeks today and besides being a little tired, I feel pretty good. No nausea yet which I am thankful for. So no racing for me in 2010, but my hip wasn't cooperating anyways so I am happy how things have worked out so far.

Kissing the Easter Bunny

2010-04-06T06:48:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do something speical for Easter so I found an orchard that had hayrides to Bunnyland. Elena was super excited about seeing the Easter bunny, so much that she wouldn't stop kissing him.

Then Elena started dancing and kept it up for quite some time since she had an audience. I think this is called the stomp dance.

Elena also got to ride a pony. This was her 2nd pony ride since she rode a pony for the first time last summer.
It was a big day for Elena because we even colored Easter eggs when she got up from her nap.
This weekend we are headed to CT and are looking forward to that. It will be nice to see my parents, brother, sister-in-law and 2 nieces.

Scott's comeback and super clapper

2010-03-31T05:30:00.000-07:00

Scott and I have very different personalities when it comes to racing. I LOVE the experience of racing and could care less how prepared I am, how fit, who will be there, or how I might finish. I just love racing for the sake of racing. Scott on the other hand likes to be super fit, have some idea ahead of time how he will finish, and improve his time from his previous performances.

Scott ran track and cross country and high school and then decided when he got to college that he should bulk up and hit the gym. It wasn't until 2005 that Scott decided to take up endurance sports again and once he started, he never stopped. Until his thyroid cancer last summer, he never had any significant time off. For some unknown reason to me, Scott was convinced that by taking months off he would never be able to return to his former athletic self. This totally perplexed me since I have stopped and started running and triathlon countless times and I always come back stronger. But there was no convincing Scott of this and he was a bit nervous about deciding on his first race back.

Last week at the YMCA there was a flyer about an inaugeral 5K that was a mile from our house. It was a super low key event and wasn't even advertised online. I told Scott about it and he liked the idea if this small race.

Here is a summary of his comeback:
1. He ran head to head with another runner the entire time and put a move on in the last mile to seal the deal and take 1st overall
2. Scott won a family membership to our YMCA for a year (this is a $720 value)
3. The course was not certified and was actually 3.75 miles. We figured that Scott ran a 5:33 pace which is consistent with the typical pace that the 2nd place guy runs in 5Ks. This pace would be a PR for Scott so he was psyched.

Elena was there and was so wild running around and refusing to sit in her stroller. It makes me realize that races were a lot easier when she couldn't move and just sat in her stroller for hours on end. She did get the concept of clapping and cheering, though. One lady even came up to us after and thanked her for cheering since it made her smile and run faster.

In home renovation updates, I pulled out the nail gun yesterday while Elena was napping and worked on some trim work. I was really happy with how it came out.

One of our crazier house projects

2010-03-26T05:30:00.000-07:00

I have been lazy and still haven't called any contractors for siding and window quotes. I really need to get on that, but we did decide to level our porch covering in preparation for the new siding.

Exhibit A: Notice how the roof above the front entry is not straight. I am sure that most people could care less about this, and it isn't even obvious at first, but since we are going to get it sided we figured that we might as well fix it.
I am sure that who ever sided our our house could correct this for a price, but Scott was really excited to try this on his own. It was a beautiful day and Elena was napping so we figured we would try it. Scott took a car jack that could hold 4,000 lbs along with a long piece of lumbar (a 2x4 to be exact) and he started jacking up the roof. He lifted it 5 inches before we decided that it was level. I was a bit nervous that the house would start falling apart since there was a lot of creaking.

Exhibit B: Car jack. The reason we own such a serious car jack is because Scott used to change our oil and even the brakes. His parents thought he was nuts for doing the brakes on his own, but we are both still alive so I guess reading online about how to do it worked out OK.
Exhibit C: Final product with a new post. We also bought a new lighting fixture that was on clearance at Home Depot ($18...I was psyched) so I can get rid of the brass one that is currently hanging. Hopefully, Scott will have a chance to work on that this weekend.

I also discovered a new place to get cheaper massages, plus it is closer. There is a massage therapy school that does an hour massage for $35 so I figured that it wouldn't hurt to try it. I am going on Sunday so we will see how that goes.

These pics below are mostly for my Mom. She sent a package of clothes for Elena, but I made the mistake of bringing her to the mailbox right after her nap. She definitely takes after me with respect to being a bit on the grumpy side right after waking up. I told Elena that I was going to take her picture opening her present so we could show it to Grandma. She told me "No picture, Mommy". I guess she was serious because when I got out the camera she was not happy.
Despite being really excited about wearing her new fish shirt and shorts right away, she still did not want the camera out.
Normally she loves the camera, though. Right before her nap I told her to 'strike a pose' and this is what she came up with.

Elena's first brick

2010-03-19T08:28:00.000-07:00

Elena took her tricycle outside on the sidewalk for the first time ever. She doesn't understand the concept of steering, so she didn't get very far.
When she was finished with the bike, she got off and started running.
The weather has been in the 70s so Elena and I have been spending all day outside. Yesterday she decided that it was warm enough out to take off her shoes, socks, and shirt. She loves running around outside barefoot and shirtless. I spent a lot of time shoveling and weeding and my hip was OK. Not great, but not too bad. I haven't been able to train this week, but hopefully it will feel better soon so I can enjoy training in this weather.

We are getting ready for a major house project of new siding, replacing old windows, and a new roof. I am working on getting a bunch of quotes since there is no way that Scott and I would consider doing this on our own. I am excited to give our house a bit of a facelift since it looks a bit dated, plus it should become a bit more energy efficient.

FUBAR part 2

2010-03-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

I just came back from dropping Scott's parents at the airport and little Elena was so sad :( She cried for most of the ride home clutching her stuffed sheep that Grammy Gaga (Elena came up with that name) gave her. We had a great visit and Elena just loved spending time with them. I loved having them here since they would get Elena out of bed each morning (even when she decided to wake at 4:45 am...she is an early riser but 5:30 or 6am is a bit more normal). We went to the Philly Zoo one day and also to visit Scott's grandmother and the sheep farm. I also did some crazy house projects and spent about 6 hrs painting on Mon and Tues.

Elena with Grammy Gaga and YeYe PopPop (another name that Elena came up with) at the Zoo.

Elena loved the birds and was not happy about having to leave the aviary house. She was probably afraid we were going to see the tigers and lions again which she was scared off.

Scott and Elena sitting inside a flower
For some reason my hip was not happy with the day trip (which was about 5.5 hrs in the car) and it became all screwed up again. And then doing all of the painting, which historically has caused pain, really made it mad. I am starting to think that hip issues are really hard to fix. Scott has been massaging my hip each night and that really helps, but I feel like there is so much tightness near the joint (maybe my adductors) that won't go away. I just think it is so strange that it wasn't training that bothered my hip, it was a car ride and painting. So annoying since my inner cheapness isn't too happy with all these massages! Perhaps I should have gone to a PT back in December which focused more on massage. I looked for PTs who do A.R.T. in my area and I couldn't find any close enough. I guess another massage makes sense, because I really don't know what else to do.

Elena was being a sweet girl and playing baby dog this morning and giving lots of hugs and kisses to baby Snoopy. That dog puts up with a lot (not sure why his eye is glowing?)

Massage part 2

2010-03-08T17:55:00.000-08:00

I am starting to feel like an athlete again. I have been training for 2 wks and so far my hip is doing great. I even did a decent amount of activity last week (1 hr yoga class, 2.5 hr biking, 1.5 running, 1.5 hr swimming, 1.5 strength training) and my hip just keeps feeling better. I am still super paranoid about having it flare up again so I got a 30 min massage on Saturday since my hip was getting a bit tight. It did feel better after, but nothing as dramatic as last time. It is kind of fun to go from being really out of shape (I have basically done nothing for months) to feeling moderately fit in just a couple weeks. I have even started to think about doing Eagleman which is about 14 weeks away. Good thing I never got around to requesting the refund.

Saturday morning we went to a maple sugar festival and here is a picture of Elena with a bird necklace that she made at the craft station. We had to walk about a half mile to get there and Elena ran the entire way. She just started running and kept going and going.

Scott and I also biked around the neighborhood for about 30 min and pulled Elena in the trailer as a test run to make sure she still liked it. We filled it full of toys and snacks and she did great despite throwing a toy out the side of it once. When we pulled into the driveway of our house, Elena immediately said "more please" and when we told her the ride was over she threw a tantrum and got so mad when I got her out. Secretly I was pretty happy that she wanted to keep riding. I can't wait to go out on some longer rides as a family.

First visit to a massage therapist

2010-02-26T11:39:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I scheduled an hour massage and found it to be a wonderful experience. I never had a massage before so I had no idea what to expect. In a nutshell, I thought it was one of the most indulgent experiences of my life. The room was so relaxing and my therapist really listened to my issues and thought it would be a good idea to work on my entire body and see what she found. The room was dark and had candles and the massage table even had an electric blanket in it for a little bit of warmth. While I was getting the massage, I was thinking about a couple things: 1) Why have I waited until I was 31 yrs old to get a massage? (the answer to this is most likely cause I am too cheap!) It was awesome and could become addicting 2) Even if this doesn't help my hip one bit, it was still worth every penny. The therapist I saw had 6 yrs of experience and they even see IM triathletes so I felt like she must know what she is doing. And she really did! She found that my left hip flexor was tight and my left glute medius and glute minimus were essentially stuck against the iliac crest and had no movement. She really dug around in there to loosen them up and I even had a big bruise and soreness after.

I definitely got some immediate relief from the massage and felt like my body was back to normal. The pain over my iliac crest completely disappeared and all that I was left with was some left low back pain along my sacrum. Over the past couple days I have worked on my left IT band with the foam roller and it has pretty much eliminated that pain. I am wondering if I just had a really bad case of IT band syndrome in my hip? I have been training some (about 5 hrs in the last 6 days) and my hip has not gotten worse. I have been massaging it like crazy and foam rolling and so far so good. I finally feel like I have made some progress and I know that if it bothers me again I could probably go back and get another massage. I have been nervous to blog about my hip and the massage because I am afraid of jinxing myself. There have been countless blog posts saying that I am getting better only to have a flare-up. Hopefully things will continue to improve.

I have been assured this is not normal

2010-02-17T17:02:00.001-08:00

I am a little late to comment on our blizzard, but all 40+ inches are still on the ground so I feel entitled to mention it. February marks our 1 yr anniversary of living in PA and despite the snow, I still like living here. I have been told that this area doesn't normally get this much snow, so that is reassuring.

In case you can't tell what this pic is showing, that is our mailbox

And this was our backyard during the blizzard
February also marks the 1 yr anniversary of documenting in my training log 'a twinge in my left hip'. I won't even get into what it is like to still feel injured and just not right a year later, but I am sure at some point I will feel normal. My latest complaint is tightness along the right side of my spine and in my shoulder. It is just so odd to have different complaints of pain on different days. I am thinking of going to a massage therapist to see if they have any ideas.

Today I took Elena swimming and she was swimming by herself (kind of) while wearing a bubble. She would position herself vertically and kick (kind of like treading water), but she motored around the pool quite well. Scott and I are taking bets on how long it will be before she can beat us at 100 meters.

Sedentary, snow, cake, no more bah-bah

2010-02-08T11:04:00.000-08:00

A couple months ago I received some advice about my hip which was "Rest and when it starts to feel better, keep resting". I decided that I should finally follow this advice because in the past, the minute my hip felt even remotely better I would be running, swimming, or biking because I mentally needed to do that but a week later it was messed up again. Since this injury is so slow to heal, or perhaps I really am FUBAR, I have decided to try to seriously rest to the point that my activity would be described as extremely sedentary. I am just so sick and tired of being hopeful, even for a day, that my hip is better and that I could actually feel like an athlete again. My latest attempt to fix my hip was a yoga class and I will say I felt great after each session, but in the long run I just don't think all of the stretching was so great for my hip. I am sure a big part of the problem is that I was continuing to stretch excessively at home.

So serious rest is what I am going to try and I am on day 5 (my goal is 30 days). The last few days of serious rest has been easy since I was very, very sick Saturday afternoon with possible food poisoning. All I can say is that I was extremely grateful that Scott was home since I wouldn't have been able to care for Elena considering I had a fever and was throwing up for 6 hrs straight. I was so pale at one point with sunken eyes that Scott was convinced I was dying. I am feeling slightly better, but I really can't look at food and nothing is very appetizing.

This weekend also brought 20 inches of snow. While I love playing in the snow with Elena and our dogs, this was a bit too much. Elena couldn't even walk in it and it was actually higher than the dogs.

There is actually a dog sniffing around in that snow.
I have also been meaning to post a pic of my first attempt of baking a cake from scratch and then decorating it. I have always been inspired by my friend Sarena's cakes which are just amazing, so I thought it would be fun to attempt a 2 tier Elmo themed cake for Elena's party. It was a lot of work and pretty time consuming, but it tasted great (butter cake, raspberry filling, butter cream icing). I was hoping to make the frosting more red, but when I started to add the food coloring I was a bit bothered by how much was required to make a vibrant red, so I just left it as pink.

I also wanted to mention that Elena doesn't use her pacifier anymore and it was surprisingly easy. We just stopped buying new ones, and then slowly over time we lost them or they had to thrown away and then we were left with none. She was a bit concerned at first, but we explained that they are all gone and she seemed fine with this explanation and she went to bed without any issue.

Elena is into coloring her toe nails. I would like to point out that I did not teach her this, this was all Scott. What a good Dad :)

Birthday Girl

2010-01-26T09:21:00.000-08:00

Today Elena turns 2! I am 100% confident that I got her age correct, unlike my husband who I thought turned 31 when in actuality he turned 32. Perhaps I just think in terms of age groups and I knew for sure that he was 30-34, I just did not take the time to do the math to figure out his exact age.

Here is a pic of the birthday girl. I have yet to bring her for a real haircut, I think it is because I don't feel like spending the money on it plus I don't know if she will sit still for even a second. We just trim her bangs on our own, but I am thinking that I need to trim up the bottom.

It is hard to believe that she still looked like a baby just a year ago. Here she is on Jan 26, 2009

and here she is only hours old on Jan 26, 2008

I think I am ready for a 2nd baby and I will admit that my feelings on this topic change daily. Enough time has passed since Scott's radioactive iodine that we can consider it. Not that I have much interest in being pregnant, having extreme nausea for 9 weeks, injecting myself with Lovenox twice a day, gaining 60lbs (perhaps I won't repeat seeing the scale hit 200lbs), and then having a c-section, but it is necessary if Scott and I would like another child. I was a bit nervous about finding a new Maternal Fetal Medicine group (these are high-risk OBs) since I didn't want to go into the city for all my visits considering how often I had non-stress tests and growth scans at the end of pregnancy (I think I had about 20 ultrasounds total). I did find an OB that is convenient and they consult with a Maternal Fetal Medicine group that is only about 2 miles from my house. So at this point we are no longer preventing pregnancy (I got my IUD out this morning) and would consider us to be in the not-not-trying category. So we will see how it goes. I am secretly hoping that my hip gets better and I can actually do some triathlons this year so I don't care if it takes months to get pregnant. My hip is definitely feeling better so I have taken it out of the FUBAR category.

I think my hip is FUBAR

2010-01-18T11:03:00.000-08:00

Thanks for everyone's encouragement to try out Masters swimmer. I think I might actually go when my hip isn't so finicky. I never actually made it there due to my hip bothering me the night before, plus Scott didn't get to bed until 2am since he picked his sister up at the airport. I thought I would let him sleep him in, since he rarely does, rather than ask him to watch Elena. So those are my lame excuses as to why I didn't go. But at this point I don't care since I have completely given up on my hip and have come to the conclusion that it is FUBAR (f#&*ed up beyond all repair). It is a lot easier for me to accept this and just get my refund for Eagleman, rather continue to attempt to get back training only to have it flare up over and over again. Maybe I should just get pregnant and really give up?

But besides the hip, things are great. Scott's sister Jessica visited for 11 days and we had a great time. While she was here we celebrated Scott's 31st birthday with a RockBand party for his co-workers. I think everyone had a blast and Elena slept through the craziness so I consider it a success.

Scott and I even attempted to dress like rockstars. All I can say is that it was hard to take this pic without laughing. Scott was much more talented at the serious face and I think he was practicing his blue steel

While Jessica was here we also took a trip to Hughesville to see their Grandmother. Their Aunt and Uncle have a sheep farm and there were about 20 lambs, some of them were just days old. Elena had a blast.

Playing with Monkeys at Grandma's house
Bottle feeding a baby
Kissing the baby sheep

Scared of Masters Swimming

2010-01-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

There is a Masters swim group that meets on Saturdays from 8-9am at one of the YMCAs that I belong to. This group is free so I figured that I need to get my butt there and swim if I ever want to improve. But I will admit that I am scared and mostly because I don't do flip turns; it will be so obvious that I am a triathlete without much swimming ability. I guess I am nervous since I don't know anything about this group and whether or not it is composed of hard core swimmers or a mix of triathletes. I know it will be good for me to go since it is a way to meet new people. I have been swimming a bit so hopefully the workout won't kill me.

Clearly, I am a novice at motherhood

2010-01-03T16:24:00.000-08:00

Elena thinks her name is "YOU" and it is all my fault. You see, every time I would show her a picture of her herself I would say "Look, it's you!". Now for you experienced parents out there, you might already be aware of what I have done wrong, but I didn't see the errors of my way until a few weeks ago.

Here are a couple examples of what is happening:
-I show Elena herself in the mirror and ask who it is, she shouts YOU!

-A funny conversation to have with Elena is to ask, "Are you a boy?", she replies no, "Are you a girl?", she replies no, "Well, then what is Elena?" and her response is YOU.

- And on Christmas day, she looked at this mug which I received as a gift and she started shouting "YOU, YOU, YOU" and madly pointing at it.
Since she does respond to her real name, I am starting wonder if she thinks she has two names? We made attempts to correct this issue, but we aren't having any luck. Oh well, for now we sure are getting some great laughs out of it.

My new foam roller= PVC pipe

2010-01-01T11:05:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged in forever because I was mad at my hip and am on the verge of just giving up on it. I felt 100% back for about 10 days and then it flared up again and PT was actually making it worse those last 2 weeks. The good news is that I have figured out a few tricks to keep my hips aligned and one is to foam roll my left quad (specifically the rectus femoris). Since I am so cheap, I didn't want to buy a new foam roller that would wear out in just a couple months so I read online that a PVC pipe will do the same thing, it is only a couple bucks, and it lasts forever.

We had a great Christmas and Elena totally made our holiday. I just can't get over how cute she is now and the funny things that come out of her mouth.

Here are a few highlights from the past 2 weeks.

Cookie making
Elena took her job very seriously
Unfortunately we forgot to add the baking powder so the cookies tasted like home mad play-doh. They were horrible.

Cross country skiing and Sledding
I hadn't cross country skied in 15 years since there wasn't much opportunity in NC. To be honest, this really screwed my hip up for a couple days. I definitely did some PVC pipe rolling after this.

You might think Elena accidently fell out of the sled; but no, she would launch herself out so that she could devote more time to eating snow.
Holiday work party
The 2nd time that I dressed up all year and I am wearing the same dress ($15 at Target). I hate shopping so I tend to wear the same clothes over and over.

Once Elena noticed we were taking pictures she decided she needed to be in it.
Christmas
We had a great Christmas day and it was wonderful to spend it with family. In the past it would just be Scott and I, so it was fun having a houseful of people. Check out Elena 'smiling' for the camera. It cracks me up every time she does this.
Her smile up close

No more tears

2009-12-17T09:24:00.000-08:00

Elena made it through a visit with Santa this year with no tears! At first she was a bit apprehensive, but once he gave her a baby doll they became best friends.
There was even a Rudolph. I am also posting this pic since I think Scott looks especially handsome :)

This was last year's picture. Still cute, but she clearly wasn't happy.

I also wanted to follow-up on our Bah-Bah addiction post and say there will be no intervention anytime soon. I am sure that when Elena is ready, she will stop using them. Scott's mom loves to share a really cute story about Scott giving up his binky. When Scott was around 3, he was looking at a nativity scene and asked about baby Jesus's binky. Scott's mom explained that baby Jesus doesn't need a binky, he can sleep without one. Scott decided at that moment if baby Jesus doesn't need a binky, then neither do I and he threw it in the garbage. And that was the end of it! He never asked for it again.

I am so not a typical girl

2009-12-14T10:50:00.000-08:00

At times, I feel like such a guy. For example, I had a profound moment and realization that our wedding anniversary is coming up on Christmas Eve. I mentioned this to Scott and he said "Of course I know!"Aren't guys the ones who are supposed to be clueless about these types of things? Scott never forgets dates and each year always makes a point of reminding me of our 'first kiss anniversary'. He basically has license to make up the date since all I know is that it is sometime in the Fall. An even more embarrassing thing to admit is that sometimes I mess up Elena's birthday. I know that it is Jan 26th, but sometimes I think it is on the 28th. And it was only in the past month, after I realized it is consecutive even numbers 2:46, that I could finally remember the time she was born. What kind of mother am I when I forgot my daughters birth date and time?! Perhaps it is genetic since my dad could never remember my birthday or my brother's.

Speaking of Elena, she is at the cutest age ever and her vocab is just exploding. For example, we were leaving the YMCA the other day and she pointed out to me and said in her cute voice 'baby cloud' and 'big dada cloud'. I am not sure why, but that totally melted my heart. I will say that along with all this cuteness comes the terrible twos. We tried eating dinner at Olive Garden over the weekend and we had to leave. She screamed and screamed and refused to get in her highchair. It was so embarrassing that I took Elena out and left Scott behind to pay the bill and get our food to go. While he was sitting there alone, the other customers where coming over to him and patting him on the back since they felt sorry for us, but at the same time thanking him for being reasonable enough to leave! The waiter even asked if this is the first time we took Elena to a restaurant, that is how badly behaved she was. She typically isn't a terror at restaurants and sometimes behaves really well, but for some reason she was not going to eat at Olive Garden under any circumstances.

2010 Race Schedule

2009-12-07T11:29:00.000-08:00

Since my hip has felt great, I thought I would have fun and plan out my racing schedule for next year.

April 25 Upper Main Line YMCA Sprint tri Berwyn, PA
I don't know much about this race except that it is a pool swim which I have never done before.

May 22 Got the Nerve Sprint Triathlon Mt. Gretna, PA
One of my high school friends, Angela, who ran cross country and track with me might do this race. This would be her first triathlon and it would be really fun to see her.

Just for fun, I found an old pic from my high school track days. Angela is 2nd from the right. This is our 4x 800 meter team and we really had fun racing together and even managed to finished 6th at the New England Championships.

June 13 Eagleman Cambridge, MD
This is my A race for the first half of the season and I am really excited since I have wanted to do this race for years. I have heard it is fast and flat which is my type of course and a great chance to attempt my sub-5hr goal. I will even get to meet blog buddies Angela, Beth, and Jen H. After checking over the participant list, I saw some NC triathlon friends (like Amie K).

For the second half of the season, I actually found 3 races which are all at the same venue (Nockamixon State Park). Scott and I both wanted to check out the local PA races and this works out well since the race site is only about 50 minutes away.

July 12 Steelman Open water swim 3 miles, Quakertown, PA I have never swam this far in my life and it will be my first ever open water swim race where I don't have to get out and jump on a bike.

August 9th Steelman Olympic triathlon Quakertown, PA

September 11th QuakerMan half Quakertown, PA
A race for the 2nd half of the season.

Bah-bah addiction

2009-12-04T11:17:00.000-08:00

Elena is REALLY into her pacifier. I really have no problem with her using it at night, but if it was up to her she would use it every second during the day. When I get her out of the crib in the morning, I like to take it out of her mouth (along with any that she has in her hands) and throw it in the crib and hope she doesn't notice. But she is never fooled. If I manage to get her downstairs without them, she usually starts screaming BAH-BAH(that is her word for her pacies), races back up to her room and grabs as many pacies as she can. Then she holds onto those things like her life defends on it. At this point, she seems to find a lot of comfort in them so I let her use them. Her verbal development is going great, so I don't think having a paci in her mouth is slowing her down with that respect. I guess I am wondering at what age is too old to use pacies? She is 22 months right now and I am terrified that she will continue to use pacies forever! I would love to hear what others think about this topic.

Here is a pic of the pacie addict

Yesterday I had my first 'treatment' session of PT and I am totally convinced that I am on the right track. Even though I have attempted to improve flexibility and strength on my own, I wasn't properly targeting what needed work. For example, I think I had a huge breakthrough when the therapist and I found that the specific overly tight and active hip flexor is my rectus femoris. Plus, I am going to have rock solid hips after doing all of my stability and balance exercises and am totally convinced that I will come back better than ever. I am feeling so hopeful that I even sat down and came up with a race schedule for 2010 that I will post soon.

Just for fun, here are a few pics of our newest Rock Band member.

Physical Therapy Eval

2009-12-01T08:32:00.000-08:00

First off, I want to thank those of you (i.e. Julia and Jess) for encouraging me to go to PT. I had to specifically ask my doctor for the referral and his response was "you are super flexible and strong, I am not sure how much they can help you, but I don't have a problem with referring you". I was a bit annoyed at his response, but at least I got my referral so that is all that matters.

I couldn't believe my luck when I found a Physical Therapy group about a half mile from my house with evening hours. When I called yesterday, they even said they could fit me in that evening so I was just thrilled.

I really liked my therapist and she laughed when I told her that I am desperate, you are my only hope...please fix me!!!! My initial evaluation of my strength and flexibility took just about an hour. In general, I am very flexible and the differences between my right and left legs are very subtle. The left leg (the bad one) is more flexible and a bit weaker. There were a couple muscle groups that were tighter on the left side and those included my hip flexors and my adductors. She did notice a very slight rotation to my hips and when I walked there was a very slight drop to my right hip which was barely noticeable (she graded as a 1.5 a scale of 1-10 ). She said over time I have probably compensated due to the pain from the stress fx and burstitis and now I am left with subtle differences that are making it hard for me to get back to 100%. So the plan is to work on a lot of hip stabilization and a bit on flexibility to get my left and right sides balances.

So I am excited that things seem to be going in the right direction. Plus, I have been pushing off the wall while swimming without any issues. This is a big deal for me since pushing off the wall was a major trigger for my hip pain flaring up.

I do want to clarify that even though I mentioned that Kona was on my mind last year, that goal has totally fallen off the radar...at least for this decade anyways. I think my issue with that goal is that it is so out of your control. As an athlete, you can't control who shows up or how many slots they decide to give that year. If at some point I manage to have the race of my life at a Kona qualifier and my lucky stars have aligned for that day, then I will consider taking that slot.

Holiday excitement

2009-11-29T17:12:00.000-08:00

Our Thanksgiving in CT was a lot of fun. It was really nice to celebrate a holiday just like I remembered as a child. Growing up, I had 15 cousins (all pretty close in age) on my dad's side and since everyone lived locally Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings were really fun. Now almost all of the cousins are married with kids, so once again there are lots of little ones running around. I was asked by just about everyone when #2 is coming along. That question is pretty well justified since 2 of my cousins with kids born after Elena are either 9 months pregnant or have newborns. We just made comments that we are 'deferring on round 2' or 'we have had other things going on with moving and Scott's thyroid cancer'. Plus, there really is the issue of waiting for a certain period of time after the radioactive iodine, and that is assuming that the radioactivity won't cause fertility issues. Lately, Elena has been a piece of cake to care for (this translates to me getting a lot of sleep lately) and I have been thinking about #2, but am in no hurry. For some reason, I have noticed a direct correlation to the amount of sleep I get and whether or not I would even consider a second child. Even though life in general is pretty easy with Elena now, I am in no hurry to make things more challenging. I think a big part of being ambivalent about #2 is not wanting to inject myself with needles (anticoagulants into my abdomen) twice a day for almost a year and then have a c-section. And then there is the issue of feeling cheated out of triathlon for 2009; and this was supposed to be my 'big' year. To be totally honest, I was hoping to qualify for Kona at IMCDA if things went well. Writing this goal now seems totally absurd, but it was definitely on my mind earlier in the year.

I did a little research on Physical Therapy in my area and I found a place really close to my house that has evening hours. I am going to call tomorrow and hopefully I can be seen soon. It is a relief to know that nothing is seriously wrong with my hip, but I am hoping that my PT can work some magic and figure out what the heck is wrong with me. My doctor referred me for twice a week for 4 weeks so I am really hoping that I can get this fixed out by the end of 2009.

Attempts at being domestic

2009-11-23T17:44:00.001-08:00

Scott and I hosted some of his family over for an early Thanksgiving. We used celebrate Thanksgiving with just the 2 of us since no family lived close in NC and with all of our dogs traveling was a pain. So we were thrilled to cook a turkey and celebrate with family.

Proof that I cooked

I even took the time to make some nice looking appetizers. I will admit that it probably belongs at a Hawaiian themed party, rather than Thanksgiving though.
I even got out a punch bowl... my mother is reading this and probably wondering what has come over me! She knows I don't like to go out of my way in the kitchen.

Since we cleaned the house for guests, I took a pic of our updated living room.

So that you get the full effect, here is the before from when we were house hunting
After
So we have one Thanksgiving celebration down and then another one with my family in CT. I love turkey and stuffing so I am excited about the good food.

In other news, I decided that maybe 2009 isn't so bad at all. The MR arthrogram showed that I didn't have a labral tear. So at this point, no one has any clue my hip still occasionally gives me pain. Perhaps this is just normal coming back from a stress fracture? Who knows. But I did get a physical therapy referral so I am going to look into that.

Who faints during an eye exam?

2009-11-19T18:37:00.000-08:00

For whatever reason, I am a fainter. If my body doesn't like what is going on, it just shuts down. A fancy term for this is vasovagal syncope, but it really just comes down to my body reacting in an exaggerated way to stimulus.

Here is a list of the times I have fully lost consciousness:
7th grade: teacher yelled at me in the hall. I think she felt pretty bad about this after the fact
11th grade: I thought I wanted to be a vet so I spent some time at a vet's office and fainted during a surgery. I later became a nurse which is rather strange considering this history, but I did fine in the hospital OR
2004- During an eye exam when they put the drops in my eyes and used the blue light that tests for pressure. I remember the technician being so confused as to why the pressure was so low. I ended up falling on the floor in the hospital (I went to the Eye Center at Duke) and then I had to sign a million forms saying that I wouldn't sue them. Apparently falling in a hospital is a big deal.
2007-Fainted at my desk at work after having intense abdominal pain. I really freaked my co-workers out! I was about about 7 weeks pregnant so I had go to the Duke ER to rule out ectopic pregnancy, but luckily everything was fine and we got to see the first pics of Elena that night.
Jan 25, 2008- During the epidural while I was receiving ridiculous amount of Pitocin. The fainting really freaked Scott out since he was standing in front supporting me and then had to use all of his strength to hold me up while I went limp and not move me since the anesthesiologist was working on my back.
Today- I will explain further again

Then there are numerous episodes of near fainting (I turned sheet white, become super dizzy, but new what was going on and there were people around to help)
7 yrs old- My mom would cut my bangs with these super big scissors and that totally freaked me out seeing these scissors move across my forehead
9th grade- during a presentation
12th grade- during a presentation
2003-After my skin cancer was removed on my forehead and I was left with this massive hole. Seeing that and hearing how the surgeon was going to repair it was just too much.

So I guess the point of this list is to support the fact that I really am a fainter. I had the injection of cortisone, lidocaine, and contrast dye into my hip today and had a feeling that this was going to be problematic with my fainting. I warned everyone ahead of time and they said don't worry since you are going to be laying down and strapped to the table. During the actual procedure I was fine and they were constantly checking in to make sure I was ok. They kept me talking about triathlons and marathons and besides feeling a fullness in my hip and needing to limp down the hall to MRI, I felt Ok. While I was in the changing area, I started to feel bad and knew that I would probably faint for whatever reason. I hurriedly put my clothes in the locker and looked around to see if anyone could help me. I didn't see anyone so I decided to sit in the chair. I imagine that the best thing would have been to lay down, but I thought that I would look ridiculous, plus who wants to lay on the hospital floor.

For anyone who has fainted, it is seriously the most confusing feeling when you gain consciousness again. I seriously had no clue where I was, but at the same time everything is so peaceful... and then I look up to see about 10 doctors looking at me and the MRI technician calling my name. Apparently the MRI technician came to get me in the waiting area and found me slumped over and unconscious so he called a Code. How embarrassing! I reassured the doctors over and over again that I am fine and that I didn't hit my head. The nurse from Interventional Radiology who just assisted with the injection came running in and said "don't worry, she is fine, she doesn't like needles...she is a triathlete and marathoner" I think she assumed that being a triathlete made me super tough, not sure why she wanted to add that information, but it was funny to me.

The purpose of the lidocaine was to see if I got immediate relief, basically a diagnostic test to see if the pain is coming from the joint. When I walked out of the hospital an hour post-injection (Scott came to get me, they refused to let me drive myself home) I did notice that my hip felt pretty good and for a short bit of time that the annoying pinching feeling in my hip/low back was gone. But I am reluctant to say that at this point that all of the pain was coming from the joint. In general, it was kind of hard to thoroughly evaluate my pain since my hip joint felt funky in general after the injection and then the fainting incident occurred. The cortisone should take affect over the next few days, so we will see what happens.

The next step and before/after house pics

2009-11-13T09:39:00.000-08:00

Next week I go for yet another MRI. But this time they will inject a contrast dye to get a better look at the labrum and also inject cortisone and lidocaine. If my hip pain is really coming from the socket then the lidocaine and cortisone will make my pain disappear. Also, in rare instances the pain might not return after the cortisone so I am really hoping that I will be one of the lucky few. I also want to thank everyone for your kind comments after my last post. I feel like this blog is such a drag since all I talk about is stupid hip pain.

The house renovations are also going well. Here are a few before and after shots.

Our downstairs bathroom
Before: It in in the midst of being demo'd, but it didn't look much nicer before with the wallpaper and parkay floor that was coming up off the floor due to expansion.

After: we still have do install the baseboards and quarterround, but it is basically done and we are really happy with how it turned it.
Dining Room
Before: This isn't our stuff since I took this pick when we were house hunting

After: We painted, hung a new light fixture, new flooring
Kitchen
Before: taken the day of our house hunting, that is our realtor James Hill and he was awesome. If you live in the area, I would definitely recommend him. Notice the carpet :)
After: I previously posted a pic of the other half of our kitchen and since then we made a few more improvements, such as make new cabinet doors, but I can't take a pic now since my kitchen is a total disaster. That pic will have to wait. For now, you just get a pic of the clean half :)

2009 is not my year

2009-11-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

I just heard back about the results from my MRI and there was good news and bad news.

Good news: My stress fracture and bursitis have healed.

Bad news: They found a hip labral tear which will probably require surgery.

All I can say is that my hip is a total disaster! Time to do a little research on this topic. If anyone has any experience with this diagnosis, please share.

Another MRI

2009-11-06T08:48:00.000-08:00

I went to the Sports Med doc this morning and he said that the first course of action should be a follow-up MRI to see if my femoral stress fx has healed. It is also possible that I am still experiencing bursitis and if that is the case, a little cortisone shot should help. So no more running until we find out what is going on. The problem is that running doesn't hurt ( I just feel crooked), what hurts me most is biking and vacuuming. Hopefully, the MRI, which is scheduled Monday morning, will be normal and then it will just be an issue of physical therapy to correct my biomechanics. I just want to get to the bottom of this since I have experienced this pain since February.

In other medical news, Elena had an allergic reaction to a food last week. She developed a rash on her face (see pic below) and hives on her arm. Luckily, she didn't have any trouble breathing or I would have totally lost it! We called her pediatrician and they told us to give her 1 tsp children's Benadryl (FYI, have this on hand just in case. I made my Aunt run to the store to get it since I didn't have any) and then scheduled an appt for her a few hours later. They told us that if prior to the appt she has any difficulty breathing, she needs to get to an ER ASAP.
The pediatrician referred us for formal allergy testing and we learned this week from the allergist that she is allergic to walnuts (the culprit food that she put in her mouth while we were cooking), peanuts, pecans, and pistachios. So now we have epi-pens for her and new concerns about leaving her at the YMCA childcare. They don't allow peanuts, but do allow all other nuts. So this means that I will keep her in the baby room to reduce her chance of exposure and be super vigilant each time I leave her and let everyone knows she is allergic and has an epi-pen. Scott is also allergic to peanuts and has experienced two anaphylactic events in the past 5 years so it is definitely a bummer to learn this about Elena.

The good medical news is the mysterious chest pain that Scott used to experience while running had disapeared after the removal of this thyroid cancer. We never would have thought that his cancer would have a silver lining.

No go for Elmo

2009-11-02T17:10:00.000-08:00

Since Elena refused to wear her Halloween costume this year, I don't have any cute pics of her dressed up. It seemed like such a waste though to have this Elmo costume sitting around, so we decided to dress up Snoopy. He didn't resist at all, but we didn't think he would since he willingly puts up with a lot! Scott thinks that if you were to crop this photo just right, it looks like Elmo is eating Snoopy.
Last year Elena was very agreeable to wearing a costume and was a ladybug. I don't think I ever posted a pic of her since we were in Wilmington for B2B full. Halloween last year was very busy since we drove to Wilmington that day and basically did all the stuff in 1 day that you take 3 days to do at an official Ironman event.

Here was Elena's costume last year, she had just turned 9 months. Looking through old photos of her to find this picture made me start to wonder what happened to my baby!
I also can't believe that it has been a full year since my last triathlon. My appt at the sports med doctor is this Friday, so we will see how that goes. Last week I was quite certain that my stress fx hadn't healed, but after a week of rest my leg is feeling good again. So maybe it has healed and I am just a biomechanical mess?

Scott and I were talking about goals for 2010 and I decided that mine are:
1) get to a starting line of a triathlon
2) get to the finish line of a triathlon
3) Break 5 hrs in a half (this would be a 22 minute PR, but that won't stop me from trying)

Honestly, if I can accomplish #1 than I am already doing better than 2009.

Taste test

2009-10-26T12:17:00.001-07:00

I sat Elena down with bunch of strawberries and she decided that she should taste each one. We just went shopping at our new Wegmans and it was my first time in one of those stores. My favorite part was the big assortment of sushi; I am nuts for that stuff. I also found sugar snap peas ready-to-eat in little bags and that is definitely one of my favorite snacks.

I have also decided that I really need to see someone about my hip. It went back to being 'crooked' and I can't fix it no matter what I do. My range of motion in my shoulder is not right, but I am at a loss how I can fix that. Having that 1 day of feeling normal was so exciting and such a relief, so now to have it feeling screwed up again was really depressing.

At this point I am considering going back to the sports med doc and requesting a second MRI just to confirm that my stress fracture had healed. Perhaps I am total denial that I am still dealing with that injury. If I find out that I need to take more rest I will be pretty upset. But if I know for certain that I am out of the woods with that, then I think I would be in a better position mentally to take care of my postural issues with PT/chiro/massage.

Alright, I am going to make a follow-up appt now before I change my mind.

I know this sounds nuts, but.....

2009-10-23T09:38:00.000-07:00

I think that I have finally unraveled a key to the hip pain. Many clues were put in place over last weekend. Even though my hip discomfort is minimal now after months of doing nothing, I have continued to feel 'crooked' and just 'not right' while I run.

Here are the clues:
1) Saturday: I asked Scott to check my form on the treadmill. He said that from the waist down I look good, but he said that my right elbow and shoulder just look screwy with severe cross over. He asked me to change my elbow to 90 degrees to match what my left was doing. Within seconds that adjusting my right arm, it just contracted back to its horrible cross over and started flapping like a chicken wing. For the life of me, I couldn't get my arm to swing back.
2) Sunday: We went for a family bike ride and pulled Elena in the trailer. About 20 minutes in, my back muscle on the right side (what I believe to be my erector spinae) was killing me. I used to have this pain months ago on the tri bike along with my hip pain. I also felt like my hips were crooked and 'looking to the right' so that my left knee would be in front of my right knee. We rode for 50min and I couldn't wait for the ride to be over. The next morning I even work up with some significant pain.
3) Monday: I went swimming and have made a point to switch to bilateral breathing. I used to always breath to my right and figured that post-injury, I need to do everything balanced. I notice that I am not able to full extend my right arm like I can with my left.

So this gets me thinking that maybe there is something wrong with my right shoulder/back? This seems nuts since I have had left hip pain, but something is clearly making me crooked and all along I have felt like the bursitis and stress fracture were just symptoms of an underlying problem with my posture.

So I stretch my lats, shoulders, triceps, pecs...any thing I can think of. My test to see if anything worked was to hold my right arm like I was running with a 90 degree elbow and see if I can bring it straight back. The stretching doesn't help me with my range of motion so I decide to massage everything and try to 'release' something. So I dig around in my shoulder, right near my arm pit and it hurts which I think is good. I massage it for a a few minutes and VOILA! My arm is now fixed and it swings back with ease. Fixing my arm IMMEDIATELY fixed the range of motion in my hips and for the first time in 9 months, I was walking normal.

So I jump on the treadmill to run and the results are amazing! I finally feel like I am back to running normal with straight hips and it just feels right.

The real test was the following day when Elena and I went biking. The bike has been the worst for my hip pain and I imagine it is because I am fixed in place and my body really can't compensate for being crooked. The weather was amazing and my hips felt even more amazing and I had ZERO back pain. We road for an hour and it felt so good. Here is a pic of the trail.
The only problem is that the ride didn't end so well. I forgot to put my front wheel in the car and left it laying against the passenger side and drove off. It didn't fair so well :( The rim is Ok, but I destroyed the spokes and the hub. I am a bit annoyed at myself since I discovered that this was an expensive wheel...$250 to be exact which is a quarter the price of my entire bike. Oops! Maybe a bike shop can put a new hub and re-spoke it.

Embarrassingly, this isn't the first time this has happened. About 7 yrs ago I left a bike wheel on top of my car and drove away. Luckily, that one was fine and I reclaimed it easily since it was at the bike shop. I also left a walkman, this is more like 15 years ago, and then drove off. Perhaps by mentioning my own stupidity, this will prevent others from doing the same thing!

NO!!!!

2009-10-21T09:52:00.000-07:00

Most of you may have seen this already since it was on Facebook, but I am posting it to my blog mostly so that my Mom can see her delightful granddaughter.

Another year older

2009-10-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I turned 31. The only thing that remotely bothers me about this birthday is that I never raced a triathlon as a 31 year old (according to USAT). Since I have a Fall birthday, I feel like I always celebrate being a year old at my first triathlon of the season when I get a new age written on my leg.

My last triathlon was in Nov 2008 when I was officially 30 according to both USAT and the calendar, so it just blows my mind that my triathlon career just skipped over being 31. The same is true about being 29 and not racing, but that was due to pregnancy so that year off was by choice. But to miss an entire season of triathlon due to injury was not how I imagined my triathlon life of being 31. Oh well, I guess I will just look forward to spring when I tell them to write 32 on my leg. I can't even begin to imagine how amazing it will feel to get out there and race again. I feel like my hip is approaching 95%, so maybe just a few more weeks and I will feel 100% again.

Elena also got her first bike helmet since she has to wear it while in the trailer. We found a toddler helmet at Walmart and it fit her well. It says that it is for ages 3+, but it fits her so maybe she just has a big head.

Ready to hit the trails

2009-10-15T07:38:00.000-07:00

I found a Trek bike trailer on Craigstlist yesterday and Elena is ready to go. This morning she was sitting in it while I pulled her around the house and she kept yelling "MORE" whenever I stopped. We are all very excited about going out biking together as a family.

Mama can ride too!

2009-10-13T11:43:00.001-07:00

Every time Elena sees a cyclist, she screams "Dada". I think she started doing this because Scott bike commutes and every day at about 5:45pm we go to the front yard and wait for Dada. Scott and I laugh that she probably thinks that Dada just bikes all day long. Even when we were watching the Tour this summer, she would see Lance on TV and say Dada. I will say that a part of me is a bit annoyed that she isn't saying Mama when she sees a cyclist. Of course it is because she hasn't seen me bike in forever, but that will soon change. My new cyclocross bike, Motobecane Fantom Pro, comes tomorrow and I can't wait.

The next thing we need to buy is a bike trailer. If anyone has any experience with these, please let me know. The higher end models are quite pricey, so we are thinking that we will just keep checking Ebay or Craigslist until we see a good deal. I know this is something we will use a lot, so I want to make sure we get one that Elena is comfortable in.

Swim, Run... Repeat

2009-10-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

I finally feel like I am 90% back and can say that I am officially training again. On Saturday, I ran 3 miles outside with Scott and it went well. I am focusing a lot on running form and have noticed that I tend to overstride with my left foot and tend to do this even when I walk. So for now I am working on correcting my stride to be equal and also make sure that my cadence is where it needs to me.

So my plan right now is to alternate swimming and running and just keep doing at it until my hip is 100%. Once my hip feels normal, I will consider getting back on my tri bike. In the mean time, I am getting a cross bike for my birthday which is Oct 17th. Scott and I figured that it would be better to return to biking in a non-aero position, plus a cross bike will allow me to pull Elena in a trailer. There are awesome paved and gravel trails around here so we thought that this would be a fun way for Scott and I to bike together without needing a baby sitter.

I have also made amends with swimming and decided that I love it since I am doing workouts on my terms. One of the things that I HATE about swimming is counting laps and feeling like I do the same stupid pace of 1:45/100m over and over again, so for now I am making swimming a fun challenge. My goal is to be able to swim 50 meters in 45 seconds over and over and over again and then hopefully ingrain this pace in my body and build up enough endurance so this new pace is second nature. This means that I put all of my energy into form and figure out how in the heck people swim fast. Now that I know the secret to that silly barrel analogy, I had a breakthrough! Today I swam 50 meters over and over again and even hit my goal pace a couple times and all other times just a couple seconds away. This is HUGE for me since I have never touched this time before. If I focus on the barrel, front quadrant swimming, and looking forward, I feel like I am flying along the top of the water which is a new experience for me. I know that with consistency and hard work I will return to triathlon as a new swimmer.

Totally random picture, but I loved the look of concentration on Elena's face while painting for the very first time.

My first real Fall in 9 years

2009-10-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

Now that I live in PA, I get to enjoy Fall again. I always felt like NC had two seasons: hot and cold. To me, there is nothing like the crisp air and the smell of leaves on the ground. Running in brisk fall weather brings back fond memories of high school cross country and this weather makes me want to hit the pavement and run for the pure joy of it.

Elena showing off her strength and lugging around a big pumpkin. Notice the bite marks on it; she wanted to see how it tasted.

Speaking of running, I have run 5 times since my last post! Four runs on the treadmill of 1 mile each and then 2.5 miles outside with Scott and his Dad. My leg didn't really hurt so that is a good sign. I still have the annoying low back pain/hip pain, so perhaps I am not 100% healed so I am still taking it easy.

We installed our new backsplash and are happy with how it looks. Scott's Dad and I did the grout yesterday and here is a pic of our progress. We still have other projects in the kitchen such as making cabinet doors that the previous homeowners removed and then hid on us, black cooktop, over-the-range microwave, baseboard trim/quarter round, and some paint touch-ups. Scott and I have done all of the work ourselves (with the exception of installing the countertop which would be impossible) so we are really proud for basically remodeling the entire kitchen on a super low budget. Once we are officially done, I will post the before and after pics.

Scott's Dad is here this week so we took a trip to his hometown of Hughesville which is 2.5 hrs away. Elena enjoyed visiting with her great grandmother, seeing some of her little cousins, and visiting the sheep farm.

Lord, love a duck!!!

2009-09-23T10:15:00.000-07:00

I have decided that I really need to stop swearing since Elena is now mimicking (or is it mocking) things that I do. She especially enjoys reprimanding the dogs and telling them "bad dog" or "sit" while simultaneously pointing her finger at them. I am sure it is only a matter of time before she drops the F bomb. I have a bad habit of swearing and it would be quite horrible if Elena started doing this, so I have decided to replace all of my nasty words with the following phrase "Lord, love a duck!"

You might wonder how I came up with this crazy phrase and that is a story in itself. One night Scott was convinced that he needed a baby duck...or the way he phrased it is that Elena needs a baby duck. I told him that a duck along with 4 dogs and a cat is probably not a good idea. Plus, owning a duck in the suburbs is just a bad idea in general. Scott wouldn't take my word for this so he decided to do some research on owning a duck and where he could buy one. Luckily, by the end of his online review, he agreed that we probably shouldn't get a duck. The funniest thing we read regarding this topic was the following.

The question on Yahoo answers:
I want to buy a baby duck. Where can I find one in my area?

This was the response:
Lord love a duck. The duck is the king of the world , it is much better than a lion.
Go to your local zoo, and see if there are any motherless ducks there. I love people who love ducks so good luck and goods speed.

There was a picture that I really wanted to post, but I couldn't find it. When I was in high school, my grandparents had ducks and I used to take one of them swimming in the pool with me. The pic has the duck floating on a kickboard.

My little buddy

2009-09-17T06:10:00.000-07:00

Elena helped make banana bread the other day. I am not a big fan of messes, but I decided to let her try measuring the sugar all on her own. (You may notice that we haven't tiled the backsplash yet, but I think we are going to complete that project this weekend.)

Here is Elena during storytime at the library. She was putting some WWF moves on the life size Dora.

Over the weekend we went to an Irish Festival and Elena went on her first ever pony ride with her Aunt Jo. This was an exciting moment since I thought for sure she would be nervous considering that she doesn't care for the large animals at the petting zoo. Surprisingly, around the horse she was really relaxed. It must have been all of the practice riding that she does to poor Snoopy (one of our beagles)!

I thought this was a really cute pic.

Kona or Bust

2009-09-13T16:38:00.000-07:00

This post is not about my desire to someday make it to Kona, but rather about a friend of ours. Kit Phillips, a good triathlete friend from NC, was recently featured in Triathlete magazine about his quest for a Kona slot at IM Wisconsin. Well, today he totally rocked it and finished 7th in his age group and went sub-10. Last year, Kona slots went 7 deep in his age group so I am really hoping that his dream has been realized. GO KIT, you rock!!!!!

Another very inspiring story from today is that Scott's Mom and Dad both finished their first half marathon at Skagit Flats in WA State. Four years ago when Scott was on his Boston Marathon quest and did a crazy number of marathons in a few short months, he flew to Seattle and dragged his parents along to the Skagit Flats Marathon. Unfortunately, that was not Scott's day to qualify, but it did plant a seed of inspiration in his father. His Dad mentioned to us that someday he would really like to return to Skagit and run the half marathon. Well, 4 years later Scott's Mom and Dad did it!!! It is funny because his parents never told us they signed up for this race, they did it in secret. We should have figured something was up because we would get reports about his Dad running 10miles and his Mom putting in 20mile weeks. Hearing about their accomplishment today really inspired me to race again and go for my goals and don't stop dreaming!

The other side of withdrawal

2009-09-10T10:03:00.000-07:00

I spent labor day weekend in CT and had a fantastic time with my family. On Friday I attended my cousins wedding and one of my uncles asked how I was doing not being able to run since he basically considers serious training to be an addiction. I told him that at first it was really hard and I truly felt like I was going through withdrawal from triathlon, but now I am super happy and apparently my brain hormones are doing just fine without the endorphins.

Life is kind of nice when you aren't planning it around swimming, biking, and running. I certainly love to race and be competitive, but I am actually getting really used to my non-athletic life. I am back to doing absolutely ZERO biking, running, or swimming since a few weeks ago the hip pain flared back up so I decided to take another 4 weeks off. This injury definitely stinks and is lasting longer than I imagined to heal, but I have read on some running forums that for some individuals it took 8-10 months for their stress fractures to no longer cause them problems. No perhaps it isn't that unusual for me to still have some pain.

So here are a bunch of pics from my non-athletic life.

Elena has only tried to climb into her crib and lucky for us she hasn't made attempts to climb out. I am sure it is only a matter of time.
Trying to climb into the Bison pen!

Our local zoo has a cute little prairie dog tunnel for kids and Elena probably went through this thing at least 20 times.
At my parents house in CT.

My family- minus Scott who stayed behind and kindly watched Elena.
At a petting zoo
Elena's first official trip to the beach
I think this pic is adorable with Elena checking out her cousin Nora. It looks like they are having a serious conversation.
Ready to head to the garden and pic some veggies

Each day Elena would help herself to about 20 cherry tomatoes
My Mom and Elena picking watermelons
My mom asks that we take a pic of the 3 cousins each time we get together.

:(

2009-08-31T09:55:00.000-07:00

The sad face is because my grandmother died on Thursday. I knew it would take me a few days to digest the finality of it all before I could even write about it. She was 85 and died peacefully with family around her so that is comforting, but it really doesn't make my loss any less. Growing up, I was fortunate enough to live just a few miles from my grandparents and spent a lot of time with them. My grandmother was very strong willed lady, while being kind and generous at the same time. I like to think that some of my personality, especially the strong willed part, came straight from her. She was a wonderful person.

Here is my grandmother in 1945 when she graduated from nursing school. I followed right in her footsteps and also became a nurse.
Scott and I will be going to CT on Friday to be with my family. My parents haven't seen Scott since the thyroid cancer ordeal so I know they are anxious to get a big, radioactive hug from him.

But life must go on and there are definitely some positives in my life for which I am grateful.

Elena just turned 19 months and I am absolutely in love with this age.
I am learning to play the guitar and am making progress. Scott started playing guitar in college and his ability is impressive. Back in 2000, I expressed interest in playing so he bought me a guitar for Christmas. Basically it has been collecting dust for the past 9 years, but a couple days ago I decided that I am going to learn to play. My goal is to be able to play and sing with Scott. We try to play together now, but my playing is just horrible. I am persevering and will keep since I am determined to learn.
We got rid of our dirty, old tile kitchen countertops with the leaky faucet and now have new granite countertops. They are gorgeous and I am happy that we made the plunge and bought them. Scott and I are both really cheap so we often surprise ourselves when we actually decide to spend money. Once our kitchen remodel is completed, I will post a before and after pick.

I finally did it

2009-08-25T10:00:00.001-07:00

I finally became a licensed driver in the state of PA, but it wasn't without internal resistance. For some reason it was really hard for me to make it official that I was a resident of this state. The delay in getting my PA license (I have been living here 7 months) was in sharp contrast to when I moved from CT to NC after college where I got my new NC license within a week. Moving to NC was entirely my independent choice and I was super excited about it. The move to PA wasn't exactly on my terms so it has been an adjustment.

Now this part is going to sound crazy, but I think my resistance is partly due to my association with my injury. It is obviously a coincidence, but after moving here I get a stress fracture and Scott is diagnosed with thyroid cancer. I feel like I am a rat in an experiment since I associate my new location with chronic pain, but in this experiment there is no tunnel to quickly get to a place where I am healed. I am sure it will only be a matter of time until I am going at full strength again and I will look at this injury and say it was no big deal.

Sense of self

2009-08-17T18:07:00.000-07:00

Now that Elena is done with the climbing stage and all of her physical milestones, life is much easier in the DeWire household. A lot of time is spent learning new words and because of this, Elena likes to watch TV and movies so she can listen to the language. Snuggling together to watch Nemo or a Bug's Life is so much more relaxing compared to chasing her around the house when she was at the peak of her ransacking and climbing a few months ago. I am thankful that Elena's crazy energy phase is over for now since Scott hasn't been able to help much with his surgeries, hypothyroid weeks of no energy, and now the radioactivity. In a couple weeks Scott will be able to hug Elena and help take care of her so that will be nice to have my normal husband back :)

A couple weeks ago when Scott and Elena could actually be this close

Elena and I are even able to have little conversations and for the most part, she can tell us what she wants so we don't have to guess. She often runs up to the fridge and shouts "jeez, jeez" which translates to "cheese, please".

Cheese is her favorite food

Yesterday I became super excited when she said her own name! Elena, Herbert (the dog), and I were playing with the Busy Ball Popper and Herbert was hogging the toy. Elena got so annoyed that no one gave her the ball and she couldn't get it from Herbert she shouts "LANA" and points to herself. I was so proud of her for using her verbal skills to express that it was now her turn :)

And now for my boring and obligatory blogging about my stupid hip...will this EVER end? There is still lingering hip pain which is actually a mystery to the sports med doctor since he believes this pain to be unrelated to the bursitis and stress fracture. For the most part I am without pain which is a big improvement from a couple months ago, but when I bend forward I feel a bit of pain over my sacrum and when I twist to the right I feel pain behind my left iliac crest. He said that if it doesn't go away in a month, then he can order another MRI. If anyone has any ideas about what this is, please let me know!

I have noticed that biking makes this pain worse and back in Feb, I first noticed these symptoms on the bike, so for now NO biking. I have played around with my bike fit and seat height, but didn't notice a big difference. I am thinking that I should wait for these symptoms to completely disappear before getting back on the bike. Luckily I can swim, do the elliptical, lift weights, and attends pilates without pain. I am afraid to run just in case the lingering pain is some strange referral pain from the stress fracture.

Scott and I were talking last night that it seems like a lifetime ago that we were both racing well in triathlon. My competitive drive is really needing an outlet so it has been hard to accept that it may take many more months until I am back to my normal self. I just hope that in about 10 months things are back to normal for me since I signed up for Eagleman. There are a couple reasons that I signed up for this race 1) it is only 3 hrs from my house and 2) it is flat. One of my athletic goals is to break 5hrs in a half and I know that I need a fast course to do this. So just in case my hip is finally healed in June 2010, I have a fast course to attempt a huge PR.

Proof that I am clueless when it comes to swimming

2009-08-10T11:09:00.000-07:00

Unless you are a triathlete, this post will make no sense and I am mostly posting this just case other people have made this mistake. But I had a serious revelation today about swimming. There are so many common sayings that the real swimmers love to tell those learning to swim: "Don't drop your elbow" or "Swim over a barrel". I am sure that there are plenty more, but I just ignore them since I don't usually understand.

The problem is that I think my visual for swimming over the barrel was completely wrong. I always imagined that the barrel was parallel to my body so I had to keep my arms wide to go around it. This probably explains why everyone who saw my swim video said that my arms were way too wide. Well of course they were, I was trying to get my arms around this damn barrel and give it a big hug.

But I just figured out today that my idea of swimming over the barrel was completely wrong. First of al, it is not just 1 barrel, but there are LOTS of barrels to swim over and they are actually perpendicular to your arm. It really would have helped if people said something along the lines of "swim over the barrels that are floating out on top of the water on their sides and get over them using your arms (not your body)". I also found another description that might make more sense. Hopefully I am thinking about this correctly now!

full article on SlowTwitch
The best I can come up with is swimming over wine casks. Imagine a whole sea of wine barrels (filled with a nice Spanish Rioja, preferably). Imagine them on their sides, with their ends perpendicular to the direction you're swimming. They're all fixed in place, rotating around spindles running through their centerlines, like counters on a huge abacus.

If you were to swim over these barrels, you'd have to eventually get your hand in front of the barrel, so as to push straight back, not allowing the barrel to spin on its axis. But the barrel, by virtue of its bulk and volume, requires you to keep a high elbow, that is, your arm must get itself around the top of the barrel. And then, when you do find yourself "over a barrel," so to speak, you can apply pressure directly backward on the barrel with your entire forearm.