Holidaze

These blog posts are getting farther and fewer between…I’ll try to catch up here. Christmas came and went in a flash. It was BUSY. We were all over KC from the 24th to the 28th. It was all fun parties and stuff, but incredibly exhausting. Sunday at Brian’s parent’s house, Hattie ran up to me, jumped in my arms and put her head on my shoulder. I asked her if she wanted to go home (assuming a ‘no’ answer - - her cousins were there playing); she said yes. We left and when we got home, she smiled and walked around saying, “home…home…home”. Guess she was over it all by then, too.
We were blessed enough to receive several great gifts, that are now taking over our house. It is definitely time to start paring things down. Hattie got an easel (I’ve never seen a young kid so obsessed with art) and a kitchen, pots and pans, food and lots of other things. LOTS of things. Being a bit of a minimalist – I am having a hard time right now with all the STUFF. Either we are going to have the city’s biggest garage sale soon, or the Salvation Army will need to bring a semi to the house. Did you ever see that Oprah with the lady who could barely get out of her house with all the stuff she’d hoarded? Oprah may be calling us soon.
As for me, I got lots of cool running gear and a Wii. I’ve only got to play it twice, but it is pretty darn fun. I’m now contemplating the Wii Fit – I’d love some reviews from anyone who has it – I only got a small taste of it at my brother’s house.
So, all in all a very great holiday. I feel extremely lucky. I know I am.
New things on the Hattie front are:
A very stylin’ new haircut. Cute little bob. I’ll post pictures later. She is also putting words together like a champ. For a long time she had tons of words, but would only use one or two at a time. We’re moving onto sentences now. She’s doing great. She is also beginning to draw people and faces (sort of). I love the ‘big head with arms shooting out the sides’ phase kids go through. She’s done a couple of those. Love it.
Off to a much-welcomed slow day at work and a party at Jude’s tonight.
Happy New Year.

Backhand

We had a party for Brian's birthday on Saturday. One of our friends told me that I looked good. Then he proceeded to tell me that the last time he saw me I was pretty 'meaty'.
Um, thanks?
Ouch.

More...

Pics

Here are some pics from the big "2" bash yesterday. Will post more later...

The Amazing Adventures of Aquagirl

Hattie's been loving my swim goggles lately. And when you look this good in them, how could you not?!?
Halloween was a fun event. We finally coaxed her Daisy (from Oswald) costume on and went to visit the grandparents. I got no good pictures, but will post the only decent (kinda)one I got. In the evening, we set up camping chairs on our front porch to hand out candy. Hattie LOVED it...she would say "Kids!" when they headed our way and "Come on!". Then, when they left as quickly as they came Hattie would shout, "More!". We had a ball. Hope the goblins kept their distance on your ghoulish night.

Race

Race recap from Saturday:
I arrived about 30 minutes before the start – quite a long time to stand around when its 40 degrees and you’re not wearing a jacket or sweats! Brrr. I jogged around a bit and tried to keep limber. The gun went off at 7:30 – I felt great and ran my first mile in 8:25. At that point I thought about speeding up, since I was feeling good and not huffing and puffing as much as those around me, but I kept it reeled in since I thought the course got hillier as we went. I was wrong – it was nice and flat pretty much the whole route. I missed my second mile marker and looked down at my watch around 20 minutes in – hm. How far in am I? I thought I had kept pretty good pace. What to do? Do I speed up since I’m still feeling pretty fresh? I decided to keep my pace and kick it in when I saw we were getting close. Unfortunately, I waited too long. We came around a corner, and bang, there’s the finish line 100 yards down. I sprinted it, and made it across in 26:58. I have mixed emotions about this. One, it is my PR for a 5K and I came in 7th of 82 in my age group. Not bad! However, I KNOW I could’ve shaved off a lot of that time. Dang! I guess that is what will keep me coming back for races. As they say, running doesn’t get easier, you just go faster. I suppose I learned some lessons during this race. First, warm up! – I tried as much as I could, but my knee was cashed due to the cold for the rest of the day. Second, know your course. I should’ve driven it so I knew it was that flat. Lastly, keep an eye on your mile markers and wristwatch. When I got to 20 minutes, I should’ve turned my jets on. I don’t think sprinting the last 100 yards upped my time much. Live and learn, right? Anyway, I am very happy I got to race and will start looking forward to my next! For now, I am going to snuggle up with my book and enjoy this cold and rainy vacation day!

Hamburger by Train

It’s Friday. It’s Friday before I leave for a weeklong vacation. Hooray! I chose to take next week off because 2 girls are pregnant in my department and due to leave on maternity next month, so we’ll be short-staffed for awhile. One of those girls was set to do all my testing next week while I’m out (there are only 3 of us that know this particular testing). Her water broke on Tuesday and she delivered her son Wednesday morning- 3 weeks early. Uh, what do I do? Well, I go on vacation anyway and hope they don’t call me in overwhelmed. Hopefully it will be a slow week! I will think of them while I’m sipping my coffee, snuggling with my family in my jammies at 9:00am. Actually, maybe I won’t.

Tomorrow is my race, for which I don’t expect a great time since I’ve lost all my motivation. I’ve only run 2 or 3 times a week the last month. The half marathon was more about endurance than time; the 5K is all about time. And I’m no jackrabbit. Oh well, we’ll see. It should be a fun morning regardless. Yesterday Hattie and I went down to Crown Center to pick up my race packet and timing chip. I parked on the wrong side of the complex, and we had about a 10-15 minute walk over to the expo hall. It was a nice stroll- we raced part of the way (Hattie loves ‘fast’. Every time we go for a walk she runs and tells me, ‘Mama, fast’, so we have to jog together.). We got our packet, walked around the expo and then went back to the shops. There’s a cute toy store we walked through, and a Crayola store where we drew pictures. By the time I checked the time it was 5:30, and we were 20 minutes from home without rush hour traffic. So we decided to have dinner at Fritz’. It’s a burger joint where the food comes delivered by a train overhead. Hattie’s eyes were huge when that first train came! It was so cute, she was craning her neck to see where it was going and kept telling me ‘choo choo!’ We sat, ate our burgers and enjoyed the trains. With as terrible as the food was (really, the burgers there are NOT great), it was probably one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I truly loved sitting side by side with my daughter, enjoying each other’s company and relaxing - just the two of us. I love that she will sit and enjoy things and not have to be running full-tilt at all times. I love that she offered me one of her fries. I love that it took her a few minutes to get the hang of her straw and the look of joy on her face when she did. I love that she donned the engineer’s hat for a bit before offering it to me. Mostly, I just love her. More than anyone else knows.

Three Things

1. I am officially out of the half marathon. My knee just won’t let me. I’ll be doing the lowly, godforsaken 5K with the other idiots that can’t manage the half or full, damn it.
2. My sweet tooth has been uncontrollable lately. If I hadn’t just had my blood checked, I would have thought I was diabetic. Seriously, I could eat sweet baked goods 24-7. I’ve had a pudding and a Twix today and its not even 2pm. My weight loss is going to come screaming back if I don’t watch it.
3. I am taking off work the week after next. Just planning some piddly little things (storytime at the library, a trip to Lawrence with Mom, a night in a lake cabin with Brian and Hattie…)and I really couldn’t be more excited. A vacation is much needed and long overdue. Hooray!

Sidelined

I think my half marathon race may be out. CR*P!!!! Three weeks ago (right when I upped my hill training and speed)I developed Iliotibial Band Syndrome aka "Runner's Knee". Basically anywhere from 4-6 miles into my runs my left knee starts to tighten and lock up on me. Its very common in distance runners and probably started due to quitting my cross training/strengthening days in favor of all running (weak hip flexors and glutes are an underlining cause). I've missed my last 4 big mileage weekend runs. I've been trying to strengthen, stretch my IT band, ice whenever possible, eat ibuprofen and wear a strap on my knee when running. So far, I've seen no positive changes. I am soooooooooooooo utterly disappointed - my training was going really well and I was hoping to finish in under 2 hours (initially I was looking at 2 1/2). I've already paid my entrance fee, so I am going to go and run as long as I can and probably walk a few (or several) miles at the end. Totally sucks. There is another race (the last one of the season) the week before Thanksgiving. Hopefully I can get back on track and run that one before winter comes and I have to wait until next year. I've worked too damn hard not to have at least ONE good race this year! Stupid competitive nature...
Keep your fingers crossed, and if you have any magic solutions let me know.
Sigh.

Sunny Days

We woke up today and headed out to the pumpkin patch/cider festival. I don't know what it is about sunny autumn days but they are so vibrant. I love how vivid the pictures turned out. Hattie had fun, although there wasn't quite as much to do there as I had thought. Still a nice morning. We came home, played in her car (as you can see in the "Cheese!" picture) and she's now down for the count. Good times.
I'm trying to think of new things she's doing these days--let's see...
She can count to 10.
Knows all her letters.
She's still completely obsessed with the cartoon "Oswald" (on Noggin) - she wants to watch it all the time. He's been relegated to 1 episode before bedtime. But if you have a pen/pencil/crayon in your hand, you are asked to draw Oswald and all his friends. I think we have about 3,000 poorly drawn pictures of Oswald and Daisy floating around our house at the moment.
We're also into opposites right now. When she gets in her car, she says 'in' - then steps out, says 'out' - etc. That's for everything, on/off, up/down, in/out, etc.
She's saying more and more everyday and pretty much continuously cracks Brian and me up. I LOVE this age! People are so right - it only gets more and more fun!
Enjoy the beautiful weather!!!

Good Day

Yep, it’s a good day.
*It’s Friday.
*I won’t be putting in a busy 9 hour day at work
*I weighed myself this morning for the first time in a couple of weeks and lost 4 pounds.
*I put on a pair of jeans I hadn’t worn in a couple of years (they are one of my favorite pairs and are developing a small hole, so I was saving them – for what I have no idea) anyway, I put them on last night and they are really baggy.
*I bought the ring pictured last night. A pearl for my Hattie Pearl.
*Tomorrow is our annual cousin’s golf tournament. It’s probably my 6 or 7th year playing…it involves really terrible golf, lots of cheap beer, and even more laughing with my favorite girl cousins. I can’t wait.
Have to include a few fun HP facts before I go…
*When we pull into the driveway now she says, “hommmme” from the backseat.
*She has a bit of a shoe obsession and calls our flip-flops “faw fops”
*She stretches out with me after my runs. Too cute.
*When she sees me topless, she points at my boobs and says, “oh no”. Not so cute.
*If a car honks anywhere near her vicinity, she answers with a small “beep beep”
*She calls green beans “bean beans”.
*Her counting has declined a bit – she used to count to 6 (although usually missed ‘5’). Now she counts to 10, but does it 2,4,6,8,10. I have no idea how or why she learned this, but it is an obvious sign she’s a math genius, right?
Happy Weekend.

Snip Snip

We went for Hattie’s first haircut this weekend. On the drive over, I discussed what to expect and then I asked Hattie if she remembered Elmo’s World when he discussed haircuts. She smiled wide and nodded. I wish I had as much hope as she had at that point, but I was worried about a meltdown in the salon. I even brought the woobie tucked stealthly into in my purse fully thinking I would be breaking it out, hair clippings be damned. However, she proved me totally wrong! She gladly sat in the ‘car chair’ (why she picked the orange Home Depot car over the classic red Benz or BMW, I have no idea – but as long as she was happy – I was happy). The cut came out very cute and mama came out proud and relieved!
Enjoy your week. And Em, get to healing- stat.

Double Digits

I ran 10.2 miles this morning. Hooray for me! It felt wonderful. I got to my halfway point and realized I was running much slower than I thought (need to memorize the mile markers before I head out), so I stepped it up on the way back and ran almost a mile-an-hour faster. I was cruising, but felt really good. I swear I am meant for long distances. My knees would beg to differ, as I am now hobbling up and down the stairs like an old woman, but I feel like I never hit my stride until 4+ miles in. Now that I've completed my first double-digit, I feel like a true runner. Yea!
I am downloading a few pics off the camera. There's a couple of the zoo (yes, it was that hot!), and the night when Hattie picked up the guitar and held it correctly (one of Brian's proudest moments) and another of Hattie doing her two favorite things...reading and snuggling with her woobie. She's got a few new tricks since the last time I posted...she says her name(Ha Per), knows almost all her letters, and can count to three. I am so proud of my little Ha Per.

Gobbledygook

More running stuff…
I just got finished reading a book about training for your first marathon. My next door neighbor loaned it to me after I asked her a question about her completion of a marathon last year. It was an interesting read, in that it mostly talked about positive attitude, mental imagery and other tricks to get through tough runs. The book is for first-timers, so speed is unimportant – its more about completing and ‘winning’ in your own mind. I found it to be very helpful on my 6 miler yesterday. I had a hard time getting into my run and didn’t hit my true stride until about the fourth mile. I tried some mental imagery which is very hard to keep focused on for long periods and my mind tends to wander. Here's a peek into Amy's ADD mind…

“A is for awesome, b is for brian, no wait, b is for bustin’ it out this morning. whatever happened to busta rhymes? what was his song? okay c is for, wait have I passed the dead mouse yet? oh man I would freak out if I stepped on him. what if I did? would I scream? what if I wake people up? how embarrassing okay what letter was I on? d is for driven. hell yeah I’m driven, baby. its 5 am. I rock. ooooh, there’s my knee. oh look at the moon – come run with me moon, guide me. sh*t, pothole. if I twist my knee in a damn pothole this far in I am going to cry. wait, positive, positive. okay, driven, I am driven and I AM a half marathoner. I am strong. my body is fluid. spit. ooops, sorry old man, you ran by just in time to hear my loogie. thank god I spit to the outside. wow, he’s got great form. are his damn feet touching the ground? he’s got to be 70. I just got passed by a 70 year old. okay amy, follow, drop your arms like him. hey a helicopter, are they following me as I lead of the boston marathon? there she is ladies and gents – amy, 4 miles ahead in the boston marathon. what a sight."

So, that’s about a half mile’s worth of gibberish. You can see that focus is a bit of a problem for me. Still loving it, though. It’s a fight, but I win almost every time.
Here’s my new favorite running quote:
“People can’t understand why a man runs. They don’t see any sport in it. Argue it lacks the sight and the thrill of body contact. Yet, the conflict is there, more raw and challenging than any man versus man competition. For in running it is man against himself, the cruelest of all opponents. His adversary lies within him, in his ability, with brain and heart to master himself, his emotions and his pain.” – Glenn Cunningham
My other favorite?
“Run like you stole something.”

The Countdown is On

Well I am officially signed up for the KC (Half) Marathon. Eek! I am very excited about it – and a little nervous as well. My training is going great, although I think I should be running longer distances than I currently am. Hopefully I can step it up in the next couple of weeks. I have plenty of time left (13 weeks), but the training schedules I’ve looked at say I should be logging about 17-27 miles a week, with one 10miler in there. I’ve only completed a 6 miler as my long run. Hopefully next week I can log an 8 and get more on track. At this point, if I were to run it tomorrow (which I couldn’t!) it would take me at least 2 hours and 20 minutes. So, I am also hoping to improve my time as I get more endurance logged in. Hopefully that just ‘comes’ as I begin training harder. We’ll see. They say rookies shouldn’t be concerned about time, but 2h20m is a long time to run! On Saturday I am running in a SIDS 5K for a friend of mine. I hope to beat my current always-a-10-minute-mile streak and break 30 minutes. My adrenaline and fellow runners should motivate me to speed up some. Am I boring you all? I hope not, because this is my ‘big thing’ right now and will probably continue to talk about it! Wish me luck. And if you see me red faced and panting along the side of the road, give me a shout.

Run Forest, Run

Just wanted to post a quick update and some new pics. One is of Hattie on the 4th in her pigtails. I have been waiting so long for the day when I could do them! She looked so damn cute and they stayed in (almost) all day. We had a great day at the lake and then went for fireworks near our house. HP clapped and cheered for them with her cousin Marley...she had a blast.
Promise to add more soon, but works sucks right now and I am so busy I barely have time to catch my breath. For I job I like, I sure do HATE work right now. Ugh. Anyway, no one wants or needs to hear about that. I did run 5 miles this morning and am feeling pretty good. If I ice my knees when I get home they don't yell at me for very long. I have 5 more days to decide if I am going to attempt the half marathon in October. I am leaning heavily towards 'yes' right now, but that is an awfully long way for a rookie like me. I'll try 6 miles this weekend and then make my final decision. Enjoy the pics.

Beeezzzz

This is a “show me your teeth” picture. She looks like a grade schooler in it…so big! Of course, the greasy hair from wiping her dinner in it should be a hint that she, indeed, is not in grade school. And thank goodness – I am not ready for that! Its going by too fast already. I know I will be one of those teary-eyed moms dropping their kindergartner off at school and bawling the whole way home. At least I won’t be in the minority…
We have lots more new words this week– door, hotdog (otdah), guitar (atar), star, heart, shoes (oshes), eyebrow, bug, hat, and my favorite - please (sounds like beeezzz).
Wanted to put one 'hooray for me' in, too. I ran about 4 miles yesterday and felt awesome doing it. I definitely have the running bug these days. I could've kept going all day had it not been for some old-timer's knees they inserted where mine should be. I have been an off and on jogger for years, but this is by far the best I've felt doing it and have really hit my stride (no pun intended). If I keep going like this and can get past the '4 mile hurt', I may try a half marathon towards the end of summer or early fall. I won't win any speed awards, but I would like to try and accomplish one. We'll see.

Water Girl

These are not great pics, but all I got the other day on our way to the pool. In the first one, Hattie’s waving to the neighbors…we wave LOTS these days. When we left the pool that day, she was waving to everyone like she was the First Lady or something. She’ll wave to her toys, she waves to the pee-pee going down the potty, to her milk when it goes back in the fridge, crumbs being wiped from her tray, you name it, it gets a wave.
We had an eventful night last night. Hattie took a dive off a side table in the family room (its only about 2 feel high). I missed the fall, but she landed face down and laid there for a long time. I actually had to pick her up, which is unusual. Then she cried longer than normal, so I tried to distract her with dinner. Every time she went to grab for something with her right arm, she would start crying again and hold it. This went on for about 45 minutes before I finally (cried and) took her to an urgent care by our house. Of course by the time we got in, she seemed to be doing much better and was reaching with her arm again. When the doctor came in, I was even able to take her shirt off over her head without a fuss. He said she may have sprained or strained it, but doubted anything more. Today Brian says she is back to her usual happy self. Thank goodness we got past our first scare unharmed.
Phew!

Bathing Beauty

Dear Mr. Blog,
I think about you often with clever things in my head that I want to share with you. Then the time comes when I finally have a free moment to write, and I either forget all the little things that have filled my head over the last few days, or I get distracted and think I will return later to write. Days turn into weeks, and then my stories dwindle down to nothing but tidbits that mostly make sense only to me. So, Mr. Blog, it is unfortunate that you turn into nothing but random facts and notes and not the clever little tidbits and amusing insights that I hoped you would be. Though I may be down, but I am not out! I would like this blog to be a journal of sorts for Hattie to read when she is old enough to see how she has influenced me and to see the way this little brain of mine works. Scary as that may be to a young person whose brain is still a sponge soaking up everything around it- reading the thoughts of a leaky-faucet brain that doesn’t remember where the keys are or how to perform an assay it has known for 10 years. But it is fun getting old. Really! I am enjoying the ride.
But now onto the good stuff….
We went to our pool for the first time yesterday. Hattie was looking adorable in her new suit and sunhat (will post pics later) and I felt right at home in my skirted tankini with all the other moms at the baby pool (will NOT be posting pics). How I love you, skirted suit, you make my life so much easier….but I digress. Hattie got right in the water, walked around, played with toys, sized up the bigger kids (I love the stand-real-close-and-stare thing and it is now usually accompanied by a smile and close to the face wave), she also sat on the side and kicked and generally just enjoyed the beautiful day with her Mama. We will be heading back often.
I also have to mention Hattie’s new ‘cousin crush’ on my nephew Nicko (who could blame her?). We went to a birthday party last weekend that was held in the cafeteria and gym at a local high-school. There were lots of kids running around in the gym, including Nick. Hattie somewhat acknowledged most of the kids with a stare or by handing them a ball, if she had one. However, whenever Nicko went by she would stop walking, smile broadly and wave furiously at him until he would say, ‘Hi Hattie’. Then more smiling. More waving. It was so cute. I really need to break my video camera out more often for moments like that.
Can’t think of much else to add, except that I really love this stage with Hattie. Sure, babies are wonderful to snuggle with, crawlers are great to watch, but toddlers are so fun! I look forward to hearing new words from her everyday, reading books together, coloring (boy, we do A LOT of coloring), and generally just watching her explore and discover new things. It’s a great time.
One more thing…I am 10lbs down and hit a wall for the last few of weeks. But I’m back on track and hoping to lose another 10. Maybe then I can show those moms an UNskirted bikini mom! Okay, not really.
But it wouldn’t suck.

Friday!

Thank goodness! Work has been crazy, and I haven’t had a second to do anything at home either. Days are just flying by. I wanted to post a quick update on our new little wordsmith... she's added all kinds of new vocab the past couple of weeks (finally!). My favorite? Mama, of course. I bawled like crazy when she first said it. Still do occasionally- if you must know. Some other new ones… Dada, Papa, Ba (my brother’s nickname), ball, balloon, bubble, purple, blue, Elmo (pronounced ‘Melmo’), moon, milk (pronounce ‘muh’), bye-bye (pronounced ‘duh-duh’), hello (pronounced ‘oh’), up, and a few others I can’t think of at the moment. She’s also currently obsessed with shoes, crayons, and reading. And she’s beginning to pay attention to television, so we watch Sesame Street on occasion. It blew her mind the first time she saw it. I don’t think she knew those creatures moved and talked! Pretty cute. Too much other stuff happening to even begin, so I’ll end there.
Happy weekend.

HP

Some of Hattie’s new things…
Drinking cold water and saying ‘bbrrrrr’ when finished
Shaking her booty like crazy
Saying ‘dodle dodle dodle’ for a rooster (just about the cutest thing ever)
Running
“Jumping” aka crouching down and standing up quickly
Using a ‘big people’ fork like a pro
Blowing kisses, giving fives, giving hugs and Eskimo kisses
Lots of other things I can’t think of at the moment.

This weekend we are going to a little resort outside of the city and staying in a cabin for a night. The resort is very kid-friendly and I can’t wait to get away. I’ll post more about it next week. In the meantime, Brian and I will be heading to the Elvis Costello/Police show that I WON tickets to tonight. Can’t wait!

Camp Out

Last weekend the whole gang went camping up at Clinton Lake. When I say whole gang, I mean whole gang…there were 23 of us, including 11 kids under the age of 9. So, the dynamic was just a little bit different than college camping. It was a blast – we had our own private site with picnic tables, a couple of fire rings, bathrooms, sand volleyball court, horseshoe pit and a trail to the lake. I think everyone had a good time, despite a rather chilly night. We hope to make it at least an annual thing, if not semiannual. I’ve included a couple of pics of Chloe and her new crush, Nicko and Hattie and Luke chillin’ in some camping chairs. I really wanted to get a pic of everyone, but it just didn’t happen. Maybe next time…

5 Years

I’ll begin by wishing my better half a very happy anniversary. We are now at 5 years! I can’t believe it - its gone so fast. I guess good times really do roll! Love you, B.
Wanted to give an update on my changes on the health front. I am now down 6 pounds. Not exactly earth-shattering loss, but I do feel good and can tell my tone has improved immensely. I’ve had a few set-backs…I hurt my calf over a month ago now, and cannot do sprints or any jogging so my cardio has really suffered. Also birthday and anniversary celebrations have taken a toll. I am not going to deprive myself of everything, so I eat what I want and try and get back to it the next day. Guess I’m the tortoise and not the hare. That’s a good thing, right?
Happy Monday.

Birthday Wishes

Last weekend, Brian and I went out for an early birthday dinner. We ate at Room 39 and were totally blown away, as always. We were served champagne and an amazing amuse bouche while we perused the menu. I had halibut with a saffron cream, on a bed of roasted cauliflower and oyster mushrooms. It was absolutely sublime. Every single bite was heaven. Ted knows what he’s doing, that is for certain, and we decided that when we win the lottery we will hire him as our personal chef. After dinner, we headed down to the River Market Brewery to watch the Stolen Winnebagos, who also did not disappoint. It’s highly entertaining to watch someone do pelvic thrusts to Take On Me by A-ha. We were rolling, and figured we laughed much harder than if we would’ve joined Jude and the bunch at the comedy club. Plus, they are actually very good, and their harmonies are spot-on. After our delicious meal, bouts of laughter, and too many oatmeal stouts, Brian took me home and put me to bed. I slept like a baby until 9:00 on Saturday. All and all, a wonderful evening with my most favorite person.
By the way, Hattie played until the wee hours at Grammy and Grandpa's, too. She was up until 10:30! What a partier. :-) We got our proofs from the big photo shoot and are very happy with the way they came out. The hard part is going to be choosing just a few! Here's a couple of 'sneak peeks' from Kayla our photographer...

Rock Chalk

This is Massachusetts Street after the title win on Saturday. Beautiful.
To all of my college friends....wish it happened while we were there.
To all of my Missouri and K-State friends....ha!
To my hundreds of cousins who are all rabid KU fans....we are the champions. Bask in it.
To my brother - I am so thrilled you were there!

On The Farm

Saturday was Hattie’s big photo shoot. She did pretty well at first, but then mostly wanted to run around and explore the lights, props and mirror nearby. I do think we got a few good ones and I am super anxious to see them! The photographer said it would only take a week or so for her to edit them and we’ll get a password to check them out on the website. Yipee!
After the ‘shoot’ we went to Deanna Rose Farmstead out south and played. It was the first time we’d gone and we will definitely go back…it’s so cool! Plus, it’s free. They had tons of goats to feed, ponies to ride, ponds to fish, ‘cows’ to milk, and birds to see. I loved it. We mostly just walked around and looked at things and observed the kids running around. I do love that Hattie finally got to see some real farm things and animals. Now she can associate real animals with her toys, and her tractor with a big one. If you live in KC and haven’t gone, you must!
And I guess I’ll end on a down note for me…I failed to lose any poundage this week. Boo! Not sure why (although I won’t mention the loads of margaritas and Mexican food I partook of on Friday). My weekend was filled with a little more splurging than I planned on, but I thought my good week would’ve at least had me down a pound or two. I am taking it in stride though, and promised myself to work out harder this week. I am already feeling better, and I swear I can tell a difference in my tone after just 2 weeks. Really!

I Heart Mondays

Just wanted to post a quick 'hooray for me'. I lost 3 pounds last week! At this rate, in 6 weeks I will hit my target...its wonderful incentive.
I'm in it to win it, baby!
Happy Monday!

Miss Skinny

Okay, so I started a diet this week. No wait, excuse me, I started a new ‘way of life’…diet is a taboo word these days. People who diet do not stay on them – people who change the way they think about food are successful. Do I sound like a commercial?
Let me begin by saying that I rarely diet. I think I’ve dieted (I know – again with the bad word) for maybe a month out of my whole life. Sure, I’ve needed it since Pizza Shuttle and beer found me in college, but I never did a whole lot about it. I’ve had years of gym memberships and lost some and toned doing that; but this time… actually for the first time, I feel really serious about it. My goal in my new ‘way of life’ is 20 pounds, which would put me back at high school weight, but for now I am shooting for 10. This first week has gone well. I borrowed a friend’s Weight Watcher’s book and am doing that for now. I have two bad habits (that I’ll mention)…one is that I don’t think about what I am eating most of the time, and the other is that my portion sizes are totally skewed. I think most of America’s are. If you’ve been to any chain restaurant in the last 10 years, you know. So, this book is giving me an idea of what I should be eating on a normal day. I am writing down what I eat (which helps with the mindless aspect I mentioned) and calculating where I am. I also began Jillian Michael’s Shred workouts. She’s the b*tchy lady from Biggest Loser. I don’t watch the show, but man, her workout is tough! You burn 300-500 calories in twenty minutes. Exactly what I need, since that is about all the free time I have in the afternoons.
So there you have it. A new me is hopefully emerging. I don’t want to turn this into a weight-loss blog, but I plan on letting you all know how much I am losing and how good I am feeling! Wish me luck. Oh, and the Levi’s that have been sitting in my closet patiently waiting for 10 years? Look out, cause here I come.

Wearing O' the Green

I haven’t been taking as many pics lately as I should. I do love this one of Hattie because she can’t let St. Paddy’s Day go. She wears the necklace nonstop. She’s a bit like her mama in that regard…
And I did notice after taking it, that she has 2 new teeth! I knew one was there, but in fact, its two. So that’s 10 now, for those of you counting at home.
In a couple weeks we are visiting a photographer for a real photo shoot. Will post some ‘pro’ pics after we get them.

HP

Hattie Pearl continues to make me laugh everyday. Yesterday we went on an errand to buy a shoe rack (good times). I looked and looked for the one in the ad and couldn’t find it. Hattie was holding the picture from the ad and I asked her if she could see it. She looked around, scanning the aisles, and looked and me and shrugged. It was really cute. She's so expressive for only having 2 words in her vocabulary. Lately we’ve got body parts down, colors, and are now working on shapes. She understands just about everything you say to her, which is so cool. I’ll be in a conversation with someone and you would think she would tune me out or not understand, but she’ll pick out a word or phrase, and indicate she understood by pointing to the object or in some way show me that she got it. It’s pretty amazing. She’s pretty amazing.
Her new obsessions? Light switches, her blue flowered shoes, playing 'chase' and phones. Will post pics soon.

The Human Body

I took a vacation day last Friday so that I could attend the Bodies Revealed exhibit at Union Station with Mom and Dad. It was so amazing and I highly recommend it to all. The ‘controversy’ surrounding it is total rubbish - it is tastefully done, educational and completely fascinating. I came out of it wanting to treat my body like the miraculous gift that it is. It is well worth your time and money. Go see it!
Afterwards, my mom left us and Dad and I went to lunch at Room 39. The food was good and the company was fantastic. I don’t get opportunities to hang out with just my dad much anymore- there are usually kids, projects or other things distracting us. It was such a nice afternoon and left me feeling high for hours. I love you, Dad. I can’t tell you enough that I am one of the luckiest people around to have you and Mom. I love that you were so involved in my childhood, but still gave me loads of freedom. I love that you are still here for me all the time. I love that you spend lots of time with Hattie. You’re the best and I appreciate all that you are and do.

Rainbows

When you have a child, you wish for them all the good qualities in you and your significant other. I wished for Hattie her daddy’s musical abilities, his mechanical and art skills, his nice hands and full lips, his patience and calm. I wished she would have my blue eyes and sense of color. Yes, sense of color. I can look at a tan and tell you if there is too much yellow or red in it for my liking. I can tell you I love colors washed with gray and could mix any color up with paint that you like. I mixed my own paints for the interior of our house so they would match the carpet. I know it is early yet, but Hattie may have just gotten my sense of color. She can pick an orange, pink or red out of a group of objects. She knows a blue or green from a purple. I am so proud! She cannot say the words yet, but can see her own rainbow of colors. It’s the newest trick in her ever-expanding repertoire. I can’t tell you how excited I am to color, draw pictures and paint with her. I envision buying canvases for her to paint and hanging them about our house. I envision many blue ribbons in the art fair at school. I envision someone who can put on paper exactly what she visualizes in her head. Am I getting ahead of myself here? Or should I say getting ahead of her? We will stick to the primary palette for now, but soon we’ll be mastering periwinkle, aubergine, puce and citrine. And I can't wait.
I must also follow up on my facial experience. Not what I expected at all. I was hoping to be scoured, scrubbed and irrigated. What I got was an hour long face massage. Relaxing, I suppose, but rejuvenating to my skin? Not so much. About halfway into it I thought, is this it? She's barely scrubbed! Where’s the exfoliation? Where’s the sandblasting? And then I switched to, is she almost done rubbing the damn cream into my face? How long have I been lying here? How greasy am I going to be after this? The hot towels between “treatments” (I use that term loosely) felt fabulous. And I was relaxed. However, I am pretty much always relaxed. I don’t need tribal muzak and face rubbing to calm me down. I wanted results, damn it. Instead I got creamed. If I would’ve been at a trendy salon and paid $50-100 for that, I would’ve been displeased as hell. Maybe my vision of a facial is just wrong, but if I want to relax give me a regular massage any day of the week. Do they do those for 72 quarters?

Raisins

I made an appointment yesterday for my first facial. I’ve never had one before, thinking they were a luxury that I didn’t need to waste my money on. However, lately my face seems to be transforming into a character out of the California Raisin’s commercials, only pastier. Wrinkles, dark circles, sags, sun spots and laugh lines galore. I’ll take the laugh lines, as it marks a badge of honor for me. It says I have lived a good life filled with many laughs. I will not, however, laugh at the dark circles. They look like a pair of halved Michelin’s implanted under my wrinkly eyes. Where are you when I need you, white walls?
The idea was brought up to me by a new guy I work with (no, not the Michelin idea). His wife is in aesthetician school and can do all kinds of things on the cheap. I am splurging an entire $18 to have my facial. I figure I may have that much in quarters under the front seat of my car, so what the heck. It’s a great price, unless I become addicted. Will I turn into Joan Rivers over the next few months, tucking, sandblasting and downright removing most of the skin from my face? Not a chance. But I may just need to go see this girl when my face threatens needing tucked into the top of my shirts. I hope she can work miracles – for 72 quarters, she better be able to.
All things on the Hattie front are terrific. We FINALLY got some gates up for her. No more shoving the ottoman between the couches to lock her in. I hate having to put them up; they seem like they should only be used for little yapper dogs or rabbits or something, but there are so many damn sets of stairs in our house we had to. I hope we won’t need to keep them up for long. Maybe we can have stair training sessions in the afternoons. And up, two, three, four, down, two, three, four. Alright maybe not. We are finding that she is becoming more and more girly. Lately, she is enjoying taking things out and putting them back exactly where she got them (I do LOVE this!). I was setting up blocks for her to knock down yesterday. She knocked them over once or twice (with a small ‘ugh’ I might add – they are made of cloth after all) and after that she only wanted to pick up the block off the top and hand it to me. We would carefully disassemble one tower and create another. She played in the room for hours after having stacked a tower taller than her and left it standing when she went to bed. I know of no boys who would allow this kind of blatant tower disregard. She’s a girl, she is. My girl.

Hello, stranger

Hello blog world. It’s been awhile. Things have been speeding by so rapidly, time seems to be completely slipping away from me. Life is hectic right now. I am training in 3 different areas at work, and that just mentally drains me by the end of the day. Add to it that I am averaging 9 hours there, then going home to become mom, chef, shopper, and housekeeper and I feel spent. I haven’t worked out in months. My house is not nearly as clean as it should be. My car needs a detail. My hair is always a wreck. I haven’t spent time with my husband after about 9:00pm in weeks. I sleep so hard and so soundly we could get burglarized and I wouldn’t have a clue until morning. So there, there’s my little rant for the day. Woe is me. I have a beautiful child, loving husband, wonderful family and friends, health all around and plenty of money to live comfortably. Woe, indeed.
So, on to the good stuff. My daughter is funny. She understands about everything we say now, can identify body parts, walks everywhere, and laughs like she did something funny every time someone else laughs. She gets sillier all the time. We’re just having a blast.
I am adding pictures of HP in her new big kid car seat and playing in the laundry. She ‘helps’ with it a lot. Happy weekend.

My New Favorite Picture...

Ramble On

The holidays are over; decorations and presents put away. Sigh. It was a lovely holiday season, though I felt, entirely too fast. By the time I got in the ‘true’ Christmas spirit, it seems we were already wrapping it up (no pun intended). Some years I have that elated spirit for weeks, others for a few precious moments. It’s my own chasing of the dragon. Thanks goodness it’s only about good cheer and appreciation.
Hattie, we have decided, is a true party girl. Even on days when we push through naps and go go go, she sticks with it and maintains pretty well. And these are days I am ready to collapse by the end of it right along with her. With both of us having large families in town, we tend to circle the city for the days surrounding Christmas. It can be exhausting at times, but always so much fun. We’re lucky to have them. This year we had many small days so that helped us out a lot, too.
And our little trooper is now officially a walker! She’s been wobbling around for about a month, but her skills are increasing so much that she now moves from one side of a room to the other with (some!) ease. She’s getting better everyday. I’ve found these milestones are difficult to pinpoint. Her first word? Dada- I think. She said it over and over for a week, so we’ll go with that. Did she know what she was saying? It’s unclear. Walking? I dunno, she’s been taking a few steps here and there for awhile. At what point do you make it official? 3 steps? 10? Who knows. For now, we’ll call it our Christmas present from her.
Pics are of her new sled, the cutest Christmas dress ever, and hanging with Dada.
Hope your holidays were all you hoped they would be.
Ba- Happy birthday. You are the best brother a girl could ask for and I love you!