5 & 96!!!!

There are only FIVE, 5, yes FIVE days until the triathlon. Am I ready? I don't think so. Will I be fine, I hope so. Will I survive. I sure hope so! oh...well that is until I take a look at the weather....and see this for Sunday.

Yes you see that right...NINETY SIX DEGREES on Sunday. 96...yes just 4 degrees less then 100 degrees...aka HOT, FREAKING HOT, TOO HOT to swim 1/2 mile, bike 15 miles and then run a 5K!!! Oh and my swim heat doesn't start until almost 9am. So by the time I get out of the water it will be close to 9:30am then I will bike for almost an hour 10:30am then run for at least if not more then 30 minutes - 11am. Oh so the sun will be up and bright and HOT during most of the race. oh joy.

Hopefully I am prepared. We will see. I doubt I will get to post again until after the race. But as long as I survive I hopefully will post either Sunday night or Monday sometime...so stay tuned!

Until then, enjoy my newest favorite picture of Charley. I filled her highchair tray with water so she could play...and this is one of the many pictures I took during the splash fest :)

The Best Man In the World

My husband - is the best man in the world. He is an amazing father. He is my best friend. He is incredibly giving, loving, sharing, caring and makes me a better person for knowing him. Tuesday was our 2 year Anniversary. We have known each other for about 4 1/2 years now and they have without a doubt been the best years of my life.

He is absolutely amazing with Charley. When he comes home or walks in the room she smiles from ear to ear...showing off those dimples which she has just like her Daddy. She is so in love with him...as am I.

He had these put on my desk at work...our wedding flowers were yellow and orange gerber daisies.

And this is one of the best presents he has given me. She looks just like him...good thing he is cute :)

Jimmy I love you with all my heart, you are my hero, my inspiration, my soul mate. Thank you for everything you do for me and Charley. And for the best 4 1/2 years of my life. Here is to many many more (and a few more babies too) :) Happy Anniversary! (a few days late)

Many Things...

First...I think we have a teething baby on our hands. Today our sweet little angel who doesn't fuss or cry at all was pretty much inconsolable. No, she didn't cry all day - she just was cranky - she wanted a bottle, but then didn't want it - she wanted to nuzzle her head into my shoulder and rest, but couldn't - she wanted to lay down, then she wanted to sit up in the same moment. So once I got home I took her upstairs to our bed to see if I could get her to nap...and a little bit of Tylenol and 30 minutes later at around 630 she was out for the count. And now at 920pm is still out...I don't know what to do - as she is still in her clothes, no PJ's and is asleep in the middle of our bed.

As for now the plan is to let her sleep there until I have to go to bed and then make a decision about what to do...

I can't believe she is already getting TEETH!

On another note...the swim clinic went great! I learned a lot, that I didn't know, or didn't even think about...so that is great.

Here are a few of the things I learned at the open water swim clinic:

-it is going to be a treading water start – and they said to be prepared to tread in the water for 2-5 minutes before you start swimming!
-they changed the course – the map that is online now is correct – it is no=2 0longer a point to point swim, you swim out and around buoys and back to the beach
-keep every buoy on your right and swim around them and make RIGHT turns at all buoys
-you can draft off of other swimmers – but they said to keep in mind…if that swimmer is off course –SO ARE YOU!
-it is better follow a group
-you will have to look up and see where you are going every few strokes **this is something I never thought of – because when you are in a pool you can see where you are going, You can’t see ANYTHING in the river so you have to keep looking up! when we swam the ½ mile swim, I’d swim some then look up and I’d be completely off course! That was the most eye opening thing to me.
-if you are in a group of people – you will get kicked, splashed, hit with hands and feet of other people all over – it was a lot of fun when I lifted my head up to take a breath and the person right next to me was kicking – I got a mouthful of river water –not really what I wanted!
-when you jump into the river for your start HOLD ON TO YOUR GOGGLES!!! There were a few ladies that didn’t and they lost their goggles in the water…and there is NO FINDING THEM!! And you don’t want to be swimming without goggles! Another alternative to this is to put your goggles on under your swim cap...don't think I will do this but it was a good suggestion.
-They did say, that if you swim 20 strokes then look you should be good. That you shouldn’t go too off course in 20 strokes.

I went to a friends baby shower this weekend and their cousin does tri’s all the time. So I went and asked her what she didn’t know the first time she did one and what I need to know. Here is what she told me:

- have gum at your transition area after the swim – this was made evident to me on Saturday after getting out of the river and having a NASTY taste in my mouth
-have a bucket of water that you can dunk your feet into at the transition area too – you will be running out of the water and in either sand or mud and if you don’t get the dirt off of your feet you will have it in your socks and shoes the whole rest of the run.
- have a very bright obnoxious towel to drape over your bike so you can easily find your bike at the transition area
-try to get your bike at the end of a row – that way you only have to count rows to get to your bike – instead of rows and then bikes down the row

My friend Meg and I went for an hour bike ride on Monday morning too. So that was my first long bike ride outside and it went well. Don't know now about running a 5K after that, oh and after swimming too...but we'll just have to wait and see how that all goes in a few weeks...oh my gosh...A FEW WEEKS! Jimmy and I are going to do the same bike ride this Sunday after we come back from a friends wedding. Then I might make him jog a little with me...we will see...it all depends on how our first night away from Charley goes. I am guessing there will be a little drinking, so as long as my body handles that ok - I'll be riding and running on Sunday -- if not...oh, I don't want to think about the alternative of a hangover.

Like I said above I went for an hour bike ride yesterday (don't know how many miles, but am guessing at least 15) so I didn't have to get my butt out of bed to go to the gym which was nice. But I was up at the crack of dawn this morning and at the gym by 6am. Tomorrow I am shooting for the same, but a little earlier as Jimmy needs to leave for work by 630. Should be good to go, since I got a nice nap in with Charley from 630-815 when our neighbor came over and banged on our door...and made the dogs go nuts. At least they didn't wake Charley up...thank heaven.

Alright I need to go and get some laundry done and some other things I should have done -- like clean the kitchen...on the other hand, I think I'd rather just go to bed ;)

Adios :)

Day 2 and in need of some Major Caffiene!

Well...the other night I had a little break down…and decided I needed to get my butt into gear or I’d be one of those people who never gets rid of all of the baby weight and I told myself before I got pregnant with this little bugger that I wouldn’t do that.


So I decided to do what worked for me in the past – keep on with WW and get my butt out of bed at o’dark thirty and work out in the morning before ‘things came up’ ‘I was too tired’ or any other of the plethora of excuses not to go to the gym and work out. In the past this is how I got in what I’d like to call the best shape of my adult life so far. I caught my husband near the middle of this phase of working out in the morning and was wearing some cute smaller clothes when I did it. And boy was I lucky to get him. So I am going back to early morning workouts during the week. And I am now on day 2 – and freaking EXHAUSTED!

Yesterday, I had a little snafu but still got in a good 30 min. See we have a small gym here at work – 1 treadmill, 1 elliptical, 1 recumbent bike and a universal weight machine. So I came to work – got here at 540am to work out, well I was the first person here and forgot my key to the door. Damn. So I sat in the parking lot working on a baby blanket until the first person showed up that could get me in the door. That was just a few min after 6. So I got in, did 15 min on the elliptical and 15 on the treadmill running intervals and then showered and was at my desk by 715.

Today I remembered my key and had the new alarm codes…and was in the building at 545 – I got in 20 minutes on the elliptical and 20 minutes on the treadmill running intervals and then showered and was at my desk by 7. Perfect. I figured out how much time I’d need for a good 40 minute workout, shower, drying of the hair and all. So I am set – for the 2 days a week that I work, that is what I will be doing.

Now just to realize that I need to get my butt into bed before 1145pm. I mean Charley is in bed by 830 at the latest and bless her…she doesn’t usually wake up until 6am, so I don’t have to worry about her before I leave. So I just need to go upstairs and stop fiddling around all night doing who knows what and get in bed at a decent hour, so I don’t sit here at my desk nodding off in major need of a Diet Dr. Pepper. Ah.

Now for the 3 days a week that I don’t work, I am still going to get up. I am going to get up at the same time 430am and out of the house by 445 to be at the gym by 5 so I can workout and be home by 615 when Jimmy has to leave for work. So that is the plan…we will see how my timing goes tomorrow. I feel so much better (minus the tired) when I get up and work out. I feel like I have accomplished something, have less stress and I love that. So now I just need to remember that feeling.

Alright…I’m off!

My 1st Non-Charley Post Since She Was Born...

Well it is 3:20am Monday morning and I am up…and no Charley has nothing to do with it. I am sitting here right now, with one big 85 lb lab panting over my left shoulder and another 65 lb chocolate lab laying against my left side and panting. See a big line of thunderstorms decided to roll our way tonight and for some reason, 2 of our dogs are insanely afraid of thunder. They weren’t always afraid, but now they are and it is getting out of control.

Jimmy and I both would have never even known it rained, let alone thundered, if it wasn’t for the dogs jumping in our bed and trying to lay on top of us. So being the great wife that I am, I am downstairs with the dogs until the storm is over. (Jimmy has to work tomorrow, I don’t). So here I am getting drooled all over and trying to calm the dogs. I think the storm is about over…thank goodness, so I can go get back into bed. These dogs are lucky I love them lots! Has anyone out there ever had to deal with this? What did you do?

I asked the vet about it and they wanted to give me major sedatives for them. I am not big on that, because of all of the stairs we have in the house, I don’t want one of them getting hurt, plus they can take up to an hour to work, and with the short lived storms we have, that would be pointless. I have read online, that you are not supposed to coddle them, but then not punish them…so what do you do!? I try to just sit here and let them sit near me, but then I find myself talking nicely to them to make them feel comforted, so who knows. I just hope there aren’t many more storms in our near future…heck it could be worse, they could have some kind of destructive behavior that happens during storms. So maybe we are lucky.

Ok…the thunder seems to have lessened a lot, hopefully I can go back to bed…

I hope you all are getting a good nights sleep!!

Is it really JULY already??? And is my daughter already FOUR MONTHS OLD!?!

I can't belive how time is flying...Charley is already 4 months old! She had her 4 month appointment on Monday and she weighed in at 16lbs 9oz (95th percentile) and 26 1/4" long (95th percentile). So she is growing like a weed! She had her first taste of cereal last night...here is an example of how that went...

I think we laughed the entire time. She had fun too. I got this incredible machine from Willams-Sonoma called the Beaba Babycook. It is a baby food making machine. So easy to use! I love it. I have already made, peaches, pears, apple, zucchini, butternut squash, peas and carrots. You just cut up the veggies/fruits and if needed peel them and then steam them in the little basket then once they are steamed you dump them into the blender part and blend. It is a piece of cake! I then freeze the purees in ice cube trays then when they are frozen I transfer them to zip loc baggies. So we are set on baby food for a while! I just like that the food she is going to get will not have all of the preservatives in it and all. Now just to see if she likes it! After a few days on cereal we will start veggies, then fruit. Oh, the excitement that you have when you have a baby...boy do I feel old! :) But we are loving every minute of it!

I finally got to swim with Charley this week since I was sick last week. I had such a great time! She is still loving it! We only have 3 more weeks of classes, but we are going to the beach in September, so I think she will love going to the pool then. I think we will hold off until after we come back from the beach to sign her up for her second round of classes. Plus it will be cooler out so we will be looking for some indoor activities.

I got my workouts in this weekend. My plan was to do each part of the triathlon each day. So Friday it was stationary bike for 15 miles...my butt hurt all weekend!! That took me 54:30. Then Saturday I did run/walk/sprint intervals on the treadmill for the 5K and did that in 36 minutes. Then on Sunday I did the 1/2 mile swim...in 20 minutes. So now just to do more then one in a day. I am heading home to Wilmington next Wednesday to meet up with my girlfriend Megs who is also doing the tri and we are going to do the bike and a run back to back. So we'll see how that goes.

I also signed up for the swim clinic on the 12th of July which is in the Schuylkill River which is where the open water swim for the triathlon is. That is my one fear...or should I say apprehension about the whole triathlon is the feeling of the bottom of the river on my feet and the whole open water swim part. So at least I will have a chance to either realize my fear or get over it at the clinic. Megs also got into the clinic too, so at least I will have someone there to share my fears with!

Alright, enough typing for tonight...off to do some things that I really need to do...aka laundry.

Adios!