Weekend Recap: we went skiing!

The highlight of my weekend was that I got to go skiing for the first time this season.  Friday morning we woke up to a bunch of snow.  It was weird because we got snow at our house, but on my way driving into work, the sketchy roads seemed to stop halfway there.  Apparently down by my work, they only got rain.  It did turn to ice so the parking lot was an ice rink.  But you can tell that my car here came from a different place..and this was at the END of the workday.


Saturday I hung out with the kiddos most of the day, and Jason was out.  My Dad came over to help & play, and by late afternoon I managed to get out for some groceries.  Saturday night I made two big lasagnas - one to freeze and one to bake (which we made Sunday night).  I also chopped up some veggies for an Indian-spiced crockpot meal, also for sometime this week.  I was trying to get some real food cooked up since I don't have extra time on weeknights.

Here is our skiing adventure!  Driving over to the trails at Elm Creek was beautiful:

We skied up to the trailhead to renew our passes & then hit the trails.  When we went in to grab passes, I actually ran into my cousin Jason & his family, so that was a fun surprise!

There was even enough snow on some of the non-snow-making trails, which is a special treat these days!  I got excited and really wanted to try the Lake loop, which apparently was a lot longer than Jason wanted to do, but he came with me anyway.  We also took a wrong turn towards the end and did a little 'bonus' loop that set his athleticism as a relatively-new skate skiier over the edge.  I think he had fun the first half?  We were out for about 10 minutes to get to the trailhead, and then another hour.  It was a beautiful day to be outside.

Trail conditions were pretty great.  The snow-making sections had much better coverage, but the Lake and Northern Lights were really good too - primarily leaves on the trails & only some sticks - no really dirty patches.  There were a few icy/crusty snow patches that made it easy for a ski to slip sideways, but not really any spots of pure ice.  I hope we get more snow so I can do the outer loop again!


Max gets to try skiing this year too.  We tested out the fit of his first skis that attach right onto his boots.


After we got home from skiing on Sunday we had more of my mom's sauerkraut-potato soup (yum!).  Plus some assorted dried fruits (mango,apricot,apple,pear,etc), strawberries, and a Christmas cookie or two (or three?).  And the Max got to open his Christmas presents from my parents.  This small little tractor was a BIG hit, as you can see from his face.


And because I didn't have a picture of Eleanor, here she is sleeping like an angel, half-swaddled.  Her crib is finally up for her to sleep in now too!

What day is it?

Happy Happy Tuesday!  I mean, what day is it?  It feels like a Tuesday but it is actually Thursday.  I am enjoying the slowish week at work (people off on vacay), but am getting a little thrown off by the days.


This is how Eleanor and I make supper happen in the evenings.  Tonight we turned our leftover eggplant caponata into a pasta sauce.  Plus some leftover bread from Jason's mom.  Yum!


Then we had bath time to play with our new bath crayons.

Eleanor loved hanging out with us for bath time too.

Merry Merry Christmas!

Merry 2nd Day of Christmas! I guess I took a few days hiatus there.  I also took a few days off of running over Christmas.  Consequently I have been getting a little crazy here.  Last weekend was a bit hectic getting things ready- but oh so fun at the same time.  And I was so proud of myself for getting all of my shopping errands done by Saturday afternoon.  That never happens.

Christmas Eve we played at our house all morning and Max took an early nap so we could make it over to church for a 3pm mass.  We went to a different church than usual since that time worked so well & I would definitely do that again next year.  Max was a little ball of energy, but that's normal, and we had fun meeting the people we sat next to as well.  Apparently I grabbed a picture of Eleanor, but Max was too busy for one..


Then we went home and waited for our guests to arrive.  Jason's parents came over, my mom stopped in for a little bit, and then one of my brothers came over later too.  We had an eggplant dip appetizer, then pasta e fagioli (soup), and fresh bread and carmel rolls (both compliments of Jason's mom). 

Max LOVED the new pickup truck he got.  We had fun!


Then more fun on Christmas Day.. Max was very excited to see his presents under the tree this morning.  He later investigated what happens when you hammer crackers on his workbench.  I showed him how it's better to hammer crackers in the living room if they are in a sealed plastic bag..


Eleanor liked her jumper too.

After a relaxing morning at our house, we drove down to see my family on my Dad's side at my cousins house.  There were a LOT of us there, and the noise level reflected that.  Eleanor had fun meeting everyone & Max loved watching the big kids play with their new remote control cars.  It's so fun watching them all play together.  I love family holiday get-togethers.  In fact, I would not be opposed to having family get-togethers for other random holidays like Valentine's Day.


Then a couple of random pictures:
My cousin had this great decorating idea that I am going to steal for next year!

Eleanor loves to kick so much that sometimes she kicks her way right out of her jammies. 


Love!

Weekend Recap... Christmas is coming!

Wow I love the weekend.  We crammed in quite a bit this weekend, but it was all fun stuff.

Friday night I went to a Christmas cookie exchange that a girl in my neighborhood setup.  I wanted to meet a few neighbors!  I came home long enough to make some supper & say hi to this little guy...

And then went off to exchange cookies!  Mine are the cornflake cookie wreaths.  I didn't care as much about the actual exchange, as the meeting of a few people - it was fun to hear some info. on our new neighborhood.  I think we will like living here.


Saturday I got out for a "long run" (a long run for me is currently 2.5 miles) and explored the path to the park near our house.  It turns out it is not really a path, but more of a construction zone for future houses that you can cut through, leading to a street that DOES lead directly up to the park.  So it was somewhat of an adventure run! It will be easy to get to when there is low-snow, or in the spring.

Later on Saturday, Eleanor and I went to my cousin's wedding & Jason and Max got to spend some quality time at home again.  The wedding was over in Stillwater at an old shoe factory building & it was very fun - though shockingly loud so we were tired by the time we headed out at 9/9:30.


Sunday after church, we put on comfy clothes and just hung out for a while...because there was more fun Sunday night! Our old church had a Live Nativity that we participated in as Joseph, Mary & baby Jesus.  A Live Nativity is where they have real people playing the roles of the Holy Family, shepherds, angels, townspeople - and even real animals (camel, sheep, etc).  Max came down too with my parents, so he did not miss out.  The 40 degree temperature made it a great night for an outdoor event.


What a weekend!  I think I need to take advantage of next weekend for the details of Christmas prepping...shopping and all.  I have done about 5% of my Christmas shopping, which is absolutely normal for me at this time.

Early Running Progress...

Day 2 and Day 3 of the new routine (back to work) and I woke up early again to run both days.  I almost didn't yesterday because my little guy had been up for a while & I was working on getting him back to sleep.  But he was totally settled down so he didn't really need me - he just thought he did... so he was either going to go to sleep, or sit in his bed complaining.  Jason ended up coming to his rescue, so he did go back to sleep for a while before we had to wake him up to get dressed.  And then today was difficult because I had not been up so much so was in this weird place where I was actually in a deeper sleep... crazy!

This morning's podcast was a new one I've been listening to lately - 'I'll have Another' with Lindsey Hein.  It was a panel of a few runners from some event & it was really interesting to hear their varying perspectives on running and stories of different experiences. Also fun to hear their goals, what they have already accomplished, and how they treat disappointment or challenges in life and running.  There were a few marathoners, and an ultramarathoner - which was perfect considering I have yet to determine what my next goal is.  I am waffling between:
(a) Grandma's marathon - or another marathon.  I love marathon training.
(b) Spring Trail long distance race. I live near Elm Creek, so have access to trails.
(c) Work on speed & do a half marathon, or shorter distance.  It's always more fun to run faster.

It is difficult to pick something now because I feel so so far away from any goal.  I am currently at a whopping 1.5 miles each morning..and I started at an 11 minute mile pace with my initial runs, now am about 9:15ish pace.  It does still feel pretty hard, but I think much of that is also getting used to the treadmill.  Next week I am hoping to work back to TWO miles at about a 9 minute mile pace.  Big runner here!  I keep telling myself that I've got to start somewhere..  The great thing is that I have a treadmill for this post-partum running phase - with my first time getting back to it, I relied on a little bit of skiing on weekends & then waited until February to start running outside (still snowy, but more daylight).  That worked okay, but once I got into marathon training it was almost impossible to get any mid-week runs in.

I am always excited to go pickup my little sweeties this afternoon.  The next few days I will have lots of time with Eleanor and Max gets to hang out with Jason (speaking of, maybe I should grab them some 'treats' or something..)  After supper last night, Eleanor and I are went to hang out with some friends for a bit.  Here is a random picture of Eleanor attempting some artwork.


And Eleanor's daycare diapers arrived yesterday afternoon!  Finally!  It took a few weeks for them to arrive.  I quick threw them in the wash last night, so she could use them today.  They are pretty adorable..


I think the cows or the owls diapers are my favorite!

Big Day Back

I am back at work today!  My morning commute went well, though I definitely need the full 45 minutes.  It took me exactly 40 minutes and I think it was a good/low traffic commute.  My awesome boss brought in some delicious goodies to welcome me back.  This cube of snacks is right next door to my cube, so it's like I have my own personal snack bar today.


I did a quick treadmill workout this morning, just to prove I could, in fact, wake up at 4:30/4:45 am and get one in.  It wasn't too bad.  I think it almost helps that I wake up so much during the night (2x for Max and 2x for Eleanor last night) because it's no big deal to wake up when I don't necessarily want to in the morning, for a run.  I started a podcast on my run, which also made it super easy to just hit 'play' again once I was in my car (because by that time I had zero extra minutes to sort through possible podcast options).

At work, now my favorite (*sarcasm*) thing to do is go hang out in this room and pump.  I get to do it twice a day!  This time around (second baby), I am going to leave my pumping bag at work and just transfer the milk each day..it will mean one less bag to lug around.

This is the time when I might take a quick 5 minutes to type these up and/or add photos, which makes it a bit less dreadful.  I will obviously save any longer posts with more content for the evenings or weekends though - gotta get as much work as possible done while I am here!

Here's my baby girl, all happy to see me after her morning at daycare yesterday.  We stopped by my parents before heading back to get Max & picked up some treats... fresh banana(w/zucchini) bread, some snickerdoodles for me, and some gingersnap cookies for occasional treats for Max.


Max has had this hat for a few months now, but he never wears it - he makes his bear wear the hat.  But last night he decided to actually put the hat on HIS head, so I had to capture the moment.  He also got to check out the backgammon board with Daddy, and he thought all of the pieces were pretty fun.

Now back to my work!

End of Maternity leave = last chaotic change. At least for now.

I go back to work full time tomorrow, which means (a) I no longer have flexibility over my day and (b) I officially am on a low-sleep plan to manage my happy little life.  I have so enjoyed my time away and with my family, and am totally not the kind of person who gets excited about going back to work AT ALL.  However, I am grateful I have a good job, and they pay me... soooo back to work I go!  Haha, and I do love many of my coworkers!  I'll have a new longer commute from our new house (hooray for podcast time!) and a new routine at home with two kiddos that will be dropped off by Jason in the mornings.

Also I DID wake up early to get a quick run in on the treadmill.  I'm still at small mileage post-baby (ridiculously small.. like 2 miles), but I am going to stay there and work on speed a little bit.  My last pregnancy I did the opposite, and for me, running is a bit more fun when I can run faster than a 10 minute mile.  So far I am back closer to 9 minute mile (my previous long run pace) for those 2 miles.  Plus the short-speedy run is a little easier to wake up at 4:30 for!  And then I have a full hour after to get myself and the kiddos ready, before I leave for work.  Here is my lovely sleepy/sweaty post-run self.


Yesterday evening we found the magnets in a box, so played with those for a bit.  And Max showed me a magnet I forgot about that probably was a little small to be a great toddler toy (it's now hidden).  And he also showed me how he can access our knife block (also moved) and unscrew containers that contain messy ingredients.  He's helpful like that.


And Eleanor did her bedtime story on her tummy.


This afternoon Eleanor and I will run a couple of errands, make cookies for a neighborhood cookie exchange later this week, and probably do a little bit more cleaning and organizing and laundry around here (surprising, I know..).

Eleanor leaves the nest: daycare Day 1

So my sweet girl went to daycare today for the first time.  I am sad our time together has come to a close, but I know she will learn so much at daycare & will enjoy being around new friends and babies.  I actually have two days left of maternity leave, so I am not leaving her there all day.  I knew she would have a learning curve with using bottles for really the first time she's *needed* to so I thought a couple half days would be helpful.  Plus then my goal was to get a TON done around here to prepare for going back to work.


About that getting a TON done...first I had to drop her off this morning because we all woke up late and Jason was not going to stick around to chat with them about her first day when he needed to get to work.  Then I did a big Target run, then came home for about an hour, pumped, & then had to go BACK out again because Jason signed me up for an errand.  Then, I came back home after that, to quick make a few muffins for Max daycare food..  and now I am typing this, only to leave in another 10 minutes to go back to get Eleanor.  After that, I'll run off to Fleet Farm to pick up some sand for our sidewalk (because I believe in sand over salt), come home for maybe another hour of taking care of Eleanor, and then I am off to get Max!  Yikes I guess I got a few things done, but certainly not much of what I intended.  Typical.:)

Here are my pretty muffins.. blueberry muffin base, plus applesauce and spinach and flax, topped with some pretty raw sugar.  I intend to use them as lunch muffins since Max has been very tempted to eat his friends' lunches lately.


Tomorrow I might just wake up ridiculously early.  I only slept in late today because my phone fell out of my pocket in Eleanor's room & then I went back to Max's room to get him to sleep at 2 or whatever o'clock in the morning.  However I also stay up late to pack lunches and bottles and get bags together.  I think I am going to experiment with sleep amounts: balancing adequacy of sleep with adequacy of time to get everything accomplished in my limited 24 hour days.  *I almost typed 40 hour days - that's either a slip based on how much I have to do, or an indication of how much sleep I did not get last night.  For this week, I am thinking a bedtime of 11ish, and a wake time of 4:15/4:30ish sounds great.  Unless Max gets up early, which would mean I will try to get him back to sleep until 5 so he gets some rest.  I will report back whether that was actually a success!!!  Wish me luck.

It's beginning to look slightly Christmasy

Max helped me get up the Christmas tree over this past weekend & it officially has lights and some decorative garland.  I do still need to add ornaments, but since it's still Advent, I am going to hold off a bit more on those.  I like to keep my tree up waaaay beyond Christmas, so there is no hurry.  Max loves getting all festive by decorating himself with bead garland.


Jason bought us this nice wreath for our front door, so our neighbors won't think we are scrooges.  No lights this year, because we JUST moved.  I do think the lovely wreath needs some TLC from someone other than myself.

A couple photos from a busy Monday!

Lots of errands to be run this week! Monday evening we made some quick tacos for supper.  Max really enjoys putting his own pepper on his food.  I didn't know the tacos needed more pepper, but he showed me they needed quite a bit.

I guess I also let him eat supper with his coat on...

Ms Eleanor also got in some tummy time to show off how strong she is getting!

New appliances and How to move a treadmill

Hey I went MIA for a bit post-move!  We did not have internet for quite some time.  I purchased this washer and dryer on Black Friday and my dad helped us get them all hooked up - they are officially in business!  Cloth diapers can be cleaned in our home once again.  And apparently it is an excellent spot to store our 'car' and our 'choo choo'.


My dad also cut a few holes in one of the boxes to create a clever little playhouse for Max.  I seem to recall having one of these when I was little...


This past weekend my brothers came over to help us get the treadmill to it's home in our extra room downstairs.
Here is the furthest Jason and I could get it by ourselves...we just tried picking it up from the garage and moving it slowly.  Total fail - I also probably don't have quite enough arm strength as would be ideal for moving something so enormous!  We gave up and it lived in our entryway for a few days.


My brothers & Jason moved it back outside to go around the house & through our patio door downstairs.  They chose that route since the width of the treadmill makes it so that you have to twist it to go through any door; meaning the stairway down makes things a bit tricky.
They had a couple of moving straps (these kind) on it for extra support - and two guys at the motor-end of the treadmill & one at the other end.  They did still need to twist it through doorways, and that was a tough part because the straps also shift when you do that.  Then we laid out a bunch of giant cardboard boxes over the carpet so they could bring it inside from the snow without getting the carpet full of snow or dirty.
I also had the treadmill mat laid out & ready for them to place it as soon as they got it through that final room door.  And here is it's new home!


Now I can run indoors again!  I am still working through the best way to keep Max safely entertained if he gets up early while I run.