It is not 2018 anymore

I keep writing and/or typing 2018.  I think it is going to be a while 'til my brain realizes that it's 2019 everyday now.

Last night Max decided to pick out his jammies & this is what he picked.  I like his style.. with this plan he doesn't even NEED to get dressed in the morning.  Briliant!


Little girl is coming down with a bit of a cold. She actually woke up in the middle of the night last night and wanted to be all smiley, but by morning she had sniffles.  Hopefully it sticks to just a cold.  I was then woke up this morning around 5:00 and told to "get up". 5 is nearly too late for a legit run, but I hopped on the treadmill anyway and managed to sneak in a mile before work.  Better than nothing!  So that was the workout for the day!

And after kiddos were FINALLY in bed & lunches were made, I gave up on doing diapers tonight & made a cup of cocoa.  I made cauliflower soup tonight that was sort of a dud.  Turns out it needed lemon juice as I found out after we were done trying it out.. oh well, the biscuits were truly great.

My Garmin may be an antique by now

Yesterday my dad installed our water softener, which sounds simple, but the house was not built with any water softener hookup at all.  And he is not a plumber, so it involved quite a bit of pre-work before any pipes were sliced.  It has been a work in progress for a while!  So far I have not found any leaks & we have used all sorts of water-producing things (sink, shower, washer, etc) so I think he gets an A in his plumbing skills.  We are so lucky to have his help.  Our water is extremely hard in our new house and we are excited to see the difference it will make.

This is my awesome amazing Garmin that has been with me on almost all of my runs (and skis, and skates, and bike rides) since 2007 or 2008.  My first races I actually just used a regular watch with a timer.  And if I am honest, it is actually my 2nd identical Garmin 305 because my first perished after I left it on top of my car after a run one time.

Anyway, there have been so many new Garmins since mine & mine is getting trickier to upload - I literally have to connect a cord to my laptop in order to do this.  I am looking at the Garmin 635 and 935.. it will be a tough choice when I am ultimately ready to make the switch.  I love training by heart rate, so I definitely want one that can pair with a real heartrate monitor (not just a wrist check).  I am currently in the process of gathering recommendations from my runner friends.

Don't ever slice your finger in the wintertime.  Cleaning and dishes are hard enough on my hands this time of year - my finger is not interested in healing very quickly. I should probably get better about wearing my gloves/mittens outside & that may help.


It was taco night at our house tonight!

Meal planning notes and things

Jason has inquired to see what I am planning, recipe/food-wise for the week.  So I thought this would be a great place to post it.  I definitely do not always stick to the plan because sometimes things come up or things take too long, or sometimes we have too many leftovers so I don't need more food made.  But this is my plan that I use for getting groceries.
Note: we always pull out extra stuff like fruit, hummus, crackers, salads - in addition to the actual meal.  That helps me make sure the picky toddler eats SOMEthing.

Sunday: brunch-leftover soup from my mom
supper-tomatoey soup with chickpeas (at home)
+guacamole to bring to a friends gathering this evening
Monday: leftovers / spinach salad
Tuesday: tacos:seasoned shredded chicken OR beef
+ gardein crumbles, hard shells
+ toppings: salsa,lettuce,avocado,chips,cheese
Wednesday: creamy cauliflower soup
+ quick biscuits
Thursday: cereal night
Friday: roasted tomato pizza
+ pepperoni on half
+ mozzarella + oregano
+ sauteed mushrooms

The weeknights are all post-work, so easy is important.  Otherwise it won't happen and/or it will be done after everyone's had a slightly unhealthy supper of snacks.  As opposed to just a sizeable appetizer of snacks.

I used to make meat occasionally but I think now I am going to stick to just once a week.  I do not wish to eat meat myself, and my attempts at adding meat in didn't have great reviews anyway.  Maybe I'll add another one in - we will see!  I'm always trying to figure out what works best for meal planning with a little kids and crazy schedules!  Tips are welcomed...

The soups both contain a few different veggies in it, for flavor.  The tomato soup I plan to puree a little bit (LOVE my immersion blendeR) so it maintains it's tomatoey-soup-ness.  And I think the cauliflower one is just supposed to be pureed in the first place.

Here's to a successful start to the week!

My little buddies decided they both needed to nap at the same time, so here we are again, all sacked out in Max's bed.  It took a little longer, but I got them both sleeping.

Beautiful sunshiney day

Today was a great day.  It started out with showers for everyone - yay for getting clean sometimes.  Jason ran off to a meeting, but is still sick so didn't have much on his agenda other than spending time with the couch.
Then my Dad came over and picked up Max for an adventure to the nature center at the park reserve near our house.  Max also went over to Grandpa and Grandma's for a lot of the day afterwards & apparently had a ton of fun playing outside there too.

Eleanor and I got to hang out!  We went to a Christmas gathering with a whole bunch of my friends & had a fantastic time.  Since being a mom I love love LOVE getting out to talk to other adults.  Probably because it does not happen quite as much ha.  There was good food, some gift giving, and even more babies (a 9 month old and a 2 month old - plus a mom of a newborn, but newborn little boy stayed home).  I quick made up a bean dip to bring with tortilla chips.  After that, we went to Aldi for some groceries.  We even got in a quick walk down the block because it was like 40 degrees out today.  I look like I need more coffee here.


Max came back around 5:30 or so and my parents stayed to play for a little longer while I got some extra cleaning/laundry things done.

We ended the evening with dual bedtimes (Eleanor tends to go to sleep first) so we all got to read books together on Max's bed.

Happy Saturday!  Time for me to go to bed now.

How important is sleep anyway?

I am starting to think it is important..but it sure is a challenge to get in these days.  Last night both Max AND Eleanor were up numerous times so I basically spent the night going back and forth between rooms.  The next person to tell me they spent hours laying in their bed not sleeping may get slapped.  Kidding, of course, because I know that's tough too BUT I would love to have extra hours to spend in my bed & it feels like you must not be tired enough if you are not sleeping when you can.  I wonder if I could figure out some hack to function better on low sleep... because it's a little stressful to stress about not getting sufficient sleep.  That and I consume entirely too much coffee every day.  Hmm.. I may have to find out.

This chart from my Fitbit looks entirely too colorful!

Sock in my pocket and mysteriously sore arms

Today on my way in to work I realized my arms were a little sore..  Odd because I didn't do any workout this morning - I am taking a day off of my early run to try and kick the rest of this cold (it didn't get any worse so a tiny bit of sleep must have helped?).  Then I remembered the pushups.  My lame-o 5 fish floppy pushups made my arms sore!  Yikes I am bad at pushups.  So I took a quick break prior to a pump session & did 5 more.  I do have arm strength - I can carry my two year old around for an hour without any issue.  He's pretty light, but still that is something...

But apparently those are totally different muscles. I just looked it up.  Traditional pushups use triceps, pectoral muscles and shoulders. Kid carrying uses more biceps, plus shoulders & core.  Totally different.  Hooray for working on my triceps!

I wanted to throw a crockpot meal in today (I have one ready!) but I did not leave myself 2 minutes to throw it together.  So we will have that tomorrow.  Oh well!

Sock in my pocket = Eleanor wanted to make sure I didn't forget about her while I was at work today.

Random photos + we like trains

Lucky kiddo got TWO new train-type toys this Christmas.  One was a duplos animal train and then this one is a wooden train track set (from my brother) that even Jason has been enjoying. This is just one example of all the fun new things he got.

I did my 4am workout today, and not sure I should have...I contracted a cold - most likely the one my toddler's had for weeks.  He pretty And much just has a cold nonstop and I don't try to avoid it myself, because I like to think it gives me a better immune system to be exposed to that.  Not that I could avoid him coughing in my face or things like that - but I also let him continue to share my waterbottle and half the time we eat off the same plate (because if you give my toddler a meal, he will eat 2% and leave the rest..).
I am drinking my AC vinegar water, drinking LOTS of fluids, veggie soup, and plan to go to bed by 9 tonight if at all possible.  That should kick it ASAP.

A few random pictures to share today...
Eleanor trying out sitting in a chair. In her head saying, mom I am clearly not ready for this..

And a new truck outfit was the easy choice for New Year's Day after a morning swim in the bathtub.

Can't hide anything from this kiddo.  He pulled the stool over and found some treats hidden in the back of the cabinet.