One Year

23 Jan

I know this is cheesy, but today I light a virtual candle in memory of my healthy knee.  One year ago today was my fateful fall where I tore my ACL, MCL and meniscus.  I think back on that time, remembering how trying it was having my mobility taken away from me, and what a long road the recovery has been, and continues to be.

Overall, I am thankful.  I am thankful I had great health insurance.  I am thankful that I have one year of recovery behind me, and hopeful that I won’t have to endure something like that again.

We have finally received snow here.  While my husband is up enjoying the fresh powder, I am patiently resisting the urge to ski, knowing my knee just isn’t ready for powder yet.  In the meantime, I’m happy to be mobile, able to keep up with my kids, able to participate in outings and family dance night, and able to work up a good sweat at the gym.

Having a significant injury changes you.  Hopefully in this past year, my children have witnessed bravery in the face of challenges, and I am a better person for the challenges that I have overcome.

Evacuated

20 Jan

Yesterday as I was leaving the gym, the second I went outside I could smell smoke.

Sh!t. Was my first thought.

Reno hasn’t had any significant preciptation for several months.  We had a horrible fire two months ago when a storm was blowing in and we had high winds.

Yesterday, the fates aligned again with a storm blowing in, high winds, and a fire.

I came back to my office to look up online where the fire was, and it was in Washoe Valley, just south of where we live.  I wasn’t too worried until I got an update a few hours later saying that Callahan, a neighborhood one road up the hill from us, was being evacuated.

I decided to go work from home at 3pm, as I wanted to be close to the kids if our neighborhood was evacuated.  Turns out that was a very smart move.

At about 4:30, I decided perhaps I should once again (as I did two months ago when the last fire hit) gather up some of our important paperwork.  I went up to the office, and happened to look out the front window.  I saw two of my neighbors gathered talking to a stranger.  It didn’t take me long to figure out they were talking to a firefighter.

I ran down the stairs and out of my house to find my next door neighbor, who does after care for my daughter was packing up and about to drive away.  I quickly got my daughter from them, and as I was walking to get my son, the firefighter came up to me and said the area was being evacuated.

She looked into our garage and asked if we were taking our dog with us.  I said we were (mentally anguishing the stress on our 16 year old lab), and she tied a blue ribbon on our door, marking that we were evacuating.

That was when it started to feel REAL.  About that time, I turned and saw the flames coming down the hill towards our neighborhood.

People often talk about what they would take in the event of a fire, and I can just say after packing up one suitcase for all 3 of us, our 90 pound dog and a pack and play, there really wasn’t much room in the car for anything big.

I grabbed an empty box and filled it with photo albums, baby books, birth certificates and passports.  I brought one change of clothes for each person, and the favorite loveys for each kid.  I threw it all in the car, and started to back out of the driveway.

There were so many people evacuating at the same time that I had to wait a few minutes before I could back out of our driveway, and then the main street in/out of our neighborhood was jam packed with people evacuating and emergency responders and news crews driving in.

As I drove down the foothill, there were flames approaching our neighborhood from two directions.  As much as I didn’t want to freak the kids out, I couldn’t help but saying, “Oh, my God…   Oh, my God…”

I drove straight to my brother’s house, and this is what the hill by my house looked like from his neighborhood.

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We turned on the news at my brother’s house, and the news announced that flames had reached the high school by our house.  That high school is really CLOSE to our house.  We walk there all the time.  About this time was when I realized I was shaking.

My phone was ringing and buzzing with texts as people offered me places to stay.  The one person I wasn’t hearing from was my husband, who had left his cell phone at home, and whose car wasn’t at his office when I drove by on my way to my brother’s house.

The kids and I ate dinner there, and I kept calling his office, only to get his voicemail.  I knew in my gut that he was OK, but couldn’t imagine why on earth he hadn’t tried to get ahold of me.

I finally got a call at 7pm (two hours after being evacuated) from a strange cell phone.  He had been in South Lake Tahoe (in a snow storm) all day, and didn’t realize there was a massive fire until he drove into Carson City.  He stopped at a fast food restaurant and asked the cashier if he could use their phone to call me.

The road in between Carson City and Reno was shut down, so he had to seek refuge at a friends’ house in that area.  I ended up going to my friend Annie’s house, as she had enough bedrooms to accommodate the kids and I, as well as our poor old dog Shadow.

I was rather afraid all this excitement might be too much for old Shadow, but he hung in there through two changes in venue last night.

I didn’t sleep much.  By the time I went to bed, I was pretty sure our house would be OK, but it was still disconcerting.  This morning, our area was considered still evacuated, but I called a neighbor to find out that they were home and people were returning to there houses throughout the neighborhood.

No homes in our neighborhood burned, but over 20 did in the neighboring valley.  Reno has been struck by so many tragedies in the last year.  Can we just get some significant preciptation and a bit of a break, starting NOW?

Bad Mom

12 Jan

Oh, what a morning it was.

Everything started normal.  I woke up to the sound of the kids chattering happily in the living room.  I go out to see them, exchange hugs, get Little Man dressed and oversee Little Miss getting dressed.  I then ask them what they want for breakfast, and pour out the cereal and milk that they selected.

That’s when things started to go downhill.

“I want MORE milk,”  Little Man whined.  He does this practically every morning, wanting more of something he hasn’t yet started to eat, and I know darn well he will likely not eat more than I originally give him.

“Eat what I gave you, and then I’ll give you more,” I responded.

That launched him into a tantrum.

Right about that time, Little Miss was asking me questions and I was mindlessly trying to answer them while starting to get lunches ready.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?” she yelled at me.

I honestly didn’t know.  I was on auto-pilot, not yet completely awake, and my whole mind was fogged by the tantrum raging a few feet away from me.

I told her I couldn’t remember what I said, and she kept demanding me to tell her what THAT WORD meant.

“What word?”  I ask.

“That one that I didn’t know.”

“I don’t know which word you’re referencing,” I respond.

That launched her into a fit.

About this point, I picked up Little Man, took him to the rocker, and tried to console him.  That’s when he flailed and knocked his head on my lip really hard, and well, that is when this tired Mom lost her patience.

I put him down, went to my room, and shut the door, intending to get ready for work in peace.

Of course, they followed me.  Two crying, wailing kids following me and grating on my last nerve.

“YOU DEAL WITH THEM,” I told my husband angrily, who was still mocking sleep in bed.  He chose to ignore the whole situation, and it just continued to spiral from there.

I feel horrible, but I’m human.  There is only so much I can handle in the wee hours of the morning while I’m trying to get kids up and ready, and under the pressure of preparing for my own workday.

It has pretty much tainted my entire day.  Days like these, I want to just go back to bed and curl up under the covers, hiding from the world.  But, here I am at work, putting on a brave face, and hoping that things go smoothly when we all return home this evening.

Please tell me I’m not the only one with Bad Mom experiences such as this.

Dragon Slaying on the Slopes

10 Jan

The past two weekends, we have been going skiing as a family of four.  That is really special to me, considering my knee injury last year, and the fact that it is Little Man’s first ski season.

But ski outings with a two year old aren’t easy.  This is how it has gone the past four outings:

1.  We suggest skiing, and he gets all excited, saying, “I want to ski!”  He is happy the entire ride to the ski area.

2.  We get there, and once we get the jacket, helmet, goggles and gloves on him, he melts down.  This is about the time I send JB to the slopes with Little Miss, and I get to deal with the screaming toddler.

3.  I’ve learned we head to the lodge at this point, where he writhes around on the ground and cries for at least a half an hour.  This last week, he collapsed just feet outside the entrance to the lodge.  A man walking by with his two kids starts saying, “Man down, Man down!”

People in ski lodges think a kid throwing a tantrum in ski gear is REALLY funny.  I am pretty much over it.  I tend to grab a camera, take a few pics for future blackmail purposes, and then I sit down about 10 feet away from him until he snaps out of it.

Right after this picture was taken, I ran into my former boss.  It is a bit embarrassing to have your kid losing his s*#t on the floor.

This past weekend, after 30 minutes of flailing, Little Man came up to me and said, “I want to go see the dragons.”

Dragons?  I’ll roll with it.  “Let’s go, then,” I said.  “You need a helmet to protect you from the dragons, and the goggles will keep the fire off of your eyes.”

So then, we head to the chairlift looking for the dragons.  Whatever works, I’ll do it.

Of course the snow conditions here have been hideous — all man made at this point.  They’ve been making snow during the day, and I’m pretty sure he thinks the snow guns are the dragons.

4.  After he snaps out of his tantrum, things are fine.  He likes to ride the chairlift, and makes hilarious noises we’ve dubbed his ski noises, which usually include squeaks and squawks.  He’s a little trooper after he gets over his initial issues.

Last night, he told us that he wanted to take his basketball skiing, but that he’d hold on to it really tight so that the dragons wouldn’t get it.

JB said he’s going to take Little Man skiing on Sunday while I’m in Disneyland with our daughter.  I’m curious to see if he’ll pull this stuff with Daddy, and if he does, what Daddy’s reaction will be to a half hour tantrum.

Disneyland Bound

6 Jan

I’m taking Little Miss to Disneyland one week from tomorrow.  She has NO idea.  Sometime in the next week, I have to figure out a way to let her in on this early birthday present, and my main goal is to COMPLETELY BLOW HER MIND.

I’ve been trying to bait her for this experience.

“If there was one place in the world you’d like to go, where would it be?” I asked.

“Albuquerque to see Grandma.”

OK, well that is a good answer, and I’m not going to debate that.

I’ve also told her that she’s not having a big party this year because she is getting a SUPER HUGE PRESENT.

It’s just going to be us two traveling.  JB isn’t interested in Disneyland, and I don’t want to take a 2 year old there…  It would be so much harder to deal with nap times and tantrums, and height limits with only one adult to manage the two kids.  Little Miss is tall enough for almost all of the rides, and we’re going to hit the big kid rides one after another.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to tell her about an hour before we need to leave the house.  That way, I announce it, we pack her bags, and zoom, off to the airport!  I’ll definitely videotape the reveal, as I had no idea, but there are countless videos on YouTube of parents surprising their kids with Disney trips.  Who knew?!

I went to DisneyWorld for my college Spring Break when I was a senior.  I remember saying after that trip that I didn’t see many happy kids there, and that I didn’t plan to take my kids to Disney resorts.

But now that I’m a Mom, and I know how much this would blow her mind, and I am pretty sure (fingers crossed) that she is mature enough to handle 2 days at DisneyLand without a meltdown, I’ve changed my mind.  For Little Man’s sake, let’s hope this goes well, and that I don’t swear off future trips to the happiest place on earth.

Getting Back Up On That Horse

3 Jan

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We went up to Mt. Rose three times over the holiday break to get the kids skiing.  The first two times, I simply helped shuttle kids and equipment to JB, who was working patiently with both of them.

Mt. Rose where where I injured myself, and from where I stood, I could see the scene of the accident, where I fell within sight of the lodge and the lower mountain, and had to ride a snowmobile down to the ski patrol.

Yesterday, I finally got up the courage to try skiing again.  The doctor told me I could ski 9 months after surgery, and to start slow.

Eleven months, three weeks after my initial injury, and nine months, two days after my surgery, I made my return to skis.  I did three beginner runs, and got to ski with the hubby and both of my kids.

I still have a lot of work to do to get back to “normal”, if that will be possible, but the first major hurdle in conquering my fears has been cleared.

All She Wants For Christmas

21 Dec

My daughter’s top tooth came out last night, and I immediately filmed her singing this song. Merry Christmas!

All She Wants For Christmas

21 Dec

Madelynn’s top tooth came out last night, and I immediately filmed her singing this song. Merry Christmas!

Gimpy Momma Goes To Gimp Class

20 Dec

Six weeks ago, I started a class at the Reno Orthopedic Clinic designed to help people recovering from injury (me!) prepare for ski season.

Before heading to the first class, I thought I was doing really well with my recovery.  I thought I was ready to ski — after all, the doctor said I could ski 9 months after surgery, and I was walking up to 6 miles a day, and even starting to run.

The first night of class, we did an assessment, which included measuring how far we could jump with both legs, and then single leg jumps.  The results were eye-opening.  My left leg could hardly jump at all, and jumping was very initimidating for me.  I left class that night, and melted into tears in the car, feeling frustrated that I still had a long ways to go, and a lot of work ahead of me.

I don’t think I realized how much work this would be after I completed the initial physical therapy.  But thanks to this class, I got direction on how to start pushing my knee and strenghtening it through a lot of different balance exercises.  The physical therapist teaching the class told me two things:

1.  I am NOT ready to ski.  I have a lot of work to do before I should even try, or else I risk injuring myself again.  In fact, she told me I am NOT ready to run.  I’m favoring my left knee so much that I could do more harm than good by running.

2.  I need to work my left leg every day. She told me to go to the gym daily and do only left leg exercises.  I must look like a dork, but that is exactly what I’m doing.  I guess I look no more dorky than I did getting into the gym on crutches and using the arm bike.

Last night was the last night of our class, and I have made a ton of progress.  So much that the PT leading the class hugged me after measuring my gains.  The goal of the class was to “close the gap” of the performance of my injured leg compared to my good leg.  The gap is definitly smaller, but there is still a significant gap to close.

I think reading all the knee injury forums of people with ACL repairs gave me the idea that it was more of a time constraint to recovery than actual strength and agility exercises daily.  I think I’m now realizing that my injury, with MCL, meniscus and ACL damage was more severe than the typical ACL tear, and hence, it is going to take longer to get back to normal.

Part of me wonders if I ever will get back to normal.  I’m determined.  I work it every day.  But the idea of skiing like I used to ski scares me to death right now.  It is sad, but I am at least thankful that I have so much of the recovery behind me.  I’m thankful that I can actually break a good sweat and work aggressively at the gym (as it wasn’t so long ago when I was relegated to the arm bike with senior citizens picking up on me).

I’m looking forward to 2012.  2011 was hard for me.  So hard.  I had some significant blows this year.  Granted, there was a lot of good (just look at my two adorable children to see how much GOOD there is in my life), but truly, 2011 can suck it and go down in the history books.

Fun With An Elf

14 Dec

My mom purchased The Elf on the Shelf for us four years ago. For the first several years, I dutifully moved the elf every night, and it was pretty fun.

But this year, I started seeing fun ideas online, and I have really stepped up the mischief that our elf pulls. Here are a few shots of the hilarity, including painting the bathroom mirror, and the kids noses, and then being found with a paintbrush, hanging underwear and diapers on the tree, fishing for Goldfish crackers in the toilet, and drawing funny faces on a family portrait. Our elf even brought them Christmas pjs to wear on our Polar Express train ride.

One Sunday, I overheard Little Miss begging Bethaniel to play hide and go seek with her.  I told her that perhaps if she went to count in her room while he hid, he would play, as he didn’t want her to see him move.  I kept that girl busy for well over an hour playing hide and seek with her elf.  It was hard to keep a straight face, but she was really good at finding all of the funny places I hid that doll.

Wondering what I can do that will top all of this…  I’ll be using sites like this for ideas.  Bwahahahahaha…..

Bethaniel the Elf

1 Dec

I’m tired.  As much as I love long holiday weekends, the week afterwards just seems interminably long.  After returning from the Bay Area around midnight on Monday morning, we were slammed back into reality.  On top of this adjusment, my daughter was begging me to set up the Christmas tree (as she just LOVES to play with Christmas ornaments).

I finally caught my breath around Wednesday evening, so I set up the tree with the kids after dinner.  I got the box of ornaments out, and Little Miss immediately opened it, and within a split second, Little Man had grabbed two ornaments and broke them (one being a glass ornament we got on our honeymoon in Venice).

As I was getting our fake tree out of the shed, I stumbled upon our Elf on the Shelf, which Little Miss named Bethaniel when she was two.  I decided he would make a magical appearance as we set up the tree, but also needed to sneak him into the house without the kids seeing him.

So I shoved the elf down my pants, and lugged the Christmas tree into the house.

I had that darn elf down my pants for at least 10 minutes until the kids were out of sight for me to place him in the house.

Almost as if on cue, Little Miss asks me, “when is Bethaniel going to come?”

Totally winging it, I said, “well, have you done the magical dance to ask him to come?”

“No.”

I told her to turn in a circle three times, while chanting, “Bethaniel come play, Bethaniel come play, Bethaniel come to our house today!”

She then found Bethaniel in his new spot, and was thrilled by the magic of it all.

I was pretty smug about how magical I was until the next morning, when Little Miss woke up her brother at 6am to look for that darn elf.

Last night I put the elf in her room after she was asleep.  She woke me up at 3am because she had a nightmare.  (Side note:  she keeps having nightmares about Miss Trunchbull from the Roald Dahl book Mathilda.  Perhaps that wasn’t a great book to read to her in hindsight…)  I go upstairs with her, find her light on, and she says, “do you like my room?  I cleaned it because Bethaniel was watching.”

Yes, she was cleaning her room at 3am.

Anyway, I’m rather tired today from her late night escapades, but it is fun making Christmas magical for my kiddos.

Emerging from The Storm

11 Nov

Last week was pretty bad at our house. It all started Monday morning at about 5am, when Little Miss woke me in tears, saying that her tummy hurt.

And with that, the flu had entered our house.

I worked from home with her Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, which meant the poor little sick girl ended up watching movies in the morning and taking a nap in the afternoons while I participated in conference calls in my pjs. (What, a nap for an almost 6 year old, you ask?! I made up the rule for her that if she is too sick to go to school, she must take a nap. I think it aids in healing, and it also helps this Mom get some work done while she sleeps!)

Wednesday night, I picked up Little Man from daycare, noticed he had a fever, and he puked on me shortly after we got home. He puked on me four times in the last week. I am SO over being puked on. I swear, that is one of the grossest trials of motherhood.

Thursday morning, I woke up realizing that the flu had taken me as a victim as well, and then JB got up and announced he was sick, too. I was too sick to work. We all four wallowed in our misery together all day Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. JB and I were sick enough that at a few points, we slept during the day while the children played in the family room and we hoped for the best. Nothing went horribly wrong, but at one point, I did catch them trying to stand on the kitchen table “because they thought that would be fun.”

Or in other words, my daughter thought it would be fun, and convinced her brother it would be as well.

Two members of the family are on antibiotics, and all of us are finally on the mend. We all lost weight, and we all slept A LOT. I have to say that one of the toughest parts of motherhood that I have experienced is being so sick myself, but still expected to nurture two little ones that are sick as well. I felt like I was pulled in too many directions last week — my body giving out on me, my kids needing me, and deadlines slipping at work.

I’m just glad it’s over. Sorry for the lapse in posting, but now you understand the reason!

Two Wheelin’

25 Oct

Two months ago, my husband took off my daughter’s training wheels and they made a few attempts at her trying to learn to ride on two wheels. It didn’t go well, and neither of them was interested in trying again for quite a while. I also assumed that with my bad knee, I wasn’t the best person to help her, as I couldn’t run along beside her very well.

Two weeks ago, I was hanging out with a friend who has a daughter the same age, and she let me in on a magical training technique.

“Put her on a steep driveway, have her put her feet out to the side, and tell her to wiggle her bottom to balance the bike.” Then, you just have her ride towards you and you catch her.

Well, this was something even a Gimpy Momma could do! I could catch her! We started on a Saturday, and by Sunday, she was riding on her own.

I also used some positive visualization techniques I learned at a seminar a few years ago. The speaker had said that your brain will do what you concentrate on, so concentrate on what you want to do, NOT what you don’t want to do.

I used this with my daughter, looking her in the eyes, and saying, “you can do this. You’re a biker.”

I’d then have her repeat to me what she was going to concentrate on, “pedal, pedal, pedal, then push back to brake and put my feet down.”

It worked! It worked so well! It was exhilerating being the one to teacher her. It was as exciting as her first steps! Being a parent is truly a wonderful experience. I came back to work that Monday thinking that teaching her to ride her bike felt just as much of an accomplishment as my graduate degree or getting a promotion at work.

Two Wheelin'

Riding without training wheels!

Volunteering at School — An Eye Opening Experience

13 Oct

Today I volunteered at my daughter’s new elementary school in her kindergarten class. She was so excited to have me in her class. She was clamoring to hug me, hold my hand, etc., and I couldn’t help but think that someday in the not too distant future, she would be too embarrassed to enjoy my presence at her school.

When I showed up, the kids were working on projects in small groups. The teacher said I could help Little Miss’ group, so I sat down with her and four other children. It didn’t take me long to feel the tension coming from a girl that my daughter talks about daily (very admiring, I must add). We’ll call her Susie.

“Little Miss won’t do as she is told,” Susie complained. She then said that they were supposed to have one child be the teacher and the other should be the student. But I noticed that the boys were not approaching the task that way. They were working together just fine as peers.

There was several minutes of back and forth, where Susie kept trying to direct my daughter, and my daughter kept doing her own thing. And then, my daughter said very matter of factly, “you are not the boss of me.”

It wasn’t confrontational. It was strong. It was empowered. My heart swelled with pride.

Susie melted into tears. I’m sure it looked to the teacher like I made the girl cry. I did my best not to crack a smile, but to try to redirect Susie, but she was ANGRY. She kept focusing on how my daughter was “being mean to her”. Susie finally got pulled aside by the teacher and had to move her clip down (how the kids are rated on their behavior in class each day). Moving your clip down means you get a note from the teacher to send home to your parent.

Susie was even angrier after this, saying my daughter got her in trouble.

This is the girl my daughter has raved about daily, saying she plays with her all the time. I’m thinking Susie is trouble, but am not sure I can or should intervene.

The rest of the volunteering went well, and I even got to escort the class to lunch (ironically during National School Lunch week). After watching Jamie Oliver for two seasons, I was curious to see the situtation of our school’s lunch. It wasn’t horrible, but I would clasify it as lacking. Some of the covered stuff that just get heated up looked like quite a mystery to me, and the lettuce was all iceburg.

But what I found really appalling was looking at what all of the kids had in their packed lunch. SO much processed food. Little Debbies, chips, white bread, Capri Suns… I’m starting to think I am much more anal about healthy food than your normal parent.

But thankfully, my daughter still likes the healthy food I pack for her, although she leaps at the opportunity for junk food when she is at someone else’s house.

Oh, well. I’ll do my best and hope she’ll end up making wise choices.

Happy Anniversary To Me

3 Oct

Yesterday was my 10 year anniversary of moving to Nevada. That means I can now call myself a true local, right?

I mentioned this factoid to JB yesterday, and he laughed, saying I have more random anniversaries in my head.

But this one is important to me. It was a huge turning point in my life. If I hadn’t made the decision, I wouldn’t have met my husband, and I wouldn’t have my two wonderful kiddos.

I flew to Reno first class, with my cat Murray in a cat carrier under the seat. I arrived when it was dark, so the next morning, I ventured out to the grocery store, and I remember standing in the parking lot of Wal Mart, turning in circles, thinking I am SURROUNDED by mountains! After four years of living in the midwest, I longed to be near the mountains again.

10 years later, I still absolutely love Reno. I love the small town feel of the community, I love the weather, I love the mountains, I love being by Lake Tahoe and all kinds of ski resorts… This place is amazing. The funny thing is that often people that don’t live in Reno assume it’s just a cheesy little gaming town in the ugly brown desert. To me, it is an unknown gem, and I am happy to keep it that way.

So Happy Anniversary to Me and Reno. I love this place.

Walking While You Work

8 Sep

I am walking as I type this.

No, really, I am. At 2 miles per hour.

I recently became the owner of a TreadDesk, which is a treadmill specifically designed to be used in an office. My employer raised my desk, and I now stand or walk the entire day, taking only short sitting breaks.

To say this has been life changing is an understatement. I truly felt that sitting all day in front of a computer was slowly killing me. My derriere literally hurt at the end of the day. As I recovered from my knee surgery, sitting also made my knee get extremely stiff, causing me to limp around for 5-10 minutes every time I got up.

In July, I was at our company headquarters in Redmond, WA, where I saw a coworker with a treadmill desk. I knew immediately that I must have one.

Our bodies were made for movement. I can already feel an amazing difference. I don’t get stiff. I don’t get energy drops, and it seems to have made my afternoon sugar cravings less severe.

But mostly, I found that work seems more exciting now, and that I can concentrate more and actually get more done. I am a natural fidgeter and multi-tasker. This treadmill desk allows for an outlet for such energy, allowing me to more fully concentrate on the task at hand.

I walked 25 miles last week in my office. For a working mother of two, this is an amazing shift for me. If I have a lunch meeting or my schedule doesn’t allow me to hit the gym during the day, I don’t feel guilty. Although I’m not really elevating my heartrate much, I’m moving — up to 6 miles a day.

It has also done wonders for my knee. I am no longer stiff, and my knee feels so much stronger, as the muscles surrounding it are engaged for the entire day.

I believe that I am at the beginning of a culture shift within corporate America. You should see the reaction of my co-workers. Everyone comes by to talk to me about my treadmill, and I have numerous people planning to join the trend.

New Beginnings

6 Sep

Today, both of my kids started new things. Little Miss started kindergarten today, which was a momentous occasion in our house. I saw her off to the bus stop this morning, and it wasn’t until that bus drove away with my little girl that the tears filled my eyes.

I have always heard of mothers getting misty eyed when their child starts kindergarten, and I didn’t think much of it. It definitely hit me, and for a good hour, every time I thought about it, I would get tears in my eyes. It was so strange to put her on the bus and not escort her directly into her classroom. I can’t wait to go home and hear all about it later today.

Little Man also started with his new caretaker today. He threw a fit this morning, and demanded to go to his new caretaker’s house. Evidently I wasn’t getting ready fast enough for his liking. He practically ran to the new sitter’s house, and when I opened the door, he bolted for the living room with all the toys, not looking back at me once. I talked to the sitter for a few minutes, and when I went to leave, I called his name… He called back “bye” from the other room. So much for a sentimental goodbye!

People always say that kids grow up too fast, but you don’t fully understand it until you witness it for yourself.

Is This Thing On?

1 Sep

Well yes, I am still alive! I’m just surfacing from a lovely 10 day vacation to Albuquerque, NM visiting the parents and my BFF and her family.

It felt like a whirlwind trip, but Mom and I had a list of activities we wanted to do, and all were checked off the list. Albuquerque has some amazing child friendly activities, we did something new and fun each day.

We hit the zoo, rode a train, fed the ducks at Tingley Beach, visited Explora!, explored the Bio Park, went to Cliff’s Amusement Park, did bumper boats and laser tag at Hinkel Family Fun Center… Every morning, we’d have some super fun outing, and then we’d come back to a lovely lunch made by my Mom, and my favorite, an afternoon nap.

Here are some pics of my kiddos at Explora!

After napping briefly, I’d usually venture to the YMCA to swim, which proved challenging every day due to the monsoon season bringing afternoon thunder storms. My kids had their first significant exposure to thunder, and it was fun seeing their eyes get big, and have Little Man exclaim, “BIG Thunder.”

My BFF took me out on the town in Downtown ABQ for my birthday, where we saw a highly entertaining burlesque show and then hit a few clubs. I got two birthday dinners out of my Mom, as well as a raspberry tart and a carrot cake. Needless to say, I’m working off those calories this week!

JB joined us towards the end of the trip, and we had a family outing to Cliffs, where Little Miss experienced her first “real” rides, as well as a lovely kiddo water park. That night after dinner, he took me to a movie, and let me choose, so we saw The Help. Great movie, but probably not the best for your hubby… I heard many deep sighs during the movie as he expressed his martyrhood for going to a bonifide chick flick.

And of course, we got some delicious New Mexican food. Here is a pic of Little Miss falling in love with sopapillas again…

On the last day of our visit, we went to the foothills, where we usually go trail running. I had to walk this trip, which had me longing for a good trail run. I’m going to run again. Just must be patient.

I was so thankful to have JB join the kids and I on the return flights home, especially during our 2.5 hour layover in Phoenix. It’s nice to have a teammate when you’re chasing a toddler around for that long!

A Day of Goodbyes

18 Aug

Today, both of my children will say goodbye to their current care takers. I found out a few weeks ago that my son’s provider, whom I have referred to here on this site before as Mary Poppins, is moving to Southern California. Little Miss is completing her last day at preschool, and will be starting a public kindergarten in a few weeks.

It’s bitter sweet. Especially in the case of Mary Poppins… Her entire family has come to feel like an extension of our family. She has truly been Little Man’s second mother, watching him ever since he was 5 months old.

It is a funny story how I met her. I was at the pool with Little Miss 3 years ago when a woman there casually asked me where I took my daughter for childcare. When I told her the institutional daycare she was at, the woman immediately got up, got her cell phone, and said, “you have to meet Lori.”

I thought this was strange. I wasn’t really looking for a change. I wasn’t really dissatisfied… But when Lori called me back telling me she had an opening, and I showed up at her house, my whole perspective changed. I walked in, and got this overwhelming sense of this is what I’ve been looking for. The house was immaculently clean, she had a nice backyard with all kinds of fun things for kids, and most of all, she has such a loving and bubbly personality that she was truly irresistable. Plus, her husband was a cop!

Little Miss went to Lori for 1.5 years before transitioning to preschool, and Little Man has also been there about 1.5 years. Every morning at drop off, the house smells divinely of freshly made waffles. I often wanted to come in and park myself at the table with the kids for breakfast.

While I’m happy for Lori and the adventure her family is embarking on, it is sad for me on multiple levels. The value of a caretaker that you trust completely and know is giving amazing care to your children is immeasurable. Plus, when you see someone like Lori every day, 1-2 times per day for 3 years, you can’t help but become friends with her. So I’m also losing a close friend.

As for my daughter, she has been at her preschool for just over a year. I was on the waiting list for this school for almost 3 years, as it is one of the best preschools in town. It is an amazing school. Every teacher and the director are personally involved and very loving. Little Miss has learned so much, and truly thrived in their care. It’s hard to take her from such an environment, but our public elementary school is supposed to be the top in the state, and I know she is ready to move to the next level.

The upside of these transitions? My kids were across town from eachother, making dropping off or picking them both up an affair that required 45 minutes of driving. I have been driving WAY too much the past few years. But I gladly took on that burden to have my children in the best care I could find.

Little Man is moving to an in-home daycare that happens to be next door. NEXT DOOR, people. The woman has been doing an in-home daycare for over 15 years. I don’t know if she’ll be able to fill the shoes of Lori, but I’m confident it will be a good environment for Little Man, with several other 2 year olds to keep him company.

Little Miss will be taking the bus. The bus stop is at my house! I have arranged for another neighbor to do after-care for her, so starting in a few weeks, I will just drive home and walk from neighbor to neighbor to get my kids. HOW COOL IS THAT?! I’ll be getting back over an hour a day — woot!

Anyway, I know today will be hard, and I’m sure I’ll get a bit misty eyed. But I’m sure my kids are going to good environments, and they seem to adjust to changes well. On to the next adventure…

Little Man with Lori:

Little Miss with her preschool teachers:

Nutritious

3 Aug

As I was driving the kids home tonight, this exchange went on in the back seat…

Little Man: Booger. In mouth.
Me: Did you eat it?
Little Man: Uh huh
Little Miss: Oh, I LOVE those! Aren’t they delicious?!

It is no wonder I’m having such a hard time getting her to stop picking her nose in public.

“Vacationing” With Kids

2 Aug

This last weekend, our family met up with my brother and his family for a quick getaway to Mammoth. We love Mammoth. It is beautiful, with cool weather, and there are lots of fun things to do for everyone in the klan.

But oh, my kids are not so good at road trips right now. Even though it’s a quick 3 hour drive, there was much screaming and crying and bickering coming from the back seat.

I recently heard on the news that one of the most annoying sounds in the world is a toddler whining and crying. I live with that sound every day, people. After hours in the car with it, I swear I am ready to jump out of the car while it is going 70mph on the highway.

We stayed in a lovely condo, which was three levels and happened to be built on a mountain-side. That meant that two of the levels of the condos had amazing decks with tiny split rail fences and then a death defying 50 foot drop to the rocks below. In other words, if my adventurous climber of a toddler got out onto those decks unattended, it was truly a death sentence.

Who picked this death trap of a condo anyways? Oh, right, that would be me.

As I was trying to relax this weekend, I always had the thought in the back of my head of “where is Little Man?!”, and I ended up going down the stairs to locate him, as he was usually following around his ultra cool boy cousins (who were such sweeties in humoring their much younger cousin and trying to keep him safe for me).

Add to that the fact that my kids got up at night as much as a newborn, and then woke up at the crack of dawn…

My sister-in-law ensures me that vacationing with the kids will get easier down the road. Right now, it makes me daydream about taking a vacation WITHOUT the kids, but that truly isn’t in my near future.

Regardless, we celebrated two birthdays this weekend, I caught up with my brother’s family, whom I hadn’t seen since before my knee injury in January, and we enjoyed refreshingly cool weather with afternoon showers.

Speaking of showers… I took the kids to the top of Mammoth on Sunday via the Gondola, which was a fun time, and Little Man had a blast being “in the air”, per his very own words. I hiked around with them at the top for a while, then ate a liesurely packed lunch with them, while watching thunder clouds roll in and not thinking much of it. I’ve been in PLENTY of storms at the top of Mammoth mountain.

But those were in the winter. When I went to board the Gondola for our ride home (after a perfectly planned morning outing that would get us back to the condo in time to pack up before checkout at 2), we were the first people turned away, as the liftie said that the gondola was shut down due to lightning.

Ah, yes, lightning.

You know when the kids are so tired that they keep getting more and more hyper? That was my two on Sunday afternoon, trapped in a lodge with it raining and sleeting outside. Thankfully I will never see those people again because these kids were running around like wild banshees, and there wasn’t much I could do to stop it, given the trapped nature of the situation.

I got wind that Mammoth was sending up trucks and busses to drive people down the mountain, and determined I needed to be on the first truck. We were told to line up by the door of the lodge (the OPEN door, mind you, with wind and sleet coming in, and did I mention I neglected to pack anything but summer clothes?!). While we were waiting, a woman was in front of us with this adorable little puppy. Irresistable to kids type of puppy. Yet she said she didn’t want my kids touching her puppy. And she didn’t bother picking the puppy up. So, for 45 minutes, I had to keep repeating, “get away from the puppy. Don’t touch the puppy.” Each time, the woman would glare at me. Grrrrrr….

Finally, a pickup truck appeared out of the fog, and we were told that 10 people could go in the first two trucks. We were number 8, 9 and 10 in line. I bounded out to the truck, and the lady with the puppy got to the first truck, snarling, “there isn’t room for THEM.”

Oh, I had some choice words for her in my head.

Luckily, the other truck had plenty of room, where we road in front without child seats, and Little Man rode in my lap as we 4 wheel drive rode down a ski resort. That was riveting!

Anyway, this weekend I was proud to graduate to activities such as hiking with a 30 pound kid on my back (once while leading a horse, mind you), and riding an actual bike outside (on a paved path, but STILL, much better than the spin bike in the garage). The house was three levels, so I got lots of stairs in to help continue my therapy while on the road.

To my brother’s family, it was grand seeing all of you again, and thank you for your patience with my high maintenance children!

And now, some pictures…

Proof that I hiked with 30 pounds of kid on my back.

The kiddos at the top of Mammoth. July 31, and note all of the snow.

Here is my daughter on a horse. Yes, me with my bad knee, I wore Little Man in a backpack, and led a horse on a hiking trail. I was anxious the whole time, but so glad to be able to do fun actitivies with my kids again!

Future Advertising Mogul

21 Jul

Little Man has been talking a ton lately. A lot of his sentences are short and to the point. They sound a lot to me like advertising tag lines. For instance:

“Milk — have some.” (The next Got Milk campaign)
“Garbage — got it?” (Waste Management’s next campaign)
“Booger — don’t want it.” (Future ad for Kleenex)
“Poop in there.” (Future ad for Charmin)

My baby turns two next week. I can’t believe it. Two! That really isn’t a baby anymore. I want my baby back!

In preparation for his birthday, I have been asking him, “How old are you?”

His response is always, “good.”

Making a mental note to get that on video before he learns the appropriate answer!

To Run or Not To Run… That Is The Question

19 Jul

Oh, boy, I’ve been slacking. You can always tell when work and personal life gets busy, as this is the first thing to go. Sorry about that. It has been a lovely summer so far, filled with lots of pool time (both me swimming laps and taking the kiddos to play), concerts on the beach of Lake Tahoe, and lots of small trips in July.

I took about a month off of physical therapy, as I really enjoyed simply walking, or working out on my own schedule, and doing laps in the pool. My knee is feeling great. It definitely continues to get better each day.

I finally went back to therapy today to check in, and my PT was very pleased with the motion of my knee and my ability to flex my quads. I told him how the doctor had given me clearance to start running again in a few weeks, and his response was, “why would you do that?”

I explained how I’ve always liked running for the convenience and the awesome calorie burn. He told me that he highly recommended that I didn’t return to running. He said I would wear my knees out, and I already have weak tissues in my knee. “If you don’t get paid to run, you really don’t have a reason to run.”

This really took me aback. I have always measured my level of fitness based on my running abilities, and returning to running was a key milestone in my mind. But now, I’m just not sure if it is worth it.

I had a friend who had meniscus surgery a week after I had my knee repair, and he tried running last week. He went 2.5 miles right out of the gate, and his knee hurt more and more in the following days. The doctor (who is also my surgeon) said he has likely re-torn his meniscus. That story with the warning of my PT really has my head spinning today, reconsidering my return to running. As I type, I am picturing how much I enjoyed trail running, and it makes me wonder if I’ll ever do that again.

One Fin is a bit Dorkier

27 Jun

We had a lovely summer weekend, with two days of pool outings and an evening trip to Tahoe City for a concert on the beach. I swear, these are the days I live for.

Sunday, JB went to ski Tioga Pass, which is just outside of Yosemite. Nutty man. Anyway, I slept in a bit, and woke up to two sticky kids jumping on my bed.

Yes, I did say sticky.

Little Miss decided to feed her brother honey for breakfast so that I could keep sleeping. While I appreciate the thought, it sure caused a lot of work cleaning carpets, floors, and kiddos.

Anyway, at the pool, I let Little Miss play with my kickboard, which I only just found last week from its winter hibernation spot in the garage. We managed to leave it at the pool, and when we returned the next day, it was gone. I do admit it was a total loser looking kickboard — covered with rainbow cloth. It was the only one I could find at the sporting goods store last summer!

Anyway, evidently someone else really wanted my dorky rainbow covered kickboard. The thing is, I really need a kickboard right now to work on rehabbing my bum knee. So, this morning, I grabbed the next best thing… My daughter’s miniature Ariel kickboard.

Can you imagine how hideous I look at the pool, doing some swim sets with only one fin on my good leg, and other sets with a miniature Ariel kickboard?! Oh, if my teenage self could only see me now! I must make my way to the store to buy a decent kickboard ASAP!

Call Me One Fin

24 Jun

One Fin. That is my new tribal name. I’m wondering how many laps I’ll swim with one fin before someone takes notice and asks me what the heck I’m doing?!

The interesting thing is that with one fin on, my backstroke is much straighter. Normally, I’m clamboring with the lane line, but as One Fin, I swim straight as an arrow.

Go figure.

I’m also hoping none of my co-workers catch me sitting in my office shaking my head frantically trying to get the water out of my ears.

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