Some Fun Times...

We've gotten to eat out a couple more times at Friends & Family nights at brand new restaurants that Aaron sold. The only thing better than eating out is eating out for free!

No, Aaron would not be caught dead wearing this hat. I mean, seriously, that would mess up his hair. Noelle begged him to put it on and I snapped this before he could get it off.

Noelle asked our server if she could have a pink balloon and he gave her the whole bouquet. It seriously made her life! She was so excited she fell asleep holding onto them.

Murmuring...

Last Wednesday when Madeleine woke up from her nap and her little body was on fire. I took her temperature and it was 104.8, GASP! The raging fever continued through Friday and although she had no other symptoms and Motrin would knock it right out, after 48 hours of it, I wanted to error on the side of caution. We called the doctor but she was out of town so they sent me to her back-up, it was just a virus (always!) but he asked what our doctor thought of her heart murmur. "Uh, What? She doesn't have one." He said he absolutely heard one and they can be brought on by fevers (because the body has to work extra hard putting off all that heat) but at the time she'd had Motrin so was her fever was down. He said to make sure we talked Dr. Kasel about it.

It was a slightly disconcerting but I knew it was somehow related to the fever, plus kids have harmless murmurs all the time. And, she had an Echo done the day after she was born because her PDA did not close right away. So, her heart is fine.

Let me just give a shout out to Dr. Kasel's office. She was out of town at a conference and her office manager called back at 7:00pm Friday night to say that she had gotten a hold of her in Boston to ask her how she wanted to handle it. Who does that? Seriously awesome. She thought it was probably fever related, give her a couple of days to get better and have us come in.

We followed up yesterday, I thought for sure it would be gone but nope. We see a Cardiologist on 11/13 for another Echo.

Wish us luck. Madeleine can't stand for me to hold her still to change her diaper let alone this!

Pumpkin Patch

On Monday Noelle's preschool had their first field trip - to the pumpkin patch! Noelle had the best time ever.

After she picked out her perfect pumpkin she could not get the stinkin' thing in the bag. But, she did NOT want any help from me. Oh, this age is such fun.

Noelle loves her friend Sean. She is so glad they get to go to school together (and he now lives across the street.) We tried to get them to stand together for a picture but it wasn't easy. Eventually Noelle just went straight for her man. That's my girl! :)

Here is a not so good mothering moment. Madeleine was miserable pretty much the whole time we were there and I did not have a stroller so my arms were killing me. It was tough for everyone. At breakfast I tried to feed her some banana and cereal and only wanted a couple of bites so I figured she wasn't hungry. While we were there I tried to give her some of Noelle's sandwich, again, after a few bites she was done. I chalked the misery up to her being really tired. After she slept in her car seat for a little while and we got home she was almost inconsolable. Crying, crying, crying. Finally, I put her in her chair and fed her some some dinner I had blended from the night before. She inhaled two bowels of it and was my happy girl once again. Poor girl was starving.

So Relieved!

As most of you guys who read this saw on Facebook - I did it! I ran a half marathon. I'm so happy! More than anything, the anxiety of the unknown is gone. Everyone was telling me to just enjoy the experience but I really wanted to get a good time. I guess I'm competitive! I reeeeeeally wanted to run it in two hours, although I knew that since it was my first one that would be unlikely. A girl can hope though!

Saturday we had to drive down to Long Beach to pick up my packet and bib (too many people to have you pick up your info on race day.) And coincidentally there was a VIP night for a new Buffalo Wild Wings that Aaron sold in Lake Forest. So, afterwards we headed over for a free night of fun and wings. I, obviously, was not eating wings but we sure had fun! Just look at these sweet faces.

Aaron's going to kill me when he sees that I posted this picture but it's too funny. Two cheerleaders from the San Diego Chargers were there raising money for charity.

After dinner we drove to Manhattan Beach to stay the night with Marin. Being the awesome cousin that she is, gave us her room and hit she the couch for the night. I hardly slept a wink, kids coughing, potty breaks, husband snoring, toilet leaking, you name it. Just as I began to drift off my alarm sounded at the awful hour of 4:15am. The drive to the race was short but the traffic was crazy. They estimated 35,000 participants and spectators. That's a lot of people!

We parked and got down to the starting area to use the bathroom - the lines were insane! They have people start the race in waves according to their estimated finishing time, the faster people in front. Given our wait at the bathroom we missed our wave and started at the back of a wave with thousands of people who would be mostly walking. Ugh.

They need to make rules for races just like when you're driving! Faster on the left, slower on the right. Not only does it slow you down but it's frustrating and uses up precious energy to jump curbs, run through grass & gravel and around cones to get by people. Don't even get me started about the people who would box me in.

I felt great the first half running on the road. Seeing my family at mile 6 was awesome. Little Noelle running beside me screaming, "Mommy! Mommy! You're running a race!" was emotional. Then we turned and ran through a marina and down to the beach which I thought would be awesome but, for me, was difficult. The bike path seemed to drag on and on. We turned back out onto the road around Mile 10. This is when it kind of started to get suck-y. My big toes were rubbing against my second toes causing blisters, and in order to go easy on my really painful bunion on my right foot I was compensating with my left leg, which caused a shooting pain in my hip. At mile 10.75 there was a hill until mile 11 and that took a lot out of me. I really wanted to start walking, my head started telling me I could probably speed walk faster than I was jogging, but I just tried to lose myself in the music and push ahead. Then I couldn't remember if I was coming up on mile 11 or 12. I could see the mile marker sign but couldn't tell what it said. I was never so happy to see the number 12 in my life! My music stopped so I had to get it out but I dropped it and it went sliding through the crowd and I had to chase it down.

My cheerleaders. Noelle told me how much she loved ringing that cowbell.

Finally, I came running down to the finish line. I saw Auntie in her pink shirt plastered against the chain link fence. Then I saw Aaron & Noelle, Julianna, and Jo all screaming, hollering, and jumping up & down. I have the most amazing friends! Can you believe they drove all the way down? They even made me an awesome sign!

Crossing the finish line was the best. All I remember thinking was, "Goodness gracious it's over! I did it!"

Afterwards, I felt pretty good. My stomach was upset, my legs were tired, knees ached and I wanted an omelet. Bad.

According to Aaron's calculations my finish time was 2:12 but I looked it up and my chip says 2:19. I'm really happy given all the traffic I encountered. I say, "Not bad" when I still need to lose 20 pounds and less than a year after having a baby. Here are my stats:

Overall: 4788 out of 10675
Women: 2158 out of 6420
F 30-34: 376 out of 1033

Overall, it was a great experience. Noelle keeps saying "Mommy, you ran and won the race! You crossed the finish line and won the race." I tell her, "Yes, Mommy did win the race!"

A big shout out to my darling husband who was such a great support through training and race day and to my Auntie & Unc who went through so much to be there for me during my first race. And lastly to Marin, this was all her big idea.

Here We Go Again!

The same question I seem to be constantly asking these days.....do I blog backwards or pick up right here?

Noelle is doing really well in pre-school, I don't think she could love it any more and I am so pleased with all she is learning. I'm still wondering if I will ever get over the feeling that comes over me when I see her running off to school as fast as her little legs will carry her. Any one else know the feeling that your heart is literally running off outside of your body? She is so interested in the world around her and I at times find myself wondering what her passion in life will be.

Today I am wondering if it will be photography.

She got the camera on the black and white setting herself!

~~

And then there is, Madeleine, my sweet girl. She turned 10 months old on 9/26 and I did not get any pictures. Horrible. The pictures from out trip to Texas will have to do. Just she and I made the trip out to see my brother, Joseph, and his girlfriend, Amy, for a few days. She was not in the mood to impress and I'm afraid their eardrums will never be the same. Despite her sudden affinity for SCREAMING we still love and adore her more and more. She is finally feeling confident and crawls off to play all around the house instead of being glued to me. Every day she is more animated and is such a character with the funniest laugh. To sum her up in one word: LOVE. She falls asleep like a dream, most nights without a peep. Her middle of the night wakings are very loud, though. I usually would just wake up, feed her and stick her back in bed because I am too tired to do anything else. But, Friday and Saturday night she slept all night and I vowed she is done with nighttime nursing. Monday night she was up from 2-4am but I stuck to my guns (even though she had a runny nose) and we both survived. Last night she slept all night again.

~~

I am getting ready to run my race this weekend and getting sooooooo nervous! Why?

When I think about it too much I regret making it public news because now I really have to go through with it. That and the fact that I already paid the ridiculous registration fee.

6 Years Later

Today is our 6 year wedding anniversary. It seems like only yesterday we were dating,while at the same time my old life seems light years away.

Aaron told me he had something special planned this year for us, I not want to know anything about it because when I do - I end up taking over the planning. Aaron is horrible at keeping surprises but this time he proved otherwise and pulled it off!

Friday night I made a special dinner for us: Amy's marinated rosemary skirt steak, ginger rice, broccoli, salad with homemade lemon dressing, and homemade foccacia bread. Yum!

The next morning we headed off for our adventure. While in the car Aaron couldn't contain his excitement and gave me a gift....a beautiful necklace.

We made the drive up to the central coast and ate at our favorite place in San Luis Obispo, Firestone Grill. SO GOOD! Do you see that baby in the left hand corner shoveling tiny pieces of tri tip in her mouth as fast as she can? She eats like a man! Then we walked through downtown (I love that place!) and added our own gum to Bubble Gum Alley. Miss N wanted nothing to do with it until she saw me do if first.

Next we drove to where we would be spending the night, Cambria. Oh, was it gorgeous. Aaron has been working a lot in area and sold this string of hotels. He gave them some stuff for free and they gave us a free night. Worked out great! The room was lovely with a jetted tub and a gas fireplace. The free breakfast in the morning was AWESOME! Hot Belgium waffles to order plus so much more. Cookies and sparkling cider at night, too! http://www.cambriainns.com/sandpebblesinn.html


We walked along the beach and watched the sunset. Correction: Madeleine screamed, Noelle ran, we walked and called after her every 20 seconds to wait for us. Fun for all.

When we got back to the room the girls took advantage of the jetted tub and had the BEST bubble bath ever.

It was not the romantic get away that one would expect on their anniversary, we didn't even fall asleep in the same bed! More a celebration of our little family. Instead of holding hands we wrangled kids but we figure 20 years from now when we are able to spend every anniversary alone we will long for the days when they were still little. You can never create too many family memories.

~~

I love you my darling husband. I'm so lucky to be in love with my best friend.

Thanks for making all my dreams come true. XO

Messy - Messy

Where do you even begin?

Pinkberry

Her very first and I'd say she's a fan!

Pre-School

Finally! All summer long Noelle would wake up and put on her back-pack and ask if today was finally the day she went to school. "Soon" I would tell her. Well, "Soon" arrived and she finally was able to take that back-pack somewhere. She actually slept with it last night and was wearing it even before she got out of bed. I actually had a hard time sleeping and had some knots in my stomach this morning. Isn't that just pathetic?

When I asked her what she wanted for breakfast she said in a frustrated voice, "Nothing, I just wanna go to school." After I convinced in her it wasn't time she said she wanted pancakes. So, pancakes it was.

Daddy planned on going with us but the one day Madeleine decides to sleep it, it's today! So, he hung back with little baby and sadly settled for hugs and kisses at home while I took her.

We got out of the car and she wanted to just run right in. I made her stop for a couple more pictures. I was feeling very conflicted - I knew how much she was going to love it but so very sad that things at home would be changing, part of me wanted to turn and take her back. Mrs. Andrea greeted her at the door with a big hug and all kids of hoop-la. She had to make Noelle turn back and give her Mama some good-bye kisses. I cried the whole way home. Again, horribly pathetic.

At pick up time, I didn't get pictures of her running out the door because I didn't want to be distracted, just wanted to see the excitement on her face. I wasn't disappointed.

This is what she did, plus made a bracelet, and got to pick a surprise out of the treasure box (some sort of ball contraption.) She was overflowing with excitement. If you can't tell in the pictures by her hair she is jumping up and down. This month they are doing activities that help them get used to being away from home and feel secure at school. This week they are concentrating on ways to travel to school.

And, what does a three year old pack for their first day of school? Here you go:

It Happened...

Yesterday at Trader Joe's Noelle was a little too high energy and would not stay right by me. She was be-bopping her silly self all over the place. The store is way too small with way too many carts for those shenanigans. So, after a couple reminders, into the basket she went. She was not happy about it, not one bit. She began to cry, then folded her arms, stuck out her bottom lip and said quite loudly, "I GONNA BE MAD AT YOU, MOMMY!" Several times.

What?

Where's my sweet girl?

She's always been defiant and a little crazy but never directed anger at me.

Then we get Cara & Natalie from school and we have to get a couple of things from Costco. With 4 girls in tow, the 2 little ones need to be in the cart. Oh, dear. Kicking. Screaming. Thrashing. Then HITTING.

What?

Where's my sweet girl?

Things are changin' around here.

Plus, she starts pre-school on Monday. I used to think this day couldn't come soon enough but now that it's here I'm not so sure.