Guest Post II

Well, it’s that time again, time for my readership to triple (from 1 reader to 3, just kidding). It’s time for another guest post, from my one and only Dad! He is such a funny and insightful person. If you haven’t heard him tell a story, you’re really missing out!

The subject of this guest post is the Marathon. I alluded to it a few weeks ago, from my perspective, but the following is his perspective. And he has broken it into three parts, as he thinks of it: a trilogy.

So here goes:

My marathon adventure began many months ago and is continually evolving, so let me start at the beginning. Warning: This may get boring or self-indulgent at times. (editor’s note: his words not mine).

Part 1: Preparation

It all started one day during a lunch chat with my good friend Greg, who is a cardiologist and fanatical runner. We had been running into Greg on the Lakeshore trail for many years, and as an avid marathoner he suggested, why not try the Mercedes Marathon or half-marathon? It’s fun and challenging and you get a medal when you finish. He appealed to my competitive nature and the part of me that loves a challenge (also the part that likes shiny rewards, like medals). I was equal parts excited and terrified at the thought of failure, which if you know me, you would know I can not stand! But, in a moment of excitement and anticipation, right then and there at the lunch table, I made a verbal commitment to my friend Gregg, “Yes, I’ll do it!” (Editors note: Dad takes his commitments VERY seriously, so even though he is expressing doubts, I knew he was going to make it happen).

The days and weeks went on and I started having second thoughts haunting myself with questions: “What if…” and “Why did I…” and ”What’s the point?” All the while, I continued religiously doing my Lakeshore walk with my trusty walking partner, aka wife (editor’s note: walking the length of the trail and back not once, but twice, many times while my mom would sit and wait in the car for him to finish the second leg). But Greg served as a persistent reminder and lead me to register, so I gave in to my challenge-seeking nature and decided to register, bringing me to my next step in the process: registering. I left this task to my young assistant son. So just a few short months and 49,392 reminders later, and my name was officially added to the roster…. (numerical count is an estimate added by the editor).

Now the fantasy is becoming a reality right before my eyes…

Part 2: The Race

I had been watching the weather diligently all week, hoping for a miracle or at least a warm front to sweep over downtown Birmingham, to no avail. At last check the temperature was going to be in the 20’s. My poor wife probably heard me exclaim, “Why does it have to be the coldest day of the year?” at least 25 times. I knew I had to run the freaking 13.1 miles, but now I’m going to freeze my behind off in the process??

Incidentally, my wife was not much help, her favorite response was “Hey honey, don’t do it. I’m sure a lot of people aren’t even going to show up.” (editors note: that’s helpful…).

The night before I went to dinner with my editor daughter Lora and her family, and everyone commented on how serious I was. To which, I responded “What do you expect from an ‘Old Man Walkin’?” You’d have to be in my shoes, or in my freezing shorts to understand!

So, I went to bed at 9 pm that night (not before checking the weather one more time and verifying that there was no warm front on the horizon). It was a rough night. I woke up several times filled with fear that I would oversleep and miss the whole thing! But 5 am arrived, and I was ready to go. My supportive wife had my coffee and peanut butter sandwich waiting for me and with in her most positive and energetic voice said “Habibi (honey, in Arabic), you are going to be fine… I am so proud of you…” and some other stuff that I didn’t hear or don’t remember (editor’s note: LOL).

M-day has officially arrived (with apprehension and excitement akin to D-day, at least in my eyes).

We arrived at the marathon starting site, and the air was electric, six thousand people, walking, talking, stretching, all ages, colors, and styles, loud music and cameras all around. And for a moment, I thought, I'm really a marathoner!

The race began at 7 am and the temperature was in the 20’s, when the wave of people began their trek, it started to feel like a carnival. Let’s take a moment to discuss my attire: A ski hat from my stylist son, my marathon shirt, and gloves (given to me as part of the marathon package), my favorite swim shorts (that’s right SWIM SHORTS), and my super famous red Nikes.

I had 2 major fears going into this:

1. What if I get lost or separated from the crowd, so I kept my cell phone with me, which I’m not even sure could have helped, because that conversation would probably have gone like this “Honey, I got separated from the crowd, I’m somewhere in downtown Birmingham.” Not good.

However, I quickly realized that they were very organized and this thing has been planned with precision. There were lots of volunteers and what seemed like the entire Birmingham police department blocking the road and leading the way. However, as a precaution, I still remained with a large group at all times, so that if we got lost, at least we’d be together. After all, shared stupidity is less embarrassing.

So far, the race was going well. First (very long) mile down, spirits are high. I’m already warm and the nervousness has subsided. Incidentally, these miles seem much longer than the training miles on the Lakeshore trail.

2. The lady with the balloons: I have feared the lady with the balloons, or LWB from the minute I heard of her. She brings up the rear, and if she finishes before you, you get no medal. No medal, no glory, not good. My three goals for this race were as follows:

1. Stay ahead of LWB

2. Finish the race (no where near last), make sure someone is behind me at all times.

3. Don’t get hurt on your first marathon, or it will surely be your last.

So, as I approach mile 4, I realize I am making decent progress and I resist the urge to speed up. I decide to be smart and keep my pace steady and comfortable.

As we move on, I notice stations with volunteers offering water, gatorade, and fruit slices. I wasn’t about to start drinking gatorade, because we all know what follows, and I didn’t have time for that. Besides, there were lines at all of the porto-pottys. What I did not expect was a station with volunteers handing out donuts. Sounds like a recipe for disaster for me, so I asked if he had a chocolate donut, chuckled to myself and pressed on.

Next, I approach a hill. I have befriended a man that works for Mercedes, and he advised me, when it comes to hills, walk up run down. Good advice for sure!

I’m moving right along, I see mile 5, then 7, when I reach 10, I  knew I would be soon arriving at the promise land. Now, I start checking in with my family fans, letting them know I’ll be making it to the end(editor’s note: until this point, he did not want anyone to be there, now we are scrambling to leave as we were planning on going anyway, but he is making even better time than we had planned for!).

A few calls to my wife, kids, and brothers, check for LWB, she’s nowhere in sight, and I’m cruising. The end is near, and for good measure I start to run when I get close to the finish line, cross it, receive my hat and medal and I feel like a million bucks! (editors note: It was a proud moment for us to be there for him!)

Part 3: My future marathon pursuits

What have I come away with in this experience? There is definitely such a thing as a “runner’s high,” and as great as that feels, I know next time it will take more work to reach that. You know what they say “no pain no gain.”

The glory of being a marathoner (no matter how much I try to keep it alive) is fading. I still try to find creative ways to bring it up, like “It’s a little chilly today.” “Sure is, just like the day I finished the half marathon, have I told you about that?” That may sound a bit desperate but a marathoner has to do what a marathoner has to do (see what I’m doing there?).

There are two types of reactions to this news: There are the ones who show genuine interest and offer their congratulations and the others who say oh yeah, I could do that if I wanted to. Oh really, then why didn’t you?

I am being bombarded with info on other marathons. It seems like there is one every weekend, don’t these people have lives? Who wants to get up and run 26 miles in 20 degree weather every weekend?

So what’s next? Full marathon? Watch out LWB, I’ll be flying by you like lightening!

Ten on Tuesday, Z Edition

1. Z is such a parrot, in every way. he copies words, mannerisms, everything! The other day in the car, someone cut Nick off and he said “You.Are.A.Jerk.” then in the same tone and rhythm, Z repeated it. We were mortified, but also thought it was hilarious!

2. They must talk about the weather every day at school, because Z always comments, like “Today it’s sunny,” or “it’s stormy.” The other day he said “It’s sunny, no, it’s parply sunny!”

3. He still says “I’m sorry Mama/Baba” and insists we say “It’s okay.” Sometimes, he even says “I’m sorry being ugly” in a very sweet tone. Hard to stay mad at him, when he says that and gives you a good hug.

4. Speaking of hugs, we have soft hugs and big hugs, soft kisses and big kisses. We have to do all four before he goes to sleep in the evening, but other times we have to distinguish which one he wants before we do it, most of the time he picks soft hugs.

5. He’s already showing a propensity for dentistry. He knows all about “cabities” and baby teeth (thanks to one of his new favorite shows, Yo Gabba Gabba).

6. Speaking of shows, he’s in love with Power Rangers. He wants to watch it all the time on Amazon Prime on his ipad. He says things like “fire smasher!” “Gotta get the moogers!” and (my personal favorite) “United States of Battle!” I have no idea where he got that from.

7. He likes to sing. He loves Gotye and specifically Somebody That I Used to Know. Although he sings others, like “Better,” which goes like this “I feel betta, betta, betta down anymow” (I feel better, better, no I’m not down anymore), probably doesn’t translate if you don’t know the song, but maybe you get the idea. He also sings Yo Gabba Gabba, “Baby teeth baby teeth, little tiny baby teeth… Fall out!” (surprisingly catchy).

8. Saying maybe really seems to make him feel better about things, like “Are we going to see Jude today? Maybe! Maybe, Mama, Maybe?!”

9.  Everybody is a Power Ranger, he’s always the red, and I’m always pink, but some of the other ones can vary depending on his mood. Lu is usually yellow (although sometimes he insists she is a princess), Nick blue, Uncle Tarek green, Jude gold. Not sure why Uncle Tarek gets to be a ranger, but I would consider that high praise from Z.

10. Even though this is Z edition, I can’t leave out Lu. She says “mama” now, not sure if it’s with intention, but who cares?

She also does this hilarious thing if you put her down on the floor to show you she’s not happy about it. She cries then leans forward and puts her head down on between her legs. One of her teachers even mentioned that she does it at school. I’ll try to take a picture next time she does it, but suffice it to say I’m sure I’m in for it in a few months…

Spring Break Adventures

This post is going to be a combination iphone photo dump and 2-weekend recap. So hang on, and let’s go.

What am I talking about? I can’t remember 2 weekends ago. I think we went to the park:

and we had burgers:

Sounds like most weekends.

I know this past weekend we had a “date day” on Thursday and went to Atlanta Friday.

The “date day” was really great and happened because we incidentally had another glorious golden day, where we were off and the kids’ school was open. We went to an early movie, had lunch, went shopping, then picked them up and they were none the wiser.

Atlanta was an adventure for sure. It all started a while ago when Nick and I decided to take a long weekend during Spring Break week (because, work is usually slow during Spring Break, and I always get jealous of other people being off and having fun, of course this time I wasn’t slow at all during Spring Break week, but I’m not getting into that whole Murphy’s Law thing right now). Then, we decided, why not go somewhere and take the kids? Now, last year, we went to Atlanta for the Hinman Dental Meeting, and I was pregnant, and it was cold, and we took the marta, and I came home and got deathly ill, so I wasn’t exactly excited about going back during the same time this year, but enough talk of Atlanta shopping how much fun the kids would have at the aquarium and I soon changed my mind (Nick knows exactly how to convince me).

We loaded up Friday and headed out. The kids did great in the car. We made one stop at Wendy’s, and made it to the aquarium by 3 to find out we only had 2 hours until closing. We bought our tickets, then realized we were both in the wrong business after paying ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS TO SEE SOME FISH, but after we saw all the really wonderful sea creatures, we realized it was worth it (kinda).

 

My favorite (besides the giant whale shark and manta rays) was the tropical fish and reef exhibits, reminded me of my diving days, many eons ago…

After the aquarium (and some traffic), we checked into our VRBO condo (which was fantastic), and went to Phipps Plaza (also fantastic). They were so tired that they were mostly happy for the ~2 hour stroller ride, making mama very happy to get to see her very favorite mall!

They are not rapping in this picture, although it appears that way…

Although exhausted, we challenged ourselves to go out to Maggiano’s that night for dinner. Even though we had about a 20 minute wait, they did really well, so well, that these sweet women at the table next to us even commented that they didn’t realize they were there until we were leaving!

Z is still getting used to sleeping in places other than his own bed, so as he did when we went to the beach, when bedtime came, he was asking to go home :(. He eventually calmed down and slept really great on his cot in the second bedroom. Lu did great in her pack n play too (considering, she too, is going through a stage where she likes her own bed especially for naps).

The next day, we had breakfast in the condo and went back to the mall, which Z did not understand. He insisted that “We already went!” and “Nooo, not the mall again!” But the promise of going to the toystore got him through another 2 hour trip, this time to Lenox.

We made one last stop at Nordstrom Rack (way overwhelming for all involved), then finally the promise land, Toys R Us. Z literally didn’t know what do in there. He could not decide on anything, and didn’t seem to want to buy anything either, until he found this foam sword, then he was happy.

This little girl learned a new skill this weekend, sleeping in the stroller.

We headed home after the toy store visit, and we were sure ready, except Z who said, “I don’t want to go home, I want to sleep at the beach condo!” Sorry, but you’re about a day late on that one buddy.

10 Months!

Lu turned 10 months on Saturday! As usual, it kind of snuck up on me, but I had a few minutes to take some pictures to document. Of course, my sign didn't last long...

I mean, Mom, what do you expect me to do with that fun piece of paper?

This age is so fun (most of the time). She is crawling pretty well and eating tons of table food. They tell me she gets really excited when she sees the food cart at school, and I love watching her gum away at food and tear things with her 2 little teeth. She has had chicken, turkey, waffles, grapes, peas, green beans, pasta, fries, avocado, basically everything. Although, we are taking a break from dairy because I don't think it agrees with her if you know what I mean.

She's still nursing in the morning and before bed and gets two 5 oz. bottles at school along with her three solid meals (although I'm scraping the bottom of the bottle to get that amount). I'm really hoping we can make it another 6 weeks to 2 months!

I love watching her and Z play together, although more often it is her getting into whatever he's doing and him saying "Stop, LuJaaaayn!" I know I will probably be hearing that for the next 25 years, but I just love it!

Happy 10 months baby girl. We love you more and more each day!

Good Friday

Today reminded me why I like this Friday arrangement. I spent time with my babies, got stuff done around here, and had about 2 hours to myself when I finally win the nap battle (with both)! This has officially been a better Friday (than last). They even played together today!!

I think Z caught on to the fact he was a few bad Fridays away from a 5 day school week because he behaved very well, and we just had plain old fun together!

I am SO thankful for these Fridays. After a long rushed week, it means so much to slow down and have my sweet babies all to myself for one day!

Milestones

I have alluded to both of these things, but it is official (kinda)

Lu is crawling!

Z is nighttime potty trained! (that’s the kinda I’m referring to). This morning, he got up and went potty by himself then got back in bed and started looking at a book! (We are guessing about this because when Nick asked him to go potty, he replied “I just already did!” in a tone, that was like, obviously!) That’s 5 nights in a row!

I attribute it to this:

His big boy bed! It works miracles!

Ten Time

1. It hasn’t ceased to amaze me how different things are the second time around. Nick called me this morning after he dropped off Lu and said, “Did you know Lu has 2 teeth and is crawling?!” I kid you not! (which, for the record, I did, especially the teeth, but I knew she’s been on the verge of crawling too). And, I know it sounds like we don’t know our child, but it’s just that there is so much going on that the milestones hit without our meticulous monitoring of them. It’s nice actually, because as I’ve said before I worried enough the first time around!

2. On that note, she’s not sleeping at all at school. With Z, I would have been really upset by this, but with her, I just know she’ll catch up at night and on the weekends. I know this because she’s fallen asleep in the car on the way home 2 nights in a row, waking up only to change in to pajamas, nurse, then go right back to sleep. And, she’s been sleeping in in the mornings too! Poor sleep-deprived child, Dr. Weissbluth would be so disappointed!

3. I was going to do a whole post on Z’s new bed, but it just hasn’t happened. So here’s the grand story: My brother’s neighbor had this great bunk bed he wanted to get rid of. It had been passed down in their family for a couple of generations and was in fine shape, his son had just outgrown it. They didn’t really need it. Enter us. We knew immediately it would be perfect for Z as he was outgrowing his toddler bed, and while he’s been a little skeptical, at one point asking “Will it be too high?” he is really liking it so far, even though he is trying to figure out what “spots” all his stuffed animals belong in, and he’s been stalling more, calling us after we leave to either locate his “Why Writer” or because he’s “firsty.” He’s also been sleeping in a little due to the darkness. Although I’m not calling that until Saturday morning!

4. I am in the pre-pre-planning stage for Lu’s first birthday, which means I have gone to pinterest and started pinning ideas. If you don’t follow me, I am leaning strongly toward a strawberry shortcake party, Nick’s idea, by the way, but I love it! And, I have already bought her first present, a bitty baby (thank you ML for the recommendation)

5. My sweet friend Amanda reminded me about babywearing, and I remembered how fanatical I was about it with him. I have barely done it with Lu. I think because she really likes her little carrier. The girl falls asleep in there all the time, but Z wanted nothing to do with the thing. I loved wearing him, but I think it’s partly because he liked it so much. Lu doesn’t, so I haven’t really pushed the issue.

6. We are probably the last remaining people that watch American Idol, but we love it. It is one of the few shows along with The Bachelor that we both enjoy.

7. Every time Z sees an American flag, he states the Pledge of Allegiance, probably the cutest thing ever!

8. Z also has his little nightly routine, which includes Nick coming in as the “scary monster” who tickles him. This all started when cousin Jude was staying with us. Somewhere along the way he got into the habit of telling Nick to “just go back, and do it,” and he says it in the most animated way. It is so funny, and we have recorded it several times, but I’ll leave it to your imagination.

9. Zulily was selling Zumba, and me and my sis lost our minds over it! She’s an instructor, and I just like taking the classes on the weekend, but they had a lot of good gear, and I even bought a dvd set for almost half what it sells for on Amazon!

10. Our daycare/school has been posting pictures of my kids on fb, which is great, but I could teach them a thing or two about taking flattering shots…

However, they did get this gem from Dr. Seuss week!

9 Month Appointment

Miss Lu had her 9 month appointment on Friday. It was a hectic morning that began with Z telling me he “poo pooed” in his bed, which prompted me to start the bath, but when I took his pj’s and pull-up off, he in fact had not, but I gave him a bath anyway.

Then, I headed down to get Lu and found, she did poo poo in her bed, big time! She has had some loose bm’s these days and this was a nice one (how’s that for TMI?), so I got her cleaned up and gave her a bath too. This was all before about 8 a.m.! After all the pooping and bathing, I realized we had to get out the door to make it to the doctor on time. Notice I made no mention of mama bathing, eating, or more importantly drinking coffee thus far…

The doctor appointment went well. They both behaved really well, even when I had to turn around and go back to get the @!#$#% blue form. I hate that stupid thing and them for not remembering to give me one. Can’t they see I have my hands full?! I mean what’s the point of asking if she’s in daycare if not to remember the thing? You know I can’t blog about a doctor’s appointment without having at least one complaint, so there it is.

Anyway, she weighs 16 lbs 15 oz.’s (15th percentile) and is 28.25 inches long (70th percentile). I was definitely not excited about her weight being on the low side, but we decided it is because of aforementioned loose bm’s, because believe me when I tell you, sister eats. They tell me at school she eats just about everything, including chicken and dumplings! She better enjoy them there, because this mama definitely does not make those!

She is so close to crawling! All weekend, she would lunge forward, get on all fours, then either end up flat on her belly or pull back into the sitting position. She is desperate to play with the big kids and that is one thing that has changed fairly recently, Z and her are starting to play and interact more. There is still no one who makes her laugh like he does. It is really sweet.

Friday, I added another tally to my infamous list: Friday’s I wish Z was in school. That brings me to a grand total of 2. I’m thinking the common denominator is yucky weather that keeps us inside all day, however, naptime was a struggle like I haven’t had in a while.

Z got a new bed this weekend! We had an opportunity fall into our laps that we just could not turn down, and I’m so glad we did. It looks great in his room, and he has slept great in it for 2 nights and woke up dry both mornings! Maybe it’s what he needed to finally get over his nighttime teetee problems. I’m not calling that one just yet though…

It’s still a work in progress, so I’ll have a post and pictures up soon.