Rediscovering an Old Love.

I’m feeling like all parts of my life are not organized and are falling apart. Rather than doing what I normally do - making lists and putting myself on a schedule to organize, clean and generally drive myself crazy - I’ve decided to start running again.

I’m in horrendous shape - I haven’t consistently jogged, let alone run since before I was pregnant with Rho (4 years ago). I’ve done aerobics and walking since, but nothing particularly strenuous. In fact, given that I usually take the kids with me when I walk, I’ve gone from walking 4 miles at a shot to only doing 1 - and that one slowly. I’m not sure our “walks” even count as exercise given our propensity to stop and watch ants and bugs.

So, I dragged out the expensive jogging stroller (that I did use some when Gamma was a baby, although not nearly enough to justify its’ cost) and started this afternoon on the Couch to 5k program. Supposedly, this program takes you from being a mess like me, to being able to run a 5k in 9 weeks. We’ll see. Luckily our neighborhood loop is exactly one mile, so I have a handy (though hilly) track, and I don’t have to drive anywhere.

I had a lovely time the 1st mile, jogging for 60 seconds and then walking for 90. Not bad - I can do ANYTHING for 60 seconds, right? As soon as we finished the first circuit and Gamma could see the house, he assumed - based on prior experience, that we were done. We were not. The entire second mile he sobbed, and whined and threatened to tell daddy on me that I was making him sweat. (and wow! My iPod volume goes loud enough to block out whining!) Needless to say, he has lost his Wii privileges for the rest of the day. Honestly, I thought sweat was what held 6 year old boys together! He’s in for a big surprise come July in Atlanta.

I did make it through the entire workout with no problems. I repeat this workout twice more this week with a rest day after each workout. I’d completely forgotten how much I used to love to run, back when I had the time and the body to do so. I still love it, though it seems much harder and the extra weight I’m carrying is likely bouncing all over the place (sorry neighbors, please just look away, no really - look away)!

While I’ve decided to let my life remain disorganized while I do something that I enjoy, I do have to admit that the feelings of disorganization MIGHT have something to do with the approaching birthday that will officially move me into my mid-30’s. I’m not sure where the time goes, or what exactly these nebulous feelings of not having the right things done mean, but I do know that running makes me feel great.

Rho is 3!

Today is Rho’s birthday. My baby is 3! I’m not exactly sure where the time went - it seems as if only 3 months have passed rather than 3 years. I can remember rolling my eyes when women talked about the day they had their children. From the other side (and with a few more years experience), Rho’s birth is one of the most important and special days of my life. I find that I LOVE telling the story of his birth - and he, at least, loves to hear it. Of course, Rho’s arrival was rather spectacular when, in typical Rho behavior, he decided to arrive after only 45 minutes of labor, while only DrQ and I were in the hospital room. DrQ had the joy of catching him - personally. Somehow that seemed perfectly fine at the time (to me anyway, not to DrQ), though now it seems a little scary.

Given the craziness that has just passed at the holidays, we’ve decided to wait to celebrate his birthday with family & friends in a couple of weeks. So, today at lunch we celebrated with just the four of us. Gamma gave him a Hot Wheels motorcycle (bought with his own money at a whopping $1.04), and he received a Radio Flyer Big Flyer from DrQ and I.

Unfortunately, when the product specifications said 3-7 years of age, they really meant 3 year olds who are 4-6 inches taller than the average three year old. Interestingly, according to the CDC Growth Charts the average 3 year old is 38 inches tall. Rho is 40 inches tall (putting him in the 95th percentile in height for 3 year olds) and he is at least two inches too short for the Big Flyer with the seat pushed all the way up. Gamma at 5 years 11 months (and 50″, putting him outside the 6 year old growth chart and 50th percentile on the 8 year old chart) is too tall for the Big Flyer. Sheesh. I know my kids aren’t the average, but could we please measure things in a reasonable way? Like 42-48″ tall and less than 65#s? GRRRRR! Shame on you Radio Flyer! He is SO excited to have the Big Flyer, it just kills me that he won’t be able to pedal it.

He was supposed to be taking his nap, but I just caught him downstairs, by himself, pathetically pushing the Big Flyer with his feet, and struggling to drive over “obstacles”. Since it is 15 degrees here, I moved some of the furniture, rolled up the rugs off the hardwoods, and he and I did laps, giggling hysterically, and sliding around corners until we were both out of breath. I see a couple months of Gamma, DrQ and I pushing him around, but figure that by spring he’ll be sliding around on his own.

Potty Training and Bing Crosby

In November, when Dr Q’s grandfather passed on at 89 years of age, we inherited a 1960’s era cabinet stereo and turntable. And a zillion records. It’s actually a pretty nice looking piece of cherry (the real deal) wood furniture. Given that most of the records predate my birth, it took Dr Q and I a little while to figure out how to actually USE the turntable feature. I can very vaguely remember owning some type Fischer Price kid’s turntable and a crazy record called Music Machine, only because the songs from that record randomly crop up in my brain and drive me crazy for days at a time.

Tonight, I was feeling quite June Cleaverish as we sat down to enjoy our homemade organic chicken and dumplings with fresh green beans and the best biscuits I’ve ever managed to make. Dr. Q successfully put a Bing Crosby album on and the fantasy was complete.

In the interest of honesty, I should add that we listened to Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas album 1st, Gamma whined about eating a new food all the way through dinner, Rho wanted to eat only biscuits and I spent two songs cleaning up urine (potty training is NOT going so well) off the wood floor. But for one shining moment the fantasy was real.

My first blog post.

I’ve been meaning to start one of these blogs for ages, but just haven’t gotten the time to get around to it. Lately, in fact, I haven’t gotten around to doing tons of things, key among them being a good friend. I recently learned that a friend of mine. WhyMommy, was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer this past summer. This is a friend whose wedding I was in, a friend who traveled clear across the country at considerable inconvenience and expense to attend mine. And I had no idea, because I hadn’t bothered to keep in touch with any of my friends for the past two years. Clearly, it is time for that, and many other things in my life to change. For the better. No excuses.