April already?!?!

Where did March go????  I can't believe it's already April.  INSANE.

March was a pretty good month.  Here's how I did with my goals:

• Date night once a month-We had at least 2 date nights this month.  
• Family adventure once a month-Awesome hike.
• Daily routine for the kids-We started doing chores for TV time.  This has helped with their schedule.  They have morning, afternoon and evening chores.  It has been great so far.
• Daily routine for me-Still very much a work in progress.
• 30 min of quality time with the kids-The chore/TV thing has limited the amount of TV they are watching, which gives us more time together.  
• Create recipe binder-Starting to think this is a pipe dream.
• Plan and prep meals for the week-I planned meals, but I didn't stick to the plan.
• Make Boise my best race yet-The last 2 weeks of March my training was awesome.  
• Enjoy a half marathon-Still nothing on the horizon. 
• Stretching and strength training ever week-I've been doing Bikram yoga.  Although not as much as I should.
• Eat 3-5 servings of vegetables a day- I'm stinking at this.
• Drink 64 oz of water a day.  I honestly forgot this was even a goal.  I'm closer to 64oz of wine than water :)

I'm already getting nervous about training in April.  Little Dude and Pnut have different Spring Breaks.  So that's two weeks where I'm going to have a little person for the whole day.  It's going to be tricky.

Reality

Yesterday I was struck by the reality of training. Last week I was so happy to get all my training sessions in.  This week I'm on track to get them all in too.  So, what's the problem?

My house looks like this.

Thank you Google, for not making me take a picture of my own kitchen.

I got my April schedule yesterday.  It's going to be a busy month.  How am I going to do everything?!?

11 Weeks to go

I FINALLY had a complete week of training!!!!  I did not skip one training session.  I did not cut one short.  I am thrilled.

Here's what it looked like:

Swam: 3800 yards
Biked: 61 miles
Ran: 9 miles

I'm hoping I can keep it up for the next 11 weeks.  I need to find a way to get at least 1 day of yoga in each week. I really think that is going to keep me injury free.  I couldn't fit it in this week, and my hips are killing me.

I just thought this was funny

12 Weeks To Go

I have a little less that 12 weeks till Boise.  My training the last couple weeks has been pretty good. Last week I missed a swim, and the swim workout I did was 800 yds short.  I really would have done the whole thing, but the pool was so crowded. I was in a lane with 2 nice ladies.  They said I was a dolphin swimming with 2 turtles :)  Very sweet, but still a painful swim.

Here's what the numbers were:

Swim-1000 yds (2600 less than scheduled. ouch)
Bike-47 miles
Run-9 miles
I also made it to yoga once :)

I'm feeling great on my bike and my runs are getting easier, and faster.  If I can build up my run miles without injuring myself, I'll be set.  I'm crossing my fingers yoga will help with this.

Next weeks schedule doesn't look too bad.  Things seem to ramp up the following week, but I'll deal with that when the time comes.

Things are great on the home front too.  I've been able to keep my house clean for over a week.  Those of you who know me, know this is a huge accomplishment.  Not only am I feeling better about the whole Staph thing, I feel so much calmer in a clean, uncluttered house.  I also feel like I have more time to enjoy Pnut and Little Dude, because I'm not stressed about what house work I should be doing.  It's a wonderful feeling.

On the subject of Pnut and Little Dude, we starting giving them an allowance this weekend.  It was so much fun.  They loved putting money in their jars.  They loved spending it even more.  I guess that's to be expected.

We also implemented a chore for TV time system.  I'm hoping this cuts down on me nagging them to do their chores.  It will also limit their TV time, which is much needed.

Here are a couple pictures from our hike this weekend.

Pnut was terrified to climb up there.

So proud of herself that she didn't let her fear keep her from doing something fun.

Perfect

This is so true.  At least for me.  For the last year or so (maybe forever), I've been plagued by what I think my life is supposed to look like. Remember this post?  That was a year ago.  I'm still having the same issues.

A few weeks ago I sent my mom a text that said something like "Please come help me!  I'm falling apart".  I should add, I live in Seattle and my mom lives in south Florida.  It's not like I asked her to drive 30 minutes.  I asked for a lot.  And in true mom fashion, she came through.   She helped me get my house clean (and hopefully staph free), she took the kids to school and picked them up, she did laundry, she drank wine with me, she did dishes....

I can't explain what a huge help it was.

She left early this morning.  When I woke up, and she was gone, I felt a little knot in my stomach.  It could have been all the wine we drank last night, but I think it was just sadness and worry.  Were things going to fall apart without my mom here to help me?  The realization that it is just us here; Our little family of 4, so far away from everyone.

Then something kind of strange happened. Pnut came downstairs asking for breakfast (this is not strange).  Somehow we had nothing for breakfast.  No eggs, no pancakes, no oatmeal.  Nothing.  Here's the strange part.  I told the kids to get dressed and we hit the Panara drive thru.   I knew they were going to eat stuff I didn't want them to eat.  I knew they were going to be late for school.  I knew there would be butter and crumbs in the car.  But I wasn't stressed out about any of it.  I didn't beat myself up that they were eating junk for breakfast.  I was ok being late for school.  A couple weeks ago, I'm not sure if that would have been the case.  I think I would have been freaking out.  I would have been yelling at the kids because they wouldn't eat chicken and mashed potatoes for breakfast.  And in turn, they would be yelling and crying.  It would have turned into a disaster.

It was a really nice feeling.  It was peaceful and stress free.  I was calm and content.

I need to give up the picture in my head of what my life should be.  It is not going to be perfect.  I will never be happy if my expectation is perfection.  I just need to be the best me that I can be.

Hello, March

I decided not to do a recap of February.  It was pretty lame.  I don't want to rehash all of it.

Thankfully it is March now, and it has started out to be a great month.

Yesterday was pretty much as good as a day could be.  It was a beautiful sunny day and Pnut said we should go for a hike.  It was a great idea.  We packed up and headed to the ferry.  The ferry took us to Whidbey Island where we hiked this trail.  It was BEAUTIFUL!

We planned to go for a couple miles, but once we got there, we couldn't stop.  The views were amazing and the kids were having a great time.  We climbed to the top of bluff (the trail guide said it's a bluff.  I would have called it a cliff).  Pnut got to the top first and was very proud of herself.

Once we all made it up we stopped for a rest and a snack.

And did some tai chi?

The next couple miles were a little scary.  The trail guide says some parts of the trail are 270 above the water.  I was terrified Little Dude was going to fall over the side, so I held onto his hood for most of the hike.

It doesn't look too bad in the picture, but it was steep

While we were up there, we saw a bald eagle.  It was so close to us.  It was crazy.  Here's a picture.  I was so in awe of it, plus trying to make sure Little Dude didn't take a header off the bluff, so I didn't get the pest picture. But it was super cool.

It's in the middle, right above the trees

Because walking on the cliff bluff wasn't scary enough, Brian found this tree and insisted on standing on it.  

I need to make sure his life insurance policy is up to date before we go on another hike.

Then of course the kids wanted to play on it.

After we walked across the bluff, we headed down to the beach.  

Beaches here are rocky

About this time, Little Dude was done.  His poor little legs were exhausted and we had about a mile and a half left to go.  Brian and I held him for awhile and he was ready to run again.  It was awesome.    About 100 yards from the car this happened.

I call that a successful hike.  It only took 5.6 miles and about 4 hours to exhaust them.

Here's to an awesome month!!