Operation Paci Take Away

It's been a long time coming. I've put this off for way longer than I ever said I would.

Operation paci take away has commenced and it has not been pretty.

Yes, I realize that my child is almost 3 and still sleeps with a paci. The dentist has lectured me and family members have lectured me but what can I say? I've needed my sleep.

I'm sure at some point in the blog I've mentioned how horrible of a sleeper my daughter was and really within the last 8 months has she started sleeping through the night consistently. Who could blame me for not wanting to take the one thing that would aide in her sleeping well? Call me selfish I don't care. I personally would just call me tired.

I always figured it wasn't killing her. She is a happy and healthy girl so who cares that she sleeps with a paci? Yes, I realize that it could mess up her mouth and the odds of her needing braces increase tremendously but both me and my husband had braces so she's doomed anyway. 

Over the last few months I've tried to with hold the beloved paci but I couldn't take the tantrums that went along with it.

Last Friday she went to bed without it (surprisingly) and slept all the way until 5:00 but woke up asking for it. I caved. What can I say I was tired. Horrible excuse I know but who really can deal with a screaming child at 5 am?

So Saturday she's just pissed from the get go and cried for over an hour when I wouldn't give it to her. The real kicker? "Can you get it for me please mommy?" I am mush and I caved yet again. Confusing this child? Yes! I have no will power.

So fast forward to last night I try a different tactic. I say "Sophie, paci's are nasty. They are yucky and you don't want that nasty thing in your mouth." "Paci's are for babies and you'r a big girl."

She seems to contemplate this for a few moments and finally tells me "Mommy, I give paci to a baby because I'm a big girl." What?? OK roll with it. So I tell her to give it to baby Lawson (her cousin who is 10 months).

She gives it to me and then a few minutes later she asks for it back, well cries for it really. So I give it to her but continue my negative talk of the paci. My new plan is to make the paci sound like it's the grossest thing ever in hopes that it'll ultimately be her decision to give it up. Sophie just isn't a cold turkey kind of kid.

We fall asleep in my bed and all hell breaks lose when my husband tried to move her back to her bed. She wakes up crying because she wants to sleep with mommy and daddy (we've been letting her fall asleep in our bed but move her when she's asleep - just another one of those phases that'll work itself out in time).

So I go in and tell her she can sleep with mommy and daddy if she takes her paci out. If she wants paci she has to sleep in her own bed. Once she gets in bed she tells me "Paci's are for babies, I give it to a baby." and she hands it over.

And she sleeps all night with out it. I, however, did not sleep. She's a kicker. 

Let's see what tonight brings. Either way I call it a step in the right direction.

Stole this picture from the Summerville Journal Scene:

Obviously I'm not the dude in the yellow shirt, coming up from behind in the teal shorts and black shirt. I don't get too many "decent" pictures of myself running but I'm digging my leg muscle. You can barely see the cellulite.

I love the time change, so happy that it stays light later now but my body is not adapting well to the loss of an hour. It's been very difficult waking up in the morning, maybe because even though my clock says 4:05 it's really 3:05. Big difference. I did make it up yesterday but not this morning.

Speaking of yesterday, it started out as any other Monday morning. We're ready, loaded in the car, make it all the way to daycare when Sophie throws up all over the place. In my car, on the car seat, on herself. Yuck. Poor kid, she was very upset about it too, not that I blame her.

So I clean her up and we head back home after calling daycare and work to tell them we won't be there today. I mean I can't possibly send her to school after she's thrown up and my car is covered. What's worse is my drive is 45 minutes so I roll the windows down and off we go.

So my morning was spent cleaning my daughter, cleaning the car and doing laundry. Poor girl, she slept for 3 hours and then seemed fine after that. When she woke up she ate and kept everything down and was a whole new girl, ready to play and run around. Maybe it was just an upset tummy? Who knows with kids. Too many little viruses going around to tell for sure.

We survived and she's at school today so hopefully there are no more puking incidents but I'm glad she's feeling better. I hate it when she's sick, I want to make it all better immediately.

Where I've Been, What I've Been Doing

Well I can sum this post up in a few short sentences.

I've been here, in Charleston and doing the same old, same old.

Working.

Being a Mom.

Running.

Projects around the house.

It never ends, all the above. Actually I've not been bored one bit. I've been extremely busy the last month or so with husband out of town, nephews birthday, husband's birthday (he turned 34 over the weekend - old man!!), projects at work, raising a sassy pants of a little girl. She's cute though, I love her. I think I'll keep her:)

Now on top of everything I'm planning a baby shower for my good friend! There's a co host so I don't have to carry the burden of doing it all myself but the crazy person that I am I seem to be having a hard time delegating duties.

I designed the invitation myself. Bought the graphics for like $5 at an Etsy store called Coca Mint and put it all together in Photo Shop Elements. I LOVE doing stuff like that. I might have to look into doing something like that if and when I get to become a stay at home mom. 

5x7 invitations will print 2 to a sheet of standard 8.5x11 card stock

Reason I did this is because I could not find what I was looking for until I stumbled across the clip art store and realized I had to ability to create my own. I'm happy with the final product. So is Pam and that's all that matters.

I'm also doing a whole printable party package including door signs, food labels, a banner and other decorative items to help keep costs down so we can splurge on food and I am going to do a diaper cake for the centerpiece. 

Random: This is what happens when your daughter won't take a nap:

We get a little goofy! Actually Sophie was making a funny face in the picture above. Good times when it's Mommy and Daughter day. Daddy was skeet shooting (Redneck! Just kidding!).

Random #2: From Sophie's daycare:

I'm glad I made it into the suitcase along with the lizard

Not sure where the lizard came from but at least Mommy is included. May is her stuffed turtle that sleeps with her every night so that's a given.

In other news I'm not knocked up yet. We officially started "trying" this month but I don't think it took. I'm not that person who does ovulation kits and tracks it, takes her temperature and all that stuff. Yes I might have done an online calendar once or twice but ultimately it'll happen when it happens. And without getting down to the nitty gritty but it's hard to "try" when you work, have a kid, and are completely exhausted at the end of the day. So I'll just leave it at that. It'll happen when it happens. 

In the meantime if next week's test comes back negative or the "time of the month" comes we won't "try" in March because we do not want a December baby. So we'll resume in April and see what happens.

If that ends up being the case then I'm thinking about running this race:

I ran it last year. it was the second half that I ran and loved the course. Lots of hills but that's Charlotte. Still up in the air, I have until March 16th to register so that's plenty of time to decide. Free place to stay, grandparents see Sophie and everyone wins!

On the running front things are going well. I have been enjoying not doing long runs and keeping them short and sweet. I'm working to improve my speed for the 10k I have in a few weeks. I really want to either break 50 minutes or just beat my fastest time which is like 51 minutes. 

I feel very strong, hardly any foot pain and I just feel good overall. Sunday I ran 8 miles and I felt good the whole time. I haven't done double digits since the half marathon I ran early this month but I'm currently OK with it. I have dropped two pounds since my marathon training so I'm happy and content with what I'm doing. I've been doing more weight training and speed work but am going to get back into the long runs (keep it 10 - 15 miles) once my life starts to calm down. My husband had a big business trip this month, his annual skeet shoot and then a "man weekend" coming up so I've been full time Mommy on the weekends. It's fine though, I get my runs in during the week and take the weekends to enjoy time with my daughter. I feel very balanced lately. That's good right?

There's No Going Back

It's official: We're potty training.

Lord help me!

Yesterday at daycare the teachers introduced the potty. Most of the kids have either started or are already potty trained so Sophie is sort of one of the last one's. I'm OK with that, I've learned that all kids are different and some take a little longer than others to get persuaded to wear big girl panties.

She sat on the potty but never went, except for in her pants :(  It's all good, it's her first full day. It takes a while for them to get the concept and she'll get it in time.

She did make it the whole way home without going in her pants (I have a plastic grocery bag on her car seat just in case) and when we got home she sat on the potty for about 5 minutes reading a book. I don't know if she went or not because I had to let the dogs out.

After dinner she was playing with Daddy. I was upstairs when all of a sudden I hear "Mommy, you need to come down here...."

So I go down and Sophie is jumping up and down all excited. She pooped in the potty! That's my girl!

So even if she doesn't pee pee in the potty maybe we can get the poop part down. I can handle pee.

I ran 5 miles this morning, 42:10, avg pace 8:24. I did the first 3.5 miles with hill intervals and the last 1.5 miles of speed work (on the treadmill of course). Regardless it was a good run.

After the run I didn't have much time to do weights so I did some kettle ball lunges and planks. Then it was time to head home with the sun starting to rise. So nice.

When the Crap Hits the Fan

I was planning on getting up and running this morning. My week is going to be kind of messed up because Wed. (my 8 miles) my husband has to be out of the house by 5:30 am so there is no time to run unless I get up at 3:30 and make it to the gym right at 4:00 when it opens.

That's still an option.

Last night just as I was roasting some red potatoes and getting ready to fire up the grill, my husband got the dreaded call that shit was spilling into the river. Literally, shit.

Because I don't know too much about the specifics, I do know that it means that the pumps he rented to the customer failed or didn't turn on like they were supposed to, to pump the sewer, which means it started flowing into the river. Not good. At all.

I rarely see my husband get so stressed out but at this point I thought he was going to have a heart attack. Because he is the sales rep, he must go and do damage control with the customer. So he takes off about 6:30 and it's just me and Sophie for dinner. I ending up eating a sandwich and Sophie chicken nuggets (mom of the year award right here).

Poor guy didn't get home till 1:30 am (Columbia, SC where his customer's site is located, is about an hour and a half away). Once he got home and into bed I had a hard time getting back to sleep and then my mind kept racing for some reason. Anyway we both didn't sleep well, I'm sure he was having nightmares about last nights fiasco.

So today ended up being a rest day like originally planned, which turned out to be a good thing because I am sore from yesterdays weight session.

I did cross train but I also ran 2 miles - sort of a recover run - and did the elliptical and then weights.

So tomorrow I will run and then see what to do about Wed. I have another half marathon on Saturday in Charlotte, NC - the Thunder Road Half Marathon.

Charlotte is home to the Lowe's Motor Speedway and Nascar Hall of Fame so that is why it's named Thunder Road. Plus we have Paramounts Carowinds theme park and there's a roller coaster called Thunder Road. But I don't that the race is named after the roller coaster.

So I need to make sure I don't over do it this week because Charlotte has a lot of hills. Plus we'll be traveling with child and dogs so it's not like it's going to be easy going, it's going to be tiring and stressful but we're staying with my sister so it's automatic baby sitter while we run (Ricky is running the 5k).

Ultimately I'm glad things worked out like they did, I needed the rest anyway. My right heel has been bothering me ever since the Mrytle Beach Mini Marathon.

Time change is both good and bad. I love when the sun rises early, helps me get out of bed. However getting home when it's dark out is going to be a little depressing. Grin and bear it, that's what I do.

Potty training blitz starts at daycare this week. So this past weekend I was trying to get Sophie all excited and get her in "big girl panties." She tells me "I not a big girl, I'm a baby." This isn't a good sign.

How much do you push till you realize maybe she's just not ready? Maybe daycare will have luck. She likes the fight me tooth and nail while she seems to tow the line with her teachers. This will be interesting.

Last night when she was bathed, dressed and ready for bed. We snuggled. It was wonderful. I cherish these moments.

My Favorite Greek Yogurt

Over the last few months I've made the switch from my regular yogurt to Greek yogurt. It's been difficult for me to find a good tasting fat free brand.

I'm not a fan of Chobani at all. I think it's gross and has a funky taste. My coworker eats the fat free plain. She must not have any taste buds.

I tried another brand, Fage, but wasn't a fan.

Finally I found my brand:

It's a little pricey, at my supermarket it's 3 for $7.00 but so worth it!

Vanilla bean is my favorite flavor, not so much a fan of the fruit ones but strawberry will do when they are out of the vanilla bean.

They also have a Greek yogurt parfait (yogurt plus granola that you mix together) and it's delicious but I can't seem to find it on their website.

I try to eat yogurt at least once a day. I have found it very beneficial and because I don't drink a ton of milk, I have to get calcium in me somehow. 

My daughter drinks a "yogurt smoothie" every morning when she wakes up. When she was an infant she battled oral thrush which is common in babies. It was a pain in the ass to treat and turned into a yeast diaper rash (because as we were killing it in her mouth with medicine it got into her intestinal track - yuck). It was not a fun experience especially for a new mommy. 

Because her tummy was so upset from the whole ordeal the doctor told us to by a special formula with probiotics to help get her all regular and kill off the bad yeast and stuff. It worked. With in a few days she was much better. After that I bought a powder probiotic to add to her formula. 

Ever since she was old enough to eat yogurt I bought Yo Baby drinkable yogurt and put it in her sippy cup. It's been our morning routine for the last year and a half. Sophie calls it "gurt." :)

I really feel this has helped keep her regular and helped her recovery quickly from stomach bugs. Plus when she had all her ear infections and was on an antibiotic more than I would have liked her to be, the probiotics helped keep all the good bacteria in her tummy - which killing it off could lead to thrush again and antibiotics kill both good and bad bacteria. I did a lot of reading on this when she was younger. 

And because she's going through a "don't want milk" phase I know she's getting some from this.

I'm an advocate for probiotics.

Did 8 miles this morning, time 1:07, avg pace 8:27. 

Tonight my plan is to go to the gym after work for a Body Pump class at the gym near my office. My husband is going to pick up Sophie for me. Hopefully I will have the energy to do so. If the day goes well and I'm feeling good later, and the stars are all aligned I will do it. 

I have my gym bag right by my desk so I don't forget!

A Quickie

Just returned from the gym and I'm starving!!!!!!!!! Left over post roast it is.

Did just a quick circuit consisting of legs, shoulders (my shoulders don't get much attention when I do arms), and abs. Also threw in two sets of dips and pull ups.

I was a member at this particular gym a few years ago when I worked for a different company. It was kind of the same membership deal, except they paid for half (bigger company). The gym still looks the same but I noticed there was some new cardio equipment.

I tried out the elliptical, it was....different. Much different than the Life Fitness I'm used to. Verdict is still out because I only got 10 minutes on it.

Matrix E7X Elliptical - www.matrixfitness,com

My all time favorite is Precor.

Because I sweat like a man I got a little stinky but not too terribly bad. It's bearable. My hair is wet but I brought some deodorant and perfume. It'll do for a couple of hours :)

I was rereading my previous post and I felt like a Negative Nancy. I love being a mommy and I love my daughter more than anything but I don't sugarcoat very well and motherhood is tough. There are moments when you question your sanity, yourself as a mom and a person.

It's the hardest thing I've ever done but I wouldn't change any of it for a minute, especially at this age when she can talk and tells me she loves me and gives me hugs and kisses. She really is a sweet girl, and smart too! But sometimes she can act like a brat. This morning was one of those times.

This evening she'll probably pitch another fit when it's time for bath (we like to torture her by washing her hair - we're terrible parents). And then she'll be sweet and cuddly for bed. She's two, this is what they do.

I can say though, I always thought I was going to be this "tough" mom who's kids towed the line. One look from those big brown eyes and I'm mush.

I Need A Tape Recorder

OK, so I take my daughter to school and pick her up almost every day. My office is 2 minutes away from daycare so it doesn't make sense for Ricky to go out of his way to take her when I'm driving right by. That's all in theory right?

Within the last few months I told my husband, more like insisted that he needs to step up and take and pick up at least once a week. I need a break. I need one day where I drive in silence. No noise, no screaming, no talking, no kids DVD's playing. Just me and the road (and traffic).

If I had a tape recorder and could have taped this mornings temper tantrum on the way to school, you would feel  my pain.

It's all you can do sometimes to keep your sanity.

It's times like these when I think "I want another one? I must be crazy."

And then like the snap of a finger....it's done. She's happy once more.

It doesn't even have to be anything for her to get upset about. Just one little thing escalates to full blown meltdown hell.

Sophie loves her daddy. She LOVES when he takes her to school. I'm always with her in the car so I think she gets a little sick of being with mommy and wants her daddy. It's only natural (I think....plus daddy lets her get away with way more than I do).

This morning she wanted to ride in "Daddy's truck." We gently told her that she could ride with daddy tomorrow but today she has to ride with mommy.

Ricky put her in my car kicking and screaming, literally. The gut wrenching scream that followed when we backed out of the driveway would make one think that I hacked off her arm. I mean you'd think I beat this child or something. I swear she loves me, she just likes daddy better some days.

Oh the joys of having a toddler.

So we're all good now, she was happy the last part of the drive and we were giggling, she ate some of her breakfast (yes, in the car). She gave me a kiss goodbye at school.

Tomorrow I get my day.

Now I'm headed to the gym near my office so I can get a weight workout in. I ran my 8 miles this morning so I don't need to do any cardio (plus I don't want to come back too stinky for my co-workers).

It's Hurricane Season

I didn't make it out of bed this morning. Bummer. I got a new book yesterday, The Hunger Games, and was very excited to start reading it. Next thing I know it's like 10:45, yikes! 

I go to sleep and next thing I know my alarm is going off at 4:00. I remember re-setting it for a few more minutes and then when it went off again I must I just turned it off, I think I remember doing this but honestly I was out of it. Next time I wake up it's 6:05.

Oops!!

Must have been really tired so I will cut myself a little slack being that it's been a long (short) week at work. Plus staying up late, yes 10:45 is very late for me, didn't help my chances making it out of bed.

I will try to run my 3 miles tonight after work but I'm usually not very motivated to do anything after a long day at work. We'll see, stranger things have happened.

Looking forward to tomorrow's run and trying out my bike. Weather is going to be really nice this weekend but now there's Tropical Storm Maria lurking out in the Atlantic. 

Not cool seeing as we're headed to the beach for a long weekend next week. Please turn north Maria!! 

At the same time this is the risk you take when you rent a beach house during the heart of hurricane season (my in-laws rented one for the week, we're just going down Thursday after work). 

I'm being optimistic that this one will miss us too, although it's too soon to tell but by the picture above she's turned more north already. Of course it would be ideal if she missed land all together.

This morning was 62 degrees when I left the house....love!! So I'm very excited to run in the morning, even if it's just 6 miles. Actually I'm thinking of doing 7 miles just for the fun of it.

This morning was my kid free ride into work. Since Sophie's daycare is literally 2 minutes away from my office I take and pick her up 99% of the time. I've told my husband that I need one day....just one day where he takes and picks her up. It's out of the way for him but I need that mental break just one day. 

She's not a bad kid by any means but we're in the temper tantrum phase and any little thing can set her off. For example the other day I thought she wanted me to press play on the DVD player in the car. So I did. Apparently that's not what she really wanted and she proceeded to scream and whine the entire. way. home.

A person can only take so much of that when they are sitting in traffic days on end and have about an hour commute to and from work. 

So I get one day to just listen to the radio....or nothing at all. Silence is golden sometimes. 

At the same time I miss her and get sad when she's super excited to ride in daddy's truck and not with mommy. Daddy is the greatest thing since she doesn't see him as much as me so I guess I can't really blame her. 

However hopefully this little tiny break will make her excited to see mommy when we all get home this evening, and it usually does!