Memorial Day: STP

This year we headed west for Memorial Day weekend - first to Seattle for a brief work trip and then to Portland for the rest of the long weekend. The timing for the trip was slightly stressful but perfect. After battling lice for about six days, I was ready to be done with it all. I performed some very thorough head checks and packed our bags full of only sanitize cycle laundered clothes and we hit the road Thursday afternoon for the University District in Seattle. We arrived late that night and basically had time Friday morning to eat a delicious breakfast at our favorite brunch spot in Seattle & then play at a Green Lake playground before heading to Maple Valley for Jono's lunch meeting. The stay in Seattle was short but sweet.

The Portage Bay fruit buffet

Four quadrants of berry goodness

My breakfast dates.

A little post-breakfast park time

From Maple Valley we headed south to Portland, where we spent the rest of the long weekend enjoying quality cousin time. The kids had so much fun together. And the adults did too. We did what we typically do when we visit Portland: eat really good food, spend tons of time at various (really cool) playgrounds, go on runs/walks in their neighborhood, and enjoy relaxation when the kids head to bed. The cousin bond just gets sweeter and sweeter and it always makes us wish we lived closer. For now we'll just savor our trips there & theirs up here.

Caleb & Harper, two blondies

Enjoying Jim & Pattys for breakfast

Mr. Sweetness

Loving the slide with Uncle Devo

Not so much loving the joint swing action

But look, Harper loved it!

Ev & Clara, biking buddies

One of two awesome attempts at the cousin shot

Not sure which is better?

Matching girls!

Snuggling with Uncle Devo at frozen yogurt 

Everett loved his bluberry burbon basil Blue Star donut

After spending a wonderful few days in Seattle and Portland, we arrived home Monday to the cleanest house ever (broke down and hired our first ever professional house cleaner to deep clean everything). Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to me :). I'm happy the lice is behind us and the great memories of time spent with family this weekend!

Spring of Sickness (and LICE)

Around the end of March I remember thinking and even saying out loud something like: Wow, compared to last winter, we haven't been sick hardly at all. A mama should never, ever utter those words. 

Around mid-April we were hit with a series of sickness and other horribleness (in the form of lice) that lasted at least two months. I am currently known as the flakiest person alive because I am canceling plans left and right.

It all started with a random (and still unknown) viral rash. In some ways it resembled fifths disease, which Clara contracted around the age of two also, but the doctor didn't think it was a slam dunk. We would have had to perform blood tests to confirm and we opted out. Basically his face looked like this for a few days and his body was covered in a lovely rash for at least a week. The poor guy.

At the end of that whole ordeal, he came down with a really bad virus that literally laid him flat for over a week, I swear. I have never had a kid this sick. He had a high fever every day, ate next to nothing, kept hardly any food down, and was completely lethargic. We ended up in the ER in the middle of the night during this stretch when he spiked a 104 fever and hadn't kept food down for a few days. It was scary and so sad. The poor guy.

And just when we passed all of that loveliness, I found lice in Clara's hair. LIVE lice. As in, I almost passed out and puked into her hair at the same time. I could go into major details here, but that's probably unnecessary. Basically what transpired from that point was an entire house upheaval. Laundry on the sanitize cycle like crazy. Twelve bags full of coats/pillows/etc to the garage for two weeks. Deep cleaning (followed by professional deep cleaning). Multiple lice treatments and dozens and dozens of turns picking through Clara's hair. Oh yes, and a buzz cut for Caleb (just in case).

My mom went through my entire mop of hair twice and Jonathan did the same many times. I swear to you at least twice I was 100% convinced I had it. I'd go in and blast my hair with hair drier until my scalp was basically burned to a crisp. But nobody ever found lice on me, thank goodness. 

The good news is that Clara was a champion through it all. She sat patiently so many times as I picked through her hair. We broke major rules about television and movie consumption during those days. And she wore her hair in pigtails for about two weeks after, just in case.

I am happy to say we are through with lice. I'm not sure how long it will take me to mentally recover, though. It may be weeks if not months before I see a small white speck (of dandruff, usually) in my daughter's hair and don't investigate further to make sure it's not a lice egg. Or before my heart stops racing at the sight of someone itching their head.

So this has been part of our spring. Thankfully we have had many lovely moments too - but all of this sickness + hair bugs needed to be documented. Hopefully we are due up for the healthiest of summers!

Half Marathon, Take Two

I ran my first half marathon around the time Clara turned one. And I think I said something like, it would be nice to run one after each baby. Fast forward to last summer. Caleb was six months old and I had just started running a few months before. My friend Amy & I had run Bloomsday together and were considering some longer races. 

And then I subluxed my patella. And had the most frustrating, painful months following. I eventually started running again sometime this past fall - but wasn't really considering doing another half.

And then Carly and Christa said they were signing up for the Windermere in May. And then Amy said she would do it too (her first). At that point, I was on board. I have two kids compared to the three of their combined eleven and so for heaven sakes, if they could do it, so could I.

We started training in January and even though we didn't do much running together, it was great to at least share training schedules - and ultimately to know we were not alone.

This time around I did not have access to a treadmill (okay, I did run twice at J's clinic in early January). That meant that dozens and dozens of runs happened in the snow. And the hail. I remember one specific four mile run when I was pushing both kids and we got caught in the craziest rain/thunder/hail storm I've ever witnessed. And I'm pretty sure I was reported to CPS by the cars passing me on the road.

Despite what some people might think, it was not easy or fun a lot of the time. I had to get really creative trying to figure out when to go and who would watch my kids/how I would bundle them up to brave the elements together. There were certainly Saturday mornings when I would have much rather stayed in my pajamas and eaten a big pile of pancakes with my family than meet Carly to run ten miles at 6am (I still changed back into my sweats and ate the pile of pancakes - just later in the day ;)).

But can I also tell you that there is seriously nothing better than getting outside and sweating? Doing something seriously hard that I never, ever imagined myself doing. Much less loving. For me there is something so life-giving about stepping outside my door with my running shoes and having a moment to clear my head. To think and pray. To work myself to exhaustion and in the end, have more energy than when I started. I love the silence that greets me when I step outside my door (I am a weird one because I don't run with music. I feel like most of my life is loud and crazy and full of song - and I have come to covet that quiet space). I love the sound of my feet hitting the pavement. And the lawn mower and dog barking across the street, and the random smile and hello as I pass a neighbor walking in the street. And I love being someone that is not a mom for just a couple minutes each day. Maybe I have mama written across my forehead, even without pushing the stroller, but at least in my head I am miles away. I need it. I have come to cherish it.

This post has turned from my second half marathon to why I love running. Oops. I have no idea who reads this besides my sister (who already runs) and my parents (who don't run, and shouldn't). But if you are a random blog peeper who happened upon this little space, and have even considered starting to run. Here is my simple advice. Do it!

Now for some pictures of race day...

Looking much happier than I actually feel

The littlest of the cheering section. Love him!

All of us - and Amy's sister Kelsey who drove over from
Seattle and joined our matching look :)

Our little family.

I had the best cheering section on the planet. Thank you
to both my sets of parents. You are amazing!!!

I'm glad I'm done. And maybe I'll run another half after the next baby, although there are no guarantees. I certainly won't run another one before. And no, I am NOT pregnant. Promise :).

Mother's Day Bike Trip

This year for Mother's Day I requested a family day together - doing something active/adventurous. And I also said I didn't want to cook. 

What I got was a great day out on the Trail of Coeur d' Alene, biking from the south part of the lake into Harrison. And when we returned home, a nice little meal at Costa Vida & ice cream at The Scoop, a double scoop (I always get a double scoop, in case you are wondering). It was pretty close to the perfect day.

The bike ride was just about an hour each way, at least it was for us on a tag-along bike & a mountain bike pulling a bike trailer. Jono opted out of the two kids in the burley approach, which was probably a wise decision. There is no way Clara would have stayed happy in that thing - and she would have certainly sabotaged Caleb's nap. That meant this mama was in charge of pulling Caleb in the trailer. Happy Mother's Day to me ;).

Let me just say I now appreciate my husband's efforts these past four-ish years because it was hard work. I basically felt like I was going uphill both ways and crawling at a snail's pace. But we made it. And the kids loved it.

Gearing up to go - quite the undertaking (thank you Jono)

Ready to take a spin on two-wheels before
joining daddy on the tandem

Slathered in sunscreen and ready to go

My view for most of the fifteen miles

This mama, pulling part of her brood

What Caleb did most of the time :)

I have a feeling we have some family bike trips in our future & that makes me really, really happy. Next time we might even have Clara flying solo and Jono back pulling the burley? We shall see!

Two Wheels

The other day Jonathan woke me up from an afternoon nap (yes, it was the weekend and I was enjoying a great little snooze alongside Caleb) and told me I had to grab the video camera now. I couldn't believe it when I walked outside to this sight: our little girl on two wheels! 

I really felt that we were months away from this landmark. But apparently this little girl is more determined than I thought. The day before she had "discovered" this bike, intentionally hidden in the back of the garage (due to an overabundance of birthday toys lately - oh well!) and had insisted on trying it out immediately. I am pretty much certain it was because of the attached doll seat, fanny pack, and rainbow streamers.

Whatever the reason, we are (mostly) happy to say our little girl has been loving biking on two wheels this past few weeks. We are just praying for a nice, long accident-less stretch where she gains confidence. That first crash is looming just around the bend, let me tell you ;).

But it's been so fun to watch her love biking. In fact, I think watching her learn to bike is probably up there in Jono's top three dad moments. One of those things this daddy has been dreaming about since meeting this little lady in the hospital four years ago.

Here they come...

So excited :)

And off they go!

I can't wait to see the adventures that lie in store for this little biking girl - and for all of us as a family!

Random Happenings

Here are a few random, and completely unrelated, things that we've been up to in the past two weeks. For the sake of documenting the small stuff...

Thing 1: Clara did swim lessons for the first time since last summer. Although it took her a few minutes into her first lesson to remember how much she loved the water, she bounced right back to her fish girl self and loved her time in the water.

Anxiously awaiting her first lesson

Practicing the float

Thing 2: Caleb George has been one sick cookie. This sweet picture was taken at the ER in the middle of the night, after he finally fell asleep (I have another awesome one of him covered in vomit after he puked mid-four mile run, but I thought I'd spare you that lovely sight). First a unnamed viral rash that lasted for weeks followed by a really bad virus (and my sad absence from Bloomsday). Then he picked up a cold and essentially he's been an on & off sickie for nearly a month, the poor guy!

Thing 3: May Day! I have great memories of delivering May baskets as a kid. We'd drive to our friends' houses, leave a basket on the doorstep, knock on the door or ring the bell and hide. Supposedly if found, we'd have to get kissed by our friend. I don't remember that part entirely - just the thrill of hiding. So this year, despite a sick brother, Clara and I made and delivered baskets to friends on foot. We were only caught by one of the four ;).

Thing 4: Mother's Day tea at preschool. Clara's class preformed a few sweet songs for all the mamas and then we had a little tea time together. And we received plants and a question sheet the kids filled out about us mamas. Here is Clara's...

My favorite thing to do with my mom is bake.

My favorite game to play with my mom is Candyland.

When my mom is happy she bakes.

I love my mom because I love to play with her.

 

Thing 5: An awesome inheritance. A patient of Jono's hooked us up with a sweet tandem bicycle. Since coming into ownership of this bad boy, Jonathan and Clara have been spending tons of time riding through the south hill neighborhoods. We're excited to take it out on a bike path soon!

Thing 6: A beautiful garden planting day with Grampy. On the top of Clara's list of fun things to do is "helping" (perform various tasks) so she was all over the assistant gardner position, created just for her by her Grampy for the day. A wide variety of vegetables were planted and I look forward to all kinds of deliciousness that will come our way this summer as a result of Clara and Grampy's efforts!

Thing 7: A quick visit to Great Granddad's house resulting in lots of laps around his property in his motorized chair. Clara and Caleb couldn't get enough, so I had to document this as well. We are all about the little moments around here. And it was a fun and memorable afternoon for sure!