Rainy Day Woman.
My monkey.
Grandma taught Quinn how to pull herself up on the bar and hang upside down yesterday. She was so proud. She must have shown us 100 times at the playground last night.
It was always one of my favorite things to do as a kid. :)
This little one never ceases to amaze me with her bravery and athleticism at such a young age.
Or, maybe I’m just a doting, braggy-mom? Probably a little of both.
Last weekend … we had big plans for last weekend.
I took a vacation day on Friday so Jeremy and I could spend our 10th anniversary together in Center City. We made dinner reservations at Buddakan and booked a room at the Sofitel downtown. The next day, we planned to stroll the city all day, eat at all our favorite places and later, have a bunch of friends meet up with us so we could go out bar hopping to celebrate (non-alcoholically for me, unfortunately). Later we would crash at our friend Dan’s house, who has a great place in the heart of the city.
My mom, who has graciously come up to stay with us for the week, would stay home with Quinn. On Sunday, we were going to come back and spend a beautiful Mother’s Day at the Morris Arboretum, a Mother’s Day tradition on our house. I was so happy my mom was going to be able to join us on this special day!
It was the perfect plan - something we had been looking forward to for weeks.
Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned. Jeremy and I did manage to have a nice day out on Friday. We spent the day wandering the city, did some shopping and enjoyed a good meal for our anniversary. The weather was gorgeous, and we had a nice relaxing day together before crashing at our ridiculously overpriced hotel room. I was stuffed from overeating donuts and Asian food all day, and exhausted from wandering the city streets, but I figured all I needed was a good night’s sleep and would wake up feeling recharged and ready to go.
Then, Saturday morning happened.
I woke up dizzy and tired. I felt sick, but thought I just needed to eat. We checked out of our room and started wandering around the city, but everywhere we went, I felt like I was going to pass out. We sat somewhere for lunch, but I couldn’t eat a bite. I just wanted to get to Dan’s house and rest.
Long story short, I had a stomach virus…that lasted until yesterday.
I stayed curled up on the couch at Dan’s house Saturday night while I insisted they all go out without me (I mean really, what fun is a preggo in a bar anyway?). I felt bad I missed friends who had driven in from New Jersey to see us and was sad I wasn’t spending time with Jeremy on our weekend, but, I knew I needed rest.
Sunday morning arrived and I felt worse. I spent the entire, beautiful Mother’s Day we had planned in bed or in the bathroom (after we finally made it home from the cab ride from hell) and made poor Jeremy, my mom and Quinn fend for themselves. It sucked and I admit to feeling a little sorry for myself on Mother’s Day. Thank goodness my wonderful Mom was there to help while I was down and out.
Monday was just as bad. I stayed home from work and laid on the couch all day with my Mom who kept trying to feed me. I weighed myself in the morning and had lost 6lbs in 2 days. Ugh. Usually, that would be thrilling. Not so much when you’re pregnant.
Tuesday, I finally made it back to work, but felt awful and weak all day. Jeremy finally came into my office and insist on taking me home early. I almost called in Wednesday too, but I woke up feeling 100 times better and have been feeling better ever since.
So yeah, the weekend was kind of a bust. Our big anniversary plans got a little skewed here and there, but that’s kind of a metaphor for marriage right? The good news is, I’m feeling better, the baby is fine and no matter what, I’ve had a wonderful 10 years with the man and I love and was able to be in the same house with my two favorite girls on Mother’s day, if not in the same room.
And Jeremy did surprise me by buying me a beautiful heart necklace for Mother’s day and having flowers delivered to my office for our anniversary. He also bought be beautiful diamond earrings for our anniversary which I told him to return (long story). He is amazing. I am so lucky.
And Quinn was SOOOO excited to give me her homemade Mother’s day gift, a mirror for my desk at work that she painted herself. I seriously love it so much.
And my mom and I will celebrate Mother’s Day next Sunday when I take her for a trip to the city, just the two of us, for lunch and to see Grease that’s playing at the Walnut Street Theater. This is her Mother’s Day gift I picked up for her this past weekend while we were in the city. She loves going to the theater, I love Grease and I am happy we can spend the day together, just the two of us, as a way to say thank you for coming up and taking care of us this week. Hopefully, I won’t screw these plans up too.
All-in-all, the weekend wasn’t what I had hoped for, but most importantly, I was loved. Loved so much by the most important people in my life. And I couldn’t have planned anything better than that.
My mom is visiting this week and is staying home with Quinn today. She just emailed me this picture from their “spa day”.
decade
Not talkin’ ‘bout a year
No not three or four
I don’t want that kind of forever
In my life anymore
Forever always seems
to be around when it begins
but forever never seems
to be around when it ends
So give me your forever
Please your forever
Not a day less will do
From you
People spend so much time
every single day
Runnin’ ‘round all over town
givin’ their forever away
But no not me
I won’t let my forever roam
and now I hope I can find
my forever a home
So give me your forever
Please your forever
Not a day less will do
From you
Like a handless clock with numbers
an infinite of time
No, not the forever found
Only in the mind
Forever always seems
to be around when things begin
but forever never seems
to be around when things end
So give me your forever
Please your forever
Not a day less will do
From you
The song that was playing when I walked towards you on the beach 10 years ago today.
Ten years of marriage. A decade. Unreal.
Happy 10 years. I love you forever.
Planning and then abandoning a secret duck attack.
Totally serious girl talk.
This weekend … phew … it was a busy one.
I think I’m finally starting to feel “pregnant” because I am still exhausted from all the running around we did. It was all worth it though.
The weekend was jam-packed with lots of running, gardening, dinner and a Super Why Live show with Quinn’s buddy Mia and her family (which the girls went nutty for!), the Chestnut Hill Garden Festival, a BBQ at Mike and Scott’s house, live music, tons and TONS of good (but sooo bad for you) food with some random laundry and house cleaning thrown in for good measure.
We all got lots of buddy time in with all our good friends. And even though I am beat from our busy weekend, I woudn’t have changed a thing.
I love spring in Philly!
No Broad Street Run for this family today.
This year, we had to skip our favorite 10 mile race, but we still managed to get out for half that distance along the Schuylkill River on this beautiful spring morning.
It was a long five miles, slowed down by 3 different potty breaks -one for each of us, and one where I had to teach Quinn to pee in the grass “like a dog”, as she said, because the port-o-potty in Fairmount Park was too “yucky”.
“Someone should clean that toilet and make it pretty, Mama.”
Yes, honey. You’re right.
We also had to stop often for snack retrieval, lost shoes and mommy just needing a walk break. It wasn’t the world’s best run, but it was a beautiful morning to be out as a family.
just another example of how I am a pregnant, emotional wreck
Conversations with Quinn
Me: Do you want to help me buy a special gift for baby sister before she comes? Maybe a cute outfit or a stuffed animal? What about a “Lovey”?
Quinn: Oh, she can have my Lovey, Mama. I don’t use it anymore.
Me: Aw, that’s sweet honey, I bet she would like that.
Then, I totally forgot about this conversation…until 2 days later when I was alone, and wandering through Target. I passed the baby section and thought about our conversation.
Then, I started sobbing. Like an idiot. In the middle of Target.
Not only is it just a sweet thing for her to say, but she’s right, she doesn’t use Lovey anymore. She hasn’t for a really long time. Because she’s not a baby anymore.
Quinn is not a baby anymore.
Damn.
We spent this gorgeous spring day at the zoo, along with the rest of the city of Philadelphia.
The best part of the day? Randomly running into and then hanging out our good friends Karen, Mark and Landon! Woohoo! Such a wonderful surprise.
It’s been a long two weeks. Here’s a little update:
Work is nuts, as usual.
Jeremy’s parents came to visit last weekend. Somehow, I managed to not take a single photo the entire time they were here. How is that possible? We had a great time and Quinn was SO happy to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa.
Spring has sprung. Everything is finally blooming like mad. It’s insanely beautiful in Philadelphia right now. More than anything, it’s just good to be outside again.
Quinn has been been a crazy beast. 3 is an interesting age - full of hilarity and insanity.
Still running. Slowly, but surely.
I finally went to get my hair cut and colored today - first time since October. Jeremy surprised me by scheduling a mani/pedi afterwards. He said I needed a day to myself to relax because I’ve seemed “stressed”. I have been. He is the best. And new hair and nails almost makes me feel better about gaining FOUR ponds this week. Ugh.
Apparently, 23 weeks of pregnancy is when you become a fat, emotional mess. Because I’ve been crying pretty much non-stop all week and hey, did I mention, I GAINED FOUR POUNDS IN ONE WEEK!
24 weeks and counting, today. :)
running for two.
Last Saturday, Jeremy and I ran the Gener8tion Run, a local 8K (5 mile) race in South Philly that benefits Students Run Philly Style, an organization that offers marathon training to help youth succeed in life. Jeremy does work with the organization and we run the event every year. It’s a fun, fast 5 miles around the Navy Yard and we always get a huge group from work together and get breakfast afterwards.
Last year, I ran my fastest pace in any event at this race – 7:57/mile. That’s pretty good for a middle-of-the-packer like myself. This year, since I haven’t been running as much as usual, I enjoyed the fact that I was simply able to run it at all and excited about the thought of just taking it easy and having fun.
I have slowly taken up running again (if you can call it that) after pretty much taking the first trimester off due to fatigue and nausea. Since I didn’t have any complications this time around and I was in decent running shape when I got pregnant (I was technically 2 weeks into my pregnancy when I ran the Philadelphia Marathon in November), I was given the green light to get back out there.
Complications early in my pregnancy with Quinn kept me from running for about 17 weeks. By the time I was able to give it a try, I just decided it wasn’t worth it anymore. It was hard to give up something I love so much for all those months. I missed the calm and clarity that comes over me after a good run. I missed feeling healthy, running with Jeremy and with friends and just being out in nature. I made up for it by cheering on Jeremy at running events all fall, which was a lot of fun, but also made me miss running more than ever.
I’ll never forget my first run after having Quinn. It was a beautiful spring afternoon about 5 weeks after she was born. I was walking along Fobidden Drive and decided to just try to run a little to see how I felt.
I was slow, jiggly and my knee instantly hurt. I kept hiking up my enormous post-partum shorts that were falling down and I was completely out of breath. I probably ran for 10 minutes straight before I had to stop because I felt like my uterus was going to fall out.
But the entire time, I had a huge, shit-eating grin plastered across my face. I hadn’t felt that happy and free in months. So I began running again the very next day and in a few months, I was in halfway decent shape again. I ran a half marathon 6 months after Quinn was born and a full marathon 9 months after she was born. Training sucked. I was nursing, working full-time and getting no sleep. It was one of the hardest things I ever made myself do. But I did it for my own survival. And I credit with saving my sanity during those early infant months when I thought I wouldn’t make it.
So for now, I happily run when I can. So far, my runs around the neighborhood have been pretty slow, but I’m ok with it. I went from an average 8:00-8:30/mile pace to an 11:00/mile pace. I cut back my average runs from 5-8 miles to 3-5 miles, not really because I have to, but just because there is really no reason for me to run further than that.
It’s nice for once to forget about pace or distance, but just to run for the love of moving. Because it feels amazing to just be outdoors when I’ve been cooped up sick in a house all winter long. And because I know I’m doing something healthy for myself and my baby, no matter how many naysayers tell me I am going to bounce my baby too much (seriously, don’t get me started).
There is no doubt how much better my body feels on the days that I run as opposed to the days I don’t. All the aches and pains and misery that so many people (including myself) complain about are greatly diminished. Much more so than when I sit on the couch with my feet up and eat ice cream. Something I also enjoy very much…
I will continue to run for as long as my body and baby let me this time. Even if I can just squeak out one run a week and even if I have to walk a majority of it (which luckily, I haven’t had to do yet). I don’t feel any need to push myself and I don’t feel any need to give up. I’ll just go when I can and enjoy it until my bladder just can’t take it anymore.
Last Saturday I enjoyed running my 5 mile race with Jeremy and our friend Jill. Jeremy slowed down to run with me and it was the first time we had run together since the Broad Street Run last May. We chatted and laughed the whole time and even though I wasn’t running very fast, I still passed a lot of people at the end (which felt pretty good). As we ran down towards the final stretch, we saw Quinn standing right before the finish line, so we slowed down to give her a kiss before crossing the mat. I hope she will someday remember these moments, watching her mom and dad doing something healthy and positive and take a little bit of that with her.
I was happily surprised to see that we finished with an overall time of 50:24, 10:04mm/pace. Jeremy says since I am carrying a baby, there are two of us, so really, it’s like I ran a 5:00mm/pace. Not too shabby for a baby and a pregnant chick.
In other news:
Happy 43rd to our best friend and the best baby-daddy in all the land. We love you, J
Can’t break the spirit of Boston.
My favorite Boston Marathon finisher had a 3 hour layover in Philly today. And it was so, so good to see her. Not just because for about 10 minutes yesterday, I wondered if I was ever going to see her again, but because I hadn’t seen her, or her husband or son in 4 years. I had never met her daughter and she had never met mine. The fact that she spent $400 to have a LONGER layover the day after she ran a marathon just to spend a few hours with us, means so much.
We talked about as much as we could in the short time we had together - the tragedy of yesterday, the triumph of her race (ironically, one of the most fun she had ever run), our crazy kids, my growing belly, her sisters, my family, or jobs. Our kids ran wild in the airport as they tore through every snack and drink in our bags. Her husband Philip sat in the corner and took 100 photos of us together. Then we hugged and said goodbye, hoping it would not be another 4 years before we see each other again. We email one another about 40 times a day (no joke), but talking on the phone is rare and actually seeing each other is almost nonexistent these days with our busy lives and families.
We met when I was her son Jack’s age - 4 years old, over 33 years ago. It’s crazy to think about all we have been through together. And crazy to think that after her whirlwind Boston Marathon weekend, I was somehow still a part of it.
I love you Jackie. I’m glad you and your family are safe. I’m glad I got to meet Viv and see Jack as a little boy. And, I’m glad I got to finally see you as a Boston Marathon finisher. Congratulations on your amazing accomplishment. I’m so proud of you and never been happier that you didn’t give up and walk at the end of a marathon.
