Happy Valentine's Day! Got any fun plans? 

Tonight, Cameron and I decided to keep things the same. We'll be celebrating on Saturday night when we attempt to make sushi and dive into the bottle of La Grande Dame Champagne he got me for Christmas. So excited to taste it! We've be wanting to try it forever it seems. We're big champagne people. Our attempt at sushi will be interesting to say the least. I bought Cameron sushi knives for his birthday years ago (I think in 2006) and we have not once used them. At least they should be nice and sharp. 

We actually hardly ever celebrate Valentine's Day on the actual day.We've also only gone out once to a nice restaurant. All other celebrations have been at home with a special home cooked meal, a movie and cuddle time. Occasionally we get each other gifts but only when the mood strikes. Last year I got roses and chocolates while I got Cameron a pan for gold panning. One of these days we will go somewhere to try it out.

Do you think its important to celebrate on Valentine's Day or just to try and put a day (or night) aside to celebrate the idea of Valentine's Day?

Sleepless Nights

You'd think Sydney would be the one keeping us up at night. 

Nope. 

Sydney only gets up once, eats a full bottle and then passes right back out. Since we've switched to the Level 2 nipples, this usually is less than a 10 minute interruption to our night's rest.

I count all this as a HUGE Blessing. 

London, on the other hand....

Has been driving us nuts. Some nights she has been up almost every hour and not just a short few minutes, then calms herself down and goes back to sleep. Oh no, she usually ends up screaming for quite a while if we don't go in there to calm her down. 

When we do go in there, all she wants us to do is lay down with her. This has even resulted in her joining us in bed in the wee hours of a few mornings, when we just couldn't take it any more. And the kid sleeps soundly when she has been allowed to snuggle in between Cameron and myself, and with Tulley at her feet. But it makes for one crowded bed.Don't forget, we also have Kelsey somewhere in our bed and even Jake has taken to joining us again.

There are only two explanations for London's screaming it seems. London is either afraid of the dark or she is afraid of her closet. She hasn't quite been able to tell us which one it is. Maybe its a mixture of both. All she can do is say she is scared and recently she pointed to the closet as she said that. 

If it is a fear of the closet, we have ourselves to blame. One of London's favorite movies is Pixar's Monsters, Inc. We have decided we won't let her watch this one for a while, even though when she watches it, she laughs. 

We also made a trip up to Babies R Us Monday night to purchase a nightlight. A cute purple and pink butterfly nightlight that plugs into the wall and has an on switch. Monday night London only woke up once. She was still a cranky monster in the morning, but she only got up that once, which was when we were headed to bed so our only interruption that night was Sydney. 

Sadly, this was the only night the butterfly nightlight lasted. Last night, London was sent to her room for throwing a tantrum when we told her no to watching her current favorite show, Bubble Guppies. We have taken to sending her to her room as she usually calms down and gets distracted playing with her toys in there. And she was only in there a few minutes, before I rescued her. She had actually just walked out into the loft as I was finishing changing out of my work clothes so I never looked inside her room. 

Not that I would have seen the broken nightlight quickly given all the toys scattered across her room. Cameron discovered it, busted and on the floor when he went to turn it on while putting London to bed last night. The little stinker did something to it, managing to get it out of the wall and left it in pieces on the floor. All Cameron could do was open her curtains to let the street light in for the night. 

And Guess What!

The little stinker slept the WHOLE night through. Not sure if it was the street light or just that fact that exhaustion caught up to her. Guess we will find out tonight. On top of that, while she was sleepy this morning, she wasn't cranky nor did she fight me to get ready. Instead, she had opinions on what she wanted to wear (which she has never really had before) and wanted her hair to look pretty by putting some ribbon barrettes in it, which she kept in her hair all the way to school! She only pulled them out when they started slipping out, which is just a curse of having her very thin hair.

Cross your fingers that we have a similar night tonight. And a similar pleasant morning tomorrow.

Hard Drop off At Day Care Today

It can be hard leaving these two little faces behind at day care any day, but today was particularly rough leaving behind Sydney. 

At 3 months old she is giggly and smiley, especially when she is looking at Cameron or myself. When I dropped her off for her first day of daycare, back when she was 6 weeks old, I cried all the way home and couldn't wait to pick her up that evening. My biggest fear was that she would come to recognize her main care provider, Miss Amber, as her mommy over me. And so glad to say that is not the case. Her little blue eyes light up every time I see her. Even in the morning, as she slowly wakes out of sleep, she is smiling both with her lips and her eyes. 

Sydney has come to love Miss Amber in a special way as well. Which is great as I want her, as little as she is, to feel secure in where I am trusting to leave her 5 days a week. Every morning when we arrive Miss Amber comes up to Sydney and says hello before taking her out of her car seat.

This morning, Miss Amber wasn't there. Something must have come up, as usually she tells me when she won't be there and either Miss Jenn or Miss Shannon are there in her place. Today it was Miss Tiffany (I think). She's not normally in the infant room, but making breakfast and waiting with the older kids for buses to arrive to take them to school, that's why I'm not even sure on her name. London knows it and will say hello most mornings.

I went about my usual drop off routine, labeling the bottles for the day and filling out the necessary forms. Then I took Sydney out and laid her on the floor. She followed me with her eyes from the moment I laid her down until I exited the room and said goodbye. She didn't have her normal smile on her face, but more of a concerned look, as if asking "who are you leaving me with? Where is Miss Amber and why are you not staying until she shows up?" Made my heart melt and made me feel bad that I was leaving her in a situation she clearly knew was not normal. I can't wait to see her after my run this evening. I may not put her down all evening if I can get away with it. 

The best part is Sydney won't mind a bit. She is such a snuggler, although she did roll over for Cameron, twice, on Saturday during my run with SacFit. Little stinker won't even attempt a roll over for me. 

As for Superbowl, we had a great party, minus the Niners losing. It got pretty heated among the adults watching after the power went out, which was when we sent the 4 older kids up to the loft to watch a movie. Gotta love our loft now that kids are old enough to be out of eye-sight but within ear-shot. We had 11 adults, 4 kids, and 3 little ones in attendance. This was a much more desirable number to have than the 35 people from last year. 

This past Saturday was our crab feed as well. The event sold out, which was fantastic for our friend Christina, who is the president of the Active 20-30 chapter that put the feed on. They even ran out of crab! I left my phone in my purse, which I left in the car, so I don't have any photos to show. And next year I need to remember NO JELLO SHOTS. They did me in and Sunday was a rough day for me. Luckily, we had Vicki and Joe stay the night since they were watching the girls and they were able to stay that morning so Cameron and I could get a little more shut-eye in. 

We did go to Target Sunday to get the necessary items for this next weekend - London's potty training weekend. Wish us luck!

Looking Ahead: February

Photo Credit: San Francisco Fortyniners Facebook Page

Here is what we have to look forward to in February: 

We're hosting Superbowl again. A little relieved we won't be hosting as many people as last year - I actually want to watch the game. Go Niners!

On the 9th we have a date night planned - we'll be attending the Active 20-30 Club of Greater Roseville and South Placer's 18th Annual Crab Feed. Both Cameron and I are both so happy I can eat crab again!

President's Weekend will be interesting. Cameron and I are finally ready to potty-train London! She's been ready for some time. Wish us luck. Any advise? And no, we will not be purchasing this training toilet for her!

We end the month with Sydney's 4-month well baby visit with Dr. Grant. Stay tuned for stats? Will she continue matching London? Or will she be her own little person even more?

Ups & Downs with Running After Sydney

Photo Credit: CentralCaliforniaCycling.com

I can't remember if, when I was pregnant with Sydney, I mentioned that my most restful night's sleep was when I dreamed about running. I missed if terribly, but between the normal pregnancy exhaustion, the usual chasing of London around, the 12 puppies we cared for, and Tulley, maintaining my running habit just wasn't an option for me in the first trimester. Which meant there would be no running for me throughout the pregnancy.

Sydney's arrival was perfect timing, though, as I would be considered "healed" enough for running again, with a few extra weeks thrown in for good measure just in time for SacFIT's Winter/Spring 2013 session. As soon as I could, I signed up.

And that session started up on January 5. It was frigid that morning, but I got out there and ran 2 miles, noted my time and recorded my heart rate for placement into a pace group. The first time I ever participated in SacFIT I was placed in the 14-minute mile pace group, which is part of the Red group. I moved up to the 13:30s my next session.

I went into that cold morning knowing it had almost been a year since I last ran consistently and that my body is still recovering from Sydney. I honestly expected to be placed even lower, possibly in the purple group, which is 16-minute miles or slower.

When the pace group recommendations showed up in my email that next Friday morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find I was in fact not in the purples. I was ecstatic to see that I was actually placed in the group ahead of Red - The Golds! Before, it had just been a dream to make it there - suddenly I was, placed into the 12:30-minute mile group. When I thought about it, my weekly runs before my break were around a 12:30-minute mile. 

That next Saturday I ran 4 miles with the 12:30 Golds. I even met a new mother whose daughter was born a week before Sydney! 

But on Sunday I could barely walk my knees ached do bad. Monday I tried to go out for my short run as outlined in the SacFIT program. I think I looked worse than the oldest granny out running. And the pain became unbearable. I ended up cutting the run short and walked most of the time I was out there. I took the rest of the week and the next weekend off (that was the Tahoe weekend any how). When I tried to go out Tuesday last week, my knees had been feeling better. But 3 minutes into a 22 minute run they were killing me again.

While in Tahoe, I made mention the pain and Emily reminded me that relaxin stays in the body about a year after baby arrives. She had suffered from knee pain as well. After my failed Monday run I emailed the Gold leader, who I happen to know from college (she is the one that turned me on to SacFIT) and asked her advise. She thought my shoes could be some of the problem and my quads may not be strong enough. We both agreed I should go down to a group I felt comfortable running with to avoid pain and that I should work my way back up. 

I showed up last Saturday planning on walking with the 16-minute mile purple group. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it, so I joined the 15-minute mile Red group.  Honestly, I could have walked the entire time, but I am not a fan of speed walking, and my knees were feeling better so I tried jogging. And I jogged the full 54 minutes, even picking up the pace in the last 1/2 mile. The best part - my knees didn't hurt that evening or Sunday. I was a little bit stiff though. 

In the end, I probably only need new inserts in my shoes. The rest of my problem is I am out of shape and it will take some time to get back into it. Tomorrow I think I will try to run with the 14:30s and assess how I feel afterward. If I can make it back to the 14s I'll be a happy camper for the season. At least I know I can get to the Golds - it's not an impossible dream, but I also think my returning to the Golds is a ways off. I'm not even signing up for any races until I know I can complete them.