Snow and ice

Wow, this weekend went super fast.  Maybe because I had a meeting all day on Friday instead of working from home.  And those three days of meetings really wore me out.  I wanted to sleep in on Saturday but Evan had other plans.  He was cutting a tooth and so pretty much was up all night.  I think he fell asleep at around 4am.  And then he was up at 7am.  Definitely not what I was hoping for after only getting a few hours of sleep all week.  He made up for it on Sunday though and we slept until 8am.

Sunday we got our first snow fall of the season!

It ended up being about two or three inches.  I was pretty excited.  Except that my friend Sarah was supposed to come and help me pack but we were too worried about the road conditions so she didn't come.  It was a good thing too because the roads were horrible.  However,  I was sad I didn't get to see her.  Hopefully she makes it on Saturday!

I put Evan in his new snowsuit (compliments of Mimi), and we took Dolce for a walk.

It was getting a little dark so it Is kind of hard to see Evan, but he was all bundled up in snow pants and a winter coat.  That little hat is a bit problematic because it likes to fall down and cover his entire face.  That made him a bit unhappy.  At one point I took him out and let him play in the snow, which he loved, but then getting him back into the stroller was a fight.  Dolce spent the entire time eating snow, which is so annoying because then he has to go out nineteen times in the next hour.  It's a struggle I tell you!

I did get some packing done, even without Sarah's motivation.  I also made English muffin bread, pumpkin soup, chicken soup, and chicken enchilada soup.  And Ivan nicely washed the dishes while. I gave Evan a bath.

This week is a bit stressful because I have my Chem lecture final tomorrow and then moving on Saturday...which means I have to be packed by Saturday too.  The other night while I was rocking Evan to sleep (I know, he's probably too old for this but I don't care), I heard rodents in the walls scurrying about.  I'm not sure if it was mice, rats, squirrels, or what - but it was disgusting and I was counting my blessings that we were moving to a better place (can it be worse???).  We just have to physically move to that other place and that is what stresses me out!

P.S. I found the BOB weather shield!!!!!  I had been looking for it for months and couldn't find it - and then I'm packing up the bedroom closet and found it in a bag.  I was SO HAPPY!!

Did it snow where you live this weekend?

Broken buses and 10,000 ravioli

I drew this all by myself....

 Ugg, these past few days have been horrible with regards to commuting.  On Thursday my bus never showed up so I had to take the local (and got home at 7:15 rather than 6:30), on Friday the bus never showed AGAIN and I had to take the local and there was a huge accident and I didn't get home until 8:00pm (and keep in mind I leave the office at 5pm), and then this morning our morning bus broke down so I had to take the local.  Seriously bus company - service your buses!!!

Ok, I just had to complain about that for a second...as I sit here going to all the park and rides knowing I'm going to be 45 minutes late to work.

This weekend was super jam-packed.  I had my last day of First Tee.  The girls were actually sad and said they'd miss us.  That means A LOT because a lot of the girls don't love golf and they do it because their parents want them to...and then we spend 8 weeks trying to convince them that golf is a lot of fun and they should keep doing it.  So, it seems like we succeeded and most of them said they'd be back in the spring.  I will miss them and the golf season (and the extra paycheck!), but it will also be nice to have Saturday mornings free again.  And it's getting cold, so it is less fun golfing when it's 37* out like it was this past Saturday.

In the afternoon Evan and I took a trip down to DC to visit my co-worker and her new baby.  I LOVE babies and I really love tiny little newborns.  Her son was born just two weeks ago, so he was little little.  It was fun to see her, catch up, and hear her birth story.  After being pregnant I love hearing about other people's birth stories for some reason.  It's not something I ever thought about before, but now I'm always interested.  My plan had been to bring her some frozen food, but she didn't confirm until Friday night so I didn't have time to make anything.  I stopped by Panera and bought her a bunch of bagels instead, and I had already bought some granola and oatmeal a few weeks ago.  I felt like that was the nicest thing that people did for me when I had Evan - everyone came with food.  It was something that had never occurred to me and I appreciated it so much.  Keep that in mind!  If any one of your friends ever gives birth - head over with food, they will love you forever.

It's a good thing that I am not pregnant right now because I can tell you - Evan was NOT happy with me holding the baby.  He kept trying to crawl back into my lap and push the baby away.  Not in a mean way, but definitely in a jealous way.  I can totally see him being jealous of a new baby.  He played with his toys a bit but kept coming back and trying to crawl into my lap.  He does that when I hold my sister's daughter too.  He's definitely a momma's boy right now - he loves to cuddle with me and will climb into my lap and give me a kiss for no reason.  It's the most adorable thing in the world, but maybe it wouldn't be if I had another baby!

Later that night I picked up Ivan and we tried to go to Costco, but it was closed.  It was really annoying because Evan had fallen asleep in the car and then we woke him up to get him out - only to find out that Costco closes at 6pm!  On a Saturday!  Crazy sauce.  So we went to Target instead and spent a ton of money there.  On non-essential items - minus the dog food.  I HATE going to Target for that reason alone - I always find stupid stuff I don't need (and Ivan finds more) and then then next thing we know we are paying $80 when we only needed $13.00 dog food.  Frustration to the max (and yes, I did just say than and I know it sounds stupid, but I'm not erasing it).

Sunday was suppose to be a bit lazier, but it wasn't.  I got up early to go running with my sister and Evan - even though it was only 37* outside.  Freezing!  And I couldn't find our weather shield for Evan.

See that nice contraption that keeps Evan warm?  Where did it go?  I searched every box, closets, drawer, and cubby that it could possibly be and it is NO WHERE.  I have no clue what happened to it and it's driving me crazy because it's like $65 and I don't want to have to buy another one.  However, when it's cold and I force Evan to go for a run with me, I feel bad having the cold wind blow in his face.  He was fine yesterday though and only started fussing the last half mile, and never broke out into a full cry.  He did pitch one of his mittens overboard though and it's lost forever.  Sorry Mimi - it was one of the Mickey Mouse ones you made him last year.  It was a good run though.

That's me after the run in my running clothes.  Sorry, we don't have a great mirror to take good photos.  Also, I seem to have hurt my food somehow.  I'm not sure how, but it started hurting on Saturday and it's only gotten worse.  I wasn't even doing anything - just noticed this dull throb in my arch area and now it's so painful I can't walk normal.  I had to do a run-hop thing because it hurt to run and I am now hobbling all over the place.  I have no clue what could have happened and I am just praying that the pain disappears.  We'll see.  I'm thinking I probably shouldn't run on it until the pain goes away, even though running on it didn't make it worse.

We did finally go to Costco yesterday and spent a bunch of money on things we didn't need and some things we did.  I bought some Ravioli that I thought Evan would like, but he doesn't.  So, glad I have 10000 more raviolis for him.  And Ivan bought 32 Cokes.  Yup, I guess you can never have too much coke if your name is Ivan.  We also bought a HUGE bag of carrots that Ivan said he's going to help eat.  Ivan hates vegetables so I figured if he was going to eat a few carrots I'd buy them.  Of course we then had to make a quick trip to Giant to buy the rest of the food we didn't want 500 of or that Costco didn't carry organic of - like yogurt and eggs.

All in all the weekend was fun, but my main goal had been to study and that didn't happen much.  I started to study on Sunday afternoon while Evan was napping but then he woke up and was still tired and fell asleep on my chest for an hour.  So I watched Parenthood instead....

Going for a walk with Bob

Notice how the title of this post says walk and not run.  Yeah, I’m not sure what happened to me and running.  We are apparently not friends anymore.  I was doing really well with running – I ran a few times a week while I was on maternity leave and then I even continued to run during lunch while I was at work.  Then I got really busy and I didn’t have time.  And since laziness begets laziness, I quit running on the weekends too.  I think getting up so early during the week along with being tired from going to work, going to class, and being a mom started catching up to me and I just wanted to be lazy. 

The thing is, I really love running.

I guess I will wait until my motivation returns.  I have a feeling it will return with the warm weather.  We’ll see though.

Even though I haven’t been running, I did get my booty out for a walk or two.  With BOB.  Let me tell you – I love my BOB.  I was a little hesitant spending so much money on a stroller, but I am so happy I did.  Not only is BOB my favorite color, but he is an awesome stroller.  And I finally went out for a decent walk with him.

I don’t know what I was thinking but I had it in my head that Evan had to be 6 months old to ride in the BOB without the car seat.  I must have made this up in my head though, because when I looked at the instruction manual it said 8 weeks.  What was I thinking???  I had been dying to use my weather shield but thought that I had to wait until Evan was 6 months (since the weather shield does not fit over the car seat). 

Good thing I had the sense to look at the manual.  The second I discovered Evan was old enough for a walk in the BOB, out we went.  The first two times it snowed.  No worries though, Evan stayed nice and toasty and dry inside his plastic igloo.

He seems to always fall asleep when we go for a walk. 

Dolce and I got wet though.  It’s too bad there isn’t a weather shield for Dolce.  Or a dog raincoat that would fit him.  Along with doggie booties.

I love going on walks with Dolce and Evan (and BOB). 

The only problem is getting BOB in and out of the apartment.  First, the BOB stroller is a bit heavy.  And large.  And I live on the third floor of a walk-up condo.  At first I was carrying the BOB downstairs, then running back up and getting Evan and Dolce.  But then I had to strap Evan into the stroller outside and then put the weather shield on.  So, instead I decided to get him all set in the house and then go down the stairs with him in the stroller.  This has worked but it can be tricky trying to get the stroller down the stairs with one hand and making sure Dolce doesn’t bolt off with the other hand.  Going back up the stairs is just as fun.  We are getting better – and my arm and back muscles are slowly getting stronger.

Dolce is a great walker with the stroller.  He sometimes walks too close and gets run over (see picture below), but for the most part he walks right next to me and doesn’t act like a maniac.

Notice all the dog fur stuck to the wheel.  He hasn’t quite learned that he needs to give the stroller some space.  He’s working on it though.

I can’t wait for my walks to turn into runs.  I really can’t wait to go running with Evan.  It is the whole reason I bought the BOB – so we could spend quality time on runs.  So far he seems to enjoy the stroller, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed he stays content in there.  It’s too bad I can’t take Dolce for runs with us – we could have a fun family outing.  However, Dolce is getting old and has some leg problems so running isn’t the best for him.  Also, if he could run, winter would be the best time.  When it gets warmer it’s not the best idea for him to exercise too much.  He’s really an artic dog – so the summers are a bit too hot for him.  I feel bad leaving him at home though.

For now, we’ll keep taking him on long walks.

And I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a few good runs coming my way!