The Building of a Deck: Part 1

Mostly 'before'.







Stay tuned for 'during' and 'after', should that day ever get here!

Just a swingin'

My one stipulation to Doug before opening our pool this year was that we needed to have a fence put up since Sydney is no longer the docile, immobile baby she was last summer. The guys started work 2 weeks ago and have made pretty good progress. I have been documenting and will hopefully have a finished product to show you this week.

In the meantime, Sydney and I have been spending time outside watching daddy and the guys work ever so diligently on the deck. Actually, she could really care less about the progress being made because she jumps every time the nailgun goes off. Instead, she focuses on her swinging skills.





And her snacking while swinging skills.



And the beauty that is her new slide. This pose is eerily similar to her daddy's any time he's around a Mustang :)



WARNING! CUTE BABY THIGH ALERT!

Cupcakes

One guess on who liked mommy's strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese icing...

B & E

I am sharing this particular picture with you, not for your glowing admiration of our leaf-infested puddle of a pool cover or a heavy desire to see my hubby en route to doing something manly, but to point out the fenced area just to his right. It is chain link and separates our yard from our neighbors, that is until the guys ripped it down two days ago in order to extend our privacy fence. Currently, there's about 40 feet of fenceless backyard and while this normally wouldn't be a problem, it is SO a problem because we have dogs. One in particular who is a bit mischievous. Sure, he may act all sweet and innocent, but he really is a sneaky little thing. He's totally the one to sneak underwear from the dirty clothes pile into the kennel and happily blame it on his sister. He's totally the one to sneak Sydney's binkys into the kennel and have them for a snack. He's totally the one to sneak out of the yard when mommy thinks he is outside eating his supper but then notices it's awfully quiet in the house so she goes to look for him and sees our neighbor carrying him OUT OF HIS HOUSE because he decided it would be fun to wander into HIS KITCHEN and scare the bejesus out of him!

Yep. My precious baby is guilty of breaking and entering. Well, maybe not the breaking part since our neighbor did have his door open, but still. What possessed my baby to wander out of our yard, up his back steps, into his sun room and then into his kitchen? We may never know. Let's hope the guys come to finish the fence today!

I think some baking on my part is required to further cement my apologies. I wonder if he likes Strawberry Cake.

42:13

The good news, I shaved 6+ minutes off my time from last week's 5k at the Harbor. The bad news, I was 2 minutes shy of what I ran here two years ago. Oh well, I'm still happy with the results. And without further ado, pictures. Because you know I don't go anywhere without my camera :)

Myself, Katie, and Tameka at the starting line.



The front.



The back.



And we're off. Notice the lady ahead of me running with the DOUBLE JOG STROLLER! I'm pretty sure she left me in her dust not long after I snapped the picture. Sad, I know.



Oh, hi Capitol.



What a beautiful morning to go for a stroll through the Botanical Gardens!



Myself, Tameka, and Katie at the finish line.



Why does Tameka look so happy? Because she beat this guy, who incidentally, was the oldest partcipant at 81 years old. I can only hope to be as healthy as he is at that age!!! You go bib number 1841 :)

In memory of

Tomorrow Doug and I will be running the National Police Week 5k. I first ran this race 2 years ago with Kate when she came to visit and am so very thankful she gave me a little piece of the running bug. I know, I know. There has been a slight delay in that race and last week (my 2nd race ever in 2 years), but in all fairness, I was a handful of weeks pregnant during my first 5k and took a little break from strenuous exercise afterwards. However, I think this is something I want to stick with. I don't exactly plan to morph into Flo Jo or anything crazy like that, but I have a new appreciation for running and aspire to do a handful of 5ks this year, and possibly the Marine Corps 10K this fall. Kate will be here running the full marathon. You go girl!

Getting back to my point (yes, I did have one of those), I went to pick up our running packets this morning and the lady giving me the numbers told me that she was placing a sticker on my bib with an officer's name that had died while on duty. I had not chosen to run in memory of anyone so I said ok. She did the same with Doug's bib. When I got back to my office, I was looking at the tshirt, water bottle, and finally the bib provided. I looked at the name of the officer I will be running in memory of and googled it to see what I could find out. Here's what I found from the Officer Down Memorial Page.

Deputy Sheriff Sarah Irene Haylett-Jones was only 27 when she was struck by a vehicle while directing traffic around an accident and died 2 days later. Her Tour of Duty was only 2 years, 2 months.

I hope to make her proud, just as she has certainly made her family proud with her service.

Going offroad

Confession: I am a girly girl. I like being indoors and away from wooded areas infested with creepy crawly things. I have no conscience when it comes to stepping/spraying/throwing a book on said creepy crawly things. I was grossed out at the park the other day when another mom picked up a catepillar on the slide and let it crawl up her arm while her little girl looked at it. I married my complete opposite in this regard. He grew up in the country where dirt roads are common. He enjoys being outside and is not afraid of bugs (ticks, cockroaches, and whatever that bee thing was that got in our house that one time excluded). He talks almost nonstop about his dirtbike and how he can't wait to get Sydney her first four wheeler and mommy one too. And he pesters me about whether or not I would learn to ride. To this I want to scream NO! NO! NO! because riding said four wheeler would mean doing so in the woods. With creepy crawly things all around me. But I don't say that because what if four wheeling ends up being something Sydney loves doing and I miss out on it because I'm a fraidy cat? This would not be so fresh in my mind had I not found these pictures on my thumb drive. They are from a few weeks ago. Taken in our driveway. Here's where my concern lies. She refused to keep her toy in the driveway. I'm afraid she likes going offroad.













GAH! Does this mean I have to give up outfitting her in cute cupcake sandals, or do they make cute hiking boots for baby with cupcakes on them? Or butterflies? Or a Disney Princess? Or even plain pink?

Mother's Day. Take 2.

Psst. In case you missed it, this past Sunday was Mother's Day. My second one to be exact, but who's counting?! It was a very enjoyable day.

There was breakfast in bed. The only way to eat breakfast, really.

There was playing with Sydney when she first woke up and getting her breakfast ready, even if her breakfast consisted of the waffles I managed to not shove down my throat.

There was going back to sleep after Doug decided to take Sydney out for a while. A little father/daughter quality time spent at Lowe's and possibly Target, our home away from home! Mommy really enjoyed her 2 hour nap.

There was a toddler-free trip to Target and the mall when I woke up, with a pit stop at the food court to visit Mrs. Fields. Yum!

That is where the joy of solitude ended for me on Mother's Day. While I enjoyed having a few hours to myself to actually get things done without distractions (have you tried going into a fitting room with more than 1 item and a toddler at the same time, not always fun), I started noticing how many moms were out with their daughters and family. The thrill of shopping was no longer in me. All I felt was guilt and I wanted to go home and be with Doug and Sydney. So I put down everything I was planning to try on. Goodbye cute and whispy white tank with big purple polkadots. But will I really miss you because you did have a $70 price tag? $70? What the heck was I thinking? Of course I will not miss you and when did I turn cheap? A few years ago that would have been riding shotgun next to me on the way home! But I digress. I went home and met Doug and Sydney for lunch. He brought home burgers and fries from Five Guys. More YUM!

After lunch and naptime we packed up and went to the park. It was definitely my favorite part of the day. Here's why :)

Sydney had so much fun in the yellow tube!











Could there be a sweeter father/daughter picture?



Of course, the cuteness factor was upped by her letting the guys playing football know that she wanted that ball! Over and over again! I guess you just had to be there :)



We're still working on the fundamentals of the slide. It seems she's got them backwards!



But who cares when at the end of the day, this is what I get to see?







I love you Doug and Sydney. Thank you for the best 2nd Mother's Day ever :)

Rash race

This weekend was a bit more than I bargained for. Friday night my friend and I drove out to the harbor to pick up our race packets. On the way there we were talking about my tonsillitis and the fact that I was broken out in a rash ALL OVER MY BODY! She looked at my arms and was like "Yeah, penicillin allergy. Logan's looked like that a couple of years ago." Not that Sarah is a board-certified physician (structural engineer, actually), but I took her word that it definitely wasn't razor burn like I had initially thought (it was only on my legs Thursday, then Friday I noticed it had spread to my stomach, back, and arms) and called the urgent care place that gave me the meds to see what I should do.

When I finally got a nurse on the phone, she told me to stop taking the meds and take 25mg of Benadryl every 6 hours instead. I did. At 9pm on Friday night. Meaning I should take my next one at 3am, just a few hours before we had to leave for the 5k. It's a good thing the Benadryl knocked me out cold because I almost slept through my alarm at 6am and actually hit snooze until 6:30. So I was conscious for the run. And still very rashy. I'm pretty sure noone wanted to be next to me because I looked like a leper, especially after the run. The heat/sweat did not help my cause. Or the itch. Maybe I should have rethought the shorts and worn my capris instead.

Anywho, the race was fun. We walked more than we ran, but still finished in under 50 minutes. We lingered long enough to buy a single dose of benadryl from the hotel store and headed towards home. On the way, I called my doctor's triage line to talk to a nurse about the rash, and to see if I could get a referral to the urgent care place to get a shot or something for my reaction to the meds. Thinking it would take maybe an hour max, Doug, Sydney and I all trekked to the doctor because I was going to need a ride home after the Benadryl I took at 9:30am. I signed in at 11:12am and didn't see a doctor until 3pm! All the while, we had a very HUNGRY and TIRED baby, one slightly irritated husband, God bless him, and one benadryl-induced patient who only wanted to sleep. A few nurses kept coming into our room to see if Sydney wanted to color or wanted stickers. We said no. She wants lunch and a nap. Nothing else is going to keep her from wailing but you obvisouly don't seem to care or you would send the doctor in to see me RIGHT NOW! Not that we said those last words, but oh how very tempted we were.

Anyway, the doctor finally came in, asked a few questions, looked at the rash, and decided on a shot of benadryl (YAY more nappy time for mommy!) and a single dose pack of steroids. I headed out to the car about 10 minutes later where Doug and Sydney were waiting. We got home, fed Sydney a quick lunch of turkey and string cheese and put her down for a nap. She probably would have slept all night but we woke her up at 6:30 to get ready for dinner with Sarah and Logan. She didn't have any problems getting back to sleep around 9 when we got home. It was definitely a LONG day for all.

Here are some pics from the run.

Getting started. How very very cruel to make us pass by Potbelly's so early in the race. And cakelove too! Thank goodness they were both closed or I may have veered off course :)



Sydney and Doug had a bit of downtime waiting for us to finish. Here, she poses under a giant hand in front of the Wilson bridge, the bain of any commuter's existence in the DC area for the last gazillion years, mine included until I discovered the commuter bus, but that's another story entirely!



Coming up around the bend...



I was determined to pass the two girls in blue and yellow after many lead changes throughout the race! Side note - cakelove is to the right of us here!



Almost.



There.



Ahhhh! We did it!



Sydney knows what mommy needs :)



This coming Saturday Doug and I are running the National Police Week 5k downtown. My goal is to beat my 48:47 time from this race. We'll see how that goes.

Weekend forecast

My weekend starts in less than 2 hours. Hooray!

Said weekend will include running in a 5k with my friend Sarah tomorrow morning at the new National Harbor. Hooray!

Most likely in the rain. Boo!

Sarah says they have a Ben and Jerry's there. Hooray!

And a Potbelly's. Double Hooray!

There's a wellness expo and farmer's market afterwards too. Maybe I can get some fresh corn and okra. Woot!

And then there's Sunday. Mother's Day. My second. It's still hard to wrap my head around the fact that I'm a mom sometimes. But I love it. It's very gratifying work. Hard work sometimes, but worth every second of labor. Pun intended. Geez I crack myself up. Ha! Anyway, we don't have any plans for Sunday as I'm not a big fan of waiting 3 hours to eat at Olive Garden, or any other restaurant for that matter. I would rather spend the day at home with Doug and Sydney, or at the park chasing her around the playground. So maybe that is what we will do to celebrate this year. A picnic in the park. Simple. Serene. Sunny. And maybe a nice foot massage thrown in for good measure :)

How will you celebrate?

Fashion 911!

One question for y'all. Is it possible to stage a self-intervention? How does one go about doing that? Does it require multiple personalities to sit self down in the living room or is does it simply require one to look in the mirror while self is in the bathroom at work and realize that self is in desperate need of a FASHION MAKEOVER? Because if that last one is all it takes, then I am SO THERE!

Go ahead. I'll wait while you call Stacy and Clinton. Don't forget to tell them I'd be a willing muse, there'd be no need for the hidden camera to stalk me for a week, because I already know how atrocious I look in my clothes and how sad my hair is in its current state - long, straight, and a tad bit of frizz thrown in for good measure thanks to what seems like 40 days and 40 nights of rain. Actually, just tell them to go ahead and toss everything, well, except for a few select pairs of shoes. Namely my green reptile print strappy Nine West heels and brown strappy heels from Banana Republic. Oh, and my cute olive green Chinese Laundry wedges. They have to stay. It doesn't matter that I haven't worn them since before I was pregnant or that they give me blisters. I can make them work with strategic placement of blister band-aids or some body glide.

Everything else can go because it is all ill-fitting/unflattering/out of date. Not that much is going to be super flattering on a post-baby body that has not seen much gym time lately, but still. I am tired of being between sizes. If I wear my regular size, I have droopy drawers. Go down one size you say? I tried that and all I get is severe muffintop, and that is just not a good look for me. So go ahead and call Stacy and Clinton. Tell them to send that $5000 Visa gift card, fully loaded, along with a list of stores that make half sizes for post-baby bodies and a list of wardrobe basics and we can call it a day.

What are your wardrobe basics and where can I find them? In half sizes? And Talls?

Blast From the Past

That's what I got on Facebook today when a friend from junior high jokingly asked if I still had Nelson posters on my wall. That made me laugh! It also made me think about the posters that adorned my pink bedroom walls and do a google image search to see said posters once again. And now I throw all shame and embarrassment out the window to share them with you. I hope they provide you with as much joy as they did me throughout my teenage years :)

At one time, I could tell you which one was Matthew and which one was Gunnar. Not so much anymore. However, I do still remember all the words to every song from their After the Rain album. Mental note: must add to ipod.



Also covering my walls were posters of Corey Haim, all carefully extracted from BOP and 16 magazines that I would have to BEG my mother to buy. For the record, License to Drive was like the best movie ever back in the day!



And then there was Kirk Cameron. Big brother to Carol and Ben. Best friend to Boner.



Of course, there were filler posters taking up the rest of the wall that included, Jon Bon Jovi, Scott Baio, Richard Grieco, and New Kids on the Block. What can I say? I was a child of the 80's and teenager of the 90's.

All this has me thinking, who will be Sydney's teen crush? Will she have to grate on my last nerve to get me to buy those teenybopper magazines or will she find a way to sneak them onto the belt at the grocery store without me knowing? Momma, please disregard that last statement as I would never ever do anything like that. I was the good one!

Who was on your wall growing up?

Tonsillitis and more PA pictures

I apologize for not being terribly creative today. I just don't have it in me. Blame it on the tonsillitis and lack of any food worth eating. I mean, a girl can only drink so many fluids (water and oj, and even THAT hurts going down) and consume so much soup before she loses most of her will to get out of bed in the morning, not that I don't love the occasional bowl of goodness that is Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup, or a good baked potato soup from one Corner Bakery just a hop skip and a jump away from my office, which is where I am today. I almost wish I had made it into work yesterday and had today off. It's so gloomy outside and I still feel like I'm swallowing glass. Fun times. Well, here's some more pictures from our trip to PA to brighten your day. And mine. Yay for brightness :)

Sydney loves the drum set Uncle Timmy bought for her.



Sydney rocking the baby capris on cousin Kim's deck.



If I didn't know better, I would swear this picture was taken at our house because the placement of the dogs is all too familiar at mealtime!



Kim is happy that this isn't her mess to clean up!



It's mommy's. Yay.



Sydney and Aunt Pat.



I.



Smell.



BABY!



Sydney's not too sure what to think about kisses from Diesel.



Uncle Timmy, Daddy, and Sydney.



Aunt Kathy, Sabrina, and Alicia watch as Mimi plays pattycake with Sydney!