I'm a wife, a mother, an athlete, a very part time employee, a traveler, a friend, a sister, a daughter.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Why I Love Where I Live
Books Read 2010
1. The End (Series of Unfortunate Events #13) by Lemony Snicket
2. I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak
3. Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl
4. Toddlers Gone Wild! Rants from a Mommy Brain by Rebecca Eckler
5. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
6. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
7. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
8. Switchcraft by Mary Castillo
9. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
10. Girl with The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
11. The Gift by Cecelia Ahern
12. Restoring Grace by Katie Fforde
13. The Importance of Being Married by Gemma Townley
14. My Life in France by Julia Child
15. A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
16. Made in the USA by Billie Letts
17. A Wild Affair by Gemma Townley
18. House Rules by Jodi Picoult
19. My Horizontal Live: A Collection of One Night Stands by Chelsea Handler
20. Through The Heart by Kate Morgenroth
21. As Nature Made Him: The boy who was raised as a girl by John Colapinto
22. What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandel by Zoe Heller
Bit of a lackluster ending.
23. What The Dead Know by Laura Lippman
24. Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin
25. Naptime is the New Happy Hour: And other ways toddlers turn your life upside down by Stephanie Wilder-Taylor
26. Promises to Keep by Jane Green
27. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
28. The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
33. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffeneger
34. Maid to Match by Deanne Gist
35. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
36. The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer
37. UnCharted TerriTori by Tori Spelling
38. Honolulu by Alan Brennert
Monday, October 18, 2010
My List of Baby Must-Haves
Just wanted to note that this is mine and hubby's list of must-haves. I've since modified it with baby #2, but this is the list I've forwarded to several friends for registry ideas. Note, baby to baby preferences are not always the same. So this is just my experience.
1. Swing
2. Bouncy Chair
3. Crib
4. Crib mobile
5. Crib music soother
6. 2-3 crib sheets, 2 mattress waterproof pads
7. Sleep positioner
8. Humidifier
9. Nose aspirator (washable!!)
10. 2-3 towels
11. 4-5 washclothes
12. infant bath tub
13. non-slip mat or sticky pads for bathtub
14. bath toy holder, faucet cover
15. plastic spoons and forks (use a plastic toothbrush holder for travel)
16. high chair or booster seat with at least 2 trays (3 preferable)
17. plastic bowls
18. plastic bibs (at least 3)
19. changing pad
20. 2-3 changing pad covers
21. lap pads (4-5)
22. cloth diapers/receiving blankets (7-8) we used them only as spit clothes
23. fold up bottle drying rack
24. snack cups
25. bottle brush
26. sleep sacks
27. Exersaucer
28. Activity Gym
29. Umbrella stroller
30. Jogging stroller (if that’s what you’re into)
31. Pack n play (simple unless you’re going to have it out in your house. If you use it all the time, then splurge for the vibration/music. If you just use it for travel, don’t need all the bells and whistles.)
32. Floppy seat cover for grocery cart/restaurant high chair
33. Ergo carrier (much better than the Bjorn)
34. Stroller travel system. If you have two cars and will both be using strollers, get a snap n go for the 2nd car. I’d buy the snap n go used, cuz you don’t use it for that long. (Revision after 2nd child, if you need a stroller in two cars, I’d do BOB revolution w/infant seat attachment in one car, snap n go in the other. Later on, Snap n go can be replaced with umbrella stroller.)
35. Go go kids carseat roller (for plane travel)
36. Kiddopotamus Tiny Diner placemat. If you go out to eat often. (We love this!!)
37. Kiddopotamus plastic bib (good for travel as well)
38. Something to swaddle. I’ve tried all the swaddle stuff, the kiddopotamus and ultimate swaddler but I found that regular blankets worked best.
39. Gripe water
40. Baby monitor. If you have a big house, and the baby’s room is far away then splurge on this one. Our house is small, we hardly used it. I just leave our doors open and can here her. I mostly use my baby monitor when we travel to friends/family houses when we’ll be far from her room.
41. Glider (not essential, used in the early years but hardly used now)
42. My breast friend. I like it better than the boppy for positioning for feeding. But the boppy can be used to position the baby in on the couch, tummy time etc.
44. Breast pads
45. At least 3 nursing bras.
46. Nightgowns (for mama) with snaps or button closures for night time feedings.
47. Car mirror
48. Digital thermometer
49. Pacifier (depends on your parenting thoughts)
50. Lovey (depends on your parenting thoughts)
Revised with 2nd Child:
51.
52. For cloth diapers if you’re going that route, try the Jillian Drawer’s Diaper trial. We went with Bum Genius 3.0 diapers.
53. Bum Genius Diaper sprayer
54. Robeez shoes (helps keep socks on)
55. Medela Free-style pump
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Books Read 2010
1. The End (Series of Unfortunate Events #13) by Lemony Snicket
2. I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak
3. Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl
4. Toddlers Gone Wild! Rants from a Mommy Brain by Rebecca Eckler
5. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
6. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
7. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
8. Switchcraft by Mary Castillo
9. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
10. Girl with The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
11. The Gift by Cecelia Ahern
12. Restoring Grace by Katie Fforde
13. The Importance of Being Married by Gemma Townley
14. My Life in France by Julia Child
15. A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
16. Made in the USA by Billie Letts
17. A Wild Affair by Gemma Townley
18. House Rules by Jodi Picoult
19. My Horizontal Live: A Collection of One Night Stands by Chelsea Handler
20. Through The Heart by Kate Morgenroth
21. As Nature Made Him: The boy who was raised as a girl by John Colapinto
(Insane story, true story! A little bit more technical than I liked, but I'm glad I read it.)
22. What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandel by Zoe Heller
Bit of a lackluster ending.
23. What The Dead Know by Laura Lippman
24. Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin
25. Naptime is the New Happy Hour: And other ways toddlers turn your life upside down by Stephanie Wilder-Taylor
26. Promises to Keep by Jane Green
27. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
28. The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
33. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffeneger
34. Maid to Match by Deanne Gist
35. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (Hilarious book, great conversation topic in the break room. Many parents had read this book.)
36. The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer (Really loved his book Max Tivoli but this was disappointing.)
37. UnCharted TerriTori by Tori Spelling
38. Honolulu by Alan Brennert I liked this book, but it was a little long winded.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
The infamous sub-2 half marathon
But the main thing I need to understand is that not every race will be a PR for me. Since I started running...and I mean really running races, my situation has been a little different. I started running half marathons in 2005. I ran my first half then got pregnant with my first child. After her birth I ran 3 more half's. Each half got faster and faster. PR'd on my last race before I got pregnant with child number 2. Ran 6 halfs since he was born, and same thing...each run got faster and faster (should clarify that faster and faster means I did get slower than my pre-second child but got faster each race thereafter)...except for these last two. But two weeks ago it was just a "training" half so I didn't push myself the whole time. So my PR is still before second child, but I get sooo close. I'm not giving up, it may not be this year but I heard that runners peak in their mid-30's, so I have a handful of years to work on it.