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| Saturday, May 10, 2008 |
Something to Say about Denial |
With my first triathlon tomorrow morning, I have been trying to be particularly careful in my eating and sleeping habits this week. I have also tried hard to manage my progressively escalating case of nerves as the week went on. So you might expect that I would have gone to sleep as early as possible yesterday. Almost as if I were in denial about my need for rest, I did the opposite, and enjoyed what was for me an unprecedented social opportunity that I could not refuse.
I was honored to receive an invitation from Soccer Mom in Denial to join her and Jenn from Something to Say about Life in the Netherlands for dinner. That's right, for this weekend Jenn in Holland is Jenn in Massachusetts! How cool is that?
We had a fun evening typing talking and talking and talking. Plus there was fabulous food. We were the last ones to leave the restaurant. Hmmm...I bet my triathlon training buddy and our trainer would have something to say about that. If they ask me about it, I may need to deny it. Afterwards, we went to a bar. Relax! I was willing to stay out late for friends, but I did deny myself alcohol in order to avoid derailing my training and triathlon prep. Actually, I had such a good time that I really feel it helped me to relax before my big event tomorrow. The Big Giraffe also denied me the consequences of my late night by generously encouraging me to sleep in today! I certainly have something to say about his kindness.
I have enjoyed what SMID and Jenn have to say for almost as long as I have been blogging, and there was no denying from our prior meetings that SMID is a fabulous person. I quickly felt that I could say the same about Jenn. I have to admit that as much as I enjoyed getting to know Jen and getting to know SMID better, what most stuck with me today, other than just having a great time last night of course, was what Jenn had to say about Life in the Netherlands.
Of course, I had to find a metaphor in what Jenn described to apply to my own life. For example, Jenn described the way she shops by going from specialty store to specialty store like the cheese store, the nut store, and the bakery, just the way things used to be in the US before supermarkets became so prevalent, except that they bike everywhere. So today I didn't just go to the supermarket, but made a stop at a specialty store, Trader Joe's, to stoke my yogurt craving as well. Technically, I haven't ridden my bike in two days, but I will be on it bright and early tomorrow for the first leg of my triathlon. Yeah, not as nice and neat as in the Netherlands, but if you add biking and choosing the right store for each purchase... Of course, in the Netherlands, an employee would have started pulling together my usual order for me when I walked into the stores. Trader Joe's didn't even have my normal order; they were out of the cheaper Greek yogurt. I silently rejoiced at the "excuse" to buy the more expensive Greek yogurt that tastes twice as good.
Tomorrow's my big day. I'm all packed and just about ready to go to bed. I'm definitely nervous although not nearly as nervous as I would have thought. Apparently a night off was just the ticket.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: When preparing for something stressful, there is something to be said about denial.Labels: Blogging Flexibly, Exercise and Fitness, Food (Solid), Humor (at least Attempted), Outings and Playgroups |
posted by Alex Elliot @ 8:06 PM   |
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| Friday, May 02, 2008 |
Two's A Charm |
Dear Mrs. Chicky, Her Bad Mother and Mrs. Chicken,
 I would love to be able to give you some advice on having a second child. The problem is that most of the time, I still need some advice. I'm just kidding sort of. Honestly having a second was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Here's the two best pieces of advice I have for you.
1) This is really the best advice I've received for parenting. A friend of mine who is remarkably organized despite having and has four happy kids told me to make the new baby fit into the older child's schedule. Sounds a little harsh, but I am so glad I did it. I think back to what it was like when my older son (OS) was a newborn and I was housebound because of perceived nap restrictions, minor germ phobias, cold weather, hot weather, you name it. However, when OS was 34 months old, and it was the official first day of summer aka my younger son's (YS) birth, I knew that being housebound was just not going to be okay with him. Talk about a way to make him resent his sibling. I just made sure that there was a Pack N Play at whatever playdates or playgroups we attended so YS could nap. If necessary, I brought one with me. I also invested in a few more receiving blankets and hung them from the handle of the baby bucket carseat when YS was in the stroller and we were outdoors to provide a sun screen. I know people who've even bought the velcro sticky tape to velcro them to the handle. YS never ever had a sunburn.
Here's the best part of this wonderful advice; YS is incredibly easy going and while part of me knows it is just plain old luck (for which I will be eternally grateful) there's a part of me that believes it's because he has led a "go with the flow" life from birth. Of course, an afternoon nap was part of OS's schedule, so they both napped at the same time.
2) Make sure you don't have any Sharpies in your house. No, seriously. A few weeks after bringing his brother home, OS found a Sharpie and colored all over his walls, furniture, the bathroom, and clothes, when we thought he was sleeping. We didn't even know we owned a red Sharpie. If you have any doubts, send your older kid and friends on a treasure hunt for Sharpies in your house. You may be amazed at what they find.
Best of luck! Everyone told me that the best part of having multiple kids was seeing the beautiful friendship that forms. I have loved witnessing this because it allows me time during the day to blog and/or talk on the phone .
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Keep your newborn on your older child's schedule, but make sure that older child does not have any Sharpies.
This post was written for a virtual Baby Shower.Labels: Blogging Flexibly, Child Health and Personal Care |
| posted by Alex Elliot @ 3:36 PM |
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| Thursday, May 01, 2008 |
On the Move |
| No, this isn't about exercising or triathlons. I'm very excited to say that I will be writing for both Just Cause (click on Editor Blogs) and GNM Parents. Did I mention that I'm excited? I'll be writing on Mondays for Just Cause (I have been doing Fridays) and on Thursdays for GNP. Hmm...today's Thursday and tomorrow's Friday! Labels: Blogging Flexibly |
| posted by Alex Elliot @ 9:24 PM |
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| Sunday, February 24, 2008 |
A Letter To My Body |
Dear Body,
Where do I begin? We've definitely had our ups and downs over the years. I remember as a kid not thinking too much about you. I wasn't displeased with you, but I never appreciated you either. On the other hand, you seemed comfortable doing your own thing, like when we went through puberty. You didn't ask me my opinion on it. You just went ahead and did it way before I was ready. I would be lying if I didn't say that at times I felt betrayed by you. At times I also hated you. We got through that though and when I was in high school, I actually felt really good about you. Together we did swimming, fencing and synchronized swimming. You and I also had some great times with my high school sweet heart.
In college I realized that I had been holding something back from you. I didn't want to hurt your feelings. I tried to talk myself out of my own feelings, but you were doing something that was causing me physical pain. My back hurt all the time, and I wasn't really thrilled with the way I looked. After consulting with a plastic surgeon and weighing the risk factors for us, I decided to have a breast reduction surgery. I have to say that I think you were actually pleased by it. Nothing hurt anymore. A weight had literally been lifted from our shoulders. Life was much easier. Even my times at swim meets were faster because it was easier to move you through the water.
Time ticked by. We certainly enjoyed getting to know the Big Giraffe, but overall you were ignored again. Life got busy. I paid attention to you during my engagement and I toned you up so I could look good. After that though, I have to say that you were sadly forgotten. More time passed and I realized I really needed you. I had something that I really wanted you to be part of: having a baby. Once again you came through. And you did it twice. I am thrilled to have had 2 healthy baby boys. Large, healthy baby boys. You even allowed me to experience breastfeeding, if only for a brief period of time. Even though you initially disappointed me by requiring me to have a c-section, I quickly got over it. Out of all the things I may get neurotic about, having a c-section wasn't one of them.
That leads us to almost a year ago. Between being a new mommy and trying to balance my new life, I forgot about you again. The great care I had tried to take of you in my high school and college years by eating properly and exercising were long forgotten. We had grown to be such strangers that I had trouble even recognizing you when I saw you in the mirror. I bought a package of personal training sessions. We showed up - heavier with our abs hanging from two c-sections - to get in shape. It was hard. If I hadn't bought the package of sessions, honestly I wouldn't have gone back. You screamed out in pain. I hated going. For about three weeks I remember every time I moved your were incredibly sore. Yet you still allowed me to push through.
Then in October I got this crazy idea to train for one triathlon which turned into training for multiple triathlons. I was so excited. You supported me even though running has never been our thing. Demands of motherhood made it hard to stick to a good schedule. You were great about allowing me to fit in exercise wherever I could. However, it wasn't enough. I wanted consistency. That's when I had to ask you for the biggest favor, my night owl body. You that has loved staying up until the wee hours of the morning. You that hates getting up early. I had to ask you to start getting up at 4:50 am to be able to work out. At first you hated it, but then you surprised me. You actually liked it better.
I guess that leads us to now. We're still going strong. Thank you.
Love,
Alex
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: When you take good care of your body, you will be amazed at what your body will do for you.Labels: Blogging Flexibly, Exercise and Fitness, Mom-Care |
| posted by Alex Elliot @ 3:45 PM |
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| Thursday, February 07, 2008 |
Setting Up a Tent Blind-Folded |
42 started Flashback Friday last week. I thought it sounded like a lot of fun, and a post that Sally HP wrote early this week about finding baby items in a bowl of soup while blindfolded at her baby shower reminded me of my own incident with a blindfold in college. Get your mind out of the gutter! So you'll have to wait until tomorrow to learn why taking my kids to the library anytime in the next ten years would be a really bad idea.
When I went to Wellesley College, I joined a club called the Outing Club. It was one of the clubs that had a combined membership between Wellesley and MIT. My friends and I were very excited to go on a big campout with a bunch of different colleges one spring. By the time we got there, it was starting to get dark, and we were starving. Fortunately the MIT contingent had agreed to bring the food. Unfortunately, they forgot to bring enough for us, and I have a distinctly bad memory of eating someone else's leftover spaghetti. After Suzanne's post (and the comments from various people) about eating food out the trash, I finally feel okay with this.
I hadn't been camping in about 5 years, and none of my friends had ever camped. Fortunately the MIT contingent had agreed to bring the tents. Even more fortunately, they remembered to bring one for us. When they gave it to us, we did what we thought was the reasonable thing and asked where the directions were. They looked at us like we were crazy. Fortunately engineering students don't need instructions to know how to put things together. Unfortunately liberal arts majors do. Fortunately male engineering students lack the patience to watch liberal arts coeds fumble around trying to put together a tent at the pace of a snail while it gets dark. They jumped in, corrected our mistakes and put the tent together in about 2 seconds. Alright, maybe it was 60 seconds, but I swear all I did was turn around and it was assembled. They gave us a weird look, commented on how putting a tent together was really quite easy, and left.
That's why I was shocked the next day when they suggested the following bonding activity for all the colleges: put together a tent while blindfolded. No, I'm not kidding. Not wanting to be bad sports my friends and I participated. Needless to say, the only record we set was for the longest amount of time ever taken to put together a tent. The MIT geniuses contingent seemed genuinely stunned. I remember pointing out to them that we couldn't even get the tent together with our eyes open much less with a blindfold on. We did much better on the task requiring us to run around several trees with water on a spoon without spilling any of it.
As for our tent? I hated to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it was set up on a patch of completely uneven ground so we ended up sleeping outside.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: If you can't do something with your eyes open, there's a good chance you won't be able to do it blindfolded.Labels: Blogging Flexibly, Flashback Fridays, Outings and Playgroups, Travel |
| posted by Alex Elliot @ 6:53 PM |
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| Wednesday, January 30, 2008 |
My Contribution to Ending Teen Pregnancy |
Because I am concerned about lowering the rate of teenage pregnancy, I have decided that it's time for me to do my part. There comes a time for each and every one of us when we are called to duty. A time when we must make sacrifices for the good of a cause. It is tough, but we must hang strong! We can prevail if we set our minds to it!
In that vane, I have decided to rent my kids out to teenagers who are contemplating having unsafe sex. That's right, I'm setting up several package deals so that these teenagers can have my kids for the day so they can truly consider the consequences of their actions. My bonus package includes taking the boys to the Field Museum in Chicago. This package is complete with a 4 year old who will meltdown and scream the whole way out of the museum as well as a 19 month old who will try to "investigate" the toddler toilet while you are using the adult toilet in the individual family bathroom you have declared ingenious only moments before. I will also offer the To the Moon and Back Package package. This is for teens who feel that it's well and fine that my kids may give me a hard time, but if they were their kids they would be perfectly behaved. In this deluxe package, teens can watch my kids for two whole weeks. At the end of that time, they can take my kids to the Field Museum and see how they fare. Prices vary depending on locations. Does not include airfare, housing, and tax.
Check out my post and others over at the Writing Game today.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Kids are challenging.Labels: Blogging Flexibly, Humor (at least Attempted), Outings and Playgroups |
| posted by Alex Elliot @ 11:10 PM |
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I think it's good you got to relax a little. That has to help!
Good luck tomorrow!