MAKING IT WORK

Like I posted yesterday, Vans is out of town on business for the entire week. The Peanut and I have been having a great time but we do miss him. Now as many of you know, the Peanut does not sleep, practically ever. The kid can subsist on the littlest of sleep it seems. We try for an 8 pm bedtime only to have her fall asleep at 10:30 pm. I can be asleep by 9 pm most nights. I'd rather wake early and go to bed early. The Peanut is a lot like Vans in that she likes to go to bed late yet still wake early (unlike Vans).

So I knew with Vans gone this week, any form of exercise for me would be hard to come by especially since it has been raining so much. Walks/runs with the Peanut in the BOB stroller are great but only when a park can be a our destination, otherwise, it can get quite ugly. Last night I had an idea. We have an elliptical in our garage and Van's car is gone for the week . . . hmmm, what fun games can I come up with to allow myself at least 30 minutes (better than nothing) on the elliptical and have the Peanut be entertained? Well, I didn't have to come up with much, the Peanut was entertaining me more than I was entertaining her!

First it was an after school snack while watching Kipper . . . not my program of choice for exercising but hey, it worked.

(terrible photos to come, sorry)

Sitting on a box having a snack

When Kipper was over she starting looking around at what was in the garage. I purposely brought in her big wheel so she could go to town in the empty space where Vans's car normally sits (ignore the still messy garage please):

beep beep backing up!

wham! banging into anything she can

She eventually got bored with the big wheel and decided to go on a hunt . . .

for flies!

She hunted throughout the garage 'attacking' flies like there were hundreds of them. I hope she can do the same with the mosquitoes this summer!

Then she transformed herself into a bee (because um, no body swats at bees?) and began "hunting for honey" (I couldn't break her heart and tell her bees made honey vs hunting for it). She was buzzing all around the garage pretending to be a bee while I was trying my best to capture it on my phone while ellipticaling (?).

buzz buzz

hunting for honey

buzzzz

Overall, I managed 30 minutes on the elliptical. She even joined in the last few minutes to help me with intervals yelling "faster! slower! faster! slower!" which was actually quite effective for me.

I am happy I managed to get in some form of exercise because I have been thinking a lot about running and being able to train again post Trailbaby. I am not going to rush into it but approach it much the same way I did with the Peanut in 2008. I ended up running the California International Marathon (CIM) when she was almost 8 months old. I actually PR'd that race without even trying. My goal was to finish and to finish happy and healthy and not sacrifice my body, my milk or any time with my new baby. It totally worked and that is what I am going for again this year with Trailbaby.

Yesterday I officially signed for CIM 2011. December 4, 2011 to be exact and I can hardly wait. Trailbaby will be a bit younger, maybe 6 or 7 months but my goals will remain the same. I am happy to have something to look forward to and I know Van's is excited because that means he gets to plan a breakfast of mimosas for all our friends who come out and cheer me on at mile 23!

I've been searching for my old training program that I followed post Peanut in 2008 hoping I can follow that again this year as it really seemed to work well for me and for Vans. Of course it'll be a bit tougher now that we'll have two to look after but I know Vans will support me any way he can. I missed CIM this past year since I was too pregnant and I was not a happy camper. Happy Wife = Happy Life!