Sol and Rachel do a Blog

Self Portraits

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

We've been at my parents house this week and are returning home today. After being away for two weeks, Sol informed me last week that he had a trip to Bentonville, AR this week and Denver next week... I immediately hopped on the old internet to find cheap flights to Little Rock so I could tag along. I really didn't think I could handle Sol being gone four out of five weeks!

Being here is such a treat for me. My mom cooks and feeds us and picks up all the toys. My dad tickles them and reads them stories. And I get to run solo (!!!) and do things like take Finley to get his hair cut while B naps and write blog posts.

Some self portraits with the boys. As you can see, I was the only one excited to be in these pictures. But looks at those sweet toes! I'd say I could just gobble them up, but for some reason Finley has taken to sucking on his toes all the time, so I think I'll pass.

Our Fancy Pants Weekend at the Four Seasons

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:30:00 +0000

It's been a crazy month in our household. One of Sol's plants was potentially striking--and my poor, unlucky husband was picked to be a scab in case of a strike. He got some steel toed boots and some forklift training--just in case. This meant he was gone for a few weeks preparing and waiting for a contract with the union. Fortunately, an agreement was reached and Sol got to come home--with a new cowboy hat.

On a positive note, Sol won a fancy pants award--and we all got to stay in a suite in the Four Seasons and eat delicious food all weekend. I was a terrible photographer--I forgot the camera for part of the trip and never actually got a great picture of all of us, but here's a brief recap of some of our adventures.

Some cute monument shaped sugar cookies were waiting in our room--Finley's name was written in chocolate and their were cute little candies to decorate them with.

An almost family portrait in the mirror. This was after we go back from Ted's Bulletin for breakfast and we were happy from homemade Pop Tarts and tasty food.

I managed to eat lobster four times in the weekend. This tasty lobster roll was from the Four Seasons restaurant. I also had a lobster roll from Tackle Box, lobster hot dogs from the Four Seasons and another dish I can remember.

A cute little boy in the mirror.

Fancy bathrobes! And we let Finley take pictures with the remote timer.

One of Finley's favorite games is "HIDE! DINOSAURS ARE COMING!" where we all have to hide under the blankets, lest we be eaten by dinosaurs.

We had oysters twice. These ones are from Tackle Box. We also had Pinkberry twice and Baked and Wired once. In two days. Somehow our pants still fit.

Sol's lobster dinner at Tackle Box. I took a lot of pictures there.

We ate seven meals out--with a two year old and a baby. Seriously. Our weekend revolved around food and it was heaven. Braden and Finley were both SO good. We metered out a steady stream of snacks that kept them entertained. It was seriously magical--neither of us had to take a kid to walk around to keep them entertained, they were just good. Looks like we can upgrade our dining experiences from Chipotle and Chick fil a to some finer establishments!

My Valentines

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm so blessed with so many people to love and be loved by. There's nothing quite like being the mama that your boys can't live without--except being the wife to a husband who has made it all possible. Oh, how I love those three boys.

I tried to pick my favorite pictures of the boys to share again--and I spared Sol by not making a collage of him. You are welcome, dear. I was reminded how difficult it is to get a picture of Finley smiling and looking at the camera--it's near impossible.

Love, Rachel.

10 months

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Mr. Braden is 10 months old. Oh dear, is he delightful! He's been clapping for awhile, but yesterday he figured out how to do "SO BIG!" And I'm so proud. And also terrified that he can follow directions (however, not the directions to stop chewing on power cords.) Growing up is painful and exciting. Here's a quick video of him demonstrating his new trick.

Braden was not thrilled about taking pictures this month. He almost looks pleasant in this one. He is down to nursing 5 times a day and we are about to drop it to 4. He eats table food so well--sometimes better than Finley. He's been consistently sleeping though the night and takes two naps during the day. Hooray! He's a pro scooter--still no crawling, getting to sitting or pulling up. He's a little behind Finley in that department, but I'm certainly fine with that.

Quote from Finley, "I love my F."

A portrait of two uncooperative boys.

Two Boys Sharing a Room

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

About three weeks ago we made the big switch--we moved Finley into Braden's room. After much Craigslisting and Ikeaing, their room was ready to go. (One of my blog ambitions is to write about Craigslist because I do it with the best of them... but that's for another day.) Braden's room is huge and weird shaped. It's functioned as a office, guest room, nursery and combination of the three since we moved in. Now it's "THE BOYS' ROOM." Or "my room and Braden's room" if you ask Finley.

Ta-da! The two cribs fit perfectly on the long wall. Of course, I wish Finley's crib was white and that Sol would let me repaint the walls lighter... but we'll survive.

We kept them both in cribs since they are smaller than getting Finley a big bed, and he's already demolished the inside of his crib with his brace. We'll move him to a big bed eventually, but considering how well the room move has gone, we're probably still a ways off.

You can see their name prints at the head of each of their bed--and they each have their very own basket of stuffed animals and window to pull the curtains on!

It started out great, Finley was ecstatic to sleep in the same room as Braden. We established some bedtime rules: lay down, be quiet, and close your eyes. Finn can repeat them to you verbatim. Can he follow them? Probably. Does he? Nope.

The room has two Ikea Expedit shelves and we're using the Hemnes dresser as a changing table. The shelves are awesome--assembling the dresser was NOT. There's a wet bag hanging on the end of the dresser for Braden's cloth diapers.

Finley was great for a few days. Then he realized that when he was loud we took him out of the bed to discipline him--and he really liked that. He would happily take his consequence if it meant a brief break from his bed.

We have a Lorex video monitor surveillancing each crib so we can keep an eye on their shenanigans--you can see the camera mounted on the shelf in the middle.

He also became obsessed with the helicopters that frequently fly over our house to the hospital down the street. He would pull back the curtains and break the mini blinds and scream and yell and scream more about the helicopters. Once he got so mad he managed to get OUT of his crib with his brace on and crawl to the door. Heartbreaking. And maddening.

These prints are available in our Etsy shop--they were the best ones I could think of for brothers! I obviously think I'm hilarious. The prints are in the Ikea Ribba frames.

I let him sleep with a special pillow, listen to music, moved him to the lonely, empty pack and play in the office if he was loud--none of it worked. He's become a master of telling us he needs to pee, poop or get water to get out. He's a true two year old!

Braden's room was slightly giraffe themed and Finley's room was overwhelmingly monkey themed--both guys get a place of honor on the dresser.

What's worked the best is telling Finley that if he wakes up Braden, he still has to stay in his bed but Braden will go sleep in the office. And when he cries and says, "I need Daddy to give me a spanking!" we laugh a little, but tell him that he's getting his spanking IN his crib, not out of it. Luckily, they nap well together. They pretty much sleep through each other's noise which is amazing and such a blessing. Finley has to be pretty mad to wake up Braden--and most of the time he ends up sleeping through screaming and waking up when he hears the floor boards squeak when we come in to get Finley.

How long do you think all these toys stay in their proper place? Not. Very. Long.

I'm confident we'll get the hang of it--and it's too late now to turn back. We sold the guest bed and are beyond thrilled to have Finley's room back for OUR stuff. And even more thrilled that most of the toys are not in the main room of our house. We're beginning to feel like we live in a grown up house and not a day care!

I'm a TOWBOY!

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:11:00 +0000

I hear Finley yell, "I'm a towboy!" and I peek around the corner, and this is what I see.

This is what having brothers is all about right?

Or maybe this is. Sorry, B.

Finley's Pals

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

We're beyond blessed to have great friends here in Virginia--both for us and for our boys. These are two of Finley's favorite pals--Calvin and Margaret. And the top of Braden's head in the lower right. (I bribed them to sit for the picture with one Goldfish cracker. Suckers.)

And this is what happens when I ask them to give Margaret a kiss. FINLEY! Who taught you to kiss?

Those cute kids ran around like crazy going up and down the slide--they were a hoot to watch.

I'm kind of obsessed with the stripey sweatshirt--and Finley loves to wear it because it matches Calvin.

Braden is a little disappointed that he can't keep up with the big kids--but his time will come. They each have a younger sibling about B's age that he will grow to love as much as these guys love each other.

I love Braden peeking up on the deck! These kids are too sweet.

Dobbs Bar for Clubfoot

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

We recently got Finley a new brace for his clubfoot that he sleeps in--he had busted his old one from being so wiggly in his crib. He was out of his brace for about a month before we finally got the new one, so he wasn't too thrilled to wear them again.

However, he was SO excited when we got them--he immediately dubbed them his "wiggly shoes." These are a little more comfortable because the shoes pivot on the bar--so he can move around a little easier when he sleeps.

The left one is still curved the wrong direction to help his foot be straight. Every time we see the doctor they say he's making great progress. I think ideally they want them to wear the brace until they are SIX, we'll see how long we make it...

And here's a little clip of him moving around in them. I just realized the gibberish he's babbling is from a book about gorillas... he really likes that book.

Crazy Haired Grouch

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:47:00 +0000

We're staying at the Four Seasons in Georgetown this weekend (she said like it's a totally normal thing that happens all the time) and posting has been light this week... so I thought I'd end your Friday on a happy note.

These pictures don't really have an accompanying story--one day Braden woke up with crazy hair and a tude.

He made disgruntled faces at me.

And I just kept snapping.

Goober.

Happy weekend!

Best Buds

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:22:00 +0000

Braden and Finley are getting to the point where they can do more and more things together--and it's so fun to watch! We moved them into a room together this weekend--and it's going pretty well so far. I'll be blogging about that in a few days when we are a little more out of the woods. But one of the cutest things they do together--bath time!

Seriously, they are a hoot together. Other cute moments from bath time... squeaky clean Braden cuddling with his dad. (Finley was making us all wear medals from marathons, hence Sol's awesome outfit.)

Braden kind of likes to stick his face in the water--until his face is actually in the water. He's a bit dazed from the dip.

Too cute.

BOYS

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:09:00 +0000

After Finley's bath (and unfortunately before we sneaked his pajamas on his skinny body) he grabbed my tripod and was playing with it. I was holding Braden and only half paying attention to him when I realized he was yelling at me, "MAMA! FALL DOWN!"

I asked him why I needed to fall down and his answer made me laugh--and then a little sad. "I make you red, mama. You fall down." And I realized he was SHOOTING ME. With my tripod.

He proceeded to lug the tripod around and shoot Sol and "make him red" and demand that he fall down too. Sol and I can not figure out where he possibly could have seen people being shot, bleeding and falling down. It makes me a little sad that he's been exposed to this scary stuff without me knowing it (likely in our own house!) but happy that he doesn't seem to have any understanding of what is happening.

Look at that form! Sol thinks he looks like the little Indian shooting the bow and arrow on the Tootsie Pop wrapper. Unfortunately, I think there's a lot more play shooting in my future... I think that's what happens when you have boys. Oh dear.

Brady from the Block

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:42:00 +0000

It's been not the funnest (I know that's not a word) time around here... we're battling our first stomach bug. So far Finley is the only victim, but I'm guessing the rest of us may follow. Yikes. Sidenote: if your child keeps throwing up, don't feed him avocado. And when he makes pukey noises and then wants you to hold him--you should probably point him towards a trash can. Lesson learned.

Last week was a happier week--it was warm enough to go to the park! Finley thinks the park is the best--I have a hard time taking him running because he always thinks we are going to the park.

Braden was less thrilled about the park. But he was a trooper.

Braden was mostly excited that he was dressed in his cool kid outfit. So excited that he made some sweet faces for me when we got back.

I can't help myself--when Braden wears this outfit I sing "Jenny from the Block." I just can't stop. And unfortunately Finley really liked it. So I had to teach him the chorus.

Whoops. (He's kind of quiet, so you have to listen closely.)

Marathons and a Snowman

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:45:00 +0000

Well, I haven't been updating on the marathon training--not because I haven't been training, but because the marathon part is, sadly, not going to work out. It turns out there's a decent chance Sol is going to be extensively travelling February through April, which would make it near impossible to train. And the charity I was running for raised their amount to $5000. I wasn't comfortable committing myself to raising $5000 for a race that I may not be able train for, or even attend--so I sadly decided not to go for it this year.

Sad face.

I'm still running as much as I can and if turns out Sol is in town, I'll pick something else to run in the spring.

So there's that.

And here are some pictures of Finley with his snowman. It's been pretty warm and I'm not sure we'll get much more snow (knock on word) so Sol and Finley took advantage of the inch of accumulation to build this little guy.

This brought about many questions from Finley, "Where did the snow go? Is it snowing? Is it snowing now? It's snowing, mama?" We're still figuring out snow.

9 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:13:00 +0000

You know the phrase, "smile glued to his face?" Sometimes I really feel like Braden has a smile glued to his face. I'll look at him and he'll be grinning at me and then I'll eat some chips and look back--and he's still grinning at me. Goofy boy.

Well Braden's best new trick is scooting a bit. Finally right? He's only three and a half months behind Finley... just kidding. I'm a little nervous about our days now that the area Braden can reach is slowly expanding. Finley often says, "No Braden! You might hurt yourself! That's not for you, Braden!" as he takes Braden's toys. Apparently everything might hurt Braden.

Braden has his two top and two bottom teeth and likes to sharpen them while he's nursing... we're working on that. He still nurses about 5 times a day and is about 50-50 on sleeping through the night. Between new teeth and the holidays his schedule took a beating. He goes to bed around 7:30 and normally sleeps until 8:30--although he's been known to doze past 10! We're down to two naps, about an hour in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. He's a great eater--he loves blueberries and yogurt but will try anything we put in front of him. We're loving the freedom that comes with baby led weaning!

Nine Month Stats:
Height: 29.5 in (85%)
Weight: 18 lbs 4 oz (15%)
Head: 18 in (60%)

Much like his big bro, his weight gain has plateaued. (At this age, Finley was an inch shorter and gained 10 ounces more!) He's gained about a half a pound in the past 6 months. He eats well and after comparing his growth to Finley's, the doctor wasn't concerned. It makes me feel MUCH better about Finley--I felt so bad about him not eating when I was working and it looks like I just have boys who stop gaining weight around 5 months.

Aside from clapping his hands and saying da-da on command, he also has a trick we like to call "crazy head" that I'm trying to get a video of because it is fun-ny. He's also whistled four times. Accidentally, but still. That's four more times than I've whistled.

(This is Braden's "Brady from the block" outfit that he is borrowing from Edmund. Work it B!)

Finley continues to be a hoot. He's just hilarious to have a conversation with and remembers so much. I'm gearing up for planning some birthday parties... I can't believe I'm only three months from having a one and three year old. This is crazy stuff.

Lil Clapper

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:51:00 +0000

Ugh. I think they grow up even faster the second time around. I mean, isn't Braden still a little bitty baby? I'm fairly sure he is.

I didn't realize we were to the stage where Braden could follow simple directions--but sure enough, he loves to clap his hands when you tell him too. It's so funny. He works so hard and is just so pleased with himself.

A round of applause for Braden!

AND... two exciting pieces of news today! One, we have a guest post up on I Can Teach My Child about party planning. And, if you head over to Heartsy (it's like Groupon for Etsy) you can get a great deal on our shop! We're so excited to be featured and be able to offer this great deal to... well, to the world. Head over now!

Tired Braden

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:20:00 +0000

This is the thing.

Braden really doesn't have a very good poker face. When he's tired, he just lays his little curly head down on the floor. And sometimes he's a little sad. It goes one of two ways. He other gets super sweet and cuddly--or he gets super mad and back archy.

Braden sucks his thumb a lot, when he's tired, when he's happy and whenever he feels like it. But you know he's really tired when the thumb sucking is accompanied by grabbing his other arm. He really likes to have both arms by his face when he's tired or nursing. It's so cute.

I just can't get over how much of his own little person he's becoming. We adore him.

DIY Felt Advent Calendar

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:09:00 +0000

Well, I make 22 out of 25 of the ornaments for the Advent Calendar. I'm actually extremely proud of that.

Do you see the Polar Express? That was a Christmas favorite around here. And do you like the star that looks like a starfish? Oh well.

Pin It

So I need to make 3 more in the next 340 days... or so. I think I can manage that. Finley should understand more about Christmas, so I can replace some of these with ones from the Jesse Tree so we can focus on that story. My original goal was to make nativity themed ones and steer away from commercial Christmas stuff... but I just really wasn't creative enough.

This may have been my least favorite part. I did NOT like making all these numbers. Except that I made them while I watched New Girl, so they make visions of Zooey Deschanel dance through my head.

You can see my favorite ornament from this angle--Joseph and his rad beard! Awesome, right?

And here is the tree, naked, with just it's little buttons. Waiting for next year when we get to celebrate Jesus all over again. Don't worry, I'll remind you about this next November so you can get started early making yours. It's totally worth it. You know, if you don't mind your hands being cramped up for weeks.

Christmas 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:08:00 +0000

We were super lucky this year--for Christmas we didn't have to travel anywhere! Sol's family came to us. And even better, some friends in town let half of the crew crash at their house so we would have plenty of space.

I didn't take any pictures of Finley and Braden opening presents, which I'm pretty sure is breaking the cardinal rule of the holidays. Yikes. Our families were very good abiding by our "don't buy our kids lots of huge toys" rule. They got a modest amount of small awesome goodies. We were really excited with the non-overwhelming amount of gifts for them. Thanks family! We got Finley a backpack and camera--and boy does he love packing that bag and taking pictures of everything.

To help Finley remember everyone's names, I made sure to take a picture of him with all the family members that I am going to print and put in a book for him. This is Aunt Lili and Mr. James--or Aunt Coconut and Jellybean, as Finley calls them. Don't ask.

Here's the little guy with Aunt Maya, or Aunt Marshmallow. It's really cute to listen to him try to say Marshmallow. That's a lot of consonants.

And both boys with Grandma and Grandpa. They don't have fancy names, sorry guys. I love this picture!

We had a great Christmas--even though it was unseasonably warm and we were missing Aunt Summer. I got to run lots, the boys and Copper got more attention than they could ever imagine and we ate lots of delicious (dairy-egg-corn-soy-gluten-free) food. And I ate a million cookies. We're so lucky to have family that loves us and that we love.

2011 in One Picture

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

I'm trying to be a cool kid like all the other bloggers and write a 2011 wrap up--and I'm really struggling. because I realized I never wrote about Braden's birth. There's a whole bunch of pictures from the beach that never got posted. I really need to make my Blurb book. I just got Lightroom and don't really understand how to use it or where my Mac has hidden my photos. I've been meaning to print pictures from MPix for months. How do you wrap up a year when there are so many other things to wrap up? I'm really not sure, but I do know that I want to sing "Seasons of Love" from Rent right about now.

I think there is one picture, and one picture only, that sums up 2011.

BAM! We'll always remember 2011 as the year that Copper got a ridiculous hair cut.

Poor doggy. Copper's hair all grown back--in fact he has strangely long toe hairs these days. This picture is one of my favorites--in spite of the fact that I think it's actually a terrible picture. (It's a little blurry and the white balance is beyond repair.) I love it because of all the people who commented, emailed, and mentioned it to me in person that they thought the picture was hilarious. It is hilarious. Nine times out of ten when we see someone that we haven't seen in awhile, this is what they mention. And unfortunately, the same thing happens to Victoria. People love this picture.

It makes me grateful that people give me a few minutes of their day to stop in and see what we are up to. Although sometimes blogging seems like a chore, looking back at the end of the year I'm so grateful that I took a few minutes (or sometimes hours) out of my day to record what has happened with us. I love that I have little memories stored up from the past that I would otherwise forget. And I love that it's a quick way for our friends and family to check in on us.

What I like a little less is that I have all these friends and family reading about our lives, and I sometimes don't know that they are checking in or what is happening with them. If you care enough to read about us, I probably care enough to read about you! I love hearing feedback about what I write here, whether it's in person, on Facebook, through email or as a blog comment. It's just good to know who is out there. And based on the feedback from the Great Copper Shaving, there are quite a few people reading.

To kick off 2012, I have two blogging resolutions. One for me, and one for you.

For me: Keep blogging and make my stinking Blurb book, even though it takes like a zillion hours.

And for you: Let's make this two sided. YOU need to start a blog. I promise, you will NEVER be sad that you took the time to write down your memories. I only wish I had started blogging sooner. I promise to read your blog faithfully. Even if it's about something that you think is totally boring, I won't think it's boring. I think everything is exciting. You really should blog.

2011 has been a good year. It brought us Braden and a hairless dog. We really couldn't ask for more. And as for 2012, we're ready. I'm looking forward to just being a little bit better. A better mama, a better wife. A better follower of Christ and a better me. No huge sweeping resolutions, just a little bit better.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our very photogenic family.

Pink Bicycle Tea Room

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:13:00 +0000

Uh... hi.

Merry Christmas and almost Happy New Year! I have a really hard time blogging this time of year--sometimes there is so much going on I forget to pull out my camera to take pictures! I did remember to being my camera on a very special tea outing with Sol's sisters and mama. We went to the Pink Bicycle Tea Room in historic Occoquan for tea and scones. It was cute.

We opted for the Classic Creme tea--we each got a pot of tea, a scone, berries and dessert. And clotted cream to go with the scones, a favorite of my friend Courtney. (Sidenote: Sol got me Lightroom for Christmas and I'm really having fun playing with my pictures... but if anyone has Lightroom tips, send them my way!)

I'm not much of a tea drinker (I'm a chocolate milk gal...) but we had a delicious assortment of teas. Chocolate Strawberry, Chai Indienne, Jungle Party and Cappuchino Creme--I liked all of them! How can you not like a drink you get to put a sugar cube in?

The tea room was decorated with lot of pink bicycles--and this big one was out front! The garden area had lots of old, chipped teapots, cups and saucers in the yard. And a dead bird (not pictured). All in all it was a delightful afternoon. I think the best part of sipping tea is that it's designed to let ladies chit chat. And the only thing more fun than chit chatting is typing "chit chat". You should try it!

And we met Santa

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:50:00 +0000

Even though the jury is still out on how we are actually going to handle Santa, we went ahead and took the boys to meet him this morning. There was no line and better yet, no tears! When I asked the lady working the line if she saw a lot of crying kids, she said the worst age was 8 months to 2 years--what a coincident! I have an 8 month old and a 2 year old.

Finley's socks are cracking me up. For some reason they just make him look really big.

I'm kicking myself a bit for not taking Finley the last two years. As little as he would have understood, it would have been nice to have two years of history to compare this one to. Braden pulled Santa's beard and yanked his hat off--and Finley was a little nervous when we first plopped him on Santa's lap. He warmed up to him pretty quickly and told him that he wanted a thinking chair (from Blues Clues)... anyone know how we can get a thinking chair? Or talk him out of it?

Boston Training Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:26:00 +0000

The blog is good for many a thing. Preserving memories. Staying in contact with friends. Forcing me to take more pictures. But what I need the blog to be for the next few months is a pal who makes me train for the Boston Marathon. (And you've been warned--this first post is long, devoid of pictures and probably only stuff that three people care about.)

I've run six marathons (What? Who does that?!?!) but wouldn't say that I'm great at training for them. I never stretch. I don't cross train. And sometimes I just miss runs--but not too often, I'm kind of a stickler for doing all the runs. Except the Saturday ones--those are a little much.

In case you were wondering, here's my plan for training. I use Hal Higdon's training schedules normally and kind of piecemeal together what I like. This is my version of his Intermediate plans.

Sunday: 6-20 mile long run (I'm supposed to run 20 three times but am just going to do it twice)
Monday: Cross Training; either something at the gym, Jillian or P90X with Sol.
Tuesday: 3-5 mile run after boys wake up for naps if it's warm enough; at gym after Braden goes to bed; or cycle at gym before Sol goes to work. Or cross train.
Wednesday: 5-10 mile run at gym after Braden goes to bed.
Thursday: 3-5 mile run after boys wake up for naps if it's warm enough; at gym after Braden goes to bed; or cycle at gym before Sol goes to work. Or cross train.
Friday: Rest or make up a run I missed.
Saturday: 5-10 miles at marathon pace.

On the short runs... Do 4-6 hill repeats or fartleks... or don't.
After every run... Foam roll my stinking IT band, stretch and shower. Hee hee.
Twice a week... Do some sort of weightsy type stuff. Either Jillian or a class at the gym.
Every day... Stop eating junk. Physical therapy for weak hips.
Saturday... Blog about the previous week's training.

Anyways, my plan is to blog about the previous week's runs over the weekend (mostly for my benefit--I really like to look back at past run data!)

Sunday - 5.44 miles; 55:28 min; 10:11 min/mi
Monday - nothing, whoops!
Tuesday - 3.1 miles; 36:37 min; 11:50 min/mi (with boys in stroller)
Wednesday - 3.2 miles; 36:05 min; 11:20 min/mi (with boys in stroller)
Thursday - 5 miles on treadmill
Friday - rest
Saturday - 5 miles; 50:52 min; 10:10 min/mi (with Copper)

Total Miles: 21.5

I probably should be running a little faster, but I'm going to have to be ok with that for now. My goal is always to run under 3:40 which is 8:23 min/mi... considerably faster than what I'm running now!

As I think I mentioned, due to me being about 36 seconds too slow, I'm running for a charity. I'm raising $3500 for the Ally Foundations (ironically, about $100 for every second slow I was!) More details about fundraising will be coming, but if you just can't WAIT to give me some money, please go here to donate. The foundation does good work, and I'm glad that I get to support them!

And because no post is complete without a picture, here's an awkward timer picture of me and my hairy (not bald!) running buddy. Enjoy!

Oh Christmas Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:23:00 +0000

I did the cool thing and took some pictures of the boys with the Christmas tree--in the dark. I love this first picture--for some reason Finley is trying to share his apple with Braden and it feels very "Adam and Eve." Stop leading my baby into temptation!

Since taking this photo Finley has broken enough ornaments that he is no longer allowed to touch the tree--and he's doing a pretty good job respecting that. It's just so shiny!

The light of the Christmas tree does a lovely job highlighting Braden's unruly hair and the chapped little cheeks from sucking his thumb in the cold. And it puts a sweet sweet sparkle in his eye.

It's been awhile since I linked up with Embrace the Camera--probably because the number of pictures of me WITH the boys has rapidly declined since Vic left. But here's one of me and Braden. Me doing my favorite thing--holding him. And Braden doing his favorite thing--sucking his thumb.

Eight Months

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:20:00 +0000

Braden is eight months old. That's 2/3rds of a year--or 66%. He gets a D at being one year old!

We love that little drooly man to pieces. Braden is only sometimes sleeping through the night. Boo. I'm not sure if it's teething or his love for me, but he's waking up once to eat in the wee hours of the morning. He sleeps until about 8:30 and takes two or three naps. And he normally goes down around 7:45. He's a good sitter and tends to only topple over when he means to. Still no scooting or crawling--just wild rolling and sometimes wiggling backwards. He does get up on his hands and knees and bounces a little--but that's it. Yesterday he tried really hard to clap his hands and it was a-dor-able.

He's pretty good with his pincher grasp--maybe due to our baby led weaning? He's doing great eating the chunks of food we've been serving him. He likes pancakes, bananas, avocado, sweet potato, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, french fries and noodles. He's a little harder to spoon feed than Finley was--mostly because he's not used to someone feeding him. Braden really loves Finley and is interested in what he's doing. Finley can almost always make him giggle. He started lifting his arms up when you go to pick him up and is becoming a little more helpful in getting his arms through his sleeves. He makes some consonant noise and babbles a bit--and laughs a lot when you tickle him.

This is Finley's serious face. Don't mess with him. Seriously. He'll cut you. Finley is just more and more a hoot every day. He's obsessed with Sol's coffee pot. He runs to see Sol everytime when he opens the door and says, "Daddy! Like to play with me?" He throws some wicked tantrums for reasons that we do not understand. For example, today I said, "Finley, are those your spices?" and that threw him into a tailspin. It was rough. He's doing great with the potty training--last night he jumped out of the tub on his own, did his business and flushed it before we knew anything had happened. He's very independent and becoming more articulate. It cracks me up when he says, "Well, actually..." Bedtime has become more and more complicated as he becomes sneakier and sneakier. It's like a poker game where we don't know if he's actually bluffing about needing to poop...

Sol and I were looking over Finley's posts from 8 months on and it was crazy how fast they start growing--soon Braden's going to be pulling up and walking and taking Finley's toys. Oh boy.

BROTHERS! Best pals for life.

Pinterest Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:10:00 +0000

I have a mostly love, but sometimes hate relationship with Pinterest. Mostly I love all the super creative, delicious, adorable ideas that come my way. But sometimes it's a vehicle for making me feel lazy and not creative--I pin a lot of things that never see the light of day. But man, have I got my Pinterest on for Christmas! I've made quite a few Christmas crafts (mostly out of felt, strangely) that I'm excited to share. Also, because I think HTML is so nifty sometimes, I think I may have created little buttons that make little unique pins for each craft, if you are so inclined to pin it. Fancy, right?

Craft #1: Scalloped Christmas Tree Skirt
This was so easy. I bought 1.5 yards of gray wool felt with a 50% off coupon from Joanns's--making this project cost me about $6. I followed Martha's directions and had the pieces cut out and sewn together in under an hour. Hints: use a rotary cutter to cut the straight edges. I'm in love with the contrasting white zig zig stitching holding the pieces together. It's a bit smaller than I should have made it, but I still love it.

Pin It

Craft #2: Advent Calendar
Welllll... this one was not so easy. It was time consuming. And made my hands cramp up. And still is not finished. But I beyond love it. I still need to make eight more ornaments, but I love love the ones I have so far. I'm surprised I actually made it--from stitching all the number to cutting out the tree and making all the little ornaments--I don't think I would have made it if I realized how big of a project it would be. But I'm glad I did. Here's my inspiration. I'm a little depressed after I look back at how much awesomer hers is than mine. I kind of envision switching out a few ornaments every year as the boys get bigger and understand more about Christ's birth. Now that I look at this picture, it's glaringly obvious that my white backing is not at all rectangular. Yikes. I'll do a better post on this once I'm actually done (which may be never.)

Pin It

Craft #3: Play Christmas Tree
This one took a grand total of about 30 minutes. My pal Jenae posted about it on her fabulous kid's blog and I thought Finley would love it. He kind of does--he loves taking the ornaments off, "wrapping" them and saying, "Here you go, Mama!" But it's cute and will last us for awhile. And hopefully it will encourage him to keep his paws off my tree.

Pin It

Thanks, Pinterest, for filling my house with Christmas cheer. And felt trees.

And one more note about Pinterest. As much as I love it, I've occasionally wished that there was a way to post "private" pins--so when the guests arrive for Finley's birthday party they haven't already seen all the decorations. Or when I bake something for a friend they won't smile at me knowingly and say, "Pinterest, huh?" The gig is up--all my followers officially know that I don't have many creative ideas all on my own. And I'm ok with that.