Back at Work

I started back at work last week. Wow, I realized at some point it has been over 5 months since I taught in a classroom. Crazy! I'm slowly getting back into a routine and figuring out how to get out of the house on time with 2 kids. I use to take my leisurely time in the morning not getting to daycare until close to 9 since I never had to be at work that early for my classes. But I've had to leave the house by 8 most days which has been a bit of an adjustment.

I don't know who picked up the cold first (I think P), but P, T and I all have lovely cold/sinus junk that isn't pretty. Blah. Piper doesn't seem too phased by it except for her crankiness has skyrocketed. T though has been having lots of trouble sleeping and breathing. And then trying to drink her bottle when her nose is all plugged up has been hard for her too. My head feels like it is going to explode but I'll get by.

I was planning on doing a short triathlon in a few weeks but the friend that wanted to do it bailed so I am out too. It was a long way to go for such a short race and I hadn't registered yet since I was waiting for her. I was riding a couple times a week but haven't in almost 2 weeks now. As crazy as it sounds Ironman has created the inaugural 70.3 race in Raleigh next year and I am contemplating signing up. But I think that is just the lure of the brand name, I know I wouldn't be happy training for it and now with 2 kiddos I don't have as much time to go out and ride and run that much.

I have been running doing abs and plyometric type stuff. I definitely am getting faster and now that the weather is cooling down, it has been nice out to run. I ended up running 7 miles Saturday averaging 8:25 pace which is pretty good for me. I just signed up for a 10k which is in a few weeks, so we shall see how that goes. I have another friend wanting to run a half marathon in November, and while I haven't committed yet, I might end up doing it if training goes as well as the 7 miler this weekend.

New GF Goodies

So, I've been messing around in the kitchen testing out recipes I've found through people. And Here are some of my favorites:

Chick Pea Cookies-these kind of fell apart for me but I think I put in too much oil. I didn't have the natural peanut butter which is more oily and based on the recipe she recommends adding some oil if you use regular. They were still pretty good considering they had no flour in them.

Flourless Zucchini Brownies-OMG these were unbelievable! I did 1 1/2x the recipie and made a 9x13 pan. These were gone in a few days. I seriously could not stop eating these. They are much more cakey then fudgy and I added an extra tablesppon of coco powder per some of the suggestions and these were to die for!

Cake Batter Energy Bars-These are definitely interesting and tastefully. And were super easy to make. I didn't have cashew butter so I used half PB and half sunflower seed butter. Maybe this was my problem, I'm not sure but mine didn't set as nicely so and were sticky, so I def had too much liquid of some kind in there. Not sure, and I didn't add the sprinkles because I didn't have any. I would make these again in a minute though because they were super easy and quick and yummy!

Honey Beans and Spinach Dinner (crockpot)-My sister said she had tried this and thought it was yummy, and so I tested it out at a bbq we went to the other day and it was super good.  It is hard to describe what this tastes like, others at the bbq asked me if it was indian food and it has the cumin and corriander in it which maybe contributes to that but they liked it too!

Pics of P

We have been chugging along with odds and ends. Here are some of the latest pictures of P.

Together with mama at the park:

Swinging with KEL:

At the childrens museum in the train:

Laughing with Sophie:

 Morning attire: PJ shirt, diaper and rain boots

Tatum 4 Month

I meant to post this last week but time got away from me. T had her 4 month check up and weighed in at 13lbs (50th %) and was 25 1/4 inches long (90th +%). She seems to be growing at rapid pace now. She is generally a happy baby but I can tell she wants in on all the action with big sister running around. She definitely loves P and laughs a lot at her too. She rolls onto her belly like a champ and can occasionally roll back. But her stomach now is her preferred way of sleeping once we lay her down. She is getting better and better and grabbing things and is a drooling machine.

Surprisingly breastfeeding has been a lot easier this time around. Maybe I'm more relaxed or maybe T is a better eater. I have no idea. I still have a ridiculous amount of milk in the deep freezer and starting this week I'm going to cut a pumping session out so I only have to pump once while at work. I still am producing a little more than what she eats every day so if I drop down to making less then that is ok with me.

She is an awesome sleeping at night. Going to sleep around 7/8. We sometimes do a "dream feed" around 10 before we go to bed and sometimes she drinks the bottle and sometimes not. She occasionally wakes up in the middle of the night 1x for EZ to go in and stick the paci back in her mouth and wrap her back up, and then she wakes up sometime in the 5:00 hour and eats and then back to sleep for another couple hours. She doesn't nap well at all during the day. Sometimes we can get a solid 45min nap in maybe 2x, other days we get a few 20-30 min naps and thats it, while other days she take a good 2 hour nap. I can't complain since she is super good at night. And that is fine with me.