Summer Tailspin

For the past week and a half I have been living solo which is great if you like eating Trix for dinner.  Husband has been away working in Missouri and my kids are at Grandma Camp.  The Grandma Camp is always a good week for Miss D, but this year, due to childcare needs, both Miss D and Stormy are up at Grandma Camp for just over two weeks. This was definitely not part of the plan for my summer of the grandparent's summer, but we are all making the best of it.

I won't lie, it has been nice to live solo for a bit (see earlier statement about Trix for dinner).  I am getting caught up on a lot of things, but I do miss my family. I have been so very busy lately that this whole summer seems to be spiraling.

I didn't mention it before, but in June we took a family vacation to Indianapolis.  We had a great first day at the zoo.

Then we went shopping at stores that we don't have around here. And that is where the crazy spiral started. Our van was broken into.  Someone smashed a window and took our DSLR camera.

It was a horribly violating experience.  Someone has all the nice pictures from the trip.  Someone made my family's vacation one we will never forget for all the wrong reasons. I felt icky for days and days.

We continued our planned stay after the break in.  Staying positive for the children and for our own sake's as well.

The kids and I went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum the following day while Husband got the van's window replaced.

As we drove to Indianapolis, we made big plans for the rest of the summer, but on the way home from Indianapolis we gave up on most of those plans. I definitely went into a funk.

We still had fun this summer, but it wasn't the summer I planned.

We went to the Wildlife Prairie Park Olde English Faire.

We went to the Heart of Illinois Fair.

We celebrated Stormy turning 2 years old.

I completed two triathlons and the Bix 7.

I knitted and spun a bit.

In just eleven days, school will start, I will have a second grader, and summer will be over. This blog post has really been a catharsis and I am glad I decided to share. Although it was not the summer I planned, we ended up having a good time.  I just hope our fall doesn't start our like our summer.

How was your summer?

The Darla Experience

Every month I go to the chiropractor with my kids.  I've been under chiropractic care over half of my life. I credit chiropractic care to keeping me a runner.  When I was in high school my hip would click when I ran. My IT band was so tight that it would click over my hip.  I went to tons of physical therapy but nothing seemed to help. I tried chiropractic care and within a few adjustments the clicking subsided. It wasn't my IT band so much as my hips. Once I got my hips aligned, the clicking disappeared. I continue to go monthly for "tune-ups." I also started my kids on chiropractic care which I know is controversial, but I have seen the benefits. When you grow as fast as my kids (Miss D has grown yet another inch since her birthday in April!!!) you are bound to need some adjustment.

So I took my kids to the chiropractor like I do every month.

Do you recall the scene in the movie Finding Nemo when Nemo tries to escape the clutches of the dentist's niece, Darla? The fish in the tank try to get Nemo out causing the dentist's instruments to flop around and make noise while Darla screams. All the people in the waiting room get concerned with all the drilling and screaming coming from the exam room.

That is what it is like when I took my kids to the chiropractor. Miss D who has had her neck adjusted dozen of times suddenly freaked out and started screaming. Once she was adjusted, Luke started his screaming fest.  As I was adjusted, they fought and screamed at each other. I was glad when it was time to leave. A woman even remarked to the chiropractor that she wasn't sure she should go in the exam room after all the crying. I know she was giving him a hard time, but it made me realize I had just had another Darla Experience.

I am not under the idea that children should be seen and not heard. We are loud people.  Even when being good, my kids are loud. I think it is something I am going to have to learn to accept, but I don't want to. I want to have people see me as the parent who has it all together with nice kids who behave and are never loud and crazy.  But that is not who we are.  I know I need to work on accepting this as part of my family life, but it is hard. Parenting is hard. Being a family is hard. Being quiet is hard. We are a loud and crazy family and we go out in public so watch out world. But you won't have to watch out too hard because you'll hear us coming.

Sleeping Confession

Today is one of my last vacations days for the foreseeable future.  Many of the people I talk to think that my job as an academic librarian is easier in the summer due to the light load of students, but instead summer is a crazy busy time. This is mostly due to the fact that we librarians are too busy during the school year to get any projects completed.  The summer is a crazy time to do all the planning for the upcoming semesters and take all the vacation time you have to "use or loose" by July 1 because you are too busy the rest of the year to take any time off. Even though it is not quite July yet, I feel summer is almost over and school will be starting. With school starting, my vacation time follows the elementary school calendar so I can take Columbus Day, Count Pulaski Day and all the other holidays off. And that leaves me with today.

I am happily spending today with my kids and my daughter's friend. We went to the children's museum and then to the park for lunch and playing.  Now we are back home and all I want to do is watch my son nap.

He is so cute when napping. And this being the end of my summer vacation, I don't see what is so wrong with just watching him nap. I almost never get to take the time to just watch him. I love his rhythmic breathing, his attachment to his blanket, his golden curls. Watching him sleep is like time is standing still for just a few minutes. When he wakes up, he will be back to his mischievous self and that's okay too.

My little boy is quickly becoming a little toddler.  In just a few weeks he turns two (he already has that two-year-old attitude). And so I will spend some of my time today just hanging out beside him as he sleeps.
  

I Will

Ten years ago on this very date I said, "I will" to my husband.

In ten years we have had two kids, moved 4 times, bought two houses and three vehicles, and adopted two dogs. I doubt that I can sum up the past ten years in any way so I will say this, I am glad I said 'I will.' Dear husband, my life has been better because of you. I think we can and will get better and better. Here's to all the years ahead.

Experience

I am the princess of volunteering.  I don't want to claim to be queen because that title belongs to my mom. I am still able to fill my time volunteering and finding more projects. Over the weekend I volunteered for something new, to be a running buddy.

The fitness director at my gym helps run a upper-elementary-aged running club for girls and she found out that I run "fast."  In no way want do I claim that I am fast.  I am faster that I used to be, but not "fast."  I am usually middle of the pack in just about every race.  My goal is to be in the top 50% of finishers and I usually am with my 8-9 minute miles.  The fitness director asked me to be a running buddy for an upcoming race. As luck would have it, I was already registered for the race and happen to be a sucker for volunteering.  She especially needed volunteers to run with the girls that were too fast for their parents. As a running buddy, I would run along side a girl as she ran her race and help her if any issues came up. I agreed as getting girls to run is important to me. On race day, I was paired with an entering-6th grade girl who had completed two 5ks before, one in 42 minutes and one in 38 minutes, but she told me she can run a 8-9 minute mile.  I was skeptical.       

I may have mentioned before that I am competitive.  And while I am not fast enough to really compete in races, I always compete with myself or I pick a random person from the crowd and tell myself to beat them. So agreeing to not race in this race was a big step in running humility for me.  Just a few weeks ago at another 5k, I praised my friend for running with her daughter, sacrificing her race for her daughter. I told her I wasn't sure I could do it. Could I really give up racing myself to help someone else?

Back to be being skeptical at the beginning of this past Saturday's race, I decided that I would go at whatever pace my running buddy was comfortable with. I swallowed my running pride. We started with a short warm up.  This is also a new phenomenon for me, I never warmed-up for races.  Watching the runners before the race warm-up used to make me laugh. Then this spring, I at my two indoor triathlons I realized how much faster I can run when my muscles were warm. So I've taken to a bit of light jogging before a race in the past few months. I will say it is helping the way I feel at the beginning of a race.  I was happy to relay this information to my running buddy. And then I told her what I know about running.

Throughout the entire race I told her what I was thinking about the course and how to run. I have never thought of myself as a running coach or even having that much knowledge about running, but it dawned on me as I told my running buddy how to attack a hill, that I have over 20 years of running experience. There a few things I can say I have over 20 years of experience in doing. I started running in 6th grade, just like her and apparently, I know what I am doing.  Or at least I think I know what I am doing. Either way, there is a 6th grader in Washington, IL that PRed at 28:50. That is 10 minutes faster than her previous 5k!

I stayed with her the whole way and encouraged her.  I taught her how to drink from a cup while running, how to run hills, how to pace, pros and cons of sunglasses and hats/visors, and most importantly how to have fun running. She even said it didn't feel like we ran that far. As we sprinted to the finish, a gentleman I know from church tried to beat me, so I had to leave my running buddy 1 second behind me to beat him. I may have been able to forgo my racing time to stay with my buddy, but there was no way I was letting him beat me.  So I may have some humility to work on.

How are you working on your humility?

The End of Thirty-One

My thirty-first year ends tomorrow and thirty-two begins on Saturday.  I've actually been telling people I am thirty-two for a few weeks, I'm not sure why.  I have reached the age when I have to think about it, and sometimes do some math, to make sure I have the correct age.  It's not that I want to lie about my age, it is just that I honestly forget sometimes. Age is becoming less important especially since I'm always 24 in my head.

Thirty-One has been a pretty good year, I really can't complain.  I'm heading into thirty-two as a triathlete, PTO president and IACRL (Illinois Association for College and Research Libraries) secretary/treasurer. Those are three things I never thought I would be when I started out thirty-one. Being elected to two different offices from my peers is a marvelous feeling. That seems to be the greatest thing about getting older. The years may go by faster, but new and exciting things happen, many that you don't expect.

I am also 19 pounds lighter this year and feeling pretty great.  I hope to loose a few more pounds before the summer is in full swing. I cannot begin to describe how much better I am feeling.  I was active before, but I want to be even more active. I want to be outside.  I want a bikini.

In my thirty-first year, I have made amazing friends.  I have always been a friendly person and have many friends, but this past year I added some wonderful women from the acquaintance list to the friend list.  I hope you know who you are.  You are all so very special to me, new friends and seasoned friends, near and far.

I joined committees and led a major program at work. I chaired a national library committee. I volunteered, shared and loved. My kids grew.  Stormy is talking a lot more now, and well, Miss D we can't get her to be quiet. They are growing up so fast some days and not fast enough other days. Husband and I will mark 10 years of marriage next month.

Here's to thirty-two.  I'll be celebrating by going lap swimming and then driving to my parent's house for a family weekend. My mom's grilling me steak.  If I play my cards right, I could eat steak a few times this weekend.

Helpers

Miss D readily agreed to be my model today.  She usually hates modeling for me and I have to bribe her. Today she jumped at the chance... because she wanted to practice her fainting pose.

Where does she come up with this? She is such a drama queen. I did get a few "normal" poses.

Here is Oats making a reappearance from my Jury Duty Knitting post.  I said it would be much better on and boy is it ever.

Here is Easy. I used Lorna's Laces in Dandelion.  This is 435 yards of sock weight yarn on size US 2 needles. For you non-knitters this means thin yarn on a small needle which translates to lots and lots of very tiny stitches.

Both of these are from favorite designers of mine.  I will knit anything by Tin Can Knits (designer of Oats) or Martina Behm (designer of Easy). I highly recommend all knitters checking them out if you haven't already. 

While Miss D was a model model, Stormy decided that modeling is not for him.

Good help is hard to find.

As I mentioned in my last post, I finished two yarns.

This one is from Crosswinds Farms in Eldridge, IA (my hometown). It is 100% Shetland.

The beautiful green yarn is 100% wool.  Merino wool, I think.  I don't have a label. I do know it was hand dyed at The Fiber Universe in Peoria.

With all these finished projects, I don't have anything significant on the needles or wheel, but I do have a few good ideas.