fun times fun times

We've has some fun and then we've had some rough times this past week. We celebrated Abby's 2nd birthday with lots of balloons, cupcakes, presents, and then dinner at Cheesecake factory (she even picked out her slice of cheesecake and then they sang her Happy Birthday!).  I blew up some balloons and put them in her room for her to find that morning. When she came to our room around 5 (typical around here), she was telling Todd all about the balloons in her room, and then showed them to me when we got up for breakfast. :) On Friday, we went to the coolest indoor playground with some friends from Andrew's school.  I need to figure out how to get videos on here because I got the cutest videos of them that day.

                  At Cupcake City 

 I got in a good 17 1/2 mile run on Saturday (woohoo!), so I'm feeling a lot more confident about the marathon. I ran with a new friend of mine that's also running with me in the Ragnar Relay. We just found out we will both be running the same legs (we have 2 different teams and chose to run the same legs), so will get to run together the whole time!! YAY! She is one of the nicest, funniest, most bubbly people I have ever met and keeps that demeanor pretty constant even while raising 4 kids.  Just to give you an idea of how funny she is- she was a "Boston Marathon Bandit" one year (I think it was 2010 or 2011), and ran the ENTIRE thing without a number and then when offered a medal at the very end simply told them, "No thanks." HA! Awesome. We will be running the most mileage during the relay (over 21 miles), but I'm happy I can endure that mileage with such a fantastic lady!

 That said, we all came down with food poisoning on Sunday. :( And let me just say- I would NEVER wish that on my worst enemy. It. was. AWFUL. My friend Kelley came to visit us again that day and we stopped at Chipotle for some lunch after picking her up from the train station.  It was just me and Andrew (Todd was home with Abby), and Kelley never ate any of Andrew's chicken. Todd ate the leftovers I brought home that night for dinner (a long with Andrew's chicken), and it started with Todd.  He got really sick right before bed, so I gave him some Benadryl to help with the nausea, and I think that really helped.  Not even an hour later, it hit me and then about 2 hours later, Andrew crawled into my bed and then, well….it was graphic. Andrew and I were sick all night long. At one point, I even fell asleep on the bathroom floor, woke up hearing him getting sick (we went through 4 sets of sheets that night and finally just laid towels all over the bed….), and then Andrew fell asleep in the bathroom floor. :( TERRIBLE! Thankfully, neither Kelley or Abby ever had it which makes me 100% sure it was food poisoning (from Andrew's chicken), because a stomach bug is sure to hit everyone in the house. I've been meaning to call them so they are aware of it and to find out if anyone else complained of being so sick. It took us 2 days to fully recover, and I don't think I will be able to stomach Chipotle for a while (so sad because it's one of my favorite places to eat!) My poor Andrew has not been to school at all this week and it's Thursday (no school today because of an early release day). He slept more than I've seen him sleep in a long time, but he's thankfully better now.

I dubbed Tuesday "randomly pass out in the middle of the floor day" :) 

     relaxing with Kelley after being sick 


On Wednesday, we went to the Boston Children's Museum which is basically 3 floors of non-stop entertainment for kids (and adults) :) The kids loved it and it was fun to have Kelley there with us. Plus, Andrew LOVED riding the "purple train, and then we get on the red train, and then we get on the orange train!" there and back. :) Even though we were sick on Sunday (and still not fully recovered until Tuesday..), we had a lot of fun while Kelley was visiting! 

I have a half marathon tomorrow morning and am pretty nervous about it. It's supposed to be pretty hilly (it's a "Marathon Prep" race that's supposed to help you get an idea of what the marathon will be like…even though it's "Only" half a marathon). I pray that it helps me feel confident in my training rather than make me feel like I have a lot more work to go in the next 5 weeks!! It's also a good "dress rehearsal" to see what gels and energy chews I like better throughout an actual race, how my shoes/socks/new runner's belt feel that day, and to see how I'm feeling about  water breaks throughout the race. I recently read the best advice- try taking at least a 1-2 minute break every 45 minutes and you will fell better throughout the run. I don't usually break that often, but I do find that a small break here and there really gives me some extra momentum to push myself further. Wish me luck! Oh, and I just chopped all my hair off and love it! It was just getting too long and stringy and feels great to get rid of all that extra weight. I hope it doesn't throw my running off! ;-) ha! Have a good weekend!

       I cut off over 6 inches of hair!!