I Love My Bike....and My Husband

I love this bike.  It is SO fast.  I was scared of it at first.  I felt like it's speed was too much for me to handle.  But I now understand the attraction to fast bikes.  The wind in your face, even on a 95 degree day, can't be matched.  I've become a bit of a bike snob.  Which is sad, because the furthest I've ever ridden is 10 miles.  When I see a fellow biker, I secretly judge their bike brand in my head.  Usually my untrained eye decides that mine is cooler.

I was very intimidated by the shifting at first.  My poor husband tried to explain the correlation between the small right shifter and the back gear blah blah blah.  This in turn served to make me a whole lot more nervous.  So he made me this simple reference guide, printed it up and taped it securely to my handle bars.  I love it so much.  Even though I feel quite a bit more comfortable with shifting gears, I will never take this guide off.  When I look down, I smile a little bit, because the man knows me.  And loves me anyway.

It's like the time he marked a turn-around point with a big brown rock.  He was out running with his fancy Garmin mileage thingy and stopped to lay a rock at the two mile point so when it was my turn to run (we go in child watching shifts) I would know where to turn around.  I picked that big rock up and carried it home with me and keep it on my dresser.  It makes me smile and keeps me going to know how supportive he is.

Whew!

Let me catch my breath....

Man, this summer has been a busy one!  I'm typing this furiously before I have to get the two big kids into their swimming suits and head off to the last day of swimming lessons!  LAST day of swimming lessons?  Already?  Yes, we managed to squeeze two weeks of swimming lessons into our first half month of summer, as well as baseball, ballet, a day at the beach, a trip to see the dinos at Powell Gardens, an afternoon at the fountains in Crown Center, and a generous sprinkling of play dates and bike rides.  And it's only getting better.  Next week we add theater camp and tae kwon do to the mix. 

I remember a more "experienced" mother at work telling me that you only get busier as your kids get older, and now I understand.  The more kids you have attending school in the fall, the more you want to cram into the short three months of summer.  I made a "summer bucket list" similar to one of my new favorite bloggers, cleanmama.blogspot.com, and am committed to helping my kids make awesome summer memories this year.  I spent a day researching and typing up a plan, and my 6-year-old  checks the list every morning to keep us on track. 

I'm also trying to embrace the idea that I can put my heart and energy into several projects at once.  I've always been the type of person that gets an idea (i.e. doing a triathlon) and pours a lot of time, energy, and money into it and tends to let other projects/routines/tasks fall to the wayside (i.e. cleaning the bathroom).  So, that's getting old.  And kind of smelly.  Cleanmama has inspired me to make a "weekly docket." This maps out my plan for the week.  My dinners, my cleaning schedule, my kids schedule, and my workout schedule.  At the top, I pick one big project to tackle anytime that week.  This weeks is the LEFT side of my pantry.  This may or may not get done, I can always carry it over to next week.  Last weeks project, organizing the junk drawer.  Isn't that beautiful?

My workouts are getting squeezed in whenever possible, mostly in the morning before Patrick leaves for work.  Admittedly, they have been low on my list of priorities until these last couple of weeks, when I realized Triathlon Season was upon us and I had to get serious.  I often do this when I'm training for something big.  I like to give my body and mind a little break midway through my plan and then jump back in at full force. 

My new favorite workout?  Running 3-4 miles with my little man on his fancy "Specialized" bike.  Babies and toddlers are cute, but I'm happily realizing how much fun it is to have big kids that you can truly play with.  A kid that can really play catch with you, really ride bikes with you, really play badmitton with you. There's no "letting him win" anymore. 

And so we're off to start our Thursday.  The best part is when everyone crashes around 2:00pm and then wakes up ready for the second part of our day.

organization, anyone?

I used to scoff at the parents magazines that said the best way to manage a busy household with small children was to organize, set a routine, and then organize some more.  I scoff a lot in my head.  I smile nicely and then I think "My mom/husband/best friend/self and I are going to have a laugh about that one later."

I was one to fly by the seat of my pants, a lot.  I didn't make many long term plans, because if it happened to be a bad day in my house, we wouldn't end up going anywhere.  On the flip side, if it was a nice day, we would make last minute plans to go to the park, have a picnic, or go swimming.  Sometimes this meant that we ran out of milk, because it was never the right day to trudge through Walmart. 

Somehow, somewhere, my life started to follow a pattern.  As this pattern took hold, I realized (grudgingly) the benefits to having a routine.  Especially with small kids that thrive on predictability. 

Every Monday morning is now Walmart morning.  There are several very nice Walmart employees that recognize/anticipate/dread my small clan every Monday.  There is a sweet checker who never grumbles about my 20 reusable bags, 30 coupons, and small blond 4-year-old that handles all the candy.  And she is super fast at getting me through the line in time to pick up my kindergartner.  There is a quiet cart guy that follows me innocently to my car and waits patiently for my insanely huge shopping cart stroller combo so he can wheel it back to the cart corral.  He has even started greeting me at the door with a quiet "Must be Monday!" 

The E-Mealz has virtually eliminated my stress over dinner.  The meals are nothing fancy, but the less I have to think about a dinner recipe, the less I stress when no one eats it.  E-Mealz has in turn made my Walmart prep every Monday morning quick and painless.  I have started to look forward to the post-weekend coupon hunt and have organized my coupons in a cute little photo album.  I am by no means one of those crazy couponers, but I am trying really hard to not purchase anything with a brand name unless I have a coupon.  Have I saved alot (or any?) money yet?  No, not really, but I am determined that after a few months of this, I will be saving SOMETHING.  My sanity has to be worth a few bucks here or there, right?

Organizing my shopping trip has influenced me to next organize my pantry.  I found out I didn't really need to pick up another can of Campbell's soup, because I actually had three shoved in the back of the pantry that I couldn't see.  I realize that this is probably what most people's pantries look like already, but mine was far from it.  I thought I always knew where everything was because I was just good like that, but I didn't. 

So I've tackled my grocery shopping, my food storage space, and my evening meals.  What's next on the list?  More sleep.  I just received a well reviewed book from Amazon called "Good Night, Sleep Tight."  My sweet almost nine-month-old baby still loves to wake 1-2 times a night to nurse.  I'm not a fan of letting her "cry it out" but I know that she doesn't need these night feeds, and momma needs a full night sleep.  So we are tackling our sleep routine now.  The older kids have it down, but she's not quite there.  I'm hoping this book will help me feel comfortable with the next task on my organization list.

Triathlon training?  It's going.  I have been reinvigorated by a couple of outdoor runs here or there.  I forgot how much I love love love running outdoors.  It is so fresh and free feeling.  I'm still at the pool a couple of times a week, but the nice weather has really made me want to stay outside.  My new anxiety is the bike.  I have yet to ride my bike outside.  My sweet husband has made me nervous by insisting that I ride with him the first few times I venture out.  I thought riding a bike was riding a bike, but apparently I am more at risk on a real road bike.  Or maybe he's just worried about the $500 piece of metal that I might crash?  I don't know, but he did buy me a new fancy pink helmet for Easter, so maybe he is a tad concerned for my well-being...

Quick Check In

As we all scramble to prepare for our mini "staycation" at the Great Wolf Lodge this week, I just had to report a small success in feeding my family.

My good friend Ryanne introduced me to E-Mealz.  You pay $5 a month to have a weeks worth of dinner recipes and a shopping list emailed to you every week.  When she first told me about it and said that she had heard of it in conjunction with Dave Ramsey, I scoffed inside my head.  Dave Ramsey, the budget buster guy, was encouraging people to pay to have someone else make up a meal plan for them?  I thought it was pure craziness at the time.  I looked into the website, was intrigued, and decided to give it a month.  One week into it, I am already trying to hook up my friends.

Last night was the clincher.  I followed the recipes for Taco Calzones and it was a bona fide hit in my house.   My son, instead of "tasting" the new food with a couple of baby bites and then being done, actually ATE his entire serving.  Even my husband, who has never been one to gush about my cooking, told me this morning that he was upset he only got one helping. 

You can choose a plan based on where you shop, how many people you are cooking for, and/or any special diet needs you might have.  The print-outs are fabulous because your entire week of recipes are on ONE PAGE.  Have you ever tried to shop at wal-mart with three kids, 25 coupons, and five recipe cards in hand?  I have.  Something inevitably gets lost.  Usually not one of the kids.
                                      

Complaints

So this was going to be a post of complaints.  I was planning on complaining about my kids being continuously sick over these last couple of months.  I was going to complain about how I've only made it to the gym a couple of times per week because of these feverish, coughing, balls of snot. 

I was going to complain about how my drive to get my kids to eat better has not yet produced mini foodies.  I even had a quote ready: "There's nothing that spoils the taste of good ordinary food half so much as the memory of bad magic food." - C.S. Lewis.

But, as my laptop was warming up, the doorbell rang.  The FedEx guy left me a present on my front step.  I opened it, and immediately remembered why I set out to do this in the first place.  My challenges in life are small and ordinary. 

Why I Really Love Swimming...

My number one reason I love swimming?

My husband.

Swimming at the gym is like our new date night.  Drop the kids off at childwatch for an hour and then swim, side by side, in lycra.  Sexy, right?

I imagine all the other crazy swimmers thinking "What is that super-fast, hairless, professional swimmer doing talking to that slow (non-svelte) chick?  Oh wait, I bet she's taking swimming lessons from him.  Did she just pat his butt?  Maybe she's trying to get a discount.  Good luck, lady.  He's way out of your league.  I wonder if he would be interested in coaching me?  I'll have to ask him for his card...."

Sorry crazy swimming people with the underwater mp3 players.  He's all mine.

Why I love Swimming

For the longest time, swimming was the reason I refused to do a triathlon.  I would hang out at the triathlon "functions" and get asked by numerous tan, skinny, rich, middle-aged women if I too, did triathlons.  In my head, I would answer, "Yeah, right." and out loud, I would answer "I just run.  Two adults training for three sports with three small kids is just too much."  They would nod their blond heads and think, I'm sure, how it was better for them, because if I did compete, I would kick their butts (ha ha).  Well watch out ladies, I'm all in now.

When I thought I was going to do a triathlon a couple of summers ago, the swimming is what made me quit.  I felt like a wet cat just trying to stay alive. I knew I had to look ridiculous, and the whole endeavor (one month of swimming at the Y) exhausted me. I felt I never got stronger, faster, or even looked better doing it. My husband told me that even when he was first learning to swim competitively, he was still enjoying himself.  I was NOT enjoying myself, so I figured I was not cut out for swimming.

I don't know what made me decide to try this crazy triathlon thing again.  I think it was my husbands nonchalant passing down of his FELT road bike.  His true reason behind the "gift" was so he could get a new road bike for himself, but this went over my head.  I decided it was a sign that this was my year to do a triathlon myself.

So I read and read as much as I could about swimming.  I watched videos on youtube and ordered books from Amazon and then... just jumped in.

And now I honestly love it.

I love how quiet swimming is.  Underwater, there is nothing but silent bubbles in my ears and my thoughts in my head.

I love how it works every single muscle in my body.  It is a stretch, strength, cardio workout all in one.

I love walking around the locker room in my competition style suit and fancy TYR swim cap.  I know this sounds ridiculous because I'm not very pretty in a swimming suit, but I feel like a hardass when I'm strutting my stuff in the showers.  No one has to know how super slow I really am.

I love not wearing makeup or not doing my hair and having the excuse "I'm swimming later today" or "I just finished swimming."

I love how solitary swimming is.  Even when all the lanes are full, you're in your own world underwater.  I sometimes imagine I'm swimming out into the middle of the ocean, nothing in front of me, nothing besides me, and everything below me.  I hope I can dive in the middle of the ocean for real someday.

I love that if I was in a shipwreck, I could totally survive for an hour or two, at least.

I love that I'm setting a good example for my kids.  I desperately want my kids to be confident swimmers.  Swimming is by far our family's favorite summer pastime, but I will never get over the fear of my kids drowning.

I love how clean I feel afterwards.  Weird, I know, but I'm not sweaty or smelly after swimming.  I do shower after each swim, but the faint scent of chlorine follows me everywhere I go.  I like it because it reminds me of a freshly cleaned sink.