High Calorie Week

It's been quite a busy week. And we have another busy one just ahead.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel though.

Bruce and I are taking a little trip to see Karyn, Andy, and Allison next weekend. We're so so so excited. In the meantime, though, I have about four times as much work as I normally have. Yikes!

Scott took his last classroom exam on Friday. He says he did poorly, but he always says that. "Poorly" actually means he will get about 80-90 percent instead of 110 percent. Now he has to work on his qualifying exams for the biophysics program. There's always something to do I guess.

The weather has been warm and muggy the past few days, so Bruce and I have been outside a lot. After slathering on a ton of sunblock, we venture off to the park (he loves the swings and eating mulch) or down the sidewalk (he chases the ants). Today he got to pet someone's dogs. He also went after my neighbor's cats, but they outran him. Whenever he sees an animal, he starts quacking. Someday he will figure out not all animals are ducks.

I've been keeping a log of what Bruce eats lately so I can show the doctor that I'm seriously not starving him. Indeed, yesterday he ate more than 1,500 calories. Any fattening tips, anyone? I give him cream to drink. Tonight I fed him beef stroganoff with cheese. I made sweet potatoes with cream and butter. I give him cream cheese on crackers. And he is still skinny.

The Big 0-1

Happy Birthday Bruce! We had a party for him on Saturday complete with cake, enormous amounts of food, and a pinata. I know a party for a one-year-old is a little unnecessary, but we just love bragging about him. He's so cute!

He didn't really get into the cake as much as we thought he would. He stuck one finger in it and licked the frosting once (pictured on left), then was pretty much done with it. The kids enjoyed playing together and bashing the pinata and the adults loved playing bocce ball in the yard. Bruce just loved getting all the attention. He loved ripping up the tissue paper on his gifts too. He didn't really get into his gifts until the next morning, when he got up at 5 a.m. and Scott took him out to the living room to play. Bruce talked to a giant stuffed gorilla, pushed around a big car, and put things in his soft buckets (I put one on his head for a photo opp).

Bruce got some bath toys, but his favorite is still the classic rubber ducky (pictured, of course). He says, "Qua, qua, qua" when he sees a rubber duck. He can't quite enunciate the "ck" at the end yet.

Saturday morning before the party, we drove an hour north to Exeter, New Hampshire for a race. I've been searching the race calendars and laying out my summer racing season. I'm planning a bunch of races from 5k-10 miles all summer; I'm also toying with the idea of running the Hartford, Connecticut Marathon in October. Anyway, Saturday's 5k went well. I ran 18 minutes flat and won the women's race. The second and third women were on my heels though. The second woman was from Rhode Island and runs for B.A.A., the big rival of my track club. The third woman was Gwen Coogan, who ran the 10k in the 1992 Olympics and had a baby two or three years ago. She also happens to be 40 years old. I hope I can run 18-somethings when I'm forty.

All in all, we've been doing very well. The rain finally stopped here and our basement is drying out. Whew.

Quick Update

Here's a quick update on us.

SCOTT
This fine picture of him working in the living room is just a sampling of how hard he is studying. Between all the research, qualifying exams, and final exams, this week is pretty swamped. The end of the week will be fun though because we're having a party for Bruce!

BRUCE
That's right. It will be Bruce's birthday this weekend so to celebrate we're throwing a party complete with scrumptious food (yet to be made, of course), a huge cake, and a pinata. Perhaps if the rain goes away, we can even do bocci ball in the backyard. I don't think Bruce really understands that his birthday is coming, but I'm pretty sure he won't object to some chocolate cake.

EMILY
I had a fantastic Mother's Day. Bruce got up at 5 a.m. as usual - and Scott got up with him Sunday morning (actually, Scott gets up with him a lot because I either go running or I'm too tired to even hear Bruce). Scott made me a tasty breakfast of waffles with strawberries, blueberries, and Cool Whip and served it to me in bed. He even got me my very favorite high pulp orange juice. He also got me flowers (pictured), which small great and are still blooming. Scott then changed all the diapers that day, which is quite a feat lately.

Bruce has been blowing out diapers left and right lately. I thought maybe it was because he was in size 2 diapers, so I went ahead and got him the phatty Pampers size 3 diapers. They are quite large on him and Pampers are the pricey kind, but after doing laundry twice daily for about a week I was ready to fork out the dough. Alas, Bruce blew out two Pampers size 3 diapers today. So I still did two loads of laundry today. Is there any solution to this? Can I at least get my money back?

It has been raining non-stop here. It's been pouring for a week and there's still more rain in the forecast. This morning when I went running I ran past dozens, perhaps hundreds, of houses that had hoses running out the basement windows into sewer drains. Everyone's basement is flooded. Ours is wet, but not flooded yet. Anyway, I can't wait until this is over. I like being able to go for walks outside when Bruce gets restless. In the past week, I've had to opt for outings at the library (which prompts me to get stupid movies) and Costco (which makes me think I need $14 worth of candy). Thus, I await the sunshine.

Hard at Work

Bruce was hard at work today. He always goes after my keyboard, so I finally just went to Goodwill and got him his very own. I did some serious sanitation and fixed up the plug so he couldn't chew on sharp wires, then let him at it. He sometimes lays his head down on it while bashing the keys; it's quite funny.

Our internet was down this weekend. Our upstairs neighbors changed their internet service, so Comcast came over and accidentally disconnected our phone line. I called Verizon, our provider, and after talking to several different departments (phone, DSL, repair, customer service...) they finally sent someone out today. Strangely, the Comcast repairman showed up just before the Verizon guy got there. I somehow didn't notice the giant Comcast badge and started telling this guy about all my woes (no DSL, no dial tone on the land line). He ran some tests on the phone box outside and said he was getting a dial tone. He called the number with his cell phone and my upstairs neighbor picked up. That's right about when I figured out he was from Comcast. I had a brief moment of feeling like an idiot and the Verizon guy walked up. In the end, we're back online. Still, I had to call up the office two days in a row and say, "I don't have internet today. I don't think I can work." They probably think I'm so full of excuses. "I can't do (fill in the blank) right now because..." Bruce just crapped on me, I need to get out of the house or I'll lose my mind, I'm running a marathon, I'm stuck in traffic, Bruce has playgroup, etc. They probably think I make these things up. But I don't.

Now that we're up online again, I have a lot of work to catch up on so that's all for now.

Six Months Later

I had my cholesterol tested last week and got the results back today. So here's the rundown.
Here are the results from my first test six months ago.
Total: 297
HDL: 55
LDL: 229
Here are the results from last week.
Total: 225
HDL: 45
LDL: 169
The good news is that I don't have to get on Lipitor or anything right now; the doctor said she'll test me again in six months and just continue to monitor me. The bad news is that my HDLs went out the window (so much for all that Smart Balance butter spread stuff!) and I'm totally craving all things cholesterol.

Last weekend, I packed up my sleeping bag and PJs and went to a friend's house for a Girl's Night Out. We did facials and pedicures (I came home with "siren red" toe nails, of which Scott said "You look like a four-year-old who painted her nails for the first time." They looked that good.), then stayed up until 3:30 a.m. watching Sense & Sensibility and Ella Enchanted. I also splurged and ate massive amounts of M&Ms (I figured it was after the test and the marathon, so it was okay).

In other exciting news, I got a nice raise at work today. I also found out that I will be going to another camera convention at the end of September. The good news? It's in Germany, which will be fun because I've never been to Europe. The bad news? The Akron Marathon runs the same weekend, so I'll have to miss it!