Raymond Family Blog

Monkeys in the morning

2012-01-30T11:54:00.005-05:00

This morning when I came home from running, Scott was still asleep or laying in bed pretending to be asleep. Bruce and Phoebe were snuggled up in the crib making goofy sounds at each other and kicking their legs like babies (and as pictured above, Phoebe picked her nose too. awesome.). Phoebe had called to Bruce until he came in her room and turned on her light, then climbed into her crib. They laughed at/with each other for a few minutes before deciding it was time to get out of bed. Scott rolled out of bed and took over breakfast-making duties while I got a quick shower.
Good. morning.

In and Out

2012-01-28T21:06:00.002-05:00

Ben is officially done with his mission. My parents picked him up on Thursday, crashed at our place that night, and headed back to Ohio on Friday morning. It was a fast trip, but Bruce and Phoebe were still happy to see Uncle Ben and Grandma and Grandpa.
Phoebe seems to think that because we were at Grandma and Grandpa's house when she opened her Christmas gifts, that all of the gifts must have come from them. When she plays with her doll house, she will talk about Grandma giving it to her. When they came this week, they gave Phoebe some new pajamas that she instantly fell in love with. When she wears them, she talks about how she got them from Grandma and Grandpa.

Phoebe Loves

2012-01-23T20:16:00.003-05:00

Phoebe loves:
1. Books - Henry and Mudge, Sesame Street, Dr. Seuss, anything really. (in fact, she picked out a brochure about seat belts for her bedtime story)
2. Friends - Miss J, Quentin, and Asher are some of her current favs
3. Bruce - does anything he does, most recently screaming "NUTS!" at the top of her lungs and then laughing hysterically. Just. like. Bruce.
4. Food - rice and beans, yogurt (but only the expensive kind, of course), grilled cheese, black bean soup, all things chocolate
5. Clothes - sometimes partial to pink, and sometimes not. Always dresses herself now though, which means she is often half-dressed (see above photo).
6. Cooking - today she helped bake banana bread. She mashed bananas and then tasted some salt, and then some sugar, and then lots of chocolate chips.
7. Talking - after spouting more and more phrases each day, she is picking up real sentences complete with pronouns. "I do it myself" is a sentence I hear frequently.
8. Toys - play kitchen, princess castle, dolls and Lego guys are the in-toys with her right now.
9. Backpacks - she has a mild obsession with the hiking backpack and loves it when Scott carries her in it. She has a backpack for her baby dolls and takes them hiking around the house sometimes.
10. Cameras - she saw the lens and decided to smile and pose for this shot. Nice!

The Match

2012-01-23T19:58:00.004-05:00

Scott wrapped up all of his interviews, so now it's time to put together our "match list." Scott ranked the programs that he visited, and each program will rank the students they interview. Everyone gets matched according to some magical algorithm that determines our fate. Scary.

Scott has his list, but I have mine too. While Scott's takes into account the training, the people he met on the interview trail, the sharpness of the residents, the hospital's atmosphere, etc., mine takes into account everything from schools to weather to general rumors and preconceived notions. Mine is not as scientific.

We won't be publishing our Match list (too many politics involved), but we'll let you know when we know - March 16.

p.s. we just got an email tonight outlining graduation. It's really coming!

The Return of the Scott

2012-01-17T10:58:00.007-05:00

The past two weeks have been a blur. After our super-relaxing Christmas break, Scott's last residency interview trip sneaked up on me. Perhaps it was because it required looking at a whole new (2012) calendar? Or maybe I was in denial that life could get so crazy after being so laid-back? Somehow I just didn't register that Scott was leaving so soon.

Scott headed west and interviewed at four more hospitals. The interviews were spaced apart by a few days, so we could either pay to fly back and forth across the country 2-3 times or Scott could live on the cheap and play a bit between interviews. We chose the latter.

First he headed to San Francisco and interviewed at a few places, hiked the Redwoods, and generally enjoyed the 65-degree weather. He called me when he was hiking and told me how beautiful it was; I envied him as it was 9 degrees that day in Boston.

Next, Scott headed to Salt Lake City for an interview. He stayed with his sister Leslie, who ended up hosting a family reunion (again) as Lana, Nancy, Mark, and his parents came to visit. Scott got a solid dose of mountains and skiing before heading to the next interview in Seattle. He didn't have time to play in Seattle, but said it was actually clear enough to see the mountains when he was there (every time I'm there it's typical Seattle weather - overcast, rainy, depressing).

Scott finally came home after nearly two weeks on the road! He made it back on Saturday morning, just in time for me to pick him up and drive to New Hampshire for a half-marathon. I did this indoor half-marathon last year as it's one of few longish races on a Saturday between now and the Boston Marathon. This year, the organizers moved it from March to January and landed a local beer company as the sponsor. Naturally, it turned into a beer-fest. Perhaps one of the timing officials had a few too many because despite having computer chips on our shoes, they somehow lost track of how many laps we'd run. The track was an odd distance - 317 meters per lap - making it about 69 laps we had to run. I went with the strategy of looking at my watch for the first mile, then not checking at all and trying not to pay attention to the laps so I wouldn't be discouraged by the, "48 laps to go" announcement. I sure wasn't counting. But when I was told I had four laps to go, I was wondering how I could feel so awful and yet run so slow. I went across the finish line at 1:27, my slowest half-marathon ever. Maybe I did eat too many Christmas cookies this year. The results page says 1:26 (and a few days ago, I swear it said 1:23) and says another female wasn't far behind me (even though I passed her at least twice during the race), so I guess I'll never know what my half-marathon time was. I won a six-pack of beer, a shirt with the logo of the beer company, a hat that says "WILL RUN FOR BEER" on it, and a beer bumper sticker. Another runner was happy to take the beer off my hands, and Scott claims he's going to wear the hat sometime. "It's a nice hat," he argued.

We spent the rest of the weekend watching the Patriots pound the Broncos (poor Tebow), facing my needle-phobia by giving blood, going to church, assembling a shelf for Scott's ever-expanding textbook collection, and building a stomp rocket for Bruce.

Happy Birthday Elder Mars

2012-01-09T12:34:00.004-05:00

This is a vintage photo of my youngest brother, the 10th of 10 kids, Ben. You might think that because he's the youngest, he is pampered, spoiled, and self-centered.Pampered? Maybe a little. Spoiled? Not so much that he doesn't appreciate it. Self-centered? Not at all. We definitely had fun together. During my last year of high school and for the next few summers, I took my younger siblings on "dates." We raided the Entertainment Book and collected all kinds of coupons for free stuff, and we would go out on the cheap. We would often go for a round of bowling (free for kids, coupons for the rest of us), then to a few restaurants (free pizza here, free fries there, etc.). The above photo is from a date where we went to a restaurant that offered free meals to anyone in a coconut bikini. Today Ben turns 21. He will not be getting drunk and having a wild party. Instead, he will be knocking on doors, talking to people about Jesus Christ, doing service projects, and studying scriptures. Ben was assigned to proselyte in the Hartford, Connecticut mission; since then, the Hartford area mission has combined with Boston. Elder Mars has been within a mile of my house and been in church buildings that we attend, but we have not crossed paths (missionaries aren't supposed to contact family other than a weekly email while on a mission). He finishes his two-year mission in a few weeks, and then he will get to stop by my house, say hello, and finally meet Phoebe (she was a home-bound newborn when he left). Happy Birthday Elder Mars!

Running nowhere

2012-01-06T11:52:00.003-05:00

I hate treadmills. I much prefer to run outside where I can breathe fresh air, see new sights, run books to the library book-drop, watch the sun rise, chatter with fellow runners. But I hate not running more than I hate treadmill running, so I finally bought a treadmill. In my search for the perfect treadmill, I came across "treadmill desks" (pictured above). I laughed when I saw that picture, then showed Scott and laughed some more. I searched for something durable (it has to get me through the first year of residency) and reliable, with a good manufacturer's warranty in case I run it into the ground...And here she is, as beautiful as a treadmill can be. She will be here on Monday. I've already picked a corner in my living room and hung a Boston Marathon poster to stare at.

More setbacks on the family picture front

2012-01-06T11:20:00.003-05:00

Setback No. 1: Bruce provoked Phoebe's wrath while she was sitting in a chair. She reached over and pulled his hair. He tried to run away, but her iron fist held tight - pulling her off the chair and face-down on the floor. She busted her nose and bled a lot, traumatizing the sweet teenage babysitter we'd left the kids with. This picture is three days later when the swelling had gone down a bit and the purple hues turned more greenish. Lovely.

Setback No. 2: Scott is out on the interview trail again. This time he is in sunny California, then off to snowy Utah, and then to rainy Washington. His interviews are spaced apart by a few days, but it wasn't worth traveling coast to coast several times, so this is a long trip. A few days ago, it was 11 degrees in Boston (not counting the windchill). Scott called to tell me about the beautiful 65-degree weather in San Francisco and how he was going to hike through the Redwoods. He will get his dose of the cold soon: he is off to Utah next and when he isn't trying to impress the big wigs at the hospital there, he will be skiing with Mark, hanging out with Leslie, meeting Lana's new baby girl, and pressuring Nancy into med school or some other crazy endeavor.

The long drive

2011-12-30T19:41:00.003-05:00

The long drive to Ohio and back deserves a blog post. It used to take 10 hours, but with kids it takes 12+. Scott and I take turns driving for about three hours, stopping for gas and potty breaks mostly. We usually make an hour-long stop midway for the kids to roam, usually at a McDonald's PlayPlace but sometimes at a standard sit-down restaurant.

This video is from our trip to Ohio and is pretty typical: Bruce beat-boxing with Scott's iPod in hand (I think he is playing Stickman BMX), Phoebe sleeping like a rag doll, and Scott bored out of his mind in the middle of Pennsylvania. When Phoebe was awake, she was either watching Dora the Explorer and/or eating from a giant bag of M&Ms.

The most interesting part of our roadtrip this time was that Phoebe is in the process of potty-training. She decided to start using the potty a week or two before our trip and has done very well. We put a pull-up on her just in case, but she kept it dry all the way to Ohio (and as soon as I bragged about it in Ohio on Friday night, she pooped her pants - go figure). She stayed dry on the way back too. The trick was that she doesn't give much notice that she needs to go; she would start shrieking and we would pull off at the next exit and get her potty out of the back of the car. We visited a few rest stops and Scott took her into a gas station in Connecticut that he said was the grossest he has been in since coming back from Russia (11 years ago!). Eww. Anyway, we all survived and I'm happy to not buy diapers for a long while!

Why you haven't received a Christmas card yet...

2011-12-30T19:38:00.002-05:00

Due to a combination of sillyness and awkwardness, it is taking longer to get the family Christmas card out.
Photoshop may have to help us out this year.

Phoebe's new kitchen

2011-12-30T12:34:00.004-05:00

Phoebe scored a new play kitchen, a princess-castle-dollhouse, a music box with a dancing ballerina in it, some kitty cat pajamas, a horse coloring book, Dora socks, and a roll of drawing paper for Christmas.

As you can see, Phoebe isn't the only one that appreciates the new kitchen.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-29T13:11:00.012-05:00

We had a very merry Christmas - in Ohio!

Last Thursday evening, we started our journey. We drove about 6 hours to Anika's rural digs sortof kindof near Scranton, Pennsylvania. We got in late at night and slept in her basement. In the morning, Bruce and Phoebe partied with her four kids, Scott admired Keith's P90X awesomeness, and Anika and I went for a very hilly run. She lives out in the boondoggles of nowhere, so we ran on dirt and gravel roads through forests, past farms and waterfalls, and by abandoned houses.
Anika is pregnant with No. 5, but that didn't stop her from her characteristic fast-talking while hauling up and down the hills.

After our run Friday morning, we had a pancake breakfast (and dance party, above) and then packed our cars. Anika and fam headed to DC in their car and we took some crazy winding back-road to I-80 to continue our journey to Ohio. We made it to the Mars resort that evening. The house was already packed with siblings and cousins. We had our annual gift exchange: Bruce scored an Angry Birds hat and Phoebe got a tea set with little plates and cups and such. Scott and I got running gear and homemade granola.

On Saturday morning, I went for a run with some high school cross country alums and a special guest - Suzanna Larsen. I've been seeing a lot of BYU XC alums lately! Suzanna is in an MD/PhD program at the med school near my parents' home and is in the same church congregation with them. It is a small world after all. It was great to run trails and chat with Suzanna. (sorry, no photo here. Somehow I always forget my camera when we get together)

Saturday afternoon was the big Christmas Eve family gathering with all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings and their spouses, nieces and nephews. Grandma Tompkins always says she isn't going to go all-out and make a ton of stuff, then she does. Every year. We eat lots of food and chat while the kids bounce in a bounce house, play on an Xbox, watch a movie projected on a wall, and make crafty stuff. After awhile, one of my uncles dresses up as Santa Claus and delivers gifts to all the great-grandkids. Bruce impatiently waited for his turn and "photo-bombed" nearly all his cousins' pictures in the process. Phoebe, on the other hand, did not want to sit on Santa's lap and cried when he handed her a gift.

Christmas morning wasn't the traditional hop-out-of-bed-and-rip-open-the-gifts. We decided to wait until after church since it was at 9 and I didn't want the kids fighting to bring their new toys to the service. So we went to church, enjoyed beautiful music and readings about the birth of Christ, went to my brother Dan's house to watch his kids open gifts, and then went home to open ours. It was worth the wait. My parents changed into matching Grinch pajamas and the gifts were passed out.

Phoebe got some cool gifts (documented in another post) and Bruce got a snap circuit electronics set, Legos, drawing paper, lots of books, and a Nintendo Wii complete with Mario Kart wheels, controls, charging stuff, and a few games (and lots of rules to go with them). The Wii was what he had been asking for most, and I resisted as long as possible. I am not a fan of 1) video games, and 2) purchases that lead to more purchases. But he loves it and hopefully someday I will at least like it. I got some new cookie sheets, a cookbook, and snowshoes. Scott got a campstove.
On Sunday evening, we video-chatted with my youngest bro, Ben (a.k.a. Elder Mars right now). As a missionary, he gets to call my parents on the phone twice a year - once on Mother's Day and once on Christmas Day. Besides that, he sends an email once a week but is otherwise focused on more important things. It was fun to chat with him and see his big ear-to-ear smile.
On Monday, we met up with friends of ours who used to live in Boston but now call themselves Buckeyes. We went to the zoo and let the kids run wild. Bruce and Christian were happy to play together again. That evening, my cousins came over and we had Girls' Night. We did pedicures while the boys played video games. Phoebe picked out a sparkly hot pink color for my toes, but did not want paint on herself. After my toes were properly pampered, I headed out on a date with Scott. We grabbed some dinner and went to see the new Mission Impossible movie (after seeing it, we think it's time for that series to end).

On Tuesday, we did our Tour de Columbus. We packed into the family Suburban and headed a few hours south to see four of my siblings and their Christmas trees. We went from house to house and got to see everyone's new cool toys and projects. That night, we went out to dinner with Grandma Tompkins, who had finally had enough cooking.

On Wednesday, we packed our car and headed back to Boston. When we finally pulled into our garage, Phoebe started crying, "Grandma's house! Grandma's house!"

We had a wonderful Christmas and hope yours was awesome too.

Birthday No. 30

2011-12-19T20:19:00.005-05:00

The day began nicely. I rolled out of bed and went for a run with my running partner, who wished me a happy birthday and gave me a hug as soon as she saw me.

Then I got home to the normal chaos: Bruce getting ready for school, Phoebe running around half-naked and yelling that she's hungry, and Scott frantically searching for his keys. I guess he found his keys because a few minutes later, I realized he was gone. I thought maybe he was getting a fancy surprise out of the car or something, but after a few more minutes he still hadn't appeared. I called him. He said he was worried about catching his shuttle and forgot to say goodbye - and happy birthday. He later blamed this oversight on cold medicine that he had taken.

Bruce was excited about my birthday and had a breakfast-in-bed menu planned, but I wasn't in bed and Scott left so couldn't help with the breakfast prep. So I made my own breakfast - egg whites and toast - and ate it at the table.

I walked Bruce to school, walked home with Phoebe, and waited for Miss J (can't call her Baby J anymore because she is almost walking) to come over. She came and we played, then I put the girls down for a nap. I had two normal hours before things started to get wild.

Scott came home after his interview and wasn't feeling well. He went straight to bed, and I was totally jealous. Then I fed the girls lunch and we walked to school to pick Bruce up. Bruce planned a playdate with a friend, so I inherited one more kid for the afternoon. As we walked home, the friend started doing the potty dance. By the time we got into our building, he was spinning in circles. The cramped quarters of the elevator were too much for him and he totally lost it. He left a big puddle, which he then tracked down the hall to our condo.

I threw some snacks to the girls in the stroller, sent the friend to the bathroom, and enlisted Bruce to get him fresh clothes. I spent the next few minutes sopping up urine on the elevator, and scrubbing the elevator, hall, and our floor. Not too long after that, a neighbor boy knocked on the door to play with Bruce. We're up to five kids now.

A few minutes later, I got a phone call from a resident in our building. The garage door broke, and I'm the go-to person/condo association prez who takes care of such things. I was about to go check the door myself when Miss J put a present in her diaper. I changed her, checked the door, and made the call.

Eventually, Bruce's friends went home and Miss J's parents picked her up. Scott wasn't up for cooking, so we had pizza for dinner and ginger-chocolate cake for dessert (I made it the day before). I opened my presents - a nice shirt and a stepping stool for the kitchen (and a pot rack that Scott put up the weekend before) - and went to visit a friend who had broken her ribs. I came home exhausted and collapsed into bed.

Thankfully, the next day was better. After hearing about my birthday adventure, my running partner sent flowers and took me running shoe shopping. We went hiking as a family. Phoebe made peace with the potty and has been inventing her own potty dance. I went to my track club's holiday party and stayed 3x as long as I thought I would.

Another decade down. I was hoping to run 30 miles or do something crazy with the number 30, but I think I just had 30 disasters. Better luck next year.

"The Battle in Seattle"

2011-12-11T19:38:00.004-05:00

I had an exhilarating, exhausting weekend.

I boarded a nearly-empty flight to Seattle on Friday night. After six hours of junk TV (thanks to JetBlue, I now know what the Kardashians are up to these days), movies, and running magazines, I arrived at the Seattle airport. I took the train and finally arrived at the hotel where my team was staying at 12:30 a.m. I threw my stuff on the floor, brushed my teeth, collapsed into bed, and fell asleep immediately. I woke up 7+ uninterrupted hours later and felt fantastic (it was about 10:30 a.m. Boston time). I ate a little breakfast, chugged some water, watched TV, chatted with teammates, and generally enjoyed kid-free relaxation.

Mid-morning, I boarded a bus with my team and we headed over to the cross country course. It was overcast, barely sprinkling, and cold - just what I thought Seattle would be like. During the warmup, I felt soreness in my ankle (rolled it in Friday morning's 30-minute shakeout run!) and was coughing the last few sputters of a cold out; I needed a good warmup and a prayer that I wouldn't feel that crappy during the race. Done and done.

Finally, race-time rolled around and I lined up at the start with my team. Because there were so many teams at the start, only two of my teammates could toe the starting line. Everyone else had to line up behind them in our narrow box at the start. I took my position behind our two fastest girls and sprinted out when the gun went off. I am typically more conservative at the start of a race, but this was Nationals! The course was also narrow and there were 300 other fast women fighting for the front. The first 3/4-mile was fast, but I could not have slowed down if I wanted to: it was like riding a wave, with lots of skinny elbows hitting me.

The course was fairly flat, but soggy from the sprinkling and the previous two races held on it that day. The footing was spongy, but my legs felt remarkably good, the pain in my ankle disappeared, and the wheezing in my chest evaporated. I focused on catching runners ahead of me one by one, and pushing the pace harder every time I felt too comfortable. Only once during the race did my brain start its excuse reel: "you're tired from the flight 12 hours ago." I put excuses out of my mind and reminded myself that I came all this way to run my best.

I achieved my goal: I ran hard during the race, so hard that I had a lousy finishing kick. I finished 84th out of an extremely competitive field, third for my team, with a 21:56 in the 6K. I warmed down, happy to be exhausted, and felt my cough and ankle pain return.After the race and some celebratory chocolate chip cookies, I went out for burritos and hours of chit-chatting with Laura, one of my former BYU XC teammates. I love getting together with my old teammates because no matter how infrequently we contact each other, it seems we always pick up right where we left off. Somehow they never age either?! Despite being 36 weeks pregnant, Laura came and yelled her loudest at the course (I knew it was her when I heard her cheer "GO MAAARRRRS!").

I met up with my team again for the evening, exchanged race stories, managed to get a shower at some point, and headed to the airport for a red-eye back to Beantown. I arrived in Boston at 8, went straight to church and put a skirt on in the bathroom, and soaked up three hours of meetings before coming home and crashing on the couch.

Despite the exhaustion, my trip was fun and rewarding. I love my family, but I also love not having to deal with kids on an airplane and not worrying about diapers and snacks right before I'm supposed to race. It was great to come home to Scott, who installed a pot rack in the kitchen while I was gone; Bruce, who is so excited for my upcoming birthday that he has already written out my breakfast-in-bed menu; and Phoebe, who followed me around saying "What-chu doin?" while I unpacked.

Weekend plans

2011-12-07T10:57:00.002-05:00

I am headed to Seattle this weekend for Club Cross Country Nationals. I am the proud captain of my cross country team and am looking forward to racing against the nation's best. It looks to be another competitive year, so it is hard to say what place I will come in or even what time for that matter. But I am going to Seattle and I am going there to run my best.

Last night was my final workout and for the rest of the week, I will run some easy miles, take my vitamins, drink some yummy ferrous sulfate, suck on vitamin C, and try not to get sick or hit by a car.

Like mother, like daughter

2011-12-06T12:12:00.003-05:00

I have been hearing a lot lately about how much Phoebe looks like me. I didn't pay much attention to it until I came across this picture the other day. Above, that's me. I might be 3 or maybe 4 years old, all dressed up, with a shaggy haircut that I can barely see out of.
And here is Phoebe with similar haircut and similar face (thanks to Scott's genes, she has that cute dimpled chin). I'm sure if she had the option of wearing my sequin-and-lace getup, she would take it.

I am thankful for this weather.

2011-11-25T19:59:00.005-05:00

It is nearly December and it was sunny and in the 50s today. It was not warm, but it isn't snowing either - and I am thankful for that.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family. We started out with a Turkey Trot for me and football for Scott, then spent a good chunk of the day cooking. Scott made his famous candied sweet potatoes and a pumpkin pie. I made my grandma's almond cheesecake, an apple pie, a brown rice-butternut squash-pomegranate salad, and homemade peppermint patties. We spent the afternoon stuffing ourselves.
Scott and his dad got up early (12:30 a.m.) for some Black Friday craziness. They went to Best Buy and scored a big TV. As I type, they are watching Lord of the Rings after hooking it up.
As for me, I prefer to avoid Black Friday; I even stocked up on diapers and wipes so I don't have to set foot in Target for the rest of the year (if I can help it).
We chose to relax a little more on Black Friday.
We spent the morning at the Museum of Fine Art and followed that with lunch at Bruce's most favorite restaurant.
We headed to the beach for the rest of the day. Phoebe loved the special treatment from Grandpa.
There were a few people walking their dogs and some were taking photos for their Christmas cards (maybe we should have done that to avoid this), but for the most part it was a quiet day at the beach.
Bruce insisted on wearing his bathing suit and even went in the water up to his knees. He said he was not cold.
He looks a little cold though.
Phoebe also shed her coat, tights, and shoes and waded around in the shallow pools. She eventually admitted that she was cold and put her shoes back on. We ended the day eating Phineas and Ferb-shaped macaroni and cheese while watching Phineas and Ferb.

Autumn in New England

2011-11-25T19:54:00.002-05:00

Phoebe, Baby J, and I made a huge pile of leaves at the park last week. We played in it until it was time to pick Bruce up from school, and then had to go straight home because it was already getting dark. We decided to get out the door early the next morning and go jump in the leaf-pile before school.

Family of 4

2011-11-25T19:43:00.002-05:00

My mom called me up tonight. My dad makes an awesome family calendar that has everyone's birthday and photo on it, which is super-important since there are zillions of us now. Anyway, my mom needed a photo with our family together - stat. Thankfully, Scott's dad is in town and grabbed the camera for us. We had been at the Museum of Fine Art all morning and Wingaersheek Beach all afternoon, so none of us were looking photo-ready and the kids were tired. Perfect combo for a family photo!
After Bruce's grouch-face, Scott told him he'd better smile or he would have a really long time-out. Nothing makes you smile like the promise of a long time-out. I'm pretty sure I started laughing first.Too bad Phoebe didn't want to put her seashells down.
Sorry mom, we tried. Better luck next year.

Out with Halloween, In with Thanksgiving

2011-11-15T11:24:00.008-05:00

Since I have neglected to put photos up for more than a week (maybe 2?), here are a few recent ones. While Phoebe didn't want to wear her Halloween costume, she liked to steal parts from Bruce's. Doesn't she look like a doting mother with her little baby? And lightsaber?
These photos are from the school Halloween party. Bruce raced this girl on the hippity hop......and won when she totally ate it. Ouch.

Scott is now on his tour of the Midwest, hoping to impress more residency programs. In 10 days, he is checking out U of Pittsburgh, U of Michigan, Cleveland Clinic, and Mayo Clinic. In between all the interviewing, he is getting pampered by my parents and Grandma Tompkins. I am not the only one who is jealous: Bruce and Phoebe are wishing they were in Ohio too. But alas, we are here and making the best of it:We headed to Plymouth last weekend. Bruce and I have had several conversations about pilgrims and freedom with Thanksgiving coming up, so we went to the place where it all began. In the above columned cage is where The Plymouth Rock lies. It sits down in a pit in the ground and isn't all that big. I'll admit I was a little disappointed the first time I saw it, which was at the end of the Run to the Rock 10K that I did a few months ago. The kids were stoked though. We hiked around and checked out statues of pilgrims and native Americans before heading over to the Mayflower.We did not tour the Mayflower - we got there long before tours began because I wanted to beat the traffic and had other things to do that day - but we walked around the pier and the shore. Bruce decided we need to come back here with Scott and take the tour next time.He also decided that we should decorate the house for Thanksgiving. I have two mini pumpkins on the table that I count as my holiday decor, but I guess that is not enough for Bruce. I asked him how we should decorate and he said (completely seriously), "like the inside of a turkey." I asked him what that looked like and he said (still seriously), "Lots of blood vessels and eggs."

'Tis the season for blood vessels and eggs.

Not slowing down.

2011-11-02T11:28:00.004-04:00

Someday I will get back in the habit of biweekly blogging. That will be the day I blow-dry my hair and run a lint roller over my nicely pressed blouse.

For the sake of keeping up with my relatives and fellow blog-stalkers, here is a quick update:

Scott had his first residency interview. He liked Philadelphia and the program at Penn. He called me while he was walking around the city and told me how great it was. I had read somewhere that Philly has one of the highest crime rates in the United States; it even has its own "Crime in Philadelphia" wiki page. While Scott was telling me how great the city was, an emergency vehicle went by with sirens on.

I am busy with the usual: finding a Turkey Trot to race, heckling Bruce to do his homework and resist the urge to write in all caps, taking care of Baby J and Phoebe during the day, and switching our condo's management company (this alone has taken at least a year off my life).

Bruce was Darth Vader for Halloween. He has worn his costume almost every day since purchasing it a few weeks ago. He loved trick-or-treating, but isn't big into candy. He eats one piece a day and will probably still have a pile until Easter replenishes his pile.

Phoebe, on the other hand, has already had two tantrums today (it's 11 a.m.) because she wanted a piece of candy from her bag. She loves candy and will do anything to get it. Phoebe had a cute Little Mermaid costume, but absolutely refused to wear it. She ended up wearing her pajamas and went as a very tired little girl. She pulled it off well.

Photos and updates to come someday...

Outnumbered.

2011-10-23T20:17:00.004-04:00

I have heard that having one kid is relatively easy (or at least do-able), having two is almost better because the first has a playmate, and that three is the number where life gets really tricky because the parents are all of a sudden outnumbered. Things have gotten tricky here: Baby J's parents are out of the country for 10 days and they left her with me. Because she is the most easygoing baby on the planet, it hasn't been bad - but I'm left wondering why I still have an appendix and not a third arm. C'mon Evolution!

The day before J's parents left, Phoebe got this lovely bruise on her cheek while dancing in Bruce's bed. It also happened to be the day before Phoebe's two-year doctor's appointment. Nothing like a big bruise to reassure J's parents and the doctor that I'm an involved, stable parent. In other news, Phoebe dropped a few percentiles on the growth chart and is officially on a high-calorie diet. One of her favorite phrases is "delicious butter," so we should be making weight soon.Bruce likes to tell me how big his muscles are and how he does crunches and planks in gym class. I don't think he is flexing in front of the mirror yet, but he is heading in that direction of manliness. Bruce also told me that he and Phoebe should have been twins. He said it would have been more fun that way. I told him he'd have to share a birthday cake and a party with her. "No problem," he said. "She likes Star Wars," referring to his themed birthday party. I, for one, am glad they are not twins.

Footloose Bruce

2011-10-20T13:32:00.011-04:00

There is a block party somewhere in the neighborhood just about every weekend and it always comes with loud music. Bruce is always in on the action, whether or not anyone joins him. Bruce's long-lasting jig reminds me of Kevin Bacon's famous warehouse scene in Footloose:

Happy Birthday Phoebe!

2011-10-20T13:29:00.002-04:00

Phoebe sang "Happy Birthday" to herself for several days, but everyone got to sing it to her here. Thanks to J's parents for bringing over an amazing dark chocolate-raspberry cake. Yummy!

Two

2011-10-16T21:35:00.002-04:00

Our sweet Phoebe turned two years old! We celebrated by having a feast with all of her favorite food and her favorite friends. The menu included homemade cheese pizza, applesauce, corn on the cob, and chocolate cupcakes. I was going to make macaroni and cheese from the box because she does love it and it's so easy to make, but Scott thought pizza would be a little more adult and kid-friendly. He was right: everyone loved it, including The Birthday Girl. We weren't sure how Phoebe would react with a big crowd, but she sat down and ate all her food.

After we ate, we frosted the cupcakes and decorated them with M&Ms and other candy, chocolate chips, and such. I'll add video of the party within the next few days. Scott and I congratulated ourselves on the party afterward: it was just what Phoebe wanted and nothing more.

We are so blessed to have Phoebe in our family (and honestly, soooo glad that she is 2 and not newborn anymore! I think I've blocked out some of the bad memories from that newborn phase, but lucky for me I'm such an honest blogger and they're all recorded here).

Tufts 2011

2011-10-11T11:04:00.002-04:00

I promise the next post will not be about running; this blog is getting too full of running photos and race stories, which are only interesting to a limited crowd. But I can't help myself...

...it was Tufts! THE Tufts 10K, which serves as the USATF National 10K Championship. It's one of the most competitive races I run every year, and it's good to get my booty solidly kicked every once in awhile.

I took a few days off from running last week because my calf was still really sore from the previous weekend's half-marathon. I pulled on a calf support sleeve and toed the starting line on Monday, hoping I wouldn't completely rip my calf in half (been there, done that, frosh year of college!). I didn't run spectacularly fast, but ran well enough to score for my team and I didn't injure myself in the process.

I went out quick, felt like junk around Mile 4, but still held it together for a 39:03. I was 53rd place (booty solidly kicked - check). Not a great race and nowhere near my best, but good considering the week I had.

After the race, I took the train home and took the fastest shower ever. We hopped in the car and headed for Crane Beach. We stopped at an apple farm and picked up cider donuts, then went to the beach. We met up with Scott's mission companion/BYU roommate, Nathan, and his family. The weather was perfect, the beach wasn't too crowded, and the kids were overjoyed to run free. Phoebe ran at least 10K on the beach: she chased horses and dogs, she found hermit crabs and snails and would carry them for a few hundred meters before chucking them into the ocean, and she stopped to play with just about every kid on the beach. We stayed until the sun went down, then stopped to eat on the way home. After that, the kids fell asleep in the car and we had to carry their sand-covered rag-doll bodies to their beds.

It feels good to be exhausted and happy all at once.

Applefest!

2011-10-03T20:36:00.004-04:00

I decided not to run a fall marathon awhile ago, knowing that Scott's schedule would be rough over the summer and I wouldn't have the time needed to train properly. I opted for a half-marathon instead, and selected the Applefest Half-Marathon in New Hampshire as my fall goal.

We made a family trip out of it, and Scott, his sister (Nancy, in town for a PA school interview), Bruce, and Phoebe piled in the car and drove the hour with me up to Hollis, NH. The town is tiny (one street light), and the race is relatively large (1200 runners), so we had to park in a lot far from everything and take a bus to the start line. Phoebe loved the yellow school bus experience and Bruce decided that he wasn't missing much by walking to school every day.

While I got my bib number, warmed up, and psyched out, Scott and the posse headed to Mile 2.5 for breakfast at the town's only restaurant. They ordered greasy breakfast food and jumped out of their seats to run across the restaurant parking lot and cheer me on. Mile 1 was too fast: another woman started at the front and I hung by her, not realizing how quick the pace was. When I saw 6:00 on my watch at the mile, I slowed down. She did too. We went through Mile 2 at 6:40. Too slow.

The race was very hilly and Mile 3 was almost entirely downhill. I took advantage of the downhill and some guys who were breaking away. I went with them and picked up the pace again. The course went up and down hilly country roads; we went past farms, lots of trees with yellow-tipped leaves, a few spectators here and there. I passed Mile 6.5, where a bunch of relay runners were waiting. A mile later, a woman from a relay passed me; from then on, spectators kept yelling at me that I was the "number two female" and to "go get her." I knew she was a relay runner though: she had a different color of bib number, and she was way too fresh when she ran by me.
Mile 9 was all uphill (see elevation chart above!). It was raining hard, which felt good and even made me feel a little tougher. I pushed onward and around Mile 11, got an urge to pick up the pace. As I did, my right calf cramped. It stayed cramped through the very end, but I held the pace and finished in 1:24:45. I walk-jogged my cooldown, cheering on a few friends that were racing too. I ate two bowls of apple crisp and won a huge basket of apples to make some more. I also won some $ to fund this ridiculous habit of mine (and to pay for the calf support sleeve that I purchased to soothe my achy muscle!). Next up is the Tufts 10K, one of my all-time favorite races. It's one week from today, so I'm taking it easy for the next few days so my calf will be fully functional by then.

(Photo at mile 4 by Steve Wolfe)

Fall is upon us!

2011-09-28T11:28:00.006-04:00

I'm making up for not racing much over the summer. Scott's schedule didn't allow much time for racing: he worked most weekends, and when he wasn't working, we wanted family time. Last month Scott had a radiology elective rotation (nice hours) and for the next two months, he is doing research in the lab (really nice hours). So I am back to racing...

...just in time for cross country season! Last weekend I ran the Codfish Bowl cross country invitational. It was mostly local colleges, but there were a few old ladies like me in the race. All those young'uns sprinted at the start and slow-me had to play catch-up for the rest of the race. The 5k course was muddy from several days of rain, and race day was warm and really humid. I wound up in 8th place after coming into the mile around 60th, and the two-mile around 30th.My posse came with me this time. The cross country course was next to a cool playground (and also next to the zoo too!) and there were plenty of trails to wander.

In other Raymond family news, Bruce's school had "Back to School Night." Parents got to meet and chat with the teachers and see the classroom and such. All of the kids in Bruce's class drew a picture and wrote a one-line answer to the question, "What do you want to learn this year?" Most kids had normal responses like, "I want to learn to draw better" and "I want to learn how to read chapter books." Bruce's response was, "I want to learn how to make a suitcase spider droid." He drew an elaborate picture of a thing that looked like the multi-armed bad robot from The Incredibles. I asked him what a suitcase spider droid was and he referred me back to the picture. I told him he already knew how to make one since he had already drawn it, and he said he wanted to build it out of metal. I told him he may need a few more years.

On that note, he is taking a "pre-engineering class" once a week after school. He builds robotic Lego stuff and plays with it. While he is doing that, I take Phoebe and Baby J to a music class. Baby J sits on my lap and tries to eat woodblocks, Phoebe dances around with a tambourine most of the time, and I add my terrible singing voice to the choir of parents (who all sound like they're professionals, of course!).

Next up for the Raymonds: a half-marathon for me this weekend, and a few days of playtime with Scott's sister, Nancy, who is here for PA school interviews!

Potty time

2011-09-20T10:56:00.003-04:00

Phoebe has been fascinated by the toilet for a month or two. The first day we sat her on her own little potty, she peed in it - twice. Beginner's luck.

She has since sat on the potty at least once a day, and within the past week she's sat on it 3-4 times a day. That may have something to do with the fact that she gets a piece of chocolate every time she sits on the potty.

Usually she announces that she needs to go potty, then starts ripping clothes off while stumbling to the bathroom. By the time she's there sans pants, shirt, socks (it all has to go), there's usually a freshly peed-in diaper.

But this morning, she made it. Pink undies, here we come!

Rocking the weekend - Part II

2011-09-12T11:15:00.004-04:00

Before I start gushing about the weekend, I should mention that school started this week and it's been wonderful! Bruce was a bit whiny during the last few weeks of the summer. Anytime he looked bored, I would say, "Find something to do or I'll find something for you." After a few episodes of matching socks and practicing handwriting, he knew better than to lounge around on the couch complaining about how there's nothing to do. Anyway, school whipped him into shape. He loves his new teacher and feels so much older as a first-grader.

Also this week was Scott's birthday. He always likes to ignore his birthday and pretend he's not getting any older, so we generally respected that this year. We did make a birthday cake and sang the traditional song, but that was about it. Since his birthday, Phoebe has been singing "Happy Birthday" for the rest of the week.

I ran a 10K on Saturday: the Run to the Rock 10K in Plymouth. The race was point-to-point, so it started in some random parking lot on an ugly industrial road but ended at the shore right next to Plymouth Rock. I ran 38:26 (according to race officials anyway. My watch said 38:19 and there was some question as to where the start line was and when the timing chips started), good enough for 7th overall, 1st woman. There was a big hill at the beginning of the race, and a few smaller ones throughout, so I'm hoping for a faster time at the Tufts 10K in October.
After the race, we headed to Crane Beach for the Arlington Ward annual Clambake. We caught up with old friends and enjoyed the sun and sand. We arrived late because of my race, so we missed out on the traditional food but still got platefuls of potluck food.
On Sunday, I listened to way too much NPR and thought of all those who were affected by 9/11. Bruce asked me why a lady on the radio was so sad and I replied that she'd lost her friends and coworkers. Bruce said that with the billions of people in the world, she should be able to find more friends. That's true, I said, but it's sad to lose individuals. There's only one Bruce, for instance. He understood that, and then asked about the 9/11 attacks. I tried to explain to him that some bad guys got on airplanes, killed the pilots, and steered the planes into some skyscrapers in New York City because they wanted to kill a lot of people. Bruce was baffled. He could not believe that people (even bad guys) would crash themselves into a building just to kill a lot of people and kill themselves while they're at it. "Was there a storm? Or a big cloud? Maybe they just didn't see the building," Bruce said. I told him there was no storm, that the bad guys knew what they were doing, and that it's not likely to happen now since there are more security measures taken than there were 10 years ago. I wrapped up the discussion by concluding that Bruce was right: none of it made any sense. Why did I even try to make sense of it?!

Rocking the weekend - Part I

2011-09-05T19:53:00.004-04:00

Scott had a real weekend (and will more often since he's on his advanced radiology elective rotation), so we hooked up with friends and headed for the hills. We went to the Blue Hills, where there is an old granite quarry with big rock walls and an enclosed grassy meadow. It was perfect for Phoebe because she tends to wander when given the chance, and this allowed her to wander safely. She chose to play with our friends' baby most of the time.

The old quarry also happens to be a popular spot for graffiti artists.Bruce took a turn climbing and almost made it to the top......with some help.Scott took a few turns and got his outdoorsy fix. I tried rock-climbing for the first time and liked it: I can see how people get into it. I looked at the wall and couldn't see how I was going to get up the blasted thing (There's nowhere to put my right hand! How am I supposed to support my body weight on my pinky toe that is perched on a centimeter-wide ding in the wall?!), but little by little I made my way up. It helped that Taylor kept yelling directions and encouragement: "Put your left foot where that chalky spot is!" "Reach your right hand up six inches higher!" It was a vertical game of Twister. Unfortunately no one thought to pick up the camera while I was up, so no photos of me. Maybe it's better that way though: watching climbers at the bottom of the wall isn't super-flattering since you mostly see their backsides.Taylor showed us up, scampering up a flat wall while tossing baby powder up and down (he forgot his chalk bag). His wife, Jodi, did some climbing too - even though she just had a baby four months ago. They're amazing.
More rocking the weekend coming up - but this time a different sort of rock. I'm racing the Run to the Rock 10K, where I will race to Plymouth Rock on Saturday. Stay tuned.

Bouncing in Ohio

2011-09-04T20:02:00.004-04:00

Vacation was awesome. Grandma and Grandpa got a new bounce house.

Spying on the Boys

2011-09-04T19:50:00.003-04:00

So this is what little boys do on playdates: meditate.

* I spied on Bruce and his friend, so video footage isn't fabulous.

M.I.A.

2011-08-31T21:32:00.007-04:00

The blog has been neglected, but it's because we've been having too much fun to stop and blog about it. It's also because I find I'm taking fewer pictures these days: having three kids during the day means I rarely have one or two free hands to hold a camera and take a picture. And when I have no pictures, I'm less likely to update the blog. It's a vicious cycle.The summer is almost over; school starts next week. We've visited nearly every park, splash park, and museum within 10 miles. Often we go to parks not intending to get in the water, but it happens anyway......and then Phoebe ends up in her diaper and her outfit hangs out to dry in the sun on the fence. Two weekends ago, we went camping with friends. There was some miscommunication (or more like non-communication) about bug spray, so Bruce didn't get any. He came out with 52 mosquito bites, Phoebe with 3, Scott with 0, and me with 2. Phoebe loved hanging out in the tent. Her favorite blankie came along on the trip (of course) and was dragged along the ground and all over the forest. It went straight into the washer when we got home.Bruce found a toad on our hike. It immediately peed on his hand and he was grossed out, so he wiped it on his shirt. That went straight to the washer too.Scott carried Phoebe on the hike......and she got a good nap from it. Many of our hikes end this way.

During last weekend's hurricane (which wasn't much to blog about, I am told), I took the kids to Ohio for a weekend of grandparent spoilage. We visited Marissa and Tevita's new baby, Asena, and I hung out with all three of my sisters for the first time in a long time. I tried to pack light, so I took my little camcorder instead of my big fat DSLR. Expect some awesome videos to appear on the blog in the next few days.

Summer of the Video Game

2011-08-19T12:35:00.003-04:00

Bruce has a new best friend - who just so happens to live underneath us. This convenient arrangement means Bruce often goes downstairs to play while the girls nap, or T comes up here to escape from his two sisters. They've had two sleepovers this summer and wish they could share a room all the time. Apparently being separated by 10 feet is too much.

I asked Bruce why he liked his friend so much. He said, "He has way more video games than me." Hopefully that means Bruce likes that T is good at sharing.

Indeed, their favorite activity is to play video games. T has a Wii with Lego Star Wars. We have a Star Wars "plug and play" game (the Darth Vader-shaped controller is in T's hands) that isn't that fancy, but still captivates the boys for a few minutes at a time.

Summer is nearing an end: school starts in a little over two weeks. Time to put the video games down...

Watching for Whales

2011-08-13T21:42:00.005-04:00

Whale watching has been on my to-do list for a long time and I finally got to check it off today. The weather was perfect and we had a free morning. We took the train to Long Wharf and got our tickets, then wandered to the aquarium and checked out their harbor seal exhibit. One seal liked Bruce very much.We boarded our boat and found a seat. We were too slow to get window seats and the kids didn't want to stand outside because it was so windy when the boat was actually moving. It took more than an hour for the boat to get to the marine preserve where the whales are.By the time we got there, Phoebe was sacked. She missed all of this:We followed a pair of humpback whales for almost a half-hour. It's hard to appreciate just how big they are in pictures. This one was about 70 feet long. His light-colored fin just under the water there is about as long as my car.Bruce loved it. He came home with all kinds of "science facts" like "Whales can hold their breaths for up to 40 minutes." Thankfully, the whales we watched didn't hold their breaths for that long. They would surface, skim the water for a few minutes, clear their blowholes,and then dive down for big gulps of krill.
There were no Sea World tricks, but it was really cool to get close to the whales and see them in their natural habitat.
We finished off our day's adventure with a walk and some games on the downtown Greenway, some shopping for veggies and cheese at Haymarket, and a playdate with friends. As much fun as all that was, I'm looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow!

Why Scott will be a Radiologist

2011-08-09T20:04:00.003-04:00

Because he's sane, doesn't work hard, and is afraid of the light?

Thank you bmj.com for the enlightening flow chart.

Hiking Timp

2011-08-06T08:30:00.007-04:00

On the last day of our Utah trip, Scott and I hiked up Mt. Timpanogos. We had been told that there would be snow from the previous bad winter and that rangers would encourage us to wear crampons and carry ice axes, but how bad could it be, right? The first hour of our hike was great - wildflowers by a nice dirt/rock switchback trail. It was beautiful!

We passed lots of waterfalls.
Up higher on the mountain, we found the snow. It looks so small here...
...but as we got closer, we realized it covered quite a bit of the trail.

We crossed a few snowfields, bushwhacked on the other side looking for the trail, turned around after a few hours, and headed back down.By then, the snow had been in the sun for a few hours and was really soft. Scott and I resorted to the tripod technique pictured above, where we kicked toeholds and used a hand to hang on for dear life. My hand saved me at least a few times; once I slid a few feet and quickly grabbed a rock (which thankfully wasn't as loose as the others!). I was so glad to get to solid ground again that we ran down the rest of the trail, which made me very sore for a few days - but it was so fun.
We didn't summit, but it was a beautiful hike.

Family Photos

2011-08-05T22:04:00.004-04:00

Before our Raymond Reunion trip ended, I wanted to get a few photos of Scott and his siblings. We took a few serious-ish shots in the backyard. And then when I told everyone to make a silly face, just the girls listened.

Utah Vacation Photo Dump

2011-08-05T21:46:00.007-04:00

We got to visit with lots of friends while in Utah. My BYU cross country teammates and roommates of many years, Tia and Mooner, caught up with me. They look the same as when we graduated - when exactly do runners start aging?
We saw the Rodgers family, our good friends that lived in Boston for a few years. They're out at BYU for a business degree. Bruce had a great time with Isaac, his old buddy.
Scott visited with the Romneys, his mission president when he served in Moscow. Scott's sister rented this monstrous inflatable waterslide and put it up in the backyard for a few days. The kids loved it, of course. The adults also got a lot of mileage out of it. Phoebe preferred to relax in the shade. She frequently hid in this spot under the patio table.
Peek-a-boo!
Bruce was in heaven in the backyard. Lots of grass to run around barefoot, a trampoline, a swing set, a few raspberry bushes. I loved it too: it was all fenced in.
Phoebe had a lot of fun with her cousin, Brooke, who is two weeks older.
Other random highlights in our trip: eating lots of fried food at The Purple Turtle,
hiking up to a stream on the mountain for the kids to play in,
going to Deer Creek Lake to jet-ski and play on the beach,
and go to Seven Peaks water park, which Bruce claims is the funnest thing he has ever done in his whole life. He said he wants to move to Utah so he can go there all the time. I told him there must be one somewhere around Boston.

p.s. I love that last picture because Phoebe and Grandpa Bruce are making the same satisfied-with-life face. Ahhhhh, vacation.

Back to reality.

2011-08-01T22:24:00.003-04:00

We're back. We had so much fun last week and we're having the post-vacation let-down. Scott started his sub-internship in medicine this morning. He called midday to tell me that he'd be home around 11 tonight. Ugh.

As I write, Phoebe is screaming blood-curdling screams of "Daddy! Daddy!" in between dry heaving and the occasional "Blankie!" She was always a daddy's girl, but she became even more attached over vacation and seems to have times where I can't console her at all (like now, for instance).

I have a zillion pictures to put up and stories to tell, but they will have to wait until later in the week when I have a few other issues under control (like the laundry on the couch and last month's condo association meeting minutes sent out....).

For now, check out this awesome picture of the Raymond Cousins.

The Original Lorraine

2011-07-27T15:26:00.002-04:00

Phoebe acquired her middle name, Lorraine, from Scott's grandma. The original Lorraine drove several hours to meet her great-granddaughter (and perhaps to see us too!). Pictured above are three generations: Grandma Raymond, Great-Grandpa Leavitt, and Phoebe. We met at Grandma Raymond's sister's house for food, horseback-riding, chicken-chasing, and family time!
Phoebe was a little grouchy and didn't last long with Great-Grandma Lorraine, but spent quite a bit of time with Great-Grandpa. He showed her the horses, walked her around the yard, and carried her probably more than he should. That's the Great-Grandma Lorraine on the left. She claimed that my camera would break if I took her picture. She was wrong about that, but she's right about most everything else. She's a woman who knows her priorities and keeps life simple. She knows what is important and is constantly improving herself and her family. She is a fantastic woman with a sunny personality. I remember the first time I met her was the day before Scott and I were married. She welcomed me into the family with a big, warm hug and has loved me ever since. If Phoebe Lorraine can emulate even a little of her great-grandma, we would be richly blessed.

Raymond Reunion

2011-07-27T15:03:00.003-04:00

Finally, we caught a break from our hectic daily grind; this is Scott's one week off until Christmas, so we headed to Utah for the Raymond Reunion. I have hundreds of pictures already (and we're on Day 3), but here's a sampling of what we did yesterday. We rented jet skis and headed to a lake with a beach for the kids to play on.
Bruce is getting some quality cousin time with Makenzie and Annie, among other cousins.
And Phoebe is having fun with Brooke, her cousin who was born two weeks before her (not pictured here, but lots more pictures to come when I have time to put them on the blog!).
I am enjoying having a few extra hands around and grandparents who are willing to bend over backwards to do whatever the kids want.
Like I said, more to come. Stay tuned.

Pets?

2011-07-17T13:42:00.002-04:00

Bruce used to want a dog, but when I told him he had to pick up dog poop in the park if he had a dog, he didn't want one anymore. For now, he is happy to borrow one every once in awhile. This one frequents the park by our house and has as much energy as Bruce:

Phoebe loves this dog too. She loves getting licked and loves the slimy ball it keeps bringing back to her. I think by the time we are ready for a dog, the kids will be too old to appreciate it. Bruce informed me that he would like a guinea pig instead of a dog for now. Hmmmm, an animal that doesn't provide any function, show any attachment, and smells terrible. Maybe when Bruce is ready to clean a stinky cage by himself, I'll think about it...

NYC: the City that never sleeps

2011-07-12T17:52:00.005-04:00

I went to New York City last weekend. The USATF Club Nationals for outdoor track was there, and I wanted to go break 18 minutes in the 5k. It had a lot of fast women in it, and I figured I could shadow their pace. There were some logistical complications to the weekend though.

Scott had his 8-hour-long Step II board exam on Saturday (which he aced, by the way), leaving me on kid duty. I decided to make a trip out of it and I booked bus tickets, contacted a friend to babysit while I ran, another friend to stay with, and made a short list of things we wanted to do in NYC.

We left on Friday night after Baby J went home. The bus was sold out, packed with college kids heading to NYC to party for the weekend. We sat in the back next to a group of students who were pretty nice; one switched seats so Bruce and I could sit next to each other, and another let Bruce play Angry Birds on her cell phone until the battery died. The trip was supposed to take 4 hours, but because of some nasty traffic near the city it took almost 6. Phoebe fell asleep for 2 hours on the bus and Bruce fell asleep just a few minutes before we arrived. I woke Bruce up because I couldn't carry him (I had a 40-pound backpack on me already and was pushing Phoebe in a stroller), and led him on a zombie march to the train and to my friend's house. Bruce crashed on the couch and Phoebe and I flopped onto an air mattress.

Phoebe woke up when we'd exited the bus. She perked up even more when she saw baby toys at Breanne's. It was a challenge to get her to sleep on an air mattress next to toys. She finally fell asleep around 2:30, and I got some sporadic sleep between her flopping around and eventually settling between my legs for the night. As always, Bruce and Phoebe woke up at 6 a.m. Ugh.

We took two buses to get to the stadium and then collapsed in the bleachers with sidewalk chalk, balls, and other items to keep the kiddos busy. Elisabeth came at 9:15 to watch the kids, so I dragged myself out for a warmup. I was absolutely exhausted anyway, but then I got a stomach cramp and stopped about every quarter mile to stretch and knead the knot out of my tummy. The heat and humidity didn't help. Oh no, I thought. I've never had to quit in a race before. But this could be the one.

I toed the starting line next to a bunch of fast ladies and the gun went off. I avoided looking at my watch, fearing what my lap splits would be. The first mile went by in 5:55 and my stomach cramp subsided. I still felt exhausted, but at this point I wanted to finish and I thought it'd be a bonus if I wasn't last. The second mile felt harder, but was slower in 6:04. I managed to pass a few people in the last mile and ran about 6:00. I ended up running 18:42 for 12th place, waaay off my goal pace.

I finished. I wasn't last.

But dragging the kids to NYC for an 18:42 wasn't exactly satisfying, so we had to have a lot of fun afterwards to make up for it.

We wandered through Central Park and played at a splash park and playground. Bruce picked a place for lunch - the Rancho Cafe. New York is not known for its excellent Mexican cuisine, but maybe it should be. Despite the sketchy name, our food was really yummy. Bruce got a scrambled egg/bacon/cheese burrito, Phoebe got rice and beans, and I'm not exactly sure what I ate but it involved a lot of tortillas and perhaps even more lime juice. Awesome.

After lunch, we went swimming with our hosts, Breanne and Jeremiah. The pool was just the right depth for Bruce and he enjoyed playing tag with Breanne. We picked up Thai food on the way home and ate it on their rooftop, which has a great view and was the highlight of the trip for Bruce. He loved the rooftop water towers because they reminded him of this book.

Phoebe put up a fight Saturday night. Bruce fell right asleep, but Phoebe rebelled. It took 2 hours, but 3 bites and a few scratches later she was asleep. Ahhhh. Breanne and I headed to the rooftop for some much-needed relaxation. We chatted until much too late, then headed to bed for a few hours.

We went to church on Sunday morning. Bruce was worried he wouldn't have any friends there, but I walked him to his class and asked the boy sitting next to him if he liked Star Wars and Legos. The kid's eyes lit up. He and Bruce got along just fine. I dropped Phoebe off at the church's nursery and gave some lady who I thought was the leader the rundown - Phoebe's name, where I would be in the building, no allergies, etc. When I picked up Phoebe at the end of church, the lady I'd talked to wasn't there and another leader said they didn't know her name but she was very pleasant the whole time. Poor nameless Phoebe. I'm glad she was good.

After lunch and goodbyes, we headed back to Boston on the bus. The bus ride was longer than expected (only a half-hour late this time), but not as terrible as the ride down. Scott picked us up from the bus station and after listening to our horror stories, had this to say: "I told you so."

I won't be hauling two kids on a bus trip ever again. Perhaps next time they can go help Scott on his test.

p.s. I took a bunch of photos on this trip and accidentally deleted all of them on the bus-ride home. I definitely needed more sleep!

Bubbles!

2011-07-03T20:29:00.001-04:00

This is Phoebe blowing bubbles at the park. One of her favorite words is "bubbles!"

Summer school

2011-07-03T20:02:00.003-04:00

Bruce certainly misses the busy-ness and structure of school, so we've been having our own "school" at home. We do things he's familiar with from kindergarten - choice time, writer's workshop, math workshop, art class - but we've been having lots of field trips and special events too. Pictured above is our trip to the Children's Museum this week.
We also headed to the pool so Bruce could show us his new skills he learned at the YMCA. I'm glad he learned to swim because I had my hands full with Baby J and Phoebe, who was taking every opportunity to try and jump in the pool. She has absolutely no fear. I have enough for the both of us.
We went to the Museum of Fine Arts on Friday. The MFA is huge and the kids have a short attention span, so we saw about 10% of it on this trip. We did get to see a special exhibit of glass-blown art (shown above). Most people had to wait in line for 20 minutes to get into the gallery, but since my kids were so whiny, a museum docent escorted us around the long line. That was awesome - but that was the only advantage of having whiny kids. We sat in an immaculate room of Renaissance art where there were colored pencils and paper for kids to sketch on; Bruce was inspired to draw some Angry Birds. I'm glad we got our cultural experience. On Saturday, we drove to a campground in New Hampshire for our church's youth group "trek." The youth pulled handcarts over 17 miles in three days, sleeping on the ground at night and cooking their own meals. The experience simulates what Mormon pioneers did for months and months to travel west to Utah during the 1840s/50s/60s. I didn't pull a handcart, but I showed up to celebrate the end of their journey, eat a big feast, and swim in a lake at the campground (that's Phoebe thoroughly enjoying throwing sand). After all the hullabaloo, this is what the kids looked like.

Racing to the race

2011-07-01T10:17:00.006-04:00

Last night I raced a 5-miler. The start was at 6:45 p.m. and it was a miracle that I got there on time. When Baby J was picked up at 5:30, I had a friend come to watch the kids until 6:30 when Scott would get home. I ran out the door (literally) and ran to the train station. I caught a train (after giving a shout out to Ellen across the tracks) and put my hair into its traditional 'do while elbowing other people in the face. I arrived at the train station closest to the race at 6:17. I warmed up by running from the station to the race start, which was about 2.5 miles away. I made it there at 6:35. With 10 minutes to go, I grabbed my bib number, visited the ladies room, and pulled my racing flats on. I made it to the start and off we went. The crowd thinned out quickly and soon I was chasing boys, picking them off one by one. I wound up fifth overall and first for women in 31:32. I grabbed a few water bottles, took a few pictures of the Boston skyline (above is the view from the finish line), and skipped the post-race party of beer and hot dogs (what is a vegetarian who doesn't drink alcohol to do?!) for a cooldown back to the train station. Here's today's event coverage and a big picture of my noggin at the Patriot-Ledger. I'm glad I got to race, and can't wait to do it again next weekend - although at a much quicker pace and with less stress in getting to the start line.
(that's my reflection, taking a picture of Boston while going over the Charles River on the train post-race - this is my favorite section of the T, between MGH and Kendall Square)

The Clone Wars

2011-06-29T21:27:00.004-04:00

Today I let Bruce watch a few episodes of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" in an effort to keep him quiet while Phoebe and Baby J napped. The plot is fairly complicated for a kids' show (way more than The Backyardigans, for instance), but Bruce followed every detail and obsessed about it for the rest of the day. After we turned it off, he went in his room and built General Grievous' battleship out of K'nex. He proceeded to blow up all kinds of things in his room and a war ensued until the girls woke up. Hours later, he was still quoting lines from the battle droids and laughing at himself.

Soccer Nights!

2011-06-26T20:43:00.002-04:00

Bruce participated in his first organized team sport this week. He played soccer with a bunch of kids for two hours every night this week. He loved it!
The kids crowded around the ball during every game and Bruce mostly hung back as a defender or goalie. He didn't want to get into the crowd, but was very proud when his toe would finally touch the ball. He managed to score a goal once, but mostly hung back and added commentary like "Oh man!" and "Gooooooooooooal!"

The head on the table

2011-06-26T20:35:00.002-04:00

This week Scott brought home someone's skull to study for his anatomy class. It's a real human skull, which sortof creeps me out. Scott brought home a skull a few years ago for another class and left it on the dining room table until I protested. This time, the skull stayed in its carrying case on the bedroom dresser when Scott wasn't checking out all the little bones and cavities in it. Scott's Step II board exams are in two weeks, so he is studying day and night now.
He did take a little time this weekend for a project he's been wanting to do for awhile: build a computer. He ordered some parts online and is putting together a new PC! Bruce has been helping out. Phoebe has been hindering.

Finally!

2011-06-26T20:30:00.002-04:00

Yes I am a total nerd for being so excited about this, but Aldi finally opened near me. Now I won't have to drive so far every six months to load up on baking supplies and all things yummy and cheap. I went to the Grand Opening, snagged some free samples, scored pints of blueberries for $1.29 each, big watermelons for $2.99 each, and my fav yogurt-covered raisins for $1.69 a bag.

School is out.

2011-06-26T19:52:00.003-04:00

When the school-year began, I didn't think it was possible for Bruce to maintain his first-day-of-school enthusiasm. He was so pumped up that the routine of school would surely be a let-down, right? Wrong. He loved every minute of kindergarten. He was never late to school, despite walking every day, and most days we made it a few minutes before the classroom door opened. Bruce would wait at the door like it was a line for a roller coaster at an amusement park, sometimes tapping on the window and waving excitedly at his teacher. The last week of school was full of events that made me wonder why there is a last week of school. Field day was on Monday; Bruce was on a team that won the egg-on-a-spoon relay. Tuesday was Fun Run day and I'll admit I was eager to hear how it went after school since I secretly want him to be a runner someday. Alas, he fell on the first lap and spent some time with the school nurse instead. On Wednesday, he met his first-grade teacher and checked out next year's classroom. Thursday was the last day of school, so they had a school assembly where each class presented something they've been working on.
I got to be one of the proud parents in the back of the gym until Phoebe freaked out and we had to leave. She yelled, "Bruce! Bruce!" as we left. Bruce's class had an ice cream party at the end of the day. I'd brought in some of the ice cream and I included his favorite flavor, so after school I asked him if he got his chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. He said he didn't want any because he wanted to play with Legos and K'nex instead!

On Friday, Bruce told me that his kindergarten teacher had said to stop by the school and say hello to him over the summer (some of the teachers do summer camps at the school here). Bruce informed me that it was officially summer, so we should go say hello. I told Bruce that his teacher was most likely taking a day off, but Bruce insisted that he would be there. We finally headed out the door and walked to the school, which was desolate. There were a few people in the office, but the lights were out in the classrooms and it was eerily quiet. We went home and had "writer's workshop," where I wrote sentences and Bruce wrote them in his neatest handwriting. Bruce told me he wants to have math workshop tomorrow, and reader's workshop the next day...

School starts again in September. Wish me luck!

Our awesome garden

2011-06-19T20:42:00.002-04:00

Remember that plot of dirt that I was so excited about? Here it is today. There are tomatoes and red leaf lettuce on the back row, strawberries in the far left row, parsley and basil in the next, carrots in the next, broccoli in the next, and collard greens and beets on the right. In the back corner is a young blueberry bush that we just planted yesterday. We lined our plot with marigolds and put peas by the fence (not pictured). So far, we've just eaten herbs, broccoli greens, lettuce, and strawberries. I can't wait to eat some tomatoes!

Being outside in the city

2011-06-19T19:58:00.005-04:00

I like many things about Boston, but perhaps my favorite trait of the city is that it's easy to escape. Our living room windows may overlook a parking garage and our weekly trip to the grocery store is always carefully planned to avoid rush hour traffic, but a quiet hike is only a 15-minute drive away and an outdoorsy excursion a walk down the street.
Scott and I went kayaking Saturday night. We've wanted to go for awhile and finally got the chance to see the city from a new perspective. We hopped in a double kayak and paddled around the Charles River. (by the way, check out those hot new glasses on Scott - he can finally see!)
We paddled by the little island in the river, made famous by the Make Way for Ducklings book.We paddled alongside the Esplanade, sheltered from the waves and sailing students on the main part of the river. The weather was perfect. It was awesome.
I love Boston!The kids get plenty of opportunities to get outdoors too. The park is the easiest way to let out some energy. And there are lots and lots of parks.If it sounds like I'm trying to sell Boston, you're right. The only thing this city is missing is some family. Any takers?
For Fathers Day, we served Scott a toaster streudel in bed, had friends over for brunch, went to church (which was more eventful than usual), and then went for a hike in the Fells. Being the awesome dad that he is, Scott carried Phoebe the whole way.
And even scrambled up a few rocks with her.
Bruce had no shortage of energy, as usual, and showed us that he hasn't completely turned into a sheltered city kid.

Wiggly Haircut

2011-06-12T19:26:00.004-04:00

I attempted to cut Phoebe's hair this week. I cut her bangs a few months ago because they were getting in her eyes and she refused to let me pull them back. I'd been holding off chopping the rest of her hair because I figured she would someday be tame enough to want to pull her hair back. Not tame yet, I guess. (by the way, she picked the above outfit/bathing suit by herself and she is stalking my computer desk because all kinds of mischief can be made there)
So this is Phoebe before the haircut. You can't really see the back, but it's layered and mangy like a wild animal. I've had several strangers comment on her "awesome mullet." When it's humid, it curls up. When she wakes up from naps/night, it's a tangled poofy mess. Most of the time, it looked something like this:

Thank you Chrissie Hynde for modelling the untamed Phoebe look. Anyway, I tried to cut Phoebe's hair while she was awake and it didn't go well. She kept shaking her head and her bangs got shorter and shorter. They're still not even, but I thought I'd stop while I was ahead (maybe "ahead" is not accurate, but I stopped anyway). I trimmed off her mullet into a bob that is also not even......but if I evened it out, it'd probably look something like this:Maybe it's time to pay someone else to cut her hair.

Busy busy busy

2011-06-06T11:40:00.006-04:00

"Busy" is the Word of the Month, but it's been a very good busy for us. The above video is of us at the Wizard of Oz exhibit in the Children's Museum; it was actually a little scary, I thought. But the kids loved it. Scott and I took Bruce, Phoebe, and three kid-friends to the museum on Memorial Day.

Scott has an intense anatomy lab this month, which has normal 8-5ish hours - yea! He gets to slice away at a cadaver for the entire month. Last week he did a shoulder repair and some spinal procedures, among other things. I get queasy thinking about chopping at a dead body, but Scott gets starry-eyed and excited. He claims there is no better way to simulate surgery and despite all the slicing and chopping, he has gained a deep respect for the intricacies of the body. Scott said plenty of people donate their bodies to Harvard and that the instructor of the lab said she hears the joke, "I've always wanted to get into Harvard" too often. If anyone wants to get into Harvard, here's one way to do it.

I've been busy keeping up with Phoebe and Baby J during the daytime, walking Bruce to and from school, running early in the mornings, and doing various things at night (condo association board meetings, track practice, writing camera reviews or magazine articles, visiting friends, grocery shopping, etc.). I am gearing up for the USATF-NE 5k this weekend; it'll be my first track race in awhile. My goal is to go under 18 minutes, so wish me luck!

Bruce has school through almost the end of June, and then he will be home with the kiddos for the summer. He has been taking classes after school twice a week - one for swimming and one for "Hot Wheels" (they just play with cars, tracks, and ramps). He has learned to do the backstroke on his own, and jumped in the pool for the first time last week (that's a big step for my timid Bruce). We've been having a weekly playdate with some neighbor kids and Bruce loves to play Legos with other kids at our house, and to play Lego Star Wars on their Wii.

Phoebe is mischievous as ever. She is climbing to new heights and has added a constellation of bruises to her arms and legs. Today her Early Intervention (EI) social worker asked about the bruises:

"Where'd she get those bruises on her arm?"
Me: "Honestly, I don't know. Every five minutes, she climbs something new and falls."
Social worker scratches her head. "Hmm."

But then five minutes later, Phoebe quickly shimmied up to the top of her high chair (from the floor) and turned around and grinned. I got to her before she jumped, but hopefully our social worker saw that Phoebe is totally reckless and not abused.

Phoebe has picked up a ton of words and signs. She has more words (47) than signs (29) now, and is completely caught up. She will be re-evaluated for EI in a few months and I suspect she won't qualify, which will be bittersweet. She learned to say Bruce's name - "Boo-s" - and said her own name for the first time today.

How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?

2011-05-26T10:56:00.003-04:00

My brother, Dan, and his wife stopped in for a quick visit this week. Dan makes big, fancy wood doors and sometimes delivers them himself to customers in New England. They drove in Tuesday night, took us out for yummy Italian food, watched American Idol with us, slept on our futon, and were out the door early the next morning to deliver more doors.

Dan has made a few trips here before. The last time he delivered doors was when we moved to our current location. Dan helped pack the moving van, but never saw our new place until this week. Dan was also here when we first moved to Boston in 2004. He pulled a trailer full of our junk from Utah to Massachusetts for us and had an epic adventure driving into the city for the first time. He got lost (of course), did a U-turn on Storrow Drive (with a trailer), blew a trailer tire (related to the U-turn), and raced around to acquire a new trailer tire before stores closed for the weekend. After all that, Dan charged us one fancy Italian dinner.

Somehow I've never taken a picture while Dan was around, which begs the question, "How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?" Thanks Dan and Les, for spoiling us yet again.

Paging Dr. Phoebe

2011-05-17T13:47:00.001-04:00

Phoebe likes to raid Bruce's dress-up box while he's at school. This was yesterday's getup, complete with surgical mask and superstar sunglasses.

I'll eat you up

2011-05-17T13:43:00.002-04:00

Ever hear baby-hungry females spout these words?

"This baby is so cute, I could just eat her up!"

I've always thought that phrase was a little weird and scary (or a lot weird and scary), and now I've seen my nightmares realized. Phoebe's latest project is to strip her baby doll naked, pull a few pots out of the cupboard, and squash her doll into a pot and put the lid over her.

Scary.

Star Wars: The Party

2011-05-15T20:38:00.005-04:00

Bruce is turning six this week, and we had the party yesterday to celebrate. He invited classmates, kids from church, and neighbors too - so we had a big crowd. Bruce decided that he wanted a Star Wars-themed birthday party and while I refused to buy expensive Yoda plates and lightsabers for everyone, I did put together a few Star Wars games. The most exciting was the pinatas: I made three that looked like the heads of Darth Vader, General Grievous, and a Stormtrooper.
General Grievous proved to be a worthy opponent. He was a bit too sturdy and it took nearly 20 minutes of beating (and eventually stabbing with car keys) to finally break him. At least everyone got a turn, right? It took so long to break him that we only broke one other pinata before moving on to the next game. We had a "pin the X-wing on the Death Star" game where kids wrote their names on an X-wing and had to pin it on a paper Death Star's thermal exhaust port.

The last game didn't go over too well with Bruce. I had each kid write down a noun and tape it onto blank spaces in the Star Wars opening crawl - you know, mad lib style. It turned out like this:

"A long time ago in a GALAXY far, far away....

It is a period of REBEL Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden JEFFREY, have won their first BIRTHDAY against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, PLAYGROUND managed to steal secret DOGS to the Empire's Ultimate DANCE, the WHITE WORD, an armored space station with enough LEGOS to destroy an entire THE.

Pursued by the Empire's sinister CAT, Princess Leia races home aboard her DOG, custodian of the stolen DOLL that can save her JANINE and restore COOKING to the galaxy...."

Bruce thought it was a terrible idea to desecrate the holy opening crawl and insisted that his word - "GALAXY" - be placed where it was. His loyal friend tried to help him out with the "REBEL," but it eventually got sillier (or just more awful, according to Bruce).

We had watermelon, strawberries, pretzels, and cupcakes. The kids watched Bruce open his gazillion presents; he got lots of Legos and has been putting everything together today. More excitement to come on his birthday, but yesterday's celebration was wonderful.

This is what happens when...

2011-05-09T23:48:00.001-04:00

...you find a cute pair of goggles...
...and pull the elastic taut, then snap it against your skin.

Baby J

2011-05-09T23:01:00.004-04:00

The past few weeks have been very busy. I've reached that point where I only reply to life-or-death emails, make meals that take less than 15 minutes, and miss playgroups and events because of napping schedules. Sounds like I just had a baby, right? Sort of. I've inherited one during the day; I started nannying Baby J full-time about a month ago. She is four months old and still spends a good chunk of time eating and sleeping. She loves watching Phoebe and Bruce, and laughs when they make silly faces and noises at her.
I expected Phoebe to be jealous of the baby, but so far so good. Phoebe thinks Baby J is just a big baby doll. She likes to rub her hair gently and say "saw" (translation: "soft" - making lots of progress on communicating). She brings her blankets and toys. The only time she shows a tinge of jealousy is when I feed Baby J a bottle. Phoebe has been bottle-free for almost two weeks, but would still take a bottle if given the chance.
A few days ago, Scott was working a night shift and I didn't feel like making dinner. Bruce's favorite restaurant is Qdoba, so for $9 we had a nice date. It was totally worth it: the kids ate like they hadn't eaten in months. It was amazing.

Here's another one of our methods of coping with the crazy schedule: baking chocolate chip cookies. Bruce loves doing this - it's his thing. Phoebe is happy to sample the chocolate chips too.
Bruce likes to say, "The best exercise is to move every day." I think it's something he learned in gym class. We follow that advice and not only walk to and from school, but often stop at the park on the way home. Baby J is happy to get out for a walk, and Bruce and Phoebe are happy to be out of the house.
18-1/2 months. Have I mentioned that I just love this age? Phoebe learns so much every day and is absolutely adorable.
Bruce is still learning a ton too. We have had to institute a "no math at the table" rule. Last weekend we went to the Cambridge Science Festival and he built a robot that propels itself around and draws circles on paper.
Here is Bruce on the track at 7 a.m. Scott was working all night at the hospital and I didn't have time to run that evening, so I took Bruce and Phoebe to the track and ran circles around them before school. Mileage ended when Phoebe discovered the steeplechase pit, which was being filled for a meet later that day.
For Mother's Day, Scott made breakfast in bed for me. Phoebe sat next to me and stole my toast, leaving crumbs all over the bed. Bruce decided that breakfast in bed was super-cool and requested it for his birthday. That evening, we had a picnic with friends at the Arnold Arboretum's "Lilac Sunday." Bruce was in a much more pleasant mood on Sunday; the night before, I told him to put his PJs on and he told me I was the "meanest mom ever." I'm harsh, I know.
And finally, here is a picture of my dirt. I'm excited to eat some broccoli and tomatoes out of here!

The Newest Mars

2011-05-01T21:28:00.002-04:00

We got to meet the newest Mars, David Cameron, who was born just a few days before the marathon. He came three weeks early at just over 5 pounds.
This little guy is No. 29: my siblings and I have 29 kids.
David has perhaps the hairiest back I've ever seen on a baby. And the hairiest ears. And the hairiest face. (To his credit, he is a preemie and it's "normal," whatever that is)
Congrats Chris and LaTrisha!

The Columbus Clan

2011-05-01T20:57:00.004-04:00

We spent most of our Ohio trip at my parents' house, but for two days we drove the 2-1/2 hours to Columbus and visited with four of my siblings that live around there. We packed our two days full. We had dinner with Erik and Lois and Janis and kids the first night. Lois made a ton of pasta, a big salad, and about a million delicious breadsticks in the space of about seven minutes. She's amazing like that. While dinner was en route, some cousin bonding went on.And I had to throw in a picture of this: my niece and nephew wrestling on the floor. It reminded me of younger days with my sibs. We spent that night and the next morning at Karyn's house:
Phoebe loved playing in the kitchen. It has a kid-friendly cupboard with a tea set and other kid-sized things. The contents of the cupboard are on the floor in the background.

Phoebe thoroughly enjoyed the carpet. We have hardwood laminate floors at home, so plush carpet is a special treat - especially for someone who spends a lot of time there. Phoebe is sure cute, and it's a good thing: she did not sleep through the night for the first few nights on our trip. She would scream with her eyes closed. Every night we debated whether to fully wake her up or let her cry herself to sleep or to tuck her in or whatever. I'm not normally one to argue - unless you wake me up at 2 a.m. and try to get me to make a decision. We hiked around Karyn and Andy's neighborhood and found some geese to feed.It rained most days we were there, so the ground was muddy.
But the kids were happy.
Bruce enjoyed finding frogs and bugs (there's a bug on the rock in front of his hand). While driving around my rural hometown with my mom, Bruce asked, "Where are all the sidewalks?" I'm afraid we have a city boy on our hands.
We blew bubbles in the backyard and spent lots of time with cousins.
Columbus adventures not pictured include my rain-soaked run with Janis, our ice cream outing with Sarah and kids, and our visit with Dave at his running shoe store.

Angry Birds

2011-05-01T20:51:00.003-04:00

Bruce became hopelessly addicted to this game while in Ohio. He sucked the battery life out of my mom's phone before moving onto Scott's iPod. It might be hard going back to school after this.

Seen at Grandma's

2011-05-01T20:42:00.003-04:00

We went to Ohio this week and stayed with my parents. Scott had a week off, which is so rare we just had to do something. Phoebe learned how to work the parents and grandparents pretty quickly to get whatever she wanted.
And most of the time she wanted cupcakes.
My mom made these fancy treats and left them on the table as a centerpiece for a few days. Phoebe pointed, signed, climbed, and cried her way into getting cupcakes. When she got one, she would lick the frosting off (of course!) and pick the sprinkles out. When she didn't get one....
(note: the above photo was taken at about 10 p.m. - and eventually she got her cupcake)

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T21:10:00.002-04:00

We are having a fabulous Easter! After the marathon, Bruce hitched a ride to Ohio and spent a week with Grandma and Grandpa. Scott, Phoebe, and I followed on Saturday, and just had a wonderful Easter dinner and are looking forward to a relaxing week.

Pictured above is Phoebe enjoying her loot from a church Easter egg hunt. Thanks Tim for taking her around. Thanks for the picture, Ellen!

More tales of our Buckeye adventures to come...

Boston Marathon Weekend!

2011-04-19T11:46:00.007-04:00

We had an awesome super-packed weekend. Scott was busy on-call at the hospital, studying for a big exam he had on Monday afternoon, and writing a paper that was due Tuesday morning. He was probably pretty stressed out, but he put up with the annual Marathon Madness that occurs at our house. We had a pasta party on Sunday night with (left to right in the pic above) GBTC runner and math expert Mithu, GBTC marathon rookie and Harvard sociology extraordinaire Anna, the one and only Anika (my BYU roommate/teammate), me, super-fast elite marathoner and former BYU cross country super-star Nan, and GBTC early riser and training partner Scarlett.
Bruce and Phoebe provided the entertainment at the party. My mom provided the delicious carbs/bread. This is Anika and me at 5:45 race morning. We took the train downtown and hopped on the bus to Hopkinton, where the race starts. The drive out there seems to take forever. Some people chatted and some did crossword puzzles. Anika is a Long Island native and fast-talker. She talks even faster and more frequently when she's nervous. I tend to clam up when nervous, so I happily listened to Anika's chatter - much about her four kids (quick story: when she showed up at my house on Friday, her in-laws who are staying with her kids called and said her son pulled the fire alarm at McDonalds!). Once we were in Hopkinton, we hung out at the Athlete's Village and found my Greater Boston Track Club teammates. Finally, we lined up in our corrals and the race began! The first half-mile was no more than a shuffle, as there were so many people we were trying not to step on. It thinned out enough for us to get a few normal strides in and our first mile came in at 7 minutes exactly. The crowd thinned more and more and we were able to pick it up to our goal pace of 6:40something for the next few miles. Our goal was to go under 3 hours, which is a 6:52 pace. The first seven miles are downhill though, so we knew those would be a little faster. Anika kept "getting squirrely," as we used to call it at BYU. That means she kept wanting to pick up the pace in the early miles and I had to remind her that we still had a long, long ways to go. We came through the halfway point at 1:28 and kept ticking off the miles until we came to mile 16. I'd been feeling pretty tired most of the time (but that seems to be normal with the schedule we keep), but I kept thinking I'd shake out of it. It became apparent to me around mile 16 that I wasn't going to feel any better and that Anika no longer needed to be held back - only 10 to go! Anika kept the pace and I dropped down to 7-minute pace.
My parents and Bruce and Phoebe waited for me at mile 19. They waited for hours and hours, and got to see me for 30 seconds while I ran by. Thanks!
My dad took this photo of Nan, who got a cramp in her quad around mile 10 and claims that she totally tanked, but still ran a 2:38 and ended up in 21st place. This is me accepting water from strangers. I was so thirsty that I drank at every water stop after mile 5 (there's one every mile) and grabbed water from strangers in between. That's Bruce in the corner, holding up his "GO EMILY" sign. Best fan club ever.Anika went on to finish in 2:56. Amazing! I never quite reached "death march" status, but never felt good and came in at 3:05. I didn't get my sub-3 goal, but I finished darnit! I stumbled around the finish area, got my bags/medal/food, and shuffled my hypothermic self to the train and then home.
Running a marathon has been compared to childbirth in many ways and I can see why. I feel completely spent, my mom does everything, and I get pampered by everybody and get to eat lots of chocolate.
After a visit with this sassy girl, I finally got a hot shower and felt a little more put together.
And here we are Marathon Night, triumphant with our medals. The next morning, I woke up with a froggy voice, snotty nose, and headache. Did the marathon cause the cold or the cold cause the 3+hour marathon? Or was it that Phoebe didn't sleep through the night for the last few days? Or was it the cumulative exhaustion from getting up early for months and months? I don't know. But I do know that I had a really fun time with Anika and am super-proud of her and Nan, and that I have some unfinished business on the Boston course next year.

I feel like a lot of people chipped in to make this marathon happen:

Credits....

Scott Raymond - for supporting me as much as he could while being a crazy 3rd year med student and cheering me on at mile 16 before jumping on a train to go take his big test

Mom - for baking four delicious loaves of bread, chasing Phoebe around during the marathon, handing me my Sport Beans at mile 19, and massaging my feet with lotion afterward

Dad - for cheering me on during the marathon, taking lots of sweet pictures (almost all of those above are his), taking me out to dinner Marathon Night so I didn't have to cook, and fixing my kitchen light marathon weekend

Coach Tom Derderian - for providing excellent workouts and advice, and pulling some strings to register me without a qualifying time

Scarlett Graham - for waking up to run with me at 5 a.m. most mornings, even when she didn't have to be up that early

Anna Novick - for running the first 6 miles with me and Anika, doing some really hard workouts with me, and even getting up for those early morning runs a few times

Ellen Patton and the Arlington Ward Mile 19 crew - for putting together a bonafide party, handing me some water, taking care of my parents and kids, and sending me a card to pump me up a few days before the race

Kristen Cutler and Jennifer Smith Johnson - for babysitting Bruce and Phoebe on Tuesday nights so I could get to practice while Scott was still at the hospital

Jenny and Nigel Reuel and Lis and Brian Haslam - for yelling my name three times at mile 24 and still being friends with me even when I totally did not respond

Laci and Christian Gentry - for cheering surprisingly loud at mile 19

Erica McGinnis - for watching Phoebe while I fit some very long runs in during the day

Kate Wangsgard and the Babysitting Co-op - for allowing me a few runs in sunshine

Megan Palmer - for thinking of me and sending good vibes while on an airplane back to Boston from Florida

Sarah Mangum - for making me an awesome pre-race package of almonds, Luna bars, and other yummy stuff

J's Mom - for letting me take the day off and cheering me on at mile 25

Sorry if I forgot anyone. Comment and chastise me if you feel you've been left out.

Abra Cadabra!

2011-04-19T11:43:00.000-04:00

Bruce has a new magic trick where he makes a flower appear from an empty pot. He feels pretty cool when he does it.

Dirt to call my own

2011-04-10T19:44:00.003-04:00

For the next three years, anyway. And not really my very own since I'm sharing it.

I signed up for a community garden plot as soon as I moved to the city. I'm actually still on the waiting list, but one of my neighbors hit the jackpot and decided to share with me. We're splitting a 10 x 10-foot plot and have big plans to make it the awesomest, most productive plot in the garden.

Peas, tomatoes, basil, and salad greens are all on the list.

I'll post pictures soon. So far, it just looks like a pile of dirt.

Tooth No. 2

2011-04-08T10:44:00.003-04:00

Bruce's second tooth fell out yesterday. He was wiggling it while doing his business on the toilet and it came out right then, falling into the toilet.

I was in the kitchen when it happened and all I heard was uncontrollable sobbing coming from the bathroom.

"Bruce, what's wrong?" I asked.

No response. Just sobbing.

I asked again.

More sobbing. Words can't seem to come out. I was worried that he was dying or something in there, so I picked the lock and entered the bathroom. He finally made out "My tooth fell into the toilet" and sobbed some more.

The tooth itself was pinned under a big piece o' poo, so I tell him a note to the tooth fairy will be just fine and that flushing one tiny tooth is okay. He calms down, finishes his business solo, and made the above note to stick under his pillow.

Feeling Old

2011-04-07T10:23:00.001-04:00

While sorting through old files on my computer today, I came across this little gem: Bruce getting a bath on the day he came home from the hospital at 3 lbs 10 oz. I can't help but stare at it awhile and wonder where the time went.

Goodbye Tooth No. 1

2011-04-04T19:48:00.004-04:00

Bruce lost his tooth on April Fools Day too. When I came home from my morning run, Bruce had his tooth dried off and neatly tucked in a plastic bag (whew, I didn't have to deal with it!). He was so proud he took it to school and showed everyone in his class. He stuck it under his pillow that night and the Tooth Fairy brought a dollar. In the morning he said he wanted a hundred-dollar bill. I told him the Tooth Fairy is not that rich. He already has an adult tooth rapidly growing in; it seems awfully large for that little space. He doesn't have the classic toothless grin, but he may soon: the tooth next to it is very loose and will probably fall out within a week or two. When I took Bruce's picture, Phoebe nuzzled up next to him and then pushed him out of the way. She does not want to be left out of anything!

April Fools!

2011-04-04T19:30:00.002-04:00

It snowed on April Fools Morn, which was a terrible joke. It then turned to rain for the rest of the day and left a sloshy mess. No more snow please!This is what Scott's schedule does to him these days. He went to the hospital at 6:30 a.m. on Friday and returned at 2 p.m. on Saturday. He wanted to spend time with the kids, so we hit up some parks. He crashed, but it's the thought that counts.

The Tooth Fairy lingers near

2011-03-31T21:34:00.004-04:00

At the very beginning of the school-year, Bruce decided he had a loose tooth. All of his friends were losing teeth and he didn't want to be left out, so he told me he had a wiggly tooth. It wasn't that wiggly - until last week. It's been getting looser and even has a new tooth growing in behind it. It's coming out any day, and I'm hoping it falls out at school so I don't have to deal with it. I'm not a fan of blood and it grosses me out to look at the above photo, so I would be perfectly fine if his first tooth came home in his book bag wrapped neatly in tissues. We'll see though - we're about to the weekend.
In other random news, Phoebe and I spent the day on one of our epic shopping trips to Aldi. It's almost an hour away, so we go every few months (last time I went was early December) and stock up on non-perishables. It took awhile to check out and the cashier started chatting with me, asking where I was from. I told her and she said a new Aldi is being built in the Boston area. Hallelujah for cheapo groceries!

Partying

2011-03-27T21:02:00.003-04:00

Bruce was invited to a birthday party this week. It was for his classmate's baby sister, who turned one year old. While the birthday girl slept in her stroller, the other kids were entertained by this clown guy in fancy pajamas. He did magic tricks, made balloon light-sabers, sang songs with a guitar, and even busted out a live rabbit. Perhaps I can get Scott to dress up like this and entertain kiddos for Bruce's birthday party?

I heart Boston

2011-03-27T20:06:00.002-04:00

One reason I love Boston is that I can run 24 miles and not come across a nasty junkyard dog. That doesn't happen where I come from. And check out the view. Awesome.

The luck of the Irish

2011-03-19T15:33:00.002-04:00

I was summoned to serve jury duty on Monday. The courthouse is an hour away and I had to leave the kids with two different babysitters early in the morning, so I was hoping I would get dismissed or get a really easy, quick trial. Or maybe I could just act crazy?

I didn't have to pull that trick. I was Juror No. 63 in a pool of 75. There were two personal injury trials that day, each with a 12-seat jury. It took 62 jurors to fill the 24 spots (I think a lot of jurors were dismissed because they'd been in accidents themselves). Once Juror No. 62 took his seat, everyone else was excused! Yea! (I mean, I'm honored to do my civic duty, but they make it so darn inconvenient! An hour away, stuck in a jury pool room for 5 hours with a 15-minute potty break and only three vending machines stocked with crappy candy - ugh) I'm glad I didn't have to sit through the estimated 3-4 days of trial. Instead, I played with my kids for the rest of the week.

Bruce was off school for Evacuation Day (also St. Patrick's Day), so we went to an awesome park and out to lunch with friends.

This is us waiting for our fooooood after hours of playing at the park. Hungry!

Unflattering photos

2011-03-19T15:28:00.004-04:00

I'm reviewing a water/shock/dust/freeze-proof camera right now, which means the kids are allowed to touch it. Bruce took advantage of the opportunity and snapped a few pictures. I love how his finger is perfectly focused in the above photo.
Most of the pictures don't look very good, but they look even worse with a 5-year-old taking them and dust or fingerprints or something on the lens.
I thought about not posting this because it's so unflattering, but I can't stop myself. I laughed really hard when I saw this one. So go ahead and laugh. I'm sure you have a lovely one just like this hidden in your archives.

Going Loco

2011-03-13T21:21:00.002-04:00

I did something crazy this weekend: I ran the Loco Running Indoor Half-Marathon. Yep, on an indoor track. It was a strange distance - 317 meters per lap - making it about 5 laps to a mile, making the whole event 66 1/2 laps.

My plan was to start conservatively, get into a rhythm and run consistently, and then run so hard at the end that I tank by the last lap or so. It almost worked out. The first few miles felt easy, the middle miles clicked away lap by lap (75 seconds per lap for awhile, then 74s), and the end got a little bungled. At exactly one hour, everyone turned around and ran the opposite direction on the track (thankfully, an electronic chip kept track of the laps and timing). This was supposed to even out our poor ankles/knees/hips after leaning leftward around the curves of the track for an hour straight. I knew I had about 20 minutes to go, but I didn't remember how many laps I'd done (my watch only held 50 lap splits and then the memory was full) or how many I had to go. I kept running consistent 74s and 73s, hoping the end was near. The men's winner finished, and I tried to pick up the pace a little but seemed to be stuck in the same 73-second-per-lap gear. I was hoping I'd get a 2 or 3-lap warning, but it never came. Finally, the announcer said I had one lap to go, so I mustered a quicker pace - not a sprint, so perhaps this is the tanking I was hoping for - and finished in 1 hour, 21 minutes, and 22 seconds. This is just one second slower than my all-time half-marathon best, so I am happy with my race.

Next race up is the big one: Boston is in 35 days.

Speechless Phoebe

2011-03-10T14:07:00.003-05:00

Phoebe doesn't have much to say these days. She is supposed to be saying 5-15 words by 15 months, and 20 words by 18 months, but she's not saying more than "mom," "dad," and "no" (which she's said once, but she meant it!). She's 17 months. We started Early Intervention, which we did with Bruce because he had motor skill delays and now with Phoebe because of language delays.

Early Intervention is a state-funded program for developmentally delayed kids under three years old. A social worker from the program comes to our home once a week and plays games with Phoebe to try and get her to communicate. Words haven't come yet, but Phoebe learned to sign "more" this week. Today Bruce and I baked cookies and she scooted up to the counter and signed "more" while grunting at the bag of chocolate chips. I'm trying to reward her for making signs, so I gave her a few chocolate chips. She signed again, and I rewarded her again. She figured out the game and is now a proficient signer. Next, we need to break our chocolate chip habit.

Beautiful Boston

2011-03-10T09:07:00.006-05:00

Marathon training is going well, but it's been randomly scheduled at all hours of the day. Sometimes I swap babysitting with other moms so I can get my long runs in during the day. Sometimes I pop Phoebe in the stroller for a few miles. But most of the time, my runs are early in the morning or late at night. Good thing Boston is beautiful day and night. I'm gearing up for a half-marathon this weekend, which should remind my body how to race and give me some inkling as to how my training will translate to the full marathon.
Last weekend, Scott was off so we took the opportunity to go see the U.S.S. Constitution. It's the oldest commissioned ship in the Navy, and most of the time sits in the harbor in Boston for tours. This ship earned the title "Old Ironsides" during the War of 1812 after cannonballs were seen bouncing off the sides during a battle. The sides are actually made of oak, not iron.
Almost as adventurous, Bruce and I went grocery shopping at Market Basket last Saturday. I often procrastinate going shopping and when I do go, I try to go at weird times when no one will be there (like 7 a.m. when it opens on a weekday). This is why: the parking lot fills up and I have to hunt for a spot, the items I want are often out of stock, and the checkout lines are forever long. However, this place is way cheaper than other grocery stores in Boston so I'll continue to go. Thanks for letting me whine.
Bruce suffered the whole trip, but at the end he got to pick out ice cream. Ah, motivation.
We went to the Museum of Natural History yesterday. Bruce liked the rocks and found his Brucite again. Phoebe liked banging on glass cases of animal skins and high-tailing it for the next exhibit. She's not quite ready to be stroller-free in a museum (or at least I'm not ready for it!).

As noisy as it is sometimes, we love living in the city and being so close to so many cool places!

"Hello, this is Kara."

2011-02-26T15:37:00.003-05:00

I'm writing an article about elite runner-mommas for New England Runner Magazine's July "women's issue." I've been interviewing mostly regional elite runners who have kids, but by some random hookup the editor of the magazine got me in touch with Kara Goucher (shown above, kicking booty in the 2009 Boston Marathon before finishing third). She called me yesterday and we talked for a half-hour about running, diaper changes, Nike, and motherhood. I tried not to sound too star-struck, but I totally was. While we talked, Bruce watched PBS Kids and fed Phoebe a steady stream of chocolate chips in her high chair so I could talk in peace. It's probably a good thing that my "chocolate chip babysitter" isn't available for marathon training runs.

To the plank!

2011-02-26T10:25:00.003-05:00

The gym we went to this week had a pirate ship play structure with a plank set above a pit of foam blocks. On the way to the gym, Bruce kept talking about how he was going to jump off the plank into the pit, but his story changed when we got there...

He did eventually go off the plank, but never crazy-style. For all the energy Bruce has, he is actually very cautious. Phoebe, on the other hand...

Play Place

2011-02-26T10:22:00.002-05:00

School Vacation Week

2011-02-25T16:34:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the lack of blog updates, but it isn't because of a lack of interesting things going on. This week is February Vacation, perhaps something that only schools in Massachusetts celebrate. As you can see, we've been playing to the point of exhaustion. The above picture was taken yesterday after an outing to a park, a McDonald's Play Place, and a gymnastics gym.
On Monday, we went to the Museum of Science. On Tuesday, we went to the Children's Museum. On Wednesday, we went to the Museum of Fine Arts. On Thursday, we hit up the gymnastics gym. And today, we went to the library and watched Shaun the Sheep episodes on this lovely rainy day.
I have a bunch of pictures and videos, which I will add later. These photos are from the Children's Museum.
Here's Phoebe in a refugee exhibit. The kids thought it was a fun exhibit. I thought it was a little weird - I mean, kids shouldn't think being a refugee is fun, right?

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T09:19:00.002-05:00

My mom found this email I'd sent when Scott and I announced our engagement to our family and friends...

Subject: Announcement!

Hello everyone.

The rumors are true. I've found the man of my dreams and I am marrying him on August 22 in Columbus, Ohio. His name is Scott Raymond. He is a sweet Montana man majoring in physics and neuroscience here at BYU. He is absolutely amazing and makes me excessively giddy. I hope everyone is doing well. Life is good.

-Emily

Day in the Life of Phoebe

2011-02-09T19:58:00.003-05:00

Phoebe is a busy body. She is busy learning all kinds of new tricks...
...like climbing onto Bruce's train table, for instance...
...or trying to escape (since she can just about open the door, I'm heading to Home Depot tomorrow for some childproofing gear)...
...or grabbing a bite when she can manage it. She noticed the pantry door was ajar and helped herself to Target-version Lucky Charms - she skipped over the Cheerios and Fiber One of course.
Phoebe loves to pull all the books off the bookshelf in Bruce's room, which drives him absolutely crazy. Life isn't all mischief though: playdate!Snacktime!Phoebe gets serious about playing...
...three blocks......four blocks!Phoebe likes to climb into this chair in Bruce's room. She must feel really cool because she will just sit there for a few minutes and babble to herself.We wrap up the day with Bruce, who is a very willing reader - although Phoebe is not always a willing listener.

The Calm before the Storm

2011-02-01T09:20:00.002-05:00

I was going to get some before and after shots of the latest snow storm to hit town, but the snow started early. We've had 1-2 major storms each week for the past few weeks, and now the snow is piled high. Today and tomorrow we will get another 16 inches added to the pile.
These are my "before" pictures. Notice the parking meters are barely peeking out of the snow and that poor car is probably stuck there until spring comes.
The sidewalks and ramps are so snowy (and skinny since not everyone shovels with a nice wide jogging stroller in mind) that I can't push a stroller through them. To get Bruce to school, I've been putting Phoebe in a hiking backpack. I'll be glad when the snow melts - someday.
Check back in a day or two for "after" pictures of this latest storm. Should be crazy.

Me, the Miler

2011-01-30T16:54:00.002-05:00

I hopped on the indoor track for another mile attempt, this time in a distance medley relay. I hadn't run a relay race in a few years, and I'd forgotten how much fun it is (and how nervous it makes me too!). My team, the Greater Boston Track Club, raced against a bunch of college teams. I ran the anchor leg (the last leg of the 1200-meter, 400-meter, 800-meter, 1600-meter relay), so unfortunately our final placing was up to me. And unfortunately I'm not a real miler. Four teams passed me, and then I nipped one back at the end (see the photo finish below).
After the race, I remembered why I used to carry cough drops with me to every indoor track meet: the "track hack" (I think it's the combination of deep, hard breathing and really dry indoor air?). After coughing for a solid 15 minutes, I went for a 10-mile cooldown with some teammates and felt much, much better by the end. 78 days until the Boston Marathon!

If Bruce Made a Million

2011-01-25T16:29:00.001-05:00

We read this book today and Bruce told me if he made a million dollars, he would 1) go to Chuck 'E' Cheese's, 2) buy a guinea pig, and 3) buy a piano.

He might have leftovers.

Finally found what you're lookin' for

2011-01-24T20:46:00.004-05:00

Every once in awhile, I check the stats on this web site to see who and how many are visiting. Apparently one person arrived on the blog yesterday for searching for, "thong shirt one piece" (is this a popular search term?! That is one phrase I don't think I'd ever want to type into Google). I'm assuming they arrived at this post. A few months ago, someone arrived at the blog after searching for "no desire to paint my nails," an exact phrase from this post. What did people do before search engines?! Encyclopedia Britannica was not nearly as fun.

Happy Snow Day

2011-01-19T19:57:00.002-05:00

There was a big blizzard last week that dumped a foot of snow on us. Bruce had the day off school, so we watched too much PBS Kids and went outside for a few minutes for a snowball fight.
We did the usual: played Uno, played with Transformers/Legos/K'Nex/Batman. Phoebe has a new hobby of squeezing herself into small spaces. Here she is behind the couch. You can also find her in the cupboards and under the table. Phoebe has some attachment issues: she has a few blankies that she drags around the house when tired, and she loves her bottle of milk. She had a well-child visit with the doctor this morning though, and it's time to phase the bottle out. Wish us luck!

Boston or Bust

2011-01-19T18:13:00.003-05:00

I just put down 250 stinking bones for the Boston Marathon! So it better be good!

My friend/ former BYU XC teammate/ college roommate, Anika, is coming to run, and we're planning on running a sub-3-hour marathon.

88 days to go....

2010 in Review

2011-01-05T12:27:00.008-05:00

Happy New Year to all. As we ring in the new year, I remembered a few events of the past year that somehow missed the blog. Here's what you've been missing:

1. A year-long battle with a medical equipment company.
Remember that awful apnea monitor? I had a love/hate relationship with it: I loved that it reminded us to coax Phoebe to breathe. I hated that it had several loud false alarms every night and I had to lug it everywhere for a few months. I was happy to get rid of it in February, but unhappy to get a big invoice from them a few months later. The insurance company paid up to the benefit limit, which the medical equipment company exceeded because they sent us new electrodes every week (which we didn't need). I returned 43 unopened packages of electrodes when they picked up the monitor in February. Apparently that was never accounted for. It took all year, three letters, and several threats to clear that one up.

2. Scott's awesome iPod.
I got Scott an iPod Touch for his birthday. I had big expectations of this little gadget: I wanted him to message me updates throughout the day, especially to let me know what random time he'd be rolling in that night. It hasn't quite worked out the way I'd planned, but it's still been a good investment: the iPod is Scott's new study buddy.

3. Turning into my mother.
Yes, it's happening. I'm getting so over-protective of my kids that every once in awhile, I blow a circuit and actually do something. When Phoebe was in the hospital for awhile, the nurses thought they would make my Halloween a little nicer by dressing Phoebe in a cowgirl costume and taking pictures of her to give to me. Other NICU parents were into it, but not me. I was furious. First, they used the same costume for all the babies (and the kid two beds down had whooping cough!). Second, dressing up my baby reminded me of Paris Hilton dressing up her little lap dog. Ugh. Nurses should stick to nursing. I wrote a letter this year complaining about the practice of dressing up NICU babies on holidays. The hospital called and said they'd "investigate."

4. Call me President.
I was elected as the President of our condo association. A few weeks into the job, someone decided to tag our garage door with some awesome graffiti. Cute, but it's going to take $400 to remove this baby:
It's become my mission to clean up my 'hood. I'm bugging our neighboring residents and businesses to clean up their junk and make our 'hood less like a 'Hood.

5. Bruce's brain expansion.
Kindergarten is amazing. Really. Bruce loves reading and learning. A few weeks ago, he asked me what the highest number was. I said there was no highest number because you could always add one to it and make it higher. "What about sixty-hundred-thousand?" he asked. "Sixty-hundred-thousand-and-one." He still has more to learn, but he's really thinking hard about these things.

6. The fiasco with work.
I purposely avoided blogging about this one, thinking that some future employer would google my name, come across this blog, read all my complaints about the job hunt, and get spooked. But it's the year-end review, so here's the story.

My old employer decided to just stop paying me on a regular basis. They would lead me on - "a paycheck is coming" and "I just couldn't get to the office to write the check today" - but after way too long of that, I started hunting for other jobs. Here are a few snippets from that experience:

There was the time when I got an offer for a full-time web editor job, but I would have had to commute an hour each way and it started at 6:30 a.m. Daycares don't open at 5:30 (and sometimes Scott isn't home at that hour), so that was out.

Then there was the three-hour-long interview for a corporate communications position. Five different people interviewed me, and one sent me home with an assignment to create a writing sample due in 48 hours. I went home and worked my tail off to get it done. I couldn't sleep that night because I was so worked up about it, so I stayed up until 3 a.m. to finish it. The next morning, HR called to say to not bother sending in the sample because I didn't have enough marketing experience. Ugh.

The final straw was interviewing at a tech magazine's web site, which offered a part-time editing position from home (with insurance too - perfect). They interviewed me over the phone twice and then asked me to "try out" by editing a story on deadline. The story they sent me had factual errors, grammatical errors, and part of it was plagiarized from another web site. I wondered if this was some kind of test, but this was a real story submitted by one of the magazine's writers to be posted that day. I hacked at it and practically rewrote the whole thing so it was ready to post. When I checked the site later, they posted the version that I wrote so I felt confident they would hire me. They called back and said they went with someone else "with more technical expertise." Thus, I am embracing freelance writing. I write while Phoebe takes her 2-3-hour daily nap, and then I get to be a full-time mom during her waking hours. Like motherhood, freelance writing does not pay well but the benefits are unbeatable.

This one is for Grandma Mars...

2011-01-02T21:27:00.002-05:00

My mom wanted to know how Phoebe liked her new toy, so here it is. Looks like a keeper.

Seacoast Stroll

2011-01-02T16:37:00.002-05:00

While Grandpa Bruce was here, we visited the New Hampshire coast at Odiorne Point State Park. Phoebe enjoyed the view from Scott's back and the rest of us plodded along snowy trails through the forest to the rocky beach.
I spy three generations of Raymonds in this picture.

Merry Christmas from the Raymonds!

2011-01-02T16:18:00.002-05:00

It's been another dry spell on the blog. We've been too busy having fun that we haven't stopped to update the blog this week. My birthday came and went; I got those sporty footed pajamas shown above (and that's Bruce jabbing at a "dino dig" kit that he got for Christmas). On Christmas Eve, we made a zillion treats and delivered most of them until Phoebe freaked out in the car and we went home. Grandpa Bruce came on Christmas Day and stayed with us for a week. He's done the Freedom Trail and most of the touristy stuff around Boston, so we mostly just hung out and enjoyed the company. Above, the two Bruces are checking out remote-controlled motorcycles while little Bruce is wearing duck slippers he got from Grandpa Bruce (they quack!). Bruce wanted science books, science experiments, Legos, and a hula hoop for Christmas. He got everything except the hula hoop, which I refuse to buy until spring since I don't want it around the house all winter.
Phoebe didn't ask for much this Christmas. She has mastered "mom" and "dad," but all her other jabber is nonsense. She got some toys, clothes, and bubble bath, which she happily shared with Bruce.

Scott has been off school for the past two weeks and it's been wonderful! After running many, many miles whenever I want and sleeping in past 4:45, it's going to be hard to go back to the daily grind.

Ski Vacation

2010-12-25T20:12:00.004-05:00

Bruce went skiing for the first time this week. He skipped the last day of school (or as Scott says, "He was not 'skipping.' He was absent.") and went skiing with Scott. Bruce told his class that he was going on a "ski vacation." That makes it sound very cool and official.
Bruce hung out on the bunny hills most of the day, but progressed to a longer beginner hill by the end of the day.
He is so proud of himself. On the way home, he kept asking if I was impressed with him. And I am impressed.
Scott has been wanting to teach Bruce to ski. The day was perfect.
Phoebe and I hung out in the lodge, played in the snow, and took lots of pictures.
I pulled her around in this sled and got lots of comments from people. We heard, "That's the life" lots of times.
And it is quite the life. Who wouldn't want to hang out with this squirt all day?!
I brought a few toys and things to pass the time in the lodge. Mostly she wanted to scoop up snow chunks off the floor and eat them. Gross.
Here's her serious face. She still has Scott's cute chin.
Here are the boys at the end of the day.
Bruce fell asleep in the car on the way home. He was so exhausted that he leaned over the toilet when we got home and said he felt like he was going to barf. He didn't. After a plate of rice and a few glasses of water, he got his appetite back and ate and ate and ate. I don't think I've ever seen a limit to Bruce's energy until that day; that was a rare moment.