Ugh. And then ugh again.

On Sunday I ran a half-marathon.

Which I most definitely did not train properly for.

While the race itself went better than expected, actually, the recovery has been a bit unpleasant. Thankfully by this evening almost everything has gone back to normal. My back is still bugging me a bit, but that's nothing new. MY one foot is still feeling pretty messed up, though. Hurts to walk and all that. I think I did something to it when I went for a 4-mile run on Saturday like an idiot with a new running group. I thought they were going to be walking this week. I thought it would be a nice easy way to kind of warm-up for Sunday's race. But no. I pushed myself on Saturday morning. And it felt good.

Except for my foot. That hurt. And still hurt going into Sunday.

NONETHELESS. Amanda and I (yes, I am talking about two separate people) did well. We finished the half-marathon in a mere 2 hours and 53 minutes. Which is pretty good, considering I was planning to shoot for 4hrs and be thrilled with anything less that 3 1/2. It worked out well- I was the motivator for the first half (we RAN...well, okay, JOGGED the entire first half without any walk breaks at ALL so I think that's pretty amazing) and Amanda was the motivator for the second half, when I pretty much just wanted to walk the entire time. There were lots of little slopey hills, man.

But prepared or no, we managed to finish. And it was a good time.


In baby news- Fiona has very nearly mastered the art of sitting up. She can't like pull herself into a sitting position or anything, but if I set her down in a sitting fashion, she can stay there for a few to several minutes before she gets too too excited and ends up tipping herself over. She likes that too, though. I'm glad she's such a generally happy baby. Don't get me wrong, she definitely can pitch a fit with the best of them. But really, she's happy most of the time. Keep her fed, and keep her on a fairly consistent nap routine and she's good to go.


We've started her on foods. So far baby oatmeal, bananas, and squash. She likes it all very much. Although I do think I need to get some sort of high chair. The bumbo seat that she currently has... she's not the biggest fan of. She mainly likes to tip herself over backwards out of it and conk her head on the coffee table. Not that she did that or anything. Yesterday.

'Tis late. I should be sleeping. Cause baby is back to normal, waking up like every 3 or 4 hours to eat. Except now we usually get up for the day by 8am. I have grown accustomed to sleeping much later than that. But I have to admit- I kind of like this getting up at 7:30. Gives me a much better chance at accomplishing something before the midafternoon inertia sets in.

I am wasting precious sleep time.

I'm out.

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Six Months

Babygirl is six months old today.

Which, um... hello? Six months? How did that happen?

We went to the pediatrician today for her 6-month checkup and everything is looking good. Chickie's still holding at the 25th for height and the 10th for weight, so hurrah! She's all of 13lbs.9oz. now. And a whopping 25 inches long. She also had to get three shots, which makes her-


But the even BIGGER news is that last night she slept from 11:15pm until 6:15 this morning WITHOUT WAKING UP!!!!! Which was AMAZING!!!! Or, it would have been an amazing 7 solid hours of sleep if I hadn't woken up like 3 times and felt compelled to go into her room just to check that she was still breathing..which she was. Of course. Buuuuuut yeah. It was still a very good night.

I need good nights.

Other things about today that are awesome-

- I scored tickets to the Sox/Nationals game in June. I actually bought tickets for two nights in a row, because hey! It's Nationals Park and you can get $10 tickets! Whee!! Of course, I had to like enter a lottery to win the chance to purchase tickets (which I think was a crock of crap [see, I can not swear] because they have sent me three different emails, the first one said "sorry, you didnt win the chance to buy tickets. But you could still get tickets to teh game if you buy season passes!" and then the second one was like "oh now you did win the chance to buy them but you only have until tomorrow!" and the third was was basically the same as the second one but they sent it out again.) buuuuuuuuuut anyways I bought tickets and I'm excited and thrilled. Can't wait to take baby to her first Sox game.

-Coffee. I have had some.

-Nate came home for lunch and I made a delicious dish with chicken and spaghetti and cheese...mmm...

-Thats pretty much it.

The half-marathon is this Sunday. I incredibly unprepared, but I think with a combination of slow jogging and walk breaks I should be able to cross the finish line. Thank God they've got an open early-bird start, so theoretically I could be the slowest finisher without being the absolute last person to cross the finish line.

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I have not, in fact, quit everything.

So, it's been a month.

A month is a really long ass time. So many things have happened. Not all of them were awesome.

I'm thinking I may still be going through some sort of post-partumy, thyroidy type depressy stuff. Cause even though most days are great, and I'm finding myself able to get through most days without a nap, some days I sort of feel like life is drowning me, and could I please just sleep through it?

But then I have to look at baby, and just see how ridiculously cute she is. And how big! Last entry she had just started rolling over. Now she is a rolling FIEND and though she hasn't starting crawling or anything, she can definitely move herself around when she wants to using a combination of rolling and scooting on her back. Also, the kid has TEETH! Two of them! Well, not like full-on teeth. More like two little tooth nubbins. But you can feel both and sort of see one if the angle is right. She's had her first visit to the playground, first time in the swing, first taste of real food!

We also have TRAVELED extensively. We had planned a trip to St. Louis for Easter, and were very excited about that. It got extended into a 2-week Massachusetts to Poconos to Pittsburgh to St. Louis to Pittsburgh to home road trip... which was pretty exhausting. I started to blog about the reason for the trip, but I'm still having trouble verbalizing it all.

On Friday the 27th of March, I got a phone call. One of my best friends from high school had slipped into a coma. She has been ill for a long time, battling cystic fibrosis. Things were not looking good at all. I was able to say my goodbyes over the phone as her husband held a cell phone to her ear. She regained consciousness a few times, but there was really nothing else the doctors or the hospital could do. She was able to go home to be with her family, and on the following Tuesday I got the call that she had passed away during the night. We booked it on up to MA to be there for the burial and the memorial service later that week.

That's a hard thing to do, bury a friend. But at the same time, it was really nice to know that she is no longer in any pain. That she's no longer sick. That she can finally laugh- really laugh- without doubling over in coughs that wrack her entire body. That for somebody with cystic fibrosis, she had an incredible, full life-she got to grow up, go to college, get married. The service they had for her was called a "Celebration of Life" and it really was. As she requested, everyone wore purple and white and bright springtime colors. People read poems, sang songs, told stories of her life. As we sat there and I recalled my favorite memories, I quickly realized that none of them were appropriate. Everyone was getting up and saying things like "she was always so sweet" and "such a loving person" and all these lovely things... I didn't want to be the one to get up and say something like "I remember this time we all got up on a table at a dance and shook it to The Thong Song" or "There was this one time we stole some champagne from a party and brought it out to our friend's uncle's lake house" or... yeah. I just went over those things in my head and smiled. So here's to Lila. For all the good times.

The five of us girls in...2002? I think?

Lila and Luke on their wedding day in 2006.


The last time all of us were together- my wedding in 2007.

But yeah. Though the reason for the extended trip was not the best, it ended up being a very nice visit with all of the many many people we visited and stayed with.

The trip did, however, really throw me off. With all the driving, and the sleeping at other people's houses, and the not following naptime schedules... I am glad to be home, but this week has sort of been a struggle to get back into real life.

But back into real life I am. Today I cleaned out my email inboxes. That felt good. Tomorrow I plan to actually tackle answering emails that I received while I was gone. Tomorrow I will go for a run. (Half-marathon in 2 weeks? HAHA! That's rich. Should be... interesting... and AMANDA BOODEN YOU HAD BETTER NOT FINK OUT ON ME!!!) Tomorrow I have plans to transform the backyard into a much cooler place to be- clothesline, vegetable patch, baby swing, patio furniture. I've got big plans for this weekend.

Big plans.

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Blargh.

My poor little neglected blog. I knew this would happen eventually, I just didn't think it would be so soon. Things have been busy? I guess?

The big news of the week is- Fiona rolled over! From her back onto her stomach!!! Which was very exciting!!! She has also pooped a mad crazy lot. I'm talking out of her diaper poops. Up the back. Up the front. And somehow onto her SHOULDER on Sunday. wtf? I don't even understand how poop could follow that trajectory. I just don't get it.

In any case.

If I post a couple pictures, can I get away with such a Lamey McLamerson post? Probably.

Here you go.

At the St. Paddy's Day 8k in DC on Sunday.


She also does this scooting thing when she's on her back. It's the funniest thing. She can scoot herself all the way across the living room.

OH! I nearly forgot another big thing that's happened! I got a new computer and it is AMAZING!!! Like, seriously. I am loving the fact that it actually WORKS! And does what I want it to DO! And I can run Photoshop and iTunes and Firefox all at THE SAME TIME without it crashing!!!

In other news, I need to write in a slightly less exclamatory tone. Although the computer is quite exciting. I have been using it muchly, just not for blogging. I've been doing actual WORK work, like photography work, which has been excellent. Have several open jobs at the moment and am very happy with that. I'm also really excited cause I know several pregnant ladies that are due to have babies soon and I will get to photograph their newborns! Hurray!

I's tired. Need sleep. Have doctor appt in the morning to find out how the old thyroid is doing... keep fingers crossed for good news...

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Ow

blargh. 7 miles this morning.

i hurt.

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4 months.

Baby had her 4-month checkup today. At a NEW doctors office, hopefully one where I won't hate all the doctors like I did at our old office. I actually didn't even meet any doctors yet though, cause today we had the nurse practitioner for our visit. And now, the stats-

She's 23.5 inches long. That's 25th percentile for height. (That's what I was as a kid! Hurrah! A shrimp!!!) She's 11lb8oz. That's 10th percentile for weight.

I iz a peanut!

Some babies are 10lbs at birth, some are 11.5lbs when they're 4 months old. What can you do.

But the best part of the doctor visit was the other little baby we saw in the waiting area (during our frickin FORTY-FIVE MINUTE WAIT! Ps. My original appointment was for 9:15 but I got there at like 9:30 so they told me I had to reschedule. So I made a new appt for 12:00 and I got there a few minutes before 12 and then I had to sit there for 45 minutes? Really? 15 minutes and you make me RESCHEDULE but it's expected that I sit there for a year? Argh. I hope that's just cause lots of kids are sick today, not because that's the way this office usually runs...)

Anyways I got lost in those parentheses. What you need to know is that there was this other little baby there, I'm not sure how old, but it didn't look brand brand new, so maybe 2 months? This baby had the most amazing head of hair I have ever seen in my life. Seriously. The kid had like a 4inch mohawk and I am not even exaggerating. I totally snuck a pic with my camera phone because this mohawk was that amazing. I've cropped the photo and blurred out the baby's face so I can show you the hair here.

Have you ever SEEN such fantastic hair on a baby! I only wish the mom was wearing a white coat so you could get the full effect.

Mine is still a bald little baby. But, incredibly cute. Annnnd, pictures.....GO.

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SNOWDAY!

Because of today's snowstorm, my poor siblings in MA will have to have Saturday school in May.

But not here. Here is just means that Nate got to stay home until after lunch and that I have a perfectly good reason to never get out of my sweatpants the whole day cause hey! Snowday!

And because I've already used up the entire naptime window doing actual work, this entry is going to be a short photo series. Cause that's all I've got time for. Maybe some captions, if you're lucky.

With Daddy, the snow was great and exciting.


Decidedly less exciting with me.

She probably knew I would do something like this.

Or this.

I think it was about here that I realized she didn't have any type of hand covering and that I'd definitely stuck her entire hand into the snow while forcing her to make a snow angel on the patio table.

Annnnd back inside before I could do any real, frostbitey, permanent damage.

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