Monthly Archives: June 2010

30 Things I Vow to Do This Summer

Posted on by Run DMT
18

Well before the start of summer vacation, I have been experiencing a ton of mama guilt.  With a new baby arriving right smack in the middle of summer, I worry that I won’t be able to truly enjoy summer vacation with my girls.  The size of my bump and my waddle restricts my activity level, but once the baby arrives, he’ll be constantly tethered to my boobs which will also limit my level of activity.

Therefore, I’ve vow to make the most of our summer before school starts up again and I’ve got a list to help make it all happen.

  1. Soak up every ounce of our beautiful white Gulf beaches before the oil arrives.

     

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  2. Set up a chore system for the girls.  I’m not sure how to go about this just yet, but I know it needs to be done before the baby arrives.
  3. Read a classic.  For myself, I’ve dog-eared A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and I’ll read The Phantom Tollbooth and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH to the girls.
  4. Set aside time to read each day.
  5. Prepare small home school lessons each day so my children’s brains don’t turn to mush.
  6. Limit our TV watching.
  7. Plan a Friday night bedtime movie so I can cuddle with my girls in bed.
  8. Get good use out of our Busch Gardens passes.

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    Splash around at any and all of our spray grounds.

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  10. Plan a trip to the Loggerhead Marine Life Center.
  11. Participate in a beach cleanup.  We’ve been watching and waiting for the oil to arrive.  When it does, we are ready to do our part to help protect our beaches.
  12. Enjoy plenty of play dates with our friends.
  13. See at least one free summer movie each week.
  14. Visit Nanny’s Educational Zoo.

     

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  15. Spend plenty of time swimming, because selfishly it does wonders for my sciatica.

     

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  16. Brooker Creek Preserve or Weedon Island to play in the hands-on center and enjoy story time.
  17. Catch a Rays or Threshers baseball game for family fun day and fireworks.

     

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  18. Build a rain gauge.
  19. Participate in the various summer reading programs through our local library, Barnes & Nobles and Borders.
  20. Tours, tours and more tours because we love them and they are a great way to avoid the heat while catching a behind-the-scenes look at some of our favorite places to eat and play.
  21. Visit an art museum or two.
  22. Visit Museum of Science and Industry and/or Great Explorations
  23. Make a Father’s Day gift for Daddy.
  24. Do lots of crafts and attempt some art projects.
  25. Garden with the girls.
  26. Release ladybugs in our garden.

     

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  27. Try our hand at some science experiments.
  28. Take advantage of the Sea World Cares program to visit Sea World and only pay $5 per child.

     

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  29. Go canoeing with Dad’s help, of course.

     

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  30. Cherish every moment with my girls and tell them I love them every day.

 

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Mama's Losin' It

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Juneathon, Day 9

Posted on by Run DMT
2

I’m not sure, but I think Run DMT Baby #3 may have changed positions and slid into a head down position because swimming was very challenging today.  Usually, swimming brings me a much welcomed relief, but I didn’t get that wonderful feeling of weightlessness today.  Instead, the baby felt very low and I struggled trying to swim a few laps.  But I did it!  Phew!

 

After swimming, I did some bicep and tricep curls.  I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I been doing a lot of weight training lately.  See, my family and I have a maternity portrait sitting with my good friend and fabulous photographer, Kelly, this weekend and I thought it would be nice to have some sort of arm muscle in the photos rather than flabby, fat chicken wings flapping in the wind.  But who am I kidding?  In the photos, all you’re going to notice is the massive bump and not the “muscle” I worked so hard tried so desperately to sculpt.  Can’t blame a mama for trying, right?

Juneathon, Day 7 & 8

Posted on by Run DMT
1

By committing to the Juneathon, I agreed to participate and post my activity every day. Well, I am most definitely participating every day but sometimes living my glamorous life of a SAHM prevents me from posting every day. Oh yeah, it’s glamorous life all right. My fans (a.k.a my children) circle around my ankles continuously, especially with my youngest home now and my oldest daughter can’t seem to shake this strep throat funk that she caught a couple of weeks ago.

 

Mommy…Mommy….Mommy…Mommy….Mommy!

 

AGHHHHHH!

 

WHAT?! Can’t you see I’m trying to find my center? Now let Mommy “Om” in peace, PLEASE!

 

So things with my family have certainly kept me on my toes and I’ve been running around like a madwoman over the past couple of days. Although I barely fit yoga in my already stretched life, I managed to find center on Day 7 & 8 with the help of these videos I found on You Tube. The best part is I can stream these videos into the living room from our Sony TV. How’s that for finding center?

 

 

 

 

 

My Ultimate Honey-Do List

Posted on by Run DMT
14

With only 6 weeks left until the arrival of Baby Run DMT #3, the countdown is on and my husband’s honey-do list reads more like a scroll.

 

  1. Wine and dine me, minus the wine of course even though I could sure use a glass about now.  But as you know, it’s been a couple of months since our last date night.  Let’s squeeze one in before I squeeze out this baby.

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  2. Paint the nursery (formerly known as the playroom).  Truthfully, I want the entire house painted, because I am tired of looking at white walls and unfinished skirting boards.  However, we’ll start with one small request and maybe your inner Michelangelo will shine and then you’ll feel inspired to paint the rest of the house.  But, we’ll start with baby steps for the baby’s room.

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  3. Put the crib together.  Without a crib or a cradle, I fear he could develop a Messiah complex.

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  4. Buy a dresser for the baby’s room.  You know which one I’ve had my eye on, so be a dear and please pick it up on your way home from work one night or I will be forced to shop at IKEA and you know how dangerous that could be.  And I’ll leave the kids in Ikea’s free child care facility.  On second thought, I’ll buy the dresser.

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  5. Clean and tidy the office.  It should resemble a small office rather than air conditioned storage.

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  6. Sweep me off my feet.  There’s nothing more arousing than a clean kitchen floor.   A man with a mop is one sexy beast.

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  7. Plant some flowers in our garden because I do not find rock gardens aesthetically pleasing nor do they bring me much Zen.

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  8. Plant a tree.  When we first moved into our house, you planted a weeping willow in our backyard and for months, this beautiful symbol of our new beginning brought me such joy.  And then it died.  So, to celebrate my birthday and the arrival of a new baby (which are only a few days apart just to remind you), I am requesting a larger, healthier weeping willow.

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  9. Vacuum out my car.  I could probably feed Haiti with all the crumbs and droppings on my car floor.  Seriously, it’s like an-all you can-eat-buffet from what our kids couldn’t eat in there.  Gross.

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  10. Buy a car seat.  Otherwise, start saving for each night I am forced to stay in the hospital because no nurse will allow me to leave unless our baby is strapped into some infant seat.

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  11. And while you’re shopping, buy me a trinket.  Something shiny and sparkly to show your love and appreciation for pushing a ten pound baby and his huge head out of my who-ha.

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Thank you in advance.

 

Your adoring wife and mother of your children.

 

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Musical Monday: Lump

Posted on by Run DMT
6

Thanks to the Juneathon, I’ve been feeling less like a lump these days. It was just the inspiration and motivation I needed to get moving again.

 

Since about 28 weeks, I haven’t been able to run or wog (walk/jog) and I’ve downgraded to walking, but even still there are good and bad walking days. On good days I can walk and complete a ton of tasks around the house. On bad days, I can barely move and when I do attempt to walk, I have to cradle my belly for fear that my uterus may fall out if I don’t.

 

And as if the fear of losing my uterus wasn’t enough, there are times when I feel like Dr. Kane with an alien life form trying to burst through my gut…

 

 

…because apparently Baby Run DMT #3 likes to stretch his feet against my sciatica and push his back against my stomach. Perhaps with all the prenatal yoga I’ve been doing, I’ve inadvertently taught him yoga in utero. Truly he’s learned yoga through osmosis because his downward dog makes me want to scream mercy.

 

Although mentally I feel less like a lump, physically my big ol’ baby bump looks more like a big ol’ lump. On the surface, you can see a hard lump across my abdomen and this solid, hard mass pulls people in like a giant magical glowing orb. No one can resist my precious and they simply have to touch it. Groping and prodding the lump forces Baby Run DMT #3 to switch positions and pretty soon there’s an elbow or a knee scraping across my belly.

 

Lump’s sudden and painful repositioning causes me to cry out every time.

 

Ow! OwOwOw! Owwwww!

 

Whenever his two big sisters hear me howl from the pain of an elbow jab or alien belly burst from Baby Brother, they howl with laughter and their beautifully evil laughter makes me giggle which I believe causes Baby Boy to giggle too. Oh yeah. My pain is a real gut busting, knee slapper for him. Good times.

 

This giggly kickboxing yoga loving lump better not get too comfortable in there.

 

 

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Juneathon, Day 6

Posted on by Run DMT
1

Boy, yesterday’s sunrise special endorphin rush was shorted lived because today I could barely roll out of bed. However for the purpose of Juneathon and for the sake of my aching sciatica, I did 50 squats and 30 minutes of prenatal yoga. I also threw in some kegel exercises for good measure. Does that count?

Juneathon, Day 5

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Crazy thing happened this morning.  I woke up around 6:30 and had this incredible urge to go for walk at sunrise.  For months, I have found it difficult to do anything in the early morning hours.  Since becoming pregnant, my sleeping patterns have been so erratic.  I wake up around 2:00 or 3:00 a.m., lie awake for a couple of few hours and eventually fall back to asleep just before my children wake up.

 

But not this morning!  This morning, I jumped out of bed and went for 30 minute walk (about 1.5 miles).  Physically, it felt good to move, but watching the sunrise was so great for my spirit.  Its warm happy glow greeted me like an old friend and I felt like I was smiling all the way down to my running shoes.   Sure the humid air was heavy and thick, but it didn’t bother me one bit.  I think my body craved it like a alcoholic craves a drink.  So, I took a long swig of that sunrise and enjoyed every minute that I walked on sunshine.

 

 

When I got home, I cooled down in the a/c with 50 squats and some bicep and tricep curls.

Juneathon, Day 4

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Hey, Mrs. Grump Gills. When a big ol’ baby bump gets you down, you know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming…just keep swimming…just keep swimming…swimming…swimming…What do we do? We swim…swim. I love to swim.

 

 

No earworm advice could be better for my sciatica pain. For Day 4 of the Juneathon, I just kept swimming.

 

Emmalynn and I were invited to a pool party today to celebrate a friend’s birthday and I took full advantage of the pool.  Since I had to navigate through super soakers, children cannonballing on top of me and my daughter pulling down my bottoms to help her win our race, it was quite work-out and not as an uplifting experience I had hoped it to be.  Despite all the obstacles, I managed to swim quite a few laps and my back thanked with little pain for the rest of the day.

Manly Manhole Covers

Posted on by Run DMT
10

Allan’s obsession with manhole cover cufflinks began in New Orleans two years ago. While staying in the French Quarter, we stumbled upon a jewelry store that specialized in custom-made silver jewelry. Allan found a pair of NOLA manhole cover cufflinks that he had to have, but in the end he decided against purchasing them.

 

 

Two years later, he still talked about those cufflinks and how he wished had bought them. Then last Christmas, my sister surprised him with a pair and she mentioned how she had discovered a website that sold manhole cover cufflinks from all over the globe.

 

Upon hearing this news, Allan’s ears perked up and there was a silver glimmer in his eyes. He then devised a plan to collect silver manhole cover cufflinks from various cities as souvenirs. The next manhole cover cufflink up his sleeve would be New York City.

 

But personally, I am a bit partial to Tampa.

 

 

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