YAY Kelsey!

She did it! She finished in just over 12:30 and she had her group of groupies there to celebrate with her. More to come in the next little while.

Team Hardcore: Out of the water

She's on her bike and riding hard! Kelsey finished the swim in just over an hour and had a quick transition time of just under 4 minutes! Way to go Kelsey!


Note from Kelsey: If you're coming out to spectate today please do not enter the course to run or ride alongside her or she will be disqualified. But she'd love to hear you cheering for her!

Once again we can stalk track Team Hardcore

Kelsey is back at it...she's doing her second Ironman (she started about 45 minutes ago!) There likely won't be any times posted until sometime after she completes the swim - which should be sometime around 9:00 am. You can check her out on the Ironman.com site. Her bib number is 2097.


If you're in Penticton today, you can find her on the route. You can also find her cheering squad, all 25+ strong, who are all wearing Team Mulvilove t-shirts (like the one below) in brilliant pink.


We're still in Kelowna because Ironman day is a long day for people under the age of two (okay, for everyone, but especially people under the age of two, and maybe the athletes too), so I'll try to update until we leave sometime around 9:30 or 10:00.

Actual re-entry into the real world - part one - SUCCESS

Yay! Today was great! We were ready to go at the go time, even though we didn't have to go anywhere. The coffee pot turned itself on and made coffee so when I came out of the bedroom, it was ready and waiting. Jocelyn and Jess had a great morning together. I had a good morning at work. Alex and Jocelyn had fun together before I got home. Excellent.

Tomorrow's the next big test...Jocelyn and I actually have to leave the house so she can go to her daycare...fingers crossed!

Attempt #2 and #3 - Simulation of re-entry into real world - FAIL and FAIL

Yup, both fails!

We found out on Friday that we had tickets to the BC Lions game on Friday night which didn't give us enough time to get a sitter, so we took Jocelyn with us. She had a blast playing with the people next to us and offering Cheerios to everyone around us. But she went to bed very late. Which meant she (and I) were up numerous times through the night. So when 6:30 arrived, I just couldn't drag myself out of bed and I ended up dozing on the couch before and after her morning nap, even with a proper nap while she napped.

Today Alex got up with Jocelyn so that I could sleep in for the first time since February when my sisters took Jocelyn over night. So no getting up at 6:30 today...

I guess we'll just jump into it tomorrow and see what happens!

A few minutes of solitude

Life with a baby certainly is different from life without a baby. I knew that my time alone was going to be severely, drastically, almost entirely reduced, but it's been a bit different than I thought it would be. I seriously thought the few moments I'd have to myself would be in the shower or the bathroom...but it's been better than that.

Everyone told me and Alex that we had to take time for ourselves, alone, for ourselves as a couple and that we should try to each have time alone with Jocelyn everyday, as well as time as a family. We've done an okay job of that, but the hardest part has been time alone for me. Because Alex still works, it was easy enough for him to get his time alone - he'd leave a bit early or come home a bit late so he could go for a walk, get a coffee, or just sit in the empty office and check his email. Because Alex often works the night shift, getting time alone for me was more difficult. For a long time when Jocelyn napped, I had to nap too. Then when Jocelyn napped I'd take a shower - what progress that was! Now I have no choice, I have to get up before her or shower during her nap because she will not stay in the bouncy chair anymore...but it was great for the first ten months or so!

So today I was feeling a bit frazzled and it was grocery day. Off I went to the grocery store and wow...there I had some me time! I never thought I'd look forward to weekly grocery shopping and see it as "me time"!

Oh the way things change when you have a baby.

Attempt #1 - Simulation of re-entry into real world - FAIL

Well, I'm back after what appears to be a 2+ month gap.

But it's not.

I was just away. And away in places where computers/internet were not always reliable or easily accessible or available when I was to use them. Instead I "blogged" with a pen and paper and now I just need to type and upload those posts...

So...I will be updating and back dating the few months over the next couple of weeks. And it will likely jump all over the place.

Anyway, on to the failed attempt. Our young lady turned one this week which means on Monday I will be heading back to work. I had thought I'd have almost three weeks to (re)orient myself to the joys of waking up to an alarm clock, not a baby and get both of us into a routine that would allow for me to get showered, dressed and hair done before J got out of bed...yeah right. The universe aligned itself against me...for days.

So today was to be day #1 of the simulation. I was going to set my alarm for 6:30, get up shower, dry my hair and get dressed, all before waking J around 7:00. Because for the last little while, not only has she either been sleeping through the night (or waking only once), she has also been sleeping in until 8:00!

But I forgot to factor in the twelve month vaccinations she had yesterday. And Alex's morning shift this week. So, Alex was up at 3:15 to leave the house before 4:30 and J woke up, oh, a bunch of times. The last time at 5:25. And after a series of attempts at getting her to go back to bed, we were both up for the day at 5:55. She did fall asleep, but then a very loud motorcycle gunned it right outside her windows and that was the end of that.

So, here we are. 10:00 and I've just managed to get a shower and get dressed.

Tomorrow - attempt #2. Yes, I know it's Saturday tomorrow.

Estonia

Postcard from Estonia from marinafir

Romania - Bucovina

Postcard from Romania from daffodil.

Description: Painted Monasteries in Bucovina

Finland - Onni on omistaa hyviä ystäviä

Postcard from Finland from Ninna

Description: "Happiness is having good friends"

China - In the mood for love

Postcard from China from daisybo

Bliss...

Last night I got to sleep in MY OWN BED! My very own bed! Oh, was it ever nice. And we got to see Alex. J and I have been gone pretty much five of the last six weeks and while we loved being in Kelowna and had a great time in Nelson, there really is no place like home!

Now I have ten days to get both J and I ready to go back to work...oh my!

In which upchuck is discussed

Otherwise known as vomit, puke, throw up etc.

If you prefer not read about this subject, well, stop reading now!
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But if you've got this far, I'm amazed!!

I'm about to fall asleep at the computer - it's been a long couple of days. Poor little J has the stomach flu and it's kept all of us busy.

We're still in Kelowna. We were supposed to go home yesterday morning, but J (thankfully) started throwing up an hour and a half before we were supposed to go. It would have been horrible for it to start in the car!

It's amazing what changes when you become a mom. I've always been a sympathy gagger (if not sympathy puker) when someone near my throws up...not so much anymore. I think survival mechanisms kick in when your baby is sick. Poor little girl projectile vomited all over me, not once, not twice, but five times last night and I barely blinked. I did have my dad there to take J from me and since she had just finished her bath, he was able to pull her yucky clothes off and plunk her back in the tub that still had water in it. But there was no gagging from me, just a rush to get my clothes off, wipe down a little, get dressed and start the massive clean up!

Being home has been a blessing - my mom and dad have been able to help out and when our pre-emergency room stuff started happening they were here to spell me off and calm me down and hold J while I called Healthlink. If we'd been at home, Alex would have been long gone to work when that all happened.

J is feeling better now, we think. She was in the emergency room for a quick visit (literally the fastest emergency visit I've ever had - we were in and out in less than hour and there was only one other car in the emergency parking when we got there) this morning and we've had a quiet day. We've booked a flight home on Wednesday and we can't wait to get home!

That's all...time for me to sleep now!

Get Fit Chicks!

Over there, to the left you will see a new blog listed under the family and friends etc etc title. My friend Stacey has been on a weight loss-get fit journey for the last couple of years and now that she's close to her goal, she's started a blog [it's gone...sorry] to talk about the last few pounds. Check her out and leave her a comment pretty please. Yay Stacey!!

Homeward Bound!

Yay!

I'm packed. Jocelyn's packed. Jocelyn's sleeping. Now, we just have to get up early tomorrow morning to catch a ride home with Uncle Brian!

YAY! HOME! ALEX! YAY!

Hopefully we all get a good night's sleep tonight...a certain someone is teething like mad. The second top tooth is taking forever to cut completely!

AMZ Family Reunion

I was going to post about our reunion, but I don't know where to start...so I'll just say there were 70+ people at the big spaghetti dinner on Saturday night (you can see them below) and that when I'm not as lazy, I'll post some more pictures. We had a great time...being with family is always spectacular!


EDIT October 12, 2009 - Check out this link and you can see more about the weekend if you're interested.

EDIT: January 14, 2010 - Check out this link and there's even more!