Quadruple Extraction

It finally happened. My wisdom teeth have been yanked. It sounds dumb, but this is something I have dreaded my entire life (although, these past couple weeks I’ve done a pretty good job of not thinking about it at all), so I’m feeling a strange sense of relief amidst the pain and numbness as I realize this ordeal is very soon going to be in my past. I had to cut my boot camp workout short this morning (and it’s a good thing since I was sweating like crazy, it being 80 degrees at 6 AM, and I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink anything until after the procedure) to make it to my 8 AM appointment.  I do love being put down for a good drug-induced nap, but waking up to a mouth full of gauze and stitches is not the most refreshing way to wake up. I think I remember asking the staff, “did you guys have fun?” when I woke up, and then asking them if I really asked that when I was slightly more coherent. I kinda wish KC could’ve been back there to record it. Special thanks to Elise for watching the kids for a couple hours, and KC for being the great support he always is, and supplying me with pudding, yogurt and ice cream as I ask for it. I lay here with ice packs on each cheek, finally feeling the Vicodin do its job (or at least taking the edge off-ouch), and still not able to feel anything on my face from my lips down.  Here’s to hoping these next few days of narcotics and soft foods go quickly, and that I won’t look too silly with any swelling that may occur.

This is my life.

And how can you not love a life filled with all of that? I actually wasn’t home during this hug-fest, but I’m very glad that Elise was kind enough to catch it on video for me to laugh at. You babies know how to make a mommy glad she has you, even during your terrible twos (ugh)!

We had planned on going out last night.

We were about tuck the little ones in bed and head out when this began. So we kept the kids up as we watched to craziness, until it was too scary to be that close to the windows (Alex actually ran from the window laugh-screaming) and then all huddled in the living room while the lights flickered a few times until they were out for good.

When we did finally get the kids down, and the storm had calmed, we ventured out to assess the damage. Many people from the neighborhood slowly made their way out, all kind of tiptoeing in the quiet after the storm as if it was some post-apocalyptic event. It was quite a mess outside, and frightening to see the massive trees that uprooted so close to our home. The fireflies didn’t seem to mind what had just happened as they entertained us while we chatted with neighbors (one of which had his recently installed generator running loudly for us all to be jealous of—and he was quite proud of himself, let me tell you. And stingy, without any offer to help anyone out. In fact, when someone joked if he was having a party that night, he matter-of-factly said NO, cause he was assembling something in his living room. C’mon Mr. Where’s the compassion?! Okay, I don’t think anyone was desperate at that point, but still!) Anyway, we didn’t want to leave the kiddos with the power being out, so we lit our emergency lantern, and took the opportunity to do some cleaning. Then we laughed to tears watching Better Off Dead on a mini dvd player. A fun “date night” after all.

But with the power being out, we were quite warm, making sleep difficult, and I was very worried about my freezer freshly stocked with a variety of expensive meats. All night I kept having dreams the power was back on, or we’d taken the food to someone’s house and all was well, and then I’d wake up to find no change in the power status. It made for a horrible night’s sleep, and I tried to make myself tired by reading at 2 AM. At least I made some head-way on my book.

We went out to breakfast to pass the time (and brought a cooler with us to fill with ice to salvage any freezer items), during which we heard from Lili that the power was finally back on. Hooray! Breakfast tasted all the better after that news.

I spent the morning throwing away most things in the fridge (what’s a better way to really clean the refrigerator out?), and checking on everything in the freezer. Turns out our never even peeking in the freezer door paid off, cause although some popsicles and frozen fruit were a little soft, everything seemed to stay in a semi-frozen state. Money wastage averted! Even after 13 hours in the dark.

It’s sad that people are still without power, even with the dozens of electric company trucks we passed on our way through the neighborhood. So many working so hard. It will take a while to clean up all the fallen trees. Hundreds of them! Apparently, our little neighborhood was one of the hardest hit by this storm. We are feeling very lucky right now to not have more that a few huge branches in our yard. Oh, and our garbage can made it a few houses away. What a crazy night.

All good things must come to an end.

But sometimes it's fun that the end of the good thing brings more good things. Like when I have to leave my wonderful family in Utah to see my husband and babies hat I've missed so much while I've been gone. It's always hard to say goodbye, so it really helps to have something to look forward to after a long day of traveling. I'll miss all you Utahns, and I can't wait to see all you Marylanders! (and I hope to find Grandma and Grandpa Robinson looking alright after several days with my crazy bunch. You guys are the best!) Just waiting to board my plane and then I'll be that much closer to those little toddler faces. Here I come kiddos!

What has happened to me?

So, you know how I started running consistently last fall, and I have really learned to love it? Well, apparently I love it enough to talk myself into a half marathon. I can’t believe I just said that, but it’s true. My running friend Courtney informed me about a race she signed up for in March, and in honor of National Running Day, you get $20 off the hefty$85 registration today only. And after feeling nearly invincible after my longest run to date at boot camp this morning, I  decided it was time to amp up my game, and go for a longer race. So everything just sort of fell into place, and I took a big gulp and signed myself up.

I know I should probably be looking more in the 10k varieties of races, because of the fact that I only have a handful of 5ks under my belt, but the race is in March, so I figure I have a good amount of time to train for the half. I know that it will be a very different experience, running the longer distances. When I run at boot camp, we stay together, keeping a pretty easy pace, and I feel like I could run forever at that rate. I’m always trying to run so fast at the 5ks, that it gets pretty painful for me toward the end, making me start to hate the sport for a few days, so maybe this slow running will be nice, even if it is for a longer amount of time. And maybe, just maybe, I can make it through 13.1 miles without feeling like I want to die. I’m not going to be looking so much at the clock. Mostly just the finish line.

I have  lot to learn about long distance running, so I better start studying up. I really never thought I’d be doing this, but there is a first time for everything, right? Yikes.

And the WORLD WILL KNOW!

I want to see it again. I wanted to see it again the moment it was over. Newsies was a show to remember. I’m not one to see a lot of shows. I do love a good trip to the theater should the opportunity arise, but I have to be pretty excited to see it to fork over the cash and time required to see one. But I’m telling you, this was worth every penny and hour on the bus, and more.

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love Newsies. It must have come out during my more impressionable years, because I have had a crush on Jack Kelly for as long as I can remember. It’s a healthy crush, mind you. Nowhere near any weird obsession, but there is never a day that I wouldn't be in the mood to pull out my Newsies dvd and have a good dance/sing-a-long. The show exceeded my expectations, and truly left me wanting more of the amazing singing, dancing, and adorable talented faces. There was a lot of new material, and slight changes to the plot, but it was all around a fantastic performance.  I just wish it would tour in Baltimore so it wouldn’t be such a trip to see it. Oh, and I might have liked it so much that I was a bit of a sucker and purchased the over-priced t-shirt to commemorate the experience. I never though I’d be that person, but I guess I am for the Newsies.

And if seeing the show wasn’t enough awesomeness to take in, I got to experience it with some of my best friends. Sarah and Molly slept over the night before so we could all ride to the 6:15 am bus together (they live a little far to be driving to the bus that early), and we met up with Courtney in the morning. The bus ride went by so quickly. We never had a shortage of conversation, and we just know how to have a good time together. And when we arrived, having several of us came in handy when we were splitting a cab four ways. Bonus.(A totally candid Marilyn Monroe-esque moment.)

Although we didn’t have much time to enjoy what NYC had to offer, we did what we could in the time we did have. We started with brunch at Max Brenner. And what a “brunch” it was. Kobe beef burger, streak panini, cocoa dusted waffle fries, and then dessert. The most decadent, buttery, light, crispy waffle topped with caramelized bananas, and vanilla ice cream and lot of lovely gooeyness, and the Peanut Butter Euphoria Sundae, with all kinds of textures and flavors to enjoy. Don’t worry, we shared. It was a filling, amazing, rich meal. We were all a little chocolate tipsy after that. We did some shopping, and made it to the show with only minutes to spare! (Watching all of that jumping and dancing around the stage kind of makes you want to do it too. )

After the show, we used our last hour or so to relax in Bryant Park, after a little dancing in the street (okay, maybe that was just me as I was coming off the high of the show). That park is just so beautiful and so New York. Yoga groups, a children's reading station with a rack of books and little tables and chairs, and a charming outdoor restaurant. And can I just say something about how the weather was just perfection. It was sunny with a light breeze throughout the day. Never above 75 degrees. We were expecting a lot of rain, so this was more than a pleasant surprise. (Don’t worry, we found someone trustworthy enough to take this.)

After more shopping, we grabbed the obligatory slice of New York Pizza, and hopped on our 6:45 bus home. That one is always a little longer for me, but we made it alright with a little resting, chatting, and Farkle on my iPod.  We kept talking about how free it felt to be away from all of our motherly obligations, thanks to our awesome husbands for taking all that responsibility for the long day. They did such a good job, we might have to do things like this more often. He he.

We were home by 11:00 pm, and I fell into bed feeling like it was such a fulfilling, successful, great day. Tiring at times, yes, especially for the pregnant, or non-morning people. But I for one enjoyed every second, and just felt like everything fell into place so well. I feel a little sad that it’s over, so I’m going to get the Newsies music that has been running through my head for days, hoping that listening to it will soften the blow. I’m sure I’ll have the kids singing “Santa Fe” in no time!

(More pics here  if you’re interested.)

"It's a FINE LIFE!"

I'm so lucky to have girlfriends as crazy as I am to want to take a bus to New York just to see Newsies and then come back home the same day. Just a few more hours until we are walking those crazy streets of NYC again! More to come...