the half.

"that boy sure is a running fool." -- forrest gump

so last week i signed up to run the salt lake city half marathon. this causes me to be equal parts totally excited and completely terrified.

sure, i like to run. a half marathon has always been something i wanted to try. but let's be serious, i've never done anything like this before in my life. ever. it's embarrassing to admit but i have zero athletic ability, no depth perception [not my fault; due to a botched surgery], no coordination...which have all kind of limited my forays into the world of sports in the past. so now you know where i'm coming from -- this marathon is really outside my comfort zone.

prior to this i have only run two 5Ks. i do like to run, though. i was getting pretty good at endurance running before i got pregnant, and since jack was born i've been slooowly stepping it up. but that's hard to do when you're in a gym on a treadmill, and you have no goals to keep you going. signing up for a marathon is a pretty good reason to get myself out there again.

but i'm pretty pumped about it. i've found a good training program, i'm shopping for new running shoes, and i am accountable to my friend aimee who is also running it. but still scared. official training starts next week and i am now entreating ALL of you to give me your best tips.

seriously. email me, text me, comment, whatever and tell me what i need to know for this race. and don't forget to tell me i can do it :)
[i also welcome playlist suggestions because running to the same five songs is really redundant.]

"your normal business itinerary does not include frasier's bottom, west virginia?"

pretty sure i have blogged about my love for win a date with tad hamilton before [like here and here] . if you're not a psychotic fan like me you might not know that the movie is set in a town called frasier's bottom, west virginia.

so i'm hosting this valentine swap on the other blog and have been pairing up groups of people to send valentines to each other through the mail, and obviously i see a lot of addresses. one of the participants listed her address as frasier's bottom, west virginia, so of course i did a little double take. and then did what all crazy people would do: emailed her about it.

in case you were wondering, my new friend informed me that the movie was definitely not filmed in her hometown, nor is the movie town anything at all like the real town. she said they don't even have a piggly wiggly. [tragic.] [she actually made it sound like a teeny tiny rural town, which between my memories of reading the glass castle -- set in WV -- and driving through rural georgia towns for work, i'm not exactly getting a very positive mental image.] BUT -- she did in fact attend marshall university, inspiration for we are marshall, and she went to school there when they DID film that in the correct location. so she got to scope out matthew fox & matthew mcconaghey, which i would definitely call a win.

so there you go. random fact for the day. thank you internet for letting me make far-off friends and learn totally useless crap.

one more quote to leave you with: "so, uh, have her back by dawn. and no cocaine." actually two: "open the schleigenschlagen!" "you're both named richard levy?" "who isn't?"

everyone's a comedian

jack has been seriously cracking me up lately. in the past week, he's developed a fake cough that he uses when he wants attention. [don't worry, it's def not a real cough, and i've confirmed this occurrence in many other babies via babycenter. love that site.] he will be perfectly content but if he decides he wants something, he'll start whining and coughing till he gets it. mostly all this gets him is a lot of laughing from mama.

another skill: smiling on demand. a major faq from other people around here relates to how we get him to smile in so many pictures, and the answer is: we don't. every time jack sees a camera pop up, he breaks into a huge grin all by himself and holds it till we take the picture. he's done this for a few months and i love it. this is a side effect of all the picture-taking we do -- one that i hope will stick, unlike the temporary blindness we inflict on him from all the flashes.

[faq #2: how do you get his hair to stick up like that? a: i do nothing, it stands up on its own. it's like little baby duck feathers.]

anyway, he's recently mastered rolling over, so when he's in his crib settling down for naptime he usually rolls over onto his tummy to play. once in a while he forgets that he knows how to roll back over and he squawks till we come rescue him by flipping him. just now i heard him whining in his crib so i went in to check on him -- he was, in fact, on his tummy, and apparently had been very busy scooting himself around the crib to pull on all the bumpers. so far he had undone two of them and his bed was in disarray.

i thought it was funny, so i ran out of his room to grab the camera. while i was gone he started crying and whining more, but as soon as i walked back in with that camera he busted out a huge smile:



silly jack. he is one amusing baby.

psychic snowstorm + baby jack [duh]

this morning b woke up and told me it was snowing. it obviously wasn't. i'd been awake three hours longer than him and had seen no snow. apparently he'd had a dream that his car was covered in snow, or maybe he just has better eyesight than me.

then 10 minutes later i looked out the window and everything was white. apparently b is psychic!



it's currently still coming down which means i'm getting cabin fever, because i decided to delay our costco trip due to inclement conditions. [b thought this was silly but i reminded him i'm from california and we're scared of weather.] bah. stop snowing! i want my photos and free samples!

[p.s. but i actually like it. i've been hoping for a fresh snowfall for a few days now -- so unlike me! -- so i guess i don't mind.]

[p.p.s. if you, too, need some indoor entertainment, feel free to watch this cute little video -- b made it to document jack's first six months. i kind of hate this taylor swift song now after watching it too many times.]

blogs, who needs em

i have a thing or two to say about blogworld. sometimes i think if i see one more blogger write about how they were "inspired" by this or that, or they post one more photo of bunting or chevron stripes, my head is going to explode. maybe i just read too many design-y blogs, but after a while it seems like everyone is talking about the same dumb stuff and my eyes glaze over.

that's not to say everyone out there is like this, of course. and hello, i have my own lifestyle-type blog on which i am a "sellout" and review products and get paid by sponsors. [not sure this is actually selling out, a favored term by certain other bloggers; i'm pretty sure i've got a business model in there somewhere.] i also don't think i'm writing this just because i'm jealous that ALT is this weekend and i'm not going -- i AM jealous, but not enough to cough up $350+ and drag my nursing 6-month-old along.

but. i used to just read blogs that piqued my interest by their style, photos, whatever -- but then i started craving more substance. pretty pictures were one thing but what i really wanted was something that made me think or appreciate life in a different way. it's like the difference in going from us weekly to the happiness project. my current faves are ones that help me enjoy & find happiness in the everyday, see how others deal with the struggles and triumphs of life, teach me to be a better mama or of course just make me laugh out loud.

so anyway, reading too many blogs makes me compare myself and i don't like that. i start thinking i should change my makeup, my clothes, my writing style, whatever...or i feel bad about myself because i don't own an SLR camera or decorate my home in full anthropologie [a store i don't even really LIKE! gasp, i know]. so maybe instead i'll just stick to these better, uplifting blogs -- and keep posting my silly camera-phone photos and chronicling my life in MY own way, not someone else's. i'll probably still read those lifestyle and design blogs because let's be serious, i still need a little "inspiration" in my life -- but i'll keep them at arms length and remember that i am cool too. just maybe not as cool as people who get invited to speak at conferences.

so take THAT, blogland. at least [in my opinion] i have a baby of baby gap model quality. [did you read that article?] that has to count for something, right?



jack says: over & out.

a day in the life - jan '11

do you read goop? i'm not a giant fan -- i keep an eye on it out of mild curiousity -- but i really liked last week's post. it focused on the daily routine of working moms [though i don't really consider stella mccartnery, gwyneth or this VC woman to be even close to typical working moms] and i thought it was really interesting to see how they balance -- or don't balance -- work and kids.

so, with that in mind, here's a look at my daily routine as a work-at-home-mom. i am truly fascinated by the mom lifestyle, whether you work at home or work at an office or don't work at all. feel free to blog your own daily routine and send me a link -- i'd really love to read it! [here's a great one that paige wrote a while back.] i'm going to post one of these every once in a while so i can look back and see how the routine has changed.



i get up when jack gets up, between 7 and 8 a.m. -- i rarely if ever set an alarm, unless we need to be somewhere early or i have a lot of work to do. i feed him and get him ready and we play on the couch for a bit till he gets sleepy and goes back down for his first nap.

naps are my crazy rush-around time when i try to fit as much as humanly possible into a few short hours. jack is a pretty good sleeper and his naps are typically about an hour & a half long. i've worked really really hard to get him on this sleep schedule and i'm proud of it, but i'm also subject to freaking out when he gets out of whack.

nap 1 is when i get ready for the day, check email and eat breakfast. sometimes i start work or read blogs if i have extra time. during the other naps i answer emails, make calls, write, blog, edit photos, research, review -- all in a day's work. i currently have three different PR clients, plus my other blog and some fun writing projects that i consider my j-o-b.

however, naps are also the only time i have to squeeze in my other duties as CEO of wells home life. when jack is awake i try hard to give him my full attention [meaning computer & tv are off] or at least involve him in my activities, which means that naps are the time i catch up on solo things like dishes, laundry, cleaning, online banking, menu planning, etc.

but back to the day. between nap 1 and 2 we usually get out of the house, even if it's just a quick run to target or the post office or the bank. i feel like both of us reallllly need to go out at least once a day [a brilliant mommy tip from my friend ang] or we get crazy. between naps 2 and 3 we usually stay home and play -- i like to give him some time every day where he can just play and hang out without having to be shoved in his car seat or dragged around somewhere. that is, if there IS a nap 3 because lately there hasn't been -- and if he does take one, it's pretty short. sometimes we go for a walk if the weather is nice, which lately is never and that sucks. jack and i play with his toys, sing songs, play hide-n-seek, change diapers [me], suck on toes [him], try solid foods, read books, occasionally watch regis & kelly, and inspect all the fascinating things in our apartment like doorknobs and mirrors and towel racks.

a few times a week we have out-of-the-ordinary activities and these are fun. i plan our whole day around them so j can still get his naps in. things like doctor's appointments, play dates, lunches with friends, visits to family, meetings, and of course grocery shopping and other errands take up part of our day.

b usually gets home around dinner time and he plays with jack while i make dinner. jack sits on our lap or in his high chair while we eat [and usually squawks since it's the end of the day and he's tired]. b cleans up the kitchen and i start the bedtime process for the little buddy -- sometimes a bath, always lotion and pj's and books and one last feeding before songs and bed. he's usually out cold by 7:30 and then it's free time for momma. i go to the gym, finish up work, watch tv or a movie with b, or catch up on other things before i crash into bed around 11 p.m. -- but not realllly crash into bed because i still get up at least once a night to feed jack.

the other night b and i were discussing the awesomeness of baby jack [a common topic] while we got ready for bed. b said "i just love that kid" and i said something like "yeah, me too, but sometimes he makes me really tired." then b said "true, but he's probably the best thing that could ever make us tired. i don't think there's anything better we could be doing." a truer statement has never been uttered. sure, my life now is a loooot different than when i rode the train and worked in an office and traveled overseas, but it's not really a bad different. i now have the best little sidekick and get so excited by his every move. and that is a pretty good life.

and there you have it. a day in the life of this wahm, dated january 2011.

porridge eaters anonymous

over christmas break, the j man got his first taste of rice cereal and wasn't quite sure what to think.





we try it once a day and i think we're making progress...not all of it ends up on his bib now, and sometimes he even gets excited when the spoon is coming at his mouth. b calls rice cereal "porridge," an accurate term in my opinion. here's jack modeling his sweet new ikea high chair:



obviously it's thrilling! oh, and while we're discussing big-boy activities --- if you were wondering if i ever got him a cart cover, the answer is yes:



next we try liquified fruits & veggies. solid foods, sitting up in carts...what's next? college? baby jack is growing up so quick but i must say i'm not sad about it. every new stage is my new favorite. plus little blob-like helpless babies are pretty boring.