October Love

October is my favorite month of the year (and none of our birthdays happen to be this particular month — though Sebastian was supposed to be born on 10/02/13).  From fall running/racing to endless hayrides and pumpkin patches, October is by far the best month ever.  And because you all know I’m a big planner,  I made sure to plan for some great fall activities.

Recap of what we’ve done so far:

1. Okay, this doesn’t count for October because it was 9/29, but we attended Lili’s paint monthly paint night with her school.  We love going.

Too much fun with the little folks.

2. B came with  me to the office one day and he was totally good.

3. We had a 4-day weekend for the Jewish holidays and Lili started the day off with yoga at the library. (10/01/16).

While she did yoga, P and Sebastian hung out on the story-time rug.

4. Monday (10/3), I took the kids to a pumpkin patch right down the street.

And when we came home, I made dinner while they painted said pumpkins.

B went down for a nap and then we started baking Halloween cookies.  He woke up in the middle of our bake-off.

And then we went to the library (yes, all the same day).

Lili read a book to Connor and she did fantastic.

and then we came home.

5.The kids had another day off but I didn’t so I needed to take off (10/4).  Of course Lili wanted to know what our plans were for the day. So we went to another pumpkin patch down the street.

And we are trying to practice B’s smile.

After we picked more pumpkins, we stopped at Target to pick up a few things and then we headed home to paint the pumpkins. HA.

Told you, we are trying to get this smile down.

We also finished up our bats and hung them up.

6.  On Friday, I picked up Mimi’s brother and we headed into the city to pick our bibs for Brooklyn Rock N Roll Half Marathon.  We took the train from my office and it went pretty smooth.

After we picked up our bibs, we had time to stop over Time Square. Every single time he visits, he has to take an obligatory Time Square photo.

We had to catch the 12:46 train back in order for me to get the kids from school so we were pretty pressed for time but he was happy to get his pic in.

After I picked the kids up, we dropped off Ralph and came home to eat a quick dinner before heading to Pump it Up with some friends.

Kids had a ton of fun.  After pump it up, we had to run over to the super market and then we were home by 8PM. Ugh. I still had to give a kids a bath, put them down and then lay out race clothes.

I was in bed by 11 PM, later than I like to be before a race.

6. 10/08/16 RACE DAY!  I woke up quarter to 5 and ate breakfast.  My brother scooped me up by 5:50 AM and he drove us into Brooklyn.  Quick sidenote: as we are getting dropped off, Ralph realizes he left his BIB at HOME!!! Oh my GOD. I thought he was going to have a hard time getting in but it all worked out.

I pretty much paced him. He wanted to come in around 2:25-2:20.

It was a good time. I know he was hurting towards the end but we pushed through and came in at 2:22 AND not only was he thrilled but he had a PR.

Our siblings had awesome signs for us.

Then we had to walk 2-miles back to the car. HA! But it wasn’t bad. We were home before noon and I showered and put B down for a nap.  Then I made an early dinner and we carved pumpkins in the evening.

Isn’t it pretty? The kids got a little bored of cleaning out of pumpkins part, so I had them make construction paper pumpkins on the side.

7.  Columbus Day I had to work but kids had off (10/10/16) but I promised them that once I picked up kids I would take them to Kidz Village.

They had a blast and didn’t give me hard time when it was time to leave.  Probably because they were about to close their doors.

8.  I was swamped at the office on Tuesday so my sister in law was able to pick up Lili from school and take her out before dropping her off at my office.

They had fun together.

9.  I was OFF yesterday (10/12/16) for the Jewish holiday and so were the kids so guess what we did??? We met up with my soley, Cici, for a track workout (tomorrow happens to be our 4 year runniversary).  Did I tell you she’s 22-weeks pregnant???

We were dripping post workout.  I didn’t have a sitter, so I made sure to pack their bag and was praying that the field wouldn’t be packed and lucky us… hardly anyone at the track!!! I love when that happens.

They would occasionally join me for half a lap.

I can’t take their cuteness.  And can I tell you how stinkin’ cute Lili would be when I was doing a recovery lap?

She would bring water for me on the side. I swear I felt like I was an elite runner. HA! When we said our goodbyes to Cici, we headed over to look for Halloween costumes for Lili.  We already ordered Sebastian’s.

We were there for awhile trying on costumes and then she finally picked up. I’ll have the winner posted soon.

When we came home I had to cook lunch, prep dinner, put B down for a nap, do laundry and then we did more Halloween arts/crafts.

What a great time we had, especially making these puppets.

10.  Saying goodbye.  While in the midst of cooking lunch, prepping dinner, doing laundry, feeding kids, etc. Mimi and her brother stopped by to say bye to the kids.

Next time we’ll see him is when we head out to San Francisco for my brother and his sister’s wedding.

Do you dress up for Halloween? Do you do Halloween races? I signed up for a 5k and a half marathon this Spring. I am thinking of a Spring marathon but haven’t really been looking around.

Did you ever run a Rock N Roll series? Brooklyn was my first. It was nice.Not too overcrowded.  The medals are actually REALLY nice.

I’m not in tomorrow so hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!!

 

Mid-September

The days/weeks just seem to fly by. I can’t believe it’s already mid-September.  It’s also hard to believe that it’s been almost a year since my dad was first diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma.

Poppop with the grandkids

It seems like a bad nightmare we all had to go through. There were a lot of ER visits, hospital visits, etc.  He had his stem cell transplant that March and stayed in the hospital longer than expected because there were complications.  Finally he was home in April and gaining back strength (and his hair was growing back in as seen above).  The last four months he had follow-up visits and blood works.

Unfortunately, things aren’t heading in the direction we had hoped for.  After monitoring his blood works from the last few months, we learned that it looks like he will need yet another transplant.  This transplant will give him a year and half life span; maybe more. So we seem to be back at square one.

Next week, he will have a PICC line placed followed by a strong dose of chemo and then the transplant phase will begin.

We are all keeping positive thoughts.

On another note, the kids have started school.

09-08-2016

I can’t believe we have a Kindergarten gal and a Pre-K 3 boy.  Time is zipping on by.

My in-laws (a/k/a the biggest support with the kids these days) left for Spain, so as you can imagine, I have so much on my plate between working F/T, dropping/picking kids up to/from school, getting dinner together, etc.

Unfortunately, with everything going on, I will have defer MCM this November.  My training has been inconsistent (sorry Chelsea… I thought this was the year we’d meet in person). I do have a half marathon next month and even though my training has been sub-par, I intend to run this race.  I would also love to get some shorter races in to get my speed back on the grid. Lots of speed training/tempo runs, etc.  I am getting a lot of strength training in.

So much more to update on (how kids did in school, some DIY projects I completed, etc.) but too much to put into one post. Just one more thing to add onto here.

Last Sunday, 9/11/16, was Sebastian’s 3rd Birthday.  I cherish that day 3 years ago.

Sometimes I wish I could go back to that day.  They’re so precious. And now, they’re so big.

Raise your hand if you’re THREE!

3-years later…

I think this is all I could handle for today.

What do you think I should do for MCM? Defer or just reapply for lottery in 2017?  My issue is I have a good chance of getting into NYCM so do I run back-to-back marathons in 2017? HA.

 

Weekly Update: IT’S MY FRIDAY

Is it me or did this week drag on or what?  Marathon training’s going and I also managed to get in weights 3x a week.  I know I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again, the humidity kills.

Anyhow, this past weekend (I know, days and days ago) was pretty much laid back.

My brother’s fiance watched the kids on Thursday, which worked out perfect for me.. The kids were thrilled to see her.

On Friday we visited my parents.  I hadn’t seen them in weeks.  My mom and I took a few trips to Costco and then when B took a nap, Lili and I went to the park to hang out.

We had a mini-picnic, just her and I. While she played on the playground, I caught up on some reading materials.

By 1:30 PM, I ordered lunch for my parents and I then headed back home.  We stayed for a bit and then headed home.

The weekend we just kinda hung out. The weather was crap so we did a lot of imagination play.

Lili was the owner of the restaurant.  We ordered food and had a nice meal.

The kids found my running headlamp.

Pedro said they looked like they were digging for gold.

Tuesday night we headed to movies in the park. It’s the last movie for the summer. I can’t believe summer’s coming to an end.

They were showing Inside, Out. we love that movie.  I caught up on some reading.

I started a new book.

It’s pretty good so far. I can’t put it down, but unfortunately I have two little ones that are demanding.

Such a good time.

Anyway, this weekend we have no major plans except my long run and back to school shopping. I can’t be school starts in less than a month.

What books are you reading? Book or Kindle?  I bought Me Before You also.  I prefer books rather than the kindle.

 

Summer Fun (and Hot Runs)…

I feel like I’m in my senior year of high school and have been absent for 3-weeks because I had the chicken pox (yes, it’s true, I was 17 years old when I got the chicken pox!).  I haven’t posted in a few weeks. Juggling the kids, work, marathon training and life has been quite the struggle, but I am getting through it.

Quick update (is it ever really quick?).  Kids started summer camp 3-weeks ago.  The first few days were okay, and then there were tears others, but now, they’re pros.

One of the days I picked the kids up, the teacher told me Sebastian had a (girl)friend that follows him and sits next to him at lunch. They supposedly feed each other lunch.

Favorite part of the day is when I pick them up. But overall, they’re having a blast.

Their last week is next week but I am thinking of doing one more week after and then they’ll have two weeks before school starts (and for me to get Sebastian fully potty trained. We’re working on it!).

We have spent some time with family when we can.  P’s nephew came to my office two Fridays ago and then he slept over.

We had dinner with my in-laws and then Jules, Lili and I hit up our favorite cafe, Van Goh’s Ear.

Then Sundays we go to mass.

We made it to the movies in the park again.  This time we watched Hotel Transylvania 2. Next week is the last movie in the park, Inside Out. I’m looking forward to that one.

And last Friday after work, I picked up my niece from her summer camp so that the kids had some time to play.

When I’m not able to make it outdoors for a run, I turn to my trusty tread.

And I just started binge watching Pretty Little Liars (and I’m obsessed.  Almost on season 4 so still so much to catch up on!).

We tried out a new hole in the wall Mexican place, Freppe’s.

And we loved it!!!!!!

Last weekend it RAINED and RAINED… so we made sure to do some indoors arts/crafts projects.

We read for the millionth time, Where the Wild Things Are and then made monsters and boats.  Then we did a paint night.

It was fun.

We try to get to the pool when we can.

And on Tuesday we went to National Night Out in town.

Sebastian was STAR-STRUCK when he saw Spiderman.

And when Spiderman gave him a high-5, well, that just made his day.

AND Pedro’s birthday gift to me…

New shoes, fuel, compression socks, etc…. I’m in heaven. (and yes, my birthday was nearly two months ago… I just used his certificate yesterday!).

Do you watch PLL? What’s your favorite TV show(s)? I have a few. Breaking Bad, Grey’s Anatomy, Pretty Little Liars, Empire (which I still need to catch up on).

Plans for the weekend? I have a long run and nothing else on schedule really. I like those kinds of weekends…

 

 

School’s Out for the Summer

Well, it’s actually TOMORROW, when school’s officially out.  It also happens to be sweet Lili’s 5th birthday. Holy crap. I can’t believe my daughter is turning 5!!!! How did we get here already?  Anyhow, my quick weekly (more like week and a half) recap.

So, we had a plaly-date with Lili’s best (Fri. 6/10/16)

And they had a blast.  We gave all 4 kids a bath and as soon as we got home, they just needed to be tucked in. Easy Peasy.

The next day, my niece came over bright and early. I made a huge breakfast and then we started some activities. First we took them to the park. And by 1pm, we headed home to put B down for a nap.  I did a paint session with the girls.

It was very fun and we were going by our rule of NO TV for most of the day.  We were holding off on TV until before dinner.

Didn’t they do a great job?

Anyway, after we were done painting, I knew B was going to wake up so I took out the playdoh and then I had to run out to drop off tickets for Lili’s dance recital at my in-laws.

I got home and found the three playing nicely.  While they played for almost 2 hours, I made dinner. Then it was eating time, bath and bed. I had to prepare for Lili’s dance recital.

Sunday (06/12/16), I woke up and gave the kids banana bread. I ran on the treadmill and then got all three kids dressed.  I showered and we were out of the house by 9:45.

 

Lili did a great job on her first recital ever.

Here she is with Miss Sarah.

After, we headed over to a restaurant to eat with family.  It was nice.  Then we went home and relaxed for a bit.

Last week was pretty busy also.  On Thursday (06/16/16), Lili had a little something for her Pre-K class.

They are so cute.  My FIL and I both attended. P was sick earlier that week so couldn’t take more time off.

And she’ll be starting Kindergarten now. My how time flies. The ceremony was pretty short and sweet.  I went to work and picked her up.  Then that night we prepared her goody bags for her classmates.  Her birthday is really tomorrow but we celebrated last Friday in school.

I really like how her goody bags came out.

Friday morning, B and I went food shopping and then stopped at Lili’s school for munckins and juice.

B was so excited to be in school. I can’t believe he’ll be going this September.

He did not want to leave her side. He had so much fun. He was hysterically crying when we had to leave.

And her goody bags were a huge hit.  All the kids were looking at their pictures, laughing, finding one another.

It happened to be her classmate’s birthday also.

Okay, too much picture overload here. I’ll have to do a quick recap of the weekend tomorrow.

As for running, it’s been going well. I have been getting miles in and some strength (not as much as I would like to, but I’m getting some in).  I start MCM training in a few weeks so I’m just enjoying the next few weeks of fun miles.

Who’s going on summer vacation? We’re not really going anywhere. I might do some long weekend to the beach but nothing huge.

Who’s running a lot of races this summer? Summer running/training is tough… I will try to hit the trails more so that I am in the shade.

M.D.W.

6:00 AM: Strength Workout; 11:00 AM: Run – Hill Repeats

Happy Tuesday! The long weekend was great and I had too much fun with the kids.  Unfortunately, it’s back to reality for all of us.  I prefer to workout first thing in the morning, but Sebastian has been incredibly needy of me.  Sometimes I’ll be up and it’s like he knows and then wakes up with me.  So, as soon as I unrolled my mat, he did same.

Great workout session for both of us.  I wanted to run but didn’t have time… no really, I finished my workout, prepped Lili’s lunch, got the kids ready to go to school/in-laws, packed running clothes and by the time I knew it, I had zero time to shower. Oops.  So I quickly got myself ready and headed out the front door.

It was already hot when we left so I tried to go run at the earliest time that I could go.  I went at 11:00 AM.

And I was drenched.   But I am glad it is done.  I did a mile warm-up, then hill repeats on Clinton Ave.  It was so hot I could only stand to 1-minute repeats x 6 before calling it quits and then heading back to the office for a 1-mile cool-down.

Anyway, the weekend was great.  There was lots of running, food and park time.  First, on Friday morning, I dropped Lili off at school and Sebastian and I visited my parents.  After an hour, we met up with my friend, Jacquie, and her two kids for a 2-mile walk and then they played at the park.

We went home close to noon and then I fed him lunch before he passed out.

He was knocked! P was home by 1:30 and stayed with him while I picked Lili up.  Then we visited my in-laws for a few hours before heading home.  The kids played with playdoh before we ate dinner.

Saturday morning I got up early and baked.

Then the kids and I went food shopping and I made a big brunch.  Pancakes, sausage, bacon, oj. We but Sebastian down for a nap and then headed over to Celeste’s house for Rosa’s Birthday BBQ.  Celeste and John did a great job hosting.

Here are a bunch of gifts from the guests.  Everyone brought gifts and Celeste and John will be making baskets and donating them to a hospital for mothers that are going through a pregnancy loss.  They are amazing friends.

And here is a collage of photos that Celeste put together.  I was able to get a good video before the wind took a few down.

The food was good, company was great and the kids had a ton of fun.  It was such a beautiful, HOT … but beautiful day.

What a great time..

We left close to 5:30 and I had to make a stop at my sister’s to drop off her planner that she left at my parents house last week.  Since we were there, we hung out a bit, gave the kids bath and then she ordered dinner.

Lili fell asleep on the way home and was CRANKY!!!

Sunday morning it was HOT again. I made a quick breakfast and then took Sebastian for a haircut.  We actually saw my mom there so that was a nice treat.  After, we headed to Dunkin Donuts for iced coffee and donuts and then to the spray playground.  I got a great parking spot and a bench all to myself.

 

It was 90 degrees out at 11:30.

After two hours it was time to go!!! Sebastian napped like a baby and Lili rested most of the day. P went out to a late lunch with his mom.

Yesterday was pretty low key. We were supposed to get some storms but that didn’t happen. We did check out Sports Authority because they’re going out of business but there weren’t really any great deals.

Lili had a meltdown this morning when I dropped her off.  She was upset because I wasn’t picking her up from school.  MELTDOWNNNNNNN.  Then when I got back from my run, my phone was ringing and it was Sebastian trying to Facetime me.

I guess that happens when you spend too many days with the kids.  They are clinging to you for dear life.

Who ran some Memorial Day races? 

Anyone ever run a race and got to a certain point when they decided to STOP the race (due to weather conditions)? A few  of my friends ran Vermont Marathon on Sunday. That was my first marathon ever.  When they got to mile 21, they were shutting down the race because of the heat.  All of my friends gave them the F-U, I’m FINISHING and crossed that finish line.  Tough as nails.

Hope you enjoy the short week!

Hey May…

5-Mile Run – COMPLETED

Work’s been CRAZZZZZZZY, which is a good thing.  And when work isn’t crazy, life is crazy.  BUT, I’m not complaining.  I’m grateful to have a paycheck each week and a happy family to come home to. Perspective.

The month has been filled with lots of fun things.

It started with a sleepover with my niece (4.30.16).  We borrowed my mom’s air mattress from Costco.  I am thinking of buying one for our home.  It’s compact when deflated and 3-4 people can fit on the mattress.

We had some weird weather and the kids decided to wear hats and gloves while doing some gymnastics indoors. (5.1.16).

I left the office early one day and took Lili out on a date.

We had so much fun.  Right after our diner date, we headed over to the library.  Lili was scheduled to read a book to a dog. (05.02.16)

She was so excited to read to Madison and Madison was very interested in her book. Cutest thing ever.

I got to run with my solemate mid-week.  Any run with her makes my day. 05.03.06

On Cinco de Mayo we celebrated my boss’ 50th Birthday.

I’ve worked for this woman for 12.5 years.  We get a long very well.

We had so many days of rain.  I thought it was April Showers brings May Flowers… They were wrong this month. (05.06.16)

We celebrated Mother’s Day with Pedro’s parents on Saturday at an Italian restaurant, Tristeina’s (05.07.16).  Our family lunches would be conflicting with one another so this made life easier.

And Sunday we celebrated with my family after Sunday mass. (05.08.16)

Pedro’s did fantastic with my Mother’s Day card. He never fails to give me the most heartfelt and crafty card for Mother’s Day.

Made with love.

The following week we had to switch up day-care since my MIL’s brother was visiting from Ecuador.  My brother’s fiance babysat Monday and P took off on Tuesday.  Then we visited with my in-laws.

They don’t speak English so I had to brush up on my espanol. HA! (05.10.16).

My bestfriend watched B on Wed. (05.11.16). Lili was totally bummed out because she had to go to school.

I don’t know what I would do without her.

And then it was Friday the 13th, which also happened to be my niece’s 7th birthday. It was raining again.  I had to run errands with B. He had another dr. appointment. His allergies have been awful.

And then we ran out to scoop up Lili and head over to my niece’s.

He’s all about Batman. (05.13.16).  My sister was throwing a birthday dinner for my niece.

 

We had a lot of fun and then after presents and cake, Scarlett came over our house for a sleep over. We got home so late so the kids went straight to bed

The next morning, I made them banana bread and pancakes. (05.14.16).

And when Scarlett left, I headed out for an early afternoon trail run with my soley.

We are always so happy to run with each other. The rest of the day we just hung around.

Sunday we had Scarlett’s birthday part part 2.  This time it was the gymnastics studio that we go to. (05.15.16).

Wow, that was a long two weeks.  I still have to catch up on the last week. The quick recap is we spent a lot of time with family, celebrated a birthday and I got to run with my solemate a few times this month.

I’m looking forward to catching up with everyone else’s life. It’s been a few weeks.

I’m debating on a trail race in two weeks.  Something just for a fun.  Do you like trail running/racing?

We’re hitting 90s weather this week.  P has to take out the A/C units. That should be fun.  Have you turned on your AC or central air yet?

Hey Spring

Workout: Strength  + Track Workout

Happy days are here when you open up the weather app and see that the next few days are filled with sunshine!!!

This really is the most perfect weather for running. First, I did a kettlebell workout.

Sebastian placed his Incredible Hulk action figure next to my mat. HA! It was a good workout and I burned 234 calories.

Cici met up at 11AM and we ran to the high school track (1-mile) and did some 400s.  So glad that I got to see her again.

Except my expression is just really weird looking.

Tonight P has a friend coming over so I had to pick up a few things at Trader Joe’s.  We’re watching the last game of the season Nets v. Knicks.

Do you use a heart rate monitor? Which one? Do you love it?

I had one with my first Garmin but you had to strap it onto your chest and I would chafe with that so I stopped wearing it.  Celeste was trying to keep her heart rate low but she doesn’t wear a monitor. She goes by the “talk test”.  If you can carry a conversation while running, then you’re not really pushing it too hard.

 

 

Back to Work

Burn Intervals (cardio + weights)

I had a weird work-week last week.  I worked Monday and Tuesday, took off Wednesday and Thursday and last minute I had to switch my Friday to a Monday.  It was so hard working on a Friday, but I was actually pretty busy.

Working on a Friday = Iced Coffee

I had to drop off the kids at my sister’s on Friday morning. She lives about a half hour away and then is half hour away from my office.  The commute was basically crap but I was grateful to have someone babysit the kiddos while I worked.

hey Mom… I need some guy friends.

Well, this is what happens when my son is stuck with two girls and a dog.  He ends up wearing a pink tutu with a magic heart wand. Anyhow, I was non-stop busy but we did leave the office at 3:30.  I went straight to my sister’s and we hung out for about and hour and a half before heading home.

The rest of the night, I gave the kids a bath, we ate dinner and then I laid out race clothes.  My alarm was set for 5:00 AM.  Unfortunately, B didn’t have a great night of sleep.  I also woke up from 12-1:30 AM. I couldn’t go back to sleep.  I was exhausted and woke up to a text message from Cici that she had an awful night and took a Tylenol PM at 3:00 AM.  I don’t know how she was functioning.  She was trying to get over a nasty cold that she got earlier that week.  BUT, we sucked it up and I literally was ready by the time she pulled up.

Race Day Selfie.  Yeah, well we were a bit under-dressed but we were smart and packed another shirt on top of our dry clothes.  It was going to be a wet race.  Heavy rain between 9:30-12:30 (pretty much the entire time we would be racing. We were really early and ended up having to wait an hour and a half before the race started. Better early than late.  I had to pee at least 3x before start time.  At 9:09, we decided to do a short jog and then put on our other shirts.

Then went back out for dynamic stretches.

This picture makes me laugh. HA. Anyway, we had plans to drop the hammer on this race but with Cici being sick and my training being a tad off (I literally ran ONCE that week) with my crazy schedule and my dad being sick, we decided to just change the plan a bit.

For most of the, Cici and I stuck together. I love running with her.  She’s an amazing runner and friend.  Around mile 8, we lost each other but she wasn’t too far behind.

I love that you could see the Verrazano Bridge behind.  It pretty much rained the entire race.  It was hard rain most of the time.  The boardwalk area sucked and did I mention, it’s 3 loops of an out and back.  Just straight up boring, but not awful.

I finished in 1:55 and was drenched.  Cici came up behind me at 1:59 and poor thing lost her voice.  She has another half in St. Louis this coming weekend. Hopefully she will feel 100% for that race.

AMAZING considering she took a Tylenol PM at 3AM.  I would have been dying.

I placed 2nd in my age group.

2nd Place

Overall a great race.  The rest of the day I had to clean and pack as we were spending the night at my mom’s.  Well just the kids and I.

I am in love with this aero-bed. It’s from Costco and is amazing.

Sunday, we woke up and I ran over to pick up some bagels and flowers for my in-law’s 44th anniversary.  Then I came back,  ate, got the kids dressed, cleaned up the basement and showered.  We stopped at my in-laws, then I dropped the kids off at my sister’s and then P and I attended my SIL’s grandmother’s wake.  It was a pretty long drive and after, P and I had dinner ALONE.  It was nice. Then it was time to go home and that’s where I relaxed and used the stick and foam rolled out my IT Band.

I caught up on this month’s issue of Runner’s World.

I’ve actually stopped my subscription because I have too many of them.  So once in awhile, I’ll buy an issue.

Do you subscribe to Runner’s World? What do you do with the old magazines?

 

 

 

Two Week Review

Hill Workout

It’s been a very busy month since I last posted.  Basically, my dad has been in the hospital for over three weeks now.  His stem cell transplant went accordingly and as expected, his numbers all dropped. He got sick, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, weight loss, etc.  And then he started picking up. I visited him a few times.  All visitors must wear a mask at all times.

I kept him company, sometimes forced him to walk, we FaceTimed the kids so he could see them.

He was scheduled to come home on Palm Sunday (the 20th) but he took a turn for the worse and had an infection (c-diff).  He had to be treated and was now in isolation.  Visitors not only had to put a mask on but also had to put a gown and gloves on the entire visit.  After a few days of antibiotics, he tested negative for c-diff but still has some underlying symptoms that he is being tested for today.  Hopefully they’ll figure things out and he can be released as soon as they feel is healthy enough.

In other news, (and in no particular order really) running has been going okay. I am tapering this week.  I did get to run a two-hour trail with my solemate a few weeks ago (03/13/16).

She is the best.  It was a pretty AMAZING run.  And we always have a great time together.

 

Our niece and nephew spent the weekend at my in-law’s house so we took them out to Dave & Busters (03/12/16).

Sanchez Girls

It was a lot of fun.  We had the kids back home by 9:45 PM.

We celebrated our nephew’s birthday twice (once on his real birthday (03/15/16) and the other with all of the family (3/19/16).

Then with family that Saturday.

My non-Irish kids on St. Paddy’s Day.

Happy St. Paddy’s Day

We also spent some time outdoors with the kids when the weather was nice out (03/09-03/10).

Lili’s school hosted another paint night (03/16/16).  This time P was going to take her but there was SO much traffic so I took her there and he met up with us.

She was so happy to spend time with him.

Paint Night 03/16/16

That week was really rough for me and I couldn’t make running plans with Cici.  So I had to figure out my last long run and met up with some Union County runners that Sunday at 9AM (2/20/16) for 10-miles.  I ran the first 5 miles with this girl, Helen.  The the last 5 miles with this girl, Dina. She just had baby #3 who is just a few weeks old.

Last week, we celebrated my brother’s 27th birthday.

We ended up ordering a bunch of food. It was totally last minute.

Good Friday Pedro was off, so we took the kids to the movies.

Zootopia 03/25/16

It was B’s first time at the movies and he was pretty well behaved.

I really liked the movie a lot. Can’t wait for it to come out!!!

Saturday (03/26/16) we still didn’t know what was going on with my father and if he would be released. So my brother and I went that morning to visit with him.  It was a good visit.  I ordered his lunch, took him for a walk and then my brother and I left to eat.  I had scheduled plans to go visit for Easter Sunday.

P ended up food shopping for me when I got home from the hospital.  I was so exhausted.  I didn’t pick up a second wind until 9:00PM and had to run out to pick up Easter stuff for the kids.  So last minute this year… I also had to start prepping for Easter dinner.   I prepped the ham, mac and cheese and potatoes before calling it quits at 1:30 AM.  I finally went to bed at 3AM only to wake up at 6AM to run 6-miles.

Kids woke up late but then we had our day planned out. First it was 11:00 AM brunch at my in-laws.

We had to leave at 1pm to head over to the hospital.

My niece was sick earlier that week and I didn’t think it would be a good idea to come to the hospital.

It was a nice short visit and I am glad that we got to him.

We were home by 4pm and I had a bit of downtime before I had to put dinner into the oven.  My brother and his girlfriend decided to come over for dinner last minute so it worked out great.

So as you can see, it was a crazy two weeks leading up to Easter.I apologize for this very long update!

How was your Easter celebration?