Girl's weekend

Does it kind of feel like I take a lot of these "girls weekends"? Maybe that's my guilty conscience talking because really, other than my trip to Florida in January, and an over-nighter to Raleigh in April, I'm not gone that often.  But since Mike is taking a 9 day Canadian adventure in October, I won't let guilt take over and let myself feel bad about leaving my Monkey and my hubby for a 3 day beach trip (i.e. bender) to Amelia Island, FL.  I will admit up front, there might be a pinch of drinking going on.  And since none of us "girls" have to get up early each morning with our kiddos, there may be some hangovers in the mix. And since I hardly drink anymore, I'm admittedly a little nervous about consuming too much and having said hangover. Agh.  I do have self control. I do have self control.

But really, that's not what this is all about. Fun, sun, girlfriends, and time away to recharge the Mom Batteries.  That's what it's all about.  I leave tonight and return on Sunday late afternoon so there will be no blogging in my absence. I actually hope there will be no computers within reach of my fingertips the entire time I'm gone.  Nope, nothing but uninterrupted reading, delicious meals, oodles of waiters attending to my every need, cocktails poolside, gossip and girl time, trash mags.  Ahhhhh........girl's weekend, here I come!

Vans hook up

What does the Monkey need to make her even one ounce cooler than she already is?? A new pair of Vans.  I mean, come on. Of course she does. And not only did she get 1 new pair of Vans today, but she got 2, and they were totally free!  We love freebies! 

A neighborhood mom from our MeetUp.com group asked what size Eloise was wearing and that she had 2 free, never been worn pair of Vans that we could have if we're interested. They just so happen to be the exact size she is moving into now and so of course I said, "Yes, please!"  And get this, her brother-in-law works for Vans so we can order pairs to our heart's content all for 40% off.  Mike is VERY excited. 

And I hate to let the cat out of the bag, but my neice Chloe will be sporting a pair as soon as her little feet will grow. (smallest size they have for toddlers is 4) My brother was the skater of all skaters (I'm not kidding...seriously, like the idol of our town) and was honestly the first person on this earth to sport Vans. So of course his daughter must carry on the rad skater dude (or dudette) tradition and have her very own pair. (coming soon!) She'll be making her daddy so proud!  Here are the 2 free pairs we got today at a playdate and next week, we're placing an order for some more fem ones for Eloise, and also a pair for Mike.  Shoes, shoes and more shoooooooooes. A girl after my own heart!

Truck racin'

We're in the south. So we're racin' (as opposed to racing, you see).  Think of it as Monster Truck Bash but kid style.  Oh yes....the Vail girls are revving the engines and kicking up some dirt. We're racin'! 

I've mentioned our "parking garage" before but I don't believe I've ever shared exactly what it is we do with all of these trucks.  Well, I guess now you know. We race them. As in, I line them up, the Monkey gives them the once over to make sure there are no cheaters at the starting line....

And then one by one, we push them across the foyer to see who goes the furthest. Go the furthest and you're the winner! Of course we scream and yell and cheer for each truck as it goes.  The train toot, toots. The tractor plays "Old McDonald" and the two Tonka Trucks bash into each other and make crash noises. And they all "race" each other. It's all sorts of Monster Truck Bash action going on in these parts. 

Then the race is over and we go down to clean up the mess. And what next??  We line them up again for our next race! (and no, I can't get pics of her face anymore. she's on the move. constantly. what can i say?)

Correction

Correction on Saturday's race results. I ran a 21:21, which is 6:53 minutes per mile and 17 seconds faster than my PR. I thought it was 21:17 but my inability to start and stop my watch while pushing the stroller has once again proven to not be successful. Lol.  But also, I saw the clock at the finish line and I swore it said 21:17. Anyway, the official race results are out and it says 21:21 so I'll take it!

"No"

These weekly emails are always right on the money. I was going to write something about Eloise's incessant use of the word "no" in my next post and before I got to it, I see this email for "Your 15 Month 3 Week Old"....

...Being little is tough, especially when someone bigger than you dictates what you'll wear, and when you'll take a bath, go to bed, and eat meals. One of the only ways your 15-month-old has to assert herself is to say "no" or refuse to cooperate. To cut down on the number of no's you hear, try to limit your own use of the word — toddlers are great mimics, after all. You may be pleasantly surprised by the results.

I have to say, I logically cut down on my own use of the word "no" along time ago. I knew that word would bite me in the you know what if I wasn't careful and so I didn't use it very often. I'd find every other alternative and also try my best to explain to her what it was I wanted or didn't want.  Anyway, it didn't matter. Thanks for trying and thanks for the email but Eloise uses "no" like a maniac. And it appears to almost always be used in context although I do believe she's at the infatuation stage of the word vs. really meaning "no" all of the time.  Do you want anymore water? No. But then she'll take a drink. Did you put your monkey over here in your toy bin? No.  Actually, there it is. But then I'll get a good one....are you hungry? No. Lol. 

Anyway, "no" is in big use around the Vail household as of late. And I'm not sure I needed this weekly email to let me know but the otherside of it is, at least now I know I'm not the only parent of a "15 Month 3 Week Old" who has a chronic "no" parrot in the house. That's comforting.

Race for Kids Cancer 5K

The race today ended up being a good one despite my stress late yesterday on how I was going to get my packet including most importantly, my number. Lesson learned - if they say registration closes 30 minutes prior to the race, it won't. They really never close registration. They'll take one. They'll take all and especially for today's race, it was for such a great cause, as I've said over and over.

I will admit, I started the race with tears in my eyes. The little girl who had cancer got back from Sloan Kettering just this week after going through another extremely powerful round of chemo. She found out only recently that her cancer was back (for the 3rd time) and so they had to dash off to NYC to start serious treatment.  No one expected her to be able to make it today. They didn't even expect her to be in NC let alone at the race. And not only was she there but she ran in the kids race.  She's only 5 years old and to see that sweet little girl holding hands with all of her friends at the start of their race, and then run the entire time still hand in hand, that was it. I was a puddle.  That family doesn't want my sympathy. They don't want anyone's but I can't help but feel so terrible for everything they've had to undergo.  That little girl is a fighter. Just like her T-shirt says, "Beat Cancer, Grow Hair, Live My Dreams." You go girl! You keep on beating cancer, grow your hair, and live your dreams!

The race scoop - the Monkey did a really great job today. The weather was nice and cool 70 degrees so she was happy and chilling in there the entire time. And post race I did a first, I actually put her shoes on and let her run around and meet people - we usually dash home for her morning nap.  I knew quite a few people who were going to this race so I wanted to cruise around a little and introduce Eloise to some of my old coworkers and friends. Eloise loved the freedom to run around and honestly, I need to do this each race because it's a nice reward for her after being such a good girl.

The race - it was mega hilly and tough.  As I've said, it was in the business park where I used to work so I knew I was in for it.  As soon as we went down a hill we went up a hill and that continued literally for the entire 3.1 miles. I'm not kidding, there was not one flat part. Phew.  Despite this, I ran a 21:17 -a new PR! (6:51 minutes per mile and 8 seconds per mile faster than my last PR). How exciting! And in the essence of full disclosure although I think this is pretty corny because I'll have a million disclaimers to fill you in on by saying it...Ok, I'll just say it. I won. I won the women's race.  And the lead guy was in my sights but there was no way I was going to catch him. In fact, I was 5th place overall so I'd have to catch 3 other men before I got him. Disclaimers?  Whatever I won't get into it because I'm happy with my time, the Monkey was awesome and together we had a great run but let's just say, it was a really, really small race (the entire CLT racing community was at "Hit the Brixx" 5K and 10K this morning:).

Happy Saturday!

The trackless train

Word on the street says you can rent trackless trains for birthday parties. Check this out...

One of the moms in the MeetUp group is planning her son's 2nd birthday and this is probably what she's going to do. Eloise will be one lucky invitee that day because she is going to FLIP!  All of the kiddos hop on (with parent chaperones) and get a tour of the neighborhood. How fun! I wanted to share this really great idea with all the other parents in the bunch.  Rent this for your kids next b-day party! (and then invite Eloise. lol!)

Friday's update

Today was finally the Monkey's 15 month Drs appt. The one they rescheduled on me and then I missed. Yes, today was the make-up match.  Here are some stats..

Height: 30 1/2 inches - 25th percentile. She's shrinking!  No, not really. And I've said this before, the "lie the child down on the table and bust our the yardstick" measuring technique really doesn't seem accurate to me but whatever. It's what they do.
Weight: 24lbs 1.5 ounces - 70th percentile.
Head Circumference: 47 cm - 75th percentile. And the head keeps growing. Lol!

The Monkey's in perfect health. We met with the head nurse practioner today - we flip flop between Judy Osbourne and Dr. Amy Ryan and today's appt was with Judy - who said Eloise looks and sounds great. She's right on track with where she should be developmentally. She's growing in a "great trajectory" according to her chart. She's on schedule with all of her shots - 2 more today.  Hep A and the Flu shot (I went ahead and got her the Flu shot, which includes H1N1 in this year's batch. Smart.)  My concerns about her eating and her teeth were null and void.  Eating - she's just a typical 15 month old. She'll eat when she's hungry and I'm not to become a short order cook, which I'm not (mostly). I only freak out and start whipping up 10 meals when she's literally consumed nothing in a day (which has only happened once).  Otherwise I offer her 2 or 3 things and if she doesn't eat, we move on.  As far as her teeth go, Eloise wants to brush them herself and that means they aren't getting brushed. I let her play with the toothbrush for a bit but then I try to run interference so that I can get in there and actually brush them. Problem is she locks that little mouth shut. I've gotten creative though and we now brush them in the bathtub at night, which is helping. She's distracted and laughing and I can give those teeth a few good swipes.  The morning brushing is still a challenge as my independent little Monkey wants to take care of her teeth all on her own. I'll keep working on it.

All else was good with the appt. It was at 8:30am so both of us rolled in there in our PJs. I feel like an 8:30am appt doesn't require a change of clothes.  And so PJs it was.  Oh one other tid bit from the appt. Eloise is drinking too much milk. Still. Agh!  She went from 60-64oz (I know, that's crazy) to 30-32oz after I dropped her and now they don't want her to have any more than 16-20oz in one day. Unreal. The one thing I know - no matter what - that she'll consume and they say she's still drinking too much. Also, I'm to change her to 2% if I want. She's not overweight and there's "much debate about Whole Milk vs. 2%" so really it's up to me. I'm going to change to 2% after this last gallon is gone.  We'll see how things goes as far as dropping the daily ounces because she really drinks her milk. (or as she calls it, her "Dorrrrrrrr" because she gets milk in her Dora cup.)

In other news.....our yard is getting completely dug up today, new soil is being put down and then seed and straw to follow.  Laaaaaaa.........aaaaaahhhhhh!  FINALLY we are getting our much complained about yard fixed. I've promised to be this neighborhood's all-time best waterer with my double-watering-shift-per-day when Mike's out of town and I swear, if it kills both of us, this yard will be plush, and green, and beautiful in no time.  Now a little bit of praying that we lose this insane 90+ degree weather so the grass actually wants to make an appearance and we're good to go.  Next on the yard list......getting a tree planted in the front yard. We're making progress, people. We're making progress.

Tomorrow is the 5K for the little girl with cancer. I'm a pinch miffed by the packet pick-up times and locations but somehow I'll make it happen. I have 2 options. 1) Drive to nearly the South Carolina border tonight sometime between 5 and 7pm and pick up my packet.  Which means I need to drive at least 45 minutes to the burbs to pick up my race number, and really that translates to 45 minutes plus all of the additional minutes I sit in rush hour traffic on a Friday night.....all during the exact same time I typically feed Eloise, bathe her, and put her to sleep. OR.......2) I get the packet tomorrow morning before the race starts sometime between 6:30am and 7:30am, which is also not convenient because as I've said before, I clock my pre-race time to the minute so that I don't have Eloise in the stroller for too long.  Major sigh on both of these sh*tty options.  I'm torn on what to do because sitting in rush hour traffic with a baby who will have had to eat an early dinner and go without a bath and possibly be put to bed after her bedtime sounds just as bad to me as running a 5K with a straight-backed screaming baby who wants nothing more than to NOT be in a 5K race strapped into a jog stroller.  Can someone just Star Flight that race number to me, PLEASE??? Thanks.

Ok, so I believe that's it for this Friday and our update. The Monkey is sleeping and when she gets up were going for a brutally hot run (the only time we could go today).  Have a great weekend!

Some days

....the drying rack is used for other purposes than drying sippy cups. I'm not going to lie. Because really, it's quite a nice wine glass drying rack as well.  And today was one of those days.

But on a lighter note, this picture totally cracks me up. I know I've shown it before but I love it for the simple fact that Eloise picked out her own shoes that day, and they were water shoes. And....she's at her water table (even though it's highly unlikely the two were at all connected). 

So although some days Mommy might need a pinch of wine to calm her nerves, looking back at funny moments like this makes me love that little Monkey even more than words can explain.

Motherlode

Sorry for my lack of posts lately and I'm even more sorry for my lack of photos. I promise to get back with the program Stat.  In the mean time, I've added a new blog to my list. It's called Motherlode and it lives on NYTimes.com and is authored by the Times Family and Parenting reporter Lisa Belkin. The last two posts have been really interesting.  1 is about raising a child with Downs. (check out all of the comments after this post. they run the gamut of perspectives and opinions and are really interesting.) And the other is about adoption. It should comes as no surprise that a family/parenting blog authored by a NY Times reporter interests me. For a relatively new mom who does PR for a living, this is like my two worlds are colliding.  All I need next is a running reporter mom. Oh wait, I already follow some of those blogs here and here:)

And......we have a baby gate

Laaaaaaaaaaaa........ahhhhhhhhhhh!!  Did you see the sky just part? I know, it's a miracle.  We now have a baby gate.  And it's one that fits!  Laaaaaaaaaaaa........ahhhhhhhhhhh!

In other news, I completely forgot about the Monkey's 15 month Drs appt today.  Oospy.  I'll have to call tomorrow and grovel a little and get this one back on the calendar.  Unreal. I haven't missed one yet. I guess I was due.

In the food category, I'm starting to get creative with Monkey and mixing fruits and veggies in with other items to get her to eat them.  So far, it's not really working.  And I'm cooking quite a bit.  Agh. I'll keep trying but as of now the only thing she's liked that I've whipped up to "trick" her is the pumpkin bread (who wouldn't like a little cinnamon spiced pumpkin bread to kick start the fall??).  Meanwhile pumpkin really packs a punch of super great nutrition so I'm going to load this little girl right up with it.  The mega delish home made mac-n-cheese I made today was a no go - with or without steamed broccoli or cauliflower mixed in (and I can't say I blame her because I hate both but again, I'm not going to put my weird food-isms onto my daughter. I pledge.). Tomorrow I'm whipping up another batch of my meatballs and maybe I'll throw something crazy into those litte guys. Carrots?  I'm not sure.  She actually eats the meatballs so I can't screw with them too much without her noticing.

In running news....I've made a decision to run a 1/2 marathon coming up on 11/6 here in Charlotte.  This all stems from this crazy idea I had to run a 1/2 last weekend and I chickened out at the last second.  I'm just not ready quite yet so in hindsight it was a good decision but I was really ready to just throw myself in there and see what happened.  Anyway, instead of running the full-blown 1/2 on Saturday, I instead ran 12.5 miles sans the jogging stroller and I felt really great.  I'm going to add a long run to my Saturday's from now until 11/6 and that'll be what I need added to my weekly running to get myself ready for that distance. I'm really excited about it!  Oh, and I'm sure you can guess but I'll say it anyway, that 1/2 marathon will be without the Monkey.  I could never expect her to sit in the stroller for that long. She'd freak out on me. Lol.  But we are gearing up for another 5K this weekend in of all places....the same corporate park where I used to work. Not looking forward to the tree-less, hilly terrain but it's for a really good cause. The race is being held for a little girl who has cancer. The story will tear your heart out. That little girl is a fighter and so the least we can do is run a measly 3.1 miles in her honor and try to help contribute to an extremely worthwhile cause.

I think that's it for now.  Off to find more recipes to fool my Monkey into consuming something other than whole milk, grilled cheese, apple sauce and cinnamon toast. (a girl after my own heart with that love of carbs she has.)

Halloween sneak peek

If she were a little older I may get in trouble for revealing her Halloween costume more than a month early but since the Monkey is only 15 months, and since her Halloween costume arrived yesterday night, I had to put it on her first thing this morning to see if it fit.  What is she going to be this year??  A butterfly! Courtesy of an awesome sale at Children's Place and an additional 15% off online coupon that I found. I hemmed and hawed forever on what she was going to be this year and I just couldn't come up with something clever.  I liked the idea of dressing her up based on what she's into right now but as I've said before, a sanitation worker, a train conductor or a pilot didn't seem that fun. So no clever. Instead, this year we're going for cute. A cute butterfly.  And.....here's the reveal (with her PJs still on underneath). And surprisingly, she was competely OK with the costume. Even the hat/head part so it was worth it for a good trial run pre-Halloween parade.

Friday's update - addition

Per usual, I forgot a Monkey update. She now roars when she sees or hears "Lion", "Tiger" or "Bear" and she also makes a fish noise in any reference to fish she hears or sees. I can maybe take credit for the fish noise/pucker face because that's what fish is in sign language but the Lion, Tiger and Bear roaring....I have no idea where that came from and it's flat out hilarity at it's finest.  Nice work, Monkey girl!

Friday's update

Happy Friday!  The Monkey has been having quite a week. Whiney, clingy, just basically not herself.  Today's music class is the perfect example where we arrived, did our usual greetings and the Monkey immediately stuck out that lip, crinkled up her eyes and just let it all out.  A full-on meltdown within moments of arriving. We excused ourselves to the hallway where I gave her a little snack and we hung out until she regained her composure. Then back into the class we went where she repeated the meltdown no less than 4 additional times in the next 45 minutes.  My poor baby! She also wouldn't run around with the other kids or dance. And certainly no escape artist moves this week. Instead she was perfectly happy remaining in my arms for the entire class.  I don't believe she's getting sick. It may be her teeth but I don't feel anything in there. I typically blame everything on teeth but this may be just a regular old growth spurt. Who knows.  Anyway, as soon as we got home and back to her playzone in the driveway, she was pleased as punch. I'm wondering maybe if the class is a little intimidating for her because of it's size. When everyone is in attendance there are about 12 kids there. Add in 12 parents and it's a pretty crowded place.  Our last music class was 1/2 the size if not less some weeks.  So for what it's worth, I'm enjoying the extra snuggle time with Eloise during this week since she rarely does it and I know this won't last for long.

Another update, the Monkey and I have both discovered a new airplane spotting area right here in this very house. Who knew you had a perfect vantage point directly up to the tree-cleared sky right from Mommy and Daddy's bedroom??  She LOVES it. So much so that she now removes the 2 chairs I still have blocking the bottom of our stairs (yes, I still haven't found the right size baby gate. kill me.) and marches right up those stairs all by herself. Agh!!  Baby gate purchase is seriously in desperate need this weekend. Enough is enough. Mike, Eloise and I are going to Buy Buy Baby with exact measurements in hand. We're going to find an employee with baby gate expertise and we're going to get this nailed down once and for all.  Ok, back to planespotting from Mommy and Daddy's room.  Our windows look out of the front of the house and since were on the second story, the Monkey and I can look up over the tree tops and see planes as clear as day. Perfecto.  And as we all discovered many months ago with Eloise's help.....several planes fly over our house daily so now this is the Monkey's favorite thing to do.  I find her often going "vroom, vroom, vroom" at the bottom the stairs now. My only hope is to catch her doing this before she tries to move the chairs and climb the stairs by herself.

Here are some pics of inside planespotting...

Last for this week's wrap-up, we've started singing a new song to Eloise.  It's called "Eloise."  Lol.  It goes like this...."E.L.O.I.S.E spells Eloise."  Repeat.  Repeat a lot.  Since the song is so easy, Eloise now tries to join in the fun by using her skills of knowing the letters "E" and "O".  I must get this on video so you can truly appreciate it. Here's how it goes....Mommy sings...."E.L.O.I.S.E. spells Eloise."  Eloise follows up with "E.O.E.O.E.O" or something along those lines.  It's hilarious.  I'll work on a video of this sometime this weekend with Mike's assistance.

Have a great weekend!

Miss organization

So Little Miss Monkey was at it again. Organizing her toys as best as she sees fit. This time she took a stab at getting those stuffed animals of hers in just the right spot on the orange chair. Yes, I captured the entire process.  Of course. She's really something else with her concentration to attack the project at hand. For a 15 month old, I find it amazing.  Some of her work is a pinch sloppy but again, for a 15 month old, I find it amazing.  Here she is...the worker bee busily buzzing away.

The masterpiece....

A proud, and tired artist takes a break....

And then in true Eloise fashion, all of the stuffed animals must now come down and go back to their original location.

Masterpiece #2

And again, another rest after a hard day's work.