Ninety-six
They were positively giddy this morning. Birthdays are awesome. 🙂
Category: triplets
Eight!
My sweet boys, I can’t believe you’re 8 years old! This seems absurd.
I should talk here about what they’re like at the ripe old age of 8, but honestly, isn’t that why I have this blog? You probably already know that they love Pokemon and soccer and have just started reading chapter books. They’re homebodies who’d rather stay home. They love chocolate, ice cream, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and pizza. (Such cliches!)
Anyway, I have loved every age more and more (since they turned 4) and I hope 8 follows the same trend.
Happy birthday, my bunnies!
(Monthly pic to come later.)
Cruise on the Norwegian Dawn (recap)
Okay, sit down, this is gonna be a long one.
Sunday, November 22
Stephanie drove us to the cruise terminal, so we were able to avoid paying for parking or a taxi. The boys were so excited. I was proud of my minimal packing skills. Though later I will have wished for more clothes. We waited in several lines to get on the ship, but finally, we were on!
December the first!
I can’t believe it’s December 1. Three days from my babies’ birthday. Yikes. We kind of skipped over Thanksgiving so I’m just realizing how much I have to do now.
Birthday shopping, Christmas shopping, Christmas tree! Christmas cards! Decorating! Advent calendar (whew, remembered to pull that out today)! Etc, etc. Oh god. The elf. Can’t forget the elf. He can come after the boys’ birthday.
I used to get really nostalgic at this time of the year for when I was in the hospital for that week and a half before the boys were born. But as the years have gone by, I have forgotten that November 25 was at one point a monumental day (the day I was admitted.) I used to be able to tell you what happened on each day leading up to the 4th. Well, I mean, thanks to my blog, I can still do that. But I don’t feel compelled to relive each of those days and mentally slap myself for begging the doctor to deliver them.
I’m actually glad that I’m not using precious brain space to think about stuff that I can’t change. Nor am I storing the details of their infancy that don’t matter (I used to be able to rattle off the ounces of formula they ate, the brands of diapers we used, etc. No more!)
Anyway. Happy December 1!
Back on land
We just got home today from a week-long cruise with the whole family, and while I will be writing up a very detailed post with pics and stuff, I wanted to jot down a few things before I forget.
I am still a little dizzy. I didn’t get seasick or anything, but getting your land legs back is a real thing. My body is adjusting to being still for once.
I am terrified of getting on a scale. There’s just so much food. And it was good. And rich. Oh, right, and we had the unlimited beverage package. So there was that too. I think I’m going to try to detox for a week or so, and then see how bad the damage is.
The boys were kind of celebrities on the ship. By the end of the cruise, if I just had one of them with me, random people would say, “you lost two!”
It was really awesome to hang out with my siblings and their kids and spouses. We don’t get together often enough. No wonder since we’re spread out all over the place.
The boys are now all eating new foods. Oliver ordered PB&J at every meal, they all scarfed down calamari (okay, we told them it was shrimp), and Miles stole half of my lamb at last night’s dinner.
And they ate so much food. I mean, the ice cream alone – Miles ate about 8 cones a day. Not even exaggerating. Their breakfast plates were piled high with bacon, sausage, pancakes, cereal, toast, etc. And then we’d have lunch, and at dinner, they’d order two or three entrees each. And eat them all.
More to come…
Little girls
My nieces are in town! (So is my nephew, but he was running in circles so no picture at the moment.)
Quite the change from 8 years ago…
Oh I mean also their parents. Miles adores Uncle Evan.
Well, his Apple watch, anyway.
The last soccer game
Soccer is over! It was fine – not a huge time commitment, and the boys loved it. Well, unless they were losing. But whatever. I’m just glad it’s over because the mosquitoes were getting seriously dangerous and huge at practice. Stupid global warming.
Anyhoo, they did great! Well, Oliver wasn’t feeling well, so he didn’t play too much. But Miles and Linus both scored! More than once! So that was fun.
They got medals at the end.
Team pic!
and Grandee and Larry came to watch!
Until Spring, maybe? Only if they can still play in the recreational league. We’ll see.
First library card!
This makes my heart happy. And my wallet.
Month 95
I just let them be Pokémon today.
One month til they turn 8!
Triplets in New Orleans
I’m pretty excited to share this article I wrote for New Orleans Living magazine. I was going to wait until I could find a physical copy of the issue to share it, because the online version is just, you know, like a blog post. But after checking three shops this afternoon, I realized they have the PDF of the issue online. Woot!
But yes, it is easier to read online, so here’s a link to that version.
I don’t mention anyone by name here, but I think my friends Meredith and Alicia, and all of my lovely friends in our local triplet group will recognize themselves. (And most will know which doctor I mean, just by his description.)
2015 Jazz Half Marathon race report
Remember the last time I did one of these? I said it was the last time ever? Well, I mean, somehow I signed up for this one and it was all my fault (I can’t even say anyone else twisted my arm into signing up) but for real this time. This was my twelfth half marathon and I think that’s a nice roundish number. (Except I can totally see myself saying one day, “but 13 is even more perfect since that’s how many miles are in a half.”) Fortunately, my brain won’t be able to let go of the .1 so I’m hopeful I’ll be able to ignore that argument. From myself.
Anyway, this one was kinda spooky. And I don’t mean because it was on Halloween.
It all started when I went to put on my number. Heather had grabbed my number and t-shirt for me from the expo, and I hadn’t even looked at them before this morning. As I went to put them on, the thought, “it would be cool if the race number had ’42’ in it.”
I picked up the shirt and saw the number.
So close!
As it turns out, they were giving out the numbers in order of picking up race packets, so Heather got number 42! I mean, it’s still kinda weird, you have to admit.
Anyway. Drove over to the race, and spent a lot of time trying to find the parking space I’d reserved. Finally found the lot, and pulled into a spot on the third level. Went to the race and ran into some of my NOMB friends.
The weather was a lot warmer than I was hoping – in the low 70s, but at least it was cloudy, unlike in 2013.
Anyway, off we went. I kept to a 1 minute run, 1 minute walk. It’s amazing how later in the race that first minute lasted an eternity, and the second minute went by in a flash.
Some pics along the way:
Uh, just running.
There’s the winner!
Really glad to get ahead of the 3 hour pace group.
Running into Audubon Park at about mile 7
Ran by a spooky house!
I honestly had no expectations for my time, which in the past have ranged between 2:33 and over 3 hours. Even though I’d done some decent training, I am still dealing with Achilles tendinitis. So I just wanted to finish.
First, I just wanted to finish in under 3 hours. And then I thought, maybe I can finish under 2:50 with a stretch goal of 2:45. If I kept to a 13 minute/mile pace, that would put me in right around 2:50ish.
And I did it! Finished in 2:48:39. Woot!
And, I mean, you know, not last. (Though now I’m in the “Masters” division. That means old.)
Got a decent medal:
then found some of the NOMB ladies again.
So, remember my scintillating story about parking from earlier? Well, I got in my car and was sitting there for a few minutes when Ashley (the one on the left there) knocked on my window. Randomly, she was parked in the space next to mine! Okay, maybe you had to be there. It’s a big parking garage, okay?!?
I went to get something yummy for lunch, but Taco Bell wasn’t serving Cantina Bowls yet (I’m fancy) so I decided to try to catch the end of the boys’ soccer game, which I did. They were pretty excited to see me. I was wishing I’d brought a jacket. I felt faintly ridiculous in my green sparkly skirt. Oh well.
We all hit Waffle House for brunch and I basically used up all the calories I burned during the race. Worth it!
Now. If someone sees me mention signing up for another half marathon, please just stop me.
Halloween 2015
Right, technically that’s tomorrow. But because of major thunderstorms coming through, everyone is trick or treating tonight. Plus, it’s Halloween at school. So yeah, today is essentially Halloween.
People are way up in arms about “moving Halloween” and saying, “in my day we trick or treated in the rain and snow, uphill both ways” but you know, I’m happy not to go out in a downpour. Even for candy. And you know how I feel about candy. (Very positively, in case you didn’t.)
But that’s beside the point. The main point is this adorableness…
All Pokemon characters. I’m sure you knew that already.
Oh, this is amusing/distressing/outrageous. Linus needed an orange shirt to wear under his costume and the only one I could find was this old shirt I wore to Mardi Gras in 2005. It’s funny because of what it says on the front. It’s distressing and outrageous because it’s a woman’s XL shirt and it fits my 7 year old perfectly. He’s normal sized, the shirt is not.
Anyhoo. So tonight we trick or treat! And since tomorrow morning is the half marathon, you can bet my carb loading will take this form:
Oh, and if you’re wondering what to do with your kids’ Halloween candy, check out the post I wrote a couple of years ago.
How to Deal With Halloween Candy
All of the boys’ costumes so far can be found here.
pyjammy dot blog 