Babies

Sofia has been obsessed with the rainbow loom for several weeks now. And she has now moved on from bracelets to making several shapes. Here are her creations from today.

What are the odds?

This Sunday I am supposed to run my first full marathon in Miami. Given the temperature change, what are the odds my body will be up for that?

Scrabble Jr

Tonight the girls and I played scrabble junior, and I won! ... By just one point.

-21

I don't even know what to say about this. Instead of getting better, the weather keeps getting worse.

My new travel companion

Mini me

This morning, while we were at church, Sofia made a plan for her day, with a checklist and all. Now, that's my kid!!!

Abuelita turns 60!

On a Jan 25, six decades ago, and on a not-so-cold-or-snowy-or-windy day like today, my wonderful Mom was born. Little did she know she would later become a loving mother, our biggest cheerleader, a great example of tenacity and work ethic, and of course, a super loving grandma. 

Although she is not big on celebrations, and didn't want to do anything fancy, we did get together for dinner and for our traditional cake cutting. It made me happy to see her happy surrounded by her family, and that we didn't let the special milestone go unnoticed. 

Next week she is going to Miami with Gabi and me, so we are making the trip her birthday gift.

Almost there...

Ever since my longest run couple weeks ago, my left leg hasn't been back to normal. This Tuesday I was able to run my 4 miles, but by the end of the 3rd mile the tenderness had returned. So I decided to go see a Sports Medicine specialist to ensure that if I run the marathon I will not be breaking anything or causing any permanent damage. They took X-rays and did an ultrasound, and the good news is that my knees look great and I don't have any liquid on my knee that needed to be drained. The not so good news is that I am feeling pain because my hamstrings are very tight, which is frustrating because - unlike 90% of the runners - I am really good at stretching after my runs.

Now that I know what the issue is, I have been stretching even more and doing additional exercises to help my leg. On Thursday I was able to complete my 4 miles once again, and today I was able to run my 8 miles - the last long run - with some discomfort but no pain. I took a break to stretch after the first 4 miles, which I think really helped. Completing the 8 miles made me feel a lot more confident and prepared than I felt in the last couple weeks, like I actually stand a chance.

This week I have one more run - a short 3 miles - and that will officially end my training. On Friday we are heading down to Miami, since the race is on Sunday. Part of me is excited that the race is so soon, but part of me is nervous because after all this training, I really I don't want to disappoint myself.

Little Lion

Today Bella found and managed to get into a Lion costume from when Sofia was 2 and a half years old. I don't know how she got into it, but even though it was ridiculously small it was also cute.

Winter gear

Given how freakishly cold the weather has been, it feels like we are always wearing the exact same thing: Multiple layers, hats and gloves are our everyday thing.

No more snow days!

The last couple weeks have been quite tough with all the school closings and delays due to the weather. This week I barely made it to the office once, which means the rest of the time I had to stay home and try to work with the girls at home - never a good thing. Even though they can take care of themselves for the most part, they still interrupt me constantly and don't care if I am on the phone or trying to get some work done. These are by far the most stressful days for me. I get stressed because I can't get work done, and I feel like a bad mom because I spend the day ignoring the girls.

Next week the bad weather is supposed to continue, but I sure hope the worst case scenario is more school delays.

And that makes three!

Earlier this week Tia was going to be late coming back from work, so she asked if we could pick up Diego at the end of the day. He was pumped sitting in the car next to the girls. They were all smiles, the three of them.

Two more weeks!

Since last week's run really got the best of my left leg, I took it easy all week. Instead of running on Tuesday and Thursday for 5 miles, I just did 3 miles each. And instead of running, I alternated between power walking for 3 minutes, and running for 1 or 2. On Sunday I was supposed to run 12 miles, but I didn't because I was skiing and because I thought it would be better to just let my leg rest some more. But tomorrow I will try to run my 4 miles, and see how my leg feels. Sometimes the best you can do is to actually get moving, so I will see how it goes. I won't push it though, as the Miami Marathon is only two weeks away. So this is it.  I need to make sure I stay healthy and strong!

Winter Place

This weekend we went to West Virginia for a quick getaway. Since we didn't have to work, or go to school today, we were able to drive there Friday after work, spend Saturday and Sunday there, and drive back home today.

The place where we stayed was a nice big property, although I suspect it looks much nicer during the summer, with beautiful green trees all around. The ski area was actually not much larger than Perfect North though, which on one hand was disappointing, but on the other hand made Lionel appreciate the fact that Perfect North is not too bad after all. We stayed away from the beginner's area, since - I totally agree with Lionel on this one - being surrounded by beginners is the worst. Since they don't know what they are doing, and don't have very good balance and control, that makes it dangerous to be around them. I personally got taken down once by a snowboarder, and a second time by Sofia because her ski clipped mine. A third time almost happened, but I managed to stay up. Every incident was at slow speed though, so I wasn't hurt at all. I was mostly annoyed by the fact that I had to get back up.

Bella was probably the littlest skier we saw once we moved away from the beginners area, and several people wanted to give her high-five, and commented on how cute she was. Other than a meltdown she had at some point, she actually did really well - especially considering that her boots didn't fit her well the first day, which unfortunately we didn't realize until the second day. My poor girl...

Sofia did well as well, but unlike Bella she was definitely more nervous and even scared during one of the Blue runs.  We have to give her credit because she tried again, but she definitely didn't enjoy very much pushing herself.

Even though Lionel and I were disappointed that the ski area wasn't bigger, I still had a good time and so did the girls. They got to practice their skiing, they love going on trips anyway, and Lionel and I spent couple days not worrying about house chores, and just enjoying each other's company and our time with our two favorite girls.

Wedding Portrait

Last Tuesday, the day after Bella came back with her portrait of Abuelito, she came home with the below drawing. When asked about it, she said it was the picture of her getting married with Westin, who appears to be one of her classmates. She later took it back though, as soon as we started asking: "So, who is this Westin"? I guess she didn't like all that questioning.

Abuelito's Portrait

Last Monday Bella came back from school with this drawing, and told me it was a picture of Abuelito. So Sofia wrote "Abuelito" on it, and added the date. I later showed it to my Dad, who had a good laugh because of it.

Sunrise!

Last week I didn't have much time to update my blog, but here are couple pictures I took last Monday morning. I looked outside at the right time to catch the sunrise.

20 miles?

Today was my longest run as part of my training for the Miami Marathon. I was supposed to run 20 miles, but I was only able to run 18.6 ... and it was a bit of a miracle that I even made it to that point. As I was about to hit 10 miles my left leg started to cramp, which has never happened before - especially at that distance. At the time I was running on a flat surface, so it is not like I stepped on something and twisted anything. It just came completely out of the blue. I attempted to stretch and keep walking, but it didn't go away. I was barely able to walk. I thought I would have no choice but to call Lionel to ask him to come pick me up, but the thought of it was so depressing that I decided to keep walking and stretching, in the hopes that it would go away. For the next two miles I kept running for a few seconds, and walking as soon as I felt like the pain was coming back. I then made it to our gym where I filled my camel backpack with more water, used the restrooms, and did some deep stretching for several minutes. I debated whether to just stay there and try to run on the treadmill, or call Lionel to come pick me up. But I still didn't want to give up. Unlike last week this time around I didn't feel tired, so I had to think that I could give some more.

I ended up going back out there, and was able to run pretty much non-stop until the 18 mile. But shortly thereafter the pain came back, and this time around it was here to stay.  So after 18.6 miles, I had to walk the rest of the way.  It literally took me 20 minutes to walk that last mile, because at that point I felt like I literally had to drag my left leg. And since I was running on a biking/running path, it is not like Lionel could come get me there.

As I kept walking slowly, trying not to cry because of the pain, I ran into a lot of walkers - mostly way older than me - that were coming in the opposite direction. They looked happy, and certainly were moving way faster than me. I kept wondering what they thought of me, since I was clearly dressed to run, but was no longer doing any of it. Did they think that I was unable to even get started? Did they think I was a total couch potato trying to convince myself that I could run for a little bit?

That last mile was definitely a painful one, both physically and emotionally. Even though I kept observing people, maybe they barely noticed me. But at the time I really wished I was wearing a shirt that read: "I just ran 18.6 miles. Give me a break". The thing is ... that message was probably not for them. It was probably from me to me.

For the next 3 weeks my runs will be much shorter as I prepare for the actual race on Feb 2. Let's just hope the cramps don't come back, especially when it counts the most. I've never expected that I will be able to run the full 26.2 miles, but I am certainly expecting to be able to run 18-20, and actually walk at a decent pace - NOT drag myself - the rest of the way.

Pizza Party

This Saturday Bella had yet another birthday party at one of her friend's house. I knew the kids were making their own pizza, but I didn't know they were also making and decorating their own chef hats. They were very cute, and the kids had a great time. I will have to steal that idea some time.

2 minutes

The other day, when we came back home from work and school, it started to snow yet again. So the girls asked if they could play on the deck for a couple minutes, before they took their jackets off.

Ready for bed

Tonight I came home late because after work I went to watch a movie with my work friends. When I went upstairs, I noticed there were couple blankets on my side of the bed. One was spread out neatly, and the other one was just there like waiting to be hugged. I asked Lionel if he had put them there, but when he said no I realized that the girls must have prepared the bed for me, for when I finally got home. So sweet!!

My minion!

Today's Weather

Dia de Reyes!!

Because my girls have been such little angels all year, the Reyes Magos came this morning and left couple treats for them. One of them was a mini Dream Light that Sofia had seen at the store earlier this week, but didn't have enough money to buy. At the time I told her she could save her money and go back later and get it, so she was very excited to get it this morning. Bella, of course, got a mini Dream Light as well. And since school was cancelled because of the cold front, the girls had plenty of time to play with them, and their other gifts, during the day.

We were planning on cutting Rosca in the afternoon, as every other year, but with the weather I figured we would no longer do it since I really didn't want to go out at all. But Tios braved the weather and brought the Rosca to us! We decided not to even ask Abuelitos to come, because we knew that there was no way they were going to expose themselves to this weather if they didn't have to. So we missed them, but were happy that at least part of the family was able to carry the tradition.

Birthday Party and Rosca

Today Lionel went to the Bengals game, and the girls and I were going to stay home all day ... but then my Friend Laura invited us to come over to celebrate her daughter's birthday, and to cut Rosca. Getting out of the house before the cold front comes, AND hanging out with friends? How could we say no to that!

Perfect North

Today we went to Perfect North to get out of the house before the cold front arrives, and so the girls could practice their skiing. Lionel, as usual, wasn't particularly excited about Perfect North itself, but he was a good sport. And the girls did really well. We spent the bulk of our time in the same runs as last time so the girls could get the hang of it again, but today we actually moved past those and checked out couple new ones. So next time we go back we will be able to expand our horizons, which will make it even more fun for the girls.