Thursday, June 4, 2009

Pumping Iron

Got deferred (turned down) at my apheresis appointment this morning because my iron levels were too low. Big bowl of spinach and red meat with a glass of red wine, here I come!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

C25k and DMB

Starting Week 4 of the C25k tomorrow morning. Did my last Week 3 run last night, and it didn't go all that great. I'm having some shin pain. I can't tell if it is muscle or bone pain, but it hurts like an mneffer. I tried to do some good stretching last night after the run, and again this morning before and after my elliptical, but it was lingering. I'm going to keep my eye on it.

We had a great weekend. Uncle Bennycakes stayed over with Ellen so John and I could go see Dave Matthews at Fenway and stay in the city overnight. We had a room down at the Hilton Boston Financial District. It was a beautiful hotel. Our room had recently been redone, and it was pretty glorious, if small. The hotel was a bit of a pain to get to, being as it is 5 or 6 blocks from the nearest trains. It's also pretty far down into the financial district (um, hence the name), so there's not really a lot going on down there in the night. Not a huge deal, but as we were planning to return to it fairly late, we definitely could have stayed somewhere safer. After the concert (which was pretty fun and great, thanks Guy and Shai!), we decided to forego going back to Cambridge to hang out with the crew in lieu of an earlier bedtime and more shut-eye. We couldn't get a cab back to the hotel, so we walked to Back Bay and hopped on the green line there. We walked down from Government Center, and toward the end we encountered some shadyness. There were two angry, large men arguing about a half block from the entrance of the hotel. As we approached, a lady of the night fled in the opposite direction. We had definitely interrupted something. I should have expected as much from a hotel that requires a key for re-entry after sundown. Anywho, we fairly ran into the hotel after inserting our key, and we were able to avoid being gunned down. (Phew!)

We went upstairs and ate Wendy's, watched some college softball on ESPN, and were asleep by 12:30.

We arose at the break of 10am (man, that was nice!), and scurried home to see Uncle Bennycakes and Miss Ellen. Ellen had had a great night. Uncle Ben took great care of her, despite the fact that the dogs went into a frenzy at midnight and 5am, waking her both times. He handled it with grace, however. All in all, it was a great success!

Monday, June 1, 2009

Today is Monday

Ellen and I had a full day.

Before lunch we rode over to the post office to mail off our first batch of pretzels. On the way home, we stopped by the park at Elsie Hastings. First, we tried the swings. They don't have infant swings there, so I just hopped on one and held her on my lap. After an initial smile, I couldn't really tell if she was digging it, so I put her down in the grass near the swing and got back on myself to see if I could get a feeling for her vibe. She was smiling away in the grass, so I picked her up again. Then she started scowling a bit, so I cut it out with the swings. Maybe next time.

Next we went to try out the teeter-totter-y thing. It's not truly a teeter totter, because no one goes up or down, though there are seats on each end. Essentially, you can make the other person bounce a little. There's a rubber tire-like thing in the middle that the whole she-bang rests on that allows it to bounce. Anywho, I sat her on one end and sat on the ground next to her and bounced her. She loved it. Smiles all around. She would get really into it and then do this whole "No hands!" thing where she would let go for a half second. So cute. A real hit! I was looking at it and realized that the motion was a lot like riding a horse would be. Between this and her love for her horsey jumperoo, we might have to get this kid on a horse once she is old enough!

Finally, we went over to the big playground and I sat her on the articulated bridge (the bouncy bridge.) It was made of this plastic with little 1 inch diameter holes in it. She thought it was very cool that she could see through to the ground below. She also thought the holes were excellent fingerholds to use for climbing. She clambored up the (fairly steep!) side of the bridge to the platform above (which was a little scary, as I had to scramble up behind her post-haste!) Then she crawled around on the platform for a while until she decided to slide back down onto the bridge and do the climbing bit again. It was very nice to watch her explore.

Afterward, we went home for lunch (broccoli, cottage cheese, whole wheat pasta with parmesan, avocado, and blueberries) and a nap. After her nap, we played outside for a little while and then went to Target, where Ellen misplaced my glasses. She was getting antsy, so I gave her my sunglasses to play with. She must have put them down on a shelf or dropped them and I didn't notice. As we were leaving, I went to get them back from her and they were no where to be found! Ahh, well.

Then we went home for dinner (broccoli, cottage cheese, whole wheat pasta with parmesan, avocado, and yogurt.) After dinner, we walked to Roche Brothers to find dinner for Dad and me. Then Dad came home and I went to the gym and he gave her a tubby and put her to bed.

All in all, a great Monday.