I am feeling the pressure. I am anxious and nervous and scared. Today is my 5 mile day and I can't figure out how to get all of my songs on one play list and I can't decide whether to go before or after lunch. If I wait until after lunch the anticipation will kill me.

All I can do it take deep breaths and visualize my victory at the end of the run. I know you don't care but I had to tell somebody.

Still running

I'm still running. I am averaging about 12 miles a week which is crazy for me. I was always lucky to get in 15-20 min. of cardio every few days even at my most fit. I would just lift weights until their was no tomorrow and not have to worry about the cardio. But then today I was at the Parenting Center and met an 8 time marathon runner. 8 marathons! I was impressed. and she averages 35 miles a week. That will never be me. I will say that I am enjoying it more now. I actually look forward to my runs. I am overly anxious a few hours before I go because I am so worried that I won't be able to do it or that I will get a cramp. She was actually very gracious about my running. She told me 4 miles was great and that I should be proud of myself. So let me say once again that I am proud of myself.

Bathing suit season is just around the corner. It's almost Easter even though is only January and 45 degrees outside. But the only thing that is getting me through this miserable cold is knowing that soon it will be hot hot hot. I plan on being a hot mom by the time it gets here and even went ahead and bought a bathing suit online at www.athleta.com yesterday. I am pleased with my choice.

Even if I just get my average mileage up to 20 per week, I will be a hot mom prancing around in my new suit. Just you wait.

Super Bowl food

Top Chef 5 had a Super Bowl challenge last night. I was on pins and needles worried that Stefan or Fabio would go home-2 of my favorites. But alas, it was Jeff, and it was time he left. Speaking of the Super Bowl we have set the menu for the night. Way in advance for us, I might add and I am quite excited. I remember all of the Super Bowl's J and I have spent together, not for the football but for the food. Isn't that what it's all about?

Superbowl #1 was on Bacchus night (big ass Mardi Gras Super parade for those who aren't from around here) and I was pregnant. All I remember is the Popeye's fried chicken and biscuits and my sad little O'Doul's.

Superbowl #2 J made chili. Right?

Superbowl #3 we had must moved into this house and had Uncle Bob and Aunt Liz and Trisha over. I made several big hot sandwiches and J made chicken wings. None of it was very good. I think we were overwhelmed. But Uncle Bob made his 7 layer dip. I think he made this for the Super Bowl. If not, he made it at some point and brought it over here and it was deep, spicy and delicious.

So what's in store for Super Bowl #4, you ask? I know you are on pins and needles!

I was going through the unusually large stack of catalogs that we get in the mail everyday. When I came across the William Sonoma one, I realized there were a ton of delicious recipes. One being fried bocconcini. Oh my, my mouth started to water and I couldn't pass it up. I don't think I have ever fried anything in this house. My mom instilled a strange phobia of frying due to the stench that sticks to everything. Well, Martha, I am facing my fear in its face and going to fry up some mozzarella balls. and I am damn excited!

I wanted to make short ribs but I will be gone for a celebration in the afternoon and won't have the time to do that. So J's in charge. He said he has been dying to make Pasta Bolognese but thought that didn't classify as Super Bowl fare. Hot noodles and ground meat. I begged to differ. So that's it folks. Let me know what you are cooking. We might just put it on the menu for Super Bowl #5!

Potty training Post #101

I thought we had it down. Or rather, that W had it down, this potty training thing. He was peeing in the potty. We were still working on the poopy BUT we were definitely on the road to success. This was all until I sent him to school in Big Boy Underwear (BBU)on Monday.

Monday: He did great! Stayed dry and even pooped in the potty. McD's fry fries for W!
Tuesday: Not so great. an accident at school and 2 more at home. Ugh!
Wednesday: Fine at school but pooped in his underwear at home. He didn't want to wear the BBU. He told me so but I insisted. He showed me.

Is this normal? Do they usually do this, regress and all? I just don't know what to do.

On the Pman front:
He hasn't been eating for awhile now. Just 'crackas' all day every day. It was the teething coupled with his cold. Until yesterday. He seems to be back on my bandwagon, the food is everything to me bandwagon. (except he won't eat bananas anymore).

So tonight I was tired and was 2nd guessing how good it can be for him to eat eggs every night for a week. I gave him the Kraft Easy Macthat I had picked up on a whim at the grocery with peas mixed in. Let me just say that I never even tasted boxed Mac and Cheese until my senior year of hig hschool. I went across the street and borrowed a box from Mrs. Jackson. Stuff like So I had to get it from a neighbor. She would KILL me if she knew that I fed this to Pman. he licked the cup clean. 660mg of sodium. I feel like it's child abuse. But he liked it.

Growing up.

Pman is growing up. I walked into the den this morning and he was making a tall tower with blocks. He talks nonstop and says more words than I ever expected him to say at this age. He completely follows instructions and says, "No! No!" to himself with a shake of his finger when he knows he's done something bad. With all of these fun things comes the bad....he's giving up one of his two naps which is taking it's toll on my blogging until I can figure out where it will fit in our new schedule.

So since we have finally gotten our camera software on our new computer I wanted to post a recent photo of Master P on the slide out back. It's his typical pose for the camera that he always gives. I just wish you could hear the sound effects, "aaaahhhh!" he always says in place of cheese.

I am trying, hard at this running thing. I ran 3 and 1/2 miles this weekend and you would have thought I had just finished the Boston Marathon. I finished my run with my arms up in the air (like I had just run through the ribbon) and a huge smile on my face. I know people thought I was a loon. The was damn proud of myself. I can only imagine what my freinds who have finished a marathon feel like when that is over. Go Rowanne! who actually qualified for the Boston Marathon. Is that crazy or what?!

I took Pman yesterday for a run. It's been forever since I have run with him in the double stroller. My legs felt like lead. Has he really gotten that big. When you think about it, I am pushing about 50 pounds, no wonder it took me 20 minutes to run less than 2 miles. So I am trying to get my running in sans kids and that's hard which is why I like to go before they wake up.

Anyway, my mom doesn't like the idea of me running early in the morning so she tries to come up with every possible reason why I shouldn't.
Mom:"You can't run alone. Come over here and get on the treadmill."
Me:"I'm running with a friend."
Mom:"That's too early"
Me:It's the only time we can do it.
Mom:"You CAN'T go tomorrow. It's going to be subfreezing."

That last one almost got me but I knew that wouldn't bother, L, the friend I have been running with and I didn't want to seem wimpy so I sucked it up.
And I have to say it wasn't that bad. I wore J's hat and brought socks for my hands and we ran. and she kicked my ass! I laid in bed when I got back and I was still breathing heavily. But there is nothing like an early, cold ass morning to get you jump started. and I was right. I don't think she even thought twice about going. She did think twice about her plants freezing their butts off so she covered them with sheets. She wasn't as worried about us. So thanks, L, for being strong willed and not giving me the option to bail.

one question

I have one question regarding the Presidential Inauguration. Was Al Gore chewing gum at the Inaugural luncheon?

Charlie's Steakhouse

Our friends invited us to dinner. Well, there was a catch. L only wanted to go to 1 of 2 places. So if we were to accept we really didn't have any say in where we were going. Restaurant control freak over here had politely relinquish her power. The 2 options were Vincent's and Charlie's Steakhouse. I know, pitiful, right? So we accepted and I told them I would be certainly going for the Company. J was ecstatic and was all over Charlie's. He's never been. I have never been either. I had an old boyfriend who went almost every week but girls were never invited so I always had this vision of what Charlie's would be like. I was right.

Picture this, particle board tables, wobbly chairs, a few luggage/coat racks on the walls. I don't remember anything else on the walls. No menus-which doesn't really bother me. I would rather someone tell me what to eat anyway. I don't like to have too many options. The potatoes were good. Oh and the onion rings to die for-skinny and crispy but my filet came in basically a bowl of butter, was tasteless and fatty. I love butter but I am not sure that was what it was. I can't figure it out. Anyway, we did have a good time. V got a kick out of the plastic diner style plates and the funny thing is that was the one thing my brother mentioned about it, the pitiful plates. Funny what you notice. First thing J said when we got in the car was, "We're not going back." I'd go back for the onion rings and the friends but that's about it.

Friend of the week

It's 7:45 am on Sunday and it's dark and rainy. Seems like we are stuck in the house for awhile. Well, truth be known, we'd be in the house anyway but it gives me a good excuse to be lazy on a Sunday morning. W is 'friend of the week' so we have a stuffed animal friend that we are taking care of. We are supposed to take him with us when we do all the fun things that we do over the weekend. The problem is that we, well, we're just not that much fun. We haven't done much all weekend except go out to dinner and lunch, take naps and hang around the house. I mean, it's so frickin' cold! who wants to do anything? So my question is this, do I make up something for the 'friend of the week' journal? Like say we spent all day downtown, going to the Insectarium, the Imax and rode the streetcar there and back. Oh and then we woke the kids up early from their nap because we just couldn't wait a second longer for them to wake up and walked over to the Creole Creamery for some ice cream where we got in an ice cream fight and laughed and giggled all afternoon. Do you think the teachers would see straight through that? Maybe.

The good thing is that Mimi insists on taking W to church and Sunday school. She thinks by not going to church every weekend we are leaving the door open for Satan to enter his life. So that should be a good photo op for the 'friend of the week' journal. and tomorrow since they have a holiday Mimi and friend are taking grandchildren on an adventure in the morning. What a fun Mimi! That's what Mimis are for. They should send the 'friend of the week' journal home to the grandparents because, correct me if you are, but parents are just not that fun. Although Mimi swears they were taking us here and there and everywhere when we were kids.

Now I'm really feeling guilty for being a lazy mom. Maybe if it's pretty out we'll get in the stroller and go for a coffee and a cookie......................Whew, still raining.

Potty Training Post #, I don't know 100!

This potty training thing is consuming our lives. The amount of pride I feel for the LB and his progress on the toilet is indescribable and you would think that it were me who was experiencing this life milestone.

No poo poo. He's scared. I think. But he's smart enough to ask for a diaper or say that he wants to go night night (because we will put him in a diaper) before he does any of that hoo-rah. Well, he's just plain smart. One day he just up and decided, "I will pee pee in the potty" and he did and never looked back. It's too darn crazy.

Tomorrow we are trying for the Big Boy Underwear (BBU) for school. I can't promise he won't freak. He had previous issues with them, but I have faith that he will be receptive to them. I mean, who wouldn't be? Just hanging out, free and all of that?

Enough about W's peeing habits. He will probably kill me when he reads this 10 years from now. I am still working on my photographic software for this new computer. Hopefully, I will have it up and running by the weekend.

Upperline Restaurant

Did I tell y'all we went to Upperline on Saturday night? I have bad memories of Upperline. One being the smell of rotten fish coming out of the kitchen straight to our table. I could smell it from a mile away. I have only been back once since that time. Pman was probably a week old and J and I met RaRa and JoJo for after dinner drinks. J has been trying to drag me over there since we first started dating. He didn't understand why it wasn't "my restaurant" because I lived 2 blocks away. He never succeeded. I unselfishly tried to make reservations for J's bday but it was Monday and they were closed. Whew! Close call.

And then J got to pick where we went to dinner on Saturday. He picked...you guessed it....the rotten fish place.

So I begrudgingly went. and I have to say my meal was actually really delicious. I had some crispy fried oysters with a celeriac remoulade to start and the most perfectly cooked grilled drum over their version of Salad Nicoise. Mmmm, my mouth is watering.

My only beef is that we sat in that little room right off of the hallway at a sideways turned table BUT even worse than that the waiter ended his speil about the nightly specials with there are no substitutions or additions. I think that is a sign of a cocky chef who is way more into himself than he is into his customers.

Ironically, J didn't enjoy his dinner and doesn't want to go back!

The Little Buddy had another good potty day at school. The teacher went so far as to tell me that I could send him in underwear. Let's not mess with a good thing just yet.

Potty training made simple?

I am sure you are getting sick hearing about our Potty training journey but it's been a hard journey. I have to tell you about our big breakthrough this weekend. I had the morning off while J took care of the boys. I went to the bathroom before I went for my run and "GASP!". There was pee pee in the little potty! J left it for me to see. He said that he woke up and told J he had to "run to the potty to pee pee". and sure enough he did. and he did it again and again and again. I think he had 7 stickers on his chart by the end of the day.

I would like to say that it was all because of me. I took Pman for a well check and the doctor told me to feign indifference. To get a chart and stickers, tell him if he pee pees on the potty he gets to put a sticker on the chart but that it's his choice. So I did and stopped talking about it. This was on Thursday. By Saturday he was master of the potty. I really think it was because he was with J all morning. When J got him up in the morning he told W to just "run to the potty" if he needed to pee pee and that's exactly what he did. All day long. It was one of the most exciting days of my life, save for the day that both my boys were born. and the sense of pride that we have going on around here is unbelievable.

So he's off to school today. I am not sure how it will pan out because he certainly likes his privacy. But I will keep my fingers crossed and pray for the best.

If you, too are in the throes of PT, my advice as an old hand at this potty training (HA!) is to give your child his options, lay off and let him do it in his own time.

I may be back tomorrow with a whole different viewpoint depending on how the day goes but until then I will sign off as

The ecstatic potty training NOLA MOM

New Year's Resolution #5

You have got to stop saying, "Shit!"

Kind of put off-ing way to start a conversation. Not just because of the lack of salutation but because that is a lot to ask, don't ya think?

My mom told me that when she called me yesterday. Supposedly W was outside with Papa the other day and Papa dropped his drill bit (don't get any ideas that Papa is handy, he's not although he tries hard, so I am not sure why he even has a drill bit) so Papa says to W:

W, gosh darn it! I dropped my drill bit.

To which W replied, "Oh, Shit!"

So I want to add this to my official list of NY's resolutions. I will stop cursing...around my children. But let me just say that the word is so expressive. Does "gosh darn it" really do it for you? I feel so satisfied after I use this expletive but I guess I will have to find my satisfaction elsewhere in 2009, because I would hate for W to come out with that when a kid drops a toy at school.

My CCC training is going well and I am really proud of myself considering that running doesn't come easy to me. I'm at 2.6 miles. I am trying hard to use running as my kind of meditation time-you know, kind of focus on the zen of it all, use a mantra and all of that hooey. Since I am not a meditator either it's a challenge but when I can get into that mode and let my mind go instead of think, I run much better.

This meditation stuff has consumed me since I started reading Eat, Pray, Love. In the midst of a big fight my mom and I were having while planning my wedding she told me I needed to meditate. I know I would benefit greatly from it because although sometimes, key word, sometimes, I can come across as laid back I am really a high strung, high anxiety individual. So this book has kind of introduced me to the world of meditation and finding your inner self through meditation. It's interesting. I can only really meditate for 6 minutes at a time. Pitiful I know which is why I thought maybe I could do it while running. In addition, I was diagnosed with rosacea, which is a facial skin disorder. Most people, J included, associate drunk red faced people with rosacea. I can't say I am far from that description. Ha! Stress is one of the things that aggravates it, not to mention red wine but I can only work on eliminating one cause at a time.

So in the New Year I am running and meditating and hoping that this all sticks to make for a better, less anxious mom.

Poor Little W and his Potty training journey

I am having second thoughts this morning after talking to LC last night about the potty training. Could it be possible that W is just not ready? I thought we were making progress but he had multiple accidents in his big boy underwear in the afternoon and I am just not sure it is worth the misery. I am not worried about me. I'm more worried about his frame of mind. It's just so sad and I feel like I am breaking his will.

Although, just when I think we have hit rock bottom he says something that makes me think that he's on the road to pottydom. When we were getting dressed for school he insisted on wearing a Pull Up. and kept talking about big boy underwear. Who knows? Like every other stage in this thing called Motherhood, it's just a trial by error, I guess.

I wish I had photos of Master P these past few days. But even if I did I wouldn't be able to post just yet. I need to get my software uploaded to my new computer. Note to self.

He's a walking fool! It's so frackin' funny to watch. We spent the better part of yesterday morning walking across the den and busting flat on his face every few steps. He loved it-laughed the whole time.

W and I are making headway with the potty training. Like I said, baby steps. The first day he would only wear the big boy underwear for a few minutes. Yesterday I got him to wear them from 5 until bedtime. He told me he needed to pee pee, then pee peed...in his underwear and was quite beside himself. We went to the potty and I distracted him from the Pull ups (he desperately wanted them back on) and we went about our merry afternoon. But he was so proud. He told J when he came home that he was wearing his bbu's.

My only problems is that I think he's now holding it, #1 and #2. It's amazing the amount of mental and physical control these little tykes will hold over our head, isn't it?

AND he has been dressing himself. Yay, W!

Done, Done and Done

We have the new co mputer up and running and today the tech guy is coming to transfer my stuff from my hard drive. I CANNOT wait. I don't have email contacts, photos or anything actually on this computer.

W is back at school. Hooray! and I could not be happier. He was pretty excited to get back too. He has his new pullups on and let me say that we have gotten nothing accomplished this past week as far as potty training is concerned. He loves to "pee pee on the potty" and "watch pee pee come out of his tallywacker" although no pee pee actually comes out until he is off of the potty with his pullups pulled up again. Extremely frustrating over here in Nolamom land. J doesn't like the thought of him soiling himself, as he so angrily puts it, but I feel like it is the only way. I got really aggravated yesterday and tried to put him in underwear and he cried and screamed-it was really quite pitiful. What do I do?!? I am done. I thought I wouldn't care, like W, and could let him stay in his poopy diapers for 5 more years but I am truly done.

I will keep you posted on our progress, what little there is, in between our 10 minute long trips to the potty.

Happy Monday!

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year! It's a little less happier than it was 15 minutes ago when I opened our new laptop. It was ruby red. Not what we wanted so I had to box it back up and get on J's computer for this blogging session.

I have some good New Year's Resolutions. and I am quite excited about them. Let me share...

1. Potty Training W-I am feeling pretty good about this right now. We are off to a slow start but it is all about baby steps, right? He is in pull ups because we have so much to do this weekend and I don't think he is quite getting the fact that you don't pee in the pull up. He thinks it's a swim diaper. The good news is is that he actually sat on a big boy potty at a restaurant yesterday. He was scared but pushed his way through. Of course no pee pee actually came out of his tallywacker-as he would say-but it's a start.

2. Master P, W, J and I all eat the same food for supper. Not sure how this resolution will pan out. I probably will throw this out the window on Monday when I am tired and not willing to deal with a tantrum over food. But it's a resolution nonetheless.

3. To become a hot mom. I know. I've tried to attain this status since Pman was born but I finally have a good mindset. I WILL BECOME A HOT MOM. and a subset of this resolution is to run the Crescent City Classic. I mean, come on, I can do this. It's silly to think that I can't. It will be a challenge but I have to do this for myself.

4. Meditate daily. Do you think I am crazy? I probably am but this is something else I need to do for myself. I need to calm my mind and as a result I will be a better, more patient mom, a sweeter wife, a much deeper sleeper and in general a less anxious person.