50k "preparation"

I've never been one to prepare correctly for races as SR points out to me often. But if running a beautiful 18 miles counts as preparation for the 50k, then I'm glad to oblige.

We got a babysitter yesterday so SR and I could go on our last long run before the race. I have been having diarrhea 10 + times a day for the last 6 days, so I started out dehydrated and tired. But, when the cool moisture and the smell of the dirt and the trees became part of me (and I had completely evacuated my colon), it was easy to keep running. And I listened to all of my favorite Danish songs. By the time the 18 miles was up, I wanted to keep going, but I was dehydrated and hungry. That will be the awesome thing about the race in 2 weeks, is there will be places to stop to eat and drink. How cool is that? I can see why people (many of my readers) get into ultramarathons. It's like a perfect long run, but with rest stops and food along the way. Yeah, I'm excited.

In other news, we weighed The Bois yesterday and he was over 11 lbs!! Our week by week pregnancy book says if he started out 7 lbs, he should be 9.75 lbs now. I guess his great grandma was spot on when she saw him and said "He's fat!"

Here's the little porker with grandma and great grandma.

And in the nude, umbilical hernia and all. He looks like a little fat rap star. And he'll love me one day for posting this on the internet.

Speaking of rap stars, I doubt you readers will understand much more than the swear words in this song, but I'll recommend it nonetheless.

Running song of the Day: Bare sig til by Niarn

Vores hjem

So there wasn't much build-up to the wedding. It was a small event. And it snowed about a foot that day. But over the course of this week, it's becoming clear to me that I've never been so happy. This is of course in contrast to my first wedding, which was huge, and afterwards life basically stayed exactly the same.

As we said our vows, both of us had trouble getting the words out. This time it was tough to tell who was the bigger cry baby. But we got our act together for some pictures.

All weekend it seemed we were living in some fantasy land, where the strange laws of our state weren't working against us anymore, and we were husband and wife. We stayed in a beautiful bed & breakfast in Oconomowoc, Wi, near my parents' house.

So maybe we didn't take that picture. But that is where we stayed.

And The Bois was baptized.

How could I not be the happiest I've been?

This really is what life is about. I just never used to believe it.

I didn't know I'd have more fun baby joggering than jogging alone. I didn't know that I'd look at my wedding ring and smile and want everyone to see it.

SR was at work two days ago and was apparently swapping divorce stories with two co-workers. One asked, "What made you decide to take the plunge again." And here's what he told me he said, "This one's a lifer. She's perfect."

I keep repeating those words in my head, over and over. What is the chance we would both feel the same way?

The first week of marriage has been full of too much work for SR, but we did manage to go to an Afghani cooking class last night. We met a few of the town's elite; the old rich ladies loved to hold The Bois. So we cooked and had some wine and I ate enough Basmati rice for half of the people in the class.

Anyway, I've been out enjoying the nice weather with The Bois in the baby jogger. We've had two 11 mile sessions now. And that is an awesome workout, I must say! After one night of the Bois looking like a lobster, I've decided to put sunblock on him from now on. :)

And I've been listening to nothing but Danish songs as I run. Yeah, it's Denmark we're moving to. I suppose that won't give our identity away. Music has proven to be a great way to help me learn Danish. And we're getting our applications in for work there and my green card equivalent application, now that we're married. We speak Danish about 50% of the time now. SR is such a good teacher.

Two days after the wedding we had a long talk about what it means to his daughter and son for us to move there. We decided we just have to let them know they are always welcome to live with us. We are not moving away from them, we are simply living our lives and wish they could be there with us. If they know we love them and they always have a second home there, I'm not sure what more we can do.

Although I'm okay with telling you where we're moving, I do think it would give our identity away if I said which 50k we're running in April. I'm sure it will be easy to look up the guy and the girl with the same last name at a race that size.

Anyway, I'll leave you with The Bois in his dress and a recommendation for my recent favorite Danish running song:

Hjem til Aarhus by Dodo and the Dodos

I'm no pro at this

I can't believe it. The Bois just rolled off the couch. I am such an idiot mother. Luckily he fell on a big stack of blankets. I don't think he's hurt, but we were both in a state of panic for a minute there.

Oh, he just smiled at me (I think). Maybe he forgives me. He's such a magical creature to me.

And the weather is beautiful. How do I forget every year that amazing feeling of running in early spring? I downloaded the songs that SR had put on a mix for me last spring. It gave me such a rush of happiness while running. And made me so, well, horny. It is a bit too soon for another baby, though. Hopefully the LAM (lactation amenorrhea method) won't fail us for a few weeks.

In other news, we went to step-Daughter's teacher conference. It was the two of us, the Bois, the step-Daughter and step-Daughter's mom. The teacher was very complimentary of step-Daughter, but obviously overwhelmed by the social situation at the two homes. Seemed to find it a bit weird. That's pretty annoying since I think step-Daughter gets enough teasing from other kids. But, of course, kids only tease her about the three mom's because they get the idea it's wrong from their parents.

If only people would fight battles that were worth fighting. And not reject things just because they're different. But we're in middle America here. Perhaps she'll move with us to Europe, but that's a while off and it's not my decision to make.

What I do know is the next time I post, I'll be a married woman. I'm not sure why my dream is coming true, but I don't want to waste a minute of our life together.

Here we are one year ago to the day.

We have had a lot of fun this past year.

And I'm still so in love, but now I've got a Bois who just pooped through his diaper and outfit and onto the Boppy.

Running Song of the Day: Forever Young by Bob Dylan

Heart Full of Love

It's been a crazy week and I'm not sure if anyone is actually reading this blog anymore after my long absence.

Oh, well. I continue nonetheless.

SR is sick upstairs with a fever. He actually had to call in sick from work. I have been sitting down here with the Bois, trying to write my wedding vows. There really is something to expressing your love for someone in words. And we saw a great example of this in Kinamand (Chinaman) last night (a great Danish movie).

And our own Chinaman...

Yesterday we bought our wedding rings and SR picked out the jewelry I'm going to wear to the ceremony with me at Target.

Christian will be baptized right after we are married. SR's parents brought him a beautiful old family gown from Europe.

Anyway, we spent the week with all three kids and SR's parents. The kids were so happy, animated and creative with continuous love surrounding them. It was amazing to see how much they grew in just one week.

Of course there was a lot of jealousy of Christian. SR's parents were very careful about giving equal attention to the three kids. This was obviously a difficult task. I must admit it is extremely difficult for me to pay equal attention and give equal love to all of the children when the bois occupies at least 50% of my mind at any given time. There is most certainly an evolutionary explanation for this, young babies being so completely helpless. But it simply feels like love to me.

But the great thing about the human heart is it can never get too full with love.

The best night of their visit was celebrating Daughter's and SR's mom's birthdays. SR made an amazing Salmon dinner and a gourmet birthday cake.

I had a little red wine with dinner which the Bois enjoyed a couple hours later.

I also lost a good amount of weight, not getting much chance to sneak away and gorge myself like usual and needing to keep up with all of the exercise and breast feeding. Even my mom noticed I had lost weight, which made me really happy.

And I have been running the fastest 5ks I've ever run. Recently I've been doing a couple in a row on the treadmill in 23 minutes. And I ran 16 miles last weekend with 9 minute miles. I'm getting very excited about our upcoming 50 k. I have to say running pregnant has proven to be great training for the upcoming running season!

Running Song of the Day: Amsterdam by Guster

losing my immunoglobulins

It is now almost 4 weeks post-partum. Christian is doing great. I on the other hand seem to have lost my ability to fight off infection. I woke up this morning with a painful left eye matted shut with tons of yellow pus, a red painful infection on my finger and persistent itching where the maxi-pad rash was.

Yes, despite my reputation for not cleaning the house, I do wash my hands.

The entire pregnancy I was like a wall. Despite being exposed to nearly every imaginable common illness in the Urgent Care, I only had one cold.

I guess Christian is the wall now. He hasn't even gotten a diaper rash (I like to think that is because we only use cloth diapers and NO wipes... only wash clothes with hot water). But honestly, it's probably the super immunity given to him by the breast milk. If I have to lose my immunoglobulins, I'm glad at least he is getting some of them.

Here I am with little Fidel Castro in his leisure suit.

Running song of the day: Bossy by Keilis featuring Too $hort

La Dolce Vita

Little Christian and I are having a lot of fun these days. This morning we slept late and then listened to some music.

While Christian was being passed around by teenage girls at the YMCA daycare I ran 9 miles at an 8:30 second pace, which is much faster than my pre-pregnancy daily runs. After that we went to the pool. He fell asleep to heavenly pool sounds while I swam. I'm so happy to be feeling like my non-pregnant self again. I always thought women inevitably said good-bye to their previous body once they had their first child. Well, this just doens't have to be the case.

And many people say you'll never get your old life back again once you have a baby. Well, all I know is I'm still leading the same life, I just have a little baby I am in love with and I'm actually a lot cleaner now that I've got him and the babysitter to clean for.

And SR and I are getting excited about our wedding coming up in less than 3 weeks! We had a lot of fun last night just laying on the floor and laughing, much like when we started dating almost one year ago, but now there's a little baby laying with us.

This Thursday SR's parents are coming from Europe and we've got a lot planned with them and the kids. It will involve frequent visits to indoor water parks, which will be fun. They are wonderful grandparents and I can't wait for them to meet Christian.

On Friday night, SR's ex wife suggested she and her girlfriend, we and SR's parents go out to dinner. I'm trying not to let my mind ponder the strangeness of this too much as there really is no other option than to go along with it.

I did have a dream last night, though, that my ex-husband invited my parents and me and SR to dinner. We were at this country club my parents love to eat at. The lights were a soft yellow and my parents and my ex-husband were laughing and joking with wine glasses in their hands and rosy cheeks. SR was looking down at his empty plate.

It was a bad dream and I guess I just don't want Friday night to be like that.

Anyway, I gotta get ready for work.