119/365:2

119/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

Promontory Point Park
Chicago, IL
--

It was a great day for an outdoor skate, so I went out with the kids and skated just under 5 miles in preparation for the 10 mile skate I am doing for the American Cancer Society Walk & Roll that is in a couple of weeks. It's not that easy to do when also pushing two kids in the stroller, but it sure is good exercise and a lot of fun. I parked further south than last time and skated almost all the way down to the Museum of Science and Industry. I decided to turn around here at Promontory Point Park though, and took a short little break before having to skate the 2+ miles back to the car.

118/365:2 /// Week 17 of 52

118/365:2 /// Week 17 of 52, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

Fluevog Radio RTP boots
--
It's my birthday today. I didn't have much planned for the day, but this evening we went out for sushi at a place we don't go to very often. Afterwards we were going to go get ice cream cones from Dairy Queen, but they aren't on their summer hours yet (apparently) and were closed. Kenzie was so upset that we didn't have ice cream, so we tried to figure out where else we could go. We ended up going to Margie's Candies, which we've never been to before. Now that we've gone we will definitely be going back. We've driven by so many times, but never stopped. And they have the best sign ever. I have yet to get a good photo of it. One of these days I will.

117/365:2

117/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

I thought I would have taken at least a photo of the kids today, but I was busy. This was just a photo I snapped trying out a camera app that I downloaded. I attempted potty training *again* today. This time I really stuck with it, and kept Kenzie in underwear and the plastic covers for most of the day. I also asked her about a million times if she needed to use the potty. She would sit on it, but still nothing. She had three accidents while wearing underwear. I was hoping after the first accident that she would have remembered to go to the potty. Especially, since she was so upset about it. Of course, all three incidents occurred literally minutes after I asked if she needed to use the potty. We will try again tomorrow. She was really excited to wear her "Gabba Gabba" underpants, but that still wasn't enough to keep her from going to the bathroom in them. I really don't think she liked the wet undies, so I'm hopeful a few more tries will be successful. This is one of the things she has been most stubborn about. For as smart as she is with everything else, I never thought pottytraining would be so difficult.

116/365:2

116/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

It was raining this morning when I had to head out and run some errands. Kenzie didn't seem to mind.

115/365:2

115/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

"We expected something
Something better than before
We expected something more

Do you really think you can just put it in a safe behind a painting
Lock it up and leave?
Do you really think you can just put it in a safe behind a painting
Lock it up and leave?"

- the national, start a war -

Went to see The National open for the Arcade Fire tonight at the UIC Pavillion down the street from my house. I'm a much bigger National fan than I am of Arcade Fire. I have all the records from Arcade Fire, I just don't like them like a lot of other people do. I saw them at Lollapalooza years ago, and again when they played the Chicago Theatre back in 2007. Both times I wasn't really that blown away by them, and was actually at those shows for the other bands playing (Electrelane opened at Chicago Theatre and they were by far the better band that night, in my opinion). The National, again just my opinion, are stronger lyricists and better musicians. Their songs are raw and full of real emotion.

My husband summed it up best though with this comment on facebook after the show tonight: "The Arcade Fire are a shitstorm of mediocrity. The National were dark, poetic geniuses that have probably already made their best records. There, I said it."

And there, I re-posted it.

114/365:2

114/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

easter sunday
egg hunt

--

Kenzie searching for eggs with her two puppy friends.

113/365:2

113/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

junip
empty bottle
chicago, il
--
We went to see Junip last night at the Empty Bottle. It had been a long time since we had been there. The last time was probably sometime before Kenzie was born, so either 2007 or early 2008. Way too long. Junip was amazing. They sounded great, and put on a really great show. It was a good night out, even though it ended early (it was the early show at the bottle). It was nice to go back to a place that John and I used to frequent before kids. There was a time when we used to go there just for the heck of it. Sometimes it didn't really matter who was playing, we would just go. Obviously, now that we have kids, we don't do that anymore.

112/365:2

112/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

new skates
--
Riedell 265 boots with Powerdyne Revenge plates, gumball toe-stops and my Radar Flatout 88 wheels.

They feel very different from my R3's. Partly because they fit properly, but also because now that they fit properly the wheel base is shorter. I need to get used to that. I also now have aluminum plates which are heavier than the nylon. Once I get them broken in more I can already tell I am going to skate a million times better. I wore them for about 2 hours today, just skating around the house. The new toe-stops are pretty amazing too. I thought I couldn't walk on my toes, but I was wrong. I can do it with these. It's all about the nice big toe-stop AND proper fitting skates. I was so excited to pick these up today, but more excited to actually get to put them on and do some skating. Unfortunately, I'm missing practice on Monday, so I won't get a good chance to really skate in them unless I go to an open skate somewhere.

111/365:2

111/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

adams-sangamon park
chicago, il
--
The last time we were at this playground was just over 2 weeks ago. Kenzie fell and hit her forehead hard on a step leading to a slide last time we were there. Fortunately, this time there were no injuries. I had to follow her around everywhere though and keep telling her to slow down. She has a habit of running too fast and then just tripping over her own feet. At least we were able to leave today without any bumps and bruises on her head today. phew.

110/365:2

110/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

Headed out this morning to pick up Easter treats for the girls. I wasn't really thinking about it, but the other day we talked briefly about coloring eggs again this year. Then I saw a commercial for Reese's Peanut Butter eggs and was reminded that they are the best ever, and I hadn't gotten any at all this year. So I went and picked up those few things and also picked up a few little things for Easter baskets.

While shopping I decided to pick up some hair color to try and tone down the brassiness I was getting in the blonde streaks. I also wanted to try and lighten the rest of my hair overall...though being as dark as it is I figured it wouldn't change much without me lifting the color first. It did lighten just a touch, and took the red out, which was what was bothering me. Plus my hair feels much healthier and better now. I also finally decided to get a CHI straightener. They're expensive, which is what has stopped me from buying one in the past, but the straightener I use now is going on 3 years old and just isn't cutting it. If I'm going to keep my hair longer, I need something that will actually work. So I got it and so far really like it. It definitely took less time to straighten, and my hair feels better too. Of course that could be because I colored it, but I think the straightener really helped out a lot too.

109/365:2

109/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

It has been raining pretty much all day. I don't mind it though. Once in awhile I like rainy days, especially when I know I can just stay inside and wear comfy clothes and just do stuff around the house (laundry, vacuuming, etc...). While getting the kids dressed this morning, I saw Kenzie's brown hat hanging on the hook and thought she might like to wear it. It's a little small on her head now, but it still looked cute. So I did a little impromptu photoshoot, and pulled Aubrey's little pink hat out and tried for some photos of the two of them together again. This time Kenzie was a little more cooperative than she was yesterday.

108/365:2

108/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

I wanted to try and get some photos of the girls together, since they were sort of coordinated in what they were wearing. I was hoping to get them both sitting next to each other, but Kenzie insisted that they lay on the pillow. She sure had ants in her pants though, and was constantly moving.

I realized tonight that I never really got around to doing any Easter type photos. I'll have to try and do that this week.

107/365:2

107/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

Easter egg hunt
--
This was Kenzie's hesitant smile at the egg hunt today. She did pretty good and collected quite a few eggs. She was so excited about the candy that she hardly wanted to eat any regular food today (and she's not a big eater as it is). She kept asking for the little chocolate eggs or tootsie rolls that were inside the plastic eggs. She got a little white stuffed bunny rabbit at the egg hunt too, and was really excited about that. She even took a stab at hitting the pinata, and did pretty well considering her age and size. I think the highlight for her though, was being able to run around with the other kids. There were quite a few kids there. It's a shame that not more of them are around regularly, so she could play with them more often.

106/365:2 /// 194/365

106/365:2 /// 194/365, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

Day 194
--

Aubrey is getting better at sitting up for longer without falling over. She was sitting here with one of her little baby books just looking at it. Kenzie thought it was pretty funny that Aubrey was sitting and "reading". I reminded Kenzie that she used to do the same thing.

105/365:2 /// Week 15 of 52

105/365 /// Week 15 of 52, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

Fluevog Ask Response clogs
--
These were my birthday gift last April. I've been waiting for better weather to pull them out to wear again. It was cold out today, but I had to wear them again. Adding fishnets made them even more fun.

104/365:2 /// 192/365

104/365:2 /// 192/365, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

Day 192
--
Aubrey can sit! She does fall over, but she can hold herself up pretty well. I had to work fast to get these shots, but most of them turned out pretty well.

Next step...crawling. She rolls and sort of pushes backwards. She hasn't quite figured out the whole crawling thing, but I'm guessing that is coming soon.

103/365:2

103/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

It was an absolutely beautiful day, so I had to get out and skate along the lakefront with the girls. I will admit at the first hill, I was a little freaked, but I plough stopped the whole way and that kept my speed down. I have hand breaks on the stroller, but they pretty much slam it to a stop, so I'd rather not have to do that. You tend to pick up a lot of speed on skates and pushing a jogger stroller. I was averaging an 9 1/2 minute mile and that was pushing two kids in a stroller. I could go a lot faster if it's just me and no kids. I did 5 miles on the lakefront...about 2.5 south and then 2.5 back north. It was a lot of fun, and I will definitely get a good workout doing this regularly while pushing the kids along too.

102/365:2

102/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

"rollerskate girl!"

That was what Kenzie kept calling herself. It was pretty cute.

It was pretty nice out today, and since Kenzie was up pretty early and watched tv while I was trying to sleep a little longer, we didn't have any tv on later in the morning and the rest of the afternoon. Instead, we were productive and ran some errands. After Aubrey woke from her nap (Kenzie was supposed to be napping too, but sadly was not) we decided to go outside and I let Kenzie rollerskate around the courtyard. She skated for a good 30-45 minutes and did pretty well.

101/365:2 /// 189/365

101/365:2 /// 189/365, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

Day 189

You wouldn't know it from looking at her cute little face that she was a big pita today. I think she's teething again because she's been fussy with her bottles, and just wanted attention ALL..DAY..LONG. If I left the room, she cried. If I didn't give her enough attention, she cried. After awhile, I started to just tune out the crying if I was in the middle of something else. At least she drank her bedtime bottle and went to sleep with less of a struggle than last night.

100/365:2

., a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

Shamrock Shuffle 8k
Chicago, IL
pre-race
--
I ran my first race today. I got a stupid headcold on Thursday which made it really hard to run today since I could barely breathe. Not to mention it was 80+ degrees and slightly humid. Running + heat + me just do not go too well together.

I finished though...at 1 hour and 12 minutes (the cut off was an hour and fifteen!). I would have finished probably about 6 minutes faster had I not stopped off for a restroom break, but there was no way I could have continued running without stopping. And I wasn't the only one, which caused the slight delay.

John ran with me at the start, but I felt bad because I was slowing him down. He went on when I stopped for the toilet, and ended up finished in 58 minutes. So I really wasn't that far behind him.

It's been a long day, and I just want to get some rest now.

99/365:2

99/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

navy pier
chicago, il

--

We had to go to Navy Pier today to pick up our race packets for the Shamrock Shuffle tomorrow. We've driven in the past because it's been cold and/or raining/snowing. We've also driven because:
1) I was pregnant
2) Kenzie was a baby
3) I was pregnant again and Kenzie was still a baby
4) We have Kenzie and Aubrey, and it's a pain to take the train sometimes because not all train stops are handicap accessible. We'd also have to walk quite a ways to get to the pier, or we'd have to take a bus, which doesn't sound fun either.

So we drove again this year. And it was not fun...at all. There were just way too many people all driving there. I'm sure some people were just going to the pier because it was relatively nice out, but I also know a lot of people were going to pick up their race packets. Next year we are NOT driving. It's just ridiculous the way the traffic was getting routed and by the time we parked we were so frustrated that we didn't even want to be there any longer than we had to be.

We considered taking the kids on the ferris wheel, but it was kind of cool on the lake and it was really foggy. We'll go back another time when it's warmer and also when there isn't a blanket of fog covering all the buildings.

98/365:2

98/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

Aubrey had her 6 month check up today. She weighed in at 12 lbs 15 oz, and was just over 24 inches long (I might be wrong on the length). I had a feeling her weight gain would be slower, since she wasn't eating as well when she had the first cold that hit our house a month ago. Then she was teething, so her eating was slow then too. The doctor said she's fine though, so nothing to worry about. We can start to increase her solid foods now, and so far she has been pretty good about whatever I feed her.

97/365:2 /// 185/365

97/365:2 /// 185/365, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

Apparently, we can't get rid of the cold bug in our house. Either that or me and the girls have the same allergies. It's frustrating because I'm running the Shamrock Shuffle on Sunday. It's a 5 mile run, and I really don't want to run it with a cold. Today was the last day I planned to run until the actual race. I did 6.25 miles on the treadmill, sore throat and all. It took me 90 minutes, but I was pretty happy with that time. I'm hopeful that I will feel better by Sunday, and I only have to run 5 miles. If I could do this today, ideally I should have a slightly better time on Sunday. My sore throat did go away, but then I ended up with more nasal congestion...something both girls have too. I'm just so tired of these germs. I can't wait until I can keep the windows open to blow it all out of the house.

Day 185 - and yes that is a runny nose.

96/365:2

96/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

My parents stopped by today to see the girls for a few hours. We went to lunch at Lalo's in University Village and Kenzie got a lollipop from the waitress. She's feeling much better today after hitting her head at the playground yesterday. Honestly, she seemed to feel much better about an hour after it happened yesterday. Things seem back to normal for sure today though. She was even asking to go to the playground again. Not sure we'll head back to the same one anytime soon, but we'll go to our usual neighborhood playground soon.

95/365:2

95/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

I had been wanting to take the kids to this new playground in the neighborhood, so after a quick walk with the dog, we headed out to play. It wasn't crowded, which was nice, but the playground itself is pretty crazy. Kenzie had fun. There are three different slides, and I think she tried them all. There were lots of angled sides and elevations so the kids can do lots of climbing. I have a feeling though that if it is really crowded there is a pretty good risk of kids falling down the elevated areas. Overall though, it's a pretty fun park. Unfortunately though, we ended up with our first playground injury of the year after Kenzie tripped and hit her forehead right into the step leading up to the little slide. I thought she bumped her chin, but then discovered she bumped her head. She has a huge knot there now. We came home and I iced it and after about an hour she seemed to be back to her normal self. She had lunch and was taking care of Eeyore (pretending he hurt his head too). She's taking a nap now, and I'll just keep a close eye on her to make sure it's not anything other than a bump.

94/365:2

93/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

the only way Kenzie napped yesterday was to sleep in the chair. it wasn't ideal, but at least she napped.


* this is actually day 93, and the previous photo is day 94.

93/365:2 /// Bench Monday | Derby Socks Edition

93/365:2 /// Bench Monday | Derby Socks Edition, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

Spring session of Derby Lite starts up tonight. I'm looking forward to it. After a week off between Winter and Spring, it will be nice to start up again. Though I didn't have class last week, I did go skating twice last week. I'm also trying to save up some money to buy a new pair of skates. I'll use my current skates for outdoor skating. After getting fitted, I found that my skates are a size and half too big, so I think getting better skates that fit properly will make a huge difference in my skating. At least I hope so.

92/365:2 /// 180/365

92/365:2 /// 180/365, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

Day 180
--
She is almost sitting up by herself. She's on her belly in this photo, but in some of the other shots I took, she was sitting up...even if it was just briefly. I think by next week, she might have the whole sitting thing down.

This morning she was playing under her baby gym, and scooted off the mat onto the hardwood floor. I watched her as she scooted backwards towards me. I think crawling isn't too far off either.

Kenzie started a music class this morning. John is going to take her each week. They aren't home yet, so I haven't heard how it went. I'm hopeful it went better than her dance class back in the fall.

91/365:2

91/365:2, a photo by daisy plus three on Flickr.

"droning chords and distant bells
to what's been over since the fall
holding tight to what's been felt
holding on tight onto a dead sky

turn a deaf ear no matter what they might say
always
turn a deaf ear pushing you further away
always"

- junip, always -


It was rainy today, so we stayed inside. I ran 2 miles on the treadmill then did a mile on the elliptical. After working out, I decided to clean up some stuff in the basement to try and get it a little more organized. It's not perfect, but it's better than it was. Apart from that, I didn't do much else today. I had a slight headache all day. I thought it was from not drinking enough water after working out, but I've had A LOT of water today, so I think it was just weather related.

In the evening I decided to practice a little on my skates. I wanted to do some falling drills and practice getting up by going onto my toe stops and then jumping up faster. Now that I've tried it a few times, I think it will be easier than the way I usually get up. Kenzie wanted to roller skate too, so I got her skates out. She then wanted her pads too. I finished what I was doing, but Kenzie wanted to keep "skating" so she just kept going around the living room. It was pretty cute. I'm glad she's excited about skating because once the weather gets better she's going to be my skating partner in the empty bank parking lot on weekends.

I also discovered tonight that Aubrey got her first tooth. It's pushing it's way through, but it's definitely there! yay for teeth!