Fast Running Mommy

My little boy Joseph is turning 4 tomorrow. 

I have enjoyed this child so much and am very grateful for the inspiration I received in regards to rearing him. I don't think I could have enjoyed him as much as I have been able to without it.

When he was 2 I bawled my eyes out at the thought of losing the sweet baby he had been. He is very attached to me but at the same time has a strong need to disobey and argue with me whenever I present a challenge to that closeness....such as..I don't know..asking him to put his shoes on when he's building a very cool spaceship race car or something interesting like that.

I felt impressed to go to a parenting class when he was around 2 but it wasn't for him....or so I thought. I thought I was going for my sister, who was having serious behavior problems.

Turns out as this baby grew up a bit he gave me a run for my money I hadn't yet experienced with my other kids. He was..well..horrible. I used to tease that I needed to call the child abuse hotline because my child was abusing me. He would (and still does although it's gotten better) yell at me and just get into fights about EVERYTHING.

The WONDERFUL thing about this parenting class is that it targeted this type of behavior...defiance...before I even knew this little guy would struggle with it.

The main idea that the doctor gave us was very simple and yet VERY effective ( I know because I've done it all these months).

Put the defiant child in the bathroom for a time out. 

Anywhere else can become either another battleground for them (the stairs or corner because it's too easy for them to get out) or it can be too fun....like their room.

I have consistently put Joseph in the bathroom and diffused the situations time and time again without more fights and more struggles between us.  It's really really worked.

That doesn't mean I've never lost my temper or patience with him but I really believe it's been a lot better. Now I'm determined to take the fight out of him and help him see I love him even though I have to set limits for him.  Happy Birthday Jo Jo! 

I'm sleep deprived. My baby is a great sleeper but he's been having trouble falling asleep at night and keeping me up a little bit too late for my early  rising. I need a nap today but it will have to wait until after the b-day party and all the preparations for it. 

I've got to get to bed earlier tonight...maybe Daddy is putting the baby to sleep for me tonight. :) 

I had a nightmare (among many) that homeless people were trying to get inside my house.   Hiliarious ....when I saw the group of runners congregated outside my house today I thought....it's come true. 

I always used to tease Sasha that he was like a homeless person...outside all the time.

In fact I have had SEVERAL experiences where I meet somebody at a park or the mall or something and start talking to them...complete strangers...and they end up knowing who Sasha is (at least by description of the redhead that runs all over the place!!) Just like we all get to recognize the same homeless people who are always walking the streets!! 

I am going to try and slowly build my mileage up to three a day. I felt good last week and hope I won't have any more exhausted days for awhile. I can' t take care of my kidlets when I'm wiped out and I hate it. I hate letting them watch TV so I try to avoid that too. 

Although I think we may start up our nut cracking factory this week and watch a few good movies to pass the time.  We always end up with oodles of free nuts every winter and my kids love help cracking them. Okay...Benjamin usually does most of the work but the other ones like feeling like they are helping out and getting to watch a movie. :)
 

I'm pre blogging today..I'll have to run this afternoon..slept in and Sasha works at the temple once a month. 

did 2.5 again today and guess what? My running partner was able to get up this morning because her stinker baby finally slept all night last night. He's been waking up every hour for 2 weeks so that's part of the reason she hasn't been going with me. It was fun.

My partner came and she did 3 with me! yay..jakey is awake and dropped his breakfast spoon so I've gotta go play mommy slave....:)

Did three again today. Felicia came again. At the end her little girl came out of the house when she saw us and she was all dressed and ready to go for a run...so cute. She is 4 and very precocious!!

Three again....looks like Felicia is hooked...she came again. I'll have to pow wow with her and make sure she really does want to go every day. So far so good.
 

No partner...tired...sore legs....maybe my kids will be angels today? 

Good day. I didn't feel as tired as yesterday and Felicia came again. My kids actually did behave better yesterday than normal. Not as much fighting or whining as on the bad days with them. I got ambitious and made what for me was a fancier meal for lunch....see my recipe blog for details. 

Felicia came again. I'm having a great time having a partner ...whenever she can make it. It was hard sometimes during my pregnancy to run alone. My legs would kill me for the first 2 miles of my run and then loosen up and feel okay again...so I kept going. 

Running now feels so great after that experience. I'm not exhausted all of the time anymore and I'm starting to scheme and dream and feel like  a human being again.

I watched this Nova show last night on Fractal Geometry. I've always disliked math because to me it was just a bunch of numbers that hurt my head..who cares if it could harness the secrets of the universe...Fractal Geometry is different...it's math that explains the beauty of the natural world...shapes that couldn't be explained by the square, triangle, circle world of geometry. It calculates the in between shapes with a very simple idea of self renewing shapes or that they are the same shape repeated again and again. Look at a tree..it repeats the same basic shape of branches from the largest branches to the smallest...same thing inside a human body and in millions of other applications.  It was very fascinating.  

My baby slept so well and is still sleeping..but I'm full to the brim with milk. My run still went well thanks to attire from Nordic Track. My two year old looked and me and told me I looked pregnant...pregnant with milk I guess...and my 8 year old who is hitting puberty early...acck..said she was glad she's not THAT big!  I tried waking him by undoing his wrappings (I usually swaddle him and unswaddling often immediately awakens him)..but he's still snoring..literally..he snores...it's cute. 

Felicia came and seems to be on a roll..she keeps asking me if I'm going tomorrow..yay!!  

With Sasha at Painter's I didnt' get my run in...I'm pre-blogging because I know Sasha will insist I get out this evening while he "watches" the kids. 

I'm not feeling motivated to get out tonight but Felicia might go with me so that should be fun. I had a nice relaxing day chatting with Maurine. She was really sweet and came to hang out with me today so I wouldn't be alone while Sasha was racing..also very nice because Sasha took two of my best helpers with him...leaving me alone with all of the little ones. We just sat around and talked while I nursed and it was heavenly. Thanks Maurine!! 

Ran alone and scared myself the whole way. My partner on Saturday said everyone she's told she's running with me thinks we are crazy for running outside. I said, "We never see anything." to which fate of course replied with a sleezy car driven by a greasy man giving us a disgusting stare and a horrible honk!! 

had a nice time talking with Felicia on the run today...too nice a time..i was late and very unsympathetic to the waiters....not the ones at a dining facility...the ones waiting for me.  I was only 10 minutes late but when I told them I had induldged in conversation for a few minutes I got some crusty stares. Most of them have VERY loose schedules or none so I don't feel too bad....just very very jealous. :)

No partner but I actually needed to be alone I think today..I've been moody and needed to have my own brain for a few minutes. 

I think 33 may be the magic age for me where my body thinks it needs to hang onto fat.Billy is almost 3 months old and I've lost like 10 pounds since I had him...that's including him....so...I'm getting a little worried about it and wondering what to do. Obviously I need to watch my calories and exercise. I've actually never ever tried to diet to lose weight so I honestly have no idea how to do it.  I tried eating a little bit less yesterday and I was STARVING by the afternoon. I didn't feel like I ate too much less..sigh...Two consoling thoughts. One, I am an extremely dedicated runner and I will keep running until the weight slowly comes off. Two, I heard somewhere that fat stores vitamins..so I guess I'm storing those vitamins extra right now because of the stress of having all these kids that depend on me for almost everything.  

I had a hard run today...no juice..no partner....at least it wasn't 5 degrees today. 

good run..felt better The computer was down so I didn't blog this yesterday

Great run. Poor Felicia's baby is not sleeping well and she hasn't had the strength to get up in the morning. She came today. I always feel a little winded when we run together...it's good for me I think..she makes me not be lazy. 

Sasha and I are trying to set up some friends of ours. He's a Math Professor at BYU and I tried to impress him with the stuff I learned about Fractal Geometry on Nova the other night.  

Felicia came!! We were both tired. We talked of crazy things are babies and kids do. Even though I have three more than her we can really relate to each other because we both have a 4 year old and two little ones after that too!!

3 by myself..I was slow and tired today. 

I walked a couple of times...tired again but not as bad as yesterday. I think having to run alone in the dark must be naturally depressing. 

by myself in the dark....not too bad....i just watch for dark shadows and barking dogs more. :)

Nice run with Felicia...it always go by so much faster when I have someone to talk to...

Did my 3...now I'm sitting here thinking about why it makes me so mad every time Sasha goes to a race and I'm stuck home.  I've been married to him for 12 years now and he's raced for that entire time....I used to go to the races with him but for the last few years that's been hard...4 kids, pregnant with the fifth, five kids, pregnant with the sixth, six kids..I've always hated being left at home. Even as a child I'd beg my mom to take me with her when at all possible..she probably loved it when I was in school and she knew I was busy.
 

Well...I guess it gives me more time to do fun things like get the kids to help me deep clean the kitchen. It's so nice to have extra scrubbers!!! :)