Odds and Ends

It's been over a week since my last post. I hate when time gets away from me. I swear, it seems like every day goes by faster than the one before.

Here's what's new in our world:

***Nana and Papaw's.  The kids are, at this very moment, spending the night with their Nana and Papaw without either parent. This is the FIRST time Marty and I have been alone in our house without our children--since their BIRTH. We've gone away and had relatives/sitters watch them for short overnight trips, but never been alone here. It's weird. It's quiet. It's also relaxing. For instance, I am already in pajamas and in my bed. I couldn't do that with the wild ones here.  I miss them like crazy. I can't wait to see them. If all goes well, we pick them up Thursday. If all doesn't go well, we will get them tomorrow.

***The 5K.  Well, friends...it didn't go as I had hoped.  For one, this past week was crappy for the running. I was back-to-work quite a bit and wasn't able to run.  The night of the run, the temperature wasn't very high, but I checked the humidity on my Weather Channel app--91% humidity.  That means you're practically swimming in the air. I'm talking rainforest weather. The kind where your windows on your house fog up because of the funk that is the air. I was hoping that the cool temperatures would negate the humidity, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. I'm a terrible runner in the humidity. I crapped out after about 1 3/4 miles. I walked/ran the rest. I threw up in my mouth around mile 2.5--stupid night race! I like running first thing in the morning, with an empty stomach. When I crossed the finish line, I was covered in sweat--I looked like I'd jumped in a pool. Here, the evidence:

This is my "hey, I might throw up at any second but I need to take a quick picture" face.

I'm not a sweat-er by nature. On this night, even my legs were dripping. I sat down on the curb and tried to breathe. I got nauseous all over again and honest-to-god thought I was going to have to throw up on the side of Big Blue Martini, which would've been disgusting for the oh, gazillion people standing around. Deep breathing and pouring water on my neck helped, and I was eventually well enough to stumble to my car.  I didn't run the whole thing as I'd wanted to and finished with an incredibly disappointing time of like 38 minutes. Oh well. There's always another run. Hopefully a morning run.

***Poor Amelia.  My girl...she is an animal lover. Specifically, she's a cat-lover.  She carries around a Beanie Baby cat as her "lovey", a cat whose name changes from Carrie to Rapunzel based on how she feels on that given day.  I took her to see her first movie (Turbo--it was adorable!) a few weeks ago. We got to the theater a little early and had time to kill, so I took her into Pet Smart to look at the kittens. Let me just tell you, every customer in the general vicinity fell in love with my girl because of how in love SHE was with the kittens. They were so playful, and she just belly-laughed at every single thing they did. I was ready to buy one on the spot, except...I'm allergic. But still, seeing her with them made me think, hey, I can tough it out. That's what they make Benadryl for. Fast-forward to this weekend. One of my best friends moved and now llives a whopping 4.3 miles from my house. I visited her at her new digs this weekend, and I decided to use her (and her cats) to test the allergy waters, so that I could see just how bad my cat allergy is. My sister grew out of hers, and I hadn't been around them in awhile, so I thought maybe mine had lessened, too. So, tonight, I decided to pet one of her cats. As soon as I got home, I washed my hands thoroughly. My nose was a little itchy, but not bad. Then...I took out my contacts. Washed my face. Rubbed my eyes with a washcloth. And all hell broke loose, allergically-speaking. I currently look like this:

 Look at the left (right on your screen) eye. Note the swelling eyelid itself, the redness. This is AFTER Benadryl. It was immediate, and awful. The eye itching immediately leads to nasal swelling and runny nose. So, poor Amelia is going to have to hold off on a cat. If petting one cat one time can do this to me, I can't live with one just yet. Sigh.

***Pre-School Open House.  This is Thursday for us. I'm excited and anxious. This is their last year before Kindergarten (INSANITY). There's a lot of pressure on for this year, academically-speaking. Specifically with the boy. It's time to get down to the nitty-gritty and get some learnin' done. I meet their teachers at Open House, and I'm always a bit more leery of Anderson's teachers than Amelia's.  I think it's because the little guy is a pretty complex kid. Now, I'm a teacher myself, and I absolutely do NOT want special considerations for my kids. I know what that's like and it's not fun. But, he's a little different. And that makes meeting his teacher and anticipating the upcoming year a little more anxiety-inducing. I know who their teachers are for the year--the director shared this information with me earlier this week. She said she feels like they're "good fits" for each of my kids. I trust her judgment; she knows my kiddos pretty well by now. From other moms, I've gotten the sense that Anderson's teacher is more...I don't know...strict? Brusque? Discipline-strong?  All things he needs--but he needs them to be done in a non-threatening, non-stimulating way. I have waaay more success with him when I keep my tone even but serious than when I raise my voice. Raising your voice with him just leads to a meltdown. Anyway...long story short, I'm nervous. I hope this year goes well for them.

That's all...stay tuned for more tales of the Nana/Papaw trip and our first week back at work! To all of my teacher friends, here's to another school year!