New Year Brings a Change

Happy New Year!

Before you get all "it's not January" on me, remember, I am a teacher. August is my New Year. More resolutions/goals are made (and actually kept) during this new year than the January one.  So I like to celebrate it in style.

By going to bed by 8:00.

This year, I have someone to share the new year with. Jackie started Kindergarten! She went shopping for her supplies and picked out the biggest backpack that she could find. She was literally counting down the days to the first day of school.

Part of me was a little worried about her transition into full-day Kindergarten. She never went to preschool. This would be a big change.

Other than not enjoying the early wake-up call, she has thoroughly enjoyed everything about school. After the second day of school I asked her what her favorite thing was and she replied "EVERYTHING is my favorite...we do AMAZING things there."

However, there is one person not liking this "Jackie-going-to-school" thing.

Katerina.

This little girl has had Jackie has her playmate for the last three years. More than ever, this summer they spent all their time together. Playing, eating, sleeping, bathing, and arguing. And now, all of a sudden that's gone. It's just Kit Kat and baby Billy left at home, and Bill's just not the same.

This weekend, the girls have been inseparable. At the Block Party Jackie made sure her little sister was well taken care of and they both had their faces painted with princess crowns. I didn't even want to break up the playtime to send them to bed on Friday night.

Katerina has two school years before she'll join her big sister as a little Kinder-Cardinal, and I'm sure she'll be ready to go! Until then she'll have to get used to bossing her little brother around the house!

Running.

A quote I have actually said:

"I sure hope none of my kids sign me up for any of those 5k-with-mom things...I don't run."

Wait for it...

This summer I have been running.

When I really sit down and think about it, one thing seems to come to mind.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.

You see, I don't like to run. My exercise of choice is to swim. I LOVE to swim laps. I get going in the cool water and feel like a million bucks when I'm done. My mind gets a chance to just think and escape while I'm pulling myself through the water, I am physically tired (the good kind) when I'm done, and nothing hurts.

But... Swimming takes time. By the time I gather my stuff, get to the Y and into the water, swim, get out, shower, change and head home...it's an hour and a half of my day (and that's a short workout...). PLUS...the YMCA has swim teams that use the lap pool certain times of the day, which limits when I can and can't get into the pool.

I just don't have that kind of time, at this time in my life.

The only days I can consistently get to the pool are days that Ethan is home and I don't have to worry about what to do with the kids. That means weekends.

Back to running... After baby #3, I struggled to lose the last 10 lbs. and this summer, I knew I needed to add in some exercise to my life. I HAD to fit back into my clothes by August.

In the past, I have had success with consistently walking, but for some reason, that wasn't just enough...I wanted to get my heart-rate up and feel out of breath.

So, I started slow. Very slow. On the treadmill one day, I just decided to run for 30 seconds, walk for a minute. I would alternate that pattern for my 20 minute walk that I normally do.  And surprise as I was...I didn't die.

AND...doing this allowed me to watch the clock and not go crazy.  You see, I'm a clock watcher. I look at the clock 100 times a day. I even used to get in trouble during volleyball practices..."Why are you looking at the clock, practice is over when it's over..." Seriously. I just wanted to know what time it was.

Eventually I was able to work my way up to running for a full minute, and then two, and finally one day, I ran for 10 minutes straight when I was outside running around our neighborhood.

To many of you, who run seriously, this may not seem like much, but for someone who hasn't done that in well-over 10 years...I was pumped!

I still have no desire to do those 5k-with-mom-things, but I am definitely closer that I ever thought I would be.