Great weekend!

This was a fantastic weekend of exercise in the Schneiter household! At nearly 6 months postpartum, I think I am finally feeling fit. El and I have been talking about a 100 miler next summer and we are both getting really excited and motivated. The progression should look like this: marathon this winter (probably Vegas), Desert RATS 25 mile trail run in April, a return to the Squaw Peak 50 in June, and hopefully Wasatch in September (assuming I am accepted in the lottery). El is going to do Leadville, which I would love to do as well, but can't due to a big day at work when the race begins. The good news about not being able to do Leadville myself is that I am going to get to pace El through the night!

We got together last night for 3 hours (~17 miles) of running on rocky, hilly terrain while Mike watched the babies. Today, we thought we'd go on a "recovery ride" that didn't end up feeling very "recovery" at all. We rode with babies in tow from Basalt to Aspen and back, just over 40 miles. After last night's run, which was about an hour longer than any run I've done lately, my legs suffered a little on the climbs today (just what I was going for). What really made the day special was the perfectly blue sky, 65 degree air and well behaved babies. It's so funny, neither of us really thinks of biking as real exercise, not that it can't be, we probably just don't push that hard while biking. Running is so much harder, it's hard to think of biking as difficult. We left Basalt with one water bottle each and no food and by the time we got to Aspen, which is uphill the whole way, we were hungry, thirsty and worked! I have a little more respect for biking now. We bought snacks and cold drinks and let the babes roll around in the grass a bit before heading back home on the much appreciated downhill.

        

          Other News...

I am the school nurse at a boarding school. A couple of weeks ago, I got a phone call from a parent expressing concern about his daughter's apparent weight gain. He wanted me to put her on a restrictive diet, weigh her every week, and take her to a weight watcher's meeting 30 miles away one night a week. Yikes! Not only did I see an eating disorder in the making, I saw a lot of work for me and some inappropriate expectations by the father. But, something very positive came out of it. I spoke with her about the possibility of getting together with a couple other girls to start a club or group whose intention would be to support eachother in healthy life habits. The next day, she talked to 3 of her friends and we had our first meeting last week. The girls are excited and motivated and truly should lose from about 20 to 60 pounds. I had them over to my house and we talked about what their goals for the group were. They brought up wanting to get together to run before class and on weekends, they talked about having weight charts and cheering each other on to reach their healthy weight goals, they talked about needing support in avoiding the junk food that fills their dorms on the weekends, and they talked about the confidence they would have after acheiving something they thought they never could. I brought up the idea of running a race at the end of the year, which they thought was fantastic. I looked up races and found the Bolder Boulder--55,000 runners, 150,000 spectators, 30 bands, 6.2 miles. The girls can't wait to participate and I can't wait to help them develop healthy habits that will, hopefully, last their whole lives.

If you have any great ideas about things to do together or what I could teach them, please pass them on!

Just a few more days!

The verdict is in.... Private it is. If you want to be able to read, you need to send me your email address or I cannot invite you to read the blog. I have received lots of emails from old friends that are regularly reading--what a pleasant surprise! 

Again, email me at tidbitsofjoy AT hotmail DOT com if you want to be invited to read this blog.

Thanks!

The private thing

So I really hate to go private and am considering not doing so. I love looking through people's blogs who I don't know and have found a lot of inspiration in the blogosphere, especially while I was pregnant. I loved finding Sea Legs Girl, the awesome Danish runner who ran A LOT of miles through her pregnancy. I loved reading home birth stories on Kate's blog that gave me confidence to do a home birth myself. I loved writing Selah's birth story for the world of pregnant bloggers to read. After my last post, I received a flood of emails and comments and learned that many people are reading on a regular basis, and I would hate to shut anyone out. However, I decided to go private for a reason. A couple of weeks ago, some creep put an icky (and now deleted) comment on my blog about my baby. It scared me. I am now trying to weigh the risks of having a public blog that both nice people and creeps can read. I have still not decided 100% whether to privatize or not. Any insight from you, my dear readers, would be appreciated.




And on to the rest of what's going on...

M was able to spend about 2 1/2 weeks with his mom in Iowa and I had about 9 days. It was a special time with family and S provided much needed comfort for her grandma.

Grandma and S snuggling, the way the spent most of our time there.

So sweet. Daddy loves his little one.

M's mom and brothers and their women.

The boys played football.

S LOVES her uncle Brett and I think he likes her too.

S and I flew back into Denver from Iowa, met my mom at the airport, and visited with Hannah and Noah for breakfast and a trip to the farmer's market. My mom and I bought fresh golden beets for Hannah's delicious beet, green, and bean warm salad. If you ever need a way to use your beet greens, let me know, it is delicious.

S admiring herself in her crib mirror.

Mom and I goofing around. We spent one night figuring out the camera on my computer and took lots of hilarious pictures. Mom spent the entire week here to help me while M was with his mom. She is amazing. My child was happy and slept well and often. My house is spotless and all of the projects that I was putting off are done. We drank too much wine and ate amazing food together every night. She refused to let me do a single dish because I worked all day. I can only hope to be such a blessing to S some day!

She is trying REALLY HARD to crawl at just 5 months. She can't sit up yet and doesn't seem to want to, but she does want to move. I think we have a little independent thinker on our hands.

going private.

This blog will be going private in a week! If you want to have access, email me at tidbitsofjoy AT hotmail DOT com.

We don't want any big bad web surfers checking us out!

Mike's loss

Mike's dad Steve was killed in a car accident yesterday morning while driving for work. Mike, Selah, and I flew from Denver to Cedar Rapids last night and are spending the next 10 days with his mom and family in Iowa. This has been a very difficult 36 hours for Mike and for everyone else involved. Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare for the funeral and for Margie's future without her soulmate.