My Hubby and I have had loads of fun adventures and I've always thought it would be nice to keep a record. I am now a mummy to my gorgeous wee boys Murray (01/07/10) and Harris (17/10/12) and thought that it would be good to keep a record of the adventures the Nicholl Clan experience!
On Tuesday I was showing Murray how to walk with his walker as he is so good at standing. He was able to push down on it so it wouldn't scoot away from him straight away. He did really well and at one point I was even able to let go for about a second! Then on Wednesday, the wee dude took off with the thing! He just looks so pleased with himself! I don't think it will be long until he is off without it!
Yesterday I was putting fruit pieces onto his spoon and guiding the spoon up to his mouth and soon enough he managed to put a few in by himself. Today he was putting his own bits of strawberry onto his spoon and very carefully guiding his own spoon into his mouth with strawberry still on (most of the time - one bit hit the kitchen door and one his forehead!). What a clever boy!
Not so good is his sleep at the mo. Thursday wake up was 5.30am, Friday 4am and this am 5.40!!!! Even worse than that is that his naps are going haywire. He refused to have an am nap on Thursday -yeah, last session at work was fun - my ability to teach algebra was not at its usual level! And his pm nap on Tues and yesterday were just a hideous battle to get him to settle - he was absolutely exhausted, but fought it and fought it. On Wed pm (I wasn't at work as my car had broken down) I took him for a walk in the buggy as I couldn't face the crying,but he didn't fall asleep the whole hour and 15 mins we were walking even though I had put on the sun shade/ black out cover. I was wondering if I needed to switch him to one nap a day, but that would mean no time out in the morning before work - AAAAAAAAAAGH however we hung blankets over the curtains and he has napped fine and even slept until 7am this morning - bliss.
Exercise has been better again this week:
Sunday: 3 mile walk without buggy
Monday: 50 min gym ~ 5 miles + 30 mins pilates
Tuesday: REST - had wanted to go to swim group but the monsoon weather knocked out the electrics in the car so it wasn't going anywhere!
Wednesday: 60 mins spin ~ 6 miles + 4 mile walk with buggy = 10 miles
Thursday: 30 mins pilates
Friday: 40 min gym ~ 4 miles
Saturday: 3 mile walk with and without buggy (Al and I actually got some time together)
I had hoped to get out on the bike today, but crappy weather put that idea to bed and I joined it! LOL - Al took Murray out to give me some time out and I went to sleep. I'm happy with a 25 mile week to ease me back into it.
On Friday Murray will be 1 year old!!!!!! Where has it gone? Every time I give him a bottle I cherish the cuddle we have as those moments are numbered! Oh and I nearly forgot - Murray will wave when you wave at him now - sooooooo cute and he stood without holding for about 2 secs yesterday - crickey he's growing and learning at the mo'.
Three weekends ago (It's been a bit hectic) was the Harriers' weekend away. After running around like a nutter all morning while Murray was in nursery it was time for my mum and dad to come for lunch as a wee celebration for dad's 75th birthday (we are doing a proper thing next weekend) and then by 3pm we were ready to hit the road. We had hoped to make it to Aviemore before Murray needed his dinner but the wee dude woke up hungry so a wee pit stop was required.
Groovy portable canvas high chair came in handy!
Actually it worked out well as it meant that he wasn't starving when we arrived. This meant I could wander around in the glorious sun while Al unloaded the car. Murray was having a ball crawling all over the grassy area, and as he wasn't in bed by 8pm he was cream crackered at bath time.
The lodge we had booked in to was brill. The others kindly left us with the biggest room which was great as we weren't trying to squeeze the cot into the remaining available space.
That evening was gorgeous so we sat out for a while, but once the midges descended, everyone including the happy campers made a bee line for the lodge.
A late night of midnight meant I was really glad Murray slept well and actually I wasn't too disturbed by his snuffles! 6am came round a bit quickly though!
On Saturday morning Murray had a ball roaming around the huge kitchen / livingroom and playing with each new person who came in!
The Floor was rather good fun:
It did make for getting him to eat a decent breaky a bit tricky though. Unfortunately the first run was setting off just as Murray was napping so all the hustle and bustle woke him after about 20 mins and he was not for going back to sleep when there were folk to be played with! Al headed out with the second group to leave for a good run up in the mountains and I was rather glad of all the extra set of hands. After another unsuccesful meal time I put Murray in the buggy and went for a walk with Judith (thanks Judith) to get him to have a sleep.
We waved to Daddy up on the mountains!
When we got back Al had returned and I could get out on my bike with my mate Ali. We had a cracking 30 mile ride (Av pace 14mph) and as the roads were in far better condition and there wasn't much wind I got my confidence up a bit.
Murray was totally exhausted that night and took quite a while to settle so we stayed in the lodge for longer to make sure he was completely asleep. It meant we missed the ceilidh - boo, but we also missed being bitten alive by midges while everyone stood outside while the fire alarm that was set off by our kareoke/smoke machine loving figher fighter was switched off! LOL. We eventually got to go over to the party when some folk returned to monitor watch for us. Rather fun to laugh at those enjoying the kareoke! Off to bed at 11.15 thinking we'd get a longer sleep - WRONG! Curteousy of being too distracted to eat Murray needed to bed fed during the night and then decided it was time to play!!! 2.5 hours later he finally dropped off while I lay there for a further 30mins desperate to go to the loo but not daring to move case I woke him!!!! The only plus was that atleast he slept to 8am.
If you think he looks sleepy - you should have seens us!
On Sunday morning we had a Hares, Tortoises and Juniors race. Murray and I were set to work as Marshalls which was fun as we had a great view of everyone running and could cheer them all on. The only down side was Murray only slept for 15 mins so by mid pm we had to head out in the car for a drive to let him get a sleep. He was soooo tired he slept for an hour while we toured the countryside. We really wanted cake and strong coffee at the Mountain cafe courtesy of our rather disturbed night, so stopped after an hour but it took some effort to get him to come around!!! Thankfully as it was all quiet back at the lodge (everyone else had left but as it was booked for 3 nights Al took a day off work for us to have a long weekend) we were able to get him to have a good dinner and so he slept through until 6am!!!! It helped that we could put him in the room next door of course!
After breaky we got the lodge all packed up and then I went out for another fab bike ride - 18 miles this time. I headed out along the route we had driven the day before and it was lovely. I really felt like I was getting a shift on in parts. I really need to get my Garmin set up for biking but I think my av pace was 15mph
Happy Mummy!
While I was out biking, Al took Murray for a good hike around the race route from the day before so he could nap. Al's legs were killing him from his hill run and then race, but the walk really helped to ease them out. We were all starving by then so we hotfooted it down the road to the mountain cafe for lunch before a steady drive back down the road. We stopped off in Dunkeld to give him his mid pm bottle and found a lovely deli which I could see being on a bike ride sometime soon!
We had a really lovely time and on Friday we were to head back up to Aviemore to celebrate my Dad's 75th! Despite the inherent packing up, I was really looking forward to it as I was really looking forward to spending time with my sis, her partner and my folks. The scenery is pretty darn stunning too!
Murray and I were meant to head up to Aviemore with my folks on the Friday afternoon and Al was to zoom up after work, but about 30 mins after I got home from work on Thursday, Murray woke crying which turned into throwing up, high temp, floppy limbs and moaning cry - all a bit scary. Phone NHS 24 and they sent us up to hospital to get him checked out. Doc diagnosed vomit bug as she'd seen another baby with same symptoms about an hour earlier and told us to just keep him calpolled up! We finally got back home and into bed about 2am. Thankfully he slept until 6 when he woke with same wailing and high temp all over again. It took us an hour to get his temp down but thankfully once it did it didn't go as high again. It was the maoning cry and floppyness that just killed me - so upsetting - oh and the v shallow breathing! Anyway he then proceeded to sit cuddled up on my lap for the rest of the day apart from a sleep in his cot. He didn't move at all - maybe held a toy in his hand for a bit but even that was too much effort! Needless to say we stayed home on Friday night and waited to see how he was on Sat before deciding whether to go or not.
He seemed a lot better on Sat so we headed up the road as early as poss and met my family at The Highland Animal park which was really good but as Murray was not for going in his backpack had to be carried in arms around the whole thing! Fortunately he would go to others for short spells by then!
We had a lovely family meal on the Sat night and it was really nice to go to church together in the morning. My sis and her partner left about 2pm so I headed out for a 40 mile (av pace 14.5mph) ride a short while after they left. All I can say is 40 miles is a lot further than 30! I was tired at the end and I arrived home just in time to do bath for Murray as Al had to leave - no flop on the sofa with a cold drink and a bag of nuts for me any more - boy, how life has changed! That said once he was asleep, I had a lovely evening playing boggle (a word game) with a couple of glasses of wine with my mum that night so I was really glad to stay the extra night.
While I was riding, mum, dad, Al and Murray went for a lovely walk together.
After all the craziness of the weekend, a play date on Tues and friends who have returned from Oz staying over Tues night (meaning house cleaning had to be done - LOL), exercise has simply not happened. I don't even care as a) it was so lovely to see my friends and meet their 5.5 month old who is a gorgeous wee/big thing (he's 1 kg heavier than Murray already!!!) and b) tired doesn't even come close to describing how I feel! Poor Al has been sick again which has added to the inability to get out for exercise. If I could run I may have got out with the buggy, but tbh I think my body / stress levels have needed a rest. 2 weeks until the summer hols and it could honestly not come soon enough as I'm hanging out for some thing to come out of the weekly equation! Being a business owning/running mummy is really tough, especially as my working hours do not let me get enough sleep. Any way, enough moaning, here's to a better week next week.
Just to finish - Murray got his 2nd certificate and made his first Daddy's Day card at nursery this week:
Tues: 50 min pilates - I am really seeing some improvement again.
30 mins XT ~ 3 miles
1 hour swim:
10 lengths w/up
4x4 f/crawl - 1min 30 including rest! Really tough - got 10secs rest first time and then recuced to about 5!
Pyramid of 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and back up to 8.
Evens timed f/crawl : 8 - 3 mins, 6 - 2m30s, 4 - 1m30s, 2 - 1min.
Odds - any other stroke (back for me) - untimed. 15 secs rest at end of odds.
4 x 1 sprint lengths f/crawl up, back stroke down- timed - 30 secs
5 lengths cool down
= 106 lenghts! = 2120m ~ just over 5 miles
Total = 8 miles.
Wed: Rest
Thurs: 1 hour spin ~ 6 miles + 30 mins pilates
Fri: Rest ( if you can call running around like a nutter getting packed up for a weekend away a rest!)
Sat: 30 mile bike ride ~ 10 miles - brilliant ride from Badaguish at Harriers' w/end away
Sun: 4 mile hike with Murray in buggy.
Well despite another crazy week last week, it turned out to be quite positive.
Cycle Power!
Yikes, I actually did it - I swallowed hard and coughed up for a shiny new road bike. I'm really glad I tried the smaller size as it fitted so much better. I realised as soon as I clambered on. I bought it on Saturday and headed out for my first ride yesterday. I was really lucky in many ways as when I got up with Murray, the weather was awful and I really didn't fancy heading out in the wind and rain, however by the time I headed out it was still v v windy, but the rain had abated and stayed off the whole ride. I must admit I nearly turned back home after about a mile as I was terrified!!!! I was on a major road and the x-wind was horrendous - I actually felt the bike leaning from under me several times within that mile. I actually stopped to gather my courage and told my self to toughen the hell up and get a grip. I seriously gave myself a talking to - "You've just spent a fortune on this bleep thing, now at least make it to Crieff!!!!" LOL. When I got to Crieff I took the back road to Comrie which takes a sharp left and so I was then into a strong head wind, but I can't tell you how glad of a head wind I was after that X wind. It helped of course not being on a major road. I got into my swing a bit then. Just like in running I really loved the uphills as I could get some power on without feeling rather afraid. On the way back I was really getting some speed on, but I felt like I had to back it off as I felt like I didn't have the technique to handle it. Quite scary actually. Frustrating too as you know that your fitness and strength could make you faster if you could just take your hands off the brake! I know how folk must feel skiing now! Any how I did 26 miles (hilly miles) in 1 hour 50 so I'll take that as a reasonable start, especially as my bottom was only just a little sore at the end and generally the bike was really comfortable. I think the thing I enjoyed the most was just being outdoors and exercising for longer than an hour and it feeling like a quarter of that time. I definitely think it'll be a good buy.
Feeling a bit wind swept, but happy - Murray loved teething on the rubber end of my water pipe!
My route so I remember was :
Muthill - Crieff
Crieff - Comrie on back rd
Comrie to Culty Braggan up Glen Artney
X over main rd and back to towards Muthill to 'Stinky Farm'
Left at stinky farm and down to Balloch
Right at main rd and left asap to Templemill
Left to join onto triangle route and then work way home. = 26 miles. Av: 14mph T= 1h50
So a good end to a crazy beginning.
No Power!
On Monday the weather was insane. Al and I were eating lunch (he had a random public holiday thank goodness) when the power went out so we thought we'd head out in the afternoon to take Murray swimming to get out of a cold, dark house. All was good until we left the Hydro to come home.The wind had blown trees down in the car park. Eventually once they had been cleared, we headed on our way home. As we drove up the main road, we could see a queue of traffic. We quickly realised it was a tree down and as I felt like we were sitting ducks to the bits of debris being blown around we tried to get home via the back road, but, yep, more trees down. By this time it was Murray's tea time so an emergency call to my mate Liz saw us at her house feeding Murray and waiting until the road had cleared which all things considered was very quick - 2 hours. She too had only just made it back from Comrie with her sis who was over visiting from Canada with her 2 small kids. When we got there Liz's son was just getting home from school with a mate who was stranded as his mum couldn't get through to pick him up, so it was a crazy full house! Thanks Liz!
Anyway we were able to head home about 6pm, but when we arrived we realised that the electricity was still off! Thankfully we were able to find our camp stove and use it to warm Murray's night time bottle and warm up some simple tea for us! All quite amusing as Al was here to help and we were safe and it was still a novelty. Not so funny in the morning when Al had to go to work and we still had no electricity! I packed up Murray's toys, travel cot etc; the entire contents of the fridge and freezer to stop them going off, and headed to my mum's asap! I'm v glad I did as it didn't come back on until 9.30pm. With all this going on I was quite impressed with myself for getting to swim group that evening - well it was definitely a better option than sitting in a dark house! Poor Al was getting just a bit fed up of reading by candle light when I got home and then the lights went back on!
I must say it would be rather nice to have a simple week of looking after Murray, work, put Murray in nursery etc and not have to deal with some form of illness or a ruddy power cut!!!!! At least life isn't dull I suppose!
So to sum up on my exercise:
Mon: 1 hour gym ~ 7 miles
Tues: 17 mins XT + 60 min swim ~ 7 miles + 40 mins pilates
Wed: 10 mins pilates (I forgot my arm weights to take to mum's so did it today!)
Thurs: 50 mins Pilates
Fri: REST
Sat: 55 min Gym ~ 6 miles (God that was a struggle to go - had to split everything into 10 min blocks and then 5 to mix it up!)
Sun: 26 mile bike ride (1h50) ~ 8.5miles + 3.5 mile hike
Total: 32 miles!!!!
This week's swim session was as follows:
10 lengths warm up
4 x 4 lengths 1min45
5x2 1 min
4 easy
4 x 3 1 min 30
12 x 1 30 secs
1/2 pyramid of 4,3,2,1
= 74
I then added 30 lengths on at the end of the session, so = 104 lengths = 2080 m ~ 5 miles
What a difference it makes when I have a healthy baby and hubby! Last week was a disaster - came home from Northern Ireland with a sick Murray. He had a rotten tummy bug which lasted a week and which he passed onto both his daddy and his nanna ( my mum). As my mum looks after Murray on a Wed when I go to work I was stuck home holding the baby as well as looking after sick hubby. It also meant exercise went out the window. However, in good old determined Kazza stylee I've bounced back this week to do the following:
Sunday: 70 mins gym (8 miles) + 10 min abs
Tues: 35 mins X - Trainer (4) + swim group - 70 lengths (4) = 8 miles + 50 mins pilates
Wed: 50 mins Pilates
Fri: 60 min spin (6)
I plan to do at least 60 mins at gym tomorrow so my min miles should be 29.
I am going a little crazy not being able to run. I went to a try a road bike last weekend and I kind of fell in love. The only prob is that they only had the second smallest size in the more expensive model (too expensive) so I need to get both the smallest and 2nd smallest sizes ordered in so I can try them both. Even then it is a lot of money to part with. That's another thing I love about running - it doesn't have to break the bank. Coming from a ski racing background it was a refreshing change not to have to spend a fortune on equipment! I'm sooooo torn. I'd looooooove to buy the bike and have something to train for, but even more importantly people to train with. It sucks so much being injured - you are so out of the loop. Life is bit lonely at the mo' actually because of the hours I work I can't meet up with mum friends - they work on opposite days and local baby groups are on the days I work too. I can't run so my sport friends are hard to meet and then because I'm the boss at work, my staff are fun, but it isn't the same. Ah well, that's life I suppose. It does make you uber efficient at work though. I worked like crazy all week so I could knock off at lunch today and go for a play date at Murray's friend Struan's house which was really fun.
I'm just home from swim group. It was really good and I want to write it down while I still remember it! I did 35 mins on the xtrainer (~4 miles) before the swim and then we did the following session:
Warm up: 6 lengths
4 x 3 lengths timed (under 1.30 including rest)
5 x 2 lengths timed (under 1.15 including rest)
2x recover lengths
6 x 1 length timed (under 45 secs including rest)
2 x recovery lengths
4 x 6 lengths timed (under 2.30 including rest)
Cool down : 8 lengths
Total = 70 lengths = 1400m (~ 4 miles)
I worked really hard - much harder than if I had been on my own and it was so nice to workout with others as I'm pretty lonely training at the mo'. I miss my running buddies so much, but at least this group gives me something to look forward to every week.
Murray started crawling 3 days before his 10 month birthday. 2 day before that I caught him sort of shuffle crawl out of the corner of my eye, but as he wouldn't do it again, I wondered if I had imagined it. he did the same thing the next day and this time I think he made the connection between what he had done and what that meant (ie - get that toy over the other side of the room) and then before I knew it he was OFFFFFFFF!
Boy do I ever need 50 sets of eyes now, and I am even more glad of the play pen we had bought!
Hiking
Last holiday weekend we went hiking up to Glen Tilt. It was a great day out and Murray really enjoyed his first picnic lunch. He had a enough by the end right enough so the last 20 minutes were spent with me jumping out from behind the backpack carrier, shouting Boo. Exhausting, but he found it hilarious and so helped to take his mind off the last bit!
Right, off we go!
My first picnic!
Nearly Home
Wedding
This weekend just passed we all headed over to Belfast for Al's cousin's wedding. It was a lovely day and Murray was a wee star. The Bride and Groom looked just lovely and it was a great chance to see family. I think Murry looked just gorgeous in his wee linen suit!
The happy couple!
Al and I with the new Mr and Mrs Nicholl
Above = The cousins! (L2R: Pip (groom), Emma (groom's sis), me, Al, Fe (Al's sis))
The First Dance - AWWW!
Unfortunately the poor wee mite has picked up a wee bug and was really poorly on our return journey. He slept practically the whole journey - which was a relief in many ways as he really wasn't a happy chappy when awake. He's only managed about 14oz of milk for the past 2 days and no food at all. Oh and the nappies -OMG!!!!!! I took him to the doc today, but as I had to tell him that 1000 ml (35 oz) wasn't the recommended amount for a 10 month old, I'm not sure what good it was! He did say that it was OK to keep giving regular calpol for the next 48 hours so I will be doing that, but it is a bit worrying the lack of fluid.
Random Pic of Murray petting a pony. When he saw it walking by his whole body shook with excitement and he nearly jumped out of my arms to go see it!
Exercise
I had a good week last week, which definitely helped me feel generally a bit more positive. I even went to a swim group which I really enjoyed, as it was nice to have other to exercise with. I've signed up for the next 10 weeks so I'm looking forward to it tomorrow.
Mon: 1 hr Gym + 10 mins abs + 3 mile walk (~10 miles)
Tue: 1hr Spin + 10 mins pilates (legs) + swim class (50 lengths - an easier first week) (~9 miles)
Wed: 35 min x-trainer (~4 miles)
Thursday: 1 hour spin (~ 6 miles)
Saturday: 50 mins Pilates
Total = 29 miles.
