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!
I've found some mojo this week and as such had some good workouts:
Mon: 60 min spin + 20 mins pilates
Tue: 45 min grym workout + 50 mins pilates
Wed: 60 min spin
Thurs + Fri rest
Sat: 40 mile bike ride
Hope to also do at least 30 mins in gym tomorrow and some pilates.
My bike ride today was really good, but also quite tough. I started from the house and headed to Crieff via Kinkell Bridge (10miles). Once at Crieff I headed to towards the Sma Glen via Monzie (15). I then started the upwards grunt through the Sma' Glen to Aberfeldy (36). The descent into Aberfeldy was terrifying especially as the rain had just come on and the roads felt lethal. From Aberfeldy I finished off the last 4 miles to the village Grand Tully (40) where there is the loveliest Chocolatier, shop and cafe and where Al and Murray were waiting for me. It was so lovely to have them there as it kept me pushing on when my legs were cream crackered and the heavens had opened! We had a yummy lunch and I bought some of the special Karen friendly dark chocs while Al had an amazing looking apple caramel pie.
I have a massage booked for tomorrow. Al got me a voucher for my birthday a way back in April and I still haven't used it so I thought before the craziness of term starts I'd get a chance to relax. Speaking of the craziness of term I had to make some tough decisions yesterday while I was doing the accounts. Unfortunately I need to increase my working hours. I was really upset yesterday at the thought of being away from Murray more. It is not what I would chose but needs must. Hopefully it won't be forever and once new exam students return I can re evaluate again, but for now it is back to pretty much full time hours. I'm very grateful to have had a good amount of time for his first year, but I am apprehensive about how I'm going to juggle everything. Time will tell. I have to admit I found it hard to go out for my ride today as I felt it was another time away from Murray, but it really did me the world of good and both the wee dude and I were so pleased to see each other again. Getting out to do something for myself really re-centres me helps me be a happy mummy. I must remember that when the guilts kick in.
Murray turned 13 months today. I can't believe it. My friend was over with her boys today and he was right in the middle of all the boys' play. Although he's still crawling he really didn't seem that much younger at all. I definitely think going to nursery has helped with that as he just loved having friends to play. He aslo wanted to join then on the slide so with my mates help, I helped Murray climb up the steps and then Emily helped him slide down while I then made my way down. He loooooved it.
Yesterday we all headed into town and got Murray fitted for his first pair of shoes. He is a size 3.5H. Poor wee guy got my wide spades! LOL. Really chuffed as I got a pair for £6. All the rest were min £20 but like a true bargain hunter the £6 pair were snapped up.
I was going to wait until Murray was walking, but then I thought it would be better if he got used to them in the house. This was a good plan as he keeps looking down at them and when he cruises around the place he lifts his feet really high. It is hilarious!
It is really good at Clarks because they take a photo to mark the occasion.
Murray is non stop! He has a serious case of ants in his pants the entire time he is awake. He hates being in his buggy if he is awake and he will not nap in it so basically he hates it! If he's in the back pack you have to keep moving or he starts gurning to get out. Then if you take him out, like I did while helping out at the Crieff 10K, the Benny Hill chasing shenanigans start. He had huge grassy area (about size of 3 rugby pitches) to crawl all over and where did he want to go? Onto the tarmac path and cement stairs of course, so then ensues me repeatedly carrying him to a far away point and then chasing after him as he crawls full tilt toward the steps. A club mate even asked me if he ever stopped! No is the answer except for when he naps.
Murray exploring the empty Famous Grouse costume (our sponsor). It kept him away from the road and steps for about 5 mins!
We are now at the stage where he takes about 30 mins to fall asleep in the car so any usual journey is not enough to give a sleep unless I want to waste fuel by driving around on a loop and with the cost of fuel at the mo' it is not a great prospect, and as said previously, he refuses to nap in his buggy, so if I want him to rest (and me to rest) then to home it is. As a mum friend of mine said the other day - it is now all about endurance! The other week was a toughy as a) Murray had a bug - I'm wondering now if he put something a bit grotty in his mouth or if it was something going around and then when the worst of that passed b) he was teething like I've never seen before - he was driven demented and spent 2 days crawling full tilt back and forth to me, but when he came for a cuddle, he'd arch his back and thrash out and yell. He was too sore to fall asleep too. Hard days. Had a mummy meet a few days later though and we all had a good cathartic chat about the emerging tantrums and it all became a lot easier suddenly. He is back to his old self again now - just the ants in the pants!
I'm v glad he's back to his old self as Al was running as part of a team at a race a couple of weekends ago and we went along to support. It was forecast to pour with rain, but actually it was a really nice day - muggy, but dry. It was a great day and Al's team won the relay! How cool was that! The other really nice thing that happened was that I met Debs as she was running the whole route (40 miles). She wanted to do under 6 hours and she came 2nd lady in 5 hours 56! Awesome running - well done lady. It was really lovely meeting you in person and Cairn is so another Daddy look alike! It was adorable to see him run and give you a hug at the finish!
At the start. Murray had been great and finished his breaky in time for us to cheer on all the runners
The Strathearn Stags team shot post race!
The stags receiving their trophy! Well done guys!
Murray's bib says: crawl, walk, run, marathon! Someone said it was missing ultra to be like his mummy! LOL! I'd take being able to do 3 miles at the mo though!
Murray was a good boy and it had been a great day.
Exercise has been a bit hit and miss recently between Murray's bugs and my bugs and actually a general lack of motivation. Some days are really good and I'll have a really good spin or a 33 mile bike ride or a 15 mile tempo ride done at 15mph (fastest average yet) and other days are just a real drag to get my sorry ass to the gym. I'm so bored of the gym and basically I have no goals. I keep meaning to enter a cycling sportive but just haven't quite managed to do it. I worry that even if I enter I still won't find the motivation and then I'll be even more annoyed. I think I just feel so v frustrated at not being able to run and not having a strong body like I used to have. I've been working so hard with my physio and I'm no further forward. I must remember that it is not just exercise that is affected and that daily life can be quite tiring too - some days more than others so exercising is not what my recovery needs on those days. I'm sure, in time, I'll look back and laugh, but in the mean time I need to dig deep and I'll come out the other side. On the plus (a good day) Al and I powered up Ben Chonzie (900m ish high) this am while Murray was at nursery as we woke up to glorious sunshine. We had 4 hours max to get up and down and it took us 3.5 hrs with a nice wee tea break at the summit! I'm meant to be doing a 40 mile ride tomorrow, but I'm wiped out tonight so we'll see how we go! Will happily accept any positive vibes sent my way!
Murray turned 1 on Friday. I was so excited to get him up, but weirdly he slept until 7.50am! I didn't of course (programmed to wake at 6am at the latest plus I was going for a bike ride with a friend so needed to get up for breakfast). It was so odd to be up before anyone else, but as soon as I heard him I rushed in singing Happy Birthday which he loved! We opened his cards and gave him his wee Thomas the tank ball we got him, but then it was time for him to go to nursery. I love his birthday banner made by my aunty - there are 10 birthday bears and you put the hat on the bear holding the correct number!
My friend and I had a great 34/35 mile bike ride then it was a quick shower before picking Murray up from Nursery and heading to the supermarket to buy up what felt like the entire store for Murray's party! Al's sister had arrived on the Thursday evening and Al's parents on the Friday so they all went off together for the day as Al was working but when they got back Murray was excited to see his Nicholl grandparents and aunty.
Due to work commitments we planned his party for Saturday and saved his pressies for then. We had planned a BBQ come rain or shine, but fortunately, by some miracle, when we woke it was blue skies and stayed gorgeous all day. When my sis and parents arrived my sis and I set about decorating the cake. I was pretty pleased with the results! I really felt like a mum when I was doing that!
We then had champagne to celebrate our first year of parenthood and opened Murray's presents which he loved!
As it was such a lovely day we put the water pit straight up and it kept him happy for ages!
We all just sat around watching Murray play until it was time for his nap. Unfortunately he was asleep when we did his cake, but he got his bit at tea time - I can't say he terribly impressed!
I cannot believe my wee boy is 1 - how,how, how did I become the mum of a 1 year old - so hard to get my head around still!
As Al's family were still here today and it is still nice weather, Al and I got a lovely walk together in Comrie while Murray slept. What a nice wee present for us to get some together time.
After a lovely lunch at our favourite Deli
and meringues in the garden (Al's mum is a demon meringue maker) on our return, they headed off home. Al's sis stays until Tuesday and so Al has taken the day off tomorrow - what a great way to start the summer hols! Long may the sunny days continue!
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.
