I think my children hate me...week 6

Becoming a mother was a pretty awesome experience. When I had Baby M I knew I was born to be a mommy.  At 4 weeks she slept nearly 12 hrs a night. She was such an easy baby, happy, healthy, and down right adorable. I balanced family and work like a pro and life was breezy. When we found out we were pregnant again in such quick succession (almost 9mths to the day) we thought to ourselves, we have got this. Famous last words.

I think somewhere there is a quote by Bill Cosby saying that parenthood really begins when you have more than one child. I don't think I have heard truer words. When baby E came on the scene it became clear that the best financial decision for our family was for me to quit my job and stay home and hand raise our precious commodities. All this talk about "the hardest job you'll ever do", what???? This will be a piece of cake....

In the last 9 months I believe I have slept through the night a total of 3 times. You see Baby E was VERY different from her big sister. Until E was about 7.5 mths old she would greet me every 2-3 hrs for a quick drink and a snuggle. Lots of folks would say "Big deal. You stay at home. Take a nap". Ya that old phrase "sleep when she sleeps" well that only applies to one kid!!!  As soon as my newborn baby slipped into slumber, my tumultuous toddler was ready to GO! My easy, breezy Baby M had overnight morphed into an octopus with ninja like speed ready to attack, explore, and challenge EVERYTHING! I was so excited when Baby E finally began sleeping through the night. I remember the first time it happened. I opened my eyes to see a reasonable hour flashing back at me. I took a deep breath and rolled over to continue to enjoy this peaceful serenity when BAM!!! Utter panic fills my veins, WHY DIDN'T THE BABY WAKE ME UP??? I run into to check on her (like every mother does the morning of this milestone) to check to see if she is breathing. I found her sleeping snugly in her crib. That night I looked forward to weeks and months of silent slumber to return once more, but in the wee hours of the morning a storm hit. My little toddler tornado began waking in her sister's place. And the cycle continues...

It's been really fun here the last few months. On many occasions my husband awakes to find me wrapped up in a snuggie spooning with a life size Dora doll on my daughter's bedroom floor. I get up, get to bed, and the baby wakes up or it's time for my short run. Needless to say sleep deprivation has become just a part of my life, kinda like stretch marks. Ain't nothing you can do.

As if the long nights weren't enough, another fun thing about 2 kids is TWICE the germs! It's like being tag teamed by the Williams' sisters. One's coughing, the other's sneezing, I am hopping around the court hoping to dodge what they are serving, but with my sleep deprived immune system I was bound to get struck. Struck down, summer sinus infection 2011, yuck, yuck, yuck.

My short runs were nonexistent this week. I decided to skip Tues and Wed b/c I just didn't have the energy. I attempted Thurs, but the skull crushing headache at 5am kept my shoes at my bedside. I decided to skip all my short runs and tackle 10 miles on Sunday. It was actually a nice break for my knee which had been acting up here and there for awhile now. The first mile was full of lots of loogies and sniffling, but I was back into the swing of things by mile 2. During my long runs I often replay the weeks events in head and even though it had been a really long, tiring, germ filled week, it had also been a pretty awesome one too.

My 9 month old took her first steps this week. Watching my kids take their first few steps, well there is really nothing that compares to that. The pride I have felt both times is just indescribable. The Tornado, although still rips and tears all over the place, is now ripping and tearing with perfect little manners!!! They are growing up so fast and becoming these remarkable little people. I was actually a little grateful for the summer sinus slowdown, I got to watch my girls just be them. No schedule, no appointments, no errands to run, they were just two little babies who literally changed overnight. My infant will soon be a toddler and my toddler a preschooler.

During the last mile of all my runs I (like I assume most 1st timers do) I imagine this is mile 26. I envision who will be there cheering me on. Will I raise my hands up? Kiss to the heavens? Do an Irish jig? And I don't know for certain what I will do that day, but I do know one thing to be true, I will be running into the arms of the two most incredible creations on this planet. And that is what makes this journey so sweet.

Week 6: 10 miles
Lesson learned: Some people see their kids as hurdles. I see mine as the finish line.