Sunday, March 28, 2010

Half Marathon with Raf

Today Rich, Raf and I traveled down to NH to watch me run my first half marathon. For those who have known me a while you will know that I used to be an avid runner. Unfortunately 8 years ago I injured my foot and hadn't been able to run. Oddly I found that I was able to once I had Raf. Since January I've been training for my first ever half marathon. It's been lovely running again, and even though I am now incredibly slow I have never enjoyed running as much.

Both Rich and I have signed up for halfs (rich's is in two weeks), and today it was my turn. Rich made it such a special day. He made me a banner (for Raf to hold), and when we got home he had arranged a lovely little party for us and my folks. I was treated to some very cool things - from balloons to a specially made vegan cake.

Rich and I are both keen for us to bring up Raf in an active family, and for us to really show him that you can enjoy movement, your body, and the outdoors. Unlike previous races - where I've felt under a lot of pressure to be 'fast' - it was exciting mostly because we had Raf, and it was really wonderful and fun to share such an event. As I crossed the line I spotted them both and waved; quite a difference from when I used to run when I was absolutely pulling myself inside out to be fast... Rich would wave and I would scowl wondering what on earth there was to be happy about!

Before we left Rich produced a little banner he and Raf had been working on! So sweet!


Here we are before the race... It was freezing!



I had no idea where the finish line was as it wasn't the most organized event in the world, so sort of sauntered over the line, but I did break the 2 hour mark (which was my goal). I don't know the official time but I could see it was around 1:58.


Happy to finish! Found Rich and Raf straight away and it was so sweet to see Raf smiling up at me (he doesn't know his mama is so slow!)



When we got home I discovered that Rich had planned a surprise party! It was so lovely - and I was so touched that he'd gone to such a lot of trouble. There was a balloon, sparkling apple cider, a foot spa, a massage voucher for tomorrow, and a surprise cake! The cake is the most amazing cake I have seen... as it's shaped as a running show, with the words 'Mummy's a winner' on it. I can't bring myself to slice it, so we'll have some tomorrow :)










And a spa!

Friday, March 26, 2010

First date

Rich and I have just returned from our FIRST date since Rafi arrived. Mum and dad have been here for a month but we've either been too busy or too ill to take advantage of their being here. It's also incredibly hard to get Rafi to sleep - and, once asleep, to stay asleep, so timing is everything as we don't want to leave Raf when he is tired and in need of a nap.. it's not fair on my parents. But my folks leave on Tuesday so we decided to see if we could sneak in a date today.

So, after work, I rushed home and took care of raf for a few hours, making sure he got in a nap and had plenty of milkies and when Rich returned home we made a dash for the cinema. We havent been in a year. The last film we saw was the excellent Slumdog Millionaire on Boxing day with our friends Joe and Kim. We'd tried to go before Raf arrived but there was just never anything worthwhile playing. Today there was, as usual, not much on. I wanted to see Shutter Island as we have some friends who are connected to the movie, but we missed that showing and the next showing was to late (7:30pm!!!!). SO we drove into Portland and went to see Chloe Honestly, this wasn't the best film in the world, but it did feature a professor. It's always interesting to see aspects of your identity mediated.. and, no, we can definitely not afford to live in the type of house that this professor lived in! But they also had a teenage son and it was very interesting to me to note how differently I viewed the film as a mama...

Raf had a fine time with mum and dad. They are so attentive to him and keep him entertained the entire time. It must be exhausting!

First date was a great success. We need to do this more regularly, I think. The difficulty is trying to work out how we can do this given Raf is not the type of infant that one puts down for the night allowing a babysitter to come and take care of him in an easy manner. I was imagining putting an ad out along the lines:

"Looking for a sitter.. two crazy dogs who will likely yap all night and annoy you the entire time. Said dogs will bark and run around, trying to impress you. Baby will likely not sleep and you may have to deal with an inconsolable child crying in your arms... $10 per hour"

Any offers :)

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Sunday, March 14, 2010

sick house

Hi all, we've had a miserably sick couple of days, culminating in a trip to the ER last night so that we could get some nausea meds and fluids. Neither Rich nor me could keep anything down and we were fast becoming dehydrated. Raf had been sick since Thursday - with projectile vomiting and diarrhea. Since he wasn't in awful sprits we weren't too worried. Raf has yet to cut a tooth and we thought that he might be teething, but yesterday Rich and I became afflicted with the same thing - only it was much worse. I guess those mama milk antibodies help in many ways.

We wouldn't usually go to the ER! but we felt pretty desperate as could not keep even an ice chip down and Raf was needing his milkies. being a mama when you're sick - and when you're child is sick too - is a real challenge. It would have been easier if Rich was healthy but he was just as bad. Thank goodness my parents were here, My mum cleaned up my sick and took care of Raf for a couple of hours when we came home this morning..

Here's raf asleep in his hospital bed!

Monday, March 8, 2010

2/3rds of a year

Well, Rafi reached his 2/3rds of a year birthday! What a big day for us all.. and yet it is going much too fast. I almost felt like crying when I thought about his gummy smile becoming a smile with little teeth (we are still awaiting the first tooth). But we celebrated this 8 month mark with a trip to Panera for breakfast, a trip to the park for Raf's first ride in the swing, and a birthday party replete with a balloon and 2/3rds birthday cake. He thoroughly enjoyed his day.






Tired out after our trip to the park.


We finished off the day with a little birthday tea... including a 2/3rds of a year cake and also a balloon. Oh, he loves this balloon.. as you can see in the video below. It's his new lovey along with his keys!




Sunday, March 7, 2010

8 months today!

Rafi loves his 2/3rds of a year birthday balloon!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

'Rents are in town

Mum and Dad arrived last Saturday so I've been a little busy with the folks, work, and the boy. We also lost power last week, and I have to admit that it was quite challenging to have no power and heat with a baby. Mum and dad's flight was also delayed because of the storm.

But they're here now and they're thoroughly enjoying Raf. On Thursday morning Raf spent the morning on his own with his grandparents. They were exhausted, but they had a great time. Raf is such a smiler and a lot of fun - but when you can't get him to nap it's pretty tiring! Still, I am hopeful that they might be up for more baby sitting stints so that rich and I can head out for our first date since Raf arrived!

Here is Dad, Rich, and Raf hanging out in Panera.. I need to get my camera out more:



Here are a few photos from the week

Rafi spending a few rare moments in his cot.



A family walk



A trip to Whole Foods