Race Schedule

Race Schedule

1.  Raleigh 8000 8K – Saturday, August 27^th 7:30AM

            Start: Raleigh Running Outfitters, Celebration @ Six Forks Plaza

http://www.raleigh8000.com/

RESULT: 54:11

**North Hills 5K- Saturday, September 10^th

RESULT: 33:39

3.  The Pink Shamrock 5K – Saturday, September 24 5:00PM

            Start: Hibernian Pub, Glenwood Ave

http://1in9.com/pinkshamrock5k/

RESULT: 32:47

4. United Way 8K – October 29, 2011 1:00 PM

            Start: Moore Square, Downtown Raleigh

 http://www.unitedway8k.com/8k/default.asp

5.   Monster Dash 5K – Sunday, October 30^th 2:00PM

            Cameron Village, Raleigh NC

         http://www.theathletesfootrdu.com/races-events/monster-dash/

6.   Old Reliable 10K – Sunday, November 6^th 7:00AM

            NC State Bell Tower, Hillsborough St

 http://cityofoaksmarathon.com/

7. Raleigh Fall Festival 5K – November 13 time TBD    

            Nash Square, Raleigh

 http://www.ncraces.com/events/raleigh-fall-festival-5k-and-10k/

8.   Tobacco Road Half Marathon – Sunday, March 18^th 7:00AM

            Start to be announced soon*****    

http://www.tobaccoroadmarathon.com/

Oh Yum.

So, I made the absolute BEST brownies last night.Seriously. These things are insane. Chocolate chip cookie dough + double stuff oreos + brownies = heaven. Here is a picture of the finished product: 

They were so good that I had to bring them to my office today so everyone could eat them up and I wouldn't gain 100 pounds this weekend. They would be the perfect treat for a tailgate, party, family reunion, doctor's appointment, pedicure... ok, ok.. so basically they are great for any situation where you may want a tasty treat. 

I was on a cooking spree yesterday. For dinner I made these delish chicken enchiladas + a Mexican lasagna that will last us through the weekend.  It was so good and easy, which is always a plus. Mexican is our fave, we go to a Mexican restaurant close to our house 1-2 times a week, so I figured I needed to start cooking a little to even out paying for dinners out. 


Here is the recipe for the enchiladas:


3 chicken breasts cooked and shredded (I boiled the chicken and then chopped it up- easy!)
2 small cans of Old El Paso green chilies
1 red onion
1 tomato
1 8oz container of low-fat cream cheese
1 bag of Mission tortillas 
1 bag of Mexican cheese (I always buy the store brand)
1 tbs veggie oil 

 *Preheat oven to 350
1. Boil Chicken. Remove from water once fully cooked, set aside to let cool.
2. Chop onion, tomato, and in a skillet over medium heat, add oil, green chilies, tomato and onion.
3. Sweat until onions are translucent.
4. While the tomato/onion/chili mix is cooking- chop chicken up finely (or shred) whichever works for you. 

5. In a bowl combine chicken with cream cheese. 

6. Add chicken mixture to skillet with tomato/onion/chilies
7. Cook until warm. 
8. Stuff the tortillas with the chicken mixture and wrap up. They will look sort of like this (minus the sauce and cheese)

9. Place in greased brownie pan and cook at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. With 15 left to cook add the cheese on top. 


This is such an easy dish to improvise too.. you can add corn, beans, etc.. I don't like enchilada sauce, so I don't add it to my dish. But, if you like it, go for it. Mexican is so easy, but so good. YUM.

I Blinked and Ben is Now 9 Months Old

I don't understand how time has flown by so fast. I swear.. once Ben turned 3 months old it seems like my life has been on fast forward times 3. Ben will be 9 months old on the 30th, and I wanted to give a little update on little man's life thus far. 

Ben has been crawling since 6 months, and now pulls up, climbs up the stairs (in less than 1 minute), he can push his walker himself- but only a few steps. I really think that in 1.5 months he will be walking. I'm trying to deviate a plan to stop this, because once he starts walking it's really going to get crazier in our household. I won't need to work out anymore because I'll be chasing Ben around all day. 

Sleeping has been our biggest challenge in the recent weeks. I mentioned in an earlier post that Ben had been sleeping with us.. well, wait for it.... not anymore! We started "Ferberizing" him last week. Which means that we let him cry in his crib for a few minutes, then go comfort him, then let him cry, them comfort him, and repeat until he falls asleep. So far I would call it a success. The first three nights were rough though because he threw up in his crib- talk about feeling like a bad mom. My poor child cried so hard he puked- go me. I felt like s**t, and almost stopped the process, but with assurance from my doc and other mommies I continued on, and am glad because Ben is now falling asleep every night between 7:45-8, all while putting up a weaker fight each night. He will pass out from 8-1, but then at 1am he decides to wake up. This is normally the hardest part of the night, because it normally takes us a few hours to get him to go back to sleep. Often we have to give him a bottle- which we try to avoid, but in the middle of the night it's kind of hard to not do what you know will help him sleep. Evan is the strong one at night, because I'm always like "forget this, let's put him in the bed" which obviously would be 4398243 steps backward. Thank goodness Evan is there to be strong and get him back to sleep..whew. Hopefully within a few more days (weeks) he will be resting peacefully for a solid 10-12 hours and I can dance around my house with joy. 

 Ben eats everything, including meat. Happy Baby makes chicken and turkey "meals" that are all organic, and good for Ben. To me, and I'm sure to everyone else, they look like cat food, but to Ben they are a gourmet meal. Yum? I've also started feeding him more table foods. For example, if we go grab Mexican at night, I always order Ben a plate of sliced avocado, and smush it up with my fork- it's his fave. Avocado is definitely his new favorite food. I guess the smushy, soft and buttery texture feels good on his little gums because he will eat it up in t-minus 30 seconds. He's also eating pasta with olive oil, and plain rice + his usual fruits and veggies . No sugar or salt yet (or ever)..yeah right. 


Speaking of gums, Ben now has two bottom teeth and two top center teeth for (duh) a total of 4 adorable, sparkling white teeth. I love his top teeth because they have a charming little gap between them. He's very shy about letting you feel and/or see his teeth, so consider yourself lucky if you've seen his elusive little gap teeth- they're awesome. 


Ben now has a pretty extensive vocab too! His first words were "uh oh" which was discovered by our wonderfully nanny, Liz. She was strolling him through the mall one day when he dropped his toy and exclaimed "uh oh!". How cute is that?? Liz says she has probably said it around him a lot when he dropped his toys. I love it. Now every time he dropped something he shouts "uh oh!". It's awesome. He also waves and says "bye bye". If anyone around him says "bye" he automatically starts waving. I will have to upload a video, because it's too cute for words. Ok.. Ok, I've got to stop because I'm gushing, and it's annoying I know. But, I'm sorry- Ben's awesome and if you don't like it, don't read my blog- haha! 


Other (questionable) words that he has said are bad and button. I say questionable because I can't decide if he means to say them or if his sounds just sound like the words. He said "baaaaa- ahd" while I was changing his diaper yesterday. He has a really bad diaper rash which stemmed from him being constipated over the weekend (I'll spare you the details), so changing him is really uncomfortable to him. So he was crying, and I was wiping, and I said "I'm sorry Ben, that silly diaper rash is BAD!" and he repeated me by saying "bahhhh-aaahd". It was really funny. 


I'm trying to think if there is anything else extraordinary that I've left out. Ben now weighs 20.3 pounds and his between 29 and 30 inches long. He wears a size 12-18 months shirt, but 6 month pants because his waist is teeny tiny. It's funny because all his pants are like little Capri's. Evan doesn't think it's too funny though because he said he was always teased in school because his pants were too short. Evan said I can never ever ask Ben "where's the flood?". 


We are so lucky to have him in our lives. We thank God every night for our awesome little Ben-man. Pictures to come-- I promise! 

Playing Catch-up

Well, it has definitely been a while since I've posted- which I attribute to the fact that our little family has been very busy. Between beach trips, races, family reunions, etc., I haven't had any time to catch up! 

So, let's start with the 8K I ran August 27. This race happened to coincide with Hurricane Irene who delightfully made her presence known when we started running. It really wasn't that bad, just a little windy and rainy. I thought it added to the excitement of my first big race! I ran with Leigh and Wes. Who both beat me. I was extremely proud of myself though, because I ran the entire thing with an official time of 54:11 (that's under 11:00/mile pace y'all). I know, I'm still pretty slow, but I'm working on that. Overall, it was a great experience, and I can't wait to improve my run times. 


We also squeezed a family reunion into the mix. Ben was, of course, a perfect little angel ;). He LOVES it when the attention is on him. I LOVE it when the attention is on him because I get a little break ;)  <--huge wink. We had a blast. It was great that Ben was able to meet my entire extended family. We only get to see each other about once a year, so family reunions are so fun and so important. 


Now let's fast-forward to September. We returned from Corolla, NC last week (more pictures to come, I promise). Our trip was cut a little bit short because Ben got a cold, and was miserable the last two days. It was hard for us to leave our friends, but we knew it was better to get him back home and away from all of the other babies so not to spread his germs. 


One thing that is for sure though, vacations are NOT the same. This is both a good and bad thing. I'm not going to sugar-coat it... going to the beach was hard work. HAHA. I know you're probably rolling your eyes thinking I'm a spoiled brat for complaining about my vacation, but I don't care. There were 4 babies under 9 months in one house which was adorable, but everyone was busy with their own child, meaning no one really ever got the opportunity to say "here, watch him/her while I go on a walk/have a drink/take a nap". As parents we were on patrol 24/7. Next year I'm bringing a babysitter!!!! I think the fact that Ben wasn't feeling well, and extra fussy/not sleeping made it worse. The first few nights he was literally up every hour crying. That was hard. BUT on a positive note, it was so fun to hang out with friends we haven't seen in a while, and meet their babies (or future babies- Brad and Dawn Dee we can't wait until November!). 


....to be continued