Waterblogged

W started throwing up yesterday JUST as we sat down in the miniscule allergist's office to get one of his twice weekly shots. Red, fruit rollup, all over me, you get the picture. Needless to say we skipped the shots and beelined out of there after I successfully wiped up a good sized pool of vomit with a few paper towels. The power of momness. Wow. By his second round of hurling at 7pm, it was clear he was not deathly ill, and thus began the needling itch in my brain that goes "Hmmm, I think I can still swim tomorrow, right?" Bad mom. I did sleep on his floor last night and was able to leap up and catch the third round of vomit before it hit the floor. I also took his temperature (normal) and continued to sleep on the perilous floor all night with no interruption. Good mom. And yes, I got up at 5, felt his forehead (normal), and made a break for the pool. And did a 700 warmup, and then 6 x 500's. Good swimmer.

Every year around Valentine's Day the gang of kids my oldest son went to preschool with gets together, takes their shirts off, frosts pink cookies, and tatts up for a posed photo. This is the fourth year we've done it (shown here are '09 first then '10, taken yesterday) and it is such a great way to see the boys' progress from toddlers, to boys, and someday G-d willing, to men. We moms plan to do this until they refuse to let us do it any longer (maybe 5th grade??? 7th??), and then pick it back up when they'll let us again (high school? college??), and then show these photos at ALL of their weddings :). The progression of pictures hangs on our walls and makes us smile as we walk by them; in all the photos our boys are happy, rambunctious, keyed up on sugar, and re-bonded to lifelong friends. And as their moms, we all love this get-together. We are no longer all at the same school, though we've remained close, and I treasure the bond we have from way back whe...

I woke up at 3am this morning still sweating from my hip hop dance class late last night. I knew I'd be in trouble if I went back to sleep, but I did it anyway (after having to change into a completely new pair of non-sweaty jammies) and of course I slept right through my alarm at 5. Nothing can take away the frustration of waking up once it's already light out and realizing the swim has passed me by...except my kids jumping into the bed and squealing with joy upon finding me home instead of at the pool. The 30 minute snuggle session that follows pretty much makes it ALL (missing practice, life, death, misery, whathaveyou) worth it. But I still can't miss my swim. So, I snuck in a 45 minute 2800 yards at 11am today and let-me-tell-you it is summer out there. The sun was bright enough to warm my back and burn my eyes and the deck didn't freeze my heels like it does in the morning. In addition, I had two coffee meetings this morning so I was properly pumped up on caffeine...

This photo is unrelated to eating, but as long as I'm here, I thought I'd profess my love for floor heating vents on cold rainy mornings after swim practice. So there. In other news, I'm determined, I really am, to make more things for my kids to eat than the following staples at our house: 1. Hot Dogs 2. Spaghetti and Meatballs 3. Pizza So, I'm starting tonight by actually making something more advanced, but really really easy. I'm not sure what it will be yet, but I promise to post it tomorrow, come what may. I can feel your anticipation. This morning... *warmup: 2 x 200's, 2 x 150's, 2 x 100's free add pull gear for (second half of all these 400's is hard, first is moderate): *400 free broken at the 350 for 5 seconds, 100 DPS *400 free broken at the 300 for 5 seconds, 100 DPS *400 free broken at the 250 for 5 seconds, 100 DPS *400 free broken at the 200 for 5 seconds, 100 DPS remove pull gear for (same system as above): *200 free broken at the 150...

The jury is still out on my first mom-blogger conference, which I attended this past week and VERY MUCH MISSED MY SWIMS! I had a great time with my partners there goofing around and it was good to meet some of the 450+ bloggers in our network (our "customers") but the whole thing was suspiciously akin to a sorority function (not in the catty yucky way but in the OMG! You are so awesome! way). Needless to say, I was NOT in a sorority, not that there's anything wrong with them. And all these ladies were perfectly nice. Just, well, lots of estrogen. Anyhoo, it was interesting and I'm looking forward to comparing it to others in the future. As for being back home: CHLORINE, YAY! *warmup: 350, 250, 150, 50 free add fins for: *300 kick, 250 drill, 200 fast with underwater distance *250 kick, 200 drill, 150 fast with underwater distance *200 kick, 150 drill, 100 fast with underwater distance *150 kick, 100 drill, 50 fast with underwater distance remove fins for: *25 fast, 50...

I just cannot imagine HOW those big wave surfers do it. Look at this wall of water at Mavericks this week. OMG. Keep me between the lanes, please. * warmup: 300 free, 300 as free, free, back, 300 as free, free, breast *2 x 200's free followed by 2 x 75's IM *3 x 150's free followed by 3 x 75's IM *4 x 100's free followed by 4 x 75's IM *5 x 50's free followed by 5 x 75's IM

This weekend I had a great Valentine's Day trip with my son. The two of us flew up to Portland Saturday morning to see our dear friends, one of which is W's best, oldest friend from birth and one of which is the coach of the Portland Pilots basketball team (and WCC Coach of the Year last year, go E!). Along with a weekend full of fun with friends, W got to be a ball boy for the Pilots on Saturday night. I am not exaggerating when I say that I think it was quite possibly the best night of his life to date. We got him there early and he was given a special t-shirt and instructed as to when to wipe up sweat (what could be better for a 7YO boy?). I watched from the stands as he did his job flawlessly (as far as I could tell) and as the ESPN2 cameras captured him on film. The Pilots played amazingly well and took the game into OT for a win that had us all on our feet screaming. W even got pummeled by my favorite player, TJ Campbell, and is now showing off his bruised shoulder with p...

Ah, I call myself a brave woman for posting this puffy eyed photo of myself, but here it is. SOoooooo fun to have my BFF here to spend the night and swim in the morning, and of course we have matching suits ;-). As I was jumping into the pool someone on deck asked me "Hey do you require all your friends to have cute suits?" Answer: "No, it is not required. But it is strongly encouraged." *warmup: 4 x 150s, 4 x 75s *4x100, 50, 2 x 25s *3x100, 50, 2 x 25s *2x100, 50, 2 x 25s *1x100, 50, 2 x 25s so many little teeny tiny swims I can't remember the rest!

I've finally had it: my worst swim ever. Here goes: *Get up after four days of indulgence, dying to swim. *Get to practice early and jump in to swim a couple laps before Tim gets on deck. *Get through 25 yards before the power goes out and everyone has to exit the pool. *Stand around FREEZING for 15 minutes hoping the power will go back on. *Finally return home. Suckit.

Ah, this is me standing atop Lombard street with Alcatraz in the background. I've been able to enjoy the city twice this week which is unheard of for little old mom me out in the 'burbs. After the city we hit Sonoma, where my BFF and her hubby Michael gave us a great wine tasting experience at Highway 12 Winery (it rocks). Amid all the fun, it's been my busiest week of work ever and it's about to get worse, so I'll draw on the joy of these photos often :). *warmup: 3 x 200's free *700, 600, 500, 400, 300, 200, 100 *25, 50, 75, 100

This weekend I was in SF Saturday morning and couldn't get to the pool. Instead, I ran across the bridge and gazed at a gorgeous flat Alcatraz route below me. I'm not suicidal, but I admit to having the urge to fling myself over the golden rail and into the current below. To SWIM. Not to die. But speaking of dying, there's nothing like seeing those phones posted along the bridge that say "There is hope. Make the call" to remind you amid a glorious jaunt between sparkling city and rolling headlands that life can really suckit. Maybe that's why we all swim. Life can suckit. But not when you're swimming. *warmup: 2 x 500's done as 5/1, 4/1, 3/1, 2/1, 1/1 with 1's being backstroke *3 x 400's done with backstroke every 8, then 4, then 2 *4 x 300's sliding 75 of backstroke *5 x 25's with 2 done as backstroke