Little Brownie Bites

Other than wearing pull ups at night for any potential accidents, Payton is completely potty trained. She is now taking herself to the potty, wiping herself and washing her hands.

One problem.

She often forgets to flush. Which is fine, really.

Except ... when she goes #2, I really prefer that she flush. And I really, really prefer that she flush after going #2 when we have guests.

Because having guests announce that they found something similar to little brownie bites floating in the toilet ... well, ya know.

But I still can't help but be so proud of her.

Even when I find a pot full of #2 ... with an entire roll of toilet paper laying on top of it.

Dear Baby Girl ...

Do you see that little, silver knob on the side of the toilet? Use it next time, kay? I appreciate that you want to save your little brownie bites to show me, but really ... I'm good. And I really appreciate that you are wiping yourself ... but please believe me when I say you do not need an entire roll of toilet paper to accomplish that. Kay?

Love,
Your Mama

A little of what I have learned.

Today is day two of my training for C25K -- otherwise written as W1D2 ... week one, day two. I plan to post weekly updates, so more on my training later.

For now, I wanted to post all of the information for the training program in one place. Right here.

The premise behind C25K is that it is a program designed to get just about anyone from the couch to running 5 kilometers -- or 30 minutes -- in 9 weeks. There are several different C25K training programs out there, however I am using the program designed by the people who first came up with it ---> Cool Running.

You can find the training program here.

You will see that as you go through the weeks, you increase your intervals of running and walking. Week one starts you off running 60 seconds and walking 90 seconds for 20 minutes ... which I believe ends up being about eight reps.

Instead of using your watch to time your intervals ... you can download a podcast. The podcast has music to get you in the mood ... and a voice over to tell you when it is time to run and when it is time to walk.

Awesome.

You can find Ullrey's podcast here.

And here is a sample of Ullrey's podcast ...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I found that I was not a fan of the music on Ullrey's podcast ... so I found an alternate that uses hip hop music. I am not necessarily a hip hop fan, but it gets me in the mood to run more than Ullrey's music does.

You can find the hip hop podcast here.

And here is a sample of the hip hop podcast ...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The one most important thing I have learned through all of this is that your shoes matter. They matter! I understand that some people do not have it in their budget to get fitted for a proper pair of running shoes, but I encourage you to do it as soon as you can. Wearing the wrong shoe can cause injury ... and we do not want that because you are going to cross that finish line with us.

When I went to be fitted for my shoes, I first ran on a treadmill while they videotaped the back of my foot to see if -- or how much -- I was pronating. I did pronate slightly and needed a shoe with a little help. After being videotaped with the proper shoe on my foot, I had no pronation and my feet were a perfect 90 degree angle to the ground.

It matters.

Two more important things regarding your feet ...

1) Your running shoe be a half to a full size larger than your normal shoe size. Yup ... that means my amazon shoe is a 10 1/2. Ha. Your feet sweat, swell and move around when you run ... you have to give them room to do so.

2) Wear dry fit running socks. The socks that they sell in running stores are there for a reason. You will notice an incredible difference ... so just know they are worth the investment!

You can find more tips for beginning runners here.

And the Lord knows I still have a lot to learn about running. So feel free to share what you have learned so that everyone can benefit. We will do this!

Don't forget to link up on Mr. Linky below if you will be blogging about your training. I have also created a facebook group so that we all have a mutual place to share our stories, ask questions and support one another.

You can find the Operation C25K facebook group here.

And don't forget to enter for your chance to win a $100 gift certificate and an iPod Shuffle ... the contest ends tomorrow!

Oh ... whenever you need an extra boost to get up off that couch, then watch this.

Plagued by strep.

I have quickly come to realize how pesky strep can be. It has plagued our family over the past month ... it is time for it to move on. Swiftly.

December 8 ... Mason diagnosed with strep.
December 8 ... Addison diagnosed with strep. Vomiting all night.
December 10 ... Payton diagnosed with strep.

Three kids with strep leads to a fridge full of antibiotics.

On Christmas Eve, Payton started vomiting and spiked a fever. No signs of a sore throat, but later in the week Addison started showing signs. So off to the doctor we went.

December 28 ... Addison diagnosed with strep.
December 28 ... Payton diagnosed with strep.

Mason was also tested on December 28, but his quick test was negative. We decided to treat him anyway, at least until we got the official results back. Those ended up being negative, so we stopped his antibiotic.

On December 29, Kyle and I both went to be tested, since we both had sore throats and headaches. It was late in the day, so we had to wait for our official results to come back.

On January 2, the results showed that Kyle was positive for strep. My test had not come back yet, but they decided to just treat both of us with antibiotics.

So once again our house is full of antibiotics ... of a little different variety.

The girls will return to the doctor once they complete their antibiotics for another strep test. We want to make sure it is completely gone this time. It has really affected Addison the worst ... poor thing.

Operation C25K. And a giveaway!

The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.

~ John Bingham

Isn't it funny how certain things continue to touch your life ... over and over again? And the more those things appear, the more inspired you become?

Running.

I hate it.

I have always hated it.

I have never understood why people would want to run.

But I continued to be inspired by those very people. People around me who run for pure enjoyment. People around me who are completing marathons. People around me who are a part of the camaraderie that comes with those who run.

You might remember Liz. I have sort of been able to vicariously live her journey through my good friend, McKenna. And if something like this does not smack you in the head, then I'm not sure what does.

McKenna runs. Shortly after Liz was diagnosed with bone cancer, McKenna ran a half marathon. She called me to tell me the camaraderie that she experienced during the race ... and I cried. And I told another friend ... and she cried.

McKenna's story from her blog ...

So ... I ran a half-marathon last Sunday. And ... this post is soooooo not about accomplishing this goal. I did it and am happy I did it ... but to be honest ... with everything going on with Liz, it really was the last thing I wanted to be doing on Sunday ... and the last thing I want a pat on the back about right now.

Knowing that I was very unmotivated to be there, I decided to make my run all about Liz and ironed the words "Pray for Liz" on the back of my shirt. I seriously cannot count the number of people who asked me, "Who's Liz?", or told me, "I'm praying for Liz!", while we were running the 13.1 miles.

I was motivated to run faster because I knew the faster I ran ... the more people would be behind me to see my shirt and pray for Liz. A man at mile 13 told me that I was pacing him between miles 11 and 13 and he had been praying nonstop for two miles for Liz (and I'm not fast, so that's a good 25 minutes of prayer! LOL!). It was awesome to know that hundreds of people were praying for sweet Liz during that looooong run.

Right before the start of the race, a woman came up to me and asked me about my shirt. I told her Liz's story and she prayed with me right there, while we waited to start the race.

{Ok, here's the WOW part.......} I just got a facebook message from this person asking me if I was the person she prayed with before the start of the race! We never exchanged names and I am guessing she found me by my bib number? However she found me, she had to do some digging ... what a blessing!

Seriously. How awesome is that? If McKenna's story is any indication of what goes on at these races, then I am so in.

I am going to learn to love to run.

Starting ... um, tomorrow.

<a href="http://thebalsisfamily.blogspot.com/2010/01/operation-c25k-and-giveaway.html" target="_blank"><img alt="Life with Bubba, Chicky and Nika" src="http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f306/lilpayton/c25k-1.gif" /></a>

A few days ago, I visited my local running store to be fitted with running shoes. They are awful looking, but man are they ever comfortable! And that is all I need to accomplish my goal.

Right?

I would like to challenge you to join me.

We shall call it ... Operation C25K (Couch to 5K).

We will train for nine weeks and then run 5K races all around the nation ... each in our own area. I've been looking at doing a Shamrock run ... let's aim for right around St. Patrick's Day.

Am I biting off more than I can chew? Nah. I don't think so.

We are going to support each other and blog about our progress. Link up below and grab the button for your blog.

Let's get this!

* * * * * *

Need a little boost?

How about the chance to win a $100 gift certificate to your local running store so you can snag some shoes? And a 2GB iPod Shuffle to get you in your groove? Use it to upload C25K Training Podcasts, of course.

Yup. I'm giving away this prize package right here, right now.

1) Leave a comment on this blog post telling me why you want to win.

2) Blog, tweet, follow me and/or post this contest on facebook for additional chances at winning -- be sure to leave a comment here for each additional chance at winning, telling me how you earned your additional chance.

That is a total of five chances per person!

3) Contest ends Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at midnight EST. Training for a St. Patrick's Day run must start next week!

Good luck!

Looking all defunktified.

Nika is reckless.

I gotta give the girl credit though ... she is a go getter. When she first started walking ... heck, even still ... we refer to her as the drunken sailor. She is all over the place ... and when she runs, it is so funny. Cute, but funny.

She tries to keep up with her brother and sister the best she can. But physically ... she can't always do that. Although I think someone needs to clue her into that ... because as far as she is concerned, she can do everything they can do.

And I give her credit for that.

But it leads to injury. And I'm not sure she cares ... as long as she can follow her brother and sister around.

See that top left tooth? It didn't always look defunktified like that.

That is courtesy of Nika jumping from the ottoman to the couch ... just like her brother and sister. The problem is she can't really jump. She sort of walks ... and falls forward.

Which is totally fine. If you fall onto cushions.

But the back frame of our couch is hard. And so is the console table behind it.

Common knowledge would tell you that when an open-mouthed-toothy-grin hits a hard surface ... you are gonna end up with a defunktified tooth.

Sigh.

The dentist says it is fine. The tooth has been pushed up into the gum ... who knew that was possible? The tooth may move back into position ... or ... the tooth may die ... or ... the tooth may stay right where it is.

Looking all defunktified.

So we wait and see. And we hope for no more injuries.