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Purim

Purim was fun. I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. Nathan decided at the last minute to be superman instead of a train engineer, but that was fine. Benjamin didn't have a choice, but he didn't seem to care about being a cow. I was inspired to make hamentashen cookies, but they devolved into circle cookies with jam in the center.

I'm working on increasing my jogging miles. I do about 12 per week and max 4 miles at once. I find that the right music makes all the difference in keeping me energized when I run. My latest project is making some good jogging music mixes.

Thankfully, Benjamin is still a champion sleeper. He regularly sleep 7-9 hours straight. I think it has alot to do with the fact that he is proficient at sucking his thumb. Since Nathan was NOT a good sleeper as a baby, I can really appreciate it.

planning vacation

Today, Nathan is hanging with his grandparents in OC. He always looks forward to a visit with them, in no small part because grandma almost always makes some delicious baked goods with him.

Last week was pretty productive for me - I got a good amount of exercise, got some maintenance on the car, found and bought a used mini-fridge for work, as well as the usual household chores.

I've also been planning our family's summer camping trip. Since my first choice, Lime Kiln near Big Sur, is closed due to fire damage, we'll be heading to Sequoia National Park instead. I got a reservation for Upper Lodgepole campground July 24-25. It will be more a challenge with the two boys, but I think it will be fun.

Getting in shape

I've always enjoyed working out and I really missed it the last few months of pregnancy. Now I'm back at it and running about 3 miles every other day. It'd be great if I can get up to 6 miles and do a 10k race. We'll see. I am getting a little bored of just running though. Unfortunately, having to keep the baby close has made it pretty impossible to go for a bike ride or go swimming. Once I'm back at work and Benjamin is at daycare, I should be able to sneak off for a swim.

check ups

Weekends are definitely harder than weekdays. Juggling both toddler and baby is tough, and nigh impossible on my own. Yesterday I took them to the playground for a couple hours, without an additional adult for support, and we all survived. Thank goodness for preschool.

A side note on playgrounds. We have two good ones within walking distance - a larger one at the rec center and a smaller one in a new housing development. The smaller one is frequented by very young children, almost exclusively white, accompanied by one parent. At the larger playground there are a wide range of ethnicities and ages represented, but also more kids brought by their nannies. They each have their own flavor. Last time I was at each of them, at the smaller, whiter playground, I got to practice speaking French to a Paris native mommy, while at the larger, ethnically diverse playground, I got to speak Spanish to two nannies. All of them encouraged me to teach my children to speak another language and I insisted that I'm not fluent enough to do that.

In other news, we took the boys to Kaiser for their check-ups. Nathan is growing well - measuring in at 40 inches (95%) and 37 lbs. Benjamin is 22.8 inches (90% and the same as Nathan at that age) and weighs 12lbs 6oz.