Social Calendar Quota Cap

It's 11:30PM and I want to be in bed.  Unfortunately, I still need to send one last work e-mail, pump, write and post this blog.  I don't see myself getting to bed before midnight.

I had grand plans of cleaning our bedroom this weekend, which is littered with clean and dirty laundry, shoes, scarfs, jackets, papers, and all other remnents of a busy weekend.   I hate getting ready for work in the morning when the room is a mess. It stresses me out because I can never find tights in the right shade, matching earings or my keys and easily adds 30 minutes to my morning routine.   There's no wiggle room tomorrow morning since I have a 9AM meeting. Ugh.

Every Sunday night, I'm reminded as to why we need to commit to less.

We had a great time this weekend.  It was fun and fast-paced.  From Friday night to Sunday evening, we had plans.

Friday night we interviewed a new potential babysitter. We liked her a lot.  Saturday morning I ran, with my running group, my first race in over a year.  Later that day, Jeff, Colette and I met up with a bunch of our new parent/baby friends at Hot Bird for Family Bar Day (more on that later).  After that, we dropped the babe at home with a babysitter (more on that later), and we went out to dinner with our friends Kacey and Charlie at The General Greene. Sunday morning, I went to my Stroller Strides class, sans baby, and then afterwards we went over to our friends, Kate and Ira's apartment for lunch/playdate.

Maintaining the Rigby social calendar is my thing and I love filling it to the max. Jeff is game for whatever, as is Colette.

However, this afternoon, exausted, Jeff asked if we can have a few weekend days each month that are free of plans.  I paused to think about it. Yeah, I would love that.  I just have to learn how to not make plans.  We'll have to start this goal in April since March is already booked.

Good night,

Ashley

No Excuses

Starting today, I'm going to write in my blog every day for one week (Dad, you will be so proud).   Ideally, I'd like blog once a week, however, lately I've only been writing about once a month.  I compare it to postponing that call to a long-distance friend.  I always think about calling, but since so much time has passed since we last spoke, it seems daunting to pick up the phone just to say "hi" without recounting the last two months of our lives (I'm thinking of you, Brit).  It's lame, I know.

I have plenty of thoughts and stories to share, but I can never seem to find the time to write.  The day comes to an end, I'm tired, and can't wait to jump into to bed.  Then, the next day, I think of something else to blog about, but never makes it way to the page.  So, this week, it's coming to an end, and by the end of this challenge, I hope that I've prooved to myself that if I want to find the time to blog, I will.

It's the freakin' weekend! Cheers to that.

xo,

Ashley

PS - Brit, I'm calling you soon!

Happy Valentine's Day

From Me to You

From Me to Jeff

From Jeff to Me

Homemade from the Kitzmans to Colette

Daycare-made from Colette to Me & Jeff

Cooking is so 2010

In my previous post, I wrote that one of my goals for 2012 was to write more both on my blog and in my journal and unfortunately, I'm not doing either.  I'm busy, just like everyone else, but not so much so that I can't find a few hours each week to write, especially because I enjoy it.

Perhaps, I can do it at dinner time, since I no longer cook.  Or maybe, I can write instead of watching Toddlers & Tiara's (keep that between us) late at night while I pump.  It's all about time management and prioritizing.   Interests and priorities have definitely shifted over the last year, and even more so over the last four months.

My Grand Supreme 

Pre-pregnancy, I used to unwind from the day by making a nice dinner for Jeff and myself. Now, I can't be bothered.  Most nights we have Indian or sushi delivered, or pop an Amy's pizza into the oven.  I used to love going to the grocery store, hand selecting fruit and vegetables while planning meals for the week. I haven't gone into the grocery store in over a month.  Instead, I just click on Fresh Direct's "Quick Shop" button and receive the same staples every week.  My taste buds approve, but my skinny jeans don't. Jeff does not seem to miss my cooking nor the mess in the kitchen that I left in my wake.

Let's see, what else has changed...

I'm not the wine drinker I used to be, but love a cold micro brew
I haven't been to Pilates in over a month
I don't make my lunch anymore
I'm no longer wearing maternity clothes
Stroller Strides is over, now that I'm back at work

Um, this does not seem like a healthy trend!

Luckily, I have a new obsession.  It's my flavor of the month fitness routine.  No, not PX90. I lent that chessy-ass DVD set to my brother-in-law Dave.

It's Winter Warriors, a running club for working moms.  We meet on Wednesday nights at 7:30PM and 8:00AM on Saturday mornings at Prospect Park.   I leave Colette with Jeff on Wednesday's since she's usually asleep as I'm lacing up and running out the door.  But I take her with me on Saturday's so Jeff can sleep in.   I'm one of the only Moms that runs with a stroller, but they help out and take turns pushing it for me.  This weekend, I ran 3.5 miles at a nice clip, without stopping.  I'm back and it feels awesome. The group is a running a 10K in February and we are all working in preparation for race day.

It's not technically a running stroller, but...

Okay, so I finally updated my blog, and it's 11:57PM.  Which is 57 minutes, past my bedtime.

Annual Review

Last year was a big year.  Just to recap; I began writing this blog, tested my ability at being a student once again, worked hard, spent a lot of time with friends and family, traveled plenty, ran and swam, rocked being pregnant, became a mom, enjoyed maternity leave to the fullest and made some great new friends in the process.    

I’d say it was an eventful year for my whole family.  

On a low note, my Dad’s youngest sister, Monique, died unexpectedly this fall, just six months after their mothers passing.   Sadly, my parents lossed two other friends in unexpected and untimely deaths this year.  They also put down Riley, their kind little adopted Westie, a few days after Christmas.  Wow. It sounds really bad when compiled into one paragraph.

On a high note, my sister Shawna, her husband Dave, and daughter Edie moved from Seattle to Connecticut this summer.  They also started new jobs and bought a house. Jeff’s Sister Shana got married.  Plus, two of my close friends Liza and Kacey are both pregnant and due in March, and my dear friend Kelly got engaged and is most likely getting married this summer.  Wow. That sounds like a lot too!

Jeff and I rang in 2012 celebrating with new neighborhood friends Kate and Ira.  We drank champagne and toasted to new friendships and new babies, as our little ones slept nearby.  Their son Daniel is the same age as Colette and will be her playmate at day care when he starts this spring. 

Colette started at Eladia’s Day Care last Tuesday when I went back to work. I’m proud to say that we all did really well adjusting.  She comes home happy but tired, and practically jumps into her crib at 7:00PM.  As her daily report card states, she’s a happy and hungry baby.  They said she eats a lot and smiles a lot.   Her day care is about a 10-minute walk down our street, next to the train I take to work.  She usually falls asleep by the time we arrive and she wakes up when I unbundle her out of the Ergo.  On the walk over I talk to her about what I have going on that day and let her know I love her even though I’m not with her.  When I hand her over to Fatima, one of the teachers, she smiles and goes to join the other babies for morning tummy time. 

I don’t get report cards any more, but if I did, mine would say that I’m happy and eat well too!  I miss Cole even when she’s sleeping down the hall, so of course I miss her when I’m a work, but I really believe she will benefit greatly from interacting with her little friends at day care and from Jeff and I, well-balanced, working and loving parents.  The time I spend with her is more limited now, so I don’t take it for granted and jump up to change dirty diapers and feed her early in the morning.

1st report card

This year, and like every other year, and everyone else in the world, I want to get in better shape and save more money.  BORING.

But here are a few random and less generic things I’d also like to see happen in 2012…

Be less moody.  When I get annoyed or frustrated that something doesn’t work out as planned….I want to mope about it for  no more than 10 minutes and then move on.  This is something I really struggle with. It’s not an attractive trait and certainly not behavior I want copied by Colette.

Go camping…meant to last year but it never happened.

Compliment others more. Everyone loves being complimented and I don’t do it enough.

Get an iPhone and rely on Jeff less for EVERYTHING related to news, weather, pop culture, media, directions, etc.

Write a living will.  Just as last year proved, you never know when your time is up. Plus, babies change everything.

Have an awesome 30^th birthday party.

New Year! New chair! New Toy (Hand-me-down)!

Write more often…in my journal and on my blog.  

Make a great cocktail

Put things were they belong from the start, ie. toys, towels, shoes, purse, clothes, jackets. They all have their respective homes, but never get put where they should when they should, like when I walk in the front door.

Go to bed on time…11pm on weeknights.

Happy New Year everyone!

Country Rat

A few days ago, I walked passed our corner bodega to run an errand with Colette in the Bjorn, and a cute, old, seemingly homeless black man standing out front asked jokingly, if that was his baby. He then commented on how big she has gotten. He was friendly and harmless and I laughed.  I walked away thinking about how much I love the neighborhood we live in.  I love that there are swanky bars and coffee shops and yet it’s still really diverse, and chock full of shitty salons and dollar stores with names like Kinky Crowns and G.O. Hussey, respectively.  Everyday, everywhere I look there’s more swank and less shit.

Our Apartment Building

Jeff and I live in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.  It’s just north of Prospect Park and adjacent to Park Slope (where Miranda moved to in Sex and the City). We moved here from Williamsburg, Brooklyn almost four years ago.  Unlike our previous stomping grounds, which I wasn’t in love with, our current neighborhood and apartment turned me from a country mouse to a city rat (but I still hate rats).

I’ve been thinking more and more about apartments and neighborhoods because we have to move out by April 1^st so that our unit can be sold. When we first got the news a few months ago via e-mail from our landlord, the apartment owner whom lives in Switzerland, I cried.  Moving sucks and everyone knows it.  Plus, our apartment has plenty of natural light, a dishwasher, great closet and storage space, washer and dryer in the basement, reasonable rent and two nicely sized bedrooms. Additionally, it’s a co-op that’s well maintained, safe and friendly.

We have the opportunity to buy the apartment, but it’s at the very high end of our price range and we don’t want to be trapped.  As much as we love renting it, we don’t want to own it and here’s why:

1. There is no washer/dryer in unit

2. It’s a 3^rd floor walk-up

3. It’s a small co-op with lots of restrictions…i.e. no dogs, no long-term sub-lets (which is why we need to move)

4. Too long of a walk to trains

5. We can hear the neighbors above us…they have three kids

6. It’s not a fixer-upper

7. There is no balcony or yard

8. No parking…although we don’t have a car, we might at some point

9. We will soon outgrow it

10. There is a low-income apartment two-doors down…harmless, yet loud, weed-smokers hang out on their stoop ALL-THE-TIME. 

When Jeff got the news that we have to move out he feared I would make him move to the ‘burbs, which I’ve been hanging over his head since I moved to the city in 2005.  I pretend like I’m doing him a favor by living here, but truthfully, each passing year, Brooklyn feels more and more like home to me.  With that being said, eventually we will end up in the suburbs.  I think West Hartford, CT our hometown would be ideal.

All things I love: Cole, Brooklyn, Christmas

My parents, longtime West Hartford residents, are constantly on the lookout for crappy, underpriced properties to fix up and flip. All of those HGTV shows about flipping properties make it seem easy and glamorous, which it’s not at all. My parents put a huge amount of time, effort and talent into turning a profit on the properties they scoop up. A few days ago my parents looked at a 4-bedroom colonial style house on a secluded, dead-end street in a very nice part of town.  To entice me, my Dad sent me picture texts of deer in the woodsy front yard and an antiqued front door.  The old Ashley would have liked it. But after living in the city my values have changed.

I want people as neighbors, not deer.  I want a crowded park, not woods next door. I want a densely packed street, not a dead-end without sidewalks.  I like living in a compact space, close to people, restaurants, grocery stores.  I love that we don’t own a car, nor need to.   If and when we move the ‘burbs, I want to keep as much of our city-living style intact as possible.

So, as always, my parents will remain on the hunt for a house worth flipping.  Who knows, maybe they’ll flip it to us when the time comes. But for right now, Colette, Jeff and I are happy where we are now and I bet we’ll be happy at our next apartment too. 

Stroller Sidelines

I can’t believe three weeks have passed since my last blog update.  Amazing.  Scary. My Dad, Gary, is not impressed with my infrequent posting.

In my last blog I bragged about how I was going to all of these cool classes, feeling great and working out. Um, yeah, all that has changed.  Instead of going to Stroller Strides, I’ve created my own club and it’s called Stroller Sidelines. It’s a club where you sit out of all the fun fitness-related activities and limp around your apartment using a stroller as a walker.  I can’t wait until this club looses me, its one and only member.

Well, first of all, I knew I shouldn’t have been working out three weeks postpartum. But, I was feeling really great and was anxious to get my body back into shape.   Doctors don’t give you clearance to work out until you are six weeks postpartum, but I thought that was just a lame suggestion, an excuse for women who don’t like to work out, to not work out. 

Unlike me, it turns out some of these doctors know a thing or two about health and the human body.   At my second Stroller Strides class, just over two weeks ago, I pulled my SI joint (a pelvic joint that loosens for labor) while doing knee raises on a park bench.   I didn’t hear a pop or feel immediate pain.  I felt a little off-balanced but I kept on working out.  Later that afternoon, my right hip really started to hurt and I ended up limping home from doing errands.  I iced it, used a heating pad, and took ibuprofen for days, but nothing helped.  I had sharp shooting pain when I turned in bed, had a hard time picking up Colette and getting to her quickly when she cried.

Last week, I saw sports specialists, got an x-ray (nothing broken), filled some scripts (nothing good), and started physical therapy.  Luckily, the joint will heal and I’m starting to feel better. Unfortunately, I need to take it easy for a while.  I gave my yoga punch card to another new mom and I put my Stroller Strides membership on hold.  It saddens me to say that this will be the first time in 20 consecutive years that I am not running in the Manchester Road Race with the rest of my family on Thanksgiving morning.  It breaks my heart, but I know it’s the mature and healthy thing to do.   I plan on running the NYC Marathon next year, and the Manchester Road Race for the rest of my life, so I better take care of myself.

Colette went to the doctor too. She had her one-month “well visit” a few weeks ago.  She’s a happy, healthy baby weighing in at over 10 lbs. now.  She’ll go again in a few weeks for her first round of immunizations.   She’s way more alert, smiling (a little), cooing, holding her head up, and sleeping like a champ.   

Cole learning to do the running man

The past few weeks have been pretty rough emotionally and physically, definitely harder than anything I endured during pregnancy and labor, but I’m optimistic that I’m on the road to recovery.  Luckily, I have a great baby and husband that love me even when I'm not 100%. Things ain't that bad....ain't bad at all.