The Nelson Narrative

The girls and I had been spending entirely too much time couped up at home lately.  First we all had colds right around Christmas time, then we got a bunch of snow that hung around for several days, then we've just had a bunch of cold, rainy days, etc.  We finally started getting out more a few weeks ago with playdates to the Indoor Playground (a godsend this time of year!) and KidzBounce, the latter of which was way more fun this time because it was much less crowded and the girls we're much more brave about exploring all the different bouncy houses whereas last time they would only do one slide and wanted me to go with them all the time.  We also had a fun playdate last Friday at a coffee/doughnut shop near our house that I'd been wanting to try that has a nice play area for kids.  One of those things that if I'd of known about it sooner I totally would have gone there a long time ago.  It's always great to find new things to do with the girls. Any...

Monday is my birthday, so I decided that today I would finally use a Spa Finder gift card, one of two Paul gave me for Christmas like 4 years ago, to get a much needed (and, frankly,) deserved massage.  Ahhh, can't wait! From Google Images My friend Jerri and I are going to have coffee first and then head to the spa, and then maybe grab a cupcake after.  Then tonight, we're going out with some other girlfriends for our monthly girls' night out. Paul and I have to do a daytime outing tomorrow since that's the only time we could get a babysitter, not that we tried very hard.  We are going to lunch and then making our annual trip to the movie theather (ha ha)!  I think we're going to see The Dilema, since I love Vince Vaughn and I don't think Paul would be the least bit interested in Black Swan or Blue Valentine (one of which the girls and I might see tonight).  It should be a fun weekend.  I'm really looking foward to the spa, a night out ...

A week or two before Christmas I was only one workout away from completing C25K .  But with the craziness of the holidays and all, I never finished it, because on the occasions that I did make it to the gym I wasn't able or motivated enough to run the whole 30 minutes, what with all the cookie consumption and weight gain and all.  So at the beginning of the year, I picked up in week 6 and re-started from there.  It took me until earlier this week to work back up to the 25 minutes required at the end of week 6 and now I am in week 7 (out of 9).  With any luck I will finally complete the program sometime in early February. As usual, I started off the new year all gung-ho and motivated to lose weight but I've only managed to lose 2 pounds (that includes the usual re-gain of a pound or so and subsequent re-loss).  Pretty disappointing, given that January is usually my best month and I'm usually good for 5 or 6 pounds.  Oh well....

Earlier this week, we attempted 3 Day potty training.  It was a disaster!  The premise is this:  you pick a day to start, build it up in advance by saying things like, "you're going to wear big girl underwear" and "you're getting so big you're not going to need diapers anymore", etc., then when the Big Day arrives, have them watch and/or help you throw away all the diapers, take them to the potty, dress them in big girl underpants (no Pull-ups or "training pants" of any kind) and pull-on pants (easy to pull up and down, vs. anything with a zipper and snap) and basically live in the bathroom for 3 days straight. Monday was Day 1.  I skipped the ceremonious diaper throw-away (good thing) and just took them to the potty and got them dressed in their new Dora underwear.  A little while later I took them both to the potty again but they didn't need (or want) to go.  We had breakfast.  Just as I was about to take them again, they both wet thems...