Archive for December, 2007

Merry Christmas

Wednesday, December 26th, 2007

It has been very busy around here the last week. Sorry for the lack of posts. Even sorrier for the lack of running.

Last week ended up being a rest week (if there is such a thing) as the cold bug bit hard. I had the worst head cold I’ve had in years. Didn’t feel like doing anything but going to work and returning home to lay on the couch. Was feeling better by Friday and almost went out for a run Friday evening to ease the legs back in, but cooked, and ate, a delicious dinner instead. Plus Grammy and Grandpa were in town, so wanted to spend some time with them.
So Saturday I decided to make some mileage for the week, well, at least mileage compared to the rest of the week. Ended up putting a pretty nice 6.5 miles. The weather was delightful, blowing wind with a hint of snow/sleet and dropping temperatures. For the Saturday morning before Christmas, surprisingly light traffic about.

Saturday it snowed about 2 inches in Norman, so we ended up going for a walk to see the accumulation and slick neighborhood streets.

Sunday I ended up passing on a run, but intended to go Monday. Instead, Pop and I cut limbs out of the trees that had cracked off in the ice storm. 6 hours of climbing trees and using a 10 foot electric pole saw. I haven’t been that tired in my upper body in many moons.

Monday evening Carrie, G&A, and I played the Holy Family in our church’s live nativity (one baby at a time). We had a good time and really enjoyed seeing many friends at the service.

Christmas day was great. Wonderful Panera holiday bread french toast for breakfast, ham with fixins for lunch, good time with Nana, Pop, Carrie and the kids, and 3.5 miles for dinner. Great run. No one else around, full moon hanging low in the clear sky and low 40’s with no wind. Great way to end a great day.

Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!

Weekend and Cold season

Tuesday, December 18th, 2007

It warmed up here a bit Friday and everything thawed out which was nice.  Then it decided to turn cold yet again.  Saturday it was cold (upper 20’s) and we had some nice gusty winds in the 20+ mph range with big old snow flakes thrown in.  IT was blowing to hard to stick, though.  Headed out and got in 8 miles.  Running into the wind sucked, but going with it was good.

Great run overall, and got to tour a bunch of the surrounding neighborhoods to see all the downed lumber.  What a sight.  There was one house that I give my “Making the best of a bad situation” award to; they had a front yard full of limbs and had strung their Christmas lights all over them.  Went back that night to show Carrie.  It looked like they had shrubs across the front of their yard which they had decorated.  Too funny.

Was going to run Sunday after our church’s Candlelight Carol Service, but we didn’t get home until.  10pm.  Oh well.  Oh yeah, I have a head cold now.  It stinks.  No running yesterday or today.  We’ll see about tomorrow.

3 months

Wednesday, December 12th, 2007

So I’m a week an a day late.  But the last week has been extremely busy, and not in a good way.  Last week began with a visit from Monique, Jules, and Darby from NOLA.  It was great fun having them here and meeting Darby for the first time, even though it was cold and rainy and not nice outside.

On your 3 month birthday, Abigail got sick, throwing up once in the crib while sleeping and once in the middle of the day all over Jules, who had picked her up to save George from the coming onslaught.  We didn’t think much of it since Mommy ate some spicy food Monday night, and we just thought it upset A’s tummy, since A was in a great mood.  Not so.  Wednesday evening G decided to throw-up all over A and Mommy right after eating dinner.  Mommy wasn’t feeling too great but got into the shower to clean herself and you kiddos off.  Halfway through, she began throwing-up all over the tub.  Guess what, it didn’t drain very well, so she spent a while cleaning it up while I finished putting you two to bed.  She spent the rest of the night, and next couple of days sick as a dog.  Luckily G&A were not fussy at all, but slept a lot.

We spent the weekend getting well only to have an ice storm come in and knock out our power Monday morning at 2am.  There were limbs and trees down all over the neighborhood.  It looked like a tornado came through.  The streets were full of debris and we had a time getting out of the neighborhood.  Luckily, the Lees didn’t loose power, so we had a sleep-over at their house Monday and Tuesday night.  Finally this morning at 10am, we got power back!  Woohoo!  Needless to say, now we just have to get the limbs all cut up and ready to be picked-up.

You two keep on growing and changing every day.  I probably should have been doing a weekly journal, but oh well.  You are both now holding your heads up on your own, even when laying on your bellies.  G you are a little behind on this as you definitely received the Jankowski noggin, and you have way more head to hold up. A, you are constantly holding your head up and looking back and forth at everything.

G, you are a chamer, still always wanting to be held and content to just stare back and grin.  Your smile is great, taking up your whole face.  You have also begun laughing this month.  It is a cute little “huh-huh” quiet laugh.  You are still just laid back as can be.  You have no problem sitting in the swing staring at fishies, or just laying on your back looking at everything in sight, slowly but surely, like you’re trying to memorize every detail.  But when you get a wet diaper or need some food, watch out.  You break out into verse and don’t stop until your need is met.  There is no soothing.  There is no middle range.  All or nothing.

A, you are a fiesty little one.  In a good way.  You are strong as the dickens.  It all begins with your hands.  I call you my little lint collector because you are constantly grabbing everything in your reach, especially clothes, and by the end of the day, your palm and in-between your fingers is a great collection of lint.  You have begun to really enjoy lying on your back kicking your legs and raising your arms.  This is usually combined with talking, as you talk to everyone, and everything, you see.  Your big milestone was rolling over on a consistent basis.  It is pretty fun to watch, you move your head back and forth rocking for a while and then throwing your head one direction and following it with your body.

One of the best moments from this month was 3 consecutive nights that you both slept for around 7 hours straight.  It was a bit frightening the first time, and Mommy and I were awake wondering if we should go check on you, but we restrained ourselves and let you be.  The next night, we didn’t even wake up until you did.  But then as quickly as it happened, it ended, and we’re back to waking up at least once in the middle of the night.  Oh well, I’m sure you’ll consistently sleep through the night when you’re good and ready.

Love,

Daddy

Ice Storm 2007 (part 2)

Wednesday, December 12th, 2007

My favorite local newscaster (Rick Mitchell of KOCO News Channel 5) is all about sensationalism, and so am I.  Every time there is the tiniest chance of bad weather, it gets some crazy name that they use to refer to it for weeks on end during the newscast and on the bottom of the screen scroll.  Well the most recent weather event is Ice Storm 2007, but I’m pretty sure that moniker was used back in January/February 2007 when we were previously frozen.  For shame, I expect more from my sensational journalists.

Still, I’ll be watching every glorious minute of coverage, now that we have power after 2.5 days.  There’s nothing better than watching the on-the-scene reporters freezing their tails off to show a) ice accumulation in the last 10 minutes, b) Oklahomans still can’t drive on ice, or c) ice melts when it gets over freezing.

On a side note, I have gotten some runs in even with the inclement weather.  Best was Sunday night as the first wave rolled through.  It was a glorious 5.25 miler.  Nothing better than finishing a run with rain freezing to your jacket.

Long Week

Friday, December 7th, 2007

Monday I got out with Boomer for his first run in weeks.  He did great.  It was beautiful outside.  Temp hanging around 40F and no wind to speak of.  Stars were all out and we had the streets to ourselves (For the most part).

Tuesday just didn’t get around to running, but did crunches and sit-ups instead.

Wednesday, the dams broke loose from Carrie and George with both throwing up frequently.  I spent all night up with them as they were sick sick sick.  I ended up getting the stomach bug, but at least it affected me in the opposite way, and only for a minor part of Thursday morning as I was home taking care of the fam.

By Thurs evening I was feeling ready to run, and Boomer was in the need of some activity as he had been in for the majority of the day.  So off we went.  It was a great evening and the run went well until around 2 miles and then I hit the wall.  I had to walk a little bit, but made it home in one piece.  Finished with 3.5 miles.  Moral of the story, don’t run the same day you have ill effects from a stomach bug.

Slipstream/Chipotle

Tuesday, December 4th, 2007

Looks like I have a new cycling team to root for.  Slipstream/Chipotle is not only dedicated to winning without cheating, but it is sponsored by one of my favorite restaurants, ever.  Not star studded, with the exception of Millar, but there are some great up and comers such as Van de Velde, Zabriske and Danielson.

Make sure to scroll down to the comments on the 1st link to get a language lesson from William Safire.  Good stuff.

Weekend

Tuesday, December 4th, 2007

Man it was weird weather-wise here in OK.  It was warm and humid Friday.  Cooled off and got very windy Saturday am.  I was set to run double digits.  Didn’t have more of a goal than to hit at least 10.  Set out a little before 7am.  It was registering 50, but was very blustery and misting.  Not my favorite running conditions, but off I went.  It was a very stout wind out of the south.  Sustained around 15mph and gusting to 25+.  Went south for about a mile then went west and north for a while.  Coming back into the wind was rough.  I was struggling to hit 10min/miles.  But on I pushed and ended with 11.3 miles in 1hour 48min and some change.  Was pleased to average under 10 min miles, cause I was spent

Sunday, it turned cold with a strong wind from the north.  It was very cool to see the front roll through, dropped 15+ degrees in about 10 minutes.  Our church had an advent festival that evening and we had friends in town with a 1.5 yr old, so we headed to see if there were crafts for him to do.  (There weren’t but there was an indoor playground for him to run around on.)  Decided to pack the twins into their bunting suits and wrap them up tight for our very first run with the jog stroller.  Goodness!  That is one heck of a workout.  It worked great, but pushing a wind trap into 20 mph head winds sucks.  Powered through for 3.3 miles to meet the rest of the crew at church.  Can’t wait for many more runs with the twins.  They did great, slept the whole time.