Let's Call it a Win

First, fun photos:

I found my shoes like this the other day. Marshall prefers them upright, obviously.

Choosing a Halloween costume for M. Not easy; he just wants to look at the animal faces.

Marshall's gotten really into lining up his various vehicles like train cars.

Love that kid.

Today had its ups and downs. Ultimately, Marshall refused his nap for over an hour. Eventually we did a "reset" (a technique we use here when we have no other options and decide to just do something different from what else we've tried): I brought Marshall back out to the living room and let him play quietly by himself for a while. Finally, two hours after the first attempt, Marshall fell asleep. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and got to work around the house, making two batches of soup (one for us, one as a new baby meal) and tidying up.

At first, I felt frustrated and annoyed about Marshall's strange sleep, but the rest of the day went really well. We had a fun visit at Jenn's, we spent a lot of time reading, and I got a lot done around the house. Marshall was pretty tired and cranky this afternoon, but I can't blame him for that. Between not sleeping well, teething, and just being a toddler, he had a lot going on. Poor little guy.

With all that going on, we survived. The house survived. The dishes are done, we had a great meal (YUMMM I love Ina), we took a family walk, and Terry and I managed to catch up on our squats and yoga (we skipped yesterday for no good reason). So I'm going to call today a win. I guess my standard for "win" is just having everyone alive and fed at the end of the day? :-)

Speaking of squats, I forgot to post the last few days (I knew it would happen), so here's what we've been doing:

Sunday we skipped our planned HIIT squat workout because we ran the stairs on campus instead. My heart rate was through the roof (I had to take breaks to keep within a not-insane range), so I'd say it was a good trade.

Tuesday (well, Wednesday for us)/ Day 20: 
- 10 squat thrusts
- 10 3-pulse squats (squat down, pulse three times, stand up = 1 rep)
Repeat with 9 reps, then 8, then 7, all the way to 1

Day 22: Pyramid Roundabout

Front lunge + side lunge + back lunge + squat = 1 rep

Complete 1 rep each side, then 2 reps each side, then 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Day 24:

20 each:

3-2-1 squats

Squat with slow rise

(3-5 rounds)


Some fun links:

The Surprising Change that Cured My Threenager (I really enjoy reading Brittany's insights on parenting!)

Dads should read the bedtime story!

Anna Kendrink's Shower Thoughts (my friend Winnie shared this one with me and I loved it, of course)

More Anna Kendrick

SNL's Democratic Debate