SKI races and stuff

 I am back to skiing. I had to take last winter off since I was pregnant with Anika. TOO Pregnant to ski. If I was in early pregnancy, I definitely would have skied.... but probably not raced.   LAST Saturday was my first race of the season. It was also my first time on skis since the winter before last :)  My friend Nicki decided to race again this year.   Andrew, Anika, Nicki and myself all drove up to Bretton Woods.  After I fed and changed Anika, Nicki and I went out to check out the course. We took  2 free runs to get a feel for the snow and skis.  Anika stayed in the lodge with daddy. It was her nap time by then so he put her in the hiking back pack and walked around outside so she could sleep.  

Nicki's friend met us there so he was able to take the picture AND be our coat carriers. In the past, Andrew has carried our coats down while we race.   I was still placed in the highest division for the league....I figured I would have been bumped down after missing a season. There are different classes for different levels of racers.   I was VERY nervous at the top of the course. Like stomach turning nervous. I was wimpy.  I was thinking, Oh great- motherhood made me wimpy!

BUT, once I started the course (and it was an easy course by the way), I felt ok. MY form was a mess, but I ended up coming in 2nd for my division and 2nd out of ALL female racers. I beat a male on my team I ski with...the last season I raced, he beat me twice and I beat him twice. We have a friendly competition, but  HE was not happy about me beating him my first day back. ANika was sleeping during my run but woke up soon after. Anyway, I like to come in 1st, but for being my first time on snow in 2 years...I guess Ill take it. The 1st place girl beat me by 7/10ths of a second, which is a lot in racing, but not So much I cant beat her another day. Basically, I have competition, but beatable competition :)

 After my run...they took my bib right away. I borrowed this race suit for the day, but It was too big in my back. My old suit had its last day 2 years ago.

Nicki.

I put the back pack on after this and skied on the flat area...which was about 40 feet to the lodge. YOu should have seen the looks I got. Like People thought I was skiing the whole mt with her on my back. Ha. Although, I heard in "the old days" people used to do that.  We went in the lodge to eat and then Andrew went out snowboarding for a while with Nicki and her friend while I sat in the lodge with Anika. Actually, we didn't do a lot of sitting because she was walking all over. I was just happy that we were stuck in a ski lodge with a walker and not a crawler. A crawler would have been HORRIBLE. Her hands all over the dirty ground- yuck. Maybe next race she can go to my mom so Andrew and I can ski together, but then again- Its hard for me to leave her for the whole days on weekends since its our only days with her.  I kind of want to find a sitter to come skiing with us. That way, I can still nurse her and hang out when I come in the lodge.

Anika ended up only having a 15 minute nap in the back pack and then only slept 15 minutes on our hour car ride home...with a detour at a bar. I sat in the car with her while the others went in to have a drink. Then, we went in to tell them we were ready to go :)  So...Ya...it was a 30 minute nap day!  I don't know how she does it. She went to bed a tiny bit early that night.

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Sunday, Anika and I met Anna and we drove 2 hours south for a baby shower.

Anika getting her finger prints all over the glass table. She was Non stop at this event as well. She was the only kid there (she was invited) so she got LOTS of attention and I had LOTS of helpers to watch her, which was nice.  It was the first time I met the owner of the home.  She is My friend's business partner. She has 2 kids of her own and when I put Anika down to walk, she said "Wow, she walks? I have heard about kids walking at 9 months but I assumed people were lying and I thought it was just a myth. What a freak of nature"  (paraphrased) This bring me to another topic. A lot of moms have made this comment lately about how other moms must lie about what their kids do. Like, that moms lie about their kids sleeping through the night, etc.  I don't get it. Why?  I just assume my friends tell me the truth, and vice versa!  There was a time Anika slept through the night...But, now...she doesn't. I didn't lie about it then and I don't now. She wakes up a few times a night these days. Another mom at the shower had a baby a month younger than Anika and was shocked that Anika ate all her food by herself with her own two hands. (SHe had a plate of fruit at the shower).  Maybe I can credit that to baby led weaning.  She has ate her own solids for a long time because I have always given her that opportunity.  Speaking of that- Anika has great hand eye coordination and does a lot of amazing things with her hands...BUT- one of them is NOT clapping! I have been showing her how to clap since she was born...and she just.will. not do it. She just laughs at me. IT is almost like she is saying EFF you to me because its something I am trying to teach her. She would rather do stuff I don't teach her.  Just like she says Dada, dog, doll, better, down...but NOT MAMA or mum.  I have been saying the word mama longer than any other word. I have said it to her since birth but no. She has no interest in saying THAT word. 

Anyway, I was talking about opportunities.  I also give her the opportunity to sit on her potty whenever I go to the bathroom at home. She has to come with me most times anyway (So she doesn't get into stuff while I'm gone) so...she sits on hers while I sit on mine. She almost always goes when I put her on it. There is NO pressure as I have said. I AM JUST giving her the opportunity when I go. She acts pretty happy to be  on it, so its definitely something she seems ok with. She loves to watch her waste get flushed! ha. Ew. speaking of which, I JUST barely caught her before she was playing in an over flowing toilet in Andrew's bathroom today! I walked down the hall JUST in the nick of time-she was about to get in it, I know! I yelled for Andrew to come clean up his mess and took her away. Maybe if he didn't LINE THe ENTIRE TOILET bowl with toilet paper, it wouldn't overflow.  He said he doesn't want water to splash him when he goes. WHAT.A.BABY.  Anyway, giving Anika the opportunity to go on the potty actually has a name- Elimination communication. I put Anika on the potty to poop WAY before I knew EC even existed though. One of my readers pointed out that it had an actual term!  I used to just put her on because it was obvious when she was pooping and I didn't want to clean a poopy diaper.  EC is not potty training though

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Anna and Anika.

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ON the same day as my race last Saturday, we ran into someone who needed females for a corporate ski team that races on Thursday nights at a Mt. about half hour away from where I live.  I declined because I have Anika. I mentioned it to my mom a few days later,  and she said she would pick A up from Miss B and bring her to the Mt on Thursday nights. That way, I could feed her, hang out AND do the racing.  My mom said she really wants to see me race since she hasn't in years. Plus, Anika can watch me too! The Thursday night league is a little different. We do two runs on the course and we don't have to go in bib order. Just go do our 2 runs anytime we want between 5:30pm and 8 Pm.   At first I thought it was only 4 or 5 weeks, but it is actually 8, but IM doing it!

This past Thursday night Andrew ended up being home. I left work early due to BAD Roads and bad weather.  (Andrew took my car to get snow tires the next day and now its a super star in the snow).  My friend Nicki picked me up at home and we went to the Mountain.   We don't really know anyone on the other league (yet). It was cold out, so we took one free run, then our 2 race runs and left. When we were getting our bibs, I saw two girls that looked like real racers and I was intimidated.  I came in 4th that night. 1st place beat me by almost 2 whole seconds. That is A LOT.  It will take a LOT on my part to beat her this season, but I NEED to place at least top 3! So, I will be trying hard. I am still getting VERY nervous before each run. Just being at the top of the course gets my heart racing. I dont like that feeling in this old age, but once Im in the course, I feel better.

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 Anika getting pulled on her sled.

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THIS Saturday, I got 6 inches of my hair cut off! I told Andrew it was a foot, but he said he didn't think that was accurate.  IT is way shorter which I am sad about, BUT its so much healthier looking, which I am HAPPY about.  I found a local farmer's market and stopped by on Saturday. I cant wait to go next week- earlier and with Andrew and Anika.  It is new and every Saturday.   I stopped by Kohls to get some leggings and didn't look at the price of the ones I got...then when I got to the register and they said $36 I was like- WHHAAAT? NO. I went and returned right away. Went to walmart instead. I was rushing around the whole time because I was trying to get home to feed Anika! She was home with dada. 

 I like leggings that are high waisted not low rise. Anyone have a favorite brand of leggings that are not almost $40?

Sunday (Today) I picked up a special cake for the neighbors who called about our chimney fire.  Then I went to brunch with just the girls.

 Andrew was pretty bummed because he loves this brunch place....but we can go next Sunday...or any other time :)  This was a no boys/ no kids brunch. When I got home, we went to the neighbors to drop of  the thank you note and cake, but they weren't there. We left it on their porch! IT was 5 degrees here today. I hope they got the cake because it was not a cheap one!   THEN, Andrew, ANika and I drove an hour for me to look at a GS/Race suit someone was selling second hand.  They are $500 brand new. My old one pretty much disintegrated.  I got this one barely used for $80...but its TIGHT. REAL tight.  They are supposed to be tight...but whoa.   I am not feeling secure in it... I told ANdrew it will fit better next year when I am skinnier and he said I better wear it this year after all that. ha

This is what I wore to brunch :)  When Nicki saw me she said REAL Hippies do not wear fur.  :)

I have tomorrow off :)  I need to take 2 classes at the gym, then home to spend the day with my Little Gal. This weekend was the most I went out without her...ever, I think! It was weird. I missed her lots while out, especially grocery shopping without her. I hated that.  I missed my little buddy, but I was in that town after my hair cut, so it would be silly not to go while I was over that way.  Luckily, she LOVES spending time with her daddy.

Hope you had a great weekend my friends.