A Few Randoms...

Yesterday, Arie said to me, "You need to blog, otherwise you'll never keep up with it."  Very true.  Divya has been waking up at 6AM lately (and of course she is asleep again now), so I figured I might as well take advantage of this time.  So here are a few randoms...mainly beacuase it's too early to think too coherently about any one thing.

First of all, my parents and sister are in London right now.  And I'm insanely jealous.  They're going to London, Paris (to celebrate my Dad's birthday), Geneva, Turin, Venice and Rome.  They're off bumming around in Europe while I have to return to work.  How is that fair??!!

That brings me to my next point.  Next week, I have to go back to work.  I have many mixed feelings about this undeniable reality, but most of them revolve around this sentiment: I don't want to I don't want to I don't want to.  No really, I think the anticipation is worse than anything.  And when I try to think about it logically, I realize it could be a lot worse and my situation really isn't that bad.  I shouldn't be gone more than 20hrs a week and when I am gone Divya will be with daddy.

Speaking of Divya and her daddy, I just LOVE watching them interact.  They have the sweetest relationship.  D has totally stolen her daddy's heart.  I'm so impressed in the way Arie so seamlessly became a father.  It just makes me love him that much more.  Here are a few videos of the two of them that I shot yesterday.  The first one I just think is so sweet and the second is absolutely hilarious. 

Divya is 3 months old!

It's totally crazy.  I cannot believe Divya is already 3 months old.  The last 3 months have been a blur, but also one of the most amazing times in our lives.  So, here are a few things I'd like to share about our little girl...I'm doing this MB style ;)

• She is 'talking' more and more every day.  She now will hold a 'converstation' with you.  It's too cute for words...literally.
• She is fascinated about the world around her.  Her newest obsession: trees.  She will stare at them for hours.  Now when we go on walks, we'll say "Divya, let's go look at trees!" and she stares at them for the entire hour long walk.  Yesterday at church, we stumbled upon a fish tank which was a HUGE hit.  She was so happy watching the fish swim around.  I think she could have watched those fish forever.  She has no interest in toys, she just wants to explore the natural wonders around her.
• Things that make her smile: mommy, daddy...and the ceiling fan.  I never realized how funny and entertaining a ceiling fan could be!
• The oral stage has fully taken hold.  She loves sucking on her hands (often both at once). Yesterday I was holding her while doing some chores around the house.  She was sucking on my arm, and all of a sudden it really started to hurt!  The next thing I know, I look down to find a huge hickey on the inside of my arm!  She actually gave me a hickey!! A big purple one!!
• She just loves to be snuggled, held and worn.  Absolutely nothing makes her happier than being close to you.
• She's starting to discover the strength in her legs.  She loves to stand, dance and walk..with a little bit of help, of course!  This is great, but makes bathtime a very messy affair.
• She loves hanging out on her belly.  She can lift her head and chest up and look around.  She just started to push off her elbows too.  She kicks her legs like crazy like she's ready to crawl but can't seem to find any traction.  She kind of looks like a beached seal.  It's hilarious.

D has been such a blessing in our lives.  It's so amazing to watch her grow and see her explore and learn the world around her.  We're so thankful that our little tiny preemie baby is doing so well, gaining weight like crazy and developing beautifully.  We can't ask for anything more.

Hanging out

Playing with daddy

 Sucking on her snuggle puppy

Playdate

Becky and I (and Aunti Jo) had another playdate this week.  We've had several playdates already, but this was the first where Bronx and Divya were actually both awake at the same time.  So of course, we had to monopolize on the opportunity and snap lots of pictures.  They are HILARIOUS.  Bronx was totally mackin' on D! And she does not look too happy about it...at all.

Bronx: 'This is kind of nice.'

Divya: 'I don't know about this...'

Bronx: 'Hey, what's up?'

Divya: 'Get off me, that's what's up!'

All joking aside, these two are totally buddies.  They're womb buddies.  Bronx was 3 weeks ahead of Divya in the womb.  It was so great being pregnant with Becky and sharing in that experience together.  She could always give me heads up on what was about to come down the pipeline (cravings, strange sensations, etc).  We ran together most of our pregnancy...and then walked together when running became a bit ridiculous!  Since D was born 4 weeks early, she actually came earlier than Bronx, but not by much!  She was born on a Friday and he was born early Sunday morning just two days apart.  So, their first playdate was actually at the hospital.  Now Becky and I get to share in the experience of being new moms and see the two of them grow up together.  It's truely such a blessing!

Worst Blogger EVER

Ok, I'm finally updating my blog and giving myself the title Worst Blogger EVER. I'm pretty sure the 3 people who actually read this blog have long given up on it. So much has happened since my last post. Arie is done with his coursework and is now working on his dissertation (yay!). I am still chiselling away at coursework for my PhD...slowly but surely. Big news in the Shrestha/Greenleaf household is the addition of our daughter, Divya Aleydis. She was born April 30, a good 4 weeks before her due date. She is 11 weeks old today, and like everyone says, her arrival has changed everything. I'm not sure how someone so small could have so much persnality...and with parents like us, she's bound to be nuts. Sorry, Diyva.

So, I am going to try to start blogging again. If there's anyone out there who is actually reading this...feel free to keep me honest. I should have no trouble finding the time. Right?!

Divya deep in thought...

Laughing at her daddy. Look at that hair!

26.2

Ok, so it's been a ridiculous amount of time since my last post. Shameful, really. But I did want to blog about my recent marathon, since it was my first. The entire experience went better than I could have ever hoped for. I felt great the entire time, even in the last 6 miles. I've heard so many people say that running a marathon is more of a mental challenge that a physical one. Personally, I never felt mentally fatigued. I think this is solely for one reason: Long's Peak. Climbing that mountain is still, to this day, the most mentally and physically challenging thing I've ever done. We spent 14 hours climbing that day, and didn't even summit. And if the altitude didn't get you, the knee jarring descent will. I cried the last 4 hours of that climb. Unlike running a marathon, you can't just walk off the course. You MUST get down off that mountain. There's no choice in the matter. I haven't reflected a lot on that experience, but now after running the marathon, I think much of my success can be attributed to that torturous, failed climb.

So, back to the race itself, the conditions were absolutely perfect, the course was beautiful, and the race was extremely well supported. It was, in a lot of ways, the perfect first marathon to do. I didn't start experiencing pain until around mile 21. My back started to cramp up terribly and of course my legs and feet were screaming. I started to take walking breaks, but then I quickly realized that it hurt just as much to walk as it did to run...so I figured, why not run and get this thing over with sooner?! Right around mile 23, someone was giving out gummy bears. I grabbed a handful, started eating them and all of a sudden I started feeling good. Like CRAZY good. After that, I felt really strong. I was passing people left and right. I had lost my 4:30 pace marker a few miles back, so I figured my goal of coming in around that time was shot. It was right after the mile 25 marker that I asked someone what time it was (I had fogotten my watch, of course!). They informed me it was 12:20something and I was completely shocked. I thought for sure it was almost 12:45, which meant I needed to hustle to make it to the finish line under 5 hrs. After discovering my goal was still in tact, I just went for it. I'm sure I wasn't actually running that fast, but to me, I was sprinting. I crossed the finish line in 4 hours and 36 minutes. I was thrilled with my time and the fact that I literally left it all out there. As soon as I crossed that finish line, I was completely spent. I happily collapsed into Arie's arms. It was such a great experience!

I spent 3 and a half months training, which is crazy to think about now. I actually miss training. I really became quite fond of my long training runs on saturday mornings. Especially once school got going and I had no time to myself, those few hours a week became priceless. I was just me, the road and my thoughts. That I really miss.

Just some final thoughts: I am fully convinced that any and everyone one can run a marathon if they are committed to train for it. It was amazing to experice the changes and adapations my body went through during training. Trust me, if I can do, it anyone can! Also, I have a new found respect for all my friends who are marathoners. It's an amazing accomplishment.

No Reservations

Well, actually, there are some reservations. But, very few. And what better excuse to use the title of one of my favorite shows. (I don't know, something about a travel show hosted by a very cynical old chef who hates vegetarians is very entertaining to me.) So it's that time of year: our, what has become, yearly trip to Colorado.

We arrived two days ago. The first night, we hung out in Ft. Collins a bit and then headed over to Rocky Mtn. National Park and spent the night at the trailhead of Long's Peak. We got there at about 10 PM. Arie got up and left to climb Long's at about 2AM. I remember sitting up, half asleep (we made a bed out of the back of the xterra) and looking around at that dark parking lot filled with bunches of people getting all their gear on guided solely by the light of their head lamps. I remember thinking, "these people, including my husband, are INSANE."

Arie made it up to the summit in an insanely short amount of time (4.5 hrs). I woke up at 7:15 and hit the (same) trail by 7:45. I was thinking all along that I would hike up part of the mountain and then run down. It became clear quite early on that there was no way I would be running down the mountain. The trail was very rocky and twisting an ankle was pretty much a sure thing. To my surprise, I felt great hiking up. A VERY different experience from the last time I was on that trail. I felt so good I ended up hiking up 4 miles to the Chasm Lake overlook. It was a very natural spot to wait for Arie, who would have been coming down around that same time. I hung out there for a bit and actually met 5 people from Iowa! It was so exciting seeing Arie come down that trail. I was SO happy to see him. He had strained a muscle in his thigh and was in need of some TLC and some cheerleading. Which I was happy to provide.

From there we headed to Boulder where we spent the night. We had a nice dinner out at a local microbrewery and then crashed at a (very luxurious compared to the xterra) hotel. This morning we we had breakfast at our favorite cafe in Boulder and indulged in my once a year breakfast: lox cheesecake. Yes, cheesecake. I mean, think about it...they took all the best parts of a lox bagel (smoked salmon, capers, tomatoes, onion) and put it in a cheesecake made of...cream cheese! Absolutely brilliant. But definitely a once a year treat.

Today we hung out in the very rough around the edges, but very cool, town of Leadville. At 10, 152 ft., it's the highest town in America. A big mining town at the turn of the century, it now is a very interesting mix of abandoned mines, shacks, a cute downtown and stunning views of 14,000 ft. mountains. Think of Vail, now think of the polar opposite, and you have Leadville. I like it. Tonight we watched the sun set at Turqoise lake, absolutely gorgeous. And then had the best Mexican food I've ever had. Leadville has an extremely high population of Mexicans, which was evident in the food. My intuition told me to order a margarita, which was definitely an inspired idea. It was the best margarita, no, the best drink I've ever had. Words cannot describe the perfection of this margarita. It's definitely now on my death row menu. (If you watch No Reservations, you'll know what I'm talking about.)

We're spending the night at the Leadville hostel. Ranked as one of the best in the nation, I can totally see why. It's very clean and cozy. Run by Wild Bill and Cathy, it feels more like you're staying with your sweet aunt and uncle (and a bunch of hyperactive, thrill-seeking cousins) than what I imagined a hostel to be. It's even dog friendly! There are 2 other pups staying here tonight besides Kharie. AND they have WiFi, which you, reader, are reaping the benefits of.

Tomorrow, we're headed to Aspen. We'll be camping there tomorrow night. And then we'll make our way back to Leadville to camp and wake up the next morning to climb Mt. Elbert, the highest 14er in CO. Arie, Khairie and I will all be climbing. Should be fun!

I will update our travel again when I can. And pictures to come...I promise!

Ahh, summer!

I love, love, love summer! Here are some recent pictures:

Khairie swimming in Lake Mendota at the union terrace. She was actually chasing those ducks, but clearly, ducks are faster than K, so she gave up.

my parents are so cute!

Hangin' out with our wet dog. The party ended when she shook wet fur into my beer.

The next few pictures are at the Navy pier in Chicago. Look at how beautiful that water is!

I want to be on one of those boats out there. Preferably that fancy looking one back there!

Me and my sis