Countdown is On...

Fresh off vacay and straight to the dentist's chair at 8 a.m. on Monday morning. I saw a spot on Hadley's tooth and yup, it was a cavity. Kid-cavities make me feel like a total mom-fail. Dr. Terry told me the grooves on Hadley's molars are deep and more prone to cavities...I bet Dr. Terry says that to every mom.

They gassed her and she did awesome. No tears, no big deal. She's weirdly proud of it as she's told many people that she has a cavity. Nice. 

A middle-of-the-night puke and Finley was home sick on Tuesday entertaining himself w/ SnapChat.

A rainy morning was perfect for coffee and a baby.

She planted a grassy-head.

(I can tell this is a different day because Hadley's braids are gone, but she wears that dang sweatshirt every day.) She loves to organize...

...she loves to eat at Panera. And I already miss days like this for next year.

A big-kid milestone...the kids had their very first sleepovers! Both were invited to sleep at our neighbor's house and both made it all night!

My kids are driving me nuts lately w/ I have nothing to do...so pretend you're in Cancun.

Or shoot rockets to the moon. 

If you look closely you can see the red rocket straight up from the base and near the top of the picture.

No coffee, no rain, but the same baby. This time our visit included flip-flop chicken and wine - Mama B can drink again :)

Hadley's Danz Kraze class performed at the Kid's Expo. Grandma helped w/ turning the hair donut into a hair bun.

Tenley's mom and I have been friends since middle/high school, kinda fun that our girls are now dancing together. Tenley was (hopefully) going to be my kindergartner next year too.

Ready!

And looking so old. 

The Mini-Poms (Hadley is far right). They win cheers for cuteness, not ability. 

Here's the full dance:

After her dance, we checked out the Kid's Expo, Finley was excited to see the Boy Scout booth.

This weekend was my last long-long run, I can't believe the marathon is close enough to be tapering. When this all started, winter-training had me worried most because I'd never done it before. One of my earlier long runs had a real-feel of -18, this weekend's weather was warmer but actually harder to run in. 25 mph wind w/ gusts of 40 mph and blowing snow that felt like I was being blasted w/ sand - it hurt my face and eyes.

I've started packing and prepping to be gone. Auntie Shawna's sub plans are already four pages long - of course dance pictures, Cub Scouts, school, and other activities all are happening. But she can do it - probably better than me! So far my packing has included fuel (I have enough Cliff Shots, Cliff Bloks & Stingers to run four marathons), body glide, hats/mittens, post-race jacket (please let me earn the right to wear it), my running gear (not my clothes yet, still working that out), and anything else I might need for 3.5-4 hours of running. The marathon is close enough that April 18 shows up in the extended forecast, I like what it says today.

After my fourth and final 20-miler, my FitBit steps were 30,000+. Before bed I was about 500 steps short of 40,000 (my most ever), so this competitive-nerd walked the hallway until I got there.

Now I start to worry, well if you received any texts from me in the past week or so, you know I've already started. They call it "taper tantrums" where you start to second-guess every.little.thing. Did I train enough? Hard enough? Will resting more the next two weeks throw everything off? I think I'm running stronger than I have for my other two marathons, but I'm older and so many things could go wrong that day. It's stinky to train for four months for something "little" to ruin it - a cramp, dehydration, rain-induced blisters, etc. I worry because I don't start running until 10:50 eastern time, which is normally when I've finished my 20-milers and I'll be running 6.2 miles further. It'll be happy hour by the time I'm finished. I don't usually eat before a run, but starting so late I'll have to. And I don't pay much attention to nutrition and that can be a game-changer. I'm worried about my health the next two weeks, my stomach felt weird this morning and I was convinced I was getting the flu (yeah, my mental game is really going strong right now), I feel OK as I type ;)

Even w/ the crap-tastic weather on Saturday, Rachel committed to joining me for my last six miles. It seems perfect to finish that last long-long run w/ her, she was w/ me when I qualified and I soooo wish she were coming to Boston too. I'm hoping to get a few more miles out of her Saturday when I run my last training run of 12 miles. I'm excited for my post-marathon life, I'll happily take back my Saturday mornings and I look forward to some casual runs w/ company. Countdown is on...14 days to go.