I was just perusing some of the other blogs that I follow written by friends and everyone seems to have a post apologizing for being too busy to write. So, I am not alone and I also apologize. I have had a million things to say and alas I will only remember a small hand full of them now that I am finally sitting down and writing. The 30-Day Challenge continues. My <a href=”http://www.maternitytankini.net”>maternity tankini blog</a>, now shows up #2 in Google if you search with the quotes, “maternity tankini.” That was a very exciting development this morning. My hard work is paying off. Now I am hoping, I can learn how to make money on getting my site to that point. You wouldn’t believe the amount of work it takes. It truly has been fun learning though. I have settled into my back-to-work routine. I have gone into the office every day for the last two weeks and made it through eight-hour days. Actually that is a lie, I worked from home a half-day the first Friday and took this past Friday off and went home at 2pm on Wednesday because I was sick. I got into my blazing hot car and was shivering from being cold. I think I am finally on the tail-end of that (I hope!) after spending an uncomfortable amount of time in my parents bathroom at dinner last night. Turns out the “authentic” Mexican tacos we introduced our German friends to, were quite spicy both going in and out. That should go into the TMI section. I got off topic, sorry about that. I have much more to do at work now and that has helped tremendously with helping time to go faster. I have been working from 8 to 4 with no lunch and then just pumping once a day at around noon. In two weeks, it already feels like I was never gone. Crazy huh? Belén really seems to like daycare. She is getting to an age where she likes a lot of stimulation and new things so it seems to be a really good environment for her. I am sure she loves her grandma days as well, I just don’t have the same visibility into those days. When I pick her up at daycare, I can watch her for awhile before she sees me and she does seem to find it a kick in the pants. I do still miss her a lot during the days though, but it is a manageable amount. I am utterly unmotivated at the moment and feel a bit run down. I think I am doing too much but yet I also feel like I need more inspiration. My workouts have been fewer than normal and when I do them, I am slacking/suffering. I cannot believe I ran that eight mile race two weekends ago. A four mile run with my sister today felt more difficult than the race. I did get to try out my two new pieces of gear that Andy got me for my birthday. (He always gives me my presents early.) I have new sunglasses that adjust their tint to the light (awesome for riding) and a Camel-Bak that sits on your waist. Both things will work well for the 50K trail run I want to do next March. I am finding it easier to find gear I need than actually starting to train for the race. Training will be the next step if I can get myself motivated. My running friends asked me to go do a race with them down in Carmel in October. I have been going back and fourth as to if I want to go. I don’t think I am ready to leave the baby for two days and also pump while I travel. Those two thoughts overpower the thoughts of any fun I might have. I am still debating though. We had a fantastic time with our house guests from Germany, Patrick and Claudia. Long-time blog readers will recall that we met them at our first visit to the sailing club in Shanghai. I will give you a brief rundown of our two days with them. Thursday evening we took them to Bittercreek, a restaurant/pub in Boise. Patrick was keen on getting the true American experience and ordering a burger and fries, but he couldn’t give up his German ways and had to eat it with his “tools”, a knife and fork. He even picked up the fries with a fork and put the ketchup on them with a knife. He got a lot of crap for it, but I must say he is quite skilled with his tools. They were amazed that everything was available from your car. You can drive up and get a burger at a drive-in. Coffee shops offer cappuccinos from a drive-thru. My mom completed the amazement with drive-thrus when we quickly stopped at her house so I could use the bathroom (we were on that side of town) and she brought freshly made cookies out to the car. They called it the granny drive up. I think it is actually a good business idea. 
One of the other notable things about America they mentioned were the size of the portions, especially the drinks. Claudia said that the “small” Pepsi she ordered would have been a large in Germany. Then we told them about “super size.” They also found Americans to be very friendly and helpful, especially to lost-looking tourists. They said that Germans would more than likely not offer to help someone who didn’t know what they were doing. Friday we took them to breakfast then sight-seeing up to the top of Bogus Basin Hill so they could see the entire valley and city. It was nice to get out of the city and go on a hike. Belén was a trooper in her covered stroller until we took her out of it at the top for pictures. The wind was howling and she got cold quickly. That evening we hired our first babysitter and rode our bikes down to the Basque Winefest which was a wine tasting and auction. It was such an enjoyable evening. As we were sitting down to our second dinner to absorb the alcohol and chatting with both Patrick and Claudia and our friends Paul and Lindsay, I really felt like a 20-something again before we had kids, out and about, having drinks with friends. The only differences were that in the 20-something days I wasn’t texting the babysitter to get an update on our daughter and didn’t have to “pump and dump” when I got home. Saturday was shopping day. Claudia and I started out at the Kidsignment sale where I scored with the baby clothes. Two huge bags of 6-12 month baby girl clothes, including nice sweaters and dresses for $97. The little chicky should be more-or-less set for the winter now. The favorite outfit is this little bear outfit that is super warm for winter. After that, we all went to Best Buy and the mall to get some things that Patrick and Claudia were interested in buying. The Mexican taco truck followed and then they took Belén and I home because she really needed a true nap. The nap remained elusive, even at home, but it was nice to rest a bit as I have been feeling run down since that bug hit me on Wednesday. Meanwhile, they continued to Bandana Running Store to get fitted with running shoes and take advantage of the exchange rate to buy them at a “discount”. They also bought sunglasses and a few other random things including Taco Bell Seasoning for a co-worker of Patrick. That evening, we stopped by Andy’s parents house to meet some old friends of Andy’s family who were in town, then went to my parents for dinner. The highlight of the evening was after I was off the toilet and Belén was asleep and we went down into my parents fire-pit in their large backyard and we lit a mini bonfire. Patrick and Claudia were able to roast marshmallows and ate s’mores for the first time in their lives and they found them to be “quite fantastic.” We heard dozens of hilarious stories about their lives back in Germany and their travels through the US and Canada and got caught up as it has been almost two years since we had seen Claudia and over a year for Patrick. They were just so much fun to spend time and talk with. We were really sad to see them leave this morning and I honestly would not say that about many house guests. They are such great friends who are so much fun to be around that I really wish they lived closer so we could see them more often. Now I must go to sleep to get ready for Week Number Three back at work
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