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Old McDonald

It is a gorgeous day today and I feel fantastic. No sinus pain and full of energy. Thank goodness because yesterday I woke up with a killer sinus headache, and the allergy meds, Tylenol and Advil were all useless. I was in so much pain that I ended up taking 2 of the oxycontin pills I was given for my c-section with Little A. They didn't even help! Happy Thanksgiving to me!

This brought me back to a terrible time in my life. I had intense headaches about 12 years ago that were chronic. I ended up seeing an ENT specialist, allergist and heachache specialist. I had a CAT scan and an MRI of my sinuses. The allergist thought I may just have "environmental" allergies to "big city substances" while the headache specialist felt they were really tension headaches. Basically, it was never really determined why I was having them. Fortunately, they went away eventually. I really hope they are not back.

Aside from feeling miserable yesterday, we had a pretty good long weekend. Saturday we went to Adam's former student's wedding. It was lovely and tasteful. Normally at weddings where we don't know a lot of people like this one, we've been seated with others who are roughly the same age who we may or may not have anything in common with. This time, we were seated at the table of professors. This included Adam's PhD dissertation supervisor and his mentor from his Masters degree with their respective wives. It also included a big name academic who Adam is familiar with, who was there with an exquisite Japanese woman at least 20 years his junior. The company, along with WAY too much wine, made for an interesting evening AND we got a night out to ourselves. The girls were with Adam's cousin in the afternoon and with Sherma in the evening and they had a fantastic time, they could have cared less that we were out so long.

Sunday was the lowlight of the weekend. Little A cried for "Melmo" throughout her entire first swim lesson with Adam and Big A refused to take a nap and had a huge meltdown in the afternoon just as we were trying to leave the house to do some shopping (swim instructor told parents each child should bring a toy into the pool next week so we went searching for an Elmo Little A could bring). I was also super hungover from drinking too much wine at the wedding.

Yesterday was a great day (although it would have been better if I hadn't been in so much pain). We had a morning playdate with friends that was lots of fun and then we took the girls to a Pumpkinfest at Downey's Family Farm (http://www.downeysfarm.com/). I never considered farms as an outing before (I just pictured walking through huge piles of cow manure), but Adam and I have discovered that they are the perfect place to take the girls on a beautiful autumn day. They have tons of play areas and activities for the kids and it's nice to get out of the city into some fresh air. Yesterday the girls watched a magic show and Big A won a free pony ride! Little A lived up to her "Pigpen" nickname. She was filthy when we got home and in desperate need of a bath!

Little A is in a good place right now. Although the Elmo thing is a bit out of control (she doesn't want to be seperated from him EVER and he is getting as filthy as she gets), it is very endearing. She is so loving and affectionate and happy most of the time. She is also such an oddball, character that she entertains us and makes us laugh. She and Big A are so cute together, their mutual adoration is so wonderful. It will make me so happy if they grow up having a close relationship with one another.

Exercise of the Week: Preacher Curl

I rarely see women doing the preacher curl at the gym. I don't understand why, it is such a great bicep exercise. I did it on Sunday and my arms are still sore today and it's Tuesday. I didn't even use a ton of weight, but I did 2 sets of 15 reps using good form.

You don't even need special gym equipment to do it, if you follow this link, it gives you instructions on how to do it with a stability ball http://www.ehow.com/how_6695632_do-preacher-curl-exercise-ball.html.

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