Can't believe it's been so long since I posted pics. I'll add some in from O's 2nd birthday and other events, but I'll put them after the Halloween post, so look there soon!

Ophelia and Raleigh at Boo at the Zoo

Ophelia and Raleigh trick or treatin

Ophelia at her school's Halloween parade

Sam

WIth daddy the Wolfman and the Wormwood Scrubs Spooky Stag Night

Me attacked by birds...

Loco Luche Libre Lori

You must read this link to a NY Times article on travel to St. Louis. This guy basically did what I do on a weekly basis, hitting all of my regular favorite spots and neighborhoods. Incredible. I'm pretty sure I've been to every one of these places in the last month, if not the last week. Too cool.

Yet another reason why St. Louis is awesome, and I love to call it home. Keep hoping I don't have to leave...

Also, check out this website about why St. Louis is awesome.

Now that I'm off the Facebook and Twitter to focus on writing, I figure I'll update my blog a little more frequently with pics of Ophelia and other happenings. In the meantime, here's a blog post from Larissa, with some photos of O's visit to the farm!

The post also tells Larissa's good news (no cancer!) and not-so-good news (mild emphysema). We went down to ol' Belgrade to celebrate farm style!

Today I’m posting one of my favorite raw recipes: “grawnola.” I never eat granola because it usually has gluten in it. And, I’ve been drinking smoothies for breakfast for so long I hadn’t really thought about actually eating breakfast. But, I’m trying to get better about that too. Although my recent weight gain tells me maybe I should stick to smoothies. Anyway…this recipe is from Sarma Melngailis’ Raw Food Real World, and it is AMAZING. The orange zest and vanilla really add a flavor that’s better than any granola I’ve ever had. This recipe makes about 10 cups.

Cranberry Maple Granola

1 apple, cored and chopped 1 ½ cups date paste (I didn’t have this, so I blended real dates and a little bit of water, which I think is the same thing, and added some agave nectar to make up the difference) ½ cup maple syrup 2 Tbs lemon juice 2 Tbs orange zest 1 Tbs vanilla extract 1 tsp ground cinnamon 2 tsp sea salt ½ cup raw sunflower seeds, soaked 2 hours or more 2 cups raw almonds, soaked 4 hours or more 3 cups raw pecans, soaked 2 hours or more 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds, soaked 2 hours or more 1 cup dried cranberries I soaked all the nuts together for 4 hours. You need to soak the raw nuts for a few reasons. 1) It gets the bitter coating off of raw nuts that protects them, 2) Soaking leads to sprouting, and sprouted nuts have more nutrients, 3) The nuts soak up water, making them a bit easier to work with. It seems like a pain, but it’s really not a big deal. So, here’s what you do: In a food processor, grind the apple, date paste, maple syrup, lemon juice, orange zest, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and ¼ cup sunflower seeds. Grind until completely smooth. Or in my case, mostly smooth. Move this mixture to a mixing bowl. Add the remaining sunflower seeds, almonds, pecans, and pumpkin seeds to the food processor. Coarsely chop the nuts and seeds in a few quick pulses. Add them to the bowl with the apple mixture, add the cranberries and combine well. I forgot to add the cranberries at this point, so I ended up placing them on the mixture in the dehydrator. That didn’t really work, so I basically just had sprinkled dried cranberries in every bowl. Spread the granola mixture in a food dehydrator. I have a Nesco dehydrator, so there are a couple of thin mesh screens. I only had two of those, so I put the remaining mixture directly on the racks, but it turned out okay. The mixture is thick enough that it didn’t fall through the holes. Dehydrate at 115° for 6 to 8 hours. I set it before bed, and flip the granola in the morning when I wake up. After you flip the granola, continue dehydrating for another 8 – 12 hours, or until it’s crunchy. I think mine stayed in a total of about 20 hours. Break into pieces, and store in an airtight container in the fridge. You can keep it for several weeks that way. It looks like this: Now you need something to pour over your delicious granola, but you don’t want milk, right? I make almond milk like it’s going out of style. But I like my almond milk fancy. So I make Cinnamon Banana Almond Milk, from an amalgamation of recipes from Raw Food Real Word and Ani Phyo’s Raw Food Kitchen. Cinnamon Banana Almond Milk Makes about 6 cups 1 cup raw, soaked almonds (can be pre-soaked. I keep a container of pre-soaked and dehydrated almonds in the fridge) 5 cups water 1 vanilla bean (can substitute vanilla extract) ½ cup dates (or ¼ cup agave nectar) pinch of sea salt Blend all of these ingredients. My current blender is small, so after I do this, I have to transfer some milk out, and do this next part in two batches. But, when I get my newer, bigger, better Vita-Mix, I won’t have to do that! Next, add either 1 whole banana, or about a cup of frozen banana. Blend. Add cinnamon to taste. I like a LOT of cinnamon. Blend. Voila! Some people like to filter their nut milks through cheesecloth or nut milk bags to make it smooth. I don’t mind the bits of almond. I like the texture.

This will keep for about 4 -5 days in your fridge.

I like it with bananas, blueberries, and raspberries. But I didn’t have any raspberries when I took this photo:

And, now for gratuitous Ophelia photos…

Drinking my favorite green juice. She likes it, she really likes it!

Today’s recipe is raw chocolate-banana cream pie with coconut-pecan crust. I made this a few weeks ago, from a recipe in Better Nutrition magazine, the free magazine they give you at Natural Way in Webster. I fed a slice to 6 people, and still have almost half left in my freezer. It’s been taste-approved by non-raw, non-vegan food lovers. And it’s so rich that a small slice takes care of all chocolate cravings, without the sugar to make you want more.

So, technically this serves 12. I used HALF of the recipe and served almost that many. Make sure your avocados are ripe, but not brown at all. Mine were a little brown and I used them anyway, but you can kind of taste that. CRUST: 1 cup raw pecans ½ cup soft Medjool dates, pitted and coarsely chopped 1 cup plus 2 Tbs unsweetened coconut flakes ¼ cup raw cacao nibs

FILLING: 4 medium avocados, very ripe ½ cup raw, unfiltered honey (I didn’t have enough, so I subbed agave nectar for most of the honey) ¼ cup maple syrup 4 Tbs coconut oil, slightly softened 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup natural cocoa powder, raw if possible 2 medium bananas, very ripe 16 raw pecan halves

1. Lightly coat bottom and sides of 8-inch glass pie pan with coconut oil. Set aside. I only had a 9.5 inch pie pan, and was able to fill it with half the recipe by spreading the crust pretty thin. It just didn’t go up the sides of the pan much. 2. To make crust: combine pecans, dates, and 1 cup coconut flakes in blender; process until mixture is crumbly. Add half of cacao nibs, and pulse until mixture starts to form ball. Press mixture into pie pan to form crust, and place in freezer to chill. 3. To make filling: Halve avocados, remove pit, and scoop out flesh. Combine avocado flesh, honey, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla, cocoa powder, and bananas in food processor. Process until very smooth and creamy, occasionally scraping sides of food processor with rubber spatula; add up to 1/3 cup warm water 1 Tbs at a time, if necessary, to thin. 4. Transfer filling to crust, smoothing top. Scatter remaining 2 Tbs coconut flakes and cacao nibs on top of pie. Arrange pecan halves around outside of pie. Chill 1 hour (or until firm) before serving. I don’t go by recipes when it comes to things like sprinkling chocolate on something. So I probably put a lot more cacao nibs in the crust and on top. They’re delicious. Definitely let the pie chill for a bit, and store it in the freezer. Like I said, I’ve kept mine in the freezer for about two weeks and it’s still good. Here’re some pics:

Back in January, the same weekend as Mandy's shower, Patty had us over so her sister Julie could work her Shaklee magic. By the way, Vivix is RAD. I highly recommend it. But, it was a chance for Mary's girls and Maddie to hang out with Ophelia. I wish Viv and Isabella (and Mary, of course) lived here so they could see her more often. Anyway, all these gorgeous girls are blond as can be, and totally adorable. See for yourselves:

Tired, tired baby. Man, even though this is just two months ago, she seems so much older now! And, she looks EXACTLY like Sam in this photo. It’s a party when the pants come off and the snacks come out. Can I have some, Grandma Morrow? Gorgeous Viv Beautiful girls! Benny thinks the vitamins help him read.

Trying to get better about posting. I've got some O photos from the last two months, and I thought I'd start sharing some gluten-free, vegan, and raw recipes. I've slowly gone vegan over the last 6 months or so. I just wanted to eat healthier, and was inspired by several old longtime-vegan friends I saw recently who either hadn't aged a bit, or aged really beautifully. Over the years I've really cut out a lot of processed and refined foods that just don't make any sense to eat. This was just the next step.

Since I can't have gluten, that makes vegan a little harder. I don't really eat soy because it isn't good for people with thyroid problems (and it's super GMO'd), and what's left? Fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, chocolate, and coffee. Oh, and tortilla chips. I will never give up tortilla chips. I figured I'd try to eat as much raw food as I can. So, here I am, sharing some of the amazing recipes I've found over the last few months.

I'm thinking I'll make you read the recipes before getting to the cute kid photos, 'cause I'm mean like that.

Today's recipe is for a really great green juice I've been making. I found the concoction on The Lunchbox Bunch, a fantastic vegan food blog that features pretty simple food recipes and the best food photos I've seen around.

She has a Green Juicing 101 blog that you can find here.

I've tried a few of the juices, but so far this is my favorite:

Sweet Garden Greens

vegan, serves two --> I drink it all myself, personally.

3-4 ounces green chard juice

*About 3 medium leaves

1 extra large bosc pear OR 1 1/2 medium pears

1 orange, peeled

1 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled

1 lime, peeled

Directions:

1. Wash your ingredients well.

2. Peel the rind off your lime and orange - discard. Slice your fruit.

3. Juice your chad greens, orange, lime, pear and ginger.

4. Serve immediately.

My Sweet Garden Greens Juice:

I don't get the "buzz" that people talk about getting from drinking green juices, but it makes me feel really good, hydrated (a.k.a. makes me pee a lot), and I actually crave these now.

I've also been saving the pulp from my juicing and making cookies out of it. Yes, that's right, cookies. I took the pulp from this juice and stuck it in the food processor just to mince some of the bigger chunks of pear and greens. In a bowl I mixed it with some raw almond butter, almond meal, and agave nectar. I didn't measure any of it, but just went by the feel. Once it's mixed up really well and seems like really fibrous "dough," take hunks of it and make flat cookie shapes. Put them in the dehydrator at 115 degrees for about 12 hours.

With the ginger and lime from the juice, these came out pretty tangy and good! I took some to work and tried them out on guinea pigs. Everyone who tried one liked it, and one co-worker who is a diabetic said that if I got the recipe just right and added some more protein, he'd eat it as an energy/protein bar. So now I've been saving up juice pulp to do just that. I'll let you know how it goes.

And now for photos!

Today's photos are from my dear friend Mandy's baby shower in early January. Her baby girl is due in April. She came in from Texas, her sister came in from NYC, and others (like Mary) came from KC and beyond. We had a great time at her mom's house, and the spread was ridiculous. I made gluten-free, vegan, no refined sugar cupcakes. I'll share that recipe one of these days.

Mandy and her momma

Patty and Ophelia

Sweet sisters!

More sweet sisters! But I think they're actually conspiring about something...

Proud future grandma and impeccable host

Milk junky

“Rustic with angels” theme

The full Flickr photostream is here.

This fight isn't over.

I sent the following letter to Claire McCaskill, Kit Bond, and Russ Carnahan. Please send this letter to your representatives. You can click on the names above to send to Missouri reps. Feel free to copy and paste this language, although if you are not a member of the American Public Health Association, you will need to change the first line.

We can still make this happen. Don't let the people that represent you get scared. Tell them they can still fight.

"As a constituent and American Public Health Association (APHA) advocate, I write to urge you to ensure that Congress sends comprehensive health reform legislation to the president in the coming weeks.

Congress has come further than ever before to passing comprehensive and affordable health reform legislation with an emphasis on changing from a system that focuses on treating the sick to one that focuses on keeping people healthy. We must expand affordable health insurance coverage to those who are uninsured, provide funding for public health and prevention activities, implement much needed insurance and coverage reforms, strengthen the Medicare system and enhance the health care and public health workforce. While the political dynamics of passing a bill may be challenging, we cannot allow politics to derail the much needed reform the American people need and deserve.

The problems with our system that need to be addressed are only getting worse: the uninsured still die prematurely at unacceptable rates by the thousands; wellness and preventive care is often available too late; the economics of the current system still do not work for individuals, business or government; the value we get for the cost is highly variable. As each day passes and more people lose their job and access to employee-sponsored health care, the problems and stresses on the health system will only get worse.

Congress cannot afford to wait any longer to pass comprehensive affordable health reform legislation.

The fight isn't over. Please pass health reform now!

Thank you for your attention to my request. I will be watching Congress closely in the coming days and weeks and I look forward to hearing your position."

Sincerely,

Katherine Eddens, MPH

Doctoral Student

George Warren Brown School of Social Work and Institute of Public Health

Washington University in St. Louis

I'm posting this email from my dad. We're really proud of my nephew Jeff, and my cousin Bryan and everyone who is serving right now. In addition to the internet being wonderful for being able to see what's happening in real time, it's also great because I get to see constant updates on Facebook from Jeff out of Afghanistan. It helps us all to know that he's safe and keeping his wicked sense of humor...

On this Veterans day we should honor, remember and pray for those vets who gave their service, their health or their lives to provide the freedoms we enjoy. We should also honor and pray for those who are presently serving our country. Here are some pictures of our grandson Jeff who is serving in Afganistan which were taken by an embedded reporter from Yahoo's picture site. Isn't the internet wonderful? This is the first war where we get personalized images the same day they are taken. Jeff is with the 3/509th PIR (Parachute Infantry Regiment), normally based at Ft.Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, but they are now operating out of FOB Tillman in Afganistan, about 3 kilometers from the Pakistan border. Jerry U.S. Army medic SPC Jeffery Wasser of 3/509 Infantry 4BDE25ID Task Force Geronimo sits during a patrol in Patika province November 10, 2009.REUTERS/Bruno Domingos (AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT MILITARY)

U.S. Army medic SPC Jeffery Wasser of 3/509 Infantry 4BDE25ID Task Force Geronimo jokes with Afghan children during a patrol at Patika province, Afghanistan, November 10, 2009.REUTERS/Bruno Domingos (AFGHANISTAN POLITICS MILITARY

U.S. Army medic SPC Jeffery Wasser of 3/509 infantary 4BDE25ID Task Force Geronimo fires during a training session at FOB Tillman, Afghanistan, November 11, 2009 REUTERS/Bruno Domingos (AFGHANISTAN MILITARY CONFLICT)

It looks like Blogger is making my photos look crappy, but you'll get the gist. These first photos are from Ophelia's day care. She had on her school-appropriate costume: Piglet.

Ophelia's primary caretaker, Melissa, and Henry. Her two best friends at day care!

Ophelia as Piglet and me as House. You can't see my cane or bottle of Vicodin.

Or my surly attitude.

The administration dressed up as the Brown Bear book.

And now, the not-school-appropriate REAL Halloween costumes:

Lois and Stewie Griffin. Ophelia is in character, hating me. She was terrified of me all night.

Victory shall be mine!!

Sam is The Good, from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Raleigh makes the most adorable train!

Jenny as a witch doctor and Mariah as Mother Nature.

Yes, I'm lazy, tired, and have been neglecting the blog. But I hate to deprive Ophelia's fans from photos. She has become such a little person. It's amazing. So here are some pics from my new awesomely amazing camera. This first batch is from a trip down to the Rook's farm Labor Day weekend. I tried to give the animals the right names, but correct me if I'm wrong, Larissa...

Jason and Samson

Jason's daughter Amber

Sam, O, and either Lil' Ann or Jeliza Rose

Dogs and pigs, living together...it'll be anarchy.

The lady of the land, Larissa

Herschel, perhaps?

Patrik, I believe...

Audrey givin' Rza some love

Is it sad that I already don't remember what I did yesterday? I do remember that I edited a paper that's poised for submission, worked on area statement-related stuff, prepared a crockpot dinner in the morning, and took my poor sick child to the doctor. Yes, she's infected. Yes, she's on antibiotics. At least she made it through 13 months of her life without them. And I tried to wait it out, but I got guilted by both the doctor and the nurse, so I guess I should have brought her in sooner.

I might have to give up these posts (sorry Jean!). I should have started them back in May, when I REALLY procrastinated. And I need to turn in a draft of my area statement by December, so I really, truly, have got to get crackin'! But, soon I'll have to dedicate more than Mondays to writing, so there may be much more opportunity for procrastination...

Well, I actually worked on my dissertation. But only for a few hours! I read my "Area Statement Process Guidelines," which, to my surprise, was only 3 pages long, but with many pages of helpful examples. I worked on some questions for a survey that will give me data for my dissertation, and when I got frustrated, I went to Target (of course) and bought O a new push toy and some kitty litter.

No, I don't have a cat.

I just had my second article accepted for publication, in a high impact journal no less! I'll post the link when it's available. Yay! This makes up for the total dejected-ness I felt after being recently rejected.

All photographs by my dad, aka Grandpa. Here, the adventure begins...

wait for it...

wait for it...

There it is! Icing hand in the hair.

Grandma Meyer and the birthday girl

Grandma Eddens and the birthday girl

Auntie Stephanie with the birthday girl

Steph's husband (my bro-in-law) Ray

My brother H.R., aka The Godfather...

...and Vicki, my sis-in-law.

My sis, Pam. Could you tell?

My nephew Jeff...

...his wife Brenda...

...their girls Brianna...

...and Baylee...

...and the motorcycle Jeff bought while home on leave from Afghanistan.

My nieces Mary and Jane

Pam and Peter

Pam and Peter, again

Genevieve and my mom

Mary

Pam and her girls

Lana, Raleigh, Daanish, Tom

Jason and Casey

The spread in our dining room...

...and the toy spread in the family room.

Sam and Daanish record for posterity

The backyard finally lets some grass grow

My dad got a kick out of my Rat Fink shirt.

Peter and Peter play washers. It wouldn't be a South City party without washers.

Brianna and Baylee play ball with Raleigh.

Casey and Lana monitor the children. Yeah, that includes Sam.

The proud papa.

Master of the Weber

I made this!

And the sad-looking white one is the gluten-free version. I ran out of time and energy and didn't spend as much time on the icing, if you couldn't tell...

Randomly ran into and had breakfast with Erik, which was totally awesome, found a new coffeeshop I like (particularly because the entire time I was there they played all of Nebraska, Greetings from Asbury Park and Born to Run), reviewed a manuscript for a journal that recently rejected one of mine (which is bull, if you ask me), prepared stuff for a work meeting I have tomorrow, and bought a baby gate for the top of the stairs. Oh, and I did actually work on some survey questions for my dissertation.

Hung out with somebody who is MUCH further along in her dissertation writing. Chapter 8 of 10 to be exact!

Okay, so I had to go to work yesterday, so it doesn't really count as a writing day. But if it were, I still would've hung out with Jean instead of working on my dissertation.

Good morning, world! I am 1 today!

My first breakfast as a 1 year old.

Mutt don't care how old I am. He's still eyeballin' my snacks.

I picked O up from day care and took her to lunch at Fitz's. She had a nasty rash that day and it was really muggy. So we took her to the City Garden that night, which she LOVED. She played in the fountains and swam in the waterfalls. But, I left my camera in the car.

At her 1 year check up Monday, they told me she's now 60th percentile for height and 30th percentile for weight. Long and lean like her daddy and grandma. The doc said she probably got those genes and they'll stick with her. Lucky babe! She weighs 19 lbs 13 ounces, and is 29 3/4 inches in length. She doesn't crawl, but she scoots around on her bottom, and covers a lot of ground fast that way. You gotta keep an eye on her!

I've got great photos from her BBQ on Saturday, but they're big and I need to re-size them, and now I'm going to bed. Look for adorable cake-in-face photos and video soon...

Every Monday, my mother comes over and watches Ophelia so I can work on my dissertation. More precisely, my area statement, but that's just a bunch of mumbo jumbo, so saying dissertation is fine. Yet every Monday seems to come and go without too much accomplished. Well, at least without too much writing accomplished. So I decided to start a weekly blog post to tell you all what I do on Mondays instead of working on my dissertation. Plus, at least then I will have written something, right? And thus it begins...

#1: wandered aimlessly around Target and purchased a new pair of black One Stars, a first-aid kit, and a notebook. To get the creative juices flowing, you know?

I finally got around to posting some video of Ophelia on You Tube. I haven't posted video so far because I had all these ones that I wanted to edit first but, meh, here's some relatively recent stuff that's pretty funny and cute sans editing. At least for those of you who haven't gotten to be around O much, you can see a bit of her personality and charm...

Baby Girl's first birthday approaches. I can't believe it's here already. This year has been a whirlwind of drool, poop, squeals, smiles and tears. But most importantly, it's been the year I felt my heart burst on a regular basis with every magical thing my beautiful, amazing, intelligent, loving girl did and does. She gives the best headbutt hugs in the world, and she can't contain her absolute delight at anything she loves -- doggies, teddy bears, daddy, other little kids -- or hates, like almost falling or having dog food taken away from her. She's amazing beyond words, and has exceeded any possible expectations I could have had for a happy, healthy baby. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Mac and cheese is AWESOME!!

A rare mad moment...Okay, they aren't THAT rare...

"Da?" roughly translates to: "What's that grandma?"

Walking is AWESOME!!

O lets her freak flag fly at Pride Fest in Tower Grove Park

Daddy, why is that man wearing hot pants?

Toys are AWESOME!! Everything ever is AWESOME!!

Just before the tri, we were in Reno. I had to attend and present at a conference (which went very well), so we thought we'd make it a mini-vacation. Bad idea.

It rained every single day we were there, except the day we drove to the airport. We planned on doing some hiking in Tahoe, renting bikes, running the streets of Reno...No. We spent a week inside a casino, where the blinking and buzzing and dinging numb your brain and you can never tell whether it's night or day.

We tried going out to the pool one day, but it rained. We went to Harrah's automobile museum, where they had tons of awesome cars and a pretty cool Ed Roth/Rat Fink exhibit. I got a sweet t-shirt. Ophelia talked to EVERY car we looked at. She's truly an Eddens and a Meyer. I fell in love the grills. Somethin' about those round light eyes and shiny metal mouths.

Mostly, when I wasn't at the conference, we spent our time at Circus Circus playing video games, which was actually totally fun. You can only gamble so much when you don't want to spend money and can't take a baby on the gaming floor, so House of Dead 4, Fast and the Furious and good ol' SkeeBall satisfied our need for a thrill. We also got to see Sam's sister Erin, who was in the process of moving from Tempe, AZ to Portland, OR. Pretty awesome. We don't get to visit with her much, and she and her friend Bethany stayed a day with us, with Bethany's dog PJ stuffed in a doggie dufflebag and toted along.

I'm thinking we'll never go back to Reno, except perhaps to pass through to Lake Tahoe. Reno is pretty much an armpit. I did at least get some cute pics though...

Harrah's automobile museum

A few of my favorite car faces

Sam snapped these photos of the Ed Roth hot rods

Rain over Tahoe

Tuckered out

We were at the pool about 10 minutes and then...

Tuckered out redux

Look, the sun! Oh...we're on the way to the airport.

Plug it, Daddy!

Sam and I finished our first triathlon on Saturday, and our team raised over $104,000 for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. How's that for awesome!?!?

I did the 1000 yard swim in 24 minutes, which was a personal record for me. The fastest I swam it in the pool was 33 minutes, so the wetsuit makes a big difference. I did the 28 mile bike in 1:37 minutes. I was a little disappointed in my time. Technically, that would be an average of a little over 17 miles an hour, although my official race pace was 16.0 miles an hour. I did a good job of maintaining about 19-21 mph on the rolling highway hills, but those hills inside Innsbrook are pretty killer, and I crawled up some of them at 4-6 mph. I saw other people walking their bikes up hills, so at least I managed to stay on! I also had to stop at one point because I accidentally tore off my race number while shoving an empty goo packet into my jersey. That added a minute or so onto my time. But, I really felt good!

The run was a different story. I felt great coming into it, with the exception of one point where I thought I was gonna throw up on the bike. But as soon as I started running, I got hit with severe stomach and chest cramps. I felt like someone had taken a balloon and blown it up inside my body, and then proceeded to stab me repeatedly. When I got to the first mile marker, I stopped at the aid station completely convinced that I would throw up. Clearly the sports goos that I had had eaten on the bike to maintain energy had done a number on me. I drank a little water, took two electrolyte pills and pressed on. But the run course was very hilly, and I ended up walking most of it, with an average of over 14 minute miles. NOT good.

But, I felt great coming across the finish line, Sam and the team yelling my name. The run consisted of a loop that you ran twice, which was kind of a tease, because when you made the first loop you ran up to the finish line and turned around. When I came in to start the second loop Sam had already finished. His total time was 2 hours, 47 minutes. Mine was 3 hours, 43 minutes. That includes transition times. I took a little less than 5 minutes in both transitions, mostly because I took a second to kiss Ophelia, say hello to Lindsay and Jenny who were there watching O...and, it was so exciting to see Casey and Lana and Raleigh cheering me on as I ran up the hill from the swim!

This has been such a fantastic experience. The people on my team are really wonderful, and you know you'll find good people when you're doing this for a cause. At our pre-race pasta dinner, our LLS staff person had made giant posters of all of our honored teammates, including Hap and H.R., and posted them up with thank yous and motivational words. It was really cool.

I really can't recommend Team in Training enough. My sister Pam is training for a half-marathon now with TNT, and I think we should get a whole Eddens team together for an event next year. It's been so nice to spend this time with Sam. We're considering training for an Ironman or half-Iron, but training takes a lot of time, a lot of babysitting support, and I don't know if I can do it again while in school. But we're both doing two more tris this summer, at least. So come see us at The Big Shark New Town Triathlon in July, and the Lake St. Louis tri in August. I've posted a few photos for your entertainment!

Pre-tri jitters with the ladies

New docs Kevin and Marie, and our tri mentor Meggan

H.R. and Hap posters that our LLS staff person made. Cool!

Sam finishes sporting his TNT pride!

Post-race dip in the lake. Ophelia's first time swimming!

Lindsay, one of our very appreciated babysitters...I didn't get any pics of Jenny!

Alexis Y, Meggan, me and Melissa (also a new-ish mom)

Myself and Alexis W (another Wash U PhD student / triathlete!)

I realize it's been almost a month since I've posted. No worries, I've got plenty of adorable O photos to share.

It's been busy. Really, really, no-one-should-ever-be-this-busy busy. Between the end of the semester, tri training ramping up, one brief trip for a conference and one coming up in two weeks, and trying to get my uncle's house cleaned out, we haven't had a minute to spare. Training has been interrupted with life, and life has been interrupted with lots o' work.

Our first tri is in 3 weeks. I'm excited. Not only to do the tri, but to have my life back, my time with my daughter back, and my friends back. And I'm tired of asking people to babysit. We'll still be training for two more tris, but at least we can be more flexible with our schedules.

I've completed my last semester of coursework, forever. THAT is the sigh of relief. But I'm already biting my fingers thinking of the work that has to be done this summer. I've got to write my area statement, which is generally about 120 pages of lit review in my subject area. And, I'm still trying to manage a massive 5-year research study in about 20 hours a week. It's all pretty overwhelming.

But, I've got the most delightful girl in the world to brighten up each and every day. She's trying to walk now, and getting better at standing. She still doesn't have any interest in crawling or scooting. She wants to be on her feet. She points and says "da" about everything. She babbles incessantly, and screeches with glee and fury. She's eating all sorts of delicious foods, but blueberries, raspberries and yogurt melts are her faves. At her 9 month appointment, she was 80th percentile for length and 40th for weight, so she's getting leaner as she stays long. I can't wait to NOT have to come home from work, see her for 1o minutes and then turn around and leave her. Although more work to be done means she'll be gone another day a week now, and that makes me sad. I miss her whenever I'm away, but sometimes I'm too tired to really enjoy her when I'm around. Working's a drag, man!

But, I bet y'all miss seeing her even more! So without further ado...

Ophelia terrorizes Raleigh's cat

Raleigh and O, waxing poetic about toasted oats

Those glasses lasted about 30 seconds.

Mother's Day photos with daddy

Trivia night was awesome. We raised $2,133 for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and I'm pretty sure most everyone had a blast. Now I'm thinking we're gonna do this every year. We had an eclectic crowd, from Sam's friends and family, mine and Hap's friends and family, to MSW students, my PhD cohort, a bachelorette party, WU physicians and faculty...a packed and rowdy crowd! Thanks again, everyone, for making it such a great night. The MC, Matt Kull was a riot. I highly recommend him for your trivia nights. Or maybe just to hang out with you and make funny comments as you performing your activites of daily living...

Now Sam and I really need to get back on the training. We've been a little undisciplined the last few weeks, and I can feel it. But, the semester's over in two weeks, and I can focus again on work and training. Anyhoo...here are some photos from the night!

MC Matt

Sam the bartender

Team Voltron!

International Team of Trivia

The Morrow table

Sam's family and Hap's friends (the second table here)

tied for second place -- The Long Hairs team!

These are the smiles of winning first place...My family!

The S.P.s, tied for second

Team Castro's Lunchbox

The bachelorette party!

Ringing the Easter Bunny bell at Aunt Mary Ann's,

while Uncle (and godfather) H.R. and Daddy look on

The Schroeder - Us Clan

Finding an egg at Grandma M's

Several VERY cute things happened this weekend:

I put Baby Girl to bed Friday night, and as I was walking out the door saying "goodnight, Ophelia" I got a two-handed goodnight wave accompanied by a heart-melting smile...

As I was putting her to bed Saturday night and I was waving goodnight to the animals and quilts on her walls (as I always do), she waved goodnight to Jenny's quilt...

As she was SCREAMING Sunday night at 4am (not cute), Mutt had gone into her room and sat on her rug, staring at the crib making sure she was okay...

Most of the time, I just love living in this home with all these wonderful creatures. That even includes Sam. And Chewy. I guess.

And I'm not sure what to make of these:

Uncle Hap passed away quietly Saturday morning, my dad and mom at his side. He fought chronic lymphocytic leukemia for years, and it was finally beyond treatment.

Saturday, we did a practice swim in our wetsuits at Innsbrook and a 24 mile bike ride. The water was FREEZING, but we dedicated the practice to Hap, and yelled out his name with our "Go Team!" before we ran, screaming, into the frigid lake. One of my teammates dubbed a particularly dastardly hill "Hap's Hill," because he said there was no way he was gonna give up trying to get up it. Hap's death provided motivation for all of us that day, and continues to do so. It reminds all of us on the team of why we're doing this -- to provide research dollars and patient support services to people like Hap, and my brother, and my grandmother.

Let me take this time to remind everyone reading: get screened for cancer, and engage in preventive behaviors like eating a healthy diet, exercising, and protecting your skin (yeah, go ahead and laugh, I know I'm not the best with this one). One of the reasons I'm happy to be raising money for LLS is that, while my career focuses on cancer prevention and screening, I can only promote cancers that are preventable and for which there are screenings. There is very little prevention or screening behavior for blood and lymph cancers. BUT, get a regular checkup, and have the doctor do routine blood work and check your lymph nodes.

Please, do breast self-exams and get mammograms and Pap tests regularly, vaccinate yourselves or your daughters and grandaughters with the HPV vaccine to help prevent cervical cancer, get colonoscopies, talk to your doctor about prostate screening, and, to prevent not just cancer but heart disease and stroke as well -- QUIT SMOKING and don't let people smoke in your homes and cars. If you can't afford a doctor, there are programs in Missouri to get every one of these screenings for free.

You can find cancer screening recommendations (how often to do these things) here.

That's my public health soap box for the day. :) Stay healthy so you can live and love longer and better, and do the things you enjoy for as long as you can.

I know I've been slackin' on the photo posts. You may not believe this, but my life is pretty crazy busy at the moment. But it's no excuse for failing to appease my daughter's fans. So here you go!

Cool milestones of note: playing patty-cake, clapping, waving goodbye, standing while leaning on something, saying "da-da" (although she doesn't actually mean daddy, it's still really cute), eating finger foods, talking incessantly, squealing and screaming with delight. Awesomeness!

Multitasking

Chewy helps Daddy give me a bath

Our secret to a strong, lean baby? Clif Bars!

Please, Papa, tell me more about the rice cake pixies!

Sam and I are hosting a trivia night fundrasier for Team in Training. There'll be a raffle for a Simple 7 Cruiser, a 50/50 raffle, and lots of awesome silent auction items. I'll post the silent auction items when I have all of them together. Please come! Email me if you'd like to participate.

Ophelia and I went to the park the other day for the first time in a while. It was a beautiful day. Baby Girl LOVED being outside, and played with lots of leaves and sticks and grabbed handfuls of dirt. It was awesome.

And today I gave her a teething biscuit for the first time. I think she's gonna be a sugar addict like her parents. She freaked out and demolished the thing, bits of biscuit shrapnel and schmears all over her clothes, her face, her hands, the table.

Thanks to all of your support, I have exceeded my fundraising goal for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society triathlon. Sam still needs LOTS of support though, so don't be afraid to give to him!

They're ordering our wetsuits today, which is pretty cool. We'll get to use them at the end of the month at a practice swim at Innsbrook.

Training week 5 went like this:

Monday, 3/2: Sam 5 mile run in 42:44, Kate off

Tuesday, 3/3: off

Wednesday, 3/4: Kate 3.4 mile run, Sam 6 mile run

Thursday, 3/5: Kate 1200m swim, Sam 1300m

Friday, 3/6: Kate 2 mile walk in the park with O, Sam 7.5 mile bike

Saturday, 3/7: Kate 16 mile bike on Riverfront Trail, Sam off

Sunday, 3/8: Sam 2300m swim, Kate got her birthday wish -- to sleep

Training is going good. This is a rest week, so the work isn't as tough, and honestly, I had a busy week at work and skipped a few workouts, and Sam was sick, so he missed some as well. But, so far, here's how it's gone:

Sunday, 2/15: swam 900 meters

Monday, 2/16: Sam ran 5 miles, I took the day off

Tuesday, 2/17: swam 1000 meters -- Sam - 25 m in 20 sec, Kate - 25m in 28 sec

Wednesday, 2/18: Sam ran 5 miles, Kate ran 5k

Thursday, 2/19: day off

Friday, 2/20: Kate cycled 30 min indoors, Sam 3 mile bike outside

Saturday, 2/21: Kate cycled 28 miles in 80 minutes inside, Sam biked 7 miles outside

Sunday, 2/22: Kate swam 1700m, Sam swam 1800m

Monday, 2/23: off day

Tuesday, 2/24: Kate swam 1000m, Sam was puking

Wednesday, 2/25: off day

Thursday, 2/26: off day

Friday, 2/27: off day...again...good thing it's a rest week!

Saturday, 2/28: Kate -- ran 42 minutes on the hilly Queeny Park trails

Sunday, 3/1: Both swam 1800m -- the toughest swim so far!!

Now we start a pretty intense build-up week, so I'm looking forward to the challenge. Sort of.

It was great to come home from a tough workout this morning and see that two more people had donated. Thank you ALL for your support!! I've raised almost $2000 (I have some checks at home to send in, so they aren't reflected on the website yet). Sam's still struggling, but we plan on having a trivia night/silent auction in early April, so that should help.

Thanks again, everyone!

O loves looking at stuff upside-down. She prefers to be upside-down, but can only tolerate so much upside-down-ness before her head turns red and she spits up. I captured some topsy turvy time with my laptop camera.

So we've completed one complete week of training each, and here's what we've done so far:

Sam started before me, so he's done (his off day is Thursday):

Wednesday, 2/4: 2 mile run

Saturday, 2/7: 3.5 mile run

Sunday, 2/8: 1.5 hour swim practice

Monday, 2/9: 3.2 mile run

Tuesday, 2/10: 1 mile swim

Wednesday, 2/11: 3.6 mile run

Saturday, 2/14: 3.5 mile run

So far, I've done (my off day is Monday):

Saturday, 2/7: 11 mile cycle

Sunday, 2/8: 1.5 hour swim practice

Tuesday, 2/10: 1 mile swim

Wednesday, 2/11: 2.7 mile run

Thursday and Friday: days off to try to beat my cold. Didn't work.

Saturday, 2/14: 4 mile run

Here's a photo of the team, on the first cycling day. Sam was at work.

We joined the St. Louis Triathlon Club. We're planning on doing the New Town Triathlon in July as well, as long as we continue liking what we're doing. We're both stoked to be doing this. Not only does it hold us accountable for the amount and type of exercise we're doing, but we're meeting people we never would have met before, venturing into areas we never would (like West County!) and we actually get to spend time together, which we never had before. Or at least our time spent together was on the couch. Not to mention, we never lose sight of the cause. This is all to contribute to the fight against cancer. If our entire team reaches our respective fundraising goals, we will contribute $85,000 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

So please be sure to contribute to the cause! And cheer us on!!

I babysat Raleigh the other day. Raleigh is probably Ophelia's only small friend. He's 10 months older, but they've been hanging out since she was born. Well, at least their moms have.

I snapped these with my camera phone because it was just too cute watching them. O just kept smiling at Raleigh, trying to grab him, and cooing at him. Poor Raleigh had just woken up, and he kept giving the "done" sign to Ophelia! After a few minutes though, he was showing her how to play with the octopus, and giving her books and stuff to chew on. It was so sweet. BFFs indeed.

My friends Jamie and Stephanie had their baby on Thursday morning. She weighed in at a whopping 8lbs, 15oz and measured 22 inches long. She's beautiful!! Congratulations, ladies!!

Just returned from Carefree, Arizona, where I was presenting a poster at the American Association for Cancer Research's Science of Health Disparities conference. Yes, that's a mouthful.

We stayed in Carefree, about 30 miles outside of Phoenix. Ophelia came along, as well as Sam's mom, and we got to visit lots with my sis-in-law Erin who lives in Tempe.

I totally sucked at picture taking this trip. I forgot my camera often, but took a few photos with my phone, which I just figured out how to email to myself. We'll see how much that cost me...

Ophelia was great to travel with. We are so lucky to have such a ridiculously happy baby. But what was even better was her reaction when we got home. She was screaming with excitement when she saw the dogs, and we walked around the house as she cooed and talked to everything she had missed, including the shower curtain and her clothes. What can I say? She's easily amused, just like her mother. When Sam got home from work she was squealing and squeaking for an hour. Totally cool.

This was someone's sweet car at the place we ate breakfast.

Uh, this was O's sweet breakfast -- a menu. She's really into paper right now.

Aunt Erin and O -- so kindly letting me eat while I drooled over Erin's chocolate chip pancakes. Stupid gluten.

Grandma Cathy and O outside Erin's house.

"Yes, I'm stuck on the corner of Bloody Basin Road and Tranquil Trail. Which way would you suggest I go?" OR "My address? Sure, it's 134 Bloody Basin Road...yes..bloody...B-L-O-O..."

OR in the words of Liz Lemon, "I want to go to there!"

For some reason Erin's neighbor collects these Mark VIIIs, or whatever they are. No, not old Lincoln Mark Vs, which would be pretty cool and pimpin', but 90s Lincolns. This is ridiculous. This is a picture of four of the six that were sitting there.

Oh yeah! Best part of the trip (outside of seeing Erin, of course...) was that the rental car guy sweet talked me into a great deal: If I was a second driver on the car (for an extra $9/day), he'd upgrade us to a Dodge Charger for the same price as a Chevy Aveo. Please, who wouldn't? I've been wanting a Charger so bad (I really want an original Challenger, but I can keep dreamin') so I was STOKED to drive it. Super quiet, super fast. I only got it up to 80 since everyone in Arizona drives like an asshole. Sorry, it's true. But my favorite was when I punched the gas at one point and startled Ophelia...Her little arms went up above her head and her eyes got real big. I wasn't going fast, I swear. Oh, it was awesome. Ask my mother-in-law. I meant to take a picture of me and O with the car but forgot. Oh well. The sweet gunmetal gray baby will have to live in my memory...

Sam and I are competing in a triathlon with Team in Training to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We're doing this to get fit, to meet the challenge of completing a triathlon (1000 meter swim -- almost a mile, 28 mile bike, 6 mile run), and to raise money for a good cause.

Some of you know that my Uncle Hap is fighting chronic lymphocytic leukemia right now, my brother H.R. defeated Hodgkin's lymphoma about 15 years ago, and my Dad's (and Uncle Hap's) mother passed away from blood cancer. We've had leukemia and lymphoma affect three generations of our family. Let's stop it from attacking a fourth.

You can donate online at my personal Team in Training site.

Sam's site will be online tomorrow, and I'll put a link up. I'll also be sending out an email as well as snail mail, so you'll be reminded in many ways! Know that every dollar counts, so please donate anything that you can. We'll also take offers of babysitting, as we have to train 6 days a week. More details to come.

Nina would be proud.

It truly is a new dawn, a new day...

And this old world

is a new world

And a bold world

For me

And I'm feeling good.

RIP Ron Asheton, who put the fun in Funhouse, one of my all-time favorite albums. So much so, that when the complete Funhouse sessions boxset came out in 2001, I could listen to an entire CD of versions of "Loose."

Ahh, perfection.

My BFF Patty is gettin' mawied!

Matt proposed to her at the site of their second date in Rocheport, MO last week. This photo is right after the fact.

"Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam...And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva..."

Congratulations. You cannot know how happy I am for you both to have found each other. May neither of you ever wake each other up in the middle of the night by shining a flashlight in the other's eye.

It has become a New Year's Eve tradition for us to have a super-informal, BYO everything get-together amongst a small group of friends. We play Apples to Apples (and I kick ass, hands down. well, at least this year) and eat a lot of sugar. Last time we toasted chicken legs, this time it was pork.

But the best part is the Christmas tree burning. Anyone who wants to bring their tree does, and we burn them in the back yard. Yes, in the middle of the City. Everyone else shoots guns, and this doesn't involve stray bullets...

Dry pine + gasoline = AWESOMENESS.

After burning our trees, Sam and Tom trolled the alleys looking for more. And found more. Next year we're buying every tree on clearance just to have more fire.

I'm a little down. I always get bummed out after something really exciting is over, and this year has been exciting, indeed. I was also uber-stressed about doing the holidays with Ophelia after she had just gotten into a napping and sleeping schedule, and while she's teething and crabby. And I paid the price for it. But, now things can get back to normal, and she doesn't care. It's just that the only thing in the world that can really just kill a mom is feeling like you can't make your baby happy.

I'm also not looking forward to going back to work and school, and I have some work I need to get done before those things begin again in the next week or two.

But, we've had a wonderful year, and I couldn't be more grateful for our beautiful daughter, our wonderful family and friends, our home, our jobs, and the opportunities we've been given. I think '09 is gonna be a good one too.

Anyway, many exciting moments of the last week or so to share through photos:

Ophelia is starting to eat rice cereal and LOVES it. Tonight she kept grabbing the spoon and shoving it in her mouth. These photos are from her very first feeding!

These photos are from Christmas morning, and are probably my favorite photos of her yet. I absolutely refuse to use a flash (which is why so many of my photos are dark. And blurry. Though I like to think of them as "arty." :) ) but here the light was good. I priced some of the fancy digital SLR cameras at Best Buy this week but they are waaaaay out of my price league. I'd love to have one so that I could manually focus and take better photos without the flash. But I digress... Look how adorable she is!!!!

Lana made her a bunch of totally cool leg warmers from socks, and these snowflake ones are my favorites. She wore them three days in a row. Slept in 'em once too.

These are just some cute (and dark) photos of Sam and O:

A first family Christmas self-portrait

Mutt tires of Christmas

Highlight of our week: O's Aunt Erin is in town!

Erin and Colleen getting their O fix

A totally rad Christmas gift from my mom was The Peekaru, a fleecy vest that goes over a baby carrier so I can keep O and I warm while we're outside. Bask in its awesomeness! Ophelia loved it, we were both toasty, and we got lots of attention on our walk to Bread Co.

And there ain't nuthin' cuter than a naked baby. I do have some with her toes in her mouth but they're from a little too revealing angle for the blogosphere...Maybe I'll crop them and post later.

I also haven't had a chance to talk about all the pork we have. We have lots of pork. A whole pig of pork, actually. This is one attempt to reduce our carbon footprint, to know the health and well-being of our food from cradle to our mouths, to buy locally, and to save money. But rather than me try to describe the how and why, I'll send you to Larissa's post about the hog harvest. She and Jason are our friends and local farmers, who raised Dagmar and Cocoa from piglet to plate. It's a darn good thing they're doin', and if it weren't for them, it would have been difficult for us to be so close to our meat. Our (half) cow comes next, in a few weeks. That will be a pro job, however. If this sounds at all appealing to you, read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. And thanks to Lindsay for not shutting up about that book when she first read it. :)

Prepping for the holidays. I'm in crafting mode, trying to get stuff done before tomorrow. Hmmm. I've got almost every present finished, but I was hoping to knit myself, Sam and O stockings before Christmas was upon us. I'm about halfway done with Sam's and that's it.

Looking forward to time together as a family. The week off between Christmas and New Year's is the one time we actually get a vacation together. This year, we're doing nothing, and I can't wait.

Ophelia is teething like crazy. Any day now, any day...

I'm working on editing some videos to post. But for now, some pics:

Teef!

Our first real tree! It smells awesome. And both Sam and I had a lot of ornaments from our childhood. I have some from my mom and dad's families, and have started a collection for our own little family.

O is lying on a beautiful quilt made by the fabulous Jenny from Alaska (code name "Denali," although I keep forgetting to call her that)

The Christmas show was great fun. Everyone was fabulous. I couldn't think of better people to work with in this town, nor a better cause. It was very cool to hear people I've never heard before, from voice to bass to fiddle. It reaffirms my faith in local music...

And, thanks to John Wendland and everyone for getting me back on stage after a 4-year absence. I miss it terribly! It really felt great, after the nerves began to subside...

I'll leave the critique to the professionals and direct you to Roy Kasten's post with photos and video on KDHX's blog.