28 July 2009

Where's Spot?

This is one of Ryan's favorite books. It's very simple but he likes being able to pull the tags to "look for Spot" the dog. On one page it asks "Is he in the closet?" and when you open the closet doors there is a monkey hanging from the bar eating a banana. Ryan always says "No, it's a monkey eating banas." Then last night as we read the book he replied "No, it's a monkey eating a "banana." What??? I stopped and asked him again what the monkey was eating. " A banana mommy."

It seems so trivial. So insignificant. Like the first time he pronounced motorcycle correctly instead of his usual "mota-guy-gle". But for as many times as I indiscreetly try to correct his pronunciation of words, sentence structure or verb tense, I will miss the way he said "bana" and "motaguygle". One more step to growing up and yet still so many years left.

Now if we could just get him to say his "l's" correctly. Well maybe I'll hold off on that right now, I enjoy hearing "Mommy, I wub you so much."

25 July 2009

1 week in the new house

And I'm exhausted! I've barely trained in the last 3 weeks. And when I say barely I mean maybe 2-3 times each week, being a quick run or short ride. But I don't mind, you know why???? Because I'm in my dream house now!!!! I can't believe it. I'm actually glad the other house we were building fell through because now we're in a house with a similar floor plan, more square footage, a bigger lot and a neighborhood pool. We're so lucky. I can't stop smiling. We've only been here a week, there are still boxes and totes to be unpacked, pictures still need to be hung and new bed linens to be bought but I feel like we've been here forever and this is where we belong.

I'll post pictures later, but now I have to finish getting ready for our first party in the new house...Ryan's 3 year birthday party is tomorrow.

11 July 2009

Longest move in history

So the deal was supposed to be done on Wednesday the 15th, but these people buying our house apparently have been looking at it since February and have been driving by like 3 times a week since we signed the contract and they have now moved closing up to Tuesday. That means Tim and I sign paper work on Monday to avoid the aggravating couple which means that we have to be out of the house tomorrow. What's that you ask...when do we close on the new house...oh not till the 17th. Yes that's right, we're homeless for a week. Well not really, we're staying with my parents in a 1600 sq ft. house with 4 adults, 2 toddlers and one noisy miniature schnauzer. Not to mention all our boxed up stuff that couldn't fit in the POD.

So here it is:
House on the market 9 months.
Packing house up - 1 month now.
Packing POD - 3 days
Packing remainder of house and transporting to parents house 3 days
Cleaning old house - 2 days
In Limbo - 7 days
Unpacking POD and items from parent's house - 3 days most likely
Settling in and getting everything unpacked - at least a week.

This has got to be the longest move ever.

07 July 2009

Miracle Worker

So my legs have been absolutely dead since that big weekend of a track race and the tri. Running has been heavy and weak and biking has just been plain hard. I somehow convinced Tim to pace me last night for a quick 3.25 mile run after he had already done his 4.5. I told him I wanted him to pace me at 8 min/mile or just over...so 8:15 or so.

Mile 1: 7:59, right on que.
Mile 2: 7:53, okay this is not so bad
Mile 3: 7:57, this sucks I'm getting tired
5K mark: 24:41 (would have been a PR in a race by about 50 seconds- 7:57 pace)
Finish 3.25: 25:43 ( total 7:57 pace)

After the run I told Tim I was hurting, my breathing was shallow and fast. But after a couple of minutes I felt really good and wondered if I could have gone faster. Tim told me "I'm going to have you running in the 22's for your 5Ks and I laughed. I told him my dad and my old softball Coach (jimmy) would laugh at him too. And my dad did. Dad actually said something to the affect of "don't you know grass grows under her feet".

To which Tim replied "I work miracles"

02 July 2009

Updated times

So they officially posted the results for the ultimate runner. I had the mile, 400, and 800 times right. Unfortunately I over estimated my 100 time a bit. I guess I really was jogging it! they had my time as 18 seconds...don't laugh, I told you I took it easy before the 5K.

They also had my 5K as a 25:37...which is almost 30 seconds faster than I thought I did. But Tim and I both swear I crossed when the clock said 26:02...so I don't know how they got that time.

Oh well. Something to build on I suppose.

01 July 2009

Silver Spoons

So many of you ladies out there are getting ready for the "feed themselves" stage. So here's a little post just for you. I don't normally post about stuff like this, but I'm just so amazed at how much more quickly Brayden has learned to use the fork and spoon compared to Ryan that I realized I needed to share what I believe to be the reason. Actually it was something my sister Trudy sent as a gift and has paid off immensely.

When both boys started eating solids, we used the Gerber rubber tipped spoons to protect their gums. Good for the purpose but not so much when they want to actually use the spoons themselves and keep food on them. I'm sure you ladies can testify that those Gerber spoons just don't hold a lot, nor do they lend themselves to impatient toddlers trying to keep food on them.

Exhibit A:
In the picture above, you see (from left to right) an adult set of silverware, a kids set, a cocktail set, the plastic set and then the Gerber spoon. I had bought several different kinds of toddler silverware. If you could find it in the grocery store or baby store and I bought it. The problem we had was that the plastic set doesn't hold much on the spoon and you really can't stab with the fork but they are lighter. The other sets are are actual kids silverware, but they are really big, heavy and again can't hold much on the spoon.

Here's where Trudy came in. She sent me a pack of cocktail (appetizer) utensils from World Market. They're smaller for the mouth, have a deep spoon to hold food, the knife isn't sharp at all, and they are LIGHT! Perfect. So you can also find them at Target with their dishes and I highly recommend them. Brayden is already stabbing away with the fork and getting pretty good with the spoon. Ryan is almost three and he still uses them. He can work the spoon so much better and spills so much less. The picture below shows a side view of the spoons so you can see how much deeper the appetizer spoon is. The appetizer fork is so narrow, it's just perfect!


Hope you all find these as useful as we do! Happy eating. Oh yeah, before I forget. Deeper spoon does allow for more food on the spoon so you might want to keep your armor on during meals. If your kids throw food as much as Brayden does, you'll need it!