Color Me Rad

A few months ago there was a deal for a cheap (and awesome) race.

So I signed up. Then started begging my friends and neighbors to sign up too.

Before long our "fun relaxed race" turned into a weekend getaway for a few girls from the ward.

We started beautiful and white and clean.

Then we ran for 3.2 miles and came out a kind of filthy I've never experienced before.

Afterward we shook out our clothes and hair and lined the car with painters plastic before heading back to the hotel.

I was proud of myself for not dying during the race because while I had the best of training intentions - my follow through was seriously lacking. So when Debby asked me what my goal was, I told her I just didn't want to die. And I didn't. So...check check!

(But secretly I wanted to run the whole thing.)

There was a hill at the beginning that kept winding and turning, I kept thinking this HAD to be the end of the hill and I'd turn the corner and there was more hill. My poor brain couldn't handle it, so I walked a bit. But I ran every other step of the race all by myself. The rest of my team was awesome and flew through it without even THINKING of stopping. I finished at 37 minutes and had to talk myself out of quitting more than once, but I did it. And I'm proud of that.

But mostly it was fun to make such a mess. Why is that so fun? I'm still puzzling over this.... and it was fun to have the distraction of the color stations so often throughout the race.

Close Enough

Today I mashed up an avocado and called it guacamole.

Today I ran a flat iron through my hair and pretended the wind was the reason it looked like that.

Today I picked up my produce and told Josh I did the grocery shopping. Our empty milk shelf begs to differ. 


Today while Tommy jumped on the love sac I told him it was the same as a trampoline.

Today I set John down for a nap hoping for an hour or two of uninterrupted working time and he woke up within 25 minutes.

Today I plugged in to my iPod and felt like I'd read a book.

Today I asked Tommy if he pooped. "Yeah!!!" he shouted while he ran in the other direction. That's like being potty trained, right?

Today I started 3 loads of laundry and folded & put away 0.

Meh, close enough.

Who Are the People in your Neighborhood

Sometimes when I post a picture like this on instagram

a neighbor friend says "go get my driveway too - it could use some love".

So we grab the baby monitor, and hold hands while we cross the street to vandalize the neighbors' sidewalks.

Purple Elmo and a little love note makes us happy.

But poor Tommy was heartbroken when we had to be "all done, friends' picture?" He wanted to "one more Aubrey? pwease? Aubrey? Elmo? Chalk? Please? Friends?"

And just like that, my little boy is convinced that Elmo and Aubrey and roommates across the street.

Date of the Month Club: April

For our April date, we went to Mulligan's.

Batting cages + mini golf = a reminder of my serious lack of coordination.

But it was WAY fun! I made Josh go first in the batting cages because neither of us have ever done it and I'm more prone to embarrassment after doing something stupid.

His machine was a little messed up, so he spent plenty of time standing around waiting for the yellow balls to come FLYING at his face.

While I took a picture of my shoes.

He told me no less than 10 times just to put the coin in and step up to the plate, but I was convinced the machine was going to kill me.

Lucky man isn't he? Ba ha ha ha!

Next up we went mini golfing. But Josh (apparently) still wanted to be batting.

I don't know very many people who can get the ball "in the rough" while mini golfing - but I am gifted and I did it MORE than once. I have a small collection of photos of my ball in the dirt, gravel, water, and sand surrounding the putting green. And when I did manage to keep the ball on the green, it was often buried under pine trees.

It was quite the lovely day. Plus the sun hadn't even gone down yet. See?

And here is the primary difference between Josh and Me. I saw this tree and said "oooh. Tommy would love that popcorn tree" and started singing and doing the actions. Josh looked around a bit and said "buhhh....."

After all that wandering around in the heat, we decided to eat some good food.

This Date of the Month club is sortof awesome. I think it might become a traditional Christmas Gift because I love it so much. 

5k in 30 minutes = failure

Well that's embarrassing. My March goal was to run a 5k in 30 minutes. You should know that it was terrifying to put any kind of timed running goal at all on there. I am not fast. ever. At all. And in January I was barely running at all. But I thought I could really push myself and make it happen.

It's totally possible that I could have pushed myself and made it happen. But I didn't.

I was busy sitting around.

And working.
And feeding that baby.

So, Instead of waking up at o'dark thirty in the morning to go running, I slept in. Hit the snooze. And burried my running shoes under all the pretty shoes and flip flops.

So I didn't even run a 5k in March. Much less one in 30 minutes.

However, I did start running regularly. Even though I hated it.

This failure is how Josh got $50, which he invested in Coinstar stock because it sounded like fun. (Who am I married to? I spent my $50 on cute shoes!)


To hold me accountable for all the months so far......click here.

The One Where Johnny Holds A Bottle

I had forgotten that there comes a point in The Baby's life when they feed themselves. 

I suddenly love mealtimes. I strap Tommy in a chair with a buncha food. I mix a bottle and throw John Boy on a blanket on the floor and I magically have enough time to do the dishes! Or fix my lunch! Or pee in peace!!!

Oh sweet freedom.

$$ tracking = Success

Remember back when I made goals for each month of the year and promised to keep you updated?

Well in February it was all about tracking every penny we spend.

Did you hear that people? Every penny. Even the free cash-money.

Josh and I almost never have cash, so when we do we call it free money and we can spend it any way we want and nobody cares. It's our (very bad and very loose) version of "allowance". So this challenge meant we had to track even free money. Something that goes against everything I leave about freedom in money.

But I did it.
And it was eye-opening.

Turns out our little family of four eats. A LOT of money every month.

Also February was sortof an odd month spending-wise because we paid off da-baby (worth every penny!) and didn't pay our mortgage because of a refinance. So...bonus.

Because of our no cash approach to spending (eat it Dave Ramsey!) using Mint is insanely easy for us. But (by far) the biggest benefit of this challenge was my new familiarity with the software, the charts, the graphs, the budgets, the ins and outs of the program, which means I'm still tracking (almost) every penny we spend because it's just so easy.

Anyway, here's a graph showing our (slightly frightening) spending habits for February. I'm curious, does it look anything like yours?

To hold me accountable for all the months so far......click here.

Rolling

It's been about a week now. And Johnny just won't stop rolling.

I put him down, and turn to walk out of the room, and he's already flopped over on his tummy whining.

With Tommy we waited and waited and watched for this milestone. We cheered him on and encouraged him. We did a happy dance (and a blog post) as soon as he did it.

Sometime last week I set John down and went downstairs to answer the door. Josh was putting away laundry in the boys' room. I came back upstairs to find John on his tummy.

"Babe? Did you roll John over?" I called out to Josh from the top of the stairs.
"nope. I'm in here." he answered
"I think he's finally rolling for real now."
"dangit."

I'd been watching him thinking he must be close for a couple of weeks, but given his rare opportunities to simply lay on the floor I figured we'd be waiting for a while.

We had a tiny "baby is a genius!" party, and Tommy got down on the floor to join in the roll-fest. My two (littlest) boys rolled around on the floor for nearly 7 minutes, completely entertained. Meanwhile I got dinner ready and listened to the giggles without looking.

Listen, we love John. But baby #2 is a whole different game from Baby #1.

On My 27th Birthday

On my 27th Birthday....

• I got roughly 9,000 birthday wishes from facebook people (hi facebook people! i love you too!)\
• I got an e-mail from MapMyRun reminding me that it had been more than 5 days since my last run. (joke's on you - it's actually been 9 days since my last run. ha!)
• I got a special blog post dedicated to me by an old roommate.
• I was wished a "Happy Russian Cosmonaut Day" by my little brother who wanted to know if I knew I was born on such an important day. And then I googled Russian Cosmonaut Day. The beginning of the Space Race with the first man in space and the only holiday they don't have an e-card for.
• I ate frosted mini wheats and kiwi for breakfast.
• A friend made me a special fancy-pants sugar-free strawberry goodness cake. Because she loves me. Who knew? 
• My daddy sent me an e-mail filled with things he loves about me which I read at least 4 times and cried every time. A snippet: "She can burrrp remarkably." I don't think any girl has ever had a better daddy. 
• Josh spoiled me with diamonds. For real. Earrings and necklace which are simply BEAUTIFUL. Wearing a diamond necklace with flip flops and t-shirts is totally cool, right?
• I taught Tommy to say "happy birthday mommy! you're SOOO beauuuuutiful!"
• I changed 3 pee-soaked outfits - none of which were mine. (Yay me!)
• I entered Walmart in sunglasses, a t-shirt and flipflops. I apparently stayed in there long enough to have missed ALL of Spring and Summer because it was rain/snow/hail/sleeting when I came out. So Tommy, John and I played in the rain for a bit. We're soaked and significantly less attractive than we were this morning....ooops.
  
• I ate crescent chicken pillows and Morrocan sweet potatoes for dinner.
• I tried desperately to live my dream day, doing nothing but motherly duties. Cooking, cleaning, playing, and running errands. Going for a jog by myself, but not sacrificing sleep to do it. It was lovely until I missed 14 phone calls for work and still have all of that to do tonight....

I guess the short version of it is this: I have a good life. And I'm glad I got another year of it.

Now I'm off to finish my birthday dream day. Dishes with Josh, a long hot bubble bath, and crawling into a bed with fresh clean sheets long before midnight.

My favorite load

I carry a lot of things in my stroller - but this is (by far) my favorite stroller load.

What would we do without such good friends?

Detatched

Let's set the record straight. Feeding an infant is wildly inconvenient and often a royal pain in the backside. No matter how you do it. Formula, bottle, pumping, nursing, at home in your pajamas, or in public. The very nature of it is inconvenient.

However, as we settled into a routine I learned to like nursing.

During those first few days with Tommy while I whined and worried about nursing him, my mom told me that "one of these days, you'll feed him and he'll just raise his hand up and rest it on your chest while he eats." she sighed and got a far off look in her eyes.

She had no idea that wouldn't ever happen with Tommy. But I understood what she meant. "This will get more natural and go more smoothly. You are capable of caring for this child. You have what he needs." That was the intent. And she was right. I am capable of caring for that child.

So although I wasn't making much milk I was happy to be able to nurse John. It was wildly inconvenient, often painful and definitely a royal pain in the backside. But for the past month or so I've really enjoyed it. I like snuggling up to him with his arm wrapped around me. I like feeling connected and capable. I like it when he stops sucking just long enough to look up and smile at me. At me!

But I just wasn't making much. At all. And I couldn't face the pump again. And I was nursing and formula-ing and it wasn't worth it for him to get less than an ounce every feeding.

So I'm kissing the crappy nursing bras and wardrobe restrictions goodbye. Farewell to the accidental flashing of strangers, the struggling under a blanket and the awkward "did I just leak milk?" moments.

It's over little man. We had a good run, but now....

We're free.

Thank goodness! and Dang it!

Beans

Some people on some websites (pinterest, blogs, facebooks) bought a buncha beans to let their babies play in. So I said to myself "self, your baby outta play in some beans."

And our Thursday afternoon was born.

There are a lot of pictures of my boy that I don't really think look like him, but these ones are the face that I see every day. 

The throwing of the beans didn't start until Daddy came home and "made our lame bean game AWESOME."

We're still finding beans in the sofa-cracks. 

Eh well, totally worth it.

My Kind of Sunday

There's just something about a beautifully sunny Sunday afternoon that calls to me.

"Put those babies in a stroller and come out to play!" it says.
"Don't bother with the dishes" it whines.
"Lookit these shadows!" it demands.
"Your baby is definitely big enough to sit up like a man." it insists.

And I give in, EVERY dang time.

St. George: Sleeping

It sounds stupid, but watching my boys sleep was a highlight of the Spring Break trip for me.

John was tired enough to sleep as we walked....and walked....and walked and walked.

Josh snuggled Tommy to sleep every night. Then came over to "my" bed sometime around midnight.

Because the snuggling quickly turns to sleeping. And Tommy can miraculously take up a whole queen sized bed.

St. George is so hot....

Read this in your best "yo mamma so fat" voice ok?

St. George is so hot I wore 2 pair of sunglasses. But didn't realize it until I was looking through the pictures later. For real.

St. George is so hot we used a (slightly used) burp cloth to shade the boy.
So he wouldn't DIE. Because it was SOOOOO hot!

St. George is so hot we ran the air conditioner in MARCH!!!

St. George is so hot we changed diapers in the trunk - because that's where the shade was!

St. George is so hot even Johnny (in his sleep) tried to get a tan. 

Bridges

What is it about rocks and water?

Tommy and Stella likely ran 3 or 4 miles down the bridge to pick up rocks then back up to the middle to throw them over. They literally ran. A lot. In the wind. And they didn't whine OR count how many calories they burned. (oh to be 2 again...)

"Come on Stella!!! A more ROCKS!!!!"

She was happy to oblige.

Sometimes he goes for the big ones....because gravel rocks are just the warmup.

Sun A Eyes

I am loving Tommy right now - he's funny and he's talking and talking and TALKING. And every once in a while he is silent - but mostly he talks. 


One of my favorite things is when we get in the car and he demands his "shades" because otherwise the sun will get in his eyes.

But this morning while he was eating cereal (and watching tv....a bad habit I'm not ready to break.) the sun came through the window at exactly the right angle to shine right in his eyes.

"Sun a eyes! mom! Sun-a-eyes! Need guh-lasses." He told me.

When I put them on me he informed that he was "Cool mom. Coo. Guh-lasses?" Yes babe. Your glasses (and pajamas and cereal and bib) are cool.

*Try not to notice that he feet hang THAT FAR off the end of that chair.

When did this baby of mine get so long?

Tommy June 2010

St. George: Dixie Rock

We would've stayed here all day long.

But it was cold and Johnny got bored (or tired? or cold? or hungry? or all of the above) quickly.

Sometimes we try to look like we care about where we are and why it's important. Tommy dutifully looks up to see what he's supposed to see and then we can move on to the fun part.

Tommy was over the moon because 'ROCKS!!!!!' Seriously, heaven. Go ahead and pretend this next picture as zero evidence of Tommy eating dirt OK?

It was a lot colder than it looked - especially in the caves (or shade really...)

Josh was equally thrilled and couldn't get my boys high enough off the ground.

"Come on! Mom! Climb!" (both Josh & Tommy's favorite phrase of the day.) 

And when you can't climb any higher - at least you can peek. 

Meanwhile, lame-sauce mom is all over the cuddling in the cave-shade for the sissy pants.   

Tommy climbed up on this ledge and wouldn't get back down. "Look mom! A cave! ooooooohhhh a cave!"

But then I found a rock and bribed him to come out in the sun for a bit. "Look mom!  A rock! Oooooohhhhh a rock!"
Because, you know, there were only 9,300 million rocks there.

Then I went up a little stairway to the end of the world and felt like I was going to die because it was so high. And Josh said "here! I'll toss you John then Tommy and I will climb up!"

I came back down and refused to let John go up there. So Josh took  Tommy instead.

  

And they liked it.

So John & I joined them.

I'm not kidding Tommy would think he'd died and gone to heaven if we stayed for just 5 more minutes. The rocks were perfect for scrambling around on. He felt like he was climbing but he wasn't so I let him. He picked up rocks and threw them. He picked up other rocks and broke them with his bare hands (he has some serious muscles.) He went up high, and down low. It was beautiful. (Minus the piles of broken glass he wanted to play with...that was not beautiful, but we distracted him without too much effort.)


I would go back to St. George again just for Dixie Rock.