First (solo) race since Will was born!

Today marked my first running race since before I was pregnant with Will (and, man, that's a loooong time!) I did a women's half marathon in Bend, so it was also my first women-only race. While the weather was super windy, it was a nice temperature for running and, at least, there was no SNOW like there was in flurries on Saturday. (Seriously, is this almost JUNE???) Anyhoo, it was not a course to set a PR on since it was extremely hilly, but it was so fun to be back in a race again. I ran it in 1:40 and some change, which is a few minutes over my best time, but it was good enough for 10th overall and 3rd in my age-group. I can't complain about that! Best of all, Ryan, Kate, Will, Grandma Connie and Grandpa Bill came out to support me and cheer me on along the course. Seeing them definitely gave me a boost when I was lagging! It is a fun few weekends around here with PPP last weekend, today's race and a duathlon next Saturday. Ryan and I are teaming up, which will be our first race together. Some (maybe, most) would not call these things fun--I believe Grandpa Bill asked Ryan, "Do you PAY to do this?"--but we love it!

Baby laugh of the day!

Because, in my opinion, baby laughs never get old!

PPP

No, I promise, this is not yet another post about potty training. It was a different kind of 'P' entirely--three of them, in fact. It was Pole Pedal Paddle weekend!! One of our favorite events and weekends of the year. This year we did the ski, bike, run and paddle race as a family team. We had Grandpa Bob on the downhill ski, Ryan on the skate ski, Uncle Jay on the bike, me on the run, and Grandpa Mac and me on the paddle. Despite some slightly chilly and somewhat rainy conditions, we had a GREAT, great time. AND we did pretty well for ourselves: 6th place in our division (out of 67 teams!) As usual, strategy talk for next year's race began as soon as we crossed the finish line, so thanks to Grandma Connie, Grandma Star and Aunt Cyndi for putting up with all the PPP babble (and for watching the kids while we raced!) And thanks to Grandpa Mac for participating this year--his first year and I think he's hooked now, too! After everyone left today, we went to a neighbor's garage sale and bought some awesome kid's skis and pole for Kate. They'll be perfect for her next winter, and she was pretty excited to get them. She said she's ready to do Pole Pedal Paddle and she wants to do "the skiing and then bike uphill." It won't be long, Kate, and we'll get you out there!

Yes! Yesss! YEEESSSSSS!!

Okay, I'm trying not to get my hopes up here but it might just perhaps be that Will has FINALLY discovered how to sleep well. Please don't let me be jinxing this right now (if you know any un-jinxing tricks, kindly insert them here!) If he has turned the corner, it will be a bit wild because he will have followed the exact same sleep pattern as Kate did. They both started out as good sleepers and then got thrown off by a trip taken around 5 months. From then on, both were erratic and difficult. Some nights were great, others not great AT ALL. We started bedtime routines with both of them early on and they both went down to bed easily, falling asleep on their own. From there, though, all hell could break loose. They both would wake up during the night repeatedly. Then, miraculously, at exactly 9 months Kate rolled to her stomach one night and slept 9 hours. She continued to wake at 4 am until 11 months when I cut out that feeding as the last one to wean her off breastfeeding. Thinking we were being smart, we tried putting Will on his stomach about a month ago, but he wasn't having it. Then, two nights ago, Ryan put him to bed (awake) and when we checked on him later, he was on his stomach. Just like Kate, he woke up at 4, I fed him and he went right back down. Last night, he was turning over before Ryan even left the room and slept until 4 and is sleeping peacefully now!! Oh, PLEASE, please let this be the beginning of good sleep (for all of us!!) And, yes, I realize that this is completely uninteresting as a post but it is VERY, very, very, very exciting for me!!

Will + blueberries = true love!

Will's love affair with food continues and his current obsession is blueberries. To say that he adores them is an understatement. He's completely caught on to the sign for "more" in the last few days because he is so insistent on getting more and more of that squishy blue goodness. I no longer dress him for blueberry sessions since they get EVERYWHERE. I found some in his belly button yesterday. Aside from blueberries, Will is still into any and all food. He's still eating purees and mashes, but he's also eating almost all our food too. He gets MAD if we don't share with him. Quite a difference from our picky first child! He also likes to feed himself (giving me another reason to keep him naked during mealtimes!)

Wild Saturday night at the Singleton's house!

Who needs bars and parties when you've got a wagon and kids?!

Kate & Jim: This one's for you!

It's not really her best rendition since getting her to do something on demand is as close as I get to moving mountains, but here you go! I hope your goal of daily usage is going well. :) If wedding planning starts getting hectic, just breathe and remember "It ain't no thang!!" (Well, actually, it's a big "thang" but I have NO doubts that it is going to be perfection!)

Argh. Tough day.

It's one of those days when it seems that one kid is melting down at all times!! Time for a silent scream: AAAAAAAHHHHHH! Okay, much better. The day has had one highlight (or most embarrassing moment, depending on how you look at it). In the bathroom at Target, Kate kept asking "who is that next to me? Hello?" because she could see feet in the stall next to her. Then, while washing our hands, she kept asking people: "did you have to pee or poo?" Ha! Luckily, people seem to find that endearing coming from a two-year-old.....

Oh, the things she says...

Kate's favorite sayings seem to change day to day. I'm not sure where she even hears half of them! Here's a few things she has on repeat now....
* Her favorite action phrase right now (said while jumping on the couch) is "I'm causing a ruckus. Yeah, I'm causing a ruckus!!"
*Her FAVORITE thing to say right now is "Ain't no thang but a chicken waang!" And, yes, she says it with the fake Southern accent that turns "wing" into "waaang." Her best use, in my opinion, was when she saw a tiny spider yesterday and started crying (she has a weird thing with bugs right now). She was pleading with me to put it outside. After I got it outside, I was telling her that she's just going to have to get used to bugs because they're just a part of life. She was still sniffling when she warbled out, "I know, mommy, it ain't no thang but a chicken wang."
*Her favorite word right now is ENORMOUS. Her best use of it, in her opinion, was to say "What's daddy's name?" When I said "Ryan" she said, "No, it's daddy-enormous!" She followed this up with ecstatic laughter at her own hilarity.
I swear, toddlers are just the best. Even on your worst days, they never fail to crack you up with what they say!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Seeing Kate kiss Will makes this mommy happy! :)

To my wonderful moms Connie & Starla, and to all the fabulous mommies I know, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! I love, love, love you all!

Hey, Star, does this look familiar??

I think we've got the second Uncle Jay!!

Sort of like cloud spotting. Sort of.

Okay, this is gross, so consider yourself forewarned. STOP READING now if you are eating or if you just generally aren't in the mood. I know it's not really something to share but, hey, sometimes toddlers do gross things that are really pretty funny. To me, this is one of those things but, then, my sense of humor can be juvenile at times. Anyhoo. Kate loves to watch the clouds go by while we're in the car and declare what each one looks like to her (this is not the gross part). Well, now she's taken this cloud-spotting idea to a whole new level. Anyone with a toddler, especially a recently potty-trained one, will likely agree with me that they become pretty obsessed and intrigued by anything potty related. Kate likes to look at every bathroom wherever we go, she wants to know all about who goes and where and--here comes the gross part--she's very intrigued by poop. Yep, she likes to look for animal poop, she claims "those rocks look like poop" pretty much every day and--here's where cloud-spotting comes into play--she has taken to analyzing what her own poop looks like. And here I'm talking shapes. So, as gross as it is, I must admit that it is fairly hilarious when she joyfully exclaims, "I made SMILEY FACE poop!" She's also made airplane and rocket poop and today (where does she come up with this stuff??) she topped them all by deciding, "Today was the best, mommy. I made TOUCAN poop." Gotta love their imaginations and honesty!

Before & after

I may be teething (my two front bottom teeth have broken through!) and covered in drool, but I still love a good game of peek-a-boo!