Our First Triathlon

One of my New Year's Resolutions this year was to do a triathlon. I just wanted to get out of our boring, normal routine of working out at the gym and wanted to try something new. It was a stretch for me to try and add biking and swimming into my workouts, although since we have access to our gym now it wasn't too hard. I would just go swimming while the boys were in the gym day care and then go get them out and bring them swimming with me, and I mostly just rode the stationary bikes there as well. I coerced Tommy into doing it with me, and we didn't ever really train together, but we talked about our plans and it was fun to be planning it with each other. 

While I was looking at the options for races online, all I really cared about was finding one that was close and not on a Sunday--and that basically counted out almost all of them! But we luckily found one in the beginning of May that was only 10 minutes from our house and was a sprint triathlon distance--the shortest one (which we wanted): 350 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 5K run. I felt pretty confident in all three sports by the time the race came around. 

We showed up, checked in, and got our transition area set up (where you leave your bike and stuff for you to go after the swim and after the bike). (I'm teasing Tommy for taking this picture of me.)

And we then had to wait around for a long time before actually jumping in the water. It was really interesting to look around and see all the different levels of commitment people had to the sport. We were just wearing our normal swimsuits, and we'd just recently bought cheap-o bikes, but most people had actual triathlon suits on and super fancy road bikes. 

We did the swimming pretty well--it actually took a minute longer than I expected. But then the biking was WAY worse than I thought it was going to be. Our super cheap bikes ended up being an issue and contributing to us taking a LONG long time on the bike section (plus I think I underestimated it and didn't train hard enough). But the run was great--we did it faster than I expected. 

All in all--it was really fun! It was a great experience and I really liked training for it. And it was something totally new to me, which made it an exciting adventure. We were both SUPER tired later in the day. We conked out and both took two-hour naps in the afternoon. I would definitely do this again sometime--probably not very soon, but maybe in a couple of years. It is much easier than long running races on my knees and it felt so legit to be doing a real triathlon race. Thanks for the example, Dad.

First half of May

The first half of May was pretty unexciting. We spent most of it getting ready for us to go to California for the last two weeks of May (which I will post about later) and doing some little things in our small routine.

Tommy realized that we would be out of town during the father-son campout, so Dane wouldn't get to go. Dane LOVED it so much last year that he decided to do a little mini Father-son campout in our backyard with just the two of them. They watched a movie in the tent, ate cotton candy, and spent the night out there. It was smart to do it then because it was still cool enough that they got a good night of sleep! Dane was SO happy and had such a good time. They started watching A Goofy Movie, but after about two songs, Dane said, "This is not a good movie."

Tommy's work had a Spring Festival with fun things for kids and free food--so you KNOW we weren't going to miss that!

The funniest part was when the DJ started playing "Uptown Funk" and Dane said, "This is my favorite song!" and ran up onto the stage and danced his little heart out in front of all the people watching. He just jumped up and down nonstop until the song ended.

It's so sad when Daddy leaves for work in the morning. Graham crawled over to the door and was banging on it, yelling, "Dada! Dada!"

Graham sees Dane coloring with chalk and he wants to do it too. He's still figuring it out but it's so cute.

He is SO squishy and lovey. I love his little smile with his mouthful of teeth showing! Oh my goodness! It kills me every time.

I love taking pictures of my kids while they're sleeping. All the pictures basically look the same, I know, but they just are so peaceful and sweet when they're asleep. I took this one of Dane because he laid Charlie and Polo next to him on their pillow with their little blankie on top of them, just like him.

I just hate this stage where all the food ends up on the floor all the time. Our floor is always sticky and I really hate sweeping up sticky rice or tomatoes or watermelon. 

For Mother's Day, Tommy made an excellent breakfast of monkey bread, bacon and eggs. This was the only picture we got for Mother's Day! Every one of those holidays we have the best of intentions of keeping it low-key, but then we want to eat something good so we end up in the kitchen all day with the kids begging for attention. We are still learning about that!

Everything is a walker for Graham! He wants to walk all the time--just not by himself. Only if he's pushing something or if he's holding our fingers.

Dane hung his Snakey up on the bar in our closet and said, "Look, Snakey and I are hanging together!"

He was sure proud of his Angels hat.

There was a week or so that Graham was soooooo fussy and making me tear my hair out. And he was waking up a lot at night--right after they'd gotten used to being in the same room! Now, a few weeks later, I think we know what it was--we barely yesterday noticed that he has a ton of molars in his mouth that we had no idea about. It must have been that bothering him. Poor guy!

 Haha--they both needed haircuts so bad!

Graham started figuring out about his tongue and was always playing with it or sticking it out between his lips. So funny.

Graham's belly cannot be contained in his jammies.

We had a doctor's appointment one Friday and Dane got a Dumdum sucker as we were checking out. Graham saw him and was whining and crying so bad to get one too! I thought he was too young to handle a sucker so I wouldn't let him. But the next day we were at a little festival thing and Tommy had one in his hand, and Graham ripped it out of his hands and shoved it in his mouth so fast--he knew EXACTLY what to do with that thing. And he kept it in his mouth until that entire thing was gone. It was hilarious.

Dane got his face painted at the festival and he could not have been more pleased with himself. He just happened to be wearing his Spiderman shirt and wanted to be painted as Spiderman as well.

Graham wasn't allowed to sit next to Dane in the double cart at Target because Charlie had to be buckled in instead.

Graham is getting so big! 

Excuse me, ma'am, can't you see I'm busy on the phone? Haha he was holding the phone up to his ear having this long extended conversation while we were in line at the airport. So funny.

random thoughts

Well, this is a random post. I started writing a few things and it turned into a huge novel of things I've been thinking about lately. None of it is that important, so I don't expect anyone to actually read it. It just feels good to get it out of my head.

- I have this friend on Facebook. She's a friend of a friend, really; we've only met twice and she lives in North Carolina and I'll never, ever see her again. But it seems like all she must do all day is share advice/articles about why everyone should co-sleep with their baby and why people who spank their kids are the devil. All. Day. Last week she literally congratulated herself on nursing her now-preschooler for 3.5 years--and still going strong! I kind of hate every single one of her posts--because how self-righteous and judge-y can you get?--but I can't get myself to delete her because I keep wanting to see how long it will last and if she will keep doing it. It's like she's the car wreck and I'm the rubbernecker that can't look away. But seriously, in some ways, she is giving me anxiety because now I am halfway worried that there ARE hundreds of cancer-causing chemicals in our baby shampoo and I will be sorry I never looked into it now that she's given me the idea. It just makes me wonder: what is she getting out of sharing these self-righteous posts every day? Does it make her feel really good about herself that she's so much better than all the other lesser moms out there who spank/yell at their kids and give up breastfeeding before the kid goes to kindergarten?

- Graham has been really, really hard lately. He has been screaming/crying quite a lot, especially if he's even the slightest bit hungry, but then refusing to eat 90% of what we give him. It's weird--it's not that he's being picky, because he'll sometimes eat everything. It's just that he's on this power trip and wants to show us that he can throw all the food on the floor JUST BECAUSE HE WANTS TO. Lunchtime every day has devolved into him yelling and throwing his sandwich bites on the floor while I say, "No, no, no, NO, NO!" over and over again and trying to shove food into his mouth. Because, if he doesn't eat, he will be the hangry screaming monster in two hours, which is even scarier than trying to force him to eat. Even WORSE than any of that, he has given up his excellent sleep habits and is waking up 5-6 times a night crying. We go in and calm him down but if we try to put him down he wakes up and screams some more, waking Dane up. And if he wakes up any time after 4, he won't go back to sleep and just cries until both boys are awake and nobody is getting any real sleep after that. So we are having to do some more sleep training, or he is getting moved back into his own room temporarily, because I don't know if I can handle this any more.

He is lucky he is so stinking cute. He is giving me gray hairs and raising my blood pressure and definitely taking years off my life. But he can give the cutest smile and I forgive him all of that. Except for maybe when he wakes up at four and won't go back to sleep. That's going to require some serious repentance, Graham. He says "Dada" whenever he's thinking about Tommy, he LOVES reading books and drags them over to me to read to him about 45 times a day, he loves walking with his walkers but shows no interest in walking on his own yet, and he has learned how to give hugs when we ask for them and it is just about the best thing ever. 

- It has come to my attention that I probably need to take the adult step of getting my diet under control. I have never had to worry ALL that much about what I eat because I've always exercised a lot and never had any health issues to think about. But I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism some six months ago (contributing to the short temper and exhaustion Graham is helping out with) and it hasn't been that big of a deal, but I have been reading and sadly finding out that apparently eating healthier is something that helps with that. There are even articles out there suggesting that gluten-free is the way to go with thyroid issues--THE HORROR! I don't know what I'm going to do yet (definitely not doing gluten-free until I am desperate; I love bread) but I am going to talk to some peeps in the know and to my doctor and maybe, just maybe, this will be the kick I need to take out some of the sugary, unhealthy foods that I love oh so much.

- We are busy almost every day for the first time in my history of motherhood. For the last 3.5 years I've been trying to fill up our time with things to do and wishing to be more busy. But all of a sudden we've hit this sweet spot where we have little things to do every day, but I'm not stressed or too busy. We have been doing a little preschool with a few other friends for the last month, and we will do it full-scale with them again in the fall--and Dane and I both love it! I've been taking Dane swimming once a week, and to the library for storytime once a week, and then we usually have to go grocery shopping or to Costco, and we've been doing a swap with one of Dane's friends once a week, and then to the gym in the afternoons--and hallelujah, the whole week is filled up. It is nice to not be stuck at home wishing we had somewhere to go (although the summer might be more like that). Particularly with Graham's busy, busy opinions, we need to be out and about or actively engaged in doing something to keep everyone happy.

- I have learned something awesome that helps a lot with my stress levels. Actually, a few awesome things. 1. When in doubt about whether we can squeeze in one more errand before everyone loses it, don't. Just go home. There's no timeline in which I need to run all the errands or return all the things. 2. Have lunch earlier rather than later and all will be easier. 3. When I'm getting really frustrated, like yesterday when Dane had a poopy accident in his nap and didn't tell me and got poop all over the bathroom, I just need to ask myself, "Will I remember this one year from now?" and almost always, the answer is no. If I won't remember it, it can't matter all that much. 4. The slightest bit of preparation and planning can make everything go smoother. Planning out our week's schedule, our homeschool preschool lessons, and FHE lessons makes me so much more likely to do things well. 5. If I give myself a time limit for how long I have to be patient, I can do it so much better. If I say, "I am just going to be really nice and patient for the next five minutes," then I get past my wall of losing my temper and manage it for a lot longer than I say I'm going to.

- We have some fun things coming up. Tommy and I are doing a sprint triathlon together on Saturday, which I am pretty excited for. Then next week I'm taking the boys out to California for our last trip to see my parents before they leave for Ecuador, and Tommy will be joining us for Memorial Day weekend. Hooray! I'm actually really looking forward to spending the week+ we are there helping them pack and de-clutter and de-junk (and of course, seeing them :). Also, we borrowed Season 6 of Downton Abbey from a friend and are supposed to watch the FINAL EPISODE tonight and I can't wait. I hope something good finally turns out for Edith. I finished our photobook for 2015 on Monday, and turned in my students' final grades for the semester yesterday, and I am feeling ready for summer and some new fun projects to work on while I'm not teaching. Or maybe I'll just catch up on my reading, which I haven't done hardly enough of the last few months. 

April Little Things

My mom was here for a grand 36 hours. She came out for a long weekend here in Dallas with all her sisters (before she leaves for Ecuador), and extended her trip by a few days to see us too. She happened to be here for a crazy freak hailstorm while we were out eating dinner and we were sure our cars were going to be super damaged. But everything ended up okay! It was fun to see her.

(Note that there are two pictures below. Find the difference between the pictures! Haha. Dane cracks me up.)

Graham started trying to lay down on Dane in the Costco cart.

I had an early morning doctor's appointment on April Fool's Day, and I came back and Tommy and Dane played a prank on me--not letting me into the house! Dane loooooved the idea of "silly tricks" on April Fool's Day and keeps talking about them.

Dane was eating an apple and Graham was consumed with jealousy until Dane happily shared.

We make our kids work young around here. Graham was super excited to help bring the dirty laundry to the laundry room.

Dane is very into superheroes these days. How do little boys all like the same things? We haven't introduced him to them at all; he just figured it out and is always telling me things about his favorite superheroes. "Mom, did you know I'm a superhero? Batman is my superhero helper. He helps me fight the bad guys."

Graham is getting into more and more mischief every day.

Like I said, lots of mischief. We have all these hand-me-down VHS tapes which he loves taking out of the cabinets at every opportunity. Oh well, I guess he can destroy them and we won't mind too much.

Dane's very favorite stuffed animal, Charlie, was missing for a few weeks and we had no idea where he was. Somehow he was wrapped up in Tommy's robe, hanging on the back of our bathroom door. We pulled the robe down one day and Dane was so, so happy to find his friend Charlie again.

 Dane's fashion sense is just amazing. The headband, the Lakers outfit, the church sandals. On point.

Dane and I were playing Memory together and he insisted that five of his stuffed animals had to each get their own turn. It seemed like odds were stacked against me. White Kitty won that game. 

The biggest adjustment of the month: We moved Graham into Dane's room!! I stressed about this decision for a long time and worried it would have bad repercussions on their excellent sleep habits. But we moved them in and after two or three nights they totally settled into it. No problems at all. The only sad thing is that now when they wake up in the morning they don't just stay in their beds and talk to themselves. They wake up and instantly want to get up and have breakfast. But I bet that will adjust over time. They both love it, and it's so cute to hear them playing/talking in there as they're falling asleep. In fact, if Dane isn't in there when Graham goes to sleep now, he cries and is really sad to be all alone. I am SO HAPPY we did this because now that they are used to sharing a room, it will totally reduce the stress of us traveling and all sharing a room together. 

Graham was sick for a few days, and only wanted to snuggle and cuddle. It was very cute.

Family pizza movie night: Dane's favorite night of the week.

Oh my goodness. Graham is OBSESSED with reading. If you set him down in the family room, he will crawl over to our little basket of baby books, pull one out, and drag it over to wherever you're sitting and whine until you pick him up and read it to him. 

He is especially obsessed with Dane's books about dump trucks and diggers. I am telling you, this stuff comes pre-programmed. We were reading this book to Dane and IMMEDIATELY Graham was whining and climbing up to see the pages. He knows exactly which book we are talking about when we say, "Where's The Little Dump Truck?" and he will crawl over, drag it out, and want you to read it. I have read the same four books every day this week, maybe 9 times a day. It is hilarious and cute and slightly tiring but I know he'll get over it far too soon.

Graham loves to crawl around to pillows and lay down on top of them. 

We were joking that Graham was an excellent Blugger. ("Blugging" is a term my brother Austin made up to tease little sister Bethany for always flopping down on the couch whenever she has a second to relax. It's a combination of "Bethany" and "slug.") Dane wanted to know what blugging was, and then he practiced his own blugging skills.

Blugging while reading... Excellent.