The Race

We ran the Monument Avenue 10K yesterday morning and (despite the incredibly sore legs this morning) it was great. The morning started a bit rough. Carter woke at four and didn’t settle back down until five or a little later and then we overslept and rushed out of the house hoping we had everything we needed. We attached our bibs and running chips at the starting line and before we knew it we were running with 32,000+ along the beautiful Monument Avenue.

I had a couple of goals for the race. First, I wanted to run the entire race. I have only run one other 10K – the Peachtree Road Race – and I stopped to walk a few times along the course which disappointed me. So, I am very happy to report that I RAN THE ENTIRE RACE! As we approached mile 4 I was really ready for a break, but here are a few things that either I told myself or Adam said to encourage me: A: one step in front of the other; T: I delivered a baby without drugs, surely I can run 6 miles; A: just think of the blog entry you will be able to write if you run the whole way; T: the longer/faster you run the sooner this race will be over. So, with those thoughts, many high fives from Adam, thousands of cheering spectators, and many bands playing along the route I RAN THE ENTIRE RACE!

My second goal was to finish in an hour or run 10 minute miles. I didn’t quite meet this one, but am still pleased with the results. We finished the 6.2 mile course in 1:07:40, which was 10:53 minute miles. A little slow – but something I can definitely improve by next year.

Adam was a great support throughout the race. You might remember, he ran a 10 miler last year so this measly 6.2 mile course was a walk in the park for him, but we decided to do this race together and he ran the entire race right by my side [Editor’s Note (from Adam): my legs are letting me know that this was, in fact, no walk in the park]. It was a lot of fun to have a big event to look forward to for just the two of us to do. Carter stayed home with his Mimi and we aren’t sure who had more fun, Mimi or Carter.

Another highlight from the race was the dress up contest. There are prizes for the best costume – but you actually have to complete the entire race in costume. Here are a couple of pictures of the winners. But, I have to mention a couple of other creative costumes. First there was an AIG Exec on the run all dressed up in his suit. Then there was Octo Dad. You have to picture this. He had one baby bjorn with a doll on his back. Then he had a “Baby Bjorn Supremo” strapped to his chest – a box jutting out longer than his arms – with 7 baby dolls all strapped in. The front of the box said “Octo Dad.” It was hilarious.

All in all it was a very fun race – here is a slideshow of some pictures captured along the way.

Catching up...

I know we have been out of touch for a bit – not sure if turning 30 zapped all of my writing juices – but I will attempt to fill you in on the past week or so.

Carter and I joined a gym for kids called Romp and Roll. We go to a class for babies 3-12 months each Monday where we sing songs, learn a new sign language sign, play on the various gym toys, and (Carter’s favorite) play with a big colorful parachute. There is a boy just a few weeks older than Carter in the class and I think Carter has his first BFF. This older boy is walking some and is very vocal. Carter tries to imitate him as much as possible at class – it is really too cute. He crawled on his knees for the first time last week at class and he now has a new and much louder voice. I am trying to ignore the loudness in hopes he will return to his sweet soft babbling soon, but it is hard not to chuckle a bit at his new random outbursts of excitement. I think this class will be really good for Carter and good for his mommy too. In addition to the class, we can also visit the gym during “open gym” time. We did this a couple of weeks ago and met another friend for Carter and mommy. This little girl was a little bit older, but that didn’t stop Carter. He loved crawling towards her and reaching out to pat her and make friends. We met them for a play date this past week and went for a nice walk. I really enjoy watching Carter play with other babies.
In house news, we did some garden planning this weekend. More to come on that later. But, we did find something tiny and green in our yard. Take a look.Do you know what that is? It is new growth on some hydrangea cuttings we brought back from our last visit to Poppa’s house. I love hydrangeas and am hopeful this new growth will turn into beautiful blue bushes in the next couple of years.

Our big 10K race is this Saturday so we got two last runs in this weekend. We have a big park about a half mile away from our house. The park has soccer fields, a tot lot, lots of azalea bushes, some hiking trails (nestled up against the interstate), and a pretty good jogging loop. There are definitely many areas Carter will get to explore with his daddy as he gets older. But for now he snoozed in the stroller while we jogged. Here we are just before the big jog.

On Sunday afternoon we enjoyed the pretty weather and played with a new bubble machine I got at Target for less than $5. It's great. I pull a trigger and many many bubbles stream out of the machine. I guess it takes a bit of the fun out of the sticky blow your own bubble process, but Carter seemed to like the mass quantities and eventually reached out at the bubbles as they were falling to the ground.

Carter has also been working hard on his pincer grasp. He can now feed himself puff cereal which is really fun to watch. He also enjoys opening and closing his hands. He will open and close the right one while staring at it very seriously, then he will do the same thing with the left hand, then the right, then the left. It goes on for several minutes and I just wish I knew what he was thinking as he watches himself figure out how those fingers work.

And last, here is a cute picture of Carter enjoying some daffodils that bloomed in our front yard. I think he really likes the bright yellow color. Whenever we are outside they catch his eye and he starts reaching for them.

We got a little carried away with the camera this weekend. These are just a few of my favorite shots, but there are many more in the March album - take a look if you just can't get enough of sweet Carter.

gesundheit!

Nighttime Roulette

We now know that Carter can sleep through the night. We have been so lucky about a dozen times so far. And when I say “sleep through the night” I mean down around 7:30 and up around 6:30. Amazing. What we don’t know is what nights Carter will decide to actually sleep through the night. There is not an 'every other night' or 'every third night' schedule. It is pretty random. But don’t get me wrong – I am not complaining. I will take a full night’s sleep whenever I can get it. For now it seems that Carter plays a game of roulette before he goes to bed. If the ball lands on his lucky red seven we sleep. Any other number, we all wake for a middle of the night feeding (or a middle of the night dirty diaper change as last night required).

Anyhow, as we approach Carter’s nine month birthday we are excited for the increasing nights of full sleep. Way to go Carter.

I saw the sun today...

...did you?

It was only out for a couple of minutes. Not much, but I'll take it.

Really looking forward to tomorrow's forecast: Sunny and a high of 70! Yippee!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Here's an Irish blessing for you and a cute shot of my boys in their green (although I might pinch Carter a time or two just because I love him too much!)

May you always have walls for the winds
A roof for the rain,
Tea beside the fire,
Laughter to cheer you,
Those you love near you,
And all your heart might desire!

Carter the Explorer

We are officially into the stage where Carter can get into something quicker that we can get to him. The boy can move. I can't imagine how we will keep up once he can walk. Let's not even think about the running stage. Still, it is fun to watch him explore. Check out this video of Carter and the stairs (don't worry, this is very supervised stair time).

Carter has also reinvented the purpose of his exersaucer toy. He is more interested in crawling through the bottom of the exersaucer than he his standing in it. Too cute. Carter is still army crawling which means he uses his feet to push on the floor as he scoots along. Today he got just enough into the exersaucer that his feet didn't touch the ground. He kept going through the same motions of trying to push with his feet but they had nothing to push on. Adam got especially tickled watching this. Eventually we helped him scoot on through.

What will he explore next?

Lunch with Daddy

Carter and I met Daddy for lunch today. It was so pretty that we decided to eat outside. Look at what happens when you try to feed Carter without a high chair. He was so interested in everything around him that he never kept his head still long enough for the spoon to make it into his mouth.

Can I turn 30 again?

I had the most wonderful birthday yesterday. Thanks for all of the calls, cards, e-mails, and facebook notes. And thanks to my sweet husband for the most thoughtful birthday blog. I certainly fall short of those attributes (especially the burgeoning runner) but love that you love me just as I am.

A Visit from Poppa

Poppa arrived on Friday afternoon and was pretty excited to see his little buddy. Poppa decided to ride in the back seat with Carter on the way home from the airport, but initially Carter wasn’t real sure about this new person who was sitting in his turf in the back seat. Poppa brought a quacking duck that he uses when we Skype but Carter still studied Poppa with a furrowed brow for a good fifteen minutes. But once Carter decided Poppa and the duck were ok they carried on the longest conversation and it was all smiles and laughter for the rest of the weekend.

The weather this weekend was absolutely gorgeous. We spent as much time as possible outside. Poppa treated Carter to breakfast outside while Adam and I worked in the yard. We planted a blueberry bush and a fig tree. Poppa pulled a pretty substantial shrub that had gotten a little out of control. I pruned (read “butchered”) all of our shrubs while Adam created a cool criss-cross design on our fence for our jasmine plants to grow on.

Here is a "before" picture of the jasmine:

The jasmine is down and the wire is going up:
Adam trained the jasmine to grow along the wire. Once it fills in a bit it should be pretty cool:

We also went for a jog at a nearby park while Poppa and Carter explored. (Remember that 10K I mentioned a while ago? It is in 3 weeks!!!) We also let Carter explore the outdoors some more. He ate some more leaves, crawled on the grass, and climbed a tree (with a little help from Daddy).

We were sad to see Poppa go but enjoyed watching him and Carter enjoy each other so much.

29 Again!?!

Adam here with a quick post to commemorate and celebrate Tracy’s big birthday. Tracy is an amazing person, and Carter and I are fortunate to have her as mother and wife. It is, of course, impossible to capture all that we appreciate, but here is a short list of who Tracy is and why we are lucky to have her. Among many other things, Tracy is:

• A gifted artist
• A talented lullaby-singer
• An astonishing photographer
• A gorgeous woman
• A thoughtful friend
• A burgeoning runner
• An accomplished professional
• A quick wit
• A playful spirit
• A stylish lady
• An emergent green thumb
• A deep believer
• An independent thinker
• A clever writer
• A sharp editor
• An astounding chef
• A loving daughter/aunt/daughter-in-law
• An inspiring wife
• And, most importantly, an extraordinary mother

Tracy, I am eternally grateful for your first thirty years, and I can’t wait to see what unfolds in the next thirty. And Carter says, “Babababa! Agooooo!” That, of course, translates as “Happy birthday, Mommy! I love youuuuuuuu!”

A New Face

We started giving Carter puff cereal about a week ago. For a little boy who LOVES putting anything and everything in his mouth he sure did have some funny reactions. We are working on his pincer grasp as well as his ability to chew. He is making slow progress at both but most of the cereal still ends up on the floor instead of his mouth and the pieces we put in his mouth sometimes don't stay there. But, he is learning and is "chewing" a bit more each day.

Carter's First Snow

We bundled our little guy up and took him outside to enjoy the winter wonderland yesterday afternoon. He seemed to enjoy it and loved looking around. Hopefully we will have another good snow in the next couple of years so he can really enjoy the white fluffy stuff.

Snow is Yummy!

If any of you reading this still have fresh snow on the ground, here is an easy recipe to make snow ice cream.

Here are the ingredients:

1 1/2 c milk

1 c sugar

1/2 t vanilla

large mixing bowl full of snow

(Thanks to Susan for the easy recipe. And you can make more or less of this recipe, just stick to 3 parts milk and 2 parts sugar and add vanilla until the taste is just right.)

Here are the instructions:

Stir milk, sugar, and vanilla together. Add snow until you reach desired consistency. Enjoy!

Pretty easy but so, so yummy! Even Carter was anxious to try some (although he wants to try just about everything these days).

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

I get giddy at the possibility of snow. I get extremely excited when the forecast calls for 6-10" of snow. I cannot contain myself when the snow actually starts falling and actually sticks to the ground.

How quickly this excitement can change to fear when the winds pick up, the power starts to flicker, and the temperature continues to drop. I began to wonder what we might do for our sleeping baby if we lost heat. But, thankfully we kept power despite the wind and the snow continued to fall most of the night and morning. It is just beautiful.