Labor Day Weekend

It would only be appropriate that this year it would be 90 degrees+ on a weekend when we are normally in jeans and long sleeve shirts. But it was the boys' favorite holiday of the year (yes, even more than Christmas perhaps), so we spent a full day of our Labor Day weekend at the Rock River Thresheree.

Ian and Sean save up all their money for the entire year for this weekend. They earn their money by helping Grandma when she comes (she always gives them quarters), filling up their jars with warm fuzzies for good behavior, or digging through mom and dad's pockets. I also tend to put coins in their banks when I find them in Charles' pockets while doing laundry. The day before the Thresheree, I took them to the bank to cash their coins in. They were so excited to see who had saved more! They were very close (perhaps it was set-up a bit by mom?), and came in at just about $35 each. They picked up a little more when a man in line at the bank saw how long they had been saving their money and he gave them each $2.

Of course as soon as we arrived, the boys wanted to start looking at all the different toy tractors so they could decide which they wanted to get. They have both pretty much set their hearts on getting a tractor and some sort of implement. If you've ever bought toy tractors, you know these things are not cheap. Charles and I were pretty clear to them that while we would help them figure out what they could and could not afford, we were not going to give them money for any toys. We said we would pay for their train tickets (which ends up being a moot point as you read on) and their lunch, but any extras were on them today! After much debate, they found a box set of 2 Farmall tractors (a brand they do not have yet) that allowed them to split the cost and still have enough for Ian to get a plow and Sean a gravity box. Good gracious, that is just too much for this city mom to handle!

This year, Jim was the Treasurer of the Thresheree and it turns out when you are the child/grandchild of the treasurer, you get to each your lunch in an air conditioned building! This was a relief and blessing since it's difficult enough to try to manage a lunch in a festival-like setting with 3 little ones. After lunch, we walked around the grounds and took in all the usual attractions. A new one for the boys this year was the corn box (which I've only ever seen at the County Fair before), and the pedal tractor races. I personally enjoyed the corn box because it was shady and the corn felt nice and cool on the hot day! If you haven't sat with your bare feet in a corn box, you haven't lived.

Following a break from the sun in the corn box, Ian and Sean rode in what can only be explained as "oil barrels painted for different tractor brands and pulled in a train like formation behind a tractor." This is Ian's 3rd year riding them, Sean's 2nd. Last year we had to chase the train o' barrels down when Sean started crying during the ride. This year was all smiles! The guy who puts this on is just awesome. He doesn't charge anything and does these rides all day. It's not sponsored at all by the Thresheree, it's just his own tractor he brought to show that pulls the train.

 Finally it was time for one of the boys' favorite activities  the steam train! I can still remember the first time I rode the train at the Thresheree. I was pregnant with Ian and still confused about what this whole Thresheree event was even about (although sometimes I'm still unsure...) If you don't know how steam trains work, because I didn't, they are powered by coal. Dirty coal that spatters you when you sit in the train cars behind the engine. I am quite sure that my one 10 minute trip on this train each year will shorten by life by at least 5 years. Anyhow, I have come to realize that kids get dirty and I must just deal with this part of the day that brings them so much joy. When we were eating lunch with Jim earlier, he had mentioned to Charles that he had talked to the train conductor and asked him if his grandsons could ride up front. Cool, I thought! The boys will LOVE that! Well wouldn't you guess they were just thrilled to ride up front... IN THE COAL CAR. Yes, my children (well, 2 of them) sat in the coal box with my husband for the train ride. You bet they had a blast, but man were they ever dirty.  They had a THOROUGH wash down after this event and I declared that to be a once in a lifetime event, aka not happening again next year.

It wasn't long after the train ride that it was about time to go home. We caught a few more little things here and there, but then worked our way to the exit and caught the next tractor to the giant parking lot in the farm field. If you are in the Rock County area and have kids that are interested in tractors, I cannot suggest this event enough. Just walking around and looking at all the different tractor models is entertainment enough for my boys, but there is so much more to do!

Are you wondering where Emmett was through all of this? He was there just being his sweet old self. Sleeping. Waving. Sweating.

Ian's 1st day of school!

Yesterday my oldest baby, Ian, had his very first day of school! I had been preparing him for several weeks, letting him know that soon he'd be starting school and he'd be going there almost every day. He didn't seem the tiniest bit phased by it. We took Sean and Emmett to the farm and I took pictures of him there (see below). Then I let him pick out where he wanted to eat for lunch (he chose Perkins), and we headed to school. He's in the afternoon class which starts at 12:15.

As soon as we got out of the car, I could tell he was nervous. As we entered the building, he started squeezing my hand tighter. Finally, as I sat down at one of the tiny tables to fill out a few papers, he was full on freaking out. He was grabbing me so tightly and begging me not to leave. He even wrote "MOM" on the top of one of the papers to try to convince me to stay.

Luckily, there were a few familiar faces there. This 4k is at the same center that his previous daycare is located, and the teacher from him 3 year old room is now the 4k assistant. I was so relieved to see her there as I know how much she adores Ian. She actually had to be the one to pry him off of me so I could leave. At least he wasn't the only one upset, almost the entire class was crying!

The next hours dragged on as I worked at home and wondered what he was doing. Did he stop crying? Did he feel like I abandoned him? Was he making friends? Learning? Having fun? I was pulling into the parking lot at 2:59, not a moment too soon. I peek in on him before letting him see me, and he was running around outside and looking like he was having a blast. PHEW! He teacher said he was a great listener and answered questions about the story at story time. She said he calmed down almost right away and had a great day.

As we drove home, I asked him how he day was. He said he had fun and played with other kids. They read a story but didn't do any crafts. He also said, "Mommy, I didn't learn things today." I asked him, "What did you want to learn that you didn't learn yet?" He said, "Santa's phone number." Oy.

All in all, it was a good day. It's so hard for me to believe that this was literally the first day of the next 18+ years. We now have a school-aged child and this will be our new normal till Emmett is 18 years old! After that, they're on their own ;-)

And now, my favorite part! The pictures!

Emmett is 7 Months Old!

On June 22nd, Emmett turned 7 months old! It's so hard for me to believe that my sweet baby, my littlest boy, is closer to a year old than to his birth! Emmett is like his big brothers in many ways, yet he is so different from them in many other ways. Anyone who meets Emmett immediately comments on his smiley nature and his big, blue eyes. After spending a few minutes with Emmett, you'll notice that he's such a happy and content baby. As long as he has someone he loves close by, he's just a happy little clam!

At 7 months old, Emmett is still without any teeth! He's loving solid food more and more every day, but he prefers soft bites of food rather than purees. He loves watching his brothers play and he loves touching Ginny. He sits up on his own very well and lunges for toys. He pushes up onto his hands and holds himself in plank position. He is taking a morning, afternoon and short evening nap. He is starting to sleep for longer stretches at night and has actually slept through the night several times now.

At 7 months old, Emmett is about 19 1/2 pounds. He wears a 12 month clothing is most brands.

Happy Half Birthday, Emmett!

Happy Half Birthday (on May 22nd) to my littlest man! At 6 months old, our blue-eyed boy is still incredibly smiley and flirts with everyone! He can sit up on his own and rolls tummy to back and back tummy. He loves eating his toes and anything else he can get into his mouth. He babbles a lot, his favorite saying being "Ba! Ba! Ba!".

At 18 pounds 11 ounces, he's at the 71st percentile for weight for his age (and the largest of our 3 boys at this age!), and 26.25 inches puts him at the 43rd percentile for height. He is mainly in 9 month clothing with a few 6 and 12 months mixed in, depending on brand.

We just started solid foods and we're taking it slow. So far his favorite foods are sweet potatoes and oatmeal.

Reflections on Running and my First Race...

On May 5th, I ran in my first 5k in 10 years! The last time I ran a 5k race was probably after my senior year of cross country. I can't remember much about it, other than it sucked and I only did it because my friends were doing it. This one was totally different. There were so many reasons that I wanted to start running again.

When you become a mom, especially a mom of several, you sometimes find it easy to "lose" yourself. You're so busy putting your little one's first that you forget how important it is to recharge and do something for yourself. Getting back into running has helped me find myself again. Although I'm still not getting very good sleep at night, I feel more energized when I run. I feel better about myself because it's helping me shed the baby weight. That one hour or so I get to myself 5 times per week allows me to listen to my music and be alone in my thoughts without someone yelling, "MOMMY!!" Being a mom is my most important job and I've found I'm a better mom when I have this little bit of time alone.

I started running in late February. At that time, I wasn't able to even run for 10 minutes straight and it took me 30 minutes to cover 2 miles. I was running 3-5 times per week, depending on the week. I quickly became (re)addicted and every week I wanted to improve upon my times and distances from the previous week. My mid-March, I had signed up for a race. No turning back! My original goal for my 5k was to run it in 10 minute miles, so I wanted to complete the 3.1 mile race in 31 minutes. After several weeks, I found that I could complete a 3 mile run in about 30 minutes and I was able to run longer distances at this pace. I adjusted my goal to be sub-29 minutes.

Several weeks after I started running, I really started battling with my plantar fasciitis. It's something I've had for many, many years. I remember having the stabbing pain in the bottom of my foot back when I skated, but not knowing at the time what it was. Anyhow, the running had certainly aggravated it. I was icing, heating, and stretching as much as I could. I was also in so much pain that I was spending a lot of time limping. As my race got closer, I had planned to rest the Thursday and Friday before the Saturday race. The week before my race, somewhere between the limping and favoring my left foot's plantar fasciitis and running hills, I sprained my ankle. I did a 6 mile run the Sunday before the race and it was PAINFUL! Slow and PAINFUL! At that point, I figured I had 2 options. I could complete my planned runs for the week and possibly be unable to race on Saturday from the pain, or I could rest the entire week and hope for the best on race day. I choose to rest the whole week.

Saturday morning came quickly. I got up early before anyone else and had a bowl of oatmeal, a banana, and water. I changed into my race clothes and soon Charles, my mom (who was coming to help with the boys), and all the little guys were up. We got ready and headed to Monona. It was pretty chilly but that's how I prefer it to be when I run. I had my iPod loaded and ready to go. First stop was a bathroom break (port-o potties, awesome.), then I did some light jogging. Now mind you, it was almost a WEEK since I had run so I had no idea what it would feel like. Well, it hurt :( I'd come this far though, so I wasn't going to just quit. I lined up somewhere near the middle of the pack at the starting line and soon enough we were off. The first mile sucked. Actually, the first half mile I almost stopped. The pain in my ankle felt like I had bone chips floating around. Sharp, stabbing pain where my ankle felt so week. After I was in my groove for a bit, it improved somewhat. Mile 2 passed and as much as I wanted to run faster, my foot would just not cooperate. The coarse was flat and nice, but the one thing I didn't like was that it was through neighborhoods, so you couldn't really see where you were going, just lots of turning through city streets. At the end, it was like you hit the 3 mile marker very suddenly, there wasn't really a nice long place for a good kick at the end. So apart for the last 1/10th of a mile, I felt like my body never got to THAT point in the race. You know that point where it's not your legs giving out, but your actual body giving out? That's where I like to get to towards the end of races, just so you know you gave it everything. I certainly did give it all I had left for that last stretch, but I just wish it was a little bit longer.

I crossed the finish line with the race clock saying 29:01. I was initially so disappointed that I missed my goal time by 2 seconds! Well, what I had forgotten to take into consideration is that the race was timed by timing chips in our race bibs. The clock didn't start for your own time till you crossed the starting line, rather than when the gun when off. So, my official time was 28:49! I was thrilled, especially since I had so much pain!

So the statistics...
*61st place out of 164 total runners
*28th overall female out of 101 females
*5th of out 23 in my age/sex group (20-29 year old females)
*9:17 minute miles

Below is a picture of me crossing the finish line. It's a horrible picture of me, and even better it's a picture of a computer image (I'm not paying for a disgusting picture of me), but it's proof that I CAN do this! I have one more picture of Ian, Sean, and I before the race that I will upload when I can locate the USB cord for our point & shoot camera!

Next race... Run to the Rhythm 5 MILE race on June 30th!

3 Boys at 5 Months!

I love seeing their similarities and differences! I think they're all pretty cute!

Ian

Sean

Emmett

Why you should teach your child to wipe their own a$$...

Since my birthday was on Saturday and we were at a wedding, Ian and I went to the grocery store to buy me a cake tonight. Normally, I'd be all fancy and bake a cake from scratch, but I'm tired. So cake from Woodman's it was! It was so cute watching him pick out the cake. He made sure to pick something that was for Mommy. He couldn't decide between the chocolate cake with white frosting and pink flowers or the chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and pink, purple and green sprinkles. We ended up coming home with the chocolate cake.

After we were home, him and Sean went downstairs while I did some work on the computer and Charles rocked Emmett. After a while, Sean came upstairs and sat with us. I kept thinking I was hearing something so I muted the TV a few times. We had the dining room windows open, so it sounded like the little boy down the street playing outside since it was so distant. About 20 minutes after Sean came upstairs, I muted the TV again because I heard this distant sound. I decided to go check on Ian, although he will usually play with his trains downstairs for a long time or he'll get on his computer and go on PBSkids.org. I get to the top of the stairs and realize it's HIM screaming. I hear this tiny, muffled screaming and bolt down the stairs as fast as I can. In my head I'm trying to figure out WHY it's so distant sounding. Then I realize he's in the bathroom with the door closed!

There are few sights as sad as walking into the bathroom to see your child barely holding themselves up on the toilet SOBBING! The first thing he says to me, "I've been crying for HOURS!". If you know Ian, you know he's a tad dramatic. But in reality, poor kid has been sitting on the John for a good 20 minutes waiting for us to wipe his butt! I wiped him, gave him lots of hugs and apologized over and over. Then explained to him that he could have hopped off the toilet and came upstairs! He was so worried about getting wiped correctly that he wouldn't leave the toilet!

We went upstairs and he was telling us about it. I asked him what he was yelling and he said he yelled, "Mommy! Daddy! Sean!" he also said he yelled, "I'm going to miss the cake!". As the story unfolded, it turns out Ian actually told Sean to come upstairs and get one of us. Sean did come upstairs, but he apparently got distracted by something and ended up finding a candle and brought that up to show us, not mentioning anything about his poor brother stranded downstairs!

Lesson learned: Get an intercom system for the downstairs bathroom, or teach Ian to wipe his own ass.

Unrelated, how adorable is this picture of the three boys at the wedding on Saturday?!

Emmett 3 and 4 months old!

Angry Birds AND a Swaddle Blanket?!

If you know our little family, you know Ian and Sean are both obsessed with all things Angry Birds! If you know Emmett, well, he loves being swaddled! Enter, the Angry Birds Swaddle Blanket from SwaddleDesigns!

I'm entering to win this blanket for Emmett over on the blog, One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest. Hopefully we're the lucky winners! We'll find out May 1st!

Running!

If you're wondering why you're not seeing updates on my mileage anymore, it's because I'm now keeping track on an app on my phone :) My first 5k is the Lake Monona 5k on May 5th! I'll be sure to post about it afterwards!

Q & A with Ian and Sean!

At lunch today, I asked the big boys a bunch of questions, inspired by this Pinterest Pin. Some of these are pretty funny!

Q: What does Mommy always say to you?
I: "Stop! I mean, today you said come inside before the store comes."

Q: What makes Mommy happy?
S: "I can't talk anymore because I'm a statue."

Q: What makes Mommy happy?
I: "When I don't bother the baby."

Q: What does Mommy do that makes you laugh?
S: "Maybe you have to ask Ian."

Q: What does Mommy to that makes you laugh?
I: "tickle!"
S: "I tickle myself!"

Q: How old is Mommy?
S: "I think you're this (shows hand). One, two, free, four."

Q: What is Mommy really good at?
I: "Washing diapers." OMG. I'm a big fat loser.

Q: Where is Mommy's favorite place to go?
S: "Maybe Culvers?"

Q: What is Mommy's favorite food?
I: "Coffee"

Q: How do you know that Mommy loves you?
I: "When you hug me."

Q: What is Mommy not very good at doing?
I: "When you're holding the baby, you're not very good at bending down."

Q: What do you and Mommy do together?
S: "Clean up the house."

Q: What was Mommy like when she was a little girl?
I: "You holded Aunt Kristina."
Q: Did I do anything else?
I: "I don't know, I wasn't there."

Funny thoughts from little minds...

I got a call last week that Calvin, Raymond's 12 year old lab, was very sick and probably wouldn't make it through the day. After what we went through with Penny last year, I was dreading explaining this to the boys. We got ready and headed out there. On the way there, I started explaining to them that Calvin was very sick and today he was probably going to go to Doggy Heaven to play with Penny. I told them that in heaven, our bodies aren't sick or broken any more and we can be happy and run around and play all day long.

They both thought about it and seemed to digest it fine. Then Ian told me, "Mommy, if I want to call God, I don't know his phone number." I told him that God doesn't have a phone number, we talk to him through prayer and we can pray anytime we want. He said he knew that but wanted a phone number. Then after a few seconds he said, "I think his number is 0. Since 0 means none and he doesn't have a number." Sure...

Then Ian wanted us to say a prayer about Calvin. I told him he could say one if he wanted, but he wanted me to do it. I asked him what were the things he wanted to pray for. Praying for everything he wanted to include, this is what I said, "Dear God, thank you for the food for our bodies. Calvin is coming up to see you soon. Please when we are driving to Lola's house, help us not hit any dogs or kids. Amen"

Week 7 Distance

Tuesday: 3 miles (34:19)
Wednesday: 1 mile at race pace, intervals- 30 sec on, 60 sec off (x6), 1 mile at race pace

Week 6 Distance

Sunday: 4.19 miles (43:14)

Tuesday: 5.03 miles (52:04)
Wednesday: 30 Day Shred Levels 1 & 2
Friday: 2.5 miles (24:23)
Total- 11.72 miles

Week 5 Distance

Sunday: 4.04 miles, 43:46
Tuesday: 3 miles, 32:26
Wednesday: Cross Training- Level 1 & 2 of the 30 Day Shred
Thursday: This interval workout, followed by 1 mile at race pace, 2.7 miles (31 minutes)
Friday: 3 miles, 33:33
Saturday: Bike- 6 miles, 39:48

Total: 12.74 running, 6 biking

Week 4 Distance

Sunday: First run outside! Charles drove me exactly 3 miles away from his parents' farm and I ran back. (33 minutes)
Wednesday: 3 miles (36 minutes)
Thursday: 30 Day Shred
Friday: 30 Day Shred

Total: 6 miles

Week 3 Distance

Each run starts with 5 minute warm-up included in the time
Sunday: Intervals- 20 minutes of 2 minutes at 3.5-4MPH, 3 minutes at 6.5-7MPH. Total 2miles 
Tuesday: 3.7 miles (42 minutes)
Wednesday: 2 miles (24 minutes)
Saturday: 4 miles (49 minutes)


Total: 11.7 miles

Week 2 Distance

Each run starts with 5 minute warm-up included in the time
Monday: 3.2 miles (40 minutes)
Tuesday: 3.2 miles (38 minutes)

Total: 6.4 miles (sick kids won this week, ugh.)

Week 1 Distance

Each run starts with 5 minute warm-up which is included in the time
Sunday: 2.0 miles (30 minutes)
Monday: 2.17 miles (30 minutes)
Wednesday: 2.64 miles (33 minutes)
Thursday: 3.03 miles (40 minutes)

Total: 9.84 miles

My Sweet Boy!

After Charles got the boys into bed last night, I went in to kiss them goodnight. I noticed Ian had a small piece of paper in his hand and I asked him what it was. He said, "It's a picture of Emmett". I asked him why he was sleeping with a picture of Emmett and he said, "Because I love him." What a sweet brother!

Emmett at 1 and 2 Months

At 1 month old, Emmett weighed 10 pounds, 15 ounces.

At 2 months old, Emmett weighed 12 pounds, 5 ounces. He was 23 inches long.

Project 365 + 1: Day 12

Emmett watching his first snow!

Project 365 + 1: Day 11

Brotherly Love

Project 365 + 1: Day 10

Moving Day at work, new home office!

Project 365 + 1: Day 9

At work with Mom

Project 365 + 1: Day 8

At the park in January!

Project 365 + 1: Day 7

Project 365 + 1: Day 6

Bedtime Story

Project 365 + 1: Day 5

Brownie Batter

Project 365 + 1: Day 4

Emmett's 6 week smirk

Project 365 + 1: Day 3

Rhyme Time

Project 365 + 1: Day 2

Charles taught Sean this "Puppy Face".

Project 365 + 1: Day 1

Kristina and Brooklyn came down to visit for the weekend and we had all the cousins in their matching PJ's! Brooklyn LOVES holding Emmett (or Omlette as she calls him).

Project 365 + 1

I'll be the first to admit that I royally stink at recording memories for my kids. Ian's babybook ends at about a year. We brought Sean's to the hospital and put his footprints in it. Emmett... poor guy doesn't even have one. I've tried paper journals and found that I hate hand writing and it takes much longer than doing it on the computer. Blogging is probably the one thing that I could (and should) make time for. Since Emmett was born 6 weeks ago, I've told myself that I need to try to do 1 post per week (you can see that is going well...) I also need to make sure I'm taking pictures of Emmett on a regular basis so he's not the typical youngest child without any pictures!

I came across Project 365 +1 (because of the Leap Year) through some mutual friends and thought it would something that I could manage. My goal with this project is 3 things:

1. Take more pictures of my kids, or family, or life in general.
2. Remind myself that snapshots create the best memories, not perfect portraits
3. Back away from the picture editing and accept pictures for how they are. Since our laptop crashed, the dinosaur desktop we're currently making due with doesn't have Photoshop. 

I may not post a picture daily, but my goal is to TAKE a picture daily. Some will be with my DSLR, some will be with my point and shoot, and some will be with my phone.

So today (actually... yesterday), begins Project 365 + 1!