Daddy's Boys...

Every day when Ryan gets home from work - it's a race to who gets daddy first! 

It's pretty special!



Yikes! 13 Weeks to Go!

 

A couple people have asked how my training is going for the half marathon in April - so thought I'd throw in an update... Also so that someday in the future if I decide to train for another one, I can look back and remember this craziness!  :-)

So here's the quick story!  After I had Ethan, I was anxious to start running again... So after about 6 wks, I went to Fleet Feet in Fayetteville and they told me I needed a "neutral" shoe.  I had a gift card to Nike.com so they suggested the Pegasus.  I went online and customized this shoe!  As you can see - I ordered the silver shoe and had the swoosh this cool green color... love these shoes!  They are sooooooo slick!

So..... I start running... I started slow, as you should.. adding about a half mile a week.  I started noticing I was getting some shin splints... not too bad at first but still crappy.  I got online and realized that I needed to be doing some stretching that I wasn't doing.  I did that and even took a week to rest up.  Started running again - did a couple 4 mile runs that felt awesome breathing - wise but my shins were on fire!  So I took 2 weeks off and started investigating... new shoes, check.  stretching, check.  slowly adding mileage, check.  What the heck!?  So I tried running again, this time - I could barely walk after!  Not cool... I'm freaking out cuz my half marathon is April 30th - approaching quickly!  So I went to Rush Running w/ my shoes.  They put me on a treadmill, videotaped me and quite frankly told me I was in the OPPOSITE kind of shoe that I should have been in!!  I over-pronate SO MUCH when I run and I'm running in a neutral shoe so my shins/feet are taking a major hit everytime I run.  Not only that, but I was in the wrong size, badly!  My feet measure a size 4 on both (I know - small!).  The smallest any shoe like this runs is a size 6.  The Pegasus I had was in a size 6.  I actually needed a 6 1/2 Wide!  Woops!  So Rush Running was so great... they tried me in several shoes and put me back on the treadmill to see how the shoe fit/ran different and we found a good match in the Mizuno Inspire! 

The other thing is there is a good chance I have actually a stress fracture on the shins from running when they were hurt.  I actually haven't visited a doc about this yet - I took off another 2 weeks and tried running my first run yesterday - just 2 miles so I can start slow and definitely still felt some strain on my shins but overall, thousands times better.  I am going to take the advice of a good friend/pro runner and just use the eliptical for a few more days.  I'm getting nervous cuz my half is 13 weeks away!  But if I injure myself so bad that I can't run it, it will all be a waste anyway, so I have to make sure I'm 100% before I start back again.  So I may just try another 2mi tomorrow and see how it goes.....  If I didn't have this race, I'd give myself the full 6weeks you're supposed to take off w/ a stress fracture but I just don't have that kind of time!!!  So hopefully these crazy legs will survive!  I'm ready to run!!!!  :-)

Ps:  If you know anyone who wants to buy a super cool pair of practically brand new Nike Pegasus, size 6, let me know! 

Jackson and Daddy's Art!

Jackson's getting full use of his new art easel... I think Daddy enjoys it as much as J does.

Mommy's Favorite Boys!!

Professional Pics!

Ryan and I took the boys to "The Picture People" on Friday to have some pics taken of the 2 of them, finally!  Really, it was because I have these pictures of Jackson from when we lived in LR of his hands, feet, body that I wanted to recreate of Ethan.  So I used that as a great excuse to have pics taken of the two of them.  I would normally hire Kim or Stacey to take pics of them but this was really just a quick cheap photo shoot so that I could get those pics recreated.... I think the Picture People did great!  Jackson was NOT in the mood for pictures at all - most of the ones you see here were taken at the very very beginning when he was still willing to smile.  Toward the end - after only about 30 min, he was done!  But they were super patient and did the poses I asked them to do, which was great!  We ended up buying the whole CD w/ all the pics on it cuz we couldn't decide - and that way they are OUR pics that we can do what we want w/ them.  I'll probably have family pics done this summer.  :)

Happy 6 Month Birthday!!

So today is Ethan's 6 month birthday!

We celebrated by going to the doctor and getting shots!  Yuk!  He was so happy and then as soon as he realized where we were, it's like he remembered!  He got MAD!  He seriously has the most explosive temper of any other child I have ever been in the same presence as.  No joke - it's impressive.

So here's the stats!

He weighs 17 pounds, 10 oz (54.54%) - up from 51.99% on 12/2

He is 27" long (72.51%) - up from 48.48% on 12/2

His head is 43.4 cm and I didn't get the % on that one.

I discovered at this appointment that Ethan has 2 bottom teeth!!!  I had no idea!  I swear I just looked in that boy's mouth a couple days ago and nothing there but now, he has 2 teeth on the bottom and super red swollen gums up top.  YAY for those cute little bottom teeth!

Ethan is hitting all of his milestones so far.  Rolls both directions and grabs everything... he is very good at finding that paci and putting it back in (which I appreciate at night!).  He sleeps like an angel, even though we went through a month and half of quite a rough spell of that.. He's back to sleeping great again!  He laughs out loud - especially when Jackson is in his view!  He absolutely LOVES his big brother so much - it's pretty precious to watch!  I've been videotaping them a lot lately!

Doc said he looks great!  Going to continue on the Prevacid and start adding some baby food to his diet.  Since Ethan is still growing well, doc said he is fine w/ his feedings and how up and down that is...

He says overall Ethan is just perfect!  :)  I agree.

So anxious to crawl!

First EVER Murder Mystery Party at Stearle House!

Saturday was a crazy fun day!  Ryan and I hosted our first ever murder mystery party at our home.  The "murder" took place at a wedding reception of the daughter of an italian mobster and the son of a wanna-get rich family.  Ryan played the bride's father and I played the photographer since I was also facilitating the whole night.  I took about 300 pictures - so I chose just my favorties to post on this blog. Everyone seemed to have a really good time... some had TOO good of a time.. haha!

This is Ryan and I before everyone got there.  Finally finished putting it all together!  Ryan had to take off work on Friday for us to get everything done!  We finished about 10 minutes before the party started!

We transformed our living room into a wedding reception.

We made these placecards for people - this was mine.

We hired one of my GREAT friends - Katie - to bartend for us.  We set her up with a rented bar, complete w/ a fully stocked liquor stash.  Ryan even had it set up with christmas lights!

This is our "bride" and "groom" - Heather Porter and Brandon Craft.  They met for the first time Saturday!  They played their parts perfectly!!!

Ryan and his "bride" Lisa Henderson

Rachel was the money bags girl - she would bribe/blackmail people to get money.  She bet me, and about 4 other people, $100 (fake money of course) to surprise tackle Kim, playing "cousin of the bride"to the ground... Here you can practically hear that Jersey accent saying "fooooget awhbout it".  It was so funny!

Ryan and our neighbor Dave - who played his drunk brother.  :)

Emily (Grandma Selma), Heather and Lisa.  Emily was the 2nd youngest person of the 22-person party, playing the oldest - and pregnant at that!  She's a great sport.  She won the award of 'best dressed.'

Lisa, Richie (who played a security guard), Emily and Heather

Oh no - our bride was killed!!!  Who can the murderer be!?

Derek (playing a groomsman while sporting an Australian Accent), Ryan and Brandon

Jamie (playing the best man, Wade) and Kacie (playing the maid of honor, Trisha) met for the first time Saturday and played a couple - well, she thought they were a couple - his character didn't really like her.. They played the parts so great!!!

Jamie had a lot of fun... we found him hidden under the table - maybe he was hiding from "Trisha."

Uh-oh... Jeremy brought a "gun" (fake!!!).  Jeremy played Harry Hitt - a suspicious wedding guest.

Me and Heather!

Hitmen should not smile!

I LOOOOOVE Emily's face in this.... They all 3 crack me up!