Today was Jackson's first gymnastics class!!! We signed up because I knew that this boy has some energy to get out of his system and I just need to give him an outlet to use it! So I found a place that a friend took her son and loved... they highly suggested I put him in the "younger" class at least until he showed signs that he can follow instructions with me being gone.... (In the 3 year old class, I wouldn't be standing there w/ him - I could only watch from the window...). And since he isn't quite 3 yet, I said ok to that... Well, when we got there, he was beyond excited... he could hardly wait to jump on all the fun stuff that was there.... He absolutely loved it. He needs some practice with waiting his turn, standing in line but that's probably any child at this age... So I told the teacher that I'll do the "younger" class w/ him this month but starting at the beginning of June, I want to move him to the older class. I think he'd be fine in that class as of now, but it can't hurt to get a few more weeks under his belt. Unfortunately, the class we went to today was MUCH younger kids - like some of them weren't even 2 yet! But he said he definitely wants to do more gymnastics, so we'll do it as long as he wants to. :)
My sweet baby boy has had a rough start in his little short life. He was born perfect, and for that - I am utterly thankful to God! However, between his immediate gag refluxes, acid reflux, allergies, nonstop ear infections - this boy hasn't caught much of a break. Ry took him to our scheduled appt w/ the ENT on Friday and the conclusion was that he still has fluid in his ears that's lasted longer than 3 mos now - it's not draining and it's a nasty yellow color. Doc said we could wait on tubes if we wanted to - even though he thinks Ethan would greatly benefit from them - but since Ryan's insurance ends at the end of this month - and we don't get "normal" insurance again til Aug, we thought it's best to go ahead and get it overwith. I wish I could say I'm as excited as many people I've talked to (especially my mother) but at the end of the day, this is still surgery and that still makes me nervous. I took him to get checked out today since he's had a pretty nasty runny nose and cough (due to the runny nose) for about a week. Doc looked him over and said we're still on for tomorrow, 7am. Thanks to everyone for the prayers! I am not looking forward to this - especially with Ryan being in Scottsdale this week, but the show must go on - and the mommy always does. :-) I'll update more tomorrow.
I need to brag on Jackson for a minute.... So when we were in Nashville, I found this puzzle for Jackson - hadn't seen it before and he has put the 2 he has together about a thousand times, so he was due for a new puzzle. The other ones he has have 24 pieces and this one is 35 pieces.... but I could tell he was ready for more pieces now. I gave it to him on the terms that he had to take a good nap first. So when he did, he could not wait to dig into this puzzle! My grandma and I sat in complete awh that this child put this puzzle together BY HIMSELF on the FIRST TRY in about 10 minutes! He didn't even really know to look at the box... He just knew how "Thomas and Percy" should look! I couldn't believe it. I went to grab my camera to take a picture to show Ryan and when I found my camera, J had pulled Thomas and Percy off his train table and had them sitting on the table JUST LIKE THIS. I'm thinking I may have a Type A personality child on my hands.... Like mother like son? :-) Love my boy!
Mission Accomplished! Connie and I have been training and training and training.... and it's finally over! On Thursday, we left for Nashville - around 5am. It's about an 8 hour drive... But it went by fast! My AMAZING and generous neighbor Lisa let us stay in her unbelievable condo in Nashville... It was pretty high class and fancy! We were really centrally located so it made it really easy to navigate around his very musical city! On Thursday, when we arrived - we went exploring a little and had dinner at Cantina Laredo... yum! We are both major homebodies so we were glad to come back and relax at the condo! We watched "The Town" - really good! 
corral 19 or 20 (can't remember).... I was just getting impatient waiting! My nerves were super high - I could not believe I was about to run 13.1 miles!!! There were SO MANY people... I mean, I knew it was going to be big but I had NO idea it was going to be THAT big! When we were running, I had to really concentrate to dodge runners.... You don't want to step on anyone but there were just so many people.... I was worried because in all of my training - since Ethan was 4 wks old - I have yet to be able to really train without injury. I had shin splints - very very bad - and a lingering "runners knee" and around mile 6, I felt my left knee start to hurt.... bad! I told myself I would only stop at water stations so I would wait til then, grab 2 cups of water and try to walk out that knee pain.... Around mile 9, I was feeling the knee pain in a big way, so I told Connie to run ahead of me since i was running much slower than her.... Then, I had to really play a mental game. Around mile 11, I got a cramp in my right calf. I thought to myself - ok, 2 more miles, 2 more miles, 2 more miles! The energy at this race was incredible! People were cheering for us the whole way - people were on the sidelines w/ signs and yelling such encouraging things to us... it really helped! The weather could not have been more perfect - almost no wind, about 55-60 degrees and sunny. The course was relatively flat too - which was helpful. 
When my GPS rang out mile 12, I talked myself into running hard. I just wanted that finish line so bad.... For the last half mile or so, there were SO many people screaming and taking pictures and it was so lively! It made it easy to just run run run!!! So by the time I got through that finish, I thought I was dead. Every single joint and muscle hurt. My knees were on fire - my calf was burning and my shins felt like I took a hammer to them. After the race, Connie and I came home and showered as fast as we could and we headed to our massage appointments! After an awesome, much needed massage, we had pedicures and really relaxed and reminisced about what we had accomplished. :) We had dinner reservations at Maggiano's after and enjoyed some wine and great food! I was in bed at 830p - I slept like a baby. I don't think I moved all night. I woke feeling extremely sore and ready to see my babies! I've spent as much time as I could today just loving on them.... Such a great experience and I'm so thankful I got to experience with my long long LONGtime friend Connie Jo! Thanks girl! We did it!! Love ya!
