Garmin Half

Well, folks. I finally did it. It's been on my yearly to-dos for the last several years, and now I can finally check it off. Saturday, I ran my first half marathon in Olathe, Kansas. 

It was so much fun...except for the running part :) Actually, the running part was fun too, until I got to mile 10 or so. Then, it was anything but. I didn't really have a goal time - I didn't feel worthy of a goal time since I'm about the slowest runner ever - but I ran faster than I ever had during training, and so I was happy. My legs were not.

There was such a great energy at the race. I've done 10Ks before, and they all have lots of energy and excitement too, but something is different at a marathon. Everyone has had to train for multiple weeks (in our case either 12 or 18), all in preparation for this one single morning. There was an especially spirited feeling of unity among the racers this last Saturday following the sad events last Monday in Boston.

I drove down and stayed with a couple friends from Kirksville (Kirksville is a runner's dream - there are oodles of student wives just waiting to recruit people to their marathoning parties. Every year a decent sized group runs the Garmin race in Olathe. Seven of us ran on Saturday. Four did the half and the other three did the full.)

I left the kiddos at home with Phil. It was great to sleep through the night, but I missed seeing them at the race, and unfortunately I had no one to tote around my camera and take pictures. Therefore, I am consigned to this one. Story of my life.

If you've ever considered running a half, or a whole for that matter, you should absolutely do it!

Out for a paper

Remember when you couldn't read the news online?

Red head? Maybe...

Stacking Spices

Gabe's taken to stacking all sorts of things lately. Not just blocks anymore. The newest fad is spices.

I thought this next one was particularly impressive.

Cinq Mois

This little lady is five months! Her personality is really coming out now. She is super content, extremely happy, getting more vocal, and she loves loves loves attention from people. She is interested in Gabe and Phil. She loves it when I talk to her and make funny noises. She is wickedly ticklish on her chest and upper thighs. Rubi's been rolling over more and she's getting better at grabbing things to put in her mouth (still prefers that left hand though). She is not, however, interested in putting any weight on her legs or sitting up. She is supposed to be eating cereal everyday now, but all we've been able to accomplish with the spoon-feeding is a lot of gagging and throwing up. But, as our happy baby, she smiles even through the throw up. We love her so much!

These two are becoming better and better companions. Rubi watches Gabe everywhere he goes/runs. And, Gabe is constantly climbing in her crib to snuggle under her blanket with her, has to give her a kiss before bed, and has even been slightly protective over her when in large groups of kids.

How to get a toddler to watch conference

For those of you who don't know, this weekend (Saturday and Sunday) was the semi-annual General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Our prophet, apostles and other church leaders address us during five two-hour sessions throughout the weekend. This means that normal church meetings aren't held on Sunday, and that there is a lot of watching and listening going on at home. And that, my friends, makes for a very anxious two-year-old. In addition to blocks and puzzles and popcorn and milk and naps and running, Gabe also enjoyed some yogurt.

Gotta love yogurt. Gabe has a messy habit of putting his hand in his mouth after each spoonful goes in.

Even though he didn't listen to or understand any of conference, he always looked up when he heard "amen", and he always stopped to listen when the choir was singing. But, we all know what he really wanted to be watching the whole time was this:

New Firsts

Those of you familiar with Gabe know that he doesn't speak. Communication is our number one biggest issue and hardest obstacle around here. But...we're working on it. For the last month, we've had a speech therapist coming over once a week to teach us things/activities to do with him, including some sign language. And, we are proud to report that Gabe now has a vocabulary of one: please!

And, while Gabe is working on communicating with his hands, Rubi has been working on blowing bubbles with her mouth and tongue!