Practical Running Advice & Anecdotes: 2013 Race Schedule, 1st Edition

Practical Running Advice & Anecdotes: 2013 Race Schedule, 1st Edition: If you've followed me here from the other blog, then you might recall that I was not sure that the way I had the new page set up would reall...

Water Park

I'm not really a spur of the moment type of person, but this morning when we ventured outside to take care of Aunt Beth's dog at 8:30 and it was already hot I thought it might be a good day for swimming.  Then I realized that we are quickly running out of time to go to the water park at our local park.  So, I made the suggestion, Eric begrudgingly agreed, and by 11:00 we were on the road (we did a lot of other stuff in that 2.5 hours!)...

I LOVE our local park.  They have a really nice play area, water park, lake, a one mile and 8 mile paved walking trail, hiking trails, campgrounds, etc.  Lots to do, in other words, for a meager $10 per year.  As you might have guessed, Nat's first water park experience was a hands-down winner:

she didn't hesitate long before running full steam ahead into the spray

and once she figured out the slide, we couldn't get her off of it

She was so polite, waiting her turn and even encouraging another little girl to go down.

She didn't even put up much of a stink when an older lady, who insisted on going down the slide with her granddaughter, who I might add was older than Natalie, lost her balance getting up at the end and stepped right on Nat's hand.  She has a wonderfully huge bruise to prove it!  No apology from the lady, either.  

she loved this so much, we should probably install one at our house...

hopefully the chlorine was high in the water, Natalie drank a lot of it!

At the end of the day, this proved to be a winning idea.  Had I planned better, we would have packed a lunch instead of bagging it in after 1.5 hours and heading home.  Even Eric agreed that this was a great idea!  We decided this would be a great place to have a kid's birthday party, if either of our children had summer birthdays, that is....

Changes to the blog

I've been toying with the idea of changing the blog a little bit.  The main goal will still be Natalie (and soon, the baby), and all of our adventures.  What I've been considering though is adding a few pages.  One I want to focus on running, which I already started, and you should be able to find by clicking on the "Running" tab at the top.  The other I want to focus on photography.  I have a wonderful camera, and at one point I knew all the features and was really into taking pictures.  Eric also set me up with a great photo editing program that I've barely messed with.  So, I am hoping that by eventually adding a photos page, I can put up a picture or two a week that uses new functions or features on my camera and also has been through the photo editor.  Make sense?  Otherwise, the main part of the blog will remain unchanged.  I might, at some point, mess with some of the colors or something, but for now I think that will remain.  Leave your thoughts or comments below if you wish!

The Fun You Can Have with a Boot Cup

Remember the boot-shaped cup Natalie acquired from this year's girls' trip and dinner at the Dixie Stampede?  She kept the cup as a souvenir, and today brought it to me proudly and asked for "wa-wa." Why not, right?  As long as she keeps it in the kitchen or outside, I figured what's the worst that can happen, a little spilled water?

So, here you go.  Picture evidence that drinking water from a boot cup makes a toddler immensely happier than a plain old sippy...

proud of her find in the cupboard

notice the drip marks down her shirt already?

I didn't let this bother me, even once!  Not even after she deliberately poured the remains of the cup on the newly mopped hardwood when I informed her it was nap time.

Isn't she sweet?

boot cup joins us outside for play time

Wait, when did my 19 month-old turn 3?  Is it just me or does she suddenly look a lot older?

(though, I hope she has a little more hair by her 3rd birthday)

Nat is saying all kinds of words these days, which I find thoroughly entertaining, and a lot better than talking to her and the cat without getting a response all day.

I find her speech to be particularly endearing.  Maybe because it's her, or because I think her voice is just the best.  Or maybe because most of what she says I think is astonishingly clear for someone who basically started speaking 6 weeks ago.  (Funny aside: Natalie has been saying two words that Eric and I have been struggling to determine the meaning of.  They sound like "goat cheese" and "sheb sheb" when she says them.  We've been desperately asking her to point to what she wants.  We sound like we are playing our own version of Mad Gab with one another trying to figure out what she is saying.  And, if you repeat them back to her that way: "sheb sheb" she thinkings it's just the funniest thing she's ever heard.  Today, I served her grilled cheese (goat cheese) and strawberries (sheb sheb) for lunch.  Hallelujah!  The mystery is over.  The meaning was confirmed by me asking her a thousand times to name the objects on her plate.  Whew.)

Where was I?  Some of the words that Natalie says are coming out with a southern accent.  I wish you could hear her little voice say "all gone."  It's priceless.  It even has a hand gesture.  I think my three favorite words she says are: "Cici" (which sounds kind of like she-shees), "horsey" (which comes out like horshies), and "fuzz."  I laugh every time she says fuzz.  It also has a gesture.  She got a mouth full of cat hair earlier this week, which prompted the learning of the word.  

BABY WATCH 2012:

Time has officially come, I guess, to start really getting ready for the new baby.  Still no name decided, though Nat is still committed to Jack.  Yesterday she did also throw out "Nat nat" as a suggestion.  Seems we already have one of those, though.  We are approximately 8 weeks away from d-day.  I wasn't particularly concerned about anything just yet, until my last 2 doctor's appointments in which two separate practitioners voiced worry about how quickly labor could go.  This seems like a positive, right?  Apparently not.  There is some talk about induction just to be certain we make it to the hospital.  Odd, no?

Natalie is napping in her new room, and she is completely moved out of the nursery, except for sleeping in there at night.  The drawers in the nursery are filled with newborn boy clothes.  I have a list made of baby items we need to pick up, mostly just little things since all of our newborn stuff can be reused (the bonus of not having found out Natalie was a girl, and having babies close together).

I suppose I could post a picture of the growing baby belly.  I remember being fairly diligent about taking those pictures with Natalie, but have yet to take a single belly profile shot and we are already at 32 weeks....

Singing in the Rain

It finally rained!  And got cooler!  Double bonus.

One of the best parts of being a parent is that it truly allows you to be a kid again.  There are so many opportunities to be serious that I think it would be really easy to miss out on the times when you can show your kids just how fun it can be to have fun unless you're looking out for them.  Tonight presented one of those moments.  I promised Natalie that we would go outside after dinner, then it started to rain.  At first we looked glumly outside as it poured.  Then, Eric said (mostly in passing, I think) that Nat just wanted to go splash in puddles.  And I thought, "why not?"

So, we picked out sweatshirts (yes, sweatshirts!!!), donned our Crocs, and headed out.  Natalie was totally into it from the start.  I wondered if she'd mind the heavy rain, but she sure didn't.  We found the biggest puddles we could and ran at them, jumped in them, and splashed.  Natalie even fell into one.  I did stop short of sliding down the mud hill though.  

But, we took a long walk down the road and even found a better puddle in one of our neighbor's driveways.  It was wonderful.  

The grown up me would have loved to curl up on the couch with a hot chocolate and a movie.  The grown up me also felt much younger and happier watching my baby run around in the cool rain, soaked, and thoroughly pleased with a fun new adventure.  

Zoo Date

It was nice and cool this morning, so Natalie and I scarfed breakfast, got dressed, packed snacks, and headed to the zoo before it got too hot.

Here's Natalie catching some shade and waiting on the train ride to start:

Nat loves the train, which is clearly not obvious from this picture

We shared an ice cream to cool off!

Nat and I prove that we make a good team, because she ate the sprinkles and I ate the ice cream, and we were both perfectly happy.  

By 1:00, it was hot, Natalie was tired, and we had seen enough, so we headed home.  Showers, fresh clothes, an ice water and popsicles, and we were set for an afternoon of playing...

We also had some housework to do.

Nat demonstrates that folding laundry can boost your wardrobe in unexpected ways.

Valances double as skirts!

Here are some thoughts on the zoo...Eric and I talked about buying a family zoo pass last spring, then we got one for Christmas!  It is a wonderful gift that we just LOVE!!  Our pass allows us unlimited opportunities to head to the zoo, and on days when it's hot (like today), we don't have to feel the least bit guilty about leaving after just a few hours (versus if we had paid for the day, we might have felt obligated to stay).  We can pick and choose what to do, since we can come back anytime.  Nat loves the animals, and so getting to see them never gets old for her, especially if we make a half day of our visit and don't always see the same thing.  The Cincinnati Zoo is hilly, and Natalie has reached the age where it's much more fun to push her stroller than ride in it, so a zoo visit ends up being a great way for her to burn off some excess energy.  

And, what a learning opportunity?  Today, Natalie touched an albino corn snake AND some kind of spiny-tailed lizard named Phil.  She was so brave, marching right up to that snake and sticking her hand out.  She can't stop "talking" about it!  She points at the fingers she touched him with and makes a snake "hiss."  And we've talked about the snake, the fact that it didn't have legs, that it was orange with pink eyes, what he felt like, and on and on and on.  See, isn't the zoo great?

Shoes!

It was a fun game to play to guess what Natalie's interests might be before she was born, and before we even knew she would be a girl.  I'm far from the kind of parent who agrees in pushing your kids into sports, or any other activity for that matter, but it is a little exciting when she picks up things that I like.  So far, if I had to honestly say, I would have to say that she is a pretty even mix of both Eric and me.  Seeing her take so much interest in all my running gear though does make my heart a little happier.

For example, she loves to wear my reflective vest, armband, and watch.  And here, she demonstrates her love for running shoes!  Or, maybe she'll just love shoes, like any good woman should...

In any case, is there much that's cuter than a kid tromping around in adult shoes?  I think not.

Jet Setter

Natalie got this little backpack months ago, before she could even walk, maybe.  She's been playing with the horse in the front, which detaches and has a cool pocket for hiding toys in the back, ever since.  We recently rediscovered the backpack part when we moved her to her new room.  It's been going everywhere with her, filled with various different toys at different times...

In other news, Nat's big kid room is as finished as it can be for now.  I'm still working feverishly on her quilt, and have finally settled on making two cushions for chairs, which I haven't started yet, but ultimately shouldn't take long once I get started.  Otherwise, the furniture is in and clothes, toys, etc are all moved over.  We've been spending lots of time in there, and are aiming to start naps in there as soon as possible!  

On the baby front, officially into the third (and final!!) trimester, with only 11 weeks to go.  We've yet to settle on a name for baby.  Eric has his favorite, and I have mine.  We've discussed various ways to decide, including: picking a third name, arm wrestling for rights (Eric's suggestion, obviously), rock/paper/scissors, straw polling strangers, polling our blog followers, and finally getting Natalie's input.  Her suggestion?  Jack.  I guess this shouldn't come as a real surprise since the only baby she knows is Jack.  Maybe we should just be glad she didn't suggest Minnie or Cici.  She also came up with Baby.  I just love her.