Pumpkin Patch

Saturday afternoon we went to pick out our pumpkin. We left the patch with two REALLY cute pumpkins and one that will be perfect to carve!

Bedtime Prayer

Hayley says The Lord's Prayer every night before bed... sometimes she gets it confused with the Pledge of Allegiance! :-) Not bad for a three year old!

Weekend Update

Here's the latest on the Pants-less Todd saga. After three blissful nights, I began to think my problems had been solved by a trusty Pull Up. Alas, my faith was shattered last Tuesday morning when I went to get my little "T" up for the day and was shocked and dismayed to find he had basically pulled his Pull Up so far up that he'd given himself a monstrous wedgie. The Pull Up was unable to contain what it should have and I spent the morning washing sheets. Thinking it was a fluke, I anxiously went to pick my little peanut up the next morning only to end up washing sheets again. And yes, I was dumb enough to put him in a Pull Up again on Wedneday night. And guess what I did on Thursday morning? You got it... washed sheets. After learning my lesson, I sat Captain Commando down on Thursday night and told him that he was absolutely too young to be wearing a thong. I then told him that if he wanted to mess with the bull, he was going to get the horns... as I proceeded to put his diaper on backwards, covered by a really sassy pair of his sister's underpants. The result? Let's just say I haven't washed the sheets since last Thursday!!

It's Monday and I need a recovery nap after a busy weekend! We welcomed some WONDERFUL cool weather to Florida this weekend and got to spend most of the weekend enjoying it outdoors. Saturday morning started out bright and early with my usual long run. I'm up to 20 miles and feeling a bit like The Little Engine. "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..." make it to 26 miles. I'm pretty sure I will cry if next Saturday's temps go back to the hot, humid temps that I've become so accustomed to. A cool breeze is such a welcome training partner right now!

Saturday afternoon we headed down into Sarasota so Brian and Hayley could compete in a race. This was Hayley's first official race. She's been practicing for a race since the day she took her first step!! She competed with about 15 other three and four year olds and had a blast!

Ready to Race!
Every runner knows the importance of a good warm up!
Receiving her medal!


Brian then geared up for the big boy race! It was a cross country 5k and he took THIRD in his age group! Now I know where Hayley gets her speed (because it's certainly not from me!!!)

Speeding across the finish line

My competitors!

Aunt Etta, Uncle Lee, Nana, Papa, and even Chloe came to cheer them on!

A fun family outing

He Strikes Again

After a successful night on Monday night, I was hopeful that tight pajama pants were my solution to Captain Commando and that the Sunday night occurence would be an isolated event. I was wrong. As we went to check on Mr. Todd last night, we found this:
Those tight pajama pants must have given him a run for his money. Obviously he completely exhausted himself trying to get the pants off. He barely had any energy left to focus on getting his diaper off before collapsing into slumber.

Listen little boy. You may have won the battle, but mark my words, I WILL win this war!! We'll be giving Pull Ups a shot tonight.

ETA: In light of recent events (in case any Walmart workers view my blog) and for those uncomfortable with toddler nudity, I have censored the "evidence."

Captain Commando

We've got a problem. Last night after going to check on our sweet, sleeping son, we were horrified to find this:

Yes, I realize he LOOKS like an innocent, sleeping toddler. What you don't see is that he is NAKED from the waste down. And we DID NOT put him to bed that way. You may even notice that he's using his pants and diaper as a pillow! Luckily, the damage was minimal. After all, I've already been delivered a nice surprise one day after I'd put my son down for a nap with just a diaper on. I learned that lesson. However, I completely have underestimated his skill set (and shear determination) as I never imagined he'd be able to get his pajama bottoms AND diaper off. I know this could get ugly REAL quick, so I'm adamant about finding a solution. Tonight we'll be trying his extra tight pajama pants. If that doesn't work, I guess we'll have to resort back to one piece pajamas.

Oh, and I'd like to add that my daughter NEVER did anything like this. It definitely must be a boy thing!!!

My Other Lover

It's my anniversary. Not my wedding anniversary, no. This is the one year anniversary of the affair with my other lover. One year ago today, my downward spiral into absolute addiction began when I ran my first road race. Last year at this time I was feeling like pretty hot stuff for running 6.2 miles... certainly nothing to be ashamed of. But this year, I began my anniversary race AFTER running nine miles. And because of that preceeding sentence, I will no longer refer to this morning's event as a "race." Although, it technically was called Race 4 the Cure (and for a SUPER cause) today I liked to think of it as Just Keep Moving 4 the Cure. Obviously, I'm crazy, but more importantly, I'm marathon training. And over the course of my fifteen or so miles today, I had plenty of time to ponder (and justify) my relatively new affair. After all, marathon training is not for the faint of heart, or the sane for that matter. It's a HUGE committment. It's also a huge committment for my husband who spends his Saturday mornings slaving over a hot stove making scrambled eggs, baking muffins, and wiping two (always moving) little mouths. Yes, a supportive husband is a wonderful thing and luckily mine enables my addiction.

My other enabler? The IronMommies. You learn a lot about people on a three hour plus run. I've been running with these girls for over a year now and our friendships have just gotten stronger and we enjoy each other's company that much more. We've found an interesting trend in our group though. We have ladies of all skill levels and running goals. There are only about eight of us though who are marathon training. Many of the girls think we are crazy. Based on the common denominator, the crazy factor comes from the fact that pretty much all of the eight of us have more than one child. Sure, there could be several reasons why parents of (currently) only children don't marathon train, but I've got my own theory based on my reasons for marathon training. As a Mom of two demanding, highly energetic, and demanding little ones, training forces me to carve much needed time out for myself. It forces me to stay in tune with my body and be incredibly conscious of what I put into my body. If I don't eat the right foods during the week, or if I eat the wrong foods, my Saturday morning will NOT be fun. And if I end up having one of those insanely busy, hectic weeks, I can take comfort in knowing that I will have several hours on Saturday to complete a thought, even if it's the first one I've completed all week. I'll also have several hours to just worry about myself... to think about what I need and how I feel and what I want out of life. It's kind of like a mental vacation before being thrown back into the realities of life. I'm sure I've made this sound like I'm much deeper in thought then I really usually am, so let me provide some better insight. A typical long run for me right now usually goes like this:

First 3 Miles - "Did I seriously roll out of bed at 3:45am to do this??? I must be nuts to think I'm ever going to run 26.2 miles."

Mile 4 - (This is where my running buzz kicks in) "I love running. I love running in Florida where I can run by the water and there are no hills and I can see pelicans when it's not so stinkin' dark out! Ew, watchout for the roadkill."

Miles 5-7 - "Which marathon am I going to sign up for next? I'll be all marathon trained up come January so I may as well sign up for Gasparilla in March. Maybe I could try to get into the Marine Corp Marathon next year? Gotta figure out where I'm going to put my 26.2 tattoo (sorry Mom and Dad). Woohoo! This is SOOOO much fun!! I love running!"

Miles 7-10 - "How on earth am I going to run another 16.2 miles? This is absolutely impossible. Forget crying when I cross the finishline, I'm going to cry right now."

Miles 10-13 - "I think I might be dying. Keep running. I wonder if drinking my whole bottle of gel would make me sick? Keep running." (This is usually where I begin fantasizing about water... in all forms... bottled water, swimming pools, showers, ice...)

Miles 13-13.5 - "Ohhh, that gel really helped me out. I'll have no problems from here on out."

Miles 13.5-14.75 - "Boy, that gel sure didn't stick with me very long. I'm pretty sure I'm going to die before I get to 15 miles. I can't feel my toes anymore. Oh goodie, here comes the sunrise. If I don't get done with this before the sun comes completely out I will no doubt die of heat exhaustion. Why do I live in Florida??" And then I always think about the scene from National Lampoon's Vacation where Chevy Chase is lost in the desert. And I feel bad for him because I can SO relate.

Miles 14.75-15 - "Woohoo! I'm almost there. I think I could run another two miles if I really had to. Don't want to push myself though and end up injured. I'd better stop at 15. Now I've got my license to pig out at dinner tonight!! I LOVE running. Now, back to that tattoo."

And then me and my wild and crazy friends hobble back to our cars like a group of ninety year olds and talk big about how we're going to do wild and crazy things with our day like bathe in BioFreeze, nap, and take Epsom salt baths. You know, we like to live on the edge.

I know it looks like I hate all but about three miles of the run. It's the feeling that I have after a run like this that keeps me addicted. There is no greater feeling of accomplishment then to know I've already run 15 miles while most of the world is still laying in bed. It's like one big endorphin dump that lasts all weekend long for me and the longer I run and the further I run, the better I seem to feel. Running is definitely my drug of choice and I spend more time then I should thinking about getting my next "fix." It hurts to walk right now, but I'm already looking forward to next Saturday morning.