Now that we have our little Christopher (aka: Little Buds), Brian and I need to alternate the races that we do. For those of you who have been following the blog, you know that Brian did the Bike Source duathlon two weeks ago. Today it was my turn to do the Kansas City Triathlon in Lee's Summit, Missouri. Although we've been having fabulous weather, around 2AM I heard the rumble of thunder and saw flashes of lightning. Now, I have been so excited for this race (my first since giving birth to CJ) that I was like, "Um, excuse me, God, you are not allowed to let it rain today and cancel this race. I'm just not going to have it." Well, God and I go way back so he listened and it turned out to be a beautiful morning to race. (There was an unbelieveable rainbow before the start too!). Even though I've done these triathlons before, I was incredibly nervous before the start of the swim. It doesn't appear that way from the photo below, but my heart rate was high and I hadn't even started yet!
It was my first swim in a wetsuit and that part of it went well but it always takes a bit of time to adjust to open water swimming when you've been in a nice cozy, clear pool for months. (Note to self: practice open water swimming more!). Getting on my new fun bike was, well, fun. They did a great job with the bike course on this race... only a couple hills and most of the roads were freshly paved. For once in my life, I was not being passed by everyone. Actually the only people passing me were the guys doing the longer course who were unbelievably, superhumanly fast!
The run, as always, is my favorite part of the race, although it takes a while for your legs to kick in after being on the bike. The weather was great at that point and everything felt good. As I was running, the winner of the long course was passing me--you know, the guy with 1% body fat who is running like 5 minute miles. Someday...
I have to say that this was a challenging race for me because of my lack of consistent training (still trying to figure that out with CJ), but I enjoyed it more than others because of having Little Buds (and Daddy) there to cheer me on. I did end up placing 2nd in my age group (not too impressive considering there were 7 women in my group, but I'll take it). Christopher does so well at these races, kind of like when we used to bring Kasey and say she was brought into the right family. CJ definitely was born into the right family! He loves watching all the people and was laughing everytime I saw him. The morning was fun and now we are all just basking in the afterglow of a good race.
... New York, New York... and New Jersey, New Jersey (of course). As soon as we descended into beautiful LaGuardia amidst the smog of the city, we knew we were home. (And then we really knew we were home when we sat in traffic at 11AM!). Christopher was a real trooper traveling back east on the 7AM flight from Kansas City. He adjusted quite well to sleeping in a new place as he made the pack and play his "home away from home." Our little man had a lovely time visiting with Grandma and Grandpa, Andy and Reina, Peter and Dabney, and the rest of the New York crew. Christopher was so excited to see Uncle Peter that he gave Daddy a "shower" while he was getting ready for bath time! Let's just say Daddy didn't feel to clean after said shower. We spent the first day in Harrison and went to a local park where Chris laughed his head off on the baby swing and took a ride in a police cruiser.
Today, Christopher attended his very first triathlon--the Bike Source Triathlon at Heritage Park in Olathe. This is the third year in a row that Brian has entered this race, and it was definitely the coldest year (at least during the start!). CJ attended this race last year but he was in my tummy. This year was certainly more fun for him because he could actually see what was going on. Well, we knew the water in the lake was going to be cold but we didn't realize how cold. Last week they said the temperature was a balmy 61 degrees. This morning, however, it was down to 52 degrees. (Okay all you Jerseyans... think Action Park Cannonball minus a few degrees! Brrrr!!!). We got to the park about an hour after Daddy at which time he informed us that he switched to the duathlon. (Oh, did I mention you couldn't see any of the sight bouys because the lake was covered in fog?) Even though Daddy has a wetsuit this was a smart move on his part. So the duathlon was a two mile run, 11.5 mile bike, and 3 mile run. We are still awaiting Brian's times, as he did not wear a watch this today. It was a fun day and Christopher is very proud of his Daddy's racing abilities. The picture above has Brian giving Chris his finisher's medal. Here are some more pictures from race day...
It's so fun to watch Christopher as he learns all of these new skills! More than ever, he repeats them over and over and over until he gets the hang of everything. This week, he has really been getting brave and has been practicing standing up without holding on. At first, he would pull up on something and then let go for a second or two. I, of course, would get really excited and clap and make a big deal which would, in turn, startle him and make him plop back down on the ground. (Note to self: Just smile! It has the same effect.). As the week has gone on, Chris lets go for longer and longer periods. The picture on the left shows just how proficient he has become. He pulled up using my legs and then I backed away (several times) until I got his whole body in the frame. It must have been a good 20 seconds that he just stood there balancing. Very cool! Other skills he practices over and over again include opening the diaper genie (lovely) and rolling/throwing/bouncing the ball... As you will see from the next few pictures, this evening was not conducive to riding the bicycle so we all hung out inside.
First I would like to wish all the mothers reading this a Happy Mother's Day! Before this year, I celebrated Mother's Day with my own mom but did not fully appreciate it until I actually became a mom. (I also learned yesterday that the original mother's day was brought into being by mother's who wanted to work for peace... an interesting fact to keep in mind amidst all the commercialism of the holiday). I said to Brian yesterday that I think this holiday means more to me this year than my own birthday. As my birthday came and went this year, I barely noticed. But your first Mother's Day is very special and as I looked at my little man (who has gotten so big), I was just amazed at the fact that he is rapidly approaching his first birthday. He weighs over 23 pounds when, in those first few days of life, we were concerned about his weight gain and how much he was eating (certainly not a problem now!). He is getting brave and letting go while he stands up. He is "talking" up a storm, busting out new sounds everyday! And Christopher is getting his eighth tooth as we speak. Incredible. Because of this last fact, he was slightly whiny today but he was whining "mamamamama" so I'll take that as his way of wishing me a Happy Mother's Day. Anyway, it is a great honor to be a mommy this year and I am so lucky to have my little man, my big man, and my fuzzy puppy. Here are the two guys smiling at each other:
Today, Christopher visited his dear friend Maddie at her house. Of course, before we got there, we had to stop at this sub place called "Jersey Mike's" which, unlike other impostors in the area, actually started in Pt. Pleasant, NJ. Anyway, despite CJ's serious look in the photo above, he had a great time with his friend. Maddie is crawling and standing up and the two of them had a blast. They were later joined by another little guy, named Braydon, who is just about 8 months old. The three babies were talking up a storm and at one point I swore Christopher said "doggie" when Randa let in her dog Sasha, but I could just be imagining that. Here are a couple more pictures from the afternoon.
Of course, as we exited the car, the tornado siren that was about 50 feet from our car began its monthly Wednesday morning test and Christopher was not too happy about it. We booked to the welcome center so we would not blow out his eardrums before he turns one. Other than that, we had a lovely afternoon looking at the wildlife and having fun with Liam and Lahna. We even ran into our friend Nathan from Kindermusik and his older brother and Mommy. Here are some pictures from our day:
It used to be easy to determine who, in our house, was the culprit when papers were chewed or furniture was gnawed on. Now, however, we must use process of elimination. Let's see, who is able to jump up on the table? Who was in the house when said object was chewed? Where did the chewing take place? Of course, if there was an actual witness, the answer is usually obvious. The picture above is of Christopher's certificate that he got today at his last Kindermusik class for the spring session. (We will begin the summer session on June 15th... I can't wait! Oh, and neither can CJ). At first I just showed it to him and then put it behind my back so what you see above would not happen. Then, as he started to try and take other kids' certificates, I decided "Who cares what happens to this silly piece of paper!" He was so excited to receive this acknowledgement from Miss Heather that he chewed the paper and drooled on it for good measure. And speaking of chewing...
Christopher, not to be outdone by Kasey, is beginning to leave his mark on the wooden furniture of our house. Above you will notice that he is sinking his teeth into the end tables in our living room. The coffee table is fair game as well and has some lovely bite marks on the sides. The crib takes the cake, however. If I were able to go back to my "pregnant and looking for baby furniture" self, I would tell her to get a safe, white crib that doesn't cost as much as the one that is now in CJ's nursery with bite marks all along the sides of it. I knew this was going to happen to the straight railing (apparently they make things to put over the railing to prevent the wood from being damaged) but I am pretty sure there is nothing to go on the curvy side rails. Good thing this will not be part of the bed when we convert it at a later date! I'll have to take a picture when Chris is not sleeping so you can all witness the damage. Kasey, on the other hand, decided to galavant on (that's right, I said "on") the kitchen table while we were out and finish Christopher's oatmeal, which I forgot to clean up. At least she didn't want us to waste food! She then chewed up the oatmeal tub (you know, the Quaker Oats container?) that we had emptied and were using as a drum. Ah, the fun continues!
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