1st Birthday Party Pics

Jordyn & Sam on the slide.

Katie Kate.

Annie.

Elea couldn't quite figure out why everyone was singing at her.

Grandpa O got her this cute little hat with her name monogrammed on the back.

Me & her. Obviously. (Notice the empty capri sun in her hand!)

After she got all messy in her cake I rinsed her off in the splashpad and ended up using her swim top as a washcloth so she was half nakey the rest of the party. The wind died down a little later and she actually wanted to walk around on her own.

Elea's 1st Birthday

Yesterday went really well. If the wind would have stopped for her party I would call it a perfect day. But it didn't, and in the end it just saved us money on some tablecloths and crepe paper we couldn't use.

For her birthday we rented a bouncehouse-slide combo and had it at a park in St. George that has a splashpad and sweet playground with rubber under it instead of sand or woodchips or whatever. Anyway, Jeff and I were able to run around and get all the food and decorations, etc. while she took a nap so that worked out perfect. It was fun to get to spend that much one on one time with Jeff too, just running errands or whatever.

The party started around 4-ish and the slide was in constant use except for a break long enough to eat. The kids all loved it and the adults with swimsuits (and even some with regular clothes) had fun on it too. We had checked to make sure there was a water faucet at the park but were dumb and didn't check to make sure that we could actually turn it on. So we weren't able to connect the slide to the water, so instead the guys would go fill up a 5 gallon bucket of water at the splashpad and then throw the water at all the kids waiting at the top of the slide. So it worked okay and I think the kids got a thrill out of getting blasted in the face with the freezing cold water.

We took Elea down the slide a couple of times-- she didn't hate it but she didn't love it either-- we hung out in the bounce house a little bit but I think she preferred sitting in her highchair getting to squeeze a capri sun out all over her rolls and sandwich meat more than anything else. For dinner we just did some meat & cheese trays, veggie trays, fruit bowls, and some chips. Nothing too extravagent and none of it involved cooking!

I made her a little 4 in. square cake to devour. Or touch. She's not a fan of sweets so I didn't think she was really gonna dig into it. AND . . . she didn't. She got her hands into it and then was annoyed that they were all covered in frosting. We tried to get her to at least taste the frosting--- yeah, she wasn't a fan of that either. In the end she ended up with frosting all over her face and in her hair, but I don't think she ate any of it. We got the obligatory "1st birthday cake" video and photos though. :) Angie was a champ and took a lot of the pictures during the party for us. So this time I am actually documented as present in my daughters life but her closest aunt isn't, once again. Almost everyone stayed and played hard until after 8 pm and the kids probably would have lasted longer but all the adults were tired.

Elea opened her presents after we got home, way past her normal bedtime. I was sort of embarrassed that people brought her presents in the first place-- I should have made the disclaimer ahead of time not to bring gifts. It was fun to watch her pull the tissue out and try to rip the paper off. (It made me really excited for this year's christmas 'cause I can tell she's gonna have so much fun opening presents).

So it turned out to be a great day-- I am determined to make a big deal out of my kids' birthdays. Not that we're going to throw a big shindig every year or anything, but I want them to feel special on their birthday somehow, in someway. This year, let's be honest, this was more for me and Jeff- she won't remember it and wouldn't have noticed if we never sang her happy birthday-- but it is going to be a good memory for the rest of us. Thanks to all the friends and family that were able to come celebrate with us- it made the day better to have all of you there with us.

Now the senimental. I'm not usually big on birthdays or anniversaries- I don't usually get all excited about them. But yesterday I was more excited about Elea's birthday than I think I was about our wedding reception (not our wedding, just the reception). I am so grateful to have her in our family. She's a smart, beautiful, good-natured little girl. I am always getting comments about how there is just something different about her, that she's special in some undefinable way. It's been awesome getting to be her mom and having the joy that comes with knowing her little personality and quirks better than anyone else in the world (except maybe Jeff). It took so long to get pregnant and when I found out that I was pregnant I was sure that I would never be able to be in a bad mood ever again, that's how thrilled I was. (But we all know that by the end of the 1st trimester that wasn't the case!) Anyway, while we were trying, I spent a lot of time and energy obsessing over it and being upset-- but now I am grateful that Jeff and I had those years of being married and our relationship improving and I was able to experience working full-time, etc. so that now that I am home with her I am happy with it and not resenting it or wondering if I would be happier going to work somewhere all the time.

Yesterday throughout the day I was remembering where I was a year ago-- at what stage of labor, etc. I'd always heard that you don't know how much love you are capable of until you have a kid. It's possibly one of the truest statements I have ever heard. I am so grateful that she is healthy and developing well. I know that she knows she is loved and is growing up in a good environment and hopefully we'll be able to keep it that way her whole life.

But in the meantime, yay for 1st birthdays.

**pictures will come later-- oh, & if you were at the party & took pictures will you let me know? thanks!**

2 MONTHS???!!!! OUCH!

I hadn't realized that it had been 2 months since my last post . . . I knew it had been awhile, but 2 months?!

UPDATES- sorry for the quick and dirty, but it's either this or nothin' because I doubt I'll ever have the fortitude to fill it all in in detail. :)

May 7th- moved into new place. LOVE IT. :) Actually have decorations up on some of the walls. woot woot.

May 9th- St. George Triathlon. I competed in the sprint distance again. Except that morning was windy and that kayaks couldn't hold their position in the lake so the swim was cancelled. SO- we did a Duathlon instead. Which was about a billion times harder for me. Run 5k, Bike 20k, Run 5k AGAIN. So basically I wanted to die. I was ready to leave when they announced the change-- if Jeff hadn't been there I probably would have! So needless to say, my time wasn't fabulous, but at least I finished it.

May 13th- 23rd- flew to Omaha for Derek's graduation from Law School. Then from there we flew to Kentucky to visit my parents for a week. The whole trip was fun- things were a little more interesting at my parents house since Elea could walk and get into (every)things!

Sometime in here my back got messed up. I had started upping my run mileage because I've agreed to do a half-marathon with Angie in August. Anyway, so it was making me incredibly ornery and the picking up and putting down of Elea and everything in between got to the point that I could hardly stand it anymore. I went to the chiropractor and it didn't help at all. Then Jeff had been shadowing at the Physical Therapist office so they told him to have me just come in. So I went in and did all the different movement tests, and he meaured this and that, etc. The determination was a) he had no idea what exactly was wrong and b) my hips/back/legs are all so squeewampous that he said that he was surprised I could even run at all, physically. AWESOME thing to hear when you've become addicted to Triathlons, etc. So did the hot zapper then the cold zapper and took a few days off of running. Then I went back in and the 2nd physical therapist came and took a look- same thing, neither could figure out exactly what was going on. So they gave me a heel lift for one shoe and an SI belt to wear around my hips when I run. So then on my runs for the next 2 or 3 weeks I wore them. My back stopped hurting but then my hips/legs started to ache really bad. Angie and I did our first "long" run one saturday and by the end I was aching bad- frustrating as heck. So I rebelled a week or 2 ago and didn't wear the SI belt. PRESTO! My back doesn't hurt, and my hips don't hurt- so I'm a happy girl.

MOTHER'S DAY- I don't remember the exact date of mother's day . . . but it was a good day. Jeff is always good about remembering "gift" days and making them special for me.

June 13th- Utah Summer Games Triathlon. This is almost identical to the St George Tri, except the run portion is on the pavement instead of dirt. Jeff had to work so my sister was a sweetheart and came to cheer me on. The weather was a little sketchy again but we made it in and out of the water before the rain so it was all good. It was my first race swim in the lake. I actually handled it a lot better than I expected too. I was 3rd coming out of the water in my age group so I am happy about that. Then the bike portion came-- As I was headed up the big hill it started to rain, at about that same time my front tire started to make this obnoxious squealing noise. I thought it had something to do with the water on the tires or something but I am an idiot and I actually had a VERY FLAT tire. However, I didn't even know this until I was headed DOWN the big hill at 30+ miles per hour and one of the refs off to the side at the bottom of the hill yells out- "YOU'VE GOT A FLAT TIRE!!" So I get over the cattle guard safely, pull over, and then begin to take the wheel off, etc. LUCKILY, that same guy came down and took care of the tire for me. I had stopped to by a tire pump for my bike the night before, but kind of like the 10 virgins, I was too late and so I didn't even have a tire pump. If he hadn't came along, I would have been stuck walking my bike until some kind hearted competitor pulled over to let me use their air pump. Anyway, after finally getting that tire taken care of I finished the bike course- the flat tire added a ton of time- so I'm not even paying attention to my time on that leg of the race. Then the run- I actually managed to run the entire 5k without walking AND I kept 10 minute per mile pace so I was happy with that. At the end when Angie gave me a hug I had an emotional breakdown for about 10 seconds. This was the first race that I actually felt like I ACCOMPLISHED something, so that combined with the realization that a million things could have gone horribly wrong with that flat tire (i.e. completely crashing into the wet pavement)- I had to cry for a sec. So in the end I finished 16th-- which is has about zero bragging rights attached to it, BUT all things considered- I'm okay with it. I wasn't planning on doing another tri until september, but I wanted a redo, so I'm doing the scofield tri next weekend. :)

June 19th- 2 of my nieces got baptized so my parents came to visit for a few days. It was fun to have them here. We went to the splashpad in downtown st. george and elea LOVED it.

June 21st- Father's Day. I got jeff the standard father's day ties-- I was inspired the friday before because he had me bring his church clothes for the baptisms and I couldn't a) find a tie without a stain on it, and b) figure out what were his real ties and what ones were his ugly tie contest ties from his mission. So my mom helped me find some sweet ties that I am going to confiscate if I ever see them within 10 feet of food or liquid.

During that time there was a bunch of birthdays so it felt like we were driving down to St. George about every other day! Angie & her fam are in St. George for the summer so that is pretty fabulous. It's gonna suck when she moves to AZ, not thinking about it, not thinking about it, not thinking about it.

Elea is walking like a pro now. She is such a fun kid- I spend half my time at home calling out "where's elea?? Whhheeerrrreeee'ssss EEELLLLEEEAAA??" and then she comes hurrying out from wherever she is in the house with a giant grin on her face. She's started eating more and more big people food. I love it. It's great to be able to put her in her highchair with a piece of bread and then unload and load the dishwasher in one attempt while she's eating. She turns 1 on the 13th and I'm so excited for her birthday. Jeff gets sentimental every time he thinks about her growing up-- I get excited because I love her little, I mean big, personality developing a little more everyday- it's fun for me. Oh, one other thing, I've taken her swimming a few times and the first couple of times she wasn't thrilled, but now she loves the water, and not just at bathtime!

Jeff is going to go to Occupational Therapy school instead of Physical Therapy school. What this means: Less pre-reqs, less school because it's a masters not a doctorate, less competition to get in to a good school, AND more stability job wise because face it, there are gonna be a lot of old people the next 30 years. (Occupational therapists work in a lot of different settings, with kids, babies, adults, disabled, etc.- so there are a lot of potential paths career wise). He did a semesters worth of Trigonometry during the first 5 week session of summer school. Let's just say we are ALL glad that is over. He got an A- which really isn't a surprise because he is a perfectionist so he studied like crazy the entire 5 weeks. And he is smarter than he gives himself credit for. :)

My sister-in-law Shanna taught me how to use coupons effectively. So if "couponing" is a skill then that's been my latest project. At first I started because it made grocery shopping more exciting for me, now I think I have become a snob-- I look down my nose at a box of cereal that's going to cost me more than 75 cents. This week was my first real trip to the grocery store that I only had to get produce and milk. It was almost a let-down in some twisted way because there wasn't the thrill of buying 5 things and having the total be $1.06--but I guess that's the whole idea.

We're moving!

But only around the block. The new place will be a little big and a lot cheaper rent so that's good. I'm not looking forward to the move, but since this is the most notice we've ever had that we were going to move I have actually been able to pack quite a bit in a somewhat organized manner.

Tomorrow we will get the keys to the place, but it's a day earlier than we expected so we won't have the moving truck until late in the afternoon or Friday morning.

Wish us luck. Especially Jeff's back since he's going to be doing all the heavy lifting!

She's starting to walk.

And it is freaking me out.

Elea has started to prefer getting around 2 legs over 2 legs and 2 hands as much as possible. She still needs to use one of the couches, or the baby gate, or the dresser, or her toy stroller to balance, but she's getting quicker everyday. When she started walking with the stroller she stiff-legged it like Frankenstein, but not anymore. It really hit me how big she is getting when she stood up using the wall for balance, and then walked along the wall until she got to a doorway earlier today.

It looks pretty funny because she is still so little and short. But she'll be 10 months old in a week so I guess that isn't super early to be walking.

1st Triathlon!

Today I completed my first triathlon. So now I've officially progressed from someone "training for a triathlon" to a "triathlete." Maybe not a fabulous triathlete but a triathlete just the same.

So they had us line up around the pool and then as one swimmer finished the 400 yds, the next person would run down to that lane and start. The good thing about that is I was able to run to the bathroom 4 maybe 5 times without having to worry about missing my heat or turn or whatever. The downside is that you don't really have anyone to compete against since you don't start at the same time as anyone else. I was really glad to have a couple of friends from Cedar there who were competing as well. It was good for me to have a distraction of talking to them for the 45+ minutes we waited in line for our turn. I hadn't been that nervous since my last high school swim meet. So anyway, it's my turn and so I start the swim, totally paranoid because Jeff said that he was going to record it. So I get down to the end of the lane, completely misjudge, flipturn too soon and instead of pushing off the wall, totally miss it and basically stop still in the water. Awesome. The rest of the swim went okay, I atleast remembered what lap I was on- which may have been a first. After the swim I got out of the pool and headed outside. I'd like to say that I hopped out but there definitely wasn't any hopping going on. My legs were a lot shakier than I expected.

I made my way to the the bike racks and was lucky enough to have my bike on the end of one of the racks so I was able to find it easily. I think my transition was pretty slow-- I don't know that I have ever, in my life, put socks on wet feet. Ever. Didn't realize it would complicate things. So then I got on the bike. I've seen video of tiathletes who run and then throw their leg over the bike mid stride and off they go, clipping their shoes in as they go. Today I had more of a standing-still . . . lift-right-leg-over . . . attempt-to-clip-shoe-in . . . miss . . . hop-on-left-leg . . . attempt-to-clip-in-again . . . and then push off approach. And my legs were dead. I never realized how much warming up helps things. For me, not warming up before any of the legs of the race will probably be one of my greatest challenges to overcome. I've been spoiled- always able to go at a leisurely pace before really pushing it. As I was saying, the first while on the bike was pretty rough, but after 2 miles or so it started to feel a lot better and I was able to go a lot faster. The course was 2, 5 miles laps, with a couple hills. My favorite part of the bike leg was watching the other bikers coming in the opposite direction-- some would have huge grins on their faces because they were having so much fun they couldn't help themselves, while others were gritting their teeth and just FOCUSED. Anyway, after the 10 miles were over I got off my bike and took it back to the bike racks. Some people were running with their bikes-- yeah not me.

Then the run. My time was okay for me. Definitely going to have to suck it up and start working a lot more on my run speed and endurance. It was 2 laps on a path-- a total of 3 miles. If I said I ran the whole thing straight through I'd be lying. The first lap I could HEAR the water sloshing around in my stomach and my side was killing me- next time no water on the bike. And next time I am definitely wearing earphones because A) I can listen to music and B) I won't hear the panting and footsteps (footshtomps footshtomps) of the runner who is quickly approaching from behind and about to pass me. Again.

I finally crossed the finish line 1 hour, 27 minutes and some odd seconds later.*

Jeff has been awesome. First, last night he slept on the couch at his parent's house because I never get much sleep when we try to sleep in a queen bed together. (The triathlon was in St. George so we spent the night). Second, he woke up at 6:30 a.m. to drive me down to the pool. Third, as soon as I realized that I had forgotten my goggles he rushed to get ready and bring them to me . . and there are about a hundred other reasons. It still feels awkward for me to have him watching and me participating. But at the same time he is a great "cheerer." However, I'll be really glad when he starts doing triathlons with me even if it means that I lose my fan base of one. Unless on his first try he totally beats me by like 10 minutes. Then maybe I won't be so thrilled about us choosing a life sport to do together! Just kidding. Kind of.

Anyway, Jeff took quite a few pictures-- but I have yet to go through and censor them on behalf of my progeny. So I may or may not post them later.

*Ang, if you're wondering, yes, I did beat Spencer, by 2 minutes. Woot Woot.

Elea Dancin' Video

Elea has been crawling pretty well for awhile now. Now she likes to crawl everywhere. She's getting pretty quick too. We bought her a few "big kid" toys that she can stand up to and push. Don't ask me why we're encouraging her to walk!

She turned 9 months old on April 13th. She weighed 17 lbs 11 ounces (35th percentile) and is 26 inches long (25th percentile).

She still isn't a fan of anything dry or with a grainy texture. I got my hopes up today when all 4 of the yogurt melts I put on her high chair tray were gone and I couldn't see them on the floor. I even searched her lap and so I thought that she ate them. But nope- when I picked her up they were sitting on the high chair seat cushion- not even a nibble.

Elea just started "dancing" this week. It's hilarious. I love it. She gets her moves from her dad, I'm sure.