15 months

JJ is just past the 15 month old mark. He is still small for his age. We ordered the next step up for a car seat but he's one pound shy of qualifying to sit in it. We have noticed some slight manipulation techniques he is starting to use. When it is time for bed he will conveniently tell me he would like something to eat before bed even after he was just offered milk which he pushed away. I'm sure this is a precursor to fun times ahead :). There has not been much to report. I went on a 26 and 35 mile ride in the past week with a group of people here. I enjoy the camaraderie and making friends with people who share the same interests. There is a race this weekend close to Conway. I can't decide a) if I want to do it and b) will I do the 5k run or 15 mile bike race. I've never done a bike race so it would probably be good experience. I have 5k race coming up in July. Running is my weakest link right now. I feel strong in swimming and biking. I rotate my workouts incorporating all three. I haven't run in a few days so I'm anxious to see if my biking will make a difference in my running. It is supposed to help. Before we know if we will be heading to Michigan. I'm trying to plan a visit to OKC but it is not a convenient trip to plan not to mention the gas. July will be a busy month with two out of town trips. We'll get there eventually.

Two more coming in...

Finally! JJ has two more teeth coming in on the bottom on each side of his existing two teeth. He is growing so much. He is a full-time walking machine. He is so cute to watch as he takes itty bitty baby steps. He is "talking" much more too.
Karen was here for a week and the time passed quickly. It was nice to get out a few times on my own.
I am officially going to the Young Lives camp in Arizona toward the end of July. There are four mentors, including myself, and nine girls with their babies. We all fly to the camp and stay there for the week. It will be a fun, challenging time and I am looking forward to it. My only worry is being away from JJ only because I will miss him so much. I've never spent a night away from him so it will be a first for us. Karen will come back and take care of him with Robert. He will be in good hands, I will just miss him.
In early July we are all going to Michigan for a wedding. I went there to meet Robert's close friends when we first started dating. He lived there several years going to school and working with GM. It will be a good trip and Robert will get to experience JJ on the plane. How nice to have back-up for once.
JJ has had one week of swim lessons. He is the youngest in the class. There are two other 20-month old boys. No matter, JJ is the only one who goes under the water. He loves class. I continue to train for the triathlon. It has been a great journey so far.
Robert comes home tomorrow from being away two weeks. He has missed his family greatly and we too are looking forward to having him home. His birthday is the 16th and then Father's Day. He'll be home just in time!

Vistor comes to town

We are almost through our first week of no Robert. He is having to study a lot for this class he is taking for work. I'm so glad I'm not reliving that nightmare of school. JJ has been upgraded to "walking" so I got an extra hour of working out today. I was elated so after spinning I swam 700 yds. Each time I swim I am more and more comfortable doing it. It makes me excited for the race. I know I still have a lot of training to do. I feel real good about things since I have cut down/out sweets, chips, eating out (fast food), and soda. I have a bit every once in awhile because I have bad cravings and gosh darn-it I think I've earned it! I'm enjoying the transformation.
Robert's mom Karen is coming in tonight to stay for a week. She is coming to help out while Robert is away. It will be so nice to have that help. She is going to come to the fitness center with us and take water aerobics. I will finally get to attend the cycling group next week. That is all we have going on here. We have another softball game tonight and then off to the airport. JJ and I start swim lessons next week. He is going to LOVE it.

Much more friendly skies!

As the title suggests, coming home from Oregon was much more successful. JJ partially slept on each flight. It was still a long day but we arrived last Monday after 11pm. Our time in Etna spent with Freda and Bob was wonderful. We didn't do much really but it was time spent together. On our last day there, Bob, who was a mountain guide, took us to the peak of the valley for a great view. We set foot on the Pacific Crest Trail (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Crest_Trail) and walked on snow. This was ironic since I knew back home Robert was in hot, humid weather. Northern California is very beautiful. Staying with Freda and Bob was very enlightening to me. They live a simple life and eat very healthy food. This observation continued in Portland. JJ and I ended up taking the short flight from Medford, OR to Portland to avoid the long drive. My friend Caroline from high school picked us up from the airport. She is a law professor there and also litigtes cases with the students. There was one nice day in Portland and it rained the other days. We mostly shopped. There is no sales tax there and there are many outlets for all the popular outdoor brands (a.k.a. Columbia). I got some great deals on clothes for Robert and myself. I went to a couple of grocery stores there and love how healthy the options are. It is a huge difference from the Midwest. All produce is organic and other choices lean toward a healthy lifestyle. I wish that kind of choice was available in our region. There are bike lanes everywhere and this positive way of life is mainstream there. That is not to take away from the many good things about where we live - just a noticeable difference. We were gone a total of 9 days. It was a long trip and we were glad to be home. JJ did great with the time change on both ends. He's so flexible! It took several days getting settled in here for me though. Robert did some great work on the garage and other organizing but clean the house he did not. Since being home I have tried to adapt a Freda-like diet into our home. My biggest revelation is how bad High Fructose Corn Syrup is for our bodies. I really want to cut soda out of my diet. That is enemy #1 with the HFCS. I feel safe to say at this point that I am training for a Sprint Triathlon here in Conway in September. Training daily and cutting out the sweets I have already dropped 5 lbs. I'm really excited about the challenge. It is a 500 yd. swim, 15 mile bike and 3 mile run. I can do each of those segments individually now but am training to gain the endurance to do them consecutively. I was reading a magazine in the dentist's office about this lady who did her first tri. I thought, if she can do it I can. The more thought I gave it I was sold on the idea. So that is what I do each day and JJ enjoys his time socializing in the playcenter. He is taking steps now in longer and longer stretches. He is not a full-time walker but so close. He continues to be such a joy to both of us. Robert left today for two weeks of training in Albuquerque, NM. Karen, his mother, is coming here Friday for a visit and to help out while Robert is gone. I think we will have fun together. Sorry for the long blog and distance between entries. Check out our trip pics on the Picasa album site. Be sure to participate in the poll on this page!

Not so friendly skies....

Greetings from Northern California - Etna to be exact (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etna%2C_California).  It has been a long journey to get here and this is how it went down:  Saturday Robert dropped JJ and I off at the airport in Little Rock to begin the day.  It all started at check-in when my bag was 5 lbs over the limit.  Instead of paying $25 I took out 5 lbs of stuff and stashed it in the stroller.  I got a plastic bag from a vendor to store it in giving me a third bag to keep up with on top of JJ.  The flight was booked so I checked his car seat at the gate with the stroller.  Upon boarding, I eye-balled two grannies towards the front of the plane with an empty seat between them.  I knew it wouldn't get any better than this.  They loved JJ and freely allowed him to crawl all over them.  With 45 minutes left in our 3 hour flight JJ was so tired not having had his morning nap and began to get fussy.  I walked the aisle a bit and we found another grandmother with her five small grandchildren to which JJ took a liking.  JJ sat in her lap and eventually she was fine with holding him for a few minutes.  This was the only thing keeping him calm.  I went back several minutes later and she says, "He peed on me."  His diaper leaked and sure enough, made a deposit on this nice woman.  It wasn't much but enough to get him kicked out of seat 16D.  The grannies helped me change his diaper and we stuck out the remainder of the flight as he cried restlessly.  Upon landing in Las Vegas, I went to the restroom and air-dried his pants.  I was in a hurry to meet my friend for lunch during my three hour layover so I tossed the pants on his stroller and off we went.  I met my friend Chris and we headed out for lunch at Chili's.  It was nice and quiet and a good break.  I got back to the LV airport and had to go through security.  Remember the extra 5 lbs.??  Well it came back to haunt me as they pulled me aside to work through my medicine bag of lotions, hairspray and the liking.  This was never an issue in LR so I never gave a thought to encountering an issue in Las Vegas.  They took my lotion and JJ's special eczema lotion.  I was really irritated considering I already had to wake JJ from his slumber to go through security (send the car seat and stroller through the x-ray machine) and now they were TAKING MY THINGS!!!!  What could I do?  Nothing so I carried on.  It was around this time that I realized JJ had no pants.  They are either in the Las Vegas airport parking garage or the Chili's parking lot.  We definitely looked like we were from Arkansas as JJ fashioned himself with shirt and diaper attire.  I never thought about packing an extra outfit for him.  Anyway, I felt like the second flight would be much better.  JJ had had some milk and seemed more rested.  Our 2:10 flight took off at 3:00.  Nice to have that extra 40 minutes to occupy a one-year old.  It was actually a good flight until just over half way through.  JJ's morning poop came through with flying colors.  It was of guacamole-type consistency and poop smells bad but really even worse SMEARED ALL OVER MY PANTS!!!  I thought, "Jump into my nightmare, the water is warm."  All other passengers were oblivious to my struggle.  We had an empty seat to our left and the guy in the window seat was sleeping.  I had to think fast because poop was spreading to his hands and feet and my arms and really starting to smell.  I was in the front row, glad to be close to the bathroom.  I hustled there and got his diaper changed and cleaned him as best I could.  I was now poopier than he.  I stuck my head out and asked the flight attendant for some assistance.  She took JJ in a blanket and sat in my seat and gave me some ginger ale.  I pored it on my leg and started wiping.  I was working fast and to my delight it came out pretty good.  I got back to my seat and took JJ and worked him over with some more wipes.  My pants dried in about 10 minutes and I felt like I had survived.  I looked around and the passengers did not miss a beat.  All the better I suppose but I really wanted a medal for what I had just gone through.  JJ never fussed this trip and we landed and found Aunt Freda.  I felt so much relief to have some support.  It had been a long day.  We spent the night in Portland and headed to Etna the next day.  It was about a 6 hour drive.  Portland was so beautiful of what I saw.  It was like a city plopped down in the middle of a rain forest - so lush and green.  That rainfall pays off in the spring I suppose.  We've had one full day in Etna.  It has been relaxing and JJ and I have now recovered from our travels.  We will enjoy our time here until we go back to Portland Thursday.  We are driving to Medford, OR and then flying to Portland since the drive was so long.  It will be much quicker that way.  I have already begun to plan my attack for those travels!

No place like....home?

JJ and I returned from OKC yesterday. We arrived Thursday for my dental appointment. Long of the short of it is that I ended up having to stay until Monday for a root canal. It was no big deal. I even drifted off to sleep during the procedure! My mouth is a little sore today but no cold/heat sensitivity. Now I just have to get a crown. Grandpa Joe LOVED his visit with JJ. He babysat while I was at each appointment. They went on walks, worked in the yard, played, etc. It was good bonding time for them both. I went to my cousin Stephanie's shower on Saturday. She will be having her third baby in two weeks and it is their first girl. At the shower I saw my friend Maggie and this is her shout out - I found out she is another reader of my blog. A few of us got into a discussion about who really reads what blogs. So, for all I know there is a total stranger out there following my life story. Anyway, I successfully sold some items on eBay and made about $46.00. Not bad for junk around the house. Robert is glad to have us home. We went on a bide ride last night and enjoyed the cool whether. Now I have a few days to prep for our CA trip, two softball games this week, workout, and a YoungLives function. While I was in OKC it was the first time I started to feel like Conway is now my home. There is a big difference between the two places and even though life is slow in OKC, it is SLOWER in Conway. It made me appreciate the life we have here and the pace at which we live. Conway is home.

Toad Suck Daze

We had a great weekend here. It was beautiful weather and Conway was hosting it's annual Toad Suck Daze festival (www.toadsuck.org). Robert and I rode our bikes to the festical four miles away and pulled JJ in the trailer. It was lots of fun and yesterday we got to hear Natalie Grant in concert at the festival. The most intriguing thing for me was the Stuck on a Truck competition. It started Thursday at noon and went until last night at 1 amish. 24 contestants have to keep at least one hand planted on a truck and the last one standing gets the truck. They had a webcam and everything to watch (http://www.stuckonatruck.com/) . It was amazing to me that people can stay awake for 85 hours straight with only minimal breaks and no sleep.
This is going to be a busy month with the CA trip and this weekend a quick trip to OKC. I am having problems with one of the fillings that was put in last time I was there and I need to get it fixed. I've started listing some things on eBay again to get rid of some boxes around the house. It's more fun to do with less pressure riding on the outcome. See you later.