Cruise Time!

Lots of pictures when we return...

Some Good News

I am signed up to run a half marathon on April 11, and I am ready to go! This morning I ran 13 miles in 2:03:28. Hopefully I'll be able to run that well or better on the actual race day, but from here on out the training will just get easier as I start cutting back how far I run. I've been running 4-5 miles 3 times during the week, and running long distance on Saturday. Now that I've reached the climax in my training, I'll start running less and less on Saturdays. I still want to work on my speed, however, during the week on my short runs. It feels good to almost be able to check this goal off as complete!

We're going cruising! A week from today we will be heading on a 5 day cruise in the Western Caribbean. Matt is definitely ready for a short vacation from work as he has been super busy and stressed. We are going with our best friends Jeff and Tahlia as one last big vacation before our families start growing bigger (she's pregnant with her second right now). Caleb will hang out with Grandma and Grandpa with some help from my siblings as well when needed. It's super nice of them, but I'm super nervous to be away from Caleb that long. He's not going to understand why he isn't seeing his mommy and daddy everyday, and that just breaks my heart. Hopefully he'll be having too much fun to miss us.

My little sister, Lindsey, is serving a mission! I've told her that I am going to live vicariously through her letters so she better write often. I couldn't be more happy for her as I think this is one of the greatest opportunities in the world. She is going on a mission to....


Minneapolis, Minnesota, Spanish-speaking.

Attached at the Hip

Caleb has been completely a 'Daddy's Boy' over the last few weeks. He is so excited to see Daddy when he gets home from work each day, and they are inseparable on the weekends. (I don't mind at all as it provides a nice break for me!) Whatever Matt is doing each Saturday, whether it's working in the yard, cleaning, fixing something, etc., Caleb is beside Matt through it all. If by chance Caleb wakes up before Matt leaves for work during the week, it always starts the day off rough because he hates to see his Daddy leave for work. It takes me quite awhile to calm him down! I decided to post some pictures of Caleb with his Daddy from today (almost 19 months) and work backwards to the day Caleb was born. It's funny to me to see how much Caleb has changed.

Caleb's shirt reads:

My Daddy is cool, tough, strong, fearless, and a check mark next to 'all of the above.'
Reading together
Playing

The first Sunday Caleb wore a tie to church (around 12 months)

Playing at the park

Sunday nap

I hardly recognize Caleb in this picture

My bundle of joy, the day Caleb was born.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Because yesterday was such a windy day, Matt had the great idea to fly a kite with Caleb. I can't remember the last time I've flown a kite, so it was really fun for all of us! Luckily it didn't take much skill because the wind seriously did all the work.

Caleb looking up at the kite

Flying the kite with Daddy

Flying the kite with Mommy

Thanks Daddy for a fun afternoon!

My Little Stud

Posing for the photo shoot

Caleb is 18 months old today! Although it's a little dry for other people to read, for my own purposes I have to post another 'Caleb Update', especially for my siblings that don't get to see him very often. At his check-up this past Friday, Caleb weighed a little over 25 lbs (44%) and was 32" tall (43%). His growth is steady and average. I tend to think of Caleb as 'small' because his cousin 6 months younger than him weighs the same as Caleb! If he's not already, he's very close to being taller than Caleb as well.

New words Caleb has added to his vocabulary: up, ball, cat (dat), and doggy. Going on walks in our wagon is so fun because we are constantly looking for cats and dogs. He gets so excited when he sees one and says the words 'cat' and 'doggy' over and over and over again. From our walks, he is starting to recognize airplanes and helicopters (we've only seen one) as well. Caleb is also becoming very good at doing puzzles. We have a shape toy where you drop the shapes through the correct hole. He has mastered those shapes (circle, square, triangle, cross, and star). We have 3 different puzzles that we work on daily...one is types of vehicles (ambulance, train, motorcycle, etc.), numbers, and sea animals. He really does learn by miles everyday, and I love that I'm a stay-at-home mommy so that I can work on all these things with him. Alphabet will be next.

As far as nursery goes, he's improved a lot. It really takes some adjustment and learning. We play with playdough almost daily so that we can work on not eating it when we're at nursery. It's definitely still a work-in-progress. He's so good at holding onto the rope when we're taking a walk around the church building. Caleb is improving each day about drinking from a cup too. He can now throw his trash away all by himself after eating a snack, and although there's still more work to do, he'll sit on his carpet square for a little bit during the lesson and songs. Matt subbed in nursery with me today, so he got a taste of what the last two hours of church are like for me each week! It can be exhausting and frustrating, but there are so many sweet moments when you see a kid learning or singing with you or excited to see you that make it fun.

Rub a Dub Dub 3 Boys in the Tub

I know it won't be this way forever, but right now my older siblings and I love living so close to each other. We've begun rotating dinners 3 times a week, which means two less nights to cook a meal! With both Ariane and Kari's husbands tied up at work due to busy season, I know they enjoy the social outlet since their husbands don't come home till late. We are putting lots of pressure on my younger siblings to jump on the bandwagon and come back to Texas after they're finished at BYU.

Our boys love playing together and will hopefully grow up to be best friends. Drew has been getting impatient waiting for Caleb and Dallin to grow up enough to play with him! Last night, we threw all the boys in the tub for a bath. Baby Samantha was happy to miss out on this party!

Two out of three smiling at the camera...not bad.
Caleb's smile and Drew's funny face.

At one point, both Drew and Dallin were scrunched up at the front of the bath trying to escape the wrath of Caleb. He would pour water on their heads (much to their dislike) and then just giggle and giggle.

Back on Track

The best part about living in Texas is the Spring and Fall weather in addition to the winter weather only lasting 2 months of the year. Houston weather is finally warming up, which means I can start running outside again! In lieu of running outside, my sister and I have been doing cardio workouts inside while our babies play together. However, it just doesn't compare to the workout we get when running outside because we have to stop every few minutes to intervene with our babies. Hopefully the weather stays warm enough for us to be able to run outside continually. (We avoid running outside in weather less than 55 degrees to try to prevent sick babies.)

I am doubly grateful to my husband who has given up his Saturday morning football, ever since we started playing Ultimate Frisbee Sat. afternoons, because now that means I can run without pushing Caleb on Saturday mornings. Caleb doesn't do well for runs lasting over 45 minutes or so, so I haven't run long distances in a while. Last weekend I got back on track for my goal to train for a half marathon. I ran 6 miles last weekend, which wasn't as tough as I thought it would be with taking a 2 month break, and yesterday I reached my new record for distance and ran 8 miles.

In addition to both of these runs, Matt and I play Ultimate in the afternoon, which is at least another couple of miles with all the running involved back and forth. We look at this as a weekly date, which is how we justify spending 2 hours on a Saturday afternoon playing when there's always much to get done! :o)

A few of my family members expressed the other day how they just don't get "the running thing." I'm looking at it as a way to get into the best shape I've ever been in and experience the satisfaction of setting a goal, working for it, and achieving it. Unfortunately, all the half marathon races this year that are close to where I live are on a Sunday. Nothing replaces being able to run the actual race, although it costs money, with all the other runners around you, but I'll continue to work up to 13 miles anyway.