Tuesday, May 26, 2009

You did what? A half marathon?? Are you crazy?

The answer: probably so, but for a million other reasons.
For those that don't know what I'm talking, last week we packed up and headed to Boise to visit my sister and her family. One reason that we were going was for me to join Kristen in running a half marathon-13.1 miles of fun times! Since this was our first race of any kind our goal was primarily to finish, and we did in just over 3 hours! Now we have plans to run a 5k in Little Rock this summer and probably to redo this race in the future. To completely embarrass my sis, here are some delightful pictures.






Things we learned that day include:

You should probably try for more than 2-4hrs sleep the night before your race.

Never arrive two hours earlier than your race when it is freezing cold outside and there is no shelter to hide in.

Always leave out clothes, pack diaper bags and put big flashing signs around the sunscreen so that our wonderful husbands who took care of the kids don't have to put on a sheepish grin while trying explain why the kids are still in pajamas or that there is no water or sunscreen for the kids. I really think this was probably one of Sam's favorite days from our trip though. Just enjoying watching the kids play and chase each other and supporting Kristen and I. I will post some more of our trip in a bit.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Monday, May 4, 2009

Big strides!



I wish for once Jack would cooperate with me filming the cute and exciting things that he does, but I've come to the conclusion that it just isn't going to happen. I will not give up even though I think it really annoys him. He is probably thinking, "Mom get down here and play and put that weird thing away. Get it out of my face mom, I mean it!" This is truly a shame because he is at one of the most fun ages where he is truly discovering the world and how he moves and fits in it.


This past month has been one thing after another as far as milestones go! Jack started really crawling at seven months and since then has spent most of his time just checking every room out and exploring everything. Now in the past month( he is about to be a whole 10 months old) he has been pulling up on everything, cruising around, climbing, getting his first bruises( he has had two now Kat Kat and the other was on my watch so don't feel bad about it), 'rough housing', throwing and catching a ball, singing, talking(6 words already) and proving to us that we should never under any circumstances think that he is incapable of doing or understanding something. The kid is completely fearless!! His most recent achievement has been to pull up on this awesome push toy that Grandpa and Grandma Palmer got him for Christmas and walk it clear across the room, all by himself!!! He has always loved this toy, since he was 6 months he has known that it moves when he pushes it and plays music and certain buttons produce certain songs. I've always been super cautious about letting him just pull up on it though and usually follow behind him keeping a hand on the wheels to steady it, because I didn't think he was quite balanced enough for it. Yesterday morning he decided to prove me wrong and has been nonstop with it ever since. Except of course when I turn the camera on to capture the magic. Perhaps someday you will be able to see how incredibly awesome he is...but he is kind of modest about it I guess. I just can't believe we are already to this stage of almost walking. It has come way too fast and I don't think I'm ready in the least! Any ideas on how to go back in time? Normally I would say no way do I want him to be a newborn again b/c I like my sleep too much, but with his allergies making his nose run nonstop at night he is waking up every two hours( if even goes asleep) these days anyway. So here's to better sleep at night and for God to prepare me for lots of daredevil behavior, falls and bruises and whatever else is in store.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Visiting is fun

Last week was very long, filled with very long days for this family. Sam had to work 3 afternoon/evening shifts in a row and had numerous appointments throughout the week to keep his mornings busy. Needless to say, Jack and I both missed him very much..esp. when it came to bedtime. Normally this goes pretty smoothly in our house, however that is because I "normally" get to relax and let Sam doing the putting to bed. Jack is very much in love with his evening routine: dinner, bathtime, playing on the floor with mommy and daddy, nurse and snuggle with mom, brush teeth and then Daddy reads stories and says nighttime prayers and off to sleep he goes. It does NOT go well when daddy is taken out of the bedtime equation. We were enjoying playing with Sam Thursday evening,(Jack got to stay up late b/c he had not gotten to see him all day) when the doorbell rang and our great cousin Stephanie was here to see us! Jack was fascinated by her and the beautiful earrings she wore and the funny voices she kept using.
Friday night was spent cleaning out our "guest room", which really was our catch all junk room. We had to get ready for our overnight visit from Grandma and Papa Palmer!! Jack was so excited to see them on Saturday, he gave Grandma so many big happy smiles but of course played hard to get when it came down to being held. So after naptime he helped us make dinner and enjoyed his first sampling of tofu scramble and green bell peppers. Then he showed off his skills of crawling and standing up and tried so hard to walk, showed Grandma all his toys, pulled on Papa's whiskers and watch a little Bond with everyone else. After all that he was exhausted and promptly fell asleep with bottom up!
Sunday morning Jack and I woke up pretty early and got busy making breakfast. I tried a new concoction that I called apple banana muffins, which were in my opinion missing a little something but they were a hit with Jack and everyone else seemed to like them. After breakfast it was off to church, where the pastors are doing a series entitled something like " If you could ask God one question, what would it be" and actually making it possible for the church members text in questions and they do there best to answer them on the spot. Probably not nearly as easy as Robby made it seem yesterday. Jack is at the stage where he doesn't want to sit still that long and talks or babbles CONSTANTLY, so we decided that we would attempt the nursery. I was pretty nervous about it but Jack hit the floor crawling, went straight to some toys and never looked back. Thankfully there were some great people working the nursery that day that I have come to love and trust just like family, it made it a lot easier. That doesn't mean that halfway through the service I didn't have to go check on him to calm my own nerves. When I opened the door to leave the sanctuary all I heard were babies crying and my heart just dropped. When I finally got to the room where he was I found him in the middle of the floor playing with some toy and smiling, while almost all the other babies were upset or fussing. Apparently he was the only child that morning that did not fuss or cry. I know that it won't always be that way, but what a great way to start out! After church we went out to eat and what fun that was. Jack loves to share my nachos, he likes to eat the tomatoes, beans and gaucamole so it was a given that he would get some of these things. What we weren't expecting was him snaking Sam's french fries off his plate and stealing some ketchup too. He had been watching his daddy dip his fries and decided he just had to try it. Probably not the healthiest thing but, eh..
After we said our goodbyes and took a nice long nap, we played a fun game of "soccer" in the back yard. Jack absolutely loves helping to throw and kick the ball! We had lots of fun this weekend!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

What a rough week...

This has been a pretty pathetic week in the Palmer house so far. Jack and Sam have both been sick with a nasty stomach bug, and I do mean nasty. My poor little guy went through two days of 20+ diaper changes due to this yucko bug and unfortunately no diaper in the world can hold it all in. Some how we made it a year with a puppy in this house and never had a stain on the carpet, now there are suspicous faint yellowish spots here and there, EVERYWHERE! Sam has told me that he can't see them, but I just know that the gross stuff is just lurking in there waiting to pop up again at any moment. It's awful. What I have learned in the past few days is that my son could puke,pee and poo on me all at the same time and I wouldn't freak out or get upset about the mess. It's really amazing how priorties change once you have a kid. Sam has had just as rough a go with this stuff and I don't know how I've managed not to get it. Well I do know, constant prayer!!
Despite being sick Jack has been as active as ever, maybe even more so. He has finally perfect crawling!! That being said, I've left the room for minutes at a time and come back to find him in new places. He gets so very excited about exploring new rooms or even corners of the living room he's not seen from his level before.



And the best thing about both of my boys being sick at the same time? It's really inspired some great daddy/baby bonding time:







Sam has really gone above and beyond to earn that Daddy title too. I think he has probably changed more diapers, cleaned up more poo and cuddled that little guy more than I have over the past few days, being just as sick on top of all that. Also he let me sleep in two days in a row after particularly rough nights with Jack. How awesome!!!


Also Jack is very excite about two new things:
His very first life jacket! "I'm ready to get on that boat Papa G!!"
And this fun new trick! "I can take my drink everywhere now!"