Travel Anyone?!

The last 2 1/2 weeks have been a whirl wind of new jobs and travel! JP started his new job on the 24th and I started a re-assignment at work that same day. That Friday we took off to see my mom at her lake house in Tim's Ford TN. We had a great time as Cale got to meet and spend time with his 2nd cousin (my cousin's little girl) who is about 3 years old. They were so cute together all weekend. JP and I tried to relax, knowing that the next week was going to be extremely hectic. It was a great time with family, very fun. The next week was very hectic and frustrating. I was working a lot and having to work some off shift hours to do some training. On the triathlon front things have come to a stand still. I have managed to make 2-3 swims and the Wed night ride only for the last 3 weeks. I just did not have the time, and did not want to sacrifice time with Cale and JP to workout. This past weekend I traveled again, this time to Madison WI for Ironman WI. This time not to race, but to be support for my best friend Katie. I will write more about my Sherpa experience later. I am now happy to say that we will be around for a few weekends, although I still have a couple more trips planned for this fall. Hopefully JP will settle into his job and my new assignment will end sometime in October. Now I just have to think about what I want to do next...

Sleeping?!

Well, Cale has done great in his big boy bed, but it has been a funny transition for JP and I. We have learned that it is better for us (and he doesn't seem to mind) if we close his door when he goes to sleep. There was one morning where JP woke up to him playing out in the living room, he did not bother getting JP up, he just headed out to play. Another morning I had gotten up and was ironing clothes for work, he had quietly walked all the way across the house and was standing in the door way of the laundry room---'Mama!' about scared me to death. Then yesterday he had been down for a nap in his room for about 2 hours, it was still quiet but JP and I decided to peek in on him. He was asleep on the floor between the chair and ottoman in his room! JP and I were laughing so hard it woke him up :) Last night we shut his door when he went to sleep, he just knocks in the morning when he gets up. He knocked from the inside this morning, I opened the door, he was standing right there and I heard 'Mommy, shoes', still obsessed with shoes, he wants to put them on first thing in the morning and then he brings JP and I our shoes to put on. He makes me smile :)

Big Boy Bed

Well Cale is officially a big boy. We bought him a race car bed off of Craig's list and put it in his room next to his crib. Sunday night was the first night in it. He was so tired from the trip he went to sleep right away, and slept just fine in his new bed until I woke him on Mon morning. Tues night he repeated, went to sleep with no issue. He did have a little night mare and JP went in and held him for a minute and he went back to sleep. Tonight he did it again, no issue at all! He is the perfect little guy. We took the crib out of his room tonight. We will see if he figures out that he can get out of the new bed any time soon. He is a great little sleeper, great putting down, and we pretty much have to get him up in the mornings. The pictures are from the morning we moved it in!

River Cities Triathlon

This past weekend we traveled to Shreveport LA for the River Cities Triathlon. I have done this race every year since 2001 (I went in 2005 when I was pregnant but just picked up my packet!). My dad came over to spend some time with Cale (and watch me race). I had a good race, no PR but I will take it. I ended up 1st in the Athena division and would have been 5th in my age group.

Katie beat me by 40 sec, passed me on the run, luckily she is racing in the Master's Athena division now so we both got a chance to place first! That was fun. Cale had a blast playing in the sand/dirt, and running around outdoors for the whole morning.

He played so hard he was pasted out in his stroller! He looked so comfy we thought about just leaving him in there and just strapping the stroller into the back of the truck (just kidding!).

Cale!

These days we are hard pressed to get Cale to do anything that we want him to do, typical toddler. The current challenges are to get him to eat (other than crackers and juice) and to brush his teeth, get dressed, or change his diaper. We recently had a break through with the teeth brushing. He is doing it himself with the help of a step stool so he can see him self dance around in the mirror and reach the faucet.

We also got him to start eating a few more foods. He can now say 'waffle' and 'fre fry', so much for starting him out healthy :)

Juggling

You might think that after doing Ironman a normal human being would then use the next few months to chill out, relax, eat junk food and lay on the couch. I am not normal. I did take two weeks off of working out and then jumped back in with two feet. I am still working out 6 days a week, sometimes two times a day. This week it hit me pretty hard that I was missing out on time with Cale, too many balls in the air. I took my schedule to my coach and told him that I needed a couple of nights back at home. Last week I worked out Mon-Wed nights, then had bible study on Thursday night and then took Cale to the lake with me on Friday night for an open water swim. I have to start taking a stand and saying no. This has been an on going prayer request for me. I have the underlying fear that I will turn into a 500 lb blob if I stop working out 15 hours a week ;) I have reduced my schedule to Wed night ride and Thurs night bible study, and will fit in a lake swim on Friday if it fits into the schedule. I am feeling better now. Being a working mom is hard enough, I think Cale and JP would rather have me be out of shape and around more :)

Crazy Cale!

Disclaimer: Cale's nose injury was a booboo that occurred in the nursery a couple of Sunday's ago, he was climbing on something that had wheels that slipped out from under him which resulted in a face meeting the carpet. The result was a bloody scrapped nose and a big knot on his forehead. This was not fun considering he had a runny nose that week.

Lately Cale has been so funny, he loves shoes, he wants to put our shoes on, he wants us to put on shoes that he brings us and he points out every ones 'shhooeess'! He is at that stage where he is using some stand alone words and likes to grab your hand and show you things, pointing and either telling you what it is or asking you 'dat', meaning what is this?!

We bought him a potty last week, we are not actively training him quite yet but getting him familiar with the concept. He did use it once but I think it was purely luck! Here are some recent funny Cale pictures (gotta love it, he is just as quirky as his dad!).