Mr. Mom

Erin has headed off for 10 days at University of Michigan to start her MBA.  This is night number two without mom and things are going pretty well.  Xander spends his days at a home daycare that he has been to before and is doing well there.  Last night, our first night, was a little challenging.  Xander had a cough that kept him up much of the night, so I was up with him a lot.  Hopefully tonight will be smoother.  Yesterday evening was a little hectic to get the grocery shopping done, house cleaned up, and dinner made, but tonight we got to have a lot more fun.  I put some chicken on the grill and we played on the slide in the back yard.  Xander went down feet first, and head first too.

Not sure if going down head first or just having a bit of a runny noise was the culprit, but while I was turning the chicken, Xander came over to see what I was up to.  I looked down at him and thought, what has he gotten into to get red stuff all over his lips, ketchup?  Then I realized that he actually had a bloody nose.  He didn't see at all worried about it, so I tried not to upset him and got a cloth to wipe him off.  The experience didn't slow him down at all, and after I mopped him up, he headed off to mow the lawn.

So, two days down and eight more to go as Mr Mom.  So far we are doing great, although it helps that I've decided to take a break from triathlon training for a few days.  More on that in a future post.

Xander has Indian Food

Xander has had Indian food before, and liked it (as long as it wasn't really really spicy saag) but I made this last night and it looked so fun and colorful, I couldn't help but to snap a picture on the iphone.  Blogworthy?  Maybe not, but Sunday was a slow relaxing day, and not all posts can be top-notch.

My heros of the day

After completing my mild 32 miles and Jake completing his 64 (plus a 7 mile run with Xander in the Chariot), I can definately say that I am inspired and impressed with the many many folks out there today at the Tour de Cure who were living with diabetes, but not letting it rule thier life.  So many people, from every walk of life and at every conceivable fitness level were out there.  It was fantastic!

My hero of the day: a tie: Karyn Brown, diabetes warrior princess who just completed a 101 mile ride, and "the guy with the oxygen tank" who was also a red rider and 300 lbs, but rode an unknown shorter distance to support the fight for a cure to diabetes. Hoorrah!

Here are a few quick pics- stay tuned- I may add a few more pics as they become available.

-Erin

Karyn, and friends (including Becky) getting a little icebath in the tubs

A pregnant Erin, with Xander, at the Tour de Cure!

(I may have been exagerating the belly just a bit in these photos)

                      My Suuport Crew                               Audra (left) and Erin have almost identical due dates!

Hello Baby, Hello!

One baby gone (the Z car), new baby on the way!!!  Erin had her 12 week ultrasound today and everything looks great.  The little one was sleeping at first, but the ultrasound technician woke her (him?) up and she danced all around.  Estimated due date is March 4th.  Erin has been doing very well, although she feels like this pregnancy is a little harder than the last one.  Personally, I think that is baby amnesia, the tendency for mom's to forget every challenging portion of pregnancy, birth, and early childhood...  We are both very excited about our second child.  Xander of course has no idea what's coming, but hopefully these two will be wonderful playmates and lifelong friends.

-Jake

Gone Baby Gone...

Erin pointed out that Jake didn't need "Zmistress" now that he has a toddler at home and a wife who isn't working 60-hour work weeks anymore...

It was tough, but we decided to sell our lovely 350Z Roadster.... here is our last glimps of her driving away with her new owner.  We made enough on the sale to pay for 2/15 of Erin's MBA.

As Charles McParland said, "A fair trade ... a depreciating asset for an appreciating brain."

Pick a Peach, Pick a Pea!

Our friends, the Coopers, came by this past weekend and gave us some of their home-grown peaches... absolutely delicious!  Xander ate a few all by himself.

This photo is just to show off how well Xander is getting the hang of "Cross Country running" ...

Meanwhile, Erin grew peas again this year in the garden but we were gone for the critical peak weeks and they were past prime by time we got home.... so she harvested them, dried them, and now we have seeds for the fall crop, plus enough for some split pea soup!  Amazing how an entire garden's worth of peas reduces to just 12 oz of dried peas.

Casseroles... aka, what happens when Erin finally has energy again

For the last month, I've been hyper-alert to Xander, who has been struggling with a cold and  then a mild but persistent pneumonia that kept him coughing and from sleeping through the night.  Several nights he made himself sick with coughing and needed baths (as did his favorite blanket, without which he can no longer sleep).  Even after he was settled down, I couldn't go back to sleep!  So after 3 weeks of this "healthy during the day and sick at night" syndrome, we took him to the doctor for antibiotics.  Wouldn't you know it?  Within 2 days, both Xander and I were getting a solid night's sleep again!  Gotta love modern medicine sometimes.

So what did I do with all that energy?  I made casseroles!  I have a good friend, Sheryl, who is due any day now with baby #2, plus my personal stash of emergency dinners was gone.  Since 3 casseroles are as easy to make as one... why not 16?  Lasagna with italian sasage, shredded beef and vegtables, and Mexican Enchilladas with chicken or beef, beans, and vegtables.  Oh yeah, and I had leftovers, so I made chili.

Bon Appetite!

Xander

Just a few silly photos to share of Xander to give you a glimpse into his personality.  He loves to help Mom and Dad, especially doing the things he sees me do a lot, like sweeping and mopping the floors, gardening (pulling up "weeds") and "wiping up" spilled milk (with or without a towel, depending on if I see him in time).  I don't capture enough of these little moments, but here are a few. 

He helps us clean the cars too! 

Here's Xander after he picked out his outfit for the first time- complete with the socks and the too small hat!

Xander just loves his mega-blocks, and loves to build towers.  This one was his best yet, with only a little bit of help from me to shore up the stability factor- most of this was done 100% on his own.  He's actually really good at finding similar sizes and shapes to match together to keep it (mostly) stable.

He also has a mega-block bus that has become the coolest thing to run around the house and the garden with.  He leans over on it and pushes it along really fast.  It's hilarious!

And Yes, Xander is into EVERYTHING.  Including the drawers I used to hide sharpees in, and scissors, and...  I just missed him actually using his megabock wagon as a climbing step to get a better reach into the  drawer.  He got nervous and stepped back down, but this was pretty cute all the same.

Summertime in Crested Butte

We had our first successful rentals of the house in Crested Butte over July, and therefore in early August it was high time we got a little fun up there ourselves, and did a tiny bit of cleaning up and getting the place back in order.  We were joined by our dear friends the Ogburns: Mike Tina and little Henry, who normally live up near Aspen.  In the summer, it is a 8 mile (rugged) hike or a beautiful 2 hour drive on mountain roads between Aspen and CB.  In the Winter, it's 6+ hours to go around the long way!

---Side note to all our loyal readers.... if you are interested in coming out to CB for world class Mountain Biking or Skiing, or know friends who would be, please let them know about our place!  We're trying to rent our 2B/2.5B home entirely through word of mouth so the place stays nice and in good shape, and could use help getting the word out!---

July is really peak wildflower time in CB, but that isn't to say there aren't plenty of late bloomers around to catch the eye and satisfy the soul.  We did a little bit of group hiking, the boys went on several mountain biking rides together, and I got to go on 3 good mountain bike rides on my own.  I preferred going on my own since it gave me some no-pressure time to relax, have fun, and work on getting a few of my skills back after almost 2 years of very little riding.  When I ride with the boys, I always feel like I have to keep up, and right now, sadly, I am not in good enough shape for that.

One group hike got cut a little short.  Xander was feeling under the weather and had been having a hard time sleeping at night because he was coughing so much.  By time we got to the trailhead for our hike a ways away from home, Xander was already exhausted and really let me know it!  I headed home with him, leaving the others to brave the storm that was rolling in, but on the way, I got a few nice photos to show just how lush and green everything was.  Beautiful!

We also got a few photos of Xander playing, although we somehow managed not to get any good photos of Xander and Henry playing together.  That might have been because Xander wasn't too keen on sharing his toys OR his mom with Henry, even for a moment, and it was therefore hard to get cute photos of them together.  Ah well!  He'll get better at sharing eventually. 

Xander's starting to look like such a little boy!  Very few moments of babyhood left, I think.

A walk in the park

It was very hot, and hard work pushing two kiddos, but Jack, Xander and I braved the weather and enjoyed a shady walk along Coal Creek Trail with a stop to meet Jack's Mom, Elizabeth, for a picnic!  Although you wouldn't know it from the photo, both boys had a blast... but by the end, they were both ready for naps, and so was I!