16 Months

My dear, sweet son, you bring a smile to my face almost every minute of the day. You're inquisitive, busy, talkative, loving, funny, and just plain old adorable. Yes, there are moments where you try my patience (at least a daily occurrence), but there are so many more moments that I just give thanks for the blessing you've been to my world.

You have yet to take those elusive "first steps," but each day you seem closer and closer to realizing that all you have to do is let go. And while I'm eager to have you walking on your own, I'll certainly miss the "thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump" of your lightning fast crawling across the floor.

Maybe you're just too busy running your mouth to run your legs. You seem to be constantly jabbering and every day I hear more and more words amidst the jabbers. Some of your favorites: "twuck" (truck), "car," "ba-by," "pay" (play), and "more." Some of my favorites:
"eeeesh" (fish), "e-yo-yo-yoy" (E-I-E-I-O, as in Old MacDonald), and "poon" (spoon).

I do love when you pause from your busy-ness, grab a book, crawl over, and hand it to me. Your face lights up as I take the book and start to read it to you. And my face lights up as you crawl right over into my lap to snuggle up for story time. Aside from books, hugs are about the only other thing to slow you down. You are free and frequent with them, melting my heart as you pause from the all-important job of pushing your trucks from one side of the room to the other ("beep beep") to come give me a hug. Then it's back to being busy, just like that.

You are such a joy in the life of your father and I! We both love you so much more than mere words could ever express.

Splish Splash, Take 2

Last August, when Hayden was 6 months old, we did parent-child swimming lessons at the Y.

9 months later, we decided to do another 4-week session, which just ended last week.

We got some even bigger smiles than the first time around, but also more tears and fearful gripping-for-dear-life.

He still loved those rubber duckies. . .

but had just as much fun playing games and singing songs with the other kids.

I doubt that we have another Michael Phelps on our hands (which is completely fine with us), but it was a fun way to spend Wednesday mornings for the last month!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Thanks for bearing with me here even though I've been slacking on the posting. Having houseguests is more time consuming than I remembered!

2. In nearly 18 months of blogging, I've never done a "Ten on Tuesday" post. I've got lots of random things to report on so I figured now was as good a time as any to start, even though Tuesday is almost over.

3. Don't you love 3 day weekends? All day I've been thinking it was Monday and about 10 minutes ago I realized that tomorrow is Wednesday. That is pretty great!

4. I'm happy to report that Grandpa is doing much better and will actually be making the trip home to Florida tomorrow. My brother flew out to Colorado on Monday and will fly back to Florida with my parents. He's a pilot for Comair so he knows the ins and outs of the airports. He can use his secret handshake to avoid all the hassle. . . (if only!). I wish them smooth travels.

5. I ran the Bolder Boulder 10K on Monday morning and had a great race! I ran 39:28 and felt so good. This is an amazing race. . . amost 55,000 people participated and the race directors have it down pat. Not a single snafu. Most races have age groups. Bolder Boulder gives awards for each age. I was 2nd in the 30-year-old-female age, out of about 750 other 30-year-olds. And I was 32nd out of 26,564 females. I'm in awe of that and can't even wrap my brain around that many runners. This race is just what I needed after my disappointment in Boston. . . a great time, feeling great while racing, placing well, an awesome course, fun goodie bag, cool race t-shirt, and just an all-around-great time.

6. To make a great race even greater, I had the opportunity to see some old friends. My best friend from high school, who also happens to be my commisioning officer (she graduated from West Point 4 days before I graduated from USAFA and came to Colorado for my graduation), flew in to run the race with some of her Army friends. I also got to spend some time with the pilots of these lovely aircraft once they finished running. 55,000 people. . . odds are pretty good that I'd at least know somebody!

7. I am loving the minivan and wondering how I lived without stereo controls on the steering wheel of my previous vehicle. I think it's my favorite feature!

8. Hayden is quite the chatterbox lately. I was trying to keep track of all the words he knows, but I lost count around 45. One of my personal favorites is "truck," which actually sounds more like "twuck". It's so adorable! And just so you know that's not motherly bias, I caught him saying it on video, so you can judge for yourself. He's also saying another of his favorites: "airplane."

9. I'm going cell phone shopping tomorrow, courtesy of that adorable chatterbox. He loves playing with my phone and I figured he couldn't hurt it. I figured wrong. After he had a bout with it this afternoon, it no longer turns on. So if you call my cell phone, don't think I'm ignoring you, I just can't get the message. And if I don't call you, it's because your number is trapped inside my phone. Help!?!

10. Today Rich and I celebrated 8 years of wedded bliss. Happy Anniversary, babe. I love you!

May Days

The thing about Colorado is that you can have 20+ degree differences in the high temperature from day-to-day. And that seems to be true for May more than any other month. Earlier this week it was in the upper 80's. Just when you think summer has arrived, today's high is only 54.

The warm spell did lend itself to summer activities, if only for 2 days. And the activity of choice? The kiddie pool!

He wasn't all that interested in getting in. He just wanted to scoop and pour. . .

. . . on himself.

I'm also happy to report that Grandpa is doing better, getting stronger every day. He came out to enjoy the warm weather, too.

Even Daddy took a break from his yard projects for some fun!

And, as always, Maggie was close by.

The only not-so-popular part of the afternoon was that scratchy grass. I kept telling him that if he would only get up off those knees and walk it wouldn't be nearly as bothersome. He wouldn't listen, though, and decided to perfect his bear crawl!

Whew.

Things have been quiet around here (the blog) because they have not been quiet in real life. Rich and I left on Friday morning for Bozeman, MT to spend the weekend househunting. Hayden's grandma came out to Colorado to babysit while we were gone. My dad decided to join my mom in Colorado for the weekend and flew in from Florida on Friday afternoon. When he got to the Colorado Springs airport, though, he had a heart attack. He quickly found the paramedics and was rushed to the hospital. He's doing okay now and actually was released from the hospital this morning. He'll be recouperating here at our house for about a week before making the trip back to Florida.

My mom insisted that we stay in Bozeman for the purpose we went, but she was here in Colorado trying to juggle a very busy toddler (see exhibits A, B, and C, below--note that all evidence was collected within a 3 minutes timespan) and getting to the hospital to visit my dad. Thank goodness for some good friends here that helped watch Hayden!

The good in all of this is that we did find a nice house during our 1-day search and put an offer in. . . hopefully it will be our new home in August!

And lucky for my dad (and all of us, really) we have an expert heart-healer in residence (see exhibits A, B, and C, below--you can't help but smile at him).

EXHIBIT A

EXHIBIT B

EXHIBIT C

Rain, rain, don't go away

it gives dear Hayden a chance to wear his new boots. . .

We don't get rain too often out here in Colorado, but when the skies turned gray late last week, I couldn't resist pulling out my latest Target purchase. Nevermind that he can't actually walk on his own yet. Or that they're a size too big.

He made a good model! And even though there wasn't enough precipitation to create any splash-worthy puddles, Hayden was sure to give that waterspout a thorough once-over for the infamous itsy-bitsy spider.

The Toddler's Busy Book

I picked this book up from the bargain rack at Barnes & Noble a couple of weeks ago. It has tons and tons of ideas for projects, crafts, and games to keep your 18-36 month old busy. Little did I know that the book itself would be such a popular activity!

Even if we never do a project (which is highly unlikey--it has some great ideas), it was $1.99 well spent! He has been "reading" it every day for the last week.

Yo.

Somebody found Mama's running hat. Somebody is really cute. And somebody totally knows it.

Yo. (On a different note) we sold our house! Just had to put that out there cause we're very relieved and everyone keeps asking how the whole "for sale" thing is going. Now you know--it's gone! Yipee! Oh, don't let me think about it too long though, cause I'm sad to leave our house. Joy, relief, sadness, nervousness. . . the life of a military family every 3 years. Sigh.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Hayden sure does like to keep up on current events.

Off we go into the wild blue yonder. . .

Last week we took Hayden to the Academy for Noon Meal Formation. This is an activity that I haven't witnessed in person since I was one of those marching cadets back in 1999. Ahhh, it brought back memories. . .

We weren't just out to start winning him over to our alma mater (can we say, "free education"), there was a pretty cool flyover scheduled and we just had to see it up close and in person. A 2-ship C-17 formation was making a low, slow pass right over the terrazo. Impressive by itself, but what made it even more impressive is that we personally know the pilots of those huge aircraft! Rich's Academy roommate, Eric, was in one cockpit, and his wife, Heidi (also a 99'er) was in the other. Pretty cool, eh?

I think every cadet, at one time or another watching a flyover like this, dreams that they'll one day get to flyover the Academy in a multi-million dollar defender of American freedom (pardon my patriotism!). It was pretty fun to watch our good friends make good on that dream.