Hello

Caroline is obsessed with our phones. She has sent Mark a text message from my phone and even called Grandma last night. :-) However, she has recently learned how to play with her toy phone. It's precious to see her put it up to her ear. It's crazy how all of the little things, like learning to "talk" on the phone bring me such joy.


In other good news, I answered the door after coming home from church today and this was in my neighbors hands!!

French toast with pecans, strawberries and cream cheese topping! It tasted as good as it looks! I'm pretty sure that I have the best neighbors ever!

Competition

I don't know where it comes from specifically but I am one competitive girl. As a young child I played a lot of different sports. My parents instilled in me that I always had to do my best. They didn't care if I won, they just wanted me to try my hardest. I've often thought that being an adult kind of stinks for one simple reason.... you don't have the same opportunites to compete - no Saturday morning soccer games in the fall or Tuesday night swim meets in the summer.

I have had a few opportunities here and there to compete as an adult...annual softball tournaments, the occassinal game of ultimate frisbee or the always serious putt-putt. :-) In Dallas, I did one triathlon and even played two seasons of indoor soccer. However, as an adult my competitive nature always sneaks up on me because there is just not as much opportunity for it.

Since I did the swimming portion of the last Ironman the competitive feelings have come back in full force. I am now training for an Olympic distance triathlon that will be held on Labor Day weekend. I have been running on the treadmill and have been to a couple of spin classes.

This morning I hopped back in the pool for the first time since the race a few weeks ago. It was great! I felt like I was flying through the water (probably just flying compared to the old lady who was stretching in the lane next to me)! Then it happened...a young man came in and he had the serious swimmer look. :-) There were no other lanes available so I offered to share the lane with him. He would take the right side of the lane and I would take the left. I swam a couple more laps and then he started and all of a sudden he was by my side. We were swimming next to each other. I was pulling and kicking and he was matching me stroke for stroke. I kept wondering when he was going to pass me. For several laps, I kept thinking that surely he was going to take off and leave me in the dust but I guess we were evenly matched. The competitive feeling then washed over me. I didn't really have a desire to "beat" him to the wall. Instead I would kick a bit harder and inch forward. I would then turn it down a bit and fall back a foot or two, only to get back even again. It was a mental game for me. We swam like that for 20 minutes which is almsot unheard of in the pool. Normally someone will pull away. He eventually got tired, he was probably just tired of swimming next to me, and stopped at the wall. I continued swimming and then he started again after a short break. Now he was 3/4 of a lap in front of me and the boost of competitive drive kicked back in. I was going to catch up to him. I eyed him in the distance and kicked and pulled and kicked harder. Since we were so evenly matched, it took a me several laps but I eventually caught up to him! SUCCESS!!

I sometimes wonder if I have taken on more than I can do with training for this triathlon. I have never in my life run run more than 3 miles and I have to run 6 for this triathlon. My training seems to be working at this point though. I ran 3 and 3 quarter miles on Saturday so I'm making progress. I even feel really good while I'm working out and afterwards. I can tell a difference in how my body is responding. It just feels so good to workout! I say that I'm competitive and certainly in the pool today I felt that way but most of the adrenaline comes from pushing myself farther than I think I'm able to go. I have to push through the mental blocks and the "pain" in order to make my goals. The ability to work hard and push myself both mentally and physically in order to reach a goal is the best feeling! I hope that I will stay healthy so that I can continue to enjoy this process. My goal is certainly not to be the fastest but just to finish!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to a daddy who loves to make his little girl giggle!

You can't hear him say it, but after finding out that it's being recorded Mark says, "You punk!" I think he liked it!

An apple

a day keeps the doctor away!

Issues

Apparently I have camera issues. My camera that was two weeks old...broken. The camera still took pictures but the screen was cracked and all fuzzy.

I started to tell Mark that my new camera, that he just bought me for our anniversary, because he loves me was broken but I just couldn't look him in the eyes. I covered my face with the napkin and said, "I have something bad to tell you." He said "Wait, wait. I have to get a picture of this." and proceeded to pick up my broken camera!


Of course, he turned it on and recognized the bad news right away. Thankfully he wasn't mad. He is very gracious with me. I seriously don't know how it broke! I took it back to Target and told them the truth and they were just as gracious as Mark. They took it back and I once again have a new camera! Yipee!!

Recent pictures

You can just call her "ET". She loves to point her finger and have you touch it. It's her new favorite game.



She has also started scrunching up her nose when she smiles. Her already squinty eyes are almost non-existent.

She loves to lean over to the side and grin at us. My heart melts everytime!

Tonight at dinner she made a few friends! This family was sitting in the booth behind us and they were in love with Caroline. They talked, played peek a boo, made funny faces and giggled with her through most of our time at the restaurant! They even hugged and kissed her when they left. I felt like we had built-in babysitters for the night!

Church

Mark and I are so thankful for our church family. We say it all the time but it's true. Today was a little different because we didn't really see our normal pew pals but it was still sweet.

At 9:30 we taught Sunday School for 1st graders. We had a great time with those little munchkins. They were sweet and silly and lovable. We talked to them about being good friends like Ruth was to Naomi. We also made fathers day cards together and they ran circles around us, literally.

At 11:00 we went to a Sunday School Class that is being taught by one of the pastors during the month of June. The class was very small this morning but it provided a really great time for sharing. There were about 15 of us and the pastor had us go around the circle, introduce ourselves and say something funny/unique about ourselves or something memorable about Father's Day. I could think of neither but was really glad to hear about others in the class who I would normally not have the opportunity to meet. Since sharing took so long we never had our "real" lesson but instead were just able to sit and listen as one man shared his testimony. It was awesome to hear how he had been attending church for years but just in the past couple months really got it. He was so emotional as he shared. You could really tell that God had been working in his life and that he was a changed man. I was very thankful for the opportunity to meet some new people and hear what God is doing in others lives.

On a much, much lighter note, the wife of the man who shared his testimony is a judge in our county. She shared about some of the crazy stories that she hears on a weekly basis. She says that Monday mornings are like the Jerry Springer Show. People come and share with the judge why they want someone else arrested. Wednesday's are bond hearings. She then shared something I never in my life thought I would learn about, especially at church! :-)

When folks are out on bond, they have to be drug tested frequently. Of course, there are all kinds of ways that people try to get around the test so now you are watched as you give your urine sample. I've now heard that if you have "the whizzenator" you may be in luck! You can google it if you like, but I warn you it is crazy!! The whizzenator is a fake body part that you can stick in your pants. You can fill it with urine and then literally pull it out when you have to do your test! Apparently this works for some folks, except for the guy in the story who used a black whizzenator even thought he was white!

Our morning was filled with sweet giggles, whether it be with 1st graders or hearing about whizzenators. I'm already looking forward to the fellowship we will have next Sunday!

Supermom

The other day my friend Kelly wrote this blog about the occasional feeling of being a supermom. I have to admit that I sometimes get that feeling too. Yesterday was one of those days. I succeeded in getting Caroline, myself and Sophie all packed up and out the door to make our way to Augusta.

My supermom abilities kicked in when I realized that we were going to have to stop for lunch. There was no way that Caroline was going to make it the whole way without getting a little something in her belly. Sadly, we couldn't eat anywhere real healthy because we had Sophie in the car (non-supermomish). There was not even a Chick-fil-a in sight.

I got Caroline out and we headed inside to order. I had to use the restroom badly so I hold Caroline in one arm and do the restroom thing with the other arm. Supermom, right? I then ordered our food and took it outside. After several trips back and forth to the car, wrangling Caroline and Sophie, grabbing a blanket, dog leash, food and baby stuff we had a picturesque picnic.

Caroline was happy to be able to move around. Sophie was happy to have a drink and be out of the hot car. It was lovely. The bad part was that I really did sit with Caroline and eat lunch thinking, "I am supermom."

I then had some thoughts that brought me back to reality. This whole situation would have been a piece of cake without Sophie. We could have just eaten lunch inside. Also, I was especially proud of the restroom stop until I realized that Mom's have to do that all the time. The whole restroom thing with a little one that is no longer in a baby carrier and doesn't stand yet is a challenge. Any suggestions? :-)

I think I will keep working on my supermom talents.

God's Greatest Gift

So last night while I was packing to go to New England, Nicole was feeding Caroline and putting her to bed. Caroline didn't want to go to bed just then and she fussed for several minutes. I decided to go check on her and to try to rock her to sleep.
One of the greatest things God has ever given me is what happened in the next few minutes. As I picked her up, she practically fell onto my shoulder. She turned her head and laid it on me as if to say thanks. God allowed me to comfort the person I love more than anyone else in the world besides my wife. We often wish it could be as easy as it was for me last night. The truth is that I needed this boost. I've been a sluggish mess of a man this weekend and didn't feel great all day. It was sort of like God using Caroline to give me a hug last night.
I am the luckiest guy in the world!!
-Mark
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

MMMM Dinner

So tonight, this was my dinner. My flight from Jacksonville, FL to Atlanta has a half-hour delay on the ramp in Jacksonville. Then we took off and it was such a great flight. Then we had to hold because of storms moving through Atlanta. We held for half an hour. Then, when we were all ready to land, the Captain told us that we'd been given another 25 minutes to hold. We didn't have that much fuel, so we were going back to Jacksonville!!! Yipeee. We headed back and got a quick sip of Jet-A while everybody and their brother called loved ones. Then we got to take off for Atlanta. That's when we finally got to dine on thirteen of the loveliest peanuts I've ever tasted. I should land only two hours late. And all of this from the dreaded middle seat!!
Cheers!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Triathlon

A few months ago Noelle asked me to participate in a triathlon with her. I would get to do the easy part, the swimming, she would do the bike portion and her friend Tia would do the run. I can't begin to tell you how glad I am that she asked me to do this with her. Honestly, I haven't done much working out since Caroline was born. I am still teaching water aerobics once a week but once a week is certainly not enough to keep me in shape. I needed a challenge and this was the perfect challenge for me!!

Mark and Caroline were troopers the whole weekend. Friday night we had to go register for the event. Do you see the fancy bikes in the background?

We did a Half Ironman triathlon. I got to swim 1.2 miles, Noelle biked 56 miles and Tia ran 13.1 miles. Below are a couple of pre-race pictures...

All the folks in the white caps were in my "wave." There were over 400 people participating in the triathlon and I think about 50 or so in my wave. Our relay team was mixed in with the 40 and over men so I got to swim next to lots of hairy men who were in really good shape!

Don't you see me? Swimming was so exhilirating (did I really just use that word?)! I would see someone ahead of me and work to pass them. I would then find another target and work to pass them. It was such a great challenge!

After the swim we had to run up a little hill and into the transition area where I got to tag Noelle. Running the hill was far worse than the swim! I didn't train for that part. :-)

Noelle is so hard core! I love her expression in this picture!

Tia did awesome running 13.1 miles in the heat of the day!

We made it! We got some pretty great hats and medals at the end. I always tell people I like to do races for the t-shirts and it's true. The prizes at the end are fun.

I'm so thankful to Mark and his company for this lovely tent that we got to use throughout the day! It was so stinkin hot and we were thankful for this bit of shade!

We had a great cheering squad. Caroline was working on holding up our sign...

but Noelle's Dad did it a little better!

Let me just say a few words about Caroline. Mark and I are head over heels in love with her! She is just precious but I will say I think we won in the good baby department! She is such a trooper. She spent 9 hours outside and didn't fuss a bit. Sunday we took her to a new nursery room at church and when we picked her up they raved about how good she was. Apparently the other 3 little ones in the room screamed the whole time. After picking her up we went to lunch with some friends. She had been up since 6:30 that morning but didn't make an unhappy peep the whole time. Numerous times I have gone to pick her up from the daycare at the gym and heard them say, "She wins the best baby award." She is just so good natured. I am hopeful that this will continue!!

We love her to pieces. Unfortunately, this is what she looks like when we really do love her to pieces. :-)

Too bad she is just going to keep getting it!