5K

We went and ran in the local 4th of July 5K this morning and had tons of fun. We loaded the kids up into their double stroller and a lady shouted "3,2,1, go!" and off we went. The race was actually at the campus of the company where my uncle works, in a semi-rural area outside of Portland. It started at the campus and then went out in a big loop before coming back to finish at the start. The kids did amazingly well and seemed happy to watch the scenery go by. Mateo kept saying, intermittently, "this is a nice road!" and we finally figured out that he was saying that when we hit a shady part and the sun wasn't in his eyes.

Sacha and I ran together the whole way, which was fun. She finished her first-ever 5K!! I was the main stroller pusher, which evened out our paces so that we were both working hard! Pushing over 40 pounds of kids (plus however much the stroller weighs) for three miles turned out to be quite a workout. We were both quite proud of ourselves.

It wasn't too long ago that I had given up on ever being able to run again, so it feels great to have worked up to running two days a week with no major issues and then to be able to finish a 5K and feel good afterward. And, just because I'm too competitive for my own good, I must note that we were the first stroller to finish the race, beating out a pack of fancy jogging strollers. And, we were the only ones with a double stroller, to boot! We really just wanted to finish, but it was fun to win something, too :)

As an added bonus, there were popsicles at the finish and a kids' run about half an hour later.

Here are some photos of the morning:

The fam with our popsicles at the 5K finish line:


Mateo at the start of the kids' run:


Powering to the finish of the kids' run!:


Happy 4th of July to everybody!

Adventures

We had a lovely day today. I didn't remember I had Friday off until a couple of days ago, so it was almost a surprise free day! We went out for waffles with some good friends this morning and then let the kids romp around a nearby park for awhile. The funniest part of that was watching our girl share a kiddie swing with her buddy, who is two weeks younger than she is but outweighs her by quite a bit. She seemed blissfully unaware that she could have been squashed at any moment!

Then, after some playtime out in the yard and naptime, we went on another adventure. We did a drive-by of Mateo's preschool for the fall, and then we headed out to Sacha's new school. I hadn't been there before and it has a nice feel to it. It has a huge field and both covered and open air play areas, which is crucial in this area! There's a cool garden and even the several portables outside the main building are newly painted with bright colors and murals on them. It also has a cute little street nearby with some restaurants and stores and such. We had an impromptu dinner at a little diner that served homemade ice cream. Delicious! Mateo ate so much for dinner that he actually wasn't hungry for the ice cream we got afterward. Talia, on the other hand, threw all her dinner on the ground but was happy to eat as much ice cream as we'd feed her.

It was smokin' hot today (well, for here - it was about 90 degrees) but we still had a great day. Tomorrow, we're continuing the adventure theme and we're doing to do a 4th of July 5K fun run in the morning! We don't have a jogging stroller, so we're just going to load the kids up in their double stroller and hope for the best.

Below, some recent photos:

Last time in the crib:



Testing out the big boy mattress:



Enjoying another birthday cupcake:



A little light reading:



Modeling a dress she got from Emily, Eric, and Nils before she was born. Thanks, guys!:

Birthday videos and new news

Wow, we've fallen off the blogging bandwagon! Things have been a bit crazy since we got home from Black Butte - my job has been one crisis after another and I shifted my schedule around for the summer, so we're adjusting to that.

On the home front, Mateo learned how to climb out of his crib the day after we got home and is now sleeping in a big boy "bed" - which is actually his crib mattress on the floor! He's doing great, after a brief stint of more toddler fears about going to bed.

In other news, Sacha heard yesterday that she has a full-time job for next year! This is very exciting for all of us and I'm so proud of her. The road to this job has been tough and she really persevered and got what she really wanted (and deserved) in the end. Yay, Sacha!!

This leads us to a decision about what will happen with me and my job in the fall. We've pretty much decided, but I'll wait to post about it until things are finalized.

Here are a couple of brief videos of Talia eating her birthday cupcake at Black Butte. She LOVED the frosting, which was just hilarious.

Birthday girl

Reuniting

We're down in central Oregon for a few days for a reunion of my extended family on my mom's side. This includes lots of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, a great-grandma, and some friends. We got here yesterday in time to celebrate my birthday with everybody, which was quite fun. I'm a bit shell-shocked to be 31, but I think I'm in good shape for my age - I blew out all my birthday candles with one breath!

Natalia's first birthday is coming up on Monday. She decided to mark the occasion by coming down with her first two ear infections - one in each ear. She had been a mess for several days by Thursday, but we wrote it off to her persistent cold and the front tooth that was breaking through. Thank goodness for my mom, who came over and said (with the voice of experience that comes from my brother having had countless ear infections and several sets of tubes as a little guy), "I think she might have an ear infection." By the time I started home from work, Sacha had her at urgent care. (Big thanks to Apa for watching big brother while this was all happening, by the way.) They said both of her ears were a mess and now she's on antibiotics and feeling much better.

They also looked her over generally, which is probably good, since I haven't managed to schedule her one-year well child check up yet, and said she looked great. She is still quite a peanut though - she weighs 17 pounds and is at the 4th percentile for weight. I think Sacha was around the 5th percentile at that age, and Mateo is not exactly a sumo wrestler, so she sure does fit into the family!

Anyway, the kids and Sacha are napping and I'm sitting in the living room of our vacation house enjoying some rare peace and quiet. I loooove vacations!

Clapping and walking

Natalia had a big day of firsts. When she woke up from her nap (very early, I might add) she was in a very good mood. She sat with me and let me know that she really wanted to play patty cake by taking my hands and clapping them for me. She put her hands on the outside of mine and pushed them together, and then smiled and danced once I started singing patty cake, patty cake, etc.

Then, for the very first time, she clapped! Once she started clapping, she just couldn't stop. She would be on her back on the floor, and clap, clap, clap. . . it was just too cute. She seemed quite pleased with herself.

After dinner came her other big first. She has taken a step here or there for a month, but never more than one step at a time. We were sitting in the living room, and she was standing, and suddenly took four steps! She then plopped down onto the floor and I said, something like - "wow you walked, look at you!" and I started clapping. She then got in on the clapping action too, and started clapping for herself! It was just too cute. I took her into the playroom to show Alayna and Mateo and she took two steps a couple of times. So, she seems to be making some progress towards walking!

When we get a chance, and if she decides to walk again sometime before we leave for the weekend, we will try to post a video. It is interesting that she will often do something new one time, and then sometimes it will be a week or more before she does that thing again. It will be interesting to see if that pattern holds with the walking as well.

We're leaving for a family reunion on Friday (which is also Alayna's birthday) and will be gone for a long weekend, which will also encompass Natalia's first birthday on the 22nd. We're looking forward to spending time with Alayna's extended family and getting the kids several days of a total attention extravaganza!

Herbs = yum

You know you're doing something right when...

... your two and a half year old son likes to eat fresh herbs straight out of your garden.

We planted a little herb garden in a planter a month or so ago and recently moved it outside because it seemed to be wilting. It's much happier out there. Mateo likes to grab handfuls of fresh herb leaves whenever we go out there. Then he walks around, munching away.

His favorite is thyme, followed closely by basil and then oregano. He hasn't quite worked up to trying the rosemary, but I'm sure he'll get there!