Instinct

Oh my, I don't ever, ever, ever want to forget this memory...I haven't laughed so hard in a long time, though unfortunately, it was at Will's expense.

Tonight around 6:00, I remembered that we were completely out of dog food, so I got Will dressed (yes, he was still in PJs and I was still in my workout clothes from this morning...unshowered. Judge if you must ;)) and we headed out to Petco. A trip to Petco of course would not be complete without walking around to see the ferrets, guinea pigs, birds, and the fish. We walked around taking our sweet time and were on our way to the checkout when I see this yellow parakeet just sitting on the shelf by the fish tanks. It shocked me at first because I wasn't expecting it, so I went up to the front to tell someone that it had gotten out of it's cage. Her response? "Oh yeah, we know. It got out earlier. It will probably take a few weeks to catch it."

Um....okay? Poor bird.

Anyway. Will really wanted to see the bird again, so we went back over to it. It was letting us get really close and I probably could have touched it had I wanted to. I didn't. Will was super interested in the bird and kept talking about it's yellow feathers and green beak (mouth to him). All of a sudden, the bird got spooked by something and flew off the shelf right toward Will's head.

And he screamed, y'all. SCREAMED! Loudly. And it was without a doubt the funniest thing I have ever witnessed before. Writing this blog, I'm laughing so hard I can hardly type and tears are running down my face. Greg has informed me several times that it must be one of those things that you have to be there to get, but I'm here to tell you that it was so, so funny. I think the reason it was so funny is that it was totally instinct to scream when he was scared. I'm not a "screamer" and I really can only think of a handful of times that I've screamed when I've been scared...but boy, he didn't hold back.

I so wish I had it on video, though I don't think it's something I'll ever forget :)

Bubble Baths

There's nothing better than a long bubble bath complete with a bathtub crayons, foam letters, and squirty animals...except maybe the sweet smell of my baby after soaking in Burt's Bees bubble bath. I think that's going to be one of those smells for me that will always take me back :)

"The Jungle Place"

Safari Champ, or "The Jungle Place" as Will calls it, has quickly become one of our most frequented play places. He absolutely LOVES going and climbing, jumping, and sliding and will stay there for hours. He likes it the most if I go up and play with him, but if we're on a playdate, he'll gladly play with his friends by himself.

Today we met up with my friend Christina and her little girl Kate, who is just a few months younger than Will. He and Kate had so much fun together! We also ran into a friend I haven't seen in awhile, so it was great to  catch up with everyone. Christina and Kate had to leave a little early to get lunch, so Will and I played for another hour or so and I had so much fun with him! He's still too scared to slide down any of the slides by himself, but he will sit on one slide while I sit on the slide next to it and hold his hand on the way down. I honestly haven't had that much fun playing with him in awhile - it was so great to forget about everything and just enjoy my two-year-old and see things the way he does for awhile :) In fact, I was having so much fun that I didn't take one single picture - my phone stayed in my bag pretty much the entire time! So instead here are some (horrible) iPhone pictures from when we were there last week.

Afterward, we grabbed some lunch and headed over to Lamb's to get our oil changed. Will was great and I was really proud of how well-behaved he was, especially since it was well past his naptime. Me on the otherhand? Not so much. I ate so much not-on-plan food and I feel really gross now. That was definitely my cheat meal for the week and I do not feel good about it, because it was unplanned and a little of this, little of that. I'm still not really sure why I caved - I'd run out of my packed food, but I wasn't starving or anything. "One bite" just escalated into eating a bunch of Will's leftover food, a few handfuls of M&Ms and some sugary coffee. Thank goodness tomorrow is a new day!!

She's crazy!

As most of you are aware, we adopted a dog, Mikko, over Fourth of July weekend. We named her Mikko after Mikko Salo, who won the 2009 Crossfit Games. She's my running buddy, so an athletic name just seemed to fit.

What we didn't realize when we adopted her was that a) she's not even a year old yet and b) she's CRAZY. She escapes our backyard weekly (sometimes daily; sometimes multiple times a day) and she needs more exercise than I ever thought possible. But all that aside she is a wonderful dog and we absolutely love her to death. She makes me laugh every single day with how crazy she is.

Like this morning, for instance. I got home from the gym and was super sweaty, thanks to the Stair Master. I was freezing instantly when I got in our house since it's approximately 112* outside at 7:00am and our air conditioning runs non-stop throughout the day. So even though I wasn't showering, I took off my sweaty clothes, put on dry ones, and then sorted laundry to do later today...while heating up my protein pancakes, I hear Mikko banging around in the bathroom. I went to inspect because she's usually up to no good, and this is how I found her:

 

Yes, that would be my bright pink Nike sports bra wrapped around her body. I have no idea how she got this on herself or why she decided that she needed to roll around in my wet, stinky clothes, but it sure gave me a good laugh! You can't see it from this angle, but she has her left paw through the strap! Crazy dog!

Will and I took a trip to the library late this morning and then swung by Promise Pizza on our way home to get him some lunch. I was incredibly tempted to have just a bite, but I knew that "just a bite" would never be just a bite...so I skipped it and had some chicken, green beans, and a sweet potato instead. Better than pizza? Um, no. But it does put me one step closer to my goals!

The rest of our afternoon was super lazy. I was exhausted from my early morning workout, so I took a quick nap with him this afternoon, cleaned up the kitchen and straightened up the house before Greg got home. That laundry I sorted this morning? Yeah, it's still not done ;) That's the way it works when you have a 2-year-old that demands that you play with him! I take the 2-year-old over laundry any day!

Meal Plan Monday

I had my meals all completely planned, but after discussing them with Ashley, I'm making some minor tweaks. I have some very lofty fitness goals (ones that I'm not quite ready to go public with), which are going to require very strict, clean eating for the next several months. I'm SO on board and ready to get the show on the road :) So here's what I'm eating this week!

Meal 1 (pre-workout): 2 eggs + 2 egg whites, 1/2 c. oatmeal (steel cut), banana
Meal 2 (post-workout): Pumpkin Protein Pancakes (these are insanely delicious!)
Meal 3: 6 oz. chicken, small sweet potato, broccoli
Meal 4: 6 oz. ground turkey, 1/4 c. brown rice, bell pepper/onions, 1 c. strawberries
Meal 5: 6 oz. chicken, 1/4 c. brown rice, steamed green beans
Meal 6: 6 oz. salmon, LOTS of baby spinach, 1 T. balsamic vinaigrette, apple

Not much variety, but thankfully I don't require too much. This also isn't a huge change from what I'm already eating - more calories, more protein, and bigger portions of veggies...but more or less the same. Workouts are getting more intense (which I LOVE) and I can almost do a chin up without having to jump to start it! Exciting stuff, people! :)

Funny

I laughed so hard I started crying...boy does that kid make me smile!!

Will (sitting in the high chair eating a Frosty): Oh, look! Das a squirrel outside!
Me: Yes, that's right!
Will: Oh, no Mommy! Das a bug right dere!
Me: No, sweetie, there's no bug.
Will: Yes! Das bug right there mommy!
Me (looking closer at the window, I see a huge horse-fly): Look at that! You're right! There is a bug!
Will: You can smack dat bug.
Me (laughing): Okay, baby. (I grab a fly swatter and finally hit the fly on my umpteenth attempt)
Will: I see dat yucky bug?
Me: Sure. (I scoop it up on the end of the fly swatter and take it over to his highchair. He leans forward to inspect it more closely, and I, being the nice, loving mother that I am jerk the fly swatter toward his face and say, "Rawr!")
Will: (Jerks his face away) No, Mommy! Das disgusting!

I just about died laughing...since when does my two-year-old know how to use "disgusting" correctly in a sentence?!

Dear Will,

I had such a fun day with you today and I'm really, really lucky to be your Mommy. I can't believe you're nearly two and a half, yet at the same time I can't remember what life was like before you came into this world. I wanted to take a minute to write down some things that you're doing right now so I can remember these moments forever. Because you're feeling very big and time feels like it's going by very fast and I'm realizing that I'm not going to get to keep you little like this for long.

- You "roar" at everyone. It's the way you greet people and though it may be a tiny bit embarrassing at times, I'm totally and completely in love with it. You tuck your chin down to your chest and you roar as you bring your head up in a swooping motion. I need to get it on video!

- You can count to 15 (!!! where did you learn that?!) and you know how to spell your name. Instead of saying "seven" with an "s" at the beginning, you say, "evan." You're learning your ABCs and love to sing the song, even if you don't know all the words.

- You come into my office every night to give me a hug and a kiss before you get your paci. It's one of my favorite parts of the day. You're sweet smelling from your bath and your hair is so soft and I love the way you straddle my lap and snuggle your head down into my chest. I love it even more when you say, "Mommy, I wuv you sooooo much," completely unprompted.

-You're a cautious child. You think before you do anything and it always takes you a little bit to warm up to situations where there's lots of kids around or it's very noisy. Today at Safari Champ, you got halfway up the big-kid playscape and started crying. Once I came up there to play with you, you were perfectly fine...and by the end of our playtime there, you were going up and down and running and jumping all by yourself. I was so proud of you!

- I absolutely adore the way you say, "Oh-tay" in response to questions. It's so cute!

- When you don't want to do something, you say, "Hmm, maybe not." 

- You are stubborn as anything. Not really sure where you got that from.... ;) You point your little finger and say, "Das not oh-tay!" It's insanely frustrating and incredible hilarious and I find myself fighting back laughter while trying to discipline you at the same time.

- You get on the scale in our bathroom every day and proudly declare, "Forty-nine pounds!"

- You say, "Yeah, I know," all.the.time.

- You are such a little backseat driver. You tell me when the light is red or green ("GO mommy! Das green light!"), you tell me to "race 'em!" and to go faster and faster. You love pointing out tractors, trucks and trailers, mail trucks, and school buses as we drive.

- When you say something, Daddy or I have to repeat it back to you. Example...in the car on the way to Gram and Papa's house, we always pass over the bridge with the train parked underneath. You say, "Look! Das choo choo train tracks!" and if Daddy or I doesn't immediately say, "that's right! A choo choo train on the tracks!" you'll keep repeating it louder and louder until we do ;)

- One thing people always remark on is how sweet you are. Your Sunday School teachers always tell me this and it makes me smile inside.

I know you're going to grow up and get big and I'm going to love each and every stage you're at, but this one is by far my favorite. We are so lucky to have you in our lives, sweet boy!