My new hobby...

A few months ago, I got involved with a new hobby...running! Those of you that know me really well are probably very confused right now and think that you have stumbled upon another blog by accident. But, I promise, it really is Heather!
Several of my friends from church are runners and started talking about running a half-marathon. It was only a couple of months after I had John, but I really wanted to try to do it. With the help of a friend that has been running for years, I started a training program that literally started us out running one minute a day and had us ready to run the half-marathon (all 13.1 miles!) in 21 weeks.
At first I didn't tell too many people because I was afraid that I wouldn't finish the training. Some of my family came in June to celebrate Will's birthday and I mentioned it to my sister, Debbie. She went out running with me two of the mornings that they were here. We had so much fun, that we decided that she needed to fly here and run the half-marathon with me. The race just happened to be on her birthday.
So, on October 24, Deb and I ran our first half-marathon! We had so much fun. We didn't push ourselves too hard and were really able to enjoy the race and our time together. We were even able to talk the entire time. We ran/jogged all of the race except for parts of the bigger hills. The course was described as rolling hills. The hills weren't quite as bad as we expected, but it definitely wasn't flat. The weather was absolutely perfect and we couldn't have asked for a better day.
There were several of my friends from church that ran the race as well. Deb and I didn't break any speed records, but we were happy with our finish of 2 hours and 52 minutes. It was such a great experience. We are really hoping to be able to run another race together in the future.
Here are some pictures from our big day.

Before the race. You can see by the looks on our faces how nervous we were!


Getting ready to cross the finish line. WOO-HOO! The time on the clock isn't our official time. They had a three minute head start for disabled athletes and then a wave start. So, we actually started several minutes after the clock started.



Me with the medal that I got for finishing the race.



Sisters! This is my favorite picture from the day.



The group from my church that ran the half-marathon.



The girls.

Will is 28 months old!

Will turned 28 months old on October 19th. It doesn't seem possible that he is already almost 2 1/2 years old!
Will is still doing great in school. He likes to play with his friends and always talks about them. If we ask what he did in school, he will tell us what he played and who he played with. We often hear "Play ball Ethan" or "Play blocks Riley." One night he kept waking up and just didn't sleep well. The next day was a school day. His teachers said that he told them "Will tired." I wonder what else he tells his teachers?
Will is getting more interested in JJ now. He is also learning that if he gives JJ his toys to play with, JJ is less likely to try to play with Will's toys. "No, JJ, that Will ball" is a phrase that we hear a lot in our house! One day Will was eating dry cereal in the living room and JJ managed to get to it and spill it. I was helping Will pick it up. Before we could get it all picked up and put away, JJ got to it again. Will looked at him very seriously and said "No sir, that Will cereal." Nothing like having the toddler try to discipline the baby!
Will is still doing great at counting. He can count to 13. Occasionally, he skips 9 and 10. He loves to look for numbers in books, on packages or in a store. One day he was drawing on his easel and said "W-I-L-L" as he scribbled.
Will's current favorite foods are popcorn and Goldfish crackers. We have a special Tupperware bowl with cats on it that he uses for his popcorn. He loves to drink apple juice and also likes milk.
Will still is not a great sleeper at night. We are currently trying to have him sleep in the guest bed. We realized that he would roll over in his toddler bed and hit the wall with his arm or leg and wake himself up. Once he wakes up, he won't just go back to sleep on his own. He seems to be doing a little better in the big bed, but still ends up in our bed most nights!
He still likes to watch "Little Einsteins" and "Imagination Movers." He loves to talk about musical instruments and point them out if he sees them. One day we were talking about instruments and were taking turns naming them. One of the instruments that he named was a French horn!
I took the boys to Walmart to get pumpkins. I thought Will would love to pick out one. The boys already had little tiny ones for inside the house, but I wanted two for outside. I kept holding up pumpkins and asking Will if he liked that one. His reply was consistently "No, put back." Finally, I asked him to show me which one he wanted. He pointed to the pumpkins on the other side of the display. First, he picked out another miniature pumpkin, then, something else caught his eye. The "pumpkin" that he ended up choosing was a green, knobby gourd! I have a picture of it below.
It is amazing how much more Will is talking and how much older he seems. It is so fun to be able to carry on a conversation with him now.
Here are some pictures from the past month of our Sweet William.

Scooping sand in the sandbox.

Writing on the easel.

Sleeping in the big bed for the first time (9/28)-nap time

Coloring with his friend Kate.

Having a concert with Kate.

Running in the leaves.

Giving JJ a hug

Coloring in his big coloring book from Miss Anna

"Cheese!"

Wearing his football jersey--he looks like such a big boy!

Showing off his new "Yo Gabba Gabba" shoes.

Will with his "pumpkin" that he picked out at the store.

Trying to drive over the leaves.

Standing on our patio table! I had the boys outside playing and was taking some pictures of JJ. When I turned around, Will was on the table.

Wearing mommy's shoes.

28 months old!

Playing with Daddy

JJ- 28 & 29 weeks old

JJ turned 28 weeks old on October 12th. He tried oatmeal cereal for the first time on October 5th and liked it. He eats cereal and fruit for breakfast and as a snack before bed. He tried puffs for the first time on October 9th, but he didn't really like them.
JJ is trying so hard to crawl! He will get up on all fours and rock, but can't quite get everything coordinated to move forward. He sometimes will scoot backwards when he tries to crawl.
JJ got his second tooth this week. We found it on October 8th. It is the bottom, middle on the right. Again, he didn't even act like he was teething, except for a lot of drool!
Here are some pictures from this week.

Such a sweet boy!

Morning play time

JJ getting a big hug from Will

Kisses...

Our boys in matching sweat pants

The boys

JJ playing with his Winnie the Pooh from Dada

Ready to eat!

Trying puffs for the first time

Roanoke College boy

JJ-28 weeks old!

Playing outside on a blanket


JJ turned 29 weeks old on October 19th. This week JJ tried to go from his tummy to sitting up. He can get really close if he is in his crib or pack and play, but can't quite do it yet. He is also getting very close to crawling. He can move his legs but can't coordinate his legs and hands to move at the same time. JJ loves to look at himself in a mirror. He will smile and giggle at his reflection.
Here are pictures of our sweet boy.

Trying to crawl.

Smiling at his reflection

Ready for church

Playtime--29 weeks old

Drinking out of a sippy cup for the first time.

Holding his cup by himself.

Playing with daddy.

John is 6 months old!

Our sweet baby boy is 6 months old! JJ turned six months old on September 30th. We celebrated his 1/2 birthday with a cookie cake. Even though he couldn't eat any of it, the rest of us enjoyed it!
John is still a sweet baby and is very easy to take care of. He only gets up once a night to eat. He eats three or four baby food meals a day and takes about 6 bottles a day. He loves to eat!
On September 23rd, we started putting him in his crib awake for nap and bedtime and he falls asleep on his own. I really didn't plan to do that, but he would fight sleep when he was tired and I was having trouble rocking him to sleep. I realized that when he is tired, he just wants his crib! He is taking two to three naps a day, depending on what time he wakes up in the morning.
JJ still loves to watch Will play and just wants to be on the floor playing and part of the action. He tries to talk a lot and smiles all the time. He has a very sweet little laugh.
I took John to the doctor on October 9th for his 6 month check-up and vaccines. He weighs 19 lbs, 14 1/2 oz which is in the 99 percentile. He is 29 inches long which is off the growth chart. The doctor said that he is the size of an average 8 or 9 month old. He is very healthy and the doctor said he is doing great. He only cried for a couple of minutes when he got his shots. As soon as I picked him up, he was fine. The doctor said that he can start trying soft table food and also can eat Cheerios or crackers if he likes them.
Here are a few pictures from JJ's half-birthday.

Able to sit up really well on his own now.

Playing with his "lovey"

2 pacifiers are better than 1!

John's 1/2 birthday cake.

6 months old!

JJ with his cake

Momma's sweet boy

JJ and Dada

JJ with Eeyore

Looking a little confused...

JJ-- 25 to 27 weeks

JJ turned 25 weeks old on September 21. He is now able to sit on his own for a few minutes! We discovered that he could do this on September 15th. He is becoming such a big boy!

OOH

Sitting in the Bumbo chair

25 weeks old

Napping in his crib

Brotherly love!

Happy Boy!

JJ sitting on his own for the first time

Our big boy



On September 28, JJ turned 26 weeks old. He tried Cheerios for the first time in Bible class on the 27th. He was not a fan of them! I think that the texture confused him. He is able to sit for longer periods of time on his own now.

Using the blanket the I knitted for him for the first time.

Our little chemist.


Checking out his shoes.

Playing outside in the exersaucer.

26 weeks!


John turned 27 weeks old on October 5. He is able to sit for several minutes on the floor and play with his toys without tipping over. He is also trying to crawl! On Sunday, October 4, he got up on his hands and knees and was rocking back and forth. We thought he might take off, but he isn't quite able to crawl yet. JJ also sat in the highchair for the first time on October 4. He really likes it! He looks like such a big boy sitting in there and eating his food.
On October 2nd, I think that JJ signed "milk." I was feeding him some babyfood and he was fussy. All of a sudden he started doing the sign for milk with his right hand. As soon as I started feeding him his bottle, he stopped fussing and he did the sign again while drinking his bottle. When I stopped giving him his bottle and tried to give him a bite of his fruit, he started signing again!

First time sitting in his highchair.

27 weeks old!

Brothers

Getting a hug from big brother

Playing on the floor

Will--27 months old

Sweet William turned 27 months old on September 19. He had an exciting month filled with changes. He was promoted from the nursery to the two year old class on September 6th. He did really well with the transition and seems to enjoy being with the older kids. He also started preschool on September 8th. He goes to school two mornings a week. After a few meltdowns, he is doing really well and seems to enjoy school. He comes home and talks about his friends and what he did that day. He always says that he played ball, which I am pretty sure that he does at some point every day.
Will seems to be getting a little more interested in JJ. He will take him toys and likes to give him hugs and kisses. I think that he will really like it when JJ is able to play with him.
He still loves to play ball and enjoys playing outside. He also likes to color and play with puzzles.
Here are some pictures of the past month.
Will coloring with his friend, Anna.

Mowing with Daddy

Asleep with his football

Hiding in his ball house

Sweet Boy

Will's last day in the nursery Bible class at church--snack time!

Playing in his Bible class

Driving the jeep

Ready to watch a Buckeye game.

Checking on JJ

Feeding JJ his bottle.

Napping with Daddy

Relaxing in the ball house.

Coloring--27 months old

A week of firsts...

The week of September 6th was a big week for our boys. Will started in the two year old Bible class for the first time on Sunday (9/6/09). He also went to preschool for the first time on September 8th. John got his first tooth on September 10th (bottom, middle left). What a busy week for our boys!
Here are a couple of pictures from Will's first day of school.
Checking out the toys.

Happy that he found a ball to play with.