I Succumb to Peer Pressure

Yes, I did. I let others tell me what to do. It's just everywhere, on TV, on blogs, on facebook, and on the radio. So, I said, why not? Let's just go with the flow and do what everybody seems to be doing. Let's go vote (early even!). So, I did.
I am not ashamed to say that I voted McCain. He is the candidate that most closely represents what I stand for and think is important. Granted, I do not agree on all of his plans or policies, but I support more of his than Obama's. I don't think that Sarah Palin was the best choice for VP. I think I know why he did it, and I don't think someone should be chosen based on how many votes they think it will get them. However, I think the media has brow beaten her a bit much. I think she is an intelligent, tough woman who was given a great opportunity that she was not prepared for. If, God forbid, something happens to McCain, I think she would play it safe and not do anything risky. She would probably just ride out the term and hopefully surround herself with great advisors.
I think Obama is a great orator and presents himself very well in public. But there are several things about him I don't like, stances I don't support and policies I don't agree on. So he is not my candidate.
All that to say, it's your vote. Use it and don't be ashamed of it. I'm not!

What we've been doing lately

Big boy holding his sippy, chewing on the top. Haven't quite mastered tilting it to get the water, but we'll get there.



Dunning and his mommy club baby friends, riding in a wagon at the pumpkin patch


Me and squirmy pants


I want this pumpkin


The straw is much more fun than the pumpkins

Juli gets a strike!


Oooo! I get a strike too! And beat them all with an even 100 score!

Tami, Juli and me (or at least half of me)

Daddy and Dunning at swimming lessons

Well, we've been pretty busy. Baby boy still has an infected ear. Last night was not so great and he is really snotty, fussy, cranky today.

Despite the ear, we've been to the pumpkin patch, bowling (me), and swim lessons. D is also really starting to get the hang of his sippy cup. On another note, I've been really busy. I'm in my mom's club, of course, joined two book clubs, and am continuing to train for my races, as well as sewing diapers for D. I've order some special waterproof fabric and can't wait for it to get here! He's outgrowing some of his older diapers. Since it's gotten colder, I've started to go to the Fitness Center and run on the treadmill, then lift weights and do crunches. Dunning stays in the Youth Activity Center (YAC) and I get an hour and a half by myself! I get to take a shower without a baby trying to crawl in to the tub with me! And do makeup without him trying to steal my makeup brushes!

On another note, depending on several things, I may try to get my 200 hour yoga certification. It's costly (about $2,900+) and time consuming (200 hours!) It's completed in 8 weekend intensive sessions, plus one weekend a month for 4 months after the 8 weekend sessions, dedicated to anatomy and physiology. Plus a test, but I'm great at tests :) The only place that currently certifies teachers (you have to be certified to certify others) is the Arkansas Yoga Center in Fayetteville. I took classes when they were in their old building for 6 months before Mikel and I got married and I loved it! So we'll see. More on that later.

On a similar note, my dad has agreed to let me be his personal trainer. I am going to help him lose 20 pounds! And maybe even more! So I need to get started on his meal plans and his workout plan. He sounded wary and may have just said yes because he is a good dad and mom was probably sitting there saying "say yes, say yes." And as extra incentive, I'll post his results (sans weight, we'll just post % lost) so everyone can see how great he is doing!

The Bathtub Video

Crafts, Cousins and Crawling, oh my!

Whatcha doin' ma?

Cute Crafters Cheryl and Lindsey

The cousins take a bath and have so much fun!

Upside down Kelsey

Standing tall at the ottoman. They loved smacking their hands down on it.

This weekend was packed with fun things! On Saturday, Gracie and I went to go see Lindsey and Cheryl's booth at the craft fair at the John Q. Hammons Center. It was so cute and had the best tutus of them all! Good job Lindsey and Cheryl! Go visit Lindsey's Web site and buy lots of cute stuff for your little girl/granddaughter/sister/cousin/etc.!


Afterwards, Mikel and I hit the Spanker Creek fair and met up with Emilie and Chloe for a little while. The Hammons fair was better! I wish we could have gone to the three other fairs that weekend, but little man was tuckered out.


After that, Jim, Bridget and cousins Carson and Kelsey came over to watch the heart breaking defeat of the Hogs. The cousins had so much fun playing, especially Dunning and Carson following each other around. Carson is a much quicker crawler and Dunning is so happy with himself that he knows how to get around. He is pulling up to his knees and I'm sure it will be soon enough when he is up on his feet. Carson is about to start walking, little busy man! Kelsey likes it that the boys are busy so she can have all the toys to herself! The kiddos took a bath together and then had fun with the ottoman, they found it very entertaining.


We got to Skype with Nick and Ang yesterday and they are doing great! They come back some time in March/April and we cannot wait for our friends to be back! They are such an encouragement to us. We discussed the election, as they just mailed in their absentee votes. We talked about the different candidates and what we thought. And Angie told me something that was very profound. She said that a verse in the Bible reminded her that we can do our part and vote with the candidate that we feel God wants us (as individuals, I'm not speaking to a group - i.e., all ___ should vote for ____); but that no matter who is elected as president and vice president, God is still in control. I know I really appreciated that tidbit of wisdom as it appears my candidate is not doing well right now. This also reminded me that I should always pray for the candidate elected as president, WHETHER or NOT I voted for him/her or agree with him/her. They need all the wisdom they can get in these times.


Finally, our race results were posted. I finished 20th out of 71 women! Mikel would have finished 24th out of 63 men, but he forgot to turn in his race tag at the end of the finish line, so it shows he finished 35th, but WE know the truth. For those of you keeping count, that means I finished higher in my rankings than he did. :) Rub it in for me next time you see him.

Well that explains a lot...

Baby boy woke up with a new tooth and another about to break through...that explains a whole lot.

Crawling, Running and Runny Ears

This weekend was our second 5k race! We did Tour de Cure and want to say a special thank you to all the people who donated to our fundraising! We raised almost $500!
It was a tough course for us, me in particular. As I have said before, Mikel trains on hills. I train in the park because I push a fat monster in a jogging stroller. So, when I saw a nice big hill in front of me at the second half of the race, I knew I was in for a tough climb. I am disappointed in myself because I had to stop for a minute and walk. This was mainly because I started the race at a pretty fast pace - my adrenaline was just pumping. However, we both made really good time and shaved minutes off our first race times. I finished in 27:46 and Mikel finished in 26:08. His goal is to finish November in 24 minutes and I would like to finish in 26 minutes. November's race is at the park where I train so I am confident I can do it. Sorry, no race pics as we didn't have the camera with us - nobody there to take our pic anyways! There were some people with cameras, but I am not sure who they work for. My pic will be stupid anyways. They didn't have timing chips, so we timed ourselves and as I was coming across the finish line, I had my hand up to stop my stopwatch on my radio and accidentally pulled my earphones out. So I am going to have my arms up like a chicken with earphones flying wildly.
My parents came down this weekend and watched Dunning. He was fussy on Saturday and by Sunday, he was screaming bloody murder. I could tell he didn't feel well and had lovely snot blobs coming out his nose. I told Mikel, "something is wrong with that child." We went to the doc on Monday and turns out baby boy had a double ear infection. He is starting to feel a little better, thanks to an antibiotic, ear drops, ibuprofen alternated with tylenol and some Benadryl. Whew!



My silly guys. Dunning grabbed the shower rod when Mikel lifted him up out of the bath and Mikel wanted a "baby chin up" picture.


One of our happier moments yesterday. Baths make it all better.


Thanks to Lindsey on the medical tape tip for the ear drops.

Crazy kid.

Someone needs a haircut!

Shoes!!

So lately after I run, I have been experiencing some bad achilles pain as well as some pain in my knees and hips. A friend of mine, super geek Elizabeth, used to work at a shoe store selling athletic shoes and advised it was probably my shoes, which are now nearing 2 years old!! I got them before I became pregnant, when I first started running. I had no idea what a neutral, stability or motion control shoe was. I knew I had a flat arch and needed support around the ankle and a good arch support. So I took a trip to Kohl's and bought a pair of Aasics 1130s. Elizabeth told me the 1100 line or the 2000 line would be good for me, so I thought I was set. But I started to doubt my ability to pick out a good shoe just by trying it on. So I went to the experts, Rush Running, for a stride analysis. We stumbled upon Rush Running a few weeks ago. We had seen runners out and at races with their shirts, and it turns out they are a local couple, Mike and Alison, who used to run at the U of A and started their own store. Alison was even an Olympic qualifier for the 10k! They give gear to professional runners who buy stuff from their store and they have a running club, which explains the shirts popping up all over town! Needless to say, they did a stride analysis on me and while I do pronate, it's not as bad as I thought, but I am a little bow legged. Bow legged??? Wow, that's new. And I need orthopedics (aka really good insole). So they brought me three types of stability shoes to try and one of them were the exact same pair of shoes I had just returned to Kohls!! But I decided I liked another pair better (even though the kid working there said "that's a good pair. My mom wears them.") and got them instead. So now, I am the proud new owner of a pair Brooks Axiom 3. Can't wait to try them out and see how they feel!

6 Days Until Tour de Cure 5k!

Click HERE to donate for Lynn's fundraising!

Click HERE to donate for Mikel's fundraising!

Saturday

Maybe some day they will be a great duo on the gridiron.


"Carson Man" as Jim calls him!

Saturday, we went over to Jim and Bridget's to watch the game. The cousins were all decked out in their Razorback garb. Unfortunately, we did not get a picture of Miss Kelsey with the boys. She was not too happy about Dunning taking a toy away from her. Here is Dunning and Carson playing with a football. They thought it was great!!

Friday

Crafts and food tents




Dunning is fascinated with water and water spouts. He will try and try to "catch" the water.



Bentonville Square Fountain



Man in Cheese selling bacon honey. Really? Honey made with BACON? We MUST be in Arkansas.






Dunning couldn't take his eyes off the dance troupe over my shoulder doing a routine.



Brass band. (Dance troupe in background on the courthouse steps).



Friday afternoon, D and I picked Daddy up from work for a special surprise family outing. We went to the Bentonville First Friday Block Party! The first Friday of each month, the square is host to crafts, bands, food, and fun. We watched a dance troop do some hip hop routines, we listened to a brass band, we ate Station Cafe burgers (YUM!) and looked around the square shops - particularly our favorite shop, B La Rue, which just moved to their new location on the square, next to the Walton 5 & 10. We saw our friends Emilie, Miqe and their daughter Chloe, who is 2 days younger than Dunning. It was a great time and we can't wait for November's party, which is the grand re-opening of the square! It has been undergoing some construction to make the lanes wider and the roads nicer.

Hanging Out

This was this morning, it was cold outside for our morning run. He was none too happy about the gloves on his hands.


Mmmm, this top lip is gooood.

We were having a super fussy moment and the sunglasses made it all better again.


He says "oooo"



So D and I have just been hanging out this week. We've haven't done a whole lot, trying to cut back on the amount of gas we use. We still go to the park to run and we've been to swim lessons (him), Pilates (me), hung out with the cousins, library time and coffee with the girls (both of us). Ok, so that kind of sounds like a lot.



D is getting so close to crawling. His favorite thing to crawl over is me. Can't help it...my kid just loves me! I'm really not looking forward to him crawling. Right now, I can still leave the room briefly to go to the bathroom or load the dishwasher (while he is in eye shot of course), and he doesn't go too far. He kind of scoots around and makes his way a few feet by bending over, reaching out and getting from butt to belly and back. But he drug a knee the other day and I think a little light went off. So I guess the day is coming soon. I also catch him sitting up in his crib often. He did it yesterday when he decided it was not time to take a nap and discovered it is fun to slap the crib railing and bounce up and down on his knees. Guess it is time to take the mattress down so he doesn't go falling over.



Mikel and I have a race in 8 days (Sat., Oct. 11th)! It's still a 5k, and it is the Tour de Cure for diabetes research. Wish us luck!