third time's the charm!

while it hardly seems possible, my dear youngest son has already been with us for a year! i remember so well when he was born. how could i forget? i was the first person to hold him. no, really! i "caught" him when he entered this world. it was truly a marvelous experience. i don't know if that gave us a special bond, or if i just know more having done this twice before, but i am still amazed by the love he brought, and brings to our family.

while the resemblance is unmistakable, he is still so different from his brothers. every bit as beautiful, but maybe even more fun... he has his own personality, an it is different from either of his brothers. harry is serious, organized, and disciplined. chilly is carefree and fun-loving with little thought to anything else. my baby is somewhere else. while he seems to need mom more than we remember with the others, he also seems to get the most enjoyment out of making, or seeing others, happy. he will get your attention, and pull faces, or offer you food, or laugh to make you smile. he also loves to just watch his brothers laugh and play together.

it is clear he wants to join in with everyone. he's a year closer! i have been putting home movies on dvd, and as you can see from meemer's blog, she has been going through pictures. so many memories, still so vivid, that it doesn't seem possible for a year to have passed. at the same time, i can't really imagine our family without him!

so here's to you number three! fussy, scooter, the baby, the third, whatever name we use, you are by youngest son, and you have stolen my heart! you'll never know the joy you give me, the longings and desires i have for your future, the depth of my love for you, or the love and joy you have given to me. i thank you. i love you. i know your second year will be sad (since you're not a baby any longer) but even more fun, as you continue to learn, grow, and love!

what a waste!

so if you've been reading meemer's blog, as well as mine, you know that scooter has had a long-lasting cold. as you would expect, a sick baby leads to sleep-deprived parents. add to this condition, the incredibly cold weather, the numerous snow storms, and you have a group of people who are getting pretty down. now factor in the fact that harry is off-track, and chilly only goes to school for a couple of hours, three days a week. now we're talking cabin-fever conditions!

but wait. what's that on the horizon? a holiday weekend?! a saturday and a monday with no plans? (apart from normal saturday chores) that could be just what the doctor ordered! we can get things done, then go somewhere and do something fun! we can rest up and maybe get a nice long run in on monday, as well as some other fun activity for all! so many possibilities! of course, it never quite works the way you want...

as you can probably guess, meemer and i both caught scooter's cold, and let me just say, it was a bad one! i feel for the kid! i was (more) tired. i was congested both head and chest. i had a cough that wouldn't stop. it would give me headaches though. meemer was just as bad, and only half a day or so ahead of me. (like the previews for me).

saturday wasn't nearly as fun (or productive) as it was supposed to be. it passed in a haze. i gladly took the chance to lay with scooter to get him down for a nap! 3 hours later... wow! i rarely nap anymore, and never for that long! i felt much better, but it killed the rest of saturday! at least we have monday! sunday was eaten up with church and other meeting, but at least we got out of the house a bit.

monday was cold. seriously cold! and snowy! not snowing hard, but snowing constantly. all. day. long! we ended up with several inches. (it was hard to measure due to the drifting, but i'd say somewhere between 4" and 6" with drifts up to 18"!) so we didn't get to go anywhere, or do anything fun. (ok a movie or two, and of course, lego star wars!)

it just seems wrong to miss out on a perfectly good holiday. especially in such a crappy month! it has been a long, lousy winter, and it's only january! (almost february!) i guess there is a plus side. i got over the worst of my cold, and was able to play some games with the boys, enjoy a nap, and play lego star wars with meemer until we're at 85%. all without using any sick leave...

the good, the bad, and the boring

the good news is: i got our treadmill working again! this is good, since our basement stays around 60º even when its 7º outside. which it has been far too often lately. yes, i've done some cold weather running outside. i think the mid teens was as cold as i have dared. it's so much nicer to run in shorts than in many layers. nicer to breathe normally, instead of having cold air sear your throat, or the uncomfortable build-up of sweat and condensation in my balaclava. it's also cheaper and closer than the local community center. plus next time it snows (or rains), i won't miss a run.

the bad news is: i got our treadmill working again. while i still don't consider myself a "real" runner, i have been spoiled by running outside for so long. we live in a great little town that is basically flat, with fairly quiet neighborhoods, and miles of paved trails. the trails and many of the back roads are quite scenic, and i really enjoy it. the treadmill is dreadfully dull! i have nothing to look at, other than toys strewn around our unfinished basement. even the 1/10 mile track at the community center was more interesting... at least next time it snows (or rains), i won't miss a run!

boring! time drags, no matter how fast you run. the farther you run, the longer it drags. i know it will just take some getting used to. when i first started running regularly, i did it all on the treadmill. it was still boring, but not as bad as it is, now that i know the difference. i should put a little tv in front of the treadmill! i even thought briefly about a wireless controller for the gamecube, but figured i'd kill myself.

winter sucks top 10

the top ten reasons winter sucks:

10 wind
9 snow
8 less daylight
7 getting sick
6 stuck indoors
5 cold
4 lack of sun
3 driving in snow
2 spouse getting sick
1 kids (especially a baby) getting sick

they say it's your birthday!

happy birthday to meemer! my favorite person in the world! the one i love so much, yet fail to express my love or gratitude as i should. there just aren't words to capture all you do and are!

seriously, you are my best friend, my confidante, my coach, my motivation, my lover, my training partner, my therapist, my conscience, my guide, my snugglebunny, my lego star wars teammate, my eternal companion, my cheerleader, my reality check, my teacher, and my inspiration.

and that's just me. think of how much you are to our three beautiful boys! you're amazing, fun, selfless, and kind. we all love you!

i hope your day is what it should be. you deserve it!

i love you!

finally!

as you know from the previous entry, harry takes his sweet time getting his teeth out. since the loss of that tooth, he lost another. not the other loose top one. one of the bottom ones that he had only just said was loose. anyway, he has finally lost the other long-loose top tooth!


i know. this kind of excitement, over something like this, is a sad comment on my life.

(on the plus side, meemer and i are beyond the story, and are now thoroughly enjoying free play in lego star wars!)