Ryan's First Valentine's Day

Yesterday was such an amazing Valentine's Day. I signed up for a 5K in the morning. With G home, I was able to leave Ry with him. It's amazing how much easier it is to run without a stroller!! I was so proud of myself-I ran it in 26 min and 55 seconds (okay, I tracked it on my watch.. it wasn't quite a 5K... we ran only 3.14 miles as opposed to 3.2) but that time is still so much better than my 5K times last year (when I was pregnant... maybe I shouldn't be as proud comparing myself to my pregnant self.) My score made it in the top 100 of everyone (I think in the 80s), and for females in my age group (20s!!! Keep in mind, this 27 year old girl was running in a group with 21 year olds without any babies) I made it at #11. 11! And no, it wasn't out of 12. It was out of 147. I've been doing this couch to 10K program every week. It makes me run 3x a week and I sometimes dread going. And I dread running. But when I finish. I feel amazing. And yesterday, I truly saw how much my hard work paid off. And that is such an amazing feeling.

Valentine's Day 2015. Post race pic

I told G that this year, all I wanted for Valentine's Day was to get my ears double pierced (because I am in fact a 14 year old girl). After the 5K, we went to two different tattoo parlors, both of which said on Google that they were open, but when we got there, they were dark with their "Open" lights turned off. We settled for Claire's (technically, the Icing) which is where I got my ears pierced for the first time in third grade (okay, technically, Contempo). I know some parents pierce their daughters' ears when they are babies, however if I have a girl, I am going to make her confront the pain of needles whenever she's ready to get them pierced. I want her to learn to suck it up and be a woman.

Check out those scores!! Woo!

That sounds terrible, but women go through so many pains that men don't. Think about it- we stick needles in our ears and young ages, we get waxed in multiple locations, we diet and work our buns off in an attempt to stay strong (whereas men are just naturally stronger and don't have to work as hard to lift heavy things), and then there's child birth. I don't think women realize just how strong of creatures we truly are. I think Alaska has turned me into a new breed- a nature feminist. When you come across bears or moose, yeah you can just assess the situation and slowly walk away, but when you come across a mama bear or moose with her children, that's when you should should start to worry-and everyone knows it. There is nothing more dangerous than a female protecting her young. And now, I completely understand women on a whole new level.

Love his sweet cheeks

Okay, back to my story. I got my ears pierced, we came home and just played with Ryan. Grandma and grandpa got him a new book for his collection and Daddy and I got him a stuffed animal (which is totally against my policy as gifts to get our son, because he's going to accumulate too many over the years, but I really just wanted to get him one for his first Valentine's Day gift). The pups got their box of doggy treats to eat too. We watched the Grammy's that we recorded last week, made lasagna, took Ry's prints (cause I'm obsessed) and ate more chocolate and ice cream than I probably should have within a 24 hour period. OH! And even though I told him I only wanted my ears pierced, G got me a box of chocolates, a kit-kat bar (cause I was talking about how I wanted one a couple weeks ago) and he made me this amazing video of pictures of the two of us throughout the years. I cried. It was so incredibly sweet and thoughtful. He's truly the best. Probably one of my favorite Valentine's Days ever. I took too many pictures as a way to remember.

Kisses on the cheek

Other than Cupid's day of love, this week was a good week for us all. I finally got Ryan back on schedule to wake up at 5am (technically 4:50... EVERY DAY like clockwork) rather than 3:30. Huge success. I don't even care that I start my days early. I like it, I have time to plan my day and get things done. Now that Ry is getting closer to starting solids, I've been giving him utensils to play with so he will be familiar with them. He's been playing with spoons LIKE A BOSS. He will hold the spoon in his hand and just stick it in his mouth. I think he's going to be an amazing eater when we get there.

I've also been trying to get him to drink from a bottle. We haven't quiet done a full feeding just yet (although we have a sitter tonight, maybe I'll see if she can try before bed time), but I've got him to casually drink an ounce between feedings. Not that I want to fatten him up anymore than he already is, but I want him to get familiar with bottles as well. I started by giving him (like the spoons) empty bottles to play with, and once he got the hang of putting the nipple part in his mouth, I decided to put a little bit of milk in there to see how it goes (this was an idea given to me by What to Expect the First Year... seriously, they should just start paying me now for every time I mention this book). I didn't want to do it during a feeding because the book mentioned he might be too hungry and stressed to try to make an unfamiliar method work and to attempt giving him the bottle when he's not overly hungry and in a calm mood. Worked like a charm! He drank the milk in an exploratory manner and didn't freak out because he wasn't starving if he couldn't get it to work or dropped the bottle. Thanks, What to Expect!

Valentine's day tiger

Last Sunday, Ryan had me up at 1am. He fell back asleep, however I did not. Monday, my day was so incredibly confusing. I was a recovering Zombie and had no concept of what was going on. I had to teach Zumba class, and for some reason, I forgot that my class was at 10:30, not 10am. I got there at 10am. Which means I also dropped Ryan off at child care 30 mins early. I was wondering why they looked at me all crazy when I got there. Such a face palm day. At least I was early rather than late. Which reminds me... SO many people told me, "Forget about being on time, babies make you late." Umm.. I've been late TWICE since I've had this kid. And one of those times was 1 min late and the person I had the appointment with was even later, so it didn't even count. I hate when people use their kids as a constant excuse to be late. Yes, I understand that there are days when I'm about to leave and Ry decides to have a giant poop explosion just as I'm putting him in his car seat (that was the second time I was late, and by 2 mins). But that's a once in a while thing. Babies don't make mom's late. Mom's are late because they don't value being on time. It's really not that hard to figure out how long it takes you to leave the house with a baby and give yourself the time to get ready. It's really not. So here's my new advice to new mom's. If you want to be on time to places, then it's not impossible to be on time. A baby will not make you late. Will you have those days where something holds you up? Yes, we all do. But a baby will not make you a late person if you care enough. Which I do. I hate being late. And I hate mom's that CONSTANTLY use the line, "she has a baby, she'll be late." Stop using baby's an an excuse to justify a person's bad habits!! Just admit that you're a late and inconsiderate person! People...

Hand prints. Probably would have turned out a little better had I not had 2 glasses of wine beforehand

Another vent (you can skip this paragraph if you're sick of my complaints). I mentioned I run 3 times a week trying to train to run a 10K. I run at Hangar 5, which is an old hangar on base that was turned into a 24hr workout facility that anyone can use. It has weights, machines, and a track. And best of all, you can take your kids there to just run around and do whatever while you work out. If I wanted to lift weights, I can take Ryan and just set his carseat down while I workout next to him. As an active mom, this is a HUGE deal to find a place that is child-friendly. I love love love that moms can bring their children. However, there are moms that bring their bratty, irresponsible children and it pisses me off. If you can't teach your children to not run in the middle of a track or even not to constantly cross the track without looking, then I'm sorry, your children DON'T belong there. This isn't a place for kids, it's kid-tolerant and I hate the parents that bring their crazy children and ruin it for everyone. What if it becomes such a problem (air force still uses this hangar for their PT tests every week-I've seen kids almost get in the way of that) that they start to ban mom's bringing their kids? I'm going to be livid. And the thing is, it's the same mom that I see every week with her two children that just run free. They run into the track (I've almost hit them a couple times, my stroller doesn't steer well and they just dart out from the hallway where you can't see them coming) and they don't even watch. And she doesn't do anything about it. I've been so tempted to go up to her and say, "The track is not for your $%*@ing children! There are people here to train, this isn't a play ground. If you can't keep them off, then you need to keep them home." So irritating!! And then the other mom's with the strollers... okay, the outer lane on the track is for walkers. If you're walking with your big ass stroller, don't walk in the middle. Don't walk in the inner lane. Stay in the designated walking lane! So many moms utilize and appreciate this place and I'm going to be so mad if these few people ruin it for everyone. This is why we can't have nice things...

Here's my mommy fail moment (other than forgetting the time of my class): When I breast feed Ryan, he tends to get distracted and pulls away and just smiles at me. I usually "hit" him in the face with my nipple making playful "boom" noises. Pew pew pew! *Push my nip into his cheek* He thinks it's hilarious. Only lately did I realize that this might be totally weird.

My computer is near death, so it's time to stop writing for the day. Plus, I have laundry and groceries calling my name. Until next time! xoxoxo