Weekenders

We've entered that blissful part of summer where I often don't know what day it is, where the weekdays roll right into the weekend seamlessly. I wish this could last forever. I'm trying to ignore the fact that August comes next as best as I can, so if we could just not mention August, that'd be great.

Today, though, definitely feels like a Monday. I am tired, really tired. Tommy learned how to climb out of his crib a week ago. Since learning his new skill, he's reverted to his old ways of sleeping. This means that he pops into our room any time between midnight and two, then he proceeds to jump on our bed and yell. We return him to his bed, he continues to climb out and wander the house. At about four this morning, I discovered him rolling around in the hall. At five, he is wide awake. It's really, really exhausting. A gate doesn't work because he climbs the gate. I've heard that you can stack two gates on top of one another, so we are going to try that.

Other than the lack of sleep, summer has gone swimmingly. We've been visiting our local arboretum a lot, making the most of their new train garden and hiking lots.

I asked Shane to take photos and he only snapped shots from the back. This one is far enough away that it's not too frightening. The rest met the delete key. I've been so neglectful of my Nikon lately, partly because I broke a piece off of my lens and it's annoying (anyone selling a used lens?) but also partly because it's much easier to just carry my phone and not a real camera.

The other day, Shane was gone the whole day, so the boys and I bought a pinata for Tommy's party, hung out at home, and picked up Chinese food for dinner. Luke was really excited to use chopsticks. Tommy and I were just very excited to eat.


Sunday morning, I ran for four miles, which is the longest I've ever run. After completing Couch to 5k, I haven't been able to go past thirty minutes at all (except for when I ran the 5k). I started to wonder if it wasn't a mental block, because when the voice stated "two minutes left" at 28 minutes, my body just kind of seems to give up. I found a new running app that announces your pace and distance every half mile, so I gave that a go and discovered that it was a mental block. Granted, I took it pretty slow, but I did it! In order to keep myself running after I go back to work, I'm intending on doing a 10k Thanksgiving morning, so I will have that to work toward. Weirdly enough, I feel somewhat confident in my ability to work up to running six miles.

This week, we're preparing for Tommy's birthday party. Can you believe that he turns two one week from today? I can't. It's really kind of him to squash any possible baby fever that might hit around the second birthday by continuing to sleep like a newborn (but worse, because newborns don't jump on your head in the middle of the night). I am hoping and praying for better weather this year than last, but with a caveat that I can't control the weather, so it'll turn out okay regardless. Last year, I spent too much time worrying about it. This year, I'm just accepting that rain or shine, I'll have cupcakes and loved ones around me... it doesn't get any better than that!