I have a few bones to pick

There are a couple of things/places that have been getting under my skin lately..

1. Rock N Roll Half Marathon

Every year around this time Keith and I start talking about how we should run a half marathon.  There is typically one in St. Louis every fall so summer time is when our training would need to begin.  We both like to run and we think this would be something really cool that we could do together.  Every year it seems that something comes up or our motivation just fizzles for one reason or another.  Well this year the same thing started to happen.  We started talking about running a half marathon and we were getting excited about the idea.  Then I logged on to the website and found out that the entrance fee is $105 PER PERSON!  Man this is annoying.  I can not wrap my brain around why this would be so expensive.  I know that this particular marathon has a live band at each mile but come on, what bands are we talking about here?  Taylor Swift was just in town and I am positive that tickets to her show were less then $105.  (Is it weird that I just made a Taylor Swift reference?  It's cool I am OK with admitting that I think she is awesome.) Getting up the motivation to do the run was hard enough, now I have to justify spending $210 so Keith and I can participate.  While we haven't totally ruled out signing up for the run trust me when I say I can think of many other ways I would like to spend $210. 

2.  Running shorts that ride up

While on the topic of running I would like to mention that it has always bothered me that running shorts seem to find a way of riding up your inner thigh.  I used to think this was all a matter of buying the correct size shorts.  I now see the error of my ways.  After trying many different types of running shorts in varying sizes I have finally found the pair that doesn't ride up.



God bless the makers of this product.  These shorts are amazing.  Not only do they not ride up the tag is on the side of the shorts rather then the back.  What genius thought of this?  I love it!  I don't think I will ever buy a different type of running shorts again. 

3.  Babies R Us

There is a long list of things I could say about Babies R Us and the ways they annoy me but today I will just mention their coupons.  Babies R Us is one of those companies who sends out booklets full of coupons on what seems like a weekly basis.  And they always sound so great 15% any item, but one get one free etc etc.  The fine print on these coupons are RIDICULOUS!  We went in to buy a new activity mat for Tessa, similar to the one below, and tried to use the 15% off coupon, we were denied.  Why you ask?  Because the activity mat is considered to be a 'toy' and 'toys' are excluded from the sale.  I would love for someone to explain to me how an activity mat is a toy.  And please let the record note that these are not listed under the 'toys' on the Babies R Us website. 



Then today I went in to buy diapers because I had a great coupon, or so I thought.  Basically it said "$8 off any large box of diapers and large box of wipes"  I thought this meant either $8 off the wipes or $8 off the diapers.  No, no, no, it means $8 off the diapers AND the wipes.  You have to buy both.  While in both of these cases the coupon did state these rules and exclusions I am totally frustrated with the various ways they can be interpreted.  From now on I am going to do my best to stay away from this place all together. 

Thanks for listening to my small rant.  After looking over this post the thought crossed my mind that if these are the worst things plaguing my life right now that I must be one lucky girl.  And you know what, I am!  I even have some pictures to prove it.

Tess loves her swing so far.  Thank God!

Yes, Colin does wear this shirt a lot, I promise I wash it after each use. 

Quick Updates

After this weekend I have a renewed sense of confidence that I should continue blogging.  Keith and I spent our first night away from Tess and I saw some friends who let me know that they are checking in on the blog to see what has been happening lately with our family.  I needed this boost to keep me going.  I like knowing that people are stopping by here occasionally.

I don't have much time right now (or ever really if I am being totally honest) but I wanted to hop on and give some quick family updates.

Keith

A lot of people have been asking about Keith's new job.  Last week was his first week and he is liking things so far.  He is still learning about what his day to day activities are going to look like but so far things are going well.  On a personal note I need to mention that Keith did an excellent job of spoiling me on my birthday.  He brought home a sushi dinner and borrowed a projector from a friend so that he could play a movie on the side of the house outside.  It was a very romantic night under the stars.

(looking a little sweaty while waiting for the movie to start in our backyard)

Colin

Colin continues to be the one who is really running the show at our house.   It is incredible how much energy a 2 year old has.  We have had some major ups and downs over the past week with potty training.  He wore big boy underwear and had very few accidents for almost a week and suddenly he started having lots of accidents and we are back in diapers and are trying to take a little potty training break.  I am waiting for him to be interested again.  Maybe in a week or two he will be ready.

(at the zoo with Phil the gorilla)



Tess

Tess is such a sweetie pie.  People keep asking if I am getting any sleep.  Although I am still waking up every 4 hours or so things with Tess have been going great.  In the middle of the night I fed her, change her, and she goes right back to bed.   I am up for 30 minutes tops.  I am so grateful for this!  She is growing up fast and I finally am starting to think that she looks like one of us... Colin. 

I know I promised a non baby related post.  And I assure you one is coming.  I just wanted to pop on here real quick today for some mini updates on the Street Family.  

Let's try this again

So remember last week when I posted about how nervous I was about being alone with the kids for the first time?  Well it turned out that I wasn't alone with them at all.  Keith went into work on Tuesday to find out that the vacation time that he had originally requested that he thought he wasn't going to get because he is in the process of switching jobs was in fact approved.  So I had Keith home with me all week last week.  And thank God for that. 

Colin woke up on Wednesday with a 101 fever.  We gave him Tylenol and put him down for a nap, hoping he would sleep off whatever bug he had.  Well he woke up with a 104 fever.  Off to the doctor we went.

 

(This is Colin in the doctor's office.  I know I should feel bad about taking this picture b/c he was clearly sick but it was just too funny not to capture.)

We get there and are told that he is breathing VERY fast and that he needs a chest x-ray.  This is easily the most scared I have been as a parent up to this point.  The x-ray reveals that Colin has pneumonia.  We were sent home with antibiotics and instructions to use a nebulizer every 4 hours.  Oh and we were told to keep Colin and Tess away from each other just in case Colin was contagious.  Apparently pneumonia in little kids typically is not contagious but it is better to be safe then sorry especially when you are talking about the health of your newborn baby. 

Keeping the kids separate was not the easiest thing in the world to do especially because these are some of Colin's favorite things to do these days.

Tess and I spent Thursday over at my parents house and Keith stayed home to take care of Colin.  We must have caught on that Colin was sick very early because by Thursday morning Colin was literally running circles around the house.  I am so grateful that he was back to his normal self so soon.  That being said I am just so happy that Keith was home last week.  I don't know how I would have gotten through all of that without his help.

With Keith's new job he will be working 8-5 Monday through Friday.  In his previous position he worked 6:30-5 Tuesday through Friday.  He starts the new job next week so this Monday was the last Monday that Keith will be at home.  Yesterday I spent the day over at my parents house.  The grand kids, all 9 of them, spent time over at Grandma's yesterday.  It was a fun, but slightly hectic day.

So after all of that.... today is officially my first day alone with the kids.  I made it through the morning.  The kids are both napping.  I am using my 'me' time to do a little blogging and we will see where the afternoon takes us. 
I promise to work on posting something non kid related soon.  I assure you that although kids are running my life right now that I am capable of adult conversation that doesn't revolve around nap times and diaper changes.  Thanks for being patient with me.