Weekend in Seattle with the fam

We stayed at my family's house in Bellevue this weekend so Jeff could run his marathon. Jay met Aunt Mel, Uncle Kyle, and Grampa for the first time. We love our family!!

Exercising

Mel was SO sweet and good with Jay!

High five, Grama!

Grampa!!

Jeff's MARATHON!

Jeff ran his first ever marathon this weekend-- the Seattle Rock 'n Roll Marathon. There were 25,000 people in the race (17,000 in the half marathon), and Jeff got 106th place! Go Husband, GO! We drove up to Seattle (4 1/2 hrs) on Thursday and stayed with my family. I asked Jeff to write about the marathon since we only saw him twice in the 3 hours 11 minutes 54 seconds that he was running. When I asked him to write this, I wasn't expecting the attention to detail he wrote...here's his story:

If you don't care about details, skip ahead to the photos, each one is worth at least a thousand words. I decided to run a marathon back in January while recovering from the hot chocolate/foot instance and started training in February once my foot healed. I was kind of disgusted with how poorly I was running at first, but training came along well and by the beginning of May, I was rather fit and feeling good about my goal of running in the 2:40 range. About the time Jay was born I developed a knee injury that kept me from running (which, weirdly , I managed to correct by running barefoot at the outdoor sports complex at WWU) consistently until two weeks before the marathon. In fact, the week before the marathon I ran a twelve miler which was slow and felt horrible. I then decided that my new goal was to finish and hopefully qualify for Boston (3:10). I thought I would open with a few 7 minute miles and see how I felt after that.

Once I got on the starting line, I made my first mistake. I threw out all of my plans and decided to run by feel. What does that mean? It means averaging nearly 6:30 miles, including a bathroom break, over the first 12 miles. I was actually feeling really good, but suddenly I felt a sharp pain on one of my toes. First I took off my shoes and walked bitterly. Then I started jogging shoeless, bitterly. Then I put the shoes on and tried jogging again, bitterly. Next, I took the shoes off and walked bitterly. Then I had a eureka moment; I took off my socks, put my shoes on, and started running, exuberantly. I was so happy that I could keep running after that ordeal that I ran the 13th mile in 5:33.

I settled down a little bit after that, but the damage was done. I bonked at 18 miles, coming to screeching halt and feeling like my body was throwing a coup against me. For the last 8 miles my goal was simple: survive. I walked about a mile until the crowd got to me and I started jogging again. I came to a water station and walked through, taking two cups of sports drink and dowsing myself with a few cups of ice water. I repeated this cycle of jogging and water station breaks and eventually found myself running 7:10 miles even with the walking. My body was hurting and I just wanted the finish line to appear faster. That moment came 3:11.54 after I started the race.

Considering the enormous tactical errors and training issues, I am actually happy with the time even though I had not met most of my goals. I already want to run another one, mostly to redeem myself.

Well, there you have it, folks! and now, on to...

THE PICTURES:

Dad and I dropped Jeff off at the exit closest to the start line around 6:30am

Freezing fans (Dad and moi)-- it was a gorgeous day for a run, but the wind and shade were ICY for us spectators! Watching all this running was so tantalizing! Dad and I caught the magic of the marathon and agreed to do the half marathon together next year

We kept Jay bundled and covered with the stroller canopy-- there was only one tiny gap on each side. He slept almost the whole time!

More of the fan club-- Grama Meri graciously sat with Jay while I watched for Jeff at the finish line: Kim-sa, Mel, Jay, and Mom

Mel and her friend Kim-Sa (did I spell that right?)

at last Jeff appeared!

It was really hard to cheer and get finishing photos--Jeff is under the yellow arch (the dude in the foreground is on the half marathon finish)

Exiting the chute--shoes off already!

Icing painful feet

He was too wet to hug with my white shirt, so a small kiss on the cheek had to suffice

More fans: Jeff's parentals

Look, Grama!

My Grama and Grampa Gwynn (Jay's GREAT Grandparents) sent him this very cute froggy outfit, and this morning I was finally able to catch Jay in it before it got drooled on, barfed on, peed on, etc. And surprise... the shirt is getting really tight on Jay's tummy! He's 5 weeks old today, and his newborn clothes are starting to get squinchy (if that's a word).

I fed Jay, changed him into this outfit, and quickly took pictures of him-- happy and unsoiled.

Jay loves to flail his arms, box with his hands, and kick with his feet

My little sweetface

Happy Father's Day!

This year was Jeff's FIRST Father's Day as a real life FATHER! Jay and I worked together to give him a little surprise. This is what we did: Jay woke me up right on cue at 1:30am Sunday morning. I fed him and then got to work making "eggs days ahead," (a breakfast favorite that has eggs, sausage, mushrooms, and cheese). The "days ahead" part means you cook the eggs and sausage and put everything in the pan and then it can be baked any time. I finished the prep and finally got Jay to sleep around 3:30am. Then, Jay got me up at 6am and I baked the breakfast in the oven while feeding him...

I layed out a trail from our bedroom door to the oven...

...and put a sign on the oven door. Jeff woke up 15 minutes after it was all done. (Jay and I were both in bed).

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Hurrah for a successful Father's Day surprise breakfast! Go team go!

Meet the Family

This past weekend, Jeff's mom had a family gathering so that more relatives could meet little Jay. We drove the 2 hrs to Grandview and Jay had his first "sleep"over at grandma and grandpa's house! One thing about sleepovers is: usually you sleep at least part of the night! 4 of the 5 Argyle kids were there (Jeff's mom's siblings) plus one spouse, one grandma, and 2 cousins. We ate giant pancakes for breakfast and yummy grilled salmon for dinner (both courtesy of Jeff's dad) and opened baby presents (lots of Argyle pride--woohoo!) and enjoyed just hanging out together. I was pretty exhausted the whole time because Jay kept me up allllll night on Saturday, but it was still fun and good to see all of these relatives again (I've only met them once). Everyone played pass the baby and Jay enjoyed all the attention!

We didn't get around to taking many pictures, so just before we left, we snagged one with: Jeff, his mom holding Jay, Shaina, Grandma Kay, and Jeff's dad

Jeff wearing the baby basket that his parents gave Jay--it's filled with all of the other gifts. (on top is the bottom layer of the diaper cake Jeff's mom made)

I worked really hard to get this picture... baby in one hand, camera in the other. Don't worry, I was leaning over on the floor so I didn't drop my baby! I love kissing his increasingly chubby cheeks!


We took this picture just to send to Jay's uncle Brad (my brother) who is serving a mission in Portugal right now... Brad put his other nephew, Steve, in a crock pot when Steve was tiny, so we thought he'd enjoy a slow cooked baby picture.

In other news, tonight at 11pm, Jay will officially be 4 weeks old! FOUR weeks already?

And last but not least, my very own, very not so safe invention (based on Em's swaddle on the binky idea): the Binky Band! How to construct your own Binky Band: 1. roll up a burp cloth 2. tuck it around baby's shoulders, across the mouth. 3. you may also tuck one end behind one shoulder and the other end under one arm to allow for any arm flailing 4. caution! use only under adult supervision, as the Binky Band can slip off and cover baby's face!

Our little blue Jay

We love our baby boy! Now I know why my own Mom calls all of her kids "sweetface!" I find myself calling my own baby the same things. Some things that he does:

1. When he's hungry or feeling energetic, he waves and punches his little hands all over the place like a boxer--cute until his little claws dig into Mommy when it's feeding time!

2. He loves it when Daddy holds him and walks around-- he just opens his eyes wide and LOOKS.

3. Right after a nice long meal, he gets a big milk beard and his expression makes me think of the word TRANQUILIZED

4. He doesn't like baths yet, but maybe I just need to get better at giving them!

Here are more pictures of our little blue Jay!

Cute doggy overalls!

I can't get enough of his little sweet face!

I love this suit...

...but I don't know if Jay does

Snoozing with Daddy

Who's Who??

As vain as it may sound, my baby boy reminds me of... ME! Mom sent me some pictures of me when I was a baby, so I have posted them for your comparison. Can you tell who's who?

Looking at Mommy

Looking at Mommy


Little Jay is a little younger and redder than baby Shaina

Baby Shaina and big sister Em

...only time will tell WHO this little guy will look like!

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

June 1, 1982 was a great day: that's when Jeff was born! I've had Jeff's birthday present for a month, but I made him wait till his real birthday to open it. It was a trick kite! Too bad it wasn't windy...

Putting it together

Tricky trick kite...

Trying to fly it with our box fan didn't quite work

Birthday boy!