August, 2023

Our Big Man turned 5 this month! He celebrated at Great Wolf Lodge with his besties, Jacob and Royden, on his actual birthday, and then at a beach party with a construction theme at the end of the month. We wanted to wait for school to be back in session so his classmates could attend. He is such an amazing boy, with a budding sense of humor. His favorite show is Grizzly and the Lemmings, and he likes to randomly announce "Ta-bo-di!" from the show, which I mistakenly thought was "Da booty" for about a week.

The start of the school year was an adjustment for us all. Both kids are signed up for the same sport for the first time ever: Flag football! Since flag football recently became a CIF sport for girls, a team cropped up at their school and was so popular that this year, there are two. When someone told me, "It is so nice to only have games every Friday with Friday Night Lights" I mistakenly thought that would mean only a Friday commitment. Imagine my surprise when each kid had practice start the week before they went back to school, each on a different night. And just like that, three weeknights are spoken for.

She sewed these pants!

Marathon training continues, in spite of a major wrench being thrown in: Low iron. Apparently, this is a thing for distance runners, especially female distance runners. I went from going on 10, 12 and 14-mile runs at 10:55 pace and feeling alright to not being able to finish a 12 mile run ...running out of steam at mile 10 and walking the last two miles. And, I suddenly was much slower. I'm talking at least a minute per mile slower. On top of that, I was completely wiped out for the entire rest of the day, beyond just being a bit tired. I was more tired than I used to be after a 20-mile run; so tired that my voice was too soft on the phone to hear, if that gives you an idea. I bought some iron pills, spinach, ground beef, and even a cast iron skillet (side note: HOW is that the SAME type of iron in our blood, and do I even know anything about the human body!?) but was defeated when I read it takes 2-3 weeks to get iron levels up, but several months to build up the reserves needed. Ugh! So, with sadness I emailed the marathon and dropped down to the half-mile distance, figuring heck - that's what I intended to sign up for anyway. But I didn't come this far to only come this far. My friends would be fine with it or, more realistically, not even care. But then I thought of my father, who has ordered me two new pairs of Hoka shoes and my MIL, who wrote: Hope you can make Athens in 2025.  Not that far off.  Hope you can finish all your classes and finish degree to really get Nathan to support trip.  You are such a good writer and read so much, hope you can get it done so Athens will be a really big multi celebration.  Go Megan of Athens!

Megan of Athens pulled at my heart motivation strings, and even though I know that I could totally drop to the half now and still certainly still do the full in two years, I worried that it could cause her to doubt that I can and will. And I just can't have that! So, I skipped a long run to try and build up some reserves (every time our heel hits the pavement, we lose iron), kept taking my supplements, and continued on. The heat and humidity certainly don't help, so I started getting up at 4:30 for my long runs and setting out before sunrise, sometimes driving to the beach to run because it's cooler. I emailed the race for a second time, this time asking to go back up to the full distance.

Cousins

Big Bertha survived "Hurricane" Hilary. 

We learned Aunt Anna and Ashley have one the same size right now, over in England! 

A milestone this month: Cha lost his very first tooth while playing with Sissy, who bumped it. The tooth fairy left him a $20 bill (first tooth always garners more, I hear) which he used to buy his first Angel's hat.

Yes, we still have cement floors and holes in the walls.

We had a great turnout for his party, especially in light of the fact that it was at the beach. He played for hours, digging in the sand and constructing a really large pit which they filled with water. Initially, it was stressful getting everything there, but then there wasn't much to do except hang out and visit with everyone. A huge thank you to Stella, who offered the morning of to help set up and met us in the parking lot to help carry stuff over to our reserved tables. More on his party here.