my husband has been fantastic.  he was a super supportive partner throughout the pregnancy and has been a devoted father since the turkey’s birth.  the one thing that he always maintained that he just wouldn’t do was to change diapers.  of course, i repeatedly told him that he was downright delusional.  as the pregnancy progressed, i heard him change his story to people, saying that he would change wet diapers but not poops.  naturally, he ate crow on all of this right off the bat since i had limited mobility the first day in the hospital and he had to take care of our son’s needs.  when we got home, he gagged over the first few post-meconium diapers but he soldiered on.. for the most part.  this afternoon, i overheard him talking to the turkey while changing one of the stinky ones.  he told him how much he loves him but that he’s not changing those diapers because he loves him.. he’s changing them because he loves momma and is amazed at all that she does to take care of him.  it brought tears to my eyes.  my husband, whom i admire so much, was telling our son how lucky he was to have a mother who sacrifices her nights and days to make sure that he is fed and changed and soothed and rested.  i couldn’t possibly have a better parenting partner.

in other news, today was also the turkey’s first bath (at home) before his first appointment at the pediatrician’s office.

ready for my first sponge bath at home

for his five-day checkup, he got a clean bill of health… the dr was pleased with all his wet diapers (he even wet the exam table before the dr came in) and he was impressed that he was almost back to his birth weight already.  it can take up to two weeks for a baby to regain the weight they lose after birth… our turkey weighed 7lbs 9oz at birth, had lost back to 7lbs even when we left the hospital (two days), and is back up to 7lbs 8.5oz now.  what can i say?  he’s a really good nurser!  he still measures 19.5 inches today.  i actually would have been surprised if they said his length had increased but they said it does happen.  the dr didn’t seem concerned about the umbilical cord falling off prematurely yesterday and said everything seemed to be healing as it should.  we went from the dr to the dept of health to pick up his birth certificate and we got to try our first public nursing.  i sat in the backseat and nursed while hubby was inside getting the cert.  mostly everything worked out well but i think the nursing cover was a little warm on him.  it was harder than usual to keep him awake and alert through the feeding.  I’m not sure whether it is better to sit in the car with a/c or to try to find a place to sit outside where there’s some actual moving air.  since it was his first time with the cover, though, i thought he did well.  i would imagine it will take getting used to and learning to adjust temp is just part of that.

other milestones of note:  he’s been smiling since day 2 and yesterday he started doing big belly laughs in his sleep.  i don’t know what babies dream about but his must be pretty happy ones 🙂

we had all kinds of family here over the weekend to meet the little guy.  my sissy made it here in time to help with the labor and delivery.  my dad got here his first night.  hubby’s parents and siblings arrived late saturday night, after we had gotten home from the hospital.  my sissy was a huge help around the house and the grandparents all enjoyed their time with the newest grandchild.  everybody left this morning so we’re officially on our own now.

we are family

I know the baby’s not hear yet but if you could see how wonderful my husband has been throughout this pregnancy… how worried and protective and supportive he’s been for both me and the turkey, you would see that he is every bit the daddy already. one of his favorite pastimes is laying his head on my belly to talk with the baby and feel him kick him in the ear or chin.

father-son bonding time

after his bonding time today, hubby looked up at me and exclaimed “how can I be so completely enamored with someone I’ve never even met yet?” it brought tears to my eyes. in the beginning, I worried because it seemed like he just wasn’t nearly as excited as I was but i think that was just that it hadn’t sunken in for him yet – he couldn’t feel or see anything like i could. I see him now falling more in love with this little boy every day and it just about brings my heart to bursting. and the worry… he worries about the baby constantly. he says that’s been his biggest surprise – how worried he is that the baby is healthy; that his age hasn’t caused any problems or abnormalities. i didn’t think it was possible to love my husband more than i already did but i was so, so wrong.

in other news, i think he gave me that bug after all, dagnabbit!   we had some houseguests from his home town this weekend.  they were here for their daughter to get married so yesterday we had the bride and her bridesmaids here all day making bouquets and doing hair/makeup and getting dressed.  i started getting hoarse in the mid-morning.  by late afternoon, i had almost no voice at all and was running a low-grade fever.  the book says i only need to worry if my fever gets to 100.5 or higher so i will definitely be watching that and taking acetaminophen to keep it down.  i just hope i get over it quickly enough to not impede our travel plans for the week.  we’re supposed to be leaving tomorrow to start our final southeastern tour.  this week we need to take the guest room furniture to wedowee so that we can start working on putting the nursery together, go over to the old office in ga to meet hubby’s new boss, stop by to see my brother’s family, and then go back to wedowee for hubby’s class reunion, family reunion, and our baby shower.  clearly, i have far too much to do this week to be sick.

hubby has been doing a much better job of nesting than I have. he worked like a mad man to get all of the home improvement projects that we already had supplies for finished up before my sissy came to visit back in march. he put up all the crown molding throughout the entire house and finished the shoe molding around the baseboards in the closets and laundry room. he framed out the mirrors in the bathrooms so that they don’t look quite so much like giant, ugly mirrors pasted to the walls.

framed mirror and crown in master bath

he put up some accent tile around the top of the guest bath.

framed mirror and tiled accent around the top of the guest bath

he tiled the backsplash in the kitchen. I can’t say enough how much I love this tile. it is gorgeous. we’re debating doing something with the space above the cabinets… the light color up there just seems to draw my eye and I don’t like it. we’re trying to decide if we want to continue the backsplash tile up there or if we should just paint it gray. thoughts?

fabulous backsplash in kitchen

in the main living area and the master bedroom, I had him do extended crown to dress those areas up more. I think it looks fantastic. he also got my 53-pounds-of-glass photos hung back up over our bed.

extened crown and my custom artwork in master

he says he’s just going through his honey-do list. I say he’s man-nesting. and if all that work wasn’t enough, he’s now in hyper-organizational mode. he finally went through and shredded/tossed boxes of papers he’s been holding onto since before me (15+ years). he’s also buying all kinds of storage and organizational stuff to help put things in order. maybe one of these days we really will be able to start making a nursery out of the guest room which is stuffed to the gills with stuff.  I’ve been doing what I can to help with all of this but I certainly don’t feel like I’ve been able to get into nesting mode nearly to the extent he has.  maybe once the guest room is empty and it’s time to start building the nursery, maybe then it will hit me.

Hubby finally felt our little turkey last night.  He thought he might have felt something when he reached over to pat my belly while driving but he wasn’t sure and I didn’t really feel any movement at the time.  But last night, after getting to Wedowee and visiting with the parents a bit, we laid down for bed with a stethoscope to see if we could hear the heartbeat.  They say you should be able to by now but I couldn’t really hear much of anything… I don’t know if there are grades of stethoscope but I could barely hear my own heartbeat with theirs and I’m fairly certain that I am alive so maybe I just need to try a better instrument.  Anyhow, all the pressing around must have gotten baby boy agitated because he soon started pushing back and hubby caught one of the pushes beyond a doubt.  I was so excited for him to finally feel a tiny piece of the contact I’ve gotten to experience.  The gratitude I feel for my little family is beyond words!

this weekend, my husband became an ironman! ironday is always a fun time around here but this year was definitely the best. we had a bunch of family come in to support him. my sister’s family drove through the night and got into town just in time to meet us at the beach for the swim start.

ready to get this thing started

he had a terrific swim… 1:19 and then he was off on the bike. I got in touch with his brother and sister and they joined me and my sister’s family for a race north of town so that we could catch a sighting of him out on the bike. we managed to get to the 43 mile marker just in time to see him come and go and it was so exciting. I teared up when I saw the smile on his face.

we then headed back to the race area and my sister and the kids hung out with me at our group’s tent while we waited for him to finish his ride. when we saw on the tracker that he was getting close, we headed to the transition area and got to watch him come in from his bike (5:51!) and leave for his run.

he looked so strong as he started the marathon… yes, I teared up some more. I went back to the tent to spend time with friends while my sissy took the kids to get poster-making supplies. I got to see him when he passed by the tent on his way to the turnaround and then a few minutes later when he started his second loop. in fact, he stopped to hug me as I handed him his arm warmers!

only 13 more miles to go!

finally, it got close to finishing time and his brother was a huge help in making sure that ALL of the family – including his mom and my dad who are both struggling with health issues – was there in time to see him complete his journey. I found a great, unobstructed area for them to sit where they would see him come around the corner and enter the finisher’s chute. my sister, the kids, and I staggered ourselves along the finisher’s chute with me being right across the line. unfortunately, IMFL does a terrible job of allowing visual access to the finish line so I couldn’t actually see him coming down the chute but I got to hear the announcer calling his name and I got to see the huge smile on his face when he crossed that line. I was crying, I was screaming, my heart was bursting with pride in my husband. he finished the marathon in 5:12 which made his total race time 12:39. his goal was sub-13 and he blew it away!

you. are. IRONMAN!

my ironhubby and me

the kids just HAD to have signs for the finish line

I found out later that when he came around the final corner, his mom stood up from her wheelchair to cheer him on and he stopped to hug her and his dad before entering the chute. what an awesome moment that must have been!

with family support like that, he was bound to have a great race

thursday was my first bible study group meeting.  being an anti-social person, I was already anxious about it so I made sure to test out the online platform ahead of time to make sure that I wasn’t going to have any problems.  best laid plans and all that jazz.  for the first half of the meeting, I couldn’t hear them.  I finally got to where I could hear them and they couldn’t hear me.  and the video was up and down.  naturally, I felt like a moron who can’t work a computer.  my pc has been getting slower and slower for a while now and apparently it just doesn’t have the juice to handle a video conferencing gig.  I was very upset and ready to just give up on the bible study because of it.  in an effort to lift my spirits and keep me from giving up on my spiritual growth, hubby went out and bought a webcam to put on his pc.  tonight i finally got around to testing it out and was able to have a lovely face-to-face with my daddy.  stinks that i have to use hubby’s pc but at least i should be able to stay in the group now.

still not completely recovered from that scarring technological experience, my phone started acting up yesterday.  I heart my phone.  I’ve bragged so much about it and my service plan.  this morning, it was shutting itself off constantly even though it had a nearly full battery.  I finally got it to come up and stay up for a little bit and was texting with my sissy when it spontaneously shut off again.  when I finally got it to start up again, I noticed that it had wiped out all my stuff.  fantastic.  so I played with it some more and tried, unsuccessfully, to get some data off of it and it just kept running slower and slower… even though there was really nothing on it anymore.  I decided to go ahead and try a factory restore…  now, it is a complete brick.  it just loops through a boot/error cycle and won’t stop until I take out the battery.  i freely admit that it was my fault last year when i killed our phones.  this time, i did nothing to harm it.  and, of course, it’s about six weeks past warranty.  ugh!  i am just so ticked off and depressed about this.  hubby and i both spent all day reading the interwebs trying to find a fix for it.  we both made calls to support and got nowhere.  it is beyond fixing.  again, hubby to the rescue.  he took me tonight to get a new phone and then complained loud enough to the company to get them to give me a free month.

moral of the story:  technology sucks but husbands are fabulous!

9 years into happy ever after

today was a relaxing day of sleeping in and lounging around before our big anniversary dinner. we grabbed a couple friends and made our way west to the melting pot. kids, I can’t possibly express just how much I heart the melting pot.  it’s just always a fabulous meal and experience.  and I can’t even remember the last time we ate at one.  our friends haven’t experienced this joy before so it was great to be the ones to expose them to the wonder that is terrific fondue.  although trainwreck went into it with some apprehension as he thought that fondue meant that everything was going to be cooked in melted cheese (not that there’s anything wrong with that!).  it was definitely a night of great food and even greater companionship.  oh, and mojo bullion… oh my goodness!  I couldn’t stop eating the broccoli florets because they soaked the flavor up so strongly.

to give hubby some down time after his race, we decided to try a mini staycation. the rules are that we have to do things (not just sit on the couch), we have to be together (he can’t go off with the boys for a bike ride), and above all… no cooking! today was a good start. we slept in, walked to a diner for a late breakfast, walked to the mall to see the new ironman movie, came back home and rested, and then went to bonefish for a yummy dinner and anniversary dessert.

hubby completed his second half-iron distance triathlon today. his first one was two years ago and he did a great job and had fun. today, he managed to take 34 minutes off his time!!! I couldn’t be more proud of him. and now we’re halfway through the year of ironman training!

demonstrating his swim technique	for a short while, we had matching purple heads
1.2 mile swim... check!	56 mile bike... check!
a little wet but at least that kept the run cooler	13.1 mile run and completion of another half-iron... check!
so proud of my hubby after 5 hours and 56 minutes of giving his all!

and then this was him upside down in the passenger seat trying to get his legs to stop aching while I drove us to his parents’ for mother’s day 🙂

hubby and i decided it was time for some mid-week quality time together.  we walked down to the mall, which we haven’t done in forever.  *somebody* immediately hit up the frozen yogurt shop and then we walked all over the complex before ending up at five guys for dinner.  we walked, we talked, we held hands.  it was a great date night indeed.

hubby is now half of an iron man!  he completed his first 70.3 event this past weekend and i couldn’t be more proud of him.  for those not in the know, a half iron distance triathlon consists of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile (half marathon) run.  below is a short storyboard of his journey but the rest of the photos can be found here.

diving in (red wetsuit)

smiling after 1.2 miles in the gulf

a nice wave to the wife on his way out to the bike course

back after 56 miles of pedalling

looking good at the start of the run

that is 100% awesomeness crossing the finish line after a 13.1 mile run!

"1.2 swim, 56 bike, 13.1 run... and your hair still looks great!!!"

alright, so i know that i was dreading the whole birthday thing but i’ve gotta give my hubby credit.  he did a spectacular job of making it the best day ever.  i  was overwhelmed with the thought that he put into making me feel special and loved.  after a day of one suprise after another, he shared his “master plan” with me during dinner:

30 presents for my beautiful wife Arcanai

1. Start of 30 I Love You’s for the day 6:00 – he started out taking a huge risk… his alarm went off at 05:45!  said i, “why is your alarm going off?”  “we’re going out.”  “seriously?!”  of course, while he’s getting out of bed and getting ready, i’m laying there thinking it’s sunday and my sleep-in day and we didn’t get home from the mma fights until after 01:00 so i’ve only had a few hours of sleep.  he lucked out because i had way too much water while eating dinner at midnight so i had actually just gotten back in bed when his alarm went off.  i would have been much less amicable to the idea had i been asleep. 
2. Start of 30 kisses for the day
3. Start of 30 hugs for the day
4. Sunrise at end of pier 6:30 – so he got me out of bed and we headed down to the pier to watch the sunrise.  it was our first time on the new pier and i was surprised at how far it went out.  we were the only ones out there so it was peaceful and quiet and just a lovely morning.  we watched the sun gather its glory from behind our building, ultimately rising over a building a couple doors down from us.   my boy hugged me and loved on me while we enjoyed the start of the new day.  when we started walking back down the pier, the dolphins showed up and we stuck around a bit longer to watch them make their morning trek down the beach.
5. Walk on the beach (quality time) – this got skipped because i was pretty chilly after being out in the cool wind on the pier in my flip-flops and so when he asked if i wanted to go down to the beach i told him my feet were too cold.  he made sure to make it up with another “gift” later in the day… a haircut that about made him wanna cry 🙂
6. Bubble Bath – when we got back, he drew a nice hot bubble bath to warm me up.  it was heavenly.
7. Breakfast in Bed – and when i got out of the bath, he tucked me into bed and served me breakfast… eggs cooked perfectly over medium with bacon and cheese biscuits. 
8. Personal Birthday Card (nothing bought) – this was sitting on my breakfast tray.  a nice little handmade card that says

30 years ago the world got one special girl.  One that would become my wife, partner, and best friend.  I hope today and every day you know how much I love you.

9. Morning Massage (30 Minutes) – after we had finished eating, he pulled out the massage lotion and i was treated to a fabulous full-body massage that lasted nearly an hour. 
10. Birthday Morning Nap– between the hot bubble bath, full belly, and relaxing massage, i was totally ready for the nap!
11. Pier Park Shopping – where i got this very cute blouse
12. Lunch at Pier Park – mmmpanera
13. Marble Slab – omg, it has been so long!  i had the cheesecake ice cream with strawberries mixed in.  so, so good.
14. Trip to Panama City Beach Winery for Wine Tasting – this is such a fun winery.  they do unique and fruity wines and free tastings.
15. Buy Arcanai’s Favorite bottle from the tasting – i was torn between the kiwi, cranberry, and blueberry.  i ended up going with the blueberry but foresee the cranberry in my future as well.
16. Trip to Wal-Mart (we never do anything without going to Wal-Mart) – LOL!!!  i love that he included this on his list.  it’s so true!
17. Birthday Flowers – these lovely tulips.  i heart tulips.
18. Birthday Cake – mmmmcarvelcake
19. 1:33 in the afternoon birth time (Happy Birthday Song)
20. Good ole fashioned spanking 30 lashes – yep, he went there 🙂
21. Funny Movie (holding down couch) – inglorious basterds.  this actually happened before lunch because i needed some time to wake up after the nap.
22. Evening Massage (30 minutes) – this came after the walk on the beach below.  i was shocked when i was instructed to lay down for ANOTHER massage.  i informed him that he was spoiling me and this was going to have to become the sunday norm!
23. Walk on Beach 4:45 (quality time) – we got back from the mall and headed out to the beach for a short walk.  the sand was not nearly as cold as it would have been in the morning.
24. Sunset on Beach – sadly, the clouds were not cooperative.  we stayed on the beach hoping for a sunset but it never came.
25. Personal Bath – this is where he shampooed and conditioned my hair (scalp massage) and then cut it against his will.
26. Dinner with friends Bone Fish Grill 6:30 – there were sixteen of us in all.  good friends, great conversation, fabulous food!
27. Glass of Wine
28. Night Time Walk on beach – dinner ran long so we skipped this to visit with our friends from atlanta, the bastard suns, who were passing through for the night on their winter tour.  they stay at scooter/sunny’s house when they come to town.  sadly, they’re playing an hour away on TUESDAY night so i don’t think we’re going to get to watch them this time around.
29. Hot Tub– i love hot-tubbing on a cool night with a glass of wine 🙂
30. Romantic Movie – when in rome.  the car scene cracks me up!

i have very mixed feelings about the matter.  i thought i would cross the finish line with a sense of accomplishment.  i felt… nothing of the sort.  i felt relief at being done.  i felt pride in having such a truly awesome group of friends hanging around just to cheer me on.  but i did not feel like i had really DONE anything; it just didn’t feel like a big deal.  which made me just a little sad because, for me, this should have been a big deal.  it’s so much more than i ever could have seen myself doing.  not because i didn’t think i could but because i never had the desire.  about the only thing that i really felt good about was my time.  after all of my training, i was certain that it was going to take me three hours and fifteen minutes to run a half marathon.  i didn’t see any way around that.  my official chip time was 3:03:54.  i ran it more than eleven minutes faster than i realistically thought i could.  granted, i would have loved to have gotten down to under three hours but i finished knowing that there was absolutely no way that i could have done that today.  i left nothing on the course.  i also felt good about having a negative split.  the second half of my race was nearly two minutes faster than the first half.

hanging toward the back of the crowd to start - the blue shirt just right of my head is cargo starting his 2nd half mary

honestly, i had fun.  i really did.  the first nine miles, i was having just a great time.  after nine miles, i became aware of my legs.  they weren’t hurting or over-tired but i just suddenly felt them.  of course, that’s about the time that the course got a little lonely too.  it was an out-and-back course so the first half, i was able to cheer on all of the fast folks who were already heading back toward me.  when i finally reached the turn-around and started back myself, i had the slower folks still heading out to cheer on.  it made me feel good to cheer others on, whether they really needed it or not.  and it was a thrill every time we passed one of our friends; totally recharged me.  somewhere around the nine mile mark, we had already gone by all of the slower people so it was pretty much just me and my husband. 

at least there were some scenic stretches

look, i'm a runner

and, while i’m on that subject – my husband rocks!  i could not have done that race without him.  he bandited so that he could trot along with me.  he talked with me and kept me company.  he carried the camera to take pix of me and all of our friends.  most importantly, he did all of my aid station stops for me.  when we approached a table, he would grab the bottles out of my fuel belt and go fill them – one with water and one with gatorade.  i never had to stop at a table so i was able to do my walk/fuel breaks when i wanted or needed to rather than when the course dictated them.

my favorite pic of the day; i made hubby stop to take it. if you know him, you know why.

anyhow, i still felt pretty good going past the twelve mile mark.  i was a little surprised because i was sure i should have hit my “wall”.  i became confident that if i hadn’t hit it yet, i wouldn’t.  i looked at my watch and thought i’d be able to finish strong and beat three hours.  and then, the last half mile, there it was.  WHAM!  having never hit a wall before, i could not believe just how debilitating it was.  within mere seconds i went from feeling like i had it in the bag to feeling like i couldn’t possibly pick up my legs anymore.  i have no idea how i managed to keep them moving that last .5 mile.  by the time i finally turned a corner and saw the finish line in the distance, i was chanting to myself that i could do it.  luckily, that was the same time i started to hear my friends screaming my name and the very same sentiments.  that was what i needed to push me.  i found just enough energy to carry myself across the line and i was so glad to be done.  i had intended to pay attention to my finish line photo but i was just too daggum tired to lift my arms in victory.  my friend tat greeted me with a big hug and praise when i crossed and i couldn’t even lift my arms to hug her back.  i was done. 

DONE. in every sense of the word.

i walked around a while, choked down a banana, picked up my medal and my ugly purse, and went back to the line to wait for another friend who had not yet finished.  i walked up the course a bit so that i could meet her and cheer her to the end.  i am so glad that i did not finish with her.  the finish line had been taken down by the time she finished and the crowds were all gone.  i would have been so demoralized.  i’m not sure how she felt about it all but i’m glad that i was there for her.  she was crying by the time she finally crossed where the line had been. 

showing off my well-earned blingage and ugy purse

all in all, it was a positive experience and i’m glad i did it.  it was just a disappointment that it didn’t make me feel better about myself.  and, though the race was quite a bit of fun, the weeks of training were horrible torture that i don’t think i would readily endure again.  we’ll see though.  with this group of nutty friends, anything is possible.

it's official. i'm a half-marathoner