Amerikids!

Cade & I had a hot date tonight! We went to see Tori's play - Amerikids - just he & I.  It was so much fun being able to focus all of my attention on my little boy.  Tori did such a great job!  She had one of the lead parts!

Tons of our family showed up for the event.  Here is my uncle Scott holding Cade as he "danced" in his seat:

Tori & Cade at the "after party" :)  Cade was so wound up... I was nervous he would never go to bed!  Luckily, he passed out on the car ride home.  Between Tori and the big boy cousins, Cade had the time of his life!

I just love our family! We are 100% there for each other.  Some drove an hour to be there for Tori's play.  You rock Tori!  You did such a great job tonight!  Cade might just be your #1 fan.... your groupie! :)

Treats For My Babies...

... or "teets" as Cade calls them:)
Ever since Brad brought home those Sprinkles cupcakes for my birthday, Cade has been asking for "CAKE!".  So today, I decided to bake him his very own chocolate cake - complete with confetti frosting:)

Berkley got her very own "teet" today too!  Check out these adorable Tom wannabees!  At $8.99 a pair, I couldn't resist.  It will take her a while to grow into these 'kicks' but boy oh boy, will she be stylin'!

34

Another year older, another year wiser?    Who knows if that's true, but I'll claim it:)
Brad was so cute.  He surprised me and decorated the house and had Sprinkles cupcakes for each of us.

I loved my cards:)

And soon we will be on bikes, riding down to the pier to grab some dinner.  Thanks you babe for making my day so special! :)

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

We took the kiddos to Disneyland on Memorial Day. We met Brad's cousin Tami, her husband Josue and daughter Sofia there. We had a blast!    It was Berkley's 1st time sitting in the stroller without her car seat.  (We had the car seat for her naps, but when Cade was walking she got to sit on his side:)

We were very excited to take Cade back to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show.  We went a few weeks ago and he went absolutely crazy with excitement, so we couldn't wait to go back.  It brings me so much joy to watch him get so happy.   He LOVES the show and wants to watch it 24/7, so a live show was that much more exciting!  We were front row.  This was before the show started.

I just LOVE this pic!  He was jumping up and down, dancing and squealing.  So darn cute!

We had so much fun with the Torres family!  We need to do that again soon!

Last Play Date... For a While

We are so sad! Our dear friends Jana, Brad, Taj & Jax are moving far, far away to New York. We met up this afternoon for a final play date at the park.  Evidently we got the memo about wearing hats today! :)

The boys had so much fun on the teeter totter!

Hugs good bye:)  We are so sad.  We miss you guys already, Jana! 

Cell Phone Pics

It is so hard to get a shot of the kids together. Neither one wants to sit still long enough. :)  This one is pretty good, believe it or not!

Berks and her daddy love to sleep.  Actually, I take that back.  Daddy loves to sleep.  Berkley does not know the meaning of "nap".  She barely takes small cat naps.  Darn!  At least I have one great sleeper on my hands though - Cade takes 3.5 hour naps!  On the one hand, it's a bummer that she doesn't sleep at the same time to give me a break, however, on the other hand, it's nice to have some one-on-one time with my little girlfriend.

I could just eat these two up!

Pick A Winner!

This is Cade's newest "hobby":

What is it with kids and picking their noses?  Hee hee!  :)

Random Pics

We went out to dinner the other night and I look over at Berks to see this:

Such a little diva with her leg propped up on the table.  Who's this girl's mamma and why doesn't she teach her some manners? :)


Unfortunately, we only have showers in our home.  This is Cade's makeshift bath.  He had a ball this morning!

We had such a treat this morning!  My cousin Steph brought her son Nash over and she also brought our other cousin Tori.  Both boys A.D.O.R.E. Tori!  Seriously, Cade goes crazy for her.  We went to the park for almost 2 hours!  The kids had a blast!

So Funny

As promised.... here is the video I spoke earlier about showing Berkley absolutely cracking up.  I have no clue why I chose the song I sang - ha! - it is quite different than your typical baby lullaby:)

Favorite Little People

I love that I am home early enough every day to take my little lovebugs to the park.  These 2 crack me up.  I was pushing Cade on the swing today and he kept saying, "Higher Mommy!".  Every time I would give him a push I would say, "Stinker Bug!"    And soon, he started replying back, "Tinker Boog".  I just love this age.  He is so silly and repeats everything. 

Cade is talking like crazy!  Everyday he says something new that amazes Brad & I.  He is talking in crazy, long sentences too.  Many people comment on how much he talks.  I giggle and say, "I wonder who it gets it from".... since I am a chatterbox.  Right now he is telling me, "Mommy, I wanna get the ball".... this is because he just threw it over the railing and it is now downstairs.  Ha!

His newest, and my favorite is: "Hold you Mommy!"  This melts me into complete mush.  

He also loves his sister and she adores him back.  All he has to do is look in her general direction and her whole face lights up.  Berks gets the BIGGEST smile on her face when she looks at her big brother.  I just LOVE this and am trying to enjoy it because soon enough the fights will begin, I'm sure. :)
Mr. Cade still looks like this pretty much all the time:

Yep, he still smiles all.day.long.

Yesterday, I took the kiddos to Target and Cade HAD to have this football.  I hesitated since he has about 5,379 balls already, but I ended up caving and buying it for him.  How do you say 'no' to that little face and sweet voice??  I guess it was money well spent.  He loved it so much and could not wait to show Daddy when he got home from work.  He also slept with the ball in his crib!!!  So darn cute.

 

He often asks where daddy is. I tell him that daddy is at work and he says, "why?" I tell him that daddy works to "make money". So now when he asks why daddy is at work I say, "you know this Cade. Why is daddy working?" He says, "to make-a the money."   I just love this kid.   He melts me!

As for this little "pumpkin" (as Daddy calls her), she is just as cute as can be as well. She seems to think I am very funny (which pumps my ego since she is the only one who thinks this:). I can get this girl to giggle hysterically. In fact, wait for a video coming soon.... it is classic.

Berkley is now crawling so she is much more interactive.  I love playing with her - she now "gets it" more.  She loves to crawl to various toys and check things out.  This is so neat to watch her explore.... however, it doesn't last too long, because her big bro soon comes over and takes the toy away from her.  Funny that he has wanted nothing to do with some of these toys for quite some time.... but now that sissy wants them, he suddenly shows interest.  Ahhhh, sibling rivalry has begun:)

We love these two so much!  We have to hold ourselves back from squeezing them too hard:)  

And..... She's.....Off!!!

Berkie is now officially crawling!  I am biased, but I just think she is so darn cute!

Cade's "Cooter"

Bee Bo (my aunt Beth) and Beek (my cousin Blake whom Cade absolutely adores) surprised Cade last week with a brand new scooter when he came over to their house. Beek taught Cade how to ride the scooter and it has been a hit ever since! Thanks so much Bee & Blake! I got a little video of Cade in action. It was so cute - after I was done filming Cade wanted to watch himself on film over, and over and over again!

3:19

3:19.... these numbers have never sounded so good coming out of my mouth.  This past Sunday, 05.06.12, I ran the OC Marathon.  I was hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  In order to qualify for my age/gender, I would need to run it in 3:35.
 
For some reason, since having Berkley, I have become a much faster runner.  It just kind of happened.  It is because of this that Brad encouraged me to "sign up and qualify".

After signing up, I decided to actually "work" at my speed (instead of letting it happen on its own) and so I incorporated speed work into my runs (once a week).  I also started running longer runs on my "short run days".  So a typical week for me was running 50 miles.

I was pretty proud of myself for "upping the ante" and becoming more serious about the sport.  I actually grew more in love with it.  As race day approached I figured my chances of qualifying were 50/50.  It depended how I felt that morning (heavy legs?  well rested? etc).  But also running a 3:35 meant that I had to run an 8:12 min mile.  That was a hard pace to keep for 26.2 long miles!  One thing I had going for me though is my stubbornness.  Once I get something in my head, I will do EVERYTHING in my power to achieve it..... especially since I had told people that I hoped to qualify.

This brings me to race day.  I woke up feeling good.  Here I am ready to head out the door:

Did you notice the tattoo on my left forearm?  That is a pacer tattoo.  It tells me what time I need to be at (or under) at each mile.  I can glance down to see if I'm on time or not.

The race started at 5:30 so I planned to leave at 4:30am.  It started right down the street but I needed time to meet my friend Allyson, stretch, get water, and relieve some nerves.

Ally and I waiting in the Marriott that was at the start line:

The race started about 20 minutes late - which I hate because all those nerves ready get to me!  We finally sang the National Anthem, the gun went off, and we were off!   And guess what!?  I felt GREAT!

Ally and I split at mile 5.  I was a bit ahead of her, but not by much.

I kept looking down at my watch and instead of running 8:12 min miles, I was doing 7:38's!  I was a bit worried that I would hit a wall and crash later on, but I kept my pace because I was feeling comfortable.

At mile 11 I was surprised to see Brad!  I thought he would be at the finish line but never assumed he would meet me on the course.  At that point he jumped in and ran a half mile with me.  I told him, "I GOT THIS!  I'm not going home without Boston!"  He loves that quote by the way:)

So I chugged, and I chugged, and I chugged some more.  I think part of me ran so fast just to get done quicker.  I ran with mostly guys.  Towards the end, I seldom saw women.  And spectators would yell things like, "You go girl!  You're kicking the guys' butts!  Girl power!"   This made me wonder, "Am I one of the top women since they are acting excited to see a girl?"

The last 2 miles killed me.  I was exhausted and over it.  I wanted.to.be.done.NOW.  I couldn't help but think that if the race had started on time, I WOULD be done by now with a nice cold bottle of water in my hand.

At the very end, we rounded a corner and we had .2 miles to go... this is when the crowd thickened and the cheering started to get loud.  This is when I lifted my chin and gave it everything I had and sprinted it in.  I wanted to be sure to leave everything I had on the course - and that I did.  Here is my time:

3:19..... oh 3:19, how I love you!  Brad called me "3:19: for the rest of the day.... and I happily answered to it:)  He then asked me, "if you knew you were going to easily make 3:35, why didn't you slow down an take it easy at the end?"  I said, "when I realized that 3:35 was in the bag, I needed a new goal.  I wanted to see how much I could beat that time by."  This is my competitive nature.  I was (and still am) on cloud 9.  Before this race, my PR (personal record) was 3:43.  How the heck did I beat it by 24 whole minutes!?  Usually, people beat it by a few minutes, but 24!?   I still can't believe it.

I ended up winning 2nd place (out of 122) in my division (women ages 30-34)!
I was the 14th (out of 710) woman overall.
I was the 91st (out of 1,856) person.
So crazy!

I met up with my friend Shannon at the end.  She ran the half marathon, but a few of us are talking her into doing a full soon:)

One last picture before driving out of the parking lot to head home.  Brad had to tear me away.  I wanted to stay and take it all in all.day.long.

So the question remains... Boston, are you ready for me!? See you in April, baby!

7 Months Already!

Little Miss Berkley Laine is 7 whole months old!  Time is flying by way too fast.  She is growing so quickly and we no longer have a little baby... Berks is definitely on her way to becoming a big girl! 
7 month stats:
Weight: 16 lbs (23rd percentile)
Length: 26 in (26th percentile)
These stats (well at least the weight one) shocked me!  Berkie is a chunky baby and I thought she would be a higher percentile as far as weight goes.  Cade was a skinny baby so this is a change for us. I must say that I think chunky babies are adorable!  I just love her little rolls and I could just sit and smooch her buddha belly all.day.long!

Off to bed now.... marathon #4 tomorrow morning!

Big Moose

Lately, Cade has wanted to play with Berkley's "toys". This was his latest stunt! Ha! He looks HUGE in her swing:

Reminiscing....

I often look back over the blog to see where Cade was at and what he was doing when he was Berkley's age.  This keeps me on track on what she should be doing (or close enough).  It's funny how quickly I forget... especially since he was her age just 15 short months ago. 
Looking back makes me realize just how quickly time flies!  It seems like forever ago that he was her age, learning the things that she is now experiencing.
Upon looking back today, I found this picture - taken when Cade was 6 months old.  This is my very favorite picture ever taken of him.  He is such my little boyfriend:)  I just can't help grinning right back at my favorite little boy!

It was interesting to see that Cade got his 1st tooth at 7.5 months.  And here Berks is not quite 7 months and she already has 3 teeth!  The 2 bottom and 1 on top just broke through!