Thomas update!

Tom made is safe to South Carolina! He called me today and said he is getting yelled at a lot and not sleeping and doing TONS of paper work! This first week of basic is called reception and he is basically inprocessing. He says he is ready to start actually basic and get yelled at while doing something other than paper work!

Emmalyn and I are doing well. We both miss daddy but have plenty on our plate right now to keep us occupied. As soon as Tom gets his address I will let everyone know. I know he would love the encouragement of letters and card.

Here are a few photos from our Zoo trips right before Tom left.

Big news!

Tom joined the Army! He leaves for Basic in less than 2 weeks. Life has been a bit crazy! Our lease is up at the end of March. So we are packing up the house. I will be staying with family friends until Tom is done with Basic. Then we will spend a little time together and then we are off to England to chill with my family for a few months. Tom's job, Crypto Linguist will be very demanding during his Advanced training ( AIT ). He doesn't need to worry about Emmalyn or I so it will be a perfect time to crash with the parentals! Life is going to be crazy for the next year or so, but we are very excited for the new adventure!

Now many of you will have noticed I have been really bad about my project 365. I am going to be picking it back up tomorrow. I did miss quite a few days so I will just start over tomorrow. For now here are some events we have been up to the last few weeks! Enjoy.

Road trip to Colorado

 

Standing on her own like a big girl!

Evil baby smiling at the scar she gave Grandpa!

Love me Fi, Love me ( FYI Fiona DID NOT love her)

Getting some lovens!

Grandma Jen and Grandpa sure are smitten with this little girl!

Making a friend at Miss Stacia's baby shower

Ready for miss Stacia's baby! Hurry up baby!

Being nosey!

The boy!

The Girls

My hall skipping buddies!

Once again a MASSIVE catch up!

 

Day 34

2/3/2013

Mail Time

She just adores her daddy! She follows and watches everything he does. People say she looks like me but man of her mannerisms already remind me of Tommy. Oh boy am I in for it or what?

Day 35

2/4/2013

 

Girl time!

 

Also my Birthday! I got the pleasure of watching Miss Mac in the morning. She just adores Emmalyn. I loved this picture. My birthday was really nice. Jen watched Emy and Tom took me to P.F. Changs. Yum Yum!!! It was amazing. 

Day 36

2/5/2013

Park!

 

It was beautiful outside, so we decided to go outside and play! So of course mommy took her camera. Well little miss wasn't having any picture taking and kept hiding. She would rather play with my keys. But either way we enjoyed our day of fresh air!

Day 37

1/6/2013

I'll help you mommy.

 

I was doing laundry and the she was just enthralled by the dryer. She stood there watching it for a good 10 minutes. Then she started pulling all the clean clothes out of the basket, so laundry fun time was over. haha!

 

 

Day 38

2/7/2013

Orange!

 

Emmalyn and I decided to go grocery shopping at dillions and on the way out I noticed they had orange slices for samples. I wanted to see how Emy liked the taste of it. She gummed on it for a few minutes and seems to like it. 

In my next post I will have some very exciting news! Can't wait to share! Let the guesses begin! Hope all is well!

S

33 {365}

Day 32

2/2/2013

Playtime

 

We took Emmalyn to the park today as it was gorgeous outside. She loved the swing. She was smiling and giggling. The slide and teeter totter were not such a big hit. Over all it was a great afternoon as a family. Here is an extra photo just for fun tonight. 

Not so sure about the merri go round either :)

29,30,31 and Feb 1

Well folks I have made it a month taking photos each day. While I will say it has been fun I am not very happy with my photos. In March I am taking a class from a website I love called ClickingMoms. They have tons of classes and while they are a bit expensive, I have heard amazing reviews and raves about them. I missed the sign up for February and they sell out fast so lets hope I get in the March one. I really want to take my photography to a nother level and actually learn to take amazing photos.

Anyway, I am proud I have stuck with it and taking photos each day. Now, I just need to get better about uploading on here more often, but baby steps right?

So here are some photos from the last few days.

 

Day 29

1/29/2013

Play Time

 

What could be better than wooden spoons and and pots and pans and a sippy cup! She can play in the kitchen now while we cook dinner. 

 

Day 30

1/30/2013

Paper

 

Little girl is getting into everything. And she learned how to rip paper and is putting in her mouth. It seems like my full time job these days is to keep Emmalyn from eating everything.

We got to skype Grandma and Aunt Tasha in England and wish grandma and very happy birthday!

I know I sure an missing them a lot lately.

 

 



Day 31

1/31/2013

Baby food

 

 

Love this stuff. Now most of you know I am making my own baby food and I am just shocked at how easy and cheap it is to make it. I know exactly what she is eating and she has liked everything i have made so far. Well the pears took an extra day to get her used to them.

 

However, These puffs and yogurt melts are amazing. Emmalyn loves them and they are easy to take on the go and easy to give to her. When I take them out of the diaper bag and shake them Emmalyn's eye light up and she gets super excited. She knows what she is about to get.

 

 



Day 32

2/1/2013

Let me out!

 

I opened the front door this morning to look out side and she how the weather was and to just breath som fresh air. This little cutie came up to the door and tried to get out. I love the light shining down on her head in this photo. 

Take care and everyone have an amazing weekend!
S

Day 26,27,28 and a standing baby!

Day 26

1/26/2013

Reading Time

 

We were reading Where is spot! I used to LOVE the spot books when I was really little as well. It was really fun to be able to read it to my child. Bonus; it is short enough for her little attention span! When we were done reading, she was so fascinated with the book. Working so hard to open it. 

 Also big news later in the day we caught her pulling her self up to standing position on one of her toys. We were so excited.

Day 27

1/27/2013

PEARS!!!!

 

Yummy pears for dinner. She finally ate some of them with out making a face. Then procceeded to get yogurt all over her face. She is like a little bottomless pit. She eats so much of the solids when we feed them too her. 

Day 28

1/28/2013

Not happy

 

 

Little Girl woke up from her nap and was not happy, so I headed upstairs to get her and by the time I got up there, I found her like this. She immediately got happy the minute I walked in. What a little stinker. I sense many many more interesting photos of her to come soon.

 

 

Hope everyone is having an amazing beginning to their week. I am missing my parents a lot this week. Working on getting our passports so we can visit them.

 

S

Day 24 & 25

Day 24

1/24/2013

Baby Food

Yum! I have really enjoyed making Emmalyn's food! It is SO much cheaper. I made her Pears and Mangos! We tried the pears this morning and it did not go over well at all! She gagged and made a huge show out of it. We will continue to work on that. 

Day 25

1/25/2013

Sleepy head

I just loved this shot of her. She wouldn't hold still very long so I was lucky I got this! She looks so inquisitive. 

S

Massive catch up

Life has been a little crazy. Last Thursday I took both of my computers in for servicing so I haven't been able to upload my photos of the day. So there will be a lot of photos in this post. 

Day 17

1/17/2013

Not ready for bed time!! 

I don't know why but her crying photos crack me up and make me smile. She was only crying for a minute or two so no babies were harmed in the making of this blog! 

Day 18

1/18/2013

Morning glory

Little girl had just woke up! She was playing with her blanket her Great Aunt Mary made her and she just looked so sweet and innocent. 

Day 19

1/19/2013

Daddy being silly

She was trying so hard to get to his drink. So he let her gum the bottom and she was attacking it. Oh boy we are in for it. 

Day 20

1/20/2013

CAKE POPS!

Need I say more? Tom and I made these for his sister Jen's birthday celebration. Not to toot my own horn, but, TOOT TOOT! They were amazing. Funfetti cake and frosting on the inside and white chocolate coating! Yum yum! Needless to say we all ate a few more than we should have. Emmalyn was jealous she couldn't have any and kept reaching for ours. Soon, little girl soon!

Day 21

1/21/2013

Little miss likes to try and stand up now. She is 61/2 months going on 30 the way she acts sometimes. She thinks she is way older than she is.Tom and I are sure in for some trouble.

Day 22

1/22/2013

Homework

Classes have officially started. Pretty new notebooks, highlighters and pens help make it more fun! 

Day 23
1/23/2013
Moooom stop taking photos

The sun was setting and I haven't been getting out and practicing much good photography lately, so when we got home from the store I took her outside to take photos. The weather was gorgeous. I got a couple great shots of her but fell in love with this one for some reason. She just got sick of sitting there but wouldn't move like she normally does. Didn't try and crawl or move away, I think she is afraid of the grass. What a silly little miss.

Well hopefully I will be able to get on her and update more often now but no worries I have been staying up to date on taking my photos each day. My new goal is to start taking my camera with me everywhere and get a lot more better everyday shots. Grocery store, park, doctors. I feel a little weird. But my fellow moms on Clickin Moms have gave me the help and inspiration to not care.

Take care
S

Quick heads up

Hey everyone!
Just wanted to let everyone know I made some layout changes to the Blog:
1. There is now a box to the right of the post with a "submit" button after it. That is a gadget from google that if you put in your Email addresss you will receive an Email everytime there is a new post on this blog.
2. Below that you will see that I am still way over my goal weight! I originally started this to help keep me honest with my goal to get back to 160 pounds. I have not been so good about weighing in every day, but now that I have officially started training, I will be getting on the scale every morning!
3. Every now and then I will have a poll out there, so keep checking back!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday, and enjoys thier three day weekend!
Shayna and I are planning on getting pictures done by our friend Esther for Emy's "half birthday" as Auntie Jenny would say! She has a small photography business called Karios Moments. You can look it up on facebook if you need to have pictures done.

Cheers!
Tom

Day 16

Day 16
1/16/2013
Laundry Day

Today we had a busy day of doing cloth diaper laundry. Emmalyn is trying to help. Or eat the diapers, either one! We got to play with Ms. Stacia and work on her baby shower invites. I am so excited. I tend to over board when I plan parties,so this one will be no different.

Emmalyn is moving and grooving and scooching everywhere lately. She is VERY mobile.  Today she actaully did a really great job at playing on her own. So I am very proud of her. She is growing up so fast. Although now she isn't the happiest, so I better go.

S

Tom's update, plus a rant, a race schedule, and a training plan!

Hello Everyone!!!!

It sure has been a while since I posted on here. Quite a bit has changed (not in any particular order):
Emy is on the verge of crawling.
Emy wants to walk before she crawls.
The Womack's have moved to England.
I shot (and butchered with much help) my first deer.
Shayna got her T3i Camera (which if you have been reading this blog you already knew)
I got a promotion at work, now I am the IT Project Coordinator.
I had my first race on gravel roads and a mountain bike at the same time (that was an experience).
I have a training/racing buddy!

That's all I can think of right now, but trust me, there was a lot more going on!

In other news that you can skip over:

Lance Armstrong is planning on admitting that he doped *gasp*!!!! Yes, that was sarcasm. No, I don't expect that it will be a complete confession or that he will be contrite when/if he apologizes to everyone he trampled on the way to the top. And yes, that is all I am going to talk about Lance on here.

The White House is working on ways to restrict gun ownership without involving Congress. This is wrong. This country was built on the idea of checks and balances, that way we can't have one branch completely take over. Either way, that isn't the point, the point is that they (the government) are going about this all the wrong way. By enacting stricter gun laws you will only be causing problems for the people who actually follow the law. And I don't know about you, but if I feel that if someone follows the gun laws, they usually follow all the other laws, particularly the ones about shooting other people. My favorite quote I have seen was in the comments section of an online news paper:
"Oh let's make all guns illegal, because that worked out so great for Meth and other drugs, NO one does drugs anymore because they are illegal!"
If someone really intends to use a gun to harm another person, I seriously doubt that they care if the gun was purchased legally. Look at gangs and the drug cartels, they don't care. Now look at say a hunter, s/he cares about buying his/her gun the right way.
And let's not forget that the two biggest shooting that happened recently involved the mental health system too!

 

OK, rant over, sorry about that.

So for more fun, Shayna and I have a lot planned for 2013!
We are planning on trying to make it out to Colorado and Pratt more this year, as well as flying across the pond to visit the Womack's in England!
We are working on signing with Emy, so hopefully we will be more fluent by the end of the year.

And I have a full race schedule!

I am going to start my season with a mountain bike race with Ryan (my new race/training partner) and his wife Hayley. The plan is for all of us (Ryan, Hayley, their daughter Elayna, Shayna, Emmalyn, and me) to go to Lawrence together.
That will be on March 24th.

After that, Ryan and I will go do a road race in Bazaar. If you remember, I did this race last year in 30+ mile an hour winds. That was brutal, but a ton of fun!
That one is some time in mid April.

That will settle the deal Ryan and I have: I will race a MTB race with him, and he will race a road race with me (Ryan is a dirt guy, while I love pavement! I am working on him to try and do a tri as well!)

I don't have anything planned for May as of right now.

Then, in the beginning of June there is a rumor of a big race here in Wichita. That would include a Crit (Short fast laps less than a mile), a road race, and a time trial (think of the guys riding by themselves with funny helmets and handlebars).
Probably going to be the first weekend in June (maybe in conjunction with Riverfest?)

Turn around a few weeks later and I will be back out in El Dorado Lake for the Oz Endurance Tri.
I am planning on doing the Olympic distance, which means I will be swimming 1500 meters, biking 40 kilometers, and then running 10 kilometers. In standard that will be swimming 1,640 yards, biking 24.9 miles, and running 6.2 miles.
That is on June 23rd

July is another open month as of right now.

Then I plan on doing the DRC's outdoor Tri. The distances will be swim 400 meters, bike 19.3 kilometers, run 5 kilometers. Standard is swim 437 yards, bike 12 miles, run 3.2 miles.
That should be the first weekend in August.

And finally, the big 'un!
To close out my season (as of right now) I plan on doing the Bike MS in Pratt with my Mom! I have a lot of options on the distance depending on how my fitness is progressing. The first day options are 30, 50, or 80 miles. I would love to do the 80, but I may end up doing the 50 (again, depends on my fitness). The second day options are 30 or 50 miles. On the second day I am doing the 50. Yes, even if I do the 80 on the first day, I am doing the 50 on the second day come Hell or tired muscles!
So basically I am planning on going 100 or 130 miles in two days.
That will be on September 7th and 8th.

As is stands now, that is the race schedule for 2013!

Training for all that:

The plan is for Saturdays and Sundays to be long bike rides (at least 2 hours). Mondays and Fridays are run days after work. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be swimming before work, and Wednesdays are rest.

The training has begun!

I woke up and swam 500 yards both yesterday (13:53) and last Thursday (14:44), with a 2.3 mile run on Friday (23:00). Today is an off day, and tomorrow morning is a swim!

Well, that is all I have for now. I will continue to update with race reports and if I have something major to report about my training. If you want to see my biking and running training you can always check in on Strava.
Cheers!
Tom

Catching up Day 13,14,15

Now I have been taking the photos I just haven't had the time to upload. My parents have finally left the country! I am glad they made it safe and sound to England, but I sure do miss them already.

Day 13
1.13.2013
Last family photo in front of the house.

Day 14
1/14/2013
Goodbye Kansas

My dad sent me this as they were sitting on the plane leaving OKC airport. I bet they didn't look this happy at the end of the trip.

 

Day 15

1/15/2013

Ham

 

Hamming it up for the camera. Although her she looks scared. She was a little fussy butt today so having her smile for the camera this evening was very nice.

 

Well I will be back on tomorrow!

Take care everyone

 

S

Day 12

Day 12
1/12/2013
Grandma

Grandma does not want to leave her EmyLou in two days. There are already tears leaking out here and there. Not looking forward to tomorrow and Monday. Thank goodness I have an amazing Boyfriend who took the day off for me. Hope everyone is well. I am finally starting to feel better Thank goodness!

S

Day 11

Day 11
1/11/2013
FINALLY ASLEEP

Poor little girl. Yesterday was the sick, sleep all day on mommy and daddy day and today was the sick all day and I am pissed about it. So needless to say it was a rough day for all invovled. Thank goodness my mom and sisters were in and out of my house a bit to help. My momma even help with laundry, she folded our clothes, hung my cloth diapers and started our sheets. Crazy Woman! Love her though. My sister's do not know how amazing they have. My parents are both such amazing people who would do anything for their girls and in reallity they do a lot more than they should. I am so very greatful for everything they do. I am going to miss them more than words can describe. Now I need to start putting more in my England Fund so I can go see them once or twice in the next 3 years!!!!!! Well I will end on my paretns for now because they have not even left the country yet and I am sure I will have some wet teared keyboards in my future. Hope everyone is happy and Healthy.
Seriously take your vitamins and drink your water and wash those hands, this thing sucks.

S