Memorial Day 2010

Memorial Day Weekend 2010 was spent cheering Matt on at his Crossfit Regionals Competition in Jacksonville, FL and introducing Roman and Maggie to the ocean. While Matt stayed in Jacksonville with his fellow competitors, Roman and I stayed with Marcia (my younger sister) in Brunswick, GA about an hour away. After the competition was over we all relaxed up in Brunswick and visited St. Simons Isle for some fun on the beach.



Matt looking quite tired above and well who could blame him after competing all weekend long.

Daddy keeping a close eye on Roman as he ventured into the waves with no hesitation.








Roman loved eating the sand when mom wasn't watching.

Maggie looking like she is hating it- but think we got a picture of her mid shake...she dove into the waves no problem.



Sand mustache for Roman (above)...

Below is Maggie and her posse of friends. She had a blast running around the beach- oh and diving into people's coolers for any snacks they may have left unattended (how embarrassed was I). note to self: Feed the food driven dog BEFORE going to the beach.
Friday and Saturday we made the hour long commute to watch Matt compete in his team affiliate competition. His team was made up of 3 guys and 3 girls who competed in 4 different workouts. The pictures are in reverse order but the workouts consisted of the following:

Friday: Workout #1: One Rep Max Clean and Jerk followed by as many muscle ups and chest-to-bar pull ups the team could do in 2 minutes per exercise. Matt got a personal record (225 lbs) on his Clean and Jerk as did many of his fellow competitors and they started out the competition at the top of the leader board.

Saturday: Workout #2: Flip 2 tires down a 50 meter course - once at the end, 200 burpees to be completed using both tires divided evenly jumping in and out of tire between each burpee and then flipping tire back to start position and stacking them on top of one another. Time was called when the entire team was all standing on top of the tire. Matt's team finished in 10 min 24 sec.

Sunday: Workout #3: Row 5000M done 10 x 500M divided among team members. Matt rowed 4 of them and this was his best split below:

Sunday: Workout #4:
60 front squats
200 M farmers walk carrying kettle bells
200 M Run,
60 push press
200 M Farmers Walk with kettle bells
200 M Run
60 dead lifts
200 M Farmers Walk with kettle bells
200 M Run

matt's team finished in 19:08

The team hanging out in the gym before the row.

Out on the field flipping the tires

Mid-burpee

Pullups

Muscle-ups (on the rings)

On the court for lifting

Maggie trying to stay cool under the bleachers. Roman got tired of being in his stroller so that was parked while we stood by the fence cheering on daddy.

225 lbs overhead

Roman's new tricks

Mom got Roman a $0.99 ball to play with and it was a great investment

And here is the beginning of trouble. He loves to climb things and the latest fun trick is climbing the stairs, so we have to keep a close eye on him as he motors around the house.

7 months old...now what?

Now what? you ask... Here is what.... 2 bottom teeth, lots of talking to be had in the form of "ba ba ba" and a first swim lesson with dad in the pool. i have yet to get photos or video of any of the above so I don't have anything to post but wanted to at least document that we are crossing some mighty big hurdles these days.

Teething is what it is - lots of drool, some cranky days and chewing on everything.

Talking just started happening yesterday. Can you call it talking when the words are undecipherable and it is the same sound over and over and over again? Well, we do. We needed another accomplishment to add to the books. Crawling, standing up and teething wasn't enough. So depending on what you want to hear, you can decipher him to be saying "mama" or "dada" but in reality I think he combined the two as to not upset the parents as to what his first word might be and he went with "ba ba". Whatever the meaning, we find it very entertaining except when he practices talking to his stuffed elephant in the crib when he should be napping.

Swimming- now we are secretly thinking we have the next Michael Phelps on our hands because lets face it...in 18 years we need another swim prodigy. Michael will have blown his money by then and his rotator cuff will be calling for early retirement so we are grooming what is to be the next Olympic swimmer. Whether or not that comes to fruition is yet to be seen- but i can tell you that his first lesson with daddy went very well. He started splashing from the moment he got into the pool. He had his bottom up on top of the water (the diaper may have been assisting) and was not afraid to put his face into the water until he gulped a large mouthful of highly chlorinated water. But even so, that didn't deter his spirits. His easily distracted one track mind made it a little hard for him to concentrate on the lesson of blowing bubbles in the water. The little girl in the swim goggles and hot pink swimsuit screaming in excitement or the lady doing laps on the other side of the pool were so much more attractive than this bubble blowing business. I have a feeling our evening baths in 4 inches of water will not carry the same enthusiasm as they used to now that we have introduced him to the most giant bath tub of all- a swimming pool.

The outdoor pool opens in 2 weeks which has a water park attached to it and again will only serve to confirm Roman's suspicion that this bath tub at home just isn't really all that great. But after seeing Roman's blue lips and shivering body today in the pool, the outdoor summer heat will be welcomed by mommy and Roman.

Will try to post pictures as soon as i get some....

Photo Session with Gretchen

Gretchen, an aspiring photographer and college student, came to take some pictures of Roman. Below are some of my favorites. The weather was overcast and Roman was fussy but she did a great job despite it all.

Crawling to Standing- ALREADY?!

It was not long ago that I posted how Roman had taken up crawling. Well since then, the only crawling he has done is to get to an object of choice to use as a tool to help him stand up. He is much more interested in standing than crawling but also has had to learn the painful lesson that not all objects are made to pull up on. We have learned a lot about falling in these past few days as well.

he simultaneously is teething- so his goal seems to just find something new to chew on. Here he is chewing on the strap of his chair.



As i went to get him after he woke up from his nap, he wanted to show off his newest accomplishment- standing up in his crib.

He thinks this is pretty funny but mom is not amused when he spends half of his nap time perfecting this new trick. We are hoping the novelty will wear off before too long.

"You talking about me?...this was nothing- you should see what I do when you aren't looking!"


We took the liberty tonight of lowering his crib to the last notch (which was only one more down) and hoping that any new accomplishments ,such as climbing out of the crib, will wait to be discovered.
"I'm big stuff, you know. If you don't know it, you really should."

"Falling down onto a nice mattress is much more fun than falling on the hard floor. I wish mommy would put mattresses everywhere."

A silly man who never ceases to keep us smiling. I feel so privileged to stay home and watch him discover all these new things. God has truly blessed us and i am very thankful for a husband who works so hard so I can stay home with him.

Learning to Sit up and Crawl- 6 months.

Six months old this month and some big accomplishments for our little guy. He has become quite proficient at sitting up on his own over the last few weeks and most recently has started to take on the task of crawling. I have been waiting for this but he is learning so quickly that I am not sure the baby gate will come in time. In a matter of a couple of days he went from looking like he might want to start crawling to getting up on his knees and rocking to inching across the floor for shiny objects or slobbery dog toys.




Reaching out for the camera- he likes gadgets such as phones and cameras so he tries to take them from you any chance he gets.

He especially likes Maggie's slobbery dog toys and Maggie relishes in the fact that they are hers and he can't have them.
she tolerates him well but equally gets annoyed at him getting in her personal space. You can see her shave spot on her neck from the surgery in which we removed a stick that had been stuck in her neck (unbeknown to us) for 18 months.
Roman using his exersaucer to give him a boost in getting up to crawl.


He is deep in thought about this whole crawling business- wondering how he can accomplish it with less frustration. (a daddy trait- thinking before acting)
Here he is pissed and frustrated from not being able to figure this whole moving thing out. He waves his arms and legs in the air and fusses that he isn't moving. He gets easily frustrated from lack of perfection like his mother. (mommy trait- acting before thinking)

Mesmerized by Maggie's feet...and well she wishes he'd find something else to be mesmerized by.

This is Maggie's good will kiss to ask Roman oh so nicely to stop playing with her feet...
And wondering when mom is going to intervene.
Ah...Maggie is thankful that her slobbery dog toy has captured Roman's attention away from her feet.
Two days later he went from playing Superman on the floor to up on his knees and trying to move.
And obviously quite happy with this accomplishment.

Practicing his Pilates doing a plank- getting that core strength built up.

He reached his goal- Daddy's Blackberry.
And then- time for a much needed break.

"Daddy's phone is SO delicious. I love slobbering on it as I work on getting in my new teeth. "

He thinks he is "kind of a big deal" for doing such big boy things.
Daddy and Roman bonding over their gadgets.

Roman's Mr. Old Man face...
oh and the camera- "another shiny expensive object that I can use as a chew toy."

Roman's fetish for gadgets follows right in his daddy's footsteps.

I placed my order for the baby gate tonight and with his seemingly quick progress in learning how to crawl, I am not quite sure it will come before we need it. I can see that my life will be getting even more busy in the following months but am thoroughly enjoying watching him develop and learn new things.