Walden Pond

This Saturday, we took our first trip out to Walden Pond with Davis. We went to expose Davis to sand and water, for Kristen to swim, to see some friends and have some nice family time. Since Walden pond is limited to 1,000 people at a time to try and limit erosion and it was going to be beautiful sunny day, we left early. Even after I locked us out of the house and forgot the SLR camera, we made it out to Walden by about 8:30 where we were one of the first non-triathletes there.

We picked a choice spot on the beach and set up for a couple of hours of sand and early morning sun. Josh, Courtney and Mack joined us for some water play. Kristen took Davis into the water and dipped his toes while Josh and Courtney took Mack out into deeper water for a little more active play. After a while, Kristen's parents and I took over watching Davis while Kristen swam with a few friends from her department. Davis took a nice nap and we spent the rest of the day at home relaxing and playing with Davis.

Introducing Davis to the water:


Davis mentally preparing for the challenges ahead:

Dipping toes and standing in the water

Danskin 2009: I survived..kind of about the same as always

John mentioned in a previous post that I raced in the Danskin last weekend. This was my third time doing the Danskin and the second time it has happened around a life altering event. My very first Danskin, and my first triathlon in general, occurred two weeks before John and I were married in 2002. My good friend Melany was the inspiration for the start of triathlons, and biking and swimming in general, and we had a blast racing together,along with my other good friend Christi. The second time I raced Danskin was in New England in 2006, where I raced it with Melany's sister Sarah (who was living in Maine at the time) and my friend Shan. I came out of this race so proud of my bike time since I had been racing bikes that year and felt like I had really flown on the bike (I borrowed my friend Caitlin's time trial bike, which was especially fun). My first triathlon was during the year I had joined the Master's swim team in Seattle (also inspired by Melany) and so my strongest leg was definitely my swim. So that brings us to the third Danskin, just a mere 15 weeks after I had given birth, following 50 weeks of exercise that all occurred at or below a heart rate of 145 beats per minute. So I was prepared to be happy if I just finished this race, in fact ecstatic, and I was. I was even happier that despite the fact that I had only run 2.5miles at most so far, I managed to 'run' the full 2.9 miles. I say run since this is the slowest I've ever been in my life, but it was still a huge accomplishment for everything my body has been through in the last year. Despite the fact that I know I should be happy about this race, I can't help but be a little bummed that there is only a 6 minute difference in my race times between my very best fitness (2006) and my very worst fitness (now). I suppose it make sense, when a race is so short the accumulated difference in time due to a slower pace won't be as dramatic, but still..it makes me wonder if I've ever actually been in good shape? Or if there's no point in even training?? In fact, more depressing is the fact that my swim this year was the fastest it has ever been, and I only swam three times prior to the race! I'm attributing this to extra buoyancy, but really, mentally I would have been happier to have been a slower swimmer as opposed to a better floater due to additional baby weight.

Despite my mixed feelings about my performance and my annoyance with the sheer size of the Danskin (3500 people this year=1.5 hour wait for the port-a-potty before the race), finishing the race with a friend is an absolutely fabulous experience. This was Megan's first triathlon and hugging her after the race reminded me of my first experience with Melany and Christi, and I was just as happy this year to have 'survived' as I was that first year. Doing this race and writing this post has also reminded me of how much my general lifestyle has changed in the last (gulp) 7 years, I would definitely say for the better. I'm also reminded that John, just like he is in every other part of my life, is as supportive as ever. I'm very thankful to have the physical ability to compete in an event like this, the support of my family, and the best of friends to do it with.

I'm not sure what got into us tonight

New Pictures

This weekend, Kristen did the Danskin Triathlon. I don't have any good pictures from the race, but I have a few of Davis during the race. We are no longer using his car seat in the Bob stroller, so he can now sit up and see the world.

Here, I think he is concerned about what he sees (me):

Grandma and Grandpa took care of Davis for most of the race. Davis seemed to need to be walked in the stroller for the entire race, so afterward, all 7 of us (Davis, Grandma, Grandpa, Kristen, me, Domino and Lilly) all had a long afternoon nap.

Here are Davis, Grandma and Grandpa before the race:

We've been spending a lot of time with Davis on his tummy. He is doing better at rolling over and getting quite a bit stronger. Using disposable diapers makes it a lot easier than the cloth diapers which are about three times as bulky. In this way, having the dryer go out and being unable to wash diapers was a little bit of a blessing.

Here, Kristen is supervising the little guy on his tummy. The idea is to get him to lift head and reach for the toy:

It seems to be working, or Davis is just determined to progress regardless of what we do. He was able to roll over front-to-back and back-to-front last week while in a disposable diaper. I've uploaded a video of one of his first rolls to picasa web albums.

Davis seems to need a lot more stimulation than he did a couple of weeks ago. The mobile in the crib is entertaining him for shorter durations of times. Today, Grandma and Domino cleaned off the bouncy chair and tonight we tried him in it again. A couple of weeks ago, we tried him in it, but he was not quite strong or tall enough for it. Today, he had a blast in it. He grabbed and played with the toys and was much better at sitting / standing in the chair. I love his facial expressions.

He came out of the chair right after this.

A video of him in the chair is also available in our picasa web albums.

A week of firsts

The blog has been silent for a bit as our days have grown more rich with both grandma and grandpa in town, but our home has not been silent! Davis is growing by leaps and bounds. This week we witnessed his first roll, his first cold, and his first almost whole night of sleep. Luckily, his cold has died down to just a stuffy nose, which is preventing him from sleeping well on a flat surface and nursing well, but all else is well. We took him to the pediatrician where she confirmed it was simply a viral upper respiratory infection and would take its course in 7-10days. She also made his parents proud when she said "These are six month skills!" Davis is quite strong and really wants to sit up. I think he also is learning faster since he has had, at minimum, three adults full time watching him and playing with him. We're a bit worried about what will happen when it's just us in September, but Grandma points out that daycare will provide a whole different sort of stimulation.

This week Davis also rolled from his tummy to his back, four times in a row! Of course, it seems now that no longer how long I leave him on his tummy he doesn't roll, but someday again. I was really surprised it was in that direction since I've really been working on showing him how to roll from his back to his tummy. Of course, perhaps this means that kids learn better in self-discovery mode?

We had our best night ever last night. He slept from 9:00pm to 2:30 am and THEN from 3:15 to 6:30. We had seen a couple of stretches like that first one, but then it's typically followed by a baby who wakes up every 30minutes to an hour for the rest of the morning, so this was HUGE. No expectations of course, just gratitude.

Favorite Song

Davis' favorite song right now is a great little number about counting and the food chain. Kristen learned this in her mom's group.

It goes:

3 little monkeys, swinging from a tree
Taunting Mr. Alligator, can't catch me, No you can't catch me

(whisper)
Along came Mr. Alligator, quiet as can be
and snapped a monkey right from the tree

(repeat for remaining monkeys)

There are hand motions that go with each part of the song. He really enjoys the hand motions and the whispering part of the song and seems to anticipate the snapping of a monkey from the tree.

Grammie made up an alternative version of the song:

3 little squirrels hanging on a tree
Teasing Miss Lilly Cat You can't get me, No you can't get me!

Along stalks Miss Lilly Cat quiet as can be
and snatches that squirrel right out of the tree.

(repeat for reaming squirrels)

No little squirrels hanging on the tree.
One Miss Lilly Cat as happy as she can be!

Baby's first cold and mystery repairman

A couple of days ago Davis became quite fussy, at least by Davis standards. We took his temperature and it seemed normal. Then last night John and I realized he was coughing quite a bit and sounded really congested, so it's pretty official Davis has his first cold. It's heartbreaking, although he seems to be doing alright all things considered. I'm now working at home until I can call the pediatrician at 8:30 to see if they have a recommendation.

Another interesting story is that the heat on our gas dryer has gone out. A Sears repairman came yesterday to work on it. When I left him in the basement he said he would call when he was done. Davis and I headed to Yoga, but Grandma was here and she went to check on him and it was pretty clear he didn't know what he was doing. My mom wished him luck and he said "Yeah, I'm going to need it". Not much for inspiring confidence. Around noon she heard him leave (about an hour and a half after he started), but he didn't call. When she went down there the dryer felt warm, but there were extra parts in front of the dryer and blood on the dryer door. So I called Sears to make sure he hadn't died trying to get himself to the hospital. I never heard, but when John came home he found a receipt stuffed in the mailbox that made it look like it was a thermocycler that had gone out (or some such part) and the repair was complete. Unfortunately, the dryer still doesn't work, no heat. So what we can guess is that he cut himself during the repair but he was able to get the heat to work and so he left a receipt in place of a phone call, but that whatever caused the failure in the first place caused a second failure after he left. Another (I hope someone else) is coming tomorrow to give it another whirl. Yesterday marked a year to date for the dryer purchase and so John bought additional warranty coverage since the other thing the repairman said to my mom is "I've replaced everything I can"...I think the $150 spent will be well worth it in the coming three years.