A Week of Milestones

Well, we've been ridiculously busy around here.

As of last Saturday, I am officially obligated to mark the 35-44 yr. old age bracket on forms and questionnaires. Gulp. In celebration, I threw myself a party!!!!!! Catered Cuban food, Mix-your-own Mojitos, Wine, and an intimate group of friends and family providing fantastic company... it was a lovely evening and made me extremely grateful for the friends and family I have around me on this journey here on earth. Not to get too nostalgic, but I never would have thought even 5 or 10 years ago that my life would lead me to where I am today: a loving and supportive husband, two wonderfully amazing children and family and friends with whom I love to spend my days. 35 is awesome so far!!!!!!! ( yeah, it's only been a week but I'm optimistic).

Then on the 4th of July I did something I never thought I'd do..... I ran my first 10k race!!!! I've been training with a running club for the past few months as a way to carve out time for myself and my own health and fitness. Anyway, race day came up faster than I could anticipate and although it took me 1 hour and 20 minutes, I can hardly believe that I ran the whole thing! A special thanks to my sister Kirsten for running with me and keeping me motivated!!!! Here we are very sweaty but thrilled at the end of the race:

For the patriotic part of the day we indulged in a dessert party and then watched the fireworks. Owen got to stay up soooo late!!!! He kept falling asleep while the fireworks were going off, but he wouldn't admit that he was tired....

And then the BIG day yesterday: 7/7/07. A lucky day for Owen to turn 4!!!!!!!!! And what a four year old he is... funny, smart, creative, caring, thoughtful, and just plain fun to be around. I'm so proud of him. We threw him a party at our neighborhood park and we spent the entire day just playing and celebrating... Owen had a blast helping plan the whole thing: he picked out the invitations and the cake design ( which turned out much better than it had any right to considering I've decorated cakes exactly twice in my life)....

Oh, and Elliot has definitely turned a corner on the whole sleep thing. He now sleeps all night in his crib with only 1 or 2 wake-ups (usually around 2am and then again around 5 or 6am....) Not bad!!!! Of course, there is always room for improvement! The other thing is that he has started squealing. Not in an "Oh isn't that cute" kind of way but more like the kind of squeal that you hear in the aisles of the supermarket and think to yourself "Thank goodness that's not my kid!" Oh well... Hopefully it's just a phase where he is exploring his growing vocal range and not that he's practicing for the most cringe-inducing complaint sound EVER...... I know that sounds cold-hearted talking that way about my own child, but hey it's my blog I can say what I want!!!!!

Anyway, as you can see we've been busy! Now I have time to upload some more pictures so I'll post that link when I get the chance.....