Happy 3rd Birthday to Riley!

Although we celebrated two weeks ago, today our Riley-man turns 3! I can't believe it! I thought I would to a list of his favorite things (at the moment) in honor of his birthday.

1. "Bally" - His blankets are far and away his must have. When he doesn't have his blue or white one, he sweetly asks to "borrow green bally" from baby brother.

2. Trains - He loves to watch "Thomas and Friends" or "Chuggington" or just play with his different trains.

3. ANYTHING OUTSIDE - Riding his tricycle, swinging, playing basketball or baseball - he doesn't care what he's doing as long as he's outside.

4. Church - I told him that we would all be home this Friday and that we might try to go somewhere fun. He asked, "Can we go to church?" So he feels that way!

5. Sweet stuff - He (unfortunately) inherited his mommy's sweet tooth!

6. Reading - The boy loves books! He has many of his memorized and will "read" them to us.

7. "Cars" - Anything related to the "Cars" movie is also something he gets super excited about.

Happy birthday, sweet Riley-man!

Eli weighed 15.4 lbs and measured 23 1/2 inches long yesterday putting him near the 100th percentile for both. His head, however, was a different story - only 25th percentile for that! Dr. Ruff said he looked great though and is doing well.

5K note: I ran 3.2 miles today! I now know I can finish the race - I'm so excited! It was not exactly a competitive time, but I'm not really worried about that at this point. So in just three weeks, I've built up to 5k. Sixteen days to race day!

Happy 2 Months, Sweet Eli (and a few Riley funnies!)

Eli is two months old! I can't believe how quickly it's gone by. We go to the doctor today for our first set of shots (which I am DREADING!), and I am anxious to see how much he's grown. My guess is 15 pounds and 24 inches long.

Riley has been cracking us up lately! His personality is really developing!

"Seakle Belt"

One of the funniest things he's been doing is combining words when he gets excited and/or frustrated. On the way home from a long day of shopping in Jackson a few weeks ago, he says from the back seat, "Mama! Get me out of this seakle belt!"

Choc-o-late for lunch?

Sunday was Palm Sunday and our church has the children come down the center aisle waving palm branches at the beginning of the service. So, I start prepping Riley that morning for his adventure to "big church" - not necessarily about the palm branches because I'm certain he can handle that, but being quiet for the rest of the service is what I'm not so sure about. I packed his bag with plenty of goodies - cars, crayons, snacks, etc... I'm explaining how he has to be quiet in big church and we "discuss" why throughout the morning. We load up in the car and are heading to church...

R: Mama, I'll be quiet in big church.

Me: GREAT! The big people will appreciate it! We've got lots of things for you to do in my bag. Ok?

R: Ok. My cars?

Me: Yes!! We'll get your cars out to play with and if you can make it all the way through big church being quiet, you can have whatever you want for lunch! You can pick! Ok?

R (after a thoughtful pause): Mama...I wike choc-o-wate.

Well, of course you do! Not exactly what I was expecting, but he did make it through the service and he DID get his "choc-o-wate."

Running with Mama

Saturday afternoon, I was leaving to run and Riley wanted to go with me. I explained that I was going a long way but when I got back, if the sun was still shining, he and I could run around the circle. So, I run my route, walk in the door and he's ready to go! We get his shoes on and head out. I'm thinking the whole time that I'm about to have to carry 40 pounds of long-legged boy back to the house.... but I didn't! We made it all the way around the circle (about 1/2 mile!). He would run really fast and say, "I'm fast...like Lightning McQueen!" Then, he decided we'd play our own version of red light - green light. "Run fast....walk slow, Mama!" It was too cute and something I anticipate we will do again!

Easter Sweetness

This is not a funny, but definitely something I must share! Sunday night, Riley came to big church again for the Easter cantata (brave, huh? Twice in one day!). As the choir sang, pictures were projected onto the screen. When the cross picture came up...

R (whispering): Mama, that's the cross.

Me: It is the cross!

R: They put Jesus on it.

Me (choking back tears already!): They sure did!

R: It was sad...

I'm so thankful that even at 3 he knows about the cross! And even more thankful to have the opportunity to explain to him this week that we can be happy about the cross because HE LIVES!

Pour Some Sugar on Me!

So this morning, I'm in the kitchen with Eli...enter Riley.

R: "Hey! It's baby brother!"

Me: "It is! Are you all ready for school? Did you have sweet dreams?"

R (totally disregarding my barrage of questions while trying to get up closer to Eli):"Hey, Mama! I can't sugar him."

I LOVE that he wants to love on his baby brother first thing in the morning!

Last night, we had the first (of many!!) baths with both boys together. Riley and Eli both seemed to enjoy the experience. I wanted to take a picture of them lying side-by-side, but was too scared to leave the room to go get the camera. I'm hoping tonight we can get that done so I can share how different they look! Haven't really thought they favored much; and last night confirmed it - they look nothing alike!

5K UPDATE: So, it's week three of training for the 5K. I'm still not running the full 3.2 miles, but I'm pretty darn close. Slow as Christmas, no doubt, but running it nonetheless. I have the greatest route that I am really loving. For those who live in Louisville or are familiar with the roads, I leave our neighborhood headed up McCullough to Brooksville Road, hang a left on Brooksville Road and then on up to North Columbus. I don't enjoy the stretch on North Columbus because there's too much traffic, but it's a short stretch down to Richardson. Those two big hills near WA are KILLNG me! It's exactly 3.2 miles - and I hope to be running the whole thing by the end of next week (hills and all!).

The Latest with Eli

Eli is doing great! I can't believe he's 7 1/2 weeks old! We go back to the pediatrician next Tuesday so I'm anxious to see how much he's grown.

He's really starting to smile a lot more at us and laughed for the first time Sunday (during church, of course!). It was the sweetest sound! He's holding his head up and seems to be trying to push himself over when he's on his back. Took a few pictures this morning and this was one of my favorites.

Birthday Party for Riley

Last Saturday, we celebrated Riley's 3rd birthday! We had to do it a little early because of some conflicts but he had a great day regardless. We had a train jumper, a train cake, train decorations and we even found him a Thomas t-shirt to wear. He was showered with gifts and we were blessed to have family and friends help us celebrate. Both sets of grandparents, his Great Grandma Frances and Mr. Warren and Aunt Lucy were all able to make it. It was a wonderful day!

Riley checking out his cake before the party!

Hanging out on the jumper

A little help from Abbie with the candles

Eli and Granny enjoying all the activities.

Taking a break with Eli's "bally"

Surrounded by friends as he opened his gifts

Aunt Lucy, Meems with Eli, Grandma Frances

and Mr. Warren taking it all in.

While he loved all of his presents, this one was extra special!

Gran made him his very own train - it's beautiful!

Happy 6 Weeks to Eli!

Today is Eli's six-week birthday! It's gone by crazy fast - I can't believe it! If I had to guess, I'd say he weighs about 14 pounds (my unofficial measurement on our scales - a little over 13 pounds), and I'm going to try to measure him today to see how long he's gotten (my unofficial measurement - about 23 1/2 inches). He's wearing 6 and 9 month clothes if they are one piece but 3 or 6 month in separates. He's smiling at us more each day - maybe he's growing to like us a little more? He's holding his head up really well and trying to push himself over when on his tummy. He likes to hang out in his bouncy seat and plays on his mat pretty well, too. Bath time has recently become more enjoyable (for both of us!) but he has outgrown his baby tub. We had to move to the big bathtub and a mat because he's so long! His eyes are still blue and his hair is still dark blond/light brown. This week, we saw his first tears. At times, I see him starting to look more like Riley, but not as much as I had anticipated.

We're gearing up for Riley's train party next Saturday. I think he's getting pretty excited! It's hard to believe we'll be celebrating 3!

News on the "house for sale" front: We received word from our agent last night that the man who looked at our house yesterday intends to make an offer Monday! Whoo-hoo! I'm not sure where we'll live yet, but we're excited that we may have our house sold!

5K Note: We're at 34 days to race day! I ran just shy of a mile today. Really wish the scales would start showing some evidence of my efforts!

Mom's Next Goal

So, today I deviate from the normal dialogue about the boys to share my latest goal. On April 17, I will (attempt) to run my first 5K in nearly 15 years (Let me just add here that when I say "run," I really mean "jog" as part of this goal is certainly NOT to break any speed records!). The last time I ran in an official event was my senior year in college - I was obviously younger and about 60 pounds lighter. I have 37 days to prepare and have decided my incentive for running the whole thing will be new running shoes. I mean, what woman wouldn't push herself a little harder toward the reward of new shoes (even if they are running shoes!)?

Today is day 3 of training. Day 1 was pretty easy - beautiful day and I was pumped about the new challenge. Yesterday (day 2) was a little tougher - it was raining and earlier in the morning than I like to be moving, let alone RUNNING. Today, however, I actually started to enjoy it. It's a beautiful day, and despite my very sore muscles, I did manage to walk/jog a little over 3 miles(and that makes me feel a lot better about being able to at least FINISH!). My long-term goal is the St. Jude 1/2 marathon in December, so this race is my first step (for my students, that's an objective!) toward achieving my goal.

My initial thought for trying to find time to exercise was to get a two-seater jogging stroller and take the boys with me. However, the thought of pushing 50+ pounds of "boy" made me rethink the two-seater idea. I am very grateful for Jeff's support and help with the boys that has allowed me to carve out some time during the day to exercise.

Interestingly, I have found that I like myself - and those around me - a lot more on the days that I am able to exercise. I have more patience with all three of my boys and get a lot more accomplished. I really do feel better (despite the soreness!).

So, I will provide occasional updates on my progress during the next month. I know most of you are here to read about the boys so I promise not they won't be too frequent!

I'm TRYING to take a cheese...

Last week, Riley started to pick up the camera and both of his parents immediately said, "NO!!" for fear of having to replace it. He turned to us both and said, "I was just TRYING to take a cheese." Well, of course!

So, all is well with both the Walton boys!

Riley got to play with his cousin Ruby for two days last week while she was visiting Gran and Granny in Starkville. He had a ball! He promptly told me when he arrived home that he had "shared" my kisses with Ruby. I guess that's ok! He continues to amaze me with his alphabet. Last night, he asked me to write different words, and then he would identify the letters in the words. We're in planning mode for his third birthday party - train-themed, of course! His daddy even managed to find a jumper that looks like a train!

Eli is getting so big! I took all the 3-month clothes and newborn socks out of his drawers last night. Crazy - he's just 5 weeks! If I had to guess, I'd guess he weighs around 14 pounds so I'm pretty sure we're headed toward doubling his weight by his eight week checkup. He's sleeping through the night most nights so we're certainly not complaining about the nights he doesn't! He's starting to smile a little at us and is holding his head up really well. He met his cousin Ruby last week and his Uncle Jay Saturday - special visits!