October 23rd, 2012

I am no longer the only one to tie shoes in the morning.  We made each of the boys grab one of Dusty's shoes, and we worked on it for about 20 minutes.  We started with the two bunny ear method.  It sucks.  I never could grab both those ears.  Neither could they.  So we switched to the way we do it, and BAM!  They both got it right away.  Thank God!

They crack me up how differently they learn.  Bodey will just keep trying.  Over and over and over and over and over again.  And never get frustrated.  And he's so happy to be trying and learning!  And over the moon that he mastered it.

Booker tries once, fails, gives up, pouts.  He's just like his daddy.  :)

Cliche?

I think not.  I honestly have the two best friends in the world.  Sorry, world, but it's true.  One is my leader, the other is my mentor.  And I'm lucky enough to have them both part of my life.

Jen, you are a born leader.  People want to be like you and do as you do.  You inspire me to be better.  And cleaner.  And more organized.  You laugh, because you think I'm making fun of you... but I'm not, I admire you!  You are a person blessed enough to have a natural knack for new ideas, organization, and crisp cleanliness with everything you touch.  I love craft days, because I get to come into your world, and learn from the best.  I also value your values.  How much you love your family and friends.  And I love learning frugality from the best of the best.  It's so nice to walk side by side with someone who I look up to, and share values with.  And inspiration?  I have to thank you for getting me where I am today.  A marathon would have never crossed my mind, much less two.  And without being a witness to your pure determination and will, I wouldn't have succeeded.  You amaze me every day.  You are also my 3rd leg in triathlons.  I can't even imagine the number of triathlons I would have given up, just thrown in the towel, if you weren't there along beside me.  You are my #1 cheerleader and motivator!

Cori, you are my mentor.  I look up to you more than you will ever know.  When I have parenting questions, I come to you.  When I have medical questions, I come to you.  But, most importantly, you started my journey to a relationship with Jesus.  I knew you had something I didn't, and I wanted a part of it.  Your model of spiritual wisdom, unending faith, and unfailing love for Jesus is the best gift I've received.  I constantly seek your advice, your common sense, and spiritual outlook.  And, like Jen, you are a girl of determination!  I have watched you go through tribulations in running that would have stopped me in my tracks, searching for a new hobby.  But not you!  It is honestly healthy for me to witness this.  I mean, you ran a half marathon with a fractured leg and pneumonia.  That's hardcore!  And it is always lurking in the back of my mind, making me dig deeper, be stronger, and accomplish more.  I am a better person because I've learned so much from you.

I'm blessed.  I have the privilege of seeing both of my best friends almost every day.  They push me beyond my limits.  We share so many values, and that gives us a bond that is hard to break.  I don't know what I did to deserve you two in my life, but obviously, God just knows what's best for me!

Dog vs. Bodey

Yesterday was a rough day for all of us.  Dusty was outside at the neighbor's house helping him on his boat.  The boys headed out there with him.  A few minutes later, Booker sprinted inside, clearly flustered, but I couldn't really understand what he was saying.  I heard "Bodey", "crying", "dog", "dad".  I ran outside just when Dusty was rushing Bodey inside.  All I saw was blood coming from Bodey's head.  I don't do well in these situations and started to freak.  Dusty gave me the stink eye so I had to check myself.  After about a 30 second examination, we decided he needed to go to the emergency room.  As we were heading out, our neighbor ran up to the car to give us his phone number and told us his dog was up to date on all his shots.  When we got to the hospital, the lady at the front desk asked if I already filed a police report.  AreyoukiddingmeIjustrushedmykidtothehospital!  That was all I was thinking about.  I wasn't making phone calls!  So I stepped outside to call the police department.  The dispatcher told me they already sent an officer out there, the dog owners had reported the accident.  Not two minutes later, our neighbor's wife came in with her dog's shot records.  She said they just couldn't stand the thought Bodey might have to get shots he didn't need.  A few minutes later, a Basehor police officer came to the hospital to get Dusty's statement, check out the injuries and take pictures of all of them.  The doctor looked at everything, said they don't stitch dog bites (traps germs and infection inside), ordered x-rays for Bodey's left shoulder and right elbow, got him some Ibuprofen, and gave us an Rx for an antibiotic.  Bodey finally started to relax and finally moved his arms and was showing us his muscles, so we cancelled the x-rays.  What helps a little boy more than a slushie?  So we headed to Quik Trip where the boys got 32 oz slushies including every flavor known to man mixed together, a hot dog, and some Rolos.  When we got home, we washed all the blood off Bodey.  The hospital didn't clean ANY of it off of him.  Oh well.  And then Bodey went out in the cul-de-sac to ride his bike.

Bodey's red hair he is now proud of.

Bite #1

Bites #2 & #3

Bite #4

Bite #5 and possibly #6

Guessing just a scratch from nails?

Raw elbow from his fall to the concrete.  This hurts him the worst.

You might be wondering about the dog.  Well, he is a 148 pound Bloodhound.  It is very unusual for this breed to be aggressive.  Dusty and the owner were within 10 feet of the attack.  The boys had been petting this dog the night before and the owner said he was watching them pet him just before he attacked and everything was just fine.  We don't really know if Bodey did something to trigger the dog.  Booker said the dog laid down and Bodey went over to pet it some more.  Dusty had to pull Bodey away from the dog, and it kept trying to attack.  The City of Basehor did not take the dog, initially because the kennels were full, but then later found that they didn't have to because the dog was up to date on it's rabies shot and not showing signs of being rabid.  The family has made the decision to give the dog back to the Humane Society where they got him, and he will be evaluated and either released to live out on a farm, or put down.

I just have to say how even though this was a very unfortunate accident, it has opened my eyes to how blessed we truly are.  God had his hand in all of this.  I'm so thankful that there were adults around to pull the dog off.  It could have been deadly if not.  I'm thankful that I didn't have to witness this, because these are the things I replay in my head for years.  I'm also thankful that I wasn't the adult there because I don't know if I would have been strong enough to pull off the dog.  I'm thankful that the dog hadn't gotten the 3 week old baby that lives in that house.  But mostly, I'm thankful for how helpful, and honestly concerned our neighbors have been.  In 8 years of living here, we've never really spoken to them.  And they have turned out to be truly great people.  Take note of all the bold sentences above.  Who does that?!?!  And to top it all off, they sent Bodey a bouquet of cookies today!  My heart goes out to them, because I think they are suffering more than we are.  We were scared and shocked, but we know Bodey is ok.  They feel so guilty.  And they have to deal with getting rid of a family pet.  UGH!

Bodey is just livin' life like nothing ever happened.  He doesn't seem to be scared of other dogs.  And, he bravely walked down to their house today to tell them thank you for the cookies.  The dog was still in their backyard, but he did so well!

He breaks my heart though.  Tonight he said two things that just made me melt.

"Mom, since those nice people got us cookies, can we make them some tomorrow and take them to their house?"
AND
In the smallest, quietest, voice, "Mom, I really liked that dog."

Bullying or Life Skill?

I understand the bullying policies in today's schools and I like that they are in place. But, as a mom of boys, sometimes I think there is some value in standing up for yourself, even if that means punching someone back.

Today, when Booker got in the car, he told me that Little Brat Boy punched and kicked him in the bathroom. I asked him why, and he said he didn't know, he didn't do anything. Then I asked him what he did back. "Well, I told him 'ouch, that hurt', washed my hands and went to tell my teacher". He handled it perfectly according to 2012 rules. Good for him! I was proud of him and told him he did the right thing. But then I started second guessing my parenting skills. Am I going to encourage my son to be the victim and get picked on? So, I told Booker that if Little Brat Boy continues to pick on him, or punch or kick him, that he has Mom and Dad's permission to punch him back. I told him he will get in trouble at school, but to know that if it was defending himself, he would not be in trouble at home.

Then, the principal called me. She wanted to tell me there was an incident and that Booker handled it exactly how he was supposed to and she was very proud. She told me that Little Brat Boy was being disciplined, and that if Booker would to have hit back, both parties have to be disciplined. I told her I understand, but also think there is a certain life skill boys learn by sticking up for themselves. Of course she couldn't encourage this behavior, which I'm actually glad for, but I just wanted to get it out there.

Anyway, I told Booker that I got a call from his principal and that she was very proud of him for how he handled the situation. He was proud of himself too. For the most part, he's a lover, not a fighter. It's just hard knowing what the right thing is to do. For me and him. And I'm sure he's even more confused now, poor kid.

Overly Emotional Mom, Party of One

Booker lost his first tooth today. While the Superintendent was in their classroom speaking to them, he yanked it out! He is over the moon. I'm so excited for him, but at the same time feel like bursting into tears! Two best things about it are 1) I didn't have to pull it out, 'cause that grosses me out! And 2) he pulled it the day before school pictures so we get to capture this moment forever!

Free Olathe Women's Tri Pics!

The End to Tri Season

Today was my last triathlon of the season.  Jen and I did 4 this year, and hope to do 5 or 6 next year.  I love everything about triathlons.  I love the change in pace from swim to bike to run.

The first tri we did this year was the Kansas City Triathlon on May 20th.  Last year, the water temp was only 59 degrees, but this year we warmed up to 69 degrees, which is a huge difference, but still cold.  Gotta love the first tri of the season!  Our 2011 time was 3:29 and our 2012 time was 3:24.  We were SO please with this improvement.  However, we both had bike envy as we stared down our competition, and also realized how well we do on the swim and the run, but got our butts kicked on the bike.  And we are competitive, and didn't like that, so that was the last triathlon we did on our old road bikes.  By old I mean mine was an early 90s Trek and Jen's was an 80s Schwinn.

Enter the era of "The New Babies."  Jen got a brand new Felt tri bike and I got a used (but still a 2012) Cannondale tri bike.  Let me just say, we love them more than most humans we come in contact with on a daily basis.  And I wish I were exaggerating!  AND, they make a huge difference.  We give the same amount of effort and fly down the road at about 4mph faster, and don't feel like we are trying nearly as hard.  And uphill?  Wow!  Where we used to slow down to about 8-9 mph we are now going about 12mph.  Just love them.

So we tried out our new bikes at the Shawnee Mission Triathlon on July 8th.  We finished in 1:13 and floated on cloud 9 for days.  That is one heck of a hilly bike course!  And this was the first time we finished and saw our names on the first page of the results!

We had high hopes of really getting going on our bikes at the Midwest Meltdown Triathlon on August 26th.  However, it decided to rain for the first time all summer, and mixed with the 8 tons of brand new asphalt they put down on the bike course, we took it easy.  This was a great course.  The swim was 750m instead of 500m, but Jen and I locked in at a 1:50 pace, which was great!  This was the first triathlon I finally got into a swim groove.  I wasn't being "as" clobbered by other people, so that was a major factor.  We also had a great run!  Our 5k time was 25:59.  This will be a redo next year because the bike course was really flat, and hopefully the roads will be dry next year so we can fly!

Today we did the Olathe Medical Center Women's Triathlon.  We found out earlier this week that we were in different swim heats.  This doesn't work for us.  Jen and I do triathlons TOGETHER!  And our heats were 30 minutes apart.  And they said if we miss our heat, we can't participate.  So we had to regroup and plan to go solo.  Not cool.  Jen started at 7:35 and I got to watch her entire swim, which was fun.  I started at 8:05, and she was completely done by the time I got off the bike.  Have I ever mentioned I hate to run by myself?  Well, I do.  And Jen and I have a system.  My watch tracks our entire tri time and our splits.  But it doesn't show my pace.  Jen's watch paces our run.  We both have speedometers on our bikes, and neither one of them were working today, so we had NO idea where we were on the bike.  And without Jen, I had no idea where I was on the run.  On both, I just decided to push til it hurts, and then I knew I was giving it my best effort.  My swim was 10:15 for 500m, my bike was 38 minutes for 10.6 miles and my run was 25:29 for 3 miles.  I placed 7th in my age group and 39th of 307 overall.  Jen did fantastic too, and our times were only a couple minutes apart.  However, it just wasn't the same without her.  I'm bummed we aren't the same age.  We are 7 years apart, so this heat division problem is going to definitely come into play again in the future.

In the off season, we both plan on getting more miles on our bikes.  I can't wait until May 2013 rolls around so we can do it all again!