Iron Man!

Quay became interested in triathlons about three weeks before Ava was born. He went in to a triathlon store to be fitted for a new pair of running shoes. He and I joined a gym after we were married, and he was starting to run a little more and hadn't bought shoes in a while. Anyway, he came home from the store and said, "You know, I look as in shape as some of those guys. If they can do a triathlon, I bet I can, too." That's all it took for him to get started. Now, this is when I was at my biggest, so while I was still gaining weight and waddling like a penguin, Quay started losing lots of weight....this wasn't a real nice time for him to start gettin all fit!

The first year he concentrated on just getting fit enough and building his endurance enough to do sprints. Those are triathlons that take a little over an hour to complete. The swim and bike can vary a little, but the run was almost always a 5k. Around the end of the triathlon season--late fall--he decided he wanted to do some longer distances. He got a wild hair and signed up for the Florida Ironman. I remember we had to leave early one Sunday morning for him to get home and get on the computer. He had to be on the computer when the registration opened in order to get a spot.

The next year, he spent hours upon hours training for the Ironman, and longer distance triathlons. He did a few international distance triathlons, a marathon, and a half ironman. The international distance is somewhere between the sprint triathlon and a half ironman. Many Saturdays I woke up to an empty bed because Quay would leave around 5 am for 5 and 6 hour bike rides. I do admit, there were certain times I'd get fed up with the amount of time he spent exercising. But most of the time I was okay with it, because I know this is something he really enjoys and has become very good at.

Man, I didn't expect this post to be this long! Anyway, to make a long story short, (haha it's alreadyong!) Quay competed and completed the Florida Ironman last weekend! His goal was to finish under 11 hours. First off, I can't imagine doing any type of exercise for 11 hours, unless shopping becomes a sport. Here are some pictures of the race!

Quay checking all of his gear before the race.

The mass start. Quay said it was like in the movie Titanic when it showed all of the people trying to tread water when the ship went down. He said he was beat up for the first half of the swim with everyone kicking and swimming.

Woo hoo! He finished!

Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside...

We sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness" last night in church, and I remembered how much I love that song. I really enjoy all the contemporary praise and worship music that's out on radio now, but there's something about the old hymns that still touch my heart like other music can. While we were singing it, I got to the verse that says:

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside!

I began to think of all the blessings God has graciously given me, and how unworthy I am of them. Ava and Sam are by far and away the sweetest children I could have asked for. Yes, there are times when I get tired, frustrated, ill, and mad. I think all parents have those days. But they can always make me smile, calm me down after a bad day, and make me happier than I ever thought I'd be with children. I knew I'd love them, but I don't think I realized the depth of that love before I had them. I think it's a kind of love that you don't know exists until you become a parent. I thank God for them and that He's entrusted me with them while here--it's a job that I'm truly not worthy of. He's blessed me far more than I could have hoped for or even imagined.

CVS fun

Okay, I think I'm starting to figure this CVS thing out.

The women in my family have really gotten in to coupons the past few months--I never knew you could save so much money! My best deals to date:
Publix--I paid ~$4.00 and saved ~$64.00
Bloom--I paid $4.81 and saved $76.43
Bloom was a triple coupon day, but Publix is normally the best place to save money with coupons.

It's a wierd kind of high you feel when the cashier rings up everything, and starts scanning your coupons, and you watch what you owe go lower and lower.

I've read that CVS is a great way to saved on daily essentials. I went yesterday and did 3 transactions. I spent $23.00 and here's what I got:

Resolve Carpet Cleaner
2 Lysol Disinfectant Sprays
2 boxes of Electrasol Dishwashing Geltabs
Pantene Mousse
Pantene Root Lifter
Blink Teardrops
2 1 subject notebooks
1 big eraser
1 Jumbo pack of Pamper's size 2 diapers
1 Jumbo pack of Pamper's Easy Ups
1 CVS Brand Cocoa Butter Lotion
1 Softsoap Nutriserum Bodywash

And get this---I got back $10.00 in Extracare Bucks. So really, it's like I spent $13.00 for all of that because they gave me some money back. 1 pack of diapers is $11.29! The Extracare Bucks are a great deal, and really help us save money, because we'll use everything I bought-especially the cleaning supplies and diapers.

I did 3 transactions to get back extracare bucks to use on the next transaction. I could've bought everything at once, paid more money, but then had tons of ECB for next week's deals, but I'd rather not pay all that out of pocket at one time. I also did it this way so I didn't have to pay but $5.00 out of pocket on the diaper transcation. These were my transactions:

#1
Softsoap Bodywash
Blink Tears
I had coupons for both and received $11.00 in ECB to use on #2

#2
2 Lysol
Resolve
2 Electrasol
I had coupons for everything, I used my ECB to pay for it and received $10.00 in ECB to use on #3

#3
2 Notebooks
1 Eraser
1 Lotion
2 packs of diapers
I had coupons for the diapers, I used my ECB to pay for it, plus on #2 transcation I received a coupon on my receipt for $5 off of $25 and a coupon for a free CVS lotion. I received $10.00 ECB for next week.

Quay has a CVS card, too, so I'm going to do it again today with his card to get more diapers!

100% Guaranteed Weight Loss Program

I have come up with a no fail plan for losing those unwanted pounds.


Got your paper and pen ready? Here goes--

Round up 13 3-year olds from 6-9 pm. Keep them in a small room with bad air conditioning and a gym with no air conditioning. Plan lessons and crafts, transport them to snacks, crafts, and music all the while making sure they don't trip over their feet, fall down stairs, beat up each other, and break down wanting their mommy. Repeat for five nights straight.


VBS is kicking my tail this week! But hey, at least it's making that tail a little smaller.....the scales are finally moving.

See, what had happened was....

****NEW POSTS BELOW! I finally imported all of our pictures from our old computers, so they're added now.****

Yes, I've been terrible at writing blogs lately. Going back to work full time then coming home to two children has been a little crazy, then Ava broke our computer once school was out. So we sent it to a repair shop along with another computer from a few years back that quit working, and it turns out it's cheaper to buy a new one than repair either one. A lot of things have happened since my last posts, and I've been keeping a mental list of things I want to write about--Ava moving to a big girl bed, Sam's four month update, Quay's triathlons, etc. We now have a new computer so I've begun a few of the posts, but I don't have a lot of pictures to go along with them. They were all on the computer that broke. We're supposed to get all of the docs and pictures that were on the computers on CD's sometime this week, so I should be able to post soon.

This needs no pictures though. Ava has started saying the funniest things lately. Our car rides usually consist of us going through the alphabet, numbers, and pointing out colors. We've been working on last names the past few days at home, and she knows Ava Scott, Mommy Scott, Daddy Scott, and Sam Scott. Of course, she assumed everyone was Scott (Eeby Scott, Granny Scott, etc) I told her that Emily (Eeby) was Emily Wentzky and she replied, "Oh Eeby Whiskey." She thought for a second and said "and Joe Whiskey?" Such a smart little thing, she put those two together.

So today after church, we were riding in the car and out conversation went something like this

Me: "What's your name?"

Ava: "Ava Scott"

Me: "What's my name?"

Ava: "Mommy Scott"

(I won't bore you with all the others, but we went through Daddy, Sam, Oscar, Emily, and Joe. She got all those right)

Me: "What's Grandma's name?"

Ava: "Grandma Scott"

Me: "No, Grandma is Grandma Brown"

Ava: "Oh"

Me: "So what's Grandpa?"

Ava:".....Grandpa Purple!"

Maybe we should just stick to teaching one thing at a time.

4 months old!

Whoops, I think I missed the 3 month post :) Poor second child, he's already getting left out! Sam weighed 15.5 pounds and was 24.5 inches long at his appt. I looked up Ava's stats from her 4 month and she was 14.5 pounds and 25.5 inches long, so she was a pound less but an inch more. Sam's in the 65%ile for his weight and 35th for height. He's short and fat!! But he's cute and sweet, so that's all that matters.

Sam now eats about 6 oz at each feeding, we've started on rice cereal at night, and he sleeps like a champ! He rolls from his back to his side, but can't get over his arm to get all the way over. He smiles all the time, but he makes you work for his laughs.

Sam after a bath.

Ava helps me during feeding time.

Almost all the way over!!

Our big girl!

Ava moved to her big girl bed! I tell ya, it was a little hard for me. Just like losing her baby fat on her legs, it's one step closer to looking like a big girl and not a toddler. Makes me tear up a little. We were prepared for a few nights of whining, crying, screaming, and putting her back in bed after she got up, but she sure surprised us! The first night she cried for a little bit, but never tried to get up. After that night, she went straight to bed without fussing! Now, when it's time for bed, we ask her if she wants us to carry her, or is she going to walk like a big girl. She says "I do big girl," picks up her blanket, walks to her room and gets in bed. She never ceases to amaze us. We just hope she'll keep this up! This is a picture of her the morning after her first night. Just like her mom, she's not much of a morning person when she wakes and she's not fond of pictures before she can fix her hair. She was trying to hide her face while I was pushing a camera in front of her.

Cola Triathlon

This is Quay's third season doing triathlons, and he's gotten better and better every year. I try to go to as many as I can each year, but it's getting harder now with the children. Ava and I did travel to Columbia with Quay for one a few weeks back. We decided to take her back to this one because the triathlon is in a neighborhood instead of a state park and there's a lot for Ava to see and do while there. Quay did great like he always does, and had a great time. He was ranked first in his age group throughout the state until last week's Tri the Pee Dee. He didn't get to to do that one because we were on vacation, and two racers passed him in rakings. Quay's taking the next month or so off from racing and just focusing on training, because he has a half iron man and iron man coming up in the fall. Here are some pictures from the race. We'll be heading to Alabama in August for Nationals--I can't wait to go to that one with him!

Ava's waiting to see Daddy come out of the swim.

Finishing the swim, sorry it's blurry

Finishing the bike

Done!!!

New posts!

With two children and back at work full time, I haven't had time to post anything new. So I played catch up today. There are three new posts below!

I have a problem..

I take too many pictures of Ava! Is there a support group for this? When she's this cute and funny, how can I resist?

Just minding his own business....talking to the star when..

Ava decides to take over!

Poor boy can't have any time to himself.. :)

Happy 2 month Sam!!

I can't believe Sam is already 2 mths old. Where has the time gone?!? He is such a precious little boy and so easy. As I'm typing this, he's laying on his playmat talking to the star that plays songs and lights and smiling at it. We thought Ava was pretty laid back as a baby, but Sam puts her to shame. He has the most pleasant personality. If I knew I'd have more babies like him, I'd have 5 more!

Here are his stats from his docs appt:

Weight: 12.5 lbs (65th percentile)

Height: 23 in (48th percentile)

Head Circumference: 16.14 in (72nd percentile)

Happy 2 Month, Sam!!

My precious boy is two months old today! And he decided to celebrate by.......sleeping through the night! Woo hoo! How sweet of him to give his parents a gift :) Sam fell asleep at 10:30 and got up at 5:00. Of course, I still woke up a few times during the night because I'm used to being up around 3. I really don't think I've ever known a more content child than him. He hardly ever cries, is happy wherever you put him or with whomever is holding him. The time is going by too fast-I can't believe it's already been two months!

I had to go back to work this week (tear) and Sam is going to stay with Miss JenJen along with Ava. I think he's really enjoying it there and I hope Miss JenJen loves keeping Sam. Speaking of Ava, she gets funnier and funnier everyday. She is starting to be able to have conversations with Quay and me. A few mornings ago, I got Ava out of bed and brought her in the den. Quay always makes a big deal about seeing Ava (because he's such a wonderful daddy) and said, "Ava!! Where have you been?!?" Ava looked at him kinda funny and said "I go night night." Quay asked her if she had a good time going night night and she said, "I cry. I wah wah" and rubbed her fists at the corners of her eyes like she was crying. It was funny to us because she's never answered that question, and she really did cry when we laid her down. Such a cute kid!

My favorite day is today! Triple coupon at Bloom started today and will go through Sunday. Coupons have become sort of an addiction with the women in my family now. We all cut coupons on Sunday, and we tell each other about the good deals we find. For instance, Kraft salad dressing is on sale at Bloom this weekend, and there's a $1.50 off coupon from last week. It ends up being about 16 cents for a bottle of dressing. I think my mom picked up five bottles a few days ago. Anyway, I'm going this afternoon to use my first 20 coupons at Bloom. You get sort of a high when the cashier rings up your purchases then starts scanning coupons. It's so fun to watch your total go down. I'll let you know how I did later on!!

Sam is now 5 weeks old. At his 1 month appointment, he weighed 10 pounds and was 21.5 inches long. He's a big boy! You can tell he hasn't missed a meal! He's been a great, very mellow baby. Sam did get a little cold last week and he's still getting over it, but he's been very good throughout it. The only thing he doesn't really care for is the nasal aspirator. But as soon as I pick him up, he quits crying.

Ava seems to be getting bigger everyday, too! Her vocabulary has skyrocketed the past 3 weeks. She repeats the last few words that you say, but she's putting a lot more words together now to make complete sentences. That's a relief, because we understand more of what she wants now. At first, we couldn't understand her so well, and she'd get frustrated. She's such a precious little girl. We're really blessed to have her! By the way, she used her potty today! The first time was a complete accident. She regularly asks Quay or me to go to the potty with her. She'll sit down for about five seconds, say "all done!" and get back up. Well this morning, she pee peed just a little bit when she sat down. So I made a huge deal out of it and gave her two chocolate covered pretzels. She asked for more and I told her that those were for using the potty. She asked to go back to the potty and used it for real that time! There's nothing like good ole bribery! She also pooped in the potty as well, but that scared her. She tried to jump off of the potty when it started happening, and I had to keep her on it until she was through. I doubt she'll try pooping again in the near future since it sort of scared her, but she was pumped about pee peeing! She even told my mom and sister what she had done over the phone afterwards.


I go back to the doctor next Monday for my six week check up and I'm hoping they'll give me two more weeks at home with my little man. I miss work because I really love what I do, but I'm not ready to leave him yet. If I get two more weeks, I'll only have to go back for four weeks, then I'll be home again for the summer.

Here are some pics of my gorgeous children and family:

Sam's favorite napping spot

Sam has on a little tie!!! It's just an applique (is that how you spell it?)


Our growing family

Ava hunting Easter eggs.

Sam's here!!

Actually, Sam's been here for over a week now, but I've just now found time to write about it. Last Sunday my water broke while we were sitting around the house. Quay was still napping and Ava was watching Backyardigans. We got to the hospital around 4. Sam was born at 8:42. It was the easiest delivery I could have ever imagined! My contractions never got terribly bad, and I only pushed twice. I'm so glad Sam was so nice to me :)

Ava has done wonderfully well getting used to having a baby in the house. It seems like he's always been here to her. She likes him and will talk to him and kiss him on the head, but then she's ready to go play with her toys. The only times she gets a little antsy around him is when he's in the bouncy seat, because she thinks it's her seat.

Nursing is going okay. I'm having to supplement right now, but I hope that won't last for too much longer. I'm taking two different medications that are supposed to increase milk supply, so I'm praying that works. If not, then we'll bottle feed. I'd rather nurse, but if it doesn't work, I won't be devastated. Ava was a bottle fed baby, and she's been very healthy.

Emily had her baby yesterday and is doing great. I'm sure she'll post about it soon!!

Umm, we may have a problem....

Sooo, last weekend Quay brought down the swing, bouncy seat, and mini-crib for Sam. Ava has found her a new favorite seat--the bouncy. Looks like there might be a little struggle over who will get that seat when Sam gets here!

The Stud-man

We went to Myrtle Beach over Valentine's weekend for Quay's first marathon. He's been doing triathlons for almost two years now, but only sprint triathlons. Those last for about an hour. He's planning on doing his first ironman this November in Florida. That will last 11-12 hours. The swim will be two miles, the bike 112 miles, and then a marathon. So Quay, being the smart guy he is, decided maybe he should at least do a few marathons before the big ironman. His plan was to be under 3:30 and he ended up having a chip time of 2:39:47. He made it by 13 seconds! Quay said the first twenty miles were very easy, the next four were pretty bad and the last two were almost unbearable. He almost quit running during the last two but decided that if he had ran 24 miles, he could run two more. Personally, I don't know how he did it--I can barely run half a mile without hyperventilating! I think people who do ironmans and triathlons, and even marathons, have to have something inside them that doesn't mind putting themself through terrible pain. It's just not in me. I'm planning on trying to start running again after Sam gets here, but I hate it everytime I do it. Maybe if I keep at it, it won't be so bad.

It was pretty interesting traveling with an almost two year old. It's just funny to stop and take a step back and realize how different your days are when you have a toddler. I mean, everything we planned on doing revolved around Ava's schedule--when she needed to eat, her nap time, getting back to the hotel in time for bath to keep her on her schedule. We had a great time, and Ava was wonderful, with the exceptions of a few little tantrums. But she's hitting the terrible twos, so I guess that comes with her age. My parents went with us to Myrtle Beach--I wouldn't have been able to do it without them there. They helped us out so much--not to mention Ava loves having them around! Too bad Emily and Joe couldn't come.

Speaking of those tantrums, Ava has started having them more frequently now. I think she's at the point where she thinks she's telling us what she wants, but we don't understand her. She's getting to the point where she starts crying, then will either throw what's in her hands or will try to hit us if we pick her up or lead her away from where she's standing. Part of me feels really bad for her because she really thinks she's telling us what she wants, but the other part of me knows that we have to stop her if she's throwing things or hitting us. Poor Ava, I guess we'll get through this time together. :)

Oh the joys of pregnancy...

I am writing this post at 3:14 am. No, that's not a typo--I can't sleep. I woke up last night at 1:30 am with a cold, but was able to go back to sleep. Not tonight. I was hoping I'd make it through this pregnancy without catching a cold. I had one with Ava that lingered for a while and I was miserable. I pray this one doesn't stay around for too long. So, since I can't sleep, I'm playing on the computer while watching Sportscenter on ESPN to check the Clemson score. (They won by the way!!! Woo hoo go Tigers!!!)

I have also started to swell a little bit. I have 5.5 weeks to go, and I think I started swelling with Ava around this same time. Not bad swelling, just enough in my legs that I can tell they're a little bigger than normal. Oh fun fun. Five weeks can't come fast enough!!!

I've heard people say before that every stage in your child's life becomes your favorite stage. I have caught myself saying the same thing. But honestly, I'm not sure if I could enjoy any other stage in Ava's growth and development like I do this one. She's so funny right now! She's putting little sentences together, she dances all the time, and she'll do anything you ask her to do. She also loves to sing with us and will finish lines in Twinkle Twinkle, the ABC's, and Itsy Bitsy Spider. It seems like everyday she remembers a little more of each of the songs, and it's so fun to sing along with her. The only thing I think I look forward to is when we can understand her a little better. She gets frustrated when she tries to tell us something she wants and we can't understand her words. She'll say the same thing over and over, so she knows what she's saying, but we don't.

My aunt and sister have also taught her the wonderful art of sticking her tongue out. Great. My mom and I decided when Ava has to go to time out because she sticks her tongue out, we're putting them in time out, too! But Ava knows she's not supposed to do it, because she'll call me, and when I look at her she'll stick her tongue out and say "Not nice." It's so darn cute that I have to smile, but I try to make sure she doesn't see that too much so she won't think it's a good thing to do.

We're working on Sam's room and it's coming together slowly but surely. The crib will be in Friday morning and I'm taking the quilt to be monogrammed this weekend. I'll get pictures up soon, but for now just enjoy this cute one of Ava.