Whoosh!

What was that?!?!?! A Bird? A Plane?? Nope, just this past month flying by!!! Seriously, where has it gone? I'm still not done with TY notes, Christmas decorations are lingering here and there (though we did get the tree down this past weekend), and I haven't even done my Christmas post for the blog (gasp! ;).

So our little man turned eight months on Sunday and the day totally escaped me until my MIL called to wish him a happy monthly birthday. Oops! :) I didn't even take a picture! It was all good, though. The day, and in fact the entire weekend, was lovely none-the-less.

Mr. C was deer hunting (for the second time this month, but seeing as it's a rare treat these days, I won't keep count) and therefore gone the latter half of this past week, so when my mom stopped by on Friday on her way out-of-town to see the munchkin, the quick stop turned into a five hour visit. I was grateful for her company as I had been alone with the wee one for three days at that point and was craving some grown-up conversation (and a nap!). Mr. C got home Friday night, with a couple coolers full of deer meat (hooray! free meat!) and immediately started processing Bambi's mom into nice freezer-bag sized hunks.

Saturday was spent playing catch-up on errands, chores and sleep, and after a nice Sunday morning service with friends Caroline and Austin, my dad and siblings stopped by for a visit on their way back home from visiting colleges. While baby C and his uncle and Grandad bonded (and helped Mr. C finish taking down the tree), my sister and I slipped out to shop for formal dresses (for her, not me). After the troops left, Mr. C and I even managed to work in the yard for a while before dark by putting the munchkin in his pack-n-play on the porch while we tackled some monster bushes in need of some serious pruning. All-in-all it was one of those rare weekends that perfectly balanced productivity and leisure.

The weekend before was equally lovely. Mr. C went hunting with his dad and little C got to spend the night with his Grammy C while I joined my cousin in celebrating her 30th (yes THIRTIETH!) birthday (man that's old! ;).

I had a really good time catching up with cuz and enjoying a rare night out, and just can't thank my MIL enough for watching the little guy. She gets a gold grammy star too because the little booger was sick AND teething and up more than a few times the night she was on duty.

Other notable notes from this past month would include my friend Sara and her husband welcoming their first (and very precious) baby girl. We're so happy for them! I told Sara that when I got her announcement text I teared up a bit because it seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital doing our own text-announcing, and here that was already 8 months ago! I've said it before, but I'll say it again, time really does fly when you're having fun!

So that's it, except for one more thing. I'm training for a triathlon. The Danskin to be precise. It's an 800m swim, a 20k bike and 5k run, and as brutal as that sounds, I'm comforted by the fact that my friends Betsy and Lindy have participated and they are still alive to tell their tale. Betsy and I are doing it together and I kept hemming and hawing about it, so I'm putting it out there to hold myself accountable to someone other than myself (and Betsy :). Wish me luck. I've always wanted to do something like this my whole life...well, I actually always wanted to do a marathon, but with extremely flat feet, I've had more than one orthopedist tell me I'm not built for running, so a triathlon seemed like a good compromise. Anyway, I felt like it would be the perfect thing to get me back to exercising with some regularity. I swam competitively in my youth (though not well) and biked a lot for fun, so even though I'm aware I'll have to train for all three legs, the running is the only part that intimidates me. Just for grins I ran a 5k loop on at the gym last week to see how in/out-of shape I was. Yea, that was an eye-opener. In an air conditioned room, with no incline I had to push myself to the limit to finish the darn thing in less than 40 minutes, 39:39 to be precise. (Stop laughing Leanne :) I know my 13 minute mile leaves more than a little to be desired, but hey, it's a start! If anyone else is interested in competing, the official dates haven't been posted yet, but it's usually the first weekend in June. According to their website it's structured for both first time and veteran triathletes (not sure what that means, but I definitely fall in the former category). So c'mon! Do IT! It's a great way to get in shape - besides, misery loves company!!