Introducing Baby Blaze!

First off, it's been quite a long dry spell on this little bloggy blog. Is anyone still checking this thing? ...(crickets).... Well I know my mom will read this. :) thank goodness for moms.

What better way to make a comeback than to announce the creation of coming of Cook kiddie #3!

Solomon has lovingly named our sweet little peanut baby Blaze. I kind of think our newest little man would love the name because a. It's a super macho tough boys name and b. His awesome older brother made it up.  Oh and yes baby is a boy! We're so excited for more planes, trains, light sabers and nerf guns! ruby girl is a little disappointed and hopes that maybe "Blaze" will still turn out to be a girl.  Hmmm, maybe those boy goods will turn out to be a coincidentally positioned thumbs up? Keep hoping Rubs!

I think it's important to mention that Dave and I will NOT be naming baby boy Blaze. Sorry Sol. We don't want him to become a magician or cage fighter which is pretty much the only occupations you can take up with a name like that. Name is still to be determined...

Baby is due December 1st.  We are so excited for our family to grow +1. We think our kids are awesome. And we're sure #3 will be no different!

So I wanted to make a quick update on Sol and Ruby since its been so long:

Solomon:
5 year old Sol has had a little bit of a personality change. He is a wild man.  He's constantly fighting bad guys (especially those from the dark side!) wrestling anyone who will wrestle with him including  sometimes those who won't (ruby,mom, grandma...) playing sports, pushing boundaries, and all other delightful 5 year old boy behaviors. When he's not going full tilt he's still very sweet and smart. He's started reading, he's so excited to start kindergarten cause he gets to play at the park (playground) every day. Sweet huh!  He's very excited to have a little bro and frequently gives pep talks to "Blaze" through my belly. We are learning to embrace the wild man Sol and still loving his sweet thoughtful inquisitive personality.

Ruby:
Almost 3 year old Ruby is so fun and so funny. She is bursting with expression, character, and all things girl. She is a happy soul. She loves the following:
Blankie
Daddy
Candy
Wip (lip) stick
Purses
Having her nails painted and reprinted
Organizing


Ses






Cleaning
Helping mommy get ready
Solomon
Milky
Her Grandmas
Grandpas hot tub
Her babysitters

Wow, I could go on and on. She came with a lot of passion and that trait has seemed to only grow. Her excitement for life is contagious. She's such a little fireball of passion and love. From her moms perspective this girl will move mountains.n

Goodies

-ruby and sol went back to swimming today after a 2 month hiatus and did quite well!  Sol had one freak out moment but that's not too bad considering he used to freak out the whole time.

-ruby is either ruby 1 or ruby 2. Have you ever heard the old rhyme "once there was a girl with a pretty little curl right in the middle of her fore head. And when she was good she was very very good, and when she was bad she was horrid."? It fits ruby to a tee. Today she was ruby 1 after a few days of being ruby 2. Yay!  Sweet sweet girl!

-ruby AND sol took at nap. I had an entire hour to myself so I watched project runway and folded laundry. I almost felt guilty for how much I enjoyed it.  Once sol got up he helped me pick raspberries, which we've gotten a lot of this year (yay for jam!) and tomatoes. After we came in he watched a show so I sat down and played the piano for 30 min. Playing the piano is therapy for me.  It felt great.

Just wanted to share those little goodies and this:

When we were visiting my parents in Laramie Sol and Ruby wanted to sleep in ruby's crib together and so I let them. After a few threats they  actually fell asleep.  The picture is upside down and kind of dark, but you get the picture.  My mommy heart melted.  :)

Lest you worry...

I've gotten some super sweet emails and texts from friends who read my last post and worried just a bit about me.  Maybe questioned my sanity.  Don't you worry!  I'm feeling very sane.  :)  I like to vent because it makes me feel better.  Watering my feelings down or making excuses for them kind of defeats the purpose.  So don't you fret - I'm feeling pretty great today!  I only beat my kids once today!   (Lest you worry, I'm kidding)

hugs and kisses,
Megan

Evening Mantra

I'm sitting outside because it's the perfect temperature and after an evening thunderstorm it's been raining off and on in light drizzels.  It smells heavenly. And clean. And I feel myself relax out here. I have been longing for simplicity for weeks. I have a hard time with the pace of life.  Am I just a lightweight? I love to be busy but I feel mentally and emotionally worn. I want to disappear by myself for a few weeks, until I can't stand it any more.   What's wrong with me, really. I'm a mom and I love my children more than anything but lately I've wanted to run and hide from the title.  A title I dreamed of having my whole life.  I think I'm normal. I think I'm burnt out. I've been on a high all spring and for much of the summer but I feel like a plane that runs out of fuel and skids to a stop in the dirt.

I'm tired.  I need to allow my heart it's weak moments. I need to acknowledge my dark times. I'm tired of telling myself to keep going, keep giving, keep pushing.  Stay strong for others. Stay strong for all the others. They all need your strength. God gave you strength so use it Megan.  Well tonight there is no stength.  Just existing. Just rest.  Just breathing.  The earth doesn't need me to live. It breathes without me.  It happens separate from me. It doesn't care if I live or die and tonight that is a relief.  I'm a human. I'm a spirit. And my trials are still new to me.  I will allow myself a few breaths...

cousins

cousins!

cousins, 10 years ago (aw, my boys! their so darn cute!)....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

special cousins.  (still my boys!)

Slip-n-slide

(kind of a weird shot with the water...)

Fun.

My Tri Try

I've shared bits and pieces or maybe chunks and parts of my "magical journey" (wink wink Dave) from major funkiness post Ruby's birth back to happy healthy Megan.

Quick recap of steps:
1.  Decide to be "healthy"
2.  Get Healthy physically
3.  Work out mental issues
4.  Get in shape
5.  Complete a triatholon

Thanks to encouragement from my sister and a good friend willing to train for and do the triathlon with me I found the courage to sign up for a the Women of Steel triathlon.  Its a women only sprint distance tri right in my back yard.  Literally, the course goes right around my neighborhood.

Training
Training was key.  In a triathlon you swim, bike, then run.  Running was my weakest point.  I HATED running.  My right leg is 1/2 and inch longer than my left because of scoliosis and so running has always hurt.  But I was tired of being afraid of it and I knew if I wanted to do the tri I had to overcome my running issues.  So I started running last fall.  It took me a couple months to get to where I could run a mile consistently.  Yep, just 1 mile.  I would get shin splints so badly that I'd have to stop for a week or two.  So it took a couple months for my leg muscles to get built up enough to run a mile a couple times a week.

Then I slowly added distance.  I'd run 1.5 miles for a month, then 2 miles, etc.  It took me nearly 6 months to build up to 3.5 miles.  But that was enough to get me through the race. 

Next I focused on swimming.  I knew how to swim but not how to swim fast.  In fact I've always been quite slow.  So I signed up for a swim class at the local rec center that met at 5:30 am.  Yep.  I just about died.  I'm so lucky my friend decided to take the class with me.  She was the reason I actually went, otherwise I'm sure I would have slept in more than half the time.  We'd get up at 5 to get to class by 5:30.  The rec center pool was in a giant bubble because it was still winter.  The first few times I went I felt like I was in some sort of nightmare.  I'm NOT a morning person.  And to get up at that unholy hour, in the cold, and go in this weird loud bubble into a sort of cold swimming pool just to swim for an hour solid was kind of a nightmare. 

But I loved the teacher and I had my friend to commiserate with.  And after a couple weeks it started to be kind of fun.  Lets not get crazy - it still was torture at times, but it was bearable.

Finally, I started biking when it warmed up enough and discovered that I love to road bike.  I love the speed and the distance you can cover.  I was riding Dave's bike and planned to ride it for the race.  But Dave and kids surprised me with my own road bike for mothers day.  And its even nicer than Daves!!!  I've since named her Penny, and together we can fly!  The biking has come easy, and for that I'm grateful as running and swimming did not.

The Race.
Was really fun.  The training sucked.  But because I trained the race was fun.  It was exhausting but I performed as I hoped I would.  The swim was slow and I probably could have gone faster but I got stuck behind a slow person.  The swim was in a pool so it was very difficult to pass.  I got 105th in the swim out of 160 in my age group.  The bike was so fun.  I passed people the whole way and got 42th in the bike portion.  The run went well.  I was hoping to finish it in 30 min when I basically did.  Overall I came in 84th.  Wahoo!!!

I was happy with that.  The feeling of completing a physical challenge like that is awesome.  Would I do it again?  Yep!  But I haven't wanted to jump right back into training.  I'm hoping to maybe do another in the fall.  

Here are a few pics: