Sporty Girl Jewelry!

I spotted this giveaway on one of my favorite blogs and had to share!!  

"@blondeponytail is hosting a Sporty Girl Jewelry giveaway"

I love reading Jess' posts and she inspires me to keep getting out there and covering my miles :)  

Check out her blog and her giveaway!!

It's Ice Cream Time

Sorry for being all MIA, y'all.   Been busy here trying to get in my runs and work and tend to my wonderful family of boys :)  

(yes, I have in fact done all of those things...well, except sew, I haven't had to sew this week...yet)

Fear not, dear friends, I am back with a healthy dose of kid pics :) I figure you can only see SO many pics of me pre- or post-run around the neighborhood.  When I run somewhere cool I will post more running pictures, 'kay?

Funniest thing this morning - W came in while I was putting Bear down for a nap and told me it was "ice cream time."  Sure enough, I peeked out of Bear's room and there he was, scooping up cups of ice cream for both of us.  I wished I could take a picture right then, but I settled for taking a picture after I got Bear down to show how proud W was of himself.  He got out the cups (one for each of us), his little toddler spoon, scooped ice cream into both cups, and then went and got me a big spoon.  Of course, he ate both cups of it while I was busy taking his picture over and over :)  But seriously, what a sweetie my little guy is!!

My half marathon training is picking up now for reals.  I ran 16.5 miles last week, with a long run of 6.5 miles on Saturday.  It was hot, but I figure Labor Day weekend in Va Beach is likely to be hot, too, so training in some heat will be for the best.  I took the dogs and we were all grateful for some strategic walk breaks when we hit some nice shady spots.  Mr. Garmin's GPS was acting all cray-cray, so I just ended up using him for total time.

hey, can you fix my garmin??

This week, I rested Monday, did an easy 3 today, and then am going to try and get in several more shorter runs early in the day with an 8-miler this weekend.  Keep me accountable, puh-leeze?  Seriously hard to be motivated to get out and run when it's so hot and humid with all these heat advisories, boo!  

Monster Trucks

My poor Bear is teething really badly and is running a fever and is such a sad little dude :(  I hope he's better soon.  Right now he just wants to be held and comforted.  Of course I'm happy to snuggle with him as much as I can!

For now it's back to work ...

...and it really IS ice cream time for me - hubby got me a Frosty! Yay!

What I learned today

1. My dogs cannot handle a midday run in the summertime (I only walked because of Beamer, honest)
2. A kiddie pool with an inflatable slide provides hours of fun for a 2 1/2 year old and is a completely shrewd investment to entertain and wear out a toddler
3. Sometimes it IS possible to have 2 kids in bed at 6:30pm 
4. How to add an RSS Feed option to the blog so people can follow it in their reader (thanks, Jenn!)
5. I must actually save pictures I find from the web to my computer rather than being lazy and doing a quick copy-paste :)  Oops, sorry if images haven't been showing up guys!!
6. Even though he's only 2 and his tastes fluctuate by the minute, it still kinda hurts my feelings when W spits out the dinner I cooked and says "it's gross."
7. I need a new computer that can handle photo editing and uploading :) (sorry for the lack of visual stimulation today, I'm having a turd-ton of trouble uploading pics from my camera, and darn if I don't have some uber cute ones of the boys to share!!  Soon, promise.)
   
8. Will and Kate have left the country...

Oh. My. Goodness. (Literally, goodness)

I had seen on another blog I follow something that I've been wanting to try - Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter.  I mean, seriously, how can that not be incredible??  So, at the grocery store yesterday I saw it and grabbed a jar.  I had some today on a frozen waffle and topped it with sliced bananas...seriously incredible!  Mega goodness.  I ate it all before I took a picture, so you'll have to wait till next time for some foodie pics with the Dark Chocolate Dreams :)

A new friend in our house.

New Police-Mom Forced to take Leave without Pay

I saw this article today and had to share and comment...

In Washington, DC, there is a new mom that is having to take LWOP in order to continue breastfeeding her 2nd child.  I am a huge proponent of breastfeeding and feel very blessed that I've been so successful in nursing both my kids.  I can hardly believe that she is facing this issue as a result of a newer policy in the department apparently meant to keep officers from taking advantage of "illnesses" or "injuries."

The issue is that she cannot wear her bulletproof vest since it does not fit her nursing figure and could cause clogged ducts, pain, and even decreased supply from the compression.  She'd served in a desk job capacity right after returning from leave, but then was expected to go back on patrol.  Even after an examination by a department doctor and his/her recommendation that she be returned to a desk job, the request was denied and since she just came back from leave and has no vacation time, leave without pay is her only option as long as she plans to continue breastfeeding.  That's a long time to go without an income since the AAP recommends breastfeeding for a child's first year (exclusively for the first 6 months).  Not to mention it does not do much for recruiting or retention for the department...sheesh.

Anyway, here's the link to the article:  http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/2011/07/breast-feeding-dc-cop-forced-take-leave-without-pay 

Celeb Kids

So, I saw a picture today of Kingston Rossdale's blue mohawk!  Now, I know he's had his hair bleached for quite a while.  But I was honestly surprised to see it since he's only 5.  I mean he's clearly adorable, but I would never think to bleach or dye my kids' hair that young.  There was a big stink in celeb gossip world last week or the week before that Courteney Cox's daughter had gotten blue-purple highlights and she's 7 or so I think.  But it seems like a little bit of a double standard that there's (apparently) no worry over dyeing a little boy's hair blue...? 

I also just saw that Natalie Portman named her baby boy Aleph.  At first, I thought, "huh??" but then I read the meaning of the name and think it's kinda cool.  Not a name for us, but I do like names that have meaning and can appreciate that!!

I feel like my little W is still wayyy too young for something like hair bleaching or dyeing - he's still my little baby (arguably, he probably always will be).  What do you guys think???