Winter Happenings...

this is going to be a bunch of random updates from the last two months or so that just never got mentioned. first story on the agenda...aaron has entered a few swim meets this winter. he joined masters meets with a few friends (mainly lani) and had two meets. as if competing in triathlons weren't enough, during the slow season for those, he still needs to compete so swim meets were the fill-in. he's done pretty well and seems to enjoy them so thats good. he also mentioned that he doesn't get nearly as nervous as he used to so the high school swim meet anxiety attacks are possibly a thing of the past :-). the first meet was pretty small and he did well, winning a few heats and races. the second meet was a lot of bigger and more competitive but he still did pretty well. this second meet was LONG though. we spent two solid days there. my poor parents were such troopers. they were in town that weekend visiting and spent the whole thing at a hot humid pool. they loved getting to se him compete of course, just like i do, but there's so much down time between his events it requires a lot of sitting around. so theres a few pics below of the meet and aaron swimming. hopefully the video will work too...the video is to serve as motivation for my mother-in-law to embrace the fact that she could indeed enter one of these meets...she would be WAY ahead of the game compared to the swimmer in the video...my narration of it also mentions that this lady doesn't help the time factor connected to this meet!

random preggo story for ya...i have a new hero and she is a manager at the local old navy. so i have one pair of maternity jeans that i basically wear every time i need to wear clothes that aren't workout related. (no, mom, i don't need more clothes....i just really like these jeans). its hard for me to find pants because most stores don't sell long lengths but old navy has a few and this one has worked out perfectly. so i notice that the stitching on the beloved stretch panel are coming out and then i notice that there's actually a hole in the panel too! scary because these are literally are my only pair of pants...can't have a pregnant lady with no pants! so i don't have the receipt, the tags are obviously off, etc. i go to see if i can just swap them out for another pair but they don't have any more left. so i go to the counter and ask if another store has them anywhere. the only other store that carries maternity is about 45 minutes away...boo. so my new hero asks me if i'm willing to drive there. now, granted, i would have because thats how much i needed this one pair of pants...obviouosly though, i didn't want to make the drive. so i told her that. she just nods and then picks up the phone. in the interest of shortening the story i'm just gonna tell you the result. she took back the pair i had for full price even though they were worn and i had no receipt. she then calls the old navy shipping place with the style number and has them send me a new pair to my house! and she didn't even charge me shipping or anything! so you may think that she'd been pregnant and understood the importance of a pregnant girls only pair of pants...nope, she was really young so she was just THAT helpful. so, bottom line, i am now a loyal old navy shopper! and you should be too!

other news...we've made some household updates. last week my parents were here so the new floor in the living room and entryway finally went in! it was a group effort at times including aaron, my dad, bobby, mitch and his dad, and jory (who was in town for a class all week). my dad worked so stinking hard to get it done for us and it looks great! i love it! the carpet was so old it made the house look old and dirty...now the house looks so much newer! i have already noticed however, you see everything on a wood floor. more cleaning necessary. oh well. i don't have a picture because we just finished repainting the molding and stuff so we're just now putting the room back together. i'll post some pics in the next few days. the other household change is the baby's room. the painting is done, the crib and dresser are in place, the glider chair is ordered and most of the clothes are washed and put away! getting closer and closer to being ready. again, i'll post a picture when its more put together. next on the baby agenda is getting the car seat and stroller out of the boxes and set up as well as packing the hospital bag. i have a little over 4 weeks left so i guess it can happen at any time now. what a scary thought!

we also just came home from the MAI staff retreat. it was a great time of connecting with people from the other offices. we don't get to do that often. it also served as a reunion for the chicago staff which was fun. we got a chance to plan a little in person, as well as meet the new couple that will be there with us this summer. they seem great and i'm really excited about them joining us!

well i guess thats all for now. aaron's got a duathlon this weekend and friends from atlanta are coming up to do it with him so we'll have company again this weekend. after that i think things will slow down a little...maybe. i always think that and then it doesn't quite happen that way :-)