Motivation is a must!

I ran track in high school - just to do something when swimming ended.
I ran in spurts ever since.

But the furthest I ever ran was a 5K.

A friend has proposed something that I don't think I can pass up:
Rock-n-Roll 1/2 marathon in Pittsburgh on August 4th.

A bunch of Lady Gator Swimming Alum are on board,
which makes it even more enticing.

Training will be a challenge for me with working part time,
being on call every other week,
taking care of 2 little ones,
and having a husband who works A LOT during the summer.

My solution - getting up early on my days off and getting my
run in before the girls wake up.

Hope I can do it!

April 2012 - Alena 12 months

What a busy month!  Full Easter egg hunts, Easter parties, birthday parties, and lots and lots of cake!

Alena is on the move.  She started walking a few weeks ago and is pretty steady on her feet now.  I really didn't think that she would walk for another month or so, but she proved me wrong!  I have to constantly be on the look out for her because she is getting into EVERYTHING!  Her favorite thing to do these days is to plop down on Luci's Elmo couch and sprawl out - it's so adorable!

Alena is now able to feed herself so well that she eats table food for every meal now.  It's nice not to have to sit there and feed her all the time.  I just break up or cut up whatever ever I am eating and she goes to town.  If we are at a restaurant, I just keep putting food in front of her and that keeps her contained and happy.  It amazes me how well she eats because she still only has her 2 front bottom teeth - and that's it!  Luci had 8 teeth by her 1st birthday - it's crazy how different they are!

Luci plays so nicely with her now that she is more like a toddler than a baby - well, most of the time that is.  Luci doesn't realize that Alena isn't as strong or as steady as she is and therefore she is a little rough with her at times, but Alena loves the attention from her big sister.

I decided to go crazy and bake them each their own birthday cakes.  Luci is obsessed with watching how to bake and decorate different kinds of cakes on my iphone, so I got a kit for a princess cake and made Luci a Cinderella cake, and Alena got a Belle cake.  I felt very domesticated doing those!

We also had a big birthday fiesta for both girls - with birthdays only 9 days apart - they will forever have joint birthday parties!  We had lots of family and friends to a fun place with food and games.   It was a definite success and the girls loved it.

We love that the warm weather has returned and we hope that it is here to stay now.  We really look forward to next month when the pool opens and we can go swimming!