I am officially a Shealy!

Well, I guess you could say I have been an official Shealy for a little over 6 years now but I am starting to think that I am really more of a Shealy in spirit than I have admitted to being in the past. Can the desire for structure, hard work, and discipline seep in by osmosis or something? Or is that just called marriage?

As much as I really love summer - and I do love summer! - I am looking forward to the fall with great anticipation. These long, lazy summer days are starting to wear on me. I am longing for some structure. I want to wake up and know that I have specific things to accomplish. I can't take many more of these there-is-no-plan-our-options-are-limitless kind of days. I am like my two year old. I function much better with limits!

Fortunately for me there are two big things on my fall horizon that should help me with this problem. First of all - and this is a hallelujah moment - we signed Noah up for preschool. On Sept 2nd he will start going on Tues and Thurs mornings for 3 glorious hours! He will learn to be a little more independent, make some friends, and I will be able to accomplish an entire task without having to stop to talk him down off the ledge of a temper tantrum. It will be pure bliss.....

It will also leave me time for the second thing that I am so excited about...training for my next half-marathon. I am all signed up to run the Spinx Half Marathon in Greenville, SC at the end of October. It will be fun for a couple reasons. First of all, my old running partner Priscilla, and my new running partner Catherine are both going to run it too. Also, I think I can really improve on my time from my last half. I want to come in around 2 hours and I really think I can do it. I have been a little speedier lately and with my training plan all laid out I am ready to go.

That brings me to today....I met up with Catherine for our weekly run up the Cooper River Bridge. We have decided it will prepare us for anything. Running up a steep grade while pushing 50 pounds of jogging stroller in the hot sun is very effective training! It sounds miserable but I have to say it is sooo much fun. And good for me. Having had a bad attitude from a rough morning I finished that run and felt...I don't know, clean, or something. Yes indeed, things are definitely looking up!

Noah Has Gone Crazy....

.....and here is all the proof that you need!

In other news, I have gone crazy too! (You know, because of my insane 2 year old!) This week has been one extended temper tantrum and I am on the verge of seriously considering spiking his milk tonight in the hopes of 12 solid hours without high pitched screaming. I'm kidding, I"m kidding...kind of.

In order to keep the mental breakdown at bay I went for a run last night and went so fast I almost killed myself. (The upside - I have discovered the secret to speed. Become so stressed out that you have to self medicate with exercise endorphins.) Anyway, afterwards I was so tired and my muscles were on the verge of totally cramping up, so I sat down to roll them out with my nifty foam roller. (You laugh, but it works!) Noah joined me and payed very close attention to what I was doing as I rolled out my calves and quads....

.....and then, in typical "I'm Noah and only need to see something once to get it down" fashion he proceeded to roll out his quads!

He was very pleased with himself!

Now how can I stay mad at that? (I can't and he knows it! It's all part of his plan...damn!)

These are for you Emily!

Okay, I have always meant to put up pictures of our new house but there always seems to be something going on that prevents from doing it. Mostly, it's that every time I think to do it there are a hundred matchbox cars lining my floor or dirty dishes overtaking my kitchen. A couple of days ago my friend Emily made a request for some pictures and yesterday my friend Priscilla said she wanted to see some too because she was starting to think that our house didn't exist and that we might actually live in a trailer!

So without further ado, because Emily asked so nicely - and to prove to Priscilla that we don't

live in a trailer - here our some pictures of the house......

It is all a work in progress - we have yet to find a dining room table we like (and can afford!) so this is our make-shift one.

Looking from the kitchen into the dining room.....

....and the kitchen into the living room.

This is the living room - I just ordered some fabric for curtains so that should add some color!

Master bedroom - notice the bare walls. Like I said, work in progress!

The only fully decorated room -Noah's! My Mom painted the Cars pictures on the wall.

We have a huge bonus room at the top of the stairs. Here is one side....

....and this is the other!

This guest room is somewhat put together - the other is empty except for some random toys and an air mattress.

And finally, here is the view from our top porch - you can see our mostly empty neighborhood!

Watching Le Tour

Because it is summer and there is a lack of decent television on, Wes and I have been watching the Tour de France coverage every evening. It is strangely addictive - even Noah has been sucked in. At first he was just in the room goofing around with us....

But then he started watching pretty intently, screaming, "It's bicycles! Go Bicycles!".....

And before we knew it, he was totally mesmerized, staying in the room to watch even after we left!

Did You See the Flying Pigs?

Tonight, at 7:15? Did you see them? Pigs streaking across the sky? That's right, tonight at 7:15 pigs flew because Noah was eating vegetables!

For those of you who don't know, Noah has been on a veggie boycott for months. He will eat grapes, pear, and cantaloupe but that is it! The rest is one big carb fest of crackers and more crackers. Until tonight, when he casually walked up to Wes, pointed at his green beans and said, "want some". He then proceeded to eat all of Wes' green beans, ask for more, and finish those too. I stared at him, dumbfounded. What had changed? Why the sudden change of heart? Then I ran to the window to look for the flying pigs.

Long Summer Days

Not much is going on with us Shealys. I have been wondering what to post about because we are seriously very boring right now! Wes has been working - a lot - and Noah and I have been enjoying the long summer days. We usually make it outside in the morning and again in the evening because it is definitely too hot to be out during the middle of the day.

The most exciting thing to happen in my life is the new addition to our garage....my new bike! It was an early birthday present that I got so I could have a way to cross train on my non-running days. I'm not very good at riding it yet - oh, I'm fine going in a straight line but throw in a hairpin turn and things get a little shaky. (In fact the other day I crashed into a curb in the back of my neighborhood...thank goodness its all empty houses back there and nobody saw how ridiculous I looked!) It is a good workout though. Riding is fun because it feels so easy but at the end I take off my helmet, get off the bike, and am surprisingly sweaty and tired.

Wes and I have both been trying to run a lot too. We want to run another half marathon in the fall/early winter and are trying to work back up to some longer runs. I surprised myself by running 5 miles in 43 minutes yesterday so I have high hopes for improving my race times!

Noah is also enjoying all these outdoor activities. He LOVES to be outside. It's funny because we take him to the park and try to get him to play on the playground but he much prefers to head to the running trails and go on "nature walks". He collects rocks and points out all the animals he sees. He can go forever too....a couple miles at a time which seems like a lot for a 2 year old! Maybe that explains why his little legs are solid muscle (bye bye baby fat!). Anyway, I think he is in for a rude awakening this fall when the days get shorter and colder and we can't spend all this time outside. Or maybe its me who's in for the rude awakening...how on earth will I ever entertain him?!

Well, like I said we are boring right now - if you made it all the way through this post you are a very loyal blog reader and I promise to provide something more exciting next time!

Farmers Market Saturdays

For the past several Saturdays Noah and I have been going downtown to visit the Charleston Farmers Market. Sometimes Wes joins us (when he is not working), and this week Bebe and Nana came to enjoy our downtown outing. It is such a fun Saturday morning activity. Aside from the fabulous (wonderfully priced) produce there are many other fun things. There is a fabulous crepe stand where we get crepes to eat while Noah runs around the park chasing birds. They also have bouncy houses for the kids - so far Noah is too wrapped up in the bird chasing for that! It's so cool to have an excuse to go hang out downtown and we really love getting fresh, locally grown produce and flowers.

This past Saturday, after our trip to the farmers market, Noah, Bebe, and I played outside with his new favorite toy - his sidewalk chalk. Noah calls it his "outside markers". He loves to draw with all the different colors, but most of all he likes directing other people about what to draw for him. We usually end up drawing all the different characters from the movie Cars. Here are a few pictures of us this past Saturday.....

Noah likes to store his chalk in the trunk of his car.

Bebe and Noah make works of art!

My limited artistic abilities mean that the best I can do is help Noah draw a race track for his cars.

Lessons from Trials

Okay, here is a warning for all my non running blog readers: this post will be all about running and running as a metaphor for life. I will not hold it against you if you skip my ramblings!

In all seriousness though, I just wanted to share an inspirational story with everyone. I have been watching the Olympic Track and Field Trials this past week (mostly way too late at night, as there is never live coverage of running events) and one of the best stories of the whole week was in my favorite race - the women's 10,000 meters.

First of all, you should know that to make the Olympic team you need to accomplish two things. Finish your race in the top three AND achieve the Olympic "A" time standard at some point during the year. The three women in the above picture all pulled away from the pack early on in the race and it was quite obvious that they would be the top three finishers. End of story for the first two runners, but not so for the runner in the third spot, Amy Begley. She had yet to achieve her "A" standard, so even if she finished third, but missed the time of 31:45 she would not be going to the Olympics. Towards the end of the race, the two leaders pulled away and the chances for Begley to make the team looked pretty hopeless. It didn't look like she was running fast enough to make her time. You can go to runners world and read more eloquently written accounts of the race than mine, but the point of the story is this. During her final lap, Amy Begley reached very deep down past her doubt and fear, and through a lot of physical pain, and gave everything she had to cross the finish line in 31:43:60. She made the Olympic team with 1.4 seconds to spare!

I am a sucker for a good story of athletes triumphing in the their sport, but this one is especially interesting to me. It makes me think about how often we give up on something because it seems impossible or people stop believing in us, or because it just plain seems to hard. I for one give into doubt all the time and give up on things way too soon. Who knows what I might be able to accomplish if I squashed my self doubt and pushed through the pain to the finish line. Next time I am in the middle of something hard I hope I can remember Amy Begley and how her determination and hard work let her accomplish something huge.

Oh, and here's another reason I love this story,

the "girly" display of joy expressed by teammates and good friends Kara Goucher and Amy Begley when they realized they had both made the team!

4th of July Fun

Since it was the fourth of July, a well known boating holiday, and also Cy's birthday, Wes' parents suggested we all get together for some boating fun. We readily agreed and left early yesterday morning (we are Shealy's after all!) to meet his family at the dock. We put the boat in, amongst many already drunk people, and headed up the intercoastal for some fun.

Noah requested early on to go "fast" - this was after his request to "drive the boat" was denied - and we spent a while just cruising around. Eventually we stopped so we could get in the water and let Noah go for a swim. We assumed that he would love it because of his new found water obsession.

You can't tell in the picture, but Wes and I are laughing because of the look on Noah's face once he got in. He did not want to be in that water and made they very clear by whining to get "back in boat please!" I think what he really hated was the life vest but he was required to wear it the whole trip anyway. We lifted him up into the boat and then he really enjoyed himself watching Mom and Dad struggle with the current. He laughed and mocked us like all good children should!

See all the mocking!

Anyway, we eventually got back in and finished our boating adventures just in time to get cleaned up for lunch. Despite our lack of a real dining room table we invited the family over to our place for some burgers and cookie cake. (There were other things as well but these were the high points!) Wes used his newly acquired paparazzi skills to take some fabulous family pics!

Here I am making, and sampling, my world famous guacamole. (A disclaimer: I am the only person who has deemed it "world famous").

Nana and Noah read his new favorite book while they wait for lunch.

Cy opens some birthday presents!

And here is my favorite picture....

.....perhaps the Colonel had one too many pieces of cookie cake! (or was it beer?)

After everyone left Wes, Noah and I all took a good long nap. Later that evening we went to Blockbuster to rent a movie. (Doesn't really constitute a rockin' 4th of July I know, but we do have a 2 year old...) Anyway, we also let Noah pick out a kiddie movie to rent - we had never done this before - and he thought it was so great! He loved picking it out, carrying it home and getting to watch it. We weren't so keen on his choice - episodes of the Backyardigans - but he was so cute about it we couldn't complain. (By the way, if you don't know about the Backyardigans don't worry - you will one day!) Here is Noah being very melodramatic about what is happening in his movie,

And here is a picture of Noah once he realized I was taking his picture. He was throwing out some cheesy grins while being blinded by the flash.

After we put Noah to bed, Wes and I watched our movie with some left over cookie cake. The perfect end to a fun holiday!

My Son the Baby Lion

Noah has a way with the ladies.

Ever since he got it for his birthday, The Lion King has been Noah's favorite movie. No, not favorite movie, obsession. Anyway, he quotes it as he watches and sings and dances to the music and recently has taken up roaring at the end of the movie when Simba reclaims Pride Rock as his own. The problem is that he thinks it is cool to roar like a lion all the time.

So yesterday Jessie (who was in town for a few days) and I took Noah to our neighborhood pool to "jump in the water" - his second favorite thing to do after watching The Lion King. We had the pool to ourselves for a while which was nice. Noah put on his swimmies and we splashed around the whole pool. Right before we were going to leave some people showed up and they had a little girl close to Noah's age. She came running up to Noah, who was standing in the shallow end, and gave him a big smile. I told him, "Noah, say hi!". He looked at me, grinned, turned to the girl and ROARED in her face! At first she was (understandably) confused. She smiled again and I silently prayed he would say hi this time. Nope. He roared again. This time so close to her face that she ran back to her parents at the other side of the pool. Noah giggled at this and then walked over to the top step and proceeded to roar even louder (in victory?) several times for all the pool to hear.

Yep, my son is that kid. The one who, not only is totally weird, but really seems to enjoy being totally weird! I am hoping that we outgrow this. Soon.