It Was Bound To Happen

Today I had one of the worst runs I've had in a long, long time. I'm chalking it up to two things - 1) I'm fighting off a head cold, and 2) It was warm and very muggy when I was out running. 

I still managed to pull off a 9:16 pace for the 5.5 miles I ran, but it felt really difficult. And I had hoped to run 6 or 7 miles, but it just wasn't gonna happen today. No biggie - they can't all be good ones, right?

My bike ride yesterday was fabulous, though - rode 24 miles in an hour and 20 minutes. I'm loving my long weekend bike rides lately!

The rest of our weekend was good. The boys each had a soccer game Saturday, and Scott took them to their games while I finished up the garden. Everything is now planted, and mulched, and fertilized (with organic fertilizer). 

We started off the weekend nicely, too - had some friends over Friday night for a cookout. The kids ran around the backyard like maniacs, and we had burgers and hotdogs, and for dessert I made my first strawberry rhubarb pie of the season, and if I do say so myself, it was soooooooooo good! It had been a while since we got together, so it was fun to hang out with everyone. 

The boys are doing well. Dante had a cold last week, and now Carmine and I have it. Gabe has been coughing a lot, but we're pretty sure that for him, it's allergies - he had problems with allergies last spring, too. We're giving him allergy medication, and hoping that it helps. 

Gabe and Dante have been giving us a ton of trouble at night lately. They've been sharing a room for a long time now, and did so well with it for such a long time, but for the past month or so, they've been terrible about going to sleep at night. 

I've even told them that I'd have no problem with them talking quietly or reading books if they're having trouble going to sleep. But they go way beyond that - there's jumping on beds, throwing of stuffed animals, and general craziness. 

We've taken away so many things by way of punishment, but nothing seems to be working, and we're running out of ideas. We've taken to separating them, since Carmine isn't sleeping in his room right now, but eventually he will be, and we won't have that option anymore. I'm hoping this is just a phase and that it doesn't last too much longer. 

They just have such a way of going off the deep end as soon as they get together. Alone, they can certainly act goofy and silly and even a little crazy, but when they get together, it becomes all-out chaos. Car rides are particularly rough, and both Scott and I have used the infamous "Do you want me to pull this car over right now?!" line on several occasions, and have in fact pulled the car over on some of those occasions, too. 

Some days I feel like they're either at each other's throats, or they're in cahoots, conspiring against me. They're never as well-behaved as when they're working together to do something they know all too well that they shouldn't be doing! 

Carmine has his 4-month checkup this Wednesday. He'll be getting some more vaccinations - poor baby. We stopped in at the breastfeeding support group last week, and he's only been gaining about 3 oz. per week for the past few weeks (we hadn't been there in a while). Average weight gain for a baby his age/size is 4 - 8 oz. per week, so he's definitely a little below the curve. But I'm not freaking out about it, because the kid is so amazingly happy, and seems perfectly healthy and content in every way. 

We'll see what the pediatrician says. Hopefully there's no problem. He's truly one of the happiest babies I've ever seen, and is meeting all of his developmental milestones, so I think all in all, he's doing great. He seriously never stops smiling, and his smile just lights up the room. He loves his brothers, and it's so great to see him respond to them. They're all such cuties. They all drive me insane at one point or another, but I am so incredibly lucky to have them, and they're so incredibly lucky to have each other - one day they'll understand that. 

Comments

[Wes]

Hmmm... If two can come up with some interesting plots, I wonder how three will do :-)

[Shawn]

Just wanted to let you know that I am signing up for the Naval Station Newport Sprint Tri as part of a relay team! I will be doing the swim and bike and a guy from work will run. REally excited about this race!