See Jean Run

I was going through our massive database of photos, and realized there are ones I need to get on the blog to share.  Some of them don’t seem right without posting a little story of what was going so here is a hodge podge of pictures and stories:

Jonas playing/eating in his high chair.  An update on eating: I am still making all of Jonas’s baby food.  So far, he has been introduced to sweet potatoes, sweet peas, avocado, pears, green beans, oatmeal, and as of last night, apples.   He does not turn down any of it.  The amounts have  increased incredibly over the past week.  Just last night, Jonas took down half an avocado, a serving of sweet potato, 2 servings of apples, and a baby bowl full of oatmeal.  Serving is measured by the amount held in one ice cub tray section.  My favorite part of eating is he now opens his mouth when he sees the spoon coming.  Towards the end when he is getting full, he begins to play and fusses to hold the spoon “to feed himself”.

I attempted to do some decorations for Halloween.  My favorite were these ghosts stuffed with newspapers.  I made Hot Hubs and Jonas stand next to them to take their picture…this is my favorite because Jonas looks so fat and healthy.

In the spirit of Election Day, I dressed Jonas up all patriotic for day care.  I swear this picture he is forcing a smile and saying to me, “Seriously?!”

There was one day I got out of class early and it was a GORGEOUS fall day.  I found a trail/park close to our house and took Jonas for a walk.  The best part was taking him out of his stroller, and letting him touch leaves, tree trunks, wooden bridges, rocks…it gets me soooo excited for next year when we can truly go exploring together.

Jonas is absolutely fascinated with Sparky.  He will be in the middle of something and if he sees Sparky enter a room or move, he stops what he is doing and stares at Sparky.  Here, Sparky got close enough for Jonas to reach out and grab him.

We had a little get together for a doctor Hot Hubs works with who returned from Iraq.  I went way overboard and dressed Jonas like a little man in cords and a button down shirt.  I used this same outfit the other day when he had picture day at school. I eagerly await the results of Jonas’s classic first “school” pictures.  According to the gals at daycare, he smiled really big!  Here is a Mommy and Jonas photo shoot compliments of Hot Daddy (don’t you love the Spock-like ears?):

So, I ran a half-marathon a couple of weekends ago. I was extremely nervous for it because I never ran more than 6 miles when I was supposed to be “training”. “Training” just did not really happen because 1) I am lazy 2) Baby joggers are heavy to push after 3 miles (again, lazy), and 3) I am lazy and tired. But apparently, when you have ran 2.5 marathons in the past (0.5 comes from the Chicago marathon last year that went wrong on so many levels), your muscles and bones have this memory reserve so they just do and thank the heavens it’s only 13.1 miles.

I ran the first 6 miles with Kendra, who was being a superstar and running the full marathon. (Read about her experience here). Once we parted (sniff, sniff), I was feeling pretty good so picked up my pace, and ran into my next door neighbor Jill. I ran with her for a few miles, then parted because I was feeling really, really good and wanting to go a little bit faster. At mile 9, I look at my watch and see I am at 1:30, and think to myself, I could get under 2 hours IF I run 7 minute mile pace! This thought lasted for about 5 seconds, when I realized I could get under 2 hours and 15 minutes by not killing myself and running a pace I haven’t ran since high school! So, I kicked my ars into high gear and finished around 2 hours and 6 minutes - my second fastest mini-marathon time! The experience was a real ego booster.

However, I got my race pictures. Are race pictures EVER supposed to not look absolutely ridiculous? In the link I have, I like how my lead leg looks emaciated only because the picture was taken at a point when my leg fat jiggle just happened to retract behind my leg. And looking at the pictures, I now realize 1) my favorite yellow racing shirt is waaay too small as my belly fat is hanging out in every picture and 2) I need a haircut…badly. Sigh.

****EDIT****

Per Kendra’s comment, the links might not work for you.  So if you are really curious about my emaciated leg, go to Capstone Photography, and enter my bib# 5328.  Thanks, K!

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Because I just got an adorable voicemail from my friend Liz with her son saying “Hi Jonas” and “Hi Aunt Jean”…my heart melted.  And since Graham has his momma refreshing the laughing video over and over, Jonas and I decided to do a personal shout out to him. And Liz, I’ll call you as soon as I can get Jonas down here soon!  (I amaze myself sometimes with my one-handed computer typing capabilities)

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Because they’re just too darn cute

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Probably because it took me a little bit to put it together, but once secured, Jonas loves it! This way his poor little belly doesn’t touch his chin like it did when I had him in his Bumbo.

Of course putting it together last night, led me to feeding Jonas about 2 hours later than normal. A red flag SHOULD have gone off in my head to have stopped my hands from feeding him. Because the misery the poor boy endured for the next three hours where he was tired, but couldn’t lay flat without food coming up finally led to him throwing up the entire contents of his stomach about 10:30pm, THEN he fell asleep. Poor guy, his mom is still learning and not using common sense!!

I am not quite sure where this week went and what exactly I accomplished. I know I feel somewhat like a gerbil on a wheel knowing I need to run my little heart out to get things done, but not really going anywhere with the amount of effort I put into it. I know one day I will be a proficient nurse, it just feels like that day is very, very, very far in the future. But the end to my first semester is in sight (and even closer to when J-man and I will be flying out to see our pals Liz and Graham!!!).

I would have to say the best procrastination tool second to internet and cleaning is Jonas. I tend to focus all my energy into him when he is awake though there are numerous days he wants me to leave him alone to play, which I should be thanking the study gods, but tend to blow these moments on my #2 and #3 procrastination tools.

So, what Jonas and I have been up to since poor daddy is on Trauma ICU this month and gets a puny one day off a week –

Courting Abby -

“Hey girl, don’t cry, it’s ok, Jonas is here to drool on you and melt those sorrows away” [Note how Jonas is up OFF his belly - this has been the latest development in his movement!!]

“Oh, thank you, Jonas. Your constant drooling makes me feel soooo much better”

“”Now let’s drool and chew together, baby

Another chunk of our time is spent in the car to and fro errands and visiting peeps, I am always amazed at how quickly Jonas can fall asleep when being driven around.

With Hot Hubs on call all day Saturday, I knew the chance of me getting studying done was pretty slim, plus I was itching to do some kind of road trip. So I called up Uncle Chris, and Jonas and I headed up to Purdue. Wasn’t too smart in my last minute planning as this weekend was Homecoming as well as getting close to Halloween. Jonas met lots of drunk people, by far the best was this random girl who took his picture at the restaurant we ate dinner!! Uncle Chris was a previous tour guide for Purdue University so Jonas and I got to see an actual pretty side of Purdue - who would have thought this was possible?! The coolest thing we saw was this fountain:

The name of it escapes my memory, but I do recall how it was built by a bunch of very nerdy engineers who put a little wind sensor at top so the fountain will adjust based on wind speed and direction so the spray never exceeds a particular outer circle. Pretty freakin’ sweet. And if you didn’t notice by Jonas’s stroller attire, it’s getting cold in Indiana. SUCK.

With a long, country drive back home, my mind got to wondering how one day Jonas may go to college. I really cannot fathom him talking at this point so the idea of him being a functioning human being in society amused my brain for the hour drive home. What kind of person will my son be? What things do I do now will impact him later on? Will he always greet people with a wide open mouth? Will he be this smiley later in life? What will he grow up to be? Of course, when I am in the car alone with him I talk all these random thoughts out loud in rhetorical questions to Jonas. I think all my inquiries got the best of him and may have got him thinking too:

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 Given the wonderful hand me downs Jonas receives, I got into his winter hat collection the other day to see which ones I liked best. Personally, I like them all for different reasons.

That’s what I thought.