So, Jeff decided he needed his own blog. Check it out http://jeffmery.com
asides
Silversun Pickups – Swoon
This is the best album I have heard in *years*. That’s not a statement I make lightly. Do yourself a favor and just buy it. Now. No, really, I’ll wait.
Nine Years
How has it been nine years already?
Yesterday, Jeff and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary, and we both forgot! Or should I say that we didn’t remember? We knew it was coming, it just kind of snuck up on us. Anyways, thanks to Uncle Todd, we were able to enjoy dinner at La Margarita all by ourselves and Jeff forced me to eat ice cream treated me to Maggie Moo’s for dessert. With everything going on these days, it was a nice little evening that we really enjoyed.
Here’s to another nine years!
I did it!
That’s me (and Jen) crossing the finish line of the 3M Half Marathon! I ran 13.1 miles in 2:16:26 (2 hours, 16 minutes and 26 seconds). My goal was to stay under 2:30:00. Yes, the clock in the picture shows 2:18:48, but that’s gun time, not chip time. The start line is about the same width as the finish line in the picture, so it takes a while for everybody (4179 people) to get through. That’s where the timing chip comes in. If you look real close, you’ll see an orange tag on my right shoe laces. That’s an RFID tag that registered my time when I crossed the start line, mid-way point and finish line.
The start was at 7am and it was less than 40 degrees. I had a jacket and gloves, but got rid of them the first time I saw Jeff, Cooper and my parents (between miles 5 and 6) because I got hot. I was enjoying the scenery in mile 8 and just happened to notice that my friend, Jen, from church, was running right next to me. Neither of us had realized it. She had passed me in the first mile, so I wasn’t expecting to see her until the finish line. She is a personal trainer and ran in the San Antonio marathon in November. She told me that she hadn’t really trained for this race and had just been doing strength training in the gym. She had to stop once to stretch and again to use the restroom (that’s how I caught up with her). We ended up running the rest of the way together because her legs were not holding up very well. I think she helped me to not slow down and I was able to run the second half of the race faster than the first half.
All in all, I had a great run. It was a great experience. My legs are pretty sore today and my knees don’t seem to want to work properly, but I’m sure that will pass. I’m not sure what my next race will be, but I will continue running. Jeff is training for the Austin Marathon, February 15th. He wants me to try a marathon, but we’ll just have to wait and see how he does first.
More pics here.
Twenty Five and Twenty Six Months
I think I’m finally catching up on things. I’m still waiting on some pics from Tahoe and some from my mom from this past week. Once I get those posted, I’ll let you know. For now, here are Cooper’s last two letters. Enjoy!
Twenty Five Months:
Dear Cooper,
On December 20th, you turned twenty five months old. This month started off celebrating your 2nd birthday with Mama and Papa Mery in Houston. You love your new ‘mobicycle.’ Your first Harley. You can’t quite reach the pedals, but it won’t be long.
Next we traveled to Arlington for Thanksgiving and you had a second birthday party at G-Mama and G-Papa’s house.
When we got back from our ‘Tour of Texas,’ it was time to decorate for Christmas. One problem, your slide was where the Christmas tree usually stands. So, we decided we would see how you would do sleeping in a big boy bed. You took your usual three hour nap, so we took down your crib and moved your slide into your room.
You had no problem transitioning from a crib to a twin bed. Have I mentioned how awesome you are?
You are getting so excited about Christmas! You love looking at all the lights on the houses in the neighborhood and every time you wake up in the morning, you make me turn on the lights on the Christmas tree.
You know that Santa Claus brings toys to all the good little boys and girls, so I make sure to remind you to be good.
You also like all the sweet treats that come with the Christmas season and you like to help me in the kitchen.
I can’t wait for Christmas morning, now that you sort of understand what is going on. It’s so exciting watching you grow.
Love,
Mommy
Twenty Six Months:
Dear Cooper,
On January 20th, you turned twenty six months old. Another month of traveling. This month started in Houston for Christmas with Mama and Papa Mery. When I put you to bed on Christmas Eve, I told you that you had to go right to sleep because Santa wouldn’t come and bring toys until you were asleep. The next morning when you called for me to come get you, I came in the door and the first words out of your mouth were ‘Santa bring toys?’ You are so smart!
You loved the cars and trucks that Santa brought you, but I think your favorite toy was the gift given to you from Mama and Papa Mery. They got you a trash truck. You squealed with delight as you were opening it and you played with it all day. You also had fun playing Uncle Roberts video game.
We then travelled to Arlington for a second Christmas with all of Mommy’s extended family. You enjoyed playing with Bryton, Mackenzie and Samantha. You were also able to say all of their names clearly, which surprised a lot of people. Again, you squealed with delight when you opened a police car, ambulance and police helicopter.
We came home just before the New Year and we met with the November Babies for our first play date in quite a while. Everyone is getting so big!
You still really love to be outside, but the weather has been a little unpredictable. Warm one day, cold the next. When it’s warm, you spend a lot of time outside. You still can’t quite reach the pedals, but you love to ride your motorcycle (and you say the word properly now). You are a cool kid!
Mommy and Daddy went on vacation with Danny and Jenny and some other friends this month. You got to stay with Mama and Papa Choo-Choo for a whole week. You had so much fun. You got to go on a big choo-choo with Papa again and G-Papa took you on a real choo-choo ride in Grapevine. When Mommy and Daddy came back, you looked like you grew a whole foot. You are growing up way too fast!
You are able to speak in sentences, although they don’t always make sense. You have so much to say that you talk really fast and sometimes it’s hard to understand you. You are starting to use pronouns, although you still speak in the third person a lot. Right now, everything is ‘mine’. “That’s my truck, that’s my chair”, etc.
You are a typical two-year old. You try to do everything on your own and if you can’t or if someone tries to help, you throw a fit. Mommy and Daddy have to be sure to follow through with threats of time-out and spankings. If not, you will keep pushing. I know it is worth the effort it takes to discipline you, even though it can be hard. We do it because we love you and we want you to know the difference between right and wrong. We hope you will learn to always do what is right.
Love,
Mommy
I’m baaack!
Hello internet, it’s been awhile. Well, we completed our second ‘tour of Texas’ in a month just before the New Year. Needless to say, I’ve been taking it easy for a few days, trying to recover. Jeff went back to work today for the first time in two weeks, so things should be back to normal, at least until this Saturday. We will be travelling back to Arlington, only to drop Cooper off at my mom’s house before we hop a plane to Lake Tahoe for an adults only vacation. Heavenly, here we come! We will be joined in Tahoe by Danny, Jenny, Mikey, Jen, Gilbert and Kevin. Should be a great time on the slopes and in the casinos (a gambler, I’m not).
As for our recent travels, we left on the 20th, spent Christmas in Houston with Jeff’s folks, made our way to Arlington for a second Christmas with my extended family and made it back to Austin on the 29th. While we were in Arlington, I scanned an old family portrait from when I was around three years old. Check it out, Cooper really does look like me!
I know I’m behind on Cooper’s 25 month letter. I’m hoping to get it done soon, although it may be a combined 25/26 month letter, with our vacation this next week. We’ll see how much I can get done this week with work, MOPS and packing.
Eat my dust, Nike +
Happy Thanksgiving!
This morning, Jeff, Ana (my sister-in-law) and I ran in the Fort Worth Turkey Trot 10K, www.fwtrot.org. My unofficial time was 01:03:17, much better than my time during the Nike + Human Race this past August. My longest run so far is still 8.25 miles, so 13.1 miles (half-marathon) still seems like an obscene distance. It’s more than 2x the 10K (6.2 miles) I ran this morning. I’m supposed to run 9 miles on Saturday, yikes!
Mileage Update
So, a couple of months ago, I wrote about how I ran 53 miles in one month. Well, I thought I’d give you an update, now that I’m training for my first half-marathon (13.1 miles). In the last four weeks, I have run a total of 68 miles. Crazy, huh? I’ve started getting up early in the morning to run when Jeff gets back from his early morning run. He gets up around 5:45ish and when he gets back from his run around 6:30ish, it’s my turn. That way, he’s ready to go to work when I get back and we don’t have to worry about Cooper, who usually wakes up around 7:30. I’m really enjoying running outside in the fresh air and now that the weather is starting to cool down, it’s especially nice. On the weekends, Jeff gets up early to run with his running club (he’s training for a full marathon, 26.2 miles) and when he gets home around 9:15, he watches Cooper while I run. He’s up to 10 miles on the weekends, I’m up to 8.25 miles. The half-marathon is in January, so I guess we’ll see if I make it.