18 Month Update: A little late

I started this entry last month around Henry's 18-month "birthday" but didn't post it because I wanted to update from his doctor and cardiologist appointments.

It's really hard to believe that Henry is already 18 months old. A few days ago I was looking at some of the first videos I took on my phone (last July) and it is funny how little Henry still is. He wasn't even walking yet! Now it seems like he is turning into more and more of a "big boy" with every day that passes.

These days he's still very much into books. He's been interested in them for a long time and I hope that it never changes. He sometimes prefers books over any other toys, sometimes even at bedtime he'll cuddle up with a book. (But generally he likes to snuggle with Toby the Turtle.) He enjoys going to the library to look at books and also to do the puzzles. He also enjoys storytime there, especially at the end when the librarian takes out the bubble machine! He just finished up his last "Baby and Me" storytime and will move up to the next age group!

Henry is also getting to become interested in boy things like cars ("vroom vroom") and trains ("choo choo"). He still has his obsession with flags, mainly of the American variety. My parents got us a flag for our front yard and Henry insists on saluting it first thing every morning. (He can see it from one of his bedroom windows.)

As he gets older and more curious (and mischievous!) we've had to set limits and groundrules. He's very good at remembering what is a "no-no" but that doesn't always mean that he won't do it. He will now go to his time-out spot and sit down when told. He also went there on his own after he hit me when he was mad about something. He also did the sign for "sorry" after he got back up. So...he's learning!

Now that we're in the house and in a routine again I've started doing more intentional learning/playing with him. I've been reading a lot online about different "home-schooling" activities for kids Henry's age and there are some really cool things out there. We are starting out simple with focusing on one thing at a time, like the color red or the letter A. (However, Henry's obsession with the letter H has kind of taken over any other letters. He finds Hs everywhere we go and practically hyperventilates with excitement as he makes the H sound!)

Here is Henry having some "spill and fill" fun with a bottle, some foam blocks and a cupcake tin. Simple and kept him occupied for quite some time.
Henry still uses a lot of sign language but is starting to use actual words now too. "More" is his favorite word at the moment. "More more" everything! A lot of his words are his own version of words (like "kkkk" for milk and "ooose" for juice) but he's getting there. He's getting pretty good at animal noises too, which is pretty cute. My favorites are his owl and monkey. (I have to get a video of him "performing" all of his tricks to post here.)

Henry's 18 month check-up went well. He now weighs 23 pounds, which vaulted him into the 30th percentile for weight! He's always been proportional with his height and weight, just a little on the smaller side but he's been so consistent that his pediatrician said it's just the way he is!

Some of you may remember reading last fall about Henry's heart issue. He had a check-up with his cardiologist last week. She was pleased that he is so active and growing well. He was a SUPER patient when he had to sit still for an EKG and an ultrasound of his heart. (Having Finding Nemo on the TV in the office helped!) He had to be hooked up to a 24-hour monitor again for comparison. It was a little different having him hooked up now (vs. 6 months ago) because he was more aware of the little pack and the sensors on his chest. He didn't rip anything off and other than a wakeful night he did well. We turned the monitor back in this morning and will have to wait a week or two to get results. He hasn't shown any real signs that the heart issue is bothering him at all so we are hoping that means things haven't changed and we can just continue him being monitored every so often.

So we continue to feel lucky to have such a funny, smart, happy and energetic little boy!

Catching Up...Yet Again

Well, it's been far too long (yet again) since my last real post. Needless to say, we've been a little busy!

We have been in our house for a little while now and it is nice to finally feel pretty settled. Most of our "things" are in their place and it looks like "ours" now. This is thanks to my parents, who were just here for almost a week. With their help we have all new window blinds, the kitchen cabinets and pantry are organized properly (things had been put in pretty randomly as we unpacked since we did it in phases), there are pictures on the walls, baby gates are installed on the stairs, etc. It would have taken us months to do all of that so...thanks Mom and Dad!

We pulled up the photos from the real estate listing for comparison and boy oh boy, what a difference! I will be putting together some Before and After side-by-sides in the next few weeks so you can see exactly what we've done. It really looks and feels like a new house, which is pretty exciting. I'm glad that we were able to look past the old carpet, ugly kitchen, etc. and see the potential.

I realize it's been a while since I've posted pictures so I'll have to get a few uploaded to share of Henry. It's hard to believe he is almost 18 months old!

I promise I'll have more exciting and interesting updates to come!

Eddie's Race Narrative

I wrote this about two weeks ago, but my editor never got around to looking at it. So I’m about to look through it on 2/6/12 (almost 4 weeks after the race) and get this posted for you! This is certainly not as well written as Beth’s blog entry on her run, but hopefully it isn’t too painful for you to get through!

I can start this post with one of two numbers: A) 3 seconds or B) 2 minutes and 27 seconds. It is still a bit tough for me, but I’ll choose to go with the 2 minutes and 27 seconds- the amount of time I improved my PR time by at Sunday’s Walt Disney World Marathon.

I’m not really sure when the Disney Marathon became a thing we were going to do. I’m pretty sure Kathleen suggested it at some point a while back, but I’m not really sure when. I know I ran a half in early May and then the entire Seavers clan did a Memorial Day 5k and that was the start of the training toward Marathon Weekend.

I did the run with Kevin, Kathleen and Joe. Kathleen and I have been running buddies since January of 2009. We did our first 8k and half together. We trained together for the 2009 Outer Banks Marathon and even when she made the decision that she couldn’t run the race, she still trained with me and led the cheering contingent that helped me get through my first marathon. We then ran together in March of 2010, with Kathleen completing her first 26.2 mile trek! Training for this race without Kathleen, and for the most part, without anyone, was tough. The long runs above 13 miles were all a challenge and I was thankful for the couple of runs that Kevin joined me for or the run that Beth did miles 12-19 with me. I was acutely aware that I hadn’t really had a good long run and that I hadn’t been able to do the four runs a week I had done for my other two marathons.

The forecast for race day was warm- great for visiting the parks, but not great for running. Heat had impacted my first two marathons, especially the March 2010 marathon and when it was chilly on Sunday morning I was hopeful we’d be in better shape this time around. Beth and Julie drove Kevin and I, we met up with Kathleen and Joe and took a pre-race picture of the four of us and we were off. Although much to Joe’s dismay, there was no DJ playing “Everyday I’m Shuffling” (Editor's note: He is referencing Party Rock Anthem), which would have been appropriate theme music for the 30 minute slow procession to the starting coral.

Before getting to the coral we stopped for a moment of silence, then the national anthem and then kept moving up to coral D, slated for a 5:47 start time, 12 minutes after the first group. When we got to the coral, I gave Kevin, Joe and Kathleen a piece of paper with a quote that my friend Jenn had on her Facebook page about two weeks earlier, which I loved and stole and was aware of throughout the race: “There will be a day you cannot do this. Today is not that day.” With that, and some fireworks, it was time to get going.

The start was crowded, but not as bad as we thought it might be. By mile 3 we had brought our average time down to 10:18 per mile- the required pace to hit a 4:30:00 marathon time. 4:30:00 was our “ideal condition” top time, but I’m pretty sure we all knew it would be a long-shot to reach that. I had 4:42:00 as a goal on the slow end for me, as I wanted to set a PR if possible.

We ran together as a group of 4 for the first 17 miles. Some of these miles were dark and fairly boring, but others were pretty great. We saw our first supporters, Beth and Julie at the 2.5 mile mark as we entered Epcot for the first time. We were carrying glow sticks since we had found out the day before it was tough to see people in the dark. The four of us carrying the sticks helped us stand out for our supporters and led to supportive cheers from other runners and spectators. We ran around Spaceship Earth and then the fountain before making a left to head in front of Mexico and Norway and maybe another country or two before leaving the park. We then spent the next 5 miles on random roads before heading into the Transportation and Ticket Center parking lot. We saw a number of our supporters including Karen and Ellen at this point, the 9 mile mark, before we took on the biggest of the hills we faced. It was then into the Magic Kingdom, through the same backstage area Beth mentioned in her ½ marathon blog. We made a right and headed up Main Street toward the castle. Mom, Julie and Henry cheered us on at the start of Main Street and then Beth was waiting for us after we had gone through Tomorrowland and Fantasyland and through the castle. The four of us stepped to the side to get our picture taken, which is a pretty awesome keepsake for the event.
We then went through Liberty Square, Frontierland and Adventureland on our way to some more backstage areas on our way out of the park. We saw Karen and Ellen on the roads alongside the Polynesian around mile 12. Soon after that we crossed the 13.1 mark- halfway there and only about 20 seconds off the pace for a 4:30:00 and we were feeling pretty good.

Over the next 4 miles, things were quiet, fairly boring and some of our runners started to feel it. We stayed as a group of 4 as we entered the Animal Kingdom in a back area. We passed some petting zoo animals they had out and then entered the actual park to the side of Africa and made a left to head toward Asia.


We then headed past Nemo in Dinoland U.S.A., Discovery Island, Oasis, through the guest entrance area (in the opposite direction) and into the parking lots. It was at about the 18 mile marker that Kevin had decided he couldn’t run any longer and he began a run-walk approach to cover his last 8 miles. Joe, Kathleen and I went on, up “McDonalds Hill” and onto the 21 mile marker. Kathleen was having some trouble at that point. We walked a bit as a group of three and then finished out the next mile. We tried it again at mile 22 but Kathleen said she wasn’t sure how long it would take her to finish and she wanted me to get the 4:40:00 I was aiming for. I took off for the last 4.2 miles on my own.

I had a burst of energy at first, but it had warmed up and the distance was taking a toll on my body and I wasn’t going to be able to run the rest of the way. I started my own run-walk, which was only a little walk at first but would become a minute of walking for every two minutes of running by the end. At mile 23 we went into Hollywood Studios. The coolest part of this was running through the tunnel the tram goes through the Backlot Tour showing a bunch of backstage costuming areas. In addition to being fun, it was actually cooler and a nice break. We ran past the sorcerer’s hat toward the exit. Before I entered Epcot again at mile 25, I saw Karen (but missed Ellen) around Disney’s Boardwalk/Yacht Club. I was pretty much dead at this point, but was running when I saw Karen, so bonus.

I was walking much more than I wanted to be at this point. I was willing my legs to keep going. I thought I still had a shot at 4:40:00 and was pretty sure that 4:42:00 wasn’t going to be an issue. We entered Epcot in the back of World Showcase. It was still before 11 am, so that half of Epcot wasn’t open yet and the course was pretty quiet even with the finish approaching. As we entered into Future World there were park patrons inside cheering. Joe’s parents and Kathleen’s sister (I’m pretty sure I’m remembering her there, unless I’m now totally confused) were on the course just before Spaceship Earth. We left the actual park, crossed the 26 mile marker and I had about 100 seconds to get the .2 miles I needed to be under 4:40:00. I knew my mom and Beth would be on the left at 26.05 mark- the same place mom had staked out and used the day before for the half. I stayed left to wave to them and then pushed for the finish. I kept thinking I had it and then I didn’t and then I did and then I didn’t. The video shows that I had a nice push into the finish but the time on my watch when I crossed the finish line said 4:40:06. Thankfully I leave the video screen before cursing about being so close. I would find out about 20 minutes later that the time announced for those tracking me was 4:40:05 and the next morning Beth told me that like her time yesterday, my time had been revised- to 4:40:02- so the THREE seconds I mentioned at the beginning are those three seconds that I missed the sub 4:40:00 for.

After Beth had said she gave a high five to Donald when crossing the finish I told her I was surprised Mickey wasn’t at the finish. Well, as you could see in the video, it may not have been Mickey (think it was Minnie) but I must have been about two feet from the character and had no recollection of it. I didn’t feel great after the race and needed to sit in the shade for about 10 minutes while waiting for Kathleen, Joe and Kevin. I didn’t see Joe and Kathleen and found out later they finished 8 minutes behind me (way to go!!). I had finally moved on from where I was recovering and sat down when I saw Kevin- who battled to finish sub 5 hours with a 4:55 (nice job on your first!!). Kevin and I met up with the family and then with Kathleen and Joe to get some pictures of us.


Kathleen could tell I was pretty out of it and asked if I would remember something if she talked to me at that point. I was pretty sure I would and this blog is evidence that I remember the fact that they asked me to be the Officiant for their wedding… wait, I’m pretty sure I remembered that wrong! They asked me to be an Usher for them at their wedding this summer and I’m really excited to be a part of their special day! It was nice of them to still ask me even though I had gone ahead of them for the last few miles.

Some other race notes:

-Even though I missed the sub-4:40 by 3 seconds, I don’t regret stopping for our picture in front of the castle. I do wish I hadn’t stopped to try to go to the bathroom at mile 23 and that I had turned one of my minute walk breaks into a 45 second walk break, but I didn’t poop my pants and I was able to visit the park after the run and the next few days, so I’ll have to attack 4:40 and other time goals and new PRs in a future race.

-Speaking of future races, I hope at some point I finally do a marathon where the temps don’t climb into the 70s.

-I loved wearing my shirt for 3 days at the park and getting congratulations from cast members and other guests....and Mickey!

-I knew my body was having a tough time so in addition to my gels, I ate pretty much everything on the course, including bananas, Hershey’s miniatures, and twizzlers.

-I was finally able to jog on Thursday (4 days later).


I’m reffing inside Saturday – Monday so hopefully sometime Tuesday or Wednesday I’ll go for an actual run (turns out it was 16 days after the race until I did my first run. The first mile was awful but I’ve done a couple of great short (3.1) runs since then which have felt awesome. I’m psyched to get more running in!!

Congratulations to Kevin and Joe on their first marathon- look forward to hearing when you are running your next.

Congratulations to Kathleen on cutting 22 minutes off your time from your first run.

Congratulations to Ellen, Karen and Beth on their first half marathon.

Yes, we are already talking about going back to Disney for the 2013 marathon (and I wish it was in 11 days, not 11 months)!!

Routine

Well, we've been "officially" been living in the house for a week now. We are settling into a routine and it's been good. Eddie's been busy with work and reffing and hasn't had much time to enjoy much of the house yet. Henry and I have been spending a lot of time around the house just enjoying the new-ness of it still. Henry has taken to the house very well and his new favorite pastime is running around the circle of the kitchen, dining room and living room while screaming. It's pretty amusing.

We've managed to get a lot of things unpacked and in their places but still have a bunch of boxes in the guest room to be put away and a stash of things at Eddie's parents' house still. Slowly but surely...

We have a timeline on getting the guest room reset since my parents are coming up for a visit in a couple of weeks. I am looking forward to sharing the house with them since that last time they were here it didn't have walls! They are also going to help put things up on the wall. We could do it ourselves but with Eddie busy with work that leaves Henry to use the laser level so...you can see why we're waiting. :-)

As you saw in the last entry, we had some snow over the weekend. It lasted a few days and then rain washed most of it away. I did take Henry out in it before it melted. Last year he was still little and so we just plopped him down in it and he didn't do much. This year he walked around the yard and seemed amused enough by the whole thing.

Other than that there isn't much to report from the homestead here so...Happy Thursday!

Snow!

It's been a while since we have posted but we've been busy actually LIVING in our house! We have gotten a lot put away and in place and we can't wait to put the finishing touches on like hanging up all of our photographs, posters, Playbills, etc.

I owe you a "real" update but for now I'll share this photo from yesterday showing the house with the snow that we got!

Beth's Half-Marathon Narrative

I’m not sure words can adequately describe the experience I had this past weekend running the half marathon at Disney World. However, so that I can share it with you (and preserve it for my own use) I will try…

Eddie, Ellen, Karen and I left the house at 3:45am to head to the race. It was cold, which I was quite okay with because I really have enjoyed training in the cooler (and cold) weather. It was crazy to see the amount of cars driving into the parks at that hour of the morning. As we pulled into the EPCOT parking lots we were directed to our parking spot and headed to the first starting area. Eddie came with us to take our “before” picture and to give us some last minute encouragement. Just as we were saying goodbye he handed each of us a little note that read "There will a day when you can no longer do this. Today is not that day." As soon as I unfolded the note and started reading it I got choked up but pulled it together. I looked over at Karen who was already crying so I had to reign it again again because if I started I knew it wouldn't be pretty. (Yeah, I'm sometimes a girl about these things.)

We had our pre-race photo and then headed off through the runners only gate. We hit up the epic line of portapotties (seriously, I've never seen so many in one place in my life) and then headed in the mass of humanity towards the starting corrals. This was quite a little trek. It took us close to a half hour to walk to the starting corrals. Along the way we passed an old Jungle Cruise boat (Magic Kingdom ride), scores of men peeing into the trees (unfair!) and another epically long line of portapotties, which we utilized "just in case". By the time we reached the start of the corral line-ups the National Anthem was being sung and the overly-excited-for-5am emcee was counting down the start of the wheelchair race. We hustled (as much as we could in the sea of people) to our corral and then weaseled our way as close to the front of it as we could. (Note: 22,421 people finished the half marathon on Saturday…so that gives you an idea of why I keep saying it was crowded!)



Corral A went off. Corral B went off. And then it was our turn. Each corral got its own countdown and pyrotechnics, which was pretty awesome. We shuffled our way to the starting line and then crossed over the timing sensor and were off! (I had separated myself from Karen and Ellen early intentionally as my pace was going to be different than their pace.) I chose Attaboy from Yo-Yo Ma's album Goat Rodeo as the first song on my playlist and it was pretty fitting as the winding melodies matched my weaving through the crowd. I tried to find my pace but the first mile and a half or so was crowded and the course narrowed. I knew after the second mile that I probably wasn't going to make my high-bar-goal of 2 hours. I ignored the pacing wristband and concentrated on just running well. I set a new mental goal of 2:05, figuring that was a pretty attainable and reasonable goal given the amount of people.

Eddie had mentioned running the tangents (running straight lines through the curves) so I did that, especially during the fairly curvy first half of the race. I was able to see the curves coming and plan ahead. However, I did notice within the first two miles that my watch was off from the mileages signs so I guess the weaving around added a lot despite my tangential running! (Note: Ellen and Karen had the same issue so it wasn’t just my watch.)

The first 5 miles were on the roads leading towards the Magic Kingdom and so normally are pretty boring. So, Disney threw in some entertainment for all of us. We had people on giant stilts, a few Disney characters (you could pull over and have your picture taken with them....tons of people did it but I didn't want to lose time!), high school marching bands (way to be out there EARLY kids!), a hot air balloon, and a troop of pennyfarthing riders. I enjoyed this aspect of the race, especially the marching bands (for obvious reasons).

A while back we had heard that the course at this race was flat. LIES. BIG FAT LIES. A little before mile 5 we had a big downhill and then uphill under a roadway. True to Disney form they had a guy with HUGE Mickey Mouse gloves on waving and cheering us on from that overpass. He made me smile but my legs weren’t smiling heading up that hill as I chanted "even effort, even effort" to myself all of the way. (Even Effort is a strategy for running hills where you don’t worry about keeping the same pace/speed but keeping the same effort.)

A few minutes later I recognized where I was...the "back stage" area of the Main Street section of Magic Kingdom. (Eddie and I did a "Behind the Magic" tour that took us there a few years ago.) I ran through a gate and there I was, in the square at the front of Magic Kingdom. I followed the course's right turn onto Main Street and was met by a sight that I won’t soon forget. The crowd lined the entire length of Main Street and they were cheering loudly. Because it was still pitch black out the park's Christmas lights and Main Street lights were bright and beautiful. And at the end of the street....a big, glowing and majestic castle.


This is a photograph of that view that I took the next morning during the marathon.

I immediately got all sorts of choked up but snapped out of it when I heard people yelling my name! Eddie's family had gotten a great spot right there and were cheering me on. This was a great part of the race for me and I felt really energized as is evidenced by this photo of me as we ran through Tomorrowland:



And then back around towards Fantasyland and then...THROUGH THE CASTLE! I knew this was part of the race route and was looking forward to it. It was really awesome to run through the tunnel and out to see Main Street again sprawling ahead. (I do regret not pulling over for the photographers that were there to snap a picture of you with the castle in the background.) The course cut to the right through the Liberty Square section and then into Frontierland and then out through a gate into the backstage part of the park.

The Magic of the Magic Kingdom part of the race was sadly short-lived for me. Once we were out of the backstage area we were on a desolate road with few fans besides the adorable cotton-haired retirees who were volunteers for the day. (They were scattered sporadically through the “outer Mongolia” parts of the course with noisemakers.) I knew there was a long stretch before we hit another park. My legs felt pretty good and my breathing was even but my brain was over it and it very much became a mental game. I flipped through my playlist a lot during this stretch and I realized that I had a lot of songs that reminded me of people in my life that were important in some way. So when those songs came on I made a mental note of the person and "dedicated" that part of the run to them. It sounds incredibly cheesy but it worked. What also kept me going was the moment I chuckled at a guy that passed me who was wearing Tinkerbell wings. As he passed me I looked down and saw that he had a prosthetic leg. It was really inspiring to see him running and made me grateful for my own two legs. So on I went…

I hit mile 10 and started to get my mental game back because I “just had a 5K left”. Remember when I said there were hills? Well, right after Mile 10 they thought it would be fun to have us run up the World's Longest and Most Slanted exit ramp! “Even effort, even effort, *#&%, even effort.”

I battled up the hill and as it evened out I picked out a woman who was going at the pace I wanted to and stuck behind her. She was a member of Team in Training and looked like she knew what she was doing. I ran near her for about a mile and then spotted ANOTHER HILL...another bleeping exit ramp. I said out loud, "Well, that's just mean!” The woman looked over and laughed. She asked if I had ran a half before and I said no. She congratulated me and complimented me on my pace. Sadly, I lost her at the water station. But I had a pick-me-up shortly after the water station when I saw Eddie. At this point I think it was about the 12 mile mark and I was definitely feeling the miles, still mostly mental I think. Seeing Eddie was a good boost to take me to where we headed into EPCOT. We ran by Spaceship Earth (the big ball) and through just a small part of the park but it seemed to last forever. It was a loop that doubled back so I knew when I turned around how much was still left before going out of the park to the finish. (Sometimes a blessing, but in this case for me, a curse.)

I continued to push but at this point my brain was feeling much relieved and accepting that there wasn't much ahead to go. Right after coming out of Epcot there was a high school gospel choir totally rocking it out. I came around the curve after them to see the family (including Henry!) cheering, one little bend in the course and the finish line! I picked up the pace and ran to the finish but not before high-fiving Donald Duck! (You can watch a video of my finish online here. You can see me cut across from right to left to high-five Donald around the 13 second mark.)

I stopped my watch and it said 2:04:45 and 13.22 miles. Under 2:05, the goal I had set early in the race! My official time from the race timing was 2:04:36. (The time shown on the clock in the video is the time since the first corral started. I was in the third corral which is why the time is different.)

We were quickly ushered towards people with beautiful, shiny medals for us. I bowed to the cast member and she put it over my head.



I stood up and followed the other finishers to get a shiny foil blanket and food/beverages. Oranges, bananas, Toy Story fruit snacks, Clif bars, bagels, water, sodas, Powerade. I stocked up and headed out to find the family.

I was relieved, excited, a little sad that it was all over after months of training (274.71 miles of it!) but mostly proud. Physically I felt pretty decent considering I had never run that far in my life before. Sure my legs were tired but I was very mobile and mostly feeling good.

After the race (and the marathon) the parks were filled with people wearing their race shirts and medals. I was one of them!

Here I am with Donald, who is the mascot of the Half Marathon and is featured on our medals:


I hardly ever feel like a “cool kid” but I certainly did these past few days as Disney castmembers and other runners shared smiles and congratulations. And I never thought it would be because of running!

Now that I’ve had a few days to process the weekend I can say that I am darn proud of myself. There really is something to be said about setting a goal, working hard and meeting (and even exceeding) the goal. It seemed like a long-shot goal when we decided we were going to do it. I couldn’t even run the whole 3.1 miles of the first 5K I ran...and last weekend I ran 13.1 miles in a time that I am proud of.

And yes...I’m thinking very seriously about going for a full…

I Can Go The Distance

I know I have been extremely negligent in my blog posting over the holiday season and into the New Year. Between moving into the house, Christmas, New Years and now Disney, we've been quite busy!

I have many photos to post and stories to tell but for now I'll leave you with this.

I DID IT!



Note: Yes, you read that right...over 22,000 runners finished the half marathon!


I know this is a family blog so I'll say that EDDIE DID IT TOO!



I will have a longer post about the holidays, Disney, and the race weekend (and might make Eddie write some too!) but for now I'll just say that I'm so glad we all decided to run these races this weekend. It has been a really interesting, fun, challenging, enjoyable, rewarding, and amazing journey. The race itself was tough but I am proud to say that I did it.