Boot Camp Ballyhoo

I am not a jock.

Never have been.

Played two years of volleyball in high school then quit as soon as I got into show choir (think Glee but in the 80s... ha!) my junior year.

I only run if I am being chased and let's be honest, how often does that happen?

Ironically enough, I married a jock. He happens to be a SMART jock, but a jock nonetheless. Pretty sure he was a three-sport athlete in high school. He played football at Wash U. Now he is a division I volleyball coach.

Needless to say, I hope Eli got Josh's athletic genes and not mine.

Which brings me to point #2... I am no spring chicken.

I am turning 37 in three short months. And I am beginning to feel like it, especially after having Eli in December. My body doesn't look or feel like it used to... jock or not.

Which brings me to... Boot Camp.

Four weeks. Monday thru Friday. 5:30 - 6:30 am. (Yep, you read that right!)

I know.

But, you see, I have an adorable 5 month old. Who I want to see grow up. And graduate from college. And get married. And so on.

At the heart of it, this is not about the flab that I absolutely despise on my belly (although I DO hope that some of it decides to vamoose). It is really about wanting to be healthy.

And for someone who only runs when chased... I had to find someone to chase me.

4 days down, 16 to go.

And every muscle in my body hates me.

But I come home to this face and I remember why I am doing this...

Heavy heart

I have a heavy heart today.

There are several sick kiddos in the blog world that could use your prayers.

Parker has a serious kidney infection that may or may not have played a role in the seizures she had on Saturday.

Solomon has recently been diagnosed with a certain type of epilepsy that has been causing him to have seizures as well.

Ellie has been dealing with brain tumors for the last year.

My heart aches for all of these parents.

I know the road of having a seriously ill child all too well.

And I can't help but hug Eli a little tighter.

Wordless Wednesday

Random Tuesday Thoughts

1. We are trying out Sam's brand diapers. Any opinions on them out there?

2. We have lived in Tuscaloosa for over two years now. And yet, listening to sports talk radio this morning, I still couldn't understand a caller because of his southern accent!

3. Day 2 of Boot Camp? Kicking. My. Tail.

4. Our backyard is a haven for cats. Not really sure why, but we have cats parading through all day long. So, yesterday afternoon, I initially ignored the grey fuzzy object moving along the fence line. I looked up a few minutes later and realized it was not a cat but an opossum. (Side note: I think opossums look WAY too much like giant rats, so do not take the following pics as any sign of affection on my part. But read on and you will see why I felt a bit of a connection to this particular opossum...)

Opossums are usually nocturnal, so I am not sure why this one decided to adventure out during daylight hours. She was determined to get through the fence into our neighbor's yard.

She kept getting stuck. I watched her try 2 or 3 times before I realized the problem.

You see, this was a mama opossum... if you look closely you can make out a tiny little tail under her belly. Not sure how many little ones she was toting around in her pouch but they made squeezing through slats in the fence nearly impossible.

But, like most mamas, she was undaunted. She kept trying until she discovered a wider spot at the end of the fence and moseyed along out of sight.

5. Eli has decided he likes baby applesauce. Peaches, not so much. We are going to try bananas in the near future.

6. After all those pics of a giant rat, we need a little cuteness to balance it out. I know I'm biased, but he is so stinkin' cute! (And I wanted to document this stage when the two fingers of his right hand have taken up permanent residence in his mouth.)

Bits of my weekend - volume 3

So I fell down on the job last week and didn't post bits of anything. Josh was out of town which means that Eli & I were kickin' it at home without too much excitement.

This weekend started with a little bread making. Not the money variety but the actually yummy goodness that is homemade bread.

I've never made bread before and, frankly, thought it would be way too much work. But I came across a "no knead" recipe on one of my linky trips through the world of the internet that seemed pretty doable... and it was! I love me some crusty bread and this fits the bill perfectly!

No day goes by in the Lauer house without a little exersaucer time and a little sitting practice for Eli. As you can see, he loves both!

Saturday was filled with thunder, lightning and rain in Tuscaloosa. We were fortunate not to experience any of the tornados that hit our neighbors in Mississippi, but it we still decided that it was a good day to stay at home for a movie marathon. Josh bought Avatar on Blu-ray at Target (I never know what he is going to come home with when I send him there) because it was on sale and neither of us had seen it yet. In his words, "We have to own the top grossing movie of all time." I whipped up a little white chicken chili, we invited Josh's parents over, and we settled in for a trip to Pandora. (My review? Good movie, great effects, so-so plot.)

We followed Avatar with Ironman (Josh wanted to re-watch it before the sequel comes in May) and then Good Will Hunting. Not a bad movie marathon!

Sunday was the opposite of Saturday... the weather was absolutely gorgeous. We were a little stir crazy after our day in the house, so we decided to head to Panera (Bread Co for my readers in STL) for lunch and then to the Alabama baseball double header. We picked a place on the grass and enjoyed the sunshine.

When Eli started to get restless, we loaded him up in the stroller and headed over to check on the progress of the renovation work at Foster Auditorium, which will be the new home of the volleyball team sometime this fall.

Finally, I dropped the boys off at Josh's parents' house so I could run up to a nutrition seminar that is part of a work-out program I am doing for the next month (I'll probably post on this separately if I can get my muscles to keep working). When I got back, I managed to capture some of Eli's antics in his sassy seat - you can't help but laugh at him!

As always, check out the original "Bits of My Weekend" over on Michelle's blog as well as some other folks who linked there.

Ladies and Gentlemen...we have a sitter!

Just me and the super cute bald spot on the back of my head

that mamma loves to kiss.

Gotta. pull. this. thing.

Oh, hey mom.

Everyday miracles

Our life is full of everyday miracles.

The grabbing of feet.

Abundant smiles.

The sound of giggles.

Reaching for toys.

More chubbiness then we know what to do with.

Standing and sitting.

We are blessed.

Wordless Wednesday

Bits of my weekend - volume 2

This perhaps should be called "BIT" of my weekend, as I really only have one picture to show for our adventures!

On Friday, we packed Eli up for Grammy and Pappy's house and boarded a sleeper bus with the team and headed to Tallahassee. They played three matches on Saturday against Florida State, Troy, and Georgia Tech. Great volleyball, but I missed my little man!

We came back Saturday night... and discovered that Eli had a new favorite toy. The Easter bunny brought Eli a Sassy Seat:

He had so much fun bouncing and spinning in it... I had tears in my eyes because I was laughing so hard.

Sunday was a beautiful day in Tuscaloosa. We headed to the softball stadium and caught the last few innings of Alabama's game against Northwestern. As you can see, Eli has been working on his sitting skills!

After softball, we headed over to the women's tennis match and watched a few sets before heading home. All the fresh air zapped Eli of his energy... he was happily snoozing in his crib by 6:45pm!

Check out this link for bits of other people's weekends...

Wordless Wednesday

gotta have it

Between my extremely chunky baby and my husband's professed appreciation for Justin Timberlake, I think this onesie from Baby Gap may fall into the "gotta have it" category...

Bits of my weekend - volume 1

You know how the blog world works. You read one blog which links to another. Then another. Then another. And suddenly you find yourself reading about someone's life and no idea how you got there!

A few weeks ago I went on one of those linky journeys and ended up at Six in the City, the story of a family of 6 who moved from suburbia to the wilds of New York City. I love seeing the city through Michelle's eyes... she is a great photographer and has beautiful kids.

Michelle launched "Bits of My Weekend" a few months ago... she posts pictures and stories of her weekend and encouraged other bloggers to do the same. So here is my first attempt! Enjoy!

Our weekend actually began on Thursday as we loaded Eli & all of his stuff into the car and headed to Atlanta. Josh had a little bit of recruiting (Alabama) and a little bit of coaching (Club Crimson) to do at the Big South Qualifier, so Eli and I decided to tag along.

First stop... Carrabba's just outside Atlanta. One of our favorite chain restaurants. Eli decided to forgo his car seat and sat at the table with Daddy like a big boy. Look at those cheeks!

On Friday, Josh headed to the convention center to do his thing while I hopped into the car to introduce Eli to a sweet friend of mine from college who lives north of Atlanta. We had some time to kill on our way back to the hotel and the big blue building beckoned. How could I not stop at IKEA? No major purchases... just a big beach bag and a shovel/pail combo for Eli to use when we head to Destin at the end of May.

I did take Eli in to watch a little volleyball. With over 100 courts of matches, it was easily the most people he had been around in his entire life. He was a trooper... smiling at strangers and snoozing inspite of the loud whistles and cheering.

Most of the rest of our time was spent hanging in our hotel room where we had an awesome view of Centennial Park and downtown Atlanta.

Seemed like the perfect setting for a self-portrait... although Eli didn't realize that he was supposed to smile with no one on the other side of the camera smiling at him!

Eli recently discovered that his feet are pretty fun to play with and he spent much of our weekend perfecting this skill.

We returned home on Sunday...we were tired (Eli wasn't a big fan of sleeping in his pack n' play in the hotel) but feeling like the road trip was a success!

The stats tell it all

4 months

20.6 pounds

26.25 inches long

clean bill of health and described by our

pediatrician as "smart" & "strong-willed"

(just like his daddy!)

Watch me grow... four months