Anthony's 2nd Birthday!

Well it's been a busy week in the DiMuzio household. We had Anthony's 2nd birthday celebration... twice. Last Saturday we had a party at the park for him and his friends. It was a great time, beautiful weather, and all his favorite friends came. We decided to make this birthday very low key. Last year I found planning a party with all the whistles and bells just more stressful than it was worth for me, so this time we only got a cake and refreshments, and other than that it was just a day at the park! The cutest thing was when Daisy arrived. Daisy, as everyone knows, is Anthony's little girlfriend. I had told him she would be there but Daisy's parents were running a little late, so when we first got there Anthony walked around looking for her. She arrived about 15 minutes later, and as soon as they saw each other it was like something out of a movie. They giggled and screamed and ran together to hug. Anthony's mood went from blah to elated-- apparently it wasn't a party until Daisy arrived!

This past Wednesday, March 18th, was Anthony's actual birthday. Adam went up to Atlanta the day before so unfortunately he wasn't home for it. I tried to make the day as special as possible for my big boy. I made him banana pancakes in the morning, then later on I had to teach a class at the gym so he went to the gym's childcare. I bought him a smoothie from the smoothie bar afterwards, which he absolutely loved. In the afternoon Auntie Sheramy came over and we took Anthony to EG Simmons Park. He must've been hungry because he whined the majority of the time we were there. After we went to Qdoba for dinner, his favorite place, and he chowed down on rice and beans. When we got back home he was running around, crazy silly... amazing what a little food can do! I try to tell him this but he insists on toddler anorexia.

He even took his very first pee-pee in his potty that night! What a milestone for his 2nd birthday. I've tricked him into sitting on his potty by showing him pictures on the camera while he sits on it. That night we were looking at the pictures as usual, and then he just started peeing! I freaked out (excitedly) of course and tried to help him tuck it in so pee wouldn't get all over the floor. Anthony just thought the whole process was hilarious... he just laughed and laughed. Sheramy and I made a very big deal of course out of his first pee-pee in the potty!

Thursday we had our biggest event of all: Anthony's first plane ride! I was super nervous about it, but everything turned out great. Anthony was such a little angel on the plane. he did not fuss, he did not whine, he just sat in his own seat like a big boy and enjoyed the ride. We had plenty of entertainment, of course, including books, letters, and his portable DVD player. I had business class vouchers so we got unlimited apple juice and coffee. I decided business class is the only way to fly. Too bad I usually can't afford it! We arrived in Atlanta for Grandma Chris's 65th birthday party this weekend. Anthony was very excited to see all of his Atlanta people.

It's amazing to me that my boy has grown so much! He's such a handsome, happy, and smart child. I'm so proud of him and everything he does. Hard to believe that just two years ago I was struggling to figure out which end was up, literally! Everyone in our little family has come a very long way!

I did it... again!

Nothing like making a big goal and achieving it! I'm so addicted to road races because I just love the anticipation and the training of setting a goal and meeting it. I made my under 2 hour goal for the Gasparilla half marathon.... finishing in 1 hour, 56 minutes, and 45 seconds. It was a hell of a run. I could tell as soon as we started out that as long as I could pace myself in the beginning, I'd be able to turn it loose after mile 3 and hold the pace until the finish. It was warm and humid that morning with the threat of rain, but it held off until mile 12. The last mile I ran through a pretty decent downpour, but it felt pretty good at that point and I wasn't about to let a little rain slow me down! It was also very windy that morning. Around mile 7, the course turned straight on into the wind for three straight miles, like running into a brick wall! We turned the corner and headed back the other direction with the wind at our backs for the rest of the race though after mile 10. My greatest achievement in this race was catching up to Adam's friend Jon just after mile 10. Jon is a fast runner--he left us behind very early on, but as my pace increased over the distance I saw him ahead and on mile 9 and knew I had to catch him. I ran up alongside him, said hi, and the look on his face of sheer amazement that I had caught up to him was priceless! He paced ahead of me for the duration of the race and beat me by about 25 seconds, but it was well worth it just to catch up with him at all. At the super bowl party at his house I had told him one of my goals was to catch up with him at some point, not thinking I'd actually do it.

5 K pre-race pic above...

The 5K was fun too, though I'll take the wind and rain over the heat of that morning! My girls did great, they all finished strong and had a great time. We intended to stay together but with 8500 people running it was impossible. I lost them all early on, then just picked up the pace to the end. I finished in 0:28:44, a little slower than my half marathon time, but not surprising considering the size of the crowd.

Looking ahead to March 15th... a small community 10K race. It'll be less hooplah than Gasparilla or Disney but should be fun none the less. Shooting for less than 54 minutes on that one...!