I Did a Kip!

At the gym today, the team was on bars and I decided to show them proper form to do a kip (a fairly basic skill to mount the bars, but an easy one to lose if you don't work those muscles often enough). I totally didn't expect to make it, I just wanted to show them technique and then halfway through the swing, it felt pretty good, so I gave it a shot and made it! I haven't done a kip since before Indigo! It felt pretty good to make it (maybe I haven't totally let myself go). Then I went to pit bar and did a flyaway. I'm not sure I can land them anymore, but it's fun to flip into the pit! 

Indigo got to come to the gym today too. I brought her with me and David picked her up after his meeting. She LOVED jumping on the trampoline! We should probably go to toddler open gym sometime. I think they have mommy and me classes, but they are at like 9:00 am on Thursdays. Once in awhile I think it might be nice to be a stay at home mom but luckily (for me, and the fact that I have to go to work everyday), it's not very often!

All of that was just a silly segue into our vacation recap. I think because the only other time I had a chance to visit St. Louis, I went to gymnastics camp instead. So Amanda has seen the city, but I never have. It is a lovely town. I can totally see why my friend Tristin wanted to return. That, and the endless supply of family members to love on her adorable daughter Sophie! Seems like a win-win. 

Breakfast at the airport

We had a great time with David's family. His aunt and uncle were fabulous hosts. And we spent the weekend at Heartland Lodge in Illinois. Being the oldest cousin, with the newest baby, they spoiled us with a whirlpool suite and a gloriously soft bed. It was so much fun to see his mom's entire family again. All the brothers and sisters fell in together like they didn't live all over the country. And the cousins all had a great time riding dirt bikes and hanging out together. Indigo enjoyed all the attention from everyone and was very well behaved. I was worried that we didn't bring any toys for her, but she found a tray of polished rocks which kept her busy for the better part of a day. David's cousin Shanell played "hide the rock" in her hands and under her feet for at least 20 minutes! That's my girl. Mensa-bound, I swear. 

Hell St Louis!

David's sister-in-law is a photographer and she took the family picture as well as individual families. I think they turned out pretty well - I'll post once I have copies. 

I also spent a morning with my friend Tristin who used to work with me at CVS Caremark. She has a lovely home and a beautiful baby daughter. Indigo played very nicely with Sophie. We had snacks and went for a great walk on a wooded path that opened up to a really fun park. Indigo fell asleep on the walk back and then we said goodbye. I sure hope I get to see Tristin again soon. It was funny how it felt like last week that I saw her but I think it's been almost 3 years! Where has the time gone?

Ted Drewes custard - Yum!

We spent the rest of the day with David's sister Erin and his aunt Lauri. We swam and relaxed until Erin and my M-I-L had to leave for the airport. Then we headed home and it was back to the grind. Saturday is Date Night. We have tickets to see our friend Ron perform "The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs" at Actors Theatre. The show got a lot of attention for shedding light on terrible conditions at the Apple manufacturers in China. But then it turns out the author/performer took several liberties with the story. The apology given by Ira Glass for running the story as news and not art was almost as good as the tale itself. But looking at it from a performance standpoint, it is a great story and I'm excited to see Ron on stage.

All Right....Let's Do This!

I have been so lax in my updates. You know when you get out of the habit of something and it's so hard to get back in? I don't want that to happen. So I'm back! We have had a very busy 6 weeks. I can't believe it has been that long. We traveled to Minnesota to see my family and on Thursday we go to St. Louis to see David's family for a long weekend. 

I really enjoyed spending so much time with my sister and all my family and giving my mom so much time with Indigo. She is so much fun right now. She is talking and making jokes and dancing and just loves life. It's really hard not to be happy when you are around her. 

She started counting to 10 this weekend. I count and she follows along and then we get to 10 and she says "all done!" and then covers her eyes and says "ready or not, here I come!" It's pretty awesome. And we play the 'night night' game where either she or we will pretend to go night night and then wake up and get all excited. She laughs and laughs. And she gets humor now. We play the shush game where we shush each other and then she screams really loud and I get scared. Her belly laughs are the best. Tonight, while watching Glee, she started dancing in her high chair to 'Call Me Maybe' so we put her on the floor and she danced and danced.

I still can't believe just how much fun it is to have her in our life. She is so sweet and kind and loving. She's doing great at daycare. Two of the staff have given such great compliments this last week, it makes me so happy. I don't even know if I can take credit for her. I feel like it's all her! But I do try to set a good example. Her teacher says she has really good manners and has been good at channeling her frustrations when kids take toys etc. Apparently she steps away from the situation and says "no bite!" I'm very glad she has learned not to bite her friends any more. 

 

We started thinking about her school years and how we hope to not be in this condo when she gets ready for kindergarten. We live near a school, but we're not sure if that is the school we want her to attend. We're hopeful the economy will continue to recover and we can have a hope of moving in a year or so. We don't want to short sell this house but we are still pretty far under water. We talked about renting it out but I worry about the gap between what it might rent for and our payment and HOA. So, we'll see what happens. It's nice to start thinking about it and knowing we need to make a plan. I can't believe we've lived in Phoenix for 5 years next month. It has really flown by. And it definitely feels like home.