The Half!

It's has been 3 months now since I decided to train for my first half-marathon. Claire was only a week old and she slept for most of the day. Amy and I were still in our parental leaves from work so finding time to go to the gym was relatively easy. My motivation? I had a few....lose weight, get back in shape, run a marathon, find another hobby....
30 pounds lighter and a couple of chapped nipples later, I now find myself only a couple of days away from running the 13.1 mile distance. To be honest, my initial goal was to simply finish the race, but as my training went on, I started to feel stronger and more confident. Averaging over thirty miles a week was not easy at first, but it feels pretty routine now. My new goal is to run it between 1:40 and 1:45, but to do that, I need to make sure I don't get caught up in the adrenaline kick of the first couple of miles.
I will be blogging about my race next week, so stay tuned.

See Go! St. Louis for race details and results.
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Claire updates

Claire is now a couple days over 3 months and she is growing so fast. Besides her usual morning talks (check out video below), she now picked up a couple of other skills/hobbies:
Smiling - Just about every time you look at her and make a face, she smiles.....
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Mirror Game - She likes the mirror which every time she looks at it, it tends to trigger one of her other skills, smiling (see above).
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Basketball - My personal favorite! Although we don't really let her watch TV, watching the NCAA tournament with dad is already becoming a must.
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Good Morning Claire!

We should have been more careful.....

oh well......I hope Claire is ready for a little sister/brother!
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you should have known that I would pull an April Fool's joke today!

Dexter or Benji?

While surfing on the web the other day, I ran across as article about the life of old "animal celebrities" and how they are doing today in the after-fame life. The article featured animals like "Marcel" the monkey from FRIENDS, "Lessie" the famous collie, and of course, "Benji". Three different dogs have played the Benji character in the movie series that started being filmed back in 1974 all the way to 2004. Well, if the producers of Benji are looking for another replacement for the part, look no further that your good old DEXTER! Check it out, I'll let you be the judge in this audition.

Benji, the original.

Dexter, the impostor!

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The Luna family!

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Happy birthday to me!

This is a little surprise I got from Claire (and some assistance from our day care provider) today on my birthday!

Smile....it's Friday!

Claire smiling!

She said her first words!!!!!!!!!!

It was something along the lines of: AAEEEOOOOOHHHHHH
Check it out!

More pictures of the little one.

Claire is doing great! She has changed so much already since her first day (or maybe, we have changed, I don't know), but is sure seems that we learn a little something about her everyday: how to make her sleep, how to make her stop crying, when to ignore her cry, how to better give her a bath, how driving around with her is truly the best way to put her to sleep, how she hates cold wipes, etc.

Here are some pics!

"Ahhh the car seat, I love it!"

"Playing with my toys!"

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"Wearing my new headband. Thanks Derek and Heather, can't wait to meet you!"

"Enjoying a nice warm bath with mom!"

"Wearing my new hat, made by my Godmother, Thanks Carly!"

Barack Obama!
Here is for the hope of better days!
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