Time With Gigi

Gigi has been in town since Friday, so we've been playing - not blogging.

Yesterday the running schedule had our group going down in mileage.  The (only) ten mile run was a very welcomed break.  I didn't go very quickly (11:23/mile), but it felt good to stop.

Here are a couple pictures of Cub:

A Fine Afternoon

Graby was in a particularly good mood this afternoon, maybe he knew I needed to laugh.

Here are a couple pictures of him playing outside.

Houses

On Friday, Buttin and I went snooping around in houses (to potentially purchase one).  

It was a much more successful trip than our first excursion.  We expanded our search area by about 5 - 10 miles and were able to find some really nice houses in our budget.  It's making me very excited.

In other house news, ours is still warm.  The a/c works, but cannot keep up with how hot it is outside.  Currently (at 6:45 PM), it is 83 in the main area of our home.  Thankfully, the classy window unit in our bedroom and the portable a/c we bought for Cub's room keep those two rooms closer to 72.  The a/c people are supposed to be out tomorrow.

To escape the heat, we actually went outside - to the splash pad.

Graby decided to flirt.

Here, he thinking - Hey ladies, my mom is a dork but I'll be available in about 17 years.

Speaking of Graby - he's decided to eat solids now, but just a limited selection.  I sure hope he can thrive on milk, cheese and vanilla cupcake Goldfish.

Time Trial Bust

This morning our running group was supposed to do a two mile time trial.  In theory, my two mile time should predict my marathon time or what should be my marathon goal pace.  I already know my goal pace - turtle.

There was a bunch of construction going on around the track and there was a small area (maybe five feet long by the entire width of the track) of sand on the track, about six inches deep.  I would have just run AROUND the sand pile, but I guess the fast runners were concerned about the extra time it would take - so our time trial was postponed until next week. 

Instead we did a five mile easy run and I came in absolute last.  My semi-turtle friend wasn't there today and my other running friend decided to go "faster" and she kept up with the fast pack!  We probably can't be friends anymore. 

In Graby news - he has this new thing that he likes to do - lick the soy sauce container.  I'm so proud.

Buttin has a slight addition to soy sauce, so we buy it by the gallon.  We keep the jug-o-soy on the bottom shelf in our fridge.  Cub has learned how to flip open the lid and now licks the soy sauce residue that's on the lid.  I think he likes the salt. 

Here he is, preparing to attack the soy sauce. 

Operation: New A/C

Operation: Make Landlord Purchase New A/C Unit has begun.

The past couple of weeks has been MISERABLE in Texas.  What I wouldn't give for a little rain and a high of 95.  

Our little rent-a-shack (we've lived here for seven years) A/C unit is operating on it's last spark plug (not sure if an A/C unit has a spark plug).  In the evening (like right now) the temperature inside the house is a balmy 80 degrees.  Maybe (big maybe) by 4:45 AM (Cub's new rise-and-shine time) it'll be 75 degrees.   The A/C repair people came out a couple of nights ago and flushed the unit, but said because the unit is SO old (I mean so old, our landlords could not legally SELL this house with the current A/C unit), it was all they could do.

It's so warm, I couldn't bear to put Cub in his pjs tonight (get it - bear . . . Cub, I'm a dork), so he's sleeping in a no-sleeve romper.

 

Luckily, we're in the rental housing industry so we contacted our attorney.  Our poorly functioning unit is (of course) not as bad as a non-functioning unit, but we still have some recourse - especially considering that our A/C has not stopped running ofr the past two weeks (never, ever once turned off).  Would you like to see our electric bill?  

So, I wrote a letter (per our attorney's instructions) and planned to send it today via email and certified mail, but Buttin had a better idea.  He thought we should try the get more with honey approach (my letter was perfectly pleasant, but most people immediately get defensive when they get something  via certified mail).  Instead, Buttin sent off a nice email detailing the situation and explaining (yet again) that we have a small child whose health and well-being concerns us (I say, if you have a kid, use him/her as a weapon in these situations) in these warm conditions and so on and so forth. 

Our landlord's response, while quick, wasn't super satisfying.  They're going to send the A/C people back out to check on the duct work and insulation (of which, we have none) and then we'll move forward.  If this does not happen in a timely manner (like, immediately), then we will send a certified letter and take that fun wherever it leads. 

Graby was really, really grumpy today (maybe he's hot).  Here's about as happy as he ever got:

Here's what he looked like most of the day:

It's Hot

It's 80 degrees in our house right now - at 6:45 PM

We have the most inefficient semi-working AC unit.  At 3 AM, it might get down to 74, might.

I think the AC people are coming tomorrow, but our ridiculous landlord will probably only approve some kind of band-aid fix.  

A story I forgot to tell about my run yesterday.

Rogue has many running groups.  The half marathon and beginning running programs started this Saturday and those groups started running around 7 AM (we started at 6 AM).  The ran along the same route that we did, but just not as far.  As I was passing some of them on my way back (they were walking, slow), I turned my head to say "hi".  As I did, my ponytail sprayed them with a line of sweat.  Sorry.  

Here's are Cub's feelings about the heat.

Why Won't You Eat?

Little Cub seems to be going through a phase.  Well, a couple of phases really.

One phase I call, clingon - as in - he's being extremely clingy and has started crying when I leave him at school.  It breaks my heart, but I know that he starts playing about ten seconds after I walk out the door.

The second phase I call, not eating (hence, the title of my post).  One of Cub's friends, Henry, went through a phase where he didn't eat any purees, only solids.  Cub seems to be going through this phase right now where he wants nothing to do with purees, but the problem is that he isn't swallowing solids yet.  He chews and chews and then spits the food out.  I think he does (sometimes, rarely) swallow SOME solids and he's still drinking lots of milk, so I'm not concerned.  I just really, really wish he would eat!

Here is Cub eating/gumming a pancake this morning.

Programming Notes

Blog post may (or may not) be published in typical fashion this week.

I have family in town, Buttin is going out of town for a couple of days and things are super busy at work.

I know that I'm behind - I still need to post a couple pictures from last week's visit with Nana and her baby twins and Cub's 14 month letter.  Hopefully, I'll have time later in the week. 

In random running news - I did 6 miles this morning with my group.  My pace was 10:34/mile (speedy for me) and that included a water stop.  My new running friend admitted to being slightly tired with today's pace (although we still finished way behind the pack).  I guess we can still be friends. 

Here are a couple cute pictures of Graby today.