8 Months

Berkels is 8 months old today. We weighed him; he is 18 lbs. His daddy started school again on this day; 3rd year at Brandeis, only 3 years left. He went to the sitters and played with his best pal, Lilly (she is adorable); he was super giggly when he got home. This made everyone happy.

So Long, Farewell

Last night we had a Middle Eastern Farewell Feast at our pad for our good friends Shaylyn and James. They will be leaving us and joining the Peace Corps, and going to Jordan for the next couple of years. They are such wonderful people and will be missed by everyone at our church.
(Shaylyn is in the pink and James is the guy she is sitting on)

Everyone brought a Middle Eastern dish to share; everyone did such a great job, the food was delicious. Minus the humid conditions it was really fun to get together with our fabulous friends to chat and laugh.

Good luck James and Shaylyn, we will miss ya'll!

Cape Shore Foundation 5K

At work some of my lady friends and I created our own Biggest Loser Club to try to shed some pounds. As a way to get us to the gym a few of us decided to sign up for a 5K. Running has never been my favorite thing, but the more I run the more I am liking it. After two months of training, it was finally race day. Christian decided to run as well.
Here we are before the race; smiles on our faces and ready to go.

I was not anticipating that humid weather conditions when we signed up for the race. I trained indoors on the treadmill and was feeling pretty good about running the race, but the humidity outdoors slowed me down a bit.

Does anyone else feel like they become 20lbs heavier as soon as they can see the finish line?

After the race we were all a bit tired, hot and sweaty but we were all proud of our accomplishment. I am planning to run another 5K at the end of September, and hope the weather conditions are a bit better than they were this weekend (If anyone wants to run with me let me know). It feels great to be able to run a simple, but not so simple for me, 3.1 miles. I love having that feeling that your hard work has paid off.

Afterward we headed to get some food at the Sunset Grill in Brighton. What better food to eat after a huge run that a big ole pile of nachos and chili?
(I went for something a bit lighter, but you know Christian, he loves himself some nachos!)

I have to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to Gloria and Stef who watched Berkeley during the race, were keepers of all our stuff, our photographers and personal cheerleaders! I feel so lucky to have such wonderful friends!

ARMY CRAWL MANIA

Berkeley is developing so quickly; this weekend he started doing the army crawl and it has entertained us for hours thus far. We put together this little video of some of his adventures Sunday afternoon. For the first time this weekend, I realized that he is not a "little" baby any more, he is a big boy who is learning to love his independence.

Happy Birthday Momma

Happy Birthday Mommy!
Wish we could be there to celebrate your big day with you!

I finally did it

I have been wanting to learn how to tap dance for nearly 5 years. Today I signed up for a Tap Dancing to the Blues class. It starts at the end of September and I am so excited! I can finally mark this off my list of things to accomplish before I am 30 years old.

Mommy Tip

I know a lot of new moms don't like to be bombarded with baby advice from everyone they see. I never really minded advice, as long as it didn't come from strangers who like to tell me what I am doing wrong. Such as, "It is too hot to have your baby out on a walk." as I am walking with Berkeley down the street.

Anyhow, I just wanted to let all you moms out there know that if for whatever reason you are not breastfeeding and are giving your baby formula; try to have your Pediatrician write a prescription for the formula. Berke's doctor did and we get 8 cans a month that is covered by my insurance. Formula is SO expensive; I think this is something that is kept secret, so give it a shot and see if it works for you.