Family Alive

Ok, please don’t judge me.  Yes, Josiah will be 4 in June.  And yes, he still uses a pacifier at naptime and bedtime.  Until very recently, I didn’t care.  I just love finally getting some decent sleep, and really… why mess with that?  But before we see the dentist in May, I figured we’d better be done with the pacifier, so I don’t get another raised-eyebrow-look.

Josiah and I had decided this weekend we’d be done with the ‘fiers’ as he calls them.  Brian was away on Sunday, and as we neared bedtime, I reminded him that we were going to get rid of them, and that he and I were going to Toys ‘R Us the next day to find something to celebrate him being a big boy.  We were ok for a while, but right at bedtime, after a long day, he unraveled into coughing and tears.  He’s been sick for a couple weeks, and when push came to shove, I gave in… sort of.

I tossed 2 pacifiers, and took the remaining 2 in the kitchen and quickly poked holes in them.  They don’t suck right when they have a hole, and he tells me to throw them away, because “they’re broken”.  So I gave them to him as he was laying down in bed, and just as I’d hoped, the first pacifier didn’t work, and I told him I’d throw it away.  Unfortunately, the 2nd pacifier worked ok, so I guess the whole I poked wasn’t big enough.

So, we’re not quite free of the pacifier.  And I could push the issue.  But we’re down to one, and who knows how long it will be around.  I keep warning him that if it gets lost, that’s it… we’re done.  And it has a hole in it, so I’m sure it’s not going to work much longer.

I’ll keep you posted!

Brian raced the 100-mile Rouge Roubaix in Louisiana today. This epic race models itself after the famous Paris-Roubaix spring classic race in France with mile after mile of cobblestones, and the local version includes 20 miles of gravel. No, I’m not sure why anyone would want to race on roads like that, but that’s another post for another time.

Anyway, I just got a brief text/phone update from him, so I don’t have all the details. But it appears he finished pretty well, maybe 12th. His teammate, Mike, was in the first group just ahead of Brian, and finished in the top 6. Yeah, Tria Cycling!

Almost even more exciting for Brian, this 3ft printed version of his beautiful colored TopoCreator map of the race course was on display at the race! He’s been working on TopoCreator.com for a long, long time, and the website is so close to going live. I’m really excited to see such a great response to all his super hard work.

Analise’s good friend, Ansley, spent the night with us last night. We enjoyed some outside time yesterday afternoon, and Ansley taught Analise some cheers so they could cheer of Josiah’s scootering.

This morning (after excitedly waking up at the crack of dawn), the girls and I went to the International Tea with their Daisy Scout troop. We had a great time, and Analise even bravely went up front to present their troops charity donation, and shared in the microphone how much they’d given. Their troop was definitely the youngest group there, and I was so very proud of her!

I’ve wanted to blog so many times, yet I just haven’t gotten to it.  No excuse… just busy with life, kids, the usual sicknesses of winter, and just plain laziness.  If I am to get caught up, it will seem too overwhelming, so I’ll just start right here, right now.

It’s March already!  How did that happen?!?  Here’s a couple random glimpses that our camera captured recently…

My sweet girl, all dressed in pink and brown, in my favorite hairstyle... braids. She is just so cute.

While Analise and I had a Daisy Scout meeting, Brian and Josiah went to his preschool art show. Here's my crazy sweet boy with his table of artwork.

At a Sunday afternoon bike race (which Brian has placed 3rd and 2nd in!), we found this little possum clinging to a tree that seemed too small for him. So cute!

Wow – we had some more snow Sunday night. I had meant to post these earlier – but it’s fun to look back at those pics now…