Whatever’s left
Well, we leave tomorrow for Mesa to go check out the course and make sure we have everything in order. We are both pumped and ready to go. We’ll probably be fine, but just in case…WE LOVE YOU GUYS!! Hahaha. See you in a couple days. 🙂
I’ve been trying to post these pics ever since last night but things keep coming up and I’ve had to erase each write up that I’ve attempted because it’s too long!! So I’ll give you the short version. 🙂
Tommy and I were able to run a mock Mudder up in Dog Canyon which is a pretty steep hike that is 10 miles from bottom to top. We ran to the middle, jumped in the creek and then ran back to the car so it turned out to be a 6 mile ordeal that was pretty damn crazy. First off, we were totally unprepared as I didn’t think that we were going to attempt to do it on this day so all I had for breakfast was a cup of coffee. We had been training hard for 4 straight days and were exhausted from the altitude and cold. I know, I know – lame excuses, but it’s the truth – and they were kicking our ass. So we showed up and plowed through the first mile or so that was pretty much straight up and then tried to do a little running only to be completely shut down. We were both in the middle of the trail heaving. Tom said he felt light headed and I just couldn’t catch my breath. I was reminded of a wise man’s words that were spoken to me a mere 2 months previously – “Remember the 6 P’s!! Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance!!” It was ringing in my head until we got to the creek. There is a meadow that you have to cross in order to descend down to the water. It was covered in roughly 3 inches of snow and it took us forever to cross. When we finally got down to the creek, there was a big pool that was half covered in ice that we chose to dive in to. Our feet were already wet and frozen from treking across the snow so it wasn’t too bad until we got completely soaked. Of course it was FREEZING and I was instantly unable to feel my hands…however since the water was colder than the air and snow, I felt warm otherwise! Ha. Then Tommy took his plunge and we hauled ass back up the trail and through the snow. I started getting cramps in my shoulder and chest area but that was because I was so tense. My hands were still frozen and I almost dropped the camera a couple times. (Oh yeah, Joe wasn’t able to take pics of us because he was out on a motorcycle ride…which made it even more ridiculous since we were trying to document this insanity!) After about a mile and a half, I actually started sweating again but my hands were completely gone. I realized that if we had to do the monkey bar obstacle at this point, I would have fallen off from my inability to grasp anything. Tom said he was doing fine and when we finally got to the end, most of our clothes were dry and we felt pretty good. Granted, it was mostly flat or down hill, but that actually made it worse since it was hard on my knees and difficult to do quick feet jumping on and over rocks. I did feel pretty happy coming away from it though – our clothes dried in a timely manner and other than my hands, I had warmed up enough that I didn’t risk pnuemonia or hypothermia! So…the event was a success and we are really looking forward to the race in two weeks. We’ve got our hotel booked and I made sure that the hot tub was working for our soak in it afterwards!!
All in all, it’s been a pretty good year for our family. Our biggest news revolves around our newest little member, William Lawrence. We actually found out he was coming last Christmas, and on the first of August, he burst on the scene (sorry for the imagery…couldn’t resist)! Like his older brother, Will’s entrance into the world was “interesting”. What was going to be a calm, intimate water birth via midwife became a frantic 14 hour ordeal in the hospital with every intervention short of a c-section. Turns out Maria had a placental abruption, so Will’s entrance definitely wasn’t ordinary! But, in the end we were able to walk out of the hospital a few days later with our beautiful baby boy. Our time at home was short lived, however, as a few weeks later Will started projectile vomiting blood. We rushed him to the hospital where they diagnosed him with Pyloric Stenosis, a condition that prevents food from being digested. Luckily, this is fairly common and permanently fixed via a simple surgery (though no surgery seems simple when it’s on a 3 week old). But, everything went well, and little Will is now right as rain and eating like a pig! Three months later, we are now fully enjoying this new little addition and his calm, smiley demeanor.
Henry, has had a good year. He’s surprisingly adjusted very well to being a big brother. He didn’t make a peep when he saw Will using his old swing, crib, and other baby stuff. He also loves helping with the baby, bringing diapers, throwing bottles in the sink, feeding, and even trying to burp him. It’s been pretty cute watching them interact. Henry’s also starting to take a step out of toddler-hood. His near constant tantrums (alright, it wasn’t that bad!) have started to dwindle and a polite, little boy has started to emerge who says “please”, “thank you”, and “your welcome” to not only his parents, but even the clerk handing us our groceries at the store!! But by far his biggest accomplishment of the year……NO MORE DIAPERS!!! On a whim, Maria decided enough’s enough and in 5 days, the boy was completely potty trained. All in all, it’s been fun seeing Henry develop into a little boy. He’s got such an amazing amount of personality that engages almost everyone he comes across….hopefully he doesn’t become a politician or a used car salesman!!
Tom’s job is going well. He still enjoys it, and has now been with the company a whopping 10 years. He was recently promoted to a team lead position, and has been putting in a lot more hours, much to the chagrin of the Mama Bear. But truthfully, we’re lucky he has such good, solid employment in these uncertain times. Maria also got a promotion this year from a mother of one, to two! But depending on the amount of chaos during the day, she sometimes considers it a lateral move!
Trying to beat Will’s arrival, we were able to do some more renovations to the house. Last winter, we churned-out our brick side patio in 6 days. The thing came together really well and we now have a nice little area to enjoy our new fire pit (for the whopping 4 weeks a year where it’s actually cold enough to appreciate a fire)! The most notable improvement, however, has been the renovation of our master bathroom. Like our kitchen renovation, we took it down to bare bones. We even got a little plucky and decided to tear into the concrete foundation (I know…we’re crazy)! Now the bathroom is it’s own room, complete with nice new fixtures and tile. All in all, it looks amazing, and we’re definitely happy to have something worth cleaning more than twice a year!!
Our climbing season was a little shorter than usual, but we did get to go on a few trips to our bouldering haven: Hueco Tanks and a few day trips to a nearby area called Cochise Stronghold. But now that Will is born, our physical efforts have not been in climbing, but rather a new motivator to get into shape…a special forces-inspired obstacle course spread across 11 miles called the Tough Mudder. Filled with freezing cold ice baths, 10-foot walls, rope obstacles, barb wire, electric shocks, and fire, we’ve been training daily, running, biking, and doing all sorts of workouts to try and get ready for it in January. Yeah, it’s crazy, but hey…crazy is what we do best!!
We also took a few road trips this year. Most notably, was a July trip with Henry out to San Diego to see the ocean and the zoo. It was the first time he has seen that much water…and definitely not the last (if he has anything to say about it)! He absolutely LOVED it. He would go charging into the water with no care in the world about the waves, and stay in until he was purple and trembling. He would then throw a fit when we hauled him back to the beach to warm up in the sand. As soon as he was normal color…back he went into the water. I guess if he isn’t a politician…maybe he’ll be a Navy SEAL (Mama’s dream come true!).
As this year comes to a close, we hope yours has been a good one, filled with good health and cherished moments among friends and family. We also hope you’ve enjoyed our new interactive Christmas letter and Maria’s Top 10 Pictures of the Year. Be sure to bookmark or subscribe to our site so you can keep up to date on all our adventures! Merry Christmas!
Love,
H,T,M,W
