First Father's Day

Since I am posting about Father's Day nearly two months later...I am going to leave out a lot of the wonderful details that made this day perfect.  The most important is that we were together and that we celebrated Ben and all the ways he is a great dad.

We started out on Saturday at our friend's backyard party.  Abney is clearly Daddy's Girl.

But she is still Mama's Angel too!

This was a big week because Abney started crawling confidently with her belly off the ground!

We spent Father's Day up at PlanTy visiting with G-Diddy, Anne McNeil, and Sarah.  We thoroughly enjoyed the salt water pool and spending time watching our little water baby.  She LOVES the water.

Daddy, Abney, and G-Diddy
Or
Ben, Abney and Ben Abney

Tell me this man isn't in love. She has him wrapped right around her little finger.

Mommy is a triathlete!!!

What a way to celebrate my 28th birthday by completing my first triathlon! Abney and Nana joined me for the Sweetwater Creek State Park Triathlon. I was really nervous but felt like a champion after completing a 200 yard swim, 10 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. Technically very short by triathlon standards but the perfect distance to get my feet wet.

Transition 1

One of the oddest parts to this non-USAT event was that they had two transition areas instead of the typical one. When we arrived I took my time getting set up and had everything laid out in perfect order. Of course twenty minutes before the race started they let us know we had to go "a ways" down the road, which turned out to be about half a mile. Nana trucked it with Abney over the hill and through the woods across the busy highway...to help me get everything squared away.

Abney doing her pilates while Mommy was cycling. She is in her John Deere T from Iowa that her Fairy Godmother sent to her. Nothing says day in the woods like John Deer on your shirt.

One hour, twenty four minutes, and 36 seconds later I cross the finish line!

First taste of fruit!

Tonight Abney had her first taste of the sweet stuff, fruit. YUM! She had a Carrot Tomato baby food souffle. I'm assuming it tastes better than it sounds because someone was very happy with each bite she took. It was so cute. She really enjoyed herself and spread it all over her bumbo tray and most of her face. It's okay because we cleaned her up with splishing and splashing in the bath tub-one of our favorite times of the day! I introduced her bath toys tonight as well, which may have been a bigger hit with Charlie than Abney. No, Charlie was not in the tub but he heard the squeaking noises and needed to investigate. When he looked at me I squirted him right in the muzzle! He tried to attack the water and went running in circles all around the house. My sweet little pooch.

Tomorrow is the last night we are on Mom only duty. Daddy is still gone until Sunday but Nana is coming to visit and to help me celebrate my 28th birthday. Egads, I'm getting closer to thirty something but still going to RELISH every day of my twenties because they have been AMAZING! I've met some of my best friends, built even stronger bonds with old friends, met and married my wonderful husband, moved a million times and experienced new places, and somewhat settled in Atlanta to have our beautiful girl. Yeah, life is good.

P.S. For anyone that actually "follows" I have two posts that precede this one but I need to upload some fabulous pictures before I can post. :)

The new Diva

What do you say when your daughter is only six and a half months old and has already been coined the class diva? Thank you or I'm sorry? Somehow all I could do was laugh in slight disbelief. Yes, I know she is my child and I know we are going to have very opinionated children...but really this early? LOL Now that Miss Abney has learned how to sit up unassisted and can scoot so well she is almost at a crawl, she seems to think she is quite in charge. If she wants something or wants to go somewhere, she's gone. I'm starting to see how those moms that say they lose weight because they are always on the chase do it!

Another funny moment that happened is the revelation about being a true Daddy's girl. Don't get me wrong, Abney and I have a very strong bond and I know she loves me...but I found out that when Daddy drops her off at school she cries out and needs to be coddled to soothe her longing. Does she cry when Mommy leaves? No. Oh Daddy says it is because he put her in a toy and not in the teacher's arms. Oh, you mean the yellow stand that she loves to play in that I put her in almost every day? Yes, that would be the one!

In years to come I look forward to teasing her about this and laughing. The teachers all love her and apparently she has been a big hit with visiting parents. Ben told the school director that we need to start earning commission for the converters because of the happy little diva in the infant room. :)

I heart swimming

The day Abney had her first swim is the same day I had my first open water swim. Yes, I willingly put a bathing suit on multiple times a week so I can learn how to swim for my life in dark open water with no lanes and no rules. What on earth am I thinking? Surprisingly, swimming has become one of my new favorite ways to spend my "me time." As soon as I hit the water and start my stroke, the rest of the world fades away. It is just me, the water, and the sound of my breathing as I make my way through the exercise. A certain calm comes over me and I just find my groove.

My training has been difficult both from adjusting back to endurance after taking so much time off while pregnant, and being able to balance everything. I pretty much started training with Team in Training again at the same time I went back to work from maternity leave. A little much at once? YES! But I can say that I am confident I will cross the finish line on July 11th and that I have already met my fundraising minimum for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! So what does that mean? That I have of course already signed up to train again for the Fall....yes, I am slightly crazy....but hear me out. My thought is that for the fall I will be able to focus on taking it a step further. Either by being more competitive with the Olympic distance and training harder, or by getting talked into completing Half Ironman which is what they currently have me signed up to do.

Who knows if I will be able to do it, but if I don't try I will never know. So step 1, I am signed up for my first sprint distance next Sunday to celebrate my birthday. Step 2, complete the Olympic distance in Chattanooga with my Team. Step 3...GO FOR IT!

You can check out my progress and donate to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by visiting me at:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/ga/Augusta10/jbuerger

Abney Jump Up

It is only a matter of time before Abney starts walking on her own. She is in full "army mode" crawl now and can maneuver quite quickly around the house. The days of sitting still while we got something done are O-V-E-R, but it is kind of nice too. :) Here is a video of Abney enjoying one of her favorite toys where she is learning about cause and effect while strengthening her soccer legs.

First Swim!