Joy's Life and Times: Ironman week and a busy May

It has been almost three years since I have even spectated at an Ironman, so I need to get my plans together soon. Jeremy is racing in Texas this week! Of course Hunter and I are going, but this time I won't be putting him in a special Ironman outfit that he'll have a blowout poop in before the swim is over (and we hope the same for all participants). Mammo, Jeremy's mom, will be joining us, and I (all 3 of us for that matter) couldn't be more excited. This Ironman spectating thing is a hard enough sport when you don't have a bored 3-year-old with you.

And that's what H thought of that special ironman outfit.

Jeremy's training has really impressed me. He has been more consistent than ever; even though late nights with the little guy leave him tired and getting little sleep, he's been up before 5 regularly to keep his training from interfering with his time at home when we are awake. He still does dishes, carpentry work in the yard, moves stones and tons of dirt up and down the hills after centuries, and, never napping, he also doesn't complain. He is the best daddy! I hope Saturday is free of snags and any mishaps, along with being full of good luck. And a tailwind both ways with really cool temps would be nice while I'm asking.

I have so many tales and suggestions for racing ironmans, which Jeremy has certainly heard more than once in his years with me. I'll just sum it up. Swim: wear something under your wetsuit, especially if you get stripped by the strippers. Bike: don't fall off. Run: race rules say you CAN crawl, or lie on the side of the road, so take advantage if needed. Only a couple of these come directly from my personal experience.

I really cannot believe May is already here, since we have been looking forward to this weekend for so long. I know at this point those racing want just a little more time to second guess their training, and to them I say, it's never too late to start overtraining.

After our adventure to The Woodlands, we still have a lot of May left to go. We are getting short on time before the baby comes, and into the few weeks after the race, we are cramming in a trip to Mississippi for a family reunion, a long weekend at the beach, and a kitten adoption or two. Like my niece said, "you're going to have tiny kittens AND a new baby?" Yes, yes I am. And she can come play with all of them.

There's still nesting work to do around the house in preparation for the baby, but one thing we aren't worrying ourselves over is decorating a nursery for this one. We only have 2 other bedrooms on the same floor as the master, one of which is irreversibly an office (meaning it's small with built in bookshelves). The other is Hunter's room, in which we plan to store baby clothes alongside Hunter's. I'm not bothering to set up a crib that will never be used this time, since right next to our king and double beds on the floor is room for the cosleeper, if needed. There's also a toddler bed along the window wall, so this place is really a BEDroom. We imagine the arrangements will end up with Hunter in the king sized bed, baby and me in the double, and Jeremy in the toddler bed. What could go wrong with all 4 of us in one room, right? :)

A Hunter quote from a couple months ago: "When my baby sister comes out I'll sleep in my bed. I'll show her how to lie down. She'll be my friend. She'll kick me in bed. She'll cry in bed some too."

This is the age of the most hilarious and smart quotes out of that boy's mouth. Lately he had been asking seriously good questions, like if outer space has a bottom and what it attaches to. And if we've tried fish. "I tried fish one time when I was five years old. It was pretty good." He helped uncle Tim cook one night and then gave away his gravy secret to me. The child never forgets. Especially when it comes to food ("I like every place that has food"), trucks, or theories of relatively.

My little artist has discovered watercolors, which he really seems to enjoy splattering, at least until his water to paint ratio gets off and he gets frustrated.

"What color should I paint next, mommy?"

"How about green?"

"Or black!" It's always black.