Finally Back!

Well, I've been back since Tuesday, but I haven't had a chance to post anything since then. The Phoenix trip was a lot of fun, and also frustrating, but mostly fun! The interview went from 8-2 on Friday, then I ran to sign the lease on our new apartment, Crown Court. We found a 2 Bed, 2 Bath, with a Den, and 1365 sq ft! Should be a great place for the next couple of years. Our new address will be on Princess Drive, but it's worth it! We are directly across from the TPC Scottsdale which hold the FBR Open PGA event every February. They have a signature hole, the Par 3, 16th, which they line with stadium seating and fit 30,000+ around one hole. It's awesome. Here is a taste of it: Tiger Wood's Hole-In-One.
Then on Saturday we got ready for Greg & Nico's Engagement/House Warming party. The Caldwell's know how to throw a party! The food, games, food, and people were great. Greg whipped up some hybrid chicken/bacon/BBQ snacks and brats/dogs/burgers. It was a blast. Then the $100 bottle of tequila came out...:) It was a lot of fun to meet everyone, and we look forward to hanging out with them again.
Sunday was a little rough for Greg & Nico who had to cancel sleeping in and drag my butt to the airport. Greg and I did find a couple of hours to play 5 games of Washers, which I won 3-2. I'm sure there will be a long standing competition between us. They dropped me off at the airport and when I checked in I saw there was not seat number next to my name...I knew something was wrong. I got bumped! They tried to find a volunteer to trade but no one jumped on it. They said the next flight would be TUESDAY! I can't complain being in AZ in March for 2 more days, but I hadn't planned on it and had labs to T.A. Tues, Wed, & Thurs. Not to mention the lack of clothes for an extended trip. Greg & Nico came back and picked me up and let me crash for 2 more days at their place. I did get some work done on my thesis, and also found time to work on my tan as well...:)
Greg dropped me off at 6:30am before work for my 9:30 flight. It gave me a chance to read a little and do some people watching. We boarded the plane and as soon as we started to taxi we were told the strut on the plane had broke and we had to deplane. The next 5 hours were spent people watching, reading, eating "breakfast", and wondering if I was going to be bumped again! We finally got out and back to Des Moines around 5:30. Allison was nice enough to come pick me up. When we got back Tim&Nate were all playing with Rohan and Mara was getting a short break. She did an amazing job single parenting for a week, and I can't thank her enough!!!
We had some time to play with Cameron & Rohan together. They were so interested in one another is was hilarious. Cameron is getting SO BIG! Of course Allison made us an awesome meal, and Tim was a constant source of entertainment. We were sad we couldn't stay, but I really wanted to get home and end this fiasco of a trip.
This last week I noticed what everyone else had seen since I left, that Rohan was smiling and giggling a lot more than he had before I left. He has been so funny to watch. He has a great "cheese" face with 2 dimples...so cute!
We also got Mara a new iPod since her old MP3 player was shutting down occasionally and wasn't very reliable. We also got her hooked up with the Nike+ system which tracks your running workouts. Michelle has had it for awhile and has 200+ workouts with over 750 miles logged! We thought it would be cool to keep track of Mara's as well, and you can see her little Nike+ Mini on the left side of our blog. The Nike+ system is a GREAT idea if you want some motivation for working out. You can set goals and they will keep you on track. A great idea for summer!
I hope everyone else is doing well, and hopefully out of the 4" of snow we got and the 8" Eldridge got! Can't wait to move to Phoenix! :)

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Rohan's Close To Laughing

Mommy/Rohan Weekend

Aside from both of us battling colds (thankfully not the GI bug everyone else seems to be contending with)we had a wonderful weekend!
Friday: We slept in, then I did some studying for boards during his morning nap, the afternoon was spent going for a walk to Java Co for some coffee and to school to take care of a few things. When we got back from our walk we took the dogs out to Thousand Hills State Park and let them run on the trails and swim for nearly 2 hours until the sun set. I think we succeeded in wearing us all out, myself included.
Saturday: Rohan & I went to Columbia to look for a few things and to just bum around. We took advantage of the beautiful day and took a long walk through Mizzou's Campus, there are so many old, cool looking buildings! The car ride there and back, Rohan got to listen to some board review lectures, poor kid is going to be such a dork!
Sunday: We spent some time with the puppies in the morning and then headed to Des Moines. I had seen a couple of cool running trails and wanted to try them out since the stroller was working. The first was a great trail off of 163 in Pleasant Hill by LakeSide Fitness, it was a 1.25 mile paved track around a lake that we ran twice, we would have gone around again but the wind was kicking my butt! Then we headed towards downtown to grab a bite to eat before we hit the other trail, we stopped at the Gateway Market, terrific salad bar! The other trail, Kruidenier Trail, is downtown and goes over and along Gray's Lake Park and was 1.91 miles. It was really nice to be able to run along the trails and Rohan loves being outside and the motion of the stroller. He did terrific! Once again car ride = board review lectures!
While we were out running we heard back from Mike that his flight was overbooked and he was bumped. We are glad he is enjoying the sun and hope he's relaxing, but we miss him and can't wait to see him on Tuesday. I came to the realization that we do a TON of tag-team parenting, kind of hard to do on your own:)
A few pictures from the weekend:

Rohan & Mom Time

Rohan & I dropped Mike off at the airport in Des Moines this evening after a fun filled day of running errands (finally got the jogging stroller tire fixed!), shopping, and lunch out with our friend Nate before he closed on his first house. Congratulations Nate, can't wait to see the new house!
It worked out really well that Mike could be in Phoenix this weekend. Along with his interview at TGEN, he is also able to attend Nichole & Greg's engagement party, and drop off some paperwork to finalize our apartment at Crown Court in Scottsdale, such a relief to have that taken care of.
We don't have too many things planned for the next few days while Mike is in AZ interviewing and enjoying the sun. I have some board studying to do and the house could definitely use some attention but other than that I am looking forward to just hanging out with my little man and the puppies. Rohan is sleeping on my chest as I write this, what a sweetie!
Here are a few pictures from the last few days.

St. Patrick's Day 5K

Mike & I, along with a few of our friends ran in Kirksville's St. Patrick's Day 5K. The race was at 5pm and it was still sunny and 72! We enjoyed the run but definitely didn't set any records:) Deana, Jenny, and Brian kicked some butt and all received metals for their age groups, congrats guys, you did AWESOME!
Rohan spent the evening with the Berrey Girls and their babysitters so we took advantage of the evening and hung out, something we do all to infrequently. We enjoyed the festive green beer and good conversation. Here are a couple of post-race pictures...

We plan on doing another couple of 5 or 10K's in the next few months, only this time we'll take Rohan along in the jogging stroller. We would have taken him this time but his tire was flat. We received the new one in the mail and he's all ready to race again! He seems to really like the rides, and it's great exercise/outdoor time for all of us.

Weekend With The Family At The Dells

This last weekend we met up with our families in the Wisconsin Dells. The resort we stayed at (The Wilderness) was HUGE! I had no idea they were that large. The Wilderness had 4 indoor water parks, all connected by walkways. It was nuts with all the kids. We all hung out in our room, which we shared with Chris, Shell & Jackson. It was a 2 bedroom suite with a full kitchen and a huge living room. We were able to cram Mara and I and Rohan, Chris, Shell & Jackson, Jen, Taylor & Kaylee, Dan & Holly, Larry, Deb, & Grandma, Scott, Sally, & Sam, and Cari, Elyse, and Erik! Did I forget anyone?!?!? It was a blast to see the 3 two-year-olds (Erik, Sam & Jackson) all playing together, and they all played so good. The water parks were a riot too. We got Rohan in the water a little and he seems to like it (once he warmed up to it). They had a bucket that dumped 1000 gallons of water every couple of minutes and all the kids seemed all geeked up whenever the bell sounded before it dumped.
They also had a "dry park" which was more or less a net maze & crazy town for kids. Needless to say, I had a blast! :) Mara and I had wanted to take Rohan down a slide sometime, so we figured, why shouldn't the 2 story triple tornado slide be his first?! He slept the whole way, but I had a ton of fun getting up there. Thanks to Kaylee for being my guide through the craziness.We ate well as always. Deb brought Maidrites and Holly brought a taco dip for a snack, and of course, we never ran out of food! Chris & Shell hooked us up with enough bread & butter pickles to bury a small village... It was great to see everyone. Hopefully we'll see them before we go, but with Mara and I's hectic run to the end of May; we may not get the chance so we were really glad everyone could make it! Mara has a week off, but I wouldn't quite call it a "Spring Break". Mara is using the time to study for boards in between trying to find some down time. Unfortunately I'll be heading to Phoenix this weekend for a job interview with a company called TGEN. I'll let you know how it goes! Hope you enjoy the photos and short videos! There are a TON of pictures!

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Rohan's First Glimpse At 1000 Gallons of Water:


Mara Almost Gets Her & Rohan Soaked:


Grandma Debbie Shows Her Elephant Calling Skillz:


Jackson Drools On Michelle:

Fun Times!

Rohan has been getting so expressive lately. He smiles a TON more now! Rohan has been so goofy lately we thought we'd post a few videos of him smiling and flirting.  The kid is going to be a card!
Other than that I'm working on my thesis and Mara is working through finals. We can't wait to see our families in The Dells this weekend for some INDOOR swimming and some R & R. Rohan is really excited to catch up with all his Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins!
There are a ton of pictures and videos, and I'm sure we'll have more to post after The Dells. Enjoy!


Peanut Butter Jelly Time! - Ignore the Pukey Beginning...


Biggest Smile Yet!:


Sit Ups:


Bathtime Fun!

Happy 2 Months Rohan!

So the little guy is now 2 months old! That went pretty quick, and from what we hear, it doesn't slow down! :)

Mara took him to the Dr. for his 2 month checkup today. He also got his 2 month immunizations as well. Those included Pertussis, Diphtheria, Tetanus, H. Influenza, Pneumococcal, and Hepatitis B vaccinations.. He also weighed in at...8 lbs 6 ozs!! We thought he'd be heavier since last week he had a spurt. We thought he'd continue at the same pace. He is babbeling and smiling a lot more now. We posted some videos below for your entertainment...:)

He's been doing great since the Bronchiolitis, and he's back in daycare. They were all surprised to see how big he had gotten since he wasn't there all of last week. We've even noticed some extra chins, thigh rolls, and plumper feet. He's been REALLY alert since he's feeling better, and that's been a lot more fun than gassy/whiny Rohan. He did, however, have a misfire on the changing table...see pics for more info...

We found some time last weekend to go to Haleigh & Serena's last basketball game. It was a blast watching them. They are by far the best players on the team, and they both played great!

My ankle is almost healed now. It's still a little swollen at the ankle bone (medial malleolus), but I managed to work out for an hour, run a mile, and then play a game of racquetball yesterday without any additional pain/swelling, so I'm glad I can be active again! I included an ankle shot to show the bruising at it's worst. It really does look worse than it is, but it does look bad! Note the swelling at the top of the foot too. That showed up for 2 days, then went away. Mara and I even got to jog ~2.5 miles outside today since it was still 55°F at 6:00!

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks and some comparison shots to show Rohan's progress. Enjoy!

Couple of Smiling Videos:



Rohan Babbeling About Nothin':