Our Neighborhood

Yesterday afternoon Maximus and I cruised around our neighborhood. I realized how cool it is. I love that there are ponds, streams, trails, the woods and wild animals in it...until all the bears wake up and eat us. We found this trail that cuts behind some homes about 50 yards away from our house. He thinks it's cool to ride his bike on it and go over the rocks like a "big mountain bike racer guy like pops". Our neighborhood is seriously the best place to raise a 3 year old boy. We love it.


He stopped to throw rocks in a stream. He also grabbed a large stick and told me to go home because he was too busy fishing.


Here's the fishing pond that sits next to a play ground and a couple tennis courts. It will be stocked with fish in the middle of June. Look at the view!


He went out into the bushes to find bears. It's hard to tell when he's using his imagination or if he's being serious.


And there's a baseball field here too! He ran around the bases with Jackie for a long time.

EAT

Large bowl of plain oatmeal
2 scrambled eggs
granola
milk
banana
2 cups green juice
half of my protein shake
peanut butter on 2 slices of super heavy 9 grain bread
whole wheat crackers
apple
1 slice of bacon
veggie burger
black olives
large bowl of cereal

...this was ALL consumed by Maximus yesterday. He's three. He ate more than me, and I'm consuming more food because I'm training for a marathon. Dude. When we got to school this morning, he went into the bathroom and sat for 15 minutes, pooping. His poor buddy, Jeremiah, sat outside the bathroom doing his "pee pee dance" because he had to go so bad. I'm constantly shocked at how much a little person can consume.

Sun Spot

I grabbed my coffee this morning and walked into the living room and noticed Maximus and Goog, lounging in the sun spot. The nice and calm moment quickly turned sour when Maximus moved closer to Jackie as she slept. No one messes with her when she's asleep. That old lady will snap. (She's missing most of her teeth anyway)

Goog

My dog has a million names: Jacqueline Margo, Jackie, Yack, Old Lady, Googoo, Goog, Idiot, etc. The name we use most for her is Googoo or goog.

I don't know her age. When I rescued her seven years ago, the veterinarian thought she was seven...making her fourteen now. Who knows. All I know is she was beat in the face from her previous owners. She hasn't slowed down much, she just sleeps a little longer after a long walk or short run. She still does her ridiculous "sprints" when Jesse gets home and when I get her going. I have noticed she can't run with me very much anymore...it could be that she's aging or that I'm training for a marathon.

Lately, Goog has been...off. When I look at her, her eyes are a bit lost. I walked her this morning, stopped at the pond to talk to her and when she looked at me, she looked right through me. She's so active and healthy, but she sometimes will walk into a corner of a room and not know what to do. Lately she'll forget to use her doggy door. Sometimes she stands outside in the snow or rain and bark to come in...as she stands next to her doggy door. She won't get up to greet me when I come in, but she still sleeps in my dirty running clothes as I shower in the bathroom- the bond we've always had.

My dear friend Sarah emailed me an article about dogs with dementia. Goog falls into 8 out of 10 signs. Yeah, I should take her to a doctor, but it's sad to see. As I type this, she sleeps under her favorite blanket next to me. When I go upstairs to bed, she will stay on the couch, come upstairs in an hour and sleep in her pillow box next to Jesse, sleep the night, wake when Jesse wakes, come back upstairs until I wake, then spend the rest of her day between the sofa and the deck outside.

I love my dog. She's my first born. I honestly expect her to live forever. She's Maximus' sibling. They play their weird games every evening. Seeing her behave differently is sad. At least she knows I love her.

Mothers Day

I am so glad I'm Maximus' mom! And Jesse's partner! I have the best little family ever and I couldn't be happier. My kid is super cool, my man is dreamy, life's good.

The weather we've had here for the last week has been unreal. I mean, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world. It is PERFECT. It only gets to about 70, but there isn't a cloud in the sky, so the sun at 9,000ft makes it feel like 90. I got sunburned pretty bad and it hurt for one day, and now I'm all tan and happy. Saturday morning I went for a 6 mile run (and broke my time record!) and I realized I CAN run a marathon. My training has been such an emotional boost.

Anyway, on Mothers Day, all I wanted to do was be with my guys. Jesse brought me coffee in bed and I sat there with a sleeping Maximus for over an hour. Loved it! Jesse went for a long bike ride and I know this sounds lame, but I wanted to get laundry and housework done alone while he was gone and Maximus slept in late. Doing housework and getting my house clean for us actually makes me happy. I feel gross when it's dirty and cluttered with stuff. So, I was honestly delighted to do a few things alone, but when Jesse found out, he was like, "you're not supposed to do anything like that today! Let me!" No, sorry. Then I secretly swept the kitchen floor as he showered!

After we got ready, I wanted to go for a hike. We found a great 2 mile trail and took off. Jesse even taught Maximus how to pee in the woods! Maximus exclaimed, "ik (it) bubbles!" After the hike I was dying for my favorite restaurant- The Boathouse- for a hummus plate and eating out on the patio with a view of all the mountains. We enjoyed that, strolled around Main Street, did a little shopping, I rode my bike around the neighborhood jumping curbs alone, chilled with my guys, LOVED MY DAY.





Horrible view, eh?

Maximus is happiest running through the woods.




I got the hummus I wanted!

Jesse raced Saturday and here's Maximus winning.

Cute little video of Maximus:

Sous Chef Maximus

Sous Chef Maximus from Stacey Barch on Vimeo.

Our Easter

What a great day! We woke up to this:

The day prior, Maximus colored some eggs and made a little hanging circle Easter craft.


The Easter bunny enjoyed hiding eggs in the snow!

I found out my dear friend, Heather, was going to be in Denver during Easter weekend. I was SO excited to see her. The last time I saw her was when Maximus was 13 weeks old. She's one of my closest friends- we met as roommates in college and have been best buds ever since. We've been through a lot together and once we saw each other, we were back to our gutter humor, tears and hugs within seconds. She was in love with Maximus. She couldn't believe a 3 year old could be so personable and friendly. She held him close, told him she loved him and kept kissing him. He was in love with her too.

And he loved Heather's husband, Cleon. Oh man, they even danced in the restaurant!
He also loved Heather's niece!

As I hung out with Heather, Jesse went and rode his bike. He rode a great mountain singletrack trail, then I forgot to pick him up so he ended up riding 47 miles around Denver. In the rain. Then got lost because there are two Wadsworth Streets and we couldn't find him. 47 miles later, I located a tired and wet Jesse.

The drive back up the mountain to our home.

It actually was a great Easter. Maximus really enjoyed finding coins, raisins, dinosaurs and finger puppets in plastic eggs hidden in the snow. Jesse got a great ride and I saw my dear. We all slept like rocks that night.

Strider Model

Click on the picture to see it up close. That's my kid, Maximus as the Strider poster child at the bike shop- Bike Pedalers. When our business partner sent me the picture, it brought tears to my eyes. What a stud. And oh, how I miss Lincoln sometimes...

Working with Kirsten

This video may not seem particularly interesting to most people, but it is to parents of children who have speech delays. Maximus LOVES his speech pathologist, Kirsten, and he excels when working with her. His buddy, Parker, doesn't speak very much at all and has never combined two words together, but can say single words very clear. They work well together because Maximus talks non stop and most people can't understand him, and Parker rarely speaks but is usually understood with single syllable words. In the video you can see Maximus saying things that are a HUGE improvement and Parker sounding out the first sound. "Bike" was "gike" until a couple weeks ago and we have yet to say the word "dog". I cannot express how much I adore Kirsten. She's full of energy, loves the outdoors, buys Maximus healthy crackers out of her own pocket and is a great match with him and us.

Hair and Goggles

Look at this hair! No wonder women come up and pet him at the store.


We got him some goggles. He thinks they're the coolest things on the planet. A much needed accessory for the Sharkimus.

Niner Jet 9

How to impress your woman:
Come home from work and tell her you ordered her the Niner Jet 9 full suspension frame and Rockshox Reba XX fork.

I can't wait. What a guy.

Fits

This morning I woke up to this:
I think it's beautiful! Anyway, Maximus and I had a great morning together before I took him to school. He giggled as I got him dressed, ate his oatmeal with his Scentsy monkey "Molly", drank a protein shake with me and we sang on the way to school. He was such a buddy. Look at his beautiful hair, I cut the bangs out of his eyes. Jesse wants the entire thing trimmed and frankly, I think he's daft.
When I picked up Maximus from school, he had that "look". I knew he was about to be a total butt face. His teacher told me he was good, but he was a little feisty. He ran out of his classroom and into the boys' restroom and screamed. Like, that super loud scream that makes your ears pop off your head. I bolted straight in and picked him up and all hell broke loose. I carried him out of the school screaming, kicking and slapping. I felt so bad that he disturbed the other classes! He threw his fit nonstop during the drive and for 45 minutes at home. I don't let him throw fits around the house, so he has to stay in his room until he's calm, says he's sorry and can tell me why he was put in his room in the first place. Dude, that took forever. He screamed in his room, threw books, kicked the door, even tried to pick up his bed to tip it over. Seriously, kid? He held onto the train conductor hat my parents brought to him when we lived in Lincoln. I made him clean up his mess and told him to lay down with the hat and he did. He fell asleep within seconds holding the hat. Geez...I was seriously beginning to think he was possessed. Worst fit ever!

Ants!

Maximus (left) eating pineapple because he didn't want birthday cake. Success!

Maximus went to his buddy Bryon's 4th birthday party yesterday. It was fun! All his buddies from school were there and he had a blast playing with them. One of the funniest things I've heard from Maximus came out at the party. One of the games they played was to eat a pudding pie thing as fast as they could only using their face. Maximus didn't want to play because he thought the chocolate sprinkles on the pies were ANTS! Everyone thought it was a hoot.

During the party, Jesse and I couldn't believe how much candy and sugar was around. Like, each reward was sugar. Don't think we were there telling him "no" and taking candy out of his hands. Not at all. We were impressed with our 3 year old for making decisions on his own! He didn't want any pudding, he didn't eat any candy because he was too busy with balloons and he refused birthday cake when he was asked if he wanted any. We were so proud of him! They did play a game with marshmallows and he ate a few before we left and became a total spaz after. I know I sound like a broken record, but each time we allow him to eat junk sugar like that, he acts out! It's like we poured him a Pepsi and handed him a Pixi Stick and white bread. Once we got home and gave him some real food, he was Maximus again.

When he plays with his friends from school, it's adorable. I can't wait for his birthday to have them all over.

26.2 Miles

I've been running a lot lately. I love it. I'm training for a half marathon in June. It's not a huge event, I'm going to run from Copper Mountain to our town on the paved trails. Jesse will pull Maximus behind his bike and supply me with support and water.

After the half marathon, I'll be training for...do I dare say it? A marathon. Like, a full one. It's October 9th in Denver and with my weekly trainings, I should be ready for it. My only goal is to finish the thing. I don't care if I'm fast and I'll probably cross the finish line like this guy:
I figured I should do something cool during my 30th year of life. Here's to the next 6 months of intense training!

Easter Goodies

Since candy and junk isn't a part of our lifestyle, I have found little creative cool things to put in plastic Easter eggs for Maximus. Plus, I took him to the dentist last week and I can proudly say NO CAVITIES FOR MAXIMUS! Anyway, finger puppets are a total hit! I'm also using coins (Maximus is a money junkie), marbles, sidewalk chalk, Micro Machine cars, Legos and this one might sound lame...little rocks. Rocks...aye...every time I do a load of Maximus' clothes in the wash, I ALWAYS find a load of rocks in his pockets. Annoys me, but he loves his rocks.

We're going to hide hard boiled eggs and plastic ones all over our yard. We might have the best yard for it- we still have a snow drift in the front (perfect!), a large rock planter with landscaping that lines the backyard, about 20 trees, 2 decks with stairs and just a ton of space. I love this place. Pictures of Easter will follow!

Googoo the Warrior

I took Goog running this morning and she amazes me. We ran over 4 miles and the terrain was very steep for the first half. She kept up the entire time. She even fell in a creek over her head and was able to climb out. For an old dog, she does well.

Spring!

Look what's coming up in the yard! The aspen trees are sprouting little furry things too. What a relief after a harsh winter.

3 Year Old Boys

These two had a blast playing the other day. They are insane. Once, they were really quiet upstairs and when I checked on them, they had found 2 dodos that Maximus hid and were sitting on the bed together sucking on them and watching cartoons. So cute.

Mountain Boy

First off, I just took Maximus to the Spring Carnival. I told him about all the fun things to do, all his friends would be there, he'd win prizes and it'd be epic fun. We got there, I bought a boatload of tickets, he saw a clown and wigged out. We left in less than 20 minutes. I selfishly was looking forward to socializing! Boo. Now we're going swimming instead.

I took this picture today. Maximus and I rode our bikes to the Blue River that runs through our town and played. He told all the fishermen "nice fishing guy!" and he threw rocks into the water. We have these beautiful trails that run alongside the river and all through town. This is one of the prettiest places I've even been to and I get to live here! Look at this stud:


We stopped on a bridge and I tried to get a good picture of us, but Maximus is three:


Jesse's mom sent Maximus a care package with cool little things inside of it, so I put them all on the bed and waited for him to wake up. They sat there for a while!


Potty trained champion!

Just Maximus and Mama

This weekend Jesse is in Nebraska doing bike stuff, so it's just Maximus and Mama. We have a lot of fun things planned to keep us busy. The weather is gorgeous too! We're starting things off right with some whole wheat pancakes and a greenish smoothie!