I am not doing well at keeping up with my blog :P Hard to believe last year I was writing almost daily. Life with a baby certainly has changed things around here. Everything seems to take so much more effort :P But I wouldn't change it for anything. There's a lot of love and enjoyment centered around that little boy.

Summer is here, and it looks very different from last year. For one, the pool by our apartment was plowed under and a dog park is replacing it. Poo. Literally....  At the moment there is only one pool open and it is up by the leasing office. It takes so much more effort to get there than it did when we could just step out our side yard and be there. Carting a baby around and all his trappings make it that much more of an ordeal. I did finally get to do free time in the pool the other day b/c he was still asleep in the car seat when we got there. I was honestly a bit grouchy with the boys in an effort to get them to move quicker so I could actually get some swim time. I got a few laps in before Peter started complaining enough I had to get out.

I've been taking a tot and me swim class the last two weeks. Peter loves the water. He has no fear. The class has been good though that little guy is showing his strong will already.  We have a basic routine that is being added to with each class. Last week the child was to sit on the edge of the pool and wait while the parent is a few steps away counting to five. After the five counts, we approach the child, say their name, and tell them it is ok to get in the water. Well, Mr. 11 months old was having a hard time with that concept (of course. ) But he is a smart one and quickly realized that if I wasn't going to let him in the water, he'd just take off the other way. Pretty soon he was crawling away from the pool and giggling the whole way!! I've been trying to apply the principle in other areas too - namely being on the bed. I think (hope) it is starting to work b/c twice now while I've been in the shower he's cried and complained like normal, but then by the time I get out he's just laying on the edge of the bed waiting patiently. This first time he did it I was quite surprised and pleased. Progress, I hope.

The first day of summer I did my walk as usual while the boys rode their bikes. I'm not sure what happened, but it wore me out! Seems every effort I make to exercise this summer has given me the same result. So, I haven't done my routine walk since. We hiked Neff's Canyon Trail with one of Matthew's college room mates a week ago. It was just about the right climb for me, but it wiped me out for days and my calves were so sore!! It was a beautiful place though. I had to descend early to find some facilities, but while I was gone Aaron had a run-in with a coiled snake. Thankfully he was
safe. He'd said that it hissed at him, but my guess is that it was a rattle he heard.

Matthew signed himself and the boys up for a triathlon to be completed this coming weekend. This month has zoomed by, but when he registered them it seemed so far away. And now here we are, the week of the competition. The boys have worked hard running, biking, and some swimming. Aaron really has no swimming skills, so Matthew spent some time teaching him how to float and do the frog stroke. Hopefully that will help some. Thankfully I was able to register them for swim lessons starting this week too. I hope he can make some good progress between now and Friday. Jared is mostly concerned about the run, but everytime they've done a run, he's walked. So, he should be worried. He'll be awesome on the bike though. Aaron gives his whole heart to the process.

Last year for my birthday I was obsessed with getting a bike and that was to be my present. I never really found one. Well, I did this year - at Good Will for $20. I found a bike for Aaron too so everyone would have one for the Triathlon. Aaron's needed a few tweaks, but for $6 it was worth it. Well, Jared took my bike for a ride, played with all the gears and has basically claimed it as his own. It was so funny when he got back on his previously preferred red bike. He claimed someone shrank it. We've been trying to tell him he was getting to big for it, but it wasn't until he rode a bigger bike that he believed us. So, now I am once again without a bike. Oh well. It is a pretty sweet bike.

My birthday also brought dairy back into my life. So far Peter seems to be handling it well. I need to do better about exercising control, but it is good and weird to be free to eat cheese again. I have done pretty well to maintain my weight since the end of the contest. Since my birthday I've fluctuated a few pounds but still done pretty well to maintain - not bad for three months of staying the same.

Our lease was up in April and we debated what to do. Months before that when we were trying to figure things out, the answer I received was "stay." Ultimately that it was we did despite an apartment opening up (right across from THE pool) that we really liked and wanted. At this point I am grateful because we will only need to move once this year now (which was part of the reasoning for not moving). Matthew had applied for the AGR program (full time military position) earlier in the year. He was told that if he could get unflagged for his PT, they would have a position for him. In the meantime, he got hired on as a civilian for a local unit. He was able to pass his PT test recently and his flag was removed, enabling him to be hired on as AGR.  We knew it was coming but had no idea when. We hoped the timing would work out that his year of probation in his civilian job would end before he was given an AGR assignment. We've had these balls in the air wondering when they would land and what the plan would be, but it was all speculation. The balls finally began landing over the last few weeks. At the end of May he found out his civilian position was being dissolved. Boo. However, he was being transferred back to the unit he left, just not as a paralegal. The change is good because he is no longer doing the work of five people, but the work of one. He only has to wear the UA hat. yay! It also helps that he knows all the office staff and they know him. He started his new position on Monday.

Ironically, the Wed before that he got the AGR call. The offer is in Las Vegas and not as a paralegal. He accepted the assignment and the ball has not only landed but is rolling steadily that direction. They have told him that he can expect orders about July 10th with a tentative start date of July 31st. So, the rest of this summer is a balance of enjoying the last bits of UT and preparing for our next adventure.