Millennium Park Triathlon

For anyone whos been reading this blog for a while, you may know that my husband competes in triathlons every summer and has been for many years.  My thing is shopping, his is working out.  Good mix right?
Last year, Jeff asked his family to participle in the Millennium Park Triathlon  here in Grand Rapids and his siblings and dad joined him in racing.  This year though, he got pretty much the whole family.  It's only a sprint race, so pretty much anyone can do it, and there's not much training required. It was a great family bonding experience and I'm glad Jeff and his family set such a good example to Noah to be active and fit as he grows up.  Here is a little recap from our morning.

This year Jeff and his cousin Mike had a great rivalry.  They both trained hard but Mike finished a little earlier than Jeff!  Good job Mike!  Jeff finished second in his age group and Mike first (in a lower age group).  They both did amazing as well as the rest of the family.  And did you see all the family that showed up!?  Lots of support in the Stoll family.  With matching tshirts of course.

I love love this race though.  It's a really pretty course.  Not that I can say much from the race itself since I'm not much of a triathlete.  Maybe one day I'll join in.   Until then I'll be the one taking the pictures!

Fourteen Months

Noah is fourteen months! We did so much this July.  We had a family vacation in Mackinaw City and went to the island.  Can I just say the horse poop stank is out of control?  I'm a city girl all the way and seeing absolutely no cars was super crazy.

Noah is getting more of an attitude every day.  He whines and cries and the smallest things but he also laughs so much and making him smile is super easy.  He's become a total mamas boy which I think it's about time.  He cuddles and sits on your lap and smiles while touching your face.  He's a sweet boy when he's not running a hot mess all over the house.  He touches everything he sees and needs to "figure" everything out.  How it moves, what it feels like, what it does.  If so fun watching him learn right in front of you.

Let get to the stats of the month.  Not a lot of physical growth but he's really learning to do a lot more.

• Stats: Size 4 Diapers | 12mo or 18mo clothing
• Size: 28.5 lbs - 32 in 
• New Abilities: He's really starting to babble a lot although still not words.  He does finally say "mama" but not really towards me.  He's realized that he can walk backwards towards an object and sit on it which has been pretty amusing since now he tried to sit on anything.  Your ankle, leg.... toys, buckets, it's pretty funny. He runs! and pretty fast.    He's loving cleaning and I'm pretty sure he's learning that from me.  He knows where we keep the vacuum and the electric broom.  Loves both of them and throws a fit if I put them away.  He loves to help me clean and cook.  Already making a great husband out of him!

• Sleep: Sleeping consistently from 7:30pm to 7:30am. Naps twice during the day. A morning, an afternoon for about 1.5 hrs.  I think we're moving towards one nap though. Once in a while he's refusing his second nap which makes for a grumpy late evening.  We just have to work on moving the first nap a little later and we'll be good to go!
• Food: We're all solids now and he will eat most anything that we will.  Milk in a sippy during meals and water in between.
• Mom Check-In: Eeek! School is just around the corner which means busy time at work and less hubby time.  I'm trying to soak in every minute of this summer.  Here is our progress on this last months bucket list:

-Make and let Noah have popsicles
-Go to the zoo
-Make Noahs one year photo book
-Start using the spoon to eat (although not yet mastered)
-Start shopping for Noah's fall clothes
-Go to the GR Downtown Market
-Have a family lunch date outside downtown with Noah
-Buy a potty

Almost done with just a couple of things left to finish.   This week Jeff and I had Wednesday off so we headed out to lunch to our favorite restaurant (six.one.six) and introduced fine dining to Noah.  We do like our fancy food and enjoy going to nice restaurants when we get the chance.  Fine dining just offers so many more unexpected choices and the quality is great.  Of course instead of dinner we did lunch, and instead of the nice seating with white linens and breakable wine glasses we sat outside.  Still a great meal though and we're happy to finally be able to share something like this with Noah.  

Favorite Things Friday

Um... where has summer gone already?  Can you believe it's August!  Holy moly.  The good thing about August is that fall is almost here and there is no better season than fall.  The crisp air, the cute clothes, the smell of bonfires, falling leaves and a cold bedroom to sleep in at night with the covers over your head.  Love.

I'm looking forward to this weekend and ready to get out of work.  Six hours left to go! I need to catch up on some sleep this weekend for sure and after a good vacation and lots of quality time with my boys I've been really missing it this week.  At the house, we're getting geared up for one of the last triathlons of the season and this one is super special because most of Jeffs family will be a part of it.  We even had matching shirts for the occasion!  Fierce competition is heating up between my husband and his cousin.  I'll update you last week on who will cross the finish line first!

Ok, on to blog business.  Here are this week internet findings of my favorite things!

I've been meaning to make a growth chart for Noah (and our future kids) and I saw this tutorial of an arrow which is super cute.  I also really love this wooden growth chart.

You know like everyday when you come home the first thing  you do is take your work clothes on and put on some comfy clothes.  This shirt should be part of that outfit for sure. Plus this website has some other pretty hilarious tees. 

For those who don't know, we're in the process of building a house.  Like the very early stages because who knew even figuring out the right floor plan could be so hard.  And did I tell you I have the most expensive taste ever?!  Ugh.  I blame it on Pinterest for giving me false hope of what I can have.  Especially this entry.  I HAVE to have two stories.  I love stairs so much.  

Another example of false hope?  This closet. Can I win the lottery please?

But, on the weekends, when you finally get a babysitter and want to impress your hubster.  These shoes are a must.  If I didn't have a million shoes this color I would for sure buy them. 

I change my wallpaper on my computer a couple of time a month because I keep finding such good ones. These would also make some good phone wallpapers.

Have you seen the video West Elm just posted about folding a fitted sheet?  Mind blown.

Happy weekend guys!

Beach Life

Life doesn't get better than this. =)