Liam and I have been busy lately.  We took a two week trip to Pittsburgh and West Virginia to see all the changes in the family.  We were able to see new baby Harrison and Allison’s new house along with Jessica’s new pad.  It was wonderful to see my family and to be able to see Liam playing with all of his cousins.  I didn’t enjoy the humidity and still can’t believe that I grew up in that weather, but I had the greatest time watching Liam bake cookies with Nana and playing in the sprinkler with Papa.  He is a man’s boy because he loves Daddy time and Grandpa is his favorite person (after Mom!) So I shouldn’t have been surprised that he gravitated towards Papa.  It made me cry at the airport when he came to see us off at the gate and Liam played with him for 30 minutes.  When he had to leave, Liam ran after him screaming, “Papa! Papa!”

We ate Tudor’s Biscuit and Chick-fil-A which was amazing.  I miss those places.  I had to make sure that I was trying to achieve my quality cellulite while on the trip!  I loved seeing Ben and Liam playing together.  There were so many new toys that Liam was overwhelmed and never got bored.  Ben was always calling, “C’mon Liam,” and pulling him around.  Liam learned the words “bounce house” and they had to jump in it everyday.  He liked it until Ben discovered that he was finally bigger than someone and had to body slam Liam a few times!  It was so hard leaving, but I get to see them at the end of November so I am so excited.

Since coming home, we have heard the heartbeat of baby number two and I have been dealing with constant nausea.  I don’t remember being pregnant with Liam and having NOTHING sound appetizing, but this baby doesn’t seem to like anything.  It is really tiring and frustrating but hopefully it will pass and not last the entire pregnancy.

Liam just celebrated his second birthday and we just had a small party with family and a few friends.  He got a kitchen and a Cars racetrack and every morning since he has gotten up before 7 a.m. saying “cook, cook” or “car, car.”  I love that he likes his new toys but I wish that he would like them at a more reasonable hour.  So that’s the condensed version of what we have been up to.  Now it is getting ready for the Halloween party and not throwing up on my massage clients!  SORRY NANA BUT I RAN OUT OF TIME BEFORE I COULD LOAD UP THE BIRTHDAY PICS.  THEY WILL COME IN A FEW DAYS.

Getting ready for the trip, Liam dressed himself. I thought the overalls were appropriate considering where we were headed.

Eating pop pop with Papa

Baking cookies with Nana

Mr. Zebra Cowboy Firefighter

Taking a buddy nap after hours in the bounce house

Nana and the Paci Posse

Attack of the ninja turtle

All the cousins

He likes Jessica's big tub...especially since it didn't have any of those terrifying jets!

Nothing beats the heat like a little nudity. That leads to ....

...flashing the neighbor's dog

The San Francisco Marathon has come and gone and I survived!  I don’t know what possessed me to run it in the first place.  The fact that I have been running since high school made it a logical goal.  Maybe that combined with a bit of the “I am a stay-at-home mom ; therefore I must refurnish furniture, cook gourmet meals each day, set outlandish goals and have perfect children” syndrome with a dash of the fact that running a marathon seems to be the yuppy “in” thing to do in our extremist society.  For whatever reason, I did it and I am thinking that I may never do it again or that I am addicted to running them now.  I can’t decide which but I am leaning towards that latter.

Tom and I went into the city Saturday morning to have a day to ourselves.  Katie took Liam for the night and it was really nice not to have to worry about him in the city, especially at night considering how terrible of a sleeper he is when he is in a new place.  He gets that from me.  I was a little nervous because it was the first time that we had both been away from him for a night but he did great with Katie and she said that they had a really good time.

It was fun to be in the city with Tom.  It reminded me of the times that we would just go in to walk around aimlessly.  We went to the runner’s expo in the morning and I got my “Worth the Hurt” bib and swag (although at about mile 19 I decided that they should change their motto to “Worth the Inevitable Back Surgery that You Will Have to Have.”)  Then it was off to Market to do a little shopping and a lot of window shopping.  Then off to Chinatown and down North Beach to the warf where I tried to eat as much of a Boudin’s bread bowl that I could.

In the afternoon, we checked into our hotel.  We got a room in a little boutique hotel downtown called Hotel des Arts where each room has been painted by a different local artist.  I had called a few weeks before to request a room that I thought was very pretty but when we arrived, I was told that we had a different room.  I don’t know how to put it in words, so here are the pictures of what we wanted…and what we got!  BEST ROOM EVER!

This is the room that I wanted...

AND THIS IS WHAT I GOT….

I was glad I brought my recreation clothes because my robes they was astinky!

NACHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Just in case you need motivation in the bathroom...

The blue masked dude was my favorite with his pathetic lone tooth.  Let’s just say that this room killed any thoughts of a nice night away from Liam although Tom and I did learn some new moves along the lines of body slams and pins.

The marathon was great.  I finished in 4 hrs 5 min and am very pleased with my time especially considering all the hills.  I finished 1,919 out of 5,873 total runners and 402 of 2,014 women.  I loved the course.  It was typical SF weather with fog throughout the course, but not enough that the view over the Golden Gate wasn’t breathtaking.  I didn’t start to feel it until mile 18.  I think that is when I hit my wall and started counting the miles.  It was a good thing that the course went down Haight where there is never a lack of interesting things to see.  I have to admit that I cried a bit at the finish because I actually ran the whole thing, and Tom got a little misty when he hugged me although he will deny it.  The only problem was that Katie didn’t get there with Liam in time so he wasn’t there and she was supposed to take pictures so I don’t have any personal pictures.  Tom was taping it, but when I tried to watch the video all I saw was the four second blur of the concrete.  So at this moment, I don’t have any pics to post but if you go to http://results.bazumedia.com/event/results/event/sfm2011 and type in my number 7296, you can see a blurry video of me in a white jacket in one and my yellow WV shirt in another.  I have to wait a few days until they get the pics ready and then I can fork out an inflated price for them because they will be the only pics I have.

I feel great now.  My legs are a bit sore, but not as bad as I expected.  I am definitely doing this again.  If things work out the way I want I will be back in 2013!

So I think that I must be the worst blogger ever.  I just can’t seem to find time in my day to get stuff down.  We have been really busy this summer.  After we returned from Disneyland, we have been going non-stop.  I took my certification course on native hot stone massage and LOVED it.  It is the most amazing massage I have ever had and now I can give it. There is also a lot of running as the marathon gets closer.

Tom’s family came in to visit and we all went down to Fresno for Great-Grandma Gibson’s 90th birthday and the family reunion.  Liam had fun playing with his cousins Luke and Sophie, but I got sick so I didn’t have as much fun.  On the way home, we stopped in Yosemite.  Since we got so much snow in the winter and spring was really wet and lasted into the middle of June, the waterfalls were gushing and so beautiful. Liam enjoyed climbing around on the rocks and looking down at the floor from Glacier Point.

When we got back, Liam and I took off for several days in the Bay area to spend time with Lisa and Karl.  We also got to catch up with old friends in the area and saw Courtney’s new baby Giles.  He was 10 lbs when he was born and is only 3 weeks old but looks a couple months.  He is adorable and I miss the newborn stage so much.  Liam is now a wreck because all the traveling messed him up, but we are slowly getting him back on track.

Liam is no longer a baby.  He has had his second mullet removal haircut and looks like a little man.  He is running all over the house and finding ways to get into more and more trouble.  He loves to get into my make-up drawer and see how much damage he can do to his adorable face.  He is also getting so much more independent.  He wants to hold everything himself, get everything himself and be in charge of everything.  He is currently going through a stage where he hates his car seat and putting him in it is a battle every time.  He also impersonates Cookie Monster spot on.  It makes me laugh every time he does it. It is hard for me to describe all the wonderful things that he does (minus the incessant screaming when he is fighting a nap) so I will have to try to find some time to upload videos.  It is better to see him in action than to have me try to put him in words.  Maybe they will be up in a couple of months at the rate that I go!

Hanging out with Boston and Landon at Six Flags

Stylin' in his Jersey Shore outfit compliments of Dad

Posing with Mommy. I love the cheeky tongue that he is sticking out

Feeding the ducks with Mom

Kodak Moment!

Hanging with the boys

Found Mom's make-up

Finding time for a Sunday nap

Found a pair of slipper socks

Helping with laundry

Petting goats at the zoo

Scaling mountains at Yosemite (Half Dome in the back)

Taking a break from bouldering to make a fishface

This kid has no fear of heights

Kayaking on the Fourth of July

Thanks for the jammies and monkeys Nana