Playing Dirty

Last Saturday Mark and I ran the Dirty Dash again. We've been looking forward to this ever since we ran the last one back in September. We again ran with a group organized by a respiratory therapist at my work. This year our costume theme was 80s workout wear and we were Team Sexy And I Know It. Yep, it was as funny as it sounds!

Mark and I had a lot of fun planning our costumes. I put an awful lot of thought into a costume that was going to be trashed beyond repair within the first 15 seconds of racing but it was so worth it! For my costume, I tried to be quintessential 80s - when I think of 80s fashion (if you want to elevate clothing from that period all the way up to "fashion") I think of big hair, neon, and leg warmers. And LOTS of eyeshadow. So here's what I ended up with:

Sexy and I know it!

Hot, right?? My original plan was to wear neon green leggings instead of black but they didn't arrive in time. In fact they arrived right after the race - we ran on Saturday and the leggings showed up on Monday. Oh well, the black looks good too. Mark loves nothing better than putting on a good show and I kinda think he outdid me, again:

We're sexy and we know it

Yes, that is a mullet wig that he's wearing. I think we make a pretty awesome couple, don't you think? My bangs, by the way, are not my own hair. I bought one of those short hair extensions that you can wear around a ponytail or a bun, used a bunch of safety pins and superglue to attach it to a brown headband, and wore that to be properly fashionable.

Here are some more Team Sexy And I Know It pictures:

In front of the "Mud Bus"

With Laura, a fellow PICU nurse. Note the caveman to the right.

Our entire sexy team.

The weather was a lot nicer this time than it was last year, close to 90 degrees. It was a lot busier than last year too - our wave was at 10:40 and there was so much traffic getting to the course that we actually were late and missed our wave! But no biggie, the whole race is really laid back so we just went with the 11:00 wave. The first part of the course we spent a lot of time standing and waiting because it was so bottle-necked getting to the obstacles - but again, we weren't racing to try to make good time. I don't know why anyone would think about doing that! Our team was probably the rowdiest and it was great to get complete strangers laughing. Mark got so into character again. As we were assembling to get ready to start he passed a couple of ladies who complimented him on his costume. He yelled, "Yeeeaaaahhh! Rock on!" and ran off - and as he did he overheard one of them exclaim, "Oh my gosh, I think he was for real!" Since he wasn't recovering from pneumonia this year we did the entire 10K. Here's the aftermath:

We both kept our hair on for the whole race! We had an awesome time again. There's another race in September again and who knows, maybe we'll do that one too!

Just like last year we were really stiff and sore the next day, and I got a really impressive bruise along the entire inside of my right thigh:

My only guess is that as I was climbing over one of the numerous obstacles (apparently always right leg first) I kept hitting my leg just right to cause some bruising. I bruise easily anyway but geez! And my bruises take forever to go away too so this will look interesting as the summer goes on. Mark keeps joking that he's finally beating me hard enough. (No he does not beat me for real. Just in case someone was wondering.)

Time for some more chicken photos:

These girls are getting so big! As you can see they're completed feathered and look like they're full grown, but evidently they're still considered chicks until they're 16 weeks, which will be around the end of July. Isn't it wild that just a couple months ago they were small enough to hold 3 or 4 in each hand, and now we can barely hold one in each hand? I thought Mira was growing fast!

Mira is undeniably a little toddler and besides the cheeks there's not much that makes her a baby anymore. I still can't give up calling her my little baby, and I still hold her and rock her for a few minutes before naptime and bedtime. It's a routine that I'm not ready to give up yet. Besides, it's about the only time she holds still for longer than 3 seconds straight. She does like hugs - when she sees me or Mark she grins, runs up to us and throws her arms around a leg and holds on for deal life, and when I pick her up she snuggles down into my neck. It's the sweetest thing! But it only lasts for a few seconds and then she's wriggling to get down and she's getting into something she shouldn't.

She's starting to figure out what a temper tantrum is... Luckily they only last for a moment and then her baby ADD takes over and she forgets about it. Thank goodness she's young enough to be easily redirected - that definitely won't last forever. The sad thing is that I can't help laughing when she gets upset because it's so funny! When she points at something she wants and I tell her no, she immediately covers her face with both hands and moans. I have no idea where she learned this. If she's feeling particularly dramatic, she'll then walk towards the couch and, with her face still buried in her hands, throw herself face-down on the cushions. Or, she'll check the ground behind her, carefully sit herself down, check behind her one more time to make sure the coast is clear, and then slowly lay herself down, all the while "whimpering" in distress. Just to make sure it's obvious she's not happy about the whole situation. Can you see why it's impossible not to laugh when she gets upset? But as soon as her dramatic performance is finished, she's forgotten about being upset and she's fine again. She goes a step further when we're out on walks. She's still learning that she can't wander into everyone's yards or run out into the street. If I go to pull her away, she starts to scream and jump up and down - now that's a temper tantrum!

One day she managed to sneak up on the cat and use him for a pillow. Aside from the cute factor, the cat's face says it all:

Help... me...

I can't believe I have to put up with this to get food and a clean litter box!

As you can tell, this is a big cat. Mira was 5 months old before she and the cat weighed the same! He's a very friendly, patient cat though. He's probably the only cat who likes (or at least tolerates) everybody.

Same cat, but not doubling as a pillow

Mira is getting better at climbing everything (gulp) and still loves spending lots of time outside.

Oh yes, she has enough hair for 2 pigtails now!! I'm so excited about this - and even better is she seems to like having her hair done. When I tell her in the morning that we're going to do her hair in a cute pigtail, she sits still until I'm done and then she likes to choose a hair bow, and when she sees herself in the mirror she smiles and claps her hands.

Here are some more pictures of Mira being a ham. She moves so fast most of these are blurry - but you get the general idea (which is that Mira is a happy, smiley, funny little girl).

This is her "singing"

I love this girl so much!