Charlie's First Hike

On Saturday, May 8th (day before Mother's Day!), we took Charlie out for his first hike. We didn't go too far - maybe 4 miles - on the Grizzly Creek Trail in Glenwood Canyon. It was super fun! And our little guy just slept through the whole thing. Who wouldn't when you're nestled and cozy on Daddy's chest? :)

Denver Trip

We made our first trip with Charlie and headed over to Denver for the weekend. The main purpose of the trip was so I could run a half marathon and then go to a Rockies game, but we were able to squeeze in some shopping as well. We left Saturday morning and Charlie traveled very well (he basically slept the whole way). We stopped in Silverthorne so Charlie could nurse, and to shop at Old Navy of course. That day was the packet pick up for the race so we went to the City Pavillion, the starting area for the half marathon, so I could pick up my bib number, chip, etc. Here is a picture of Charlie and I at the start line.

It was a really nice city park where the start and finish were at. Here is Julie and Charlie next to a pond and amphitheater.

After we had left the park, we went out to eat at the Macaroni Grille. I know it's a chain, but Julie and I have never eaten there before. It was actually really good; better than I expected. A funny thing happened there though. I ran into one of my co-workers. She was eating there with her two kids and her mom, who was in Denver for the weekend. Then, Julie saw one of her former co-workers from Elk Creek. Small world I guess.

We were able to get a hotel room that was only a couple of miles from the start line, which was good because I still had to get up at 5:30 AM. This is how I look that early in morning when I am ready to run. Still a little groggy.


The race started at 6:45 AM, and it went really well. I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:37:54, which averages out to about a 7:28 mile time. I've only run 3 half marathons, but this was my best time by two and a half minutes.

At the end of the race we received medals and a lot swag (stuff we all get; for you office fans) like energy drinks, health food items, things like that. They even fed us a BBQ lunch afterwards. Nothing like pulled pork sandwiches and coleslaw at 9 o'clock in the morning.

After the race festivities were over we went back to the hotel to take a shower and get cleaned up before the game. We actually had time to stop at the Cherry Creek Mall, get a couple of coffees, and make it to the the game before the first pitch. The Rockies played the Nationals that day, which made me believe the crowd would be small, but it was such a beautiful day (75 and sunny) they seemed to have a big walkin crowd, so the park was pretty full. I think they announced 45,000+ people.
The game wasn't all that exciting, not a lot of offense, but it was still fun for baby's first baseball game. It was amazing how fast the game went. We watched a few innings, then Julie nursed Charlie, we found something to eat, and before we knew it the seventh inning stretch was happening.

The Rockies ended up winning 2-1 on a sac fly in the eighth, so that made the crowd rise to its feet. Overall I would say it was a fun weekend.

May Pictures

I can't see the pictures in this window (it's scripted!), so I don't know where one picture ends and the next picture starts. Therefore, no captions. However, thanks to my sis-in-law Angie for showing me this great baby hold! Charlie enjoys looking out - or so I think. It also seems to be pretty relaxing, you know, since he's asleep and all! We've also been enjoying the floor gym for the past few weeks. So fun! Charlie is about 6 weeks in these pictures. I love my boys!




This video is of us playing with our favorite toy with Charlie. It's this great little musical toy that lights up when the music plays. It's from Target and is the best $8 I've spent there this month! I wish I would have gotten a video of when we played with it for Charlie for the first time - his eyes got HUGE. It was so cute! I like that it plays snipets of classical music (in non-annoying kiddie sounds) and that each song plays for more than a minute before quitting. Often, musical toys play for about 9 seconds and then you have to hit/turn/spin something to get it to go again. Matt and I like playing with it probably more than Charlie!

Little Tiny Treasures

Charlie is leaving us little tiny treasures in his crib - his hair! I noticed a few days ago that he's losing some hair but hadn't noticed an abundance of little hairs on his crib sheet until today. We'll see what happens over the next few weeks. Hair or no hair, he's still a sweetheart!

I've noticed that everything is cuter when it's small. Tiny socks. Tiny cries. Tiny farts. (Ok, BIG farts.) Tiny fingers. Tiny earlobes. Seriously, who spends that much time adoring little earlobes? Crazy nursing mommies who have nothing else to do at 4am. :)

Charlie's tipping the scale at 10 pounds 3 ounces now (6 weeks, 5 days), and I have no idea how long he is. Since his parents are "vertically challenged", I'm thinking that Charlie's destined to live life the same way. No complaints, though. There are worse things than being on the short side.

Oh - Matt and I are doing fine.

Mommy and Charlie in MN

Newborn Pictures Preview!! (22 days old)

Hmmm... Bummer.

Ok, so when trying to upload pictures this morning, it gave me some kind of code instead of the picture. Bummer. I'll try again later and hope it's blogspot's fault and not an operator error!

In the meantime, here's a short list of the things we've been up to lately!
- Charlie and I flew to MN for a week (4/20-4/28) to visit lots of family. It was awesome and Charlie traveled really well. I carried him in the sling instead of the whole carseat/stroller travel system. It worked well! I would definitely do it again! (Pictures to come!)
- Matt had another successful spring spotlighting operation while we were away. Yay for his last time working nights!! They actually found a wild-born ferret, too, which was pretty exciting. One of the nights was windy and rainy, but the rest of the week was nice weather.
- Charlie slept for 7 hours a few different nights while we were in MN. He's really gotten good at sleeping for at least a 5-hour stretch every night. He usually goes to bed around 9:30ish and doesn't wake up until around 3am. Sweet!
- I ran a 5k last Saturday in Grand Junction. It was the big finale of the Girls on the Run season and I had fun running with the girls. Since I missed a lot of the season (and when I was there, I was coordinating and coaching the girls!), I didn't train at all for the race but managed to run the entire thing in just under 40 minutes. 13-minute miles isn't something to brag about, but running 3.1 miles 6 weeks after having Charlie definitely is. So this is me tooting my own horn. Toot, toot! :)
- Matt's been working on our lawn a bit to try to make it more grass and less weeds. I think it's a work in progress. At least it's all green! He's doing a great job, considering what he has to work with.
- Charlie is 6 weeks and 3 days old today. I haven't had him weighed in a few weeks and am going to do that on Wednesday. I've already had to put away some outfits that are too small! How did that happen?!
- We have planned a Rustand Family Getaway for May 15-16! We're headed to Denver for the weekend so Matt can run the Colfax Half Marathon in downtown Denver. We also have Rockies tickets and will take in a baseball game on Sunday afternoon. I'm looking forward to a fun weekend away!

Pictures to come shortly!