Jeff is an IRONMAN!

Jeff achieved a childhood dream of his yesterday, completing the Ironman--swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and running a full marathon (26.2 miles).  He not only completed it, but did really well.  The kids and I had alot of fun following him around all day.  In the morning, we were able to find him among the 2500 athletes in the parking lot of the swim start.  Then we arrived at the waterway (canal) just in time to see him swim the final stretch.  He was only about 15 feet away from us and waved to us mid-stroke.  We saw the amazing volunteers take off his wetsuit in about half a second and then saw him leave on his bike.  At mile 90, we went out to the entrance of our neighborhood and saw him pass about 20 minutes later (even though he was about 40 minutes ahead of when he said he would pass).  Then we quickly got in the car and travelled back into The Woodlands and walked to the transition just in time to see him pass on the final stretch of the bike.  After finding a nice shady spot, we were able to see him pass twice on the run (it was a 3 loop course) and then headed to the finish line chute where we were able to see him pass and cross the finish line.  It was a long day starting at 4:30am and ending around 9pm but the kids were great troopers (it was, of course, a much longer day for Jeff).  We're all very proud of Daddy!

Thank you to all of you who provided your support throughout the entire training and event journey!

For a photo journal (with captions) of our day, click on the photo above.

To see the exciting finish, click on the video below.

Fall firsts

It's been an eventful Fall...here are some of Ty's firsts:

1. First day of Kindergarten


2. First soccer game


3. First Tae Kwon Do belt test


4. First lost tooth

Summer camp!

Ty started summer camp at the YMCA this past Monday and is loving it. He gets to ride with Jeff to work where he boards a bus and rides to the Y. Apparently he's doing well there, as he came home this Friday sporting the certificate below.

As you can tell from his "Camper of the Week" performance, he was pretty excited and proud (and so were we :)).

Camper of the Week from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

A dizzying video that makes me smile

Megan is finally talking (and choosing to walk on her feet instead of her knees about 75% of the time now). As you can see from the video, she's learned to say "cheeeeeeese" unprompted any time a camera comes out. Other words in her vocabulary:

• Mommy
• Dada (she's becoming quite a Daddy's girl)
• Ty-Ty (more like Tyyyyyyyyyyy-Tyyyyyyyyyy)
• shoe (which she loves to take off)
• uh-oh
• no (which she says anytime you ask her a question...even if she means yes)

But my favorite sound that comes out of her mouth is the deep belly laugh that she frequently lets out.

Warning: This video is likely to give you motion sickness.

Megan swinging and laughing from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

Megan's walking!

After just taking her first steps yesterday, Megan decided today that she'd walk across the room. (Excuse the mess, we're in the middle of a kitchen remodel.)

Megan walking from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

Oh, and she also insists on feeding herself (you have to love the mess)...

Megan feeding herself from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

Megan update

Although Megan hasn't been able to enjoy the snow much (she's had a little cold and the snow is almost as tall as she is), she has been having fun inside playing with Tyler and playing peek-a-boo (as you'll see below, she doesn't always quite get her hands to her eyes). Oh, and she's been sporting a new look--pigtails (or horns??). She's standing by herself frequently and seems to be pretty close to walking (although we're not rushing it :)). She's still a very sweet baby who loves to give hugs.

Peek a boo! from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

Megan's baptism

We were blessed last Sunday with the opportunity to celebrate Megan and her cousin Lily's baptisms. It was a beautiful ceremony followed by a nice reception with our families. Thanks to Granny and Grandpa for hosting the reception and for making our little girl look like a princess.

For more photos, click on the photo below.

Happy 1st birthday Megan!!

We can't believe it's been a year already since our sweet girl was born. We all had fun celebrating her big day. She ended the day by surprising us with her great appetite, polishing off almost a whole cupcake. We're so thankful for such a smiley, expressive, laid back baby and can't wait to watch her grow and develop over the next year. For more photos, click on the photo above.

PS: For the record, she's 18lbs. 9 oz. (10th percentile) and 29 inches (50th percentile).

Our little climber and her biggest fan

Megan had never even tried to climb one stair until last night when this happened...

Uh-oh, Megan's mobile

Now her exersaucer is a tunnel...

Megan update

Here are some recent videos of Megan...she's growing up so fast!

Megan's hungry from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

Fun with my reflection (and some entertainment from Tyler) from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

Megan's army crawl from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

Simple fun

After dinner entertainment...
(Doesn't her laugh sound like she's in pain?)

Simple fun with a bottle from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

Rolly-polly

A few weeks ago, Megan began rolling over all over the place. She also discovered her tongue and started making funny faces, but we haven't captured those with the camera yet.

Happy Easter!

For more photos, including our 1st annual bunny-cake-making day (thanks for the idea, Burke's), egg coloring, and Megan's first taste of solid food, click here.

Look at me!--an update on Megan

It's hard to believe how quickly Megan's growing. Here are some highlights from this month:

As you can see above, Megan has found her hands and loves to hold them together. She's also found her thumb and appears to prefer it to her pacifier, although as you can see in the video below, she still uses the pacifier for hand-eye coordination practice.

Hand-eye coordination practice from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

About a week ago, she started rolling from back to tummy...as you can see in the picture below, I guess this means we'll need to put her on a bigger blanket.

• Megan's starting to be a conversationalist, just like her big brother. Her favorite talking companion? The bird on her play gym. Watch her in action below.

Talking to my favorite bird from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

A couple of firsts

Megan's first real bath

Tyler giving Megan a bottle for the first time

Megan's first milestone

Well, call her an overachiever, but a couple of days ago Megan rolled over from belly to back a couple of times. I figured it was just a fluke and would take a month or so before it happened again, but today she did it again two times and I luckily caught one on video. You can tell she didn't share our excitement over the accomplishment.