This post contains some poop talk

Two weeks ago, Aleks and I (well mostly Aleks) were engaged in a tumultuous pooping debacle.

Ruby refused to go.

She would hold it in for days and days, until we'd end up cleaning several pairs of underwear a day.

Was it because she couldn't go or because she wouldn't go?

Potty time because a struggle. 

She'd get incredibly grumpy and horrid to be around until we'd be forced to make her sit on the toilet, screaming and hitting us.

We'd try threatening and rewarding and reading books and schedules and nothing seemed to make a difference.

Until one day, when she and I were alone, Ruby headed to the potty and went by herself.

It wasn't easy, but there were no tears or screaming and she did it all herself.

Ever since that day, Ruby has taken care of business like a boss.

I wish I knew what changed, but it doesn't really matter I suppose.

My friend Christy has a 6 month old and is going through sleep training woes that completely remind me of our experience with Maia.

And now that I've gone through it, the perspective is priceless.

It's the same with Ruby and her pooping.

When we were in the heat of battle, it was so hard to see how she would ever figure it out.

But they do somehow.

Figure out how to poop and sleep.

We are miles ahead of where we were last year.

------------------------------

We had a fantastic time in Arizona.

Aleks ran his first half marathon and I had a running buddy.

I gave a recital and got to collaborate with my mom.

It's a good thing we don't live closer, I'd probably take advantage of her skills way too many times.

It was a great concert with a fantastic, large audience, and some really fine music making.

I had a lot of fun.

On the first day my mom pulled out the costume box and Ruby found an adult-sized costume meant to be worn over a leotard.

Girlfriend wore that thing for 2 days straight.

The girls and I spent a full day at the Phoenix Children's Museum.

I'm still convinced it's one of the best in the country.

My mom asked me if I had a book to read on the flight home.

I laughed, rolled my eyes, and said "Yeah, right. Like I'm going to have time to read."

Well, I ate my words.

Thanks to Melissa and Doug (as always!), my girls colored for an hour straight (out of an hour and 45 minute flight)!

And we got to see a beautiful sunset.

We did have one little incident as we were deplaning.

I'm pretty sure Maia tooted and the next thing I heard was Ruby's clear, projected voice announcing "it smells like penis!"

The thought crossed my mind that perhaps she meant to say "peanuts," but she's very articulate and doesn't usually have problems pronouncing words.

On the other hand, it's not like she knows what a penis smells like.

I didn't push the topic.

------------------------------

Yesterday Maia went to a birthday party.

After watching sticking with the slide and trampoline, Maia summoned up her courage and tried the zip line!

I'm excited to see bravery become part of her character. 

I hope she encounters life's challenges the same way.

Rock n' Roll Half Marathon: Arizona edition

I dragged and dragged my feet in signing up for this half marathon.

Part of it was that I had injured my ankle over the summer and it took a long time to heal.

Part of it was because my last half marathon was miserable.

And part of it was because I didn't expect the next race to come up so quickly after the first one.

Aleks, frustrated with my indecision, finally gave me a deadline and by the time it came, my ankle was feeling better so we bought 2 race numbers for the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in Phoenix.

This time I had a slightly different training program; same amount of miles, but running 5 days a week instead of 4.

I also had more knowledge about nutrition during the race.

And most importantly I was planning to run it with Aleks.

Training went pretty well, it was sporadic around the holidays with my performing schedule, but I was mostly consistent.

And thankfully my ankle cooperated.

The majority of my training was done alone, on the treadmill, but Aleks and I were able to do our last two long runs together.

Aleks had a completely different approach to training.

He had hired a coach who was incorporating swimming and biking into his training schedule so as to keep up his triathlon chops.

Also, his runs were dictated by time, not miles.

From the get go Aleks let me know that he would love to have me run with him, but that he was not going to compromise his training plan or be pushed to run faster than he wanted.

He's got a big plan for the next few years and this race is one of the smaller steps toward that goal.

Even though I am able to run faster (not that much faster mind you! it's like I'm a slightly faster turtle than Aleks) I lack the mental confidence that comes so naturally to my husband.

Another of life's examples that shows me how Aleks is the yin to my yang.

Or something like that.

What I mean is, we balance each other.

So, for our long runs together, we braved the 30 mile an hour winds and freezing temps, running for 4 minutes and walking for 30 seconds.

And it was great, running with my husband.

SOOOO much better than running on a treadmill memorizing music or watching a movie.

There were over 20,000 people registered for this event and I expected packet pick up to take forever.

I was pleasantly surprised that we didn't have to wait in a line and the whole thing took about 20 minutes.

The night before I got a solid 8 hours of sleep and woke up before the alarm went off at 5.

We both ate a small breakfast and headed to the start line.

We both decided to just run with a fuel belt and to take a salt tablet before the race.

What we didn't expect was to be cold.

Thank God for the Methodists who opened up their fellowship hall and bathrooms to runners for free.

I think it kept our fingers from freezing off.

Of course, with such a large amount of people running the race, they did a wave start and so we stood in our coral for about 30 minutes before starting.

Those were a cold 30 minutes!

By the time we started, it was really, really hard not to go fast, just to try and get warm.

Finally by mile 2, my fingers were no longer cold and my muscles were warm.

There were some bands along the course and honestly, they were kind of terrible, but it was better than nothing.

We stuck to our plan, running 4 minutes and then walking 30 seconds.

At times it was frustrating for me, but that's where Aleks is really good.

He makes a plan and sticks to it.

I'm more easily swayed by how everyone else is running.

So we ran. And just kept going.

We Gu'd at 5 miles and I took another salt tablet around mile 7.

At mile 9 we were faced with a rather large hill and Aleks' hip really started to bother him and I could just see his morale plummet.

Ironically, it was at this point that I was feeling pretty good.

So, I tried to motivate Aleks and if he'd had enough energy, I'm sure he would have told me to shut up.

I Gu'd again at mile 10.

From my past experience, I knew that this was the hardest part of the race.

We'd gone so far, yet weren't quite in the homestretch.

Starting a half mile or so out from the finish line, spectators started lining the street and it got more and more dense at we neared the end.

I had told my mom to bring the girls and watch us cross the finish line.

It quickly became apparent that it would be a miracle if we saw each other.

We crossed together (well, apparently true to my selfless nature, I let Aleks cross the finish line ahead of me by one second) and were immediately given our medals and then bombarded with water and chocolate milk and protein bars and pretzels and fruit.

Official time was 2:57.

As we headed to pick up our bag, we just happened to see my mom and the girls sitting on the curb.

It was amazing we found each other in the midst of all those people.

Aleks and I were both tired and a bit sore for a couple hours after the race.

Today, I've felt good, mostly just tired.

It was such a different experience from the last time.

I felt stronger and happier at the end of this one.

I do feel a bit disappointed that I didn't run a faster race, but I'm glad that I stuck with my husband.

I don't know if I'll ever do a half marathon again.

Life is funny and you never know, but I think I'd like to train for something that isn't so high stakes.

Or maybe I'll become a bodybuilder.

Or a yogi.

Things

I should be writing my syllabus. It's really crunch time now, school starts on Tuesday.

I'll do it next. I promise.

We've been spending a delicious week with my parents in Phoenix. The tumultuous airplane trip to get here has faded from memory and now we're enjoying our time together and warm weather.

I think I might have even gotten sunburned yesterday.

You know you're home when there are butterscotch chips in your mom's fruit salad. Or your kids get a banjo lesson before the sun comes up. And there is nothing like the feeling of the same yellow tupperware measuring cups in my hand that I used as a child.

Oh, and the vegetables! I can always count on getting my proper share of fruits and vegetables when I'm with mom and dad. 

I can't quite believe that I'm at the age when going to mom and dad's is really going to Grandma and Papa's house and I'm responsible for 2 little petunias (dad's nickname). Or that I drink my coffee black.

My gorgeous sister-in-law is 34 weeks pregnant with a little boy. Soon there will be some testosterone to even out the three little girls that currently rule the roost. 

A bow tie in the midst of tutus.

Have a lovely weekend, friends.

Pump it Up!

So, spring break is long gone, but I have one more adventure to share with you.

On our last day in Phoenix, we decided to try out Pump it Up.

It's 2 big rooms with these kinds of toys in them.

My oldest little, who refuses to go down the slide at the playground, did this about 100 times.

 And my littlest little wanted to do this the entire time.

The next morning when we left at 5:00 am to get to the airport, Maia said "I want to go back to the bouncy place" and "Kansas is not my favorite, Arizona is my favorite. I want to go back to Arizona."

I haven't told her yet, but there's a Pump it Up in Wichita.

We may be visiting it this summer.

Food Truck Friday

My brother and Cydney invited us to Food Truck Friday while we were in town.

It's basically what it sounds like.

A bunch of food trucks gather in a location on Fridays from 11:00-1:30 and sell food.

Really good food.

Unfortunately Wichita hasn't caught on to the food truck craze yet.

When we got there it was packed and we had to wait about 20 minutes before we could find a place to sit.

 In the meantime, Aleks and Ruby browsed the trucks.

Aleks got fried pork belly.

Of course.

 I got a delicious chicken dog with mango chutney wrapped in flatbread.

I have decided that flatbread makes everything better.

Obviously I enjoyed it.

I got Ruby a scoop of salted caramel ice cream and Maia a scoop of watermelon sorbet.

Ruby ate both and Maia ate the sucker that came with my lunch.

I also had a salted caramel creme brule, but that wasn't around long enough to take a picture.

Papa even left work early to join us!

Two thumbs up for Food Truck Friday!

Spring Break

My awesome mother in law got me this beauty for an early birthday present!

When we traveled to Arizona for spring break, I didn't bring my computer. Long story short I didn't blog while on vacation. So now you are going to be bombarded with tales of our trip. Sorry.

We usually go to Arizona in the summer, when we're not working. That's a really dumb time to go.

The best time, I have come to discover, is March.

It was amazingly beautiful, not too hot, but warm enough to swim.

The clubhouse in my parents' development doesn't allow kids under three into the pool, so we made do with a blowup one in the backyard. 

The girls didn't know the difference!

Ruby was over it after 30 seconds.

Maia, on the other hand, could have stayed in there all week.

And on another note, what's with all the 2 piece bathing suits in the "baby" section at Target? 

Please believe me when I say that I'm not judging you if your almost 3 year old wears a bikini.

That's not for the Sternfeld-Dunn girls. 

In fact, as far as I'm concerned, my girls will never wear a bikini, or makeup, or high heels, or grow up... ok, ok, I know I'm being a ridiculous, but for now, I really just want to enjoy my little girls being little.

Birthday Party

Who's birthday is it, you ask?

Well, nobody's.

But, we decided to have a birthday party for the kiddos since we were all together.

Maia wanted to wear her princess dress.

We had pancakes and bacon and cake pops without sticks (so cake balls?).

And Grandma made birthday/princess hats for everyone.

It was the perfect end to our Phoenix trip.

Tomorrow, Wichita!

Phoenix Children's Museum Take 2

We went to the Phoenix Children's Museum today.

This time we got to go with Aunt Cydney and Cousin Audrey!

Audrey and Ruby had some ballet practice at the barre.

The cousins breakfasted together:

Now that Ruby is really crawling, she loved exploring the "under 3" room.

Maia and Ruby had their first driving lesson together.

And Aunt Cydney gets the prize for the best picture of the day:

Also, I'm happy to report that there were virtually no tears when we had to leave.

Splash Park

The city of Phoenix has splash pads! According to pheonix.about.com:

Zero depth water play areas, splash parks, spray pads and pop-jet fountains are being built all over the metro Phoenix area. With 5 months of summer, it's no wonder that splash playgrounds are one of the most requested amenities of the various Parks and Recreation Departments around the Valley of the Sun.

Unlike a swimming pool, these wet play areas have or little or no depth to the water, making them perfect for anyone who doesn't swim but wants to enjoy some cool, wet fun. Some spray, some swirl, some dump water, some have jets that pop the water at different intervals, and some have a combination of these water feature. As an added benefit, most of them are in public parks or shopping areas, so they are free!

 It's the perfect thing to do when it's 80+ degrees at 10:00 in the morning.

The second Maia's suit was on, she took off running. 

And it took a serious amount of convincing to get her to leave. 

Even then there were lots of tears on the way to the car.

Ruby was a bit more cautious, but warmed up to it after a while.

And smiley Audrey loved it too!

After lunch (all of us) 

and a nap (everyone under 3, although, I wish I had taken one too), 

we headed to the mall to get some new sneakers.

There was an indoor play park thingy.

Can you spot Maia?

No? That's because it was insanely busy.

Here, I'll help you out.

Needless to say, she had such a fun day that going to bed was a bit of a challenge.

Which leads me to this:

From now on, Maia only gets to sit on her hands and eat porridge.

Just kidding.

Swimming

Visiting Phoenix in May is a great time. 

It's not too hot, but warm enough for swimming. 

At least for my family from Pullman, where we've broken 60 degrees twice this spring.

Maia quickly learned to love jumping off the side of the pool into a waiting pair of arms.

In the pool or not, this is how we usually are. Staring at Maia waiting to see what she's going to do next. Or listening to her adorable, non-stop chatter.

This was Ruby's first time in the pool and she loved it!

And of course, bubbles are always a crowd pleaser.

Phoenix Children's Museum

Today we went to the Phoenix Children's Museum.

It was awesome.

There was this amazing tree fort thingy in the middle of the entire museum. You could look at it from all three floors of the building. As soon as Maia saw it she said "ooooh, amazing." Followed by lots of high pitched shrieking and maniacal laughing.

There were so many cool exhibits and things to do.

Of course Aleks found all the musical exhibits and treated the other museum patrons to his compositions. I don't know if everyone else liked it as much as Maia did.

There should be some kind of index that children's attractions are required to post.

1 indicates that your child will be asking you to go home.

10 indicates that you will have to use all methods of bribery and perhaps some force to get your child to vacate the premises.

Phoenix Children's Museum= 11+

I had to carry Maia out, promise her ice cream, and still the workers at the museum asked if she was ok. She was scream/crying so loudly they thought she had hurt herself.

Needless to say, both my bunnies were pretty tired by nap time.

Trip to the Phoenix Zoo

We've been soaking up as much sun as possible while we are here visiting family. On Monday we decided to go to the zoo!

(Wichita has a zoo, I'm already planning on buying a membership)

There were lots of beautiful animals to look at.

This horse's name is Jack.

Maia loved to look at him and talk about him, but didn't really want to touch him.

But my favorite animals are named Maia and Ruby!

Ruby got her first taste of a snow cone and just loved it.

We found a part of the zoo that had a water feature.

I think that this was Maia's favorite part of the zoo visit.

Ruby liked the water too...

But Maia like it so much that she ended the day naked!

We love the zoo!

P.S. Thanks to Cydney Kyhn (check out her blog here) and Kim Grover (look at her blog here) for helping me to make my blog more hip with photo editing ideas. You girls are the best!