The Eagle Has Landed

Yesterday, I woke up and decided that regardless of my hacking cough and running rose and generally poor disposition, I was going to get a run in. I didn't say it was a good idea, but I was mentally restless and I had already taken 3 days off, so regardless of outcome, I had to do it. At 5:26am, I dragged myself out of bed and headed out to meet my running buddy, who promptly informed me that I sounded like hell, and we set off. The scheduled run for the day was 12 miles, but my body made it quite clear that it was not sufficiently recovered for 12 miles, so I ended up doing 6 instead. It was a painful 6. A cough riddled 6. A stupid 6. But, at the end of the day, I felt better for having done something considering that I was about to sit in the truck for close to eight hours sandwiched between a toddler and a 35 lb. dog.

Yes, you read that correctly, but there's a perfectly logical explanation. Our truck only has two rows of seats and if I put both dogs in the backseat with Parker, two things will happen: (1) he will get licked incessantly for 7.5 hours - seriously, my dogs can not refrain from licking my child - it's a total compulsion; and (2) Patrick will feed the dogs 1/2 of everything that he's supposed to be eating. He has no qualms about sharing spoons or Cheez-its with the pups. I, however, do have a problem with that.

So, Chewie gets to sit in the front seat and typically will spend more than half the time hovering over the Irishman wanting to be pet. This dog can't get enough attention (which makes him the perfect dog for a 2-year-old who can't keep his hands to himself). I've included photographic evidence for you courtesy of my new iPhone. (As my brother would say, I've now become an iSnob and have to make reference my my iPhone at least 6 times a day or my iSnob privileges will be revoked.)



See, there's Chewie hovering. Nona, on the other hand, was trying to get comfortable on my left side.



She gave up trying to get comfortable after about an hour and ended up sitting on my lap, trying to give Parker kisses when I wasn't looking. Speaking of which, here's the munchkin strapped safely into his car seat. He was wearing his Incredible Hulk t-shirt. The Hulk was my second favorite character growing up, but really, who could compete with Wonder Woman?



He loved the fact that I was less than 6 inches away from him. He could poke me in the eye whenever he liked. It's a favorite game of his. But I came prepared with a portable DVD player and 5 discs of Thomas the Train, so we didn't have a lot of time for eye poking. Here he is tuned back into his show.



Unfortunately for the Irishman, Parker's favorite part of the DVD is the songs at the end, which we had to replay about 36 times. It may sound torturous, but I'll take 36 rounds of "Little Engines" over a screaming toddler any day of the week.

So, now we're in my parents' house and we're staying in my old room from high school. I had a hard time sleeping last night, partly because all three of us were squeezed into a queen size bed and partly because I know this week is going to be draining. But we're here and that's the most important thing.