Thankful Thursday

We headed downtown to the myriad gardens to play this afternoon. Unfortunately the splash pad was not on, but we had fun anyway.  
I love how her tongue is out in concentration...perhaps she is trying to not let her baby fall out that is haphazardly thrown in her stroller. 
Checking out the massive fish. 

 Stopping for a muffin break (Thanks for my new dress Mimi!)

This week I've been thankful for:
*Sunsets over the lake
*The library
*Our home
*Caramel lattes
*Parks
*Nap time
*New words
*My sister
*ice cream dates 
*Isabella's relationship with her Grandparents

It is hard to believe another week has gone by and we are on the brink of the weekend!

Happy mother's day

Ring around the rosie

 

Happy Mother's Day to my Mama, who spoiled me this mother's day, to my mother and grandmother's I've gained through Michael, and to my dear Mama friends! I feel so blessed to have a community of women to learn and grow from and lean on. And for my friends praying and waiting to become Mother's...I am praying fervently alongside you. Thanks to Michael for making me feel special not just today, but many days! And to Isabella...even with the ups and downs of mothering, my most happy and content days have come since becoming your mother (cue the music academy awards style to wrap it up!).

Rainy Friday

 Isabella was helping Michael mix up some pancakes for us one day this week and I couldn't help but marvel at her awesome case of bed head.

 

She has been loving stuffing as many blankets and babies into the front of her car as possible. And drinking water from a starbucks cup and calling it her "poffee". 

 We went to the library this week and got back in good standing, and checked out a book about trains. She really likes trains, planes, and trucks right now. Except the noise they make scare her.

 After a day of really frustrating nap times one day this week, we decided to start dropping the morning nap. It has been a little rough going in the morning, and this day she fell asleep in her stroller while we were out.

 Michael was driving back to work from a lunch appointment one day this week and Isabella wanted the phone. She jabbered away to him for about 10 minutes, and was very upset when I took the phone away. Their conversation went something like this:

 Dada! Mama!

 Indow! (window) Truck!

 Class! Church!

 Seeyoulatr

 Loveyou!

Baby! Mimi! Car!

She is at such a fun stage!

Today has been a morning run for coffee/play date and lunch with friends/making sandwich bread/ changing the sheets/doing laundry/rainy/slow kind of day. Isabella's napping and I'm having a serious case of wanderlust (a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about). These are the places I'm dreaming of on this rainy friday afternoon:

 Bora Bora, Tahiti

 Cinque Terre, Italy

Maui

Santorini, Greece

Where would you travel to if time or money were no consideration?

Today was a good day

Yesterday was not the best day. I was not feeling good with a sinus headache and congestion. I had two bad interactions with someone in a store and with my student loan company. And my patience was worn thin with Isabella crying and fussing over every little thing. By the end of the day I was wondering if I really had it in me to do this whole mothering thing. While there were some highlights in the day, I went to bed exhausted and not able to breathe through my mouth, slathering on the Vick's vapor rub thick.

But today was a good day. This morning we picked up some Panera to take to the hospital to meet my cousin's new baby. On our way out a lady said to us, 'treasure these days, she will be 24 before you know it'. And I know its true. While I don't treasure some of the moments that leave me wanting to pull out my hair, I do treasure "these days" and they ARE flying.

We met sweet Davis Kent. Isabella was very interested in him, and very concerned when he was taken away for a biliruben test. I proudly refrained from making the comment "Awww...I remember when Isabella was that tiny!", even though my mother's heart couldn't help but think it.

We met up with friends at the zoo.

We got to see the baby giraffe up close for the first time. We don't always make the trek over to them.

We had lots of laughter and sweet cuddles today to balance yesterday's bad day.

Tonight we celebrated Michael's mom's birthday. She had got a birthday present for Isabella for her birthday.

 

I'm not sure that you're supposed to buy presents for other people on your birthday, but Isabella was quite pleased to get to play with her very own bubble mower! 

My sister is about to come callin', which is always a good thing, and then I'll be lathering the Vick's again. Even as an adult, there is something magic about that stuff!

Lately

We've been working for a while now on the names of different pieces of clothing and Isabella helping more with getting herself dressed. She's been loving dressing herself lately, which involves putting on as many things as possible, and most not quite on.

Here she is wearing: pajamas, shorts, two dresses, and a another dress and swim shirt around her neck.

Might as well put another skirt on too!

We had a slower week during the days this week, with more commitments in the evenings than usual. But some slow days were needed, and provided some down time to just be home.

It's starting to really warm up, and I know summer will be here before we know it so these days of 70's and 80's are great! 

We did some other things this weekend other than the marathon. Friday night Michael was gone to a retreat, so we hung out with some of the other girls whose husbands were gone.

 We picnicked and played outside the whole time.

 Elle, Olivia, and Isabella

 

  Saturday morning Isabella woke up really early, but fell back asleep with me, until 8:30.

  We went out for breakfast at Panera and ate outside.

Saturday afternoon we celebrated Ava's 2nd birthday

 Hard to believe she is two!

 Ava was very sweet to share her new toys with Isabella

Isabella loved her new bubble mower and ran all over the yard mowing and blowing bubbles.

The finish line

The Memorial Marathon was a few days ago and I've had some time to reflect and soak in all that it was. While I haven't kept up with my new years resolution of putting up the clothes I wear every day, I did complete the goal of running a half marathon.

 It started with a super early morning. Heather came to pick me up and we headed downtown. We waited in the corral about 30 minutes before the line started moving up to the starting line.

 It was very exciting with the sun rising, and being surrounded by thousands of people. The first three miles were great. I was thinking "if I feel like this the whole time, this will be easy!" My sister and cousin Hayli were around mile 1.5. It was exciting to see them. There are so many people that volunteer, play music, and people that come out to encourage and cheer that make the atmosphere of the race really fun. Miles 3-6 were a little harder, but not bad. Miles 7-8 got much harder, but I knew my friend Beth was waiting around 8 so I pushed on. From there until mile 13.1 I had a really hard time. It began to rain, which was actually nice with as hot as I was. We had planned to run from mile 10-13.1 without stopping but I had to keep stopping to walk. With the humidity I felt like I couldn't breathe, which is important while running. It definitely came a mental thing at the end. I knew I could finish, but my mind was getting filled with how tired I was and ready to stop. Finally we turned a corner, and eventually the finish line came into view.

 We made it across the finish line, through the corral, and to the carl's junior burgers waiting at the end!! Hooray!

One of my favorite quotes is from the movie A league of their own, oddly enough. Dottie says to Jimmy, "It just got too hard". And he says, "Its supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great."

And I've found that's true with some of the hard things in life I've done. All of the work, effort, struggle, sacrifice is worth it in the end.  I'm grateful to Michael for supporting me for the hours it took to train for the race, to Beth, Hayli, and my sister for being there along the race course and cheering me on- it meant the WORLD to me, and for Heather for partnering with me over the last couple of months to train and run the race;  Your positivity, perseverance, and encouragement helped make this goal actually happen for me! 

My quads were incredibly sore Monday and today, but getting better. I'm looking forward to doing some short runs soon.