we welcome with love...

Austin is five weeks old now - I keep meaning to post his birth story, and the time keeps passing. I will get it online soon, but not today. I want to share all the nuances that he has and the little personality traits that shine through already, but not today. Today, I'm exhausted again.

She's Going the Distance...

I've been meaning to write this post for a long time... I took a mandatory hiatus from working out during the pregnancy, but am now ready to very likely embarrass myself and throw myself under the bus. Now, to make a short story way too long - I ran track for 10 years from middle school through college, but I hate running. I mean hate it - abhor, loathe, despise, detest and scorn running (thank you dictionary.com!). True story: the initial reason I became a pole vaulter was to avoid a hard running workout the sprinters were doing that day. I saw the pole vaulters only had to take 14 steps before the attempt, and throwing myself over a bar 8+ feet in the air was a small price to pay to only have to take 14 steps and avoid the awful workouts.

So, with all this in mind - I'm putting it in writing, telling the world (or at least the few people reading this) and committing to run a half marathon. The ideal race that I'm striving for isn't until next February, so I have plenty of time to work up to it, is the San Blas Half Marathon - IN PUERTO RICO! haha, Justin makes fun of me since the only way to get me to commit to the crazy of 13.1 miles is to take me to Puerto Rico to do it! -plus I know it's going to be the best way to lose the baby weight and tone all the body parts that now rival cottage cheese.

My parents were planning on going to Puerto Rico in February with my grandma for this marathon anyway, so now we're going to try to crash it and actually run. My grandma goes every year to watch with her family whose house is on the race route and they all sit around, drink rum and spray all the runners with the water hose. The entire race is one giant party (1,000 runners and 250,000 spectators!) so Justin, my sister Andrea and I will hopefully be going to join the party and give them someone specifically to cheer for! Nothing's guaranteed though, because apparently it costs a few dollars to get there, but that's the goal. plus, I've already decided shirts Andrea and I will wear if it works out. Nerd Alert - that's fine.

I got started with my training today - I stretched, strapped on the iPod, panicked and then hit the road with Justin and the babies...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

yep, this should be no problem at all...

My First Book Club

...and it's online, go figure! I came across this website and initially got excited about at least finding some good reads/studys that would be thought provoking but I think I'm going to try to actively participate as well. Truthfully seems a little weird to be doing this all virtually with strangers, but kind of adds a cool element to it as well, and if nothing else, will hopefully keep me accountable to reading it and reflecting on it. After reading the title of this book alone I knew I wanted to read it. Here's hoping this doesn't turn out to be another opportunity for me to contribute to the Christianese economy by purchasing another bible study or book that goes unread after two chapters... snap.

so, now I ask... any of you want to join me?? I ordered my copy from half.com
if you're interested jump on it, it starts in a couple weeks!

juggling life. no seriously.

disclaimer: this is a lot of juggling and you'll never get these minutes back... but if you have time you can catch a little glimpse of daily life with us. I'm stressed, I'm overwhelmed, I'm tired but moments like this and hearing her laugh over and over make it completely worth it. seriously, this girl brings us so much joy, we are extremely blessed!

don't judge me for my circus singing - for some reason it's not funny without it. wait, maybe that's what really makes it funny. crap.

After 20 times I finally had to sneak away so Bell thougt she'd pick up my slack...

LOVE her singing, she's awesome!

timeline of distraction

While it may seem like it goes without saying - while I'm home on maternity leave I'm determined to not only survive, but thrive as a stay at home mom, however temporary it may or may not be. Truthfully it's a pretty lofty goal because it's not my nature to cook or clean. or keep a house. Today has been my first official day by myself (my mom was here for almost two weeks and then my dad came the day after my mom left for a week). While my mom was visiting she made a really good chicken stew that even Justin liked, despite the fact that *gasp* it had vegetables in it, so I decided to give it a try during Bella’s nap...

1. Open chicken broth cans and figure out what the frick buillion is
1a. Spend 20 minutes like Indiana Jones searching for the right pot in the garage

2. Start carving the meat off the roasted chicken and quickly realize it’s much more effective to just rip it apart, discover it’s a stress reducer too!
2a. Pause because Austin woke up from his nap and needs to be fed
2b. Play Indiana Jones again looking for Austin’s bouncer in the garage
2c. Put Bella back to bed and make mental note to get one of those baby locks for her door

3. Finish cutting the chicken, start cutting the celery
3a. Admit defeat to Bella and call naptime 90 minutes early
3b. Empty the pantry for snacktime, the girl can put some food away!

4. Finish the celery, quickly empty some frozen corn into the pot, feverishly try to cut some carrots before the next interrupt...
4a. Dance with Bella
4b. Continue with the carrots
4c. Dance Bella downstairs for some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so I can finish

5. Finish the carrots, call Pops and ask if the ginormous veggie is indeed a leek
5a. Decide against the leek (wtf?!) and prepare to cut the potatoes
5b. Notice Austin has exploded from both ends while in his bouncer
5c. Cry a little
5d. Impromptu bath time - Austin cries a lot
5e. Notice Bella’s fallen asleep during Mickey Mouse, send up a quick “thank you”

6. Peel and cut the potatoes, turn the burner on and get the stew going
6a. Take a minute to myself to get back to blogging so I feel like me again
6b. Realize the “soft boil” I was supposed to bring it to is now like a raging hot tub - meh

SO needless to say, this won’t come naturally… not sure that was supposed to take three hours, but I’ll be alright. I can handle this. at least here’s hoping!