Highlights

You know how life is either amazingly fantastic or really not? There is always that period of just meh, between the highs and the lows. That’s kind of where I’m at, but I’m pretty sure I’m my way up which is a happy thing. Here are some highlights, though, that I thought I’d share.

   

New friends are everywhere! And those thighs…mmmm….baby thighs…

  

Old running shoes and a new MP3 player to usher in a new season of running. It’s slow and it’s not very long/far, but I’ve been consistent and for the first time ever I’m not running to punish myself but because I actually enjoy it. Definite highlight.

 

Bunnies that are starting to not hate me. Hopefully we should have some beautifully colored babies in the early fall…which means I get to watch them get it on around August and laugh hysterically each and every time. My inner 12 year old, what can I say?

 

This almost 8 year old who can not for the life of him smile naturally in a picture. He either looks like he is drunk (but very happy about it) or like he is in pain. Sigh. Also Little Girl’s hair on the side of her face is growing out from where she cut it…we have less mullet everyday!

[http://thesilverswan.blogspot.com/2013/08/girl-of-limberlost.html  <–where I got the picture]

I finished reading A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter. It was one of those sweet and wholesome classics that restores your faith in humanity. However, for me right now, in this exact time in my life, it was more than that. It was one of those books that for reasons totally unrelated to the main plot or characters or any thing that makes sense, made me sigh with my soul because it felt like “that is what I want to be when I grow up!” Not that I want to become a moth expert who haunts a backwoods swamp in a state that has winter temperatures that would kill me, I just need more books that make me feel at peace with myself. Books that have people and settings and life rhythms that somehow codify what I want to become. It has been a pretty cool thing to get my reading mojo back. Reminders and glimpses of myself are so helpful when I’m wearing two babies’ lunches and one just smeared my leg with poop and I’m needing to wash the dishes to pretend to combat the fruit flies that are invading my kitchen when all I want is a shower. But you know the funny thing about all that? I actually just laughed typing that because it just about sums up most of my days. But like I said before, I’m on my way to a peak. Motherhood is weird.

 

 

I used to be a runner

And then we moved. Suddenly running was not so easy to fit in and for some reason once I checked “half marathon” off my life to-do list, it was hard to make it a priority. Also now that I’m doing farm chores (bunnies, garden, trees, making little man take care of chickens, etc.) it’s hard to want to find the time. But lest you think I don’t do anything in the way of forward motion…

 

I amble and perambulate.

 

I meander and stroll. (I also tell my children to wear jackets and tennis shoes, because I dunno, it’s Janruary! Then we end up like this…or better yet I end up holding the jacket. Serves me right I suppose.)

  

I lollygag and dawdle.

So in short, I am not so much a runner anymore  as a walker going at toddler speed (although I’m hoping to pick up the pace again at some point in my future). New Year’s resolutions are one of my fortes, but this year I’m opting out of my check lists and guilt trips resolutions. This isn’t to say I’m not instituting some big changes, because I’m all about self improvement. I’m just going to be inspired by my husband and my little girls and my not so little boy to make better choices for myself because I’m worth that. You know, most days. Oh and as an aside/soap box sermon: I get mildly annoyed when people say stuff to the effect of “I hope this year is better than the last” or “make this year the best one yet” because sometimes that’s not possible or necessary. Sometimes this year is going to be way worse than the last, and that’s ok. (And this is coming from an optimist, ha!) You grow when things suck and are horrible. Instead I hope this year is filled with tiny moments that make you smile. Even if you don’t remember them in 20 years, even if all they do is take the edge off really rough times, and especially if they are just icing flowers on an already beautifully frosted cake.

first half…done!

Hot pink running shoes that make me smile: $25

Enterance fee (which included bag piper at an Irish event because we are Americans and can’t tell the difference…who totally made my day): $130

Running a Half Marathon with my sweet husband and having it really be no big deal: Priceless

This was us before the race.

This is us after (notice the medals). Also this is my friend Jamie who initially told me that I could deffinately run a half marathon and more or less shamed talked me into it. I’m really glad she did. And I’m really glad that she has been my running buddy for the past fwe months and has distracted me from the miles we have covered with brilliant conversation.

Overall this is what I realized: It was super cool that the thing that slowed me down towards the end was my knees and feet being sore, not that I couldn’t breathe. When I started running 11 months ago, people that did half marathons were 1) crazy and 2) were real runners, something I’d never be. Not so much any more…well. no. people who do half marathons are still crazy (running in a short kilt anyone?). Running with my husband made it not only doable, but one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Kinda love that guy.

A very Happy (be-lated) St. Patrick’s Day

Leap Day randomness

and in no particular order:

My morning run made possible by these gentlemen. Great running music, and deffinately the favorite of the week.

Fat baby feet stuffed into cute baby shoes to do treadmill work at Physical Therapy. And baby pig tails. Enough said.

Whole foods trip to stock up for future dehydrator adventures (yes I’m an unashamed hippie and yes I’ll be blogging about my new toy when it gets here). As cool as it is to buy buckwheat in bulk (it IS cool and no I don’t need to get out more, why do you ask?), it is way better to discover something revolutionary in the world of cookies. White chocolate chips, dried strawberries, AND milk chocolate covered strawberries. BAM! because why wouldn’t you throw all that into a cookie? ZING! KAPOW! (for good measure)

You know you are a red neck need to do laundry when you wear these socks to Physical Therapy. Where, by the way, little girl is making strides putting weight on her feet and working on moving herself all over the place via crawling and standing and rolling and sitting up (then rolling forward through a full split to get on her belly…sigh). She is doing really well….more on that later.

Last Greek Timeline day. Greek theater complete with Masks of Comedy and Tragedy. Nay looks tragic doesn’t she?

Happy Wednesday! Happy Leap Day! Happy Random Day! Happy…um. yeah.

The Behemoth

We got a treadmill. And it is GYNORMOUS! We just came to realize that between two people wanting to run seriously (think at least 20 miles a week each) and babies who don’t sleep consistantly (think up 3-4 times a night), one of us waking up at 4:50am to run and then the other leaving right after so we both can be back and showered by seven…was not really a realistic plan. Thow in the reccomendation that Layna be on a treadmill 8 minutes a day (8 one-minute sessions) to help her walk sooner (remind me to tell you about the very cool study this is based on) and a treadmill was pretty much a forgone conclusion. Enter the Tax Return! Well, ok, we bought it before our tax return came in but when it does drop in our account we will be right back where we started plus one super rad beefy treadmill. And yes I said “rad.” It’s back now.

its a bit ridiculous

Naomi Sage

Because she makes me happy and crazy at the same time and because I want to feature all of the monkeys at some point (why not start with the middle child?) and because…well…it’s Wednesday, so there.

Naomi and her drug of choice (cuties clementine oranges). Seriously could eat 8 in a go and I know this because I counted. Have used them to lure her out to the car when we have to leave Noah’s house, or rather “no-ie” (he calls her “no-mie”). He is the other drug of choice because Naomi can boss him around and get him in trouble with impunity because he is ususally way too busy trying to be just like Garyn to even notice. Parallel Play at it’s finest.

Most of her down time is spent at the park, barefoot or in squeaky shoes. And yes that is her in a sun dress in the middle of Janurary barefoot. She is a desert baby and it was like 65+ degrees outside.

Came back from my run to find my spot being saved. Most mornings she will come snuggle around 5:30 or so. Makes for a tight fit because she’ll sprawl out like that even if I’m laying there too. Should be a good morning…happy Wednesday!

13.5

I went running on Saturday expecting to push myself and maybe do 10 miles total. This is what I saw when I got onto the street.

I promise the moon looked much cooler and bigger and brighter and more yellow.  You’ll just have to take my word for it. Anyways I planned on doing 10 miles total. Met my friend we started going and talking and I told her where I was thinking we could go. She pointed out a small problem. The route I planned went right next to a pig farm. Might be doable in the winter (she said that it was impossible in the summer and I believe her completely) but we both decided not to sacrifice our noses. Oh and my friend is a bit more hardcore than I am as a runner. She is also tricksy. I was feeling good, totally good trusting her more extensive knowledge of the neihborhood, and off we went. Turns out she slipped in a few miles. Like 3.5. Which means that by the time I got home I had run a half marathon. I RAN A HALF MARATHON! And I totally didn’t mean to. Not only that but my time wasn’t completely pathetic.  WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!! sorry. My knees and ankles have been screaming at me for the last day and a half, but I officially have no excuses to back out of a real half marathon race. March 17th doing it for real.

running buddy

going running with a jogging stroller that has a wobbly front wheel and a flat back wheel: totally sucks.

negotiating said stroller through herds of kids walking home from school: not so fun.

realizing too late that jogging with a stroller is much much harder than without one and having your calves thrashed: really miserable.

jogging when the sky looks like this—–>

and finding out that little little girl is an awesome jogging buddy: priceless.

the moon…kind of.

Here’s to the moon. And stupid cameras that can’t take pictures of it (just so you know it was a big, beautiful, misty yellow, cloud-wisp-covered, Halloweenish kind of a moon.) Here’s to it being so cold I had to wear my fingerless gloves that my Hubby made me. The ones that make me feel like I’m really just sitting down with a cup of steaming tea next to a frosty window in our manor house that overlooks my fathers estates, wearing a beautifully embroidered shall over my empire waist gown with my hair done up in curls. Very Jane Austen. Here’s to explosive baby diapers and work phone calls that made sure we were both wide awake at 4 am. Here’s to starting a season of running when it is still dark outside and instead of sunrises I get moonsets. Running makes cranky mommy go away and so at the beginning of this good running week there will be much rejoicing for I will be a nicer, happier person. But most importantly…here’s to the moon.

  

big and beautiful

One of the biggest things I will miss when we leave Vegas, is going for a run when it’s dark outside and coming home to this…

Take that, Sleep!