Where you'll find us

In case you need Lily, she will either be in her high chair eating,



 in the bathroom on the stool,



or her chair in the corner (which is only in the corner for stability's sake).



Tripp will be either helping me in the kitchen



or cheering me on at a race (and trying to figure out why I never come in first place).



And Nelson- well, he's the glue that keeps this whole operation called life together. It was such a joy to celebrate his birthday today!

Happy Birthday Lily!

If I say it once, I have said it a thousands times- time goes by way too fast. I can not believe my baby is one! She has clearly grown up too fast! I vividly remember the day she was born- conversations I had with my doctor, getting to hold her right away, feeding her for the first time, Tripp meeting his little sister, friends visiting in the hospital, my in-laws getting to be there. The list could go on and on. This has been a hard year, no doubt, but I am not sure I could love this little girl more. Sometimes my heart feels like it might burst!! I love her smell, her blonde hair, her big belly, the way she says "dooooooo!!!" really emphatically when she is pointing at something she wants, her random order of teeth that are in, her wide open mouth when she wants a kiss, her already deep love for her brother and, yes, even her hairbows.We had a great day- starting with breakfast with Nonny, a visit to the doc, presents in the afternoon, cake after dinner and a bedtime bath complete with some cleaning from brother.

 

Happy birthday Lily! We love you so much and are looking forward to many years to come!!

Her 1 year stats:

Length: 31 inches (96 percentile)

Weight: 23 lbs 14 ounces (92 percentile)

Head Circ: 18 3/8 inches (89 percentile)

Not sure what I was thinking...

After finishing my first half-marathon, I was sore, tired and looking forward to resting for a while. But the next day (while I was playing the "let's all just lay on the ground" game with the kids), my friend sent me a text wondering if I wanted to run the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon with her. During a moment of weakness, even in my pained state, I told her yes- even though it was less than a month away. I still took two weeks off, had quite a time trying to figure out what new running shoes I needed (and time was of the essence since I needed to run in them enough before I raced again), got sick for a while and then managed to run with her this weekend and have a really good time. Running with another person makes all the difference in the world. It is so much more fun, the time passes a lot faster, it is a lot more motivating, and just all around a better experience. I am so glad it worked out and so glad that my parents/awesome babysitter were willing to watch the kids so we could make the 5 hour drive to Indianapolis by ourselves and just enjoy some time away (even if it meant running 13.1 miles to get that). We would love to make this an annual tradition- it gives us something to look forward to and what better way to catch up than run a really long way together!?! So Janet, let's pick our race for 2013 and get signed up!!

P.S. Now I plan on taking that break I was going to before :)

From the Mouth of Babes (again)

Tripp's take on life lately-

"I have been doing a lot better on my disobeying, haven't I Mommy?"

"We need to get some Halloween decorations. Maybe a scarecrow and some pumpkins. And some of those flowers. That could be nice couldn't it Mommy?"

You know you live in a baseball town when first thing in the morning you hear:
"Did the Cards win last night?"

"I think I want to introduce my sister to my friends. Have my buddies met Lily yet?"

"Today Patrick did not have peas in his lunch. Just carrots. That was strange."

Sunday Morning Life

Since we have about five hours before church on Sunday mornings, Tripp and I usually do some kind of baking. This past Sunday it was home made cinnamon rolls.
First we made the dough (in the bread machine- best/easiest thing ever)

Then it had to rise some more.

 

Meanwhile, we played some games, watched some TV and went to the store to get the cream cheese for the icing. Lily had a snack.

Then it was time to roll the dough and spread the cinnamon/brown sugar mixture

Then we cut rolled it up and put them in the pan.

 

They had to rise some more so it was bath time!

And then they baked, we iced them and then we ate them. And they were sooo good!

  

And at almost one year old, Lily has decided that she might like us and like being here with us. We have gone almost 5 days in a row of her being happy pretty much all day long. She actually says things- like Mama, Dada and dog (both of our kids' first words were "dog." Not sure what that says about us). She points at whatever she wants/needs and babbles all the time. She still has three or more teeth trying to come through but they do not seem to be that big of a deal. The only thing I wish we could figure out is the early morning waking up, but since she seems to be a fan of that no matter what time she goes to bed, I think that is just our lot in life with her. Tripp has really started to like being her big brother (he in fact told me that the other day for the first time) and he loves to make her laugh, play with her and be around her. It's only taken a year, but we are finally getting to a happy place (and do not worry- I have been around the block enough times to know that it will probably change next week- or tomorrow for that matter- so I am just going to soak it up for now)!

In the Trenches

This past week, my poor sister-in-law Winsor has gotten a lot of phone calls, texts, emails, snail mail, smoke signals, etc about the frustrations of this year, month week. Things like poop on the floor, poop in the tub, "poop" hitting the fan at work, etc. Lots of poop this week- whether literal or more in the analogy form. But besides these things, one of my biggest struggle lately has had to do with this half marathon that I ran today. No the struggle wasn't the actual physical go out and run 10 miles kind of thing, it was more mental. In that I really wanted to do well, but not just for doing well's sake- for the sake that I feel like a total has-been. That might sound a little extreme, but it's true. It is really hard for anyone who has any sort of competitive nature in them to feel like it is ok to "just finish the race" or "well maybe you won't have to walk at all." No, I wanted to do well. I didn't want "just finish" cause then that would mean I was not a real athlete. And I was. I used to run cross-county. We were third in the state my senior year. I used to play basketball, I got all sorts of awards for that. I used to swim and placed at state in that too. So I was good. And that's just it- I was good. I am not that good anymore. And that was really discouraging. I felt like a has-been. I used to be able to work hard and see results. Now, when I work hard whether at work or at home, I don't get a trophy, a medal or an article in the newspaper. Instead I get poop. Literal poop. And whining. And spit up. And crying. And sleepness nights. And broken iPads. No matter how hard I seem to work, nothing seems to pay off. At least not like it used to. I used to go to two-a-day basketball practices, and we would dominate in our games. I used to swim till I sweat (which if you have ever swam before, you know that is hard to do), and we would win races. I would study hard for a test and get a straight A (and I usually took the test in half the time anyone else would take). I think you get the point. And it is kinda a depressing one. Until I, like any good Covenant College grad, started to think calling. My calling. From God. My calling right now is not to be a high school athlete. It is to be a wife, a mom, a church member, an employee. I am called to spend my time now correcting whiney attitudes, cleaning up an entire meal that was thrown on the floor, changing my clothes three times a day because they got spit-up on, etc. And it is hard because there are sometimes no results to anything- except bigger piles of laundry, stains on the carpet and tears that have been shed. We are in the trenches folks, but that is because that is exactly where God has called us to be right now. No where else. It might be unrewarding, tireless, and downright discouraging. But God gives grace and hope to handle it all. So I may be a has-been when it comes to really fast times and really high test scores, but I am an "am-now" (yeah I totally made that up) to a wife, mom, etc. cause that is where God has called me to be today. And for that I am thankful.

 

 (But trust me, I will still total revel in the fact that I got a medal today- a genuine medal that basically says - "you did it and you are awesome for finishing. and a lot of people haven't done that. so be proud.")

Those two...

These guys have been keeping us on our toes lately (but then again, what kid doesn't?). But we sure do love them!

More updates coming soon (like the fact that Lily is practically 11 months old- how did that happen)!