A Pintrosity

When you are trying to make this:



and you get this:



















I am pretty sure you would call that a "pintrosity."

I guess it was not meant to be.

Before the Christmas Card goes out

One of the hardest thing about being a female (at least for me) is my continual desire to compare myself (and our family) to others. I either see so clearly how much better we are at life, parenting, etc than all those other people, or I get really down on myself because other families have bigger houses, cars without dents, kids that stay in their beds, wives that cook the tastiest and healthiest foods and husbands who are the perfect dads. For as long as I can remember, I have struggled with this (not the kids/wife/homeowner part) but the comparing part- whether in grades, athletics, or looks. I hit a pretty low point my senior year of high school and freshman year of college when all that I seemed to know about myself and others was challenged. While I do not struggle on a daily basis with some of the sames thing I did then, I definitely still struggle. Being a mom makes it at least 8 million times harder. Maybe 9 million times. The number of things I can find to compare is almost limitless. And then throw in social media- that compounds the problem by about 10 million. So combine being a mom with social media and the odds (for me) of not struggle with the problem of comparing is now somewhere in the trillions working against me. And then throw the holidays in there- everyone's beautiful decorations, delicious cookies, perfect Christmas cards, and adorable Christmas outfits. Now it is probably as hard as it has ever been for me not to compare and feel totally inadequate (although those inadequacies are definitely interrupted with some gloating that I am sure to do when I do have it all together). But since it is so easy for me to compare the ways that I am less than others, every year, I get one chance to say, "see, we do have it all together, just like all the rest of you people out there!" That would be our Christmas card. I choose the layout I like, the pics I like even better and print off as many as will fit in our budget so that I can prove to everyone that we really are pretty great. Of course I am being somewhat facetious, but there is definitely some truth to that. There is a part of me that wants to be the standard to which other people compare themselves. The one whose pictures get the most likes on Instagram, comments on Facebook, pins on Pinterest and most "oh's and ah's over their Christmas card. But there is a bigger part of me that knows that is completely wrong- for a lot of reasons, the most of which have to do with the fact that God created us all in His image- not one of us is better than the other. So, I just wanted to give a disclaimer before our Christmas card goes out: while I love that Christmas card probably more than any other (cause I love how God has put together our family), you should probably know that those pictures were taken on a day when I was mad most of the day. Mad at the kids, mad at Nelson, mad at life. There might be smiles in the pictures, but there were no smiles in my heart. That's real life folks,  that's our real life. Thankfully, I am not mad anymore, and was not even mad by the end of that day, but I sure have been mad at other things since then. Our life is not even close to perfect, and I sure do not want anyone to think that. We get short with each other, I lose my patience with my kids, I say things I should not say to my husband, I go days without showering, my kids go to bed dirty because I do not have the energy to give them a fourth bath for the day, I haven't gotten my haircut since August, and we have eaten more eggs for dinner lately than most normal humans being should because they are cheap, fast, and easy. Sometimes I only cook a main course because I have forgotten about the sides, or even if I do make a side, whatever I tried to make totally burned. Our 1 year old normally sleeps in the basement so the rest of us do not have to be so bothered by her when she wakes up early, our 3 1/2 year old eats donuts or fruit loops for breakfast and has a dessert after almost every meal. There you have it- our life is not pretty, and I struggle comparing both myself and our lives to others. But please, in this world of internet perfection, please don't compare your life to ours and think ours is so much better (or worse for that matter- that does not accomplish anything either). But you still have my permission to think our Christmas card is cute! 

Christmas 2012

While I love Christmas and all the spirit that comes with it, I am taking the easy way out this year. Judge me if you want (I mean, let's be honest, how can you not?), but while everyone else is picking out and cutting down Christmas trees, hanging their stockings by the chimney with care- we will have no tree, our ornaments are hung from fake garland, and our stockings are hung from the curtain rod.

You can blame this on a certain one year old and a mom who has absolutely no desire to tell that one year old "no" 18 million times a day. So this year, I am taking the easy way out. And I have no problems sleeping at night.

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."