10K: No 911 Call Necessary

Well, I can say I have completed my first 10K, and can say that I do not think it will be my last.  (As I type that last sentence I wonder what the hell is wrong with me.)  In my teens the furthest I would ever run is between the bases in softball and the running our coach made us do for conditioning.  In college, I lived with a wonderful woman that ran miles upon miles each week and to be honest I thought she was crazy.  After college, I might walk, but to really run I would have told you there must be someone chasing me with a gun. 
Well, now I run. . .  correction what I do is 'wog' (cross between jog and walk) but for me that is huge.  I actually loved it and no one needed to call 911 for me and no ambulance was needed to haul me away.

I ran the Run for Ryan House in DC Ranch, which I discovered is North Scottsdale area.  First, let me tell you that you should look into the Ryan House because it has an amazing story and is awesome.  Then let me tell you a bit about the DC Ranch area. . .it has HILLS! :)  Oh yes, compared to my flat run in Tucson, the hills were a challenge, but good for me. 

Jeff was out of town for work so I was truly bummed that he and the kids were not there when I finished, but what I did have was an amazing friend there to give me a high five and be my champion.  Terese and I have known each other for a long time. She volunteers at the Ryan house and did a little butt kicking of her own in the 5K race that day.  We were able to meet before the races and then we had a great brunch afterwards.  It was an amazing day and here are some pictures that she took, of which I am so thankful.

Taken before we started.  Early in the morning.

As I crossed the finish line from 6.2 miles. And yes my face is as pink as my shirt, I can't control that. :)

The interesting part about this new hobby of mine is when I woke up on Sunday morning I thought I would like to run the course again because I knew I had more in me and could do it even faster.  I guess I have plenty of time to work on that in the next 60 days until the 13.1.  

Created By A Male

Yes this post will probably be a dig at you men, but honestly LOOK AT THIS PICTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Really?!?!?  So, this is the picture in a pamphlet explaining vasectomies that came from a local urologists office. 

I really have so many things I could say about this photo, but I will only ask this one question.  If you have had a c-section or delivered children "naturally", do you ever remember getting a pamphlet that had you holding your new sweet baby in a lazy boy with your husband at your side bringing you snacks?   HMMMMMM something to ponder. 

88 days

This gives me butterflies.  Oh well I am committed. :)

"It is what it is"

I love this quote.  But I know people that loathe it.  They think it means to settle, to give up, to not try and challenge myself or others, that it means failure and laziness.  But I love this quote because I take it as dealing with things that are beyond our control.

I like this because sometimes I put a lot of pressure on myself.  I expect perfection, I expect to say the "right" thing, do the "right" thing, have the "right" family, have the "right" attitude, have the "right" marriage, and I could go on and on.  But I am not perfect, thank God for a Redeemer.
As I get older I have discovered there are definitely seasons in life.  I wish someone would have explained this to me when I was 14 and maybe I would have handled my awkward teenage season better.  Then again maybe my mom did tell me, but my I-know-better-than-you teenage brain was acting up.  :)

In the past week we have had the dreaded flu/cold/stomach/eye bug attack our home.  I have been tired and lazy.  I have not done my floors, I have yelled at the kids, I have had to tell a very good friend that I could not help her in her time of need because of sick people at my house.  And for a while I was feeling bad and guilty.  But I remembered one of my sayings:  It is what it is. 

I believe this is true for me this week.  I cannot control sickness, it comes (although I do wish I had a magic wand to control throw up. :)) I have had to just let go and decided that where I am right now is not permanent.  My floors will get clean and I will at another time, be able  to help out my friend.  But right now it just is what it is.

Maybe you have felt the same way about your season.  There are things you don't like that are happening beyond your control.  To that I give you full permission to just let out a big sigh and say "It is what it is." And many blessings to you as you work through it and the season you are in!

Tattoos, Piercings, and Wild Hair, OH MY!!

When you have kids you start to reflect on all the things you did as "kid" and then think about your own kids doing those things.  It is weird.  You evaluate things like curfews, driving, dating, etc.

I grew up in a conservative loving home.  (Yes mom and dad you read this and it was wonderful!)  My uncle would scare us with his smoking skeleton tattoo and tell us to never get one.  He would say, if you see someone with a tattoo, you know they have been drunk at least once.   We were not able to get our ears pierced until we were twelve, however my sister did get hers at eleven, which I will always remember.  But we were only allowed one piercing, it wasn't until later in high school I think that I actually got my ears double pierced which was pushing the envelope.  Growing up we had long hair and pig tails and barrettes and ribbons.  It was girly and traditional and I loved it. 

THEN . . this happened TATTOOS, PIERCINGS, AND WILD HAIR OH MY!!!

In college I got my first tattoo.  I didn't tell my parents for a long time for they were sure to say it was not what nice girls did.  I also got a belly button ring.  Which I also did not show them for a loooong time.  (Which was removed come pregnancy time).  Then in graduate school came the kiss of death.  The thing that would surely make  my mother faint.  The tongue ring.  (Which I did finally remove, because we did need some money for our wedding.  What can I say Mom played hard ball. HA!)   Then right before I was engaged I came home with some outrageous colored hair, which in the end was too much for me as well.

I look back on these things and laugh.  I laugh because through all of those things I was the same person, the same girl, the same heart with love for God, my family and others.  I had the same friends, I didn't do drugs.  All those nasty stereotypes about all those "bad" things did not apply to me.  They did not make me or change who I was created to be. 

I wonder why I did some of them.  Maybe why some people jump out of airplanes or jump off bridges on cords.  The thrill.  I don't regret any of them and I don't feel that any of them defined me or made me a "bad" or "evil" person.    Maybe I did it to see how far I could push the envelope.  Maybe to see if I did what my parents didn't want me to, if they would still love me the same.  I don't know.

What I do know is that they still love me.  We now laugh about those things, and even talk of another tattoo does not freak them out.  I have decided that the God I love is the same way.  We do a lot of wacky stuff, but I believe God doesn't say "that is it, you are cut off".  I think He knows us because he created us and loves us and knows who we truly are deep inside our hearts.

I am going to try and remember this when my sweet girl comes home with her own tattoo, piercings or wild hair, OH MY!!!!

Post Baby Crisis

So I am sure you have heard of a mid-life crisis.  I am older than I was, but not what I would consider to be mid life, yet I have been having a crisis. 
Thanks to a wonderful friend and neighbor I think I have figured out the problem and better yet, feel that what I am thinking is totally typical.

I have said this before and I will say it again, being a stay at home mom is wonderful and very hard (not to take away from a working outside the home mom, because I actually think that might be harder).  I pretty much talk to kids all day or yell at them or teach or discipline them.  If I do get to talk to an adult it is to make a doctor appointment, schedule a play date, or something else kid related.  I have given up calling other friends who stay at home because let's face it, picking up the phone is an immediate whining, fighting, mom-I-need food and a drink right this minute magnet.  And no one on the other line likes to hear that.  The upside.  I check a lot of email.  Email and texting is nice, no one can hear my kids or myself yelling. :)  I have been told I text too often, to that my reply is my kids yell and wine a lot, get over it. 

We have decided we are 3 and out for babies in this family.  Three has been wonderful, and we are done.  This body of mine is done being pregnant and now when I see babies I no longer have the "oh how cute, I want another" feeling.  I actually have the "oh how cute, I am glad they are not coming home with me" feeling. 

There is something that happens when a mom decides to shut down the baby factory.  This I am calling the post baby crisis.  During the years that I was having kids, I let things go, weight stayed on  (lets face it I was just going to gain a ton more with the next baby), shopping for nice clothes took a back seat as I knew that once I was pregnant again let's forget it, I would never wear it.  And lingerie, don't even get me started, why buy new things when soon enough it will just be the 24/7 nursing bras.  However, when you are done with babies, you realize all the things you thought before are not the same.  The post baby weight feels bad, the hair really needs some work and a more frequent mani and pedi is probably very necessary.  I have moved from feeling like the sloppy mom, to wanting some youth back.  I have tended to feel more selfish.  As you might know from this blog I have been obsessed about my 1/2 marathon in May.  I have actually been shopping with a good friend since running and things fit better.  I want to feel a bit younger, I don't want to wear just sweats anymore, I would like to actually do my hair in the morning, I would like to have people say "oh she is attractive".  I like to stay out a bit later knowing that I won't be up every two hours in the middle of the night. I even think about going back to work with "real" adults when Colin starts school..  I know, totally selfish.  Yet, after talking to my friend I felt normal, typical, as if there was nothing wrong with wanting a little "pre-kid" me back.
Thus, I had to blog about it.  I had to put it out there as I don't think I am the only one who has ever gone through this "post baby crisis".  Don't get me wrong, I am thoroughly crazy.  But today I just feel a little better about it.

Lap Dance

I am sure this title got your attention, but it is very innocent trust me. 
Sean has developed quite a great friendship with a girl in his preschool class.  They "cook" together, play babies together, color together and he seems to like her company.

The other day his amazing teacher told me this story and I had to giggle and of course had to post. 
I guess he was just sitting in the futon chair in the classroom.  As an aside, Sean likes to sit,watch and contemplate.  I say contemplate as it sounds much better to me as a parent then "stare off into space about nothing". 

So this sweet little girl started to sing him a song.  He very much liked this.  Then apparently she kept singing and dancing around, but moving closer to my sweet little boy all the while singing and dancing around him.  And he of course just sat there, stared and smiled as big as he could. 
Yes, this is totally innocent play for preschool children, but we would not be silly, inappropriate adults if we did not take it a bit out of context and call it Sean's lap dance.