New Baby

Kim should be having her baby today! Her daughter Hannah is blogging some updates so check them out here!

Family

Our family of 6 went out to lunch together recently. It really isn't that big a deal for us to go out to eat. In fact, the baby fell asleep on the way so she just stayed in the car seat. Our kids usually behave and we all enjoy our time together.

While walking to our table, we ran into some people we know. We greeted one another and then a person at that table said, "wow, you just ... you just have so much 'stuff'!" Now, I don't think we had too much stuff with us. The baby was in the car seat, but she's not stuff. And I had a diaper bag on my shoulder (which isn't much bigger than my purse) and it had a little 'stuff' in it. But that's it. The rest of our 'stuff' was just us - just people. But I think that's what they were saying.

I have been thinking about that statement alot today. Yes, if you look at children from a certain perspective, it can seem like alot of 'stuff' - alot of diapers, alot of feeding, alot of cleaning, alot of laundry, alot less sleep, alot of inconveniences.

BUT if you look at children from a biblical perspective, they are blessings!! (Psalm 127:3 - Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,the fruit of the womb a reward.) There are alot of blessings that come with children: alot of hugs to give and receive, alot of kisses and cuddles, alot of praise as they progress and learn, alot of conversation, alot of unconditional love, alot of opportunities to share Christ's love. I could go on and on about this but I'll keep it short. We are so thankful for our children! Yes, there are hard days but overall they bring so much joy to this family. I am thankful for that reminder this week!

Running Update

Friday before last I ran my first 4 mile run - and I was able to do it go the entire distance without stopping! I was so excited!



Last week I ran 3 miles on Monday, 3 1/2 on Wednesday and 4 more again on Friday morning. The runs have been good. My body feels good while I am doing it - the hard part right now is the COLD! Last Monday morning the temperature was 12 degrees so I waited to run after Brian got home, when it had 'warmed' up to about 30 degrees. Last Friday morning was about 19 degrees - the coldest it has been during an outside run of mine and man oh man it was cold. I have some warm running tights that I borrowed from Kim, which I wore under another pair of pants. I layered shirts and a sweatshirt. I knew I would probably lose the gloves and sweatshirt after the first mile, like I usually do, but those first few minutes are so chilly!

I am from South Georgia and I feel cold all the way in my bones! I think the reason I start to feel good after I have been going about a mile is that everything in my body is FROZEN - so then I don't feel the cold anymore. Those first few minutes, I always start telling myself how crazy this is - especially when I could be in my nice, warm bed ... BUT I have to keep going because we are officially signed up for this 10K on April 5! Some days, it's been hard to keep warm during the day, I think because my bones are still thawing! I am longing for a little bit warmer weather, not hot, just above 25 in the morning, but until then, I guess I'll just bundle up!

This week I ran 4 again this morning. I am going to try 4 a couple more times this week, trying to improve my time. If you have any suggestions for helping me improve my speed, please let me know!!

We Take Potty Training Seriously...

Or at least we try... (yeah right) that's the seat ring from his potty! Who needs the seat ring? I guess Calvin doesn't.

Yep - we're at it again. How easy it is for me to forget the potty training thing. Our oldest, Coleman, wasn't the easiest experience. (That poor child, we always learn what 'not to do' with him). Emmie, our 2nd child, pretty much taught herself while she watched us with working with Coleman. (Thank goodness, we were due something easy at that point).

Here we are now with Calvin. The first few days were endless hours of wet undies, wet pants, wet carpet, etc. We got to the point where the timer would go off, and Calvin and I would look at each other and think, 'do we have to do this again?'

But yesterday we finally made some progress. He made it in the potty a bunch of times and only had a couple of accidents (which were mostly my fault because I was trying to finish a task when the timer would go off and would push it back a couple of minutes). Hopefully there will be more of the same today...

Running Update

Last week was a great week for running. The temperature was nice in the mornings, just a t-shirt and some jogging pants.



This week has been a little chilly for these South Georgia bones! The temp has been in the 20's in the mornings, but I have persevered ... knowing I have to keep going so I can keep up with Brian in the 10K. But man oh man it is cold out there! Next week it is supposed to dip into the teens in the mornings and I won't be able to do that. So, I will have to do the elliptical or run in the evenings when it is a tad warmer.



So far, things are going good. Everything is getting easier although I am still pretty slow, but at least it's consistently slow. I can do 3 miles pretty easily now and hope to try for 4 before the week is over. But I did have one minor accident last week. There is one portion of the road that doesn't have much of a shoulder and for some reason my left foot stepped off the road and went down into the leaves about a foot. So of course, I fall on my right knee and bang it up pretty good. But my injured pride got me up really fast, especially since a big tow truck was driving by at the same time. I'm sure he had a good laugh on his way to work that morning! Oh well - you know what they say, 'no pain, no gain'.

Snow and cake

Yesterday we had a few snow flurries. Nothing much to get excited about but my kids didn't know that. They wanted to put on their hats and 'play in the snow.' So they bundled up and played on the deck for a few minutes, scraping some snow in a bowl to put in the freezer to show Dad when he got home!

The view from the deck.

Emmie

Coleman

Calvin (we were in such a rush to get outside before it stopped that I didn't have a chance to take the tag off his hat, in fact, the mittens that came with the hat are still attached to it. Pitiful!)

And today, Ellerie tried some chocolate cake...

Is it good Ellerie?

I think so!!

Basketball

This year Coleman is playing Upwards basketball. This is his first year playing and he is having so much fun. His first game was this past Saturday and he was thrilled just to be out on the court. His coach is very nice but hasn't taught much about the fundamentals of basketball so the boys are learning by playing. Somehow Granny got a picture of Coleman playing defense, with his hands up and everything. He was more interested in running around all of the other players than actually defending them. We all had fun watching the game, although I might have embarrassed some of my family members during the game because I got a little excited! Plus I felt I needed to yell some directions since the coach wasn't doing that ... hopefully I will be a little more composed next time. Probably not ... but I will try.

Coleman running out when they announced his name.

Coleman playing defense.

While we were visiting in GA, my Mom gave me some shoes that I wore when I was a baby. Ellerie wore these little shoes to church on Sunday ...

Just a Swingin'

Her first time swinging! It was a nice 70 degree day in January. Who knew?

The New Year

... it's that time for New Year resolutions ... but I actually 'resoluted' back in October. I resoluted to run. I need to let go of this extra baby weight (especially since I had that baby ohhh about 8 months ago) and I hear that one of the best ways to get in shape is to run ... and run ... and run. So, Brian and I are going to run in a 10-K together on April 5, 2008. (I don't know about you but sometimes I need some outside motivation and a specific goal to work towards - like me being able to keep up with, or maybe even beat, my husband).


If you know me, then you will know how comical and monumental this is. Don't get me wrong, I love exercise and being outside but I have never - EVER - been a runner! Even in my days of prime fitness (yes, there were some of those days long ago) I wasn't a runner. Why would someone just want to run?

So I decided to go out and take a run, well more like a jog, one day and I didn't even make it to the stop sign up the road before I stopped. What? What am I doing? So, after some encouragement from friends (like Kim) who are real-live runners, I decided to try again. I had to start off slow - I decided (after some advice from Kelly) to jog for 1 minute and walk for 1 minute, jog a minute, walk a minute. So, after a few weeks, I decided to jog without stopping - and I made it about a half mile. (Don't laugh - that's really good for me - we're talking baby steps here).

It's been a slow process and my neighborhood has some hills that are boogers - but I guess that will help me in my training. I tried my first 3 miles last Saturday on a big, busy road in town (because it's flat) and I only had to stop once. I tried to push through the pain but then I remembered all those people driving by, watching me - and I knew I needed to stop so I didn't look like a crazy woman in pain.

So, I tried 3 miles again today - and I made it without stopping! Woo hoo! Now, my time is a different story. Running is a word that I am using loosely - it's probably more like a slow jog - but we'll work on speed later.

I will try to post more about this journey and maybe keep a tally on my sidebar (if Kim will help me figure out how to do that). So - if you have any tips, please let me know!