Go Go Go

So I feel like the nice weather this week (plus the fact that last week we watched way too many episodes of Revenge last week and felt like we wasted our life) made us want to get on a bunch of projects that we've been ruminating about for awhile.

I started turning the back room into a playroom.  I'm aiming for a space that he can play in while we sit and relax.  We're keeping the daybed in there - just adding a bunch more pillows so it'll hopefully a more inviting place to just lounge, or at least lounge for a few minutes before jumping up to make sure Noah doesn't eat a clump of dog hair or tumble on the tile floor.  A rug is on the list of things to get still!  That and a bunch more baskets for toys.  And a little more wall art.  Oh and I'm converting a train table top into a chalkboard so it can be multi functional as Noah learns how to color.  Okay I know I'm majorly jumping the gun on that skill, but I'm trying to set up the room so it'll be useful for awhile down the road!

Spencer went to work on finishing the garden beds so hopefully we can start planting cool weather plants this week!  We put down a bunch of cardboard for weed control and then he also laid out a bunch of the flower beds from our master plan we had drawn up a few years ago.  Yeah we had a guy draw up a plan for us all the while telling him we would not be paying him to do it.  I think he told us it'd be 40 grand to do it all at once.  No thank you.  But thank you for the nice drawing that we can slowly work on over the next ten years.  I'm telling you someday our backyard is going to be an oasis!!

I also started purging the upstairs.  I always feel like there is entirely too much furniture and junk up there!  So I started on one dresser and I'm slowly cleaning things out.  Only problem is one drawer was all full of summer clothes (pre baby) that I have no idea if it fits or not.  Looks like one of the days this week I'll be trying on a bunch of clothes and seeing just how much of my wardrobe I'll be donating to good will and just how much I can still make work after having Noah.

Spencer also started building storm windows for our house.

I ran ten miles today.  I feel like I can't walk straight.  That's the last long run though before the half marathon!  I have a few more weekly runs but mostly I taper over the next two weeks to make sure my legs are nice and fresh and I actually want to go running the morning of the race!

Okay well our dinner dates bailed due to a sick kid so we're eating leftover pasta plus some asparagus and mushrooms.  Yummm.

I'm One of Those People

One of those crazy people that run when it's 35 degrees out and may or may not be snowing.

I never thought I was going to be one of those people, but then I signed up for this half marathon, and I'm a stickler for doing the training program even if the weather is crazy and well I couldn't stand the thought of nine miles on a treadmill.  So yes, I ran nine miles in the windy cold this afternoon and it actually wasn't that bad.  I just put on a bunch of layers and tall socks and a hat and gloves and chapters eight and nine of the audiobook I've been listening too (Lean In) and started running.  I passed literally four other runners in the entire hour and a half I was out on the trail.  I'm not going to lie it sort of felt like I was earning a badge of honor in some odd running club.  Okay maybe that was the cold wind going to my head.

I have one more long run next weekend and then a weekend off from running and then it's the half marathon!! Ahhhhhhh.  Hopefully I can go slow and steady like on all of my long runs so far, but we'll see.

It's Official

I'm going back to work full time on May 12th.  And, actually now that I officially told them I feel better about going back. I think the constant back and forth, maybe I will maybe I won't was driving me a little insane.  Plus, it was making it really hard to make any changes in my day to day life that will make going back to work less stressful.

I've been brainstorming ideas for saving time once I go back to office, so that I won't have to spend all day Saturday or every week night running errands and cleaning house.  The funny thing is this kind of the opposite of what I've gotten in the habit of doing the last year.  I've been spreading out errands over the week so that we have things to get out and do instead of trying to do things as efficiently as possible.

First on the list, we have a house cleaner.  It's amazing.

Second, I just finally entered the 21st century and signed up for a bunch of online, automatic bill pay.  Not for my credit card though, that scared me.  I want to see what we are putting on it each month before it automatically pays itself and I never realize how many trips we are going on or how many anthro sale rack trips I've been taking.

I might start ordering diapers and wipes and household cleaners online to stop the trips to target. And not just to save time, also to stop on all the impulse buying I do when I'm there and I'm bored.  I always seem to leave with some new baby toy or outfit or a new picture frame or an organizational basket we don't really need.

Grocery shopping might just have to be a Saturday morning thing.  Whole Foods doesn't do online ordering in our area . . . yes I shop there regularly now, although honestly I've figured out how to keep the bill the same as it was at Reasors.  We just eat less meat.  And less chips.  And our fridge is totally empty by Saturday night.

Okay I'm off to read the chapter for Bible study tomorrow.  I've come to love spending time with a room full of women on Thursday mornings.  I know craziness.

Speaking of crazy.  He's crazy.  But we love him.  He's standing without holding on to anything.  And he throws legit fits when he doesn't get his way.  Yesterday he slammed his toy into the ground when I wouldn't pick him up immediately.  At dinner today he slammed his hands into his high chair when we didn't give him food fast enough.  Yeah he has an attitude.  

The Rain Jacket

He loves his rain jacket.

Although I'm pretty sure we love him wearing it even more.  I mean come on look at those faces?!!

Also, I about died watching them in Lowes together in their matching blue rain jackets.  How cute is that?! Yes I let him crawl on the floor in Lowes . . .

I ran 8 miles yesterday and then realized I had calculated the mileage wrong and ended up over 2 miles from my car and from Ange's house where Noah was chilling so I didn't have to push the stroller.  I was not about to run another 2 miles so I called Spencer and had him come pick me up.

It's a rainy, dreary day here, but Noah has been soundly sleeping for over an hour and half and I'm researching where else to stay in Ireland and what hiking boots I should get for the trip so I really can't complain.

Oh also, I gave up chocolate for lent.  Spencer had to remind me that hot chocolate has chocolate in it.  Last year I didn't give up anything because honestly I was 7 months pregnant and felt like I had given up quite enough already to grow the babe. Mostly I am trying to give up those multiple moments in the week when Blitz has her ball stuck under furniture and Noah is crying on the floor because I shut the dishwasher and he still wanted to play and I really have to go to the bathroom but dinner is already on the stove and requires attention and all I can think is man I think I'll eat a Dove chocolate to feel better.  Instead I'm going to try to think, thank you Jesus for coming to save me from myself.  I need you more than I need Dove chocolate.  We'll see how it goes.

Perfect Winter Night

We spent the afternoon with a friend from college scheming about long term business plans while eating quinoa chicken chili and healthy banana peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.

I had already done my 7 mile half marathon training run yesterday before the icy cold wind started blowing.

Noah is now sleeping soundly after a day of barely napping.

Spencer made hot chocolate from scratch.

We just booked tickets to Ireland and are buying rain gear as we speak.  Even Noah gets a cute little blue rain jacket!

I'm researching collapsible baby beds and baby high chairs.  As in they fold up into little bags, not they collapse when your baby is in them - just thought maybe I should clarify :).

Not bad for a freezing cold, icy, and gloomy Sunday in March.

Now if I had only not started wasting my life by getting sucked into the TV show Revenge . . .

Family Planning

I really wanted to title this post kid number 2 but that just felt cruel haha.

We are not pregnant, nor do we have plans to be so any time soon.  However, it seems to be a common question people are starting to ask me (is nine months when people think your life is back to sane?! more on that later . . .).  Mostly it's just friends who are also in the kid having stage and are curious what I am thinking about time line, but then yesterday it was Noah's doctor!!  He had his nine month checkup, and everything looks great.  She said he's pretty much the perfect nine month old.  Poor kid he never had a chance at having low standards.  Then she said you guys are really good parents and you should have more kids.  And it wasn't really said in a hey that would be cool if you had more kids kind of tone it was more like no seriously you should have more kids which caught me more than a little off guard.  Honestly the first thought that went through my head was "wait does that mean you see alot of people that shouldn't have more kids?!"  After that I thought man we are awesome.  Apparently I should have labeled this post my ridiculous trains of thought.  Then I told a friend at lunch and she said I think it's partly because we are surrounded by a Christian community that teaches us the gospel and lets us parent more freely, without fear of messing up because we know our kids and ourselves as parents are safely held in our Father's hands.  Way to crush my we are awesome bubble haha.  She's right though.  It is freeing to think God loves Noah more than we ever could.

Anyway, we want more kids but the memory of not sleeping is still all too real.  That and I finally fit in my pants and feel good running again and I'm not ready to give that up yet.  Plus Rach is trying to convince me to run a half marathon.  I can't decide if I want to up the ante and turn my run a 10k New Year's resolution into a run a half marathon resolution.

Okay so honestly 9 months post baby does feel really, really nice in some ways.  Noah is so much more flexible than a new born.  He doesn't need to eat exactly every 3.5 hours.  He doesn't need to sleep exactly 2 hours at every nap to not have a melt down later (in case you can't tell from this we are baby schedule people).  He can play by himself for decent chunks of time without freaking out if I'm not 2 inches from him.  Today I worked for almost a full hour with him just crawling around the sunroom playing with toys and letting Blitz lick him and then he also decided to crawl to Blitzy's crate and take her food bowl and bang it against the crate again and again and again.  He's so hilarious.  He'll just look at me and grin as if to say look mom I'm so awesome I figured out how to make more noise!!!  He can crawl around the house and follow me from room to room while I'm putting away laundry.  Basically I can multi task again and it is amazing.  That and he giggles any time you look at him and poke his little belly which is also amazing.  And he grins all the time.

And did I mention he goes to bed at 7:45 pm? Yeah life does feel a little normal again.  Except for the part where you have a small human with you 24-7.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Today was just one of those days where you feel happy to be alive.  The sun was shining, it was almost 70 degrees out, and I got to drink two lattes and spend the day with this little guy.

After a normal morning full of topeca and napping, we went to lunch with a friend and ate some delicious queso and heard all the latest work drama.  Then it was back home for a some paper reading (aka working) and more napping for Noah.  Then I decided who needs to get groceries on Monday - instead we went to double shot, got another latte and a ridiculously expensive and delicious dark chocolate coffee bar and then headed to Guthrie Green for some fun in the sun.  Noah did his best to eat as many sticks as possible while I wasn't looking and Libby and I chatted about figuring out our lives.  After that we walked to the new Folks Urban Market downtown and bought eggs and ground turkey and mushrooms because I did need to still make dinner.  Noah played out on the porch in his exersaucer while Spencer fixed the fan and I cooked pasta.  We all three ate out on the porch and like any normal human Noah thought the pasta was way yummier than broccoli and apples he was supposed to be eating.  He was so full of giggles and smiles today and it was just extra beautiful to me. 

Tomorrow we see how fat he's gotten at his 9 month checkup!