Moving On and Settling In

We are alive and well in Dallas!  We packed up and moved in under 2 short weeks and we squeezed in a fun weekend with Chris and ALL of the fun in-laws that came to party for the weekend...and Ryan came all the way from Germany to wish us luck in Texas ;)  We spent our last weekend on the coast running our marathon in Delaware.  That needs its own post, so hopefully I get to that soon.  Here is part of our beautiful area.  There was a park and a trail to the river in our "backyard" that we visited often.  We will miss the beauty of the scenery there!

We had to make one last pit stop in Baltimore for David to check out of Ernst & Young.  The Inner Harbor didn't have rain, but my kids like their "special" umbrella.  We enjoyed the perk from EY to go see the aquarium and museums in the harbor area for free multiple times while we have been out here on the east coast.  

Then Chris, Liam, the sister missionaries, and the elder missionaries came to help us load up the truck and pack up the last few straggling items.  They were an awesome help!!!  And to finish it all off, my dear friend Annie came and helped me clean up the place.  She is a hard worker!  She is the one that convinced me that running a marathon is a good idea, so when she puts her mind to something, she will work her tail off to get it done.  She cleaned my blinds in the dark (we packed up all the lamps) and she didn't even think twice about it.  She just used a white rag and let the white rag tell if it was clean or not!  She has been so good to me!

We headed out the next morning and David dropped the kids and I off at the airport for a direct flight to Dallas.  David set out on his road trip to Texas and didn't realize that driving the truck and hauling our car would bring so much anxiety!  He is really good at thinking of the worst case scenarios and he wasn't familiar with driving that truck so he was a little stressed the whole  22 hour drive.  He was expecting a peaceful relaxing quiet time to himself but there was much more panic involved for it to be peaceful!

Rosie and Peter let us stay with them for a week while we hurried to find a place to live before we had to return our truck.  They helped us unload and get us set up and have provided some fun stuff to do here.  They have been great for our sanity's sake and Katelyn adores them and thinks they are pretty funny!

We are still settling and trying to get our new *little* apartment to feel like home.  We went from a nearly 4 bedroom town home in Pennsylvania to a 2 bedroom apartment in Dallas.  We were looking in a particular area and just weren't finding anything we loved, so we thought we would minimize and go for something simple and hopefully save up and find a perfect house to buy in a year.  I was super nervous and bitter about moving into a small space, but have come to find that it isn't so bad!  There is less space to make a mess in!  The bedrooms are spacious so there is room for the kids toys and our office and crafty stuff.  We are making the most out of this space and I don't feel as restricted as I feared we would.

We had a week to unpack and settle in with David home before he started his new job.  We are getting there.  I feel like I dumped and decluttered as we packed up and I am still dumping and decluttering as we unpack.  It is feeling great!  I have a hard time saying no to free stuff and we have been so blessed with more than we need so it has been a good time to really think about what we will need and actually make good use of.  There is more to do, but we are getting there!

We have been a 1 car family for the last 4 years and it we have made it work.  I don't mind staying home and playing with the kids.  We have lived near parks or had space to run and play outside.  I would invite friends over if I was feeling bored of the usual, but it really didn't happen too often.  I did a preschool co-op that rotated through the homes of those participating and getting up and going for the day was tough!  I like our cozy relaxed schedule with no real plans!  I don't have to have a structured morning for another year, or maybe 2 if I keep Katelyn home an extra year and I don't feel that I need to disrupt the peace of that!  I get my time outside exercising and playing with the kids or my social interaction with neighbors we became good friends with.  So most of the time I didn't mind and didn't feel like I could justify getting a 2nd car.  It didn't seem worth the expense at all.

When we moved here, we were looking for a place to live as near to his work as possible so he could run or bike to work (don't worry, there is a 24 hour gym at his office with showers and all things necessary to look and smell professional for his job) The place we picked isn't too far from work, but more than just a quick jog so David looked into bikes.  Looking into bikes turned into looking at motorized bicycles which turned into scooters and mopeds, which turned into motorcycles.  The search stopped there and went back to the scooter/moped idea and stuck!

David took a motorcycle class for a couple days and got his motorcycle license and bought himself a "manly" scooter.  So he got legal and bought a fun new toy to ride to work and he is excited. He headed off for his first day at Dr Pepper and is excited to dig in to this new job.  The first day was full of tours and getting set up and acquainted with everything there, so it wasn't anything to be too excited about.
So I am attempting to create some sort of routine for myself since the last month has been everything all thrown together and sometimes we were scrambling and sometimes we were frantic and all the leftover "sometimes" we were soaking up all that we loved in Pennsylvania and the east coast and getting our warm welcome here in Texas from David's wonderful sister, Rosie and her equally wonderful husband, Peter.  They let us join in on the company Halloween party and then on Halloween night we got to watch the Dallas Stars hockey team from the company suite with a buffet of awesome food and drinks!  So far Texas Rosie and Peter have treated us well ;)

She's 4 like Liam!

Oh blogging!  I feel constantly nagged by this blog.  I love when I write up the fun details of my life.  I love seeing my favorite fun and silly things my kids do documented so I actually remember them a week/month/year/multiple years later.  It really isn't hard to blog, I just don't.  Maybe it is hard because there is so much that I would love to put on here and every week there is at least a couple things that I would love to document and jot down here but each week that I don't blog, I get further behind.  I think the snowball effect drives the itty bit of OCD that I do have crazy.  I just want our life to stay written in chronological order!  So here goes another attempt...let's see if I still remember how this whole writing thing goes.

I will start with Katelyn!  She is our spunky little girl and she just turned 4!  It has been about 3 weeks since her birthday and she makes sure everyone knows she is "4 like Liam" as Liam is her very best cousin buddy that she has said she is going to marry multiple times....we are trying to teach her that we don't get married to our cousins, but they sure can be best friends but that just seems too silly to her! She mentions she just turned 4 to everyone from the neighbors, the running shoe store guy, the target cashier, the person next to us on the escalator, and everyone in between!  Everyone MUST know that she is 4 LIKE LIAM!  Liam is turning 5 soon and she is wondering how many sleeps until she will be 5 too.  I just need her to slow down this getting older and wiser thing she is doing so well!

For her 4th birthday we were in Texas prepping for David's sister's wedding.  Her birthday was the day before the wedding which made it a little hectic, but we still managed to celebrate this sweet girly!  We had cake and then headed out with the gang to Medieval Times.  

We were on the green team and we were checking out the horses.  Uncle Peter is awesome with kids and liked the horses as much as Katelyn did ;)

 We cheered hard for the best looking knight who was fighting for us and the princess!

 He tossed Katelyn one of his personally kissed carnations and she thought it was so special!  I thought it was slightly gross with how sweaty he was, but I let her enjoy that flower anyways!

 The next morning was her actual birthday.  We were making her much requested favorite breakfast pancake castle and she heard us and came to see us in the kitchen.  I told her to go back to sleep so we could surprise her and she did a good job faking it while we brought her the castle!

 As David brought in the 8-pile-high pancake castle, she loved it!  I love this cute face of hers!  I wish we could all look like this when we woke up!

 She loves My Little Pony stuff right now and Rachel and Sean got her the pony or unicorn named Rarity....and she came with a comb!  Katelyn loves accessories!She worked with Grandpa Ken to give Rarity a fancy hair style!

 All of the girls went and got our nails painted for the big wedding day!  She had a tough time deciding between the bright pinks and purples!  It is tough to choose!

 Rosie is an awesome aunt!  Her and Peter have no problem being silly with the kids!  We LOVED staying at their place for all the wedding fun!

 All of us girls (Amanda must be related...long lost cousin or something...the bride, Rachel, Katelyn, Rosie and I)  We really squeezed in for this picture and squeezed Katelyn out!  Whoops!

Katelyn is such a good big sister to Davy even though he can be so rotten sometimes...often times!  He really likes to pester her, take the toys she's playing with, stand in front of the TV while a movie plays just because, and other similar annoying sibling things he can think up.  She is so kind and deals with him way better than I think I would have if I were her.  She is too kind and I love that she cares about him still!  We are all hoping he takes it easy on her sometime soon.  

Katelyn is a fun mix of the girly things and giggles to the boy-ish things too.  The boy interests are probably because of Liam and he has shared his love of ninja turtles and Davy is all about cars and trains so there is plenty of that around here. She loves the show Octonauts too.

She loves lots of girly things like painted nails, anything sparkly, dresses, princesses, ponies and unicorns, make-up and hair styling, caring for her babies and stuffed animals, dancing and twirling...she was showing me how to to a hula dance the other day and it was too funny and I am kicking myself I didn't get it on video!...her ballerina moves get me giggling too!  She is so fun!  She loves loves loves a game of hide and seek and will ask people to be her friend and play it with her at the park often! "I'll count and you hide, GO!"  She is so fun and loves to play and be free! She also loves any iPad time she can squeeze out of us.  We were setting up for the reception for the wedding and she was looking bored and someone offered her a tablet and she was in heaven amidst the rest of us buzzing around getting everything prepped for the party that night.

I am kind of scrambling and frantic thinking that in a year she will possibly be heading off to Kindergarten!!!  This is not based on the mere fact that she is growing up.  I considered homeschooling, but I think I we will try out public school and I can be actively involved and we will see how it goes.  I am on the fence about the idea of keeping her home another year and then she will be older and more mature, or sending her next year right as she is turning 5.  Will she do just fine as the baby of her class? (I was a June baby so I know it is possible to be successful in school even when you are one of the younger ones) Will it make that much of a difference if she is the oldest of her class opposed to the youngest? And these age differences will last through all of her school years.  More than the age gap stuff, I wonder if she is ready maturity wise and academically.  I don't want her to be hanging on for dear life and just barely be surviving if I put her in early, and I also don't want her to be bored or annoyed with school if I wait and she goes to school in 2 years.  It is easy to think that our kids are the greatest and smartest and will be perfect, but I wonder about the reality of it.  How will it really go?  I know her reading is great as we work with her a lot with her reading, but there is WAY more than just reading and academics so I worry a bit about it all.  I also just want to relax and just play and enjoy this little princess while she is young and free and doesn't have a worry on her mind except for her worry of the green stuff I put on her plate at dinner sometimes....and those sneaky tomato/potato things that sound the same so she thinks they are both terrible!

What to do, what to do?!

So maybe I will open this up to anyone who has some wise words of wisdom as I have some teacher friends and friends and family that have kids...I know there are checklists and blogs about getting ready for kindergarten.  I have read some but still wonder.  What would you do?  What have you seen work or not work and why?

I am thrilled that I won't have to pick with Davy since he has an October birthday. I should have planned better and had all my kids in the middle to end of fall ;)

Hopefully there will be more and I will sneak in some tidbits of what we have been up to as I go along this blog so that I don't have to feel like I have to rewind my brain to what we were doing back in the day that I wanted to document.  I have been taking pictures, so I haven't just skipped over the last year or so, it just hasn't been written down.  We are done with our summer travels and missing the fun family on both sides of the family that we got to see while we hopped around from California to Washington to Texas!  If only we could gather all of our favorite people and live in one place...

Marathon Madness

I've been missing from the blog world for awhile and wanted to stop in and say hello!  The past 9 months or so have been tough here and there.  I took a big trip home to Washington at the end of the summer for my sister's beautiful wedding and it was wonderful.  I stayed and played for 6 weeks with the kids and had a good time with family and friends.  When I returned home I had to dive into real life and all the good and bad that came with being back.  It was overwhelming and I was trying to be strong and brave and focus on the good that was still a huge part of my life.  My family and friends were helpful as I knew I was loved and supported.  I felt like I was also often praying for help and confidence as I knew that hard times were coming and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to be strong enough to make it through those hard times.  I was praying for my kids, for my marriage, for my parents and siblings, for David, and for myself too.  I wanted to know if I was going to be able to do the hard things that life was dealing to me.  Everyone has their own tough times, and I felt like my tough times were flooding in and I was just barely keeping my head above water.  When I came back home, I was coming back to a sort of new place (we moved just a few months prior) where I didn't have my roots set yet and didn't have any close friends.  

Then came these two beauties along with a few other people who are now my close friends that I have so much respect and admiration for.  They moved in just before I headed out to Washington and when I got back, they pulled me in and we became quick friends....and then they asked me if I wanted to run a marathon!  I had been praying for strength and asking for help to know I could do the hard things, and I had a marathon on the way WAY bottom of my bucket list for some time so I jumped in and went for it!

Before I had met them, I would go running once or twice a week or play soccer with a group of guys here and there.  The most I had ever ran was 4 miles, and that was really far in my mind.  

I started really training in for my first marathon in October of last year and would run two times during the week for a short distance (3-7 miles) and then on Saturdays I would build up to my long runs.  I would add a mile each Saturday starting with 7 the first time, then the next week I ran 8, then 9 and so on. It was tough each Saturday as that was a new distance record for me each week I added a mile.  It was a beautiful time of year to be out running.  I ran by a few of these bulls around town.  They are all painted differently but I have no idea what the meaning behind them is.   

I ran all around and up and down the Harrisburg area and I was always so fascinated with the river.  It got so cold and froze this last winter and watching it slowly go from slush to 5 foot icebergs was to neat to me.  It has now all melted if you were wondering.  

I ran a 10k (6.2 miles) for a Thanksgiving day turkey trot and by then I had already been running 12 or so miles on my long runs, so I was excited to try and run it as fast as I could and was thrilled that I ran it in 54 minutes!  My first 6 mile run in October that nearly killed me because I was so out of shape was more than 15 minutes more than that, so in just a month of training I was seeing a ton of progress.  It was neat that I was getting stronger and faster!

This run was so so cold and I had a tough time warming up after I was done.  I signed up Katelyn for the kids run and she didn't do it because I was worried it would be too cold for her.  She got a shirt anyways and runs around the house in it as she exercises.  I hope she finds exercising fun and enjoyable!

Once I got into Christmas time, I had a hard time staying with it and started sleeping in too many times and one Saturday I completely skipped my long run....so then I signed up for the marathon.  I thought that if I paid the money to do it, I better not miss any more runs and at least make it worth my money!

I did seem to make my way through the different town parades through December.  The sidewalks were always packed with people watching the parade, so I just ran on the street!  I should have brought candy to throw or worn a Santa hat or something to look a little more festive. One time I even caught a sucker and enjoyed that while I ran!  

I am glad I paid my money before Christmas, because when January came, the snow storms and sub 0 temperatures rolled in and I proved to myself how dedicated I was and got out in the snow to run.  The sun started setting earlier and earlier and it was so cold!  I ran with friends a few times and that was always nice to have company, but I realized that I really like running by myself.  I still liked my friends, and they helped me get out in the cold sometimes when I wasn't going to but I didn't like the pacing part of running with people.  I didn't like feeling like I was holding them back from going faster, or that I was going to fast (rarely) or that if I wanted to walk that they would be annoyed.  They never did care, but I had a mental battle every time I ran with people and the pace matching game makes me a little crazy!

I joined a gym so that I would have no excuse about running in the snow, but then sometimes it snowed so much that they even closed the gym! I still stuck to my training schedule for the most part though.  I ran about twice a week at the gym or outside if it wasn't icy or frigid, and then on Saturdays I would try my best to be brave and run no matter what the weather was like to get my long runs in.

I trained and trained and even made it on the news!  The video is archived now and wasn't all that impressive.  It showed me getting beat by my friend as we finished our run in the snow.  And then it showed me standing and just smiling next to my two friends for a second or maybe two seconds if we round up.  We were just emphasizing that we know we were crazy for running in the snowy conditions!

I trained and trained some more and then it came to race day.  The most I had done was one really good 19 mile run, one miserable 20 mile run (on top of packed snow), and two tough 18 mile runs.  I was nervous about how the race was going to be, but I was pretty confident that as long as it didn't snow, I would be alright!

The race started at 7:30 and the sun was just rising and it was a warm 45 degrees!  Perfect for race day!!!  The three of us set off and I was very clear that I did not want them to run with me.  I knew they were faster than me and I knew that I don't like running with people and trying to pace at their pace.  I just wanted to run my own race...so they let me!

The first half I felt really great!  I probably started a little faster than I should have, but I was sort of optimistic that the energy of the race would help me to keep up that pace.  

The second half of the race was definitely tougher.  More hills and less energy.  There were rolling hills that seemed huge, but were probably not really that bad, but after running 20 miles ANY hill is twice the size ;)  This was a Rock 'n Roll Marathon and they advertise that there will be bands every other mile and cheerleader squads throughout the course too.  The bands were all volunteer and their music was too loud and not that great.  My favorite entertainment along the course was the two homes that played music from their porch and had a dance party in their front yard while they cheered everyone on!

I kept plugging away and the miles kept on passing by!  I had a mental battle in my head of "Awesome, I am at 20 miles, only 6 left!" and then not more than 5 seconds later, "Oh no, I still have 6 miles left! ugh!" and it went back and forth at every mile marker.  People always ask if I ever hit "THE WALL"...the dreaded wall.  I want to say no, but I think I have to say yes.  From the start, I told myself that I was going to walk at every water stop...there was a water/gatorade stop every 1 1/2-2 miles.  So I walked each of those partially for a break, mostly for the reason that I can't run and drink without a sloshing mess!  I also told myself that I was going to walk the uphills.  I didn't realize how many there would be and I didn't specify in my mind what  steepness counted as an acceptable uphill, so on some of the "flatter" hills I would run up half of it and then get my walking break the second half and then take off again for the downhill.  I probably walked more than I thought I would. So maybe you could say I hit "THE WALL" like 20 times with all the drink stops and uphills :)  But I sort of planned for these so I could have some breaks to look forward to along the way.  I never had any moments where I felt like I just couldn't go on, I always felt recharged and ready to run after my walking breaks that were probably about 20 yards.

It felt as good as it can feel physically.  I was worn out.  I put all that I had into this race, and was very ready to be done.  It was great to cross the finish line...a much welcomed sight!  I did it!

I earned my chunky medal and my foil superhero cape...and best of all, I got my chocolate milk at the finish!  That is my favorite post-run thing and I am so glad they didn't run out!  

Now that it is over and I am no longer achy or sore, I am actually planning for my next one!  I wasn't sure if I wanted to do another, but then David got a little whiff of the incredible awesomeness that was coming from my shoes ;)... or something... and decided he didn't want to be outdone by his wife.  All this running talk over the past 5 months has rubbed off on him and he has caught on to the running bug!  We are going to do one in October and I am not going to let him give up on this...or let him beat me!  This next race is supposed to be considered a "fast and flat" course so I am hoping to cut a big chunk of my time off too!  I am also going to have to hire a better cheering squad ;)  I beat my own fans to the finish line...except for my two friends who finished the race ahead of me.  We celebrated with a big juicy hamburger and ice cream at the Shake Shack.  Besides my chocolate milk, a burger and ice cream was my second request!

I have learned my lesson and I have proved to myself that I really CAN do the hard things!  I didn't qualify for Boston (my time was about 4:40) and I didn't win first place, but I did something that was physically and mentally tough!  I surprised myself how dedicated I was getting up during the week to go to the gym or run outside before the day started at 5 AM, and ran in terrible weather because I needed to get in my long runs to stick with my training plan.  I got healthier in so many ways...I cared about how much sleep I was getting so I was sleeping more, I could tell when I was eating well and fueling my body with good food, and I tuned in to my body and my water intake (I used to only drink during meal times) and I had to manage my time well and make good use of my running opportunities even if they were only at 5 AM...and I even ran off 10 pounds of my jiggles!  I did it and I proved to myself that I am strong and I can handle the hard things.  This process has been a wonderful time of self reflection...and running over 300 miles or so  means there is a LOT of time to think about a lot of things.

I feel stronger.  I feel more confident.  And I am proud! 

9 Months In, 9 Months Out

9 months plus a few days Davy was cooking ini my belly, and now a few days past his 9 months out of the belly date and we are right on track!

His eyes are shaped like mine!  That's all I can confidently claim so far, but it is more than I can with Katelyn!

Davy is growing and growing!  We are loving this little big guy to bits!  He is the most content baby in the world.  He will just sit and be happily entertaining himself often or just people watch.  For example, I went to get my haircut as I was running around town doing this and that and I realized he fell asleep so I thought it would be fine if slipped in and got a quick chop before he woke up.  The second I sat down, he woke up.  I thought, "Great, this isn't going to happen.  He's tired, and I can't hold a squirmy baby while getting my haircut."  But he just sat in his car seat and watched the whole hair cut and style!  He was an angel!  He does this often and will happily sit back and enjoy the view.

He is a late-ish bloomer probably because he is so chill.  I am not worried he is too slow with things, but he definitely isn't seeking any awards for being the first to hit the milestones.  With all of the milestone events of a baby's first year, he has tended to show no interest.  He didn't roll over very early on as most times when I would lay him down to practice he would just lay there and look around.  Sometimes he would cry but he would just give a helpless cry and lay his head down like it was just too hard.  It was very pathetic in the cutest way possible.  He did roll over a few times here and there, but it wasn't a constant thing.  Whenever I would try to show David he really could roll over, he would just smile and was happy to have both of us paying such close attention to him and didn't care to roll over and show off any of his tricks!

Blowing raspberries is a slobbery mess!

He is about to start crawling any second now.  He is so stinkin' close that it is so frustrating to him.  He gets up on all fours and rocks and wiggles that chubby...meaning solid of course ;)...body of his as he stares down his toy of choice, but all those wiggles and rocking doesn't make it happen.  He does a lot of push ups and will walk with his arms backwards, but that is frustrating to him because he really  wants to go forward!  

He gets a kick out of playing peek-a-boo and it is Katelyn's favorite thing to do with him.

He moves around with a combination of rolling over, scooting while he sits, backing up in push up position, pulling himself up to stand (just for a second or two...any longer and its as if he's scared and his legs get shaky!) and has now figured out how to get from laying down to sitting up. 

I feed him all sorts of mixes of baby foods that seem like they would be pretty terrible...like carrots, blueberries, spinach, sweet potato and chicken, or we have done pears, cauliflower, peas, strawberry, and squash...but he doesn't seem to mind and will gobble them up.  Some are just too far out there for him and he will full on gag and refuse to eat it, but adding a mashed up banana or some cinnamon always fixes those ones!  He has had a couple tastes of my ice cream and Rita's Italian ice and was annoyed he only got a couple licks!  

He used to be a wonderful sleeper...I miss those days.  Once he hit 5 months he got a cold nearly each month that stuffed him up and made his sleep patterns disappear and he though snuggles from mom at night were pretty nice!  So all of you that were jealous of my sweet sleeping baby don't need to be jealous anymore!  I am not a zombie most days though and seem to be able to function off of interrupted sleep.  The hard nights are when he decides that 3 a.m. is when he wants to try out his plethora of tricks in his crib but keeps cornering himself!  He gets very irritated like I put him in his crib so he'd be trapped in there or something ;)  

He is such a happy guy and we love how he lights up when we enter a room.  It is great on our self-esteem!  Imagine having someone celebrate your presence with claps, giggles, shrieks of joy, and a giant toothless grin.  Pure joy and excitement!

He is still our heavy man...he is right around the 80% range for weight and 90% for height, though I don't remember how tall he was.  I could go measure him, but I think everyone will be okay if I don't.  If you really have to know, come visit me and measure him yourself...I will even let you use my tape measure :)

9 months-20 pounds 10 ounces

6 months-18 pounds 1 ounce

4 months-16 pounds 14 ounces

1 month-11 pounds 8 ounces

Newborn-9 pounds 10 ounces

He is a chunk but not an overflowing chub chunk...well most of his squishiness stays in place!  

He loves those two fingers and those are his pacifier when he is bored or sad.

He is loving to clap lately and it started with either playing "Pat-a-cake" or from learning to sign "more" but he loves the attention he gets when he claps so he does it all the time. 

We sure do love this sweet boy and he loves us and shows it with his mighty hugs and attacking kisses.  He gets so excited when we get close enough for him to hug and he even pats my back like I do to his.  I love the tight squeeze he gives with his squishy arms around my neck.  It makes the night time wake up calls a whole lot better!

I Can't Stop Giggling

Long ago, katelyn decided she could dress herself and she needed a lot of help when she was starting this new independence phase as a 1 year old. Now she has learned that the tags go in the back and she doesn't need much coaching. We were headed to the pool yesterday and I asked her to get her suit on. She put it on all other own and returned confused and uncomfortable. 

Her backwards suit had me laughing and all I could think to do was grab a camera! I am such a good mom. She was constantly picking the never ending wedgie and her tan lines and belly hole were too funny. She's a silly girl and by her confusion, I know she didn't do it on purpose! Who knew there was a front AND a back to this suit?!