Saturday, July 28, 2012

We REALLY Love to See the Temple

Eleanor's birthday was on a Thursday and since we couldn't get the whole family together until the weekend, Luke and I decided that we would celebrate the baby girl's day by letting her and Z hang out with Aunt Stefanie so we could go to the Redlands Temple.  Aslynn loves to go see the temple.  It was Eleanor's first time, and I think that she decided that she loves it too!

*Playing in the fountain!*


*Smile and laugh!*



*Sisters.  Luke and I make the cutest kids.*

*Aslynn and her new outfit from GiGi.*



After the hanging out at the temple for a while, Aunt Stefanie took the girls to the park.  They had LOTS of fun.  We love Stefanie!


Thursday, July 26, 2012

SeaWorld/Beach Adventure

In May, Uncle Drew and Aunt Kim came to California to visit.  We had a fun at Sea World and then at the beach! 

*Watching the sea lions perform.*


*Barbie chilling (literally, it was cold at that exhibit!) with a sleeping Eleanor and the beluga whales.*

*Family!*
*Lined up, looking at the seals and sea lions.  Please ignore Mr. Barf-Colored Shirt in the middle of us.*
*"Oooh! It barks!"*

*Our group...again!*

The following pictures and video are of Eleanor and her new BFF.  The tortoise was the highlight of Eleanor's day.




*Sorry that I am so loud and obnoxious.  I am a true mother.*


*Watching the orcas.*
*"Look Eleanor! It is Willy!"  We watch the Free Willy movies...often.  Eleanor LOVES them.  She gets super excited about whales.*

We bought a year pass, so Aslynn is excited to go back to Sea World and try and pet a dolphin. Luke and Eleanor were lucky enough to touch one, but Z and I have to go back and try again.
 
*"Girl!  You be all covered in nasty sand!  We're never going to be able to get it all out of your crevices!"*


We had fun!  We love Aunt Kim and Uncle Drew and wish we saw them more often!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Months 9, 10 11 and ONE YEAR!

Eleanor,

Baby!  You are already one year old!  How did that happen?!  I swear you were born just a couple of months ago.  Time is flying by!

Here's the Reader's Digest version of what you have been up to the past few months. 



Around nine months you started doing this lip smacking thing.  It started out as a noise you made when you were eating and then it became your "word" to tell us you were hungry.  I love that you found your own way to tell us what you wanted.      

I started doing your hair in a ponytail on the top of your head at 9 1/2 months.  Your bangs were always hanging in your eyes. You looked like Who off of a Sr. Seuss story. When your hair was taken out you looked like a rock star with a faux-hawk. Now I keep your hair in two pig-tails.


Around 9 1/2 months you started picking up the sign language that we had been working with you on for months.  You know more, please, thank you. You don't sign as much as we would like you to anymore, but you still know the signs we taught you.  This morning I taught you "milk" and you starting signing it like crazy.  You are one smart cookie! 

Nowadays you've started to just point and scream (oh, boy!  do you have a scream!) to get what you want.  You love to point.  I wish you would sign . It's more polite, don'tcha know?
 
*Who hair.*


You love to dance!  You spin a circle and wiggle back and forth.  Your dancing makes me laugh!

You wave!  We say, "Say Hi!" or "Say Bye Bye!" and you wave like a princess.  It's all in the wrist, baby!
*All the pictures and video above are from 9 to 9 1/2 months.*

You are a true girl!  You love to carry around any purse you can find.  You hook the handles in the crook of your right elbow and waltz around like a Pan Am stewardess.  


You took your first steps when Grandma Sherry and Great-Grandma Shirley were here in April.  You had been using various toys and furniture to help you walk around the house for a while so we knew it was only a matter of time.

 See your hill-billy teeth?  You didn't get your top middle teeth until you were 11 months old. 

You took your first bath in the bathtub when you were 10 months old. (You had only taken showers with me before that time.) You loved it! You don't get them very often, because showers are more convenient, but when you go get to take a bath, you never want to get out. You are a water baby.  You get down on your belly in the tub and slide around like a mermaid. You don't even care when water gets in your face.

*All the pictures above are from 10 to 10 1/2 months.*

*Happy 11 month birthday!*

Grandma Sherry and GiGi always talk about my "scream that could break glass" that I did when I was a baby.  You must be my payback because you have my scream and you aren't afraid to use it.  You hit pitches so high that my eardrums ring for a minute after you end. 
*HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  One year old!*

You are a tiny little thing. You used to be in the 90% for height but now you are in the 50%.  You have been and still are in the 10% for weight.  You must have a very high metabolism because you eat anything and you eat all the time.


You love to sit in buckets, boxes, bowls, pretty much anything that your tiny hiny can fit in. 

You love to read.  You mostly like to read by yourself.  You can look at books by yourself for a long time (a long time for a baby attention span anyway).  You bring books to me and climb into my lap and let me read you a couple pages  before you decide that I'm not reading it right and you take the book, climb off my lap and go finish it by yourself. 


You turned a year and decided to be vertically inclined.  You climb on EVERYTHING!  It drives me nuts.  You especially love the kitchen chairs.  I hate that the most because if you are going to crack your head open, it is going to be because you fell off a chair in the kitchen.  I fear for you bones. 

Your newest obsession is lotion.  You find a bottle, bring it to me and try to squirt it on your hands.  When you are unsuccessful, you ask for my help.  You think it is super funny to rub your hands together and feel the lotion squish in between your fingers.

You can follow simple instructions.  Examples: Put your bink in your bed.  Put that back on the couch.  Go get a book.  Give me kiss.  (Insert huge, wet, open mouth here.) Sit down. (Which is what you do instead of signing "please.") There are others; I just can't think of them.  You are also starting to listen to and understand us when we say, "No!" which is good because sometimes it is a matter of safety.
Your daddy and I are so proud of you!  We feel so blessed to be your parents and to watch you grow and learn.  XOXOXO

I love you, A BUSHEL AND A PECK!
Mom

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

A Marathon in Two Parts ....or A Tale of Two Half Marathons

I have a new hobby.
It's running.

Does that surprise you? It should.

Why?

Because I hate running. I have never been one for running. I played soccer when I was a kid; I was the goalie. It was the position that required the least amount of physical movement. When the ball wasn't on my team's side of the field, I sat down in the goal box. In middle school I played volleyball because it's a sport that doesn't involve running. I am not a runner.

So how did running become my new hobby?

My mother walks/shuffle-jogs half marathons. She's done quite a few actually. My mother was my inspiration. "If my mother can complete a half marathon, then bygolly so can I!"

After Eleanor was born, I was feeling a little down on myself regarding my weight. I loved (and still do) my body and I was proud of how strong and amazing it was, but I wasn't happy with the way I looked naked. I just didn't feel all that sexy anymore. I felt like a frumpy mom who didn't treat her body with the respect it deserved. When I got pregnant with Eleanor I weighed the same that I did when I was 9 months pregnant with Aslynn. My goal was to get back to the weight I was when Luke and I got married.

A few weeks after Eleanor was born, I was searching the internet and I found the RunDisney website. I called my sister in-laws up and we registered for the Inaugural Tinkerbell Half Marathon in Disneyland.

(I would reccomend running a Disney race because it is TONS of fun and totally entertaining! Here's a couple of reason's why: People dress up in costume to run. Disney characters are all along the route to take pictures with and cheer you on.)

Training began the first week in August (the race was in January), after I got the "all clear" from my doctor to start exercising. My training companions were my sister in-laws. We helped keep each other on track and pushed one another to go father/faster every time - especially when we didn't want to.  We ran outside when the weather permitted and at the gym the other times. 

Like I told you before, I am not a runner. When I first started training, I couldn't run a block without feeling like I was going to die. But I kept at it! I won't lie, I'm not a fan of running while I am actually doing it; it is the endorphins AFTER that I stop running that have turned me into a running junkie. I am addicted!

Want to know something corny? I love motivations sayings. Pinterest (click on the link to be taken to my "Gettin' in Shape" board) is a great way to find and catalog those sayings. I even printed some of them out and put them around the house so that I could see them on a daily basis.

This movie quote doubles as a funny, motivational saying:


...or their children.

Running is my "Me Time."

After months of training 4-6 times a week, I finished the Tinkerbell Half Marathon in 2 hours, 48 minutes and 58 seconds. I wanted to finish in 2:45, so I was a little disappointed, but considering where I started, my time was great!

WARNING: The following pictures aren't pretty.  They aren't supposed to be. 


*After finishing Tinkerbell*

*Our group*

You remember what I said about endorphins? Well, they also make you feel like you can do anything! As soon as I got home from Tinkerbell (that VERY night), I got on the computer and checked RunDisney and saw that the Princess Half Marathon in Disney World (held in February) was only 95% full. I called all the women in out group who participated in the Tinkerbell and begged them to go to Florida.

Disney has this thing called the Coast to Coast Challenge. If you run a race at both Disneyland and Disney World, you get a special medal. I wanted more medals. Medals make everything worth it. Bling, baby!

Nancy (who is a family friend and my running partner for the Tinkerbell race) and I ended up flying to Florida on a Friday night, registering for the race on Saturday, running on Sunday and then flying home on Monday.

I ran two half marathons in less than a month. My time for the Princess was a little better, 2 hours and 41 minutes exactly. I was shooting for 2:30. I guess, I still have some work to do!

*Glass running slipper at the Princess Expo.*

*Before Princess.*


*Shirts of a couple of guys in our corral before starting the race.*

(The Tinkerbell and Princess Half Marathons are mostly for women but a few brave men run them too; some even in full costume. 9,390 women ran Tinkerbell.  15,806 ran the Princess.) 


*After the Princess with both my medals. *

In addition to the half marathons I have also done two 5K (3.1 miles) races. The last one was just last weekend and I RAN the WHOLE thing! I have come a long way since the days when I couldn't even run a block!

Anyone can run! It won't be easy, but it's not supposed to be. You have to push yourself in order to make change happen! It is hard work and it takes a while to see results, but it is worth it.

I am so proud of myself and how I look. I worked hard for this body and these muscles. I may not be to my goal weight yet, but I am closer than I was 8 months ago!

To add more variety to my work outs, I have started lifting weights. My arms are getting some muscle definition. WOOT! WOOT!

Want to know what's next on my Race Docket? Right now it's not too full.

June -
5K Mud Run
Possibly another half marathon

~Summertime. aka: it is too stinking hot to ever run outside when you live in Southern California. No races.*

January -
Goofy Challenge in Disney World (Half marathon on Saturday, Full marathon on Sunday)
Tinkerbell Half Marathon in Disneyland

Training for the Goofy Challenge starts next week. Here's the first 17 weeks of the schedule in case you wanted to join in! (Sorry, blogger cuts part of the word "mile" off of Saturday's runs.)

Week
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
May  7
3 mile run
5 mile run
3 mile run
Cross-train
5 mile pace
8 mile
May 14
3 mile run
5 mile run
3 mile run
Cross-train
5 mile run
9 mile
May 21
3 mile run
5 mile run
3 mile run
Cross-train
5 mile pace
6 mile
May 28
3 mile run
6 mile run
3 mile run
Cross-train
6 mile pace
11 mile
June 4
3 mile run
6 mile run
3 mile run
Cross-train
6 mile run
12 mile
June 11
3 mile run
5 mile run
3 mile run
Cross-train
6 mile pace
9 mile
June 18
4 mile run
7 mile run
4 mile run
Cross-train
7 mile pace
14 mile
June 25
4 mile run
7 mile run
4 mile run
Cross-train
7 mile run
15 mile
July 2
4 mile run
8 mile run
4 mile run
Cross-train
8 mile pace
17 mile
July 9
5 mile run
8 mile run
5 mile run
Cross-train
8 mile run
18 mile
July 16
5 mile run
5 mile run
5 mile run
Cross-train
8 mile pace
13 mile
July 23
5 mile run
8 mile run
5 mile run
Cross-train
5 mile pace
20 mile
July 30
5 mile run
5 mile run
5 mile run
Cross-train
8 mile run
12 mile
August 6
5 mile run
8  mile run
5 mile run
Cross-train
5 mile run
20 mile
August 13
5 mile run
6 mile run
5 mile run
Cross-train
4 mile run
12 mile
August 20
4 mile run
5 mile run
4 mile run
Cross-train
3 mile run
8 mile
August 27
3 mile run
4 mile run
Rest
Cross-train
2 mile run
23 mile
 
This is basically a training program that I found here.*

Luke (who has never said a bad thing about my body and always thought I was sexy, just thought I would throw that in there) has been super supportive of my new, rather expensive hobby. I couldn't do it without him! Thank you, Handsome! You are my favorite!