One Year Ago

A few minutes old :) 

one month! Nov 08

2 months old Dec. 08

3 months old February 09

4 months old 

5 months March 09

6 months April 09

7 months May 09

8 months June 09

9 months July 09

10 Months old (Sept. 09)

11 Months Oct 1 09

ONE YEAR OLD! 10/30/09

One year. WOW. Wow. wow. wow. People say it goes fast, but I was unprepared for this. Unprepared for how quickly the "firsts" go by, how quickly it all changes. Change is good! I embrace it, and know I have many more firsts and many more memories to be cherished. I adore Danika and love who she is turning into ... but WOW. Where did my teeny tiny shoulder snuggler go? 

All day, Nate and I reminisced over the details of her birth and how vividly we recall them. I wonder. WIll it still be as clear in a year? 5? 10? I wonder. I hope. It was the best day of my life! How sad to forget that. I will not, though, forget the first time I saw her. How beautiful she was, how her little voice squeeked when she cried, and her little lower lip stuck out when she was wimpering. How perfect her little fingernails were and every other little detail was, too. If there was ever a doubt in my mind that God exists, it was squashed in that very moment. It is no "coincidence" that created something so perfect. 

What did we do to celebrate? We had to fantastic parties this month! But today, I needed to be distracted from the tears and the sad feelings I have. SO! We went to Boo at the Zoo! IT was fun- a bit crowded, but still fun to spend that time with my little family. I made eggplant parmesan, pasta and fresh veggies for dinner, and then video taped Danika being sang to as a bowl of mint chip icecream awaited her. Haagen Daaz. Gotta go for the best. And she LOVED it. We captured on video a very loud "MMMMMMM!" :) Love that :) 

Nate thinks I'm silly for being emotional. My mom probably does, too :) And that's okay. I've always been more emotional than most. I cant help it. It makes me sad that my little chub doesn't grab her feet anymore, and doesn't laugh at a panting dog. I can sit a bowl of food on her tray and walk away as she feeds herself. She's independent and stubborn, and has quite the little attitude sometimes! She knows what she wants, and by God she WILL get it. I wonder who she got that from? Hmmm. Not from someone who ran a marathon just because someone once told her she couldn't. Nah. 

Danika is one. I have to accept that and love that. We "do lunch" now ... sharing a bowl of Noodles & Co. mac and cheese as a special treat once a month ... and oogle over cute outfits at Gymboree. Yes, I have taught her how to say "OOOOOH!" I swear she even said "That's cute!" once or twice. I can't wait to paint her toenails, and buy her lipgloss (chapstick), and TEACH HER HOW TO CLEAN UP AFTER HERSELF. Many things to look forward to:) BUt for now, when I start thinking about the bittersweetness of the moment, I remember how tiny she looks in her high chair or changing table and take it all in, so hopefully I CAN remember in 10 years. 

Stuck Inside

A picture of our winter wonderland. 20 inches and counting!

My dog. He's a lover! His favorite place - on the couch, his head on my shoulder when I sit on the floor in front of him. Such a sweet old guy :) 

We have the best dog and Danika just loves him. He lets her do WHATEVER and just takes it. 

Danika's homemade halloween costume - a woodland fairy! 

Danika and Momma Cheering for the Packers. We're silly! 

As you well know, Danika and I have both been sick ... swine flu, regular flu, cold, contagious ear infection (! right !) ... whatever. We've been sick since Friday, which means we have literally not left our house AT ALL for a week now. OMG. The first five days was by choice/need as to not expose her to other yuckies or infect others. The last two days as we both are at about 95%? 

SNOW. Lots and lots and lots of SNOW. Don't get me wrong, I love SNOW and it has been absolutely fascinating watching it build and accumulate and turn the world a peaceful white. But WOW. I think we're at 21 inches now in my little area of town. Ridiculous! With ALL this time on my hands I've decided to think positively and create a list of reasons why this has been good for us ...

1. I don't have to shower. Or blow dry. Or curl. Or apply make up. Or even change my clothes. Because no other person is going out there either and Danika doesn't care. 

2. With that being said, with ever nap Danika takes, I AM in the shower, just to warm up and change things up a bit. How often do you have an excuse to take 4 (long) showers a day?

3. Yoga pants and tee shirts. Nuff said. 

4. My dad's secret recipe for Russian Tea. I've been through a HUGE pot in 2 days. 

5. Comfort Foods ... macaroni and cheese (homemade, of course), Chili, muffins, COOKIES!!!

6. I have learned how to become extremely creative in entertaining a one year old for days on end. 

7. Banjo is catching up on much needed attention and love

8. I have not been able to go shopping. Therefore I have saved lots and lots of money that I would have otherwise spent on crap and gas to get the crap. 

9. I have finally caught up on all my emails. ANd I have updated facebook about 27 times. 

10. And this makes, what, post number 4 in the last 2 days? You lucky people. 

My Family

I cannot tell you how much I love those two. 

Mommy Dating

Sounds great, doesn't it? It's not. It's not great at all. 

In this world of motherhood it sure would be nice to have other mommy friends who get the adventures and struggles of mommyhood. After you have your first baby, APPARENTLY, your other child free friends decide you might be contagious and forget about you. Of course there are some phone calls, facebook comments and an occasional email, but dinner and drinks? Forget about it. 

I never in a million years thought I would be DYING for a "moms night out". Oh how tacky that sounds. But nonetheless I am. SO I joined an online meetup group. And I keep making myself go to these EFFING meet ups. But you know what happens? I stand in the corner and shove my face full of brownies while Danika stands below me whining for her share. And occasionally someone comes over and says hello, but it's precisely at that moment that Danika decides to take off towards the open door or under someones foot, thus I have to run away from that well meaning mommy. 

Nate once called this mommy dating, as did a friend of ours, Ashley. It's like dating again, but not for the intention of finding your one true love, but for finding another mommy friend who puts up with your kid's annoyances and whose kids annoyances are also somewhat tolerable. I've been to parks, meet up groups, playdates, church functions, and the list goes on. And you know how many mommyfriends I've gotten? MMMMM, a few that I talk to regularly, but none that compare to past friendships. 

And you know what's interesting? WHen those now childfree former friends finally do have a kid guess what they'll be doing? Mommydating. And guess who they'll come mommydating to? Me. Because I am the only one who does not seem to be able to get a single date. WHich interestingly enough, was the same way I was when I wanted a boyfriend. Hmmm. 

Guilt

One of the parts I dislike the most about myself, minus the small chest area, is that I find a way to blame myself for EVERYTHING. Nate and I have a fight? My fault, I shouldn't be so sensitive. A kid (when I was teaching) got a poor score? I should have taught him better. A plane crashed into the pentagon? My fault. I had a dream of that exact event three weeks prior and didn't tell anyone. There is a reason for everything, and most often times I try to put that on myself and carry the world. SOme people might call that self absorbed or selfish, but I'd like to think of it as selfless and humbling :) 

So, Danika gets sick this weekend? What's the first thing I do? You guessed it. I blamed myself :) I took her to the mall too many times and let her play in the filthy play area, I took her to the gym daycare, I left her in the walkers room at church last sunday. She's been in every shopping cart in every store at least twice in the last month as we prepared for her parties. It had to be me!  I did that to her. I know in reality kids get sick, and in a way its good for their little immune systems. But really? I Had no idea how hard it would be to watch my little munchkin be so miserable. As they shoved sixteen sticks or swabs up her nose, in her mouth and ears on Saturday, I cried. I hated it. 

You know what frustrates me the most about being a mom? Everybody's input. Everybody has to put in their two cents and usually its about everything I'm doing wrong. UUUUUUUH! Shut up! Honestly, I don't care what you have to say because she's my daughter, not anyone elses! (except Nate). Shes sick? Everyone tells me what's wrong, what I should or shouldn't do, that I'm doing it wrong, or am exaggerating. Hate that! 

SHe's better now. For the most part. Love that! But we're missing most of our halloween activiities this week until she's 100%. I can't give myself another reason to feel bad if she gets sick again! 

Who knew...

A Saturday could be so UNrelaxing? Holy Cow! I'm not writing to get sympathy or anything else, just to vent. Because that's what I do. Especially if chocolate or coffee (pumpkin spice lattes) are not available.

I was so excited for today! We were going to take Danika to the mall for her first Halloween little shindig. I stayed up til about 1am finishing her costume (see above picture), which turned out so cute! I was so excited when I went to bed last night. 

SOME people say that a mother's instinct is a load of bull. Well. Sorry. Not true. In my opinion. When I woke up this morning and heard Danika's cough, my heart sunk to the bottom of my chest and I started crying. Nate, again, thought I was crazy. I swore up and down, "I KNOW she has swine flu!". He basically brushed it off like most people do - and that's okay! SOMETIMES I'm a little overdramatic :) 

The day went on and I just couldnt figure out why, but something told me not to go to the mall. I think it was this little gut feeling that said "cough - not well enough to handle a crowd of kids". There, of course, were other things that went on, but in the end we stayed home. Nate went to work on his papers, and I entertained Danika. I noticed as the day went on, she got warmer and a little fussier. Around 230 I put her down for her SECOND nap! WHat's going on people! SHe never takes two naps, especially when the first one was 2 hours long! 

I went in to check on her, oooooh, about 16 times in that first hour. SHe was still breathing :) But she was looking a little pale and was super hot. Eventually she woke up when I was in there hovering over her, my hand on her back making sure her chest was rising up and down. I pulled her into bed with me and she laid cuddled up next to me and kept sleeping. WHAT?! I admit, I loved it, but it also worried me. 

I took her temp ... woah! 100.5 yowzas! that's hot for my little normally 95 degree girl. I called our on call doc, and she urged me to go to urgent care. Nate and I took her in ... I must say, every time I meet another doctor, I'm more and more grateful for my own. What an awful man. But ... the H1n1 test came back negative, but apparently they're 70% ineffective? Hmmmm. So he prescribed her tamiflu and off we went. 

Let me tell you. Mama Bear Ari went into effect. I went to FOUR pharmacies. Three were closed. One told me "Um, we close in 7 minutes. We dont have time for you." EXCUSE ME!? OOOOOOh. I was ticked. More than ticked. I kinda flew off the handle. Tears were flying, as well as some not so nice kinds of words. I know, it obviously didnt get me anywhere, and being rude is just bleh ... but sometimes. People deserve it. 

It has been 4 hours since we left the urgent care and guess what? Still no tamiflu. Remember that nice ol' doc we had just seen? He wrote the rX but not the authorization for the ONE freaking pharmacy still open to make it. And he's not answering his pages. ASS. I hate that word, but sometimes. He deserves it. Nate's waiting for her medicine like a good husband and daddy. And he's bringing me popsicles. 

Because I'm starting to get a cough now, too. 

Milestones

Well. So much for that last blog series. I made it halfway. Give me some credit ;p

I made it through Danika's first birthday parties. I have not yet made it through her actual birthday, though. We will see how that one goes. I'm already teary eyed! Its amazing to think of where I was a year ago ... my little ol' belly, sore back, and the numerous books I read that could never, ever prepare someone for the actual event of giving birth. Her birthday being on Halloween, it will hopefully be easy enough to keep the day busy and my mind off her turning one. 

S I was thinking the other day of all the special moments I've had with her. A few stick out in my mind the most ... December 28, she smiled at me when I picked her up off the changing table. Oh how my heart melted into a pile of mush. It never really picked itself back up. Shes got me! March 28 she rolled over (I can't remember which way). Yep. I got to see it AND i caught it on video. The look of suprise was priceless. Shortly after that Nate calls me at work and plays a video of her laughing hysterically in the bathtub as he squirted her with bath toys. It was music to my ears! There is nothing sweeter than the sound of her laugh. I will do ANYTHING to hear it as often as I can. July 1, she crawled! She had been rocking back and forth on her hands and knees for weeks and one morning! She decided she knew what she was doing and zoom zoom zoom she went! She was so proud of herself ... my goofy girl and her independence. Finally, in September she started standing all by herself. I walked into the home of our playgroup host, and set her feet on the ground, expecting to hear the normal "plop" as her diaper hiney hits the floor ... BUT I DIDNT! I looked down surprised to see her standing there looking around as though it was a whole new world! 

I'm thinking back on this stuff for many reasons. I absolutely love the little girl she's turning into - so funny, content, stubborn, independent, and the list goes on. But I will miss so much the feet grabbing, the innocent laughter at a panting dog, the fat rolls in her little legs, the squishiness of her cheeks, and the slobbery kisses. Tonight she made her first real attempt at communicating her needs to me with sign language. I was reading her favorite book (touch and feel "day at the zoo") and put it on the floor. She picked it up, handed it to me and signed "more!" Oh how my already melted heart dissolved even more. It was a pretty special moment knowing we had "talked". She's signed water, duck, fan, light, and milk but none of them really meant much other than she knew what those objects were. 

Nate's telling me to stop crying and enjoy the fact that she can walk soon so he can teach her to throw a football. So I guess I have to stop writing about it. For now :) Many more memories shared to come in the next few weeks! 

A side note

I feel guilty sometimes how busy we are. I feel like we're constantly going going going. But it also feels all justified, as though there is a VERY good reason to do everything we do. Plus, it drives me NUTS to be in this teeny tiny apartment all stinking day. Soon enough, though ... the winter days will take over and I will be too scared to get on the roads. Any fun ideas I can start preparing for while were stuck inside?? Please share! 

On another note. Why is it that people (especially the old ones) have the inability to keep their grimy hands off my kid? I mean, really. I know they have good intentions (they better have good intentions), but EWWWWWW. Hello! Swine flu! My sweet baby has made it almost a full year without anyhting more than a sniffle for a few days. I'm kinda proud of that. But I'm realizing that I have to start being more direct and almost rude, because thats what it takes nowadays. People dont seem to hear or listen to nice anymore. 

That is all. 

Whirlwind Wednesday

SOrry I dont have any entertaining pictures to share. Yet. :) 

WHew! Whirlwind Wednesday is OVER. I love it but it also drives me nuts how busy Wednesdays are. My poor Banjo dog gets left to his lonesome and usually resorts to destroying the entire diaper pail. Eck. Love that guy. 

Danika, Danika, Danika. What a girl! SHe slept in til EIGHT! I love it. I got a shower (check), brushed my teeth (check ... kira!), blow dried my hair, took the dog out AND got her breakfast ready before she was out of bed! Look at me! I'm so good. We did our morning routine, and whirled out the door, ready for the day ahead. 

We have a playgroup from church every Wednesday at nine. What a neato frito group of ladies - all different ages, but all kinda in the same general area of life. And for once, thanks to Danika's desire to sleep this morning, I was the best looking one! Yes! (Check). 

I would also like to share that after playgroup we zinged right over to sprouts for double coupon day. LOVE THAT STORE!!!!! I have to tell you I spent less than 5 dollars and I got 9 pounds of organic apples, bananas and a bottle of peach green tea to perk me up. Am I good or what? One of the many reasons Nate married me (that would be my incredible thriftiness). 

Then we headed over to one of my favorite places EVER ... Boulder, for her sign language class. Let me tell you. What an awesome time. It is so neat to see Dani interacting with other kiddos, even though that "interacting" may just be grabbing a toy from them (or vice versa. my kid doesn't do that!) or knocking them over (again... not my kid). When we sing our songs as we sign, the little bitties start doing it along with us! HOW FUN!!!! We both have a blast. ANd I have the cutest baby in there. I do. 

In the afternoon, we went to the mall to take advantage of a really awesome sale at Gymboree. Another favorite place! Maybe I should just write a blog listinga ll my favorite places. Anyway, I decided to relax a bit and walk around. Something about the mall is just ... soothing. Ahhhh. 

Relax time was over, so we headed home for a nap. A short nap, surprise surprise. Then! We ran to the post office and to Hobby Lobby ... details later! 

After dinner, it appeared as though that sweet girl of mine MIGHT be getting tired. And she was. So I put her to bed. But apparently she thought it was just an extended nap. So we played some more and more and freaking more. Love that girl, but really? A break would be nice occasionally! Eventually she went to bed AND I FINALLY got to start making her tutu skirt for her party. 

Catching UP!

Sorry folks! I couldn't finish Monday's post yesterday BECAUSE ...  I was electrocuted. Seriously, I was. My power cord to my mac has been doing funny things, but yesterday! I was plugging it in and out of the outlet came a big ZAP and yowzas! I was on the floor, dizzy as a dugout. What? Yep. good thing Danika was in her high chair. The good thing that came out of that? After several weeks of being stubborn, I finally hopped on the treadmill and ran 3 miles, no issue! LOVE that! Maybe I just need a little electricity in my life to get moving. Forget coffee. 

So, Dani woke me up at 7 again this morning. Quite early, if you ask me, after a FREAKING 2am wake up just "to play." My lovely daughter. She had a blast, I had very irritated feelings. Well, we lolligagged, ate breakfast, read books, played on the floor. Until I looked up and saw on the microwave... 8:29! YAAAAAH! What?! An hour and a half goes by much quicker when you're not looking at the clock. 

Why is that important? Um, because. I was supposed to be out of the house by 845. Remember that green chili frittata? Yep. people were waiting on that. Forget the shower, or even clean clothes. I brushed my teeth, slapped a hankercheif on my head, a clean diaper on her and out the door we went. We had to turn around 4 minutes later for the frittata. Dang it. 

We both enjoyed our time at MOPS. there was a great speaker lady. She talked about something. Rest, I think. Hmmm. Those inspirational talkers must do it for themselvs because there just really isnt any practicality in them. Dani was SO tired after MOPS, so I made her eat lunch so she would hopefully take a long nap. She did. 27 minutes. YEEEEEES! 

I finally got that shower and blow dried hair! Check! Check! Two things off the list! Off we went again - to the mall. To replace that daggon power cord. There was a gay guy who helped me - super nice! Super intuitive. Before I left, he says "There ya go! Check that off your to do list!" I replied "You can tell I have a to do list?" He gives me a pitiful look ... "Oh honey. Absolutely. You look a little stressed." Yikes. I had to purchase a pumpkin spice latte to combat that stressed out look. 

We head home, stopping at the post office. Dani had a snack before her hopefully next long nap ... 18 minutes! I'm on a roll! During that time I managed to plan my private childbirth class agenda for tonight. I heated up that leftover macaroni and cheese? Only to hear Danika crying, which continued until I let her eat nearly my entire bowl of macaroni and cheese. So much for dinner. 

Daddy walked in just in time to hear Danika's new trick. Before I share ... I am a LADY and rarely do this. But I farted. And Danika's respones to that? She blows raspberries. Yep, she now imitates farts. My daughter, folks. Love it. 

I headed off to my childbirth class and left my farting through her mouth daughter in the hands of Nate. Who I'm sure taught her how to fart through her nose. 

Danika's Week - Monday!

So, a long time ago, I had the idea of documenting a week in the life of a stay at home mommy of Danika! I figured now is as good of a time as ever, so why not? 

Monday morning. 

7:08 am : Nate leaves for work, Ari is snuggled down next to Banjo in her fabulous down comforter. Danika is heard singing in her crib. 

7:10 am: Danika is now talking to her cabbage patch doll, as witnessed by Ari on the video monitor. 

7:22 am : Ari finally drags herself out of bed to shoosh the screaming baby. 

7:30 am: Danika is greeted by Poppy on the computer screen (ichat) obnoxiously waking Danika up with "Kiss the baby!"Danika stares blankly at Poppy, then proceeds to giggly profusely at Oma when she starts singing "A says 'ah' for apple, B says 'buh' for balloon..." 

All the while, Danika is furiously shoving blueberry waffle and banana flavored yobaby in her face. 

8:00 am: Recovery from ichat. Danika and Ari read several books together (her favorite : touch and feel zoo books) Ari facebooks about how much she loves Danika, and Danika sings as she cruises around the living room, picking up and throwing down every single toy. 

9:30 am: Break time! Danika naps, Ari grabs a quick shower and breakfast. 

It is now 10:15, Ari is blogging instead of folding the massive pile of laundry awaiting her :) I will add pictures later (not of the laundry, but of Danika's Monday). 

Dani woke up around 1045, and we enjoyed a nice lunch together. Ari had... you guessed it! A caprese salad. And then! We were off! To Wal Mart and Michaels for birthday party supplies. We made it home just in time to run to the gym ... Dani played with her buddies in daycare and Ari had a nice 3 mile jog. Love it! 

We got home and made dinner together. Well, really, Ari made dinner (homemade mac and cheese, and then fried apples and sweet potatoes, and corn) and Danika enjoyed a short baby enstein video followed by some whining until she got fed. 

THEN! The best part. Daddy came home! That would be Nate. I love watching them play together. She giggles endlessly as he throws her into the air and tickles her with his nose. SUch a good dad! He bathes her and puts her to bed .... while Ari continues .... BAKING! AH! What?

Yep. Ari finally got around to making that green chile frittata ... um, delicious! It turned out great. I took a picture. No one believes me when I make good food. While the frittata was in the oven, I made pie crust dough and pumpkin pie filling. But that did not turn out so good. Well, let me rephrase. The cream cheese did not turn out so good. BUT that's okay! I'll tell you why in a minute. So ... my pumpkin cookie cutter was a bit big, so I could only fit 6 mini punkin pies into my minimuffin pan for each (the first) batch. GOOD THING. Because here's why. When I added cream cheese to the filling, it wasn't soft enough so it looked like dandruff in my pumpkin pie filling. APpetizing, eh? Eh. WEll, I figured "Well, the oven is hot, so it will melt!" Wrong. It looked like baked dandruff in pumkin pies. 

Here's the good part .... I figured, EH Castle is on soon I might as well clean up and try again in a few days. I cleaned up the whole kitchen! AND THEN as I was putting my dandruff laden pumpkin pie filling in the freezer ... yep, I pulled an Ari. It dropped and splattered everywhere. THAT, my friends, is why I have a dog :) 

So, I have to try again. And I ate those 6 pumpkin pie bites sprinkled with cream cheese dandruff so no one else would have to. 

I ended my hectic day snuggled up with my Nato watching his hotness himself, Mr. Castle :) 

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And so it begins, folks, so it begins. The countdown (5 days and a wakeup!) until the madness of Danika's second first birthday party! I can't wait! As much as I complain and stress, I love every minute of it. 

So, what's on the agenda today? Hmmmmm. I'm thinking we'll make our pumpkin pretzels, and possibly her pumpkin birthday crown. 

Her buddy, Braiden has his first birthday party the day after (Sunday), so we're also in the process of making his present, too! Danika got him a book (THat's not my monster!) - super super cute! And we picked up a few monster handpuppets and bath squeezies from the dollar bin at Target. NOW! I just have to find some time to sew him the monster from his new book. 

As you will see tomorrow, we have MOPS every other tuesday. It is my groups' week to make breakfast for 75 ladies. I am going to try my hand at a vegetarian eggg casserole. I'm making apples and fruit dip as a backup. because I. am. not. a. cook. AND! gala apples are three pounds for a buck at sprouts. which means there will be lots of apples at Danika's party. 

Why do I do it?

the very hungry caterpillar party

what I think of this hat

it's so much better with my eyes closed

the birthday girl and her fancy bib from Oma 

how old are you dani? (I'm 1!) Her fancy eric carle birthday outfit

the very hungry caterpillar cake

the Banks kids at Ben/Andrea's wedding. these are my people.

When I married Nate, I was so excited to plan the wedding, sort out all the minor details no one but me would notice, and have in my eyes, the perfect wedding. As the day got closer, I realized how ridiculous it was that I was stressing over the perfect shade of green for the marbles in my fish vases. Really? Really. Has a single person confronted me over the choice of jade green marbles in my centerpiece. Not one. I was actually quite jealous of my sister Victoria's wedding, as it was so low key and enjoyable for everyone. No one was snapping at the wedding planner and tricking her into letting my grandparents walk themselves down the isle. My parents and sisters had to deal with me, and of course, pitched in quite a bit of their own money, which I didnt enjoy watching either. I secretly swore that I would never go over the top again, and Danika will elope.

SO...when the day comes for Danika's first birthday party, what do I do? Do I hold a casual barbeque or have a desserts only gathering for a short and simple little shindig? Like I promised myself I would? Um, the answer would be no. Of course not! I enjoy putting myself through agony over the type of hotdog I might choose, or the number of vienna sausages I had to buy. I let my tension and anxiety get to me, and put, again, my sisters and parents through the joy of watching THAT. Not fun. And for what? Pictures? I guess! Will Danika remember it? Nah. But she will have some good pictures, that's for sure. 

The day turned out to be quite fun, though I didnt get to socialize with my old friends as much as I'd like to. It was fun watching my old college drinking buddies running around with little 2 year olds. It seemed as if we were taking turns showing off our children's temper tantrums to see whose could be the loudest and most dramatic. Danika didn't win. This time. She was too busy shoving chocolate cake in her pie hole and liking strawberry frosting off every. single. finger. I wonder where she learned that? Hmm. I (Ariana) do not lick my fingers. I use a napkin like a civilized human being. Who does that leave? Nate. Brady. or my DAD. 

The house was complete with a caterpillar in the front yard, red balloons attached to long skinny green string, a caterpillar picture from showing months 0-11, caterpillars in coccoons (hotdogs), kabobs with everything the very hungry caterpillar ate, miniature caramel aples,, cupcakes formed in the shape of a caterpillar, and lime and raspberry sherbert. I had to do something healthier. The kiddos went home with caterpillar headbands, caterpillar eggs (easter egg with playdough), and a felt very hungry caterpillar. It was a good time. I enjoyed putting it together. 

Now the question is. What did I learn from all this? I have her Denver party coming up next Saturday. Hmmmm. I learned to delegate, that's what I learned. :) Just joking (mom and tori!). 

Eh. I learned that the pictures will be good because its my baby girl in them (and me!). I just have to get the BIG details right and the small things wont matter. I also learned that on my grocery list in very tiny letters so no one can see, will be "wine." I think I might just have a glass BEFORE rather than after the next time around. 

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26.2

That's right folks. That is a BIG number. In fact, it's three digits! almost 4 years ago, I joined the teaching crew at Bookcliff Middle School. In that crowd, I met several folks that I still adore, that really pushed me to think outside the box in many ways. One of them included the challenge of running my first marathon. In January of 2006, I started training. Partially to prove myself to them, partially to prove myself to myself and partially to impress that boyfriend I had at the time. I happened to accomplish all three :) In June of 2006 I wandered up the road to Steamboat Springs and entered myself into a group of people who I consider to be absolutely nuts. The morning of the race, I sluggishly woke up to several phone calls from my father offering advice on how to finish this thing called a marathon. Though I doubt he believes me, I took his advice and stuffed a pack of almonds in my sock and a bottle of water into my waistband and hopped on the bus that would carry us up another 2000 feet straight up a mountain. 

I got off the bus and about passed out. For several reasons. 1. the reality of the ridiculousness of this idea hit me. 2. it was unbelievably cold. in JUNE. 3. there were lots of really hot men. 4. the altitude reached nearly 11000. WOOPS. Oh well. No turning back, right? the shot gun went off, and so did I, without really realizing it. I did good running with my fellow teachers for a couple miles. Then I saw THE HILL. I did not train for THE HILL. What's a girl to do?I walked :) 

I could tell you every detail of that 26.2 miles. But I won't. I will tell you that about 10 miles into it, my feet went numb and apparntly started turning in under my legs and I had no idea. Until a paramedic shared that information with me. And followed me. the. rest. of. the. way. 

But I finished. 6 hours and 2 seconds later. REALLY??? yes. really. And guess what? I want to do it again! Crazy, I know. 

I love that I have this ridiculous goal to accomplish. I love that I know I can do it. So... be on the lookout for my 26.2 training updates. Coming soon :)