It's a Love/Hate Relationship

Me and running definitely have a love/hate relationship going on.  I hate it while I'm doing it (most of the time) and love the way I feel when I'm done.  Love it enough that I do it again, even though I hate it while I'm doing it.  Does that even make sense?!

Anyway, my crazy hubby decided that it would be fun to train for a half marathon... and recruited some friends to do it with us!  I've actually enjoyed most of the training.. mostly because we are doing it with friends.  We each aim to do a couple mid-week runs on our own and then we meet every Saturday morning to do the long runs together.  It makes it so.much.easier. to do it in a group... that's for sure!!

The half marathon (that would be 13.1 miles, folks!) is on October 16th so we've made it about halfway through our training so far.  This past Saturday we ran a 10K together as part of the training. 

Woohoo!  We did it! 



It has been so fun running with these friends... we've had TONS of time to chat while we run and that makes the time go by so quickly. 

I think I'm actually feeling confident enough to officially register for the event!  But, just don't ask me my time.  I'm working on completion here...  not on speed! :)  Claire has been totally getting into running as well, as she gets to spend lots of time in the jogging stroller while we run.  She usually wants to get out and run the last part with us.  She runs about the same speed I do, so it works out! :) 

Six weeks of training down... six to go!!   

August Sickness.. Who Knew?!

After a nice, healthy summer, we were bound to get some germs soon!  Last week, the night before Emma's first birthday, she woke up around 11:30 pm and threw up.  She proceeded to throw up six more times between then and 7:00 am.  What a way to start her birthday!!  Those were some crazy germs... we found out later that six other kids we had been with the day before at playgroup all were up during about the same hours throwing up, too!  No fun!!  After 12 hours, though, she was fine!

Then, last Tuesday, she started running a fever.  She had no other symptoms but each day of the week, her fever got higher and higher.  By Friday (the 4th day of fever), it was up to 103.7 and she was just miserable.  I called the doctor, who told us to come in.  After ruling out several other things, the doctor suspected it was a UTI.  We decided to let her test for that (which included Emma getting a catheter.. so sad!).  Good thing we did because we found out that, sure enough, the poor girl has a UTI!  They put her on an antibiotic and finally today, she is fever free after 5 days!  So thankful she's finally feeling better. 

12 month stats

Emma had her 1 year appointment yesterday.  She has had a fever for the last couple of days so they decided not to do the vaccinations but we did go ahead with the rest of the appointment.  She weighed in at 23 lbs, 8 oz (85%) and was 31 inches (off the charts!).  (At this age, Claire was shorter and chubbier.. :)  She was 24 lbs, 8 oz and 30 inches! Pretty close though!)

Emma is so much fun!  She took her first step a couple of weeks ago and has been pretty content doing just 2 or 3 at a time.  Yesterday, though, she took 13 steps!  So, we are getting closer to walking! 

She loves music and whenever we sing or she hears music, she starts 'dancing' aka moving her head.  It is very cute!  She loves to give kisses and wave, too.  She can say 'uh-oh' and always uses in in context, like when she drops something off of her changing table or highchair.  She also says 'mama' and 'dada'.  She can sign 'more' and 'all done.' 

She is getting good at following directions, too!  The other day I put her milk, her paci, and a doll at the other end of the room and she correctly went to each item I called out. 

Emma continues to be our super sensitive little lady.  I can't believe how different she is from Claire!!  She gets scared easily, has stranger anxiety, and cries every.single.time. we tell her no.  I feel bad, but it almost makes me laugh!  Even if I'm telling someone else no, she STILL cries!  Today Sadie jumped up on our counter and I said, "Sadie, no!  Get down!"  and Emma started bawling.  So tender hearted. :)

She still only has her two little bottom teeth.  I can see all 4 on the top under the gums so I'm expecting more soon.

Other than that, she's doing all of the things a normal one-year-old does!  No more bottles for her... she drinks (and loves!) her whole milk from a sippy cup.  She prefers using a sippy cup with a straw, too.  She loves almost all foods.  She is still very much a paci girl, just like her sister was! 

She goes to bed around 6:30 and lately has been sleeping in until 7 or 7:30 most mornings.  She also is getting close to dropping her morning nap.  If we are just hanging around home, I'll still put her down in the morning but she usually only sleeps 30-45 minutes.  When we are out and about, I just have her skip the morning nap and then put both girls down between 12 and 12:30.  It give us so much more freedom with our schedule... gotta love that! 

I think that pretty well sums up Emma these days! 

Sadie Baby

So today Claire decided that playing babies with her dolls just wasn't good enough.  Today she wanted a real, live thing to call her baby.  She chose Sadie.  This just CRACKED me up!!  I was folding laundry and Claire took some of Emma's jammies and put them on Sadie. 

Then she covered her with a "blankie."  (aka washcloth)

Sooo funny!!  Sadie just slept through it all!

Par-tay!

We had a super fun ladybug birthday celebration for our sweet one-year-old on Saturday!  It was a beautiful day... perfect for some outdoor fun!

The birthday girl!

Modeling the outfit Mama made for her!

Ready to party!

Ladybug cake and cupcakes!

Yummy party food!

The birthday girl with Nana

Emma and Grammy

2 sets of BFFs.  :)  Emma and Nora.. and their moms!

Time to open presents!

Emma was more interested in standing on the chair, so Claire helped!

Pretty girl!

Emma reading her birthday card while Mama freaked out over one of the presents! :)

Singing Happy Birthday!

Hmm.. this looks good!

I think I'll give it a try!

Telling Mama she's all done

The kids had lots of fun swimming in the pools!

Emma has LOTS of boy cousins!

Kisses for Silas!

Playing in the water table with Nora and Archie.

All partied out!

Thanks to everyone who helped Emma celebrate her first birthday! 

Dear Emma

I love looking back and remembering where we were a year ago and praising God for his goodness!!  One year ago today... RIGHT NOW.... I was just arriving at the hospital for the big induction!

When I think back to Emma's delivery, I think about how quick and easy it was!  (yes, I did have an epidural! :)  It's nice to look back on it with happy thoughts because that was definitely NOT my experience with Claire.  Her delivery was ROUGH.  Anyway...  they started pitocin around 9 am and 5 1/2 hours later, sweet Emma Annette was in my arms!

One year ago today, I held this sweet girl in my arms for the first time.

One year later, she's as sweet and as beautiful as they come...  (at least in this mama's eyes!!)

Dear Emma Annette,

I can't begin to describe how much joy you have brought to our lives in just one short year!!  You have the sweetest and most sensitive spirit and I love seeing how God made you into such an individual... so different from your big sister.  God has taught your mommy and daddy so many lessons in this year... through your life.  We have really learned to trust Him more, as we watched you go through lots of sickness and even two short stays in the hospital.  Of course we were worried but ultimately we knew that God wasn't surprised by any of it and that brought us comfort. 

I love everything about you.  Your big blue eyes, your chunky thighs, the way you cry when we tell you 'no', how much you adore your big sister, seeing you dance when you hear any kind of music, the way you give kisses with your tongue hanging out, your sweet smile with only two little teeth.... everything about you is so precious to me!

My prayer for you is that your heart will yearn for your Savior and you will grow up to love Him, serve Him, and know that life without Him is meaningless. 

Happy 1st Birthday!!!  I love you so much! xoxo

Love,
Mommy

Inspired Craftiness

So I'm generally not a very crafty person, although I go through spurts when I try.  :)  But, my new favorite website Pinterest has really been inspiring me lately.  I have found SO MANY cute, easy, and cheap ideas that I've been so excited to try out.  I finally made one the other night.  It literally took about 30 seconds.  That's my kind of craft!  Behold, my new message board...

An old picture frame, scrapbook paper, and dry erase markers.  Perfect!



Pics of the almost bday girl!

Just a few recent pics of our soon-to-be (as in TOMORROW!) one-year-old!!

Hanging out with Sadie

She's really been into her lately.

This is her "I'm proud of myself" face. :)

Doing a little reading in her room.

A Day in the Life

I love this idea I have seen on other people's blogs.  Not that my life is very (or at all) exciting, but I thought this was fun anyway!  I took a picture (or two) at every hour of the day.  Enjoy...

 Tuesday, August 16th in pictures:

I had showered and gotten ready for the day and was making coffee.... The girls decided to sleep in!

Up at 7:30.. enjoying her milk and happy as can be!

Claire woke up at 7:30 too and didn't waste anytime... already telling me she's a mommy and has to go.

I was left to babysit Brianna.

8:00:  Waving bye-bye to Daddy!

9:00:  Jack came over to play... hanging out in the playroom!

10:00:  Emma was napping... Claire was working on flashcards.

11:00:  Playing dressup!

12:00:  Time for lunch!  It was a beautiful day so we ate outside!

1:00:  Girls were napping and I decided to tackle this GIANT zucchini a friend gave me.  I shredded it, froze some, and baked some zucchini bread.

2:00:  Bread was baking and it was time for an iced coffee for Mama!

While drinking my iced coffee,  I folded laundry and watched an Andy Stanley sermon online. 

3:00:  Girls were up and we headed off to deliver a loaf of zucchini bread to our neighbor, who recently rescued us from a very unwelcome animal intruder in the house.  (more on that later when I'm brave enough to tell the story..)

4:00:  Trip to Hobby Lobby to pick up some party supplies for our soon-to-be 1 year old!

5:00:  Dinner!

6:00: Baths and soon after, bedtime!

There ya have it, folks!  A day in the life of the Shoes!