The Sprain

Today I would have run the race I had been planning, training, and looking forward to running: my first half marathon.  To me, it was the culmination of a lot of hard work, sweat, and strength gained.  I literally had been training for 4 months. 12 days ago, on a Monday evening run, out of the blue, I rolled my ankle and severely sprained it.  My plans were crushed.  As soon as I felt it happening I knew it was going to be bad.  I've had some painful moments in my life- two broken bones, excruciating recovery from lasik eye surgery, birthed two babies, kidney stones.  This is definitely among those most painful experiences.  The disappointment has far surpassed the physical pain.  It has been a spiritual lesson.  I am confident that God was in control of my circumstances, and this was a part of His good plan for me.  Someday I will also teach Charli and Claire that God's plans are different than our own, but His are always better.  I love this verse.  Though, I believe it is speaking in figurative terms, it literally has applied so well to me in these last two weeks. Proverbs 16:9 says, "The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps."

  Here is my  photo montage to "the sprain".

driving to the ER for an X-ray

Brandon came to my rescue and saved the aquarium day! We had a blast, despite my need for the wheelchair. Claire liked riding in "mommy's stroller"!

I spent 3 days with it elevated and icing it every few hours.  It was painful, boring, humbling, and healing.

I decided to make lemonade from my lemons ;)
These motorized carts are fun!!

at my follow up I got fitted for a boot- my friend for 4 weeks

Today, it's extremely sore and still black and blue and a bit swollen.

Easter

This Easter was a bit anti-climactic for me and it all had to do with weather (no pun intended).  We had such a mild winter and signs of an early spring but then BAM- freezing, rainy yucky weather hit.  Not only is it annoying with my 1/2 marathon training, it's killer when you have two kids who want to play in the backyard since they got a little taste of it already.  Soggy grass and toddler and little girly girl do not mix.  I was hopeful that at least Easter would be nice. Wrong again.  It rained most of the day.

So... church was great.  We talked a lot about the meaning of Easter and opted out of the whole Easter bunny thing.  I think we're dropping Santa next year too.  In theory I had planned on doing these "fun" parts of the holiday, but what I've realized is it becomes all-consuming for the child.  Anyway, I digress.  We talked a lot about why Jesus came to the world, why He died, and we sang praises in thankfulness for His resurrection.  My favorite part was actually what Charli learned about Palm Sunday.

We asked her, "When Jesus came to Jerusalem what did all the people shout to Him?"
Charli, "Hosanna! Hosanna!"
Me, "What does that mean?"
Charli, "Save us now!"
Me, "What did the people think Jesus was coming to do?"
Charli, "Be the king..."
Me, "But He wasn't coming to be the king of their city, was He?"
Charli, "no- the king of their hearts!" as she points to her chest.

Hallelujah to the Risen King, the King of our hearts!

The 2nd half of our Easter Sunday was great.  After the girls got up from their naps we headed to my parents' house.  Brooks, Lee & Becky were already there.  Aunt Becky wanted to dye eggs and Charli was thrilled to get to help!  They bonded in a new special way through that.  Charli also warmed up to Uncle Lee in a new way and was cuddled up in his lap with Where's Waldo (which she also mis-called "where's Wallace" one time) by the end of the day.  It did my heart so good to see all that love blossom. And for the record, I'm dying to be AUNT BESS.  It just sounds right, doesn't it!?  Charli heard me say I wanted to be Aunt Bess and she said, "mommy, I don't want you to be my aunt, I want you to be my mommy forever!"  Sweet, sensitive, Charli.  I cleared it up that I wasn't changing for her and she was very relieved.

Even if we got rained out of an easter egg hunt, what really mattered Easter Sunday happened.

as good as it gets with 2 kids in the same picture...

claire loves to walk holding one hand

how most of the pictures together ended up

gave up on a sister shot and got individuals

i let claire hold a bunny and crawl around to get a smile

A trip to the zoo!

the 3 little girls ready to see some animals!

Claire wanted to "an up!" (stand up) at every exhibit.

the elephant even posed with us! 

Today we took a trip to the zoo with our good friends, Alexis and Avery.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day.  We saw most of the zoo in about 2.5 hours.  If you didn't know my girls very well, this trip would have spoken volumes about their personalities.  When we were waiting to go in I asked them what animals they wanted to see.  Charli said, "bunnies".  Where that came from, I have no idea.  But it sure sounds like what she would say.  Bunnies are gentle, cute, fluffy and even "girly," all things right up Charli's aisle. Claire didn't answer my question but by response, her favorite animals were the big cats.  She yelled, "meow" approximately 6 trillion times in that section of the zoo.  She loved the roaring lion and wrestling tigers especially.  Charli, on the other hand, when hearing the tiger's roar, sobbed.  She proceeded to be scared of everything she perceived to be big, mean, and loud. Unfortunately there were no bunnies at the farm section, but instead, Charli's favorite animal was the baby giraffe.  

Two girls, two totally different little personalities.  Both, of whom, I completely adore.

Friends are friends forever...

Today I spent the whole day with my best friend from college. This year will be our 10th friendaversary (yes, I made that up). It was a big day. It was the first time our 4 kids have ever played together. It was fun to see and also precious to let the daddies cover nap time and us go out shopping, alone.

Life changes so fast and that makes me more thankful for friendships that will last a lifetime. What a joy to reminisce about that past but also make new, fun memories!

Here's a pic of the first time our big kids met 3 yrs ago and then tonight.

Late Walkers, Early talkers

Seems like lately I've said this phrase a lot.  Charli didn't walk until 18 months.  Claire is almost 17 months and VERY active, but not walking on her own.  But, talk, she can!  She communicates in a much more demanding way than Charli ever did at this age, but we are thankful she is at least communicating.  And since I have been terrible with writing stuff down about Claire, this blog will likely be my best record of her milestones.

Claire can say:

ball, cup (usually sounds like pup or puppy), juice, cheese, sissy, daddy, mommy, pop, emmy, didi, papaw, brooks (sounds likes "ks"), kitty, CAT (which is how I yell at the cat, which she has picked up), puppy (for doggies), church (sounds like chch), yummy, help (sounds like hep), toy (her cutest word), get down (sounds like "et owwwn!"), Hi, Bye (sounds like die), movie (sounds like moo-mi), hand (meaning stop-trying-to-get-me-to-walk-without-your-hand, i-need-it!), minnie mouse or mickey mouse (sounds like mi-mi-mou), elmo, grover, murray, zoe, abby, veggietales, mouth (mou), ME (when she wants something she yells "ME" and points at herself)

Now that I type out this list I can think of many more things she says. Lots of foods, commands, tv related things, toy names, animals & their sounds, etc.  She's hilarious.  She's opinionated and loud.  When she's happy you know it, when she's mad- she wails.  She's into everything and loves to climb- two things Charli never did.  She is fearless and is a thrill seeker. (If you're a 17 month old thrill seeker then you love to swing really high and you crawl up the steps at the playground and then go down the slide face first and laugh joyously at the bottom.)

Charli is all things girl, princess, and little miss information.  She loves going to church and playing with her friends.  She loves to color, dance, sing, and baby her stuffed animals and baby dolls.  She says hilarious stuff everyday.  Earlier this week we went over to my mom and dad's house. I knew they were home and we rang the doorbell b/c the door was locked.  They didn't come, so we rang it again.  Charli says, very matter of factly, "apparently they're not here."  HAHA. I looked at her like, are you 3 or 30??

I love my girls. I love how different God made them from one another and yet they get along great and love each other dearly.  Lately I've been thanking God for making them uniquely themselves.  I want them always to know that God made them with special gifts and personalities.  I hope I can help them learn who God made them.  I will never tell them they can be anything they want to be. It's just not true.  I will tell them they can be exactly who God intended them to be, and being that person will bring them great joy if they do if for His glory.

Park days are here again!

Going to the park is one of our favorite morning activities. I love being outside, I love letting the kids use a lot of energy, I love sunshine, I love being away from "screens", etc. Claire can't walk unassisted yet but she doesn't let it stop her. She is fearless and on the go constantly! Today was a beautiful sunny day in the mid-fifties so we hit our favorite park in Collierville, Johnson Park, with some friends.

Run, run, as fast as you can!

I continue on with my fitness/weight loss goals.  I've lost about 40 pounds now and I think it will keep falling off as I continue with this new lifestyle.   I've been asked a lot recently how I'm doing it.  If you're wondering and for the sake of posterity I'll chronicle how here.

I started with running 5 days a week in July.  I could barely run a mile, slowly.  I could see that that pattern wasn't going to work because I injured my foot.  It was too much, too quickly.  I switched to running 3 days a week and biking and/or doing Power 90 (by Tony Horton) 2-3 other days a week.  In August I was discouraged that the weight wasn't coming off like I thought it should.  I decided to sign up for 3 months of Weight Watchers on-line.  I did WW hardcore for about 4-6 weeks.  Counted every point and quickly learned my problem areas: too much for breakfast, too many carbs/sugars, too many unhealthy snacks.  I made some significant changes in portion sizes too.  Once I got the hang of eating healthier, I started feeling so much better and the weight started to come off (about a pound or 2 a week).   Of all the changes I've made with food, eating more fruits and veggies is one of the biggest.  I used to make a couple veggies for dinner but that was the only time we ate them.  Now I keep a baggie of cut up peppers, celery, carrots, cucumbers, etc. to snack on throughout the week.  My kids are getting better at eating those raw veggies as well!  Instead of cookies, cereal, or muffins I'm eating fruit for my main snacks in the day.  A big apple with a little natural peanut butter is so yummy and so much healthier than what I was eating before.  The other thing I've gotten into is smoothies.  I'm drinking a smoothie for a meal 5 days a week.  Here's my recipe:

1 cup light (any flavor) greek yogurt (i prefer vanilla)
1 cup frozen fruit (anything from berries to mango, pineapple, etc) -this replaces ice, so you get more nutritional value per ounce
1 small banana
1/2 cup almond or skim milk
2-3 cups of raw baby spinach, it sounds nasty but you cannot taste it as long as you have a banana in the smoothie

I've kept running that 3 day a week schedule and now I'm doing some aerobics/weights classes 2 days a week.  My goal is to run a half marathon in April.  This weekend I ran 9.6 miles for the first time in my life.  Thanks to my wonderful brother and sis-in-law because they helped me mentally press on and ran at my pace the whole way.  They are seriously rockstars in my book.  After running 9 miles, I'm even more impressed that they are 3 time marathoners (and training for their 4th now)!!!

So, that's me.  I've come a long way. Maybe after my half marathon I'll post before and after pictures of myself... we'll see.  For now- here are a few recent running pics from my phone.

after a humid 5 mile run

My longest run so far

Most of my runs during the week are in the dark, cold.  I wear two pairs of tights, two long sleeve dry fit, warm shirts, my earmuff, and wear reflectors on both arms and carry a flashlight. i look silly for sure!