Letters to Little Man

Dear E,
You aren't a baby anymore... at all! You are such a little boy it's incredible. At a little over 2, you show no sign of being terrible. In fact, you are loving, sweet, funny and so smart it scares me.
I love how you ask, "What's dat?" for every part of an object. You don't want to just know it's a hammer. You want to know it has a claw and a head and a handle. (Probably not the right term, but cut Mommy some slack.)
You count to 30 now. THIRTY. When you have your own kids, this will amaze you. Your memory is a steel trap. Three weeks ago, I showed you what an epiphyte was. Today you brought me one and said, "Can you say epiphyte Mommy?"
But my favorite is just how warm and kind you are. You hate seeing distress even in people on cartoons. You hug and kiss us all the time. When you want comfort, you rub my hair or arm. You thank us for things and again days later when you see it. You get very worried when we don't seem ok, and if we apologize to you for something, you are in a hurry to reassure with a, "Don't worry Mommy. It's OK."
Your humor is blossoming too, and I love it. You try to trick us and are starting to think bodily noises are funny.
Daddy and I just said to each other again last night, "How were we so blessed with such a wonderful child?" I know everyone says that if their children, but you really are wonderful and amazing E. I really truly believe that... Even when you mimic me saying, "Dat SUCKS!"

Love,
M

Life and the Bright Side

When I was younger, I was much more energetic and made it much more of a point to find things in life to look forward to. I wanted to be excited and happy about my day no matter what it held. For example, I might look forward to the school assembly, or seeing a friend, or if nothing else, coming home to check the mail. (There might be something good for me!) But as life knocked me around, I slowly slid out of that habit.

I just remembered it recently as I naturally started to pick it up again. It made me feel so good that I decided to try to practice it more consciously. I've been in such a good spot that it's working, and it's been easy! For waking up early tomorrow for work (ugh) I'm remembering that we have a unique project going on with customers this week that should be fun, challenging and interesting. I still like E better, but it's something.

It's all been going so well that I knew the other shoe had to drop. We have two pretty intense medical situations going on with close family, and it makes me remember all over again why people matter more to me than anything else. And just as I was settling into our house better and liking Florida again, I feel the urge to move. Crap.

Running- Worried edition

This was my 4th go. On a positive note, my stamina was much much better. I pretty much breezed through this step. Another positive is E's positively reinforcing, "That was a fun run Mommy! And.. Run Mommy run!"

The problem: my ankles, hips and lower back are twinging. The ankles are the worst. I had hip problems at the end of and for a long time after pregnancy. But I've never had ankle problems before. I would greatly appreciate any insight. I'm enjoying this and really want to continue. It's sadly difficult to run on anything other than pavement here too.

Easter Egg Hunt Success!

Running is Hard

Yesterday I ran my C25K program for the third time. The kicker is, I ran day 2 over because I had to cheat a bit on my original day 2. I've also resigned myself to the fact that I will only run twice a week. I love having 3 day weekends, but the resulting 12 hour days (with lunch and drive time) just leave very little time for anything else on work days.

BUT, I notice I'm not struggling as much, and I've lost 2 pounds! Eating better has helped. I WILL get down to my acceptable weight.

Goals for this Year

1. Run a 5K
2. Read the whole Bible. I'm 34 and have only ever read parts. I need to do it if I'm going to agree and disagree with parts of Christianity.
3. Finish the kitchen and hallway painting/fix if projects
4. Fix up the garden
5. Organize the garage with shelves.
6. Get a service for the air conditioner.
7. Pamper myself with a massage, GOOD hair cut and new make up/skin care projects.
Thoughts on these goals? What are yours?

It was indeed his first thought on cauliflower. Good guessing guys!