I Love...

Officially being an aunt! My brother-in-law, Paul, and sister-in-law, Amanda, welcomed a sweet baby boy into the world this morning. It has been amazing discussing pregnancy and babies with them during their journey and I can't wait to hold this sweet boy! I so wish I could fly there right now to see him. After about a week of on again, off again contractions, they headed to the hospital around 4:30 am. I had originally planned to get up early to run but as we got ready for bed I decided to turn my alarm off to sleep in until the kids woke up. I slept through the text messages they sent throughout the early morning hours. Then when Ty gave me a kiss as he was leaving for work he said, "Have a great day, soon-to-be Aunt Liz." I was so excited I couldn't fall back asleep so I just laid in bed reading and re-reading their texts, anxiously awaiting news and pictures. Before we left in the morning Carter and Elise both made cards to go along with the onesie and books I had already packaged up ready to mail when he made his arrival. While Carter was at school they sent pictures and videos of sweet Wyatt. I showed them to Elise and she cooed back at him when he cooed. It was the absolute sweetest. I know she will love meeting him as she adores babies. She always wants to touch them and play with them. I die a little bit at the cuteness of thinking of seeing them together and also die a little bit at having no idea when we'll get the chance to meet him!

The sweet family of 3!

How much Carter loves school and how well he's doing. Every morning he asks me what day it is and then follows up with asking what we will do that day. If I say it is Tuesday or Thursday, he immediately lights up and says, "I get to go to school!" I really felt like starting him in a half-day program a couple days a week would be really good to prepare both him and me for preschool next year, but it has been so nice to have that validation that it was the right decision every single time I take him. He had an incident with hitting a few weeks ago and has had no problems since. I am so proud of him and how well he is adjusting. He even was awarded the shining star of music class today for doing so well and singing so nicely! I love hearing about his pirate adventures on the playground and all the activities he does in class. He recounts everything to me, including what he ate for snack.

Carter showing off his shining star sticker when I picked him up.

How much Elise is growing up and becoming a big girl. She has decided she doesn't want to sit in a high chair anymore and throws a fit making it nearly impossible to get her in it. So I pulled out the booster seat and she loves sitting next to Carter eating at the table like him. He has insisted that he sit by sissy as he can help her if she needs help, no mommy needed! She even wants to eat the same thing as Carter so she's been having cereal with milk and eats it with a spoon just like he does!

The way Elise always dances to music no matter what it is or how badly the person is singing. She gets especially excited when Carter is singing and bops her hand and gets really into it.

Hummus with carrots. I hadn't had it in forever and randomly picked it up at Aldi when I went to get pumpkins. I've already eaten half the container and am afraid there won't be any left by tonight. I keep telling myself at least it's decently healthy. At least it seems to be based on the ingredients, I don't know much about it!

How supportive Ty is of my running. He will put his runs as second priority to mine and makes sure I am able to get a couple runs a week in without the kids so I can get strong workouts in. Whether that means me getting up early before he goes to work or me running first thing when he gets home. He is great about making sure I get the chance to run my long runs on the weekend and will let me pick when I want to run my long run and plans his around mine. He also knows I train hard to run fast and prefers to run with the stroller in races so I can do well. I was thinking about it yesterday on my run and the only race I've run with a stroller was the first one I ran after Carter was born. Ty has picked up most the other races with my mom and Thomas also filling in frequently and my dad running with the stroller once. It is amazing to run a race giving it 100% and knowing I wouldn't be where I am in training and in the race if I didn't have Ty's support and the support of my family. It definitely makes me feel very loved!


The occasional rainy day. It's nice to be forced inside to be lazy and just read books and play around without worrying about trying to get out and be active. I also love to sleep to the sound of rain. Although I don't enjoy running in the rain when it is below 60 degrees!

I planned on writing this post and remembered that I had an "I Love..." post started from a while ago. I went into my drafts and found the post I started back when Jeremy was in a coma. It was amazing to me reading back over this one about classical music and realizing how stressed I was back then. I didn't notice at the time how much everything was affecting me, but when I read about listening to classical music in the car and when I cooked I remembered the immense amount of panic and stress I felt on a daily basis. I am so glad that period of time is behind us and Jeremy is doing as well as he is! It was a daily struggle for me to find my inner calm and I'm so glad it has returned! Here are my comments about classical music from January:

Listening to classical music in the car. It calms me down when I'm feeling stressed. It is stressful to get a 3 year old out of the house and into the car in order to arrive somewhere on time. By the time we get in the car I've already about lost my patience (if I haven't already) while he's running around wearing nothing but socks when he's supposed to be getting dressed! A car ride with classical music allows me to arrive feeling relaxed. The same goes for cooking. It seems that when I'm making dinner is always the time when shit hits the fan with the kids. I throw on a Frank Sinatra Pandora station and everything's good. Ty can attest that when he comes home to find Frank Sinatra playing, he comes home to a smile.

I about cried when I read the other thing I had typed out for that post:

Feeling tiny little hands grab onto my legs and pull up to a stand. Even when I'm cooking.

Oh my goodness, my little Elise has grown up so freaking much! I remember when she first started walking while holding onto your hand. She'd want me to walk her around forever and I'd start thinking of all the things I needed to get done but couldn't. Then I'd tell myself, this is such a short stage and before I know it, she'll be walking on her own. Enjoy this stage and treasure it because when it's gone you'll miss it. I'm so glad I was able to remind myself of that and really let go and enjoy walking her around for what seemed like hours at a time. Now she will hardly let me hold her hand to hike over rocks and roots at Turkey Mountain!

Most of all, I love being a stay at home mom. When I think of all the things that bring me joy, getting to spend my days with my children is by far the best. It's the type of rewarding and fulfilling experience I never could have expected. When we first found out we were pregnant there was no doubt in my mind I would go back to work. I loved my job and I enjoyed going every single day. There was never a day where I didn't enjoy at least something during the day and honestly most the time I enjoyed pretty much everything I did in a day. It's amazing how your whole world changes when you hold your baby for the first time. When I held Carter for the first time, I never wanted to let him go. I cried every night for weeks at the end of maternity leave because I couldn't bear the thought of being without him. I love both my babies so much! And treasure the ability to teach them and learn with them on a daily basis!