Feeling Blessed

Today as I was holding Carter during his lunchtime feeding I felt so blessed.  When we first decided on our daycare I hoped it would work out for me to go feed him over my lunch break.  I knew it might take too long to drive there.  I knew Carter may take too long to eat.  I knew he may not end up eating at the time I had my lunch, but I was hopeful.  I still can’t believe it has worked out so perfectly and I am grateful every single day!  

Spending time with my little man at lunch is such a blessing!

My dreams have come true, all starting with two lines that showed up on our first pregnancy test, blessing number 1.  We made it through the first trimester with a healthy baby, blessing number 2.  I wanted to run for as long into pregnancy as possible, but knew I might have to switch to walking at some point.  My last run before Carter was born came the night before he arrived, blessing number 3.  My goal was to have a natural childbirth.  Labor and delivery went exactly as I had dreamed it would (minus going into labor before 37 weeks), another blessing.  Carter, although technically premature, was born healthy and fully developed.  He scored 9 out of 10 and 10 out of 10 on his Apgar tests.  Chalk up another blessing.

The transition back to running has been easier than I expected, although slow and sore at first.  I had pictured in my head the perfect scenario of Carter enjoying the stroller and running all of my runs with me.  It has worked out just as I had hoped.  He sleeps through most runs and when he’s awake, happily looks around.  He hasn’t fussed or been upset during a single run.  Seriously, how can so much good fortune be bestowed on one person?

Today as I was running with Carter in the stroller, I couldn’t help but feel full, complete, and blessed beyond words.  It was a beautiful, sunny, 65 degrees.  Who wouldn’t feel blessed?  As I was finishing my run a woman ran past me, gave me a thumbs up, and said you rock!  Then a man walked by and asked how I was.  I responded with great, how are you?  He said feeling blessed.  My sentiments exactly.

A Day in Our Lives

2:30am- I wake up to the sound of Carter moving around and making noise. I check the monitor and he’s still asleep, but will be up and hungry soon, so I get up and go to the bathroom. He begins to cry as I’m washing my hands, so I go in to feed him. He eats really well and I change his diaper because he is tooting a lot. He tricked me as his diaper is just wet. I try to switch sides, but he’s not interested, so I lay him back down and go back to bed.

Diaper change time!

5:30- Once again Carter is moving around in his crib. When I check the monitor, I can tell he is in a fitful sleep. I have been trying to wean him from this 2nd feeding by giving him a pacifier when he wakes up. Sometimes he goes without it, others no such luck. Today he puts his fist in his mouth and falls back to sleep.

6:00- My alarm goes off and I get up. I set up to pump and start getting ready. The hands-free pump bra was the best investment I’ve made since Carter was born! I am able to pump as I brush my teeth, straighten my hair, and put my make up on.

6:40- I head into the kitchen with the pump pieces.  I pull my smoothie out of the freezer to start thawing, make bottles, and begin cleaning the pump parts.  As I’m making bottles I hear Carter begin to move around and fuss.  I know he’ll be awake soon.

6:45- Carter begins to cry. I head into his room, feed him, and change his diaper. Now it’s time to get him ready for the day. This is one of my favorite times of the day. He is so happy and smiley and he warms my heart. These short moments in the morning are why I get up early enough to be ready before he wakes. I want to spend each possible moment in the morning playing with him, snuggling him, and loving on him.

7:10- I put Carter in the bassinet with wheels we borrowed from my friend Erin. He loves being propped up on a pillow in the bassinet where he can look around. I wheel him into the kitchen with me as I wash the rest of the pump parts and make a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

7:15- Carter and I go back into his room to play. I put him on his activity gym and he looks up at his toys as I eat breakfast. Ty wakes up and comes out of the bedroom. Normally he wakes up before 7 to work out before getting ready for the day, but today was a day off lifting and he must have been tired and decided to sleep in.

7:20- I let Carter stay on the activity gym to play as I go into the room to get dressed for the day.

7:25- I’m dressed and ready for the day. Ty leaves for work and I head back into Carter’s room to play until it’s time to leave. I pull out a blanket and pillow for the dreaded tummy time. Today is no different than most, he screeches in anger and I give in and allow him to stay on his back once he rolls over.

7:40- I load up the car with the many bags I now carry to and from work every day: my drawstring with running clothes, the pump, diaper bag, and my school bag. I get Carter situated in his car seat and then realize I forgot to put a coat on. I look at Carter and decide despite the 30 degree weather it’s not worth going back into the house. As I start the car I see the low fuel light come on and my heart drops. I forgot to get gas yesterday, so I have to stop at the gas station on the way to drop Carter off at daycare.

8:00- We arrive at Carter’s daycare. It’s the first day in the new facility and I’m excited as I walk in. It is absolutely amazing! Dropping Carter off is by far the most difficult part of my day, but his teacher is so sweet and caring it makes it much easier. Seeing the new building with all the new toys and gadgets, I feel even better about where he will spend his days. Carter is asleep, so I leave him in his car seat otherwise he’ll wake up when I get him out and it’s best for him to nap. I put his bottles in the fridge, extra clothes in his cubby, and prepare to say good bye. I kneel down on the floor and kiss him all over his face and tell him to have a good day and I’ll see him at lunchtime. I could kiss his chubby cheeks all day, but I know I have to leave soon or I’ll be late to work. I give him one last kiss and whisper in his ear that I love him, then head out the door with a lump in my throat.

8:18- I arrive at school in the nick of time. Official start time for teachers is 8:20. I turn on my computer and pull up SMART Notebook documents for morning work and math. Morning work will be projected on the SMART Board as students enter the classroom so they know exactly what to do. Today they will do math boxes in their math journals.

8:45- The first bell rings and I stand in the doorway greeting students as they enter. Seeing their smiling faces makes missing Carter so much easier. Our morning consists of morning work, calendar, our math lesson, math stations, community circle, and then off to special class at 10:30.

10:37- I get back to my classroom after dropping my students off in P.E. I set up and begin to pump. While pumping I eat a snack, check my e-mail, and work on lesson plans for next week. Again, hands-free pumping is so amazing!

The sign my co-teacher made for my door to indicate I'm pumping.  She's hilarious!

11:05- I take the pumped milk to the freezer and pick my students up from special class. When we return to the classroom we have writing time and then prepare for lunch. Our cafeteria is in a different building, so we leave for lunch at 11:50 and our lunchtime begins at noon. I sign out for lunch in the office as we are walking to the cafeteria, monitor my students to make sure they wash their hands and get in line, and then head to my car. I drink a smoothie as I drive to the daycare.

12:11- One of the best moments of my day, I arrive at Carter’s daycare. When I walk into his classroom he is fussing a bit because he’s hungry. He is in a bouncer and when I bend down to look at him, he smiles up at me. Moments like these melt my heart and make the rush of lunchtime so worth it. I would drive to daycare and back just to see that precious smile. I pick Carter up and he instantly nuzzles into my neck. I feel my body relax and everything is right with the world.

Momma, I'm hungry!

12:15- We are in the nursing room and I begin feeding him. I always make sure to head back to his classroom at 12:30 so I can say good bye again and pass him off. 15 minutes doesn’t seem like much, but this uninterrupted mommy/Carter time is bliss. When he finishes eating, he looks at me and smiles while I talk to him. As I walk back down the hall to his classroom I hold him tight to my chest and wish I didn’t have to let him go. I once again give him kisses all over his face and neck, whisper in his ear that I love him and I hope he has a good day, then I lay him down in his crib and head out. For some reason this time is harder than in the morning. I always stare back at him as I leave and miss him before I’m out of the room, but I know I’ll see him again in about 3 hours.

I have to hold my phone to the side or he stares at it instead of me and stops smiling.  Silly boy!

12:42- I arrive back at school. Our recess ends at 12:45, so I get back just in time to pick my students up from the playground. Today they have inside recess so I head back to the classroom and have them clean up. I am so thankful that we don’t have recess duty. It is such a blessing and allows me to see my precious boy at lunchtime! We have Reader’s Workshop right after lunch, followed by social studies, and then students pack up and enjoy a read aloud.

3:30- The dismissal bell rings and I say good bye and get a high five or a hug from each student as they leave. With 47 students this takes a while! I am in a multi-age classroom with another teacher, so we have 2 teachers and double the students. I rush around getting some things done so I can leave for the day. We can leave at 3:45 and I try to leave as close to then as possible.

3:50- I am packed up and headed out the door to pick Carter up. I take home a lot more work than I used to because I’d rather do things after Carter goes to bed at night than stay at school and miss precious awake time with him.

4:05- As I walk in to pick Carter up I am shocked to see he is in the same clothes he was wearing when I dropped him off in the morning! That is a first for him! His teacher says he really enjoyed sitting in the bouncer and stared up at the turtle hanging down above him. She said he almost giggled at it. Sounds like we need to get him a turtle toy to play with at home! I take him into the nursing room to feed him before we leave. He falls asleep when he’s finished nursing, so I put him in his car seat and change into my running clothes.

The nursing room.  It's actually bigger than it looks and has a small table by the rocker.

4:35- We arrive at the trails to run. I put together the stroller, get Carter situated, and we take off. It is cold today! It’s 39 degrees, but the wind chill is frigid so Carter is super bundled up. We run 3 miles and Carter sleeps the entire time.

Ready to run!

5:25- On the way home Carter wakes up and I talk to him as I drive. When we get home I feed him and we cuddle for a while. I love resting my nose on his head and inhaling his wonderful, baby smell.

5:45- I am getting cold from being sweaty and decide to shower. I put Carter in the bassinet and roll him into the bathroom with me. He loves to lay and stare at the lights above the mirror. I love being able to peek out and watch him.

This is the face I see when I get out of the shower!

6:05- Ty gets home. Normally he cooks dinner, but he has a dodge ball game for his company’s team tonight. He sits with Carter while I make a sandwich. He makes sure to get lots of cuddle time with Carter before he leaves.

6:55- Ty says good night to Carter and leaves for his dodge ball game.  I feed Carter again.

7:30- Time to start Carter’s bedtime routine.  I give him a bath, then put lotion on him, brush his hair, put on his jammies, and feed him.  At 7:50 I put him down in his crib and head to the kitchen to clean the bottles and pump supplies from the day.  He fusses for a couple of minutes, sucks his hand, and is asleep by 8:10.  I make my smoothie for lunch the next day and stick it in the freezer.

Harper thinks she needs to monitor bathtime.

Doesn't look like he'd be asleep just 20 minutes later!

8:30- Ty gets home. We sit and chat about his day and the dodge ball game. As much as I wish Carter was still awake because I miss him and want to play with him, I cherish this time with Ty to talk and enjoy each other.

I always have the monitor close by to watch my sleeping babe!

9:00- We sit down to watch some TV shows we have recorded and I work on some school stuff. 9:45- We start getting ready for bed and head to bed a little after 10:00.

Race to the Well 5k

This past week was pretty pitiful as far as running went.  Monday and Tuesday I was sick and didn’t run.  Wednesday I had a migraine and didn’t run.  Thursday and Friday I was just plain lazy and wanted to hang out with visitors rather than get out and exercise.  Saturday came along and it had been a week since my last run, the St. Patty’s Day 5k last Saturday.

Who wants to go out for a run with these faces looking up at you?  Not this momma!

Ty was signed up for the Race to the Well 5k at 5:00pm.  I still didn’t feel very motivated to run.  I figured if I was in a race at least I would get a run in.  Ty’s parents were in town visiting.  It was chilly, windy, and drizzly.  We decided Ty’s parents would stay home with Carter due to the cold and rain and we would run the race.

Since I hadn’t run in a week I figured I would take it easy.  We got to the race and looked around.  The weather must have deterred many runners.  There were only 82 runners in the 5k.  When we got to the turn-around there were 4 runners ahead of me, but there was a huge gap and I didn’t have much motivation to catch up to them.  I saw Ty and he looked really strong.  

I finished in 23:41, a minute slower than the week before, but I felt good about finishing in 7:38 pace.  I was the first female finisher and 5^th overall.  I watched for Ty to finish.  I noticed there were not many finishers ahead of him and I figured he placed in his age group.  We had planned to leave right after the race and skip awards, but I told Ty we had to stay if he placed.

We walked over to where they were posting awards as they became ready.  We found Ty’s name, looked across and saw he was 3^rd place in his age group!  My heart jumped up in my chest.  I was so proud of him.  His first medal at a 5k!  I was so excited, I felt as if it was my first medal.

Ty's 3rd place medal!

During the awards ceremony when they called Ty’s name I couldn’t scream loud enough.  I wanted to yell out, that’s my husband!  This is his 4^th race in 4 weekends and he is amazing!  I love that he has become a runner.  His first race was the St. Patrick’s Day 5k 2 years ago.  Since then he has run numerous 5ks, a Tough Mudder, PRs left and right, lost nearly 30 pounds, and now earned a medal!  I may not be running PRs or firsts anymore, but I feel like I am every time I watch Ty achieve one. 

Carter enjoyed his evening spent with Grandma and Grandpa.

I'm linking up with Ashley for Move it Monday!

Going Back to Work... Again

Carter and I have had an amazing Spring Break together, but tomorrow it’s back to the daily grind.  I know tomorrow will be easier than the first time I took Carter to daycare, but my chest is still tight with the thought of spending the majority of the day away from my precious baby.  I just have to take it one day at a time, one week at a time.  Only 9 weeks to go until Summer Break, woo hoo!

Spending time just laying around over Spring Break.

Tomorrow will be our first day with the new building.  While Carter was home for Spring Break our daycare moved into a brand new facility.  We drove by to take a look at it today and it is beautiful!  I’m sure the inside is just as impressive.  Carter’s teacher told me there will be a breastfeeding room so I won’t have to hide out in an empty classroom anymore.  I’m excited to check it out!   

I’m so glad I have a job that allows me to have a whole week home with my baby over Spring Break and then the whole summer off!  Not to mention spending all day with 47 amazing kiddos.  I have the 2 best jobs in the world, mommy and teacher!

Best Buds

Last weekend Carter got to meet his best bud, Hayden.  Hayden is my best friend’s son.  He’s 17 months old and wasn’t so sure of Carter.  He liked him and wanted to be around him, but he was also nervous.  It was so cute because he would go over and rub Carter’s head and then grab his own hair and pull it.  Almost like he was saying, hey Carter where’s your hair?  We had them in a chair together and Hayden would put his arm around Carter.  I can tell he will be protective of his buddy.

Hayden rubbing Carter's head.

Hayden giving good bye kisses.

Yesterday Erin and Hayden came to visit.  Carter hadn’t been napping very well in the afternoon the last few days, but of course fell asleep soon after they arrived and napped for 2 and a half hours.  It worked out well for me because I had lots of play time with Hayden, but was disappointing for Erin since she came to see Carter!  

While Carter was sleeping Hayden played with some kitchen tools.  Each time Carter would make a noise, Hayden would want to go check on him.  It was so precious.  He went in and offered Carter the whisk he was playing with.  He put it through the slats of the crib and put it in Carter’s palm.  Carter grasped it in his sleep.

Hayden sharing his toy with Carter.

When Carter FINALLY woke up, Hayden was all kisses and smiles this time.  He wasn’t nearly as nervous around him.  He even wanted to lay on him.  Carter was the perfect size for a pillow!  We had a blast and I can’t wait to get the boys together again.  I know Hayden will enjoy Carter a lot more when he can play, but Carter sure is getting him ready for his baby cousin coming in late June. 

In the top left picture Erin asked Hayden where Carter's nose was.