FIVE

Let's clear the air. I posted a cryptic photo on Instagram yesterday and received quite the reaction. Got to admit, it was fun to sit back and smile as more and more people added their confused comments. To clarify, yes. It IS what you think. We will have five in a little over the same number of years. Crazy, I KNOW.
To satisfy your curiosity:
We were pretty confident Nene was our last. But then the Big Man made it known that someone was missing - a feeling that was difficult to swallow. You see, I have been quite the opposite of baby hungry.  We were balanced with four kids. HAPPY with four kids. And dang if I didn't get my body in the best shape ever! But I knew how I would feel always wondering about that other one. The one we could have had. So we gave it a shot. Said we would try x number of months. After 2 weeks, I grew selfish and decided if it didn't happen THAT month, it wasn't happening. I had plans for the next several months; hiking the Grand Canyon, doing a triathlon, running a marathon, participating in a Ragnar. BIG plans that would not be possible if pregnant. Guess what. The Big Man was listening. And I am pregnant. Guess He knew I was serious. The good news is, ALL of those things will be around next year. Bad news is, I have to wait. But now I wont have to wonder who is missing; they will be part of our family in December or January. Fingers crossed Nene gets a sister; we have zero boy stuff... oops.

HALF MARATHON

Since I currently don't have anything exciting to talk about, lets go back several weeks. Well, several months. Back in October or November, a friend said we should sign up for a half marathon together, so we did. She told me I had better not back out. I swore I wouldn't. Fast forward to January. I asked my friend how training was going. She informed me she would be running 6 miles that weekend, so I did what any logical person would do: I ran 6.5 miles. Every week, I pushed myself about 1.25 miles further. When I had completed 12.5 miles, I sent my friend another text inquiring about her training. "Um... I haven't been running." WHAT?! "I'm pregnant." SERIOUSLY?! I was excited for her, but sad I would be running alone. With the race being less than a month away, I pushed myself harder than ever. Ran 15 miles without stopping, which was a couple miles further than necessary. Clearly I am a bit excessive.
Race Day. March 2nd. I was beyond nervous. I was dropped off at the finishing area and rode the buses to the starting line. I had an hour to kill, so I struck up conversation with two awesome ladies. One was running her third half marathon. The other was running her eighth. The butterflies in my stomach tried to tell me to use the bathroom before starting, but the lines were 50 people long. Pass. Besides, I knew adrenaline would carry me the whole way without a problem. We got into places and the race started. It was insane. Thousands of runners racing as a pack. I jockeyed for position ahead of the 9:00 min/mile pacer. I felt great. About 2 miles in, the need to go to the bathroom intensified. I kept an eye out for port-o-potties, but nada. When I finally spotted some, it was 3.5 miles into the race and the line was 2 deep. No way; it would kill my pace. So I kept running. Before I knew it, I was passing my family at mile 4.5. The kids were yelling out encouragement which was awesome. With that lift, I ran another mile and a half before I realized just how badly I had to go. At mile 6, I finally got my break. The line was 4 deep, but I didn't care. I HAD to finish, so I HAD to go to the bathroom. The wait was FOREVER. I just watched as the racers I had passed slid by me. Once I was out of the port-o-potty, I took off as hard as I could. Bad idea. My intercostal muscles (right under the ribs) started pulling. I knew I couldn't run fast enough to make up my lost time. With a gloom and doom attitude, I continued on. I realized that I was nearing one of the girls I had befriended. When I was along side her, we offered each other much needed encouragement. An unspoken agreement was made at that moment to continue running together for the last 7 miles of the race. I couldn't have done it without her. When I hit my wall at mile 10, she told me that she knew I had it in me to finish. 100 yards from the finish, we said goodbye and she sped off at her top speed. I dug as deep as I could and followed behind her as close as possible. We finished within 4 seconds of one another. I ran 13.1 miles in 2:05:21, just over 5 minutes slower than my goal pace of sub 2:00:00. I kick myself about the bathroom incident. If I had been smart about the race, I would have gone beforehand and would have finished within my goal time. Oh well. For my first half marathon, I think I did pretty dang well. The race was more emotionally exhausting than physically exhausting, but I want to do it again.

BACK

Hey look, guys. I AM BLOGGING. It's only been like three months... Sorry about that. I wanted to redesign my blog. And the blog for my kids. And my photography site. My OCD brain mandates that I must shut everything down during the design process. Lame, I know. Now that [almost] everything is good to go, you can expect me to have a blogging presence once again. No more disappearances. Promise.

I am not even going to try to catch up. Well, scratch that. There will be a few things I blog about. Like running a half marathon. And maybe Easter - only because I have a BILLION photos. But I thought I would start back up with something sweet. A video I made of Nene. I can't believe my baby girl is already a year old.

I promise you there are no surprises in this video. And I apologize for the camera shake. Stupid iMovie wouldn't apply stabilization when I saved it. UGH.

RUN MORE

If you missed it, which ya'll probably did, I run. I run a lot. It's a goal. And a passion. And maybe an obsession. I've gotten so carried away with the sport that I have been entertaining the idea of running a Ragnar. Don't know what a Ragnar is? It is a relay race. Consisting of 12 teammates. And 200 miles. Yup. I am just that crazy. Funny thing is, I received a text from a friend last Tuesday. A friend of said friend had a runner drop out of their Ragnar team at the last minute and they needed a replacement. I immediately got butterflies in my stomach. I tried to think of everything I would need to do to make it happen. The race was just 3 days later. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it would be an insane attempt. I was not worried about the race itself, just everything else. Who would watch my kids on Friday when the race started? The mr. couldn't take off on such short notice, so we would need a sitter. To watch four kids. Four CRAZY kids. Nene had a dr. appointment on Friday morning (or so I thought... that was an awkward visit). Who would take her? I had already committed to a race on Saturday. One that another friend was helping to host. Wouldn't that be unfair to her? And I had the Phoenix Half Marathon the next weekend. What if I got injured during the Ragnar and couldn't complete the Half? So I said no. And for the first time in a long time, I felt a twinge of regret. Friday morning dawned. And I was a little sad I wasn't out there running with the best of them. But I will have my opportunity next year. Besides, I got to support my friend's 5k race. I was the second female to cross the finish line with an overall time of 25:39. Not a PR, but good enough. Let's just pretend there were hundreds of runners and not just 28...
Jess, yes. I colored the value boxes in. Because I am a dork.  2 of 12 races in my quest for one race a month for a year. My 3rd race will be this upcoming weekend...

SNOW

THIS happened. In Arizona. Some may argue it was just HAIL, but I firmly believe that if I can ball it up to throw at someone, it qualifies as snow... Our yard was entirely WHITE.

RUN

Today I ran six miles. I have gone further. I have gone faster. But today's run was a little different. Today I ran side by side with one of my dearest friends, Amy. A little over two years ago, Amy lost her first baby. Baby Ella. Amy's little ladybug. A few week after Ella passed away, I participated in my very first run. Ethan's Run, for babies born with heart defects. Ella was a heart baby. So I did the one mile Fun Run in her honor. Side by side with Amy. That day I told myself I would one day run the 10k. For little Ladybug. And for her mama.  Today was the day that I fulfilled that unspoken promise. Today I ran a 10k for Ella. I started running in September. I couldn't even run a mile without having to slow to a walk. But I knew this February was when I would run for Ella. So I pushed myself with that goal in mind. By the end of September, I was able to run a full mile. Last weekend, I ran fifteen miles without pause. 0 - 15 in under six months. All because of a sweet little Ladybug, who I didn't get the opportunity to meet. I think of her every time I run.

HEART DAY

The mr. and I made a joint decision a couple of weeks ago: no Valentine's Day gifts. I usually try to be that super cute wife. You know. The one that goes all out. Scavenger hunt. Dinner from scratch. Homemade dessert. Surprise gift. But I have to be honest... after four kids, I am kind of tired of topping myself every other holiday. So I called a v-day pass. The mr. agreed. He is not a fan of trying to make each Valentine's Day more spectacular than the last. Which I may or may not demand. It was agreed. No gifts. None. Moving on. The Monday before v-day, I am in tears by the time the mr. comes home from work. Miserable day. Just awful. So he says, "I was going to wait to surprise you, but you need it now. I have a four day weekend coming up. I took Friday off of work so you can go to the spa to get a massage. And I already arranged for a baby sitter for Saturday so we can go out on a date. Happy Valentine's Day". Shut up. I cried. Fast forward to Valentine's Day. I see everyone receiving lavish gifts via Facebook and Instagram. I possibly get ridiculously jealous of a couple of people. I want breakfast in bed. And flowers. And a new camera. Mid-mope, I remember that the mr. and I had decided not to do gifts. And that he got me gifts anyway. He got me gifts. HE got ME gifts. What did I have for him? Nothing. More moping. While I was having a pity party, I come across an idea from a friend. Light bulb. I grab an extra pack of blank note cards that is stashed away in the desk and begin scribbling away. The mr. came home to find this: