Julia's first race!

Big news! My wonderful hardworking husband has accepted a job offer that he is really excited about with a company called Riverbed! After 12 years at Telos, this represents a huge change and opportunity for our family! I'm so proud of him and excited about the new challenge he has accepted.

In other news, Julia and Luke ran their first race together yesterday! On a chilly February day in Feb they were besides themselves with excitement and I could not have possibly been more proud of them.

My baby turns 5 a week from today and I am feeling really emotional about it. 5 years! I'm awed.

Vacation

On Saturday we took a beautiful hike up the Ridgeline trail at South Mountain, right near MJ's house. One is supposed to rest the day before a 1/2 marathon.....but who can rest amidst beauty like this?

Mary Joe, one of my favorite people over the course of the past 13 years or so.....even though we are thousands of miles apart our friendship never changes.

Finally warming up ~ It was COLD out in AZ! I changed my clothes about 5 times a day, I could not get a handle on the weather. When we left the house at 5:30 am to drive to the start line, it was just 43 degrees! Ouch!

At the finish! PR for both MJ and Julie, and we had a great time sticking together and talking all the way. It was 70 and sunny and just perfect by 9 AM when we crossed the finish line. Running with 6000 other women to raise money for cancer research is very emotional ~ I got tears in my eyes about 5 times during the run. The kids, in particular, always get me. There is simply something so moving seeing little boys holding up signs like "MY MOM ROCKS!" as you run by! Kills me. One constant hope I have while I run is the notion that my kids will see that they can do anything that they put their mind to, and that they realize that they are stronger that they know.

I am hopelessly in love with Julia. I only wish we lived closer, as I know that this Jules and my Jules would be fast friends, just like their Mama's.

There is nothing quite like it, once one becomes a Mother.

I was excited to leave. Not even slightly sad. I knew that the brood was in good hands, and I knew in every corner of my soul, that I was in desperate need of a break.

Nate's school is awesome. It has invigorated him mentally and career wise, and I am so incredibly proud of his dedication and hard work. That said, now that a little bit of the thrill of the novelty of it (aka, do you have to study tonight, dear? Do you want some hot tea?) has worn off I am seeing how it is really a little bit of a "suck the life out of you" schedule for both of us. It is good ~ would not change it for the world, especially as there is an end in sight (MAY 2013!!!)...but it just ain't easy, either.

I had a wonderful, restful time. I read two books, and spent time with one of my favorite people and her family, who I just love. I was reminded a bit about just what matters, and what does not. I came home relaxed and refreshed. I also came home to a nursing baby ~ and you know what, that is okay too. Jake will wean when he is ready. I'm rededicated to keeping my eyes on the prize ~ these people Nate and I are growing ~ and letting a few things fall aside a little. It can be easy to get caught up in some of the rampant materialism of our area, and this trip opened my eyes to little ways in which I was letting certain attitudes creep up on me ~ ones that I don't want to have. I also felt like I could run the 1/2 over again as I crossed the finish line. Personal goal for 2012? My first Marathon. Stay tuned. Need to snuggle my big kids to sleep now. Rested. Refreshed. Grateful.

Day of the Mother and all that jazz.

So! Mothers Day.

It was a sunny, food laden, exercise filled sort of day. We got to spend time as a family, but also were lucky enough to be with Bec and Rich, Mom and Dad, Jan and Rich, Jeannie and Tim, Jimmy, Tommy, Pete, Alexis and Sam.

I'm beat. I was up early because I seem to wake early, new habit involves me being up and 6 and getting bored on the internet before the kids awake around 7. Not sure how I feel about this new habit. Going to bed earlier (tonight it may be 8:15 as Nate is away) offsets it. It works, I guess. This video is of the kids this morning. Jake is like 2 already, it seems. Just one of the crowd.

Anyway, it was a generally good Mothers Day, Jeannie and I had so much fun running in a race this afternoon and the weather was great....I am tired and off to bed.

Hope you had a great Mothers Day and that your husbands made you feel appreciated and loved!

Goals, and kids, and stupidness.

We did it!

The race was awesome. Of course, being me, I was up at 4 for the day, because I was worried that my alarm would not work at 5 (can't remember the last time I had to personally set an alarm clock.....kids have replaced early morning meetings or flights, and they are way more effective and insistent than an alarm clock ever was). All of my nervousness was gone, and I was simply excited. I pumped while I ate and downed coffee and played on the internet.......and took off for Jeannie's house.

This is the dorky part. I was driving Nate's car and listening to Casey Casum count down the top 20 from 1988 (love xm) and it was this beautiful misty red clouded sunrisey sort of morning. As I drove past the land preserve in Edgemont and was taking in the awesomeness of George Michael singing "Father Figure" (while I sang along in my horrible voice at the top of my lungs) and witnessed the beauty of where I live in the lovely foggy bright dawn moments.....I started crying! I felt positively overwhelmed ~ so grateful to be awake at 6 am, to be driving to my best friends home, to be healthy, to have pumped milk secured for my still sleeping baby in a bottle (that he takes!) to have a husband who was going to watch our children all morning so that I could run, to have won a free entry into the race, to have the luck and health and luxury of participating in events like I was about to....it was all just too wonderful. I thought about being 36 weeks pregnant on the day of this event last year, and thinking "that would be cool to do next year....." and here I was, doing it. I felt so, so lucky.

The race was awesome. The energy of 30,000 people was intoxicating. I felt high. I didn't even notice that I was running for most of it!

The thing that I remember most clearly was the 9 mile marker. I was running up the left side of the street, and there was this whole gaggle of little girls all dolled up and holding signs above their sweet little heads reading "GO MOMMY! YOU CAN DO IT!" and I promptly burst into tears. The sight of these sweet girls cheering on their Mama, (and every Mama, in my case) was just too much for me. I thought of my Julia, I thought of my Luke (who called me as I got out of the car in center city and told me to "win the race, Mama!") and I just felt so uplifted. I think that little girls who grow up watching or cheering for their Mama as she accomplishes her own goals (however trivial they may be) are lucky. Jules, those little girls (and you) served as my impetus for the sub 7 minute mile I clocked from mile 9-10. You drove me. I hope that you enact every single dream that you hold dear, my girl.

We had so.much.fun. I had a goal in mind (this was my first ever race of anything like this distance so I had no idea what to expect) and I beat it, so that thrilled me. We had a wonderful brunch with 15 post race runners/spouses afterwards, and I felt all glowy and happy and simply lucky. Some days are just perfect, and this was one of them.

I picked up some salmon at Hill's on the way home, and arrived home around 2 to find Nate relaxing on the couch as all three kids slept. I gushed on and on about the race, and was so happy to hear that they had watched it on TV looking for me. We had a wonderful night as a family, one of those nights where I just felt uniquely aware of all of the joy in my life and held them closely.

I never imagined myself as a runner, but that day I felt like one. The kids proudly trotted my medal around all night and talked about the race. I think that the reason that I run is to show them, in an easy and definable way, that exercise is awesome. That being strong is great. That it is okay to set goals (whether they are having a homebirth or running a race) and to simply do your best. Sometimes your best may not work out in the way you envisioned it, and sometimes it may work out beyond your wildest dreams.

The key is in believing. The key is in taking the risk. The key is hope, and faith, and trust. The key is also in acceptance, that sometimes the work is enough, not the result. On this day, the work paid off. And I am reveling in it.