Busy Bee

I have felt so crazy busy lately! I am easing into the role of high school counselor at the online school that I work for, but while doing that I'm still doing the data entry that I've been doing all school year. Add to that a toddler, exercise classes, a house to clean, my friend's upcoming wedding, various appointments, and the newest bundle of joy in our family, and you've got one hectic mama.

Mikey was a big helper during one of my conference calls this week.

Somehow I managed to squeeze in making it to the picture appointment that my mom had set up for Amelia. Here she is trying to rearrange the seats at the studio in order to make them a proper toddler jungle gym:

 See the intense look she makes when trying to accomplish something? Cracks me up every time.

I was also able to go help my cousin with Mr. Max a couple days this week and it was, of course, terrific. I love his baby cuddles and his round head covered in peach fuzz. I could just eat him up!

Amelia was my little helper and was generally very good. She had a bit of a rough time the second day, but right before we left the house, I discovered why-- her first molar has finally popped through. Well, most of it. There is still a bit of gum tissue that it needs to push through and it seems to be causing her a fair amount of pain. Generally she has no problems when teething except for a bit of difficulty sleeping or a little whining, but she had so much discomfort Tuesday night that we had to give her a dose of Motrin and a popsicle before bed. It did not, however, prevent her from practicing her chess moves while we were helping with the baby, which I think thoroughly pleased my husband since he is a big fan of chess.

My favorite, the 'cheese!' look :)

And that pretty much concludes my week! So glad tomorrow is Friday. I'm looking forward to trying out my new kayak Saturday afternoon and celebrating my friend's upcoming wedding at her bachelorette party that evening. Good times! :)

My Big Surprise

No, I'm not pregnant, so if you read the title and that was your guess, sorry to disappoint!


Yesterday was one of those days where everything grated on my nerves. The day started with Amelia waking up at 4 a.m. and unable to fall back to sleep. Luckily I was able to rearrange my day by starting work by 5:30 so I could nap when she got tired at 8:30 a.m. When I woke up, I felt better and thought the day would improve.


It did. But not for, oh, seven more hours.


Jon and I could not communicate on any kind of civil or understandable level. You know those conversations where neither of you can say anything right? Yeah, it was like that. Then, this happened:

Long story short, the state bought a sliver of land from us to widen the curved road in front of our house. They were supposed to take down a tree, but apparently the tree fell the wrong way and knocked down the limbs on the tree above. I was not in the mood for this and walked out on to the porch to glare at the workers.

Luckily, I have a silly little girl who is pretty good at brightening my mood:

I got through the rest of the day of work with no big plans for the evening. Jon had mentioned he had a potential surprise for me, but after our bickering in the morning, I asked him not to do anything special for me.

He didn't listen, and I'm glad. This was the surprise:

My own kayak! I'm so excited! Jon bought his own with his Christmas money, and although I was planning on getting own with some of our tax refund, I had started to decide against it. I rationalized that we have too many bills, too many things that need repair, all of those boring adult things. Apparently he had found it for sale online a couple months ago, and he had planned on it being my Valentine's Day gift. It took a while to be shipped for some reason, though, hence me getting it now. It couldn't have happened on a better day.


Some girls prefer diamonds, and those are nice. But I prefer kayaks :)

A Mobile Family

Probably the biggest event in our household in the last few days has been this:

It's maybe not a traditional crawl, but my daughter has definitely figured out to get herself moving on all fours. As my cousin said, that military crawl clearly demonstrates that her father is a marine. Part of me is thrilled. Part of me is sad. Part of me is tired just watching her. And a large part thinks I'm in for big trouble.

Amelia is not the only one on the move. I shared recently that I've gotten into running again. Inspired by my friend who has been running many races for the past year or so and Tina's blog, I've signed up for a five mile race. FIVE MILES. Initially, I thought I must have lost my mind. I've never run five miles, even when I was twenty pounds smaller and had  a pre-baby body. But I bit the bullet and registered, and so on August 19th I'll be running my first race. This has really pushed me to quickly build up my distance, and yesterday I ran 4.5 miles. Without stopping. This has me feeling like a kick ass mommy. It has Molly feeling like a tired pooch:

I never thought I'd outrun her, but she is generally lagging behind by the three mile mark. I suspect she will be more energetic about my new endeavor this fall when it cools off. After all, I'm not running with a fur coat on. And, don't let this picture fool you-- she loves our morning run. Follows me around all morning with pleading eyes, goes in circles while I'm putting on my tennis shoes, and heaven forbid if we have to skip a day. Those days she is on my heels all day, as if I've clearly forgotten my priorities in life and she is reminding me that taking her running should be on the top of the list.

And so, Amelia is crawling, Molly and I are running... I can't leave out my husband. He has recently started kayaking with some of his friends and been insistent that we also take a trip down the river together this summer. I've been dragging my feet about this, mostly because I experience a little anxiety about leaving Amelia for long periods of time. It's not because I don't trust those that care for her. It's because she won't drink pumped milk. And, she's a fussy little pain in the butt for other people. This was important to Jon, though, and I do love outdoor activities, so I made plans for my parents to watch Amelia. This was especially nice since we went during the weekend of our fifth wedding anniversary.

We had a pretty good time until the end, when we were delayed by a thunderstorm and I completely freaked out about being away from our daughter for so long. This has solidified that although I'm sad that she is almost out of baby stage and into toddlerhood, I am excited about her not being dependent on me for her nutritional needs.

That aside, it was a terrific trip. We actually were able to have adult conversation without having to bounce, change, feed, calm, rock, or nurse a baby. Jon also had hidden a bottle of wine, cheese and crackers, and a blanket in his kayaking pack so we could have a short romantic picnic on one of the islands along the way. Surprises are not one of Jon's fortes, and so I was shocked and touched by this gesture. We also saw a bald eagle roosting right above us as we paddled. Utterly majestic. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we are considering buying our own kayaks when we have the funds to do so.

Wow... we have all really been on the move lately! Just writing about it has me thinking about an afternoon nap....