An Abundance of Blessing

Today is dedicated to me and my kids. I love them so much but there are days I wonder why the heck I had 1, much less 2! This morning while Joel and Hannah were gone for a few hours, I took some time and just played with Noah. I got down on the floor with him and we played peek-a-boo, rolled a ball back and forth, and chased after each other. Hearing his giggles and excitement made me remember how blessed I am to have 2 beautiful children. It seems like every time I watch the news or get on the internet news sites, there are stories of abuse and neglect. It angers me. How could anyone look at their child and want to harm them? There are moments in every parent's life when their child pushes all the right buttons and you can feel your patience run out. I've had many of those moments. Still, I'm so blessed to be their mother.

Here are some things the kids have done recently:

~Noah is walking! He looks like a drunk sailor but he gets around. He falls constantly to there is always a little bruise in the same spot on his forehead.

~Hannah insists she wants to grow up and be a boy. When asked why, she responds that she wants to be like daddy. It's cute.

~Noah got mad the other day because the toy he wanted was stuck between the fridge and cabinet. When I got it out for him, he put it on the floor and pushed it right back where it was, then clapped.

~Noah is taking a Kindermusik class this summer. Most of the kids are still pretty clingy to their mommies. Not Noah. That boy crawls right up to the teacher and grins waiting for her to start an activity or music. He's a little social butterfly.

~Hannah has been watching Barbie movies lately. (Thanks Piper for getting her hooked on those!) She likes to run around the living room pretending like she's the dragon from one of the movies.

All in all, I'm completely blessed and so fortunate to have 2 amazing kids and a wonderful husband. We have our bad days but luckily we're still trudging through.

Update on the 5K training...

I've been "in training" now for about 6 weeks. The training is set up that at the end of 9 weeks, you should be able to run a 5K. Ok, whatever. In reality, it's going to take a little while longer than that. That being said...it's going well! I still can't say I love running. I don't. I don't see myself ever loving running. But it's such a stress reliever and it's a sense of accomplishment that I can even run at all. I'm up to 2 miles now. It's funny to remember the start of the training when I had to run 60 seconds at a time and I thought I was going to die. :) Just goes to show that I have no sense of my own mortality.

I've also started doing kick-boxing at the Y twice a week. On those days, I run first then head straight to kick-boxing class. By the time class is out, I'm sweaty, tired, and stinky. Hannah likes to tell me I need a shower. Believe me, I know I smell after working out that long.

The kids are doing well. Noah's molars are so close to breaking through and he's a bit on the fussy side. Ok, A LOT of the fussy side. Luckily, the fussiness comes in waves. He's still a happy boy most of the time. Hannah loves watching Barbie movies, which is hysterical to me. She'll go around the living room and recite lines from whichever movie she watched. She likes to pretend she's a dragon and make Joel be the witch from one of the movies. Joel actually does a good job! He's very multi-talented. :)

Noah is walking...falling...walking...falling

Noah has been cruising the furniture for months now. We really thought he'd be walking by the time he turned 1. Nope, he was perfectly happy to crawl very fast and walk only when holding on to something. So last week, my family came into town. Salli and her family were staying with us and my parents came over to hang out and play with the kids. All week Noah had seemed like he was really ready to go. All of a sudden, he gets up and walks! He took 4 steps completely on his own! We clapped and cheered for him. He thought that was pretty cool so he got up and walked again. Then he fell on his butt...and clapped for himself. It was cute. That became a game for him. Get up, walk, fall on butt, clap....over and over again. The most he walked was 11 steps. He's getting better though. This morning he walked across the living room but had to make a couple pit stops along the way. He never fell over, just had to pause and balance himself. He gets a huge grin on his face when he realizes he's mobile. My life will never be the same! He's already into absolutely everything! It's nearly impossible for me to keep my house clean. As soon as the kids realize there aren't any toys out, they immediately go to the toy box and search until they find their favorite toy. Of course the discarded toys don't go back in the toy box very quickly. :)

Hannah is in VBS this week at a local church. She is really liking it! Our church does VBS also but it starts at age 5 and it's in the evenings anyway, which doesn't really work for her. This VBS starts at age 4 and it's in the mornings at the perfect time. I can drop her off, go work out (putting Noah in the awesome Y childcare) then go home, put Noah to bed while I shower and get ready, then go back and pick Hannah up. We're home in time for lunch then she's down for a nap. She's exhausted by the time we get home at noon so she's ready for a nap. It's a hard thing when this other church has so much to offer for her age group. We love our current church but I really wish the child care was a little different. We're torn. We want the best for our kids. Why does being a parent mean you have to make hard decisions? That's my question for the day :)

On a happier note, I'm doing quite well with the Couch to 5K training. I'm on week 5 now which means by the end of this week, I should be able to jog 2 miles straight without stopping to walk. Ugh, we'll see how that goes! I haven't actually fallen off the treadmill yet but I've come pretty close!