Week 1

I made it through the first of week of training! Yea for me. I ran on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. I did the elliptical on Friday morning since it was very stormy. I did an endurance setting that was really hard to try and make up for it. I also went to Zumba again! It's a lot of fun. I'm so glad there aren't any mirrors there because I am pretty sure I look quite ridiculous doing it. Thanks for talking me into it, Steph!

Anyway, hopefully I can keep it up this week. I am coming down with a cold so I'm sure it will take some extra oomph to get going in the morning. I like blogging about this. It will hold me accountable.

I've done something crazy...

I've committed to running in the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay race in June with Joe's family. This will require me to step up my current exercise plan from 2x/week (on a good week!--that's right, I've been failing in my New Year's resolution) to 4x/week. And, I want to actually run (I've been using the elliptical) so that will mean I can't just stick a movie on for the kids mid-morning--I'll have to get up early. We'll see how this goes. I am hoping the race will be sufficient motivation for me. It's been so long since I've either consistently exercised or consistently gotten up early, let alone both together!

Day 1: 5:45am. Success!

17 months

Nathaniel is now 17 months old. Only a month away from 1 1/2! I can't believe it. He is finally starting to talk a little bit more. His current favorite word is "peesh" (please). He has definitely figured out how to get his way in this family and that is to go up to one of his family members and say "peesh" in this soft little high-pitched voice. He's got us all wrapped around his finger. Elizabeth especially is a sucker for his "peesh" and will give him pretty much anything she has, no matter how beloved by her. Yesterday, Joe got the girls balloons for Valentine's Day and forgot to get one for Nate. Elizabeth basically gave hers to him even though I could see in her face what it was costing her. She wrote "Elizabeth and Nate" on it and let him play with it. It was so sweet.

(Sidenote: In case you're wondering about Natalie, she will give up pretty much anything for Elizabeth. Just the other day she had set the table for dinner all by herself and she was going to sit in a certain chair. Elizabeth threw a fit and cried about this arrangement. I wouldn't budge. It was about time for Natalie to get to choose where she she wanted to sit! Natalie suddenly says "OK, we can change it", and happily moves everything about. I told her she didn't have to and she said, "I want to!" I was actually angry about this until I decided to calm down and let Natalie be a peacemaker if that's what she wants.)

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Nate is talking more. When he's in the mood, he will try to repeat things we say. He has even said some prayers now. In addition to "peesh" he says, "Mama, ball, Dada, Na-Na (Natalie), bubble, whoa, uh-oh (more like "eh-oo") and "da-ya" for bye-bye, and also thank you.

I think the reason he isn't talking more is that he has perfected the art of non-verbal communication. It's quite amazing, actually. For instance, if he wants to watch a show he will either point at the TV while looking at me and nod his head up and down, or go sit on the couch with his blanket and point at the TV. If he's hungry or thirsty he will come up to me and say "peesh" and then start walking toward the kitchen and make sure I'm following him. I ask him questions of things he might want and he either nods his head yes or whines for no.

Don't get me wrong--it's not all peaceful communication around here. Frequently he decides to experiment with his awful raptor-shriek to get what he wants (all of our kids have done this--that's what we named it when Elizabeth was little). We do our best to ignore that and respond to the "peesh".

A sad thing happened recently to little Nate. The tag on his blanket that he loved so dearly finally fell off. It was hanging by a thread. He would always find the tag and put it up by his face while he sucked his thumb with his blankie. When we laid him down in bed, he would rotate the blanket around until he found it. He brought it to me the other day, unattached. What did I do with it? Took a picture to remember it by and then threw it in the garbage....

The sad remains of the tag:

It was actually quite heartbreaking that day when I put him down for his nap and he just kept rotating his blanket around and around. I think he has adjusted to it, now, though. :)

Here's a little video I got of him doing his cow sound and saying "peesh". I love how he lifts up his chin and sticks out his lips when he says "moo". You'll have to excuse my wiping of his nose with my finger. Gross, I know. What can I say, I'm a mom. That boy does not stop drooling either. I think it's because of his huge mouth. It doesn't even bother me anymore but occasionally I get a glimpse of what that looks like to other people who aren't his parents and I remember to take care of it better...

Wow, I'm rambling today. The video:

I am such a sucker for that boy. He is going to be so spoiled if I keep this up but I can't help myself. :)

Valentines

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

-Shakespeare's Sonnet CXVI

I have this sonnet framed on the dresser in our room. I bought the print at Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon when I went with my sister a few years ago. I love this sonnet. In fact I even had it memorized during the first few months of Nate's life. The only way we could get him to fall asleep for a time was to strap him in his car seat and swing the seat back and forth. So, I would use the dresser to brace myself with one hand and swing the seat with the other while reading this poem.

It describes so beautifully what love is to me: constant, steady and loyal. Love endures, despite adverse circumstances. Of course love is not merely an emotion. It requires action--constant nuturing through acts of kindness and consideration. So, for love to be constant, those actions must be constant.

I'm thankful for a husband who lives this principle. I'm thankful for a love strong and steady enough to build a family and a life on.

I'm thankful for my valentines...Happy Valentine's Day!

Six Years Old

We had a birthday around here. Elizabeth is now 6. Crazy. We had a little family celebration on her actual birthday and we're also having extended family over this weekend. I think she had a fun birthday.

First off, she decided that she wanted to decorate her own cake this year. She was nice enough to let us use the leftover cupcakes from the pinewood derby the day before as her cake. We made more cupcakes on Monday to take to her class so we definitely have had our fill of cupcakes around here!

Anyway, here is her masterpiece:
We had her birthday dinner request of "mummy dogs", a couple of "heart dogs" (she saw it in the magazine) and red pepper strips. Now I won't need to eat a hot dog again for another few years. The kids loved it. After that it was present time....

I couldn't resist this one after how much we all loved it when we discovered it recently:

She got the two main things on her list this year---a journal:

...and a CTR (Choose the Right) necklace (from Natalie):

Playing with her gift from Nate:

Joe and I admitted to each other last night that we have both read Elizabeth's journal. She has already written 3 or 4 times. I just have to say it is the cutest thing ever. I know--we are terrible. We promise we'll stop soon. Maybe when her spelling improves. It is just too cute right now.

After that it was cake time...

Intently watching Daddy do his lassoing-the-top-of-the-match trick:

I sure love this girl:

We have our struggles at times. Poor oldest children. Your parents have no idea what they are doing and overreact to everything because it's the first time they've dealt with it. Really, we just need to calm down and remember that she is barely 6. She is little. She is learning.

She is also incredibly kind, loving, helpful and happy. She wants to do what's right (hence the strong desire for a necklace to go along with her CTR ring!). She loves her little sister and brother and is the best big sister either of them could ask for. She genuinely cares about other people and goes out of her way to make friends with kids that might need a friend. She knows the names of every single person in her class and we get to hear about pretty much all of them every day. She is LOVING the social aspect of school. I don't really know much about what she is learning academically because she only tells me bits and pieces about that. Here is a sample conversation:
Mom: What did you do in school today?
Elizabeth: We had a math test today.
M: Really? On what?
E: I don't remember. Guess what? Keylan was chasing Mazzy today, and Mazzy was chasing me! And Jimmy said this funny thing during calendar time. And Jace got in trouble for...
(at this point I usually give the old "if you can't say something nice" spiel)

You get the idea. Don't worry. She is learning, too (at least a little bit).

She is such a blessing to me. I am so thankful for her patience with me.

Dear Elizabeth,

I love...
-the way you use hand-gestures when you talk
-the way you always say that you don't ever want to move out, even when you get married :)
-the way your laughs just burst out of you sometimes
-you--just the way you are!

Love, Mom