My Big Baby Boy!

Tommy's Pediatrician Visit

Tommy had his 6 month pediatrician visit today. He is 17 pounds 6 ounces, which is the 45th percentile. I thought for sure he would be more like the 80th percentile. 17 pounds just doesn't do his thunder thighs justice! And he is 26.75 inches long which in the 50th percentile. So my little chunker is right on track.

#6 Life's Lesson's Learned While Running

When I began training for this marathon I thought a lot about the Word of Wisdom and the promises held in it. 

D&C 89: 3 Given for a principle with promise, adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be called saints. 20 And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.

I do believe that the Lord will bless the weakest of us if we obey his commandments. With that being said, I made a deal of sorts with the Lord. I promised that I would train as hard as I could in hopes of completing this marathon, and that He in return would bless me with the rest of what I will need to actually finish it.

I have always loved the promise he gives that we "shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint". But I have also realized that this promise is not just given to us. We have to do our part to be healthy and fit.

Often times when I think of the pioneers I know that many of them were recipients of this promise from the Lord. I have hoped that if my family were ever put in a similar situation that would be living a lifestyle healthy enough that I could "walk and not faint". That I would be a help to my family instead of a hindrance. 

And with these hopes, I am trying to rededicate myself to living the word of wisdom by what I put in my body and by staying physically active. We'll see how my coke and McDonald's addiction weighs out!

#5 Life's Lesson's Learned While Running

Don't eat Panda Express anytime soon before a run. Ugh...

St George Spectrum 10K

I ran a 10K this past weekend in St George with the Summer's family and had so much fun. They are the ones that got me motivated to run so it was fitting to run a race with them. The scenery was amazing and the weather was perfect. I am still a little sore from running but it was well worth it.

My time was 55:39.
I placed 26 of 73 in my age group
I placed 161 of 467 of female runners
and I placed 366 of 791 overall.

 That's me in the purple and white tank top third from the left.

 As Dan said, "Wow, it looks like you guys are having so much fun..." He just doesn't understand!

 This is me Liz and Hannah, upside-down, freezing as we waited for the race to start. We're not like the crazy runners who do a 6 mile warm up to get ready for their 6.2 mile race. We prefer to stand and shiver!

#4 Life's Lessons Learned While Running

If you don't have a spot to take your phone along for the run, don't put it in your sports bra. Especially if you plan on going 12 miles. I didn't realize until today that boob sweat is a real thing. I can't believe my phone still works after how wet it got...I know gross, right?!

#3 Life's Lessons Learned While Running

All things will rub.

I always wondered why people who run wear such expensive shoes, and socks, and pants, and shirts etc. And now I know. I have scabs and rashes to prove that the cheap stuff just doesn't cut it. I think if I ran shorter distances I might be ok, but at about 5 miles things start to hurt. So I will no longer judge runners when I see them in their expensive gear...because I'll be in mine too!

Tommy and the Walker

Sunday Brunch with The Cardall's

We had Dan's parents and grandparents come over for dinner the other night.They had not seen our new house yet so we thought we would have them down for a little bbq as well. We all had a ton of fun. Eddie and Tommy kept us entertained. Here are some pictures Nancy took...

 Tommy in Grandpa Al's hat

 Eddie eating dessert. Mmmmm chocolate cake! He gave up on the fork and just put his face into it instead.

 Tommy in Grandpa Al's hat.

 Eddie wearing Grandpa's hat and Great Grandma Nedra wearing Eddie's hat. 

He thought that was pretty funny.

 Just like his father!

 That is one handsome baby!

 Ok, I have 2 handsome babies!

Eddie standing at the window saying bye to everybody. And yes he is naked after the chocolate cake mess. He will stand at the window waving and saying bye until he can't see the car anymore. It is so cute!

#2 Life's Lessons Learned While Running

So I am running on the treadmill and the whole time I am thinking, "This sucks. I feel like I'm going to die. I need to go slower. Maybe I'll walk for awhile. I don't have time to walk, I need to pick up the kids. No way I'm going to make it 6 miles..." And then I think "Why am I even running. I don't even like to run. What am I doing to myself!"

And then I remember how good I feel after a run. And how good I feel at times during a run. Those times when my stride evens out, my breathing slows, my mind clears, and life is good. I even catch myself sometimes with a huge grin on my face. It is those moments I love.

Then I thought, how often while on the treadmill of life do we go along thinking similar negative thoughts? We rush about our day with 20 million things to do, places to be and deadlines to meet. Do we ever stop to take a breath and think "Life is good"?

I know that I am so guilty of this. I tell myself that life will be good once the kids are older, or when we buy a house and finally settle down, or when I finish broker school etc. We constantly delay the joy that could be in our life by always waiting for the next great thing.

So I have rededicated myself to finding the joy in my life. To love every run, every moment with my kids, every stage of development, every evening I get to share with my husband. Because that is what life is about, being in the moment and enjoying it! Life IS good!

Room Sharing

Eddie and Tommy have now officially shared a room for 2 weeks, and things have gone pretty well. I have held off on moving Tommy out of our room because I didn't want to mess with Eddie's sleep schedule. But I decided if I didn't just do it, it would never happen. For the first week, Eddie would stir when I would go in to feed the baby during the night. But now, he sleeps through feedings and anytime that Tommy cries.

Only on occasion will they keep each other awake. This most often happens when first going to bed. Tommy will cry, then when he finally stops, Eddie will scream to get him going again. This happens a couple of times before they will leave each other alone. But more often than not, I put them each in their cribs, tell them goodnight, and they go to sleep. It is wonderful!

Tommy still naps 3 times a day, so I schedule it so that his middle nap is at the same time as Eddie's one nap. This leaves me with usually 1.5-2 hours of "Get Stuff Done That I Can't Do With The Kids Around" time.  

And now I have my room back in case I want a nap, or need to do laundry, clean, shower etc.

#1 Life's Lessons Learned While Running

Yesterday as I was running, I took a much wider loop around Highland than I usually do because I needed to hit in 12 miles. I like to run by the Timpanogos Temple and it happens to be on a great running road. The first time I ran past it was 2 weeks ago and I approached it from the West side. As it came into my view at about mile 2, I realized that the temple sat on a hill that I was going to have to run up. The hill wasn't horrible, but I was so glad to make it to the top and enjoyed the beautiful view once I was there.

Yesterday, I approached it from the south. As I was running on the main road, it was a straight shot to the temple, however, there was a huge hill right before it. I watched the hill get closer and closer, and bigger and bigger. I was almost 5 miles in and thinking this is going to kill me. Especially since I had another 7 miles still to go.

But I started up the hill not changing my stride. About halfway up, and feeling like I was going to die, a biker crested over the top of the hill and came speeding toward me. Oh what I would have given to one, be on a bike, and two, be going downhill!

I may have been silently cursing this biker as I finally crested the hill, and there was the Temple. It got me thinking about how running is so much like our journey through life. Running is hard, life is hard. There are so many ups and downs, potholes and dead end trails. But the Temple is always in sight. However, it is usually at the top of a hill. Nothing about being worthy of the temple, or even attempting to attend the temple is easy. There is always an obstacle in our way. It can be temptations, bad habits, feeling unworthy, not having enough time, kids etc.

But what really matters is that we keep putting one foot in front of the other. That when those hills come, we keep our eye on the goal. We focus on what is on top of that hill, just past that trial. And we don't lessen our stride, but we push forward, knowing that it will all be worth it in the end.

Running Update

Well my goal of running a marathon is still on track. I am up to doing long runs of 12 miles and average 23 miles a week running 3-4 days. Since I started running I have run 109 miles. How crazy is that! I now feel that a half marathon is well within my reach, but I still struggle with the idea of a full marathon. At the end of running 12 miles yesterday I was not feeling so hot. I have a hard time imagining how I could run another 14.2 miles on top of it. But I keep reminding myself that when I started running in November, I couldn't even run for a full 20 minutes. And now, I can run for close to 2 hours. I figure if I keep training hard, I will get there.

Nothing about running has been easy, but I enjoy the alone time so much. I read somewhere that running a marathon isn't about actually running a marathon, it's about the miles you do in preparation. And I totally agree. I look forward to the next 10 weeks of training as I will hopefully reach my goal of running a marathon at the end of it!

Tommy is Mobile!

This past Wednesday I had Jeni Walton watch the boys while I met with my broker for about an hour. When I went to pick up the kids, she commented on how crazy it is that Tommy is rolling over so well. I said, What do you mean? So she laid him down on his back and he flipped right over onto his stomach like he had been doing for months. I couldn't even believe it! He has been getting onto his side over the last week, but hadn't been able to make it all the way over onto his stomach. But not anymore! You can't get him to stay on his back now.

Tommy has even figured out how to roll over with both arms swaddled to his sides. He won't sleep unless he's swaddled, but sometimes he'll squirm when you put him to bed until he is on his side or his stomach. Then he gets really mad if he ends up on his stomach with no arms. That's when I have to go in and roll him back over. Silly kid!