Soaring Wings Half Marathon

Just taking a minute to share a quick "Hooray!" This picture was taken at the Soaring Wings Half Marathon here in Conway this past weekend. Adam's sister Morgan trained and finished her first half marathon! Woo hoo! I am so proud of her! Huge accomplishment!

This was the first half I have done since having Gracie. Training this time around was different---but in a good way. I was telling my friend Stephanie when we were running the other day I've felt an added pressure/challenge this time around. I don't know if it is the idea of really making my training time count, or just the thought of giving birth in the last year allowing for no excuses to not challenge my mind and body in new ways, but I definitely felt like I needed to kick it up a notch.

Before I had Grace I did 3 half marathons, all for the fun of it. I really just enjoyed the social aspect of training with a group, and the accomplishment of just completing 13.1 miles. But about a month ago I decided I wanted to set a new PR (personal record) for this race. Thankfully I had a few good friends who were willing to meet me at 5am for some challenging training runs and it all payed off! My original goal was 2:05 (my PR up until now was 2:13)....but somehow I managed to kick it up and complete the race in 1:58:50. Definitely the hardest thing I've ever done. Yes, there were parts that hurt worse than labor. But then again the pain of this race is a little fresher on my mind than labor last year :)

Anyway--just wanted to share--its been a hard few months of training and for now, I'm happy with the new PR. My blisters, and stress fractured foot are looking forward to some time off. Thank you to my hubby for not complaining when my alarm went off at 4:30am 3 days a week. And praise the Lord that He has blessed me with a healthy body that is capable of doing some amazing things.

"She's berry sweet and oh so fun....Grace Elizabeth is turning ONE!!"

Well here we are....one year after Grace Elizabeth changed our lives forever! I know every mother says this about each of her children,but she really is the most amazing creature ever. It is so fun watching her learn and grow each day. She is the funniest, happiest, busiest, little girl I know. Here are some of my favorite things she is doing as of lately:

Gracie is working really hard on growing some "toofies" as we like to call them. (Don't act like you don't have silly words like these!) She currently has 2 on top, and 2 on bottom. She is getting better with her finger foods. Her favorite things (which she will feed herself) are cheese, ham, turkey, fruit cereal bars, and graham crackers. She enjoys, but doesn't like to feed herself, peas, green beans, carrots, and baked apples. She really isn't particular about what she eats, thankfully. We are still doing several purees just because she can't chew very well and has a very sensitive gag reflex. Not so fun. I am praying a few extra teeth will help with this. We are working on transitioning to a sippy cup. She likes to drink water from one, but is not thrilled about milk. She plays with it when we try the milk instead of trying to drink it. So I am just being patient and focusing on working on our table manners right now. Losing the bottle can come later. Don't judge. :)

Gracie can say ma-ma, da-da, bye bye, uh-oh, go, hey, and she shakes her head "no", but hasn't said it yet. I am thankful for this because little miss independent is probably going to tell me "no" a lot.

Speaking of independent....she is crawling EVERYWHERE!!! And walking in her walker. She can hold onto the couch and walk back and forth. I am waiting on her to let go any day and step to something else. She walks on her tippy toes a lot, so I don't think she's going to be really walking anytime soon. But she loves to hold your hands and pretend she can. Those little legs can't seem to go fast enough for her! She loves to dance and sing. She coos with me when I sing to her, which I love.

She is such a joy to be around. Always smiling, laughing, and jabbering about something. My absolute favorite thing she does is "give loves". She is not a super cuddly baby at all. But every now and then she will lay her head down on my shoulder, leg, whatever she is close to, and say "ooooooooo". She also does this to her babies, animals, and yes, even her sippy cup. Amazing how we don't have to teach them this. She's never seen me "love" a cup. Unless it had a milkshake in it, maybe ;)

Here are some pictures from her birthday party. It was a vintage Strawberry Shortcake party. She played outside in the wagon most of the day. And her favorite part of the party was when we all sang happy birthday to her. She looooved all the attention. She still is not a fan of cake, which I am NOT complaining about. It was such a fun day. We felt so blessed to be able to share the celebration of our special little girl's first year of life with our family and a few close friends. I thank God everyday for choosing us to be her parents. Such an honor!