Alaina's first 5k!

Though we finished with snow flurries, it was a beautiful morning to run!
The sun was peeking through the clouds, it was a little on the chilly side but just barely....perfect day to get out with my girls!

This is what I look like with no makeup and less than 5 hrs of sleep.  Sweet.

There is a local charity in our little community called the Cupcake Charity.  It is behind some local events used to raise money for families in our community who are going through some big struggles.  Last October was the inaugural event, the Cupcake 5k.  That was Malia's first 5k.  I am a lame-o and never blogged it.  (bad mom)  So look-here's a picture from that!

Whew!  Guilt averted.  a little.
Since Aaron was MCing/DJing that event and I was helping out with logistics (and making sure we didn't lose any children), Malia ran it mostly on her own.  There were some friends of ours running a pace close to hers, so she wasn't completely alone, but she did a fabulous job, especially since she'd never run longer than about a mile before.

She was excited to make a comeback today and has run with me a few times to get ready for it.

Her goal was to go faster than her last 5k, which she would have done if some of her friends hadn't shown up.  and then complained that they were too tired and running was too hard.  And then had her carry their camelback pack.  (seriously?!)  Being the kind girl she is she walked with them for a bit or she would have crushed her previous time of just over 36 minutes.  But even all that considered, she came in at almost the exact same time this morning, coming in at 36:17.
It is more impressive when you also factor in that before her friends (I'm so tempted to say "friends" is that mean?) came along with a mile left in the course, she actually took a turn running with the double stroller for a bit while I was helping Alaina along when she was having a hard time.  Since the stroller with two kids in it weighs about what she does, that's pretty impressive!

And of course, as the title mentioned, this morning was Alaina's first 5k.  She was SO excited!  Until about a mile and a half in.  Poor kid.  She really struggled for that middle mile, actually in tears for a bit at mile two.  That's where Malia took over the stroller so I could hold Alaina's hand while she ran.
It was actually kind of a nice break as the girls had taken to holding on to the stroller to keep our pace.  Look at this:

Yeah....running with a stroller can be a challenge.  Running with the stroller and a nine year old and twelve year old PULLING the stroller back in hopes of the stroller pulling them along?  I do not recommend it.

(I take good arial shots while running!)

Alaina's mp3 player had died just a few minutes in to the run, so I gave her my ipod.  Apparently all the girl needs is a distraction.  She was bugged that I had skipped around till I found the song Don't Give Up (Eagle-Eye Cherry) before I handed it to her.  Ha!  Hey, it did go over better than me jogging backward and telling her to "come on!  you can do this!  keep up!  Stop saying 'I can't'!"

Once she had the music in?  She finished at a 9 min/mile pace.

I'm pretty sure I could get a 30min 5k out of that girl at her next one in June.  I'll just have to plug her in I guess.

And since it was for Cupcake Charity, of course we supported the bake sale.

Charli deserved a little treat after being pushed around when it was cold enough that her eyes were watering and her little fingers were frozen even after being under the blankets.

  I am happy to report that my knee was fabulously cooperative this morning.  We'll see if it holds true as I go hit the treadmill here in a few minutes.  Because I'm feeling like a wimp and don't want to run in the snow Aaron is off doing school projects and I don't want to subject my littles to the cold since they've already had a stroller run today.

Gotta love snow and tulips.  Thanks Spring.

Dear Body,

What the heck?

I've been nicer to you.  Fueling you well.  Lots of fruits and veggies and healthy meals and snacks....and I didn't go back and buy more sixlets after that binge.  Even though they are like crack in a little candy shell and Aaron loves finding the little wrappers strewn about the house.

I've been getting more sleep.  Well, ok, I've been trying.  If I'm up past 11:30 I've been forgoing the 5:15 workout and sleeping in till 6 before I get up and get started.  See?  I'm trying!

I've been wrapping the knee.  The dreaded knee.  Granted it took me too long to figure out that my ITB issues were due to misalignment, but the fabulous chiropractor is working his magic.  If I promise not to wait three weeks in between visits during running season again will you pretty pretty please promise not to seize up again?  It is very awkward for you to just randomly stop working during a run.  I will also be willing to tone down the speed work (though seeing a 7 in the minute place was exciting, even if it was only by 13 seconds) if you promise to hold up.  Just give me 6 more weeks to get through the planned races and we'll reevaluate at that point.  Though I would be really happy if you will still allow me a faster than 9 minute pace, I will take what I can get.

If I promise to hydrate better, can we please nix the creepy tingly arm issue?  In theory this is circulation related and better hydration will help.  You have my word that I will not run longer than 10 miles without water anymore.
Maybe that will also solve the horrid side-ache issue that you've been throwing at me lately?

Oh, it would also be fabulous if you would let me see results from all the core work.  Not immediately, but if within another month I could please see a tad bit more definition and a tad bit less extra padding, I'd be thrilled.  Extra core work + cardio + better eating should equal results.  Don't fail me now!

Sincerely,

ready and waiting to ice, massage and baby you on through if you'll cooperate....

Easter

Despite my procrastination, I did get my girls' clothes done.
Phew!
Malia's:

and Alaina's:

Not too shabby for one late night, a Saturday afternoon, and no patterns.

The real trick is always getting pictures of the kids in their clothes.
Wait, let me rephrase that.
The real trick is always getting GOOD pictures of the kids in their clothes.

Once everyone is dressed and ready for church we have the traditional quest for a group picture.

Most of them turn out like this:

Or this:

or this:

Or my favorite, attempting to solve Charlotte's spit bubble fascination/runny nose combo:

(yes, those are hot rollers.  Yes I leave them in till seconds before I walk out the door.)

But we do get a few pretty close shots:

Taylor is finally getting over his issues with cameras and can actually keep his eyes open now.  Granted he looks like he's in pain, but it's better than the squinting and cries of "it's too bright!" despite the fact that we are indoors and seconds earlier he was absolutely fine.
Malia on the other had is in a solemn pose phase.  In addition to channeling her inner 40 year old.  Again.  Or more appropriately, still.
She begged me to borrow some pearls "because it's Easter and Easter is a special day and they are dressy and nice!", so I relented and helped her out with the pearls.  It resulted in a very June Cleaver look.  Which left me wondering why I didn't make myself an identical dress.....  Maybe in a different pattern.

Hey, June is highly underrated.
My siblings felt I was going for the June homage in my outfit too.  I'm very much liking polkadots still.
(also, note the turquoise and red together!  ha!)

And of course there is my happy Sam:

Prior to the photo attempts we woke up to a beautiful sunny day-the grass is SO green, the flowers are beautiful...it was so very perfectly Easter!  We had a late breakfast of crepes and a nice long conversation about what Easter is all about.  It's kind of fun to have kids take an active role in those conversations and share their thoughts and feelings on those wonderful things.

We did of course to the basket (well, bucket) thing too.

Aaron looked pained trying to figure out who belonged to what because I procrastinated too much to get names on the buckets.  But if I do that next week I'm not late for this year, just super early for next year.
You know, like the fact that we didn't dye any of those eggs I boiled....I didn't drop the ball, just allowing the joy of Easter to continue for a few more days.  Right?

Charlotte shared her OCD tendencies by creating a color coded mosaic of jelly beans.

Sam got some adorable new shoes.

(ok, the shoes were for me.  he didn't care.)

Lincoln is working on being a poser.

After a fabulous afternoon at church, we spent the evening at my parents' house with my family.  My Dad did cute baskets for all the kids, Charlotte is still toting hers around while with a sing-song voice saying "Pomps Ba-ket!  Pomps E-ter Ba-ket!"
The only pictures I ended up with last night were of Sam and my cutie patootie nephew Cole.

And since Cole is constantly on the run, most of the pictures of him ended up like this:

I did get some FABULOUS video of my older brother and my sister playing Just Dance.  But I promised her I wouldn't put that on the blog.  I'll have to find some other way to share the love.

Hope your Easter was beautiful and wonderful!

It sounds like the setup to a bad joke....

A former NFL player and a Bishop are driving down the road.....

Last night I went out for a quick run.  It was short, but it actually was quick for me!  I kicked things up a notch at the end, logging my later miles faster than normal, 8:25 and then 8:11 pace for my last .75 miles.  Go me!

The path I took put me crossing the street a few times.

Which brings me to that football player and the Bishop.  My friend and my Bishop!
Driving down the road.
Seeing me running into the crosswalk.  At which point my Bishop was offered dinner if he ran me over.

Hmmm.....apparently it's been too long since I made Ifo a cheesecake?

A year ago

I'm one of those people who remembers numbers, dates....events.
Which means there is a whole lot of remembering going on right now.

Crazy sometimes how time flies.

I can't believe it's been a year...and yet it seems like forever ago.

A year ago I was moving on from a whirlwind of a lot of numbers.  Some "events" I hadn't ever planned on.

A year ago I had already had my big ultrasound.  I didn't know it would be the first of many.
A year ago I was blissfully pregnant, taking these pictures to share with our family and friends to announce that #8 was on the way, that we would be adding a baby boy to our family.

I took them that afternoon right after returning home from that first ultrasound, after having stopped for some egg rolls on the way home.  I was still sick and hadn't eaten anything since early that morning, the breakfast of champions and pregnant women with strange cravings- Lucky Charms.  So of course egg rolls seemed the natural thing at 4pm.

The phone rang while I was taking them.

I could never have imagined how instantly and overwhelmingly sick I would feel to hear my midwife call me and say "Catey, can you come to my office?  We really need to talk and I don't want to do it over the phone.  There is something wrong with your baby.  Something is wrong with his brain."

That afternoon will always haunt me.  Having to call Aaron and tell him that something was wrong, but I didn't know exactly what, and that I needed him to meet me at my midwife's office was awful.  I was a mess.

A year ago I'd had an amniocentesis performed-something else I'd never planned and always been quite adamant about avoiding.  I'd waited two full long weeks to hear back about it.

A year ago we chose a name for our baby.  We had a lot of difficult conversations.  We faced a world of unknowns.

A year ago I Googled till I couldn't handle reading anymore.  Then I'd go lay in bed while my mind spun.  Then I'd do it again the next night when the house was quiet and everyone else was asleep.

A year ago I tried to decide if it would be easier to lose a baby at 5 months pregnant, or 7 months pregnant or after it was born.

A year ago I cried myself to sleep entirely too often.

A year ago I learned a lot about who I am.  I learned a lot about my husband, about our marriage.  I was-and am-very grateful for a strong, stable, happy marriage.

A year ago life went on, the world kept turning even though some days it felt like it was all standing still.  I got really good at putting on a happy face no matter what else was going on.

A year ago I walked out of multiple dr appointments with dire predictions, and found myself drawn to all the signs of Spring-the trees budding, the grass greening, tulips blooming....and found hope in the life waking up all around me.

A year ago I felt brave enough to make my baby a blanket, not knowing if I'd ever wrap him in it.

I didn't understand how complete the joy I'd feel would be when I did get to.   How amazing it would still feel all these months later.

A year ago I didn't dare dream that we'd be so lucky.  So blessed.  That my arms would be full of this beautiful, amazing, happy baby boy.

It's about time!

You know, since my eighth child is now eight months old.

The new header is finally up.

Yes, I have a freakish amount of dirty socks that pile up every single week.


Oh, and while on the subject of a new look....someone was telling me today that the turquoise/red combo is awful and I must change it.  Is it that bad?  Do I need a change?

Back in the Speedo again

The bad news is that I did not magically become a better swimmer by not getting in a pool for nearly two years.  Who'd have thought?
Yes, aside from a couple of trips to the local rec center for some birthday dates with the kids to play in the 'leisure' pool, I have not been swimming since my last triathlon.

No, the open water swim didn't traumatize me that much.

Close, but not quite.

I am just so NOT a swimmer.

Thankfully even though that is true, and I actually was talking myself into just avoiding swimming altogether until my tri next month and just seeing how I did day of, I actually enjoyed myself last night.

Even better than enjoying it, there is some good news.  My swim bottoms are officially too big.  Yes that made for some awkward swimming (YES they did stay on!  Though there were some iffy moments.  Maybe that's why the guy in the lane next to me kept trying to make small talk?), but who doesn't want to find that their bottom half has shrunk?  Good deal.

Also, and perhaps just as exciting as needing a smaller suit, my time was much better than I expected!  Last time around I expected to do the swim at this particular tri in about 9-9 1/2 minutes, and ended up thrilled with a finish time of 7:49.  Last night my times were 7:17 and 7:07!  I like 7's.  This means I will feel confident enough to line up in the 7:00 area this year, whereas last time I lined up in the 9:30-10:00 group.  Yes I added to what I thought I might swim in....I figured it would be better to pass than be passed.  And I did.  And it was.

And when the back half of the line on the side of the pool looks like this:

Lining up earlier means standing there waiting a whole lot less!

Now I suppose I should actually get back in the saddle again. That would require that I pull the bike down off the garage ceiling....where it has been since the one time I rode it last year.  Hey, pregnancy doesn't lend to a lot of bike riding.  This is where I start thinking that I should not have dismissed that "I should get a trainer thought" constantly for the past year and a half.  Oh well, maybe I'll get to the bike next week.  You know, since it's snowing today.  again.

By the numbers: Eight

"Say eight!  Say eight!"  

(a little something for you Brian Regan fans)

(he sees the humor in that, I promise.)

Eight

Eight beautiful blessed miraculously marvelous months. 

Love.

One brand new little tooth last week.

(also do you see those eyelashes?!)

That tooth makes him clench his jaw like this:  

And then I die from the cuteness.

And then he does this:

And this:

And I die again.

Almost Four amazing minutes as he sat by himself.

That's about three and a half minutes longer than he could do it last week.  Yay!

Even recovering from this little off balance moment without falling. 

He was so pleased with himself.

Ten deliciously perfect toes, five of which are frequently in his mouth. 

Two beautiful eyes

15.6 pounds of sweetness and joy....

....and a little bit of fakey crying cranky boy when things don't go exactly as he hopes.  

  Which causes all seven siblings to spring instantly to action.  

Think this kid knows that everyone is wrapped around his finger? 

Yep.  It's a crowded finger.