Addition to my list

I failed to mention that another reason that I should not have signed up for the Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon is that I am old and my knees don't work as they used to.

In the first two weeks I logged over 28 miles and felt pretty good. Then, Saturday the 14th I attempted a 5.5 mile run. My knees were a bit sore at the beginning but I kept running and was impressed I finished the run. Afterwards though my knees were really sore and since then I've had a lot of swelling and needed to ice off and on and take a lot of Advil. I'm so sad! Hopefully I will heal soon so I can still run the race, but I'm taking this as a sign that I need to slow down and not rush into training.

So, you can continue to ask me how things are going, but note that I'll probably give you a sob story about my old, achy knees and how I hope to start running again soon.

April 4 months old

We had April's 4 month appointment and she is staying high on the growth charts! Her pediatrician said she is doing all the right things developmentally and commented on how smiley and cheerful she was. I asked about suggestions for getting us a full night sleep one of these days and was given the green light to start some sleep training. Her reflux is still there and that might be part of the issue, but the Dr still felt she should be able to put herself back to sleep even if it does wake her up periodically. So, we'll be looking for ways to start that soon. Likely it will be a slow process but letting her cry a little at night won't hurt her and in the end we will all sleep better. Eventually April can move into her cute little room and out of our closet then!

April is doing great at tummy time and keeps her head up and legs and arms moving like she's swimming. She still loves to stand when given the chance and so we've pulled out the exersaucer and she really enjoy looks at all the toys within her reach. Bethany loves to "show April" how to do things and sometimes it is much quicker and louder than she is used to and she gets surprised. She has also been laughing a little... mostly at Bethany but loves to giggle when we're changing her and she gets to wiggle around naked for a few minutes. Her favorite time is cuddling in our bed with just her diaper on. She loves touching the sheets and blankets and wiggling her back against the soft texture.

You are so smiley and love to be talked to! Still so easy going and as long as you are held you are one happy baby. You do fine laying down and playing, but get so excited and bat your bouncey chair toys so hard when you see someone coming to get you. We love you so much sweetie!

4 month stats:
Height 25 in. 75%
Weight 15 lb 8.5 oz 90%
Head 42 cm 75%

Still gotta love those cheeks! We'll post a 4 month picture in her onesie soon! I was looking at my baby book and at 3.5 months I was over 15 lbs too and started off at almost 7 lbs, so I'm thinking the high calorie milk must be hereditary! I love my chubby baby :)

What did I get myself into?

So, Amber emailed me last week and said that Brent and some friends were thinking of running in the Lake Minnetonka half marathon on May 6th and she wondered if I would think about running it too with her. I looked up the course and saw that the half-way point is literally .5 miles from our house and that much of the run is along the lake and would be beautiful. I thought to myself, how bad could 13.1 miles really be? I'm SURE I can do that! Then, for some strange reason I convinced Dan he should do it, a few co-workers and friends are in on it too. We all signed up, I came home, ran 3 miles, went to bed, woke up and said to myself... what have I gotten myself into?

Here are the things I didn't think about:
1. That it would not be easy to find time to run with 2 small children at home
2. That waiting until they go to bed means that I have to run after dinner and I'm tired by then!
3. That having a baby that doesn't sleep through the night yet means that I should really be sleeping when she is sleeping, not running like a crazy person.
4. That I really don't like running.
5. That I have never run 13.1 miles before... well I guess if you count the 3, 3, 3, and 4.25 miles I've run since I signed up I have, but I don't think you can run the half marathon over 4 days.
6. That I'm super competitive and even though this seems like a really bad decision, I probably am not going to give up very easily.
7. That it is the middle of winter and I will be training on a treadmill and not outside (boring)

But, despite all my complaining here are the few things I do know:
1. Running makes you feel awesome - the next morning after running I always feel great... a little sore, but awesome. There really is a runners high.
2. That I'm really going to love having so many people to keep me motivated towards my goal - really, I want you to ask me how I'm doing!
3. May 6th is right before summer and maybe I'll actually be able to wear fun summer dresses after being hugely pregnant last summer!

So, that is what I have gotten myself into. Wish me luck.

Photo session

Funny girl

Sisters.... I don't know, is April going to catch Bethany soon in size??

Love :)

Serious

Our church recently had an opportunity to get your photo taken for the church directory. I'm really excited to get a picture directory so I can get better at people's names that I don't know! The timing we had wasn't the best as it was right before nap time, but the person after us cancelled and we got a lot of pictures taken! Scrolling through 100+ photos to see Bethany's different expression in each one is hillarious. Thanks, Daniel for all the pictures!

Bethany - 26 months (when do I stop with the "months"???)

Bethany Claire is 26 months old! People are so surprised that you just turned two because of your exploding vocabulary and your high activity level :) You keep us laughing all the time. I need to remember to write down the funny things you say more so we can tell you about them when you get older.

- When Mormor and Morfar came over you had a messy shirt on from lunch. Morfar commented that it looked like you left a snack on your shirt for later. You came over to me and Mormor and said "Do you want a snack?" while lifting out your shirt for us to see!

- Another thing when they came over was when we asked if you wanted something back... you turned around in circles looking at your back to see what we were talking about. :)

- We left cookies out for Santa and you mentioned several times on Christmas morning that the "cookies all gone?!" "Santa ate cookies... reindeer"

- You also like to mention that Jesus was born in a MANGER (that part of the story really stood out to you)

- You think Santa is pretty scary though and everytime we see someone with a beard you say you don't want to sit on Santa's lap :0 and then proceed to say "ho ho ho!"

- You are very polite and say "no thank you mommy, I don't want it" when I ask if you want peas or carrots... neither isn't an option hunny!

-Now that April is with you at Koala Bear you are allowed to visit her. You want to go and visit all the time your teachers say and you talk about April a lot. Such a sweet older sister you are!

- You always want to include everyone in what you do. "Come mommy?" when you want me to join you in playing or going upstairs etc.

- Everything deserves a band-aid. Even if it is a bump, you run into our bathroom to dig for a bandaid. We've explained it is only when something bleeds, and you were excited when you skinned your knee and got to have a band-aid for real one time!

- at a restaurant you waved to a little boy with one finger and then wanted to eat our lemons and drink Dan's Mountain Dew. You then "paid" for the meal when you handed our credit card to the waitress and said "I got it!"

- at Christmas you put hot pads from Charlie's new play kitchen down your shirt and walked around and said you looked like mommy, you also took my nursing cover and put it on and asked to feed April :)

- you took your crayons and started drawing on your eyes like mommy

You are a fun, fun little girl and we love this crazy age! You love to sit around with us drinking hot chocolate and listening to Christmas music even if the sitting only lasts for 3-5 minutes :)

More December 2011 pictures

Well, I'm still having trouble uploading pictures but I'm trying to get a few uploaded here and there. I certainly can not miss the opportunity to post pictures of my adorably chubby 3 month old! Here are a few recent ones of her in her 3-6 month clothes... I love the Christmas outfit that she barely fits into!

April 3 months old

I couldn't get the picture to come up so I converted it to video... hopefully this works!

Well, sweet girl, you are 3 months old. We know you weighed in at 14 lbs 3 oz in early December so you are likely pushing 15 lbs easily by now! You fit perfectly into your 3-6 month clothes but pretty soon we need to get your 9 month clothes out and washed.

You are SO good. Everyone comments on how easy you are and how you love to just be held and talked to. When I went back to work, the nursery workers said that you just hang out and love to interact with people. I sometimes have to put you down, but as soon as I'm back you flash that beautiful full face smile at me and it makes me feel so special! (But, I've seen you give others that smile too.. it isn't just reserved for me!)

We've been comparing pictures and videos of you and Bethany when she was your age and you look very different. She was always moving and tended to screech if she didn't get what she wanted. You definitely want to be fed and held, but your protests aren't quite as loud and you are quickly calmed.

Bedtime is still a challenge because you wake up quickly after being laid down. You can put yourself to sleep just fine, but end up waking up a lot and in order to keep the rest of the family sleeping, I usually pick you up and you give me a BIG smile. I know you just want to cuddle and somehow you sleep so much better snuggled under my arm in our bed. This is something that we will need to address soon, but I think we'll wait until 4 months. It is also a reason why you might be putting on the lbs because you eat around the clock! A lot of babies eat throughout the day and then that allows them to sleep through the night. You may be bothered by your reflux still and so since you wake up, it seems like feeding you is what you want.

You are doing so well at holding your head up and we are trying to keep practicing more tummy time. We put you in your Bumbo seat last night (snuggly) and you played with a toy. When you concentrate on things you bite your lower lip, it is so cute! Both of your bottom two teeth are now in and hopefully we won't have to go through teething for awhile ago. Not that you fuss a lot, but I can tell it does give you a bit of pain and it is certainly painful for me feeding you :)

I can't tell you how special you are to us, April Faith. This last month has had some very difficult times that I'm not ready to process on paper (or blog) yet and I may never be able to. All I know is that you are one loved little girl and we thank Jesus for you.