karaspeak

While I didn't get any jokes played on me the week of April Fool's, the week after I found myself asking, "It is still April Fool's Day?" I had the most awful week on every level last week - as a mom, as an employee, as a parent, and just as me!  I don't even know where to begin, I guess just in order... but I will say I'm glad it's over and I'm hoping for a bright spot in the week to come.

As a Mom, I had my first "Mama Bear" moment or whatever you want to call it. While I've experienced times of protection in the past, with Aiden in particular, I haven't really ever felt violated as a mother before. It was a challenging situation to deal with on multiple levels, but emotionally being the most pronounced. Guess a lesson learned on many counts, but most importantly, to not feel guilty for ever coming to your child's rescue regardless of who you might offend in the process. That said, I'm glad I had the moment and I'm also glad it's over!

Work was one extreme level after another. I had zero free time, I was working insane hours, and then trying to be a good mom after I got done was nearly impossible. Early morning conference calls, late afternoon emergencies, zero time for lunch, runs, or even just quick hugs from my kids. I hate weeks like that. Though we all have them, I just hate them.

To make matters worse, our nanny, Taylor told us she'd been offered an internship in the Metro schools to do ESL which is what she'll be going to Graduate school in the fall to pursue. We LOVE "Taya" as Aiden calls her and I'm not sure what I'll do without her, much less when I'll find time for a nanny search amidst the craziness that is now. She's been such a great person for the kids to have in their lives. She is clean, attentive, patient, loving, and personal, plus she runs and it gives us such a fun thing to talk about besides "work" that is kids and life. I know she will be great at her new job and while I hate to lose her, I am very happy for her new opportunity to pursue her career for her family. It is a hard thing as a parent to think about all the items that go into who will care for your children. The fact that I am home with them does make it better, but still, you invite someone into your home, you ask them to care for your kids, help you manage your house, and be a partner with you in raising the two of them and it's just not an easy thing to accomplish. And trust, man, it's huge. It takes so much time for me even to feel comfortable leaving the house with someone new. I didn't leave for two weeks the last time we had someone start. I am not looking forward to that again. But life must go on.

All these things made for one crazy week, one I am glad that's over! But so much more to come in the next few. Just praying for these loose ends to get tied up, for space to be created with my work, and for a little balance. Here's hoping it was just the April Fool's Day curse that hit me this week!

What a fun day we had celebrating my sweet baby girl. Who knew a year could go even faster when you're doing it the second time around??? It's quite astonishing, to be honest. We planned just a small party for the family and a few friends and it was really a special time for us to celebrate her and spend some time outdoors on a beautiful weekend after too many chilly days.

I'd already ordered her "birthday tutu" outfit. See her sporting it in pride!?! She's such a precious little little. I think even though she didn't know she was wearing something so frilly, she might have just known she was wearing something special. She just strutted around like a little teeny princess that day. It was such a fun thing for me to watch.

She has such a fun and sparkling personality and it's so neat to be able to watch her slowly develop those traits that she will carry with her as she ages and grows with each passing year.
We made the cupcakes (see my handy helper) and food early in the week with Mimi's help and had fun planning all the little fun things, some of which we didn't even get to do during the short time we had that day.

The kids "painted" the fence with paper we'd set out and they had a fun time doing some damage and writing their names and drawing pictures. It was cute. There was lots of tricycle time and fun push toys, bubbles, etc.

And, of course, we had food. We always have food. We did more brunch type things this time since we had her friends over earlier in the morning and I think it was the perfect choice for a dainty little party with our favorite friends and family.

It's so hard to believe how very quickly a year can pass and how much transpires in the life of this little being that just over a year ago had to live on what food passed through me to her. She lived in a tiny bubble inside my tummy and now is a walking, talking, discovering, laughing, silly little girl that will grow up, move out, find a man, get married, and have children of her own, if, of course, that is her choice. :)



The love I feel for these to kiddos is indescribable....and is only a mere glimpse of the love bestowed on us by our gracious Daddy who loans them to us for the short time they have to spend here on earth. What a privilege for me to know Teagan Elyse, to teach her about life, love, joy, pain, sorrow, sin, eternity, Jesus, and all the fun (and awful) stuff in between. As I watched a neighbor deal with a "life lesson" this week with their teenager, it was a rude awakening that we will be there so very soon. Going through and teaching life lessons to our little McNuggets when they are not so little anymore. How very grateful I am to be able to do this with them, as hard as it will be, and how grateful I am for parents who did the same with me as I grew...it's only helped me be a better parent.

We had Teagan's One Year pictures taken and she is a beaming cutie of perfection. Some party pictures, too! :) Learning to seize every moment no matter how beautiful or painful it might be.

...and so it begins. Although in our house it's less about basketball and more about new jobs, birthdays, trips, school functions, and all around craziness. March is the month we'll celebrate Nate's birthday, my dad's birthday, Kari's birthday, Andrew's birthday, my sister-in-law's birthday, and this particular March it's month we'll celebrate my baby girl's first birthday. Whew! After that I'm tired. Add in a party to throw for her, a photo session, a race, and a quick trip and March is furiously passing by before it's even begun.

This week I'm gearing up for Nathan's birthday. We'll celebrate with our little family on Thursday (his actual birthday) and then we have a fun thing planned with some friends and some of his co-workers this weekend. All in all it should be a fun week and fun way to kick off March as we get ready to welcome SPRING and some hopefully warmer temperatures. After the winter we've had, I am more than ready for some sun!!

I did begin a new job yesterday, which is totally a God-thing and something I am beyond grateful for. In this terrible job market and this fluctuating economy, I feel ever-blessed to have found a job at the 11th hour. Yesterday was the day I was supposed to end my previous job and instead of it being the worst day ever, it ended up being the best day ever as I got to start a brand new job. Daunting, yes...as it's in a totally new industry within the Bank, but incredibly exciting as well.

Again, God proves my worry to be invalid and without necessity as He pulls through in awesome wonder and precise timing to provide a need for me and for our family. It makes me wonder why we still doubt  his greatness and goodness to us when we have all of these historical times in our lives to reflect upon and remind us of his faithfulness...and yet we do. I guess that's part of being human. And while I spent weeks sick with anxiety and nervousness about what the future would hold, I sit amazed and in wonder of the glorious provision He bestowed on us without even so much as a warning. I literally blinked...and there it was. A job. For me. Just like I asked. Grateful. Blessed. Overwhelmed. Wow.

A-mazing! Can't wait to dive into this month and have a lot of fun!

Mimi and Paa came to town this weekend, which was GREAT fun since Nathan and I had not seen them since Christmas and the kids hadn't seen them since the weekend we were in Phoenix. We all were in need of a little family time. It lets everyone get some "fun" on and gives Nathan and I at least one solid night of great rest - both of which are wins for us! Some good date night fun was had as well!

Friday night Nathan and I went to grab Chinese and enjoyed a nice time catching up after our week. Saturday I went to Spin in the morning then we went all around town running errands for the fam, had lunch at McAlister's and then went to grab some things for Teagan's birthday party next month. That night, NT and I hit up Franklin Mercantile for their winter special before heading over to hang out with some of his colleagues. A nice casual, fun weekend. We all spent Sunday at our usual Panera and said sad goodbyes to Mimi and Paa as they went home to K-ville. Hoping we can one day be closer, for sure! We miss them so much when they are away.

Sunday it was actually beautiful outside so we spent a lot of the day playing outside with the kids and they had a blast...and took GREAT naps! :) Fun!! We deserve a bit of a break from this nasty weather, so the warm sun was nice for a change.  Aiden and I made cookies for his class for V-day. He did such a good job and was so great at helping decorate and stir. He's getting so big. This makes me very sad. But he is also so much fun and such a joy. I can't wait to see him grow into a three year old.

Monday was Valentine's Day and I got the kids shirts to wear with their names on them. Both big enough to wear for this year and next year (hopefully!). Aiden had a V-day party at school, so he was excited about that and Teagan had a day full of cookies and candy here at home. Nathan sent me flowers. Mom and Dad sent us cookies. Our house was FULL of treats. NT came home early from work and whipped up a phenomenal dinner for me and we enjoyed that and a movie for a spectacular date night in. I am so very blessed. And even though every day around here is filled with love, it's amazing to realize how much love there is and how very lucky we are to have so much of it given and to give. I am thrilled with my life, my family, my loves, my everything, and am so thankful God allows me to wake up every day and enjoy it.

This week was the week from down under at our house. After a great week with Aunt Kiki visiting, we were preparing for a weekend in Birmingham until little dude came down with a naaaasty ear infection out of the clear blue sky. Not sure where it came from, but he didn't have hardly any symptoms other than a "leaky" eye for a day. Go figure. I had a feeling my little petrie dishes of kids were in for a fun weekend and week ahead. And boy, was I right! But this time they let the whole family in on the fun!

After taking Aiden to the pediatrician on Thursday and getting the ear diagnosis, Teagan woke up the next day with a leaky eye and runny nose. Awesome! Fun! Yeah! Not.  Obviously we were not going anywhere but to sick town for the weekend. By Sunday, Aiden was feeling a little better, but Teagan was in full swing with whatever he'd had and just miserable. Sunday night, Nathan began feeling ill, but the kind of ill that meant he'd be spending all night praying to the porcelain throne in one way or the other. Sure enough, Super Bowl Sunday he spend hugging that seat all night. So far so good with Mom being healthy...until 5 am Monday morning when Teagan got up to eat. I went up to feed her and spent the whole time planning my strategy for how to handle her while I casually made my way to their toilet to take care of business. Luckily I was able to feed her, get her back down to bed, and make it back downstairs with no event. I told Nathan I was sick and he was obviously thrilled. :) Looked like a fun day.

So I was able to get back to sleep for a short time, but when Aiden woke up at 7, just an hour after I'd fallen asleep, I knew I had to make it fast to my own porcelain throne or else our white carpet was going to be in for it. If you've ever been "that" kind of sick, you know how purely awful it is. AWFUL. I had the lucky fortune of being struck with the feeling of having to pass out amidst my affair and did my very best to make it to the floor so I wouldn't get hurt...I tried banging on the wall to NT who was upstairs managing the kids but it was too late. I woke up on the floor in a sweat with a bloody head. Awesome way to start the week. Happy Monday. I spent the next 12 hours sick as a dog and not able to keep down even ice chips. This is the worst kind of sick. The worst.  But in 12 hours, almost on the dot, I was able to think about eating some saltines, and they stayed down. PRAISE!

The funny part about being "throw up sick" is that during those 12 - 24 hours, you wonder how and if you will ever eat again. You vow to never eat again. And while I will say that for at least the 24-48 hours following, I was very scared to eat again, it's amazing how quickly you begin to introduce yourself to food and food that actually stays put where it's supposed to. It is the oddest thing to deal with. But I will also say, that a huge kudos to my main man, hubby, and rock on daddy for taking care of me, my two sick kids, our house, and his job all in one day. Having just had the sickies himself, I know he didn't have energy or stamina to do it, so I am so incredibly blessed and thankful he made the strides and picked up my slack. He is amazing and I am so very grateful someone was able to take care of everyone enough for me to not worry.

We spent Tuesday bleaching everything, disinfecting everything, and downright resting and made it out of the woods with the sickies on their way out. By today, we are drying up the noses, and clean inside and out (house AND body!) and hoping for NO MORE sickness the rest of this season and maybe a while longer. We have stayed out of the woods of sickness for so long and I think this was payback in one short week of awful-ness. VERY glad it's over and gone. On to a new start....

(P.S. I will spare you any pictures of how awful we all looked this week. Just take my word for it and be grateful.)

It's February 1. Where did January go? Wherever it went, one thing I know....First Birthday preparations are in full swing.  Outfits to be ordered. Gifts to be bought. Cakes to make. Fun times to be had. And we are all very excited (and at the same time very sad) that our baby Teagan is turning ONE.

I just booked little miss with her one year session pictures, and that alone is enough to make me sad. But, there is so much fun to be discovered as she learns to speak, walk, run, and engage as she learns what's new with being one. Should be a fun year for us all with a blooming one year old and a soon to be three year old, who knows what fun we'll be having.

This week we got to have "Aunt" Kiki come stay with us for a few days and play. It was so fun to have her here and we had a blast ordering things for the birthday and just catching up. I wish we lived closer, but an so grateful for the ability to see her often since we do live relatively close. Aiden loves it when she comes because she always brings treats. This time it was cookies! And yummy cookies they were.

It was a great first week to the month of love...more fun and love to come...I hear the little one waking up as I speak.

So I did it. It's done. Second half marathon is in the books!

Nathan and I flew out to Arizona on Thursday afternoon to prepare for the Rock n' Roll Series Arizona Half/Full Marathon. Needless to say, the week we left Nashville, school had been out all week due to snow, ice, and other winter weather and we were MORE than excited to see some sun and spend some time outdoors in 70+ degree weather rather than 20 degree weather. A very welcome change indeed. We landed that afternoon after a long flight and it was so warm when we stepped out of the airport. I believe it was 5 pm and it was still 70 degrees. A-mazing, to say the least. We headed to dinner at one of our favorite local joints, Stax, and then did a must stop at Sprinkles for a nice half dozen lovely treats! Man, I love that place. We headed out to the house we were staying at in Troon, which is North North Scottsdale and a great area set up a little higher than the cities below. It makes for some spectacular views!

This is Pinnacle Peak. It's about 2 miles from the house we stayed in.

The Ward's House. Lots of cactus!

The back deck - where we spent all our time!

The sky at dusk. So beautiful!

We were sad to be away from the kids, but knew they were in good hands with Mimi, so we slept great after a long day of traveling and woke up to do an easy four mile run together to Pinnacle Peak and back that Friday. It was awesome not being cold or having to wear 10 layers to go run! What an awesome thing in the middle of winter! Afterwards we headed to lunch and then downtown to the convention center Expo to pick up my race packet, shirt, and information for race day. Wow, what a huge event this is! It was so awesome to walk around and see all the vendors - from food, to shoes, to sunglasses, to beer. So much stuff! It was a great Expo and provided some fun entertainment. We tried on a pair of Newtons and just might throw down on a pair for ourselves when our current shoes need replacing. I think I'm sold after running/walking around in these things for a while.

Took it easy Friday night and tried my best to stay off my feet all day Saturday, but man, my nerves were working overtime in preparation for Sunday's race. I mean, when you know there's going to be at least one Olympian (read: Kara Goucher) in the race you are running, it kind of intimidates the crap out of you even if you know you don't stand a chance of even running with her for a second.

Arrive at Sunday morning...and I felt like I was going to throw up! The good kind of throw up, that is, the kind that means you're so excited you can hardly take a step or breathe. It's the best kind. Nathan and I headed down to the race area and by the grace of God found a purple bracelet on the street that allowed me access to a heated tent with food, stretching areas, and porta potties that were not only clean, but had toilet paper! All the ones on the street for common use were spent and had NO toilet paper. (So, lesson learned for next time is bring my own!) After watching the marathon kick off, we headed over to the half starting area and I got warm while NT took pictures of the other Kara!

The Marathon start line.

Kara Goucher stretching. (I think she was on to Nate spying on her)

My corral. Kara G was in E! I was only one behind.

Starting line.

Before I knew it, the gun was going off. Since we were in corral two, they held us back for a minute or two before letting us start our race to give the Elite runners some space to work out their legs and get their distance. The first half of the race felt great and I was kicking out 7 minute miles pretty consistently, but around mile 8 my knee started to bother me, so I slowed about 15 or 20 seconds to give myself some room to work it out. So my second half was slower than my first half and I didn't finish in 1:30 or under like I'd hoped, but I did beat my other time by nearly 4 minutes, finishing at 1:36. It was a good run and I will definitely seek to improve upon that time and be back next year to see if I can't do it here if not before. I felt really good about the race other than the aches and pains, and was fully recovered in just a few minutes. It was truly awe-inspiring to be in the presence of so many runners. So many that love it, so many that do it well, and so many that just have fun. It was a fun, fun time.  My little cheerleader, Nathan waited for me and gave me lots of kudos afterwards despite my disappointment. There is always room to improve!  So the rest of that day we just hung around Scottsdale, ate some dinner, sat by the pool, and then I got a fabulous 90 minute massage to work out all my kinks. It was a fun and full day filled with amazing memories.





We headed to The Fairmont where we stayed for our last night and enjoyed a nice evening and day at the resort before heading to the airport to see our kids (and embrace the cold weather) back in Nashville. I wasn't looking forward to the weather, but I was so excited to see my babies.

It was a super fun long weekend and one I hope to re-live again sooner than one year from now. After returning from the race and running again, it feels strangely peculiar to be running without something to train for...without a goal. So where that leaves me I'm not quite sure, but I'm eyeing some races in the near future, I just need to figure out what distance I want to do now that my legs are tired. Give me a week and maybe I'll say I'm ready for another half. Maybe not, but just maybe. What I do know it that it won't be nearly as fun as running in 70 degree weather in January! That beats it all! :)