Mayzie's Best Bud

Elisabeth over at The Texas Ueckers posted a super cute post about Little Britches and her best bud, Annie.  Go here to see it.  It will make you laugh, promise!

9 Months Old

Little Britches is 9 months old!  Her well child check up went just fine.  She is 26 and 3/4 inches long; she weighs 17 pounds and 3 ounces; her head is 44 centimeters around.  She is in the 25% for length adn weight and the 50% for head circumference, which is good because her daddy can't wait to get her head into a bike helment and get her out on the road. 

Little Britches- we love all that you will be and all that you are!

Zooma the Video

Here is a little video of our race experience. 

Zoom Zoom Zooma!

Well I did it!  I completed my 3rd half marathon.  My second since Little Britches has been born!  The Zooma half marathon was Saturday.  My running group and I, which included Andrea, Elisabeth, and Lucinda, set out for Bastrop at 5:30 am!  My mom-in-law came and kept Little Britches while my husband, Andrea's husband, and Andrea's two older girls came out to the race to cheer us on.  The course was very hilly for the first sixish miles and then the hills were few and far between.  The last two and half miles or so was on a golf course so it sort of wound back and forth.  You felt close to the end, but you were not as close as you felt.  All in all, we did pretty well.  Lucinda and Andrea had run the Zooma last year and they both improved their times.  Elisabeth ran her first half, so she set a PR, or personal best record.  And I improved my time by 20 minutes over my November race.  You can see the clock time in the picture, but my chip time was 2:19:07 What's next?  The Blue Bell Fun Run!  It is a short road trip, a short race, and then all the ice cream you want to eat!  Yeah!  We will take Little Britches with us to that race and push her in the stroller.  It should be fun!  Here is another picture from the race.

Here we are, picking up our packets!

Cake by Mistake?

Last Saturday my husband and I took my parents out to eat after working around our house all afternoon.  My dad is slimming down so he wanted a place with salad options.  We chose The Brick Oven.   We enjoyed our meal with only a few tense moments where Little Britches decided she was finished eating and really didn't want anything but to get down and play.  We distracted her enough for everyone to finish their meal in peace, including the tables around us.  My parents hurried out after they had eaten in order to get to Sam's before it closed.  My husband and I were waiting on the check when Little Britches started getting restless again, so I gathered up our stuff to head to the car.  Nothing will bring a check faster than gathering up your stuff!  The waitress came over and we explained that we needed to head out since our baby was getting a little tired.  She said, "Oh, well, Nick was going to buy you a dessert.  Shall I just pack it up to go?"  My husband and I just looked at each other puzzled and then back at her.  We said in unison, "Who is Nick?"  We learned Nick was another server.  That tidbit of information did NOTHING to clear up the confusion.  To simply end the situation and be on our way we accepted the offer.  When the waitress named the desserts we chose the chocolate cake option to go.  On the way home we tried to decide why in the world we were just given the blessing of a free piece of chocolate cake.  Could it be that we knew Nick, but didn't remember we knew him?  Could it be that it is a new marketing technique that is used in hopes that you will buy a second dessert or stay longer for more drinks?  Could it be that Nick was mad at us for being a family with a slightly fussy baby and he spit in the cake?  What could the reason be?  After some discussion I came to the conclusion (based on nothing really) that the blessing of chocolate cake was not really meant for us, but for someone else who knew Nick or who looked available to Nick and cake was his way of starting the conversation.  No matter how it is that we came to be the owners of chocolate cake we didn't pay for, we sure enjoyed it! 

The whole situation made me think about the blessings I receive everyday from God.  No one single one of them was given to me by mistake.  They are poured out into my life because I know the giver of all good gifts, personally.  His gifts are better than chocolate cake any day, but am I as astounded by them and talk about them as much as I was astounded by and talked about the mysterious chocolate cake?  Sadly the answer is no.  At times I have "gotten over" his blessings in my life, but a little mysterious piece of chocolate cake reminded me how much I really love and enjoy each and every blessing he has given me! - YUMMY!

It's Almost Here!

Well it is 9 days, 20 hours, and 28 minutes until the Zooma Half Marathon.  I am excited.  I have certainly put in more training miles than I did for the last half marathon I did, so I am hoping for better results.  I know I will be proud, no matter what the outcome is because I have run more and enjoyed the running.  I was a little nervous that I would not enjoy running again after having Little Britches, but I have, I really have enjoyed it.  I think, for me, it helps to have a group to do some runs with, especially the long ones.  I love my running group and look forward to catching up with them each week, up to three times a week.  They are a great group of diverse women who challenge me both physically and spiritually.  I am thankful for so much in my life!  And right now my running group is high on the list.  As I reflect on the blessing this group is to me, I am reminded of the blessing that comes from corporate adventures.  It reminds me to get in there and "do life" with some people- church people, family people, people who will encourage me and challenge me to be something more than who I am today.

Well it is now 9 days, 20 hours, and 19 minutes until the race.  I better get busy!

Kisses

Sweet kisses for my sweet girl!

Blister

Well I finally got new running shoes and this is what happened!  I had been wearing the same shoes for over a year.  You are "supposed" to change shoes every 300-500 miles.  And while I did not keep close track of how many miles I had put on my shoes I know it had to be more than 300 miles because just in this training alone I had put 129 miles on my shoes before buying new ones.  And that was in a 7 week period, so I think it is safe to say in a year I had hit the 300 mile mark.  I went into my local running store and told the sales lady that I needed new shoes.  She asked me if I had any complaints about my current shoes.  I mentioned that I get blisters on the tops of my toes.  She checked the fit of my current shoes and said they were long enough so she was going to put me in a different brand with a bigger toe box.  I thought that sounded great, so I bought some Asics.  They felt good in the store, so off I went.  I ran 3 miles in them and felt great.  But when I headed out for my 5.5 mile run a few days later I could feel the shoe rubbing on my arch.  I cut the run a little short, knowing I had a 12 mile run looming on the weekend.  I thought the problem was my sock.  I was runnign in a thicker sock on teh 5.5 mile day than on the 3 mile day.  On the 12 mile run I wore thicker socks and heade out on a loop.  I could feel the shoe rubbing my arch, but thought it was because it was already irritated.  I adjusted my sock, I changed my gait, I walked some, I ran faster, I ran slower....none of it helped.  I was on a loop with a group, so I just kept going.  At the end of the run I pulled my shoes off and found this blister! OUCH!  It hurt as bad as it looks.  I did not even go home before I went back by the running store and showed the sales man my issue.  He announced I was in the wrong shoe.  I guess so!  He said they did not have any the new model of my original shoes in stock, but could have a pair from their other store there in a few days.  Perfect!  I went back, used shoes in hand, and they gave me a brand new pair of New Balance.  YEAH!  I have since run 17 happy miles.  I am so thankful I bought my shoes from a specialty shop with such great customer service.

Mayzie's Dedication Take 2

Here is the video of Mayzie's Dedication- finally!

My dad said a sweet prayer before the video started. My sister was not sure video taping during the prayer was appropriate. :)

My Hair

Hey! It is Little Britches here just wanted to show off my new style!

Mommy goes around the house with a towel on her head after her shower, so I thought I would give it a try!

What do yout think, Ducky?  Does it suit me?

What? The reason mommy does this is she is letting her hair dry?  I don't have much hair!

Oh well, I think I will keep the look anyway!