Run, Mommy, Run

While I know this post isn't about Charlotte, this is a family blog and I am proud of my most recent accomplishment. I ran a 5K yesterday as part of the GO! St. Louis Family Fitness Weekend. Yay me! My official time was 39:45 (chip time, not gun time), which I am quite proud of. My goal was to run it in less than 45 minutes, so I definitely met that goal! Some of my training runs had me at a 14:00 mile, but during the race it was a 12:49. I am super happy with that. I'm no speed demon, but I ran every step and it was a hilly course.

Just after the starting line

Matt and Charlotte came to cheer me on. I'm so glad they were there! The only reason I started running was for Charlotte. I want her to have a happy and healthy mommy so she can have a positive female role model. One of my biggest fears about raising Charlotte is the body image issue that so many woman (including myself) have and if I can show her that all body types can be healthy, then I feel I have done my job as a mother. We'll see how I do. She's still young.

Rounding the corner for the last 100 yards

I think I can, I think I can

Crossing the finish line

Matt and Charlotte cheered me on at the start of the raise and the end, but missed me at the two mile marker. It was kind of a bummer; I turned the corner by the Jewel Box, hoping that I would see them and I did, but they were running away from me. I was so bummed! I really needed the cheering! Matt thought he had missed me; a woman next to him said something to another runner about how he/she was almost to the one mile. What she meant was that there was only a mile left to go, but Matt thought he was at the one mile marker. All, well. At least I saw their backs!

At the finish line

So proud of Mommy!

We ran into Laura and Ryan at the race as well. Laura finished a little ahead of me and Ryan (who hates running) finished almost 20 minutes ahead of us. He ran back to help Laura cross the finish line. What a guy.



Next up, a 5K in May, hopefully in KC with Meredith. If not, there are about a bazillion runs around here, so I'll sign up for another one. The long term goal is the Lewis and Clark half-marathon in September. For now, I'll just celebrate my first small victory across a finish line.

This may be gross...

...but it could be worse. The post you are about to read is the result of a compromise between a gross daddy and a sane mommy. When Matt and Charlotte are out back playing, there are often times when Charlotte finds a stick or a leaf or mud and decides to eat it. While I tend to take it away, Matthew does not always have the same cat-like reflexes or desire to remove the object from her mouth or hand. I have fished many of leaves, sticks and clover out of her mouth. Unfortunately, I cannot get them all and that become evident this morning when we changed her diaper.

And this is where the compromise comes in. While Matthew wanted a picture taken of the diaper, I used reason with my loud "Ewwwwww" and suggested that if he really wanted our friends and family to know what was in her diaper, I would type it. This morning, in the middle of her GIGANTIC bowel movement, was a very noticeable and fully intact red bud seed pod. While Matt thought that was hilarious, I was a little bit horrified and asked my dear husband to pay a little bit better attention to the items our daughter was putting in her mouth. Who knows what I'll find in her diapers this summer without Mommy supervision during the day!

Happy Easter!

Charlotte's first Easter was wonderful! I wish I could keep her in her Easter dress all the time. She was so gosh darn cute! We took a few super cute pictures outside with the Freeman family Easter basket (we decided to ask the Easter Bunny to just bring one basket for our little family since he also goes to Grandma and Grandpa's house, a tradition we intend to continue), then off to church with my parents and brother.

Is this for me?

Thanks, Easter Bunny!

What do we have here?

If only her eyes were open. So cute!

Our beautiful, happy girl

After church we went to my parents' house for brunch and an egg hunt. There are no pictures of the egg hunt since Ted and I are super competitive with the hunt (we tied this year). There was no time for pictures. I don't know what I'm going to do when Charlotte is old enough to hunt. I'm not sure this is a torch I'm ready to pass. Daddy found Charlotte's basket and they played while Mommy and Uncle Ted scoured the house for eggs. My parents' were super evil this year with some of the hiding places. Great hunt, parents!

Look what the Easter Bunny brought me here!

Charlotte played a little with the kitties. Dexter basically wants nothing to do with her, but Sylvester is much more loving and curious.



We had a wonderful dinner followed by an even better dessert and then headed home. It was a lovely day and a perfect first Easter for Charlotte!

What, Mom? Daddy said I could have it.

Best. Dessert. Ever.

Thanks for posing normal with me, Uncle Ted!

That Other Baby

Charlotte is just starting to learn that the baby in mirrors and other reflections is her, so we have some real fun times playing with that "other baby". Too cute!

Charlotte's Too Quick for Daddy

There will be more Easter posts to come, but this one was too great to delay (plus we want to see if this file type will work on the blog). Daddy learned today just how quick Charlotte can be!

Bath time at Grandpa's

We went to visit our Parkville family a couple of weekends ago and while we didn't take many pictures of all the fun times, we did take some great pictures of Charlotte's super fun big sink bath. Charlotte has graduated to a real bath in our big tub since our sink is not this big, but I'm glad she had some fun times in this one.

Charlotte's (Sort of) Walking!

Charlotte has been making huge steps towards walking (no pun intended) the past couple of weeks and today she actually took some steps on her own! She needs support, but she's ready to be mobile!

Look at me!