Pictures Galore

My sister-in-law, Kara, did a photo shoot for everyone while she was here this Christmas. She is finishing up her degree in photography, and you'll see how fabulous she is! I can't wait to frame them all to decorate my house. Thanks Kara! (click to enlarge)

All the grandkids with my mom and dad

The new babies

Everyone

Sisters

The men

All the boys

All the girls

Family Day

Matt took a Friday off of work, and we went to the Aquarium for a family day. We went with a group of people and were able to get a steal of a deal. Unlimited rides was the best part. We rode the train, ferris wheel, and carousel multiple times!

Carter and me on the carousel

Matt encouraging Caleb to touch the sting ray

Pictures by the white tiger exhibit

(we don't know what he has to do with an aquarium...?)

Best Buddies

9 Months

Carter turned 9 months a few weeks ago. He weighed 22 lbs. 12 oz. (80th percentile) and was 30.25 " tall (95th percentile). He was 90th percentile for weight and 68th percentile for height at his 6 month appointment. His weight-gain is slowing down, but surprisingly he's quite tall. Neither Matt or I are particularly tall, so we'll see if his "tallness" sticks around. We're predicting Caleb to be the baseball player and Carter to be the football player. We'll see.

Some fun things about Carter: He is a very empathetic baby. If another person is crying, in particular Caleb, then his lower lip starts quivering, and he starts crying too. He has 4 teeth, and is a great eater (hence the chubbiness)! He picked up crawling at 8 1/2 months and being able to pull himself up into a standing position. At 9 months he figured out how to crawl up a few stairs. Within the next few days, he could go up the entire staircase. He seems to understand that he has to be very careful about trying to go down the stairs. He's only fallen down once and it was just 3 stairs. Carter's still trying to figure out how to go down on his tummy, but he's been able to do a few stairs so it shouldn't be too far off.

I've given him 2 haircuts now. I've learned that his hair is not like Caleb's, and that I can't cut it as short as I do Caleb's. Because when I do, his hair sticks straight up in the back like in this picture.

If he could have his way, it would be to have me holding his hands and walking him wherever he wants to go all day long. The walker just isn't the same because it doesn't allow him to maneuver as easily.

Carter is a great sleeper at night, but a horrible napper during the day. (Caleb was bad all around, so I guess this is an improvement.) Carter goes to bed between 6:30 and 7pm and wakes up right at 7 am every morning. He's been doing this for the last 3 months, and it has been a sweet schedule! He takes a morning nap for 1 to 1 1/2 hours and an afternoon nap for 1/2 hour. Both of these naps are preceded by anywhere from 15-60 minutes of crying. The crying beforehand wasn't always this lengthy (though it's always been there). Ever since he learned to pull himself up to a standing position, he'll just stand in his crib and cry till he's exhausted and finally falls asleep.

If I have mentioned in previous posts that he is a happy baby, I have to modify that statement. He is a happy baby only if I am carrying him or I am walking him around the house. Otherwise he's pretty cranky all day. This may have something to do with not getting enough sleep in during the day, but I'm at a loss as to how to fix that.

Despite that it's frustrating at times that Carter will only go to me and not Matt (very seldomly), I love that Carter loves me so much. He's always so excited to see me, and he's a fun cuddler as well. With Caleb preferring his Daddy over me anytime, it's nice that I have someone who I can snuggle with.


Carter does pretty well in preschool. The kids ignore him for the most part, but they can also be really cute with him. Carter crawled up to one of my students and then...

gave her some love :o)

It's been so fun to see him learn and grow. I can't believe he's approaching the year mark already! We all love having him as part of the family. I especially love watching him and Caleb play together. It takes a lot of patience on Caleb's end, because Carter is usually destroying anything that Caleb is building. Caleb's really sweet to him though.

26.2

What better way to bring in the new year than to run 26 miles right? January 1, 2011 I ran my first marathon. I never anticipated that I would set this goal to run a full marathon, but a friend convinced me to join a running group in our area. There were two groups...one group was training for a half marathon and the other was training for a full. The half marathon schedule started out so super easy with 1 mile and then slowly adding on additional miles, that I thought I would train with the marathon group just to see. I could always skip the weeks in the schedule that they were running more mileage than I felt comfortable with. I had signed up for a half marathon for Nov. 20th, and looked around at marathon races on a Saturday. There was only one available that was close by on New Year's Day. The group I trained with was training for the Houston Marathon on Jan. 30th. If I wanted to run the one on Jan. 1st (Kingwood), I knew I'd have to adjust the running schedule. My decision was made for me when I tried to sign up for the Kingwood race, and it was full. I had been waiting to sign up because I wasn't sure I was capable of doing one yet! I went on the waiting list of over 200 people and figured that was the end of any thoughts of running a marathon.

As I continued with the running schedule in order to train for my half, I felt capable of continuing with the higher mileage. I was at 15 miles when I heard that I got into the Kingwood race. I immediately talked with my coach about how to adjust the schedule to make sure I would be ready.

Just a quick summary of my training: It was really nice to be able to have people to run with for the long runs on Saturday. I was in a group of about 25 people all training for a marathon and at a pace of between 9 and 10-minute miles. There were seminars every other Saturday about different tips to take care of your body. Since the seminars started at 8 am, our long runs had to be finished by then. That meant that Saturday mornings were always an early start for me. As the mileage increased, so did the early start. We oftentimes started our running in the dark. I did not get through this whole ordeal without injury. My knees hurt a lot when I ran 18 + miles (which was only twice), but they've been popping frequently from the beginning. I also had pain in the arch of my right foot, which subsided a bit when I got fitted for new shoes. My left ankle bothered me some, but I learned that I just needed to stretch it really good, and then it was okay.

My half marathon went really well on Nov. 20th. I concentrated on pushing myself hard. I aimed to run 8:45 miles, but ended up with 9-minute miles. Because I pushed myself so hard, I felt awful after finishing and made a decision right there that there was no way I wanted to run an additional 13 miles on top of what I already ran. I wanted to pull out of the marathon and get my money refunded. After thinking about it some more, I decided to continue to try to run a marathon, but realized that I would need to slow my pace down significantly if I actually wanted to finish!

Marathon day approached. Weather was perfect. It started out at 47 degrees and by the time I finished it was around 57 degrees. The race track was 4 loops of 6.55 miles with pretty scenery. I was set with a book on tape (which I finished during the race). I did not get a good night's sleep the night before though (fireworks kept me up), and I didn't eat as good as I should have the previous night (all the appetizers were so yummy...but I did pass on dessert). I think because of my diet the night before, my stomach hurt really bad for the first 13 miles. As I was crossing the start/finish line at 13.1 miles, I wanted to quit because I just wasn't feeling good. It was at this point that I saw Matt, my boys, and Matt's parents. That gave me the extra motivation I needed to grab a snack and keep going.

Suprisingly, for not feeling well, my time was better than I expected. I set a tentative goal of wanting to run around 10-minute miles. I started out slower than that (I heard that was supposed to help with energy at the end) at 10:15 miles. Not intentionally, I started running 9:45 miles around mile 4. I was able to keep that pace for quite awhile. I remember looking down at my stopwatch at every mile marker and just being surprised that I was running ahead of schedule, but I was running at a comfortable pace...I wasn't pushing myself at all. My "comfortable pace" was quicker than I anticipated, and I attribute that to my speed training and tempo runs that I did on Tues./Thurs. during my training.

Around mile 20 I hit "the wall" that a lot of runners talk about. I was just doing what I could to keep running, and as soon as I got to a water/gatorade station, I walked while I drank. My pace slowed considerably for about the next 3 miles. Around mile 23, energy kicked in, and I was able to pick up my pace. That mile was actually pretty emotional. While other runners were wiping sweat, I was wiping tears as I realized that I was going to accomplish this goal that was such a challenge to work towards, even the day of the race. It's always more meaningful to accomplish something when you wanted to give up many times throughout the process.

I finished strong, and my finishing time was 4:28:34, which I was very proud of. Overall it was an incredible experience. I was very shaky after finishing...my knees were killing me. (My quads were sore for the next two days, and I walked like an old woman.) I was very grateful to Matt and his parents for coming out to support me. It literally made the difference of me finishing the race!

Mile 13, when I wanted to give up. Blurry picture, but I was handing off my jacket to Matt as I passed him.

Heading back out with snack in hand even though I was in a lot of pain and just wanted to quit. (Side note--> My hair is probably the longest it's ever been right now. I grew it out for the marathon, and I'm so excited to chop it off!)

After the race getting my award. Caleb came to greet me.

Me with my "Texas-sized" award. It is soooo heavy, but I love that it's so big because it represents a big accomplishment. (It was so painful to get in this position for the picture, and Matt had to help me stand up again. The theme of the race was ducks for whatever reason...)

So, are more marathons in my future? I don't think so. I don't have a desire to qualify for Boston (I'd have to run it in 3:40), and the training process took its toll on my body as well as a lot of time away from family. I plan on sticking with half marathons from here on out. The only way I'd run another marathon is if Matt wanted to run one. Then I'd want to run it with him...and beat him :o). In the mean time, it feels AMAZING to be in the best shape I'll probably every be in in my life!

First Movie

While Clayton and Kara were in town for Christmas, we went to see the movie Tangled. It was Caleb's first time to see a movie in the theater! After about 20 minutes, he said he was all done and ready to go home. He sat through it all really well though as long as I pointed out the funny chameleon and horse. I quite enjoyed the movie. It was only my second movie to see in a theater this entire past year (the first was Harry Potter about a month ago).

Caleb, Dallin, and Sammy (I think it was all of their first time in a movie theater)

Mommy and Caleb after the movie.

Christmas 2010

Caleb on Christmas morning. All month long Caleb asked if it was time for Santa to come, so it was so exciting when Santa actually came!

Flipping through a new book of picture scriptures that he opened.

Caleb with his toys: trains and a dinosaur from Grandma. (The Cheerios were to distract Carter as we opened presents.)

Other presents: books!

Carter ate snacks and played with the wrapping paper!

Later in the day at Matt's parents. One of the presents Caleb opened was a remote-controlled helicopter! Daddy actually enjoyed this present just as much, if not more than, Caleb.

Carter with one of his presents: a frog piggy bank.

I forgot my camera on Christmas Eve when we did presents with my family, so no pictures. Caleb was excited about the movie Toy Story 3 that he also got from Grandma and Grandpa. We enjoyed the holiday and loved having Daddy home for several days!

Family

Christmas is so much more fun with all the family around. Clayton and his wife, Kara, just flew in to spend Christmas here, which means we'll have all my family home for Christmas. My grandma is visiting as well. We'll have our big get-together Christmas Eve with all our fun traditions (white elephant, chimes, acting out the Nativity story now that there are some kids, present exchanges, food and games). Can't wait!

Here are the latest family pictures taken by Matt's dad:

And my handsome boys. Caleb is so excited for Santa this year!