My first Mother's Day!

 The day didn't exactly go as planned. Standard.  I'm sick with a cold.  Pax has a cough and I'm worried he's getting sick.  He took the longest nap ever (probably fighting off that cold) and we completely missed the organic, vegan brunch we all had been looking forward to.  We were all dressed up with nowhere to go, so I decided I'd like some pictures with The One Who Made Me A Mom to commemorate the day.  And yes, I totally coordinated our outfits so we were all in blue and white stripes.

There is nothing I love more that getting to be this boys Mommy!

 We captured some funny timer shots with the help of our mailbox.

My day finished off with a trip out to the horses and a great ride followed by enjoying a bunch of awesome, yummy organic snacks delivered that morning from my amazing sister and then Brad picked up dinner from a local Italian place so I didn't even have to cook. 

I hope all you mama's out there had a wonderful day too!

10 months

 We are in the double digits!  Ahhh time slow down!

 This is really such a fun age.  Paxton is really expressive in telling us what he wants/doesn't want and I'm learning so much about him. I am loving getting to know his sweet personality.  He loves to say Dada and has said Mama a few precious times.  I'll never forget the first time that sound came out of my sons mouth.  I cried.

 He's doing all kinds of fun things like playing peek a boo and clapping his hands and even his feet.  He is on the move and we really have to keep a close eye on him because he can get around surprisingly fast.  He prefers to just roll around to get to wherever he wants to go, but does get some forward motion dragging himself along the floor.  He's so big that real/traditional crawling isn't exactly his style.

 Pax is still a fantastic sleeper.  He usually will take a good morning nap, sometimes a short afternoon nap and goes to bed at 7 and sleeps till 7 or even 8. On his 10 month birthday he slept in until 9:15! 

 Pax loves to eat.  He's starting to prefer small chunks of food rather than just purees.  He loves yogurt, bananas and kiwis the most!  He seems to have a sweet tooth like his mama.  His nursing strike turned into him just weaning himself super early. So nursing has sadly ended, but I'll keep pumping until he's at least 11 months and then I'll start supplementing a little bit with milk and be able to cut back on the pumping. 

 We could not be enjoying him more.  It makes me sad that this short baby time with him is going by so fast, but it's amazing that I've gotten to be with him the whole time and enjoy every little baby thing he does. Brad and I have started working on a project for his first birthday and it's so fun and emotional looking through all the of pictures I've taken this past year. 

Easter Bunny

 

 My little bun bun would like to wish you all a very HOPPY EASTER!!

 

 

 These pictures were actually taken right at the beginning of April.  That 18 month outfit was already too tight and I knew if I waited he probably wouldn't get into it at all and plus the azalea bushes were blooming all over our yard. 

 Mom, if you see this, then I know you do not approve of these pictures.  She says it's hard for a little boy to be so cute and that people will feel sorry for him if I make him look ridiculous.  But, I hope/think wearing some bunny ears on his very first Easter won't cost me too much in therapy bills.  I adore this adorable child beyond belief and I hope that by sharing these with you I can share my overwhelming joy and love and hopefully my darling baby boy will give you yet another reason to make you smile today!

Wishing you all a day full of Jesus, love, pastel colors, dyed eggs and jelly beans!  

Springtime!

 Easter is almost here and we are all about it.  This whole first year of firsts with Paxton has been so incredibly special and every holiday that comes around has to be documented with copious amounts of pictures.  Spring has pretty much already passed here in Pensacola, but we are getting lots of sunshine and warm weather, so it's been perfect to get outside and get lots of fresh air.  One of Paxton's favorite things is sitting in the grass, pulling out the grass and trying to eat leaves.  We spend a lot of time swinging in his tree swing and going for walks and runs.  I am already kind of dreading the summer heat, but I'm also really excited to finally be able to get in the pool again.  

I hope you enjoy these Springtime and Easter inspired pictures I took today of my 9 1/2 month old hunk.  

 

 

My 2nd half marathon recap - Rock n Fly Half

I was so very excited to run my 2nd half marathon this past weekend.  My first half was almost 2 years ago, I got to do it with my best friend because her friend couldn't do it at the last minute, so I got her spot.  I had been wanting to do one, but I didn't exactly train for it and my goal was just to run the whole thing and finish.  When I finished I knew I was going to do another one.

As I already mentioned, I made the goal to train for and run another half marathon back when I was 9 months pregnant.  I knew that running would get my baby weight off and help me get back to my pre baby body that I was missing very much at that point in my pregnancy as you can imagine. 

Once I was cleared 5 weeks after having the baby I was scared.  I had been looking forward to being able to run and be active again, but I knew how very hard it was going to be.  My body was floppy, my muscles and lungs were weak.  I think I put off going for my first run for another week maybe... but then on September 1st that was it.  I went out with Brad and the baby and pushed out 3 miles.  I felt amazing.  Sure, I was slow.  It wasn't pretty.  But, I had to start somewhere and I had to make the start back to where I wanted to be physically. 

Brad and I signed up for a 5k and I worked towards that.  We did some more 5k's and eventually did a 8k cross country run through the sand and both Brand and I got 2nd place in our age group. I ran long runs every weekend. Along the way I got stronger.  Running got a little easier.  And I started to really love it again. 

On Saturday I was nervous.  For 6 months I had worked so very hard to get to this point and I didn't want to disappoint myself.  Based on my long runs I planned to run about a 9 minute mile and planned to just stay right around there the whole race.  Nice and steady. 

 

Brad's friend Michael is a bit of a local running celebrity and also plays with a band regularly on the weekends.  He was invited to play the national anthem at the start of the race and asked Brad to do it with him.  They worked up an awesome rock n roll version of the anthem while still keeping it traditional enough.  They rocked it out and the crowd cheered so loud!  I was so proud of them.  Right after they played we had to rush to throw the gear in our car and race over to the starting line.  It was a close call, but we made it and were ready to run off with the rest of the crowd.

 

The race was hard.  But at the same time I felt so good!  My legs were strong, my body was an incredible machine and my mind repeated my mantras like "do yourself justice," "you are powerful" and "2 hours.  You can do anything for only 2 hours." Brad and I ran together the first 8 miles and then Brad was having a lot of pain in his foot and dropped back.  I held my pace and just kept going.  Mile 9 was awesome running through the crowd cheering us on with signs and high fives!  Then it sucked.  The crowd was gone and there were hills.  Hills the last 3 miles.  I wanted to die.  Mostly I wanted to walk, but I dug in.  Found strength I didn't know I had and powered through. Mile 11 was not pretty.  I'm pretty sure I had the death face on.  And it felt like the longest mile of my LIFE.  I kept thinking "how in the world to marathon runners do this? I can't imagine being less than half way done." But then I got to that 12 mile marker and knew I had to finish strong.  I sprinted the last 1/4 mile and crossed that finish line at EXACTLY 2 hours on the dot with a big, giant smile on my face.

 

I cried.  I cried last time I finished the other half too.  It's just so emotional to realize that your body and mind are so powerful.  I felt strong and best of all I felt amazing for meeting my goal of not only finishing the half, but for getting a time I was proud of.  I stuck to my pace.  I slowed down a bit on those hills the last few miles, so my over all pace was 9:10.  

Since Brad and I were separated and I didn't have my phone or any way to know if he was ok, hurt or sick I downed some orange slices, met Michael as he came through the finish and then made my way to the car to get my phone. I got my phone and then happened to see Brad running by on the course!  I didn't know I had anything left in my legs, but when I saw him I sprinted across the lawn and ran to catch up to him.  I ran with him to right before the finish and then cheered him on as he crossed the finish line to complete his first half.  I am so glad I happened to see him!  I would have hated to miss seeing him finish.  Even with the intense pain in his foot he powered through and still finished with a great time of 2 hours 20 min.

 Done!  We were SO happy to be finished! 

 We met up with our friends Michael and Ashley.  Michael ran the half and Ashley did the 5k pushing her little man in the stroller! 

 We made our way over to check out the bands, got a well deserved beer and relaxed on the seawall for a while.  It was such a fun race!  I'm relieved it's over. I can't wait to do another one.