Cousin Will's 1st Birthday!

My sweet little nephew Will turned 1 on April 21, and we had so much fun at his circus themed party. My sister created such a cute spread with circus treats (corndogs, popcorn, pretzles). BooMark and Virginia came to Kansas City for the celebration, and here are the pictures from the fun weekend.

BooMark and Gracie snuggling before bedtime.

Ella and Gracie in their matching skirts. My talented sister made the skirts!! Aren't they cute?!?!

Ella said that Gracie was tickling her! :)

Here is the birthday boy!

More of Ella and Gracie playing. They are already best buds.

Grace got a gift since the hat that my dad got Will was a little too small.

Grace trying to snag another toy from Will's stash.

After the party, BooMark, Virginia, Grace and I went to see the Princess Diana exhibit at Union Station AND the Monet exhibit at the Nelson. Talk about culture!

Nothing Says Birthday Like a Family Run

My birthday this year fell on a Sunday, and it also happened to be the same date as the Trolley Run in Kansas City. The Trolley Run benefits CCVI (Children's Center for the Visually Impaired) and is a 4-mile race. Technically you are not supposed to run with a jogging stroller, but I figured as long as we didn't run anyone over, we would be fine. Due to us getting there a little late, and missing the start time for the runners, we were in the very back of the pack with the walkers. And because we both wanted to run instead of walk, we were the annoying people who ran past and in between people who were walking. With a jogging stroller. That had a stereo. Playing loudly. But it was my birthday, and we didn't run anyone over. Here are some fun pics with our little running buddy.

And here are a few pictures from the 10K we ran in early April.

9 Months Old!!

Gracie is 9 months old today!! I'm finally somewhat current in my blog posts! Although I will be doing quite a bit of retro active posting in the next few weeks to make sure that I've covered everything that has happened with out little one. And a lot has happened!!

At 9 months, Grace can crawl! She is everywhere and into everything. When I'm in the kitchen cooking, she'll be satisfied playing with a whisk or spatula for a little bit, and then it is straight for the dog bowls. She loves to crawl towards our shoes too (not on our feet). She has been gravitating towards remote controls and cell phones for months, now she can get to them quicker.

Another big milestone that Grace reached this past month is sleeping through the night!! This one is a HUGE one for me. Up until 8 1/2 months, we would put her to bed in her crib, only to wake up 2 to 3 times a night for feedings. I would just bring her in bed with us because a) it was easiest and b) I needed sleep. This was not a good plan in the long run, and I wanted to help her be able to sleep in her own bed. So we attempted a few versions of the cry it out method. After a few painful nights, we shortened the amount of time between checking on her and it finally worked. Grace can now sleep completely through the night most nights from when we put her down about 7:30 p.m. till she wakes up from in between 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. Sleep has never felt so good. She will occasionally wake up to eat, but those nights are few and far between. She is getting to be such a big girl!!

She is babbling up a storm! I'm sure she is referring to me when she says "mamamama." :) Grace also has a slight case of separation anxiety and will cry for me for a bit when I drop her off at day care or leave her when I've visited her for lunch. It is completely heartbreaking, but I've tried to be consistent with my goodbyes, and not sneak off while she's not looking.

At Grace's 9 month check-up she weighs 15 pounds, 12 ounces, which puts her in the 5th percentile for weight. She is an itty bitty thing, but is consistently moving up the growth curve chart, so Dr. Austin isn't worried. She is in the 50th percentile for height and head circumference with 27 3/4 inches for height and 17 3/4 inches for head. And she can still wear size 2 diapers and size 3-6 month clothing, although I'm transitioning her into 6-12 month clothing now.

Here is out big girl at 9 months!

8 Months Old!!

Gracie turned 8 months old on May 17. At 8 months, Grace was so close to crawling!! She loves giving kisses to her friends at school. Grace is a great eater as we have now added chicken to her menu. She can also say 'dadadada,' and Greg loves that.

Here are some photos of her at 8 months.

Golden Birthdays

Grace turned 7 months old on April 17th, which happens to also be my birthday (I turned 32 this year). We share the same Golden Birthday, which is the same age as the number of your birthdate. So when Grace is 17, we'll be celebrating her Golden Birthday.

At 7 months, Grace is sitting up, passing toys from one had to the other and really eating a lot of fun pureed veggies and fruits. She is such a sweet baby and is sooooo smiley it melts my heart.

Here are some photos of her at 7 months.

Two Hours and Twenty-Six Minutes

I know you all have been dying to know how long it took me to finish my first half marathon. It was a little more than 2 hours and 26 minutes. This is also the same exact amount of run time in the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. I can't believe I ran for that long!! That is a long time!

The strange thing is that it really didn't feel that long. I can replay the whole run in my head, and it doesn't take that long.

Was it hard? Yes, and hell yes. It was excruciating. And so hot! At one point, I had to walk because I thought I was going to throw up. This was about mile 11. But I kept telling myself that I was almost done and I needed to finish strong, or at least finish.

Am I still in pain a week later? Yes. I have yet to wear shoes because my toes still hurt. Thank goodness it is summer and flip flops are the norm.

Will I actually follow a "real" training program the next time? Yes. I am signing up for the Kansas City Half Marathon on October 15, and the training starts in a few weeks!

Will I download Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 to my iPod nano and watch the movie while I run my next half marathon? Probably. And I'll cross the finish line before the end of the movie this time.

"Training"

We all have those really ambitious goals at the beginning of the year (some people call these "New Year's Resolutions") such as reading more books, losing weight, traveling more, eating healthier, becoming more organized, etc. When you get down to it, the main objective of these resolutions/goals is to improve upon our current lives and we give ourselves an entire year to accomplish these feats.

My main goal in 2011 is to run a marathon. I am a huge fan of The Biggest Loser, as is my husband, and I always say to myself as I watch the final 4 contestants run their marathon, "if they can do it, so can I." Mind you, I don't absolutely love running. I don't hate it either, but if I had to choose a favorite exercise, it would definitely not be running. Maybe dancing or pilates.

In my quest to make my goal a reality, I have signed up for 4 races this year so far, and successfully completed 3 of them (a 10k, a 4-mile run and an 8k). My 4th race of the year is tomorrow and it is going to be my longest hardest race EVER. I am going to complete a 1/2 marathon tomorrow. People, this is 13 miles of pounding the pavement. This shouldn't be a problem with my extensive training right? Well, there in lies the problem. My "training" has been a little non-traditional to say the least. I'm lucky if I prioritize enough time to run for an hour a few times a week with Grace in the jogging stroller. The most I have run at one time this year is 8 miles. And that was once. The rest of the time, I average 3 to 5 miles. I know that is still pretty good, but we are talking about running 13 straight miles tomorrow. I wish I could say that the reason I've been absent from blogging has been that I've been training for my 1/2 marathon, but that would not be true. What can I say, life just gets in the way.

I don't care how long it takes me. I don't care if I have to walk a little bit. As long as I cross that finish line, I will claim it as a success. My good friend Cho is running it with me. She has actually trained for this, so maybe she'll be all the motivation I need to keep up with her.

And if I totally don't collapse after the race and my legs haven't fallen off, maybe just maybe I'll actually follow a training program for the 1/2 marathon (or full marathon!) in October. I'll let you know how it goes.