Spring Break...well...sort of

I don't actually get a spring break and Aaron definitely has no break during this time of the year but my Mom and my sister do and so I celebrated with them and we went up to visit my grandparents in New Mexico. I drove up with my sister and then stayed for a few days then Carson and I flew back with my parents. It was Carson's first little plane ride and he did pretty good. I, on the other hand, was a disaster. I just don't do well on those small airplanes, I get so nauseas. So Carson hung out with his Grandpa while I tried not to throw up the whole time. Aaron, sadly, couldn't join us and we missed him lots. We spent the week visiting my Grandpa in his assisted care facility (he has Alzheimer's) and seeing my Grandma's friends and just enjoying the beautiful weather. Here are a few shots of my grandparents with Carson. I just think Carson looks so much like my grandpa with his bald head and big ears.

Time to grow up?

So I should begin this post by explaining that I don't do much shopping. Don't get me wrong I love clothes and I love having cute clothes but ever since I've been married there has always been something more important to do with our money. We're always saving for one reason or another and I guess you could say my priorities have changed because if I do get new clothes they are for running not going out. Now I don't bring this up so people will feel sorry for me or to complain because that's not it at all, its just background so you understand why I haven't been shopping in a few years. So before I got married (which is when I used to shop like...a lot) I got my clothes from the young adult girl section (the high school section I call it). I shopped at stores like H&M and Forever 21 and similar stores of the same genre. Well for Valentine's Day my Mom told me she would let me pick out a dress as a present from her. Wow, I'm so excited. I know for a fact I haven't gotten a dress in a long time. So with great excitement and anticipation I head out for the mall. The mall, wow I hadn't been there in a long time. I drag Aaron along for the fun, pack Carson up in the stroller and we are so mall shoppers. I head straight to the mother ship, Nordstroms. I quickly begin browsing the B&P section, what? nothing. I mean nothing is going to work. It all looks so young, not to mention short. I keep going surely there will be something. Nope, nope, nope. So I head over to the Women's section, nope, nope, nope. It all looked too old, or too expensive. Well, same story, different verse in every other store. All those younger stores just looked so young to me. I mean I am 27, is it time to move up to the women's section?? Have I outgrown those younger stores?? I'm not sure if its because I'm a mom or because I'm getting older or just because I've been out of the game for a few years and maybe style has just changed. The dress thing just wasn't working out, I couldn't find anything at Target, Wal-mart, Ross, you name it. But I found the same problem in those stores too. Where do you shop? When did you transition over? Is it just more expensive to shop in the women's section? I'm just not sure where to go, maybe I should just make due with my current wardrobe until my 30's. :)

February

So February was Carson's 8th month. I was telling people he was 7 months old until I absolutely had to say 8 months. Its hard to accept how fast they grow up. I was looking for my notes page where I write down things Carson does during the month and I can't find it so I hope I can remember most things and I'm not getting confused with what he has done this month. But one thing I know for sure is this kid is so darn cute and happy. He loves people, all people and doesn't mind for new people to hold him or pick him up. And he loves food. He still eats everything I put in front of his mouth, even the meat (which I personally think looks so nasty). And at the end of the month I started with a few table foods and he loves those too. But a few things I want to remember about my little Car Car this month are:

The scooting. He started moving those arms and scooting towards toys he wanted, well mostly towards the remote control. He doesn't lift his little bum in the air though, he only does that when he's sleeping.

His favorite word of the month was ba-ba. Everything and everyone is ba-ba. I would say Ma Ma and he would look at me and say ba ba. I knew he was awake from his naps because I would hear ba ba ba ba from his crib. He also said pa pa sometimes.

He loves to walk around the house while I hold his hands.

He is not cuddly. He never has been and oh how Aaron and I wanted a cuddly baby. He just isn't interested in it. Whenever I try to rock him or sing to him he just wants to stand up and look around and just squirms around.

He loves the vacuum. He is just totally fascinated by it and tries to scoot around and follow me. (Side note: Josie also thinks the vacuum is some sort of game I'm trying to play with her)

He got 2 beautiful top teeth which led to many nights of waking up several times a night crying.

He loves to grab people's faces, chase his duck around the bath tub, and play with Josie's collar.

He pulls himself up on stuff and refuses to sit down to eat. He stands the whole time. And yes I do recognize this is probably not very safe and so I know I need to make him sit but its just so darn adorable.

He has started turning the pages himself when we read books but he doesn't wait for me to finish reading before he starts turning. :)

I tried to put a couple of videos on here. I debated putting them up because I don't know how to edit these and one has a fabulous shot of my bum and the other doesn't get exciting until the last 5 seconds. But Aaron watches these over and over again at work, especially weeks like this when he goes days without seeing Carson and so I am going to post them. I am almost positive we made these in Feb. Enjoy!

Cowtown Recap

Well I have been waiting for my Dad to send me some pictures from the finish line to add to this post but since I don't have them I guess I'll just have to add them later. You'll just have to use your imagination and trust that even without action shots I did actually run a marathon. :)

Okay so I ran the Cowtown Marathon on Saturday and it went really great. Aaron also ran in the 5K and did great. We are so happy to be done with the race and I couldn't of been happier to see the finish line. Here's a little (well not so little actually) recap of the race experience.

Morning of: We spent the night at my parents since they live closer. I fed Carson at 5 AM and couldn't fall back asleep because I was so anxious. We left pretty early but when we got to downtown there was so much traffic. I noticed lots of runners jumping out of their cars and jogging to the starting line, so I jumped on board. It wasn't very far and was a nice little warm up.

Starting line: Oh my gosh, so many people! Better use the porta potty before I begin, yuck, I hate those. I try to find some people who are about my pace to line up with. There is a staggered start so that is really nice.

Mile 1: There are a lot of fast people in this race, it is always nice to start a race going downhill. I tried to stay a little slow for the first mile and then work into my pace.

Mile 5: Oh my gosh, it is such a gorgeous day. I can't believe how much we lucked out on this weather. Seriously, you could not have asked for a more beautiful day, hardly any wind. And those of you who heard about my 22 mile run know that I ran that baby in gusting winds and just about died.

Mile 7: Finally, splitting from the half marathoners. Don't get me wrong, I love a half marathon, but there are WAY more half marathon runners than full and it was SO nice to have more space. After the split I hardly had to move around anyone the rest of the race. Plus they were just too darn happy. Oh 7 miles we're more than half way home. In my head I'm like 7 miles, I still have a long way to go.

Mile 8: Yea, half way to when I'm supposed to meet Aaron. I'm still feeling really good and keeping good pace. A little under 8:30 min. miles. I start wondering if I should shed the gloves, I don't think I can make it all the way to mile 16 wearing them.

Mile 10: This is such a beautiful neighborhood. I wonder how much these houses cost. I wonder if any are for sale. Ohh there's one for sale, with a pool, mental note to come back and look at this house.

Mile 11: Good bye gloves, hopefully some homeless person finds you and uses you to their advantage. Oh my gosh is that a beer stand?? People are drinking beer while running, crazy people.

Mile 13: I gotta shed my sweatshirt, the sun is just too warm. I'm still doing good, keeping the same pace. Half way mark, if I had run the half I would be done, slight regret fills me. I down a chocolate Gu and continue on.

Mile 15: How many hills have we gone up, my goodness, I thought Texas was flat!! Oh my gosh is that the guy in first?? He's on his way back already. He is hauling and making it look so easy. This gives me encouragement.

Mile 16: Where's Aaron, where are you?? I can't find him, he's not there. I get so sad but I can't stop and wait. We are in the park now and I figure maybe he's somewhere down the way. But I don't want to miss him, he has my Gu, I've run so far alone...

Mile 17: Still no Aaron, maybe at mile 18...

Mile 18: It sinks in hard that I'm not going to see him and not going to get my Gu. I get really sad and start to slow down. The 3:40 pace group catches up to me and I run with them for a little while but I'm losing motivation. Its sad because this is one of the prettiest parts of the run.

Mile 19: If I just walk for a second, oh my gosh, walking, it was fabulous. I wonder if I can walk all the way to the finish line. I keep telling myself I'll start running again but I can't make myself do it. It feel TOO good to walk. I walk up ANOTHER hill and somehow make myself get going again, but its not the same. Its just about moving now, I've stopped enjoying this.

Mile 21: I feel awful but I remember that Aaron and I are going to meet at mile 22. I see a friend of mine's husband on his bike and ask him where his wife is. She's five minutes behind me. Come to find out we were running the same pace this whole time she just started five minutes after me. That would've been nice to know. I know she's going to pass me though because I am slowing down unbelievably fast.

Mile 22: No Aaron, I should've known, we just mistimed when we would meet. I walk again, I see another hill coming... Are those firemen handing out water?? I notice the man in the hula skirt is slowing down too, he's had a smile on his face this whole run. I decide then and there no matter how slow I'm moving, I can't walk again or I will not start running again.

Mile 23: Here comes my friend Becky, passing me, man she looks like she's not hurting at all. She would go on to cross the finish line 7 minutes ahead of me.This tells you how slowly I ran the last three miles. Oh my gosh these mile markers are getting so far apart.

Mile 24: You have GOT to be kidding me, I cannot climb this hill!!

Mile 25: I miss the marker. I ask a worker how much farther, one mile, he says. One mile! One mile! My spirits pick up I know I'm going to make it to the end. I drink some water and powerade and I take off. I see I have a little less than 10 minutes to finish in under 4 hours. Every part of my body aches but I dig in to push myself to keep going.

Mile 26: The crowd is cheering, I see the finish line, I worry that no one will be there that I know but I don't care because all I can think about is getting there. I want to cry because I am so proud of myself. I remember how hard it was to have a baby and how empowered it made me feel and I find a way to push to the end.

26.2: I made it, I made it! I know my body is shot, it has used up every last bit of energy I had. I start to look around and hear my name. My parents are there waiting for me with my sweet baby. I embrace them, I am so happy. Where is Aaron?? "He is waiting for you at mile 22," they tell me. We just missed each other at 16 and he got worried that I was hurt or something and was just moving really slow so he was waiting for me. He hurries to meet me and I fall into his arms. "You did it babe, you did it." I did do it.

(Here is a shot from the phone when I called Aaron to see where he was...)

After I got some food, I felt much better. My quads burned but the rest of me felt pretty good. I walked away with no blisters, shin pain, or knee pain. I worked hard to get to this day and if you knew what I went through to nurse through the whole training process. I might even be more proud of myself for that as I am for making it to the race. Aaron took very good care of me the rest of the day and I indulged in cheeseburgers, french fries, two Coldstone creations and many chocolate chip cookies.

Will I do another one? I think so, I had a really good experience and I'm so proud of myself but not for awhile and never again with such a young baby.