Dear, (traveling eddition)

Dear Burger King in Columbia, GA,
I'm thankful for your beautiful/clean/new play center.  Please think about investing in a changing table.  Especially since you cater to small children.
Sincerely,
Almost-changed-a-poopy-diaper-in-the-booth-out-of-spite

Dear I-75,
Why are you constantly so busy?  All of the accidents, traffic, police officers.  You kind of are a sucky road to drive on.
Regretfully,
Taking-an-alternate-route

Dear Sanibel Island,
I think I love you.
Love,
Why-did-we-have-to-leave (aka want-to-go-back)

Dear Eliza,
your sleep on vacation stunk.  Please feel free to get back to sleeping well now that we're home.
Thank you,
Need-more-sleep

Dear Christmas music,
I heart you.  I'm so glad that we don't have to hide our affair now that thanksgiving is behind us.  It feels like a heavy burden has been lifted now that we can rejoice in our love openly.  (I especially enjoyed your company on the drive home yesterday.)
Always in my heart,
Its-on-right-now


Dear Tailbone,
why do you hate me?  I mean, our original disagreement was over three years ago.  We've gone through multiple rounds of therapy.  I thought we were past this.  Don't you think its time to get over it?  Stop bringing up our troubles, especially on a long car ride with the kids.
With love,
the-rest-of-your-body

Pinterest party

Things have been busy.  (Although, when are they not?  Is this our new normal?)  I'm just now getting around to posting my baby girl's party pictures, and her party was 3 weeks ago. 

 

I have about zero time for commentary, but here are the pictures.  Pinterest was my main inspiration (though I did have some original ideas here and there.) and it didn't let me down.  The party was fantastic!  Eliza was a tad over whelmed at first, and didn't eat much (thanks to the 1.5 week long stomach bug that she started with THAT NIGHT. ack! Sorry guests! Thankfully, only one other person got sick that I know of.) but she seemed to have fun.

 

 

Birthday shirt and tutu

 

 

Hiding from the party guests

 

 

 

Dairy and Soy free chocolate cake.  Its harder to decorate than you'd think.

 

 Straight to the bath

 

Still can't believe this girl is one. 

in bed, phone blogging

sometimes smart phones are lifesavers (like when zeke had to wait 4 hrs at the e.r. with his lip gashed open.) other times, time wasters (facebook ten times a da. anyone else? no? just me?) and,this particular time, kind of cool. while i'm certainly not going to type  a novel, i do think its cool that i can sit in bed, with my heated blanket on high, my pjs on, and blog.

so, yeah. im a nerd, and this stuff makes me smile.

The Color Run

Back in May (or was it March? I can't remember.) The Color Run was just coming out and it was totally the next "new" thing.  I had been looking for a 5k to run and thought that it looked promising and lots of fun.  I chatted with my long-time friend Raechel, and we joined as a team (because, come on, you get it cheaper that way!) along with her husband, Ryan.

 

Now, as it happens, both of our lives got insanely busy as the months went on.  We had already signed up and paid, so we were going to run it.  But, at the race,  the three of us were commenting on how we really didn't feel invested.  We were excited, but not nearly as excited as the man getting to run in his Elvis suit, or the lady wearing a wedding dress.  We felt under-enthused and under-dressed.

 

Even ill prepared as we were, we still had a ton of fun!   While it was MUCH different than what I was expecting (a lot of walkers, very few runners) we still managed to finish in only a minute over what my very first 5k time was two years ago (?!?)  We got to experience parts of Nashville I've never seen, and we ran through a yellow color "cloud" in an alley that was a totally different experience, unlike anything I have done or ever will do again. (Imagine walking into an actual cloud, but yellow.)  The other colors were fun, but nothing quite like that yellow.

(Speaking of the other colors, did any of the videos turn out, Rae?)



 

 



2/3 of Team Color My Feet.

 Raechel and I are down there somewhere.  Likely waiting in line for the world's worst port-a-john.

(also, E's finger.)

 My crew came out to cheer us on, sock feet and all. (I like to pretend these things don't happen when I'm not around.  I packed her shoes. But, alas, photographic evidence.)

 

 At the finish line there was a color throw.  We did not fully participate because we didn't realize there was a countdown based on the wave of runners you were in.  We just threw our packets up into the air on each other.

 

 

 After the race.  We're 30, kicking butt, and taking names!

 

 

Me, after sunglasses removal

We need to find a doctor with a loyalty punch card

In the past 2 weeks:

Eliza- in for allergic reaction (she ate ranch dressing.) Also, on a different day, there for her 12 month check up.

Isaac- in for a hideous rash on his face that is not responding to, as of now, 4 different kind of medications.

Olivia- Height and weight check, along with blood work, and orders for a bone scan.


4 times in 2 weeks.  Numerous phone calls.  Plus, likely another visit to the dr. tomorrow for the baby, who has been throwing up for days, unable to keep anything but tiny amounts of breast milk down.

This.  This is the stuff that overwhelms me.  This is the stuff that makes me stop and think "maybe I AM done having children." even though I still really, really want another.  This is the stuff I sit and fret over at night, praying to God to heal my babies, and calm my anxious heart.

But, this is life.  Its our life.  Though it may seem sucky, I'm trying to find peace in the small things.  Like how I love the nurse at our pediatrician's office.  How my baby girl is actually cuddly and snugly, even though I hate the reason why.  How I got to spend some one-on-one girl time with my eldest while we waited for her bone scan.  How our family pictures on Saturday will be that much more unique and memorable with Zeke's facial prettiness. (I'm serious, here.  Its a story we can laugh about later, right??)

Its our life.