Wednesday, November 19, 2008

SAM I AM IS A WHOLE YEAR OLD!


Happy, Happy Birthday, baby Sam! It's amazing to think back to a year ago when he just decided, all of a sudden to join our family. He was almost born in the car (seriously, we had a bowl in the back of the car for the placenta in case it did come down to that) and if you want to read Nick's rendition of that night, here it is.
What a blessing you have been to our family, Sam. We thank God for the gift of you every night and love that we get to share our lives with you. We love that you are so cheerful and that you get so excited to see us each morning as we come in to get you out of your crib. We love how you adore your brother and try to show him by cracking your skull against his. I love that you have a dimple like your daddy! I love that you are so easy to get to smile and will wave at anyone who looks your way. I love that you start dancing when you hear music. I love that you suck your thumb when you are sleepy. I love that you climb up in Adam's chair and rock yourself back and forth. I love that you are crazy and reckless in the bath. I love your smell. I love the way you touch my face when I feed you your bottle. I love to rock you and sing to you about our Lord. I love that you enjoy food and your thighs remind us of how "healthy" you are. I love your soft skin. I love to watch you play and squeal in delight. We love you, Sam! Happy first birthday ever!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

My mom is really smart.

My mom had a four year old and two 22 month old twins when I was born, then had two more after a 15 year break, and lived to tell about it. So, I usually call her when my kids are sick before I call the doctor. Sam had a fever for three days and then it went away and was replaced by mysterious little red spots on his tummy. Called mom, she asked a few questions, said "Sounds like roseola virus. Look it up on the internet and see if it matches." Lo, and behold, my child had exactly every symptom that was described. I talked with my doctor because that's what What to Expect the First Year says to and we were good to go. Anyway, my mom is smart.

On the road again- oh, wait. It's a treadmill.

A little update on the running. While we were in Tahoe, I was scheduled to do my 15 miles and God was scheduled to send snow that day. So I spent the better part of the morning, over 3 1/2 hours, on the treadmill in the Marriott's gym. I staked out a pretty good one- overlooking the pool, watching the snow fall on the trees. I was afraid I was going to be bored because I detest running on treadmills so I put an audiobook on my ipod to keep me company. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers is a novel based on the story of Hosea. Note to self: it's pretty difficult to cry while you are running. But I did it and I think it was the first time where I felt like I actually might be able to run a marathon in February. Through Christ who strengthens me...

Fast forward two weeks to this past Saturday. I ran through 3 cities! 18 miles. A little less than four hours. And a whole audiobook. I felt good when I was done but I need to find some long trails to run on. It's probably not safe to run over Kirker Pass but I want to run from Walnut Creek to my house. Only three more long runs before Huntington!

The First Snow

God is so nice to us! A family in our church gifted us with a week in Tahoe at their time share. What an unexpected blessing. Nick and I left the boys with my parents for a few days while we went by ourselves for a little R&R. We slept in, read by the fire, played wii golf, ate lots of food at non-kid-friendly restaurants, saw the movie Fireproof (so good, by the way), stayed out past the boys' bedtime, went on a run (which was a little hard to get used to in the over 6,000 foot elevation), and totally enjoyed God's creation up there. Then, Nick drove back to pick up the boys to join us while I went on a long run. Adam loved it. It was the first snow of the season when we were up there and he and Nick scraped up all the snow they could to make a little snowman. What a fun way to see snow for the first time.

Halloween


I'm a little behind on the blogging so here comes a bunch...
Adam bounced around like Tigger all day long and would not let go of his bucket because that was the key to getting the goods. Sam had no idea what was going on but looked so cute dressed up like Winnie the Pooh and his fat little belly.

My parents bought Adam and Sam each a pumpkin in October. Adam calls it his "pumpkin pie" and carries it around with him in the car, sits with it at meals, they watch movies together on the couch, and he practically sleeps with it.