Running Update

For the last few years I've been running in Five Fingers.  And by the last few years I mean I've run a handful of times for a few months here and there and have in no way worn them out. :) I really like them; however, it takes a totally different running style to run in them, so every time I start I'm half crippled after each run while my calves get back in shape for using them.  Each time I start running again that time of crippledness is shorter.  This time around I'm running a couple times a week and this is my third week. So last Saturday was my fourth run.   And guess what? No calf pain!  I'm not running fast yet, but my calves don't hurt and my big toes have redeveloped some calluses so they don't rub either for the amount I'm running.

I wouldn't say the shoes are the panacea for good running like many claim, but I do like them.  I like that these don't have a 600-mile limit, when normal running shoes are technically worn out but still look essentially brand new. That always drove me a little crazy.  These shoes will go until the soles wear off or the top rips out.  They're mostly just shelter for my feet from any glass or rocks that could cut them up, plus a thin layer of the lovely Vibram rubber on the soles that feels so good in my Chacos. Because running on them necessitates running on my toes instead of my heels, it makes different muscles and tendons work in my legs, so I get different running aches and pains then before, but they don't make those go away.  But that's okay. It's par for the course.

Bill and I went running together Saturday morning with the kids at the South Carolina Botanical Gardens, which are maybe a couple miles from us right next to Clemson.  They are beautiful!  We haven't run together since Spencer was maybe a year old. Our schedules just haven't permitted it.  We all loved it.  Spencer started laughing out of sheer delight when we first started our run.  It was awesome.  We're going to make it a weekly occurrence to go run the loop and then walk through the gorgeous garden at the end.  I can't wait!

So running seems to be going well.  Hopefully I'll regain some of my former speed as well as distance in the coming months, and the warmer weather will only make it better.

Primary

I got a new calling on Sunday. I'm switching off with another lady teaching the 5-year olds in Primary.  I'm sure, depending on who you are, you'll have varied reactions to this, but probably not super positive.  I, however, am ridiculously excited about this new calling. :)

A, I simply adored being in young womens in my last ward in Utah, but when I was released it totally blew me away the weight that lifted off my shoulders. I didn't feel it at the time and I wasn't anxious to get released, but it was a huge difference. I'm ready for a lower stress calling where I don't feel like what I do or do not do will have a serious impact on whether someone stays active/has a testimony/gains a testimony.

B, I love teaching. And kids are just so fun to teach, especially at this age when the world is just opening up to them. For heaven's sake, I spent two semesters in Moscow, Russia teaching this same age English.  After doing it once I couldn't wait to get back and have a go again. :) With these kids we actually speak the same language.  Hello, that will make anything easier!

C, I like being involved in things.  We've been here a month and a half and I've been itching for more ways to get involved in things now that we're all settled and healthy.  Here's at least one way to do that.

So there it is.  Get ready for play dough and construction paper and bean bags and pretty much any other fun thing I can come up with to entertain six or seven 5 year-olds for 40 minutes every other Sunday.

To health

Good health has been elusive at our house the last few weeks, but I think we're almost back to it.  Fingers crossed.  Between tending a sick toddler with an ear infection, Bill and I catching the cold too, then a wave of stomach flu, it's been a rough couple weeks.  It looks like we're past it though. I did find a minute to make some cute crib rail covers this week. 

Spencer thoroughly enjoyed using all four sides of the crib rail as a teething toy when he was younger. I never even thought to cover it until after the fact, so let's just say our crib is rather unattractive if you take too close a look. But these pretty much fixed that! I love how they spruce up the crib too since it doesn't have any bumpers. They were super easy to make, but it must have been the cold muddling my head, I had such a hard time thinking through how to actually sew them. I sewed one up only to realize the batting was on the outside when I went to turn it. Oops!  A lot of picking out seems later I put it together right and they turned out adorable. I love a good craft project.

Genevieve just wants to be wherever we are these days. I can't believe she'll be six months old in a couple weeks and supposedly ready to start eating real food and stuff like that.  I swear she can't be that old already. She also loves this caterpillar more than should be allowed.  Give it to her and she's set for quite a while. 

Spencer loves to wear Bill's watches and ring. Daddy black watch? Daddy ring? Daddy white watch? Those are almost always the questions he asks Bill when he gets home at night. Bill told him that he has to give him a hug first before he starts demanding all his accouterments. :)

Running!

"Running!" That's what Spencer joyfully yells when he tears up and down our hallway and our our house.  I'd like to think I can claim a part of his joy in the feeling.  I've taken him running with me and there was a point where I truly found joy in running too, though it's been a few years since it really felt good. Unfortunately, there aren't any sidewalks near where we live, or shoulders for that matter, and so there is nowhere easily reached on foot to use the small car that is our double jogging stroller/bike trailer. So my running has been planned for the last month to fit into my early mornings before Spencer wakes up.

By planned I mean until today it hasn't happened.  First we had to move in and recuperate from the trip out.  Then I needed to get as much sleep as possible to recover from the months leading up to this move.  Then we all got sick. I'm sure I could come up with other reasons, but the end result is that I have not been running since before Thanksgiving if memory serves, and then only a few times since I had Genevieve. I stopped running at 30 weeks pregnant when I got the cold of all colds that knocked me out for at least two weeks. So this running thing has been a bit sketchy for the last year or so. Let's be honest, the last few years.  Having kids hasn't done good things to the running part of my life. I've kept running just enough to still say I'm a runner and no more.

But never fear! It's time to take it up again. Some of my friends here go running a couple days a week at the ripe old time of 5:40AM.  Cough, cough, what?!?! Yeah, that's really early and I've really enjoyed sleeping in with the kids the last five months since Genevieve was born. Don't hate me because my kids sleep in until 8 or 9 most days and lately 10 for Spencer. We have other problems. I count that little thing a blessing. However, I've been getting up at 6:30 or 7 for the last few weeks in order to get my work in before they wake up. It makes the rest of my day infinitely better to be done before they enter the scene for the day.  I've had this idea that if I get my workout done before they wake up, that will make my day much better too, but in practice it hasn't happened much yet.  But it did today!

So I ran the incredible distance of 1.4 miles today.  It felt good. It was freezing. 36 degrees feels a lot colder here than in Utah or Colorado.  I felt like I was drinking the air, which was quite pleasant actually. I don't think I'm going to have a problem with dry mouth running on this side of the country.  I can get used to that. I left at 6AM. So if I want to run with my friends, which I do, I have to be able to get down to Clemson by 5:30 and actually be able to run their "easy" 4-6 miles.  There was a time in my life where that really was easy.  What? Run a quick 25 minutes? Sure! That's nothing. An hour? That's a standard, decent workout. I'm pretty sure when I had thoughts like that I was also training for said race in the picture, and getting awesome tan lines like this while running it.

But for now I'll be happy with my 1.4 miles that wasn't that easy, but felt good. I'll work towards those 4 miles that feel like a lot now.  I'll build up to actually running 4 miles in 30 minutes like I used to be able to do, so I can run with my friends. And I'll try to get up a bit earlier. And hopefully I'll get back to that point of feeling joyful and wanting to run down the hall yelling, "running!"

Another look at food

Bill and I have created a beast, and his name is Spencer.  He is delightful in most every way, as long as we're not talking about eating. I readily admit that we probably could have done a better job introducing him to new foods and things from the get go, but hey, he's our first child and we have no idea what we're doing.

That being said, I'm not stressed about this so much as just ready to try a new tactic to try to get Spencer eating like a normal child.  His current diet consists of french toast and pancakes.  He was sick all last week, which has some impact, but that's all he is eating for now, three meals a day.  It seems like a good time to try new ways of doing things around here.

So I'm looking for advice from all my mom friends and anyone who might have a good idea out there.  And this isn't advice like try to feed him new items 10 times and after trying it 10 times he might like it. See, he never tries anything, and if you've ever tried to feed a toddler you will understand when I say that he cannot be forced to eat anything he doesn't want to.  So I need new ideas.  How do I get him to try new things and expand his palate? I gave him probably 10 different interesting tidbits of things from our fridge tonight and not a single one went into this mouth, so exposure alone isn't the answer. He had a great time making table art with it all. :)

How do you tempt your toddlers to eat? He will not try something just because he's hungry either. He will just get steadily more and more unhappy and cry and cry and still not eat anything unless it appeals to him, which generally involves it having chocolate in it.  So help a friend out and let me know what you have tried and what might work. Oh, one other thing.  He's not really old enough quite yet to understand try a bite of this and you'll get a bite of something else you like.  He just doesn't like anything well enough to use that tactic yet, and he's still just a tad young to understand the logic, or so it seems. He just turned two a few weeks ago.

Thanks!