Ten Things I Loved About Today

1.  Being off of work, of course.
2.  Breakfast and great conversation with my girls (who desperately need to update their blogs, by the way!)
3.  Watching Mason feed my dad a banana:

  4.  Watching Mason stuff the same banana in his own mouth: (day 12 of P365)

5.  Mom's homemade potato salad.
6.  Mah Jong on the iPhone.
7.  Watching Mason play with the watering can on the back porch and the tupperware in his favorite cabinet.
8.  My large Diet Coke from Sonic.
9.  Realizing my dad was right when he said that there could be worse things than Mason sticking to yogurt, apples, and bananas.
10.  Knowing that summer is alllllmost here...just a few more busy days of work, and then I can enjoy some laid back days with my boys!

Day 11

Reading with my boy:

LOVE this picture!  =)

OMG!

I just finished Week 5 of Couch to 5K.  Which means...

I just ran for 20 minutes without stopping!

I cannot believe I actually did it!  Five weeks ago, I couldn't run 60 seconds without feeling like I was going to keel over, and now I ran 20 minutes!  I feel absolutely amazing and somewhat invincible!  I feel like I might actually be prepared for my 5K by July 17th!  AND the scale is finally moving - I've lost 4 pounds!  YAY!

Laura - I don't know if you read this, but I never would have started this or gotten this far without your support!  You rock!  And I've used like 17 exclamation marks in this post so far!  Can you tell I'm excited?

Okay, deep breath.  I'm getting a little worked up!  =)

I also have a photo for Project 365 Day 10.  Here's Mason and Grandpa petting the donkeys, Juan and Mikey:

Life is good.

Which reminds me, Terry may be in the running for a really great job.  I don't want to say any more about it until we know more, but please say a prayer for us as it would mean lots of changes for our family!

More C25K and P365

First, days 8 and 9 of Project 365:

Day 8:  Yes, my child is wearing a box on his head.  He's starting a new fashion trend!  (What was even better was when his daddy wore the box on his head, but he wouldn't let me take a picture!)

Day 9:  We spent the entire day at West Temple Park with our fourth graders.  We had a great time even though it took THREE hours to get the splash pad working!  Here I am taking a much needed break!

And now on to C25K.

Can I just say how amazing this program is?  Last night, I ran the most incredible run of my entire life...I ran two 8 minute intervals, with 5 minutes of walking in between.  It was just awesome...I took it slow, but I felt great - my breathing was fine, my legs didn't feel like they were going to give out on me.  For the first time in my life, I felt like a runner!  I've been on a runner's high ever since I finished.  I just can't believe that 5 weeks ago, I thought I was going to die running 60 seconds, and now I can run 8 minutes at a time?!?  Wow.  That's not to say that there weren't a couple of difficult moments.  My trick for this run was to force myself to think of something besides running...I planned meals for next week, made a mental to-do list, thought of some things that upset me a little at work this week (which made me run faster! =)  It also helped that I wasn't pushing my approximately 27 pound running buddy and his 10 pound stroller.  I think I'm going to try to finish the program by myself, and then gradually work on running with him.  Right now, it's just too hard to do both!

I think the little man is either getting sick or getting more teeth.  He's been a little fussy the last few nights, hasn't been sleeping well, has been chewing on his hands, and is a bit congested.  Hopefully it's just teeth - our teething days SHOULD soon be over - right now he has more teeth than holes!

I'm off of work on Monday, and then we only have two school days left!  Woohoo!  I am very much looking forward to some time off!

Day 7 and other issues

Here's my picture for day seven of Project 365 - Mason reading with his Grammy.  He's just starting to seem interested in books, and I am so glad!  I love to read and I hope he will too!

I have to go ahead and vent about this here, since I'm sure my Facebook friends are tired of hearing about it.  I am beyond stressed about Mason's picky eating.  He will eat baby oatmeal, yogurt, sweet potatoes and squash (sometimes!), applesauce (on occasion) and snacks like Teddy Grahams and Goldfish.  And that's about it...He likes pizza, but obviously, I'm NOT going to give him pizza every night.  I can't get him to eat a single green vegetable, and anything in the meat area is just out of the question.  And maybe it wouldn't be so stressful if he didn't repeatedly knock the spoon out of my hand, spit out the food that does make it into his mouth, or scream like someone's hurting him when I make him try something new.  I just can't believe what a picky eater he is, and I don't know what to do about it.  We offer other foods often, and over time, end up with a ridiculous amount of wasted food.  I'm worried about his nutritional needs being met.  I'm not quite willing to resort to toddler formula yet, because there's got to be a way through this, but I do yearn for the days when I knew he was getting everything he needed from his formula.

Any advice or thoughts on this would be appreciated...every other baby I know will eat everything in sight, so this is frustrating and a very unexpected obstacle.  I'm pretty sure none of the fourth graders I teach still eat only oatmeal and yogurt, so I'm sure he'll grow out of it.  I just want him to be the healthiest that he can be, and it makes me sad that I feel like I'm failing him in that area. 

C25K/Project 365

Last night I completed Week 5 Day 1 of C25K. I ran three 5 minute intervals with 3 minute walks in between. I felt SOOO good when I finished! It was hard, and there were times I wanted to stop, but I just can't believe I'm running 5 minutes at a time! When I started this and was barely running 1 minute at a time, I never thought I'd make it to 5 minute intervals!

My knees are starting to bother me, which concerns me. I really need new shoes (running shoes) but it's just not in the budget right now. I just hope I don't hurt myself before I can get new shoes! I run pretty slowly and ice my knees whenever I can, so hopefully I'll make it!

I'm also behind on Project 365 pictures. Here's Day 5 - Sorry for the quality! Mason is talking on the phone!

And Day 6, he just couldn't keep his eyes open during our run!

And here's another view of Day 6, just because I couldn't resist!

C25K W4D3

Today I completed week four of Couch to 5K.  I'm still absolutely 100% amazed that I am doing this.  Today was a huge struggle, but I did it...I pushed Mason and hadn't taken him with me for my other runs this week, so I forgot how hard it was!

To show my commitment and remind me why I'm doing this, I took some pictures.  I must warn you, they are NOT pretty.  (I wish now that I had taken pictures at the very beginning because I know my body has changed, but I honestly thought this would just be another program to quit when it got hard.)  So, I apologize in advance for this, but it's a symbol of my dedication!

Project 365 Day 4

Mason and Grandpa watching TV.  See the resemblance?

Project 365 Day 3

Hangin' with Cousin Leah - we hardly ever get to see her, so it took Mason a while to warm up to her!  I wish we could see her more!

Project 365 Day 2

Wellll, I meant to take a picture with the whole family at dinner (Little Mexico!) but, I kinda forgot.  I was even showing them pictures on my phone and it never crossed my mind to take one!  So, here's a picture of my precious getting ready for bed.

Project 365 Day 2:

I also have to add that I feel like a Superstar today.  We got our TAKS scores back and all of my kiddos passed except one!  I'm sad for her because she's such a hard worker, but I'm very, VERY proud of my classes!  (And a little proud of me too!  It's my first year teaching 4th grade, I can brag a little, right?)

Project 365

My good friend Laura, (who also encouraged me to start C25K) is doing something really cool called Project 365.  You're supposed to take a picture every day for a year.  I pretty much do this anyway, but I thought it would be really cool to have an album of just one picture a day for an entire year, to watch how we all change and how the little man grows.  I'll try to keep it interesting and not just post the same ol' pictures every day!  Since I can and do get pictures of Mason allll the time, I thought it would be fun to start with this one.

Project 365, Day 1

My kids at school earned some extra recess for completing an attendance challenge.  I climbed on the merry-go-round with them and snapped a pic for day 1!

Stuff

I woke up this morning to the piercing scream of a poor little boy who had his leg stuck between the bars of his crib.  And I mean ALL the way stuck...up to the top of his thigh.  I can only imagine how scary it must be to wake up like that!  I was in his room in about 1.2 seconds and saved him from his horrible trap.  Then we got to cuddle a while, but he was just too darn wired to go back to sleep!  About the time he did, I had to get ready for work!  **yawn**

Tonight is C25K Week 4 Day 2.  Same intervals as last time.  I'm nervous, because I get nervous before every run, but I'm excited too.  I love the way I feel when I'm done!  I adore the ridiculous sense of pride I get from completing something that I've never been able to do before!  I also LOVE the fact that it makes me feel better the rest of the time too.  I have more energy to play with Mason and get things done.  I feel like I'm just a happier person in general now that I'm getting some consistent exercise!  If that's not motivation to continue, I don't know what is!  Here's a picture of Mason after one of our last runs...you can tell he was just exhausted!  So exhausted, in fact, that he drank almost all of my water! 

So far behind...

I am so far behind, I don't know where to start...so I figured I'd just start and see where it takes me.

School's out in 9.5 school days.  I am VERY ready for a break.  The constant worry about TAKS scores on top of rapidly increasing behavior issues from Summer-hungry kids is just too much some days!  I have two really good classes, but it is time for us to part ways!

I am very much looking forward to summer break with my little darling.  We signed him up for a Kindermusick class June 14-18, and swimming "lessons" June 21-July 2.  Unfortunately, I have quite a bit of summer professional development to do, but it's almost all in June so at least I can get it over with! 

Mason is growing into quite a little boy.  He tries to be very independent and has the occasional tantrum when he doesn't get his way.  Thankfully, they pass quickly for the most part, and we get our sweet boy back.  He's got more teeth than holes at this point, and he's a walking machine!  He is all over the place, and is getting pretty darn fast!  His smiles make me laugh, and his kisses melt my mommy heart.  There's nothing like picking your baby up after a long day at work and getting a kiss - without even asking for it! 

I have started training to run a 5K.  Yeah, I've pretty much lost my mind.  I'm using a program called "Couch to 5K" or C25K.  I haven't posted about it yet because, frankly, up until now I expected myself to quit.  I've never really stuck with any other exercise program for very long, so I figured it was inevitable.  But I really feel like I'm going to do this.  Each week, your running intervals increase and walking intervals decrease, and by the end of 9 weeks, you should (supposedly) be able to run a 5K.  At first I started with just 60 seconds of jogging at a time, and now I'm up to 5 minutes.  I NEVER ever ever thought I'd be able to run 5 minutes at a time.  I'm amazed that this program works, and I'm very proud of myself for sticking with it...it's hard to explain...it's very hard, but it's just "doable" enough that I feel like I can stick with it.  I'm currently on week 4 - here's what my training looks like this week:
Warm up 5:00
Run 3:00
Walk 1:30
Run 5:00
Walk 2:30
Run 3:00
Walk 1:30
Run 5:00
Cooldown 5:00

Now by the end of NEXT week, I'm supposed to be able to run 20 minutes...we'll see about that!  I'm going to give it a shot!

I have tons of pictures, but most of them are on my phone.  I'll post some when I can get my phone hooked up to the Mac at home. 

Ahhh, it feels good to post again!