Thank You God!

A funny story was relayed to me after I posted last and need to share it with you regarding our ever quotable kids.
Apparently, when Wendy was bringing our kids to the hospital when Addison was born Chloe asked how her new baby sister got in Mommy's tummy. I'm sure the frozen look of fear on Wendy's face was priceless and I wish I could have seen it. How do you answer that question from someone else's kids? Luckily she didn't have to do that as Dylan piped up. "Well, God makes the baby, lets it grow a little bit then put it in Mommy's tummy to finish growing." Overexcited Chloe with her eyes looking toward heaven I'm sure, yells out "Thank You God!"

Truer words have never been spoken.

As we are now a week and a half into newborn parenting you would think things might settle down a bit. Well, you'd be wrong. Things are as crazy as ever and I'm pretty sure it's not going to change any time soon. While we are getting the hang of having a newborn again and recalling some things we had long forgotten there is just enough chaos to keep us on our toes. We have not had visitors over mostly due to Steph and Addison getting used to each other and feeding. Steph also has a bit of a cold and just is exhausted. The house is a mess and we have family in town. I think we will be open to visitations next week as I begin my paternity leave then and can be around to help a bit. We will be guest free for a couple of weeks until my parents come in the middle of February. Rod and Bonnie were here for 10 days and left on Tuesday morning. That time went way too fast and they both helped out a tremendous amount with food, cooking, cleaning and mostly support. Bonnie's main project this visit was a success - helping Steph with Addison. Amber, Ryan and Lainey came in on Wednesday night and will be here until Sunday. Amber planned the trip as they came were flying here during a KU game and will be taking off to go home about the time the Super Bowl Kick-Off. We're glad they are here as we haven't seen them since their visit last Summer when Lainey was just a couple of month old. She is getting so big it's kinda funny to see her compared to Addison - What a difference 9 months makes.

My running is going well. A couple of weeks ago was a 7 mile run on a Saturday. I just couldn't get a rhythm going so I was uncomfortable for the entire run. It's no fun to feel bad for a hour and a half. My times were slower and even when I thought that if I could speed up I wouldn't have to be out there as long it didn't help. I powered through and made it. I wasn't sure how things would progress. Then last Saturday was the 8 mile trip. It was a bit cold and windy with gusts up to about 30 mph at times. I got into my cadence early and felt good the whole run. Except that I kept burping up the lasagna I had for lunch for the first 4 miles. Ugh. Even with the 30 mph headwind I had my fastest sustained run ever for my longest run ever. After that I felt like I could definately do this thing. This weekend I have a 10 mile run scheduled. I'm not sure how that will go. I only got a short weekday run in last night due to the ice and snow we got. I know all of you in the Mid-West think that's a bit silly but remember - this is DC. They don't prep the side roads or shovel the sidewalks here. It was complete ice for a couple of days. When I went for my 'short' 4 miler last night I was running on the streets in the neighborhood and thought everytime a car came by that I'd have to jump into the ice to dodge it or that I would hit an ice patch and fall in front of the car - it was kinda dark out too. I also had my left shoe jabbing something into the top of my big toe that started early. They about 2 miles in I stepped in a pothole, jammed my knee wierd and pulled a muscle in my lower back. I headed home after that and called it a night. This morning my back is in sorry shape and I'm going to the store where I bought my shoes in hopes they can help me figure out what is causing my toe so much pain. Hopefully I can get this all cleared up so I can put the in the 10 miles I need this weekend.

I also had to put in my recommitment form for the fundraising and race. I'm about $825 into my necessary $1900. If you are planning to donate and haven't yet please do so soon. I really need your help to reach that number.