Meanwhile...

Wow. Just realized I haven't blogged since April 12. Sorry about that. Well, you managed to survive, so, congrats about that.

There's been so much going on, it's hard to know where to start.

I've been giving a lot of thought to what I want this blog to be about. It was sort of an infertility related blog and a bit of a foster care advocacy blog. I'd probably naturally fall into categories such as mommy blogs and Christian woman blogs. I try to be funny sometimes, so there's that, too. But, I want to write on serious topics every once in a while and I'm thinking about dabbling in some political/controversial topics from time to time. I don't know if I can be all of the above, plus whatever I'm feeling at the moment, or if trying to do everything dilutes it all.

One thing I do know, my baby girl is pretty stinking cute, so pictures of her are always a hit. While I'm trying to figure out who I am and what my blog wants to be when it grows up, enjoy this little collage of our Easter pictures.

(created in Picnik with the collage feature, then added the Vibrance and Cinemascope effects)

What are your thoughts on this whole blog identity thing?

(My next blog will be one of those serious ones I told you about.)

Ayla's Quarterly report (and her Every Day pics)

92 days. A quarter of a year. Just a blink, the beginning of the inhale of the breath of her life. (A life which I believe started with her conception almost exactly a year ago!)

If I couldn't believe it by actually feeling the three months since my darling baby girl came into my life, I'd have to believe it by the tag on her clothes (3 months!), my fellow Jan 12-baby-mama, Shannon's, blog, and well, the plethora of pictures I have stored in various places.

First, a little about her.

Ayla is blossoming into a wonderful little girl. She is about 13 pounds (based on my home-scale holding-her weighing) and carries it all in her belly and thighs. Her favorite thing to do is lay on her back on her changing table and kick her legs and talk. I call it her happy dance. She thwarts my attempts to get it on video by stopping whatever she is doing anytime I point the camera (or iPod more likely) in her direction.

She's also very into talking and laughing. Especially when she's nursing. She gets me going and then we just laugh at each other. This is just one of many special moments that I would love to capture so I can relive later, but am almost glad I can't. It just makes me soak in them and cherish them that much more.

She is doing very well with her head/neck control, but isn't 100%. She's much sturdier, though, so she spends ample time sitting up in my lap or propped up on pillows nearby. She's not quite pushing herself up on her arms during tummy time, but she's close. I've been rolling her over so she can see how it feels, but she hasn't shown any interest in doing it by herself yet. She can hold herself up on her legs, she just doesn't have the upper body strength and balance to stand yet (and I'm very ok with that!)

She's a great eater. Always has been. For this I am very grateful. She's still on about a 3-hour cycle for eating, playing and sleeping, except at night when she does a 5-hour/dream-feed/4-hour combo. I really don't mind getting up to feed her at night because it's one of the only times she'll sleep in my arms anymore.

She is very generous with her smiles and is very social. She smiles at just about everyone who looks at her. She smiles at herself in the mirror (if only she could always do that!). Lately, I've even caught her smiling at the lamp and the clock (and she hasn't even seen Beauty and the Beast yet!).

I know, I know, enough talking about the girl. Time to show you how this month flew.

{Embrace} the sweat

I went for a run today. A whopping .84 miles. 'Bout burst my lungs, but I did it.

Let me give you some context. I've run a marathon. Three marathons to be exact. I can't even count all the half-marathons and 10-milers and 5Ks I've done. I think that qualifies me to be a little confident in my running abilities.

Ya know what? Those hills, my legs and that wimpy .84 miles didn't care about my running resume! And, wow, running with a jogging stroller is a whole new world.

But I did it.

And I'm gonna do it again.

So for today's Embrace the Camera, I'm embracing the sweat and the hard work it's going to take to get back in shape. I'm never going to get my pre-baby body back exactly the way it was. But with a running buddy as cute as this, who would want to go back?

(We had a little fun with the Photo Booth app on the iMac!)

{Embrace} Seven Years and Cherry Blossoms

Dear Ayla,

The meaning of this moment is probably lost on you for right now, especially since you slept through most of it. But just as my participating in the Embrace movement is a way to record for you what your mommy looked and lived like when you were a baby, I want you to know your whole story, going back to how Mommy and Daddy fell in love.

Seven years ago this week, I was visiting friends in Washington, D.C. Two people I usually spent time with while here were Michael and John. This particular weekend Michael was busy, so John and I found things to do. (Now, I was not one of those girls you will meet who has more guy friends than girl friends, I just happened to get along well - in a strictly platonic sense mind you - with these two guys.)

One of the things your dad, (oops, getting ahead of myself here) John and I did was go for a motorcycle ride. That night we met up with a group of friends for dinner. After dinner, John said goodnight to me with a "holy half hug" (I'll tell you all about this later) and told me, "You're such a blessing."

(Yeah. Exactly!)

The next day, a beautiful spring Sunday, during church I noticed what an amazing smile John had.

(Anyway)

Since Michael was still busy that afternoon, John and I decided to go for a run around the National Mall.

Now, here's where it gets good. I had just trained for and run a half-marathon, so I was in pretty awesome shape. John, on the other hand, hadn't been running so much. Let's just say, I kicked his butt!

That, and the beauty of the in-full-bloom cherry blossoms surrounding this city's beautiful monuments and memorials, made this one of my favorite runs in my entire life. Afterwards, John and I rested under one of the trees and told each other our life stories, neither of us having any idea that soon and forever after this day our life stories would be intertwined.

(Photo taken March 28, 2004)

I told John on our way home that this was the kind of day to fall in love. I meant fall in love with Washington, D.C., of course, but we have to watch our words, baby girl!

Young John in his old Jeep Wrangler (Photo taken March 28, 2004)

Two weeks later we started dating, 16 months later we got married, and nearly 7 years later we were blessed with you.

So you see, my precious jewel, this is why your mommy and daddy will always try to take you to see the cherry blossoms. You never know, maybe you'll meet your own love there someday!

My 30-step plan to lose (baby) weight

Spring!

 

I had so much fun with some pictures I took out in my back yard today, the brilliant photo-editing website, Picnik, and these quotes from the Quote Garden.

(I also changed my header and FB profile pictures in the same way)

(Oh, you don't do Facebook? Ok, here it is.)

One thing I love about... Sundays

I go to a mom's group every other Monday.

I go to a women's Bible study every Thursday.

In both of these settings, I get to see my lady friends interact with their and other's children. And I love this and learn so much from them.

But here's one thing I love about Sundays:

What do you love about Sundays?