The perfect month.

I saw the other day on my friend's blog that she does this thing called "the perfect month." She picks one thing that she wants to be perfect at for that month. She's done a month of perfect scripture study and a month of perfect running. I thought this was a genius idea because 1. I can work on just one thing at a time so I'm not overwhelmed and 2. It makes me accountable if I've set this specific goal. So, with that said this is going to be my month of perfect lunges. I've been working on toning my legs and lunges are something that I've dreaded but do the most good. So, starting today July 23, 2012 I will do at least 20 lunges everyday, except Sunday. I will try and report everyday if not once a week on my progress. I'm really excited to do this because I will feel good about setting a goal that is definitely achievable and my legs will look better. Here we go!
Lunge recap--it was almost a perfect month of lunges. Not a perfect month for reporting about it, but the actual lunges themselves I did ok.   I know I missed Aug 6th. That was the day we moved from Lori and Kevan's house back to Grandma and Grandpa Byrd's house and I just completely forgot. I also think I missed a few days right before Kayla's wedding.  Being sick, last minute wedding helps, and getting ready to move to Utah were the things I thought of, not lunges.  I do feel proud that I stuck with it as long as I did. It wasn't easy but it was a good first try. I should have measured to see if there were any changes, but I didn't.

Perfect Month #2...Flossing.  Cameron is REALLY good at this. He's flossed everyday for a year and a half. So, it shouldn't be a super hard thing to remember to do since he'll do it with me.  So, September 24-October 24th I'll have a perfect month of flossing. I feel my teeth and gums rejoicing now.
So, now that it's November 13th, I'm getting around to being accountable for perfect month #2. I ROCKED!!!! I think there was only 2 days that I missed in this specified time frame but I've continued to do it everyday so that makes up for it right? I love having clean teeth. My sister-in-law Kayla should be proud.

I haven't decided what the next perfect month will be but I'll decide soon. Perhaps reading to Addie. I don't do that quite as often as I should.

un-boring

It's been said that when you have a baby, the relationship and the groove of how things go with your spouse change. I agree but it's been a great change. I know I've said it before but Cam seriously has been such a big help with Addie. Whatever I need he's there to do it. Uh, BLESSINGS! I've also heard that dates are nearly impossible and that conversation is 99.9% about the baby. I can see how that could be the case; however, not with us. We have both taken different weekends to plan a date. And, we are still full of conversation that has nothing to do with Addie. Yes, we do talk about her a lot, but not constantly. Addie does go with us on dates because I'm not comfortable with letting her out of my sight for longer than 10 minutes yet. Two dates that I want to remember took place the last two weeks.

The first date we went on is one that I planned. I got this idea from a blog do do an alphabet date. What is that you might ask, well I picked the letter L and created a date from that. Where we went had to start with L, what we ate had to start with L, what we watched had to start with L, and what we wore had to start with L. It didn't turn out quite as I imagined, but it was fun none the less.

We both wore Levis on our L date then we went to Lynnwood, Washington. In Lynnwood we toured Heritage Park. We went after hours so we just looked around ourselves. I'm sure it would have been more educational had we taken the tours that were there during the day.

The first house was the first general store and post office in Alderwood Manor (which is now called Lynnwood).

The second house was the Superintendent's cottage and water tower. This was a less than exciting to look at but we had fun looking at it together.

There was also this old railroad car which, like the house pictured above wasn't very exciting.

The part that I enjoyed the most was this random statue: I don't get what it had to do with the rest of the park, but it was there and amusing.

My other favorite part was the pretty back part. There were lots of pretty trees and openness. Cam Loved climbing the trees.

After that we were going to eat some Licorice, but we forgot to stop at the store and get some. We went home to watch Life as we know it, but we didn't get that channel so we watched something different. See, it wasn't quite as planned but we were in Love the whole time!

The next weekend we took Addie on her first exploration of downtown Seattle. She doesn't know it, but she loved it! We rode a bus down walked around Pike Place Market for a while, then Cam took us to show us his office where he works. After that we went to Qdoba (a Mexican place, like Cafe Rio) then walked around the waterfront. It was a lot of fun. We bought some pretty flowers at Pike Place that smelled so good in our kitchen for a week or so. We love Seattle.

We love spending time together as a family.

The shape of a mother's submission

Apparently at 6 weeks is when new mothers are in the clear to resume "normal" life. I love Addie and I love being home with her full time but honestly, I've been looking forward to this mile marker. Before I knew I was pregnant I had worked up to running 10 miles WITHOUT STOPPING! I think it's fun to tell people (HA! Cameron is the only one I've told) that I ran 10 miles when pregnant. I didn't know I was pregnant at the time but it gives the illusion that I was this giant 8 or so month pregnant lady huffin' and puffin' it. Anyway, I've really been looking forward to actual running again. I tried running the first few months of the pregnancy, I just couldn't do it because my back hurt and it actually does make a difference running in a different elevation. Going from Washington to Utah was quite the adjustment on my lungs. As a result of not being able to run, I became quite the walker and yoga lady. I enjoyed it, but there is just something exciting and fulfilling about knowing that I ran about the equivalent of running from Paris to Montpelier. You might say I do love having a "runners high." Saturday was the first time I actually got back out to run. I've set a goal to run a half marathon in October in Provo and the other day I found this awesome "couch to half marathon" website that has a great running schedule. I learned last time I was training for a half marathon I needed structure or I would never progress. Running on Saturday was great, but man do I have a lot of work to do. On the schedule it has the first day being a 2 mile run/walk combo but I was able to run the whole thing! I felt pretty good being able to run after about 10 months of just mild walks, but like my mom always says, bodies aren't the same after pregnancy. I 100% believe that! My hands, legs, and feet have areas of nerves that are super sensitive, bladder control, appetite, and most recently stretch marks! I had just got out of the shower the other day when I noticed a few stretch marks on my belly. I wonder how long they've been there because I had no clue they were there!

With all this excitement of exercise (not so much the diet part, I eat a ton! Breastfeeding makes me super hungry. I've done better at eating healthier things, and cutting back my portions a little bit, but I still eat a lot.) I've found myself getting frustrated that my pre-pregnancy pants don't look as good as they did before. I've found myself longing for what I had before. I see pictures of my friends that have had babies and I envy their flat stomachs and toned arms and legs. Today in my search for the perfect toning exercises I came across this blog post called The shape of a mother's submission. I read it and it was incredible. It was the story of this one lady and how she felt pretty much how I just described. Sick of the flab and such. Then she goes onto say that her twin sister had a stillborn baby at 37 weeks. I can't imagine that kind of heartbreak. This lady said that she was talking to her sister about her stretch marks and if it made her sad to look at them. Her sister replied that it made her feel hope and joy because it was physical proof that her baby existed. I'd never thought of it that way but it's true. Because of those couple little squiggly marks I have this beautiful girl right beside me. Reading that blog along with the talk I listened to from Elder Holland this morning about the worth of young women I've now reevaluated my goals and priorities. I'm going to try my best but if my body can't run 13.1 miles by October that's OK because this sweet 11 pound bundle of pink in my arms is more important.

Addie really is such a cute smart girl. I know a lot of moms probably feel that way, but I really do. According to the book my mom gave me she's right on target developmentally where she should be. She has the cutest smile. I love that right after her 6am feeding she is up and ready to smile and coo. It makes waking up so early worth it. I love that she cries when I leave the room. Others might find it annoying (I'm sure it won't be so cute later) but I love that she wants me to be with her. I love how she is easily spooked. I am too so I know she must be my daughter! :) I love the little white spot on the end of her tongue. It kind of looks like a canker but she's always had it and I don't know what it is. I love when she stretches out her back. She looks so silly with her hands all curled up by her head and her mouth all scrunched in a weird way. I love that she has ticklish toes. I tried painting her toenails the other day and I'd tickle her toes on purpose because she'd smile in her sleep. I love going into stores where the only person that would talk to me would be the cashier, but now when I go into a store I attract so many people. It doesn't even have to be a grocery store, people at the airport, Quinn's baseball games, church, just anywhere we go she is a people magnet. I'm excited for the opportunity to share the gospel because of her. When a stranger comes to talk to us, I usually try to talk about how wonderful and important my family is which is kind of important to Mormons. : )

I'd always heard that your relationship with your spouse changes when you have kids. It is true, but it's changed in a good way. Cameron is such a wonderful dad. He's always telling her how beautiful she is and how he's his little sweetheart. Just like she did when she was in the womb, she gets so excited when he gets home from work. She smiles and coos at him and he does it right back. It is one of those moments I take a mental picture of. He's so good to help feed, change, and hold her. He's so patient with her when it's time for us to go to bed but she's wide awake. This is her latest trick. However, I didn't mind last night because she slept until 6 this morning! Woo! She usually wakes up at 3 and 6, but this time she just woke up at 6. She's awesome! After I told Cameron that this morning I got weird feeling that I just might be so sleep deprived that I just didn't notice or remember waking up. That would be sad but no, she really did sleep all that time. She's such a great girl. What a blessing she is. I love being little Addie's mom!

4 weeks old

It's been 4 wonderful weeks that we've had our dear little Addie May in our lives.  What a joy she's been.  She's slowly starting to show her little personality.  For example, she doesn't like to be left alone (I can't blame her.) And, it's really the end of the world if she wakes up and is alone. It's sad to hear her cry that much but it sure is fun when I pick her up after screaming and being able to comfort her.
I love that she smiled at me the other day.  It may seem a bit early but I swear she did.  I was just laying on the bed talking to her and she smiled a legit smile.  It was so fun.  She hasn't really done it since but I've tried everyday and she's so close.
She's sleeping a lot better at night. Last night she slept 5 hours! What a joy! I'm the only one that gets up with her at night because Cameron has to work everyday now. I really don't mind because it's not that bad as long as I take a nap later.
I love being a mom. She's such a blessing!

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