This Saturday, actually.  Brett got a job in his hometown and we decided it would be a good move for our family for a while.  It’s a way to save money, for Brett to do what he needs to do, to have a job he wants to have, and for me to stop working full time and figure it out.

I’m starting my last week of work, and I’ve come off of a full weekend of “Good Byes” and…I’m a mess.

The thing that keeps running through my mind is…I wish I were better.  We had a small good bye party with some of our favorite humans on the planet and as I looked around at their faces I was overwhelmed.  At one point I said out loud…”This isnt making me want to leave, this is just making me wish we did this more.”

Its so easy to get caught up in life, and the amount of time we don’t have for things.  Which makes me wish, I were better.  Better at making time for the people I love most.  Sacrificing couch time and TV zone-age, for good solid relationships.  I have friends who live 5 miles away and occasionally saw each other.  It’s probably a pretty huge case of, don’t know what you got till its gone syndrome.  But, I’m feeling it.  Heavy.

As we pack up and head out for this next adventure, my biggest hope is that these plans of visits and weekend trips happen.  That life wont get too hectic in our new town, and that we’ll follow through on these plans.  I don’t want to say “we should get together!” and then never do it.  I want to follow through and shake of the flakiness of having your friends too close.  Relying on Sundays at church to get some face time in.  Blaming bed times, and long weeks for no hang outs.  I want to be intentional.  I want to be consistent.  I want to follow through.  I want to be better.

I’ll probably be updating this space more often and spending more time here.  Penny will be growing like crazy and I want to make sure I remember all of it.  I also have some big plans to build some things and paint some things and really figure out what I want to do.  I’ve always had to work full time and haven’t really had the opportunity to figure out what I want to do, or be, and I’m thankful that my husband is going to be working hard and giving me the freedom to figure that out.   I’m excited to see this blog, and hopefully creativity, develop more and I’m excited to share it all with whoever reads this business.

vivalaadventure!

I haven’t visited this space in quite some time.  My last post was on Penny turning one and shes now 14 months!  This lady, you guys!  She is crazy.

Some of my favorite new things about here are as follows:

• Any time I am holding a mug, no matter what its contents, Penny looks and says “hhhoT, hhhoT, hhhoT”.  with a hard “T”.
• When we slowly approach her, like we’re about to chase or tickle her, her defense is to fall flat on the ground and not move.  It is completely ridiculous and adorable.
• Words she uses often are “WHOA!” “Was this?” “butt”, “duuuuude”, “hhhoT” ,”nono” ,”CAT”, “GO!” ,”baBA” ,”byebye” ,”hi!”, “uh oh”, “peek-a-boo!” and of course “mama” and “dada”
• Animal noises according to Penny are:  Cow says “boooo”, Cat says “MOW”, Dog says “bow wow”, Sheep says “ba”, Elephant says “fooOOO” (complete with arm as trunk motion), Duck says “DUCK”
• This morning when I went in our room to grab my keys and purse, she followed me in and said “bye bye”. (tear.)

She really has quite the little personality and she makes me laugh…often.  There are so many things I love about her and I want to remember all these little funny quirks.  I’ll end this little post with a story from late last night or early this morning.

Penny has had a pretty rough cold for about a week and a half.  She gets these little coughing fits that wake her up in the middle of the night and she (and we) are uber frustrated about it.  She started crying out at about 1:30am last night.  I woke up and decided to just try and get her to snuggle in bed.  It should be noted that she DOES NOT snuggle.  We’ve tried.  Our bed is “play time” for her.  Its the big comfy place where the tickle monster lives, and whenever we set her on it, she giggles in anticipation.

So, I calmly went into her room and swooped her up and took her into bed with me.  I leaned back on my pillow and she suggled up in a little ball on my chest.  I was slightly uncomfortable but I didnt want to move because I didnt want to ruin it.  She stayed there for about 20 minutes.  And in that moment, I wasnt frustrated, or exhausted…I was the happiest mom in the world.  Then, she woke up and started screaming again and it took us until about 3am to get her back down.

It was just the perfect picture of parenthood to me.  It’s just crazy, and tiring, and so relentless (such is life), and then…theres this tiny moment.  It’s 2am and I have this tiny human snoring on me, and my free hand resting on my very best friend to the right to me.  And I think, this is it.  I could never sleep for the rest of my life and as long as I have these two humans at the end of the day snuggled up to me, that’s enough.  I am so incredibly exhausted this morning, and so full to the brim with gratitude.

but…lets hope she sleeps through the night tonight : ).

Our little booger turned 1.

It was a billion degrees, but Penny didn’t seem to mind.  She was 100% in her element.  People everywhere!  All in all, it was a great day celebrating our little one.  There will be a full post on the day over at Fox and Bear soon!

First off…californians…can i get an amen for this supreme fall weather we’ve been having. I know, I know…low 70s isn’t a “fall” but for us flip flop wearers…its nice to dust off the ol boots and break out the comfy sweaters.

All last week I was a walking machine.  A few days in a row I did a nice little 3 mile jaunt around some super cute homes in my neighborhood.  Lots of daydreaming about being a home owner…and interior decorating ideas were made.

I’m cleared to run now which is super exciting, but theres a little bit of fear goin on there.  I used to be a runner.  Even when i hadn’t ran in years i could bust out 3 miles like it was no biggy.  Yeah thered be your usual huffing and puffing…but i could do it.  Im so out of shape…im kind of ashamed to get it started.  Thus the intense walking all last week.

Out of shape or not it was really nice to be outside and getting back into gear.

During one of my walks as i was coming up a hill i saw a fellow stroller pusher.  We got closer and closer and gave each other the quick glance i seem to get from all baby toting mamas these days…the quick look of “oh gurl…i know” .  This fellow mom was fit as hell though…she had clearly just got done running and was in super great shape.  I told brett that as i passed her huffing up the hill at a brisk walk I thought to myself “im coming for you blondie!”  In no time we will be jogging past each other and it will be glorious.

Food wise last week…i started out super intense “I WIll EAT NO BREAD EVER!!”…quickly this attitude changed to…”i will eat less bread than i usually do”  and that has worked out reall well.  Its amazing how less crappy  feel after eating an in n out burger wrapped in lettuce.  whodathunk.

Anywho…lets check the stats shall we.

Weigh In:  165.4

Pounds Lost: 2

Pounds to go till pre-baby weight:  25

Pounds to ultimate goal:  45

Its nice to see progress on the scale, but even that feels like its not super accurate…things are already fitting looser and looser.  inches before pounds my mama always said : ).

Heres to this week of fitness!