Why thank you, Zackary.

I would like to publicly thank my son for a very sweet gift he has given me.

I read that pregnancy can make your feet grow. This was confirmed when I bought my new running shoes. In size 10. Yes, I now wear a size 10 running shoe.

I tried on my usual 9.5 and they felt a little sung. So, I asked to try on a size 10. Perfect fit. It might not be entirely Zackary's fault. It is a brand new model of my favorite shoe (Asics Gel Numbus). The sales guy said that sometimes when they come out with a new model the sizing is a bit different. I would like to think that is the reason I'm now sporting a size 10....but really, I don't think I can.

Oh well, at least they make me look fast. Wait, that's because I AM fast....hahaha.

So thank you Zackary, for giving me big feet. And thank you for the extra workout that I get every time I take you running.

Conversation with James

James-Did you know Zack has been chewing on his crib?

Me-Really? Where? How bad is it?

James-Mostly the side rails. It's not too bad yet. It looks like a squirrel sleeps there.

Running Lessons Learned

I learned three valuable lessons this week, all running related.

1. Your child, who seems to be completely refusing to drink milk out of a sippy cup, will actually drink milk out of this cup, when he is strapped into the jogging stroller as his mom runs laps around the neighborhood. You will even run further than you had originally planned to allow him more drinking time.

2. When your white running hat is a bit on the stinky-it-really-really-should-have-been-washed-20-miles-ago, washing it in the bathroom sink is a good idea. However, if you decide that you want to make it extra white and you dump some bleach in the sink along with the laundry soap, the black Nike Swoosh will also be bleached. It turns brown. I am not sure if soaking the hat for 3 hours had anything to do with this, but I got a little sidetracked.




3. A black sharpie does wonders for a brown Nike Swoosh.

What Will the Neighbors Think??

This morning, around 7:45, while still in my pajamas, I put on my tennis shoes and headed out to the back yard to vacuum the grass. While I was out there tending to the grass, I wondered to myself what the neighbors would think if they saw me in my yard, wearing tennis shoes with my pajamas. As previously mentioned on my blog, I haven't always made the best shoe choices. Once again, today was one of those days.

You might be thinking to yourself, "ummmmmmmmmm, Karen, you were vacuuming grass. I don't think anyone is going to notice your outfit." My response to you would be, "have you seen how green my grass is?? Clearly grass that green cannot be real. Especially not in the desert."

Thankfully the neighbors all remained in their houses for the duration of the grass vacuuming and I was not spotted by anyone other than James, Zack and Walter. Thankfully they will love me no matter my outfit choice.

Fastest Year Ever

James and I just experienced the fastest year of our life. One year ago today, we met our sweet little Zacky pants. As far as memorable and exciting days in my life, May 11, 2010 ranks pretty high up there. We didn't find out Zack's gender beforehand, so whether he was a boy or a girl was a complete mystery to us. The doctor who was on call told James that he would let James announce to the room what Zack was. So, when Zack popped out, the doctor held him up so James could get a good view. James said it was such a surreal moment that it took him a few seconds to find where he needed to look, and then a few more seconds to realize Zack had boy parts.

I was very indifferent as to what gender I preferred, and I could easily convince myself that I was having a boy one day, and the next day I would be just as sure it was a girl. All I had to do was think of boy names or girl names. I always thought I would want to have one of each, a boy and a girl. But now that I have a little boy, I would gladly take 18 more boys (though it's highly unlikely that we will have 19 children, we are thinking 2 or 3 will be plenty).

We've learned a lot over the past year, and didn't get much sleep. All of the sleepless nights, spit up covered clothing (his and mine), diapers changed, bottles washed, and messes that I never even imagined cleaning up have all been worth it. It's hard to put into words how much I love Zackary. In fact, I don't think it's possible. I hope that he always knows how much he is loved by me, how much he's loved by James, and above all, how much he is loved by God. With as much as I love him, it's pretty incredible to think that God loves him even more.

It's pretty surreal, that Zack is now one year old. Just like after he was born, it took quite awhile for it to sink in that I was really a mom, and that Zack was really my baby. I look forward to celebrating many more May 11ths with our sweet Zackary, and I look forward to watching him grow into the boy and man that God is already shaping him to be.

Mama Bear Goes Running

I turned into an extreme "mama bear" while running tonight. As I was heading out the door, one of the neighbor boys was riding his little motorized bike up and down the street. It's a fairly loud bike, but he generally rides it for 5 minutes at a time. By the time you realize you keep hearing the bike, he's done riding it. He zoomed down the street and was heading back down towards me. While this young boy is just minding his business, having a little bit of fun after a day at school, there is a man down the street yelling, "Hey!!! Come back here!!" I am horrified as I see this HUGE man yelling at this boy. This boy turned around in front of his own house, and actually went back to see what this man had to tell him. He gets to the man and turns off his bike motor, when the man starts cussing at this boy and telling him to get his $*@@(*#@&%)@*##($@$ noisemaker off the street! I was HORRIFIED!!! I started crossing over the street and told this man "Hey, there's no need to yell at him, he's just a kid!", which didn't stop him from yelling, so I repeated myself, "He's just a kid! There's really no need to yell." The man then turns around and walks back into his house. This sweet boy, who has just been completely disrespected, hangs his head and goes back home. I was somewhat in shock by what I had just seen, and started out on my run. By the time I had gone half a mile, I was contemplating turning around and going to his house to make sure he was ok.

A mile into the run I called James, and told him what I had seen, and asked him if he thought it would be inappropriate to go knock on the neighbor boys door and talk to his parents to make sure he was okay. James and I decided it would be okay to do, so the rest of the run I was going over in my head what I would say. I just kept thinking about how I would feel if a complete stranger treated my son that way. This boy was talked to in a way that not even a grown adult should be talked to. He was completely disrespected, but maintained his composure and was very respectful of this man who was yelling at him.

When I got back to our street I stopped at the neighbors house and knocked on the door. The boy answered the door, and I asked if his mom was home. She was and she came out to the front porch. I told her what I saw, and told her that I hoped her son was okay. I let her know that I thought her son was very respectful of this man who had no respect for her son. She told me she was ready to go knock on every door in the neighborhood until she found this man so she could give him a piece of her mind. Talk about mama bear!! However, she decided to be a good example to her son and allow herself some time to cool off before she goes tearing down all the doors in the neighborhood.

When I got home I was telling James about everything that went down. He knew exactly who the guy was...and he's probably the biggest guy on the street (James also guessed what he was wearing, I have a very observant husband!). James was kinda surprised that a young boy would go back towards this huge man who was yelling at him. I am pretty surprised that I crossed the street and starting telling this man (who is probably a foot taller than me, and surely weighs 150 pounds more than I do), to back off. Mama Bear for sure!!

And now, this mama bear needs some ice cream. Bears like ice cream, right?

PS-I just googled "running mama bear picture" cause I thought it would be fun to have a picture for this blog post. A picture of Sarah Palin came up. Weird.

Horrible Shoe Choices

Last night our church had a Parent's Night Out, where they provide FREE childcare to members of ABFs. It is amazing. We dropped sweet Zack off, and Brandon and Alexis dropped their sweet boys off, then we headed out on a double date. While we were waiting for a table at the restaurant, Alexis and I decided to head to DSW to browse. We wandered through the store and came across some lovely shoes that we both confessed to wearing in high school. And now I'm going to confess to the world wide web that I wore truly horrible sandals, with socks, in high school. Here is a picture of the shoe I speak of.



I can't believe I actually put those on my feet and wore them, and wore them OFTEN and out in public! I know Alexis and I can't be the only poor, unfortunate high school girls who thought it was fashionable to wear these "massaging" shoes (with socks!! EEK!!). As I recall, they didn't really massage much, in fact, I think they may have been rather uncomfortable and the little nubs were somewhat irritating. Perhaps this is why we wore these beautiful black sandals with white socks.

I apologize to anyone who currently wears these sandals, and to anyone who wears these sandals with socks (or really anyone who wears sandals with socks). I'm sure they look good on you. They just didn't look good on me. And Alexis, I am sorry that I have now shattered every one's perception of you and your perfect-ness, especially when it comes to fashion. I guess we all make mistakes, and thankfully we grow from them. I pray that socks with sandals never make a comeback. And if they do, I pray that I will still be horrified enough of my high school shoe choices that I will choose to not participate in the socks and sandals combo ever again.

I (Heart) Cinco de Mayo

I love Cinco de Mayo. And not for the reason many Americans do (margaritas are ewwwwwwwwwwwwwy in my book, but I could eat Mexican food just about every single day of the year, YUM!). I love Cinco de Mayo because on May 5, 2003, James got down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him. Obviously, I said yes.

I knew he was going to eventually propose to me. We had been dating for almost 3 years, and we were about to finish up our junior year at the UofA. We had talked a lot about marriage and had decided that it would be good to get married after we graduated. James was planning on going to the Philippines for the majority of the summer in 2003, and I was really really really really really really hoping that he would ask me to marry him BEFORE he left...and not make a girl wait all summer long.

May 5, 2003 was a Monday. I don't know if I had class that day or not, but I do know that I worked that day. After work I decided to go home (I was living with my parents at that time) and I think James was probably going to be coming over that night. Well, when I got to my parents house I opened the garage door and found a rose along with a note (and I sure don't remember what it said...oops!) tied to the doorknob. Immediately I knew what was happening, and I was COMPLETELY shocked!! Who proposes on a Monday? And who proposes on Cinco de Mayo? James, that's who! I opened the door and followed a ribbon and some puzzle pieces all the way back to my room, where I found James, all decked out in his suit, waiting for me. By this time I'm already crying...he gets down on one knee, as asks me to marry him. I said yes before he even finished the question.

James had actually been in the process of asking me to marry him since Christmas 2002, and really, since before then. One summer (2001 or 2002?? I can't remember which) we were in Vegas and went on a fancy dinner date with Marlo and Jason. James pretended like he was proposing to me, and had Marlo take a picture of us posing for this fake proposal. He had this picture turned into a puzzle, and he had been giving me puzzle pieces since Christmas 2002. When he proposed, I got the last 4 pieces, which said "will you marry me?". After we were done being all teary eyed I got dressed up and we went out to dinner at Anthony's. YUM!

Fast forward to Cinco de Mayo 2011. In the middle of the day James asks me if there were any packages for him on the front porch. I go look out the front door and see a ProFlowers box. I started smiling right away, thinking it was so sweet of him to send me Mother's Day flowers, just a few days early. When I open the box I found a sweet note from him. It said, "Happy Cinco de Mayo! I would propose to you the rest of my life if I had to. Good thing you said yes the first time. -Love James"




This, of course, made me get all teary eyed. I agree, it's a very good thing I said yes. I don't even want to imagine my life without him.