St. George Runathon

OUR first marathon, and we did it together.  October 6, 2012. 
 I was so proud of my husband.  His longest training run was only 17
 and he didn't do as many longer runs as he should have. 
He stepped it up on race day. 
The end of the race was tough.  I tried to make myself
have an out of body experience, so I would'nt feel the pain. 
kind of like i did 2.8 years ago when i birthed my 3rd child naturally... HERE

 Starting line wating game...the nerves were setting in thinking about what we needed to do during the next 4 hours!
these girls-ricki and bri-got me through.  they helped me train.
got my behind out of bed in the early morning hours to run run run.
i wouldn't have done this without a running partner! thats for darn sure!
 marty and i couldn't train together...so thanks sistas!!

we seem so innocent and unaware...ha!
these 'high quality' pics were taken with rickis i phone:)
better than nothing!
thanks for providing memories rick, since i still own a slider w/no internet! 

We didn't have any family in town, mine were all in Lake Powell! stinkers.
but we had some dear friends come and bring our kids.
and made us posters.
and brought us donuts and drinks!
and took all these pics with her phone so we could have some documentation!

SOOO glad to be done.  couldn't stop smiling.  it felt so good to actually be DONE.
St. George marathon is such a fun race.  I've heard that from so many people, but Marty and I both had a great experience...so i believe it
there were 5716 finishers...
 

Ruby made this poster ALL by herself. 
yes, even block-cheerleader letters.  she is a pro. so sweet of her!
it was so fun to have them there at the finish.

these two crazies made it happen, i heart them.
they sacrificed the better part of the day to help us out.
we had my visiting teacher {bless her}come over at 4:45 to sit with the kids till 8
then my neighbor took them till 10
then tash and toph took them and brought them here and sifted thru the craziness of the finsih line and millions of people- with 2 double strollers & 5 kids under 2 feet tall~!!

just like Pres. Uchtdorf said during conference saturday...
we will fail to find joy in the journey if we are so focused on the finish line. 
 i truly felt calm and had fun during this run. i just took it easy in the beginning.
 leading up to 'the day', i kept calling it a race and marty kept calling it a journey, he helped me chill out and think of it as a journey- i did and i enjoyed it so much more. 
you bet i started focusing on the finish line those last 3 or 4 miles-cuz i wanted to stop running!.. but up until then i was having a good time.
 thanks for that perspective honey.  love you.
marty didn't take a picture but his time was 4:31:36!
some other blessings we noticed: 
 no injuries reported between us during training or race day...
the weather was perfect, never got too hot, mid 80's.
i was bothered by that time of the month but no cramping
our kids were well taken care of the whole day
and....we finished! 
check that off the ole' bucket list...

Charlie Bear.



This little guy came by accident 15 months ago...well he was conceived accidentally- I guess about 25 months ago...but really- what would life be without him.?




Slobbery faced Charles.  (photo courtesy of Ruby Wright-with her very own camera)



One of his 'unique' daily rituals is this...to throw absolutely everything out of his crib as he awaits someone to save him from his cage...then he dares give me that smug..."yep I did it again" expression.

Another 'unique' characteristic is his shyness (my other kids were not like this; to this extreme anyway) he can't stand for people to look at him or watch him eat...he closes his eyes and grunts...then he will continue to eat or drink with his eyes closed until you stop looking at him.  It's the oddest thing! If he's in a good mood he won't care and smile and laugh right back at you-but if he's even just a little tired or feels threatened by an overbearing face...he absolutely cannot stand it -he'll bury his head, close his eyes, cover his face-anything to get out of your view and wait for you to kindly look away.

He worships dogs...what baby doesn't?...maybe we should get one?  naaah.

His passion (one of his few) is EATING...he eats like a banshee and if I don't feed him fast enough he is a 'screamer'-what?! What do you do about that?  I can't discipline him and tell him "NO-YOU NEED TO ASK WITH WORDS OR SIGNS?!" ha!  It's just such a frustrating stage because it gets so loud that no one can hear each other speak and then we all end up yelling at each other!  ah.
 ps-despite his eating habits...he hasn't gained weight for months and hasn't grown length- wise since his 12 month appt. (Okay, I get it, I get it...we are all short but he's a baby still-he should be growing) Should I be concerned? Anyone know a good pediatrician...lest I decide to get a 2nd opinion?  His head is in the 70% percentile though...yeah, I remember that all too well. (see here)



He loves the MEN in his life..esp. this one...and he is SUCH a snuggler- besides his open mouth kisses...he gives the biggest, strong-hold around your neck- hugs you ever knew.



And this MAN...his grandpa that just recently moved back to California...we MISS you.!

Charlie's been in this stage of walking for a couple months.  He likes to take steps and stand alot...but nothing consistent...it's the stage where he wants to be 'down' in a public place but you'd rather die than put him on the floor to crawl around and sweep up the McDonald's floor dust and grime.



This big sister takes care of him 57% of the time...I think between me and Marty -we make up the other 43%!



So it's been said by my MIL several, upon several times that Charlie and my Mom look alike...'ya right' I always said- 'that's crazy talk'...  now, I can see that resemblance...thanks to another photo taken by Ruby...they really do look alot alike to me! Who'd of thought.
  I love you dear Charlie Bear and hope you grow up to be just like this woman you look so much alike...in a manly sort of way that is.

Natural Childbirth = CHECK

So he is here! Yes, a BOY, born on Dec. 26th. We are so excited / shocked. Marty and myself had totally banked on it being a girl for some reason and we even had it narrowed down to 2 good girl names. We really didn't have many boy names running around in our head...so we took a little extra time to determine his.

Meet Charles Henry Wright...Charlie weighed in at 8 lbs. 11 oz.! Our biggest baby yet.Doing a natural birth was the most excruciating thing I've have EVER experienced and I don't know if I'll do it again...well that's what I thought immediately following his delivery. But now that it's been a couple of days and I see the way I feel and have healed and look back to how neat the whole experience was....I may just do it that way again for our next child. The contractions weren't the hard part really. I was a 9 when I arrived at the hospital. The 'burning ring of fire' really hit when I was pushing him out. That is when I screamed and cried out and felt an anxiety attack coming on. But I got thru it - I only had to push thru 3 contractions- which at the time seemed like eternity. It was so special when he came out though. My mom, Marty and I were all emotionally drained/involved and it was really awesome to get him here after all that hard work.

Countdown

yes i have officially exploded...belly and all (this picture proves it)(way cute pic of my sis though)... I still have 5 weeks left! As time is drawing nearer I am getting a little scared to picture 3 kids! I have all kinds of doubts and fears...AND it's hard to picture going back to the baby stage again....Liam is a very independent little dude for the most part and sleeps like a freakin rock...he's always been a good sleeper. He'll sleep in till nearly nine most mornings and goes down around 8 or 8:30 at night; and he still takes 2 hour naps. What do I do with a newborn!? Sleep is something I need to avoid major awnryness. I really hate maternity clothes- esp. pants; so in a way I'm kind of wishing the baby here to just be comfortable again and wear normal clothes and jeans! The whole tucking in / yanking up thing ain't working anymore for me. I CANNOT complain about the ability to birth and rear children though because I know it's a major blessing that not everyone can experience, so I am done with my rant. Anyways- how can I not be geared up for another one when I get to see a face like this everyday!

p.s. any suggestions on natural childbirth...it would save me a load of money NOT to get an epidural since I am paying outta pocket for the birth. I know it's possible ...but HOW? Am I strong enough!? HA!