Our House in iPhone Pictures

So this happened today:

Which is crazy, because we haven't even lived in this house two years, but the market is good right now and we are moving (TO ENGLAND!!) so it makes more sense to list the house for now and if we need to rent it out, we go that route.

But to get the house ready to be put on the market, I had to clean it. A lot. You never realize how messy your house is until you have to get it "realtor ready." Miles is attending a course right now so insert sob story of me having to do all the cleaning and yard work and what have you. In all fairness he cleans way more than I do anyway, so I suppose it's payback. But whatever, it still sucked!

So, since I never did a virtual tour of our home, here is one now since it's only going to be clean for approximately half a day longer.

When you walk in the office is on your right:

And the playroom is on the left:

Then you walk to the family room:

Mary's been sporting airplane slippers all day. 

And Finn is trying to figure out why Game of Thrones is not Ninja Turtles

Then you head into the kitchen:

which is NEVER this clean. Miles has the coffee pot with him
and usually there's at least 14 stacks of papers.

Then when you go back through the family room there's my little gallery wall and the cabinet Miles built across from the stairs:

Used to be carpet. Miles replaced all the carpet on the stairs
and upstairs hallway with hardwood.

Finn's room is first on the left:

Followed by the kids' bath (not pictured) and Mary's room:

I just sold that glider to a friend who is picking it up next week.
Spent many nights rocking my babies in that chair, sort of bittersweet to part with.

Trying to decide when to move her out of the crib. I don't want to,
but it might make sense to do it before we move.

Then our room, which used to be GREEN with a woodland wallpaper boarder. I wish I had done some sort of artwork above the bed. But too late now:

Then the guest room down the hall:

And voila! That pretty much completes the house tour. 

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Mother's Day Recap

Mother's Day didn't really sting as much this year as it has in years' past, but honestly I think that just had more to do with the fact that it really felt like any other day and the fact that I've just come to accept that Mother's Day will never be about the hype for me. Not only has losing Cale changed my views on the day, but just knowing how it also can be such a hard day for so many other people for so many other reasons really makes me sort of ambivalent towards it all. I don't feel bitter towards the day - I think it's great to celebrate moms, especially your own. It's just that I don't feel inclined to make the day into something more than it needs to be either.

And it's not that I had a bad day. I just had a day. I took the kids for a run and cleaned up after them and dealt with some terrible two tantrums, but also played legos and read books and really relished in my good fortune that I even get to do all those things with them. And of course I thought a little extra of Cale and missed him a bit more and really appreciated those who acknowledged him yesterday.

Miles is away at a course so wasn't home this past weekend. In his defense I know he'd much rather be with his family, but let me tell ya - it sounded like he had a great mothers day; he slept in, ate breakfast in peace, went to a movie, didn't have to wipe anyone's butt (well anyone else's for that matter). Sounds preeety nice! But I know he missed getting to read the kids bedtime stories and kiss them goodnight and I'm forever grateful that I able to do that. 

Pretty much sums up my day.

When I asked Finn about the "A photo with mom & me" portion he proceeded to tell me
how the picture is of him, mom, and daddy! 

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May the Fourth be With You

Because I couldn't resist. Finn is sporting a new shirt that was on clearance and Mary was squeezed into Finn's old 12 month Star Wars' shirt.

Poor, Neglected Blog

I used to be good about posting blogs a couple times a week, now I try to post about every week, but lately even that has been hard! And not that it's hard, but just when life is busy at the end of a long day, I usually don't want to take the time to upload photos and clear my phone (even though it needs it on a regular basis), and actually sit and write out a blog. None-the-less, I do still want to document what's going on in our lives which is why I started this blog in the first place. I definitely see the shift in my posts too - those first couple years were heavy on the grief posting and the blog was very therapeutic for me, but of late the posts have been much more documenting and journaling oriented which is important to me to maintain since the blog is my virtual scrapbook since actual scrapbooking has completely fallen to the wayside. 

At any rate life has been busy of late. Miles had a long course and a couple of trips (I'll share about his recent one soon),  so has been gone the majority of the last five weeks, we had a visit from a baby loss friend and her kiddos, and we all got hit with some form of sickness - Mary getting the worst of it and she just now, after a week (!!) is starting to feel better. 

While my friend Becky was visiting all the way from Alaska we took a trip to the beach for her last full day here. It was a really nice outing and I wish we would have squeezed in an earlier beach trip as well. The water is still cold, but the kids had fun in the tide pools and digging in the sand. 

Miles stayed home with Mary since she was still fighting a fever while Becky, her kids, Finn and I all went to the beach for a few hours. I'm so glad that beach season is upon us and I think it's safe to say Finn is too.

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Another Obnoxious Post About Running

This is a three-for-one race recap which if that's not obnoxious enough, I'll finish by asking you for money.

In February I had my "redemption run" for the disaster that was the Savannah Rock 'n Roll marathon. Only my redemption marathon was probably even more disastrous and while mother nature didn't sabotage my race, several other factors did; hitting "the "wall," Mary's crap sleep due to Mary's stomach flu, etc. So when I left that race in big crocodile tears I immediately started thinking about another one. Miles told me to be like Peyton Manning and not make any emotional decisions which is good advice I should use every time I go to Target. So I waited, slept on it, and let myself recover, emotionally and physically from the race. But the desire to reach my goal (sub 4 hours) was still nagging enough that I knew I wanted to sign up for the Skidaway Island Marathon here in Savannah over Easter weekend. It was six weeks after the Donna Marathon and really my last chance since it's only getting hotter and there aren't any other local marathons until the fall. I was already signed up for the Savannah Publix Women's Half Marathon the following weekend, but figured I could just take it easy during that and hope that my legs still worked fine. 

Once race week rolled around, I decided that I needed to ensure I got as good of sleep the few days leading up to the race, hydrate and fuel really well throughout the week, and fuel well during the run a little earlier than I did in February. My friend Julie offered to run with me and I knew if she was offering to run a marathon with me she was either a really good friend or a really crazy one - likely a little of both. The race was humid and called for thunderstorms all day. It did start to rain early on and by mile two it just poured for a good three or four miles, but then it cleared up and other than a little humid, it ended up being much nicer than I was expecting (I thought it might rain the entire time). 

Around mile seven Julie and I met a man who was running his 95th marathon! He ended up running the rest of the way with us and it was so nice to have people to talk to the entire time - they definitely helped me keep momentum and helped be a good distraction. This was such a tiny race compared to most I've done - there were under 150 people running the full marathon (also a half that day) and while the course was beautiful, it was almost completely void of any sort of crowd or spectators. 

As we got close to the last few miles I got to see my kids (who were there with friends who helped watch them as Miles is out of town), and several of my Stroller Strong Moms friends who came to cheer on the girls running. It was such a morale boost to have them there and I'm so grateful for their support. I gave Julie a great big hug when we crossed that finish line in 3 hours and 56 minutes and cried happy tears this time instead.

As I mentioned before the following weekend I was already signed up for a half and my friend Lindsey had a goal she wanted to meet and wanted me to pace her the way Julie did for me. I loved being able to pay-it-forward, though didn't really feel like I was helping as running with her was just as rewarding and special for me. We came in exactly one minute under Lindsey's goal time and it was so great to run together.

Hard to say what I loved more - the mimosa or the medal.

 So since I was already on a running kick, I decided that I would take advantage of the free race offer Rock n Roll gave after the November Marathon and run the Raleigh Rock n Roll Half Marathon the following weekend. I got to visit with a good friend who we used to live near in Columbus, GA and the race, despite being cold and hilly, was really great and my best half yet.

So three weekends in a row of races and I'm spent. I'm actually signed up for a 5k this weekend, but likely won't make it which is fine - my legs and body are ready for a little break. They need to rest up before I run across Georgia in six weeks. . . 

. . . .which brings me to my next topic: Run Across Georgia round two! I loved participating in RAG last year - it was and still is the most rewarding race I've ever done and this year we have FOUR teams of Stroller Strong Moms participating which is so wonderful! I'll be running on one of the competitive teams (there are two competitive and two non competitive) and will run a little over 35 miles this year (versus the 28 I did last year). I have a feeling it will be hotter this year too and am thankful that running in Raleigh gave me some hill training because it is a far hillier run that anything we are used to in Savannah, but hills and heat, I'm still so excited to run this again. 

This year the fundraising for the Run Across Georgia will benefit three charities. The House of Heroes (which was the sole charity last year) which does repair work on the homes of elderly and disabled Veterans, Make-a-Wish, and Camp Abilities, which is a sports camp for blind and visually impaired youth in the Columbus, Georgia vicinity. I love the charities they have chosen this year and love that we will run to support Veterans and children. As I've mentioned before running for a good cause with good people is really my favorite kind of running. If you're able to donate anything please know how very much we appreciate the support. I was so overcome and humbled by all the support last year and know that it will help keep me going this year when those hills and that heat try to get me down. The link to my fundraising page can be found here. Thank you again.

So there you have it, my race recaps and a little soliciting. 

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