UILC 5K-September 13, 2008

This morning my step dad and I ran a 5K (3.2 miles) for the Utah Independent Living Center. All the entry fees went to helping the disabled so it wasn't super competitive. Good for my first race since highschool. I used to run 5K's with my step dad all the time in Highschool. But its been about 6 years since the last one. The course was fairly flat, I think there was only one hill and it wasn't very big. But boy, when I saw that half way point I swear I heard angels singing! The clouds parted and a ray of light shone down on the little cone. That was when I thought to myself that maybe I could make it all the way.
I've been running every other day for the last 2 weeks, but I haven't made it even close to 3 miles, so I wasn't sure if I would be able to run the whole thing today. I figured I'd have to walk the last half. But I did make it. Of course I had to slow down my pace and take it pretty easy. And I did throw up afterward, but I made it.
My time was 30 minutes 31 seconds. I didn't expect to make it in less than 40. There wasn't a whole lot of people there, but I came in 11th overall out of the runners. I was hoping they would break it down into age groups but they didn't.

Some people raced in their wheelchairs, some pushed wheelchairs, some raced in those cycles that you pedal with your hands, and some walked.

I'm standing close to center, behind the guy in the yellow shirt. My step dad is the bald guy on the left side of the picture.
Morgan having fun with Grandma while we raced.

I hate mid-run pictures, but here I am running by Morgan and my mom. I yelled out Morgan's name and waved to her and my mom said she got pretty upset that I just kept running by without stopping.

I know, I'm a dork.

Just Babbling-September 12, 2008

Morgan and I had a fun day yesterday. We didn't take our morning walk like we have been and I don't think she was very happy about it because she WOULD NOT take her morning nap. Finally, after about 45 minutes of crying (with no tears), she fell asleep for about half an hour.

After she woke up and ate we took a drive downtown to Grandma Lanny's work to scan and email some paperwork to Clint. Then (this is the most exciting part of our day) we got to watch a bunch of the attorneys and paralegals at the District Attorney's office play Guitar Hero on Play Station!!! It was great! You should have seen Steve and Candice rockin out! Morgan loved it too, she was bouncing up and down to the music.

After prying ourselves away from the game, Morgan and I went down to the Gateway to return a jacket I bought a couple of weeks ago. I found a parking spot, unloaded the stroller, got her buckled into it, loaded the diaper bag and jacket into the stroller and then walked through the crowded outdoor mall in the heat (okay it was only 72 degrees) til we got to our destination store. After giving the jacket and reciept to the cashier lady I realize my wallet is still in the car. She needed my debit card so she could put the money back on it. So we hiked back through the crowd to the parking garage to get my wallet out of the center console. Then, as we're walking back out of the garage, the fire alarm goes off and a voice comes over the speaker for everyone to evacuate the building. Images flash in my mind of watching the whole parking garage go up in flames with my car in it. But I figure there's nothing I can do and keep walking.

The store where I was returning the jacket didn't have any parking vouchers and since I thought parking cost like 10 dollars I decided to eat lunch at the mall so I could get a voucher. I spent 6 dollars on lunch and then the lady tells me they only give vouchers on orders over 20 dollars. So I still have no voucher.

Luckily the parking garage didn't burn down and we made it out alive. And parking ended up being free because I was there for an hour and 5 minutes. The guy didn't think it was necessary to charge me for a full hour. Nice guy. Good thing I bought that lunch.

Then on our way home we nearly got side swiped by a lady that looked like she's about to kick the bucket any day. Seriously, if I hadn't slammed on my brakes she would have nailed the front passanger side of my car! Of course I switched lanes to pass her and laid on my horn while giving her a nasty look. I know, road rage, I get it from my father ;)

So anyway, Morgan and I had an eventful day. And for some reason I just felt like sharing.

Stats-September 10, 2008

Today Morgan had her 9 month well baby check up. I love going to the doctor and finding out how much she's grown. Today she was 18 and a half pounds, 27 and a half inches. Exactly 50th percentile for both weight and height. She was so good for the doctor. I was so proud. As for the sleeping through the night issues we've been having, almost solved. You see, Morgan has been a schedule baby her whole life. And I think the lack thereof has been contributing to her restless nights (she woke up 4 times on Saturday night and 5 times on Sunday night). The last 2 days I have been very consitent with both her eating and napping schedules and, to my great joy and excitement, she's slept from 9:30 pm to 8:00 am only waking up once! Can I just tell you how good it feels to actually get a good night's rest? Woo eee! I feel like a new woman! Now if we could just get those teeth to pop through and rid her of the pain.

Pictures of Morgan chewing on a frozen (unopened) popscicle. My latest attempt to numb her gums. Another thing I've been doing is freezing her pacifier (Clint's idea) so when its time to go to bed she has something to chew on that helps the pain subside enough to fall asleep. It seems to be working.

Don't you just love how lady like she is with her little ankles crossed?
This one is my favorite

9 Months-September 9, 2008

Today our baby girl is 9 months old! How time flies. Before we know it, we'll be walking her through the doors of kindergarten, wondering how on earth we let her grow up so fast! What a blessing it is to have Morgan in our lives and to be entrusted with raising her to be a righteous daughter of God. We love this little girl so much and thank our Father in Heaven for her everyday.

This picture was taken the day we brought her home from the hospital. December 11, 2007

The rest of these were taken yesterday.

Morgan's newest thing is sucking fruit juice out of those mesh cloth things. She loves cantalope. It keeps her occupied for a good 30 minutes to have fruit to suck on.

A Daily Scoop-September 7, 2008

In my minutes of blogging today (minutes that became hours), I stumbled onto a blog called A Daily Scoop. I had heard about this blog quite some time ago from some friends, the Shepards, but hadn't gotten around to visiting it. Tonight I took some time to read several posts. To any of you in need of strengthening, uplifting, inspiration, or a good cry, I say take a look at this blog. Fair warning, give yourself time to sift through some of the posts. Specifically the ones under "June" in her archive. You will be absolutely drawn into what this amazing woman and family has endured in the last 3 months. What strength! And what great lessons can be learned from their willingness to share their experiences.

In the seemingly difficult trials I am currently experiencing with my own little one I tend to forget how truly precious this time of her life is. As I have expressed in recent posts, I struggle to find the good in her tantrums, her sleepless nights, her unwillingness to take naps, teething, and so forth. 'Find the good' is not the right phrase. I struggle to not get so stressed out and frustrated and angry etc etc. What I'm getting at is that from this blog, A Daily Scoop, I have found comfort and have been inspired to put forth more effort in enjoying this time I have with my sweet, precious, Heaven-sent daughter.

What lead me to these thoughts and feelings came from a post entitled Behold Your Little Ones.

"Love your little ones--even the ones that drive you crazy. If you could see them the way God sees them -- you would be astounded at their glory."

Killing Time-September 6, 2008

What do you do when you've been up for 3 hours in the middle of the night with a crying baby and then can't go back to sleep? You blog of course! Yes, its 5 AM and I've been up since 2. Morgan woke up screaming and usually she'll either take her pacifier or a bottle and go right back to sleep. But not tonight. She screamed all the harder when I tried to give her anything. I'm assuming its her gums/teeth hurting her because she was crying so hard yet her gums were pressed ever so firmly together. Anyway, since my husband is out having a great night on the Korean town and isn't available to talk to me, I decided to post some pictures from the last week.

Here is my younger brother, Otto, with his 2 youngest neices. I love the look on both babies faces. Ambria is scrunching her nose and Morgan is smiling. So cute. Taken August 30, 2008.

I just had to get a picture of Otto's shirt. It just cracks me up!

Here's a picture of what happens when you forget that you put a pepsi in the freezer. What a mess! Can you tell how bored I get?

Ambria and Morgan playing after a day of shopping in Park City. Taken September 1, 2008. Morgan is almost 9 months and Ambria is 3 weeks younger. Ambria just started crawling this last week! I'm just so proud of her! No, Morgan isn't really trying very hard. Which is okay. She'll do it when she's ready.

Morgan's goofy smile. Taken September 4, 2008.

I love Daddy THIS MUCH!

I finally got a picture of this face. You know how some babies do the nose blowing thing where they breath in and out of their nose really fast. Morgan just started doing that.

She's finally drinking successfully from a sippy cup. And she's finally accepting juice! She hasn't been too fond of it until now.

Taken Septermber 5, 2008. The last 3 nights or so Morgan has woken up in the middle of the night screaming bloody murder because she's on her stomach. I flip her over to her back and she goes right back to sleep. Its funny because she knows how to roll onto her back, she rolls all over the floor. I think she just wakes up disoriented. Anyway, here she is napping on my dad's bed, on her stomach. I think its so cute. Its like she's becoming a real little person that can think, "hmm, its more comfortable on my tummy", and then make the decision to roll over. Either that or she just gets too tired to even try to roll over.

Another Update-September 4, 2008

I got an email from Clint this morning. Everything is going really well for him. They put him into something called Green Platoon. As far as I understand the pilots in Green Platoon progress at a faster pace. So he's really excited about it even though he STILL hasn't flown a Blackhawk since April. He found out that they have a Command Sponsorship slot reserved for him. I have to take care of a few things on my end before he can finish the paperwork, but it sounds like things are going to work out in our favor. He's thinking Morgan and I will be able to fly out mid October, but of course, things can always change. In fact, with the way the Army is I probably shouldn't even post this, but I'm just too excited that we're finally moving forward and have an estimation as to when our seperation will end.

How Do You Stop Time?-Sept 2, 2008

Does anyone know how to just slow down time and enjoy the moments as they come? Maybe it gets better with each kid, but lately I've been thinking a lot about when Morgan was a newborn. This morning I dragged her out of bed early to take my step dad to work. As I sat there listening to her scream and cry I wondered how her cry has changed since she was born. I can't seem to remember what her newborn cry sounded like. Its something I should have caught on video. At the time I'm sure it just stressed me out and I never would have dreamed of video taping her when she was so upset. I remember our second night in the hospital. She cried all night long and so did I. But I don't remember how she sounded. How sad.

I've also been stressed out quite a bit lately because Morgan isn't sleeping through the night. At 12 weeks old she was sleeping 7-10 hours every night, and continuted to do so until we came to Utah (with the exception of a few growth spurts). Now, no matter what I do, she will not sleep through the night and I'm feeling more and more exhausted every day. I keep thinking "what am I going to do with a toddler who doesn't sleep through the night?" I feel like she's growing up so fast and if she doesn't re-learn how to sleep all night now, then she never will! Anyway, I'm really trying to just relax about the whole thing and count our nightime feedings as precious time together that will only be lost as time goes on. But its so hard not to think about how tired I am and to not daydream about the days of a full night's sleep.

So if anyone has any suggestions on how to slow down, relax, and enjoy every moment of my precious child's life, I'd love to hear them. I'm sure there's already so many things I've missed that I don't realize and I don't want to miss anymore. Here's to my favorite baby girl in the whole world. I love her so much, fit throwing and all!