Halloween Crafts!

I love holidays. Every holiday. Everything about them. Some of y'all may remember when I was pregnant, I spoke about how excited I was to decorate the baby for the holidays.

I was serious. 

Remember, 4th of July. 

Well now Halloween is upon us. And I'm still decorating my child. 

You think this is bad, just wait until Christmas. Emily's gonna be a regular Cindy Lou Who. 

Not only are the holidays great for decorating your babies, they're also amazing for having your babies decorate your house! Stay with me on this one...

To gear us up for Halloween, Em and I have been elbow- (and ankle) deep in some Crayola washable paint.

We painted a pumpkin...

That was a bit of a mess, but fun nonetheless!

And we also made some awesome Halloween signs...

Em was a bit confused by this, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself...

Making ghosts from Em's feet!

Candy corn foot!

I plan on framing these and having them out year-round for Halloween. 

I can't wait to see what Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts we get ourselves into...

Any suggestions?!?!

So I ran the Detroit Marathon...

Apparently I'm crazy.

For whatever reason (I blame the hormones), when I was about 6 months pregnant, I decided to run my first marathon only 6 months after I would have my first baby.

Crazy. 

I also roped a good friend into running it with me.

Training was less than ideal. Funny how a baby tends to disrupt your life like that. There were times during my training when I actually went 2 weeks in between runs. Again, not ideal. But, nonetheless, when the time came, we woke up early (5:00am), ate, and headed from our hotel to the start line. 

Getting ready to start! Completely rethinking my decision to run... It's about 40 degrees here. If that.

The start/finish line!

There were 6,000 marathon participants. It was a little congested at the beginning, but did thin out. I never really felt slowed down by the people. Of course, maybe they felt slowed down by me? It's also hard at the beginning, because along with the full marathon, the international half marathon starts at the same time. 

It's a pretty awesome course. It goes over the Ambassador Bridge into Canada, and back into the US through the tunnel. Which means at the expo when you're picking up your bib, they check your passport. You're also supposed to carry it with you, in case anything happens. Mine fit nicely in my Spi-belt, and I didn't even notice it was there. Small inconvenience to run into another country. It was pretty cool to run in and out of Canada!

Side note: on the way out of the tunnel, I really appreciated the police officer offering high-fives, yelling, "smack a cop!" 

The course runs around the neighborhoods of Detroit which is nice. Especially nice from miles 17ish-19ish where a lot of people have set up tables outside their houses and are handing out things like jelly beans and beer to the runners! 

From there, you head over to Bell Isle, which I had heard many people say was awesome. I think I got my hopes up too high, because this may have been my least favorite part. It's pretty over there, but they basically shut the island down, so there are very few people cheering you on. It's pretty quiet, which lets you think a bit too much. However, as you're exiting the island, right after you come over the bridge, the road gets pretty narrow with all the spectators cheering you on. That was awesome! 

At about mile 25 1/2, I was spotted by Paul and Emily which was awesome. I ran over, gave them both a kiss, and was ready to finish strong!!

We hit mile 26, and shortly after, turn the corner and see the finish line! Such an awesome feeling. So many spectators cheering everyone on. It was great! 

After finishing!

Some things about this marathon were really awesome. I love that it's international. So cool to run in two countries! We also had green bibs, which meant it was our first time. A lot of the volunteers made a point to make a big deal about that. It's a relatively flat course, only a few hills (the worst probably being the one coming out of the tunnel).

There were a couple of things that really helped me for this marathon: 1) We ran with a pacer. We had the greatest pacer ever, who ran with us right up to the finish, shouting from behind, "keep going!!" We definitely wouldn't have pushed ourselves as hard without her. 2) Every now and then I would listen to Eminem. You're running through Detroit. You have to. In fact, right before we started, they were playing Eminem over the loud speaker. Definitely got us ready to go!

Right after the race, in the hotel, with Em!

Em's onesie I made her!

The real reason I ran: to get a new "toy" (my medal) for Em. 

So that's it. We did it. I have no plans for another marathon anytime soon, but who knows. Maybe in a few years. When If that time comes, I will probably wait a little longer than 6 months postpartum, and also maybe wait until I'm no longer nursing. But hey, at least I finished this one!

Emily Raylynn is 6 months old!

In some ways the time has flown by, in others it's almost stood still. Somehow, we have made it 6 months. 6 glorious, frustrating, wonderful, crazy months. I have a hard time remembering what my life was like 6 months ago, before Emily joined us. To be honest, I don't really care. It is so much better with her here! Anyway, here's a little update on our life now. 

Food! Emily has been exploring various solids. Every night, she has some form of puréed solids. She's tried: avocados, carrots, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, squash, apples, bananas, and peaches. A lot of it I make for her, because it's super easy and a lot cheaper, but some of it I buy premade. We've also given her some foods whole, like bananas, carrots, and cucumbers. She enjoys this, as I think it feels good on her gums, but she definitely prefers the puréed form. More satisfying. 

While she's tried a lot of food, she's still typically only getting solids once a day. It has not replaced any of the time she spends nursing/taking a bottle. Food in the first year is primarily for fun and exploration, from what I gather. 

Sleep! Ok, so I mentioned our adventures in sleep training before. After many sleepless nights, and realizing our precious little angel had learned to play us by tricking us to come back to her room and hang out (I know, shocking! A kid who would rather play than go to sleep!), we decided to sleep train Emily. Now, a few weeks after that weekend, I have to say, that was the greatest decision we could have made for Emily and us. She is sleeping from 7:00pm-6:30am (give or take 15 minutes either way) every night!* Plus, she is now napping better during the day! With all this extra sleep (here's the best part) Emily is happier than I've ever seen her. She smiles all the time. Laughs at everything. And just plain enjoys life. I love walking in her room in the morning to see her smiling face, kicking her feet in excitement. 

Now I know some people are against letting your child "cry-it-out" or sleep training in general. Those people shouldn't do it then. However, for us, it's been amazing. Every family and every child is different. You have to do what works best for your family and your baby. There is way too much mother-judging out there. 

I will also say, we never let Em cry when she needs something. She's on a good routine now, so if she's crying at a random time, we know something's up! Like the other week when Starbucks gave me regular instead of decaf (for the SECOND time), and Em couldn't sleep. We held her and rocked her most of the night. 

As of right now, I don't have her 6-months stats. We go to the doctor next week, so I'll know more then! I'm guessing she's pushing 20 pounds at this point. She is wearing size 6-12 months in Gap clothes, and 9 & 12 months in other brands. She's a big girl! 

She loves jumping in her Jumperoo and squeaky Sophie. She also gets a kick out of watching Layla play. We'll sit out back and throw the frisbee for Layla and Em goes nuts! Em also enjoys "petting" Layla. We're working on not grabbing...

So that's it. There's your update on my happy, hungry, sleepy, wonderful, loving 6-month-old! Seriously can't get enough of her!

*I wrote this update last Thursday and am just getting around to posting it. This weekend, Em's sleep habits were a little off thanks to a 6-month growth spurt, but she's already had two long naps today! Hopefully this growth spurt is almost over!

 

Weekend Recap!

This past weekend we had so much fun! First, on Saturday, we went tailgating for Michigan State's homecoming game! Emily got to meet Sparty for the first time!

I swear he wasn't about to punch her! He was tapping her nose...

Big bow, don't care. And yeah, we wore matching jerseys and leggings. Em had on boots earlier, but she kicked them off in the car (apparently Gap 6-12 month shoes are a bit large on Em). And if I could wear a bow like that, I absolutely would. 

Tailgating and visiting with friends really wore Em out!

After a quick nap, Emily and I painted a pumpkin!!! 

Yay for fall fun!

Later, Em got to hang out with her Uncle Doug. 

We had a super fun (and busy!) weekend! This week will be a bit low-key, until we head to Detroit on Saturday for the marathon on Sunday!! 

And maybe a minor celebration Thursday, when Emily Raylynn turns 6 MONTHS OLD!!!!

3 & 4 Month Favorites

Yup, I'm late. Emily turns 6 months next week. And here I am, just getting around to updating some of our 3 and 4 month favorites. Kids will do that to you. They really require a lot of time and effort and therefore other things just don't get done. I also am certainly not putting all of our favorite things on here because I have forgotten them. Oh well. Here they (some of them) are anyway!

1. Fisher-price Jumperoo - This is the one we have and Em seems to like it. There are a million different variations and they all do pretty much the same thing. Usually Em will jump around in this thing for anywhere from 10-20 minutes. She has a blast in it.

2. Teething Toys - These are some of our favorites. And by "our," I mean "Emily's." The very hungry caterpillar. This thing is gold. She can put that whole green part in her mouth. Also, she enjoys sucking on the antennas. And it rattles. What more could you want? Sophie. Obviously. Sophie is great for little hands. She can hold it anyway she wants to and it squeaks, which is a bonus if you like to see the dog get annoyed. Nuby keys. Really, any keys are great, but we especially like these. But definitely get some keys. We have 3 sets at our house.

3. THE GREATEST CHILDREN'S BOOKS EVER WRITTEN. That may be a stretch, but not by much. These books are awesome. And teach great lessons such as: never steal a hat, you will get eaten; and don't trust a crab if you're hiding from a big fish. Gold, I tell you. Gold.

And now some pictures of Emily enjoying her favorite things: