8 months old

My little chunky monkey!

aaaaand this is what happens to ANYTHING that this boy grabs

Well, my sweet boy is 8 months old (actually almost 8 1/2 months old now that I'm finally getting around to updating). He is busy! He officially crawled today (February 28). I think he is my earliest crawler. He plays by himself until I enter the room, and then he yells for me to pick him up. He says Mama, and I'm pretty sure he knows what it means...especially when he is repeating it reaching up to me...melts my heart! He still LOVES his bath and has graduated to the big boy bath with his bubbas. He sits and splashes away while giggling. He eats all the time! He loves all things food (i took this months pictures with him in his diaper so you could see all the chunk). He eats baby food, loves yogurt, pnut butter and jelly sandwiches, and anything else mommy will let him have (or he can sneak in his mouth from the floor...oh to be the 4th baby!) I feel like I'm constantly cleaning out his mouth! When I weighed him the other day he was 19.6 pounds and wearing 9-12 months clothes. He is getting a bit of a temper and lets his voice be heard, but I guess that is a must to survive in this house =) He is my first baby who doesn't like to be rocked to sleep. I just give him his paci, give him a kiss, and lay him down. It kind of makes me sad because rocking my babies is one of my favorite things to do. I can see the little baby stage slipping away which makes me sad, but I'm loving watching how Jude is growing and learning every day. I love him with my whole heart!

half marathon training

So, even though I have said over and over I HATE running I have decided to run my first half marathon in April. I'll be honest, living in a beach town definitely makes me recognize the need for exercise and being healthy (lots of bathing suits!). Some of our good friends (and my husband) are avid runners and convinced me that it was the best, most effective way to get in shape. So, I started running! Saturday I ran 5 miles, my longest run yet! The run was a challenge! As I ran I thought about how my days with the kids are kind of like my long runs. They can be challenging, painful, dirty, very hard work, requires mental toughness, but when I'm done I feel such a sense of accomplishment. I'm so proud that I actually did it, that I made it through. Now that I have started this challenge I'm actually enjoying it, and I'm enjoying how God is gently reminding me of the "marathon" I'm running with my children every day. I'm so blessed to be a mom to these sweet children and I pray that I am able to run this race well. I love them with all of my being, and even though some days get long, some days I feel like I clean up the same mess 20 times, some days I feel like I might go crazy if I have to do another load of laundry, it is totally worth it and I would choose to spend my days with my sweet babies over anything else in the world! So keep me in your prayers...the long runs are getting longer, but I'm going to do it!!!!