Thirty-first Year

I thought 30 was going to be my year but Ariah and the IRS had other plans. As you know Ariah was 6 days late. As for the IRS, they stopped processing business taxes for 3 months, which we needed to get our home loan. Thirty would have been a nice, neat number but I am 31 now and have a whole lot of firsts to go with my thirty-first year. My first child, my first house which has my first: oven, range hood, dishwasher, full size refrigerator and bath tub and 16 glorious windows!! I know I won't think they are glorious when they need cleaning but for now I love them. Our last place was a converted warehouse and we installed two skylights but it's not the same. We also have our first backyard which is home to an apricot-nectarine tree and a bunch of other pretty stuff. Last week I strapped Ariah to me in our Ergo carrier and we picked apricots from the tree and made a pie. It was not actually that simple, first Ariah and I picked up dog poop in the yard and then when it was safe to walk around we picked an entire bucket full of juicy, ripe apricot- nectarines. I sent Kyle a picture of the pie and then brought half of it to my neighbor. I'd like to say that I did that because I am neighborly but the truth is i knew we would eat the whole thing if I didn't share. The pie was amazing and Kyle even gave Ariah a little taste of the filling, she loved it! (For the record I am mostly against giving sugar to Ariah before veggies are introduced but I am only half the decision.)

The house is still kind of under construction, I hope to have it finished by Kyle's birthday. There are piles of boxes that I stare at everyday with a baby in my arms as I make plans to put them away. It's just that nothing seems as important as making sure Ariah has toys at her fingertips and plenty of interaction and LOVE. She does take naps but her nap time is my precious get-back-in-shape-or-you'll-have-to-buy-a-whole-new-wardrobe-time. I am not exaggerating, the only clothes that fit me have an elastic waste band and are at least 50% spandex. Yes, it's as pleasing to look at as it sounds. I always look like I should be shopping at Walmart with 4 screaming children in their pj's. I did manage to squeeze into a pair of pre-preggo jeans but they dig into my Cesarean Section scar and make it look like I have a muffin top. I say that it made it "look" like that because of all the things I do have, saggy boobs, love handles, love handles below my love handles which I call "butt handles" and fat that squishes over my sexy, thick-banded nursing bra, I do NOT have a muffin top.

This morning I needed to exercise and since the counter tops in the kitchen were being sanded I decided we would go running. all I could envision were these tiny dust particles filling and clinging to Ariah's lungs. In order for us to go running at 10am I have to start at 7:30am. It goes something like this: 7am- wake up and nurse, 7:30am- coffee and play with baby, 8am- get dressed for run  and change/dress baby, 8:30am- play with Ariah, 9am- nurse again, then play and then nap. I thought I could perfectly time it so that she would be ready for her nap when she got in the stroller but that was a no go. she fell asleep right after she ate so I waited 5 minutes while those particles floated through the air and then I did something I never do, I woke her from her nap and we left. I wish I didn't have to drive there but we found a wonderful little area on the bay that's only ten minutes from our house with trails that are fully exposed so I feel safe.

We ran 4 miles today and walked another mile to cool down. The first mile was nice, Ari was awake and wide eyed. Then, she was tired but didn't want to miss anything so she started crying and she kept crying. I tried to wait it out and give her a chance to fall asleep but it wasn't happening so I pulled over (with a running stroller like ours it's like pulling over a vehicle) and soothed her. when she was nice and calm I put her back in and she started the siren cry again. This time I was sure she was tired and I was a mile from the truck so I ran on. When I was about to give up on the rest of the run she stopped. The lady running toward me caught it and made the gesture that she was asleep. Yay!

Right now she is in the Ergo on my back and starting to squirm so it's time to feed her.