On Wearing a Baby

Julia spends alot of time in the BabyBjorn. Alot. I sometimes call her my little marsupial because she's in her 'pouch' so much. Back in the super fussy early days of her life, it was the only way to keep her from screaming all the time. Now, it's the easiest way to keep track of two active kiddos when we're on the run.
Last week, I took Rudy out on a Mommy-Rudy date, and was out in public without my adorable little baby strapped to the front of me for the first time in weeks. I realized that I just might have an over inflated concept of how friendly strangers generally are.
With Julia attached to me, EVERYBODY smiles, says hi, makes eye contact, etc. It makes me feel like I'm living in Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, and I LOVE IT!
Without her, the world just sorta brushed past me. I even had my super cute three year old with me, but I guess 3 year old boys covered in frozen yogurt just don't attract the same kind of gregarious behavior as 7 month old girls strapped to their mamas do.
When I realized that it's Julia that turns me into an instant celebrity, I felt a bit sheepish for taking the credit all these months. All this time that I've been smiling back at what I thought were spontaneous gestures of goodwill, it's been Julia working her baby magic on everyone she can manage to make eye contact with. I don't blame them, mind you. I can't help but brighten when she gives me that smile of hers that lights up her whole face.
Now I know if I ever need to boost my faith in the goodness of the world around me, all I have to do is strap my little social butterfly on and head out the door. Julia will take care of the rest.

Progressive Contortions

Julia's making some serious headway in the world of locomotion. She"s a bit awkward in her movement at the moment, but she's still supremely pleased with her ability to get herself to where she wants to be with a few twists and turns. It's a blast to watch her and see where her interests take her. And yes, our house was a MESS the morning that I filmed this. I think all that junk laying around on the floor really motivated Julia to boogie, though, so we'll just pretend I strategically placed random objects all over my living room floor to create a stimulating environment for my little wriggler. ;)

Bounced

My long lost friend and old mission companion, Risa and I headed out for a first hike of the summer to Stewart Falls. We were informed by a Sundance worker that we were trespassing on Mr. Redford's land and needed to turn around. Dude. We totally got bounced off a freakin' MOUNTAIN. No worries, though. We just headed a bit further up the mountain to National Forest, paid our national forest entrance fee, and enjoyed OUR part of the mountain. Sheesh. We crossed 2 avalanche sites and saw some pretty gnarly stuff--giant trees with root balls taller than me ripped right outta the ground. Glad I wasn't there when it happened!

Farmer Updates

Over here at the Splendiferous Homestead ;), we've been earning our farmer's tans. Here's a few updates of what we've been up to:

1) Garden planting. I've got everything in, now I'm just waiting for it to grow. Cucumber, zucchini, spaghetti squash, pole beans, 3 kinds of tomato (early slicing, late slicing, and cherry), tons of sunflowers, chard, kale, parsley, cilantro, mint,rosemary, lavender, oregano, artichoke, rhubarb, red currants, black currants, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries. Oh, and I guess I do still need to find a nice table grape to put in. Last year pretty much nothing but strawberries and tomatoes were productive in the slightest. I'm hoping for a better turn out this year....we'll see. I think gardening is one of those things I've gotta grow into and learn as I go. Like this year, I'm actually gonna water the poor plants. ;) I think I'm most excited to see if our pole bean teepee turns out. :)

2) Chicken dispatching. Sunflower (yep, the neighborhood favorite) met her demise about a week ago. She was what's called an "internal layer" where her eggs were being released into her abdominal cavity instead of the open air. Ouch, huh? Didn't bother her for the first 8 months or so of laying, but then all of a sudden, she was SO not OK. I had to drum up the gumption to actually do her in. Took me 3 hours of intently studying descriptions, tutorials, and first timer tips on the internet to finally be ready for action. Jason and I went out in the middle of the night (he doesn't get home until 11 or so, and I was NOT going to do this all by myself.) I scooped her up out of the coop, talked her (myself) through what I was going to do and why, and then I did it. I DID IT!! The actual doing was freaky, but as soon as it was over, I felt so much peace and even pride. I knew I'd done right by that hen, and I was proud I'd been able to do it. (Jason was a HUGE support, mind you.) We didn't prepare her meat for consumption, just in case she had something else going on with her besides the internal laying bit. I didn't want to be feeding my family diseased meat.

Anyway, I feel like I've gone through some 'coming of age' ritual, knowing I'm capable of taking care of my livestock in a compassionate, yet matter of fact way. Rudy handled the whole thing really well. I guess we'd drilled it into him enough that these chickens are for killing, that it was perfectly normal in his eyes that Sunflower had to be 'slaughtered', as he likes to put it.

3) THE COOP IS COMPLETE!!  We've been working on the addition for a looong time. Collecting scrap wood, making plans, changing plans, changing them again. Jason is pretty much a stud the way he took discarded wood and other bits and pieces we scavenged from all over the place and turned it into a super functional coop. 

Before the addition.

Rockin' exterior nest box...

complete with fresh eggs. :)

New coat of paint with some leftover stuff from our garage.

Side view of the hen's split level coop. ;)

Chicken yard side view

Interior...painted with more leftovers. This was the original color we painted  Rudy's room. It was supposed to be red...turned out quite pink. Glad it's in the coop now instead of our house. ;)

Full view of Chickentopia, complete with chicken yard. That yard keeps both me and the  hens happy-they have plenty of space to do their chicken thing unrestrained all day long, and I have a fence between them and my garden. :)

We're now set up to raise chicks next Spring, and hopefully the hens will enjoy the extra room in the mean time. We've been itching to finish this project up so that we can move on to the way more exciting one: a tree house for Rudy (and Jason) ;).

Camie's Run

I just had the BEST morning! I took the kiddos with me on our first race as a threesome, and let me tell you, it was AWESOME. 

To start things off great, it was a run to support Camie, a friend of mine who is fighting colon cancer. She's pulling it off beautifully--I only hope that I would be able to cope with the things she does with the grace she does it with. It was awesome to be surrounded by literally hundreds of people supporting Camie and her family. There was a great sense of community, positivity, and hope wafting through the air. 

Camie and her husband coach the local high school track team. Seeing how many people they have influenced for good made me really excited for Jason to get into the high school scene. It's a beautiful thing, working with teens. They are so full of potential and energy for life, or can be if someone gives them the vision. That's what Camie and her husband have done for countless kids, and I hope it's what Jason will be able to do as well.

Adding to the awesomeness was the chance I had to share something I LOVE (running) with the kids I love even more. Julia was a champ, napping a bit, and otherwise passively taking it all in from her suspension cushioned seat in the "Grand Safari", but it was really a blast watching Rudy take in the full excitement of the race. We chatted about race strategy and body mechanics as we rolled along, trying to catch "Tall Socks" the target we'd chosen near the beginning of the race. He smoked us, but then, he wasn't pushing 90 lbs of kid and stroller. We kept him in our sights until right up to the end, though.an It was a great opportunity to talk about choosing to try for hard things, and being proud of ourselves even if trying is as far was we get. Anyway, I was totally digging the opportunity to have my little "Grasshopper" hanging on every word of athletic philosophy I cared to share. I pushed myself chasing Tall Socks and finished in 32 minutes-a time I'm totally proud of.

Pre-race

Post race victory shot.

There was a live band made up of high school or maybe just graduated kids called Juice Box playin' us into the finish line. They were great, and played after the post race raffle prizes were called too. Seems like lots of people who raced were not regular racers and didn't know that there's post race fun to be had. Lots of people just kinda had a swig of sports drink and headed home. Too bad for them, 'cause the post race party rocked. Especially for this mom of 2 littles who doesn't get out much. ;)

Chillin' at the after race festivities.

Rudy busting out some smokin' dance moves to the live band.

Rudy was enthralled with the drum set, and asked the drummer if he could look at it up close after they finished playing. She was kind enough to offer him the drum sticks and a chance to actually play it. He was in heaven. ;) This was the band's first gig ever. I overheard them lining up another one with someone who wanted them to play for another benefits event coming up. I hope they go as far as their dreams will take them-they're a great bunch of kids and talented to boot!

A Virtual Race for Autism

A blogger buddy of mine is putting on a virtual 5K to raise money for a special autism classroom her son attended in elementary school. Here's what she has to say about his teacher: "What a blessing it is that the school district can provide a teacher like Mrs. Cameron to families like us. We were convinced that in order to get Coleman the help he needed that we may have to put him in an expensive private school (which we really couldn't afford) but were pleased to find a teacher like Mrs. Cameron who works her miracles at a nearby public school.  She does have to work within the confines of a state-funded budget, though, and with budget cuts being made throughout the schools, I know she could use our help. She does an amazing job with what she has (and no doubt spends her own money, too, as so many teachers do) but we are hoping to be able to raise some money for her so that she may continue working miracles for the families that have the good fortune of crossing her path."

My new running buddy, Alissa agreed to join me in the virtual race, so we headed out for 3.1 miles this morning. Here's my documentation of the run. We just did our normal run/walk deal, so we didn't break any speed records, but we had fun doing it, and I got some tips for potty training to boot, so I'd call it a productive morning, for sure. :)

You still have 'till June 10th to do your own 5K and join the virtual race. Check it out on Alicia's blog and see all the great prizes she's offering participants. 

Julia and me ready to roll. :)

Alissa and me barely containing our pre-race enthusiasm. ;)

Finished in just under 40 minutes with a 5 min walking warm up and run 2, walk 2 workout.

Um...I'm thinking I'm a bit of a runnerd. Or just a plain old nerd.  Whatever, I'm loving life, and that's what's important, right? ;)

"You can do it! You can RUN!"

I am just LOVIN' life lately. LOVING IT.  I think I just may be out of the postpartum depression, and let me tell you, even the possibility of that being true makes me want to do cartwheels of joy-maybe even attempt a handspring. (I haven't done one of those since I was like, 10.)

Anyway, here's one thing I love about life: I'm human. Yes, in an "everybody makes mistakes" kind of way, but what I really feel like celebrating right now is the beauty of being part of the human family. Of being able to connect with complete strangers in a way that's almost magical, and is miraculous.

I was out on a run, working on my cardio strength by doing 1 minute sprints followed by 2 minute recovery walks. It was a blast, but also a slap in the face. I knew I'd lost some fitness during my postpartum recovery break, but I was stunned at just how much. Like I could only go at top speed for 45 seconds before my body just mandatorily slowed itself down. I was in one of my sprints, thinking to myself that Rudy or Julia better never be more than a 45 second sprint away from me in any emergency, when I whizzed past a little Abuelita out on an evening stroll. I called out "Hi!" to her as we passed and slowed to my recovery walk about 20 seconds later. It just so happened that this was also my turn around point, so I found myself walking back towards this woman.

I know NOTHING about her story, except that she immigrated to the United States from some other country at some point in her life late enough to still have a very pronounced Hispanic accent. Her dark eyes seemed to radiate the strength, courage, and diligence that such a life experience likely taught her. As we passed again she said with energy and love I didn't expect from such an elderly woman I'd never seen before in  my life, "You can do it! You can RUN!" and I believed her.

That little moment carried me all the way home on what felt like winged feet. How did that woman know those were just the words I needed to hear? How did she know my heart was beginning to harbor seeds of doubt and fear that I'd ever really be fit again? She didn't, but God did, and He put us in each other's paths that night, so that we could connect as sisters in the human family in a way that will bless me for a long time yet to come.

I hope that I'll be ready to reach out to others with that same kind of warmth and kindness so that God can work through me like He worked through that beautiful woman out for her evening stroll.