Guinevere's baptism

Guinevere was  baptized in the church to which Tyler and I belong, by the priest that worked in Tyler's childhood church, confirmed me, and blessed our marriage.  It was such an incredibly beautiful and special ceremony.  


Our church.

Please note the FABULOUS hair piece ;)

The blessing of the mothers.

Group blessing.

Thanking Father.

Pure joy!

Guinevere's incredible godparents.

My grandparents flew all the way in from Oregon!

Four generations - Nana, Mom, Me and Guinevere.

My godparents and godbrother/sisters.

To come ...the after party :)

Headed to Atlantic City

I just finally put Guinevere down to sleep, and finished packing.  Around 6am, I'll be waking her up for one final nurse, pumping everything I can out of my breasts, then hitting the road for Atlantic City for my best friend's bachelorette party.

I'm super excited for a weekend with my favorite sorority sisters, but I'm heart broken about leaving this sweet face:

I'm sure she'll have lots of fun with her Daddy.  He got a bunch of movies so they can snuggle up on the couch like this:

And I'm sure their night will end up like this:

Just as long as there isn't too much of this:

Would it be too weird to just take her along?  I bet she'd rather enjoy being stuck in the Moby Wrap and dancing at Mur or Waterclub...

Oh man, I never thought such a little bitty thing could capture my heart in such a big, big way.  

Hit the ground running

I used to be a runner.  I ran cross-country and track all four years of high school, and was captain of the cross-country team.  I actually pole vaulted two seasons of track as well.


I loved it - I loved the long runs through the woods, on trails. I loved being outside, and being able to clear my head and just think.  I've never been able to run with headphones and music - I need that time to let my brain sort itself out.  I sorta kept up with running through college, and occasionally since then.  Last Spring, I thought I'd gotten back into it when I signed up for a 5K and ran it with some of my good friends:

Then I got pregnant, and lazy, and had a kid, and wasn't allowed to exercise.  Now, I'm cleared for activity, and find myself missing it.  Especially since Lindsey keeps posting such inspirational posts about how motivated she has been - I want to be the same way.


But I kept feeling so busy - I have a newborn after all!  And she really is quite the time sink.  So I kept believing that I was simply too busy to take running up again. 


Then Pinterest stepped in to kick my ass, and I saw this:

Oooh, burn!  So yesterday, when Tyler walked in the door from work, I handed him the baby, and headed out.  I've often gone for a run after a dry spell, and been able to hit the pavement pretty strong.  Yesterday, the pavement hit me right in the face.  My lungs were burning, my legs were killing me, and I am embarrassed to say that I had to stop and power walk a few times.  I walked in the door afterwards, feeling like the biggest failure.  Clearly, I no longer have what it takes.


Thank god for Pinterest again, because this morning, I saw this:

You know what?  Thats right.  I totally am.  I'm still frustrated with my post-baby body.  I thought it would be easier to snap back than it has been.  I have a lot of work ahead of me, and even though I feel so busy, this is something thats important to me, and it needs to be bumped up to a priority.  


Thank you Lindsey, for making me so jealous whenever I see your posts.  Thank you Tyler for watching Guinevere so I could head out, even though you yourself wanted to go to the gym.  And god bless Pinterest, for sending two perfect inspirational messages at just the right times, to get me back on track.


PS - not on Pinterest yet?  Get on it!  I'm addicted.  Follow me here.

To my husband

Happy three-year Anniversary.  I am in disbelief that its only our third anniversary - we've been through so much already in this marriage.  It already feels like a lifetime - perhaps thats because this fall will be 12 years together :)

I love being married to you.  I love kissing you goodnight, and the way you make me laugh once we turn the lights out - as we both are usually so tired from the day, but so eager to continue our conversation - quickly mentioning anything else we wanted to say and forgot to earlier in the night.  The way that we figure out which dog we are going to snuggle with that night, and settle in.  The way our hands always seem to find each other in the middle of the night, and I wake up with our fingers twirled together.  

I will always love you for trusting me about moving forward with expanding our family.  I know at first you were hesitant about when the timing would be right, and you still agreed to try to conceive.  I love you for consoling me every month when my period came, and reassuring me that things would work out.  I love that, after over a year of charting and temping and everything else, you supported my quest of investigating my fertility, and that you went to doctors that made you uncomfortable, and agreed to take on the expense of all of the tests and appointments and medications.  I love that you went to appointments yourself, in spite of how you'd have rather'd do anything in the world more than that, and didn't question it once when I asked you.  I love that, when we were told that we had a long and difficult road ahead of us (read:  expensive), you just sat down to figure out how soon we could afford IVF, and helped me work out a plan that we'd both be able to follow, to reach dreams that we both thought at the time were more mine than yours.  I love that I was never once alone on our dreary journey through infertility.

I will never forget the look on your face when I told you that I was pregnant.  Pure joy.  I still tear up thinking of what an amazingly happy day that was.

I love that while you don't have to do any baby night duty Sunday through Thursday, that you still wake up at night, and go in to check in on our daughter.  I love that the three nights that I've been so exhausted or sick that I didn't hear the monitor when Guinevere woke up, that you didn't nudge me or wake me up - you went and got her, and thawed some frozen breast milk, and changed, fed and soothed her on your own.

I love that you love our dogs the exact same as you did before Guinevere got here.  I'm ashamed to say that my patience has really been tried by Kimchi in the last few weeks, and you still go out of your way to make sure those two furry girls are happy and fed and exercised and loved.  You always sneak treats to them, and you barely make it into the door from work in the evening before you're wrestling with them on the couch.  You also correct me when I make a comment to Gwen about her "doggies" - they are her sisters.

I love that, in spite of my insecurities about my new body, you still look at me as if I were Marisa Miller.  That you can walk in on me with a hands free pumping bra, and two bottles attached to my boobs (trust me, it is NOT sexy!) and you still can't keep your hands off me.  I love that we've been intimate for over 11 years, and that our chemistry is better than ever.  

I love, love, love seeing you with our daughter.  I love that she saves all her smiles for you, and the way she lights up when you swoop in to pick her up.  I love that if I mention she might be wet, you will reach over to take her from me to do a diaper change.  I love that you've taken over bathtimes, and you know exactly what she likes - running water, raspberries, the whole works.  I love that she looks exactly like you.

I love that you're close with my family.  That you will come out to dinner and visits, and that you seem as much my parent's son, as I am their daughter.  I love that even though I'm going to be out of town this weekend, you're still going to go to my cousin's birthday party.  I appreciate that you're able to encourage me to be more kind and patient with certain members of my family, and nudge me back on track when I slip.  My favorite nights are those with you, my mom and dad, and my sisters.

I love that becoming parents hasn't changed US.  That its fun to talk about the baby, but that we can still talk about our jobs, our opinions on current events, our dreams, our hopes...we are still the two of us, only better.  I love that our marriage is one of respect, trust and equality.  I love that when one of us is struggling with someone, we both are.  I love looking at you, and seeing the rest of my life.

I love you.