Dear Ainsley [11 months]

As mentioned before we took some of Ainsley's 1 year pictures this week. A few of my favorites are scattered through this letter to Ains. The rest are on Facebook. Enjoy our sweet lil' one! :)


Dear Ainsley-


Next month you are turning 1! And I'm so excited for it. I know all parents say it, but it seems like just yesterday you were born. Especially with a new baby brother or sister on his/her way in a few months, it's my goal to continue to soak up these moments with just you and Papa.

 This month was a month of transitions for you. Our first attempt to switch you over to whole milk resulted in a rash a couple days later, which ended us at the doctor to learn that you had hand, foot, and mouth disease and impetigo. We went back to nursing for a couple weeks until it was all cleared up and then you're back to the milk, without a problem. After Grandma-wisdom, we decided 1-2% milk was a better option than the whole milk as the fat enzymes that remain in your poo may have been the root of the rash. [Your Papa had similar issues as a wee one.] Now at your 11-month birthday, you are going on nearly a week of whole milk only. You and I thankfully, have handled the transition well.

Your other BIG transition was into your crib at night! Now I'd been dreading thinking about this transition for months. Nine times out of 10 when we'd tell someone that we co-slept, a comment would be made about the nightmare we'd experience when we tried to get you to sleep on your own. Your Papa and I decided that come Summer we'd make this transition. I mean I don't need sleep in the summer, right?! Well June came and went and we snuggled through the early summer nights. With a work trip planned for the 2nd full week of July aka 1 king bed in our room, we decided after that would be a great time to make the switch. I stalked the blogworld for support and suggestions and then came July 19th. Papa gave you a bottle and rocked you to sleep. He laid you down in your crib. Instantly you woke in tears, but 3 minutes and 8 seconds later, you were out for the count!! [Yes, momma timed it! I was only going to let you cry for 5 minutes. :)]

You woke a couple times that first night for a few minutes each time but considering it was the first time in 327 day and the only time in your entire life that you had slept farther than an arms distance from your momma, I thought you did great!! The next night, I was whooped and Papa had nighttime duty. He rocked and rocked you, and next thing I knew, I woke next to Papa and you in our bed. He informed me it wasn't worth the fight and there's another day to try. Good enough for me. 

Well the next night, Papa wasn't feeling too great and I tried to get you into your crib peacefully. You wanted nothing to do with sleeping let alone your crib, so that night? Papa woke next to you and me. :) Since then though you've slept in your crib and most nights you haven't even woke during a 9 or 10 hour stretch. It has been wonderful! And as much as we loved your nightly snuggles, we've enjoyed the slumber party like pillow talk and evening time together since we've made the transition. You still cry like crazy for a few seconds [13 to be exact the other night] or a couple minutes [not more than 3 yet though] as soon as you are laid in your crib, but so far, so good!!

In addition to those major transitions, you are still as cute and fun as ever! Your personality is really starting to shine and your facial expressions crack.us.up! Today, I think you learned what the word "kisses" means, although it's important to keep our mouth shut when we receive such kisses right now! ;)

My fav!

Keep being sweet, sweet Pete! Keep being the joy to our world!


Much love,


Momma

Photo Shoot Preview & Goal #25

With Mister having the day off today, we thought it'd be a good day to head to the park and take some pics for Ainsley's first birthday. Well unbeknownst to us rain was in the forecast so after snuggling through a Tyler Perry movie [my fav!], a lunch date, a few errands, and a nice nap, the sun came out and we decided to still head to the park. 


We took 300+ a lot of pics so hopefully we have a dozen good ones. No exaggeration on either end of the estimates. We still have to sift through them all but I thought I'd leave you with one preview:

Ainsley & her lil' sibling's first photo.
Goal #25 :-)

Baby Massie #2 is healthily growing with an expected arrival of early March. Ainsley had a due date that threatened to keep me away from The Allen County Fair, yet was unsuccessful as I made it there all but the day my water broke and the day she was born. This little one though I'm 99.9% will keep me from another annual attendance at the OHSAA State Wrestling Tournament. Since I'm due the weekend of the tournament, I'm already counting on my first missed attendance in 16 years!!! 


He or she is definitely worth it though! 


We are all excited and hoping for another smooth pregnancy with a perfect, healthy outcome; just like the last one!

Goal Updates: Warrior Dash & Running

Over a month and an half ago now--wow, summer's flying and I have had this typed for 3 weeks now!--about twenty family members from the Clum side headed to Logan, Onio to participate in the Warrior Dash. (Basically a 3.5 mile obstacle course.) 


Now a year ago, I didn't really know anything about such run, but a friend of mine mentioned it in spin class and then Mister and I got to talking about it and before we knew it,the whole clan was signed up for it! And we decided since we were all going down, we should make a weekend of it--and so that's what we did. :-) Lodge was reserved, meals were planned, and costumes (White Trash Class, of course) was decided upon. 

White Trash Class Before Pic

As family trickled in Friday night, we settled in with much laughter and fun 'making' our costumes which culminated with my lovely brothers giving each other costume appropriate hair cuts.

My favorite part of this pic isn't my brothers,
although they are looking studly,
but rather it's everyone's facial expressions in the background!

Saturday morning we had a breakfast of pancakes and eggs before heading to the fair grounds close to where the Warrior Dash was being held. The excitement and comic relief of others' costumes left our group splitting up--half heading to the starting line and the other half settled in with the kids to wait to watch the finish. 

Mr. & Mrs. Classy with matching fu-man-chus

Mister and I decided that we'd run together figuring it'd be more fun to share the experience and so we stuck together the whole time--which was also good since he wore my time chip since I didn't have shoestrings to attach it too. At various times we crossed paths with other family members and enjoyed the challenges and humor of the course. My brother intentionally slid down his share of muddy slopes whereas my slides weren't as planned. :-) We weren't there to win--as my case in all runs--and wanted to just enjoy the experience. I'd say we successfully accomplished that goal. 

My younger brother celebrating his finish!

Mister and I caught up with my mom in one of the last obstacles as we climbed up and back down the cargo net. The next obstacle was jumping over a couple rows of fire, over which I squawked like a 10 year old and my momma was a bit afraid her workout pants would go up in flames. The final obstacle was a 2 foot deep muddy water that you had to crawl through under barbed wire. At this point, Chris was ahead of me and momma was just behind me. Well I thought it'd be a good idea to swim in the muddy water, which was until I heard my momma yell, "Rachel! You're splashing me right in the face!!" I turned to see how close she was and then decided to finish the course with a backstroke through the water and then slipped several times trying to get out of the pit. 

White Trash Class After

After cleaning up a bit aka rubbing dried mud off and throwing away old clothes, we headed back to the lodge for the remainder of the weekend. 

All the Clum Clan in attendance

Overall, the weekend was so much fun and my favorite part--even beyond my muddy backstroke--was spending time with extended family! We decided then and there that this needed to occur more often so a lodge is booked for another Clum gathering in September! And I may just have a list of possibilities for a beach/lake vacation next summer! *Clum Clan if you're reading this: We want YOU there even if you weren't able to attend the Warrior Dash weekend!!*


In other, similar news, another goal is confidently crossed of my list of 101 things to accomplish in 1001 days: 


13. Run 101 miles. 


After yesterday's Run to the Moon 10km, I've chalked 122 miles since I started this task about a year ago. If you'd look at my running tracker, you'd quickly notice that I'm awful at consistency. For example, I did great end of February/March, then fell off the wagon thanks to picking up an extra afterschool teaching assignment, and then this summer have done a bit better again. Which is good since Mister, Momma-cita and I are registered for a HALF MARATHON come October! I'm anxiously looking forward to it already, especially after yesterday's run. 


Now I've said it before and I'll likely continue to repeat myself for a while, but I am not a runner. Yes, I run, but I'm not what I consider a runner. [What to 'meet' a real, awesome runner?! Meet my friend, Sara, who is both a great runner and a great baker!! Order a dozen cupcakes if you don't want to take my word for it! ;)] Anyways, even with the half marathon we're registered for, I have/had no intentions of actually running for 13.1 miles straight. 


We've been following Jeff Galloway's training and suggestions and for our Sunday morning "long runs" have been following a 4 minute run/1 minute walk interval. It's comfortable and we've been keeping about a mid-11 minute/mile pace which isn't too far off from my typical mid-10/min to just under 11 min/mile pace for a 5k. Well yesterday as we embarked on our first race of a longer distances [previously I've only done 5ks (3.1 miles) and 1-4 mile race], I shared with Mister that my goal was to run the first half as if it were a typical 5k aka run as much as possible with a walk break if I felt like I really needed it, and then for the second half of the race, do a 4/1 interval.


Well we got started and it was a bit depressing since there weren't many people behind us, but we were   with the tail-end of the pack. When we crossed the 1/2 mile marker and our watches read 6:45, I turned to Chris and commented, "We suck!" Sure I felt slow, but I didn't think I was that slow! [Sidenote: I'll saw I a lot when it comes to pace or goals because Mister is a champ and goes along with what I feel comfortable with!] 


Thankfully we quickly came upon the 1 mile marker at 10:something and our suspension was confirmed: the 1/2 mile marker was misplaced! We ran the first half taking just one walk break of a few strides through the water station in order to rehydrate, and then we just kept going. Instead of intentionally taking walk breaks, we ended up running the entire race minus 3 water stations which in my book, doesn't really count as walking!


We finished overall with an 11:34/mile pace clocking in at 1:11:33 which was 3.5 minutes under our goal of an hour and 15 minutes. It was nice that the 10k course finished with the 5k course because it felt like more people were behind us than really were, but overall as I promised myself at the beginning of the run, I felt good because I did it. It doesn't matter how other's finish, it matters how I run the race. We met our time goal and even more accomplishing to my weak runner's self-esteem was that I ran for 6.2 miles which is over 2 miles longer than I have ever ran straight before. Even if we did place last in our divisions, I was proud!

Mister still ended up with a trophy,
signed by a real astronaut.
I ended up with a Moon Pie.

The only major downer of this run is that about 4 miles in when I took my sunglasses off to wipe them clean, the bottom of my rim caught my nose ring and pulled it out. It didn't hurt, but it was the second one I lost in 24 hours. Maybe it's a sign. Even though I have more nose studs, I don't really like them, so I'm thinking it'll grow shut.


-Rachel


Note: I stole borrowed all Warrior Dash pictures from my great sister-in-law who was the official photographer for the weekend!