Runnin Runnin

I'm running in a 5K this weekend with some of Oliver's family...YIKES...this is my first 5K since college and I'm a little nervous! I think I came in dead last at the last 5K....it was at a Tri Delt Convention in San Antonio....I don't think I had ever run 3 miles before that day.....however, my roommate, Liv, won the dang race...now she runs marathons and I'm just now running a 5K!


I run almost every morning and have since I started working BUT I run in the dark - where no one can see me, I literally see the same 5 people every morning in just about the same spots everyday....I don't think any of us would recognize each other in daylight....at least I hope not because I'm pretty sure I look awful at 5:30 a.m. I usually don't run a full 3 miles...somewhere around 2.5 is my normal but for the past few weeks I've been running 3.2 and trying to beat my time each morning - so far my best time is 8:11 per mile...that is my goal to beat tomorrow!
Elizabeth Magee took TWO tiny tiny steps on Wednesday night. But no more since then -- she's scared to let go of whatever crutch (walking toy, table, fingers) she is holding on too. But hoping her cousins will encourage this weekend! I cannot believe how much my BABY has changed in a year:

Big Steps

Don't you wish you were this happy every morning? We are proud to announce -- we have been BOTTLE FREE for 48 HOURS! Monday morning I put Elizabeth Magee's milk in her sippy cup, she took it like a champ and we haven't looked back! I debated still giving her a bottle at night but decided to go cold turkey.

I'm very pleased and suprised how easy it was to drop the bottle. I was determined not to push the issue -- Oliver's grandmother says she remembers tossing her bottle into the lake so I wasn't going to worry if she took it past the doctor recommended 15 months!

Breakfast this morning --- beginning to learn to feed ourselves.....very fun for Elizabeth Magee....not so fun for a type A mama!

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

Friday my mom and I took Elizabeth Magee to Sesame Street Live at the FedEx Forum. I wondered how much she would like it -- she loves music but not tv -- I don't think she's every watched 10 minutes of Sesame Street but she loved the music and "danced" in her chair for almost the entire first half....she lost interest after intermission and we went to play with all the props in the lobby....

Oliver got us the tickets -- we were on the club level....next year I'll want to be closer to the stage but these seats were perfect for this year because there was plenty of room for Elizabeth Magee to wiggle about.

Friday night, we went for our first church directory picture as a family of three. Here's a sneak peak at Elizabeth Magee's beautiful Easter dress:

Saturday and Sunday we moved our shopping cart outside and walked walked walked.

Playground Fun

“The true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground.”

– G.K. Chesterton

Ok so we didn't go to this playground in Denmark but Elizabeth Magee and I clocked some time at the playground yesterday afternoon. I had a big trial Monday morning and that combined with the beautiful weather equalled a get-off-early Tuesday afternoon....so....we went to the playground at Second Baptist....which is quickly becoming a favorite past time....
Of course, lambie had to go with us....

This is a great playground for the crawling because the whole thing is floored and they have a lot of big things to pull up on....

The slide is by far Elizabeth Magee's favorite. She is NOT scared to go down it at all....while I hold my breath the whole time!

We live in a great neighborhood that only lacks one thing to be perfect -- a playground within walking distance! There are several that are less than five minutes by car BUT I would just love to be able to walk to a playground. I've heard other moms in my neighborhood say the same thing -- I wish I had the time/energy to figure out what it would take for the neighborhood to get together to buy a lot and build one!

Welcome Spring

It's finally spring! Our weather is absolutely amazing....we are loving being outside every possible minute. This post is going to be a little random....but anyway...a friend of ours had a VERY interesting spring break....she had her baby ON THE BATHROOM FLOOR. There was an article about it in the paper recently (written by said friend's Father In Law):

This is a spring break story. I'm not a fan. Still, no political or economic issue entered my mind since a week ago Sunday, when I got back from a Washington, D.C., meeting. Mark Henry, new executive director of the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, had joined the rest of us Walmart Foundation America Works Initiative grantees for a lively roundtable about issues challenging state workforce training systems in America. Got back to an empty house. Wife and daughter were gone to the beach ... some people never outgrow spring break. My spring break started with an attack on the incessant mildew defacing my "no maintenance ever" composite-wood deck.Then came Monday morning. Awakened by an early call; "Annie's here," said my wife.Ninety minutes later I was on the road. Picked up wife at an I-10 interchange and zoomed south. Fourteen hours later we pulled into Miami. I had sworn that as an older, wiser adult, I would never make that drive in one day.Got there in time to relieve Blake and Emily Wohlgemuth. This Madison couple operate the Chick-fil-A in Miami Lakes. What awesome friends they are!Annie, you see, was due to be born on April 2. So, maternal grandma and family headed to Costa Rica for spring break. So did paternal grandma, as I said, but she was "on call." You see, Annie not only arrived three weeks early, but by express delivery.You need some background.First granddaughter got lodged against mom's pelvic bone, so at the last minute had to be delivered by cesarean section. Mom was determined to have Annie naturally. It took a while to find a doctor willing to allow her to try a VBAC. But, one was found and arrangements made with a nearby hospital to try the high risk delivery.Early Monday morning, daughter-in-law began having contractions. But they never became consistent enough to trigger a dash to the hospital. Annie, however, didn't know the protocol. Mom delivered Annie on her bathroom floor assisted by my son and a wonderfully helpful 911 operator.First granddaughter slept through the whole thing in the next room. Son called Emily to come stay with her. Ambulance took mom and Annie to hospital. No, not the hospital scheduled for delivery, but to another hospital allegedly closer and, therefore, required by rule for emergency situations.When Emily arrived, son headed to the hospital where, thankfully, he found wife and Annie doing well.So many things could have gone wrong, but none did. Six days later, mom and Annie are home and doing well. God is great!Grandpa took two days to drive back. Left wife in Miami. Got back, wouldn't you know, in time to attack the deck again. Hope you had an interesting spring break, too.Bill Crawford (crawfolk@gmail.com) is a syndicated columnist from Meridian. Read more: djournal.com - BILL CRAWFORD A spring break to remember

I hope and pray that never happens to me.....I liked a C-section....very controlled and timed.....but we are so happy that Sarah Love is doing great and what a great birth story!



If you have a little girl, you need to get her this book:




This is currently our favorite book. I like it because the mom in the book is not frumpy but super cute....Oliver doesn't like it because there isn't a dad in it....and Elizabeth Magee loves it because it has lots of bright colors and ballons to point out.


Elizabeth Magee and Thomas are having a wonderful first day of Spring. They let me torture them for a few minutes over lunch with my camera phone. Neither is a particular fan of sunglasses....but they were good sports and then I took them on a wagon ride to make up for the torture.....

Happy Spring everyone! Also, today is my "little" brother's 25th birthday! Happy Happy Birthday Thomas -- except I know that you don't ever read my blog!

Weekend Away

Oliver and I left Elizabeth Magee with Oliver's mom and headed to Alabama on Friday afternoon. Before we left she got to take both lambies to bed. We don't let her see both lambies very often...if she gets attached to both it will defeat the purpose of a backup. But when she gets both at once, she goes nuts...it almost overwhelms her she's so excited.





Our first stop was Birmingham where we had a great dinner with some dear college friends at Avo. It was so nice to catch up! Sadly, I got no pictures from Friday night.





Saturday morning we had a great breakfast at Over Easy, which is owned by some other college friends. I had the oatmeal pancakes which were to die for....I must figure out how to make these.





I was in charge of navigating to Montgomery. I failed. We ended up in the hood at this church. Oops.





We finally found the right one. What can I say, Oliver's irritable and I'm irritating.





The reception was a lot of fun and we enjoyed catching up with family we don't get to see enough! The weather could not have been more perfect for the happy couple.










The reception had some fun things -- a dress up photo booth and an artist painting a scene from the reception.


We are looking forward to the next Anderson wedding in December!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Bebe

I haven't posted in several days. Life is busy busy. I'm currently reading this book, "Bringing up Bebe" which is SO good. It first caught my eye at Turnrow Bookstore in Greenwood back in February. I decided not to buy the hard copy but to get it on the iPAD. I wish I had bought the hard copy because it's so good I want to share it....

I first came interested in French parenting when I was prego with Elizabeth Magee and a friend forwarded me this list:

Top Ten Reasons to Give Birth at the American Hospital in Paris10. You are guaranteed a spacious, private room.
9. No one will kick you out mere hours after giving birth. You can stay as long as you'd like. Really.
8. A one to one nurses to newborn ratio is maintaned at all times.
7. They moisturize your baby's skin with the most amazing smelling cream ever invented.
6. They are very liberal with the drugs during labor. No need to wait until you are 4 cm dialated for pain relief. All you have to do is ask once for pain relief and you'll get it.
5. Every room comes equipped with satellite TV and WiFi.
4. You can order a bottle of champagne sent to your room. It will be delivered by a guy wearing a tuxedo.
3. Three gourmet meals are delivered daily. A sample menu: crab salad on green apple gelée, free range chicken with taragon sauce and pommes dauphinoise, bread, cheese and of course, mini pastries for dessert. I loved the food so much, I even took a picture of it.
2. Wine served with every meal, of course.
1. A hairdresser and make-up artist on call to prep the you for your first photos after the birth of your bébé.

Then, our first Nanny spoke French all day to Elizabeth Magee and did things "the French way"....for instance she started Elizabeth Magee on vegetables instead of fruit and didn't want to give her rice cereal.....we said "au revoir," "oh la la," and "bonjour"....it was kinda fun.

This blog, A Cup of Jo, did a great summary of the book...and here is a link to a Wall Street Journal article...but the most interesting thing in the book to me was not mentioned in either of those posts...in the book the author, Pamela Druckerman talks about how almost all frenchwomen go back to work...virtually no frenchwoman stays "at home" anymore.....and the reasons were more social than economical....no exactly the reasons I work but still very interesting!

In our house, we've entered into a whole new world. My baby girl is looking and acting and moving an awful lot like a big toddler girl!
My Bebe looking Quite Big this Morning

Not quite walking but can stand on her own and will take these huge sideways steps if you are holding her hand. Today we walked from the back door to my bedroom with only stopping once.....

Elizabeth Magee also knows her head, toes, nose, ears, and will hold up her hands when you start to count.....she's growing up fast folks!

Jail Birds

These two little birds are very ready the weekend. Don't they look like the are in jail? Hard life. This picture reminded me of a former a client who was telling me that he was in "weekend jail" in Texas for a DUI....basically they let you work all week and then you have to report to the jail from Friday at 6:00 p.m. to Sunday at 6:00 p.m. Thought I'd share the story because I'd never heard of "weekend jail"

Weekend Away

We spent last weekend in Oxford. It was wonderful and relaxing. We got to have breakfast at my. favorite.place --- our waiter looked at me like I was crazy after I ordered a cinnamon roll and blueberry muffin...and ate every bite!

Oliver's brother always tells me I have more to blog about than Elizabeth Magee. So I thought I'd blog about him and share a picture.

We enjoyed the ballgame while Elizabeth Magee enjoyed her grandparents. It allowed us to go to SnackBar for dinner and drink bloody marys at the ballgame.

Elizabeth Magee joined her daddy at the bar after the ballgame. She wasn't a big fan of the bar at first.....

But by her second bar....she was a fan...

After dinner, we took Elizabeth Magee to YaYas for icecream --- she loved it....ate most of Oliver's......I think it's about time to start ordering her own cup!

Sunday, Oliver and I attended church at College Hill. Which is extra special to us because it's where Oliver proposed and I have a lot of kin buried in the back!

Elizabeth Magee went to "Mammy church" at Mammy's house. When my brother was little, he always went to our great-grandmother's house while the rest of us went to church. We called her "Mammy" and Thomas always went to "Mammy church." My parents were staying at Mammy's house this weekend in Oxford and it's on the way to College Hill....so we dropped Elizabeth Magee off for "Mammy church."

The weekend was a very very relaxing time away --- we enjoyed every minute!

We Had a Party

This blog post is a week and two days late. My computer has crashed and I'm using a temp computer.....it has taken two days to download these pictures! Anyway, we had a great party to celebrate Elizabeth Magee on the Sunday after her birthday. We actually had a great weekend of celebrating, starting with Sis coming up on Saturday. We took Elizabeth Magee to the Zoo and went to the petting zoo for the first time -- Elizabeth Magee loved petting all the animals -- especially the lambs.

On Sunday, my parents and Net came up. Net kept Elizabeth Magee while we went to church to hear Tim Keller speak -- he's an amazing preacher in NYC -- if you've never listened to his sermons or read his books - I reccomend doing both! After lunch, Mom and Dad treated us to a brunch at the Beauty Shop. I've been wanting to go to brunch there for about two years so it was a real treat --- the fried chicken and waffles were amazing :)

Our party started at 1:30 -- which is Elizabeth Magee's naptime so I was a little concerned but as soon as she ate some cake -- she was on a sugar high and had a great time!

As Net said, "Elizabeth Magee was a gratious honeree."

Party hint number #1 - if you go to Party City to blow up your ballons-- wait until the day of the party....I went the day before and we had to go back the day of the party for more balloons...this would have been fine except I had to order the purple and white polka dot ballons from Amazon and had them all blown up the day before.....

After Elizabeth Magee finishes her meals, she likes to feed others.

Sis and EM are sideways for some reason....

The children quickly found the toys --- funny how they go straight to them....

This picture is upside down....can't fix it for some unknown reason but as you can see -- we had a great day for a party :)

Ann Hollis thought Ally was the coolest part of the party -- so cute!

A few days after Elizabeth Magee's party, we had the dreaded one year check up --- she weighs 20.6 pounds and is 30 inches tall! She is not yet walking but is standing on her own. She has a few very specific words....mostly "bye bye" and "mama" and "da da da da"....she will point at anything and everything she wants -- still loves to play with spoons, remotes, and telephones.....as Net says "she likes to participate" in whatever is going on around her! Her favorite activities right now are swinging, riding in the stroller, and riding in the red wagon -- she cries whenever you have to stop any of these activities.