Miracle Match 5k Aftermath

so for the past few years
i've been doing this thing at the end of january

with really no problem at all

probably because i actually put for some real effort

to, you know, avoid what i've been dealing with the past two days

the aftermath of a 5k

which means i run 3.1 miles

in the cold-ass morning

with a bunch of other people

all supporting marrow donation

{http://miraclematchmarathon.org/}

and being good people for it

because what normal people pay money to run?

you can do that for free outside

am i right?

anyways, this year i signed up with high hopes

but then life happened

and before i knew it, race day was upon me

and i seriously considered not doing it

because i'd only really ran like 6 times
in the past two weeks

and no where near 3 miles

but then i thought,

no. i will do it. i can do it. it won't be that bad, right?

and it wasn't...

until the next day when i'm pretty sure my husband was convinced i need a walker

{complete with tennis balls on the bottom}
and new carpet with all the shuffling my feet were doing

and the random moaning that would escape my lips

as i'd do anything

still though, i think it was worth it because

 i actually did run 1.5 miles without stopping

{which i've never done before}

i may be slow as molasses

{seriously, a woman with a stroller passed me}

but i did it

i.finished.it

and have already signed up for another one come March

{i plan to be much better prepared for this one!}

so, if anyone in the central texas area
would like to join me

i can almost exactly promise you these things

*that you'll be faster than me*
*we will listen to some awesome music*
and
*just when you think you can go no more,
i will loudly cheer you on, almost to the point of embarrassment...

almost*

if you are ready to have a high-kicking, eye of the tiger, incredibly slow jog experience

email me at 

tamara0827[at]gmail

or hit me up on facebook

i'll send you the specifics!

hi baby best friend

it's been a long journey for you

because you see,
you've been in our hearts for a very long time

but things just weren't quite right yet for you
to settle in to your mom's belly

there were tears

{oh, were there tears!}

and there were laughs

{to probably cover up the tears}

and there were nights when all we could do was just imagine the day

when peeing on a stick made everything -

every temperature taken

every doctor visit

every feeling of punching other
pregnant people in the face -

completely worth it

because baby best friend

you've chosen the perfect parents

you've chosen our best friends

emilie & justin

two of the most hilarious, caring, amazing people
i've had the joy of sharing my own kid with

my own life with even

alfred and i can't wait to hold you

to tell you terribly embarrassing stories of your parents

in their younger days

{put my boot on!}

and to be witness to the wonderful human being 

we already know you'll be

you are a blessing

something we will tell you
every day for the rest of your life

because you made your mom and dad's dreams come true

you made them parents

job well done, little one, job well done indeed.

Be Adorable

unless you're familiar with kids

or have them yourself

you really don't realize how smart they can be

how quickly they pick up things

orrr...
how they can use their cuteness for evil

which is what i'm certain lillie's newest trick
will be used for

"be adorable"

those two little words evoke
an innocent cheesing grin and shoulder roll almost instantly from my 14 month old

{14 months, wtf, really?!}

she even managed to do it mid-fake cry the other night

unfortunately, we didn't have time to get that on camera

because we were laughing so hard

which, of course, just made her do it more
but while we were playing the other night
{{with a box - nothing but the best for my baby}}

she did cooperate
kind of

{{you know, when she wasn't worried about stepping in or out of the box}}

i think we may be in for a looonngg 18 years...

2012 Resolutions

i did fairly well in 2011
but hope to be better in 2012
{don't we all!}
which is why you'll notice my resolutions are..
well, kind of vague

*weigh less than i do now*
even if that's only by 1 lb
i know, it seems a lot safer and easier than saying my goal weight
{which is what i had for last year}
my self-esteem can only take so much
and putting the expectation of being high-school thin again
on a body that's had a baby
{and effing loves her some oreos}
well, it takes a toll on a girl
and on a relationship
and i'm over that
i've had a year to whine
it's time to shit or get off the pot

*read more*

so, i'm kind of obsessed with books

i always have been

i love reading

but this past year, i think i may have read... maybe two

as opposed to my normal 20 something

and it's not okay

i miss it

and this year, as much as i love being a mom
and a wife
i've realized that doing everything
is practically impossible
i'm not perfect
but i'm closer to it when i get a little 'me' time
and reading, that's the best me time i can give me

*write more*
my husband knew i wrote
he was aware of this blog
but up until a few weeks ago
i had never actually had him read anything i wrote
just little excerpts here and there
and one day he was like what is this post about Lillie
and i was like 'which one'
and he was like they were talking about it at work
so he read it
and loved it
and immediately said

why the hell aren't you doing this for a living?

and i said, you know what 

why aren't i?

and then i'm fairly certain he got laid

just saying.

*create more*

so, i like to be crafty

but when you divvy up your time

between mom, wife, maid, laundry fairy, bringer home of some of the bacon 40+ hrs a week

well, being crafty gets put on the back burner

which sucks

because i love creating things

and i hope by being an example to lillie
she'll grow up choosing creativity and individuality
over television and conformity

so, if you'll keep your fingers crossed for me, 

i'll keep my size 11 feet crossed for you

{and that's a lot of luck - have you seen my skis?}
so i expect all 10 of your fingers crossed
seriously.

2011 Resolutions - the results

let's do it

{no, not that, perv}

let's go back in time

approximately one year ago

you know when you decided that you were going to actually keep your resolutions this time

did you do it? 

were you awesome?

or did you forget about it until December 31st and you were like
EFFIN A, MOTHER BEEPER, CRACKING GOATS

and everyone gave you the 'dang, i think she's had too much champagne look'

{not that i know what that look looks like...}

because you said all that out loud

and then you're like eh, whatever, i'll just resolve the same things for this year as i did last year
i can file a time extension, right?

so, don't be afraid, just step in the car

{don't worry, I talked to Marty he said it was fine}

now, where in the world did i put that flux capacitor?

oh, here it is.
and 

*boom*

here they are, my resolutions from last year
- i resolve to not be pregnant for 2011.
i totally made this one my bitch.
and it was so awesome.

-i resolve to meet my goal weight.

yeah, not so much a bitch as a long lost acquaintance

i did lose 25 lbs all together throughout the year

i just didn't make it to my goal weight

which is what i specified

so, kind of a half-win?

-to run a half-marathon

yeah, this didn't happen.
I did run a 5k though

but i still have this on my bucket list
whether i actually succeeded in 2011 or not

so, not too bad. probably the first year i made somewhat progress on resolutions or succeeded in them.
i'm okay with how 2011 turned out

and have high hopes for 2012

because i think this year, i'm going to be a little selfish

and divulge myself a little in the finer things in life

and i'm definitely okay with that

Christmas 2011

technically this wasn't lillie's 1st Christmas

she was a little over a month at this time last year

but the thing is...

she kind of did only things that involved liquids

like peeing, pooping, drinking milk

and sleeping

which sometimes involved drool, so i'm counting it with the liquids

and it was awesome to be able to hold her and share her with the world,
but this christmas was just so much...

more

more laughter, more presents, more mischief

{it also helps that i wasn't out for the count with mastitis and a breast abscess}

she loves tearing up paper, so between her birthday and this

she's been more than happy, she's been ecstatic

and since this, we've caught her tearing up more than her fair share of magazines

i'm actually off for a little over a week during the holidays 

and it was wonderful getting to spend so much time with the kiddo
and first things first, we went to see Santa

we waited in line for nearly 2 1/2 hours

and i was worried without her afternoon nap

that this was not going to go our way

but as you can see

she, once again, hammed it up despite everything working against us

her ear drum even ruptured after this 

yes, i said ruptured

and she was all smiles and giggles

with no concern as to what this was doing to either of her parents

{in case you're wondering,
i'm pretty sure i've recovered from the stroke i had upon this discovery}

but other than that little hiccup

it was a great break

we were productive enough to go through our closets
{to make room for some things we aren't quite ready to part with in case we decide to expand our family any time soon}

donate 4 boxes to Salvation Army

send 3 to my niece, Ayana

Beyond adorable, am i right?

and somehow managed to celebrate Christmas 5 times

(the mother-in-law, the father-in-law, the godparents, my family & just the lehmann household)

without going broke or losing too much sleep

a Christmas Miracle, if you ask me
it was a wonderful way to end the year

and has me so excited for 2012

with the kiddo spicing it up by no longer being lazy and finally walking

and my sister planning on visiting
{i haven't seen her in nearly 2 years!}

i think it's gonna be one heck of a year

Baby Schmaby

there's this thing that happens when people see/meet your kid

they ask questions

usually normal things that should in no way bother you

they're just curious

and as any mom or dad knows you just smile, answer and move on

unless of course, this question is coming from another parent

or someone who knows roughly the timing on when kids should start doing things

like talking. or sitting. or in our case, walking.

so, when this question would inevitably come up in conversation

i'd just smile and say she's a lazy whore

ok, fine, i didn't say whore

because that's not appropriate

{fine sometimes i said it in my head...or out loud with my bff, Emilie, who totally understands my warped sense of humor and doesn't judge me}

and to be honest, i'm fine with the kid not walking yet

if she wants to speed crawl everywhere

get your freaking groove on girlfriend

that's less bumps and spills i have to worry about

not to mention she's started this thing where she crawls backwards

{her name over the holiday break was crayfish, ha}

and it's adorable as fuck

and so, much like my pregnancy i figured if i stopped harassing her

that eventually she would do what she needed/wanted to do

so, i did

but that didn't mean Granny & Pap Paw did

and finally after months of trying

they figured it out

yep, she loves the candy

and on January 5, 2012 she wanted it bad enough to take her first steps

and at 5:30 pm when i went to pick her up

i don't honestly know if i've ever witnessed her that happy

and that proud

and that beautiful

in the moment when she walked to her Granny

turned her beautiful strawberry blonde head to me 

and smiled as large as her chubby cheeks would allow her

as if to say

mom, you can stop telling Aunt Emilie i'm a lazy whore now, i can walk!

{as a side note, i may want to look into cleaning my language up...}

and you can bet your ass this proud mama got it on video
{i didn't say i was going to clean it up now}

baby schmaby, she's a toddler now!
she gets a good 5-6 steps in around 1:10 

and if you notice at the very beginning she keeps cheesing at me
because she thinks i'm taking her picture

yeah, she's kind of the definition of a ham
and for the life of us, we have no idea where she picked it up from...