A Feeling

Do you ever get the feeling... that craving for change? Over the last few days, I have this anxious, nagging feeling in the bottom of my stomach. I can't tell if it's the "something is coming" feeling, or the "I wish something would come" feeling.
A lot of people are scared of change. I'm not normally one of those people. I kind of like big changes like moving or getting a new job. I view them as a chance to start over. I don't know if any big changes are coming any time soon, but I've got a few little things brewing in my pot of change...
-I'm trying to improve my body (who's not?). I've learned some new things to do with weights and the ball and figured out a way to do a lot of it at home.
-I am trying to improve my overall health through healthy eating. For Christmas I received a subscription to the Cooking Light magazine, a knife block, and an apron with chickens on it. I have vowed to try one new healthy recipe each week.
-I am trying NAET www.naet.com to get rid of my restless leg syndrome. This is an eastern therapy that is supposed to reduce your sensitivity to chemicals, foods, hormones, etc. I am also being treated for a variety of emotions and my voo-doo witch doctor claims that it can help with morning sickness. I'll do a more in depth post about this at a later time.
-I'm starting a collection of essential oils. My friend Maria sent me some samples a couple of months ago. I've been studying the properties of many of the essential oils and am intrigued enough to try them out. I'll keep you posted on this as well.
Perhaps these are my little new year resolutions. Whatever they are, I hope these little changes help me to improve myself and my life.

First Haircut

Before...


After...

The Holidays

December was a busy month for us. We had a great time with our families and we really enjoyed our holiday season. Here are the highlights:

-Santa Jack...I'm pretty sure this hat was made for a dog, but I made Jack wear it to every Christmas Party we attended.



- We participated in a Sub-for-Santa with the Bird siblings. It was a lot of fun picking out toys for kids who might not get much for Christmas.

-Temple Square Lights and Secret Dinner... It is a Bird Family tradition to go to dinner and see the lights at Temple Square once a year. This year, the eating establishment of choice for this excursion was Cafe Rio. I enjoy a good pork salad just as much as the next person, but come on... there is a Cafe Rio on every street corner in our own neck of the woods. Nobody in the family really cares what Michael and I think, so we didn't even try to object. Instead, we politely called and told them we wouldn't be able to make it to dinner, but that we would meet them afterwards for the lights. We then promptly headed to Z Tejas, where we enjoyed delicious food that we can't have just any old time.



-Spent time with the Cornell cousins. My sister, Tara and her family came out to visit from Colorado. Jack had a great time playing with his cousins. He especially liked taking toys away from Baby Blake.

-Opened presents on Christmas morning... Jack like the wrapping paper, but lost interest after 1 present. He got lots of fun toys from his parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles.

10 Months Old

Jack has been crawling for a little over 2 months now. He is very good at it. He follows me around the house as I get my work done. He likes to open cupboards, drawers, and doors. He likes to explore new parts of the house. He likes to climb up the staris, but has not yet mastered coming down.
Jack loves to eat. If he sees me put something into my mouth without offering him a bite he becomes very upset. His favorites are graham crackers, gold fish, and fruit puffs.
He learned how to play patty-cake and wave bye-bye. He says "ma-ma" and "ba-ba" and makes an assortment of other random noises. He likes to be with his mommy and daddy. They make him laugh pretty hard.
He is such a good boy and we love him so much. It has been a wonderful 10 months with him in our family.
Here are some pics of what he's been up to.

Drinking juice with his feet up...


Unrolling all the toilet paper...


Getting into the cupboards...


Sleeping...


Looking adorable in his new winter hat...

I Did it Again

What?

13.1 miles. Nichole and I ran the Provo Halloween Half Marathon (the most fun you can have in Provo without getting arrested). We dressed up like Peter Pan and his Shadow.
We have had such a good time training for this race. We've been running together 2 to 3 times per week for about 4 months now, so this was a landmark day for us... one that we have been looking forward to and preparing for. I am proud of us for accomplishing our goal. It has been so nice to do something for myself. When Jack joined our family, there was an adjustment period where I didn't have much time or energy to do things for myself (not complaining, it's just the way it had to be). When we started running, I quickly started to feel better in both body and mind. Taking time to do something I wanted to do to improve myself has been wonderful and therapeutic. Thanks Nichole, for having this great idea and for being my partner through this.

I really enjoy running races. I like that they give me a reason to workout, a goal, a purpose. I have a full schedule of race goals for the next few months...
November: Thanksgiving 5K
April: Salt Lake City Half Marathon
June: Wasatch Back Relay
August: Hobble Creek Half Marathon

If anyone is interested in training for or running any or all of these races with me, do it.

Jack-o-Lantern

So this is a little past due, but I wanted to show you all how cute Jack looked on Halloween. We debated between Jack in the Box, Cracker Jack, Jack @$$ (kidding... we don't hate our child), and Jack-O-Lantern. We found this cute costume on diapers.com at a discounted price, so it was an easy choice.

The Mile High Half

I did it. I ran 13.1 miles on Sunday. It was awesome. Tara and I have been training for this for the last 13 weeks. It feels weird that it's over just like that...the thing I've been working for and training so hard for is finished. I accomplished my goal, but as life goes, I had a few last-minute issues to hold me up a little. I was totally psyched and felt prepared to run the race. I did my last long training run about a week before race day. The next morning, I woke up with a fever... "oh no," I thought. Over the weekend, it turned into a pretty bad case of bronchitis. Respiratory illness and running are not compatible. On Monday, I went to the Dr. and got on some antibiotics and an inhaler. I was not able to run until Friday and it was only 2.5 miles, and it hurt my lungs. I was feeling alright by bedtime on Saturday. I wanted to be sure to get enough rest, so I went to bed early. At 1 a.m., Jack (who has been sleeping through the night for months) decided that he didn't want to sleep. I fed him thinking that he would eat and go back down... no such luck. He was awake until 4 a.m. and so was I. Once we started running, I felt pretty good. I am happy with my accomplishment and I am proud of myself and my sister for finishing what we set out to do. The above picture is us at the finish line with our other sis, Carlie (who was an awesome help with Jack during the race).
Jack and I headed out to Denver last Saturday morning. We had a fun time with Tara, Rusty, Halle, Josh, Blake and Carlie. Michael had to stay home and work (someone had to foot the bill for our trip...). It was fun to hang out with my sisters doing a little shopping and lunching and movieing. Carlie went home on Monday morning and it's too bad because she missed out on the adventure to the pumpkin patch. The kids loved petting the animals and climbing around on the pumpkins.