On the Move!

Emma is starting to figure out the whole crawling thing. It is so cute, she pulls her legs up and scoots forward like an inchworm. My words can't describe how adorable it is, so here's a video! (Emma is almost 7 months old!)

Optimistic- A story about a girl named Anna

Last night, a girl I knew in high school passed away from a ten year battle with Neuroblastoma. You can read more about her heroic battle here. I knew her pretty well in high school, we swam together for a few years and senior year we were both in a group of about 5 students who were voted on by our class as "most optimistic" in the yearbook.

I lost contact with Anna, like almost all of my high school relationships, almost immediately after high school. This is something that happens not by choice, but simply by life circumstances and the fact that I am not one to just pick up the phone and re-connect with someone. But, like almost all of my high school relationships, I occasionally check up on people through Facebook identifying where our lives now intersect even though we are not now, and not really ever were, that great of friends. Unlike other relationships, I had one more way to connect with Anna and that was through the website I linked to above. I read over the past few years as Anna would get better and the inevitably worse as the cancer spread and progressed.

All I could think about was how we were lumped into the same category of "most optimistic" in high school. At that time, Anna had been recently diagnosed and so she seemed like the perfect fit for that category. She was always happy, never complained, always had a smile on her face. I, on the other hand, was pretty optimistic but not by Anna's standards. Over the past ten years she has struggled day in and day out fighting to gain awareness about this disease, all the while staying positive and keeping God central in her life. What have I done these past ten years? I have worried a lot about a lot of things that don't really matter. I have become more pessimistic than optimistic even though my life has brought me incredible blessings like my amazing husband and beautiful daughter. And health. Let us always be thankful for our health.

I want to strive to be more like Anna, sharing the glory of God simply through living life every day with a smile on my face. I want to raise a daughter like Anna, who will put a smile on the faces of strangers in good times and in bad. So Anna, even though we haven't spoke in nearly ten years, you have done a lot for me and I thank you for that. I look forward to catching up in Heaven.

For more information on how you can help kids fighting neuroblastoma please visit www.annabanana.org. You can find a link to the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation by clicking on "Anna's Hope".  

Delinquent

Wow, I have been slacking in the blog department lately. I'm especially ashamed that I missed posting about Emma's 5 month birthday. I will post the shot that I took for her 5 month photo shoot this weekend. I have been so busy since I have started school again and also have started working full time again. I really miss Emma during the day, but it makes the time I get to see her when I get home at night that much more valuable. I have moved my workouts to before work, pushed my start time at work back an hour to accommodate, and many times I take a short lunch so I can leave early. I do all that to spend as much time with Emma as I can before she goes to bed. It's amazing what you will sacrifice for your kids, in my case it is sleep. I feel like there are never enough hours in the day, so it's all about prioritizing & time management. I am learning every day what is most important to me, and how to learn to make time for the people that matter. I am not perfect at it, but I am trying to figure it all out. Waking up early to hit the gym while my two favorite people are sleeping means that I get to spend three hours with my family when I get home from work before Emma goes to bed. That time is more precious to me than anything else in the world and so I will do whatever I can to protect it.

While it's been a sacrifice, I have found that I enjoy my runs before work. I love feeling like I am starting work energized and like I have already accomplished something that is meaningful to me. The longest distance I have run is 5 miles, and I am planning on running 6 this weekend with my sister since she is coming into town. I am looking forward to running outside, something I haven't done since before I was pregnant. I am also really looking forward to having a running buddy! Brandon and I used to run together all the time, but it is really hard for the both of us to get out there now. I can't wait to find a good jogging stroller on craigslist so the three of us can go for runs together this spring & summer.

For now, we are enjoying the indoors. I get the biggest smiles from Emma when I hold her in the air like Brandon is doing in the photo above. Still no giggles yet, but I am hoping to hear them soon! She is so close to laughing.

We are also embarking into the world of solid foods. So far all we have tried is rice cereal and she likes it way more than this initial photo of her trying it. She actually opens her mouth now and tries to help me guide the spoon to her mouth. Adorable. :)

This picture cracks me up, she looks like a sad puppy dog.

Goodnight all, thanks for reading!