Seven Peaks Take 2

We tried again today and he did much better. He's still not sure about the kiddy pool but he did like sitting in the wave pool. It's funny though, because he gets stressed out when water gets splashed on him, but I throw water at him all the time at home. We play in the sink and make a huge mess. We throw his sippy cup around and create our own splash park and he loves it. Whatevs.

This is what he did for the last 30 minutes. (Sorry for the awkward angle.)

Yeah, we sat on the grass and he emptied our back pack and lay it all on me. (We do this at home too. He brings everything he can find and "gives" it to me and I say "Thank you!".)

I got to lay out for a bit though, so that was nice.

Seven peaks?

So, there's a water park (seven peaks) 5 minutes from our house and Leo and I have never been. Well, scratch that. I don't actually know if he's been, but I haven't. Water parks are fine and dandy but I'm ok to not walk around in a swim suit all day.

Anyway. I knew I needed to get over my personal body image issues so i could be a fun mom who takes her kids to water parks. So, we bought a season pass.

Since I've been trying to be more active (to work on my body image issues... goodness, I promise no more mentioning my body). I thought it'd be good if I jogged up to Seven Peaks, we played for an hour and then jogged back. It takes about 20-25 minutes for me to jog there. Yes, I am slow.

Well, by the time we got there today, Jackson was ready for a nap so getting him in a swim diaper, swim suit and sun screened up, he was already over it. I persevered and we played there, darnit. He basically yelled at the water for the first 20 minutes and then sat there for the next 20.

Super fun.

Then, he conked out on the way home.

We'll try again in a few days and make sure to not go at nap time.

P.s. started 30 day shred today. Kicked my butt.

P.p.s. I don't have very many pictures because my camera broke and my phone camera is sub par and I'm usually posting from my phone nowadays.

P.p.p.s. I'm painting the trim in my house and wow. Who's been kicking my wall so much? Nasty scuffs everywhere.

Bucket list

Leo and I were discussing our bucket lists on a date awhile ago and I thought I'd share some of mine.

1. Take Latin ballroom classes.

2. Be the voice of a cartoon in a movie.

3. Run a marathon.

4. Go to Hawaii.

5. Go to Italy and eat pizza. (I like pizza.)

6. Learn to sew.

7. Take up hiking as a hobby.

8. Be in an exercise video series. ( Preferably a kick boxing one. I don't want to teach it, I just want to be one of the people in the class.)

9. Do the entire P90x yoga tape. ( Can you tell I'm on an exercise kick?)

10. Deliver one baby without any drugs. ( Lets be honest, that sounds just as terrible as it does amazing.)

Not my favorite jogging experience.

Let's talk about my run today.

So, first, i got hit with a sprinkler right in the crotch, meaning it looked like i wet my pants.

Then, i was waiting at a light and a group of teenage boys screamed "slut" out the window at me.

I'm not joking. I was shocked. Not only was I in baggy shorts and a t- shirt, but i also had my little baby in the stroller.

I realize they were dumb boys with way too much free time, but I'm pretty sure no girl likes to get called that. Especially loudly in public.

Then, my phone died so i had no music, which means that i spent the next 40 minutes stewing about those stupid boys and swearing that i would raise my son to be respectful.

Needless to say, I didn't have the same endorphin - induced happy feeling afterwards.

One of those days.

Have you ever felt like you can't keep your house clean for more than 5 minutes?

That was today. Well, it's every day, but today it annoyed me.

I cooked a lot yesterday and today so i tried really hard to stay on top of the dishes. I also swear i swept twice and basically followed Jackson around, picking up after him. And yet, when he finally went to bed, i came downstairs and my house was a mess.

I told my husband i didn't want to talk for a few minutes (i wasn't mad at him, just didn't have the energy) and i just laid on the couch for 5 minutes. Then took a few breaths and spent 15 minutes cleaning up. 15 minutes is not a long time, but when you do that several times a day, it becomes a little monotonous.

I genuinely love my life as a stay at home mom. I let my child make messes. I get messy with him. I'm proud of the stains on my clothes from his sticky hands. And sometimes i find housework therapeutic (vacuuming, wiping counters down, folding clothes) but today, i wanted a maid. 

On a much more important note, Jackson walked across the room several times tonight!  :) yay!

Jogging & things.

So, Jackson and I have been jogging almost 4 miles 5 times a week for 3 weeks. Woop woop!

We usually go with his nap in the morning and he conks out after about 15 minutes. It's amazing.

The first few times, I thought I'd die. But, for the past week or so, I can feel my endurance building and its fabulous.

I've been trying a couple different routes and I've got a few that are great. Sometimes, I jog up close to BYU and come back. Sometimes, I head towards the mountain. I wanted more than one, so I don't get bored. It also helps going in the morning because I listen to my morning radio show and they make me laugh.

The only thing that's annoying is that I rarely get ready. I used to spend his first nap showering, makeup, getting dressed, etc.

Now, it's a super fast shower afterwards and maybe a little makeup in the car. And my hair is wet or in a ponytail 90% of the time. Oh well, it's worth it.

--I've also become the sunscreen nazi. Well, I'm not great about sunscreen on myself. My moisturizer and foundation has SPF 15, but I should put some better stuff on before we run.

A few days ago, I could tell Jackson was getting a farmers tan and it totally broke my heart. His forehead and nose were darker too. Granted, I know he'll get tan over the summer because we're always outside annnnd he'll be gorgeous with little tan skin, dark eyes, & light hair but it still makes me sad that he won't have perfect, untouched, baby skin.

So now, I've got sunscreen in the car & in my purse. He hates the lotion stuff but he can handle the spray stuff pretty well.

--I've also been trying to eat a little cleaner. My favorite healthy things are oven-roasted asparagus (mmmm, sure my pee smells funny, but its soo good), spinach smoothies (Jackson looooves them too, so it's a good way to get him to eat vegetables), & egg whites only english muffins (These ones aren't super tasty, but it makes me feel good about my breakfast choice).

I'm not counting calories, just trying to get better habits.

--Have y'all seen the Avengers? 'Cause you should. (I'm kind of a fan of Thor's strapping good looks.)

Mothers day

There's so many feelings connected to the word mother for me.

Love: for my own mom. We've always been close. We're very similar in our perspective on life and with what we think is funny and sad. We get along quite easily. It makes me sad when i hear about poor relationships between mothers and daughters.

Happiness: for my sweet boy. What a blessing it is to be a mom. It is the greatest thing in the world when Jackson crawls over to me as fast as possible and lays his head on my lap or pats my face when I'm rocking him. We laugh so much together and i feel like i have a buddy all the time.

Stress: because some days are hard. Jackson has tested me in many ways. A lot of his first year was difficult. He cried for the first 3 months, and is still needy and whiney (sp?) most of the time. I have learned that whatever he's feeling, he wants to share it as strongly as possible. Which is wonderful when he's happy, but draining when he's not.

Sadness: because sometimes I'm not perfect. There are days, looking back, when i got frustrated with my baby and i feel bad. I know I'm going to make mistakes but it's still not fun to think about them.

Pride: because there are days when i think I'm an awesome mom. I love playing with Jackson, talking to him, making him laugh, snuggling him and not caring that there's a pile of laundry staring at me. I try to let him explore as much as possible, which means my house is messy, but we have a lot of fun together. And to be honest, i haven't had a frustrated day in a long time and I'm very proud of that. I'm learning every day what he needs and what i can do.

Admiration: for the moms around me. I'm so impressed by moms. My mom. My sister, Jess. My sister in law, Adrienne. My mother in law. There's so much good i see and it helps me be better.

Excitement: for future babies. I can't wait for the opportunity to feel another baby in my tummy, to hold another little, wrinkly newborn, to get another personality in my home.

Happy mother's day. I hope all of you moms know just how cool you are.

Mama Rant

So, here's my rant:

I took Jackson to the park today and let him play in the sandbox. He looooved it. We brought some shovels and trucks and he played for a good 30 minutes. There were 2 ladies and a 2 year oldish boy that came after we'd been there for a bit and they were on the opposite side of the playground. The little boy played for awhile and eventually made his way over to the sandbox and we said hi and were being nice. The mom and her friend just stayed over there and were very engaged in their conversation.

The little boy gathered our toys and turned around to play with them, obviously not wanting us to play with them. I was trying to, as nicely as possible, ask him if we could play with one of the toys (seeing as they were ours...). He kept yelling no. Meanwhile, nothing from the mom. He filled up a bucket with sand and proceeded to quickly go over and dump it in my open purse....

The mom yelled oh sorry! He does that all the time.

Didn't come over. Didn't tell her son not to do that again. Nothing.

Look, I realize he's a toddler. I don't care about sand in my purse. I wasn't excited about it, but I don't stress about stuff like that.

However. Really, mom? You couldn't have taken a second to make an effort to watch your child.

But, I'm not done.

Then, the boy threw sand at my face.

Nothing from the mom.

Then, the boy dumped a bucket of sand on Jackson.

Nothing from the mom and I was done.

He wasn't letting us play with our toys. We were both covered in sand.

To be honest, I don't get mad very often. I was mad.

I was mad at that dumb-head mom who cared more about her conversation with her friend than watching her child.

I started to try to kindly take the toys away from the boy so we could leave but it wasn't happening.

The mom's friend was leaving so the mom finally comes over. She tried making conversation while I was very obviously gathering my purse and Jackson's shoes, biting my tongue the whole time. (I mean, let's be honest, I would never actually say anything to her face because I don't have the guts.)

I finally said, "um, we're going to go so could we have our toys back?"

She asked her son for them, but he yelled no and then she had to chase him all over the sandbox to get them back.

Needless to say, I just hugged Jackson so much for being a good boy and took deep breaths in the car to get over my annoyance with that woman.

Ahhh, feels good to get that off my chest.

Oh, forgot one thing!! As I'm walking away, she's like we'll probably come to this park most afternoons so we'll see you soon!

I was like, ok.... (side smile)

I was trying to capture just how saggy his pants were today. Love that bum.

Mother's Day

With mother's day coming up, I wanted to share a video that helps me feel like what I'm doing is more than just trying to "entertain" a 1 yr old, trying to keep the house clean, trying to be productive, etc.