Look who's 2!!

Classic Julia "excited" expression!

Opening gifts from Gramma and Papa, thank you!

Taking a bite of cake, yum...

Mama's birthday girl

Daddy's princess ;)

Homemade carrot cake!

She loved blowing out her own candles :)

Her best friend, Cookie

Playing with her new kitchen!

What's cooking?

For Julia's 2nd birthday, we did our usual low-key celebration with cake and gifts at home. We actually spread out our celebrating over a few days, since the birthday girl was sick over the weekend. We had plans to go to the zoo, but just stayed in, and then took her to an indoor bouncy gym place the next weekend (more photos to follow...). We decided to get Julia a play kitchen, since she pretending to cook, so this was perfect for her :). It's so incredible how fast the last couple years have gone by. I remember so vividly the moment she was born - hearing her before I even saw her! Our lives changed in an instant, but it's difficult to imagine what in the world we ever wasted our time and energy on before Julia! We seem to move through seasons of her growing so quickly - one minute we're up all night with her and sleeping in the recliner with her on our chests, the next we're bolting upright in bed, worried because she's slept the whole night without making a peep! We used to have conversations that consisted of coos and winks and soft kisses, now we're having conversations about what she did at daycare, how we should behave and treat others, and how big girls use the potty! In some ways I feel like I wish I could go back to the days when she was an infant, but at the same time it's so exciting to see what she's going to learn next :).

Week 13 and 14

Week 13 - I ran 13 miles and it was not good. Week 14 - I ran 20 miles and it rocked!! It definitely made me feel more confident about at least completing the marathon, so I'm going for it. This is one of those things that I'm working hard for purely for the self-satisfaction of knowing I can do it. It sounds selfish when I write it out, but I think it's actually important for everyone to have those one or two things they do just take care of themselves. All day everyday I'm a wife, a mom, and an officer, but sometimes it's good to be just me, and that's how I feel when I go running. I have a feeling this will be my last marathon for awhile though, because I do miss have lazy quiet weekends with Tom and Julia ;).

Week 12 - 16 Mile Run

This was by far my worst run. I know I've said this before, but I actually had to sit down at one point. I don't think I prepared for it well, and I took too much time in the morning getting ready, so it was later than usual when I started. I was definitely not hydrated (after 10 miles I drank half a Gatorade bottle and still had a dry mouth...), and haven't been eating well enough, or enough to properly fuel myself. Yuck. Bottomline though, what should have only taken 2 hours and 40 minutes took 3 hours. And...since it was a gorgeous sunny day, I got sunburnt. Lesson learned. Also, this midwest wind is killing me! Literally half my run I was running into what felt like a 20 mph wind! I'm sure that'd make anyone tired! Hopefully I make it to the marathon. I really want to realize the results of all this work. Tom has been very encouraging and patient (since long runs take up a good portion of our weekends), and that means quite a lot to me.

Catching Up...

Oh my goodness, we have gone through so many changes lately! We're all moved and in our new house now, and Tom and I are both working full time in our jobs now. I didn't take too many photos of our whole moving process, mainly because we were just too busy. Julia did so well with everything, but we did notice a change in her attitude while we were in limbo, staying in temporary hotel rooms/houses, but now that we're in a home and back into our routine we have our Jules back! This weekend we celebrated her 2nd birthday too! (Photos soon) Here are some of the things she's doing and saying!!

• Proficient at STAIRS! (we had a difficult time finding a gate to fit across the stairs, but in a few days Julia had them mastered anyway!)
• Sleeps without the side on her crib! She's been getting up in the early morning to snuggle with us :)
• Refuses to use toddler tableware, and is only using sippy cups for car rides
• "Montey" (for monkey)
• "Awesome"
• "Hannah"
• "Isaac"
• "Papa"
• "Gamma" (for Grandma)
• "Toast"
• "Bread"
• "Cooking" ("Mama cooking!")
• "Yellow"
• "run run run!" ("mama, run run run!")
• "go mama, go mama, go!" (we have no idea why she started saying/singing this!)
• "Go home" (she says this when she's tired and we're out and about, so precious!)
• "Bird"
• "Cool!" (I think she gets this from me!)
• "Walking"
• "I Julia!" (she says her name REALLY well!)
• "Bro-key!" (for broccli, by far her favorite veggie)
• "Juice"
• "Yeah"