Mommy's Li'l Helper

(He finished clearing the rest of the sliverware for me. And this was after he handed me every plate on the bottom rack as I put them on the shelf.)

Our little Owen is becoming such a little helper around the house. He is so excited to help me clean up. It makes my job a little easier and much more special.

Say What?!

When your kids are at an age that they can understand and repeat the things you say, your life is changed forever. Things need to be censored. Luckily we can still spell things out, but it won't be too long until Ben figures out some of the things that are being spelled. (i.e. "t-o-y s-t-o-r-e") I need to be extra careful with the "stubbing your toe" explicatives that pop out unexpectedly every now and then. So far, I've been lucky, and my kids are still clean mouth speakers.

There are nice, cute phrases that our 2.5 year old, Nathan picked up from his older family members...words that make me smile. This includes:

• "I love you."
• "I missed you."
• "You know what?"
• "See you later alligator"
• "Thanks!"
• "Are you ok?"
• "Sorry, Ben."

Then there are those phrases that aren't necessarily bad or inappropriate, but ones that make me want to bite my tongue a little:

• "Phew, that was close!"
• "Oh gosh, we are so late!"
• "Hey, Matt!" (hearing a child calling their parents by their name is so funny to me)
• "Oh no...what are we gonna do?"
• "I have to go to the 'hotipal'" (hospital)
• "Go to timeout."

Hmm...I think I'm guilty of all these phrases.

Ouch...ouch...ouch...

I am in major pain. If I sit still for too long, I will pay for it when I get up and start walking again. Every step I take is followed by a little, whimpering, "Ouch." My lungs kind of hurt, and I almost feel like I might "get sick." This is what it feels like when you all of a sudden decide to run 2.5 miles for the first time after 5 years. Now I know.

Matt has been an avid runner for almost a year now. He is dedicated. The only times he misses his morning run is if we had a broken sleep due to one of the kids. And that doesn't happen very often, thank goodness. Sometimes, when I see him leave or return from his run, I think back, years ago when I used to be an avid runner. During my college years, I used to run everyday, sometimes twice a day if I had the time. I used to love it. I enjoyed going to the gym before I had kids, and even a little bit here and there after Ben was born. But, since then, my body has been on an extremely long vacation as far as real exercise is concerned.

Matt gives me directions of the running path he takes before I leave. He warns me of a big hill I should probably avoid, because it's too difficult. I brag about how much I love hills when running. It's a great challenge to defeat. The rewarding feeling as you run back down is so worth it. So, my husband laughs and says, "Go for it!" I pull on my New Balances, do my little stretches and leave with a smile, ready to attack that hill. It felt good at first. But shortly after, I realized what I was getting myself into. My muscles really started to burn, and my breath became short...already! Almost a mile into the run, I reached that hill. Without a second thought, I turned to take the detour my husband told me about. That hill would be way too difficult!

It'll be a little while before I go for another run. In fact, my next "run" may actually be a "walk," until my body is ready to function that way again. For now, and probably for the next couple days, Motrin will be my new best friend and descending stairs my worst enemy. I just hope my kids aren't expecting a dance party any time soon!