Armed and Ready!

We are officially beginning potty training. I am starting the 2nd trimester and the "complete-throw-myself-into-oncoming traffic-sickness-of-the-first-trimester" is almost completely gone!! Yay! 14 weeks! I can not believe it. I think baby is somewhere around the size between a peach and an orange. Great now I want a piece of fruit! LOL. I am hoping to make some pretty important transitions before my 2nd child arrives around Thanksgiving. The first one potty training. I woke up Friday morning pretty optimistic. Right now I only have one little boy to worry about. I headed out to Target to get supplies Friday morning among other errands that are always fun with a toddler, picking up dry cleaning, getting oil changed, and car wash ect. Tanner did great actually. Change of pace. While oil was getting changed Tanner and I walked across street to the bookstore and I let him pick out a "big boy potty book". Well we got home and had nap time and then our first accident. All optimism left immediately!! Tanner was running around naked and more pee ended up on the floor than in the toilet. He was not so cooperative about sitting very long. I admit I already wanted to throw in the towel. I am not the most patient person!! However I also do not give up easy. :) Tanner is smart and showing many signs of being ready so we pressed on. Well that afternoon his friend Benjamin (who has been completely potty trained since right after his 2nd birthday) came over to play and that REALLY inspired Tanner. I brought the potty onto the back porch and every time Benjamin had to go he had a little audience. He at least seemed a little more willing. I was pretty exhausted after Friday, but with chart made, a buddy who was showing him, stickers, and m&ms I was optimistic again for Saturday!! So Saturday morning we headed out to the lake to see meme,grampy and some friends of ours all with potty chair in tow. It was hit or miss all day. All the "hits" we praised and all the "misses" we encouraged and down played. We had a great time with friends and family knowing that this potty training thing is not going to happen over night. Well today we have made lots of leaps and bounds. I am so enjoying a nice break while Tanner naps. He peed in the toilet most of the day today and even did so twice by his self without me putting him there. We have had a few messes to clean up along the way. I could feel myself getting irritated every now and then and realized I needed some time to talk to God about it. I prayed and asked for his help. He sure gave it to me. 1 Peter 5:7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. Tanner has done amazing today. I know there will be set backs. I know there will be days I will want to throw in the towel. However we press forward with God's help. Life with little children isn't always easy. It is a huge responsibility. I do not want to be a parent that just parents by default. I want to be the mommy God intended me to be. Billy and I have laughed today knowing we have our work cut out for us. I am so thankful that I have a God who knows and loves me. He knows life with little ones can be intense and he is there to help. Tanner is so cute though learning to get the pee pee in the toilet and being so proud of himself when he does. At one point during the morning he called me to come into the bathroom while he was peeing to show me he was doing it. I clapped and said "Tanner I am so proud of you." He clapped and hugged my leg and said "I am so proud of you too mommy." Now that I had to write in his book!! Being a mommy isn't easy BUT OH SO WORTH IT!! :)

RUNNING

I am excited to say I was cleared to start running again. I ran three miles yesterday along with weights and the stairmaster. This baby just might come out wearing running shoes. I felt SO much better after running. I am officially starting the 2nd trimester. I am so grateful too. I am healthy and baby is healthy. SO happy about that. I have been walking and doing the elliptical but for me it is not the same. I have so missed running. Nothing gets your heart beating faster and stronger than running. It is so freeing for me and it is my me time. My time to zone out and have that time to myself not changing a diaper or folding laundry. I was running like 4 days a week and I have just really missed it. So thankful I can run now. Plus nothing blows through as many calories as running. With all the weight I will be putting on carrying a little person in me I want to be sure to keep the weight gain in the normal range. So far so good. I am in such a better place with this baby than when I got pregnant with Tanner. I was working and going to school and we were going through MONTHS of fertility treatments. All that combined I was really stressed. I ended the last semester with great grades but remember getting so depressed each month a baby did not come. Billy and I had decided to take December off and really just layed it all down at Gods feet. We did get pregnant in March of 2009. I was so happy but the stress had taken a toll on me. All I could do with Tanner was walk and swim. I am glad with new baby I can do more. I use to love to run with dad when i was little. My dad has always run. When I was in 5th and 6th grade I use to run with him. My parents were still married then. We would run to the store down on the corner and back. I loved it!! I was into dancing more then. My mom put me in tap, Jazz, and Ballet. I loved dance too. I think if I was not so into to dance I may have gone for track. Who knows!! I know there is nothing like crossing the finish line of a marathon knowing that you just ran 26.2 miles. I think as moms we all have to find that thing that gets us through. When I met Billy and got married it was a dream come true for me. When God blessed us with Tanner my cup litterally was running over. However as I think it is with a lot of women it was hard adjusting for me. I was home with an infant all day and the lack of sleep, breastfeeing, and isolation was taking a toll on me. I got back to the gym and my friend Suzanne was a BIG encouragement to me. We would do weights toether and she would encourage me as a new mommy. She was a huge help to me at that time. Then when I got back into running after Tanner was a few months old I fell in love again. It was a huge stress reliever for me. It gave me energy. It helped me cope. I also became close with my girls Aimee and Ashlee. Running with friends is awesome. Training for the marathon last year with Ashlee was something I can NOT wait to do again. We would do our long runs on Saturdays and start at 5 a.m. Laughing the whole way. We would crack each other up. I smile now as I think about these two loud sweaty girls running in Walgrens for a bathroom/gatorade break. It is so encouraging to have friends that have similar interests as you. But more importantly that build you up and encourage you!! God has blessed me with a few friends like that. Especially my running partners Ashlee and Aimee. Ashlee had us over for dinner last night and she is so quick to remind me that we will be running togther again soon. Billy thinks he is going to be able to get in a few races while I am pregnant and be able to beat me once I do my next half or full marathon. Good luck with that honey!! I love you but I doubt youll ever be able to beat me. :) I love that we are competetive and active in our house. Tanner already knows all about being active. We love doing races and going to the Y all as a family. It is who we are!! The Spive Tribe!! New baby will fit in well since he or she started on the treadmill with mommy yesterday! :) Grateful to go to Aimee's for dinner tonight and catch up with our friends. It has been awhile. I am looking forward to running as long as my body will let me before giving birth in the fall. God will help us and meet us right where we are. As a mommy of little ones he knows how precious our time is to ourself and our time with him. It is important. He has blessed me with so many women in my life. Some as mentors and some as dear friends. He has also blessed me with the ability to run and today for that I am grateful!! Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times.

Mother's Day Weekend!

What a wonderful weekend we had. It started on Friday night when I took Tanner to the mother-son dance. He was so excited. I so look forward to doing it every year. Not only did I get to spend some fun time with my favorite little guy we also got to be a part of helping the Mantz family raise money for OMS. A rare disease that their middle child Lauren was diagnosed with last year. It was so wonderful seeing lttle Lauren at the dance and the whole family there together. I had such a good time with Tanner. Hes only 2 but we did do some dancing. I did not take too much offense though when my date would run away from me on the dance floor. He kept running to grab more cookies off the table. Saturday was awesome. Spending a whole day with my mom, sister, and sweet nephew was so fun. I know 90 miles is not that far away BUT its not like I can just swing by for dinner or stop by and say Hi after the gym. We really have to plan time to see one another and I am always grateful when they make time to come up. We laughed, played outside, watched a movie, and talked. Mom ordered us pizza for lunch and it was so nice sitting on the back porch eating it. My sissy and I were reminising about the days when we were little. We talked about these centipedes we had. ( basically stuffed toys) Long and cuddly. Hers was purple; mine green. We also had our cabbage dolls that my mom stood in line for for hours to get us. I still remember mine. Her name was Phoebe Myra. I loved her. My mom was a stay at home mom and I remember her washing my dolls clothes so I could play with her when I came home from school. My mom did a million special little things like that when we were little. It was nice remembering. She use to put little treats and notes in our lunch box and when I was in third grade E.T. delivered me balloons to school on my birthday. I love being a stay at home mom. Hardest job I ever had and the most rewarding. I plan on being very involved in my kids school just like my mom was. I will be available for field trips and volunteering. I am so thankful for my mom and probably do not tell her often enough. She is such a simple lady. It does not take much to make her happy. Well we did have to talk about the infamous orange tacky drapes in the dining room. :) But in my moms defense that was the style then. Let's just say the 70's and 80's had some bad trends. Sunday was awesome as we woke to Billy making us breakfast. Pancakes(one of Tanners favorites) and turkey sausage. YUM YUM!! I still feel rough from time to time but oh really starting to cut a corner. I can not believe I am 3 months pregnant already. We went to church and heard a great message. Although people will reject you(even the ones that love you sometimes) God will NEVER reject you!! I am really living that these days. I am working on me. I am not responsible for anyone else or their feelings. Except my children. And even then only to a point. Its nice just laying everything down at God's feet! Do I have this mastered?? NO! Am I better at this than I was three, five, or ten years ago?? ABSOLUTELY!! Like I said on my blog the other day I am NOT sweating the small stuff. My Grannie Elsie use to say " Do not sweat the small stuff, and it is ALL small stuff." I like that! :) Well we finished off the weekend by celebrating with Tanner's Meme and Grampy. We went to Sky and it was really good. It was nice and it was different. I am very happy to say that Tanner was so good and so happy to see his Meme and his grampy. They gave me the sweetest card and a beautiful plant that I hung on one of the branches on the small tree right outside my kitchen window. We are so blessed to have my mom and Billy's mom in our lives. I am most grateful to be a mommy. I love it. My house is not as clean as it use to be and i am oh so tired and exhausted but what a joy it is!! I love the age Tanner is now. He is so cute and so cuddly. I can not seem to get enough kisses from him :) Something I have said to him since he was an infant is, " I will kiss you everyday" and "MOMMY will kiss you til your an old man" Billy says yea we will see about that. I will definately love on those cheeks as long as he will let me. I know he is only 2 but some days I feel time is flying.

Psalm 127:3-5

New International Version (NIV)

³ Children are a heritage from the Lord,
    offspring a reward from him.

Pretty cool playdates lately!!

Tanner and I have had some fun times recently with some pretty cool little people. ( and their mamas too) I have so enjoyed getting together with my friends that have little ones and watching them play together. It sure is good for Tanner and teaching him about sharing and being kind to others. He is learning the world does not revolve around him. He will get a big lesson on that in just 6 short months when new baby arrives. Having a sibling will be awesome. I love it!! It is one of the biggest blessings in life. Aimee was so awesome and took Tanner one night when I was on light duty. I was able to hit a meeting and Tanner absolutely loves his time with Asher. These two are great buds. Aimee has been a great friend. We so enjoyed our little trip to the park with Benjamin as Danielle has been on bedrest. He sure is a cool little dude. We also had so much fun with Kristy and Van at the water park on Friday. Tanner LOVES the water and I am so excited to swim with him this summer. It was nice hanging out with my girl Kristy as she is excited to be able to stay home with Van now. And today was a blast having Jessica and Bella over for a fun time in the back yard! Bella and Tanner are such good buddies in MOPS and now we are loving spending time with them these days. Bella just loved Nani and the kids had a blast! We got to visit some. As much as you can with two loud toddlers!! I am very fortunate to have friends that love the Lord and have similar goals as me. We want to raise our kids loving Jesus and loving others!! It is a tough job this parenting thing BUT oh it makes it so much better when you have awesome people on the journey with you. Thanks God for all the beautiful people you have put and are continuing to put in our lives. It is an awesome thing to get a surprise phone call during the day from someone just to say Hi I was thinking of you. I got one of those today from my sis-in-law Elaine and it was really sweet. I can not wait for our trip to Birmingham in August!! Fun! Fun! Well I smell my shredded buffalo chicken cooking in the crock pot reminding me I need to get ready for my womens gathering tonight. I look forward to seeing everyone.