Growing Up

I recently said something in a pining voice about Kieran being bigger and doing more things and was asked if I was sad about my boys growing up. Well... yes and no. And yes. And no. 

I can't even express how grateful I am every day that I get to watch them grow up. I am getting to watch Kieran start to sign and communicate and see the pride on Deckie's face as he scoots a little faster each time we go out. I am getting to first-hand witness these boys becoming more and more of who they are. They are still tiny, but there is that person inside of them taking more form every day. 

(For today anyway...) Declan is my imaginative engineer. Imagining whole worlds and situations around him and building trains and rocket ships to come along for the journey. Kieran is my mover and shaker. He wants to be going so fast like his big brother, but can't go too long without jumping in my lap for a cuddle. His favorite place to fall asleep in on top of me. 

But I know that each day, while it brings on new facets of each little being I am blessed with, it also brings them a little further from me. Which it should. If I do my job right, they will be able to be completely independent and (while still checking in on my from time to time) off on their own. Each day they run a little further before looking back. They go a little longer without needing that cuddle. 

So yes, I am so excited to watch them grow, but every day I am grateful for how much they need me now. 

To see them blossom and change I am happy. And sad. But mostly happy. 

Kieran kept crawling away and Deckie thought it was hilarious. 

My dreamer boy

These Two/ 10 Months/ Photoshoot

Seriously. The love between these two boys makes my heart melt. I didn't ask them to hold hands. They are just naturally drawn to be close to each other. 

I love when I hear from the back of the car from Dex: "Kiery, Kiery- do you see all the cars driving fast?" He takes his role as big brother seriously and is constantly teaching Kieran about the world around them. 

Kieran is now 10 months as of yesterday. He is pulling himself up on everything and cruising along holding onto things. He still eats pretty much everything, however, if he prefers one part of a meal to another he is not afraid to show it by throwing the undesired on the ground. He loves to sit at the little table with Deckie and feed himself. At 10 months he is fitting comfortably in 12 month clothes and may be another size up when he turns one. He loves to dance and make noise when we are singing. He is my rough and tumble boy. Where Deckie was afraid of finger paint and making me wipe up spills, Kieran is putting bugs and trash in his mouth and crawling until his head hits the glass door. His forehead generally has some sort of bruise due to bumping it. He loves to come and jump in my lap for a cuddle and is learning how to give kisses, which is my favorite. 

My boys are learning to play with each other. Crawling on top of each other and rolling away. Hiding and sharing. I can't wait to see how their relationship continues to flourish. 

Whew

So Sunday night I did something crazy. I ran three miles. Further than I thought I could. 38 min. Ave 12min38sec/mile.

Tonight Logan had to go into work so I didn't have long but I knew I wanted to get out there. So instead of distance I decided I would focus on time. My time has been 12.5min/mile ish so far. Tonight I decided to run only one mile and see how fast I could do it. My time was 10 min 18 sec. Not bad.

Last night I ran another two miles.

It was way harder. I'm sure I wasn't hydrated enough. I had some cramps in my belly which made it harder to run. However, I talked myself through it. The night before I hit the wall of the running being ok about .5 miles into the run. Last night it took about 1.25 miles to have it be ok. At around .75 miles I really thought I would just stop after one but I knew I would be kicking myself after.

A big part of it being hard is that I don't really have any good running clothes. I have heavy cotton clothes which aren't good for TX humid Summer heat. (You know- the heat that makes it impossible for my house to get get below 80 until 5am) I decided that if I can keep it up another week (until payday) then I will treat myself to a new athletic shirt and shorts.

With the weight- down another 1/2 pound, so three pounds all together in the last week. Getting there.

Running

So this is more to keep track of it for myself and I'm sure won't bring much interest to anyone else but...

I've been running for the last week and a half, thanks to Austin doing the local Triathlon being my motivation. It helps a lot having an iPhone with a working GPS (unlike my last phone) and apps to keep track of the time/distance and keep me going with music all together.

I've run four times and the first time I got through a mile with a little walking. The second time I ran the whole mile and pushed the stroller. Both times were about 13 min 58 sec. Then I ran (with more walking than I would have liked- but Austin is way faster than I am so I was pushing for speed and lost on the distance) 1.25 miles ave 13 min 3 sec.

Tonight I ran two miles without walking at all. I think that is a personal best. The first mile was 11 min 14 sec!! The ave of the two miles was 12 min 5 sec. Much better than a week ago. Still not very good, but I'm going the right direction.

Also- My starting weight before being pregnant with Keiran was 164. (Pre Dex was 155 ha. We'll see if that can happen again). I had gotten below that, probably because of nursing. As of a week ago I had gotten back up to 164 again. This morning I weighed myself and am down to 161.5. Meaning I've lost 2.5 pounds in the last week and a half. My weight is pretty fickle and goes up and down pretty easily so the numbers don't really mean a whole lot to me, but hopefully we'll see a trend on the going down. More important is the feeling healthier and attempting to do anything about this post baby (times two) belly. *Also- this is without changing any eating habits except for drinking more water. There were plenty of cookies and brownies consumed. You can only go one step at a time, right?

Wish me luck!

Hanging Out/ Kieran is 9 Months

I haven't been here much because I've been working more. This has caused less time with my boys, so I've been focused a whole lot more on spending quality time with them when I'm with them. This has meant less internetting, less picture taking, and more soaking up their wonderfulness. 

Kieran turned 9 months. He is now crawling with a vengeance. He moves at lightning speed. He pulls up to standing and yesterday was cruising along the length of our bed. He babbles like crazy, repeating some sounds- especially when we say "Deckie." He rarely eats "baby food" now and pretty much just joins us in eating whatever we are eating. So far, there isn't really anything that he hasn't liked. 

The boys are such great brothers. Yes, there are moments when Dex forgets exactly how to be gentle, but for the most part they are wonderful to each other. Deckie shares crackers with Kieran in the backseat of the car, Kieran crawls around after him, and they both like to spend their time near each other. 

Kieran is becoming so much more of a person every day. He and Declan are really different. Kieran chases after balls and crawls until he hits his head and puts everything in his mouth. Dex loves to wash his hands, has the biggest imagination, and loves to build. I love watching them grow more into themselves.