I have never run more than 7 or 8 miles at any one time, but I am super excited to take on this challenge! Call me crazy, but pre-baby running was extremely liberating for me. Not having been in running shape in about 3 years, I was worried about how I'd feel about it once I got training. But, as slow as I am, I am happy to announce that it is still very liberating!
Stephen and I bought a double jogger and have taken the boys for a few runs in it. Benjamin squeals with excitement. I think my little high-adventure toddler likes the speed. Too bad Ian hates it and screams nearly the entire time. Oh well. Hopefully he'll get used to it soon.
The Palmer family has an exciting year ahead! Stephen will graduate with his Masters of Social Work degree in April and we will -finally- get to move on from the poor-college-student life! Well, sort of. We'll still be poor for a while, haha. But Stephen has taken his licensure exam and passed! This means we can start applying for jobs and looking for housing!!! I'm pretty restless here. I don't know if it's Provo, the college-student life, our tiny apartment or a combination of the three, but I am SO ready to move on! I have even been apartment/house hunting, even though we have no idea where we'll end up yet. I am eager and I am a little excited :D
Aside from those kinds of changes, I am also finding my attitude and perspective changing, particularly in having two little kids so close together. Benjamin and Ian are 15.5 months apart. You don't have to tell me that's crazy, because I know it is and I have felt the crazy many, many times. People sometimes tell me that I'll hate it now, but in five years I'll love it because they will be best friends. But, I'm loving it now (feel free to call me crazy again). Sure, those first few months after we brought Ian home were brutal and I thought my life was over, but as I watch my two little boys growing up together, I can't help but be grateful now for many reasons.
For instance, we were visiting grandma and grandpa Palmer one weekend and while Stephen was off running an errand, I sat on the floor with my boys while a show was on, waiting for him to get back. I had my legs out, both boys sitting in my arms and up against my stomach side-by-side. Without warning, Benjamin suddenly turns and looks at Ian, wraps his arm around his shoulder, plants a kiss on his head, and then lays his head on Ian's tiny shoulder and goes back to watching the show. My heart melted.
I will often leave the boys together in one room of the apartment to run and do something else in another room and when I return, I usually find something like this:
No doubt he loves his baby brother, and it makes me unbelievably happy that he has a little buddy to grow up with.
Benjamin loves to help me feed and burp Ian. He loves to tickle Ian's bare tummy as I'm getting him dressed in the mornings. He loves to splash in the bathtub with his brother and play alongside him. But perhaps his favorite thing is when he hears Ian waking up from a nap. He'll go running down the hall and burst through their bedroom door squealing "Hello, baby!"
I'm a happy Mama.
