We have found our happy place!

We have been in the Denver suburb of Golden for 5 days now and I still cannot get over the majestic beauty of this place! Waking up and seeing snow capped mountains out your window or elk roaming in your back yard just creates a positive vibe for the start of your day. The people here are the friendliest I have EVER met as well. Forget southern hospitality--thats a myth I long ago debunked. People here are genuinely interested to get to know you and help you in any way they can. For example, Allison's upstairs neighbor brought us homemade cinnamon buns while her next door neighbor came by to give us his cell phone number in case we ran into any trouble etc driving in the snow--or if we just needed anything. Imagine that happening in Mississippi where people are so obsessed with their kids and church they rarely lift their heads to say hello much less welcome you to the neighborhood. I really think this is where Jake and I would like to settle--another option to put on the table at least!
Yesterday was just awesome! I got to catch up with my friend Allison during a run through the scenic mountains while Finn napped and Jake rested at the condo. After that we showered up and headed over to Boulder, CO for a superbowl party at Jake's cousin Dena's house. Again, the picturesque, snow capped rocky mountains that lined our 30 minute drive seriously took my breath away. No city has ever captured me like this. Today we have another exciting day on tap. We are headed on another run through the mountains, then to breakfast burritos at a local spot that has a playground for Finn, then Allison and I are headed to a spa to get mani/pedis, and finally she will take us to some of her most favorite scenic spots so we can break out or new camera and try to capture some pictures of this heavenly place-(not that pictures will ever be able to do it justice).

"Massive winter storm to clobber Denver"

Cranked out 8 hours of driving to make it to Denver today and beat the snow storm expected to "clobber" Denver tonight! The trip was as smooth and uneventful as one can imagine with a 16 month old...until we stopped for supper in Golden, CO. We had researched and picked out a quaint little vegetarian hole-in-the-wall deli for supper so we could get some much needed roughage in our diet. We pulled into the parallel parking spots right around 5:20 only to find out that the deli closed at 5 :( FAIL #1. Since it was freezing out (winter storm blowing in etc), we scurried along to the next available eatery which happened to be a typical American Shaq-portioned plates tavern--but we were starving! We ordered our meals while Finn drew on the kid-paper-menu with the crayons. Dinner was delicious and to our surprise, our little man who has RSV, a fever, an ear infection and therefore no appetite, ate a whole half of grilled cheese! Things couldn't have been going better. As we paid our bill and were about to leave, I decided to check Finn's diaper as we had a 20 minute drive still until we reached my friend Allison's house. I peeked in the back of his diaper and sure enough, there it was, the smell hitting me in the face with force--a full diaper of butternut squash soup diarrhea.....I quickly dashed to the women's room to change his diaper--travel wipes and single diaper in hand. Of course there was no changer (Restaurant FAIL #1) so I laid Finn on the counter hoping no one would come in. The soupy mess spilled onto the counter and as I frantically ran out of wipes (FAIL #2) I started wetting paper towels to clean him up. And of course it had to be one of those sensor activated paper towel dispensers and not the hand crank ones I could better control grrrrrrrr. Finn survived...I tripled washed my soiled hands and carried him back to our table--he was all giggles as usual :)

After that fiasco, I am sooooo looking forward to relaxing at my friend's house. We are staying put for a few days and checking out this beautiful mountainous metropolis!

on the road again

Day1 of our cross country adventure we made it swiftly and safely out of Mississippi (whoooo hooooo!), quickly across the corner of Tennessee, and into the fine town of Little Rock, Arkansas. Finn was such a trooper--never complaining or even crying! We booked a Holiday Inn with an indoor pool (pricey b/c its a luxury in the south--Arkansas is still considered the south) so that Finn could splash around in the pool. Of course he was too exhausted (and sick as well) to enjoy it so we let him run back and forth down the hallway til he was tuckered out. Since he was sleeping in the room with us, we had to turn the lights down and snuggle him in his pack-n-play then sit in the hallway for about 30 minutes until he was fast asleep. Then we sneaked back in for some much needed shut-eye ourselves. 6 hours of driving down--7 on deck for day 2.
Day2 of our cross country adventure we made it quickly out of Arkansas and into Oklahoma which I describe as vast expanses of absolutely NOTHING.....except for maybe some cows, horses, tumbleweed.......I would rather live in Meridian :) Finn was not as happy this time. He figured out that each time we put him in his car seat that he was going to be there for a while---a concept he was definitely not happy about. Every time we pulled into a rest area or a spot to eat, he started babbling and clapping his hands lol. If only I could understand what he was saying. We made Wichita, KS our final stop for the night--a surprisingly eclectic town with quite a few options of ethnic food which made me really happy! We decided on a Medditeranean restaurant for supper--(Finn even ate hummus!)
Tomorrow we are planning to make it to Denver, CO if everything goes smoothly. More updates to come.

Farewell Meridian!

Annnnnnnnnnd, 7 months later I'm back lol. It's finally time to bid farewell to our wonderful friends here :( As much as I complained about Meridian, I have to remind myself how convenient and easy my life was here--working 2 days per week, training on the Bonita trails with dependable running buddies, day care 5 days a week literally across the street from our house, fun friends our age who are always up for a dinner party or poker night. We had it pretty good here. We moved out of our house on Thursday and have been staying on base in the equivalent of a hotel suite (called a BOQ) on base so that I could finish out my last day of work on Monday--TODAY! Tomorrow morning we are headed out to the wild wild west. Unfortunately Finn has a fever of 103 and RSV (a bad respiratory virus) which is going to make the trip so miserable for him :( All that I can do for him is make sure he is hydrated and drinks pedialyte. How frustrating to know that nothing can really be done to make your baby feel better.
Our plan is to make it as far as Little Rock tomorrow. We have booked hotels with indoor swimming pools and in towns that have children's museums so that Finn will have something fun to do after each 6 hour car ride--sadly I think that he might not be up for those things. Then hopefully we will be in Denver by Friday and spend a week with my friend Allison and her fiance!

Stay tuned--I'll keep updating about our move out west.

9 months!!!

I can't believe its been 3 months since I last posted something! I actually have time to sit down and post something because Jake is gone again :( and Finn is sleeping :). Since I wrote last, he has begun to crawl!!! Thats his newest trick. He has also started clapping! Hes growing up so fast. He already has 4 teeth (2 on top and 2 on bottom) and is drinking from a sippy cup at daycare I just realized this today when I read his day care sheet. Those ladies have him off the bottle and eating table food snacks! What a big boy :) Finn was baptized June 5th and got to visit with his God-parents Katie and Will, his grandparents, great-grandma and cousin Courtney!
Mommy is getting the hang of things too. A couple days during the week I wake up at 5am, pump out milk then head out the door for a run at 5:45am. Jake gives Finn the breastmilk bottle while I get a run in. Then on Saturdays I meet a friend to do long runs as we are training for a half-marathon in October. Hopefully I'll be finished breastfeeding by then so I don't have that hurdle (the pump) during the trip.
We have moved down the street into a new house as of June 1 and joined the country club nearby so we can all swim during these HOT summer days and Jake can golf. So far we are really enjoying it. Alot of our military friends have joined so we have a nice group to hang out with at the pool. This weekend we are having a cook out at our new house! Even Finn has a buddy coming ;)
At work the hospital has changed over to electronic charting which is throwing everyone for a loop--and with Finn starting to wake up during the night again............my exhaustion is explained. Speaking of exhaustion, I better get ready for bed! Its almost 8pm!! :)

6 months

Wow! So much has happened since I last posted. I have returned to work :( booooo and the only reason I'm able to type this is because Finn has learned to play independently! Work is going well. My days are really busy. I wake up by 5:30am every morning to pump milk for day care. Then Jake and I get Finn and ourselves ready for work--Jake packs up my pump and pump parts and gets Finn's bottles ready for day care while I shower and get dressed. He also makes us breakfast. I could not have been blessed with a more awesome husband/baby daddy ;) After that I drop Finn off at day care then go to work where I pump 3 times to make milk for day care the following day! whew! Besides working, we've been to Mexico and to Pensacola to run a St. patricks day 5K. Finn is such a good little traveler. After returning from Mexico we started feeding him bananas pureed in breastmilk. He seems to really like it! Next we are going to try sweet potatoes. He had his first sick baby visit yesterday :( A trip to Dr. Ross and now hes on antibiotics for an ear infection. Hopefully it will be all cleared up before our trip to Charleston next weekend for our friends' wedding!! Keep tuned in! Hopefully I'll have some more time to post more soon!!!

Finn 11 and 1/2 weeks old

As Im writing this blog I have bitter sweet feelings about Finn being 11.5 weeks old. Hes getting cuter and bigger every day but with every day Im a bit closer to having to return to work and send him to day care =( We just spent Thanksgiving with my side of the family in NC--an 11 hour drive each way!!! Finn was such a champ. He ate, played, coo'ed and soiled his diaper-just like any normal baby-and we still made the drive in record time! When we arrived in NC, my parents had the house pimped out with a pack-n-play and a bouncy chair (courtesy of great grandmother barbara)!! Finn went nuts for the chair and slept in his pack-n-play maybe two nights.....mostly he slept with us. He met TONS of family and friends--my mom's friend Dulce and her family, aunt sally and uncle william, both sets of great-grandparents, uncle eddie, aunt ashley, God-parents Katie and Will, Lillian and her mother, Carolyn and Mike, Beth, Stephanie, the people of Stanhope Church.....I was so proud of him for being so friendly and sociable. He let everyone hold him and charmed them all with his million dollar smile ;) Now we are back in Mississippi and cherishing our last few days together before I go to work and send him to day care with bottled breast milk =( Tonight we get to put up the Christmas tree!!! So many memories to make and hes growing up way to fast!