Pre-Easter Festivities

The Saturday evening before Easter, we headed over to Mom's new digs in the North Main area of Greenville, SC.  SUCH a cute area. Mom recently moved into an apartment attached to Tim's house. She was very excited to have us, and we were equally excited to head over there:

 

If you can recall, I had just experienced the "best day of my life," and I got a little overzealous with my camera. But seriously, Tim's place is to die for. Like...I'm totally trying to figure out how Mom can somehow squeeze her way into taking over the place. Check it out:

 

And OMG - the inside is NOTHING compared to their backyard. ughhh - I just love old neighborhoods.  So much character:

 

 

 

Mom had this cute little Easter Egg hunt for the nephews, and she had an Easter basket waiting for Jace. But most importantly, she wrapped up a surprise present for me! I was so excited to see what it was...thinking it was something nostalgic...something that I could pass on to Jace, maybe.  Little did I know...

 

Thanks, Mom???  I mean...I still have 23 pounds to lose, but I'll do my best to rock that thing???

I guess it's the thought that counts....

 

I stayed semi-sober enough to get a few good human shots:

 

 

And then about ten minutes later, I found myself a comfy spot and called it an evening:

 

So embarrassing....

 

Mom and Tim were such great hosts, and I was the worst guest ever :(  I'm going to chalk it up to "new mom syndrome." Champagne is hard, y'all.

 

Oh well. I'm just hoping I get another invite soon. Love you, Mom and Tim :)

Best Day Of My Life

Okay, so it wasn't really the best day of my life, but it was definitely up there! Two Saturdays ago, Spring decided to show South Carolina what she was made of.  The sunshine, the sky, the temperature, the smells, the company, the booze...it was all just perfect.

 

It was one of those days that I just woke up on the right side of the bed for once. And Jace did too:

 

I'm thinking it may have actually been the best day of Jace's life. He just spent the entire day being held by anyone that could get his hands on him:

 

 

 

After some breakfast, mimosas, and coffee, we spent the entire day outside. How could you not?

 

Sam got some baseball tips from Uncle Josh:

 

 

The dogs got their tan on:

 

Sienna chased everything and everyone:

 

We basically tailgated in the Wheeler backyard. And it was glorious.

 

 

And I'm pretty sure Jace's absolute favorite part of the day was this:

 

UNCLE TOM SELFIE!

Okay so maybe he wasn't that impressed just yet...but someday!!

 

The [almost] best day of my life led to a pretty epic evening...but more on that tomorrow. Cheers to Spring, South Carolina, good laughs, lots of champagne, and most of all...wonderful company :)    

 

 



Jace Rides to Greenville

We were so excited to take our first overnight trip with our sweet boy over the Easter weekend. On Friday evening, we packed our new ride and headed to Greenville, SC!

 

Y'all...packing for myself is a nightmare. Packing for a 2 month old too? Holy hell....

 

 

After packing the pups, my suitcase, Josh's suitcase, Jace's weekend bag, Jace's diaper bag, Jace's bassinet, Jace's stroller, and Jace's cooler with formula, we no longer had room for Jace himself.

 

So we left him in the garage....

 

Just kidding, y'all. 

(And yes, that is in fact our garage. Not to be confused with a blackhole.)

 

So off we went for our three hour road trip to see some of our favorite people in the world!

 

 

oh wait...did I say three hours? Just kidding again. Because now that we have a baby, our trip time just got doubled.

 

He's lucky he's such a cutie pie :)

 

 

Four hours later, we finally made it to the Wheelers. Y'all, we had been there for literally 4 minutes bringing all of Jace's stuff in when I found my sister doing this:

 

Yes. FOUR MINUTES went by and Kara and Lauren had already reenacted the entire first half of the Lion King with poor Baby Jace starring as Simba.

 

Because it is my favorite movie, I will forgive them.

 

I finally got the girls settled down and they had some sweet cuddle-time with my little Simba:

 

 

Yes-Simba/Jace was initially terrified, but he ended up loving it. He sure loves his Auntie and the rest of that crazy South Cackalacky crew :)



Knoxville Half Marathon

I ran a half-marathon 7 weeks post-baby.

 

It was one of the most proud moments of my life.

 

I just spent 45 minutes typing the loooongest explanation as to why I felt the need to do something so crazy. I deleted it. You know what? [expletive] that. This is my blog, and I don't need to explain anything. It felt [expletive] good, and I feel like a [expletive] badass.

 

Yes...I'm bragging. BUT I RAN A HALF MARATHON SEVEN WEEKS AFTER I GAVE BIRTH. Let me have my moment.

 

So I decided two weeks prior to the race that I was ready. For heavens sake, I slow-walked 5.2 miles that day...surely, I could make it 13.1 miles.  And for heavens sake, I GAVE BIRTH...surely, I could EASILY make it 13.1 miles:

 

 

So...Sunday morning, I woke up at 4 AM, I pumped so Baby Jace would be fed that morning, and I put on my 25 degree running gear. I carpooled with Scott to the race, and I spent nearly an hour trying to convince myself that this would [literally] be a walk in the park.

 

Thank goodness for Scott. I might have talked myself out of the race, but his fun-loving and sometimes ridiculous personality kept me calm and ready to go by sunrise:

 

The race started at 7:30. It was frigid and crowded and I jogged the toughest 3 miles of my life. From there, I continued to race with a run/walk routine Once I hit the Cherokee boulevard, I was in marathon-heaven again.

 

The support on that portion of the race is undeniable. My good friend arch-nemesis, Patrick, even hooked us up with some inspirational running signs.

 

I hope y'all understand how embarrassing it was to stop my jog and take a picture of *that* sign. It's a good thing I like running alone.........

 

I saw Patrick (aka some Star Wars nerd loser) at mile 6 and took a quick break to give him a high-five and take a selfie:

 

Right before mile 8, Scott and I had a quite the posse rooting us on! Y'all...spectators are just as important as the runners. The support I had in that cold parking lot is what got me through the race. I cannot say thanks enough to my friends for suffering through the 26 degree weather. I have the best friends in the world :)

 

 

 

And yes...my favorite supporter was my sweet Baby Jace :)

 

 

 

I took a short break, chugged a mimosa (thanks, Petey) and continued my 13.1 mile trek.

 

It was tough. My back hurt, my legs hurt, my knees hurt...but my pride swelled! 2 hours and 29 minutes later (45 minutes slower than last year), I crossed that Neyland stadium finish line feeling like I had conquered the world.

 

Special thanks to Casondra for the end-of-race love :)

 

 

I did it. Two weeks of training. Seven weeks after giving birth. I freaking did it.

 

I've always said it...these races are a celebration of the human spirit. I've never met a human without a spirit, y'all. I promise you can do it too :)