Tuesday, May 1, 2018

April Recap

As a teacher, April can be a long month. There are literally no days off, which is a hard transition when coming from March (when there's spring break), and February (when there were snow days and government holidays). Not to mention, there's state testing, squirrly kiddos, and just the overall readiness of everyone for school to be over for the year. But this year, April actually went pretty quickly. This could be because I've finally learned a little more work/life balance (funny how that happened after I had a kiddo). All in all, May is here, and this past month has brought me more joy and taught me more than the months before. Here's what we've been up to.



Loving our Not So Little Man

I've loved every stage of life with Eli, but man oh man is he fun right now!! He is curious, and has the biggest personality. He is still easygoing overall, and is still a great sleeper and eater. We made it over a year nursing, and are still doing so at morning and night. He has another tooth, and is standing on his own, but not quite walking- he prefers the speedy power crawl. He is speaking more and more each day, and his newest fun words are "Yay", "Eli" (which sounds like E-I), and "Baby". He can shoot hoops in his Grow to Pro basket, stack blocks, and point and call out every dog-gie he sees (or sometimes cats). I hope I never forget his strange obsession with my large bendy straw, the way he army crawls under the chair rungs, or the way he kicks in glee every time I go in to get him out of his crib. This little man has my whole heart, and I honestly don't know how I could love him any more than I do. Counting down the days (less than 17!) until I'm home all summer with him!

Learning to Rest 

I have always been a "get a lot done" kind of person. I still do like to pick up a little bit each night and get laundry and dishes done when I can. But lately, I've been working on really intentionally resting. This means taking "off days" from working out on Sundays, skipping housework in favor of playing with my boys, and giving myself the grace to go ahead and nap or just hang with friends rather than worrying about my to do list. This is SO important for my sanity, especially now that my time at home is even more special with little man (and big man too!). I am trying to be strategic about my time these days: see Finding Me Time as a Working MomHow to Survive and Thrive as a Working Mom, and How to Balance Work and Motherhood for more on that! 



My Third Half Marathon

On a completely different note from the whole "resting" thing- I ran my third half marathon this month! I was so excited to set a new goal and to beat it by a minute and a half! My old PR was 1:53, and I wanted to run a 1:50, but I ended up running a 1:48. My pacer was so awesome, and I even wrote a blog post about the experience (check it out here). I have another half up in June, the Hospital Hill Half in KC. I'm a little nervous that hill is in the title, but I know it will be okay and I hope for another PR. I'll probably go ahead and sign up for the KC half again too- that will mean I've completed 5 half marathons in a year! They are kind of addicting, and I also like how they've helped me stay fit!


Intentional Friends

Lastly, this month has made me really appreciative of the intentional friends that I have in my life. Finding and maintaining friendships in your 20s can be really hard, and if I'm honest, I've felt lonely and rejected in some friendships (and attempted friendships) these days. Once you have kiddos, it's a whole different season as well, which can make things complicated. All that to say, I'm even more grateful for the good, dependable, intentional friends that I do have. In the true spirit of my word for the year, I'm working to cultivate the good friendships I have, and not feel like a failure or rejected if I have to prune out those that aren't life-giving.

In Case You Missed Them:


The Pacer

Secrets to a Great Night's Sleep

Reasons Your Home Decor Isn't Working

What I'm Clinging To

Eli's First Birthday ONEsie Party

That's all I've got! We've got some exciting things on the horizon, friends! I'm excited to tell you more about that in the coming months. Love to you all!

Currently,
Kelsie


4 comments:

  1. What a beautiful family! Your little boy has absolutely gorgeous eyes. Good on you for learning to rest and take time out for the little joys in life.

    Congratulations on beating your PR in the marathon, that's fantastic.

    I hope that May is equally as kind to you, if not more so.

    Ruth | www.ruthinrevolt.com

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! I love his eyes :) It was a good month!

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  2. Back East, we had February vacation and April vacation instead of a spring break in March. It made our school year go a little longer, but it was nice to have more breaks during the school year. Also, GOALS on running the half marathon! You go girl!

    xo, Chelsie

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