hello, spring!

i love spring. really. i've probably said before that i hate spring because isaiah and i suffer badly from allergies. but i didn't really mean it. i've figured out how to keep us medicated and as long as i wear my glasses all season, we're fine. so...i go back to loving spring, especially the month of april. why, you ask?  because there's my birthday, our wedding anniversary and easter, all jam-packed into one super fun (and super expensive, for the mister) month. yay.

with spring here (or kind of here, since we are expecting rain at the end of the week again) i felt the need for a springy wreath for my front door. this was easy peasy, because i had a wreath and fabric flowers that i made months ago, just sitting around and waiting to be put together. that i did, and here is my adorable new wreath that is now hanging on my front door. whoohoo.

i had all the materials for this cute little thing on hand. the wreath is from the dollar store. the yellow polka dot fabric is just scrap from scrap. like, literally. i bought a fat quarter of it from the scrap section at wal-mart. i used it for whatever it was i had planned for it, then the scraps from that project are what turned into these fabric flowers. and the tan, linen fabric is from an old square pillow case. isaiah and mikey were wrestling and mikey ended up with a bloody nose and bled on my pillow. darn kids! we can't have anything nice in this house, can we?! (i find myself saying that quite frequently.) i couldn't get the stain off, so i just cut it out and saved the fabric for projects. waste not, want not, people! 

back to the grind

day three of the jillian michaels 30-day shred workout and my body is definitely being put to the test again - my joints are popping (yeah, popping! i don't know if that's even normal, but i'm just going to believe it's because i'm actually moving again) and achy and my muscles are so frickin sore. but, after a year hiatus from working out, it really doesn't feel as bad as i expected. only my third day in and it already felt more manageable than day one.

so this is where i'll start...with a 30-minute workout video in my garage for a couple of weeks. once i get my stamina back up, i'm hoping to get back into going to the gym. i hate going to the gym when i completely suck so it will have to wait. anyway, i can't take wyatt to the gym daycare until he is 6 months old, so i may have to stick with the treadmill and garage workout for a while. 

my first real goal this year is to run the wharf to wharf race in july. 6 miles along the beautiful california coastline from santa cruz to capitola. i can't think of a better way to get going again. after that i will train toward my big goal this year - to run the san jose rock n roll half marathon in october. if all goes well, i'll hope to run my very first marathon sometime in 2012. 

there! i said it. and i'm going to do it! and all of you, my gracious readers, will have to hold me accountable. 

mister mikey

today i loved hanging out with mister mikey. while isaiah and the mister went to do 'manly stuff', i stayed home with the other three kiddos. mikey also enjoyed our time together...that sweet little monkey. we had fun reading, singing and writing the abc's, watching a toy story triple feature, eating oatmeal like there's no tomorrow (way to indulge!) and playing with isaiah's legos. yeah, you know, the legos that isaiah hides on his top bunk so that his little brothers can't get to them...yeah, those. ssshhhh.......

are you lighting it up blue?

april is autism awareness month and april 2 has been proclaimed world autism awareness day by president barack obama.

why should you care, you ask? because autism affects 1 in 91 children. the numbers are astonishing and are only getting bigger. at this rate, you will know someone with autism, if you don't already.

and although i can think up a million and a half stories about how wonderful and amazing liam is, it doesn't make our journey through autism any less lonely. friends and family will retreat because they don't know how to help. i'd rather spend our days at home than deal with the stares from judgmental strangers when liam has one of his meltdowns in the grocery store or at a restaurant.

we are fortunate to have our village that helps us get through the tough moments and celebrate the joys and milestones. but i'm sure there are many others out there that may not have found their village and cry themselves to sleep every night. i know i did before i found mine.

take this month to make yourself a little more aware and not be one of those people that make a family's journey through autism harder than it already is. one day, you will need to be that mother, father, sister, brother, or friend that understands. get yourself ready.