Norah's 2nd Birthday Weekend

On Sunday our off-spring turns two. This is exciting and scary because we know that this next year will be tough (terrible two's). I hear though, once they're three, you really start to like them again. =)

No it's not all bad. Not even close. Norah is still really fun and great to chat with, most of the day. (we really have some pretty good conversations.) She has those couple hours a day where I want to lock myself in my room and take a nap but other than that, it's all pretty enjoyable. =) The theme is independence and we try to encourage that even when it makes us insane... "No, I don't LIKE broccoli anymore. It's YUCK!" (at dinner...when at lunch, broccoli was her favorite food on earth). I suppose the best way to describe a two-year old is manic-depressive. =) Their emotions change several times each hour and they can be a bit unpredictable. On the whole though, she's an incredible little being and we're so blessed to have her. She makes me, genuinely, laugh out loud several times a day and that feeling is priceless. In all seriousness, she has always been and continues to be, such an easy child (and by easy I mean, very nice to us). We're so thankful for her and we're very excited about year 2 (and 3 and 4 and 5).

For tomorrow (day before her birthday), we rented a car to drive South to Kilkenny where they have a sweet little "open farm". It's a working farm where kids and families can go to pet the animals and they'll let the little ones feed milk to baby goats and baby sheep! How cute is that?! Norah is ridiculously excited. I made the mistake of telling her about it earlier this week and then she burst into tears because she thought we were going that instant. She was crying by the front door, begging to go "in our little silver car" (the last car we rented) to the farm. So....for the last few days I've kept it on the down-low but tomorrow we will head South.

I have my normal Saturday morning running group and they'll pick me up from there. The group is going so well! We're running together now four times a week which is amazing to me given that I had never run more than twice a week back at home (and that would've been a BIG week). And at home I had never in my life run more than 6K. On the mid-week runs it's either myself and my friend Graham or a few of us that will meet. We do our run and usually have a coffee and a treat afterward (still my favorite part). It's a very slow process but I've certainly improved over these last 6 months. Last weekend I was very proud because I ran 7 1/2 miles (12K) with the group! I was deeaaad by the end of it but I finished and that is far more than I've ever done before. My new plan is to do a half-marathon sometime in October or November of this next year. Permitting that I'm injury-free, of course. I keep thinking about what would happen if I were to get injured and how sad I would be if I had to stop. Which is a great place to be - to now enjoy this thing that has always been so hard for me. Lately, as I've been increasing mileage I've been having more pains so I'm hoping to get into to see a physio-therapist here. Other than those minor things though, I've been very happy to remain injury-free thus far. It really has become my big hobby and my main social activity here. I'm proud of that because 1) it's hard work and 2) there are many worse things I could be filling my time with (like more crafts...). =)

Many pictures to come of this weekend. We'll be home by Saturday night after the farm so we should be home all day Sunday for skyping and cake! I'm making chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting that's all vegan (and maybe gluten free too, haven't yet decided)! Wish me luck. (surprisingly, baked goods that are gluten free/dairy free are surprisingly decadent so no corners are cut there) And then we don't have to feel AS bad if Norah eats 3 pieces of cake instead of her dinner.
(Opa, if you get to read this, we're thinking of you and keeping you in our prayers every single day. Oma D., we have the birthday present you sent with us back in December, for Norah's birthday, so we'll open that on Sunday. Love to you both.)