Camping

Am I the only one who has to be reminded that it truly is summer? Yes, I know the weather has foretelling for the past couple of months. But, even though it's blazing hot outside by mid-morning, I can't seem to wrap my mind around the fact that this year is half over. I blame this on two things: 1) I took a year off from teaching (trust me, you ALWAYS know when summer is here if you're a teacher - it's the highlight of your entire year!) and 2) I've been raising a small baby into an energetic little boy for the past (almost) 12 months. Reason number two is enough reason to forget that months have gone by and it truly is time to bust out the tank tops, chacos, shorts, and bathing suits. And that is exactly what we did last weekend.

My mother-in-law is definitely the glue that holds the Edwards family together. Without her love for family and time spent planning amazing and fun adventures, we wouldn't see each other nearly as often as we do. With that being said, thank you, mother Teresa! (No, really...her name is Teresa...and she's a mom... She also has a heart of gold; so the name fits.)

She planned a weekend camping trip with the family and it was a lot of fun! It was Connor's first camping trip and he was a champ! We rented a pontoon boat, found cliffs to jump off (Keith's favorite thing to do - not me...I'm a pansy), ate delicious food, and watched fireworks on the dock.

We didn't remember to take a variety of pictures, but I will share with you a few that we did manage to take.

 Morning! (Literally when the sun came up, so did Connor)

Napping with Aunt Darcy

Sweet boy

Yes, he climbed this from the water. 

Splashing in the lake with Papa Edwards

More climbing

Captain Keith and his first mate

Check out this video of Keith doing a back layout off the cliffs. Makes me super proud! I'm always impressed by his many talents. Keep your eyes peeled in the London 2012 Olympic diving competition.  :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnvH3ymIIeM&feature=g-upl

Walking and busted lips

My sweet BABY boy is 11 months old today!! It really is strange to think that in 4.5 short weeks, my baby will no longer be just that - a baby. Nope, this sweet, blonde hair, blue eyed, all smiles little person will be a TODDLER! And I must say, I am really looking forward to this new year to come. He is at such a fun age. He's learning so many new things....like walking.

Yes, my son is walking. He took his first steps over Easter; but, he also learned how to crawl over Easter and decided that was the most efficient mode of transportation around the house and quickly forgot what it meant to move while standing on his two feet.

This past week, I was sitting at the dining room table while Keith was in the living room. Connor was standing next to me and then just took off walking into the living room to see what his daddy was up to. I immediately told Keith to turn around and we were beaming with pride for our little boy.

He loves to walk. It doesn't matter where we are - the grocery store, Keith's soccer games, volleyball games, outside to get the mail, literally anywhere - this baby boy wants to get out of his mommy's arms and walk. This, however, leads to the next thing that has come with walking - falling down.

Yes, most of the time he just shrugs it off and either starts crawling or pushes off something to stand up and try it again. Such a determined and strong willed little boy. However, there have been a couple times that he has some battle wounds. I don't mean scraped knees or torn hands. Nope, I'm talking fat, busted, bloody lips. Yep...my baby boy has busted both his top lip and his bottom lip since figuring out his land legs.

Don't worry though, Mama Liz came to his rescue! Nothing a little lovin' from his favorite woman can't fix. Oh - and some cold ice packs :)

Sickness, Insanity, and Connor

I just finished my insanely intense workout for the day, so my creative juices are pretty much depleted right now, ergo the title of this post. Regardless, this is my only down time to write anything so I'm going to tackle this post head-on and address each of the title-mentioned subjects in respective order.

Sickness. I have been sick for a week and a half. It started with a sore throat and achy muscles and turned into a terrible cough, voice loss, and pink eye. Thankfully, through time, great advice from my sister, no help from the doctor, and lots of prayer, I am starting to get better. There is a light at the end of this dark tunnel.

Insanity. Yes, even through this illness that has plagued me, we have continued on our insane journey of intense workouts and a complete nutrition overhaul. We have cut out all sugar and caffeine from our diets. If you know me, you know this is really hard for me. I have a HUGE sweet tooth! But, it's been worth it. In one and a half weeks, I've lost 2 pounds and Keith has lost 4! Even better, I can see my abs again! Here's the run down of how it has been so far:

First couple workouts - felt like I wanted to throw up...and quite possibly did (just a little).

Meals - healthy, yet surprisingly delicious. Eating 5 times a day. This, in turn, requires 2 hours of my time (while Keith is working hard in the yard) in the evenings to prepare his meals for the next day.

What I miss the most - morning coffee, chocolate, ice cream, anything sweet and delicious.

Last, but certainly number one in my world, my sweet precious baby boy. The last few weeks I have been taking every advantage to call him "baby" as much as possible. Why? Well, he's almost one and after that, no longer a baby. This is exciting, but sad at the same time. He's growing so fast!

As his first birthday quickly approaches, people continue to ask me what we're doing for such an event. The question is completely understandable since the people asking me know how I feel about birthdays. I think they are a HUGE deal! And, since I am an event planner, I LOVE to plan these things! Although, now as a mom, I'm starting to think that we should celebrate our mothers on our day of birth. If you've never given birth, then you wouldn't understand.

Although Connor's first birthday is a great milestone, I don't see the point in spending a lot of money for a person who will NEVER remember such an event. We are opting for an intimate family affair. Yes, there will be cake for the little guy and we will make a HUGE deal about him, but we are not going all out with decorations, gifts, invitations, etc. I'm sure as he gets older the parties will get more elaborate.

 But, for now, we like to keep things simple.

This is INSANE!

What's new at the Edwards' household? Insanity. Pure insanity. Quite literally.

Keith bought us the Insanity workout DVD and nutrition guide. He surprised me one day last week by bringing this home. If you know me, you know that I was absolutely ecstatic!! I have been wanting this for quite some time.

Today is our first day of the program and I am pumped! We weighed in this morning and are going to begin the insane workouts this afternoon.

Although the number on the scale looks good to me (I actually weigh less than when I got pregnant), the figure I see in the mirror isn't quite what I would like to see. I need to tone these muscles and get this post-baby body back in tip top shape! The best part of it all...we have accountability with each other. Who doesn't love someone who can make them workout and eat right when you just don't feel like it?!

I am excited to be going through this life change (time to get healthy!) with my husband! I'm sure we'll post pictures of before and after once we finish the 60-day plan.

Time to get my workout on!

Will I sacrifice daily?

Nobody prepares you for having children.

Sure, they tell you that the birthing process will be painful and that your life will change after your new bambino comes into the world. However, this whole storytelling process is a lot like collegiate classes for future educators (I'm sure other majors have the same ones, but I can only relate to education). You know the kind - they tell you how how to teach a class (rarely, if ever, tell you how to manage a class), how to have good record keeping, etc, but it isn't until that final semester (yes, only three short months of actual classroom involvement) that you get a taste of what teaching will be like. My theory is that they do this at the end of your senior year of college because they know that if you don't like it, you'll push on and continue through to graduation because you've already spent 3.5 years and lots of money to just change majors. I digress...

Back to child-rearing.

It isn't until you are home alone with your child day in and day out (weeks and months after family and friends have left with all the yummy pre-made food) that you begin to realize how exhausting it is to be a mom.

There are times when you feel like you have zero personal time. I know what all of you non-moms are saying, "what about when the baby sleeps?" That's a great idea...in theory. If I want a clean house and food to eat, that is when I usually get those things done - when baby is sleeping. Raising a child is mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting.

I don't say these things to discourage any of my friends who do not have kids, yet (Laura - I'm still waiting for you to get pregnant next!). I say these things to let all of my mom friends out there know that you're not alone in these feelings. I was beginning to feel guilty for feeling a bit selfish at times. But, after reading this blog post, I felt very encouraged in knowing I wasn't alone in my thoughts and feelings. I was also encouraged to serve the Lord by serving my child every moment of every day.

After you read the post, ask yourself the same question I am - are you willing to sacrifice every day? Even when its hard? Even when you feel as though you're alone in this process?

My First Love

I grew up the youngest of three girls. I never had the pleasure of living with my oldest sister, Julie, as she was on her own and starting a family by the time I came along. I did, however, share a bedroom with my older sister, Stasi.

Stasi, now this girl is 100% a "grandpa's girl." Me, although I love my grandpa, I am 100%, without-a-doubt, no questions asked a "daddy's girl."

My dad was my first love. I remember falling head over heels for him as we danced together in the kitchen while I stood on his feet and he led me through the two-step. This love only grew through the years as he taught me about value, character, sports, fishing, the Bible, relationships, hard-work, acceptance, and love.

I have many, many memories about my dad and memories with him. When asked what my favorite memories were growing up I, without hesitation, talk about fishing with my dad, him coaching me in sports, and the random and surprise trips to a favorite local pizzeria in Ohio to get a pretzel, yoohoo, and play Mrs. Pacman.

I have always admired the man I called "dad."

The Saturday morning before Easter I received a phone call from my mother that no child ever wants to answer. I knew as soon as I saw my mom's name appear on my caller I.D. what she was going to say. In fact, I feel as though God had been preparing me for that moment for the past year. That, however, still didn't make the phone call and the news she had to share any easier to hear. The words echo in my head, "Shan. It's your dad. He had a heart attack and passed away."

As unexpected as it may have seemed, I knew it was coming sooner rather than later (although you never truly know what "sooner" really means until your face to face with it). Unless you were close to the family, you would have never known the amount of pain my dad was in. (He never wanted to make a big deal about his situation).  I recently asked him what part of his body hurts. His answer astounded me - "everything from my knee up is in constant pain." Those words tore at my heart. As a child, you think your parents are indestructible. To think that my dad was hurting all of the time, broke my heart.

After I got off the phone with my mom that morning, all I could do was cry in Keith's arms as he held me and we prayed. We lifted praises to our heavenly Father that my earthly Father was no longer in pain and he was now hanging out with Jesus! We prayed comfort over our family, for we knew that the coming days, weeks, months, and years were going to be challenging and emotional.

I miss my dad every day and often have to stop myself from dialing his cell phone number to talk about the latest sports gossip or share in the joy of something new that Connor has done. But, my faith in the Lord brings me through those tough times. I can do nothing but praise my Savior - for allowing me to have my father here on earth as long as I did (he was able to walk me down the aisle and see my first born child), for allowing my mother to have her best friend by her side for the past 32 years, for all the many blessings I experienced with my dad, for my dad not being in pain anymore, and most importantly that I will get to see him again one day!

My dad. My hero. My first love.

New things in the world of Connor

Wow! So much has happened these past couple of weeks with my little guy that it seems as though he's growing up way too fast!

He just started army crawling around the floor. He usually sits on his bottom and scoots across the floor, but now when he is on his belly he will crawl. He's also learning to sit up from laying down. This morning, about 5am, I heard him whining in his bedroom. Normally, I just ignore him and he eventually gives up and goes back to sleep. However, this morning I felt as though something was different. When I walked into his room, he was STANDING up in his crib just looking at me. He's pulled himself up before from a sitting position, but never from a laying down position. So, today, we move his crib mattress down :) He loves to walk! He will hold onto your hands all day long and just walk throughout the entire house stopping at every little thing to check it out. It's fun to see things through his eyes for the first time.

More and more of his personality is coming through and I love it! The one trait I am not fond of is when he whines because he's not getting what he wants (he gets this from his mama...not proud to say). He threw his first little fit out in public this past weekend because we took a drink coaster away from him at the restaurant because he was sucking and chewing on it. And, when your husband works at a paper mill supplying chemicals that go into the paper that makes these products, you would take it away too :) He's also discovered clicking his tongue and does it all day long. It's hilarious! He also LOVES people. We could be walking through the store, down the street, or at church and he smiles at everybody we pass by. His favorite - the ladies! Yes, my son is a huge flirt!

I am cherishing every second with this little guy because I know he won't stay little forever.