the groove

Its usually at least 15 minutes into the run, sometimes as much as 3-4 miles; its when the rubbing of my shorts stops bothering me; its when my breathing has become rhythmic and is effortless; its when my pace is perfectly in time with the song I'm listening to, and its when everything feels perfect and I love the run I'm on(those of you who are runners can identify with this...). That's "the groove." Today as I was running I was thinking about getting to this point on a run and how much I enjoy my runs when I spend most of my time there. These days, my runs are sporadic and usually shorter than I desire. I have to squeeze them between nursing sessions and sometimes that really difficult. I usually feel uncomfortable on my run because my body is (obviously) not in good running shape...that will take months. But I still usually have at least 20 minutes in "the groove" and I thoroughly love running at that time. I have missed it and I am so thankful to be able to run again.
Violet is now in her 6th week of life. We went to church yesterday for the first time (Violet and I) since I had her and I had so many people ask me " so how is she doing?" I heard myself hesitate each time and start to explain that she was good....but she's kind of..."fussy." I have been feeling bad that I responded that way...she's doing great. She's not even been around 6 weeks and already I'm expecting her to only cry a tiny bit, sleep a lot and be "mellow." Poor girl. I'm gonna give her a break! So if you were to ask me: How's Violet doing? I'll tell you: "she's doing great! She eats well, takes several naps during the day, doesn't cry for hours on end (anymore...its been a week since her last crying episode!), and even gives us smiles when we work for them." Below you can see she is starting to get chunky like the boys.

Today Sarah, Ben and Addison came over to hang out. Below is the one measly pic I have of the boys playing cars. Its fun having cousins so close by.
This is Violet after her bath tonight. She looks so young...oh yeah, she is. I'm starting to see different expressions on her face and I love that. This one is attentive...I'm talking to her and she's listening...
Yesterday we went over to my brother's house and the boys swam and we hung out in their air conditioning. We had a bar-b-q and just enjoyed hanging out with Jas and Ang. Lately I have been so thankful for our family so close by. Several months ago, Jason and I prayed about moving up to San Francisco. We talked about it a lot and ultimately decided we did not want to take our family away from all of the relationships with our family we have here(though we would have loved living close to Daniel and Bethany!). Last week, Dan spent the afternoon with us playing with the boys outside, helping Jason with Violet when I went on a run, and then playing with Gavin and holding Violet while I took a nap! On Thursday, my mom took the boys for the whole afternoon until dinnertime...other times, Judy has come over with dinner, willing to do whatever we need her to. What would we have done without all this support and help from our loving family?? We are SO thankful for our family!!
Wow...what am I doing sitting at the computer? The kids are all asleep, jason is gone at his soccer game and I have a new book. I got a good amount of sleep last night, so I think I will even stay awake to read a few chapters! Yahoo!