Ashley, Nick, and Dottie Visit!

Ok, let's play catch up here.

A couple of weeks ago, dear friends Ashley (oh, how I miss my best friend and running buddy so!) and Nick and sweet baby Dottie came in town for the World Cyclocross Championships. I have never been more grateful to a bike race because it meant that we enjoyed a fun 48 hours together!

And I finally got to meet Dottie!!!!

 Miss and love them.

January moments

Overheard lately:

Will: "Mom, you teacher."

Me: "That's right! What are you?"

Will: "I'm a goonybird."

(Papa G, we have you to thank for that gem. He says it ALL THE TIME.)

Will's new favorite line (and mine): "This is SO fun."

Me: "Will, what would you like for dinner?"

Will: "Ice cream!"

Me: "No, you can't have that for dinner."

Will: "Cookies!"

Me: "No..."

Will: "Pancakes!"

It takes awhile before we get to anything remotely healthy...

At 2.5, Will's favorite things are a 1st birthday singing Elmo card (seriously, you don't need to buy the kid presents. All he wants is a singing card), pancakes, his friends Thomas and PJ, choo-choos, puzzles, Lion King (thanks B and Pablo!), his new Raffi CD (Thanks, Maresa!), the Louisville Cardinals, the Happy Birthday song, and books books books. He might be the sweetest little boy alive. Ah, I love him so!

 Nonna's Birthday

 Yeah, I made the cake. And yeah, it turned out like a pancake. 

And in this picture, it looks like it was on fire. 

Worst cake ever.

 Will and Clay got new Baltimore Orioles gear thanks to Sally and Bill!

 He always feels like a king at Mimi's house.

 Go O's!

 Poppy and Will at a UofL Cardinals Basketball Game

 Still kind of blurry, and Will couldn't take his eyes off the escalator, but hey, we're all in it.

 Will's sweet date PJ at a high school basketball game

 Will likes to put on makeup next to me in the mornings. Such a helper.

 (this one's out of order--sorry.) Will and PJ walking out of the gym.

We bought a new mattress! 

 Fun lunch with Mimi and Poppy!

 Went to the grocery and what did we find? A real firetruck with REAL firemen!

 Uncle Tony from Chattanooga came to visit!

Watching the second inauguration of President Barack Obama.

I look at this picture and I see hope and our future, my friends.

The Best of Jingle Bells 2012

Man, we've had an awesome Christmas holiday with our families.

I. LOVE. OUR. FAMILY.

Clay, Will, and I are so lucky to have families who love us unconditionally, embrace and cherish Will, and show us constantly what it means to celebrate tradition, holiday, and family.

2012 was ALL adventure.

* January and February were consumed with our joint job search: phone interviews, educational philosophy statements, tons and tons and tons of emails, and constant checking of job postings.

* Flew out of Laguardia to Atlanta, Huntsville, Louisville, usually with Will in tow, to job interviews.

* Accepted jobs at LCS in Louisville.

* Both continued to tutor families in NYC, alternating evenings when we would head downtown on the subway and come back late at night.

* Made awesome friends in the city, loved our church, and enjoyed several sweet dates in the Big Apple.

* Had a super fun, inspiring long weekend with my sister in Berkeley, CA before her MBA graduation (so proud of her!)

* Clay was a rockstar cohort member and graduated with his Master's in Educational Leadership from Columbia's Teachers College Klingenstein Center in May (so proud of him!)

* Moved out of our sweet (sweet because of the memories. the space left me craving an HGTV invasion) little 400 sq. foot apartment on the UWS by packing everything we had from the whole year in a minivan. Got robbed that night. Cared only a little bit. We were fine and we had lived a year in NYC!

* Lived with my parents for 6 weeks this summer. God bless them.

* Clay worked a hard core summer construction job at a local school. God bless him.

* Nannied two girls all summer with Will in tow. God bless him.

* Taught 60+ students online. Still teaching online. It's too great a gig.

* Rented and moved into a home we love in a great neighborhood in Louisville.

* Went to Maine with Clay's parents and brother for a week of pure bliss.

* Will started preschool.

* We started new jobs at LCS.

* Ran the Louisville half-marathon.

* Clay coached a boys' basketball team.

And we ended the year in glorious Texas with family we hold dear and a sense of WE DID IT. 2012 was a doozy. Lots of life-changing, mind-blowing, character-building, awe-inspiring, we-can-do-this-and-are-so-glad-we-did moments. Will's 2 and a half years old and thriving. We are working together for the first time. We love our town, we love our families, we love each other, we love life. It's been a full year. I'll be honest: I'm glad we did it all, but I am also glad to close the door on 2012. I've got a good feeling about this 2013. Lots of good things are going to happen this year. I can just feel it. 

Here's to you and yours enjoying a year full of joy, laughter, and wonderful surprises. 

Heart and Ache

Last night, I tucked Will into bed after hugging and kissing him a million times, came downstairs, and read The New York Times.  And I wept.  Sobbed really. I can't remember ever reading the newspaper and having such a visceral reaction, but the idea of sweet, innocent children and the teachers who loved them being gunned down in their school was just too much to handle. My heart broke open for the families. I can't imagine being a parent running to that school only to hear...it's just too much. Too much.

And so it didn't surprise me that the gunman wasn't a father. The only way I could wrap my head around anyone ever doing something so unspeakably tragic was that he just didn't know all that he was doing. He had never tucked his own child into bed and thanked God for the millionth time for giving him such a beautiful, loving, joyful miracle. He hadn't waited for his child's arrival for nine months and taken prenatal vitamins and framed ultrasound pictures and cried with relief and joy at hearing the heartbeat in the doctor's office. He hadn't witnessed the insane miracle that is childbirth, he hadn't seen talented nurses clear his child's airway, he hadn't heard his own child's first cry and thought to himself that it was the most beautiful cry he had ever heard. He hadn't driven 15 mph home from the hospital knowing that suddenly precious cargo was in the back seat, and he hadn't gotten up in the middle of the night to nurse a sweet angel back to sleep. He hadn't watched his child smile then laugh then crawl then walk then talk for the first time, and he sure as hell hadn't held his own child's hand and never wanted to let go. He hadn't worried over his child's health and called pediatricians at 10 p.m. He hadn't hugged a child like a parent hugs his child.

Because if he had, he would never have been able to do it.

He would have known that children are more precious than anything to the mamas and daddies who work and care and love for them. He would have known that despite their short lives they were already--a million times over--the entire world to someone else. He would have known that they were their parents' hearts walking around outside their bodies. He would have known that, yes, they had so much more living yet to do, but they also had already lived so much. They had friends and bedrooms and favorite ice cream flavors and songs they knew the words to. I bet their artwork hung proudly on refrigerators, and their books and socks and shoes decorated their homes. I have a two and a half year old and already it's hard for me to fully remember what my life was like before he was born. His innocence and earnestness and gratitude for the simplest things in life are three of the million reasons I embrace and cherish my role as his mama. He wants so much to learn about and understand this world, and he looks to me and Clay as his guides. He trusts us to take care of him. As a parent, as a person, how can I not do everything in my power to deserve that trust and help him grow?

We adults have a responsibility to our children. All adults. All children. Someone--a whole village really--got each of us to where we are; it is our privilege to likewise help the young and innocent and dependent who look to us for loving guidance.

As a teacher, as a parent, as a person, I simply cannot imagine how anyone could do this. Perhaps I am crying just as much for the 20 year old man who did this as I am for the families whom he robbed of life and love. He so clearly never experienced the humbling gift of loving and being loved by a child. It's transformative.

Like every parent around the country, I held tight to my little one today. As we made pancakes together this morning and he so intently helped me stir the batter, I took a moment to look into his shining eyes. He looked back at me as if he was looking deep into my soul...and then he laughed. A hearty, authentic, throw-your-head-back kind of laugh, and I thought to myself, the gunman must have not looked into the 20 beautiful angels' eyes. It's life-changing. Shame on him. Instead of allowing himself the opportunity one day to be changed by a child's love, he changed these families' lives forever.

We've got to love each other even better, even harder, people. Our children depend on it.

Fall and Family

Life's good in the 'ville!

And man, if the weather hasn't been gorgeous. Fall in KY=glorious.

Here are a few recent pics:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture of my love.

And that half marathon I ran last weekend? 1:44. Who knew half-hearted training was the way to a personal best? It was awesome!