20 Month Old Birthday Celebrations + Sunshine + Runs (A Day in the Life of)
Hello there friends and happy Wednesday! I hope your day is off to a fabulous start and that you are soaking in some beautiful weather, wherever you may be. This week’s weather has been crazy gorgeous in Chicagoland and I am enjoying every minute outside that I can. Make that we. Niah is loving the warm weather too and he immediately asks to go back outside every time we get back home. I’m he enjoys the outdoors so much.
Yesterday, was one of those really long and super productive and crazy fun days. It was one of those days where I went to bed feeling like the entire day was a week, but in a good sort of way. And that’s how I like it 😉
Truthfully, yesterday morning started on a not-so-good note, when I woke up feeling just ‘not ready,’ for the day. You know those mornings that you wake up and feel like just pretending the day isn’t about to start? Yeah, yesterday morning was one of those days. Thankfully, after some time praying and talking with Landon, I felt better and got the day rolling. With Landon not home on lunch break anymore, I have to be a lot more prepared in the mornings with a prepared lunch packed and ready to go + breakfast. I have found it best to prepare most of his lunch the night before and get it all finished in the morning. Once I woke up completely, I stumbled out to the kitchen, got Landon’s food all prepped and sipped on some coffee. Coffee = the best time of the day. As I was finishing Landon’s lunch, I heard Niah stirring (at 6 am!) and once I was finished with Landon’s breakfast, got Niah up from his crib. Usually, he sleeps until 7, but yesterday he decided to join the party, early.
Although I first felt bummed to have part of my morning time switched around, it ended up working well. Niah was so cute too and gave me lots of hugs and kisses when he woke up > those = everything. After a quick breakfast of toast + jelly and a clementine (we were almost out of food, haha!) I made a much needed Instacart order and ‘grocery shopped,’ while Niah played with his toy cars. I’ve never used Instacart until yesterday, but I fell in love with it. It is SO nice and convenient to order groceries and have them delivered within a couple hours. HELLO CONVENIENCE.
Since I didn’t have to take a trip to the grocery store, we went for a 6 mile stroller run, which felt good, overall. Part of the run felt hard and my pace felt really slow, until I looked down at my watch and saw I was averaging a 7:57 pace. I think my body was tired from late nights and ready for breakfast, but I was excited to see my marathon pace hitting the exact numbers I needed to it. (My marathon pace or MP is 7:58 ish, so that felt really good to hit exactly!)
Also, this was the BEST sight on my run yesterday. A WORKING WATER FOUNTAIN. Summer running is upon us!
Once I got home, I downed a bowl of oatmeal, through my hair up in a bun, rinsed off and headed to a friends house for a play date. Since it was a mile away, Niah and I walked over and enjoyed a little extra sunshine. I forgot how big some of the hills are in our area, which made the casual walk more like a workout. I passed the time listening to the Ali on the Run Show (one of my personal, favorite podcasts) and made it there almost right on time.
While the kids played, I hung out with my friends Jen and Bridget and we enjoyed coffee, iced water, and fruit. Thanks for the hospitality, Bridget! It was so cute watching six kiddos all playing together (and by together I mean running around each other, haha!) Once the kiddos hit the nap time hour, we said goodbye and made our way back home. I couldn’t resist stopping at the park with the gorgeous weather and Niah worked on his climbing skills. On the rest of our way home, I popped in our local running store for some NUUN and eventually made it home to our groceries!
I worked on putting the groceries away, while Niah enjoyed some lunch (blueberries, cucumbers and chick peas and other random snacks) and eventually made myself a salad with lettuce + chick peas + cucumbers + tomatoes with a handful (or more) of nuts. While I finished my salad, I set up a mini ‘pool’ outside for Niah to play with and enjoyed watching him splash in the water and make bubbles with the soap. It is so cute to watch his little mind discover and watch his fascination with things I don’t even think about.
Since it was his 20 month old birthday, I decided to take him for a little suprise trip to our local, favorite coffee shop and splurge on some vegan gelato. Grahams has the BEST gelato and their vegan version tastes amazing. Niah and I shared the gelato and sat in the sunshine for about 20 minutes, before heading back home for nap time. It’s those moments that really make me smile. I love giving Benaiah good gifts and celebrating life with his little self. Those kinds of moments make my days.
Once we got back home, he went down for a nap and I got to work on some work projects, this blog post, and talked to my mom while I prepped dinner. My mom is the best, ever.
Landon got home around 6 and we ate a quick dinner of eggs (since our month of being vegan is over – I will share a quick recap on Thursday with you all) and roasted veggies! SO GOOD. Landon had men’s ministry Tuesday evening, so Niah and I partied together until bed time which looked like: bath time, books, a quick library visit, and some much needed snuggle time.
And fun fact: I just looked down at my Garmin and it says that I have hit 13.2 miles for the day – no wonder I’m tired! =On that note, I’m going to finish this post and unplug for the night.
I hope you all have an awesome Wednesday!
Questions of the Day
- What was your Tuesday like?
- How often do you get outside?
- What was your run like today?