Meadows Family: March 2013

Today the girls are 3 months old! We cannot believe how fast time is going with the girls and we really wish it would just slow down a tad! We look at the girls together and we honestly cannot imagine life without one or the other! We are so thankful that God blessed us with two healthy and happy babies! They are such a blessing to our family! They have changed so much in the three months since their birth! We can't believe how different they are from their first month to now and how different they are from each other! We have dubbed Marin as going to be the post on the basketball team and Malin as the point guard! Marin has always been bigger and I think she will keep that role! Marin is very vocal and coos all the time, while Malin is very expressive and smiles at everything; her favorite is the ceiling fan! They love when their big brother and sister talk to them and follow them when they are close! Marin is now eating 7 oz bottles and Malin is eating about 5.5 to 6 oz. They are sleeping through the night (they were doing this by about week 8) and they really don't fuss much except when they are wet or hungry. Berk and Jack absolutely LOVE them and I am so happy that they are this way with them! We just celebrated Jack's THIRD birthday and I can't believe he is already this age! We got Berkley transfer papers to start SCHOOL next year and also signed her up for t-ball this spring! My babies are no longer babies!! Glad we have the girls, otherwise mama would have BAD baby fever about now! It is going to be so different next year with Berk at school and Jack and the girls at home! I can't wait to see how he does with them especially when they start crawling and walking! (Another milestone that I don't think I will be ready for!)

Since about 4 weeks after the girls were born, I was back running and working out. After the girls were born and during their NICU stay, I doubted my ability to get back to running the way that I wanted (I was running 7 miles straight at about a 9:45 pace when I made myself stop with the girls). I knew that Cowtown was coming up 8 weeks after the girls' birth, but i didn't expect myself to be able to get back into running, especially a straight 3 miles. To my surprise, running came back easily for me, just at a slower pace and I am back in LOVE with my number one stress reliever. I am determined to get back into the shape and size I was before the girls and exercising is so much more to me; it clears my mind, makes me strong and gives me the ability to be strong in every other aspect of my life. Some people don't understand that, and that is fine. But no time is sacrificed from my kids when I workout; it is usually during naptime when everyone is supposed to be napping. If I am on a run, then my husband is home catching up with the kids from his workday. At first I felt guilty about taking this time for myself, but now I realize that if I don't take the time for myself, then everyone else suffers. It is also about looking in the mirror and being happy and satisfied with the way I look and knowing that i took no magic pill to get to where I am, but put in all the work to get there! I am also my biggest critic and sometimes I am too hard on myself and I need to remind myself that not many people have had 4 kids in FIVE years and accomplished the things I have! This year in September I will run my first half-marathon and I am SO excited about starting my training for it. I have not been able to run much do to the amount of light there is after my hubs gets home, but now with Springtime, hopefully that will change! If not, then I will take advantage of my weekends and continue to do what I do during the week!

So that is about all that has been going on in our crazy life, but we LOVE it more than ever! Hope you enjoy the pictures of the last few months and I will try to keep this thing more up-to-date!