Breathe a breath into your belly.
Way down deep into your soul.
Reach the resistance.
Breathe into it an let it go.
Be easy. Be the flow.

Take this time on a rainy day to breathe deep.

Who doesn't love jumping in the puddles. Rain landing on your face. Running to your car feeling the excitement of running in the rain.

The summer before I started college (feels like yesterday but.... isn't. #sighgettingold) I was fortunate to be a part of a group called deCycles. We rode from Bloomington, IN to Atlantic City, NJ. Lets just say that trip was a MAJOR turning point in my life. As many other participants in the wonderful group/organization can attest. Life changes while on a bike.
One of my most favorite memories from that trip was riding my first 100 mile day. In the rain. On flat ground. My group had several of my favorite people from that trip in it. People who were alive in their being. Singing, laughing, enjoying the energy that takes over and gets you down the rode. We were light and pure in the moment.
I thought that 100 miles would be such a hard day and... when it was over I could have ridden much more. That is when I knew... I had so much more in me and all it took was one more pedal. One more song to sing... to reach the next break.

That lesson has carried me, been my companion... and a catalyst to reaching and stretching into more.

Cheers to a rainy day. Someone out there is finding their moment right now. Maybe its you. Soak in those good moments around you. Breathe it in.

Our house

Our house is somewhat of a minefield. Squeaks, creaks, and pipes banging when any water is used.

Add that to nap time and then... almost non-existent walls and you have a pretty level 3 difficulty game.

So here's last night......

Fiona has been a baby sized hungry hippo the last few days and yesterday morning woke up at 4 flipping AM! to A. play and B. (my best guess) EAT! So to avert that from happening this morning Jesse pumped her little body full of food yesterday. Feeding her until she said no. Which was apparently a lot of food. So we were pretty pleased with the out look of our Sunday morning set up. We have a saying in our house... "Its all about the set up." We thought she would sleep all happy with her cute little belly of no hunger.

Sidebar: "Its all about the set up" Which came from the days of attending IU-Bloomington and Jesse, Sean, and I would play pool/billiards. Now this wasn't any game of billiards. It was a NEVER ENDING GAME of billiards. We weren't any good.... at all. So.... we developed the "Its all about the set up." and when someone did hit one in the person before took partial credit from the set up. :-) ... End Sidebar.

So Fiona was full belly, in her bedtime uniform, footed PJ's with long socks underneath, sound machine and humidifier on, down at 7:04. Ahhhhh! Saturday night was now ours. So naturally we...

Sat on the couch and watched DVR'd Raising Hope. Jesse went to bed to read and I watched SMASH. Show ended I felt sooooo tired it must be 11:30. NOPE. 9:30! HA! Bedtime.

2AM! The Poop Monster arrived. Oh NO NOT THE DREADED POOP MONSTER! Fiona Kline attacked at 2 AM... poop and soaked through the diaper with pee up and down her whole front. Sheets needed to be changed and little girl in a new sleep uniform. (I didn't know all of this until Jesse came back to bed. He always jumps up and tends to her in the night. I'm super Lucky!:-))
Jesse rocks her back to sleep and.... lays her in bed and... Stealth NINJA walks out of her room and into ours avoiding two HUGE areas of creaks. You have to know where to step. One miss step and Fiona is up like a light. 3 min later repeat. 3 min later repeat. 3 min later repeat.

Finally 3 ish.... we've laying in bed and let her cry for a bit until it becomes a "real" cry. and finally the gloves come off and Mommy goes in.

I hold her and we lay on the floor while she calms down and twirls my hair and rubs my arm. So sweet I cried a little and know when she is bigger I will miss this. After a while I NINJA stand up from the floor and NINJA lay her in the crib. My ninja lay her in the crib isn't quite as successful and she pops up. I rub her back and she's down again. Now I count to 100 very slowly. If she pops up again I start over. She is asleep... for sure and now its the last turn of the event... getting out of the room and back into my bed without SQUEAKING or CREAKING! I'm not as good as Jesse at this but, as a kid we did play a lot of the "floor is lava" game and several other prepping for THIS MOMENT training games. I'm not Katniss but I can do this.  The pillow I brought in gnashed between my teeth, on my tippy toes, my heart beat increases as I try and navigate the terrain. I make it to the door, open it, and pause to look back at Fiona. Breathe. One foot on each side of the door frame. Keep one down and place the other across the hall... where I know a safe zone is. Than... pull the door closed ever so slowly without banging it against the frame. I'm half way into a split and for sure looking something like spider woman! Push off the door frame to the other wall... than to our bedroom door frame where the spots are a little different and I"M HOME FREE! Snuggle into our warm cozy flannel sheets and against my chiropractic pillow. Clock says 4:30AM... and Super Mommy goes to sleep knowing her family is nestled and dreaming sweet dreams.

We won't be trying that set up again. It back fired on us and all over Fiona. Literally.

Did I mention SLEEP?

At home:
Little Miss F has been.... screaming herself to sleep. She had a cold. THEN her two four front teeth decided they would make their way down. They haven't made it through yet. It makes everyone in the house cranky!
She is also on the verge of taking her first unassisted steps.
She is loving stacking blocks and is very eager to smash her fingers in all drawers and doors.
 What joy, what joy!
Daddy is doing such a wonderful job. We are both hanging in there. Parenting is hard... and rewarding. As with everything else.... if you're gonna do it... do it. No one said it was easy. Rewarding... yes. Easy... no. 

At the office:
 Busy as ever and I love it. I love the constant change from patient to patient. Ankle on a healing pre-diabetic (who is improving slowly but surely)... then to headaches from occipital impingement for 15 years due to a prior C5-6 injury (who is finally waking up without pain for the first time in YEARS)... then to a young boy with ADHD,  gut and spine health challenges... then to a Mom who battles all over body pain, anxiety/OCD and wheat sensitivities. This is what keeps my mind busy and engaged and learning daily.
Aside from that (family/practice) keeping up with my own health... H.I.I.T on Monday, Strength and Endurance on Thursday, Friday spin class and if I'm lucky I'll swap out one of those for some time outdoors walking in the forest preferably. Rewarding... yes! Easy... depends on the day. :-)