Lapped, among other things

This morning ... just one of those mornings.

Though I slept great, it was all I could do to drag myself out of bed. The children were more than willing to "help" with this situation. I put on my running clothes, tying Kalleigh's bandana from Rodeo Roundup around my head, and got with it.

John has the morning task of fixing breakfast for the older two kids, which he did. Of course, as soon as he got in the shower they finished their bowls of cereal and needed some more, so I did that.

I adamantly deny using bacon grease to fry my healthy egg whites. Johnathan then declared that he'd please like some eggs, too, so I fried him one, too. Then made John's scrambled, just like he likes it.

As I started to sit down to eat my healthy egg whites, Jonas woke up and was especially fussy. So, leaving the healthy egg whites I fixed his bottle and took it into his room ... which smelled AWFUL. He had pooped out of his diaper, and it was everywhere. I stripped him and put him in the tub.

I got him back to the changing table all clean and called John in to watch him while I took the sheets and put them in the washer. While I was in there, I heard the phone ring, but didn't think much of it. I grabbed a few more things from the laundry to fill the load and got it started.

When I got back to the nursery, the phone was off the hook and John said, "It's for you." I grabbed the phone, knowing it had been quite a while since the phone had rung, but they had already hung up. Nice. John said it was one of the moms in Johnathan's class. We've been playing phone tag for several days now, and I really needed to talk to her. I called back, but no answer. I'm sure that was because she was on her way to drop off her child at school because it was already time to go!

I got Jonas dressed and set up with a bottle and started getting Kalleigh dressed. Thankfully, she did not put up a fight about her outfit and was content to just wear shorts and a t-shirt rather than a "boo-ful dress." But then I had to fix her hair that had milk in it. Painful tangles, even though I tried to be gentle. One pony-tail, a bow and several tears later we were done.

We loaded up the van and were out the door. I had told my friend that I would pick up her son on the way to school. Seeing that it was already 8:50, I knew we would be late. One mile down the road, I realized that I had left the jogging stroller back home. Knowing I couldn't run while holding an infant and not having another option of where to put the child, we had to turn around.

We made it to school by ten after and I headed to the park. I felt tired even before I started the 5-mile trek, but figured I would "get into my stride" eventually and feel better. Yeah, that didn't happen. A stroller + wind + hills = bad idea. But I trudged on fighting all the negative thoughts along the way.

About 3.5 miles in, I saw a guy wearing a neon green shirt and running pants. Looked like he had just started. As we got closer, he looked at the stroller and said, "Your tougher than me!" Now I don't know if that was just a sympathy comment or geniune encouragement, but I took it as the latter, said 'thanks,' straightened my shoulders and went on.

Then the big hill came along. I have to run it or it won't be a full 5 miles. Thankfully, someone was sitting on the bench at the top of the hill so I wasn't tempted to curse out loud. He called out, "You're a glutton for punishment!" I grinned as I topped the hill and headed down the other side. "No, I just want a new wardrobe," I thought to myself.

Then the green shirt guy lapped me. This wouldn't be such a big deal ... except there's only ONE LAP. Thankfully, he looked a little more tired than when I saw him last. I, on the other hand, was nearly dead by that point.

I made it back to the car and checked my time. Slower than normal. No big surprise there. I could feel every bit of that.

When I climbed in the car and checked the rear-view mirror, I saw that all of the paint from Kalleigh's precious bandana had smeared and had started running down my face! No wonder people were looking at me strangly!! Ha! Thankfully, that did come off in the shower!

Jonas and I headed home and when I got there, I saw my healthy egg whites sitting right where I had left them, untouched. So sad. I had just forgotten to eat them! No wonder I was so tired!

And that was the morning. I anticipate a much better "rest of the day." Toinght I get to sing with my buddy Mary for the first time on the praise team, so I'm looking forward to that. And tomorrow Jonas and I fly out to Pittsburg to celebrate Kristi's graduation!

Life is good.

I need to drink more water.