Will Run For Ice Cream

Full Disclosure: I have partnered with Thule to #giveaway a Thule jogging stroller, but I have not been compensated in any form.  I remember when Lil Man was a baby. My only time to get in a workout was before Hubby went to work. Which meant I had to run at 5am or 6am after being up most of the night with Lil Man. You guessed it, those early morning runs just didn't happen most days. I tried. I really did, but I was exhausted. Yes, I have a treadmill which helped. But it didn't give me the freedom ( or the fresh air ) that my jogging stroller did. Pushing the stroller was hard. It became a challenge that I looked forward to overcoming. And on those days that running just wasn't going to happen, walking could. So I did. I could take Lil Man out at any time and get some exercise and fresh air. Sometimes it was all we needed to change both of our moods.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. I physically couldn't get a breath as sobs tore through me. It was just a car - a chunk of metal. I didn't really understand my reluctance of parting ways. But when we sold it this weekend, and I signed my name to the title it all hit me on one gigantic guttural heart-wrenching wave. It was the last thing that I personally owned before I got married - the only thing left in solely my name. But the real heartache came from realizing this was the car that I bought with my sisters - a spur of the moment purchase on a day out. My sisters who are no longer in my life. They've never met my son - probably never will. He doesn't even know they exist. But in that one moment of relinquishing ownership, the sorrow flooded in - raw - oozing - septic - ripping - searing - pain.

This post has been sponsored by The J.M. Smucker Company. All opinions are completely my own. #Snackation In case you missed it, Lil Man and I went to Walmart to prepare for our #Snackation . You can read about it here . As I was out running on the Appalachian Trail, I came across a great spot to take Lil Man wading. I thought it would make for a super fun outing since our summer is winding down. Can you believe that it's almost over? It feels like this Summer just flew by. So like so many others that I know, I'm trying to pack as much as possible in these next few weeks.

It took us 22 hours in the truck – twenty-two VERY long hours . First of all, I personally have a very hard time sitting still. Put me in a truck where my feet don’t even touch the floor board, while listening to talk radio ( which I can’t stand ), while dealing with a 4 year old who was already asking if we were there yet and we’d only been driving an hour, well, you can imagine just how LONG the trip was to my parents’ house.  But as we drove into my home town, I could feel the tension melting away. It had been an entire year since I’ve been here. I couldn't help but get giddy as my heart was screaming home! Home! Home! The fact that we were about to get out of this blankety blank truck wasn’t a bad thing either.

Be who you are - it's been my slogan this year with Lil Man. He's really come out of his shell, but at the same time he's picked up some habits from others that I'd rather him not have. And I'm sure he's showed some other children habits their parents would rather them not have. But this year, especially the last couple of months, most days ( sometimes several times a day ) I have to say be who YOU are. Don't be who someone else is. Be YOU. God made you who YOU are. Wow I've come a long way with some of this parenting stuff. I remember when he was late to walk and late to talk and late to whatever milestone that I felt was SO life or death important. And I felt the pressure to get him where his peers were. What was I thinking? It took me a little while, but I finally realized that Lil Man would get there when he got there. Sure, if he needs a little encouragement and extra help, I will be happy to do it and get him any extra help he might need should h...

Full Disclosure: I received products free of charge for the purpose of providing a review. My opinions are completely my own based on my experience. As most of you know, the preschool year is coming to an end here, and turkey season (hubby is a hunter) is for the full month of May < insert groan >.  So I'm having to get more creative with my workouts. I've been utilizing the playground ( Make Playgrounds Your Gym ) for strength training and cross training, but getting in run time can be difficult especially if I want to get outside. After our harsh winter and spending time on the treadmill, the thoughts of running inside when it's so beautiful outside just isn't something that I want to do. I pulled out the old jogger from last year and took Lil Man for a run. Wow, I could tell that he's bigger this year than last - and the old jogger isn't on the sleek side. So when I tried out the Thule Urban Glide , I couldn't believe the difference in how easy...

Today's #TuesdayTidbit is late today because it's about cherishing the moment, and that's exactly what I did today. It's easy to get caught up in 'life' and to-do lists, when sometimes what I personally need to do is just stop and cherish the moment. This morning I took Lil Man out for a run in the jogger.

Image Source ( baby don’t hurt me – don’t hurt me  no more). Sorry, I can’t get that song out of my head now since I typed What is love?  Seriously though, what is love? My son had his Valentine’s party this year. He had a great time, but he was confused as to why someone gave him an orange among all of the traditional Valentine’s candy that he received. I told him that was their Valentine to him. His response? “Oh, they showin’ their love”. I laughed and responded yes. And it got me to thinking

There are actually many reasons why I run. And my reasons evolve. But there are some days that the stress consumes me - that it's so intense that it feels like it's crushing me. I'm not at liberty to tell you the exact reason - it isn't my story to tell. But when a loved one is hurting, you hurt also. And when you are logistically too far away to realistically help, it’s hard. Lil Man was asking me questions this weekend. And I was forced to say out loud the reality – the word that no one ever wants to utter.... To continue reading the rest of the article please click here . Share this on Facebook? I'm a small blog trying to find my way in the big internet. If you like my blog, or this post, please take a moment to share it with friends. 

*affiliate links I type this as Lil Man is wheezing beside me. Having a child with a bad chest cold, combine that with asthma, and to this first-time inexperienced Mom, it scares me a little when he isn't breathing the way that I think he should. We haven't been anywhere or been around anyone since Tuesday, so I'm not really sure where he picked up this bug, unless it was when we were out and about on Tuesday. The coughing started out small yesterday, and by the end of the day it ended in full blown croup-like sounds where he coughed so hard that he vomited. Thankfully after a restless night he is resting at the moment. But I wanted to tell you about Christmas this year at our house. Holidays are a difficult time for me - with Thanksgiving being the worst with missing our family. But Christmas is usually a time of joy for us because of Lil Man. So I was super excited this year because Lil Man was beyond excited for Christmas. He enjoyed his Bobo (our elf), and we co...

Can you believe I've never ran a Turkey Trot? I know. The girl who has run multiple races over a weekend has never run a turkey trot! But it's never worked with our family plans. With us living in PA, and our family living in the South. Well, it's just 'us'. And I always feel a little guilty leaving my family at home to go run on Thanksgiving. And, I can't get them to join me for a 'family' outing to run one as a family. So while the rest of the running community is out trotting away, I was home in the kitchen today. But that's ok. No sadness here as I hope to get out tomorrow for a run. ( Fingers crossed I can work it out with Hubby's schedule so that I won't have to run on the treadmill ). And I was able to get out yesterday for a couple of miles. This was me yesterday before the snow hit. In years past, Hubby and I have gone out to eat on Thanksgiving day. This day, well it's usually a sad day for me since we are away from...

I'm still feeling as if I'm on a boat without the view! But I'm hoping the vertigo is going to completely leave me soon - especially since I have a Half Marathon NEXT that's right NEXT weekend. {trying not to freak out here} Anyway, although I'm still not feeling great, I decided to try to do a little research on "clean eating". I know that realistically I'm not going to cut out every ounce of 'unclean' food out of our diet. But what I'm hoping to do is make smarter choices, and start to incorporate some healthy foods and eating habits into our lifestyle. With just the little research that I've done on the subject, I realize that my current diet is for the most part mainly processed foods - even the foods that I considered 'healthy'.  I came across this article from Prevention  on 23 Ways to Eat Clean  Image Source  This article broke it down into 1st choice, 2nd choice and limited. And it really helped me to und...