Success.

I did it.

I ran the National Half-Marathon yesterday.

I ache all over, my quads are stiff as boards, but

I'm delighted through and through.

Nothing feels so good as achieving a goal. It was exhilarating. The months of training paid off. My biggest fans cheered me into the finish line: Brian, Ella, Samantha and my parents.

These are the lovely ladies I had the privilege of running with. We loaded up on pasta the night before at Gina's home.

Me, Laura (who ran the half with me), Gina (ran the full marathon), Debbie (friend of Jackie's who flew in on Friday to cheer) and Jackie (who also ran the full).

And of course Laura and I afterwards...a little dazed, but delighted.

This picture of me with the girls after the race is amusing. Ella is wrapped in my blanket and Samantha is eating my banana after I'm the one who ran 13 miles. A mother's love knows no bounds.

People keep asking me what my next race will be. I don't know the answer to that yet. But today, as I waddle around, I have little interest. I'm hoping that the effects of running a race are similar to childbirth. After you go through it, you are convinced you don't want to endure that pain again. But then as time passes, the memory of the accomplishment and sheer joy from the experience is what lingers. And that ends up being enough to do it again.

We'll see.

In Memoriam

Josephine Parrish Spring

July 4, 1918 - March 3, 2009

My beautiful Grandma left this world early Tuesday morning, taking her last breath while in my Mother’s arms. My heart aches. I miss her terribly. She was my mentor, listening ear, shopping companion, frequent lunch date, and dear friend.

Till we meet again, Grandma. I love you.

Girls, Girls Everywhere

Part I. Samantha

Our littlest girl just turned 18 months this past week. It seems to be a transition age from babyhood to toddler-dom. As it was with Ella, it has been a joy to see Samantha's little personality reveal itself.

Here are some highlights of our baby, which I realize is more interesting to us than to most of you, but it’s for the record.

Following the example of her sister, she talks constantly. Of course, most of it is still indecipherable, but she has something to say about everything. Words are starting to manifest themselves more and more. Words consist of: baby, Mama (used 1000x a day), Da, bye, hi. And sounds that actually mean something: “B” = book, “Bah”=ball, “Peez”=please, “ah duh”= all done.

She is obsessed with putting things on her head. Hats, helmets, sippy cups, magnets, books, small toys, etc.

We play peek-a-boo at least twenty times a day.

She L-O-V-E-S her pacifier. She is kinder to it than anything/anyone else. I dread the day when we choose to deprive her of her first love. It will be a sad day in Samantha’s world. She swings it in the toy baby swing, pushes it in the stroller, will climb two flights of stairs to retrieve it. Speaking of two flights of stairs, I think she did it in 10 seconds flat today. And instead of climbing down them, she situates herself feet first, straightens her body completely out and glides down the front edge of each stair.

She loves to slide, dance, bounce to music, talk on the phone.

Her favorite place is to be in the kitchen with me. And the toy kitchen is one of her favorite toys.

Maybe we have a chef in our future. She'll run from the other side of the house when she hears me turn the mixer on.

She knows exactly how to push her sister’s buttons and mine. We’re learning what it’s like to have an aggressive child: one who bites, grabs, hits and takes things. She puts small objects in her mouth only when I’m watching. And she waits to throw food from her highchair until I look her way. She climbs to the top of the stairs, waits for me to start up the stairs to fetch her, only to begin to jump off the top stair so that I have to bust a move to catch her. We have often prided ourselves on how gentle and mild-mannered Ella has always been—surely it was our calm dispositions and stellar parenting. We’re not quite sure where the fire in Samantha’s belly came from. The look on her face in this picture somewhat captures the mischief in her eyes.

She eats just about everything. She eats blueberries like candy. And she devours my Mom’s chocolate chip cookies, which my Mom liberally gives her.

She is terrified of the caterpillar at the beginning of the Baby Einstein videos. She'll watch it with her hands over her eyes, allowing just a glimpse between two of her fingers.

Most of the time, she adores her big sister. She hugs her often, loves to climb on her and stroke her hair.

She wildly applauds after Ella’s violin practices and after Ella says a prayer before a meal. Ella’s room is the mecca of all play areas. It’s where the good stuff is. She has little use for toddler toys—Littlest pet shop, Barbies and Webkinz are preferred. And when Ella justifiably closes the door to keep Sam out, there is banging and crying on the other side.

She can be snuggly in your arms or incredibly independent.

She loves water and would gladly spend the day in the tub if I'd let her.

I adore her to no end and live in amazement that she and Ella are mine.

Part II.
Many of you know I have a complicated extended family. I have three biological and three step-siblings. Two of my biological (Caylor) siblings also have children. And all of them are girls (with the exception of my sister’s adopted son). Eight girls in a row. We are a double-X kind of family. My brother, David and his family paid us a visit last week. With their four girls, it is girl heaven. Ella can’t sit still for days prior to their arrival because she can’t stand the excitement. We had a great couple of days with them, complete with dress-up, dancing, a sleepover and Barbie movies.

And to give David a small break from the estrogen, we made a trip to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum. One of my favorite museums in DC--they have some amazing aircrafts. You can walk right under an actual Space Shuttle or look into the cockpit of the Enola Gay.

Since my brother is a pilot, you can’t go wrong with sticking him in a gigantic room of airplanes. We had to chuckle at this little propeller plane--it's what he learned to fly on. I'm just glad he and his wife, Janene, survived their many flights on it.

Thanks for coming to see us, Caylors!

With all that said, I'm off to bed. With 4-9" of snow coming our way tonight, I'm bracing myself for a snow day tomorrow. Sigh.