1/2 Marathon with Ursula and Nelly

I ran with Ursula Upper (Sarah) and Negative Nelly (Julie)....they know what I'm talking about. :)
Our training for the last 3 months paid off! We finished in a little over 2 hours and averaged 9:19 minute miles, which is fast for us. :) The weekend in Bellingham was beautiful and the course was great - not too hilly and we even got to run some on a trail, which our old bodies appreciated. The next day my knees were a little sore, but I feel pretty good. Although now, I am sick! I think the 1/2 marathon gave me a bad cold. Grrrr!
Lilah and daddy had a good time together. They came with Mike, Brady and Sadie to cheer us on at mile 9 and at the finish. Lance (as you can see) got some great action shots and Lilah was a good little girl in the chilly weather.
My plan is to keep up the running (well - 3-6 miles, no more 10 mile runs for awhile) and we're going to do the Rock and Roll 1/2 marathon in Seattle in June.

It Feels Like Home....

A few weeks ago we visited our good friends Shane and Kelli and their cute little ones in Spokane. As usual, we had such a great time with all of them. It's funny because we always leave our visits thinking of how it could be possible that we move to Spokane - we love that it has some bigger city aspects along with the feel of a smaller community. And we love Shane, Kelli and their kids! But...with our families all over in the Seattle area, we know it just wouldn't work, so we'll stick to our drives over for the weekend. :)
Shane is Lance's best friend and they sort of talk their own lingo, watching football and quoting movie lines. It doesn't matter if we don't see them for months, it's like it's only been days. We are so thankful too that Kelli and I have so many things in common and get along so well. It's nice that the guys can do their own thing and Kelli and I can just sit around together and chat without them around. Olivia is my little mini-me....she likes to try to dress like me, talk like me and we are the best of buddies. Lilah just loved Olivia and talked to her and stared at her all the time. Nolan is such a sweet little guy! He has the most wonderful white-blond hair and is super laid back. One morning he woke up and said, "Daddy I miss Lilah". Ahhhh....it made my heart melt! Both of those kids have smiles that light up the room and are so fun to be around.
We spent part of the weekend going to Pullman for our yearly WSU game - I think I'm a pretty good wife to go over there to support my husband on rival ground. :) The one quarter that we watched the game went well....Lilah fell asleep on daddy until the fans got crazy and woke her up, and she startled and cried. We got to eat at Sellas, which for me is the best part. They have the most yummy calzones, although we didn't get to sit and enjoy them in the sunshine like in past years (one because it started to rain and two because we eat so fast to make sure Lilah is still happy)!
All in all Lilah was in the car for about 15 hours! Yikes! She did so well though, and we were so thankful that she was mostly happy and slept quite a bit. We already are trying to figure out when we can make our next trek over to Spokane...but maybe not until January because of our PV trip and the holidays.
We are so blessed to have friends like Shane and Kelli. We look forward to our times with them and are sad to have to say our goodbyes. Their family is so special to us and we love them. See you all in January (maybe sooner)!! xoxo

4 months old!

Lilah turns 4 months old today! I can hardly believe how fast the time has gone. The first 4 weeks we just wanted 2 months to come since we knew it would be so much easier then, but now I want the time to slow down! Lilah is so much fun and I know it's just going to be even more exciting as the months go by.
She loves to roll over...wellllll...she is good at rolling over but when she gets herself on her belly and her hands are stuck underneith her, she is not a happy girl. I'll be in the other room and hear her grunting, and then I know she's gotten herself stuck again. She is blowing bubbles and spitting all over. Lance and I do this back to her because she loves it and she copies us, but then I thought yesterday that maybe that was a bad idea because I was encouraging that behavior. Sigh....and then her clothes get so wet, not just from the spit-up, but from her spitting and blowing bubbles. Now I have to change her clothes for poop blowouts and from all the saliva on her tops! Lilah (I think) has giggled some - she likes to have us blow and tickle her neck and tummy. She laughs a lot when I sing or hum to her...not because I'm a bad singer, but because she thinks that singing is fun. :)
What a special blessing she is...we love her and love right now and will be lovin' all the next stages!

Changes in the Wiley Household

Things have really changed since Lilah is getting sooooo big and we're figuring out this parenting thing. :) Lilah has rolled over from tummy to back, and back to tummy. However, she only did the latter when I was out of the room and then almost cried when I came in screaming and yelling with joy cheering her on. That might keep her on her back now for awhile! For about a month or so I've thought she giggles, but we're still not sure it's a full fledged laugh...I can make her laugh by booing her or tickling her on her neck, or getting her naked and kissing her all over. She loves it. She screams with excitement all the time, and sometimes these screams turn to screams of half-mad ones when she's ready to be picked up. Lilah is talking all the time now. Granny thinks it's hilarious that when she's nursing she has to take breaks often (I think too often sometimes) to tell me something and talk and talk and talk. She's even starting to talk to her toys to tell them how much she LOVES them and putting them in her mouth.

She if officially sleeping in her crib. Yippee! She has a new bedtime routine with daddy - a bath, changing her, a story and eating. We're getting her to bed between 7 and 7:30, which is great because by then really she's so sleepy. Lilah still gets up once during the night to eat and then wakes up between 5 and 6. It's nice because I feel like we kind of know what to expect now, and when she starts to sleep through the night again we'll be pleasantly surprised. Our naps are better and although they are not scheduled whatsoever, she at least is taking them, and she's sleeping in her crib.

Last Monday would have been my first day back at school if I were returning. That morning she rolled over and I was so excited (much more than she was). I cried because I thought about missing something like that if I were back in school and not here with her. We are so confident that God will provide and we will be able to make it, because the sacrifices are so worth the prize of being here for her. I am going to start working on Tuesdays and start tomorrow. It'll be a long day since it's my first day back, but the rest of my Tuesdays will be short. I'm excited but nervous about being away from her for so long! Luckily granny is coming over and Lilah loves her granny!

Both Lilah and I have loved having daddy home for three days. My girlfriend told me the other day that the excitement for the weekends because Lance will be home never goes away. I look forward to him being here to help and just to spend more quality time together, and of course he loves the weekends so he can be with us more. He had a fun weekend watching football (it's like a little boy on Christmas) and doing one of his two Fantasy Football drafts. Next weekend he goes to the Coug game, which I opted out of for quite a few reasons. ;)

We love baby legs!

These are so cute....they're a little big still for Lilah, but they're sweet and make changing diapers much easier than with tights. This cute little dress was from Cammie - tons of hand-me-downs that her little girl has grown out of! Yippee!