Kicking it into high gear.

I've been sick since Tuesday night. Energy draining, lose your voice, feel like death while chasing after a 1 year old, sick. It sucks, I haven't had a good night of sleep or have been able run since Tuesday. I feel better today, but my throat is still swollen from losing my voice over the weekend.

I'm going to photo blog today.

Happy Birthday Ami!


Rollin' in her new wagon. She thinks she owns the world.



Asking for "more." Her pediatrician was very impressed by her vocabulary and sign language ability. I'm proud! She weighed 18.6 lbs and is 28 inches tall. MINI!


Her new surfer girl suit from Auntie.


Going somewhere with her purse. Inside: her new baby cell phone.


No nap = falling asleep at dinner. Cute!





Visiting her dad at work.


Since she has been one, for almost one week now. I'm fairly certain that Ami has kicked it up a notch. No walking...just running. She's loud, bangs everything around, and is able to get into anything she really wants to. Example: She busted through the "baby proofing" gate that keeps her away from the fire place and TV. Yeah, she just picked the whole thing up and maneuvered around it. What a crazy.

Happy 1st Birthday Amelie!

Wake Up
Breakfast
Jog 3 Miles
Clean
Cook Sauce
Amelie Naps
Laundry
Wash Dishes
Frost Cake
Frost Cupcakes
Lunch (with Tyler)
Dishes
Bike Ride with Amelie
Swing at Minnehaha Falls
Attempted Nap
Scrub Floors
Clean Bathroom
Wash More Dishes
Laundry
Tidy up Toys
Run to Target
Finish Cooking
Open Presents
Wash Dishes
Put Presents Away
Watch Movie

My oh my how this year was different from the last. Last year, right NOW, I was was laying with a 1 hour old infant baby on my chest. My mom was about to come visit, Tyler was about to take a very short nap, and I was enamored by my newborn baby.

Now she's 1. She smashed a cake. Paid almost zero attention to me opening all of her AWESOME gifts. She got a membership to the zoo, a swimsuit, pool, new summer clothes, sweet toys, and a wagon. We had a lot of fun tonight. She needed a bath after her cake and didn't go to bed until 9pm. But that's what you get when you feed a 1 year old cake...even if she only eats the frosting and tosses the cake carelessly on the floor.

I love her WAY to much. So much that I would get a mini van for her. Yeah. A mini van.

10 miles.

I can't believe I ran 10 miles on Saturday. The whole time I was running I was just trying to forget how many more miles I had yet to run. I felt pretty good about myself when I was finished though.

Then I went to work all night. I was so tired by the end of the night that I slept until after noon today.

Amelie and I went for a long walk and played at the park while Tyler went for his 10 mile run. Then we all went up to Buster's for dinner.





She is the funnest baby ever. She was waving at everyone that came in and blowing kisses and smiling. I never get tired of people telling me how cute she is. I can't believe she is going to be 1 on Tuesday. Holy crap.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

What we did today.

1. I have been sleeping terribly lately. I barely slept at all last night. So frusterating.

2. Ami and I went for a run around Nokomis. We stopped at the park and played. She laughed so hard when I pushed her in the swing.



4. She took a nap in her CRIB! I won't say she is officially sleeping napping in her crib, because sometimes she doesn't nap, but she hasn't napped in her swing for about a week now

5. We played in the backyard today. Check this out...

Doesn't she look like a mini basketball player from some basketball movie.

6. We went to the Stecker house to BBQ and see little Frank and the rest of the crew.

7. Also, we went on a 9 mile run this weekend. It was less difficult than I thought it would be. I downloaded some new music and made a new running playlist.

Here is an accidental photo that we took in Tahoe. The camera was zoomed in to take a picture of a duck and then we tried to take a self portrait of ourselves. I actually really like it.


We are going to finish watching Zombieland now. It's totally gross and I sort of hate it.

Oh, and Happy St. Patty's Day!

One pretty great weekend...especially for the Steckers!

OMG, today we had a 9 mile run for our marathon training. I'll admit, I haven't been training like I should have been. We didn't run while we were in Tahoe, and I have missed a few other days here and there. But I ran the whole 9 today.

I think I broke my knees. And my hips.

I feel great besides that. I have a love/hate relationship with running. Once I get past the first 3 miles I'm fine. It was great today though, beautiful weather, more energy once I'm done, and I feel like I accomplished something.

Ami and I stopped at my aunts to drop something off and visit. We went to Babies R Us, then we all went to Busters for a little dinner. It was a pretty good day.
This is Ami waiting with us to be seated outside Busters. Such a fashionable baby!





My friend Nicole had her 2nd baby on Saturday morning at 6:33am. I got to her house as he was being born. It was amazing. Her and her husband chose to have a natural home water birth. She did it drug free, in a big tub, with an amazing group of women. They seemed so so happy and content when it was all over. She said it was the perfect birth and I am so glad to have been a part of the hours after her birth.

Her and Frank looked so content laying together in bed a couple of hours after the birth. And what a great experience to be able to birth at home, in your own element, and recover there as well.


I hope that our next birth experience is as great! Little Frank looks just like his little sister, who was so excited to meet her new brother.

Some wedding photos!

Dude, I changed my last name on Facebook today to my married name. It was a weird thing to do. I guess I never sat down and thought about what my new name would be. It's like a whole new identity, and it sounds very strange in my ears.

Anyways, here are some of my fav wedding pics.






and more...





My, my sister and my friend Kristin had a baby play date today. It's so great to see 3 kids, with 3 different personalities interact. Turns out my daughter is the bully. I'm exhausted from keeping up with them. Amelie basically sprinkled Cheerios all over the house for me to clean up. I'm teaching her how to nap in her crib too. Yeah, she has napped in her swing for the past 11 months, but it's like her Kryptonite. Those 2 hour morning naps are key to my mental health. So far, she has slept for about 30 minutes each crib nap. It's only been 2 days though. NBD. She'll learn. Right?

Also, on a totally unrelated note, I think Parker Posey is hilarious. I love Best in Show. I just watched her and Jimmy Fallon have a dance off on his show. I wish I was friends with her, and him.

And...my friend is in labor right now. I'm UBER excited for her and wish her the best! I can't wait to meet her new little man!

Hooray Marriage!

Surprise, we eloped!

We have been married for 5 whole days now!! It's super awesome...but not really different at all.

It was a long long day of travel, we flew from Mpls to Salt Lake City, to Reno, then took a bus to South Lake Tahoe. 14 hours total. Jeepers. We dropped Amelie off at my parents and she went right to sleep. That made it soooo much easier to leave.

We were exhausted by the time we got there, but like Matthew Wilder sang, "can't nobody break my (our) stride". We unpacked and headed down to Fire and Ice, the restaurant at our hotel. We met a nice guy, James, and chatted it up while we had some beers.

The best part about our hotel was the heated outdoor pool and hot tubs. We enjoyed both that evening.

Anyways, to the good part.

We got married Wednesday the 3rd, I had an appointment to get my hair done at 10am and Tyler went and got his beard trimmed. We met back at the hotel and had some mimosas and got ready.

As soon as I got my dress on, I was certain I was going to ralph. I felt ill. I thought it was because my dress or undergarments were too tight, but I was wrong. I guess I was just nervous. Tyler got some choice photos of me sitting by the window trying to get some fresh air.

When our limo arrived we took some photos in the hotel by the fireplace and I thought I was going to have to run outside and barf, but I didn't. I felt better once we got into the limo and rolled out to our wedding site. The folks that married us were pretty funny/crazy. Just our style.

The ceremony was short and sweet. We were supposed to get married at Emerald Bay, but since it was practically blizzarding, we had to go to a back up site. It was really cool getting married in the snow, we loved it.

Since we got married during the week, we were able to go and get our certified marriage certificates right away, then we went back to our hotel. We cooked a pizza, had some champagne that our lovely friends Cassie, Beth, and Amber sent us. Yes, pizza and champagne. Oh, and PBR's.

Then we went out on the town. We had dinner at a Steak/Seafood place. I literally had the BEST sushi I have ever eaten. (I have eaten a LOT of sushi too). Everyone was clapping and cheering and buying us drinks all night long. It was a lot of fun.





I'm uploading the photos as I type and will post them soon. For now, here are some pics we took on our phones. I can't wait to celebrate with our friends and family at the reception!

Here is a real gem. We bought the most awesome sweatshirts we could find, then wore them on our travels home. Awesome.