Praying on the run...literally.

The run I'm referring to was actually on Friday. Due to a weekend away at the lake and a sleepy morning yesterday, I haven't had the chance to tell you about it.

When I first started running I was listening to some music that I listened to in HS (mostly because that's what my friends listened to, I'm more of a country girl.) Some Country Grammar, Batter up, Dirt of your shoulder, etc. Some new(er) Kanye (can't stand Kanye, but he sure can write some good running/workout music). I thought maybe listening to older stuff that I used to listen to wouldn't be as raunchy as today's and would just be some decent up beat music to get my adrenaline going. Well, not so much. 

Trash in, trash out. 

So I stopped listening to music and turned on one of Josiah's favorites so he could listen to something. He loves RRSO Symphony Orchestra's "The Music of the Beatles". This isn't on iTunes, so here's the YouTube version as an example. The jogging stroller has a speaker in the canopy that plugs into my phone/iPod so he can listen to some music. Pretty handy! I chose to run in "silence". 

I have been overwhelmed with how many people I've been praying for lately. It's so crazy how many things our friends and family go through as we get older. On Friday I decided I would use the half hour or so that I spend running as time with God to talk to Him about all these people. 

It was the best run I've ever had. 

I was so concentrated on other people and their pain that I completely forgot I was running. It was amazing and so motivating in every other aspect of life. 

How often do we concentrate on our own pain and forget that someone standing next to us is probably going through the same thing or worse?

I've struggled lately with not being able to be there for some of my friends that are going through a really tough time. I hate that not only is it out of my control, but I can't even be by their side to help them through it. It's so tough to try to encourage them and be there for them through the phone, I'm just not good at that. 

1. 2"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

Colossians 4:2-6 NIV

It used to come naturally to me to pray for others when there was nothing more I could do to help. There is someone I went to HS with that I used to pour my time into trying to help, but it just didn't work. My words weren't enough. I gave up and just started praying, and I actually still pray for this person all the time (on my run yesterday and on Friday, for instance). I have absolutely no idea what this person is going through right now and what kind of work the Lord has done. I haven't talked to them in years (except maybe a "Happy Birthday" on FB).

I want to be the "fixer". I want to do something to help everyone. I can't do that. I can't fix everything and I can't change anyone's mind when I feel they are headed in the wrong direction. That is only done through Christ. I'm finally feeling some relief because I'm taking all of that weight that I put on myself and launching it up into prayer. 

1. 
   

9 "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil;cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn."

Romans 12:9-15 NIV

The Set-up

One of the things that drove me crazy when I was pregnant was how to organize his room. I can't tell you how many times I re-organized it before he was even born.

I have noticed that our "set-up" changes just as much as he does. Almost every time he grows out of a certain size of clothes/diapers/shoes, I rearrange. This is why the Rubbermaid HomeFree Series is my all time favorite. Ever since my cheap-o closet in college collapsed on me, I have been addicted to this closet system (yes it's possible).

One of the first things I did when we moved into this house was tear out everything that was in my closet and replace it with this system. It has so much versatility, which is perfect for how many times a month year I change it. It is only sold at Lowes (at least in Indiana, that I've found). There are so many other closet systems that I dream about (Elfa), but that is not quite in my budget. This does the same thing, it just doesn't look near as pretty when compared.

So when I found out I was pregnant, I of course had to go get Josiah the same closet system because I knew it would be perfect for a wardrobe that changes every 3 months. (Don't we all wish we got all new clothes every 3 months?)

I actually just switched everything around last week. He is going to be a year old next week and he's pretty spot on when it comes to switching clothing sizes (especially with Carters). There is a whole top shelf that you can't see from this dark picture (I realized as I started writing this that I hadn't taken a picture of the closet and Josiah is sleeping so I didn't want to turn on the light).The top right self looks a bit awkward because of how high it is, but the basket underneath it is filled with shoes. I need space to be able to easily lift it out of there to dig through and find what shoes I want him to wear. 

I also didn't have that much hanging space before I switched it. You can see a divide in the bottom row (mostly with empty hangers), everything to the right is what fits him right now, EVERYTHING else is 12 month clothes (plus the bin on the floor that is in the way until I can put it into the dresser drawers). 

I used to have his changing table across the room, but a few months ago I moved it over to so I could actually utilize the hanging space more efficiently. Who wants to walk across the room with a naked baby to find out what you want him to wear? Or keep all those cute polos folded up in a drawer? It's much easier to be able to block him from jumping falling off the table and flipping through all his clothes right next to me.

But really the point of this post isn't to show you his crazy closet, it's to explain our set-up of the cloth diapers and wipes and how it is working for us right now. 

This is inside the top drawer of the changing table. 

• An empty shoe box to contain all those tiny socks (otherwise they run crazy in the drawer). 
• The Trend Lab Storage Caddy holds the disposable diapers (which aren't in there in this picture) and his wipes. 
• A basket that was actually given to him as his Easter basket (by yours truly) holds his cloth diapers. 

This looks a little crazy, but it works. I'll go from left to right explaining what everything is and why it's there:

• Hand sanitizer (obviously)
• Wipe solution (in the Bath & Body Works soap bottle that I up-cycled). This is squirted onto the wipes for the extra stinky diaper changes.
• Spray bottle. This has a much more diluted wipe solution in it that I spray into his diaper area before wiping.
• Squirt bottle. Used to get the wipes wet.
• Prince Lionheart wipe warmer. They actually make one designed for cloth wipes Warmies Wipe Warmer. I received this as a shower gift and it works just fine. 
• The cloth wipes are just the thin terry cloth baby wash cloths Like These. You can find these anywhere (Target, Walmart, Meijer). I have some from pretty much everywhere. But these are my absolute favorite. 
• Underneath on the left side are the rolled up "wipes" that are waiting to be warm:)
• That roll that looks like toilet paper or paper towels is actually diaper liners. I had seen these online but didn't understand their importance until my wonderful friend Bridgette explained them to me. I would have probably given up on cloth diapering if it weren't for these guys!
• The back right cubbie has 2 different kinds of thermometers (temporal and the regular one that never seems to work), his brush and comb.
• The front cubbie has his A&D and Desitin. They are almost empty and those are the only ones I have bought and he's only a year old. This is all because we mostly use cloth diapers and you SHOULD NOT use any ointment with cloth diapers. 

If you refer back up to the first picture of the closet, this is another important element in cloth diapering. It took me until a few months ago to find what worked for me. At first, I was just using one of those bags that they give want you to buy at the grocery store (I have a lot of them, I'm not saying that because I'm against them) to put all the dirty stinky diapers in. Gross. 

I had been reading about the diaper pail liners but hadn't brought myself to spend the money (whooo $15...shows you how frugal I can be) I finally bought this. (Can you tell I love Amazon?) The problem was I couldn't find a small enough trash can that had a lid. I wanted something small that could fit into the bottom of his closet. I FINALLY found one at Kroger (so random?) that was perfect. I can push the little button with my foot so I can keep one hand on the baby and one on the nasty diaper;) The pail liner fits right in there and when it comes time to wash them, I can just put all if into the washer. Awesome.

People still do cloth diapers?

I get that question all the time.

There are a few reasons why we choose to use cloth diapers:
1) It's MUCH cheaper (it seems intimidating and expensive at first, but it takes no time at all to justify the cost)
2) We're putting less nasty diapers/wipes in landfills
3) It's better for Josiah's skin

I will say, however, that we do not use cloth 100% of the time. Here's why:
1) We only have 6 cloth diapers. I haven't spend any of our money on cloth diapers. If Josiah gets cash for any reason (from the baby showers or from grandma's "mad money"), I spent it on diapers. So I've actually been "ahead" the whole time and didn't have to justify my cost. I do plan on buying more though.
2) I can't bring myself to change a cloth diaper and having that thing in my diaper bag if we're out and about. This happened once and the smell has pretty much haunted me. (I know there are bags for these things to prevent it from making everything in your diaper bag/purse smell like urine/poop, but since I don't intentionally take him out in cloth, I haven't invested in this device)

I think when I tell any generation before mine that we use cloth at home, they picture this:

Absolutely not. I can't imagine how many blow outs these babies had when they had to wear these things. That just sounds terrible and dangerous.

We have only tried 2 different kinds of diapers, but between the 2 (Fuzzibunz and bumGenius) I like the Fuzzibunz better. We use the all-in-one (one size fits all). The elastic is adjustable and there are plenty of snaps to accommodate his ever growing body!  As with disposables, not all diapers are meant for all babies. The main reason I like Fuzzibunz better is because they have a thicker insert. The Bumgenius is really thin and gets absolutely soaked really fast, thus making it leak out faster. 

(mine doesn't have the white fasteners at the front like this one, but I liked that it showed what everything is)

Mine looks like this

Stay tuned for more on cloth diapering and cloth wipes:)

Are you THINspired?

I have a Pinterest board titled "THINspiration". It's mostly workouts and some inspirational quotes/sayings. If you're like me, you go through and pin a bunch of that stuff, but rarely ever get around to doing any of it. Well once a week I try to spend my workout time doing some of these exercises!

This morning after breakfast and putting a load of diapers in the washer, I laid Josiah down for his morning nap and took the iPad into the living room for pinspired workout!

My favorite part about doing these workouts is being able to watch DP at the same time. 

(I may have been a little distracted from my workout when Chris Paul was on today...

I had to give him my undivided attention)

So today I did the Total Body Kettlebell Workout and the 300 Ultimate Ab & Core Challenge

Pretty solid, if I do say so myself. 

I try not to concentrate too much on ab workouts and stick to as much cardio as I can. Reason? I plan on having another baby in the near future, and I will probably have to have another c-section. Why spend sooo much time toning perfectly sculpted abs and have someone slice through them soon? Those perfectly sculpted abs will have to wait until I'm done having kiddos! I still do abs a few times a week just to maintain a solid core, I'm just not shooting for a flat stomach right now. 

I of course followed up my workout with a delicious Green Monster

These things are amazing. I pretty much stick to that recipe (but I eye-ball it now), and I mix it up with different kinds of yogurt 

(and occasionally have to use frozen berries instead of bananas if Josiah is on a banana kick).

My favorite type of yogurt to substitute (which I did today) is Kroger's STRAWBERRY MINT Greek Yogurt. It's cheaper, it's still Greek and has the Greek benefits, and it's delicious. 

I actually put the whole container of yogurt in, not just the 1/2 cup. 

Run forest RUN!

For those of you who don't subscribe to my other blog, I'll give you a little background (the much shorter version!) I used to not share my weight because honestly, the number on the scale is pretty irrelevant. It's not like it's posted on my forehead. It's more about how I feel. Before I step on the scale I can usually guess my weight correctly within a half pound. But here goes:

High school and college weight range: 130-134

Wedding day weight: 125

First few months of being married (before I started gaining baby weight) range: 128-132

9 months pregnant: 170ish (I stopped weighing myself around 7 months because it was getting scary, so that's my guess)

Original goal weight: 125

**When I say my goal weight is 125, that's not because of what number it is, it's because of how my body feels when I'm maintaining that weight.

Today's weigh-in: 124.5

I've blogged a little about my baby weight loss journey, but it really all started when I was pregnant. I had 2 personal fears when I was pregnant. I say personal, because obviously I have a million fears that involve Josiah. These are just fears involving myself. 1) That I wouldn't be able to breastfeed and 2)That I wouldn't be able to lose the weight and get by body back to "normal". 

Well, those fears have been faced and crushed. Josiah will be 1 in a couple weeks and I have been nursing him since the beginning. Thankfully, this has played a role in my weight loss journey. Kind of 3 birds with one  stone! (Bird 1- the ability to nurse. Bird 2 - Providing nothing but the best for my bebe. Bird 3 - helping with losing weight!) 

My fear of not being able to lose the weight led to some really weird dreams while I was pregnant. (Yes, I had my fair share of giving birth to a walking toddler or having the baby but didn't have any clothes, diapers, crib, or carseat for him...) The most common dreams involved me running. I was running in races, with seriously random people that I've come across in my life, and just running everywhere I was going. Well naturally, this made me really want to run. But running isn't something you just want to pick up and start doing when you're pregnant. So I had to wait. and wait. and wait. 

Since I had a cesarean, I had to wait 6 weeks to be cleared to work out. In fact one of the first things my doctor said to me at my 6 week appointment (without me even asking) is "yes, you may go home and do all the crunches and situps you can do!" YES! Just what I wanted to hear. So that's just what I did. I went home and I could do one crunch and I thought my incision was going to rip open. But I slowly was able to do more and now I can hardly notice it (I do still notice some incision pain if I twist a weird way doing some crazy ab move). The problem was, I couldn't run yet. With our hectic schedule between October - January, there's really no time for me to say "okay Ryan, I'll be back I'm gonna go run while you stay here with Josiah." I didn't get that until March. 

I started the couch to 5k program and was doing really well...except I couldn't get a good rhythm going because I had to wait for Ryan to get home in order to go run. I was looking up reviews and anything and everything on jogging strollers for MONTHS. I finally decided on one and didn't want to buy it yet because Ryan had recently bought a crazy expensive road bike (lets NOT talk about how much he rides that thing...). To my surprise, my mom and dad bought me one (A Schwinn Turismo)for my birthday in April! I've been a running fool ever since!

I ran my first 5k in June and placed 41st out of 94 (pretty good for hating running all my life then randomly starting up 2 months prior!) and 4th out of the females in my age group!

As a previous avid hater of working out on vacation, I ran 3 times on our vacation last week and worked out every single day. Two of the 3 times were on the beach, which is AWESOME by the way. 

I've had a hard time getting motivated to run this week though. Between Josiah's ear infection, cold and my seriously disturbing headache and stomach ache...it's been a rough week. I finally went today. We went 3 miles but I probably only ran 2 of it. My mind and body just weren't ready to push a 19 lb baby into the crazy wind. I've gotta get back on track because when I stop nursing in a couple weeks, I'm terrified of what it's going to do to my body!!! 

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised" (Proverbs 31:30) 

You Can't afford not to make this investment in yourself, your health, and your future. It's not selfish to do it. It's selfish not to do it

- Stormie Omartian "The Power of a Praying Wife"

Right where I'm supposed to be

At the beginning of 2010, I was a college graduate with a bachelor's degree working 1 full time and 2 part time jobs; none of which I dreamed to be doing when I walked across that stage at Ball State just 7 months prior. When I looked down, I knew there was one thing that I hoped/prayed to have, though. A beautiful diamond ring on my finger. He had FINALLY put a ring on it in February of 2010! Juggling 3 jobs and planning the wedding of my dreams within 6 months taught me more than enough about priorities and time management. 

One of those jobs, my full time job as a daycare teacher to infants (ages 6 weeks to about 9 months, plus covering the 1 year old room on occasion), did bring an even brighter light to what I am crazy passionate about....kids. I've always loved kids and always took the "mom" or "teacher" role growing up. 

I knew on my first day that this is exactly where God wanted me to be. I am NOT a morning person, but I never once struggled or had to drag myself to work at 6:30 in the morning. Yes, I had my fare share of 6:32-6:45 clock-ins because I'm not so good at hearing the screaming alarm clock next to my head (just ask anyone that was in guard with me, YIKES!). But they were never once because I was lolly-gagging around because I didn't want to go to work. I couldn't wait for that first baby to arrive in the morning, and I hated leaving their cute little faces. I didn't get frustrated when they cried, spit out their food, spit up on my clothes, or heaven for bid...peed on me. 

I got myself way too (not possible) attached to some of these babies and their parents. I learned how every single family does things differently, but that doesn't make any of them right or wrong. Different bottles, different schedules, different methods, different everything. At that point, I had never had a baby, so I wasn't set in any certain way like almost every other teacher was. I talked to the parents, got to know them, got to know their child and went with whatever they wanted, not what was convenient for me. 

Although I was so happy to be starting a new chapter of my life with Ryan, we decided together that I would be the one to make the move. So I had to leave my jobs (I had already left one in April) and start the job search all over. I was so sad to leave the babies, but hoped I would be able to find a job here in the field that I was hoping to work in (sports). 

In the first couple months of being married, a whole lot of nothing happened in my job search. But come November, I finally landed something (again, doing something I knew nothing about and not even remotely close to what I had planned for myself). God had a different plan, and boy-oh-boy is that an understatement. On December 8, 2010, I got the results from my 5th pregnancy test...POSITIVE. Yes, pregnant. Not even 3 solid months of being married. 

9 months of being a coaches wife, working a full time job, being a Campus Life directors wife, and still struggling with leaving my family and friends was quite exhausting. On August 31, 2011 (7 days PAST my due date, that little booger), Josiah Ryan finally graced us with his presence. Being pregnant and having babies at the same time as a couple friends only clarified how different parenting is from one person to another, even one child to another. 

During my maternity leave I decided to stay home and not go back to my job. That's when God really showed me that is right where I'm supposed to be. He's been opening and closing doors all over the place, and I just do my best to follow the map. 

I started a more personal blog with updates for my family on what the Miller's are up to, but after being addicted to Pinterest and reading other blogs, I decided to start a more general blog of my own. Our personal blog requires you to be invited to read it (I don't like the idea of creepers reading about every personal thing in my life), but this one will be open. Clearly after telling you how I got to this point, it's not going to be totally impersonal. This is really just a place where you can see what things work for our family, what things haven't worked, how we manage our time, and have a place to find comfort that not everything has to be perfect and by the book. The only book we want to revolve our life around is the Holy Bible. 

So welcome to the place where the "newlywed" Miller's meets mother and fatherhood...Millerhood:)