Mother's Day

Matt had these beautiful flowers sent to me at work for Mother's Day!! I was so surprised!!! He's so sweet to me, and I love him so much!!! I was just thinking about how much he did for me when I was pregnant with our little miracle...I couldn't have made it through it without him! She was definitely worth everything I went through and more...I would do absolutely anything for that little girl!!!





I had a wonderful Mother's Day (other than being sick)...although, being Meredith's mommy makes every day special for me!! I never could've imagined that I would have the ability to love like this. I just feel the strongest connection to her...just thinking about that brings tears to my eyes!! She's so fun and funny...she truly lights up a room!!!

My mom gave me the following poem when she found out I was having a girl...she has had it for many years and wanted to share it with me. I thought about it recently, and wanted to share it.


Decade for Daughters
By Sandra Gales Shapard


Take my hand, my daughter,
and let's move together
toward your future.

It's a decade for daughters
and you are here
with all your energy
your bright eyes
your ready mind
willing to share my decade
while rushing
to get started on one of your own.

Then you will drop my hand
perhaps to balance better alone
perhaps to take a tiny hand in yours
and share your decade
with her.

Meredith is getting bigger everyday, and wanting to do everything on her own. I hear "ME" so often now...it's so exciting to watch her try things on her own, but also reminds me that she's growing up too quickly!!! :( There are many times that she doesn't want to hold my hand anymore because she wants to try things on her own, but I sure love the times that she does grab my hand!!!!

Mommy loves you Meredith Grace!!!! xoxo

Muffins - May 3rd

On May 3rd, Meredith helped me make her some heart shaped muffins. We got a new mix at Whole Foods, and wanted to test it out. The mix is free of everything that she is allergic to, so we were eager to find out if it tasted good :)

She really likes sweet potato and pumpkin muffins...we decided to make sweet potato ones this time. We used canned sweet potato, applesauce (instead of eggs) and her soy milk. And we also put cinnamon in them...Meredith had so much fun sprinkling it in (she even made a little noise when she was doing it). I had so much fun making them with her!!!!

Here's a picture of the finished product...

She really liked them!!! And, so did her Daddy!! :)

Whole Foods

We went to Whole Foods yesterday, and loved it!!!!!!! Just wish it was a little closer!!

We've been feeding Meredith mostly organic foods, and now we have to be even more careful about what she eats since she has food allergies. We were going there primarily to find soy cheese (since we've been unable to find some without milk protein at Publix, Kroger, and WalMart). They had the best fresh and frozen fruit and veggies...and we found pudding, muffin mix, waffles, and noodles. We could've spent so much longer in there...it's such a blessing for us to find a store like that!!!

We met the nicest lady while we were looking at the soy cheese...she stopped to tell us how cute she thought Mere was, and we got to talking about food allergies. She has food allergies, too...many of them. We saw her several times in the store, and she recommended some products...she also gave us the name of two books that she said might help us. We're so grateful for her help!!! We're new to all of this, and it actually kinda scares me.

We're gonna try to go to Whole Foods about once a month to stock up on things. If you've never been, I totally recommend it!!!!

Country Music Marathon Results

They posted the results yesterday afternoon...
Shannon and I both finished at 2 hrs 37 min 58 sec.

Oh, and about the chill bumps I mentioned yesterday (which I thought were due to the experience)...this might possibly have been from heat exhaustion!! I also felt very lightheaded and my legs hurt (we even had to move off to the side and stretch for a few seconds)...I haven't had any of that happen during my training. I drank a lot of water for the last few miles...I've never wanted water so bad in my life!!! As soon as we finished, I had to hold onto Shannon to keep myself up.

Matt wants me to run it with him next year...we'll see about that :) I'm just glad it's over for now. But I'm definitely excited that he wants to do it...I think he'll do great (and will be able to beat my time...he mentioned wanting to do that) :)

I was a little sore when I woke up this morning, and felt even better after stretching...however, as the day goes on, I get even more sore!!! And my ankle is hurting worse than ever (I hurt it about 2 weeks ago)...I've been icing it and taking tylenol :(

Have a wonderful Sunday!!!,
Shanda

I finished!!!

I actually finished it!!! And I'm so glad it's over!!!

It was incredible, and awful!!! :) We've been training in cool weather for the past few months, so I didn't handle the heat very well. I wanted to quit at every mile, but Shannon helped me get through it!!! Thanks Shannon!!!

We had set a new goal of 2 hrs 15 min, but didn't make that. I was just so glad to see that finish line!!! We haven't received the results, so I'll post that at a later time.

We put Hebrews 12:1 on the back of our shirts. It was great how many people stopped to ask us what that verse was!!! Thankfully, Shannon was able to tell them because I didn't feel up for much talking.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." - Hebrews 12:1

The bands and encouragement from the people watching were wonderful...really helped take my mind off it somewhat :) And the people with the hose pipes were such a blessing...I really needed that!!!

We found another verse recently that is awesome, too...

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." - 1 Corinthians 9:24

Most importantly, I want to thank the Lord...he carried me!!! I give him all the glory for my accomplishment today (and for putting people in my path to help me along)!!!!

It was an incredible experience...I had chill bumps the whole time and even shed a few tears!

Cute Hair!! :)

Mere's getting more hair on top, and we have so much fun playing with it!!!!

Her daddy gave her a little Pebble's hairdo, and it made us laugh!!! Here's some pics of it...she didn't want to take her finger out of her mouth (that's her new thing...it's constantly in there).

Meredith loves the bath again!!!

Meredith went through a phase of being terrified of taking a bath, but she loves it once again. She asks to take one all the time now :)

Here are some pics of Mere and Carter that I took on April 17th. We were over at Shannon & Matt's house and the babies decided that they wanted to take a bath.