ready or not, here she comes...

with a heavy emphasis on the OR NOT.

evy's on the move and fast....one minute she's in the living room, and the next she's in joy's room.  oh my gosh! i really wish she would stay on her little play blanket for another month or two...i really am not ready for her to be crawling and here's why. for starters, she's a little too young and still not completely sturdy so when she gets to the wood floor flipping over is still a possibility. she's also attempting to go from a crawling position to a sitting position, another semi-dangerous maneuver-- especially when she's off-roading. 
well, i think it's safe to say we are prime candidates for one of those playpens that cage the little babes in to a predetermined space. 

in other news around here, trey is just about done with that whole PhD thing.  he has worked so hard...not only in completing his degree but taking on what seems to average about 3 to 4 other side jobs per semester.  I have never known someone so capable at juggling so many responsibilities at once...and to do so with such a positive attitude, never complaining, and excelling in each area. truly unbelievable.  

joybird is growing up so fast... we recently made an online purchase for her "fall wardrobe". most of our favorite hot-spot shops were offering 25-30% off so we acted fast!  the goal always being to buy minimal items that can be worn several different ways. quality over quantity, of course. well, joy likes to weigh in on these decisions.  she'd point to the screen and say "i want to wear that dress!"  i let her pick which color of skinny jeans she wanted and w/o any hesitation she chose yellow, of course.  we got the whole shipment in the mail last night and i was so excited to show her everything this morning. she ran into the living room like it was christmas.... she see's all the clothes and says. "oh my goodness, mommy!!! they're so pretty!!!" ha. and then we tried everything on (her favorite past time). she got so into it and would run down the hall to look in the mirror with each new top.  she is determined to make those yellow skinny's go with everything.  "i wear my yellow jeans!" i tried to explain to her that it's REALLY hot out and that shorts might be the better option for another month or so. we'll see how long it lasts. 

all are well around here and i am LOVING the ages of these precious girls. 2.5 ish and almost 6 months. something about this combo just seems magical!  i want to freeze them right here for a few months and soak up each little moment. 

mama-meej's shower

we threw a shower for mama-mija this past weekend in San An!  So many people came to spoil sweet baby varga!

papa joe and bebe watched the girls so that coco, bud and I could fulfill our showerly-duties 

look at those two little matching babes!

oh hey, mrs mitchell ;)

the varga's decided to reveal their sweet girls name via a little game of hangman!

this was SO much fun!!

joy, quite obviously, stoked about meeting her little cousin charlotte.  although, i believe, she's a little more excited about all those letters. kind of on a letter kick. preferably caps. ;)

there's really nothing better than baby delivery day. and i find myself living vicariously through all these people who are just about to, or just have, delivered!  i just can't believe in one little month mama-meej will be in the hospital meeting her precious charlotte elise.  i can hardly contain my excitement for her...i don't think she even knows what's coming-- until you're in that moment, it's hard to even imagine the greatness of it!

we love you, charlotte elise varga!! and can hardly wait to kiss your sweet little face!

lovely little floral flat

old navy. 19 dollars

i found them on sale for 10 back in the spring of o nine.

and if only i could go back in time, i would have bought 5 more pairs of this little treasure.  i have NEVER owned a more comfortable shoe...ever.
i wore this little gem all over switzerland and walked for miles and miles.  i have actually gone running in these things (not really for workout purposes-- more for needing to get from a to b and fast)...and the comfort is off the charts.
i throw these on with just about EVERYTHING.  if you live with me in the atx (shells) i know you've seen me wear this for just about any and all occasions.

anyway, just wanted to share. in case old navy gets their act together and re-creates this perfect floral flat. i don't even need the cute floral pattern (although it has been quite the touch) anything will do.   i check their site fairly often. haven't found it yet. so if you do, please tell me!!

evy + joy = love

"oh hey, evy!!", as joy would say in a super sweet high-pitched voice...

my little side-kick joybird... doesn't skip a beat

 evy is bead-obsessed. she will make her way across an entire room in record time when she spots beads...

sweet-sister joy decides to share....

 and then decides maybe she wants them back...

 she redirects with sophie the giraffe...

o my gosh, those eyes!

 off to lunch with pups.

"

ALL HEART/no lungs--

yes, this one's all about me...and why running is the best medicine:

when you're mothering a toddler and an infant you need an outlet.  i've tried it the other way (no outlet style) and find that i am a better mom and better wife if i have "julee time". trey knows this, which is why most days he pushes me out the door... and i seriously come home a new person.

running is my time to think, time to reflect, time to pray, and sometimes just time to turn up the volume on my ipod and turn down the volume of everyday life, which has proven to be quite overwhelming at times... mostly because, when doing the same thing over and over and over in a day, you get so wrapped up in it and it becomes all-consuming. everything becomes a big deal because you forget that there's more to life than a blow-out diaper or a short or missed nap.  these things really shouldn't rock my boat, but they do... unless i run ;) 

so i've been back at it for one solid week. that's 22 whopping fresh miles under my belt.  i seem to thrive on improvement. there's nothing more motivating to me than to note the changes that takes place through training.  i'm always wow'd by what the body can do and it encourages me each day to push harder and faster just knowing that i am becoming a more "efficient system" and working toward paces that, currently, seem dreamy but in the end are possible! wow!

so, where i'm at currently: 
before this week i had run about 4 or 5 times total since may '11.  so this is what we call starting from scratch...i'm at the zero of my working toward hero plan.  i have 8 weeks of base training before i start my 16 week marathon training plan, which will end happily at the dallas marathon on december 6th! it is there that i plan to "pr" (sub 3:07) and in a perfect running world, accomplish a sub 3:00:00 finish. there, i've said it.  this is just the kind of accountability i need to take me to the next level ;) the two people that read my blog now know-- and will hopefully hold me to this little plan.
i've dreamed about the sub-3 marathon for quite a few years now (and set this little dream aside to accomplish my even bigger dream, the guinn-girls) so now it's time to get'er done.  as i've said before, i'm 30, i just entered my running prime (so they say?), and now it's go time.

so, as you may know, a mile is a great indicator of your current fitness level. so i've decided to time my mile once a week just to know where i'm at and to keep myself motivated by watching the times drop.  you can be a part of this great endeavor as i will attach my stop watch finishes to this post.

week one: 6:56.  hard to believe that one mile at this pace just about killed me...and in order to accomplish my sub 3 i need to do 26 miles at a 6:53 or so. there's a long road ahead but i LIVE for the challenge!!!

week 2: watch me drop watch me drop!! ;) is that negative splits i see? working my way into the five's...one week at a time.

week 3: this was a mental-gain...not so much physical since i ran this 4 days after the previous timed mile and had only run one other time between.  i just told myself that i had to beat the 6:35. started a little over-ambitiously...but still came out ahead! getting close to the sub 6!

:

week 4: yikes! haven't been running as much. got in a 5 miler before my san antonio trip and one 6 miler while there...that's about all. going to hopefully run one more time and then do the time trial! just hoping for anything under 6:20! we shall see.

all heart/no lungs- that's how this little timed mile went down. trey went back to work -- LAME-- we miss him like crazy around here...and somewhere in the middle of that chaos finding time to run became a little harder. so, i only ran one time over the course of about 12 days. timed my mile though... as mentioned, all heart. but either way, watch me drop watch me drop!! time to step it up though and be consistent..SLOW AND STEADY DOES NOT WIN THE RACE!! ;)

see you next week. sub 6:13. that's all i'm asking for.

week 5: ran at high noon in 100 degree temps. not cool. but it's the only time i could get it in.  not a whole lot of running going on right now... trey and i are both busy preparing for the students to arrive. in the midst of all that we got evy sleep trained and joy potty trained. i'll take this 6:11!

real training starts august 19th!  this is when i am going to be SERIOUS!!  looking to be sub 6 in 2 or 3 weeks and looking forward to sprinting about town and hardly feeling winded. ;) 

#longroadahead

#inittoguinnit

working toward speedy-guinnzales status?

okay, this is my final pre-training time.  real training starts....today. i realize that i'm already two days late on starting the plan. the problem is, i got talked into signing up for this CROSSFIT competition that has left me unable to walk/run and lift anything heavier than evy for the past three days. feeling good today finally and planning to start running TONIGHT!!!

LET'S DO THIS. #SO READY!

a few from the iphone stash....

the majority of these pictures are joy doing what she does best. 

playing dress up.  as you know, she has been dressing herself from head to toe since she was about 10 months old.  by far one of her most impressive talents ;) she's just always loved to put on her own  clothes. and does NOT want any help.  but it doesn't stop there. once evy arrived she wanted to wear all of evy's clothes...and dress evy.  she would play in evy's drawers all day long pulling out different outfits, putting them on, and running out with this huge grin just waiting for trey and i's response.  we'd typically laugh at her latest ensemble in which she would respond, "take a peeek-ture"!!

so here are a few phone pics

this first one is joy putting her shoes on evy. (oh, i failed to mention that she enjoys dressing evy almost as much as dressing herself)

"i go running like mommy!"

evy's dress

squeezing into 6 month apparel

found a diaper cream streak on this little lady. hilarious placement.

this was actually a recent pic. sporting evy's 0-3 month tank top, double-fisting evy's diapers (on her way to the trash can), while taking a quick moment to do a gymnast salute inspired by gaby douglas. 

while sorting evy's clothes she came across an old onesie. she was in heaven because this thing has SNAPS! of course, doing it all by herself.

just another day at the house. backward size 6 month swim top 

she says, "i get piper's leash on so she can potty outside!!"

this was also the day that after piper did her potty business joy looks at me and says, "OH NO, mommy!! piper needs to wipe"!

and one day i found puppy chillin in the fridge in his bloomers.

i'm not allowed to change evy's diapers most days. it's joys job. and she's very proud of it.

this was the day that i was trying to figure out how much evy weighed.  joy became super fascinated "i weigh myself!"  not sure why the heels and evy's jammies (coupling as a dress, seen here) were necessary!

the day that we potty trained i walked into joys room and found everyone dressed in panties.  apparently "bitty-baby" got socks too.

mardi gras year round at our house. piper got beads...

and so did evy

"we doing tummy time like EVY!"

that's all i've got for now. more coming.

evy grace -- 4 MONTHS!

well, little miss evelyn is actually 5 months now...never posted my 4 month post because i was waiting on pictures. oops! here it is, still picture-less...

i LOVE me a 4 month old!! she's sturdy, she sleeps like a champ, and she laughs at all my jokes. ;) let the real fun begin...
our doctor is out of town until evy's nearly 5 months old so we'll have to wait on the stats.... i believe she's just about 14 pounds and perhaps tracking to be a bit shorter than her sister joy.
** okay, stats are in -- she weighs and measures EXACTLY what here mama jules did at 4 months
14lbs 6 oz and 24 inches. (joy weighed 12 lbs at 4 mo. guess evy and i really love our milk)
eye color -- TBD. they still have a lot of blue pigment but i'm going to go with a light brown like her mom.

what we're doing?

• well, loving life for starters. smiling and laughing constantly.  if anyone happens to make eye contact with her, she grins from ear to ear. and then she does flirty little look-away that has become her signature expression. it is to die for.
• this little one is super ACTIVE... already scooting across the floor for toys and getting up on all 4's.
• she's making all sorts of noises..oohs/aahs coo's/caahs?..gurgling, squealing.
• she really enjoys watching joy and piper. they get the biggest laughs
• she loves her time in the bjorn with trey.
• still a huge fan of tummy-time. and still rolling over-- especially while sleeping which has put a slight damper on our sleep routine.
• she can now sit up and balance with her hands in front of her... she plays a lot like this now
• enjoys her jenny jumper. a lot!
• takes 3 naps a day (typically, 9a, noon, and 3p-- bedtime falling somewhere between 7 and 8; and morning wake-time between 6:30 and 7:30)
• sleeps on her tummy. most always in a "sleepy-sack"
• still drinking straight milk. starting solids @ 6 months.
• pretty much always gets dressed by joy and has her diaper changed by joy.
• did i mention that joy is actually evy's mom, not me? she really thinks so. all day long she asks me if we can change evy's clothes, changer her diaper, give her a bath, push her in the stroller, give her some snacks, etc...
• and i believe that most of her affection comes from joybird. she'll randomly walk up to evy and say "oh hey evy!! and give her a kiss" evy is in NO way starved for affection between the three of us. and she loves every second!
• working on a top tooth, i believe?
• almost sitting w/o assistance. still doing the forward lean.

a note on self-soothing.  i've never been one to let the babies cry. i hate it. if a baby is crying, i want to fix it and do whatever i can to make them happy.  we rocked little joybird to sleep for quite sometime and those were some of the sweetest moments for both trey and I.  There's something special about having your little baby asleep in your arms, or snuggled up breathing sweet little baby breaths on your neck.  i will never forget  those moments....we wanted those with evy, although  it's a LOT harder to rock or hold her to sleep when you have a little side-kick named joy.  so i finally gave in and decided that i was just going to have to put her in her bed, crying or no crying...i did this for about a week and all was going well and THEN, guinn was off work again (this time for 3 months) he came home and was going to put evy down while i hung with joy...i said, "okay, just put her in her bed awake" (as we were right in the middle of sleep training). of course he comes out 45 minutes later explaining how much he enjoys her falling asleep in his arms and that he just didn't want to put her down. so we continued on this way...one of us snuggling with baby evs while the other played with joy.   those are the sweetest moments and i'm thankful that we were able to make it happen.   although, that ship has sailed...work has resumed so it's back to self-soothing. ;)

pictures and videos to come-- no time to blog these days! i'll get on that.

WE LOVE YOU EVELYN GRACE!!! 

 Before you came into our lives we missed you SO BAD! ;)