Tag: parent

I was a selfish idiot

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, kids, life, running, training

It has taken some time and reflection to realize how selfish it was for me to sign up for a marathon at this point in my life without fully thinking through the repercussions for my family.

I am not saying running races is selfish, or being a wife and running marathons is selfish or even being a mom and running marathons is selfish. Simply that for me, at this time in my life, it was.

I didn’t really discuss it with my husband before I signed up….oops, I’ve been married for 5 years and sometimes still forget I’m in a partnership now.

Running a marathon is a HUGE time commitment and can be a large financial one as well. Both of these were/are true for me. Currently I am a slow runner so my long runs took a LONG time. Meaning, we lost most of our Saturdays (during my training) to my long run, especially when you add in that my youngest (and sometimes my oldest) still needs to nap. This means we had no opportunities to camp or do any overnight trips this last summer.

Financially it was a big commitment as well since I chose a marathon in another state (my home state). I did use this as an opportunity/excuse to spend time with my family there but this meant plane tickets, days of extra food costs, and all those miscellaneous costs that come with traveling.

I am not saying I regret doing it. My husband was pretty gracious about it all. My kids got to see family and we as a family got to do an awesome Disneyland trip and make lots of memories.

Also, doing something for me is not selfish (that is not what I am saying) but doing something that impacted my whole family for a big part of the year…….was pretty selfish…..in MY case.

I love to run and will keep running, I love doing races too, but this isn’t my time for racing. That time will come again. For me and my family, this is the time for healthy fitness for me…..and lots of family fun together.

This coming year I look forward to lots of family camping and fun family weekend trips.

What are you looking forward to in 2024?

7.5 month baby update

by Ariana Peters, posted in kids
Cannot believe he is 7.5 months already!!! Time is starting to fly. A little over 4 months to his 1st birthday
We are fully into the baby led weaning world which a little bit of purees mixed in when hes having a hard day. I LOVE watching him eat, it is one of the cutest things ever.
His laugh is so precious

He SOMETIMES holds his own bottle but most of the time he does not.

I love being his mom so much but no lie I do miss being able to have a schedule. We have a basic layout of the day but naps still depend on when he wakes up and how long his first nap is.

We are down to 2 naps a day and bedtime is between 630-730pm depending on the last nap of the day and how our plans have gone that day.

I am starting to look at some very simple homeschool lessons. I am a stay at home mom so obviously we have lost my income from working (not that it was that significant of an income hahaha) but I am trying to look at staying at home as a job and not just a privilege and grest experience. There are days where all I get done is taking care of my son but there are days where everything goes right and we do flashcards and count eggs from the chickens and go for a walk and look at trees and I get to clean. Its all a balance but on the days where I don’t feel like doing anything I think, if this was a job what would you do? And that helps me try and get at least one thing done.

We are smackdab in the middle of his first tooth so this mama is having some long days and nights but I definitely wouldn’t change it for the world.

I miss the freedom of my prebaby life but I couldn’t imagine my life without him. My life is better with my little man in it. If you are in the trenches of baby life it will get better. My post partum anxiety is so much better. I am starting to wean off the medication which is awesome but I am also keeping a close eye on myself in case I need to start them back up.

On that note, my sweet little man just woke up. Talk to you later.

Comment what the best part of being a parent is for you…..and the hardest.