12 Miles and Sam's One Year Check-up

It sure was nice to have family around this weekend! Not only did we get to celebrate Sam's birthday with everyone, which was great, but having our parents around meant Ryan and I had the chance to run together two days in a row! Wow.

This morning, my parents (and Morgan, who had stayed with them at the hotel last night) came over to watch Sam while Ryan and I headed out for a run. We headed out shortly after she went down for her nap with a plan for me to run 12 (or more, depending) miles, and for Ryan to join me for the middle 5 miles, which also happened to be the road portion of the run. Ryan dropped me off at the field house and I headed out into the Commons. It was a gorgeous morning, and one of those fall days where the difference between sun and shadow was pretty big. In the shade, the morning felt cool; in the bright sunshine, it was warm and toasty. It was nice to be back out in the Commons again, and I enjoyed cruising along the leaf-covered trails. Ryan met me near the end of the trail system, and we headed out along the Pennelville fields together. The wind was pretty strong in a few sections, and Ryan nicely acted as my wind block :-) Down at Simpson's Point, the sun was shining off the water and a lone cormorant sunned himself on the rocks at the boat launch.

When we got back to the Commons, I headed into the woods while Ryan headed back to the car, and *gasp* to run a few laps around the soccer field barefoot. Who would have thought?! During the last two miles of the run, I was starting to feel the effects of the quick pace as well as the effects of a night without much sleep due to Samantha's teething, a weekend with family (who we love, but you know what I mean) and lots of activity the past few days. When I came upon Ryan sitting in the sun at the edge of the fields by the car, I decided to stop the run there rather than continue on with a few more miles. I got in 12 miles in 1:44:21, and really did feel pretty good overall, so I'll take it. Perhaps I should have kept going, but the call of a yummy lunch out with everyone at Wild Oats won out! :-)

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This afternoon, after lunch, we headed to the doctor's for Sam's one year check-up. Sam made friends with everyone in the waiting room, waving hello to anyone who would smile or wave back at her :-) When Dr. Phelps asked if she was having any stranger anxiety, we laughed. Sam loves everyone!

Sam weighed in at 18 pounds 5 oz. and is now 27.5 inches long. This puts her in the 10th percentile for both height and weight, so yes, she is small, but she's growing on a good curve and none of us are worried. She's just a little thing :-) The rest of the visit was uneventful, well, except for the three shots at the end, about which Sam was very upset. Poor girl! I wouldn't want to have three needles stuck into my thighs either!! Luckily, once we got home, she was soon happily playing with her shape blocks and her play house and back to her happy self.