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Things only get better with age…this is what I keep telling myself.  While for the most part, I do believe this statement to be true, I’m still having a hard time with the fact that I will turn 33 years old this year.  Why?  I don’t know…I think the biggest part is that I don’t feel that I am where I thought I would be financially by the time I was 33.

So I try to focus on things that do get better with age.  The first thing I have realized that has gotten better with age is being a mother.  I waited 30 years to be a mother and now I wonder why I waited so long.  I don’t regret waiting so long…I just chalk it up to something that got better with age! Speaking of being a mother, I’ll take a moment to update everyone on Gwyn.

Gwyn is so funny!  She really cracks me up every day.  We are starting to have more conversations, which I love.  The other night, she kept asking for milk after she had already brushed her teeth.  She was lying in bed for the night and I am in our bedroom.  She yells out “Mom…how bout some water?” to which I reply “yes, you can have some water”.  I go get the water, take it to her room and she drinks almost the entire glass.  She looks at me and says “wow, I was thirsty!”.

I took yesterday off of work and after lunch we put her down for a nap with some books.  We are in the living room and she talks to us through the monitor.  She says “Mom…I don’t want to nap, I want to play…please” and I cave and let her play for another hour or so before taking a nap.

Some things that I feel like I should share so that when I tell you that she is a genius, you will believe me.  She counts really well up to the teens.  She even counts backwards from 5 to 1 then says “Blast Off!”.  She knows most of her alphabet and can recognize letters 75% of the time.  She is learning her colors and knows most of her shapes.  She remember EVERYTHING you tell her.  Brian told her how to draw a fire truck the other day but starting with two circles then a rectangle…so when Papa came over, Gwyn asked him to draw a fire truck.  She said, “Draw two circles then a rectangle”.

She is drawing and doing it pretty well.  She draws people and tons of circles and something she calls a badgar.  She is starting to draw body parts which just amazes me!

So on to another aspect of life that has gotten better with age…running!  I started running distance in college with a friend who I’ve grown out of touch with…but I think of her often now that I’m back to running…I think she would be proud of me.  I used to do a fair share of 10k’s and 5’s and once I did a 15k.  I always averaged a 10 minute or more mile.  I was in great shape too!  Well, just before I got pregnant with Gwyn, I started running again but lacked motivation and I quit when I got pregnant.  After I had Gwyn and lost some weight, I decided to start running again.  Through a friend, I found a running group here in Greenville and I am very thankful that I found them.  Not only do they push me to better my time and distance, I found a good group of friends!  I just ran a 5k this past weekend and had a personal record of 27:08 to run 3.1 miles which was an average of 8:44 pace.  I was shooting for under 9 minute mile so I feel really proud of my time.  I came in at 13th place in my age group which had 44 runners.  So my goals for this year are to run a half marathon here in Greenville in early October then a marathon in Virginia in March 2011.

Lastly, while I may not have what some would refer to as a “career” anymore…I love my jobs!  I love teaching and the schedule.  I love my job with the Stallings and the flexibility it provides.  It is nice working for a family and great working with another CPA who can teach me so much and has experience that I can only benefit from!  I’m learning new aspects of accounting that I haven’t had to use in the past.  While I very much miss State and Local Tax and doing research (yes, I’m a geek and love to do research)…I like learning new things!

To end, as usual…I’ll have Brian post some pictures later on today!  We went to the aquarium on Sunday and had a ball!  Gwyn loved all the animals.  She is definitely an animal lover.  She is so gentle with our animals and respects them which is very important to me!

We promise…really…to update this more often to keep you all apprised of Gwyn’s happenings!