interrupted.

This morning, I was awakened at 2:37 am by a screaming child.  This is such a rarity at this stage because Grayson has been sleeping from 7:30-7:00 since he was 13 months old.  And even before that he has been sleeping for at least 10 hours since he was 8 months old.  Sleep has never been a problem, which for this mommy was the biggest blessing.  God knows that I am a hopeless wreck without sleep.  Before Grayson, I took naps nearly EVERYDAY after work and then I would still get 8-9 hours of sleep at night.  I realize that this is a lot of sleep.  It is just what I require.  Having a newborn for me was ROUGH to say the least.  Lack of sleep, coupled with some pretty awesome PPD made for a crazy person.  Needless to say, I am lucky that last night G only needed a few cuddles and went right back to sleep.  However, I had completely forgotten how difficult life is when your sleep is interrupted and mine was only interrupted for a few minutes.  Unfortunately for me, when I wake up to him screaming, it usually takes me a while to fall back to sleep and then I tend to wake up about every hour just because I am a worrier.  Therefore going to work today took effort.  I am so sleepy.  It makes me reconsider this "baby fever" I have been having lately.  We are waiting a while longer to have another one and last night definitly reminded me why.  Sleep.  We have such a good routine with Grayson.  Not that I haven't learned that his routines can change at the drop of a hat, but the newborn stage is something I do not miss.  For now, I will stick to cuddling my friends new babies and then getting a good nights rest without interruptions.  Though I don't mind the sweet cuddles from my baby boy in the middle of the night, I do pay for it in the morning.  Here's to a night with uninterrupted sleep!  It is only 8 am and I am already looking forward to it!

FRIENDzied

Today I am thankful for my girlfriends.  I'm sure that a lot of people know that I am a tad obsessed with my friends, but I feel like maybe not everyone understands why.  I am somewhat of an only child.  I have a half brother and a half sister, but they are both quite a few years older than me.  My brother is amazing.  He is someone that I look up to and I am so proud to call my brother.  I don't get to see him enough.  My sister and I have a pretty rocky relationship.  She is 11 years older than me and she grew up with her mom in Texas.  I only saw her a few times a year.  When I was little, I absolutely thought that she hung the moon.  I even took her for show and tell in third grade.  I was so proud of my big sister.  Unfortunately for me, our relationship did not turn out the way I would have wanted it to for many reasons that are too private to share.  I honestly pray for her all the time.  I pray that one day we will reconcile our relationship, but for now, that does not look promising.  Basically, I was raised as an only child.  I always wanted a sister and I found that in my friends.  I have always, in every stage of life, had a few close friends.  My friends became my sisters.  They went on vacation with me and experienced all of life's little moments with me. One thing that I consider a strength, is my ability to make new friends.  I was always the girl who talked to the new girl in class and invited her over to hang out after school.  In college, I got a whole bunch of sisters when I joined a sorority.  I had a really tight knit group of friends and those girls will be my friends for the rest of my life.  As an adult, it got a little harder to make friends.  Asking a grown woman for her phone number can come off a bit awkward, but it is the "showering her with gifts" part that sets me apart from the rest and makes people a little uncomfortable.  Luckily, I still have a few close friends that accept me, gift giving and all, at this stage of life.  Gift giving has always been and will always be my love language.  Whether it's flying in pizza from Chicago or making a basket of favorite things, my best friends get the star treatment.  I come on strong and I love my friends fast.  It's how I've always been.  Some people have a hard time understanding this "obsession" with my friends, but I am just a very loyal person with a lot of love to give.  Once you are in with me, I will love you for life.  My best friends, my sisters, my soulmates....I always thought that God didn't hear me when I prayed for a sister, but now I know that he did me one better, he gave me a lot of sisters throughout my life.  For the friends I have and the friends I will meet, I am eternally grateful. Thank you, Lord, for the wonderful gift of sisterhood.

why the "red lipstick runner?"

I wanted to take a minute to explain why I named this blog "the red lipstick runner." I know that I can in no way call myself a runner.  At best, I am a walker who occasionally jogs for a bit.  But my journey to becoming a runner is something I want to document.  Honestly, I HATE running.  I have always hated running.  However, all of my friends who are avid runners are in great shape and that is something that I really want for myself.  I know that I need to be eating a little lot better in order to make this change, but I have absolutely no will power when it comes to food.  That is something that will take a bit of time for me to change.  I have always been the kind of girl who could eat whatever I wanted and never gain a pound.  Unfortunately, being able to eat whatever you want tends to create a monster who chooses junk food over healthy food almost every time.  And then I hit 25 and everything changed.  When I got pregnant, I was at my heaviest.  And I gained more weight than I expected.  Though my PPD helped me lose a large amount of the weight, I still have about 10-15 pounds that I want to lose.  However, it is really less about a number and more about how I fit in my clothes and feel about myself.  I know that very few people feel bad for the girl who grew up with a high metabolism and then gained some weight in her twenties.  Especially because some people struggle with weight their entire lives.  But honestly, I am the unhealthiest eater and I have such a hard time sticking to diets.  I can be really good for about a week and then all that delicious fried food starts calling my name, which makes my terrible lack of will power a major problem.  The hard part about being an adult is that I eat junk and then have instant food guilt because I certainly know better.  All that to be said, I want to be healthier.  So if that means becoming a runner walker that occasionally jogs until I get to a place where I feel better in my own skin, then so be it.  So that explains the "runner" part of the blog. I feel like the red lipstick portion is pretty self explanatory.  I am a lover of red lipstick. Makes me feel beautiful.  I paired something I love with something I hate to create this title because it pretty much sums up my life as of late.  Hopefully, the weather will warm back up soon and I can get back to my C25K runs.  I will let you know how it goes as I begin running once again.  I can guarantee it will be a struggle death sentence.  Can't wait to share how it goes!

Until next time!

welcome.

Hi there.

Welcome to my small little corner of the world.  I have found myself really interested in blogs lately, so I have decided to try it out for myself.  I am not sure that anyone will want to read it, but I figure I can at least use this as a bit of a diary for myself.  Motherhood, weight loss, an attempt at running, teaching, painting, and trying my very hardest to seek the Lord daily.. I just want to share a little piece of my journey.  

Until next time.