I can do it. You can do it.

Last night, as the sun set, I ran 5 miles.  It was hard.  Harder than the 15 miles I ran last Saturday.
Perhaps this could be why.
Carter cried most of the night Wednesday night.  We're experimenting with his diet.
Soymilk apparently does not agree with him.  So he cried.  And cried.  And cried.
I held him.  It didn't seem to help him, but it makes me feel like I'm doing something at least.
Mya woke up tired.  And cried most of the morning while we got ready.  Very unusual for her.
Her shirt was itchy.  Her toaster strudle was cooked wrong.  ?  Carter scratched her.  I didn't comb her hair right.  Her knee was bleeding.  Her neck hurt.
I dropped Mya off at the neighbors.  Jaida went to school.  I took Carter to my parents.
I went and shot some newborn photos.  It was nothing short of heavenly.  I love me some newborns.
Went back to get Carter.
He had cried most of the two hours.  Sorry mom and dad.
Drove back home.  Retrieved Mya.  Put Carter down for a nap.
Fixed lunch.
Welcomed the entire neighborhood of little girls into our house.
Barbies.  Dress up.  Snack time.  She won't share.  She hit me.  She looked at me wrong.
Sat down to do a little work.
Went outside to do sidewalk chalk with Mya and wait for Jaida to get home from school.
Jaida home.
Back inside to start dinner.
Just as I hear Carter screaming, Jaida came inside.
"Mom.  Mya just peed on the lawn and now she's naked."
Run upstairs to get Carter.
Back outside to find Mya squatting on the driveway.  No pants.  No underwear.  "I'm gonna poop."
She had an audience of little girls.  Sorry to all of their parents.
Grab her.  Locate pants and underwear.  Console Carter.  "Shhhhhh. Please quit screaming in my ear."
March Mya upstairs for a shower.  Try to explain why it's not okay to be naked in the front yard and why we don't pee on the lawn.  She wasn't terribly remorseful.  Until I told her she had to shower and was done playing outside.  As I hefted her into the shower she said "But Jaida did it too."
Um, what?  Jaida was the one who came in and ratted out Mya.
Back outside to find Jaida.  One look from me and she knew there was trouble.
She immediately confessed with her "yep I did it and I don't really feel bad about it" smirk.
Gave the same talk to Jaida about peeing in the front yard.  Only with her I added that it was gross to pee and not wipe.  (See, the problem here is, we go camping.  Not at campgrounds.  So we don't use bathrooms.  So I had to find a way to differentiate the two experiences.  That was the best I could come up with in the moment.)
"I did wipe mom.  I used my jacket."
I kind of wanted to squish her right then.
Showered the girls.
Put them in pajamas at 4:30.
Back downstairs to finish dinner and find the bottom of my sink.
While fixing dinner, Carter spiked my crockpot lid on the tile floor.  Glass.  Shattered.  Everywhere.
We were both in bare feet.  I picked him up and asked Jaida to retrieve me some flip flops.
Put Carter in the high chair and vacuumed up the mess.
Finished dinner.
Washed dishes.
Took sharp knife and pizza cutter away from Carter.
He protested.
Loaded dishwasher.
Mike home.
I need a hug.
Fed kids dinner.
6pm.  I was ready for bed.
Time to run.  Lacking desire.  I just want to sleep.
Get dressed to run anyway.
Put on my Garmin.  Water bottle ready.  Start ipod.
Begin to run.  By the end of my street, I wanted to turn around.  Badly.
I can tell in the first few minutes of a run what kind of run it was going to be.  This one was not good.
Just turn around, I thought.  It's been a long, long day on very little sleep.  You can run tomorrow.
The thing is, I'm tired of excuses.  And I like to run.  I feel better when I run (at least when it's over).
And I'm training for this little thing called a marathon.  You can't cheat miles when you're training for a marathon.  If you want to do well, anyway.
So I ran 5 miles.  And it was hard.  The entire time.  I thought I was going to throw up.  I hadn't eaten much all day.  I ran out of water.  It was hot.  I got dizzy.
But the point is, I did it.  And I knew I could.  Because I can do anything.  Anything.
And that is the most important lesson I can teach my children. I, we, you, can DO anything.  We just have to choose to do it.  No excuses.  This I know.
I ran 5 miles.  And I'm pretty proud of that.