Persistence Pays Off

“The most essential factor is persistence - the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come.” - James Whitcomb

 
Fiona is officially walking.  Over the last few weeks, a switch has been flipped inside her and she's now practically running through our house as if she never knew how not to. Through learning to walk, she's once again taught me a needed and inspiring lesson about the value of persistence.  The next time I'm frustrated and feeling negative about work or my never-ending to-do list or running or, or, or.... I'm going to remember Fiona learning to walk -- and I will get up and try again.

Embracing Fun

" Live life fully while you're here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.”
- Anthony Robbins


Ryan and Fiona on a typical weekend morning in the Fehrman household.



Weekends with the Fehrman are all about embracing fun.  As full-time working parents with important, meaningful, and often stressful jobs, we live for Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday -- and strive to be intentional in making the most of these special days together.  Food, play, and outside time usually play a central role and this past weekend was no different.

Friday night Indian takeout was followed by a Saturday morning hike at the Eno River State Park and a long afternoon of playing at Trinity Park.

Gorgeous morning for a 4-mile family hike along the Cox Mountain trail

Saturday evening gourmet grill-out was followed by Sunday morning playtime at Duke Gardens.

Flying with Daddy

Learning to climb Magnolia trees

And the weekend came to a close with the Trinity Park Neighborhood Association Food Truck Rodeo!


Deciding Not to Run

“'Think simple' as my old master used to say - meaning reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest terms, getting back to first principles.” - Frank Lloyd Wright

After another max capacity week of working full-time, parenting full-time, partnering full-time, thinking full-time, and running little, I drove home from work on Friday afternoon and decided NOT to run the City of Oaks Half-Marathon.

Simply thinking about the logistics of daylight savings, packet pick-up, nutrition, and cold-weather gear amid all the noise of the week that had just finished and the potential promise of a quiet weekend ahead made me crazy.  In a previous life, this would have been nothing, but on this particular Friday afternoon it was enough to send this mom over the edge. Nowhere did I see any joy in this race.

Registering for the race was my way of encouraging myself to again find some consistency in my running.  And I achieved that goal long before race day.  My best run of the last few months was the 10 miler I ran on trails in Moses Cone State Park as part of the yoga & running retreat I participated in a few weeks ago.

So instead of waking early on Sunday morning, braving the cold, and joining a few thousand others for what I'm sure was a great race, I slept in, made delicious homemade waffles for my family, read the paper, ran a quick 5 miles, warmed my post-run belly with slow-cooked veggie chili & cornbread, got a lot done around the house and enjoyed a carefree afternoon walk to our local brewery with my favorite running buddy and her dad.  A perfect, joyful, and simple race day if you ask me.

5 Years

On October 29, Ryan and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.  Now more than ever, I am grateful for this amazing partner in life. My brother-in-law read this selection from Kahlil Gabran's The Prophet at our wedding and it remains such powerful guidance for our marriage.

You were born together,

and together you shall be forevermore.

You shall be together when the white wings

of death scatter your days.

Aye, you shall be together even in the

silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,

And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love.

Let it rather be a moving sea between

the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.

Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous,

but let each of you be alone,

Even as the strings of a lute are alone

though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.

For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

And stand together, yet not too near together.

For the pillars of the temple stand apart,

And the oak tree and the cypress

grow not in each other's shadow.

We celebrated with the perfect at-home date night that included this fabulous menu:

• Sea Scallops with Champagne & Shitake Mushroom Sauce
• Spinach & Sweet Potato Salad with Warm (veggie!) Bacon Dressing
• Rosemary Garlic Bread
• Tiramisu Cake from Mad Hatter's Bake Shop

15 Months: Becoming a Person

"To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life. "             - Robert Louis Stevenson

Fiona is 15 months and is truly her own little person.  The past month has been filled with more talking:

And more walking:

Learning to care for others:

Fiona pretending to feed the new doll Grandma Fehrman gave her.

Lots of time playing outside:

Fi and Mommy at Trinity Park one early Sunday morning.  Note and then ignore the bags under Mom's eyes.

Fiona exerting her independence and trying to get far away from Mommy while playing in our backyard.

And, of course, some seasonal fun:

Loving everything about pumpkins at the wonderful fall festival we attended at a friend's farm on Halloween weekend.

Fiona as lion.  She enjoyed cuddling with this costume more than she enjoyed wearing it!

This month Fiona is loving:

• Books - as always.  She's particularly enamored with The Story of Martin Luther King Jr., a board book that age-appropriately tells the story of MLK's work in our country.  Do we have a future civil rights leader on our hands?
• Her new Dora the Explorer electric toothbrush.  This small investment has been a godsend, turning brushing Fi's teeth from an every night fight into something she loves to do.
• Sorting, categorizing, and generally taking things out of one place and putting them into another - particularly into her purple felt purse -- which she actually carries on her shoulder, just like mom.
• Babies: Pictures of babies, babies at school, saying the word baby over and over and over again.