100 Miles Before and After Baby

Well, I couldn't get too far into the year without a little post reflecting on all of the miles that 2024 held... Our second little one was due in June last year, so I made a goal at the beginning of the year to walk 100 miles before the baby came and 100 miles after, and it was such a fun one to complete and maybe even sweeter to look back on all those sweet walks that took place throughout the year! Here are just a few thoughts for your Tuesday! 

SO many of my favorite snapshots and memories from all of our time outside last year!! 

Let me first start out by saying this little one was such a champ and I'm pretty sure was on basically 196 of the 200 miles with me hahhaa I feel like I truly watched her grow up throughout the year... 

She loved riding in the stroller, but she also started wanting to walk with us a little, and I watched her stamina and capacity grow and strengthen too... 

She'd often want to bring her "baby" and "water" like Mommy haha! 

We have a stop sign at the end of our street that about 1/3 of a mile, and she would almost always walk to that stop sign, ride for our walk, and then walk from the stop sign home... 

Summer Jane might be my very favorite Jane 🥰

But Big Sister Jane is a close second. She LOVED helping me push Andy... 

Especially when he was just out in the middle of our walks :) 

I really did watch this little one from last January... 

Grow up to this little one in December...and just loved it so, so much... 

To kick off the goal last year, I made a goal to walk one mile every day in January. I didn't think it would be too challenging, considering January is usually a slower-paced month for us, but I didn't expect the freezing temperatures daily and the ice storm that hit us for a week that month as well....

But my crazy family jumped on board, and we still got in our mile even in the icy and snowy neighborhood roads... 

No stroller walks were to be had, but this little one was happy as a peach to come along! 

And looking back, those are some of the sweetest little memories!

One of my very favorite memories was January 21st, when a lot of the snow had melted and our streets were really just pure ice... We hadn't gotten our mile in that day, but after we put Jane down to bed, Pierce *somehow* agreed to make hot tea, put on our snow boots, facetime the monitor and finish my mile with me... This is when he would say *I* am the crazy one hahaha

I wrote a little bit more about that night here, but as we turned one of the corners in our neighborhood, a sweet friend that I used to teach with was out with her husband and neighbors and they were FLYING down an icy hill in their tobaggan sled... 

...well, they let Pierce and I take a turn, and it was truly just SO much fun! We still laugh thinking about that night, and how we would have never had that sweet memory had it not been for my crazy walking goals that I love to set and keep hahaha 

My neighbor snapped this and sent it to me while we were walking home, and it is really is a favorite memory from all of those walks... 

We had a lot of rainy day walks and lots of walks just the three of us getting in those 100 miles while we waited for little Andy... 

Jane spent a lot of time in the stroller...but she also spent a lot of time on Daddy's shoulders too... 

And LOVED every minute of it!! 

There are several very big hills in our neighborhood and at the beginning of the year, I made it my "pregnancy goal" to be able to walk up the "big hill" even at nine months pregnant... (At this point, it's fair to say I'm crazy, and I'm not quite sure why I love making arbitrary goals for myself hahaha) But, I will say, it always kept me going. And Pierce snapped this the night before our due date in June! We were finishing out 100 miles and walking that big hill! I would say for the last time...but we waited a whole 14 days to meet that little one, so we walked many, many more miles in hoping he (who we didn't know was a he!) would come. A special memory for sure too!!! 

That little BOY did eventually come on June 19th, and a week or so later, we took our FIRST walk on the other side of the 100... We did not even make it to the stop sign and back but it was sweet having the whole family on a little walk for sure... 

We did many more little carrier walks and slowly started adding a few miles in... 

Little Jane got promoted to the front stroller seat... 

And this little one started liking the stroller a little more the older he got... (There were MANY a walks we turned around early for a sad little Andy when he was tiny...)

But we seemed to hit our stride a bit so to speak... 

And I loved those crisp morning walks with these two. 🥰

We bundled up when it was chilly and cold... 

And took many, many naps on these walks as well... 

We continued to do that hill even as the stroller got heavier and heavier... 😉 

This little one started loving playing with a toy or two... 

And I got to have a solo walk with this girl a few times when the temperatures were freezing and Daddy was working from home while Andy napped... 

But at Christmastime, Pierce helped me get in the last few miles...we walked at my parents' house quite a bit... 

Andy seemed to like Daddy's shoulders as much as Jane did hahaha 

But it really felt full circle when we were finishing our 100 back on the snowy roads...only in Jackson this time... 

Pierce took a walk with me that last night as we reflected on all those 200 miles... (We ended up with 222 after all was said and done with a few extra while we waited for Andy and a few extra in Jackson at the end too..) It was a really sweet way to end the year... 

Then we picked up the kids and had our last walk of 2024.....

It felt good to see the 100% twice throughout the year, and it really did become something pretty special and sweet for our family that we didn't anticipate... 100 miles doesn't seem like too crazy of a goal, but it was really just the thing that kept getting us outside, getting us on walks, and having us spend time doing something that everyone just seemed to really love... 

From talking to praying, memorizing Scripture, chatting with friends, listening to podcasts, music, and audiobooks, taking time to catch up on our days or process big things that were happening...it was really such a special time each day... 

I still love walking so much, and we've entered a sweet season where Jane will ride her bike or scooter with us for most of the walk now too, but 2024 will always just hold the sweetest spot in my heart for those 200 miles... 

I thought I would just end the post with a few of the most common questions throughout all of this walking... 

1. What kind of stroller do you have? 

We have the Uppababy Vista. It was such a generous gift from my school and another sweet community of friends before Jane came, and although it is so expensive, it is probably one of the few baby items that I have truly used almost every single day in the last three years... I have loved it!

2. What do Jane/Andy do on walks? 

Well, it has varied as they've gotten older. I almost always bring a snack for Jane, which helps with anything any day 😉 She usually will walk for a little while, hold her baby, and now is very into scootering and biking as well. (We just stick it under the stroller if she ever wants to hop back in.) For Andy, I would usually just bring a little fidget toy or two for him... But now he's getting to the age where he just likes looking around at all the sites and people out too, which is pretty sweet as well. I think the more walks we took, the more they just got used to being in the stroller and both honestly seem to like it for the most part! 

3. How do you track your miles? 

I have always used the app Runkeeper. It's a simple one where you can track miles for walking, running, or any other activity. A professor in college ran marathons and would always talk about it, so a ton of us started using it, and I've been using it ever since. ☺️

4. What do you do on non-great weather days?

Well, as you can see, I always tried to power-through (hence, walking on pure ice at 9pm hahaha) But getting Jane little rain boots made the rainy days a bit more fun for her... We would just bundle up really well for the cold, and these little fans were the best purchase for when it's really hot outside as well. I think if I felt prepared with clothes/blankets/rain coats, etc, the weather didn't seem to bother us too much! 

5. Where do you walk? 

Well, when Jane was little, I loved going to the park to walk, and we still make our way to a few parks quite often, but our neighborhood seemed to be where we did a majority of these walks. It was sometimes simpler to just get in a quick 20 minutes in in the morning, between a nap or before lunch. But anywhere pretty always helps to make the walks a little sweeter. There are lots of great walking trails in Nashville that I love meeting up with friends too!! 

6. How far do you walk at a time? 

I feel like my goal was always at least a mile (there is a one mile loop in our neighborhood that was usually our goal each day), but sometimes it was less, sometimes way less depending on the kids that day, and sometimes it was more if it was a beautiful day or we were walking with friends... Just getting out most days was a fun goal for us! 

7. What made you want to set a walking goal in the first place?

Well, I have always loved walking, but when Jane was little, I started really loving the rhythm of pushing the stroller and being outside a few minutes each day. Whether it was just a little time to get some sunshine or a little exercise, talk with a friend or think something through, walking and moving always seems to help any day, so when I knew I was pregnant and life was going to be changing in big ways that year, I thought having something to keep me going would be helpful. I've always done well with having "goals" to try to reach, so I thought maybe it would keep me active in my second and third trimesters and get me back out to walking after I had our second too. It did all of that and more, and I'm thankful for that for sure!! 

And that about wraps it up for so many walking thoughts on this little goal I had for last year... If you have a crazy thought on making a crazy goal, I'm here to say go for it...because you really never know the blessings that may come from it. ❤️ Thanks for following along, and here's to a finished goal and the sweetest of memories that came along with it!! I love all things walking, so would love to hear any of your thoughts as well!!! It's always a joy to hear from you!! I'll plan on seeing you back here tomorrow!!!

Here's to celebrating the big things, enjoying the little things, and soaking in all the moments (and miles!) in-between!! 

Sending lots of love on this Tuesday!!
XO
Tab