This weekend was an interesting one, in light of what I talked about last week - the kinds of things we should be weighed on besides our weight. When I stuck this tattoo on my arm before spending the day running (and crawling, and swimming) through the mud I felt a little silly - because "strong" that's isn't necessarily a word I'd readily ascribe to myself...but at the end of the day, strong is exactly what I felt.

And it felt good.

It felt good because I surprised myself...but it felt even better because my children were there, watching. As young as Goldie is, it's a big deal to me to know that she got to see her mom be nervous, and then do the scary thing anyway. It's a big deal to me that she's living in a world full of women who run and jump and climb for no other reason than because they can. And I know it made an impact on Indy, seeing me and hundreds of other women - women of all ages and all sizes - pulling each other up and cheering each other on.

Lately, my son asks me, over and over, "What are the reasons why you love me?"

I tell him he is kind. I tell him that he cares about people. I tell him that he makes me laugh, that he is smart, that he is a wonderful singer. I tell him that I love him - value him - for so many reasons that I couldn't possibly count them all if you gave me a million years.

My daughter's not old enough to ask me this question, but she will be soon. And when she does, I will tell her all the reasons why she is special, why she is worthy not just of love, but of everything. I want her to feel proud of the books that she reads, of the dreams that she has, of the uncountable things that make her so remarkably her, and I want her to know that not a single one of these reasons has a thing in the world to do with the size of her thighs, or the circumference of her waist. Because I know from experience - from the years that I spent with worries about my body taking up space in my head that could have (and should have) been used for dreaming and exploring and imagining what could be - how hard it is as a woman to remember what people should really be weighing you on.

 I somehow went ahead and lost all of Goldie's bathing suits over the course of our cross-country adventure, but that's okay, because this exists.

 Just picked up this book for my son, and it's kind of awesome - we do a couple of pages every afternoon, and he gets a sticker when he completes them, and I think I'm having as much fun with it as he is.

 Going somewhere nautical-ish in the next little while? This dress is adorable and under $30.

Here is me in exercise clothing. I am fairly certain that this is the only photograph I have of myself in exercise clothing, and it is from 2012. Which bodes poorly for what I am about to tell you.

OK, so this is either going to be one of the best days of my life, or a total disaster.

The past week has been spent adjusting. (And painting walls and installing lights and putting things up and pulling things down and ripping tape off of boxes that appear to be multiplying like mogwais while we sleep and trying to find somewhere, anywhere, that will feed us Thai food and oh right, my final book edit is due on Friday, nbd...but mostly adjusting.)

What's presented an interesting challenge - and one that I didn't expect - is that both Indy and Goldie have changed a lot almost overnight (or at least that's how it feels), and so while we figure out all the things you have to figure out when you move to a new place, we're also having to figure out how to adjust to our kids' newfound needs. Goldie used to sleep what felt like all day long; suddenly she's dropped down to one nap, with maybe a little bonus rest in the early evening. She moves now. A lot. Basically, she's like tiny, extremely cute and very awake lightning.

With Indy, it's more of a situational shift; his school out here doesn't start for another couple of weeks, and even when school does start, we don't have the regular routine set up out here that we had back at home, with lessons on this day and playdates on that day and...you know, stuff to do.