Friday Five: Favorite Running Tunes

I love listening to music when I run, and having my cute little Sansa Clip Zip makes it even better because I hardly notice I’m using an mp3 player (I really should write a review of this product. Maybe I will!). Anyway, it’s easy to get tired of hearing the same old songs every time I run, so I try and change up the music once a month or so. Here are 5 of my current favorite running songs, in no particular order because I can’t rank them by how much I love them. The links will take you to YouTube videos of each song.

1.   “Princess of China” by Coldplay. For some reason I am OBSESSED with this song. I play it about 3 or 4 times a day, which means it inevitably gets stuck in my head. There’s no deep meaning or anything; it’s just a fun little ditty.

2.  “God is Enough” by Lecrae. Lecrae is a Christian hip hop artist, and he is the bomb diggity, yo. (I am so white.) I also listen to this song obsessively.  It’s an awesome running song. Go listen to it. You won’t be sorry!

3.  “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” by Coldplay. I know, another Coldplay song, but I just bought their Mylo Xyloto album recently because Amazon had it on sale for $0.25! Best quarter I ever spent. (“I shut the world outside until the lights come on/Maybe the streets alight, maybe the trees are gone/I feel my heart start beating to my favorite song.”)

4.  “Set Fire to the Rain” by Adele. I love me some Adele, and this is my favorite Adele song. I think my good bloggy friend Andrea really likes this one, too. (Hi, Andrea!) I don’t really know what this song means (besides the typical angsty Adele my-life-was-ruined-by-a-boy stuff), but I would love to know how one goes about setting the rain on fire. That would be awesome.

5.  “Start Over” by The Afters. The lyrics in this song are so great and encouraging, especially when trying to push through a workout. (“The impossible is possible/But your fear is so responsible/for keeping you down,/keeping you down…You only fail/If you never try/You’ll never live/Tryin’ not to die.“)

Now I must know: what are YOUR favorite workout songs? I’m always looking for new music!

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Friday Five: Charlotte’s Favorite Songs

Well, my intentions of posting every day this week did not become reality. Blogging time just gets away from me! But I did want to take a moment to write about Charlotte’s love of music. She’s loved music from early on, and it cracked us up the first time she “danced” to a song. She likes to bob up and down and also move her hips side to side, and it is pretty much the cutest thing ever. It’s so interesting to me that dancing in that regard is instinctive because we didn’t teach her that; her body just heard the music and responded. She’s had a her share of songs she’s liked, so here are her top favorites, some current, some from her younger day (as if she’s so old now!)

1. “Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee.” I think this is her current favorite. We have a DVD of kids’ songs, and she just grins hugely when this one comes on, and she will do her signature dance moves. She also is learning the motions because she is a genius.

2. “The Ants Go Marching.” She used to REALLY love this one, and it was the one way we could get her to smile for a picture when she otherwise wouldn’t. It was also great for distracting her while we changed her diaper.

3. “Hush Little Baby.” This was the first song we noticed Charlotte respond to. I used to sing it to her, and if she was fussing sometime she actually would go silent and listen to me. It also helped her go to sleep. I still sing it to her sometimes if she’s upset.

4. “Scrub-a-dub dub.” What’s that? You don’t know this song? Well, that’s because I made it up. I frequently make up little songs for Charlotte, and this is one that stuck. I sing it to her every time I give her a bath, and she’ll grin and sometimes clap when I sing it (because my voice is amazing). The lyrics are deep, so prepare yourselves:

Scrub-a-dub dub, Charlotte’s in the tub,
Getting herself all clean.
So we scrub and we scrub in the tubby tub tub,
‘Til she’s finally squeaky clean.

I’m expecting a Grammy any day now. 🙂

5.  “The Numbers 6 Song.” This is also an Erin original, and it’s based on the blessing found in Numbers 6:24-26: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” Isn’t that beautiful? I often sing this to Charlotte as I put her to bed at night. I like to think it helps calm her. 

What are your favorite children’s songs?  

Friday Five: Charlotte’s Hair

Some babies are born bald or even with a slight peach fuzz. Not our Charlotte. She came out of the womb with a full head of hair, and she didn’t lose any of it! It just keeps growing and growing, and I think a haircut of some sort is her near future. Here are some of my favorite pictures of Charlotte’s ever-changing hair:

1.  The punk rocker (that expression is just priceless):

2.  Beautiful in a bow (this is the bow the nurses put on her in the hospital):

3.  Bed head:

4. Rocker chick:

5. Pretty in a ponytail:

Friday Five: Happenings this Week

Clearly blogging happens more regularly if I’m able to schedule posts in advance, as both of my entries this week were actually written on Sunday. It is hard to find time during the week to blog, but I miss it as well. Here’s a little of what’s happening around our house:

1. Charlotte has a million more teeth. Okay, so maybe not a million, but whereas she just recently had 6, it now seems she has at least 9, if not more. It’s hard to get a good look in her mouth without her putting up quite the protest.

2. I’ve woken up by 5:30 at the latest every day this week. Yeah! I’m so excited to start the Hello Mornings Challenge on Monday.

3. I got a great deal on a 2-month YMCA membership ($20, through a local deal site, SnagMob). The reason I bought it? ZUMBA! They also have spinning classes, which I’ve wanted to try for a while. I’m thrilled to try out the classes!

4.  Charlotte’s had a cough for over a month. It was a cold that turned into bronchiolitis, and we’ve given her breathing treatments 3 times a day for the past 8 days. She’s still coughing, though. 😦 We’re going for a checkup this afternoon, and I’m curious to see what the doctor says. Charlotte’s been such a trooper and hasn’t acted like she’s felt too bad until this week. I think it’s really starting to wear on her. I just want my baby to be healthy! She’s been to the doctor practically every month of her life, and while I am SO thankful that it’s only been for relatively minor things, I hate it for her.

5.  I really wish Charlotte were older so we could go see Beauty and the Beast in 3-D. That is my all-time favorite Disney movie, and I know she would love it. Fortunately, we own it so I’ll be able to watch it with her some day. 🙂

I hope you all have great weekends! Tell me something good that’s happening!