Running still and feeling great.

There are some days when I feel really great after I run, I mean, other than the feel good endorphins that you get from working out.
Today was one of those days.  
You see, it's all in the circumstances.  And here's my reasons:
-  I pulled myself out of bed at 5:40am - a few months ago this was my regular wake up and work out time, lately I've felt more like a slug has taken over my body until something important compels me to get out of bed.
-  Next, you would think that running that early in the morning would mean a cool breeze, or at least coolish air, WRONG!  When I walked out the door I literally took a step back it was so freaky hot, I wasn't expecting to walk into a sauna.  I took off down the road anyway.
-  I was not one of the people sleeping in their cars waiting for the doughnut shop to open. 
-  We just moved into a new place, and I don't have a running route yet, so I decided to just run straight for 18 minutes then turn back, which I did, but it turns out that the whole way out was downhill. 
- The whole run back was (obviously) uphill, but it took me the same amount of time to get back home.
- My belly is huge.  (I actually got asked if I was having twins)
- I ran just over 3 miles in 36 minutes.  Considering my state, I'd say that's pretty good, and I wasn't even trying to push myself.

Let's see if I can do it again.  I think twice a week is a reasonable goal.

Belly Perks

Here's a list of things that I love about having a pregnant belly

1.  I don't feel guilty about not doing any ab workouts after I run. 
2.  When I eat too much I'm not self conscious about my stomach sticking out
3.  I don't feel judged when I'm the first in line to get food on my plate at social gatherings.
4.  When Gracie wants me to hold her, the belly supports part of her weight and gives my arms a break.
5.  I get to park closer at the grocery store, at least when there's an Expectant Mother parking spot.
6.  Instead of being glared at when my daughter goes crazy in public and I can't catch her, I get looks of pity.
7.  It's always a great way to break the ice when trying to be friendly with strangers.
8.  When I run outside, I don't feel social pressure to keep running when I would rather walk.
9.   I take naps during the day without feeling guilty that I should be folding laundry instead. 

I just love being pregnant.  

Doing Something Right?

Gracie didn't want to sit in her high chair this morning
She didn't want to eat her cereal.
She didn't want to drink her milk.
She didn't want to go potty.
I thought, great, it's going to be one of those days.
Then I opened the fridge and she opened the vegetable drawer, pointed and said "cumbers. carrots."
She wanted to eat cucumber and carrots for breakfast.
I'm ok with that, in fact, it makes me feel like I must be doing something right if my 22 month old is requesting vegetables for breakfast.  So I let her eat them on the couch instead of at the table.
Gracie, thanks for making me feel like a good mom this morning.

Look Mommy!

Gracie is getting smart, or at least she's becoming more able to articulate her thoughts and prove how smart she is. 
Yesterday we went to the grocery store, Daddy ran in to get what we needed and Gracie and I people watched from the car. 
A girl walked by in tiny shorty shorts and an itsy bitsy tank top and Gracie pointed to her and said "body! body!"  
That's right Gracie, she is showing off her body.

I truly look forward to the other fantastic things she's going to say in public.  That girl makes me smile.

A Mommy and Her Babies

So I have a friend who is amazing a lot of things, one of them being photography.  She took some pictures of Gracie and I while we were visiting Utah, here's just a few of my favorites, though there are hundreds more that I love.

I think she's too pretty to be mine...

...but mine she is!

So excited for baby brother!

See?  I told you my friend was awesome.  If you're interested in her work, her website is: http://www.ProStudioPhotography.com  Or you can find her on facebook, just look up ProStudio Photography.

A little help?

My mom is participating in a fundraiser for the Huntsman Foundation, cancer research for women. 

She's doing a bike ride called Huntsman Hometown Heroes in the Little Red Riding Hood Bike Ride.  She's close, but not quite there, so I'm reaching out for her.  

If you could just donate $5 that would be a huge help, and it's for a great cause.  I'm sure all of you know of someone who has suffered from cancer, specifically women.  

  

Follow This Link to visit her personal web page and help me in my efforts to support Huntsman Cancer Foundation

Some email systems do not support the use of links. If so, copy and paste the following into your browser:
http://littlered.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=1000429&u=1000429-350244822&e=5353574387

 Many thank yous.  

 

Best Date Ever!

Skylar and I ran the Columbus Half Marathon together today, it was so much fun!  We just loved being together through it, I couldn't have asked for a better boyfriend to hang out with. 

Before the race

Baby Boy's 1st 1/2 Marathon

After

 

 

 

New Style for SAHM?

SAHM ("Stay At Home Mom", for those like me who usually don't know acronyms).

Is it a new style for SAHMs to wear their workout clothes when taking their children out?  Are they going for the, "Yes, I'm a sexy mama who works out and plays with her kids"  look?  I mean seriously, I've been seeing a lot of mom's in their Nikes, spandex and tight tanks at the zoo, parks, cosi, etc, but I've noticed they do still make sure to remember to do their hair, put on makeup and pack lunches, they just seem to not have enough time to put on normal people clothes. 
What's the deal?  Granted, gym clothes are comfortable, that's the point of them, but come on people, you look weird, like you forgot where you were going.  Throw on a pair of jeans already. 
Just sayin'

Baby!

It's a BOY!  I'm going to have a son!

I can't wait to snuggle with my little guy.  

Due date is September 10, 2012

It's Woe time

So I haven't talked about my chest woes for a long while, I decided to skip the complaints about milk leakage, engorgement, etc while I was nursing Gracie, but now I've got something. So here goes..

Itchy Boobs

That's right, I said it, super, untreatable, inconsolable, itchy side boobs (mostly).  

However, that being said, itchy boobs is really the only thing I can complain about with this pregnancy, otherwise it's been a breeze so far.  Being a flat chested woman, these puppies have a lot of growing and stretching to do in order to house the milk needed to fill up a hungry baby's tummy.  My body's just prepping for that occurance. If only they'd stay milk jug sized afterward...

And yes, I did just say that I'm pregnant. Yipee!  More to come on that later. 

This little piggy.... is so not cute.

I love my daughter, I really do.  I can't talk enough about how I think she's the best little person in the world, not to mention the prettiest little girl I've ever seen.  Seriously, I don't know how we got her, she's just too cute.  But despite her adorable face, her clever wit and good humor, her rockin' style and her girly flare...
Girlfriend has got the ugliest feet.
First of all, she was born with gargantuanly long feet, looked like they belonged to a child rather than a baby.  But that was just the beginning.  She's got some funky toenails that literally grow upwards, I don't mean out, I mean they actually curl up if they grow just a little bit too long.  Needless to say, I'm very meticulous in making sure this doesn't happen.  And now, to top it off, she's developed some wicked constant skin peeling on her toes and feet.  I lotion them several times a day, it helps for a few minutes.  Poor little things are shedding like a snake in the summer.
And the best part is:
She loves them. 

5 Years

My sweetie and I have been married for 5 years.  He bought me a new wedding band for our anniversary.  I love it! 

@#$%

Vermin.  Such a disgusting word.  It makes me think of spitting and snarling, which is how I feel right now.
Storytime
We've had a raccoon get into our ceiling.  Not onto our roof, into our ceiling, and it pads around and scratches and scratches and scratches, it's so loud and so close it sounds like it's going to fall right through our ceiling and right onto our heads.  It steals our sleep and makes me crazy. 
Wildlife Protection was contacted about the situation and they came and set up some traps, giving me the charge to check them every morning and reporting every morning if there was a Catch or No Catch.  I forgot to call one morning and they put me through the wringer. It's not a pleasant experience being chewed out by an animal catcher.
The good news is we caught the little stinker.
Here's proof:

Don't you dare think for a second that he's cute!

The bad news is some idiot, bleeding heart, let him go before Wildlife Protection was able to get here to take him away.
So now we'll continue to have raccoon problems, and I'll have to continue go to out every morning and call in my report.  They say the chances of catching him again are very low now that he knows the trick.

I'm so mad I could spit, and to make it worse I have strong suspicions on who the guilty party is, which just angers me more.

P.S. It's against the law to mess with animal traps, and those people aren't interested in being merciful, they take this stuff very seriously.

Sugar Free

So much Yum!

11 days sugar free and feeling great!

Judge me if you must

My new favorite song to run to is Sexy and I know it by LMFAO

I work out.

What's your favorite workout song?

Thumbs Down to Daylight Savings!

Espeically boo to the spring version!  My minutes are precious, and to take away an hour from me is just rude.  In our society, there's really no point to it, it doesn't save energy, because we'll just use electricity more in the morning now instead of in the evening.  We had a hard time going to bed on time, but still had to wake up early, I ended up going to gym an hour later than usual, because I couldn't wake up, and came home in the dark, instead of the light as I do even leaving hour earlier!
  The whole thing just makes me grumpy.

Mall Trip

I had to go to the mall yesterday to visit the Apple store because my ipod broke.  I've got to give props to Apple, they give excellent customer service, and they gave me a new ipod and charger easy-peasy.
I don't like going to the mall, it just reminds me of how out of fashion I am.  I noticed that the shorty short shorts are in fashion again, I liked it the last couple years where the knee length shorts were the fashion, that was sure handy for me.  Let's go back to that. 
And, does anyone else find the trend of short shorts with stockings repulsive? Seriously.  What are they thinking.

On a positive note, I do love going to the mall to get my monthly Godiva chocolate, and Gracie loves the escalator.  She was also a very good girl and held my hand the whole time while we walked around.  She also adored the play place, it was great to see her running around like a crazy person having so much fun, wish I'd had my camera.

what are we teaching her?

Gracie's hungry, she says:  Let's eat, let's eat
I say: We can't eat until daddy comes home
Gracie says:  Oh, eat pitzzy! (pizza) 

Guess she remembers that daddy brings home pizza sometimes. 

Morning Rituals

Gracie and I watch Tangled on Netflix every morning while I comb out her own lovely locks and try to do something with that hair to keep it out of her face.  It's actually become a really great system, Gracie lets mommy play with her hair for up to 20 minutes sometimes, and then afterward, I get to snuggle with my baby for a little longer.  To me it was just a way to get her to hold still, then Skylar pointed out how clever it was of me to have her watch Tangled, of all movies, while I did her hair.  I didn't know I was being clever in movie choice, but I'll take the compliment.

Well Leap Day happened, and Netflix decided that we had enough of Tangled, so they took it away.  Not Happy were we.  I'm pretty sure we were mostly keeping our account just for the morning hair ritual. 
Now what? 
We bought it of course. Can't live without our Tangled. 

Goal pants? Check.

I didn't think I'd be able to, but I did it, I fit into the pants. This is a monumental occasion, because as I mentioned before, I've never actually fit into any of my goal pants in the past.

Here's my proof:

I probably should have cleaned up before having the picture taken, and we couldn't keep Gracie out of the picture, she has to do everything mommy does (she's putting on my hat there); and you can probably tell my tall husband took the picture, but there they are, my tiny skinny jeans - these things have zero stretch to them, so there was no chance of just squeezing into them, I really had to work for it.
Thanks for all your support!