Just Stopping By..

I'm here!  Hi!  Can you hear me now?

I'm literally just stopping by between baths, dinner and bedtime routines to say Hi!  It has been a rough couple of weeks starting back to work and trying to figure out our new evening routine. 

Couple that with the fact that Allie doesn't seem at all interested in sleeping in the evening and you have one tired mama who desperatley wants to spend sometime with you all on the blog but can not find the time. 

You know that four letter word..."balance"?  Well, I don't have it right now.  I'm barely keeping up with grad school (thank god this is my final semester).  I'm pretty sure they just wanted to give it too us good for one more semester.  I need to stop complaining, I know but sometimes you just need to vent.

I haven't been on twitter much lately...I miss you all! 

I haven't been on facebook either...

The best I can do is post some adorable pictures of my little ones and post them to instagram so be sure to follow me there.  That's where I seem to be hanging out lately.

Ok, I hear Allie crying.  Gotta run!

Old School Blogging

I got tagged by Angela to do some old school blogging and I thought it looked like a ton of fun.  So here we go!

A. Attached or Single?  Attached.  Have been for 10 years (married for 4 and a half)

B. Best Friend?  I'd have to say my mom or one of my sisters.  I talk to one or more of them everyday and wouldn't have it any other way.

C. Cake or Pie?  Cake all the way.  I'm not a huge fan of pies in general

D. Day of choice? Friday.  It's just a day where people let down their hair a little.

E. Essential Item?  2 things...a good pen and a good water bottle (and some nuun).  I take notes all day and am obsessed with office supplies so a good pen is a must.  I'm always on the hunt for the next great pen.  And a waterbottle. I've always carried one but now that I'm breastfeeding again, I need TONS of water.

F. Favorite Color? Blue all the way!

G. Gummy Bear or Worms?  Bears.  Worms are weird.

I. Favorite Indulgence?  Basically anything chocolate but I really love a 3 Musketeer and a Diet Dr. Pepper.

J. January or July? July.  It's hope but you have more options.

K. Kids?  Yeppers...2 of them now. (Wow, I can't believe I'm a mom to 2 rugrats).

L.  Life isn't complete without?  This is a tough one but I'd have to say...family, fitness, wine, Ben Folds and My hammock.

M. Marriage Date: November 8, 2008

N. Number of Bros and Sis: 1 Brother and 2 Sisters.  I'm the second oldest.  My brother is the oldest and the baby is 10 years younger than me. 

O.Oranges or Apples: Apples.  I am so impatient that peeling an orange is an annoyance.  Besides, E and I have our special time together when we "apple share". 

P. Phobias?  The dentist and elevators.  I know it sounds weird but ever since I saw this episode of Night Court waaayyy back when where they got caught in the elevator I have been a little skiddish. 

R. Reason to smile: I'm almost done with my MBA.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and that makes  me smile.  August can't come soon enough!

S. Season of choice:  Autumn.  I love the smell that autumn has.  I'm looking forward to seeing early autumn in NY (running ragnar with Nuun in late September)

T. Tag 5 People: Lindsay (ItzLinz), Jess (Pace of Me), Pavement Runner, Maddie (FoodFitandFam), Kristen (ConcreteRunner)

U. Unknown fact about me:  I sang a lot in high school.  Even went to Opryland to sing Christmas carols at the Grand Ole Opry..

V.  Vegetable: Green beans.  I love them pretty much anyway you can make them but when I was pregnant I craved Green bean casserole.  Even made one at 10:00 p.m. one night and just about ate the entire thing.

W. Worst habit: My shopping addiction.  It goes beyond fitness stuff.  I love shopping for work clothes.  I know it's weird but I browse Ann Taylor, JCrew and Banana at least once a day.

X. Xray or ultrasound: Ultrasound.  It's been the insight into what my little family would look like. 

Y. Your favorite Food: Right now it definitely has to be watermelon.  I'm pretty sure have, by myself, gone through about 2 a week.

Z. Zodiac sign: Scorpio

Ok, let's see what you got...pick a letter and spill the beans.  GO!

Mommy and Me: 8 Week Update

I can't believe it's already been 8 weeks.  that means I'm back to work which is ok.  There is a part of me that enjoys going to work.  I'm not happy about leaving the little ones but I'm adjusting.

So just like we did at 4 weeks, let's see where we are.  Let's start with little miss.

Allie at 8 Weeks:

Eating:
A is eating pretty well.  She's being exclusively breastfed and my goal is to do it for at least 6

months.  She is taking approximately 3 ounces at a feeding.  She is bothered by caffeine and dairy which you will often here me complain about but I do it knowing that it is completely worth it.

Sleeping:
Oye!  Where do I begin?  During the day, she actually sleeps really well and is staying very close to her Moms on call schedule.  She doesn't need much assistance going down during the day but at about 8:30 each night, when she should be going to sleep, she's awake.  Bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to hang out with mom.

I try to rock her and put her in her crib swaddled, full belly and drowsy only to have her wake right back up.  I leave here for a few minutes and when she starts crying I go in to try to comfort her and help but ultimately after about 30 min (after E's in bed) I end up picking her up and attempt to study while holding her. 

I'm open to suggestions. 

Interacting:
She is definitely starting to interact more.  She is way more alert and follows me with her eyes when I walk around with her.  She is starting to understand how her arms work.  She is trying to figure out how to control them which is really cute.  It's funny how more attentive I am to this stuff with her. 

She coos and makes happy noises which just warm my heart. I've been trying to record them but everytime I start recording she stops.  Sounds about right huh?

All in all she's a great kid.  She loves to cuddle which I love.  She seems pretty interested in what E's doing and he seems pretty ok with her too.  It will be much more interesting as she gets older and can interact with him more. 






Mommy
Sleep
I wish it was better.  I average about 5.5 to 6 hours a night and it's all based on Allie who doesn't seem to sleep well at night.  We're working on it but I can tell you that I definitely feel sleep deprived.  Couple that with the fact that Allie doesn't do well with caffeine and you can see why I'm dragging a little. 

Breastfeeding
We are still going strong.  She eats about 3 ounces a feeding.  I'm back at work and pumping during the day and that has allowed me to pump a little more than 3 ounces and store it.  I would say I'm getting about 5 ounces each time which I'm pretty happy about. 

The great thing about work is that we have rooms dedicated to new moms and you can schedule a half hour whenever you need it but there are so many new moms that the rooms are booked solid so I'm having to get creative.  My recommendation to new moms...make sure you get a pump that can run on battery power. 

Fitness and Running
I've been running now since the five weeks.  I've committed to running the Rock 'n' Roll in July so I've been really motivated to get back to it.  I've run about 13-15 miles for the past couple weeks and that is steadily climbing.  So far I feel pretty good and am SOOO happy to running again.  Even if it is slow.

 

One of the questions I've gotten lately is about nursing bras.  My sister got me this bra when I was nursing E and I love it.  It's a sports bra that give me enough support but allows me to be ready for either a workout or a nursing session at a moments notice.  I have this bra in white and black and love it.  You can find it at Motherhood Maternity

Weight Loss
I'm down to my last 9 lbs but I've been there for a couple weeks.  I've seemed to have stalled but I still feel like I'm getting my shape back.

My stomach still has the extra pouch which I am devoted to getting rid of.  The Linea Nigra is still present but fading. 

Overall, we're getting along well.  E is settling in nicely to his role as big brother.  Next week we're taking our family photos which should be entertaining. 

So there you have it.  I'm looking forward to your sleep suggestions.

On a side note, this week I visited the local fox channel and took them through a Post-Baby Tabata workout.  It was a lot of fun.  You can see the video below and the tabata is here too.

Chevron Nursery Reveal

Ok, so I know.  I'm a little late doing this but I'm super excited to finally be able to show you Baby Allie's nursery. I'm pretty proud of it.  I put it together with the help of my mom and sister which makes it that much more of a special place. 

Throughout the past few months, I've given you glimpses of the projects that we did in there.  First it was the pillows for the crib.  I fell in love with chevron long before A was ever a thought.  In fact, I bought the rug about two years ago when we moved in so I knew I wanted to be able to use it.

 Then there was the art work.  I wanted to make sure to include E in the process whenever we could and he really enjoyed painting.

 

And all of that went into the nursery.  I bought the furniture and crib but the room was already painted from when we moved in.  That was the color scheme I chose back then.  Maybe..deep down I knew that one day a little girl would reside there. 

After all the work we finally had a nursery fit for a little girl. 

• The curtains came from Target.  They are supposed to be blackout but they aren't.  They do, however, give the room a nice yellow glow when the sun out.
• The Rocker, which was reupholstered came from Babies'r'us.  It's the rocker we had in E's room.  There's a better picture of the fabric below which I found at OnlineFabricStore dot com
• The Rug came from Urban Outfitters.  I know..who knew?!

 

 E's artwork is on the right.  The "M" I made using the Silhouette Cutting Machine, some vinyl and a $6 mirror from Michaels.

The three art pieces in the picture below came from the Etsy shop: Paper Plane Prints

Here's a little more:
The Owl art and Chevron Initials were made by my sister and I. We bought the canvas at Michaels when they were 50% so I think all four pieces cost $30.

 

The Chevron Quilt and crib sheet came from Pottery Barn Kids

The Chevron Crib Skirt was made by me but I bought the fabric at Hobby Lobby.

 

You can kind of see the fabric on the rocker here. 

 

 

 I would say..all in all it turned out pretty well.  I'm especially proud of all the personal touches that went into it.  Hope she grows up to appreciate it all.

 

So there you have it...all the DIY skills, as limited as they are..all displayed in A's room.  Maybe it will help you plan for your little one's nursery.

 

 

Have you ever done any DIY stuff?  Do you have a favorite part of the room?

 

 

 

 

 

What's with the scale?!

Can we talk candidly for a minute?  I don't get a lot of "hate mail" but I do get some comments from people who have different views on health and fitness and I think it's perfectly healthy to have a discussion when that happens. 

So recently I got a comment from someone who was criticizing me for "being dependent on the scale" to make me feel good about my post baby weight loss.  I thought about it for a while and finally think I have a response. 

So let's talk...

For those that have been pregnant, you know how magical, wonderful but sometimes daunting and frustrating it can be.  You are not in charge of your body, a little being is renting it for 9 months and I'm perfectly ok with that. 

But once the renter vacates the premises, it's up to you to care for it and get it to whatever desired state you want it to be.  Some are happy as is...That's great.  Some mamas want something different, either to be the size they were when they got pregnant, or some may even want to be smaller.  Some don't even think about it that way...some think in terms of fitness and endurance levels. 

In my mind, none of these are wrong.  You are you, your goals are your own. 

For me, my goals are a combination of weight loss and fitness.  I know I want to be able to run the Rock 'n' Roll Half in July in Chicago and eventually get my pace back so I'm definitely focusing on getting fitness and endurance.

But it doesn't stop there. 

I wish I could stand up here (on my invisible soapbox) and tell you that I shun the scale and that I have no desire to see what it says but I'd be lying.  I'm human and I look at the scale.

I want to be able to fit into my old clothes.  I want to feel confident like I did before.  I don't want that to come off wrong.  I'm content but I'm not "there" yet.  So the scale, is just another measure for me.  It helps to keep me on track and shows me that all the hard work I'm putting in is paying off. 

I don't look at it everyday, once a week if that.  I've said before I don't have one at the house so it forces me to go to the gym to weigh in which is not easy to get to these days.

In my line of work, we use things called KPI's (Key Performance Indicators) to track how work is  going.  My weight is just ONE of the things I'm tracking.  It's not a holistic view of me but it is one  indicator that I'm on track.

So to the criticizer I say...Watching the scale?  Yes.  Dependent on the scale?  No. 

In the next couple days I'm going to be opening up about how I'm getting back to my pre-baby form and hopefully sharing some tips and tricks from other new mamas.  I think it's important to share so if some of it works for you great!

Ok, so there it is.  I'm being honest.  Fault me if you want but it's the truth.

What KPI's do you use to monitor your fitness, if any?  How do you stay fit?

Sparkly Soul Giveaway

Happy Friday!  I'm giving away a favorite among us lady runners...a Sparkly Soul headband.  If you haven't seen the sparkly soul headbands before they are seriously the only headbands that don't slide off your head.  This is especially frustrating when your head is sweaty and your bangs are too short to pull back into your ponytail.

I have been wearing Sparkly Soul headbands for a little while now.  I prefer the widebands.  I sported the red sparkly wideband during Hood to Coast last year and my current favorite is actually not sparkly at all.  It's the Black Satin wideband.  I know, crazy that it doesn't sparkle but I can even wear this one to work.  It helps me create a sleek professional look.

Sparkly Soul also made me this month's featured blogger, which I was pretty grateful for.  So let's get on to the giveaway...

Oh...one more unrelated thing that makes me happy this Friday..I'm gonna be on TV again here in St. Louis.  Back in January, I took our local morning guy through a Prenatal workout.  They've asked me back to help show new moms how to squeeze fitness into the day.  It just so happens to be the first day I'm back at work but luckily I have an awesome job and let me do this sort of thing. 

Ok, so stay tuned, I'll post the video, the workout and tell you all about it.  In the meantime, get your entries in today!

Winner will be selected Friday, June 15th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

National Running Day and a Gift For You

June 5th is national running day!  It's basically the closest thing we runners have to a national holiday. 

The idea is simple...tell everyone why you run and go for it!  For me, it's about being the best version of myself I can be and running gives me an outlet I need to stay sane. 

In lieu of giving each other gifts, why not give yourself a gift courtesy of the Rock'n'Roll Marathon Series?  Sign up for any Rock'n'Roll Series Race and get $20 select races.  You can get all the details here: ow.ly/lHAxy.

I'm already registered for Chicago and St. Louis but would love to hear what your favorite Rock 'n' Roll Races have been.

If you don't sign up today, you can still save on the STL and CHI Rock 'n' Roll by using promo code: "Momslrb"

In other running news, check out these posts for your chance to win great running prizes:
RunWiki: Check out Lisa's post for details about winning a pair of shoes
NYC Running Mama: Check out Michelle's blog for chances to win shoes, race entries and more!
Through Heather's Looking Glass: Check out Heather's blog for details about winning a Timex Ironman Watch
Marcia's Healthy Slice of Life: Check out Marcia's blog for your chance to win entry into a Spartan race!

I'll be running 4 miles.  How will you celebrate?

Happy Running Day!