My blog is pretty much going to be a baby blog now

A few weeks ago, when Luke turned six months old, we began introducing solids to him. We started with rice cereal and oatmeal and have since started vegetables. He's had green beans, sweet peas, carrots and squash so far. Before we started the solids, I was really looking forward to feeding him "real" food, thinking how cute he'd be while he ate. But, once we started it...man, that stuff is MESSY! I almost wish I could keep him a little infant forever, only nursing. It's soooo much easier and more convenient.



He's still nursing/eating bottled breast milk (at school) 6-7 times per day, which means I'm still pumping three times at work throughout the day. I thought that maybe once he started solids, he'd outgrow needing a mid-morning or mid-afternoon bottle, but I guess not. Not at this point in the game anyway, but that's OK by me. My favorite part of the day is first thing in the morning, waking up my little guy, to nurse. He's just looks so sweet and so innocent, which he is. He's seriously a very laid back little guy, rarely cries and smiles all the time.



We had his 6 month doc appt a couple weeks ago and he weighed 18 lbs 4 oz and was 27.5 inches long. He's in the 90th percentile in height and in the 75th for weight. And, his head has finally caught up a bit as he's in the 50th percentile for his noggin (he was only in the 25th percentile at birth...so his brain is growing quickly:). Not too bad for a preemie, if you ask me. But, after all, his dad was about 11 lbs at birth.



The last couple months, Luke has been drooling a ton. This past Sunday, it looked like I could see his two bottom teeth right under his gums. And, sure enough, when I picked him up from school on Monday, they had both popped through the skin. It's so cute to see him smile and see his little teeth! I've tried to get a picture of them up close, but haven't been able to get a good one yet.

So, that's all that's new on the baby front. Coach is on a fishing trip this weekend, so Luke and I will be spending a lot of time with my sister and mom and, hopefully, relaxing a bit. Parents as Teachers is coming over on Monday to do Luke's 6 month assessment, so I'm anxious to make sure he's hitting all of his milestones. Our doctor already confirmed this, but you can't hear it too much :) He's rolling all over the place and sitting up pretty well at this point. It's true when they say that each stage of their lives gets even more fun :)

Sitting up


Push-ups


Luke and Me

And.....I'm Back!

It's been just under a year since my last post. Since then, much has happened. I've gone from this



To this



(yes, my boobs and stomach are HUGE and I still had two and a half months left of pregnancy...LOL)

I had this little guy 4 weeks early. Ok, so he wasn't THAT little, weighing in at 7 lbs, 5 oz at birth, but still made a dramatic entrance.



He's now over 6 months old!



So, a lot has happened during this past year. We went on a couple of vacations last year. We went to Beaver Lake in Arkansas for a week. It was a lot of fun and we did a lot of relaxing. Here are a couple snippets from that trip.


This is a typical picture of Coach. He frequently has his eyes closed in his photos.


My nephew, Jackson

We also went to Destin, FL with another couple. It was a lot of fun as well and nice to have another person who wasn't able to indulge in any alcoholic beverages! Tiffany and I are both pregnant on this trip, however, she was only about 3 weeks pregnant!




Yeah, she's just a TAD bit smaller than me


Seaside, Florida

Life has been pretty great this past year and we have more fun stuff to come this summer. I haven't really been working out at all, but am desperately trying to get motivated to get back into running or at least SOMETHING. The only exercise I've been getting is feeding my baby...lol. Hey, at least I'm burning some calories!

Hope everyone has had a good year and I am still blog reading religiously, so I'm keeping up with you!

i'm a complete failure

Well, I've been pretty down on myself lately, running-wise. I had a 10k on the books last weekend and I had to bail out at mile 3.75. I was completely bummed because I've absolutely never quite mid-race before! I never even walk if I get tired, let along completely bail!

I pulled into the race location (Krug Park) last Friday night really nervous about the run. Not so much the distance, but the course. It was going to be 5 loops around the park which has a steep hill about the first quarter mile. Not too bad if you're doing it once or maybe even twice, but five times would be brutal. I freaked when I heard we were going to have to loop five times! So, mentally, I was already in a bad place. Anyway, when I pulled into the park, I saw a teenage couple making out in the middle of the road. So, my last two races (and within one week of each other) I see kids making out! Strange! At least they weren't 11 years old this time...LOL.

When we lined up for the race, there were only 14 of us doing the 10k. And, by looking at the runners you could tell these were SERIOUS runners! So, I didn't exactly fit in. I made up my mind to start of slow and just keep that pace the entire run. Well, I started off slow in my head (my first mile was a pace of 7:47!), which was basically just comparing myself to the other runners since I was already in last place! At that point, though, I didn't care. I was just doing it for the exercise and to finish.

The first loop was OK, but once I got to the uphill portion, it was really tough. But, I made it to the top and realized I had to do it 4 more times?! Second loop was slower (pace: 9:28) and again, I struggled up the hill. Seriously, I could hardly breathe once I made it to the top. I joked that I could feel my baby gasping for amniotic fluid, even! LOL. By the third loop, I had to walk up the hill and was still completely exhausted. I decided that since I was so out of breath and I knew my heart rate had to be pretty high (higher than I should have had it in my condition, probably) that it was in my best interest to stop.

I was so disappointed in myself, mostly and even went to the car to call Coach and started crying. Of course, he was praising me for even attempting to do it at all and he was still proud of me, but I still felt like a loser. I got over it soon enough to cheer on my friend Kerry near the finish line. She came in first in her age group (I would have come in second...out of two people:) and last in the race. All racers ran a sub-ten minute mile. Actually, I'm pretty sure Kerry even ran a sub-9:30 mile, so in my opinion, those racers were amazing!

So, needless to say, I've definitely been in a running slump lately and wondering if it's time for me to turn in my sneakers for the remainder of my pregnancy or if I should continue to try to do 5ks or even flat 10ks. I haven't decided, but am definitely in need of some words of encouragement right now....anyone?

Oh, and, it probably goes without saying that the half marathon on my schedule for Sunday morning, is now off the schedule :(

official 5k results are in

Just checked online today and the official results are posted from the Apple Blossom 5k.

Total Time: 27:33
Average Pace: 8:52

I'm very proud of myself as this would be a good pace for me without being pregnant. So, the fact that I am, makes me even more happy! Yippee!

apple blossom 5k and other misc items

Saturday morning was our annual Apple Blossom parade and 5k. The 5k follows the parade route right before the parade starts. So, basically, the entire town was there to watch me run....yes, I'm a local celebrity:)

The race started at 9:15 and the weather was perfect for short sleeves and shorts/capris. I opted to wear a pair of running capris which I normally love b/c they're not too tight around the waist (and that is really crucial to me right now). However, the only other runs I've worm them on were longer runs where I had my fuel belt on me. Little did I know that the fuel belt was really good at holding these capris up. Because I literally pulled those pants up somewhere around 50 times throughout the 5k! Annoying! But, glad I figured that out while doing a short run.

Anywho, the first 1/2 mile of the race was uphill...during which I thought I was going to hyperventilate and die (not kidding). My mental devil was in my head telling me that I should just quit at the top of the hill (that is where my family would be standing for the race/parade)....that I've run the first three and a half months of my pregnancy and I can no longer do it. But, I got to the top of the hill and saw my family all waving at me. Then, most importantly, I saw my 4 year old nephew Jackson waving at me (he's never seen me running before, but we talk a lot about it) and, I know it's silly, but he just had this proud look on his face and that gave me the push I needed to continue. That, and the fact that I new the rest of the race was downhill helped my mental state at that point.

Those of you from St. Joe will appreciate my observations on the race course down Frederick (from Leblond to the YMCA).

1. Dodged about 20 potholes and roadkill
2. The majority of the race/parade spectators were missing at least three teeth
3. Saw two 11 year-olds making out in front of their parents (I almost lost it when
I saw this!)
4. The entire race course, I was breathing in fresh cigarette smoke (second-hand,
of course)
5. Emmitt was dancing at the finish line...ok, this one isn't true...LOL.

I finished the race sometime between 27:30 and 27:59. I'm not sure yet as the race results haven't been posted, I wasn't wearing my Garmin, and because someone was standing right in front of the time board blocking the seconds! I'm pretty certain it was over 27:30 though. But, I'm pretty sure my average pace was UNDER 9 minute miles, which is good for me even not pregnant! So, I was thrilled!

As for the most recent pregnancy news....we got to have a sonogram last Monday. A friend of mine is a nurse practitioner and works at a local non-profit where abortion minded girls go for counseling regarding options they have other than abortion. Well, this friend offered me a free sonogram at that clinic! I was of course really excited and of course emailed her (and texted her!) to set up an appt. So, we went last Monday when I was 13 weeks, 3 days. We heard the heartbeat again (172 bpm), saw the spine and femur bones, saw the baby's hands...the baby was really moving around a lot which is so surreal to see b/c you can't feel a thing! Crazy! She measured the head and it measured at 13 weeks, 5 days (to which I responded "oh, our baby's already advanced!"..again, those of you who know me will know that I WOULD say something like that, jokingly.) It was too early to tell the sex, but she said I could come back at 15 weeks or anytime, and she could tell us the sex. I'm a little torn about what to do b/c I don't want to have our sonogram with the doctor at 20 weeks and not be excited about hearing the sex for the first time. She'd probably think I was a freak if I was like, "oh, I already knew that. I've already had two sonograms!". Coach, being the patient one of the two of us, thinks we should just wait until 20 weeks with the doctor. So, we'll see......

picking up momentum

Well, I'm trying to jam pack as many races in my schedule as humanly possible before it gets to hot and humid for this pregnant lady to run (and I promise that I won't milk the pregnant thing too much on this blog:). I'm HOPING I can make it through May and maybe some of June before it just gets too hot for me. And, considering I complained in STL when it was 55 degrees at the start of the race and probably almost 70 when it finished.....I'll be darn lucky to still be running in June..LOL.

Anyway, I just updated my race list (to the right) and added three new races. The first is a 10k here in my hometown around one of the city parks. What reeled me in was the fact that Olive Garden will have salad, breadsticks and spaghetti at the finish line...LOL. The second race is another half marathon on May 16th in Leavenworth, Kansas. I'm pretty sure Leavenworth is about 45 minutes away from my town, but I've never been there. So, I have no idea what the course is like. The website did have an elevation map and it looks like there are a couple big hills. But, hopefully nothing too horrible. The last race is a 15k. I've never run a 15 k, but I'm kind of excited for the fact that I know exactly what to expect. It's in my hometown and I've actually run the entire course before (though not all at once). The last 5+ miles of the 15k meets up with the half marathon course I did last Saturday. So, I know exactly where all the hills are...up and down.

I tried to upload a couple of photos from my race last weekend, but it wasn't working. I'll try to post those later.

half marathon redemption

Yesterday, I ran my second half marathon of the week. I finished in 2:08:48...so I shaved off about three minutes since the STL half. I was pretty pleased b/c there were some KILLER hills...not as many hills, but they were steeper. I felt pretty good most of the race, but was pretty beat by the time I finished.

So, my news about why my training hasn't gone as well this time around????? I'M PREGNANT :) I'm 12 weeks now, so the cat's out of the bag! Needless to say, I get fatigued more easily and therefore can't run as fast as I used to. But, that's ok...I'm still getting exercise and it's kind of cool to be able to say I ran two half marathons while I was pregnant.

Last night we went to our friend's engagement party and spent the night in Kansas City and had a great time. We told all our friends about our news the afternoon before, so it was nice not to have to keep lying and act like I was drinking when I wasn't. A couple of them definitely suspected it since my lower belly is already pooching out a little...LOL!

Well, that's all the exciting news I have for now. Hope everyone had a great weekend!