Life, I tell you.

Woah! Has it really been so long? How does that happen? Life, I tell you.

Speaking of life, it's been busy!

Family visits.

 

 Titi Jen and cousin Christian. SO cute!! Their visit was TOO SHORT!!

Picking blueberries.


A chipped tooth and dentist appointments. Yes, plural.


Bailey's first trip to the Zoo.

 She totally liked the tiger the best.

Lots of walks.


Cancelling a credit card I pretty much forgot I even had (whoops).


Spending time with friends.


Registering for a race!!!

It's a local 5-mile race. Not a half-marathon or anything, but hey-- it's something!

The Hubs working late and going on work trips.


Job interviews. Oh, and ya know-- trying to decide if I want to go back to work or stay home with Bailey for longer.


Life, man.


Sometimes being an adult isn't really all it's cracked up to be. So many decisions I never even imagined I'd have to make. So much responsibility. But, you can also eat cereal for dinner if you want to and drink all the diet pepsi you want, so I guess I won't complain too much.

I'll try to be a better blogger, I promise. I can't promise I'll succeed, but I'll try.

Weekly Workout Recap: 7/13-7/19

Weekly Workout Recap: 7/13-7/19

 

Sunday, 7/13: 4.5 mile walk

Monday, 7/14: None (out of town)

Tuesday, 7/15: None (out of town)

Wednesday, 7/16: None (out of town)

Thursday, 7/17: JM30DS

Friday, 7/18: Jillian Michaels "Shape Up Front" DVD (30 minutes) & 8 mile walk (split into 3 separate walks)

Saturday, 7/19: Jillian Michaels "Shape Up Front" DVD (30 minutes) & 2 mile walk

 

Not my best week, but what can ya do. I was outta town Monday-Wednesday, so it is what it is. Happy I jumped right back in on Thursday. Do what you can when you can. :)

Bailey: 8 Month Update

Age: Nope. No way is baby girl 8 freaking months old. I refuse to believe it.

 

 

Size: FINALLY, just 4 days before she officially turned 8 months, I decided it was time to officially call it quits on her 0-3 month clothes. Don't get me wrong. They still fit her... but, it's time. I'm over them. Plus, she's been wearing a few 3-6 month outfits for a few weeks, but she's officially, as of this week, 100% in 3-6 month clothes. They're definitely roomy, but fit fine. She's still in size 2 diapers, too. Tiny little peanut. I don't know her weight/height, but I definitely think she's getting a lot taller.

Sleep: OOOOOMMMMMGGGGG. Guys. She's sleeping through the night. I'll give you a second to regroup from your celebration. No cheering? Just me? Well, trust me, I'm cheering loud enough for all of us. I'll say it again, just in case you missed it:

 

SHE'S SLEEING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!

 

Ok, ok... she's SORTA sleeping through the night (STTN). She's done it 5 times in the last 8 days. 1 night of crying (I'm going to do the oh-so-controversial sleep training post soon) followed by 3 nights of sttn, then 1 night of crying, then 1 sttn, then 1 crying, then 1 sttn. So, I certainly don't think we're 100% there and can say she's GOT it down, but we're making progress. And, hello-- SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT! Multiple times. In a row even! I'm pretty excited over here. Hopefully it just keeps getting better and better and we eliminate these random wake-up nights altogether. Fingers crossed! 

 

Nursing & Solids: Nursing is still going really well, though very different. I think we're in the eating-more-solids-everyday phase and she's less and less interested in nursing. Plus, she's in that IWANNALOOKATEVERYTHING phase too. Fun. Anyway, we're still going strong with our nursing sessions (6:30am, 9:30am, 12:30pm, 4pm, and 6:45pm) but they're each MUCH, MUCH shorter than they were before clocking in now about about 6-10 minutes per side max (before they were more like 15-20 minutes per side). I think it's a combo of her FINALLY getting more efficient and her maybe taking a bit less at each session. I think we're on the cusp of moving to a 4 hour schedule which will eliminate one of those nursing sessions. We'll see. All in all, nursing (& pumping-- still at about 7:30am and 9pm) = GREAT!

For solids, she's eating 3 "meals" a day right now. We moved from 1 meal to 2 meals after about 2 weeks and then to 3 meals just last week. A typical meal is a few slices of whatever solid (today it was sweet potato, yesterday it was steamed carrots) and sometimes some baby cereal mixed with b-milk. We're starting to try to just give her parts of our dinner instead of something separate. We're kinda figuring things out as we go. We're definitely not doing any jarred food anymore. She's a pretty adventurous and ravenous eater, when she wants to be. I kinda love meal time. She's so cute just chowing down.

Likes: Daddy, daddy, daddy. Girl is obsessed. He walks in the door from work and she immediately lights up. It's beyond adorable.

 

She's still OBSESSED with Sadie, too. Poor dog. It's not an unusual thing for me to turn my back from 1 second and when I turn back around for her to have Sadie's ear in her mouth. Luckily, Sadie is still amazingly gentle and wonderful with her.

 

Crawling!! Girl is on the move and wants to make sure everyone knows it. She like legit does not stop moving.

 

And, she still likes all the other usual things... Mums, jumperoo, toys, her little play kitchen, songs, dancing with me, chewing on everything.

 

 

Dislikes: The stupid carseat. Seriously. Girl hate, hate, haaaates it. Usually in the morning she's OK with it. But, sometimes that's even a big fail. I keep telling her it's not negotiable. She doesn't seem to understand. LOL.

She also seems to really dislike her stroller lately. We've been using the Ergo to take her on walks much more lately. Hopefully it's just a phase as I'd really like to start running with her in the jogging stroller again.

 

New This Month/Special Moments/Milestones:

-Crawling

 

-Pulling herself up to standing

 

-Big girl bath

-More and more babbling. She's starting to blow raspberries and to make "ba" sounds. Side note: she seems to make the raspberries the most when she's mad, which is about the funniest and cutest darn thing in the entire world. I'm obsessed.

-"Crying" when she doesn't get her way. When she wants to play with something she shouldn't be (ie- extension cord) and I tell her no and move her away, she, of course, will move right back to it. I tell her no and move her again and she's started to sorta fake cry. Drama queen already. Greaaaaat. 

-More and more new foods... mango, egg, tomato, lemon, pickle, too many more to name. Girl loves to eat!

Looking forward to: Everything! OMG. It's so fun seeing her develop. She learns something new like every day it seems like. She's so fast now with her crawl and is talking more and more to herself. She can sit and play by herself, totally entertained. She loves to mimic noises and facial expressions. It's just so fun seeing her grow and develop. I'm like legit obsessed with just watching her. I can't wait for each new stage and thing she learns. SO MUCH FUN!!

 

Weekly Workout Recap: 7/6-7/12

Weekly Workout Recap: 7/6-7/12

Sunday, 7/6: JM30DS

Monday, 7/7: Bob Harper's "Totally Ripped Core" DVD (45 minute workout) & 1.75 mile walk

Tuesday, 7/8: JM30DS & 2.5 mile walk & 4 mile run (40:47)

Wednesday, 7/9: JM30DS & 3.5 mile walk

Thursday, 7/10: 3.25 mile walk

Friday, 7/11: 3.5 mile walk

Saturday, 7/12: JM30DS

Pretty good week. Only 1 run, but it was 4 miles instead of 3. Nothing super exciting, but no news is good news, right? 

Two Thing Thursday: 7/10

Two Songs I Can't Get Enough Of:
1. Still love me some Taylor Swift.

You know how songs have a way of bringing up a very vivid memory of a time you heard it? For me, any song on this CD will always bring me back to the Hubs and my cruise 2 years ago. I had just gotten this CD and basically had it on repeat the entire time on my iPod. Now, if only we could recreate that memory... anyone wanna babysit? 
2. "Oh mister sun, sun, mister golden sun..." Yeah. That song. No clue the name. It's a kids song. It's one of my favorite kids songs right now. Yes, I have favorites.  


Two Shows I'm Watching:
1. Big Brother.

Looooove this show. One of my very best friends in the world got me hooked on this in grad school. Now, I can't stop. Obsessed. If I had no life and all the time in the world, I'd totally pay for the 24 hour live feed. Because I'm a loser. Alas, I'll have to settle for the 3 episodes a week. I never catch it live... thankgoodness for cbs.com and naptime.

2. Still Secret Life of the American Teenager. Still sucks. Still can't stop.


Two Things I'm Looking Forward To Doing This Weekend:
1. Shakespeare in the Park! The Hubs and I are going to see Romeo and Juliet. I love plays, so I'm pumped. Hopefully it's not too hot and Bailey falls fast asleep in the Ergo.

2. Taste of Chicago. We've gone a couple times in the past and it's always a good time. Definitely looking forward to it again.


Two Cute Pics of Bailey:
1. Nothing cuter than a baby tush.

 

2. Little Mozart in the making.

 

Two Things That Sucked This Week (so far):
1. Chipping a tooth. Boooooo. I have terrible teeth. They look decent, especially for never having braces, but they're terrible. I joke that I have skinny-fat-person-teeth. You know... those super skinny people who eat TERRIBLE and never workout, but just are super skinny anyway. That's my teeth. They look decent, but are terrible inside. Boo. Dentist appointment scheduled for next week.

2. Went to a Mom's group event and I was the only person who showed. It's never happened before and some extenuating circumstances made it so people who planned to come had to bail last minute. It happens. Still sucked though.


Two Workouts This Week:
1. I ran again! On my own!! FOUR miles this time. I'm getting there!!

Ok, so it wasn't the fastest, but I ran. And, I felt strong.

2. Oh, Bob Harper. You kick my ass every time.

 

 

Two Things I'm Doing Today:
1. Going to tour a donut factory to learn how donuts are made with my Mom's Group! Ok, ok-- I know that Bailey gets nothing out of this in theory... but, I think she does somehow! I love exposing her to new and different things... plus, she's too little for her free donut so you know who gets it!!! :)

2. Oil change. Boo. Hopefully it's quick and painless.

WIAW

 

Forgot what WIAW is? Check out this blog to learn more.

 

Without any further ado, let's just get right to it...

 

 

Breakfast @ 7am

Coffee with creamer and truvia, cinnamon raisin toast with spray butter (so healthy) and a leftover cookie 

Snack @ 10am

2 bites of this KIND bar.... it was an impulse purchase and I did not like it.  

 

 

Lunch @ 2pm

2 egg omelet with low-fat mozzarella cheese and avocado chunks (leftover from Bailey's lunch, thankyouverymuch), cantaloupe and a Diet Pepsi

 

 

Dinner @ 6pm

Avocado Chicken Burger (using this recipe) and green beans and a big glass of ice water

 

 

Dessert @ 8pm

 
Chocolate covered vanilla ice cream pop



Oh, and there was some (unpictured) air-popped popcorn at some point in the evening after dinner, too.

 

Weekly Workout Recap: 6/29-7/5

Weekly Workout Recap: 6/29-7/5

Sunday, 6/29: 3.5 mile walk with Fam

Monday, 6/30: JM30DS
Tuesday, 7/1: Bob Harper "Totally Ripped Core" DVD (45 minute workout)

Wednesday, 7/2: 3 mile run (29:26)

Thursday, 7/3: JM30DS & 3 mile run (29:something)

Friday, 7/4: 6.5 mile walk

Saturday, 7/5: 4.5 mile walk and a few hours of yard work

I'm gonna start tracking my time for runs here so I can look back and see if I'm making any progress to my whole "able to run 5 miles easily" plan. Of course, that will require consistently running and this is just week 2, so let's not get ahead of ourselves, huh? :)

I ran! Again!

Yep. You read correctly. I ran.

Again.

Say WHAAAAT?!?!

After putting it out there on the blog that I want to get back into running shape, I feel like I might actually have to (and more importantly WANT TO) actually start SLOWLY running again. Then, when Mother Nature handed me the forecast for Tuesday, what was I supposed to do??

 

I mean, really. It was like a sign that I HAD to run. It's that weather that makes my legs just ITCH to run. I WANTED to run. So, when the Hubs got home from work and we ate and put Bailey to sleep, I laced up the ol' Brooks, grabbed the much neglected Garmin, turned on some Eminem and hit the road.

 

I told the Hubs I was doing 2 slow, easy miles.

 

We all know what happens when I say that.

 

Hey! It was only one more than I said!! That's good for me! And, I kept a decent pace, even getting negative splits... errr... does it count as negative splits even on just a 3-mile run? Whatever. I did. The first mile was about 10:15, then 9:50, then 9:20something. SAY WHAAAAAT?!?!?!?

Yes, I was huffing and puffing more than a lifetime smoker climbing up the Empire State Building. But, I looooved it. And, I felt strong. I felt I could have kept going. I had a giant, goofy grin.

 

 

 

Maybe... just maybe, I can do this.

 

That time I went to a group run... and finished almost last

I love to run. I do. Yet, I haven't been running. I really have no reason for it. I could make the time. I could use the jogging stroller at take Bailey with me. I could go before the Hubs leaves for work (ya know-- at 5am). I could go after B goes to sleep. I could make it work. I really know I could. I just haven't. 

And, I just haven't because I just haven't WANTED to. I'm still working out-- home DVDs & walks. I'm enjoying that. Running hasn't sounded FUN. I LOVE to run. I'm not going to do it if it doesn't sound fun. Why force it? I know the fun will come back. Probably not til fall when this blasted heat is over, but it'll come back.

Ok, ok. I admit it. I also haven't felt like running because I kinda suck at running right now. I'm WAY outta running shape. When I run, I'm slow (for me). When I run, I huff and puff like a chain smoker. When I run, I am reminded over and over again that I am not where I was before I had Bailey. I mean-- duh, but I can kinda blissfully ignore it most other times.

So, I'm not really running right now.

But, I kinda want to. I feel the itch SLOOOOOLY coming back. SLOWLY. Like, "meeeeh- running doesn't sound terrible today so maybe I'll do it tomorrow... maybe" kinda slow. I'd prefer not to be 1000000% out of running shape (the 100% out of it I am now is plenty) when that "I WANNA RUN RIGHT NOW AND ALL THE TIME RUN RUN RUN RUN RUUUUUUN" feeling does come back. I'd like to maintain a "5-miles is easy" kinda stamina.

But, I'm not there. So, for the record, what I'm saying is before I want to start running again, I need to start running again. Makes perfect sense, right?

I do not presently have that sought after 5-mile base, as I quickly learned last week when I went to a local running stores group fun run they do all summer every Thursday evening in hopes of starting to SLOWLY start running before starting running again (again- makes perfect sense) and in hopes to meet some new people in our new town and make some FRIENDS. Anyway- I heard about these via Facebook (where else?) a while ago, but we were busy each Thursday night til this week so, I  had no excuse and told myself I was going!

I got everything ready. I talked to the Hubs and figured out our Bailey plan. He'd cover B duty (random side note: I HAAAAATE when people say the father is "babysitting". Dude. He's the DAD. He's not babysitting. He's dad-ing. End of story.). I'd nurse her before I left, be gone about an hour and though it was putting her bedtime back a few minutes, I'd be back in time to nurse her before bed. I was good to go.

So, of course, then the panic set it.

Amy talked me off the ledge and told me to shut the F up and go. Good advice and exactly what I needed to hear.

I mean- could I even RUN 3 miles? In the crazy heat, btw? Yes, I ran a half a couple weeks ago. But, we ran/walked and when running ran slow. And, it was in the morning. I'm a morning runner. This fun run was at night. I'm not a night runner. And, I'm outta running shape. And my bum/upper leg was really sore (thank you very much curtsey lunges). And, and, and. All the and's the in the world.

But, I went.

Pre-run... very unsure of how this whole RUNNING thing was gonna go.

I had mixed feelings. Part of me was sure I wouldn't even get out of the car. Part of me thought I'd freaking rock it and make a bunch of new running friends and it would be a breeze. Part of me thought I'd come in last and not even talk to anyone.

Sadly, the later is the closest to reality. NO ONE talked to me. No one. And, ok- I didn't talk to anyone either, but everyone seemed to know each other. I stood alone like a total weirdo. That pretty much sucked, I won't lie. Then, the run started and I quickly realized as the humidity starting taking a BEATING on my lungs just how outta shape I was. I struggled to maintain a 9:50ish pace. STRUGGLED.

Apparently it was a little shy of 3 miles (though I did go straight to my car instead of to the door b/c I was in a hurry to get home to nurse Bailey). Pace is a little deceiving as we stopped for a light/cross walk for OVER A MINUTE (slowest freaking light evvver) and for 3 other lights. I'd guess I maintained about a 9:50-10:00 pace. 

The front of the pack seemed to be keeping an easy-to-them 8ish pace. I couldn't help but remember and long for the days when I would have been stride for stride by them. Those days are not today. I was in the back.of.the.pack. Ok, I admit it- not the last person, but in the last couple. No exaggeration.

So, I made no new friends and I was slow and dying. In total honestly, it kinda blew all around. Not the grand return to the sport I love I had in my mind. And.... so what? Of course it wasn't going to be fun. I'm outta shape! It's gonna take WORK to get back, if I ever get back to where I was (which was never even close to great to start with, hello mediocre runner Meagan!). And, if I wanna meet people and make friends, I might actually have to initiate a conversation. As scary as that is.

So, I'm not gonna give up. I don't know if I'll be able to make every Thursday run all summer, but I do know I'm going again this week. And, I'm signing up for a local 5-mile run. I'm not saying I'm diving back into running.... errr.... not even a little. This is still running-before-starting-to-get-back-to-running mode. My goal is to get to that comfy 5-mile base-- not to be in half marathon PR shape. Baby steps. I'm ready for that small step which, for the record, feels like a pretty giant leap right now and still scares the shit out of me. It won't be easy. But, I'm kinda excited to challenge myself again. Let's do this.