It's An All New Season!

I love fall. The cooler temps, the darker mornings and the chance to start wearing pants and sweaters. But the other thing that I love is the new TV schedule that comes out. New shows, Old shows with new plot lines. LOVE IT!

We don't have cable TV so I do my TV watching on my own time, which is great. Middle of the night feedings can get pretty boring and falling asleep while nursing sitting up is no fun! Thanks so much to Hulu that keeps me up to date on all my fav shows. And if they don't have it I find it somewhere on the internet.

Here is my weekly schedule that I watch.

Sunday: Once Upon A Time- LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THIS SHOW!

Monday: Sleepy Hallow, Originals

Tuesday: Agents of Shield

Wednesday: Nashville, The 100

Thursday: Bones, Parenthood, Reign, Vampire Diaries,

October Week 2 Recap

I have made it! We are in mid-October and 10 miler training program begins this coming Saturday. I am in training mode. I decided that yes, I am in training mode now! I have to get this way if I really want to do this. My goal is to learn to run for longer stretches of time before I take walking breaks. Running straight would be great so that is the ultimate goal for me. But here we go. Doing 10 miler training, I can do this!

Enough for what is happening later this week. Here is what happened this past week! COLLIN has transition to his CRIB in the nursery. This is huge! And it didn't involve hours of screaming like it did with Mason. Collin is 4 months old. This is a little early. I was planning on moving him over at 6 months but his naps have been going so well in there. He was taking 3-4 hour naps mid day in there and I figured he really liked it! And I was right. He loves it. He spent more nights in his crib at night this week than he did in our room. Collin has a little stuffy nose and was having a hard time not fussing cause his nose was stuffed and he likes to suck his fingers, therefore, he couldn't breath. So, he fussed. 2 nights he slept in our room for this reason, but Collin really does like his bed! I still need to clean up the room and get the donated clothing sorted and off the floor.

Mason is still potty training. He will go #1 every time in the potty, except when he is in mommy quiet time and removes his diaper or pull ups. BLAST! Mason is also running around naked butt and if we put undies on him he will pee in his undies. So we are learning the transition. I bought some boxer/briefs for Mason so that they feel different than regular undies. He just doesn't want to wear undies. He likes being naked!

This past week I was part of a 5 day clean eating challenge. So I didn't exercise as much because I noticed that I couldn't do both very easily. I tried to cut out more red meats and dairy and was eating more veggies and whole foods. I need red meat and dairy. I was exhausted this past week. I had a headache and you can ask Matt, I was a crabby grouch! I did lose another pound and a half this past week, but this weekend I added red meat and dairy back in and well, haven't weighed myself today so I am sure it is back up. I am just going to stick with the plan that I know works, I just need to stick with it more though!

Workout Recap: 
Sunday: rest
Monday: 21 Day Fix- Dirty 30
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: rest
Friday: rest
Saturday: rest

Goals for this week:
~Start-Taking on the holidays- 3 weeks at a time, personal challenge. I refuse to let this holiday get to me.
~Follow my nutritionist plan. No more eating out, no more cheats. Real good clean foods!
~Start training this week. 3.5 miles total this week. More running, less walking. Starting slow.
~Continue to cross train along with my running!

Do you want to join me with the Taking on the holidays- 3 weeks at a time? Work out diligently for 3 weeks then enjoy your holiday, for all 3 holidays coming up. Fill out the form below!
 

CRAVINGS!

I love it how my body naturally craves things when they are in season! Like Christmas time, I ALWAYS crave oranges. Fresh naval oranges. In Arizona they are nice and wonderfully ripe right at Christmas. (if my parents brought some to us when they visit us for Christmas, I certainly will NOT complain!) In early summer I crave berries. In the fall I crave apples and butternut squash stuff!

Like right now, I am craving butternut squash soup, the one a friend of mine made at her little pastry shop. Sadly the shop isn't around anymore but man I crave that stuff! Tonight I am making pumpkin soup courtesy of Trader Joe's. But I have made this, and will make this recipe again of butternut squash soup!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup - CHOW

INGREDIENTS

• 4 pounds whole butternut squash (about 2 medium), halved lengthwise and seeds removed
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/4 stick)
• 1 medium Granny Smith apple (about 8 ounces)
• 1/2 medium yellow onion
• 8 fresh sage leaves
• 2 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds, for garnish (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat the oven to 425°F and arrange a rack in the middle.
2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the squash pieces cut-side up on the baking sheet. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and brush all of it over the tops and insides of the squash halves (alternatively, you can rub it on evenly with your fingers). Season generously with salt and pepper. Roast until knife tender, about 50 minutes to 1 hour.
3. Meanwhile, peel, core, and cut the apple into medium dice. Cut the onion into medium dice. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the apple, onion, and sage, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 7 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
4. When the squash is ready, set the baking sheet on a wire rack until the squash is cool enough to handle. Using a large spoon, scoop the flesh into the saucepan with the sautéed apples and onions; discard the skins.
5. Add the broth, water, and measured salt and pepper, stir to combine, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally and breaking up any large pieces of squash, until the flavors meld, about 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cream.
6. Using a blender, purée the soup in batches until smooth, removing the small cap (the pour lid) from the blender lid and covering the space with a kitchen towel (this allows steam to escape and prevents the blender lid from popping off). Alternatively, use an immersion blender. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. Serve garnished with the pumpkin seeds, if using.

ENJOY! 

October Week 1 Recap

October already. I love October. It is magical. The fog that rests on the open meadows in the early morning and late evenings. The changing leaves and the awesome Blood Moon that is going to be happening on the 8th is pretty cool too! Halloween is coming up and right now I am looking for our family group costume ideas. And trying to get all our outfits together for our family pictures. I am doing a lot of clothing coordination but I think I have the family outfits planned out well.

This past week has been a doozy for the Allen family. I have been under the weather. I had planned on doing so much more than I did. Especially with my workouts, but I think I just had a linger bug that was knocking me on my butt with exhaustion. Every change I got, I rested. I was even in bed by 8pm one of the nights. Working out took a back seat for me, but I did so some yoga poses to help me relax and de-compress and get rid of this bug that was invading my body. I was finally feeling better by Friday. Planned on doing a run on Saturday morning, but slept in way too late and had a birthday party to get the family ready for. But coming up in a few weeks, no more missing runs because I will be at training! Excited for it to begin and to see the progress I make. November I go back to the gym too so I will be able to do more running at the gym and still plan on doing my workouts at home with Matt. I will not gain weight this holiday season!

Big news too with Mason. He no longer wants to keep his diaper on. So on to potty training we go. Man it has been a power struggle in this house. He will tell me he needs to go and will now go to the potty and pee. But he refuses to poo on the potty (I think he just went out back like the dog by the way!) So that is a work in progress. And if we put undies on him he will pee in the undies. I ordered boxer brief undies and they will be here mid week to hopefully help this area. But we are adjusting. He is telling me he needs to go pee and will go by himself, but he is running around naked butt and will not keep pull ups on or a diaper on and it is off in the morning and at the end of the mommy quiet time, every single day. And I have had to clean up a lot of accidents. It has been no fun. At all. (we have tried sticker charts, candy, a promise of a potty party, books, stories, singing, apps on the phone. But he is just stubborn!)

Collin is doing well too. He is back to sleeping through the night and only doing one very early morning feeding right now. If it were at 5 I would be happier but it is at 4am. Too early to do workout, but I might just have to suck it up and do a workout at 4am! Oh that hurts thinking about it! Next week I will get to talk about his new sleeping arrangements!

Workout Recap:
Sunday: rest
Monday:  20 minutes postnatal yoga DVD
Tuesday: 20 minutes pilates DVD
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: 20 min postnatal yoga DVD
Friday: 20 minutes pilates DVD
Saturday: rest

Keep in mind I have been potty training Mason and he would only go pee in the upstairs bathroom. I wish I had a fitbit to tell me how many flights of stairs I climbed. We have a 3 level house by the way! By Wednesday I noticed that my legs weren't as sore or I wasn't out of breath as I was on Monday. So progress.

 

New Disney Bling!

Isn't this a beauty! Oh my, oh my, I have a new prize to eye! The way to earn this is to participate in the Disney Princess 1/2 marathon and then the following weekend take a little disney cruise and run the Castaway Cay 5K.

All I know that if I decide to do this I will have to save for awhile because I will want to spend some time at the parks between the race and the cruise! This does come at a pretty hefty price tag, especially if your family tags along. Which why wouldn't they!?! IT IS A DISNEY CRUISE!

QOTD: Would you do this at least once to earn this medal?