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? 

Man, Can't Believe This Is Happening

Mason is in the middle of potty training. I have wanted to throw in the towel a few times today, but haven't. He has gone pee in the potty more than on the floor, and is now having fun, now that there is some chocolate involved. So wish us luck. Oh and it kind of backfired on me because he wants to be naked or commando. No undies. So we are working on that. At least I can tell him that if he goes pee he goes back in a diaper and he isn't happy about that idea!

Also, Collin can easily roll from tummy to back now. And he is taking his first nap in his crib in the nursery.

Too many changes! This momma is tired. Time for my nap!

September Week 4 Recap

I am so glad that this week is over and done with. I have been anticipating that this week be done, that I just make it to the 27th because that meant that my house was sold and I would not have to worry about making a double mortgage payment, nor would we be stressing about the closing process. So FINALLY! This week is over and done with and the house is SOLD! I feel like I can breath now.

In other news, Collin is finally almost sleeping through the night again. He dropped one feeding through the night this week, so no more waking up at midnight to feed. We are at a 2am feed then his regular4:30- 5am feed. If he continues to feed at 4:30-5 I am going to work extra hard to exercise afterwards because I need to do it first thing in the morning. Maybe I can get the hubs to do it with me then since it is only 30 min. Oh and he loves standing! I am not ready for him to start walking. He was standing against his walker and holding himself up, but of course as I snapped the pix Matt had his hands there just in case! But the kid is going to walk early!

Matt has been working out with me during the week. We need to be better about it and not being too tired at night when we can workout together. So finding this common ground is key! but he is enjoying the workouts just as much as I am, and I think I am kicking his butt. (He is also doing a workout earlier in the day, so really he is doing pretty well he is just so tired!)

Workout Recap: 
Sunday: rest
Monday: Total Body Cardio
Tuesday: Upper Body fix
Wednesday: Lower body fix & 10 min ab fix!
Thursday: Pilates fix
Friday: rest- we were exhausted and all of us in the house were out light a light by 8pm
Saturday: 3.25 mile run! I went running, yea, yea, yea! It was great. I hurt like crazy yesterday and had to take a nap but that's ok! I still ran! (10 miler training begins in 3 weeks!)

This weeks goals: 
~Potty train Mason. Yep you heard that right. He is struttin' around half naked right now. He has yet to go on the potty. Had 1 accident because he doesn't want to sit on the potty. But we are working on it. He won't keep his diaper on anymore, or his hands out of his diaper. He is ready but he doesn't want to be. (scratch that, he just went full on pee on the wood floor then playing in it! EWWW!)
~Run 2 times this week. I am going to try to run on Thursday either at Matt's gym on the treadmill or around the neighborhood. (Man the hills in my hood are awful!)
~Still eating clean. Need to be better. No more cheats, but I am down 2 lbs from when I started the 21 day fix. (i went up 1 lb from last week because I messed up on my portions! I am still learning!)

Back into Running!

Today was my first solo run of the fall! YEA! And in a month I will begin the 10 miler training program for the spring 10 miler, or the C-ville 1/2. Not sure which one I will do right now but I should do the training program anyways because it is a great way to stay in running shape during the cold winter. I found this great article on the Charlottesville 10 miler training page and I couldn't help sharing it here! So click below to read about

THE TOP TEN MISTAKES MADE BY 10 MILER RACERS! 

ENJOY! 

SOLD!

Finally! I am so excited to announce that after 90 days, our house is officially SOLD! I haven't talked about it much but this has been such a cause of stressfulness over the last few months.

We were renting out the house and our tenant decided that they were ready to be done with the house. After they were removed from the house, I spent a good solid week doing work on the house. I was there filling nail holes from the numerous pictures and other installations they hung on the walls. I spent a day painting pretty much the whole house. Then we had the cleaners come and clean the house and the carpets. Had some work done on the kitchen tile and such. About 2 weeks from when all this was done we got a contract on the house and today we close!

I have been so nervous that something bad was going to happen, not pass inspection or have some major thing to fix. But we passed with only superficial things that needed to be checked. I was concerned about the appraisal amount because the area has some lower priced homes in it, but nope we were good there too! And then of course this week, no appointment for closing yet. No scheduled time for us or the buyers. But finally yesterday, I called and confirmed that we and the buyers are good to go. Title paperwork done, loan paperwork received. Now we just need to sign on the numerous dotted lines!

Now that this is really happening, it is kind of bittersweet. This was our first home we owned. Mason spent his first year and a half here. His first steps and learning sliding down the stairs backwards. My gardens that I planted. But the cool thing is, these are memories I will never forget. It is just a house that we made a home and we have a new home now with all new memories in them. We are thankful that our tenant was in the house as long as they were and the time they left was a good one for us because we were able to post the house on the real estate market in peak time, even with competition from our next door neighbors house. Out of 3 homes for sale on our street ours was the first under contract and to close.

We are feeling very blessed and so thankful for this burden to be lifted from us. I feel like we can finally plant both feet firmly here in C-ville as we are now going to be single home, homeowners again! YEA! for blessings and for the people who are buying such a great home, filled with lots of love and memories!

Happy 4 Months Collin

~It's football season! GO Arizona Sate University Devils!~

Here we are at another month update! 4 months! This kid is just growing way too quickly and I wish most days that it would just slow down. I love how cute and cuddly he is and how such a great baby he is. He has been doing so well in so many areas. Learning to grab at toys now, coo a ton and man his belly laugh is just to die for! 

I found out that he LOVES to be bounced. He just laughs and giggles and just is such a happy baby. We are saying he loves it so much from being bounced in my belly while I was running. 

He loves music. If I am feeding a a song comes on or Mason is too close with his tablet and they are singing a song, Collin will stop nursing and watch and listen until that song is DONE! Super cute! 

He hasn't rolled over yet in this past month (He has since he turned 4 months but that is next month's news!) 

He can't get enough of his Daddy either. We often take lunch to Matt and whenever Matt goes to Collin's side of the car and Dad says hi Collin just starts talking and cooing and smiling to daddy. It is very cute. He does things with daddy that he doesn't do with me. So that is interesting to see. He has gotten a lot better with daddy when I am teaching. He just lets daddy cuddle him and is just as quiet and patient as can be. 

Collin loves his big brother. Anytime Mason comes over with or without the tablet, Collin watches. Always watching brother, and dog for that matter. 

Sleep has been good until just a week before he turned 4 months. Collin got his first sickness and was waking up 2-3 times a night. I was not used to that so it has been hard on me. 3 weeks later he is still doing it so I am wondering if my lovely 12 hour a night baby is gone and I have a baby that likes nursing at 2am on the dot everyday now. It doesn't matter. I still love this kid. I love sleep but this is what it is like being a mommy. Taking care of our young no matter what! 

Tummy time has gotten so great with Collin. He is a champ at it and I am trying to play up down with him when he does it (I go up he goes up, I go down he goes down). He likes that a lot he just loves attention.

OH and can we say, he sure is a healthy kid! He is getting rolls everywhere. I love this age where they are just fat on milk! And I am making that milk and couldn't be prouder of that fact! He is such a wonderful and quiet content baby. I can't believe how perfect he is and I celebrate everyday I can be with him, cause he is sure a cute little guy! I found a nick name for him by the way. I call him Jabba. for Jabba de Hutt. I like to play with his belly, tickle it and I always say, "Jabba, Jabba, Jabba." when I do so he is my little Jabba! Not sure how this nickname will be when he is older and rail thin like his Daddy but for now it is very appropriate! 

~cute arm rolls!~

PiYo Result Pictures!

My first Transformation Tuesday! I didn't forget to post the pictures of my transformation from day 1-60 with PiYo the other day with my REVIEW OF PIYO! I had to wait for my hubs and afternoon lighting to take the pix then I got sick and it just got delayed. So here is MY proof that even working out at home, and missing some days, YOU WILL still see some results! Are they completely life changing 100 lbs lost pictures, no, but I am getting there. I am not ripped, or shredded or totally defined or a stick but I am smaller than where I started. This is the real world people we all start somewhere! It takes just a little bit at a time and eventually I will be healthy and fit. You can click on the pictures to view the full size.

As a reminder I lost 8.5 inches across my chest, belly, hips, arms and legs. No lbs lost, gained 2 lbs. So now it is time for the weight to come off while I still trim down!

Am I happy with these results! OF COURSE! I am finally looking in the mirror and thinking, wow I look great today. So, here they are. And if you want results too, fill out the form at the bottom and I will get back to you. (also the piyo results is also my 21 day fix day 1 pictures. Because I went from one program straight to the next! So lots more results to come!)

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