Song of the Day

Went on a little post Christmas run this morning- felt like I had a ton of bricks in my shoes- and my iPod hit a song that just kept ringing a tone with me. I played it 3 times. Especially the chorus which is in the above picture. Do you have a fav song when running or exercising?

Looking Up
by Paramore

Lyrics

Things are looking up
Oh, finally
I thought I'd never see the day
When you'd smile at me

We always pull through
Oh, when we try
I'm always wrong
But you're never right
Oh, you're never right

Honestly, can you believe
We crossed the world while it's asleep?
I'd never trade it in
'Cause I've always wanted this and
It's not a dream anymore, no
It's not a dream anymore
It's worth fighting for

Could have given up so easily
I was a few cheap shots away
From the end of me

Taken for granted
Almost everything
That I would have died for
Just yesterday
Just yesterday

Honestly, can you believe
We crossed the world while it's asleep?
I'd never trade it in
'Cause I've always wanted this and
It's not a dream anymore, no
It's not a dream anymore
It's worth fighting for

God knows the world doesn't need another band
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
But what a waste it would've been
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
I can't believe we almost hung it up
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
We're just getting started
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh, oh

Honestly, can you believe
We crossed the world while it's asleep?
I'd never trade it in
'Cause I've always wanted this and
It's not a dream anymore, no
It's not a dream anymore, no, oh
It's not a dream anymore, no, oh
It's not a dream anymore
It's worth fighting for

I can't believe we almost hung it up
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
We're just getting started
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
I can't believe we almost hung it up
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
We're just getting started
Yeah, we're just getting started

Merry Christmas 2014

Hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas day today! Even if you don't celebrate Christmas I hope you are having a wonderful day! Kids are having so much fun. Mason now has a huge collection of AWESOME Dinosaurs, which he likes to keep his little brother from. And Collin is getting more adventurous and trying to "cruise". Silly kid, doesn't he know that he isn't supposed to be attempting this at only 7 months old?!?!? SERIOUSLY!

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day!

 

 Wishing you and your family the best!

FitBit Charge

Need a last minute gift for that health conscience friend or family member??? Here you go! I am loving my Charge! I love checking out how many steps I am taking every single day. Oh and every morning I check how much I didn't sleep! (I love sleep and this nursing this is so hard for me but I am surviving!)

What makes the Charge different than the other Fitbits is that it has the scrolling screen available. I (and Mason)  double tap the screen and the clock pops right up, perfect so I don't have to wear a watch AND my fitbit. Then I just use the clicker to see my steps for the day, calories burned, stair tracker, distance and my daily alarm. Oh and if I had a working cell phone it could be my caller ID too. The screen is super bright, especially in the middle of the night!

To check out my stats I have a little device that hooks into my USB and it does its own wireless sync. It is pretty handy and the little Dongle is small enough that I just leave it plugged into my computer.

Then I go to my Fitbit.com dashboard and I see all my stats. Super easy. And customizable. I can even enter that I am nursing to show the extra calories burned. Also it has pregnancy trackers too for the different trimesters too to show those calories burned as well. I love this thing! IT IS AWESOME! I will say that I am not used to sleeping with "jewelry" on. I take off my ring and earrings at night so I am still not quite used to wearing something while I am sleeping but it is getting easier!

My Garmin is perfect for the run to track my runs and this is perfect for the everyday wear. I am kind of in love right now with both things! (Oh on avg I am walking 4 miles a day, IN MY HOUSE!) I am excited to see how much it changes when I start adding my runs back into it again!

Here is my weekly stats that I get from Fitbit! Love seeing all that I have done. What would you like most about having a Fitbit?

Seriously, a great gift for anyone!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own.

Construction Part 2

DONE! We are done! I am so thankful that the construction is all done! Dust and noise all day long is not the best remedy for healing sick kids! But now it is done and they couldn't be happier! We love it and have gotten lots of rave reviews on it on Instagram and Facebook. Gummy and Guppy like it too.

Can't get over how much wasted space was there. Yes, the bump out of the wall was originally there. And I think this is the perfect thing to put here. And we were talking that this could make a closet or pantry or any other type of storage area besides just empty closed off space. I am just shocked that it was so closed off. But this is perfect for our family and since we aren't done having kids we are going to get years and years of enjoyment off of this!

So I hired a contractor to cut the door and window in the walls. He had to move load bearing supports for the stairs. He put in headers to support them and anchored in the stairs to the studs on the sides. He installed 2 lights. And did the drywall. Then he was done. My fun started on Thursday night where I had to prime the walls. 2 coats. I have never had to prime bare drywall and was nervous about it. But it was nice to have the walls go from the splotchy drywall to all out white!

Friday night after Mason went to bed I painted the room. Matt held Collin down here and we were up till 12:30am (Collin feel asleep before then but then had to get him back to sleep.) I was so glad that I decided to knockout the 2 coats that night! The next morning I painted the trim white on the window, door and inside. We went to a holiday party and when we got back it was mommy quiet time for Mason and then I started on the floor.

The floor took forever and I was super nervous about it but I did it. It worked perfectly. I used ever single time we had. We only had 37 and they were all used. (only just a small little part of the A tile was used but we were missing a piece of the A so I couldn't use the tile anyhow) Also I couldn't find my tape measure so I had to improvise for the cutting of the tiles around the entrance and the half tiles. Thankfully I made it work! We love it and am so glad that we have it!

~~~I have been getting a lot of questions on the color of the blue that I used for the room. I used an old Pottery Barn color by Benjamin Moore called Buxton Blue (HC-149). It really is more of a slate blue and not as boy blue as it looks in the pictures. I will be using the same color in my morning room when I get that painted.~~~

December Week 3 Recap

Training has taken a standstill for me the last couple of weeks. I have had 2 sick kiddos and when the kids are sick I can't get to the gym to run. And with construction going on early in the day I didn't get my workout in either. I am doing my min 3 days a week of working out which is great but MAN I AM MISSING MY RUNNING!

How on earth am I going to do the 10 miler in mid March without all the training? I was thinking back to last year though I got super sick last year in December and my running took a huge hit. I still did the half marathon. So like everyone else, after the holidays, I will be back in it. I am ok with that. My kids come first and this is Collin's first big sickness and to be honest I have been worried about him. He is still sick even today after about 10 days now. He had a fever this morning and I am staying on top of it but man this sucks! I hate it when my kids are sick and have a super bad cough that will not let up!

I feel bad that I have this health and fitness blog and I haven't been a very good example of that lately. But that is what makes us human. We have good days and bad days, good months and bad months. As long as we never quit then that is what counts. And I really think having the race a month thing will be just the motivation that I need to make sure I keep it up. I do have my first race of the year on New Year's Day and I am doing it no matter what! It is only a 5k and I can totally handle that!

So that is what is going on with my life right now. Taking care of the kiddos and trying to get better myself. Oh and this week, enjoy Gummy and Guppy in town for Christmas! On a plus side, the construction is DONE and Mason and Collin love it!

Construction

This past week has been full of lots of banging, dust and good fun! We have been busy doing our kid's Christmas present. And the contractor doing the work has let me get my hands dirty and help out a little bit and explain things to me. It has been great!

Final touches and stuff like that he won't let me near but I will be putting in the flooring and doing the final paint and such.

We are making a kids cave under the stairs in our basement. we have put a lot of work into our downstairs area. The backyard has a fence around it and we put a patio in for a safe place outside the door. Now we have a fun, kids only play area that Mason already loves! With all this being done I haven't had much time to write. Mason wants to go in and play so I have been trying to keep him occupied and away from all the fun, which has not been an easy feat!

Today I go and buy the paint for the cave and hoping to have that done Saturday morning. So sorry for the lack of posts but man, trying to keep a 3 year old from exploring all the cool tools and mess has been CRAZY!

Easy Homemade Baby Food

~Today's selection is: Oatmeal and Butternut squash. Blended together to give a more runny consistency. Add a small pinch of cinnamon for extra flavor. Just because they are babies doesn't mean they don't like good food!~

I am now in the journey of solid foods for baby Collin! I can't believe that we are already here and I even waited till 6.5 months. Time really does go by more quickly when you have more than 1.

Even though I am a busy mom of 2 boys I am still trying to fit in making baby food. It really is a lot easier than it seems. And a lot less expensive, even buying organic.

First of all I love this book. The Best Homemade Baby Food On The Planet. It is my go to book for this age. It is the first thing I will recommend to other mothers when they ask me what I use! It has EVERYTHING! It goes month by month, what your baby should eat. Talks about the consistency and how to slowly introduce new foods and why. And it has amazing recipes! I have tons of pages dogeared and notes written about how to make it work best for me. It even takes you to 2 years old of yummy recipes! We have used many a recipes and even used the older ones for a family dinner recipe. Veggie "Meat" Balls were pretty tasty!

A lot of stores have pre cut and washed foods available to buy. All the hard work already done. I love going to whole foods and getting the butternut squash chopped up. All I have to do it stick it in a pot and steam it or in some boiling water for just a little bit to cook and soften. Stick it in my blender and warm bam DONE!

Also frozen foods are easy too. I used frozen peas, put them in boiling water to cook for about 3-4 min and blended them up. DONE! How easy is that. I know that Whole Foods has frozen sweet potatoes too and that was Mason's fav so I bought a ton of those for him.

~With the lid off. the cubes are rounded off on the bottom to make removing from the tray. Just close up the tray run under hot water for a little bit and they just slide out!~

You will also need ice cube trays or I have these: Mumi & Bubi Solids Starter Kit. This portions out the food to 1 ounce cubes, that I then stick in a ziplock bag, run under warm water to defrost and it is warmed and ready for Collin to enjoy! All you do is just pour your blended up food into the tray, pop the lid on and stick in the freezer. Once they are frozen transfer them to ziplock freezer bags so that you can make more baby food.

~Peas and butternut squash~

Cost of my homemade baby food: 
Container of Cut and cleaned butter nut squash from Trader Joe's: ~$4
Makes 27 ounces

Jar of Earth's Best Sweet Potatoes: 2.5 ounces:
$.89-.99 per jar.

Helpful hint: Make your own rice or oatmeal cereal for baby! Place 1/2 cup of oatmeal or rice in your blender and place on the highest setting to pulverize it to a fine powder. When cooking I find that it makes it really thick. So I add the cooked rice or oatmeal back to my blender and add more breastmilk or water to thin it out. Easier for baby to enjoy.

JANUARY 2015 first race is going to be...

New Year's Day 5k here in C-ville VA! It is a race recommended for my training program anyhow and I wanted to do it last year but with being pregnant and ice, I didn't run in it. I stayed indoors on the treadmill. But not this year, I will be hoofing it with the rest of them!

Looking for a February race. Need to find out what my mileage for the training program will be in February first to see if it can be a 10k or not!

Know any good races in the central VA area for February???

December Week 1 Recap

As far as training weeks went this is my all time low! I didn't do one single run this week. I know, slap on the wrist bad and I will be paying for it later but I have had my first "injury". It is not from running but it did take a trip to the chiropractor to remedy, for now at least it is much better.

For the past week my left foot has been hurting, mainly when I was doing my runs out of town. I have had the worst cramping in my left outside arch of my foot. The only time during the run I didn't have the pain was in UT when I opened up my stride and was running down the mountain that I walked up. So this week I just walked to keep my mileage. But I still feel bad that I didn't get any running in. Saturday morning my wonderful birthday gift from the boys was to let me sleep in till 9:30am, and then I had a baby shower to get to and it was go go go the rest of the day.

I did go to the chiropractor and he said that my foot was majorly out of alignment as was most of my entire body. My right hip was out and my right neck was totally out. I have been in lots of pain for a couple of weeks. Every night on the trip I would carry Mason from the car to the hotel room. It was just too much for my back apparently. (need to do more core too). Also the relaxin has left my system finally and my body is just sticking in bad alignment. So I got my AMAZING adjustment, (I purr when I get cracked, it feels so good!) and I feel like I am brand new again. Tomorrow I will try out running again. If it still hurts off to the running store I go to chat with my running coach and hopefully I can still keep my shoes.

That's the bad. The good from this week. I had my birthday. I normally don't blab about my birthday because it adds one more year to my life but I have decided that I am going to continue to make my birthdays count and make smart choices. Last year, I continued to run while pregnant, amazed me and many people I know that I could actually do that. This year I have made it a goal that I am going to run in a race every single month of 2015. (even if I get pregnant again I will run a race.) I don't want to do 5k's all the time so they will range from 5k-10 milers, and maybe even throw a 1/2 marathon in there. Let's just see what the next few months hold. (I am hoping to do the Disney Wine and Dine in Nov 2015.)

I did get an upgrade to my Kitchen Aid mixer. I had the classic and now I have the professional series drop down bowl mixer and it is AWESOME! I have already put it through the ringer with making my own birthday cupcakes (amazingly yummy), 2 batches of cookies and 2 loaves of bread for the week. (the cookies are for my studio recital later this coming week and I will be good because I still have that diet bet thing going and I will win!)

Collin update: Collin is full on crawling now. He crawls to me anywhere I am. I put him down in my living room and go make breakfast and in a few minutes he is at my feet pawing at them. Even when Matt is holding him and puts him down he will crawl crying to me to hold him because he wants me over daddy. It is totally adorable that he is crawling but very weird. He is so young. He can't even roll over of his own free will yet. He flops over like a fish. Can't get into a sitting position. It is just weird. Also caught him by the stairs and about had a heart attack. Also Mason has learned that he is strong enough to pick up Collin and will fetch him and bring him back to the carpet safe area of the living room. It is very cute. Oh and Collin started solid foods on Monday evening. He loves eating and is so eager!

Mason update: Mason is all things Dinosaurs now. Ever since we got back from our trip, he goes around reading his new dino book that Great Grandma gave him and carrying around his new T-rex and Raptor toys that were also given to him. He talks about dinosaurs all day long too. He even started to refer to Guppy (Grandpa) as Guppy-saurus. (Since Guppy read some dino books to him while we were visiting.) The only thing Dinosaur he doesn't want right now is this awesome blanket that Gummy and Guppy (my mom and dad) got him for his birthday. He calls it his tiger blanket because one of the raptors on it is stripped orange and black and he doesn't see that it is a dinosaur. Oh well. It makes a great blanket for a fort though.

Workout Recap: 
Sunday: rest
Monday: rest (flew back home)
Tuesday: 2 mile walk around neighborhood
Wednesday: 2.5 mile walk around neighborhood
Thursday: 1 mile walk around neighborhood (chiropractor visit later too!)
Friday: rest day. MY BIRTHDAY
Saturday: rest day (slept through alarm for training group)

Total mileage: 5.5 miles walking only

Goals this week:
~Get back into running, hopefully the adjustment fixed things.
~Less walking breaks in my running.
~Cross train more with strength training and cardio on non running days.

My Balancing Act

Let's face it mom's! IT IS HARD to do the dishes, the laundry, work, take the kids on play dates, teach, workout, and find time for ourselves. IT IS HARD! It is a total balancing act. That is why we are often called SUPER MOMS! And the sad truth, all those things have to be done, not always on a daily basis but they eventually have to be done.

Here is my new strategy to keeping myself and house in tip top shape without killing myself: 

1) Laundry. No more single laundry day for me. I have vowed that it is ok to spread laundry day out to 2 or even 3 days a week if I have to. I just can't handle doing a huge amount of laundry. Little piles work for me. 

2) 30 min workouts are KEY! Sometimes I can't make it to the gym. If Mason or Collin show signs of sickness they turn us away. And this week is one of them. Mace is snotting all over the place and frankly I threw my back out on Monday coming back from vacation and I need to see my chiropractor to put me back together again. I have been hurting like crazy. So this week has been in home 30 min workouts. Thank you 21 day fix! You are my new best friend! 

3) Little bit here and a little bit there. Can't clean the whole house in one day, no problem. Do 1 room at a time. Maybe 2. That way it gets done. Daily is the kitchen and I try to add another room on to that to clean. It needs it anyways. 

4) Take time for me. Without the kiddos! This is a daily task that if I don't do, I go crazy. And this is separate from working out. Or around the same time. But I HAVE TO HAVE MOMMY QUIET TIME or I am a witch by the end of the day! 

5) Reality. The reality is, that somedays none of this will happen. Kids won't sleep. Your house could look like a pigsty why someone comes over. Laundry piles up, dishes are overflowing and there are crumbs on the counter and table from last nights dinner and it is already 6pm time to make dinner again. IT IS OK! Life happens. Poop happens. Great thing about the day is that there is always another one the next day. 

DO NOT COMPARE yourself to someone else. Because often we see other people and think that they just have it all together but seriously, they have bad days too. Like right now, Collin is screaming his head off at me because he wants me to pick him up, but I made it a goal to get a blog post in. This is my me time. And it is ok, because in about 2 minutes I will pick him up, tell him I love him and he will be ever so happy! And Mason is cuddling with him anyhow right now. It is super cute! 

You are doing a great job mom! Biggest advice I can give any mom out there. TAKE TIME FOR YOU! Seriously! You will thank me later. If you need a 30 min workout let me know and I will hook you up. Need advice on how to do Mommy quiet time. Send me an email! Let's chat! I might not have it all together everyday but I sure do try!