Holiday Fun

I hope everyone made it through the holiday season in good spirits.  It is hard to believe that 2013 is coming to a close.  We had a good Christmas with Isla.  I was definitely the most worn out and tired I have ever been which led to a little holiday stress, but I was able to share some good moments with Dave and my family.  (And a thank you to them for putting up with my tired self so often here lately.  I am not the most fun person when I am tired, but luckily everyone loves me for me).  Here are a few pictures from the holidays....  and next post will be on my plans for 2014.

 Isla meets her Great Aunt Alison for the first time.  

 Isla spend the holidays with both sets of grandparents just playing around.  She really does love them!  Isla wore her pink Saints onesie and cheered for the team with Mema while Dave and I went to the game.  It was the longest we have every been away from her  (7 hours) and we were dying to get back to her!

I went downtown to watch the Saints play with both breast pump and daiquiri in hand.  Lol!  You do what you have to do sometimes to make it all work.  ;)

 Another huge thanks to my friend Keith who always shares some Saints tickets with us every year.  I really, really look forward to our games together.  

 While in Nola I got to spend some time with my Wattie Ink teammate, Mary.  I love her.  Seriously a great girl.  

 Dave and I have a lot of kind thoughts and love for Steve Gleason, Saints player who is battling ALS. You should check him out- he is a true hero and inspiration.  This is a picture of us in front of his statue by the Dome.  We are praying for him.  

 I love my husband.  We share some really great times together.  On another note, we both looked at this picture and noticed that we are really getting older and it is starting to show.  :)

We are off to another playoff!  Who DAT!

Links of the Week

Okay, so I totally jinxed myself with the last post and had no sleep last night.  Strike that post...and reverse it.

Links of the week!  I just have a couple this time around.

• Definitely listen to this interview with Taylor Phinney.    I listen to a lot of competitor radio interviews, and this is hands down one of my my favorites!

• Every year Jen does a Pay It Forward contest where she offers to coach and aspiring athlete with a hardship for free.  Please check it out...apply or refer a friend!  

Check these out!

xo

Oh Sleep!

Well well well.  So this is what it is like to feel semi-rested.  Semi.... :)  I am actually getting 3-4 hours of sleep at a time now.  Not consistently, but it is coming along.  Maybe it will help my blogging.  :)

I tend to take pictures of Isla when she does sleep, because she is so dern cute!  Here she was playing with her cloth diapers and then just went off to dream land.  

Let me just preface this by saying that Isla has been a horrible sleeper from day 1.  From 20 minute cat naps at max, to just a few hours here and there at night, she is a 24 hour party animal who disregarded the saying "sleep like a baby."  I joke about it, but let me tell you the first 3 months were like a crazy nightmare in regards to lack of sleep.

Isla and I have been co-sleeping/sleep-sharing/night time parenting for the past 5.5 months.  Sometimes she slept in the co-sleeper next to our bed, but most of the time she ended up in the bed, snuggled up to me like a happy bug in a rug.  Say what you want about sleeping with your baby, but I am here to tell you it is awesome.  It is really one of the coolest feelings to have that baby right next to you, warm and protected.  It made breast feeding a lot easier.  Our family got a lot more sleep (relative to all of the other parents out there who had sleeping babies), and we were able to care for Isla easier during the night.  Plus, it is natural.  But you can read about that sort of parenting on your own.  Everyone has to find their own way.

Another napping picture...this is Isla taking a nap before "school."  It is so hard for me to wake her up sometimes because she is just so peaceful!

As Isla got older, her needs changed (as did mine because I was falling apart from no sleep).  She has always been a very, very light sleeper, but she started waking up many times a night again like she did as an infant.  As in every hour.  Waking.  Up.  And guess who else woke up?  Not Dave, because he went to the other room to get some real sleep.  Now she has never been an all night sleeper, but waking up every hour?  The all night nursing was leaving my drained.  I just couldn't stay open 24 hours anymore.  (and babies that feed from the breast eat differently than babies that take formula, so it is normal to nurse during the night.  Breast fed babies are not designed to sleep 12 hours without waking when they are so little).

Light sleeper + cold nights + teething + rolling everywhere and new skills = crazy

After the 3rd recent week of waking up 6-8 x a night and nursing Isla because she would not be comforted any other way, we tried the crib.  I started sleeping in the bed right next to the crib so I could be there to help her calm and transition to sleep.  So far so good.  We only had to nurse 2 x the past two nights and maybe 1 other reassurance snuggle, and that is huge progress for us.  So we are still close together at night, but not bed sharing, which has effectively let the employee at the all night diner (me) go on break some of the night.  :)

So....yippee to some more sleep around here!  It seems to be working out for us both, and that is what parenting is all about.

And, as I learn to be a better parent every day to Isla, I realize that time is moving way too fast.  She is just growing before my eyes.  The pictures below are of her first bath when we had her home and her last bath this week.  Is there anything better than a naked baby?  So sweet!

It will be interesting to see how my workouts change with a little more sleep in my pocket.  My next race is a trail half marathon in 2 weeks.  I have been working my tail off on the dreadmill treadmill, and I am excited to see how much easier this half marathon feels from the one I did at the 4 month mark in November.  2014 is just around the corner.  I am so excited-  it is going to be my year!  ;)

Friends, Weekends, Plans

I don't think Kari is going to come to again Memphis anytime soon.  Bobby's marathon was cancelled (which I am sure didn't feel great after months of training, airplane tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals, etc).  It was freezing the whole weekend, which made it tough to get outside and explore.  And to top it off, her flight home was cancelled after getting to the airport at dawn.   It seriously sucked for them.  I hope she is still my friend!

At LEAST she got to meet Isla.  Not all was a wash.  :)  And we did plan our race schedule for 2014, which includes maybe some AG Nationals action together.  We will redeem our bad weather meetings!

My little diggles is still waking up at LEAST 4 x a night minimum.  Usually more.  Exhausted?  Check.  I keep thinking we will turn a corner here.  6 months is just ahead.  That sounds like the magic month to me.  (I hope!!!!)

Getting my training done early in the morning is a little harder than I expected.  Either I didn't get any sleep, or Isla is awake and I can't figure out how to slip away.  It is such an extreme change from the "get it done/no excuses/scheduled life" I used to have. 

But I think despite all of the challenges, I am still making some progress.  The running times are slowly getting faster and the bike is feeling a little easier.   The one place where I am not seeing as many tangible results is the pool.  I am about as slow as when I first started swimming.   But, the reality is- 2 x a week is not going to cut it for me.  So, when Isla starts to sleep more, I plan to hit the pool hard!!!

Okay, time to get this little girl to bed.  She just pulled herself up to sit (first time to see that) and is eating the computer.  

xo

Some Combination!

It is time for my annual get-together with the non-blogging Kari.  It seems that we always plan a good combination of drinking, running, football, and weather.  Not always together or in that order. 

We started our annual meeting with a half marathon in 2011 - planned, mind you- and neither of us showed up in shape. 

 We spanked lions, drank too much, and cheered the Saints on to a win. 

Then I got preggo, and we drank nothing and sat in the freezing, cold, rain for a Steelers game the following year.  

This year it seems that neither of us will be in running shape, although we both swore we would sign up and do the St Jude Half Marathon together.  Funny how both of us "conveniently"  didn't get in.    Instead, we will have multiple drinks but no football.  And it will be freezing, cold rain and ice....again.  Yay to our annual party!

Building The Village

So many things have gone by the wayside since having Isla...yard work especially!  We used to have the best yard on the block.  No more!  Yesterday I told Isla she just had to help me do it. 

Not that we accomplished much, but we sure had fun trying! 

But guess who was out there this morning at 7am, in the rain, trying to rake all of the leaves from the yard before the freeze?  Crazy neighbor Damie.  My neighbor came out and asked me "What in the hell was I doing?"  I responded, "you know I have a baby and can't get this stuff done like a normal person!" 

I was thinking about the juggling act that I often have to do on an hour to hour basis to accomplish the minimum.  What really helps me is to keep a positive attitude and to surround myself with great support.  That has meant adding and reinforcing supporting people in my life.

It is true that it takes a village to raise a child.  Too bad we don't have that village mentality anymore in today's society.  Everyone is so busy, spread out, and independent!  I would have never known any different until I needed my village.  

An extension of our village has been daycare.  Isla has been going 2 x week now while I work, but we are upping it to 4 x week in January.  I tossed and turned with the decision at night to send her more frequently to daycare, but, if I am going to work, someone has to take care of Isla.  I felt better about my decision when I picked her up from daycare yesterday and she was all smiles.  I am so grateful her teachers are loving and positive.  Being a stay at home mom is one of the hardest jobs in the world that you can't comprehend till you do it, but it is so wonderful too.  I love spending time with my daughter.  My goal that I am determined to make happen is blending the stay-at-home mom with working mom so that I get to spend as much time as possible with my daughter while still working for my family. 

Another big acquisition to the village was a professional dog sitting service for when we go out of town. It is expensive.  When people say kids are expensive, it is not really what you buy or do for the kids.  It is the way you have to change your life that may involve some different expenses to keep things running.  But, when the dog sitters came over, they were so great that I knew it would alleviate a whole level of stress from us when we go out of town.  Now we have the freedom (at a cost) to take Isla places.  It helped that one of the girls was in the class below me in high school! 

And thank you to my friends this week for being another great part of our village.  I wanted to go to book club this week and see my friends, but Dave wasn't going to be home until 8:00pm.  So, I just took Isla to book club with me, and my friends were wonderfully receptive to having a new member. 

Isla was clearly thrilled with her new book club membership as well. 

So, we are continuing to build our little village here...ideas are appreciated.  And babysitter referrals are great too!!!!!

Links Of The Week

I meant to publish this post earlier in the week, but time slipped away and I was off to celebrate Thanksgiving! 

Here are some good links of the week to give you food for thought, 

Jen and Liz have a new podcast up.... topic:  running!

Another fabulous Rich Roll podcast on the Champions Blueprint by Jeff Spencer.  I have listened to it twice and plan to sit down and take notes on it!

A good interview with Wattie and HJ for age groupers and pros on sponsorship

Follow an amazing journey this weekend as Hillary Biscay goes back to Ultraman (6.2 mile S/ 264.1 mile B/ 52.4 miles R)!  You can follow some live updates here.   Right now she is in the lead!!!

Some great posts lately by Sonja Wieck- check out her blog!

Check In

The holiday season is here- busy, busy, busy!!  Time is moving so quickly I can hardly keep up!  I have a to-do list a mile long, and when I knock one thing off, three more take its place.   I keep meaning to blog, I swear!  I am still doing the normal- mommy, wife, work, and training. 

It is getting cold here.  20s and 30s coming up...which to us Southerners is cold.  Looks like most of my training will be moving indoors.  And guess who ran 90 minutes on the treadmill today?  That was not a typo.  90.  The longest run I have ever done on a treadmill. 

Speaking of cold, it sure is fun to snuggle with my little sweetheart when I go to the grocery store.  We have been having so much fun lately just getting in the sling and going out. 

Dave and I changed up our nighttime routine a smidge (as evidenced by my sweet, but tired child above) so we could go on a family date tonight.  Family life is rocking on.    :)

xo

Motivation Returning

I am getting the itch to train and race again.  This is great news!  I have tried to be patient in letting it come back to me, and I am now welcoming it with open arms.  I am looking forward to my workouts and plotting how to do more.  After all of this time off, it feels wonderful to have some true motivation return.

Isla is still nursing every two hours....and yup, that includes the nighttime too.  I give myself a gold star for holding up with the lack of sleep.  Dave has a long work day, and this will never change.  I am tired, and it is tough, but I am figuring it out and having fun.  I find that I am getting a little more creative with fitting in training and it doesn't seem as stressful as it did a month ago.  Every month I am doing a little bit better.  I still have such a long way to go fitness-wise to even get to the starting line of a race, but I am grateful for every little training session I complete.  Just doing the work every day will get me there.

Hmmmm...so what next?  I have started to make my "wish list" for racing, and we will see what happens!  

On the home front:
Isla still only naps about 25 minutes.  If I hold her, I can eek out an hour, but then I can't do anything during that time.  We are starting to take some naps in the crib just to get her use to it as a sleeping space.  (She normally sleeps in the co-sleeper, in my arms, or tucked in bed with me).  Today she took a small nap in the crib, and then I heard her playing.  I walked in to see her eating her pictures.  I guess those black and white brain stimulation patterns I have in her crib work after all, although someone needs to tell her we don't eat animal meat around here. 

She is now loving to blow raspberries and taste her feet.  She has also found fascination in the dogs and is constantly laughing at them or trying to grab their fur.  We are starting to have lots of fun over here.  :)

xo

"Stuff" For the Week

Some good stuff to occupy your week:

• Another great podcast by Jen and Liz.  Check it out!

• There is nothing for me to say but simply....WOW!  2:52 marathon by our friend and running stud Angela Kidd on a hilly course.  

• Smashfest Queen is going to make some team look really sharp next year.  If you want it to be your team, enter here.

• Another good interview with Dirk Bockel.  He discussion on really enjoying and sampling all of the races out there in the world resonates with me.  Challenge Roth is absolutely on my to-do list.  

• Non-triathlon related, but Dogs 2nd Chance could really use some donations to keep their rescue alive.  This is the organization that helped me to rescue Alton.  I can't thank them enough.  If you are in the charitable mood, send a few dollars their way in thanks from Damie and Alton.   

We are surviving and sometimes thriving over here.  I have finally found the carriers that work for Isla and me:  the pouch sling, the ring sling, and the ergo side carrying position.  What didn't work (As of today- it is ever changing) was the Moby, the Sleepy Wrap, and the Baby Bjorn.  So, if you are getting a carrier for your baby, make sure to try a few out before you commit.

My big parenting goal this week is to get all of the cloth diapers in rotation so we are really only using disposables at daycare but cloth the rest of the time.  Right now we are at about 50%, and I know we can do better.  Exciting stuff, I know, but I am on a mission to make our lifestyle more consistent with what I feel in my heart for protecting the earth. 

My training goal?  To just get the workouts in.  :)

Post Partum Running Mission Complete

Sunday I completed the Road Race Series as well as my new mom journey to return to running by finishing a half marathon.  I can now officially say I am back to running after finishing 13.1 (or 13.29 in my case because no matter how hard I try I can't seem to run the tangents correctly). 

I started off nice and easy and found a pace I could hold the whole way. 

And hold it I did, with basically even splits for a 1:54.  And I must say that I am glad the Road Race Series is over for me.  A half marathon was pushing it a bit for my body.  By the last 3 miles or so, I was very aware at how my body was not quite ready to handle the pounding just yet.  My bones hurt.  My c-sect area hurt.  Part of running is the adaptation to the pounding that simply comes from miles, especially road miles.  I don't have that yet, but I'll get there.

So, here is the chart of the Road Race Series progress with pace and distance for me.  (the 10 miler is a bit of an outlier as it is not only a huge jump from a 10k, but it is also a on a very hilly course).   It was great to quadruple my distance as well as knock my pace down by 2 minutes per mile.

Below is a chart with my run miles post pregnancy.  These miles are very low for me, and very low for racing, half marathons, and such.  I could handle more miles physically, but training is still taking a huge backseat to family right now.  So, a new goal for me will simply be to add some miles over the upcoming months.

Whew! So that is over.  It was hard.  It was hard to make myself run when I was am? so out of shape.  But, it was fun to see my running get easier and faster every time as well.

So now I am looking forward to doing more of this kind of running:

 This is me 2 weeks ago at Wade's Big Adventure.  Trail running=happy!

It is time to just get some miles on these legs!!!

Not Yet... Maybe...Just Kidding...Kind of

I get the bad blogger award.  I really limit my to-do list these days, and I still can't seem to get that done.  No wonder the blog just keeps getting pushed back. :)

What is new?  I started working again (part-time).  It is hard to leave Isla and hard to get it all done, but it is good as well to be something other than "mommy" for a minute.  So far so good....fingers crossed my employers continue to work with me.

Dave and I also have a new niece! 

Her name is Virginia, and she is a doll. 

We managed to survive our first 4 hour car ride with Isla to go meet Virginia in the hospital.  We were worried the car ride would be awful, but it exceeded expectations. 

I also rode socialized on my bike with the group for the first time in about 14 months.  It was great to be back out there.  I LOVE my bike.  

Let's all wave to the camera! LOL!

I did the RRS 10 miler (longest run so far) in 8:50 something pace today, so I continue to make progress in pace and distance.  I did seem to forget how to dress for racing, though, because I completely under-dressed this morning and FROZE.  My mind must have felt speedy when I got dressed this morning and opted for shorts and a tank.  I was pretty miserable the entire 10 miles, and I realized that because I run slower, I have to bundle up more.

Okay, and now to the point.  Not yet...maybe...just kidding....kind of...that pretty much describes my training.  I manage to get some of my workouts done.  Just some of them.  It is not because I don't plan, try, put in the effort to "make it happen."  It is simply that a lot of times now, I just don't have control.  My life now revolves around not only Isla, but also Dave's schedule.   

Sometimes it seems like I am doing nothing and just logging zeros.  People even ask how my training is going, and I respond, "what training?"  But when I look back in my log, I am accomplishing something most days.  I am just not used to such low volume, but I am getting off of my butt.  And honestly, a little bit kicks my butt these days.  There is no way I could accommodate volume in my workout schedule now. 

It is really hard for me to log a zero instead of a planned workout.  This is probably the hardest thing about returning to training for me (besides the really weak hips/core and extra 10 pounds).  It is the part of new mom reality that still blows my mind because when I do log that zero, I don't know how I could have prevented it.  

Currently I am running about 4 x a week for 2 to 5 miles, getting on the trainer x 2 and swimming x 2.  Every workout is pretty short (30-45 minutes), but I am slowly seeing some progress with them all.  Lack of strength is still a HUGE issue for me, and I have to find a way to start addressing it. 

So, that is it on the training and life front for now. :) All is good and it is moving forward inch by inch. 

How is Isla?  She is great.  Oh, I mean, she still doesn't sleep, has fussy periods, etc....but she has some really cute smiles so it makes it all worth it.  I try not to bomb facebook and twitter with Isla pictures, so if you will just indulge me for a second.  :)  Here are a few of us from this past week.

One morning I did a track workout and then jumped right back in bed with her for snuggle time before I had to get us ready for work.   

 It wasn't enough snuggle time, so the next day I put us both back in bed to play and sleep.  :)

This is Isla at the end of our nighttime walks when she passes out and practically falls out of her sling.  

 I am not sure how she felt about me putting a hat on her this day....

Isla finally got to meet her Great Pop Pop from Pensacola this week.  

We survived our first grocery store trip without dad.  

  And last night she fell asleep playing with her toys, which was just precious.

Till next time!  xo

Back On The Plan

October is here and it is time to get back to work in more ways than one.  I resume life as a physical therapist on Monday.  It is starting to really hit me that I will not spend every minute with my daughter.  I have only been away from her for a maximum of two hours, so my heart will need a bit of an adjustment period.  I know it is good for me to work and for her to experience new people, kids, and situations....but I am sure going to miss every minute.  Even right now she is passed out on my lap- we are rarely not within arms' reach of each other. 

Isla passed out in my lap while I blog.  If I am lucky she will give me 15 minutes:)

It is also time to get back to work with triathlon!  Now, I am actually stoked about this.  I have resumed training with a coach and a plan this week.  I love it.  I am happy.  I don't need to guess what needs to happen with training.  I LOVE this.  (have I said that already?) 

So, first week back and it is tough.  The training is not the tough part as we are still just trying to slowly increase my fitness and strength.  It is just getting it done.  I think 4:30am is just going to have to be my permanent wake up time, even on weekends.  My friends know I am just not that chipper in the morning.  I don't like that one bit, but with Dave's job, it is my only chance to train.  So, do I want to sleep in or do I want to do triathlon?  I can't have both.

It is going to be different and sometimes hard, but fun and wonderful too.  I will try hard not to complain when it gets overwhelming.  (I recently heard I complain too much- so I am on a mission to laugh more and complain less!  I take constructive criticism to heart and do always try to be a better person).  After all, I do have a lot of great things in my life, especially friends.  And I am thankful for all of your love!

 An awesome package came in the mail from Isla's fairy godmother :). Thank you friends for all of the fun surprises!

It will be fun to chart the next three months on the blog and compare them to the first three postnatal months.  My goal is not to compare any times now to pre-baby and just look for a lot of post-baby PRs.  As Kari would say, here we go!

I want to end this post with a few little pictures to illustrate some differences I am noticing between mom and dad as pictures appear on my phone.

Mom and Isla play with horses. 

Dad and Isla watch sports.  Dave took this picture of Isla and called it "couch potato."  LOL!

Hey- at least they get to watch the Saints win!  Who DAT!!!!