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Back to Where it Began

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Chicago.  The city where my passion for running truly began.  When I moved to the city, I lived just a few blocks from Belmont harbor.  I started running as a way to de-stress and explore.  I was in a new city, hubs (then boyfriend) had just left for a 6 month deployment to Afghanistan, and I was at a job that I was less than thrilled about.  Running was my way to escape from it all.  

I don’t remember how I found out about it, but my first race was the Nike Human 10k.  It started and ended at Soldier Field.  After that, I tackled a few 5k’s, 8k’s and then in 2010 I felt comfortable enough to sign up for a 1/2 marathon.  My sister and I ran the Chicago Rock n Roll 1/2 on one of the hottest days ever.  It was then that the addiction to long distance running started.  I just knew I could beat my time and with my second 1/2 marathon, I did.

I lived in Chicago for about 4 years and during my time there, I lived in two different apartments.  Both of my apartments happened to be along the Chicago Marathon route-I could sit and watch the marathon from my front windows.  I’ll never forget the first time I saw it.  My mom and sister were visiting from Milwaukee and we saw people lining the streets, Starbucks in hand, waiting to cheer on the runners.  The atmosphere was nothing like I’ve ever experienced before.  Since that first day, I remember feeling so inspired and saying to myself, “I want to do that some day.”  It was in my second apartment on Michigan Avenue where I was near the end of the course.  In 2010, I walked to the spectator area and watched the winner and all of the other elite runners cross the finish line.  Shortly after, I witnessed the wheel chair racers and the runners with prosthetic legs finish.  The feelings that I felt that day can’t be explained in words.  In 2011, I signed up for the Chicago Marathon.  I was all set to start training until a really bad fall and ankle sprain left me sidelined.  I probably could’ve worked my way through it, but then a deployment happened.  Since then, the Chicago Marathon has been on my “list”.  

If I’ve learned anything from last Monday’s horrific events in Boston, it is that there’s no better time that now.  I can keep putting it off another year, but how do I know I’m guaranteed another year?  We take life for granted and it’s horrible that it takes something like what happened Monday to make us stop and appreciate what we have in our lives.  

On Sunday, Madelyn, Larry and I headed down to Chicago for a little family getaway.  We visited the aquarium and Lincoln Park Zoo.  One thing that I couldn’t wait to do was wake up early Monday morning and run the Lakeshore path.  Thinking about running the Chicago Marathon this year makes me crazy excited.  You know how when you first start dating someone, your stomach does those crazy flips?  I get that feeling when I think about running 26.2 miles through my favorite city, my second home.

Because the Chicago Marathon sold out and then went into a lottery system, I had to sign up through a charity.  I will be raising money for Team Salute, a charity that gives financial help to veterans-something that is very near and dear to my heart for obvious reasons.  

I could not be more thrilled, excited, nervous and scared all at once.  Training officially starts in June! 

 

This aint no Noodles

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Tuesdays are always a rough day for me.  It’s my equivalent to what most people’s Mondays are, but instead of coming off of a two day weekend, I’m returning from a three day weekend (I know I shouldn’t be complaining).  Our weekend was jam packed with house stuff and deployment returns, so I couldn’t get to the grocery store until after work today.  

I had my list in hand and bopped around TJ’s, rounding up this week’s dinner and something super easy & delicious for tonight.  Had we still been in our apartment in Oak Creek, I would’ve had hubs pick up dinner somewhere but since moving into our new house, it feels like I’m cheating on my new & fabulous kitchen when we eat out.  So, in efforts to save time, Hubs and I tag team-ed dinner and cooked up something pretty awesome.

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Hubs cut up two chicken breasts into bite size pieces and I cooked them over the stove in a mushroom and sage olive oil, rosemary, fresh garlic, sea salt and garlic powder.  After the chicken was brown, I moved it into a different bowl and in the same pan I cooked one sliced zucchini, chopped tomato, 1/2 sliced sweet onion, a small can of sliced black olives, and sliced mushrooms.  I added in a bit more olive oil and sage.  Once the veggies were almost done, I mixed the chicken back in and let it cook for a few more minutes.  Meanwhile, I had a pot of brown rice penne pasta boiling.  Mix the pasta and veggies together and top with feta cheese and you have yourself a meal.  Within a half hour, a delicious dinner was served.  It’s always nice (and MUCH appreciated) when hubs helps out in the kitchen.

Now that I’m completely done nursing Madelyn (more on that in her monthly post), I feel like I can completely devote myself to eating more consciously and focus on getting to my preferred goal weight.  For the first 6 months of her life, I was more concerned about producing enough food for her and less about shedding the “baby weight”.  At 7 1/2 months postpartum, I am about where I was pre-baby.  For me, the last 10 lbs. (out of 34) came off extremely slow.  I ate really healthy for the most part, but I noticed that when I tried to cut calories my milk supply dropped so I more so used Weight Watchers and Myfitnesspal as a guide to make sure I wasn’t eating too little or that I wasn’t going overboard.  Now that I’m only nourishing myself, I can be a little bit more strict with my diet and amp up the activity just a little bit more.  

I had planned to run outside when I got to work this morning, but mother nature put the kabosh on those plans.  So I took my workout to the treadmill.  Because we’re a Guard base, we don’t have a big, Active Duty type gym.  Our “gym” consists of two treadmills, two bikes and an elliptical along with various weight machines.  I got lucky and was able to get on a treadmill right away.  In order to beat the boredom of the ‘mill, I did a variety of things: Steady running, sprints, hills, etc.  It helped pass time and I burned a lot of calories!  Win win. 

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 After my ADD-type run, I hit the mat for some ab work: Sit ups, planks, side planks, bicycles, wall sits and stretching.  I finally feel back to my old self again as far as workouts go.  I actually feel like I have gotten a little faster and my endurance has improved since having a baby.  Maybe working out with that baby bump had something to do with it?  I’m not sure, but it feels great to be back at it and motivated.  

Slow Cooker (kinda) Enchiladas

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I hope everyone had a great day!  Despite the fact that we really don’t celebrate this “holiday”, I had the best Valentine’s day:  A picnic with my funny valentine:

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Normally, she would’ve been at daycare today but they called me yesterday at work telling me that she had spiked a fever-so we spent the day playing and cuddling.  It amazes me that even though she feels so crummy, she can still manage to laugh and smile-I hope that she always keeps that positive attitude.  

It’s been a while since I’ve made a recipe worthy of sharing.  If I’m not making some sort of chili in the slow cooker, our meals usually consist of a protein (poultry or fish) vegetables, and sometimes a carb/starch.  Exciting stuff happening in the kitchen…I know.

Well tonight, I wanted to mix it up and do something different, yet easy.  Dealing with a sick baby who won’t nap leaves very little time for tinkering around in the kitchen.  Yesterday, one of my co-workers made an enchilada casserole that was amazing and I recently saw something on Pinterest for slow cooker chicken enchiladas.  So I combined the two recipes for something amazing.

  • I lined 5 chicken breasts at the bottom on my slow cooker and poured just enough chicken broth in the pot so that they wouldn’t burn.
  • I sprinkled the chicken with taco seasoning and then topped them with enchilada sauce verde along with low-fat cream cheese cubes.
  • I cooked them on low for 7 hours.  
  • About an hour before I was done cooking them, I covered them with a shredded mexican cheese blend and green onions.

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Instead of shredding the chicken, I found it to be easier to just put each breast on top of a tortilla and served it with a side of rice and beans.  Easy peasy and very delicious.  Each chicken breast ends up being 7+ points.  Skipping the cheese, would set you back 5+ points, but let’s be realistic :-)  

ImageI’m off to cruise Craigslist for some furniture to rehab!  If Pinterest were my full-time job, I’d be an expert at it :-)   

Upsy Daisy, Happy Baby

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5 months already? How did that happen?  It’s crazy to think that soon we’ll be celebrating her first birthday-which I’ve already started planning out in my head.

Sleep.  We’re still going strong with averaging about 10-12 hours at a time.  Winning. We honestly hit the jackpot with this kid and sleep.  She’s a little mover & shaker though-I’m happy we decided to put the crib bumper back on because I think she’d need to sleep with a helmet!  She’s also sleeping with an afghan in her crib.  I figure that it’s a safe choice as far as blankets go because it has holes in it so that if she does put it over her face, she can still breath.

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Eat.  We tried solids for the first time a few days ago.  The woman at daycare was telling me that she was wanting to eat every two hours which is unusual for her.  She didn’t seem to be satisfied with her milk that day, so I decided to try a little bit of cereal.  She cried. I also put a little bit of avocado on my finger for her to taste and she loved it.  It was such a little amount that I don’t know if it was the avocado itself or if she just wanted to suck on my fingers. We’re still going strong with nursing-something I’m really proud of because when I first started, I didn’t think I would last this long.  I’m thinking about weening her starting at 6 months because of some upcoming trips at work :-/  A co-worker suggested that I still pump even when I’m away just to keep up my milk supply so that I can continue when I return home, BUT by that point she’ll be about 10 months.  I think what I’ll end up doing is pumping and storing as much as possible and then when that’s gone, she’ll just be on formula.

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Play.  Madelyn LOVES her feet!  She’s a pro at the “happy baby” yoga pose.  She also loves to stand/sit upright and loves her Winnie the Pooh activity jumper.  We can finally put her in it without having to prop her feet with a pillow.  She can sit up pretty well on her own and when she does fall over she just laughs and smiles-she’s a good sport about it!  She also enjoys playing airplane and likes to be lifted up really high.  She’s not big on rolling over from her back to her front, but when we have her on her stomach, she’s propping her but in the air and scooting herself, almost like a little low-crawl.

I’m looking forward to new developments within the next few months and I’m pumped to start making my own baby food.  We just have to get her used to eating first :-)

Numb.

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It’s been a while since I posted, and initially I came on here to post a recipe for the vegan/gluten free chocolate chip cookies that I baked this morning that were pretty awesome, but my head and my heart just aren’t there right now.

Madelyn woke me up this morning at 6:30.  Normally on a Saturday, I would lay there and listen to her on the monitor and pray that she would fall back asleep for just a little bit longer.  That was not the case today.  I sleepily stumbled to where my girl was singing away and smiling in her crib.  I brought her back to my bed to feed her, cuddle with her and just be.  I laid there and listened to her sing me songs and tell me stories-it was the best morning I’ve had in a long time.

I refuse to turn on the TV today.  I prayed that when I woke up this morning, that yesterday’s events had been just a bad dream.  I was in 8th grade when the Columbine shooting happened.  I remember watching it on TV and thinking why would someone do this?  Throughout my years in middle and high school we had a few bomb scares, where we’d have to evacuate the building and after the first few, it just became an inconvenience and I thought nothing of it.

I was at work when a coworker came and told me that there was a shooting at an elementary school.  I honestly thought nothing of it.  We figured it was an angry boyfriend/husband situation.  It wasn’t until I sat down at my computer and saw what was actually happening.  I sat on the internet and watched the news sites report an increasing death count of children.  Young, innocent children and my heart sank. I started to feel sick to my stomach.  I called Madelyn’s daycare just to see how she was doing.  She got her shots yesterday, so I just asked how she was doing with those but in reality I just wanted to hear that she was okay.  I spent the rest of my day watching the clock go by.

When I picked her up from daycare, I sat there and hugged her for a really long time and gave her a million kisses.  The daycare lady gave me a sympathetic look, she knew.  When we got home Larry had the news on and I couldn’t help but break down and cry.  I cried for those poor innocent children whose lives were taken before they even began.  I cried for those parents who went home without their child and whose lives will never be the same.  The parents who have to spend this Christmas without their little one.   And I cried for our country and the future of this country that my daughter will grow up in.  As a society we’ve become so numb to this sort of thing.  It wasn’t until it happened to group of innocent children that I truly felt something.

I’ve only been a mother for 4 months and I can’t even begin to imagine what those parents are going through right now.  And I pray to God that I never will.  This tragedy is just another reminder that every breath we take, every day that passes, is a gift and can be taken away at anytime.  Don’t take it for granted.  Live in the moment and love to the fullest everyday.

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Weigh in Friday-Week 2

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Weekly weight loss: -2.6 lbs.
Total Weight loss: 5.6lbs

I had another successful week with Weight Watchers.  I’m learning that it only works if you track EVERYTHING you eat-everyday.  I’m surprised that I lost this much just because I didn’t get a chance to work out as much as I normally do this week, but on the other hand I’m back at work now and I had to plan my meals for the day.

Some of last week’s meals included:

-slow cooker jerk chicken w/brown rice
-breaded pork chops
-Salmon, cooked zucchini, and mashed potatoes
-And these somewhat healthy, delicious muffins posted below.  They count as a breakfast meal :-)
Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Middle
7 points +
Ingredients
  • 2 cups gluten free flour
  • 1 tsp xanthan gum-eliminate if you’re using regular flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 coconut oil-melted
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 2/3 cup agave nectar
  • 2 tbsp vanilla
  • 1.5 cups canned pumpkin puree
  • 1/3 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 12 tbsp low fat cream cheese-separated
Directions
preheat the oven to 350.  Line a 12 cup muffin tin with liners.  In a medium bowl whisk together all your dry ingredients.  Stir in coconut oil, agave, vanilla, and milk.  Stir until smooth.  Using a spatula, stir in hot water and pumpkin. Fill the muffin tin only half way.  Spoon in about a tablespoon of cream cheese.  Then, add more muffin mix  on top of the cream cheese, like this:
Bake for about 30 minutes, rotating the muffins 180 degrees at 15 minutes.  Check to make sure they’re done by poking a toothpick through the muffin.
  Onto week 3!

 

10 days of Real Food days 8, 9, &10

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**The 10 Days of Real Food challenge actually ended last Friday, the 28th, but I’m just getting around to posting it now.**

The last few days of the Real Food challenge were kind of monotonous.  Lots of apple cinnamon oatmeal bowls and pancakes filled my mornings for breakfast while baked sweet potatoes smothered in almond butter remained a lunchtime staple.

Last week, I broke out the slow cooker to try out some recipes for when I go back to work. One of the recipes I found via Pinterest.

Source: food.com via Maria on Pinterest

Slow cooker Asian Sesame Pork Ribs.  Since I went to Trader Joe’s for this particular grocery trip and they didn’t have pork ribs for sale, I just used boneless pork chops instead and during the last half hour of cooking, I added in broccoli florets.  Serve over brown rice and you have yourself one tasty/healthy little meal.

 I’m off to get a little workout in while the little sleeps :-)  If I have enough energy leftover later I just might celebrate October by making pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting…

Absent

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I just wanted to drop by and say hi and to inform everyone that life as a new mom is going well. I’m taking a little break from blogging to spend some time with my precious peanut and get to know her a little better :-) I’ll be back with some updates soon. Until then I leave you with a sneak peak from our newborn photo shoot.

Fun Photo Friday-a collage of pics

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Happy Friday! Is it me or did having a holiday in the middle of the week (and then having to return to work) make the week seem longer? I swear it felt like the beginning of the week yesterday. So nice to see you weekend :-) Anyone have any fun plans? Tonight, I’m doing dinner with my mom & sis. Tomorrow, hubs and I are going to Summerfest-the world’s largest music festival held at the lakefront in Milwaukee. It’s been a few years since we’ve gone, so I’m looking forward to it.

It’s also been a few weeks since I’ve done a fun photo Friday post. Instead of just focusing on one picture, I decided to put a few together into a fun little collage.20120706-124351.jpg

The first picture at the top left corner is of my friend and me. She’s expecting a baby girl in the middle of September, so we are only a few weeks apart. It’s been fun having someone so close to you going through the same things as you. It’s also been helpful to call her up and say, “This is happening to me. You too? Ok good it must be normal!” apparently Motherhood Maternity must only have one cute bathing suit because she showed up at my house on wednesday with the same exact swim suit as me. This was not planned and she even bought hers online while I got mine in the store. Great minds DO think alike :-)

The second picture is of some pre-anniversary dinner snackage. LC and I spent some time at the pool, came back and had some snacks while he filled us up two delicious steaks and asparagus. The only thing I was responsible for was the baked sweet potato and snacks. We got the spreadable cheese from door county. It’s cheddar with port wine and cherry…very good! The strawberries were left behind from my mom who stayed at our place to watch Oliver.

The beautiful sunset picture was taken on our last night in Door County. We ate a restaurant by the water and this was our view. It was breathtaking. Hubs said he could retire up there…definitely a change of pace from Chicago, which is where he was planning a few months ago ;-)

The big salad at the bottom was taken at today’s lunch. Some of the girls and I went out to lunch today at Sven’s Cafe in Bayview. This was my first time here and I loved it! Any lunch place that offers gluten free bread options is a friend of mine. My salad had goat cheese, walnuts, tomatoes, grilled chicken, craisins, and grapes. Perfect summertime lunch.

So far, this year’s summer has been pretty great. We’ve been pretty busy but it’s all been so fun. It’s flying by though which makes me realize that baby will be here before we know it…the perfect ending to our summer :-)

Enjoy your weekend!!

25 Weeks-Nursery Inspiration

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25 down, 15 more to go.  I can’t believe how incredibly fast this pregnancy is going.  It seems like just yesterday I was a taking pregnancy test and now here we are, about three months away from meeting our little one.  A co-worker of mine had her baby last week.  She was 37 weeks along when she delivered.  Her and I are exactly 3 months apart and when she went into labor, a small part of me panicked.  I’ve been reading a lot of books about pregnancy and labor, but other than that I have nothing else prepared for this baby.

Today I went out to lunch with a friend and she asked when I was due.  When I told her she responded with “Shouldn’t you be nesting or something?”  Yes, I believe so :-) So today, I set out to Sherwin-Williams to pick up some paint color swatches and cleared all of the boxes out of the baby’s room.  Since we don’t know what we’re having, our original plan was going to be gray walls with yellow accents in the decor.  I picked up a bunch of gray swatches and then picked up a mint colored one just for funsies.  When I got home I placed each paint swatch against the wall and picked the gray that I really liked.  Then I held the mint color against the wall and ideas sparked.  Instead of painting all 4 walls gray, I decided to pick one wall and paint it mint.  Not only will it save us money, but it will save LC time, since I won’t be helping.

One of the websites that has been of great value to me when planning the nursery is Pinterest.  Along with the mint color, we’re going to stay with the gray and white accents.  I’m sure we’ll throw some other color in there, but one thing at a time.  Here are some pictures that I pinned onto my Pinterest nursery board.

 

I’m excited to see how everything turns out and can’t wait to start decorating for the baby.  I’ll definitely be posting updates as we progress along.

This week, Baby C has grown into a head of cauliflower.  Baby weighs anywhere between 1.5-2.5 lbs and is between 13-14.8 inches long!  Baby continues to grow, gaining weight and sprouting more hair (unless baby’s born like me and is completely bald!) Baby also is developing a sense of equilibrium and can start to tell which way is up and which way is down.  Baby also likes to play and is easily excitable.  I don’t know if this is a good thing, but it’s fun for me right now.  When baby’s kicking away, I can usually press back on my stomach where baby is moving and he or she will move again.  For every tap baby gives me, I give it two back.  This once continued for about 5 minutes and I sat at my desk at work with a goofy grin on my face.

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How I’m feeling? After almost 12 hours of sleep on Saturday, I feel like a whole new person.  It’s amazing what rest will do for the body.  With moving, drill weekend and other social obligations, I was left feeling pretty tired this week.  I went home early on Friday from work, was in bed at 9 pm and didn’t wake up until almost 9 the next morning.  Although the weather’s been lovely this weekend, I can tell it’s going to be tough on me this summer.  Tonight, I was just sitting on the couch feeling really uncomfortable :-/ Luckily, we have access to a pool :-)

As far as being prepared for baby, LC and I finally came to an agreement on baby names. We have our boy and girl name picked out.  We’re keeping our choices under wraps until baby makes his/her grand debut into this world.  So when we for sure know, everyone else will know :-)