A Year in Review

I thought I'd do a quick year in review. We started the year 2013 with Avery's baptism in January, and  she also took her first steps in January. We celebrated her first birthday in February with a snowy owl theme, which included an awesome hot cocoa bar.

In March, we went to Ft. Myers and Sanibel Island for a family vacation. Avery loved the pool!

 In April and May, I ran a half marathon, and trained for my first triathlon (in June.)

We also took a trip to Lake Erie for a few days with some good friends and their daughter who is a few months older than Avery.

In July, and August we enjoyed the summer and went outside a ton! I continued running, biking and swimming, and did another triathlon with Travis in September. We also went on a family vacation to Hilton Head, SC and enjoyed it so much!

Portage Lakes Triathlon:

This fall has flown by like it always does for me. I ran several races in October and November, and  Avery was Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween and went trick-or-treating for the first time. 

 We also got a new play set!

The holidays came and Avery enjoyed Thanksgiving and Christmas!

We had a great year and are excited for what the new year will bring!

Evaluating 2013

The year 2013 is coming to an end. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and I find myself evaluating the year to see what I've accomplished this year, and how that will impact my goals for 2014. For me, I think it's become even more important to set goals, even just small ones, since I've become a stay-at-home mom.  There have been times that it feels like I'm 'reacting' to life, instead of being proactive, but I'd rather be proactive, and which leads me to be productive.

Before I had Avery, I wasn't much of a planner, and I did things as they came up, and 'spur of the moment.' I thought that system would work for me when I had a child, because it had always worked in the past. For the first year I had Avery, I really struggled because I had no plan, and felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants to keep up! I read a lot about parenting, but still felt very reactive. It took me about a year to realize that even though I was home, our day needed a plan and structure. I used to think that a schedule would be restricting, but it was actually the opposite! It actually gave me a sense of purpose and fulfillment for what I was doing staying home with Avery. Honestly, I feel like this has been my biggest accomplishment for the year.

The benefits for Avery are:

• She is BY FAR happier when she is on a schedule and has a sense of what's happening next. 
• She's a great sleeper - sleeps 8pm-8am, and has a 2 hour afternoon nap. 
• She's a good eater (unless she's sick) and she drinks close to 2 cups of milk/day. 
• When we are off schedule for a day or two, she can easily get back on schedule without too much trouble.

The benefits for me are:

• I have a happier child most of the time.
• I know what my day is going to look like and can plan activities for me and Avery more easily.
• I know that I will have time for a run, shower, bath, etc. (if you aren't a parent, this might seem weird, but sometimes in the beginning, I used to stand in the shower extra long, because I wasn't sure when my next one would be!)
• I have been able to keep my house cleaner, by doing "weekly rotations" of cleaning chores.
• I have an easier time cooking and planning meals.

Speaking of cooking, this is another one of my accomplishments for the year. I'm not sure that I would have said that I enjoyed cooking when I worked. Most nights Travis would make dinner, because he would get home before me, and he was hungry!  I could make a few things, and sometimes cooked on weekends, but normally Travis still helped or gave me ideas. When I first stayed home, I used to really stress about mealtimes, and the grocery store! Honestly, Travis and I used to always go together before Avery was born. I rarely went by myself, let alone decided the meals we'd have.

This took me awhile to figure out too, but I think I can finally say that I'm a decent cook, and I also enjoy it! I've made enough recipes to easily come up with weekly menus, and I also don't have any problem coming up with foods Avery will enjoy too. For instance, after we got home late from being out of town Christmas Eve, I was able to 'whip up' great meals for us to enjoy Christmas Day-with very little planning. I made us chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, and chicken Marsala for dinner. I have even made great meals using venison (although the invention Pinterest has greatly helped my cooking skills too.) I'm pleased with my current cooking skills and looking forward to new recipes in 2014.

I've also accomplished a lot physically. In the spring and early summer, I ran a half marathon, and did my first two sprint triathlons. I ran some races with the stroller, and ran in a racing series in the fall where I place 3rd in my age group. I also made it back to my pre-baby weight. It only took 20 months hahaha. It's not like I was a lot over but my weigh had fluctuated about 5-10 pounds over my baby weight, and I finally had enough. I thought it would fall off on its own, but turns out I had to be diligent about counting calories for about 2 months (September and October mostly.) When I went to my annual doctor appoint in November, I was down 11 pounds from the previous year, which was a huge accomplishment for me. I feel like I know what I need to do to lose weight in the future, and running is great for weight maintenance. 

Overall, I had a great year in 2013, and I'm proud of the things I've accomplished. 

The running streak is over

And that means Christmas is over too. We had a really great Christmas though! On Monday, we went to my sister's house in Pittsburgh, and enjoyed time with my family through Tuesday night. Travis installed a new bathroom vanity for them (for Christmas.) It turned out so nice, and it fits their bathroom so much better! We ordered a honey baked ham for Christmas Eve, and it was delicious. Avery wasn't feeling great, but she managed to do ok. My sister is having a baby in just a few more weeks, so we'll be visiting her again soon!

We came home Tuesday night so that we could have Christmas morning with Avery. She slept in the car a little, and we got home around 9:30. Avery was so cute when I took her up to bed. I always lay her down on her back, and then lay 3 small blankets on her, and count them. Then she waves and we say "night night" (or as Avery says "ni ni.") Because she was so tired, she only let me put one blanket on her before she rolled over and put her blanket under her head as a pillow, and closed her eyes. I layer the other two over her and she was already snuggled up ready for bed.

On Christmas morning, we let her sleep in until almost 9:30, since she was so tired, and hadn't been feeling well. It was nice for us to sleep in too!! When we woke up, I made us a special breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes! Then we took turns opening our gifts and had a great morning! Avery loved opening her presents and playing with her new toys, and she loved her new kitchen! She did get a little overwhelmed by the end, because there were so many things out! She's more of a one-at-a-time-toy kind of girl. We turned on A Christmas Story, and let Avery play with her new things.

Later in the day, Travis's family came over for dinner and I made chicken Marsala. It was a little last minute, but it went well. Overall, we had a great day!

Also in case you're wondering, Travis and I finished our running streak on Tuesday, with Travis running 100.1 miles in total, and me running 100.96 in total. Neither of us ran on Christmas Day, but we both ran today. I only ran 2 miles though, to test out my new Lululemon running pants and top (from Santa!) They were amazing, and would have been nice to have during our running the last month. I'm sure they'll get plenty of use in January, February, and March. Now I'm looking forward to some time with my family since Travis is off for 2 weeks!

A run in the rain

After today's run, I'm definitely happy that my running streak will be complete in just 3 more days. It rained all day today. I did go to the park to run today in order to try and enjoy it a little, and it did help, but honestly I would much rather run in cold (and even snow) than rain. I managed to do 3.5 miles, and I've completed 90+ miles. I'm still on track to hit 100 by the end.  The weather we've had has been all over the place. On Thanksgiving Day (day 1) it was 19 degrees and snowy. The following week there were a few days of temps in the 50's. Then it got cold again, and snowy, and the days ranged from 12-25 degrees. Then it warmed up again yesterday and today to close to 50 degrees, but it's just been raining the whole time. Luckily, I have many good running jackets and clothes that really do their job. Even so, I'm excited for a day or two off, and to run on fresh legs!

We went to Travis's grandparents' house for Christmas this afternoon/evening. Avery loved opening her gifts! The adults didn't exchange, so we just took our time opening things for Avery, and she had a great time. She got lots of pretend food (to go along with the kitchen that she'll be getting), some building blocks, and a vacuum and broom. I'm actually looking forward to her new toys as well, since many times I am the one sitting on the floor and playing with her! Ranger got a a bone and new toy as well, so he was happy too.  We had a great dinner, and it was a great evening with family. We're looking forward to spending a few days with my family soon!

Christmas Cookies

Avery and I made Christmas cookies today with my mother-in-law and grandma-in-law. Avery is still not feeling great...but I'm pretty sure she is heavily teething because she's only been eating yogurt, bananas, applesauce, and soft foods for 3 or 4 days. Tonight she actually ate some spinach and cheese raviolis, so I'm hoping that she's starting to feel better. Avery was good at pressing the cookie cutters into the dough, and sprinkling them! She actually did very well at that. I'm really getting excited for her second Christmas!

                                                

I was also able to run earlier in the day today, and the sun felt so good! It still was only in the 20's, but it felt warmer because of the sunshine. I ran 5.4 today, and my total is 79+. I only ran about 3 miles for the each of the last two days. I have just under 21 miles to go in 6 days in order to reach my goal of 100 miles during this running streak. I haven't been running with the stroller too much since it's been so cold, and Avery hasn't been feeling well.  Here are a few pictures of her from one of our runs last week though. You can see how bundled up she is!

Avery was a trooper this weekend

The weekend started out pretty well. On Saturday morning, we went to breakfast at The Cracker Barrel...I love their breakfast! I had a French toast cinnamon roll (yes it was as amazing as it sounds) and biscuits and gravy. I ordered Avery pancakes, but she actually wanted my biscuits, so she had that instead. It was all delicious, and Avery enjoyed watching other kids there too.

After we got home, Travis and I each went for a run. Let me tell you, both of our runs this weekend were cold and snowy!! The cold makes my eyes water so much that I was considering wearing my ski mask, but Travis wouldn't let me. I ran 3 on Saturday, 4.4 yesterday, and 3.57 on Friday, so my total is now over 68 miles. I didn't up my mileage as much as I'd hoped, but I still ran a little more on average for the last nine days than the first. Only 9 running days to go! My pace has been faster. My pace on Friday was 8:15, and I felt amazing! My pace yesterday was 8:38, and that was a run mostly on ice, and even includes a fall about 2 minutes in. I'm wishing it would stay in the thirties for the rest of the month; that would make running nicer.

On Saturday afternoon, we had a Christmas gathering at Avery's great great grandmother's house for everyone in Travis's family. Yes, Travis still has a great grandmother, so it's kind of amazing for Avery. Anyway, it was a really nice time for everyone, and I even won the holiday trivia game!! There were lots of sweets there, including Christmas cookies, mini cheesecakes, cream puffs, and cranberry pineapple jello pudding. Avery had them all, I'm pretty sure, and I'll never let that happen again!! On the way home (about 30 minutes from home), Avery started throwing up all over herself and car seat. I felt so bad! We immediately pulled over, and I'm so thankful for my husband. He was able to clean up Avery, change her clothes, and clean the car seat enough to make it home...all without wet wipes, because I forgot them at the party! I was almost no help, because I am really bad and when I try to help, I only make myself sick. Once we got Avery mostly cleaned up, she didn't cry or fuss at all the rest of the way home. I was totally amazed. As soon as we got home, we got her in the bath, and cleaned her up, and put her to bed with no problems. Travis cleaned up everything and started laundry and was amazing! However, at midnight and then again at 2 am, Avery continued to get sick. Both times, we both got up to take care of her and change her crib sheet. Both times Avery went right back to sleep. She did great! She didn't eat much yesterday, but seems to be feeling better today.

This is the first time she's ever thrown up, and I'm just thankful it never happened earlier in her life.

Silent Night...

This seems like an appropriate title for this evening. After a big day of Christmas shopping with Avery, we had a nice quiet afternoon and evening.

Earlier today, I went up to Beachwood Place to do a little shopping, and it was actually pretty fun with Avery. She walks some, and rides in the stroller, and she did really well today. Afterward, I took her to Panera with me for lunch, and she had her fav...Mac and Cheese! We didn't get home until close to 2:30, so I quickly put her down for her nap. I decided to take a little nap too, but I never really fell asleep; I just enjoyed to view of the snow in our yard for about a half hour. When I got Avery up, I could tell she was still tired, so we just snuggled in our chair and watched "The Cat in the Hat know a lot about Christmas." I sometimes like when she just wants to sit with me and relax.

I still had to get my run in this evening, and while I wasn't exactly looking forward to it (considering it was about 15 degrees with a wind chill of 3) it actually was so peaceful and nice! I ran 4.1 miles tonight, and I honestly love running in our neighborhood in the dark this time of year. There was just a light dusting of snow, and it was beautiful with all of the Christmas lights! It really makes a difference running in this weather when you have the right gear. With the 3.1 miles I did yesterday, I'm up to 57.23 miles, with 12 days to go!

About halfway

I have been running for 13 days straight now, and completed just over 50 miles (50.07.) I have 14 more days to go, and I'm still hoping to make it to 100+ miles. Here is the breakdown on the first half of our running streak:

Lauren
Day 1: 3.1*
Day 2: 3.5
Day 3: 3.5*
Day 4: 3*
Day 5: 4*
Day 6: 5*
Day 7: 4.1*
Day 8: 4*
Day 9: 3.2*
Day 10: 6.07
Day 11: 3.1
Day 12: 3*
Day 13: 4.5
Total: 50.07
   * indicates a run with Avery in stroller

Travis
Day 1: 3.1
Day 2: 4.5
Day 3: 3.1
Day 4: 3
Day 5: 3.05
Day 6: 3
Day 7: 3
Day 8: 4.08
Day 9: 3.3
Day 10: 3.1
Day 11: 5
Day 12: 3.6
Day 13: 3.1
Total: 44.93

There have been some days when I'm starting to be a little more tired than usual during my run. Yesterday, I was totally not feeling running. I decided to slow it way down, and just take it easy. I felt much better today. I think Travis is starting to feel it too. He didn't run until about 8:30 last night, and then he woke up early this morning and ran before work. Sometimes I think we are both ready to give up, but we are both too competitive to actually give in. It's very motivating to see how quickly the miles are adding up though!

Tomorrow, I'm doing something kind of exciting...I'm helping out my neighbor for just a couple hours in the morning by watching her 6-month old daughter. Avery tends to be jealous, which is natural for her age, but I think it will be good for her, and for me. In January, Avery is getting a little cousin, and this will be a little test run for how she will do when I'm holding another baby. My plan is to bring out some of Avery's baby toys, and hopefully we can all play. It's only for 2 hours, so I know I can manage.

Day 10: 6 miles

Today was the second day on my running streak that I ran without the stroller. I decided to take advantage of that fact, and run a longer 6-miler (6.07 to be exact.) I ran at a decent pace (8:53/mile) which was pretty good considering part of my run was on a trail, and it was icy and muddy. I'm surprised how good I feel 10 days in. My legs aren't feeling too heavy yet, and all of my runs to this point have been 3 miles or longer. It was really nice to run without the stroller. Even though I am pretty used to running with it, it makes runs like today feel much easier. My total mileage for 10 days is 39.47. Travis ran 3.1 today, and I'm a couple miles ahead of him right now...even though we keep saying it's not a competition!

Avery was happy not to go on the run today too. It was only 22 degrees. Speaking of Avery, her new favorite word is "cuckoo" from...a The Sound of Music Live!! I had it on yesterday because. I dvr'd it, and when that song came on, she started repeating it! It made my night. She will learn to love 'The Sound of Music' just like me, although I will make sure she sees the Julie Andrews movie :)

We put up our outside lights, and we're getting our tree tomorrow! Yay! Now we're just enjoying the evening, drinking some Gluhwein and Winter Lager, and I'm waiting for my first attempt at pumpkin praline cheesecake to cool in the fridge!

I don't feel like running today...

Well, it took me until day 9, but today was the first day I wasn't really looking forward to my run. It snowed last night, and cooled down back to the thirties. I wasn't looking forward to bundling Avery up for this run, but I got it over with this morning. My plan was just to get out there and run two miles, but once I was running, I decided on 3.1, and actually ended up doing 3.2. Since today was exactly one third of the way, that puts my mileage so far at 33.4 miles, and now I'm thinking that my secondary goal is to run 100 miles during my 27-day streak. I'm exactly on track for that...but my plan is to up my mileage for the next 9 days, and then cut back a little at the end. I'm feeling good, but still not pushing the pace too much; I really don't want to be injured.

On a different subject, we're going to get our tree this weekend, and I can't wait to decorate for Christmas!!

8 days and 30 miles

Today's run was a 4 miler, the same as yesterday (well 4.1 yesterday, because that brought me to an even 26.2.) The temperature for the last 2 days has been amazing...in the high 50's. I'm feeling pretty good so far...definitely better than I thought I might be for almost a third of the way. My total mileage so far is 30.2 miles, and Travis is at 26.83. Avery has been with me for 7/8 runs so far, and she's been doing great! I took these pictures of her right after our run; we stopped one house down, so I could have a little cool down.

After our run, I took Avery and Range outside to play since it's going to cool down later tonight. I figured we'd get some use out of our swing set! Here's a few more pictures!

I can't outrun cheesy potatoes...

...but I'm giving it my best effort! I have been eating leftovers every day for lunch, and the potatoes are finally almost gone!! Travis's mom made a ton of them, and they really are sooooo good!! Luckily, I ran 5 miles today, and 4 miles yesterday, and I'm really just hoping not to gain weight from the holiday season. It's kind of my weakness time, in terms of food, with leftovers and food we only make a few times a year, and eggnog lattes, and pies, and pumpkin muffins, etc.....this is one of the reasons I thought this running streak would be perfect for this time of year.

Thankfully most of the snow and ice is starting to melt. It warmed up today and and was beautiful for our run. It's definitely easier to run with the stroller when the ground is clear! So far I'm feeling great about the running streak, and I'm actually sleeping great! Ever since I was pregnant it's been more difficult for me to sleep straight through the night without waking a few times. Maybe I just need to run everyday! I've slept like a rock the last two nights, and had much more energy during the day. However, it's still early in the streak, so we'll see what happens.

Since it's warming up, I think we are going to put our Christmas lights up outside today and tomorrow. I love driving in our neighborhood at night and seeing all of the lights...they are so beautiful! Once they are up, I'll take a few pictures!

Day 4: 27-day challenge

Today was the fourth day of running. I ran 3 miles today, with Travis, Avery, and Ranger - a family run! Today's run was tough, because we ran a completely snow covered path with the stroller. Travis and I actually took turns pushing it, and even he acknowledged how challenging it was to push in the snow. Yesterday, I ran 3.5 miles at the same place where the turkey trot was, but most of the snow had melted so it wasn't too bad with the stroller. So far I have run 13.1 miles (half marathon distance, but over 4 days haha.) I have been feeling pretty good so far, but I am really pacing myself. Actually, I'm kind of treating this whole thing the way I would treat a long race. I'm going to pace myself for the first third - days 1-9 - meaning I'm not running any really long distances, or fast paces quite yet. I'll pick up the pace and distance during the middle third (days 10-19) and then push through (and hang on!) for the last third (days 20-27.) Hopefully this plan will work for me. Travis has run 13.7 miles so far, but I think his game plan is similar to mine. We've both recently had some mild foot issues, so we're both stretching a lot in order to stay injury free.

Earlier Travis and I went shopping to get some Christmas present ideas for each other. I tried on some running tights at Athleta and Lululemon, and found some at both stores that I liked. Travis will surprise me with one of the styles I tried on today. They were all nice, and had storage and never ending drawstrings which I really like. Travis tried on some watches...but he isn't sure if he really want a watch for Christmas or not. It was nice to get out and enjoy the beginning of the Christmas season!