Year in Review 2013

Wow what a year! This year has been a VERY full one. Let’s get started:

January 2nd, 2013 – We found out what our precious baby was going to be. The technician took all of the measurements and asked if we wanted to know what gender the baby was going to be. Well come to find out our lives were going to be filled to the top with pink and bows! What a wonderful day! I went straight to the store and bought a pink outfit for our little girl.

I also started my final semester as a Junior at the University of Florida in January.

February was relatively relaxing. With the exception of my Best friend having her first born baby boy. I also went down the the State Fair with my Hubby and his showmen for the steer show.

March was a packed month. First off I was as big as a house, and didn’t know how on earth I would make it another 2 months carrying Addie. We had our 2 year anniversary on the 5th of March. March is also the month of Fair for our county and since my Husband is an Agriculture teacher he is at the fair just about every day for 2 weeks. The end of March I had to go to the hospital to be monitored due to my blood pressure rising. I was put on modified bed rest. Which basically meant I was supposed to be on bed rest but I could get up and move around the house and go grocery shopping. I had to finish my last two weeks of the school semester from home.

I had my baby shower on April 6th. I got so much stuff from all of our friends and family. Addie was already getting spoiled. Since my blood pressure was giving me a problem and my swelling was beginning to get bad I was not allowed to drive to Gainesville for my last two weeks of class. My Drs. didn’t want me to have an issue and be an hour away from my hospital. Luckily ,my professors allowed me to attend class via Skype. It was kind of nice not having to get up and get dressed then drive an hour to class.  At the end of April I went to the County Fair banquet with my husband and his students. My HUGE belly was gaining quite a bit of attention. I still had 2 weeks before I was due, and was on “Bed rest” at that point. I was going stir-crazy though and needed to get out of the house.

May was very exciting! The very beginning of the month my husband had to go out of town for the day. I was due less than a week from that day and was kind of worried that since he was over 2 hours away Addie would decided to make her presence. She stayed content though. My Dr. decided to induce labor because of my blood pressure if labor hadn’t started by my due date, May 8th. On May 8th went to the hospital to have a baby. I began the induction process at 7AM… 36 hours later I was in the operating room prepping for a c-section. Read all about her delivery story HERE. The rest of the month was jam packed! We had Drs. appointments for check-ups, and most of all I was learning how to be a mom.

June-July was pretty uneventful with the exception of learning how to be parents to a newborn. I did try to start back running but my incision was still tender. One big thing that happened was we were approved to purchase our first home. The house that we were renting was offered to us to purchase. We went to the bank to get pre-approved and came back to our land lords only to find out they had changed their minds and we had to be out of the house in 30 days. (At the end of the 30 days was the end of out 1 year lease) We now had a 3 month old and were trying to house hunt, and pack up our 3 bedroom home, all the while my husband was still working full time at the school. It was stressful to say the least.

August was rough. We moved 3 different places in 30 days. We had to move out of our big house on the 1st. We moved in with my Grandma in her small 2 bedroom house for a week until we could find a place to rent short term. Finally finding a small house to rent on a month to month basis we packed up again and moved. All the while we were still looking at between 3-5  houses per week trying to find something to purchase. House hunting alone is stressful, then add a 3 month old in tow it makes it even worse. We finally found one and started the process of closing. I am pretty sure we hold the record for the quickest closing for first time buyers ever! The bank and the closing company were so helpful. We closed on our house in 21 days. The day before we had to pay for another months rent we closed on our house…

Which brings us to September 6th. We signed 30 years of our life away on this day with the perfect home for our family. It has plenty of room to grow into. The end of September I learned about IRun4, and officially signed up for a running buddy.

October was spent mostly getting things put in place in our new house.

November 19th I got my match. I was matched with Jocelyn as my official running buddy. I started dedicating my miles to her and learning all about her history.

December is always a busy month for us. My birthday is the 1st, then we spend a lot of time with family and preparing to ring in the new year.

 

This year was a very good one. I can’t wait to see what next year holds for my little family. Addie is growing up so fast, and I have a couple races already planned for the year.

A year in review always puts so much into perspective. Even on a bad day we still have so much to be thankful for.

Do you make resolutions for the new year? Stay tuned for mine.

My Buddy Jocelyn

Back in September I mentioned a group called IRun4. This is a group that matches runners with special needs children and adults. The runner dedicates all of their miles or workouts to their buddy and helps bring awareness to a special cause. When I signed up at the end of September I was informed that the waiting time to be matched was about 6-8 weeks time. At that time the group was just over 4000 members strong. That includes runners and buddies. Everyday I would read through all of the encouragement on the Facebook group page and feel overwhelmed by the love and support that everyone gives to each other. The support doesn’t just stop at running and working out, after the tornadoes hit the town of Washington, Il. this past November there was an outpouring of prayer and love for all of those affected. This group is truly a family that stretches across borders, lakes, oceans, and continents. As of today (December 30th, 2013) there are 11,815 members currently in the group, and it groups exponentially everyday. There are still approximately 1,800 runners waiting to be matched with their very own running buddy. I can’t express the magnitude of love this group holds for everyone.
After enrolling to be matched with a buddy, my wait both flew by and drug on. I felt like the day would never get there to finally be matched. Well my day came. The night before I checked the waiting list and I was about # 12 on the list. I knew if there was a group of matching the next morning I would be on it. The next morning when Addie woke me up to nurse, I quickly grabbed my phone and walked to her room. I checked my notifications and nothing was there. I can’t say I wasn’t disappointed. I felt like a little kid waiting for Santa Claus. As I was sitting there a message from one of the Admins messaged me. That was it! I was matched. I looked through the list of matches and found my name. I was matched with a child named Jocelyn. I thought, how neat is that. My daughters name is Addilyn and we are running for a little girl named Jocelyn. I did a little digging to find out as much as I could about my new running partner. She is 2 days older than Addilyn and just precious. Please go read all about her story at her Facebook Page.
Jocelyn is such a fighter and an unbelievably strong little girl.

Isn’t she a cutie? I am so blessed to be able to dedicate miles and my running to Jocelyn.
If you would like to know more about IRun4 please visit the website: www.whoirun4.com.
If you would like to learn more about Jocelyn please visit her website: www.facebook.com/eighthmiracle.
I will write a post soon introducing you to Jocelyn’s struggles in her young life.

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I am sorry I have been away for so long. I have been testing the waters with another blogging platform, but I decided I like this one much better so with this new year my goal is to write a post at least 2 times a week.
Please like my Facebook page to stay up to date on all of my posts.

Running Partner

Calvary's Isabella

I would like to introduce you to my running partner. Her name is Calvary Isabella or Bella for short. She is a Miniature Australian Shepherd. The breed is just like standard size Australian Shepherd, just a little smaller. I got Bella when she was 8 weeks old. She is now almost 4 years old. Australian Shepherds (Aussies) are known for their intelligence and willingness to please. Bella has just that. She is incredibly smart and loves to be with me at all times.

Bella is about 30 pounds and is a red-tri coat pattern.

She is also very out of shape at the moment. Aussies have a double coat, making the Florida Heat kind of tough on her during the summer months. I plan on getting back in shape along side of my trusty pal.

Bella loves to go for runs, however she thinks it is appropriate to potty every quarter mile or so. On day one of our training run she pooped three times, and peed and uncounted amount of times. I am hoping that she will get better as we run more, because it slows our pacing down.

Obedience is a major factor when taking a dog for a walk or a run on a leash. Bella is really good about listening to me on and off the leash making her controllable around people and other dogs. However, if there is another dog she gets really excited and wants to play most of the time.

Now that the weather is getting cooler I hope to take her with me on most of my runs, so stay tuned to my posts to find out how she is doing with her training runs as well.

Zeus

I couldn't write a post about Bella and not include Zeus. This is Bella's little brother. He loves his picture being taken.

Day 1 of Training

It is official I have started training for the Disney Princess Half in February. My goal is to finish the race in 3 hours or less. There are a lot of training plans out there for half and full marathons to follow. I am going to try and follow Jeff Galloway's training plan. His plans usually include a long run on the weekend then two 30-45 minute runs during the week. I am going to try and do three shorter workouts during the week to get in shape quicker. Or at least that is my plan. Last night I was trying to figure out the best time of day to try and get my runs in. I don't really like running with the jogging stroller, because it slows my pace, and it is kind of hard to push. Well after talking with the hubby I decided that unless I can find a cheap tread mill and run when Addie is sleeping that it is best to just push her in the stroller. With hubby's work schedule we never know when he will be home. One week it could be 5 PM every day, then the next week it might be 8 PM. I could try and run early in the morning, but running in the dark around my neighborhood doesn't sound appetizing to me.

Water Hazard on the Golf Course

So day 1 of training started today. I loaded the stroller, the car seat, the baby, the diaper bag, the dog (i decided she needed to get in shape too), and me in the car to drive to the path I mapped out.

We live relatively close to a retirement community and they have golf cart paths that follow all of the main roads through the community. One of the paths travel like 20 miles or more through the community from one town to the next. The path is nice and paved, plus the landscaping is pretty.I parked at the sheriffs department at the beginning of the path and unloaded all of the above list.

I am the typical first time mom. I packed everything I could possibly need for Addie. Wednesday when I go to run again, I am NOT carrying nearly as much stuff. Is there a reason why I think I would need a fully stocked diaper dag? I don't know, maybe, but I doubt it.

Anyway back to my run today. We started out great! A nice warm-up followed by run/walk intervals. I had planned on running .20 miles then walking 2 minutes. I did that about once then had to start running shorter distances. My running partner Bella (a miniature australian shepherd) is very out of shape as well. At about 3/4 of a mile she started slacking way behind. We were running early this morning, but it was still kind of humid out. I started running less and walking more. The whole 2nd mile we pretty much walked back to the car. It is going to take some time for her to lose some weight and being a productive running partner, but that is what team work is for.

I must of made her bored.

The running path is a golf cart path that is about 12 feet wide and nicely paved. However, the drivers of the golf carts are not so nice. Some of them were really nice and gave me a lot of room when they passed, but some... not so much. Also, the path is mostly straight, but there is some turns. Those turns... how can I say this nicely... some of those drivers think they are in the golf cart version of Nascar! They fly around the turns. I am pretty sure they are pulling an Earnhardt Sr. and throttling through the turns instead of braking! But we didn't have any near death experiences so I think this is my new running path. There is quite a bit of shade along the way as well. Some of the best qualities of this running route is the fact that the paving is smooth, there is shade, most of the people are friendly and wave or say good morning. and it is pretty much unlimited running. The road is called Buena Vista Blvd. It goes from one side of the community to the other, so it is probably 15-20 miles long total.

While on our run Addie must of gotten bored because she passed out in the stroller. Since this was the first actual run with her in the stroller I used the head support from the car seat. I am glad I did, because it supported her head when she fell asleep. She was a great running partner. Once we started going, I didn't hear one peep out of her. Normally she is a very "vocal" baby, but not today on the run. Either she slept the whole time, or she was really enjoying it.

Here we are midway through our run. She of course was sleeping, but I couldn't help getting such a cute picture of her!

The actual run wasn't that bad. I completed 2.06 miles. My pace was really slow because of all the walking. **And my dog thinks she must stop and potty about every quarter mile (Read about her here)** It was actually probably one of my slowest runs ever, but at least we got out there.

I am officially on the waiting list to be matched with a buddy for I Run 4 (IR4). The email says it could take 6-8 weeks before I get a match due to the over abundance of runners requesting matches.

With that said, if you know any one who is a runner and would be interested in being matched send them over to whoIrun4.com. Also, if you know anyone that is physically or mentally handicapped that would love to have a runner, or some one that has a child that is handicapped, please send them to the website as well.

On a side note... I listen to Pastor Mark Driscoll podcasts during my runs. He said some pretty awesome things: One of which was... "When good things become God things, they become bad things." He was preaching on one God and how we worship other things like: sex, money, people, things... It was something that really stuck with me.

The baby is awake now... Time to play. Stay tuned.

IRun4

God works in very mysterious ways. The other day I was thinking of writing a blog post about why or what I run for. I thought about all of the reasons I get out there on the pavement. Some of the reasons included: running to stay healthy, running to lose weight, to relieve stress, for God, and to run for those who can't. I think about the people who literally can't get out there an run. A couple days later I was reading some blog posts from other runners and came across one that was titled, "I Run 4." This post was about an organization called, "IRun4."  I took the time and looked at their site and read about the organization. It was started recently by someone who decided to dedicate his runs to a handicapped child that he knew. Well the idea spread like wildfire. It is now over 6300 people strong and growing in leaps and bounds daily. After learning a bit more about this group, I sent a request for my own running buddy. 

I truly believe that God sent me to this group. The group is not just for runners, it is for anyone that is willing to get out and run, walk, workout, or dedicate any type of physical activity to their buddy. I am still waiting to find out who my running buddy will be, but I am very excited and I am trying to have lots of patience while I am waiting. If you are a runner or know a runner please visit the website. 

Once I get my running buddy (and it is okay with the parents) I will share the joy with you. 

Turtle and Dog Run

My challenger tonight! 

Tonight was the first night I ran since my 5k on Sunday Morning. I was going to try to do a 2 mile loop, but by the time dinner was done and my hubby got out of the swimming pool, it was already 7 P.M. and I didn't want to run in the dark.

I asked Bella (my miniature australian shepherd) if she wanted to go for a run, and of course as all dog running buddies do she got super excited and ran to the door. I harnessed her up, tied my asics and set my garmin for a training run. I mapped out a 1 mile run around the block earlier so I decided to do that run tonight.

I ran past our old house during my run. It was bittersweet... Actually it was sweet, because I realize we got a much better house for a lot better deal. (God works like that sometimes)

Along the run, Bella and I almost ran right past "Our challenger!" He was a little baby gopher turtle. He was on the side of the road eating supper when I stopped to take his picture. He didn't really like me getting that close to him, but stuck his head out anyways.

Here is the funny part of my run tonight... When you run with a dog you risk the chance of said dog needing to "potty." Well I normally carry doggy bags with me, however tonight I figured I didn't need one since we were only going 1 mile. At about 1/2 mile Bella stopped to pee. I paused the garmin and the nike+ app and let her do her thing. We jogged on. At 3/4 of a mile she decided it was time to poop. Now mind you, our house is right around the corner. She kept trying to stop to potty along the way. I was trying to get her to the nearest empty lot so she didn't poop on someones lawn. What does my awesome little running partner do?

She stops in the middle of running and poops in the middle of the road. :-/ Not on the side in the grass... but on the asphalt. I did what any runner would do... I bowed my head in shame and jogged off hoping no one was looking.

Overall my run was really good. I didn't do intervals, I just ran till I wanted to walk and walked for a few steps then started running again. I really have to focus on running and training for the Disney Princess next year. I really want to beat my last time of like 3:30.

Today's run summary:

Miles: 1.19

Time: 14:36

Pace: 12:16

I analyzed my run on the Garmin website and figured that my running pace is about a 9:30 to 10:30. That is much faster than I thought it was. Now I have to build endurance to try and lessen my walking times.

I will leave you with a picture of my running buddy Bella:

This is Bella. She is a 3.5 years old Miniature Australian Shepherd. 

Playing Catch up!

Wow! It has been a long time since I posted! July and August were pretty hectic! Long story short... We were gonna buy the house that we were renting, then we found out the homeowners changed their minds and we had to move out in 30 days (with a 2 month old baby). I packed up our house, we looked for a new house, and I tried to find a place to rent until we could close on a new home all in 30 days. I truly owe it all to God in making it all happen. We made 4 offers on different houses. All of the offers were over bid. Just when we were going to give up. we found our house and made an offer. The seller went into negotiations with us. Three days later we signed a contract and started closing on a home. We literally closed on our house in 23 days!! When I said God helped us, I mean he opened every door possible for us to be new home owners. I will write a post on our home buying process soon.

We had to be out of our old house on July 31st, and didn't close on our new house until September 6th. Yes that is a month that we were "nomads."

He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you. Luke 17:6.

It is true that a little bit of faith goes a long way. We were two days away from being literally homeless and still no luck on finding a place to live until we found something to buy, when out of the blue a friend called me and said their neighbor has an old place that we could rent. Praise God on that one for sure!

Then it was supposed to take 90 days to close once we got a contract signed. God was looking over us again and we closed in less than 30 days.

The inspection passed, the appraisal passed, the paperwork on the banks side only too 5 days. We moved in the day we signed the papers.

We are now home owners instead of renters. Our house is perfect in every way for us. My blogs outline now includes home-ownership as well as running and DIY. Another wonderful thing about our new home. It is only 2 streets from where we were living, and we love the neighborhood.

A lot has happened since my last blog post. I will try to get caught up and stay up-to-date with blog postings.

An update on Addie is in the making.

-Jenna

My 1st 5k

I completed my 1st 5k Sunday. I "ran" a half marathon in 2012 with a friend, but never formally trained for any event. I found this 5k and thought it would be the perfect race for me to get back in shape after having our little girl. I started running again at the end of June about 8 weeks after delivery. I created a wonderful training plan... however I didn't stick with the plan. I tried running 2 or 3 times a week, but I knew I would be no where near able to run the entire 3 miles. With everything that happened over the past three months I didn't focus on running as much as I should have. My sis-in-law decided to run it with me so we registered together and started "training."

The night before the race I got everything ready. I had to leave my home by 4:15 AM to pick up my sis-in-law in time to make it to Orlando for The Color Run. My hubby was going to be home this weekend so he was going to watch the baby while I got "mommy time."

I picked up my sis and we headed to Orlando. We of course got there way early, but I hate being late for things. At 6:30 AM we headed to the packet pick-up. I figured there would be a line of people, but there wasn't anyone else in line. We got our race bibs and bags. **On a side-note, we got really awesome bags of goodies, but no where to put them while we ran our race** One of the other ladies that was running the race with us brought her kiddos and her hubby was staying with them while we ran. We utilized this and stored our goody bags under the stroller. 

We got there super early since we were planning on long lines. We got to relax for about an hour and a half before the start of the race. 

The Color Run is a 5k race that you get absolutely covered in colored powder. This is a race based more on having an awesome time rather than competition. 

Before the race!

We didn't run the entire race, but we did our best, and we finished covered in lots of colors. There were tons of people running this race. People of all ages; younguns, elderly, real runners and walkers. 

There is nothing like a good race to inspire you to continue training for your next race. 

After The Run

Pink Power!!

Perfect Sunday

Yesterday was Addie’s first day at church. That morning we woke up early to get to church early. We needed to leave our house by 10 AM to get there on time. Addie was fed, changed and ready to go at 9:30. Then it happened….

She started screaming! I figured it was from gas, so I tried to burp her again. That didn’t work. I tried laying her on the floor on her blanket and massaging her tummy and legs. She just kept screaming.

At 9:55 I decided to put her in her swing so I could through on my church dress. Normally she falls asleep in her car seat, so I figured we would just put her in there and leave.

As soon as I set her down in her swing she closed her eyes and stopped crying. We quickly got ready and left the house. Addie was great through the entire church service. She slept soundly even through praise and worship. We were a few minutes late and arrived just in time to start singing the 2nd praise song.

After Church we came home and rested. Addie and I took another nap around 4 PM. I awoke to a hungry baby and dinner almost done. My hubby cooked some very good chicken tenders. After Addie was fed and I finished eating, I started getting ready for my run.

I had a 15 minute run planned. I was going to run intervals. 30 seconds of running and 60 seconds of walking. I started off around our blocks. Running felt so good. After the intervals were over I even ran another minute before starting my cool down. These are the stats from my Garmin:

Distance:	.96
Pace:	15.39
Time	15.03

It is not fast, but it is a start. I am also a member on Nike+. (Click Here to be my friend on Nike+)

Today I did my Nike + Kinect workout. Wow! I think I may have been sweating more today then I was yesterday on my run. I felt good afterwards even though I was exhausted!

I plan on weighing in every Monday to track my weight loss/gain. Be sure to check out my progress by visiting my Weight-In Page at the top.

I leave you with this…

"I raise my eyes toward the mountains.
Where will my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth." -Psalm 121:1-2

Training Plan

There are so many training plans out on the internet for 5ks and 10ks and half marathons. Well I decided to use the Jeff Galloway method. I used his method to train for the Disney Princess Half in 2012. It is a running method that uses walk breaks to increase endurance.

My sister-in-law and I are going to run the Color Run 5k in Orlando on September 22nd. It is just over 12 weeks away from now. I used Jeff Galloway’s template for a 12 week 5k plan. I put it into excel and penciled it in my planner. I also used his pacing times to begin shaving time off of my miles.

The plan starts off easy with only two 15 minute runs on Tuesday and Thursday then a 1 mile run on Saturday. I am starting off running 30 seconds and walking a minute. This translates to about a 16 minute mile. The further into the plan I go, to faster pacing I plan to train for. Most half marathons and other races require a 16 minute mile.

Here is a link to the training plan that I am using. **I did not come up with the times, I just added my pace into the workouts. This is basically the same training plan from Jeff Galloway’s website. Click here >>Training Plan

After the 5k, I continue the training for a 10K that I am thinking of doing in November. If you want to use my document I do not mind at all, but please link back to my blog.

Below is the pacing times. This is directly off of Jeff Galloway’s website as well:

Run/Walk	Minutes/Mile
30s/60s	16
30s/45s	15
30s/30s	14
1m/1m	13
2/1	12
2:30/1	11
3/1	10
4/1	9

I will start this training plan on July 1st. The cross training days (Mon, Wed, Fri) are used for working out, walking, or resting. I plan on doing my Kinect Nike + workout two of those days. Sundays are specifically for resting. Jeff goes into detail that your body needs a resting day at least once a week to gain strength and recover. I am sure for the first few weeks I will need to take more than one resting day, at least until my sore muscles get stronger.

My goal:

 

Ok well that is my goal, to get back in shape, but I like running for much more than just to tone and tighten. Running is a perfect time to clear your head and get right with God. I love listening to Christian Rock and worshiping God on my runs. Not only does it pass the time, it also helps me relieve stress.

 

 

Don’t forget to go like my Facebook Page!!!

I will leave you with my ALL time favorite Bible Verse. I actually had a bracelet made with this on it when I ran my first race. It helps me get through the tough miles…

“I can do all things through Christ…” Phil 4:13

Welcome back to running

6 weeks have already flew by. Addie is 6 weeks today, and I had my 6 week check up on Tuesday. I healed well from the c-section, so I am now released for exercise. Which means I can run again!!
Addie had her one month check up last week. She was 11 lbs. 9 oz. and 22 1/2 inches long. The Dr. said she was in the 90th percentile for both weight gain and length. I guess she eats well Her next appointment is at 9 weeks and she gets her shots. I am not looking forward to that appointment by any means.
1 month
Sleep is getting better. We are on a routine. Napping and awake spells during the day, bath time between 7-8:30 P.M. Then she eats and goes to bed. She sleeps for 4-5 hours then eats again. Sometimes she goes right back to sleep, other times she stays up “talking” for 30 minutes. Good thing is she then sleeps another 3-4 hours. This routine has worked for over a week now, so hopefully it will continue to lengthen.

Back to running…

Monday I decided I would go walking after my husband got home from work. He watched the baby and I hit the road. After I started walking, I decided a little bit of running would be good. We live in a neighborhood with blocks. I walked the long sides and jogged the short sides to get started. I only did two laps around my block. It felt really good to run again. There are some things I need to fix. For instance, since having Addie, my belly moves much more than it used to. The feeling is weird and kind of distracting. I am going to start wearing a compression tank top to see if that will help that issue.

The next day my legs were on FIRE! My quads hurt so bad. I know it was only .86 of a mile but it was still a hard workout! I didn’t realize how out of shape I was until I started running again.
I also finally talked my Hubby into letting me purchase the Nike + Kinect game. WOW!!! Let me tell you… it kicked this out of shape mama’s butt! Besides the fact that my legs hurt from running on Monday, my whole body hurts from this game. My rating for the game is pretty high, with the exception of the sensitivity of the kinect sensor. There was one exercise that wasn’t picking me up. Because the game acts like an actual trainer, it didn’t count my reps so instead of doing 15 reps, I completed like 50! Overall, I really enjoy the game though. Keep on the lookout for more reviews of it.
My goal is to get back to 150 lbs. This is the weight that I was before I got married. Although I am more focused on the shape that I am in rather than the number on the scale. I am currently at 175 lbs. This is still 10 lbs. from my pre-pregnancy weight.
Be sure to follow my blog by liking my Facebook page.
“Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.” - Romans 12:1

It does get easier!

I think the most common advice given to new parents is: “It gets easier.”
“Yeah Right!” Week 1 was a whirlwind. Recovering from a c-section and adjusting to breastfeeding. That week flew by, only because my mom-in-law stayed with me and helped me adjust to motherhood. **I have amazing in-laws!!! My mom-in-love came over everyday to help me. She took her vacation and spent almost every single day helping me clean my house and take care of my new baby! I honestly think I would have had a break down had she not been there for me.**
“I don’t think I can do this!” Week 2 was a wave of emotions and denial. I honestly didn’t think I could do this whole parenting thing. I was sleep deprived and still getting a hang of taking care of a little human. There were a few nights that I just started crying. I felt like I couldn’t do it. I was extremely tired, and breastfeeding HURT! I wanted so bad to give up breastfeeding and formula feed. I think I text my girlfriend every single night this week to get motivation to continue putting myself through this pain!
“Maybe this isn’t quite so bad!” By week 3 I was getting the hang of this mommy thing. I knew how to soothe the cries of my little one, and feeding was getting a little bit easier. Still sleep deprived but the love for our little girl was growing with everyday.
“It does get easier!” We have reached week 4. I believe those people with the common advice now. It truly does get easier. You learn how to soothe the baby when she cries. I am still learning what she wants with each cry, but I am getting much faster at figuring out what it is. Breastfeeding is much easier then before. This realization of the light at the end of the tunnel came last night. Our little girl ate and went to sleep at 10 PM, she woke up at 3 AM to eat again, and went right back to sleep until 6:15 AM. It was amazing! This mama got almost 7 hours of sleep.

1 day old (Born at 8lbs 2 oz.)






1 week old (7lbs 15 oz.)






2 weeks old (9lbs 3oz.)
3 1/2 weeks (10lbs 7.5oz)
She is getting so big already. The pediatrician says she is growing very good. She is averaging just under a pound a week.
Back in shape
Now that all of the water weight has disappeared my weight loss has slowed down a bit. I am still losing about 1 1/2 a week though. I am starting to do the dance game on the Xbox kinect while Addie is napping in the mornings. I also still try to squeeze a walk around the block in. Of course Florida is incredibly hot during the day and I usually don’t think about getting out to walk until it is too hot, so I try and walk in the afternoons. I still only walk about 1/2 a mile. I am trying not to push my body too much yet since I am “technically” not released to exercise. My goal is to begin training again at the beginning of July.
I think I am going to run in the Color Run in Orlando, FL in September with my Moms Run This Town group. It is a 5k length which I think is a great start. I am still on the fence about running the Disney Princess Half Marathon next February. I really want to because the RunDisney events are AMAZING! Maybe if I can find someone who will run it with me I wouldn’t be on the fence. Any takers?? It is only 13.1 Miles
Well since my Hubby is home this weekend I am going to find some things to do around the house. It makes it much easier when he is here to keep an eye on the baby.
Have a great weekend my friends and family. Here’s a thought for the day:
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. James 3:9-10

3 weeks

Three weeks have gone by since our little girl came into this world! I can not believe that three weeks have already past. It is amazing how in just 21 days a newborn infant can change so much. I am pretty sure Addie is already over 10 lbs. which is 2 lbs. over her birth weight. She is a great baby! She naps well during the day (most of the time) and for the most part she sleeps well at night. We can put her down for the night around 12:30 A.M. and she will sleep till about 5 A.M. They say a breastfed baby should be woke up every 2-3 hours to feed, but since she is gaining weight so well I just have to feed on demand. This means that if she doesn’t wake up for 4 or 5 hours, I get to sleep for 4 or 5 hours. There are some nights that she gets cranky around 11 PM and just fusses for a little while. Her dad is pretty amazing at getting her to calm down and go to sleep.

I am extremely lucky to have such a supportive husband. He watches the baby in the early night hours so I can get a few deep hours of sleep, and he helps me out when I need a break.

Sometimes moms just need a few minutes to themselves… As much as I LOVE my daughter, sometimes I need a break. Just a few minutes to myself to think and to regroup. I used my time to start walking again. It was just a half mile around our block, but it felt so good to get back out on the road. It was my first real walk since having Addie. It was a slow half mile because I don’t want to push myself too hard since I’m not actually released to start working out yet.

Here is a toast to breastfeeding and weight loss. I gained almost 60 lbs. when I was pregnant.I had so much swelling at the end of my pregnancy. From being hooked up to the IVs for almost four days, I literally had an 8lb baby and still gained almost 5 lbs. I am about to break woman code… I was 165 lbs. when I got pregnant. The day before I went in for induction I was 225 lbs. Here’s the kicker… I was 229 lbs. when I was released from the hospital. Why do I toast breastfeeding?? Because at 3 weeks post partum I am down to 173 lbs. I have lost 52 lbs. in just three weeks. Now granted that is a lot of water weight and fluid retention but it is very nice to see that number getting closer to my pre pregnancy weight. My goal is to lose about 20 more lbs. This would put me around 155 lbs. Now that the water weight is gone, I can focus on safely losing the extra weight. I am going to set a goal to lose about 1-2 lbs. per week by exercising and eating right. The awesome thing is I burn about 500 calories a day by just feeding the baby.

It is time for her 3 week picture:

Here she is at three weeks old in her boppy. I set her up in it, and she positioned herself with her arms. She is so cute!!

I hope to get her newborn pictures back soon. I will share them as soon as they come in.

I plan on walking again tonight. It is amazing that when you go for a walk (or run) you actually get more energy then when you just sit on the couch all day. Depending on the weather tonight I may take the jogging stroller and Addie along for the walk.

 

Well since my princess is sleeping, I am going to go finish laundry and wash dishes.

For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Romans 8:24-25

Time flies when…

You don’t get any sleep. Wow! These last almost two weeks have been a whirlwind. Having a newborn is fun, stressful, rewarding, tiring, and most of all wonderful! Addilyn (Addie) has been a huge blessing to us. Our lives have changed tremendously for this tiny 8 lbs. person.
Addilyn is such a good baby. She nurses every 2-3 hours (sometimes more, sometimes less) and she sleeps for 1.5-3 hours at a time as well.
Lives change so much when you introduce a newborn baby into your life.
The fluctuation of hormones after delivery is horrible. The “baby blues” are a real thing, and even though I didn’t think I would every get them, I did. Three days after having Addie I had to get an IV reinserted. I am ok with needles and I usually watch when they stick me. Well I was so swollen from the fluids and not being able to move very well that the nurses were having a hard time finding a good vein to stick. After being stuck in the forearm and on the high part of my wrist my nurse decided to call someone else who was really good at finding a vein. (I was doing fine with the sticking and prodding) As the other nurse came in the room I got this overwhelming urge to cry. It was actually really funny. I felt the urge coming and I warned everyone in the room that I was about to cry for no reason. It only lasted about two minutes, but I couldn’t control it. I was even laughing while crying with everyone in the room. Of course the nurses are used to it since they work in the maternity ward. Sometimes  I cry for no apparent reason still. I was cooking dinner last night and just started tearing up and bawling my eyes out.
Another milestone: Addie lost her umbilical stump on Sunday night (5.19.2013). She is now allowed to have bathes and can do tummy time. As a first time mom I was expecting this horrible scene when it fell off. I was imagining a gush of blood and the need for gauze and Band-Aids. Of course this isn’t the case. As a matter of fact I almost didn’t even notice except when I was changing her the little piece fell out of her onesie onto the changing table.
It is so hard to believe that she is almost 2 weeks old already. We have a pretty good routine that my husband and I do. Around 9PM he takes over watching the baby. I begin getting small cat naps until he is ready for bed. I sleep and he comes in to wake me when she is hungry. He is a night owl anyways, so this works for us. Once he is ready for bed he brings Addie into the room and lays her down in the bassinet. Since having her I have become such a light sleeper that I wake up as soon as she makes a noise. This is great because it allows me to tend to her before she wakes my husband, however she is a very vocal baby and coos and mumbles in her sleep. Either way our routine is pretty great.
Did I already say that she has her Daddy wrapped around her teeny tiny fingers? Well he is. My husband affectionately gives nicknames to show his love. Well somehow our little Addilyn has been affectionately named: Pinker Pot, or Pot for short. I am not sure where he comes up with these names but he does.

Here is one more picture of Addilyn. She always sleeps with her arms up!
Well it is almost feeding time again so I have to go take care of Addie!
XOXO,
Jenna

Welcome Addilyn

She’s HERE!!!! We made it through 9 months of pregnancy, and now my precious beautiful sweet baby girl has arrived! This is our story: (be prepared it is a long one)
First I will show you a picture of this precious gift of God:
We had to be induced because of my high blood pressure and protein levels were showing possible pre-eclampsia. We waited until 40 weeks to start the induction to ensure the health of our baby girl and because my BP and protein wasn’t out of hand yet. At my 39 week Drs. appointment they gave me an ultrasound to check the size of her and to check my fluid levels. The ultrasound showed that she was going to be an above average sized baby. My Dr. was estimating about 9 lbs. My body was also not progressing towards labor as it should have been. I was not dilating nor effacing at all even at 40 weeks. Because of these “red flags” my Dr. suggested an induction.
Wednesday 5/8/2013:
So, 6AM Wednesday morning (her due date) we headed to labor and delivery to start the induction. Once we got to the hospital and got admitted I got hooked up to the IV and started fluids and started the waiting game for my Dr. to show up. He arrived around 8 AM to start my medication to start the contractions. About 8:30 AM I had my first contraction. It wasn’t painful just a tightening of my abs. My husband and Mom were in the labor room with me for a little while and my contractions were starting to come more frequently. Around 11:30 AM my contractions were coming every 30 seconds, but they weren’t extremely painful yet. They started picking up strength and becoming increasingly painful around 1:30 PM. The medicine was taking its toll on my body, but I had little change. By about 3:30 PM my contractions were painful enough that I needed to breath through them and I couldn’t talk during them, they were coming about every minute to two minutes.
At 6 PM my Dr. came in and checked me. I was only 1 CM and about 50% effaced. He was going to let me labor through the night and then break my water in the morning. That night my contractions were getting the best of me. By 9PM I was exhausted and uncomfortable. My nurse came in and told me that the doctor gave me an order for Morphine 10mg for pain over night and that I could take it whenever I wanted it. I got so upset from being exhausted and just wanting some relief from the pains of the contractions. My nurse assured me that I was doing good and that I could take a hot shower if I wanted to try and relax. I immediately jumped at that opportunity and got unhooked from the monitors and iv. The hot shower felt SO incredibly good that I stayed in there for almost 40 minutes. After the shower I was able to relax a bit and get some rest between contractions. I asked my nurse if I was allowed to take a shower again to help if I started getting restless and she assured me that I could.
After a few more hours of contractions and pain, I wanted another shower. My nurse checked me and I was at 2 cm and about 70% effaced. She allowed me to take another hot shower around mid-night. These showers helped me get through the night for sure! I didn’t sleep much that night but I could at least relax in between my contractions which were now about every 2 minutes. Nurse change occurred at 2 AM and my new nurse was informed that I could take a shower if I wanted. Over the course of the night I took two more showers and got through those long hours.
Thursday, May 9th, 2013:
At 7:30 AM my Dr. came in and checked me. I was at 3 CM and still about 70% effaced. He decided to break my water and get things going again.
Breaking my water was a totally new experience! It was gross and weird and strange all at the same time. It didn’t hurt at all, but it felt so GROSS! After he broke my water we learned that she had meconium in her fluid. This is the babies first poop. It is a normal occurrence for babies that are full term or close to it. There is precautions that they have to take to ensure that health of the baby though. Because the baby could potentially breath the thick meconium in during labor they started me on a flush. This is basically the same fluid as an IV, however it is inserted around the baby to help flush the meconium out and prevent her from getting it in her lungs. While they did this they also inserted monitors to track her heart rate and my contraction strength. So there I laid again for another few hours. After my water was broke my natural labor really kicked in and I was really struggling through the contractions. Around noon I was checked again and I was about 5 CM on the verge of a 6. My cervix was effaced except for a small area on the front, and our baby was low. She was low enough that the fluid that was supposed to be draining from the flush was not draining. The nurses had to manually drain the fluid to release the build up. The pain of contractions were starting to wear me out. I wanted to get some kind of pain relief. The nurse told me she could give me a shot of morphine to maybe “dull” the pain or I could get an epidural. The anesthesiologist also came in to tell me about the epidural. He started the paper work to make sure I was a candidate for the epidural. I decided to wait a little bit longer to get checked and then make my decision.
We started experimenting with different positions to get baby engaged further down and speed up dilation. At 2 PM I was checked again and was between an 8 and 9 CM! This was pretty exciting to me and it gave me a little extra energy to continue through the painful contractions. I labored down for another hour and started having the urge to push. My nurse came in to check me and I was at a 9 still but she let me push. When I pushed during a contraction I would dilate completely then after the contraction ended she would move back up a little and I went back to 9cm. At 4PM they checked me again and still no change. I started to get discouraged and the pain from the contractions were getting the best of me. I looked at my husband and told him that I couldn’t do it any more. I needed medicine.
The anesthesiologist came into the room in case I chose the epidural. Originally I didn’t want an epidural at all. I went into labor with the plan of maybe using an IV med or a pill, but not an epidural. Well after 32 hours of labor the thought of having all of the pain disappear sounded wonderful!
My husband and mom had to leave the room for the procedure. I was walked through the process first then was prepped. I will hold off on the actual steps of getting an epidural for the weak at heart, but let me say that epidural was the best choice I had made! It didn’t make my legs numb like I though, instead they just became very heavy. I could still move my toes and my feet around, but my legs were really heavy. The epidural took all of the pain from the contractions away. I could still feel the tightening of my belly, but the actual pain was gone. Once the epidural took effect they upped the Pitocin to try and get my contractions stronger. After a few hours my Dr. came back to check me.
Unfortunately I was still at 9 CMs and no more progression. At this point my Dr. gave me a choice to make. We could up the Pitocin even more and hope that my body will progress further and not stress out the baby, or we could do a C-section and reduce the risk of an emergency later. After a minute of discussion with my husband we agreed to go with the C-section. Even though the baby seemed to be handing the labor and contractions “Okay” we didn’t want to take the chance of beginning the high dose of Pitocin and stressing her out then needing an Emergency C-section.
My Dr. had to go do another C-section then it was our turn. At about 8 PM they were prepping us for our delivery of out baby. Again I will leave out all of the grueling details of getting a C-section, but every thing went great! At 8:44 PM little Addilyn Grace was brought into this world. They did her APGAR testing and she scored a 9/9 on the one minute and a 9/9 on the five minute test. They brought her around the curtain and let me see her beautiful face. We locked eyes for a second and there was instant attachment. She left my side with my husband and the Pediatrician to get testing done and to get cleaned up. I finished with my procedure and was moved to recovery.
I don’t remember much from that night due to the Dr. giving me medicine for the pain and to help me sleep. I didn’t get to breast feed the first night because of the medicine in my system. I remember briefly being wheeled to recovery and asking my nurse if everything went good. She said “yes” and told me to try to sleep. Well that was all she wrote. I was out like a light.
The rest of my hospital stay was dull. I had to wait and pass gas to eat real food which took three days!!! I was on a full liquid diet until Saturday night. The nurses helped me breastfeed, which went really well. Addilyn is a great breast feeding baby she had no problem with her latch and she likes to eat. 
Overall, my labor and delivery was a long painful process, but I am proud that I lasted 32 out of 36 hours before caving to a pain management procedure. Now to begin the healing process.
I am trying to adjust to having a newborn in my life now, but I will try my hardest to post at least once a week.

Here is one more picture of my sweet baby!

Nursery is complete.

I finally have her nursery complete. It is organized and cleaned. Here are some pictures that I took before she comes home:

 

These are the letters that I painted for the wall. I used plain white 4” block letters from Michaels and painted them with acrylic paint. This picture is kind of hard to see the detail, so I will post another picture to Facebook this afternoon. I hand painted the letters using some ideas that I found on Pinterest. These letters are hanging above her dresser/changing table.

Here is her bedding! Pink and Green Paisley print! The sheet is plain pink, there is a matching quilt (which is what is covering the sheet right now). The bumpers are up and tied tight, and there is a matching crib skirt. The colors are a perfect match for the nursery. This is also a quick glimpse of her crib. It is a convertible crib that will grow with her till college! It is not a drop side, but does have a short panel on the top that opens for easy access to the baby when she is laying down.

Her head band holder is already almost full and she hasn’t even graced us with her presence. She has many head bands and little hair clips, plus I am sure she will receive more. I personally was a “bow” person, so I really hope she likes big hair bows.

 

 

 

 

My baby shower was a HUGE blessing. We got everything that we needed for our little girl. My mom was one of the hosts for my baby shower, and she sent out invitations that offered a gift card raffle for everyone who brought diapers to the shower. I ended up with over 21 bags of diapers, plus three big boxes of diapers. I know babies go through a lot of diapers, so I am really hoping that my stock supply lasts at least a few months.

My Dr. mentioned that she thinks I may have a “big” baby. So I washed all of my 0-3 month clothes already, and I washed one newborn size onesie for her to come home in if she is small. At my shower, I actually got a LOT of 0-3 month size clothes, and not too many newborn sizes. So if she comes out small enough to wear newborn sizes, my loving hubby can go baby clothes shopping. 

I will take more pictures of the nursery and post them to Facebook so stay tuned there!

38 Weeks and Counting

I am already 38 weeks! That means our little girl can come at any time now. There are some days that I wish she would just go ahead and make her entrance. I am getting pretty uncomfortable now, and bed rest doesn’t make it easier. I am on bed rest now even though my blood pressure has been in the good range for the last couple appointments.

I must admit there is ONE thing that I miss most with being pregnant. I miss running and working out.I know you are supposed to wait the 6 weeks before you start any training plan after giving birth… but I plan on starting back as soon as I feel up to it. I don’t plan on starting to run a week after giving birth, but I do plan on starting slow and walking. Living in the beautiful state of Florida, our weather allows many opportunities to exercise outside. I am in the midst of creating a training plan to get back into running slowly with our baby girl.

My husband’s Nana and Papa purchased us our travel system for our baby. It is the Baby Trend Expedition Travel System. Of course the colors are perfect for welcoming a baby girl into the world, but my favorite feature is the jogging stroller. I can’t give a review yet on the actual use of the stroller or car seat since our little girl isn’t here yet, but so far I LOVE it. The car seat fits in the jogging stroller to provide support for an infant while jogging or running. This jogging system will be a life saver for me. After she arrives I want to get right back to walking, and what better way then to take her for a nice walk during the morning weather.

Our neighborhood is nice and quiet so walking after the school kids catch the bus is the ideal time. I think this is a good opportunity for me to begin taking our Dog Bella for walks as well. We have a nice big backyard that she runs around in, but she used to LOVE walking/running with me.

Did I already say how boring bed rest is? If not, here it is again… I know that bed rest is what the doctor ordered for me, but it is so boring just sitting on the couch or in the rocking chair all day. I am allowed to get up a little bit and piddle around the house. It is quite difficult for me to maneuver around the kitchen with my big ole baby belly, but I manage some how. There is a list of crafts that I want to complete before baby girl gets here, but I don’t have the motivation to do them. I have however finished her nursery! Everything is put away and ready for her to make her entrance.

My husband is getting more and more excited the closer we get to going into labor. Every morning before he leaves for work he talks to my belly and tells her that she needs to “hurry up” and get out of there. I am pretty sure that she already has him wrapped around her little fingers! 

36 Weeks

I am 36 weeks today! Time has literally flown by. Only 4 weeks until we are 40 weeks. Our sweet baby girl can come pretty much at any time now. Whenever she is ready to grace us with her presence we are ready. I had my baby shower this past Saturday. There was so many people that were there to support us. Our family and friends blessed us with everything that we could possibly need for our little girl.

We also had our maternity pictures recently. They turned out so beautiful! Here is a sneak peak:

A good friend of mine does photography on the side so we had her shoot our maternity pictures! I think they turned out absolutely beautiful! I can’t wait to get the CD so I can print them out and hang them around our house.

K James Photography is her Facebook site. Go check it out and be sure to like her page to see the rest of her great work! (The link opens in a new window)

I have officially been put on modified bed rest. My Doctors want me off my feet as much as possible because of the risk of high blood pressure. I have been doing pretty good with this order. I am not going to the last three weeks of class because of the length of drive that it is. I have however arranged to finish my online classes early.

I now go to the doctors every week until delivery. I am getting pretty excited about the arrival of our baby. Today I am in extreme nesting mode. Before 10 o’clock I did laundry, cleaned my kitchen, organized my office, cleaned my bathroom, and picked up the floor. Since I am supposed to be resting… I am taking a break with my feet up.

Her nursery is almost done. We have all of her furniture in there, and everything is almost organized. I know the next few weeks are going to fly by, and I can’t help but get more and more excited for our baby! I will end this post with some  more pictures from our maternity session. 

      

Xoxo,

Jenna