39 days and a new running spot

There is officially 39 days before the Princess Half Weekend. With the holidays and the weather here in Florida I haven’t been able to run for a few weeks. Finally I was able to squeeze in a run. This morning my hubby watched Addie for me while I ran some quick errands. I stopped by the local park for the first time. I figured I would try it out and see how the running path is.

I got out there and the first thing I noticed was the small lake (okay more like a pond) with Ducks in it. There were two paths to choose from. A paved one that went around the whole perimeter of the park, and a dirt path that twisted and winded through the park. Both paths went around the lake. I chose the paved path to test it out for future use with Addie and the stroller. With the exception of one short area of the path, I think it will work out really good for pushing the stroller.

I ran two laps around the park with equaled about 2 miles. It felt really good, but I was crunched for time to get back to Hubby and Addie. I logged another 2 miles in the books for Jocelyn my running Buddy.

Are you a runner? Have you signed up to be matched with your running buddy through IRun4? If not be sure to check out the website: www.whoirun4.com

Overall my run was really good. My endurance was much better than I thought and I could have done a lot more I think.

There is 39 days until the Disney Princess Half Marathon weekend. A friend of mine from Church will be running it as well. We are going to use it as a girls weekend. Because we have to be at the starting line by 5:30 AM and to park we would have to be there around 4:00 AM we decided to get a hotel for the night. Our Husbands are going to stay home with the kiddos and we are heading down Saturday afternoon.

I am going to start making my costume this week or next for the race. I am thinking I will dress up as Rapunzel. As the days get closer I will post more about my costume and our plans for the weekend

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Addie turned 8 months old on the 9th of this month. She is officially a crawler. Though not very fast, she manages to get going forward and get to whatever her sight is set on. She also has her two bottom teeth already in. I am pretty sure she is cutting her two top teeth, and she is trying to say Da-da already.

Addie Crawling for the first time.

Time sure flies!I have been working on a few sewing projects that will be available on my Facebook page HERE

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Until next time…

Jenna

2014 Goals

I welcome you to the new year with Addie’s first morning smile of the new year…

I am part of the 90% of people who make New Years Resolutions but never stick with them. So instead of making resolutions this year, I am going to make goals. I am making specific goals that are measurable and attainable. I am much more likely to stick with a goal that I can see progress on.

2013 was a really good year for my family and me. I have to admit it will be a tough year to beat for us. We had our sweet Addilyn, and purchased a house along with many other small things. I am really looking forward to 2014 to see what God has planned.

Most people say “I am going to get in shape for the new year”… Well that is not measurable. There is no way to track progress on getting in shape. Instead lets put a number with it.

I am going to lose the last 10 pounds of baby weight and hopefully an extra 5 pounds as well. I plan to eat better and exercise more…

Which brings me to my next goal. I want to run at the very least 2 times a week this year. Preferably 3 times or more. I am running for Jocelyn. and I think 2 times a week is a fair number to strive for. She goes to therapy and I will run.

For the New Year, I really need to return my focus to God. I have really been slacking when it comes to reading scripture and praying. My Goal is to read my bible at least once a day for at least 5 minutes. I think this goal is my top priority this year. God has blessed us tremendously and we should focus our life on Him.

Last but not least, my final goal is to be more financially sound this year. My husband is blessed to have a job that allows me to be a stay at home mom with Addie. If it is God’s will, I hope to start selling my crochet creations and bettering my sewing ability to make a little bit extra cash flow for our family.

What are your goals or Resolutions for 2014? What are you looking forward to most?

I’ll leave you with another picture of my sweet girl:

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.

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.
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“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

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!