Unintentional Mini Blog Break

Happy Thursday Friends!

I realized this morning that it has been 9 days since my last blog post and honestly I think that is the longest I have gone without blogging in years! It was really an unintentional mini break and was a result of life just taking over.

Last week we had some friends in from out of town so we spent a few nights meeting up with them after Neil got out of work. This resulted in late nights for Edith and the following days were long for me. I know you all know about the importance of sleep and well with a toddler it’s even more important!

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This past weekend we were busy, busy, busy with Saturday morning family time and then a birthday party and then a dinner party (yes all on Saturday) and we pretty much ran ourselves down on Saturday. Sunday while a little more laid back we spent most of it trying to catch up on chores from the week, grocery shopping and swim lessons.

After a crazy busy weekend Monday came and so did my summer cold. I blame it on the weather as we went from 80’s to 50’s back to 80’s and whenever that happens I tend to get a cold especially when I’m already tired out. I sometimes forget that I am 35 week pregnant and that I need to slow down a little; which is really hard when you have a toddler and it’s summer.

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Finally it’s Thursday, my cold is starting to clear up and I know a semi relaxing weekend is on it’s way. We or rather I don’t have a ton of plans this weekend besides meeting up with friends for happy hour/dinner. Neil has plans go hiking and to take E to her swim lessons but otherwise we both plan on laying low, maybe hitting up a park and a farmers market. What are your weekend plans?

 

Father’s Day Weekends at The Sou’Wester

IMG_8930We didn’t really have much planned for Father’s Day weekend since we have been so busy and already took a mini coast trip back in May but at the very last minute (I’m talking Wednesday) I decided to see if The Sou’Wester had any open trailers for a night away. The Sou’Wester has become one of our favorite spots to visit and this was our second time as a family and Neil’s third visit (he went on a work retreat there last July).

IMG_8940Anyways to my delight they had a few trailers still open so I asked Neil if he would want to go and of course he did so we decided to head to the Coast Friday afternoon just for the night. We would have liked to stay two nights but Neil had a Sunday Father’s Day 5k to get home to so one night it was.

IMG_8733Sou'Wester- Spartan Masion

IMG_8715Sou'Wester- Seaview Sou'Wester- Smiles with Daddy IMG_8868 IMG_8901

While the weather wasn’t really on our side (it was overcast and a little chilly) we still had a wonderful time “camping” out in Seaview at The Sou’Wester. We enjoyed a little family time without the distraction of our massive at home to do list and Neil and I were able to spend a little alone time chatting, drinking (root)beer, eating Earth Balance Sour Cream & Onion Chips and playing many hands of cribbage while Edith slept.

Check out more photos from our trip to The Sou’Wester, Astoria and the weekend over on Naturally Family today!

P.S. this post is not sponsored and we paid our own way to stay at The Sou’Wester we just love it there so I wanted to share.

 

Photo An Hour | 6.10.14

7a books in bed7:13a Edith and I check out books in bed before sipping on a giant jar of lemon water and making/eating breakfast. 8a cookie prep8:30a Edith and I work on finishing up a batch of My New Roots Vanilla-Rooibos Fig Newtons that I had made the dough for on Monday. P.S. found that giant bag of organic figs for $10 at Costco. 9a coffee9:30a I finished my 40oz of lemon water so it’s coffee time with beans that were freshly roasted the night before by my loving husband.* 11a fig cookies10a Cookies have baked and cooled so obviously we had to taste test them while watching Elmo’s World and blogging (me not Edith).  10a kitchen play11a It’s time for some dishes to be done and lunch to get ready so that means kitchen playtime.  12p sweet pot lunch12:03p Lunch time! I had a (baked) sweet potato fries salad with baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, green onions, sriracha and vegan ranch.1pm netflix and blog1:15p Edith is finally down for a nap so that means work time and Royal Pains. 2pm playtime 2:45p Edith is up so it’s playtime!  3pm watermelon fitpregnancy3p We take our playtime outside for a little baby pool action for Edith, Fit Pregnancy for me and lots of watermelon for both of us.  4pm dinner prep4:21p Time to prep dinner! (I made a lasagna with those no bake noodles and didn’t use enough sauce so dinner was kind of a bust).  5pm dishes5:05p All this cooking means lots of dishes to wash… 6pm bikes6:36p dinner has been eaten, Neil is home and it is time for a family walk!  7pm sorbet froyo7:01p Vegan Froyo. Enough said.

Share a moment in your day with me.

*I sat down to drink my coffee and check in on some blogs while Edith watched a few minutes of Sesame Street and instead found myself in tears at the news of another school shooting, this one only 20 miles from my house. My heart is feeling pretty heavy today – when will we finally put a stop to gun violence?

Postpartum Weight Loss “Plan”

Here I am at 31w3d pregnant with baby #2

Here I am at 31w3d pregnant with baby #2

I’m not going to lie I am really hoping that I actually lose the baby weight this time around. With Edith I gained around 25-28lbs and within the first 8 weeks I lost 15 of those pounds. Then I got the Paraguard IUD and quickly the weight came back on. I will also admit the Oh She Glows Chocolate Chip Cookies and the stress of moving didn’t help with my weight loss either. When we moved to Oregon I made an effort to get my diet back on track, started running 4 days per week and doing 1-2 days of strength training. Despite all of that I simply wasn’t (and didn’t) lose any of the baby weight.

1 Year Postpartum after having Edith

1 Year Postpartum after having Edith

Finally at 16 months postpartum I decided to have my IUD removed due to negative reactions to it (I’ll write more about that another time) and while I had it removed due to non-weight related reasons I was as little hopeful that I might start to see my weight go down. Well as you all know we are pregnant with #2 and due in 7ish weeks. So I never had a chance to test my theory. Also that means I started my pregnancy at the same weight I ended my last pregnancy and I have gained 20lbs so far and if you want to do the math that means I have between 45-50lbs to get back down to my baby #1 pre-pregnancy weight oh and on top of that I was already about 15lbs over my ideal weight when I got pregnant with Edith. So that is 60-65lbs to get down to my goal weight.

Summer 2011 before getting pregnant with Edith <-- also my goal weight

August before getting pregnant with Edith

Baby #2 Postpartum Weight Loss “Plan”:

  • I am not going back on birth control as we are two and done so birth control is officially all Neil *snip snip*.
  • My first priority is feeding baby #2 so for the 12 months my focus is to keep my milk supply up so I can feed my baby.
  • I plan to get back to running at around 9-12 weeks postpartum depending upon my healing this time around (with Edith it took me a lot longer to heal then I had hoped).
  • I plan to incorporate 2 days of strength training into my workout routine and light cardio once I am cleared to get back to normal activity.
  • I also plan to get back in a yoga routine since I have a 10 punch pass to a studio by our old house (and now by Neil’s new job) that I was lucky enough to get the expiration date extended until sometime in December.
  • Keep my eating in check! Postpartum/nursing hunger is no joke. Seriously when I first had Edith and was nursing non-stop I could have eaten everything in site.  This time around instead of lots of Oh She Glows cookies I’m focusing on keeping it healthy but also making sure not to be too hard on myself when it comes to having a treat here and there.
  • Drink lots of water! Nursing makes you crazy thirsty and staying hydrated helps to flush toxins out of the body and helps to prevent water weight (I know crazy right?).
  • Buy myself postpartum clothes in whatever size I have to buy. I wore maternity clothes until around 8 months postpartum with Edith because I was just waiting to lose the weight and didn’t want to spend the money on new clothes that I hopefully wouldn’t have to wear too long. The thing is that wearing maternity clothes after the first six weeks of being postpartum is just depressing. Wearing clothes that fit well and look nice is an incentive to keep with it! It’s motivating! Feeling confident in what I am wearing helps me feel good and keeps me on track so this time around I’m not going to be wearing maternity pants for months and months postpartum. I actually have been consigning maternity clothes as the seasons change so that they just won’t be in my closet ie. I won’t be tempted to wear them.

So that is my current plan. How did you deal with losing the baby weight?

Friday Favorites

Matcha Latte
Matcha Latte: I received a sample of Kiss Me Organics Matcha awhile ago but two little hands got a hold of the packet and hid it on me. I finally found it this past weekend and Monday morning aka the day Neil started a new job and stopped making my morning coffee I finally made my first homemade Matcha latte. Seriously I don’t know why anyone buys these out when you can make them so much cheaper at home with your own Matcha. My recipe is simply 8oz non-dairy milk, 8oz ice, 1 teaspoon Kiss Me Organics Matcha and 1 tablespoon honey (you could sub agave) and then I blend until smooth and creamy <– seriously so good!

Julep #1Julep Maven Box: I have bought subscription boxes in the past but most of them are food/home products or children’s products.  Finally last week after reading about Julep on another blog I decided to treat myself to my first beauty box- Julep. Now I bought this box with my own money and am in no way sponsored to post about them. I did however get my box for “free” by using PROMO CODE: FREEBOX and by “free” I mean I paid $2.99 for shipping. I took their style profile test and was categorized as the “It Girl” which means I received three nail polishes and a few sponges.  While I love the nail polishes (going on day four and still no major chipping) I have decided for my next box that I want to change my profile and decided to go with “Class With A Twist” which gets you two nail polishes and a full-sized beauty product. Seriously so excited to get my next box. It feels great to get something special that is just for me. I don’t have to share anything in the box and I forgot how great it feels to wear nail polish. If you would like to order your free box and want to click my affiliate link that would be greatly appreciated! Let me know what you think of your Julep box!

Daily Burn Prenatal Yoga #bumpandburnPrenatal Yoga: When I was pregnant with Edith I regularly attended prenatal yoga classes however this pregnancy I haven’t even made it to one class. Unfortunately a toddler, lack of prenatal classes in my immediate neighborhood (or ones close by) and a husbands busy/new work schedule just hasn’t made yoga outside the home possible. That all being said I have been getting back to prenatal yoga at home with Daily Burn. I have been doing the Beautiful Belly program which has three prenatal yoga videos for each trimester and even has three postpartum videos.  I have been getting in practice at least twice per week and sometimes that means having Edith join me.

What are some of your favorites this Friday?

Happy National Running Day!

While I’m not out hitting the pavement right now I will be in a few short months (yeah this baby is coming soon!) I am thrilled to celebrate National Running Day on the sidelines and cheer all of my fellow wannabe runners (myself included) and runners on. Next weekend I’ll be out with Edith cheering Neil on at his first 5k of the year- so excited!

IRun2014blankWhy do you run? I run to reach my goals, to keep myself active, because it feels good and for beer (obviously).

rnr montreal

Celebrate #runningday with @RunRockNRoll – sign up today for an RNR race and get $20 off registration! www.RunRockNRoll.com*

*this is in no way sponsored just me sharing the love!