Bittersweet Symphony

Yeah, I like the song. It's good for running, pumps me up. But this blog entry is not about running. It's about breastfeeding. Shortly after Hope turned 15 months, she didn't want to nurse one time in the middle of the day (she was nursing 2-3 times a day at this point). Then the next night, she didn't want to nurse before bed. That was shocking! Hope had never refused the boob before, especially before bed. This is the same child who even at 12 months, wouldn't unlatch on her own. The next day she went back to nursing. But since then she started to self wean. One night she just stopped and hasn't nursed since.

When I was pregnant, I thought my goal was 12 months. Then when Hope was 6 months old, I found nursing to be a bonding time and thought I would nurse as long as she wanted to. Then when Hope was 9 months old, I heard from the lactation consultant at my office. She said not to stop breastfeeding during the horrible cold and flu season. Adam was not on board with this. He thought it was one and done kind of a thing. I think he was a little jealous, but he wouldn't admit to it. We also want to try for more children and while breastfeeding, I wasn't having a cycle, hence no possible way for me to get pregnant. So my goal was to nurse until Hope was 16 months old (Valentine's Day).

Well about a week ago, Hope had her own timeline and just stopped nursing. It was very strange. I was/am a little upset, but I am glad it was her decision. I know a lot of mom's stop breastfeeding for different reasons, but for me, it would be selfish to stop for a personal reason. So it's good that it was her decision. So for the past week, Adam has been doing the bedtime routine so I could pump (yeah, just because she's done doesn't mean I am done). Adam loves the new bedtime routine. He could never do it all, because I would always nurse her right before bed. So I have been enjoying a glass of wine or a beer and of course a diet coke last Sunday night. It's wasn't as good as I remembered it. :(

So I didn't make my goal of 16 months, but I am very happy that Hope made the decision so I didn't have to. She is a big girl who is growing up before my very eyes.

Half marathon training starts this week!

So Monday was the start of my 8 week half marathon training plan. I like to be in training mode. It gives my runs a purpose. I am using the personalized training plan like I always do. I love it and highly recommend it if you are planning to train for a big race. Unfortuantely, I wasn't able to run yesterday, since our jogging stroller was in my husband's car (which was at work by the time I realized it). This week's goal is 16 miles (2 2-mile runs, 1 5-mile tempo run, and 1 7-mile easy run). I did 2.52 miles on Monday and today did a HIIT which got me to 3.13 miles, so I have already checked off the the 2 mile runs. I plan to do the tempo run on Friday. My problem is the 7 mile run. I would normally do it on Saturday, but now I have a tennis match so I am wondering if I think I can do it on Sunday or if I need to suck it up and do it on Saturday before the match. I am thinking Saturday, but then I won't be 100% for the match and it's playoffs. Should be a busy Saturday for me now. At least Adam is off for tennis (his team got a bye for the first week of playoffs) so he can take Hope to her swim lesson. I am glad he will be able to go (his first) but she is so darn cute in the water, I will be thinking about her the whole time.

A day of eating, 1/21/10

A little late in getting this to you, but better late than never. Here was breakfast, oatmeal with skim milk, cranberries, and almond slivers. And of course my decaf coffee with skim milk. Hope had organic cheerios and whole milk.


Lunch was leftovers (for both Hope and me). I made Tuna Noodle Casserole from my Cooking Light magazine. It was pretty good. Hope loved it! She eat for 3 straight days. And this is on a salad plate.

Then when Hope went down for a nap I found this in our cabinet. I just couldn't resist. Yummy!

We ended up having an early dinner, so no real snack for me. Dinner started with a nice salad of mixed baby greens, grape tomatoes, cucumber, green bell peppers, goat cheese, and light italian dressing (Newman's Own Light).

Then I made "fried" fish (it was baked in the oven) and baked sweet potato fries. Again, on a salad plate.

Since dinner was early and I had no afternoon snack, I did end up having some Breyer's Light Ice cream. Ice cream is definitely my weakness. A friend of mine, was writing about how you pick and choose so much when it comes to food. How she drinks 64+ oz. of water everyday but also 20-30oz. of coffee too. Well for me, it's dessert. I can eat so healthy all day long, but I eat dessert more than I should. We always have ice cream in our house. It's a must!

Menu Planning - 1/25/10

Wow, I have been so busy, I have barely had time to sit down and blog. I did do another day of eating which I will post tomorrow (hopefully). But now it's time to figure out what's for dinner this week. Here is what I am thinking:

Monday - Roasted broccoli, chicken, rice (I'll jazz up the rice some how, but not sure yet)
Tuesday - Honey-roasted acorn squash rings, sweet and sour cipollini onions, chicken cordon blue for Adam
Wednesday -Burgers, baked fries, salad or leftover sides
Thursday - Baked ziti, salad
Friday - ? Maybe leftovers

I am having trouble finding the links to some of my recipes. The acorn squash and the onions recipes are from the Cooking Light 2009 book and the baked ziti is from Self magazine. Have a good Monday!

Snow!

Well this snow actually occurred earlier this month, the day before my sister's wedding. The snow started on Thursday night (Jan. 7) while my sister and I were getting spray tanned (her idea, not mine). And then by Friday morning, we had snow that stuck. Now down here, that is very rare, so we had to take Hope out in it. It was very cold so we only spent about 10 minutes outside, but my mother-in-law happened to have a sled left over from when Adam was a teenager that she had given to us earlier in the week in anticipation of the snow. We got about 1.5 inches, but it was very icy. I was sliding all over the place in the car that day. Very scary for a southern girl. But here are some pics of Hope on her sled during the snowfall of 2010.

A view from our front door.

Hope giving us a smile (this was at the very beginning). What a good sport.

A close up of Hope in the backyard.

Hope and Adam in the back yard.

The snow was fun but I am glad it's over.

A day of eating . . .

So I have noticed more of more health blogs have incorporated what they eat into some of their posts. I thought I would do the same for today. So for breakfast I ate 1 cup of Wheeties, skim milk and decaf coffee with skim milk for breakfast. Hope had organic Cheerios and whole milk.


Hope was napping during lunch, so I made myself a spinach salad with 1/2 apple, some tomatoes, orange bell peppers, lowfat no salted added cottage cheese, a little goat cheese, and Newman's Own Lite Italian dressing. I had already gotten out dough from the freezer so I knew we were having pizza for dinner. When I have pizza or pasta for dinner, I like to have a salad for lunch. It doesn't always work that way, or I forget, but when I remember I try to balance out my day.

After lunch, I was needing a sweet so I grabbed some leftover Christmas candy from inside the fridge (3 hershey kisses and 1 chocolate covered cherry).

After my dessert, Hope was up and I fed her (I ate a piece of her banana and a couple bites of her cream cheese and jelly sandwich which is not pictured). After that, we went for a 5.5 mile run and played at the park.

I had planned on making a veggie pizza, but then realized that we were missing spaghetti sauce, so I had to change my game plan. I had already cut my olives, so Hope and I ate them instead. I was starving after my run, but it was too late for a snack so I just started dinner early.

Hope and I both love broccoli and I have a great roasted broccoli recipe so I made that since I needed to get rid of the broccoli. Hope and I both ate this with a little leftover for Hope's lunch tomorrow. Yummy!

Here is my buffalo chick'n pizza. My half has morning star chick'n strips and Adam has rotisserie chicken. It turned out well. We got a pizza stone for Christmas and the pizza was good both times. Since I decided this morning to make pizza, I grabbed a frozen sourdough loaf from the freezer. I can't stand the Pillsbury pizza dough, so I usually make my own, but when I do, I do 1/2 whole wheat. We have had that for a while, so I bought a big bag of this frozen dough and Adam loves it.

This is my piece. FYI - it's on a salad plate, so it looks bigger than it is.

So I don't know what my calories are for the day, but I know it's not enough. I usually have an afternoon snack which I ran out of time today. Hope is transitioning to 1 nap a day which is really hard so I ran in the afternoon instead of the morning. So by the time I showered, it was 5:00pm and time to start dinner. I am sure I will have dessert tonight (maybe I will take a picture for you) :). Maybe some cheesecake from the bridesmaid luncheon that I some how got the extras of. Or it will be ice cream, but I am thinking cheesecake. Good night and hope you enjoyed a day in the life of my eating. :)

On the Move . . .

Well the weather is starting to break and today's high was 39, so I was able to take Hope out for a run today. We only did 4.54 miles, but I don't have another half marathon until late March, so I figure just stay active. I hate training in January because it's so cold. So with this half marathon I don't plan to start "training" until 8 weeks before the race. I plan to do the Runner's World personalized training guide as usual.

But this title has a double entendre. We are getting our house ready currently because we are planning to move. Yikes!!!! I so don't want to leave this house. I love this house! This is the house that Adam and I bought 3 months before we got married. This is the house that we brought Hope home to. But this house is a little on the small side (1,000 square feet). I tried to see if we could just expand this house so we could stay, but with the housing market so low, it's more economical for us to move instead. So I have spent the last month going through the house and packing up boxes and taking them to storage. This week we have someone coming to the house so we can get the last of house ready and then I plan to call 2 real estate agents to "interview" to list our house. I found a website that has a good list of questions to ask potential agents. I am starting to get a little excited because we will be moving to newer, bigger, nicer house and that's exciting, but I don't know how we are going to be able to live with our house on the market. I have a toddler and a dog. This is not going to be easy. I am hoping to get the house on the market by the end of January and hope to have a contract before the end of April (so the new owner will be taking advantage of the first time home buyer tax credit). That is really what is pushing us to get our house on the market. This house is great for a first time home buyer. So it's bitter sweet, but I am trying to stay positive.

Menu Planning - 1/11/10

Good morning everyone! Wow, what a weekend. My baby sister got married! I can't believe it! It was a great weekend, albeit a little cold, but we had a fabulous time! So now it's time to get back to reality, well at least a little. We still have lots of leftovers at our house so I know we are using them tonight. :)

Monday - Leftovers from the rehearsal dinner - Gnocchi, broccoli, and asparagus
Tuesday - Vegetarian quiche, broccoli
Wednesday - Tasty 10 minute asparagus and brown rice, chicken for Adam
Thursday - Enchilada Casserole
Friday - Haven't decided completely, maybe Potato Soup from my new vegetarian cookbook

Well it's back to work and reality. Hope everyone has a great week!

Pebbles and Bam Bam get hitched

Well my baby sister got married yesterday and it was a spendid event. Here are a few pictures from the event and the "engagement" photo.



This is the day they got engaged. December 2008

Here is the bride with 4 of the 7 bridesmaids (me on the left, baby sister in the middle, and middle sister on the right) right before the limo came to pick us up

The happy couple in the limo headed to the reception

It was a very emotional event for me. I have spent all day crying. I am extremely happy for my sister and absolutely adore my brother-in-law. I know I am tired, and last night was my first night away from Hope. I was hoping to sleep in but of course, I was up at 5:00am thinking that my sister hadn't thought about how she would transport her wedding dress from the hotel, and that she wouldn't wake up in time to get to the airport and would miss her flight. After that I couldn't sleep and was missing Hope. I am also going to miss my sister this week too. We spend a lot of time together and talk almost daily. We usually have dinner with them once a week too. It has been really hard for me today. When we went to pick up Hope, she was napping, so we went home. So I had to wait until 12:45pm to see Hope. I do feel better now that I have my baby in my arms again. Now I just need my baby sister back home safely. The countdown is on. I think because I am almost 6 years older, we have always had a special relationship, part sister, part mother. She means a lot to me and it was harder to see her get married than I thought. I am sure some of it has to do with the fact that my mom was there for my wedding and not for Val's.

Well congratulations to the happy couple! I wish them all the happiness in the world.

Shhh, don't tell anyone, I went to the gym. . .

Yes, I went to the gym yesterday. The high was 34 degrees and I just couldn't take Hope out in that. I like to do my workouts in the mornings or very early afternoons, and it was still going to be in the 20's so I decided to go to the gym and run on the treadmill and put Hope in the daycare. Surprisingly, I didn't have too much mommy guilt. I rationalized it by saying, she would be sitting in the stroller by herself playing with other kids and being stimulated while I was running. I had just finished my 4.5 miles (didn't want to push it too much) when I heard my name over the PA to find out that Hope had started crying. No stretching for me. I went in there and she was fine, just getting tired (we are transitioning from 2 naps a day to 1) and she has bad diaper rash again, so I changed her diaper and we headed home. I was glad I got the work out in. I was really joansing for a nice sweat; one that only a run would produce. Some of you may be asking, "What about the Your Shape you got for Christmas"? Well, neither my laptop or my desktop had the minimum requirements to support the progam. I am very disappointed. My dad is going to see if it will work on his old computer and give us his. If not, we will probably be buying a new computer. We could use a new computer, but I was planning on waiting until we moved (later this year) before we got a new computer. Oh well, I will keep you posted on that.

Well this week is shaping up to be very busy. Yesterday was my sister's birthday and Saturday is her wedding, so I have a lot to do. I am also the matron of honor (no maid of honor). So I am trying to get my workouts in when I can. I am really hoping to get a workout in on Friday, but we have the bridesmaid luncheon and the rehearsal/rehearsal dinner, so if I want to work out, it will have to be early. Here is what I am thinking for this week:

Monday - 20 minutes stairmaster, 20 minutes elliptical, abs, arms

Tuesday - Ran 4.5 miles on the treadmill

Wednesday - 40 minutes elliptical or HIIT on the treadmill, abs, back

Thursday - Rest (I am getting a mani/pedi and a spray tan that evening with my sister)

Friday - Video workout (probably on Comcast On Demand)

Saturday - Rest, wedding

Sunday - ? We will see how I am feeling, but I am thinking no workout

Menu Planning - 1/4/10

Wow, 2010 already! The years are just flying by. I can't believe it! Well it's back to the menu planning for me, although this is an easy cooking week for me. My sister is turning 25 on Tuesday so we are eating out and she gets married on Saturday, so we have the rehearsal dinner on Friday. Kinda nice to start the year off easy as far as cooking goes.

Monday - Honey Parsnips, Baked potatoes, peas, chicken for Adam
Tuesday – Sister’s birthday, pizza and beer at her house while watching Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl
Wednesday - Chili and cornbread
Thursday – Chile- Baked Fish with Sweet Potatoes
Friday – Rehearsal dinner, Maggiano’s Little Italy

I hope everyone has a great start to the new year!