Weekly RUNdown

Wow, I know, 2 posts in one day if you're on my timezone. If you're in the States, this will be on two different days.

Anyways....

This week I didn't think I was going to make my goal. I ran on Monday-1.8 miles. I felt pretty good on the time. But then it poured every single day. I was thinking I'd either have to run in the rain, run in the afternoon, or just not make it this week. But failure is not an option. 

SO, last night I decided I would get up and run this morning no matter what. I was very thankful to see dry ground when I woke up this morning. I was very ambitious and excited about today's run. Despite the fact that I haven't ran more than 2 miles in several months, I reallllly wanted to try to go 3. There's this little river area near our house, but for me to get to it, my run would have to be 3 miles.

I decided I didn't care how slow I was, I wanted to do it.

(I've been alternating between eating a granola bar and GU before heading out. I'm way too hungry in the mornings to not eat something. I've had good success with GU-I think it just has the right balance of everything I need. )

I made it 3 miles!!! It was quite a jump for me, and it was a slow run, but I was so excited to do it! I felt so great the whole day just knowing that I did it.

Almost as soon as I got back home, I drew my reward for the week.

Reward for the week=a special treat from the import store!! 

I go to the import store like once every 6 months, so this treat is a big deal. I'm not sure when I'll go get it, but I'm pretty excited to pick something out. I'm not sure if it will be a snack or a drink, but I'll let you know :) We're going to Hong Kong this next weekend for some visa stuff, so I might find a treat there and just count that.

This week my plan is to run Monday and Wednesday. I'm excited to keep running!!!

love

laura

Paige at 4 Months

Paige turned 4 months this past Wednesday. I can't believe she's 1/3 of the way thru her first year. Is that crazy to anyone besides me??? How do I keep her from growing up?

4 Month Stats:

Weight: 14 lbs (6.5 kilos), 50%

Length: 24.8 inches (63 cm) 75%

Size Diaper: She's in the Fuzzibunz smalls, and Pampers Small at night

Size Clothes: 3-6 months, she can fit into her 3 month pants, because this girl (like her mama) has a long torso but stubby little legs. 

Sleep: She sleeps 12 hours at night, with 3 naps during the day. Her first nap is always about 2 hrs, then her last two are 45-60 minutes.

Feedings: I just dropped the dreamfeed!! So she now has 5 feedings at 8am, 11am, 2pm, 4:45pm, and 7:15pm roughly. Paige has always been a very fast eater. A feeding takes her about 10-15 minutes.

I looked into doing the baby led weaning when she starts solids, but I don't feel like I have enough information to do it here. But I'm not planning on starting solids till at least 6 months. My doctor here said we could wait till 8 months if we wanted, no problem. I'm not in a huge rush at all. I'm still debating about skipping rice cereal too. Call me a rebel. 

This month Paige starting really laughing for the first time. She doesn't do it every day or all the time, she makes us really work for those giggles. But when she does, it is so cute!!! Her morning smiles are our favorite! Every morning when we wake her up she is so happy!

She doesn't wake up during the night anymore at all. Last month she was still waking sometimes to "talk" to herself. I can't remember the last time she did that. She does suck her thumb a lot in the crib though. It's still insanely cute to me, and I'm grateful for her ability to self soothe :)

This past month we've started using our Ergo carrier more regularly. Overall, I would say Paige likes it. It's getting pretty hot here, so I'm not sure how she'll do with the heat in it, but for short distances or if we're inside someplace it's pretty convenient.

She's getting more hair and we think it has a little red in it. 

This is completely random. But I've noticed Paige doing her fingers a certain way-she tucks her thumb underneath her two fingers. What is CRAZY is that I do the same thing when I sleep. I don't do it every night, and neither does she. But how insane and cute is it that we both do it??

Paige hasn't rolled over yet. I think she will walk before she rolls over. She loves to stand on her legs while we hold her arms. We still do tummy time, and she tolerates it. She still likes her activity mat, but is getting pretty frustrated that she can't get the hanging toys in her mouth. Which is where she puts everything these days! We got her a new teething toy that we can put in the fridge. She loves it, but still gets frustrated when she can't get it in her mouth exactly the right way. She has been very verbal about her frustration.

That's Paige at 4 months!!!

love

laura

Weekend Rewind

I honestly can't even remember what we did Friday nite. I know I cooked dinner. Other than that.....i'm too tired to remember.

Saturday morning we went to a children's birthday party at our neighbors house. There were corn dogs and cupcakes.....yum yum!!! And of course Paige wore the cutest cupcake outfit! The pants had a little ruffle on the bottom-love it! But it was hot, so I forgot to take a pic with her in the pants.

Saturday night we met a local friend for dinner. We had pizza and french fries! It has been so hot here!!! Every day I am nothing but a pile of sweat!

We are starting to wonder if Paige is teething. I know it's a little early-she'll be 4 months this week. But our perfect little girl can turn into monster child in a half a second. She is chewing and biting on everything! And nothing makes her happy....we have teething toys but I don't think they fit in her mouth like she likes. She keeps trying to bite back on one side. If she's not teething, I have no idea what's going on. 

Yesterday was of course Father's Day. And we took a million pics of our little one. I still can't get over how cute she is. 

Today I gave the bedrooms and bathrooms a deep clean. And I mean DEEP-like cleaned the toilet brush holder, trashcans, and vacuumed our headboard (it's covered in material) and mopped our window seats. Tomorrow I'll do the living, dining room, and kitchen. It will probably take me all day...but it SO needs it!

I just sat down and am watching Duck Dynasty. Perfect way to end the day!!!

love

laura

First Father's Day

Today was Daniel's FIRST Father's Day! I might have been into this day just a smidge more than Daniel. I love the planning, gift buying, and making little things special.

I made cinnamon cake for breakfast and don't have a pic. But it was delicious!!!

Paige looks a little confused.  But oh so adorable!!! I had another dress picked out for her to wear today, but it was a little too big. And seriously how cute is she?!?!!? Seriously, I die. This morning it was all I could do to not take a thousand pictures of her. I think these colors look really good on her. 

We had a fun day celebrating Daniel. Daniel is not so much gifts as he is words of affirmation, so I wrote a note to go along with a book I bought him. I know I don't say it everyday, but he is a wonderful dad and an amazing example to Paige. 

(love her face!)

Paige took a great 2 1/2 hour nap this afternoon. She usually misses her first naps in the morning on Sundays, so we get rewarded with really long naps in the afternoon. It's really nice!

I asked Daniel what meal he wanted for his special day, and he requested pizza.

I mixed things up a bit, by adding whole wheat flour, wheat bran, flax, and red pepper flakes. I generally don't add these, but it all turned our really good. Homemade pizza is one of our faves. Random memory, but when we were in the States I still always made the pizza dough from scratch. I'm not sure if it just never occurred to me that I could buy premade dough or what. 

I made this for dessert. It's bff Amy's recipe and it's so good. It's one of our faves! I love how easy it is to make too. We don't have whipped cream or cool whip here so I used a Dream Whip packet. We don't have graham crackers here either but there's a local brand that tastes pretty much the same. I also halfed the recipe, because seriously if we had a 9X13 I would eat it all!

(pic from AllRecipes.com)

Daniel's currently reading his present. It's a book called Language Death. It's about languages. He's into it.

We had a great day! I'm so thankful for my own dad too! He calls me Weasel for my nickname. And I've found myself calling Paige that too. I will say that having kids makes you appreciate your own parents so much more! When I think about all they have done for me, all the sacrificing, and unconditional love....I'm grateful in a way that I cannot put into words.

Happy Father's Day!!!

love

laura

Weekly RUNdown

Ya'll know about this.

I decided my weekly recaps would be called Weekly RUNdown's. It makes sense.

So....this week I ran twice-Tuesday and Thursday. I got up at 6, pumped, then ran. Tuesday's run was a little hard. I knew I wanted to do 2 miles, and it had been a while since I'd run last and is still the furthest I've gone since having Paige.

The first mile was slow. I had a sidestitch and kept wondering if I would be able to make it. With it also being the first real run, I kept wondering if I would be able to do this or not. 

I made it thru. Slowly, but I did it. 

Thursday I was not expecting a good run. We got home late the night before and I knew I was tired. Surprisingly, I didn't feel that tired when I woke up. It did hit me later on though. I planned on only running 1.5 miles on Thursday. I didn't want to keep pushing it and be frustrated with my time. Because I knew it was a shorter distance I was able to run a little faster. Still not where I was pre-baby, but every little bit counts. 

I felt great after Thursday's run! I was proud of myself for meeting my first weeks goal and pretty excited to draw one of my rewards. I really do live for rewards or any sort of treat.

These are my Reward Cups. I have a Weekly Rewards and a Monthly Rewards. I wrote my rewards on slips of paper and put them in the cups.

Reward for the week: Bottled Starbucks Frappuccino

I actually enjoyed yesterdays run so much that I thought about running today. I didn't really have time though and it was about 1000% humidity. And I showered yesterday and didn't feel like showering today. No reason to overdo it. :)

Next week, my plan is to run 2-2 milers on Tuesday and Friday.

Thanks for following along!

love

laura

Our First Date

Well, our first date since having Paige! When we were in the States my mom watched Paige a few times while we went out. But now that we're back to real life in EA, a date takes a little bit more planning. We've been back about 10 weeks now, it was time for a date!

Daniel surprised me with these flowers. They are beautiful and still going strong!

A very kind friend of ours offered to watch Paige for us. Since it was her first time to give Paige a bottle, and for someone else to put her down for the night, we didn't want to wander too far...just in case.  We knew she was in good hands though!

The weather was perfect that night! We walked to a local restaurant near our house that we had never tried before. We got beef and peppers, with fried cabbage. It was pretty good....a little spicy but that's what our city is known for!

I did check my phone several times to make sure I didn't miss a call from my friend, in case of a problem. After dinner, we walked to Starbucks. It was a holiday this week here, so it was insane!!! But we were able to get comfy chairs, so I consider than a win, ha!

We actually ran into some friends of ours who were also out on a date. At 8 my friend txt me and said Paige took her bottle, was asleep, and to stay out as long as we wanted!! I felt so much more at ease after that. Once Paige is asleep, we can count on her being out for the night.

Daniel and I had a great time! I'm so glad Paige did well! It was a great night, with perfect weather and amazing company! 

This week we also celebrated our 4 year anniversary of getting engaged!

love

laura

Day 1=Done

Today was day 1 of running. Remember, I have to run twice a week to get a "reward." 

When I first started out I almost quit. Running is way more mental than physical. 

I got a horrible sidestitch halfway and had to walk for a minute. But I did run almost 2 miles! It was slow, but  I did it! 

I read this article today. I thought it was really interesting, because until today I was in the camp of a mile is a mile, no matter if you're running or walking. I don't think there is a huge difference as far as overall calorie burn, but yay for the running afterburn!

Tonight, a friend is coming over to watch Paige while Daniel and I go out for a date! It's our first date since we've been back-over 2 months. And it's Paige's first time with someone other than us or my mom. i'm excited/nervous to see how it goes. 

We're not going too far or for too long, since it's our first night away. I'm pretty excited. Especially after today. Not sure if I'm just tired or what, but it was barely noon today and I was done.

Speaking of...she just woke up! Gotta go!

love

laura

Weekend Rewind

First, a little rant.

I've been a pretty faithful Office watcher for the first 7 seasons. Once Michael Scott left, I didn't really keep up with it at all, and I was okay with that. But then. The Office had their season finale and it was ALL OVER  my twitter and facebook feed. Everyone was talking about it. And it was what they were saying that caught my eye. I read things like "best season finale ever," "i cried," 'i loved it, was so moved." 

So of course after reading this over and over I decided that I must watch the last two seasons, just so I could really get to this amazing season finale. (see where i'm going with this?)

So Daniel and I have been faithfully watching the last 2 seasons over the last few weeks. Friday night we watched the last few episodes, including the season finale. When it ended, the first thing I said was "I am so disappointed!"

There was no big twist. No big surprise. No big lookback at the previous seasons. Michael Scott was barely mentioned. I was never even close to crying. People, i was not moved. If we're going to talk amazing Season Finales, it should be Friends. I've watched it several times and love it every time. Right now, I could care less about the Office. Honestly, it just made me want to go back and watch the older season when Michael was on, because I felt jipped. 

Okay, rant over.

So that was Friday night. 

Saturday, we went out for breakfast. I was calling it a breakfast date, but I've realized that if Paige is with us, it's not so much a date. Especially if there is spit up and changing diapers involved. Not that I don't love bringing her with us, but let's call it what it is. It's a family outing.

Paige took a little nap in her stroller while we ate. I got my usual, french toast, and it was amazing!!!!

Saturday I also taught Paige a trick. I'm convinced she is the smartest baby in the world. She was on her changing table and I was just making noises to entertain her. I put my lips together, blew out, and made a noise that sounds a little like a fart. Anyways....I was changing her diaper and she started copying me! She put her little lips together and started making the noise too! So of course, for the next several hours, we kept making the noise, watching her copy us, and laughing. We have a video of it, and it's adorable. The last two days, she'll do it randomly, then give us a huge grin as if to say how proud she is of herself. It's beyond adorable. I love watching her process it all, try to get her little lips to make the noise, and then get so proud of herself when she realizes she did it! Daniel is also teaching Paige how to bring her hands together, like a clap. 

Yesterday we were coming home after having lunch with a friend, and Paige was SO tired. She had missed her nap and just couldn't take it any longer. 

Have I mentioned how cute she is when she sucks her thumb?! And does she look huge here???

The weather here is pretty warm, so Paige has been wearing lots of little onesies. Today was her first time to wear this from Auntie Sarah.

(it says Auntie loves me)

Not related at all, but last week I met Daniel's new tutor. She thought I was 21. Score.

Then 2 days later I was at a little store and they were having a sale. I wanted to try on a dress that was on sale, and a shirt that was regular price. When I asked to try them on, the lady looked at them and said I couldn't try on the dress that was on sale. I asked why not, thinking maybe they didn't let people try on sale items? She looked at me and said it was too small for me. Ouch. 

**Someone asked me about the question I get here about if I take care of Paige myself. 

There are a lot of moms here who work full time. Usually their parents or in-laws will watch the baby while she's working. Or, it's pretty common to have a househelper who cleans and also takes care of the baby. Some of the househelpers work all day long, including evenings. 

I think it's interesting that this is considered to have someone else taking care or raising the baby. I know lots of people in the States who work full time while their child is in daycare or a family member babysits for them. But I would still say that they take care of and are raising their child. Personally, unless the child is living somewhere away from the parents, I would say mom and dad are raising the child.

But here it's just different. From what I understand, whoever takes care of the baby during the day is who they consider raising the child. 

Tomorrow, this happens. I'm excited, and so ready!

Also, this past week had a couple of big days for us! June 5th was the day I found out I was pregnant last year. 

June 7th marked our 2 year anniversary here in East Asia!

love

laura

Need your help-give me your thoughts!

Okay! So....I am a very goal driven person. I like to know what the goal is, how we're going to get there, and what the reward is when we do. I love to meet goals and have a reward at the end.

I've tried to get back into running and working out in general. But I just cannot for the life of me get motivated. I would like to lose 5 pounds and 10 would be my ultimate goal. BUT, I am very aware that losing the weight won't get me back into my pre pregnancy jeans. My body has changed, I know this. But I want to get back to being healthy and in shape.

I think diets are dumb. I know eating healthy and exercise is where it's at.

The summer after my junior year in college, I stayed on campus to work. My roommates were mostly gone or doing other things and the kickboxing class I went to was over. I knew i needed something to keep me on track to work out. So I took two paper cups-one was for weekly goals and one was for monthly goals. In the weekly cup, I had written little rewards on slips of paper. If I worked out 3 times a week, then at the end of the week i could draw something from the cup. The rewards were small, but something I wanted and wouldn't normally do. Like, buy a new thing of nail polish, rent a movie,etc...

If I worked our every week for a month, then I could draw a reward or treat from the monthly cup. These rewards were a bit bigger, like buy a new shirt, or spend $10 at Target. It worked really well, and I was super motivated and driven to complete my work outs each week so I could get a treat. And I hated the feeling of failing if i didn't complete my work outs. 

So my point.

I've decided to do the same thing for this summer. I'm not focused on weight loss at all, but I want to get back into running consistently, try to get my mileage back up, and my pace back down. I don't have specific goals set for when this has to be done by. I want to focus more on the consistency of working out again.

Here's what I'm thinking:

If I work out/run twice a week, then I get to draw a reward from the Weekly Cup. I know twice a week doesn't sound that challenging, but it is. Especially now with Paige. Because for me to run in the morning, means I have to get up early, pump, then run. I have to get up earlier than I used to because I just can't throw on my running clothes and go out the door. Running twice a week will be a challenge for me right now.

If I run twice a week for 4 weeks straight-then I get to draw a reward from the Monthly Cup. Now if i miss a week because I'm really sick or something, then I'll take that into consideration.

So....THE REWARDS!!

I picked things that are real treats for me, that I rarely do or buy. I don't want the rewards to be too big or expensive, or too small to where I could care less if I get it or not. I'll write each reward on a slip of paper, then draw one out each week.

Here are my thoughts so far for the Weekly Rewards:

Foot Massage ($4)
Hair Wash ($4)
Salad from a Western restaurant ($5)
Snapple Drink from the import store ($2)
Starbucks bottled Frappuccino ($3)
Candle from Ikea ($2)
Magazine on my Nook ($3)

Monthly Rewards:

Buy a season or TV show on Itunes ($15)
A book for my Nook ($10)
New dish or mug at the dish store near our house ($10)

Those are my ideas so far. I didn't want the rewards to be too focused on food, or too expensive. Just little things that I would really enjoy.

I've decided I will do a weekly blog post on Friday's to recap the week and share what rewards I got.

This is where you come in!

Do you have any thoughts or ideas about other rewards?

What should I title the Friday post? 

I've thought about Running Rewards, Friday Findings, Friday Finals, Friday Fortunes, Friday Fix, Weekly Rewards....... what do you think? any other suggestions?

Does anybody want to join and do this with me?

SO EXCITED!

love

laura

Playin Around

I've had such good intentions about blogging this week. But to upload pictures from my phone and the camera, then resize them so Blogger will be happy, just takes more time than I'm sometimes willing to give.

But tonight-Paige just went to sleep and I've got a few extra minutes to spare.

If Paige is going to be fussy, it's without a doubt from 5-7pm each night. We try to come up with things to entertain her. A couple of nights ago she was fussing and I suggested we put some music on to see if it would  entertain her. Daniel got his computer out and for the next hour or so we both walked down memory lane and had one of the best times ever!

We realized that we both had the cd Never Say Dinosaur. It came out in the 90's and I had almost every song memorized back then. I haven't listened to the cd in close to 10 years (my cd was actually stolen when my car was broken into. this was before Itunes, so it was long gone.) We put it on and I was shocked to learn that I still knew every word! ahhhh the 90's. And Paige was entertained I'm sure.

(this is a Laura face, if I've ever seen one)

Tonight we took Paige out to the little playground in our apartment complex. As soon as we sat down we were surrounded by grandma's and their grandchildren just oohhing and ahhing over the little foreign baby. One grandma kept telling her 2 year old granddaughter to touch Paige. She kept saying "touch her! touch her!" over and over. In any other situation, this might be awkward. 

It made me think about the questions we get here about Paige. We get the exact same ones all the time. 

How old is she?

Is she a boy?

Do you breastfeed?

Do you take care of her yourself?

I always get these questions no matter who I'm around. Tonight a lady asked if I took care of her, and when I said yes she said I was very talented. It struck me how odd that would be if I asked a stranger in America if they raised their own child, then told them how talented or capable they were. 

The breastfeeding question is ALWAYS asked. And a couple of times I didn't understand what they were saying, and then they go straight to charades. My life is never boring. 

In completely unrelated Paige news.....I tried a new recipe this week. Every once in a while I like to have a vegetarian meal and change things up a bit. This week we had onion-zucchini-red pepper frittata and asparagus. We do love us some asparagus! The frittata was good, but next time I would cook it longer to really get it to brown on top. 

So seriously, I have a couple of blog posts swirling around in my head, I'll try to keep posting!

love

laura

Around the House

Paige has found her thumb. And honestly, I think it is adorable! It's so cute! She mostly sucks it when she is tired. Sometimes if she is in and out of sleep we'll see her on the monitor sucking it too. So sweet.

Last night she was being super fussy. Daniel went to english corner and I put her in the bouncer. I think she knows I have my limits because she calmed down pretty quickly and then fell asleep. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. 

She's been trying to roll over and getting pretty frustrated when she only gets about halfway. She cranes her neck all the way back and gets on her side but won't roll over all the way. She did roll her bottom half from back to front-so that's something.

Cherries are in season here and I love it! I always eat a few pounds every season, they are so yummy!

I've started taking baths with Paige. It's so much easier to bathe her, and I really enjoy it. However.....she has peed twice in the bath water, right when Daniel was lifting her out. Then last night, she spit up as soon as she got in. Not only was I covered in spit up, but at the end of the bath I realized there were white chunks floating in the bath water. Ewww.

We spent the morning watching news reports and making sure our families were okay. Daniel's family lives in the Norman/Moore, OK area and my family lives here St. Louis. Both of our parents had tornadoes near their homes at about the same time, so you can imagine we were pretty concerned. We're so thankful everyone is okay!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

love

laura