Weekly RUNdown

It was a good and bad week for running.

I ran on Monday. It started raining as soon as I got outside. I thought about just going back inside, but I had already gotten ready and pumped, so I figured I could at least run a mile. 

The rain wasn't too bad so i figured I would go a bit longer. My first mile was 11:27. I was a little shocked and overly excited. I decided to run 2 miles then call it a day. Monday's are pretty busy for us-or at least they seem that way. As I was running my second mile I started to get really excited! My pace was less than 11 minutes!! That hasn't happened in well over a year!

My second mile was 10:47!!! I felt so encouraged and excited! I felt like I was officially "back" after pregnancy and postpartum. I couldn't believe my 2 miles were that good. It made my day!

In sad news, I didn't meet my running goal last week. Things were SO busy-we had something every day and night and it was exhausting! Paige is still waking up early and I couldn't bring myself to get up and run.

Tomorrow is a busy day too, so I'm probably going to wait to run on Wednesday. I really do want to keep at it and not give up. But sometimes the excuses just win.

here's to hoping for a good week!

love

laura

Paige at 5 Months

So Paige turned 5 months over a week ago.

(thanks Aunt Mel for this cute outfit!)

Not sure on any of her stats, so I'm just going to guess! We'll go the doctor next month for her 6 month check up. 

5 Month Stats:

Weight: About 6.5 kilos or 14-15 pounds. She feels heavy.

Length: 26 inches?

Size Diaper: She's pretty much out of her FB small cloth diapers, and mostly wears her OneSize BumGenius. She is in Pampers Medium at night. 

Size Clothes: 6 months

Sleep: She WAS sleeping 12 hours a night and napping 3 times a day perfectly. These last 2 weeks she has decided that 6 am and short naps are better. I'm really hoping this is just a phase!

Feedings: 5 times a day, about every 3 hours. Lately they've been at 7, 10, 1, 4, and 7. 

This past month was a big month for all of us! When we went to Hong Kong, it was Paige's first time in a hotel and a crib not her own. She did SO great!

This past month she rolled over from front to back and back to front! Now she's rolling over back to front almost as soon as we put her down. She started rolling over in her crib last night, which freaked me out, so I went in last night while she was sleeping and took her bumper pads out. Now she's rolling over and getting her legs stuck in the bars. Yeah.....so I'm trying to figure out a solution. 

This month was also my first night away from Paige! With my mom in town, Daniel and I went away for the night to a hotel downtown. It was lovely! We went out to dinner, watched a late night movie and had fun. Paige did great and had lots of fun with her GoGo!

The other day, we were riding home in a taxi and Paige had missed both her morning naps. She was SO tired. I had her in the ergo carrier and she fell asleep like this. Yes, she fell asleep while chewing on the straps.

She is still a big fan of sucking her thumb. It's the first thing she goes to if she's bored, tired, hungry, and pretty much everything else in between. It's super cute, but I'm trying to just let her suck it when she's in her crib and not when she's playing. 

I'll start her on solids this next month. Still completely don't want to, but apparently babies have to learn how to chew. 

This past month Paige has pooped in the bathtub quite a few times. It's just as much fun as it sounds.

This past week, Paige chose her favorite professional and college football teams.

Boomer!

Go Pack!

Happy 5 Months Paige!

love

laura

Weekly RUNdown

I have two weeks to recap, sorry it's been a while. 

Two weeks ago I ran Monday and Saturday. It was a busy and tiring week so both runs were about 2 miles. And honestly, I don't remember much about them, other than it rained halfway thru my run on Saturday, and I wish I had worn my hat. We had torrential rains that week. It was crazy!

Reward for the Week: Ikea candle

This past week I didn't think I would even run considering I had an ingrown toenail...ewwwww!!! (i'm just gonna go ahead and title this post-TMI! For some reason I have a strange need to share all details of my life) My toe had been hurting for about a month. Even just being in bed and having the sheet touch my toe was painful. But I couldn't figure it out so I just dealt with the pain. Until it became so unbearable and I was gasping in pain if anything touched my toe. 

I've never had an ingrown toenail so I didn't know what they felt like. Then it got really red and infected. Gross I know. Luckily, my mom was in town and she helped me figure out what was wrong. We dug the nail out (yes it's as painful as it sounds) and I've been soaking it a lot this week. 

So I wasn't sure if I'd be able to run this week, and honestly I've been so tired I was just ready to give up.

But I decided to give it a go and see what happened. I ran on Wednesday and it was painful, but not the worst pain of my life or anything. 

Paige has decided she is done sleeping till 8 every morning and has been getting up between 5-6:30. I know. So since i've been getting up early I thought I might as well run today. I ran 3 miles and felt pretty good. I might even try to go a little further next week!

Reward for the Week: Magazine on my Nook 

I just bought the August edition of Runners Magazine, I can't wait to read it!

Sidenote-my theme this past week has been to EAT! Whenever Daniel travels I just don't eat as much cos I'm not cooking or get busy with something and forget to eat dinner. When Daniel was gone last week, I knew my calories were low, and between running and nursing, my calories dropped, which means my milk supply dropped. There were a couple days where I had to give Paige a bottle. It was really hard for me.

So I've been really aware of my calories (as in getting them!) and drinking lots of water. I would love to just eat less and lose weight faster (4 more pounds to go!), but feeding Paige is a much higher priority. So I didn't hold on back on eating 2 desserts today-tiramasu and a cinnamon roll! yum!!

Who else out there is running???

love

laura

Gogo's in town

My mom, AKA, Gogo, flew in on Wednesday. Or technically thursday. YA'LL, the flight delays were UNREAL!.

So mom left St. Louis Tuesday morning at 7am for Chicago. She was supposed to leave Chicago at 12 noon. That flight was delayed 3 hours, so she left at 3 in the afternoon. Then, she flew in country here. Her flight was supposed to leave at 8:30 at night to our city. Earlier in the day, they delayed the flight to leave at 11pm, arriving in our city at 1:30am.

I had a friend coming over to stay with Paige so I didn't have to drag her out to the airport. My friend really went above and beyond. She came over at 10 and slept on our couch.

At 1 am I checked moms flight, one site said the plane hadn't left yet. The other site said it left at 11:10. So of course i assumed the flight was on its way. ha. ha. ha.

So I'm exhausted at this point. I get to the airport at 2am. Look at the board and see the flight is arriving at 4am. Ugh....so I sat down on the ground and waited. And waited. Finally, I saw mom!

We got home at 5 am and crashed for 2 hrs before Paige woke up. Then I had class. You can imagine how productive that was.

My mom is an expert packer. She also is a firm believer in using every inch of packing space available when coming to see us. These are just SOME of the goodies she brought us:

Top pic: Paige's goodies-baby food, clothes, toys, etc...

Bottom pic: baking mixes, candy, sugar, napkins, etc...

Can you see all the goodies?!?!? I was SUPER excited about the oatmeal. When we were in the states having Paige, I found this Oat Revolution that has oatmeal with flax and other wholesome goodness in instant packets-so yummy!!!

I feel like the last few days have been pretty busy. We've cleaned out the laundry room, Paige's room, and reorganized the kitchen cupboards. Each day i'm feeling pretty tired. Today we went shopping and mom bought Paige a bouncer/activity center. 

Daniel is travelling still and will be back Thursday morning. It's about time-we have missed him!

I have a couple of posts to write about Paige and running-but I feel like my mind is all over the place right now. Every night after Paige goes to bed I feel like a zombie and just don't have the energy to think clearly enough to write a blog post. 

So sorry if this is all over the place! Hopefully I can get it together soon!

love

laura

Paige's First Fourth!

This fourth of July was a very crazy, stressful, day! Both Daniel and I kind of reached our limit that day as far as living in a different culture here. Honestly, it was a rough day.

(ps. my friend just clued me into picstitch-woohoo!)

Here's a little back story-remember we got in bed at 2am Monday morning completely exhausted. So we were really looking forward to resting a bit on Monday, getting stuff done around the house, and I had class scheduled. Well, at 9:30 am the apartment above us started remodeling/demolishing their entire house. There was jackhammering, drilling, hammering, banging. It was SO loud Daniel and I couldn't even hear each other. Our mirrors were shaking, and we have white powder all over the house that their drilling knocked from our walls.  It kept Paige from sleeping, she didn't want to eat with all the noise, and they did this until 6pm. Ya'll my nerves were shot.

Daniel went up to ask them how long they were going to be working. They said it would be one more day. While he was up there, he saw concrete slabs. Concrete ya'll. Just imagine how loud that is.

anyways.....this continued the entire week. (they are banging now as I type this)

So come thursday I was about to lose it. I was trying to be patient, trying to be nice, but I was so close to a mental breakdown, it's not even funny.

So this is still happening on Thursday, our July 4th.

That morning I put Paige's cloth diapers in the washer. You have to wash cloth diapers 3 times. So we were pouring in hot water from our sink into the washer (cause we don't have hot water capability in our washer), and the washer didn't do anything. Nada.

Daniel went to get the repairman. So while the repairman is looking at our washer, the banging is still going on, and my teacher came over for class. Daniel left halfway during our class, because we had plans at a friends house for a big party. So Daniel leaves to go get the grill started. I'm trying to entertain Paige and have class with my teacher, whom I cannot hear.

I ended up ending class early because ya'll. The noise! Where is the xanax??

So Paige is fussing because she missed her naps. I'm trying to get everything ready to go the the party. I called my neighbor to let her know we were ready because we were going to walk together-it's about a 25 minute walk.

This is when the biggest thunder storm in the entire world happened. Lightning, thunder, and torrential rain. So we decided to taxi.

But it was the kind of rain that as soon as you walk outside you're drenched. By the time we walked to the front of our apartment complex, we were soaked!  It was kind of the last straw really. I think my saving grace was the fact that we were going to a party-where thankfully no one would be using a jackhammer.

Call me prideful, but is she not the most adorable thing you have ever seen???

Daniel's aunt and cousins gave Paige this outfit and it is sooooo cute!!! I forget where we got the bow, but it was too perfect! 

Paige seemed to enjoy her first fourth of july. She ended up staying up 2 hours past her bedtime. i kept hoping she'd fall asleep but there was way too much going for her and she didn't want to miss it.

Right before we left, I tried to get a family pic. Paige was way overtired at this point.

I knocked Daniel's coke that was in his other hand-so we're both looking to see if it spilled.

And the classic crying baby pic.

That was our July 4th.  Hope ya'll had a happy one!!

love

laura

Weekly RUNdown

Can I just say again how mental running is????

Monday I thought about how I needed to get up Tuesday to run if I was going to make it this week. Rain was in the forecast every day. I kept thinking I just wanted to quit. I wasn't running at my normal pace and I'm tired.

But I decided to run anyways.

I started out feeling really good. I felt like i was doing well, until I looked at my Garmin. Ugh. Not where I wanted to be. My first mile was pretty sad. But as they say, a mile is a mile. I picked it up on the last mile. Overall, i ran 2.2 I wasn't impressed by my pace but I felt great running. Once I'm out there I never regret it.

We went to a July 4th party last night and I did NOT want to get up this morning. I was secretly hoping it was pouring. But it wasn't. I got an earlier start than usual. I knew i wanted to do 3. 

My first mile I figured i'd run a little slower to save some energy. 3 is still not easy yet. I looked down at my Garmin and my pace was under 13. Pre-paige this would be unacceptable. Post-Paige i'll take it, ha! (p.s. i am amazed at how much my running has changed since having a baby. can we say molasses?)

I ran my first mile at a good comfortable pace and it was 12:17. I was pretty pumped!!! Mile 2 was 12:23 and I had to work more for that one. The last mile I wanted to do even better. I really had to dig deep to keep that last mile where i wanted it. It felt like I was sprinting, even when I ended up with 12:17. 

But i consider this a success! I ran 3 miles. I had my fastest pace (post baby). Today is my half-birthday, Niece Adelyn's 7 month birthday. It's a good day and I am happy!

Today marked 4 weeks since I started this, so I got to draw a Monthly Reward!

Monthly Reward: ITunes show!!!

Daniel is travelling starting monday. i'm debating between buying a girly show that I can watch while he's gone, or Duck Dynasty season 2. Tough choice. thoughts??

Hope everyone had a great 4th! We did, post coming soon!

love
laura

H to the K

Friday morning we were up at 4:30 (that's AM) to get to the airport by 6. We woke up our sweet little bundle and were on our way! Paige didn't seem to mind the early wake up call.

Trying to get a Mommy and Me pic, ha!

Friday we got to our hotel about 11ish. After dropping off our stuff we went off searching for the nearest Burger King. After walking around in the very hot and humid outside, we gave up finding BK and ate at Pizza Hut instead. Searching for food we couldn't find would become the theme of our weekend.

Pizza hut was delicious, even if we did wait an hour for our food. Then we walked around a bit. Daniel found some shorts at the GAP. I did find a super cute dress, but it was much too expensive. Some things in HK are just more expensive, just because. 

After walking around a bit we decided to head to a different location to eat Burger King. This is how Paige traveled when we were on the MTR (the subway.)

We got to BK and I went to order. I only eat their Original chicken sandwhich. I've never had anything else and I don't want to eat anything else. Guess what they did not have on the menu? Yes. So we were already sweating and hungry, I tried the spicy chicken sandwhich. I took one bite and one bite only. Daniel wouldn't even eat it. It was that bad ya'll.

So after a disappointing dinner, we were leaving and saw an organic food store next to the BK. Ironic right? So I went in and got Organic Sugar (made from evaporated cane juice) and Agave. It was really the hi light of the night for me. I was so excited!

Paige did great in the hotel. We had a crib, and while it took her a little longer to fall asleep. She did pretty good. The next morning Daniel ran out to get us McDonald's for breakfast. And I played with this little goober!

Paige went down for her morning nap and I went to go get my haircut by someone who spoke english! I was pretty excited! The haircut went great! I don't really have any good pics because I didn't really style it until we got home.

We walked around the mall near our hotel. We stayed in Causeway Bay and i loved the location! Everything was so close! We went to Toys R Us and got Paige a new chew toy. It was really fun to be able to pick something out for her. 

Paige also found her feet this weekend. She's played with them before, but she became obsessed this weekend. She would get upset when we put her footed pj's on and she couldn't chew on them anymore.

We used disposable diapers while we traveled. While convenient, I really missed the cloth. Paige pooped out of her disposable diapers twice, which has never happened in her cloth. She also got a little rash. I think it might've been from using regular wipes.

Saturday we were going to go to TGIFriday's. After sweating all the way there, come to find out it was gone. So then we walked to California Pizza Kitchen which was about a 15 minute walk away. You guessed it, it was gone also. So we're standing at the harbour sweating and hungry trying to decide where to eat. We decide to head home and find something. So I went to the local supermarket and picked up a ready meal they had. It was roasted chicken, potatoes, and grilled veggies. I honestly cannot remember the last time something tasted so good! And I have no idea the last time I had roasted chicken!!! yummers!

Here we are at the harbour!

After our many failed attempts at a decent western meal, we head to the Peak on Sunday and splurged at Bubba Gumps! I went there almost 5 years ago and loved it. It was just as good as I remembered. I got Mama's southern fried chicken! And apparently Paige looks big for her age, because they tried giving her crayons and later a balloon. 

TMI, but this is the first time I nursed in public not wearing a nursing tank. If I ever have to feed Paige around other people i wear a nursing tank to make sure I'm completely covered. I threw caution to the wind though because i was getting a little tired of them and for the love did I mention it was hot?! Another theme for the weekend was me feeding Paige at every random place possible.

After lunch we walked around a bit. There are amazing views at the Peak!!

(those are all skyscrapers!!)

We tried to get a family pic. 

Paige was amazing the whole trip!!! Despite her being in the stroller for hours in the heat, and missing her naps, she was so happy and cheerful. We couldn't believe how well she did. There was a meltdown on the plane ride back because it was 9:30 pm, we were delayed, and Paige was still awake. I've actually never seen her cry as hard as she did then. After a quick meal, she was out!

While HK was fun-(I brought back 2 avacadoes to make quac!!, bought organic peanut butter, and cream of chicken soup), there really is nothing like being home in your own bed. At at 2am Monday morning, we finally were there! 

That was our trip! have you ever been to HK?

love

laura

Weekly RUNdown, Week in Review, and everything else in between

So, I haven't blogged in a while. We left early Friday morning for Hong Kong to do some visa stuff. We got back at 1:30am Monday morning. I'll save the HK post for a little later. But here's the latest!

I did run last Monday and Wednesday. Both days I ran about 2 miles. I finally was able to run one of those miles less than 12 minutes. I was pretty proud of it. I'm still nowhere close to my normal pace, but it will come. Slowly, but surely. I felt pretty good about my runs last week. I'm certainly not enjoying getting up extra early, but I do like taking care of my body and working my way back into shape.

Reward for the week: Foot Massage

My mom is coming to visit next week, so I'll probably go then so we can go together. My treat the week before was a treat from an import store. While we were in HK, I picked up organic peanut butter!! I had it this morning on my bagel. It was yummy!

I made chicken enchiladas last week for the first time. They were easy and really good! I put black olives only on my portion. I didn't realize for it to look patriotic, but it kind of looks like a flag!

We took Paige to the pool last week for the first time. I think she liked it. She just recently started to like bath time. She looked around most of the time. I hope to take her a few more times this summer. I just need to find her a sunhat to wear. 

She'll figure it out soon.

Most nights after Paige's last feeding, she ends up like this. I love when it's this easy to put her to bed! And she's so cute at it too!

Last night I had some friends over. I made a new recipe called Double Peanut Butter Paisley Brownies. They were SOO good! You can get the recipe here.

We're just trying to catch up on life right now. I have class tomorrow. This past week I learned how to talk about blogging and social media. It was very interesting!!

love

laura