Good News/Bad News..

I feel like this week has been full of good new things.. all with some sort of caveat.. Nothing huge, just a little bit of.. "you can have this good thing, but ya gotta give a little something back". For example, this morning, I'm up at 5am, been up since my 4am wake-up feeding with Miles..but I don't need to be up this time?! So, good news is I've adjusted to waking up at 4am for my workouts and other morning duties.. bad news is that even when I was going to 'sleep in', I'm up.. Not a huge down side, but still.. I was kind of excited about the idea that I was going to take it easier this weekend with my workouts and such and I'm just planning to meet some friends for a 6mi trail run later.. I guess the 'back up' side of it, though, is that I'm getting some writing in! Another 'good news/bad news'?..it's 50 degrees in Indiana in January.. Awesome! Buuuut.. it's going to rain every day until it gets cold again.. Oh, well. I'll take it. I'm taking advantage of a few dry, warm hours today and hitting the trails with my old trail running buddies. I've, for some reason, gotten away from running trails and I miss it! I know what's kept me from them.. it's just easier to run straight from my house and not waste the extra time driving and such.. But, since I'm not doing any of my other usual saturday am stuff (Crossfit.. it's closed today because there is a big competition in town and some folks from the gym are competing! I really, really want to go watch some of it.. but we'll see if I can make that happen) and it's going to be so crazy nice out, I figured today would be a good day to take a little extra time and get out to enjoy some wooded running. So. Let's review this week, shall we? My first official week of following a plan.. I'm realizing more and more that I need to really just focus on what I've determined as my goals for this year and just let go of my 'need to do all the things' ways.. Meaning.. I need to be OK with missing swimming and spins if time/ schedule/soreness/sleepiness/etc doesn't allow for it. I need to get my running in and do as much crossfit as time allows and just be good with that. Those are the goals that I set for myself, after all.. so now I just need to embrace it! So this week, so far, I have done all the running that Mr. Higdon advised. With today's 6 mi run in the woods, which I'm sure will be plenty slow, that covers my 'long' run for the week and leaves me with just a 3mi 'pace' run for tomorrow. I'm thinking, unless it's raining hard, I'll try to branch out of my 'hood a bit and hit some hills, but then that will be it for me for workouts tomorrow.. So just running this weekend! Doesn't exactly sound exciting or note worthy, but for someone who normally tries to cram all sorts of workouts in (ie: I just let go of the idea of doing my own triathlon of sorts today.. I thought, since I missed my swim yesterday..due to my crazy boys and their early am hijinks!.. I'll go swim early today, then, since I'm there, I might as well spin..and then I'll head out for the trail run!.. welcome to my world of crazy), I'm kind of strangely proud of myself for re-evaluating that plan and deciding what was best, not only for meeting my current goals, but also for what my family needs. Of coarse, my family would survive with me gone for the morning.. Matt can handle things just fine.. BUT.. would I feel good about it? That is the question, my friends. I have no problem at all taking time for myself to do the workouts that I enjoy and that get me closer to my own, personal physical goals, but when I start adding things in 'just 'cause'? I gotta draw the line there. More so these days, I'd say, with having the two boys and all. Re-learning the infant stage all while balancing time with Mason has had it's..well, to stick with my theme here.. 'good and bad'. I won't go in to great detail and we're certainly working things out, but it's hard to meet both boys' needs all the time..and with Matt's long work hours, a lot of the time I'm on my own.. it can get messy at times, but we're doing our best and figuring things out. Mason tries his best and is a huge help a lot of the time.. He is 4, though, so he has his moments. Anyway, I got off track a bit there.. Where was I.. The rest of this week was good.. Did just 1 swim, which was a bit of speed with 50's and then some other stroke/IM stuff. I squeezed in a spin yesterday during one of Miles' naps.. basically 10 min of steady/slightly fast spin increasing resistance every 2 minutes, then 15 minutes where I switched to the heavy ring and did 2 min steady climb and 1 min stand/sprint, repeat..then Miles was up, so my spin was done! I actually had a good sweat going and was pretty ready to get off the bike anyway, so it worked out well. Crossfit is still going well. Good news on monday was that I got my bar muscle ups and was able to do them in the workout.. Bad news was all that swinging on the bars gave me matching rips in the middle of both hands. Another good thing was that I started back with teaching gymnastics this week.. Bad news was that the child watch place is an overstimulation nightmare for a sleepy baby and by the time I came back (only an hour!..I'm just doing set up and 1 class for this week and next, then I'll start staying a bit longer to do both classes) he was all hot and bothered from crying and they had squeezed the poor thing into these newborn size shorts I happened to have in my bag.. Oh, those thigs were not meant to fit in there! They claim he was OK for a bit and was in the swing doing fine for a while, and he wasn't crying the whole time.. but that was the most upset I had seen him and it broke my heart to think of him crying up a sweat in there while I was teaching. He calmed down as soon as I held him and the rest of the night was fine.. but if it doesn't go better or we don't figure out a way to make things go smoothly for him while I teach, I just don't see how it makes sense for me to continue if it's going to make him so upset. I can always wait until he's a little older and can handle the child watch stuff a little better. It really isn't equipped to handle sleepy babies, nor do I expect them to be able to soothe him to sleep.. so we'll just see. Matt seems to think it will work out and be fine, but a lot of things have changed since I originally took on this job and it may not make sense for us at this time.. When I started, it was just taking Mason to child watch and he was old enough to actually play and enjoy that time.. But now, Matt's long hours and an infant with his schedule and needs in the mix.. Again. I keep saying it. But we'll just have to see. I'll give it a fair chance, but I'm not about to have my little guy in fits every tuesday and thursday night just so I can teach a couple tumbling classes.. you know?? Anyway. So that's that. Anything else? I think that covers it. Wish me luck in my first trail run in a while! I hope I don't fall down..and that the trails aren't so soggy that it's no fun.. But I know it will be nice to get out, enjoy the day and the company of my old running friends!

It's On..

..sort of.. So I took a look back at the last post there.. Not only was it jam packed with type-o's, it gave me a quick flash back to how much can change in just one little month! Anyway, I've made some decisions...sort of.. and am following a 'plan'...more or less.. My original idea, if you'll recall, was to wing it and do the gradual long run mile increase with the first of the month 3mi test run.. Well, I still am keeping that plan in mind, but it occured to me that just upping my long run distance and keeping it high for months and months might not be all that great. SO. Enter good ol Hal Higdon. He's an old pal of mine.. I used his plan back when I did my first half and full marathons.. so I figured I'd see what he thought about the whole training thing and I liked what he was throwing down. I've had a coach for training in the past and I definitely don't think I'm 'above' needing a coach.. Quite the opposite, actually.. I shall return to my trusty coach.. once I have a new goal to strive for. Right now, though, I'm just trying to get back a good, solid base and THEN I'll see where I'm at and what kinds of crazy plans I can make for myself.. For this season, though.. I still want to work on and improve my running.. which I suppose could be 'coach worthy'.. but I think maybe I don't want the extra pressure.. So a free plan from the world wide interwebs fits the bill. And just what, you ask, are these big plans you have?? Well, I've decided my first half marathon will be the Sam Costa Half Marathon, which is a small, local race that a friend of mine has tried to get me to run for years.. The timing was right, so I guess I'll finally see what all the fuss is about! So my plan for that started this week..which I didn't actually know until last night (saturday)..but it turns out I was pretty on track, so we're good! My weekly plan will look a little something like: Monday: short warm-up run and CrossFit Tuesday: swim and spin Wednesday: (will be kind of a doozy..so may need to adjust..) speed/hill run and CrossFit Thursday: short run and CrossFit Friday: EZ swim Saturday: pace run and CrossFit (it's a skills and 'active recovery' day) Sunday: LSD run or at least that's my plan for now. You may notice the lack of a full day of rest.. which I know is important.. but until I go back to 2-a-days..which I'm hoping to start that at some point soon when I start back teaching gymnastics.. But we'll see. I'm definitely aware of the problem. For now, though, I see friday 'EZ swim day' as rest.. I know.. This week followed that fairly well. There was a holiday in there, so a little different. But mostly we were on task. As for those 'changes' alluded to in the start of this entry? Well, today was my 3mi test run and I improved by 2 minutes again?! I really didn't think, after the last one and how much it hurt.. I didn't expect to go faster.. and my time keeping skills were 'unofficial' at best.. but I did my 3 miles, after a 1mi warm-up, in 22:18! Still not setting any land/speed records or anything, but I'm happy with the improvement. It still hurt, but I think it felt a little less like death than the last time..though if you judged it by my 1mi trudge home, you might beg to differ. So there's that. I topped my LSD runs last sunday with a lovely 9mi treadmill run. That was kinda tough. I need to get my treadmill calibrated, or something.. because the paces are definitely off.. But it was too cold and icy last week and I just didn't feel like spending 9mi looking for clear roads to run on.. so basement 'mill it was. It wasn't that bad.. but I definitely prefer the fresh air. I've come to realize I really look forward to and enjoy those sunday runs, so I must be doing something right as far as balancing how much running I'm doing. I actually enjoy all of my workouts right now, which is a really good thing...and is also why I can't seem to cut anything out to give myself a rest day.. I've started using actual workouts for swimming again..so I have that going for me. Nothing too crazy, but getting back in to the idea of having a plan when I hit the pool.. trying to work on some speed, watching the clock and such.. Hadn't done that in a long time! I toyed with the idea of going to do a modified version of 100 x 100 with Indy Aquatic masters on New Yrs day.. I would have done 75's because they were going on the 1:40, which I would not have been able to make.. and I was just going to do as many as I could.. So I did kind of a trial run on my own and did: 6 x 75 swim, 6 x 75 pull, 6 x 75 kick, 6 x 75 swim with fins, 6 x 75 pull with paddles, 6 x 75 back kick.. I think.. it was something like that.. darn it. I'd like to gradually add on to that, so next time I have a little more time to spend in the pool, I'll do 8 of each of those 75's.. then 10.. and so on.. (I stuck with the 1:40 interval). I also have enjoyed doing workouts with a lot of 'other' stroke work.. back, breast, and I even include a lil fly in there from time to time.. Stop laughing at me, lifeguards.. stand down.. I am not drowning, can't you see I'm a beautiful butterfly in here??!! Spin kind of is what it is right now. I'd say the bike is going to be the thing that takes a bit of a back seat this winter/right now. I kind of bounce around between my trainer, doing my own spin sessions on a spin bike at the Y, doing the ol' programs on an exercise bike, or going to spin class.. But until it warms up, I just have to try to keep myself entertained on the indoor cycle options.. CrossFit is coming along. I've been feeling like I'm making some improvements there and have decided to really focus on strength and olympic lifts and skills that I need. There is the 'Open' games stuff coming up in Feb or March, so I figure we'll see how things go with that and if I/our team makes regionals again, maybe I'll dabble in some crossfit competitions.. So we'll see what happens there. I did a couple of max effort olympic lift things this past saturday.. so as of now, my max for Power Snatch is 90# and max for Clean and Jerk is 125#..Plenty of room for improvement there, but a good start and definitely working on form. So that's that! Only thing left for me to figure out for this season is what to do as far as triathlons.. I had said earlier that I would just do some sprints and kind of lay low on the tri's this summer.. but I just can't seem to get excited about the short stuff! I don't know what it is.. maybe I'm actually just scared to try to push that hard in the short races.. I don't know.. Plus, if I'm focusing on running half and full marathons.. it just seems to make more sense to me to do a half IM or two.. No? Anybody else follow that logic? I'm tinkering with some ideas still, but I'd really like to do the KS 70.3, which would be 1 week after another half marathon that I plan to do..which is also in KC.. which would mean a week long stay with the folks! It's a plan I've had for a while now..to do the two races, stay with my parents, get a little extra visit time with them AND get to do two races.. everyone wins, right?! Then I'm still figuring out whether I'd do a second half IM or not.. Gotta make some decisions soon, though.. I already missed the first price increases and the next increases are looming.. So those are my loose plans for racing and my first part of training has begun! In other news.. The boys are great. Mason had a wonderful Christmas and is already planning out the return of his 'elf on the shelf' and what he will ask Santa for next year. Miles is.. still growing! He has rolled from tummy to back a couple times, though I'm not sure I'm ready to declare it as an official skill...mighta been a bit of a fluke, but I know it's all coming! He's had some teething pain lately, which has made lying on his back no fun for him.. good thing he's comfy in his car seat, though, so he's been sleeping there for a few days. Most of the time, though, he's a chill, smiley, fun guy that's getting interested in toys and LOVES to smile at his big brother! Mason loves it, too. He'll ask if he can go in to Miles' room when he's waking up from a nap so he can make him smile.. Very sweet. I think that's about it for now. Hopefully I'll make some more decisions and put some money where my mouth is! Race Plan for this season to be continued..but it's in the works and coming along!

We introduce..the baby Jesus runs!

Well. I'm sitting here all bored because my little fellas are BOTH oddly sleepy tonight.. I hope Mason's not sick.. I'm probably in more trouble with him than with Miles. Mason is probably going to wake up ready to roll at about..just after I close my eyes? Sounds about right. Anyway. So I guess I'll use this time to update myself on what's going on with training and life on this little electronic diary I have here..so here goes! We'll start with running. I feel like I'm making some strides there.. I had my longest post-baby run the weekend after thanksgiving..at a whopping 6 miles. Still holding the 9min mi pace as my 'all day'/go-to pace. Then last weekend was my 3mi test run day and.. I cut 2 minutes from my previous months time! I think it was 24:18? I should re-check my harming, but I remember thinking it was 2min down from last time, so that should be about right. Now my next goal is to make that pace not hurt so bad! I started off feeling good..holding under 8 min mi and feeling good.. But by about a mi and a half, I was desperately watching that Harmon just counting down the tents of a mile and doing my best to hold the pace. So next time, I hope to keep that pace, but have it feel a bit easier.. Sound good? Too much to ask? These days I'm still getting in super short runs before crossfit during the week, but with the warm weather this week, Mason and I have taken advantage of it and got a few evening runs in around the neighborhood to check out the Christmas lights! Hence the 'baby Jesus runs'.. Not sure how or why the name started.. I'm guessing I was trying to explain the nativity scenes, which led to us pointing out the baby Jesus.. Anyway. He loved it and I got some good running in, too.. So win/win! So far this week in running was about a mile warm up before crossfit on Monday, then a 4mi 'baby Jesus' run that night. Today (Wednesday) I got in a progression run of sorts on the treadmill..workin on the ol speed! Got just over 3mi there. And that's the story of my running! I'll pick the 'long run' back up with 6mi again this Sunday and keep slowly adding. I have noticed that overall, I'm feeling like running is getting easier, so that's a move in the right direction. Swimming..not much to report there.. I still usually get 2 swims in a week (except for this week with the pool closed), but they tend to be short, easy, recovery type swims.. But that works for me. As long as I keep up my form and am ready to build on it when I decide to do another tri, I'm all set! Biking..same thing..couple spins a week..either in the basement on my trainer or spin class at the Y.. Feeling good! Crossfit is going well. The friendly gym competition deal was fun.. I did learn a few things.. One main thing, I guess, was that if I ever want to compete..I need to master the art of 'hurry up and wait'. It's hard to warm up, work out, get cold..wait.. I just couldn't capture that magic again..ya know? I did fine and had fun..but I was completely forgetting how to do things..double unders? Toes to bars? Completely lost my rhythm.. Oh, well. Plenty to work on! But already since that day, I've improved on some skills and feel my strength coming back bit by bit.. I'm getting there. Most of all, I'm really enjoying the workouts. I'm currently nursing a sore arse from Monday's workout.. It's good to be back! The boys are doing great..for the most part. As I mentioned, they've both gone to bed uncharacteristically early tonight, so we'll see how that plays out. Miles is still eating..a lot.. He's currently off the charts on his weight, but what can ya do? Keep on keeping on. Not going to deny a crying, hungry baby his food. Thanksgiving was a fun weekend.. Started off with a great, hopefully new tradition of having friends and their families over for a run, then a kids run, and then waffles!! So..the 'waffle run', of coarse (we're big on naming runs around here)! It was a great time..aside from Mason's melt down when he didn't win the kids fun run.. Sheesh. Kid does not like to lose, no sir.. Working on that one.. Not sure if I'm making any progress, though.. Then it was dinner with Matt's cousins family.. Then my parents and little brother came in for the weekend! Mason was thrilled and now is a big fan of his "awesome uncle Jimmy". Dinner with the family was a success. Not sure what has gotten into me lately, but I've been cooking up a storm lately and have eaten more veggies and produce these past weeks than ever before. I even made my own dried fruit in the oven the other day..and it was such a success, I made more yesterday! I guess I'm embracing the whole 'stay at home mom' gig. I just realized today that my 'stay at home mom' status kinda snuck up on me! I love it..and am so lucky to get to be home..but I just didn't even realize it was happening?.. Is that weird? Anyway. So things are good. Christmas is almost here..and I've gotta find a new spot for this silly elf thing that we got duped in to getting! It doesn't work at all, by the way.. It's supposed to make kids behave, yes? Yeah.. But he does like finding him in the morning..and has quite the eagle eye out for the little guy! And that's all I have to say about that!

Fresh start

And another month goes by.. Time just seems to fly these days! I've officially returned to my usual working out..and so far..pretty humbling, actually! But it feels so good to be back at it. I'm loving every butt kicking workout. I've realized that my endurance, obviously, took a huge hit from a year ago. Understandable and completely predictable, given that my 'runs' for the last several weeks of pregnancy were limited to 20-30min at a crazy slow pace..but still..kinda surprising to actually see it play out. So. I'm embracing this time as a 'clean slate', of sorts, which allows me to set goals and slowly build to achieve and surpass them. I think I mentioned before that my plan is to focus on running and crossfit for right now, so I'm mostly working on making gains in those areas. I'm still getting some swims and spins in, but pretty much just for maintenance purposes at this point. So..where am I starting from with running and crossfit?.. I've been lucky to have a few benchmark crossfit workouts come up in my first days(literally..my first day back, we did the notorious Fran workout..welcome back!) and weeks back in the gym. As rough as those workouts were, it gives me a great chance to see where I am now..and hopefully I can improve from there! So my Fran workout hurt..and was relatively slow..somewhere in the 6 or 7 something minute range? I'd have to look at the JoCo CrossFit website, but it's there for my reference when it comes time to do it again. I'm constantly sore and the first days back were rough..some still are..but I'm already feeling stronger and getting back in the swing of things and feeling more like my old self again. So I've started with 3-4 days a week of crossfit, which is working out well so far. Running..has also been rough..a bit.. But, again, gives me a chance to really see some gains after kinda stalling out when training for long distances through my knee injury last year. So I'm running about 4 days a week, but very short distances. I get about 20 minutes before heading to crossfit where I get whatever I can get in on my treadmill. I'm basically just working to get my base speed up and working on holding a good pace longer and longer. Then I'm working to up my distance in my 'long' run on Sundays. I started at 3 miles and did a 'baseline' run that I'll do at the start of every month to see how I'm doing.. First test? 3 miles in a whopping 26:16. Like I said..lots of room for improvement! So then my next Sunday run was about 4 and a quarter miles. I'm wearing my garmin again, but only for distance and to reflect after the run to see where my pace is. I'm not using it for speed work and only glance at it occasionally. Seems my comfortable pace is hovering right around 9min miles right now, which would actually be fine with me if I can maintain that as my comfy pace as my distance increases, so we'll see if that's how it works out. I think that's all I have to say about my workouts. I had a birthday, so that was awesome. Started off with the toughest workout I've ever experienced at crossfit. It was hard for me, anyway.. I'm sure it's not 'toughest' for everyone, but that's how it works there! It was 5 rounds of 30 each of kettle bell swings (started with the 53, but half way through round two, decided to switch to 44), Burpees and 'GHD's', which, being pregnant, I hadn't done in a long time! (it's an ab thing that has you hang off a back extension thing, so you're arched back, reaching for the floor, and then come up and touch your toes..let's just say every inch of my core STILL hurts!). It took me over 40 minutes, which I don't think has ever happened before. So that was the start of the day.. Then Mason decided to be in quite the mood. Lovely. Kids don't care when it's mom's birthday..fits and tantrums wait for no one. But we did go out to dinner..first time as a four!..Miles slept through it, but it was nice to get out. So anyway, typical birthday of a mom, I guess. Miles is growing a ton! He's definitely more than doubled his weight in under 2 months. We see the doc next week, so we'll see where he is on the charts. But he's doing great. Now pretty well in to the day time pattern of 'sleep about an hour, wake up, eat, up for maybe an hour or so, eat a little more, then back to sleep'. Ah, the life of a baby! People always ask about how he's sleeping..I say he's doing pretty well. He goes about 5-7 hours in the first stretch, which usually starts between 6 and 7, then after that first wake-up/feeding, he sleeps in about 2-3 hr shifts most nights. Some nights are better than others, but for a young guy, I think he's doing just fine. He's smiling lots now and seems to be getting a little more interested in little toys and things..but pretty much is just content with a rousing game of 'peek-a-boo' and then it's back to sleep! Man, it's so great to see him get such a kick out of seeing your face.. Mason is still doing a great job, overall, at the big bro thing. He loves making him smile and even enjoys being my helper quite a bit. Of coarse, he's not perfect..he has his moments..and he likes getting up in his face way too much.. But, again, for a little guy, I think he's doing pretty great. So that's what we've been up to around here! Can't believe thanksgiving is next week already! I'm debating doing some races that weekend, but I'm kind of leaning toward keeping things simple and just running at home. This Saturday is a friendly competition of sorts at crossfit to celebrate their second anniversary..we'll see how that goes! First I need to get un-sore from Monday's shit show..ow, ow, ow. Even my rib muscles are sore!

So much, yet so..not much..

That's how I feel about these past few weeks.. I do so much and am pretty busy.. But yet, if I were to try to explain what I've been doing, there's not much to say. Hence why I haven't bothered writing lately. That and every time I think about sitting down to write a bit, I get called away for baby duty or realize what time it is and that dinner hasn't been made, etc.. So anyway. Things are good here! I had a few more set backs with my healing and thinking I should heal faster than I was.. Seemed like every time I'd feel good and try to advance my activity..BOOM..reminded that I need to slow down. But. At around 5 wks post partum (is it weird that I want to call it 'post-op' vs 'post-partum'? I just feel like its not so much the 'having a baby' slowing me down right now, but more the 'having my belly cut open'. Either way, at about 5 weeks after the c-section) I started to turn a corner as far as how I was feeling. The week before I was starting to question whether I'd ever heal and get back to my activities, but then all the sudden, I was able to walk and get around much better and things were looking up. I know.. So dramatic.. Now. Here we are at almost 7 weeks and in 1 week I should get the 'all clear' from my doc! Miles has grown so much already. He's sailed through the newborn clothes and diapers..actually I'd call the size 1 diapers about done, too, and we're on to 3mo clothes. He's still a pretty sleepy little fella, but we've had our first glimmers of a smile and he's getting more alert time every day. Just for my own 'baby charting' purposes, I'll note that as of now, Miles goes to bed (for the last time of the day..if that makes sense) at about 8 after one last marathon feeding session.. He goes about 4 hrs before his next feeding, then is usually up again about 2-3 hrs later, then again in the early hours of the morning..back to bed and wakes up for the day around 8am. I'm sure this will continue to adjust as he gets more awake time in the day and we set more of a schedule..but that's where we are for now! Mason is doing great. He still seems to love his big brother status..if anything, I have to shoo the guy away some times to quit giving kisses and hugs and let me put Miles to sleep! He's been going through a bit of a 'scared' phase.. He seems to be scared of lots of things and has slept on the floor in our room a bit too much recently. Hopefully he'll pull through this soon. I can't seem to say the right thing to fix it, though, either. I try to teach him about what to do IF there was an emergency, which leads to multiple questions..next thing I know, he's crying about the 'bad guys' and I'm helping him set up his 'floor bed' in our room.. Eh. We'll figure it out..some day.. Speaking of being freaked out about 'bad guys', Matt has been super busy with his new role at work..all the extra responsibility, new employees, procedures to learn, and travel to the further away locations has meant some long hours and my anxiety of a break in has been elevated a bit. And no, I haven't mentioned this to Mason, but maybe he still picks up on it.. But anyway, I worry all the time about what I would do and how to keep the boys and I safe, so we got an alarm system put in this week! I'm very excited about it. Hopefully it'll give me some peace of mind..maybe Mason will feel safer, too. So.. I guess that's about all that is going on around here. I do have a 'plan' for the upcoming season and what I want to focus on as far as racing and exercise..but it's a pretty loose plan and could totally change based on how things continue to evolve wih our routine here.. But I want to focus on running and crossfit these next few months. The reason..other than the fact that I like those activities, but I feel like I can be pretty time-efficient with those things. A crossfit workout is an hour at the most and I plan to get there first thing (6am) and be quick about my business there to get home to let Matt head off to work and to get going on my day with the boys. Running can be just a quick jog on the treadmill downstairs, or just head out the door for a bit, and I'm all set. I'd like to plan on an early spring half and then at least one fall marathon, but I haven't committed to anything just yet.. But that's the plan! I still want to swim and bike for cross training and recovery..and maintenance.. But the focus will be on running and crossfitting. We'll see how that goes! I will admit that I have started to do small amounts of activity around here.. I even had my first sweaty workout clothes to wash yesterday! It was just a treadmill walk..with incline..and then a short, light crossfit type workout.. MAN do I feel weak! I get super sore from just about any activity, so I'm trying to take it slow..ease back in to it.. I should probably stretch more.. We'll work on that. Mostly I'm trying to get back in the habit of waking up to work out, but it feels good to move a bit more and start trying to build some strength back. I think that's all I have to say about that. We had our 6 yr anniversary on Sunday and our neighbors came to hang with the boys, so we got to enjoy a lovely dinner out. I had my 10 yr reunion at Ball State homecoming last weekend and had fun catching up with old friends for a bit. Matt's birthday is today, so I'm trying to make a nice dinner and Mason and I are going to decorate a cake (hopefully). So..good times at the Blunck house! Again..not much going on, but things are pretty great around here. And..with that.. My littlest guy needs me!

Iron (wo)Man DOWN!

No. I don't typically refer to myself as 'iron woman'..or even in 3rd person, for that matter, but it seemed appropriate for this occasion. Now. I'm well aware of the beating my body just took having my beautiful baby boy via c-section number two, but I'm not sure I remember recovery taking so long? I knew the first week or so I had to take it super easy, and having my parents come to visit and help me out made that more than possible.. In fact, I started feeling better by the end of the week and started walking a bit. The weather here is ridiculously perfect right now..and all I really want to do is go for a run..but I know that's out of the question..but I did not get the memo that walking is out, too. As usual, I have to learn things the hard way. I started walking last Friday..a mile..which was just up and back from Mason's school and I thought it was a very conservative start. I felt fine..so I kept it up.. (I'm sure you can see where this is going). I walked again (with Miles, of coarse) on Saturday..and Sunday.. Again, all what I considered to be short, slow walks and I honestly felt great. But. Then this week, I feel like I've been beat up all over again. I even went to the doc to get checked out on Monday because I had some strange swelling above my incision site and was in quite a bit of pain..more than I had been in probably since coming home from the hospital. Well, the NP came to check me out and said the incision and everything looks great.. No infection or fluid needing to get out.. So she asked if I had been doing much activity. Well. I thought I had been quite the perfect little patient and I said I was really taking it easy and have only been on a couple short walks..you know.. Just a mile.. She just kinda side-eyed me like 'what'. She said 'oh, that's too far.. You just had major surgery 9 days ago!?' Now, I know this could sound like I was trying to push things and get back to 'exercising' too soon, but this really wasn't the case. I honestly thought I was taking it easy, following directions, and was just trying to get both Miles and I outside for a bit. But I guess it was too much too soon and I was ordered to take it even easier than I already was?! I literally do not know how I can be any less active than I have been, but the rest of this week, I've been in my pj's on the couch other than for doc appts. I'm actually still in quite a bit of pain, which is starting to bug me. But I'm giving it time. Maybe I'll get outside just to walk down the street a bit sometime this weekend..but not a mile?! Heaven forbid. Who would have thought a mile could ever be too far? Well. Message received and I'm doing my best not to set myself back in this healing process. So. That's about it for what's going on here. Matt has had this week off from work and has been doing lots of 'special things' with Mason. Last night they went to the women's basketball game with the neighbors..according to Mason it was "so awesome" and informed me that "you get snacks" at basketball games.. No kiddin? Lovely. He wasn't wound up or anything last night.. But I'm glad he's getting to have fun and spend time with his dad. So things are pretty good around here.. Will be better when my guts heal enough to let me get around a bit more.. But the only control I have over that is to be patient.. So that's just what I'll do!

Wow!

I'm not sure where to start..which is why I've held off on writing for a few days. As you can see, I couldn't even come up with a clever title..but 'wow' seems to sum up my feelings about the past few days.. So, last Friday, my little baby boy, Miles, decided to throw a wrench in my plans and he popped my water (no idea what makes one's water break or if the baby has anything to do with it, but it felt like he jabbed a hole in it with his hand, so that's what I'm sticking with..science be damned)?! I knew, obviously, that being 38 (or 39 wks, depending on who's count you went by..my crappy estimation, or the U/S..) wks pregnant, I 'could' go into labor at any moment, but I really, really didn't think I would (as evidenced by my putting last minute prep things off til..well, the last minute, of coarse!). And I'm sure it's totally normal for a gal to run (a lovely full moon..or as Mason insists on calling it..an 'earth moon'..run pushing Mason in the stroller), swim, and get in a crossfit style strength workout, which included pull-ups..all on the day she's going to start labor? Again, had I known I was going to have my baby that night, I mighta cooled it a bit on the workouts..maybe organized and gotten my sh*t together.. But I didn't know! And I felt fine during all that activity. No contractions. Even the lethargy that had hit me earlier in the week (not sure if I mentioned it..to anyone, really, except the gal in the pool lane next to me who asked how I was feeling, but I was just exhausted that day, despite not really doing anything hard..just a slow swim after a little bit of a strength workout..the effort just was not matching up with how tired I felt! So I did take it easy that day, but felt normal again the days after) wasn't really an issue, so I just went about my workout, doing my usual stuff. I had a doc appt that day, too.. He didn't even check for any signs of labor starting because there was not really any indications..contractions, or whatever. So again, went about my day as usual. Then, around 8pm, we were sitting at the kitchen table trying to let Mason finish his dinner before heading to bed, when I felt a strong jab from baby (not totally unusual) followed by a 'pop'. It quite literally felt like a water balloon popping and it didn't take much for me to figure out what was going on. After waiting a bit to see if it was 'real', I made it official and told Matt what was going on. We also explained to Mason that this meant Miles was on his way and he was SO excited, exclaiming 'isn't it so cool that he wants to come see me early?!' yes, son..that is cool..but..I'm not quite ready!! So anyway, Matt and Mason ran around the house like wild animals..Matt getting things packed and ready, as he thought we needed to fly out the door immediately.. Mason was also packing a bag so he could go stay with Matt's cousin, Karen, and her husband EJ and their two kids AJ and Amelia..he wanted to come with us, but luckily he had their house to look forward to because he really likes going to see them. So I slowly tried to gather my things..mostly concerned with how not to be a disgusting, drippy mess.. I think I did pretty well.. I talked to the on-call doc because I wasn't sure how much of a rush we needed to be in. I wasn't having contractions, so I didn't think we needed to be in a hurry.. But. Once that water breaks, you're on the clock to get things going, so I packed, we got Mason off to go to Karen's, chatted with the neighbors for a few (they have a son Masons age, so we see a lot of them and they have been excited about the baby coming.. They happened to come home to see Matt and Mason outside excitedly exchanging car seats and such, so they came by to wish us well), packed up the car and headed off to the hospital.. Only to realize half way there that we forgot the baby clothes?! Doh! Duh..who does that.. So we turned around, got those things..and THEN we were on our way. It was probably close to 11pm by the time we got to the hospital..how's that for moving slow! But we got checked in, they confirmed what I already knew..which was that my water had ruptured.. We had planned on a repeat c-section, which I had scheduled earlier that day for 9/10!, based on how things went when I had Mason. My doc really didn't give me much of a reason to believe that the outcome would be any different this time. Not that he was against me trying for natural, but just that based on past results, it was very likely that I'd end up with the same outcome. So. Knowing that, we decided to just stick with the plan, and we got prepped for our early c-section. We had to wait in line for the OR to be ready for us, but I think I went back around quarter to 1am? It took a little longer than last time..not being in a rush as they were last time, but all in all, it went smooth and easy and I felt good through the whole thing. Finally, after much tugging and prodding, I heard them say 'out' and there he was! At 1:34am on 9/1/12. My second perfect little boy. They had the warming table/station thing right next to me, so I could see him. Matt held my hand through the whole thing. It's quite an odd feeling to be laying there, excited..scared..nervous.. You can feel everything, but not in a painful way. But Matt helped me stay calm, and once Miles was safely out and doing well, it's all so worth everything..the months of discomfort.. None of that matters anymore. After Miles was cleaned up, coming in at a whopping 6# 15oz and 19.5 in, Matt finally got to hold him and I could move my arm enough to touch him.. Poor little guy was hungry! But they still had some 'putting back together' to do with me, so I couldn't hold him or feed him just yet. It felt like a long time before we got back to our little room for recovery, but Miles took right to his business of eating..and all was well. He nursed like a little champ for over an hr, and then we were moved on up to post-partum. I don't think I set him down at all that first night..just snuggled, which he is great at, and fed him. And that's pretty much what we've been up to since then! We managed to talk the docs into letting us go home Sunday night, which I guess was a little quick..especially for a c/s mom, but I was ready. To me, once I was feeling more normal, could walk, wasn't hooked up to any IV's and such, it's just uncomfortable to stay any longer. I can manage my pain at home, so that's what I wanted to do. I swear I wasn't obnoxious about it, but you'd think I asked the craziest thing, when I said I wanted to get home..if possible. But the only one that really seemed to drag her feet on my release at all was an OB that I had never met.. But I guess the fact that I was a repeat c/s and the nurses all vouched for me being able to get around just fine.. Anyway, it seemed like we would never get out of there, but finally, around 8:30 Sunday night, it all came together and we were free! Our first night at home was pretty good. It was great to be home with Mason. Miles did well with his sleeping, eating about every hr and a half, which was fine. I stayed in bed, so Matt had to do more of the up and down work, bringing Miles to me to be fed, but he had Monday off for the labor day holiday and I was pretty sore, so it's just what needed to happen that night. My mom came in for the week and has helped keep Mason entertained while Miles and I relax. I'm starting to heal, but it still is a doozy of a surgery to recover from. As long as I stay on top of my pain meds (which I'm already weening myself down from).. And my food! Man. It's happened twice now that I /we lay down for a nap probably around 11 and next thing I know, I'm waking up around 1 and am dizzy, sweaty, light-headed..feed me! Guess I know how Miles feels.. So I frantically get some nourishment in..meanwhile Miles needs to be fed..always a fun time! And it goes as quickly as it came on, but I really need to be better about preventing it. I guess when you aren't moving near as much as usual, you don't feel as hungry..until it's too late! But other than that, we really are just taking it easy so far this week. I keep toying with the idea of a short walk, but it hasn't happened yet.. Yesterday because it was rainy..we'll see what happens today, but spoiler alert..I'm still in my pj's. Matt has been super busy with his new job (same company and title, but covering airports instead of his usual city stores) and has been working super long hours, but he is taking next week off to be home with us (much debate went on as to how to re-adjust our time off/visitor/helper time and it just worked best to let him get a week in with his new position and then take a week off, so luckily my family and Matt's parents were able to adjust, too) and I'm looking forward to that. For now, though, it's a whole lot of sitting on the couch (can't go up and down the stairs too much this week), feeding, changing, and a little play time with our new little guy. Mason has been very sweet and patient..largely because he's been kept busy by my mom, but he's been very excited to be a big brother. I love it when he tries to comfort Miles when he's waiting to be fed, he says "don't worry, Miles, your big brother is here" while he strokes his head. It's very sweet and protective. He also got to get a 'birthday cake' on Miles' behalf while he was at Karens and when he blew out the candle, he said Miles' wish would be "to be with me for ever and ever". So far so good on the sibling front! I'm sure there won't be any issues at all going forward.. But whatever it is, I'm looking forward to it and feel insanely blessed to have our little family all here, safe and sound.. It's truly wonderful.