Monday, April 30, 2012

Running!

I've been asked a few times to blog about running and training to do races.

I never thought of myself as a runner.  Back in high school I took physical education during summer school because I didn't want to sweat during the regular school year.  I had a friend in my class who was probably around 300 pounds and he did not run.  Instead the two of us would walk the mile together around the track.  We had to do it in less than 20 minute and usually the two of us (the odd pair that we were) finished right around 19 minutes and 50 some seconds.

Then Annika was born and the curse of the slowed down metabolism hit.  I was no longer going to be able to get away with eating cookies and candy for lunch while maintaining my size 2.  I needed an exercise plan. In June the personal trainer at my work asked me if I wanted to train for a half marathon.  I had never done a 5K or even a 10K but here she was asking me to do 13.1 miles of running.....at once.

Up for the challenge I took it.  I followed this training schedule for both the half marathons I have completed.  While I am not the fastest runner (I average in a half marathon about 10 1/2 to 11 1/2 minute miles) I was proud to say that I did it.  I am actually excited to to another race since I've already built up my speed to this now and I'm sure I will get faster with training.

Now when I started the half marathon training schedule I was barely able to run for more than 1/4 mile without stopping to catch my breath.  But each and every run I got better and better.  I would make a goal for myself with each run, I'm going to make it out of our neighborhood and to the entrance of the next.  Then I made it to the next neighborhood.  Then the traffic light.  Then to the traffic light and around the corner.  By the time I completed my 10 mile run I was able to run over 2 miles without stopping.

I know some people believe they have to run a half marathon non-stop without walking but I don't.  I have a perfectly good pace with being able to walk a bit.  I've only done one shorter race over a local bridge that was 4 miles long and I did run that entire race on pure adrenaline and did 10 minute miles (plus that was the day Josh and I were going to buy a new car and I needed to get the race over with so we could go car shopping!).

Currently I am preparing myself to start the half marathon training schedule.  Thanks to the extra cushion inside the stroller and the nice flat sidewalks I run on I now feel comfortable running with both the girls in the jogger.  Annabel's head is perfectly still in it and she doesn't bounce around at all. As you can see they fall asleep while I run which is great because I get my "me time" to zone out and run.


If you are interested in a double jogging stroller I have this one which is pictured here.  I also have an Instep single jogger but it is not the "Safari" one.  I can't seem to find a link so they may not make it any longer.  The Instep Safari single stroller looks a lot like my double so I'm sure it's good too.

During the week I have both girls while training because of our work schedules.  On the weekends I have been taking Annika with me in her single jogger.  I haven't done more than 5 miles with her and I probably won't increase my miles with her.  I really don't think she can handle a longer run.  While she does enjoy riding in the stroller and naming every single thing she sees I can see how it could be pretty boring.  Soon I'll have to start running again on my own during longer runs which I don't mind but it's nice to be able to store my water bottles in the stroller!  I usually wear this on long runs while I'm alone.  I don't understand how people run without "fuel".  I always have to have water and on runs longer than 5 miles I use GU Gels for energy.  The chocolate and vanilla are my favorite.  The chocolate is like a treat because it tastes just like chocolate icing.  I think all the other flavors taste like plastic so I never buy them.

So 12 weeks before my next scheduled race I will start following this training schedule which is a level higher than the last I did for both my other races.  I want to improve my time and try to finish closer to 2 hours (I did 2 hours 27 minutes last time).  I plan on doing this race again as it was my first race every back in November 2010.  I just need to sign up for it so I can't back out!  Last time I did this race only a few weeks after my mom died and while my dad was in the hospital so it has a lot of memories for me.  I was able to stick with my training schedule through all that was going on and finish this race with Josh waiting for me at the finish line!

If you have any other questions about running please leave me a comment and I will do a full post with all the questions and my answers!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

~Randoms~

~Had my year end review today.  My supervisor is currently undergoing cancer treatment (he's actually done with chemo and radiation and he's home now recovering) so the director and manager of our department did mine.  I had never formally met the director since I was on maternity leave when she kind of took over the department and our manager has been there a few weeks but she used to work there as our manager about 3 years ago.  She actually started the same day I did almost 7 years ago.  When I said I was on maternity leave the manager looked at me and said "oh I didn't realize you had a child!"  She was pretty shocked when I told her that since she's been gone I actually had 2 children!  Then she said she doesn't know how I get into work at 6am every morning.  So, of course, I had to explain the entire store of how Josh and I work opposite shifts so we have no daycare and we never see each other.  The director asked me when I see Josh and I said only on the weekends!  I hope that one sticks with them, I never work Saturdays anymore since it's the only time we're all together.

~I didn't find out what my raise will be, if any.  I'm sure our company is giving them this year since they're doing financially a lot better than they were doing back in 2009 when we had lay offs.  I'll find out in a few weeks.  But since my supervisor (he wrote up our reviews prior to going on leave) said I am "the strongest member of the team" I'm pretty sure it'll be a good one :)

~I still can't figure out what Annika is referring to when she says "fuckies".  There is something in the house that is a fuckie and she gets very, very excited when talking about it.  I know her word for fox is "fuck" but I'm sure she is not talking about foxes (assuming the plural for foxes is fuckies).  Josh told me today that she was standing in a corner looking down at the floor and pointing while happily screaming "FUCKIES, OH MY GOODNESS, FUCKIES!!"  Yep, no clue.

~Annabel is the sweetest cooing baby ever.  She seems like she's attempting to talk!  Everyday she seems to make a new little noise and I love it.

~I'm getting out of my funk I've been in for like the past week.  Sometimes I'll start thinking about something about my grandma and I start getting anxious but then I stop myself so I don't get too worked up, especially while I'm at work.  My friend at work said a few people told her they're worried about me since I barely had time to get over my parents dying and now this.  Honestly they don't know the relationship I had with my parents so it's hard for them to understand.  I do still get sad thinking about my parents being gone but each month it gets a tiny bit easier.  I do have moments, like when I think about them not seeing Annika and never meeting Annabel that do get hard.  Same thing with grandma, I think I'm more upset that Annika will never see her again and she loved her so much.  There's no way to even explain to Annika that grandma is coming over to visit anymore and she asks for her all the time.

~I'm so glad it's Friday.  Even though I took off work Monday I swear this has felt like the longest week ever!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

The Diets

Okay, so now lets change the subject (you know, the whole death subject that my blogs seem to go to).

I am currently participating in a 30 Day No Sugar Challenge and I'm on day 2.  So far I've been successful!  Both yesterday and today I've had mild headaches but nothing too bad since I was watching myself with sugar anyway.  I've eaten a crap load of veggies and have to limit myself to 3 servings of fruit (per the challenge rules) as fruit has natural sugars still.

Prior to starting the challenge I had a bit of a splurge with my friend from work.  I NEVER get out with friends so this was a rare occasional.  I didn't go to work on Friday but luckily my friend dragged me out anyway and we had sushi!  I LOVE sushi.  If I could eat only sushi for the rest of my life I'd be totally happy, fat, but happy!


From the top we have the Rock N Roll (crabmeat, avocado, cucumber and cream cheese topped with eel), then Lucky Roll (spicy crab salad, fried shrimp, fish roe, avocado, cucumber and scallions), next is one of our favorites the Sex on the Beach Roll (tuna, white fish, yellowtail, crabmeat, avocado deep fried served with chili sauce) and then our all time favorite, I wish I could eat it everyday roll, the Crazy Mexican Roll (fried salmon and fried white fish topped with avocado and three different sauces).  OMG.  So good.  I've never actually been to a sushi restaurant before so this was a treat.  I've only had sushi at a local Chinese Buffet (now I know that it's crap because real sushi is soooo much better) and from the grocery store (which is okay, not as good as the restaurant though).  I plan on taking Josh there for lunch on Saturday.  He's excited to go for the first time, it's just we have to bring the girls so we're hoping Annika will behave since the restaurant is small and quite and Annika is a very loud speaker (she has one voice volume and that is "super extra loud our neighbors must hate us").

Speaking of diets Annika's has changed her diet and taken a complete 180 turn!  I'm so excited.  She's been more open to eating healthier stuff just since Friday.  She's eaten apples, carrots (with either hummus or ranch), unsweetened applesauce (I never buy the sugary kind), blueberries, watermelon, omelets with spinach and mushrooms, oranges, yogurt, chicken with baked beans and potato salad (clearly this was Josh getting her to eat that, I don't eat that type of stuff), peanut butter on graham crackers, bananas, cantelope and honeydew melon.  No seriously, all within the last 5 days.  Last Tuesday she didn't eat any of this stuff, she's scream if you tried to get her to eat it (she did eat applesauce and yogurt about a year ago but decided she hated both).  Now she's all about it!  I love it!  I'm so excited that she's more open to things now.  Maybe I'll let her try some sushi Saturday (a roll that is cooked, I'm not so sure the raw ones are okay for her yet).  I have a feeling she may like it since she really does enjoy eating fish.

And another person's diet to discuss is our sweet baby Annabel.  She has been going through a major growth spurt.  I cannot wait to see the look on the nurse's face at the doctor Friday (it's her 4 month check up) when I tell her she has 4 bottles a day with anywhere from 10-14 ounces (which technically means she has 2 bottles sometimes because our bottles hold 10 ounces).  This child is a formula drinking machine.  I'm hoping they give us the okay to maybe start some baby cereal and veggies.  She's starting to watch us eat and she smacks her mouth like she's chewing.  We are going to go broke paying for the cans of formula this baby is sucking down!  She's also filling out her 6-9 month clothes very nicely, at 4 months old!!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Stress of it all

I attempted to go to work today but had a panic attack about half way there and had to come back home.

I'm stressed that no one in the family seems to be speaking to each other. I understand people grieve in different ways but it sucks to not speak to anyone for days and days. Also once you've had family die and then they continue dying over the past year and a half (like mine seem to be doing) the phone calls, cards and people letting you know they're thinking of you drop....to zero. Like we don't need to hear from anyone because we've already had 3 other family members die so we should be used to it. 

It sucks. I'm so done with everything. Hopefully I can attempt to go to work again tomorrow and hopefully we hear something from anyone.  I don't even know when the service for my grandmother is or anything.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Sad News

Today my grandmother passed away.

Sometimes I feel like my entire family is just dying.

My mom in October of 2010.

My dad in December of 2010.

My grandpa (in Sweden) December of 2011.

And now my grandmother (who lived locally).

I just know that Annika is going to ask for her because she just loved her so much.

Monday, April 16, 2012

100th Post!

This is my 100th post on this blog (my old one had over a thousand, or 2,000, can't remember).

I don't have anything special to write about so I'll just do some random stuff.

~We went to Ocala last weekend to visit my best friend, one of Josh's high school friends and his step-dad (he was married to Josh's mom when she died and we still consider him family). Yes, small world, they all live in one town! I'll do a picture post soon.

~Annika has randomly been complaining of tummy aches. The fact that she can say "tummy hurts" is a pretty big deal. I've always had to guess what's wrong with her but now she can tell me. She has no fever, vomiting or diarrhea so I'm assuming its the new juice Josh got her. We always buy Bolthouse juice but we tried a new one that must be bugging her.

~I'm so excited that the girls both traveled so well this past weekend. Makes me excited to plan some other trips with them. They both slept so well in the hotel, Annabel in her pack n play and Annika in bed with me (we kicked Josh out and one night he slept in the other bed in our room and the 2nd night he stayed up late so he was in the living room area sleeping on the couch). Josh can't sleep with a little person breathing on him and luckily I can so Annika and I do just fine together.

~Starting April 23rd I will be doing the 30 Day No Sugar Challenge. Eekkkk, a little nervous since I usually do cheat a bit on weekends, I know that during the week it won't be an issue. I'm trying to get on a path of better eating and a path preventing myself from getting heart disease which both my parents had when they died.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Sweet Baby Annabel

Our little Annabel is just the sweetest baby. Here are some recent pictures of her.

With my aunt:





I'm starting to notice looking at pictures that my aunt is a bit of a baby hog! She always has Annabel which is fine with us. She was actually nervous to even pick up Annika when she was a baby but she's totally fine with Annabel now.

And here are pictures from her photo shoot with daddy, she loves daddy!


I love what she's doing with her little arms. Such a shy looking smile.
And a big laugh for silly daddy!
Then our sweet girl snoozed, she slept a lot during Easter with the family.



Annabel can now roll over from tummy to back like a pro. It's actually hard to keep her on her tummy because she just rolls right over.

She can hold her weight on her legs, she's been doing this a while, I think it's crazy because our lazy Annika didn't put weight on her legs at all till almost 8 months old!

I think she's going to be slightly shy, more like me than Josh. It takes her a while to get used to seeing new people.

She will only take a bottle from me or Josh. No one else that has tried has been successful, she just plain refuses!

I can't believe she'll be 4 months old in a week!

She's wearing all size 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers.

I think she may be longer than Annika at this age but she is way thinner.

Her hair is WILD. I try to flatten it out after I wash it but it just stands back up on its own. Josh tries to flatten it out and I keep telling him not to, lets just embrace the wild hair!

I think her hair is also more red than Annika's at this age. It's hard to tell because Annabel's hair is about 3 times thicker and at least an inch longer than Annika's at this age.

I just love this baby!

Friday, April 13, 2012

Cute Things Annika Says

Annika has personality, lots of it. She also happens to say the cutest things.

The other day I asked her what color marker I had in my hand, it was brown.

Chocolate.

When she touches something one of us told her not to touch she tattles on herself and says:

No touchies.

When someone asks her what her name is she says:

On-a-na

When I tell her she can only have 1 piece of candy or she has to take 1 bite of food she holds up one fine and yells:

One. One momma, just one!

When I put Annabel in her Bumbo instead of her bouncer she tries to pick up Annabel then she says:

Babys wants in the bouncer momma, put her in bouncer.

Whenever I move a dining room chair to reach something in the kitchen or I get out sugar or flour for something she runs in the kitchen saying:

Cookies, make cookies now please.

I think the thing I love most is:

I wuv you momma.

She also makes up things on her own. Whip cream (on Josh's Starbucks drinks) is yogurt (silly girl, whip cream is not good for you like yogurt!). A fox is, well watch the video again. Annabel is "babys", always said with an "s" at the end. Flowers are "flow-ies". All small rodents (Ratatouille and Angelina Ballerina) are cats. Squirrels are actually bunnies and she gets very excited to see a "bunny".

Annika can now count on her own to 10 and can say A, B, C, D and then she kind of just goes off saying random letters to the tune of ABCs. On a good day she can name all her colors (including chocolate as brown, sometimes brown is poop) and she can name most simple shapes (star, circle, triangle, square).

And now Annika's favorite new thing to do:

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Swimming!

We're lucky to have a very nice pool in our neighborhood. Last Sunday Josh and Annika took a swim in the evening while Annabel and I worked out in the gym. Well, Annabel slept in her stroller while I worked out! The water is just a bit too cool for Annabel still.

Daddy getting Annika to jump in:

Annika walking over to the lions:
Annika letting the lions spit on her feet:
Ta Da!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Fat

I'm so tired of people calling people that are pregnant fat. Perfect example right now, Jessica Simpson.

The girl is pregnant. Clearly she gained a bit of weight prior to getting pregnant and she appears to be pretty swollen but she's PREGNANT! I also think in the article that she isn't totally honest with what she's gained (I think she said 40-50 pounds) but really why does she have to tell anyone?? I don't understand why these tabloids think it's okay to label her as fat. Why do they have to point out when someone gains more than 25 pounds while pregnant? I gained 60 with Annika and 45 with Annabel and I'm within a few pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight already. Some people are just going to gain more no matter what.

I am interested to see if she loses the weight quickly doing the wrong things (crash diets, tons of exercise) or the right way with Weight Watchers since they want her as a spokesperson.

I'm also interested to see what she picks for a name!

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

One Tree Hill

Excuse me while I get a bit emotional! The series finale of "One Tree Hill" comes on in only one hour.

This show started in 2003, back then I was still living at home with my parents and my now ex-boyfriend. I had graduated from high school and dental assisting school and was working for a dentist. Life has changed a lot in the last 9 years but the one thing that has always been the same is watching this show! Seriously. I have never, ever missed an episode.

See when I get attached to a show it's for the life of the show. I'm big time into commitments here. It all started with "Dawson's Creek". Never missed an episode and cried like a freaking baby the entire series finale. Then I had "The OC", same deal, watched every single episode and cried like a baby during the last episode.

I cannot even deal with how much I'm about to cry tonight! It's two hours too which puts me at going to bed well after 10pm which I never do but I cannot miss it. I really hope they come out with a box set of all the seasons. Josh has only seen 2 seasons of the show and has missed the entire last two seasons and now he's upset since I told him what's happened so far!

Bathing Suits

It's summer and we live in Florida so there's no way to escape wearing a bathingsuit.

My abs are actually much flatter than they were the summer after Annika was born but they still aren't back to normal yet. My legs aren't too bad, I just need a few more weekend runs and they should be back to normal too.

But my bathing suit tops, that's the issue.

I've always worn two piece bathingsuits. I have a weird torso (I think anyway) and have never been able to find a one piece that fits properly. My big issue now is that I have no boobs. No, they aren't small, I have NONE. They have gone away forever. I used to fill out an A cup (which is already small) and after Annika I was measured at Victoria's Secret and the lady sadly told me they do not carry my size (32AA). Well, those 32AA's that I bought in the children's department of Target are now too big which means all of my bathing suit tops are also big.

Luckily I have one bandeau style top that seems to work fine but all my bikini triangle tops and halter tops are done. Looks like I'll have to get some new tops from someplace now!

I like to mix my bathingsuits up too so my plan is to write down all the colors and styles for the bottoms that I have and then buy a maybe two or three tops that will match them all.

Aaaahhh...bathing suit season....