This past month has flown by! So many fun things happen this time of year and Emmy is changing so fast. We had the best time celebrating Halloween this year. I don’t know if this girl could be any happier, she is smiling all the time and has the best laugh.

At seven months Emerald is 28 inches long (94% ) and 17 lbs 7 oz (57%) BMI 17%. Emmy is wearing size 3 diapers, and has grown out of most of her 6 month clothes. It’s so sad to pull her cute little outfits that she is just too tall for.

EAT

This last month we started to try solids with Emmy. We were a little surprised when she didn’t take to it like Cannon did.

1/2 Birthday Party

Right at 6 months Cannon started feeding himself solids and loved it but Emmy was definitely not as interested and when we tried to help her she would just spit everything out. It took us a while to notice that Emmy’s tongue thrust reflex was still really strong. Over the month she has shown interest in food but can’t keep any food in her mouth and her gag reflex still seems really far forward. After a little research (google) it seems that most babies lose these characteristics around 4 months but it’s not uncommon to not lose them until 8-9 months old. Our pediatrician wasn’t concerned and encouraged us to just keep offering her food and eventually she should be eating like a champ.

SLEEP

GROW

Emerald has become a very solid sitter and loves to watch the world and play with toys sitting upright.

She is also getting herself up on her hands and knees, scooting and rolling all over. Gone are the days you could lay her on a blanket and have her stay put!

PLAY

It is so much fun to play with Emerald. She is much more into playing with toys than Cannon ever was. She loves traditional baby toys like rattles and toys that light up. She also really loves Tickle Me Elmo, it’s so cute to see her cuddle stuffed animals.

Halloween 2018 Wizard of Oz

We had the best time dressing up for Halloween. We decided to dress up as Wizard of Oz characters. Cannon was the cutest lion and Emmy was  Dorothy, she was so cute I couldn’t take it!

The ruffles!!!!

All of the holidays are so fun to celebrate with Emmy!

This little pumpkin is just the best! She loves to give kisses and hugs and has the best laugh. I just can’t get enough of this munchkin.

Past Monthly Updates

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

I seriously considered skipping posting this week, but it’s not fair to only post the good weeks and not talk about the down ones. And to be clear last week was AMAZING! I had the best time with family celebrating Thanksgiving and getting to share Emerald’s first Thanksgiving, honestly I wouldn’t change a thing because family comes first. That said I didn’t get in as much running as I would have hoped, but hey there is always a chance to start over in a new week.

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Monday: Easy 3ish miles on the treadmill, too icy to run outside. I used to love running on the treadmill and would run many miles while catching up on Netflix but somehow this year it’s been a struggle. I can’t run as fast and feel so tired when running on the treadmill. Any suggestions on how to get my ‘mill mojo back?

Tuesday: I headed outside at 5 am to try for 4×4 min fartlek workout. I didn’t believe that I could hit the pace outlined for me but I did my best and was surprised to see that I did hit the paces and even ran the last two faster…progress!

Wednesday: Out in the dark for an easy 5 miles with a few strides to keep things fun.

Thursday: The entire family came out to run a 5k turkey trot and Cannon ran in his own kids race. It was so much fun to have everyone there!

We are ready to trot

Friday: On Friday I took an intentional rest day. We drove up to Georgetown (about an hour into the mountains) to ride the train and see Santa. Cannon has been so excited to see Santa and ride the train, we have been watching the Polar Express once a week since Halloween.

Saturday: Unintentional rest day, we had 14 people at our house to celebrate Thanksgiving and a run just didn’t fit in. The food and the company were great!

Sunday: I was scheduled to run 12 but I injured my back moving Christmas decoration bins. A few miles in my back was aching so I decided to cut it to just under 7 miles.

Not the best week I have ever put in but I enjoyed almost every mile and celebrating with my family.

Happy Running Everyone

Week 2 of ultra training is officially in the books! It doesn’t really feel that much like ultra training yet since my miles are still so low, I am hoping to ramp up to 50+ miles per week as we get closer to race day. For now I will take the progress as it comes. My long runs are getting progressively longer and my short runs are getting faster so I can’t complain. I just need to remind myself to keep showing up and eventually we will get there.

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Monday: Quick strength training session.

Tuesday: Took myself out in the dark for 5 miles with hill repeats. Lucky for me I live at the top of a hill so it’s not hard to find a good hill to run up and down. I am feeling stronger and stronger on hills and that makes me happy.

Early morning miles, brought to you by my headlamp.

Wednesday: Rest Day, not really intended but couldn’t pry myself away from a warm bed and a snuggly baby. Emmy did enjoy getting out for our first snow of the season.

Baby girl enjoying the snow don’t worry, she wasn’t out long with bare feet #5monthsold #babygirl #emerald

Thursday: Easy 3.5 miles with 5 x 20 sec strides. Although I would always rather be outside I jumped on the treadmill for this one. As the light goes away and the temps drop I will have to make better friends with the treadmill.

Friday: Quick strength training and hike with Cannon and Emerald. It’s so nice to get out on these sunny fall days, Cannon is getting better and better at hiking.

Saturday: We were forecasted to have our first snowstorm roll in early Sunday morning so I moved my long run up so I could enjoy snow free trails. 10 miles on my local route felt good, so much better (and over a minute per mile faster) than last time I ran that same workout!

Saturday long run ✅ done before the snow starts to fall

Sunday: I was scheduled to run 5 easy with strides in the last mile so I bundled up and headed out into the snow.

What a difference a day makes.

I was so cold and a little worried about slipping in the ice and snow so I called it at 4.5 miles with no strides. I guess I wasn’t completely ready for winter running yet.

Do you love running in the snow?

Happy Running Everyone!

Here we go…….I finally set my sights on my first race after having Emerald. The Arches Ultra 50k has been on my radar for a while and it seemed like a good race to jump into post baby.

I haven’t completely set my 2019 race calendar but Arches feels like a good first step. I will likely be running lower milage than some would training for a 50k as I am easing in post baby. I am pretty excited to have something on the calendar.

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Monday: Easy 3 miles in the afternoon with Cory and the babies. I am so excited that Cory’s Achilles has healed enough for us to start running together. I am happy for him as he loves running and for our family that we all get to go together. As usual there is park stop so Cannon can play.

Tuesday: Up early to run on the treadmill, 6 x 800 repeats to keep things interesting. Who doesn’t love to Netflix and treadmill?

Wednesday: Rest Day, soaking in all the extra baby snuggles.

Thursday: Spin class and a quick strength training session.

Friday: Cory had the day off and the weather was about to turn so we headed to the foothills in Boulder for a hike. Cannon did a great job, he hiked/ran over half of our hike. He is growing up so fast it makes me weepy.

After naps, we took the kids out for an afternoon run, Cory is still limiting his distance so he took the kids home after 3 miles, I added an extra 1.3 miles with strides.

Saturday: Five solo miles in the morning, ended the last mile with 5 x 20 seconds strides.

Sunday: Again out early for an easy 8 miles. Things are still slow and building up conservatively but I ran this same route a month ago about a minute per mile slower so I am happy to see progress.

My plan is to not worry too much about paces or comparisons to where I used to be, I just want to keep showing up, giving what I have and seeing where I end up.

Happy Running Everyone!

Since we are now in the 5th week of the semester (WHAT?!?) I would have hoped that I would be in a better groove by now but I am still searching for the perfect routine where I feel like I am getting in all of my training and not dropping other important parts of my life. Right now it feels like I am dropping balls all the time, so it might be time to evaluate priorities and decide what can stay on my plate and what can go, but for now I will just keep trying to show up when I can. The cracks in my day where I used to train or work feel so much smaller now.

This was a cutback week before real training begins next week for my first big race back (YAY!)

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Monday: Spin class! I could go spin on my bike in the basement but it’s so much nicer to go to a class with other people and have an instructor tell me what to do. I have been focusing on lower resistance and higher cadence to give my legs some recovery from running.

Tuesday: 30 minute strength training. This could also be called dinking around picking things up and putting them down. I haven’t really committed to a strength program and I really need to make it a priority. Anyone have and programs that the love?

Wednesday: Up early for an easy 3.2 mile run with 4 x 30 second strides in the last mile.

Thursday: FAIL…missed my easy run.

Friday: Up early to head to spin class before we took the kids to Vail for Oktoberfest. We all had a great time but Cannon seemed to be having the most fun running and climbing all over the fountains in Vail Village. 

Emmy was a champ hanging out with us and sleeping in her carrier, she is just the best baby!

Saturday: Saturday I took the full rest day in favor of getting some chores done, even though I didn’t need it and missed my run on Thursday. This was my last prep week before real training starts so I let it slide.

Sunday: I have been waiting for this for over a year!

4 easy miles with the entire family!!!

As soon as I found out I was pregnant last August I started daydreaming about running with both kiddos. We purchased a double Thule Cougar and got an infant sling for Emmy so she could ride along. We only take her on easy runs and are sure to be careful. But just a month after Emmy was born Cory ruptured his Achilles and was sidelined from all activities. Once I was cleared to run I took both kids out myself but we haven’t been out as a family of four until just recently. Cory was cleared by his doctor to slowly start running again. He is taking it easy with very slow, short runs to start. I am so excited to have my running buddy back and I am looking forward to many runs as a family.

Happy Running Everyone!

After two weeks out of town it’s been a bit of a shock to come back home and jump back into working and a new semester. I will admit that I was a bit overwhelmed adjusting to working and getting two kids ready for the day but hopefully we will find a good rhythm soon. It feels good to start to get into a schedule and start thinking about what races I want to train for!

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Monday: I had planned to go to spin class in the morning but my gym was closed for the week so I took a rest day instead.

Tuesday: First day back to work, I left my run to the evening after the kids went to bed (thanks summer for still being light out). 3 easy miles with some strides thrown in during the last mile.

Dinking around taking photos before doing the “work” of my run (10×30 seconds fartlek efforts with 90 seconds recovery) my body didn’t feel great, but it was perfect weather for a run and it feels oh so good to have it done.

Wednesday: Early morning strength training and easy spin on the trainer. It felt so weird to be back on my TT bike.

Thursday: Rest Day

Friday: 4 miles with 10 by 30 second intervals. I didn’t feel great on this run but having intervals kept things interesting.

Saturday: 3 easy miles pushing the babe

This little babe was so excited to go on my run with me today this run was sandwiched between fartlek efforts yesterday and tomorrow’s long run so it was just an easy three miles. It’s not my favorite to push the BoB up the hills in my neighborhood but it’s so worth it to hang out with my girl.

Sunday: Long run Sunday only clocks in at 6 miles these days but you have to start somewhere and this is just the begining.

It was hot and I was tired from 2am and 4am wake ups (thanks 4 month sleep regression) but I was stoked to run further than I have in a year…..progress.

Happy Running Everyone!

I can’t tell you how many times I have been asked if I am breastfeeding my baby, here in Boulder there is a lot of mom-shaming if you aren’t. I actually got the feeling they might not let me leave the hospital with my baby if I wasn’t planning to breastfeed her (not REALLY but there was a lot of pressure).

When I respond that, yes, I am breastfeeding my baby often times the response is oh great, the weight will just FALL off. When this is said I can’t help but feel my eye twitch and blood pressure rise a little. This is decidedly not the case for me and many other women I know. Serena Williams has talked openly with her struggles with weight loss and breastfeeding. Here is another article explaining some of the reasons.

It was harder the first time when breastfeeding wasn’t helping me lose weight and in fact seemed to impede my weight loss attempts. I had heard for so long how it helps so much and how the baby weight would just melt off. I did struggle with my supply with Cannon I worked hard to get my supply up enough to feed Cannon and have a freezer supply for him for when I went back to work. But no matter how I ate or exercised the weight barley budged. By the time Cannon was 10 months old my supply was drying up and Cannon didn’t care too much about nursing, he was happy to take a bottle. I was emotional about stopping, there was guilt about not making it to the one year mark but I had a freezer stash and it just wasn’t working for us anymore.

All the pumping…..

The one lucky thing was that I didn’t have any trouble weaning, we just stopped and my supply dried up, no need to slowly taper our feedings. That’s when things shifted, my hormones changed, I had much more energy and the weight literally did fall off. I was able to run further and I felt better than I had in months.

Happy boy, didn’t mind taking a bottle or his mommy running the Colorado Marathon

This time around is a little easier, I have tempered my expectations. Again the weight is not falling off but I don’t expect it to until we stop breastfeeding.

I did some research and found that the most important macros for creating breastmilk are protein and fat. After my research and talking to my Midwife I decided to try cutting out all processed carbs and raising my fat and protein percentage.

It’s not my easy but it does seem to be working, even if I have to fight for every pound. After eating this way for a month I have lost about ten pounds and my milk supply has stayed the same. I also have been increasing my exercise volume so I try to focus on lots of healthy fats and staying hydrated.

First real trail run since having the babe. It kicked my butt and lit my soul on fire.

My point in writing this is not to complain, I know how lucky I am to have had two healthy babies and to be able to nurse them at all. My reason for writing this is to hopefully shed some light on women’s’ different experiences so maybe one new mama won’t be so caught off guard like I was. Everyone has a different experience, for some women the weight does fall off and I have even heard stories from women where they put weight back on when they stop nursing, Serena explains that she couldn’t lose weight at all, for me it just makes it that much harder. And for now, that’s okay.