So much can change in a year, and it is so interesting how different years can be from each other. This year has been so much less racing and travel as we focused on adding a baby to our family and some unexpected difficulties over the summer. The focus of the year really seems to have been family, just as I feel it should be. There were incredible highs and a few lows but overall I will always look back on 2018 as an amazing year because we added our sweet Emerald to our family.

The begining of the year was full of hiking as a family, we really enjoyed getting outside even if it was cold as I closed out my second trimester.

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Spring was fun celebrating Easter but mostly counting down the weeks until I got to meet my baby girl. Anyone who has had a baby knows how time slooooooows down in the third trimester.

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We got the nursery ready for baby girl and did our best to prepare to become a family of four.

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In April, easily the highlight of the year happened with the arrival of Emerald Catherine. Emerald’s birth was so smooth we were able to go home to be with Cannon the very next day.

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The first month with Emmy was amazing, we loved getting to know our little girl. Cory took a month off of work (they don’t get any paternity leave so he worked really hard and saved up all his vacation time, come on aerospace company, you can do better). We played, rested and Cannon ran his first race!

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But then things took a turn for the worse, Cory went back to work, which was an adjustment for us all but an expected one. What wasn’t expected was at a BBQ at the end of his first week back, when Emmy was not quite a month old, he would completely sever his Achilles tendon. My sleep deprived, postpartum hormone filled mind couldn’t comprehend what was actually happening. Cory came home from the BBQ and told me of his accident, he claimed it didn’t hurt too bad and he was certain it would be better in a couple days. I took one look at his swollen ankle and was certain he had badly injured his Achilles. The next morning I made an appointment with a doctor and begged him to go, I didn’t want it to get worse. He agreed to go just to make me happy, the doctor confirmed he had ruptured his Achilles and later an MRI confirmed a full rupture. Now we were looking at surgery and bedrest to recover. I will admit I wasn’t taking this all very well. We had a very active needy toddler and a one month old, Cory has always been a big help with the kids. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it all. In late May Cory had his surgery to repair the tendon and it was a great success.

On top of dealing with Cory’s injury and recovery, our pug was getting sicker and sicker. We took him to the vet multiple times and even up to the specialists at Colorado State University. After a few weeks of no answers I noticed that he had a bump that had grown quickly on his neck. With great fear I took him back into the vet, we hoped it was just an infection but I feared the worst since he had been acting so sick. A few days later I got the call I had been dreading, it was Lymphoma and it was spreading fast. We started steroids immediately and were contemplating chemo therapy. The cancer moved faster than we could and it was clear there wasn’t time for treatment. We were forced to say good-bye to our sweet boy in June.

Even with all of the difficulty and the sadness there was also so much joy! We celebrated Cannon’s second birthday with a Where the Wild Things Are themed party.

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With Cory’s injury and recovery from surgery we didn’t have the adventure packed summer full of hikes and camping as we had planned but we did still enjoy the season and played outside a lot.

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Summer also marked the return of running for me, I didn’t feel that I could leave Cory home with both kids by himself because of his injury so that made the return slower that I would have liked but it was amazing to get back out there.

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At the end of summer we took a family trip to Oregon to celebrate my dad’s 70th birthday. It was a great trip visiting some of my favorite places in Oregon including Portland, Cannon Beach and SunRiver (near Bend).

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When we returned from Oregon it was time to head back to work after taking the summer as maternity leave. It was difficult to balance teaching and caring for babies but it was nice to be back in the class room.

Fall was also so fun to celebrate with Cannon, he is really starting to enjoy adventures and holidays. We went to vail for Oktoberfest and dressed up as Wizard of Oz characters for Halloween. Cory also returned to running and we started family runs again, and everything was looking better.

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And then there was all things Christmas, we rode the Georgetown train, met Santa and spent a lot of time celebrating with family.

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It feels a little sad to be saying goodbye to 2018, it is the year that Emmy was born and the last year that we had Winston with us. It is made a little easier by the very exciting plans we have for 2019.

I hope you all had a wonderful 2018, what was your favorite memory from this year?

Christmas this year was magical and just a little bit sad. I have been looking forward to celebrating this year so much. Cannon is starting to understand the idea of Christmas more and this was Emmy’s first Christmas and that is just so special .

Wrapping our first gift to Emmy.

Christmas morning was a very early start for us with a wake up call from Emerald at 2am. Emerald has been sleeping through the night from a very early age so we were surprised to be woken up to her crying. We weren’t sure why she was waking up and upset but even with the extra early wake up it wasn’t all bad as we got some extra cuddles.

Feeling good on Christmas Eve

Cannon woke up at his normal time around 6 am. I threw our cinnamon buns in the oven (I use this recipe, it’s so easy and SO good) and settled in to open the kids’ stockings.

After stockings we packed up and headed to my parents house to celebrate with them and my brother.

As the day wore on poor Emerald started feeling worse and worse she was having trouble napping and would cry and she rarely ever cries. Poor thing was feeling pretty awful. The silver lining is that she would sleep while being held and there were lots of volunteers to cuddle her.

We made it through a delicious lunch and cranberry orange cake. Then hurried home to try to get the kids down for naps.

In the evening we cuddled, watched Christmas movies and ate yummy lasagna.

It was so fun opening gifts with the family and Emmy got the cutest Mini Mouse dress.

Overall we had a good holiday but it was sad to see Emmy feeling so sick. Now we are all feeling a little under the weather and just taking it easy until this bug passes.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Anyone else sick on Christmas?

So many good things this month, I knew this time of year would be fun and we are enjoying it so much. Emmy’s first Thanksgiving has come and gone and we are just a few days from her first Christmas. I feel a little weepy that the year of her birth is almost over and so many firsts are behind us, but she is just so fun it makes me look forward to all the amazing things we will do together as a family.

At eight months Emerald is 28.2 inches long (88% ) and 18 lbs 7 oz (66%) BMI 36%. Emmy is wearing size 3 diapers, and is wearing mostly 9 month size clothes.

EAT

Emmy takes milk like a champ and happily drinks from her bottles, we are starting to work on her holding her own bottle. Anyone have any tips?

Eating solids is getting a little better but she still won’t put much in her mouth and spits out any solid we give her. 

She will eat traditional purees when fed to her with a spoon so we are working with that and just hope that she becomes interested in self feeding solids soon.

SLEEP

Emmy has been working really hard on getting mobile. She is rolling, scooting, and itty bitty crawling. It’s surprising how far she can get on her own. It’s time to really baby proof the house again!

She has also been trying to stand while holding onto her walker or the furniture, it’s still very wobbly and not for long but she is making progress.

Emmy got her first haircut this month, I don’t think it’s as cute as her long hair was but it was getting into and bothering her eyes so we got a quick trim.

She also outgrew her baby bathtub and graduated to the big tub with brother.

PLAY

So much fun this month! We ran our first 5k as an entire family.

Then it was time to start celebrating all things Christmas. We rode the train in Georgetown.

Meeting Santa

Enjoying the lights

And generally enjoying the season.

Past Monthly Updates

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

Happy Thursday Friends!

4 miles with a few strides thrown in was the perfect way to start the day. While I am a little over the frigid temps at 5am it’s not icy so I won’t complain!

I can’t believe how close Christmas is and I have SO MUCH WRAPPING still to do ( I haven’t even started, yikes)

We actually gave Cannon one of his big gifts on Monday when it was his half birthday. It wasn’t really meant to be a half birthday gift, just a way to keep him from getting overwhelmed on Christmas day. Last year it was a little too much for him so we decided he would have more fun playing with his new train set all week.

I think it was a great choice for this year. It’s so fun that he is really getting the idea of Christmas this year!

The big change of plans coming up is that I have decided to change from the 50k at Arches Ultra to the Half Marathon. I do wish there was a distance between the half and 50k but the choices are 9k, half marathon, 50k or 50 mile. I have been having some hip pain lately and I suspect it is from giving birth this year. I don’t want to push too much and risk injury so a 50k in January just doesn’t seem like the best idea.

Once I made this decision I actually got really excited about the shorter race! Cory’s cousins and their two sweet girls are coming with us to Moab and I am so excited to hang with them and have our kids get more time together. Now that I am not going to be prepping and recovering from an ultra I will be able to enjoy our time in Moab so much more.

I will be able to say yes to hiking in Arches before the race and be able to walk around town after the race.

After having Cannon in 2016 I felt like I had to prove to myself that I could get back to running long distances again, it was out of fear that I wouldn’t be able to. This time I KNOW that I can and will get back to ultras when I decide that I am ready.

So now it’s time to get serious setting goals for 2019, I am really on the fence about what I want to do.

Have you figured out your goals for 2019? Let me know what dreams you’re chasing!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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

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!