November 21, 2017

Bumpdate – 17 Weeks

Baby is now the size of: Of a Pomegranate, about 5.1 inches long and weighs about 5.9 ounces.

(Poppy is a nickname we call the baby, ever since it we found out about the pregnancy when it was the size of a poppy seed, Poppy is not what we are planning on naming the baby)

Sleep: Spotty and sporadic. Cannon is going through some major teething, he has been waking up overnight which is so weird for us since he has been sleeping through the night almost since birth. It’s hard for me to fall back to sleep when I get woken up.

Maternity clothes / preferred attire: Still a mix of mostly regular clothes with some maternity. I hate tight clothing so as soon as something starts to get snug I retire it.

Symptoms: This week I am feeling tired but that might be more attributed to losing sleep than pregnancy. I am feeling a little more hungry than normal, luckily for me there is lots of great food around this week.

Patiently waiting for the cookies to come out of the oven.

Cravings/aversions and favorite foods: Craving lots of sweets this week

Exercise: Weekly rundown for last week posted here this week with fall break I am trying to get more strength training in with my schedule completely different.

Mood: Really good, I am enjoying more time with Cannon and looking forward to family time and wonderful food on Thanksgiving.

Missing: Wine, training for races, and some of my normal clothes. As more and more of my regular clothes are getting too small it makes me a little sad to walk into my closet and see all the things I won’t be wearing until next year.

I am also missing real full caffeinated coffee!

Best moments: Not a specific pregnancy moment but Cannon who is normally not very affectionate has been giving out more hugs and it melts my heart every time.

Worst moments: I felt really sick after eating breakfast once during the week, it was similar to first trimester sickness. I passed within an hour but it just reminds me of feeling sick, all the time, for the last few months…..no fun.

Buying: A bunch a baby clothes since Carters is having a big sale…baby clothes are just too cute!

Dreaming About: Little tiny baby hands and feet….and how good they smell.

October 26, 2017

Lately // Summer 2017

It’s been a long time since I have updated this little space of the internet so it seems appropriate to do a little recap of summer 2017.

June started off with a bang with my first ultra of the summer. I was really excited to run the North Fork 50k in Pine, CO.

Excited to see Cory and Cannon at mile 22ish

I REALLY loved this race and plan to write race reports for my summer races soon. The trail was amazing, the weather was great and and I had an amazing time.

I spent a lot of weekend time on the trails preparing for Leadville Silver Rush 50.

Mid month it was time to celebrate Cannon turning one!

We had friends and family over to celebrate with a You Are My Sunshine themed party.

We also got to celebrate Cory’s second Father’s Day with one of our favorite things to do as a family, a hike!

Don’y believe their faces….they were having fun.

We spent many hours at the park, library and our favorite, the pool!

At the end of June Cory and I celebrated 11 years of marriage. We dropped Cannon of with his first overnight with his grandparents (Cannon did great, I kind of hated it). For our anniversary we decided to celebrate by running the Muller Trail Marathon. I loved running with Cory by my side.

After the race we rushed back to pick up our boy, grab some Indian food and spent the evening cuddling. It was a great day!

We had a blast celebrating Independence Day with family and friends

Happy Independence Day!!!

It was a great day except for when I caught my toe on our sliding door and broke my little toe =(

And….it ends with a broken toe I am supposed to line up for the Leadville Silver Rush 50 tomorrow, instead I will likely just feel sorry for myself. It’s not a bad break, I can walk and even run a little but not 50 miles on uneven trails. I am disappointed but still happy with what I did get to do this training cycle. Three marathons and a 50k is still pretty great. #leadvillesilverrush50 #brokentoe

I was hopeful that I would be able to still run but my little toe was not allowing for that much running without intense pain. Two marathons and an ultra in June to a big fat zero in July.

Lucky for me I started a very intense online training for work to become certified to teach online classes. This training only lasted four weeks but it filled all the time that running had previously taken up.

We were excited to get to cheer Grandma on at a triathlon in Evergreen!

August brought the begining of football season!

We headed to Vail for Cory’s birthday

Then we got to cheer Cory on at the Beaver Creek Trail Half Marathon, where he took 3rd overall!

After my toe healed I felt like I really needed to rebuild my running from the ground up so I focused strength training and decided not to rush back to long distances immediately.

The end of August brought the begining of fall semester and full time teaching for me. While I only teach two classes on campus I also started teaching online as well.

We ended the summer by heading to Breckenridge for one of my favorite trail races, Beack Crest, this was my fourth year in a row of running it and I am really hoping to make it a tradition to run it every year. It is always beautiful and challenging.

And there it is, the highlights from summer 2017. I am looking forward to making some big race plans for 2018!

February 10, 2017

Currently // February 2017

The last couple months have been a blur, with the holidays, lots of new adventures and trying to soak in every moment with my little man. Here is what’s been up the last couple of months.

Excited About // My new role teaching at a small local college. I had moved more into administrative role over the last few years and I LOVED my job at the University. Honestly I really miss my old job and my coworkers, it really was an amazing group of people and students to work with. But after returning after having Cannon, it just didn’t feel right to me. I hated spending so much time away from him when he was so small, it broke my heart and I didn’t feel like I was my best at work or at home. So I resigned from my job without a real plan on what I would do next, it was scary but I believed that something would come up that would be a better fit. In December I applied for a teaching job where I would only have to be on campus twice a week and could do the rest of my work remotely from home. I interviewed and was offered the job right at the begining of the year. While I loved being home full time with Cannon, this for me feels like the best fit, I love that I am with him most days but I still get to teach and interact with adults. It’s not always easy, and there is VERY little free time, but it’s so worth it.

Training For // Marathon training for an April trail marathon. It feels so good to be training for an event, like getting a little piece of myself back.

Focusing On // Little victories. As I have gotten back into training and eating well to fuel my runs I am having little victories like being able to run all the hills on the seven mile loop around my house. Being able to zip up my old favorite running jacket, this is a big win in my book. And fitting back into more and more of my work wardrobe. I hit my pre-pregnancy weight a while ago but after having a baby and (still) nursing things are a little different. I was training for an Ironman before getting pregnant so even if the scale is the same or less body composition is still a work in progress.

Struggling With // Nursing. You may recall that I had a hard time establishing my milk supply right after having Cannon. I had to work really hard to get enough milk to feed him. It was going along but I always had to work at it. I woke up every night for months to pump extra, sometimes multiple times. Now that I am back at work again my supply seems to be going down again and I feel like I am hanging on by a thread to keep up. It’s stressful and I have a lot of mom guilt about it, like I am not doing the right things if I am not able to make enough milk for my baby. I know it’s fine if he has formula, and that I even have a frozen milk stash but I am struggling with accepting that this has been such a struggle.

Loving // Playing with my little man, he is so much fun!

Cannon loves his toys but of course his favorite right now is my water bottle

December 20, 2016

Cannon // 6 Month Check In

Over the weekend we celebrated Cannon’s half birthday. Time is flying and Cannon is learning and growing so fast!

He is now 17 lbs 5 oz (46%) and 27 in (67%)

Over the last month we got to run our first Turkey Trot 5k as a family and celebrate Cannon’s first Thanksgiving. While Cannon didn’t get to try any of the food he really seemed to enjoy the run

He can now sit up completely unassisted and rolls both ways. He still can fit into most of his 3-6 month clothes but all his pants are a little short on him so he will be moving to 9 month clothes soon. It does make me sad to pack up his stuff as he out grows it but it’s just so fun to watch him grow.

It has been pretty cold this last month so we haven’t been able to get out on as many walks and runs as I would like but when we do get a chance Cannon loves the snow so much. I may have to learn to ski or snowboard just so I can take him.

Just a little snow day goofin’ Love this little guy so much ❤️❄️️❤️ #snowday #cannon #cmcn

Cannon also met Santa for the first time, no tears this year, but I bet we aren’t so lucky next year.

Luckily for me, just in the last week naps seem to be getting a little better. Hopefully this trend will keep going and we will have more of a consistent napper. We continue to be spoiled with overnight sleep between 10-12 hours every night!

We are about to start eating solids after being exclusively breast fed for the last 6 months, I think Cannon is more than ready!

Now we are just waiting for Santa to visit. My heart is exploding with joy over celebrating Christmas with my little family.

Waiting for Santa #Cannon #cmcn #6monthsold

Past Monthly Updates:

November 21, 2016

Cannon // 5 Month Check In

Cannon just turned 5 months old!

He is now 16 lbs 12 oz (53%) and 26.5 in (73%)

This was such a fun month for us! Cannon is such a sweet happy little boy. He always greets me with a smile and loves to cuddle and play. It is SO much fun to be his mom, I love it more than I could have imagined.

The biggest change this month for us was that I left my full time job to spend more time with Cannon. We put Cannon in daycare when I went back to work originally and we loved the “school” we sent him to but things weren’t as good as could have been. I felt like I barely had any time with Cannon and my life revolved around, bottles. Cleaning bottles, filling bottles, packing bottles, pumping into bottles and repeat. One of the difficult things was that Cannon does not take a bottle well, he won’t eat much from a bottle and complains the entire time he is eating. While he was eating okay, thinking about how my baby wasn’t as happy as he could be was really difficult for me. After lots of tears and long conversations we decided it would be best for me to leave my job and work part-time from home.

We also celebrated Cannon’s first Halloween. My parents bought him a beautiful polar bear costume but it was SO HOT in October that we had to go with a back-up pumpkin costume.

Cannon rolled over for the first time this month and sat up unassisted just this last week. It’s so fun to watch him grow, develop and learn.

We had a big sleep regression this month. Cannon had been sleeping well at night between 6 and 8 hours straight. Then after 4 months he started having trouble sleeping through the night. We hadn’t planned on moving him into his own room to sleep until around 6 months, but we were waking him up at night so it seemed like the right time to move him. Sleep was still not great so I got the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby The book has helped a lot and we have gotten up 11 hours of sleep overnight. Our naps are still very short so hopefully we can keep improving on that! Any mamas out there have tips on how to consolidate naps? We are only getting about 30-45 minutes at a time.

We finally had our first snow and Cannon seemed to really love it and made a snow angle when he was laid down in the snow.

We are so excited to celebrate Cannon’s first thanksgiving and Christmas with friends and family.

Past Monthly Updates:

October 3, 2016

Weekly Rundown – Back on the Trails

I am linking up with Jessie at The Right Fits and Jess Runs ATL to recap last weeks training.

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Last weeks training did not go completely as planned, we still have a sick baby (boo) and birthday celebrations were had (yay). I am hoping this week will be a little bit less eventful and more consistent with the workouts. Here is how last week shook out:

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: 4 mile run

Wednesday: Upper and Lower body fix from 21 day fix

Thursday: 2.5 mile run in the morning and Pilates Fix in the evening

Friday: Core workout

Saturday: family hike in Nederland and Dirty Thirty strength workout

Sunday: Nothin’….was supposed to be a long run and yoga but the day got away from me and I ate cake instead (not to worry, I got run and yoga in today 😉

Total: ~5 hours of training, definitely an easy week. I am determined to make it to the pool this week!

September 29, 2016

36.

My birthday was this week and I turned 36. 36 seems like a nice round strong number, and I feel like it’s going to be a good year for me. I feel more like myself, braver, happier and more content. This is likely more to do with becoming a mother, than 36 being some kind of magical number but that’s where I am regardless. The world feels fresh, full of possibilities and magic thanks to my son, he really has brought so much light into my life.

Matchy matchy

35 was a drastic shift from previous years. I raced once, ONCE while I was 35 and that was just a couple weeks ago. My priorities shifted from triathlon to keeping my baby and myself healthy. The year was filled with excitement and a little worry (being pregnant can be scary, when you can’t see your little one to confirm that they are health and safe). 36 also feels great because I am just starting to feel like myself again. After close to 10 months of pregnancy then recovering from childbirth my body felt foreign and strange to me. Just in the last couple weeks I have started to feel stronger and more at home in my skin again.

Now I am only interested in pursuing things that bring me joy. I don’t have time for activities or objects that aren’t bringing me closer to my dreams. I want to be a good role model to my son that you should follow your heart, chase your dreams and that it is never too late.

Quote by @imbethgerdes on returning to racing ironman triathlons after having a baby. Always inspirational and a reminder to chase the light.

Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman