More preggos

My count is at 34 (due Jan-Oct 2010) including the next five ladies...

Ashley G
Kris E's wife
Steph W
Jane W
Katy TJ

I mean business.

Don't mess with me today. I have been wronged multiple times by a local furniture delivery company in the past week and I am on fire! I have filed a complaint with the BBB - with which the company currently has an 'A' rating. Shocking to me.

See, I do not get treated poorly. If a company is going to treat me poorly, I will not associate with them. If they try to make amends, fine, I'll listen to reason and potentially give them a second chance. However, if they try to mislead me more than once, I am done.

In this situation, I will not patronize the store that uses this particular delivery company either, which is a shame because it is the main baby superstore here in Austin and where my mom works. I have also written a letter to the furniture maker, expressing my disappointment in their association with this store (their 'exclusive dealer') due to their unsatisfactory delivery practices...see if I want any additional matching pieces to the two we already have, including the conversion kits that turn the crib into a toddler bed or full size bed, then we have to purchase it at that baby superstore. grr...

Watch out, people. I'm on a roll today.

If there are any of you strong enough to help Chad move the heavy dresser up one flight of stairs, can you please email me? Your assistance might be needed if this doesn't resolve. We can pay you with beer, pizza, or just continue to appreciate you as a helpful friend. :)

High Mileage Mama!

I had a 'high mileage' day yesterday!!! My total for the day was 6.45 miles! I walked 2 in the morning. After work, Tara came over and we did the 1:30 walk/1:00 run workout for 3 miles (she is coming off of a hip stress fracture - yikes!) and then walked easy together for another 1.4-1.5.

I didn't even realize how far it all was until we were walking at the end.

Yes, I had a water bottle with me the whole time and make an effort to drink to stay hydrated. As a result, I had to pee 4 times in the middle of the night.

Woohoo for 'high mileage'!

Emotional Day

First, let me say that I'm not complaining in any way whatsoever about this sweet baby that I'm carrying. We are so lucky to be pregnant and with a child that as far as we can tell is healthy and thriving. This post has nothing to do with the completely blessed life that I'm fully aware that I have.

Today, however, was hard on me emotionally. I almost threw in the towel and crawled back into bed.

1. We received the news that we're having a little boy. I knew it. I was prepared for it. I'm going to have to take a day or so to let it sink in, that's all. I will be honest in saying that I was hoping that all of the boy signs would be wrong and that she would tell us 'It's a girl!' today.
   
2. Not more than 15 minutes later, I was told by my doctor that I'm too fat. She didn't say it in those words, but she definitely had a frank discussion with me that I am too heavy right now compared to my starting weight. I freaked out and cried and was a blubbering mess. It was really hard to hear, even though I'm completely aware of how much I weigh and know that she is only looking after my health. According to the charts, I have gained too much (almost as much as some women gain in their entire pregnancy) and by gaining too fast I'm putting myself at risk for complications later on. If only I could really control it better. I'm eating a variety of foods and exercising 3-5 times a week moderately, so she told me to stick with it. She suggested two things to focus on so that I don't feel like I have to 'diet' - cut back on simple sugars where I can and do my exercise after I eat. I'll try to do better on those two items, but warned her that I really might just gain weight easily and be 50+ pounds heavier at full term.
   
   The weight thing wouldn't be such an issue if I hadn't gotten up extra early to get my workout in before my weigh in. I also was sure to have caffeine in my tea to help me poop to lighten my load. It is absolutely sick that I feel like I need to work out and be as light as possible before going to the doctor simply to avoid being called out about my weight. I am hard enough on myself when I'm not pregnant.
   
3. One of the pieces of nursery furniture was being delivered today (which we specifically paid to have delivered because of how heavy it is) and they only sent one man to lift it. He arrived with the news that their policy was to only bring the item in the door, not bring it upstairs. I told him that we would not have paid for it to be delivered at all if it couldn't be delivered upstairs. He said that he and another person would be back on Monday to take it upstairs, but right now it is sitting in our front hallway.
   
4. Immediately after the delivery mishap, I was driving out of the neighborhood and a squirrel darted out under my car. I was afraid of killing it, but had no idea I could do worse....I only hit a little bit of him, so he wasn't killed instantly. When I looked back in my mirror to see if I had hit him, he was flailing around and stuck in the road in pain. I freaked out, screaming and crying, a total hormonal mess, and had to pull over the car. The squirrel did die, but his horrible painful death was my fault.

It was not a good day for me emotionally.

From that point on, things have resolved. I had an endocrinologist appointment and my thyroid levels are good. She also said that she had the opposite opinion of my doctor in terms of my weight. She likes to know that her patients are gaining weight so that she knows their hormones are in balance. She thought I was doing well and told me not to worry. I love her for saying that. She also confessed to her own initial disappointment in having a boy first, but that it turned out to be the best thing for her family. She said boys end up becoming good big brothers to their little sisters...made me feel good.

My mom and I also went shopping for baby boy clothes and bought all kinds of cute things - all either on sale, from a consignment store, or with a coupon. We got lots of things for little dough!

quote from colleague

...who is doing an IM 70.3 this weekend.

"I feel ready for the swim and bike but I honestly have not done any run training. I know going in that it is going to be a run/walk/amble. I am hoping to finish in one piece with not too much chafing."

Seems like he is being realistic. Hopefully he remembers body glide for his transition bags. Not that I do triathlons, but I have so been there with the 'not too much chafing' goal.

Love it.

mad at wheat

I'm so pissed at myself. The past 16 hours have been really tough for me. See, I have been slowly been giving myself permission to eat bits of wheat again when I feel like 'the baby wants it'. It started with one biscuit many weeks ago, then a slice or two of 'real pizza' from Papa Johns and has escalated to the point where during vacation I thought it would be okay to have things like sandwich bread, pita bread, half of a muffin, carrot cake (shared), and cookies on the plane. See, my logic was that wheat tends to give me the same symptoms that I have been dealing with recently because of the pregnancy, so if I was going to have to suffer with gas, bloating and intestinal discomfort anyhow, I might as well get to eat the good stuff.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Bad decision. Monday - Pita bread - just gas. Tuesday - 1/2 muffin, sandwich bread at lunch, 1/2 carrot cake slice at dinner, biscoff cookies on plane - gas, intestinal discomfort, bloating. Wednesday - 2/3 foccacia bread pizza at dinner - it almost killed me. I was so miserable. I think the increase in wheat over the past three days caused a corresponding increase in symptoms. I could not sleep. I was in pain. I was swollen. I was in pain. I had the worst bloating and gas since before I decided to go wheat-free last year.

I'm so sorry body. I will do better. If the baby wants 'real' bread, I'll try to tell the baby no. I will not eat bread just because it makes restaurant choices easier. I may slip up and have another biscuit, because let's face it, they are damn good. But really, I'll choose better.

Physically, this has been the worst 16 hours since last year. I'm absolutely miserable right now. Ugh.

Jones Family Humor - Masters Edition

Day 1 of the Masters
Chad enters my office and sees our cat Miko resting on the windowsill - trying to lure her into his office says to Miko, "You know, in my office you can watch the Masters Live. It's like getting to watch birdies.....and eagles.......but eagles are scary..............................You like watching birdies."

We bust out laughing, not at the typical play-on-words humor of cats liking golf because they like to see birdies. No, the unexpected comment, "Eagles are scary" had us cracking up. Miko definitely does not like watching eagles.

In case you are wondering, our cats also have their favorite players that they like to root for when we watch golf -

Felicia always takes Tiger Woods.
Miko roots for Mickelson
Beans would always root for Ben Curtis.

Me? This year I plan to pull for Padraig Harrington. He is my newest favorite player. I still love me some Adam Scott, Justin Leonard, love Phil Mickelson as well, but Paddy is my new favorite.

Chad likes lots of players.

the past few years

Man, time sure does fly when you're having fun! Here we are in 2010 and I have taken a moment to look back at the past five years. So much can change in a short period of time.

2010 - Chad and I spent our first Easter together in Austin after traveling for four years in a row. We are expecting our first child. Neither one of us is training for a specific race right now. Chad now owns his own construction business and we both work out of the house.

2009 - We went to the Masters this weekend in April 2008 and Chad got to meet a bunch of my extended family. I was completing my first training season with Team Rogue and had just started tapering for Nashville. We were also now living in our first house together.

2008 - Chad and I had just gotten back from our honeymoon and he moved into my condo in South Austin. We would register for St. George again this April and I would train with Mac over the summer. Chad qualified for and ran Boston 2008, despite our wedding and honeymoon getting in the way of his training.

2007 - Visiting Tara in NYC this time in April. Chad had not yet proposed. He had not yet qualified for Boston, so we opted to not go that year even though I could have technically run it. I was running with Mac's PR for the 5k/10k group at the time, and we were planning to sign up for Ruth's BQ group for the fall marathon training. We registered to go to St. George again. I had quit teaching and started my current job in January of 2007.

2006 - Tapering for Boston. I had one of my best groups of students that year in school. I had been dating Chad for about 8 months.

2005 - just entered the lottery for St. George. I was running in the PR for 5k/10k group that spring and was planning to do the fall marathon training. Note: I was two months away from meeting Chad.

Thank You Easter Bunny!!!

The Easter Bunny visited me for the first time in many, many years! I
love white chocolate!

Exercise!!

Guess what? In the past week, I have exercised five days! This is the most exercise I have done in a long time. You should be very proud of me. What did I do, you ask?

Sat - Prenatal Yoga (1 hr 15 min)
Sun - really long hike (2hr 42 min)
Tues - walk 1:30/run 1:00 (3 miles)
Wed - easy walk (2.4 miles)
Thurs - moderate paced walk on TLT (55 min - probably 3.5-3.7 miles)

It doesn't look like much, but it is something. Distance is distance, and I did at least 14 miles this week in 4 days. That is more than a lot of people in our city do each week for fitness, plus I did yoga. Time doesn't matter. I can assure you that I'm breathing moderately hard within my limits and the pressure of the bump on my bladder is part of the slowness factor.

I'm also excited about the new shorts and capri pants I received in the mail. See, very few of my running shorts fit over my huge ass. I may look somewhat proportioned in my maternity clothes, but when you see me trying to fit into my regular clothes, you can tell how much my body has changed. Running shorts and pants just don't fit the same anymore, even with elastic waistbands. Those that have a waistband that I can still fit into and manipulate hit my belly right in the middle and compress the bump in a not-so-flattering way so that I have to do the 'roll-down'. The roll-down then hits so low on my widened hip area such that I have a huge muffin top from behind. That and the seat of the shorts/pants is stretched to the fullest. Oh, and I forgot to mention that my 'maternal storage' in the thigh area has gotten large enough so that my thighs now permanently rub together and cause riding up of the shorts in the crotch area. It is not pretty, folks.

Anyhoo, I found some awesome maternity workout shorts and capris that do not cut into my bump or back fat, nor do they ride up in the middle. They are a sturdy material and worth the money that I spent for 4 1/2 more months of feeling good about myself. If they make working out that much more bearable, I figured it was worth it to get a couple pairs.

If you see me out and about working out, tell me my body looks good and to keep up the good work. I need all of the encouragement I can get. (oh and Nedra and Dionn...your comments on FB last Saturday were wonderful for my self-esteem and I didn't say Thank You!!)