Big News!

So much has happened the last few months as I touched briefly on my Hiatus post. My little girl turned 3 (going on 13).
But the biggest news of all is that I am expecting!

My ultrasound at 7 weeks, 3 days

It finally happened after about 3 months of trying. Which really isn't that long to try but with my first I got pregnant right away, like the first month we tried so this time around I was a little shocked that it didn't happen right away. I had hopes for a November baby, I love the fall, favorite time of year.

Ironically my due date is February 11th, February is my least favorite time of year so now I have something to look forward to! This could potentially be a Valentine's baby. Sophie was 9 days late so I'm really hoping that this baby comes around the due date, that would be nice for a change. 9 days late was brutal and I had to be induced, which really worked out well for me, but still! I was so tired of being pregnant.

Today I am 10 weeks and starting to finally feel better. About week 6 I started feeling queasy 24-7. Morning, afternoon and evening. No appetite, yet if I didn't eat I would not feel well. The other problem I was having is that I would get full really quick and not feel well. On top of that I was tired ALL the time. If I could have laid my head down on my desk for an hour and sleep I probably could have.

This is a little different than my first, with Sophie I didn't really have morning sickness but would go to bed at like 7:30. Now I still have Mommy duties in the evening and only play the pregnancy card when I have to. My husband has been pretty good about the days when I just need to go lay down. After working all day and then coming home and still taking care of a 3 year old, I'm exhausted.

I'm still running, not as much and mainly that's because it's a million degrees here in South Carolina and the air conditioning is on the fritz at my gym. It's the stale, stagnant air...well basically no airflow and it's been difficult to run in it. I still manage anywhere from 3 - 5 miles but I stop after every mile and guzzle water (which in turn makes me have to pee) and then I'm pouring sweat. I need to be careful and stay hydrated and not over heat so it's been a challenge. I'm doing what I can so if I can't run then it's elliptical and weights.

For example yesterday I could only manage 2 miles before I had to stop. Just wasn't feeling right so that's when you know not to push it. Makes me mad because I really want to continue to run as long as possible but this heat and the damn gym AC are making it difficult. Oh and I have called to complained and they assure me that "it's going to get fixed." I call BS - they said that 3 months ago.

I have gotten a little slower but am still under a 9 minute mile. I am happy with this. I could probably run a tad faster but with the heat, just taking it easy.

So far I've only gained about 2 - 3 pounds. I say 2 -3 because I have been a tad bloated here and there so it depends on the day. I gained 45 pounds with Sophie so I'm trying to keep the weight gain about 25 - 30 pounds. I realize that my body is going to do what it's going to do but I want to stay healthy and not eat all the crap I did first time around (I'm talking about you pizza and mac and cheese).

It's true what they say, you show sooner with each subsequent pregnancy. I'm 10 weeks and getting bigger by the week. Pants started getting tight about 8.5 weeks. My dilemma is that my maternity clothes are HUGE!! I weigh a good 7 pounds less this time around so everything is a size medium. However my regular clothes are getting tight and uncomfortable so I'm in between, making the best of it.

 Sophie is seems to be excited to be a big sister. Every time we ask her if she wants a baby brother or baby sister she says baby brother. We'll find out in September! I say boy but then again I said that with Sophie so who knows. Either way it doesn't matter, I hope for a healthy baby!

Hiatus

It's been a long time since I've posted last! Life has been busy!!! A few weeks ago I seriously contemplated deleting the blog, mainly because I haven't had much time to post and then I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue putting my life out there for the world to see.

So I'm still debating what to do. I even have ideas of starting a new blog that's a little more anonymous, but mostly focused on being a mom trying to juggle...well everything!! I still like having an outlet and a place to put my thoughts and opinions, which is why I haven't deleted it yet.

Running has taken a bit of a back seat lately. I still get out there and run on the treadmill at my usual 4:30 a.m. time (mainly because it's been so stinking hot out!!) but the farthest I've run is 6 miles. There's a reason for this that I will explain at a later time :)

Like I said, I'm still running, just doing shorter distances, and still lifting weights but that's not my complete focus at the moment.

In May we went to the beach for a week with my in-laws. The weather was perfect all week except for the last day there was a tropical storm that was brushing past the coast. 

My daughter turned 3 years old on June 12th!!! I also finally moved her over to her big girl room. It's about 95% complete. I still have to re-finish a nightstand and finish the mermaid painting I've started. It's going to be 100 degrees out this weekend so I see myself sitting in the A/C possibly working on this.

Back to my daughter turning 3, we had a small party at our house. We ended up buying her a swing set for her birthday and all the kids came over to play on it. They had some cake and ice cream, she opened presents and then it was done. She had a great time and I didn't have to do a lot so everyone wins!! She was so thrilled to blow out the candles on her birthday cake. I love that little girl, she's so stinking cute!

Her party was on the 16th so on her actual birthday, which again was June 12th, my husband and I took the day off of work and took her to lunch and to the Aquarium. It poured down rain that day but we still had a great time.

Work has been REALLY busy, which in this economy is a good thing!

I've been stressed, I've been tired but I've been happy this past month. I will explain in another post, just can't share the news quite yet.

So we'll see how long it takes to post next time around. In the meantime, it's SUMMER!! Stay cool out there!

Charlotte Race Fest Half Marathon

Oh Monday, I was not looking forward to you today! I'm tired today. It was a tiring weekend. But a good one. 

Friday I left work about 4:00, picked up Sophie, and we hit the road to Charlotte. I stopped to get her a happy meal but I was waiting till I got to my parents house to eat dinner because I didn't want fast food. Her fries were tempting and I might have taken one or two....

I got to my parents house about 7:15. Sophie immediately wanted to play which gave me a chance to bring in all our stuff and eat dinner and chat with my Mom. She picked up my race packet for me so I didn't have to worry about it. What a great Mom.

Then it was off to bed to be well rested for the race. Well as rested as you can be with a bed hog. I swear for such a little girl, she takes up the whole bed. I slept decent. 

I was up at 5:50 to start getting ready and we were out of the house by 6:50. My dad went with me to the race and my mom stayed home with Sophie.

It was the perfect morning. The sun was out, the temps were cool. Far cry from last year's torrential downpour and severe thunderstorms. 

I think there were a lot more race participants this year because the start seemed extra crowded and it took us all a while to break apart when the race started. 

Even though I didn't get to train for this race, I was still hoping that I would PR or at least break 2 hours for a third time. However, when the gun went off and we started running, I immediately knew that this was going to be a long race. My legs were just tired and stiff from the get go.

I felt pretty good after the 1st mile but the miles seemed to go by slow. 

Mile 9 was the hill from hell and I had to walk! So frustrating but I wanted to save my energy (or lack there of) for the rest of the race. The last few miles had a bunch of hills and that just drains me after a while. Again, I didn't get a chance to do any hill runs so I felt a bit out of shape.

At mile 11 I realized that if I sucked it up and sped up a little I could still finish under 2 hours and I really wanted to do this.

I put on my "fast" songs and just ran up those hills with all my might. 

The finish line never looked so good and I crossed at 1:58:44, chip time. Woot!

I'm happy overall because I have a feeling this is the last half marathon I will be running, probably till next year. Kind of sad but it's time to move on to my next quest. Baby no. 2. 

I know I keep saying that, hopefully it'll happen this month.

Rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with my family, a little bit of shopping, and eating. My mom is the best cook. 

Sunday we packed up and hit the road and I was home by 2:00. Only to still have to get everything ready for the work week. I was tired last night.

This morning I managed to drag myself out of bed and run 3 miles and do a leg workout. I am still coughing a bunch at night and even though it's getting better, I still can't get rid of this tickle in my throat. Very annoying. 

So far it's been a stressful Monday so I hope that doesn't set the tone for the week. 

One month till vacation!

Sleep! Finally!

All it took was a small dose of NyQuil and I was out cold. From what my husband said this morning, I didn't cough once. Thank goodness! It was starting to get really annoying.

I took less than the recommended dosage because I wanted to be able to get out of bed in the morning and not be groggy. It worked. I was able to get up at 4:20 for the gym but still felt a little out of it. Luckily I had some caffeine and I was good to go. Mostly.

Now I just have to make it through work. Leaving a little bit early to get my daughter and get on the road so we can get to Charlotte sometime around 7:00. I'm sure I'll have to stop for her to go potty and get some dinner. I'll eat when I get to my folks but I know she won't be able to hold out that long.

I'm sure she'll be wound up and wanting to play when I'm ready to go to sleep. My race starts at 7:30 so I'll have to be up probably around 5:45 and leave about 6:45 to get there and walk to the starting line.

Course map for anyone familiar with the Charlotte area:

Starts and ends near SouthPark Mall. I might, just might, have to sneak in after the race and walk around. Charleston does NOT have good malls and shopping. You go to a mall here you run the risk of getting shot. Seriously, it's happened. A few times.

Pretty sure that Sophie will just stay at home with my mom and dad while I run. Which is fine with me. This isn't a big huge race or anything. It's just nice to run around in my hometown. I miss it.

My sister and her boys will be coming over at some point tomorrow to hang with Sophie and play. It's going to be a really nice weekend, not too hot, so I'm sure we'll be able to let them run wild in the yard.

Looking forward to a nice weekend with my family while Ricky slaves around the house :) Just kidding. I wish he was coming too but we have to take advantage of time that can be used to get things done. Plus we're having Sophie's birthday party in our backyard in a few months and our backyard needs some love.

This Should Be Interesting

I am running a half marathon Saturday. I haven't really gotten a chance to "train" for it due to my cold and it's remnants the last 2 weeks.

I did do 10 miles last Saturday and felt really good and strong.

Then I coughed up my lungs for about 20 minutes after.

I ran Monday and yesterday and had aspirations to get up this morning and do about 7 miles tempo run (because I was suppose to do it yesterday but never got into my groove and only did 5 - super tired). However, that plan failed when I coughed up my remaining lungs last night from about midnight till about 2:00 am.

The secret to great abs is to cough your brains out for 2 hours a few nights and you are sure to have a six pack.

This happened Monday night as well and I think at this point my husband is going to hold a pillow over my face. He's a trooper. I would like to point out there is a couch he could go sleep on if he got really annoyed. I guess neither of us wanted to give up our bed.

I am no longer congested but apparently I have some leftover "junk" that I keep coughing up and can't seem to shake this last little bit. I hate taking meds but thinking I might need some cough syrup or something. I really want to sleep tonight!

So needless to say when my alarm went off at 4:00 I could barely keep my eyes open so I did not get up. I'm super tired today and have already downed 2 cups of coffee and still feel very sluggish and sleepy. It's going to be a long day.

I wasn't planning on running tomorrow morning for the simple fact that I have to work all day and then drive to Charlotte and didn't want to be too tired, but I think I'm going to shoot for 6 slow miles and then a few weights and drink lots of caffeine throughout the day.

That's the plan anyway, we'll see if I cough up the remainder of my lungs tonight.

So Saturday should be interesting. I'll either do really well or completely bomb but either way it's my last half marathon as this month we are going to start trying again for baby no. 2. If I run as well as I did on Saturday I'll do fairly well. Weather is going to be perfect so at least I have that going for me.

After the race I'm going to go shopping with Sophie and my Mom. I miss shopping in Charlotte. Lots.

Ricky is staying here to get some much needed stuff done around the house. He'll only have the dogs to manage, he should get a lot done with wife and daughter out of the house.

Next Saturday Ricky and I are running a rather small 5k that's going to be in our neighborhood. I haven't ran just a 5k in a long time so that will be interesting as well.

Lots of interesting things happening.

My Easter Sweetie

I have to brag. My daughter is gorgeous! Love love love her big brown eyes.

And the fact that she wore a dress without argument.

And let me put her hair in pig tails!

Photo by my sister in law, edited by me in Photoshop.

Photo and edits by me. 

Here are the before's:

An Eye Opener

Last week I had an appointment with the Dermatologist to have a few spots to looked at and removed. I was very nervous about one mole in particular on my right leg. It grew about 5 years or so ago and had gotten darker. The more I looked at it the more I got disturbed by it.

All I could think about was one thing: I don't want my daughter to grow up without me.

A little dramatic, probably, but I was a big time sun worshiper in my youth. Big time. I was never smart about sunscreen. Of course I knew I should have worn it, but I have dark skin and rarely burned so I just didn't think twice about it. Dumb.

All things change when you have a child. You start to realize you were an idiot growing up and hopefully it's not too late.

I also had another spot on my stomach that I've had since I can remember. Over the years I noticed it had changed, gotten a little bigger and not quite symmetrical. Of course it did grow with my stomach so for a while I chalked it up to that.

So I was really nervous about my appointment, thinking the worst (because that's what I do).

The appointment went very well. I got a full body check and the doctor immediately told me the "mole" on my leg was not a mole but a small hemangioma. Basically small blood vessels that have grown out of the skin. Gross, yes but very relieved to hear!! Apparently I have them all over, these tiny red dots. They are hereditary. After talking to my mom, she has them too. Just to be safe the doctor removed it and sent it away for biopsy.

She also removed the spot on my stomach, just to be on the safe side, as well as another small but darker than normal spot on my left leg - a spot that I had seen before but really didn't think too much of it.

Just a tiny procedure where she numbed the three areas and then scraped away the skin. Just a band-aid and some instructions on wound care and how to prevent scarring and I was on my way. Results would be in 2 weeks from now.

Fast forward to yesterday (or I guess I should say rewind?) I got a call from the doctor's office about my results. Immediate heart flutter.

They confirmed that the "mole" on my leg was indeed not a mole but the hemangioma and it was completely fine.

The other two spots however came back as atypical nevus (another term for mole). Good news is that the skin that was taken for biopsy "cleared the margins" so I do not need to go back for more skin removal. I am fine.

They did caution me to check my skin every month and come in immediately if I see any of my spots (and boy I have a lot of them) change (following the ABCD's of skin cancer detection. Also said I need to make sure I am wearing SPF 30 or higher when I'm in the sun. I should get yearly checks but I will probably go back in a couple months and get checked again just to be on the safe side.

I say this because I am now analyzing every little spot on my skin and am wondering if maybe something was missed and I need to go back? I've spoken to my sister as well as a co-worker and both have talked me down from the ledge and assured my that if I wait a couple of months it will be OK.

I'm just paranoid because they told me I am at risk for more atypical moles that could potentially develop into skin cancer. POTENTIALLY - doesn't mean they will, which is why I need to take extra precautions.

This has been a real eye opener for me and a tad scary that the thing I was was most concerned about was not a mole and a spot that I probably wouldn't have thought twice about ended up being atypical.

Very important to get your skin checked!! And to wear sunscreen!!

I will say while I was never good at it myself, I am a sunscreen nazi with my daughter. She gets re-applied and sprayed every 45 minutes. She's fair skinned like my husband so I am extra diligent with her. And now will be with myself.

My days of sun worshiping are over. And I'm completely fine with sitting in the shade with a big hat on.

And I would like to add that when I went on my long run on Saturday I wore sunscreen!