Seth met a celebrity!

But before I get to that ... I have a backlog of pictures I haven't posted.

Abby and Emma at Girl Scouts.

I came home last weekend to find that Seth and the kids and turned our living room into a fort. They pushed the couches together and draped blankets over them so the kids could hide out underneath with a flash light. It was cute. The kids were thrilled.


Adam and Abby in the fort .

I mentioned cheerleading in my last post...

Abby demonstrating her first chant at her first cheerleading practice.

And finally....Saturday night, Seth and I and some friends (Kevin, Abby, Steve, Kelly, Kristian, Jenny, Brian and Dan) went to see a jazz musician named Charlie Hunter (if you like jazz/blues, look him up on iTunes). Seth is a big fan of his and was the reason why we were all going to see him play. Afterward, Charlie Hunter was signing autographs and shaking hands so I embarrassed Seth by telling Charlie that Seth loved him and brought eight of his friends to see him and that they should get their picture taken together. Seth gave me the "you should die now" look, but now he has a picture with him! Kind of cool.

Seth and Charlie Hunter at Jazz at the Bistro.

It was a great show. My only complaint is that it was too short - only 70 minutes. For $30, it should have lasted longer.

Before the show, we went to a place called Reggie's Backstage right across from The Fox Theater, which was a nice place to grab a drink. Afterward, we went to JP's downtown, a sports bar. It was fun times all round.

Looks like we're having a few people over for Super Bowl. Since the Patriots aren't in it this year, Seth felt he could stomach having people over. He is way too stressed out when they are in the Super Bowl to be able to tolerate being a host. I'm totally a bandwagoner on the Cardinals, rooting for Kurt Warner. He's such a good person and still does so much for the city of St. Louis that you can't help but root for him. Plus it's not that much of a stretch since the football Cardinals were in St. Louis when I was a kid.

A quick weight loss update, I've now lost a total of nine pounds in four weeks. At least it's moving in the right direction.

Other than planning for the Super Bowl, it should be a quiet week. We're expecting snow for the next two to three days. Hopefully that doesn't wreak too much havoc on things. Abby has cheerleading on Thursday and a birthday party Saturday for her friend Sami (my friend Kathy's daughter). Have a good week!

What have I gotten myself into?

Abby had her first cheerleading class tonight. It was kind of last-minute that I decided to sign her up for it. It seemed simple enough - 40 minutes, once a week for 16 weeks, $6 a week. What I didn't know is that there is a "cheerleading showcase" and if her squad wins, they get to go to the regional competition in Kansas City. In case you didn't realize, Abby is 5. I didn't travel for volleyball until I was in eighth grade! The trip is optional, but there was a little girl there who was 9 who had never cheerleaded (is that a word?) before and she was going to have to start off with girls much younger than her to catch up. That would suck. I'll give it a few weeks and see how it goes, but I do not want to go to Kansas City. Abby, of course, was in heaven. She already learned a chant (a chant is said three times and is much shorter than a cheer, which is said only once: "Dribble it, pass it, put it in the basket! Go Tigers!") I have no idea what I have gotten myself into. And she already made a friend named Rachel. She can make friends anywhere.

Also, a funny conversation Abby and I had a few days ago:

Me: Abby, can you put your clothes in your laundry basket please?

Abby: I guess, but I am so annoyed right now.

You tell me how old my daughter really is because I swear it's not 5.

President Barack Obama

First let me say that I am so excited for Barack Obama to be president. I love to see people so excited and engaged with what's happening in the country. I love watching the news right now and thinking of the possible changes that will happen in the next year or two and beyond. I have hope - lots of people have hope - that I didn't have before and it feels good. Seth and I plan to sit down with the kids and watch the inauguration together so they might remember where they were when Barack Obama became president of the United States. Abby is so smart - today she was talking about Martin Luther King, Jr. and Seth was trying to explain it to her at a high level -"Some people weren't being nice to other people so he helped make sure everyone was treated equally." I guess they had talked about it already at school because she knew that the issue was related to the color of people's skin. She knew that some drinking fountains were for whites only and that Dr. King helped make sure that all people were treated the same. I was impressed with that. So Happy Inauguration Day tomorrow. I hope everyone watches and absorbs this historic moment.

*****

Three-day weekends sure are nice. Busy, but nice. Saturday was the first day of Girl Scout cookie sales. At 9:45 a.m. Abby and I went to three houses. Only one person was home, so we weren't very productive. I think our neighbors were out of town for the long weekend. We'll have to try again. After that, Abby and I went to Target to get a birthday gift for her friend, Mikayla. After we got home, I went to the gym. Then when I came home from the gym I had work to do. Then Mikayla's party was from 3 to 5. While we were there, Seth went to the grocery store with Adam. Then my mom came over at 6:30 to stay with the kids so Seth and I could go out. I was pretty tired by that point. But we went out with friends of mine from high school - some of whom I hadn't hung out with since I was 18. Dawn and her husband, Nathan; Jennifer and her husband, Chuck; Dan and his wife, Sarah; and Jim (my prom date) and his wife, Melissa. It was really fun and felt just like old times. It was a good group and I hope we can do it again sometime. I didn't take any pictures, though. :(

On Friday when I picked up Abby at day care, one of the teachers pulled me aside to tell me that Abby needed to work a little harder to keep her hands to herself. Apparently she and some of the boys are touching each other too much during class - holdings hands, hugging, pats on the back. Apparently, the boys fight over who gets to sit next to Abby on the carpet and on the bus. So, we had a nice long chat about keeping your hands to yourself, which is kind of hard for her to understand because we are a very affectionate household so I think she's just that way. I'd rather have her me well-liked than not, as long as it doesn't progress any further. Abby's a pretty good listener, so it should stop. I swear this girl and all her boy friends... What am I going to do with her?

This week should be a relatively light week. I don't think we have anything going on until Saturday. We're going to see a jazz musician that Seth really likes - Charlie Hunter. He's playing at Jazz at the Bistro downtown across from The Fox Theater. Should be a fun time.

Working out last week went well. I got my 5 days in and ran 13.3 miles for the week. When I weighed myself on Friday I was down a total of 8 pounds. That's not too bad for three weeks. I went to the gym today and did 3.1 relatively easily. I'm not going to increase my distance until I can get my speed where I want it to be. I'm up to a 5.3 base and 5.8 for my push and the push is 2/10 of a mile now instead of just 1/10. My fastest time so far is 33 minutes and 58 seconds. I'm hoping to be under 30 minutes at some point. That's hard though. But considering that when I started back up three weeks ago, I was struggling to run one mile, it's amazing how quickly I've picked back up. Jennifer had said it was because I had built up a good foundation with the cardio I did last year before I stopped running in November. It's nice to have something to work toward though. I'm going to get up in the morning, too. 5 a.m. is so early!

Sick again!

Adam is sick again if you can believe that or not. Monday he had a fever on and off all day and was completely congested Tuesday morning. Since this is the third time he has been sick since the week before Christmas, I took Tuesday off and took him to the doctor. Turns out it's a sinus infection and the tube in his right ear fell out so his ear was all red. I hope he doesn't start getting ear infections again. So he's on an antibiotic and will be able to go back to day care tomorrow, but geez, if it's not one thing it's another.

Abby had Girl Scouts on Monday and that went well. She had a good time. Saturday at 9a.m. is the beginning of Girl Scout cookie sales. (If anyone wants any they are $3.50/box!)

Tonight Adam's Parents As Teachers teacher came over and evaluated Adam. He did great and is exactly where he should be. She was especially impressed with all of the shapes he could identify, especially some of the harder ones like diamond and rectangle. He's a smart one, too. :)

Going to the gym has been going well this week so far. I ran 3.1 miles both Monday and Tuesday. I took today off and then plan to go again Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It's sooooo ridiculously cold though, it is going to be so hard to get up in the morning. Ugh!

Seth and I are going out Saturday night with friends of mine from high school - Jennifer and her husband, Chuck; Dawn and her husband, Nathan, Jim and his wife, Melissa, and Dan and his wife, Sarah. We haven't all hung out socially since senior year of high school - probably prom (Jim was actually my prom date, but we were just friends). There's a new piano bar that just opened up in St. Peters, so we're going to check that out. Should make for some good pictures. :)

So sleepy

I am so exhausted. The birthday party that Abby was invited to today was more than 3 hours long. That is a long time. And it was at this place called Incredible Pizza - basically an arcade. So it was a long three hours.

Then, when I checked her backpack tonight from school on Friday, she has another birthday party invitation for next Saturday for Mikayla from her day care. Since she has two groups of friends (at school and at day care), we are going to birthday parties all the time. This will be her fourth in the last two months. That's half my Saturdays. And Seth refuses to go. "Mommy Work" is what he calls it. Gee, thanks.

After the party, Abby and I stopped at GNC and I bought some women's multi-vitamins as Dr. Oz had suggested. They have the 5,000 units of Vitamin A and 600 of the 1,000 units of Vitamin D that he recommended. I got the "active" formula that is supposed to have extra nutrients in it to give you energy. It's not supposed to make you shaky or anything because it's all natural. I thought it would be worth a try. I don't drink coffee and extra energy definitely would be nice. I also got more flax seed oil. I had been taking this last year when I started doing the protein shakes but just stopped for some reason. I think I just forgot to buy more at some point. Flax seed oil has the Omega 3's that Dr. Oz recommended. So those are my first two steps in trying to be healthy. Well, other than the working out and dieting.

I ran 13.2 miles this week, so I was happy about that since it was more than my goal of 12 miles. And it was about a half-mile farther than I ran the prior week and today I ran faster than I had before (5.2 base and 5.7 for my "push"). I think it's still going well and I know that working out makes me feel so much better than when I'm not.

Oh - I've lost 5.8 pounds in the first two weeks. So progress IS being made. :) I know that I've lost exactly 5.8 pounds because I bought a fancy new digital scale with the Amazon.com gift card Seth's mom got me for Christmas. (Thank you Raia!) It is awesome. It is consistent no matter where on the scale I stand and I love seeing the progress from day to day, even if it's tenths of a pound. I know you're not supposed to weigh youorself every day, but I just got a new scale so I'm going to any way.

I don't really intend to inspire anyone by writing all of this, but maybe I will. Honestly, I'm doing it to hold myself accountable to more people than just myself and Seth. Hopefully doing that will help keep my on track. I definitely feel more committed than I have been in the past.

Back into the swing of things

A couple updates: Adam is better. He woke up better on Sunday and fine on Monday. It's so nice having him back to his old self because he is so sweet. His smile and dimples are just so cute. Melts your heart. He will be a heart-breaker one day.

Going back to work this week has been tough. Today was the biggest wake-up call because I had back-to-back-to-back meetings all day. And I haven't gotten home until 6 the last two nights. Hopefully that is only temporary.

Working out is going well. I took the day off today, but had worked out Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. It's going well and I'm getting into the running groove. I've done 7 miles so far this week and have two days left to work out. I should be able to meet my 12 mile go pretty easily. Now I need to work toward increasing my speed though because I'm still running at a jogging pace.

Also, I mentioned Oprah last time and her shows the last two days have not disappointed. For one, it takes such guts to admit on national television the shame she felt in 2008 due to her weight gain. If she can do that, I can get up and go to the gym every day. I really admire that. Yesterday's show was with Dr. Oz and was about the things you should do to be healthy:

-Quit smoking (I don't smoke)
-Schedule a check-up with your doctor
-Know the 5 ingredients to avoid - High fructose corn syrup (found in soda), sugar, enriched flour, trans fats or hydrogenated fats, and saturated fats. None of these should be in the first 5 ingredients of anything you eat that is packaged.
-Add healthy foods to your diet
--5-7 servings of antioxidants daily (tomatos, broccoli, red, kidney and pinto beans, blueberries, artichokes and dried prunes) A serving is like a handful and I have to admit, this seems difficult to do every day.
--3g of Omega 3's daily (ground flax seeds, 12 walnuts, squash, salmon, scallops, soybeans)
--25g fiber/day (lentils, black beans, peas, raspberries, pine nuts)
--1 tablespoon olive oil/day (virgin olive oil or extra virgin olive oil)
-Take a Multivitamin - for women, no more than 5,000 units of Vitamin A/day. Also need iron.
-Know your numbers
--Know your waist size (measure at your belly button. Should be less than half of your height. For most women that's less than 37 inches.
--Know your blood pressure - 115/75 is ideal. The first number shouldn't be over 140 and the second number shouldn't be over 90.
--Know your cholesterol - LDL should be less than 100, HDL should be greater than 40.
--Know your resting heart rate. Should be as close to 60 beats per minute as possible.
--Know your vitamin D levevls - you need 15 minutes of sun/day or 1,000 units of Vitamin D/day
--Know your creactive protein level and your TSH level - Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (Oprah had a thyroid problem that led to her recent weight gain).
-Find a health advocate who can help you understand your health issues if you have them. This could be a doctor, spouse or friend.
-Organize your health records and always have an updated copy of your medical file.
-Get key medical tests
--Annual physical
--Dentist every 6 months
--Annual skin test by a dermatologist
--Eye exam every 2 years
--Women - pap smear and pelvic exam annually and annual mammograms between 35-40
--At 50, get a echo cardio gram, stress test and colonoscopy
--At 65, a hearing test
--At 60, a bone density test
-Exercise - Start walking. 10,000 steps/day. Start with 30 minutes of walking a day, which is about 3,000 steps. Healthy body fat ratios for women are between 25 and 31 percent. Also 30 minutes of strength training/week.
-7-8 hours of sleep a night.

I thought this list was really helpful. Even if you just do some of these things, you'll be in better health than you were before. I'm going to look into some of these things. Here's to better health in 2009!

Anyway, I'm already ready for this week to be over. Abby has a birthday party on Saturday (Eric from her day care, who she says is her new best friend there. Trenton gave her a dirty look so they are not best friends any more, she says.) I have book club on Sunday. We're going to a chocolate bar, which is not going to be good for my diet. That will be a challenge. I'll have to be really careful what I eat that day. But this is our first book club since November so I'll be glad to go. Of course, I don't read the books any more because I'm just too busy. I'm just there for the social interaction. And I'm sure there's some football on for Seth to watch. Hope every one else has a good weekend.

New Year's Eve

I mentioned I would post New Year's Eve pictures. We went to Brian and Kristian's house for a little gathering. Here are some pictures.

Kevin, Kristian and Seth

Kevin and Abby and Kevin's giant hand. I don't know why his hand looks so big there.

Dan and Amy

Kristian, Greg and Nicole

Me, Amy and Abby

Me and Nicole.

I never did take a picture of Seth and I for some reason. Now that I try to take pictures whenever we go out, my friends are calling me Paparazzi. That's ok. It's nice to go back and remember our fun times.

I'm very much looking forward to another good year. I'm not looking forward to getting back into the full swing of work, but I think this will be a good one. Particularly our trip to Disney in June!

*****

Friday was my first day back at work and I had planned to wake up at 5 a.m. to get my first back-to-work workout in. What I didn't plan on was Adam getting sick again with a high fever and not sleeping all night. So I didn't get up at 5. But I did go to the gym after work and ran 4 miles! I was quite proud of myself.

Saturday morning, I planned to meet Jennifer at the gym. At 7:30 a.m. I usually don't work out that early on a Saturday and it didn't help that Adam again had a rough night of sleep. (His fever is a bit lower tonight so hopefully he's getting better). I told her I had 2.5 miles left to meet my goal of 12 miles for the week. She said we were going to do a 5K (3.1 miles). I said, "You do realize that 3.1is more than 2.5?" She did.

But what I really liked about her being there is there was someone watching me and I felt like I didn't want to disappoint her so it made me go harder. We did interval running. You run one speed for a half-mile (for me, it was 5.0) and then for 1/10 of a mile you bump up your speed (for me, to 5.5). and then go back down to your base speed again for the rest of the half mile. Then you spend the next little bit recovering from that "push" until you reach the next half-mile marker and do it again. It really helped me run farther. I did the whole 3.1 without stopping, which had not been the case in any of my previous runs this week.

Then we did some weights where she just showed me some stuff I can do on my own and the right way to do some things I had been doing. I'm going to keep doing my same routine for another 3-4 weeks and then have her adjust it from there. Hopefully I start to see results since I've been eating nothing but healthy, low-cal foods like brown rice and turkey burgers! I'm also writing down everything I eat and the calories and fat grams in a journal. It helps to be conscious of what I am eating, but also it's nice to go back and look at how well I've done so far.


So, hopefully I can reach my running goal of a 5K road race by April 5 and my weight loss goal by Disney (June 12). So far, I'm on the right track. Oh yeah - since I Tivo Oprah every day, I'm also looking forward to her shows next week, which are all focused on her weight issues and what she's doing to "Live Her Best Life." Should be worthwhile if you want to watch. Yes, I love Oprah and find that I get a lot out of some of the information and motivating things they have on the show. Whatever works, right. :)

Happy New Year!