High Five For Friday!

This week has been amazing. I have had a shortened work week that I had originally planned to take advantage of and be super productive. Instead, I used it to rest (gasp) and read and take bubble baths. Here are my five favorite things (that I had pictures of) from this week:

1. This book is hilarious. If you haven't read it or watched The Mindy Project, I highly recommend you do so! Now!

2. I made skinny veggie lasagna from my most favorite food blog, Pinch of Yum, which I also highly recommend.

3. This is the summer wardrobe of a mom/runner/nanny/coach. I don't remember what it feels like to wear pants with a button. Or a real bra.

4. One of my favorite DIYs that I've completed! I got the idea from here but changed it just a little.

5. I got to go hang out with my awesome friend Brian (Clay's Fun Uncle Brian, because just Uncle Brian wasn't enough) and his coworker Morgan at the Whitewater Center and enjoy a baby free night last Saturday!

And now it's time for High Five for Friday: Clay Edition!

 

Ahh. It's just too much. He's too cute. And rotten. Hehe.

Linking up with Lauren today!

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Brew Dash 6k

A couple of Saturdays ago I ran in the Brew Dash 6k at the Whitewater Center. I was really excited about this race but so nervous at the same time because I didn't feel like I had adequately prepared for my first trail race!

Luckily (and unluckily) the race didn't start til 11. It was great to get a little more sleep (Clay was up and down the entire night before), but it was so much hotter at 11 than it would have been at an 8 or 9 start.

The morning of the race I got myself and Clay up and somehow managed to get us both dressed, fed (pb toast & coffee for me, my normal pre-race meal), and the car loaded and we were on our way to meet Liz who offered to watch Clay while I ran. We got there and found a spot for the blanket and we all got all sunscreened up before we headed up to the start where lots of picture taking happened.

So I walked when I needed to. Then ran when I could. At one point I got stuck in a pack and just had to run at their pace or be trampled on. Once I found a clearing to take a break I had put my head down and some amazing woman came by and patted me on the back.

Can I just say how much I love my fellow runners?? In every race I've ran I've had some encouragement from complete strangers. My most favorite is when runners finish then come back along the course to cheer other runners along.

SIDEBAR: One of my favorite sporting events that I've been a spectator at was when I went to watch my friend Troy in his marathon. Everybody at the finish line is cheering and clapping and acting a fool over a complete stranger. I love it.

While I was near death, Liz was getting to hang out with Clay baby and captured these sweet moments:

 

Before the race I had set a goal for myself of 50 minutes (I know, I'm slow). Around 45 minutes I checked my phone and it said I had only gone around 3 miles. What? There was no way I was finishing in under 50!

So imagine my surprise when a minute later I came through the clearing and there was the finish line! Just one more steep hill to conquer! My GPS had messed up and I ended up finishing in 47:21!

So I thought it would be fun to grab Clay and cross the finish line with him. He was not impressed.

This was by far the hardest race I've ran but it also seemed to go by the quickest! I'm definitely a new fan of trail running!

And then we spent the next five hours at the Brew Bash and got burn like lobsters :/

Oh! And before I forget this, here was how Liz motivated me through texts since she couldn't be with me:

Love that girl.

Now go get your run on!!

 

 

Balance

Clay is almost 10 months old and I'm still struggling with learning how to balance everything. Housework, time with Clay, sleep, me time, work, this blog. Moms, how do you do it?

Just when I feel like I've gotten into a rhythm something happens that throws me off for days, even weeks. Maybe I just need to learn to roll with the punches a little better. Maybe I just need to learn that somedays the dishes won't get done and life will go on.

One thing I really struggle with is feeling guilty. If I end up doing a lot of housework when Clay is home I feel guilty for not playing with him more. But if I skip the housework and play with Clay I stress out about everything that needs to be done.

This week I'm going to (hopefully) focus on creating a better balance in our lives. Eek!

Anyway, on to some pictures of my cutie patootie:

He is going to hate me when he grows up...hehe

Clay is obsessed with taking selfies...a little too much.

Anywho, hopefully I'll return to more regularly scheduled blogging this week!

Today I'm linking up with Mommy Mondays Blog Hop!

Training Tuesday

My attempt with Training Tuesday is to keep you updated on my running! Sometimes it will be every week, sometimes once a month. I apologize for the rambling in this post, I'm still trying to format how I want this to go. Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Lately...
...I've started doing the 8 minute videos (abs, buns, legs, and abs) in addition to running and I eventually want to pick up yoga once or twice a week. I'm also trying to be better about stretching and fueling for my runs.

I have a race coming up this Saturday (a 6k) then I don't have another race until the half in November. I'm not sure if I'll run any races between the two or just focus on training for the half. Thoughts?

So this Saturday...
...is the Brew Dash 6k. I'm excited about this race because a) it's at the Whitewater Center and b) I'll get a sweet t-shirt. I'm NOT excited about this race because a) I've only ran trails one other time and b) it will be my first time racing alone. No Lizbeth to pace me! She's sitting this one out and watching my sweet baby while I race.

To prepare...
...my wonderful friend Troy (who ran his last 5k in under 19 minutes-woohoo) gave me this plan for this week:
Sunday: Run
Monday: Run
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Run
Thursday: Cycle or stretch
Friday: Rest and stretch

So we'll see how that goes. Things get a little unpredictable when you throw a baby in the mix!

Wish me luck!

And so this post isn't all just me blabbing...


(I have no clue where I found this photo-I downloaded it onto my phone a really long time ago.)

Love,
Jess

A Day in the Life

I'm so excited about this post! I first saw this done over at The Wandmaker's Mother and since then I've seen several bloggers do a similar post (including my cousin). I thought it would be a fun thing for us to look back on and have in this moment decided that some of my posts will be "scrapbook pages" for Clay that I can put in his scrapbook.

I'm a genius (just let me have my moment, I'm sure I'm not the first person with this idea).

Anyway, I chose a Tuesday to do this so this is the weekday edition and at a later date I will do a weekend edition. Also, I've included what's happening in Clay's life and mine.





7:00 am Beep beep beep. My alarm goes off. Snooze.

7:05 am The alarm woke up Clay. I go get him and a bottle and we snuggle for a few minutes then I get ready while Clay watches Sesame Street in his ExerSaucer (the only reason I get a shower lately). I eat breakfast and make coffee.




We have our morning photo shoot so I can take pictures to send to my family for the day. (Ok, I'm not crazy. If they don't get a picture every day I get a "where's my picture" text. I'm so glad that they get to see him grow!)




Time to go! I figured out that I only have to make one trip if I put both lunch boxes and my drinks in one big bag. We have Patrick tagging along because Clay had a rough night.

8:30-8:55 Traffic. Yuck.

8:55-9:00 I drop Clay off at daycare. He goes straight into the high chair and starts eating breakfast with his friends. He's one of the older kids so now meal time has become more social.










A morning full of errands for me at work! Did anybody else know that Harris Teeter had a cheese aging cave?? Hmm...




I stop by to visit Clay at lunchtime. This is Clay's first time eating "school" lunch. A.k.a. homemade Mac-n-cheese. It was a HUGE hit! I also learn that he is a paci stealer. He never latched on to the paci himself so when he steals one he holds it straight up in the air like he won a prize.







It was the last day of school for the kids so we had a picnic lunch at the park and tcby to celebrate. I love my job!




Time to pick up Clay Baby! He's in different clothes because of the mess from lunch. He eats lunch naked now.

6:40-7 pm Dinnertime! Mike usually feeds Clay while I pack Clay's bottles and food for the next day.

7-7:45 pm Bathtime/playtime/story time/dishes. This is when we try to wear Clay out as much as possible.

7:45-8(:15sh) pm Mike puts Clay to bed while I finish dishes/cleaning up.

8:15-9 pm Mike leaves, I eat dinner and gorge on blog reading.




I do one of the 8 minute videos.

9:08ish pm I debate going to bed but inevitably get sucked into Netflix, blogs, more laundry, etc.

11 pm I finally pass out watching Pretty Little Liars.

And that is our day!

Today I'm linking up with Mommy Mondays Blog Hop!

Love,
Jess

H54F!

Rain + treadmill runs= a really long week. However, besides those two things it was a pretty awesome week. Here are a few of my favorite things from this week:





1. I got this shirt for Christmas and completely forgot I owned it until this past Wednesday. Plus, it looks awesome with my green maternity shorts. Yes, maternity shorts. Don't hate. I can fit in my regular shorts again but these are green AND comfy.

2. Am I the only person who likes wearing men's deodorant. Besides the fact that women's deo doesn't really help at all on me, this stuff smells like am sexy man.

Am I getting too real with you on the blog today? Err, sorry.

3. I took the kids to tcby on the last day of school. YUM.

4. Harris Teeter now has a cheese aging cave. I find this extremely funny.

5. Picnic at Freedom Park with the kiddos on Tuesday. It was a perfect picnic day! Since then we've had 3 days of yuckiness so I'm very thankful we got to go enjoy the weather!


And here are my five favorite pictures of Clay from this week:




He loves sitting in the chair in my room that belonged to my great grandmother so that's where we've been doing a lot of picture taking lately.



Have a great weekend!

Love,
Jess

Dear Moms,

I'm exhausted and it's only 9:25. I was ready for bed two hours ago! I'm kinda having a flashback to having mono when I was in college.

So my question is...

Dear Moms of the World,

Where do you get your energy?

Seriously, any advice would be much appreciated!

Well, that's all I've got because I need sleep more than I need to blog but never fear! I have a cute picture to share!





Love,
Jess

9 months...

Well, we've made it to 9 months!




Part of me is so sad because he is growing up SO fast but the other part of me is so excited to see him grow. I love watching him grow into his personality (I say that because he's been Mr. Personality since he was born) and experience new things. New foods, the big pool, his musical instruments, his circus tent. I could go on and on but I'll spare you.

On to the pictures from Clay's 9 month photo shoot!




We're making headway...he sat in the grass and didn't cry!






With Dada. I've seriously been slacking on getting photos of us with Clay!



I love this one! It looks like he's reading his stats!





I'm not sure why I edited this one so differently...




Currently...

Clay's favorite toys are his drum, guitar, and piano. And he loves his stuffed animals!

Clay's diaper size is a size 3.

Clay's favorite foods are meatloaf, French toast with berries, and bananas.

Clay's clothing size is anywhere from 3-12 months on top and strictly in the 6-9 month range on bottom. Tall and skinny! The 3 month shirts are about to go because it's getting hard to pull them over his head!

Clay's newest "tricks" are cruising, feeding himself, chasing his friends at daycare, climbing, and saying baba baba (although most of the time he sticks with dada dada dada).

Clay weight and height are: 17 pounds 8.6 ounces and 29 1/2 inches.

Today I'm linking up with Mommy Mondays Blog Hop!

Love,
Jess