Monday, February 28, 2011

Running Issues Part 1

I have run into a few issues with all this running I’m doing. I have solved a few of them, but a few I’m struggling with.

Issue #1...FOOD!

Ok…it’s not just when I’m running, but really anytime I exercise or play a sport. I don’t like to eat much before I engage in physical activity…food jostling around in my stomach during Zumba, Dodgeball or while running doesn’t feel good.

The problem is that if I don’t eat enough about 20 minutes in (more so when I’m running than any other activity) I get dizzy and have felt on the verge of blacking out several times. I have tried several different power bars, but they don’t offer enough of whatever it is that my body needs to help avoid this.

Power bars also tend to have high percentages of potassium in them and potassium is one of the things that triggers migraines for me, so there are only a few that I can even eat.

I need to find the right balance of carbs and protein because too much, or not enough, of either one and I have blood sugar issues, and as I have found in a few training runs crashing in the middle of a run SUCKS! I have not tied oatmeal yet, maybe that would be a good option before races and for some reason plain chicken and rice sound like a good idea, but I have nothing to back that up nor does that always sound good first thing in the morning before a run/race. I know what doesn't work...cereal and yogurt!

I have done some research online and I find all kinds of running “diets” but I never really have believed in diets. (Portion control and smart eating habits are what I believe in, the minute I have to start counting points/calories/fat/weighing myself regularly I’m out. I went through a phase a few years ago of following a true diet and weighing myself and I got pretty obsessive about it. I would weigh myself 3 to 4 times a day and if I gained an ounce would just stop eating, would weigh before and after meals etc…was not healthy at all. I know what is healthy and what isn’t and I can tell when my cloths start fitting a bit snugly...I don't need a diet or scale to tell me those things. Anyway off that soap box). I'm looking for something I can do the morning of, or even a day or two before a race that works.

I’m already careful about what I eat and drink, or rather DON’T drink, the night before…now I need to find the right fuel for the morning/few hours before a race and or training run.

Another food thing I struggle with is the lack of potassium in my diet…I purposely avoid it in the foods I eat and that leads to a lot of leg cramps and knots. This has been an issue long before I started running, but now that I’m running on top of my work out and sport schedule my muscles are not getting the break they used to and I have knots in my calves that don’t go away ever. They don’t always cramp, and when they do I can usually deal with it before it gets too bad, but they hurt when I run because they are hard as rocks no matter how much I stretch. My next massage I’m sicking my therapist on my legs to try and work some of the knots out!

BTW - I don't want to offend anyone with my diet comments. I'm not being critical of the diets that are out there or people that follow them. All I'm saying is that for me they don't work so well. My obsession over it last time I dieted is a personal issue and I know I tend to go to extremes with it, so would rather risk haveing a few pounds more than maybe I should than risk being skinny, but obssed and unhealthy about it. Plus, I LOVE to cook. I would rather cook a yummy meal that has heavy cream (for example) in it and just eat a little bit of it than feel like I can't cook/enjoy it at all. I guesse in it's own way that is a form of diet, but as long as I don't feel like I have to follow a strict "diet" I'm ok with it and am able to maintain balance.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

The Nursery is DONE!!!

Mark and I spent Presidents Day weekend working on Projects around the house. For Mark that meant a lot of work on the new bumper for the truck getting it ready for his road trip with Josh, for me it meant finishing the nursery and getting all the baby "stuff" organized.

We did have some fun first though with game night at Bob and Michelle's. Saturday Mark and I visited Great Wall Mall in Kent and had a blast shopping at the Asian market. Saw some very interesting things, and came home with some interesting things as well.

Then we were off to IKEA for a dresser for the nursery and a storage unit for my bathroom. My bathroom is very small with very little storage, but because it is the bathroom closest to the nursery it will end up being the "baby" bathroom, so I needed to make room for baby stuff!

IKEA was crazy busy, but as always we had a good time and just took our time making our way through the crowds.

Nursery pics are below...some are old news, but there is a complete picture now as it is finally finished all the way.


We finally hung the valance and it really was the perfect finishing touch for the room!

I didn't think we would need a dresser as there is shelving in the closet, but there are so many little baby things, and we have been given SO MANY cloths that we decided having the extra space and being able to put cloths in drawers would be way easier than having to hang them all...plus I'm out of room in the closet anyway. I was pretty proud of myself as I put the dresser together, with a little help from Mark here and there. Oh, I also finally put the stroller together and made sure we know how to attach the car seat to it and open and fold it. I did that all by myself!

This is just one side of the closet...the other side is just as full. My system or organization is that the clothes that fit now are all in the dresser and as Sky outgrows them I will move them out of the dresser and move new sizes from the closet to the dresser. All the cloths in the closet are hanging according to size, so it will be easy to start moving up in sizes. Part of the desire to use the dresser was so that I could use Michelle's way of organizing cloths and that is to fold the shirt, pants, hat or whatever else go with an outfit all together, so that when anyone needs to dress Sky you just grab a bundle of clothes and the whole outfit is there. Makes it supper easy for Mark, grandparents, babysitters etc.



Crib and cute wall decorations.



Cute rug on the floor.


Cute switch plate. I love the little touches like this that make the room so cute. We have a matching nightlight in the room as well that I love!


This is the new storage in the bathroom. The old one was about knee height and only held a few towels...this has lots of shelves for baby stuff and I already have all the cute hooded towels and little wash cloths on their shelf and a holder with little baby grooming tools.
It is hard to believe that in 93 some odd days we are going to have a baby in the house. I'm so excited!!!








Friday, February 18, 2011

Catching Up

Sorry I haven’t posted in a bit. We have been busy, go, go, go…this weekend I hope it stops for a bit! Totally random updates…

-We spent last weekend in Leavenworth with 8 other people for Michelle’s 30th b-day. Bob found a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom vacation home for us to use and it was great! The weather was warm, and we spent our time drinking, eating, drinking, playing games, drinking, sitting in the hot tub, drinking, sledding, and oh yea more drinking.
It was fun, but I felt like detox was in order when I got home, and getting back into my workouts!

-Mark cooked dinner and we curled up on the couch to watch a movie for Valentines Day. We picked a mind-bender for sure...Inception. I love Mr. Dicaprio, he is one of the few actors that no matter what he does you know it will be good. I have to pay attention though…can’t really knit or surf the web while watching this one.

-Wednesday night was Dodgeball and we had a blast. Dodgie Style is dominating the league this time around. We added two new guys to the team and they both have amazing arm strength, and are deadly accurate. Plus they are nice guys and fun to have on the team.

Looks like we will be doing kickball next. I can’t wait to “get back on the horse” and give first base a go again. No concussions this time! I learned my lesson about trying to tag people out on my knees!

-Not much to update on the baby front. It is a waiting game at this point until the due date. We took care of some paperwork with the attorney last week and we plan on getting a dresser and bathroom shelving this weekend. Plus I need to put the stroller and portable crib together to make sure everything works. I have the diaper bag packed a little, really just her coming home outfit, two bottles (I want to use my bottles in the hospital so she gets used to the nipples and not the hospital nipples) and a swaddling blanket. That is it. Michelle is going to help me with that, because I’m not sure what all I need to pack. I'm sure diapers should be added as well.

We have been getting tons of supper cute baby clothes from friends and co-workers, I still have three garbage bags to go through, and have already gone through two! We have about 500 white onsies in size 0-3 month…I won’t have to do laundry for weeks with all the cloths we have!
101 days until Sky!!!

-I’m going to try and get caught up on my scrap books this weekend. I know once Sky is here I won’t have time and I’m 2 years behind! YIKES!!! I have all the photos/mementos filed by date and ready to go though…just need to get them into the scrap books.

-Michelle and I have our first run in two weeks tonight…I’m so looking forward to it, and so not. I know it is going to hurt, but we have our next race in 22 days, so we have got to get on it! I plan on running Sunday as well…on an every-other-day running schedule at this point as that seems to work well for me. I toss in Zumba or Tracy Anderson on the between days, so there is maybe only 1 day a week, if that, that I’m not working out in some form or other.

So looking forward to the 3 day weekend...work has been crazy to say the least, and I could use the down time.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Next "Big" Run

Even though the next run is only a 5K, it feels like a way bigger deal than that! Michelle and I are running the Tacoma St. Patty's Day 5k March 12th. It feels like a big deal because we get timing chips and it is a USATF certified course. Which means it is has been measured and is officially a 5K and times/records stand nationally. Michelle and I will not be setting any time records I'm sure, but we are looking forward to an organized event that uses timing chips. We are both curious to see what our time is like on a road course.

Plus, we do training runs along the water often, so we are looking forward to a nice flat run along the water! So excited for this one! From the pics it looks to be a very festive crowd!



Monday, February 7, 2011

What Makes My Angry About Football

While I'm sad the Steelers lost, and feel in a bit of a funk today, there is only one thing I'm truly angry about and that is the fact that there is a huge double standard in the media/NFL/football fans in general.

During the game yesterday the announcers were talking about what Ben has had to overcome this year and to make their point they show numerous newspaper headlines regarding the ALLEGATIONS (that is a KEY word folks) against him.

What has Ben been convicted of...oh that's right NOTHING!

Yes he put himself in stupid situations, and the fact that is happened twice looks pretty bad, but there can be two sides to a story and there are some fame/money hungry girls out there that would say or do almost anything to get a fat paycheck. I don't know what he did or didn't do, but since he has not been arrested and charges have not been pressed saying he deserves to lose or doesn't deserve to be in the NFL is pretty pathetic considering some of the convicts that are playing the game and held in high regard.

Who has been put on a pedestal and the come-back player of the year this year? Dog torturing/murdering Michael Vick, that's who. Where were the newspaper headlines about what he did when they were talking about what he had to overcome? Nowhere, it wasn't even mentioned when they interviewed him. He actually was guilty of a crime, convicted and did time, now you tell me who deserves to win or lose based on morals?

I wonder if there are even enough players with morals/clean records in the NFL to make up one entire football team? I doubt it. And yet fans have the nerve to say people do or don't deserve to win based on morals/allegations/actions off the field. I find it pretty pathetic.

I find it even more pathetic that the media can put an ex-con on a pedestal while at the same time continue to try and make an innocent player look bad. (Did anyone catch the headlines about Ben taking his O line out to dinner and being out "until all hours of the morning"? This is something he does every time they go to the SB, (and several other QB's do that for their O lines as well) yet the media jumped all over it saying he was out partying until all hours of the night. PATHETIC!)

I'm not saying Ben is or is not a good guy, I don't know him and I don't know if he did or didn't do it, (and if he ever is charged and convicted I will be the biggest Ben hater out there), I'm also not saying that Michael should not be allowed to make a living after serving his time, but I am calling BS on the hypocrisy of the media, the NFL, and a good number of fans out there!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Big Day!

Started at 6 this morning getting the recipe I found in the Steelers Cookbook ready for game time, to be followed by running 5 mile drive for the Virtual Super Bowl run we signed up for (we have world run day shirts and bib's even!), then GAME TIME!

I can't wait to watch my Steelers with friends and family while enjoying lots of good food and drink!

HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!!!

Sky's first pic!

Crystal texted me the two ultrasound pics below. Our first pics of Sky! She is so cute already and I'm so in love with her already! Can't wait to meet her in person!








Friday, February 4, 2011

Random Thoughts

Baby - Still can't believe we are going to be parents very soon!!! So excited!!! I just want to hang out in the nursery all the time now!

Running - Michelle and I have our Super Bowl run Sunday morning, 9 am at 5 Mile Drive...can't wait!

Steelers - I hear a lot of trash talk about the Steelers living in the Seattle area...hating them is the thing to do around here, and I have gotten used to it. I say bring it on...the Steelers have proven over and over again that they play better and win when they are being disrespected and are the underdogs.

I think it is going to be a great game...two legendary defenses and two strong QB's/offenses. More than seeing the Steelers win though, I'm looking forward to watching the game with good friends and my Dad! There is nothing like watching Steelers football with my Dad!

HERE WE GO STEELERS HERE WE GO!!!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Due Date

May 30th! Crystal's Dr. called her this afternoon and everything looks good! Crystal and baby are healthy and Sky will be here the end of May!!

It's a GIRL!!!

That's right we will be bringing home a girl. In just a few months we will welcome Shannon Kailey Yeatman, Sky for short, into our home.

Liz, Crystal's Mom, called me during the ultrasound to let me know what we will be having. Apparently she was being very modest and keeping her legs crossed so it took a bit of work, but she finally gave them a view!

I'm so excited for Liz that she got to be there and see the ultrasound. Like Crystal said when she called me, this is just perfect.

At times the waiting that goes along with adoption got to me, but we have the perfect birth mother for us in our life, her mom is amazing, and we will be bringing home a baby girl. I kept telling myself it will be the right baby, the right situation, at the right time...and it is proving to be so very true!

I am so happy right now!