New Blog

If you have any interest in my journey to 50k you can visit me at my new blog . I will still blog here a bit, but the other blog is shiny and new :)

Ultra Lauren

May and June kind of got away from me. I have a toddler, nuff said, right? Or I could go on; a toddler that runs, climbs, tries to jump off things and generally causes all sorts of mayhem. He's pretty darn fantastic. :) And super cute to boot.

(little trouble maker)

As if raising a toddler wasn't enough there's always a new adventure in the works. In May we held an incredibly crazy first birthday party with tons of toddlers and preschoolers, my husband went away for the whole month and Hunter decided not to nap or sleep the entire time he was gone. In June my husband returned but moved to a studio out of the house (he is missed but I'm super excited about the extra space) and Hunter started running (mostly into sharp corners.)

And now in July I'm embarking on another adventure all my own. I've decided to start training for a 50k trail run. The distance sounds a little crazy but I've run 5 marathons and a handful of other races. 50k is about 31 miles so just 5 miles longer than a marathon. 5 miles is nothing after 26, right? I'm hoping so.

I started training about a month ago with the intent to eventually run a marathon but couldn't find a marathon that I really wanted to run that occurred at the right time or in the right area. I've had my heart set on EVENTUALLY running an ultra, I just had no idea it would be in 8 weeks.

Today I did my first hill and trail training run. It was incredible! Leaving my house at 5:45 it was already 72 degrees, but 5 minutes away the hills were about 10 degrees cooler, almost chilly. And trails are so much more fun than running around the same park every day.

This run also happens to be a lengthened version of the first route I ran post partum, weighing 230 lbs. Let me tell you how awesome it was running it again. Not only have I dropped 75 pounds since then, but I've also dropped about 5 minutes from my pace. I felt so light and free, even while running 2 miles up a very steep incline. I absolutely cannot wait to run the trails again. I'm even looking forward to a 15 mile run on them.

So people keep asking why? Dude, I don't know, there are so many reasons. What I do know is that the first day I started training for my first marathon I told my friend I had this overwhelming feeling of "why haven't I been doing this my whole life?" Even though that first run was more walking and gasping for air, and ended with feet full of blisters and muscles sore for days, it was the best thing I've ever done for myself. I had this goal that seemed totally unattainable but I was on my way to completing it.

Now, 8 years later I've completed 5 full marathons and a handful of other races. Not too shabby for a chubby girl. And after all that and a pregnancy I'm in the best shape of my life and feel like "So what now?" This 50k seems right up my alley. It's a shorter distance for an ultra. Most REAL ultras are 50 miles, 100 miles and upward. 31 miles seems like a good place to start.

For years I never thought I could run fast but always knew I had the endurance to run forever, so I focused on training for longer distances. This year, actually the past 2 months, is the first time I was ever able to run a quick pace. I set a goal to run an average pace of 9 minutes and I reached that goal. Now I'm actually passing people, which is just nuts. So now I get to go back to my love of distance. And maybe when I complete this goal I'll go back to working on speed. I keep hearing a whisper telling me it's time to get to Boston.

12 Months

(Hey Chubs)

(Grass eater!)

I have been so worried about Hunter's 1 year doctor visit. I was worried he'd be considered overweight or not hitting the correct milestones. But my main concern was vaccinations. I am definitely pro vaccination but not 6 at a time as the CDC recommends. It just seems like too many chemicals at once. Beyond that I was worried Hunter's pediatrician would pressure me to (or convince me to, hey I trust the guy) get the butt load of vaccines.

Luckily, the good doctor prefers splitting things up a bit. And he was fine with me pushing the MMR vaccine way back, all the way to the week before Hunter's 2nd birthday. So Hunter only got 3 vaccines today, then he will receive 2 at 18 months and 1 at 23 months. And he only cried for a bit until he saw all the lady nurses, then he quit the waterworks and turned on the charm, he's such a flirt. I feel confident that I made a well thought out and informed decision for my boy. I just want him to be healthy and happy.

The rest of the appointment went pretty well. As for height and weight, Hunter has stayed in the same 95th percentile for height. He's a tall dude. And he's 50th for weight and head circumference. He's nice and proportionate for now, but who knows what the next growth spurt will bring. As for milestones, he's doing reasonably well. He's said a few words like truck, dog, bye-bye but doesn't say them repeatedly. Sometimes he tries to repeat something someone has said and you can hear him sound it out. But mostly he babbles. The ped isn't concerned at all but I feel like I may need to focus a bit more on his language skills.

Hunter's doing pretty well with motor skills. He walks mostly independently now, he'll fall and crawl sometimes, but he'll just pull himself up and walk again. He just started waving a few weeks ago and gives "5" but doesn't really clap. He does some semblance of the movement, like waving his arms toward each other, but the hands don't touch. I have been super worried about the clapping because so many of our baby friends clapped at 6-9 months. But they also got their teeth. My ped reminded me that the milestones are an "average", some babies are early at some things and late at others. As long most milestones are met on time we're in good shape.

The last issue I discussed with Hunter's pediatrician is Hunter's eating habits. He does the pincer grab for foods but doesn't put them in his mouth most of the time. He's not a huge fan of most chunky foods. Some days he eats ok and other days he only wants formula. The ped seemed to think that Hunter's eating delay is probably connected to his late teething. He is getting better now that he has 6 teeth. Also, I feel like I need to start weaning the bottle but I can't do that until Hunter is eating consistently well. He drinks well from the sippy cup but the bottle is comfort, like breastfeeding. We've started weaning formula and he's drinking mostly milk now.

The pediatrician's conclusion was that Hunter is perfect and I need to relax. My conclusion, I'll relax when I'm dead.

one year ago

One year ago today...

FINALLY!!!

Hunter has a tooth! His top right tooth broke through yesterday or the day before and the top left broke through today. It came as such a surprise since every other baby we know got the bottom two teeth first. The bottom teeth look like they'll be in any day now too so I guess he's just going to get his teeth all at once. It took him 11 months to get one tooth so he just has his own way of doing things.

Hunter's also started crawling a bit but he's much more interested in cruising. He only crawls when it's ABSOLUTELY necessary. He's so darn quick at cruising now. He'll go from the sofa to the bouncer to the wall in seconds. And he scales the walls and the back of the sofa so he can basically get anywhere. He's my little Spiderman. Adam has taught him to get up steps too, so he can make it up the first step but hasn't quite figured out how to get up the second. As soon as that happens it's all over.

He's also taking very unsteady first steps. He needs to gain some balance before he really starts walking. Basically he looks like a tiny drunk.

We've started the birthday party circuit. I don't think we will have a free weekend day for the next 2 or 3 months. That's what our weekends will be like for the next few years; birthday parties, soccer games, kid stuff. This has really changed my perspective on Hunter. He's no longer a little baby. he's a toddler now, almost a kid.

11 months is a super fun age. Hunter is getting so much more active and expressive. He smiles at everyone and laughs at our little jokes and games. His life isn't solely about being cared for anymore. He's my companion now. We go to the library, for bike rides, read books together and just have fun together.

I'm starting to get really anxious for Hunter's birthday. We've toyed with the idea of doing a Star Wars theme because he was born on Star Wars Day but I'm leaning towards doing something a little more baby oriented. Star Wars seems a little too old for him. I want to do that theme when he understands that he's busting open a Darth Vader head pinata. We still have a few weeks so I'll just see how I feel when the day approaches.

And I'll leave you with some photos from the past month.

February Update

I really just wanted to check in because I am realizing that the month is coming to an end and I have had only 1 post this month. Such a slacker.

*Hunter still doesn't have any teeth but we've started to feel bumps so at least we know he will have teeth...eventually

*He's started cruising a bit. Just along the sofa and coffee table but he's starting to get this walking thing slowly but surely. And he'll stand for about 10 seconds on his own before he realizes he's on his own and quickly grabs for the nearest stationary object

*EC training is going really well. Although it's more observation than communication at this point. He definitely understands what to do on the potty and I sincerely hope it continues. Not having to deal with poopy cloth diapers is awesome

*My birthday is in 4 days. I'm one of those people that loves birthdays and I like to celebrate for the whole week, but it's no fun without Adam here

*As of Saturday Adam's home for at least 2 weeks! He may go back to San Diego, but who knows. His year is looking CRAZY busy

*Adam and I are going out for lunch on my birthday, sans Hunter, and it will be the first time we've had a non family member watch him. I'm a bit nervous, but we've known Natalie for almost 5 years and her boyfriend is one of Adam's good friends so there's not really anything to worry about

*I had to go jean shopping last week because I am down another pant size. I realized this a few weeks ago when I was sitting on the ground at the park with some mommy and baby friends when a woman behind me motioned to my friend and told her to tell me to pull up my pants. Mortified! I knew I was sagging, but I didn't realize my ass was so offensive

*My friend Heather started a really cool blog this month. She has a different goal for each month and she will blog about it daily. This month her goal was to do Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. I happened to have that DVD and was so inspired I have been doing it as well. It's been so good for me, I think I actually found my abs

*Getting in better shape has motivated me to eat better so I started Weight Watchers. I'm not going to meetings, just following the points program. Basically, I'm just food journalling. But I downloaded a free phone ap and it's been really helpful. I love that I'm not dieting just paying better attention to portion size and what I'm putting in my mouth. Good news, I still get wine

*I haven't run in over 2 months, since a few weeks before Christmas, so I probably won't be completing my resolution to run 1000 miles this year. Oh well. It got really hard to coordinate running around naps and crankiness. My wonderful husband bought me a really nice elliptical trainer right before the holidays. It's been absolutely amazing and I will continue to use it daily but I'm going to start running again next week

*I won't be running the LA marathon next week. I could, and I could probably finish, but my legs would be so pissed. So I'm thinking about running the Las Vegas marathon in December. I'm starting to run again in a whole new kind of shoe and a whole new style of running so I need a good amount of time to adapt

I think that's all the news that's fit to print.

Where's the teef?

I have to start off by telling you that I'm sitting indian-style on the floor right now. I'm so used to being on the ground with Hunter all day I just automatically fall to the floor in the evening rather than the sofa. Oh, and did you notice Hunter's shirt? A little gift from Daddy's trip.

Hunter turns 9 months tomorrow and he's becoming so much fun. He's started moving, not crawling really, it's more like the breast stroke. He can get around pretty well, but it's fairly inefficient. And it's so funny because it was like one day he was totally stationary and the next day he was pulling toys off of his shelf or suddenly under the sofa.

He's getting so big! He was such a tiny guy when he was born, it's crazy to think he's more than tripled in size! Right before Thanksgiving we had to get a new car seat for him because his old one was getting too confining. Unfortunately he wasn't ready for the transition quite yet so he's stayed in the smaller car seat. Luckily most of his length is in his legs so his feet just dangle a bit.

We went to our 9 month appointment today and found out Hunter is way too big for his current car seat that was supposed to last the 1st year. He still has a huge 48 cm head. I wonder if this hinders the crawling at all because he'll get himself up on his knees and then his head goes right to the floor. I'm not kidding, it's like an orange on a toothpick! He tips the scales at close to 23 pounds and he's just over 30 inches tall.

Hunter talks so much these days. He's always babbling and this week he's really stuck on dada. So everyone we see he looks at and he says dadadadada, smiles, then gets shy and turns away. We were at a play group this afternoon and Hunter and his friend, baby Elizabeth, were babbling at each other. It was like they were having a real conversation although all they did was yell dadababararalala back and forth.

He also had his first wrestling match with his friend Hudson. Before, he would cry when he thought Hudson was being too aggressive, today he was able to get all rumble tumble before the tears appeared. He's still not sure about the more aggressive boys, but he's getting more tolerant. Adam was joking that Hunter will be just like his dad, friends with all the girls.

I'm just enjoying him so much. He becomes more wonderful by the day. And the last few weeks have been really rough with Adam gone. Hunter's kept me going, if just because I have to be present for him. I think Hunter understands that dad isn't here and it's affected him as well. But we're in the zone now and we've adjusted pretty well to being alone during the week.

And one final tidbit: still not a tooth in sight!!!! No lumps, no bumps, no swelling or redness. But he still drools like a fountain, runs a low grade fever some days, pulls at his ears and is generally fussy. The doctor assured me that this is all due to teething. But where are these elusive teeth?