Bikini Body

I have my bikini body back.  FINALLY.  That said, I didn't exactly have the greatest bikini body before I got pregnant, and that hasn't changed, but I think I can say that I look almost as good in a bikini NOW as I did THEN ("then" being before Ironman gave me a set of six-pack abs...I doubt we will ever see those puppies again).

So, I guess that's really the best I can hope for.

Before Ironman training (in 2009), I weighed about 143 pounds.  That's a size 10 and on the high end of the BMI scale.  My dearm goal was to get down to a size 8...I've NEVER been a size 8.  Not even in high school when I was a skinny minny. 

Alas, Ironman training began and while I got VERY toned, I did not lose a single pound, nor drop a single inch.  I had rock hard abs, could do 100 push ups, and about a million V-ups before collapsing, but I didn't lose a single pound or a single inch.  I was still a size 10.

After Ironman, I started seeing some doctors because that's just not normal.  I was diagnosed with PCOS.  In short, there is a fat girl version and a skinny girl version.  I had the fat girl version and the only reason I didn't weigh 400lbs is because I was training for an Ironman and making healthy food choices.  I began getting treated for insulin resistance with a medication called Metformin which initially made me want to hurl, but once I got regulated on it, I felt amazing and the weight started dropping off.  In the summer of 2010, I was the skinniest I have been since mid-high school - 136 pounds - but still a solid size 10. 

Those effing pants!!  Makes me crazy.  Luckily, my husband likes a girl with some hips.  But really I think he just says that because he doesn't want to buy me all new pants.

Then I got pregnant.  My pre-pregnancy weight was 136 pounds (but I consider my REAL pre-pregnancy weight to be about 143).  By the end of those 40 weeks, I had grown to a solid 177 pounds.  I weighed more than Tommy (but he was training for Ironman and therefore at his optimal race weight, soooo, I tried not to dwell on it).

I was told that breastfeeding would make the weight melt off. 

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHA.

Breastfeeding made me want to become a cannibal because then there would ALWAYS be food available to me.  Breastfeeding made me the hungriest person in the world.  I would have beaten some starving Ethiopians for their dinner.  Seriously.  I would wake up 2-3 times a night, RAVENOUS, and eat a few slices of pizza or a few bowls of cereal or whatever (a couple of timese a night).  I kept snacks next to my boppie because while I was feeding Anna I would sometimes get so hungry I would cry.  Not to be rude, but you can't lose weight if you are eating 124 large pizzas a day.  I'm just saying.  And I'm telling you that I was NEVER full.  Ever. 

Then I stopped breastfeeding. And while I had developed some terrible habits (McDonald's Chicken Biscuit anyone??), I was no longer starving and was able to at least ATTEMPT to make good choices.  But bad habits are hard to break and it's been tough going.  I was finally able to control my hunger.  THANK GOODNESS.

Getting into the routine of work, baby, working out, preparing meals made a huge difference for me and I started seeing some results. 

By Christmas, I was down to 146 pounds.I made a new years resolution that in 10 weeks, I would lose 10 pounds. 10 weeks just also happens to be my birthday and the start of summer (here in Texas).  That's 1 pound a week for 10 weeks.  I'm 4 weeks in and have lost 4 pounds, but I know these last 6 pounds are going to be the hardest...since I was never able to lose them before. 

But I'm gonna try!!

And finally, today, when I looked in the mirror, I wasn't repulsed by what I saw.  142 pounds of me wasn't gross.  My boobs were a little saggier (but they are so microscopically small, that it don't really matter), and my belly is flabbier, but overall, I'm about back to where I was before the Ironman.  I wore a bikini then, so I can wear a bikini now.  Can't say that I will rock it, but you probably won't vomit.

At 6:30AM this morning, in 50 degree weather, I put on my bikini just to be sure.  Lo and behold, it wasn't too bad.

6 more pounds to lose.  6 more packs of abs to find.  I can do it.

Happy Happy Christmas!

Okay, the 2 job, maintain a happy healthy marriage while raising a child thing was rough and is (thank goodness) basically over.  At this point, I'm really only doing about 1.25 jobs and it's fairly manageable for the moment.  Things slow down a little during the holidays, so that's made a huge difference and I am finally starting to get the hang of the new job, so yayyy...that said, I am still probably going to end up wasting 3-4 days of vacation this year and that just hurts my heart. 

First World Problems.  I has them.

We did the Turkey Trot here and I did about like I expected (not good, but about as good as I expected).  I finished in 26:26 for the 5K...which is about 3 minutes off my PR.  I figured I would do just under 27 minutes, so yeah, right on plan, but not good.  I keep saying I'll get faster and back to where I was, but to do that, I will actually have to train properly...and right now, I'm not.  Blah!  Tommy walked with Anna in the jogging stroller...he fell down the stairs (twice) earlier in the week and his ankle was all jacked up. 

Then we did Thanksgiving with our wonderful friends Tiffany and Harold at their camp on the coast...it was us, Anna, our two dogs, Tiffany and Harold, Harolds mom, their 4 kids and their 3 dogs.  To recap, thats 5 adults, 5 children and 5 dogs.  Hahahaha.  It was wonderful - we wish we could see them more often!

We went to Cancun for vacation, which was marvelous (although, a little cold for our tastes).  I got caught up on my reading (The Hunger Games, a couple of chick lit/romance crap, and some comedy...I ran the full gamut).  We did a lot of beach sitting, even though Anna HATED sand, eating delicious seafood, drinking margaritas, playing cards and watching movies.  The water was too rough and we couldn't swim in the ocean, but Anna loved swimming in the pool (I did not swim in the pool...it was freezing).

Here is a photo bomb of our last few months.  And yes, these are the just a small selection of pictures.  We took 320 pictures over the weekend alone.  Trust me.  I've toned it down for you.  It could be much worse.  Much, much worse.


I'm 7 months old!  Hooray!



A Preview of the Teenage Years

And you thought YOU had bad hair days.

My friend Jodie came in town and we had a girls lunch and then we went and "played" at Kristins.  Playing mostly consisted of the other babies taking whatever Anna was playing with (eating).  It was very amusing.

Mom.  Seriously.  Stop it with the camera.

Anna and her pals. 



The girls!  We survived lunch!



Cupcake! 

This is when we realized that we should have dressed her as Gene Simmons for Halloween. 



First trip to the zoo.  Petting a goat.  It looked and felt a lot like Donny the Dog.  She was not impressed.

My mom and sister came in town and Tommy and I went to a wedding and then spent the night in a hotel...there is nothing better than waking up on your own on a Sunday morning.

Thanksgiving at our friends new camp!

 And then we spent the week after Thanksgiving in Cancun - we spent the first 5 days alone, just the 3 of us, and then we packed up and moved to another resort for a friends wedding for 3 days.  My family was there and it was a blast. 

Mommy realizes she may be showing too much boob for a wedding.

Baby Anna will cut you if you take her banana.

Dancing with Daddy

This is the moment that she realizes that sand is going to kill her.

Yayy Mexico!

This is how we do vacation.  Napping baby, cards, beer and paella...on the beach.

What up?!?

Practicing for the swim.  Ironbaby!

The storm that rolled in from Cozumel the day of the Ironman...

Splashing is the best!

Yes.  She is almost 8 months old and we still swaddle her.  Dear lord.

I love swimming!  Even when it's freezing cold!

The view from our room.  We are spoiled!

My family!  Nothing better than a wedding where you are barefoot and can have a mimosa during the ceremony.

No Apologies.

I SHOULD be apologetic, and I DO feel a little guilty, but alas, life has once again gotten in the way of me spreading the word.  And by "the word", I mean "verbal diarrhea" and by "spreading", I mean "like herpes".

Nonetheless, thanks for everyone's concern at my absence.  I've just been busy, pre-occupied, and just generally playing about.  We have implemented Margarita Fridays at our house (we make margaritas and sit in the driveway like the classy folks we were raised to be), and therefore I spend most of my week dreaming about 5PM on Friday...which leaves little time for blogging.  Tommy mixes up a batch of sugary goodness, we take the exersaucer to the field and everyone relaxes and enjoys life.

What's that you say?  You live in Texas and it's about 237 degrees outside right now?  Yeah, this does not stop us from field sitting.  Anna is only happy when she is about catch on fire, so out to the field we go...with margaritas.  For us.  Not her. 

To recap the exersizing in the last month-ish:

I re-injured myself running.  Shocking.  I was doing really well running 3-4 miles and then when my running club started up for the season running 6/8/10 miles, I was all, "Hey yeah, I can totally run 39 miles with you guys tomorrow.  No prob."  And lo and behold, I hurt myself.  I should know better, but I got caught up in all.  Oops.  Soooo, now I'm back to 3-4 miles with walk breaks....it's going eh.  I'm having fun though, so I am trying not to care too much.

Due to my injury, my race at Bridgeland Sprint Tri went sub-optimally.  That said, I would have won the Athena division had I remembered to sign up for it (idiot)...instead I got like 9 millionth place in my normal division.  Which, by the way, doesn't feel as good as first.  In case you were curious.

I swam okay (as expected...can't expect great things when you swim twice a year), biked okay (it took me 5 miles to warm up...and in a 13 mile ride, that's too long!), and ran pretty crappily (mostly because I walked most of it).  So, eh. 

I took about 2 weeks off (you know, kind of...) of working out and it was pretty glorious.  It was probably the first time off I've taken in a few years and I really enjoyed it.  I didn't feel guilty and it was good.  I don't have any races until the spring, so there's no real reason to push the envelope now.  I felt like I needed a break and I took it.  GLORIOUS.  And during that time, Tommy and I were able to run together for the first time in about a year - it was great to be able to do that again.  Now that the weather is cooling off (it's only 168 today instead of 237), I'm hoping we can take Anna out for runs together.  

Point of the story is that I:
A.) Am alive
B.) Am well
C.) Have about 37 blogs started but not finished from over the last month
D.)  Am wishing that each day had about 3 more hours in it
E. ) All of the above

No one likes all of the above.

And, of course, gratuitous photos of my adorable nugget, whom we have nicknamed NuNu (it's short for Nugget.  Duh.)

First Trip to the Beach.  Lovin' Life.

Best.  Party.  Ever.

A Daddy and His Girl!

Baptism Day!

Post About Nothing.

So, unfortunately, I don't spend as much time surfin' the net like I used to...not because I don't have the time but because I choose to go to bed at 8PM on a regular basis.  This is the bedtime I have always dreamed about but never indulged in.  I am a morning person, but due to social norms, for years I have been forcing myself to stay awake at least until the sun goes down.  But having a baby gives you the perfect excuse to do just about anything you want. 

Want to talk about vaginas all day?  Sure.  You just had a baby.  Want to cry for no reason?  Yeah, that's normal.  You just had a baby.  Want to talk about poop and vomit while others are eating?  Why not?  You just had a baby.  Sweating profusely?  It's the hormones.  You just had a baby.  Want to go to bed at 8PM everynight for the rest of your life?  No prob.  You just had a baby.

As a kid, my mom would tell me that I couldn't get out of bed until the numbers on the clock matched this piece of paper she taped on the wall that 7:00.  Unfortunately for me, at my tender age, I didn't know that 6:59 came before 7:00 and that 7:01 came after...so I remember sitting in my bed, staring intently at the clock, just BEGGING the numbers to match and knowing that if I looked away for even a second I could miss 7:00. 

It's the little things that really eff up your kids man.  It's the little things.  She also gave me a phone book and a pair of scissors so I could entertain myself.  I spent most of my childhood cutting up phonebooks.  That's a life skill I have yet to need.

Back to my point.  My original intent was to tell you why I haven't been blogging...which, if you follow the logic, can ultimately be blamed on my mother.  So thanks mom for screwing up my blog.  I'm sure that when you gave birth to me, you were planning on savings lots of money for some serious therapy sessions down the road (for you or me or both) and you had no comprehension of this newfangled virtual world where I would type up my diahrea of the mouth for everyone to read.  I think we can ultimately blame dad for that one though.  I'm sure he had something to do with it.  And if not, feel free to take your angry out on him anyway.  You just had a baby after all (I realize I am 30 years old so the excuse is getting a little tired, but until he capable of pushing a baby out of him, I say just go with it).

Sidenote since my mother has now started reading my blog:  I love you mom.  But all those times you told me I looked terrible in lavender really messed me up.  I don't own a stitch of purple clothing for fear of upsetting the color wheel.  But really, I love you mom.

I wish I had something exciting to write about, but the point is that I don't. 

Mmmmm...Nachos is good for me.

Cooking up a nugget for dinner!

So in lieu of actually writing a post, I started a special savings account for Anna's future therapy, which frankly, I feel that her future self should pay for...but since I am the one who styles her hair that way (because OMG, it cracks me up!), I will do what I can to offset the financial strain of years and years of therapy.  Here's a quarter sweetheart.

Only Babies Can Get Away with That.

Me and my pal Roggs took our beasts to dinner on Monday night.  She had just gotten back from vacation and I had just eaten most of the food in the world, so we went to Ziggy's Healthy Grill.  It's a health conscious place (most everything is cooked healthy oils or no oils if possible...the fries are sweet potatoes and the salads are DIVINE)...but they don't really offer up nutrition information (which I find bizarre - and probably means the stuff isn't as healthy as they like to promote). 

Nonetheless, we took the beasts to dinner...but there was no one else at the restaurant...which was good because screaming babies didn't bother anyone but us, but bad because there was no one else to drown out my screaming baby.  Ha.  (Roggs' baby didn't scream so much as squeal...she is just a loud one!)

When the waittress came over to take our order she lurked for a minute too long before addressing our table.  It was just a little wierd.  But hey, we were in Montrose.  Weird lurking people are pretty par for the course 'round those parts.  But when she did finally decide to talk to us, she apparently told us about the specials...but I could barely hear her because the giant booger in her nose was talking louder than her.

I'm telling you, it was the biggest booger I have ever seen in my life.  Ever.  On anyone.  It was so big that I wasn't sure if it was a booger or if it was a nose ring.  It was THAT big.  Huge.

I didn't hear a single word that she said about the specials.

I asked Roggs if she knew what the specials were and she said, "No, I couldn't hear over the booger."

Yeah.  I'm telling you.  Biggest.  Booger.  Ever.  Only babies can get away with boogers like that.  The good news is that, unlike my adorable booger filled child, this chick is capable of picking her own.  When she came back, it was gone.  Apparently booger shaped nose rings aren't as fashionable as I had once thought.

I ordered the salad.

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In exercise related news, my race in 3 weeks away - ahhh!!  I have been picking up the running mileage - I am now at a respectable 4 miles and a pitiful 5 miles, but I'm getting there!  I'm gonna shoot for running 6 again this weekend at a normal pace (I went way slow last weekend just to make sure I got it done). 

I am feeling good, but my legs are pretty wasted.  I ran 6.5 on Saturday, took Sunday off (because my BFF was in town and we went Owling - ha), did 5 and weights on Monday, biked 20 and ran 1 on Tuesday, 5 and weights on Wednesday, and now, after 2 hours of sleep, I am trying to get motivated to bike at lunch today...but truthfully, I'm not sure if my legs will hold out. 

I will probably take it easy the week of my race - not because I really need to taper before a sprint tri, but because I've increased my volume so much in the last few weeks that my body will probably just need a break.  

For now, I'm hoping to swim in about 12 minutes (500 meters), bike in about 40 minutes (13.5 miles = 20-21mph), and run in about 32-33 minutes (3.65 miles = 9 min/miles). 

The swim will be a crapshoot.  You have to actually train on something to have a vague idea of how it will go...and I have been in the water once since before Anna was born (we are going on about 5 months now).  And that was at my last race.  Ha.  Oh well!  We are going to swim this weekend (swimming is the sport that is REALLY hard to do with a baby, FYI - it just takes too much time!) and then I will have a better grasp of what I can do on race day I think.

I'm relatively confident in my biking ability - I've been KILLING it on the trainer.  I haven't been biking outside, so I don't actually know how fast I've been going, but I've been feeling good and sweating a lot. That's got to be a good sign, eh?  Or I could just be really out of shape.  We will find out!  (It's definitely hard to find time to bike outside, but finding time on the trainer is pretty easy)

On the run, it will just be about willpower.  I know I CAN do it....it will just be a matter of MAKING myself do it.  I'm gonna wear The Green Silence (my racing flats), so that should motivate me to run faster.  You can't wear racing flats and dillydally.  It's just wrong.

I am so excited!  I love racing!  I wish I was gonna look better in my spandex, but alas, this is the squishy body that I was given.  Avert your eyes!

Quick Updates...Only Because It's Been Forever Since I Last Blogged.

I'm really glad I bought semi-stylish maternity clothes.  I had no idea that I would STILL be wearing them.  My entire outfit today is maternity.  Stretchy pants rock, but I kind of miss belts.

Apparently, I can't remember to put on deodorant anymore.  This is the third day since I've been back at work that  I've forgotten to put it on.  Thank goodness for my gym bag.

What to do when people make TERRIBLE spelling mistakes on Facebook?  Not just a typo, but like, the wrong word all together?  Should you help them?  I hate seeing my friends get dummer*. "Conscience" and "conscious" are not the same word.  FYI.  Nor are "affect" and "effect".  And don't get me started on "irregardless". 

Since my belly button is so freakishly deep now (it was freakishly deep before...now it's even worse...if you can possibly fathom that), it is collecting all sorts of artifacts.  I wouldn't be surprised to find a dinosaur fossil in there.

It's Anna's 3 month birthday!  Happy birthday Miss Anna!  I'd buy you cupcakes (because any excuse for cupcakes is a good one), but I can't wear stretchy pants forever and I can't afford a new wardrobe, so Project Weight Loss is underway.  And in case you didn't follow, Project Weight Loss does not include the consumption of cupcakes.

Dear lord mom.  That outfit...[shudder]...

We started giving the beast bottles pretty early on (which was awesome, btw)...and we couldn't figure out why sometimes she would choke and sputter and drool and splatter milk everywhere.  Then one day, I was like, "Hey Tommy, some of these nipples have numbers on them".  And Tommy was all,  "Hey, let's google it".  And we determined that we had been feeding her with nipples fit for a 3 year old.  No wonder the kid couldn't keep it all down.

Lucky for me, newborns are not quite as fragile as they appear to be.  There are just too many damn instructions to read - no one could keep up.  No pregnant woman knows what to read and no new mom actually has that kind of time...soooo, my house is kind of one giant booby trap.

The best thing about being back at work is morning talk radio.  Oh, how I missed morning talk radio. 

Had my first hangover on Saturday morning.  Learned my lesson!  Hangovers and babies do not mix.  Nor do long runs in the heat of the day or massages.  All of which I did with a hangover.  Not optimal.  Game night was fun...Things in a Park that start with J??
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Workouts are going GREAT!  My running group started up for the season and I quickly realized A. how much I missed working out with people and B. that running while talking is hard.  I will attempt to run 6 miles on Saturday with them (and my BFF who is coming in town to play!)...we will see how that goes.  It is a 50% increase over my longest run lately.  I think we can safely say that that is higher the recommended 10% increase. (not to be redundant for you math geniuses out there) Ooops.  Bridgeland Sprint Tri is in 3 weeks...and since I forgot to sign up for the Athena division (CRAP!), I will attempt to be more competitive so I don't embarrass myself.  Probably should have thought that through a little more.  Probably should go to the pool.  At least once.  Probably.

*Yes, I no that's not how you speel it.

The Daily Grind

Today is my last day home with my beast.  I can't believe it.  In honor of this momentous occasion, I give you some pictures of my gorgeous crotch parasite.  Once I start using a computer regularly again, I will start blogging regularly again.  I hope.  I haven't even been reading blogs.  I just watch Channel 13 all day long.  The problem with never changing the channel is that you have to see the same person get interviewed over and over and over again.  The other day, I watched Brooke Shields promote The Addams Family about 18 times.  Or that video of the kid getting eaten by the lion?  Yeah.  A lot of times.  I love my little, adorable, huggable nugget, but man, I miss adults.

But now, some gratuitous photos of my wonderful baby girl...

So bashful.

Scary bear!

Anna and her mean friend Mia.

Bored at a triathlon.  Again.

First (and only) trip to church.

Streeeeetch!

I hate you mom.

Apparently Nana doesn't care that I spit up all over myself.

Nana is fun!

I'm cute.

Dogs love me.

Father's Day brunch.  

Silly mommy.

11 Weeks Old with Lenny the Terrible.

Ha.

We dress all of our creatures in costumes.  This is just the beginning.