Random Things

So far I'm loving summer. It's totally fun to hang out with Andra, she's just happy and when she's NOT, I'm learning quickly what she needs (food, or sleep - that's about it). She's become a huge talker, even though most of her stories go "Blah, blah blah" I don't get bored hearing it over and over and over and over. She totally can self-entertain in her exersaucer for fairly long stretches. When I go into her room in the morning or after naps, instead of just a smile, I now get a huge grin along with flailing arms and legs - nice that someone is so excited to see me! She can also sit up now, not totally reliably, but soon I'm sure.

Random things I want to mention:

WebMD - I found out my piece isn't airing on the site until September 24! That sucks. But at least they did put up a schedule of what's coming so I know they didn't cut me out.

RA and running - Wendy (aka Rusted Runner) emailed me to invite me to run the Outer Banks marathon or half with her and a few other women with RA. It's super tempting. November 8. If it were within driving distance, I'd do it in a heartbeat. This would require flying though, and logistically I'd have to figure things out.

Weight - So I finally am not starving all the time. It's been a week or so that I've felt much more normal in this area. I had 5 pounds to lose to get back to pre-preg weight for the past month or 2. I just weighed myself after my shower this afternoon and I was even lower - despite that I normally weigh first thing in the morning, etc. etc. So maybe I'll hop on tomorrow morning and be pleasantly surprised. Although my core/abs feel as strong as before (I never really felt like I lost much there, I did ab works pretty much all the way through the pregnancy), I'm ready to lose the little fat rolls that give me a nice muffin top when I'm not careful.

Breastfeeding - I'm still nursing twice a day and pumping once. After out trip to Michigan in July, I think I'll think about cutting out the pumping mid-day and see how that works out for a while. If the boobs can handle it, morning and night nursing might be sustainable longer than I thought. But, maybe not, too. At least I feel not too much stress about whatever I decide.

Injuries - Went to see another foot guy about my Achilles to see if anything had changed in the last 7.5 years since I hurt it. Nope. He said surgery was an option, but not a good one with a baby since recovery would involve a few weeks of crutches. So my other option is to be MUCH better with ice, and start taking ibuprofen or something again.

Fun - I sort of played a soccer game last night (we scrimmaged as apparently the game was cancelled but our entire team did not know, so we all showed up) and it was fun (it's been 2 years) but my heel hurt more than usual this morning. It's a co-ed league, and though I've played with the same core group for a few summers (minus last year), I still feel like I know no one and am pretty shy and awkward at the games. I also can't figure out how my team won the state championshop my senior year and I got an MVP award, because frankly, I have very few skills! I made more than one pass to the other team last night (although, mine were hardly the only mistakes).

Working out - I've committed to a half marathon training plan, one similar to Monica's. I'm hopefully doing 2 halfs in September - one local, and a week or two later, the Philly Distance Run if all goes well (ok, I haven't committed monetarily yet). What I love about this Runner's World plan is that it has me running only 3 days a week, and once a week the run is an easy 2-4 miles! Hey, that I can handle. Where I'll have trouble is the long runs, but...hey, I can do it.

This morning I planned to go to 9:15 yoga, but Andra needed to nap badly, as she slept for nearly 2 hours as opposed to her normal 45 minutes. So when she woke up we went for a little run-turned-walk (ok, those easy 2 miles aren't always easy) and I went to a later yoga class. It was an easy class for beginners (I qualify) and largely just stretching, which was fine with me. I lifted a bit after. I was very happy be able to use a 40 pounds bar for some bicep curls - evidence that my wrists are SOLID now, despite the damage from the RA. 10 years ago when I was diagnosed, I'd given up on push-ups and any hope of weight lifting. So that's a pretty cool thing.