What I’m Looking Forward to…

Before I dive into this post, I realize my blog is kinda funky to read on desktops these days. Apparently I messed up the coding and have spent WAY too much time trying to figure out how to fix it. I need to hire someone who can help! Thanks for your patience as I navigate my way through that; it may be a little while.

Now onto the good stuff. The words I need to write for myself to get through a challenging time and I will totally encourage you to do the same.

What I’m looking forward to after the pandemic has calmed down:

  1. Hugging. Even just typing the word I get teary-eyed. Thinking about hugging my family and friends makes my heart want to both break and leap out of my chest at the same time. I am such an affectionate person so not being able to hug and touch right now is SO very hard for me.
  2. Being with my family. I haven’t seen my family in THREE weeks. I miss them all so DANG much. Our parents are used to seeing my kids on a weekly basis. I can’t wait until we can all just be together again.
  3. Social gatherings with friends. Even hanging outside with the neighbors right now is challenging because the kids          don’t understand the 6-foot concept. How are we supposed to manage that? Anyone have tips? The little ones just don’t  get it.
  4. The GYM. Three days a week I would take the littles to the childcare at the gym and I would have “me” time for two          hours; workout, emails, work, etc. This played a huge role in my mental health. I am still trying to find the new balance      and somehow work some mental health time into my days. I have been waking up early to either let my creative juices      flow on the blog, or walk on the treadmill, but I could a use little more as could Dana.
  5. Not being fearful of going places. We legit have to avoid each other like the plague, because, well. For friendly                midwesterners this one is tough. We are nice people. We like to hold the doors for each other, knock around a weather      joke, and just be friendly. We can still be friendly of course, just from a safe distance. I know it will be a while before we      can chill a bit on the anti-bacterial and wipes, but it doesn’t mean I’m not looking forward to that day! I have my anatomy  scan next week and I am honestly pretty nervous to have to be out in public, something I never thought I would say.
  6. Travel. I am in denial that my long-awaited trip to go see my GF Diane in Arizona is more than likely going to have to be    canceled. It is at the end of April and I still haven’t been able to face it. I guess I’m hoping for a miracle. I have been            looking forward to seeing my girl and spending the weekend with her in the sun. I even bought a new swimsuit.
  7. The boys (and myself) getting back to a normal routine. School, gym with mom, going to grandma and grandpa’s, and just having the freedom to go ANYWHERE! The zoo, the library, the parks…oh it will be so incredibly amazing.

I realize this list could go on for a while. I am going to hang on to all of these thoughts about what I am looking forward to after this nightmare has boiled over. I have to. You have to. I was listening to a video from Mel Robbins (if you don’t follow her yet, you absolutely should), and her words are what inspired this post. She said to think about the future, and even a date if you can, and imagine what you will be doing at that time.

We can’t change what is happening now, but we can make the most of the situation. It has been inspiring to see people reaching out to one another and trying to life each other up; helping where they can, even if that is simply a positive comment or hearts in the window.

Being home with my babies 24/7 has been totally exhausting, but when I feel frustrated I remind myself of how lucky I am to get to spend this extra time with them. This reminder comes into play alllllll day long because I have lots of tough moments.

I am enjoying getting creative with dinners. My neighbors and I have been sharing our dinner ideas with each other via snapchat and it makes me SO happy.

I am so thankful for Facetime and Zoom, keeping us all connected on a more intimate level.

I am thankful that my job is allowing me to work from home, something that was pretty much a “not a chance” in the past.

I am thankful for all of my family and friends who keep me smiling on a daily basis.

I am thankful I have a safe home, with clean water, food, warmth, and internet. =)

I am thankful for my favorite fitness instructor at the gym, who is providing fitness classes to her people via Zoom.

I am thankful that I can let my emotions out.

And of course, I am thankful for all of the people who are keeping our world up and running and who put themselves at risk every day to help us all get through this.

This post boils down to this: focus on gratitude, positivity, and making the most of this situation. I will continue to do it for myself as hard as it may be some days, and I think you should too. We are in this together, and we will get through this together.

I love you all.

 

Continue Reading What I’m Looking Forward to…

First Pregnancy Versus Fourth Pregnancy

This will be fun.

First of all, I’m pregnant?! It seems I forget pretty often because there is little time to think about it! The three little people that are dependent on me don’t seem to understand that I am growing a human and expect me to keep up with them as if nothing has changed. The blessing of this is that it keeps me active and it has definitely made this pregnancy fly by.

Symptoms

Throughout this pregnancy I have been dealing with an Ulcerative Colitis flare. With past pregnancies, pregnancy hormones (or something) put my body into remission at about week nine. Not this time. Typically I would dive straight into my supplemental regime and kick this to the curb, but alas, adequate studies have not been conducted with supplements enough to make me feel comfortable with the “risk”. My symptoms have improved but I am still dealing with it today. That being said, this could attribute to some of my exhaustion, but mostly I would attribute it to the little people honestly. I’d say I’m a pretty tough little lady.

At the beginning of pregnancy, I dealt with mild nausea, but nothing that ever sent me to the toilet. I thank God often that I have had four pregnancies without extreme nausea. I experienced fatigue in the first three months, making sure I was tucked into bed by 8 pm at the latest.

Round ligament “discomfort”. I won’t call it pain because it’s nothing compared to labor, but the uterine growth and round ligament stretching has been way more intense this time around. This one doesn’t make sense to me. Doesn’t my body just know what to do? It’s been stretched many a times already so why is it screaming at me so much this time?! Oh yes….I don’t sit still very often. That could be part of it.

Diet

I’m a dietitian as you are all aware. That being said, I can tell you that my diet has been far from optimal lately. The beginning of the pregnancy was mostly white carb focused: gluten free bread, cream of wheat, crackers, cereal, but I was able to get a whole buncha healthy stuff in there too. When the nausea subsided, it was back to the usual nutrient-rich meals. Then COVID-19 hit. I’m at home with all of the boys. As much as I aim to focus on nutrition for myself and my family, we are in a bit of survival mode as we all are. There are a lot of baked goods going down around here, let’s just leave it at that. =) In all fairness, I know I am still doing a heckuva job trying to feed us all with nutrition as BEST as I possibly can given the circumstances. So there’s that.

Cravings

I’d say my cravings this pregnancy around are more intensified. As I mentioned, the Pop Tart craving wouldn’t leave me alone. There has been a lot of pizza yearned for and consumed this time around. I was really into fruit at the beginning of pregnancy but that has now normalized. I guess it was most intense in the beginning of pregnancy. I feel pretty normal now. Kind of boring compared to my first pregnancy.

Weekly Bump Pics?!

I was religious about taking weekly bump pics for all three of the boys’ pregnancies. This time around, I’ve gotten maybe five, three of which I took as selfies.

19 week pic. I have seriously BUMPED since this picture was taken.

When will it feel real?

In lieu of our current life situation, my mind is heavily focused on remaining positive, keeping my family and loved ones safe, and making the most of our home life situation. There is nothing that really needs to be done to prepare for the arrival of baby except to buy some super teeny tiny diapers. Because we aren’t finding out the gender, I would like to sort through the newborn baby clothes bin to find some gender neutral clothes to hold us over, JUST in case a little girl decides to join the family. If it is a girl, there will be a whole lot of pink flowing in this house, you better believe it. So I guess there’s that too.

My appointments with the midwives have been every five weeks. Everything is looking perfect. I have my anatomy scan next week. My first one was canceled due to the virus. As of now, Dana will be able to join me for that appointment. My following prenatal appointments will be completed over the phone which is going to be so weird and sad because I won’t be able to hear my favorite little heartbeat noise that I so look forward to at those in-clinic appointments.

I’m thinking that maybe the ultrasound will make this pregnancy feel more real?

When I was pregnant with Bode, I remember spending so much time planning for the nursery. The amount of hours I spent looking for a rug and wall decor seems completely unreal at this point. For goodness sake I even sewed him a baby blanket! I remember sitting in the nursery once it was completed, anxiously awaiting the arrival of my sweet boy.

I am equally as excited about baby number four, there is just less time to think about it. I am planning on diving into the childbirth books in the next couple of months so I can begin to mentally prepare for labor and delivery, something that I seem to keep putting off in my mind.

I think I’m going to wrap this post up although I feel like I could go on and on. It’s becoming a bit of a doozy.

_____________________________________________________________________

I pray that everyone is staying healthy and safe. Take care, friends.

xoxo

 

 

Continue Reading First Pregnancy Versus Fourth Pregnancy

Intentions

On most mornings, I like to wake up at 5:00 am so that I can have about an hour to myself before the kids wake up. I either walk on the treadmill, catch up on emails, read a nutrition article, etc. I notice that on those mornings when I take a little time to myself, that it  tends to set the pace for a more positive day.

I’m writing this post at 6:22 am, right after finishing up a walk on the treadmill. Unbelievably the house is still asleep (jk I just heard the boys upstairs).

I have a rainy day ahead of me, with three boys five and under, quarantined to our house. I am setting the intention right now that I will make the best of this day and this time. I will remind myself to be patient. I will take mommy time outs when necessary. I will remember to smile with my family. I will try not to be too hard on myself.

I need to limit my exposure to negativity. We ALL need to limit our exposure to negativity. I want to stay informed but I don’t want to feel suffocated with the current situation like I have been feeling lately.

I miss normalcy as we all do.

I pray that everyone is being safe, being smart, and staying positive. We believe what we tell ourselves which is why I continue to post about positivity even if I may be struggling with it some days.

Make the most of this day and this time. I will if you will. Set an intention.

xoxo

Continue Reading Intentions

A Beautiful Surprise!

Not long after I wrote the last post announcing my pregnancy, we had a big surprise!

Benjamin Thomas was born on September 24th, 2016 at 11:41 am. He decided 36 weeks was a long enough wait and he just had to come meet us! His birth weight was 6#1oz and he 19 1/4 inches long.

He is a sweet and healthy rock star and has been from the start.

Labor and delivery was just like with Bode’s in a sense: quick. I woke up with back pain from what I thought was just a bad sleep position but then started noticing contractions fairly frequently. I was thinking these were Braxton Hicks contractions and began to time them out; about 10 minutes apart. I called the midwife and gave her the low-down. My options were to go into the hospital and have baby monitored for a couple of hours to see what was going on, or to first try to sit down and relax with a cup of water to see if the contractions and back pain would subside. Since I hadn’t had anything to eat that morning and had been on my feet since I woke up, I wanted to try to relax with a big cup of water first, and see if I was just dehydrated. As some time passed, the back pain was progressively getting worse and the brunt of it was coinciding with the contractions. Dana and I decided that it was time to go in to the hospital.

Backing it up a bit…

My plan was to deliver at a small birth center with two beautiful suites, and my hope was to try for a water birth again. Because I was potentially going in to labor at 36 weeks, which is considered premature, I was not going to be able to deliver at the birth center. The good news was, my midwives could still deliver the baby at two local hospitals. I chose one of the two (one that we hadn’t toured) and that was that. It wasn’t what I had planned but such is life.

Again with our “plan,” the plan was to pack for the birth center/hospital that particular weekend. As a couple who likes to be prepared, this whole surprise threw us off our rockers a bit!

Okay back to the story…

We tossed a suitcase together. We hustled and rounded up my neighbor and then my parents to take care of Bode so we could head to the hospital. The drive there wasn’t so bad. I made a couple of phone calls and had a snack since I hadn’t eaten breakfast.

When we got to the hospital, we spent a good 10-15 minutes just trying to figure out where to park and where their labor and delivery floor was. By the time we got there and got into triage, I was having contractions 3-4 minutes apart and I was 3-4 centimeters dilated. At that point, the nurse told me I wasn’t going anywhere. The flood gates opened and my emotions drowned me. I was ready, I wasn’t ready, is Bode going to be okay?, am I going to be a good mom to two kids?, am I mentally prepared?. It didn’t matter if I was ready or not, because this baby had an entrance to make! I pulled myself together and started getting into my “place” so that I could mentally prepare myself to get this baby into our arms.

After the midwife arrived, I walked myself to the labor and delivery room. Just as with Bode, Benjamin was in the “sunny-side-up” position which equals terrible back labor. And just like his brother, he turned himself just enough before making his way down the birth canal. To speed things up a bit with the story, I transitioned very quickly and had that baby about an hour and a half after arriving into that room. People were serious when they said the second time pushing baby out tends to be easier! The pushing part lasted all of about five minutes. Not complaining about that.

When baby was placed on my belly, I looked down and saw a head of thick dark hair! Dana got his mini me! All of his screenings came back perfect. We got to go home 48 hours later.

I am so blessed to have two beautiful and healthy boys. Bode is adjusting and we are beginning to notice some behavioral changes with him. I know this is all normal and we are all learning how to be a family of four.

That is the birth story in a nutshell! Life is so good.

And just for fun, a couple of my last pregnancy pics:

Continue Reading A Beautiful Surprise!

Hello, it’s me!

Hello, it’s me!

Whoaaaa I’ve got the itch. The itch to write a post on good ol’ Beautifully Nutty! It has been sooooo long! How have you all been? Great over here! We are starting to feel settled into our beautiful new home. Bode is now 16 months and is a little ham. He started swim lessons again and is doing pretty well with those! He is going through a bit of a picky eating phase but I know it’s just that, a phase. He loves eggs, hummus, fruit and veggie pouches, fruit, and bean and cheese quesadillas. He eats other foods too but these are ones he will rarely say no to. He isn’t speaking English per say except for a few words, but he sure is babbling a lot! He makes me laugh everyday. I love him to pieces.

Jazzy pup is doing well! We did decide to keep Jasmine’s name but we mostly like to call her Jazz or Jazzy. She is a good little girl but definitely can use a little training. She is timid in random situations and she likes to chase after cars. We will start training in May. Bode is obsessed with her and loves throwing balls for her, resting his head on her back, and pulling her tail. When she’s not around he looks all around the room and puts his hands up wondering where she is. It’s just adorable.

So since you all know I love food and talking about food, I actually thought it would be fun to post a “What I’ve Been Eating” post since I’ve been eating some DELICIOUS things and trying to remember to take pictures. You ready for some?  Unfortunately, I haven’t been writing down recipes, I definitely need to work on this again!

HERE.WE.GO.

Homemade pizza with quinoa crust. This was my first time making quinoa crust and I was totally a fan! It tasted like quinoa a little bit which I didn’t mind and the texture was great! I could even hold it in my hand without it collapsing! Win.

quinoa crust pizza

Quinoa sushi rolls on Valentine’s day!

sushi

Chickpea tacos smothered with guacamole! I just season the chickpeas like I season ground turkey, chicken, or ground beef and serve them up in hard taco shells. So so yum!

chickpea tacos

Boulder Organic Tomato Basil Soup. This soup is legit! Organic, gluten-free, non-GMO, no crazy ingredients and so delicious! Plus it’s based out of Boulder and LOVE Boulder. If I would have been more ambitious I would have made a grilled cheese or cheese quesadilla to dip in this soup but I had cheesy crackers and that was great too!

Boulder Organic Soup

Ants on a log. Celery, peanut butter, and raisins. Suddenly I am five years old again.

IMG_0168

Pork carnitas in the slow cooker. I’m having a heck of a time trying to rotate this picture for some reason so please do me a favor and cock your head to the left to see the beauty of this meal. I am really into pork carnitas. I topped them with lime juice, cilantro, avocado, tomato, and devoured.

IMG_0241

How’s that for a taste of what I’ve been up to and what I’ve been eating? Gosh I sure hope I start writing on here again more often. It feels good!

Happy day to you, to you! Muah!

Continue Reading Hello, it’s me!

Time to Ring in the New Year and Time for a Quick Update!

Oh, heyyyyy! Yes we are still alive and kickin’ over here! Last time I checked in was just after my 30th birthday so over a month ago. Monthly posts are what is happening these days I guess. You know what else? I don’t hardly take any photos (besides of Bode of course!). But ya know, It is what it is!

So, since my last post here this is what has happened…

1.I thoroughly enjoyed my favorite meal day of the year, Thanksgiving, and so did Mr. Bode! I was much too excited to eat therefore no food photo was taken. Before we ate, we ran in our favorite 5k.

2. A couple of days after Thanksgiving, Bode got to hang out with grandma and grandpa for a week while Dana and I went on a Caribbean cruise. The cruise sailed from Miami to Panama and stopped at Cayman Islands, Ocho Rios, Jamaica, and Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. In Cayman Islands we swam with the stingrays and got to hold a big female stingray! In Jamaica we climbed up a bunch of waterfalls and laid by the beach, and in Costa Rica we took a pontoon tour and got to see sloths, monkeys, crocodiles, and other beautiful wild life.

The cruise itself was exquisite. Everything was included so we ate and drank like kings and queens. It was my mission to eat bacon everyday, and mission was completed.

crystal cruise

Formal night/Captain’s dinner…

crystal cruise

The “elves” decorated the boat while we were there! So pretty!

crystal cruise crystal cruise

As fun as the cruise was, I was sooooo excited to get home and snuggle my baby. That is the longest I had ever been away from him!

3. After the cruise we were busy into the holiday season and lots of fun holiday parties! We all got hit with the stomach bug pretty bad, and after that we all got colds. In fact, my whole entire year was this way. Bode gets sick, mom gets sick. Welcome to parenthood, right? Thanks daycare! 😉

4. Christmas was celebrated in Colorado with Dana’s family and then back here in Minnesota with mine. I still can’t believe Christmas is over! We had so much fun with our family and friends.

5. Now here we are about to kick off the New Year! Where on earth did 2015 go? It surely was a great year but as always, I’m excited to see what 2016 has in store for us. I wish you all the best of health and much happiness as we ring in the New Year!

Check in with you all who knows when! 😉

xoxo

Continue Reading Time to Ring in the New Year and Time for a Quick Update!

Birthdays and Other Updates!

Oh, hi!

Monthly posts seem to be a theme here. So, it’s time to check in again!

Bode Turned 1!

Since we caught up last, Mr. Bode celebrated his first birthday! We celebrated with lots of friends and family.

The party was themed Little Pumpkin/Fall so I had a lot of fun with decorations and the menu! The spread included:

  • Jack-o-lantern carrots, broccoli, and dip
  • Sliced apples with yogurt caramel dip
  • Crackers and cheese
  • Chicken wild rice soup
  • Dinner rolls
  • Homemade cupcakes: pumpkin, chocolate, and vanilla!

fall birthday party fall birthday party fall birthday party fall birthday party

Bode demolished his cupcake. He is my boy after all.

He was seriously spoiled by all of the family and friends that came to his party to celebrate, all of the gifts he received, and all of the sweet messages from family and friends! He is loving all of his new toys and I am loving dressing him in all of his new clothes!

Since we last checked in, I turned the BIG 30.

30

I was also incredibly spoiled with gifts and cards and messages! We went to the Minnesota Zoo over the weekend and to Chanhassen Dinner Theater to see Sister Act. So much fun!

On Monday, my actual birthday, I got my free coffee at Caribou, Bode and I hung out with grandma and grandpa, and Dana and I had a date night dinner at Red Cow. I got the french onion burger and devoured it!

Let’s see…what else is new?

Today is day 4 of being done with breastfeeding.  I wasn’t entirely ready to be done but when he started accidentally biting and my health started acting up, I decided it needed to be time to be done. The whole weaning process took about two months for me. I decided to take it very very slow because I am very susceptible to plug milk ducts. It is strange being done with breastfeeding and definitely liberating. I feel like I have more time now! He did such a great job with the weaning process.

He is a fabulous eater with a large appetite. For breakfast today he ate some dry cereal while I got his oatmeal prepared, a bowl of oatmeal made with whole milk, blueberries, cinnamon, and peanut butter, a whole banana, and a little bit of whole milk from a cup. This kid can eat more than me! K, not quite, but close. He has 7 teeth now.

He is now in full walking mode which he thinks is a blast and so do we. Everyone told me that life gets MUCH crazier once he starts walking but honestly, as long as the house is baby-proofed, I actually prefer the walking. I don’t have to carry him as much because he will walk to me!

He just had his one year check up and he was 20 lbs 10 ounces and 29 3/4 inches.

I suppose that is it for now! Always nice checking in with you all! I am getting SUPER excited for Thanksgiving! You can Buy Here if you would like to get some gifts for your loved ones.

Continue Reading Birthdays and Other Updates!

Pinterest Wins

Oh, HEY! How is everyone doing?

So, since Bode was born, I haven’t been the most creative cook in the kitchen. The recipe creation has been close to zilch. HOWEVER, this doesn’t mean I haven’t been cooking!

I have been letting Pinterest inspire me to try new recipes. Good ol’ Pinterest. My Pinterest page is stocked full of delicious looking food ideas. I have started to make my way through  some of the pinned recipes and I what I want to do today is share with you not Pinterest fails, but Pinterest wins! Here are some of my Pinterest finds that I have successfully made and really enjoyed (I said Pinterest 6 times in this paragraph in case you were wondering…7 including this sentence)!

  1. BLT Lettuce Wraps. I’m not against bread, but this was seriously so good without it! It was definitely messy, but so worth it.

Pin Win 1

2. Banana Chocolate Almond Squares. This is a clean dessert that seriously fulfills my sweet tooth. It’s been way too long since I’ve made these!

Pin Win 2

3. Chickpea tacos with guacamole! I used this picture as inspiration but didn’t follow their recipe at all. I made my own taco seasoning and cooked the chickpeas with the homemade seasoning. I LOVED these.

Pin WIn 4

4. Slow cooker Texas BBQ Pulled Pork. I. LOVE. THE. SLOW. COOKER. It is my best friend. I served this pulled pork with coleslaw and baked beans of course. Winner.

Pin Win 5

5. Broccoli and Cheese Soup. Yum.  I recall I went a little heavy on the spiciness when I made this, but it was still very delicious. This will be a must-make this winter.

Pin Win 6

6. Carmelitas. And now you are all officially drooling, right? You can’t go wrong with these. Bring them to your next get-together, I dare you.

Pin Win 7

7. Crock Pot Chicken Wild Rice Soup. I just made this last weekend and OMG! I made a few of my own tweaks but it didn’t need much because it was SO good. I added some extra poultry seasoning , a little nutmeg and garlic powder. Salt and pepper to taste. Make this once the weather cools! This competes with Panera’s soup. That’s a bold statement and I said it.

Pin Win 8

8. Slow Cooker White Bean Chicken Chili. Weird, another slow cooker recipe! I made this for my family and they all loved it and asked for the recipe. This is a super simple to put together recipe. I served this chili with a dollop of sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, and cilantro.

Pin Win 9

How about those for Pinterest wins?! I think I need to stop pinning more recipes though so I can make the ones I have already pinned! That won’t happen. I love Pinterest! BTW follow me if you don’t already: https://www.pinterest.com/NuttyMelanie/

What are some of your Pinterest wins or successes?

Continue Reading Pinterest Wins

Random Bits…

Oh hey! This little blog o’ mine has been seriously neglected lately. As I write, I have a little one trying to type on the computer. Bode is now 10 months old and is crawling and standing up on furniture. He likes to hold on to whatever he can get his hands on and walk too! We are in for some serious craziness. It is so fun watching him change and develop. Everyday is something new! He is saying “dada” and just recently will blurt out a “mama” too! I obviously got a little too excited about that.

I can’t believe this summer is drawing to a close. I truly mean it when I say that as time goes on and I get older, times just moves faster. I am really doing my best to cherish every moment along the way.

I thought I would share some random bits and updates from my life for something fun today. So, here we go…

1. After aLLLLLL this time I am still drinking my same smoothie for breakfast every day. I guess I have changed it a little.

  • Frozen banana
  • Frozen blueberries or cherries
  • Frozen kale or power greens (costco)
  • Unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • Powdered peanut butter or peanut butter
  • Cocoa powder
  • I also add in my probiotic powder and glutamine powder     chocolate peanut butter smoothie

It turns out looking like mud and tasting delicious everytime! 😉

2. Ever since having Bode, some chemistry in my body must have changed because I can no longer wear earrings without getting crazy itchy ears. Albeit, I haven’t tried wearing super expensive earrings, but I never had a problem with this in the past! #random

3. We find out today what our closing date is on our new house. Right now we have a “soft” closing date of October 9th but we will find out for sure today at our meeting! It is looking like a real house now. Dry wall goes up this week! I still kind of can’t believe it’s happening! I am so excited to get in there and organize all of our stuff!

4. On the subject of the new house, we have been shopping for a new couch for our main living area and let me tell you, that is quite the task. Things to keep in mind when buying a couch: coil versus foam cushions, fabric, style (we know what we want there), easy to clean fabric, warranties, durability, etc. Not to mention, the fact that we aren’t able to see our home completed with paint and carpet and such before placing the order because it takes 1-2 months for custom orders. Of course we know the colors of the house (since we picked them out), but it’s hard just imagining all of it and not seeing it and then having to choose fabric color, it’s challenging. I know, ohhhh the problems we have. 😉

5. I ran in my first running race post-partum a few weeks ago. I ran the Esprit de she 5k with my girlfriend Stacy and Annie (check out Annie’s blog: http://www.maddashannie.com/!!!). My goal was to run it in 30 minutes or less and I was bummed that I didn’t cross the finish line until 30:12. I’m blaming it on the evening run (I’m not used to that) and running in hot weather. I get to have excuses right? Give me a cooler fall morning race and I will definitely be stomping that goal! 🙂

esprit de sheesprit de shemelanie esprit de she

There you have it for some random little bits and updates from me! I hope you are all well and I do hope to write more often. It’s such a fun creative outlet and I do miss it!

xoxo

 

Continue Reading Random Bits…

Oh Heyyy!

Well, hi! Oh how does time fly, huh?

I don’t have many fun food photos to share with you all, but I wanted to check in and catch you up to speed on what’s been going on around here lately.

1. We moved out of our house and moved in with Dana’s parents for the summer while we build our new home! Moving in general is so much work, but moving with a baby is even more challenging. Poor guy got so sick of us packing and moving. We had a lot of help though throughout the process which helped immensely.

2. Bode is almost 8 months old! He is a hoot! He is eating a lot of food now; anything from oatmeal, avocado, whole milk yogurt, banana and egg pancakes, homemade refried beans, etc. I am having so much fun trying new foods with him! I am hoping to start posting some of the foods I make for him.

He is almost done with his 8 weeks of swimming lessons. This kid is a natural in the water. He gets fairly serious when he is in there but I think he is having a good time?! He kicks his legs in the water, goes under water, and looks absolutely adorable doing it.

3. I got struck with the stomach flu this weekend and it was NO fun. I am working on increasing my breastmilk supply because it plummeted. Good times.

4. I REALLY want to get my cooking mojo back. With all of the packing and moving, we did a lot of take-out food and restaurant dining. Now that we are moved in and settled, and now that I am feeling almost back to my normal self after the flu bug, I need to sit down and start planning some meals. I’m calling on Pinterest for inspiration as usual.

Doesn’t this look good? I believe I pinned this from Katie!

Crock-Pot-Mojo-Pork-with-Cuban-Style-Black-Beans-03

6. I can’t believe it’s the middle of June already. Slow down time, just a little?

7. I cut my hair. I cut EIGHT inches off of my hair (last month actually). I cut it because I was just putting it up all of the time because it was so long but guess what, now I put it up because it is too short to control. Go figure. My hair grows quickly so soon enough it will be to a more controllable length for me. I just know how to work with long hair because I’ve had it my whole life, ya know?

melanie

There are my random updates/thoughts for ya. Take care my friends!

How are you all? 

Share some delicious dinner ideas with me, please!

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