Transformation Tuesday: Week 4

I'm going to start this off by saying this week was MUCH better than last week. While I was at the dentist last Tuesday after the update, I decided to take the morning off and go to the grocery. I  high tailed it home, meal planned and wrote down a grocery list. I walked out of the grocery feeling like I had my shit together. I love that feeling! I didn't make it to the park to walk or run, but I at least had the food part of the week taken care of. Which is huge.

I got 2 of the 3 planned C25K's in last week. My knee was really bothering me after last Monday's run and I didn't want to push it too hard since I had the Graffiti Run on Sunday. So, I did it Monday and Thursday along with a walk at the park with Diesel on Saturday. Then I had the 5K on Sunday, which I was very impressed with. Myself, not the event. I was afraid that my legs would hurt so bad I couldn't walk the what seemed like 8 miles back to the car. Wrong. Yes my back hurt like a mother and my legs felt like they had 50lb boulders strapped to them, but I didn't feel too bad. And I wasn't even sore that night or the next morning.  So, I'd say the exercise part of this is going well.

Weight wise, I have no idea where I stand. After the hefty cheeseburger I consumed on Saturday then the steak tacos and pizza on Sunday I'm sure its fugly. The good news is, the Reese Eggs are gone. However, there are still some Summer Shandy's in the fridge that aren't gonna drink themselves!

Here are some thoughts that I have now that I'm 4 weeks into this.
- I'm just not sure I'm a runner. I'm not going to quit. I want to see this C25K program through before I make that call. 
- All of my childhood and teenage years were spent on the softball field. Softball players don't run. We sprint 60 feet at a time. Every once in a while when I would get lucky, I'd have to sprint 180 feet. That's it. This whole distance, pacing myself and controlling my breathing is new to me.
- I need to find a way to add some muscle toning to my week. I'm sure there are workouts on Pinterest that I can do while holding Tucker. The kid weighs nearly 15lbs so just holding him is quite the workout. If I throw some squats in there and bench press him I'll be MILF status in no time.
- I need to get better about snacking. My problem isn't that I'm making bad choices. My problem is that I'm just not making choices. I need to add a morning and afternoon snack back into my day. I'm good about the afternoon snack on days I go to the park. Yesterday I was way under on my calories after I was done with dinner. That's good, but that's also bad. I need to balance it back out.

Okay, that's enough rambling. Its time to get some work done. But not after I show you my ham of a kid. At almost 5 months old he has already mastered the selfie. He kills me.

crazy hair don't care

Graffiti Run Weekend

Monday snuck up on me this week after a long and pretty fun weekend.

It started early Saturday morning with snuggles in bed with Tucker and Diesel. Danny was off work but was helping a friend roast a hog for a party so me and the boys enjoyed the bed to ourselves until he got home. Once he got home I went on a walk with Diesel at the park. It was nice having some time to ourselves since I've been feeling like I'm neglecting in. No shame in admitting I'm a crazy dog lady! After our walk, it was time to get a move on. I had bags to pack for Tucker and me and errands to run before heading to my moms for the night with Rach and Chelsea for the Graffiti Run. Rach and I left at 2:30 and headed to the State Fairgrounds to pick up our packets for the run. We were anticipating an hour and a half wait. Nope. We walked right up to the table and back out to the car in less than 15 minutes. We headed to my mom's and waited on Chels to arrive. Once she arrived we headed to Red Robin for dinner, where a certain someone threw a fit and then crashed, causing all the tables around us to laugh at him.

After dinner we headed back to my mom's place to rest up for the early morning. But not before a Target run due to my mom-fail of the weekend. I realized when we were half way to Indy that I didn't bring any bottles or milk. None. I did pack my pump though so I could at least get something for him. I bought a can of formula just in case but luckily my mom didn't need it and I could return it.

We planned on leaving around 7:45 but didn't actually walk out the door until 8 or so. Which was fine because the less time we had to stand out in our shorts in the 48 degree weather, the better!

The race wasn't nearly as fun this year. Between the cold weather and the poor planning of the color throwers/volunteers, it just wasn't the same. The only color we had on us at the end was the color from each of our own packets. Lame!

Hopefully next year they move the run back to June when the Indiana weather is slightly more predictable. You just don't know what you're going to get in April, but in June you can at least expect high 50s in the morning.

Now, it's Monday morning and I either have a sinus headache or the start of a migraine. I really can't tell, but all I know is the ibuprofen isn't touching it. And neither is the extra hour of sleep. No bueno. Here's to hoping your week is off to a better start than mine!

Five on Friday

 

Today I am joining in the 5 on Friday fun with Darci. Here are the 5 things I'm loving/thinking/wanting as of today, or this week really. Also, some cute pics of the babe because honestly, what is a post without cute pictures of my dude!

 

 

1. First things first, if you're hopping over from Holly's blog, welcome! If you're not hopping over from there and you just stumbled across this blog some other way, I suggest you pop on over to Holly's page and participate in the awesome giveaway that she is hosting today. Each month she hosts a huge and amazing giveaway to highlight her sponsors.  It helps readers find new blogs and it also gives her sponsors some traffic. This prize this month is a $50 gift card to Target and there will be 2 winners. Each getting $50 for Target. Plus, if you haven't visited the Queen of Blogland, you're missing out. But let's be 100% honest here, if you're here you've been there! You can visit her page and the giveaway HERE. I'm going to be popping on over there later today since I can go to Target again. I gave it up for the month of March then decided to extend it through Lent. Well, I've had zero time to do any moseying through anywhere and I am dying.

 

 

2. At Tucker's 4 month appointment we were given the green light to start him on solids. I've been putting it off since then because I want to try my hand at making his food and mama's not ready but Danny has been itching to get some carrots or sweet potatoes in that boy's mouth. Last night we tried some carrots. First he SCREAMED (as seen in picture 1)! Like hurt our ears and had legit tears. We took him in his room, changed his diaper and I let him nurse for about 5 minutes before we tried again.  We tried again and he realized they were so bad. I let him stick his fingers in the food and just held the spoon up to his mouth and just let him do his thing. The first picture cracks me up though. He was sooooo stinkin pissed lol. I posted the picture on instagram (erinshell10) last night and Danny thinks I'm terrible because I think the picture is so funny.

 

 

3. I need some time off work. Stat. I'm losing my mind and Danny has concerns about my sanity. I'm forgetting things, telling stories twice and just doing dumb shit.  Our last trip was last September when we went to Frankenmuth and South Haven for a Michigan Babymoon.  After this hellacious winter that the whole dang country has felt the wrath of, I need water, sand and booze. We are going to Orange Beach, AL in October and it can't get here soon enough. For now, I will settle for a weekend, or even an overnight trip somewhere. Preferably a 2 day trip to Cincinnati to watch the Cardinals play the Reds in May.

 

4. Speaking of time of work, I told Danny the other day that I want to take a day off work to spend with Diesel. How insane am I? I feel like I've neglected him since Tucker was born and it makes me sad. This morning as I was making breakfast, I unwrapped a piece of cheese. I always split it with him I rip the corners off so it fits my sandwich better and I give them to him. In the nearly 4 years we've had him, he has not once never come running. I kind of wanted to cry. I'm hoping a walk at the park Saturday morning will help. I realize I'm nuts, but he used to be such a mama's boy and its making me sad.

 

5. This Sunday is the Graffiti Run with my girls. We did it last year (you can read about and see pictures HERE) and it was a blast! Totally worth the money and the hour you have to spend scrubbing your body after to get the color off. I think my pits were green for 2 days after that and I had to wash my hair 3 times to get the purple out. We are going down tomorrow night to stay at my moms and she is going to keep Tuck the morning of. Its going to be a lot of fun!

 

 

That's all for today! Good luck with the giveaway, but not so much luck that I don't get one of the cards!

Transformation Tuesday: week 3

Last week was terrible.

I didn't run

And I ate like it was my job

I gained 2 lbs back. 

The weather was bad on Monday and Tuesday. Bad like in cold and rainy. And I was suffering from a cold. And Tuesday was a very bad day at work. The rest of the week was hellaciously busy and I basically didn't make time for my workouts. 

Food was my other problem. As with most holidays, I ate and then ate some more. Plus after giving up peanut butter for lent I ate Reese's eggs like I had never had one before. I've really got to stop that one. At least they're the smaller ones right? 

It's a new week and I'm starting fresh. Come hell or high water I'm going to the grocery at some point today because I always do so well when there is fresh food in the house. I had leftover cheesy potatoes from Saturday for breakfast today. It was either that or the dessert Danny's mom left here and I figured that wasn't the best thing to eat right before I go to the dentist. 

Here's to a new week and having the will power to walk by the Reese's without sticking my hand in the bag. 

Easter Recap

Another first is marked off the list in the Summers household. Tuck's first Easter and our first Easter as parents. Here are 3 things I learned:

1. Try your kid's Easter outfit on before you rip the tags off and wash it.
2. Don't let the 5 minutes before you're leaving to see the Easter bunny be the first time you kid tries said outfit on
3. Don't sleep in until 8:30 (because that's sooooo late) on the day you have 2 family get togethers to prep for

We had planned all week to take Tucker to see the Easter bunny Thursday night. I was so excited to put him in this cute outfit that Danny's mom had bought for him a couple weeks ago.

I put it on him and the shirt didn't even reach his diaper and the suspenders didn't have a chance in hell of reaching the pants. Thankfully he had a nice pair of khakis that had never been worn and a very Easter-y colored polo. Both did in a pinch, which is what we were in.

Saturday we had Easter get together #1 (all holiday functions are numbered for Danny and I since we have anywhere from 3-5 per major holiday) at 2pm. I decided Saturday morning would be a good time to catch an extra 45 minutes of sleep and then go to my Grammy's to pick up the things of hers I staked my claim, getting us home at around 11:30. That left 2.5 hours to: feed Tucker, make 2 batches of pasta salad for parties 1 and 2, then look at the clock and realize I can either make a dessert for 1 or shower. For everyone's sake I chose shower.  We had a really good time at #1 and got home just in time for me to make Reese Egg Cookies before my mom, brother, his girlfriend and Danny's mom and stepdad came over for get together #2. While the guys grilled burgers and fried pickles and onion rings, the girls stood in the kitchen and laughed about the time Danny's mom showed up at my parents house at 7am on a Friday morning during the summer Danny and I started dating when he stayed all night. After dinner and couple cold ones, everyone left.

Sunday morning we went to arrived at 8:30 Easter mass at promptly 8:30. Getting there right at start time isn't a big deal normally, except it was Easter and everyone and their brother, sister, aunt and uncle goes to church on Easter Sunday. Tucker also chose this particular Sunday to throw his first church fit. He was sooooo tired of being held after Saturday and all he wanted to do was lay on the floor (or pew) and kick his little legs. So, that's what we did out in the lobby.

After church we I got stuff ready for Easter #3 with Danny's dad and stepmom. The kids hunt for eggs every year and I can't wait for Tucker to participate next year. And not only so I can swipe the good candy that he finds. We spent majority of the time there sitting outside. My arms and chest got a little red which makes for a nice little tan today. Can't complain about that!

It was a lovely Easter weekend and I could really use another Sunday. Especially since this week includes 3 school programs, a grocery trip and 3 C25K's. Help me.

Anything, But Not Everything

The last 3 years and 10 months since my dad passed away have been a whirlwind. I can't think of any other way to describe it than that. After the initial shock that he was gone, I set out to take on everything that he had going on. Running the insurance agency, managing the properties, living in his house, keeping an eye on my Grammy, this and that. In between all that and now, I finished college a semester early, got married before my last semester, bought a house and had a baby. To say that I've had a lot going on would be an understatement. I wouldn't change a single decision that I've made, but I don't want to keep juggling it all because it is all catching up with me. I've literally worried myself sick over some of this over the last week and a half. I can't do that anymore.

I found this quote on Pinterest a couple of years ago. Sure it made sense to me at the time, but at that point I was most likely a newlywed just managing the agency and didn't have too much to worry about. Now though? Well I'm a wife and mother with a house payment, bills and not enough hours in the day. Towards the end of my pregnancy I started to learn how to ask for help because you have too when you're put on modified bed rest. Right now I have nothing forcing me to ask for help and its not that I really need help with anything. What I need is to simplify things.

Things aren't the same as they were when my dad was here, and I need to just come to terms with that. I can't be the parent, insurance agent, business owner, coach, landlord, child, sibling, or 100% badass that he was. At least not yet. I have such a hard time remembering that I'm only 24 when I have all these very grown up things to deal with.

My goal is to only be these things at the end of the year: wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, insurance agent, and only have 3 properties as opposed to the 6 we have now. The list isn't that different from what I do now, but it cuts out unnecessary  headaches and some pressure.

Hopefully when my mind is clear, I can focus more on the important things in life and worry less about everything.

Transformation Tuesday: Week 2

Another week of this lose the baby weight mission has come and gone and it didn't go great. It also didn't go badly either. It just kind of went.

Lets talk about the running portion first. I did C25K Tuesday and Thursday and it went well both days. The weather was beautiful and I felt really good about it afterwards both days. I should have gotten another session in on Saturday, but Danny had a million and 4 things to do so I was on Tucker duty all day. We also made an impromptu trip to Indy to meet my mom for lunch and shopping. Danny worked Sunday so I couldn't go then either. I could have taken Tucker to Danny's moms, but he was super fussy and just needed a day to snuggle after the running around Saturday I think. We also had a birthday party for my niece that day. So, going into week 3 I am a day behind. Sweeeeeet.

Food went okay. I got a hankering for Chinese Wednesday, so that happened. I basically refuse to cook when its just me eating and its been a long day at work. I've had a few problems at work so I may have been eating my feelings that night. Mom and I had lunch at Chili's Saturday. While I know a lot of salads at restaurants are actually bad choices, I really wanted the Buffalo Chicken Salad. Like a good little girl, I requested grilled chicken instead of the breaded so my inner fat girl that wants to be skinny would be happy and not feel as guilty. And its amazing how many chips and salsa you don't eat when you're dealing with a fussy baby. Sunday wasn't great with the birthday cake and then the Taco Bell that I had to have. As far as my overall calories.. I was over every day. I'm okay with that though and here's why. My eating wasn't terrible aside from the food I just pointed out. Breastfeeding isn't added into my log every day because I don't know what that magical number is. As long as I'm only eating when I'm hungry and am making half way intelligent choices about what I'm eating, I'm doing the best I can and that's all I can ask of myself right now.

Here's to hoping I can report back with a good week next week! All of that will be dependent on the phone call I get from my accountant, which will probably land me down at the bar drowning my sorrows in Coors Light while eating some breaded hot pepper cheese cubes. Tax day can kiss my ass.

The Current Pickle: Update

Last week I talked about our TV situation, or lack thereof I should say since we went 6 days without it.  We remedied the problem this weekend.

We decided last week to make the switch from cable to Netflix and Hulu Plus, but also get an antennae so we could watch current shows, special events (Super Bowl, ACMs, news, etc). Saturday we took off to get the antennae and Danny attempted to hook it up Sunday. He got it plugged into the TV and after searching for a signal for 30 minutes, it found nothing. We forgot that we live in the armpit of our town that has no signal of any kind. It took our cell phones about a week and a half to adjust and get with the program.

My busy body, not a big TV watcher husband was about to lose his mind if he had to sit on the couch and talk to me one more night, so at 6pm he took off for Best Buy to get something that would make our tv work again and came home with an Amazon Fire TV box that cost $100.00. Not bad for what this little puppy can do.

If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can access tv shows and movies just through this. Or you can use it to access Netflix and Hulu Plus. We used it for those two things because we aren't Prime members. Danny got both programs up and running and we could not be happier with our set up. Not only is this going to save us a lot of money, it is SO easy to use. Its got one little remote that has 9 buttons. So simple. Although, I think it's created a problem for my husband. The combination of shitty weather earlier in the week and him being able to have Netflix on his Kindle, he's already finished one season of a TV show. Tuesday night around 10 he told me he was going to bed. After I had folded some laundry, pumped and got a couple things ready for the next day, I finally went to bed and when I went in our room he was on his Kindle. Watching TV.

So, back to the good stuff.  After a one time $100.00 set up is taking our TV watching bill from $150ish/month down to $16/month. I am pumped. My mom is so in love with the idea that she wants us to help her get set up.

Now excuse me while I go order my new Sperry's since we're rich now.

Transformation Tuesday: Week One

The first week of trying to lose the baby weight is over. My plan of attack is changing a bit. Last week was a little much on the body in terms of pilonidal cyst recovery and boob juice.

As I was on my second Couch 2 5K Sunday, my tailbone area started bothering me which means the area I had my pilonidal cyst after giving birth. The last thing I want to do is cause damage to that and create a huge mess. I also don't want to cause my milk supply to go down. I already feel like I'm hardly keeping up with what the eating machine needs so working out 6 out of 7 days might make that worse.

With that said, I'm cutting out Jillian right now and will save the Shred for June or July. I really don't  think running/walking was the culprit to my tailbone area hurting so I feel comfortable keeping that up. I also want to be able to run the 5K with Danny in June.

So, the new plan of attack is this:
1. Couch to 5K
2. Clean up my eating

Eating went fairly well last week and I tracked every meal every day except for Saturday night since we were at a birthday party. And I ate standing up so the calories don't count :)

I like to ease into things so I think this revised plan will have greater success in the long run. I hate making major changes and prefer baby steps. (For example, I took Adderall throughout college and once I graduated I only took it for another couple months. The reason I quit was because I knew you couldn't take it while pregnant and I wanted to get used to being off of it before pregnancy. I was off the meds for over a year before we even started trying. I'm kind of dramatic.) Working on getting back into exercising by doing C25K the 3 times a week and eating mostly healthy will be a good jump start to losing the remaining weight while also maintaining my milk supply.

I'll be back next Tuesday with a recap of how Week Two went!

Weekend Recap

Its been a while since I've recapped a weekend of mine, and this one deserves a recap because it was busy, busy!

Friday the weather was still crummy and I didn't feel like working out. I felt like eating Mexican more instead, so Tucker and I went to eat with my brother and his girlfriend. Megan taught Tucker how to pick on Uncle Drew.. a skill every child needs.  After dinner Tuck and I just went home and snuggled with Diesel while we watched Will & Grace.

Saturday I made sure to get my workout in before the day got going. After I fed Tucker I spent some time with Jillian. It wasn't easy, but as long as I get through the first set I'm golden! Once I got showered and ready, Danny, Tucker and I took off to run some errands. We bought some shelves for the spare closet in Tuck's room. We rushed home to take power naps before it was time to go to a birthday party for my friend's mom. Her mom is turning 50 tomorrow so she threw a surprise party for her, even though her mom said she did NOT want a party. She was a good sport about it and ended up really appreciating it.
Highlight of Saturday: Tucker did not have a single bottle! Not one! He nursed every 2 hours like clock work like he was supposed too. It was so nice taking a break from my pump. We've finally figured the nursing part of it out and I am thrilled!

Sunday was an even busier day and I was dreading it. I had Couch 2 5K on the calendar for Thursday and it had to get moved along with Saturday's session since I wanted to do Shred instead. So, I did Couch 2 5K in the morning and then again in the evening. In between the two I went to the grocery, made dinner, and ran around with Danny for a little bit. 

Like I said, this weekend was busy and flew by. I woke up exhausted this morning wishing for another Sunday. Do  you like busy weekends or do you prefer relaxed ones? I personally like a little bit of both!

April Goals

It's been a while since I've posted my goals to hold myself accountable. From December until now, my only goal was to get through each day without losing my marbles. And the few months before that I didn't feel like doing anything since I was the size of a beached whale pregnant. Now that the dust has settled and I feel like I halfway have my working mom shit together, I can start setting some expectations for myself.

Here is what I'm hoping to get accomplished this month:
1. Organize craft supplies - If you've been reading since summers, you probably just experienced deja vu. This has been a task that I've wanted to complete since last July and I just haven't done it. I've figured out how I'm going to store them, I just haven't transferred them to the totes yet.
2. Nag my husband enough to put shelves in our spare closet - Tuck's room has an extra closet that I've designated the storage area. It will be where those craft totes go, where I will store Christmas gifts (not his of course) and just extras that I don't want out in the shed but I don't necessarily use enough to keep out in the open.
3. Stick to my workouts - Life happens and I realize a workout might need to be rescheduled. That's the key: rescheduled. Today being an example. Except its Mother Nature and not life. Tonight's workout is Couch to 5K. It's been raining almost nonstop since last night. Not a light rain or even moments of just a sprinkle. Pouring. I won't be running/walking outside. And the treadmill is currently out of commission. So, today's Couch to 5K will have to be moved to Sunday (unless my hubs gets the treadmill fixed) and today will be rest day instead.
4. Meal prep - My mornings would go a lot smoother if I would make breakfast ahead of time. I'd really like to try some overnight oats of some sort. I've also been meaning to make some variation of this egg bake for something I can just throw in the wave and eat while I pump. We'll see what happens.
5. Map out spring cleaning - I came up with a plan last year, but didn't follow through with it. Whoops. Maybe this year I'll stick to the cleaning schedule.
6. Plan our garden - Our garden did a little better last year, but the first trimester tiredness got the best of me last year and I didn't stay on top of the weeds. I have higher expectations this year so I want to plan out what we're planting and do some research on how to care for it.

Hopefully this weekend I can get a couple of those crossed off my list, or started at the very least.

The Current Pickle

The TV is out. It's been out since 4:30 yesterday afternoon. I didn't notice until 45  minutes after I turned it on that it wasn't working.

I've been meaning to call the company for a few months now since our bill went up $40 and the DVR is messed up. Learned that last little bit when there was 4 minutes left of the Pretty Little Liars finale. What is really impressive is the fact that I would have ripped them an asshole at 9:30 on a Saturday night after messing up right at the tail end of a show whose target audience is probably 13-18, when I've put off calling to bitch about a $40 bill increase seems too time consuming. Priorities.

But history tells me that when I call to deal with this I'll be on hold for 25 minutes and as soon as a live person picks up the baby will start wailing and the dog will follow shortly thereafter. So, I've put it off.

Danny spent some time on the phone with them last night while I tended to the baby. Diesel said to hell with us all and went to bed. After sending Danny back and forth from the living room to our bedroom to turn off, unplug, plug back in and repeat about 3 different times, the kind lady basically told him we were shit out of luck and to take our boxes to the local office. Great. Because we have LOADS of free time to do that!

That's when we started tossing around some ideas.

1. Satellite isn't an option without lots of furniture moving. Our crawl space is in our bedroom under the carpet. Which is under furniture. Getting to said crawl space would require moving a cedar chest, and a dresser. They also can't put the satellite on the roof because its metal.
2. Cable. This would allow me us to keep up with the current shows. I LOVE General Hospital and I like being able to watch the current episodes of Grey's Anatomy. I do watch the news in the morning as well. Not everyday but I do turn it on every once in a while. But, this shit is costing us about $1600 a year. And its not even working!
3. Netflix is our 3rd option. The downfall would be losing GH and I'd be a season behind on Grey's Anatomy. But, mama can get some new wheels or a camper and I can binge watch any show I damn well please. Hello, Will & Grace! Plus Danny made the point that when we watch tv at night, a lot of times its reruns of Modern Family or Big Bang Theory anyways. I hate when he's right.

So, here's what we're dealing with. I can either:
A. Spend $1600ish a year on cable so I can watch a couple shows in their current season and still have access to the quality television that is daytime soap operas. I should mention that I have the same cable service at my office, so I could still have the shows that I'd be missing out playing in the background, except Grey's Anatomy. If I'm at work at 9pm on a Thursday we've got bigger problems than my cable service.
or B. Spend $8 a month on Netflix and have virtually every movie and past seasons of most TV shows available at the click of a button and enjoy driving my new mom-mobile (not to be confused with a minivan) everyday and drink around a fire with our camping friends on the weekends during the warm months.

Decisions, decisions. I need some feedback. Are you a Netflix user? Would you make the switch? Help me.