Mission...Impossible?

Something about this pregnancy has been downright magical; I firmly believe it is from being active. I've had to slow down because of the heat (we don't have AC), the mosquitoes (record breaking, I'm finding out), and Shawn's new job (he goes to bed before I would be home from class): these factors eliminated running at home as well as going to the gym. I believe I mentioned before that I haven't had much for pregnancy symptoms. I was a little worried about physically typing that out and hitting the "publish" button back in May, because doesn't that just sound like the biggest jinx set-up of all time? However, here I am, feeling better than ever. This is what made it extra frustrating to be missing classes in taekwondo simply over scheduling conflicts. The last big race I was in was the Med-City (relay) in May, and I did 7 miles for my team, and felt fantastic afterwards. It was the furthest I had ever run, and the only pain was my feet. I felt like I could run all day!

Here I am running my leg of the Med-City relay back in May. Just a little pouch for a belly :)

To feel so energized yet sit at home and know that my friends in tkd were working out and going to Nationals to compete without me was killing me. In June, I did a 5k, and didn't feel as fantastic, but definitely as satisfied. Recently, Shawn and I came up with a pretty good solution in our schedule problems, and I've been able to hit the gym again. I'm so glad, because I was really feeling the effects of missing my workouts, and it was depressing. Now, after reading what I just wrote, it sounds like I am in peak physical condition with just a little frustration over time off. The truth is, I've been indulging my sweet tooth too often during this time of less exercise. Working out less plus indulging more? You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out where that leads. I've already gained 20 of the 30 lbs. I'm allowed to gain for a healthy and normal pregnancy, and I'm only a touch over halfway there. Only ten pounds left for the next four and a half months? Yikes. I'm sure I'll go over my "goal weight", but hopefully I can go over because of fantastic food choices that allow my baby to thrive. In the meantime, for my mental and physical health, it's back into the gym, with a bit of humbleness. The humbling comes when our instructor has us do things like squats and push-ups. Wow, did I let that get out of control fast. They are incredibly difficult now. Of course, my belly hinders me a bit, but the extra weight is what's killing me. Working out with the equivalent of a weighted vest is very different from lifting weights. It makes sense now that I think about it, but I didn't really think about it before. I thought, "Well, I lift weights, so gaining weight won't be that big of a deal in my workouts." Lol. The other night, jumping and spinning to kick the bags went really well. Tonight, it didn't. Part of me lamented inside, wailing, "This is it! I've hit my pregnancy wall! I will suck at anything physical from now on!!" Then I took a deep breath and remembered: this happens all the time when I'm not pregnant. There will be a night where I feel like I'm on top of my game, then the next night, I feel like a beginner and can't do anything right. This is where commitment comes into play, and I have to suck it up and do it again, even though I risk embarrassing myself. The only difference now is that when my grandmaster pushes me to go faster and higher, I have to really think about it. I was really "off" tonight, and had to be careful with my balance, so when he encouraged, "BOOM BOOM!" I didn't push myself harder to kick faster. It was more like "boom...boom." This challenges not only my ego, but my sense of respect. For the first time, I am purposefully disobeying my instructor.  When he yells at us for having our knees on the ground during push-ups, I grit my teeth and still keep them down. I know what anyone reading is thinking, that I shouldn't feel bad about doing this, and think of the baby, etc. I don't feel bad, per say, but it is quite an adjustment. And don't go thinking that my grandmaster is harassing the pregnant lady. He's not. He's treating me the same as he always has, and I know that he trusts me to scale back if I need to. The fact that he's still pushing me to do a little bit more and try a little bit harder is actually delightful. Nearly every day I have people telling me what I shouldn't do, what I can't do, or ask me if I should really be working out. When I say that yes, I should be, they nod slowly and say, "But should you really be doing that?"  I know they have good intentions, but their information is outdated, and it gets old to be questioned like that all the time. For Pete's sake, I even get harassed at the grocery store for grabbing a mere two bags of groceries instead of requesting carry-out. So yeah, it feels good to have someone snap at me if I'm getting lazy. There is a fine line between scaling back because I need to, and taking it easy simply because I can.  This leads me to my future challenge: a marathon in a month. Tonight when I was scrolling facebook, one of my virtual marathon sites had a feed. A virtual race is a race that you register for online, run it at home, and send your time in. They are basically placed with the honor system, the entry fees are much (much!) lower, you run it on your schedule in your neighborhood, and the proceeds always go to some charity. Obviously, hard-core runners that care about winning actual races don't do these. The one I saw tonight was only $5 if I signed up in time (of course I didn't see it until I had fourteen minutes left), and from October 1st- October 31st, you have to run 26.2 miles.  I will be very pregnant by that time, yet it breaks down to less than a mile a day. Hmmm... could I? Could I commit to that and run every day? Shawn was watching Netflix, and I asked, "Do you think I could run a marathon in a month?" He was distracted, and said, "No." I was about to get angry at such a quick shoot-down when he said, "Wait, did you say in a month?" Redeemed, I smiled and said, "Yeah, a month." He turned back to his computer screen and shrugged. "Maybe."  I felt my eyebrows raise involuntarily. Maybe? Maybe?! How long have we been married? Because CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. With less than a few minutes to spare, I jumped out of bed, sprinted outside to my van half naked (sorry neighbors), grabbed my wallet, and registered. It's ON. My biggest obstacle will be my pregnancy brain forgetting that I registered by the time October rolls around. I know I can do it. And I will do it. I will get my cheap medal, and prove to myself and others that pregnant women are warriors, not delicate flowers. We need to prepare our bodies for the incredible and amazing feat of birthing a human, and we can enjoy the journey along the way. If you would like to accept this challenge with me, register here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6925697949/?invite&err=29&referrer&discount&affiliate&eventpassword#loginbox  Let's run together!

Summer

It really is summer now, isn't it? Summer always comes with it's quirks, and I have extra work dealing with them. First of all, it seemed like the season would never come this year. My garden is definitely stunted because of it, but looking pretty good otherwise. Each year, I find myself growing ridiculously fond of my little garden. I get a little too proud, and a little too protective. The dog will carefully skirt the edges, showing she knows exactly where the borders lie, yet I will randomly find her standing in the middle. I shriek and charge, and she suddenly turns into a squirrel, dodging this way and that, while I wave my arms and frantically try to herd her out.  I am obsessively peeking out the windows to make sure that the cats aren't traipsing through my beautiful bounty, and when I catch a feline such malicious intent, I run screaming through the back door to scare them away. I even have a BB gun that I shake at them. Yet for all this, it has become a game- I can see it in their faces. They mock me. Just the other night, I was startled by a deer standing in the driveway about 10 feet from our door. I brought the family over to see, and we all admired her before she trotted away. Then I realized how dumb I had been! I should have sent the dog out to chase her, or done something scary. Now she thinks our place is nice and peaceful, and full of tasty vegetable sprouts. The mosquitoes are doing what they can to try to prevent me from weeding. Sometimes it works. Those things are aggressive  up here. I certainly remember getting plenty of bites down in Rochester, but up here they full on attack. I really would prefer to use all natural bug spray, but it doesn't phase them a bit. If I'm not drenched in DEET, I'm advertising free blood. Evening would be ideal for weeding, if not for those pests. Another reason I can't weed after high noon: Junebugs. Do those terrify you the way they terrify me? June is really the month from hell. Lucifer himself must slither up some craggy crack of the earth and set loose Junebugs and woodticks, just to torment human beings.

Despite my very own animals toying with my mental health, and having a fear of stepping outside after dusk, I am enjoying summer. I know, it doesn't sound like it, but I am. The kids are so fun to be around that every day is interesting. There is so much to do! We love swimming, taking Shael for walks, going to the park, having picnics. Olivia and Genevieve have enjoyed sleeping in their tent a few different nights. They know that even though I say they have to go to sleep by X time, that I'm too afraid of Junebugs to step outside and make sure they've put away the books and flashlights. I've heard what sounded suspiciously like giggles well into the night... The girls and I are still making it through the "mom-summer-schooling," although little brother makes it quite difficult for us. We do what we can while he sleeps, but there isn't much we can manage while he's awake. That boy is go-go-go as soon as his feet hit the floor in the morning! I love Shawn's work schedule, because he leaves while we're sleeping, and is home before 3pm every day. I'm sure he would like to sleep a little longer in the mornings, but he very much enjoys his job at the nursing home.

 I had grand plans of stuffing this blog entry full of cute pictures of the kids, but my laptop died and we haven't been able to transfer the pictures on to the new one yet. Stay tuned for some sweet pics of the family!