Author: Stephanie

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Half Marathon Recap-Yeehaw

This last weekend I accomplished something I never thought I would do.

I completed my 5th half marathon.

Not only did I complete it, I finished it 20 weeks pregnant.

(I really must be crazy.)

I have to say thought that it was one of my favorite races to date.

I signed up for this race back in December long before I knew that George would be in my belly at the time of the race.

Even then, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to ever beat my PR time. So I came up with the idea of just having fun with this race and doing a scavenger hunt with my sister-in-law, Emily.

But then life happened, and the pregnancy took it’s toll on my body during the first trimester. I debated whether it was even a good idea to keep this race on the docket. Finally though, the morning sickness lifted, and I could exercise again. I began testing how far I could walk. The most I had done in the past month was 6 miles. Even up to last week I was unsure if I could do this. I talked with my doctor about running, and she said as long as I listened to my body and stayed extremely hydrated she was not concerned because I have an active past.

Emily and I decided to just go for it. We knew our options if we wanted to stop and knew that a truck would pick us up if we went too slow. I had been feeling great the past couple weeks, so we figured why not give it a whirl. We just wanted to have fun with everything!

And we did it full out! (Get ready for a ton of photos.)

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Emily and I before the race began.

I have to say the costumes were the best part of the race. About every 5 steps someone shouted/pointed/showed their extreme jealousy at our awesome cowgirl get-up. We pretty much won the best costume award! We are waiting for them to ask us to be the next year’s poster girls! (only slightly kidding)

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This is our favorite shirt from the day.

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This was at the beginning of the race. 30,000+ runners (and walkers)! Such a beautiful day for 13.1 miles!

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The first band of the day.

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Some of the bands were good, and some were not so good.

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It is a naked statue behind us.

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Walker selfie in front of the Brooks man!

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In front of Belmont University! We ran about 20% of the race, which were mostly on the downhills. It gave our legs a change of pace every once in awhile.

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This was one of our favorite signs. And yes, we both pooped that day. There were also a lot of signs about peeing. This was the first race that I used a Port-A-Potty, and I used it three times because I was chugging water like there was no tomorrow to stay hydrated. Each time there was no toilet paper…awesome.

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There weren’t many of us in costume for the day. These were some gals we passed a couple times before they eventually left us in their runner dust.

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Giddy Up!

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This was our favorite!

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No beer for the preggo. Sad day.

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One of the coolest parts of the race was going through Music Row where all the recording studios are. We were starry-eyed so we didn’t take pictures of hardly any of them. Whoops. In our defense, this part of the race was also on a downhill, so we were taking advantage of that momentum.

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You can’t read it, but this is a wedding chapel.

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A little praise band action!

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Very cool!

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Just a little bit country.

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And a little bit rock and roll.

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I think this was around 8 miles.

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The studios were surprisingly small.

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This is where we both started hurting a little. Also, I was starving. I needed carbs. I got some snicker-doodle cookies from a stranger and some jelly beans I had. I eventually had to ask a medical tent if they had a granola bar. George was hungry! And then soon after they had orange peels. They need to space this out more.

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The bump making an appearance with this lovely cop who was cheering us all on!

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This was a pleasant surprise! It was fun to shout a little Clemson love! Tiger Nation!

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Only two miles left. We can do this!

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The capital building.

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Emily tried out for American Idol here.

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We did it, and with smiles on our faces!

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Knowing there was food at the end got me through the last 2 miles. I took two of everything.

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I just have to say, I love my husband for coming and capturing our moment of crossing the finish line and also driving us back to our car. However, what this picture captures was my least favorite part of the day. The guys said this was the only way back to the car, barring walking another mile or so around the road barricades. This was a steep hill that I had to take my concrete legs and pregnant butt up. Not a happy camper! Tom loving braced me and pushed me up the rocks as I muttered curses at him all the way up. We did make it safely up this hill, but it was not a pleasant experience! I really am thankful for them coming though!

All in all, we had a blast. I feel really accomplished after this. It is funny that each race has brought it’s own challenges that I have had to overcome. It is one of the things that I love about race days. You really get to see what you are made of.

The participants were great. Besides Disney, you really can’t beat the atmosphere and environment Nashville brings (at least of the races I have done, I am sure there are other great race destinations). The organization was fairly good for the race. My only complaint is the lack of food throughout the race and the location of port-a-potties.

We didn’t really follow our scavenger hunt list we made previously. Instead we just took pictures of whatever moved us, and looking back we did get a lot that was on our list. We also saw a lot of things but didn’t take pictures of it like a barefoot runner, cheer team, and every water stop we took advantage of. We finished with a time of 3 hours and 41 minutes, which I would say isn’t too bad for walking pretty much the whole thing and making a ton of stops!

Who knows if I will ever do another one, but this was a great one to add to the books.

**As a caveat, if you are pregnant and planning on doing races, I would seriously think about your past activity and talk with your doctor. It is an individual decision, but it can be done! Just make sure you are taking all the necessary precautions and doing what is right for you and your baby’s health.

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Talks with Tom #23

To our group of friends here in TN, Tom and I are considered hipsters. I smile at this each time it is referenced because I would never personally call myself a hipster.

I guess I don’t really know what the technical definition of hipster, but regardless, I would not say Tom and I in that category.

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When we were in Indiana, we knew we would see a lot of hipsters since they are more prominent in a college town.

While we were getting ready for one of our outings this is a conversations we had:

Me:  Do I look ok? (I have just recently started wearing skinny colored jeans, so I get a little self-conscious still.)

Tom: Yes your red pants look great. It’s like hipsterflage.

And then Tom proceeded to put on these sunglasses.

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We were ready to blend I guess by standing out.

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And You Shall Be Called

name

Naming a kid is hard y’all.

There are so many things to think of. Some of these were a fleeting thought, and others were reasons why names got crossed off.

  • Do you want a family name? If so how do you explain to the other family that you didn’t go with theirs (if this is even a concern)?
  • Does someone close to you already have this name? And do you want them to have the same name?
  • Does someone in your past have this name? Is that a good or bad thing?
  • Is there a connotation that goes along with this name? (ie stripper names)
  • Could there be bad nicknames associated with this name? (ie Josie Grossie)
  • Do you believe in the meanings behind names?
  • Do you want to be original or more traditional?
  • Are you ok with it being a common name?
  • What about spelling?
  • Will their initials spell something? (I mean seriously do you want your initials to be COW, DUD, or BUT if you had a say?)
  • And above all else, you both need to like it and agree.

We have been keeping a running tab of names that we like for the past couple years. Whenever I heard a name that I liked, I would run it by Tom and then add it to our list on my phone.

To be honest, I have kept a list since I was a little kid. I was totally that girl who envisioned being a mom from pretty much day one. I often got the name books in the Scholastic Book fairs in elementary school. So one can say that I have always been interested in names.

Once we found out we were pregnant we got serious about our list. We narrowed our boy names fairly easy to a couple that we really liked. The girl names were much harder.

We both had our likes but we kept having to restart because we knew someone with the name (student I wasn’t fond of or someone Tom hated) or it just didn’t feel right to one of us. Namely, we had issues with the connotations that go along with some names…

This is so stressful people.

You want to pick a solid name that your child can be proud of. You don’t want them to hate their name. (I went through a phase where I hated my name because it was so common, and wanted to change it to Crystal. Why, I have no idea. Parents, I do love my name now, so thank you.)

The name is the first identifier for someone. So much is revolved around a name such as memories and their experiences. I mean think about it when you say someone’s name a lot more comes to mind than just that one word.

So how do you pick a name that can mean so much to someone before you even meet them?

You just kind of wing it to be honest. (While thinking about all the questions above of course.)

And once you know, you know.

And without further ado, our little guy will be…

george

George is a name that we both have loved for a long time, like before we were pregnant long time. So that part was easy. And neither of us have had bad encounters with a George or has it been stolen by someone close to us (I kid about the stolen part, well only sort of.) Really, we just know famous George’s:  George Washington, George Brett, Prince George…Tom and I actually played a game of “Last Word” with who can beat the other with famous Georges. Just try to see how many you can come up with!

The middle name proved to be a little more interesting of a conversation. (We considered for a time to name him after George Brett-we love our Royals. Also the middle name “America” was discussed…sadly.)

But we finally settled on Lawson.

Lawson is Tom’s middle name. (If we would have had a girl, she would have had my middle name.)

It is so great to call him by his name.

Our little George.

Also George has been dubbed as our ninja baby (thanks to our dear friend Sandra) since he surprised us with his sneaky entrance into the world. The nickname has kind of stuck, and he keeps pulling out little surprises for us. At our appointment last week, we found out that we are actually more than a week further along than we thought. George is growing so steadily and like a champ, and the last two ultra sounds have not been consistent with our previous due date. So we are actually 20 weeks tomorrow, which means we are half way there! Our new due date is September 15th instead of the 25th.

Do you have names picked out already? How would/did you go about picking a name?

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Bumpdate Week 18

18 week

I pulled back the dress in the picture on the right again to show you the full bump.

How far along: 18 weeks..holy moly

Sex of Baby W: We will be confirming the sex today at our appointment. It will be fun to actually see everything because the last time I had to close my eyes while she looked and wrote it on a note so I can take it home to open it with Tom.

Weight gain: Still at a 7lb total loss. The bump is growing (which is a weird feeling), so I am sure here soon the scale will jump some. Some days my bump disappears, and then other days it is very much present. Anybody else have this experience?

Size of Baby W: The size of a bell pepper (Last week was a turnip, so Tom and I were calling him Turnip all week.)

Maternity clothes: I have bought a few tops that I can easily wear not pregnant. I am all about the long term investment here people. I also purchased the Be Band from Target, which is amazing. There is nothing like knowing that your pants are undone all day, but no one else can tell. Super awesome and freeing. Also, maternity yoga pants are the best thing ever.

Baby items: We have not been successful with finding a dresser. We have a backup plan for Tom to construct something if we are still unfruitful come the middle of the summer. We have made a giant list of things that will go on a registry when the time comes. Any recommendations on what store to register at or if we should register at more than one place? We are still doing well with not buying anything else yet, I am sure that will change once I allow myself to go into baby sections to actually create the registry. Folks, little boy things are super darn cute, and it is hard not to buy every pair of overalls and bow ties!

Stretch marks: Nope. I have started a strict regimen of lotion and tummy butter morning and night.

Belly button in or out: Still in.

Sleep: I have been sleeping pretty well, but I still have some wicked dreams. (Last night I had was a superhero trying to defeat an evil man who was killing off my family and students. I could freeze things and shoot freeze balls out of my hands…) I have started having to get up when Tom leaves for PT (at 5:30am) to go to the bathroom, and there are usually a couple nights of the week that I wake up several other times to go pee.

Best moment the past few week: Hanging out with our friends in Indiana

Worst moment the past few weeks: Finding out I didn’t get the job at Austin Peay

Miss anything:  This last weekend I really wanted wine, but little guy doesn’t need to be a party animal more than he already is in there.

Cravings:  Not really anything special that I can remember. I am still in the phase of if I see it or hear it, I want it. I am doing good sticking to a pretty healthy diet though.

Movement: I think I felt something last week, but I am not sure…It felt more like a punch in the gut instead of a flutter which is what people told me I am supposed to feel.

Symptoms/how I am feeling: For the most part, I am feeling pretty good. I still have moments of nausea. I also learned that I cannot sit in the backseat of a car anymore because I get motion sickness. Super fun. I do take a lot of naps too. I have been walking the dogs a lot and yoga, so I think that is helping. I did try actually running the other day, and it felt super weird. I might have been a little paranoid that he was going to fly out with all the jiggling that was going on, so I probably will just stick to walking.

Looking forward to: Our checkup appointment today. It will be the first time Tom has seen the baby since Week 9. He got to hear the heartbeat a few weeks ago, but did not see him. I can’t wait to see his reaction on how much little man has grown.

Week 18

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A Weekend Refresher

This last weekend, Tom and I finally made it up to Indiana to see some close friends of ours. The four of us met in Iowa while Kate and I were working at Iowa State. Tom and Jordan started “The Husband Club.” So naturally the four of us became fast couple friends.

If you have hung around the blog at all, you know that our transition into the Army life has not been all roses and rainbows. Despite the struggles, we are making the best of it and are not quitters. We still put all that we are into the things we have here. There are days, however, when you lose hope and pieces of yourself.

This weekend gave us both a boost that we desperately needed. It reminded us of things and reignited our hope for our future.

(Nothing like a road trip in the middle of no-where to talk about your dream house, especially when someone insists that we take back roads the whole way there. We did successfully make it there by only using an atlas, so there is something we have going for us.)

Being able to spend time with Kate and Jordan was just the refresher that we needed. We were able to relax and chat about nonsense. It was great to be in a college town again, which is something we didn’t realize we missed so much. There is just something in the air in college towns:  always living the dream and pursuing even bigger dreams. It is really energizing (or we are both just huge college nerds…)

They were the greatest hosts who showed us around the area and provided us with great meals and fantastic company. And I am not sure our dogs wanted to leave their cute window filled home.

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We hopped up to Indianapolis for a night to see a minor league baseball game. Who doesn’t love baseball and hotdogs?

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We had a wonderful Easter brunch including a grown up Easter egg hunt.

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I will say that this brunch will always make me chuckle because Tom and I go from Army talk on a normal basis to this brunch where it was mostly doctoral students talking about their trips and plans of study. Two different worlds…

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Sometimes you just need little reminders that things will be OK. (God is good like that.)

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And sometimes you just need randomness to take stress away and reconnect with those around you.

This was the perfect change of pace for us.

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Tom did not win the egg hunt despite his best efforts.

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Kate got the most, but she didn’t manage to find any eggs with stuff in it.

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We had such a great weekend. And many thanks to our friends for letting us crash in their abode for a few days. Hopefully, we will not wait as long until the next time we reunite.