It's a......

We went in today and found out.....

My due date ended up changing from the 12th to the 19th of February. This girlie was measuring small. We are really excited! :)

There goes another one...

I'm looking into getting my Halloween Half registration switched to next year's race. I don't think it's best to do it this far along especially since I haven't been training like I should to be doing something like a half marathon.

I feel like such a quitter when I bail out of a race. I know, I'm pregnant...it's ok, but it's still rough. Jason's such a great man. He can tell that I'm upset about it and he says, "Hey, just cause you aren't running a half marathon it doesn't mean you can't sign up for the smaller races. Why don't you sign up for some 5ks?" I can do 5ks. 3.1 miles...I've done that before and I can still do it. I feel good about that. He'd go with me and run/walk the races with me, he says that way he can keep an eye on me. The funny thing is, his walking stride is my running stride, so it keeps me moving. I'll make sure to wait until the last minute to sign up in case something comes up.

On a plus side, my plantar fasciitis is gone and my IT band doesn't hurt! Yay! I'm feeling great. It feels SO nice. I need to keep up with my goal of moving 30 minutes a day. That's not much to ask for. I just need to make it a priority.

2 more day and we find out what we're having!! I can't wait! Ooh, 2 days ago I felt the first kicks on the outside of my belly. It's SO cool when it gets to that point. I just love it!

CSN Review and Taco Soup Recipe

My stuff from CSN came!!! I've been so excited for my package to arrive. It came so quickly!

 CSN has SO much stuff it was hard to choose, but in the end I went for a bunch of fun Rachael Ray stuff. First, since soup season is coming up I had to get the 4-Piece "Soup It Up" Cookware Set. I was really interested to see how well the "Last Drop" Flat-Bottom Soup Ladle worked and it worked SO good. I just love it! The next thing I had to get was the Bench Scrape Shovel. I've seen her use it on her show and I thought it would be pretty cool to use one. It's really nice cause you can pick up all of the food you chopped without having to use your hands and getting them all dirty. Last, but not least, I had to get the Lazy Spoon & Ladle Set. These spoons have always caught my attention. I love that I can set the spoon on the side of the pot and not on the counter. It helps to keep the counter all nice and clean. These babies are heavy duty. I think they'll be in the family for a long time.

To celebrate all the fun stuff I get to review I had to test it out right away, so I made some...

TACO SOUP!

(Forgive my pictures, I wish I had better lighting in my kitchen. Oh, well...the soup was good at least!)

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED:

1 lb. extra lean ground beef

1   onion, chopped

2 cans (15.5 oz. each) mild chili beans, undrained

1 can  (14.5 oz.) kidney beans, undrained

1 can  (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can (14.25 oz.) corn, undrained

1 can  (8 oz.) V8 Juice

1 pkg. (1-1/4 oz.) Taco Seasoning Mix
1 pkg. Ranch Dressing Mix

1 cup water

HERE'S HOW TO COOK IT:

BROWN meat with onions in large saucepan; drain.

ADD all remaining ingredients; stir. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 5 min., stirring occasionally.

SERVE topped with sour cream, cheese, and/or green onions.

ENJOY!

PUMPKIN!!!!

Ooooh!!! The house smells SO good.

 It has a nice fall smell going on. Too bad the weather's not cooperating right now...it's in the upper 80's and tomorrow it's supposed to be 90. Come on Mother Nature...we need to cool it down around here!

Here's the recipe you've been waiting for!

Crust:

1 pkg. yellow cake mix (reserve 1 c. for topping)

½ c. melted margarine

1 egg

Mix together and stir in 9”x13” pan.

Filling:

3 c. pumpkin

2/3 c. milk

2 eggs

1 c. sugar

2¼ tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Whip together until smooth, then pour over crust.

Topping:

1 c. reserved cake mix

¼ c. sugar

¼ c. soft margarine

Mix together until crumbly and sprinkle over filling.

Bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes until set. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

I forgot to add an egg to my crust, but you couldn't really tell. It turned out REALLY good. Jay likes his cold and I like mine warm. Either way works. I took the pumpkin at the top of the post and cooked it up and used it for my puree. I love cooking my own pumpkins...none of that canned pumpkin for me. :) But, if you're not into cooking your own, the canned works just fine.

It's not a lowfat recipe by any means, but you are getting some vegetables and that's good...right?

I hope you enjoy!!

SoJo Half Marathon

 This is Aaron, he's my big bro and I love him.

A couple weeks ago I decided to opt out of running the SoJo Half so I called him up to take my place. Being the great brother that he is, he said, "Sure!" and ran it in my place. He'd been hoping I'd choose not to run a half while being pregnant, so he was more than happy to run for me. Gotta worry about your little sister, ya know. :)

We went to cheer Aaron on at mile 6.5, but for some reason it was taking him longer than we thought (The race ended up starting almost an hour late). We hung out for an hour cheering on all the runners going by. The kids got a couple of high-fives in and then got bored. They colored a sign for Aaron, but by the time he came around I had them in the van waiting cause they started a pine cone fight that I was trying to keep away of the runners while holding Annabelle. So, about 5 min after getting in the van Aaron came around the corner. We followed him for a minute or two and all the kids yelled, "GO AARON, GO!!" over and over for him.

After we saw him I went and got Jay from the house he was at WW when we were waiting for Aaron. He lost 4.8lbs, by the way! Go Jason!! I'm so proud of him. :)

We missed Aaron crossing the finish by about 5 minutes. It's my fault. I took a wrong turn cause my iPod wasn't pulling up the address of the finish line and I guessed at which way it was. He ended up finishing in 2.09.44! Go AARON!

It's all good though. Aaron was excited to see us and Brianna was even more excited to see him. She always gets excited at races. Last night we made a sign to hold up for Aaron while we cheered him on. I wrote out the words and Brianna and Caleb colored the letters in.

Brianna was so excited to show it off to Aaron since we missed holding it for him at the halfway point. She told him who colored what and what it said.

It says, "GO AARON YOU CAN DO IT!" plus, "Run, run, run, go, go, go!" and "We love you!" Even though he didn't get to see it while running there were some runners out there who hopefully benefited from the kids cheering.

There's the cool metal he got for running the half. Aaron, being the great brother he is "presented" it to me for being a good mom and opting out of the race to take care of myself and my baby. I told him I couldn't take it cause he earned it, but he insisted saying that he ran it for me, so I deserved the award. I'll make sure to put it in a special spot so I can always remember my big bro's love for me. :)

Tomorrow.....PUMPKIN RECIPE!!! Plus, yesterday Jason and I walked 3 miles around the lake with the kids in 45 min and kept up with our food.

Pumpkin...why do you tempt me so?

(Picture from pumpkin picking 2 years ago.)

I love pumpkins! I can't wait to get a couple of those little sugar pumpkins and make some homemade pumpkin pie. Mmmm! My favorite pumpkin recipe is this one that Jay's mom gave me when we were first married. I'll make it this weekend and share it with you guys. But, holy cow...there are some good recipes out there.

We're doing good though, we haven't made any pumpkin deliciousness yet. Everything in moderation, right? :)

Today I took off, but tomorrow I'm going to go around the lake and do the elliptical. My big bro, Aaron is coming over tomorrow! He's being a great brother and running the SoJo Half for me. I'll be there cheering him on and taking pictures on Saturday.

I've been feeling the baby kick a lot today. He/she really enjoys kicking my bladder the most. I have a feeling this baby's going to be a long/big baby like Caleb, he was 22" and 9lbs 1 oz when we was born. I'm just glad I'm starting to feel movement cause it was getting to the point where you know you're pregnant, but you aren't feeling anything move and you just feel fat. Now, there's a little one in there that's kicking ya reminding you that you're pregnant. I can't wait to be able to feel it on the outside too.

1 more week and we find out what we're having!!!!! Yay!! Sept. 30th at 1:20!! I can't wait.

I LOVE FALL!!

Today was a nice rainy fall day. It was a great start to the season. As promised I did 2 miles around the lake with Jay and the kids.

I knew there was a chance that It would rain, but I wasn't expecting this....

(My voice sounds so weird on the video...just know, that's not how I really sound or at least I don't think so.)

I'm glad we ended up going around the middle part of the lake and not the full thing cause let me tell ya, that rain was CRAZY! It was coming down so hard and the drops were SO big. We were only in it for a minute or two when the bridge came up and we hid under it for about 10 minutes until the rain stopped. The kids loved it though. Brianna rode her bike the whole time and Caleb was frustrated with the hills so, his bike ended up going on top of the stroller. But, we had fun. We made some fun fall memories while getting our exercise in. :)

The hail was coming down really good during the down pour. I'm glad I wore a light jacket cause the rain/hail with the wind was pretty chilly.

Jay and I did good today eating. We tracked everything and stuck to the plan.  Go us!!

Why, Hello Motivation...I've missed you! :)

First, I have to say thank you to Janine over at http://www.jogginmomma.blogspot.com/ for the email. It's just what I needed. Really, it was. It made me look back and see where I've come and it reminded me of where I want to go. It also reminded me that there are people out here reading this blog and I may say something someday that will give someone the boost they need to get started on their goals and that makes it all worth it.

Thank you, Janine for giving me that boost today. :)

 I've been wanting to give up running and just "be pregnant", but I know that's not good for me. I know that when I'm pregnant and I don't watch what I eat and keep moving I gain too much weight and it's painful in the last couple months. Why would I do that to myself if I know that it's not good?

So, that's why today I am changing. I am going back to how I was at the beginning of this year.

At the beginning of the year I'd get out and run everyday and I watched what I ate. I put my health first! This time it's a little different because it's not only my health that I need to put first, but my baby's as well.

Before I got pregnant I was doing Weight Watchers. I LOVE WW! The best part about it is, you can eat what you want (in moderation) and there's no cutting carbs, or over eating on protein, or any of that crap. It teaches you how to eat right. My wonderful man joined WW today. I'm so proud of him for putting his health first. To be a supportive wife, I'm going to follow the plan with him (with a couple exceptions, I'm not trying to lose weight. I'm trying to track my food, so I can eat healthy  and get the food I need.) It's just what I need. I love eating healthy, but it's not easy to do when you have to make a different meal for yourself. Jay's lucky, he's got a high metabolism so he can eat whatever he wants and gradually gain a pound or two over the years. I only have that when I'm running like crazy. Tomorrow is day 1 on Jay's WW journey. He's going to do great!

Today after Janine's email I said "I need to get out and move!" I did 1.5 miles walking with Jay and the kids, but that wasn't enough. Rather than sit on the couch and watch TV I thought I'd go down to the basement and do the elliptical.  

Our poor little elliptical...we've had her for a year or more now and we've used it maybe 3 times total. I thought I'd show here some love and give her some exercise every day. Today I only did 15 minutes at a level 4 (the kids weren't going to sleep like they were supposed to, so I had to cut it short), but hey, 15 is better than none. Tomorrow I'll walk 2 miles and do 30 min on the elliptical.

 I've gotta get back in shape. I'm starting to get more body weight than baby weight and I've gotta be careful. Gaining weight is a very slippery slope. I know...I know...you're pregnant...you're not supposed to be all worried about your weight. I don't want to lose weight! I want to eat healthy and I want to move and be HEALTHY!

My reward for exercising is watching the Biggest Loser...

Ok, so I know The Biggest Loser is getting old and it's one of those things where either you love it or you hate it, but with me there's always one person that I connect with and makes me want to watch. This season it's the chick from Utah. Yeah, I know...Utah...it's cause I'm in Utah, right? No, I think the thing that made me connect with her was when she was running the mile and her girls were behind her running along with her and she was so proud of herself and she could see her children being proud of her as well.

 It's such an awesome thing when you can see the pride in your children's eyes. That's why I LOVE to race. I love crossing the line and seeing my kids so excited for me. I love running because I love reaching these new goals and showing my kids and family that it's possible and they can do it too.

You can do anything you put your mind to!

CSN

You all know about CSN, right?  They're a great company that has over 200 online stores where you can find everything from a coffee table to fantastic fitness equipment to cookware! Pretty cool, huh? 

In a few weeks I'll have a fun product review for all of you. I'm sure it will have something to do with fall cooking since fall's coming around the corner. I can't wait! Soup sounds sooo good right now. Potato soup, vegetable soup, taco soup....I LOVE SOUP! Now, if only Mother Nature would agree and get it cooler around here. :)

Stupid is as stupid does...

I've decided that I'm not going to be stupid, but first....

Check out my new shoes!

They're nice and comfy and give my just the right amount of support. I've even been wearing them around and not going barefoot. Go me! :)

So, back to not being stupid...

I was scheduled to go 10 miles today. I got up and thought that 10 miles probably wasn't the best idea considering I haven't really been running for the past 3-4 weeks. So, I started out walking like I usually do. I felt fine so I ran some. Well, even though I have the new shoes that feel good on my feet, I could feel some of the plantar fasciitis flaring up, a blister forming on my right ring toe, and my IT band was starting to ache too. So, rather than push myself to go 10 miles I stopped at 3 and went home.

I did a lot of thinking during my walk and I decided that I'm not going to run the SoJo Half. I'm trying to be smart and I know that if I wasn't pregnant I would have run it anyway, but being 19 weeks pregnant and all I think it's best not to run it.

So, I called my brother, Aaron who ran his first half marathon last month, and asked him if he would be willing to run the race in my place. He was more than happy to. The only question is, will they let me transfer my race over to him. I know the Halloween Half (the one I'm supposed to run in October) won't let you transfer, but this one doesn't say anything about not being able to.

Now, the question is...next month since I can't transfer my place in the race to anyone, do I think that I can train myself enough in one month to be able to complete the Halloween half even if I have to walk the whole thing? I think it might be possible. We'll see.

19 weeks and still growing. :) Funny thing is, I feel SO much smaller than I did with the other kids at this point. Let's hope it stays that way and I don't plump up like I did with the others.

I hope everyone has a great productive weekend!

A great video!

It gets me re-motivated. I love his determination! :)

New Shoes

These babies are coming in this mail for me this week!

I can't wait!! I've been a slacker and I've still been wearing flip flops and running around barefoot. I know, I know... I'm just falling into the stereotype of being barefoot and pregnant. LOL!

Ok, so I've been getting some exercise in, but nowhere near the miles I should be. I just don't want to push this plantar fasciitis thing and make it worse than it is cause I have bad shoes. My heels are achy, but not too bad and the muscle in my left butt cheek is sore now. It's crazy what your joints and muscles do while you're pregnant. 

Anyway...I'm hoping that they'll come by Thursday so I can get them a little warn in before the half in 2 weeks.

Golf ball...niiice!

Oooh, thank you gals for suggesting rolling my feet on a golf ball...it feels SOOO good. All day today my poor feet kept cramping up. It hurt! But, rolling it makes it feel so much better.

Good news, even though I didn't run 5 miles today I walked back and forth to Bee's school 3 times! :) It's a 5 min walk each way. Not bad. I also got 75% of the house cleaned and 85% of the laundry done and put away. :) I just pray I have some kind of endurance when this half comes. I wish I had someone to run/walk it with.

Man, oh man...

Today's one of those days where I just feel like quitting. I'm planning on doing the elliptical today, but I didn't do 5 yesterday or my 10k on Saturday. I feel like calling off both half marathons and just not doing anymore running/walking whatever. I know it's the wrong way to think and today's just one of those days, but ugh, the feeling's sooo strong. Maybe this whole foot thing is screwing with my head, maybe it's a sign. All I know is I don't want to be a quitter.

Well, that sucks....

Guess who has an acute case of plantar fasciitis in their left foot. I do.... Fun, huh? I've been told, no more flip flops, no bare feet, and make sure I wear shoes with good arch support.  I'm thinking I'll have lots of time to recover before the half and I can still go walk and do the elliptical so I'm not worried.

On a more positive note...

My name is Cathy and I'm a habitual weigher. A week ago I weighed myself and I was 194.6 and yesterday and today I weighed and I am 190.4...nice!!! I love when water weight falls off and gives you that nice weight loss. Now...don't get all worried thinking I'm trying to lose weight while pregnant...this is not the case. I love to eat and boy do I eat! I'm just glad that I'm not that close to 200 this early in the game. I just know the more weight I gain the harder it is for me later in the pregnancy. My IT band starts flaring up, my feet hurt from all the weight, and my pelvic muscles/joints/whatever get all out of whack and hurt like a mother when I try to lift my leg to put pants on...I just don't want that happening again. So, I'm hoping that with continuing running/walking/ellipticalling I can take control of this weight gain, before it gets out of hand.

Today I got some inserts so, I'm planning on doing my 5 miles around the lake. Lets hope the inserts help with the ache in my foot.

Cupcakes

Christina over at Lace It Up and Run gave me the Cherry on Top Award. I feel loved!

Thanks Christina. :)

The rules are:

1. Answer the question: If you had the chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be?

2. Pick 6 people and give them this award. Make sure to inform the person that they have gotten the award!

 

Hummm...what would I change if I could go back? I wouldn't change anything major. Sure, I was a punk kid who made dumb choices, who wasn't, but I wouldn't change them. The thing I'd change is I would have stayed healthy in the first place and not gained all the weight I gained (every time I gained it) by being an emotional, uneducated eater. I'm sure it would have made the other 3 pregnancies a lot easier to not be over 200lbs. Plus, who really likes to gain lots of weight and then have to work even harder to get it off. I sure don't!

6 people, well, I'm sure everyone and their mother already got this award. So, anyone who reads this is tagged and more than welcome to play along. :)

5 miles cause I am worth it.

Today I got up and walked/ran 5.36 miles around the lake. Let me tell ya, I can't wait until it gets cooler just so all the stinkin' gnats leave the trails alone around the lake. I swear I swallowed a good amount of those little suckers. It's hard to avoid them when you run with your mouth open.

Today was the perfect day for a run, besides those littlle suckers. The weather was awesome! It was cool, but not too cool and the sun was just rising over the mountain.

I felt pretty good during my walk/run. I wanted to run the full thing, but I still haven't bought any supports for my arches and I didn't want to push myself today and then not be able to run my 10k tomorrow. So, I listened and walked when I needed to walk and ran when I could run. Is it just me or what, whenever I run over that bridge it feels like the whole thing is bouncing like a trampoline. It's the weirdest thing. Oh, the other thing I noticed during today's run/walk was that when I walked my hands would swell, but when I ran it went away. Weird...

Why hello, belly... I woke up this morning and was like, "Whoa! This is a pregnant belly." It's like it grew over night and is sticking out in all it's glory now. I felt some bouncing while I ran so I think I need to break down and buy one of those support belts before the half marathon this month.

Oooh, and look what I got in the mail today!

The awesome people over at inperspire.com sent me a couple towels to try out and review. Let me tell ya, they are some nice towels! You know how sometimes you get towels and they are rough  feeling and really uncomfortable, well, these babies are soft and comfy. Little Miss loves them too. When I opened the package she snagged one of them and ran off with it and wouldn't give it back. She's all about things with a soft texture so, when she takes it and won't give it back, it's gotta be good. :)

 You better believe I'm packing the "Breathe" one in my hospital bag for when I deliver. This momma's going all natural so, I'm going to need something to mop up the sweat. It's so perfect for the stage I'm in right now in life too. A momma of 3 soon to be 4 needs to remember to breathe love, peace, and life.

They're a great company celebrating their 1st birthday. There's some great deals going on right now and I'm telling ya, get them while you can cause they are awesome.

I was waiting forever for it to come. It wasn't Inperspire's fault it took for ever, there's a funny story behind what made me wait patiently for my darling towels to arrive. My MIL and BIL were living with us and moved out about 4 weeks ago. Well, when they moved they filled out a change of address form. Rather than fill it out as an individual for her and him, they filled it out for the WHOLE family. So anyone who lives in the house with their last name wouldn't get any mail sent to the house in Utah, but would have it all sent to their new house in Texas. Yeah...finally after 3 weeks of talking to the post office and thinking things were figured out, Jay went in talked to a manager and got everything straightened out. I'm finally getting mail sent to our house and not theirs. The joy's of family. :)

I hope everyone has a great Saturday!!!