Keepin' it up...

I've been keeping up my walking, for the most part. But, since I can't get out there and run I've been doing other things to keep myself busy, like carving pumpkins....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend. I'm planning on wearing my garmin to see how far we go tomorrow night trick-or-treating. 

A little MIA...

I know I posted a couple days ago, but I feel like I've been MIA.

Let me show you why....

I was sitting on the floor watching a movie with the family when my little nephew (3yrs old) tripped over me and his little knee fell right into my poor laptop. The stinkin' thing's in the shop until November 11th. Let's hope they can fix it by then because Heaven knows I'm going to get tired of posting on my iPhone when Jason's out of town. lol! Good thing he's home this week so I can use his work computer. :)

Oooh, check out what we woke up to this morning....

Pretty, huh? I wish I could have gone running in it. I had to settle for a 1 mile walk...better than nothing, right? It was so awesome last year when I would get up and run through the snow early in the mornings. It was so peaceful. Next year I'll get to enjoy it...next year. :)

Ok, I'm off to do 40min on the elliptical. Fun, fun...

Check it out....

I did a guest post over at Joggin' Momma.

Check it out and give her some love!!

I have a new favorite shirt!!!

IT CAME, IT CAME!! Today my awesome Support your Girls shirt and Juno bra came! The shirt is the perfect size and length. I LOVE IT! I haven't really tested out the bra yet, but it fits good. :)

Exciting!!!

Being healthy

I love when I decide to be healthy. Actually...sometimes I love it, but other times I don't. Let me explain...

I love food. I really do. I'm not the type that could do any of those "no carbs", "no sugars", "no everything" diets. I love food too much for that. Jason and I love to make new things. Yummy things...things filled with cream and sugar and butter.  Our favorite meal is Pioneer woman's Burger with her fancy Mac and Cheese. At times when that craving hits for a nice juicy burger and mac and cheese, that's when eating healthy sucks cause you feel so guilty for eating something so "unhealthy".

But, I also love eating the fresh stuff. I could eat a BIG salad for dinner any day. When Jason's ma was here I made a salad for lunch and asked her if she wanted one too. She said she did so I went ahead and made one. I don't think she realized what size my salads were. She ended up only eating half of it cause it was so big. The thing I thought was really funny was one night she made a salad for dinner (there was 7 of us eating) and the salad was 1/3 the size of one of my salads. Haha!

Now, don't get me wrong...my salads aren't just lettuce and tomato. I put all the fixin's in it. A serving of meat, a little cheese, a bread of some sort, nuts, all the different kinds of veggies I have in the fridge. It's big, but not so big that one (or two) servings of dressing can't cover it.

Anyway...the whole point of this is, my house right now is all about apples. I've made applesauce (made with straight apples and 100% apple juice), apple crisp (twice), apple pie, and soon I'm going to can a ton of apple pie filling. Today after our 2 mile walk I had to go pick up my big bro's SoJo Half Marathon shirt at Chick-fil-a. I love a good Chick-fil-a sandwich with fries and a diet Dr. Pepper. After getting Aaron's shirt I got a meal for me and chicken nuggets for the kids. I ate the sandwich and went for the fries... Well, rather than eat the fries (dipped in buffalo sauce...mmmmmm!), I gave them to the kids. I felt good for making the choice not to eat the fries. I mean, I just did 2 miles and 30 minutes on the elliptical and I'm sure 1/2 of the fries would have made my workout pointless. But, what made me even happier was when got home and the kids wanted to eat apples. All 3 of them ate a WHOLE apple. Caleb seriously ate the whole thing except the stem and 3 seeds. I love that my kids love fruits and vegetables. It makes me feel like a good mom, even when I pawn off my fries on them. :)

Today's workout was good. I didn't feel like doing the elliptical, but I got up and did it anyway. Right after I was done we went and did 2 miles around the lake. I felt a little round ligament pain, but nothing to really worry about, it stretched out after the first mile.

Sometimes I feel like such a sissy for just walking, trotting, and doing the elliptical. There are other women out there like Hayley and Dorothy who run (like seriously RUN) through their pregnancies at a great pace (faster than me even when I wasn't pregnant!) all the way up to the end. But, I have to remind myself, that what I'm doing is better than nothing and all my effort will benefit me and "little miss" in the end.

Here's to being healthy and making the right choices!! :)

Well, that made my day....

I had to get up at 6 this morning, wake up all the kids, and get Jason to work. Today was one of those days where "little miss" (we still haven't figured out a name for her yet) wanted to take all my energy to grow and leave me with very little to chase the other 3 kids with, let alone do the elliptical or go 2 miles. So, needless to say I was feeling really drained. I took a nap during nap/quiet time and procrastinated the elliptical until the very last minute before the kids quiet time was up. I talked to my mom online, tried to take pictures of my belly, stared at the food in the fridge, checked blogs, tried to find a shirt and bra that actually fit, I ate a couple chocolates (lol!) and finally went down stairs and got my 30 minutes in.

I'm glad I did it. It gave me the energy I needed to chase after & clean up little Annabelle after she threw up all over the living room floor. It also helped me have patience with the other 2 who decided they'd totally trash their room "just because". I love how exercise can do that. As much as I didn't want to do it with the little energy I had, I got it done and I'm a better momma because of it.

......but, do you want to know what REALLY made my day?

I'm a fan of them on Facebook (go be their fan and enter the giveaway too) and they've been doing weekly giveaways to support breast cancer. They've been giving away a Support Your Girls shirt and a Moving Comfort sports bra each week. I've entered the giveaway for past couple weeks, hoping I'd win, because my girls are growing and my poor cheap little sports bras aren't doing much to support them anymore. I've heard GREAT things about Moving Comfort and have been eyeballing their bras forever, so today after I did the elliptical I came upstairs, cleaned up throw up, checked Facebook, and saw that there was a message waiting for me saying I had won. You have no idea how excited I was to see that!!! Momma's getting a new bra, plus an awesome shirt!!

So, now I'm off to do 2 miles around the lake with the kids...I'll be imagining the whole time what it's like to wear a spots bra that fits and supports my girls. I can't wait for it to come!

Pictures from todays 2 mile walk. We did good! :)

Go! Join them on FB and enter the giveaways!!!

keeping it up.

I did 40 minutes on the elliptical and 1 mile around the school while the kids played. It was another beautiful fall day. I am LOVING this weather.

A couple days ago we went to a local farm and got a bunch of apples. I LOVE apples this time of year. I've already made 2 apple crisps and canned 7 quarts of applesauce. My next goal is to can a ton of apple pie filling. YUM! 

So, how cool is this...I've been doing my workout for almost a week and I've already noticed a difference in my legs and back. About a month ago I tried putting on a pair of Recovery Socks and I could barely get them over my calves, but today I put them on and they went on SO easily. I think all this exercise is helping keep my water weight and swelling down. I can totally keep this up until the baby comes. 

I wasn't really feeling like doing the elliptical yesterday, but I could totally feel it working out my butt and the back of my thighs so I kept going cause I knew it was working. Before I was prego every time I'd try to do the elliptical my toes would go completely numb and I'd have to stop, but not this time. It's nice not to have to stop.

Tomorrow's another day 2 miles and 30 minutes. I just need to take it one day at a time and keep on keeping on!

Zensah Winner!

The winner of the Zensah Giveaway is.....

 Stacie over at Impossible is Nothing.

Congrats! Email me your info at runmommatwitchrun (at) gmail.com.

Thanks to everyone who entered!!

Gotta keep with routine...

Today we did a "leisurely" 4 mile walk around the lake. There were TONS of people out taking pictures. The lighting was perfect with it being overcast and all. It was a nice family walk. After our walk we came home to a house filled with the smell of 15 bean soup. Mmmmm....it was GOOD! What a great day! The weather was perfect, the family was great, and the food was awesome. I LOVE Sundays like this. :)

Feelin' good

Yesterday I was supposed to do 1 mile and 40 min on the elliptical, but I chose to skip it and clean the van. Then after I got the van cleaned I decided to clean the car. After that I decided to clean the whole house. Yeah, I think I might be nesting. :) I did get a REALLY good workout moping the floor, I was seriously breaking a sweat trying to get all the stuff off the floor. I mopped for a good 30 minutes too. 

 I got my workout for sure, the best part of it was the fact that Jason could come home to a clean house. It's a good thing the house was clean cause the poor guy came home with a runny nose, a sore throat, and a fever.

(The kids found these on today's walk. I loved seeing their excitement. "It's like on Tinkerbell!")

Today I took a nap when I should have been doing the elliptical. So, after a short nap I got up and did 30 minutes on the elliptical while watching Cake Boss. Seriously, that's a fun show to watch, being part Italian, it's fun seeing their interactions, it makes me think of my grandpa. I find myself smiling while working out which is a big plus. Although, today I was so tired from my nap that I had a REALLY hard time getting moving, but I did it.

Right after I got the kids and went on a 3 mile walk around the lake while Jason kept napping.

I thought It would be fun to get a picture of the lake. They don't really do it justice, but it's a pretty lake and I'm very blessed to have something so great to be able to walk/run around.

The kids had SO much fun biking they found acorns and beetles and rocks. It's really nice that they can bike faster than me now cause it gives me a chance to walk/trot as fast as I can without having to stop constantly. I also love that it's becoming a routine. Lunch, nap time (elliptical time), wake up, walk/bike around the lake, playground, home, cook dinner. There's all these great mommies that take their kids to the library and to all these fun places, but I'm not "brave" enough to venture out into public with 3 little kids that like to touch and grab things that can easily break, plus Annabelle doesn't get the concept of "Shhhh..." so the library's out. I'm glad that we have this though. Brianna gets excited about it every day. 

Today while I walked I tried jogging more. I felt good. I didn't ache, but my legs we like lead. It's the same feeling I had when I was doing the marathon. Practice makes perfect right, so the more I walk and keep moving the better I'll be and the healthier I'll be.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!! It ends tomorrow night!

I'm on a roll!

I spent all morning making these babies... 

They turned out great! The only thing is they are WAY sugary. I don't know if I'm a big royal icing fan. Sure, they're pretty, but the pure sugar flavor takes away from the delicious cookies. Maybe I made the icing wrong, I dunno, but one thing I do know is sugar and I don't mix. I was feeling great about today until I ate 2 of those cookies. If you think a woman's attitude is crazy when she's PMSing, you can only imagine how I am when I get too much sugar. My poor kids. lol! 

Well, since I'm a nice mom (when I don't have a lot of sugar) I took the kids to the playground while I walked 2 miles around it pushing Annabelle. She's so cute, I wish I could have recorded it, but she was singing the whole time I was pushing the stroller. It was really cute. :) Her little voice sounds like Boo on Monsters Inc.

We got home after my 2 miles were done and I made dinner, they ate, and I gave them a cookie. That was all fine and dandy until I ate one too. Yeah, one too many cookies for me today. I think that was cookie #4 or 5 for the day. My patience went down the drain. I'm telling ya...sugar is NOT good for me, but it's Oh SO good...

I got the kids bathed and ready for bed and went down stairs to work off the sugar. 30 minutes on my darling elliptical and some fun Cake Boss and I was feeling MUCH better.

 My awesome inperspire towel kept me nice and dry during my work out and it felt great to have worked off my stress and the sugar. I made a nice bowl of taco rice for dinner and sat and watched the Thursday night line up on NBC.

So far, so good. Let's hope I can keep it up when Jason gets home.

I've got a plan!

Ok, so first here's my 22nd week or 21st week or 23rd week photo. I took it today, but here's the thing. The doc says to stay with my first estimated due date which is the 12th of Feb and that would put me in my 23rd week. But, the ultrasound said she was measuring 9 days smaller, which would make me due on the 21st and would make me barely 22 weeks. Now a couple days ago, the doc measures my belly and I'm measuring around 20 weeks. What the heck, man!! I just have to tell myself that her heart rate is great, every thing's measuring right, and there's no signs of anything wrong physically, so I shouldn't worry. 

It's just scary for me that I'm so much smaller this time than I ever was with the other kiddos. 

Anyway...here I am! I'm feeling good and she's kicking all the time. 

 Here's my plan:

I'm the type of  person that likes lists. I love charts, too, but most of all I love crossing things off and seeing progress. So, today I created an exercise chart/list for the rest of the pregnancy and put it on the fridge. 

Each day has a certain amount of miles to walk/trot and an amount of minutes to do on the elliptical. I figure it's a reasonable goal to move everyday and making a chart makes it easier for me to see what's going on. I have all the different months highlighted with different colors. It's two sided and laminated so I can cross it off and keep it sweat free. I also printed off a little one to keep by the elliptical so I could go down there everyday and know what I have to do. 

So far so good. During nap time I did 30 minutes on the elliptical while I watched Cake Boss. Right after I was done the kids were ready to go on a walk. We did 2.25 miles around the lake and then went over to the school  playground. The kids loved it. They biked so fast that I had the chance to trot a little. I felt good trotting, but my pelvic muscles were like, "What are you doing? We haven't moved like this for a few months now..." so they'd ache and I'd walk until it didn't ache and then I'd trot again. It also didn't help that she was sitting on my bladder, so each time I'd trot I'd have to use all my muscles to hold it in. LOL! My walk/trot was kept around a 15.30 pace. Not bad, not bad.

Everything feels great right now. No achy muscles or joints. Things are good. 

Here's to a new plan!! Let's hope I can keep it up. :)

Family walk

This morning we went on a 3.65 mile walk around the lake. The kids had fun biking while Jason and I tried keeping up.

Jason and I are a little sore from going so far so fast, but it's a good sore. We'll have to keep it up. There's nothing stopping us from walking every morning.

The weather's perfect. It was really nice today with a slight mist of rain. I am LOVING this Fall weather. :)

A great start to the day...

30 minutes on the elliptical with a wrinkled running skirt. You know, that's the good thing about having an elliptical in your basement... You can wear what ever you want and there's no one there to look at you like you're crazy. I'm sure if I wore this outfit to the gym people would be looking at me like, "Get some pants on and find a shirt that isn't so tight." Haha! Oh well, I don't care, it was comfortable in the hot basement, plus I wanted to show off my leg sleeves. :)

Last night I woke up with the worst RLS, my legs just wanted to move...it's the weirdest feeling. So, I stretched out some and then put on my leg sleeves and Ooooh...it was like magic. The RLS feeling went away and I was able to sleep for the rest of the night. I love these babies! :)

So, 30 min on the elliptical + Jason wants to go on a walk around the lake later. It really feels good to be moving. I just love it!

Earn your Subway walk

Today after the kids got out of school we went on a walk down to Subway for lunch. Going down hill isn't so bad, it's easy for the kids to run and for the stroller to just go, but going back up is hard! Jason took on the task of pushing the stroller up to the little amphitheater and was more than ready to sit down while the kids ate their sack lunches.

Caleb was a little tired too...that or he was tired of me taking pictures of him. lol

 I felt good, no aches, no pains. I was a little tired during, but nothing to complain about. It's 9:30pm and I'm exhausted, which is crazy cause I took an hour and a half nap during the kids quiet/nap time. I just hope every thing's ok.

 Jason was proud of our walk. 3 miles round trip! :) He had the idea, "You know what we should do? Every time we want Subway we have to walk down and get it." I love his ideas. Oh, he lost 1.6 last Saturday. Go Jason! Go Jason! That's 6.6lbs total so far. :) He's doing great sticking to WW and moving.

I just LOVE this picture of Brianna and Caleb. "I love you Nana." Caleb kept telling her that while they were running. He's such a good boy. They had the most fun playing together today, running, jumping, and rolling down the grassy hills.

Can you believe this? He JUST turned 4 and he's the size of his 6 yr old sister (and she's tall for her age). He's got his daddy's height.

What a great day today!

Zensah Compression Leg Sleeve Review + Giveaway (Giveaway Closed!)

Suzanne over at Zensah contacted me to see if I'd like to review a pair of their Fresh Legs Maternity Sleeves.  I was more than excited to try them out. Here's what the site says about them...

The Fresh Legs Sleeves feature graduated compression, which increases circulation and oxygen blood flow. This will act to minimize swelling and thereby relieve pain in both the shins and calves. Pin-point compression goes to work on the exact source of the pain in the lower leg that women commonly experience during pregnancy.

I was SO excited to get a pair. Every time I've been pregnant I've had issues with restless leg syndrome (RLS) at night and I was really hoping that these babies would help with that. Once they came I tried them on and wore them around the house for the day. They are so nice and comfortable and they didn't feel restrictive at all. They really helped my legs feel relaxed before bed. So, on another day I tried not wearing them during the day and just at night and when I woke up my legs felt just as great! I didn't have any issues with RLS or anything. I love these sleeves!

They have all sorts of great compression gear on their site. I can't wait to wear my sleeves after I start running again. I bet they'll feel awesome on my sore legs after a nice long run. I might also have to get a pair of their arm sleeves.

Would you like a pair of Compression Leg Sleeves??

Here's what you need to do to enter...

-Follow my blog or let me know you already follow

-Go to Zensah and tell me what you think

-Follow Zensah on Twitter (HERE)

-Follow them on Facebook (HERE)

-Post about this giveaway on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook

All of you pregnant runners/walkers spread the word to all your other pregnant friends and tell them to enter this giveaway. It's not just for runners!

This giveaway will end in 2 weeks on the 17th of October and the winner will be announced the morning of the 18th.

Now, go spread the word!! :)