This week was incredibly eventful with the highlight of it being Thanksgiving with family. This year we had the pleasure of having Chris's grandparents in town and were so grateful for the opportunity to have a Thanksgiving with them. We missed Cory and Lauren as they were at Cory's parents spending time with his family and grandma, but we had a wonderful meal at my mom's that was absolutely delicious. There was enough food to feed an army but then again, that's my mom's style! Always has been, always will be. The 26 lb. turkey was divine and the dishes that went along with the bird were incredibly mouth-watering: wild rice and butternut squash with leeks, corn casserole, mom's special stuffing, fresh cranberry sauce with persimmons and pomegranates, the always classic, always tasteful green bean casserole, mom's delicious sweet potato casserole (with a coconut spin), grandma's yummy rolls, and a unique pumpkin pie that everyone seemed to love despite it's secret ingredient (one thing most people wouldn't even dream of consuming, especially on Thanksgiving....Tofu! Head over to Daily Garnish to check out the recipe..no we're not going vegan but it's fun to experiment in the kitchen!)
Although pregnant and in a position where I strategically saved some weight gain for the holiday season, I found it surprisingly difficult to take in as much turkey dinner as I wanted and then became increasingly more lethargic than normal ( I suppose it's the effect of the tryptophan on TWO individuals that had me wanting to take a siesta within an hour after dinner?) Still, it was a wonderful evening, the food was fantastic, the conversation and company was perfect. It's funny how it takes the holidays to remind us how important just 'conversation' is in a room full of people. We get so caught up in the constant connection to the outside world with the technology at our fingertips (guilty!) that we forget to connect with those inside those 4 walls. The holidays are in fact a perfect time to practice disconnecting while at the same time re-connecting if you get my drift.
How Big is Autumn?
This weeks milestone is that Autumn has been busy shedding the downy covering of hair and the vernix caseosa (waxy substance) that have both been protecting her skin inside the womb. Not too bad for a weeks worth of work, eh? She is getting ever more bigger, packing on an ounce a day up until she is born. Can I just repeat myself again this week when I say that I can feel every bit of each ounce that she is growing?! She's reaching or has reached about 6 pounds and close to 19 inches long (think the length of a large pineapple, crazy!) And with Autumn's growth spurts, the belly grows...and grows..and my favorite attire these days (and frankly all that I can fit into) are leggings or tights, a skirt and my boots! Thank goodness for hitting these final weeks in the winter where I can get away with wearing this combination everyday to work.
~Wow to the backsplash spray...item #125 to add to the to-do list!~
Running and Pregnancy
I can honestly say that I set zero expectations for how long I wanted to run while I was pregnant. I am surprised that week 36 has come and gone and I still find myself putting one foot in front of the other to fashion together a run/walk ratio for about 3 miles. Surprisingly, I found myself having a quicker pace than last week clocking in at 10:45-11:00 for my 400 m run portions. I think I have found that with every week, running while pregnant is an art. I have mentioned frustrations before with seeing decreases in paces, decreases in mileage and the worst, coping with an additional 28 lbs of weight at this time on some very achy joints. There have also been revelations such as how from one week to the next there can be positive changes like discovering how much being pregnant forces you to keep your center of gravity low and really run from the balls of your feet to prevent additional jarring on the joints. I have found humor in the fact that while before I could only see the decline in running while being pregnant and now, 36 weeks in I am able to realize that I will be taking lessons away from this experience that could quite possibly make me a better runner post-partum. Next post...the training plan post-partum. I know myself and while my focus will be that little bundle of joy that we get to meet in two weeks, it will help me to get back to 'normal' if I have a training plan semi-mapped out and begin to learn to incorporate little Autumn into our active lifestyle! (i picked up these little car signs recently, in lieu of the typical 'baby on board' one's~I love them!)
Done and DONE
This was a week full of accomplishments and entirely refreshing in comparison to the weeks where we weren't able to check but one or two items off the to-do list.
- Black Friday/Cyber Monday Week: Thankfully, the sales seemed to not only start earlier than Black Friday, but seemingly ran for an entire week. Notice the camera in the belly pictures? That was our big find that we did quite a bit of research on before we made a decision. We were proud and happy that we came across this gem/steal especially in time to catch the millions of baby photos that are sure to be in our future
- the BIG Amazon order: we have been adding to our 'cart' for months and it was finally time, post baby-party to get the rest of the items we needed! Here are just a few that we acquired:
~Chris loves this already and we're stoked to jump on the trails just the 3 of us (plus the pups!)~
- Clean house! I lost count of the loads of laundry that I did and frankly, I would most likely be embarrassed by the number but FINALLY, the laundry is complete, the closets are looking more organized, the kitchen is clean, and while there are still plenty of things that I want to sparkle before Autumn arrives, I feel content with how things are looking. (I suppose this can be refereed to as the last 'nesting' bug that I will get before she arrives??) I must admit too, that I haven't been the only one with the nesting bug, I think Chris has the 'sympathy' nesting bug, and I find it pretty cute! Sympathy cravings, sympathy pains, and now sympathy nesting. Chris has definitely checked every box during this pregnancy.
- O Christmas Tree! We found it! And while I feel like I am being tortured having to wait to put up decorations until Chris gets back from the field, I can't wait to be able to trim the tree (and the rest of the house) when he returns!
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