It's warmish outside today but a little too windy to take Reaghan out in the jogging stroller, so I had to get my sweat on inside! And squeeze it in during nap time! I have to work today so there is always a lot to get done in the mornings before I leave, which really only gives me 30ish minutes to get in a workout. Plus I'm leaving a little early so my big sis can cut and highlight my hair. : )

Prior to the above exercises I pulled up a 10 minute cardio video from pop sugar fitness and did that to get my heart rate up a bit and my muscles warm. I didn't really have a plan in mind when I got started, I just kind of rolled with whatever exercise popped into my mind, knowing I wanted to do legs and some core work. : )

I've been giving myself way too many excuses for not working out, but with beach time right around the corner and being in 2 weddings this summer - well - it's time for no more excuses!



**Wall sits - 2 for 60 seconds each
**Planks (forward and side) - 2 for 30 seconds each

Reaghan continues to grow and learn and develop more of her own silly, loving, and curious personality. There is so much joy in watching her make new discoveries! Here are some of the baby items that we loved the last couple of months that helped Reaghan grow or just made life easier. {Some are age specific and some are things we had the chance to use because Reaghan just happened to experience things like a cold and diaper rash for the first time...}

Bath time is so much fun now that Reaghan is sitting up, grabbing at toys and splashing!

I finished my first race of 2015 and my first half marathon since having Reaghan!


It was freezing waiting at the starting line at 6am until the race started at 7! But man I love the energy in the air at the starting line of a race!

I finished this half in 2:21... blah... a far cry from my fastest time but not quite my slowest time either! Can I pull the baby card and say it's a win for only being 6 months post partum???

I started off strong at a 10 minute pace with a friend, but since this wasn't what I had been running on my own, I started to feel it at about mile 6. I tried to keep up with Missy, but between miles 7-9 I slowly started drifting behind her and felt like if I tried to keep up I wouldn't be able to finish. (Maybe this was a cop out... Maybe I should've pushed a little harder?!? I should always push a little harder.) Missy tried to stay with me but I told her to go on and run whatever felt good for her and I would just do my own thing. I dropped to like an 11 minute mile and just finished the race at that pace. Not my proudest moment, but again... baby card?

At Mile 12, I grabbed some water as I ran through a water station and choked a little as I tried to drink and run at the same time. (My coordination astounds even myself sometimes.) Why am I telling you this? Because when I choked a bit, I coughed... and when I coughed, my lower abs felt like they were going to rip apart! OUCH! It really took me by surprise. Apparently my abs still need a lot of strengthening from being pregnant! They were really fatigued trying to keep everything (pelvis) stable during the run and I think by the end of it they couldn't handle to force of the cough. Yikes.

As always I was super happy to see the finish line and even more so today because my 3 sisters surprised me by being there at the finish to see me cross!



We went and got breakfast afterwards and then I headed home to my sweet husband and baby girl who were waiting for me there. (It was too cold to bring Reaghan out that morning to wait 2 hours for her mommy!)



I didn't train as much as I should've for this race, which was really disappointing. When I signed up for the race this past fall I thought for sure it would motivate me to get out and run and get back in shape - dropping $100 on an event usually motivates me to make it worth it! Unfortunately it didn't happen as I had hoped.  It is hard to find time to exercise with a baby! But let's just call that for what it is - an excuse! And really, there wasn't an excuse not to run or exercise. I had plenty of opportunities on the weekends when Mark was home and even during the week when Reaghan and I were hanging out with my siblings and mom - they would've been happy to watch her so I could go on a 30-45 minute run... Or even when she was taking a nap to do some strength training. I just wasn't really motivated to find the time. If I had, my time would have been a lot faster! But I'm happy with completing my first post baby half! I love getting back out there and running even if its slow. : )

Since the race did reignite some love for running, I am looking forward to warm spring days to take Reaghan and Piper out with the jogging stroller! I'm always working to get a little more in shape - a bit more healthy. And I'll also be beefing up my ab work outs. ; )

My little Reaghan Roo had her 1/2 birthday this past Tuesday! She's been on this earth for 6 whole months. Crazy! Unfortunately this is how her 1/2 birthday started off...

• At her Dr.'s appointment she weighed in at 15 lbs and 11 oz and is 26 inches long! She is 50th percentile for height, weight and head circumference. The Dr. said she was perfectly proportioned. :)
• She had her first diaper rash! I'm glad it took this long to happen, but it actually ended up being a yeast rash and we now have a prescription ointment for her. So she also got her first prescription filled! We also got eye ointment for her blocked tear duct that she's had since birth. 
• She is still in size 2 diapers, but we plan to go into 3's after we run out of our box of 2's, and she fits into 3-6 or 6 month outfits.
• She started eating foods! Our goal was to get to 6 months before starting solids, but you know what??... nothing magical happens to her stomach on her 6 month birthday that says "ready for veggies now!" She was getting really interested in what we were eating and we felt she was ready so at 5 1/2 months we started her on rice and oatmeal cereals. She did so well with it! She's caught on to the whole eating off a spoon thing within a couple of days! This past week we started on orange colored veggies and she's loved them all! Sweet potatoes, carrots and squash! Next we'll move to the green veggies! (We are having so much fun with this new milestone!)
• She is sitting up on her own! She needs someone within arms reach of her because she will lose  her balance when she gets tired or she'll get a little too ambitious with her reaching! 
• She still hasn't figured out rolling from her back to her belly yet.
• She is the QUEEN of blowing raspberries! First thing in the morning? Raspberries. Changing diapers? Raspberries. Bath time? Raspberries. Crying? Don't worry, she'll break up her wails with a few raspberries. 
• She loves to give kisses. Or eat your face. I'm not sure what she's thinking, but she'll open her mouth real wide and try to pull your face towards her. I'm going to pretend she's giving us love. :) She loves to reach out and touch faces! It's incredibly endearing, but we have to begin teaching her not to grab faces.
• She took first overnight trip when we took a girls weekend to Ikea for Aunt Erin's birthday. She did so well falling asleep in her pack n play even when everyone was still up watching tv and talking in the hotel. But she did wake up at 5am, so we got a pretty early start to our shopping day. ;)
• She definitely recognizes familiar faces and loves to flash her daddy and her Aunt Erin her dimply grin. 
• She was sleeping a good 8-10 hours and even doing better with going to bed a little sooner, but this past week has been a challenge. For no apparent reason, she has been waking up around 2am and not wanting to go back to sleep for 2-3 hours. The only conclusion we've come to is that she is going through some physical and mental developments and is just having a rough time. Hopefully it won't last long! Last night she was only up for 1 hour before falling back asleep so fingers crossed we are heading back to sleeping through the night!
• She took her first visit to the aquarium. I wasn't sure is she would be interested, but she was captivated by the fish tanks! This also came with her first time using her big girl seat in her stroller and sitting up in a high chair at a restaurant! When I saw she could do this well, I started putting her in the seat of a cart instead of bringing her whole carseat into the grocery store or wearing her in the carrier. It's a whole new world folks! She loves sitting up and looking around and interacting more with me while we are shopping. We love it!

It's been a couple months since I've been back to work, and it took me a while, but I think I Finally have this pumping at work thing down. At first I was completely unsure about what to bring (other than the pump itself). Everything seems pretty obvious, but I kept wondering if I had the right type of cooler or ice pack to keep the milk cold, was I being sanitary enough, and did I really need to purchase the $70 Medela bag to carry all of my gear???

Usually January and February are my least favorite months out of the year, they just always seem to drag on forever and there is so little too look forward to. This year has been moving along quite nicely though, and while I am mostly happy about it, I'm also like "Whoa! What? My baby is already 5 months?" So February, you have my permission to slow down just a tad this year, mmk? Thanks.

• No doctors appointment at 5 months, but we know she is getting bigger! She's wearing 3-6 month outfits and even fitting into a lot of 6 month sizes as well. 
• Night time can still be a challenge at times. Some nights she goes down without a fuss and sleeps all night (about 10pm-8am) but if I try and put her down any earlier than 10, she usually spends a couple of hours fussing with Mark and I taking turns going in to soothe her, before she really falls asleep. I'll confess to being frustrated by this. We'll try this month to slowly back up bedtime with a goal of getting her to sleep by 8:30. (It doesn't help that 2 nights out of the week I don't get home from work until 7:30. Usually I'll feed her right when I get home and then she's not ready to eat again and go to bed until 10. I'm not sure how I'm going to figure this one out!)
• The upside of her late night tendencies is that if we are visiting with family on the weekends and out late, she is generally a happy, easy going girl and doesn't get fussy if she's not in bed by a certain time. I'll admit that I like this flexibility.
• We have officially cut out her middle of the night feeding though, so if she does wake up in the middle of the night, I just go and put her paci back in her mouth, pat her on the back for a few minutes and she (99% of the time) falls easily back to sleep. 
• I love getting her up from her crib in the morning! She usually wakes up happy and "talking" and gives me the brightest smile when Piper and I go to get her up. 
• She has been taking a 1.5-2 hour nap in the morning and the afternoon in her crib when we are home, which is great! She can also maintain a happy disposition if she is napping in her carseat for shorter amounts of time if we are running errands. Again - I love that she is able to follow a schedule when we are home but flexible enough that I don't HAVE to be home for nap times to keep her happy.
• She rolled over from belly to back for the first time! She is a pro at it now! Still hasn't figured out back to belly yet.
• We are practicing sitting up independently. She has held herself up for about 7-8 seconds a few times but she still needs lots of practice before we can officially say she can sit up on her own.
• She loves to play with her toys, loves to look at herself in the mirror and loves to put anything she can grab right into her mouth. 
• She had her first little cold. Babies with stuffy/runny noses are so sad. She had trouble eating and sleeping and was just overall pitiful. Poor baby. 
• She is mesmerized by polka dot patterns! Anything I show her with polka dots instantly captures her attention and she gets the cutest concentrated look on her face!
• She has quite the sassy personality, she'll let out shrieks if she is not happy with her current situation. It is definitely different than her cries; she likes to make sure we know that she would rather be doing something else. 
• We've noticed that she has started to really watch us when we eat. Our plan was to wait until 6 months to start introducing solids, but not sure if we'll make it another month!