Tiff's Turn

I missed walking yesterday... and Tuesday. I have excuses. I really do, but I won't waste the time typing them. This is why I set a goal of walking 5 days a week instead of 7! I did put in my 30 minutes of walking today. I listened  to a lot of fiddler music like David Klinkenberg and John Denver's " Thank God I'm a Country Boy"  to get my feet moving. Levi began painting the nursery tonight. That room is becoming just a place to dump baby stuff we're collecting: I am excited that we're now ready for a paint job. I love organizing, so organizing for our baby girl will be twice as fun! I don't think I am feeling the nesting instinct 100% quite yet, but the constant thinking about how the nursery needs to be finished puts me pretty close. I thought I picked out a very light pink. What I really wanted was a cream color with just a hint of pink. This is how it's looking now, though:  It looks a lot pinker in the light. We

Top Ten Reasons to Take a Hot Shower (Or Bath) at the End of the Day Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images Calgon, take me away! I would be in Heaven if I could take a hot shower at the end of every single day, but that would put our water bill in a tizzy. (I have to have a shower in the morning or I just don't feel like myself!) Sometimes that hot shower at the end of the day is just worth it, though. Here are my top ten reasons why: 10. Stressed? When I feel anxious or stressed, it takes a physical toll on my body. Taking a hot shower takes away the shakes and cold blood I feel running through my veins, which in turn relaxes me. 9.  Brrr! We don't always keep the heat in our house cranked up very warm. Hot showers obviously warm me up and keep me feeling great with the cooler house temperature for the rest of the evening. 8. Sore muscles? Hot showers can help temporarily relieve sore muscles. Today my feet were aching from standing all day and the h

Day #2 of walking for 30 minutes! So far I'm keeping my goal of walking 30 minutes a day at least 5 times a week. I'll also be getting back to the days of having to do whites more often with all those socks I'm wearing every day. ( These  Saucony socks are my favorite to walk/run in.) Once I get back to running instead of walking after the baby, I will have to retire these shoes: for new tennis shoes. After walking in tennis shoes for a long period of time, they should not be used to also run in. I haven't taken Gus for a walk since his amputation. We're still sticking with just playing fetch for exercise. And we're still sticking with spoiling him rotton. Gus automatically roles onto his back when I walk by to make sure I know he would love a belly rub. 

Wow, just 11 weeks to go! After stepping on the scale at my last appointment this week, I realized walking once, maybe twice, a week for 45 minutes wasn't cutting it. I asked my doctor about my weight gain. She didn't seem too concerned that I've gained more than I need to at this point, but said to walk 30 minutes a day. Walking 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week didn't seem realistic to me, so I made a goal of walking 30 minutes a day for at least 5 days a week. A couple weeks ago, our pastor talked about goal-setting in his sermon. Research shows that people who write down their goals are more likely to reach these goals and be overall more successful in life. So I wrote down a couple of my fitness goals for the near future and posted it where I would see it every day. Yes, Levi has goals to write too and no, I can't draw a straight line. My other goal, as you can see, is to run a 5k by August. If the baby comes on her due date, April 12, I'll

I found an incredible video on YouTube today. Dr. Karp has been on tons of different talk shows and news shows proving his method of calming a crying baby. He has a book and DVD called The Happiest Baby on the Block .  During one of his interviews, Dr. Karp explains his research and how to calm a crying baby in minutes with the 5 S's: 1)  Swaddling : Tight swaddling provides the continuous touching and support your baby is used to experiencing within the womb. 2)  Side/stomach position : The infant is placed on their left side to assist in digestion, or on their stomach to provide reassuring support. “But never use the stomach position for putting your baby to sleep,” cautions Karp. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is linked to stomach-down sleep positions. When a baby is in a stomach down position do not leave them even for a moment. 3) Shushing sounds : These imitate the continual whooshing sound made by the blood flowing through arteries near the womb.

I'm spending my Friday night watching the video of our 3D sonogram that was done Wednesday. This little girl cracks me up. There is one part of the video where it's obvious the sonographer shook my belly a lot to try to get her to move. Aria turned her head to look towards the "camera", then turned it back to its original position and instead of moving, she gives a great big yawn. She was a tired girl and there was no amount of shaking mommy's belly that was going to get her to move. Aria did have her arms in her face a lot, but that's OK. She looks so cute on the video all curled up and cozy. She will be a terrific cuddler. The most perfect song on my computer was playing when the video started- Lee Mead's version of "Your Song". My gift is my song and this one's for you And you can tell everybody this is your song It may be quite simple but now that it's done I hope you don't mind I hope you don't mind that I p

There was no sleep in our house last night. Levi was awake every hour, excited about his new job and career change.  I was tossing and turning because of this, but also because (1) my back hurt pretty bad and (2) I was still on Cloud 9 from the day's 3D ultrasound. I'm so excited to hold my baby girl in about short 11 weeks. I'll be 29 weeks tomorrow. I still feel great, and have very few of the negative typical 29 week symptoms : Lots of kicks ! (All that crowding.) ~ YUP! Headaches and/or lightheadedness, possibly due to difficulty sleeping, but it could be from low blood sugar too, so make sure you're eating at regular intervals. ~ NOPE , I have no problem eating at regular intervals and the scales show it. Itchy belly . Your skin is stretching thinner, making it more sensitive. ~ NOPE! I apply lotion to my belly every day. No itchiness here! Back , leg or pelvic pain .~ YUP- as stated above. Hemorrhoids . Baby's putting pressure on your d

We had our 3D/4D sonogram today after I got off work. The day just seemed to drag on because I was so excited to see my daughter. Colbin was excited to go with us. He said it was because he got to get out of school early, but I know better. Mom was thrilled to come along too of course! One of the first things the doctor pointed out was that baby girl has lots of hair! I need to start buying some adorable bows. Aria was pretty sleepy, so she wasn't interested in moving her arms and hands out of her face for very long. Levi said Aria is used to that time of day being mommy's nap time, so that probably didn't help her sleepiness. The doctor even shook my belly really hard several times to try to get her to move around. Aria just said, "Eh" and yawned. Not much phases this girl- even Mommy having food, sweets, and caffeine before the appointment. Note to self: protein is key to wake up the baby in utero. We watched Aria for a whole hour. We saw

I've recently been searching for great mommy blogs to follow. I like the information, the humorous moments they share, and the inspiration to write. Then it hit me- I've become one of "those" people. You know the type. They talk about their children non-stop. They share their silly pictures with anyone who makes eye contact. And they write blogs about it all. Now I can't get enough of such blogs. My friend, Kim, introduced to  Running with Racheal.   I also enjoy  Confessions of a Band Geek Mom .  A few more of my favorites are:                 Life According to Julie , Pregnant Chicken , and Cloudy with a Chance of Wine . I got to catch up on my blog reading while lying in bed with this guy and watching the presidential inauguration : Later in the afternoon, I went shopping at my favorite thrift store, Red Racks . I love shopping at this store because everything is clean and bright and doesn't smell like a dirty arm pit like some other

Aria and I got some mommy-and-me time tonight. First we read this book together: followed by a classic and everyone's favorite: Mommy got some reading done for her own learning too. 7 months pregnant fact from As Your Baby Grows: From Conception to Birth: Aria has grown longer than my uterus, so she's getting in a typical fetal position: thighs bent onto her stomach and chest (as shown in the picture on the cover of this magazine.) Mommy also did a few prenatal yoga described in the Oct./Nov 2012 Fit Pregnancy  magazine. Page 11 states that the modified plank exercise is a good way for women to strengthen her "pushing muscles" in preparation for labor. This modified position is much easier on my wrists than the regular plank position. Thank, Fit Pregnancy! And now for today's funny:

We spent some time with Levi's parents today since his sister was in the show choir competition, Battle of the Best, at the high school in our home town: All the applause and music makes baby girl move around a whole lot. I don't remember how much she moved around when the fire alarms went off. People didn't think it was necessary to stand up and exit the building when this was going on, but a pregnant lady does not ever ignore fire alarms, I can tell you that much.  We also got some quality nephew time. It was good times and my former students in the Pleasant Hill high school's Hillside show choir were amazing. There is no other word to describe their talent. I'm glad that Gus likes to end the night on his bed that we bought him after his surgery: I know he'll still end up on the bed with me when it's nighty-night time since Levi is at work, though. No complaints here. 

28 Weeks! Only 12 more to go. I think I have grown leaps and bounds compared to last week. A few of my girl students saw baby Aria give me a good kick today. I was sitting in my chair while they stood around me conferencing. I noticed Aria kick and I told them to watch my stomach, then she kicked again. They said, "Whoa! That's crazy! That's weird!" It was funny. My little girl loves to show off. Last night, the guys worked on the basement until bedtime. We're anxious to get this done so all the stuff in the baby's room can be moved down there, which is the only reason I am excited about basement work: We won't be putting in flooring anytime soon. Only rugs! No "real" ceiling either. Levi painted it black and it camouflages the ceiling very well. We've seen this technique in our friends' basements and restaurants so we thought we'd give it a whirl. Tonight, we had family time. Scratch that- we had 8 screa