Weekend Visitor

On Thursday evening, one of my best friends from college arrived for a visit! I drove to Atlanta to pick her up and we made it back to the house after scooping up some pizza and salads to bring home for dinner. Obviously the paleo plan fell by the wayside for a few meals this weekend...and let me tell you, it was worth it.

On Friday we had a little girl time while D worked and Grace spent a couple hours at daycare. Shopping, lunch, and pedicures were part of the plan. Then we picked up the little one, took her to the park and met up with D so that he could give Samantha a proper tour of post. Mine sounds something like, "There is a big building that they do Army things in...there is the gym I go to..." Very informative. ;)

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the casa, made dinner and tried out a Pinterest drink recipe. My verdict? Skip this one or doctor it up with gingerale like we did. It looks pretty though, right?

On Saturday I had originally planned to do the Dirty Girl Mud Run in Atlanta with some of my CrossFit pals. After going back and forth to Atlanta to the airport and last weekend for the Aquarium, I decided to bail so that we would have more time to spend hanging out around here. It looked like a great time, but I will still be close enough to run it next year if it's in the cards and luckily, someone was able to take my registration and go in my place.

We did our obligatory weekend Riverwalk outing and I was thrilled to learn that there is a local produce and craft market that sets up shop every Saturday for the rest of the Summer! We are going back next weekend to score some treats. After lunch and basically no nap for Grace (theme for the weekend), we took off to Georgia's Wild Animal Safari in Pine Mountain. You can rent a car or ride in your own, buy bags of feed, and get up close and personal with the animals. It was...an experience to say the least. A hilarious one.

We wrapped up with a fiesta dinner at our local Mexican place (after some serious hand/car sanitizing) and headed home for dessert and a movie.

On Sunday, we had to get Sam back to the Atlanta airport, so after a lazy morning, we hit Country's BBQ for lunch and a photo op in a giant rocking chair and made our way back into the city.

We had a full, fun weekend and it was awesome to spend time with one of my best friends. Hopefully it won't be so long before the next visit...and who knows, maybe Grace and I will take a trip up north to Hoboken/NYC. Let's just wait until after this horrendous teething spell is over, ok? ;)

Thanks for visiting us and spoiling us all with gifts! I miss you tons. xoxo

xo,
H

Midweek Randoms

• I took a break from Oatmeal Minus the Oats and gave this egg scramble a try. My friend Kara has been all about this breakfast and I can see why. It's easy and filling. I included kale, mushrooms, onion, turkey bacon and added some avocado on the side.

• One of my best friends, Samantha, gets into town tomorrow! I'm very much looking forward to a weekend of girl time.
• Now that discussions on Baby 2 begin to get more serious, I find myself being the more apprehensive of the two of us. Honestly? I LOVED being pregnant, but I was miserable at the very end when I had ballooned 46 lbs and felt uncomfortable in my own skin.
• Pregnancy related find? CrossFitMom.com. There are new WODs (Workouts of the Day) posted daily and photos of pregnant women CrossFitting like it's cake. It drives me nuts when women use pregnancy as an excuse to be inactive. Seriously? You are carrying a child, you aren't crippled. But sometimes you exercise throughout the whole 40 37 weeks and still gain 46 lbs. It's fine, I'm not bitter...

Umm, motivation much?

• I need to schedule family photos, but I'm wondering how painful it is going to be to get the little one to participate. If only I could get my hands on a Mickey Mouse costume and hire someone to follow us around singing "Hot Diggity Dog"... ;)
• I read Bloom, by Kelle Hampton in one long, amazing reading session last week. It is a beautiful book and I definitely recommend it. Warning: Unless you have no heart, you will cry pretty much the whole way through. It's wonderful, though.
• And because I can...

xo,
H

Picture Dump

Oh, little girl. You are getting so grown up.

I need to be better about taking pictures. When Grace was younger, I'd dress her up and take her outside in the early evening for "photo shoots". Remember these?

Fast forward a year and my favorite little model is a mover and shaker and HATES being chased with the camera. If I'm lucky I get a couple smiles...but only within the first 60 seconds of the camera coming out. After that, she's too busy to pose. ;)

Goofball.

xo,

H



Move News/Weekend Update

Sorry to leave you hanging Friday. It was a busy day and was full of antcipation. After weeks of waiting, we finally got word on our next duty station...but not until 4:45pm that afternoon. Way to leave us in suspense until the very last minute, Army! ;)

We were beyond excited to find out that our next move will be to Fort Stewart, GA...which happens to be right around the corner from Savannah.

It was my first choice and ended up being the best fit for D, career wise, so a win-win for us all. Obviously we celebrated in style...

Sangria Marg. YUM.

My fiesta necklace and shorts hah

Saturday D and I got a nice little run in while Grace went to daycare for an hour. It was quick and definitely something we need to try to do more often. Working out together is one of my favorite things to do with D. Maybe once the little one can ride a bike or deal with the jogging stroller we can make it more of a habit. She's going through a very "wiggly/hates the stroller" phase. It's fun.

The rest of the day was our usual weekend routine, ending with D having a guys night, which left Grace and I hanging solo. We had snacks, relaxed, and after G's bedtime, I tacked this:

I was actually excited to organize and clean out my closet and am happy to report there are no longer heaps of clothing on the chair and in front of my dresser. Nice.

I almost forgot! I wore the green pants finally and I sort of love them and want more colors now. Red or yellow maybe?!

Finally, we went to the aquarium yesterday and it was so much fun. Grace lit up as soon as we walked in and was just so in awe of everything from the displays to the lighting. It really was so pretty. Then we went to the dolphin show, where she was terrified by a singing man, light show, and loud thunder noises. Apparently dolphin shows now compete with broadway plays and they are intense. After scarring Grace for life, we saw the rest of the aquarium, had a minor meltdown over a ZBar (Cliff Bar for kids), and decided it was time to head home. Not before stopping for ice cream, but that was more a reward for D and I making it through the day. ;)

Hope everyone had a nice weekend! I'm going to try to make it through the week without wasting ALL of my time house hunting online. (Just some of it...)

xo,
H

Rando's

• Thanks for the sippy cup/bottle feedback. We are officially on Day 2 of NO bottles and it is going swimmingly. Knocking out the morning bottle seems to have made things easier. Out of sight, out of mind.

• We now have a sippy cup lover who is partial to the type of cup AND color. Favorite? Purple, of course. I don't think I've mentioned it before, but Grace loves the color purple. She picks the purple crayon, prefers purple chalk, and purple clothes... ;)

• Our "big news" that I promised to not harp on, about where we move next, should come no later than tomorrow. I can't believe it has taken this long to find out...I guess D is just part of a large class and it is taking forever to assign everyone a duty station. No matter the outcome we plan on celebrating with a Mexican fiesta. Obviously. It's sort of our thing.

• The paleo challenge is going really well. Today is day 4. I've had awesome workouts each day, eaten some seriously delish food, and am down to one cup of coffee a day...a habit I'd actually like to kick. Today is my off day for crossfit, so I'll be running on my lunch break and have a free afternoon.

 

• Best WOD (Workout of the Day) this week?
• 10 rounds for time:
• 100 meter lunges
• 100 meter running backwards
• 10 wall balls, down to squat

My legs have been on FIRE since Tuesday...and I love it. We did this outside so the run backwards ended up being on an incline and the wall balls were with a 15 lb medicine ball thrown up in the air. Looks easy...took me 37 minutes and I was one of the faster times. Crazy!

• We have a family date this weekend at the Atlanta Aquarium and I think I am more excited than D and Grace. Typical.

• Hope to have some good news for you all tomorrow about the next phase of our family's adventure! (Eeeeekkk! So excited!!!)

xo,

H

Paleo Challenge

I mentioned last week that our Crossfit group was starting a Paleo Challenge. This basically entails eating strictly paleo for 6 weeks (with a couple of exceptions...we can use stevia as a sweetener and can do lentils or healthy carbs-aka quinoa or brown rice- on our xfit workout days), having only 1 cheat or variety MEAL a week, as opposed to a cheat DAY, chugging a bunch of water, and keeping up with our workouts.

I know the paleo thing isn't for everyone and I know that for our family, it is definitely not a practical lifestyle...but as a challenge, it can absolutely be done. I'm loving being held accountable and I think 6 weeks is the perfect amount of time to suck it up and work extra hard before Memorial Day weekend is here and Summer really hits (although it's FELT like Summer for weeks here...SO HOT).

Some fun eats as of late?

"Oatmeal minus the Oats"

•  One banana, mashed
• 3/4 cup egg whites (or whites of 3 eggs)
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tbsp flax meal
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 c. chopped walnuts

Mix all ingredients and cook over med-high heat, stirring frequently until it forms at oatmeal-like consistency. Top with fruit, almond butter, nuts...whatever! It's all good. :)

Last night we had zucchini strands instead of spaghetti noodles, topped with turkey meatballs and sauce...and it was amazeballs. I've never been so excited for leftovers.

I'm still addicted to tomatoes, red onion, and cucumber topped with some Garlic Expressions marinade and dill. It makes an awesome mid-morning snack...but who am I kidding, I basically eat this all day long.

Tonight's menu? Lemon Dill Salmon with asparagus and sweet potato wedges.

See?! Paleo eating can be seriously yummy and I've mentioned the bonuses before- my personal fave- you feel less bloated at the end of the day and still maintain some resemblance of that flat "first thing in the morning" stomach!

For the next 6 weeks I'm going to try to check in with a Paleo-friendly meal from time to time...and trust me, these won't be anything super crazy. Just normal, easy to prep, weeknight meals that meet the paleo requirements. I love my food (especially cheese...), but I intend on feeling full and satisfied for the duration of the challenge. I'll also be making my cheat meal count...I'm talking booze, bowls of queso, etc. Kidding. Sort of.

If anyone out there has a favorite paleo meal, I'd love to hear about it!

xo,

H

P.S. Operation "Lose the Bottle" is on Day 4...and D is ready to break. He thinks that it is perfectly acceptable to wait until Grace is old enough to understand why we are taking her bottle away and try again then. Moms- what do you think? Should we hold out and just suck it up for a few more days during this transition or throw in the towel and try again closer to 2? 

Weekend Warriors

Another one down.

Truth be told, I was sort of hoping this past weekend would be a fast one. I promised I wouldn't harp on it, but this week is shaping up to be a potentially big one, so I'm ready to get it moving.

Also, we got rid of Grace's bottles during a particularly bad teething spell, so we had that going for us as well. Honestly...it wasn't terrible. We expected her to be fussy and just kept busy throughout the day to distract her from wanting a "baba". We did however decide that we would give her one first thing in the morning so she would get some milk down and then that was it for the day...even before bedtime it is all about the sippy cup. We are on Day 3 and it is going well...it just sucks to hear her ask for it all of the time.

Next weekend we are going to drop the morning baba. Should make for some fun times.

During one of our efforts to keep distracted we ran out to do some errands before grabbing lunch downtown. We hit TJMaxx for a quick look just to see if they had anything we might need want. Grace always makes a bee line for the kids section where we usually find a bunch of cheapy stuff and a few hidden gems.

Confession: I get all of Grace's Polo Ralph Lauren brand things from TJ's. Cute spring polo dresses-Check. If we ever have a boy, he will be permanently decked out in mini polos. Love it.

I also get most of my workout gear here, too (other than my overpriced, but totally worth it Lululemon pants)...and this is coming from a brand whore who prefers Nike, Underarmor, and occasionally New Balance. It's all there and all cheap. Win-win.

Anyways, since we are suckers and felt bad for Grace and her no good, very bad weekend, we let her peruse the toy section. I noticed she had zoned in on something out of the corner of my eye, was happy she was distracted from running under the clothing racks as I kept a watch on her and dug for buried Polo gold in the little girl aisles.

D eventually found us and we switched Grace watching duties so I could hit the Activewear section...and that's when I heard it. "Whatcha got there Grace?...Wait. Is that Minnie underwear?!"

I died.

She had spent 10 minutes getting Minnie toddler underpants down from a shelf and was in lovvveee with them. So that was what she got from the store. I mean, we couldn't even take them from her to let the cashier scan them.

Then we got to the car and she wanted the package opened immediately...and that's when she realized what she had gotten. Or maybe she didn't realize...but she was simply NOT impressed. Check out that defeated expression. I mean, it was hilarious...you chose underwear, girl!

Poor thing. I think we made up for it with a yummy lunch, lots of playing outside, to include bubbles and chalk. Way cooler than toddler panties.

Silver lining- now we have some in case this potty training ever gets serious?

xo,

H



Midweek Randoms

• Can you all believe it is almost Friday? This week is flying, which is A-Ok with me.

• My tready-treadmill has been delivered, was set up by D and myself, and is ready to go! So excited to get in a nice run this evening. As for the set-up process? Let's just say it was a team building experience, hahaha...

• Grace asked to go to bed at 6:30pm last night and slept until almost 7:30 this morning. That is a record for her. I'm hoping she was just exhausted from not getting much of a nap at daycare and not because she's coming down with something.

• We are down to one functioning bottle (the plastic ring on the cap that holds the nipple in place gets cracked when spiked at the ground, etc) and I refuse to go out and get more. Sippy cup weekend here we come.

• My Crossfit group is doing a 6 week Paleo Challenge, starting next Monday. While I'm not into eating Paleo 100% of the time, I think I'm going to try and take part in the challenge and see how I do. I should be a peach this time next week when I'm on day 4 of no sugar. Kill me now.

• We still haven't heard about where we move next. The news should literally be coming any day now...no later than next Friday. Being patient is tough. It reminds me of waiting to find out if we were having a boy or girl...except imagine having 6-7 possibilities instead of just 2. UGH.

• We are looking forward to a weekend with no entertaining like you have no idea, but having guests over all the time has been great for keeping the house looking company ready for the last month. This week? Let's just say we've relaxed. A lot.

I swear I'll have posts with substance again one day. For now, it's just going through the motions, enjoying this beautiful weather, and nailing things down for our last few months in Georgia. D graduates exactly 3 months from today! Time flies...

xo,
H

Christmas in April

Last Thursday I took the treadmill plunge and ordered one off of Amazon. I wasn't having much luck on Craigslist and with Amazon Prime I had free shipping...which was convenient especially since neither of our cars is well equipt to haul a treadmill home.

I decided to go with a Proform 505 CST. I'll be honest here...I researched, but not obsessively. My requirements?

• Must go up to at least 10mph/10% incline. (I would have liked a higher incline...but the faster and higher you go, the more $$)
• iPod hook-up
• Digital display
• Good reviews

anddd that's pretty much it. Basically as long as it works, I don't need it to be super top of the line. One thing I noticed quickly is that all treadmills have really varying reviews, which was sort of annoying. You don't know what kind of runner that reviewer is and if that has an effect on their opinion. This model had no ratings lower than 3 stars...and that only had one...so for the most part, people seem to agree that it is a good model for the price.

Anyways, long story short, it was supposed to get here Monday. How's that for instant gratification? But- it didn't. So Tuesday I contacted Amazon to get to the bottom of things and found out it was sitting at the delivery service, waiting to be put on a truck, etc. They dropped the ball. I really didn't mind, I just wanted to stay on top of things...but guess what? Amazon decided they should refund me $120 for my troubles. Umm, ok. That sounds fantastic.

So as of now, I have delivery scheduled for this afternoon and am getting a treadmill with a list price of $999...that I paid $600 for on Amazon...and now am only paying $480 because of the refund. Holler. I seriously hope we can assemble it and that it works...I'm anxious to start lunchtime runs tomorrow! I'll let you all know how it goes!

xo,
H

P.S. Best treadmill reaction came from my friend Amanda/former running partner who asked if I also bought some white Keds to go along with my mom treadmill. Hahaha...love it. But no, there will be no Keds. ;)

18 Months

18 Months

Stats:

Height: 34''/99th percentile

Weight: 27.4 lbs/84th percentile

Clothing: 2T

Shoes: 6

Diapers: Size 5

At 18 months Grace's personality has exploded. She is still our sweet, sensitive girl, but her silly, spunky side has made quite the appearance as of late. She has also become a chatterbox...no idea who she gets that from. ;)

Grace has gotten MUCH better at pronouncing many words and while she still has a long ways to go, I feel like she is picking things up very quickly. It seems like every day there is a new word added to her vocab. Some recents include: Hippo, BOO!, Nana, Waffle, Bubble(s), Diaper, Banana, Cheese, Puppies/Doggies, Bath, Blankie, Bear, Monkey (Ahh, Ahh!), Bird, Tweet Tweet, Meow, Woof, and so many more I'm forgetting.

When D or I walk into the room she exclaims "Dada!" or "Mama!" or if D is not home she'll ask where he is. She hasn't started piecing words together, but I feel like it won't be long.

She loves the outdoors and we spend almost every weekend at the park or going to Riverwalk at least once. Grace has become less shy on the play ground and occasionally is a complete daredevil...running full speed ahead or trying to climb onto things that are just meant for older kids. Gives me a heart attack at least once a week as well. Between the playground and her new love for climbing on furniture and standing up or jumping off onto pillows, I'm sure I'll have gray hairs in the near future. (Thank God for highlights.) 



Grace is still completely obsessed with our dogs and loves on them like it is her job. She also enjoys going to the dog park just as much as Molly and Maj do, if not more, and tries to make friends with other pups as well. It is not out of the ordinary for her to go up to a random dog and gently hug it, pressing her little face against it in the process. 

Momma's girl. :)

I have definitely noticed an independence in Grace the past couple of months. Where before we always had to be within an arms reach, she now is content to play in the living room while I am in the kitchen (in view) making dinner or sitting at the table. She is still completely in love with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and will sit on the couch watching an episode in the morning while I make breakfast and start my workday or in the evenings to wind down. We actually need to cut down on Mickey TV time...it can get a little out of hand.

Notice the bottle in the picture above? We still are using them, but not for long. Since our marathon weekends of hosting have come to an end, we are going to get rid of the bottles cold turkey this coming weekend. Didn't want to put our guests through what I'm sure will be a rough few days. I decided, just like the sleep training, we need to bite the bullet and just go for it. After a couple of  days, I'm hoping we have the same reaction...as in, "Why did we wait so long to do this?!" Grace uses sippy cups just fine, she simply prefers the bottle and sees it as comforting.



Genius with baby laptop...obviously.

Speaking of comfort, she also still loves her blankie. The poor thing is getting so ratty and we have to sneak it into the laundry.

This month she has also really started to enjoy stuffed animals...carrying them around, wanting to bring them along when we go places, pushing them in her play stroller, and even sharing snacks. Such a girlie girl.



Grace used the potty for the first time this month and continues to do so randomly. We haven't started pushing potty training, but are just taking it slow and seeing where things go. It seems a little silly to expect her to be diaperless when she can't even pull on and off her shorts by herself yet. We'll get there.

"Family hugs" have been a big hit in the past couple of weeks. Grace loves being sandwiched between D and I and will have an arm around each of us, squeezing us tight. If I yell, "Family hug!", she comes running with a big old grin, ready to play.

This month, like every month before it, we find ourselves exclaiming, "This has been the most fun month yet!" Grace continues to bring D and I so much joy and we both look forward to what the future with our sweet girl will hold. :)

xo,

H



Midweek randoms

• Molly's ACL tear is healing. It's not 100%, but she gets to start slowly being active again. If she limps at all, it's straight to surgery next time. Fingers crossed for no doggy medical expenses!

• When Kara and Greg came to visit (Guest Weekend 1 of 4  ;), they brought an adorable basket of goodies for us to include, a puzzle for Grace, Starbucks K-Cups, doggy treats, and more. My favorite addition: Wine Cube. They got us the Cab Sav/Shiraz and it was one of the best reds I've had in awhile. New problem? My Target doesn't sell them!

• I started/finished book 3 of the Hunger Games series last night...now I just need to convince D to see the movie with me. So far, not going well.

• G used the potty again (I'll stop updating you every time she pees, but for now it's still new and exciting). Her 18 month appointment went well. More on her stats tomorrow.

• One of my besties, Samantha, bought her plane tickets to come visit later this month! Apparently beg ask for visitors and you shall receive!

An oldie, stolen from Dara...it's good to be back on Facebook, haha :)



• I can't make a green smoothie to save my life. I try a couple times a week and mine turn out completely disgusting looking. Tastes great, looks like sewage. What gives?

Follow me on Instagram for other riveting photos of my day:
hmmorgan1

• I am going to buy a treadmill today if it is the last thing I do...and it may be the last thing I do when D comes home and kills me for buying one. Muahaha! ;)

• We are trying a new church for Easter mass. It's been awhile. Pray that we don't all catch fire upon entering the building.

• My in-laws get here tomorrow and my house looks pretty anti-company ready right now. Off to start dealing with it between work, etc. Lets be real, my OCD, clean loving husband will really do most of the work. SO lucky to have him...match made in heaven!

xo,
H

Run it.

It is getting hot here. I can only imagine how miserable the summer is going to be when we've already almost hit 90 in March. Woof.

I've been trying to up my cardio lately and aside from dog walks and getting in a quick 5K after Crossfit, it's been rough.

One- our neighborhood is seriously hilly...and this is coming from someone who likes hills. I'll take a pic for you all sometime.
Two- there is some new construction that I have to run by on my loop that makes me a little nervous, even with my attack dog ;).
Three- It's effing hot by 12:00pm...and finally...
Four- I try to hurry home after Crossfit to see my lovies, so I don't really enjoy taking up family time with longer workouts (plus after some WODs it just isn't going to happen anyways).

That brings me to this: I think I'm going to buy a treadmill.

It can stay in the garage, I can get in early morning or lunch time runs, and rather than take 40 minutes round trip to get to and from the gym on my days off of Crossfit, I can complete my workout at home and be done in the same amount of time. Win-win right? As of now I'm just hunting around on Craigslist for something lightly used. It makes the debate with the hubs go down easier when I'm looking at spending less money. ;) I'm doing some research and plan to still get something relatively new and nice, but it's looking like it might happen soon!

Anyone out there have a treadmill at home? Has it helped with your cardio or do you have any recommendations on brand or things my treadmill just *needs* to have?

xo,
H

3 down, 1 to go!

Our third visit was this weekend with my dad- aka Grace's Pops. :)

It's safe to say it went well and Grace is becoming even more adjusted to meeting "new" people. Not that grandparents are "new", but when you live far away and visits are only every few months, I'm sure it feels new to her. In fact, G has become quite the chatterbox, which I'll touch on more after her 18 month check-up tomorrow.

Till then I'll leave you with HUGE Grace news. Not so huge if you gchat with me, as I've been bragging all day.

So. Grace has become increasingly aware of "going to the potty" and enjoys carrying around her potty book and reading it to everyone. Not awkward at all. ;) In addition to telling me if she's gone, just recently she started walking into the bathroom to the toilet and pointing. On Sunday I asked her if she wanted to sit on the big potty and held her there while she attempted to pull toilet paper off the roll. She knows the drill. She didn't go, but since she is so interested we went out and got her very own potty yesterday and she was very excited to test it out. She spent a solid 30 minutes last night sitting on it, checking if anything was in the bowl, and sitting some more. Nothing more than that. We brought it up to my bathroom and this morning while I was getting ready (and Grace usually does her "make-up" too), she decided she wanted to use the potty again. I got her prepped, she climbed up on there and then...

she did it. Immediately. It was the weirdest/most awesome thing ever! I cheered and practically threw her a bathroom party and Miss Thang acted like she'd been peeing on the potty for years and could care less.

So as of now, I wouldn't say we are officially potty training, but we are definitely going to continue letting her decide if she wants to use the "big girl potty" and encouraging her when she does. We'll see where it goes and what happens. No pressure....although apparently she doesn't need any.

And that is how you write an entire post about pee. Booyah.

xo,
H