Walking

To 953 Diestel and back, 3.02 miles.
35:58, average 11:55 mile.
Slow today - it was nasty outside. 75 degrees and 50% humidity, which for here is just icky feeling - too humid and I just felt hot the whole time. Got a bit of a side stitch too. However, I'm glad I went and got the exercise, as I feel better for it now that I'm home.

WW progress

This week I lost 1.8 lb for a total of 82.8 lb!
I am only 12 lb from goal now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The grandfather of one of my piano students is 6 lb from goal (and has been for quite some time now). I challenged him to a contest - if he gets to goal first, I get him a baseball cap. If I get to goal first, he gets me a WW cookbook. I hope this helps to motivate him :).

Walking

SugarHouse Park, 3.75 miles.
Total time 42:12 (new record!). Average mile 11:15.
Split times:
Mile 1 - 11:34
Mile 2 - 11:10
Mile 3 - 11:39
Mile 3.75 - 7:48 (10:24 mile; this segment has lots of downhill, FYI).

Walking today

SugarHouse Park route, 3.75 miles, 42:40. 3 mile split 34:41. Overall, 11:22.2 mile. First 3 miles 11:34. That last 0.75 miles was a blistering 10:38!!!

Felt a little sluggish at the start, and decided I'd take it easy. But when I got warmed up a bit, it felt great, so I went faster. When I hit the park, there were a couple of joggers moving slowly, and I thought "maybe I can pass them". Sure enough, my walking was faster than their slow jogging, and I passed them up. I have never passed a jogger before, and I was thrilled! This motivated me to go really fast and by the end I was flying. Felt great most of the time except for a slight side stitch partway through. The weather was great - not as hot as it has been. Still a bit warm by the end, but not bad.

Big news!

My brother is engaged! Yup, that's right! I've known for a little while, but am just getting around to posting about it. I haven't met Erica yet, but everyone tells me she's great, especially Alex :). They are coming to visit us in August, and I'm really looking forward to meeting my new sister! I have always wanted to have a sister!!!

Here are some pictures of their engagement.

Exercise

Last night: biked w/Dorothy from 5600W to the Saltair. She said it was about 17-18 miles. 1 hr 10 min. Quads were very tired at the end!

This morning: walked 3.02 mi (to 1222S 1300E) in 35:21, an 11:42 mile.
My legs felt very tired, not surprisingly. Still did pretty well, though. It was warm but not too hot. Ran into Kim Thoenen out on my walk and enjoyed a brief chat.

WW progress for the week

Forgot to post this yesterday. Lost 1.0 lb for a total of 81.0 lb! I only have 14 lb to go to get to goal now :).

Walking times

I'm going to start keeping track of my walks on here... seemed like a good place to put them.

Saturday 7/22:
3.04 miles, 36:00, 11:50 /mile.
Felt great - uphill route to 931 Diestel Rd, farthest I've ever gotten on this route in that time. Right quad a bit sore from something.
Very hot today.

Sunday 7/23: 3.75 miles (SugarHouse Park), 42:53 (mile splits 11:50; 23:20 (11:30); 34:52 (11:32)) , 11:26/mile. RECORD TIME!
Hey, I was smokin'! Right quad still a bit sore.
It was hot today.

Ski Jumping

We attended the women's international ski jumping competition in Park City tonight, which was a LOT of fun. Calvin absolutely loved watching the jumpers and clapping when the crowd clapped and cheered for the good jumps. He also loved watching people go down the zip line adjacent to the ski jumps. He mooched popcorn off of a lady sitting next to us, which was a bit embarrassing but really cute. Michelle slept the whole time, except for waking up to eat once.

Here are some pictures.

Anniversary dinner

We finally got our annniversary dinner (it was June 26th but I was in the hospital). Here's to 13 great years and many more to come!
We enjoyed a fabulous meal at Caffe Molise. Yum! The salmon was delicious, and the chocolate mousse cake was especially memorable, but the best part was getting some great time with Loren and having a nice uninterrupted adult conversation!

More baby fluff

She really does like those arms free :) 

Likes to sleep like this

She wouldn't sleep until she could wiggle her arms out of the swaddling and hold them over her head. Go figure... 

New swimsuit

Couldn't resist. I do have one that fits, but it's actually 15 years old, because that is the last time I was small enough to wear it. So, it was time for a new one.
All that pregnancy exercise really paid off... can you believe I had a baby 3 1/2 weeks ago?
 

LBD

Little Black Dress! I finally look good in one :)!!!!! I got this for $15 at TJMaxx... bargains abound!
 

Daddy's shirt

Calvin loved wearing Daddy's shirt. He paraded all around the house in it!!!
 

WW progress!

I lost 0.8 lb this week, to bring my total lost to 80 lbs. That's right, I have now lost EIGHTY pounds. Wow. I only have 15 more to go to reach my goal, which I hope to do by November sometime. Maybe sooner, depending on how it goes.

In other news, I am definitely right back where I was before the pregnancy in terms of fitness. This morning I walked 3.75 miles (from our house to SugarHouse Park, around the park, and back) in 44 minutes, which is an average 11:45 minute mile. I felt fabulous! The dogs actually had trouble keeping up with me at the end!

Just like daddy...

 

Grandma hugging Michelle

 

More baby pics :) bear with me!

 

 

I'm SO cute!

Isn't she adorable? :) 

Progress Report

Michelle is awake more and is more alert. She cried for her bottle again this morning, and is eating a little more than yesterday. We missed rounds today, so I'm not sure what's up, but I doubt they will let her come home tomorrow, as I still don't think she's taking quite enough by mouth. Hopefully Wednesday? Hard to say, but at least we do see improvement and are encouraged. At the same time, we miss her and wish she could be with us now. Here she is with her daddy this morning... 

New table & chairs

We put together our new table this afternoon. It was therapeutic to get our minds off the NICU, plus it's nice to have it all ready so we don't have to do it after Michelle comes home.
 

She ate her whole bottle!

She wasn't scheduled to eat until 6 pm but woke hungry at 5 pm and downed her entire bottle - first time she has eaten the WHOLE thing. We are very happy she did this and are encouraged. If she keeps that up we'll have her home in a few days, I think.

Non-baby news

I didn't write this yesterday because I was too miserable, but I went to my Weight Watchers meeting and it was fabulous. It was SO GOOD to be back. I was excited because at my weigh-in I only weighed 0.6 lb more than when I got pregnant!!! My leader was VERY impressed and had me tell the whole class (about 100 people) how I did it. She was very inspired by my hard work and decorated me by hanging a whole string of "bravo" stickers around my neck. I felt so affirmed and it was awesome. All that hard work really paid off. Hopefully I'll be at goal in no time - I've only got about 18.5 lb to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feeling better

Today I feel better. I'm tired, but am feeling more rational. I am resigned to several more days of Michelle in the NICU... but feeling hopeful that she'll be home soon. Loren is the one having a hard time w/it today. Good thing we are not both down at the same time. He is getting a nap, and I'm going to do that really soon.

Baby pictures - old & new

Maybe it's just my imagination, but I think she looks like me! :)

Feeling miserable

You would think we would be feeling better, since Michelle is doing so well. The weird thing about it is that we are actually feeling worse. At least I am. I am discouraged, depressed, tired, fatigued, emotionally drained, and feeling useless. I can't do much to help take care of Calvin, since I can't pick him up. I am pumping breastmilk 8-9x/day (in the middle of the night, too), but I get enough from one DAY of pumping to feed her not quite ONE feeding (she gets 8 per day). I can't vacuum the house, since the vacuum is supposedly too heavy to lift. I am trying to do laundry, but had to have Loren drag the baskets to the laundry room for me.

We are out of babysitters for Calvin, with none in sight. I am trying to remember all the people who said to call if we need anything, but my brain doesn't work well and I have no energy to do much of anything, including try to round up more sitters. Guess we're stuck visiting Michelle one at a time. At least we can still put Calvin in the day care on Monday on a drop-in basis, but Tuesday is a holiday, so they're closed.

Speaking of visiting Michelle, I'm finding it increasingly difficult. I visited her for 1 hour this morning and that was all I could take before I had to leave. She is wonderful, but I got so emotional and distraught that I couldn't stay any longer. I feel like she is in prison and they'll never let her go. I hate the sights and smells of the hospital. I hate seeing her in there and I can't deal with her lack of progress in the eating department. I was obsessing over every last milliliter that she was eating, and for what? It does no good. I tried to visit her w/o worrying and just hold her, but couldn't separate the two. I feel I'm not a very good mother. If I were a good mother I'd be there for her no matter how lousy it makes me feel. I just don't feel I can do it any more. I want my baby home. I want to hold her. I don't want strangers taking care of her (no matter how good they are at it). I WANT MY BABY. NOW.

2 down, 1 to go

Michelle is on room air as of Thursday afternoon. She finished her IV antibiotics at 4:30 am Saturday morning, so the only thing left for her to do is eat well. Unfortunately, that is really not happening. She is only eating about 1/2 of her food by mouth, and there has been no improvement in her eating. She gets sleepy and just won't/can't take any more food orally, so they have to give it to her through the nasogastric tube (the only tube left in this photo).