Life Lately

I know it's not uncommon for me to blog erratically, but this most recent blogging break was unplanned yet necessary. To give you an idea of what I've been up to, I present you with this picture:

Yes, I've been sick, sicker than I've ever been in my life. It all started with some digestive issues a little over 2 weeks ago, then progressed to a tenacious fever and aches and chills and abdominal pain a little over 1 week ago. Then last Tuesday I had a CT scan of my abdomen which revealed that my colon is inflamed (something I didn't even know the colon could be). I started a couple of antibiotics and a pain medication, and here it is almost a week later, and I am still sick. I have made improvements for sure, but I have spent most of the past week feeling as though I were on death's door. No energy. No appetite. No strength. Stephen has practically been a single parent the past week, and I am grateful to my parents for watching Charlotte over the weekend so he could get a break. He has been an amazing source of support through this. I don't know what I would do without him.

It's hard to believe that I can go from running 4 miles one day to feeling as though I'll never run again, but that's currently how I feel. I have an appointment with a GI specialist on November 7, and I am hoping to  have more answers after that appointment. One of the doctors thinks I might have Crohn's, which I am praying is not true, but we will have to wait and see.

Anyway, I felt like I needed to explain why the blog has been so silent. Please pray for me and my family, as this has been quite a challenge. I am finding comfort in God's sovereignty and know that He will work through this situation for His glory.

Five Minute Friday: Look

 

I haven't participated in Five Minute Friday for a while, but this week's word immediately grabbed me. In case you don't know, Five Minute Friday is hosted by Lisa-Jo Baker, and all you do is take 5 minutes and write on the word of the week. Five minutes-no editing, no second-guessing. Just writing. Here's my five minutes on this week's word: look.  

* * * *

As I drove home from work for lunch just minutes ago, my mind was in a fog. It’s been a hard week. I haven’t felt well or slept all that well, and I have thoughts weighing me down, threatening to steal my joy. I have prayed more than once that the Lord would show Himself to me, that I would know He is here with me. 

With my attention minimally focused on the road, the landmarks passed by in a blur. I rounded a bend in the road, and then all of a sudden my vision was confronted with a shock of red, yellow, and orange in vibrant display, tucked in the midst of green. The beauty of it caused me to inhale sharply, and I wanted to stop my car and look, just feast my eyes on the splendor that I wasn’t even looking for but that had found me. I let the image of those autumnal hues dance before my eyes long after I had left the real thing behind, and it brought a smile to my lips and prayer of gratitude from my heart.

It’s almost as though the Lord was reaching down to whisper in my ear and saying, “Keep looking, dear one. Sometimes joy is right around the corner.”

May the Lord grant me vision that allows me to truly see Him, to truly know Him. Always.

Weigh-In Wednesday: Keeping It Real

Whose idea was it for me to post my weight every week? I mean really, that person is crazy.

Oh wait, that was me, wasn't it? Rats.

Anyway, I really didn't want to post this today, and I could have chosen not to, but I strive to be honest on this blog, and it would be dishonest of me to pretend that this week didn't happen, so here you go.

Last week's weight: 170.6

This week's weight: 170.8

GAIN of .2 pounds

Basically, I'm in the same place I was 2 weeks ago. I'm kind of frustrated by it, but in reflecting over the past week, I don't think I really earned a loss. I ate fast food on four different occasions, and while I logged 2 hours of exercise, I guess it wasn't enough. You really can't out-exercise poor food choices, friends, and I'm living proof. (So glad I can be a living weight loss experiment for the rest of you!) HOWEVER, if I look at my stats on Weight Watchers, I should have lost weight this week. I had 22 weekly points remaining at the end of the week, and I earned 21 activity points, so it's not like I went insanely over my points allowance. Plus, yesterday the scale said 170, so I was really hoping that I'd be a little bit lighter today so I could FINALLY be in the 160s. Alas, it was not to be this week.

Sometimes, the scale doesn't reflect the effort that was put forth. Sometimes it does. But the fact is, before I weighed myself this morning, I felt good. I was proud of the fact that I'd achieved a new  personal record in running this weekend, and I was proud that I had run 4 miles Tuesday night, something I haven't done since May. I was proud for choosing not to "eat my feelings" on more than one occasion. So why should stepping on a scale take away that pride and take away what I have accomplished? 

It shouldn't, so I'm trying my hardest not to let it.

Charlotte at 19 Months

Let's ignore the fact that Charlotte turned 19 months over a week ago, shall we? On most days, Charlotte is a little whirlwind, zipping about from place to place, usually with a smile on her a face. She constantly wants to explore and roam around and is rarely content to simply sit still, unless she is coloring or playing with stickers. Then, she'll sit for a few minutes before moving on to the next activity.

Until the last month or so, Charlotte really wasn't a big fan of books. When she was much, much younger, I would read to her every day, and while she was too young to show her enjoyment, she at least didn't put up a fuss. However, as she got more mobile, she grew less fond of sitting still for a story, and before long she would just push books away if we tried to read to her, which broke this poor book-loving mama's heart! I'm not sure what changed, but now she will latch on to a certain book and become obsessed with it, wanting to look at it over and over again. She especially loves to look at pictures of animals and can now imitate the sounds that dogs, cats, cows, and ducks make.

Charlotte started walking right around her first birthday, and she gets faster and faster on those little feet every day, it seems. I wouldn't be surprised if she broke out into a full-fledged run soon. She also has become quite the climber, surprising me one day by climbing right up into her high chair without assistance. She now practices this skill on a daily basis and beams proudly when she is seated in the chair.

It's blurry, but she was so proud to be climbing up in her chair.

Along with climbing, she also is fixated on buckles right now and spends a lot of time trying to buckle the harness on her high chair and her little toddler rocker. She has learned how to buckle these things but can't get them unbuckled, so she gets really frustrated when she can't unfasten things. In general, she gets really frustrated when she can't figure something out and in her frustration will sometimes just throw down whatever it is she's working on. I hope she'll learn to keep on trying something instead of giving up so quickly. 

She is definitely all toddler, as she can go from laughing to crying in about two seconds flat. The smallest things can set her off. For example, this morning I had her try on the winter coat I bought for her, and she loved it. What she didn't love was me taking it off, and she started screaming and crying and was inconsolable for several minutes, right about when it was time to leave for daycare, of course. It is challenging when she starts throwing a tantrum, and we're not sure yet what the best response is, but we mostly ignore her or try and hold her and get her to calm down.


Charlotte's vocabulary is growing, and her favorite word right now is our dog's name, Bailey. She will say her name over and over again, and she loves to follow Bailey around and gets excited when she sees her. Sometimes in the morning when she first wakes up she's more excited to see Bailey than she is us, which we try not to be offended by.

Never one to turn down food, Char has a healthy appetite and loves to snack on fruits and puffs and graham crackers. Her favorite foods right now are bananas, waffles, and crackers of any kind.

Mmm, spaghetti!

For some reason, however, she has gone a vegetable strike. She used to eat vegetables like a champ, but the past few months she has decided she doesn't like them. We'll try to get her to eat them, but she just shakes her head no and swats them away. She will eat them if they're pureed, but it seems kind of crazy to keep giving her purees when she's 19 months old! Still, we do give her veggies that way a few times a week just so she's getting some, but that's not a long term solution. She's too young to really reason with, so I'm not sure what to do. Any suggestions on how to get her to eat more vegetables?

Here are a few more pictures of my sweet girl. She makes us so happy and proud, and I can't wait to see the girl she becomes!

 

Race Report: Delta Dash 5k

Saturday I ran the Delta Dash 5k, and it was truly a race like no other. It all started when my husband woke me up Saturday morning and said, "It's 8:30." I said, "What?" in complete confusion because I knew there was no way we had slept that late on a Saturday, or that CHARLOTTE had slept that late on a Saturday. But yes, when I checked the clock, it was indeed 8:30 a.m.

This was a problem. Why? The Delta Dash 5k started at 9 a.m. I had approximately 10 minutes to get ready and leave the house. I debated not going, and was close to just skipping the race, but I decided to just go for it since I'd already paid for it. I didn't have time to get nervous--only time to change clothes, put up my hair, brush my teeth, and grab some water before heading out the door.

As I drove to the race, I kept thinking to myself that I was crazy for attempting to run this race. I hadn't really hydrated properly the day before and didn't feel the greatest; I had only been up for a grand total of 15 minutes so I hadn't had time to eat anything or even drink anything; and I was mentally unprepared. I always liked arriving at a race about 30 minutes before start, this time I got there just in time to register, throw my shirt in the car, and then head to the start line with the rest of the runners. As I waited for the race to start, I thought briefly to myself, "Wouldn't it be funny if I got a new PR (personal record) at this race?" However, I hadn't brought my Garmin since it wasn't charged, so I wouldn't be able to monitor my pace as closely as I normally like to unless I held my iPhone and watched the RunKeeper app the whole race. I had no plans to do any such thing, so I had to run by feel, something I haven't done since I got my Garmin for my birthday last October. I told myself to focus on enjoying the race and finishing in a respectable time, and before I had time to think much else, the race started!

The course was virtually identical to the one I ran in my least favorite 5k ever, back in May, but I enjoyed the run so much more this time around. I have no idea what the temperature was, but I would guess it was in the low 60s, and it felt humid to me, but I didn't mind it. I just listened to my music and ran, smiling every now and then at the fact that I was even running this race. I hit the mile 1 marker right after 10 minutes, which made me happy, and I told myself if I could just maintain that pace, I could get a new PR. I don't know if it was because I had been running more frequently and with more intensity recently or because I hadn't had time to mentally psyche myself out, but the whole run felt surprisingly easy to me.I hit 2 miles in exactly 20 minutes, and then I started to think that a new PR wasn't so out of the realm of possibility, and then I even let myself dream that I could realize my BIG goal of running a sub-30 5k. I pushed myself to run a little faster, and as I got closer and closer to the end, my mind was spinning like crazy, wondering if I would beat the PR I had just set last month. In a way, the race was more fun without my Garmin because I couldn't look at my pace every 2 seconds. Finally, I was nearing the end and made the entrance into the back of the stadium and rounded the bases to approach home plate, where the finish line was. As I got closer, I caught a glimpse of the time clock, and I felt as though my heart almost skipped a beat when I saw that it said 29:??. I was SO CLOSE to getting in under 30 minutes. I summoned every last ounce of energy I had, not knowing if it would be enough to get me there on time but knowing that I had to try. My legs pumped faster and faster, the finish line got closer and closer, the seconds kept ticking by...

...until finally I crossed the finish at 30:04! I allowed myself to be briefly disappointed that I had come so ridiculously close to meeting my ultimate race goal, but then I had an internal party at the fact that I had beaten my previous PR by over 2 minutes, within a span of 4 weeks!

After the race I talked briefly with one of my favorite former professors, who was running his 2nd ever 5k, and I decided to hang around for the awards ceremony, on the off chance that I had placed in my age group. It was a small race, and I was really proud of my time, so I thought it was moderately likely that I had placed.

It seemed to take forever before they started handing out medals, but finally it was time. They started with the female age categories, and I was surprised to see that there was only 1 person in more than one of the age categories. I thought to myself that it would be HILARIOUS if I placed as the only person in my age group, but I also wanted a more "legitimate" placement, if that makes sense. I was in the 30-34 age group, and they announced the 3rd place finisher first. Wasn't me. "Oh well," I thought, "maybe next time." Then I heard: "In second place, Erin Mount." Without even thinking, I blurted out, "That's me!" and practically skipped to get my medal. Even a day later I still can't believe that I placed 2nd in my age group! Granted, it was a small race and for all I know there were only 3 people in my age group, but STILL! I got a medal! (And I felt like I had actually earned that medal, instead of the time I placed in a race with my worst-ever 5k time.)

Hands down, best race ever. :)

Weigh-in Wednesday: The Vacation Edition

Let's cut to the chase, shall we?

Last week's weight: 170.8
This week's weight: 170.6
LOSS of .2 lbs

Y'all, this is kind of a miracle. It was really hard to track accurately and completely when we were out of town, and I KNOW I went over my points almost every day. I don't know by how much, but I'm sure it was a decent amount. We got back on Sunday night, and when I weighed myself on Monday (even though I really didn't want to), I was up 2.4 pounds from last week's weight. At that point, I had very little hope of seeing a loss for the week, but I was on my best behavior Monday and Tuesday, and I guess it helped! I am so relieved not to see a gain that I don't even care that the loss is extremely minimal. I just want to get out of the 170s!

I am telling you, next week I WILL be in the 160s, or I'll shave my head.

Or not.

But I WILL be in the 160s!

Visit with the Grandparents

Stephen and I  both took off work last Thursday and Friday so we could drive up to Illinois and spend the long weekend visiting his parents. His parents have been to see us several times this year, but the last time we went to see them was last Thanksgiving, so a visit was long overdue! We left on Wednesday night in the hopes that Charlotte would sleep the whole way there. Instead, she only slept 1 of the 4 hours we were in the car. Fortunately for all involved, she was delightful while she was awake, just giggling and smiling and chatting the whole time. It was really cute and fun.

I won't bore you with a play-by-play of the weekend's events but instead will share some pictures!

Checking out the entrance to the "maze," which was actually just one rectangular path.

With Grandma and Grandpa

This was my attempt to get a picture taken with Char.

At least it's easy to get a picture with Stephen. :)

This will totally be our Christmas card picture.

"Feed me!"

 

Fun at the buffet. Straws are awesome.

With Stephen's grandmother, Charlotte (Charlotte's namesake!)

This is the best pic we could get with both Charlottes.

Places to go, purses to carry.

Classic Char

 We had a great time on our trip. Charlotte slept past 7:30 pretty much every day, so we must have worn her out! It was such a nice, relaxing time, and I'm so glad we got to go. I'm looking forward to visiting again at Christmas.

How was your weekend?

Weigh-In Wednesday: So Close

First let me thank all of you who commented on my last post! I truly loved hearing from each of you and will be checking out the blogs of those I haven't visited before. I appreciate all of my readers, and I am glad you took the time to comment. It's not to late to comment, so if you're a lurker who's being shy, come out from hiding! :)

Today marks the beginning of my 3rd week on Weight Watchers. Y'all, week 2 was TOUGH stuff. I went over my daily points allowance every day but one. Fortunately, the plan also gives me 49 "extra" points to use throughout the week, and supposedly I can still lose weight even if I use those points. I ended up using 23 of those extra points this past week, whereas the week before that I only used 15. I was concerned about how this would affect the scale, but one thing made me feel better: activity points. Every time I exercise, I get points for that activity. The points are determined by what kind of exercise it is (walking or running, etc.) and how long I exercise for. For example, I get 2 activity points if I walk for 30 minutes, but I get 6 activity points if I run for 30 minutes. I can then choose to "eat" those extra points if I want. Obviously, this motivates me to exercise more and more specifically, it motivates me to run more since I get so many more points for that. I ended up with 30 points for the week, enough to make up for the extra points I ate and then some.

Now, the moment you've all been waiting for: my weigh-in.

Last week's weight: 172.6

This week's weight: 170.8

Total lost: 1.8 lbs

Definitely not as amazing as last week's weight loss, but I am still very happy with how I did. I think the exercise really helped. With that loss, I've now lost 5 pounds in the last two weeks, which is a great loss for me! Yippee!

The only downside? With this weight loss, Weight Watchers changed my daily points target to 27 from 28, which means I am going to have to be even more careful with what I eat. To be honest, I have been hungry a LOT these past 2 weeks. I need to work on using fruits and veggies as snacks so I don't feel so hungry all the time. I certainly don't think it's a bad thing to be hungry every now and then, but I don't want to feel that way all the time because that just means I'll eventually get frustrated and eat two Big Macs and a large order of fries (not really, but you know what I mean). 

Week 3 will be a challenge for me since we're going out of town to visit Stephen's parents, so tracking will be harder. I am going to work at being diligent with tracking what I can and make wise decisions. I am so close to the 160s, so I don't want to blow it this week.

I hope you all have a great week!

This One's For the Lurkers

I have a feeling there are people who read my blog and never comment. (I'm hoping this is true, since if the only people reading are the ones who comment, I have about 10 readers.) So if you've been reading my blog for any length of time but haven't commented, I want to hear from you! De-lurk and introduce yourself, and if you wouldn't mind, answer a few questions for me:

1. How long have you been reading my blog?
2. How did you find my blog?
3. What would you like me to write about on my blog?
4. Do you have a blog? Link to it!

And if any of you faithful comments would like to answer these questions (especially #3 and #4), feel free! I'd love to hear how people have stumbled onto this corner of the Internet.

Let the de-lurking commence!