Small Wins!

Life is a marathon. It isn't a sprint. Each day, month, and year is full of miles and miles.

Whether you are a Mom or Dad, if you work full-time or manage a household, or whatever you do in life - your days are made up of increments of time and activities. Personally, I am a mom, wife, athlete and I work a full-time job (oh yeah, and I am 1,000,000 weeks pregnant). In an effort to be the best version of me, I have been taking time to notice the days as they go by and trying to reflect on each one so that I learn something new and try not to make the same mistakes twice.

In my observations, I have been thinking about the daily wins and losses...Worked out and showered before waking toddler. High five for me and win #1 for the day. Kid ate breakfast. Another high five. That would be win #2 for the day. Got kid, self, and husband out the door on time. That is like a hat trick. Cheers all around please. Forgot to bring coffee to work. Bummer. That is a big loss. But, didn't get killed driving to work on Alcoa Highway. Total win. The list goes on and on. The day is broken into small battles, races, games, or whatever you choose to use as your analogy. Each little part results in a win or a loss.

I am not huge on self promotion. Once in awhile, I will post on FB a great workout or race accomplishment and sometimes I will post my articles when I write for the paper. I would rather post a pic of my adorable child or talk about something my fab husband has done.

But, last week, my wins outnumbered my losses in a big way.

Not only did I work my full-time job but I worked every night on my community volunteer activities. And not just a little bit. I got a lot done and that was really cool. There are some great events happening this spring and I was worried about my participation and availability but after last week, I am feeling good about them.

Not only did I get my job work done and my community work done BUT I had dinner for every night of the week for my family and my kid was never neglected or left asking when mommy would play with him because I was there for that too.

I worked out 5 out of 7 days and the only reason it wasn't more is because I popped a rib out of place and was too sore the day after getting it fixed to workout early. I had coffee with a friend and got to discuss some fabulous ideas for our community and ways to increase outdoor activity (which we all know if my fave). I got a birthday present for a weekend birthday party and its presentation was actually pretty (as opposed to my usual terrible wrapping jobs). And, we got to enjoy visiting with those friends for a great deal of time yesterday.

These are daily life activities but I got them done and completed without fighting, crying, or any other angst that might go along with daily life when one is busy.

It wasn't all great. The toddler threw a huge tantrum on Wednesday when I picked him up that resulted in us taking away a few of his favorite things. That is never good for any of us. On two nights, he lost stars (from his weekly star chart) for not eating dinner. I had to spend over an hour of my workday on Thursday getting my back fixed when said rib popped out of place. The only reason I went that day was because I couldn't turn my head which made driving/merging in traffic a bit difficult.

I have no idea what will happen this week. I may not get a single item accomplished. I suppose that would even out last week's triumphs. That is life. We go mile after mile after mile and sometimes we win the race and sometimes we lose.

I am celebrating and discussing because when things click into place then they are worth mentioning. I didn't cure cancer last week. I didn't save anyone's life. I didn't win a race.

I did work to provide for my family. I did volunteer work to help upcoming events that will affect our community. I played with my kid, read to him, and taught him the value of hard work and hopefully good manners. I worked out for myself and baby Altman #2 who will be here this summer. I supported my husband in his job, his training, and in our life.

Speaking of my husband, I don't (and couldn't) do this alone. Jason is incredible and has helped keep our life moving along. We have to do this together or else we would still be standing at our start line wondering where everyone went. We have always provided a great deal of balance for one another and the spring is always a time of great stress for our household. But, we do it together and it works - it isn't always pretty but heck that is no big deal.

Our life isn't charmed and it isn't easy. We were lucky to find one another many years ago. We recognize that we were/are lucky and we make it point to work with one another at all times. We work our behinds off every day of the week, of the month, and of each year to have our life. We may never get to retire and that is okay by me. We do have fun but we do have days where we wish we could have a restart. We celebrate the victories because they mean a lot in the grand scheme of our marathon life together.

For now, I am going to bed. 5:45 am is coming early and I have a long day ahead and three weeks ahead of me. I have a lot on my plate between now and the time Baby #2 is born (and beyond then really). Some days my wins will outnumber my losses and other days, I will bring up the rear and just hope to finish.

See you on the roads....

Oh Happy Day!

I hope when you read this, you have been outside in the BEAUTIFUL weather. Wowza. What a day. The only thing is missing is the ability to have a glass of wine on the back porch this evening but hey, I can do that again in July. I suppose I will have lemonade instead today.

I truly think that weather has such an impact on people and their attitudes. Everyone seems so happy and friendly today.

Jackson is snoozing now and I need to wake him up. He played so hard today that I am sure he is exhausted.

We met Jason at the park so that I could run and they could play. I had a great run with a friend and did 3 in 29 minutes. That does count the walk breaks - and yes, there were several. And no, I am not trying to hit a certain pace. I am just letting my body tell me when to walk or stop or run.

After a family lunch, Altman took off to paint green arrows around the city and we headed home.We changed clothes and hit another park where Jackson promptly made a new friend.

His new little friend was a 5 year old who was a bit a bossy. My cool kid played well and when the bossy kid wanted him to do something that was out of his ability then Jackson redirected. When the kid got extra bossy, Jackson said, "Nope, don't want to do that." Happy day for mommy. I hope my kid is always strong enough to say no when something doesn't seem right to him. It might sound like an exaggeration but if he won't be bullied on a playground at 3.5 then hopefully he'll be the same when some kid is shoving pills or whatever in his face in 10 years.

Next up, maybe walking the dogs and then hitting the grocery store. It has been a crazy long, hectic week and I needed a low stress day to re-energize. This has been that day. I am very much enjoying the new schedule and being able to spend more time with Jackson (and Altman as soon as the CHKM is over).

Today is a happy day. The goal in 2013 is to recognize every single day the things that make me happy. There are many and it is easy to get busy and wrapped up in life and forget to really recognize our blessings. I am blessed with a healthy and happy child, a healthy and happy husband, and a healthy (and hopefully happy) growing child, and I am also healthy and happy. I am blessed with some awesome opportunities and looking forward to great things to come.

Oh happy day. Now get back out there and enjoy this fabulous Saturday.

A little sigh of relief

Having a baby is stressful if you think about it. As the mother, I am wholly responsible for this little being's life until he is born. Then, I get to share the responsibility. Until then, the work falls on me.

Fine, I am giving up my body. I am slow and not running far and I was dead on my feet sick from November until the end of January. Literally. If you saw me or talked to me, I was probably smiling on the outside but absolutely dying on the inside. I have heartburn, I have to sleep on my left side, and I am slowly losing the ability to tie my running shoes without some kind of weird maneuver. I am hormonal and a wee bit grumpy.

All of those things are totally superficial. No doubt about it. The reward at the end of this 9 month training program is beyond priceless. This summer I will go back to running without losing my breath so quickly, I will be able to see my feet, I will be able to carry Jackson more easily, and  hopefully my heartburn goes away.

The worrisome part is thinking about the food you eat, what you drink, your sleep habits, and how everything you do may or may not affect the child and their growth in some way.You can't think on it too much or you'll go crazy.

There are things you have to do in pregnancy that are obvious:
Stop Drinking Alcohol - Done
No Contact Sports - Done
Don't exercise in an anaerobic state - Done
Wear your seat belt - Easy
Take your vitamins - Done

There are other things that are out there that can make your head spin. Don't eat under-cooked meat, don't eat deli meat (unless cooked to a specific temperature), don't eat certain fish, watch your caffeine intake, and many more.

I eat pretty well in my regular life so food wasn't a big deal for me. I like a medium rare steak with a glass of red wine. So, no wine and we'll go medium instead of medium rare. I eat a well balanced diet and actually mostly gluten free so my nutrition should be fine.

Where I worry myself are the things I can't really control. Will he have 10 fingers and 10 toes? Will he have all of his organs? Will his heart have four chambers? I can't really do a thing to make sure those happen except to pray and hope for the best.

So, each ultrasound is very, very important to me and although very little in life makes me nervous...waiting for an ultrasound will drive me crazy.

At 20 weeks with Jackson, we discovered that his right foot was a club foot. The only thing we could do was to talk to his future orthopedic doctor and wait. Everything came out fine. He was casted for several weeks, had a surgery at 5 weeks, casted for three more weeks, and wore some special little shoes for a while. His right foot is a little shorter than his left foot but that will never impede his ability to play sports and no one will ever know about the foot unless we tell them.

Yesterday, we had the same anatomy ultrasound for Baby #2. This is also a big one because you find out the gender of your child. Our ultrasound tech at 12 weeks told us that this was a boy so we had that info going in. I have to admit that I was pretty irritated heading into the appointment. I had been waiting for 45 minutes because they "were just running late"and no one bothered to tell me. Already nervous, the long wait time did not sit well with me. When we got to the room and they were ready to go, I thought to myself...Will he be there (yes, even though I can feel him already)? How is this going to turn out?

Turns out that Little Altman 2 is growing just fine. Legs, arms, feet, hands, nose, lips, chin, 4 chambers to the heart, and more. It is all there and developing on schedule. Whew. A sigh of relief. Now we will wait several weeks before we see him again on ultrasound. Until then, I have pictures proving to me that he is in fact real and that we've made it half way.

I am sure tomorrow I will start the worry process of finishing the second half of this pregnancy. Until then, I will breath another little sigh of relief and celebrate the journey so far.