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Friday Favorites – October 12th, 2018

Happy Friday!  It has been quite the week over here. It has been an exhausting but fulfilling week.  Work kept me challenged in the best way this week but things on the home front left me exhausted.  Katie has a pretty bad cold that has kept both of us up for at least two hours each night. We saw her pediatrician yesterday for her 15 month check-up and he confirmed that it is a bad cold. Unfortunately, at this age there aren’t many things you can give infants to help with the cough and post nasal drip so all we can do is comfort and continue to push fluids and give Ibuprofen or Tylenol in addition to the natural chest rub and cough syrup we are using.  Luckily, we don’t have any plans this weekend other than a casual date night in Brooklyn tonight. Since cooler weather has finally arrived, I think we’ll get into the fall spirit by buying some pumpkins, baking and spending a lot of time outside. Hopefully the fresh air will help Katie feel better!

gourds

Now, let’s dive into this week’s edition of Friday Favorites, including recipes, articles, posts and other things that caught my eye this week.

  • I picked up the ingredients for this healthy white chicken chili at the grocery store yesterday. Filled with mushrooms, beans and ground chicken, this healthy white chicken chili recipe has a ton of flavor and is always a favorite in our household.
  • Did you know that baking is one of my favorite ways to relax? I’m hoping to find time to bake pumpkin bread and these soft pumpkin cookies. I mean how can you go wrong when a recipe promises chewy pumpkin cookies with salted maple frosting?
  • Since I left my favorite Fresh lip balm on the airplane last week, I took that as a sign to order two new tints for the season – spice and petal.
  • I’m focused on improving my mental game in advance of next week’s half marathon. Therefore, I’m spending my spare time reading Deena Kastor’s memoir, Let Your Mind Run and reading multiple race recaps from inspirational running friends like Charlie and Janae.
  • Just when I needed something to make me smile earlier this week, my friend Leslie shared this homecoming video on Facebook. Holy heck this dance team is incredible! I love the theme and the fact that everyone was cheering and clearly in awe.
  • Last week during my brother’s wedding weekend, I received multiple compliments on not only the dress but also my eyelashes aka mascara. As many of you know, I have very short, stubby lashes and have rarely found a mascara that will both lengthen and provide ooomph without making me look like a crazy lady. This L’Oreal mascara goes on easily, without clumps, and miraculously comes off when I wash my face. I’ve tried many mascaras that are double and triple the cost but this one is my favorite since it adds length and volume with a perfect consistency.

I’m hoping to hop back on here later this weekend to share a few of my favorite wardrobe items for fall as well as tips for traveling with a 15-month old. But now, it’s time to shutdown my computer and say hello to the weekend! Have a wonderful weekend friends!

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Katie’s Fifteen Month Update

I say it every time I sit down to reflect, but I can’t believe that Katie has grown so quickly. The fifteen months we’ve enjoyed with Katie have been such a joy! She is a curious, happy, spunky fifteen-month old and we are in awe at how quickly she’s growing in front of our eyes.  It’s hard to believe that this time last year, she was just starting to evolve out of the fourth trimester phase. Now, at fifteen months, the only time she is still is when she’s sleeping.  Last week, when I asked for post requests, multiple people requested more detailed monthly updates. So, here is my attempt at delivering on that and, I, like you, hope to share these on a more consistent basis.

Katie is wearing 18-month clothes and even has two jackets that are 2T, since they didn’t come in a smaller size. Most days, she wears basics from Carters and then we have a few other items from L.L. Bean, Patagonia and Vineyard Vines. Over the past year we’ve had a hard time finding clothing that can beat the quality we get from Carters for the very inexpensive price point. I will say, that we only purchase things at their outlet or during their online sales, which seem to happen once a month. If you have a child, I recommend subscribing to the Carter’s mailing list.  The two changes that we made this month in regards to her attire were shoes and hair accessories. Since she’s constantly on the go, we bought another pair of See Kai Run shoes. A few people recommended ordering favorite shoes in a few sizes when you find one that works well for your child. Therefore, we currently have this style in a few different colors and sizes in her closet. I was able to find them on sale during the Nordstrom Anniversary sale!  While Bo nor I are quite ready to take Katie for her first haircut, we knew that we had to find a way to keep her hair out of her face. It has grown so quickly and overnight it went from being cute to being a moppy mess, almost covering her eyes. After Julia raved about these tiny rubber bands, we ordered a pack and have been thrilled with how well they stay in Katie’s fine hair. The good news is that she seems to have less interest in pulling them out than the bows we were trying to use previously.

As Katie is now eating a lot more, we changed a few things in our diaper bag and changing table. After every change, we use A+D ointment as this has helped her stay comfortable and rash free. If she ever gets diaper rash, we swear by Triple Paste. It is more expensive but works very quickly on even though most painful diaper rash. We are still loving Pampers diapers and she is wearing size 4 in both Swaddlers and Swaddlers Overnight. The overnight diapers have worked very well for us as she is able to make it through the night without having a wet or dirty diaper wake her.

Transitioning Katie to solid foods has been really easy for us as she loves every food.  I still dedicate an hour or so each Sunday to prepping her food for the week so that Monday morning I’m able to send two lunch boxes of food for her to have at the nanny share. Here is an example of her meals this week:

  • Breakfast (enjoyed at home in her high chair) : fruit, scrambled eggs, avocado, homemade pumpkin spice Kodiak Cakes or 1/2 an english muffin with some peanut butter
  • Snacks: Bananas, Stonyfield Baby yogurt, apples, strawberries, Cabot cheddar cheese
  • Lunch & Dinner:
    • Spaghetti Squash/Rao’s Sauce/homemade chicken meatballs/broccoli
    • Leftover grilled chicken, corn cut off the cob, roasted green beans
    • Turkey sausage, steamed carrots, hummus
    • Banza pasta, homemade pesto, homemade chicken meatballs

Katie has access to a straw cup filled with water throughout the day and during lunch and dinner she has both water and whole milk.

During the day, Katie loves spending time at our neighborhood park. Just a month ago, our play was limited to the swings but now she is able to walk, climb and run to each of the areas in the smaller kid area, including the slide and ramp.  She is confident in her ability to play on her own, but we always have a close eye on her to ensure that she is safe around other kids. It took us a few park visits to teach her how to go down the slide on her own, but now she approaches the slide, cautiously looks around, and then sits down on her bottom before pushing herself down. It’s adorable to watch and her caution, when dealing with heights, is so similar to her parents, neither of whom love heights.  Over time we’ve become friendly with a few other local families who are often in the park at the same time, which makes it an enjoyable social time for both the kids and parents.  When she’s at home, she loves playing with her toy kitchen, “reading” books, blocks and her Little People toys. Our friend Amanda gave Katie this adorable stroller last two weeks ago and since then, she’s enjoyed pushing her puppy dogs all over the house. The stroller tends to be something she enjoys pushing around in the morning, upstairs, while we are getting dressed and ready for the day. Her other favorite past time is opening drawers and cupboards, doing her best to take everything out and then put it away again. Hopefully we can soon transfer this skill to her toy area.

Her schedule hasn’t evolved yet since she is still taking two solid naps per day.  Even though we have traveled a number of times in the past few months, we do our best to maintain this schedule, while knowing it won’t always be perfect. If we are traveling, she tends to fall asleep in her car seat if we’re in the car during her nap time, but on a plane she has yet to fall asleep in our lap at this older age.

  • 7:15 AM Wake and milk in straw cup
  • 7:30-8:00 Playtime
  • 8:00-8:15 Breakfast
  • 8:30 Nanny Share drop off
  • 9:15 -11:15 Morning Nap
  • 11:15 Morning Snack
  • 11:30 – 12:15 Playtime
  • 12:15 Lunch
  • 1:15 – 3:00 pm Nap
  • 3:-0-2:15 Playtime
  • 2:15 – 4 Afternoon Nap
  • 4:00 Afternoon snack (fruit, cheese, vegetable or carb)
  • 4:15-5:15 Playtime
  • 5:15 Dinner
  • 5:45 Pick up from nanny share
  • 5:55 – 6:30 Playtime at park or home depending on weather
  • 6:30-6:45 Calm playtime with books
  • 6:45 Bath time
  • 7:00 Milk in straw cup + reading/rocking
  • 7:15 Bed

While she still isn’t taking any stuffed animals into her crib, she sleeps with a pacifier and a few loveys. In fact, she has 3 Wubbanub pacifiers (giraffe, bear and elephant) in her crib at night as she randomly cuddled these when she was sick, more than eight months ago, and it became a habit. She seems to cuddle two of them and then use one when she is going to sleep. Most nights, according to her Nest camera, the pacifier drops out of her mouth once she falls asleep. Bo and I have talked about when we want or need to drop the pacifier but at this point, since our pediatrician said it isn’t an issue, we see no need to take it away yet.

Last but not least, we are making progress on the verbal front. We constantly talk to Katie, sharing details about our activities with her and asking her questions which she could easily answer. She surprises us with new words each day, but right now she is confidently saying 15-20 words including puppy, yes, no, mommy, up, dad, bath, hi, bye bye,  and words that sound like banana, bed, teddy, and toy.

I’m sure I forgot to mention a few things so if you have any questions, as always please feel free to email or leave a comment. In addition, if you want more frequent updates, I’m sharing lots on InstaStories and Instagram.

 

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A Successful Long Run

11 mile long run

Greetings from the other side of this morning’s long run!  While I’m thrilled to have the run done, I’m also glad that I have four more long runs before my goal half marathon. There were a lot of great things about this morning’s run, I hope to feel a little bit stronger each week. I’m also hoping that fall weather arrives in Brooklyn and STAYS because I am done with the heat and humidity. I am glad that I finally took time, before the run, to make sure I was set up for success. I’ll share those changes with you in a few, but first, let’s chat about the workout.

The directions for today’s workout were to run 11 miles, keeping the first 9 miles between 9:50-10:30 and then aiming to run 9:00 minute pace for the final two miles. Thanks to the below steps, I was able to hit all of the paces except for the goal pace of 9:00 for the final two. I’m not sure if it was the humidity, hills or where my body is in training but I couldn’t seem to get the final two miles below 9:40. I’m not letting this put me in a panic for race day since I know that I still have five weeks of training ahead of me and that while I’d love to break 2:00 hours for the upcoming half, right now my body and mind are enjoying the training and that is the best gift!

Since these few changes helped me start the run in a good spot physically and mentally, I thought it would be helpful to share some of the changes I made for this week’s long run that helped me have a good run.

  • Run on fresh legs. I stayed off my legs yesterday and enjoyed a complete rest day. While I did a bit of foam rolling and some stretches, I spent the rest of the day sitting at my desk working or relaxing on the couch. While some people prefer to take the day after a long run as a rest day, my body responds well to active recovery such as a spin class the day after a challenging run.
  • Lay out my gear the day before. Since my closet is in Katie’s nursery, many mornings I’ve realized last minute that SOMETHING was in my closet. I laid out my shoes, socks, shorts, sports bra, tank top, fuel, water bottle, Garmin and Apple Airpods downstairs so this morning all I had to do was come downstairs and get ready. While this may sound like a no-brainer, I’d overlooked this important step for my previous runs.
  • Give my pre-run breakfast and coffee time to digest. As soon as my alarm went off at 5:30 I dashed downstairs and drank a glass of water with NUUN and peanut butter toast. I spent the next forty-five minutes sipping coffee and reading the morning news before getting dressed. It felt so much better to head out for my run feeling fueled versus feeling like I head a heavy stomach. For the past few weeks I’ve been eating just 10 or 15 minutes before heading out for a run which doesn’t allow my food enough time to digest and hit my bloodstream. 
  • Do my pre-run stretches and warm-up. I know I’m not the only person who often shirks pre-run stretches and warm-up in favor of starting my run. Since I had so much time this morning, I took 2-3 minutes and did the full circuit which includes arm swings, leg swings, lunges and more.
  • Switch things up and listen to a mix of music and podcasts. I’ve been listening to podcasts for the past few long runs and while I enjoy them, I woke up this morning craving some of my pump up music. It was fun to start the run listening to my Spotify marathon playlist from 2015, filled with everything from Ludacris to Calvin Harris. When I refilled my water bottle at mile five I switched over to Lindsey Hein’s podcast. It was so fun to listen to my friend Charlie share her story and it felt like we were running together.
  • Run without stopping for lights and traffic.  I pushed through eleven miles of rolling hills today in order to avoid traffic and stoplights. While the hills left me exhausted, it was such a nice change of pace to zone out and run in the park. I felt safe the entire time since it was packed with runners training for fall races and the light along the lake was gorgeous during my first loop. Since the Brooklyn Half Marathon includes a loop of the park, I think I’ll do the rest of my long runs here!
  • Plan something fun. Last night Bo and I realized that the timing worked perfectly for he and Katie to meet me at the Prospect Park farmers market. For the last few miles I was dreaming of an iced coffee and pumpkin muffin that I knew I could buy there while perusing the stands.

pumpkin muffin

 

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