Meow!

I'm looking forward to spending lots of time with my baby this weekend.

Cowtown Weather on my Mind and Bedtime Fussing

Tomorrow morning is Cowtown! I’m excited and a little nervous. I have no idea what to expect as far as my running time. It would be great if I could finish at 1 hour and 5 minutes, but I’m not sure that’s a realistic goal at this time. I’m also concerned about weather conditions. Apparently, an arctic front is coming through, tonight. The high tomorrow is 50.

Have I ever mentioned I hate running in cold and windy conditions? Well, I do! I wouldn’t consider 50 to be that cold, but the race starts early. It will be cold enough to wear gloves, which reminds me, I really need some.

I was looking forward to taking Cheyenne, but it might be too cold. My mom and Natasha are coming into town, so if it’s chilly, she can stay behind with them. Amy and her family are also thinking about coming, if so, we will have a full house.

About Last Night….
We had a little episode with Cheyenne. Every night, I put her down at 8 pm and she falls to sleep within minutes. Well, last night she decided she wanted to make her own schedule. I tried feeding her, rocking, her burping her, I even took her blanket off, thinking that she might be too hot. Trey took over and used one of those nose bulbs and sucked her snot out and that seemed to do the trick. He’s so good with her! She ended up going to bed at 9:30 pm an hour and a half later than her normal bedtime. She didn’t make a peep the rest of the night. She really is an easy going-happy-loving-sweet-baby girl.

I can be thankful that….
Since returning to work, I haven’t had an episode like that in middle of the night.

Tummy Time Buddies

Cadence with her wild hair and Cheyenne with her bald self.
Cheyenne looks so reserved with her hands like that.

So, I showed Trey how to add movies to our Netflix que and I think he got carried away. According to him, Netflix has a good selection of football games. Great! I can't wait to receive the 2007 Boise State Bowl Game. So, glad I upgraded to 2 DVD's at a time.

Cheyenne Always Has a Spot on the Recliner

It's kind of an unspoken thing, but the recliner is reserved for Trey. It's okay, I prefer to sit on the sofa, not a cold leather recliner, but on a few occassions I have wanted to sit there and that's when Trey gets a little territorial. So, when I see him with Cheyenne on the recliner, it makes me smile. I love watching them interact.


So, yesterday Cheyenne and I went for a 2 and a half mile run. By the way, she looked so cute, she had her sunglasses on again and she just stared at me and occasionally smiled. When we got back, I jumped on the elliptical. I thought it was an easy workout, but this morning I woke up sore. It's been a long time, since I've been sore from exercising. I'm thinking it might be because my body is accustomed to running and now that I'm back to cross training my body is like Woman, what are you doing to me?

I really want to focus on running, but at the same time I realize that if I don't incorporate other activities like biking, walking, elliptical training etc, I'm more susceptible to injury. It's just hard to do those things, when all I want to do is run. Maybe if I bike that will encourage Trey to join me. Oh wait, then who's gonna watch the baby? Hmm. Things are very different now that we're parents.

So, this weekend I watched Sprit of the Marathon with Trey. I was so excited because I was hoping it would motivate him to start running. How great would that be to go running with my husband. I must've been dreaming, because about the only thing that movie motivated him to do was to go to sleep. Yes, 30 minutes into the documentary he passed out. He later laughed at the notion of running. Sunday, we ran maybe 40 yards together and he said his legs were going to fall off. Really?

The documentary was great. I'd recommend it for anyone who has ever ran a marathon or anyone who ever inspires to run one.

On a side note, it's Tuesday and tonight I'm staying home. Yay!

The Swaddle is the Secret to a Restful Night

Cheyenne is still doing great on her sleeping schedule. Even though she’s 3 months, I’m still swaddling her. Since she was a newborn, I’ve been using the same lotion and fleece material at bedtime. So, she can associate the lavender scent and the touch of fleece with night time sleeping. I think it’s done wonders, not to mention the tight swaddle.

Since she’s moving more, I tuck a receiving blanket like a belt across the crib. Sunday morning, I found her like this. She managed to move her body from 12 and 6 o’clock to 9 and 3 o’clock. This morning she did the same thing.

Yesterday, Trey and I went walking around the neighborhood. It was so beautiful, but really bright.
Well, I told myself I wasn’t going to run at all this weekend because Cowtown is only a few days away. I planned on cross training on the elliptical, which I did, but on top of that I ended up running. Oh, well…I tried.

Sunday, Cheyenne and I had an afternoon baby shower to attend. The shower was at the church, so instead of driving there, I loaded the gift in the baby jogger and we and logged a few miles. It was wonderful!

How Cute Is This

Chatting, Farting, Burping, and More

Reevaluating Our Weekdays

Okay. After talking it over, we’ve decided to stop attending Tuesday night cell group. We thought we could make it work, but with our schedules it’s just not happening.

I honestly, wanted to make it work, I guess to prove to myself that I can do it all and do it well, but the truth is, I can’t and I won’t. So, instead of stressing myself out Tuesday nights and Wednesday mornings, Trey and I will find another group that meets on Sunday’s.

Much better. AWWWWWWWWWW.

Its crazy because it turns out; Cheyenne is more adaptable than I am. She’s a real trooper. Maybe she has more of Trey’s personality, after all. Wow, I just can’t win, she looks like him and she thinks like him :) Wait till you see the video I got of her farting like him. Oh, he must be so proud.

Blue Jean Baby

There have been a lot of firsts lately. One of those being Cheyenne's first pair of blue jeans. Seeing her in jeans makes me want sing Elton John’s song, “blue jean baby...”


Last night I was giving Cheyenne a bath and she started giggling. I can’t describe the feeling I got, hearing that precious laugh. I started yelling for Trey, but by the time he got to us, she gave me a look similar to this one. Staring off into space……..


Oh, I love her so much!


Trey thought it would be cute to place her on the pillows


Cheyenne has started to drool. Great. I hope she's not one of those babies that starts teething early.

Well, yesterday after we wore miss thing out, we went out and invested in a living room rug. We're so paranoid about the hard surface for her. We would feel different, if we had carpet, but in a house of wood floor and tile, what do you expect?

Since I'm on the topic, Trey told me, "I think we're good parents, we haven't dropped her yet." My response was, "What do you mean YET?!" I guess he said that because it seems like everyone we know, has a story about how they dropped their kid, at least once. I'll be the first to admit, I accidentally dropped my little sister, when she was a few months old. I know it's horrible! Well, she ended up being okay, so now it's something I can tease her about. Sister love.

Another floor/drop story:
Yesterday, Liz came over to visit and she brought over her son, this was before we got the rug. I'm not sure how old he is, but I'm guessing he's under 2 years of age. Anyways, we were just visiting and all of a sudden he fell off of our couch and hit the wood floor. Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. Luckily, he was okay.

So, glad we have a rug now!

Weekend with the Grandparents

We had a great weekend. Trey's parents came into town to visit. When they got in Friday, we decided to stay in, watch a movie, and eat pizza.

Netflix is coming in handy. I like it so much I ended up upgrading our plan. I also enjoy the feature of watching movies online. I've already watched 3 online movies. More than I've seen on actually DVD.

Since the Grandparents were in town, Saturday morning, I decided to take advantage of it and snuck out, by myself, for a long run. I told Trey I was going running, but I didn't tell him which route I was taking, mainly because I hadn't decided. Serena, told me about this amazing trail a few miles from our house, so I went out looking for it. Once I found it, I didn't get a chance to actually run it because I knew Trey was getting worried. So, I turned around and headed home. My run lasted an hour and 25 minutes. When I finally made it home, Trey was like, where were you? Why didn't you take your phone? I felt bad for not giving him any details before I headed out. Next time, I will make sure somebody knows where I'm at. Common sense, I know.

Later that afternoon, all of us ventured out to The Hillsboro outlet mall. Thanks to the grandparents, Cheyenne did most of the shopping.

Once we got back into town, Trey's parents encouraged us to go out for Valentine's day, while they stayed in and watched Cheyenne. It's hard for us to find oppurtunities like that, since we don't have family in town, to watch her. It was nice of them to do that, while we had some alone time. Trey and I ended up at Pappa's Burgers. The wait there was nothing. I guess everybody else decided to go out to fancy resturants. Hey, a burger on Valentine's Day is alright with me.

Here are some pictures we took before the grandparents left town.

Trey thought it would be cute to have her feet propped up.


Is it just me or is her hair turning red?


This girl loves the camera.


And she knows when to turn it on.


She's so cute, I just want to eat her up.

Bumper Pads Will Come in Handy

Instead of making Cheyenne's bedding, my mom decided to purchase this set. It's pretty and girly, just like Cheyenne.


It's perfect timing because last week, Cheyenne decided to turn over and she needs the bumper pads so she won't smack her head against the wood.

Yeah, last week, I had just changed her diaper, so I put her on her tummy in the crib. I left her in there, while I went to wash my hands and when I got back she was turned over on her back. She hasn't turned over since then, but the next time, I hope I'm around to see it.


She's probably thinking, "It's not time to go to bed." I only put her in her crib at night. So, far I haven't really used her crib when she naps. I wanted to establish her crib as night time sleeping, not short nap sleeping. It seems to be working, especially since she's sleeping good at night. So, now, that she seems to have made the association, I will probably start laying her in the crib for naps.

Sort of Kind of in a Deep-Sleep-But I'm still Half Awake-Sleep

We are starting to get in our groove. Between work, weekends, and weekly activities, I finally feel like we have a good system going. A big part of that is because Cheyenne has started sleeping through the night (I hope I didn’t just jinx us, by putting it out there).

Getting up in the middle of the night was never exhausting for me, but I do appreciate it now that she’s finally getting the idea that she shouldn’t be awake at nighttime…I just wish my body would adjust to this new schedule. Perhaps in a few days, my body will get the clue, in the meantime, I’ll be in that sort of kind of deep sleep-but I’m still half awake and ready to wake up at any moments notice----sleep.

From what I hear and see in this picture, Cheyenne is doing great at Leah’s. A few days ago, Leah said she glanced over and saw Timothy (her son) and Cheyenne snuggled up on the sofa. Lately, Cheyenne only knows one facial expression and your looking at it: wide eye baby.

In the last couple of weeks, I think I’m learning more and more that Cheyenne and I are very similar. Like me, she seems to do well on a loose schedule. We may have things or events pop up, that are not part of our regular schedule, but as long as we have a little bit of consistency in the day, we’re good.

Recently, we joined a new cell group (similar to a bible study), which meets once a week. I should also mention it’s during the weekday. Yeah, as if waking up super early, working 10 hour shifts and commuting to and from work aren’t enough in a day, we have one more thing to add.

Well, last night, was our first meeting and at first, I was hesitant to commit, but Cheyenne did great, so I guess we’ll be okay. She was awake the entire time and she didn’t need to be soothed with a pacifier. I’m sure the reason why she couldn’t sleep was because she was too busy exploding in her diaper. Somewhere between the group prayer and worship time, she let out some loud, long, juicy, wet farts! All I have to say is she doesn’t get that from her mom. She can get away with it now, but if she’s still doing this at age 16, we might need to get her some help.

So, back to what I was saying, once we got home, I was going to put her to bed, but Trey said we shouldn’t change her bath time schedule. He’s right, so I gave her a bath, like I do every night and then put her to bed. After last night, I feel better knowing that as long as we throw in some of her regular routine we shouldn’t have any problems changing the rest of her schedule around, from time to time.

Bounce in my Run

This afternoon, I was feeling well enough to go for a run. Cheyenne joined me and I put a few miles on the Merrells.


The Merrells are surprisingly bouncy. It was kind of nice. The only complaint I have are concerning the shoeslaces. I only ran a few miles and I had to retie them 3 times! But then again this sounds like user error. Trey usually reminds me before a race to double tie my laces.

This is where I usually do the most damage to my shoes. We'll see how these hold out.


Trey's shoes look similar, only he has the orange color ones. I like my purple color shoes. They are ACU purple.

Merrell Product Feedback

Chad, who is an old friend of mine from way back in middle school, now works as a Tech Representative for Merrell, a shoe company. He knows I love to run so he sent me a complementary pair and asked me to give him some product feedback.

After communicating with him, it sounds like they are marketing towards a Runner’s World type of audience. RW is a running magazine. So, I’m pleased he thought to ask for my feedback.

I read Baby Steps, a blog by Lisa Jhung. She is a contributor to Runner’s World. She is about 7 months post partum, so I feel like I can relate to her as a mother and runner. It’s not uncommon for her to mention how some company sent her some cool product to test, whether it be shoes or clothes. I always thought, how fun would that be and now I get to do it (on a much smaller scale, but nonetheless).

Last night, I tried on the new shoes and I have to say they feel pretty stiff, not starch stiff, but stable…which is good because my Brooks are the same way. Other than that, I can’t really go into much detail until I get some miles in. Who knows, if they work out, I may prefer to run the 10K in them.

Trey even got a pair. If anybody can give honest feedback it’s Trey, so I can’t wait to see what he thinks of them.

Something to Fill the Time

Now that football season is over, I'm considering subscribing to Netflix. When there isn't any football on the tube, Trey and I usually go through our DVR playlist and catch up on recordings. Since we've started pizza night Friday's, it would be nice to watch a movie instead of satellite. For the past 2 years, I've been checking out movies from the library. The Ft. Worth library actually has a pretty decent selection, but I'm usually at the mercy of what's available.

Most of my co-workers subscribe to Netflix and rave about the service. The plans are super affordable and they have a plethera of movie selections. They have a documentary I've been dying to see, Spirit of the Marathon.

Initially, I'm going to sign up for the free trial and then go from there, but do any of you have any recommendations of which plan to sign up for. I think I'm leaning towards 2 DVD's out at a time. I can watch an artsy fartsy movie and Trey can get an action flick and everyones happy.

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In other news, I got new running shoes! I'm super excited and can't wait to go for my first run in them. I'll post some pictures later. Also, just when I started to feel better, yesterday I developed a cough. Grrrrr....So, it may be a few days before I'm healthy enough to go running. I don't want to relapse.

Under the Weather

No, it's too early in the year for me to be sick.

This all started Saturday morning before the 5K. I kept thinking, I'm going to get better and I carried on with life as usual. Since Saturday, I've ran 11 miles and I think pushing my body like that wasn't very smart. Now, I'm at home with a sore throat and stuffy nose.

I'm thankful that Cheyenne slept good last night. She did the same thing a while back, when I had a clogged duct and had the chills. That was not fun either.

So, this morning, Trey took Cheyenne over to Leah's, so I can work from home and rest. Fortunately, I don't have any pressing deadlines this week. I was suppose to record a Distance Site class, but someone filled in for me. Podcasting this year has improved compared to last year. It seemed like last year we were in a test phase. Also, troubleshooting students questions via email and over the phone is much better.

Okay, I need to get back to work and back to resting.

Personal Quilt

A few ladies at our church, made Cheyenne this quilt. I think she likes it.










Oh, my throat hurts, but I still plan on going to work. Whatever I have, I think I got it from Trey.

Lake ------ 5K

Overall Finished 170 out of 294 runners
In my age group I placed 6 out of 9
Chip Time 33:59.6
Gun Time 34:40.7
Pace Per Mile 10:56

Race day weather was around 45 degrees so, it wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. I started the race with a hoodie and crossed the finish line with it around my waist. I was HOT, HOT, HOT!

I feel alright about my time. Before the race, Trey asked me what time I was aiming for and I said around 40 minutes. My personal record is 28 mins for a 5K, but that was before I had a baby. I'm only 2 months post partum so I'm not beating myself up for not finishing under 30. 11 minutes a mile pace isn't too bad in my book.

Well, the race was right down the street from our house, less than 2 miles away. So, it was nice discovering a new running route. I'll probably start running that route from the house to the lake, in the weeks ahead. It should be an easy 5 miles, 6 if I push it, which I should... in order to get ready for Cowtown this month. I found out, Sierenna and Gabe are walking/jogging the Cowtown 5K, so I'm glad I have friends participating. Last year, I didn't know anyone there.

Well, we ended up taking Cheyenne Saturday morning. She did fine. My sister bought her one of those overall fleece suits. I call them overall sacks. We dressed her in that, threw a hat, and a blanket on her and she was good to go.


Cheyenne really likes her baby jogger. The other stroller we used, she would always go to sleep in, but with this one she's pretty good about staying awake. Yesterday, before we had our super bowl party, we went for an easy 3 miler around the house and she stayed awake for 2 miles of it.


Trey overexposed the race pictures because he didn't see the camera was set on Manual mode. Oh, well.




On a side note, Miss Cheyenne slept through the night. Here lately, she's been sleeping through every other night.