From 5k to Marathon

Wordless Wednesday: Chef Harper

Danielle — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:54:36 +0000

aka Yoda ears

Wordless Wednesday: Out for a walk

Danielle — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:41:01 +0000

Hoppy Easter!

Danielle — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 12:54:58 +0000

Hoppy Easter, friends! Enjoy today with your friends and loved ones.

Cherish the small blessings in life

Danielle — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:06:17 +0000

It’s so easy to get caught up in everyday life that sometimes I forget how special the little blessings can be. Things are certainly not all roses over here. In fact, the last three months have been some of the most difficult that I’ve experienced in my short time on this Earth and they certainly won’t be my last. But life always has ups and downs and not everything makes sense or turns out the way that I want it to. It’s not my plan, so why should it? Perhaps that is the most difficult thing to accept.

One thing that has really helped is to cherish the small blessings that life has given me instead of focusing on what it hasn’t.

Enjoy each and every little moment. Celebrate them. Live for them.

Life is too short to be waiting for the BIG things to happen when the small things happen every day.

What small blessing are you celebrating today?

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

Danielle — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 19:32:16 +0000

Carl and I don’t usually do anything big and exciting for St. Patty’s Day but this year is a little different. While we still won’t be drinking green beer or eating corned beef and cabbage we are spending it with our family since we made the quick trip home to see Carl’s uncles who are in town with their families. It’s been a few years since we’ve seen then so I’m thankful that we are able to be here.

There is laughter and love all around, despite some of the difficult and sad conversations that are also going on.

One thing is for sure, this little one brightens up everyone’s day! Have a great one and hug the ones you love.

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A button and a zipper

Danielle — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:44:01 +0000

For the last seven or eight months every piece of clothing I wore had some kind of elastic waistband to it.

Many women that I talked to loved this part of pregnancy but I couldn’t wait to wear a pair of jeans with a zipper and a button again.

When I was four weeks post-partum I made the mistake of trying on my largest pair of jeans-they were too small. Like super tight in the thighs and a good three or four inches from zipping up. Nice.

I immediately sent a text message to Hilary lamenting the size of my giant ass and she assured me that it is totally normal to still be wearing maternity clothes several weeks after giving birth. I wiped the tears off of my face and decided to wait a few more weeks before trying again.

Yesterday was the day but instead of trying on those jeans (which I still don’t think will fit) I decided to go buy a new pair to fit my new body. This may seem silly, to spend money on clothes when I’m working on not wearing them for long, but it makes me feel so much better about myself if the clothes that I am wearing make me feel good. Even if I don’t like the size.

Yay for zippers and buttons!

Cleared

Danielle — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:44:14 +0000

Yesterday was my six week post-partum check up.

I have to admit that I was a little nervous about the appointment because I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was fine, which is more than I can say for the last two times I was in the office because of complications with my c-section incision (again another story for another time).

The doctor checked out my scar, talked to me about some lady stuff and then said the words I’ve been waiting to hear for what felt like the last nine months, “You are cleared for all physical activity.” I almost shed a tear; I can run again! It was music to my ears!

Obviously I’m not about to go out and run a marathon or anything (yet!), but today I did lace up my running shoes and go for a nice long walk. Only this time my view was a little different when I looked down. Instead of seeing just my feet, I saw a stroller handle too.

Instead of going out by myself or with friends, I was with my daughter.

My daughter. It still brings a smile to my face when I say that.

So even though I’m a few weeks away from strapping on my shoes and going for a run, I’ll get there.

And you know you’ll read all about it.

Hello little one

Danielle — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:13:48 +0000

Have you ever had so much to say that you really have no idea where to start? I mean, obviously you start at the beginning, but I guess that’s not really what I’m trying to say.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m not even sure how to talk about the amazingness (yes, I’m considering that a word) that has turned our lives upside down, inside out, backwards and forwards all at the same time. The amazingness that brings me to tears, takes my breath away and completely melts my heart. The amazingness that makes me want to be a better person and change the world.

Hello, little one.

She is the amazingness that has squeaked, squealed and smiled (I swear it’s not gas) her way into my heart like I never imagined.

I spent almost nine months wondering and dreaming about what it would be like to meet her, see what she looked like and how I would be as her mother.

I took bets as to when people thought she’d arrive and make a fourth to our family (we can’t leave out Bradley) and if she’d make it before Christmas.

I think we were all surprised when she arrived a week early, on December 15th at 6:08 am after a five hour labor that ended in a c-section because she was breech. Surprise! But that story, my friends, is for another day.

Welcome to the world, Harper Ann.

Adventures in Stroller Purchasing

Danielle — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:31:47 +0000

**Somehow I don’t think this ever posted…

After my baby shower last weekend we finally decided to go ahead and order the Baby Jogger City Mini with the incredibly generous BRU gift card that my friends gave us. You all know that we’ve gone back and forth trying to decide on a stroller so it was a big moment for us. I swear you’d think this was a HUGE decision instead of just a stroller but we really wanted to make sure that we were making the right choice – and really until she’s here and we are using the stroller who knows if it is really the best choice. However, right now WE LOVE IT!

It arrived only two days after we ordered it and I was lucky enough to greet Mr. UPS man as he delivered it. I put it inside the door since I was talking to my mom on the phone when I realized that Carl had just gotten home from work. It was lovely outside so I chatted with mom for a little while longer and when I came inside just a few minutes later Carl already had the stroller together.

In our excitement we decided to take it outside for a test drive and see how it fit in our CR-V. I’m sure we got a few looks as we walked down the sidewalk, me with my clearly pregnant belly and an empty stroller but I didn’t care.

Check out all of the room we still have back there! I still swear by the folding mechanism – easiest one E-V-E-R and makes me smile each time I fold it up. Yes, I’m a dork and I don’t care

I also went ahead and bought the car seat adaptor and after some minor adjustments and a few swear words later we got everything all hooked up.

We love it!

Week 38: All Things Baby!

Danielle — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:29:47 +0000

How big is baby?

Harper is the length of a leek!

From babycenter.com:

Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she’s over 19 1/2 inches long. She has a firm grasp, which you’ll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

Wondering what color your baby’s eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she’s born with brown eyes, they’ll likely stay brown. If she’s born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she’s 9 months old. That’s because a child’s irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she’s born, but they usually won’t get “lighter” or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

This week we had a mad dash to continue getting things ready for Harper. Carl ran what felt like a million errands while I stayed home “resting”. Oh Lord, this was definitely difficult sending him out with my lists of things to buy and look at but he was such a trooper. I know I’ve said before that Carl is such a wonderful man and husband and how thankful I am to have him as a partner, but these last few weeks I know without out a doubt that I am truly blessed.

While Carl was running errands I was at home doing what felt like a million loads of baby clothes and organizing them in drawers and bins, having no idea what was going to fit our little girl once she arrived. So many people told us we wouldn’t need newborn clothes that most of the time babies are too big for them, so I kept that in mind when I organized everything (oh how wrong this would be, but we wouldn’t find that out until next week, lol!).

When I wasn’t organizing or washing clothes I was working on my pregnancy book, which I still haven’t finished but will soon! I decided to use mypublisher.com and create a book out of all of these “All Things Baby” posts so that I would remember what my pregnancy journey was like. I have no idea if we’ll have more than one child (although if you ask me today I’d say “hell no!”) so I wanted to make sure that Harper knew what it was like to be pregnant with her, not to mention that I’ll enjoy the memories once I’m even farther removed from being pregnant.

This week my hips began to hurt while I was sleeping and I was getting up more and more frequently to go to the bathroom. I also found myself out of breath a lot more and going up and down the stairs in our townhouse was quite a feat!

I also noticed that some new stretch marks on my belly and hips decided to make their appearance in the 11th hour. Lovely. Ah well, they’ll fade over time.

We’re almost there!