The ULTIMATE mom fail.

I knew it was bound to happen, but when it did, let me tell you, it was terrible. My sweet perfect little angel baby finally got hurt. And the worst part- it was my fault.

Macy was taking her morning nap and I was getting ready in my room. Our bedrooms are connected through a bathroom (Jack and Jill style) and I didn't want to get ready in the bathroom in case I woke her up. Instead I decided to get ready in my room, on the floor, in front of the mirrored closet doors. I curled my hair and did my make up , and once Macy woke up I quickly got up and got her bottle ready, brought her to my room and fed her. We were going to meet a friend for lunch so I was kind of in a rush. Once she was done with her bottle I put her down on the floor so I could get dressed. She loves to play in my make up and I just didn' think twice when she crawled that way. Honestly, I even forgot that my curling iron was still on. Before I knew it she screamed- a painful shrill- and when I looked down at her she was right by the iron. Many explicit thoughts ran through my mind- AHH oh my gosh shoot shoot shoot. I quickly scooped her up and assessed her hands, but I saw nothing. She literally only cried for less than 10 seconds and squirmed out of my arms so she could continue playing. After that I got her dressed and we headed out the door. I thought to myself "phew- that could have been bad!"

Once we were at my friend Lindy's house I told her how Macy must have quickly touched my curling iron, but luckily nothing happened. About 30 minutes later while we were eating Macy crawled toward Lindy and she gasped, "Ashley! I see it! Her burn.. it's bad!" I about choked on my chicken and quickly grabbed her and was devastated when I saw it. Her poor wrist was blistered and red. Yes, I am a pediatric nurse, yes, I am in NP school... No, I had no idea what to do. Burns are definitely not my specialty. I called my pediatrician and the nurse told me to just cover it with some Neosporin or Silvadine keep it wrapped and she should be fine.

This is what the burn looked like when I first noticed it. Absolutely broke my heart, she of course was fine.

Poor little blistered arm.

This is the burn the next evening. I thought that it looked better.

I took the above picture in to work with me on Friday and started asking some opinions. I ended up on the Burn Unit and spoke with the charge nurse who told me I need to bring her in "right away". They were only open until 1pm and weren't open again until Monday and I couldn't leave it untreated that long. Let me tell you, that was a blow- first I am a bad mom for letting it happen, second I am a bad mom for not bringing her in to get in treated! Ah! I was able to leave work and go pick her up and bring her back to the Burn clinic where the debride it and put on a medication that would help it heal better.

At her first doctor appointment in the burn clinic. She clearly was not phased!

Macy with her bandage. She ignored if for the first week, but then became increasingly obsessed with taking it off.

We went in again the following Monday and they were happy with the progress, told us to keep doing the same thing and come in again on Friday.

The burn after a couple of days of using Santyl.

On Friday they saw it and were very happy with her progress. Now we are just applying Eucerin and a dressing to keep her from playing with it.

I'm going to be just fine mom!

Macy was great at letting them do the dressing changes!

All in all it was a pretty terrible experience. I have never felt such pain in my heart before, and even though in the big picture her burn is minimal, I had a very hard time shaking the mommy guilt that came with it. Several seasoned moms have comforted me by saying how it happens to everyone and telling much scarier experiences they have had. It was an eye opener though can only pray that God keeps her safe from harm no matter where she is the rest of her life. I pray that I have the wisdom to help keep her safe and that I will always be the one who protects her, not harms her!

So there it is. My major mom fail experience. Lesson learned: TURN OFF YOUR CURLING IRONS WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH THEM. Something I have taken lightly, until now of course.

At the end of the day my sweet smiling energetic baby is going to be just fine and for that I am grateful. I just love her to pieces!

The Shamrock Run

Signing up for fun races is such good motivation to get my booty off the couch and work out. The Shamrock Run downtown Indianapolis is actual 4 miles, which was a fun challenge, especially since the furthest I've ran since I have been back to working out is 3 miles. Actually to think of it, I am pretty sure I have  not ran more than 3 miles in over 2 years!

I only ran 3 times to prep for the race -but all of my other workouts have helped tremendously! Between spinning and HIIT workouts on the treadmill my pace and endurance have endured vastly- even better than what I was running before I had Macy... Yay!

My brother Tracy signed up with us, and since we also did the Drumstick Dash on Thanksgiving together, we've decided to make it our mission to run a race on every holiday! Seems like a great tradition to me.

The city was buzzing with green attire, silly outfits, and plenty of green beer and Irish music to go around. Great motivation/distraction to keep me going for the 4 miles. My friends Janet and Lisa also did the race and I was excited to have some running buddies because Kyle and my brother both are much MUCH faster than me. Kyle ran in less than 32 minutes- crazy town! I came in at exactly 40 minutes, which was good for me! When I first started running after Macy my pace was around 11:15. So to run at 10min/mil for 40 minutes is definitely an improvement.



Kyle and I with my brother, Tracy, before the Drumstick Dash -love our new tradition!

3 of us ready for the Shamrock Run

The hubs and I right before we started

The crazy packed start line



About 2.5 miles in. I loved running towards the city.

After the race fun! We did it!

Auntie Carol stayed behind to hang out with Macy girl while we ran

Our Midtown friends that ran it too.

Next up: Race for the Cure and thinking about doing the Women's Half Marathon!

Yummy Eats

We all know the key to weight management starts with what you eat. In the past when I have lost weight I did it more so by calculating calories in/calories out. How those calories were consumed (pizza, apples, Lean Cuisine) didn't matter. And at the time it worked. However, the older I get the more I am considered with being healthy and wanting to fuel my body with more nutrients and less processed yucky stuff. Also, when I stopped counting calories the weight would come right back on. Now I don't count calories at all, instead I just fuel my body with the stuff it needs.

Other's blogs and Pinterest have been my two main sources for yummy ideas on what to eat, recipes, and more. For me, being prepared is what keeps me on track. So I must constantly have ready-to-eat yummy healthy items available at all times. To be honest, its exhausting. There was nothing I hated more a couple months ago than going to the grocery store. Now I have to go every week. I also hated cooking and packing my lunch before bed- but I knew that being healthy would come with more work, and in the end it is so worth it!

Sundays are my favorite time to food prep and if I don't have time to do it then, I usually try to when I can on Tuesdays.

Below are some of my favorite eats so:



Egg whites with lean breakfast turkey sausage and fruit



Yummy delicious No Bake Energy Balls



Pesto Quinoa Salad



Skinny Chicken Salad: Traditional chicken salad recipe but substitute mayo for plain nonfat Greek yogurt



Taco chili (made with ground turkey) found on Pinterest



Got to love a taco salad! Made with ground turkey and reduced sodium taco seasoning.
Homemade guac (the easy way): 2 avocados, 1 lime, 1 container of fresh pico de gallo, and salt and pepper to taste




"Salsa Chicken" Just baked chicken breast with salsa on top. So easy! Served with fiesta lime rice

Egg muffins- also so easy! Egg whites, veggies, lean turkey bacon or sausage. Bake at 350 degrees for 25min.



Chicken tortilla soup in the crock pot. Sliced avocado on top instead of cheese.
1lb shredded chicken (I just put in frozen breasts and shredded at the end), 1 large can whole tomatoes,1 can enchilada sauce, 1can black beans, 1 10oz package of corn, 1 small can green chiles, 1 can chicken broth, medium onion, 2 cloves garlic, 2 cups water, 1 tsp of: cumin, chili powder, salt. I threw it all in the crock pot for about 7 hours. It was delish!



Stuffed Peppers -cheese for the hubby, none for me.



Grilled chicken, asparagus and mashed cauliflower "potatoes". Not going to lie- the cauliflower was not my favorite! Still searching for a good recipe.



Spaghetti squash and ground turkey marina- one of my all time faves! Spaghetti squash is so dang easy. I cut it in half, put one of the halves in a microwave safe bowl with a touch of water and cover with saran wrap. Then zap it for 10 minutes. Take it out and fork out the squash- viola! I do it again with the other half (only 1 side fits in the microwave at a time). 



Yummy delicious "bean soup". I literally threw a couple of things together one day and it was SO YUMMY!
I shredded a rotisserie chicken, added 32 oz reduced sodium chicken broth, a can of: white beans, kidney beans and rotel tomatoes. And then add 1 tbsp of cumin, chili powder, and garlic. Let it simmer then add 4 big handfuls of fresh spinach in the end.


I am still finding recipes each week to add the list. Of course there are more that I have made but these have been my favorite so far. What I look for is: is it A- easy and B- tasty. If it meets both of those requirements than I call it a success!

The New Normal

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