Mommy getaway: Girls weekend in California

Last weekend I was able to take some "me time" and go visit my sweet friend Katie who lives in Hermosa Beach, aka paradise, right outside of LA. My bff Cassy is a teacher and was going for her spring break, so we decided to make a girls trip out of it.

The thought of leaving Macy for almost 4 days was a little overwhelming. Between school, work and family, taking a 4 day weekend is not as easy as it once was. But I knew it would be so worth it to get good quality time in with my two of my closest girlfriends, and the ocean view was just an added bonus.

Thursday morning as I was leaving the house for the airport I got a little choked up thinking about Macy, and "what if she forgets about me" -silly thoughts, I know. I snuck in her room super early and gave her a smooch before I headed out the door. My sweet amazing husband was very supportive of my trip and is such a great daddy so that was never a stress of mine. I knew she was in perfect hands.

I got in to LAX around 10am and Cassy picked me up from the airport. Katie had to work until 3:30 that afternoon so we had the day to go and explore. We went to Santa Monica Pier to do some sight seeing and have lunch, then headed to Beverly Hills and Robertson Blvd for some shopping and possible celebrity spotting (no luck, this time!)

The famous Santa Monica Pier

Cassy and I

Yummy margaritas to celebrate our trip!

All I could think of was "Troop Beverly Hills" -love that movie!

After we picked Katie up from work we headed to her place in Hermosa and relaxed and got cleaned up. I loved being able to catch up with friends and have uninterrupted girl time. Later we headed out to a wine tasting just down the street from her place, then out to dinner at Frito Misto, the best little Italian restaurant ever! Katie literally lives on the main strip in Hermosa with tons of amazing little restaurants and boutiques. Lucky girl!

Wine Tasting before dinner

Seriously the best place ever

After dinner we went to a bar to support Katie's friend, Mel, who was having a fundraiser. Mel is a cool roller derby chick and we went to this place that had a band that was playing hard core heavy metal, I mean HEAVY metal. It was quite an interesting experience to say the least. But we had a blast because we were with each other!

Us with Katie's friend, Mel.

Blurry pic- but a shot of Katie and Cassy doing their best hair banger impression to go along with the music.

The next morning I woke up early dying to get out and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. I wanted to go for a run, which Katie quickly obliged, but Cassy wasn't so much of a fan of that idea. That girl HATES to run. And me, being the mean friend that I am, thought I could coerce her in to loving it. We laced up and headed outside and I told her we had to run for a straight 7 minutes then we could go into 1 minute intervals. I was cracking up at all her huffing and puffing but we did it and we ended our run up the Hermosa pier. I had a runners high without hardly running - I think it was more of an "ocean breeze high".

Afterwards it was Katie's turn to convince us to try something new -juicing. I was on board because I love to make smoothies in the morning, but I'm not going to lie, I didn't LOVE it. It seems like a lot of work and a lot of waste. But Katie loves it and its great for her and her hubby - so I am glad they get something out of it.

Proud of her juicing skills

After that we got ready and headed out the door. I really wanted to go to the The Grove in LA, which is a shopping center AND where they film the TV show Extra. Shopping and a chance to see a celebrity? Count me IN!

Group shot at The Grove.

As soon as we walked in from the parking garage we spotted the set of Extra and Maria Menounos (who is beautiful by the way) walked right up to us to say hi and said "you girls look so cute". She was great!

The gorgeous Maria Menounos

After lunch and shopping Mario Lopez finally made his appearance, but was too busy working to get a picture with us. He is surprisingly a very petite in person. I always imagined him being stocky because he is so muscular. He is also very very pretty.

Mario Lopez hard at work

After we were shopped out we headed over to the Getty Center, which is an amazing place filled with awesome art and landscaping. You could seriously spend HOURS there but we were so exhausted so we opted for a quick tour of the grounds and art-teacher-Cassy was excited to check out some Van Gogh paintings.

The Getty

On a balcony at the Getty overlooking all of the LA area

After the  museum we were ready for a nap! One thing I must point out, is the traffic in the LA area is INSANE. Even though your destination might only be 8 miles away, it will take a minimum of 45 minutes to get there, to get anywhere! As someone who lives and works within a mile of each other, this was hard for me to handle. Anyways, we finally got back to Katie's to take a nap and eat our yummy leftovers. Mmmm. Eventually we got up and got ourselves ready, which is one of my most favorite things to do. I always say since there won't be any sick people in heaven I won't need to be a nurse so I will do my other calling- hair and make up! We went out in Hermosa and had a blast dancing all night. There was one bar that we went to that was absolutely packed except for the dance floor (silly people). So we spent a good 2 hours jamming out to everything from the early 90's to today. It was so fun!

Glammed up and ready for a night out!

The dancing KILLED my feet so I opted for a pedicab to take me a couple blocks.

The next morning we got up and walked to the cutest place for breakfast - with an ocean view of course. We rested for awhile then headed over to the neighboring beach, Manhattan Beach, for some shopping and sight seeing. I will have to say, of all of the places I have been in the LA area during both of my trips, Hermosa is by far my favorite. It is smaller but still has plenty to do. I am so jealous Katie gets to LIVE there!

Walking to breakfast. I could get used to this.

Manhattan Beach pier

We eventually made our way to the beach and had a late lunch/picnic in the sand. We just laid around and read and relaxed by the ocean for about 2 hours. It was bliss!

Picnic on the beach

Reading with an ocean view

We ended Saturday by eating some yummy sushi, getting frozen yogurt, and calling it an early night.
Luckily our travel back to Indy on Sunday went quickly, because I could not WAIT to get home and squeeze and kiss my baby girl! I am so grateful for my husband who encouraged this trip and was excited for me to have some time to get away. Even with all of the other responsibilities I had at home waiting for me, I was still able to take some time out and catch up with my friends and RELAX. I definitely encourage all mothers, students, co workers, wives, and any wearer of many hats to take time for yourself every once in awhile. I know I sure enjoyed it!

10 Months of Macy

Let the countdown to having a one year old begin! The 10 month mark has kicked me in to full "1st birthday party planning mode" (which helps distract me from the sadness that my baby is growing up so fast)!

As always, Macy Jane has continued to amaze me this month with her ability to learn new things and continually grow in her skills. Her smile lights up any room she is in and we can't go anywhere with out people stopping us to tell us how beautiful our baby is. Swoon. As every mom feels, I truly feel so blessed and lucky we got such a sweet easy going blue eyed baby! Praise the Lord!

10 Month Stats:

March 24, 2013

Weight: Didn't weigh her, but I would guess about 21 lbs

 

Height: Long!

 

Loves to stand her shoes.

Diaper size: Officially moved up to size 4

 

Clothing size: 12-18 months for this long baby

 

Feeding/Sleeping: Sad to say, but the 2 2 hour naps a day are starting to dwindle in to 2 1ish hour naps a day. I am having a harder time adjusting to that than she is because I still feel like she NEEDS to be sleeping more. She is still sleeping like a champ at night and has pushed her wake up time to 8-8:30 (holla!) As far as feeding goes she has started to despise being fed baby food. She wants to feed herself and always wants whatever we are eating. That can be challenging when we are lazy and just order out so I have been doing my best at having fruits and vegetables and shredded chicken stocked in the house at all times for her. When we are out and about she will eat baby food out of a squeeze packet so that helps. Its so fun to watch her try new foods!

 

Happy girl feeding herself

Milestones: She has definitely mastered the "pincer grasp" and has TAKEN HER FIRST STEPS! She is cruising around on her feet while scaling furniture, but her main means of transportation is definitely crawling still.
 

 

Loves: To be on the GO! She is happiest when she can be on the move, exploring her surroundings. Little momma is a busy body. She also loves to take stuff out of whatever it is in. For example, she loves to empty her drawers or take everything out of the diaper bag. Another thing she loves, that she has always loved, is burying her face into anything that is soft, like a stuffed animal or soft blanked. It is probably the cutest thing ever.

 

Dislikes: To be held when there is crawling and exploring to accomplish. Still hates getting her faced wiped and she has made changing her diaper a REAL challenge lately!

 

Adventures: Welp, if you can call burning her arm an adventure, we experienced that this month. She went to the Children's museum for the first time, got her first pedicure (from mommy), celebrated St. Patrick's Day and got to meet the Easter bunny!
 

What we couldn't live with out: Working on weaning her paci, and leaving it for nap time and sleep time only. So far, she doesn't seemed phased by that. Phew! Still love her sounds machine, soft blankets, and hair bows of course!



First St Patricks Day



Playdate at the Children's Museum



Reach in, take it out, repeat.



LOVED LOVED the Easter bunny!



My whole world.

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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9 Months of Macy

How did this happen? How do I have a 9 month old? I feel like I can barely refer to her as my "baby" anymore. More like my "growing-getting-into-everything-cute-as-ever funny child". The heartbreak over my baby not being so much a baby anymore is softened by how cute and adorable and hilarious and awesome she is. I love learning her little (big) personality and watching her learn and grow daily before my eyes. She truly does amaze me every day.

9 Month Stats

February 24, 2013

Weight: 20 lbs 12oz. (50-75%)

Height: 28 1/2 inches (50-75%) As you can see that is a half inch shorter than last month. I had a hard time believing that height at 6 months, even though I know she's long. It was way off the charts and I figured it was probably due to the inaccuracy of how they measure squiggly babies.

Doctor says I'm "perfect"!

Clothing Size: All pants are 12-18 months, can still fit in to some 9 month tops.

12 month pants and shirt, 18 month hoodie

Diaper size: 3

Feeding/sleeping: Sleeping is the same. We have introduced a lot more finger foods. Her favorite by far is bananas followed closely by clementines, avocados, mums and puffs. We eased up a little on making her food because I had a hard time figuring out how to incorporate proteins and grains. My favorite food is Earth's Best. They are organic, natural, and Macy loves them! She will eat any of their flavors. I tried the organic Gerber but she wasn't a big fan.

Milestones: She has her first toofers! One is sticking out all the way and the second has officially cut skin. She also can walk behind a push toy like a boss! I love watching her accomplish new tricks!

Loves: To be on the move! She is constantly on the go. She likes to follow me around and crawl up my legs. But as soon as I pick her up she wants right back down. Silly girl.

First time walking behind this toy. She loved it!

Dislikes: Still a short list. But when she decides she doesn't like something she definitely verbalizes it now. She has mastered the "fake cry" when I take something away from her she shouldn't have or put her down when she wants to be held. I do my best to ignore it and not reward her by giving in. "Baths in the sink" have become more like "dips in the sink" due to her constant need to explore.

Can't slow this girl down.

Adventures: Wish I had more to add to the list. Her biggest adventures include going to the grocery store, playing in the nursery at church and the gym I work out at, and dinner dates with our friends.

Dinner date with the girls!

One of my favorite pictures ever. First time on this toy and she loved it!

Playing the babies at Midtown 

What we couldn't live without: As long as we have her and a place for her to roam we are all a happy family!

Besties.