An un expected Goodbye

 This Is our dog Sparticus, my husband and I got him while we were in college he has been a part of our family ever since, he was in our engagement and maternity photo shoot, although I will be the first to admit he took a back seat since J was born.  We called him Sparty and he was nothing short of a wonderful protector and friend, there wasn't a day he wasn't happy to see you, even if you just went out for a minute to take out the trash, the second you walked back in the door he would jump in circles with excitement. Nick and I are holding on to the fun times we had with Sparty like running off leash in the woods, pulling us on our rollerblades, eating doggy ice cream cups, laughing at the way he would always growl at UPS trucks or any truck of that size,  the road trips to florida , how he looked like a person sitting in the front seat of the car,  playing doggy in the middle ( keep away) playing hide and seek, he would always get so scared if you would sneak up on him.... how his lip would get stuck on his tooth and he would look so silly.... only today  we  hold onto these fun times as memories.

it's funny how even a dog can give you a new perspective on life.  Sparty was only 5 years old, not an old dog, he was walking around and playing with Jada last night as usual, and before we went to bed he ate, as usual... and around 1:45 am I heard light whimpering noise coming from downstairs, Nick checked on him, we knew something wasn't right, then I felt his stomach and it was rock hard, I typed in boxer dogs tight stomach into a google search engine and read about "bloat"

we decided I would take Sparty in the the emergency vet hospital to be checked out, while there, we learned that he in fact did have the classic case of air in his stomach and his stomach had twisted meaning the air was stuck and surgery ( a very expensive surgery) was needed asap, only the Dr wasn't so sure surgery would work, as too much of his stomach could have been dead at this point, or because his heart rate was high, he could go into shock during surgery.


sitting alone in a room with your dog, making that dreaded phone call home to your husband to make a decision is the hardest thing I have had to do to date. As much as I have complained of the every day doings of a dog since becoming a mother, the shedding, the mouth noises, the drool, the food on the floor, having to put chairs on the sofa at night so he doesn't sneak up and get the drool, hair and food on it....  these will now be things I miss, I wasn't ready... and its going to be hard...

 he loved you J, he loved to protect you and play with you.

 this is my favorite of all favorites, this photo was taken in college, at my old apartment where dogs weren't allowed. ( shh)

 our original family of 3

 look J, daddy has Earings.... this was a typical study session, Sparty with his Master.

 the good ol' days when it was man and his best friend, college roommates, sharing one bed.

hey always had lots of love to give

 kisses for my Mr man

the last kiss, the hardest kiss, I will miss you buddy, there will never be another dog like you.



SPARTICUS - here is my husbands blog and what he took the time to say today.


we Love you Sparticus.

FGB

this past saturday Nick and I took part in a crossfit fundraiser called fight gone bad, it was to raise money for the fallen soldiers. it was a great time. it was my first time participating in an event with other athletes for crossfit other than our usual days at the gym. I was pretty proud of myself and set a PR (personal record) well it was pretty easy to set seeing as though this was only my second time doing it, but hey, you gotta start somewhere. 

Fight gone bad consists of 5 movements/work outs done a minute at a time as many reps as you can and then at the end of those 5 minutes you rest for a minute and then go again for a total of three rounds. 

the movements are

20'box jumps

push press

sumo deadlift highpull ( 55#'s)

wall balls  (55#'s)

rowing (for calories)

you then add up the number of reps you did for all of these and that makes up your score... I did 200 and was very happy with that, the last time I did 161, nick did 428 ( also a PR) because his last score I believe was 380 something... and I believe the weight he used was the recommended mens weight of 75#'s

we had a great time and it was for a great cause, Nick and I were in the same heat so we got to kind of compete against one another which was fun because as i was doing my box jumps wanting to quit I looked over at him and saw he was still going strong, which inspired me to keep going. I am very grateful that we both enjoy doing things like this together, and little J was watching from the sidelines with my dad, it was a great day. here are a few pictures... 

while you all are sleeping....

last night J was pretty tired and was ready for bed by 6:45 ish...

this is where it all went wrong.

9:30, we hear cried over the monitor, daddy goes re positions her and lays her back down.

Daddy and I go to bed

11:20 cries over the monitor, loud ones, accompanied by runny nose sounds

I suctioned her nose which she does not like at all. and then tried to give her her paci which only lead to further frustration for her because she couldn't really breath when her nose is having whatever problems they may be having, runny/ stuffiness and then you go and plug up the only air hole left...

I hunted in the basement for the humidifier
found it, and set it up in her room,

meanwhile i make bottle and give to her

3 mins after finishing bottle she spits it ALL back up, on myself and her

12:00 AM to the bath tub we go

12:15 fresh jammies and diaper, tuck back into bed

12:30 my head hits the pillow

12:45 J is still talking in her crib, daddy and I decide to bring her into our bed

12:46 foot in dads face
12:47 finger in mommies eye
12:47 I am now wondering how with only an 8 month old and a husband suddenly out king bed feels like a twin as my leg is half off and one tip on my nose is still able to rest on a pillow
12:48 J tried to crawl off bed
12:49 mom repositions her
12:50 she's looking pretty sleepy
daddy was asleep all the way back at 12:45

1:15 she  is out. arm on my arm foot above the covers, making me too nervous to do a quick pull, you know so I could be comfortable with the blanket all tucked up under my neck

3:15 I wake up to some movements in the bed, and am then greeted with a wet kiss on my forehead, I atempt to lay her back down when I notice, her diaper seemed to be half on half off....

3:16 flip on bathroom light
3:16.5 face falls into hands as i notice a giant circle of wetness in the center of out bed
3:17 jammy and diaper change for J
3:20 lay her in her bed
more cries, daddy comes in
3:22 I am back in our bedroom stripping the sheets, sponging up the wetness that was starting to seep into matress...

3:23 realize, what am i doing with no sheets how can i get back to bed, where i so desperately wanted to be...
3:23 decided to take off bottom sheet and just  use cover sheet on the mattress for the rest of the night

daddy gets J to bed

3:25 YES! I look at him like he is the man , and ladies he was the man at this moment.
3:26 head hits pillow feeling so very thankful as I drift off to dream land
3:42 cries on monitor ..........
3:43, I realize I need to toss in the towel and head downstairs....

I am not sure what today brings, but I feel it will involve lots of black coffee and our  PJ's

day 13

today is the 13th day of the challenge and I am doing pretty good, I am down 4.5 lbs and am feeling tighter all around. as part of the challenge we are to keep a food journal which I think really helps, I mean come on who wants to write down that they indulged in two giblets, a glass of red wine, barnabys pizza, and a few slices of potato wedged from Bw 3's... I mean not me... ( agh hem agh hem) but moving right along, I have been doing pretty good with the diet for the most part, I am eating lots of fish and veggies, so much so that I had to cut down on the amt of veggies because I wasn't able to finish them and I was feeling as though I was eating too much food.

what my diet consists of is meat ( which for me is Fish, and soy meats) veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds NO DAIRY and NO GRAINS

and I am measuring the amt of food at every meal that way I am getting 21 grams of protein 18 grams of carbohydrates ( supposed to be 27 but it was too much for me ) and then 4.5 grams of fat, this goes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  the carbohydrates come from the fruit and veggies protein from the meat and my shake I make and the fat usually comes from olive oil, nuts, seeds, or avocado

although I believe I had a clean diet before the challenge I must say my body fells so much better while working out, I recover better, not nearly as sore as I used to be and I have been able to increase the amt. of weight I am able to lift. its amazing what cutting grains and dairy can do for you.

I am really enjoying the challenge and although I have no clue where everyone else is at, I am happy with my progress and hope to continue getting better.

8 MONTHS

here we are baby girl, 8 whole months you have been around, and boy are you EVERYWHERE now a days.

people always told me " oh just wait till she crawls, thats when the fun begins, and she will be into everything" and boy were they right, I find myself cooking and you are down at my feet trying to climb up my leg, or when I am sweeping you chase after the broom, you are fascinated with cords and will crawl under the computer desk if we take our eyes off of you for even the fastest second.  I can only imagine what it will be like when you are walking because soon we wont have any toys to restrain you in, yes honey mommy used the word restrain.

yours great Grandma Nora calls you a little Road Runner baby because we are always on the go, but you truly are an easy baby and you make that all possible.

you are a big girl now and when we go to the grocery store you sit in the front of the cart ( but only because your mommy bought one of those covers that protect you from all those nasty cart germs.) still fm time to time I will wear you in the Moby wrap while we are out and about especially if you are getting sleepy because you still like to take naps on mommy :)

you are starting to pull yourself up on the sofa, and other low things in the house


 your two bottom teeth  are in and you are getting more because you are a drooling everywhere. you have handled the whole process very well though.

I have cut back on increasing the amt of your solid foods because you have stopped drinking a full 6 oz, I now give you 5 bottles a day and they are 5 oz each, I will give you solids twice a day but only two to three ice cubes which I believe are about 1.5 oz a piece.

you are wearing size 12 mo, and I have recently purchased some 18 mo leggings due to your cloth diapers but they are a bit big still and the 12 mo fit you great for now

here is a picture of you and Mommy's good friend and college roomate Lauren, see how big you are getting? when daddy and I have you out we have been asked several times, is she walking yet, how old is she, 12 or 13 months.... you are a very active and strong baby I can tell you that much, how you are pictured in this photo above should give you a pretty good idea of how you were at this age always wanting to stretch out, get down.


this past sunday was your fist time down in the Nursery at church, you bypassed the baby room because you are able to sit up on your own, I was a little worried about dropping you off, only because it would be the first time you have been with other kids, and adults when I wasn't around, and when we got there, there were about 11 babies ALL CRYING ( talk about a way to ease a mommies worries, NOT) so daddy and I kissed you godbye and watched you crawl over to a toy and after about a minute and you were still content we walked up to the service.
 we just sat down and we see "jada Grace" appear on the screen, oh no I thought, but daddy jumped right up and said I will go see, turns out, some other little baby tackled you, talk about a rough first day, daddy held you until you calmed down and then sat and played with you for a few minutes, the ladies working said that it was a very full service and they were pretty short staffed, daddy showed the woman your favorite toy and that if you got fussy to try to give you that, daddy came back up and joined me in the service and 10 minutes later we see "Jada Grace" we decided to take you out and daddy played with you out in the front atrium, we will give it a try next sunday I am sure you will grow to love it :)


while out on a walk last week we were approached by another mommy who informed me that there are lots of us fist time mommies in the neighborhood and they all get together wednesdays in the afternoon, so you and I joined them this past week and we walked for about an hour in the neighborhood, I am so excited to have met such great mothers and their babies, there were 7 babies that day all ranging from 3 to 13 months, so there are lots of kids here in the neighborhood for you to grow up with.


so there you have it baby girl, your 8th month wrap up, and now I must go scoop you up from the living room floor because it looks as though you are getting ready to get yourself stuck under the side table.

Love your Mommy

Fittest in the Region

This past Saturday we packed up the car and headed to Crown Point for a crossfit competition titled " the fittest in the Region" and I WON!

Just kidding, I didn't compete, I  however did  take lots of great pictures. I watched as three crossfitters from the Box I go to competed, one being Nick ( the hubsters), the other our coach (Brandon) and the ever inspiring Amy.  they all did great, and it was so fun to watch.  there were a total of three WOD's, the athletes knew what the first two were but in order to find out the third they needed to do well in the fist 2 and then move on.  and let me just tell you, that 3rd work out, just watching them I wanted to be on the beach with a pina colada in my hand and someone standing over me with a beautiful fan. yep, it was a tough one.
here were the 3 WOD's

first WOD
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 of
225# deadlift
55# kettlebell swing
chest to bar pull ups

second  WOD
21-15-9
burpees
95# thrusters
24' box jump

Third WOD
Toss a 45 # sand bag over a 60 ft wall and then jump the wall (5x)
push a 165# prowler for 200 m
pull a 165# sled 200 m
15 overhead squats with 95#

for 3 rounds.

Here is the hubsters himself jumping over the wall.. it was great to see all the athletes go hard and give it there all, very motivating to watch and see where it is I want to be.  even though I did enjoy a nice couple of pieces of Barnabys pizza at the end of the night :)

here are a few more pictures

 in process of doing burpee

 Overhead squat

 sadly, this happens from time to time... thankfully though it wasn't any of our three competetors

and last but not least we couldn't leave out a picture of daddy's biggest fan

she was a "hootin and a Hollerin"


overall Nick took first place, Brandon second and Amy took fist in the women's heat. Nick was very excited and is itching to do more competitions in preparation for sectionals in March. it's truly amazing watching him work so hard for something and enjoying every minute of it.  
3 rounds…


toss a 45# sandbag over a 6 foot wall, jump over the wall x 5
push a 165 # prowler 200m
drag a 165 # sled 200m
15 Overhead squats at 95#

Day 1

here we are it's september 1st, this marks day 1 of the 60 day challenge.  the before pictures and measurements have been taken and were off.....I decided to do a mix of the paleo and the zone for now and see how that works, if it gets crazy hard doing the math and measuring  then I will just stick with the paleo but I want to give it a try for at least a couple of days and see if I can intertwine the two.  I will be going to the gym later this evening and hope to get a good run in before it gets to be some crazy 90 degrees outside.

last night I gave away my coffee creamer, block of cheese, yogurt and the ever so loved vino... now that is some serious business when a girl gives that stuff up, but I have to be serious, there are 12 people signed up which = $300 big ones for the winner...


and boy do I want that to be me :)