Where did the month go????

I can not believe that may is almost over!!! This year is flying by which is scary and exciting. Each day Charlie is doing something new and I love seeing her grow and develop....but at the same time she will be one before I know it and I will be back at work! She will be 6 months in a week and a half. She is trying so hard to roll....lifts her feet right up to her face and rolls to the side- but does not quite get there yet. I love watching her try....so determined! I am relishing the "pre-mobile" moments! I know that the new born stage is hard mainly because you have no idea whats going on- but it is not going to be long before I am chasing her around the house! She has started teething and has one that has cut through on the bottom. She is being a champion with her teeth and only complaining minimally. She has turned into a drool machine though!!! She loves her food and is a pudding...I put her on our scales this morning and it was 8.2kg- she was 7kg not that long ago! I love all the little rolls- so beautiful and healthy! The hair is finally growing and it looks quite blonde with a auburn tinge.....so not red like her cousins!!!

We went to the Striders dinner on Friday night and it was the first time I had left her with anyone other than Ray in 6 months. Now this was partly because of the reflux....she was so hard to settle I could not actually leave her. But also I have had no real desire to be apart from her too often. So lets just say I was slightly nervous about the whole thing. Thankfully Charlie is in a great routine, which she loves....so all grandma had to do was follow the routine and it went like clock work! Both Charlie and Grandma had a ball! It was so nice to see Rays mum and dad so excited to look after her. Ray and I had a ball and I felt relaxed and did not call once!!!

On the running front I took a bit of a rest. I still felt really pooped after that awful virus thing and my pelvis was also starting to ache after long runs. I am in such a happy place at the moment I just did not feel the need to obsessively run/exercise. I feel totally ok to run when I actually feel like it and not do it because " I might get fat". This has taken a long time to get to this point and I feel great. Not sure what has changed but I feel really peaceful and content. I think Charlie has a lot to do with it...but I just feel happy with who I am. So I have enjoyed being at home with Ray and Charlie and not feeling guilty for not running or going to the gym. I have run 3 times a week on average and going for walks on the other days. In actual fact I have lost 2 kgs in the last 3 weeks doing less- so there you go?? I am now back to pre baby weight and feel good. I am even not to bothered about the mummy tummy :-) Hahaha I worked hard for that :-)

We are biting the bullet and getting a second car. We share the car at the moment and when Ray needs it it leaves Charlie and I without transport. So we are going to get a Wagon and we really liked the Astra wagon- it is heaps bigger than I thought. We are going to trade the viva in and get Ray a little Barina. It actually worked out the same cost to trade in the viva and get the two as it would to just buy the Astra. So Ray can have a tiny fuel economic car to get to work and training.

Well this has been a bit of a rave. I have put heaps of photos of Charlie on face book....easier than here. So I am going to try and keep it updated.

5 months young.....

Well Charlie is 5 months old today! She is so much fun at the moment and each day she does something new and exciting. Her little personality is starting to shine through. She loves to smile and laugh and is a real happy baby. She loves her sleep and lets you know in no uncertain terms when she wants to go to bed. She is loving her solids...we have tried apple, pear, carrot and sweet potato and rice cereal. She loves it all and if I am not getting it in quick enough she yells at me! She has a huge appetite and eats like a horse! All good!

Well I had a bit of a slack week last week....too much chocolate and not enough running! Oh well...new week. We did the relay for life on the weekend which was a great and uplifting experience. It makes me appreciate my life, friends and family!!! There are some amazing people out there coping with terrible stuff without complaint....makes my whinging about eating too many m&m's a bit petty!

I ran 16km on the track at the relay....which was a killer! I find running on the track really hard work....it kills the legs and the mind! I did not get to the striders 10km as it was too hard to fit it in and the relay was the priority! Then yesterday I met Bec and Keiran and we did a 17.5km run. It was so nice to run with the girls and we bored each other with chatting about our little ones....we loved it :-)

So this week will be more of the same....a bit of running, lots of baby and fun :-)

Am I seeing double???

The end of another weekend! They just fly by!! We had such a nice weekend with family and friends :-) It was my sisters birthday and we spent the day with the family....Charlie just loves her cousin Alex and is bewitched by her when she is around. Ali is growing so fast and is a real chatterbox...she is also very funny with a great sense of humor. Charlie has started on solids- which she is loving. She is 5 months next week and the paediatrician suggested starting her to help with the reflux. I held off but she has started waking a few times at night really hungry so I thought it was worth seeing if she was interested. Well it only took one little taste and she was into it! Haha she takes after me and will enjoy her food. She has tolerated it perfectly and her reflux has also improved- woo hoo!!! It is a bit scary watching her eat and think that it was not that long ago that she was so tiny!!

Saturday I went for a run with the pram- it was really hilly and a killer!!! I managed 8km and felt like I had worked really hard! We headed out to Smithfield on Sunday and I ran with the girls and we did the half marathon at an easy long run pace. Ray pushed Charlie in the 5km and did 4:50/km pace....she will get to go way faster with daddy!!!
I could feel the hilly run from the day before- my bum felt tired! We cruised along and chatted crap the whole way. I was really happy to finish....I have very little endurance and once I get to 17km I feel really tired. I finished in just on 2hrs so I was happy with that. My big goal for this year is the sydney marathon but I think I will aim to race the hunter half in July as well. I am also looking forward to the 10kms on Saturday....fingers crossed for a sub 50!

We are also doing the relay for life on the weekend which will be a really sad weekend this year....but will be great to do with some very special people!!!

feeling better.....

Thankfully we are all feeling much better in the Rowell household!!! What a yuck virus and almost everyone I know has been sick. Charlie is eating again and back to her smiley self :-)

I was going to go for a run on Tuesday but by the time I got around to it it was pitch black and pouring with rain....so I piked. I went to the gym instead and did a spin class. I love this class and I always leave feeling like I have worked really hard. I went for a 7km run yesterday with Charlie in the pram. It has gotten a lot easier and no longer feels really awkward to run. The hills are a killer though!!! I hovered around the 6min/km pace. I will go for a run again this afternoon with the pram....it gets too dark now to run at night and Ray runs in the morning, so I am going to replace my 4:30pm walk with running and do as much as I can with the pram. This will mean trying to do my hills and speed work with the pram...so it will be ugly, but better than no running at all. I am sure pushing a combined baby/pram weight of almost 17kg will help as well....how easy will it feel when I run on my own!

The first of many.....

....colds that is. Our little unit should be quarantined as we have all had a virus this past two weeks. It started with me and then Charlie and then Ray. So Charlie has her first of many colds. She started with a clogged nose and then she got this awful cough and the last few days has been vomiting and diarrohea. Despite all this she has been in good spirits and still smiles and chatters away....haha obviously takes after me and not her dad ;-) She is 4 and half months old and has grown heaps! I can not believe how big she seems. She has burst out of her three zeros and is now into the two zeros. I decided it was time to move into the next size when she had a muffin top when I put her jeans on- so cute!! She is now sleeping unwrapped and I am able to put her into the cot to sleep without all the patting and rocking! Woo Hoo! She usually protests for about 10mins and goes off to sleep. It is so much easier than all the patting and actually takes less time for her to go to sleep. She sleeps right through most nights but with this cold she is waking a few times after lots of coughing wakes her up.

I am really loving being a mum. I love watching her grow and develop and discover new things. I am not going to like having to go back to work....it seems so far removed from what we get up to now. I would love to be at home with her....but unfortunately the mortgage dictates other things. So I am just enjoying every day at the moment and cherishing everything she does.

On the running front I have not done a lot in the past two weeks thanks to the cold! I rested the week leading into Canberra hoping the cold would go away...but it hung around. I probably should not have run at Canberra but decided I had looked forward to this run for months so I would run and just take it easy if I felt bad. I was actually surprised that I was able to do the time I did. I was on track for a 49min run until I hit the 8km mark and then the cold caught up with me and I felt heavy and could do nothing but slow down. I forgot how much I hated this 10km course. You go past the start line 4 times and it feels like you are just going around and around. The great thing was having my sister and little neice on the sidelines cheering- so I got to high five Ali each time I went past :-) So I finished in 51:05 and I felt really happy considering how crap I was feeling. So hopefully I can get back under the 50min mark soon. Ray ran the marathon on the Sunday and had a shocker! He woke up with my cold and felt crap. He probably also should not have run....but are we ever sensible?? He said he felt ok until the 30km mark and then things fell apart. He said he could feel 6ft for the next 12 km. He was so relieved to finish and swore he will never do the two races again! haha I joked that he will have a great marathon PB next time he runs! I had a great time in Canberra with my family and friends and Charlie was great. My sister and cousin came to cheer ray on but the weather was so awful on the Sunday that they very sensibly went home! I went for a run on the Monday and felt so awful! I have spent the rest of the week resting and sleeping when Charlie sleeps. I am finally feeling a better and will start back into things tomorrow.

Not much else is happening....all is bliss at the moment!

Catch up.....

Well a lot has happened since my last post!!! I finally crossed to the dark side and turned 30 :-) I am actually really excited about being 30- life is good! I had a lovely birthday weekend. I caught up with the family on the Good Friday and had lunch with friends on the Monday.

Charlie is 4 months old this week and she is so lovely! She has started to laugh and is such a happy baby. She is still sleeping through the night which is bliss! I have weaned her off being wrapped to go to sleep and the next challenge is to try and wean her off needing to be patted and rocked to go to sleep. With the reflux we have gotten into a routine of patting to go to sleep. It is not such a drama except it makes it near impossible to leave her with others as she will not go to sleep. Any way I was suprised at how easily she adapted to not being wrapped so fingers crossed! She is trying really hard to roll from her back to her tummy and is not reaching and picking up toys. I love watching all the changes- it is so exciting and amazing to watch her grow. She makes Ray and I so happy!

I have been running and going to the gym. I am very excited to report that my long run has increased and yesterday I managed 21km! I ran with Bernie, Kerry, Deanne and Bec and I had a ball! I have not run with the girls in over 12 months! I have missed them so much and it felt so good to be running along talking crap :-) We ran the Vaucluse Star and it was a typical Striders run....hilly! It felt like each time we turned a corner there was another hill to run up! My hamstrings were feeling it!! I felt pooped at the end but felt like I coped with the distance really well! I felt great for the rest of the day and had no sore bits to report. I met a friend this morning and we did a 6km run with the prams. I was surprised how good the legs felt. I was expecting to feel like crap, but they felt great. I have increased my mid week runs to 9km and will start my program via email from Sean this week. Sydney Marathon here we come. I managed a 8km run with Charlie in the pram last week at 6 min pace and it felt a lot easier than the first two attempts....but we had a hedgehog fatality!!! Charlie managed to throw her beautiful hedgehog out of the pram while we were running along!! I ran up and down the street looking for him....but he is gone! Well I did learn a valuable lesson- do not run with toys that are not securely attached to the pram or have a back up :-)

New friends...

This week has flown by! I caught up with a friend on Monday who has just had a baby and Charlie looks soooo huge in comparison! They were the same weight born, but I can not remember her being so small. They played together on the play mat....well Charlie stared at her with lots of curiosity.

I went for a run on Tuesday and my legs still felt heavy from the gym on Friday. It started out feeling like hard work but after a few kms I started to just enjoy the run. I plodded along with my music on and felt really relaxed. I managed 9km- average pace 5:45/km. I was going to run with the pram today, but I left it in the car which went to work with Ray...ooops! We went out for a walk and just used the carrier instead. I went to pump last night and worked really hard. I will go for a run today but I will go when Ray gets home when it is cooler.

Nothing much else to report.