Whole 30 challenge

Tomorrow starts my Whole 30 challenge. This will be the second time I have done this challenge. The first time was in November of last year. I was a year postpartum and really needed something to kick my butt into gear and get those last 15 pounds of baby weight off. 

I didn't take any measurements I just weighed which I used to do almost errry dang day!! So glad I kicked that habit. Now I usually weigh once or twice a week. 

The first week is usually the hardest cause your body is detoxing from all the crap we put in our system. By week 2 you can really tell a difference in your energy level! It can be a lot of work because you cook every meal. I usually try to cook a couple days worth at a time. Thankfully Brian is totally on board so I don't have to make multple meals. I can pretty much eat the same thing over and over for this. I find that having too many options makes me want to be less strict. 

Last time I lost about 15 pounds and have kept most of it off. I keep fluctuating with a 5 pound loss/gain. I'm ready to be back at my fighting weight!! Ha ha 

Seriously I am looking to lose 20 pounds, not in the next 30 days but def by the time summer rolls around. That would put me back to my high school weight! Watch out!!! I'm just so sick of feeling blah, between jacked up sleep and eating a bunch of processed junk I'm just ready to feel healthy again. I hope many of you will join me for this challenge. You can check my Pinterest for meal ideas and follow me on Instagram for food pics and other greatness @cmhelson. 

Dallas Girls Trip/ Race Recap

Well it took me long enough to get this post together. We had a blast in Dallas! That city has so much to offer. Food, shopping, outdoor attractions. I could spend a whole week just eating my way through Dallas. Myself and three other friends flew out Thursday night for Dallas. I love adventures with girlfriends. I love to fly and people watching at the airport is the best.

Friday we headed to the expo. It was an average expo but the best part was Parker University. They had chiropractic students offering free adjustments and taping. I had been experiencing right hip pain since my last few long runs and thought it couldn't hurt to get adjusted. I am so glad I did. As always it was a little weird being contorted by two men but this was in public! Ha we have some good pics. Each of the girls got their issues taken care of and we were off for some much needed shopping!!

Dallas has some GREAT shopping to be had!! I was in heaven. Gifts/shopping is my love language. Luckily most of my friends are the same or they at least tolerate my obsession. I don't even have to buy a bunch of stuff I just like to look and get new outfit ideas. We went to the Galleria, that place is HUGE!! Four levels and an ice rink. A lot of the stores we had here but I did get to browse in Zara and Windsor. Zara has the cutest kids clothes! I could have spent all my money in there, but I was good and just bought Isaiah the cutest salmon colored jeans. After we closed down the mall we went to Central market, it's sort of like a less expensive whole foods. I really would love to have one near us.

We stayed up way too late Friday night trying to perfect the "at home" gel nail. It was a hoot!!! I will leave that to the ladies at the salon. I peeled mine off the next day!! Saturday was supposed to be our "rest" day. Krystal, Cheryl and I hit up Nordstrom Rack that morning while the rest of the clan went to the kids soccer/baseball games. I can not wait till the Nordstrom Rack opens here!! If only for the shoe selection alone. I found some amazing nude vince Camuto pumps on clearance for 50 bucks!! Dollar Make You Hollar!!!

That night we got all dolled up and headed to church since we wouldn't be able to attend on Sunday due to the race. Afterwards we carb loaded it up at Panera Bread. That's my go to pre-long run dinner. Love me some soup and Panini. . I tried to go to bed early, it's so hard to keep your mind from racing and putting so much anxiety on the next day. I got my race man ready the night before, didn't want to be running around like a lunny Sunday morning.

Long story short we got up around 5 did our prerace food and digestion (you know what I'm talking about). We headed to the finish line to ride the shuttle. It was panic time when we hit traffic and didn't think we would make it. Lucky for us I think every other runner got there at the same time and we made it to the start line. It was super windy that morning and way colder than any of us Tennessee girls had expected it to be. Glad I packed a few extra long sleeve shirts.

Okay enough about the other stuff, lets get onto what we came for. The race break down. I really felt like I had a lot riding on this race. I wanted to PR and take at least 10 minutes off my time, which would mean finishing in 2:27. I had trained really hard and felt like this was MY time to PR. I hate the first couple miles of a race. It's always so congested and you can not really get into a good pace. By mile 3 I was starting to feel good and get into a groove. I lost Krystal when she stopped to shed a layer at mile 2. Mile 6 I heard someone yelling my name, it was krystal who had been booking it since mile 2 to try and find me. I tried to keep up with her for about a mile then slowed my pace to let her go ahead cause I could keep speeding up and slowing down. Around mile 8 I was starting to feel tired, so I took a walk break and downed another chew at the water break. That helped unitl mile 10 when I thought I was going to toss my cookies. I kept belching and felt like if I could just throw up I would feel better and finish strong. Sadly that didn't happen. I walked a lot the last three miles of the race. It was all I could do to just keep going. The 2:30 pace group had passed my around mile 10 and I knew I had to stay way ahead of the 2:45 or I would be pissed. I ran as much as I could and walked when I needed to. when I hit mile 12 I called my husband for a word of encouragement, he didn't believe me that I wasn't finished and I ended up hanging up on him. Poor guy he felt horrible afterwards. Probably at 12.5 I started running and wasn't going to stopped till I finished this thing. My left leg was super tight and I could feel every move. Finally we turn into fair park...I can see the finish line and I sprint to the end. Ugh...2:33!!

I saw Krystal and I lost it! I was so glad to be finished and have a PR but so disappointed that I didn't reach my goal. After getting as much food as my hands could hold I died on a piece of grass. My left leg was killing me and my whole body felt crampy. I downed some chocolate milk and ate a 1/2 sandwich and was feeling much better. I am so proud of the girls I ran with. Brooke had an awesome time of 2:14, Krystal 2:24 and Cheryl 3:37. I am certain this will not be our last race together.

I could barely walk by Sunday night and hobbled home through the airport but I was rocking my race shirt! Proud of what we had all accomplished. Thankfully my leg feels better with each passing day and I can't wait to get back on the pavement.

Race week

Well race week is upon us!! So excited and nervous at the same time. Flying out tonight with 3 amazing women and staying in Dallas with one of my besties. I'm the only one out of our group that's done a half. I'm so excited for my girls to experience the race atmosphere. 

This pretty much sums up every race for me! 

Selfishly I'm looking forward to 4 nights of uninterrupted sleep. Hoping that will only boost my endurance for race day. I'm glad Brian and Isaiah get to spend some time together and daddy gets a dose of mom duty. Although he never complains about, such a good hubby. 

This little turkey has been fun the past couple days, it's like he knows I'm leaving. 

I'm sure I will be blowing up IG this weekend so sorry in advance. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Watch out Dallas here we come!! 

Are we going to make it?

There are days when I ask this question to myself many times. Am I going to make it through these nights of interrupted sleep, teething toddler, and crankyness? I pray out to God somenights, "help me be thankful for this" "help me be calm" and "help me survive". They are cries for help from a frazzled momma who is soooo ready for teething to be over. Well I assume its teething cause what the heck else could it be?? 

 Little buddy has been an awesome baby but teething has given us a hard time. Its mainly the nights that are so hard. It's like he is distracted during the day enough that they don't bother him that bad but at night it's a different story. He will wake between 1:30 and 4:30 and nothing soothes him except us. A couple of nights would be doable but we are going on 4 months of nonconsistent sleep. I don't realize how much that affects me until it's too late and I am a total mommy monster! It is so hard because you feel bad that they are hurting and want to comfort them but sometimes there is only so much you can do. We have let him "cry it out" at times when we "think" he has gotten too used to us coming in to get him during the night. It is such frustrating thing. We do as much as we can then PRAY it was enough. Here are some things we have tried for teething relief.

 1. Rotating tylenol and motrin Honestly I feel like sometimes it has no affect at all, and other times when he sleeps through the night I wonder if it was the medicine that helped. 

 2. Teething gel/tablets. We started using the homeopathic teething gel and really liked it, now we are trying the homeopathic teething tablets. They are basically the same ingredients just a different form. I do think that these help him. He seems less fussy and irritable.

 3. Toothbrush/teething stick He loves to chew on a toothbrush so I bought some teething sticks to see if that would help. They have a rubber tip and a handle with a guard so that they can not choke on it or ram it down their throat (I know horrible descriptor, I'm sorry!!).

 4.Ice/frozen fruit This worked great when Isaiah was less mobile. I could sit him in his highchair and put a piece of ice or frozen fruit in a mesh feeder. He would gnaw on the frozen fruit and I really think the numbing effect helped. 

I know these are not "new" or "mindblowing" ways to help alleviate the affects of teething but they have helped us. Now if only I could invent something that would help us get through those sleepless nights! I am hanging onto the hope that one day he will eventually be done teething (fingers crossed)! I realize I am not the first nor the last momma to lose sleep or have a teething toddler but I find that it helps to have others to lean on and help talk through these tough times. Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday!

It's a day late but Isaiah was unenthusiastic about his St.Pattys day attire. 

    

Love/Hate Runlationship

Well it's one week till I'm in Dallas getting ready for my sixth half marathon. I really thought my last one was my LAST ONE. Somehow I keep coming back to this thing called running. 

When I first started running over five years ago I couldn't even run 30 seconds withouth thinking I was going to die! I used The Nonrunners Marathon book to train. My brilliant best friend had the idea we would do a full marathon for our first race. HA I laugh so hard looking back on that. What was I thinking I would just go from no running ever in life to running 26 miles. Needless to say we ended up doing the half. I had no time goal I just wanted to be able to drag my body across the finish line alive!! I finished in 2:47, not horrible not mind blowing. 

Well I got the running bug and have been loving/hating it since. My best time is 2:37 and I am currently trying to crush that!! I really want to finish the Rock N Roll Dallas half in under 2:30. I know I can do it but I have lost my training steam as we reach race day. My best run to date was my 10 miler two weeks ago. I had to run it alone (hate running alone) and I loved it. It was hard but rewarding. I never felt so proud of myself. It was just me and the pavement and I pushed myself hard. No negative self talk, no stopping early, no giving up. 

As we finish out the final week of training I have to find that strength again. Tomorrow is a 12 miler (yikes!!) and I'm nervous to say the least. My diet has been lacking and I need to snap out of it and get my act together. Diet is a huge factor in training and my biggest challenge. 

So wish me luck and let's hope I am flying high this time tomorrow. Happy Friday! 

Weekend Recap:

Happy Monday People!!

Hope your weekend was fantastic. Ours was pretty typical. Friday night I usually turn in pretty early. I'm training for a half marathon and do my long runs early Saturday morning. Isaiah got his 15 month shots this week and has been moody and not sleeping the best since them. Luckily he woke up at 5:45 Saturday morning as I was walking out the door. Sorry hubs but gotta run, literally! 

Met my running buddy Krystal at 6:15 and we set out for 7 miles. She is recovering from an injury and I slacked all week so needed a shorter distance. She rocked her 7 miles I stopped at 6 due to leg pain. Have to listen to your body when you are training so much. After said run I took Isaiah to swim class he loves it! He's been in it since 6 months old and I highly recommend for all babies!!! Like I said before Isaiah has been especially moody this week so by the time Brian got home from his errands I was done!! Oh but a mommas work is never done, so off to the grocery store at 8 on a Saturday night. I have an exciting life I know! Y'all should be so jealous! I do enjoy the peace and quiet of a late night grocery run. 

Sundays are our relax day. We attend church come home and eat, nap then have our small group. Lucky for me we didn't have group this week and the hubs insisted I treat myself to a mani/pedi and some "me" time. Thanks honey don't mind if I do!! I'm notorious for complaining about no ME time then coming home after 2 hours cause I was bored or missed them. It's amazing how refreshed you can feel after just a couple hours to yourself!

Working extra this week!! I love the people I work with, they make my often stressful nursing job bearable! Hope y'all have a fab Monday!! 

~Charity 

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How'd We Get Here?

Happy Friday!! I look forward to the weekends because it usually means Brian will be here more to help with Isaiah a.k.a Little buddy.
After overthinking about what I should post I just decided to write about how I got to this point of deciding to start a blog.

Two years ago I'm not even sure if I knew what a blog was. Enter October 29, 2012 the day my son Isaiah was born. It was a beautiful moment and I was overjoyed to begin this journey into motherhood.

 Oh little did I know what that would entail. I was under the impression that everything would just fall into place. The breastfeeding would just happen, he would sleep through the night by the time I went back to work and it would all be sunshine and daisies! Ha, that only happens in the movies. First off the breastfeeding, oh momma, I wasn't prepared for the work that would be. Isaiah had a poor latch and wasn't interested in feeding while we were in the hospital. One week old and he's lost a pound and I'm not making enough milk. STRESSFUL!! As a new mom you want to do everything you can for your sweet baby, so we started supplementing. I got help from two different lactation nurses and rented a hospital breast pump. Followed their advice to a T and became a slave to the breast pump. For the next 3 months I would feed Isaiah get him settled then hook myself up to the milk machine and let it do its work for the next 30 minutes.

During this glorious time of milking, Isaiah was usually napping in the bassinet beside my chair. So to pass the time I began watching YouTube videos on beauty, style and daily vlogs of people around the world. I started researching low milk supply for anything that could help give me that boost I needed. During this search I stumbled upon many a momma with all types of advice on their blogs. It was just what I needed in my stressed out, alone time of need.

I went back to work when Isaiah was 11 weeks old. Going back to work wasn't hard for me. I knew he was taken care of by my mom, it was the pumping that was so difficult. I went from pumping 4-6 times a day maybe getting 8 ounces to twice a day at work getting 4-6 ounces total. Finally on Valentines day I called it quits. I use the term quit loosely. I don't feel like a quitter, I felt like I had done my best for 4 months, I had given Isaiah all the immunity I could and this momma was just done. Done with being a slave to the pump, done with feeling like a failure for not making enough milk or not being able to exclusively breastfeed.
After my breast pump days were over, I was still addicted to YouTube and reading blogs from all types of people. I managed to feed my addiction during nap times and after babies bedtime. Well, after much debate and self doubt I decided that others could benefit from what I had to say. Maybe my story can help that mother struggling with breastfeeding or being a stay at home mom.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my page. Have a great weekend Yall!

Welcome

Hello blog world. My name is Charity and I am a hot mess from Tennessee. I'm wife to Brian and momma to Isaiah. I'm a nurse and lover of Jesus. I enjoy running and torturing myself with half marathons. I'm obsessed with fashion and makeup although as a part time at home momma don't get to enjoy them enough. Welcome to my blog! This will be a hodpodge of mommy post, fashion, running, and lord knows what else.
Thanks for stopping by!