Kristy Maute

Maute Moo Check-up

Today was check-up day for Maute Moo! All good news! My health is good. The baby is a mover! He/She barely stayed still long enough for the doctor to listen to the heartbeat for more than a few seconds. She also said I could start feeling the baby any day now. Once Maute Moo found a comfortable spot in my belly, we were able to hear the heartbeat for about a minute. I love technology! It is so wonderful to have that one tiny moment with my baby and my husband. Maute Moo’s heart rate is 140…..

…..so for those of you who like to play the guessing game, good luck with this one! The theory is that a heart rate 140 and above is a boy. A heart rate below 140 is a girl. Boy? Girl? Any guesses?

I also discussed my running progress with the doctor. She loves my training plan. She is a huge supporter of the entire process. Like every good doctor should, she stress the importance of staying hydrated. She said I can run unless I feel pain or cramping in my stomach. While it is important to make sure my heart rate doesn’t sky-rocket, I don’t have to stress about it all the time! Her ONLY concern about running the Rock n Roll half-marathon at this point is making sure I have a buddy during the run. I had planned on running solo, but she would like me to have a partner. It really does make senses. It’s going to be hot. She would like me to have someone there with me to carry some extra water, snacks, etc if I need it.

I need to find a Maute Moo support team. Christian is my first logical choice because he is my support team. The idea of doing a half-marathon with him and Maute Moo sounds romantic, right? We are going to give it a go. He’s not a runner, but he is an amazing athlete. He’s in great physical condition. His cardio is great. By the time the Rock n Roll gets here, I will be 24 weeks pregnant. I am already a lot slower. I walk a lot. He might just be my perfect partner for the race. I have a 5 mile run on Saturday. He’s going to join me and see what he thinks. If it doesn’t work out, watch out! I’ll be begging everyone I know! (hint! hint! Sara!)

And for Mama Moo – I’ve gained a little more weight than I’d like at this point. I’m not stressing over it. The doctor isn’t concerned either since I started off at a healthy weight – if I had been over weight I would be getting a lecture right now. I gained 8 lbs in 4 weeks! yikes! 2 lbs a week is not something I need to maintain for the next 25 weeks. There are definitely some small things I can tweak about my diet. I’m already physically active. Maybe my body just wanted a nice cushion for Maute Moo. I go back to the doctor in 3 weeks – July 21st. If I have gained another 6 at that point, I will be concerned. We don’t own a scale (and I don’t want to own one) so I won’t know until that appointment. The plan is to prep the fridge with lots of healthy snacks. I’ll be chopping veggies all weekend in between painting and celebrating the 4th of July!

6a00d8341cabab53ef0134868b2893970c-320wi — Maute Moo might be taking his/her nickname a little too seriously! hehe!

Preparing the House for Maute Moo

Let’s talk baby! No running or yoga talk today. Sorry! I did update my morning run stats under the training tab if you would like to take a look though!

Maute Moo is due December 27th. We could definitely have a Christmas baby! Yikes! It is not at all what we “planned” when we started trying. We thought it would take longer and would have a spring baby, a baby who would be ready for the beach by summer. Lucky for us we didn’t even have to try. Maute Moo was ready to join us in the world as soon as I went off of birth control. When I first heard my due date all I could think was “poor baby”. Since then I’ve comes to terms with it. Fortunately Maute Moo will always share his/her birthday with Christmas. Like we do every birthday in our house, it will be special. Maute Moo will never know any different so I hope he/she doesn’t feel cheated.

What does stress me out about having a Christmas baby is making sure Cole doesn’t feel like he gets cheated out of this Christmas because a baby is on its way or just arrived. I want to make sure his Christmas is as magical as always. You all might want to stay out of my way come November. I’ll be going nuts to get it all done!

A part of getting it all done includes making sure the nursery and our house is ready for the baby. I know how everything gets put on the backburn during the early stages of a babies life. I want my house to feel settled and comfortable. I have a long long long list of things that need to be updated in our house. Getting them all done is not realistic before the baby comes, so I’ve made a much smaller wish list that I hope to complete before Maute Moo arrives.

Preparing the House for Maute Moo Check List

Garage –

ORGANIZE. Find a home for camping stuff so it can get out of Maute Moo’s room (we bought storage containers for the camping stuff last weekend!)

Hall Closets –

ORGANIZE

Our Bedroom –

Buy a wardrobe for Christian (his closet)
Buy a new dresser – possibly

Maute Moo’s Nursery –

Paint
Buy Dresser/changing table
Make Curtains
Crib

Cole’s Room –

Buy new ceiling fan
Buy beads for closet

Kitchen –

Paint
Replace Bead Board

Living Room –

Paint
Make Curtains

Upstairs Bathroom –

Fix wall behind Mirror
New Mirror & Light Fixture
Paint Vanity
New linoleum square tiles – until we do a full redo
New Toilet

Not to crazy, right? Of course the nursery is our first priority. Christian is currently using the nursery as his dressing room. He has an old dresser in the room and uses the closet. Our house is old so closet space is minimum. We are going to have to buy an armoire for our bedroom so he has a closet. I found one I really like at IKEA for $200. Roadtrip!

I’m anxious to have the living room and kitchen updated slightly so it feels more comfortable and homey. I also know me – I’ll be staring at the walls wishing they were painted all day long when I’m breast-feeding.

And the bathroom. I really don’t like either of our bathrooms. They are old. They are ugly. Bathroom remodels are expensive. Since the upstairs bathroom is where we will be bathing Maute Moo, I don’t think I can bear to stare at the blue bathtub, blue toilet, and ugly floor every day. I’ve picked out a few cheap fixes to make it more manageable until we can afford to gut the whole thing and start over.

Painting of the living rooms starts this weekend! Anyone want to come over and help! It’s a big room with lots of wall space. I’ll post pictures as we make progress!

Run before Work – Done!

My alarm was set for 5:30am again this morning. I woke up at 5:20 feeling great! I jumped out of bed before the alarm went off. Used the bathroom. Changed my clothes. Brushed my teeth. Gagged A LOT. Didn’t throw up. Drank my breakfast drink. Went for a run.

Running before 6:00am is amazing! I’ve done early morning runs before, but after today I am officially hooked on running before work. It’s so quiet. It’s so peaceful. The only people I passed were also out early to beat the summer heat (although there was no avoiding the humidity today!). I passed a couple of runners, a few walkers, one dog, one biker, and a lot of mama geese and babies! Everyone including the geese said good morning!

I don’t feel any more tired this afternoon than I did yesterday. I was afraid I’d be ready to crash by noon. I also love that I’m not thinking about when/how I’m going to run after work. It is done! I can now go home and use my extra hour to play with Alex, read a book, or take a nap!

To help me keep track of my progress along the way, I’ve decided to keep a journal of a few things about each run – date, time, temperature, mile splits, overall totals. The temperature outside effects my running ability greatly pregnant or not pregnant. It’s good to keep a journal of the info so I can be prepared for race day if my body allows me to run the half. I will have a good indication of how my body will respond to race day weather. I also love numbers. I like looking at my splits. I like seeing what progress is being made and what needs to improve. My goal right now is consistency. I expect my times to get slower as my pregnancy progresses. I want to make sure I’m not using all my energy up in the beginning of the run. I need to save something for the end.

Here are today’s numbers –

Distance: 3.07 miles

Temperature: 73 degrees, 94% humidity (yuck!)

Splits: (1) 10:13 (2) 12:02 (3) 13:01

Totals: 36:02, 11:43 min/mile average, 3 walking breaks

I definitely need to start off a little slower OR take a walk break sooner. I try to take one every mile.

If you are new to running, racing, or just love numbers like me, I’d highly recommend keeping a running journal also. It’s such a great reference. I used one when I trained for the Shamrock Marathon also. Because it was winter, I also kept track of the clothing I wore, when I started to get hot, and what I wish I had worn. I’ve also kept track of food that I’ve eaten before a run incase I have stomach issues. The journal lets me recognize patterns and track my progress. It’s a great visual motivator. I plan on updating my progress on my blog under the training tab if you’d like to follow along.

Quick Garmin Watch update – Christian called technical support for me yesterday (He is magical on the telephone! Honestly! He has a way of getting exactly what he wants ALWAYS! Lucky for me because I’m horrible at conversing over the phone. I get nervous and awkward). The technician emailed him a software update and instructions on how to do a master reset of the watch. Right now it is in its final stages of charging. Fingers crossed. I’ll test it out tomorrow on my 4 mile run BEFORE WORK. If it doesn’t work, it will be mailed to Garmin for service. For now, I’ve been using Endomondo on my iPhone. It works just as great. I just wish I could see it during the run. I do love that the information that uploads to my computer keeps track of my monthly and yearly totals. It even tells me how many trips I’ve made around the planet and how many trips I’ve taken to the moon! AND how many hamburger calories I’ve burned! FUN! I’m a dork for weird random stuff like that! So far I’ve burned off 5 hamburgers this month by running – 2708 calories!)

runjune28 — Information from Endomondo about my run today

Just come back to it

Last night I received an email from my friend Nicole asking for some advice on at-home yoga workouts. As soon as I started typing my response, my body started craving yoga. I haven’t practiced since last Tuesday. Yikes! There was no denying the craving. I unrolled my yoga mat and started my practice. I knew I wanted a gentle flow class and not something that focused on too much strength and too much power. For Christian’s birthday, I bought him Eoin Finn’s Yoga for Happiness: Surf Edition. I decided to try the sunset workout on the disc. Doesn’t a sunset workout just sound relaxing? It was wonderful. Forty minutes of greatness!

The practice started with my favorite pose, child’s pose, and include shoulder stands, my other favorite. Too bad my belly is now getting in the way! Don’t worry. I modified each pose. During the practice I also had to laugh at my balance. Pregnancy is a crazy thing. It does so much to your body that you aren’t even aware of during normal daily routines. During half-moon, I could barely balance on one foot. As soon as I lost the pose, Eoin so nicely said (as if he were in the room with me):

If you come out of the pose, it’s okay. Just come back to it.

And that is when the light bulbs went off in my head. Pregnancy is like coming out of a pose. It slows things down. It throws off your balance. It shouldn’t be embarrassing. It’s something to embrace. It is just as wonderful as holding a pose (even if you come out of it). You just have to come back to it.

For me the light bulbs went off about pregnancy. I need to let myself come out of the pose if I need to, but I’ll always come back to it. Some things can be returned to immediately. Somethings have to wait until January. I may or may not be able to remain active during my entire pregnancy. While I can, I will. If the time comes when I can’t, I will return to it post-baby. Pregnancy cravings having me wanting a lot of foods I don’t normally eat. It’s okay. Most days I eat healthy. Even though there are nights I just really want a glass of wine, I’m willing to wait until January.

This morning I woke up at 5:30am ready to tackle my morning run before the summer heat turned on for the day. I was dressed and ready until I brushed my teeth. As soon as the toothpaste hit my tongue, I felt it happening. The wonderful gag reflex brought on by pregnancy. Normally I just gag A LOT, but today I threw up A LOT. The throwing up was definitely my way of coming out of the pose this morning. There was no way I was heading out for my run with an upset stomach. I’ll try again tonight and see if the weather is cooperating. If not, I’ll try again tomorrow morning.

There are so many other things in our life that we fall out of all the time. Routines as simple as eating dinner at the table can be forgotten. We can get in the habit of not kissing our spouse hello when we get home before we start venting about the day. Sometimes we eat way too much junk food over the weekend. Sometimes we just lose our balance. We just can’t forget to come back to the pose.

We all know how we want to live our lives. We all know how we want to love and be loved. Life throws us off-balance all the time. It’s okay. We just have to come back to the pose.

Weekend Accomplished

Before the tourists took over for the day!

This weekend was the first of 3 weekends without Cole. I woke up bright and early on Saturday feeling full of energy. Christian woke up bright and early Saturday morning ready to lay low and have a chill morning. After asking him for an hour “what do you want to do today,” I realized we were going nowhere. I took advantage of my energy and headed to the boardwalk for my saturday run. According to my training plan, I had a 4 mile run to tackle. As I have in all my runs since conceiving Maute Moo, I learned even more lessons about running while pregnant. Maybe I’ll have it figured out by the time the baby arrives.

I decided to head to the boardwalk for several reasons – (1) It gave Christian more time to just veg, (2) it was a beautiful day – upper 70s when I left the house, (3) i have the route memorized for mileage. I can tell you almost exactly how many miles are from each street. and (4) I expected there to be a good breeze. I was completely wrong on the last one. There was no breeze. Even though it was in the low 80s during my run, there is no shade along the boardwalk. It was HOT! Instead of struggling with my keeping my heart rate low, I was very concerned about my body temperature. The first 2.5 miles were great. I ran about 11 minute miles. I had to walk twice to lower my heart rate. The last 1.5 miles had me nervous. I stopped at the restroom to splash cold water on my face, neck, hands, and head. I couldn’t cool down. I ran for maybe another 1/2 mile before I decided the risk of overheating wasn’t worth it. (The baby is at risk if my body temp rises over 100 degrees). I ended up walking the last mile. I did my 4 miles though. At this point in my running/training/pregnancy journey that is all I care about. I hope my body and Maute Moo will allow me to complete the Rock n Roll half-marathon. I don’t care about time. I’ll be thrilled if I am able to run half of the mileage. I just want to finish.

261976_2168455529474_1189270374_32707775_8219766_n — Mama is starting to look pregnant! Hello pregnancy boobs!

Saturday night was filled with cooking out with friends, cornhole, and a late night bike ride to the boardwalk for an ice cream cone! While I love the boardwalk in the early morning hours, I don’t need to go back there in the evening until after the tourist season is over. People where everywhere.

I woke up Sunday craving a day at home. We had planned on driving up to Richmond for a community yoga event at Maymount park. I am disappointed I missed it. I just didn’t have it in me to sit in the car for 3 hours today. Oh how I wish we lived in a town that embraced yoga as a lifestyle instead of as a trending thing to do after work.

While I didn’t get my energy fill at the community yoga event, I got my energy fill by an awesome idea from Christian. We are on a mission to get our house set before Maute Moo arrives. My friend Morgan and her motivation keep me going! We’ve come up with a list of things that we want to accomplish before December (It will be posted this week!). Christian’s idea today isn’t on that list, but it was BRILLIANT!

When we moved into our house we knew there were a lot of things we would slowly change as we settled in. The fireplace in our family room is one of them. I love the size of it. I love that it is a real working fireplace. I don’t love all the brass. Today as we were about to head to Home Depot, Christian said “why don’t we take the doors off and just open up the fireplace?” WHY OH WHY DIDN”T WE THINK OF THIS EARLIER. The entire process of removing the doors took 5 minutes! It cost $4.00 to purchase a cleaner for the inside of the fireplace. The entire project took 1 hour. The impact is dramatic. It has given the entire family room a face lift. We’ve gone from 1980 to modern times! Did I mention that my husband is brilliant!

The Before….

Fireplace Before with some Christian and Alex love!

The Process….

"How do you get a guy to enjoy Vacuuming? Call it a shopvac!" ~ Christian

Bye-Bye Brass Doors! All that was holding it in place was the one screw on both sides!

The After….

We will be slowly making changes to the inside - it works for now!

This project was worth so much more than the $4.00 we spent and the 1 hour of our time. I can’t believe we waited so long. (Anyone have any idea what we can do with the old doors – I don’t want to throw them away! Looking for a greener alternative!) Updating the fireplace is the perfect thing to jumpstart the big family room project – PAINT! The project starts this week! I can’t wait! We also organized all of our camping stuff today and have a truck load full of goodwill items.

Weekend Accomplished! Fun, Fitness, House Projects, Organizing – DONE!