Daily Snapshot III

Clockwise, from left:

Early morning run. The alarm goes off at 4:25 a.m., and I sneak into Si's room. I grab him out of the crib, nurse him and put him back down. Most people dream feed at 10 p.m. to get more sleep; I do it to make Si sleep longer, lessening the mother runner guilt. The goal is to be finished with the routine by 4:40 so I can make a pot of coffee, go to the bathroom (let's be real), grab a snack and leave the house by 5. 5:05 at the latest. On this morning, I get out around 5:02 but have to detour thanks to a stopped train and wind up 5 minutes late. Tami and I run 5 delicious miles albeit chilly ones.

I'm Farmer Joe. Si is a, well, demanding baby. He likes to be held. He fusses a lot. He doesn't like to play independently. Recently, I was able to turn him on to a LeapFrog refrigerator toy. He might press the button 3,000 times in 5 minutes but I can actually get stuff done.

Salad train. Like make my lunch. I went to Aldi this past week, and I bought more produce than I have in a long time. The smaller section made it much easier to grab supplies for salad lunches – lettuce, broccoli, green peppers, red onion and tomato. I grab a can of tun and call it a done meal.

#project366. The most challenging yet rewarding project. I grab the picture about 7:55 every morning as we leave the house by 8 to get Miles to school on time. Si doesn't like to sit still and wants to crawl off (now, thanks!). The VTech alphabet train is the best and entertains both boys

Oh, pumpkin. I drop off Si at daycare before heading to the Y to teach a circuit class. We nurse and cuddle a bit to help with his anxiety. Class was fun. We did 45 seconds of a bodyweight exercise followed by 15 seconds of a more intense/plyometric version.

Work and all the food. I arrived at work at 10 on the dot ready to hustle. The system was going to be shut down from noon to 4 p.m., and we were hoping to get four hours of work finished in two. I ate part of my lunch while I worked – fresh pineapple (99 cents at Aldi!) and my salad. Once we logged off, we went to the hospital. I grabbed soup and a dessert, which I kindly split with my co-worker. Well, maybe not so kindly. I basically offer to share sweets to cut the guilt. After eating, I ran errands – returning an ill-fitting romper to Victoria's Secret, grabbing a snack at Poptique and stopping at the library, where a Dunkin Donuts coffee HOPPED into my hand. I also made some rounds for work and took the stairs. You know, because of the pie and popcorn.

Clockwise, from left

For me? I arrive home from work at 6 p.m. and discover that my friend had sent me an early birthday present. It's a super cute, super sweet bangle that is inscribed on the inside. It was super amazing on that day.

Can we cuddle? Dinner that night was ravioli for the boys and zoodles for me served with pesto, spinach and diced tomatoes. While Mark made the ravioli, I nursed Si and cuddled with Miles. We've found that dinner time is much more pleasant if Si gets that time before we sit down. Otherwise ... well, not pretty. There's been a night or three where he goes in the crib to cry while I shovel food.

Bath buds. Mark bathes the boys at 6:45 p.m., and I read stories after. Si just started pulling himself to stand, and he chose to do it in the tub. He thinks it's hilarious.

And you know what? I do, too.

Daily Snapshot II

a) The reality of meal prep at 6:15 a.m. I try to pack my lunch – chopped chef salad and soup – while I cook my breakfast and make coffee. Please note the warehouse size container of Folgers.

b) The boys are sleeping, still, as I eat my egg white-mixed green scramble so I page through the IDEA Fitness Journal. It has the latest research but also some great ideas for classes. I love the superset workout they have and decide to use part of it for my morning T-N-T class.

c) At 7 a.m., I go to wake up Si. He is usually up by 6:30 but on this morning, he woke up at 4:55 as I walked out the door for my weekly BRF run date. Si fought Mark when he tried to soothe him and get him down so he slept in a bit later.

I nurse Si as I read blogs and text with my friend. Her weight loss has slowed and she wanted some advice. I feel honored that people respect my opinion enough to seek it out. However, I don't have all of the answers and often folks want nutrition help, which I am not really in a position to give. I hate to say it but on this morning, I had little patience.

d) Monday's #project366 photo

e) I leave the Y after teaching my 9 a.m. class and head to work. I used to think it was frivolous to have two gym bags but lately it's been a necessity as I'm teaching Silver Sneakers while an instructor recoups from a hospital stay. I still love my Apera and use it regularly. I also love coffee.

f) I need to do some rounds at work and head out to the car. As I make my stops, I listen to "My Sister's Grave" on Audible. Honestly, it's not my favorite – I feel like the writer is trying too hard – and I just want to power through.

g) Oh, the dinner struggles. I feel like my dinner conversation is reduced to the following phrases: Bottom on the chair; stop or the dog will eat it; do you want to be on restrictions; yes, you have to eat it all gone. It felt particularly fierce Monday as Miles insisted the pizza lasagna was spicy and he couldn't eat it. I felt terrible but I pulled the "your baby brother ate it and he's just fine" card at which point, Miles told me he was a werewolf and started howling.

h) Our bedtime routine commences almost immediately after dinner. Mark bathes the boys while I try to grab a few minutes to myself. I really wanted something sweet and started to make hot chocolate ... except we were out. Of course. The subsequent 53 ideas that I came up with were also a no-go so I had a banana with peanut butter and stale marshmallows. #winning

Daily Snapshot I

Daily Snapshot is a new feature, possibly, on Healthy Strides – it's part photo dump, part day in the life, part what I ate. Enjoy!

a) Another day, another 5 a.m. run. Tuesday's workout called for 3 x 1 mile at tempo pace w/0.25-mile recovery. I'm shooting for 8:30-8:35 on these but it was dark and I couldn't see my watch and I don't have a lap button ... and yeah. The first one was around 8:15 and the following splits were in the 8:35 range but included the recovery. A complete surprise! Bonus: I set a mile PR, according to Strava. I guess being too tired to realize that running fast hurts is a good thing.

b) Si is creeping on his 10-month birthday, and I'm gearing up to transition him to a big boy eating plan. (Read: I am THIS READY to be done breast feeding.) I nurse him when he wakes up and then shove him in the high chair and toss a banana on the tray.  He enjoys it, and I can make my breakfast and drink coffee. Please note Miles in the background. He is staring at himself making funny faces in the front mirror.

c) God love Si but oh, is he fierce and an expert tantrum thrower. He will cry and scream as if he's dying. Pick him up and he's fine. Le sigh.

d) If you follow me on Instagram, you might have noticed me using the hashtag #project366 (leap year, y'all). The goal is to take a picture of the boys every day in the same spot (when possible) so I can show how much they grew in 2016. On Tuesday, Miles had a dress-down day and insisted on the overalls. It was too cute.

e) I was recently afforded the opportunity to try out the Green Blender service – think Blue Apron meets smoothies. I plan to talk about it more in an upcoming post but I was really surprised by Tuesday's smoothie. It was called Pineapple Power, and it had pineapple, grapes, baby kale, snow peas and sancha inchil. I had tried a green smoothie years ago and was not a fan, and I have avoided them since. But, for the sake of blogging, I tried this and I am glad I did.

f) I had Coconut Pork Curry over quinoa. #thatisall

g) I'm still maintaining my Believe journal, 99 percent of the time updating it while I pump.

h) I saw this last night and so much yes.

What would your snapshot show?