The last trimester

Wow...The third trimester was rough...

That's not fair, it was just busy and I was a little run down.   Overall my pregnancy was very smooth.  Most of my complaints were related more to the weight I gained than anything else.  At the end of the day I had a lot of swelling and gained almost 56 pounds so of course I was uncomfortable! But I was growing a human life and it was worth it.  By the time I left the hospital I had already lost 23 of the 56 pounds so I have no doubt that a lot of it was water weight from the swelling, (especially what I gained at the end) and at 6 weeks pp I have lost 42 pounds.
Last week I was released by my doctor to workout so my dear sweet husband registred me for a Halloween 10k - So I am training for it with a jogging stroller, my goal is to finish in less than 2 hours because pushing a jogging stroller is hard work - Right now I am at 3 miles @ a 20 minute pace i.e. walking not at all fast.   I am also starting to track my food.  I have been able to breast feed fairly well so far so I'm not focused on cutting calories at this point but want to make sure I'm making good food choices and working out enough to see some progress in my overall fitness. 

I will share more about the 3rd trimester soon and will probably share my delivery story once I feel up to it - it was more eventful than I would have liked but both me and baby are healthy and that is all that matters.

If you aren't my friend on MyFitnessPal already and would like to be feel free to add me - my username is SRPM.

Back to the "real" Navy

Today my husband returns to the "real" Navy.  Not surprisingly, this blog is also returning to its roots of being a milspouse blog in a lot of ways.   

For the past 4ish years hubby has been on shore duty in an office building and exempt from overnight watch.  This means that for 4+ years I have had my husband home every night, usually at a fairly reasonable hour AND not had any concerns about deployments or underways to deal with.  

All of that changes today.  Approximately 53 days before I have our first child my dear sweet hubby is back on a boat, back to the real navy, and preparing to go underway.  Luckily he should be home for the birth of our son but we are looking at a deployment in the near future.   

Here's to adjusting to being a mom, and being a single mom, and having a deployed husband all at the same time - it's the roller coaster we signed up for!  Wish me luck :) 

Not leaving yet

I apologize for the brief break in posting.  We went home for vacation/a baby shower and life has been a whirlwind.  I promise a post soon recapping my wonderful baby showers and getting back to my regular schedule.
Third trimester exhaustion is getting the best of me. I’ve been falling asleep super early which has made my productivity when I get home limited at best.

Shanon's Book Review - Outliers: The Story of Success

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell is a nerdy book if I have ever read one.  This book takes a long hard look at the little things in life that can make a huge difference in determining success from a young age.  The main argument of the book is that success is tied to opportunity and time, that hard work and practice are required to be successful but that without the opportunity the hard work is worthless.  For example he talks about the inherent advantage children have when they are among the oldest kindergartners in the class verses the youngest simply because these students  have a few more months of maturity--which is a lot when you are only 5 or 6 years old.  

Overall I got a lot of little nuggets of wisdom from this book and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I put more weight on some of the things Gladwell used to substantiate his thesis (for example, if I have kids who are on the fence age wise between starting kindergarten this year verses next I will probably make the decision based on the child's personality and readiness, not their age, I was among the youngest in my class and always received good grades/was told how smart I am) however overall I think I am better off for having read the book and recommend it to anyone who is interested in the science behind success. 

Shanon's Book Review - Hamilton: The Revolution

Are you as in love with the Hamilton Mixtape as I am?   Have you been lucky enough to see Hamilton in person, either on Broadway or one of the traveling casts?  I love Broadway and love musicals.  From the classics like Hello Dolly, to Thoroughly Modern Millie, to more modern shows like Avenue Q and Hamilton and everything in between I am a musical theater junkie.  I have had the Hamilton Mixtape on my Amazon playlist since it came out on prime music and it is still one of my go-to's when I need upbeat music to get shit done at work or home.

 

I listened to Hamilton the Revolution on audiobook, read by Jeremy McCarter and Lin-Manuel Miranda and I highly recommend you do the same.  Something about hearing the actual writer of the musical talk about his process makes it come to life in a way that reading words on the page can never accomplish.  Walking step by step through the inspiration and creative process that went into the development of this musical that is truly groundbreaking was a wonderful journey.   

I loved getting a behind the scenes look at what aspects of the show are truly historically accurate verses where some creative license was used to fill in the gaps and as someone who hasn't had the chance to see the show in person yet hearing more about the casting process and how the use single actors to fill multiple roles was extremely interesting. I always like researching historical fiction books after I read them to find out what is actually true, it was nice having a book that did that research for me. 

I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads but honestly if I could have given it 6 or more I would have. 

Baby Shower!!!!

The season of friends and family members showering me with gifts has begun!!! Today I am heading to my mom's house and tomorrow my best friends in Louisville will be throwing my first baby shower.  I am so excited to celebrate our little one with our friends and family members.  The shower is going to be wonderfully nerdy - the theme is Doctor Who!  One of the hosts and I might be the only ones who understand all the references but it is going to be a fun day.

Next week my mom is going to have an open house style shower at her house so that the people who I grew up with and/or helped raise me can come celebrate our little one.  The party at her house isn't themed but I have no doubt it will be a nice evening with people I don't get to see often. 

All things baby are starting to take place and I can already see how blessed we are to have such amazing friends and family members.  Some of my girlfriends here are planning on breaking into my house while we are out of town (we have a dog/house sitter who will actually let them in) to paint the nursery so that I don't have to. 

I really am so grateful to have so many people who are excited to welcome our little man into the world and who are already showing how much the love him and us. 

Whats the nicest thing someone did for you when you were expecting?  If you aren't a parent what is the nicest thing someone has done for you unexpectedly at another time of anticipation?

Family Drama

As I have gotten older I have learned that pretty much everyone has some sort of family drama.   I used to think that it was strange for families to have drama, especially over little things, since my mom's family genuinely likes each other and gets along.  My dad's family had some skeletons in the closet but nothing I would consider drama, and he had a fight with his sister when his dad died but even that seemed legit to me. 
My husbands family isn't exactly the same as mine.  His family doesn't talk about problems they just pretend they don't exist, family events (especially funerals) are made up of more gossip than most of my sorority events in college, and I honestly believe the majority of his immediate family members tolerate each other at best.
Sometimes this difference in attitude is very difficult for me to understand and unsurprisingly it has bubbled to the surface during our baby-celebration planning.  My husband is used to the attitudes so he just kind of ignores it and tells me to do the same but I have a hard time with that.  Especially with my hormones all over the place.
So-what about you? Does your extended family like each other, hate each other, or are they somewhere in the middle? Does your significant others family handle things differently from yours? How do you adjust to the differences?