my first milestone, my first reward

February 17, 2012: 170lbs – 17lbs lost!Way back when, when I started training for a half marathon and exercising regularly, I made a list. The list is of rewards that I will earn at each major weight loss milestone. In other words, I made this list in August. Exercising, doing crossfit workouts 2x a week, running 15+ miles a week… month after month… and I didn’t meet a single milestone. The list sat there, none of the goals met, none of the rewards received.…until I started Medifast in late December. Now I have 3 Medifast meals and 3 regular meals a day, and I also am still running about 10 miles a week. Pound after pound (after pound), I made my way (weigh? Ba dum ch!) to the first milestone weight – 170lbs.I saw 170 on the scale this Monday! My reward for hitting 170lbs was getting a massage (awesome, right?) so that very day I called and made an appointment (with a coupon, of course) to be pampered, and the appointment was last night. After having “170 – massage” written on my goals list for 6 months, I finally, finally, FINALLY got to check it off AND to reward myself. It felt so good – the massage and the achievement.{it was like this, only, you know, different.}Every 10lbs from here on out has a reward associated with it (but shhh… they’re my secret until they happen!), besides the intrinsic reward of getting my body back. The effort, the time, the discipline it’s taking to choose health, exercise, and have self-control have been demanding, but having a goals and rewards list is so encouraging (especially when I can actually reach the goals thanks to Medifast.)Another reward? All of the sweet and encouraging comments on recent posts that include pictures or video of me. (PS I totally agree, y’all. My face is showing the weight loss. Loving it!)My Journey to Health:February 17, 2012: 170lbsJanuary 30, 2012: 174lbsDecember 30, 2011, 187 lbs17 lbs lost!:: :: :: :: :: ::Want to join me this year on Medifast? If you use the coupon code, OFAMILY56, and sign up for Medifast Advantage, when you order $250+, you’ll receive 56 free Medifast Meals and free shipping! (More details at the bottom of this post.)Disclosure: I receive free product in order to evaluate and comment on my experiences on the Medifast Nursing Mothers Program. I will only ever tell you how I actually feel about this experience and the Medifast products. Pinky swearsies. I am supposed to tell you that the Medifast Program is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or illness and that any medical improvements noted while on the program are related to weight loss in general, and not to Medifast products or programs. K, you got that? Good. There will be a quiz later.

the birth of a brother, part 1

To fully understand Isaac’s birth story, you should probably know that I had already labored on and off for some 26 hours, but it didn’t work (or wasn’t “real”, but I dare you to come say that to my face).After that experience on Wednesday May 4, I was somewhat disenchanted by labor signs. I had contractions here and there, but paid them as little mind as I could. On Friday I had a midwife appointment, and after all the time spent laboring, I decided to be ‘checked’. I was between 4 and 5cm and 70% effaced.…just walking around, halfway dilated like it was no big deal.My midwife advised that those measurements didn’t mean so much that labor onset would be “soon”, but that when it did start, the combination of being nearly 5cm dilated and it being my second baby in 2 years, things would likely progress quickly.“You might think of not driving too far away.”And so I was served with a delicious piece of eagerness pie while I still feeling jaded and trying to keep my emotions in check regarding the first time I went into labor.Fast forward to Sunday. Add approximately 49 awkward interactions where I had to explain to neighbors, friends, and readers (who are friends I just haven’t met yet) why I still had a baby on the inside. “Wait, weren’t you in labor?” Multiply my disappointment and exhaustion. Throw in a couple hours of tempting, strong but entirely intermittent contractions.I was pretty much a grumpy, jaded mess. Happy Mother’s Day to me!Around 9pm DanO and I wrapped up working on installing the hardwood floors (yes, OBoy can sleep through the sound of a nail gun) and came downstairs for the evening. I was having contractions here and there, but when I decided to pay attention to them, I found that they weren’t consistent, and they even disappeared when I ate a piece of mother’s day ice cream cake and took a bath. I cried in the tub when I realized they were gone. I was going to be eternally on the verge of going into labor.DanO took great care of me, getting me to bed early, doing everything he could to help me relax and cheer up. We got in bed, I laid my head on his lap and we watched a couple episodes of shows online.WHAM. One very strong contraction.10 minutes later, WHAM.8 minutes later, WHAM.Then WHAM WHAM WHAM without stopping. It was 11:30pm. We turned the shows off (I was already to the stage of wanting everything to stop during a contraction), I rolled into the fetal position and DanO re-packed our hospital bags.After Cindy, our on-call friend and neighbor, arrived we were on our way to the hospital. It was around 1:00am. We had intended to leave at 12:30 but I have no idea where that time went. Things felt like they were spinning.(One of these days I’m going to have a baby during the day. I really am. This night time/wee hours of the morning stuff is exhausting.)The thing I most remember about the next 45 minutes from when we got in the car until we were checked into the hospital was the nausea. We entered the ER doors, I saw a stack of emesis bags on the reception desk and promptly asked to have one. This turned out to be wise because one elevator ride later and I was using the bag. They didn’t even make me fill out the paperwork because I was dry heaving into a bag. They just sent me right in.It was about 2:00am at this point. I was admitted and had – get this - the same ‘numbers’ as I had on Friday. 5cm, or halfway dilated, which is great and all usually, but was a bit of a bummer to me given the circumstances.Once the nausea was gone and our sweet labor support Anna had arrived, the labor party started. I got a wave of adrenaline which slowed labor down enough for me to come out of the fog and chat, laugh, and go for a walk. You know, the kind of walk where you stop every 3 minutes and groaning, lean your dead weight against your husband.I did about 10 contractions on a birth ball, a few dozen walking around, and then I was feeling tired. I wish I could tell you what time these things happened but I have no freaking idea.Next we filled up the deep bathtub in my room and while I relaxed in the warm water, DanO read to me from the book we’ve been reading lately. I think this is the part where I turned inside and became kind of dead to the world. I remember this from OBoy’s birth, too, where I would just make decisions and do them – how I wanted to sit, what position I wanted to be in, if I needed to drink/pee/sleep – I don’t remember actively thinking about any of these choices, they just kind of flowed from me.I love that my body has a fantastic autopilot mode. I knew what I was doing despite the fact that I wasn’t thinking about what I was doing. So much instinct going on.It must have been 5 am by now? I don’t know.Once I was nice and relaxed but labor and my contractions were continuing on – strong and close together – I wanted to lay down and sleep. So I did. For 2 minutes at a pass, I slept, then moaned my way through a contraction, and slept again. There’s something so weird about the passing of time during labor. Things that are only 2 minutes long feel like an eternity, and things that are over an hour long feel like 20 minutes. I remember saying that my contractions must have slowed down because I was surely sleeping for 10minutes between them. Nope, my labor support assured me, they were mere minutes apart.**If you’ve read OBoy’s birth story, you are not crazy, this (walk, bath, sleep) is preeeeetty much deja vu. Except the next part. Brace yourself.**The midwives on call have 12 hour shifts which switch on the 6 o’clocks. It was nearly 6am at this point, so a new midwife came in an introduced herself… and those were about the extent of the words we exchanged. I was, how do you say?Preoccupied.This timing I know. At 6:30am, shortly after the shift change, I went to the bathroom. During a contraction I had on the toilet, my water broke in a GUSH I never experienced with OBoy. (You guys, that is such a strange feeling!)“Well that was convenient.” I said, realizing what a mess that could have been.And then the shaking started. And the vomiting. And really intense world-ending contractions. But mostly I remember the shaking coupled with the OMW I HAVE TO PUSH RIGHT NOW SO EVERYONE SHUT UP AND GET OUT OF MY WAY IMMA HAVE A BABY feeling.Yea, that one. Kind of scary, actually.(Spoiler alert: it was only 12 more minutes until I had a baby.)I went back to the bed from the bathroom and my body decided I wanted to be on my knees with my arms leaning on the back of the bed in something of a squat position. My midwife checked to see if I was “complete” – fully dilated - and ready to push.“You’re almost crowning. I guess we’ll call that complete, huh?”From the get-go, pushing was different this time than with OBoy. Really different. I remember the very end of pushing OBoy being so intense that it kind of scared me, but that was after I’d been doing it for an hour already. This time we went from lalala-labor to INTENSE URGE to push in a few minutes flat. At this point I was thankful for both my husband and Anna our doula. I needed to have them next to me for those moments.When I was given the go ahead to push, our nurse held the heart rate monitor on my belly. I pushed through one strong contraction and I could tell he was almost out.“Allison? I need you to keep pushing, good strong pushes. Your baby’s heart rate is dropping and he’s right here. We need him out. Be strong.”I don’t really know what I did or what my body did in the next minute or two, but I know that it was 3 minutes from when my midwife checked that I was complete to when OBrother was born.He was blue.(Obviously, you know that he’s now healthy and beautiful, which is why I am ok with continuing the rest of the story tomorrow morning. This is a blog post not an epic poem.)

Frohawk Two Feathers..

Just spotted this piece by Frohawk Two Feathers on Taylor De Cordoba Gallery's site, I would gladly own this piece in a heart beat if money grew on trees. In fact, if that was the case I would gladly own more than this piece from Frohawk. No brainer.

a knight in shining, aluminum, 6.5oz armor

At 8:08am this morning our front door creaked open and I about wet my pants in fear. I grabbed my phone, typed in 911 (but didn’t press call) and went to investigate. I was met at the top of our stairs by a broad shouldered, 6’2″ DanO.“O thank God.” I sigh-speak.“Hi! It’s me!” (he says now).In his hand he holds a skinny brown cylinder, an aluminum can I have come to love more than I thought possible. My heart leaps.**Interruption to remind you:This, week 8 of our kitchen remodel, is also week 5 of not having a stove. That is to say: I cannot boil water (except maybe in the microwave? Does that work?). As my friend Abby said, “Wishing you a speedy return to this century. Wait, they boiled water in ALL THE CENTURIES!!!!” Since we do not own a coffee maker and making french press coffee (my usual) requires pre-boiled water, I am proverbially up coffee creek without a latte.Until DanO comes unannounced through the front door brandishing an aluminum can like the knight in shining armor that he is.I may not have the ability to boil water, but I can sure tell you what modern chivalry looks like.

loving this image right now probs forever..

i love this collection of found match books made into american sign language by jk keller.

recipe for a sweet dessert party

Over Winter break, Dan and I came to the realization that the state in which we live is quickly changing. Namely, we will probably never live within a mile of 80% of our friends again in our lives. As we realized that, we knew we wanted to take full advantage of it – so Dan officially gave me permission to let my inner hostess’ hair down. Desperate times called for making cute center pieces, baking an array of yummies, and having a bunch of people over. I was down right giddy with the thought of it. Jumping to the end of the story, on Friday, we had about 20 people over for a dessert party filled with chocolate fountains, yummy punch and baked goods, and a cupcake decorating competition (that’s right – with door prizes).We had such a wonderful time that we’ve already decided to replicate the party after we’ve lived in Minnesota for a while – except, part of me feels like throwing the same party for two different groups of friends is like wearing the same outfit two days in a row, knowing you won’t run into any of the same people. But hey: I’ve done it.That being said, I wanted to document just what it was that went down at the dessert party to make it such a good time. You know, just in case I need to go back and look at my notes before I throw it again next year.Recipe for a Sweet Dessert Party1. design adorable invitations2. mix groups of friends that you know from different places and activities3. melt chocolate chips and set up a chocolate fountain for dipping4. thaw previously prepared and purchased sweets (creme puffs, peanut butter balls etc.) and arrange them on platters5. light approximately a dozen candles around the house6. simmer some music in the background7. bake 2 dozen cupcakes – chocolate and vanilla – for decorating8. blend 4 to 5 different colors of frosting for use in cupcake decorating9. arrange bowls of candies around the room10. pick the best decorated cupcake via voting by guests. This year’s 1st place winner:Jon’s “King of the Jungle” cupcake!11. squeeze 22 people into a 500 square foot space12. chill with some of the best friends a person could have!

the black spot books..

 

hi! i'm so excited to be guest blogging - i spend most of my time sewing away for forestbound, so it's a nice treat to venture over here for a week! i have a bunch of crafters lined up to share with you and i'm real into what they're up to these days... i hope you will be too. the first is one of my all-time favorites, the black spot books. margaux is based out of philadelphia and creates unique pieces with an aesthetic that runs true to my own heart.   her focus is mainly on hand-stitched books... these one of a kind pieces are constructed out of bits of leather that she uncovers with her own hands like forgotten about treasure. whether it has been stumbled upon inside of an abandoned house or salvaged from a 19th century british chair - margaux's books continually blow my mind with their intricate craftsmanship and ability to beautifully capture a small part of history. lately she's been working on these necklaces - wearable (and useable) miniature books! you think it couldn't get any better - but wait.. she also makes jewelry! jaw dropping jewelry at that. like this ring - a piece of victorian lace that has been hand cast in white bronze. margaux also creates these amazing prints. oh and photographs too! she does it all. all of her wares are available on her etsy shop. she also has a website where you can see more of her work.

Christy Langer..

This is a just a wee little post so you guys can get a look at Christy Langer's incredible sculptures from past shows. I'll be posting a Q&A with Christy at some point next week in preparation for her show Meticulous Engagements at The Shooting Gallery with Kris Kuksi on April 3rd. Thought I'd wet your whistle so to speak. ;)

Mommy amp; Me on Mars