18 weeks and feeling great

18 weeks. 4.5 months. 126 days. Getting closer and closer to the halfway point!

Besides a little nausea last weekend, I've been feeling great. My only lingering symptom is the heartburn, but I figure it's settled in for the long haul. So I'd better get used to it.

James made us appointments with our chiropractor yesterday. When he told me about the appointment, I asked if it was similar to a couple massage, only it's not romantic and all you hear is the cringing sound of cracking bones. Despite poking fun, I definitely needed it, as I had a jammed hip, which explains why rowing hasn't felt great lately. I warmed up with a row at CFA this morning, and I felt great. I'm going to try to go back every few weeks.

This past week, I managed to get in a lot of workouts.

• Monday I scaled Grace to 75lbs. Then we did Annie afterwards, and I scaled from double unders to 3x the amount of regular jump ropes. The situps weren't a problem at all, so I'll continue to do them but closely monitor how I feel.
• Tuesday I had a softball game, and we eeked out a win. 
• Wednesday we did Diane. I scaled deadlifts to 125lbs, and tried using bands for the first 21 handstand pushups, but scaled to pushups for the second and third rounds. Being upside down did not agree with me, so I'll avoid that for the rest of my pregnancy.
• Thursday the WOD was 'Outdoor Field Day,' and we ended up running two miles, but stopping at two different intervals. At one interval, we did 50 pushups and 30 air squats. At the other we did suicides based on parking spaces lines. This was a hard one for me, as my bladder felt full the whole time I was running. After the first five minutes, I got used to it, but it was so hot at 5pm and not much breeze. Least to say, I was jogging instead of running. 
• Friday, I went to the morning class and did 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of 65lb bench press and 55lb cleans. Then we did a pullup ladder.
• This morning, the WOD was brutal. We paired up to complete 100 Wallballs, 100 Hurdle Jump Burpees, 100 Back Entensions, 30 Forty Foot Bear Crawls, 30 Sotts Presses and 30 Atomic Situps. Only one person could work at a time. My partner and I had just started on the Sotts presses when our trainer yelled for us to stop. We'd been working for 33 minutes up until then, and I managed to drink my whole 32 oz water bottle during the workout. At least that helped to keep me cool!

Now for some pics. Once again, I feel like I look much bigger than this, but this pic was taken this morning before I headed to the gym. By the end of the day I expand quite a bit.

And some pics from our workout this morning...

cinnamon crumb cake

Today, I took off work for a much-needed mental health day. Since I knew there would be some lounging later on in the day watching the CrossFit Games, I decided to go ahead and get up at 5:30 a.m. so I could eat a hot breakfast before going to the 7 a.m. CrossFit class.

After the warm-up, we did 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of bench press and power cleans. I was paired with Adrienne, who has lost more than 35 lbs doing CrossFit and become a beast! James set up my bench bar at 65lbs and my power clean bar at 55lbs. Adrienne had 10 more pounds than me on each of her bars, and part of me wanted to say, give me more weight, too. But sometimes (in very rare instances) hubby knows best. So I sucked up my pride and did the workout with light weight, but in my condition, it was still a good workout for me. After a 5 minute rest, we tackled the pullup ladder, where you start with one pullup on the minute and increase by one pullup every minute. Months ago, I could get up to 12 pullups in 12 minutes. Today, I resorted to the band and didn't even make 10. I know, this sounds like a pitiful 'woe is me' story. I think it's really just me getting more used to the idea that my body is changing and I can't do everything I used to.

When I came home from the gym, I knocked out two desserts to take to the CrossFit Games/CrossFit Addiction's 3-year anniversary party tomorrow. I won't be able to attend, as I'll be cruising Lake Lanier celebrating one of my best friend's birthdays. But still, I wanted to make something fun for the party. I baked a cinnamon crumb cake and a chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese icing (I'll post that recipe soon).


Cinnamon Crumb Cake with Icing

Ingredients

Cake:

• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup almond meal
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar/palm sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

Topping

• 1 stick butter (1/2 cup) not softened
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar/palm sugar
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup coconut flour

Icing

• 4 oz softened cream cheese
• 4 tbsp softened butter
• 1/4 cup agave
• 2 tbsp milk

1. In mixing bowl, blend eggs, sour cream, oil, almond milk and vanilla.

2. Blend in both flours, sugar, salt and baking powder.

3. Pour into greased 13x9 pan.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

5. In small bowl, cut butter into small pieces.

6. Fold in sugar, cinnamon and flour.

7. Spoon mixture evenly on top of batter.

8. Bake at 350 degrees for roughly 25 minutes.

9. If you want to make it more dessert-like, in small bowl blend cream cheese, butter, agave and milk for icing. Drizzle over cooled cake and sprinkle with cinnamon.

the other woman

After a whirlwind week at work, churning and burning and staying late, I come home this evening (since the traffic is so bad I can't make it up to the gym), to find someone already in my house. With long curly hair, a slim build and flawless skin, I'm stunned to find another woman in my living room. Upon closer inspection, I spy a ring on her finger, and try to determine if this is actually a good thing or a bad thing. As we all know, for many, rings don't translate to off limits. Apparently my husband didn't read into any off-limits subtleties, as he claimed her as his own.

As much as I want to be jealous of her, I just keep reminding myself that she's not real, and that puts my mind at ease. On the other hand, the product she's promoting is definitely real. And I turn my attention from her to her backdrop, a brand new 40" TV.

Anyone who knows us knows we're not big TV people. We don't have cable, and half the week we never even turn on our TV-hooked-up-to-computer-tower. I'm confused as to why our perfectly capable 32" TV isn't cutting it for James.

But then it dawns on me. Is it a coincidence that the CrossFit Games starts in one week? I think not. It's obvious where our priorities lie.

To say we're excited to watch them for the third year is an understatement. The first year, we downloaded each webisode after HQ uploaded them and were like hungry zombies watching them. Last year was our first taste at watching them through live streaming, and let me tell you, it was addicting.

We talk of CrossFit hotshots as if they're neighbors across the street who we  socialize with regularly, when the only 2011 Games athlete we know well is Brandon Phillips (or Mr. Wheelbarrow if you saw last year's Games). But from all the publicity CrossFit HQ pushes, we know them so well it's scary. We can tell you what type of workouts they're good at, and which ones they'll struggle with.

So despite the testosterone-fueled competition of the Games, and even our bias toward personal favorites, there isn't an athlete competing that we wouldn't like to see win. After all, when you're good enough to make it to the CrossFit Games, you're good enough to take home the gold on any given Sunday.

Let the countdown begin!

4-month milestone

Today marks 4 months of pregnancy for me. In some ways, time has flown by, but in other ways, I feel like the end of the year is still so far away.

Monday, I had another doctor's appointment, which was fairly quick, but went well. Baby Hobson's heartbeat was 152, and I seem to be on track--whatever that means :) I just scheduled my next ultrasound for 19.5 weeks in mid August. Can't wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl!

I figure it's about time to post belly bump photos, so here I am at 16 weeks. Note: I took this picture this morning before heading to the gym, but by tonight, I'll probably be several inches thicker. You can already see a little bump. At this point, I feel like I'm thickening up throughout my whole core, not just my lower stomach. I guess everyone grows differently!

After yet another workout hiatus for 4 or 5 days last week, this week I've been much more diligent. And honestly, traffic has been better and I haven't had any other weeknight obligations.

Sunday I walked with a friend for 45 minutes or so. Nothing intense, but it was good to be moving after several days of inactivity.

Monday, I had a softball game at 5:30pm. Surprisingly, it wasn't as hot Monday as it was midweek. I think I was 3 for 4, and our team Nielsen Nasty won by 12 runs! Finally, we're on a winning streak. Teammates keep asking how long I'll play, and at this point I'm not sure, but I think I can definitely finish out the last two games of July. The season goes all the way through September, so I have no hopes of playing the entire season. For those of you balking (pun intended) at me still playing softball, have no fear: I play outfield, so there's no worry of unpredictable grounders bouncing off stray rocks hitting me in the belly. Honestly, with the teams we've been playing lately, I'm lucky to get two balls a game hit to me. And I'm also careful, even though it may not always appear that way. When I'm a runner on first or third, I angle my backside toward the batter, just in case a line drive were to come my way. I've got plenty of padding for deflection back there! A couple teammates have questioned whether playing is too much physically. I simply tell them that softball is nothing compared to CrossFit, and I'm still doing that!

Tuesday, I finally made it back into the gym after almost a week! Aware of the record heat index, I chose to attend the 7pm class instead of 5pm. Plus, I went home after work and whipped up a big batch of German Rouladen for dinner that night. Such a great treat for a weeknight. I normally only make it on weekends since from start to finish it takes close to 4 hours. But I digress. Back to my CrossFit workout. The class was only me and Big Matt, so I didn't have to worry about how slow I'd be compared to our awesome female members :) Without further ado, let me introduce Juicy.

Juicy
12-24-36 Reps:
Weighted Step-Ups 25lb dumbells onto 20" box
Med Ball Throws using 14lb wallball

Rest 3 minutes:
4 Rounds:
20 Weighted Situps (under dumbbells)
80 Single Unders
20 KB Swings 35lbs

Normally, this first part of Juicy kicks me in the booty--literally. My glutes are usually sore for days. The Rx'd version calls for step ups on a 24" box, but I scaled to a 20". I knew those extra 4 inches would extend my workout exponentially. Basically, you just hold the 25lb dumbells by your sides and step up onto the box with both feet, then step down, and repeat. I tried to alternate legs so I didn't overwork one side of my body. Med ball throws are pretty much a push press with med ball. So instead of squatting to below parallel like a wallball, you dip a few inches and throw the ball up to the target. Despite the 20" box, this workout was still hard. My forearms pulsed from gripping the dumbells as I tried not to focus on my time. In the end, I finished about a minute less than my normal time on a 24" box. Of course, that doesn't say much because I've never been good at this workout :) In many CrossFit workouts, the rep scheme decreases throughout the workout, so even though you're tired, you have less to do each round. But with Juicy, your reps increase each round as you're getting more tired!

The second part wasn't bad at all, especially because I situated myself in front of our industrial fan. Hey--I've got an excuse now! I got through the first round without resting on KB swings, but had to split them up 11 and 9 for the remaining three, as my grip was almost gone. Still, I think I only finished a minute or so later than my normal time on this workout--though that was with 20 double unders instead of single unders. And we all know those are a huge weakness for me.

Thursday, I went back to CFA for the Endurance WOD.

5 Rounds:
1 Min Rowing
1 Min Plank

3 Rounds:
1 Min Running
1 Min Slamballs

2 rounds:
1 min of GHD sit-ups (I only went a little lower than parallel to the ground)
Rest 1 min
1 min of plate push sit-ups (only used a 10lb bumper plate)
Rest 1 min
20 minutes of yoga

Saturday (this morning) I'm heading up to the gym for this workout:

TEAM WOD (All 4 people working at the same time!)
Team Row 2,000M
400 Box Step Ups with barbell 65/45
300 Power Cleans 135/85
200 Toes To Bar
100 1-arm kb swings 55/35
50 Pistols or Deck Squats 

I've missed the last several Saturday morning workouts, and they're my favorite. I love knocking out a workout and then having the rest of the day to do whatever.

there's no going back

With pregnancy, my ever-expanding waistline is a new and crazy sensation. Putting on a pair of pants that I can't button up is a weird feeling. Reminding myself that it's ok I can't button up pants because I'm pregnant is a new feeling. Wearing looser-fitting clothes is a weird feeling.

For the past couple weeks, I've used a small hair rubberband doubled over a few times to secure my work pants. So far, that had worked just fine...until today. I'm not sure how it happened overnight, but suddenly, I seemed to have outgrown my old tactic. Luckily, I purchased a BeBand online from Target a few weeks back, but tucked it away in my drawers thinking it'd be a while before I needed it.

Wrong. This morning, I hesitantly put it on over a pair of pants that I had tried to secure with my hair rubberband, and wow! So much better, and to my surprise, so much more flattering.

I've crossed over into the first transition piece of maternity wear, and there's no going back. Now, I just need to order it in every color possible and I'll be set...until I outgrow these as well and have to move into full blown maternity pants. Crossing my fingers I'll find some non-frumpy ones!

Apologies for the self portraits via the mirror...

Goodbye flat stomach...

Experts say vertical stripes make you look thinner and horizontal stripes make you look wider...

I'm no expert, but I say slanted stripes help to take attention away from expanding bellies...

By the end of the workday, I look about twice this wide. I should have thought to do a before and after.

July 4th Weekend

Friday afternoon, we headed down to Lake Thurman/Clarks Hill in Augusta for the weekend. We immediately met up with friends, changed into bathing suits and launched our friend Adam's wakeboarding boat. The boys got in 30 minutes of wakeboarding before the boat broke down and we were towed back in. Devastated (or the boys, at least), we dropped off the boat at the mechanic the next morning and drove 2.5 hours to Gainesville to salvage the rest of the weekend on Lake Lanier. I'm happy to report it was a huge success and the boys can barely move they're so sore from wakeboarding.

I was a happy camper simply riding along in the boat (taking pictures and filming) and spending time with family and extended family for the weekend. They kept asking if I wanted to try wakeboarding, and I told them that with me being pregnant, I didn't think now was the time to give it a whirl--especially since it would have been my first time.

My parents just purchased two used sea doo ramps, and spent the weekend, along with my uncle, transporting, cleaning and installing them on the front of the boat dock. The guy who sold them the ramps also had a 30-foot Pontoon Party Cruiser for sale for a great price, it just needs a little TLC. I hinted that it would be a perfect boat for a new baby, since the middle has an enclosed, air-conditioned room with a small kitchen and seating. I think the biggest problem would be figuring out where to put it. Oh well, one can dream!



We got back to Atlanta around 4pm yesterday, with just enough energy left to eat dinner and sleep. We were too tired to find any fireworks, plus we didn't want to fight any crowds and it was storming all afternoon. James is burnt; I'm just more freckly--but we're both exhausted. James asked how I could be so exhausted because I didn't even wakeboard this weekend. Oh contraire, dear husband. I'll go ahead and admit that I pulled the "because I'm creating a baby 24/7 card." I figure he needs to be reminded every once in a while that just because I look (relatively) the same and act the same as I did in the past, my body is, in fact, as busy as a worker ant. I'm not sure my punchline had the desired effect, but maybe if I pull it out once a week he'll get the idea :)

Saturday, I hit the 14 week mark in my pregnancy. I've read that Baby Hobson is now the size of a lemon! I've gotten most of my energy back, and the only negative symptom that continues to persist is heartburn. Many women get this in their third trimester. I've been blessed to experience it early. Lovely. But if that's the worst of my symptoms at this point, I really can't complain. This week, after a 4-day hiatus, I'm back at CrossFit and gearing up to help James run the Atlanta Affiliate League tournament on Saturday.