My permanent plus one.

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I’m not big on excuses. I’m about to make a giant exception because I have the world’s best excuse for not blogging for the last 2+ months:

An (almost) 10 week old, 12 pound, blue-eyed, smiley, loud, boob-loving, diaper change-hating baby boy.

That’s right – I had our baby at the start of Memorial Day weekend. It was the scariest, longest and most wonderful day of my life. The phrase “Your life can change in an instant” was never more true than the moment I laid eyes on my sweet little boy. And in that moment, it was as if a switch went off, and every other priority I had took a back seat to trying to be the best possible mom to my child.

Thus, blogging (and healthy eating, sleep, some relationships, email maintenance, etc.) all took a back seat. And I’ve spent the last (almost) 10 weeks working on my new goal. Have I figured it out? Not at all. Am I doing my best? I’d like to think so. Is it easy? Absolutely not. Is it worth it? Absolutely yes.

I’ve always enjoyed the phrase “plus one.” When we were dating, I liked being my (now) husband’s “plus one” at a wedding. When pregnant, I liked jokingly telling my friends when RSVPing for BBQs or parties that I’d be Donavan “plus one” (assuming Kyle would RSVP for himself, which rarely happens :)). That phrase has a new meaning to me now. My son is my permanent plus one. Even when he’s not physically with me (something I’m still trying to get an emotional hold on!), he’s still with me. I think about him constantly. I dream about what his life will be like. I can’t go anywhere without me – he is my permanent, life-long plus one.

And I couldn’t be happier about it. So, no promises on how long I’ll keep blogging or how frequently you’ll hear from me. I have (in all honesty) more important things to do for the foreseeable future. But when you do, I hope you’ll welcome the new me – Donavan plus one. I think that, with him, I’m simply a better version of myself.

I’m alive.

I am sure you probably thought this blog (and maybe its author) had died. I’m sorry for taking a longer than intended break. But sometimes, life comes first. And man has my life been interesting for the last few months.

If you were a regular reader of my blog, you know I’m not one for excuses. So instead of telling you why I’ve not blogged since OCTOBER (oh. my. gosh.) I’m going to tell you all of the interesting things I’ve been doing instead. See how I framed that as a positive rather than a negative? 🙂

1) We moved!

Kyle and I bought our condo in 2010, before we were married, after only living for a year in DC. We chose a location that worked for us and was convenient to our friends. We wanted two bedrooms, two bathrooms and two parking spots. We got everything we wanted – and a home that ended up being very high-maintenance. I try not to live life with regrets, so instead of saying I wish we hadn’t ended up there, I’ll just tell you that we were very ready to move on.

In August, we had nearly decided to put our condo on the market. But before we did, we wanted to see what was out there to figure out what our next step would be. After looking at many houses and townhouses in towns all across Northern Virginia, we found a row house that was just right, in a neighborhood we really liked that was convenient to work, fun and friends. We made an offer, thinking it would never be accepted because we had a financing contingency on the sale of our condo. Well, it was. So there we were, with an accepted offer, and our condo not yet on the market. Oh, and we left for Europe the next day.

September and October were a blur, but we got an offer, did LOTS of paperwork, and closed on the condo on Halloween. We somehow got the new house to hang with us through lots of bumps in the road and closed there in the first week of November. The moving story is somewhat hellacious but that’s for another day. All you need to know is that is what I was doing for most of September and October, and now we’re in our new house and are (nearly) settled, and so far are very happy there.

2) Work exploded.

Not nearly as much detail here, but work got c-r-a-z-y. I got my first direct report, took on a new part of the business and have generally been given some good opportunities to grow my career. While work isn’t the most important thing in my life, it is something I care about – so it’s been an area where I’ve focused more attention lately.

Oh and just a minor 3) I’M PREGNANT!

So somewhere around our return from Europe and pre-offer on our condo, Kyle and I found out that our family is expanding. So, if the moving process and more responsibility at work weren’t enough, adding some nausea and a perpetual feeling of exhaustion to the mix really put me over the blogging edge.

We’re thrilled about the news and so far, my pregnancy has been very manageable. But, it definitely took a few months to adjust to the change (along with the others) and start to understand my new life and body. I took 6 straight weeks off from working out – not because I didn’t want to, but because I was SO tired (and frankly a little scared). I’ve slowly gotten back in to exercising, but it’s a very different routine than I was used to. There’s lots of walking and more weights, and most notably, very strict control of my heart rate. It’s strange to be focused on exercising for reasons other than losing weight and looking great, but I do want to be as healthy as possible for me and the baby!

I’ve been most sad to stop my spin routine (my heart rate would get WAY too high) and the vinyasa yoga classes I had been addicted to all summer. However, I’ve been getting on the stationery bike at the gym and am starting a prenatal Pilates class in January, so I’m trying not to get too far out of the game.

So, that’s where I’ve been the last few months – trying to stay on top of home maintenance by raking leaves in the dark, hoping not to royally screw up someone who has been assigned to work for me, and growing a human. Could I have kept blogging through all of it? Sure. Was it my first priority? Not in the slightest. But, I am slowly becoming more like my old self, and can’t wait to get back in to the game.

Thanks for waiting for me. My blog might be a little different moving forward, but I hope it’s still somewhere you get some laughs and a healthy dose of reality. It’s good to be back.

Tunes Tuesday, Volume 94

Oh Tuesday – you’re so much better than Monday. How did I ever forget you last week? A hundred apologies.

When we were at the shore a few weeks ago with friends, this week’s song came on the shuffle. One of my loyal readers in the group quickly exclaimed “This should be a Tunes Tuesday song!” – and it was such a great suggestion. Plus, I felt like a true success in life – if your friends think about your blog without you asking them to, you must be somebody. Right?

So, enjoy this week’s song, “Ten Feet Tall” by Afrojack. I was sold at first listen on the beat, the melody and the lyrics … and it’s not every day that you achieve the trifecta!

Getting bogged down.

I was going to start this post with something like “I’ve been really bad about …” but then I realized that was the same way I started my last post. So, let’s try this another way.

I’ve sucked at blogging lately. I don’t have any excuses other than that life has gotten in the way. That’s a lame excuse, as everyone has a life, so why should mine be an excuse? In short, it isn’t. And I need to get back on the bandwagon.

So I was thinking about strategies that I’ve used in the past when I’ve felt like there are too many things going on in life that I can’t catch up on the things that matter most. Here’s my short list, but I’d love to hear what works for you.

1. Take one task at a time. Is your inbox too full, and your desk filled with papers, and you have six meetings, and you want to cook a gourmet dinner for 6 people on Saturday? Look at each of those things individually. Get through your inbox, then focus on your desk, then prepare for your meetings and then make the grocery list for Saturday.
2. Even better – prioritize those tasks. Maybe cleaning your desk and inbox can wait, but it’s Friday and you have to get through the meetings and then think about tomorrow’s dinner. Know what has to get done and what can wait, and work accordingly.
3. Give yourself a break. This is the most important, in my opinion. Sure, I’ve been bad at blogging lately. But am I broken up over it? No. Do I want to change it? Yes. How will I do that? By figuring out where it lands in my list of priorities, and then working through each one until I get there.

Thanks for being patient with me, friends. I’ll be back in action again soon!

What an honor!

I’ve been honored by one of the people who inspired me to start blogging! Emily, who blogs at Newlywed in the City, has been a close friend to Kyle and me since we’ve lived in DC. She recently gave me the Liebster Award as one of her favorite bloggers!

I am so touched that Emily thought of me! Part of the nomination requirements were for me to answer questions that Emily asked. So, here goes:

1. Where is your favorite place to travel to? This will come to no surprise to my loyal readers but I love traveling to the Jersey Shore. I’ve been going there my whole life and have many happy memories there. It’s one of my happiest places!

2. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? That’s a tough one! Right now, I really like Ben & Jerry’s Banana Peanut Butter Greek Frozen Yogurt.

3. What is your favorite movie? Wedding Crashers. My roommate and I must have watched it a hundred times freshman year. I know almost every line but it makes me laugh each time I see it.

4. Salty or sweet? Salty!

5. What other profession do you wish you could be or think would be fun? If I could be anything else, I’d either be a photographer, a graphic designer or an author. I guess that’s why I blog!

6. Where do you see yourself in five years? I struggle with knowing where I’ll be in 5 years, but I know that I want to be happy, still madly in love with my fantastic husband, enjoying laughs with my friends and family – and hopefully a bit wiser.

7. What is your favorite season? Fall! There is nothing better than fall, especially in Pennsylvania. Fall in Virginia is nice, but there are many days that I long for a nice Pennsylvania fall day.

8. Who are your top three favorite bloggers? This is easy! EMILY (duh!), my bestie Amanda and Jessica, who I learned about through Amanda.

9. What TV show is your guilty pleasure? The Voice, or America’s Got Talent.

10. Beach or mountains? Beach. See #1.

11. What is your all time favorite meal? My favorite “everyday” meal is pizza and salad. I’m a simple girl. The best meal I ever ate was in Paris and the receipt hangs on the wall in my parents’ kitchen. I dream about that meal.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BLOG!

Today marks the one-year anniversary of my first post here on A Marathon Runner’s Wife!

It’s been a pleasure sharing my life and thoughts with you over the last year. As most of you know, I started this blog for a few reasons, but the main motivation was for me to tackle a life goal of mine at the same time as my husband took on one of his – running a marathon. Over time, this blog has evolved from a detailed record of Kyle’s training to a place to share ideas, marvel at interesting stories, ask for advice and celebrate life.

A year after starting this blog, my life is pretty different. Kyle has finished training and successfully completed his marathon. He’s now in grad school, which takes even more time out of life than marathon training did! I’ve dabbled in a few hobbies (real estate, yoga, photography) over the course of the year, but blogging has stayed with me through them all.

Taking this opportunity to reflect back on the last year in blogging, I imagine that reading my blog may have been confusing. The topics jump around, it’s not always consistent and you might not know what to expect. I want you to know that I plan to continue blogging, but would like to put together a more concrete plan and give better expectations about what you’ll be able to find here. I’m grateful to have loyal readers, and I want to keep you engaged. So please, tell me what you’d like to see more or less of, and I’ll do my best to deliver.

Thanks to all of you for your love, support, feedback and time over the last year. I blog for myself, of course, but I also blog for you. Otherwise, I might as well just keep a diary.

Here’s to another year!

I’ve been bad.

I’m sorry! I’ve been a bad blogger the last few days. But, I’m back in action. It’s been a busy few days personally and professionally and I am hoping things slow down a bit through this weekend.

I need that down time, because life is about to get pretty busy. In June alone, we’ve got:

1) Visitors last weekend – a much-needed break from reality when some of my besties came down from PA to visit. We had a blast!
2) Kyle starting classes again (he started up again last night, boo!) … I think I’m still in denial …
3) Our 2-year wedding anniversary (talk about denial – how has it been 2 years?!)4) A trip to Oregon to celebrate Kyle’s sister’s graduation from college (ANOTHER point of denial. Time flies!)
5) A trip to Atlantic City to celebrate another bestie’s bachelorette party – no boys allowed at this one but Kyle will be home doing tons of studying, I’m sure. 🙂
6) One weekend to relax before July’s madness begins. No, things don’t get any less busy next month. Sneak preview – 4th of July at the beach, 3 weddings in a row. No rest for the weary!

Sometimes I complain about all the things that we have going on, but I know that most times, I do it to myself. In the end, there are too many wonderful things to see, do and celebrate in this world, and I’m fortunate to be able to do the things that I can do. I wouldn’t trade this life for anything!

Thanks for putting up with me. I’ll be a better blogger. After all, blogging is just another part of life that brings me joy, so there’s no way that I’m giving it up!

Small Pleasures, Volume 15

It’s not every day that you write your 200th blog post. Even if I’m doing this just for me, it’s pretty cool to see it grow. Thanks to those who have joined me along the way!