Continual reminders

We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed. And as a matter of fact, if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

In a weird way, C.S. Lewis's quote from his famous book is oddly comforting. It means that I am not alone in needing a daily reminder of Christ, what He has done for me and where I am going. It means I am not alone in my need of daily grace. It means I don't have to feed myself with knowledge from my own mind, but can receive that knowledge from the Word. That to me is comfort.

Psalm 16:2, 5

Working out while pregnant

Keeping the exercising routine strong

As soon as I tested positive for being pregnant, I was quick to make sure what kind of exercises I could do at the gym or outside. Here's what I have found that works for me.

Before you do any workout, assess your current physical condition. Are you someone who exercises for 5-7 hours per week or 2? Or none?

Did you know that studies have found that exercising will even help jog your memory and stimulate nerve cells in your brain? A great plus when dealing with prego brain!

Never try to increase duration, intensity, or decrease weight while pregnant.

For me, I exercise about 3-4 times per week. I run, strength train, TRX, hike, walk and swim laps.

While running outside, I wear a garmin and run no faster than 11 min miles. I read this somewhere online and it's usually about right for my heart rate (I try not to go above 150-155). While running inside, I usually run on a treadmill so I just check it periodically while I am running. I usually think about how I want to run that marathon and how this is helping me keep my mileage up.

I drink lots of water (8 ounces every 20 min if recommended) and sometimes even pop candy for sugar since I feel really hungry after mile 2.5 or so. Like today, I ate 5 M&Ms.

Strength training includes arms, legs, lunges, some machine work, and always dips because it's nice to have your arms toned while prego.

Really, working out is a great stress reliever and helps you feel normal. My doctor has given me the go ahead to run (not more than 5 or so miles at a time) and thinks it helps!

At TRX class, I have to modify some exercises since you are not supposed to lie on your back or do ab rotations. I usually just stretch or do leg lifts.

Pregnancy yoga was amazing at 20 weeks or so because it helped my poor hips feel normal again. Highly recommend!

Hope this helps you as you enjoy exercising while pregnant!

This is just my personal opinion and not a doctors recommendation.

What's your favorite way to exercise?

16 weeks today!

Pardon the large photo. I snagged it off Facebook since I haven't taken my 200-plus pictures off of it yet. Fifteen weeks looked like this: throwing up, throwing up, nauseous and throwing up so hard I popped blood vessels in my face. After a long drive home I think the car sickness just stayed with me. I have never been that sick. Hopefully it's my last hurrah before week 16 (today!).

The girls really enjoyed getting to spend Thanksgiving with Momma and Poppa Shmidt, Troy, Christina and Cale. And seeing Grandma Chambers and Uncle Dave. While we visited them we ate tons, watched the Muppet movie (grade of B-), and hiked and feed animals at the nature center. I have the cutest photo of Ava banging a bell and Sophia holding her nose at the pig pen. "What's that smell Mom?," she kept saying.

Brandon and I went on an almost 3 mile trail run that was beautiful, except for a crazy muskrat who was swimming right toward us. Since I am pregnant, the pace was pretty slow. The ups and downs of the trails were hard to climb.

Ava and Sophia got to share a bed and slept all night without waking up. They did great! And they loved playing "Don't Break the Ice" with Cale. We left Friday night at 5 pm to miss traffic and got home before 10:30! The next day we went to Ethan's bowling party with pizza and a Transformers cake. He was so cute. He turned five and is such a little man.

Sunday Ava and I had some mommy and Ava time and went to run a couple of errands together. Then we put up our Christmas tree (Brandon and Ava) and ornaments (me and girls).

Sadly,we have probably had four ornaments broken already from little Sophia's clutches. :)

Ava's first field trip

Ava had her first preschool field during the end of September to a pumpkin farm in Dublin where she learned about all types of pumpkins. The talk was actually really interesting -- did you know there is a Cinderella pumpkin? After the pumpkin talk, her class enjoyed their fresh donuts and apple cider.

Although it was a chilly 40 degrees, the kids had a great time!

Last night I made this new recipe from Food and Wine for a lighter version of chicken with gravy--I used chicken thighs and oh my, the recipe was amazing. It used really inexpensive ingredients and was technically easy to make. Brandon loved it and Sophia ate the gravy like it was soup.

Here is the recipe if you are looking for a comforting and inexpensive meal. I made it with fresh green beans and yukon mashed potatoes. Instead of the slice of bacon, I used one teaspoon of bacon grease. Hey, my grandma is from Tennessee would you expect less? Also, I left the thigh skin on, but didn't eat it.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Momma Kuhns is 55 today! We wish her all the best and lots of love. She has five children and almost 13! grandchildren. So many kids you can imagine how crazy the Kuhns House is during Christmas or family times. We love her and her love of Christ. Momma can be found canning in the summer fresh veggies from the garden, sewing quilts (amish heritage showing through), making amazing dinners or suggesting the next best book to read. Her little Lady has been quite the hit and Poppa and Momma love to spend time with their family. Love you!

Welcome baby Norah

Our dear friend Sarah had baby Norah on Nov. 1! She is so sweet and we had fun visiting her and Nadia during preschool. Sophia and Ava were playing around when we got these pictures taken.

Being outside

Can I just say I never thought I would enjoy running. Just this year running got easier and I finally started enjoying it for what it is--a great way to burn off lots of stress, reconnect with nature and create goals. Anytime you can walk, run or bike and enjoy being outside is a great day to me. :)

Week 13!

Well, we are doing really good. Minus evening sickness-Baby is growing and my little pooch is turning into more of a round belly shape. :) Hopefully, not like I just inhaled two or three Chipotle burritos.

I have been feeling a tad better (read-can actually go somewhere at night).

The extra saliva and gagging thing is still here, along with food aversions. I had been enjoying caesar salad until my "What to Expect" told me it was a "no-no." Darn.

It does help to have some candy or something to suck on. My energy level is pretty good in the morning so I am trying to keep running (think 11-12 min. miles), lifting and doing TRX. I can still run 4-5 miles pretty slowly, which I felt good about. It's really such a blessing that I can take Sophia to the Dublin Rec Center to work out. It just makes me feel normal.

Below are some of the amazing pictures from last Saturday's fall run. Gorgeous weather. The porch picture is at 8/9 weeks.

We have a checkup this Tuesday with my nurse practitioner. The baby is doing well and Brandon and the girls are very excited.

Sophia and Ava have been playing together so well lately. It's cool how as they get older they are playing by themselves for longer periods of time. Today they had a tea party and a birthday party for each other. Ava sang, "Happy Birthday to myself!" which cracked me up.

Sophia is officially done with her pink paci. This is a BIG achievement and we are very proud of her. She has had it for almost 3 years and was obsessed. Literally we tried almost 3 other times to take it away. The girls had dentist appointments (you see where I'm going with this...) and the dentist told Sophia that she needed to stop sucking so her adult teeth would come in okay. For some reason, this seemed to work in her mind. Thank goodness. :)

Fun things to do with kids indoors

• 

When colder temperatures roll around, the girls are in the house a lot more. One of our favorite activities is to fill the sink with water and let the girls play in colored water. I have some tie-dye colors and they pick what dye they like.

• Not kidding. This will get you a good 30-45 minutes of time to do baking or cooking dinner.

Add food coloring to sink of warm water. You might add the rule of "water stays in the sink." The girls like to play with measuring cups, basters, teaspoons, paintbrushes, etc.

Trick R Treat and Jersey time

Brandon and the girls went trick r treating in our neighborhood while I stayed home and passed out candy. I was still having lots of evening sickness and didn't want to say, "Thanks for the candy," proceeded by throwing up on their front porch. That's not very neighborly.

Anyways, the girls had such a fun time. Even the mid-40 temperatures didn't deter them from going around the block. They came back excited and happy. And we went through almost 6 huge bags of candy in one hour. We could have passed out at least 6 more!

Ava was Ariel and Sophia was Cinderella.

Brandon got his bday present back in the mail and tried it on that night-his Garmin bike jersey and it looks sweet.

How to Run

primer magazine