The good life

It's been a cray cray week/weeks at the Shmidt House. We have had baby showers, family get togethers, parties, zoo days, play dates, girl's nights, cleaning galore.

Brandon's parents came this weekend and we had a great time visiting with them. The girls were in hog heaven swimming and getting some Momma Shmidt and Poppa Shmidt time. Ava even went to check out the window on Sunday afternoon after they had left because she wanted to make sure they had really left. They loved having them visit. I will post some fun pics later this week. Thanks to Mindy and Shearon for creating such a great family time!

And I love these pictures from Ava's preschool where they had cowgirl/cowboy days. Ava wore her red hat and red cowboy boots from Colorado.

Running is still going great. I do get the question of "when are you going to quit running" or "how do you run while pregnant?" a lot. Hmm. Here is what I have found.

Exercising while prego can be a great mood booster and help fight fatigue.
Here is what has helped me.

• Lower expectations on mileage and pace and enjoy just getting outside or on the treadmill
• Bring lots of water and eat a light snack before you run because you go through calories so fast (sometimes I will eat hard candy while running
• If you can say your address while your running, your pace is fine. Some medical reports (and please check with your dr) say to stay under 140, but I feel fine around 155 or 160. 
• Celebrate each run as a victory and don't look too far down the road wondering if you will be able to continue - be thankful for each time you are able to get in a great workout
• Now is a great time to tweak a sport based on correct form or technique (ie. swim). Swimming is one sport that I enjoy and learning correct form has been great way to not get frustrated with my slower running speed. Before I was able to run a mile on my speed days around 7:15 or so and now on a good day it's around 10:40. And that's after warming up. Just like with any injury or delay, long term thinking is always best. :) 

OJ and grapefruit slushies. Mmm!

I have been loving making these cute little grapefruit and oj slushies. My mom and our family used to make the oj slushies with little sugar and fruit and they are so refreshing later in the afternoon.

Grapefruit or oj slushies
Juice+little sugar+add berries, grapes, bananas, or pineapple and freeze for 2-3 hours until just slushy.
mmm! The cold slushy juice + berries are so refreshing and help my fruit craving which is out of control.

Baby time.
What could be better than a blog that features vintage dresses and a prego belly?

36 Week Update
Cravings: Fruit! Fruit! Fruit! And avocados. Made some yum guac this week. Also craving salty chips.

Weight: Hmm. Maybe 22.5 or 23 pounds.

Baby items: Tons of beautiful and useful things from our shower and friends - cute little owl hat, diapers, wipes, outfits and swing from Brandon's parents,  baby towel, lotions and pacis, basket, etc. So sweet. Thank you all!

Nursery changes: Brandon washed out the infant seat and we got the pack n play in our closet for baby. Also going through the girls' old clothes to send to Lydia and my old clothes. And organizing maternity clothes to give back after baby since some of the items were winter clothes.

Body changes: Hormones. Those dang hormones that have me laughing or crying at the drop of a hat. I think the progesterone kicks into full force these last weeks and makes for some lovely pregnancy times. My hips are def. spreading and restless leg syndrome at night sometimes hits as well as insomnia. Feel pretty awesome in the morning and toward lunchtime. Still little nauseous and ready for baby. After this week we could deliver anytime. Holy moly.

If you haven't seen this "Pregnant and I Know It" Youtube video - watch- it's hilarious. It was a parody version of the "Sexy and I Know It" song written by a Christian recording artist and performed by his wife. They uploaded it to Youtube and it has more than 1 million hits in just 2.5 weeks!