Burch Baby!

Jeff and I are expecting our first little one September 18th! Currently I'm a 11.5 weeks along and feeling ok. I'm not experiencing any morning sickness but I do have food aversions and it gets worse at night when I usually get nauseous. So I just go to sleep as early as a I can!

Also, just like my sister Elizabeth, I have to take Lovenox shots because of our Factor V Leiden. Currently I'm on 2 shots a day, one every 12 hours, of 30mg. If you are wonder what the heck Factor V Leiden is you can Google it or take my short and sweet explanation: It's a genetic mutation that causes my blood to clot 3-8 times more than the average person. The Lovenox is an anti-coagulant aka blood thinner and is taken in the stomach subcutaneously. Pregnancy is a dangerous time for blood clots in normal women so it's even more dangerous for people with Factor V Leiden. I only have 1 gene, heterozygous, so my dosage is for prophylactic (precautionary) reasons. I do have to be careful and I have to stop flying way before 36 weeks.

Alright enough about that! We are so so excited!! We do plan on finding out the gender and have already been told that my doctor will look at 19/20 weeks. Here are a few pictures!

The pregnancy test (sorry about it being blurry)

Flowers from Jeff - my stargazers :)

6 weeks - first doctor's appointment/first ultrasound

11 weeks - second ultrasound

Baby's first gift from Jen!

Lake Tahoe Vacation

So after almost 4.5 years of marriage, Jeff and I finally took a vacation! Our last one -- our honeymoon! I guess that's what happens when you are in the military.

We had a lot of fun though! Jeff's parents have a vacation rental/timeshare right next to the Heavenly resort on the Nevada side and gave it to us for the week. We went skiing 5 days and took one day to go on a Lake Tahoe cruise. I sure am glad that I got better at skiing when we lived in California (when you go every weekend, it kinda just happens) and that I'm in much better shape from running helped too. I didn't fall down the whole time we were there and I was never sore. So all in all -- it was a successful ski trip!

(I do have to admit, one time we were going up a lift I dropped one of my poles and no one brought it up for me. So Jeff gave me his, which were shorter and lighter than the ones I had been using....so I lost my balance going down the mountain --just once -- and ended up turned around, skis crossed and on my knees -- but I'm not counting that as a fall!)

I'll update the post with pictures soon.

2010 Race Photos

So this weekend marks the start of my training for my second half marathon, the Shamrock Half Marathon. So in honor of this, I decided to post some of my "crossing the finish line" race photos from 2010 to remind myself how far I've come.

One thing I've learned from posting these -- I need to take better "crossing the finish line" photos! Enjoy :)

San Francisco Embarcadero 10k (first 10k ever)

Rock n' Roll Half Marathon Virginia Beach (first half)

Blue Moon Wicked 10k Virginia Beach

Katy YMCA Turkey Dash 5k

I've ran a lot more races in 2010, so here are a few pre-race or post-race pictures.

San Francisco Embarcadero 10k (first 10k ever)

CHKD 8k Norfolk

Strike Fighter Ball 2010 5k NAS Oceana

Rock n' Roll Half Marathon Virginia Beach (first half)

Blue Moon Wicked 10k Virginia Beach

Run with the Saints 5k Houston

Army/Navy 10k Fort Story

Here is to a lot more great races in 2011!

2010 New Years Resolutions

At the beginning of 2010, I made a few resolutions for New Years. The main one was to lose weight, just like most people. I was determined to lose at least 30lbs by the end of the year. I was tired of not liking how my clothes fit and hated shopping for jeans. If anyone has ever said to you "losing weight is easy", they are lying! It takes determination, mental strength, and of course - a lot of sweat! So this entry is about my journey of accomplishing that and my other resolutions and how I did it.

I started this year with 2 other New Year's resolutions which were going to help me drop the lbs. 1 - Run a 10k and 2 - Run a Half Marathon. I accomplished the first early in the year in March. It was tough, but I stuck with it and even had my very own cheer coach running next to me (thanks again Jen!). The second was accomplished in September after weeks and weeks of training and upping the mileage every week with my good friends Kim and Evie. It was hot, but I made sure I ran the whole thing (and I grabbed every drink they were giving out!) and I even got a pretty good time of 2:30.

Now, the other part that went along with all this running was changing my eating habits. I'm not saying diet, cause "diet" implies short term things you do and I was (and still am) determined not to put that weight back on. Early in the year, I lost the first 8lbs pretty fast and was on a roll, until we found out we were moving to VA. For all you military wives out there - you know what this brings! Stress, stress, and a lot of fast food. So although I was changing eating habits, a few of the bad habits came back for a bit -- but not for long. At the same time, we found out Jeff was going to be deployed right after we arrived in VA. Again -- bring on the stress and depression and chocolate! When he left, I allowed myself only one day of bad junk food and chocolate indulgence.

If you know me well, you know I'm no gourmet cook! What I hate even more than cooking for just 2 people -- is cooking for 1! So before all of this even happened, I always said I would go on some sort of food delivery plan when Jeff deployed so I wouldn't have to worry about cooking for 1. And that is what I did -- I started Nutrisystem after I came back from visiting Jeff in France at their first port. Now, I know what you must be thinking -- I thought she wasn't going to "diet". And I really didn't. Although I stuck to eating the food, I still went out to eat occasionally with friends and I didn't do any calorie counting or keep a food diary like their plan suggests.

By the end of October, I reached my 30lb mark (22lbs while being on Nutrisystem)! And again, this wasn't easy -- I worked out hard and/or ran every day except for Fridays.

The food helped but I know that I some point I would stop getting the food when Jeff came back and I'd have to do it on my own again. Well, I got an early wake up call with that when I had to suddenly travel for work about 8 weeks before Jeff was suppose to get home. And that means eating out for EVERY meal! For 8 weeks! And not to mention there are a few holiday meals thrown in there too! I did so well at first. I kept up with working out for at least 30 min a day - in the hotel gym or at my gym (Anytime Fitness -- there happened to be one right across the street from the hotel) as well as not over indulging in the food and ever tempting deserts at dinner.

I managed to keep that up till Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving it started to get hard to make myself go to the gym. I didn't work out for 1 week and I felt awful at the end of it. I gained a few pounds back that week. I had to mentally pull myself out of that rut and get back to it. A military wife friend, Amanda, started a "Fight the Winter Bulge Biggest Loser Competition" and that was just what I needed for that extra motivation (thanks Amanda!). My competitive side is coming out in full force!

Now we are at the end of the year and I can successfully say that I've lost a total of 30lbs. Here is my before and after pictures.

I would still like to lose about 10 more pounds, so I feel like my weight loss journey is still not quite over just yet. I'm hoping with the motivation of Amanda's competition (which doesn't end till the beginning of Feb. -- and I really want to win!) and the beginning of a half marathon training with Jeff (Shamrock Half marathon at the end of March), I'll get there in no time! :)

Happy New Year! And stick to those resolutions!!

Jeff is coming home!!

Best Christmas present EVER!!

Jeff won't be flying a jet off the Truman, but he'll be back early in the week when the USS Truman comes into port! Still can't say what day online, but some of you know cause I've talked to you on the phone or in person.

Here are 2 articles from the local news channel:

Carrier Air Wing Three Returns

Truman Carrier Strike Group Returns

2010: Our Year in Review

Lots of things happened this year and I just wanted to give a quick summary.

1. March - I ran my first 10k in San Francisco with my awesome CA and WA running friends :)
2. April - Jeff CQ'd with the F/A-18C Hornet and was placed in his first fleet squadron VFA-37 The Ragin' Bulls.
3. April/May - Moved from Lemoore, CA to Virginia Beach, VA -- it was a long drive!
4. May - Jeff leaves on his first deployment to the Persian Gulf on the USS Truman.
5. June - I visited Jeff in France -- my first time to Europe!
6. July - Our niece, Cheyenne Grayce Harton, was born.
7. September - I ran my first half marathon, Rock n' Roll Half Marathon in VA Beach, with some more awesome running friends from VA and WA :)
8. September - I visited Jeff in Dubai at their mid-cruise port.
9. October - Ran my fastest 10k to date at 1hr 3min 38sec.
10. November - Ran my fastest 5k and my first sub-30 time at 29:15.
12. December - Jeff comes home from deployment!!

I feel like I accomplished a lot this year and I accomplished both of my New Year's resolutions (which never happens!). One was to run a half marathon and the other was to loose 30lbs both which I have accomplished :)I still want to loose 10lbs more - but I'm a lot happier now than I was 12 months ago.

I also managed to survive Jeff's deployment which was not a walk in the park either!

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Major Update!

Well...I certainly slacked off in writing any posts after Jeff left for deployment - 7 months ago - and now that he is almost home and the end of the year is almost here, I figured I'd better write something!

The last few posts I wrote I talked about my half marathon training, Jeff's deployment and moving to VA so I thought I'd give a few updates about those!

I ran my first half-marathon in September and finished in 2hrs 30min! I was proud of myself for accomplishing a feat I didn't think was possible just 1 year ago! Since I started running back in the Spring of 2009, I've participated in so many races (5k, 10k, etc) I can't even keep track anymore. I'm pretty much addicted to running now and love participating in races. I've even convinced Jeff to run a half marathon with me when he comes back. We are running the Shamrock Half Marathon in VA Beach in March.

Jeff is almost home from deployment and will be home for Christmas! I had the opportunity to meet up with him in 2 of the ports they stopped in. I highly recommend to any military wives if you are able to! We had so much fun and it helped break up the 7 months.

I've gotten use to living in VA Beach, figuring out where everything is and how to get there, etc (Jeff is going to have a hard time when he gets back!). I spent a lot of time this Summer running and hanging out at the beach with friends. Its going to be an adjustment when Jeff gets back because I've pretty much taken over the whole house!