I am sooo excited!   Soon, we’re heading down to our old stomping grounds of Quincy, Illinois to visit some good friends whom we haven’t seen in about 4 years.  One of them so happens to be an amazing photographer, and she’s going to be taking Drake’s 6 month pictures, and a couple of family portraits.  It’s crazy to look back at our little man’s three month pictures and see how much he’s changed since then!  He is developing such a beautiful personality, too!  He laughs and smiles when you tickle him, he babbles “bah, bah, bah, bah, bah!” constantly, and has precious moments where he just squeezes you so tight and snuggles up close –like last night when he fell asleep in my arms!  Love him so much!  Floyd & I are beyond lucky to have such a sweet little guy!  It’s so fun to see him grow and change.  I’ll be sure to share some of the photos when we get our previews!

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So I haven’t updated you about my “fitness” blitz lately.  Things are still going pretty well!  I just started a new workout series about a week ago, and have dropped another pound.  So far, I’ve lost a total of about 12 pounds in about 6 weeks.  (Getting into ALL my pre-pregnancy clothes now no problem!)  I have nine more to go to my goal–anything past that is just a bonus!  It’s gotten easier with time to do the early morning wake-ups to squeeze in the workouts into my schedule.  Now my biggest challenge is to stay on track with my eating.  Summer busyness and getaways have made it too easy to have “cheats” more pftem than I’d like.  The good news–I’ve been finding more and more healthy recipes that I’m eager to try out!  (and share with you!)

A college friend of mine, who is my “coach” through this process has lost an amazing 100+ pounds doing these workouts and has kept it off.  She’s just wrapping up from a national coaches convention in Las Vegas, where I’m sure she’ll come away even more motivated to keep up the hard work and push me to do the same!

 

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In case you missed it…Friday I had the pleasure of sitting in for the lovely Natasha to co-anchor Today in Iowa and the Noon News with Jeff.  It was a super early wake-up call to be up around 2:30 a.m. and try to seem energetic!  But I managed!  And actually, it was a lot of fun. 

But boy–was I ever wiped out after that!  Just that swapping of the body’s time clock for a day threw me off kilter, and I ended up taking a heavy duty nap Friday afternoon!  I was really hoping to take Drake to the pool Friday, but the weather turned off so cool that didn’t work out.  And with as tired as I was, I don’t know if I would’ve had the energy for that anyway! 

But Saturday we did manage to have a nice family day, taking in a little bit of Sturgis Falls and watching a movie at home afterward.  But when we got back to the house it dawned on me, “Oh–this really is Saturday & now my weekend’s over!” 

It just made me realize what a great treat my “regular” weekends are.  Having two full days to catch up with the world and be with my family is a real delight.  I loved filling in on the anchor desk, and would be thrilled to do it again anytime I’m asked…I’ll just now be more cognizant of valuing any time I do have away from the office.  After all–summer’s slipping by so fast & before you know it, Floyd will be back to teaching school and Drake will be back in daycare full time.  It all zings by SO FAST!  Luckily–we still have two mini-getaways and a few solid weeks left of summer before that all sinks in.  I’ve just got to take a deep breath and enjoy it all because it does fly by, indeed!

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My wonderful sister-in-law shared a new favorite recipe for “guilt-free” ice cream.  I tried it and it is pretty delightful, so thought I’d share!

4 sliced up bananas…freeze after slicing for about an hour 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter 2 tbsp. of unsweetened cocoa powder Unsweetened almond milk- just enough to make it blend nicely in blender or processor. 

Combine all ingredients and freeze for at least a half hour.  I froze it for several hours and it was rock hard.  After 30 seconds in the microwave–perfect & tasted like ice cream!

Sticky Bar–Similar to the ice cream but I think even better!

1/2 medium-size banana 1/4 cup chunky or creamy peanut butter 1 cup unsweetened granola

Mix and mash all three ingredients into a bowl.  Spoon onto a sheet of wax paper.  Roll up the contents into hot dog shape.  Stick in the freezer .  After about a half hour, I cut it into small slices, then let it freeze for another hour.  The little wedges are an awesome quick snack or dessert!  So tasty & healthy too! 

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As part of my new commitment to a healthier lifestyle, I have decided to incorporate LOTS more water into my diet.  I have never been a big water drinker, even though all the health experts tell you to get in about 8 cups of water daily. 

This week, I just got in my newest workout DVDs, and I was reading over the nutritional recomendations to help optimize results.  I’m doing fairly well to the dietary end, but was missing the boat (no pun intended) on my water!  Studies show drinking a big glass of water before a meal will  help you eat less, since your belly has the water in it.  And the H2O will also help your body do the best job possible at absorbing all the great nutrients in the foods you eat!  What an amazing little thing! 

So far, so good! I’ve been getting in about 3-4 water doses in about a 32-oz. jug each day this week–and more amazing, only ONE diet soda all week so far!  (And I aim to keep it that way!)

To top things off–I started the week with a bit of a sore throat.  Drake and Floyd have both been sick and decided to share with me I guess!  I was determined not to let that bug end up with me since I am slated to fill in for Natasha on “Today in Iowa” this Friday.  So glug, glug the water I have–and rinsed with mouthwash regularly, too, and magic I tell you–the throat is feeling MUCH, MUCH better today!

So raise your glass–with WATER–and feel better!

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Somehow I managed to get done with work EARLY yesterday!  It was so nice to have the late afternoon off to be able to play sand volleyball with my husband and our Jaycee pals–made better yet by the fact we won all three sets!  One of Floyd’s outstanding students watched Drake for us.  After the games, we went out to eat with one of the other couples on the team.  It was refreshing to have a little adult time and just relax.  Of course I missed Drake every second, but it’s good to have that reconnection time between husband & wife–a fitting cap to Floyd’s first Father’s Day.  Our babysitter loves hanging out with Drake so much she always asks us to have a date night so she can watch him!  It’s nice we have such a sweet young lady to take care of him, and who Drake feels comfortable with.  And step by step, it makes having “us” time a little easier.

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Unfortunately, since it’s yet again a Sunday, I’ll be spending most of this Father’s Day at work.  But I did treat Floyd to his favorite breakfast, biscuits and gravy, this morning!  And he got special cards from Drake, Aleah the puggle, and me. 

I simply could not imagine a more perfect father for Drake (and Aleah for that matter!).  He is so loving, patient, and kind.  I know he already is, and will continue to be, an incredible role model for our son and any other children we may have years down the road.  He helps calm me down when I freak out about something, he’s always willing to be “house husband” when needed—laundry, dishes, cooking, cleaning, you name it!  And together, I think we make a pretty darn good team.  I don’t know where I’d be without him and just feel incredibly blessed he’s the head of our little family.

 

 

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I found another great dinner dish that’s tasty & healthy and wanted to share! 

Shrimp Pomodoro

2 Tbsp. olive oil 2 Tbsp. garlic, chopped (I used the same amount of onion flakes) 4 Tbsp. fat-free low-sodium chicken broth 1 cup tomato, diced approx. 4 oz. whole wheat pasta, dry 6 oz. medium raw shrimp, deveined 4 Tbsp. basil leaves, chopped

Boil pasta as normal.  Simmer your shrimp in the olive oil and broth with the seasonings, add in tomatos once shrimp is cooked.  When your pasta is done, add it in the skillet with your shrimp mix.  Serve & enjoy!

Just more than 400 calories per serving!  Loved it!  I also thought adding asparagus would be nice in the summer.  Might try that next!

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Last night, Drake did NOT want to go to sleep!  I laid him down a half-dozen times and within a few minutes or less he’d be back wide awake.  At 11 p.m., Floyd comes upstairs after just getting home from a softball game.  I passed Drake off to him to take over.  I knew it would be tough on me this morning because I had to be in early for a special work assignment.  So I finally fell asleep sometime around 11:30 p.m., and then I got up at 5:45 a.m. (admittedly after hitting the snooze a couple times!) to get in my workout and have time to get both Drake & I ready for the day.  Of course, we ended up running behind schedule since I slept in a bit, and I was all alone after 7:30 since Floyd went out to play tennis with a friend. 

This hectic, tiresome morning reminded me of my first day back to work at KWWL after maternity leave.  I didn’t get to sleep until about 2:30 a.m. because Drake was just fighting his sleep so hard.  So I went back to work for the first time on about 3 or 4 hours of sleep.  ROUGH!

So, my dear son, how do you somehow instinctively know how to throw a wrench in your sleep schedule when it happens to be a day when I need to be up earlier than usual?  It is probably just a random coincidence…but crazy and certainly tiresome!

I’m left to just hope for a smooth sailing day so I can get home and relax at some point!

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How has a half of a year already gone by?!?  Drake is SIX MONTHS old today!!  This past weekend, we had our first family mini-vacation to the Twin Cities, along with my parents.  Drake had lots of memorable firsts!  He LOVED swimming in the big pool with us, floating in his little inner tube, and splashing around in Floyd’s arms.  He had his first hotel stay, and even his first boat ride aboard the Steamboat Minnehaha at Lake Minnetonka outside Minneapolis.  He definitely wore himself out from such a busy weekend!  We had to wake him up around 8 a.m., so I’d have enough time to feed him before I needed to leave for work–and that was after several good naps yesterday.  He is such a good little guy–we know we’re lucky! 

                 

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