I don’t really dread Mondays at all, but I don’t like ending a weekend of fun. Do you feel the same?

Friday in the late afternoon my co-worker Stephanie dropped her Dog Barley off for the weekend.  They had a weekend trip planned for a wedding, and Barley was ours to watch and care for. I have to admit I was overly excited to dogsit Barley because Cooper absolutely loves her.

They play/wrestle with each other for hours on end and it definitely makes taking care of a dog and a toddler 100x easier.

Ava got to play in her new sandbox that her Grandpa bought her. She was not happy when it was time  to get out and had so much fun playing with the toys.  Covering them with sand entertained her the most.

Friday night was a nice low key night for us. We hung out at home and grilled an easy dinner and relaxed. We all woke up early Saturday morning, ate a quick breakfast and then took Cooper & Barley for a 30 minute walk and let them run around the field for 30 minutes.

When we got home they were both exhausted but I know they had fun.

I’m glad we got their exercise in early because it started to get pretty hot. We decided to take a ride over to my parents to let Ava splash around in the pool. I enjoyed having my feet in their too!

Ava is learning how to blow bubbles in the water.

After lunch, I decided to take Barley for a run. She is super behaved on the leash I figured I would let her get some alone time. I think I may have had more fun then she did. I hadn’t run in a very long time and it felt great.

Around 2:45pm I left for my friends surprise baby Shower in Hamden, CT

It was such a lovely shower for my friend Kelly, with just her closest friends.  We had fun playing some games and eating delicious food!

This game was interesting. We had to guess who each of these famous men were in the pictures. It was surprisingly hard!

Sunday we basically repeated our Saturday morning with a big breakfast and a long walk with the dogs. It was so humid out I was sweating within the first few minutes!

Ava was straight up relaxing in her stroller.

Since I was all sweaty I wanted to do a quick Insanity Max30 workout before I showered. I popped in a cardio challenge DVD and started working hard. At about 13 1/2 minutes into the workout my upper inner thigh started bothering me so I stopped.

I felt it after my run Saturday but didn’t think anything of it. I was so MAD I had to stop the DVD because mentally I wanted to keep going but I wasn’t going to push myself and cause a minor pain to become a more serious injury.

It kinda dampened my mood but I got over it quickly. Marc made some delicious grilled chicken for lunch.

His grilled chicken is always amazing.

In the afternoon we went to Greenwich Ave in attempt to let Ava play on the playground and let the dogs run on the field, but there was a soccer game going on so we just walked with them around Greenwich Avenue until we were all too sweaty and hot.

For dinner we got take out Thai Food. I loved every bite!! Ava ate all the carrots out of my Brown Chicken Dish but I’m glad that she at least enjoyed part of it!

That pretty much wraps up our weekend!

 What did you do this weekend?

Have you ever cut a workout short because of a muscle strain?

I woke up bright and early this morning at 5am with Ava because she hasn’t quite adjusted to the time change yet. Luckily once I got out of bed I wasn’t as tired as I thought.

How was your Halloween weekend?

I can’t say ours was amazing but I did enjoy some of it. Friday night we dressed Ava up as a lady bug.

She was kinda confused as to what was moving around on her back and didn’t understand they were wings but she still looked cute crawling and walking around in her costume.

We didn’t really have an adventurous night trick or treating because she had a bad cough but we got to hang out and have dinner with my family which was nice.

Marc also carved this pumpkin skeleton!

Saturday morning we woke up to Ava wheezing. She seemed very short of breath. I knew the Doctors office wasn’t open yet so we entertained her until I could call at 8. They told us to come right in, it sounded like Ava had something. I hated seeing her struggle to breath and I had a feeling it was bronchitis again. She has had it before and it was the same time of rapid breathing the Doctor talked about last time

We were so lucky to be the only family at the Doctor’s office and we were in and out in about 30 minutes. Sure enough Ava has bronchitis but she also has a touch of asthma. This just means she is more susceptible to bronchitis whenever she gets a viral infection

So Saturday wasn’t that fun!!t Ava took a couple long naps so we were able to run a bunch of errands but that was about it. The day once again revolved around keeping Ava happy and comfortable. Poor kid can’t catch a break!

My weekend finished off on a better note. Sunday we got to celebrate my sister in laws baby shower.

They got tons of great gifts.

My mom and I put together these cute rubber ducky centerpieces! Thank you PINTEREST!

And we enjoyed a delicious brunch.

It was a beautiful shower and I couldn’t be more happy for my brother and his wife!!

Aren’t they cute!

Now I am off to teach Group Power and get my sweat on!!

What was one fun thing you did this weekend? 

Are you or your kids sick a lot? 

As I was leaving the room, everyone yelled surprise and I was completely thrown off!!! Why was everyone still here…. haha that was my thought.  It was so sweet and I felt very special that they spent the time to put this shower together.  I immediately felt bad that I threw in some additional squat jumps at the end of the workout

There was a table of healthy treats & drinks set up, everything was delicious!

This group of people has been so supportive through-out my whole pregnancy and I can’t thank them enough!!! I love motivating and pushing people through workouts and it has been a great experience to train them while pregnant!

They gave the baby a super cute monkey onesie & matching blanket.. and a generous gift card to buybuybaby that will allow us to get tons of great stuff for the baby… THANK YOU!!!

Group Picture with some of the boot campers

Here is a QUICK 10 Minute Workout for those days you literally only have 10 minutes to fit in a quick workout: Be sure to warm-up  properly before for about 5 minutes with a light jog, jumping jacks, jump rope etc.

3 Mini-Cicuits:

perform 10 repetitions of each exercise, complete as many rounds as possible for 3 minutes.. then move to next mini-circuit

HAPPY HUMP DAY!!!

**always consult your physician before beginning a new exercise program or workout**

On to the good stufffff………

Yesterday was my baby shower! It was such an awesome day and I got to spend it with all of my close family & friends. Baby G got so many amazing gifts and we are very thankful for them.

My mom’s friend Debbie was generous and let my mom host the shower at her house!  Let me tell you it couldn’t have been more perfect. The shower had a fall theme with lots of autumn decor and pumpkins galore.

(the pumpkin items go along with my ultimate pregnancy craving… pumpkin!)

mini pumpkin muffins

And now on to the food… I don’t think there’s a word to describe about how tasty it was. Debbie’s husband is a chef, and he made a fabulous brunch for us. On the menu was cannoli stuffed french toast, frittata, bacon, pumpkin muffins, salad, chicken marsala, fall harvest butternut squash lasagna, etc.

When it comes to food, I do indulge but I make smart choices. I am always conscious of what I am eating and try not to make my plate full of all unhealthy items. It’s all about balance! …. it’s funny how I only took a picture of the salad

After we ate brunch it was time to open presents!

We got lots of cute stuff and it was so much fun seeing all the little baby items. Especially the little Yankees T-shirt.. Marc is not happy about this and I am sure he will try to buy her a red sox shirt.

Dessert was chocolate mousse, chocolate chip cookies, & pumpkin cookies!

My friends!

More family & my college friends!!

The shower made me want Baby G to arrive sooner rather then later!! It was so much fun to open all the cute baby items and I can’t wait to set up the rest of the nursery. She is one lucky girl already!

The room was perfect size and the food was amazing. We had a breakfast menu and I chose the Western Omelet with whole wheat toast, potatoes & a fruit cup. I loved the food but it seems like these days I fill up super quickly and get full off less food. It’s not a bad thing except that I am hungry again two hours later.

Cards to fill out to guess the baby’s due date!!

As you can see the boot made it to the shower! oh well!! Pictured from left to right is my mom, me, my sister in law Melanie, and my mother in law Cathy.

Melanie asked everyone to bring a book instead of a card which was such a great idea!! We decided that we are going to mount some bookshelves on the wall in the nursery to display all the great books we received from the shower.

After we finished eating I opened gifts! We got a pack n play, a swing, car seat accessories, baby clothes, baby blankets and toys. It was such a fun day and I really enjoyed spending time with everyone.

Pack N’ Play

Cooper made his way into this picture

The shower was such a great ending to the weekend, and I am looking forward to celebrating with my family and friends in Greenwich in a couple of weeks!